Dunne Books

I received my book in a very short time, in perfect condition, and have enjoyed it very much. I was unable to find this book locally, not even in the libraries, and am glad to have my own copy to keep.

Throughout the years, many authors have written mysteries that involve Key West. In the past, Tom Corcoran has lived in the Key's and knows what the culture and life style is there. In this book, The Mango Opera, Corcoran uses a unique writing style. While reading the book, you would get the feeling that you're watching a movie, rather than reading because of the number of people in which are involved. Corcoran's main idea is to get the reader thinking, and wondering who the killer is. Everything the reader knows is from the main character, Alex Rutledge's perspective. He gives the reader about a multitude of different possible suspects that keep you on the edge of your seat. As the author, Corcoran does a great job at making the reader think about what is going on in the book, sometimes the reader has so much to comprehend, that it's almost confusing. The reader often might question if Rutledge could be a prime suspect, because of his connections with the first murder, and then the rest of the girls that follow. Throughout the book, you will learn to trust your good friends, rely on them, and trust them with your life. Along with this book, it connects to two other books that Corcoran has written, all of which involve Key West mysteries, and are made to keep the reader wondering who the murder is. If your looking for a mystery and murders, along with some laughter, this book is a great choice for you.

Key West has produced many authors. Tom Corcoran is one of those. His past occupations have been very diverse, everything from U.S. Navy officer to AAA travel counselor. Now he is an author with a unique writing style. His ability to use imagery is amazing. He can describe a scene so that it is like looking at a photograph in your mind. Corcoran is a great mystery writer because he is also very good at foreshadowing. He can drop little hints throughout the book to make you think you know exactly what is going to happen and then throw you a curveball and completely turn the story around. He does a great job with characterization as well. As you read the story, you become familiar with the characters, as if it is someone that you would know as a friend. Corcoran is writing this book to show readers what life is like in the keys. It is not just a tropical paradise where nothing can go wrong. It is a real place where crime, corruption, and bad things do happen. The Mango Opera is about the deaths of some of some of the main character's friends. The plot contains corruption of the police, murder, theft, rape, jealousy and revenge. The author achieves his purpose because he makes it very clear that Key West is not all that it seems. Corcoran does a great job of introducing many characters so that it is hard to tell who the culprit is. Because of this, it is a good idea to jot down notes while you read so that you can keep the story straight. The universal truth is that it is hard to trust people unless they are your closest friends.

I was a fan of the Travis McGee series by John D McDonald. I found this book measures up quite well. Alex Rutledge is a character that has quirks of his own. He is not a Policeman or detective or even a doctor, but a photographer that feels he needs to help solve murders because he knew the victims and perhaps potential victims.
Alex does not own a gun, nor does he feel the need to use one. He uses logic and his brain to get to the bottom of the case, despite the complexity of the number of characters he must deal with, and the complexity of the characters themselves.
I just finished the book and promptly put more of the books in the series on my wish list.

The Mango Opera is a book that can be very confusing at times. Tom Corcoran does an excellent job of keeping the audience guessing all the way up until the end of the book. The Mango Opera is a mystery involving a forensic photographer, Alex Rutledge, who comes to terms with all of his ex girlfriends deaths. Corcoran implements many characters into his plot to keep the reader constantly guessing. It is also the thing that is confusing about the book; there are so many characters to keep track of. Throughout the book, I had to go back and reread certain sections to understand what Corcoran was talking about. Corcoran's purpose in the book I think was to show the extreme side of something. The entire book was all about revenge and the destructive things that come along with it. Hatch, Fernandez and Kemp all wanted revenge on Anselmo and Rutledge was just a coincidence. I think Corcoran did an excellent job of showing what happens when people are desperate for revenge. People should learn to either let things go or confront them at the moment. Walking around with all that hate for to long, it can affect someone eternally. His writing style is very traditional to other writers. What was confusing about it, it was talking a lot about the Miami scene and Key West. If you live nowhere near that, it can be confusing at times. The universal truth in The Mango Opera is to keep your enemies close to you, so you know who they are. It would also be to try and not make so many enemies as you go through life.

From the first time I heard her on the radio singing "Save The Country", I have been enamored with Laura Nyro. I loved her voice, piano and songs, and thought her work on New York Tendaberry was some of the best and most unique work I had ever heard. I also liked her looks and her demeanor. I liked her so much, I wrote her an affectionate letter via Columbia Records in 1969, but, to my regret, she never answered.

Michele Kort, in her outstanding biography of Laura, has made me feel like I did get a chance to meet her, afterall. Her writing pulled me in from the first page, and I felt like I was right along side of Laura as I relived her ascendancy to musical greatness. Ms. Kort informs the reader of many interesting facts, such as Ms. Nyro having been named by her musician father after the song from the classic movie, Laura, and that she had lots of training in voice but had fairly limited piano training.

Ms. Kort takes us through all Laura's albums, what was going on in her life when they were being conceived, developed and recorded, who produced and engineered them, who the other musicians and vocalists were, and the various negotiations Laura engaged in with the record companies to get the result she wanted. I found this information of great interest and I would not have minded at all if the book had been another three hundred pages.

Most gratifying was that Michele Kort has written a quite detailed book which gives the reader a very good sense of Laura and some of her idiosyncrasies, but she always treats her with the greatest respect. Over and over, through the many people who knew Laura and are quoted, one realizes that Laura was a genuinely sweet, kind person who was steadfastly more interested in the integrity of her music than any commercial success that others may have urged her toward.

