Now that her morbidly obese sister, Agnes Sparrow, is comfortably dieting at the Greenbrier Nursing Home, Griselda learns to fly—literally—after a pilNow that her morbidly obese sister, Agnes Sparrow, is comfortably dieting at the Greenbrier Nursing Home, Griselda learns to fly—literally—after a pilot makes an emergency landing and creates quite a ruckus in the otherwise sleepy town of Bright’s Pond.
But Griselda’s newfound freedom—and her flight time with handsome pilot, Cliff—is hampered by other happenings in town. Like the gold digger who prances around town and is supposedly engaged to Stella Kincaid’s brother—the lottery winner who is in a coma. And there’s Ivy Slocum’s dog, Al Capone, whose adventures continue long after they should.
When Chief of Police Mildred Blessing starts investigating the gold digger, however, things really heat up—for Griselda and all the residents of the unique Pennsylvania hamlet called Bright’s Pond.
Merged review:
Now that her morbidly obese sister, Agnes Sparrow, is comfortably dieting at the Greenbrier Nursing Home, Griselda learns to fly—literally—after a pilot makes an emergency landing and creates quite a ruckus in the otherwise sleepy town of Bright’s Pond.
But Griselda’s newfound freedom—and her flight time with handsome pilot, Cliff—is hampered by other happenings in town. Like the gold digger who prances around town and is supposedly engaged to Stella Kincaid’s brother—the lottery winner who is in a coma. And there’s Ivy Slocum’s dog, Al Capone, whose adventures continue long after they should.
When Chief of Police Mildred Blessing starts investigating the gold digger, however, things really heat up—for Griselda and all the residents of the unique Pennsylvania hamlet called Bright’s Pond....more
Washington D.C.'s professional troubleshooter, Hannibal Jones, is enraged when he is forced to take a case at gunpoint. His client is a Russian assassWashington D.C.'s professional troubleshooter, Hannibal Jones, is enraged when he is forced to take a case at gunpoint. His client is a Russian assassin who will kill Hannibal's beloved, Cindy Santiago, if Hannibal refuses to help him. With no choice, Hannibal agrees to investigate the smooth, wealthy Algerian who has stolen the heart of the woman his new client loves. At first the case looks simple - what woman would not choose a rich African businessman over a professional killer? His view changes when evidence surfaces connecting the Algerian to Russian mob money and the apparent suicide of the girl's father several years earlier. Further investigation reveals that the Algerian may not be who he says he is. Then more deaths follow, closing in on the Algerian and the girl. At first working only to protect Cindy's life, Hannibal is soon chasing the truth for its own sake and must fight his way through past lies, present jealousies and the Red Mafiya to learn the real reason that death is stalking the couple. Hannibal peels the Algerian's history like an onion, each layer revealing a false identity. His search for the truth leads to a dramatic shootout on Roosevelt Island, side-by-side with his murderous client....more
Presbyterian church secretary Cindy Preston and rabbi Jeremiah Silverman, introduced in The Lord Is My Shepherd (2010), team up again to solve anotherPresbyterian church secretary Cindy Preston and rabbi Jeremiah Silverman, introduced in The Lord Is My Shepherd (2010), team up again to solve another murder. This time the deceased is the personal assistant to Joseph Tyler, a wealthy member of Cindy’s church who’s launching a new program to pair up homeless people with rescue dogs. Cindy and Jeremiah are trying to stay out of the way of the investigation of the assistant’s murder—their last amateur-sleuthing foray landed them in the sights of a serial killer—but when homeless people begin getting killed and their dogs stolen, keeping out of it is no longer an option. Cindy and Jeremiah are two extremely likable protagonists, and the story is elaborate enough to keep readers interested but not so convoluted as to weigh the novel down. Though this is no cozy, the author does have a light touch—the danger to our heroes is real, but we’re never in any doubt that they’ll scrape through. --David Pitt ...more
This is the third title in the Barbara Marr mystery series and it's the best one yet. With so many laugh-out-loud scenes, it's hard to put the book doThis is the third title in the Barbara Marr mystery series and it's the best one yet. With so many laugh-out-loud scenes, it's hard to put the book down. In this story, we find Barbara happily reunited with her husband, Howard, the FBI agent. Life is settling down and getting back to normal or so she thinks. When Barbara is invited to a local movie screening, she's thrilled, that is, until the film director Kurt Baugh keels over and dies right in front of her after eating the yams. It's bad enough that the director is dead, but it's her ex-mafia friend Frankie, who catered the event and he is now the #1 suspect. Never one to leave things alone when she should, Barbara feels it's up to her to follow the clues that could possibly exonerate Frankie. ...more
Chef Jean-Basile Labrousse owns the three-star Diapason restaurant. When he kicks a bag of squash in his freezer, it feels more like meat to him. He oChef Jean-Basile Labrousse owns the three-star Diapason restaurant. When he kicks a bag of squash in his freezer, it feels more like meat to him. He opens the bag to find the body of Jean-Louis Delage, the president-directeur general of Renault; who dined there earlier in the evening with his attorney.
