Books Completed Since June 1

 The Perfectionists, Simon Winchester
Not so far in the past as history goes, tools and instruments were hand made, one at a time. So long as they worked properly, there was no need for them to be extremely precise. Then came the age of exploration and the age of invention. Such inventions, especially, were required to be precise if they were to work properly: to measure time and/or distance accurately to make scientific measurements, or for machinery (like steam engines) to work properly without the danger of leakage, or, worse, explosions. This is Winchester's history of the art of precision, from medieval navigational equipment to John Harrison's stunning chronometer to the boring of cannon in a manner that the barrels would not explode, all the way through steam engines, tools, screwmaking machines, clocks, interchangeable parts on everything from firearms to washing machines, locks, jets, GPS, atomic clocks, and more.

I know little about engineering, but this book was fascinating. Winchester traces his own interest in the subject to his father's engineering job, and also explains the difference between "precision" and "accuracy" (it's a significant one). Each of the chapters "ups" the precision of the instrument in the previous chapter, until we reach a tolerance of 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 01. I've really enjoyed all of Winchester's other books, especially Atlantic, and this one does not disappoint. Page turning from front to back.

 A Death of No Importance, Mariah Fredericks
This is the first in the Jane Prescott mystery series (I reviewed the second book, Death of a New American, previously). Jane, an orphan raised by her uncle (who works to save prostitutes from their lives on the street) previously worked for the late Mrs. Armslow, and, as the book opens, has worked for the nouveau riche Benchley family for a year as ladies' maid to Miss Charlotte Benchley. She and her shy sister Louise are just Out in society, and Charlotte has shocked everyone by becoming engaged to fast living Norrie Newsome, who supposedly had an understanding with Beatrice Tyler. But at the party to announce their engagement, Norrie is found with his face bashed in, and Charlotte is implicated in the death, even though the real suspect is considered to be an anarchist who has been threatening the Newsome family since a horrendous accident in a coal mine that they owned.

I enjoyed this book just as much as its sequel, and admire Fredericks for writing a historical novel where the protagonist is not a 21st century women dressed up in long frocks. While Jane, with her unconventional uncle and friend Anna who is an activist for worker's rights, has a more liberal view of the world than some women would have had back then, she is still bound by the conventions of her time. She's not a suffragette or an activist, but she is learning, as other women are in her time, that there may be other choices for her rather than traditional roles. The mystery itself is good, the historical underpinnings sound, and once again we discover that the veneer of the wealthy often had sordid underpinnings. Can't wait for more of this series.

 Brief Cases, Jim Butcher
This is a second collection of short stories set in the Harry Dresden universe. I saw several complaints and bad reviews about this collection since it collected all of the Dresden stories about his encounters with a Bigfoot named River Shoulders and his half-human son Irwin, which were previously collected in a Bigfoot story collection, and some of the stories had been in other collections. I think that's an unfair criticism; some of us do not purchase every single volume of urban fantasy short stories just for one Dresden story, so for me this was a welcome collection of stories I hadn't read, except for the very first story with Irwin. No fair knocking down a book's score for that!

Besides the three Bigfoot stories, we have a tale where warden Anastasia Luccio and a demonic nacken (horselike animal) go to Tombstone, Arizona, to arrest an errant warlock, and help Wyatt Earp defeat the warlocks protecting him; a fun story where Harry takes on the curse of the Chicago Cubs; a story featuring John Marcone; another with Molly Carpenter's anguish after a traumatic event; a Waldo Butters story (Butters was supposed to be a one-off character); and even a nifty three-part Rashomon-like narrative about Harry taking his daughter to the zoo, as told by Harry, daughter Maggie, and Harry's temple dog, the enigmatic and fey Mouse. The story taking place in Alaska was also a page-turner. Dresden fans should enjoy these additions to the Dresden-'verse.

 Bite Club, Laurien Berenson
I've read this series from the beginning, and there are some times when I love Aunt Peg and some times when I want to swat her. The latter is my reaction in this book, where Aunt Peg bodily takes over the small mystery-novel reading group that our protagonist Melanie Travis, special needs teacher, mom, and poodle handler, has formed and invites a half dozen more people to participate, all dog show people, of course. One of the guests asks to bring along her new neighbor, Evan Major, who seems to not have any friends. Evan asks if Melanie will help him train a bulldog puppy he purchased, but on her first training day, Evan doesn't answer the door, and when Melanie looks in his window, she sees him lying injured or dead in his home. The police are called, but the neighborhood busybody tells the detectives that Melanie went inside the house, and now she's a suspect in his murder.

In an unusual subplot, Melanie's dog-show friend Terry Denunzio suspects his older partner Crawford may be becoming attached to a younger man who has been assisting them at the shows. As Melanie owes him a favor, Terry asks if Melanie can scope out what's going on with the younger guy and Crawford. I usually like Terry, but this was very unfair of him.

Despite the behaviors of Aunt Peg and Terry, I enjoyed this installment as always. The mystery was convoluted enough, and we got to revisit some old friends like Alice Brickman, and also got to see Melanie's teen son Davey mature more in his dog-show efforts. Melanie's husband Sam as usual is good as gold and endlessly patient; I hope sometime Berenson is going to let us see him get frustrated and lose his temper, but this is not the installment. I twigged to the possible murderer the moment Melanie interviewed that person, but it was late enough in the book for that not to matter. Enjoyable as always!

