Windsor Books

Running Blind lives upto the title. The author sends the hero on a mission where the hero is literally 'running blind'. He is the victim of a double agent within his own service, and is called back from retirement for a last job against an earlier nemesis in the rival KGB service.
The background is the Cold War, and the antagonistic feelings of those times may be a bit anachronistic. But given this limitation as a period piece, the book succeeds in leading both its hero and the reader into a Blind Man's Buff.
The end is still a surprise, and sort of a shock.
A thriller from start to finish, and guaranteed reading from in one sitting from start to finish.
Also very good repeat value.
The language is very mature and builds up each event to a pitch required for the novel to sustain a certain momentum.

I picked the right age to read this for the first time -- I had progressed beyond Hardy Boys and so forth, and knew just a little about birds and bees. It remained my favorite book for a good 3 years.

This book will make you want to visit Iceland and retrace the protagonist's adventures.

As with most Desmond Bagley books, the language is not taxing, and the style is welcoming. It has more pace and intensity than his usual work, and all in all, a delightful book to read. Unfortunately, the ending is quite weak -- the good guy loses consciousness at some point and when he wakes up some serendipitous sequence of events have improved his changes. Other that complaint, I loved this book.

I read this book many years ago I remember it being great. A very fast paced action thriller. For those of you who may be interested the BBC did make a TV series based on this book. But it was a long time ago, (maybe early eighties or even late seventies I'm not sure). May be available at BBC.co.uk?

When I was a kid (many years ago now), I read this book. I still see Desmond Bagley as the natural successor to Alistair Maclean. If Maclean had zero percent sex in his books (where there is a female character as in 'The Golden Rendezvous', she hates the hero), Desmond Bagley gets to maybe 2 percent - he does have some alluring female characters. But it is all sooo British. This book is an excellent read, with the hero and the reader uncertain as to what is going on as the plot slowly unfolds.

Back in the 1960s and even 1970s, Desmond Bagley was easily one of the best thriller writers around. As a rule, his books tend to be short and to the point, filled with action and marked with innovative ideas. Running Blind is one of my personal favorites (actually I think it is his best work) which I suddenly stumbled upon after many years. Allan Stewart, a retired intelligence agent is suddenly forced against his will to re-join the game just to complete one final assignment. Almost immediately, he finds himself in a maze of bluffs and double-bluffs. By a mix of good fortune and rusty skills, he escapes a trap and in doing so, stumbles almost by accident on the scary possibility that a top official in British intelligence may actually be a Russian mole (remember, this is a Cold War story). Of course, he now has to settle this question one way or the other. What follows is a terrific roller coaster of a story as Stewart (accompanied by his girlfriend), the mole, the Russians (including his opposite number thirsting for revenge after Stewart had long ago shot him in a very sensitive area!), and stray CIA agents engage in a fascinating pursuit over the Icelandic landscape, culminating in a shootout at the baddies hideout that is almost "western" in nature. A very good novel indeed.

The Tree of Hands, at its core, is the story of three mothers. First, there is Mopsa, a recovering schizophrenic with no impulse control--whose perceptions and ideas of maternal love are filtered through the lens of lingering madness and narcissism. Second is Benet, Mopsa's daughter, whose devotion to her toddler renders her beyond reproach, yet whose personal loss brings about a deception of fantastic enormity. Lastly is a self-absorbed Carol whose neglect and abuse of her three children could turn even the most tolerant of us livid. How these lives converge in ways that bring about tragedy for some and happiness to others is where Ruth Rendell excels. I've often thought that if Ms. Rendell had not become a renowned novelist, she would have made a brilliant psychologist. With her usual acute observation of humanity she has created here authentic, complex characters with very real emotions and very real faults. The plot, as outrageous as it might seem, works brilliantly on the strength of the characters who breathe life into it. Although the book has its flaws (the subplot of a sponger who attempts to make the score of his life has only the slightest of connections to the central story), they are forgivable as the narrative manages to retain its focus.

I've always had difficulty substantiating my 4- or 5-star reviews of Ms. Rendell's novels for fear of disclosing too much. To even allude to a specific plot twist to illustrate the author's clever machination seems unfair to prospective readers. I, instead, chose the above quote as the title for this review primarily to hint at the central theme of this book. I do hope it and, of course, the other favorable reviews here are enticement enough.

In the opening pages I honestly was not sure that I was going to like this book, it was slow and dull and I wanted to shake Benet for not standing up to her mother in some way. Then, I realized that the writing was making me actually feel real emotions, so I kept on reading. I was actually teary-eyed when Benet chose Jason over Ian. I became intertwined with the characters and enjoyed every minute of it.

By the end, I was blown away. I would absolutely reccommend this book to my friends. I really enjoyed it and had a difficult time not finding time to read it. Enjoy!

Benet Archdale's selfish mother Margaret ("Mopsa") was mad. She once tried to stab her 14 year old daughter with a carving knife as they travelled in a train together. Now, after many years Mopsa is supposedly recovered, living with her husband in Spain, while Benet, now a writer, remains alone in England with her young son James.

