Collecting Books

What a fun read! How interesting it was to learn that there is a history of those wacky things we all made and that someone has been paying attention to the fact that there is a history! Thanks for enlighting us! And thanks for the inspiration to make them again.

This is an enjoyable read, with many photos that will take you back to the campfires, scout meetings and home-ec classes of your youth. Even if you consider retro crafts to be more junk than antique, you'll still find projects that will tempt you to break out the glue gun. I gave the book four stars because I do wish that a few more projects had been included. (As an example, she referenced the Reader's Digest Angels, but didn't include instructions for making them.) But overall, I think novice and expert alike will find something here that will inspire and entertain.

I love this book. I was not a crafter before I got his book. It inspired me to start crafting and even form my own crafting group with other moms.

Our foremothers had the same helpless inability to throw things away that we have today, only they didn't have recycling bins. This book shows what they made with tin cans, matchsticks and the like: craft items, some beautiful and some really, really ugly. Suzie Millions has been collecting these thingies for a lifetime -- she has an artist's eye for the good stuff and the really good bad stuff. This book shows you things you never knew existed, and what's worse, how to make them. As an added bonus we get photos of her amazing house, which gives new meaning to the word clutter.

My highest recommendation! A funny, soothing, yet oddly practical book.

I was truly impressed with the Retro book. It read well, loved the illustrations and pictures, and it rekindled enthusiasm for me to go be creative!
I may even look up my Mom's old apron!

This book is a must for US stamp collecting. Use it often to find hidden information.

As a newcomer to American Philately I found this work to be

erudite,logical in its layout and,most importantly,very easy to

read.

Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting is not intended to replace the requisite catalogue, but meant to supplement it. Its sixty-two chapters are divided into three parts. "Stamps of the United States" spans thirty-one chapters and covers definitives, commemoratives, special purpose stamps, and postal stationary. The first two chapters discuss postage before stamps and are well-researched and concise without being simplistic.

"History, Production and Technology" claims twenty-four chapters and covers the history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, United States Postal Service, and technology of stamp production. The last seven chapters focus on related collectables such as first-day covers, metered mail, seals, and cancellations. Appendix A is a glossary of terms. It is unfortunate that this glossary is not available as a stand-alone publication as it would complement a catalogue well. Appendix B and C are print and web resources. Appendix D is a list of benefactors without an explanation of their generosity.

Each chapter has an almanac, a reference for additional information, and relevant quotes from that period. Some chapters have notes for collectors or examples of postal usage. All of these addendums serve to make philately more interesting for novice and seasoned collectors alike.

Curiously, this publication has no index making it difficult to cross-reference issues that are cited in multiple entries. The term "encyclopedia" would imply that the book contains detailed information on every US stamp issued (until its publication). In this regard it is a disappointment as some issues are not covered at all, and a large number are given perfunctory treatment.

Generally, an interpretative review of the socio-political factors that prompted an issue or public reactions to it is lacking in its depth of coverage. Technological factors essential in the production of stamps are adequately covered and well presented. While the glossy pages enhance the vibrant color reproductions, these pages are not conducive to writing personal notes.

One can debate if the book is truly an encyclopedia. However, it is packed with interesting facts and insights making it a wonderful companion to any philatelist's United States stamp catalogue.

Armchair Interviews says: Great for stamp lovers.

This is a well put together book. It's very informative and entertaining. The full color illustrations are a plus. Overall great value for the money for any stamp collector, beginner or expert.

I HAVE COLLECTED FOR OVER 50 YEARS AND I AM ONLY AT PAGE 35 OF THIS BOOK AND HAVE ALREADY LEARNED NEW THINGS. GREAT JOB!!!!!ANYONE WITH AN INTEREST IN U S COLLECTING SHOULD OWN THIS BOOK. GARY MARTIN

This book is EXTREMELY thorough. However, as a newcomer to the field, it was a tough one for me, as it seems the author already presupposes a fair amount of knowledge of coin-collecting jargon on the part of the reader (to be fair, perhaps it's my fault for not taking the "EXPERT'S" part of the title literally.)

