Harm None: A Rowan Gant Investigation Book 1 -- BOOKRING

by M. R. Sellars | Mystery & Thrillers |
ISBN: 0967822106 Global Overview for this book
Registered by CheriePie of Campbell, California USA on 9/9/2004
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
21 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by CheriePie from Campbell, California USA on Thursday, September 9, 2004
This title is currently being offered in a BookRing. See this forum posting for details.
I'm willing to LEND books from my Personal Collection (PC) to RESPONSIBLE individuals, on the condition that you return them to me when you're done. Please see my profile for details.


MURDEROUS SATAN WORSHIPPING WITCHES

When a young woman is ritualistically murdered in her Saint Louis apartment with the primary clue being a pentacle scrawled in her own blood, police are quick to dismiss it as a cult killing. Not one for taking things at face value, city homicide detective Ben Storm calls on his long time friend, Rowan Gant- a practicing Witch- for help.

In helping his friend, Rowan discovers that the victim is one of his former pupils. Even worse, the clues that he helps to uncover show that this murder is only a prelude to even more ritualistic bloodletting for dark purposes.

As the body count starts to rise, Rowan is suddenly thrust into an investigation where not only must he help stop a sadistic serial killer, but also must fight the prejudices and suspicions of those his is working with--including his best friend.

Journal Entry 2 by CheriePie from Campbell, California USA on Monday, September 13, 2004
Starting a BookRing for the 4 books in the Rowan Gant Investigations series. See the forum posting at
http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/1071185/
for details and links to each individual title in the series.

This book is traveling along with Never Burn a Witch, Book 2 of the series. Books 3 and 4, Perfect Trust and The Law of Three are traveling together as a separate ring.

Current ring participants (last modified 08-Jun-2007):
· dufffy, CT, USA (ship Intl)
· mysterylady36, MO, USA (ship Intl)
· BrynnSC, SC, USA (ship Intl)
· BountifulPots, KS, USA (ship Intl)
· Metropolitan, Brazil (pref US/Canada)
· catsalive, Australia (ship Intl/surface)
· Ada2, Australia (ship Intl) (skip if no reply) skipped
· Alithia, New Zealand (ship Intl)
· cathepsut (formerly SpottedDolphin), Egypt (ship Intl)
· Kislany, Cyprus (ship Europe)
· CandyDarling (formerly Candy80), Finland (ship Intl)
· dodau, UK (ship Intl)
· NeedSun, Ontario, Canada (ship Intl)
· Heaven150, Alberta, Canada (ship Intl)
· MollyGrue, WA, USA (ship US)
· adrienne10, NE, USA (ship Intl)
· mwade78, CA, USA (ship US) req to be skipped
· innae, CO, USA (ship Intl) (already read Harm None, book 1)
· schoolinathome, AL, USA (ship ?)
· huntersmith, GA, USA (keep towards end)
· octoberskye, MA, USA (ship Intl)
· Morgaine77, Switzerland (pref Europe)
· morpha, NY, USA (pref US) <== book is LOST here
· explorer1118m, NJ, USA (pref US)
· Shawnna, TN, USA (pref US/CA, Intl if nec.)
· MaplesFlowers, TN, USA (ship Intl)
· boogal, NY, USA (ship ?)
· CheriePie, MA, USA <== returned to me
  • Send me a message if you'd like to be added to the ring. I don't mind adding participants after the ring has begun, but your place in the list will be determined based on your geographic location in conjunction with what is most convenient for the other participants.
  • The above list order may be amended to accomodate new participants or those who wish to leave the ring. Because of this, you should always check this journal entry, which will contain the most up-to-date version of the list, to verify whom you should send the book(s) to when you're done.
  • When ready to send the book(s) on their way to the next member, you should message the person following your own name in the list and request their mailing address. If that person doesn't respond to your messages within 2 weeks (to allow for vacations), skip over them and message the person after them instead so the book can continue to move along. Make sure to let me know if this happens so I can follow up with the skipped member to determine if they should be readded to the end of the list or removed completely.
  • Please post a journal entry here (1) when you first receive the book so we can keep track where it's at, and (2) after you've finished reading it and are ready to send it along. Of course, please include your thoughts and opinions on the book itself too. :)
  • For courtesy sake, please try not to hang on to a single title for more than a month as others are also waiting to read it. Since this book is traveling in tandem with another in the series, you could reasonably have them in your possession for up to two months. However, you should definitely be able to begin reading the first title within a month of when you received it. If you don't think you can get to the book in that timeframe, you can request to be skipped over and added to the end of the ring instead. Just use your best judgement so as not to hold up the ring.
  • Remember that at the end of the list, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE RETURNED TO ME, not released into the wild. I enjoy rereading my favorite books over time, and lend them out to other people in my life too, who are not necessarily members of BookCrossing.

