This holiday collection from 2001 features Bill Crider’s “The Empty Manger” (a Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery), Terrance Faherty’s “The Headless Magi” (with metaphysical sleuth Owen Keanne), Aileen Schumacher’s “Christmas Cache” (starring Tory Trafers, New Mexico engineer and part-time detective), and Wendi Lee’s “Stocking Stuffer” (with Angela Matelli, a Boston private investigator). I enjoyed reading all these stories and you will, too. Copies are available online at a pittance.

Gracepoint, the American version of the British mini-series Broadchurch, concludes tonight. The producers promised that Gracepoint would have a DIFFERENT murderer than Broadchurch did. Comparing the two mini-series, 95% of the scenes are the same. David Tennant plays the lead police detective in both versions. Tennant is scruffy and dogged. He was part of a botched murder investigation before the Gracepoint murder of a young boy so Tennant’s character seeks redemption by solving this crime. Anna Gunn plays Tennant’s fellow detective, Ellie Miller, whose son was best friends with the murdered boy. I’m guessing Kevin Rankin as Paul Coates, the local priest, is the killer this time. FOX has “cancelled” Gracepoint. But the BBC seems to be working on Broadchurch 2. I’ve enjoyed both versions. Maybe Netflix or AMAZON will pick up this fine series.

The first album I wore out from playing it too much was Breakfast at Tiffiny’s. After that, I sought out soundtracks that had Henry Mancini’s name of them. Who can resist the music from The Pink Panther? Or Peter Gunn? All of these classic soundtracks have been totally remastered and sound great! Give that music lover on your holiday gift list this box set and reap the accolades for many years in the future!
ALBUMS LIST
1. THE PINK PANTHER (1964) / THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER (1975)
2. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY S (1961) / CHARADE (1963)
3. HATARI! (1962) / OKLAHOMA CRUDE (1973)
4. WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY? (1966) / HIGH TIME (1960)
5. EXPERIMENT IN TERROR (1962) / DARLING LILI (1970)
6. GUNN (1967) / WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE? (1978)
7. TWO FOR THE ROAD (1967) / ARABESQUE (1966)
8. THE GREAT RACE (1965) / ME, NATALIE (1969)
9. THE PARTY (1968) / VISIONS OF EIGHT (1973)

The current format for most Network and Cable shows is to take “breaks” during the season. Tonight, The Flash on CW and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC present their “Fall Finales.” The Flash will take on the murderer of his mother (according to the Previews) while the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. descend into the deadly underground alien city under San Juan where they need to take the McGuffin–er, The Obelisk–to the Temple. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically a long advertisement for The Avengers 2 movie coming out in May 2015. In January, Agent Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. retro-series, will take the ABC Tuesday at 9 P.M. time slot for eight episodes until Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns. If you’re looking for some diverting TV based on comic books, these two shows fit the bill. You can find past episodes online or ON DEMAND.

My favorite sections of The Art of the English Murder are “Enter the Detective” and “The Golden Age.” Lucy Worsley traces the history of crime fiction in England. I was less interested in the true crime examples Worsley explores. If you’re a fan of English mystery fiction, you’ll find The Art of the English Murder a breezy tour of the genre. For a deeper and more detailed survey, I’d recommend Julian Symons’ Bloody Murder – From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History (1972) (US title: Mortal Consequences). GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
PART ONE: HOW TO ENJOY A MURDER
1. A Connoisseur in Murder
2. The Highway
3. The Watchmen
4. The Murder Circuit
5. House of Wax
6. True Crime
7. Charles Dickens, Crime Writer
8. The Ballad of Maria Marten
9. Stage Fright
10. The Bermondsey Horror
PART TWO: ENTER THE DETECTIVE
11. Middle-Class Murderers and Medical Gentlemen
12. The Good Wife
13. Detective Fever
14. A New Sensation
15. ‘It is worse than a crime, Violet…’
16. Monsters and Men
17. The Adventure of the Forensic Scientist
18. Revelations of a Lady Detective
PART THREE: THE GOLDEN AGE
19. Women Between the Wars
20. The Duchess of Death
21. A Life Less Ordinary
22. The Great Game
23. Snobbery with Violence
24. The Dangerous Edge of Things

Postscript: ‘The Decline of English Murder’

