Callaghan Books

Child psychologist Dr. Anne Menlo lets her feelings of empathy overrule her professional judgement when she agrees to profile the last weeks of Kathleen Grayley's daughter. Kathleen doesn't know what happened to her daughter Rachel, because her estranged husband and his mother kidnapped the girl, taking her out of California to Arizona. The only reason Kathleen's husband called her was to inform her that their daughter and the housekeeper, died in a fire. ........ The grieving mother wants to find out if Rachel was a victim of sexual or physical abuse, but the case takes a criminal turn when the cause of the fire turns out to be arson. This development brings Anne's live-in lover, detective Bern Pagett, into the picture. Bern is decidedly not happy with Anne being involved on a case with him, since the last time the two of them worked together, they almost were killed by a madwoman (SHADOW OF THE CHILD). Bern's fears are warranted because somebody, presumably the same person who killed Rachel, tries to torch their house and kill them. Although they escape, the danger isn't over because there's still a murderer on the loose and Anne won't rest until she fulfills her promise to her client, even it means putting herself in danger once again. ........ This psychological police thriller is so suspense filled that readers will feel like they are stretched to the snapping point. Maxine O'Callaghan uses sleight of hand so well that the audience is constantly misdirected down the wrong path, leaving them think that they solved the story (not!). The finale is unexpected, dramatic yet believable, a combination that makes ONLY IN THE ASHES a top of the line thriller. The loving relationship between the doctor and the police officer fleshes out the characters, making them seem like three dimensional human beings instead of puppet characters. Let us hope another Anne Menlo work is out real soon. ........Harriet Klausner

ONLY IN THE ASHES is a great read. The characters of Anne Menlo, the child psychologist, and Bern, the police detective, have a depth and humanity that is rare in mystery fiction.

I was disappointed to learn that there won't be another Anne Menlo book out in the near future. The series possibilities here are endless.

Be sure to read Maxine O'Callaghan's other Menlo novel, SHADOW OF A CHILD, as well as the wonderful Delilah West series.

How could any book of essays by today's leading philosophers and thinkers not be absolutely excellent--and this one is!

Ralph McInery (Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame) was the author of numerous works in philosophy, literature, and journalism whose clear, persistent, and creative defenses of natural theology and natural law helped to establish a dialogue between theists and non-theists, a dialogue that contributed to the moral and political renewal of American culture in general, and providing some of the philosophical foundations for Catholic theology in particular. Recovering Nature: Essays In Natural Philosophy, Ethics, and Metaphysics in Honor of Ralph McInery brings together essays by an impressive group of scholars that includes William Wallace, O.P.; Jude P. Dougherty; John Haldane; Thomas DeKonick; Alasdair MacIntrye; David Solomon; Daniel McInerny; Janet E. Smith; Michael Novak; Stanley Hauerwas; Laura Garcia; Alvin Plantinga; Alfred J. Freddoso; and David B. Burrell, C.S.C. Recovering Nature is an outstanding anthology of thought and a fitting tribute honoring a most distinguished scholar, educator, and theologian of the Catholic faith.

Mr.Hilton's review of Document Examination is all encompassing. He covers the entire realm of documents made by pen, pencil, typewriter, adding machines, cash registers, check writers, impression stamps, paper examination and trace markings on documents such as latent fingerprints, impressed writing and accidental markings. He discusses how identification is made and more importantly, when identification can not be made. I have read his book many times, as a document examiner and highly recommend it to both document examiners and attorneys. Mr. Hilton covers what the attorney needs to know in preparation for trial and how to handle a questioned document case in court.

It's very important book for people who usally work in document examination, especially at goverment labs. I usally read that book every year (again & again!) and I always find something new for the documents examination. In my country we say "It's the A and the Z of our work" or "It's the start & the end on our work". It's a baseline book for every document examiner. J.D.Makris Athens,Greece

A really good writer. I enjoyed this book. The poet has a very distinctive voice. He is one of the younger generation of Irish poets who are really doing different things. I would highly recommend this book to any reader.

Conor O'Callaghan is a very witty young Irish poet, who shows that there is more to Hibernian verse than those talented Northerners we've all come to know and love. He writes movingly and funnily about the (superficially) unpoetic east-coast town of Dundalk, and the social, domestic and sexual claustrophobia of small-town life.

-I LIKE DOGS!- p.s. I am 15

p.p.s. Where the hell is my "Cats" Review.

