FOYLE'S WAR --TV Series Review

 

FOYLE’S WAR  -- TV series review

British Television series 

Just one of the best war series ever created. Principal author and series creator begins this series in1940 when the German war machine is running over Poland and increasing its reach in Norway and France. Principle character, Christopher Foyle, veteran of WWI in the British Army, applies to be reactivated but is rejected for age and one other important element—his background in law enforcement. Authorities recognize that in the turmoil of another large war, local Law enforcement is vital. Foyle is stationed in Hastings, on the southeastern shore of England where he has to run the police department, deal with a fishing industry, enemy submarines and various other violent nd illegal activities. The series runs from May, 1950 through victory in Europe and the rising Soviet threat. Michael Kitchen ably and sometimes spectacularly leads a fine cast, well supported by his driver, Samantha. She is well-played by actress Honeysuckle Weeks. The stories are thoughtful, carefully developed and even expanded, the history is factual and supporting. Every aspect of the series is carefully laid on. The series should have won many awards and as a historical document has an important role to play in explaining most important developments in the Second World War and its aftermath. Plus, it is highly enjoyable television drama.

A BULLET APIECE -- Review

 

A Bullet Apiece
By John Joseph Ryan

ISBN: 9781943075010

A 2015 release from

Blank Slate Press 

The novel is a comfort read. That is, if you are an inveterate reader of crime fiction, you can be comforted knowing that every joke, every bon mot, just about every cliché of the genre finds its way into the pages of this book. The dialogue ain’t far off, either.

Ed Darvis is a St. Louis PI with a main-floor office in a seedy part of town. The period is sometime after the end of the second world war. Across the road-I suspect it’s a paved street-is a charter school of some kind and while Mr. Darvis is currently idle, he spends time smoking cigarettes, observing the kiddies and ogling the teachers. And some of the parents.

One day, a leggy, seductive woman who drives a late-model Caddy coupe bursts from the school door in what our astute PI deduces is intense fear, “radiating off her like heat waves.” She roars off in a cloud of exhaust leaving one of the teachers, clearly agitated, standing at the schoolroom door. What we have is clearly a case of child abduction. Enter PI Ed Darvis, cigarette dangling, loaded .38 in his belt, ready and willing to find the child and bed either comely teacher or luscious mother, not necessarily in that order.

The dialogue is snappy and often cute, the action is rousing and predictable and the plot becomes surprisingly tangled. Whether the whole thing is a tongue-in-cheek put-on or a serious attempt at a novel is for readers to determine. This reviewer is persuaded the author invested a considerable effort to produce this story and it has its moments.