TITLES G - H

Gentleman’s Trade
Holly Newman
Romance
Fiction
Rating 3
Warner Books
1988



Richard Mannion, a cotton merchant in New Orleans, has over-extended his finances, jeopardizing his business and the futures of his three daughters, Louisa, Vanessa and Adeline. A friend of the family, Trevor Danielson and his old chum from England, Hugh Talverton, attempt to remedy the situation. After much brouhaha, Trevor ends up with Adeline, and Hugh with the spirited Vanessa, thwarting the designs of evil Russell Wilmot. This story is a little complicated and arch for the usual Regency romance, but it is lively throughout with a happy ending.


God Save The Child
Robert B. Parker
Crime drama
Fiction
Rating 3
Dell Publishing / Bantam Doubleday Dell
1974



This is a very early entry in this series of books by this author featuring Boston Private Investigator Spenser, in fact, in this story he first meets Susan Silverman, who is working as a high school guidance counselor. Spenser is hired by the rich and spoiled Roger and Margery Bartlett to find their missing teenage son, Kevin. He begins by poking around their neighborhood and high school, almost immediately getting on the wrong side of local Police Chief Trask and Assistant Principal Mr. Moriarty. Then he meets Susan Silverman and even in his understated way, you can tell the universe moves. When he went back to the Bartlett house, the place is crawling with State cops, after a ransom note was received. In spite of police preparations, the kidnapers get away with the ransom money and don’t return Kevin. Spenser decides to ask Susan over for dinner to find out more about Kevin, and make a pass at her. She tells him what she knows about Kevin, but declines the pass. Later, they both go to confront Vic Harroway, who’s a sort of tough anti-social punk running a run-down commune in the woods, frequented by disaffected youths like Kevin. When Margery gets a threatening phone call, they ask Spenser to stay with them as her bodyguard. He finds a stash of Kevin’s souvenirs, including magazines and pictures of Vic Harroway. When Spenser and Margery return from shopping, they find the Bartlett lawyer Earl has been killed in the living room, even though all the doors were locked. The Bartletts go ahead with their big dinner party anyway, and since Spenser has to go there, he asks Susan to join him. When he stakes out Harroway’s hideout, he finds Kevin Bartlett there and apparently very chummy with Harroway, and not being held against his will. The next day when he trails Harroway, he finds him meeting Dr. Croft, a respected local physician, and there is an exchange of items between them. After that, he follows Harroway to a motel, where he apparently provides girls for the customers, and probably other things as well. In all of this activity, he suddenly realizes he has stood up Susan for dinner, and although she tries to be understanding, he knows it’s a bad way to start a relationship. They become romantically involved anyway, although Susan realizes there are a lot of things about him that she will never understand. Then Spenser leans on Dr. Croft to tell him where to find the hiding place of Harroway and Kevin Bartlett, and then has the Police hold onto Croft so he can’t warn them. He brings Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett with him to get Kevin, but Kevin says he doesn’t want to leave and go back home. Spenser has no choice but to beat up Harroway in a field (who luckily has weight-lifting experience but not the boxing and Police training that Spenser has) in order to break down Kevin’s hero-worship of him. Harroway cooperates with the Police and says he wasn’t the ring-leader of the gang, or even Croft, but someone else. Spenser realizes too late that it’s local Police Chief Trask, who has already killed Croft in custody to cover up the connection between him and Harroway. That’s how it ends, with a lot of unresolved issues still hanging out all over the place, and no epilogue to wrap them up. This is a really interesting early chapter in the whole Spenser saga, where he first meets Susan, and although he speaks briefly with Belson and Quirk from later books, there’s no hint of Hawk. Like all of these books, it’s well-written in a punchy and informal style, with an interesting story that never lags, but without the slickness and polish of later books. The plot seems to be going in a lot of directions at once, and considering it ends up just being another Police corruption story, it takes a very roundabout and complicated way to get there. Like any book from the 1970's, the anachronisms in prices and social mores are inadvertently amusing, and really shine a spotlight on things that have changed. The biggest problem with this book is that when Spenser meets Susan, he indicates that both of them are around 40 years old, and yet now 30 years later, the whole world has changed around them and they’re still the same age. With 20/20 hindsight, it would have made more sense for this early book to have them younger, especially since Susan was at such an early stage of her career at this point, compared to where she was going. These quibbles aside, though, it’s still a fine Spenser adventure, especially for introducing Susan, and when all is said and done, it would be impossible for this author to write a bad book.