With everyone else tied up, Le Commissaire Talon assigns twenty-eight years old Parisian Police Detective Capucine Le Tellier for the lead on the case; her first field crime scene assignment as her work has been office reviews of white collar crime. She receives insider help on the restaurant side of her investigation from her dining critic husband, Alexandre. At Renault, she learns the firm is working on a fuel efficiency process that would allow vehicles to run on one third the amount of gas; and that several countries and rival companies have industrial spies trying to steal the secret. Capucine knows if she wants more homicide work, she must resolve the case with its international implications as well as the country's frenzy over an icon being murdered.
With a lighthearted look at the City of Lights through the eyes of delightful droll Parisians and foreign nationals, readers will enjoy dining in Paris with Capucine (who is not remotely close in performance to The Pink Panther of Inspector Clouseau) as their tour guide. The Grave Gourmet is a wonderful French police procedural that highlights the industrial espionage threat to nations and companies as even allies spy on one another. Alexander Campion provides a mesmeric opening act starring a magnifico female protagonist. ...more
The germ of this novel can be traced back as far as 1927 to a short story entitled "Spotted Horses" which was incorporated into the novel in Book 4. IThe germ of this novel can be traced back as far as 1927 to a short story entitled "Spotted Horses" which was incorporated into the novel in Book 4. In fact, a total of four Faulkner short stories made their way into the novel at different points, but to label The Hamlet as simply a collection of previously written short stories is to miss both the uniformity of the novel and a chance to experience Faulkner's creative mind at work. If the reader takes the time to compare the original of the incorporated short stories ("Spotted Horses", "Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard", "Fool About a Horse", and "The Hound") with the rewritten versions that made their way into the novel, that person can only marvel at Faulkner's ability to revise previous work into a new art form that has only a limited kinship with the original - the same kind of artistic genius that inspired Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Although Faulkner had introduced the character of Flem Snopes in a short story of the early 30s, as well as including various members of the Snopes family in previous novels, it was in The Hamlet that the author gave his full energies to the story of the rise of Flem from sharecropper cabin to stately mansion, and the slow but inexorable infiltration of other members of the Snopes family into Yoknapatawpha society. The book is divided into four episodes in which Faulkner, using both comedy and tragedy, plumbs the depths of human emotion, from passion to implacable inhumanity, and in so doing creates some of his most enduring characters. The Snopes family is seen, collectively, by the good citizens of Frenchman's Bend as insane, unsanitary, immoral and unscupulous - all traits shared by the good citizens of Frenchman's Bend in one degree or another - and as a group of outsiders defiling the established order. But when Faulkner considers each of the Snopes tribe individually, these stereotypes are ameliorated and that member is detached from the rest of the family. Each of the Snopes considered demonstrates admirable traits: Eck is seen as honest and hard working; the idiot Ike is seen, in a perverse way, as loyal and sympathetic; even the murderer, Mink, has his noble qualities. Only Flem is devoid of any good qualities. He is depicted as emotionless, rapacious and isolated from his fellow man; and although he is eventually successful in achieving his aims, it is clear that Faulkner has little use for such individuals.
But with Faulkner (when he is at his best), it is just as important how the story is told as the story told. And in this work he is at his best. Two episodes deserve particular attention: the obsession of the school teacher, Labove, for Eula Varner, his thirteen year old pupil; and the affair between the idiot, Ike, and the cow. Both episodes are concerned with obsession, but in the former it is obsession predominated by passion while with the Ike episode, it is obsession produced by idealized love. Faulkner's style in both episodes border on rhetorical perfection. Eula is described as "the supreme primal uterus" who "tranquilly abrogates the whole long sum of human thinking and suffering which is called knowledge, education, wisdom, at once supremely unchaste and inviolable." The description of Ike's love for the cow could just probably contain some of the very best prose that Faulkner ever wrote. Using a style that is almost luminous, the author is able to transform a story of bestiality into a moving testament on human love, while Ike is made into a truly sympathetic character, one who confuses the concept of love, and loses the distinction between female animal and human female.