THANKS AND ENJOY THE ROWAN GANT INVESTIGATIONS!

Journal Entry 3 by CheriePie at on Saturday, October 2, 2004

Released 19 yrs ago (10/4/2004 UTC) at

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RELEASE NOTES:

Released to dufffy as first person in bookring. Packaged up on Saturday to be put in Monday's mail pickup.

Journal Entry 4 by dufffy from Coventry, Connecticut USA on Friday, October 8, 2004
next on my reading list. PArt of a book ring and I want to keep it moving.

Journal Entry 5 by dufffy from Coventry, Connecticut USA on Monday, October 18, 2004
sending on in book ring to mysterylady36

Journal Entry 6 by mysterylady36 from Ashland, Missouri USA on Monday, October 25, 2004
Arrived today in the mail. I can't wait to read this! Thanks.

Journal Entry 7 by mysterylady36 from Ashland, Missouri USA on Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Wow! I loved this book. I don't know much about Wicca, so that aspect is very interesting to me. This book also holds interest for me because it is set in St. Louis and I am about 1 1/2 hours from there. I keep trying to locate the different landmarks and roads mentioned in the book and so far I have been successful with some of them.

The story itself was very good. It held my interest and made me want to keep reading to find out the outcome. The characters and their relationships are developed in a way that made me actually care about them and the mystery kept me guessing. I did finally figure out where he was going with it, but it did take me almost until the end to get there.

As soon as I finish book 2, I will send them on together! Thanks for letting me experience these books!

Journal Entry 8 by mysterylady36 from Ashland, Missouri USA on Monday, November 22, 2004
Mailed to BrynnSC today.

Journal Entry 9 by BrynnSC from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland USA on Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Received! I've been poking around reading short little books waiting for these so now I'm ready to start on a series. :-)

Journal Entry 10 by BrynnSC from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland USA on Sunday, December 5, 2004
Harm None wasn't what I expected. I expected fanticiful witchcraft, extraordinary magic powers, ect. It didn't contain any of that. Rowan Gant is a witch. A real witch of the Wiccan religion. I don't know much about Wicca and was very interested in the explanations of different things related to it throughout the book.

Rowan isn't an all powerful witch defending off the baddies; he's a regular sorta guy who faces the expected difficulties of everyday life. When his previous pupil turns up murdered in a ritualistic way, he knows that it'll take a witch to find the murderer. Being able to 'tune' (for lack of a better word) himself in to the crime and with the help of his former pupil's spirit in nightmares giving him clues, Rowan slowly starts to unravel the mystery and convince his best friend/investigating officer of the truth of Wicca.

I was hooked on this book from the very beginning. I thought at first that Rowan's relationship with his wife was a little too perfect. Later I felt that their religion had caused them to be closer and more understanding of each other. Ben was a great authoritive character and friend to Rowan. While not, at first, believing in the things that Rowan could do, he stood by and trusted him. I only had 2 things that I didn't like. One was that a major suspect was named RJ. My son's name is RJ. I kept picturing a younger version of my hubby and thinking "RJ wouldn't do that!" lol Alright, I know that's not really justifiable. ;-)

For spoiler reasons, you'll have to highlight below to see what else bothered me:

We never find out what the killer is trying to accomplish. The murders were all leading up to something big, and I felt left hanging on that account. Maybe it'll come up in the next book...

Thanks for sharing your books, CheriePie! We have such similar tastes, that I know that I can trust a recommendation from you. ;-) On a side note, I was so engrossed in the book that I *had* to stay up to 4AM to finish it last night. LOL

Journal Entry 11 by BountifulPots on Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Just got these in the mail today and will start them immediately. Great timing as I just finished my last book today!

Journal Entry 12 by BountifulPots on Sunday, February 13, 2005
I highly enjoyed this one! Interesting characters, fun interplay between them, intriguing storyline. I will DEFINITELY have to keep up on this series!

Journal Entry 13 by Metropolitan from São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil on Friday, March 18, 2005
Received books safely today. I have one ring book ahead of it, but I'll be as quick as I can. Thanks!