I fully recommend this book to anyone, particularly to those who are Laura Nyro fans. After reading it, I feel even more sad that she passed on so early, but I at least feel like I got to know her a bit. While she never answered my letter those many years ago, I feel like I finally got to meet her and know her, and I'm even more enamored with her than before.

When this book came first came out four years ago, I was delighted to see it on the stands. Finally, Laura Nyro was getting her due, or at least SOME of her due. But oddly enough, I didn't find myself rushing out to buy it despite my being a fan of long standing. I wasn't so sure I really wanted to know all there is to know about Laura Nyro. I mean, sure, I had read dozens of magazine articles and reviews back in the day. I knew the rough outlines of her life, certainly, but her relative inacessability as a "public figure," made Laura Nyro "the artist" all the more intriguing as far as I was concerned. It may sound corny to some, but she revealed herself so completely through her music that it wasn't clear how necessary it was to know ALL the details.

I needn't have worried. SOUL PICNIC does not rob Laura of her mystery, does not seek to explain away her allure. Author Michele Kort is plainly a fan, but she did not know Laura personally, and doesn't try to create the impression that she has (or IS) the last word on all matters Nyro. There's still plenty of mystery to go around. But, like any good journalist, Kort pigues your interest about her subject. You come to know Laura Nyro a little bit better maybe. You also come to realize that you can never know her as intimately as you might wish.

I occasionally heard gossip about Laura Nyro back in the day. Even as a teenager growing up in a small town in Maine, some of my friends said knowingly (usually while taking a deep drag on a cigarette) that Laura was "gay" or "bi-sexual, doncha know?" How else could you explain that back cover on ELI & THE THIRTEENTH CONFESSION? There was even a former runaway in one of my English classes, a girl recently returned from a crash pad in the East Village, who claimed to know Laura and had these little snippets of gossip to impart. It was all very interesting, but even at age 16 I knew that was NOT the point Or at least, not the whole point.

Michele Kort's book actually implies that Laura did not actually have a relationship with another woman until quite late in her all-too-short lifetime. There was always those ambiguous lyrics to "Emmie," of course, and apparently she hinted to high school friends that loving another woman might be but one option open to her, but there is little evidence that even experimented much in that direction as a young woman.

Does it matter? Well, it does suggest that Laura, who was still in her teens when she started her career in the music biz may NOT have been leading the intense boho lifestyle that my runaway friend had depicted. On the other hand, what she was conveying in her music, even at that tender age, was as wild and free--and ultimately, as revolutionary--as anything coming out of the West Coast at the time. It may have just taken a little while for her life circumstances to catch up with her inner reality.

And for a few short years in the late 60s and early 70s, there was no one making music as intense or as vital as Laura Nyro. Unlike the early Joni Mitchell, she was only minimally influenced by folk music, even though her records often ended up in that section of the store. (Where else did you file a solo female singer-songwriter in those days anyway?) And, of course, Peter, Paul and Mary had covered "And When I Die" already, but anyone expecting a Joan Baez clone or a "Sweet Laura Brown Eyes," was in for a surprise. Nowadays it comes as no surprise when a woman refuses to be dainty and to play it safe, but to sing with the unbridled passion that Laura Nyro brought to her early work was pretty darn revolutionary in '67-'68. Sure there were other women breaking down sound barriers at the time, Janis Joplin and Tracy Nelson were belting the blues in San Fran and, of course, even during the folk scare days of the early 60s, there were not-so-ladylike powerhouse singers like Judy Henske who were stomping the blues when they weren't churning out Childe ballads.

But what Laura was doing was different still. It was less blues based than Philly Soul and Motown influenced. And throw in a dash of jazz, of Broadway, gospel--and OK, OK, some folk and classical influences, and you get the idea. Laura was the very embodiment of 60s eclecticism. You could even say that she was influential in getting Joni Mitchell to loosen up a bit, musically--although I have to say that while the latter artist admits that she took "some direction" from Laura, her roving sensibility have eventually led her in a more experimental direction anyway. But Laura actually got there first, and it's a crying shame that she is not more widely acknowledged as the innovator that she was, or for that matter, that nowadays she's scarcely acknowledged at all.

So Michele Kort's book offers something of a corrective to that sorry state of affairs. And it does so, by focusing as much on Laura Nyro's musical life as it does on the her biography. And believe me, I am fine with that. Had the book been more gossipy, I really would have felt that I was violating the privacy of one of the most elusive artists of her day, of any day really. I have to take issue with the capsule review from LIBRARY JOURNAL included above. When the anonymous author of same writes, ... there is perhaps too much minutiae regarding studio sessions, musical arrangements, chord variations, personnel changes, and industry infighting," I find myself shaking my head in amazement. The creative process, good sir or madam, the MUSIC is the thing. Yes, some might find such matters as her "ambiguous" relationship with David Geffen more, uh, "interesting" I suppose, but it wouldn't have mattered much if Laura Nyro's WORK weren't the product of genius.

Michele Kort's focus is really just right. It is her love of and feeling for the Art of Laura Nyro that makes her life's story so important. Laura was always true to her muse. And she deserves our love and respect for that. And Kort deserves our thanks for this compelling, generous and warm look at the life and art of one of the 20th century's great songwriters.

= Laura's song
Reviewer: jane from USA
A very thoughtful, well researched, and sensitive book describing the music and style of Laura Nyro. This book uncovers Laura's musical journey. It reveals a unique and uncompromising artist, whose drive toward emotional and musical honesty surpassed any desire for fame. Laura's unique sensibilities and moralities about her musical gifts were clearly integrated in an unusual style. The book reveals and integrity of spirit, while a quirky, unrelentingly controlling musical direction, that could drive others crazy. A great book for those seeking a greater sense of Laura's creative journey.