I highly recommend this book if you already have some basic knowledge in the field. However, for genuine neophytes like myself, it would be better to get the basics from a source geared to beginners first (maybe COIN COLLECTING FOR DUMMIES.) I think this book would then be much more understandable and enjoyable.

--
"The Expert's Guide to Collecting & Investing in Rare Coins" is definitely worth reading. It is autobiographical and contains the secrets of his 60 years of success as collector, investor, numismatist, grader, dealer, auctioneer, ANA board member, and author.

Cramming six decades of numismatic life experiences into a single book is tough, requiring mental and spiritual strength. Doing this in a comprehensive, coherent and organized manner is unquestionably a laborious, taxing, onerous, and difficult task. Such a demanding project could only be achieved by the formidable Q. David Bower.

Mr. Bower is one of the most prolific numismatic writers of all time, he has written over 30 books and numerous articles and columns.This is by far the most important of his works and possibly the best ever, the quality of information & wide-ranging content makes it the cream of the crop, flower of the flock, pick of the bunch --whatever you want to call it.

It is full of valuable expertise, candid story telling, dealer & auctioneer trade secrets, smart buying and selling techniques and recommendations, and detailed descriptions of every US coin by type, complete with a close focus on: Rarity, Grading, Quality, and Value of coins. It also includes his recommendations and insights on Conferences, Life & Internet Auctions, Library, Protection and Conservation of Coins, Tokens, Medals, and Paper Money.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I Recommend this Book.

See my other reviews.



Official A.N.A. Grading Standards for United States Coins
High Profits from Rare Coin Investment
A California Gold Rush history: Featuring the treasure from the S.S. Central America : a source book for the Gold Rush historian and numismatist
A Guide Book Of Us Morgan Silver Dollars: A Complete History and Price Guide (Official Red Book) (Official Red Book)
The History of United States Coinage
The United States Gold Coin Collection
Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia
The Numismatist's Bedside Companion (The Numismatist's Companion Series)
A Guide Book of Modern United States Proof Coin Sets: A Complete History and Price Guide (Official Red Book)
The Inside Story Of The State Quarters (Official Whitman Guidebook)
A Guide Book of U.S. Commemorative Coins (The Official Red Book)
Coin Dealer Newsletter: A Study in Rare Coin Price Performances
American Coin Treasures & Hoards
Recollections of a Mint Director

Very informative, well written guide in investing in coins. The author possesses unquestionable authority on the subject and has a remarkably well-honed ability to write on an academic topic in an exciting manner. He is sharp-witted and enjoyable. The book is very complete and most importantly - relevant and timely. If you wish to invest and collect coins this is a must have guide.

This is a must have book for all coin collectors. It discusses the difference between investors and collectors and how one can become the best of both worlds, a COLLECTOR/investor. A wise collector can result in one becoming an investor as an after thought. The book is loaded with coin-related information that is too much to mention here but all valuable. The book has the history of the US instilled as part of the coin information. This is a book hard to put down. I have read many "coin-related" books but seldom find one interesting and informative enought (at least for me, to see my way thru from cover to cover. This book is a rare exception. BUY!

I read "Gold Rush: How to Collect, Invest & Profit With Gold Coins" by Mitch Battino and Arlyn Sieber (see my review of that book) prior to reading this book by Q. David Bowers. I'm glad I did because while the Gold Rush book was a very big disappointment, it made me realize just how truly good Mr. Bowers book is.

I have to be honest, coin books are generally NOT books that you read from beginning to end and find that you can't put down. This book is an exception - I couldn't put it down and I read the entire book from beginning to end.

Although I've been collecting for years, one thing I enjoyed about this book was that some of those obscure numismatic terms that other authors assume you know, Mr. Bowers will stop and take a sentence or two to explain the term. I really appreciated that.

Plus, where the Gold Rush book failed in the "How to Collect, Invest, and Profit," this book did an excellent job of showing how to do just that. It is not a price guide with outdated prices. It is an excellent reference guide with information that will never get old. This book will still be great 10 years from now.

