A spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff. That was the Wall Street Journal’s description of the new CBS mystery series, Elsbeth. Carrie Preston returns to her memorable, quirky character, Elsbeth Tascioni, in this new CBS series on Thursday nights at 10 P.M.

Elsbeth was featured in 20 episodes of The Good Wife and The Good Fight. Writers of both series, Michelle and Robert King, binged on Columbo during the Pandemic and then came up with an idea: what if they made Elsbeth a female Columbo?

Along with show runner Johnathan Tolins, the Kings developed a format where Elsbeth moves from Chicago to New York City and works in concert with the police: investigating crime scenes and interviewing witnesses. Supposedly hired as an “outside observer” by the NYPD to monitor staff after too many wrongful-arrest lawsuits, Elsbeth uses her powerful analytics to solve baffling crimes.

Supporting characters include Wendell Pierce as a doubting police captain who is slow to appreciate Elsbeth’s skill set. Elsbeth uses patrol officer Kaya Blanke (Carra Patterson) as a sounding board for her theories of the crime.

Only one episode of Elsbeth has been broadcast so far. Here’s the description: “When a college theater student is mysteriously found dead in her high-rise New York City apartment, Elsbeth immediately suspects foul play and enters a game of wits against the victim’s popular theater director Alex Modarian, who she believes is involved.” Sounds like a Colombo episode, doesn’t it? Are you a fan of Columbo? GRADE: INCOMPLETE, but trending towards a B+

My favorite chapter in Colleen T. Murphy’s marvelous How We Age is Chapter 10: Dracula and Wolverine: How DNA Repair and Cell Replacement Can Help Us Live Long. Murphy discusses the latest research on DNA repair and Cell Replacement that may end up extending our lives and stalling the aging process.

I admit, Murphy sometimes gets deep in the research weeds with some of her descriptions of cutting-edge investigations into the mechanics of aging. But clearly, a lot of research dollars are funding all these exciting projects.

Most of my interest in How We Age centered around how can I affect the aging process so I can have better quality of Life in the years ahead. Murphy’s chapters on diet and longevity suggest some strategies. There’s also this: “…the widespread use of statins has already helped extend lifespans. One could make a similar argument for diabetes drugs, as metabolic disorders rise with age, and anti-diabetes treatments (like metformin) are some of the best candidates for systemic longevity drugs.” (p. 339-340) Bring on Trulicity, Wegovy, and Ozempic!

You can’t read How We Age without coming away with excitement because of the many new treatments and drugs being developed. If we can just hang in there a little longer, our lives can be a whole lot better! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Acknowledgments — ix

Abbreviations — xi

Introduction — 1

1. Ethics and Economics of Longevity: Is It Right to Study Aging? — 6

2. Why Do We Age? — 15

3. Studying the Genetics of Human Longevity: Centenarians and What We Can Learn from Them — 37

4. Long-Lived Species and Longevity Mutants of Model Organisms — 51

5. What Is Aging (and How Can We Measure It)? Biomarkers of Aging and “Quality of Life” Metrics — 71

6. Insulin Signaling, FOXO Targets, and the Regulation of Longevity and Reproduction — 87

7. Dietary Restriction: Nutrient and Genetic Regulation of Longevity and Reproduction 8. Taking out the Trash: Molecular Homeostasis in the Regulation of Longevity — 107

9. Powering Longevity: Mitochondria’s Role in Aging and Longevity — 152

10. Dracula and Wolverine: How DNA Repair and Cell Replacement Can Help Us Live Long — 173

11. Use It or Lose It: Reproductive Aging, the Germline, and Longevity — 193

12. Sex, Flies (and Worms), and Videotape: The Battle of the Sexes — 214

13. I See Dead Flies: Neurons and Sensory Regulation of Longevity — 237

14. Don’t You Forget about Me: What We Are Learning about Cognitive Aging and How to Slow It — 250

15. Lamarck’s Revenge? Transgenerational Inheritance, the “Molecular Clock,” and the Epigenetic Regulation of Longevity — 279

16. Gut Feelings: The Microbiome and Aging — 303

17. Long Life in a Pill? The Future of Longevity: From Bench to Biotech — 319

Notes — 349

Index — 417

I’ve read all the Lisbeth Salander novels from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to this latest novel in the series, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons (2023). Stieg Larsson wrote the first three books in the projected seven novel series. But Larsson died in 2004 leaving only notes on his laptop concerning the future novels. I really liked the movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander(you can read my review here).

I dutifully read David Lagercrantz’s trilogy of post-Stieg Larsson adventures of Lisbeth Salander: The Girl in the Spider’s Web (you can find my review here), The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (you can find my review here), and The Girl Who Lived Twice (you can find my review here).

