Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Another Man’s Ground
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.clairebooth.com/
CITY:
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016013981
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2016013981
HEADING: Booth, Claire
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008 160315n| azannaabn |n aaa
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040 __ |a DLC |b eng |e rda |c DLC
053 _0 |a PS3602.O663
100 1_ |a Booth, Claire
670 __ |a The Branson beauty, 2016: |b ECIP t.p. (Claire Booth)
670 __ |a Email from publisher, March 15, 2016: |b “I don’t have the date of birth or full name for Claire Booth, but I can confirm that she is also the author of The False Prophet, 2008”
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist and author. Work has been pubished in Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Contra Costa Times, and other newspapers.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Claire Booth is a former crime reporter for several major newspapers, including the Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, and Miami Herald. Her first book, The False Prophet: Conspiracy, Extortion and Murder in the Name of God, is a true account of Glenn Taylor Helzer, who with his brother murdered five people in California in 2000 as part of a bizarre scheme to raise money to facilitate the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Helzers were convicted at trial in 2004 and sentenced to death. As of 2018, Glenn Taylor Helzer remains on death row; his brother, Justin Helzer, hanged himself in his prison cell in 2013.
The Branson Beauty
After the exhausting process of writing The False Prophet, Booth decided that she would prefer to write about fictional murders rather than real ones. Her debut novel, The Branson Beauty, is set in the Ozarks and begins when a showboat owned by a local businessman runs aground in a lake near Branson, Missouri. The town’s sheriff, Hank Worth, must find the resources to rescue more than a hundred people from the foundering boat, while also trying to find out what had happened. The boat’s captain, who appears to be in shock, can tell Hank nothing.
To make matters much worse, the body of a strangled college student, Mandy Bryson, is found locked inside one of the boat’s cabins. Mandy had been a high school track star and prom queen, and had been on the boat to attend a birthday party for her boyfriend’s grandmother. Who could have had a motive to kill this genuinely popular teenager? Hank and his team eventually discover that Mandy had been receiving letters from an anonymous stalker. As the investigation heats up, the boat explodes and is destroyed by fire, leading Hank to add arson to his list of suspicions.
Reviewers enjoyed the book’s fast-paced plot and engaging characters. Hank, who had formerly served in the Kansas City Police Department, is not only a skilled detective but also a devoted family man who struggles to balance the demands of his job with those of his family: his wife, Maggie, a surgeon; their two young children; and Maggie’s elderly father, who lives with them. Noting the book’s “humor and humanity,” Booklist contributor Michele Leber hailed The Branson Beauty as a “promising debut.” A reviewer for Publishers Weekly expressed similar enthusiasm for the novel, calling it a “standout debut” with depth as well as “touches of sly humor.”
Another Man's Ground
In Another Man’s Ground, Hank is embroiled in a multiple-murder investigation while facing an election campaign to keep his job. Having been appointed sheriff of Branson County to fill a vacancy, Hank has never had to win an election before, and he has no appetite for the task. His opponent is a deputy with scant experience but powerful political and financial connections. With little time or interest to run a political campaign, Hank is happy to have his wife hire professional consultant Darcy Blakely to do this job. This gives him time to delve into a strange case involving the removal of bark from numerous slippery elm trees growing on land owned by Vern Miles and his family. Tempted at first to consider the case trivial, Hank learns that the bark is extremely valuable—a fact that sheds new light on the ongoing feud between the Miles family and the land’s former owners, the Kinneys. When undocumented immigrant workers hired by the Miles family accidentally discover dead bodies on Kinney property, where slippery elms have also been stripped of bark, Hank realizes he will have to solve several cold cases. But he will also have to find a way to hide the fact that he had known that the undocumented immigrants were in the woods and had chosen not to look for them—which could mean certain defeat at the polls if his opponent uses this information against him. The murder investigation stokes the property feud to the boiling point, spelling grave danger not only for the immigrants but also for Hank, his team, and his family.
Meanwhile, the Taylor brothers have come to Hank’s attention. They have a reputation for stealing pigs, but Hank suspects them of far more serious crimes after discovering more than one million dollars hidden beneath their trailer. With many of his staff secretly supporting his opponent in the upcoming sheriff’s election, Hank must rely on two trusted deputies for help: young Sam, who is inexperienced but eager to learn; and veteran Sheila, who is the only woman and the only African American officer on the force.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews found much to enjoy in Another Man’s Ground, observing that the novel is “both an excellent police procedural and a surprisingly humorous look at politics and family feuds.” Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer observed that Booth’s “affectionate treatment of the decent and shrewd people of Branson” and her nuanced insights into her protagonist make this novel worthwhile.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2016, Michele Leber, review of The Branson Beauty, p. 19.
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2017, review of Another Man’s Ground.
Publishers Weekly, May 23, 2016, review of The Branson Beauty, p. 45; May 8, 2017, review of Another Man’s Ground, p. 40.
ONLINE
Claire Booth Home Page, http://www.clairebooth.com (February 14, 2018).
Print Marked Items
Booth, Claire: ANOTHER MAN'S
GROUND
Kirkus Reviews.