But now Mopsa has to return to England, to undergo some final assessments at the hospital where she was treated, and she is going to stay with her daughter, who constantly has to remind herself not to hate her mother who was, after all, mentally ill. This, then, is the set-up for Rendell's CWA Dagger-winning novel. And it is a set-up that leads to a violent chain of assault, deception, the kidnap of a child, and, finally, murder.

I normally end up saying mostly the same things about Rendell's brilliant books. Brilliant character, deadly psychology, complex, skilful plotting, fearful atmosphere, etc etc etc. This, I suppose, may give the impression that Rendell's books are all rather similar, but that is not so at all. They are all, every one of them, different and original and exquisite pieces of fiction. However, it is those factors (darkness, psychological brilliance, piercing character and social insight, seamless plotting) which unite her works undoubtedly. Each novel brings a different twist to the "formula" (I use quotation marks because there is actually no real formula for anything Rendell does), though, and each one sparkles.

The Tree of Hands is another excellent book from Rendell. It seems often that she can do no wrong, and I get sick of saying "another brilliant book by Rendell", but there is little else one CAN say when all an author's books are uniformly excellent. This book is unpredictable, shocking, horrifyingly compelling. The chain of events (Rendell has always been a first-class examiner of notions of cause-and-effect) unfolds with dreadful reality, horrific certainty and strength. It is rather saddening how Rendell shows us the numerous chances people may have to escape their fate, but don't take it. The course of destruction moves relentless on in Rendell's work. It is not cheerful fiction, not for those who like an up-lifting story. Instead, it is a dark work of dreadful consequence of the most innocent of actions, where normal people's lives become at risk through the influence of those who exist on some kind of edge of normalcy. The Tree of Hands is a brilliant, intelligent, shocking, haunting and eerie work that deserves fully its accolades.

Wow, what a book!I laughed, cried, got angry and was totally shocked at this book!The characters are so believable.Here you have this sweet, lonely woman who is trying to balance a writing carrer and raising a child on her own.Her mother: Bitter, confused and lonely herself believes that if you lose something....that's okay..."I'll get you another one."The story takes off like a roller coaster ride and ends leaving the reader totally shocked.This book would make a great motion picture!Gary

Eek! This novel is dark and intense--even by the standards of Ruth Rendell, the Queen of Darkness and Intensity. When a troubled young woman loses her child, her none-too-tightly-wrapped mother comes up with a horrible remedy (kidnapping) for her daughter's anguish. This shocking deed causes a large cross-section of dysfunctional Brits to intersect and interact all over London, with even more horrifying results. Imagine a novel by Charles Dickens--with a really high body count.

Nobody does this sort of thing better than Ruth Rendell. That's why we love her. And this novel is one of her best. Enjoy (if that's the right word).

Every family hides something, but Flora Waring discovered deception in hers. At 22 she learned she had an identical twin sister, Rose, who lived with the mother Flora didn't remember at all. And when Flora ended up impersonating the high-spirited, spoiled Rose, she would have to face how cruel lies can be. When she agreed to accompany Rose's fiance to meet his grandmother in a picturesque town on the Scottish coast, she would quickly fall in love with the lush green countryside, the Armstrong family, and a rare, wonderful man. But she would also confront Rose's shocking secrets and a betrayal that would break her heart.

This was a great read as all of Pilcher's books are! I became very engrossed in this story.

When I'm looking for a book that is comforting and cozy, I can always turn to Rosamunde Pilcher. Her stories are perfect for returning readers to a simpler time when family was all that mattered and desires of the heart were satisfied in due course.

UNDER GEMINI, one of my favorites of her earlier and shorter novels, is based on a spur-of-the-moment deception in which one twin steps into a situation pretending to be the other twin. An aging matriarch, a sprawling Scottish mansion, and the extended household who welcome the impostor add both complication and charm to this enjoyable tale.

Flora Waring never knew she had a twin until a chance meeting in a London restaurant reveals betrayal and family secrets. When twin Rose Schuster wants to dump her fiancé and head off to Greece with a new paramour, it is Flora who pretends to be Rose and plays the part of the happy fiancé. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason backfires on Flora and she finds herself trapped in a web of lies in the midst of a family she has come to love.

Among the enchanting characters are: Tuppy, the bed-ridden matriarch; Isobel, the spinster daughter; Antony, the charming grandson; Anna, the betrayed wife; Brian, the philandering husband; and Dr. Hugh Kyle, the often morose widower who confuses and bemuses Flora's life.

The truth simplifies everything and we can close the book reassured that happiness is attainable and a cup of tea is always in order.

Covers a week in the life of Flora, one of twins, each raised by one parent when they separated. Flora is 22 and returning to London from Cornwell where she has spent the last year with her Dad and his new wife. She accidently runs into her sister, rose and they discover their story. Their Mom is married to a rich man and rose takes Flora to the luxury apt. they have in London. Emter Anthony Armstrong who was engaged to Rose. His granny is dying and wants to see Anthony and Rose. He talks Flora into posing as Rose and go with him to his home in Scotland for the weekend. Rose and her Mom vacationed there when she was 17 and she had an affair who now wants to renew the relationship. Flora falls for someone else. This is an early Pilcher novel and not as wonderful as her later ones.

