Temps should be about 20 degrees at the Kick-Off of the Bengals vs. Bills game with a chance of snow. The Bills are favored by 5 1/2 points but their starting lineup is riddled with injuries. The Smart Money (aka, Vegas odds makers) suggest the Bills should run, run, run the ball to keep it out of Joe Burrow’s hands. Burrow has had the Buffalo Bills number in critical games in the Past. Last week, Burrow lit up the Ravens. Will he do it again to the Bills?

How will your favorite NFL team fare today?

If you decide to watch Oh. What. Fun.–AMAZON Prime Video’s new Christmas movie–do yourself a favor and just watch the last 20 minutes.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays Christmas-obsessed mother, Claire Clauster, who feels–deservedly so–taken for granted by her detached husband (Denis Leary), and her three self-absorbed children: novel writer Channing (Felicity Jones), Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) who shows up with a new girl friend every Christmas, and Sammy (Dominic Sessa) whose “job” is yearly three-month stint as a Summer Camp Counselor–in essence, a dud.

While Claire does all the Christmas preparations, her family does nothing to help her. They argue and fight instead. When the family unintentionally abandons Claire–think Home Alone–Claire sets out on her own journey which through some quirks of Fate, makes her an national icon.

Skip the tedious family in-fighting and predictable Christmas nonsense–which is NOT a lot of fun–and go right to the heart of this insipid movie: the last 20 minutes. Or skip the whole movie. GRADE: D (for dumb)

I consider Michael Gambon’s performance of Maigret to be just about perfect. Therefore, seeing a young Benjamin Wainwright  starring as Maigret was a bit disconcerting. I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch this new series…but eventually I relented.

Simenon’s novel was first published in 1961. I reread it before I watched the PBS version. Other than the death of the Lazy Burglar and the bank robbers, the new rendition of Maigret features a good looking Benjamin Wainwright, with a scruffy beard and a shirt that’s never tucked in, investigating crimes while pushing back on the bureaucracy.

Wainwright’s Maigret works in a contemporary Police Station with computers and Internet and all the forensic extras–none of which were in Simenon’s novel. What is kept of Simenon’s chief of detectives is that both the novel and the TV series have a very capable crime solver. I enjoyed the first installment of the PBS Maigret series and will continue watching it. GRADE: B

I’ve been a fan of Kelly Clarkson for some time and decided to give her Christmas album, Wrapped in Red (2013), a listen.

The standard Christmas songs, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Run Run Rudolph,” “Please Come Home For Christmas,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” “White Christmas,” “My Favorite Things,” and “Silent Night” all sound…Christmassy!

What makes this Christmas album different are the newer songs, and one cover. “Underneath the Tree,” really grabbed my attention. “Winter Dreams” and “Just for Now”–a cover of an Imogen Heap song–are special. If you’re looking for a different Christmas album for the season, you might try this blend of old and new songs sung superbly by Kelly Clarkson. Do you see any of your Christmas favorites here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

I’ve been a fan of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child for years. Otto Penzler, editor of Mysterious Press, is also a Jack Reacher fan. Otto asked Lee Child if he was interested in a limited, exclusive edition of the Jack Reacher series. Child agreed and the publishing processes began. Otto also asked Child if he would write a short essay for each Jack Reacher volume explaining how the book came about. Child agreed to that, too.

Those short essays have now been collected in Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories. If you’re a Jack Reacher fan, you’ll be delighted by the detail Child provides about genesis of each Jack Reacher book.

My favorite story in Reacher is how Lee Child wrote Make Me while being observed by an academic who wanted to study Child’s writing process. That is all explained in  Andy Martin’s Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of MAKE ME (2015) (you can read my review here).

And, as a bonus, Reacher includes a new Jack Reacher short story: “A Better Place.”