This book has excellent chapters with hands-on advise and great stories to help explain coin market cycles, determining coin prices and value (not a list of coin prices like other books but goes into things like grading, rarity, and demand), history of the coin market and predicting the rare coin market, techniques for buying and selling, and chapters on collecting advise for everything from gold coins, commemorative coins, to paper money and tokens and medals. The only thing I would point out as that this book sticks to the U.S. rare coin market and does not discuss World coins.

I own more than a few coin books and this book has shot up to the top of my list as the "must have" book. Whether you are a new or experienced collector or investor (aren't we all really both), you will enjoy and profit from this book.

In the future, when I'm asked by new collectors what is a good book to get, this will be the book I recommend.

I really loved this book!! I could barely put it down. It had a great moral: everyone has something special. Anyone I've talked to that's read it has loved it.

My 3rd grade son has never liked to read until he discovered the Captain Underpants series. When a friend (also a reading specialist) told me "The Adventures of Ordinary Boy" is a book that her son hid under the sheets with a flashlight to read after lights out, I ordered one. It is the first chapter book my son picks up to read voluntarily. I am thrilled that he is learning that reading can be fun.

My 11-year-old read this book over a weekend. He raved about it. Yes - I said my 11-year-old SON raved about a book. It isn't easy to find books boys will like these days, especially after they've finished all their Harry Potters. I'll be getting #2 Ordinary Boy asap.

I stood in line for a free autographed copy of this book at the annual Book Expo last year so that I'd have something to bring home to my kids. I will gladly pay full retail for the chance to read the second installment. My 5-year old son and 7-year old daughter both loved it as a read-aloud bedtime story. The humor was delightfully age appropriate for all three of us (and I'm 50). The pictures captured just the right blend of superhero and silliness. We all tried to solve the mystery along with Ordinary Boy and his friends. It was great fun.
A year later, my daughter says she re-reads this book whenever she runs out of library books, and wants to know when the next book is coming out. Though the second book is probably at the library by now, I'm going to order one from Amazon so she can re-read it while waiting for the third volume. I hope they keep them coming!

Great book. The characters are very creative. There are pictures of the charaters too.

The storyline is about trading cards. My 10yr old son can totally relate and couldn't put the book down. Not only did he read, he understood the excitement of finding "THE" card everyone in the book was looking for.

Just a note, I could not find this book in any bookstore in my area, which really surprised me because it's a great read and it's hard to find such great & interesting stories for boys. So Kudo's to Amazon.

I purchased this wonderful novel at a local library book sale. What a lucky day that was for me. From the first chapter, I fell under the spell of this marvelous storyteller, Michael Kernan.

He draws us into the story of an impoverished 20th century New York grad student hired to translate and document the validity of a set of diaries found in a barn that were purportedly written by Frans Hals, a contemporary of Vermeer. As he translates the documents the young student becomes captivated by the humor and insight with which Hals tells his story .... ..and honestly so did I.

Kernans writing is so alluring that upon finishing the story, I had an urge to book a flight to Amsterdam to view Hals paintings in person.

If you are an art history buff or just like a well written, engrossing tale......add this book to your list of "Books I Must Read".

An excellent premise for a novel. A package is found in a barn on Long Island, addressed to an Art Gallery that has been out of business for over 100 years. Inside are four notebooks, written in Dutch. The front flap attributes ownership to Franz Hals, the famous 17th Century portrait artist - considered one of The Dutch Masters. Is it real or is it a hoax? A present day Gallery is given the job of finding out. Peter Van Overloop, a grad student forever stalled on his dissertation, is given the task of translating them and asked to correlate what he finds with the known history of Holland and of Hals and to tell of anything that might prove it to be false. Everyone is so careful and reference is made to the fake Hitler diaries and how many careers that hoax ruined. No one wants to go out on a limb here. Our story wanders back and forth between Peter, his lack of acedemic interest and lack of employability, his blah relationship with his girlfriend and his tenuous living situation and Haarlem, Holland in the mid 1600s and the life of an underappreciated portrait painter. Hals' work is always in demand but he's very bad with money. Everytime you think he'd get a break, like the great ability to invest in tulips when the world is clamouring for them, just goes bad for Hals (everyone lost money in the crazy tulip speculation of the late 1630s.) The diary is extremely authentic sounding (from my diaristic perspective) and a joy to read. Hals is an engaging diarist in the spirit of Samuel Pepys (Pepys is possibly the world's most famous diarist. He wrote in the 1660s.) and the detail is enough to be interesting, but not so much as to seem contrived. There are some major issues that keep the diary's authenticity in question, and ... And that's where my review stops. I wouldn't want to spoil the plot for any future readers. This turned out to be a very enjoyable book. And I learned a lot about the real Franz Hals along the way.