Acknowledgements
Sources
Index

The 7-5 Buffalo Bills face a must-win game in Denver this afternoon. Peyton Manning provides a major defensive headache. The Broncos are favored by 10 points. The Bills need to pull a Major Upset to stay in the Playoff conversation. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist covers a lot of ground: reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey, The Help, Django, and The Hunger Games. A disturbing story of her rape. Takes on race in America. Plenty of personal details. But my favorite essay in Bad Feminist is “Typical First Year Professor” where Roxane Gay experiences all of the challenges of teaching college students that I do. You’ll find that Roxane Gay is a complicated person with a lot on her mind. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
[INTRODUCTION]
Feminism (n.): Plural
[ME]
Feel Me, See Me, Hear Me, Reach Me
Peculiar Benefits
Typical First Year Professor
To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically
{GENDER & SEXUALITY]
How to Be Friends with Another Woman
Girls, Girls, Girls
I Once Was Miss America
Not Here to Make Friends
How We All Lose
Reaching for Catharsis: Getting Fat Right (or Wrong) and Diana Spechler’s Skinny
The Carless Language of Sexual Violence
What We Hunger For
The Illusion of Safety/The Safety of Illusion
The Spectacle of Broken Men
A Tale of Three Coming Out Stories
Beyond the Measure of Men
Some Jokes are Funnier Than Others
Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them
Blurred Lines, Indeed
The Trouble With Prince Charming, or He Who Trespassed Against Us
[RACE & ENTERTAINMENT]
The Solace of Preparing Fried Foods and Other Quaint Remembrances from 1960s Mississippi: Thoughts on The Help
Surviving Django
Beyond the Struggle Narrative
The Morality of Tyler Perry
The Last Day of a Young Black Man
We Less Is More
[POLITICS, GENDER & RACE]
The Politics of Respectability
When Twitter Does What Journalism Cannot
The Alienable Rights of Women
Holding Out for a Hero
A Tale of Two Profiles
The Racism We All Carry
Tragedy. Call. Compassion. Response.
[BACK TO ME]
Bad Feminist: Take One
Bad Feminist: Take Two

Acknowledgements

Who besides Hank Davis knew there were so many science fiction stories about Christmas! Here are two volumes of Yuletide stories with a wide variety so there’s something here for everyone. Some of the stories are classics, some are recent. I liked Manly Wade Wellman’s “On the Hills and Everywhere” as well as S. N. Dyer’s “Space Aliens Saved My Marriage.” If you’re looking for something to ignite your Holiday Cheer, these stories will do it!
TABLES OF CONTENTS:
VOLUME 1:
KRIS KRINGLE GOES KOSMIC by Hank Davis
DANCE IN BLUE by Catherine Asaro
LOBO, ACTUALLY by Mark L. Van Name
ON THE HILLS AND EVERYWHERE by Manly Wade Wellman
ANGEL IN FLIGHT by Sarah H. Hoyt
MAD HOLIDAY by George O. Smith
THE GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES: DETROIT CHRISTMAS by Larry Correia
THE VAMPIRES WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS by S. N. Dyer
AND VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS . . . by S. N. Dyer
THE SEASON OF FOREGIVENESS by Poul Anderson
DUMB FEAST by Mercedes Lackey
ROADS by Seabury Quinn
NEWSLETTER by Connie Willis
VOLUME 2:
•Introduction: the shape of Christmas to come / by Hank Davis
• Angel of light / by Joe Haldeman
• And to all a good night / by Tony Daniel
• Christmas card / by Connie Willis
• Away in a manger / by Wen Spencer
• Happy Birthday, dear Jesus / by Frederik Pohl
• Shepherds and wolves / by Sarah A. Hoyt
• In the psirit of Christmas / Tee Morris
• Wormhole magic / Marianne Plumridge
• A Christmas in amber / by Scott William Carter
• Space aliens saved my marriage / by S. N. Dyer
• Zwarte Piet’s tale / by Allen Steele
• How Thorvald the bloody-minded saved Christmas / By Esther Friesner
• Julian : a Christmas Storu / by Robert Charles Wilson.

You might might not think that a book with the title of Easy Death would be a Christmas book, but you’d be surprised. “Daniel Boyd” (alter-ego of famous DAPA-EM contributor Dan Stumpf) delivers an exciting armored car robbery, but of course there are complications. Getting away with the money in midst of a Christmas blizzard is just the beginning of the problems. The police pursuit and the schemes of competitors makes for edge-of-your-seat suspense. If you’re looking for a thriller with a dash of holiday cheer, pick up a copy of Easy Death.

To check out my review of the “Daniel Boyd” western, ‘Nada, just click here.

The strength of Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions are in the examples Gerd Gigerenzer provides to interpreting medical information. His discussion of the PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) test to detect prostate cancer should be required reading. The same for interpreting the risks of breast cancer from mammogram results. I also found the data on investing in the Stock Market useful. If you’re interested in making better decisions, it starts with understanding the information affecting the decision. Risk Savvy includes plenty of practical examples and advice to help improve decision making. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Part I The Psychology of Risk p. ix
1 Are People Stupid? p. 1
2 Certainty Is an Illusion p. 17
3 Defensive Decision Making p. 43
4 Why Do We Fear What’s Unlikely to Kill Us? p. 67
Part II Getting Risk Savvy p. 83
5 Mind Your Money p. 85
6 Leadership and Intuition p. 106
7 Fun and Games p. 125
8 Getting to the Heart of Romance p. 142
9 What Doctors Need to Know p. 159
10 Health Care: No Decision About Me Without Me p. 187
11 Banks, Cows, and Other Dangerous Things p. 225
Part III Start Early p. 243
12 Revolutionize School p. 245
Acknowledgments p. 263
Glossary p. 265
Notes p. 279
References p. 297
Index p. 311