 The Illustrated Walden, Henry David Thoreau
Thankfully, I never had this as required reading, so it wasn't ruined by well-meaning teachers who made you hate what might have been a good book. This copy had nifty illustrations (impressionist paintings, vintage and new woodcuts, pen-and-ink artwork, and bordered pages) to prettily mount Thoreau's most famous publication, so I figured I'd go for it.

I enjoyed this as long as he chronicled his life in his little cabin, talked about the natural world around him, and waxed philosophical. I could have done without the continual lectures about how everyone should live like he did, with minimal possessions and eating vegetarian. Snore. He does this for sixty pages at the beginning of the book, and then dotted throughout the text thereafter. Then there's the lecture about the uselessness of reading popular fiction instead of reading the classics. Sure, Henry, encourage everyone to march to a different drummer, but then call what people choose to do wrong. You sound just like the Puritans.

 Throw Out Fifty Things, Gail Blanke
In searching for Marie Kondo, I found this book on the shelves as well. Blanke walks the reader through tossing out unneeded things in your life: old completed work projects, used up makeup containers and spice bottles, tattered books and even more tattered furniture, broken items, clothes you never wear, and more. The gimmick to this is that once you discard the obligatory fifty items (or more), Blanke encourages you to do the same with emotional items: toss out old grudges, bad feelings, negative emotions, toxic relationships, etc. An okay reference to getting rid of not just things, but emotions that hold you back, but I'm glad I read it as a library copy.

 The Forgotten Arts & Crafts, John Seymour
This is a combination of two books, one about vintage building methods and crafts, and one about household items that used to be common (like churns and hand-dashes for washing clothes). The author talks with affection about hedging, thatching, plowing behind horses, logging, and all sorts of hand work that used to be done in the 19th century, and all the old skills that are being lost, and does the same for household items like dashes, churns, sadirons, hand sewing, cooking over a woodstove, etc. (apparently he's never asked women about this, because, while I like to look at these items as a curiosity, I sure as hell don't want to use them!). A great look at the effort our ancestors required to survive.

 The Fifth Heart, Dan Simmons
In 1885, Marian "Clover" Adams, wife of Henry Adams (grandson of John Quincy Adams, great-grandson of John Adams), committed suicide by drinking developing fluid. Clover, a quick-minded woman with an interest in photography, was known to suffer from "melancholy," yet in 1893 her brother Edward asks Sherlock Holmes to investigate what he suspects was murder—Holmes is about to leave for the US when he stops noted writer Henry James from committing suicide, taking a reluctant James with him on his investigation. James provides Holmes with an introduction to the Five of Hearts, a small club formed by the Adamses, John and Clara Hay, and an archaeologist named Clarence King.

Thus begins a long, long adventure that mixes Holmes, James, the Five of Hearts "club," and such other luminaries as Samuel Clemens, vice president Adlai Stevenson, and Theodore Roosevelt, and mixing in Holmes' thwarting of a Washington, DC, drug ring (but only after obtaining a new drug to help wean himself off cocaine, a promising new "heroic" drug called heroin) and his attempts to stop the assassination of the President at the Chicago Exposition.

Wow. What can I say about this book? It is crammed full of historical detail, from the slums of DC to the splendors of the "White City" in Chicago, from Clover Adams' extraordinary monument to Clemens' ill-fated investment into the Paige typesetting machine. I found it fascinating, except that if you took all these details out, you would be left with about half the book. Holmes' effort to stop the assassination is interesting, but it's buried under such minute details that most people won't find it worth the effort. Plus, frankly Henry James, who fills the Watson role, is a bore. He moans about his clever brother William, the psychologist; is jealous of his late sister's partner in a Boston marriage; fears being found out when Holmes first introduces himself to his friends as a Norwegian explorer; and complains endlessly that no one in the US appreciates his books. God, what a kvetch. If I keep it, it's just for the historical details.

 Clark Howard's Living Large for the Long Haul, Clark Howard
Another one of savings guru Howard's books about people who have either managed to turn around bad credit/bad spending habits or who have started on the right foot by saving money early. Featured are a couple who paid off $40K of debt in two years, another couple who now ride bicycles exclusively (sorry, guys, would not do this in Atlanta; I want to remain alive), a 32-year-old woman who's already saved $200K, a married pair who run their cars on used cooking grease, a man who traveled to India to save money on a surgical procedure, and more inspirational financial stories. Some good tips here, but I'm not sure I'd go to a foreign country for surgery or burn oil in my car.

 WHOology, Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
This is a chubby book of Doctor Who facts and trivia that I thought was a little too expensive for what it provided, since I have so many books about Doctor Who that contain similar facts. So only when I found a nice discount copy did I pick one up. Of interest: a timeline of significant events in the series' history, times the Doctor had a double, adventures mentioned but never seen, what's known about the Time Lords, the Doctor's family tree, and lots more bits and pieces about Daleks, Time Lords, and even about the Doctor's vintage car "Bessie." Enjoyable for fans.

 Lonely Planet's Best of Great Britain, Damian Harper, etc.
I confess, I ordered this for reasons you might think odd. We have no money to travel, let alone overseas, and husband has no vacation time after a company reorganization and several years of medical problems. But it has always been my dream to travel Great Britain, and I love listening to the Lonely Planet reporters come on Rick Steves' radio series and talk in enticing words about the glories of  historic buildings, beautiful landscapes, and wonderful food. I'd never read a Lonely Planet guidebook.

