Legal Books

I've looked up a lot of resources on the net. You can do so many things for free on your own, don't pay the services on the web to do it for you. This book will help a lot. I've found answers to all of my questions here, in simple plain English:

Naming your business

Trademarks/servicemarks

Pricing your work or goods

Taxation (including some great ways to save money on your taxes)

Web domain registration

Choosing the type of business you want to own (sole proprietorship, LLC, etc.)

Web sites and e-business

Location (working from home, leasing a commercial site, etc.)

Writing contracts

Hiring workers if you choose to

Changing ownership in the future

Marketing

And a lot more...

The book also includes many of the legal forms you will need both in tear-out page form and on a CD-ROM so you can print out more copies on your computer. This book is easy to follow and thorough. I highly recommend it.

I have always trusted Nolo products so this book was a given for me. I like the CD that came with it. It is a very well written, easy to understand book.

If you want info clear and concise....English!!! Better than those for dummies!!

Skip the Small Business Administration or state small business websites. Forget the "For Dummies" or "Idiots" guides. This is the one book you need to read if you're serious about starting a business.

From taxes to finances to planning entry into a market, Nolo's book covers the gamut. Starting a business sounds intimidating, but it's really not...if you have this book by your side. The CD-ROM has a couple of useful files, but to really get the most out of the book you may have to follow their recommendations for further reading. It's a great place to start, however.

And be sure to order the latest edition, as laws change! [I reviewed the 5th edition.]

I'm impressed with Hayman's ease in presenting challenging material in an integrated framework that is made remarkably easy to understand. This is an important work that challenges various assumptions you never realized you had, but that now you can't deny having made, and made without real justification. It is by provoking that kind of analysis that Hayman's work has the potential to make us all "smarter." It's rare to find a book that conveys such moral passion for a truly egalitarian society, yet argues for that society using such carefully constructed rational arguments, often citing emprirical and historical resources, while also tapping into the author's personal experiences. Highly recommended.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Nancy Levit *

In 1993 the Educational Testing Service renamed the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Amid controversy that the test contained racial and cultural biases, did not measure intelligence, and thus was inappropriately called an "aptitude" test, test officials changed the name of the SAT to the Scholastic Assessment Test. In 1997, the testing service again renamed its college entrance examination: the SAT became simply the SAT - initials only, no acronym, no squabbles over the meaning of aptitude, achievement, or intelligence. The same thing happens in workplaces all over the country. Employers pronounce that they make hiring decisions based on "merit" - and everyone nods.

In The Smart Culture: Society, Intelligence, and Law, law professor Robert L. Hayman, Jr., explodes the myths that everyone has come to accept about "intelligence," "merit," and "race." He then shows the ways in which law has been complicit ! in keeping these myths unexamined.

Hayman's thesis is simple and straightforward. We have bought into the very idea that there is a meritocracy, and that the meritocracy reflects a natural order. We assume that people succeed based on "merit." In actuality, those people who succeed - for reasons of race, property-ownership, and power - have been the ones who get to define "merit." Merit, as Hayman points out, is largely a definitional tautology: we identify certain characteristics we deem worthy (such as test-taking ability), and then call people who can perform those tasks laudatory labels ("smart"). We thus reward people who are worthy, based, of course, on the possession of the previously identified characteristics. Merit is not natural, Hayman says, "It is the carefully crafted product of centuries of cultural propaganda, a myth of natural inequality perpetuated by men in power - by a political, economic, and intellectual elite.&qu! ot;

Hayman makes the all-important link between race, me! rit, and intelligence. While our nation formally commits to equality under law, our culture still possesses deeply held beliefs about the natural inequalities of its citizens. From the time of its founding documents, our country promised equality. But declaring all men equal was not only a promise unfulfilled, it was a promise founded on a contradiction: the principle did not apply to women, slaves, and those without property. "A nation committed now to equality," Hayman writes, "remained fundamentally convinced that its people were, by nature, unequal."

This idea of natural differences between the races was promoted not only by Southern congressmen in the Reconstruction debates, but by the Western European "race scientists" of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the American eugenicists of the early 1900s, and the Aryan supremacists in 1930s Germany. It is a debate that has been resurrected in late twentieth century Americ! a by The Bell Curve.

