If you’re in the mood for some jazzy Christmas songs, listen to Al Jarreau’s Christmas. Jarreau sings some of the traditional songs in his mellow voice and others with a more flamboyant style. There’s plenty of variety on Christmas. My favorite song on this CD is Jarreau’s rendition of “The Christmas Song (Chrestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).” Jarreau and TAKE 6 do an cappella version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” Some people might find the upbeat style of “Gloria In Excelsis” a little over the top, but I liked it. This is a change-of-pace Christmas album and may not be for everyone. But if you like mellow jazz, you’l enjoy most of the songs on Al Jarreau’s Christmas. Do you have a favorite Christmas album or song? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
1: Winter Wonderland 4:19
2: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 3:22
3: White Christmas 5:49
4: INTERLUDE: By My Christmas Tree 0.29
5: Carol Of The Bells 4:22
6: O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) 4:17
7: The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) 4:55
8: I’ll Be Home For Christmas (featuring TAKE 6) 3:43
9: Gloria In Excelsis 4:34
10: Christmas Time Is Here 4:27
11: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 6:05
12: Some Children See Him 4:09
13: The Little Christmas Tree 2:59
14: Up On The Housetop 0.34

In this fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels, the crew of the Ghost take on the forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Plenty of action and thrills! Here are 353 minutes of excellent animated adventures! In addition, there’s Ghosts of Legend, a extra that shows how these episodes came about with the creative staff that produced them. Also included is Force of Rebellion, an interview with Executive Producer Dave Filoni who discusses his insights into The Force and its impact on the Star Wars saga. In addition, there’s Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony, a feature on the music of the Rebel series. If you’re a Star Wars fan, this is a must-buy. If you’re a casual fan, your local Public Library should have this set. Pure escapism. Are you a Star Wars fan? GRADE: A

Booze and Vinyl celebrates a past when people would actually get together and listen to a music LP while sipping on drinks. Andre and Tanya Darlington present 70 classic albums and for each selection suggest drinks that might make it sound better to the listener. For the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers (1971) the Darlingtons recommend a Tequila Sunrise or a Jack and Coke (and Coors). For Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours (1955), the recommendations are for a Manhattan or a Tuxedo Cocktail. Drink recipes are included. Booze and Vinyl is a fun book to browse through. Do you have a favorite drink? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Chapter 1 is Rock and features albums ranging from Led Zeppelin to the Beastie Boys.

Chapter 2 is Dance and opens with James Brown and closes with Lady Gaga.

Chapter 3 is Chill. And chill you will with everything from Elvis to Wilco.

Chapter 4 is Seduce and it opens with Frank Sinatra and finishes with Bon Iver.

The Buffalo Bills, fresh off an ugly win over the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday, travel from snowy Buffalo to sunny Miami to take on the Dolphins. The Dolphins are favored by 3 1/2 points. These two teams are going nowhere, but I sure plenty of players on both teams are playing for their jobs. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

The first snow storm of the season dropped six inches of the White Stuff on us. More to come. I fired up Big Orange and snowblowed my driveway and sidewalks and my neighbors’ sidewalks. But, as you can see from the top photo, the snow was still falling!

What’s the weather like where you are?

