Hotel California, Don Bruns
Hotel California, Don Bruns
2 Rating(s)
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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Hotel California
An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories

Author: Don Bruns

Narrator: Hillary Huber, James Patrick Cronin, January LaVoy, Joe Barrett, Sophie Amoss, various narrators, Joe Hempel, Scott Brick, Richard Ferrone

Unabridged: 7 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/12/2022


Synopsis

Featuring a new Jack Reacher story by Andrew Child!A dangerous drifter, a hired gun, a grisly corpse—you never know who you’ll run into at the Hotel California.Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns. From the titular tale “Hotel California” to a new, original Jack Reacher adventure, these stories have a little something for every mystery lover.Go ahead. Check in, enjoy some room service, and stay until the very last tantalizing page. Just don’t forget to search the closet or behind the curtains.

About Don Bruns

Don Bruns is an ad executive and a USA Today bestselling author. As a former road musician, he performed with Ricky Nelson, the Four Seasons, Ray Charles, and others. Bruns has authored seventeen published novels and his New Orleans trilogy has been optioned for a television series. He makes his home in Southern Florida.

About Hillary Huber

Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over six hundred titles spanning many genres and holds a bachelor's degree in English literature. A voracious reader and listener, she was raised in Connecticut and Hawaii but now splits her time between California and New York.

About James Patrick Cronin

James Patrick Cronin is a classically trained stage actor with an MFA from the University of Louisville and a degree in philosophy from East Tennessee State University. He has performed everything from the classics to original material to comedy sketches in Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, Israel, and throughout the United States. An Earphones Award recipient, he has also recorded over one hundred audiobooks across an extensive range of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, young adult, and nonfiction.

About January LaVoy

January Lavoie has narrated the Sweet Valley Confidential series for Macmillan Audio, as well as The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck and Dreams of the Dead by Perri O’Shaughnessy.

About Amanda Flower

Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling American writer of mystery novels under her real name and the pen name Isabella Alan. She writes for adults and children. She won the Agatha Award for Children's/Young Adult book in 2015 and was nominated for an Agatha Award in 2010, 2013, and 2014.

About Joe Barrett

Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He has gone on to play many stage roles, both on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has appeared in films and television, both prime time and late night, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials. Joe has narrated over two hundred audiobooks. He has been an Audie Award finalist eight times, and his narration of Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman won the 2013 Audie Award for Original Work. AudioFile magazine has granted Joe fourteen Earphones Awards, including for James Salter's All That Is and Donald Katz's Home Fires. Regarding Joe's narration of John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, AudioFile said, "This moving book comes across like a concerto . . . with a soloist-Owen's voice-rising from the background of an orchestral narration." Joe is married to actor Andrea Wright, and together they have four very grown children.

About Heather Graham

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, and paranormal. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift. Romance Writers of America presented Heather with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

About Rick Bleiweiss

Rick Bleiweiss has crafted the bestselling, award-winning Pignon Scorbion historical mystery series by blending his love of the past with the twisty deliciousness of a whodunit. He has recently also contributed a wonderful story to the mystery anthology Hotel California.Before becoming an author, Rick started his career in music as a rock performer, Grammy-nominated producer (of over fifty records), and record company senior executive, working with Clive Davis, Melissa Etheridge, the Backstreet Boys, Kiss, U2, Whitney Houston, the BeeGees, and other industry legends.Since 2006 as a publishing company executive, he has acquired works by noted authors and celebrities including James Clavell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Rex Pickett, Al Roker, Dale Brown, Robert Downey Jr., Leon Uris, Catherine Coulter, and P. C. Cast, among many others. Follow Rick & Scorbion at www.RickBleiweiss.com

About Joe Hempel

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Joe Hempel, a total eighties' kid, had a fascination with an eclectic array of shows that would later shape his performances in the audiobook world-shows like Alf, Night Court, Tales from the Crypt, and WWF Superstars. For over a decade Joe honed his acting skills as a referee in professional wrestling and inspired people as a NASM certified personal trainer and endurance coach. Combined with his animated personality and a love for reading, becoming an audiobook narrator was a natural step. Best known for his captivating, rich narrations and uncanny ability for pulling listeners into an immersive experience, Joe has entertained listeners with over 100 audiobooks ranging from horror and mystery to science fiction, romance, and personal development. Joe still lives in Cincinnati with his son Zach, and enjoys running marathons and bringing words on a page to life. Joe is also the winner of the 2018 ABR Listeners Choice Award for Horror.

