HEIDI ARMBRUSTER

Heidi is a New York based theater artist dedicated to creating new work and discovering new approaches to classical literature and theater. Heidi was commissioned by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival to adapt Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which premiered in their 2024 season. 

“We had to read, like probably many middle school students do, And Then There Were None. It must have been in 6th grade and it just turned on my 6th grade brain – I was just on fire with the story… cabbage patch kids were big at the time and we had a Betamax camera…I filmed for our final project a Masterpiece Theater take on And Then There Were None, where I proceeded to murder my cabbage patch kids in all kinds of diabolical ways, and record it with the Betamax camera.” 

After reading that confession from Heidi Armbruster, you can see why she was so successful at adapting The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) for the stage.

I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in 1963 when I was 14 years old. As I have mentioned in previous reminiscences of my early readings of Agatha Christie mysteries, Christie faked me out of my jock strap. She blew my mind with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and a few weeks later, she did it again with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). Only after binging on a dozen Christie novels, did I finally get the sense of how she operated. Even then, I could only identify the murderer about half the time.

If the play version of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd shows up in your neighborhood, don’t miss it! What’s your favorite Christie mystery? GRADE: A

“But in recent years a political movement has emerged that fundamentally does not believe in the American idea. It claims that America is dedicated not to a proposition but to a particular religion and culture. It asserts an insidious and alien elite has betrayed and abandoned the nation’s sacred heritage. It proposes to ‘redeem’ American, and it acts on the extreme conviction that any means are justified in such a momentous project.” (p. 3)

At the core of a combination of economic pain and cultural grievance over several decades is a resentment of women. For many struggling to make ends meet in America, the sight of Taylor Swift and Oprah becoming billionaires is offensive. Some men resent having a boss that’s a woman (especially a woman of color). Some men feel threatened by woman making more money than they do. Few people thought that the Supreme Court would cancel women’s rights to a safe and legal abortion…until they did. This movement aims at the eventual elimination of voting rights for women.

In Katherine Stewart’s detailed analysis there’s a loosely organized, but concerted and generously funded, political movement that propelled Donald Trump back to the White House despite all his many flaws. These white, Christian, and conservative men feel they have “a right to rule” and the rest of us have “a duty to obey.” Their social media features “rank misogyny” and its pastoral leaders call for female subordination to male “headship.” This movement provokes racial and ethic divisions it sees as “unnatural”: LGBTQ+ basically.

We are watching Trump and Elon Musk and their minions implement Project 2025 to reduce Federal power and the social safety net. “They want to stop government from working…because they believe when government functions properly…it’s bad for industry that wants to dump pollution into our waters, or sell drugs that aren’t safe, or make a ton of money and shelter it from taxation.” (p. 151). Many proponents claim God is speaking to them and directing their heinous activities.

Stewart, who has covered the rise of religious politics for a decade, follows the money from the churches and wealthy conservative donors into the White House, Senate, House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy lays it all out. Chilling! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — 1

Part 1. Money.

California dreaming — 17

A tale of two Busches — 38

School’s out forever — 59

The room where it happens — 82

Part II. Lies.

The permanent emergency — 97

The resentment of the campus misfits — 120

Smashing the administrative state — 144

Part III. Demons.

The rise of the spirit warriors — 159

God and man in Las Vegas — 181

No exit — 195

Exporting the counterrevolution — 213

Conclusion: The way forward? — 235

Acknowledgments — 247

Notes — 249

Index — 319

We the Pizza is not just another cookbook. It’s the story of Abdul-Hadi’s decision to blend pizza with improving his struggling community in Philadelphia. In the midst of the pandemic, Adbul-Hadi opened his first Down North Pizza in November 2020. The sub-title of his book, Slangin’ Pies and Savin’ Lives, applies to the work Abdul-Hadi has been doing with his pizza business since its start. He decided he would use his pizza business to tackle one of the daunting problems in his community: recidivism.

“I didn’t just want to open up a restaurant to sell pizza and not have something that could benefit the community at-large,” Abdul-Hadi said. “So I chose to focus on one of the various issues that plague this particular part of Philadelphia, which is recidivism. [We focus] on hiring individuals who’ve been formerly incarcerated so that we can provide kind of like a cornerstone for the neighborhood,” he explained. “The neighborhood will understand that we’re coming in to service the neighborhood and also bring some positivity into a neighborhood that has been surrounded by a lot of negative things.”

We the Pizza includes recipes for Abdul-Hadi’s award-winning pizza, the pizza dough, the “Norf” sauce, wings, fries, lemonade and the buffalo cauliflower. I really liked the chapter of recipes for vegetarians and the art of making world-class vegan pizza.

