A Personal Invitation from Author Deborah Fezelle
You and your guests are cordially invited to the national book
release celebration and book signing of
The Evil That Men Do
a fiction novel by
Deborah Fezelle and Sherry Yanow
Friday, May 3, 2013
7:00 – 9:30 pm
Fieldcrest Estate
1346 Easthill St. SE
North Canton, OH 44720
Please bring any pre-purchased books for signing
Complimentary Hors d’oeuvres and coffee served
RSVP requested to order books by April 25
only by emailing or calling Kris Leiter
at leiterkris@gmail.com/419.544.2357
There will be an opportunity to participate in a fund-raising activity to help finance the filming of the web series
The Evil That Men Do
derived from the novel
Drawings for free prizes
By Dave Crookston
Retired Arts Writer
For The Independent
In Massillon, Ohio
“The Evil That Men Do,” a novel by Deborah Fezelle and Sherry Yanow, reads like a proof for the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory.
The theory, proposed in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy, of Hungary, in a story titled “Chains,” states that any two people on Earth are separated by a chain of no more than five acquaintances.
“The Evil That Men Do,” a title lifted from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” is a masterfully written cathartic and therapeutic exercise for Deborah motivated by the untimely death of her sister. Almost each page turn links one character with another in a plot that twists and turns from beginning to surprising end.
Deborah honored me with an invitation to review this book knowing I had never done a book review before but not knowing that my Myrtle Beach sand and sun reading material has been mainly from the “Dune” and “Star Wars” series. I was introduced to her in the 1970s when I reviewed her stellar performance as the lead in “Funny Girl” at the former Lehman High School in Canton, Ohio, and reintroduced to her in her playwright persona when I reviewed her “The Agency” (also co-written with Sherry Yanow) in July 2012 at the Kathleen Howland Theatre in Canton.
Also at her invitation, my wife Sally and I were pleased to applaud her as she was honored with an Arts and Entertainment Distinguished Alumna award by the Lehman High School Alumni Association in November 2012. I will admit to a bias formed in the 1970s when writing about Deborah. Please continue reading with that in mind.
I was totally drawn in by the novel. It opens with a bang, actually a “double-tap” assassination of a character who continues to be pivotal in the plot’s development. I became wholly sympathetic and empathetic with the protagonists in the book, the assassinated actor’s widow, their “son” (a disputed appellation), the actor’s long-lost brother struggling with grief and guilt, the motherly housekeeper, the widow’s friend to the end, the dedicated detective, and I think that covers it.
The storytellers weave the hereafter into the here and now in a deftly formed tapestry of intrigue and subterfuge that has at its pinnacle “The Mob.”
The scene painting and character development are expert and made me see and love or hate the characters and their surroundings.
The voluminous detail, the labyrinthine plot, the pace, the surprises leading up to the surprise “conclusion,” and the acceleration of the action at midpoint are thrilling and kept me immersed in the reading of the novel.
The storytelling technique is masterful and done in such a way that I can envision the book being transformed into the soon-to-be-released Web series directed by Deborah.
The book ends on Page 430, but the story doesn’t. Deborah promises a sequel to tie up loose ends. Thanks for the invitations, all of them beginning in the 1970s, and thanks for enriching my life with your many talents, Deborah. May you live long and share your art with others who thirst.
Robbins Book Review:
I just finished reading “The Evil That Men Do” by Deborah Fezelle and Sherry Yanow and all I can say is “Wow!” This is a beautifully plotted classic whodunit wrapped in a ghost story set amidst the bright lights of Broadway. The authors have captured the glamorous/sleazy world of show business perfectly, which isn’t surprising since Ms Fezelle spent many years performing as a classically trained actress. The characters are rich and three dimensional. The good guys are a little bad and the bad guys are a little good, just like real life. Even the most despicable of them is so vividly imagined that you wish they could find a way out of their predicament and go straight. Nick McDeare takes his place among the great gumshoes of modern detective fiction. Complex, tortured, irresistible to women- he thought love was for suckers until… Let’s have another adventure – now please!