After last weekend’s snoozers, this weekend’s games look a lot more exciting. The Seattle Seahawks are 5-point underdogs to the high-flying Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons put up a lot of points so Seattle will have to play really good defense or try to keep up with Atlanta in the scoring department (good luck with that!). In the night game, The Huston Texans are 16-point underdogs to the well-rested New England Patriots. This game has blow-out written all over it. Who do you think will win these games?

The Knife Slipped was supposed to be the second book in the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool series that Erle Stanley Gardner wrote under his A. A. Fair pseudonym. Gardner wrote to his editor, Hobson at William Morrow, with this description of The Knife Slipped:

“In any event, this Donald Lam-Bertha Cool yarn won’t sell to the movies and won’t sell to magazines. It’s going to run around 75,000 words. It deals with a highly sexed girl from the country who cuts loose all at once and comes to the conclusion she is a nymphomaniac. Bertha Cool sails majestically through its pages, delightfully hard boiled. When she and Donald call on the wife of a city official, who puts on the high-hat act when Donald tires to talk with her, Berta Cool says, “Just a moment Donald, let me handle this bitch.” The wife stiffens into frigid indignation and demands of Bertha Cool, “What was that word you used?” and Bertha Cool says, “Bitch, dearie, b-i-t-c-h, bitch. It means slut.”

But when Hobson read the manuscript, he fired back a rejection of The Knife Slipped:

“I think it is cheap–crude, without being effective. All Bertha Cool does is talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people. And I don’t think much of the story itself. If that manuscript had come to me in the ordinary way, having no idea who the author was, I would have stopped reading about page 70 and the the book would have been rejected without even any hope on my part that the author would ever write a really good story.” (Quotes can be found in Secrets of the Worlds best-Selling Wirter: The Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner by Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate, Morrow, 1980; p. 203).

What Hobson objected to back in 1939–Bertha Cool’s swearing and hard-boiled demeanor–seems normal now. And, Hobson misses the fact that Bertha Cool solves the mystery in The Knife Slipped. The Knife Slipped is a lot more like a Nero Wolfe mystery: Donald Lam gathers the clues and Bertha Cool solves the case. I enjoyed The Knife Slipped. I’m glad HARD CASE CRIME finally published it.

Robert D. Kaplan is a quirky writer, but his books contain plenty of insights into the political dimensions of today’s world. Kaplan believes we are in The Second Cold War. He believes the Russians are busy subverting our political system and attacking the European Union from within. “When a country is being subverted, it is not being outfought; it is being out-administered. Subversion is literally administration with a minus sign in front.” Kaplan shows how Russian moves in Eastern Europe are just a prelude to what’s going to develop in the years ahead. Undermining our Election with “fake News” and rumors is just the beginning. Our intelligence agencies seem ineffectual in controlling Russian incursions into hacking and cyber-theft. If you want a heads-up on the political mess we’re going to have to deal with, In Europe’s Shadow gives a pretty good blueprint of Russian hostile intentions. GRADE: A-
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Maps
Prologue: Nabokov’s Room
1. Bucharest 1981
2. Bucharest 2013
3. Latin Byzantium
4. The Baragan Steppe
5. The great cemetery of the Jews
6. The Pontic breach
7. Crossing the Carpathians
8. Fisherman’s bastion.
Acknowledgements
Select Bibliography
Notes
Illustration Credits
Index

December 2016 was a hellish month. My mother’s life was ending. My 40-year teaching career was ending. And the usual crush of correcting FINAL EXAMS and handing in FINAL GRADES amid completing piles of Retirement paperwork was a nightmare.

As you might suspect, I had little time to process any of the books that showed up at my door (AMAZON delivers something nearly every day). Friends like Jeff Meyerson sent me books. And, cleaning out my College office with its decades of accumulated books brought dozens of boxes into my basement.

Some people tell me I have too many books. That’s like saying I have too much happiness.

So, my Retirement focus turns to organizing the chaos of books in my basement. I’ll report on my progress every few months. Do you have a book problem, too?

Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monae star in this account of African-American women working for NASA during the beginning of the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It’s hard to believe that back in the early 1960s there were still segregated bathrooms even in an “advanced” Government agency like NASA. Hidden Figures is based on the book with the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly which tells the story of the impact African-American women had on the Space Program. I also liked Glen Powell’s portrayal of astronaut John Glenn who comes off as open-minded for that era. If you’re in the mood for an uplifting, inspiring film with humor and wit then I recommend Hidden Figures. GRADE: A

Throughout the chaos of 2016, your comments provided an island of sanity and reason in a sea of turmoil. Anyone who’s gone through the End-of-Life process knows what I’m talking about. The months leading up to my Retirement were No Fun, either. Wrangling with Retirement health insurance companies and changes in coverage, Social Security, and 403(b) sharks added to the disruption. The intelligence and wit of Patti, Jeff, Deb, Rick, Beth, Todd, Art, Bill, Maggie, Bob, Prashant, Sergio, Carl, Lauren, Steve, Jerry, Wolf, Stan, Dan, Trishankupune, Scott, Jim, John, Randy, James, Kent, and Mathew as well as all of you who make this blog a part of your day raised my flagging spirits during some very Dismal Times. So I want to say thank you.

Thank you very much.

The Pittsburgh Steelers look to be peaking at just the right time. The Miami Dolphins, on the other hand, seem to be running out of gas. The Steelers are favored by 10 points which is a lot of points for a Playoff game. In the later game, the Green Bay Packers face the most dangerous team in the NFC Playoffs: the NY Giants. I’ve seen the Giants go to Green Bay and beat the Packers in past years (2007 and 2011). Aaron Rodgers needs to bring his “A” game if the Packers hope to move on in the Playoffs. But, don’t be surprised if the NY Giants pull off the upset on the Frozen Tundra. The Packers are only favored by 4 points. Who do you think will win today?

Wild Card Weekend begins today with two intriguing games. In the first game, both Oakland and Houston have quarterback problems. I suspect this will be a low-scoring game. Houston is favored by 3 1/2 points but I could see Oakland winning this game on a fluke play.

The second game would seem to be an easy win for the Seahawks. The Seahawks are favored by 8 points over Detroit. The Detroit Lions found a way into the Playoffs. They may find a way of stealing this game. Rick and Cap’n Bob may be on the edge of their seats for this one! Who do you think will win these games?

I discovered Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: The Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner by complete chance. But, it was a Lucky Day for me! Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate wrote a marvelous literary biography of Erle Stanley Gardner with this book. It was published in 1980. The Fugates share a lot of information about the life of Erle Stanley Gardner. That would be plenty for a book of this type. But the Fugates go beyond that and reveal Gardner’s writing techniques, his writing methods, and his writing advice to people wanting to write a mystery. I found Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer an entertaining and enlightening read. If you’re a fan of Erle Stanley Gardner’s work, you need to check this book out! If you’re a fan of Pulp Fiction, you’ll find a lot of information on that era. If you’re a fan of Perry Mason, you’ll learn a lot about the creation and evolution of that best-selling series. There’s a lot of valuable information between these covers!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword
1. Inside a Writer’s Mind
2. “Slowly Learn, Then You Will Know”
3. The Old Woodpulp Schoolhouse
4. Lessons from the Pulps
5. Learning the Basics
6. The Reader’s Servant
7. Luring Readers
8. The Fiction Factory
9. Searching for the Plot Machine
10. Heroes for Sale
11. From Idea to Printed Page
12. The Birth of Perry Mason
13. Gardner vs. Hobson
14. “Start with a Mystery”
15. His Last Bow
Appendices: “Formulae for Writing a Mystery”
I. “The Fluid or Unstatic Theory of Plots”
II. “Page of Actors and Victims”
III. “Character Components”
IV. “The Foundation of Character Background”
V. “Chart of Romantic Conflict”
VI. “Conflicts of Mother Love”
VII. “Departures from Normal Theory of Story Situation”
VIII. “The Plot Tide or Thrust”
IX. “The Mystery Aftermath Method”
X. Perry Mason Title Analysis
XI. “The Last Plotting Notebook”
Bibliography
Index

Geoff Manaugh changes the way you look at your neighborhood. He shows how a burglar would look at a building and its architecture. Manaugh takes you through the walls, down the elevator shafts, up the stairs, into the Panic Rooms, and across the roofs of an unsuspecting locality. If you’ve ever wanted to pick a lock, overcome an electronic surveillance system, or climb up walls to high-rise apartments, A Burglar’s Guide to the City is the book for you. Manaugh interviewed reformed bank robbers, FBI agents, private security consultants, and architects to provide the latest up-to-date information. If you want to protect yourself from a home invasion or just discourage burglars from choosing your home to hit, A Burglar’s Guide to the City will come in handy. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Space Invaders
2. Crime is Just Another Way to Use the City
3. Your Building is the Target
4. Tools of the Trade
5. Inside Job
6. A Crime is Nothing If You Can’t Get Away
7. Burglary Requires Architecture
References and Citations
Acknowledgements