Another Man's Treasure (novel)

Last updated
Another Man's Treasure
Anothermanstreasure.png
AuthorJames V. O'Connor
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  US
Genre Fiction (Mystery, Suspense, Romance)
PublisherPost Mortem Press
Publication date
August 11, 2011
Media typePaperback, eBook
Pages279
ISBN 978-0-615-51652-3
Preceded by Cuss Control (2000) 

Another Man's Treasure is a mystery-romance novel written by James V. O'Connor and published in August 2011. It follows Ted McCormick, a married home organizer in Albany, New York, as he searches for unknown, highly valuable objects in an old Victorian mansion. While doing so, he fights his growing feelings for another client, a flirtatious divorcee. [1] The book received largely positive reviews for both suspense and realistic emotional relationships. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Plot overview

The novel is based in Albany, New York. [4] Ted McCormick is a former Chicago stockbroker turned professional home organizer. [5] He's also a devoted husband to his wife, Mary, [6] a beautiful woman he married twelve years before. [2]

The difficult James Smith hires him to clear out all the junk in the cluttered Victorian mansion of his recently deceased father. Smith tells McCormick to look carefully for something of great value within the house, as he suspects his eccentric father hid something. [3]

Ted also begins to fall for one of his clients, a seductive and divorced single mother, Janet Blake. [3] Janet becomes involved in the search for the hidden secret in the mansion, and she and Ted discover a baffling clue. [2] Meanwhile, Ted's wife begins to suspect he is carrying on with Janet, and Janet's jealous ex-husband becomes threatening. [4] Ted eventually ends up making amazing discoveries that effect the entire city. [1]

Publishing history

The book was written by Illinois author James V. O'Connor, who previously published Cuss Control in 2000. It was published by Cincinnati-based Post Mortem Press on August 11, 2011 as an eBook and paperback novel. O'Connor first unveiled the book publicly on September 24, 2011, at a book signing at The Book Stall in Winnetka. [4]

Reception

The Wilmette Beacon said the book had " complex character relationships and mystery-romance style," [1] and the Pioneer Press wrote “Another Man’s Treasure is very entertaining, a book that will make you smile, and one you will likely pass on to a friend.” [7] Other reviews were largely positive, [2] [3] with one stating "James O’Connor brings together all the great crowd-pleasers – romance, suspense and mystery – to make Another Man’s Treasure an unforgettable and exhilarating read." [5] One review called it a story "that deals with work ethics, extramarital affairs and personal integrity." [2]

Writing process

O'Connor described the mystery-suspense novel as " not a how-to book [for home organization], but a tale involving greed and generosity, fidelity and temptation, and the complexity of relationships." [4] He has stated that he placed the book in Albany because of the large number of Victorian mansions. The main house is fictional, but takes place on a real street (Pine). Also, "I needed a city the size of Albany where some of the characters might know of each other or have heard of each other." [5]

Like McCormick, O'Connor is himself a professional home organizer, [4] and runs the company Clutter Control [8] for the Chicago area. He appeared on several national and Chicago television shows about organization, [9] including CBS Sunday Morning and The Early Show . [4]

He has stated, in relation to the main character, an organizer, “When you’re an organizer working closely with people and their personal belongings, you learn a lot about them. Some customers share their emotional needs and reveal family secrets. Organizers must promise confidentiality and avoid getting too involved in their clients’ lives.” [4]

About character creation, he stated "The protagonist thinks and acts the way I do sometimes, and the way I wish I could act other times. The main female character is modeled after an appealing and fun woman I used to know. The other characters just came to me. It was easy." [10] However, he has also stated that neither the situations nor characters in the book are related to his clients or projects. [1] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Treasure Island</i> Novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, telling a story of "buccaneers and buried gold". It is considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genre fiction</span> Fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre

Genre fiction, also known as formula fiction or popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thriller (genre)</span> Genre of literature, film, and television

Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. This genre is well suited to film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romance novel</span> Genre novel on the theme of romantic love

A romance novel or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primary focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the development of this genre include Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Evanovich</span> American writer

Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job. The novels in this series have been on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller lists. Evanovich has had her last seventeen Plums debut at #1 on the NY Times Best Sellers list and eleven of them have hit #1 on USA Today Best-Selling Books list. She has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson DeMille</span> American author

Nelson Richard DeMille is an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include Plum Island, The Charm School, and The Gold Coast. DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Ellen Kay and Brad Matthews.