The Godwulf Manuscript
Robert B. Parker
Crime drama
Fiction
Rating 3
Bantam Doubleday Dell
1973



Boston University asks Private Investigator Spenser to retrieve their missing 14th Century manuscript before anything happens to it. The University points him toward a radical student organization that is determined to embarrass the Administration. Then one of the students is killed, and another is framed for the murder. That student’s father asks Spenser to clear his daughter’s name, and find the real killer. Then local gangster Joe Broz leans on Spenser to stop looking for the manuscript, which is then mysteriously returned to the University. When another student gets killed, it’s obvious that something bigger is going on. It becomes a somewhat confused tangle of drug dealing, extortion and blackmail involving faculty, mobsters and cult groups. This story has Martin Quirk from previous books, but not Hawk or Susan.



Good Morning, Miss Dove
Frances Gray Patton
Drama
Fiction
Rating 4
Curtis Publishing / Dodd, Mead & Company
1954



Miss Dove was born in 1897 in the small town of Liberty Hill, where her father was President of the bank, and she also had two younger sisters. She was 19 when her father died suddenly, leaving the family unprovided for, and she also found out that he had embezzled money from the bank. Although she was plain, she was slim and had good features, plus she was intelligent and shared her father’s love of books, and she dared to hope that she might yet find romance, but once she found out about the irregularities at the bank, she instead determined to work as a teacher until all of the money was paid back, and basically gave up the idea of having a social life. In 1916, she began teaching geography at Cedar Grove School, and in fact, stayed there so many years that she taught several generations of the same families. Through all these years, “The Terrible Miss Dove” remained exactly the same – prim, unfashionable, orderly and always demanding the best from her students. She could chill with a glance, and never relaxed her standards. She gave up her youth and her private life, provided for her family and re-paid the bank, although it took 20 years. When she takes ill, and has to go to the hospital, the news spreads through the community like wild-fire. No one can imagine a day without Miss Dove at the helm of her class, and the very idea shakes the town right to its foundations. At first, everyone was awestruck that anything could happen to such an iconic figure. A few were titillated, remembering how she tormented them in grade school, and felt that she was getting some well-deserved comeuppance. But slowly it dawned on everyone that if even Miss Dove was vulnerable, The Terrible Miss Dove who seemed so firm and unyielding, so constant and true, so predictable and permanent, then obviously nothing in the world was secure. Here, the book digresses into a series of vignettes, more or less, as various people remember how Miss Dove affected their lives, and even Miss Dove has her own memories to share. The story weaves effortlessly between the present time and these reminiscences, which seem to have been sweetened by the kindly hand of time. Then the doctor says she needs surgery, which she faces with admirable courage, at a time when operations were much riskier than today. But she pulls through, and the ending is very sweet. This is a charming book, not slow exactly, but studied and graceful like its subject. The writing is just right for this story, precise and without encumbrance, but not curt. The characters are deep and vivid, and all of them interesting and eminently likable, although with warts and all. You feel for them and fret about them, even The Terrible Miss Dove (especially The Terrible Miss Dove!) and it seems as if you really know them in person. Very pleasant and diverting, and at the end, it seems regrettably much too short.