Just in time for the Holiday Gifting Season, Otto Penzler dropped this huge 1000+ page tome featuring female detectives. Penzler takes the chronological approach and unearths some wonderful stories I was completely unfamiliar with. Many of the stories like Agatha Christie’s “Secret Adversary” remind me of how good the Golden Age stories were. When I first picked up The Big Book of Female Detectives I thought the stories would be about female detectives written by female writers. But Penzler also includes stories about female detectives in stories written by male writers. No matter. Here’s a 1000+ pages of stories to fill those cold winter nights with entertaining mysteries. My only complaint is that I had to rest this book on my dining room table when I read it. It’s too awkward to hold sitting in an easy chair. How many of these stories have you read? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Otto Penzler xii
Victorians and Edwardians (British)
Mysterious countess / Anonymous — 3
Unraveled mystery / Andrew Forrester, Jr. — 10
Redhill sisterhood / C.L. Pirkis — 29
Diamond lizard / George R. Sims — 43
Stir outside the Café Royal / Clarence Rook — 57
Mandarin / Fergus Hume — 62
Outside ledge: a cablegram mystery / L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace — 72
Frewin miniatures / Emmuska Orczy — 79
Conscience / Richard Marsh — 91
Hidden Violin / M. McDonnell Bodkin — 103
Before World War I (American)
Christabel’s crystal / Carolyn Wells — 113
Bullet from nowhere / Hugh C. Weir — 122
Intangible clew / Anna Katharine Green — 138
Planted / James Oppenheim — 151
Pulp Era
Wizard’s safe / Valentine — 163
Red hot / Frederick Nebel — 176
Domino Lady collects / Lars Anderson — 193
Letters and the law / T.T. Flynn — 202
Old maids die / Whitman Chambers — 230
Too many clients / D.B. McCandless — 242
Rat turnaround / Roger Torrey — 255
Murder with music ; Coke for Co-eds / Adolphe Barreaux — 272
Chiller-diller / Richard Sale — 278
Passing of Anne Marsh / Arthur Lep Zagat — 296
Golden Age
Secret Adversary / Agatha Christie — 313
Diamond cut diamond / Frederic Arnold Kummer — 433
Locked doors / Mary Roberts Rinehart — 444
The Tea-leaf / Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace — 470
Almost perfect murder / Hulbert Footner — 482
Lover of St. Lys / F. Tennyson Jesse — 517
Misogyny at Mougins / Gilbert Frankau — 529
Introducing Susan Dare / Mignon G. Eberhart — 538
Bloody Crescendo / Vincent Starrett — 554
Burglars must dine / E. Phillips Oppenheim — 573
Missing character / Phyllis Bentley — 584
Murder in the movies / Karl Detzer — 591
Gilded pupil / Ethel Lina White — 603
Case of the hundred cats / Gladys Mitchell — 613
Mid-century
Murder with flowers / Q. Patrick — 612
Vacancy with corpse / H.H. Holmes — 650
Riddle of the Black Museum / Stuart Palmer — 684
Meredith’s murder / Charlotte Armstrong — 695
Flowers for an angel / Nigel Morland — 711
There’s death for remembrance / Frances & Richard Lockridge — 720
Mom sings an aria / James Yaffe — 730
Modern Era
All the lonely people / Marcia Muller — 743
Blood types / Julie Smith — 753
Poison that leaves no trace / Sue Grafton — 764
Discards / Faye Kellerman — 773
Spooked / Carolyn G. Hart — 785
Making lemonade / Barbara Paul — 797
Louise / Max Allan Collins — 809
Strung out / Sara Paretsky — 821
Beneath the lilacs / Nevada Barr — 837
Miss Gibson / Linda Barnes — 847
Headaches and bad dreams / Lawrence Block — 858
Affair of inconvenience / Anne Perry — 870
Beaubien / Deborah Morgan — 877
Double-crossing Delancey / S.J. Rozan — 888
Shoeshine man’s regrets / Laura Lippman — 903
Dust up / Wendy Hornsby — 911
Case of the Parr children / Antonia Fraser — 921
Fast / Jeffery Deaver — 938
Bad girls
Winged assassin / L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace — 967
Blood-red cross / L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace — 980
Adventure of the Carnegie Library / John Kendrick Bangs — 994
Woman from the east / Edgar Wallace — 999
She knew what to do / Joseph Shearing — 1018
Forgers / Arthur B. Reeve — 1024
Meanest man in Europe / David Durham — 1037
Four square Jane unmasked / Edgar Wallace — 1046
Adventure of the headless statue / Eugene Thomas — 1076
Madame goes dramatic / Perry Paul — 1092
Extenuating circumstances / Joyce Carol Oates — 1107

I don’t know if all these singers and groups are “divas” but I found a lot to like listening to this 2-CD set. Most of these songs are from the Sixties and they sound wonderful! There are plenty of familiar songs here–“Chapel of Love,” “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” and “I Say a Little Prayer”–but there are also some surprises: “Fairytale” by The Pointer Sisters and “Gee Whiz” by Carla Thomas. How many of these songs do you remember? Are any of your favorite songs included on The Original Divas? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
DISC ONE:
1. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”-The Shirelles
2. “Chapel of Love”-The Dixie cups
3. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”-Aretha Franklin
4. “Soldier Boy”-The Shirelles
5. “A Lover’s Concerto”-The Toys
6. “Anyone Who Had a Heart”-Dionne Warwick
7. “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)”-Betty Everett
8. “Love Letters”-Kelly Laster
9. “Chains”-The Cookies
10. “Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)”-Carla Thomas
11. “I Say a Little Prayer”-Dionne Warwick
12. “Baby It’s You”-The Shirelles
DISC TWO:
1. “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”-Jennifer Holliday
2. “Stop! In the Name of Love”-The Supremes
3. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”-Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations
4. “Heatwave”-Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
5. “Please Mr. Postman”-The Marvelettes
6. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”-Gladys Knight & the Pips
7. “Our Day Will Come”-Ruby and the Romantics
8. “Fairytale”-The Pointer Sisters
9. “My Guy”-Mary Wells
10. “Baby Love”-The Supremes
11. “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)”-The Shangri-Las
12. “Rescue Me”-Fontella Bass
13. “Dancing in the Streets”-Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
14. “Don’t Mess with Bill”-The Marvelettes
15. “If I Were Your Woman”-Gladys Knight & the Pips
16. “Come See About Me”-The Supremes

Rick Ollerman and an impressive group of writers have produced Blood Work, an anthology of crime and mystery stories in appreciation for Gary Shulze, owner of the ONCE UPON A CRIME bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Together with his wife, Pat, Gary helped dozens of writers by offering them a site for readings and promoting their books. When Gary died, the writers he helped decided to “give back” by producing this volume of short stories. The guidelines for the stories: they had to involve a book, or bookstore, or tuba (Gary played the tuba as part of a band that played concerts in the Twin Cities area).

