With Ruth Rendell’s recent death, I thought I would honor her memory by watching this video collection I picked up years ago. Here’s what you get for about $15 on AMAZON:
Master of the Moor—Since boyhood, Stephen Whalby (Colin Firth) has sought solitude on the wild, windy moor. But his taciturn ways and familiarity with the wilderness make him the prime suspect in a series of shocking murders. Approx. 154 min.

Vanity Dies Hard—After her best friend mysteriously disappears, Alice Fielding (Eleanor David) begins to suspect foul play, perhaps even murder. And the killer may have targeted Alice herself as the next victim. Approx. 155 min.

The Secret House of Death—Newly divorced Susan Townsend (Amanda Redman) makes a grisly discovery in her suburban neighborhood and soon becomes involved in a potentially deadly intrigue. Approx. 103 min.

The Double—Two women, identical in appearance but totally different in personality, compete for the affections of one man. Which will lose love and perhaps her life? Approx. 103 min.

And, as if that weren’t enough, the DVD SPECIAL FEATURES include a Ruth Rendell biography and cast filmographies! This is a nice package at a great price.

Diane and I upgraded to the new Time-Warner Enhanced DVR. Our old DVR would only record two TV programs at the same time. This Enhanced DVR allows you to record up to six TV programs at the same time. And, this new Enhanced DVR gives us the ability to save 150 hours of high-definition programming on its 1-terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) hard drive. You never know when you’re going to have to record over a 100 hours of Good Stuff! Of course, this all comes at a price: $3 a month. We think it’s worth it.

That Which Should Not Be is another H. P. Lovecraft pastiche. Brett J. Talley brings together all the elements I like: Miskatonic University, a forbidden book, a quest to learn secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos, and dark menaces. If you’re looking for a quick, creepy read you’ll find it in That Which Should Not Be I like the threatening cover on this book, too! GRADE: B

Tony Stark creates what he thinks will be a device that will insure Earth’s safety, but instead the result is Ultron (voiced by James Spader: a powerful Artificial Intelligence that decides the best way to deal with Humanity is to destroy it. There ware some great battle scenes. A couple new characters show up on the already crowded screen. There’s a love interest. And, of course, there’s Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Captain America, the Black Widow, and the Hulk. What more could you ask for in a Summer Action Movie? GRADE: B+

Bill Granger is best known for his spy series, “The November Man.” But this versatile writer also wrote three mysteries about a former sports writer named Drover. Drover was involved in a messy gambling investigation. He was cleared, but his sports writing career was over. Drover found work as an investigator for a Las Vegas bookie. In the first book in the series, Drover (1991), Drover investigates the fixing of a NFL game: Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints. In the second book, Drover and the Zebras (1992), Drover looks into a point-shaving scheme involving a nationally ranked college basketball team. And in Drover and the Designated Hitter (1994), Drover investigates betting on Major League Baseball games. If you’re a fan of sports mysteries, you’ll enjoy the Drover series.

This new box set celebrates one of the great singers of the 20th Century. Everything has been remastered and sounds great! This chronological collection starts with Sinatra’s first recording session in 1939 and ends in 1979. This box set includes Sinatra’s iconic recordings If you need one Sinatra collection, this should be it. This marvelous deluxe edition also features an 80-page booklet about Sinatra’s career with a new essay by Sinatra historian Charles Pignone. This is about as good as it gets. Do you have a favorite Sinatra song?
Track List:
Disc 1
1 All or Nothing At All (2:59)
2 I’ll Never Smile Again (3:11)
3 Street of Dreams (2:41)
4 You’ll Never Know (3:01)
5 If You Are But a Dream (3:05)
6 Saturday Night (Is The Lonliest Night Of The Week) (2:44)
7 Nancy (With The Laughing Face) (3:13)
8 Oh, What It Seemed To Be (2:59)
9 Five Minutes More (2:36)
10 Time After Time (3:11)
11 Night and Day (3:40)
12 The Song is You (3:16)
13 I’m a Fool To Want You (2:57)
14 The Birth of the Blues (3:28)
15 Why Try To Change Me Now (2:49)
16 I’ve Got the World On a String (2:10)
17 Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me (3:07)
18 My Funny Valentine (2:31)
19 They Can’t Take That Away From Me (1:58)
20 I Get a Kick Out of You (2:53)
21 Young At Heart (2:50)
22 Last Night When We Were Young (3:17)
23 Three Coins In the Fountain (3:04)
24 Just One of Those Things (3:13)
25 All of Me (2:08)
26 Someone To Watch Over Me (2:55)
27 I Get Along Without You Very Well (3:41)

Disc 2
1 This Love of Mine (3:35)
2 In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (2:59)
3 Learnin’ the Blues (3:01)
4 Love and Marriage (2:38)
5 (Love is) the Tender Trap (2:57)
6 Love is Here To Stay (2:39)
7 You Make Me Feel So Young (2:55)
8 Memories of You (2:52)
9 I’ve Got You Under My Skin (3:43)
10 Too Marvelous For Words (2:28)
11 (How Little It Matters) How Little We Know (2:39)
12 I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night (3:24)
13 I Wish I Were In Love Again (2:28)
14 The Lady is a Tramp (3:14)
15 From This Moment On (3:49)
16 Laura (3:27)
17 Where Are You? (3:30)
18 Witchcraft (2:53)
19 Bewitched (3:38)
20 All the Way (2:52)
21 Moonlight In Vermont (3:32)
22 Come Fly With Me (3:19)
23 Put Your Dreams Away (3:12)
24 Angel Eyes (3:43)
25 Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry (3:59)

