All About Me
In addition to his creative writing, Bill Hand is a historian and journalist and photographer for an online newspaper called New Bern Live and president of the North Carolina History Theater, a company emphasizing the history of North Carolina in its productions. He is also the inhouse playwright. A native of Indiana, who was raised in Pennsylvania and has been in New Bern since 1995, Bill lives with his wife, dogs and a bit too many cats. His published works include plays, regional histories and a fantasy novel, "The One Prince".
My HP Books
It's 1941 and something is buried in Eunice's garden.... It's Eunice!
Meet Connecticut Talker Tscharner - "Cat" to his friends. It's 1941 and he wants to serve his country, but a high school football injury has left him too crippled to sign up. He has dreams of sleuthing-but how can you make a living doing that in a small, quiet Carolina town? Besides, he's saddled with running his sick father's grocery store. But fate is preparing a hurricane of troubles: military wives are turning up dead and buried in their gardens. A poisoner is fixing her deadly charms on Cat's own family, and a ruthless German spy is sending convoy locations to an offshore U-boat, killing anyone who gets in his way.
Every one - victims and perpetrators - are people he knows, and many of them are ones he loves. Cat soon finds himself in the tangle of all three webs and must battle to expose them all to save himself, to serve his country, and to rescue his town.
Achilles - warrior, hero, son of a demi-god sea nymph whose presence, oracles claim, is the only thing that will deliver Troy into the hands of the Achaians.
And what does he do when he's dead?
Why, he tells the tale of his life to any shades who will gather to listen.
Conversations with Achilles follows the Greek legend as he retells, in seven sets and with harsh honesty the story of his life and the war with Troy. The greatness and brutality of himself and his fellow warriors, the bickering of the gods, come through with a blend of sharp humor and dark tragedy: we relive his love for his slave-turned-bride Briseis, of his mother's desperate battle to defeat the Fates who declared he would die young in battle.
It is a comic but brutal tale in which we meet the heroes, the villains, the very gods clashed and crashed over Troy's fate-and shaped the life of that war's greatest - or was he? - hero.
Book Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A great mystery!
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2024
Who could not love a mystery that starts out with a dead hand sticking out of the ground? And it gets better from there. The author has well-developed characters (and, boy, are they interesting!) and good, witty dialogue (with a few chuckles thrown in). The plot twists and turns and really keeps your interest. You won’t want to stop reading. I highly recommend this book. Kudos to Bill Hand!
*****
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling mystery set in 1941 - you gotta find out what happens!
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2023
One of those that you are compelled to keep reading to see what happens. No matter what time it is! A well woven plot with likeable characters. Loved the voices of the characters and seeing the town and the people at that point in history.
*****
ber 31, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I even set it aside and then read it a second time before writing this review. I'm glad I did because I found things I missed the first time and enjoyed it even more. It's packed with all sorts of details, twists and turns. Highly enjoyable and worth the read!
Book video ad