This book slowly seduces you into rooting for the diaries, the writer and the translator. Are the diaries by Frans Hals or not? You want them to be...but how could they be -- there is a separation of over 300 years! The author weaves an intricate pattern of present and past lives with the characters of Hals(?) and the translator. I read this in a week and just got SUCKED in. Buy and read if you like books with inserts from the past intermingled with the present.

I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this was a whole lot of fun! Frans Hals was a XVII century Dutch painter, a contemporary of Rembrandt and Vermeer. His alleged diaries are discovered buried in a farm in upstate NY. Peter, a perpetual and therefore somewhat flaky graduate student, fluent in Dutch, is hired to translate them. The book alternates from Hals' crazy life to Peter's crazy life.

I loved Hals, and throughout the book Peter falls for him too and takes a very personal and emotional interest on the authenticity of the diaries. The book can almost be categorized as a "thriller" because there is definitively a sense of mystery and urgency in it.

One thing I did not understand: whenever the focus was on Hals, the writing was superb:

* who would have thought of using the word `escutcheon' in that context?! (Read the book and you will understand!)

* Same thing for `retiring', as in `Corwin being extremely retiring and unable simply to state the problem and get an answer [...]'

* `I am not sure I can bring myself to love a God who limits our intelligence but not our stupidity'.

* `Besides, like most children, they are a hard lot when it comes to aged parents. The cruelty of good sense'.

But when Peter was on, the writing became somewhat amateurish. The language was simplistic, and there was very little depth given to certain aspects of Peter's life. For example, when he escaped to see his brother for the weekend, the entire episode is described in a mere couple of paragraphs. It felt almost like the author had used all his best juices for Hals' parts, and then for Peter's parts there was nothing left.

The ending was slightly abrupt for my taste, but all is well that ends well, so I was left a happy camper. I am very thankful for all the photos of the paintings. It really helped understand Hals.

For the record, this book was published in 1994, way before Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I haven't read it, but I saw the movie, and got the impression that life in Holland in the XVII century could not have been that steamy. Well, after reading The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals, I think my impression was wrong.

I can't believe I let this book sit in my "to be read" pile for two years. I was sucked into the story right away. I don't know anything about painting or the Dutch, but this book is fantastic! Very funny and wonderfully detailed. I am SO intrigued by the author's mixing of fact and fiction. Time to do some sleuthing of my own on the internet...

Very well put together. Easy to find items. Pictures clear and easy to see. Values for items included.

Wow, is this a mature book. It covers nearly every pattern I've run into, gives a good history and overview of nearly every one, has realistic prices, lists each piece, identifies and describes (yes, describes) how individual reproduction pieces can be spotted. The patterns are listed alphabetical.

The only way I'd improve on it (and this goes for all these books) is adding a little cross-referencing between similar patterns. I've had to write in the book "similar patterns: ..., ..., ...".

I have purchased many books in the past on depression glass, antiques, 40's, 50's and 60's era. But this book is my far the best written, best photos and gives the best details I have yet to see. I will be looking for others done by this author as well. I was suprise to see all the information that was put into this. Absolutely recommend for any antique dealer or collector of any type of glassware.

I thought the pictures were very clear and the details sharp. I liked the general layout of the text.