(June 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Booth, Claire ANOTHER MAN'S GROUND Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $25.99 7, 11 ISBN: 978-1-250-
08441-5
Politics rears its ugly head when a sheriff investigates multiple murders.Hank Worth, appointed sheriff of
Branson County, faces an election fight against an ill-prepared but politically connected deputy. Hank's wife,
Dr. Maggie McClary, has hired professional consultant Darcy Blakely to run his campaign, but Darcy and
Maggie find it hard to force Hank into campaign mode when he's only interested in crime-solving. An
epidemic of debarked trees seems hardly worth his effort until he learns that the slippery elm bark is quite
valuable to Vern Miles, whose family has owned their land for many generations--though not as many as the
former owners, the Kinneys, whose ongoing feud with the Miles family continues apace. Then an illegal
crew hired by the Mileses accidentally discovers some dead bodies. One of them, the skeleton of a young
child, invites Hank to take a long look at cold cases. Despite having his trees debarked, Jasper Kinney had
refused entry to his land, but now that corpses have been found there, he's forced to let the law take a look.
Another problem for Hank is illegal doings by the Taylor brothers. When he finally gets a chance to check
out their trailer, the discovery of more than $1 million hidden underneath proves that the brothers have been
into something a lot bigger than pig stealing. Hank knows he can count on his clever deputy Sheila--the only
woman, and certainly the only African-American woman, on his force--and young Sam, who proves a quick
study. The rest of his team are either on the fence or secretly in the camp of the deputy running against him,
who's supported by a wealthy backer who'll stop at nothing to make Hank look bad. The second in Booth's
regional crime series (The Branson Beauty, 2016) is both an excellent police procedural and a surprisingly
humorous look at politics and family feuds.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Booth, Claire: ANOTHER MAN'S GROUND." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A493329353/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cfbbebfd.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A493329353
Another Man's Ground
Publishers Weekly.
264.19 (May 8, 2017): p40.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Another Man's Ground
Claire Booth. Minotaur, $25.99 (320p)
ISBN 978-1-250-08441-5
In Booth's appealing sequel to 2016's The Branson Beauty, Hank Worth, the appointed sheriff of Missouri's
Branson County, must cope with his first election fight against longtime deputy Gerald Tucker, deal with a
land dispute between Vern Miles and Jasper Kinney, and grapple with the four degenerate Taylor brothers.
The abundant slippery elm trees that grow on both the Miles and Kinney properties are the catalyst for
almost everything. Thieves have stripped Miles's elms, killing the trees and robbing him of the valuable
medicinal bark. When Hank begins to investigate, he runs into a stone wall talking to Kinney, but he
identifies one of the Taylor brothers as involved in the elm-stripping racket. Meanwhile, he helps rescue an
illegal immigrant who has fallen into a sinkhole on Kinney's land. Hank's problems multiply when a child's
skeleton is found in the sinkhole. Booth's affectionate treatment of the decent and shrewd people of Branson
and Worth makes this a series worth following. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel & Goderich Literary
Management. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Another Man's Ground." Publishers Weekly, 8 May 2017, p. 40. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491949073/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=aa0d2ea6.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491949073
The Branson Beauty
Publishers Weekly.
263.21 (May 23, 2016): p45.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Branson Beauty
Claire Booth. Minotaur, $25.99 (336p)
ISBN 978-1-250-08438-5
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Touches of sly humor add appeal to Booth's standout debut, a mystery set in Branson, Mo. Hank Worth, the
new sheriff in town, faces his first real case after leaving the Kansas City police when a showboat owned by
powerful businessman Henry Gallagher, the Branson Beauty, runs aground in an Ozark lake. Hank
spearheads the resources needed to get more than a hundred stranded people off the boat safely. What he
wasn't expecting to find was an incoherent captain, Albert Eberhardt, at the wheel and a murdered teenager,
Mandy Bryson, in a locked room, and this is just the beginning of a tangle of surprises and deceit. Hank and
his highly competent deputies search for , answers, especially when more crimes come to light. The pieces
come together slowly, but, when they do, there's more than one aha moment for Hank and the reader.
Betrayals from within the sheriff's department and issues left unresolved hint at much more to come in what
promises to be a most engaging regional police series. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel & Goderich Literary
Management. July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Branson Beauty." Publishers Weekly, 23 May 2016, p. 45. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A453722472/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9c59f77c.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453722472
The Branson Beauty
Michele Leber
Booklist.
112.17 (May 1, 2016): p19+.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Branson Beauty. By Claire Booth. July 2016. 336p. Minotaur, $25.99 (9781250084385).
The crash of the old paddleboat The Branson Beauty during a wintry luncheon cruise is a big enough
problem for new sheriff Hank Worth. The pilot is found virtually catatonic in the wheelhouse, and there are
dozens of aged passengers to rescue. Then Worth finds the strangled body of college freshman Mandy
Bryson, former high-school prom queen and track star, who was on the boat for her boyfriend's
grandmother's birthday celebration. But Mandy, while universally loved in town, also had been getting
letters from an anonymous stalker, a situation she kept secret from all but some close friends. As the murder
investigation proceeds, the boat explodes and burns, leaving the sheriff suspecting arson, but with no way to
prove it. Worth, recently appointed to his job, finds himself up against Branson's business and political
interests, as he tries to carve out family time for his surgeon wife, Maggie; two young children; and his livein
father-in-law. Former crime reporter Booth imbues her fast-moving narrative, which celebrates its Ozarks
setting, with humor and humanity. A promising debut.--Michele Leber
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Leber, Michele. "The Branson Beauty." Booklist, 1 May 2016, p. 19+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A453293591/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=06d537ea.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A453293591