In my opinion, Laura Nyro continues to be one of the most underrated songsmiths in the history of American Music. While some record stores still file her under "Folk Music", Nyro's primary musical inspirations were pop, jazz and the vocal R & B and doo-wop stylings of the 50's. She also had an affinity for show music and her circle of friends included Broadway Icons Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. Her poetry was unique, as well. No woman before her had explored so many controversial and personal issues in their lyrics as Nyro did. Since little has been written about this Great American Artist, Kort's book is a welcome read and fills in alot of the spaces that fans have been wondering about regarding this very private person. The book is a little light on depth, however, and it reveals itself as more of a record of rememberings by people that were part of her personal and music business worlds, either fleetingly or for long periods of time. Kort treats her subject with great respect and reverance, however, and her affection for Nyro as an artist and as a person is reflected throughout this book. Although this book will, mainly, be of interest to Nyro's longtime supporters, hopefully people who are curious about who this woman was, and the art that she created, will go out and buy her music. If you have never heard her before, nothing can prepare you for CD's like New York Tendaberry or Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. She was a shining star, a visionary, and a pure artist who paid dearly for her musical vision. We will never see the likes of her again. Love you, Laura, RIP.

Considering the lengths Laura Nyro went to to keep her private life out of the public eye, it's amazing that we have this book at all, let alone that it's as well put-together as it is. Michele Kort does a first-rate job in showing the evolution of Nyro, her music and her outlook on life, which was always key to how her muse took hold. What you end up with is a portrait of a woman steadfastly true to herself, no matter the cost to her career. I'm left with admiration for her, admittedly tempered by a feeling that not every choice she made was a good one. No matter; this is a well-drawn biography of an interesting and uniquely talented person who made some unforgettable music.

This book is a historical fiction. I personally don't ever put to much weight into the facts of these books, but I do enjoy the historical settings. The book is a fun light read about the Romans and the Huns. If you don't put too much weight on the "fact" and just look at it as a fun story then you should enjoy this book. Personally I will read another of this author's books.

this book is well written and very historical and also just a very good story of the life of attila the hun from his younger years on up.michael curtis ford lets you see the country he is writing about thru the eyes of the people there at the time. if you like ancient roman history, this is a great book.

If you like history you will like this book.

Not the best but by far not the worst . Glad I bought the book

Michael Curtis Ford continues to add to his solid body of historical fiction set in the ancient world. "The Sword of Attila" follows three other novels set during various critical periods or episodes of the ancient world. This time, Ford could not have picked a more epic subject - the rise of Attila the Hun and his infamous march against Rome.

Unfortunately, with this subject Ford has bitten off more than he can chew in a mere 330-odd pages. The novel opens at night during a brief respite in the legendary Battle of Chalons, but quickly whisks the reader back to the childhood of Attila and a promising young Roman, Flavius Aetius. Ford struggles mightily to create a powerful bond between these two young men as Attila is sent to Ravenna as a hostage shortly before Aetius is sent to live among the Huns. Ford tries to build the novel into a clash of two great friends as well as two civilizations, but all in all it just doesn't work. Aetius and Attila do not have the same relationship as Caesar and Brutus - there is no great bond and there is no great betrayal. This element of the novel just rings hollow.

Ford also tries to inject a bit too much into the novel. We see a bit of the imperial skullduggery from "I, Claudius," but it is so cursory that we eagerly wish to move on to more enjoyable items. Ford also creates dozens of interesting minor characters, but they pop up for brief moments and then are ignored for chapters at a time . . . often appearing with little or no import.

These are fair criticisms of Ford's work - the scope of the book was too small for his plot. I believe that this would have made a fantastic trilogy for Ford, or perhaps a 750-page epic. But the novel just feels truncated. Other novelists have taken on the ancient world and taken a much tighter focus, and their novels are stronger - see Steven Pressfield. Others simply acknowledge that more pages are required, such as Colleen McCullough, Conn Iggulden, and Mary Renault.

But it is undeniable that Ford's novel has several elements that work. He has done a great job reconstructing a plausible culture for the Huns - of which we know virtually nothing. Ford also has a gift for writing vast scenes showing the Huns marching through the forests of Germany or storming entrenched fortifications. There are several passages that sing.

But ultimately, "Sword of Attila" is unsatisfying. Ford has given us a glimpse of two amazing characters - Attila and Aetius - but an unsatisfying glimpse. While it's true that you "always leave 'em wanting more," we want too much more after finishing this book.

I am intrigued that Ford will soon have published a sequel of sorts to this novel, and based on the strong elements of "Sword of Attila," I will check it out.

I can't believe all of the negative comments directed at this fine novel by people decrying it's lack of historical authenticity. What ever happened to the idea of "artistic license"? If a reader is desiring truthful history, I'd suggest that they look in the Non-Fiction section instead of the Fiction section. This book can and should be enjoyed for what it is instead of what it is not. I've read numerous such books by different authors and Mr. Ford is as good or better than any. His characters are well developed and interesting. His description of ancient warfare is so vivid that you can almost smell the blood and hear the anguished cries of the wounded. I can't speak for the historical accuracy of his words, but neither will I judge the novel by it. I can say that if you're looking for a great read that will keep you up late at night turning pages, you can't miss with this one. Enjoy the ride.

