Murder Books

Both my husband and I have enjoyed this book. Partly because we live in Upper Michigan near where it takes place, but it is also a very interesting story. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this author's series.

A good book actually makes you want to visit Drummond Island. Not only that but it gave me some good restaurant ideas for my next visit.

Lighthouse Paradox is excellent summer reading material. I actually found myself caring for the characters yes it's that absorbing. I live in the Metro Detroit area and the Kelley's books aren't easy to find they should be but they aren't. I would highly suggest ordering this and all of the Kelley's works through Amazon.

Lighthouse Paradox is a worthwhile mystery with real feeling to it. Please do consider reading it you will not be dissapointed.

This is the best fiction book I have read in a long time. I couldn't put the book down. I am not a book reader and I was able to finish this one in 3 days. Must read! I have also bought Legacy.

This book was excellent. Having spent summers on Drummond Island my whole life I really enjoyed this book. Not only was the true Island atmosphere depicted the story kept you on the edge of your seat. The use of historical events for the inspiration of the story was great. I can't wait for the next book!

I was to Drummond about 6 years ago golfing and realy had a good time with co-workers, but I didn't do much but golf. I wish I had. I wish I would have met the people or ones like them in this book. The opening chapters grabbed me and once I got through chapter four there was no stopping. Does anyone know if there is a second book coming? Title? I need to know an answer to a question! I normally do not do this in fact this is my first review! I gave it 4 stars because in my mind 5 would be perfect and what is? But I truly enjoyed it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well written, has colorful characters and the plot is great. I couldn't put it down.

Muriel Spark's Loitering With Intent (1981) is a remarkable autobiographical novel based on the author's experiences on the intellectual and literary fringes of post-World War II London; the book may be Spark's greatest achievement following The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961).

Wise, poised, hilariously funny, and almost seamlessly written, the book is also wonderfully instructive: Spark was fairly impoverished in 1949, and Loitering With Intent reveals not only how an individual can successfully combat the banal evil of the everyday, but perfectly illustrates Camille Paglia's maxim that "hunger is no excuse for groveling." In fact, the voice of narrator Fleur Talbot, Spark's stand in, is not unlike the voice of Paglia at her determined, sharp-tongued, pretension-piercing best. Fleur, like Paglia, calls it as she sees it, and isn't afraid to acknowledge that some people are irredeemably and aggressively awful. But Fleur doesn't avoid such people as a matter of principal: she accepts them as inevitable and lives a life of creative "infiltration": "I was aware that I had a daemon inside me that rejoiced in seeing people as they were, and not only that, but more than ever as they were, and more, and more." Fleur reveals other unusual skills as the story develops: like many artists, she is a bit of a mystic, a bit of a shaman.

Also like much of Paglia's work, Loitering With Intent is something of a blistering attack on high WASP hypocritical good manners and social decorum. While Fleur clearly believes in human decency, fair play, and politeness, she also believes in determined counterattack when duly provoked ("I was not any sort of a victim; I was simply not constituted for the role"); and her responses can be volcanic ("I was glad of my strong hips and sound cage of ribs to save me from flying apart, so explosive were my thoughts"). Fleur uninhibitably recognizes her eventual adversaries as "swine," "stupid," "awful," "hysterical," "insolent," and "self-indulgent fools." The Baronne Clotilde du Loiret is "so stunned by privilege that she didn't know how to discern and reject a maniac," homosexual poet Gray Mauser is "small, slight, and wispy, about twenty, with arms and legs not quite uncoordinated enough to qualify him for any sort of medical treatment, and yet definitely he was not put together right," and a friend has "the ugliest grandchild I have ever seen but she loves it."

Loitering With Intent is partially a transposition of Spark's experience as General Secretary of The Poetry Society in the late Forties. In her autobiography, Curriculum Vitae (1993), Spark stated that she was "employed, or embroiled, in that then riotous establishment." In the present novel, Fleur becomes workaday secretary to the Autobiographical Association, a crank operation run by social snob and blackmailer Quentin Oliver, who also suffers from a messianic complex of vast proportions. Ever perceptive, Fleur is confident that what she is witnessing around her is pure collective madness.

In Spark's first novel, The Comforters (1957), protagonist Caroline Rose slowly awakens to the fact that she, everyone she knows, and indeed her entire perceived universe are actually only the fictional creations of an unknowable author composing Caroline's history on some unrealizable, presumably higher plane. In Loitering With Intent, almost the opposite is true: as Fleur nears the end of completing her first novel, she becomes aware that the members of the Autobiographical Association are genuine human doppelgangers of the characters she has created, enacting an identical drama to the one she has constructed from her imagination. Thus, Fleur has foreseen the future unaware, and hazily anticipates the unavoidable disasters to come to those who are manipulative, vain, foolish, arrogant, petty, and power crazed.

One of the book's most fascinating elements is the chronically antagonistic relationship between Fleur and the aptly named Dottie, the maudlin wife of Fleur's bisexual lover, Leslie. Dottie is 49% friend and 51% enemy, and thus their oddly symbiotic relationship is of a kind most readers will recognize as having experienced at some point in their own lives. "I don't know why I thought of Dottie as my friend but I did. I believe she thought the same way about me although she didn't really like me. In those days, among the people I mixed with, one had friends almost by predestination. There they were, like your winter coat and your meager luggage. You didn't think of discarding them just because you didn't altogether like them."

