Blanc Books

This book is amazing. This is one of a handful of books that have, and will continue to change my life.

What does American history feel like, look like to someone who lived through the twentieth century without a formal education? Mr Dawson wrote: "My turn had come. My first day of school was January 4, 1996. I was 98 years old..." What a heart-felt, inspirational, insightful story on the life of a remarkable man who never felt remarkable. This book has a special place on my shelves. A must read for every high school student taking an American History course. His common sense view of life, his humor, humility, appreciation for what we take for granted are even more valuable now than the day the book was published. It's timeless.

This book will change your outlook on life and help you to appreciate your life more. Also helps you to feel more kindness to mankind. It is the kind of book that should be in schools. It's a must read for everyone - a feel good book.

Life Is So Good
This is an excellent extraordinary autobiography of a wonderful person. Every student in the US should have the opportunity to read this book. It's breath taking.... dcw

Life Is So Good An absolutely fascinating autobiography as told by Mr. Dawson. His experiances of growing up in the South and his travels across America and Mexico make for interesting reading. His personal experiances of growing up black in a 'white world' provide insight into how different parts of the country and Mexico viewed blacks. His personal moral and ethical insights about life cut across all racial barriers. He is truly and an example of 'you are never too old to learn'.

Excellent for children to learn about the Bible. I'm using it to learn Spanish better. I will bury the Word of God in my heart in two languages!

I buy these bibles by the case as an evangeliziing tool - to give to people as gifts. Last week I heard a teenage girl light up in her group of friends expressing joy that this bible was a comic book - this made the others wish they too had listened and engaged in thoughtful discussion about the meaning of life. Of all the comic book like bible books, I like this one the best because it is very detailed and sticks to the words of the bible. It's good for all ages - helps people read the bible who otherwise would not, and learn the life lessons through biblical stories.

My parents purchased a Picture Bible for me in the early 1980's when I was a child. It truly made the bible stories come alive to me from a child's perspective. As a child it is sometimes difficult to visualize all the details within the a story of the bible but, the picture bible presents the stories in a pictorial comic-book layout that really brings it to life makeing it fun to read. I just purchased this picture bible for my daughther. It appears to be a reprint of the one I read years ago as a child. I would highly recommend it.

My Godson and his mother are really pleased with this Bible. It provides a good teaching tool, that is easier to follow than the King James version of the Bible. It is colorfully illustrated, and very easy to read.

I purchased this bible for my oldest daughter when she was only three years old. She has enjoyed reading this bible for years. I even went out and purchased this bible for my other three daughters as well since it was a hit with my first one. The pictures make learning the bible so much easier and make it so much more exciting to read for everyone. I would recommend this bible to everyone.

This is an outstandingly readable book despite its sometimes dark and gruesome accounts of things gone badly awry. Dr. Blanc is capable of causing delight even with material that might not be very promising in someone else's hands. He seems to have taken into account Samuel Johnson's adage that "what is read with delight is commonly retained, because pleasure always secures attention."

This might have been an angry and difficult book to read with the horrors it recounts, but the approach reminded me of Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" since the focus is widened from medicine and includes medical and chemical history, biography, along with references to arts and literature. Dr. Blanc's knowledge is clearly wide-ranging.

Dr. Blanc frames economic and political problems in a long historical view that makes it obvious that the problems are not new and our society is not much more wise than it has been in the past. The same problems keep happening over and over (literally, the same problems with some of the same substances that have been known to be poisonous since antiquity). Adding to that, new, untested items, some very likely to cause harm, come on the market with little consideration. We should be asking ourselves how it feels to be human guinea pigs.

Any thoughtful reader of the book will be lead to the question: When do we demand something better from the incompetent leaders who say, "Trust us, we know what's best for you" while they give in to economic pressures? When do we tell the people more interested in the bottom line than the value of human life to shove it?

Dr. Blanc presents a detailed and complex story that is well researched and fascinating. He appreciates the details, the personalities, and the discoveries even when telling a story that is a train wreck in slow motion.

Despite the implications from the jacket blurb, this is NOT a book that catalogs all the dangers around the average person. Dr. Blanc mostly limits the number of specific toxins he presents and gives fairly in-depth and interesting discussion of them.