I was actually a little disappointed. This didn't seem much different than any other guidebook I've purchased, including Rick Steves' himself. I guess from the way the Lonely Planet people talked on the radio show, I thought it would be more nicely written. My bad, not Lonely Planet's, I guess. If you want to read a beautifully written travel guide (but not to Britain), try Journey to New England: a Traveler's Guide. I guess I was hoping it would be more like that.

 How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, Chris Taylor
I've seen all the films in the SW "saga" and enjoyed them (even the prequels, even though the Anakin/Padme stuff made me gag), but I've never been a SW junkie. I don't go looking for SW fanfic, or cosplay; I read a few of the early tie-in novels, but, like most of the Star Trek books, usually find them dull. Really, it was the amazing interplay of the main characters in the original trilogy that made Star Wars for me. Plus I followed all the Star Wars "making of" stories in "Starlog" magazine, so normally a making-of book would not be something I would have considered.

However, looking through this book, I discovered that it wasn't just the story of skinny George Lucas, the imaginative kid from Modesto, CA, and his complicated voyage that culminated in creating space-opera for a new generation, and the evolution of the first film and then its sequels and prequels, but contained stories about how Star Wars changed the lives of some of its fans. The introduction is the fascinating story of the first time the original film was shown to a Navajo audience with the dialog in the Navajo language. Chapter three talks about the founding of the Stormtrooper group "the 501st," created by an amputee and SW fan who wanted a costume that would not show his disability. Other chapters cover fans who have studied Jedi philosophy, action figure collectors, the Joseph Campbell mythology books, and people who build their own working R2-D2 robots. The Expanded Universe books and animated series get their due, and there's even a chapter about Star Wars spoofs.

I enjoyed the entire kit and kaboodle here, and did learn lots of things about the creation of the films that "Starlog" had never covered.

 Rough Magic, Lara Prior-Palmer
The description of this book sounded wonderful: 18-year-old girl enters a wild Mongolian horse race, despite the fact her father hates horses and at first forbids her to go; turns out her aunt is a famous British equestrian rider. She has always been a restless soul, flitting from one thing to another.

The reality is somewhat less. I was hoping for an introspective book, in which lonely riding on the Asian steppes brought her to a different consciousness, or learning through her ride about the Mongolian countryside and the people. Very little is learned, and although she chronicles her thoughts and some very bizarre nightmares, it all seems very superficial. She doesn't even seem to prepare for the trip in even a minor way (even to forgetting to pack sanitary napkins, which kind of grossed me out when she talked about her blue jeans turning purple), and seems to resent the people who did prepare, including a highly regarded rider from Texas, who comes with all sorts of equipment. This rider seems to be hated just because she is from Texas, even though at the end it is also noted that she has pushed her horse too hard. (The race strictly regulates how hard the horses can be ridden, how far, and they are vetted at each stop, the rider penalized if the horse is slow to recover.) This seems to make the Texas rider sound callous, but it's apparently okay for Lara to whip her "lazy" horse when he doesn't want to go fast, or to stimulate him by scaring him with a motorcycle. In fact, Lara states at the beginning of the race she will be happy if she finishes and experiences the race, and that she isn't all that competitive. By the end all she wants to do is beat the more prepared riders, especially the Texas girl.

This, combined with some of her other actions, make her sound willful and spoiled. (At one point she relates that, as a child, she threw someone's dog into a pool because she was angry.) Ultimately I admire her for completing the race, despite its hardships, but I came away not liking her very much.

 The Woman in the Water, Charles Finch
This is the first of three prequels to the Charles Lenox mysteries (the first book which was A Beautiful Blue Death) that takes us back to the days when Lenox first lived in London with his former college scout Graham and was a neophyte trying to become a private investigator. He has solved two minor mysteries, and while he and Graham daily take newspaper cuttings about suspected crimes, nothing has come his way yet, and the police think he's something of a joke. And then one morning a clipping takes their eye: a letter to the newspaper states that its author has committed the perfect crime, so perfect that no one has noticed it, and the author is disappointed in the police force. Both men are alarmed because the letter's author says he will be committing another crime soon. Can they prevent someone from being killed?

As in the second of the prequels, which I read first, I enjoyed this volume better than the more recent of Lenox's adventures, in which he has formed a detective agency. His partnership with Graham, and his unrequited love for his best friend Elizabeth (later to be known as Lady Jane) is very appealing, as are his solo efforts. There is also a touching subplot involving a member of Lenox's family and the scenes with them are a joy. The mystery is reasonably convoluted and takes Lenox and Graham from society venues to the mudlarks who hunt up discards to sell. But the real draw here is the family and the personal drama.