Journal Entry 14 by Metropolitan from São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil on Saturday, April 9, 2005
I enjoyed the book, was interested in the alternate religion aspect of it.
It had me on the edge of my seat in many parts. I found the characters well described and the language easy to understand.

The book is already on its way to catsalive in Australia.

Journal Entry 15 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Book received today. Thankyou.

Journal Entry 16 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, April 28, 2005
Where have all the proof-readers gone? This novel would certainly have benefited from one. Apart from obvious grammatical errors, the use of the word emphatic where empathic was appropriate should surely have been noticed. Spell-check and grammar-check just don’t do the job.

I swear if had I read one more bloody epithet to describe Felicity O'Brien’s head I would have screamed. We get the idea OK. She's a red-head. In fact, she's red-haired, fiery-tressed & auburn-maned. Aaarghh!!

The caring & sharing gets a bit cloying too. The characters seem to be trying to outdo each other in the who-cares-for-who-most and who-can-be-most-abject stakes. The author seems to be trying too hard both here & with the dialogue. Do we have to add ‘man’ to every other sentence? And if we do, shouldn’t it continue throughout the book & not stop half way through? Make up your mind Mr Sellars. Maybe these are just a result of first-book-nerves, and poor editing.

OK, having said all that, the story itself was very entertaining, if fantastical. As a suspense thriller it drew me in so I had to stay up late & finish it. I like the main characters, most of the secondary characters, and the cats and dogs, although the dogs seemed to have been slung in just for the hell of it. I like Rowan very much even if he is a bit slow on the uptake. Ben Storm is a great character too, if surprisingly sceptical of non-mainstream spirituality given his supposed Native American background.

My overall enjoyment of Harm None has me looking forward the the 2nd book, Never Burn a Witch, with great expectations. I’ll just have to put my inner pedant to sleep before I begin.

Journal Entry 17 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Ada2 is swamped so I'm posting this to Alithia today, 04/05/05.

Journal Entry 18 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Monday, May 16, 2005
I actually received this book last week, but due to exams have had to longingly look at them while reading cases. I've just finished those exams so will start reading these books as a de-stress. Will get through them as fast as possible and send them on.

CAUGHT IN CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND

Journal Entry 19 by Alithia from Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Monday, May 16, 2005
Oops... wasn't logged in... not anonymous... just braindead.

Journal Entry 20 by Alithia from Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Friday, June 3, 2005
I have to apologise. I do think that I have had these books way too long, and I can only point to my exams as the culprit. I have finished them and will be sending them along on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday).

I did enjoy this book, although I do agree with catsalive in that a little more care could have been taken by the editors. It was a good story for a stress release after exams.

I don't know why, but I was surprised that the main characters were guys, guess I brought into the stereotype that witches are women... naughty me, I should know better.

Journal Entry 21 by Alithia from Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Friday, June 10, 2005
These began their air journey to Egypt on Tuesday - can't wait for the next two.

Journal Entry 22 by cathepsut from Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Arrived here last night, thanks so much! Nice bookstring!
I am in the middle of a another book, will get to Harm None in a week or so....

UPDATE 24/06/05 - just finished my current book, will start this now! Sorry, I am not as fast as you other guys...

UPDATE 01/07/05 - I finished it yesterday and will send it on to kislany, as soon as I finished Never Burn A Witch.

I wasn't really sure, what I was getting. Witches, magic, something like "Charmed", but on paper? It turned out to be a pretty good crime novel with an alternative religion as a backdrop. The main character, Rowan Gant, is a Wiccan - a witch. Not one with a broom, not even an electrified one, but someone believing in a pagan religion. And Sellars makes it feel like the most normal thing in the world, even when it turns supernatural.

The characters are well drawn, Rowan is a nice guy - Sellars' alter ego, I am sure -, his police friend Ben Storm is a nice guy, the bad guy is really evil - perhaps a little one-dimensional and too sugary on occassion. And the style is a bit flowery for my taste. A lot of adjectives and the first sentence of the book made me scream and almost throw it into a corner in disgust, but the story is so good, that already during the first chapter I decided to ignore that and get on with it.

Very good, I am looking forward to the next one. Although the sometimes convoluted style and grammar make me cringe, it's worth it!

I am wondering the same thing as BrynnSC, but will not elaborate on it for spoiler reasons.

