I bought and read all 15 Edward D. Hoch collections published by Crippen & Landru. Their new collection, The Case of the Flying Graveyard and Other Stories, brings all of Hoch’s Sebastian Blue and Laura Charmes–two investigators for Interpol–together in one satisfying volume. Sebastian Blue is a former Scotland Yard detective who joins Interpol after his wife divorces him. Blue is paired with a young woman skilled in martial arts and languages, Laura Charmes. Together they crack some baffling cases.

I enjoyed all the stories in The Case of the Flying Graveyard and Other Stories but a few really stand out. “The Case of the Musical Bullet” features a murder on an airliner. A government official is shot and killed in his seat in First Class. No one heard the shot, no one saw a gun. And, how could a gun make it past the high Airport Security? Blue figures it out.

Another clever mystery is “The Case of the November Club” where a number of people die while skydiving–more than normal. The resolution is both logical and scary!

The Introduction by Martin Edwards is special because Edwards writes about how he first met Edward D. Hoch after years of admiring his stories. Edwards and Hoch become friends and eventually work together. If you’re looking for a collection of wonderful mystery stories, I recommend The Case of the Flying Graveyard and Other Stories. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: By Martin Edwards — 2

The Case of the Third Apostle — 13
The Case of the November Club –29
The Case of the Modern Medusa — 46
The Case of the Musical Bullet — 63
The Case of the Lapitated Man — 83
The Case of the Broken Wings — 99

The Case of the Terrorists — 114

The Case of the Flying Graveyard — 132

The Case of the Devil’s Triangle — 149

The Case of the Battered Wives — 172

The Case of the Five Coffins — 186

The Case of the Chloroformed Clerics — 203

The Case of the Straw Serpent — 220

The Case of the Drowned Coroner — 236

Sources — 251

I enjoyed Season 1 of Patience (you can read my review here) and started watching Season 2. Patience is a British–Belgian detective drama television series starring Ella Maisy Purvis as autistic police archivist Patience Evans. Set in York, England, Patience was adapted from the critically acclaimed French television series, Astrid.

While Season 1 of Patience had six episodes, Season 2 has eight. The big change is that Patience’s mentor, Laura Fraser as DI Bea Metcalf, has left the series and her replacement is the surly Jessica Hynes as DI Frankie Monroe. DI Monroe does not welcome Patience’s insights–even when those insights solve the murder case.

A third season has been given the Green Light so we’ll have more of crime solving by a brilliant young woman to look forward to. GRADE: Incomplete but treading towards a B+

NEW 2026 SUBARU CROSSTREK SUV

Diane saw Suffs: The Musical on Broadway and was happy when it showed up as part of our Shea’s Performing Arts Center Musicals package for 2026. Suffs chronicles the final, arduous, frustrating years of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.

The musical written and composed by Shaina Taub and won Tonys for for Best Book and Best Score.

The musical begins in 1913 when  Alice Paul, exhausted by NAWSA’s slow progress, proposes a march on Washington, D.C. on the day of President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, to pressure Wilson to support a federal amendment for suffrage. Throughout the musical, Woodrow Wilson is cynical about women’s suffrage. Even when he “supports” efforts for a Constitutional Amendment, Wilson says it will never happen.

Suffs is a tribute to the women. who fought for the right to vote. It’s an inspiring story of persistence and bravery in the face of abuse and cruelty. If it shows up in your neighborhood, go see what it took for women to win the right to vote! GRADE: B+

Songs:

Act I

• “Let Mother Vote” – Carrie, Ensemble
• “Finish the Fight” – Alice
• “Find a Way” – Alice, Lucy, Inez, Ruza, Doris, Major Sylvester, Ida, Ensemble
• “Wait My Turn” – Ida
• “Terrell’s Theme” – Phyllis, Ida, Mary
• “The March (We Demand Equality)” – Inez, Ida, Ensemble
• “Great American Bitch” – Ruza, Inez, Lucy, Alice, Doris
• “Ladies” – Woodrow Wilson
• “A Meeting with President Wilson” – Ruza, Lucy, Dudley, Inez, Doris, Woodrow Wilson, Alice
• “Worth It” – Alice, Lucy, Carrie, Inez, Ida, Mary
• “If We Were Married” – Dudley, Doris
• “The Convention Part 1” – Carrie, Ida, Mary, Alice, Mollie, Ensemble
• “This Girl” – Carrie
• “The Convention Part 2” – Carrie, Ida, Mary, Alice, Ensemble
• “Alva Belmont” – Alva, Ruza, Lucy, Inez, Doris, Alice
• “Show Them Who You Are” – Alice, Inez
• “The Campaign” – Inez, Ruza, Lucy, Doris, Alice
• “How Long?” – Alice, Lucy, Doris, Carrie, Mary, Ida, Ensemble