Faulkner was eventually to expand the story of the Snopes into a trilogy, with The Town and The Mansion being published in the late 1950s. But these other novels were only an unremarkable conclusion to what he began with The Hamlet, arguably the last great book that he wrote. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful 4.0 out of 5 stars Ah, the romance, March 7, 2007 By John Cullom (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) For all its attempts to elucidate the economic and social structures that led to the decline of the south, this book is best in its portrayal and critique of romance. The section introducing Eula Varner as an object of desire is one of the most compelling before the opening passages of Lolita (forgive me twice):
her entire appearance suggested some symbology out of the old Dionysic times--honey in sunlight and bursting grapes, the writhen bleeding of the crushed fecundated vine beneath the hard rapacious trampling goat-hoof.
I mean, come on, passages like that just make you feel ashamed of the shallowness of your own emotions, vocuabulary, and existence. Oh, and that intensity goes on for almost 20 pages.
****SPOILER ALERT (Sort of)****
And if that gets you revved up, the book escalates the language and shifts to another starcrossed couple, an idiot ward of Flem, Ike, and a neighbor's wandering cow. Here's Ike trying to soothe the spooked cow:
trying to tell her how this violent viloation of her maiden't delicacy is no shame, since such is the very iron imperishable warp of the fabric of love.
The book is worth reading for those two sections. Much of the rest drags. It's filled with stories that Faulkner finds humorous and they are set to the laugh track of Ratliff who is constantly telling the reader what they should find humorous. It's about as effective as Jim smirking into the camera throughout the 3rd season of The Office to let the audience know what a delightful practical joke he's just played.
In all, this is worthwhile, but this falls in the middle of an incredible period of Faulkner's career, and even when you're reading it you come across huge passages that remind you how disappointed you are in him. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS GREAT BOOK, October 20, 2006 By Ethan Cooper (Big Apple) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) Faulkner assembled much of THE HAMLET from short stories, where his themes were courtship, lust, love, and obsession or where the average person succumbs to greed or foolishness and is victimized in business.
Take the subject of love. In THE HAMLET, Faulkner examines obsessive and unrequited love through his characters Labove (an achiever obsessed with untouchable beauty) and Ike Snopes (a retarded man in love with a cow); ambivalent love through the experience of Mink Snopes (a vicious murder) and Jack Houston (a guilty widower); and loveless marriage through the lives of Eula Varner and Mrs. Armstid, who are at the top and bottom of social hierarchy. Each of these characters is unique and fully realized. Yet each suffers from cruel variations of a single force.
Not to be a pedant: But Robert Penn Warren described THE HAMLET as: "...a sequence of contrasting or paralleling stories" where Faulkner's "...movement was not linear but spiral, passing over the same point again and again, but at different altitudes." This is exactly right.
At the same time, THE HAMLET is about Faulkner's writing. Here's one quick example, with this great author writing about the weather. "It was a gray day, of the color and texture of iron, one of those windless days of a plastic rigidity too dead to make or release snow even, in which even light did not alter but seemed to appear complete out of nothing at dawn and would expire into darkness without gradation." Great isn't it?
Even so, I was surprised by one aspect of THE HAMLET. It is: terrible things happen to all the characters. This even includes Flem Snopes who is a winner in the male world of business but surely locked in a loveless marriage. Yet despite their cruel fates, Faulkner's amazing characters persevere. As he said when accepting his Nobel: "When the last ding-dong of doom has clanged, ...there will still be one more sound: ...a puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this...." READ THIS GREAT BOOK Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Major Faulkner, March 29, 2006 By John Wraith "Studio Gangsta" (Rural Virginia) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) I'm not sure how exactly to say this without sounding closed-minded and elitist, so I'll apologize right off the bat for that. But I'm not sure the people who disparage this novel on this website quite "get it," and I think part of the reason might be that most of those people aren't from the South. This is an episodic, rambling, distinctly Southern story, told in an episodic, rambling, distinctly Southern way. That's just how things work down here, and I realize it's not that way in Hoboken (which is fine too). It's also a very rural setting, so that may turn some people off or lead to some misunderstanding.
Having said that, this book is a major Faulkner work, meaning it's great, not merely good. It's his most explicit critique of capitalism and his most explicit commentary on love in all its forms, and it's a very funny one at that -- again, it's from a Southern angle, though; if you've lived in an industrial rather than rural society your whole life, it may not appeal to you as much. Like most Faulkner, you have to settle into the prose and the pace.
