England Books

What a great story! Verity is so sweet and loving. Gabriel is so bitter and doesn't believe in love -- at least he feels he can't love! But he believes Verity is the woman who will be a perfect wife and wants her to fall in love with him. It will only take a couple weeks, right? Other women seem to fall in love with him right away!

Little does he know, by courting her he shows the side of himself that is loving and accepting! Of course Verity thinks he just wants a friend and hides her growing attachment!

Every incident that occurs in this book is handled so well and is so interesting. A keeper and well worth reading and re-reading. You come to love both hero and heroine and the assorted cast of well fleshed out side characters. (Well, you love the nice characters and enjoy the descriptions of the bad ones!)

My favorite phrase from Gabriel -- "Tell me what kind of a husband you want and I will be that man." -- wouldn't you fall in love with that man!!

No matter how many times I read this book, I still enjoy it. Verity's unexpectness and Gabriel's determination to get his way always make me smile. I only wish the author was still writing and had more books for me to read.

Fallen Angel was a read of desperation--I could not find anything else--what a sleeper! To date I have reread this book 4 times. Jaded arrogant Gabriel, Lord Rainsford thinks quiet, mousy Verity will make him a great wife who will know her place, fill his nursery, and cause him no trouble. And it's true. She will do those things but she has more to offer, such as loyalty, devotion, and compassion. And this hard-hearted man soaks it up like rain in the desert. Gabriel takes what he wants and he wants Verity. By asking nothing and offering everything, Verity brings healing to a bitter man. This is a Regency that plays a little fast and loose with the genre but in this instance it makes for a great read. And I have only mentioned a tiny part of the plot. You'll want to know about Gabriel's parents, his years at sea, and his finding his grandmother. But the best part? When Verity wakes after her wedding night to find Gabriel beside her and "her eyes widened and filled with joy, like a child who has received a most wondrous present". What a love story!

She's sweet, yet practical. He's arrogant and experiences. Together, they are perfect. I love this book because she proves that a lamb can tame the lion, and does not have to be a beauty to do so. Instead, you see that beauty inside shows itself on the outside when there's love.

For my opinion, it has good thrills for young people who likedto be scared. It does have some gore in it to plus some tragedy to tell you the truth. I am looking for other books like this.

This is a delightful, spooky, charming, wonderful little book. Don't be put off by the silly "horror" cover and title. It is a retelling of the old story "The Boy Who Drew Cats" -- but with a spunky female hero and a beautiful setting on the moors of England. There is a sympathetic boy character too, so young boys and girls both love this book. So do adult readers with a tale for folktales and magic. Why isn't this writer better known?

This is a delightful, spooky, charming, wonderful little book. Don't be put off by the silly "horror" cover and title. It is a retelling of the old story "The Boy Who Drew Cats" -- but with a spunky female hero and a beautiful setting on the moors of England. There is a sympathetic boy character too, so young boys and girls both love this book. So do adult readers with a tale for folktales and magic. Why isn't this writer better known?

For my opinion of this book, I say it has good thrills for young people who liked to be scared. It does have some gore in it to plus some tragedy to tell you the truth.....

After reading The Hammer of God, one of the Father Brown stories, I found myself both perplexed and enlightened. Chesterton is one of the few short story authors I have encountered that can consolidate a global message into a short parable. In the Father Brown stories, he uses his superb wit and literary elegance to send readers through innumerable epiphanies, usually with the aid of some very potent metaphors. One quotation that I will always remember from this story is "humility is the mother of giants; one sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak." For me, G.K. Chesterton has always been able to manipulate landscape and concrete images into a meaningful, and lucid, metaphor. The Hammer of God, in particular, is inundated with these powerful metaphors that tackle the essence of man's struggle with his outside world, and with himself. I found many of the other stories to be very stimulating, although the Hammer of God was clearly my favorite. If you seek literay merit and powerful lessons, but have neither the time nor the inclination to read a novel or anything else over one hundred pages, G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories are perfect for you.

Six classic tales featuring the priest-sleuth, Father Brown. Excellent tales, they are engaging and addictive, and will leave you looking for more!

These stories by G.K. Chesterton were very enjoyable reading. Father Brown is an endearing character, and his intellect is impressive (but then again, what literary detective's isn't?). His companion Flambeau is equally enjoyable. I was disappointed with one thing: I had the impression that Father Brown was a detective in the sense that he solved crimes for the police, like Sherlock Holmes. Actually, this was only the case in a couple of the stories. Instead, he put his mind to solving mysteries that weren't necessarily crimes.

