Windsor Books

We "Carry On" fans have actually been quite lucky with book tributes to the series. As well as this title I've read "The Carry On Companion" by Robert Ross and "What A Carry On" (a10/10 book published in 1988). Fans of the stars may also be interested in "Sid James" by Cliff Goodwin, "The Kenneth Williams Diaries" and "Just Williams". This book does not disappoint. It is warm tribute to the well-loved series with some great black and white photos and a personal verdict on each film.

The 'Foreword' is dedicated to Russell S. Fisher, M.D. the Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Maryland. The author talks of 'reading character' from a man's manner, bearing, tone of voice, and carefully observing these. Some examples are given. Dr. Fisher was an instructor at the seminars given by the Harvard Medical School. Captain Frances G. Lee was asked to recommend an outstanding candidate to the State, and Dr. Fisher was her choice. Gardner gives one example of Dr. Fisher's skill at detection (p.ix). [Didn't Gardner use this in one of his stories?] It also shows the unreliability of eye-witnesses who see what they expect to see.

At the end of a hard, grueling day Perry Mason and Della Street go to a restaurant. The owner tells them of a waitress who just ran out without her paycheck, and left her old mink coat that was moth-eaten. They speculate about the causes. Then the police come in because the waitress was hit by a car. The police question the last table that Dixie Dayton served. Perry notices something about one customer, and asks Della to follow him out. Perry follows a clue found in the mink coat (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 tells how Perry tries to identify a mystery visitor. Then he learns that Dixie has left the hospital secretly. In Chapter 5 Paul Drake tells of further developments in this case. The police, in looking into this case, found out about the mink coat. Mae Nolan, a waitress at Alburg's restaurant, visits to tell Perry and Paul what she knows. Perry gets more information from Mae Nolan. Lt. Tragg visits to question Perry about the coat. Tragg tells a story about a murdered police officer; his missing pistol was found and it was linked to Dixie Drayton! This have become a very serious case.

In Chapter 6 Perry gets the call from Morris Alburg, and is called to Alburg's apartment. Morris is not there, but Dixie Dayton arrives and tells him more. Then Lt. Tragg shows up, someone heard a shot, and the police found a body (Chapter 7). Perry and Paul answer questions from the police (Chapter 8). The police ask Drake's operative to identify the picture of a woman (Chapter 9). Paul tells Perry about the latest gadgets used to record conversations surreptitiously. Lt. Tragg tells Perry what will be in the newspapers (Chapter 10). Perry explains why he doubts the identification of that woman. Della finds the name of the detective who was hired by Alburg (Chapter 11). Art Fulda explains what he did (Chapter 12). We learn about Paul Drake's operation, and Perry gets a call from Alburg - he's in jail (Chapter 13). Alburg was arrested for killing George Fayette, and he tells perry about Dixie Dayton (Chapter 14). Next Perry talks to Dixie Dayton in the women's ward (Chapter 15). Her story isn't believable.

Perry's clients have told his stories that account for everything yet sound improbable to a jury. Can Perry find the girl who impersonated Dixie Dayton (Chapter 16)? The trial starts in Chapter 17. Morris Alburg and Dixie Dayton are charged with murdering George Fayette. Perry was subpoenaed as a prosecution witness, and there is a personality clash with Hamilton Burger. Burger calls Perry to the stand and questions him about the conversation in the hotel room! Perry draws important information from one of the prosecution's witness with a shot-in-the-dark question. Perry then asks for a recess, and gets previously withheld information from Dixie and Morris (Chapter 18). In the last chapter Lt. Tragg visits Perry to wrap up this story with a shocking conclusion. [This novel warns against the fallibility of eyewitness identification.]

This book can be summed up quite succinctly; several hundred beautiful photographs, in a mixture of color and black-and-white, many in full-page format, of the members of Britain's Royal Family over some fifty years from the 1930's to the 1970's. The photographer is, of course, the famous Cecil Beaton, one of the last century's most famous lensmen, who is otherwise best known for his fashion photography and his design work on the movie of "My Fair Lady". Those wanting to start a collection of photography books of royalty would do well to make this volume one of their first acquisitions.

Based on the true story of Cynthia Ann Parker, this book plays what if. What if the abducted child, now a woman, tries to settle back into the white world she was taken from 25 years ago? What if she almost succeeded? What if she has a chance to go back to her Comanche family and life that she has come to love over a quarter century if time? This is another of Ms Haseloff's wonderfully researched and fantastically written novels. This is one author who can say more with less effort than almost anyone I know. All of her novels have been a treat to read.

This is a very funny western with plenty of action and two great characters in it. A cowboy helps out an English gentleman and his sister. Hopefully this book will be reprinted one day.