The Smart Culture is a political history of the concept of intelligence. Hayman traces various projects of classifying human intelligence, demonstrating that the equation of intelligence and merit has little scientific validity, but enormous cultural appeal. Given the popularly accepted assumption that intelligence differences are a naturally occurring phenomenon, Hayman argues that racial equality will not occur until the myths surrounding intelligence are dismantled.

The Smart Culture is also a cultural history of the construction of race. This new racism, which is tied to our concepts of intelligence, and defended by arguments about "merit," is, as Hayman explains, really the old racism. The modern, righteously indignant and seemingly egalitarian calls for a color-blind society ignore the history and tradition of our treatment of race in America.

Despite evidence that the biological, genetic, and anthropological significance of raci! al classifications is modest, in America what we have chose! n to make count are the visible characteristics of race, such as skin color. For the Supreme Court, race is an immutable characteristic because of descent, ancestry, morphology, and physiognomy. Race, for the Court, and for most of America - white America, that is - is not a matter of culture, politics, economic enfranchisement, or lived experiences. "Racism," Hayman argues, "thus embraces not only the continued tendency to make of race what it is not - something biological, immutable, and inferior; racism embraces as well the refusal to recognize what race is - a powerfully significant social and political reality."

This review must come with a disclaimer, or perhaps a warning label. Reviews are supposed to be evaluations of merit. Having read what has gone before, you can probably sense the irony that is coming. Let me compound the irony of assessing the worth of Hayman's book with a confession: Bob Hayman and I have co-authored articles together! in the past. So for those of you who suspect that bias might infect this review, you may wish to stop reading before the descriptive project lapses explicitly into laudation.

Hayman's original research brings to life the actual debates of the Reconstruction Congress on slavery and racial differences, and he amasses the anthropological and genetic research regarding race and intelligence, but he drives his point home with stories. Hayman uses narratives to offer readers a glimpse into the formation of meritocracies. Each of the chapters in The Smart Culture contains a story, and in his stories you may recognize your childhood. The stories of Stephen and the Binky Fairy, Louis and the Jewish boy at the lunch table, Mrs. Sweeney's "retards," and Buddy, the impossibly stupid dog, all share a theme: the people in power are the ones who make the rules, who create insiders and outsiders, who name certain qualities or attributes and thereby make them important. The st! ories - sweet, wistful retrospectives, at times painfully s! elf-deprecating - are not to be missed, rivaling those from the great raconteurs of literature: Mark Twain meets Camus on the courthouse steps. In Hayman's stories, and his careful tracing of the political, scientific, and legal naturalization of race, are much broader implications than simply issues of racial inferiority. Systems of merit are everywhere, says Hayman. He describes how the territorial imperative of second graders at the school lunch table is learned, from aunts and uncles, from moms and dads. Hayman tells a story of schoolboys arguing whether the Phillies will take the pennant, and in the background, the girls in the class are a Greek chorus: "yea." Mini-meritocracies operate in sports (soccer games, football, sandlot games, Wall Ball), in school cliques, in gendered speech patterns, and in cocktail party conversations. They are manufactured. They are dangerous and destructive. And we make them.

The Smart Culture is more than a deconstruction! of the concept of intelligence. It is more than a painstakingly researched scientific, psychological, socio-cultural, and constitutional history of race. The Smart Culture is one of our generation's most powerful indictments of insidious racism and meritocracies - the kind in which we all participate, everyday.

* Nancy Levit is a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the author of The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law (New York University Press 1998).

Regardless of your views on the subjects at hand, it is hard to argue with the cases presented in this book as anything less then interesting and often times provocative. Divisive and dangerous as the issue of "snitching" in the criminal justice sector and the rewards it brings, this book provides plenty of examples of what can and does go wrong.

While all good things must come to an end, I'd love to eventually see a expansion upon this book and its premise.

Highly recommended read. I don't know where Brown's from but he definitely delivers a horrifically accurate image of growing up in drug-plagued New York in the 80's in Queens Reigns Supreme. In this recent work, Snitch, Brown tackles the flaws in police-informant relationships. Specifically, the measures informants reach when their freedom's at stake. Brown also sheds light on the dangers of stat-hungry prosecutors purely seeking conviction numbers before justice. If you have the slightest interest in criminal justice (or injustice) buy, borrow or steal this book. This is the ugly truth to the story of police cooperation....I wish this book would been published prior to the hype around Stop Snitching so it could have served as some sort of reference....one thing's for sure, Cam'ron is still a jackass.