The Great Christmas Ball
Joan Smith
Romance
Fiction
Rating 3
Fawcett Crest
1993



During some war against Napoleon and the French on the Peninsula, the Horse Guards suffers from leaks and incompetence, so Lord Castlereagh appoints Lord Costain (3rd son of the Duke of Halford) to them, under Lord Cosgrave, to keep a close watch on things. Feeling miffed, Lord Cosgrave won’t let Lord Costain see any important papers or know anything important that is going on. One day when Lord Cosgrave is out, an urgent message is delivered for him, and Lord Costain decides to open it himself. Unfortunately, the entire message is in German, and since he can’t trust anyone in the building, he hurries out to a nearby translator. The translator is out, but his pretty young niece, Cathy Lyman, translates it for him. He swears her to secrecy and hurries it back before it can be missed. Shortly after, a masked man bursts in at gunpoint demanding the letter, thinking Cathy still has it. Thinking quickly, she hands him a love letter she had been translating from German, which the intruder assumes is the correct message in some sort of code. After he leaves, Cathy and her younger brother Gordon track down Lord Costain and tell him what happened. Now he is not only concerned that he has put them in danger, but also that he is saddled with two young and excitable hangers-on. Because the love letter mentions a clandestine meeting in the park at midnight, they all show up there secretly – and fortunately for Lord Costain, since he is knocked out by an unknown assailant, and would have frozen to death alone in the snow. Although Cathy realizes that they are really being less help than hindrance to Costain, her brother Gordon is wild for these new adventures. In order to keep him occupied, Costain sets him to the task of following the wife of one of the minor bureaucrats in his office, Mrs. Leonard. Immediately, they are convinced that she is a French spy, and when Costain resists their fanciful conclusions, Cathy begins to wonder if he is in cahoots with her, and both in league with the French. At the Great Winter Ball, Gordon recognizes the intruder from the beginning of the book, and it turns out in fact to be Mr. Leonard, who overcomes Gordon with a drugged drink. It falls to Costain and his groom to rescue Gordon, and in the confusion, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard shoot each other. Before he dies, Leonard exposes the rest of the people involved in the ring. Lord Castlereagh is brought in to hush up the worst of it, and he offers Costain the position held by Lord Cosgrave, whose dalliances with Mrs. Leonard are forcing him to retire. Costain asks Cathy to marry him and she accepts, and it all ends prettily enough. This is very far from your typical Regency Christmas romance with autocratic Lords, spirited debutantes and jaunty banter. This story was much too serious, with way too much plot, and although it was lively and interesting, it really had no romance to speak of, much less Christmas. It was well-written and all of the characters were interesting and likable, even the minor ones and even the villains. Although it was enjoyable on its own merits, it does not satisfy the requirements for a Regency Christmas romance.


Green Money
D.E. Stevenson
Drama
Fiction
Rating 5
Farrar & Rinehart
1939



Young George Ferrier goes to London to celebrate his birthday. While there, he bumps into a Mr. Green, who it turns out was an old Army buddy of his father’s. Mr. Green, who is a successful business person, although somewhat impulsive, decides that he wants George as a Trustee for his young daughter Elma’s future inheritance, since the older Trustees keep dying off on him. George agrees, to be polite, and returns home to the north country thinking no more about it. He lives with his scholarly father and his wild Irish mother, where they raise horses and hunting dogs. Months later, they are surprised to get he news that Mr. Green has unexpectedly died of a heart attack. George and his boon companion, Peter Seeley (now a young doctor) call on the new orphan, since George is now one of her Trustees, and they find that she is a beautiful and innocent young lady. At the Trustee’s meeting, George has the sense that everything is not on the up-&-up, but he has no head for business, so he can’t put his finger on what could be wrong. But once he returns home, it hits him all at once – he remembers that Mr. Green said he had a life insurance policy of 20,000 pounds just to pay the death duties on the estate, so there was no need for them to sell off all of those stocks for that purpose. He dashes off a note to that effect and then feels better. The Trustees felt a change of scene might be nice for Elma, so they pack her and her governess up, along with one of the Trustees (Mr. Millar) and his son and daughter, and they all go to Bournemouth. Once there, Elma goes completely wild – wearing make-up, buying fancy clothes and flirting with all the young men. When Mr. Millar gets George’s letter about the life insurance policy (which effectively exposes his embezzlement of the estate) he hits on a plan to marry off Elma to his son, so that matter need not be investigated. However, George has developed his own doubts about Mr. Millar – in fact, his father knew him also in the service and had nothing good to say about him – so he heads to Bournemouth and just barely manages to break that up. Realizing the jig is up, the Millars disappear with their ill-gotten gains, and George brings Elma back to his house for safe-keeping. Thinking George wants to marry his pretty little fluff-head, his mother takes an immediate dislike to Elma. Although George feels protective of her, having her underfoot all the time gets on his nerves. His being nice to Elma makes others believe he wants to marry her, including his best friend Peter, who is in love with Elma, and Peter’s sensible sister Cathy, who is in love with George. At long last, the light begins to dawn for George, who encourages Peter’s suit for Elma, who had been trying in vain to nobly stand aside for George’s sake. And he finally recognizes the true love of his life, which had been right under his nose all along, and as a result, was too obvious to notice. This is one of the most delightful and utterly charming books I have ever read, with characters that you genuinely care about. They are all carefully drawn and sympathetic, even the scoundrels, and they ring so true that it seems impossible for them to fictional. It is written in an informal and engaging style, and feels more like a pleasant visit with close friends than reading a book. You just wish the story could go on and on, and it accomplishes the rare feat of having an ending that is as good as the rest of the book. A real treat.