Loitering With Intent is also one of the most acute examinations of the artistic temperament ever committed to paper. "When people say that nothing happens in their lives I believe them. But you must understand that everything happens to the artist; time is always redeemed, nothing is lost, and wonders never cease." And: "I have never known an artist who at some in his life has not come into conflict with pure evil, realized as it may have been under the form of disease, injustice, fear, oppression or any other ill element that can afflict living creatures. The reverse doesn't hold true: that is to say, it isn't only the artist who suffers, or who perceives evil. But I think it is true that no artist has ever lived who has not experienced and then recognized something at first too incredibly evil to be real, then so undoubtedly real as to be undoubtedly true."

The novel is also a celebration of applied self knowledge and the self confidence that evolves from it: Fleur repeatedly realizes "what a wonderful thing it was to be a woman and an artist in the twentieth century," and, regardless of the formidable enemies positioned against her, continually "goes on her way rejoicing."

In keeping with the era in which it is set, Loitering With Intent also includes a brief portrait of Osbert, Edith, and Sacheverell Sitwell as Leopold, Cynthia, and Claude Somerville, owners of The Triad Press, the publishers who eventually accept Fleur's prescient first fictional work.

It's hard to believe this book is out of print (as it appears to be in many editions). Spark is the finest living English writer (as of early 2000, she's still with us) and this is one of her best novels. It folds back in on itself. It's obviously autobiographical even with the kind of foreshadowing and self-reflection of the author, who doubles back the flashback, first seeing herself, then seeing herself remember herself.

The plot is fascinating and a constant undertow back into the same themes of the true reality of a book. Is this memoir (fictional) told by an unreliable narrator? I think so. It's hard to know. Some events seem Kafkaesque in their bizarreness, but then turn out to have plain explanations.

Ultimately, evil bizarrely destroys itself; good triumphs with sacrifices. All is never as it appears with Ms. Spark.

There is a sense of the autobiographical in this novel which in fact is quite appropriate when one considers the actual pivot around which the whole plot revolves. As a note of caution however I must add that I make this statement without having any knowledge at all of Muriel Spark's actual life. As the author spins out the plot she manages to capture the essence of the main character's experience as a secretary for a group of people organized by an individual with the sole aim of writing their biographies so that they may be put away in a safe place for seventy years and their contents not actually revealed until all the people mentioned in these sets of memoirs are actually no longer alive. The idea is that this will be of interest to the historian of the future. Not that the novel itself concentrates unduly on the efforts of this group but rather on the intellectual and emotional reactions of the novel's main character, a young writer whose main concurrent aim in life is to get her first novel published. She is quite a likeable and attractive character and in fact she seems to be the only normal person amongst the rest of the characters portrayed in the novel, even though this impression may in fact be subconsciously and gradually formed in the reader's mind by the first-person point of view of the novel since everything is seen and judged through the eyes of the novel's main character. Even though this is a rather short book it is rather rich with experience and latent meaning well beyond the mere surface of the mostly humorous type of entertainment that pervades it from beginning to end.

An aspiring writer striving to complete her first novel, young Fleur Talbot finds herself loitering in post WWII London with the intent of gathering material for her literary debut. When she is offered a job as secretary to an eccentric troupe of autobiographers, it seems like just the thing. And it is, but in stranger ways than she could have foreseen. And what an eye has Fleur for the foibles of her employers, who, being Very Important People, lead Very Ordinary Lives. As Fleur incorporates what she is learning into the fabric of her novel, some of the VIPs begin to sense that art is imitating life - or, is it the other way around? Perhaps her book is a little too good, and it's nearly lost before this serious but amusing literary tour de force draws to a close. But Fleur is no English Rose, she's one smart cookie who, after a series of mis-steps, beats her nemesis at his own game.

Great read! Keeps your interest from start to finish. You just have to know how it all comes out. It's funny and clever. I highly recommend it to all. Look forward to more of Todd Gleason and his antics.

Pittman's "London Frog" can only be described as a sarcastic murder mystery with more twists and turns that even politicians would be proud of. He truly has a knack for keeping the reader's attention and I look forward to being held captive by more of Todd Gleason's adventures in the future.

The omniscient narrator of "London Frog" has the kind of voice the narrator of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has -- you feel like you're sitting in a pub while your inveterate storyteller friend tells you about the adventures of this guy he heard about, right, and you wouldn't believe the mess he got himself into ...

The guy in the story is Todd Gleason, small-time con-man. Todd is possessed of a rapid wit and a sense that anyone who wins the Lottery can afford to share their wealth -- especially when that winner is already married to a wealthy businessman. Of course, Todd's latest con does not go smoothly, and we get to see him improvise under pressure (sometimes successfully, sometimes not so). We meet a lot of interesting characters, but Todd is the heart and soul of the story, a truly likable (almost lovable) con-man with a conscience. The story is fast-paced with plenty of twists, turns and reversals and a question mark over the murder scene that keeps you guessing until the very end.

"London Frog" is apparently the first of a series -- here's hoping there's more Todd Gleason on the way soon.