This is an excellent and completely horrifying book. Academic critics like Prof. William Stuntz have documented the "pathological politics" of federal criminal law - an "iron triangle" relationship in which (1) the electorate induces (2) the legislative branch to increase the prosecutorial power of (3) the executive at the expense of the poor, withering judiciary. Sentencing guidelines -and especially stiff mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders- have raised the stakes of trial immensely. When defendants are given the choice to either: A) plead guilty to 1-2 years behind bars or B) exercise their constitutional right to trial and risk decades, it's simply no wonder that fewer and fewer cases make it into the courtroom. And this means less transparency, fewer appeals, less judicial review, and...yes...WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS! If, as Brandeis had it, "sunlight is the best disinfectant" who knows what is now growing in the darkness?

There can be no doubt that the current regime has turned US Attorneys into Grand Inquisitors. But should we worry? Why not "just trust the Government?" After all, there can be no witchhunts without false accusations and false confessions, right? This is where Ethan Brown's book makes a truly original contribution, and to my mind delivers the coup de grace to the existing federal system. The author demonstrates how that system runs on a strict and steady diet of "incentivized witnesses" - snitches in common parlance. Mandatory minimums can be a great incentive to lie and exaggerate if you are a "target" looking to roll over on your associates. But they also create perverse secondary incentives - in federal investigators and prosecutors - to skip the expensive and boring independent investigation. When all these snitches are coming to you with free eyewitness information, why bother with the hard police work? Brown persausively and devastatingly argues that the snitch has become a crutch for the Government, to the severe detriment of the rights of the accused and the integrity of the system.

This is an extremely important book because it is written from the perspective of a serious journalist for the lay public. Practitioners frequently lose the perspective to see how truly bizzare and unfair the system has become. The public, on the other hand, can't be expected to take much interest in the various subsection headings of the US Code. Ethan Brown bridges the gap for the lay public, and one can only hope this book brings some attention to this Kafkaesque nightmare.

"Snitch is a must read. With the current fascination with gangsters in America, and gangsta rap read what really goes on behind the scenes. All the bravado and thuggish attitudes is just for show because when these so-called gangstas get behind closed doors they are snitches on whoever and whatever, fabricating and lying on people. That is the truth of American Justice and Ethan shows it all with no punches." [...]

CPS workers, being trained in the social so-called-sciences, prefer to make child protection decisions based upon their own intuition and opinion, not facts and evidence. As someone who counsels parents of children who have been apprehended, this concerns me. It IS true that quite often the intuition of protection workers is correct, because protection workers are sensitive to the meaning of what goes on in families. What protection workers forget (or ignore) is that they represent the power of the state: no parent should be at risk of the state removing his or her child unless the state has hard facts and hard evidence to show the child is actually in danger.

This author is diplomatic about the way protection workers really don't want to have anything to do with courts and laws and lawyers and just want to do the right thing as their hearts tell them. But he is also very direct about how important facts and evidence are to enable workers to protect children IN COURT, which is ultimately where it counts.

This book should contribute to protection workers everywhere growing up about this issue and taking on the full weight of a difficult job, not just the fluffy-duffy new-age sensitive-feely my-heart-is-singing intuitive bits that they so much prefer. The author shows how to set aside emotional baggage and get the real job done, which is protecting kids from real proven danger, not indulging in recreational anxiety attacks about going to court.

This book does a great job of letting social workers know what we defence counsel are up to when we cross-examine them on the witness stand in a child protection case. Fair enough; social workers are usually delicate flowers who wilt on the stand if someone actually questions their decisions, but we don't want anyone to go into cardiac arrest while testifying. But this book misses the real point: the problem with social workers going to court is not that they are emotionally oversensitive about every little thing (although this is true), it's that they don't know how to make their case based on FACTS. This book does a good job of showing social workers how to stay comfortable on the witness stand (which is why I give it four stars), but it doesn't tell the second part of the story--- that social workers have to get over the delusion that their word is law, that the LAW is the law, and their job is to use good solid evidence (not just psychobabble) in court, if they really want to justify taking a child away from its parents. What this book really doesn't acknowledge is that social workers don't like courts second-guessing their decisions and that they prefer to run people's lives without interference from anybody, including courts and lawyers. That's why the social work profession remains junior league, amateur hour, disrespected and lacking in credibility. It's all very well to spell out the magic tricks in court for delicate social workers, as this book does, but the real challenge is for social workers to get over themselves and their little petty emotional reactions and get on with the job of putting proof together for court --- that's the real professional job, and this book lets social workers off way too easy. WAY too easy.