Growing Up Lutheran
Janet Letnes Martin
Suzann (Johnson) Nelson
History
Non-Fiction
Rating 4
Cara Gana Press
1997



This is a slim and entertaining volume written by two mid-western Lutherans, both born in 1946, and recalling the many and varied similarities and differences among Lutherans during the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, they both belonged to churches called “Our Savior,” one in North Dakota and one in Minnesota. This is a warm and loving look at what makes Lutherans tick, but it’s told in a light-hearted way and with warts and all. It begins with baptism and Cradle Roll (a sort of missionary subscription program) and on through Sunday School and all of their various events, special programs and outings. Next comes Vacation Bible School and Confirmation classes, plus that old stand-by, Lutheran sleep-away camp. Some youngsters (although not that many from the farms) were allowed to go to Lutheran Youth Conventions in places like San Francisco, Miami or Detroit. For small-town folks from the prairies, this was a very big deal. After high school, many went on to Lutheran colleges or seminaries, where the primary object was often to find a suitable Lutheran mate. (This could be difficult, as the old joke goes, in an area where a Swede marrying a Norwegian is considered a “mixed marriage!”) They also cover weddings and funerals, but more cursorily, nothing like the lavish treatment given the Sunday School Christmas Pageant. One of my favorite sections is about the Lutheran church basement women, giving all of the “Martha’s” their due as the hard-working, practical and economic backbone of the church. Of course, it’s told in an amusing way, but there’s nothing funny about the reality of their contributions. They also describe various festivals and events that called for a sit-down meal and often acted as fund-raisers, such as Mother-Daughter or Father-Son banquets, Harvest Festival and the famous Lutefisk Festival. There is another amusing section about who sits in which pew, and notes about ushers. It touches lightly on the changes to the church service, as indicated by the progression of black hymnal to red hymnal to green hymnal. It ends with a wrap-up of what it meant to be a traditional Lutheran when that meant something. A highly entertaining book, although possibly only to Lutherans, and written in a chatty, informal style with very interesting pictures throughout. It’s funny and heart-warming at the same time, and leaves you wanting more. Although it’s not about anybody in particular, it has enough stand-out characters, caricatures and stereotypes to make you feel like you really know these people. The authors have written other books of this type, focusing on more specific aspects of the Lutheran traditions, such as cooking and differences with Catholics.


Hard Times
Robert Vaughan
Drama
Fiction
Rating 3
Bantam Doubleday Dell
1993



This book is the fourth in the American Chronicles series, covering the period from the Depression until Germany invades Poland. It covers the lives of the next generation through the major events that occurred in Washington DC, Berlin, Lisbon, St. Louis and Hollywood. Although well-written in an easy conversational style, the book bogs down somewhat re-capping events from the previous books (Dawn of the Century, The Lost Generation) and also fails to stand on its own independently.


He Done Her Wrong
Stuart M. Kaminsky
Mystery
Fiction
Rating 3
The Mysterious Press / Warner Books
1993



