Film Archivist Valentino returns. A clever mystery that spans the decades from when Greta Garbo was acting until now. A murder, missing letters, forged letters and resentment of some ones' dead wife all come together in this colorful mystery. I like my mysteries with a touch of humor and Estleman delivers, with a deft touch and a large dose of movie history. I finished this so quick cause I couldn't put it down. I have never read any of Mr. Estlemans' book, but there are some that I will be picking up.

As Valentino is working on restoring the former movie palace, the Oracle, to it's former elegance he is thrust into a murder mystery. When a wealthy benefactor tells him that he will donate an unseen Garbo film to the UCLA film archives, Valentinos' day job, if Valentino will help him dig up some dirt on an associate things get interesting. Particularly when the associate turns up dead the next day. There are enough twists here to satisfy anyone who likes roller coaster rides. All the characters are great and the situations realistic, no twist seems out of place. And as in real life there are several subplots involved. Really looking forward to reading more.

Remember in Alien, how every time you expected something to happen, that darn cat would pop up and then you would relax and THEN something would happen. I kept expecting Gretchen to appear here and kept getting that darn cat. Pretty impressive story when you can keep the audiences attention even when one of your main characters is not in a good chunk of the book.

The book starts with Detective Archie Sheridan having voluntarily committed himself to a psych ward. He is there and Gretchen is everywhere, she has become a celebrity, she is everywhere we would see Jon and Kate. She torments Archie without actually coming in contact with him. Archie, Henry and Susan investigate a series or crimes that might or might not have been committed by the Beauty Killer. Chelsea Cain incorporates a discussion on celebrity and why society focuses so much on serial killers. This is a thoroughly engrossing book that makes me look forward to the next book in the series.

The followup to Heartsick, Gretchen Lowell and Archie Sheridan continue their dysfunctional dysfunctional (yes I meant to type that twice) relationship. Gretchen is being held in the state pen in Salem while Archie continues as a detective on the Portland Police Force. There appears to be a change in their relationship, but appearances can be deceiving. As Archie and Henry are confronted with new bodies in Forest Park, a scandal is unfolding involving a sitting senator and his alleged statutory rape of his babysitter, (sound familiar Oregonians). Gretchen manages to escape and engulfs Archie in her web. In an unusual twist for today’s mysterys the two cases never come together. Chelsea Cain has come up with a highly unusual killer and a great cast of characters. No one is totally evil or heroic, every one is flawed but real. I am looking forward to more fiction from Chelsea, especially with this cast of characters.

The continuing adventures of Will, Halt, Horace and their horses in Araluen. The story this focuses on these three as the continue to track the cult leader Tennyson. The peril comes when Halt is poisoned and Will has to step and be in charge. The interactions between these three is becoming very familiar and yet fresh as their relationship continue to grow and change. An old friend from one of the earlier books reappears to help. This is book nine in the series and the story is as fresh as the first. I read this quickly and the only problem is now I have to anxiously wait until November 2010 for another adventure of Will Treatty and his friends.

Ed Macy is an Apache Helicopter pilot in the British Army who writes of his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. It is a very readable book, yet a little heavy on the facts. He was involved in 2 very exciting operations, which he goes into detail about. He does point out how hard it is to run a military operation politically. He and his mates realize that the most important part of any operation is each other. Like most soldiers they don’t fight for their country, the generals or the politicians, they fight for their mates. A readable book, but not high on the must read list.

This book is not what it purports to be, unless Andres’ life only occurred within the squared circle. I was looking for a comprehensive biography of Andre, but this isn’t it. This consists of recaps of many of Andres’ biggest feuds, interviews and matches as if Michael Krugman sat and watched DVDs’ of Andre and transcribed them. There is very little personal here, outside of some reminiscences by the McMahon Family, Ted DiBiase, Tim White and some other wrestlers. If Andre liked a wrestler he would work to make them look really good, if he didn’t like them he wouldn’t work as hard.

I remember visiting Arlington when I was 10 or 11 and we lived in Norfolk, Virginia. That would have been around 1967 or 1968 I remember being in awe at the time. I have been trying to learn more and more about the cemetery. It was an estate in the family of George Washington and eventually General Robert E. Lee became part of the family. When he was called to duty for the Union Army he refused to become a General in the Confederate Army. To keep it from returning to General Lees’ control the Union Army began burying their dead on the estate. William Christman was the first recorded interment, now there are over 300,000 serviceman interned there. There are many notables buried there, as well as many who are notable to their families. The essay and photos evoke the grandeur that is Arlington.