Improbability, coincidence and pure fate take center stage as identical twins separated at birth come upon their mirror image quite accidentally while in a London restaurant. After a night spent puzzling through the bizarre circumstances of their lives, jet-setting sister Rose takes off to Greece -- leaving her much more down-to-earth twin Flora to deal with a recently dumped fiancé. Somehow Flora is convinced to accompany the fiancé to Scotland to comfort a grandmother who is supposedly dying. The drama mounts, as does the dishonesty, and Flora finds herself living a life she never imagined. When the house of cards begins to collapse, will the friendships survive the betrayal? And, has the right sister fallen for the wrong man? A bit of a relic, but cozy as a cup of tea on a cold and windy Scottish coast.

I don't think that Rosamunde Pilcher could write a bad book, but this, one of her earliest, is one of her best. It has all the wonderful Pilcher elements: the stately old home gone slightly shabby; the wonderfully individual characters (in this case, in Scotland rather than Pilcher's often-used Cornwall venue); the stalwart hero/heroines bearing secret grief in silence.

Our heroine, Flora, suddenly finds at age 22 that she has an identical twin from whom she was separated at birth. That twin, Rose, is everything that Flora is not--and does not wish to be. But before Flora can find this out, she is drawn into a ridiculous and dangerous scheme. She will impersonate Rose, who has jilted her perfectly nice fiance Antony, in front of Antony's dying grandmother, Tuppy.

Thus begins a fraught journey to the aforementioned crumbling estate in Scotland, a love-at-first-sight meeting with the grandmother, and a week-long charade that brings Flora close to permanent disaster, and changes everyone around her. Of course the reader prays for a happy ending and a nice, bracing cup of hot tea.

Simply a gem. If this is a Pilcher you have missed, give yourself a treat and curl up with it at the first opportunity.

When there is nowhere left to go, which is the lesser of two evils? This is the dilemma that Spenser and his ladyfriend Susan are left with when the young woman Spenser is hired to find prefers her life as a prostitute to returning to the conformity and strictures of the suburbs.

Delving ever deeper in his search for the young woman, Spenser uncovers layer after layer of corruption, finally exposing a child exploitation ring run by a man high up in the echelons of the Dept. of Education, much to Susan's dismay.

While this outing returns to the long passages of soul-searching rhetoric that I often found tiresome in some of the earlier works, this one fit together quite nicely, as it covered topics that remain as fresh (and hideously relevant) today as they were at the time this book was written.

I did find one particularly amusing nit-pick in the Dell paperback edition of this book published in June of 1987 on page 94: a vehicle is referred to as a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Now, what I do not know about cars would fill volumes, but I do know this - the Firebird and the Trans Am are two completely different vehicles (although they look the same). There is no such thing as a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Heh.

A strong outing for Spenser and a recommend from me, despite Parker's lack of vehicular know-how ;-)

Parker shows us the ugly underbelly that all big cities have. The place drug addicts and prostitutes merge, and runaway child seem to gravitate to: very ugly! This book explores that world, and the people of the ordinary world who exploit them for their own gratification. What is never explained in any meaningful way is why this 16-year-old girl is so hell-bent on selfdestruction. Her options are slim, and in some ways unbearable; this makes the ending good, because you really don't know what happens to her.

I read this book a little while ago, and it was great! The characters came to life, and I felt that I was there. I was a bit dissapointed in April Kyle's parents, how could they be so uncaring towards thier daughter. I will read Spenser again....

Some of Spenser's hottest wisecracks have been fueled lean and mean by surged anger raring to box ear lobes and boogie the brawn... which he did in one of the scenes in CEREMONY, ruining a dark party scene with a long run of blood. This # 8 in series pinged out of the bag with humor popping. Harry Kyle, "successful" salesman, was pushing to write off his daughter. He was painted brightly (though his lack of brilliance was astounding) with Parker's flashiest flaming pen.

APRIL KYLE arrived here, honing a darker season than EARLY AUTUMN (# 7 in series), exposing a sadly ancient brand of initiation. Hers was a story which rightfully seared heated anger at an injustice to the innocence of youth. The hissing humor at the opening provided a sort of backwards relief valve, in preparation for a descent into this painfully pithy side of life.

In this series my favorite scenes (as exemplified here) dramatize Spenser and Silverman facing off with contrary moods. I'm always caught by Spenser's attention paid (or not) to Susan's scowls for silence, which she exercised elaborately in the opening scene with Harry Kyle.

Also find it interesting that Spenser rarely (if ever) uses the term "dialogue." Repartee is his name for that human exchange, and he admittedly seeks it for steady gains in rhythm and spark. In CEREMONY, repartee picked up between Spenser and Hawk, as polished by a bar towel in a riveting scene of negotiations with Tony Marcus. This scene might be accepted as the first of what could be termed a signature of deus-ex-machina used by Parker in a few future Spenser novels, often to achieve a parenthesis-of-safety for Susan as her presence bleeds into the brutal sides of his life.

