Saturday, October 18, 2014
Ghost Wanted -- Carolyn Hart
Bailey Ruth is a vivacious red-headed ghost who serves in Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, overseen by a ghost named Wiggins, who occasionally send Bailey Ruth to Oklahoma to right wrongs. There are strict rules for such jobs, all of which Bailey Ruth ignores at one time or another, though probably never so quickly as she does in Ghost Wanted. This time, there's another ghost, Lorraine Marlow, who'd chosen to remain on Earth rather than go to Heaven. She passes her time sparking romances between library patrons by leaving them roses. Unfortunately, someone else has started leaving roses and engaging in a bit of vandalism. And this leads to murder. Bailey Ruth teams up with Lorraine to help out the young woman falsely accused of the crime, while at the same time Bailey Ruth is trying to bring Lorraine and Wiggins together after the many long earthly years that have separated them.
This is a great concoction with humor and romance as well as murder and a dangerous killer on the loose. If you're looking for some fine seasonal entertainment with amusing ghosts rather than blood and gore, it's right here. Check it out.
12 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week
One photo might be considered slightly unsafe for work.
12 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week
12 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week
Friday, October 17, 2014
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Primal Fear - Kindle edition by William Diehl. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Martin Vail, the brilliant "bad-boy" lawyer every prosecutor and politician loves to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop. Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team--a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's slaughter. They do, in a heart-stopping climax unparalleled for the surprise it springs on the reader.
Latest AHMM Podcast
PodOmatic | Best Free Podcasts: Kathy Lynn Emerson reads her story "The Kenduskeag Killer" from the April 2005 issue.
%2B(5).jpg)
Tim Hauser, R. I. P.
VVN Music: Tim Hauser, the only member of the Manhattan Transfer to have been with the group from their forming until today, died on Thursday from an undisclosed cause. He was 72.
A Forgotten Writer
theguardian.com: RA Lafferty might just be the most important science-fiction writer you've never heard of.
FFB: R. A. Lafferty -- Strange Doings
Let me say a good word about Donald A. Wollheim. Others might have bad words to say, but here he was a huge figure in the SF field. Just check out this Wikipedia entry on his work as an editor, and you'll see what I mean. He was a man who published writers that other editors seemed to have little interest in. At Ace Books, he published the first novels by Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, and R. A. Lafferty, to name three, and he published the first collections of stories by Dick and Lafferty. When he established DAW Books, he continued to publish Dick and Rafferty (and of course many others).R. A. Lafferty's work isn't easy to describe. In fact, I think most people just give up, so I won't even try. Let's just say that you're not likely to run across any other stories like Lafferty's stories. They're quite readable but deeply odd or oddly deep or both. I've read three of four of his novels, and they're even harder to describe. The other day I had a hankering to reacquaint myself with some of his stories, so I pulled this little volume off the shelf. It contains 16 stories, and I wanted to read "Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas" again. It's a story about a census taker who does his job all too well, told very much like a tall tale, but not like any tall tale you've ever heard before. While I had the book down, I reread "Continued on Next Rock," a story about some archaeologists who have among their number a very strange woman and who are joined by an even stranger man. It's about unrequited love, among other things. There's archaeology, too. I couldn't resist reading "Ride a Tin Can," which is something you definitely won't want to do after reading the story. "Rainbird" is a time-travel story. You've never heard of Higgston Rainbird, and after you read the story, you'll know why.
If you've never read Rafferty, this collection would be a good starting place. I couldn't reach my copy of Nine Hundred Grandmothers. That might be even better.
Strange Doings -- Table of Contents:
Rainbird.
Camels and dromedaries, Clem.
Continued on next rock.
Once on Aranea.
Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas.
The man with the speckled eyes.
All but the words.
The transcendent tigers.
World abounding.
Dream.
Ride a tin can.
Aloys.
Entire and perfect chrysolite.
Incased in ancient rind.
The ugly sea.
Cliffs that laughed.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Amazon.com: Guns of November (Fight Card) eBook: Jack Tunney, Joseph Grant, Paul Bishop, Carl Yonder: Kindle Store: November, 1963...Sent to Dallas by Attorney General Robert Kennedy to investigate the disappearance of a boxer connected to a major Civil Rights violation, FBI Special Agent Jim Gregory finds himself desperately trading punches with those plotting to change the course of history.
Yes, I Am.
Are you among the world's wealthiest?: If you have $3,650, you’re among the wealthiest half of people in the world, according to Credit Suisse's new report on global wealth.
'Tremors 5' Officially Announced
'Tremors 5' Officially Announced (First Look!) -: The fifth heart-pounding installment in the action-packed sci-fi comedy-adventure franchise, Tremors 5 began principal photography in South Africa on September 22, Bloody Disgusting learned.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Elizabeth Pena, R. I. P.
Variety: Actress Elizabeth Pena, who appeared in “Modern Family” and “La Bamba,” died Oct. 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to her nephew, Latino Review writer Mario-Francisco Robles. She was 55.
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Everyman's Library Children's Classics) - Kindle edition by Baroness Orczy, Otto Penzler. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: The breathtaking debut of the one man brave enough to stand up to the Reign of Terror The Revolution has begun, and the streets of Paris run red with blood. Every aristocrat has been declared a traitor; the guillotine awaits them all. At the city’s West Gate, the tyrannical Sergeant Bibot toys with desperate families, allowing them to think for a moment that escape is a possibility. It is not. Every last member of the nobility—man, woman, and child—will pay the ultimate price.
Only one man stands in the way of the ruthless mobs. The Scarlet Pimpernel, his name taken from the flower he leaves as a calling card, has infiltrated Paris to bring as many innocent nobles to safety across the English Channel as he can. Savior of the aristocracy, scourge of the executioner, the Pimpernel is a hero like no other. But who is he? Marguerite Blakeney, whose dandy of a British husband has been nothing but a disappointment, would love to find out.
