My favorite story in Merry Murder (1994) is Julian Symons’s clever “Twixt the Cup and the Lip.” A greedy bookseller plans the perfect heist of the jewels at a department store. Unfortunately, his plan includes some sketchy accomplices. One key accomplice, Stacey, is depicted this way: “Stacey had two faults that prevent him form rising high in his profession. One was that he drank too much, the other that he was stupid.” (p. 201). Needless to say, the perfect crime unravels…entertainingly!

I also thoroughly enjoyed Joyce Porter’s “But Once a Year…Thank God!” about a charity party for young children that ends in the murder of one of the sponsors. Porter provides some delicious humor to her cunning mystery.

And there are classic stories: “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Simenon’s “Matter of Life and Death,” “Rumpole and The Spirit of Christmas” by John Mortimer, and Rex Stout’s “Santa Claus Beat” (non-Nero Wolfe). The stories in Merry Murder were selected from three previous anthologies: Mystery for Christmas (1990), Murders for Christmas (1991), and Murder Under the Mistletoe (1992). Perfect mix of stories for the season! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Diane has dozens of Christmas music CDs, but it seems like each year another couple albums compete to join her core collection. Ultimate Power of a Diva’s Christmas came out in 2002. It contains 24 “Holiday Favorites” sung by a variety of “name” singers. And, as you might expect, the results vary.

I really liked Karla Bonoff’s “First Noel” and “Everybody’s Home Tonight” as well as Linda Elder’s version of “O Holy Night.” I was less enthralled with Debbie Gibson’s version of “Silent Night.”

Some of these Christmas songs were new to me like Everything But The Girl’s “25th December.” Are any of your favorite Christmas songs here? Any of your favorite singers? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

Track Listing – Disc 1

Track Listing – Disc 2

Back in 1962, Science Fiction Adventures published John Brunner’s The Society of Time trilogy in three consecutive issues. An abridged version was published by ACE Books later that year under the title Times Without Number. Brunner was displeased with the abridged version and a few years later revised and expanded Times Without Number for the 1969 edition.

Don Miguel Navarro, a Licentiate of the Society of Time, investigates the appearance of a flawless mask from the Aztecs that shows up at a party celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the Spanish Armada’s successful invasion of Britain. Navarro discovers that the Time Line has been breached and the Society’s policing of time-travel is in imminent danger.

Meddling with Time is always tricky, but Brunner manages to juggle all of the paradoxes to deliver a suspenseful and exciting tale of saving the world from disaster. If you’re looking for pretzel logic and mind-bending action, reading The Society of Time would be a good investment of your time. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Mike Ashley — 7

The Society of Time Trilogy:

Spoils of Yesterday –15

The Word Not Written — 65

The Fullness of Time — 115

Father of Lies –167

The Analysis — 239

Meryl Streep plays a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, Alice Hughes, who is afraid to fly. When she wins an award that’s to be granted in England, Alice finagles a berth on a cruise ship along with accommodations for two of her College friends and her nephew.

The trip to England is filled with Candice Bergen’s character, Roberta, seething about Alice using her life as the key character in Alice’s most popular book.  Susan (Dianne Wiest) is the Voice of Reason as the three friends try to connect again like they did in College.

There’s some publishing shenanigans, some confusion about who the mysterious guy reading The Odyssey is, and a silly romance. All in all, Let Them All Talk is a frothy cruise to nowhere. GRADE: B-

If you’re a fan of Space Art, or if you’re looking for a Holiday gift for someone who has Everything, I highly recommend The Art of NASA. Gorgeous Chestley Bonestell paintings grace the pages of this oversized coffee table book. Very cool sketches of various rockets, illustrations of space craft on the Moon, and dramatic paintings of Space Walks dazzle these pages.

Piers Bizony clearly describes the various NASA missions, writes about the type of artwork commissioned to promote the mission, and how the marketing was used to gain political and public support.

Some of my favorite illustrations capture the various landers planned for Mars and other planets and moons. And I love the details about the artists who created these marvelous, artistic glimpses of the Future! GRADE: A

The Buffalo Bills (9-3) are in Prime Time again–this time on NBC’s Sunday Night Football–taking on the 11-1 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bills are 2-point favorites. The Steelers are playing their third game in 12 days. And, the Steelers are the only NFL team without a Bye Week (that was lost with all the Covid-19 problems with the Ravens) because their games kept being moved around. How will your favorite NFL do today?

Here’s Carrie Vaughn’s take on her character, Kitty Norville: “She’s a werewolf who accidentally starts a talk radio show for the supernaturally disadvantaged.” Vaughn first wrote about Kitty in a short story that was published in a 2001 issue of Weird Tales. Vaughn wrote a few more Kitty short stories and in 2005 published Kitty and The Midnight Hour, her first novel.