The way Parker deals with prostitution in CEREMONY is realistic. Having been married to a deputy sheriff who spent two years as an undercover vice cop in the 70's in the Portland Oregon area, I wasn't surprised by details of this side of life. I was amazed at how clearly RBP captured some of the feelings of women who entered that scene and became compelled to stay. Parker didn't look AT them in an attempt to understand their stories; he tried to look through them, not in a sense of transparency, but from behind their eyelids (I made a reference to Spenser's spicy twist on understanding different viewpoints in my review of A SAVAGE PLACE, # 8 in series).

If I recall correctly, the late 70's or early 80's (when CEREMONY may have been percolating in Parker's mind) held the aftermath of explosive exposures in THE HAPPY HOOKER, the nonfiction account by a woman who might have been like the NYC madam Parker referred to in CEREMONY. HOOKER certainly took the world by tsunami with its plate-glass-window exposing the naked soul of the seamy sensuality of sexual commodities.

As noted above, CEREMONY addressed a heartbreaking part of our cultural "heritage" in a sensitive way, and the plot gave in-your-face, realism. Yet, I believe this type of story doesn't have to end the way CEREMONY did. When my ex-husband was assigned to undercover vice, his team worked with a young woman who was deeply involved in the world portrayed here. She began acting as an informant, and as the team began to befriend her, they wanted to help her out of "The Life" locked into criminal culture.

It wasn't easy and the transformation was very literally a miracle, but after this informant worked as a hidden agent for a couple years, she had become convinced to freely quit both her "jobs" to attend a special ceremony. The vice squad gave a solid presence at her wedding to a man outside the world of crime, a man who was as good as they come. That type of major life change may not occur often for a person who has become steeped into the street life of drugs and prostitution. In this case the change took and it held.

Fresh of college and taking too much pride in an "open minded" nature, I thought I admired THE HAPPY HOOKER's apparent freedom from shame, though I had no desire to live her lifestyle. The author's candor was appealing, and the book made a significant contribution to cultural awareness. I have a different take on that now; any residual appeal has been replaced by sad compassion.

Some may wonder if the author wrote the book for the money (which isn't essentially a wrong motivation to me); to shock people who disdained her sexual freedom; or to expose something which needed to be addressed (undressed)? Knowing what her true motivation was (if she even knows or cares) is none of my business. At this point I don't care about her reasons for writing THE HAPPY HOOKER as much as I care that:

Miracles happen. They're part of reality, too.

And I care that every one of us has true choices in life. Thanks to Spenser, April had an OPTION out of the worst part of her life, but It appeared she didn't have a CHOICE. I'm left with lots of questions and no comforting answers on this one. I imagine Parker felt the same way, which may be why he returned to April in TAMING A SEA-HORSE, and HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY.

Linda Shelnutt

I'll be honest, I'd have to look up the word ceremonious to be truly certain of its meaning, but that's not terribly important here. In short, it's a great book! I saw the TV movie first which made me want to read the book. It may have been the first Spenser movie I saw, although I used to watch the series when I was a kid. Guess that dates me a bit. I am a big fan of the Spenser series, and this is one of my favorite Spenser books along with Early Autumn. I've read eleven, so I'm sure there are more favorites to come. I think I am so crazy about this one because the outcome is so unusual. Unexpected. Maybe I'm biased...Robert B. Parker is my favorite author, but he is for a reason, and that reason is Spenser, Hawk, and Susan (among others). They are good characters. They make for good books. This is one of many, but it is one I highly recommend.

the two main characters, sarah and andrew, are awesome. i was sad when the book ended. i will miss them.

Forget the background of the mob story, although it is interesting, and realize that this is just a thrilling book about a woman having an affair. I couldn't wait to find out what happened and read the last 250 pages in one day.

I enjoyed this book so much because you could look at it from so many different angles. First of all, since I am a married male, I looked at it from Michael's point of view. His wife is cheating on him and I wanted to see what he would do when he found out. Then you could be Andrew, the man who seduces Sarah, Michael's wife. What are his motivations? Then you want to know what motivates women cheat on her husband (or a man on his wife). Thinking about that can be both chilling and thrilling.

While I liked this book a lot, I think it had a few weaknesses. Hunter does not do enough at the beginning to establish that Michael and Sarah have a great marriage or even a good marriage. I think if he had spent more time convincing the reader that these two shared a strong bond, then what had followed would be that more devasting. We know Sarah has an affair, but to be able to know exactly what she was betraying would have made her betrayal that much worse.

Also, it seems that Sarah gave herself to Andrew rather easily (not a spoiler). I guess that Andrew was charming and handsome, and that was all it took for Sarah to give away her life. Again, it would have been better to know specifics in her life with her husband that she was very unhappy with. Instead, we just get veiled references to the fact that he was working a lot.

This book has a good ending I guess. Sarah was a frustrating character because I was never truly sure why she totally abandoned Michael and surrendered to Andrew. I guess it was nothing Michael ever did, it was just that Sarah was a bad person.

I plan on checking out some more books by Hunter/Mcbain to see if they are as good as this one.