Now we have Karin Smirnoff continuing the saga of Lisbeth Salander with The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons. Lisbeth Salander is a damaged genius and legendary computer hacker. Smirnoff takes a different strategy than Stieg Larsson and David Lagercrantz and explores Lisbeth Salander’s social side (although some readers might argue that Salander hadn’t shown much of that part of her personality in the previous six novels).

Salander arrives at the small town of Gasskas because she has been named the guardian to her teen-age niece Svala (who possesses many of Salander’s abilities). Svala’s mother has disappeared. A violent motorcycle gang, an armed invasion of a wedding reception, the kidnapping of a young boy, and a larger conspiracy embroil Salander in a deadly plot. Smirnoff’s vision of Salander is very different from Stieg Larsson’s and David Lagercrantz. But, some readers might enjoy this “softer side” of Salander although the conclusion is just as action-packed as the other six books in the series. GRADE: C+

THE MILLENNIUM SERIES:

THE MILLENNIUM SERIES IN ORDER (7 BOOKS)

Denis Villeneuve’s eye-popping Dune, Part Two features an action-packed conclusion to the best movie version of Frank Herbert’s classic SF novel, Dune (1965). In Dune, Part One (you can read my review here) House Atreides is toppled by a House Harkonnen coup orchestrated by Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) and a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling).  Surviving the massacre, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalet) and his pregnant mother  Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) flee into the desert and join the Fremen who have adapted to living on Arrakis.

Arrakis is the only planet with the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe: melange (aka, “spice”), a drug that gives the user a longer life span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness. In some humans, the spice can also unlock prescience, a form of precognition based in genetics but made possible by use of the drug in larger dosages. Among other functions, prescience makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. However, melange is also highly addictive, and withdrawal is fatal.

Paul Atreides slowly learns the way of the Fremen and becomes their leader. His lover, Chani (Zendaya), fears Paul’s ambitions will destroy him and her people. The most compelling character in Dune, Part Two is Austin Butler, not looking like Elvis anymore, as the sociopathic killer, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. With his head shaved bald, skin as white as porcelain, and a lust for killing, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen takes control of Arrakis from his uncle. But the rise of Paul Atreides and the Fremen bring Paul and Feyd-Rautha to a deadly confrontation.

Greig Fraser, who won the Oscar for cinematography for Dune, Part One, tops his work there with stunning use of color and light in Dune, Part Two. There are rumors that Denis Villeneuve might make one more Dune movie, Dune Messiah. I hope he does after viewing this marvelous film! GRADE: A

In her enlightening Introduction, Sarah Bakewell presents one of the risks of being a Humanist today:

“…Pakistani humanIsts have been killed mostly by vigilante mobs, with the authorities looking away. A notorious case occurred in…2017: the student Mashal Khan, who posted on social media as “The Humanist,” was beaten to death by fellow students.” (p. 6)

Bakewell warns that “anti-humanism” is on the rise and threatens democracy and the planet in general. While Bakewell provides a number of definitions of Humanism in her Introduction, the one I liked best is: “Humanists…prefer to guide their lives by their own moral conscience, or by evidence, or by their social or political responsibilities to others, rather than by dogmas justified solely by reference to authority.” (p. 22)

I’ve enjoyed Sarah Bakewell’s work in the past. You can read my review of her AT THE EXISTENTIALIST CAFE: FREEDOM, BEING, AND APRICOT COCKTAILS here. Highly recommended!

Most of Humanly Possible explores humanists from Erasmus to Bertrand Russell, from Voltaire to Zora Neal Hurston. With the current rise in opposition to freedom, and diversity, and women’s rights Bakewell’s book arrives at a key moment to provide hope and strength to defend Humanism. Are you a Humanist? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Only connect! An introduction — 1

1. The land of the living — 25

2. Raising ships — 55

3. Provocateurs and pagans — 86

4. Marvelous network — 120

5. Human stuff — 136

6. Perpetual miracles — 163

7. Sphere for all human beings — 195

8. Unfolding humanity — 220

9. Some dream-country — 248

10. Doctor hopeful — 278

11. The human face — 304

12. The place to be happy — 342

Acknowledgments — 369

Appendix: Declaration of modern humanism (Humanists International, 2022) — 371

NOTES — 375

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS — 433

INDEX — 437

Michael Sims’s The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries (2023) is an anthology of 19th Century mystery stories. Some of the authors may be familiar to you: Ellen Glasgow and Charles W. Chesnutt for example. Others will be new to you as they were to me.