Linkage:
Official website of the author
Introduction to the Wiccan religion

Journal Entry 23 by cathepsut at mail in By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Monday, July 18, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (7/18/2005 UTC) at mail in By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Posted today from Egypt by EMS, let's hope the books make it safely to Kislany in Cyprus!

Journal Entry 24 by Kislany on Friday, July 22, 2005
Thank you, I got it yesterday and I'm already 100 pages in it. So far it's a good murder mystery with a wicca background. I've read, as I guess many other people, some books on wicca/witchcraft, and I noticed - so far - that Sellars makes a good introduction to the craft. It actually tries to demistify it, for which I give the book an extra point.
Will have to finish both books by the end of next week and send them on, as I'll be away for most of August abroad on holidays, and I don't want to hold up the books for the entire summer.

Journal Entry 25 by Kislany on Saturday, July 23, 2005
Just finished the book and I liked it. It was a little bit slow at times, but most of the time it had a good, fast going, and kept me wanting for more.

Since I see that everyone so far had a petpeeve with the book, I'll add mine too. It was the continuous use of the word 'slash'. Like in wicca slash witchcraft, etc. At first I found it midly amusing, but by the 20th occurance, amusing turned to irritating. Nevertheless that didn't spoil the effect of the book on me, which was great. I will start today on the second one (what else is good a Saturday afternoon if not for sitting in balcony reading a good supernatural mystery), and will post both books sometimes next week. Will go in separate envelopes to CD (I already have her address), as the shipping costs increase here exponentially with the added weight per package...

Journal Entry 26 by Kislany at on Sunday, July 24, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (7/25/2005 UTC) at

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Sending it to CD. Enjoy :)

Journal Entry 27 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Friday, August 5, 2005
The book arrived today. I'm really looking forward to this series!

Journal Entry 28 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Sunday, August 21, 2005
I loved this book! I just read through the reviews, and I can't really say much that hasn't already been said. I agree with mysterylady36 and BrynnSC, I was hooked from the very beginning, I thought the story was interesting and I had to keep on reading until I got to the end. I liked the characters in the book, didn't even find Rowan's relationship to his wife too perfect. I was only annoyed by two things: the author tries a little too hard in the beginning when he explains to the reader that wicca is not evil, and his description of Rowan's internet search made me cringe. I didn't find anything annoying about his language, especially compared to the books I've read recently. I must have been reading some really bad books... *cough* Christine Feehan *cough* Intrestingly, the author explains in the preface that the grammatical errors have been deliberately left intact.

I'm looking forward to reading the next books in this series. Sent to dodau August 22nd.

Journal Entry 29 by dodau from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Arrived this morning. I finished my last ring last night so will start this one later today.

Journal Entry 30 by dodau from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire United Kingdom on Sunday, September 4, 2005
While I found this interesting I struggled to read it for some reason. It just didn't seem to keep my attention and every slight distraction did just that, distracted me and made me put it down. Overall I did enjoy it though and I'll try another by the same author in the hope it will be easier reading.

Released 18 yrs ago (9/13/2005 UTC) at To the next participant in Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:


Journal Entry 32 by NeedSun from Perth Road, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, October 26, 2005
This book arrived yesterday. It took forever to get here. I have one book to read before it then I will send it again on it's journey.

Journal Entry 33 by NeedSun from Perth Road, Ontario Canada on Saturday, October 29, 2005
I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next ones in this series. The writer's style and "quirks" made the book more fun for me. Using modems to connect and waiting patiently for the start-up to complete....ahhhh.. the memories!

I have Heaven150's address so I can get this in the mail today.

Update November 1: Sent surface mail today to Heaven150.

Journal Entry 34 by Heaven150 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada on Monday, November 7, 2005
Received today. As I have no other rings/ray going on, I will start it immediately.

Journal Entry 35 by Heaven150 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada on Sunday, November 13, 2005
I enjoyed this book. The mystery was good and kept me interested. Not too gruesome, but enough to sometimes make you go "ewww"

As catsalive mentioned, the constant describing of Felicity's hair did get annoying. It seemed almost every new female character was introduced by her hair colour - strawberry blonde, auburn, fiery-tressed, etc.

And I found the dialogue between characters a little unnatural. They would get mad at each other and in the next sentence all is forgiven.

Besides that, I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I have a book for a relay that I'm almost done, so I will save myself a trip to the post office and mail them both out together in the next couple of days.

