Windsor Books

Barbara Michaels Gothic thrillers seem to involve some sort of a haunted house/castle, a man with a secret shady pasty, time setting around 1950's and witty damsel in distress with spunk and a bit of an attitude. This suits me just fine when I am in deed in the mood for mystery, thriller and romance all mixed into one and a relaxing evening of some fun, light reading. This kept me glued to the pages enough to finish quickly and I am looking forward to more of her books in the future. This is not serious literature but when in the mood this suits me fine.

The story begins with Carla Tregellas, an American math teacher who travels to Cornwall, England to inherit an estate left for the last bearer of her family name. It's appropriate that the moorland landscape surrounding the mansion adds charm and mystique to the ragged coastline and crisp weather, taking the heroine and the reader back in time. With Celtic blood in her veins Carla feels close to her roots in this new surrounding and starts to wonder whether she really wants to sell the grand house or not. Occupied by few servants, a cook and local gardener she is quickly surrounded by locals who want to take her around and show off the area. Impressed by the warm welcome she makes a few quick friends, most of them men as things start to get complicated. An old legend surrounding Lady Caroline who used to live in the house and who's portrait looks very familiar to Carla is on the lips of Mrs. Pendennis, a housekeeper stuck on the past, trying to warn Carla about the upcoming midsummer eve anniversary of madness and death that doomed the lady of the house, a tradition that is not going to stop this year. A demon from the sea is said to be waiting for a new bride that night and Carla doesn't know whether to run and pack or laugh. Things start to happen and near accidents change her mind but there is more that meets the eye.

The reader is quickly introduced to all the characters and that's when the real charade begins, I was wondering myself whether the tale of the man from the see who seeks out his bride on the fatal night was real or whether Carla's friends weren't so friendly after all and were after something in the house instead. This was a fast read and I almost guessed the chain of events, with many twists and surprises from the author.

Good fun and lot's of intrigue from Carla's male suitors made for an entertaining read.

- Kasia S.

I've read this book at least 15 times. It has great atmostphere and I enjoy the romance. Ms. Michaels plays the story out in the same genre that she makes fun of. The humor, history, good plot, great charactors makes this one of my favorite Michaels book...and she is my favorite authors - so that's saying a lot!

Although the house with spirits has been done repeatedly, Barbara Michaels does a wonderful job with her interpretation of this well used theme. I found myself being drawn into the tale and especially enjoyed the picturesque description of the castle. Despite its great twists and turns, I couldn't help but be sadden by the choice of endings. It does leave the reader wondering, how much of the ending was a result of the "spirit of the house" and how much of it was the mental workings of the heroine? You decide.

I haven't read a Michael's book in ages and picked this one up. I absolutely loved it. Couldn't put it down until the wee hours of morning. If you like old houses, mysteries and ghosts this book is for you. Wish she would write another with these characters.Enjoy!

American teacher Carla Tregellas is the last remaining heir to a huge mansion on the cliffs of Cornwall. When she arrives she is confronted by an elderly housekeeper who tells her the tale of one of her ancestors disappearing on a stormy night, apparently taken by a mysterious merman. Carla is the practical type who is not dissuaded by old legends and decides to stay the summer. She becomes entwined with the housekeepers grandson, the local vicar, a young doctor, the lawyer handling the estate, and a myriad of other interesting characters. Carla notices that they all seem very intent on her leaving and she stubbornly refuses to give in. Meanwhile she has dreams and some real horrors in the house. In spite of all that she falls in love with the old estate and plans to stay. That's when the real fireworks start. This was an excellent mystery keeps you guessing until the amazing conclusion. Great fun to read.

So I got 3/4 of the way through this book and realized I'd read it like 20 years ago! That either means it was so forgettable that it made no impression at all on me, or so entertaining that I read it with renewed enthusiasm the second time. It could also mean that all Dick Francis books are so similar, you can't know whether you've read one before. Or maybe my memory is just going.

Anyway, if you've read Dick Francis books before, you know what you're getting: characters of all kinds (smart, cynical, narcissistic, unethical, upstanding, sexy, earthy...), intrigue, horses and racing, twisty plots despite some heavy-handed foreshadowing...

In this case, we have a banker who's been promoted facing whether to make a gigantic loan to a breeder who wants to buy the great colt Sandcastle outright and put him to stud. The breeder has it all figured out, and everything would be fine, but of course it isn't. All sorts of interesting characters criss-cross in the perpetration and getting-to-the-bottom of same. We learn lots about a lot of things: racing, breeding, pharmacology, banking. We feel very clever when we figure things out ahead of time (of course I shouldn't feel so clever, because I'd READ the book before!). We root for the good guys and hiss at the bad guys. Mostly just great fun.

I have to say the unrequited-love story subplot was kind of silly. Besides that, it was a fun little read. Helps if you like horses.

We have read every Dick Francis novel, some forty (!) in all. We marvel at the author's ability to endear the lead characters to the reader within just a few pages. While our hero is always a man, it is always a man men would like to be like, and woman would like to find! Ted Ekaterin is no exception -- while he works in an investment bank, making daily decisions on big business loans, he is all of humble, courteous and pleasant, sensitive, caring, personable and smart. No wonder he is successful, even if his family founded the institution in question.