No matter what I say, no matter what words I use I will not do justice to this book. This book for me will rank up with the best books I have ever read. My favorite Pat Conroy book will always be The Great Santini, which has little bits of my life scattered throughout it. Prior to this I had taken time to write Mr. Conroy and tell that I thought Beach Music was his best work, I will be writing him again to tell him that I have changed my mind. He has written another book that I can greatly relate and he has done so with the defest of pens. He has created characters that are flawed and beautiful, he has created characters that are all the most three dimensional characters I have experienced in a book. His mastery of description of Chareleston, South Carolina is matched only by Zane Greys’ opening chapter in Rogue River Feud. His characters are all people that I would bet we all have known at one time or another.

On June 16, 1969 Leo Kings’ world begins to change and will never be the same again. Blessed with a father who loves him, a mother who barely tolerates him and a brother who has abandoned him and taken a secret with him, he is introduced to several others of his same age who come from a diverse set of circumstances and intertwine the currents of their lives with his. This river of life moves swiftly at times, eddys occasionally and sometimes takes the path of least resistance to move downriver. Leo is the glue that holds the group of friends together, even as he show more downplays his contribution. He is the keeper of secrets and the ear that all can whisper in, he is the long suffering son, and the teller of stories. Read this and you may not want to put it down. Pat, this was worth the wait, thank you for this awesomeness. show less

6 years ago as I read Garden of Dreams by Leslie Gould I cried uncontrollably at the climax of the story. Today as I read Heart of a Shepherd on the MAX and the bus I cried multiple times as I read through the climax of Heart of a Shepherd.

On a ranch in eastern Oregon lives Brother, the youngest in a family of 5 boys, with his brothers, fathers, and grandparents. His mother has left the family to become a famous artist in Europe. One of his brothers is in the Army, two at Boise State and one at a boarding high school. His father, an Army reservist, and his company are called to active duty in Iraq. The call up devastates the small town, as almost everyone is part of the unit. Brother is left with his grandparents to run the ranch while everyone else is away. Brother comes of age and decides what he wants to do with his life as he confronts all kinds of crisis of varying intensity. There were several scenes that moved me and caused me to cry. This is Ms. Parrys’ first book and I hope she writes more.

A youngster is kidnapped and released three days later unharmed with no ransom having been paid. A couple of days later her mother is killed in a car accident. Ellie Foreman, videographer, a friend of the family, is asked to find out what happened. She turns to her friend Georgia Davis, a private investigator, for help. As Georgia investigates she under covers banking payoffs, drug smuggling, the killing of illegal aliens among other things. The action ranges from Illinois to the southwest from the high rises of Chicago to tunnels under the US-Mexico border. The action starts out slow and picks up speed as it goes, I was thinking of ditching the book in the early going but continued to read and it got more interesting. RRr

Mitch Alboms' newest book returns to what made his first book "Tuesdays with Morrie" so well received, listening. Mitch is asked to give the eulogy for the Rabbi of his youth, whom he knew as "reb" and over the next eight years he listens to the Rabbi and discovers many truths that he shares with us. At the same time a foundation that Mitch started is considering helping a church in Detroit with some repairs and programs. As Mitch checks out the church he meets the Pastor and listens to his story and those of his congregation. He finds out that the people in the church called their pastor "reb" This is the story of two men called Reb, one is short for Rabbi and one is short for Reverend. Here are two men who came to faith in two different ways, the Rabbi knew what he wanted to be and did it, the pastor came to faith in desperation from a life of crime and deprivation. Both are good at what they do for two reasons, they have faith and they listen to God and their congregations. Mitch Albom skillfully gives us the story of these two men and lets us listen in on his conversations with them and distills those conversations down to their essences so that we might also learn from these men. This a moving story of faith and how faith affects lives, and not necessarily of just those with the faith.

Leslie has done something that not many authors have done of late and that is keep my interest. I missed my bus stop this morning because I was so engrossed in the book and then I didn't want to put it down when my lunch hour was over. I walked home from the bus stop reading it so that I could finish it.

Elise, Ted and their two teenage sons move to the small town of Forest Falls just before Ted is called back to the Army. There Elise meets Rebekah and the two form a friendship slowly and hesitantly, and support each other through crisis's large and small. Rebekah runs a scrapbook shop and deals with her daughter needing a kidney transplant, while Elise is running from her memories of the small town in which she grew up and having to deal with two teenage boys while her husband is in Germany and Iraq.

Leslie has captured much of the angst and anger that teenage boys feel while their father is away, speaking from experience, my own Dad was in the Navy while I was growing up. The feelings are real and so is the behavior of the boys.