Kudos on a book that is well written, fun to read (!), and insightful.

I admit that I bought this book for its title while in the midst of a book buying frenzy, thinking that it would be a run-of-the-mill, toxins in the home primer of sorts. I spent the first 20 or 30 pages thinking, "This book is not at all what I thought it would be. Why does it have this misleading title? Why did it have that misleading product description?" Even the reviewer's quote on the book cover is misleading: "A superb tool for making our homes, finally, a safe place to raise children." As another Amazon reviewer pointed out, this is just colossally crappy marketing.

When I got past the slight disappointment of owning a very different book than I thought I had purchased, I realized, as other reviewers have, that this book is an incredibly well-researched and well-written history of modern chemical development and its consequences. I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who is not only interested in how chemicals in our environment can make us sick, but also in how some of those chemicals came about and how they ended up in our households despite the fact that they are well-known toxins. Read this book along with Not Just A Pretty Face, In Defense of Food, Exposed, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, The Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, etc., to usher in full-blown outrage at the fact that our government doesn't do more to regulate the poisons that corporations are happy to pump into us on a daily basis.

Excellent history of how products are made and their affect on the workers that made them. Provides insight into what motivates the production of a product and illustrates how we arrived at a world surrounded by an unhealthy enviroment. Definitely worth reading.

If you are looking for how everyday products make people sick (toxins at home and in the workplace) try a book like What's Toxic, What's Not by Ginsberg & Toal, which does a fine job of covering this topic in a style that makes it easy to find just the toxins or areas of exposure that concern you.

If you are interested in the fascinating history of toxins in the workplace, this is your book. In engaging and clever narrative, Blanc tells the stories of toxins that sicken people, the often slow process of uncovering the source of illness, the eventual phasing out of the product (often because another product rendered it obsolete, not due to health concern), and the frequent return of the underlying toxin in a new product.

Blanc brings history alive with stories of individuals exposed to invisible threats. His narrative is supported by scientific analysis, providing a reassuring direction and momentum to a disturbing, sometimes frustrating, topic.


I am the Director of Education for the Foresight Nanotech Institute and the author of Technology Challenged: Understanding Our Creations & Choosing Our Future.

I bought and read this book together with Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power and I recommend both of them. This one is written from an occupational health perspective, and provides superb history on "the industrial disease" while "Exposed" is more from a public policy perspective.

The author mentions, and I plan to sign up for if I can, the Center for Disease Control (CDC)"Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report."

The author who started out focusing on workplace toxicity, also covers household toxicity, most alarming of which was paint emitting toxic vapors.

The author laments the manner in which the government, think tanks, and corporations are all doing a slow roll on toxicity, ignoring it, covering it up, or delaying action on it. The The Precautionary Principle in the 20th Century: Late Lessons from Early Warnings is nowhere to be found, in part because of The Republican War on Science.

Among the threats covered:

· Acids
· Arsenic
· Asbestor
· Chlorine
· Dyes
· Fibers (Asthma)
· Fumes from Metal (Lung collapse)
· Glue
· Lead
· Manganese
· Oil
· Plastics (Liver Cancer)
· Solvents (Benzine)
· Toxic Gases

The author is authoritative and not at all over-bearing in laying out the case against an ignorances of toxicity that is assuredly not in the public interest. He addresses neurological impacts as the most subtle and most frightening and most cummulative in nature.

His bottom line is that the pharmaceutical, industrial materials, and household goods industries are not doing enough testing and not getting enogh oversight. From this book one can easily see the varied government agencies nominally responsible for public health being phased out as was the Office of Technology Assessment.

The author notes that emerging toxins are of real concern, but that dollars and attention are being consumed by SARS, West Nile, and other biological threats (diseases are coming together and mutating in animal hosts, then jumping to human hosts, and becoming drug resistant more quickly).

Microwave popcorn lung caught my attention. As convenient as it is to use, the microwave evidently enhances toxicity of some substances, and we literally have no menu to follow in avoiding this.