Act II

“Keep Marching” – Alice, Ensemble

“The Young Are at the Gates” – Doris, Lucy, Ruza, Alice, Phyllis, Alva, Ensemble

“Respectfully Yours, Dudley Malone” – Dudley

“Hold It Together” – Mary, Mrs. Herndon, Alice, Ruza, Lucy, Doris, Dudley, Carrie, Mollie, Ida

“Wait My Turn (reprise)” – Ida, Mary

“The Report” – Woodrow Wilson, Doris, Dudley, Ruza, Lucy, Alice

“Show Them Who You Are (reprise)” – Inez

“Insane” – Alice

“Fire & Tea” – Mrs. Herndon, Carrie, Doris, Woodrow Wilson, Alice, Ruza, Mollie, Ensemble

“Let Mother Vote (reprise)” – Woodrow Wilson

“She and I” – Carrie, Alice

“Down at the State House” – Harry T. Burn, Ensemble

“A Letter from Harry’s Mother” – Phoebe, Harry T. Burn, Alice

“I Was Here” – Ida, Mary, Phyllis, ensemble

“If We Were Married (reprise)” – Dudley, Doris, Carrie, Mollie

“August 26th, 1920” – Ruza, Lucy, Doris, Alice

“Lucy’s Song” – Lucy

“Finish the Fight (reprise)” – Robin, Alice

Back in April, when I learned Diane, Katie, and Patrick were going to see Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels during Diane’s trip to New York City for Mother’s Day, I grabbed a collection of Noel Coward plays and read Fallen Angels. Last week I watched the play on BroadwayHD.com for $19.95–much less than a Broadway ticket and just as good!

Fallen Angels was published in 1925 and was almost banned because of its licentious premise. Two friends, Julia (O’Hara) and Jane (Byrne), learn that that a handsome Frenchman whom both women had premarital affairs with is coming to town while their husbands are away golfing.

Both women have been married for seven years, but the prospect of an encounter with their former lover excites them. Of course, drinking is involved as the friends wait for the handsome Frenchman to arrive. And, the drinking sparks friction between the two friends. As both women get sloppy drunk, some of the play’s funniest moments occur including slow-motion tumbles down stairs, crawling over armchairs, and hilarious telephone cord tug-of-wars!

Although this play is a 100 years old, it’s still funny and entertaining. Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara bring plenty of feisty comedy to their roles. It doesn’t get much better than this! Are you a Noel Coward fan? GRADE: A

I bought this ACE Double back in 1965 and quickly read it. Monsters in Orbit is presented as a novel, but it is actually two novellas, both featuring the same protagonist. The novellas were published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1952, “Abercrombie Station” in the February issue, and “Cholwell’s Chickens” in the August issue.

According to Rich Horton of the excellent Strange at Ecbatan blog, the stories in The World Between and Other Stories are:

“The World Between” (10,600 words, from the May 1953 Future, wherein it was called “Ecological Onslaught”) — a team from the Blue Star, all names starting with “B”, finds a planet in between their home and the rival Kay system (yes, all names starting with “K”). They claim it and begin terraforming efforts, but the Kay people, including a beautiful spy, drop off pests to spoil all the terraforming. The “hero” (ambiguously so) finds a clever counter to this, and wins the love of the spy in the process. Minor but somewhat intriguing in its ecological themes.

“The Moon Moth” (13,900 words, from Galaxy, August 1961) — a classic story, about Edwer Thissell, newly come to Sirene, where everyone wears masks and abides by extremely fussy rules of manners. Edwer finally takes advantage of the rigidity of Sirenese society to gain extra status.

“Brain of the Galaxy” (9200 words, from Worlds Beyond, February 1951 — it has later been retitled “The New Prime”) — the “ruler” of the galaxy is chosen by a battle of virtual experiences in various environments. A pretty good story, actually — one of the best of Vance’s earliest pieces.

“The Devil on Salvation Bluff” (8300 words, from Fred Pohl’s pioneering original anthology series Star, #3, 1954) — colonists on a world with an eccentric orbit and multiple suns have a hard time adapting to the unpredictability.

“The Men Return” (3300 words, from the July 1957 Infinity) — far in the future reality is slippery and arbitrary. But with sufficient will and rationality … a neat, very different, story.

*Ballantine/Del Rey had put out a series of “Best Of” collections of authors such as Stanley Weinbaum, C. L. Moore, Lester Del Rey and many others, beginning in 1974. Pocket, apparently in response, started their own series, with entries from Vance and Poul Anderson among others.”

I consider “The Moon Moth” one of Jack Vance’s best stories. Rereading this ACE Double brought back a lot of fun memories. Are you a fan of ACE Doubles? GRADE: A

The great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins died last week at the age of 95. And Peabo Bryson died last week from complications to stroke. Peabo was 75.

“Waiting On a Friend” by The Rolling Stones from Tattoo You is one of my favorite songs. Sonny Rollins plays the incredible sax solo, uncredited, but it’s him.

Love and Rapture: The Best of Peabo Bryson (2004) features Peabo’s biggest solo hits alongside his legendary duets like “A Whole New World” (with Regina Belle) and “Beauty and the Beast” (with Céline Dion). Peabo Bryson was a winner of two Grammy Awards, both attributed to his Disney duets.