My wife is a very active collector of all types, manufacturers, styles and colors of depression glass. Over the years she has become quite proficient in her knowledge but always appreciates a good authoritive up to date source of pricing, photo and description. This photographic reference along with pricing has been a welcomed addition to her book collection. The book is very well done with clear photos and good product descriptions. Pricing will always be difficult to lock down in print as prices vary from region to region but as a reference source to see what direction and what pace the pieces are moving in value as compared to earlier editions of pricing guides, this book does well. I would see this book in the hands of both an experienced collector as well as someone just starting out to enjoy this facinating type of collectible. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained from this book.

I've always bought comic books for the cover art. But with tens-of-thousands of comics out there, it was almost impossible to know which ones to search for. Of course, if I remembered a comic from when I was a kid that was a start, but what of the thousands I'd never seen? I was a blind collector. Gerber's books cover almost every comic book published till about 1965! 20,000+ photographs...fantastic! Even if I couldn't buy them all, I could at least see what was out there. The only weakness is that some later issues of the longer running titles are omitted. I would liked to have seen them all, but can understand the desire to wrap things up. For the price of one good 1950's era comic you can view just about ever cover published...a very good deal.

What a [great] set of volumes. I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff. These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics. The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper. And there's 10's of thousands of them! Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector! Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast. These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!

What a [great] set of volumes. I am a huge comic collector, owning every issue of Spider-Man ever printed, but I am also a great fan and collector of various other comics, and a comic-history buff. These books are a joy to just flip through, learning about Golden and Silver Age comics. The pictures are gorgeous, all in color on glossy paper. And there's 10's of thousands of them! Well worth the money and worth their weight in gold if you're a true comic fan and collector! Might be a bit much for just the casual comic enthusiast. These 2 books and the two volume Marvel set are the standard by which all other collecting resources should be held to!

What can you say about two books that have 21700 comic book covers beautifully printed on gloss paper? WOW! for a start. No one is going to better Ernst and Mary Gerber's five-year labor of love to complete this project. If you collect comics from 1935 thru 1965 you need these. I don't collect them but as a publication designer I have an interest in the visual aspects of popular culture so I got a set...despite the price!

Open either book anywhere and start looking and it soon becomes apparent that this is a very comprehensive collection, I kept coming across comics that ran for a few issues, sometimes only one issue. Each cover has up to twenty-five pieces of information, essential for collectors. Many show a cover of the only copy known to exist. The first sixteen pages of each book has text about collecting comics and their values. I liked the page in book two that is devoted to ads that appeared on the back covers, strangely some collectors only go for these, if you do, go for a copy of 'Hey Skinny!' by Mike Beller and Jerry Leibowitz, surely the only book about the subject.

Author Gerber says on the jacket flap...''if you spend one minute examining each picture, eight hours per day, five days a week, it would require an astounding NINE weeks to complete the job.'' Nine weeks later have a rest and then go and buy the two volume 'Photo-Journal Guide to Marvel Comics' and start to look at a further 7700 covers!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I was amazed at the scope of this book, every cover from 1935-1965, and the labor that must have gone into compiling and producing it. Its extremely well photographed, carefully indexed, and the quality of paper and binding is excellent. For serious comic book collectors, it's worth every penny. A lifetime book.

Another story about Ernst, the young crocodile. It is a simply told heartwarming story showing the "out of box" viewpoint of a child. Wonderful illustrations.

I never would have thought of this concept for writing a book. Such a unique perspective. I bought 5 or 6 to give as gifts this Christmas. This book truly looks at life through a child's eye.

This is a sweet story about a young boy with an artistic imagination (Ernst the blue crocodile, the hero of a couple of other Elisa Kleven books...) Ernst goes for a walk with his older, more literal-minded brother, Sol, who is into collecting stuff like feathers and rocks and sea shells. Sol encourages Ernst to start a collection, too, but Ernst wants to collect magical things, like clouds or stars. He finally decides to gather up a bunch of puddles, because he can see so many other things inside their reflections -- a puddle can have flowers or clouds houses in it, as well as being all watery and wet. Ernst gathers different "kinds" of puddles together in one pail, and later uses them to stir his watercolors to life, when he wants to paint the things he saw. A lovely, allegorical celebration of artistic vision, creative thinking as well as the fun of doing things you like, even if other people think they're silly. Nice relationship btween the two brothers, too: Sol doesn't really get what Ernst is up to, but he isn't mean about it, and tries to encourage the younger boy to enjoy himself. Also, more of Kleven's delightfully detailed, kaleidoscopically colorful artwork, with plenty of stuff going on in the margins to capture the eyes of readers of all ages. This is one of my favorite Elisa Kleven books... Highly recommended! (Reissued by Tricycle Press in March '07.)