Disc 3
1 Only the Lonely (4:08)
2 One For My Baby (and One More For the Road) (4:24)
3 Something’s Gotta Give (2:38)
4 Come Dance With Me (2:30)
5 Here’s That Rainy Day (3:34)
6 A Cottage For Sale (3:15)
7 High Hopes (2:41)
8 The Nearness of You (2:42)
9 I’ve Got a Crush On You (2:16)
10 Nice ‘N’ Easy (2:45)
11 When the World Was Young (3:47)
12 In the Still of the Night (3:26)
13 The Second Time Around (3:01)
14 Without a Song (3:39)
15 Love Walked In (2:21)
16 Stardust (2:49)
17 Come Rain or Come Shine (4:06)
18 The Girl Next Door (3:18)
19 At Long Last Love (2:14)
20 The Very Thought of You (3:32)
21 Pennies From Heaven (3:27)
22 Ol’ Man River (4:25)
23 I Have Dreamed (2:58)
24 Luck Be a Lady (5:14)

Disc 4
1 The Way You Look Tonight (3:22)
2 My Kind of Town (3:10)
3 The Best is Yet To Come (2:55)
4 Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (2:28)
5 Softly, As I Leave You (2:52)
6 It Was A Very Good Year (4:27)
7 The September Of My Years (3:14)
8 Moonlight Serenade (3:27)
9 Strangers In The Night (2:37)
10 Summer Wind (2:55)
11 That’s Life (3:07)
12 I Concentrate On You (2:38)
13 The Girl From Ipanema (3:16)
14 Drinking Again (3:15)
15 Somethin’ Stupid (2:40)
16 The World We Knew (Over And Over) (2:48)
17 Cycles (3:12)
18 My Way (4:35)
19 Wave (3:21)
20 All My Tomorrows (4:35)
21 Forget To Remember (2:58)
22 It Had To Be You (3:53)
23 All Of You (1:42)
24 Theme From New York, New York (3:27)
25 The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (2:36)

If you’re in the mood for some mystery stories set in New York City, Lawrence Block’s Dark City Lights fits the bill. Here are 24 stories set in various parts of NYC with a variety of crimes. I especially liked “Hannibal’s Elephants” by Robert Silverberg and Lawrence Block’s own story about his favorite hit man, “Keller the Dogkiller.” As usual in collections like this, the quality varies but there are enough good stories here to make it worth your while. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A FOREWARD By Lawrence Block
AMSTERDAM IN THE 90s By Ed Park
THE BIG SNIP By Thomas Pluck
BOWERY STATION, 3:15 A.M. By Warren Moore
CHLOE By Jerrold Mundis
THE DEAD CLIENT By Parenell Hall
THE GARMENTO AND THE MOVIE STAR By Jonathan Santlofer
HANNIBAL’S ELEPHANTS By Robert Silverberg
JIMMY TAKES A TRIP By Elaine Kagan
KNOCK-OUT WHIST By David Levien
THE LADY UPSTAIRS By Jill D. Bloch
MIDNIGHT IN THE PARK WITH HARRY By June Dentinger
OLD HANDS By Erin Mitchell
THE SAFEST FORM OF CONVEYANCE By Jim Fusilli
SEE/SAW SOMETHING By Peter Carlaftes
THE SOLDIER, THE DANCER, AND ALL THAT GLITTERS By Tom Callahan
SPIT THE TRUTH By Eve Kagan
THIS POSE IS A PROBLEM By Bill Bernico
THE TOUR GUIDE by Kat Georges
WANG DANG DOODLE By Annette Meyers
WEDNESDAY IS VIKTOR’S By Brian Koppelman
WET DOG ON A RAINY DAY by S. J. Rosan
WHY I TOOK THE JOB By Peter Hochstein
KELLER THE DOGKILLER By Lawrence Block
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

The Steve McQueen Collection qualifies as “The Bargain of the Week.” I bought this box set at Wal-Mart for $14.96. There are FOUR Blu-ray movies in this collection: The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, The Thomas Crown Affair, and The Sand Pebbles. Here are four great films for a little more than $3.50 per Blu-ray movie. Which of these classic movies is your favorite?

I read a reference to La Croix Sparkling Water in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago. The writer refered to La Croix as “the best water in the world.” I figured that was just marketing hyperbole. Then I saw a case of La Croix in BJ’s Warehouse for a pittance. I bought it and sampled the lemon, lime, and raspberry flavors. Delicious and refreshing! I’m not a big sparkling water fan, but La Croix has just the right blend of bubbles and flavor. Highly recommended!

Kinky Boots comes to town, finally. This musical comedy is just what we need to lift our spirits after the Winter we’ve endured. The music by Cyndi Lauper is supposed to be fun. We’re seeing Kinky Boots at Sheas Performing Arts Center during today’s matinee performance. The show is sold out. Have you seen Kinky Boots? What did you think?

UPDATE: We enjoyed Kinky Boots. Plenty of high-energy singing and dancing! The sell-out crowded laughed a lot. GRADE: B+