Summer of Love
A Music & Murder Mystery
by Paul Martin
February 6-17, 2023 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
It’s 1967 in California’s magical City by the Bay—
a bold new era of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll…and murder.
Graduating from UC Berkeley just as the Summer of Love begins, twin brothers Jack and Bobby Doyle forge two different career paths. Jack heads off to Vietnam to serve his country, while Bobby remains in the Bay Area, immersing himself in the world of music journalism. As the summer progresses, both brothers witness death firsthand for the first time, Jack on the battlefield and Bobby on the drug-infested streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.
Their experiences are equally shattering, with Jack losing newfound comrades-in-arms and Bobby enduring the murders of two women he’d grown close to. Bobby’s traumas become as threatening as Jack’s daily perils when he falls under suspicion in the murder investigations. Conferring with Jack by letter, Bobby tries to discover who actually committed the crimes. As the Summer of Love draws to a close, stunning events overtake the entire Doyle family.
My Thoughts
Paul Martin has delivered a solid mystery steeped in the sex, drugs & rock & roll of San Francisco in the late 1960s and in the horror that was Vietnam. It’s clear that Martin knows his stuff when it comes to the bands and music that ruled the music scene, which at times results in overload for the reader. However, that feeling leads to a sort of vicarious thrill as you experience the total bombardment of ground-breaking music enhanced by psychedelic drugs that men and women like Bobby Doyle experienced during those heady days.
On the other side of the world, Jack Doyle experiences a very different set of bombardments, literally through warfare in Vietnam. While both brothers are dealing with life-changing experiences, they manage to maintain their bond as twins via corresponding by mail.
Martin does a good job of bringing both men’s stories to satisfying conclusions, giving us two older, scarred, and wiser twins by the end.
Fans of The Girls by Emma Cline and Laurie King’s Back to the Garden will enjoy this.
Praise for Summer of Love:
“Summer of Love follows two brothers, Jack and Bobby Doyle, through the terrifying and wondrous heart of the ’60s—one in the darkness of Vietnam and the other in the orange sunshine of the Haight-Ashbury, a tale stitched deeply into the historical background. Martin takes you there and he gets it right.” – Joel Selvin, bestselling author and longtime San Francisco Chronicle music critic
“A deeply immersing, character-rich plot…. With the skill of an expert storyteller and a special talent for bringing different pieces together to form a harmonious story, Paul Martin weaves together a spine-chilling and intense search for a killer, the brutal scenes of war, the thrilling and sensational moods of romance, and a relaxed and artsy atmosphere.” (5 Stars) – San Francisco Book Review
“Murder, music, and a tour of ’67 San Francisco power this literary mystery…. Martin exhibits a mastery of the city, from the level of the street as well as the cultural significance of its music and art…. The sense of a world spinning out of control pervades the novel…. Readers will not guess the jolting resolution…. A fascinating biography of a particular time and a particular place.” – Publishers Weekly
“This riveting page-turner set against the colorful backdrop of San Francisco in 1967 instantly absorbs the reader with its beautifully worded descriptions and vivid characterizations…. The author is expert at weaving fiction and reality so tightly they nearly become one.” – Lida Sideris, author of the Southern California Mysteries
Book Details:
Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: December 2022
Number of Pages: 310
ISBN: 978-1-68512-168-6
Series:A Music & Murder Mystery, Book 3 || This is a Stand Alone Mystery
Book Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Level Best Books
Author Bio:
Paul Martin is a former book and magazine editor with the National Geographic Society. His writing assignments have taken him around the world. The author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, he has also edited or contributed to a dozen other books on history, science, and travel. An amateur luthier and onetime vineyard owner and winemaker, Martin lives near Washington, D.C.
Catch Up With Paul Martin:
www.PaulMartinBooks.com
Goodreads
BookBub
Facebook – @paulmartinbooks
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It's All About the Book 
Nice review. I am almost finished with this one myself and I am finding it very interesting. I love reading about all the old rock groups I used to love!
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