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Random words, pictures and thoughts of one who always wishes to be on the mind's road to discovery!

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Connecticut River Valley, New England, United States

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Close Case--The End of the Samantha Kinkade Trilogy

Close Case (Samantha Kincaid #3)Close Case by Alafair Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The last of the Samantha Kinkaid trilogy though with an open-ended finale there is always the possibility that Sam may some day reappear in the Burke collection. This is certainly the best of the three books--the author improved with each one. In this several seemingly unrelated crimes fall into Samantha's lap. The first is the brutal beating to death of the chief crime reporter for The Oregonian. Seems to be a random meth induced attack by a couple of teen hoodlums wanting to take guys Mercedes for a spin. In very quick time, the kids are arrested and, with a little extra pressure from a NYPD transplant, a confession is obtained. An eyewitness has made a statement and a bloody baseball bat is recovered from a dumpster close to one of the perps homes. A slam dunk for sure. Not so fast, guys!
The other is the strange case of a cop shooting an unarmed black woman whom he claims tried to run him over after a routine traffic stop. A political hot cake in these days but, once more, on the surface though some questions arise, it would appear the cop acted responsibly in self defense. Another slam dunk--right?
Well, if things were so easily solved there would be no story to fill over 300 enjoyable pages, filled with inconsistencies, second guesses, new evidence, and a young reporter hoping to make her chops by following up on cryptic notes left behind by the murdered investigative reporter. Through it all, Sam and her now live in boyfriend, the cop and childhood sweetheart, try to keep love alive as they find themselves on opposite sides when it comes to the investigation of his partner, Mike and his best friend, another cop whose wife had been having an affair with the reporter. Complications all around. But, as with all good stories, everything falls into place in the end even if not all the results are satisfactory.

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Friday, December 22, 2017

White Collar Crime in Oregon--Samantha Kinkaid on the Job

Missing Justice (Samantha Kincaid #2)Missing Justice by Alafair Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Samantha has moved from the drug squad after her near death in her last case. She is now in Major Crimes and her first case is a doozy--a prominent judge goes missing. Her equally prominent doctor husband is at his wits end, sure she has been kidnapped but hopeful she is still alive. No such luck--her body is found with her head bashed in--moved from the crime scene to a construction site on the expanding edge of town. She appears to have been naked when killed and redressed after death. Has she been sexually assaulted? Who would have wanted her dead?

Sam's bosses are supportive but as usual she is a loner who investigates and asks permission later,which gets her into a bit of hot water. It is an especially sensitive case with many connected people as friends and relatives of the victim and her husband. Add to the mix the appearance of Sam's ex-husband as an attorney for the bereaved husband, her father's reluctance to have her exposing herself to possible damage in her career, and her boyfriend, Mike's presence on the police major crimes team.

A good story of small city politics and the justice system--confounding until the very last pages with a satisfactory outcome.

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Sunday, December 17, 2017

Lt Dallas, Eve on the Case--Judgement in Death--#11

Judgment in Death (In Death, #11)Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Purgatory--Roarke owned strip club---body viciously beaten to death with a baseball bat. Turns out the vic is a cop working a second job as a bartender so his wife can stay home with the kids. Background shows him to be a good cop--nothing extraordinary but nothing below average--just a good, by the book, family guy. So why is he dead? Why has he been beaten like this as though there was real anger in the attack? And how come the murderer was cool enough to clean up in the bar sink and confiscate all the security tapes? Yet, the place is trashed badly, too but nothing stolen? In short order the name Ricker pops up--a well-known crime lord who always seems to skate through no matter how tight the evidence. A connection??

Lt Dallas, Eve on the case along with Peabody, McNab and Feeney. An assortment of cops from the victims precinct as well as IA types trying to muddy the waters keep the action interesting. Our gal gets the bad guys but not before all kinds of mayhem, battles with Roarke and, of course, sexy make-up sessions. Just another day in future NYC!