 Mary Russell's War and Other Stories of Suspense, Laurie R. King
This is a volume of short stories based on King's series of books about Mary Russell, an intelligent young woman of mixed British and American ancestry who comes to live in rural Sussex during World War I and encounters a retired Sherlock Holmes, who takes her on as his apprentice in the first book of the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Later, after she attends Oxford, she and Holmes are married. I couldn't get into the series the first time I read the initial book, then came back a few years ago and found I enjoyed it more, so naturally I picked this up at a book sale recently. One of the stories, "Beekeeping for Beginners," I had read online, but all others are new to me, including the titular "Mary Russell's War," which is Mary's diary from the time war breaks out in Europe until she returns to Sussex after the death of her family and meets Holmes. This is probably my favorite of the stories, liberally illustrated by "newspaper" news clippings and other illos. There are also two Christmas stories, one from Mary's childhood, and a very amusing two part tale of an elderly Russell and Holmes on the run from Sherlock-crazy American tourists. Plus there's "Mrs. Hudson's Case," in which that august lady puts one over on Holmes (but not necessarily on Russell).

If you are a fan of the Russell stories, these are a good addition to the canon.

 A Double Life, Alan Shayne and Norman Sunshine
I confess, I bought this because Alan Shayne produced and Norman Sunshine did the commercial-break cutouts for the Addie Mills specials (Shayne also created and produced The Snoop Sisters, but he didn't have much to do with the series itself) and there was a whole chapter about the creation of The House Without a Christmas Tree. At the time I read the preview of the book, it was the first time I knew Shayne and Sunshine had been a couple. This interested me more.

Shayne and Sunshine take turns telling their stories, starting with their first meeting, then going back to their youth of trying to reconcile their attraction to men in a society where this was not only considered repugnant, but in most cases illegal. Shayne originally wished to be an actor and later became a casting director and then producer (he went to acting school with Marlon Brando, who sounded like a self-absorbed twit); Sunshine was always an artist, one who went from designing advertising copy to a full-time artist with gallery showings (Sunshine once worked for Jane Trahey, who wrote Life With Mother Superior, made into the film The Trouble With Angels). As their careers progress, and occasionally rise and fall, so also does their relationship.

This is my first time reading a book with a real-life narrative of a same-sex relationship. Surprise for those of you who may not like them because you think they are "unnatural": it's just like an opposite sex relationship: the same love, the same feelings, the same misunderstandings, the same up-and-down career choices that affect a relationship. I enjoyed the relationship story and also both career stories (although how Shayne didn't go berserk at his job at Warner Brothers I'll never know). Really enjoyed seeing Sunshine's work in one of the photo inserts (I like the earlier work better than the abstract work, but that's me), especially the country-themed ones, and the ones depicting the anonymity of city living. We get celebrity stories both positive (after their house burned down, Shayne and Sunshine lived at Rock Hudson's home at his invitation, even though they were not close friends) and negative (Lee Radziwell appearing in a TV-adaptation of Laura with a Truman Capote script), some very sad (the Bette Davis tale, and also the final story about Alan's ex-wife Jacqueline), and some very positive, like the Addie Mills collaboration. And I cried when they finally were able to be married.

  Murder in the British Museum, Jim Eldridge
This is the third (or maybe second) book in a series about former police officer Daniel Wilson (he worked on the Jack the Ripper case and is now a private investigator) and Abigail Fenton (archaeologist and explorer, and now investigator). Everyone else whose reviews I've read seems to have enjoyed this book, but I'm afraid I'm going to be the dissenting vote here. I found it terribly difficult to get into and to finish reading, the characters one-dimensional, the romance tepid, even the feud between the male protagonist and one of the police officers was dull. Even worse, the moment one particular character was introduced, I guessed immediately this was the murderer of Professor Pickering, and I usually don't pick up on these things.

Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton have to be two of the dullest Victorian lovers ever. Every time they're at home and she's cooking for him I wanted to fall asleep. I don't get any sense of them as living, breathing human beings. Plus Abigail, already unconventional for being an archaeologist, is really bucking convention by living with a man out of wedlock. While they don't go around broadcasting this fact, a lot of people either seem to know or have guessed, so I would expect a lot more negative acceptance of Abigail because they believed or suspected she was "living in sin." Even worse, Americanisms and modern sayings—at one point Abigail talks about someone "hanging around" someone else (while "hang out" goes back to the 19th century, I believe "hanging around" is a 20th century term)—infiltrate every chapter. I'd no sooner gotten into what sounded like authentic British Victorian dialog when up would come one of those anachronisms to toss me out of the story.

There are so many better male/female Victorian crimefighting teams: the Pitts, the Monks, and especially Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson. I eat up their adventures; this was just tedious.

 True Stories of Heroic Dogs, George Watson Little
This is a vintage volume from Grosset & Dunlap's "Famous Dog Stories" collection, and I probably would have killed for any or every one of the books in it as a kid: Jim Kjelgaard, Jack O'Brien, James Oliver Curwood, and more, a great collection of authors who wrote slam-bang canine-oriented adventures. It's a set of true stories, written for a younger audience, of real-life heroic dogs, including a collie who saves her toddler charge from drowning, an early 20th century tale of a mongrel dog who helped the police, a Great Dane who was a true friend of poor slum boys, a hunting dog who saved his owner from a raging river, and more.

I was amused by the acknowledgments page when the editor thanks "Mrs. Julie Campbell Tatham" for her help. Julie Campbell was the original author of the first few Trixie Belden mystery books, and the tale "Pal" appears to have been almost certainly written by Tatham: it takes place in Trixie's old stomping grounds, the Hudson Valley; the mother's name is Julie; and one of the kids says "Gleeps!" just like in the Belden stories. It's very possible Tatham adapted the stories within.

Dog lovers should enjoy this collection, even though it's very old fashioned.

 Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight, Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
This is a nifty graphic-novel story of the Apollo program, which begins with the astronauts arriving at the moon, then alternating with the story of man's relationship with the moon, from beliefs about it from ancient civilizations to theories about what kind of life might exist there, and then with the first scientific discoveries by men like Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, to the present, where it intersects with the mission. The text is unsparing: you learn about the concentration-camp workers of Mittelwerk who put together those rockets Wernher von Braun and his team created; how Sergei Korolov was treated before Stalin realized he needed him; how women were originally trained as astronauts and even beat the physical records set by men, but who were never seriously considered based on the recommendations of many men (including John Glenn); the story of Margaret Hamilton, who programmed all the computers but got no credit because software wasn't considered important. Scientific principles are also illustrated to make them more easily understood (for instance, why you can't "speed up" in orbit to overtake another spacecraft).

I'm not always happy with the art in graphic novels, but this works pretty well, portraying the "present" in full color while the historical flashbacks are done in three-color combinations, which easily delineate the eras. Some of the art, in fact, is pretty cool, especially the final panel on page 37, a symbolic illustration of Johannes Kepler's breakthrough.

Extremely enjoyable, and probably a great way to introduce a scientifically inclined youngster to the history of the moon landings.

Books Completed Since March 1

 Murder in Morningside Heights, Victoria Thompson
Frank Malloy and his new wife Sarah Brandt Malloy are home from their honeymoon, gamely coping with the new investigative agency Frank's young ex-policeman friend Gino and Sarah's nanny Maeve set up while they were away. Frank's already bored with investigating infidelity cases and Sarah's bored with being a housewife with no midwifery or mysteries to brighten her day when the parents of Abigail Northrup hire Frank to find out what happened to their daughter. It appears they were told that Abigail died in a freak accident at the Normal School where she taught, but they think it's something more. It certainly is: because Abigail was definitely not the sweet girl her parents thought she was, a fact her maligned brother corroborates, and there are other irregularities going on at the Normal School.

I felt quite bad for Abigail's brother in the way he is treated by his parents, and the mystery is pretty good if slightly transparent; however, although there are very many clues that will try to take you off the trail, you may want to trust your instincts on who the person it could not possibly be and realize that it could be. Other revelations make up for this shortcoming, however. The "Boston marriage" aspect to the story was different, but I wish Thompson had not felt the need to have one character explain it to the next character and then that character to the next character so many times. It's necessary to explaining one of the passions involved in the story, but it seems as if every five pages someone has to explain to the next neophyte what a "Boston marriage" is. It got tiresome. Glad to see that Sarah will be able to put her midwifery skills back to work soon, though!

 Play It Again 1940 and Play It Again 1948, from "Good Old Days"
These are two of a series of slim, nostalgic books published by the folks who put out "Good Old Days" magazine, with photos taken from illustrations and advertisements from "The Saturday Evening Post." What text there is is very simplified, so all but the very youngest children can read them, typos pop up unexpectedly, and the the narration is rather stilted, as if written by 21-year-olds who don't know what to make of this "olden days" stuff. However, the illos and the ads, in color or in glorious black-and-white, are worth buying the books for if you find them at a discount, especially if you like classic "Post" illustrators like Normal Rockwell.

 Twenty-one Days: A Daniel Pitt Mystery, Anne Perry
Daniel Pitt, son of Sir Thomas Pitt and his wife Lady Charlotte Pitt, is now twenty-five and a neophyte lawyer. As the novel opens, he is defending one of Pitt's old colleagues, Roman Blackwell, from a murder charge. But halfway through the trial, he is called to immediately take the place of a fellow attorney who was badly injured in a traffic accident while working on a high-profile case at the Old Bailey, London's premiere court. With hours to spare and the help of a fingerprint expert, Daniel is able to clear Blackwell and rush to his newest client, with Roman and his wife Mercy in his debt. His mind at peace from his previous obligation, Daniel is now free to help Russell Graves, a man accused of murdering his wife and then disfiguring her face and neck with fire after death. Graves swears he is innocent, and although neither Daniel or his senior partner like the man, they are determined to defend him. When Graves is sentenced to death, Daniel and his partner, Kitteridge, have twenty-one days to find evidence to mount an appeal. But as Daniel investigates the crime, he finds to his horror that if he saves Graves, the man, author of muckraking expose books, will be able to publish a volume that paints his father's late mentor Victor Narraway and his wife Vespasia--and indeed his father as head of Special Branch--as criminals and traitors. Even worse, Daniel begins to wonder if Graves' research was correct.

Twenty-one Days gets off to a slow start, but builds in tension as Daniel's investigation deepens and he learns more about the Graves family: deceased wife Ebony, daughter Sarah, and handicapped brother Arthur, and the servants of the household who appear to know more than they tell. Daniel then teams up with Miriam fford Croft, the daughter of the head of his legal firm, who, instead of being held back by feminine constraints, has been allowed to break convention by her understanding father and study to be a scientist, although she has not been allowed to formally receive a degree because she is a woman. Together Daniel and Miriam hunt further clues, with a possible romance set up for the two, but with no intrusive saccharine romantic interludes to ruin the suspense. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt both appear, but only in brief cameo appearances, so Daniel carries the mystery on his own and any surprising revelations come from his own investigations, and those he has asked a grateful Roman Blackwell to help with.