This was my first Evan Hunter read...and now I'm hooked. A friend passed it along and I couldn't put it down! That was two years ago, and I'm still talking/raving about it! It's exciting, but easy to read!

Three things stand out in this novel - wonderful characterization, sure knowledge of crime syndicates and an eroticism that threatens to approach soft porn. The story is simple - a mobster falls for a married lady whose husband, a district attorney, happens to be in the midst of an investigation of said Mafia guy. After Andrew rescued her daughter from drowning, straight-laced Sarah falls for and plunges into a dark, forbidden affair with a man 6 years younger.

She is consumed by the passion even as her marriage to her hard working, dull, good husband & father drifts slowly apart. She is suddenly desired & wanted & all her pent-up lust is released. At the same time, hubby is moving in for the kill by planting wire taps around the place and sure enough, one night, he hears his wife with another man - the one he wants. The ending is bitter sweet but faithful to the book - in fact, it is quite logical.

Sarah steals the show with her wistful longings, motherly concerns, spousal obligations and deep needs. The happy go lucky character of the criminal is well described as well as the day to day grunt work of the law enforcement team. Altogether, a great read.

What a fantastic book! One thing I've noticed about Evan Hunter's novels is that he is able to write about female characters in a way that is utterly convincing to me, a female reader. I still have a little difficulty getting to grips with the fact that Sarah could have been written by a male author!

The novel is more 'adult' than Ed McBain novels generally are, and this is worth remembering if you don't like that kind of thing, but this is a great book, and a very good read. Very highly recommended.

When a last minute booking at Tommel Castle Hotel of a matchmaking club (upscale of course) arrives in Lochdubh no one expects any problems but all too quickly things begin to go terribly wrong. The organizer of the group, Maria Worth, had gone to great lengths to plan the event, pairing up her guests with their perfect match and arranging plenty of activities to keep them all in a party mood. Everything was going well until Maria's obnoxious business partner. Petra, unexpectedly arrived with her young, attractive niece in tow. All of Maria's plans were going to pieces as the men all abandoned the women Maria had selected for them but when they went into the dining room all thoughts of romance with anyone quickly fled. Petra left no doubts about how she had become so grossly overweight, to say that she gobbled her food was an understatement. Comparing Petra's feeding habits and greed as she chomped, slobbered and shoveled her way through the meal to a pig was an insult to pigs everywhere. The main group activity quickly became avoiding Petra at all costs. When she abruptly decided to leave everyone breathed a sigh of relief, at least until her dead body was found with an apple stuffed into her mouth. Everyone at the hotel, guests and staff included became a suspect because to know Petra had been to hate her, giving the local constable, Hamish Macbeth, plenty to do to solve the crime.

As is the norm with this popular series of cozy mysteries the real attraction here is not the mystery but rather the life and times of Hamish Macbeth and the village of Lochdubh. In this particular novel though the focus is on the hotel guests with very little interaction with the villagers which is a bit of a problem for long time fans of the series. We do get several prolonged and often hilarious scenes with Hamish and Priscilla coping with the group. Fans of the series will not want to miss this one even if many of their favorite characters are missing. Those who are new to the series will probably want to begin elsewhere, ideally with the first book, DEATH OF A GOSSIP and then reading the rest in order.

I really enjoyed this book. Grant it we didn't get too much of the eccentric villagers in this one, but we still had Hamish. And he is his usual self here. Murder occurs at his beloved Priscilla's hotel when a party of people from a dating agency are in residence. The woman who is murdered is particulary odious. She's a huge, fat woman with terrible table manners, and it's almost a relief to everyone when she is found dead. Hamish needs to solve the murder in spite of Blair's incompetence, and he manages to put everything together to do that. Again, the book is totally carried by Hamish. What a character he is!

When a hunting party cancels their reservations to Tormel Castle Hotel, Priscilla takes a reservation from the Checkmate Marital Brokerage, much to her father's dismay. Maria Worth, who runs the agency, carefully made her plans to exclude her partner, Petra, a narcissistic glutton who alienates the paying clientele, using the agency as her own private dating service. Maria has carefully screened a few couples and hopes that the beautiful and remote highland setting will promote romance. Unfortunately, Petra finds them and brings along her beautiful and empty headed niece. Maria is afraid that all her plans will be upset. Petra grosses out all in the hotel including the chef, who bets the locals that he can make her eat anything including a dead cat(she does). Fortunately, the couples unite against Petra and her niece and pair off, not in the intended groups, but they are happy enough. One day Petra disappears and is found dead by the gravel quarry with an apple in her mouth. It is up to Hamish to solve the crime, and Priscilla's business.

This is a very funny mystery. The characters are slightly bizarre, but believable and their romantic twists and turns are pretty amusing. Hamish is at his lazy best, trying to keep his village safe, and himself from being promoted again.

Quirky, funny and fast moving, with a bit of revolting sense of humor on part of Petra's eatting habits, this is a good fast read, that will satisfy those who love mysteries, and those who enjoy a bit of a good humor now and then.
The only draw back is the amount of characters introduced. I had a bit of a hard time remembering who's who, but once I got into the story it all made sense.
I appreciated the fact that by the time the book ended and the guilty was revealed I wasn't saying "who's that?"