G. K. Chesterton created more than fifty entertaining Father Brown stories. This Dover Thrift Edition offers six delightful short stories illustrating the deductive genius of this quiet, amusing, slightly eccentric, contemporary of Sherlock Holmes.

Written in the early 1900s, these short stories move more slowly than many modern mysteries. Chesterton may even sidetrack to explore a moral issue or moral ambiguity. But beware. Father Brown, a man of the church, is not entirely naïve and innocent. Like Sherlock Holmes, he is a keen observer. The reader will need to remain alert to keep pace with his remarkable deductions.

The first two stories, The Blue Cross and The Sins of Prince Saradine, come from the first twelve Father Brown stories, published as The Innocence of Father Brown (1911). The earliest stories often feature Flambeau as a dazzling, brilliant arch criminal. Later, Flambeau abandons his risky career and becomes a constant companion to Chesterton's remarkable cleric.

The last four stories are taken from the second Father Brown collection, The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914). The Sign of the Broken Sword reveals a startling crime. The Man in the Passage offers a surprising and amusing solution to conflicting testimony. The Perishing of the Pendragons provides mayhem and danger in an unlikely setting. Hopefully, The Salad of Colonel Cray will not be found in most cookbooks.

I highly recommend this little Dover edition to anyone new to Father Brown. Once acquainted, the reader can then look elsewhere for larger collections.

This is a complex but relentlessly intelligent and convincing mystery, with sharp dialogue and a deft, dark sense of humour. The cynicism of many of the key characters is described to excellent effect, so that the story is easy to follow as the people are so sharply drawn. Highly recommended.

A Feast of Carrion is a well written tale of lust, perversion, and murder in a pathology department in the UK. McCarthy is a splendid wordsmith, and his dry and witty writing style are well suited to the storyline and setting. Happily, this starts off an entertaining trio of books starring the nomad forensic pathologist John Eisenmenger and his lovely attorney-assistant Helena Flemming.

In this tale, a gruesome murder is committed and displayed in the hallowed center of the anatomy and pathology museum on a medical school campus. The police, and later our protagonists, investigate what seems more and more like an inside job--not a paranoid schizophrenic on PCP who broke into the museum to harm a helpless medical student.

Strong points: the writing, the writing, and the writing. Also, the characters are deftly drawn and handled well. McCarthy's thoughtful portraits set up a nice cast of characters for the books to come in this series. I certainly think the medical expertise helps me enjoy this gruesome caper a bit more, although naming most of the characters and street names after historically famous medical people can sometimes be a bit distracting (if you have a medical background and recognize them...).

The weaknesses in this story are few but real. There are too many deaths/suicides to be quite believeable, and there are too many unethical and immoral professors of pathology to be believable (though perhaps Dr. McCarthy, a pathologist himself, gets a kick out of doing this!). Overall, this is a strong debut in a writing style not too far removed from Reginald Hill--thoughtful, educated readers will enjoy it if they have the stomach for the anatomic details.

Having read all of Keith McCarthy's subsequent thrillers, I finally felt impelled to pick up "A Feast of Carrion," the first and most intense installment in the series. McCarthy introduces British pathologist John Eisenmenger, a compassionate and sensitive individual who is unlucky in love. He has already been through a divorce, and he currently lives with an unstable and often enraged woman named Marie, who is not only jealous, but also paranoid and needy. Previously, John suffered a breakdown after witnessing the terrible death of a little girl named Tamsin at the hand of her mother, and he has never been able to forget the indelible image of this dying youngster. Her face haunts him and he even visits her pathetic grave to grieve from time to time.

John's life is about to get even more unsettled. He works in St. Benjamin's Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, where a crime takes place that is so gruesome that it almost defies description. A gorgeous medical student named Nikki Exner is found hanged and grotesquely mutilated in the museum. Who could have been sick enough to do such a thing to this young woman? Sleazy but sly Beverley Wharton, an ambitious Chief Inspector who has slept her way to the top, is convinced that the assistant curator of the museum, Tim Bilroth, formerly known as Tim Bowman, is the guilty party. After all, Bowman had motive, means and opportunity. He has a prison record for indecent assault and rape, and he is a drug dealer who knew Exner well. Relying on the results of a poorly done autopsy as well as her copper's intuition, Wharton arrests Bowman on suspicion of killing Exner. Subsequently, Bowman's parents hire a solicitor named Helena Flemming to clear their son's name. Helena asks John Eisenmenger to conduct a second autopsy on Exner in an attempt to find out what really happened. John is reluctant to get involved in forensic pathology again, but he is attracted to Helena, and he agrees to take another look at the Exner case.