Joseph Pittman's "London Frog" is a clever romp with an appealing con man at its core. Todd Gleason is the kind of guy who can't resist making a snarky comment, even if it means he's going to get slapped around by a bad guy. He's made a career of preying on the greed of lottery winners, and he's followed recent winner Elise Procopio and her husband Henri to London to make one last big score-- but of course, things don't work out quite as expected. If you like your crime witty, you'll like "London Frog."

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

This book was not only a great thriller/mystery but quite a comedy too. I'm a thriller fan mostly and really love Crais, Lee Child, Grippando, Harlen Coben to name a few. Joseph Pittman just made my list of TO READ books. Todd Gleason, a con, gets into shenanigans and situations that are one minute comical, next minute desperate, but always surprising. The whole phlethora of characters here are three dimensional, and they all have contributions comical and dastardly. There's more than one mystery, many twists and surprises, and enough LOL moments to keep you up at night, highly entertained. Oh just where does the frog fit in? Right where you'd expect, but even he is a bit of a mystery with hidden talents. I'm glad I bought the hard back edition of this one. It will be a treasure in my personal library.

This is one of the best books Dick North has written. It is a true story of Albert Johnson's survival and the will to live. As well, it turned out to be the biggest man hunt in the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. You are told the history of Albert Johnson (if that was his real name ) where he came from, what he did for work and how good a shot he was. You are also told of the job the Mounties had to do under some very severe conditions. Keeping the peace in the back country was no easy task. Mr. North has done his homework,to get his story and facts correct.He brings in experts on area's of question and disputes some of the rumors that others have said about this case. He writes with a passion. I could tell he enjoyed working on this story.He will keep you on the edge of your seat once the hunt begins. I always looked forward to reading several chapters before I went to bed. What a book. Highly recommended.

Could NOT put the book down. Was on vacation up IN the Yukon riding on the Yukon Queen DOWN the Yukon River. And probably missed lots of great scenery because was reading this book. Read it in less than 24 hours. What a great writing style and format!!
One, after reading it, should then see the Charles Bronson/Lee Marvin move about it... The book of course gives alot more details and background but the movie is great too.
Reading the book makes you want to go out and buy a bowie knife and build a cabin!

It was a bitterly cold December 26, 1931 when four members of the RCMP approached the small cabin of a mysterious trapper named Albert Johnson. There sole intent was to question Johnson about a complaint made by a neighbouring trapper concerning traps that had been tampered with. But without a word, the trapper fired upon the constables, injuring one. Shortly thereafter, Johnson had disappeared into the bush, thus instigating an epic manhunt that would last close to fifty days, and span some 150 miles.

Forty years later, author Dick North set out to document the story, and, more importantly, try and cast light on the identity of the mysterious Albert Johnson. Relying heavily on eye-witness accounts, North pieces together an interesting, sometimes rivetting story. But admittedly, there are limitations, and in the end, much is left to conjecture.

North concludes that Albert Johnson was more than likely a man who also went by the name of Arthur Nelson, and who for seven years prior to his death supposedly trapped and prospected in northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Alway quiet and "non-commital" this Arthur Nelson came and went mysteriously, and exhibited traits quite similar to that of the Mad Trapper.

Although disdained by some--especially women, around whom he evidently was extremely shy--many were understanding of his peculiar loner idiocincricies. But, provided that this Arthur Nelson is in fact Albert Johnson--which appears to be fairly likely--he apparently grew increasingly paranoid and suspicious of people. All of which led people to believe that he was hiding something. And as is always the case, there is much speculation as to what it was.

The author addresses this at the end of the book, but given that there is little evidence to work with, it's left to the reader to decide: was he a murderer, illegal immigrant, or simply a misanthrope caught up in events beyond his control?

All and all, a very interesting book and thrilling read, but in order to get the fully story--supposedly--of who the Mad Trapper was, one has to read Trackdown, which was published in 1989.

Trackdown is the result of twenty-odd years of North's obsessive research into the identity of the Mad Trapper. In the first part of the book, North addresses several theories of who the Mad Trapper could have been, but in each case he manages to uncover evidence that dismiss these individuals.

The turning point in his hunt comes when he was contacted by the North Dakota State Historical Society. As it turns out, there is a small article in a county history stating that the Mad Trapper may have in fact been a man by the name of Johnny Johnson.

Born Johan Konrad Jonsen in Norway in 1898, Johnson had emigrated to the USA with his parent at the age of six. Life in Dakota was a constant struggle and brought the family little gain, so at a young age Johnson reverted to crime. This resulted in several prison sentences before finally in 1923 he disappeared, presumably heading north into Canada.

Initially, I was very skeptical about this theory; to me, there was little resemblence between the three mug shots of Johnny Johnson, the 1930 Ross River photo showing Arthur Nelson and the pictures of the dead Mad Trapper. But as I read on, North did put together a compelling argument, and the more I read and the more I studied the pictures, the more plausable it all became. Interestingly, the Johnson family had in fact been in contact with the RCMP several years after the incident; Johnson's mother, having seen the picture of the Mad Trapper, was certain that he was her son. But the RCMP dismissed this claim, as it did all other such claims, leaving the mystery unsolved.

While North's argument seems plausable, I was still left with a nagging sense of doubt. While his evidence is compelling, it is far from conclusive and could quite easily be picked apart by someone with the time and resources to do so. One way to solve the matter would of course be to exhume the Mad Trapper and take DNA samples and conduct other forensic tests. North, believing that the body would still be in reasonably good shape, attempted to do this; but these efforts were stymied by the locals.

