Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

“The Ice House” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Ice House (1992)   St. Martin’s, 301 pages, $5.99  paperback   ISBN 0 312 95142 6 Recommended When a decomposing body is discovered in the ice house on a British estate, two cynical detectives arrive to investigate. They’re certain that the body must be that of the husband of the household, who […]

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“P” Is for Peril by Sue Grafton

Grafton,Sue. “P” Is for Peril (2001)   Putnam, 352 pages, $26.95 hardcover  ISBN 0399147195 Dr. Dowan Purcell has been missing for nine weeks by the time his ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey to find him. The 69-year-old doctor, a respected member of the local medical community, is director of a nursing home. He’s now married to

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“Angels Flight” by Michael Connelly

Connelly, Michael. Angels Flight (1999)   Little, Brown, 393 pages, $25.00 hardcover   ISBN 0 316 15219 6 Howard Elias, an attorney well known around the LAPD for bringing charges of police brutality, is found murdered in Angels Flight, a small two-car train that travels up and down a hill in Los Angeles. The murder

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“The Black Echo” by Michael Connelly

Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo (1992)   St. Martin’s, 412 pages, $7.50 paperback   ISBN 0 312 95048 9 Harry Bosch of the LAPD, newly demoted to Hollywood detectives after 10 years in RHD—Robbery Homicide Division—catches what looks like a routine homicide. Soon, though, Bosch realizes that the corpse is Billy Meadows, whom Bosch had

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The Best Books I Read in 2000

Listed alphabetically by author Gibbons, Kaye. A Virtuous Woman Hamilton, Jane. The Short History of a Prince Hegi, Ursula. Stones from the River James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird McEwan, Ian. Enduring Love: A Novel Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia Shreve, Anita. The Weight of

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book review

“The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw

Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation Random House, 1998Hardcover, 412 pagesISBN 0-375-50202-5 When my father-in-law died just about a year ago, I realized that it wouldn’t be long before everyone with personal experience of World War II would be gone. Even the youngest people who went off to that war are in their mid 70s now. So

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“The Run” by Stuart Woods

Woods, Stuart. The Run (2000)   HarperCollins, 352 pages, $26.00 hardcover  ISBN 0 06 019187 2 Just in time for the U.S. Presidential election comes The Run, a political thriller about a U.S. Senator’s campaign for the Presidency.  Fortunately, the candidate is not Stone Barrington, but William Henry Lee, IV, of Georgia. A descendant of

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“Worst Fears Realized” by Stuart Woods

Woods, Stuart. Worst Fears Realized (1999)   HarperCollins, 332 pages, $25.00 hard cover   ISBN 0 06 019182 1 Stone Barrington is up to his usual activities. At the beginning of Worst Fears Realized, he picks up Susan Bean, a female attorney who was the assistant prosecutor on a recent high-profile case. Susan and Stone

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“Hard Time” by Sara Paretsky

Paretsky, Sara. Hard Time (1999).  Delacorte, 385 pages, $24.95 hardcover  ISBN 0 385 31363 Whatever demons were haunting Sara Paretsky, she seems to have exorcised them in Ghost Country, for Hard Time brings back V.I. Warshawski in the author’s best novel yet. When Global Entertainment, a media conglomerate, purchases the Chicago Herald-Star, V.I. Warshawski’s long-time

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“Ghost Country” by Sara Paretsky

Paretsky, Sara. Ghost Country (1998)   Delacorte, 386 pages, $24.95 hardcover  ISBN 0 385 29933 8 I was very glad when Sara Paretsky finally proved wrong my fear (after reading Windy City Blues) that she might never publish again with the appearance of Ghost Country. Then I read the novel.   Ghost Country starts off

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