I started reading this book about twelve years ago. I was 12. I was hooked on this book from page one. The book fell apart from age, so I was not able to finish reading it. I recently located this book again at a local used bookstore. Ecstatically, I began to reread this book. Willow is a strong character. She is a great heroine in this book. The book is well written and keeps you hooked til the very end, leaving you wanting more. I highly recommend this book.

This is the second novel by Garfield that I have read (Hopscotch was the first). Although the book is a series of short stories, each one of them is filled with enough drama and intrigue to keep you glued to the end of the book. The individual characters of both the "good" and the "bad" sides (ours and theirs) are created with a good deal of realism, similar to the popular John LeCarre and Len Deighton works. I highly recommend this fast reading book to anyone who would like to experience espionage from Charlie Dark's viewpoint.

Morris, the 'renaisance man' composer, historian, writer, singer, family man and dog lover, has excelled himself with this biography of Chesire. If Guy Gibson was the Liverpool AFC of WWII war bomber pilot biography then this is the Arsenal. Expertly written, his scholarship shines forth on every page, it appears their isn't a source he hasn't exhausted!!!!!! He must have locked himself away for at least 8 and a half years to produce this biographical gem. Let us hope that their is more to come and that lack of time doesn't triumph over his next book.

The one substantive complaint about these reprints of the "Conan the Barbarian" comic books that Dark Horse has been reprinting has been that the original covers drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics have been omitted. That omission is mitigated somewhat by Volume 4 of "The Chronicles of Conan," which has the splash page from "Red Nails" as the cover. I have a strong affection for this particular piece of Windsor-Smith art because my college debate partner took the original black & white drawing from "Savage Tales" and blew it up on a 6-foot board that I have colored in and which has dominated my "office" for about half my life, to the dismay of my family and amusement of my friends.

This collection has issues #23-26 of Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian" and the acclaimed "Red Nails" (For those concerned with continuity #22 is omitted because it was a reprint of #1) Of those two issues, all of which were written by Roy Thomas, Windsor-Smith drew the first two and John Buscema, who would be Conan's artist for most of the rest of its original run, took over as penciler on the last two. The second of those was inked by Ernie Chua (later Ernie Chan), who would be Buscema's primary inker on the comic book (the way Alfredo P. Alcala tended to do the inking over Buscema's pencils in the black & white magazine "The Savage Sword of Conan"). However, the chief attraction here is Windsor-Smith's final work on Conan.

Issue #22 "The Shadow of the Vulture," freely adapted from a Howard short story, is inked by Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins, and Chic Stone. The Vulture is Prince Yezdigerd's right-hand sword, who is sent to dispatch Conan. However, the story is more noted because this is the first Conan adventure with Red Sonja. This sets up #23 "The Song of Red Sonja," which Windsor-Smith inked himself (be sure to read Thomas' reflections in the back of the volume that cover some of the changes the Comics Code forced them to make with the artwork). When you compare how far Windsor-Smith came from the first issue of "Conan," let alone the infamous "X-Men" #53 that he drew on a New York City park bench, it is amazing how far he came as an artist. "Red Nails" has more scope and Thomas and Windsor-Smith are unfettered by the Comics Code, but all things considered "The Song of Red Sonja" is the best of their joint efforts. This explains why it gets to be the title for this final volume.

The Buscema issues are included, rather than whatever odds and ends Smith ever did of Conan and Howard related stories, because they finish the siege of Makkalet story line. Issue #25 "The Mirrors of Kharam Akkad," inked by Sal Buscema and John Severin (the latter does the King Kull flashback pages in a nice touch), is inspired in part by Howard's "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune" story, another one of those stories where a sorcerer tries to get the better of Conan. In #26 "The Hour of the Griffin" the city finally falls and Conan tries to save Queen Melissandra. Conan's big fight is with a giant rat, which is not exactly a big thrill, but he does get to see the face of the one true Tarim, the reason for the war.

Buscema's Conan is a larger, more muscular version of the barbarian than what we saw with Windsor-Smith's art, which I always read as representing the fact he was a more mature character at that point. One of the interesting aspects of this final collection of early Conan stories is that the remastered color better suits the Windsor-Smith artwork. I know that part of why this works is that these stories are reprinted on much better quality paper in these volumes and that another key part is that this sort of thing is now done with computers, but Windsor-Smith's attention to detail in his drawings really gives the colorist something with which to work. Just look at the intricate lines on the shield on that great cover. Besides, now that we have this four-volume set of "The Chronicles of Conan" we can enjoy these classic comic books without having to take them out of the plastic that is keeping them safe for posterity.

A long forgotten mystery involves the lives of two vacationing families who are dealing with their own present day problems and challenges. Set on the English coast, the setting is very much Rosamunde Pilcher's style but with a bit of a mystery to be solved by the end of the book, as is Mary Higgins Clark's style. Many of Barbara Whitnell's books are out of print so check your library or local used book stores. Her books are well worth the search!