The characters The Hamlet introduces are among Faulkner's most memorable: the rapacious Flem, the wonderful Ratliff, the oddly moving (trust me) Ike, etc. Faulkner has been accused of exploiting his poor whites in this novel, but I think his surprisingly sympathetic treatment of Mink in the trilogy counters this charge pretty well.
I've read everything Faulkner's ever written at least once (two to four times, for his major works), and this is my favorite. If you think Anse is funny in As I Lay Dying, or Virgil and Fonzio in Sanctuary, you'd probably really enjoy this book. It's the only time you'll ever hear a teenage girl rebuff her schoolteacher's inappropriate sexual advance with the command, "Stop pawing me. You old headless horseman Ichabod Crane." Priceless. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful 4.0 out of 5 stars first and best of the trilogy, February 16, 2006 By GerryO "book addict" (denver) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) The Hamlet is an episodic, sometimes uneven novel of jealosy, avarice , and poverty. Some of Faulkner's best characters including Flem and Eula Snopes (Varner), Ratliff the cagy sewing machine salesman, an Houston, the luckless cow-owner. All in all good stuff not as difficult to read as some of Bill's stuff.
Unfortunately the trilogy goes downhill from here, it was many years before he wrote The Town. The Mansion I thought was a stronger book. Give The Hamlet a try, some vintage Faulkner here. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
4.0 out of 5 stars I love faulkner too, October 25, 2005 By Geronimo Pratt (San Francisco) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) This is, as mentioned by the previous reviewer, good faulkner, not great faulkner, which means that this book has moments that are completely mesmerizing, other moments where you just don't really understand, and others that make you scratch your head and say , "damn, he's so good"; actually most of the book is like that.
For those of you who are seasoned faulker readers, I would this book along with "Sartoris" as an equal, that is, how a family comes to power in Jefferson, usurping the old order, becoming the new order, and then decaying again.
Faulkner was such a serious and funny writer, at the same time, he just gets better with age. I hope to eventually get to them all; this one is pretty good, I would recommend it but only after you have read about 3 or 4 of his others.
The germ of this novel can be traced back as far as 1927 to a short story entitled "Spotted Horses" which was incorporated into the novel in Book 4. In fact, a total of four Faulkner short stories made their way into the novel at different points, but to label The Hamlet as simply a collection of previously written short stories is to miss both the uniformity of the novel and a chance to experience Faulkner's creative mind at work. If the reader takes the time to compare the original of the incorporated short stories ("Spotted Horses", "Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard", "Fool About a Horse", and "The Hound") with the rewritten versions that made their way into the novel, that person can only marvel at Faulkner's ability to revise previous work into a new art form that has only a limited kinship with the original - the same kind of artistic genius that inspired Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Although Faulkner had introduced the character of Flem Snopes in a short story of the early 30s, as well as including various members of the Snopes family in previous novels, it was in The Hamlet that the author gave his full energies to the story of the rise of Flem from sharecropper cabin to stately mansion, and the slow but inexorable infiltration of other members of the Snopes family into Yoknapatawpha society. The book is divided into four episodes in which Faulkner, using both comedy and tragedy, plumbs the depths of human emotion, from passion to implacable inhumanity, and in so doing creates some of his most enduring characters. The Snopes family is seen, collectively, by the good citizens of Frenchman's Bend as insane, unsanitary, immoral and unscupulous - all traits shared by the good citizens of Frenchman's Bend in one degree or another - and as a group of outsiders defiling the established order. But when Faulkner considers each of the Snopes tribe individually, these stereotypes are ameliorated and that member is detached from the rest of the family. Each of the Snopes considered demonstrates admirable traits: Eck is seen as honest and hard working; the idiot Ike is seen, in a perverse way, as loyal and sympathetic; even the murderer, Mink, has his noble qualities. Only Flem is devoid of any good qualities. He is depicted as emotionless, rapacious and isolated from his fellow man; and although he is eventually successful in achieving his aims, it is clear that Faulkner has little use for such individuals.
But with Faulkner (when he is at his best), it is just as important how the story is told as the story told. And in this work he is at his best. Two episodes deserve particular attention: the obsession of the school teacher, Labove, for Eula Varner, his thirteen year old pupil; and the affair between the idiot, Ike, and the cow. Both episodes are concerned with obsession, but in the former it is obsession predominated by passion while with the Ike episode, it is obsession produced by idealized love. Faulkner's style in both episodes border on rhetorical perfection. Eula is described as "the supreme primal uterus" who "tranquilly abrogates the whole long sum of human thinking and suffering which is called knowledge, education, wisdom, at once supremely unchaste and inviolable." The description of Ike's love for the cow could just probably contain some of the very best prose that Faulkner ever wrote. Using a style that is almost luminous, the author is able to transform a story of bestiality into a moving testament on human love, while Ike is made into a truly sympathetic character, one who confuses the concept of love, and loses the distinction between female animal and human female.