In his Introduction, Rick Ollerman writes: “No one who is taking part in the writing or publishing of this book is making a penny from it. This is as true a labor of love as we can make it, with all the proceeds going to a charity that Pat says saved Gary’s life many times over. The beneficiary of this work is the Memorial Blood Centers of St. Paul, Minnesota…” This is the giving season so consider buying this book, enjoying the stories, and supporting the Memorial Blood Centers. I admire Rick and the other writers who contributed to this special project. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Rick Ollerman 1
Lush–Duane Swierczynski 5
Undeliverable–Libby Fischer Hellmann 17
Seven Fiancees–David Housewright 29
House on the Mound–Randy Wayne White 43
Just Another Cold Case–William Kent Krueger
Ticket to Hell–Kristi Belcamino
Message from a Dead Man–Michael Allan Mallory 75
Melanie–Jen Conley
Faith–Stuart Neville
Tommy the Turtle and the Tuba–Michael A. Black
The Adventure of the First Problem–Jess Lourey 127
The Stolen Arm–Scott Adlerberg 147
The Shoe Tack–Reed Farrel Coleman 159
Return–Eric Beetner 167
Malta–Terrence McCauley 175
Unsafe–Lois Greiman 191
At the Laundromat–Nick Petrie 205
The Secret Adversary–Jessie Chandler 217
I’m With It: A Love Story–Gary R. Bush 231
The Case of the Missing Tuba–Michael Stanley 251
Tide Kings–Rick Ollerman 259
An Orchestral Caper–Don Bruns 277
The Last Customer–John Gaspard 293
The Dead Man Blues–Lissa Marie Redmond 303
The Truck Stop–Jenny Milchman 321
Backlit–Michael Bracken 343
The Funkafied Man–Gary Phillips 363
Moose Tracks–Dave Case 377
One for the Books–Austin Camacho 391
Subtle Notes–Case Younggren 397

During Deb and John’s marvelous dinner, the conversation turned to Midsomer Mysteries, the British TV series. Deb is a big fan, as are the Meyersons. I had box sets of the series on DVD, but hadn’t gotten around to watching them. Deb’s enthusiasm motivated me to watch Midsomer Mysteries, Series 1. Bucolic English villages hide sordid crimes and wacky characters. Detective Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and his assistant, Sergeant Troy (Daniel Casey) investigate these cases and expose their cunning plots.

This box set includes The Killings at Badger’s Drift, Written in Blood,, Death of a Hollow Man, Faithful Unto Death, and Death in Disguise. That’s 529 minutes of pure entertainment! I watched Midsomer Mysteries with the Closed Captioning on. Bonus features include Production Notes and a Midsomer map. I don’t know why I waited so long to watch this wonderful mystery series! Do you have a favorite Midsomer Mysteries episode? GRADE: A

My daughter, Katie, attended the event where Former first lady Michelle Obama and moderator Michele Norris addressed the crowd at TD Garden in Boston last Saturday night. Michelle Obama is on a book tour marketing Becoming, her memoir.

“I grew up with a disabled dad in a too-small house with not much money in a starting-to-fail neighborhood, and I also grew up surrounded by love and music in a diverse city in a country where an eduction can take you far. I had nothing or I had everything. It depends on which way you wan to tell it.” (p. 416)

I found Michelle Obama’s Becoming a choppy book. I was intrigued by her early years. But, once Michelle Obama meets Barack Obama, he hijacks her life…and her book. At this point, Becoming shows us how Michelle Obama views key events in her husband’s life: winning the Presidency, killing Osama Bin Ladin, being attacked by Fox News and Trump, etc. Michelle Obama admits to “yelling” when she’s angry. I also sensed she’s easily annoyed. And when Michelle Obama is annoyed, she makes things happen. There are several stories in Becoming where Michele Obama “intervened” when the Secret Service interfered with Sasha and Malia–and I suspect these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

Michelle Obama is smart, funny, and passionate. But entire swatches of her life are missing. Michelle Obama has little to say about her time at Harvard Law School. She skips through the time when she and her husband are child-free. Maybe she’s saving these stories for another book. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface ix
Becoming Me 1
Becoming Us 109
Becoming More 381
Epilogue 417
Acknowledgements 423