This was a good introduction to Perry's new series about Daniel Pitt, although he seems a little bland compared to the untidy Pitt and the unconventional Charlotte, not to mention his quick-witted sister Jemima. Miriam, however, is the one to watch for in this series. She reminds me of Julia Ogden in the Canadian television show Murdoch Mysteries.

 The Showstopper: a Rebecca Mystery, Mary Casanova
Rebecca Rubin's cousin Michael puts this first of three American Girl mysteries for 2018 into motion when he forgets his lunch. He's working at a famous Broadway theatre and of course stagestruck Rebecca and his sister Ana get to take his forgotten meal to him and go backstage in the bargain. The girls find out the theatre is looking for children their age for a job, but when they actually get permission to work there, they find out it's not for acting, but to support a miniature farm that's on the roof of the theatre. Disappointed at first, Rebecca is determined to stick with it because she gets to associate with talented new actress Olivia Berry—only to discover someone appears determined to harm "Ollie," as she asks the girls to call her: the young woman is almost injured on stage, and other frightening things keep happening.

This story could easily be rewritten into a more adult thriller once the culprit is revealed, yet there is nothing too frightening or sinister here for the audience this volume is intended for. A bunch of historical facts are painlessly included in the narrative, including the fact that the plays given in the theatre weren't the sole things entertaining the crowds back the. The miniature farm depicted on the roof of the theatre, the rooftop lake and restaurant, and the stage show "up above" were all real aspects of some vaudeville theatres of that era, and the Oscar Hammerstein that Rebecca and Ana meet is the real-life grandfather of Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the lyrics to the songs in The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, etc. with his partner Richard Rogers.  An excellent outing for Rebecca.

 Menace at Mammoth Cave: a Kit Mystery, Mary Casanova
I can't decide whether this or the Rebecca mystery are the best of the 2018 American Girl mystery stories. They are both suspenseful and have good, almost creepy mysteries as part of the story. This Kit mystery makes up for the thoroughly disappointing The Jazzman's Trumpet, which was so predictable.

In this story, Kit is in Kentucky with her Aunt Millie to visit her brother Charlie at a CCC camp and tour Mammoth Cave. Charlie's group is part of the workforce expanding the Mammoth Cave area into a larger national park. Unfortunately in the process people are being turned off their land and someone seems bent on sabotaging the CCC camp workers' work, including an event that makes Kit fear for Charlie's life. It's possible that Kit's new friend Benny, an African-American boy whose family will be forced to move, is one of the culprits. Who can she trust, and is Charlie in danger?

This is just a great mystery with a lot of history behind it. During the building of many of the Eastern National Parks, people were made to move from the farms and land that their ancestors had settled two centuries before. It was discouraging and infuriating for them and many fought back. In fact, if you read this book and are interested in finding a similar story, there is an episode of The Waltons called "The Conflict" that you might want to check out. In the story the Walton men visit Grandpa's sister-in-law and her son and grandchildren to defend their property; they are being moved to make way for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and some of the issues addressed in this book are addressed in that story. I also enjoyed the dynamics of the mountain families and how they pitched in together.

 Legend of the Shark Goddess: a Nanea Mystery, Erin Falligant
Of the three American Girl "Beforever" mysteries, this is probably the least "mysterious" and is more about Nanea jumping to conclusions. Her brother David now in the service, Nanea is more determined than ever to do something for the war effort, even if it's just keeping an eye out for lawbreakers. That's why she's so suspicious of Mano, a teenager who's hanging around her grandparents' store. Nanea is sure he's stolen from them. But her little dog Mele likes Mano. Who can she believe? And then when her grandfather's watch disappears, she fears an American soldier is also not to be trusted.

The story well-illustrates the uncertainties people, especially children, faced during World War II. They knew their own neighbors and friends might be part of the black market, and they met strangers that they weren't sure if they could trust. While everything comes out okay for Nanea in the end, for some families it did not. While this was not the best of the mysteries, it was enjoyable and the lesson to trust your heart and to be careful but not cynical well taken.

 One Man's America, Alistair Cooke
Before Alistair Cooke passed, during his elder journalist years between his series America and during Masterpiece Theatre, he had several books published that examined mostly serious subjects (Six Men, The Americans, World War II-era America, etc.) that talked about significant events in the American scene. All of these books were taken from his weekly report on the BBC, "Letter from America."

This is an older collection which I found different from these later books and more enjoyable. While some of the essays in this book address historical subjects or personalities—there's one about Father Serra and the missions, for example; another about Damon Runyon, a third about Joe Louis, yet another about Washington DC—others are just interesting observations about American life: one of the most amusing is Cooke's recounting of meeting his first Native American and having all the clichés broken. Another is about an old senator who started believing the press releases about himself and who changed personalities for the worse because of it. Four essays cover the seasons, another one simply talks about moving house. It's more E.B. White with the occasional political overtone. I was enchanted. I'm going to look for his older books and see if there are more like this. I was also amused to see phrases lifted in whole to be included in his America series, like the descriptions of fall and Newfane, Vermont, and calling DC "a city of Greek wedding cakes." Loved seeing the genesis of that series.

