BLESSED ARE THE DEAD

Author: Kristi Belcamino ISBN: 9780062338914 2014 releases by William Morrow Gabriella Giovanni is a young reporter on the West Coast. She's assigned to the Crime Beat on her medium-sized daily newspaper in the California Bay area. Her time is is mostly spent chasing down law enforement calls and tryung to get background and context from distraught citizens who are crime victims. What her editor and others around her don't know is she is driven by a horrible crime, like those she reports. Moreover, its an unsolved crime. Her professional life is complicated by others at the newspaper who want her removed from the crime beat. It's apparent that author Belcamino knows the landscape in which she writes. In this story, Giovanni becomes entangled with a man incarcerated for a lengthy series of murders. She is focused on his background for reasons that gradually becom clear, but the reporter's concentration on the murderer's history interferes with current events. Ultimtely, family elements, job pressures and the emotional power of the killer come together in an overlong but powerful and satisfying climax. I look forward to reading the next in her continuing series of crime novels.

BRASSY CONCERT FROM MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA

As a former brass player, it was delightful for me to experience the recent Thursday and Friday concerts by a fine orchestra. Guest conductor Domingo Hindoyan brought out the Latin focus of the music selections, from the Sienna Fandango to Dvorak's Eighth. An enthusiastic audience clearly appreciated the offerings of the orchestra and those of guest trumpeter, Pacho Flores. He offered an array of virtuoso pieces on four separate instruments including a four-valve trumpet and two cornets. Mr. Flores demonstrated excellent control, double and triple tonguing, and wide-ranging tonal control. The music selections were lively, rhythmic and called forth substantial appreciation from both audience and members of the Minnesota Orchestra. A fine, up-tempo program.

STATE OF THE UNION

 President Biden's State of The Union speech Thursday evening was (IMO) more campaign than report to the nation. I suppose that's where we are going. Instead of a respectful fact-filled presentation, accepted quietly by friends and opponents alike, as used to be the atmosphere, there were Britt-like cat-calls and loud objections from conservative members, a few of whom dressed for a day raking the yard. Well, so be it; you elect rabble, you get rabble-rousing. I think it was primarily a campaign speech. "Here's what I have done (actually a lot of people, both right and left politically) " and "here's where I intend to take our nation." As a small aside, note that the President talks in personal terms--we, us our-- whereas GOP speech-makers talk mostly about "the American people," as if we are some group out there somewhere and the GOP is separate.

In any case it was interesting, hopeful and sure lays out the prameters for the coming election campaign. 

Y'all be well.

MODERN TECHNOLOGY? improvememnt?

When I was forced, recently, to change Internet providers, I notified over 3,000 contacts of my new email and other contact changes. It appears most , businesses, organizations and individuals, have no procedure for making such changes. They seem to require canceling of the "account" and re-connecting.  So now the number of people and organizations I am connected to has fallen by more than 50%. The time I have spent explaining and reminding those who ignored my message of change, has been enormous. Now I understand the problems of privacy and need for protection from the scammers. However, my loss is large.

Today, I completed a change with a small financial institution that was so clean, neat and quick, it was 1990 again. How did we do it, you ask? We mailed a form back and forth and talked once on the telephone. Just like we used to do in the twentieth century! Clean, efficient  easy. The Internet is not yet the new communications revolution.

CLASSY CRIME NOVEL-A COLD WHITE SUN

 

A Cold White Sun   

By Vicki Delany

ISBN: 9781464201585

A 20013 hardcover release

From Poisoned Pen Press

A fine, judicious blend of action, mystery, thoughtful introspection and exploration of human conditions and motivations marks this novel. The story is a part of the author’s continuing series about the development of a young constable in the police force of a small community, Trafalgar. The town is located in a prime tourist region of British Columbia. That’s a province of Canada. The mountains offer prime skiing, the streams fishing and the forests hunting of various animals. Tourism is big business but that brings troubles as well.

Moonlight Smith, born of a hippie activist American couple, a near-champion downhill skier, much to her mother’s initial consternation has settled, at least temporarily, for a career as a cop. She’s bright, good-looking and not entirely sure of her life direction. Delaney has set this interesting character up with two bosses. She’s basically a patrol officer in the small department, but because the head of murder investigations, John Winters, recognizes her intelligence, Moonlight—Molly—Smith is frequently tasked to participate in his investigations.

This time the crime is murder. Out for her daily walk, high school English teacher Cathy Lindsay is slain, shot in the back. Subsequent investigation can find no plausible reason. Why was she a target? Was it a mistake?

As the investigation winds through Trafalgar, the author takes the opportunity to examine relationships between her principal characters, their family members, and members of the constabulary. Some of the scenes are loving, some are rife with anger and tension. The pace is good and if the threads occasionally fray and lose a little direction, that’s inevitable. This novel has a lot of thoughtful observations and this reviewer felt enriched. I’d award 4.75 stars if that was possible.

 

SECRETS OF WILLOW LANE REVEALED

Minneapolis native J. L. Anderson wrote an entertaining crime novel about the death of a resident of Willow Lane. In the process of solving the crime, the author has revealed a whole host of interesting facts about the sometimes more that ordinary lives of the residents of this neighborhood.