About Scott Brick

Scott Brick first began narrating audiobooks in 2000, and after recording almost 400 titles in five years, AudioFile magazine named Brick a Golden Voice and “one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy.” He has read a number of titles in Frank Herbert’s bestselling Dune series, and he won the 2003 Science Fiction Audie Award for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Brick has narrated for many popular authors, including Michael Pollan, Joseph Finder, Tom Clancy, and Ayn Rand. He has also won over 40 AudioFile Earphones Awards and the AudioFile award for Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense 2011. In 2007, Brick was named Publishers Weekly’s Narrator of the Year. Brick has performed on film, television and radio. He appeared on stage throughout the United States in productions of Cyrano, Hamlet, Macbeth and other plays. In addition to his acting work, Brick choreographs fight sequences, and was a combatant in films including Romeo and Juliet, The Fantasticks and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He has also been hired by Morgan Freeman to write the screenplay adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama.

About Reed Farrel Coleman

Reed Farrel Coleman, called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-one novels including six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series. His new novel, Sleepless City, will be released by Blackstone Publishing later this year. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award and a four-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories. He has also won the Audie, Scribe, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony awards. Reed lives with his wife on Long Island.

About John Gilstrap

When John Gilstrap’s first novel, Nathan’s Run, hit the market in 1996, it set the literary world on fire. Publication rights sold in twenty-three countries, the movie rights were scooped up at auction by Warner Brothers, and John changed professions. A safety engineer by training and education, he specialized in explosives and hazardous materials, and also served fifteen years in the fire and rescue service, rising to the rank of lieutenant. That “first” book was really his fourth, and that one call from an agent (after logging twenty-seven rejections) changed the trajectory of his life. Twenty books and seven movie projects later, it’s been a good run, and it’s still running. Outside of his writing life, John is a renowned safety expert with extensive knowledge of explosives, hazardous materials, and fire behavior. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

About Andrew Child

Andrew Child is the author of nine thrillers written under the name Andrew Grant. He is the younger brother of Lee Child. Born in Birmingham, he lives in Wyoming with his wife, the novelist Tasha Alexander.

About Richard Ferrone

Read by Richard Ferrone, Stephen Bel Davies, Prentice Onayemi, Scott Aiello, Michael David Axtell, Jessica B. Harris, and Amanda Leigh Cobb

About Jennifer Dornbush

Jennifer Graeser Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. She is developing multiple projects for TV and film, while also penning mysteries, thrillers, and short stories. Join her monthly newsletter at www.JenniferDornbush.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew

A group of eight short stories, all mysteries and each carrying the title of a song by the Eagles. As always with such collections, the appeal ebbs and flows and sometimes the title seems to get in the story’s way, leading to a scenario that feels somewhat contrived. There’s even one (Hotel Californ......more

Goodreads review by Debra

"Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door I had to find the passage back To the place I was before" - Hotel California, The Eagles Hotel California is a computation of eight short stories with titles taken from The Eagles songs! There is even a new Jack Reacher story thrown in! The authors......more

Goodreads review by Pooja

In this anthology of eight crime stories, the reader is introduced to a quite wide cast that includes multiple hitmen and detectives, a senator, an influencer - and a whole bunch of victims. I don't read many anthologies, but I do make an exception for ones consisting of crime stories. I think the my......more

Goodreads review by haley

overall 3 stars but that hotel california short story… WOWWW i’m speechless......more


Quotes

“Get out your steely knives…this story collection from some of today’s top thriller writers makes for bloody good reading.” Brian Freeman, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep, Deep Snow

“With its edge-of-your-seat scenarios, shady personalities, and occasional touch of the supernatural, Hotel California delivers a gripping series of adventures with a mix of hopeful and horrifying outcomes.” Foreword Reviews

“If you like mysteries and twisted endings, you will love Hotel California, an anthology of new mystery short stories, by evilly talented mystery authors…These eight authors will captivate you with amazing details, history, and diabolical character development…If you love a good mystery, these stories are a must-read.” Book Junkie Reviews

“Eight tales with a twist. Make that eight twists…Expect, and enjoy, the unexpected.” Kirkus Reviews

“Don Bruns has gathered eight solid writers who do justice to the Eagles’ anthem and the album’s other songs while putting a spin on the stories behind the songs…Each story in Hotel California is well thought out.” Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun Sentinel


Awards

  • Voice Arts Award
  • South Florida Sun Sentinel Pick