Faulkner was eventually to expand the story of the Snopes into a trilogy, with The Town and The Mansion being published in the late 1950s. But these other novels were only an unremarkable conclusion to what he began with The Hamlet, arguably the last great book that he wrote. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful 4.0 out of 5 stars Ah, the romance, March 7, 2007 By John Cullom (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) This review is from: The Hamlet (Paperback) For all its attempts to elucidate the economic and social structures that led to the decline of the south, this book is best in its portrayal and critique of romance. The section introducing Eula Varner as an object of desire is one of the most compelling before the opening passages of Lolita (forgive me twice):
her entire appearance suggested some symbology out of the old Dionysic times--honey in sunlight and bursting grapes, the writhen bleeding of the crushed fecundated vine beneath the hard rapacious trampling goat-hoof.
I mean, come on, passages like that just make you feel ashamed of the shallowness of your own emotions, vocuabulary, and existence. Oh, and that intensity goes on for almost 20 pages.
****SPOILER ALERT (Sort of)****
And if that gets you revved up, the book escalates the language and shifts to another starcrossed couple, an idiot ward of Flem, Ike, and a neighbor's wandering cow. Here's Ike trying to soothe the spooked cow:
trying to tell her how this violent viloation of her maiden't delicacy is no shame, since such is the very iron imperishable warp of the fabric of love.
The book is worth reading for those two sections. Much of the rest drags. It's filled with stories that Faulkner finds humorous and they are set to the laugh track of Ratliff who is constantly telling the reader what they should find humorous. It's about as effective as Jim smirking into the camera throughout the 3rd season of The Office to let the audience know what a delightful practical joke he's just played.
In all, this is worthwhile, but this falls in the middle of an incredible period of Faulkner's career, and even when you're reading it you come across huge passages that remind you how disappointed you are in him.
Faulkner assembled much of THE HAMLET from short stories, where his themes were courtship, lust, love, and obsession or where the average person succumbs to greed or foolishness and is victimized in business.
Take the subject of love. In THE HAMLET, Faulkner examines obsessive and unrequited love through his characters Labove (an achiever obsessed with untouchable beauty) and Ike Snopes (a retarded man in love with a cow); ambivalent love through the experience of Mink Snopes (a vicious murder) and Jack Houston (a guilty widower); and loveless marriage through the lives of Eula Varner and Mrs. Armstid, who are at the top and bottom of social hierarchy. Each of these characters is unique and fully realized. Yet each suffers from cruel variations of a single force.
Not to be a pedant: But Robert Penn Warren described THE HAMLET as: "...a sequence of contrasting or paralleling stories" where Faulkner's "...movement was not linear but spiral, passing over the same point again and again, but at different altitudes." This is exactly right.
Now I feel like I owe Joe money! I was completely entertained from start to finish. I truly could not put it down. Bert and Roy, two of the main charaNow I feel like I owe Joe money! I was completely entertained from start to finish. I truly could not put it down. Bert and Roy, two of the main characters, had me laughing out loud. Tom is the hero. He's a cop assigned to a homicide and the body has a mysterious tattoo just like the one oh his foot. Joan is a victim turned heroine and she is my kind of woman....strong AND kicks butt. I can't stand the kind of woman who gets tied to the railroad tracks whimpering "save me, save me". The suspense is tight and the premise is not past the realm of probability. I don't want to mention much else because I don't want to give anything away!
The plot was interesting at first. I was intrigue to find out about the number tattoos on the bottom of the foot and how these tattoos connected the character. But as the story progressed and things began to fall into place, it become clear that the plot was pretty outlandish. Completely and totally unrealistic, in order to enjoy The List. I sort of had to suspend my disbelief and just roll with it. As the story progressed I had to suspend my disbelief even more, Kornath throw in everything but the kitchen skin in his plot.
While the pace was fast there was not much character development. The characters were just there, I wanted to see what was going to happen to them but I wasn't invested in them. The lack of character development did not take away from my enjoyment of the story but I did notice that I could have cared less if one of the main characters lived or died. ...more
Sixteen-year-old Moira Mullins has a gift. Or is it a curse? Moira, recently released from a mental institution, grapples with loneliness as she attemSixteen-year-old Moira Mullins has a gift. Or is it a curse? Moira, recently released from a mental institution, grapples with loneliness as she attempts to readjust to life with her parents in a small village in Northern Ireland. Her only sister has taken a job in Philadelphia and Moira fears she will never see her again.