My one disappointment is the lack of a table of toxic products, a lack of dollar figures, mortality and disability figures. I believe that a second edition of this book could be much improved, and as one reviewer notes, the rich history in the book given a higher profile.

The notes and index are superb and the book overall is of sufficient value to the public to warrant five stars. This is an important work.

See also:
Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health
Manufacture of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System
Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin
An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq

The federal government, at the political level in both Congress and the Executive, cannot be trusted to act in the public interest. Wall Street is beginning to realize that that the "true cost" of corrupting the government has been the hollowing out of America's population, and in my view, it will be the fund managers at Wall Street who must recognize the value of public health, just as the rich in NYC realized in the 1920's that disease is indiscriminate.

Excellent book.

This is an epic poem of some ten thousand lines composed by, arguably, Poland's greatest poet. It is a bucolic tale of country life with the background of the preparations for Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. It's also a love story of sorts, with undertones of "Romeo and Juliet". There are star-crossed lovers, feuding families, comical characters, loyal retainers, and a mysterious begging friar. It's all quite well done, and even though I'm not particularly into sing-songy rhyming verse, the attraction of the story, and it's thinly-veiled air of Polish patriotism, kept me reading on to the end. If you enjoy little-known Polish literature (at least little-known in this country) you will enjoy this book.

In recent years many of the East European authors and artists have been rediscovered by the dominating Western sphere of writers, artist, and the litterature critics. This book is one of the jewels resurfaced in the circles of scholars and historians, but also among the everyday reader. The story is a description of the then social sphere of the society, where people are born within a class and are influenced by it, regardless of they likeing it or not. This is realism and romanticism at best, entangled in a passionate embrace. A delight to read.

It is a masterpiece , national poem of Poland.It portrays polish society in early XIX century , its turbulant existence and longing for freedom .His other works include " Konrad Wallenrod" and "Oda do mlodosci" but You can also check other polish writers , like Henryk Sienkiewicz , author of the famous "Quo Vadis " , Czeslaw Milosz or Wladyslaw Reymont , all three, Nobel prize laureates .You will never look at Poland the same way .Enjoy reading.............r.c.

This Polish masterpiece reads in English rendition as it was written in English in the first place ! I thoroughly enjoyed over again the story, even more so than in original Polish. Kenneth McKenzie has done a superb job to keep the rhytm, rime and the emotions so close to the original. This timeless piece is a must to everyone who enjoys a great reading adventure, where the highest human values are treasured. Our contemporary writers and poets can only dream to approach the greatness of Adam Mickiewicz. To bad that this book is so little known in the world.

Mickiewicz's 'Pan Tadeusz' is a very well written and engaging account of Lithuanian provincial life during the Napoleonic Era. Yet, it does fall short of the level of masterpiece, and 'Pan Tadeusz' doesn't possess quite the same timeless quality as Pushkin's 'Eugene Onegin' or Goethe's and Heine's epic poetry. Yet, I highly recommend it, and it is well worth the read, both for its glimpse into a long-lost time and place and also for Mickiewicz's elegant prosy.

Just what it says: episodes from 60 of radio's greatest half-hour shows. Benny, Hope, Fibber & Molly, X-One, Suspense, Escape, even Quiz Kids! All top quality sound, with dates and magazine-sized "liner notes"! The best collection available; great for nostalgic listening or introducing latecomers to the magic of radio. Twenty cassettes, thirty hours.

If you're new to the subject of old time radio, this collection is a great place to start; find out about particular interests (e.g., westerns, mysteries, etc) and seek out new ones. P.S. "The Whistler" and "Bergen and Mccarthy" are the best of OTR, hands down!

A very good deal, especially for those who are not sure which shows may be of interest to them. The booklet is excellant and contributes to the enjoyment of the programs. Many hours of entertainment for a very small investment.

Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows clearly and fully lives up to its title as it showcases sixty of the finest radio program series to constitute the "Golden Age" of radio broadcasting. Ranging from Burns And Allen; The Lone Ranger; Dragnet; and Dimension X; to The Screen Director's Assignment; The Green Hornet; The Quiz Kids; and Songs By Sinatra; the 30 hours of programming in this magnificently presented anthology covers all of the diverse genres of popular radio programing from comedies, mysteries, and dramas, to science fiction, westerns, and variety shows. This superbly presented sampler is enhanced with a sturdy album case and a booklet which includes details and history for each show. A perfect introduction for new generations of listeners (as well as appreciative nostalgic old-timers!), Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows is very highly recommended for personal and community library audiobook collections.

If you're looking to get your feet wet in collecting recordings of American old-time radio, this is an excellent place to start. Every genre of '30s and '40s radio (except possibly news) is represented in this well-done collection. A great place to start what can become a lifelong hobby.

This book is a must read for the historical enthusiast! It was written by a knight about knighthood. The viewpoints and situations are very far removed from our preconceived ideas of the middle ages. It is written very well and reads almost in a 'modern' way. This book was difficult to read in some places, but for the most part was so interesting that I couldn't put it down.

An absolute romp, filled with fighting, romance and intrigue. A fictional story written in the fifteenth century about a knight that rivals any that ever lived and many that never did. If your after medieval fiction this is one you should have, it rivals anything that Chaucer wrote.

Sheer genius! A joy to read! If anyone out there has my copy - I WANT IT BACK!!!
If you are in anyway interested in the late middle ages, chivalry or early literature... BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!!

Once I read an essay about anthologies written by Jorge Luis Borges. All anthologies (he said, I don't remember the exact words, but I do remember the idea) are arbitrary conventions, but only time makes real, unforgettable anthologies. Although I agree with the Argentine writer, I must add that time is sometimes an unfair judge. So unfair that it left behind this masterpiece of Catalan literature, one of the greatest book I've ever read, a book that stands alongside such undisputable masterpieces as "El Engenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha" and "War and Peace". Joanot Martorell built the Universe. After reading his rich work, we cannot but regret how poor is the literature of our times, how narrow-minded are the presumptuous writers of nowadays. "Tirant lo Blanc" is not just a chivalry story. It's much more than that. It's a book about love and romance, about honor and war, about sex and chastity, about boldness and bravery. Its settings comprise several countries; it has more than a hundred characters, many of them richly portrayed with subtle psychology. We, readers of the twentieth-first century, use to look despicably at the literature of the middle-ages for we take the "dark age" as a decaying era between the classical times of Greeks and Romans and the Renaissance (Dante is an exception to this tough judgment). If you think thus, read this book and you'll find how wrong and unfair your pre-conceived ideas are. I bet you'll be surprised with Martorell's boldness in sexual affairs, with his mastery of plot, with the unpredictable behavior of his characters, with the unsurpassed richness of scenarios. You will find that the literature of our times is too conventional notwithstanding all the modernist and post-modernist' experimentations.
But, be aware: this book is just for those who really love literature. If you are looking for entertainment, please buy another book. You will not bear its slow pace, the endless dialogues and the sometimes boring letters the characters send one to another.

Writen about 100 years prior to Don Quixote de la Mancha, and the appearance of the modern novel, Tirant Lo Blanc is a refreshing and interesting masterpiece on Mideaval society, love and the rules that governed the nobility of the time.

Indirectly, it gives us a look at the lives of Catalan knights, troubadours, merchants, peasants, sailors and the clergy. The book is politically incorrect (thank goodness), and if you are tired of modern "cleansed" interpretations of life during the middle ages, you need to read this book. Be prepared for the unexpected, and also be aware that its structure will at times give you the feeling of a slow read. But, as I said, the material is pure gold!

I wish that this book had been written years ago. It is an excellent read.
A close friend recommended this remarkable book to me. I'm greatful he did because I was in need of this book.
I can tell the author has done his due diligence in researching goal setting and time management, and that he really enjoys writing about these subjects. I would pass this book on to a friend or family member in a heartbeat!

Self-help books rarely accomplish what Le Blanc is able to do in ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES MADE EASY! For starters, he does give his readers easy ways to set goals, manage time, and be more successful in their professional and private lives. In short, by accomplishing his own goal to offer practical tools and techniques, he helps us to make our lives more than simply manageable but more meaningful.