One of Tim's loans is to syndicate a champion racehorse getting ready to perform at stud. From this development we learn not only a good deal about investment banking but the inside of the horse breeding business, especially from a financial viewpoint. When the offspring start to show birth defects, irregularly, our hero is suspicious enough to practically start living at the stables to unravel what is going on. When the horse owner's daughter, with whom Tim has developed an affectionate plutonic relationship, is murdered, the mystery gets really serious. Are the TV celebrity horse "healer" and herbal remedy specialist and his "cooperative" veterinarian bad guys or victims? Can Tim's pharmacist "girlfriend" help trace some important clues? Will the horse farm and Tim's reputation survive?

An interesting sub-plot, one presented in poignant prose, concerns Tim's boss Gordon, who is slowly losing the war with Parkinson's disease, and Gordon's wife Judith. While it's not clear how it got started, Tim and Judith find themselves in love, but are too honorable to ever act on their feelings. Toward the end of the book, when Gordon's health is in serious jeopardy, will Tim and Judith get the chance to unite?

Francis is known for relatively non-violent mysteries, with pleasant leading characters, and enough suspense to entertain, even if at a level less than the thrills and chills of writers like Patterson or Sandford. Nonetheless, we love his characters, and never fail to enjoy his stories. "Banker" is indeed one of our favorite books of all time.

BANKER by Dick Francis is one of our all time favorites, maybe because we have a New Zealand friend who is an investment banker under the British term, which is very different from the American concept. A more unlikely hero than Tim Ekaterin seldom exists in mystery/suspense/thriller fiction, but Mr. Francis carries the character through many trials to a surprising finish. Now that is class or the style of a master storyteller.
Financing the purchase of a champion horse is Tim's first step outside the box of his world, which is the only safe move he makes in this rapid pace story.
Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I've read more than a dozen Dick Francis mysteries. Most are good, some are great, a few are not quite up to par. But this one definitely stunk. Instead of a tightly written 200 pages, it was 300 repetitious, boring pages. The main character was a cipher and his "love interest," a married woman, just happens to become free at the very end of the book. How contrived can you get? Prior to that, in the last 60 or so pages Francis lived up to his best plotting self, although the main character's near death experience was not original. Oh well. I bought it for 50 cents at a book sale and wasted only a few hours reading it, so I can't really complain.

Dick Francis is a formulaic writer, which is to say that one has a pretty good idea of the shape of the novel before one even cracks open the cover. While this would be a death knell for longevity for many, it hasn't been for Francis. This arises from the fact that his characters are so memorable and the milieu in which he casts his tales so rich and well defined that we totally forget that some of the plot mechanisms feel familiar.

Banker is a tale of a young British investment banker involved in a syndicate financing the stud career of a well know champion race horse. After the deal is sealed there arises a problem--it appears the horse is genetically defective. Our Banker suspects this is not entirely a natural phenomenon and starts investigating. As always with Francis, this leads to intrigue, violence and murder.

Francis' ability to skillfully enter into a wide array of worlds in his novels is another strength--the world of investment banking is brought into sharp focus in a way that makes it interesting--not terminally boring, as one would imagine.

Banker is one of Francis' very best works--the characters are vivid and compelling, the mystery here is more refined than usual, the suspense builds very nicely.

If you haven't yet tried Francis, this would be a great book to start with. It will set you on the path to a lot of great reading!

Great human elements. Wish my small town could adapt some of Ms. Challis' well-developed empathy. Vivid, multigenerational characters are portrayed realistically. Her descriptions of local flora and fauna provide visions of thick hedges, stone walls, thickly-wooled sheep. Finished with a big smile and a cup of hot tea with milk - not a bad commendation for a summer-read in Georgia!

I've run out of Maeve Binchy books and this was a great substitute! I love getting to know the characters in the little towns and this book entertains with just that. I am going to be buying more of Sarah Challis's books.

This was my first Sarah Challis novel and I found her delightful characters living in a charming English village completely captivating. Readers who are enchanted by Rosamunde Pilcher and Marcia Willett will find Challis to be an equally enjoyable writer to spend time with.

Claudia Barron has led a glitzy and glamorous life in London. Alas, her well-known husband has recently been splattered across the tabloids, convicted of fraud, and exposed as an adulterer. Humiliated, Claudia flees to an inconspicuous village and hopes to live anonymously and detached from fair-weather friends. Even though she changes her name, her reclusive behavior causes mumblings in the village and before she can say "no comment" she has been thrust into a cast of characters as endearing as any you would want to meet: Julia Durnford, her nosey parker neighbor who manages every detail of the village; Peter, Julia's milquetoast husband; their daughter Victoria who is feeling the pangs of being the left-out and lonely teenager at boarding school; Jena, the ten-year old gypsy who runs free; and Valerie, the semi-alcoholic neighbor to whom Claudia can reveal her secrets. Add to this mix, Claudia's visiting adult children: the lively Lila who flies in from New York and Jerome, the brooding son who returns from India with a secret too devastating to share. And finally, there are the two available men who catch Claudia's eye---will she succumb to the sexy and suave Anthony Brewer or be stabilized by Chris, the straightforward widower with four daughters?

