The tragic crash of Continental 3407 a mere five miles from the Buffalo Airport (and only a few miles from my house) is under investigation. The weather here was horrible: high winds, snow, and fog. I suspect the cause of this disaster will involve the wings icing up. My condolences go out to the families and friends of the 50 victims of this terrible catastrophe.

In the 1960s and early 1970s a number of writers ghosted Ellery Queen novels. Face to Face has been attributed to Jack Vance. It certainly reads like a Jack Vance novel: the murdered singer leaves a dying clue: the letters “f a c e” are scrawled on a piece of paper. Given that Vance later wrote a novel in his Demon Princes series called The Face the evidence seems incontrovertible. And then there are the fanciful Vancean character names: Ardene Piggyback Vlietland, Daffy Dingle, Gertie Hodge Huppenkleimer, and Glory Guild. If you enjoy puzzle novels, this mystery will challenge you. Jack Vance ghosted three other Ellery Queen novels: A Room to Die In, The Four Johns, and The Madman Theory. All are worth reading.

David Herbert Donald’s single volume biography of Lincoln is considered the best of hundreds available. Donald’s lucid prose and meticulous research makes the story of Lincoln’s life as gripping as a suspense novel. The details never bog down the momentum of events. You’ll come away from Donald’s biography wanting to read more about Lincoln. You have some wonderful choices: the Library of America’s two volumes of Lincoln’s speeches and writings. Or you can go all the way and read the 2-volume, 2000-page, million-word Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame. Published by Johns Hopkins University Press it’s only $125!

Historical writer Bernard Cornwell’s latest epic, Agincourt, just entered the New York Times Best Sellers List at Number Four. For most readers, Agincourt is just a battle in Shakespeare’s Henry V. But in the history of warfare, Agincourt holds a special place. Agincourt is one of those rare battles where a smaller force defeated a much greater force. In 1415, the English army of 6000 achieved victory over the French army of 30,000! Although they were outnumbered 5 to 1, one of the deciding factors was the English use of new military technology: the long bow. Cornwell tells his story of Agincourt through the eyes of an English archer named Nicholas Hook. If you’ve read any of Cornwell’s previous works, you know Cornwell does not glamorize warfare. Quite the opposite. Cornwell dwells on the brutality, butchery, sickness, and terror that are the byproducts of battle. Battle tactics, weapons, and strategy are convincingly presented within the storyline. Cornwell doesn’t pick sides, the English commit as many atrocities as the French. Yet it’s nearly impossible for a reader not to hope Nicholas Hook and his archer friends survive the horrors of this terrible battle. Cornwell’s Agincourt captures a classic moment of warfare in a most suspenseful fashion. Historical fiction doesn’t get much better than this. GRADE: A-.

The wonderful Beth Fedyn sent this set of DVDs to me and I’ve had about eight hours of laughs as a result. Black Books is a bookstore in London. Bernard Black, the dour owner of the shop, regards customers with hostility. He’d rather be left alone to drink and smoke and read. Bernard, though a series of comic events, finds himself a bizarre assistant. Manny, with wild hair and bulging eyes, does all the heavy lifting, cleaning, and selling in the shop. Fran, once Bernard’s girl friend, is the straw that stirs this sit-com’s drink. You think Fran is the “sane” one until she isn’t. The episode where Fran goes away with her school chums for a “hens” weekend will leave you in stitches. If you’re a fan of British humor and zany comedy, give The Complete Black Books a try.

I played FEAR and its expansions enjoying the game play and the action. FEAR is a First-Person-Shooter game and sometimes you just want blow some stuff up (in cyberspace, of course). There are plenty of different weapons that produce different effects on the clever enemies, some human and some not so much. The early reviews of FEAR 2 have been very positive. The game goes on sale tomorrow so you know what I’ll be doing far into the night.

The original vinyl record album jacket had the notation: “Recorded loud to play loud.” Back in 1976 when I first bought this album, I did play it loud (my neighbors in the next apartment can attest to that). The J. Geils Band never really made the Big Time. They had a hit album with Freeze Frame which included their only Number One hit, “Centerfold.” They toured a lot, but never gained the audience that would assure them elite rock group status. Eventually, the group disbanded and is largely forgotten today. But Blow Your Face Out is still around at a bargain price to remind you of what this talented group could have been if they’d caught a few breaks.

Although Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone is more famous, I’m a big fan of Serling’s later effort, Night Gallery. This recently released 5-DVD set includes 22 episodes, a feature on Tom Wright’s haunting paintings used by Serling to introduce the 61 stories, a commentary by Night Gallery historians Scott Skelton and Jim Benson, and some insightful comments by director Guillermo Del Toro. There are almost 19 hours of wonderful watching here.

It’s hard to believe that a three-time Edgar Award winner could be forgotten. But Time can be cruel. Stanley Ellin, once regarded as one of the greatest practitioners of writing mystery short stories like the classic “The Specialty of the House,” is nowhere on today’s readers’ radar screens. His work is out-of-print. Yet, while rereading Ellin’s 1958 Edgar Award winning novel, The Eighth Circle, I was struck with Ellin’s craftsmanship. The plot involves police corruption. Ellin takes this mundane activity and spins gold. You’ll meet some unforgettable characters and encounter some questions that will gnaw at you long after you’ve finished reading The Eighth Circle. “So in the eighth circle are the liars, flatterers, and sellers of office, the fortune tellers, hypocrites, and thieves, the pimps and grafters, and all such scum,” wrote Dante. Ellin’s visit to his own version of Dante’s Inferno sparkles and burns.