Absolutely beautiful. Jamison has a really wonderful way of drawing you into her writing. Not an easy feat, especially in nonfiction, non-memoir genres. But Jamison's writing style, her descriptions, and her beautiful language almost suggest a style similar to Jeannette Winterson and other fiction authors, while still bringing the credibility that Jamison has, by virtue of her other books, her own experience, and her education/training/experience with clients.

You must read it to know how wonderful it is. Yes, I know that is vague, but this book is well worth the investment.

This refreshing book about passion is welcome as it characterizes some behavior what others might think was excessive as exuberance. A nice shift in perspective with a positive spin. Sees bi polar activity as many faceted and differing in each person

I have yet to finish the book but within pages I was both crying and laughing from the EXUBERANCES of the folks highlighted. This is a great reminder to get on with it and stop taking yourself so seriously. I am giving it to many in my family for Christmas.

Jamison writes near the opening of this work, "Exuberance is an abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion. It is kinetic and unrestrained , joyful , irrepressible." She tells us Exuberance "lures us from common places and quieter moods." It "carries us to places we would not otherwise go".
Here she studies examples of Exuberance from a wide variety of areas of life. There are politicians like T.R. F.D.R. and Winston Churchill. There are scientists like James Watson and Richard Feynmann. She looks at legendary characters like 'Snowflake' Bentley whose enthusiasm and passion for a wonder of nature led him to become the world's great expert and student of it. Perhaps because she has written of Literary figures and creativity in another work she does not focus on Literary figures here.
She does however repeatedly show us how 'exuberance' moves towards greater creativity and towards real expansion of self and world. Jamison is an excellent, and learned writer with an ability to study both the natural and human worlds and make them come alive for the reader. I learned a great deal from this work, and I believe all interested in human life and character have much to learn from it.
I have a certain reservation about the book which may say more about me than the book itself. Though the book is about 'Exuberance' and gives wonderful examples of how exuberance has moved others in life- the feeling in reading the work for me was not 'exuberance'. Some times one reads and one feels one is on a great adventure and opening up new worlds. Here I no doubt was learning new things, but I did not feel the great joy of exuberance. I did feel that when reading Jamison's most well- known work her great memoir 'An Unquiet Mind'. But this is perhaps because that book treated a subject , 'Manic-Depression', which meant so much to me personally, and I felt was being illuminated in remarkably new and yet familiar way.
In any case this is a book which hopefully will inspire many to better feeling about themselves and their own personal adventures.
While reading it I kept thinking of this verse from Emily Dickenson.

"Exulation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea
Past the houses , Past the headlands
Into Deep Eternity.

Bred as we among the mountains
Can the sailor understand
The Divine Intoxication
Of the First Leagues out from Land?"

Handler is so good at mastering voice. In this book, it's Joseph's. (In The Basic Eight, it was Flan's.) He flawlessly depicts incredibly interesting and unique characters, which is enough alone to make his books worth reading. Add his characteristic wit, and you've got an amazing novel, as is the case here.

Watch Your Mouth. Was this ever a strange and wonderful book. It had me both raising an eyebrow and laughing out loud many a time. It was sometimes a bit much - one gets a little tired of the narrator and his bizzare, strangely apt sexual metaphors after a while - but then the opera half ends and you're thrown into this crazy self-help book format, and the transition is odd enough that you forget about your weariness. Actually, I think that's pretty much true for the whole novel. It's so ... so weird, and so fresh, and so unique, and because of this, I loved it.

if you've read any of handler's other books, you know what i mean when i say that at the turn of every page, the daniel handler grin smirks across my face. if you have not read any of handler's other books, you would not know what i mean when i say that and have probably already become bored with this review.

to throw you a proverbial bone, this man has mastered the sweet and sour of dark humor, and treats us once again with ridiculous characters in a real world, or real characters in a ridiculous world. if you can't stomach nonsense, or prefer books about happy people doing great things, ditch this book and burry this proverbial bone in your neighbor's proverbial backyard.

if this review were a fortune cookie, it would say: read the book (unless you are afraid of jewish voodoo, in which case, do not). your lucky numbers are 13, 7, 42, & 9.

"Watch Your Mouth" is an operatic comedy about incest! So if you like weird books, this is right up your alley. I almost found it too weird, too strange, too absurd though. But you know what, I kept reading it. It was disturbing, but not disturbing enough to make me want to give up.

I thought it was confusing with all of the opera tie-in's/references, but I'm not a big fan of opera. Also, the ending was weak and rather predictable.

Character development was good though - I have an idea of what each character is like in my head. Despite it being rather short, it's not exactly a fast read - Handler is a little too wordy for me at times.

Actually, I didn't really enjoy it at all, but I definitely won't forget it. And despite not really liking it, I'm somewhat tempted to read more by Handler just to see what else he can think of!

Since reading The Basic Eight almost five years ago, I have been in awe of Daniel Handler's wit, way with words, and knack at making me laugh even when his characters are in the bleakest of situations. Even I had some doubts about Watch Your Mouth, though, and how he could take the subject of incest (something I was wary to read about, for some reason)and work it into a novel that could compare with the wonders that were his other works (The Basic Eight, Adverbs, A Series of Unfortunate Events).

After finishing this novel, my only regret is that I didn't pick it up sooner. I found myself on the verge of laughing aloud at work -- probably not the greatest thing to happen, especially since, with a Handler novel, you can't explain exactly why you're laughing. Reading this book was like being part of a delicious inside joke. The ways in which the author manages to mention a previous phrase or event in such an unexpected way kept me grinning from ear to ear as I turned each page.

All in all, I loved this book. The only thing that I found ever-so-slightly disappointing was the ending. The series of events seemed to dissolve into nothing...which, come to think of it, maybe have been the intent all along. I just would have liked a bit more closure, I suppose.