"A Feast of Carrion" is a gory and unflinching novel, filled with excruciatingly detailed information on body parts and autopsies. It is also compulsively readable and highly literate. McCarthy's descriptive writing is fabulous; he captures a mood, a scene, or a character's personality with a few well-chosen words. His sardonic humor is often hilarious, and the author dissects each person in his cast as skillfully as Eisenmenger dissects corpses with his scalpel. McCarthy's conclusion is a cliffhanger and then some. My one quibble is the plot, which is incredibly intricate. There are too many perpetrators committing adultery, exchanging favors for sex, falsifying records, earning money through blackmail, and much more, requiring a scorecard to keep track of them all. The novel also features a host of individuals who are physically and mentally ill, a bit too many to be believed. However, the dialogue is top-notch, and the forensic information could not be more graphic, for those who enjoy that sort of thing. I advise you to read this book on an EMPTY stomach.

I urge readers who are new to McCarthy to read the novels in order. The author provides little back-story, and you will not understand how the characters evolved if you read the series out of order. Now that I have the whole picture, I understand a bit more about how and why John and Helena's inner demons have tormented them for so many years.

This is a challenging book to read. The vocabulary sometimes requires a dictionary. Some, but very little, is quite graphic and appropriately graphic--nothing gratuitous. The author takes the world as it is: with incompetent cops, often caring only for promotion and sexual comforts; intelligent professors and doctors doing bad things, unalloyed bad things. The story moves along at a steady pace. This can be read like a Patricia C. forensic book, but would make little sense. This first novel educated me, thrilled me, entertained me, but most of all immersed me in the grease and grime of life and made me look unflinchingly at some truths about the human condition, which many myster readers would like to ignore. Not since I read Connelly's The Poet have I been so overwhelmed by mystery/suspense story. Essential reading.

Highly recommend this book great to use if one is renovating a period house or likes period decorations.

The book is well illustrated and true to the topic. I thought a little too much time was spent on the dimensions of the illustrated work in how the book need to be adjusted for the size of the book and not any time spent explaining how the woodworkers of the time accomplished the work, Example how was a flute cut with the top end round and the bottom end flat. How are tongues added to a fluted column? There are no explanations of the wonderfully illustrated woodworking just where the work is located and how to measure the work.

"Federal Style Patterns 1780-1820" is the culmination of an astounding research project. The detailed drawings are based on design elements from homes built during the Federal Era in the New England region, and include detailed images of cornices, door and window casings, chair rails, baseboards and more.

All drawings are captured in a variety of formats on a CD-ROM that comes with the book, which is a helpful tool for modern day designers hoping to faithfully reproduce the elegance of Federal Style architecture.

For some time now, I have been fascinated with the Federal Style, so much so that I decided to decorate and furnish my new office as if it were a page from history, circa 1815. I was a bit confused how to adapt a door arch to my particular circumstance, so I e-mailed the authors of this book, MaryBeth Mudrick and Lawrence D. Smith, for advice. I was most pleased with the prompt and professional reply I received from them. Throughout the duration of my project, which stretched out for many months, MaryBeth and Lawrence provided invaluable guidance at many critical junctures, always with patience and a friendly touch. With my copy of their text close by at all times, these pros led me toward a Federal Style look that far exceeded my original expectations. Thomas Jefferson would have felt right at home!

Oh, this is an elegant book, with highly detailed drawings of every molding, mantels, doors, room designs, etc. that you can imagine, all in the beautiful American Federal Style. In this book, you can 'invade' historic homes and 'walk out' with measured detailed drawings of all of the best features -- without anyone catching you in the act.

I enjoyed this book! A great story about the journeys we go on and how they can impact our lives.

Chris has a great sense of humour, and his love/hate relationship with the Irish shines through ih book as I giggled my way through the pages. It is great to read a 'regular blokes' writing!! :-)

Looking forward to the next adventure!