This is a new edition of a novel I've always considered an early classic of the hard-boiled crime genre - written by an author who became better known for (a) being Hemingway's friend and (b) his later intense works of conscience, of social and religious morality.

Now I've got some support for that view by the new introduction in this edition by James Dubro. Dubro's has uncovered the real-life gang warfare that was taking place in Toronto and being reported by the Toronto Star where Morley Callaghan worked - and which obviously influenced him. Dubro argues that Callaghan's first novel may have been the first-ever in the genre of the gangster novel.

Strange Fugitive is Callaghan's first and, judging by it at the time, you might think he would become another James M. Cain.

Far different from Callaghan's usual earnest and tortured central characters, Harry Trotter is a rough, amoral figure who loses his job and his virtuous wife Vera on whom he regularly cheated. He drifts into bootlegging, becoming a leading gangster in 1920s prohibitionist Toronto.

Trotter is an uncomplicated strongman, who seizes what he wants, sleeps with whomever he feels like, wipes out competitors and never worries about whom he hurts. However Trotter keeps thinking about getting back with Vera. This and hints about his childhood relationship with his long-dead parents lead one to realize he is disturbed, though he is not introspective enough to realize this himself. The point of view is always that of the unperceptive Trotter. As a result, the important themes of the story are revealed between the lines, by the reader connecting random thoughts. It's all bubbling beneath the factual surface.

This is also one of Callaghan's most sparsely written stories. The narrative is delivered matter-of-factly, without a lot of adjective and adverbs, and with long scenes of sharp dialogue without attribution - again much like the hard-edged crime fiction just being developed then.

The dispassionate tone of the reporting, the author's voice never supplanting his subject's and with only a faint hint of irony, makes this the closest Callaghan comes to adopting the style being propagated at the time by his modernist colleagues like Joyce and Hemingway.

Compared to his later work, Callaghan in Strange Fugitive is depicting an earlier world, a more primitive character, and it's thrilling for the perceptive reader.

I want to file chapter 7 seven,due to total disabiliy!I have been since 1/21/93,and have no income.I am awaiting SSD & WCD. James K.Oberson

I first saw Mr. Viorst on PBS an an expert on Middle East affairs and was impressed by his keen insights. Considering that he is a Jewish writer living in the United States, he has established a highly independent and well-founded perspective on the state of Israel and its relationships with both the Arab world and the United States. After reading all of Henry Kissinger's writings on the Arab-Israel struggle, I found this book a wonderful counterpoint to the cold war outlook on Mideast politics taken by so many American administrations. I would compare it to David Shipler's perspective in his book on Arab and Jew; Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land. Perhaps with the end of the cold war, Mr. Viorst's perspective on the Arab-Israeli struggle will begin to find more resonance in the capitols of the western world. I would highly recommend this book to any serious student of Mid-East politics and history. In a time when we are fighting a battle against Osama bin Laden, Mr. Viorst illuminates the reasons why American policy in the Middle East may have, purposefully or inadvertently, helped to inflame so many Arabs while bringing no lasting peace to the region.

He also does an excellent job, through the political history of Israel since its inception, sorting out the movements, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, Zionist and Revisionist, etc. that have pushed and pulled Israel in conflicting directions over the past 50 years. For that alone, this book should be compulsory reading for any student of Israeli political history. While it was written in the late 1980's, it still shines a light on the events which have since transpired.

O'Callaghan's study was a Godsend to scholarly aficionados of the Cantigas. With his well-documented and readable style, he validates this enchanting set of manuscripts as a historical source. Amplifying his reading with more conventional primary sources, he presents an entertaining and focused biography of one of Spain's most interesting monarchs. The plates, although in black-and-white, are extremely useful -- one could only wish there were more of them, for the price!

This is an excellent guidebook, informative, easy to read and understand, am glad I bought it.

I recommend AWAKENED enthusiastically for anyone interested in the concept of personal spiritual enlightenment, as well as for seekers who are themselves considering visiting a guru or an ashram in India. The book is a wonderfully written and fascinating account of an American woman's spiritual quest at the feet of major Indian gurus, and of the challenges she encountered in a swami's ashram. I felt I was reliving both the joys and the tribulations of Michael O'Callaghan's personal search--intensely demanding at times, but ultimately enlightening and invigorating. Her use of imagery is illuminating and apt, and her descriptions of inner states in meditation and moments of bliss are among the best I've read.
-Gary Worthington, author of INDIA FORTUNES and THE MANGARH CHRONICLES