Great read, M.C Beaton fans must dive into this one.

Death of a Glutton is the eighth Hamish Macbeth mystery. It's the beautiful days of summer in Lochdubh, days that are soon to be replaced with cold and rain. Hamish is looking forward to enjoying these tranquil days while they last. But that hope is soon frustrated.

The Tommel Castle Hotel (formerly the home of Colonel and Mrs. Hallburton-Smythe and their daughter Priscilla before the Colonel lost his capital) is booming. But when a fishing party cancels at the last minute, the Colonel finds he may have to lower his social standards to fill the hotel. This fear is turned into a reality when Maria Worth books the hotel for Checkmate Singles Club, which matches up matrimonial prospects from among the well-to-do. Maria has invited eight people who want to marry well and thinks she has just the prospect for each one. Immediately, each one takes a dislike to the person Maria has in mind for them, but things seem to be proceeding anyway when they strike up conversations with other singles in the group.

Those plans are put seriously awry, however, when her not-so-silent partner, Peta Gore, shows up uninvited with her voluptuous, but self-centered, young niece, Crystal. The men flock to Crystal until they find she's dull. That enrages the women. Peta turns out to be a world-class overeater with the worst possible manners. Colonel Hallburton-Smythe takes his wife and heads out, leaving this troublesome party to Priscilla and Mr. Johnson to tend.

The story builds around Peta's eating. There's a memorable picnic involving a wee trip in the ocean that has humorous consequences. The chef becomes so enraged by Peta's behavior that he takes a bet he can feed her a most unappetizing source of protein and she'll be delighted.

Hamish thinks that all he has to do is to save the hotel's reputation. Things take a different turn when Peta first turns up missing, leaving behind a curious note, and is later found dead . . . with an apple crammed down her throat.

Who did it? And why? Hamish makes a bigger hash out of the investigation than usual . . . but does eventually put his finger on the guilty party.

Hoping for central heating in his wee police station, he ends with up two unexpected surprises instead.

The main appeal of this story comes in the outrageous burlesque of Peta's eating methods. That part is nicely developed. The other characters, by comparison, are pretty uninteresting and not especially attractive either. But their cardboard outlines do help fill out the story line. The mystery isn't very mysterious. The clues are everywhere.

My impression is that M.C. Beaton intended each of these characters to be pretty funny to the readers. I think she missed in that attempt. Instead, I found them all-too-pathetically familiar. The humor needed to be exaggerated more to work.

One of the other good aspects of the book comes in the humorous ways that Hamish and Priscilla mangle their relationship whenever it starts to warm up a bit. Priscilla finds herself becoming more than a little jealous of one of Hamish's admirers which helps set up the fun.

The villagers and Towser take back seat in this book which makes the story seem less authentic somehow.

Watch what you eat!

I thoroughly enjoy any "Midsumer Murders"books or DVD and the same goes for "Touch of Frost"

When are Tom Barnaby and Inspector Troy going to make their appearance?

This is one of those books that is hard to get into at first, page after page of introducing the soon-to-be suspects as actors and stage assistants in the play "Amadeus." I began to consider putting the book down. However, I started getting interested in spite of myself, trying to figure out what was going to happen and whose fault was it going to be! After the murder, on the stage in full view of Barnaby and Troy, the pace really picked up. The intrigue was so strong, I found myself reading until 4:00 a.m. one morning in order to see who the murderer was!

Another Caroline Graham winner!!

I enjoy Caroline Graham's books, as much for their English characters as anything. This is not one of her better books. It drags on, is disjointed, and the conclusion one could not have guessed (usually mystery writers put some clues as to the outcome somewhere earlier).
I made it thru the book but it was not easy.

It is so much fun to read Graham's novels. The writting is so well done and Inspector Barneby and his family
are consistently entertaining , plus the mystery is intriging and has just the right amount of twist and turns to keep you on edge until the last page. I LOVE THIS AUTHOR.

Fair. At least in comparison to Graham's later books. Worth reading, however, if you're interested in character progression and the writerly process.

Most books are meant to be read . . . one exception to this
rule might well be EVEN THE STARS LOOK LONESOME
by Maya Angelou, the continuation of her bestselling
WOULDN'T TAKE NOTHING FOR MY JOURNEY NOW.

I was fortunate to hear the CD version of this book, which
is a combination of essays by the author on a wide variety of subjects.

What made it so outstanding was to actually hear the author . . . her
voice is unlike any you've ever heard . . . to listen to it makes you
feel like she is talking directly to you.

EVEN THE STARS grabbed me from the opening:

* My last marriage was made in heaven. The musical accompaniment
was provided by Gabriel, and angels were so happy that ten thousand
of them danced on the head of a pin.

I was mesmerized from that point on . . . and each chapter seemingly
kept getting better, covering such diverse topics as aging, learning,
vacationing, sexuality, teaching and violence.

