A Vanishing of Divas

In his novel, ‘A Vanishing of Divas,’ Larry Long tells a mystery and suspense story about Kurt McBride, a lawyer who becomes more of a detective when he is hired by a wealthy socialite to protect her from an ominous person who is abducting her sorority sisters from North Western University of which she attended in the 1960s. For Kurt McBride, the events that unfold involve a suspenseful plot consisting of murder, black mail, kidnapping, and the sex slave trade.

In ‘Vanishing of Divas,’ the protagonist Kurt McBride is hired by socialite Carolie Safford from Tucson Arizona to protect her and find the person who is abducting her former sorority sisters. She feels threatened from a letter she received expressing intent on revenge. For McBride, the case becomes personal when he learns of his girlfriend’s death resulting from a car explosion.  Kurt McBride is a man who once dreamed of being a famous world class lawyer and become a member of the upper class of society. He wanted fame, wealth, and recognition. His journey to uncover the case of the missing divas causes him to reflect on his past ambitions, losses in life, his values, and what is important in life. He is a character with unresolved demons in his own past and undergoes a personal transformation as he faces the many dangers when searching for the person responsible for his girlfriend Clem’s death.

The plot of the story can be described as a “Who Dunnit?” It is filled with many twists and turns with diverse characters that range from divas with deep secrets, ominous characters, and ruthless characters. The result is a cast of colorful characters that make uncovering the truth a challenge for McBride and the reader. ‘Vanishing of Divas’ is an engaging page turner with unexpected events that will keep readers asking, who dunnit? It is a fun read with a surprising climatic conclusion. The book is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a good ‘who dunnit’ mystery.

Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services

Second Chance

‘Second Chance’ is a collaboration effort between Professor Daryl Green and his student Noriko Chapman during their time together in Lincoln Memorial University’s Master of Business Administration program. The book details an in-depth case study on a specific non profit organization’s resource allocation and operational optimization. It is written to provide non profit organizations with essential operational tools to make them more efficient and equipped to assist their clients in meeting their needs.

The case study featured in ‘Second Chance’ arose from Professor’s Green’s MBA operational analysis class and a project called the Real World Applications (RWA). The subject of the study involved the Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation Maryville Centre which took place from October 10th to November 30th 2010. The Maryville Centre supports area businesses by providing quality, timely, and cost-effective services by a dedicated work force.

The key issue of the study was how to establish high quality and stable production to maintain and grow business for the centre while providing recommendations to enhance the center’s operational efficiency in order to better serve clients and control effectiveness over the long term.  An emphasis is placed on the production capacity, client allocation, productivity improvements, and quality control. Various operational challenges, operational constraints, and opportunities found in problems are addressed. In addition, there is a focus on leadership, how to gain the confidence to navigate operations management, and how to apply concepts put forth in the book to resolve non profit problems and issues. 

‘Second Chance’ provides a comprehensive examination of the process of implementing a case study, how issues and problems were identified, and the benefits of applying operations management techniques to assist a non profit organization with becoming more efficient and effective. The case study itself is more than structural step-by-step process of business analysis because within the study, there are messages about the importance of non profits in our society, and it was also a personally meaningful project for Noriko who describes her experience when she was diagnosed with cancer. There is a spiritual message of gaining self confidence, overcoming adversity, and helping those in distress. The parallels of non profit work and personal self awareness are apparent - “…finding the true meaning of life for those who have suffered a traumatic event is a ‘Second Chance.’”

I highly recommend ‘Second Chance’ for anyone running a non profit as well as for business students. The book not only provides a comprehensive analysis of making a non profit more efficient and effective, but readers will be provided with compelling life affirming messages.

Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services

Nine Insights for a Happy and Successful Life

In his book, ‘Nine Insights for a Happy and Successful Life,’ Mitchell Gibson provides a self-help guide that consists of nine insights on how a person can change a life of sadness, emotional suffering and unhappiness, to a life that is filled with happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. He notes that the nine insights for a happy and successful life were inspired by his personal experiences and insights he acquired treating patients and stored in a journal. Gibson states in his book that he “hopes to provide a little light in a world in which millions feel isolated, empty, and without hope.” and “the nine insights come from the Creator and he believes they are His way of reminding each of us that we are unique and special to Him in ways that we cannot imagine.”

In ‘Nine Insights for a Happy and Successful Life,’ Gibson addresses such issues as our belief that money is the key to happiness, how events outside of our control will cause chaos in our lives if we allow it, how we have a tendency to not recognize the possibilities, and how our thoughts affect our outlook on life. He shows readers the path to a happy and fulfilled life through an analysis of techniques that focus on channeling positive energy internally and how to keep positive energy in our environment. This includes adjusting our attitude, how to assess, develop, and exploit the necessary skills to improve our lives, how our dreams can be a source of inspiration, and understanding that failure is about applying what we learned to make better decisions in the future. He shows readers the power of the open mind and how rejecting negative thoughts and accepting positive thoughts are essential to achieving happiness. A fundamental message of the book is learning to understand how our energies, whether positive or negative, influence our state of emotional well being.

For those who have been living in a cycle of negativity that has resulted in sadness, despair, and depression, ‘Nine Insights for a Happy and Successful Life is a must-read.’ It is presented in a thoughtful, reflective, and organized way so that readers will be able to gain an understanding about how thoughts affect our well being and that we have the power to gain control of our thoughts to break free of the unconscious conditioning of always focusing on the negative. The book is very insightful and readers will learn how develop important skills on how to get in touch with their true inner selves to make important changes both internally and externally so that they can live a happier and more fulfilled life.

Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services