Add to that a conflicted squad of Minneapolis homicide detectives who seem to spend almost as much energy fighting each other as they do trying to figure out who killed the bee in the neighbor's bonnet. The story moves along, builds clue after clue pointing at different suspects and is resolved in eminently satisfying ways. 

This is not a highly unusual neighborhood--it could be yours--or mine. From all appearances the residents of Willow Lane are nice, well-educated, intelligent people, with an exception or two. But somehow the web of deceit has entangled more than is obvious. The author does a fine job of setting up the reader and then precisely and logically solving the puzzle and revealing  many Secrets of Willow Lane, a 2019 publication by J.L.Anderson from Fuzion Press.

A MURDER IN PASSING

 

A Murder In Passing             

By Mark De CastriquE

ISBN: 9781464201493

A 2013 release from

Poisoned Pen Press

History, race relations, and persistent attitude are all blended in this fine story. With sensitivity and care the author has developed a believable inter-race relationship story of love and sacrifice. As the title suggests, murder is also part of the mix.

With few clients in hand, Sam Blackman and Nakalya Robertson need some outlet for their energy. Connecting with an outdoor mushroom-searching band, Sam stumbles over a skeleton that appears to be quite old. The discovery sets in motion inquiries by several agencies and since Robertson and Blackman are at loose ends with almost no business, they join the search for answers on an ad hoc basis. Then a potential client shows up asking them to try to locate a photograph, apparently stolen several years earlier.  Even though the picture was made by a well-known photographer, its value doesn’t seem to reach the level where hiring a detective is appropriate. What’s even more intriguing is that the subject of the missing photograph is a small group of children linked to the skeleton discovered by Blackman.

The story unwinds in a very logical and thoughtful manner. The writing is clean and the characters are interesting in their attitudes and development. Everything about this book is of the level we have come to expect from this publisher and its authors.

 

WHO READS BOOKS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

 Washington Post recently published a survey of US citizens on our reading habits. It's interesting and I note it does little to change publisher's perceptions of what books are more or less likely to be published. The survey of around 30,000 citizens suggests that reading habits aren't changing very much. 

As new generations grow up, women tend to read crime and thriller fiction more than men, who tend toward business and science-fiction. White readers also are more likely to choose crime genres while Blacks read religious and spirituality books. History apparently attracts more Hispanics. Younger readers seem to favor fantasy over other categories.

E-books and audio books are growing in importance, but still not making serious inroads on the number of people who read in general. Print books still head the line, but nearly half of the population didn't finish even a single book last year.

Reading these results of a single though fairly broad poll, I wonder about geographical differences and about trends. Can, for example, any changes in reading habits be tied to subjects taught in schools and more specifically how reading is taught.

TRUTH IN MEDIA WOULD BE AN IMPROVEMENT

I understand the benefits of propaganda. It allows  perpetrators to attempt to influence political attitudes and to solidify one's position. However, I do think we would all be better off if propagandists like Grover Norquist would at least occasionally admit that both Republicans and Democrats and--lo and behold--independents (!) joined in voting for a number of issues that have and are making life  better. The economy is improving day by day. That's a result of collaborations between right and left, regardless of Norquist's biased view as "reported" in the 12/10/23 Star-Tribune. He manages to attribute everything supported  by President Biden and Democrats and others only to the Congressional votes of Conservatives.

It is more and more clear to voters like me whose primary focus is not political but improving our lives, that the political parties, PACs and SuperPACs are becoming more and more a drag on progress. Given the displayed brilliance of the designers of our social media platforms, it is simply ludicrous for those owners to insist they are unable to adequately protect us against most of the lies and distortions they disperse. 

We had this same situation in the early twentieth century when charlatans took over radio to sell dangerous products other scams. In 1932 the Broadcasting Act was passed after only three years of design and editing by a small group of young lawyers. That law, gutted by a Democratic Administration in the 1960s, largely put an end to bad merchandising and political lies. Now we are forced to relive the experience of the Twenties with social media platforms out of control, because Congress won't get its act together. This is not a Political issue, friends, this is an issue or survival of our Republic!

Talk to your Senator and your Representative! Vote. Make your voice heard and demand justice.

HOLDING COURT--THE STORY

 

Holding Court                    

By Alan Miller

ISBN: 9781950743919

A 2022 release from

Calumet Editions

              

               Here’s a relatively rare kind of government corruption story. It requires a good understanding of the most procedurally obscure of our federal institutions, the Supreme Court of the United States. The author definitely has that, as well as conditionally strong perceptions of some of the more established norms of D.C. society and its social conflicts.

               The kidnapping of an associate justice, his brazen, action-filled rescue and the odd murder of a member of the staff of the Court all play into some nasty maneuvering around a soon-to-be-announced end-of-term decision.

               Several well-drawn characters from inside and outside law enforcement play pivotal roles in the resolution of the conflict, the pace is admirable and the surprising blend of a number of roles add to the spice of the story which nicely and precisely concludes as one might expect of a positive novel.