I’m sad we’ve lost these two great artists. Are you a fan of Sonny Rollins or Peabo Bryson?

TRACK LIST:

Start Me Up	3:31
		Hang Fire	2:20
		Slave	6:34
		Little T & A	3:23
		Black Limousine	3:31
		Neighbours	3:30
		Worried About You	5:16
		Tops	3:45
		Heaven	4:21
		No Use In Crying	3:24
		Waiting On A Friend	4:34

TRACK LIST:

1		Love Will Take Care Of You
2		Shower You With Love
3		I Can’t Imagine Vocals – Regina Belle
4		If It’s Really Love
5		I Found Love
6		Why Goodbye
7		Through The Fire
8		Can You Stop The Rain
9		Never Saw A Miracle
10		You Can Have Me Anytime
11		Same Old Love
12		A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme) Vocals – Regina Belle
13		Beauty And The Beast Vocals – Céline Dion

David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer’s The Space Opera Renaissance, a 941 page mammoth volume from 2006, is divided into six sections.  I’ve already reviewed Section 1 (you can read my review here) and you can read my reviews of Section 2 here and Section 3 here, Section 4 here, and Section 5 here. Finally, done!

Section 6 includes some of my favorite Space Opera writers. The best, in my opinion, is Alastair Reynolds whose first novel, Revelation Space (2000), launched a series of wonderful Space Opera books–I’ll be reviewing them in the months ahead.

While Charles Stross is best known for his Laundry series of fantasy thrillers with Lovecraftean overtones, he wrote some Space Opera in his early writing years like “Bear Trap.” I’m also a big fan of Scott Westerfeld’s Succession series–The Risen Empire (2003) and The Killing of Worlds (2003) (The two books were re-published in 2005 in one volume, also titled The Risen Empire). Westerfeld then shifted his writing to Young Adult novels which have been very successful.

While I enjoy John C. Wright’s Space Operas, I can understand why some readers might feel uncomfortable with Wright’s tendency to “Go Big.” As Wright wrote: “I am a space opera writer. I like large themes, thunder, fury, and wonder. Why blow up a city when you can blow up a world?” Do you see what I mean?

Although it took me a year to get through all 941 pages of The Space Opera Renaissance, it was worth it! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

VI. NEXT WAVE (TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY)

* 833 • Grist • (1998) • novella by Tony Daniel
* 873 • The Movements of Her Eyes • (2000) • novelette by Scott Westerfeld
* 892 • Spirey and the Queen • (1996) • shortfiction by Alastair Reynolds
* 914 • Bear Trap • (2000) • novelette by Charles Stross
* 929 • Guest Law • (1997) • novelette by John C. Wright

“The problem with war, Cukor told me, had always been the humans. ‘They’re materially corrupt, inefficient, and they get tired.’ And when they die it affects the campaign… He believed humans could do better with the help of machines, and that AI could pierce the Fog of War.” (p. 4)

“Nearly forty million people died in the First World War. An estimated eighty-five million people died in the Second World War. A Third World World War remained unthinkable.” (p. 351)

Watching what’s happening in the Ukraine War and the Iran War, it’s clear warfare will be fought by missiles and drones guided by Artificial Intelligence. Katrina Manson’s Project Maven tells how Colonel Drew Cukor first got the Defense Department involved in Artificial Intelligence a decade ago. Now, all the Big AI Players like Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet (Google), OpenAI, Anthropic, Palantir, and  Amazon are supplying the Defense Department new technology to fight wars.

Katrina Manson not only presents the growth of the relationship between AI and the military, she issues warnings about weapon systems that are autominous and can act without human oversight. Very dangerous! What do you think about Artificial Intelligence? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

A Note on Sources — vii

Prologue — 1

Introduction — 3

1. Old Wars — 13
2. Tilting at Windmills — 22
3. We Do What We Want — 29
4. They Call It Algorithmic Warfare — 43
5. The First Mavenites — 55
6. Relaxed About Fury — 65
7. The Colonel and the Math Whiz — 76
8. Somalia — 86
9. Moral Outrage — 100
10. The Algorithms Have No Clue — 119
11. Harbinger of Doom — 134
12. Arms Race — 145
13. Daddy Karp — 155
14. Palantir, Palantir, Palantir — 169
15. Palantir Splits the Team — 184
16. A Striking Operation — 194
17. Data Hell — 204
18. We’ll Find It and We’ll Strike It — 223
19. Nobody Knows Targeting Better Than Trey — 238
20. Kill Chain — 246
21. Ukraine Fights Back — 261
22. Tens of Thousands of Targets — 275
23. We’ve Drunk the Kool-Aid — 287
24. Machines Shouldn’t Kill People — 309
25. Trump’s Robots — 319
26. The Winchester House — 335

Epilogue — 351

Acknowledgments — 355

Notes — 357

Index –– 398