So although North presents a compelling argument for Johnny Johnson being the Mad Trapper, the case is not closed. The myth lives on.

Thes is a very interesting story.It is well written and well researched.It was also done by Rudy Weibe and Thomas P.Kelley.
Kelley also wrote "the Black Donnellys".His style was much different;more along the lines of a Pulp fiction writer;where the story is essentially the same,but greatly embellished with fictional conversation,descriptions of events and details whenever needed to tell the story as excitedly as possible.
In Johnson's Case, he had every right to refuse entry to someone without a warrant.It may not have been smart on his part,and no doubt really angered the law.So on the return visit the law was going to get him regardless;blow him away if necessary (they were armed and equipped with explosives to do it).What Johnson's mental state was ,who knows,except those who came to get him;and they tried.Don't forget they really had nothing on him at this point except their pride was damaged because of his resisting. What really happened ;there,s only their side of the story. At this point Johnson was in a no win situation and the law knew it,and so did he.I remind you again,the law was in total control when they set off this chain of events.
In the case of the Black Donnellys ;they opened their door to the demand of a constable and posse and 4 defenseless people were murdered and their home burned down on top of them.
These are two very sad stories in Canadian history ;neither one resolved,but both deserve to be known.
Without books like these, stories like these, would be swept under the carpet.
This is real history;not the stuff about trappers exploring a river in a canoe and asking students what they were called.
This brings to mind what a War Correspondant once said;
"Don't believe a politician or anyone in uniform."

Awesome read, very well written with plenty of facts to back up Mr. North's work. You appreciate his passion for a definitive answer to who A.Johnson truely was. It is sad that the Canadian's refused to solve the mystery. Nevertheless, I am one of the believer's John Johnson was the Mad Trapper.

I just finished Mai Tai to Murder and I simply loved this story. I was sad to see this story end. I plan to read the earlier books in the series to learn more about Darcy and her family.

I so enjoyed this 3rd installment. It's so funny to see such a scatter-brain, who in a pinch is an awesome nurse & friend. She would so be a fun person to know. It is an easy, fun read, but it has a lot of little twists and turns. There are so many to be suspicious of. Keep up the good work. Karen

This is the best Darcy mystery to date. I laughed and giggled all the way through and oh those crazy characters!! You must read just to meet Gertie. Mystery, mayhem and an inside peek into the publishing world. Holds your interest and makes you laugh. Does'nt get any better than that!!!

Candy Calvert's third book in her Darcy Cavanaugh series is another winner. And this time, Darcy is in the midst of a cruise ship full of crazy mystery writes and an even crazier, scathing literary agent. Her workshop on how to commit murder is apparently being taken seriously by one of the passengers. Darcy and her cigar-chomping best friend Marie find themselves entangled in another round of sleuthing when Darcy's boyfriend's mother, on-board as an aspiring writer, becomes the main suspect in the agent's murder.

The book is full of the usual wit and mayhem, and plenty of amusing jabs at the book writing business itself. It's sure to entertain any reader who loves cozies. I know I loved it!

This series is just getting better and better. I really liked this story and unlike the previous books in this series, I was really kept guessing right up until the end. This book is a quick read, it will keep you laughing all the way through it and it will keep you guessing. That is my definition of the perfect cozy mystery. I'm already looking forward to Ms. Calvert's next book even though I know it will be a while before it is released!! I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fun and entertaining read.

An eye opener. I was loaned this book by one of the reviewers on this site and then ordered one of my own. I had to fight to get the book back from anyone I loaned it to.

I knew many people who were associated with the Kennedy assassination. Worked for Willard Robertson, when he funded the Garrison investigation. Know people who employed Oswald as a numbers runner in New Orleans, know people central in the book "They Killed Kennedy", and knew people in the Cuban resistence movement who were in training on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain in the late 50s until the mid 60s.

One friend whose father was in the Cuban movement pointed out David Ferrie's house to me on Louisiana Avenue Parkway a few weeks before he died and said at that time that Ferrie was a part of the Anti-Castro group.

So, it was with interest that I read this book. My interest got peaked the more I read and this is one story that should be made into a movie and it will be thought of as fiction, because it will be almost too strange for people to believe, though it comes closer to the truth than anyone would like to admit.

So, when I think of the 60s I remember the CIA people I met through others and the strange characters in the once international city of New Orleans and can only hope that the truth can be allowed to be seen and read.

I give it a five star rating and hope that everyone gets a chance to read this strange and interesting book.

Ed Haslam has written a landmark book of investigative journalism. It is a well-written page turner that is a "must read" for anyone interested in what has really gone on in this country in the last 40 years. I have lived in New Orleans since Mary Sherman was murdered here, and personally know many of the people mentioned in this book. As far as I can tell this book is completely truthful. Mr. Haslam tells you when he is speculating and when he is giving you facts. This book has my highest recommendation.