Journal Entry 36 by Heaven150 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada on Thursday, November 17, 2005
Mailed to MollyGrue today.

Journal Entry 37 by MollyGrue from Tacoma, Washington USA on Sunday, November 27, 2005
I'm looking forward to this one. Thanks for adding me to the ring.

Journal Entry 38 by MollyGrue from Tacoma, Washington USA on Thursday, January 5, 2006
Tightly knit, fast-paced book that was a very quick read. I now have high hopes for the next one. Thanks!

Reserved for the next reader.
DC# 03041070000256435273

Journal Entry 39 by MollyGrue at In The Mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, March 4, 2006

Released 18 yrs ago (3/4/2006 UTC) at In The Mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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RELEASE NOTES:

Happy reading!

Journal Entry 40 by adrienne10 from Seattle, Washington USA on Thursday, March 9, 2006
Received in today's mail. I have two bookrings ahead of it: one I am reading now and is a quick read and another. Will get to soon. Looks very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Journal Entry 41 by adrienne10 from Seattle, Washington USA on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Just finished this book. I'll be honest, when I read the description, like many previous readers, I was expecting something along the lines of Laurell K Hamilton, only with Witches. I did not read the journal entries, or I would have been swiftly disabused of that notion.

While I have read crime novels before, they are not my novel of choice. I did like the twist of how the crimes were being committed and how Rowan Gant, who makes his living doing something with computers (it was a bit vague), gets sucked into helping his detective friend solve the crimes.

MR Sellars loves his descriptions with his adjectives and flowery words. The constant addition of "man" at the beginning of the novel to all the dialogue lines drove me a little batty. I don't know people who talk like that, so it seemed forced to me, not natural.

I enjoyed this novel. I look forward to reading the next novel, which is sitting right here. I also have the next reader's address, so as soon I as finish Never Burn a Witch, I can pass both books along.

Thanks for sharing these books!

Journal Entry 42 by winginnaewing from Aurora, Colorado USA on Sunday, April 23, 2006
This one and Never Burn a Witch arrived yesterday. I have already read this one (it was good, hence the reason I joined this ring :-) but will keep it with Never for consistency.

Journal Entry 43 by winginnaewing from Aurora, Colorado USA on Sunday, May 7, 2006
Finally finished Never Burn a Witch and will be mailing it and this one off as soon as I have an address for schoolinathome. :-)

schoolinathome advises she has found other copies and already read these, so...they will be headed of to huntersmith soon!

Journal Entry 44 by huntersmith from Butler, Georgia USA on Sunday, June 18, 2006
Sorry everyone! I've actually had this book for a bit, but it got reshuffled into TBR somehow. This book was really good. It was really nice to read something that had almost everything right, ya know?

Journal Entry 45 by octoberskye from Brighton, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, August 17, 2006
Both Rowan Gant ring books arrived yesterday! I'm glad it's my turn and that the books have survived so far on this 2 yr journey! I'm in the middle of a book now that I need to read for a Sept. book discussion but these will be next.

Journal Entry 46 by octoberskye from Brighton, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
I finished Harm None last night and today I am moving on to book 2: Never Burn a Witch. I loved the paganism and the authentic explanation of many Wiccan rituals. I did get a little tired of hearing how great Felicity is. I also thought the dialogue was a little strained in places. But hey, conversations are not that easy to write. Definitely not bad for a "non mainstream" author. I got very involved in the mystery and was happy with the ending.

Journal Entry 47 by octoberskye from Brighton, Massachusetts USA on Sunday, November 12, 2006
On the wat to Morgaine77!

Journal Entry 48 by Morgaine77 from Münchenstein, Baselland Switzerland on Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Arrived safely in Switzerland, thanks!!! Please be patient with me, I'm trying to get to this book as soon as possible. :-)

Journal Entry 49 by Morgaine77 from Münchenstein, Baselland Switzerland on Friday, June 8, 2007
Finished reading this last night. I liked it; a nice murder mystery with a wiccan twist... Reminds me a bit of the novels of Silver Ravenwolf. Haven't read a book where males were the main protagonists in ages, so that was a fun change. :-) Am looking forward to read book 2 in the series, but will read somehting else first before getting started on it.

I already got morpha's address and I will send both Rowan Gant books to her during my US-vacation in July to save some postage. (gotta take advantage of that... ;-))

RELEASE NOTES:

Shipped off this morning from San Diego with Media Mail.

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