Ernst, the blue crocodile, wants to collect things. His brother Sol, a green crocodile, collects many different kinds of things.

The little blue crocodile thinks and thinks of the different things he can collect and decides that he wants to collect puddles. And he discovers that there are so many different kinds of puddles: shadow puddles, star puddles, cloud puddles, flower puddles and so much more.

Ernst uses his imagination and creativity to collect something that normally couldn't be collected. And along the way, Sol, learns to appreciate his brother's ideas.

The illustrations are busy, bright and provide children the opportunity to peruse the pictures and put names to new things.

Children and adults will enjoy sharing the adventure of Ernst and his collection.

Armchair Interviews says: Elisa Kleven is a children's book author and illustrator of many award-winning multicultural picture books.

This tender story about Ernst and his brother Sol touches the hearts of everyone. Our favorite birthday gift! It teaches us to respect the uniqueness in each of us. The incredible illustrations capture the imagination of young and old. We love reading this story over and over again.

In this second volume of her series for collectors, Barbara Conroy shares the details of hundreds of manufacturers that produced dinnerware for restaurant and transportation companies. The section on each manufacturer includes a detailed history, examples of the backstamps they used (along with date charts where applicable), copies of period advertisements, and *lots* of fantastic photographs showing the range of wares produced. This book is an invaluable reference, and a must-have for the serious commercial dinnerware collector!

I have had this book for 3 months and still have not put it down. Great source to I.D. all kinds of china and the date codes. I can't wait for Volume 3!

Two Words - "Invaluable Resource!" Any collector of Restaurant China should not be without this identification and reference guide. Can't wait for Volume 3.

I have been using both of Mrs. Conroy's books extensively for the past 2 months in preparing for the biggest research project I have ever done with restaurant, railroad, steamship, and hotel china. Book 2 on the date codes has been a lifesaver. It was not until about 2 months ago that I really realized just how much time and effort she had put into it making these possible. Having a handy reference (especially for backstamp dating of pieces) is beyond valuable. It is a "masterpiece."

A superb reference book for the serious collector / dealer. The appendix sections devoted to distributors, restaurants and hotel chains are special interest. Often collectors interests are in a narrow field - such a book helps to widen their appreciation of other collecting opportunities.

Okay, I'm hooked...attracted by a "Weedless Widow"! Even with the photo on the cover, I didn't "get" the title...I knew it would be something more pleasant than it would seem...but was surprised and amused at what a "Weedless Widow" truly is! Having wrestled with agoraphobia myself, I am sympathetic to Sheila's plight...and was quite worried about her in this mystery. Happy to know she's back with Greer and Jeff...and look forward to spending more time with them and Jeff's Woodie!

I don't understand why this excellent series doesn't stay in print. This book, the second in the series and published quite recently in 2002, is just as good as book one, Death is a Cabaret. I've scavenged the web to find the rest of the series. Luckily, the most recent titles are still in print, but if they disappear as quickly as the first volumes, you'd best get them now. The mysteries are excellent, the antiques information plentiful but not distracting, and the characters fully realized. This series is *excellent.*