 Death of an Avid Reader, Frances Brody
Kate Shackleton has a new case: Lady Coulton has asked her to find the daughter born out of wedlock that she had to give away while her husband was abroad. No sooner has Kate begun her hunt for Sophia than she is asked to participate in an odd ceremony at the historic Leeds library: it's reputed to be haunted and there are witnesses who must accompany the priest who will walk the library attempting to exorcise the specter. But when Father Bolingbroke descends into the basement, the exorcism party is dismayed to find the body of Dr. Potter, a mathematician who uses the library daily and who is fearful for its unguarded rare book collection, lying dead. Nearby is a sick Italian organ grinder who is immediately charged with the crime. An indignant Kate, not believing the ill man could carry out such a crime, vows to find out the truth while she is still looking for young Sophia.

As in other books in this series, Kate slowly finds her two cases merging in the most surprising ways, and must enlist the help of John Sykes to unravel the threads, which gradually become a threat to Kate herself. This is a nice complicated entry in the Shackleton series, with much misdirection and some memorable supporting characters, including the little monkey belonging to the organ grinder. Thoroughly enjoyable!

 Crowned and Dangerous, Rhys Bowen
As you remember, at the end of Malice at the Palace, Irish spy and impoverished former estate heir Darcy was zooming away with our heroine, Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line for the throne, equally blue-blooded and impoverished. It turns he is driving her to Gretna Green in Scotland, for them to be married. Unfortunately a blizzard stops them in their tracks, and then both remember Georgie will have to renounce her claim on the throne formally for her to be able to marry a Catholic. Both these issues are not insurmountable, but the next event is: Darcy's father has been accused of murdering the wealthy and reclusive American that bought the family estate. Darcy drops everything to go to Ireland and forbids Georgie to follow; indeed, he breaks up with her altogether, leaving her stunned and shaken.

But this is Georgie, after all; she's as tough as the Highland landscape and isn't going to let a simple spurning hold her back. She immediately follows her beloved to Ireland, pretending to be a friend of Darcy's, to discover his father truly believes he murdered the American in a drunken haze. Can Darcy and Georgie clear Lord Kilhenny? Can Zou Zou, the flamboyant European countess Georgie befriended through Darcy, help them? And what is the deal with this reclusive American anyway? He doesn't seem to have a past—but he does have some very shady compatriots.

Secret passages, airplanes, racehorses, an Auntie Mame countess and a grumpy member of the nobility, two of the stubbornest protagonists ever, and Bowen's lively narration make this one a winner in the Georgiana Rannoch series, but we're still faced with that ever-present cliffhanger: will they ever be able to be married? Stay tuned!

 A Death in the Dales, Frances Brody
Lucian Simonson, the charming and intelligent physician Kate Shackleton befriended in Murder on a Summer's Day, has invited her to stay at his aunt's old place in the small town of Settle. Kate takes along her fourteen-year-old niece Harriet, who is recovering from a severe case of diphtheria, with her to get some country air. Once there, Harriet befriends Beth, a girl somewhat older than herself who is working in the fabric mill in Settle and chafing at the fact that her brother, working for a farmer with a bad reputation out of town, has not yet come to visit her, and Kate finds out that Lucian's aunt had wanted to meet her before she died—years earlier this aunt had seen a murder take place and was convinced the wrong man went to prison. She was hoping Kate could take up this "cold case." With Harriet's urging, Kate not only takes on this old mystery, but also searches for Beth's missing brother.

I really enjoyed the teaming of Kate and her niece in this story. While Harriet (and Beth) are able to assist Kate in the case, they do not play Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden, but act as normal teenage girls might. As always in these mysteries, there are red herrings aplenty and diversions, and a great sense of the 1920 time period. The one thing I disliked was a revelation about a certain character, but then it was because I had rather liked this person until something was revealed. But that's a failing of my own, not of the character.

  Walking to Camelot, John A. Cherrington
Why I like books about long-distance walkers when I've never done anything longer than limp around Disney World is beyond me, but I guess there is something appealing about leaving everything behind except what's in your backpack and hiking across beautiful countryside.  And this is what John Cherrington, 50ish solicitor, and his friend Karl, two decades older than him, both from Canada, did: walked a public right-of-way called the Macmillan Way, which stretches from the soggy fenland of eastern England to end on the English Channel near the town of Weymouth. On the way they pass through the lovely Cotswolds with their honey-colored stone buildings, pass through the village of Cherington where John's ancestors came from, and visit Cadbury Camelot, supposedly the place where King Arthur and his knights lived. On the way they will dodge irritated bulls, negotiated (mostly unsuccessfully) with B&B owners who think it's too early to turn on the heat, endure rainstorms, visit as many pubs as Karl wants, and enjoy the lovely English countryside.

I enjoyed this well enough, but was hoping for something a bit more introspective, with more descriptions of the countryside than Cherrington included, and perhaps some of his inner feelings about the trip. Usually in these volumes the author imparts some spiritual epiphanies, but this was pretty much straightforward narrative. It's mostly engaging, I loved what was described of the countryside, and was sorry when the book ended. But did tire of Karl having to hunt up pubs. I'm sure he wasn't as shallow as he sounded.