Toby Peters is a hard-boiled gumshoe in the style of Sam Spade who works out of Los Angeles in the 1940's. This is one of a series of books that weave fictional characters and situations around actual Hollywood personalities and events. In the beginning of this story, Mae West’s sizzling manuscript was snatched and held for ransom, and although Toby recovered the manuscript and the money, the perpetrator escaped. He (or she) leaves a clue of membership in the Engineer’s Thumb, a group of Sherlock Holmes devotees who meet once a month. Toby attends one of their meetings but doesn’t spot the perp there. One of the missing members, Jeffrey Ressner, seems like a likely suspect, so Toby sniffs up his ex-wife and heads out there. Dolores Ressner, his daughter, says her father is speaking to her new step-father, but when Toby goes in the room, the new step-father is dead and Ressner is escaping in his Packard. Toby gives chase in his clunker, but loses him, and Dolores tells the police that Toby killed her step-father. Ressner’s psychiatrist alerts Toby that his client is currently fixated on Mae West, Cecil B. DeMille and actor Richard Talbott. Toby arranges for protection on the first two, but gets there just a little too late for Talbott. With no other leads, Toby goes to see Ressner’s psychiatrist at the asylum, but interested parties get there before him, with cash and a tale to tell, and instead of cooperating, the staff locks Toby up as a lunatic. Fortunately, a couple of the patients help him escape, and he goes back to town, only to find that Ressner has already made an attempt on Mae West’s life. Luckily, he was no match for her, and she clobbered him with a book before he got away. Toby figures he better hightail it over to Cecil B. DeMille before anything else happens. Toby and his cohorts rescue DeMille and capture Ressner, who seems oddly harmless. This leads Toby to do a little more digging, and he finds a scheme cooked up by the psychiatrist and Ressner’s wife and daughter to kill the step-father for his money, and use Ressner as a smokescreen to divert attention away from their own murder of a nobody. Because Ressner could not be counted on to actually kill anyone, the others did that for him, but made sure that Ressner was found at the scene. Although Toby has no proof, he realizes that Ressner’s ex-wife has no stomach for murder and would likely confess with no other options left. This whole book was very depressing and disappointing. The cover art, title and description would lead you to believe it was a fun and rollicking ride down Memory Lane in Tinsel Town, and may be slight but at least entertaining. Instead, this story is as serious as a heart attack, and with even more complications. The whole thing doesn’t have even the slighted hint of humor in it, and the parts they think are funny, are forced and too arch by half. It’s written in a snarling, hard-bitten style that is off-putting, and all of the characters are uniformly unlikable, uninteresting or pathetic. It certainly wouldn’t make you want to go out and read another of these in the Toby Peters series, although it spends a lot of time referencing past and future cases. On the outside, it makes misleading promises that it can’t begin to deliver, which I find an egregious sin of publishing.


Here Am I! Send Me
Mary Jane Chambers
Biography
Non-Fiction
Rating 3
Forum House
1973



The author is a lapsed Methodist who finds herself inexorably drawn back into the church. She writes with insight and self-effacing humor about the miscues and tribulations of her re-entry to the flock. She has a keen eye and describes the congregation in unflinching detail – but with more kindness than cunning. There are problems with the new building fund, and the Associate Minister, and these are described plainly and honestly. Through it all is the author’s quizzical and tremulous journey to faith, from its incredulous beginnings to its fully-developed conclusion. Along the way are the usual joys and sorrows, comings and goings, quiet epiphanies and unspeakable tragedies. Well-written in any easy, conversational style with warmth and humor.


Hey, Wait a Minute (I Wrote a Book!)
John Madden with Dave Anderson
Biography
Non-Fiction
Rating 3
Villard Books / Random House
1984



John Madden now is a TV sports analyst and is also famous for his work in commercials. This book tells the interesting, sometimes bumpy, story of his life as an aspiring pro football player (ruined by injuries), football coach at a junior college, and finally, head coach of the Oakland Raiders, leading them to the Super Bowl in 1976. Audiences all over the country had seen him pacing up and down the sidelines, ranting and waving his arms – they either loved him or hated him. When he retired from coaching, he was hired by CBS Sports as analyst on their football broadcasts. He brought the same enthusiasm and in-your-face style to the broadcast booth that he had on the field. His understanding and passion for the game is enormous, and he presents information with humor and insight. The book is well-written and entertaining with a punchy, anecdotal style. It’s funny, but very real and no punches pulled.