In direct clear language the author explains why court is sooften a place in which social workers give away their power and how totake back that power. His central point is that we already have atoolbag of skills to protect kids out in the world, and that these same skills can be used in the courtroom to handle cross-examination comfortably and effectively.

What I like best about this book is how the author clarifies that recreational anxiety about going to court is purely a personal choice. The concrete methods he suggests for maintaining comfort on the witness stand are all practical and do-able.

Every protection worker should read this book before going to court. It's outstanding.

I took a training workshop from the author and this book contains many of the ideas and techniques we used during the workshop. What I like the most about his approach is that he comes from a place of respect for the whole person, whether doing regular child protection work, or testifying on the stand, or living a balanced personal life. So much of our training as social workers is highly intellectual, omitting the huge emotional impact on the worker in dealing with families in crisis. Going to family court is a frightening prospect to most of us, especially the idea of being cross-examined by an agressive lawyer. This author shows practical, experiential ways of handling aggression by the legal system with professional tools that we already use everyday in the work itself. I LIKE being able to remain calm on the witness stand (and everywhere else in my life!) and this book showed me how to do it consistently and safely. I don't fear going court any more -- I used to have anxiety attacks beforehand every time -- and understanding the strategies used by defence counsel has enabled me to give my evidence calmly without reacting personally. Frankly, I can't say enough about this author. His book showed me how to protect children in court without losing it, and it also changed my life, for the better. The publisher has a paperback version which is much cheaper than the hardcover text book.

This book is hands down the best book published about Supreme Court clerks. Dr. Art Ward has written an exhaustive and accurate book that details the true role of clerks in the Supreme Court. It raises eyebrows and highlights that any discussion on the Supreme Court is incomplete without aknowledging the role of clerks. It is a must read by anybody interested in the Court or in judicial politics.

A book ten years in the making, Sorcerers' Apprentices is an intriguing and sometimes unsettling look at the world of law clerks. Most people know precious little about this field. Ward and Weiden provide an eye-opener.

Being a law clerk is to basically be a research assistant for a judge. Being that the United States Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, being a clerk for an U.S. Supreme Court judge (a `Justice') is the pinnacle in this field. As former clerks to a Supreme Court Justice, these young men and women will be the most sought after candidates at law firms across the country. Many will later be offered judgeships themselves.

After a decade of research, pouring through the personal papers of justices and court employees, and interviews with former clerks, the authors discovered that the law clerk went from being little more than a secretary in the 1930's to a position of enormous power today. Perhaps the greatest power is in the "certiorari process" of choosing what cases the Supreme Court will hear. Of the over 8,000 cases submitted annually to the Supreme Court, only a few hundred perhaps will be heard. It would appear that the law clerks suggestions to their respective Justices on which cases to hear has had a great impact on the types of cases heard. And changes on the constitutionality of specific laws in specific areas literally changes people's lives.

Another issue of concern is that for some Justices, the bulk of their decisions may come not from legal research, but from the opinions written by their law clerks. Some have gone so far as to say that in some cases it is the law clerk who actually writes the final opinion; the Justice simply signing it. Others point out that the opinions expressed verbally by law clerks to their Justice may actually hold more sway over a decision than the attorneys presenting the case.

Filled with quotes, text, research, analyses, and charts galore, Sorcerers' Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court is a revealing look at the workings of the U.S. Supreme Court. It sheds light on an institution that few in America have any knowledge about, but that affects us all. Ward and Weiden present nearly as many questions in this book as they do insights. Do law clerks have more power than they used to? Do they have more power than they should? Should this be rectified, and if so, how? In the end, Sorcerers' Apprentices is a fascinating look at a world few ever see.

The role of Supreme Court law clerks became somewhat controversial when former clerk William Rehnquist, then in private practice, wrote a highly influential magazine article in 1957 alleging that clerks asserted undue influence over their Justices which impacted on the Court's decisions. Since then, the issue has popped up every so often, usually generating much more heat than light in examinating the role of clerks. Fortunately, we now have probably as solid an analysis of the role of clerks as we will ever get in this fine book by two political scientists.

