Month: September 2012

  • A story, honest and real

    Anne Barnhill is back as a reviewer for this blog after taking some time off for health problems. I’m happy to say that she’s doing much better.  And I’m glad to have her back writing reviews – and to know that she’s working on her next novel.  Anne is the author of the historical novel…

  • Does Spenser really live on?

    Here’s another review Bob Moyer sent along during his sabbatical in Europe. He’s a longtime fan of Spenser as created by the late Robert B. Parker, so you know he read with a discerning eye the first Spenser novel to appear since Parker died in 2010. By Robert Moyer Robert B. Parker’s LULLABY: A Spenser…

  • They make a case, but it’s hard to listen to it

    Paul O’Connor is back in North Carolina, back in the UNC classroom, and back in the midst of the noisy political season. By Paul T. O’Connor IT’S THE MIDDLE CLASS, STUPID.  By James Carville and Stan Greenberg. Penguin Audio. 6 CDs. $29.95. Read by the authors but adapted. Also available in hardcover from Blue Rider…

  • A mystery, German style

    Fittingly, Bob Moyer has sent from Germany a review of a mystery dealing with wartime Germany. Will Bob keep traveling the world, sending reviews to match his locales? Or will he return to North Carolina and join the rest of us in armchair journeys? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, enjoy this review. By Robert P. Moyer PRAGUE…

  • “The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About”

    For some reason, I often find myself reading or listening to fiction set around the time of the First World War. This masterpiece of a novel deals with part of that history of which I was only vaguely aware. I highly recommend it. By Linda C. Brinson THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS. By Chris Bohjalian. Random House…

  • Obama, commander in chief

    By Paul T. O’Connor CONFRONT AND CONCEAL: OBAMA’S SECRET WARS AND SURPRISING USE OF AMERICAN POWER.  By David E. Sanger. Read by Robertson Dean. Random House Audio. 13 CDs, 15 hours. $50. Also available in hardback from Crown. Given the way President Barack Obama has used the American military, whether in the Afghanistan surge, the…

  • To laugh or not to laugh

    Jesse Kellerman may know the business of writing best-selling novels as well as anyone. For him, it’s a family business; he is a son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, both highly successful crime writers. And he’s followed in the family tradition admirably with four novels: The Executor, The Genius, Trouble and Sunstroke. Sometimes, after a…

  • Justice, present and past

    Bob Moyer touched down in North Carolina just long enough to write reviews of the books he’s been reading while on his travels. Here’s one of a police procedural that meets his discerning standards. He’d give it two thumbs up if he weren’t too busy holding onto his luggage. By Robert Moyer CRIMINAL. By Karin…