 Serafina and the Black Cloak, Robert Beatty
Serafina lives in the basement of Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, with her father, who is the mechanical engineer on the estate, having been there from the time the house was built. But no one upstairs (or really downstairs) knows Serafina lives there. She is a strange little girl with golden eyes and only four toes on each foot, and she is so quick she can catch rats, but she is also sweet, intelligent and curious, and wishes only for a friend her age. But one day she senses an evil presence in the basement, a man in an evil-impregnated black cloak. When she tries to warn her father of it, he rejects the story as fantasy—until several children disappear from around Biltmore Estate, including a Russian girl and a piano prodigy. When Serafina accidentally meets the Vanderbilts' young orphaned nephew, a series of events sets in motion that may shed some light on her past, but may also threaten her new friend when the man in the sinister cloak sets the boy as his next victim.

Deep dark fantasy which may be too intense for younger children, the book applies old mountain legends of shapeshifters to an unsettling plot involving a creeping evil and the newest marvel of the age, Biltmore House with its electric generators and lights. It's pretty good if you can swallow that Serafina lived for twelve years in the Biltmore basements without anyone noticing her, that "Braeden" was a good name for a boy in 1899 (not to mention that the kid has a Doberman Pinscher, a breed that originated only nine years earlier and wasn't even recognized as a breed until 1900, a year after the book takes place), and that by the end of the book the Vanderbilts would be so grateful that they wouldn't ask a lot of questions about her.

 The Year of No Clutter, Eve O. Schaub
Schaub, who spent a year detoxifying her family from added sweetners (in The Year of No Sugar), tackles a new problem: a huge room upstairs in her home that the family calls "the Hell Room" that has become a repository for both useful items—old photographs and memories of her daughters—and junk like discarded hobbies, a dead mouse, old school projects, and other detritus, all compounded by dead insects, dirt, cobwebs, and a filthy rug. She desperately wants to clear the room, not just because it's a hidden eyesore, but because she yearns to use it for useful things, like a hobby room where she can share time with her girls. But Schaub finds throwing out anything, even a crushed piece of construction paper from one of her long-ago school projects, painful and unsettling. With the help of her daughters, and the reluctant help of her husband (who has his own junk in this room as well), and some eye-opening revelations (is she a hoarder? or is she a collector?).

As someone who's once again trying to clear the clutter from her life, I felt some kinship to Schaub, but at the same time was a bit goggled by the things she kept. I can see old craft supplies and photos, but I really didn't understand a bunch of things, especially the dead mouse. Ick! Yet she isn't a hoarder, as a visit to a real hoarder's home shows. She also has the difficulty getting her husband to cooperate; while he wants the Hell Room cleared out, he doesn't want to do any work sorting his own things that are causing the mess. This is a problem in any home where more than one person owns clutter. Eve also begins to realize that she is afraid that by losing her memorabilia she is losing her past and her own self.

I enjoyed most of this, although I found the book hard to get back into once I stopped reading. I'm still interested in reading the sugar book.

 Space Helmet for a Cow 2: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who, Paul Kirkley
This is the second half of Kirkley's tongue-in-cheek commentary on the history of Doctor Who, from "the wilderness years" and the Virgin books and later the Big Finish audios to the television film to the triumphant return starting with "Rose" and the tumult surrounding it, since Christopher Eccleston quit almost as soon as the first season began. (Kirkley spends a lot of the book popping up with "this is why Eccleston says he quit this time.") It's hard to believe now, but Kirkley also chronicles the disbelief and skepticism of the viewers on finding out David Tennant had been cast in the role. Who knew then he would become the most popular of the modern Doctors?

As in the first volume, we go behind the scenes, discover trivial tidbits (although none of the revelations are as spectacular as the Patrick Troughton surprise!), read good reviews and bad, and are subject to Kirkley's jokes (again, this is so full of fun information you can forgive the bad puns). The narrative continues through the choice of Pearl Mackie in the role of Bill, and The Sarah Jane Adventures (and Elisabeth Sladen's death) and Torchwood are also examined.

Just as much fun and packed with goodies as the original volume. A must for Who fans.

 The Whole Art of Detection, Lyndsay Faye
This is a dandy collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories that have a real flavor of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Faye has captured the vocabulary he used and the personalities of Holmes and Watson admirably; the mysteries themselves are also reasonably complex, although I did guess the crime being done in "The Adventure of the Mad Baritone" immediately. The first story, "The Case of Colonel Warbuton's Madness," I had already read in Sherlock Holmes in America, but the remainder were new to me, and I was happily surprised by them, as in a collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches there are usually good stories and some quite dreadful ones. Faye's tales are remarkably consistent. She also attempts to fill in some of the Holmes "missing adventures": for instance, in the second tale, we find out how Holmes met Sherman, the owner of Toby, the remarkable scent hound, and in "The Adventure of the Willow Basket," we learn about the infamous red leech. Faye also has written two stories narrated by Holmes—I was amused by "The Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma," which is narrated by Holmes sounding like a fussy old woman about Watson's safety during his time alone at Baskerville Hall—and there is also "An Empty House," a wistful reminisce by Watson during Holmes' "death." Women figure in many of the stories, some as the victims, in others willing accomplices. One of the most enjoyable Holmes/Watson pastiches I have ever read.

 How to Use Fonts & Typefaces, edited by Tony Seddon
It was two bucks on a clearance table, what the hell. Covers the history of type, the difference between a typeface and a font (Courier is a typeface, Courier Bold and Courier Italic are fonts), how to use them in print and on the web to best match your message (no Comic Sans, of course, on funeral home brochures and university documents, for instance), legibility versus readability, odd fonts, mixing fonts, etc. A nice basic reference.