Like many first novels, the narrative is a bit herky-jerky. Kitty deals with her sudden success as a radio talk show host for werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural creatures. Then, of course, someone is trying to kill Kitty. And Kitty is rebelling–as most young werewolves do–against her Pack leader, Carl.

This Urban Fantasy novel has a mystery and some drama. Some romance and suspense. But the character of Kitty, a young woman struggling to adapt to her new condition and to stand up for herself, powers this novel. And I suspect the entire series. GRADE: B

KITTY NORVILLE SERIES:
   1. Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005)
   2. Kitty Goes to Washington (2006)
   3. Kitty Takes a Holiday (2007)
     aka Kitty Goes on Holiday
   4. Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2007)
   5. Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand (2009)
   6. Kitty Raises Hell (2009)
   7. Kitty’s House of Horrors (2009)
   8. Kitty Goes to War (2010)
   9. Kitty’s Big Trouble (2011)
   10. Kitty Steals the Show (2012)
   11. Kitty Rocks the House (2013)
   12. Kitty in the Underworld (2013)
   13. Low Midnight (2014)
   14. Kitty Saves the World (2015)
   15. The Immortal Conquistador (2020)
   16. Kitty’s Mix-tape (2020)
Kitty’s Greatest Hits (2011)
The Aracane Art of Misdirection (2012) (in Hex Appeal)
Paranormal Bromance (2014)

I first read these John Flagg (aka, John Rex Gearon) spy novels in the 1960s. At the time, I would read any book published by Gold Medal which featured original paperbacks by John D. MacDonald, Lionel White, Sax Rohmer, Charles Williams, Richard S. Prather, and Marijane Meaker (under the pseudonym of “Vin Packer”).

I liked the John Flagg books, featuring soldier-of-fortune Hart Muldoon, because Flagg created exotic locales for his spy. In Woman of Cairo the dangerous alleys of Egypt, in Dear, Deadly Beloved Flagg plunges Muldoon into the corruption of the vacation isle of Venzola where the Rich play cruel games for mountains of cash.

According to Nicolas Litchfield’s insightful Introduction, John Flagg’s The Persian Cat (1950) was the first book Gold Medal published. He went on to publish three more Hart Muldoon spy novels, all with Gold Medal. If you’re looking for fast-paced espionage novels with beautiful women, deadly killers, and treachery on every page, Woman of Cairo/Dear, Deadly Beloved will tangle you up in their sinister plots. GRADE: B (for both books)

THE HART MULDOON SERIES:

Woman of Cairo (1953)

Dear, Deadly Beloved (1954)

Murder in Monaco (1957)

Death’s Lovely Mask (1958)

The Paradise Gun (1961)

Bob Dylan, 79 years old, just sold his catalog of 600 songs to Universal Music for a reported $300 million. Last week, Stevie Nicks sold her song catalog for $100 million to Primary Wave. What’s going on? Well, some artists have died without a Will and left their work in the hands of the Courts. Most of James Brown’s millions have been eaten up by legal fees as family and “friends” sue for a piece of his estate. The same situation occurs for Prince’s estate and Michael Jackson’s, too. Walter Becker, half of STEELY DAN, died without a Will and his partner, Donald Fagan, complained bitterly at the last STEELY DAN concert we attended, that the business problems and cash flow interruptions resulting from the lack of a Will and Partnership Agreement forced him to tour to pay his bills.

It’s smart to cash in your chips before disaster strikes. Here is one of my favorite Dylan collections (3 CDs) from Columbia which came out in 1985. Are you a Dylan fan? Do you have a favorite song? GRADE: A

Tracklist:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I’m a big fan of Otto Penzler’s Big Book series (you can read my reviews of The Big Book of Rogues here, The Big Book of Ghost Stories here, The Big Book of Female Detectives here, and The Big Book of Adventure Stories here). If you have a fan of spy fiction, The Big Book of Espionage would make a wonderful gift.

All the Big Names of spy fiction are here: Ian Fleming, Charles McCarry, Eric Ambler, and John Buchan. But there are plenty of excellent writers who produced wonderful spy fiction, too. I liked “The Spy Who Clutched a Playing Card” by Edward D. Hoch. And James Grady’s “Condor in the Stacks.” And, who knew Sara Paretsky wrote spy fiction?

If you like spy stories, The Big Book of Espionage is a must-buy. If you’re looking for a gift for a friend who loves suspenseful short stories, this book is your answer. Are you a fan of spy fiction? GRADE: A