As a producer for two national talk show hosts, I can honestly say this is one of the finest and most thought provoking books I've read. Ed Haslam's book is a major dot connector. Think about it. We already know thanks to A & E's Investigative Reports that Oswald did NOT kill Kennedy, but that's not the big jist of this book. What needs to be understood is that the polio virus vaccine all the baby boomers received via shots and sugar cubes in the 50s and 60s was contaminated with SV-40 Simian Monkey Virus...the results...an epidemic of soft tissue cancer. And SV-40 shows up in autopsies of cancer victims. However, even more horrific is that the SV-40 contamination does not end with those of us that received the polio vaccine. It is passed to our children and grandchilren even though they have not received the vaccine. Who is responsible? Ed Haslam's fabulous research was given to us in this book in 1995, and five years later, in the February, 2000 issue of Atlantic Monthly, it is finally discussed by the "regular" media. Stop and think about this...Plutonium experiments from 1936 through the cold war on unsuspecting Americans,radiation experiments on military men, the Tuskegee, Alabama syphillis experiments, the depleted uranium issues from Desert Storm, and countless others...this book exposes another form of deception and coverup. If this book doesn't make you think and do even more research, then you're in denial and have your head in the sand. There are countless other books that should be on the suggested reading list after reading Ed's fabulous work, but Amazon hasn't listed them. Please read Pulitzer Prize winner, Eileen Welsome's book, THE PLUTONIUM FILES, then read Martin A. Lee's THE BEAST REAWAKENS, and if you can find a used copy, get Borkin's THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF I.G. FARBEN.

Ed's book is superb and written in a style that is easily assimilated. Buy it, buy two, give one to a friend, loan your copy, but get it out...and connect the dots!

Growing up in the same home as Edward Haslam, I remember so many of these events as they happened -- an apparent series of unrelated and bizarre events, the significance of which would only become clear to me years later when I read an early draft of my brother's book, years after my diagnosis with breast cancer at the age of 39 (as mentioned in the book.) If you are a thinking adult whose life or loved ones have been touched by cancer, you need to find the courage to read this book. A new edition is about to be published under a new name and you can pre-order it from Amazon at an attractive price.(I have 5 copies on order myself to share with friends.) The new title is "Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses are Linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, ... Assassination and Emerging Global Epidemics". I have no financial interest in the book, only a belief that the time has come to reveal this information to a wider audience.

This investigation into the unsolved murder of Dr. Mary Sherman is a well-crafted and original expose, arguably of one our nation's worse mistakes. But also perhaps of one of its best-kept secrets.

Over a period of nearly 30 years, the author juxtaposes and correlates a collection of disparate medical facts, police reports, and related events with the activities of an assortment of characters in an around the environs of New Orleans during the Garrison investigation of the JFK assassination. The main characters include a world class Orthopedic Bone Specialist (Dr. Mary Sherman) and an eccentric washed-up CIA operative implicated in the assassination of JFK (Dave Ferrie), and Lee Harvey Oswald, no less.

The question that animates the investigation is why should a world class Medical Specialist like Dr. Sherman be running in the same circles as a self-taught egomaniacal misfit like Ferrie? The book is the author's search for an answer. From these elements, he weaves together a very plausible story about how medical experiments at a secret run underground government medical facility, may have gone awry -- resulting in Dr. Sherman's death and in the current silent epidemic of soft tissue cancers. There is even a hint that what went on in that secret facility may also be implicated in the inadvertent creation of the current AIDS pandemic.

Far from being the convoluted and speculative machinations of a conspiracy crackpot, the author's fiercely logical approach and resourcefulness would put some of our most seasoned investigators to shame. To say that it reads like a novel would be an understatement. Five stars.

The true-to-life dialogue coming from (for the mostpart) lovable characters, combined with a terrific plot, makes Jane Isenberg's latest mystery a real page turner. ... ...

Isenberg does it again. Another great book. The sleuth Bel Barret reminds me of a favorite aunt--bright, funny, and a just a little nosey, but very lovable. The plot is fresh and the setting makes you feel like you can taste the New Jersey air. Definately an award winner in the making.

Mystery fans will be delighted by the latest escapdes of Bel Barrett. In this case, the Belle of Hobkoen and her menopausal sidekicks solve the murder of a Frank Sinatra impersonator in Blue Eye's hometown. This is the third in the Bel Barrett mystery series, and Jane Isenberg gets better and better with each new book. All her mysteries have wonderful, masterful plots that keep the reader in suspense to the last chapter. Isenberg's characters are round, full of life and lives that the reader can grasp and enjoy. Isenberg is obviously a talented writer, and her prose bristles with humor and intelligence, and for the student of literature the subtle allusions here and there are an extra bit of fun. I wouldn't be surpised if these novels became the basis for a movie or TV series. They are great reads, and I'd love to see Bel's Hoboken on the silver screen. A big fan.

This book is a total kick to read! It's clever and funny, touching on everything from the dubious joys of planning a transcontinental wedding and the politics of community college life to the taste of fresh zeppoles at the Feast of St. Anne and the curiosities of celebrity impersonation--all wrapped in a satisfying murder mystery. And of course Bel Barrett once again shows us the humorous side of menopause, proving that "off the pill" doesn't mean "over the hill".

Bel and her sharp-eyed, smart-mouth pals Betty and Illuminada don't miss a trick--or a quip--on their way to finding out who did in the Sinatra wannabe. Even Bel's Mom and her octogenarian buddies get into the act, illuminating other wry and warming aspects of getting older while staying young at heart.