Not only do you get wonderful recipes in We the Pizza but you also get the inspiring stories of the ex-cons Abdul-Hadi’s business have saved. What’s your favorite pizza? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

FOREWORD — 6

Preface — 9

Playlist — 16

The Down North Commissary — 20

1. Doughs, sauces + such — 31
2. Vegetable + vegan pizza — 65
3. Meat + seafood pizza — 94
4. Pizza collabs — 144
5. Wings + fries — 170
6. Lemonades + milkshakes — 190

Diane and I traveled to Kleinhans Music Hall to be part of a sold-out Just Buffalo Literary Center final event in their Babel series. Each year, four writers are invited to Buffalo to engage with students and meet hundreds of fans in a performance and Q&A session.

Diane’s Book Club had read McBride’s best seller The Color of Water. Recently, she read McBride’s latest book, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. James McBride is a multi-talented writer and performer. He performed on his saxophone accompanied by George Caldwell on piano, Charles Brown on bass, and Preston Brown on drums. During his musical number, McBride would periodically pause and read a selection from The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

During the Q&A session, McBride discussed how his early career as a journalist helped him become a novelist. President Barack Obama awarded McBride the National Humanities Medal. McBride has also written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington, Jr., and Gary Burton.

The evening ended with a rousing round of applause for James McBride. Diane and I signed up for the next season of BABEL writers: Colm Toibin, Hernan Diez, Tara Westover, and Imani Penny.

A few weeks ago, I read William Meikle’s SHERLOCK HOLMES: REVENANT (you can read my review here). Meikle’s pastiche of Sherlock Holmes mixed in some supernatural elements that some purists might not like as much as I did.

Sherlock Holmes: The Dreaming Man (2017) picks up where SHERLOCK HOLMES: REVENANT left off. The unnatural elements return. Holmes and Watson are threatened again by supernatural manifestations. But, the game is afoot!

The adventures lead Holmes and Watson down the dark streets of London and through the darkest passages into danger. If you’re a Holmes fan wanting more than A. Conan Doyle provided, William Meikle’s tales could be a satisfying substitute. GRADE: B

I confess: I bought THE SIXTIES: GOOVY HITS and THE SIXTIES: MORE GOOVY HITS for the covers. Of course, the music is good, too. You can’t go wrong with The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk” and Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.” “My Guy” by Mary Wells is a classic as is Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman.” And who can resist The Archies’ “Sugar Sugar”?

Herman’s Hermits version of “I’m Into Something Good” is an insidious ear-worm that takes over my brain each time I listen to it. Do you remember these hits from the Sixties? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+ (for both)

TRACK LIST:

Somehow Murder Under the Big Top: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Magic slipped by me last year. But, I finally requested a copy from my local Public Library and read it. Plenty of Big Names: King, Hill, Gaiman, Armstrong, and Bradbury. Editor Brian James Freeman provides a wide range of stories with Circus connections so there’s something here for almost every reader’s taste.

My favorite stories in Murder Under the Big Top are “The Great White Way” by Robert McCammon and “Buried Talents” by Richard Matheson. If you’re a fan of three-ring circuses with a dollop of murder thrown in, Murder Under the Big Top is your ticket to clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ACT ONE:
“The Night of the Tiger” by Stephen King — 9
“Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” by Joe Hill — 25
“The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch” by Neil Gaiman — 53
“The Girl in the Carnival Gown” by Kelley Armstrong — 71
“Herd Immunity” by Tananarive Due — 89
“Pickled Punks and the Summer of Love” by Lisa Morton — 109
“Courting the Queen of Sheba” by Amanda C. Davis — 127
“The Circus Reborn” by Nayad Monroe — 143
“The Black Ferris” by Ray Bradbury — 155

POETRY INTERMISSION FEATURING:
Norman Prentiss — “Apology to the Ape-Girl” — 167
G.O. Clark — “Hitchhiker” — 173
G.O. Clark — “The Old Clown Reflects” — 175

Marge Simon — “Carnival of Ghosts” — 179
Bruce Boston — “The Daily Freak Show” — 183
Robert Payne Cabeen — “Clowns” — 189
David E. Cowen  — “The Murder of Great Pieter” — 205
Alessandro Manzetti — “The Cage” — 209

Terri Adamczyk — “The Carnie’s Confession” — 213
Christina Sng — “Magic Show” — 217

Christina Sng — “The Clown” — 221

Christina Sng — “Lucifer at the Carnival” — 225

Christina Sng — “Cages” — 229
Stephanie M. Wytovich — “Admission Price to CarnEvil” — 231
K.A. Opperman — “The Circus in the Corn” — 243