I was looking to get something else when I first bought this book....but, nevertheless, its message resonated with me where, on page 174-175, Maya eloquently pens about Dr. Martin Luther King saying that we all are related to one another and that we all share same demons and divines. Then she writes about W.E. R. Dubois, the first African-American to attend Harvard University who said ALL people, of all colours, age and status dream of a fair and workable future.....the message could not be more important today in a rising economic depression, loss of wealth and purchasing power of poor and middle-class Americans, and growing fascism that is beginning to creep into America today thanks to the cold and calculated Neocon influence.

The deep and compelling thoughts of life and how to endear every emotion, experience, and disappointment that comes with growing older day by day, were wonderfully displayed in Maya Angelou's Even the Stars Look Lonesome. This book was an intelligent continuation of her best selling book Wouldn't Take Anything from my Journey Now. Taking life one day at a time, and learning from each experience is what this book is all about. The recreating of each memorable happening from love and intimacy to rage and violence, not discounting her remarkable outlook on age, fame, and perhaps the most impotent, the comfort and security you find in a home and a family. The experiences would relate more to elder women looking for advice and insight on common life issues.
In this novel, Maya Angelou has combined a wonderful collection of life experiences that have formed and made her the person she is today. Each chapter reflects an important stepping-stone of her life. The book consists of twenty chapters that are mumbled together and yet stayed in order of the way they took place.
The plot is always changing each chapter is like a different book. Towards the beginning of the novel, love and divorce where the experience of choice and she soon moves in to her times in Africa, and how challenging it is to be an African American Women earning her well deserved respect. Maya Angelou's novel also voices her opinion on age, denial, and anger to an older age group of African American women, using emotionally over powering stories. The chapters are short and moderately easy to get through, if you're good at combing facts and clues to complete the final picture.
Coming to a conclusion of the eye opening novel Even the Star Look Lonesome we feel as though the experiences displayed in this book would better relate to women between the ages of 20 and 80. The reason for that relation is due to the fact not many people have experienced the things talked about until theses ages have been reached. Also the group felt the book was directed towards African Americans and the troubles that race encounters.

maya angelou's even the stars look lonesome is an outburst to the african american society. it gives so much hope. her words express a lyrical emotion. her usage of intelligent voice structure titilates the mind.

it talks about essays of aspects in life and what kind of journey that people are planning to have in their experiences and I think its a very interesting book
Best Book

The first V. I. Warshawski Mystery, according to the cover of the paperback reprint. Very good first effort. I'll read more.

Second in line: DEADLOCK (V.I. Warshawski Novels)

After reading JM Redmann's wonderful Death by the Riverside featuring MIckey Knight, I was so vividly taken with the strong female character that I just had to re-read the other strong female character that I love: VI Warshawsky. Like Knight, Warshawsky is a tough cookie who can hurt, a smart woman who makes human mistakes, and a real pain... for friends who wish she wouldn't get herself into such danger.

Paretsky's gift in storytelling is the way she takes a small incident and lets it mushroom until seemingly unrelated incidents form the picture of a larger, uglier tale. Warshawsky herself is complicated and richly textured character and I loved revisiting her.

A great series, that actually starts off strong. Some of her next novels fall short, some are better. Unless you fall head over heels for Paretsky, I would read other reviews to see which ones are better, and skip the 'read-in-order' process.
I read this around the time that that awful movie with Kathleen Turner came out, but through so-so books and a bad movie, I'm still a fan. That has to say something about Mrs. Paretsky.

V.I. Warshawski is one of the best P.I.s ever! This is a series you can't put down. Once I read one, I had to read all the rest in the series. Sara Paretsky is great!

I am a late-comer to the V.I. Warshawski series. I'd known about for years, but after seeing the dreadful Kathleen Turner movie version, I decided to skip the books. Stupid me! I've only read this first book, but I have to say I'm hooked. The character of V.I. Warshawski is probably one of the best female P.I. characters out there. Sara Paretsky has written strong, three dimensional female that you can easily become attached to. The plot of this first book was a little choppy, but the author's understanding of Chicago -- the lay of the land, the police, the politics -- makes up for any shortcomings. Bravo job! I look forward to reading the entire series.

The Leper of Saint Giles the fifth book in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, exemplifies everything which is laudable in her series. Peters' shines in creating characters who we love, and excels in the ability to set the stage in the medieval world. Balancing mystery with romance is never an easy matter and Ellis Peters has created an entire series where this is her forte. In addition this series does not cling to the traditional sense of justice found in many other mysteries.

Brother Cadfael is at his best. He is both a spiritual being and a worldly one. He is as comfortable in the church as he is talking with a knights mistress. Cadfael has an innate ability to sense what is good in true in a person and works actively to support those with just causes. In the instance of this novel it is a young squire, Joss and a wealthy heiress Iveta. Iveta is a pawn of her aunt and uncle who plan to marry her to an aging knight and divide her land between them. Joss loves Iveta and plans on finding away to protect her. when a murder halts the marriage, Joss is the first suspect.

The setting is once again the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, but this time it also includes the leper colony of Saint Giles. the reader is introduced to some of the horrors and indignities which the lepers lived through. Brother Mark works among them and recognizes the dignity of the human spirit.

I suggest this book as reading for those who love medieval mysteries.