Cozy and comforting, this is a most appealing novel I was sad to see end.

Very hard to get into.... I'm almost 1/2 way and can still put it down easily.............

Enjoyed very much. Readers who are Rosemund Pilcher amd Marsha Willet fans will also like Sarah Challis'works.

After my friend had breast cancer surgery, I bought Lillie Shockney's book for her and read it myself to be sure it was appropriate. I was impressed with the way she conveyed her hope as well as the hard times. She shared her effective use of humor, and expressed the importance of gathering people around for support. I gladly passed the book on to my friend with the hope she would find support in reading about someone who has coped using methods she has also used. I recommend this book to anyone who is coping with breast cancer, either as a patient or as a supporter of a friend or family member.

So many of us have had to face saddness, fear, illness, and death in our lives. Breast cancer is not prejudice, it does not discriminate, or is understanding, and so many women today are faced with having to deal with this disease in someway. Reading Lillie's book made me realize that although it is frightening, it was okay - okay to change your appearance, your lifestyle, and your outlook on life. With the use of laughter and the comfort of her family and friends, this woman took a life altering experience and, with her mind set, she changed her way of seeing the world. She is a survivor, and after reading this book, you feel the strength that she has gained, and will have the courage and spirit overcome any challenge life gives you.

I do not have breast cancer and have never had a mastectomy, but I am a woman and that gives me a 1 out of 8 chance of being a member of this club. Lillie Shockney takes you into the examining room, operating room, even into the bedroom. But, most importantly, she takes you into her heart. With humor,candor and common sense, she takes away some of the fears and taboos associated with breast cancer and mastectomies. Her book spurred me to make an appointment for a long overdue mammogram!! God Bless you and your family, Lillie, for sharing a very personal experience.

I found this to be an excellent guide. It was well written and didn't use long technical words. My experiences paralled hers and it gave me great insite on the disease. It also has very good references and contacts. I have recommended it to many people. I would like to see her write more of what is happening after the years.

I've been awarded the opportunity to see up close what a benefit Lillie's book can be to many women facing the shocking diagnosis of breast cancer. As the owner and manager of a small book store, I've had the opportunity to arrange a speaking engagement for Lillie, regarding this issue, at our local university, followed by a booksigning at my store. I could clearly see on the faces of many in attendance, the appreciation they felt in meeting someone who knew first hand what they, as "members of the club" were experiencing. Many times since then, I've recommended Lillie's book to customers at my store who have expressed an interest in breast cancer resources, either for themselves or for loved ones. More times than I can count, I've given the book to friends, relatives and even "secret pals", because I feel strongly that the story told in this book deserves to be shared. The only "problem" that I can find with this book, is that it's difficult to classify! We had quite a time at my store deciding where to shelve it. It could rest easily on the Inspirational shelf, as well as in the Humor or Psychology and Self-Help sections!

This book provides a rare and fascinating look behind the scenes of the Hollywood motion picture industry, including the haphazard way in which "discoveries" were made, the almost ludicrous way decisions were made, etc. Shirley also relates how she was grossly cheated by Twentieth Century Fox by being nailed down to a five-year contract at $150.00 a week when a few weeks later Paramount offered to borrow her from Fox at a salary of $1000.00 per week. She goes on to quote dollars-and-cents amounts to demonstrate how she (or her mother) was repeatedly cheated, how false announcements were issued to the press as to her salary. The careful detail she goes into indicates that she (or some assistant) has done considerable "homework."

Shirley cycles from intra- and inter-studio political maneuvering to financial dealings, to candid details of other stars, to her schooling and her home life, thus keeping the story interesting and appealing to a number of different tastes. Among these are extraordinary events like two assassination attempts, visits to the White House, the governor of Massachusetts carelessly slamming a car door on her hand, etc.

The story gets more horrendous during her adolescent career. While her contract negotiations were going on at MGM, the fourteen-year-old Shirley was treated to sexual advances by the producer of "Wizard of Oz" with promises of stardom if she put out and threats of being washed up if she didn't. Her mother, meanwhile, was being subjected to the same treatment by Louis B. Mayer, the studio boss. Four years later, David O. Selznick pulled the same carrot-and-stick ploy during contract negations with his studio and on another occasion locked his office door and literally chased her around his office. Shirley relates in detail how she escaped from each of these sexual harassments with one glaring exception: a train ride to location shooting of one of her "grown-up" movies. In this case, the producer of "Wizard," now employed by Selznick, tried to r*pe her. This coy ducking of the incident is infuriating. If the r*pe didn't succeed, why does she not recount in detail how she got out of it, the way she does with all the other incidents? He tried to r*pe her again at his home some weeks later and she describes what she did to him to get out of that one.