This is the third in this delightful series, and author Isenberg grows stronger with each one. Her literate, graceful writing style is a pleasure in itself, but mystery fans will find enough clues, suspects and plot twists to keep them turning pages til the wee hours of the morning. This is just the book to savor while listening to Frank sing "That's Life", "All of Me" or "It Was a Very Good Year". Don't miss "Mood Swings to Murder". It's smooth, sophisticated and sassy--just like Ol' Blue Eyes!

Our heroine, Bel, is addicted to M & M's. After all, it's a convenient way of eating chocolate without the mess. She needs a "fix" especially when she's involved in a stressful situation. There's plenty of those in this book and for those of us who could really empathize with the character, there are lots of M & M moments. Ms. Isenberg uses a lot of interesting devices to move the plot along. Most of the chapters start with an e-mail or letter to or from Bel. This lets you in on what's going on without hitting you over the head with it. I like it!

Teacher Bel has a lot of stuff going on in her life. I would have liked a little more about her relationship with Sol. It seems to be relegated to the back burner in this book. This is a character-driven book and the author has created some great characters--most of which would be interesting to meet. The mystery part is a little flimsy but, that can be forgiven because it's fun just reading what Bel and her cohorts are going to do next. I read this book on the plane from Vegas to Dallas and I didn't really mind that the flight was about a half-hour late because I was really into the book.

I read this book 20 years ago. The story and the people are still burned in my mind. This is true crime at its very best: smart, literate, and sympathetic. Nancy Wright wrote a classic and if she ever writes another I'll be pre-ordering it. Highly recommended.

I was happy to see the other 5-star reviews here, as I think this is one of the most readable true crime books I have read, and I have read hundreds (probably). In fact, I think I read this years ago when it was first published (1984), and when I started it last week I said to myself, Yes, I've read this........ But I kept on going because it was so compelling. It reads like a novel. I am sad to see that evidentally Nancy Wright has not written any other true crime books -- or has she? Does anyone know? It is also very interesting to see the note below from the real-life Mindy, now known as Sarah Wrigley, and I too am happy to see that she is apparently living a good and healthy life.

As far as Munchausen Syndromy by Proxy is concerned, it is interesting to note that since this was given a name, several children (usually girls) have come forward now that they are adults. Most have terrible memories of the medical aspect of their young lives, but most also love their mothers and try to understand the illness that drove the mothers to harm them as little children. Terribly sad.

I rarely ever feel compelled to write a review, although I am an avid reader. In the past 3 years I have read a lot of "true crime" and this book is on my top 5 list. Accolades to Nancy Wright for bringing to light "Munchausen by Proxy" and for allowing readers to form their own opinions about this case. I wish this book would be more available at mainstream bookstores because quality true crime authors are far and few between.

Dear Amazon: You have a review from Sarah Wrigley, who is one of the central characters of this book, written on February 9, 2004! Sarah is the little girl the Phillips named "Mindy" who was removed from the family's custody. Sarah, I have often wondered how you are and am delighted you wrote a review.

This book was based on a true story...
although Mrs. Phillip was tried and found guilty and did time in prison some people involved with the case said she was innocent. Not remembered it at time cause I was small child I think in my heart i would say she was innocent for a crime she never did ...
after a many years after the trial my family keep close contract with her we just recently in past few years lost contract with each other... Putting past behind us

A True Crime Mystery

MURDER AT MOUNT HERMON is a spellbinding true-life mystery of a sensational unsolved murder that occurred in 1934. Elliott Speer, the recently appointed headmaster of a well-known New England prep school, was shot dead through his study window by someone whose identity remains unknown. It was a little past eight on the evening of September 14, 1935 that a single blast of double-o buckshot from a 12-gauge shotgun tore through the screened window of Ford Cottage killing the thirty-six-year-old headmaster. The murder became one of the most sensational murder cases of the mid-thirties, receiving national news coverage.
Several elements assured that the murder of Elliott Speer would arouse national interest. Mount Hermon School for Boys was founded in 1881 by Dwight L. Moody, one of the best-known evangelist in American history. Elliott Speer was recruited to bring the school into the twentieth century. Many of the old guard at the school felt that Speer's progressive views were a rejection of the founder's vision and mission for the school. The man suspected at the time of being guilty of the crime was none other that Thomas Elder, dean of the school. Dean Elder was among those who felt the school's mission was endangered by Elliott Speer's progressive methods. Elder also felt that he, not Speer, should have been appointed headmaster in 1932.
The murder of Elliott Speer remains unsolved to this day, but Craig Walley, a Mount Hermon graduate and attorney, believes that his investigation of the crime comes as close as anyone ever will come to identifying the murderer. Adding to the mystery is the fact that Elliott Speer's two dogs did not bark during the night of the crime. One is reminded of Sherlock Holmes and the "Silver Blaze." Also, Elliott Speer was a fan of mystery novels, and among those in his personal library was a copy of The Public School Murder by R. C. Woodthorpe. This English crime novel published in 1932 was lent by Speer to Dean Elder when the latter was ill. The Public School Murder reads like a script for Speer's murder, right through to the fact that the crime was never solved. Was the Mount Hermon murder the perfect crime?
MURDER AT MOUNT HERMON is as well written as any fictional mystery novel, made all the more interesting by being a true mystery. Readers familiar with Josephine Tey's classic, The Daughter of Time (1952), will delight in this book. It is one of only a very few that this reviewer could not put down until finished.N

I was transfixed by this well-written account of a Mount Hermon legend. I attended the school in 1951-52 and remember it fondly. Reading about people and buildings and locations with which I am, even after all these years, familiar, the story was very real to me. I found the experience compelling and commend it to others.

