Patience is the latest mystery drama broadcast on Sunday nights on PBS (it’s also available on AMAZON PRIME Video). Patience was adapted from the critically acclaimed French television series, Astrid.
Set in York, England, the show centers on the unlikely partnership between Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf (played by Laura Fraser), veteran investigator, and Patience Evans (played by Ella Maisy Purvis) an autistic woman who works in the Criminal Records Office.
Metcalf realizes Patience’s brilliance and uniqueness in solving puzzles. After Metcalf discovers Patience’s ability to make connections in criminal cases that other people don’t see, she and Patience focus on solving crimes that have gone “under the radar.”
I’ve only watched the first episode, but this series has a lot of entertainment potential! GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B+
Diane and Ann Hood at Larkinville in Buffalo, NY Oct. 5, 2016. Ann Hood is signing The Book That Matters Most.
Patti Abbott recently reviewed Ann Hood’s Morningstar: Growing Up with Books (2017) (you can read Patti’s review here). I love books where writers discuss the books that affected them the most so I immediately ordered Morningstar.
“In 1967, when I was ten years old, our town finally got a library. I went there twice a week, walking past the children’s section and heading right for adult fiction.
I can still remember craning my neck to look at all those beautiful books. I whispered the writers’ names: Evan Hunter, Victor Hugo, Harold Robbins, Herman Wouk, Fred Mustard Stewart, Dashiell Hammett, Edith Barton, Dorothy Parker. So many books! At random I pulled one from the shelf. And then another. I fill my arms with books.
And then I read.” (p. 31)
Here is someone who really loves books! Sadly, Ann Hood did not get a lot of support or encouragement from her hardworking parents, especially her mother. “She [Hood’s mother] had dreamed of a beauty-queen daughter, a cheerleader, a popular girl. Instead she got me, a pageant dropout after just two trophies, too clumsy to be a cheerleader or playground star…” (p. 20)
Other than a Third Grade teacher who allowed Ann Hood to stay inside during Recess and read, teachers pretty much ignored her and her passion for reading. “When my ninth-grade guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do with my Life, I told him I wanted to be a writer. Mr. Stone, in his brown corduroy suit and tinted aviator glasses, shook his head sadly, ‘Ann,’ he said, ‘people don’t do that.’
My eyes drifted to the shelves against the wall. ‘Then how do we get all these books?’ I asked.
Mr. Stone placed at the books for a moment, then told me, ‘All those writers are dead.'” (p. 51)
Despite little support or encouragement for her writing aspirations, Ann Hood–powered by all the books she was reading–managed to succeed with the advice of John Steinbeck and Grace Haley. Her first novel was published in 1987 and she’s been writing ever since.
Morningstar, chapter by chapter, shows how the writers Ann Hood read shaped her dreams and aspirations. Hood’s mother called her “weird” but Ann showed her and all the doubters she was something more…a lot more. Don’t miss this inspiring book! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Growing Up with Books 13
Lesson 1 How to Dream: Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk — 33
Lesson 2 How to Become a Writer: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath — 45
Lesson 3 How to Ask Why: Johny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo — 64
Lesson 4 How to Buy Books: Love Story by Erich Segal — 80
Lesson 5 How to Write a Book: The Grapes of Wrath — 91
Lesson 6 How to Fall in Love with Language: Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows by Rod McKuen — 107
Lesson 7 How to Be Curious: A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins — 121
Lesson 8 How to Have Sex: The Harrod Experiment by Robert H. Rimmer — 139
Lesson 9 How to See the World: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak — 157
Lesson 10 How to Run Away: Rabbit Run by John Updike — 172
Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there! I thought I’d give a shout-out to Art Garfunkel and his son’s album, Father and Son. Take a listen to Art Garfunkel and son singing “Time After Time.” Sounds good but Art Garfunkel has not aged well…
If you’re in the mood for something completely different, you might want to give The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy a try. “Dr. Sleech (Stephanie Hsu) and Dr. Klak (Keke Palmer) are top scientists at THE SECOND BEST HOSPITAL IN THE GALAXY. Each day at work they’re confronted with seemingly unsolvable medical riddles while having to navigate the hospital’s more bureaucratic staff members, especially Nurse Tup (Natasha Lyonne).”