She recounts how her own father ignored the court order under the Coogan Act and did not deposit any of her earnings in her trust account during her adolescent years (the pictures she made between age 14 and age 20). He had also kept all her childhood earnings (before the Coogan Act). Her father was uneducated but fancied himself a financier and lost all Shirley's money in one way or another. Consequently, out of over three million dollars earned in 19 years of stardom, Shirley Temple was left with only eighty thousand.

At twenty and married for the second time, she relates how she was induced to have a Caesarian at Bethesda Naval Hospital with promises of especially good medical care, how the surgeon botched the operation, then did not call in other physicians for consultation but kept trying to treat the consequences of one mistake after another in order to cover up his mistakes. Shirley almost died. Fortunately, other physicians intervened in time to save her life. On another occasion, a physician misdiagnosed a stomach ache for appendicitis and performed surgery, removing a perfectly healthy appendix.

Like many of us, I grew up watching Shirley Temple movies, mostly on television -- no longer in theaters, they were classics in the 50s and early sixties.

I found Ms. Black to be a good writer, clear and concise, and as classy as I expected her to be. No "Mommie Dearest" here, although toward the end she is honest, but not bitter, about how the money she earned for the many, many movies (far more movies than I realized) had never made it to her adulthood as they were legally supposed to. Rather than add bitterness to an already difficult situation, though, she chose to let it go, and move on. Way to go, Shirley. Not sure I could have been so considerate -- but then again, ever the optimist and considering everyone's feelings, she had a family she was not willing to lose, and children who needed their grandparents, and uncles. Nothing was done with malice, at least not by her family. Any greed by the studio and/or government is also allowed to slide as water under the bridge. She worked her heart out, and she loved it, she considered that payment enough. At the time she was able to take that approach, she was in a good place in her life, and felt rich beyond words. Good for her, she earned the right to move forward.

I was appalled at how studio executives treated her as she moved forward in her adult career, as a woman in general, and indeed, as who she was -- an American icon! Sometimes I think there is no level low enough that some men won't stoop to... Again, she mentions it as an annoyance, but "part of the business" she had to learn to deal with. No sexual harassment claims for her -- though she certainly would have been justified!

And how sad I was to read the story of her first marriage, and how she is also able to rise above that without the recriminations of so many others who have lived with the nightmares she describes. Angelic is the only way to describe her.

But the accomplishments! I can't wait to read the second part of this autobiography, that I see listed in amazon.com's catalog. I had no idea what an accomplished woman Shirley Temple Black is -- probably the most accomplished woman in American history! The "About the Author" piece in the back of the book just blew me away! And in all my years of feminist study, nobody mentions Shirley Temple Black...I wonder why? Because she was a movie star (with a filmography that apologizes to no one!)? Because she took her husband's name? Because she loved being a homemaker and taking care of her children? Fal-de-ral and fiddle-dee-dee!

Yes, she was appointed as Ambassador to Ghana by President Gerald R. Ford in 1974, and many people know that; but among many, many other accomplishments in this arena she was later appointed Ambassador and U.S. Chief of Protocol, the first woman in U.S. history to hold this position. Where is her work? I want to read her work!

I am astounded at our ignorance about this woman who traveled the journey from the depression through Word War II and beyond spreading grace, charm and joy everywhere she went. I wish she had said more about the war, and her take on the holocaust and the Nazis, but I'm not surprised she didn't bring it up. It's not in her nature to focus on the negative. Leave that to women like me.

Shirley Temple, I salute you!

I borrowed this book from the library because I was reaserching Shirley Temple's background in tap dance. By the time I finished it I had to purchase it and add it to my private research library. There is just so much more in this biography than I ever expected. I guess it's obvious if you think about it, Shirley Temple is a very intelligent person. Part of her talent as a child came from the fact that she has a very high IQ. So the writing in the book displays humor, wisdom, and candor I just had not anticipated. Her ability to memorize lines and deliver them correctly in one take was legendary when she was a child. What maybe less well known is that she is on every top ten list of great tap dancers and she gave the practice up, at least publicly, when she was 20, a time when most dancers are just getting started. I found this autobiography unusual on several fronts: Mrs. Black is very introspective about her parents and grand parents and their relationship to who she became. This is common in biographies, but much less so in autobiographies. She is also candid about unorthodox techniques used to direct her in her early movies, and her likes and dislikes of her various directors and co-stars. As a child she had an unusual capacity for concentration which she brings to bear on her work as a writer and the details of what she recalls. Any child growing up under similar circumstances would find their egos hardboiled. Mrs. Black turns acute perception on the problems of her personality and her use of her own power that are not always complimentary. This is a true expose of what becomes of someone who is both manipulated and praised beyond their own self image. I can only think that it was her unique intelligence that got her through. The National Enquirer is filled with similar stories of the less intelligent. I'm very much looking forward to part II of these chronicles.