Murder At Mount Hermon: The Unsolved Killing Of Headmaster Elliott Speer is a true crime story concerning the 1934 murder of a thirty-five-year old school administrator, whose efforts to bring progressive reform to the tradition-bound Christian prep school earned the good graces of many students and faculty. A shotgun blast through his study window killed him, and the murder was front-page news nationwide, yet no criminal was ever charged. Veteran attorney Craig Walley pieces together the clues of history and dares even to indicate the most likely killer. A fascinating, fact-filled study of murder and the shortcomings of a 1930's homicide investigation.

As a student at Northfield Mount Hermon in the early 1970s, little was said about the unsolved murder of former Headmaster Elliott Speer. I recall a rumor that the gun used in the killing was somewhere on the bottom of the school's Shadow Lake. Craig Walley's well-researched and -written book examines that rumor and many more in an absorbing murder mystery. Murder at Mount Hermon captures the school's history and religious roots, and how the forward-thinking Speer's efforts to break from the past and move the school and its students into a new era sealed his fate. While the murder remains unsolved, Walley's book comes closer than ever before to finding the "smoking gun."

The 1934 murder of Mount Hermon School for Boys Headmaster Elliott Speer remains unsolved today, legally speaking. What youngster could resist such a mystery's allure? Not Craig Walley, a Mount Hermon student from 1957 through 1961. During the years afterward, throughout his career as an attorney, Walley thought about it often. In 2001 he decided to research the case and write this book.

MURDER AT MOUNT HERMON tells the story, provides its background, and analyzes the available evidence with an attorney's precision. I think it's safe to say that you'll come away from it certain you know the murderer's name and understand his motives. More case study than murder mystery, the book reaches for broader relevance - and for a connection to our 21st Century present - by speaking of another time when "Fundamentalism" and "Modernism" clashed. Did that clash at Northfield and Mount Hermon, sister schools founded by the great 19th Century evangelist D.L. Moody, lay the groundwork for Elliott Speer's murder? To answer this intriguing question for yourself, you'll have to read the book.

Murder at the Carousel Club, July 13, 2008
By Chiquita Mullins Lee (Columbus, Ohio USA)

Barbara Fleming is a master of the set-up. She has a talent for unfolding a story and creating characters and scenarios that capture the imagination. We climb aboard the ride, our hunger whetted for the truth. Murder at the Carousel Club is her newest installment in the Matthew Alexander mystery series. Fleming weaves a third intriguing tale about homicide in Washington, D.C., where Detective Alexander again is elbow deep in crime.

Trouble comes courtesy of Junior Williams, a good-looking man who's used to getting his way. Junior's favorite haunt is the Carousel Club. Keeping it sassy is Suzy Evans, the Carousel's headliner, whose vocal stylings evoke comparisons to Sarah Vaughn. Suzy and Junior are having an affair. Most everyone knows this except Junior's daughter, Diane. Diane has an ongoing flirtation with Frank Porter, whose brother, Ken, owns the Carousel.

When she visits the club to say good bye to Frank, Diane is surprised to find Junior there, too. Junior, enraged about the relationship between sixteen year-old Diane and middle-aged Frank, loudly threatens to kill Frank. When Frank is found shot dead outside the club, and Junior lies unconscious in the parking lot, the sequence of events is obvious.

Or is it?

Detective Alexander quickly labels Junior the murderer. Junior's family insists he was too drunk to aim a gun. And what about charming, handsome Frank Porter? Was he really as popular as everyone said?

Round and round it goes. Just like a carousel. There are questions to ask. People to scrutinize. Memories to stir and resurrect.

Murder at the Carousel Club is a great read for steamy summer nights. Fleming deftly unravels a murder mystery and adds heaps of surprises. Here's to a hearty welcome, again, to Lt. Matthew Alexander. It's fun to have him back on the beat.

Barbara Fleming is a master of the set-up. She has a talent for unfolding a story and creating characters and scenarios that capture the imagination. We climb aboard the ride, our hunger whetted for the truth. Murder at the Carousel Club is her newest installment in the Matthew Alexander mystery series. Fleming weaves a third intriguing tale about homicide in Washington, D.C., where Detective Alexander again is elbow deep in crime.

Trouble comes courtesy of Junior Williams, a good-looking man who's used to getting his way. Junior's favorite haunt is the Carousel Club. Keeping it sassy is Suzy Evans, the Carousel's headliner, whose vocal stylings evoke comparisons to Sarah Vaughn. Suzy and Junior are having an affair. Most everyone knows this except Junior's daughter, Diane. Diane has an ongoing flirtation with Frank Porter, whose brother, Ken, owns the Carousel.

When she visits the club to say good bye to Frank, Diane is surprised to find Junior there, too. Junior, enraged about the relationship between sixteen year-old Diane and middle-aged Frank, loudly threatens to kill Frank. When Frank is found shot dead outside the club, and Junior lies unconscious in the parking lot, the sequence of events is obvious.