Moira is also a part of another realm, a strange world that borders her family's property where she sees other beings with unearthly powers.
Compelled to return to fens where the strange inhabitants reside, Moira befriends a sidhe princess, who offers her a chance to see into the future.
As with all of her novels, Ms. McGary's knowledge of the locale and folklore lend an authentic flavor to her settings. Her command of the language and strong characterization make for a captivating read.
The Sidhe Princess is a beautiful story, a cautionary fairytale, in which the author's lyrical voice shines....more
The initially implausible situation -- a young woman meets a man and his dog whom she finds camped out on her rooftop terrace and invites them in for The initially implausible situation -- a young woman meets a man and his dog whom she finds camped out on her rooftop terrace and invites them in for breakfast -- is somehow made quite believable. The author accomplishes this magical feat by giving us a narrator/protagonist who is real, likable, interesting and layered. The pacing works and the writing never gets in its own way. While there's certainly a chick-lit quality to this -- Caz is single, young, attractive and has more than one character interested in pursuing a romance with her, this lacks the whinging quality of a lot of that genre and should appeal to anyone (male or female) who likes a good mystery. If Caz continues to find herself involved with investigations, I'll be happy to follow her adventures. ...more
Welcome back to Bright's Pond where the residents make even your strangest relatives seem normal.
What's going on at the Greenbriar Nursing home? ResidWelcome back to Bright's Pond where the residents make even your strangest relatives seem normal.
What's going on at the Greenbriar Nursing home? Resident's riding trikes down the halls? Seniors making out in the gazebo? This is strange even by Bright's Pond standards. Who or what could be responsible? Is it the fault of the new gazeebo, or the strange elusive man who built it for the residents? Maybe it's drugs or something in the water. Police chief Mildred Blessing has her hands full trying to solve this one.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Bright's Pond folks must contend with a luau thanksgiving, a Christmas pageant with live camels and the on again off again romance between Griselda and Zeb. Do I hear wedding bells?
Though lighthearted, this book is no ball of fluff. It is well written and entertaining. It will leave you laughing, and feeling just a little bit better about your own life. The delightfuly quirky characters, like none you've ever imagined, are so real you'll feel like you've always known them. ...more
Becton hits readers with another thriller. Starting with page one, the reader is dropped right into the action. From imagery to characters and banter,Becton hits readers with another thriller. Starting with page one, the reader is dropped right into the action. From imagery to characters and banter, Becton continually gains and keeps her reader's attention. I was so absorbed in the investigation, I found myself taking mental notes as I tried to uncover this mystery alongside the special agents. As the climax approached, I was right there in the action with Julia and Vincent.
When a dead body is discovered, special agents Julia Jackson and Mark Vincent are left with many questions. They must determine if this is a simple death benefits case or something more. Kathy Vanderbilt has one million reasons why she would want her husband dead, but she might not be the only one. In addition to uncovering this mystery, Julia is still secretly working on discovering the identity of her sister's rapist. With another lead, Julia must try to keep those closest to her from getting involved.
It is Becton's ability to create vivid scenes for her readers that helps make them feel a part of the story. Whether her characters are in the office, interviewing a suspect, or on the scene, it is easy to see, feel and relate to them. Part of what makes the reader a part of the story are the characters. They are real characters, with real issues, and can be found in anyone's community. In Julia and Helena's relationship, I can visualize conversations I have with my best friend over a cup of coffee. Vincent's desire to reconnect with his estranged son makes him more than a steamy piece of eye candy oozing masculinity. And who doesn't know, or want to know, a feisty, blue-haired lady like Mrs. Twilley who cracks readers up with her expressions and ability to wield a cane? Let's not forget Kathy Vanderbilt who represents the southern redneck who needs her "respects." Let me say, Becton knows her southern lifestyle, and I could see many facets of my southern friends in her characters. That made it all the more enjoyable.
Adding to the reality of her descriptions and characters is the dialog, which is natural and not forced, especially the banter between Julia and Vincent. Beware: smiling, chuckling, and sighing might be the result of experiencing a conversation with Vincent, leaving the reader eager for the next novel to find out exactly what is in store for Julia and Vincent.