Daniel Handler is a talented writer. How else could he come up with a novel, which is written both in the form of an opera and then written like a self-help book? How can it be deeply erotic, funny, disturbing and scary at the same time? He is a genius that is how.

Watch Your Mouth tells the story of Joseph, a young college student, spending the summer at his girlfriend Cyn's parents' house outside Pittsburgh, while he and Cyn work at a day camp for young Jewish kids, Camp Shalom. The Glass family are a very odd bunch with Mimi, the mother, working for an opera house that's producing a series of anti-Semitic operas; Ben, the father, is a Orthopedic Surgeon recovering from a failure, that resulted in a patient's bone cracking in half; Stephen, Cyn's brother, who a science geek who works at Carnegie Mellon; Then there is, Cyn, the vixen herself who lured our hero into her strange family's house, so Joseph and Cyn could have sex all summer long. That part, Joseph was okay with. I have to credit Handler with writing openly about young lust and sex. He doesn't spare the details.

But Joseph stumbles on the family secret; actually it's not much of a secret because each family member rationalizes to Joseph, how having sex with a family member is okay. Cyn wants Ben, Ben wants Cyn, Stephen wants Cyn and Mimi wants Stephen. Then Joseph starts hearing sounds in the middle of the night and the Glass family has given into their-disturbing-fantasies.

With that, Watch Your Mouth, turns into a thrilling novel where the body count is high due to a wronged family member with a interest an Jewish Folklore (see: Golem) and Joseph is on the run for his life trying to recover from a horrifying summer that once looked so great.
Watch Your Mouth is a great book that can be confusing sometimes, because Joseph doesn't quite believe what's happening in front of his eyes. But Handler, known to the world as Lemony Snicket, is a truly talented author with a wicked wit and a taste for black humor.

I saw hints of good writing hidden beneath a lot of drivel in this book. Conrad really really needed someone to objectively edit this novel - it would have been so much better. I felt that the book really lacked any definite structure and that superfluous descriptions dragged on for pages. I was bored and frustrated for most of the novel. Good title, though.

Conrad's debut has the confidence and steady prose of someone writing a fiftieth, not a first, novel. The story is a timeless one, however - the debut meets the mogul - in this case poet, in the academic world. The book is rich with taut, lively characters, who inhabit a world so many of us have traveled, trying not to choke as we did. This is a can't put down sort of book, and Conrad the most promising and delicious sort of writer. Get it and crawl into a big chair somewhere. I did, and didn't get up until I was through.

This book was fabulous! I couldn't put it down, loved every character and particularly the way all the stories intersected. Conrad reminds me of Armisted Maupin, an author whom I adore.

Once I started reading this book, I had trouble putting it down. The plot is intricate, but engrossing. It appeals to a very wide audience, from gay to straight, old to young, poets to fiction writers. It is extraordinarily well written, and I enjoyed the characters until the very last page. I wish that it had never ended!

Good work, James. An impressive first novel, but it could have been tightened up a bit. The story is in slight danger of bogging down under too many details. Still, a good, fast read with an interesting premise.

In "Wings of Fire" Charles Todd has all eyes focusing on a grand English country house called, quite simply, the Hall. The matriarch of the Hall had been Rosamund Beatrice Trevelyan, the beautiful and infectiously happy daughter of Adrian Trevelyan. She had married three husbands, each of whom had died too soon. And she had a subsequent suitor.

Altogether, she had six children, two with each husband. Husbands, children, servants, locals, everyone adored her.

At the Hall, recent deaths had briefly assembled together the few remaining family members, and they hear Rosamund's daughter Susannah bitterly bemoaning the changes: "Mother had such life! Such warmth. There was always laughter, brightness, here. And that's all disappeared, it--it drained away without our knowing it, after she died. I've come to hate the Hall. I never actually realized that until now. And after dinner we're leaving."

Rosamund had known grief. When first husband Captain George Marlowe died of cholera during a return trip to India, she was deeply bereft. James Cheney, her second husband, a best friend of Marlowe's, died while cleaning his guns. Third husband, Brian FitzHugh, was thrown by his horse, hit his head on the rocks, and drowned in the surf.

Rachel, a cousin on the Marlowe side of the family, summed up Rosamund's husbands: "George was a wonderful man, exciting and very masculine. James was a fine man, with depths and intelligence and a sense of humor, and Brian FitzHugh loved her so much she couldn't help but love him back."

Rosamund's children by Captain Marlowe were identical twins, Olivia and Anne Marlowe, whom others found indistinguishable. Anne had died as a child in a fall from an apple tree.

Next were Rosamund's sons Nicholas and Richard Cheney. As a five-year-old, Richard was lost on the moors while at a family picnic, wandered off, disappeared, and after extensive searching was presumed dead . . . or stolen by gypsies.

By Rosamund's third husband, Brian FitzHugh, she had a second set of twins, Susannah and Stephen FitzHugh. Brian had already had a son and brought him along, the strikingly handsome Cormac FitzHugh.

Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent from London's Scotland Yard to this far reach--to Cornwall, the most southwesterly county in England-- to investigate the presumed joint suicides of Olivia Marlowe and her half brother Nicholas Cheney, along with the near simultaneous accidental death by falling down stairs of their half brother Stephen FitzHugh.

Were Olivia Marlowe and Nicholas Cheney double suicides, or were they a murder-suicide, or two murders? Did Stephen fall down the stairs, or what?