Not only is this book written by my brother an interesting and funny account of his travels in Ireland - more to the point - it has ME in it! Woohooo I'm famous... (Note to self: tone down my narcissistic tendencies). In all seriousness though, I enjoyed 'a few Drops short of a Pint', because in many ways it reminded me of my time and travels in Ireland too. Ireland can be a frustrating place, that is for certain, but those are the kinds of things you get through and look back and enjoy in retrospect. This is what Chris has captured, an essentially personal journey (in many senses of the word) in a retrospective angle. I think, having been tested time again, his character has shone through in his writing. There is a truthfulness to Chris' book that you can admire, I highly recommend trying it and discovering everything in it on offer yourself.

A. Dowding

Very well written book with a lot of humour. I found myself laughing at the craziness of the people Chris and Kerryn came across in their travels. Can't wait to experience Ireland myself!

Would recommend it to anyone interested in funny travel narratives!

The book chronicles Chris and Kerryn's time spent living and working in Ireland. It is one of the few books about the Emerald Isle that doesn't read like it was written by Ireland's national tourist board. It's an honest account of the good times and the bad and you can find out more about it at Chris's website [...]. Peter Moore, author of 'Vroom with a View'

...while not avoiding the dark side of the Irish character, Chris also explores the humour. Gregory Stanton, 'weekender'

...a full bodied travel memoir that gives the reader a taste of Irish life and history. Jennifer Scott, 'Sunshine Coast Daily'

It's the sort of travel book you can read over a few beers. Linda Muller, 'The Redland Times'

It was a delight to read/reread Leinster's material. Much of it was familiar, from years of collecting and reading pulps, but there was some that was new to me and all of it was fun to read.

These are some of the best sci-fi short stories I have read. Yes, the stories are dated, but the imagination, mystery and wonder are awesome. The Castaway is one of the finest. I recommend Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster as well, if you can find it. Happy reading!!!

Murray Leinster was very hot in the world of science fiction -- several decades ago. As the years wore on, he was largely forgotten, except for one story of his, "First Contact." "First Contact" has appeared in numerous "Best of" collections and won a "Retro-Hugo" (a Hugo handed out for work in a year when there were no Hugos, 1946). Now you can have "First Contact" (I'm not the only one who thinks it's the best first contact story ever.) along with 23 other great (some are classic) tales from S.F.'s golden age. You'll be suprised at how well these hold up. Plus this book is a real treat. It's on acid-free paper, and it's a well-bound, solid hardcover.

I read this in less than a week. My 'First Contact' with Murray Leinster floored me. The style of Leinster's writing is provacative; his diction, use of tone tone and image, are as advanced as any literary writer in any field. There isn't one weak story in this book! The stories, though dating as far back as the thirties, hold up as well as any modern work I can think of. Especially interesting is 'Plague on Kryder II,' which describes a disease that affects one's immune system and causes one to get disease after disease. It was almost as if he had heard about AIDS in 1964. I'm so impressed that I went right out and bought every book I could find by Leinster and am in the process of reading them right now. You wont't be disappointed.

five isn't just another boy band as they said in their biography.they don't just sing pop music either they add a little rap in there and do a great job of it!they're not rappers and they don't sing hip hop R&B as they clearly pointed out they just add it in to spice up their music.i love five and i think i'm the # 1 fan if you think differently please feel free to e-mail me at asreeves@uswest.net all of there merchandise is deffinately worth buying!

Like I said this book is great.It has tons of quality pictures.Good info about the lads.And its all around great ! I suggest this book to ANYONE who likes 5ive.

I bought this book and I kept reading it for hours. It really tells you all the adventures that Five has had already. It contains also a lot of beautiful pictures of Scott, Abs, Sean, Rich and J. Everybody should have it!!!

I would have bought this book just because it's Five's but it was really worth it. All the pics are amazing and show the boys how they really are. So if you are going to buy a book on Five, buy this one!

NYC Island Hopping made easy

Flashmaps is a wonderful guide to carry with you when you are trying to find that fabulous restaurant in "The City". All of my friends love this book and have bought one for themselves.

Flashmaps '98 is a very easy to use guide. There is a special map for every subject like a college map, a hospital map, a sightseeing map and much more. Almost like a two-in-one guide.

If you want a small lightweight book that has everything about New York, this is your book. Since New York has lots of sidestreets, and you can easily get lost there, you will love the maps and directions. The shopping section even has street maps with every single store on every single street! This book is great for shopping information.

and in the Barnabas family lately that luck has turned all bad.