The authors have reviewed all printed material on clerks, checked judicial biographies, surveyed oral history collections, conducted extensive interviews, and submitted an extensive written questionnaire to 600 former clerks selected on a random basis. The picture that emerges is skillfully developed, with helpful charts and figures, as well as an exceptionally detailed set of notes and bibliography for those interested in further research. At around 250 pages, the authors have managed to strike a beneficial balance between detail and survey, so the narrative moves along smoothly.

The authors discuss all key issues relating to clerks: selection, their critical role in reviewing cert. petitions and making recommendations, the drafting of bench memos, serving as communication conduits and coalition builders between chambers, and the all-important and most controversial element, their role in drafting opinions for their Justices. I think it fair to say that the authors conclude that clerks do have influence in the Court's decision-making process, but not to the extent of manipulating results. The more substantial problem that emerges from the book is whether the Supreme Court has become too bureaucratized and "depersonalized" as each term the Court works its way through thousands of cert. petitions and cranks out it published decisions on argued cases. This situation raises serious issues, as does the role of the clerks and the issue of whether the Justices have abdicated any of their constitutional responsibilities. Fortunately, we are in a much better position to grapple with both these issues because of this fine and highly interesting book.

This book is a must read for court watchers. You cannot understand the modern court without understanding the role of the modern court clerk. Simply the best researched book on the topic.

A timely contribution to the Law. Without soul we are nothing. The pain and loss many lawyers are confronting and the open hostility in the law by consumers has to change. This work is a start of a journey to renew the law's soul. Best Practice may be the bridge between the lawyer and the consumer thereby helping to heal the soul of the law? I would welcome comment on this point.

A timely contribution to the Law. Without soul we are nothing. The pain and loss many lawyers are confronting and the open hostility in the law by consumers has to change. This work is a start of a journey to renew the law's soul. Best Practice may be the bridge between the lawyer and the consumer thereby helping to heal the soul of the law? I would welcome comment on this point.

This book is a must read for anyone who ever contemplates the law or being a lawyer. Especially for anyone thinking about attending law school! Sells, along with Thomas Moore, relates the imaginative language of Archetypal Psychology to the mainstream in this insightful discourse.

A must read for lawyers and law students. Wow! I first read Benjamin Sell's extraordinarily crafted "Soul of the Law" -- part anthropological study, part social commentary, part psychological self-help book -- as a young lawyer fresh out of a judicial clerkship, while searching for a firm job. It blew me away! What a grim portrait of the legal profession; of lawyers; of our legal system. Grim...Yes. But very telling! Had I read this book prior to enrolling in law school, I probably would never have went. With three years of my life invested, and a hundred-or-so grand in education loans to pay back, I deduced that I had no choice but to land that firm job. But the lawyer of today does not have to let his career consume him, the book ultimately teaches us. Purpose and fullfilment are, believe it or not, out there...maybe. "Soul of the Law" conjures the queries: Is it the dysfunctional profession that breeds dysfunctional lawyers, or did the egg come before the chicken? How do these undeniable professional dysfunctions impact the American justice system? Is the profession on a slippery slope to hell, or is there hope? Can a lawyer today lead a quiet, normal, happy life in spite of the profession's dysfunctions? If you're a lawyer, real "Soul of the Law". You'll relate! If you're a law student or a candidate for law school, you'll run for cover!

Good introduction to digital audio, but not much help in trouble shooting.
A good reference for the price

For non-audiophiles this book answers a lot of questions and clears up a few mysteries about the Live!, multi-speaker setups, surround sound, Dolby Digital and DTS, and PC sound in general. Very will written, enjoyable to read. Even though we are now in the "Audigy era", Creative's retirement of their Live! 5.1 line in lieu of a slightly inferior budget Live! 5.1 card is rather premature and clearly business driven (ie, push the Audigy series), since I am convinced that a Live! 5.1 system meets and exceeds the needs of many (possibly most) PC users, gamers, and movie watchers, and will continue to do so for several years. Its a great card with a lot of power left in it and this book really does it justice. True Audigy-brandishing audiophiles will probably find nothing new here, although they might still find it interesting to read

The collaborative effort of website developer Lars Ahlzen and software engineer Clarence Song, The Sound Blaster Live! Book is a complete and through guide to the single most popular computer sound card on the current market. Individual chapters deftly address how to physically connect the Sound Blaster Live! hardware and peripherals, configuring the sound card to play games, creating a music library, connecting MIDI instruments, and much, much more. An accompanying CD-ROM contains music and audio files, sample sound clips, SoundFonts, and useful freeware ans shareware in this succinct and useful guide which is especially recommended for anyone with a keen interest in quality computer audio.