My favorite stories are “The Statement of Jared Johnson,” “The Case of the Pool of Blood in the Pastor’s Study,” and “An Intangible Clue.” In “The Statement of Jared Johnson,” Geraldine Bonner presents a mystifying death of a woman with the janitor of the building, Jared Johnson, accused of her murder. The resolution is clever and a bit surprising.

The story with the best title in The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries is “The Case of the Pool of Blood in the Pastor’s Study” by Auguste Groner. Auguste Groner (1850-1929) started her writing career by publishing historical fiction and children’s books. But she moved on to inventing Josef Muller, the hero of the first series of police detective stories in the German language. In “The Case of the Pool of Blood in the Pastor’s Study” Muller investigates a pool of blood…but no body.

You might remember Anna Katharine Green from her novel The Leavenworth Case. Green also wrote stories about Violet Strange, a wealthy and moody New York City socialite who is drawn to cases that puzzle the police. In “An Intangible Clue,” Strange connects two dissimilar events to solve a murder.

Michael Sims provides detailed introductions to each story in The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries providing information on the writers and putting their stories in context. If you’re a fan of 19th Century mystery stories, you’ll love The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Michael Sims — vii

A Note on the Text — xvii

The hand and word / by Gerald Griffin — 5

Guilty or not guilty? / by Thomas Waters (pseud.) — 41

Hanged by the neck / by Charles Martel (pseud.) — 61

The dead child’s leg / by James McLevy — 75

The judgement of conscience / by Andrew Forrester, Jr. (pseud.) — 91

The red room / by Mary Fortune — 123

Negative evidence / by Richard Dowling — 153

The sheriff’s children / by Charles W. Chestnut — 169

The murder at Troyte’s hill / by C.L. Pirkis — 193

The statement of Jared Johnson / by Geraldine Bonner — 221

A point in morals / by Elle Glasgow — 239

The case of the pool of blood in the pastor’s study / Auguste Groner — 255

An intangible clue / by Anna Katharine Green — 303

Acknowledgments — 325

I use music as a memory jogger. I’m always surprised (and occasionally delighted!) to hear a song I haven’t heard in over 50 years. With the BEST OF THE BUBBLE GUM YEARS (1988) includes some classics like “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” by Ohio Express and a “Little Bit of Soul” by the Music Explosion. Of course, there’s a lot of dreck on this CD, too. “Green Tambourine” by Lemon Pipers remains annoying after all these years. The same with “The Rapper” by The Jagger Z.

Oldies But Goodies, Volume 5 (1986)is somewhat better. I love The Shirelles’ “Mama Said” and “Tossin’ and Turnin’ by Bobby Lewis. I enjoy Dion’s “The Wanderer” but prefer “Teenager in Love.”

How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites here? GRADE: C for Best of the Bubble Gum Years; B- for Oldies But Goodies, Volume 5

Track Listings

TRACK LIST:

1 Since I Don’t Have You — James Beaumont / Joseph Rock / The Skyliners 02:36 

2 Angel Baby — Rosie “Rosalie” Hamlin / Rosie & the Originals 03:36 

3 Little Star — Vito Picone / Manuel Ponce / Arthur Venosa / The Elegants 02:42 

4 A Thousand Stars — Kathy Young 03:12  

5 When We Get Married — The Dreamlovers 02:29 

6 Daddy’s Home  — Shep & the Limelites 02:47 

7 Diamonds and Pearls — The Paradons 02:20  

8 Harlem Shuffle — Bob & Earl 02:53 

9 Mr. Big Stuff — Jean Knight 02:45 

10 The Wanderer  — Dion 02:42 

11 Mama Said — The Shirelles 02:11  

12 Who’s Making Love? — Johnnie Taylor 02:49 

13 Tossin’ and Turnin’  — Bobby Lewis 02:21  

14 Rockin’ Robin — Bobby Day 02:36  

15 Sixty Minute Man — The Dominoes 02:31  

16 Alley Oop — The Hollywood Argyles. 02:43

George Mann presents another anthology of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. The gimmick is that each writer has to choose a minor character in the Holmes Canon and have that character narrate a mystery. The biggest (and maybe outlandish) example is “The Noble Burglar” by James Lovegrove where the narrator…is Toby, the dog from The Sign of Four.

While all the stories in The Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes (2017) are fun to read, a couple stand out. I really enjoyed Andrew Lane’s “The Unexpected Death of the Martian Ambassador” by Andrew Lane where the story is narrated by the pompous Lord Holdhurst (who appeared in “The Adventure of the Navel Treaty”). Also excellent is Mark A. Latham’s “The Curious Case of Vanished Youth” where Langdale Pike (from “The Adventure of the Three Gables”) where a character that Watson dislikes is central to the mystery’s solution.