Le Blanc has clearly accomplished this in his own life, and nothing is more inspiring than knowing an author practices what he preaches. Presenting us with simple ways to help balance our days, select priorities, and have plans of action, he offers a platter upon which we can place our clutter, eliminate energy drainage and avoid the pitfalls of procrastination. Ultimately, he empowers us with motivation, the motivation we all need to be successful.

In the fast-paced rat race of 21st century life, Le Blanc offers building blocks to living with less stress, thereby increasing the potential for us to be more spiritual, while improving our finances, as well as our professional and personal relationships. He provides not only techniques but wisdom. Most importantly, perhaps, he gives us hope that dreams can be realized! Bravo! A real contribution!

Linda Appleman Shapiro, Psychotherpist,
Author: FOUR ROOMS, UPSTAIRS: A Psychotherapist's Journey Into And Beyond Her Mother's Mental Illness

Thanks to this book I'm able to do much more in less time ! Now I understand how important setting goals is and even more important how easy it is and the fun and joy it brings.

I've been jazzed to read the incorporated wisdom/life benefits of self-management as presented by the author.

I started purchasing the "Crossword Puzzle Mysteries" a few years back. I guess it was mostly because I am interested in crossword puzzels. I thought "What the heck." Much to my surprise the book was highly entertaining and kept you completely engrossed from beginning to end. Have purchased every one of the books and have never been disappointed. Always eagerly awaiting the next mystery to be unraveled by Roscoe and Belle.

J. Stevenson
San Jose, Ca

Very good. Puzzles were fun and the mystery was, too.

Crossword puzzle fans as well as mystery readers will thrill to another Nero Blanc puzzler that includes six crossword puzzles within its story of intrigue. Crossword editor Belle Graham faces new intrigue as she investigates the fire at the Collins family stables, drawing suspicion on a newly rich family. The blaze is blamed on a hard drinking barn manager - but as Belle and her P.I. husband Rosco probe further they uncover a complex net of lies which yields many possibilities. An outstanding mystery draws in even seasoned readers with a vivid plot.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Times are tough for the show and breeding stable King Wenstarin Farms. A fire burns down of the stables, but the barn manager Orlando with the help of the owner Todd Collins free the horses. A beam hit Orlando on the head and when he awakens; he takes full responsibility for the accident claiming he was drunk and tripped over a space heater. The insurance company wants to check his story out so they send P.I. Roscoe Polycrates to investigate whether arson instead of an accident caused the fire.

A couple days after the barn fire, Todd's wife Ryan is murdered by a hoof pick jammed into her temple several times. Following Roscoe's questioning of the main suspects, the sleuth thinks that at least one of them lies in terms of knowing more about the fire and homicide. When another murder occurs, a puzzle is found on the victim similar to ones faxed to Belle, a puzzle constructor and Roscoe's wife. Roscoe Belle insinuates herself on the case, not realizing the peril she places herself in by someone who wants the across and down squares left blank.

Though similar in theme to the previous novels, DEATH ON THE DIAGONAL is one of the best of Nero Blanc's delightful puzzlers with the clues found as always in the puzzles. The insight into a horse farm operation anchors the fun story line as well as presents several viable suspects with means and opportunities. Roscoe and Belle look to the puzzles for motive. Readers will enjoy this fine treat as the whodunit is cleverly devised to make the crosswords even more enticing.

Harriet Klausner

In Taneysville, Massachusetts, a builder is developing fifteen acres of land. The vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, just down the hill from the construction, meet to figure out a way to stop the builder. The noise and vibrations from the machine are damaging the church. John Stark, a vestry member, goes up to confront the builder. Unfortunately this does nothing to stop them. The people in town are quite upset as none of the local tradesmen were hired for this job. They brought in a foreign crew.

Then a skeleton is found by the construction crew. This stops the machines and workmen. The police take the remains to be analyzed and will not allow them to continue. They are concerned this might be a sacred Indian burial ground. So until the skeleton is identified, no work can be done.