Although some information has become obsolete at the time of printing, much of the audio-engineering technology and concepts still applies.

The book is by as far I have seen, the best reading material for the uninitiated in exploiting the use of sound cards. It also serves as a good external reference for developers as well, as there seems to be a lack of them in this area.

Like Strict Evaluation pointed out, the book is "encyclopaedic". A topic such as EAX itself is worth writing the whole book about. The authors deserves credit for covering so much breadth and depth.

I look forward to coverage of these topics, if there's an upcoming Audigy version:
- Code samples for using EAX
- Prodikeys (that'll definitely be interesting)

Allie Armington just wants to relax and take her mind off her current troubles, and that's exactly what she and her sister, Angela, aim to do during their impromptu getaway at a plush New Mexico spa. Unfortunately, any hopes they have of getting a little R&R are quickly dashed when a series of bizarre murders begin to plague the local area, culminating in the cold, calculated death of the popular town sheriff. To make matters worse, Allie is ostensibly connected to each of the murders by her mere presence alone, making her the prime suspect and the target of the vengeful wrath of the newly-appointed acting sheriff - who just happens to be the nephew of the beloved murdered official.

After Allie is eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, Angela decides that she's had all the "relaxation" she can take and quickly heads back home to be with her family. Allie stays behind, though, her natural inquisitiveness getting the best of her as she resolves to discover the truth behind all the suspicious activity in the area. She soon learns deadly secrets about the grimy world of drug trafficking hidden just beneath the surface of the spa's genteel façade. The deeper Allie probes, the more the mystery grows, until she finally realizes that those who pose themselves as allies are really enemies - and vice versa - and she finds herself square in the middle of more grave danger than she could ever have imagined.

Spa Deadly is a well-crafted, suspenseful tale of compounded intrigue that will keep the reader riveted with each fresh turn of the page. In masterful fashion, Louise Gaylord peels back layer after layer of misleading clues and duplicitous information, leaving you with only a faint hope of discovering where the real truth behind her unfolding mystery may lie - right up until the startling, eye-opening conclusion. Her writing style is unique and engaging, and her skillful storytelling and colorful characters captivate the reader's interest from beginning to end. A highly entertaining read.


Renee Washburn
Apex Reviews

SPA DEADLY, by national award-winning author Louise Gaylord, continues the saga of Allie Armington, an assistant D.A. from Texas. It is the third book in the series following ANACACHO and Xs. It does not disappoint! If anything, this book takes the mystery and suspense up a notch!

Allie Armington and her sister, Angela Bruce, have booked a 1 week retreat at the Cielo Azul - a spa near Taos. It seemed like a good idea when they were making the reservations as Angela was ready to give birth to child #3 and knew that she would need a relaxing break. Seemed like a good idea until they discover that the spa is managed by Selena Channing - who had once been an unpopular and unattractive girl that Angela had tormented through high school.

Yes, it SEEMED like a good idea until Allie and her fiance', Bill Cotton, started having problems. Now Allie wonders if she can trust him anymore.

And it definitely seemed like a good plan to relax at the spa until murder ensues and Allie is left with the proverbial "smoking gun."

SPA DEADLY will keep you reading at a fast and furious pace! And frankly, you will never see the surprise ending coming! Excellent book!

This is the actual book that the publisher asked me if I was interested in... Spa Deadly, An Allie Armington Mystery:Things are rough at the resort, in fact they're murder by Louise Gaylord. They also sent along the first two books in the series, so this installment had to wait until I got through those two first. But the wait was worth it. Allie once again finds herself in deep trouble, but just can't step away from the chase.