When I first read the book from our local library I thought it was going to be another boring life story like all the others I have read, little did I know that this one was going to be something special.
After I read it, I sank back on my bed and said out loud "THIS IS JUST LIKE MY LIFE".
I was also a younge star on stage as a child and then one moment it was taken away from me because I was no longer cute or babyish.
This is why I had buy the book to remind me of who I am and never give up.
Thank you Shirley Temple Black for a real outlook on life.

I read this book because I was interested in learning about Shirley's political and ambasodorial roles. I read the entire book only to find the story finishing in 1954. The notes at the end said that shirley was working on the second instalment of her biography, and seeing as that was in 1988, I can only guess that she would have completed it by now - but it appears never have made it to publication. I was very disappointed that the biography only covered her life as a childhood star and then as a wife and mother. So I would hesitate to recommend the book as it is only half a biography, and would suit fans of the silver screen only.

I completely fail to understand why Edward Wright isn't one of the best-known and best-selling mystery writers in the world today. "Clea's Moon" introduces his protagonist, John Ray Horn, once the star of a series of low-budget westerns and now blacklisted from the film industry and very much down on his luck. The book's brilliantly structured plot draws Horn into a mystery involving a young girl who was once his step-daughter, a ring of deeply perverted men, one of LA's most powerful gangsters, and a psychotic stunt man who bounces back from the worst punch as though somewhere in his mind he thinks the cameras are rolling. Wright captures Los Angeles in the late 1940s/early 50s, when the San Fernando Valley was still full of orange groves, although the bulldozers were advancing, and the cops were frankly and sometimes openly corrupt. And he catches the fascinating world of film-making, even at the low-budget studios that ground out the cheapie westerns. Wright's plotting is superb, his characters are unforgettable, and he raises issues of individual courage and responsibility with a skill that most "serious novelists" would envy. Buy this book and, if you love it, get the others. Edward Wright deserves it.

John Horn is a very interesting, fully dimensional character set in post-War Los Angeles who respects women, children and horses. To the author's credit, he has provided his character a strong supporting cast as well. Add to that an interesting plot, very good dialogue, a wonderful sense of LA during the time and you have a well-paced, excellent story.

CLEA'S MOON comes to us with high expectations. In Great Britain it has won the CWA Debut Dagger for fiction which is not the award for best first novel (The Creasey Award) but judgment based on a 500 word synopsis of the book and the opening pages up to 3000 words . (I anticipate a nomination for the Creasey Award this year.) Though first published in Great Britain, the author is American and the characters and setting most assuredly are as well. It is a gem and another one of the year's best debuts.
John Ray Horn is a former star of B-movie westerns. Along with his "Tonto" or sidekick Indian friend Joseph Mad Dog, they provided many hours of enjoyment for young moviegoers. Now, however, Horn is out of the movie business after a prison term that resulted in a divorce. He works for his old friend, Mad Dog, collecting debts for the Indian's casino business. One day, Horn is contacted by an old friend, Scotty, who wants to show him some his father's pictures which he discovered after his father's death. The photos reveal very young girls in provocative positions. One of the photos is of Clea, Horn's former stepdaughter. When Horn contacts his ex-wife inquiring about Clea, he is told she has disappeared. Horn then pursues her. The search takes him to the dark and forbidden underworld of Los Angeles in the late 1940s.
CLEA'S MOON is an exceptional novel and what is even more remarkable is that it is a first novel. It runs on all cylinders right out of the starting gate. Characters, plot, pacing all combine to perfection in this wonderfully atmospheric novel. Horn, being a faded cowboy movie star, is an interesting main protagonist. What is especially intriguing throughout most of the book is the question as to why he was in prison. We learn the answer late in the book. Nothing is left to chance. The search for Clea propels the story along. However, once she is found, the question arises as to why she ran away. Pages fly by as we find out the stunning truth. Edward Wright is a journalist and, like so many journalists before him, has written a superb debut novel.

This is one of those novels that leaves you wondering why the guy hasn't been writing books since he was sixteen or something. It's a detective story, yes, a private eye novel with all of the atmosphere and intellegence that the genre requires to be well done. It's also a wonderful period piece and a decent picture of Hollywood's past.

John Ray Horn is a former rodeo bronc-rider turned B-Western star who tanked his career when he decked the son of the head of his studio, putting the guy in the hospital with a broken jaw. He did two years in prison for that, and when he returned, he discovered that his old boss had blacklisted him and his acting career was over. His faithful Indian sidekick, though, had invested his earnings from the movies and bought a poker parlor/casino on the edge of L.A., and he offers Horn a job collecting bad debts from gamblers. Horn reluctantly takes it, though he hates the work.

When a friend approaches him with some intriguing information about Horn's former step-daughter (the wife divorced him while he was in jail), he decides to look into things. Then the friend is apparently a suicide, and of course Horn doesn't believe it and looks into that too.

The action is interesting, with not too much violence, but enough to keep things exciting, and the characters are wonderfully drawn and intelligently portrayed. Los Angeles has never been more authentically depicted (to my mind the author easily outdoes Ellroy) with the settings, from restaurants to studio lots to the developing San Fernando Valley all wonderfully toured.

I loved this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in old movies, detective stories, or Los Angeles.