While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I was left with a few unanswered questions. I am not sure those questions will be answered in the next book, but I am anxious to find out more about Tricia's rapist coming to justice and to see what awaits Vincent and Julia. No doubt there will be more swoon-worthy moments involving Vincent....more
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse! .... Dream Lover, by Suzanne Jenkins, 3rd of the series answers so many questions and opens up so many Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse! .... Dream Lover, by Suzanne Jenkins, 3rd of the series answers so many questions and opens up so many more....WOW....Pam is an amazing woman! She is strong and logical and down to earth and sensible! She thinks with her head and not her heart.....although that was broken,... She is kind, gentle and secure in spite of what has evolved in the past 6 months of her life. Gosh....how does she remain so focused! Some surprises in this story, leaving the reader thinking and re-thinking long after the last page is turned...Suzanne Jenkins does a superb job of developing her characters and making the reader smile and cry on the same page! I could feel their joy and their pain and felt very connected to situations...Great Read!!!!! ...more
Totally enjoyed this paranormal romance set in Scotland. Bound by a centuries-old curse, two descendants of lovers torn apart by clan warfare are drawTotally enjoyed this paranormal romance set in Scotland. Bound by a centuries-old curse, two descendants of lovers torn apart by clan warfare are drawn together by chemistry. . .and who wouldn't love a hot laird who lives in a castle, riddled by old war wounds and too much conscience? From the moment our curly-haired heroine sets off to find her oddly-named ancestor we know she's destined for something great. Enemies are slightly farfetched and over the top in the form of jealous sidekicks but overall Banks' prose races along and her descriptions of Scottish whiskey "smokey and silken as honey" and the velvety green countryside make me want to go find my roots too... a land where redheads abound, imagine that! Light a fire, curl up with a glass and escape into the Legend of Lady Maclaoch for a very good time. ...more
The Ambassador's Wife is a great mystery thriller by Jake Needham. His mystery that features Police Detective Sam Tay is great read. Say Tay investigaThe Ambassador's Wife is a great mystery thriller by Jake Needham. His mystery that features Police Detective Sam Tay is great read. Say Tay investigates the brutal murder of an Ambassador'e wife in the Marriot Hotel in Singapore. Another murder occurs in Pattaya just outside of Bangkok that is exactly like the first murder. Or is it? More, yes - more... Because the same thing happens to a woman in Pattaya, a very notourious locality near Bangkok. Same cause of death, but much more important to the Americans, who yet wanted to cover up the Singapore killing as a Terroristic act. The Pattaya woman was politically obviously much more important than the first, murdered in Singapore. So the CIA, FBI and what other abbreviations You want, are all sniffing around. A culprit - a Thai-muslim terrorist, fitting the profile perfectly, is soon found and - justifiably "stopped" when he wants to get away. But there is a very sad "collateral victim", too.
But Sam Tay has yet made the acquaintance of one John August. And he will see, that sometimes the law protects the real culprit. And sometimes there is the need of someone who is very, but very very good in bending the law to make justice. ...more
Slow history of the various Inquisitions we've been subjected to over time.Slow history of the various Inquisitions we've been subjected to over time....more
The brutal murder of Tomoe, a blind street singer, offers a stark contrast to the beautiful morning that greets Lord Sugawara Akitada and his beloved The brutal murder of Tomoe, a blind street singer, offers a stark contrast to the beautiful morning that greets Lord Sugawara Akitada and his beloved wife Tamako. Akitada, who serves as Senior Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, has recently been testy and restless at work. The solution, he realizes, is to fulfill a past promise to ferret out the killer of his friend Haseo, even though this could imperil his position in the royal court. The only clue in the murder of Haseo, a former convict unjustly condemned, is the weapon: a sword. Tomoe's killing presents a more pressing mystery. The prime suspect is Tora, one of Akitada's three lieutenants, reportedly apprehended near the body with knife in hand. Amazingly, Tora's elder cohort Seimei theorizes that the hotheaded young man might indeed be guilty. Akitada uneasily presses for Tora's release so that he can help find the killer. The case only grows more complex when it's discovered that Tomoe may have been a prostitute. A rift in Akitada's marriage and a health scare for Seimei provide further complications. At length, despite a scarcity of clues, the investigation comes full circle, leading to the solution of Haseo's murder as well. ...more
When charming, seemingly devoted Jack Smith dies, his wife and his two girlfriends are astonished to learn that they were not the only love of his lifWhen charming, seemingly devoted Jack Smith dies, his wife and his two girlfriends are astonished to learn that they were not the only love of his life, and that, in fact, Jack was a rogue who was carrying on secret existences with other women. Shattered by grief and stunned by Jack’s betrayals, these three women, Pam Smith, Marie Fabian, and Sandra Benson, find themselves suddenly thrown together. They could have despised one another, jealously guarding their private memories of their time with Jack and hating those they perceived to be their rivals, but instead, the women begin to realize there might be strength in numbers and in shared pain. Slowly, they begin to open their hearts to one another. They bind together to try to make sense of their lives and to try to heal the terrible shock.