A beautiful orphan heiress (Iveta) with a large dowry and mercenary guardians is about to be forced into a marriage of convenience with a rich but loathsome toad (Huon de Domville). When Huon's young, handsome retainer (Joscelyn Lucy) expresses his love for Iveta and his opposition to the marriage, he is fired, Huon is murdered, and the hunt is on for Joss. He could easily escape, but he will not leave until he can rescue Iveta from her guardians.

Joss takes refuge in a leper colony and is aided by an ancient, eight-fingered leper called Lazarus and a young boy whose mother is dying of leprosy. Can Joss escape the hangman's noose? Can the Iveta escape her guardians? Can the two star-crossed lovers be reunited? Who is this mysterious Lazarus?

Only one man in the whole of England can unravel this mystery, and he happens to be living in the nearby Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. He is, of course, the Abbey's herbalist, Brother Cadfael, a former Crusader and pirate.

This was my first foray into the Brother Cadfael series, having recently retrieved several of them from the neighbors giveaway bin. I think I am already hooked! It's too bad this series is not more widely available in the US (or perhaps I don't inhabit the right bookselling establishments).

This is standard mystery fare for the most part, but with several unique twists. First and foremost is the 12th century England setting. This is quite educational in and of itself, especially for Yanks ill-versed in English history or for anyone who thinks that nothing happened durring the Middle Ages. The details certainly give you a sense of historical accuracy, although I am not not a qualified judge of such things. I was also interested to find out that one can explore the remains of the locale in present day Shrewsbury.

Brother Cadfael himself is a unique character. Although I believe the clergyman-cum-detective has been done before (actually he is a monk but not a priest), his work is complicated by the fact that he is never officially authorized (in this book anyway) by the sheriff to investigate the crime, nor is he paid for his work. Most of his investigations are surreptitious and voluntary, performed to satisfy his curiousity and desire for justice.

This particular book, in addition to the mystery, gives us a striking love story, involving an arranged marriage and forbidden love. While the outcome of the love story is never really in doubt, it does give you a rooting interest while you observe the investigative evidence unfold. There is also a fascinating look at the world of leprosy, one which has probably not changed much in many countries and which has only changed in the developed world in the last 100 years. To top things off there is a surprise twist involving Muslim-Christian relations, which is remarkably apropos for today's world despite having been written 20 years ago about something that took place a milleniumn ago.

One word of caution: as a consequence of the attempt at historical accuracy, there are many vocabulary words and turns-of-phrase that are obscure in modern English (especially American English), which tends to slow the reading down some. For those who want to broaden their vocabulary a dictionary would be useful, although the general gist of the story is usually evident from the context. In any case, don't be put off, it's worth the effort!

In this fifth chronicle of Brother Cadfael of the abbey of St.Peter and St.Paul of Shrewsbury, a young, reluctant heiress is brought to the abbey for a marriage, forced on her by her greedy guardians, to a much older, gross mannered man, Huon de Domville. The prospective bride loves a young squire of her own age, but all of her protests are swept away in the name of joining together, two considerable estates. On the eve of the wedding, de Domville dismisses his servants and rides out alone for one last visit to his mistress, before the marriage takes place, but is found murdered in the woods, with clues firmly pointing to the young squire, Joscelin Lucy. Lucy had been overheard in the local inn by many people the evening before, making threatening remarks about de Domville while getting fall down drunk. Joscelin is arrested but manages to elude his captors, hiding in the nearby leper colony, which is supervised by Cadfael's protege, Brother Mark. The abbot enlists the aid of Cadfael in sorting out the mess, but when the murdered body of the girl's guardian is also discoverd, only Cadfael looks in the right direction to clear up the mysteries. As ever, in these fascinating books, Cadfael emerges as a man ahead of his time, as a clear thinking problem solver who cuts through prejudice and superstition, to bring everything to a satisfactory conclusion.

Ellis Peters' "The Leper of St. Giles" starts off as, and continues to be, more of a pure love story than any of its predecessors. Since it is a Cadfael story, murder and mystery do indeed rear their ugly heads. Once more, Cadfael is called (with the support of his nifty new abbot) to do more than mix herbs.

Cadfael's former apprentice Brother Mark has left the nest as the story begins. One of the great joys in this book is to see the continued growth of Mark as a minister. In fact it is Mark, more so than Cadfael, who finds himself in the center of the action in "The Leper of Saint Giles."

This is a story that has a lot to do with the meaning of identity and the impact of deception. The basic plot revolves around a lowly squire who loves a wealthy heiress. The problem is, the heiress' wretched relations are intent on marrying her off for financial gain. From this rather nasty situation springs murder and false accusation. It is the job of Cadfael and Mark to make things right.

The more I read of Ellis Peters, the more I admire her work. She had a unique literary voice. So much wisdom is imparted in each story. This is doubly true in "The Leper of St. Giles." The reader is left questioning the actions of Cadfael and pondering the meaning of Justice.

While I am left with many questions and I missed Cadfael's old buddy Hugh, I found this book to be one of the more satisfying Cadfael stories. I highly recommend "The Leper of St. Giles."