Mitch Hoffmeyer, a politician who grew up in Taneysville, hires P.I. Rosco Polycrates to identify the remains. He doesn't want there to be any fuel his opponent can use. Then Rosco's wife Belle, crossword editor, starts receiving anonymous crossword puzzles with hidden clues. She and Rosco start asking questions and soon find that not is all that it seems in this little town.

The author has done a great job of describing the tensions in this small town. It is all very believable and I felt like I was there. All through the book you know the unidentified older woman in the nursing home is important, but you don't know until the end why.

I like this series because it is always set in New England and the plot is always more complex than you initially think. There are twists and turns that finally bring you to the conclusion but you can't easily figure it out ahead. I always think I have it figured out and then more information is brought out and I have to start all over again.

Please read this book. It is great! The whole series is too.

In Taneysville, Massachusetts, a builder is developing fifteen acres of land. The vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, just down the hill from the construction, meet to figure out a way to stop the builder. The noise and vibrations from the machine are damaging the church. John Stark, a vestry member, goes up to confront the builder. Unfortunately this does nothing to stop them. The people in town are quite upset as none of the local tradesmen were hired for this job. They brought in a foreign crew.

Then a skeleton is found by the construction crew. This stops the machines and workmen. The police take the remains to be analyzed and will not allow them to continue. They are concerned this might be a sacred Indian burial ground. So until the skeleton is identified, no work can be done.

Mitch Hoffmeyer, a politician who grew up in Taneysville, hires P.I. Rosco Polycrates to identify the remains. He doesn't want there to be any fuel his opponent can use. Then Rosco's wife Belle, crossword editor, starts receiving anonymous crossword puzzles with hidden clues. She and Rosco start asking questions and soon find that not is all that it seems in this little town.

The author has done a great job of describing the tensions in this small town. It is all very believable and I felt like I was there. All through the book you know the unidentified older woman in the nursing home is important, but you don't know until the end why.

I like this series because it is always set in New England and the plot is always more complex than you initially think. There are twists and turns that finally bring you to the conclusion but you can't easily figure it out ahead. I always think I have it figured out and then more information is brought out and I have to start all over again.

Please read this book. It is great! The whole series is too.

The small rural town of Taneysville in Massachusetts is usually a very quiet place but the residents are now in an uproar over outsider Alex Gordon buying the Quiqley farmhouse. The xenophobic townsfolk's don't want an outsider moving in and building more structures on the property. Members of the Trinity Church vestry are afraid the construction equipment will damage the structure of the church and local residents resent the fact that the contractor isn't hiring local people. All building is abruptly halted when a body is unearthed and the skeletal remains are found to be human body.

Forensics tests prove that the remains are that of a woman and that she was murdered. blow Newcastle private investigator Rosco Polycrates is hired to discover the identity of the woman and the person who killed her. Roscos's wife Belle Graham, a puzzle constructor for the local newspaper is being sent puzzles by a resident n a nursing home and that person seems to have some knowledge of the skeletal remains. While the duo pursue separate investigative paths, somebody torches the Gordon place and while trying to connect the arson to the homicide, Belle and Rosco solve an unrelated double homicide but are totally clueless about the identity of the murder victim.

Mystery fans that like a light, small town regional mystery are going to have a lot of fun reading CORPUS DE Crossword. The crossword puzzles scattered throughout the novel contain the clues that will enable the reader to solve the mystery. The two protagonists make a great investigative team in the tradition of Nick and Nora and their connubial bliss lightens the mood when they hit a bump in the investigation. Nero Blanc is a master when it comes to constructing puzzling mysteries.

Harriet Klausner

The day after Thanksgiving begins the annual Holiday Decoration Competition for the Paul Revere Inn located in the costal town of Newcastle, Massachusetts. Belle Graham, the crossword puzzle editor for The Evening Crier, walks through each room viewing it's magical holiday transformation, feeling the ambience of the history the Inn is known for. The Sisters-in-Stitches, a church sewing group, which is headed by 80 year old plus Sara Briephs, has been assigned to adorn the parlor where the signed original printing of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Paul Revere's Ride, hangs so proudly. As Belle wanders from room to room finally ending in the Inn's library, a black book catches her attention. Carefully she opens it up only to discover, it was a book written by a mother for her daughter filled with uncompleted crossword puzzles, with the clues belonging to recipes. Wanting to find the ownership of this book, Belle sets out on a journey leading her on a puzzling trail.