This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
%2BPocket%2BBooks%2B1959.JPG)
%2BPocket%2BBooks%2B1959.JPG)
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Yet Another List I'm Not On
But hooray for my friends (and former members of DAPA-Em) Steve Lewis and Janet Rudolph!
Mystery Reviews: Scroll down to see MYSTERY BLOGS TO FOLLOW
Mystery Reviews: Scroll down to see MYSTERY BLOGS TO FOLLOW
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
The Thinking Machine - Kindle edition by Jacques Futrelle. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: His name is Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, but to the newspapers he is known as “The Thinking Machine.” Slender, stooped, his appearance dominated by his large forehead and perpetual squint, Van Dusen spends his days in the laboratory and his nights puzzling over the details of extraordinary crimes. What seems beyond comprehension to the police is mere amusement to the professor. All things that start must go somewhere, he firmly believes, and with the application of logic, all problems can be solved.
The Boy Who Killed Demons -- Dave Zeltserman
What if you woke up one day after you'd just turned 13 and realized that you could see demons? You'd probably be pretty worried, and so is Henry Dudlow, whose journal makes up the text of The Boy Who Killed Demons. Henry's very bright, but he's so worried that he does a lot of research on mental illness before he decides that he's really seeing demons. These demons, by the way, appear to everyone else as normal human beings. Henry sees them as they really are.After deciding that he's not mentally ill, Henry has to make other decisions, like what to do about the demons. He can't tell his parents, who are conventional types not likely to believe their son is seeing infernal creatures. His classmates certainly wouldn't. So Henry decides to go it alone. He does a lot of research, both into demonology and into current events. What he learns in the latter pursuit makes him realize that he has to kill as many of the demons as he can. Doing that will require more than just bravery; it will require special knowledge and weaponry.
It's hard enough to be a teenager without having an extra burden like Henry's, and it costs him plenty in terms of his relationships with his parents, his friends, and his first girlfriend. Not to mention the cops.
Henry's journal makes for a fast-moving story told in straightforward prose. There's plenty of suspense and lots of chapter cliffhangers that make the book hard to put down. Zeltserman comes up aces again, with just the book for your Halloween reading. Check it out.
Joe Lansdale Update
paulfry@sstpublications.co.uk…: BIRMINGHAM, UK, October 13, 2014 - Short, Scary Tales Publications (SST Publications) owner, Paul Fry is absolutely delighted to announce the signing of SST’s biggest deal to date. SST have acquired the exclusive comic/graphic novel rights to the entire series of best-selling and multiple award-winning author Joe R. Lansdale’s acclaimed “Hap and Leonard” crime books. The books will be adapted and illustrated by Finnish comic artist Jussi Piironen. They will be published as full-colour oversized hardcovers and also in oversized softcover and digital formats.
Overlooked Movies: The Hospital
Want to watch a really scary movie this Halloween? I have one for you. The Hospital. It's also very funny if you like your comedy the way you like your coffee, black and bitter. I wouldn't recommend that you watch it before going into the hospital, any hospital, for surgery, which is when I saw it for the first time. I almost canceled the appointment. It won't give you any comfort if you fear medical treatment. And while it was made more than 40 years ago, it's still right up to date. Now that's really scary.George C. Scott (who might be better here than in Patton) might be a failure as a husband and father, but he's a brilliant surgeon and a pretty fair hospital administrator. He's suicidal, but still wants to do the right thing for the hospital and his patients. Too bad the entire staff of doctors and nurses appears to be wacky, crazy, or uninterested. And if that's not bad enough, there's the serial killer who's on the loose in the building.
Diana Rigg brings her father to the hospital, and when she meets Scott, it's clear that she's the free-spirited '70s woman who's going to save him. She's really good in this, even if things don't quite work out for the couple. Or maybe they do. The ending is inconclusive.
The movie everybody seems to remember Paddy Chayefsky for is Network or maybe Marty. I think it should be this one.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Yikes!
Write or Die: A Word Processing Program That Compels You to Keep Writing: If you stop typing, after a while, the program begins to delete what you've already written.
%2B1946.JPG)
%2B1946.JPG)
Don't Remove the Stake!
Telegraph: A skeleton with a stake driven through its chest has been unearthed in Bulgaria, in what archaeologists are terming a "vampire grave"
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Find L.A.’s Mean Streets During Bouchercon
The Rap Sheet: Find L.A.’s Mean Streets During Bouchercon: There’s a special treat being planned for all of those people who expect to be in Long Beach, California, for the opening day of next month’s Bouchercon. The quirky “bus adventures” company Esotouric has scheduled a special, all-day Raymond Chandler tour of Los Angeles on Wednesday, November 12, expressly for early bird arrivals.
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: The Hunt (aka 27) eBook: William Diehl: Kindle Store: As the world trembles with the approach of World War II, a woman dies at the hands of Hitler's henchmen. Her murder forever changes her lover, Francis Scott Keegan, a relentless anti-Nazi mercenary, who becomes locked in a desperate cat-and-mouse game with the Third Reich's perfect spy, a man of a thousand faces. In an arena that encompasses presidents and gangsters, spies and sirens, the deadly present and the dark past, Keegan pursues his elusive quarry into the cutting edge of world events—and into the secret inner workings of a terrifying mission known only as "27."
Trial by Ordeal or No Deal
Trial by Ordeal or No Deal: No DNA. No fingerprints, No jury. For judges in medieval Europe, every trial was he said, she said. so they sometimes looked for divine intervention to determine guilt or innocence. If you were accused of a crime, you might be asked to prove your innocence through one of these ordeals.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)