Not a month goes by when a Sherlock Holmes anthology (or a collection of H.P. Lovecraft pastiches) doesn’t show up in my mailbox. The Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes is better than most. If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan you’ll want to check this out. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The last visitor / Stephen Henry — 7

The docklands murder / Dan Watters — 29

Sherlock Holmes and the beast of Bodmin / Jonathan Green — 53

The case of the blind man’s spectacles / Marcia Wilson — 79

The unfortunate guest / Iain McLaughlin — 103

The unexpected death of the martian ambassador / Andrew Lane — 125

No good deed / David Marcum — 149

The curious case of vanished youth / Mark A. Latham — 179

The curse of the blue diamond / Sam Stone — 219

The pilot fish / Stuart Douglas — 247

The case of the scented lady / Nik Vincent — 277

Harlingdon’s hair / Michelle Ruda — 297

The noble burglar / James Lovegrove — 331

The second mask / Philip Purser-Hallard — 353

I was a big fan of the first season of REACHER on AMAZON Prime Video (you can read my review here). REACHER was based on the first Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, The Killing Floor (1997). For some inexplicable reason, REACHER, Season 2 is based on the 11th book in the Reacher series, Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)–the Third Season of REACHER will be based on Persuader (2003), the 7th book in the series.

Like Reacher, Season 1 the AMAZON PRIME Video version stays fairly close to Lee Child’s novel. For some reason, the team behind Reacher, Season 2 moved to main location for the action from Los Angeles to New York City. The casino scenes were moved from Vegas to Atlantic City. Occasionally, an additional violent scene is added to increase the body count and add to the action.

In a series of flashbacks, we learn that Reacher–then a Major in the Army–was put in charge of a Special Investigation unit. Reach chose seven soldiers with various skill sets to help him investigate. Reacher’s team consists of Frances Neagley,  Calvin Franz,  Tony Swan,  David O’Donnell,  Karla Dixon, Manuel Orozco, and Jorge Sanchez.

In the present, Neagley, now a Private Investigator, figures out a clever way to contract Reacher who has no fixed address. When Reacher meets up with Neagley, she tells him that Franz is dead. Neagley has tried to contact the rest of the team, but no one other than Reacher has responded.

The plot becomes more tangled as Reacher and Neagley learn other members of their Army team are dead–thrown out of a helicopter after being tortured. This engages Reacher who now seeks vengeance.

This eight-episode series was almost as good as Reacher, Season 1. Alan Ritchson is an ideal actor to portray Reacher: big, strong, and powerful. Maria Sten plays Neagley as smart and capable. I also liked Serinda Swan as Karla Dixon, a forensic accountant who can fight, who is Reacher’s love interest this season. If you’re in the mood for an entertaining action series, I recommend Reacher, Season 2. GRADE: B+

“It has been observed that critics who write about Shakespeare reveal more about themselves than about Shakespeare, but perhaps that is the great value drama of the Shakespearean kind, namely, that whatever he may see taking place on stage, its final effect upon each spectator is a self-revelation.” — W. H. Auden (p. 4)

I’ve loved Shakespeare since I took a course on his plays at Marquette University back in 1968. Since then, I’ve read all of Shakespeare’s plays and have seen all of them either live or on DVD. Eliot A. Cohen is the Robert E. Osgood Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Cohen was also a counselor of the Department of State. The Hollow Crown is the result of Cohen teaching a graduate class in Shakespeare for policy makers.

“I have closely observed and occasionally worked with presidents, senators, foreign ministers, counselors, spies, and generals at home and abroad, not to mention corporate executives, provosts, and university presidents.” (p. 1) Cohen mixes his observations of Shakespeare plays with examples from the world of politics and business.

For those of you who love Shakespeare’s comedies, you’ll not find much in the way of mirth in these pages. Cohen focuses on characters like Richard III and MacBeth who seek power and when they get power, they use it in brutal ways.

The plays that receive the most attention from Cohen are Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2) and Henry V. The growth of Hal from a young nobleman interested in chasing women and drinking to a monarch show how leaders rise, rule, (and later fall).

If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, you’ll enjoy all the quotes Cohen provides from various plays. Cohen highlights passages from Richard III that I had forgotten about. Exercising power always costs and Shakespeare shows those consequences in his plays. The Hollow Crown is a terrific book with much to ponder. Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: The arc of power — 1

Why Shakespeare? — 13

Part I: acquiring power:

Inheriting it — 39

Acquiring it — 57

Seizing it — 81

Part II: exercising power:

Inspiration — 109

Manipulation — 133

Murder — 159

Part III: losing power:

Innocence and arrogance — 181

Magic and self-deception — 203

Walking away from it — 225

Shakespeare’s political vision — 247

Acknowledgments — 255

Notes — 259

Index — 269