One soon begins to realize the need to keep in mind who was who, and who is who, among this large family, especially as the survivors come down to Susannah, her husband Daniel Hargrove, her cousin Rachel, and stepbrother Cormac FitzHugh.

The police and villagers think London's Scotland Yard has sent Rutledge on a fool's errand, that the deaths by suicide and accident should be left as is. The local Constable had been told: "Humor the man from Scotland Yard ... What he wants, let him have. As long as he returns to London as soon as possible, and with no cause to give a black eye to the local police in the matter of doing their duty." A local doctor scolds Rutledge: "You're mad, d'you know that? Stark, staring mad!"

Further complications arise because Olivia Marlowe was writing pseudonymously as the well-known poet O. A. Manning. What has happened to her valuable papers? Rutledge begins to wonder about all the other deaths in the family, even the early ones, of Anne and Richard, of the three husbands, of Rosamund herself.

The mystery is gripping. The writing superb. A page-turner.

Charles Todd's second book in the Ian Rutledge series is a wonderfully complex immersion in an amazingly dysfunctional family. Rutledge and his ever-present "companion" Hamish slowly unravel the story of the Trevelyan family with the aid of a village full of wonderful characters. I can't wait to read "Search the Dark." A friend of mine introduced me to the first book in the series, "A Test of Wills", and now I am truly hooked. It's a treat to discover a series like this. It's been a long time. Thanks!!

A great deal on a book I wasn't able to purchase any where else

This is the second of Charles Todd's Inspector Rutledge series, but the first one I read. Having gone back to the first, "A Test of Wills," I can honestly say that this isn't a series I'm going to continue with. Todd's ideas aren't bad, but he draws the stories out endlessly, with Rutledge interviewing and re-interviewing and re-re-interviewing suspects again and again...and not really getting anywhere. And in both books, Rutledge's irrascible Chief Inspector (himself a tired cliche) assigns him the case hoping that he'll screw up and get kicked off the force. Talk about repetitive plotting; in some ways it felt like reading the same book twice. Perhaps this series gets better in subsequent installments, but with so much else to read out there, I won't be finding out.

"Wings of Fire" is one of the series of Ian Rutledge mysteries by the author Charles Todd--a mother/son American writing team, in fact, the second in the series. Set in post World War I Britain, these mysteries have as their compelling main character Ian Rutledge, a Scotland Yard inspector who is the worse for the war, but slowly mending.

In this book, Rutledge is called upon to research a brother and sister double suicide, followed shortly thereafter by a third death in the family. Rutledge travels to the Cornish coast this time, and as in the other books, he travels in the company of his dead sergeant, Hamish, who speaks his mind to Rutledge as he works through the investigation.

This mystery involves a beautiful house by the sea, and is peopled by both the gentry who have lived in that house and the inhabitants of the local village, including the vicar, the doctor and so forth. The house and its setting may remind some readers of "Rebecca", especially since the memory of the home's now dead mistress seems to permeate the proceedings, even as her portrait presides over the drawing room.

The book does not get off to a fast paced start--indeed, it seems a bit slow in the first 100 pages. And for this reader, there is not enough conversation from Hamish in that portion or in the rest of the book. Unlike others in the series, we do not hear much of Hamish's actual words--more often Todd tells us that Hamish was grumbling or making some remark. But we don't "hear" the remark. A pity, that.

I felt that the writing was a tad uneven. I would be bogged down in a section of the book, say, about half of a chapter, and then all of the sudden the pace picked up, the storyline became more compelling, and I was eager to know more. Then, back to the slower pace and, for me, a challenge to get through it to the next, livelier portion.

Occasionally, Todd takes us to a higher plain of psychological and perhaps even theological conversation--several of the interviews Rutledge has with the vicar provide the setting for some of these. They are among the best passages in the book.

Since the work of a famous poet figures in the story, we are also treated to more than prose from Todd's hand, and the sections of verse are deftly done.

The last several chapters are quite good--both as the mystery is revealed and the creativity shown by the author in settings and dialogue. It made me go back and read the first chapter again, once I had finished the final chapter.

This is the second in remarkable series of classic whodunits. The reader will be hooked. And will wish to read all of the Rutledge mysteries, in order. A Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Legacy of the Dead, Watchers of Time, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow. There is also a stand-alone Todd mystery called A Murder Stone, without Rutledge or Hamish. Read more about them at: www.Charlestodd.com At one point, that website indicated that a Rutledge book was going to be adapted for the Mystery series on PBS...

Todd intertwines the supporting characters from book to book, so that Rutledge's and Hamish's friends and family you meet herein will appear in subsequent books, at some times, mentioned, and other times, key to the story.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

This is an wonderful book but the mystery is -confusing- and never ends. However, it's an wonderful story of trouble making, Emma, who make drinks to get infomation from the old lady, and she steals it from the snotty waitress' stash!
Hilorous!

I really enjoyed this book, but it helps if you read Hotel Paradise first. I am still waiting for answers and hope Martha has a sequel up her sleeve...there were just too many loose ends at the end! I just love the way Martha writes and its always such a pleasure to read her...but who was Rose and Mary-Evelyn's Mother?

Having grown the love the Richard Jury mysteries, I was bitterly disappointed by this novel. I tried to wade through it but it was so gawd-awful boring that I just gave up.

First thing you need to do is throw out any ideas of this being like a Jury novel. Then get Hotel Paradise so you can read it and understand what is going on in this book.
Emma is simply a wonderful character and she jumps out of the book and comes to life. It's almost hard to imagine she is 12. The mystery still isn't quite over I wonder if Martha Grimes will tell us more in another installment.