If you have a Jack Reacher fan on your Gift List, Reacher would be perfect! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1INTRODUCTION By Lee Child — ix

2ESSAYS:

2.1Killing Floor (1997) — 1

2.2Die Trying (1998) — 7

2.3Tripwire (1999) — 13

2.4Running Blind (2000) — 21

2.5Echo Burning (2001) — 27

2.6Without Fail (2002) — 33

2.7Persuader (2003) — 39

2.8The Enemy (2004) — 45

2.9One Shot (2005) — 51

2.10The Hard Way (2006) — 59

2.11Bad Luck and Trouble (2007) — 65

2.12Nothing To Lose (2008) — 71

2.13Gone Tomorrow (2009) — 79

2.1461 Hours (2010) — 87

2.15Worth Dying For (2010) — 95

2.16The Affair (2011) — 101

2.17A Wanted Man (2012) — 109

2.18Never Go Back (2013) — 119

2.19Personal (2014) — 129

2.20Make Me (2015) — 139

2.21Night School (2014) — 151

2.22The Midnight Line (2017) — 163

2.23Past Tense (2018) — 173

2.24Blue Moon (2019) — 183

NEW REACHER SHORT STORY

“A Better Place” — 191

Afterword by Otto Penzler –217

I DVRed Moonflower Murders back in 2024. I had read Anthony Horowitz’s book of the same title back in 2020. Moonflower Murders is the second Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) and Atticus Pünd (Tim McMullan) mystery in the series (Marble Hall Murders published in May 2025 is the third and possibly final book in the series).

Moonflower Murders begins with Susan Ryeland lured back to England by a couple whose daughter has gone missing after she announced she knew who murdered a guest at her parent’s hotel eight years ago. The daughter had read Atticus Pund Takes the Case and claimed a clue in the book reveals the real killer. And then, she disappeared.

The frantic parents offer Susan Ryeland £10,000 to try to find their missing daughter. The hotel on Crete that Susan and her boyfriend Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis) are operating is struggling. And infusion of cash could save the operation so Susan agrees to investigate. The parents are convinced that Susan–who was the editor for Atticus Pund Takes the Case–will discover the same clue that their daughter did.

Like the first book, Magpie Murders (2016), the chapters alternate between the real world and Atticus Pünd’s fictional world. I’ve enjoyed all three Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pünd mysteries and I’m looking forward to the third PBS series likely to be broadcast in early 2026. GRADE: A

Celebrated Robert E. Howard scholar and contributor to this blog, Fred Blosser, has just done all of the Solomon Kane fans around the world a Big Favor with this instant classic: The Solomon Kane Companion. Last week I refreshed my memory of the Solomon Kane saga by reading The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (you can read my review here).

Fred’s “informal guide to Robert E. Howard’s Dark Avenger” provides a detailed tour of Howard’s precursor to his legendary Conan the Cimmerian. Solomon Kane is a Puritan wanderer who is obsessed with fighting Evil and righting wrongs. Kane’s adventures involve battling some occult forces. While Kane is an expert swordsman and a deadly shot with his I particularly enjoy when Kane uses his juju staff. Kane’s friend N’Longa, an African shaman, gave Kane a juju staff for protection against evil and to be wielded as a weapon against Dark Magic. Kane uses it to kill vampires and supernatural spirits. In “The Footfalls Within”, it is identified as the mythical Staff of Solomon.

I enjoyed Fred’s analysis of the development of Solomon Kane from story to story. Kane’s adventures begin in 1553 and stop in 1610. But after Robert E. Howard’s death, Solomon Kane stories appeared as pastiches. I remember reading MARVEL’s Solomon Kane series years ago.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Solomon Kane can be found between these pages. Fred Blosser has written a great book about a great character. Don’t miss it! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — vii