Edward Wright's debut novel, _Clea's Moon_, has a lot of promise, but never quite delivers. When I first read a blurb about this a few months back, it sounded great--just the sort of book I would like. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work.

Wright's protagonist is John Ray Horn, a former cowboy movie star who played the character of Sierra Lane in dozens of low-budget westerns during the 1930s and 1940s, before being sent to prison for two years for assault. Since his release, he's been working as a collection agent for his friend Joseph Mad Crow, who used to be his faithful Indian sidekick in the movies. Horn finds that having to occasionally muscle late payments out of the dead-beat fathers of boys who remember Sierra Lane isn't much fun.

When his friend, rich playboy Scotty Bullard, contacts him regarding a cache of photos he's discovered in the desk of his recently deceased father, a real estate mogul, Horn discovers that one of the underage girls posed in a provocative manner is Clea, who for a brief time was his stepdaughter, in a marriage that didn't last his prison stint. When Scotty is killed shortly thereafter, Horn gets involved in the search for his killer, as well as the group of men who were involved in the picture-taking and worse.

As I said, there is a lot of potential here. Even reviewing my quick plot intro, the book still sounds like a grabber. With its hero who can't quite live up to his onscreen heroics (there are some flashbacks to his time in WWII, when he came face-to-face with paralyzing fear) and the neat reversal of roles with his Indian partner, as well as the time period, an era when Los Angeles was going through fast growth and development (not too far removed from the time portrayed in _Chinatown_), and careful attention to period detail and history, all the elements would seem to be in place for a riveting novel. Unfortunately, this just isn't it. The book is very slow-moving and covers some of the same ground over and over, as Horn searches for the missing Clea, finds her, then loses her, then has to find her again. Wright tends to over-write and he has a hard time keeping the pace moving. Ultimately, the book is just sort of dull and was a real disappointment. I might still give a second John Horn book a chance, but it would have to correct some of the flaws in this first outing.

...and he is not happy about it. Hamish has been ordered to close up his comfortable police station, leave his neighboring croft and take over the post at nearby Cnothan. The only bright spot for Hamish is that the move is only temporary, the local policeman will be gone for three months, so with any luck Macbeth will be back home by spring. Once he (and Towser) arrive in Cnothan though they discover that it will be a very long three months. The village is quite unfriendly to outsiders, and they consider anyone who was not actually born in the village, preferably to a long established village family to be an outsider. Macbeth finds himself shut out by the locals, unable the extract even directions to the local police station and to be the butt of numerous practical jokes.

After a few days on the job Hamish has found a couple of bright spots in Cnothan, one is that he is not the most despised person in town - that 'honor' goes to an overbearing Englishman. The other is the presence of a local artist, a beautiful young woman named Jenny who just might help Hamish forget Priscilla who has once again abandoned the Highlands for London. The young constable begins to feel right at home though when the mysteries begin, starting with the disappearance of a not very missed husband.

Fans will enjoy this third novel of this series of cozies featuring the young Highland constable. The mystery takes second place here (and throughout the series) to the life and loves of Macbeth. Those looking for a puzzling challenge will want to look elsewhere but fans of the cozy genre will enjoy this one and the rest of this charming series.

With a series that requires a murder for each story, a small town like Lochdubh can find itself quickly depopulated by that plot requirement. Fortunately for the fictional residents, M.C. Beaton sends Hamish Macbeth off for a fill-in assignment in the Highland town of Cnothan so that town can be depopulated instead.

Hamish isn't happy to learn that he's off to Cnothan. The residents there are more taciturn and unfriendly than most Highlanders. What's more, he'll be away from Priscilla Hallburton-Smythe the whole time.

The assignment is soon off to a rocky start when it turns out to be difficult to find the police station in Cnothan. What's more, Hamish is replacing a family that doesn't really want him in their home.

But Hamish rouses himself when he discovers that one of his new neighbors is a friendly, unattached Canadian woman. But his job doesn't look promising since he doesn't even know where he's supposed to be patrolling. The locals decide that Hamish may have a yen for other men, which sets up some good humor. But some of the humor is at Hamish's expense as he's called out to investigate a mysterious body.

Later, the town drunk has a close encounter with a corpse that causes great problems for all of the police.

You'll enjoy seeing Hamish operate in new surroundings, with many new challenges to overcome.

The motive for the murder is unusually obscure. If you can spot it . . . and the murderer, you're a lot sharper than I am. I thought that the premise for the murder was so obscure as to be a negative and graded the book down accordingly. I don't think our author played fair with us in this story.

But you'll find lots of chuckles . . . and food for thought the next time you dine on lobster.

Enjoy!

The mystery in this book was decent, the personal side... not so much. The whole dynamic between Hamish and Jenny seemed completely unrealistic and bizarre, plus it seemed somewhat out of character for Hamish. Sure, it's mentioned in some books that he's a 'lady's man', though honestly that always seemed to be at odds with the way he actually acts through most of the stories. But if you can ignore that little odd bit of tangential story, the mystery is solid and well-constructed, and the characters are starting to take on more dimensions and becoming the likeable (and unlikeable, in the case of Blair) backdrop of the later books.

