First Chapter Review: A Change in Plans by Mike Martin

June 22, 2026 0 Comments


Thanks for visiting Literarily Speaking! 
Today's post is a first chapter review for A Change in Plans, Mike Martin's latest mystery in his Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. First, a little about the book....
 


Blurb:

 

RCMP officer Winston Windflower’s rare afternoon off gets interrupted when a hit and run turns into murder and he must pull together a team of Mounties from Newfoundland to resolve the crime. Following the money and fentanyl— and bodies—Windflower and his team join forces with police officers in southern Ontario to take down an international drug-smuggling ring.

Windflower must face personal doubts and fears when fellow Mountie Fil Romano is kidnapped. While the higher-ups at HQ make plans to give safe passage to the drug lords in return for Romano’s life, Windflower worries Romano will get caught in the crossfire. Windflower again looks to his friends and allies for help in the difficult hours and days ahead. 

╰┈➤Book Details

  • Genre: Mystery
  • Sub-genre: Cozy Mystery/Police Procedural
  • Language: English
  • Pages: 278
  • Paperback ISBN: TBA

A Change in Plans is available at Amazon.




Book Cover:

I've always loved Mike Martin's Sgt. Windflower series covers. Most if not all depict Newfoundland where some of my ancestors used to live. And blue is my favorite color! 

 

Favorite Quote:

He veered off the path about halfway down and was very pleased to find his desired location calm and untouched. He said a silent prayer of thanks to Creator and began his task. Some people would have thought of this as work, but Windflower found berry picking both meditative and spiritual. It reconnected him to the land and made him think of his early days growing up on the reserve in Pink Lake, Alberta. His Cree family would all go berry picking for the day, bringing a lunch and a kettle to make tea.

 

First Chapter Recap:

Chapter one has Sgt. Windflower preparing to go berry picking. Sgt. Windflower may be a great sergeant but he has soft spots that I was able to pick out from this first chapter. He may also be rough and tough but I was seeing someone who liked to spend good times with his family and members of his community. 

In the middle of his berry picking, Corporal Smira Gupta called from the bigger community of Marystown to let him know about a hit and run over there in Marystown. Even though Sgt. Windflower was off, his colleagues liked to keep him informed and the sergeant was grateful his colleague let him know. As it turned out, someone who didn't stop but kept right on going plowed into a woman causing her to go to the hospital and this greatly affected Sgt. Windflower so he decided to head over there to see if he could find out anything. On the way there, someone flagged him down and he stopped to see what they wanted. It happened to be the wife of his best friend, Moira Stoodley, co-owner of the Mug-Up Cafe, the best and only diner in Grand Bank. She tells him she just saw Mike Winger "that crazy-looking guy" back on the road and it looked like his wheelchair had tipped over. She said it looked like he was in bad shape with a cut over his forehead. She asked him if he needed help and he told her to mind her own business and went home. Very concerned, she thought she'd say something to Windflower so he could maybe check up on him.

Windflower found him and on the side of the road on his scooter, smoking a cigarette and yelling at people.

 

Keep Reading?

You know what I like about Sgt. Windflower? He is relatable. He's someone you wish was running your town - someone who you'd have over for Sunday dinner. Now I figure this Mike Winger may or may not be a large part of this story but after reading this first chapter, I thought it would be highly probable. Mike seems like a character and I'm wondering if he becomes the hero in the end...or I'm dead wrong and I don't know what I'm talking about. All in all, loved the first chapter as I love all of Mike Martin's books!

 

Rating:

I give this first chapter a 5 star rating!

   

 


Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 17 books in this light mystery series with the publication of A Change in Plans. 

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Visit Mike’s website at https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore 

┈➤ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin 


The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish: Living for God in Troubled Times Book Trailer #spiritual #booktrailer

June 15, 2026 0 Comments

 

Inside the Book

Title: The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish: Living for God in Troubled Times
Author: Luke Uebelher
Publisher: NCC Publishing
Publication Date: December 29, 2022
Pages: 124
Genre: Spiritual Transformation/Discipleship/Christian Leadership

goodreads add to

Here is a timely word for the Church of Jesus Christ, for those who have a true desire to know and to be pleasing to God. The parable of the talents, while not necessarily an easy word to hear, is a much-needed word for the Church today. Brother Luke has perfectly captured the word of Jesus in his exposition on the parable of our Lord. 