In the meantime, the Inn's most prized possession the "Paul Revere" poem has vanished. Belle's husband, Roscoe Polycrates, a PI, becomes involved to locate this priceless antiquity. Suddenly, the poem returns to it's rightful place on the wall but ET Whitman, a twelve year old boy hired by the Inn to shovel snow, discovers yet another mystery surrounding this honored piece.

"A Crossword's Delight" is a book filled with fascinating characters in a warm colorful setting telling of a delightful story. Anyone who loves mysteries, crossword puzzles and recipes will find this book a must have. As my first Nero Blanc book, it was a journey well enjoyed and I can assure you, it will not be my last.

It is the day after Thanksgiving and most everyone in New Castle, Massachusetts is at the Paul Revere Inn decorating the various rooms and completing for prizes. Belle Graham, the crossword puzzle editor for The Evening Crier, is looking at books in the inn's library when she finds a handmade book of crossword puzzles that a mother made for her daughter. Belle decides to see if she can find out who the mother and daughter were.

Belle's husband, private investigator Roscoe Polycrates is involved in locating a stolen copy of Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride that was attached to the wall of the inn. Twelve year old E.T. Whitman, who was hired to clear the snow from the inn, watches the guests to make sure nobody sneaks out with the poem. One morning the poem is back on the wall but, E.T. believes it is a forgery and when they take the poem off the wall, they find a hidden compartment in the frame. While Roscoe tracks down the thieves, E.T. helps Belle with the puzzles and gives her the clue she needs to figure out who the mother was who made the book and its puzzles.

Readers who like to do crossword puzzles will find this book A CROSSWORD DELIGHT. The puzzles are hard to solve because the clues center around the 1940's when the puzzle maker constructed them. It is fun to read a regional cozy that has no violence, gore or murders in the storyline yet still grips the reader. Although E.T. is a secondary character he plays a major role in helping Roscoe and Belle. Once again Nero Blanc constructs a clever and witty mystery.

Harriet Klausner

This trim and fun entry in the crossword-mystery series written by husband and wife Cordelia Frances Biddle and Steve Zettler under the pseudonym Nero Blanc is a delight, not only for crossword lovers but fans of light mysteries set during the holidays as well. Opening the day after Thanksgiving, as the annual contest of decorating the Paul Revere Inn for Christmas in 18th century fashion begins, the authors give their story the welcoming warmth of a fireplace when it's snowing outside.

Belle is the crossword puzzle editor for The Newcastle Evening Crier and is joining her friends Sara and Martha from the church sewing group to try winning a contest they've lost 4 years in a row. Morgan and Mitchell, twins and owners of the Inn, are constantly at odds over the expensive trappings Mitchell believes lends authenticity to the Inn's name. The original Longfellow poem hangs as a reminder of Newcastle's past.

When that framed historic poem is stolen, Belle's husband Rosco, an ex-cop turned P.I., looks into the matter. More intrigue surfaces when Belle discovers a book of puzzles written by an unknown woman to her daughter. The book is filled with delicious recipes, but the ingredients are contained within the puzzles, so that the crosswords must be completed in order to enjoy them. As added nostalgia, the clues involves the 1940's!

A young teenager named E.T. Whitman has a sorry home-life but a love of words and helps Belle and Rosco do some sleuthing on both mysteries, which may be connected. When the historic document is suddenly returned, it is E.T. who notices something different about it which leads to new discoveries about old crimes long hidden and forgotten. The solving of the mystery has an added bonus for E.T. I can't reveal.

There is a light touch and atmosphere which makes this a perfect read for Christmas. Rosco and Belle are a warm and fun couple, and their love for their dogs Kit and Gabby is endearing. Anyone who enjoys a light mystery with tons of seasonal ambience and warm likable characters will love this book. The recipes and crosswords are included, but Belle and Rosco, a.k.a.Cordelia and Steve, have included the answers at the back if you get stuck. A fun series and a great read!