Ted Dekker is an American author of Christian mystery, thriller, and fantasy novels including Thr3e, Obsessed, and the Circle Series.

Patricia Nead Elrod is an American novelist specializing in urban fantasy. She has written in the mystery, romance, paranormal, and historical genres with at least one foray into comedic fantasy. Elrod is also an editor, having worked on several collections for Ace Science Fiction, DAW, Benbella Books, and St. Martin's Griffin. She self-published a signed, limited edition novel under her own imprint, Vampwriter Books.

The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years, from 2005 to 2007. It was a "consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy".

Ann Maxwell, also known as A.E. Maxwell and Elizabeth Lowell, is an American writer. She has individually, and with co-author and husband Evan, written more than 50 novels and one non-fiction book. Her novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, and from romance to mystery to suspense.

<i>The Murder Room</i> 2003 Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James

The Murder Room is a 2003 detective novel by English writer P. D. James, the 12th in the Adam Dalgliesh series. It takes place in London, particularly the Dupayne Museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath in the London Borough of Camden.

<i>The Wrecker</i> (Stevenson novel) 1892 adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne

The Wrecker (1892) is an ocean adventure novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in collaboration with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne that was used sixty-five years later as the basis for an episode of the television series Maverick (1957) starring James Garner and Jack Kelly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Goldberg</span> American writer

Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels Lost Hills and True Fiction and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk.

<i>Skinwalkers</i> (novel) 1986 novel by Tony Hillerman

Skinwalkers is a crime novel by American writer Tony Hillerman, the seventh in the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series, published in 1986. The film version, Skinwalkers, was adapted for television for the PBS Mystery! series in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thriller film</span> Film genre

Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven James</span> American novelist

Steven James is the author of more than forty books, including the critically acclaimed Bowers Files, an eleven-book series of psychological thrillers that consists of Opening Moves, Every Crooked Path, Every Deadly Kiss, Every Wicked Man, The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight, The Bishop, The Queen, The King, and Checkmate. The series has received four Christy Awards and numerous other honors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane K. Cleland</span> American author

Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.

Amy Myers is a British mystery writer. She is best known for her Marsh and Daughter mystery series, featuring a writing team consisting of a wheel-chair bound ex-policeman and his daughter, and for another series, featuring a Victorian era chef, Auguste Didier. Myers' books have been favourably reviewed in Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. Myers has also been published many times in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Janet Hutchings, the magazine's longtime editor, called Myers "one of our best and most frequent contributors of historicals".

Brash Books is an American crime fiction imprint founded in 2014 by authors Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman. The main focus of Brash Books is to republish award-winning and critically acclaimed novels, primarily from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, which had fallen out of print. The imprint also publishes new crime fiction and suspense novels.

Jane Whitefield is a crime and mystery novel series written by Thomas Perry. The series features Jane Whitefield, a Native American (Seneca) who has made a career out of helping people disappear. The series is usually narrated in third-person perspective. Perry weaves Native American history, stories, theology, and cultural practices into each novel.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Michaels, Laura (September 13, 2011). "Mystery meets romance in 'Another Man's Treasure'". The Wilmette Beacon. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Fabiani, Laura (October 27, 2011). "Another Man's Treasure by James V. O'Connor". LibraryOfCleanReads. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Book Review - Another Man's Treasure". Dad of Divas' Reviews. January 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DeBat, Aimee (September 6, 2011). "Local Home Organizer Pens Mystery-Romance Novel". Trib Local. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  5. 1 2 3 Marie, Casee (December 9, 2011). "Book Review: Another Man's Treasure by James V. O'Connor". The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  6. ↑ "Another Man's Treasure: Review". StacyKnows.com. September 14, 2011. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  7. ↑ Kuzma, Lilli (January 2012). "A novel way to get organized". Pioneer Press .
  8. ↑ Blaser, Linda (September 20, 2011). "Lake Forest author publishes 'Another Man's Treasure'". LakeForester. Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  9. ↑ Hamilton, Elizabeth (February 15, 2012). "Interview". Best Ever You. BlogTalkRadio. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  10. ↑ Whitfield, Susan (October 3, 2011). "James V. O'Connor: Another Man's Treasure". SusanWhitefield.com. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.