The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish is available at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/198843713X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538170248&sr=8-2&keywords=DARKEST+BEFORE+THE+DAWN%2C+MIKE+MARTIN

 
You can also watch this book teaser trailer at:

https://youtu.be/Wq41vs3Q90g

Review Corner: Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain #bookreview #bookcorner #reviewcorner

June 14, 2026 0 Comments

 




Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain is a searing, faith-anchored memoir of love, loss, and the long road back to oneself. When Marie’s husband dies without warning, her world fractures in an instant, leaving her to navigate the brutal, unfiltered landscape of grief. In the quiet of an empty house and the chaos of a shattered heart, she wrestles with God, memory, and the haunting presence of the man she can no longer touch but cannot let go.

Told with unflinching honesty and spiritual depth, Your Ghost traces the intimate, day-by-day unraveling and rebuilding of a woman who refuses to let tragedy define the rest of her life. As she confronts guilt, loneliness, anger, and the strange moments when his nearness feels almost tangible, Marie discovers that grief is not a straight line but a sacred, winding path. What emerges is a story not only of devastation, but of resilience—a testament to enduring love, stubborn hope, and the quiet miracles that carry us forward when we think we cannot take another step.


 


I went into this book with much trepidation. I knew it would make me cry. But...I am not regretting it one bit; in fact, my life has changed since I read it. I have had many deaths in the family over the course of one year and so my emotions are rather all over the place. Some days are good; some are filled with sad memories that one of my loved ones aren't here anymore. But let me get to the book. Marie McGaha's 'Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain' is one of the if not THE best books on the market to help you deal with grief and loss. While sure it's going to open up sensitive feelings and raw emotions but you don't go away hopeless. The author's story is heart-breaking but with the grace of God, she got through it. At the very beginning of the book, she writes, "Grief is not a single moment. It is a rupture, a tearing open of the world I thought I knew." Yep, totally agree with that. Marie's words are so eloquent, so finely written that it makes you stop to let them sink in.

 

Marie was married for twenty-three years. It was a good marriage and then cancer raised its ugly head and took her soul mate from her. Just. Like. That. She writes, "It is a murderer, taking lives with no remorse. It is sadistic, tormenting the body while mocking the soul. It is raw, stripping away dignity, leaving only pain and silence."

 

Marie was her husband's caregiver. She watched him grow weaker every day. This part made my eyes misty. My own husband did the same thing. Weaker and weaker every day. The thing is, Marie prayed to God every day. She prayed for a miracle but they never came and this I believe really will make you stop believing in miracles and have you doubt the existence of God. Marie writes, "I have learned to breathe in the undertow, to let the waves come, because they carry him back to me in fragments - his laugh, his touch, his presence in the ordinary moments of our life together."

 

Marie became a person she didn't recognize. She writes, "I am learning to embrace grief as a part of who I am rather than an enemy who stalks me." 

 

This, I believe, is when you start the healing process. But there's lots more to it.

 

I wish I could say I didn't cry while reading Marie's story. I did, several times, but her words actually helped sooth my own pain that reared its ugly head when I started remembering.

 

This is a beautifully written book about someone who just needs to make sense out of death. This is a woman who has no choice but to go forward and in so doing she tells a story of pain, and yet love. She tells a story about coming to terms with a life that never stops even though you want to stand up and yell "I want to get the hell off this!" It's the story of someone who thought about suicide briefly but doesn't. You feel like you just want to wrap your arms around her and say, "You'll be okay." That's all she wants to hear.

 

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. I would give it fifty million stars.  Marie, wherever you are, Godspeed to you and I'm sending hope your way and remember, Nathan is always with you.

 

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