Or is it?

Detective Alexander quickly labels Junior the murderer. Junior's family insists he was too drunk to aim a gun. And what about charming, handsome Frank Porter? Was he really as popular as everyone said?

Round and round it goes. Just like a carousel. There are questions to ask. People to scrutinize. Memories to stir and resurrect.

Murder at the Carousel Club is a great read for steamy summer nights. Fleming deftly unravels a murder mystery and adds heaps of surprises. Here's to a hearty welcome, again, to Lt. Matthew Alexander. It's fun to have him back on the beat.

The riveted and suspense laden mystery, Murder at the Carousel Club so skillfully written by Barbara Fleming, proved to be a unique and refreshingly different kind of literary experience. It unveils, for the reader, social dynamics that are as educational as they are entertaining. These dynamics pulled my whole being into the mystery with intense curiosity, and just as forcefully, these dynamics provided an objective yet realistic prospective into the urban African American culture: the Black family; and very specifically... the constant threat (and frequent plight) of African American males in America today. Murder at the Carousel Club is a must read!

Murder at the Carousel Club is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Once I started reading it, I was hooked. It's not often that I find a writer who holds my interest from the beginning to the end of the book. The story and the characters in Murder at the Carousel Club were so believable; I could hardly wait to find out if the person charged with the murder actually did it. Although I live in Atlanta now, I used to live in Washington, D.C., so the setting and the place names were so familiar to me. I could just picture the scenes as the characters moved across the city landscape trying to solve the crime. I haven't read the author's previous books, but Murder at the Carousel Club was so entertaining, that I have made it a point to see if the other books are as good. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading a good mystery.

I recently read Barbara Fleming's new mystery novel Murder at the Carousel Club (Silver Maple Publications, 2008) and what a pleasure it was to read. Being a reader who searches for books that both hold my interest and entertain me at the same time, I savored every page of Murder at the Carousel Club. It is such a joy to finally find an author who knows how to tell a realistic, down-to-earth story in a fascinating way. Once I started reading, it was very hard to put the book down. I have read the two previous Matthew Alexander mysteries (Hot Stones, Cold Death (2001) and Murder on the Gold Coast (2005)) and enjoyed them as well, but I think Murder at the Carousel Club is the best mystery in the series to date.

In Murder at the Carousel Club, the playboy brother of the owner of the most exciting and popular night club in the District, the Carousel Club, is murdered in the parking lot of the club. The victim was shot in the head as he sat inside his expensive car. There are no witnesses to the murder and the primary suspect, who earlier that evening had threatened to kill the victim in front of everyone within earshot in the club, is found unconscious in the parking lot not far from the murder victim with no murder weapon. Barbara Fleming has written an intriguing, highly entertaining, hard-to-guess mystery that keeps you glued to your seat and flipping the pages of the novel as you keep reading and trying to guess how it all will turn out in the end. I loved the way she weaved images of the District, then and now, throughout the novel, especially, the descriptions of Anacostia which is on the cusp of being gentrified like the rest of the District.

I'm probably prejudiced because I was born when my parents lived in Anacostia in Washington, D.C.; but I think the author's evocation of the symbolism that Anacostia has held for D.C. residents over the years is very reminiscent of how my family and I experienced the community when I lived there as a child. Anacostia has always been the forgotten stepchild of the District, a beautiful but neglected gem across the river at the end of a very long bus route. In the 1970's when my mother used to ride the bus from where she worked at Hecht's department store on 7th Street to our home when I was a small child, she always complained that she got sick from the heat and fumes of the decrepit buses that were placed on the Anacostia routes--the worst buses in the District's fleet. She said that the District would have never sent buses like that on the northern routes up Connecticut or Wisconsin Avenues.

I hadn't thought about that in years, but as I was reading Murder at the Carousel Club, those wonderful old memories of Anacostia came flooding back. I remembered how my mother used to put me in my stroller when I was a toddler and take me for a walk down Nicholas Avenue to the five and dime on Good Hope Road and how much fun that had been. I remembered my mother taking me to the Smithsonian's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in the old movie theater on Nicholas Avenue before it became Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue. Anacostia figures importantly in Murder at the Carousel Club although the plot is primarily centered in the Shaw community of Northwest D.C. where the Carousel Club moved after it was forced to leave Anacostia in the late seventies because of all the drug crime in the community at that time.

Of course Fourth District Police Headquarters is in Northwest as well and Matthew Alexander and his wife Carla have been residents of LeDroit Park in Northwest D.C. since the series began. Unlike the previous books, Murder at the Carousel Club takes a slight detour in that Detective Lieutenant Matthew Alexander and his partner Sergeant Jake Jackson get some uninvited help from a character that made a short but memorable appearance in Murder on the Gold Coast, Frederick Douglass Washington. Fred Washington was both an ex-convict who had spent seven years in Lorton Reformatory for drug trafficking and the uncle of the murder suspect Gary Washington in Murder on the Gold Coast and what a character he was. I think Barbara Fleming made a very wise decision when she reprised Fred Washington because he gives Lieutenant Alexander an able assist and some stiff competition in solving the Murder at the Carousel Club, a great book and a truly memorable story that is well worth your time and effort.

T.K. Washington, D.C.