What a wonderful book and audio-book! This is an extraordinary coming-of-age novel, with characters that you really care about and a haunting, ambiguous story. Bernadette Dunn is a wonderful narrator for this story as well. I bought a copy of the book after listening to it on tape first, and her voice echoes through my reading.

Emma Graham is a wonderful, rare, twelve year old narrator, perched right on the verge of adulthood. Her imaginative child self and her growing intuition about the interesting adults in her life sometimes work together here and sometimes battle each other in a fascinating mix.

This is also a beautifully lyrical novel that takes place in a world that seems quite timeless. We are in a recognizable world but not necessarily a specific time.

Definitely worth it! It's a gem!

Tony Soprano as a CEO? Fugedabodit! This book is the real deal - a tough, direct, no-nonsense guide to management. Use the practical advice in this book, and you'll either be bumped up or bumped off! Mafia references aside, this is really a fun and useful read.

Let me tell you what the pseudonymous "V"'s "The Mafia Manager is better than:

*It's better than waking up with a bloody horse head in your bed!

*It's better than going to the bottom of the River with a pair of concrete galoshes---erm, cement overshoes!

*It's better than disappointing your Mama!

*It's better than getting a firsthand look at where Jimmy Hoffa *really* is!

*It's way better than taking a Drive!

Actually, "V" has put together a sage, sulphurous little tome chock-full of practical strategic and tactical advice for corporate warfare with zero BS content.

And very much like the Original Gangsta Julius Caesar's Gaul (we're talking old school now, homey...way old school), V's treatise is divided into three parts: Managing Yourself, Managing Others, and the Rest of It (negotiations, memos, meetings, dumping a body and getting away with it---heh, just kidding).

Simply put: the goal of the Cosa Nostra---the Mob, the Mafia, the Racket, Our Thing, the Outfit---has been, from time immemorial, back to the very first Capos di tutti Capo---to Make Money.

To paraphrase Malcolm X: To Make Money by Any Means Necessary.

The good news for you: whether you're into rolling casino operators in Atlantic City for "security insurance" or something a little more tame, the First Commandment remains the same: you're in this game to win.

To win, according to V, you gotta: 1) Get in a position where you Manage People; 2) Be brutal, crafty, efficient, clean, and ruthless.

Why so glum, little camper? At least in your line of work, unlike the business activity of the Mob, your competitor probably won't wind up in a dumpster.

Unless you work that way, naturally.

"Mafia Manager", then, distills more than a thousands years of gimlet-eyed Sicilian advice (along with a few choice axioms) into just a whisper over 100 pages, ships it across from Palermo, and puts it into your hands.

The only thing that doesn't ring true is "V" supposed mobster antecedents: he talks a good game, but the copyright reveals the author as "Curtis Johnson"---not exactly the name you'd ascribe to a good old Paisano. But hey, maybe that's the alias he uses up in his Federal Witness Protection Program dacha in some gated-burbclave in Idaho.

Some Offers you can't Refuse. "The Mafia Manager" is one you won't want to.

JSG

Had I had this book a few years back, maybe I would have spotted, understood and survived office politics I found myself in the middle of in my last job. Still, I am learning from it for my current job. Would recommend it to any person in a managerial position who was raised to believe you should not do upon others what you do not wish to have done to you. That sort of upbringing does not go well with corporate environment. If that is your case (too), you NEED this book, and a number of others, to learn what your parents failed to teach you.

Rarely do I give book rating of one star. Mainly because I don't know what that kind of rating exactly means. Does it mean that I didn't like the book? If so, what is the difference between one star and two stars. I guess it is hard to give argumentative explanation of ones own rating. So I won't. :)

What do I have in front of me?
This is something that advertises itself as a modern time macchiavelism. But, to say that this book has any kind of resemblance to "Il principe" is highly overstated. We are all aware (and if we are not, we should be) of methods described in this book. Methods that concern being promoted in any kind of job that you do. Method here being ruthlessnes, and most of all efficiency, wihtout feel for compassion and human realtions in any other kind than exploitment. It may sound as something that Macchiavlei said, it may even resemble Nietzschean philospohy, but precisely in that lies the point.

I fail to picture the reader of this book. I fail to see big corporate director who alreday doesen't know all that is written here and more, and quite frankly, I fail to see him reading at all, but that is another story. To average joe out there, who thinks that there are marvellous wonders and secrets written here this book will seem quite drab. After all, rutlessnes is not employment strategy, it is just a state of character. One who is not able to do such a thing won't be any different upon reading this book.

If you are looking for philosophy of modern times, there are tons of authors out there, of ages past that are presenting better work of modern times than any of the contemporary autors. Machiavelli being one of the better known.

Maybe I just don't want to accept the existance of the universe (which paradoxically I can tell for sure that is real) presented in this book, and maybe therein lies my angst, but that is for you to judge if you, by some twist of chance happen to stumble upon this book.

I study leadership, politics in business organisations and emotional transactions. I bought this book thinking it would be factual, conclusive and real. On the other hand I found it's written with a mocking tone, has no relation to real cases and is as shallow as it gets.

It could be good for some peasant who believes he can get ahead at work easily. But in reality, there's far more than this book wastes time about.

I greatly enjoyed this novel, and laughed out loud many times. As an unpublished fiction writer who has attended my share of writing workshops, I found The Writing Class spot on. The "sniper" is clever, scary and at times, sympathetic. I can well believe that a serious fiction writer would turn vengeful and a little crazy after years of being turned down by snippy editors.