In the 19th century Jacoby Barnabas founded a publishing house, one that prospered and, in due time was passed along to his decendents who, for the most part carried on the business quite conventionally. The third generation was a different matter. One grandson refused to enter the business at all, another was 'to be looked after' and his brother simply disappeared. The rest managed to entangled themselves in love affairs and murder!

Enter Albert Campion (not his real name), friend of the family and amateur detective (and perhaps in line to the throne) has dropped by to take tea with the family but before the evening is over one of the family is found dead with the prime suspects being his wife and his cousin who apparently have become 'quite fond' of one another. As Campion begins to look into the matter he uncovers all sorts of things, office scandals, a long-time mistress and just how a proper businessman can vanish while walking down a London street in broad daylight.

This is the seventh in the Campion series and at this point Albert is emerging from the shadow of Lord Peter Wimsey, the character Allingham patterned him after. Albert is becoming more down to earth and focused, developing more of his own persona, although Allingham is not above making a sly reference to 'Denver' - Lord Peter's family estate.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery, particularly for those who are fans of this series or of mysteries of this era. The characters are well done, the plotting is clever, and the clues are all there fairly laid out for the reader to follow.

With "Flowers for the Judge" Margery Allingham signals the change in her writing style which was first hinted at in "Police at the Funeral." Campion has matured a bit and changed from a hapless zany to someone just a bit more like a friend of the family. Still occasionally fatuous, but, more often, showing flashes of brilliance. In keeping with this, the stories themselves are shifting away from adventure tales and becoming more typical of detective stories. While Allingham is rarely very good at keeping secrets, there really are mysteries and inexplicable clues to puzzle out.

The mystery in "Flowers for the Judge," is who murdered Paul Brande in the cellar lock room of Barnabas Limited. Brande is one of the owners of this respectable publishing firm, along with his cousins John Widdowson and Michael Wedgewood. Paul, noted for running off without notice, and being a bit hare-brained to boot, leaves behind his wife Gina. He had proven himself somewhat lacking as a husband and Gina was in the process of trying to divorce him. To make this even more suspicious, her relationship with Michael, while not exactly improper, is a bit too close to be considered a simple friendship.

When the police discover that the murder weapon was Michael's car, which was used to pump carbon monoxide into the lock room, suspicions blossom. With Michael unable to produce an alibi, the result of the inquest is a forgone conclusion, and Michael is remanded over for trial. Gina and Ritchie Barnabas (another cousin) turn to Campion for help.

The case is complicated by other events and hints of scandal, yet provides Campion with only fragmentary evidence with which to track down the truth. Driven by the need to exonerate Michael rather than simple get him released, Campion's task seems impossible. He leaves no stone unturned in his efforts, and, in the end, risks his own life to reveal the true murderer.

I rather like the new Campion. And the change in writing style introduces considerable depth and emotional content than was present in the more light hearted romances of the past. Characters are more developed and accessible, as well. Not only is "Flowers for the Judge" a great story in it's own right, it is also a portent of more wonderful tales to come.

This is a most excellent mystery, written by one of Britain's premiere writers. Beginning with a murder (naturally) and a missing person, Campion and his companion (with the barely pronounceable first name) Lugg, set to uncover what happened. Some of the old "English/British" expressions might send one to the closest OED (Oxford English Dictionary, of course) and a line of "French", literally, at the end of the last chapter might require a "French" dictionary (for those who, like me, did not take the language in school). Otherwise, a fine book. I wish they would put the video (PBS) version of this book out, as it (the title character, Campion) was well played by Peter Davison of Dr. Who fame.

Albert Campion, universal uncle and amateur detective, is invited into the family circle of staid British publisher Barnaby. There he finds an enmeshed family system, and a series of mysteries. Twenty years before one of the brothers vanished into thin air, while walking down a London street. Now Paul has been found dead in the manuscript vault. His cousin Mike (who is fond of the widow) is prime suspect. It was his car, left running outside the vault room's ventilator, that caused Paul's death of carbon monoxide poisoning. Cousin Ritchie, the reclusive manuscript reader, offers his eccentric assistance. A wonderful surprise ending to all this, which will be welcomed by anyone who's worked in a stuffy publishing house, or endured an asphyxiating family firm.