In the overall scheme of the series, this one is getting there but is still far from the best.

Once I read the first mystery I was hooked. I love the way this author writes and I love her characters. I've read almost all that she has writen and when I read her last book I will be very unhappy. You would think that once you read one or two you'd know her style and the answer to the mystery. No way; every one keeps me in suspense.

"Hamish hated change almost as much as he hated work. He had the tenancy of some croft land next to the police station at Lochdubh, where he kept a small herd of sheep, now being looked after by a neighbor. He earned quite good money on the side from his small farming, his poaching, and the prize money he won for hill running at the Highland Games in the summer. All that he could save went to his mother and father and brothers and sisters over in Cromarty. He did not anticipate any easy pickings in Cnothan."
-Death of an Outsider


Given all that, and the taciturn nature of the locals, it's understandable that Hamish is awfully grumpy about being sent to Cnothan for three months to cover for a vacationing colleague. But if he thinks it's tough on him being an outsider, that's nothing compared to how an obnoxious Englishman gets treated. When the latter is murdered it brings Inspector Blair to town and makes things even worse for our hero.

This entry in the very fine series contains the lobster incident that featured in the first episode of the different, but equally good, tv show. Ms Beaton had really hit her stride here, just a few books into the Hamish Macbeth mysteries, and it's an immensely enjoyable read.

I came upon Lovesey quite by accident & have been pleasantly surprised & entertained. I have now read all 8 of the series featuring the curmudgeonly Inspector Peter Diamond & they make for a quick, enjoyable romp. These are not taunt thrillers but tongue-in-cheek good old fashioned murder mysteries, set in Bath, England. Diamond & his team solve their puzzles one piece at a time in the way good Policemen do. I heartily recommend these engaging stories.

Solid, but the plot has a couple of major logical holes (the killer is supposed to be clever; yet, he/she does some really stupid things), and I agree with the earlier reviewer that the con man character was criminally (hehehe... :-) underdeveloped.

As a fan of Peter Lovesey's stuff, I found this Diamond story the best yet. Coming to the end was almost like nearing the end of a great gourmet meal. After reading his earlier stories of Peter Diamond, the way this one begins comes as a shock, but the story plays out well after accepting the reality of what he is facing. First rate book!

I wondered how this book would play out after the shocking beginning, but I shouldn't have doubted Peter Lovesey's skill. He writes a great book! His plots and characterizations are wonderful. In this book the curmudgeonly detective Peter Diamond is confronted with a crime that comes too close to home. He is sidelined by the brass for this, the biggest murder case of his career, but he vows that he will use his unique talent to bring his wife's killer to justice. There are more red herrings and leads for him to follow, and we the readers think it's a whole slew of different people, but Lovesey plays it out until the startling conclusion. This is a thickly textured and compelling book, and it is also a watershed book for Diamond. We wonder at the end what kind of man and detective we will have in subsequent stories. This is probably the strongest entry in an already strong series.

Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond mysteries are very happily to my taste. I like Peter Diamond, the kind of person he is, what he stands for in the bigger picture. He reminds me of Ruth Rendell's Chief Inspector Wexford, except that he is a little lest prosperous and a little more philosophical. Or perhaps a better comparison would be with Henning Mankell's Inspector Kurt Wallander. Diamond is a richly drawn character and this story chases him into a maze that brings his personal life most horribly into context with his work. I got into the Peter Diamond series fairly late in the game and I've been toying with the idea of going back and starting from the beginning, kind of like we did with Reginald Hill's Daziel and Pascoe mysteries. There are some 22 books prior to this one and I don't know how many feature Peter Diamond. Another one or two like this one, and I know it will be worth the investment in time to find out.

This volume of Essential X-Men begins the era of big crossovers in the X-Universe with the Mutant Massacre winding through X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Thor, and Power Pack. Those issues are all included here. I know some people don't like that and just want X-Men issues, but if you're sitting down to read the story, it's good to have them all in one location. I could pull out my Essential X-Factor, but there are no volumes of Essential New Mutants, Power Pack, or Thor (from this era).
This volume also adds Magneto to the roster as the head of the Mutant Academy, taking the place of Professor X. It is an interesting direction and well handled by Chris Claremont. The artwork remains supreme from John Romita, Jr. and all the others who contribute to this collection (including Barry Windsor-Smith, Walt Simonson, and Art Adams). Highly recommended!

I've read all of the X-Men Essential collections. The issues included in this volume originally were published at about the same time that I was picking up comics as a kid, so on a personal level, they hold a very high nostalgic value for me. The whole mutant massacre concept was an incredibly dark introduction to the X-Men for a 9 year old. Events are set in place that would reverberate for pretty much the rest of Claremonts run on the X-Men (as far as who leaves the team due to injuries, and just the direction that the team takes due to line up changes and unfortunate events that happen as a part of dealing with the marauders post massacre). Anyway, it's a great book, but I've got one complaint about the inclusion of the Thor and X-Factor Issues. First of all, they are both also included in X-Factors Essential Collection. Second, even though the Thor and X-Factor issues deal with the Marauders and the Morlock Massacre, nothing in the issues really pertain to anything that happens in the Uncanny Issues. I'd even go so far as to say that the Power Pack issue is more important to the X-Men story than the X-Factor or Thor issues. The closest that they come to directly interacting, is that Magneto and X-Factor make eye contact outside of the Hell Fire club, and this same scene plays out from each sides perspective in thier respective titles.