THE SECOND BEST HOSPITAL IN THE GALAXY is wild and wacky! I know this isn’t ER or St. Elsewhere, or Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s way more fun. The 16 episodes will keep you amused! Check out the trailer above! GRADE: A
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles books have been sitting on my shelves for years. Finally, I decided this was the time to read one of them. I started with Game Over (2008). Detective Inspector Bill Slider investigates a murder of ex-BBC correspondent Ed Stonax. But, an enemy from Slider’s past, Trevor Bates (aka, The Needle), threatens to kill Slider and his fiancé, Joanna. GRADE: B
After finishing Game Over, I decided to binge on a few more of Harrod-Eagles’s Bill Slider mysteries. Fell Purpose (2009) begins with the body of once beautiful and brilliant Zellah Wilding. Zellah was strangled with a pair of tights. Bill Slider and his team investigate the teenager who was rebelling against her Christian family with a secret boyfriend. Slider interrogates Zellah’s friends but the identity of the mystery man remains problematic. Bit by bit, Slider and his team reveal Zellah’s secrets until they uncover the killer. GRADE: B
Body Line (2010) also starts out with a body: David Rogers was a doctor–handsome, charming, and wealthy. Who would want to shoot him in the head? Slider and his team talk to Roger’s many girlfriends and are baffled by the contradictory stories they’re told. The mystery of David Rogers leads the team into a world where nothing is what it seems. GRADE: B+
I was completely baffled by Kill My Darling (2011) when a paleontologist is found murdered in the woods. Slider and his team investigate the men in Melanie Hunter’s life and one by one eliminate them from suspicion. Why was Melanie murdered? What dark secret did she harbor that got her killed? Cynthia Harrod-Eagles faked me out (and Slider for much of Kill My Darling) and the conclusion is one big surprise! GRADE: A
I’ve been a fan of police procedurals since I read Ed McBain’s Cop Hater in the early 1960s. I went on to read all 55 books in the series. If you like police procedurals, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles writes an outstanding series! I’ll be reading more Bill Slider mysteries in the months ahead! If you’re interested in how Cynthia Harrod-Eagles came up with Bill Slider, she tells all here: https://www.cynthiaharrodeagles.com/bill-slider-mysteries/how-it-all-began/
A few weeks ago I attended a Joan Osborne concert (you can read my review here) and since then I’ve been playing several Joan Osborne CDs. My favorite Joan Osborne album is Breakfast in Bed with its covers of many hit songs. Included on this CD is Osborne’s stirring rendition of “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” from Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Also great is Osborne singing “Heat Wave.”
How Sweet It Is is almost as good as Breakfast in Bed with Osborne singing standards like “I’ll Be Around,” “How Sweet It Is,” “War,” and “Everybody Is a Star.”
Also worth listening to is Righteous Love with songs like Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and “Love Is Alive.” If Joan Osborne visits Western New York again, I plan to attend her concert! How many of these songs do you remember?
“The Call of Cthulhu” is one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous stories. After reading Gou Tanabe’s brilliant rendition of At the Mountains of Madness (you can read my review here), I decided to read Tanabe’s other artistic manga book.
“The Call of Cthulhu” is a cosmic horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in February 1928.
Lovecraft introduces an incredible, ancient, powerful being who has the ability to sway the minds of humans to serve it. This also sets the Mythos on a course where beings like Cthulhu are the vanguard of a horde of extraterrestrial creatures who will arrive on Earth to subjugate and overwhelm mankind.
Once again Gou Tanable’s brilliant artwork illuminate the story and add impact to an already classic horror short story. Don’t miss this wonderful version of Lovecraft fiction! GRADE: A
Bill Crider was a big fan of the John Wick movie series. I admire the brutal and private world John Wick operates in–professional assassins–but unrelenting violence tends to wear me out.
Which brings us to the new movie, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina where John Wick actually shows up briefly. Surrounding Ana de Armas who plays Eve Macarro–an assassin with ballerina skils–with incredible brutal action choreography and a wacky origin story, Ballerina pirouettes gracefully onto the Wickverse.
Ballerina is set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). Directed by Len Wiseman and written by Shay Hatten, Ballerina weaves wild storytelling–mostly revenge and retribution–with peaks into the secret world of assassins.
Ballerina is likely to be the top action movie of 2025. If this is your thing, you’ll like it…a lot. If not, just wait a couple of months and watch it on one of your streaming services. GRADE: B