CHAPTERS

1. Puritan Marvels and Mysteries — 13
2. King of Swords — 17
3. The Crimson Trails of Solomon Kane: First Phase — 23
4. The Crimson Trails of Solomon Kane: Second Phase — 29
5. The Crimson Trails of Solomon Kane: Third Phase — 35
6. The Crimson Trails of Solomon Kane: Final Phase — 41
7. Damsels Demure, One Damsel Destructive — 45
8. Demons and Devils — 57
9. Despots and Desperados — 69
10. Magi and Men-at-Arms — 81
11. Haunted Places and Lost Cities — 93
12. Variant & Associated Stories in Solomon’s Kane Saga — 105
13. Shrouded in Mystery — 111
14. Solomon Kane and the Lost Continent — 115
15. Dark Avenger versus Eldritch Horrors — 119
16. Did Solomon Kane Ever Meet…? — 123
17. Solomon Kane’s Ruthless Other — 131

APPENDICES

A. SOLOMON KANE in the Comic Books — 137

B. The SOLOMON KANE Concordance –165

C. SOLOMON KANE Chronology — 175

D. Why I Wrote This Book — 181

E. The Essential SOLOMON KANE — 183

F. A Guide to Further Reading — 187

G. Red Shadows — 189

About the Author — 223

The Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers play a Must-Win game today. The Bills are 3-point favorites, but after the 23-19 loss to the Houston Texas a week ago and with mounting injuries–two of the starters on the Bills Offensive Line will be out for this game–I’m cautiously pessimistic about the outcome of this game.

Aaron Rodgers, who turns 42 next week, sat out the Steelers’ 31-28 loss to the Bears in Week 12 with a fractured left hand, but it is reported he will play against Buffalo this afternoon. The Bills defense is riddled with injuries, too. A loss for either team will send them plummeting out of the Playoff category and into the dubious In the Hunt status.

How will your favorite NFL perform today?

Diane and I went to the BABEL event and listened to Hernan Diaz speak about his writing process and how he came to write Trust, a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize.

I was struck by Hernan Diaz’s range. His first novel, In the Distance, is a Western that surprisingly was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2017. Trust is an historical novel about capitalism. In the Q&A session, Diaz told the audience of about 500 people that his next novel will be set 400 years from now and centers around Artificial Intelligence. Talk about three very different novels by the same writer!

Diaz earned a PhD from NYU and wrote Borges: Between History and Eternity. Diane and I came away impressed by this writer. Are you familiar with Hernan Diaz?

I became a fan of MARVEL Comics in the early 1960s (you can read about it here), but it took me until the mid-1960s before I discovered Doctor Strange. The story of a gifted surgeon who loses his ability to operate gripped me. Stephen Strange’s search for an answer to relieve his afflictions take him to Asia and becoming a student of a Sorcerer Supreme, The Ancient One. Strange learns magic exists and that Earth is just one location in a multiverse of dimensions.

At the time I started reading Doctor Strange comics, the artist and prime mover was Steve Ditko who specialized in surreal artwork to capture the weirdness of the various dimensions where Doctor Strange travels to while defending Earth from invasion by powerful entities.

Doctor Strange uses a variety of  mystical objects, including the powerful Eye of Agamotto and Cloak of Levitation to help defend our planet. Strange resides in a mansion referred to as the Sanctum Sanctorum, located at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. 

While other MARVEL super-heroes use super powers, Doctor Strange has to manipulate the occult forces of magic and sorcery to defeat multidimensional threats. Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic provides a guided tour into the development of one of MARVEL’s most enigmatic characters. GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

The Ancient Tomes — xi

Prologue: Set Time to Swirling — 1
1. 1963-1964: The Gossamer Thread — 8
2. 1964-1966: A Nameless Land, a Timeless Time — 27
3. 1966-1969: Other Realms, Other Voices — 47
4. 1970-1972: The Flickering Flame — 71
5. 1972-1973: Man Nor Magic — 87
Epilogue One: Over Credits — 111
Epilogue Two: After Credits — 113

Acknowledgements — 121

Illustrations — 123

Bibliography — 126

About the Author — 130