Allie's sister Angela has just had her baby, and really needs a break from everyone and everything. She drags Allie up to this ritzy spa nestled in the mountains of New Mexico. To their surprise, they find that the lady that runs the spa is a former classmate, one which Angela tormented unmercifully. That seems to be forgotten, however, and Allie tries to slow down and and settle in to a week of pampering. But that week ends prematurely with the death of another spa member, one who was overly bossy, broke many of the rules, and seemed to have a financial interest in the operation. The death mystery gets even deeper when Allie and another member stumble over another dead body while out hiking, one that doesn't look like a spa member but also didn't look like she deserved to die, either. Allie hangs around to try and discover who the murderer(s) might be, while Angela figures that heading home is a much better option. All the spa employees appear to have reasons to be involved, and she's also spooked by the appearance of a drug kingpin and her on-and-off lover Bill Cotton. Besides trying to stay alive, she has to figure out who is actually working for who in this bizarre business arrangement.

Gaylord has done an excellent job in this series. Aside from having an interesting cast of characters, she twists and turns the plot so much that you really *don't* know how it's all going to fall out once the final page is turned. I'll be keeping an eye open at the library for any further adventures of Allie Armington. It's a very good series...

Allie's sister, Angela, has just had a baby and asks Allie to go with her to a spa retreat for some much needed R&R. Allie's an ex DA and lately she's been having doubts about the stability of her current relationship, she reluctantly agrees to the trip. When they arrive an old school enemy of Angela's happens to be the owner and trouble keeps landing in Allie's path. Soon she is the only suspect in a murder.

Allie is a heroine who has an insatiable curiosity that lands her in trouble from time to time. She's not a bumbling or incompetent heroine though, and she faces danger head on and is able to take care of herself.

The actually mystery portion of this story was as mystifying as I had hoped and there are more twists and turns than a labyrinth. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, Allie would stumble across something that would leave me unsure and off balance again. The ending was a real shocker and I think had I been with the series from the start it might have made me a little angry - lucky for me I was new to the series and was able to enjoy the ending.

Although this is a series, I didn't find it at all hard to follow the story, I never felt lost with the characters or storyline. I am going to order the first two to read, however, as I enjoyed this one so much.

Cherise Everhard, August 2008

Sports Law gives a great understanding of issues facing today's athletes. Michael Jones takes complex legal cases and breaks them down into easy-to-understand ideas.

This book is ideal for University Sports Law courses, because of its scholarly layout; each chapter begins with a lawsuit, which is then broken down into relevant case law and highlights important facts of each subject. The reader is then given pertinent review questions and Internet sites for further thought and discussion. I enjoyed the appendixes where he had actual contracts and rules that athletes must abide by.

This book was fun to read as a sports law student and an avid sports fan.

The best book on sports and law I have ever read. Michael Jones has truly outdone himself and is a great compliment to the world of education. His approach covers every aspect of sports and the law. This is pretty hard to do considering that sports change everyday and so do the stories surrounding them. I feel that I have a true understanding of how athletics operate; not just in this country, but globally! Good Job!

If you are interested in the legal issues surrounding amateur and professional sports this book has it all. From the Olympics to the buiness of dealing with sports agents this book is a must read for students and lawyers alike.

Name the sports law area, and you'll find it in this book: contract negotiation, constitutional issues, team doctor malpractice, and much, much more. Don't let its "survey" nature fool you. Sports Law provides in-depth analysis of the key area of sports law. Each chapter in Sports Law begins with a "case study," which the author uses to bring the black letter law alive! Also, each chapter is chock-full of examples to illustrate difficult points. This book will appeal to all who are interested in sports, ranging from law students to sports enthusiasts. For example, Jones' insight into player/agent negotiation is something that every sports fan will enjoy. In addition to outstanding written matter, Jones provides real world examples of player contracts, and even gives readers reference materials, such as sports law websites for each topic. Finally, the layout of the book is superb: the index is comprehensive (another plus for students) and each chapter highlights thought provoking considerations of key points. Kudos to Michael Jones! This book truly stands alone and brings this muddled area of law into sharp focus. Others in this field should follow Jones' lead by balancing the academic with the practical. It makes for an informative yet enjoyable reading experience! Whether you're a student, lawyer, or sports fan, this book should rank high on your list of must reads and must haves!

A follow up to Supreme Chaos is coming out in June and it is better than the first. "A Price Too High: the Judiciary in Jeopardy."

Um, like I said, this book was good. Much better than several of the bad books I've read.

Judge Pickering clearly articulated how Congress has changed the judicial confirmation process over time and increased the Legislative branch's influence over the Judicual branch of governement. Very educational!

I hope millions of Americans read this great book by a fine man who was drug through the mud by the far left in US Senate and media and other leftist groups.