I am fast becoming a Debbie Morgan fan. I have to say that I was encouraged to read the first book by my mother. I wasn't really interested in reading it because it was about antiques and I am not a fan of them. However I was wrong. That book is for anyone who loves a mystery. It doesn't matter if you like antiques or not. So I was more open to reading this one when it came out. However, I do have to admit that I was also wary. It seems that after the first book in a series, the others just start going down hill. I am very happy to admit that this isn't the case with this series. I would say that the second book is as good as the first one. I had some questions left over after reading about Jeff's wife, but that didn't stop me from loving this book. I think that the writing is just as good and that part of the reason I enjoyed this book more then the first was because she spent more time talking about Jeff and his life. She talks about his friends and what they mean to him and she also talks about his life with his wife and her fear of the great outdoors. I'm sorry that I don't know the name of that fear. I would say to anyone who enjoys a good mystery to check this book out because it has become one of my all-time favorite books out there. I can't wait to find out what happens in the third book. I think that Debbie is going to be around for a very long time because she is able to make all the books in a series just as good (and exciting) as the first one, which is a talent that not a lot of authors have. That is in my experience. So in the end I think that everyone should read this book because there is no way that you can't love it. I even think that you would be OK reading the second book before reading the first. You won't be lost because there isn't really any mention about what happened in the first book (in the second book), but I do suggest that you read all of the books on Jeff. Enjoy and I hope you are able to solve the mystery before Jeff does. Have fun reading everyone!

Deborah Morgan doesn't miss a beat with The Weedless Widow, the follow-up to her debut novel, Death is a Cabaret. This second book, reminiscent of Ravel's Bolero, a constantly building crescendo from the opening note.

The story begins innocently enough with Jeff Talbot, ex-FBI agent turned antique picker, preparing for a relaxing weekend of fishing in a tranquil Pacific northwest stream with a few of his cronies. Jeff's expectations of a worry free vacation quickly evaporate when he stops at his favorite bait and tackle shop and finds the proprietor on the floor, brutally murdered.

Jeff does his best to stay out of the investigation and let the local sheriff handle it but he is drawn back into the case when the lady sheriff enlists his aid in order to pick his brain regarding a possible connection to some stolen antique fishing lures. The more Jeff probes the purloined fishing tackle, the more nervous the perpetrator becomes. Things get really serious for Jeff when his wife is kidnapped.

This novel has just the right mix of characters with very distinct personalities, each drawn vividly enough to make the story easy to follow. Every person plays a significant role keeping the tale quite lively and the plot flows very well at an ever accelerating pace.

Deborah Morgan has another winner here, a very pleasurable read. I'm sure that Jeff Talbot will be around for a long time.

Ahah! Another second book that lives up to the expectations created by the first one. Deborah Morgan's first mystery novel 'Death is a Cabaret' was marvelous, I thought, and I'm delighted to say I was not one teensy bit disappointed in this one.

Jeff Talbot is a most interesting character, very real and multi-faceted, and one of the author's greatest strengths is how well she gets in his head. A former FBI agent, Jeff is now an antique 'picker' searching out delectable items for his antique dealer friends and acquaintances. His wife, Sheila is housebound, due to a severe case of agoraphobia. She's become a whiz on the web, providing valuable assistance when Jeff is out in the field.

The Weedless Widow is an antique fishing lure, appropriate to the setting of the Northwest US, in and around Seattle, where water is everywhere. Jeff and several of his pals--of varying backgrounds--have traditionally spent time at a fishing camp, doing the 'male bonding' thing, enjoying each other's company, the fishing, and good food. Until this current trip, when he discovers Bill Rhodes, the owner of The Weedless Widow and host for the weekend, lying dead on the floor of his fishing tackle and bait store, surrounded by an assortment of tropical fish. Not all the fish are dead, however, and one of the clues to the time of death is how long a certain fish can exist out of water.

There are several other esoteric-type clues, too; in a computer, for instance, or the recently-renovated home of the dead man, or the fishing regalia of the camp-mates. In addition, it seems that Bill's extensive collection of antique lures is missing, but Bill had been hot on the trail of the thief. Could this be why he was murdered? All in all, the clues are fairly distributed, and lead to the logical solution.

One of the better fictional characters I've met in recent years is the Sheriff who keeps the law and order intact. Colleen McIvers is recuperating from a bout with cancer, but doesn't let that get in her way, as she sifts through the various clues while searching for the killer.

Along the way, Sheila is kidnapped, and Jeff has to realign his priorities all the while dealing with treachery among those he thought were his best friends.

There is a webliography as well as a bibliography at the back of the book, providing information on the many sources consulted by the author during the writing of the book. It's a fabulous treat. Now, it's just wait for the next one in the series.