K. A. Opperman — “The Clown Witch” — 245
Ashley Dioses — Beneath the Fullest Moon” — 247

ACT TWO:
“The Great White Way” by Robert McCammon — 251
“Buried Talents” by Richard Matheson — 263
“The Carnival” by Richard Chizmar — 271
“Mr. Bones’ Wild Ride” by Billy Chizmar — 291
“Fair Treats” by Jeff Strand — 299
“Smoke & Mirrors” by Amanda Downum — 309
“Circus Maximus” by Robert Brouhard — 329
“Laughable” by Dominick Cancilla — 335
“Count Zardov’s Circus and Museum of Terrifying Grotesques” by Heather Graham — 347

THE GRAND FINALE:
Dandy, a short novel by Josh Malerman — 373

Tom Hardy is having a moment. He’s starring as the “fixer” for a crime family in London in MobLand on Paramount+. Now, Hardy switches sides as he plays a homicide detective named Walker who descends into a violent criminal world in Chinatown full of explosive fighting and gunplay.

If you like the John Wick movies, you’ll enjoy this clone of Wick’s unrelenting fight scenes, shoot-outs, and outlandish, savage volcanic action. GRADE: B-

I read plenty of Chris Offutt’s father’s SF and Fantasy novels growing up. Andy Offutt was a prolific writer and his son is certainly following in his footsteps with the Mick Hardin mystery series. I read and reviewed the first two books in the series–The Killing Hills and Shifty’s Boys–a few years ago (you can read my reviews here)

Now I’m getting caught up with the next two books in the series, Code of the Hills (2023) and The Reluctant Sheriff (2025). “Three months ago he’d retired from the army with a plan to live on a French island, and here he was trapped like a mouse with no choice but to eat the cheese.” (p. 36)

After serving in the U.S. Army for 20 years, mostly as a CID officer, Mick Hardin returns to visit his sister, Linda, who lives in a small town in eastern Kentucky called Rocksalt. Linda is the Sheriff and Mick’s plans get upended when Linda is shot. Mick becomes “Acting Sheriff” and focuses on finding out who tried to kill his sister.

Pete Lowe, an in-demand mechanic for local race cars, is found murdered. Is this murder connected to Linda’s shooting? Mick uses all of his investigative experience to untangle the plot behind the violence.

Mick Hardin is tired of being interim Sheriff in The Reluctant Sheriff. His sister, Linda, is recovering from her gunshot wound but not ready to return to duty. The murder of a local bar owner brings in Mick’s ex-wife to complicate matters. The murder leads to two more fatal shootings. The conclusion of The Reluctant Sheriff presents a confrontation worthy of a Jack Reacher novel. Very cinematic! If you’re in the mood for some Rural Noir, Code of the Hills and The Reluctant Sheriff will satisfy your craving. GRADE: B+ (for both)

Today, Diane and I are going to see Waitress: The Musical. We saw the movie version of Waitress back in 2007 when it starred Keri Russell as the woman who could bake incredible pies. Of course, the waitress has problems: an abusive husband and a baby on the way. In 2013, Waitress was turned into a musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, and a book by Jessie Nelson. The musical opened on Broadway in 2015 (Diane and her friends saw it). Then the touring company arrived in Buffalo in 2017 and played to sold-out performances (you can read my review of the performance we saw here).

Today we’re going to a local theater group’s performance of Waitress with some of Diane’s retired teacher friends. We’ve enjoyed performances at Musical Faire in the past so this afternoon should be fun. Have you seen Waitress? Did you like it?

SONG LIST:
Act I
“What’s Inside” – Jenna and Company
“Opening Up” – Jenna, Becky, Dawn, Cal and Company
“The Negative” – Becky, Dawn and Jenna
“What Baking Can Do” – Jenna and Company
“Club Knocked Up” – Nurse Norma and Female Ensemble
“Pomatter Pie” – Band †
“When He Sees Me” – Dawn, Jenna, Becky and Company
“It Only Takes a Taste” – Dr. Pomatter and Jenna
“You Will Still Be Mine” – Earl and Jenna
“A Soft Place to Land” – Jenna, Becky and Dawn
“Never Ever Getting Rid of Me” – Ogie, Dawn and Company
“Bad Idea” – Jenna, Dr. Pomatter and Company
Act II
“I Didn’t Plan It” – Becky
“Bad Idea” (Reprise) – Jenna, Dr. Pomatter, Becky, Cal, Dawn, Ogie and Company
“You Matter to Me” – Dr. Pomatter and Jenna
“I Love You Like a Table” – Ogie, Dawn and Company
“Take It From an Old Man” – Joe and Company
“Dear Baby” – Jenna †
“She Used to Be Mine” – Jenna
“Contraction Ballet” – Jenna and Company †
“Everything Changes” – Jenna, Becky, Dawn and Company
“Opening Up” (Finale) – Company