But the more they learn about Jack and his nefarious past, the more they begin to question everything they thought they ever knew about him. Not only did Jack carelessly cheat on each of them, without thought to the harm he was causing, but the women are stunned to discover a secret of Jack that he never revealed.
As the women try to piece together the real life story of Jack, they begin to deal with their own lives differently, as well. They must deal with Jack’s heartbroken mother, who knew nothing about her son’s clandestine dealings in life. The tragedy also takes a toll on their working lives, and most of all it takes a toll on them, robbing them of sleep, hope, and even dreams. But with a sense of shared sisterhood, a little laughter, and a whole lot of determination, these brave women forge brave new lives that are full of promise.
The novel probes the difficulties in thinking that we can ever really know a person, even a loved one. All the women in Don’t You Forget About Me wonder if they had been really and truly loved by Jack, or if he had simply played them for fools. They question their own blindness to his faults and how they allowed themselves to believe that they might have had it all, when what they had was really more of a dream. The book investigates modern social problems with grace and warmth. Infidelity, it uncovers, can do more than break hearts. In showing some of the worst things that can happen in relationships,it also teases us to imagine the best, a world in which loyalty, devotion and fidelity are prized. As the characters grow and change, they have the possibility for those things.
Don’t You Forget About Me is a tale of love lost and then found again. A sequel to Pam of Babylon, Don’t You Forget About Me can also be read all on its own. You will not like this book if many characters and lot of twists and turns is not your cup of tea. ...more
Pam Smith is a Long Island housewife who spends her weekdays preparing for her husband Jack to return every weekend from the city. Their life is a perPam Smith is a Long Island housewife who spends her weekdays preparing for her husband Jack to return every weekend from the city. Their life is a perfect picture of Americana, a modern Norman Rockwell painting of success, comfort, and the love of family and friends. Then, on a Saturday that seems no different than any other, tragedy strikes and Pam faces the greatest challenge of her previously charmed life. A riveting plot, shocking twists, and almost unbearable tension mark Suzanne Jenkins� debut, a heart-wrenching examination of lives suddenly and irrevocably torn apart. On his routine weekend trip home, Jack has a heart attack on the train and Pam soon finds herself on a trip to identify his body. Theoretically, this should give her some form of closure, but instead it is the moment her life takes an unexpected trip down the rabbit hole of intrigue and past sins come shockingly to life. Pam must confront a series of revelations that unmask a life she realizes she only thought she knew, and the losses and disappointments she discovers give color and understanding to a man markedly different than he appeared. Uncovering secrets and betrayals far worse than her most vivid nightmare, Pam retreats to their meticulous Babylon beach house, the one refuge she has to put the pieces of her life together and move toward ultimate forgiveness. A fascinating, multiple point of view character study about confronting mistakes and omissions in life, Jenkins� novel demonstrates the devastating consequences of our actions and how they can reverberate through generations. But it is through forgiveness that Pam finds redemption and strength, eschewing the option of victimization for one of power and, ultimately, personal peace. Affecting in its fast pacing and spare, evocative prose, Pam of Babylon is a powerful reminder for us all to strive to be better people. See all Editorial Reviews ...more
In this book, Mike Wood gives us a chance to relive a small piece of 1984 with his 15 y.o. protagonist, Albert E. Newman. Al has a hole in his heart tIn this book, Mike Wood gives us a chance to relive a small piece of 1984 with his 15 y.o. protagonist, Albert E. Newman. Al has a hole in his heart that hasn't healed. His scientist father disappeared from his life 4 years ago, and his mother has not given him answers. No one has. So Al dreams that his father's experiments in alchemy are the real reason he took off - he imagines plots of kidnapping and conspiracy. Summer visitor, Cammie is fascinated by the idea of a plot. When Al finds a notebook of his father's, he convinces her to help him figure out the mystery.
I really, really enjoyed this book. The characters were delightful and the book was filled with humor and little memories of growing up in the 1980s. The action is slow at times, with the ramblings of a 15 year old boy, but that adds charm to the story and gives us insight into Al. A few surprises here and there in this book. And one thing that I have a hard time believing would have happened in the 1980s. Overall, a fun little read with lots of memorable snippets!
As it turns out, he finds his father in Provincetown. The father is gay and has HIV. They reconcile, but Cammie moves back for Florida....more
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