So, that complaint aside, there is still a lot of value here. You get an awesome Hell Fire/Nimrod fight, and a few Sabretooth/Wolvie fights, and, it feels like the massacre was one of the very first battles where main characters get seriously hurt in a way that they're still affected 20-30 issues down the pipe. Pretty interesting stage in the X-Mens history that's not to be missed.

This includes the classic Mutant Massacre, and some great Barry Windsor Smith stuff. A team of mutant assassins is hired to slaughter the Morlocks living in the tunnels after the city. Most of them fall, but they manage to get word to the X-Men, and their absentee leader, Storm. The X-Men come to help, at great cost to themselves. There is also an appearance by Thor.

Ok, ok, I should say comic book junkie, because that's what they were called when I first started reading them some decades ago. This whole series of Essential X-men books are a fun read unless you get bogged down in details. I never did, I just enjoyed reading them. This is a great book. Enjoy

I love this "phone book" format - I remember reading these and have since sold mucgh of my collection. This book gives me the opprtunity to enjiy those issues in one setting! Only way to improve this is to add color and better paper but that's not the point - this is made for people who love to read comics!

Understanding Ireland in the desperate years of the middle nineteenth century gives a better understanding of the Irish today and the immigrants who settled throughout our country. Through this deeply felt and achingly written portrait of impoverished life, the reader travels the broken land and immerses herself in the journey. I will reread this again and again.

I absolutely loved this book. To begin with, the writing is exquisite. Williams' prose is so gorgeous he could probably turn a trip to the drug store into a meaningful, heartrending story. The plot is interesting in itself, but takes secondary importance to the writing and the atmosphere: this isn't so much of a novel as a story in the old oral tradition, and was clearly written out of love for Ireland and Irish mythology. For days after I put this book down I was seeing beauty in the most ordinary things.

After reading some very positive reviews, I grabbed this book with much expectation. What a mistake that turned out to be. More than anything else, I found the author's prose superfluous -- that the sentences were *overwritten* simply for the sake of sounding nice. Unlike McEwan or Chabon who would easily leave me in awe, I found myself bemused and cringing from the apparent "over-effort" on William's part. I also found it difficult to relate to the characters who seemed all too eager to abandon their family in the time of need. How likely was this in the first place? There were also many episodes along their adventure which were disjointed and seemingly unnecessary. And o yes, this is the first book EVER that I couldn't finish (left it with 100 pages to go).

Although I admit it took me just a bit of time to get used to the author's style of sometimes convoluted sentence structure, I could hardly put this story down.

After a fight with this wife, Francis Foley steals a telescope and leaves his Irish home with his four sons. The four sons are then scattered after they think their father has drowned while attempting to cross the Shannon River. The story of each son is remarkable in that each finds himself following a separate road yet never forgetting the others in the family. The father's search for the boys seems to provide a sense of magnetism which draws them all to seek each other.

Each son has a different story and all are followed to one extent or another throughout the book. Although the story of Teige, the youngest son, takes most of the story, the life of Finbar who follows the gypsies is especially well told. The author takes the reader from Ireland across Europe and across the Atlantic to the wide west of America. The potato famine, immigration to America, and the exploration of the West all provide backgrounds for the telling of the Foley boys' stories.

As I read this book, I couldn't help but think of my own ancestors as they traveled from Europe, some to the US and some to New Zealand. Although not Irish, I'm sure each family member left home with his or her own set of troubles and hopes. sometimes conscious decisions were made and other times they were just swept along by circumstances. The road has not been straight as so well described by the Foley family. Highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever wondered about how their own family has fit into the history of the time.

Niall Williams' novel is a joy. He has taken us back to a world, amazingly enough, in the not-so-distant past in Ireland. The episodic journey of the Foley clan does not come with a blazing climax, but is a replete telling of the tale of Francis Foley, his wife and four sons. Consistent with the Irish history of that period, all four sons leave Ireland, two to North America, one to Africa and one all about Europe, especially France. Francis' journey of discontent and pride washes him up on an island that becomes like a Celtic Eden of the heart, an asylum for lost hopes and dreams, a resting place for a Paradise lost. The stories of each of the sons is touching. Teige, the youngest, is the most closely followed; but each receives a special telling. Emer the wife and mother also weathers years of isolation before reunion with Francis and two of her sons. "The Fall of Light" is rich with Irish emotion, gypsy temperment, love, passion, and even the lure of the wild west. This is a tale that gathers you in its grasp, holds you in its grip until depositing you on the last page. Enjoy & savor!