The Highland Fling Murders
Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain
Mystery
Fiction
Rating 3
Signet / Penguin Books
1997



Based on the popular TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” this story begins with famed mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher going to England on a book publishing tour. A dozen of her Cabot Cove neighbors decide to join her in her travels, planning to end up at a castle in Wick, Scotland, the ancestral home of Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, who has a tendre for Jessica. Of course, trouble follows wherever Jessica goes, so it isn’t long before someone on the staff at the castle (which is being operated as a pseudo-hotel) is brutally murdered. Unfortunately, it mimics a previous murder, where a medieval witch was killed with a pitchfork and ritual markings – and her ghost is said to haunt the castle. Hundreds of years later, a relative of hers is found murdered the same way, in a case that remains unsolved. And then there is another identical murder and the townspeople wonder if there isn’t something to that old curse business after all. Next, Jessica has a non-accidental fishing mishap, and another serving girl goes missing, and the pressure is really on George to sell the castle. Apparently there is a small but vocal contingent in Wick that believes that if he sells the castle to outside interests, it will not only break the curse on his family, but also help to revitalize the town’s economy. In the end, Jessica uncovers a conspiracy among the townspeople, including the Constable and hotel staff, who were being paid off by the foreign investors who wanted to buy the castle. Well-written and entertaining throughout, although unremarkable.


Highland Laddie Gone
Sharyn McCrumb
Mystery
Fiction
Rating 4
Avon Books
1986


Lively and engaging murder mystery set at the Scottish Games in Virginia. Elizabeth MacPherson and her cousin Geoffrey attend the Games and meet a hilarious set of characters, including an actual Scot, Cameron Dawson, who is completely flummoxed by the Americans’ antics. Suddenly two corpses turn up and there’s sleuthing to be done. The send-up of the Games and participants is priceless, and the non-existent underground Scottish Republican Army is a howl. A somewhat disappointing ending, but a very enjoyable book.


How Does Aspirin Find A Headache?
David Feldman
Reference
Non-Fiction
Rating 4
Harper Collins
1993


Another of the “Imponderables” series by this author, including such queries as: Why doesn’t glue get stuck in the bottle; Why aren’t Green Cards green; Why are the Muppets left-handed; and why were they called The Three Musketeers when they used swords instead? Interesting and informative, but in a light-hearted way. The writing has clarity, verve and a lot of humor.


How To Get What You Want And Want What You Have
John Gray
Self-Help
Non-Fiction
Rating 3
Harper Collins
1999



This author is a famous psychologist, counselor and motivational speaker. His “Mars and Venus” series of self-help books are runaway best-sellers all over the world. This book addresses the issue of personal happiness by identifying the ten various ‘love tanks” that need to be kept filled in order to feel connected to our own true self and inner peace. These tanks include love from parents, romantic love, support from friends and peers, love of God and service to the community. He identifies the stages that people go through as they develop from birth to mid-life, and which “love tanks” that are associated with each stage. He makes the point that if a person has not had a tank filled at the appropriate stage, before they can move on to the next stage, they feel the need to go back and resolve past problems or deficiencies. There is also a chapter on how to meditate, and how it helps us keep in touch with our spiritual side, and enjoy the benefits of increased contentment, energy and creativity. Another interesting segment explains that meditating creates positive energy, but we also need to “de-charge” our negative energy in order to stay in balance. It goes on to explain various ways to do this, and it’s really very interesting. He claims that the most effective system is to de-charge the negative energy into natural objects such as plants, fire or bodies of water. He believes that when we feel bad, this explains why we always feel better if we go out for a walk. Another interesting section describes the difference between negative emotions, which can sometimes be helpful, and emotional blocks, which are always a problem. It explains in great detail the step s to take in order to resolve the problems, even long-ago issues from childhood, so that now we can achieve true contentment and fulfillment. This work reads like a textbook, with a sort of droning repetitious quality that is hard to take. It has a lot of information, and presents it in lavish detail, but it seems boring and never engages the reader. The techniques that it presents are probably valid, but because the style is so off-putting, you get the sense of them being mere mumbo-jumbo and hocus-pocus that can’t possibly work. A really valuable self-help book needs to energize and motivate its audience, so they jump up and say, “I can do that!” This book lacks this essential quality, and becomes instead an exercise in some interesting but obscure psycho-babble practices meant for other people. It’s a shame because he has a lot to offer, even just as a good example of someone who is successful and well-adjusted, but this book is a bit of a mis-fire and disappointingly so.