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Friday, December 15, 2017

The Great Nadar

The Great Nadar: The Man Behind the CameraThe Great Nadar: The Man Behind the Camera by Adam Begley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Great Nadar--The Man Behind the Camera



That is the subtitle of the Great Nadar--The man behind the camera--but Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, born in Paris in 1820 to a book publisher from Lyon and his young mistress, became so much more. While it is true that photography may have been the profession in which he made his mark, Nadar, as he was known then, came to his renown through many paths. But I get ahead of myself in this review, since the book really begins with its interesting cover--a checkerboard of pictures of Nadar taken from many angles. He is a Frenchman but he does not look like a stereotypical Frenchman--he is not the dark, sensuous Louis Jordan nor is he the suave bon vivant, Maurice Chevalier. His hair appears much lighter than either of them, it is bobbed and curls under. He sports a bald spot not unlike a monk's tonsure and his has a Santa Clause moustache that curls just perfectly around a mouth, that even in repose seems to smile--as it does quite impishly in one of the shots. He appears to have a couple of hairy moles or growths on the side of his face near his jawline. All in all, a pleasant, inviting face that seems to gaze back at the camera with interest, as though studying the studier. Once into the book, we learn that Nadar did not become Nadar immediately--he actually was known as Felix within his family and in his early adulthood, when he decided to study medicine to support his widowed mother and younger brother, It was not until he left his medical studies, finding them much too constraining and structured, to pursue journalism that he entered the world of the Bohemians and became a starving artist that he was anointed with the nickname by some of his fellows. Initially, he found himself a caricaturist but in a short time found an interest in the more realistic portrayal of people by use of a camera. Throughout his life he rubbed elbows with the famous of Paris--artists, poets ,actors, politicians, novelists--with some he made friends early in life-some of them fellow bohemians--but others he encountered once he'd established himself as the foremost photographer of Paris. The book takes us through the early years and through the heyday on into his retirement. Along the way he supported, competed with, sued, reconciled and fought again with his younger brother, Adrien. He married a woman considerably younger than himself, Ernestine, whom he called, and others called, Madame Bonne. And she was--good to put up with his many impulsive interests that became obsessions and good for him, a settling influence on his mad pursuit of some of these interests. One of his most consuming pursuits was the development of a huge air balloon called Le Geant among other smaller versions. The descriptions of his flights in these balloons is as hair raising as the actual event must have been. He was a great proponent of air flight though he did not anticipate nor propose the concept of an airplane--he thought the lighter than air approach was the key to flight. He was a self-promoter with an ability to make lifelong friends, he was a defender of his name and brand against all comers, including his brother and, later in life, his son. He was grandiose and proposed a publication of a Livre d'or which would contain pictures and biographies of all the famous of France--he started the project but lacked the financial backing to complete it. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the final section which is a series of autographs in a studio livre d'or-- a guest book which Nadar asked various people whom he photographed to sign. The entries range from poetry to simple signatures, musical notation to pen and ink sketches. It is fascinating in both the type of entry and the authors who made them. A birds-eye view of Nadar's comtemporaries and friends. This tall, lanky, ever curious red head died fourteen months after his beloved Ernestine a few weeks before turning 90 in 1910. I received a copy of this book to review from Blogging for Books

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Saturday, December 2, 2017

Hiro Brings Father Mateo Home to Iga Just In Time for Murder at Dinner

Betrayal at Iga (Shinobi Mystery #5)Betrayal at Iga by Susan Spann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When last we left Hiro and Fr Mateo the Shogan has died and various factions are trying to take over. For the safety of the Portuguese Jesuit the two men have taken refuge in the mountainous home of Hiro--his ninja clan in Iga Province. On the day of their arrival a contingent from a neighboring province has also arrived. Although it is not the ideal situation since each new arrival by tradition receives their own welcome dinner, Hartori Hanzo, Hiro's cousin and commander, has no choice but to welcome both parties at the same meal. It would appear that the other guests are four emissaries from Koga Province. Hanzo would like to convince Koga to unite with Iga to show strength in numbers as the Shoganate is settled. Naturally, as often happens to our heros, one of the Koga emissaries dies violently vomiting and struggling to breath during the second course of the dinner!

The remaining Koga immediately accuse the Iga of murdering him and declare it an act of war. Hanzo calms them enough to get their agreement to remain three days while Fr Mateo, not of Iga Province and not Japanese, and therefore neutral, investigates to determine the murderer. So many possible culprits, most of them assassins by training, all of them with either motive or the duty to obey the orders of one with a motive. Hiro's grandmother, mother, former childhood sweetheart, the three remaining Koga, Hanzo himself, any of them capable of the act.

I love the fact that Susan Spann writes so well that the solution is as perplexing for the reader as for the characters. But, in the end, after another two deaths and threats of more, the murderer is indeed identified. A resolution is reached in the negotiations for a pact between neighbors. And, Hanzo with great humor sends Hiro, Fr Mateo, Ana the housekeeper and Gato, the cat on to their next adventure. What he doesn't know is that he is sending the reader along, too--at least this one.

The hardest part is having to wait a year to catch up with them at the sacred Mount Koya.



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