I agree with other reviewers, however, that with the exception of Amy and Carla, the workshop participants remained unrealized. And I found the climactic scene with the killer disappointing. Amy Gallup comes across as too much of a know it all, and the killer's motives for the second murder remain murky. We are also left wondering if, in fact, the killer isn't as good a writer as s/he claims. Still, a fine murder yarn, a great read. I've recommended it to my writing group.

After reading the other reviews of this book, I have come to the conclusion that I am in the minority here. I found this book to be laugh out loud funny. I found myself laughing on just about every page. This book gave me the opportunity to roll 3 of my favorite things all into one package. Reading, writing, and mysteries. This book caught my interest very early on and held it throughout. There were some red herrings, but I found them believable. I was completely caught off guard by who turned out to be the killer. It was one of the people I least suspected. I stayed up until after midnight reading last night, because I couldn't want to see how it would end.

The one complaint I do have about this book regards characterization. To me, the characters all seemed very stereotypical. The arrogant doctor. The hotshot lawyer, the oddball older woman, the brainless pretty girl, they are all there. And more. I also agree with the reviewer who said that the characters lacked depth. I did find the characters to be somewhat flat and one-dimensional.

But all things considered, this book was still definitely a worthwhile read. In fact, I've already picked up another book by this author. If you are looking for an intelligent, fast-paced, unpredictable mystery, check out this book. Even though I had no familiarity whatsoever with the author before reading this book, I'm glad I did.

While I've never read another one of Jincy Willett's other works, and can't testify to whether The Writing Class "rivals one of Jincy Willett's previous masterpieces" (sorry, I couldn't help myself - that line from the dust jacket made me laugh out loud!), I did enjoy the book quite a bit.

First of all, the book is very funny. Not so much in that laugh-out-loud hilariousness, but it is subtle and witty. The characters are all well written, to the point where, when I was trying to figure out who the murderer was, I conjectured that it could be someone as-yet-unintroduced in the book because I didn't want to believe it was any of the characters in the writing class. (I'm not going to tell you whether I was right or wrong). It also includes some hilarious examples of bad writing (introduced through the writing class itself, not Jincy Willett's writng).

I would say the best part of this book is its uniqueness. The murder mystery aspect is intriguing and keeps the reader guessing. That, combined with wit, makes this a light and fun read. Despite the fact that there is a murder, the book is not heavy in the slightest. The worst it gets is a little creepiness here and there.

As far as the downsides, I'd have to say that my main criticism of the book is that it isn't believable. The characters don't act as three-dimensional people (they insist that the writing class continue, even after a person was murdered - my inclination would be to stay as far away as possible!). Also, the ending is a bit ambigious and unfinished, which is a pet peeve of mine.

The humor really makes the book though - apparently the author wrote another book called Winner of the National Book Award. I have no idea what it's about, but I already want to read it!

Amy Gallup, a rather reclusive woman who had enjoyed early success as a novelist and now teaches an extension class in writing for a local college, finds herself mired in mystery when her latest class convenes. As Amy begins the class, she thinks she has her students pegged - the dilettante doctor, the retired teacher, the stalker-like fan who always signs up, etc. etc. But things get interesting fast with odd phone calls in the night and disturbing "critiques" showing up on students' work.

We discover the reasons for Amy's loss of interest in the world, and that helps make her sympathetic, but it does take her too long a time to share the information she has with the class. After all, the students are all potential targets, and when the `Sniper' steps up from vague threats to murder, it will take the whole group to figure out who the nutjob is among them.

Amy's group bands together, holding class even after the college cancels it, and the players break out a bit from the labels they were `assigned'. This book zips right along, a bit literary and a bit Agatha Christie, until the killer is revealed in a showdown with Amy, naturally. Though some elements strain credibility, like the lack of attention and dimwittedness from police, Willett keeps things moving well and lets the characters grow from experience.

THE WRITING CLASS could have been a stellar A++ piece of work. It is original, inventive, creative.. There are many positive adjectives for this novel. Sadly, the whole picture isn't 100% satisfying. 85% is though and that portion is exceptional. I found that by having the story take place in a nighttime university part time writing class and showing this world so clearly it made it very easy to believe that the characters were real individuals the same as us, the reader. We've all taken some class - acting, writing, crafts - any community class.

The main character here, the gifted, long ago published teacher of the class, Amy Gallup is a great creation in my eyes. She is frequently described as "a loner who has a hard time being alone." I can relate to this and found this to be a great starting point for the complex character she became. The class has a very eclectic, interesting mix of students and very quick into the book bizarre things start happening. One of the students is harrassing the class. And then there is a murder! The bond that this varied group of people develops is very real and we travel with them all on their investigative journeys.

The novel reads like a dark comedy. It is witty, intelligent and the suspenseful storyline is revealed in delicious layers. At times the mystery involves well crafted suspense that has you breathless and on the edge of your seat. Other times is is merely interesting and looses some of its power. Thew first half of the book for me was a true A++ but then it lost steam for many chapters. All gelled together again expertly for the last quarter of the book which is excellent. The journey to the end is well worth the read and the ending is very satisfying.

My complaints are that period of down time - that the well written energy doesn't carry throughout the whole book. Also, as I said, I found the main character very deep and well developed. The same can't be said for the students. Their believability varies to different degrees. Some you got to know very well and others were caricatures with no true development. The novel would have been so much more exceptional had these been truly three dimensional characters. The author is obviously very talented and once the characters start looking for the killer amongst them you can't wait to find out who it is. But don't peek!! I was very surprised with the ending.

Highly recommend this witty, well crafted suspense mystery. The flaws I mentioned are minimal and don't take away from an excellent overall read.