It looks like Ed Gorman will be heading home from the Mayo Clinic. Our best wishes go out to him. In the March issue of Mystery Scene magazine, Ed wrote an article on “My 10 Favorite John D. MacDonald Standalone Novels.” And here’s the list:
1. Dead Low Tide
2. Soft Touch
3. Deadly Welcome
4. Murder in the Wind
5. The Executioners
6. Slam the Big Door
7. The End of the Night
8. A Key to the Suite
9. A Flash of Green
10. The Drowner

Last week, I reviewed Number 10, The Drowner. This week, it’s Number 9, A Flash of Green from 1962. A Flash of Green is set in the 1960s when the Florida real estate market was exploding. A conservation group managed to turn back a group of developers who wanted to turn a pristine bay into a housing development. But now, two years later, another group of businessmen wants to develop the bay. A Flash of Green shows how politics and business interests can subvert the common good, how corruption at the highest levels blurs the ethics of even Good People. Although this novel is set in the Sixties, the political techniques are no different now than they were back then. Only now we have Facebook and Twitter to help the process along. Bill Crider says a movie based on A Flash of Green came out in the 1980s, but I haven’t seen it. I will be looking for it. You can read Roger Ebert’s review of the movie version of A Flash of Green here (thanks for the link, Bill!)

In Richard Russo’s Introduction to My Bookstore, Russo writes about his early bookstore experiences buying Ken Holt and Rick Brant books. Of the 84 favorite bookstores presented in this book, I’ve only visited three of them. Mick Cochrane praises Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo (I’ve been in there a hundred times). Pete Hamill and Francine Prose laud The Stand bookstore in New York City. And Edith Pearlman writes about Brookline Bookstore where I go every time we visit Katie. Sadly, I suspect half of these bookstores will be gone in the next 10 years given the relentless growth of ebooks. GRADE: B+
Table of Contents
Introduction………………..xi
Martha Ackmann The Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA………………..1
Isabel Allende Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA………………..7
Rick Atkinson Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C………………..11
Wendell Berry Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY………………..16
Jeanne Birdsall Broadside Bookshop, Northampton, MA………………..19
Rick Bragg The Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham, AL………………..22
Charles Brandt Chapter One Bookstore, Ketchum, ID………………..28
Douglas Brinkley BookPeople, Austin, TX………………..32
Liam Callanan Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI………………..36
Ron Carlson Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ………………..42
Kate Christensen WORD, Brooklyn, NY………………..45
Carmela Ciuraru The Community Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY………………..48
Meg Waite Clayton Books Inc., Palo Alto, CA………………..52
Jon Clinch Northshire Bookstore, Manchester, VT………………..58
Mick Cochrane Talking Leaves Books, Buffalo, NY………………..62
Ron Currie, Jr. Longfellow Books, Portland, ME………………..67
Angela Davis-Gardner Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, NC………………..72
Ivan Doig University Book Store, Seattle, WA………………..78
Laurent Dubois The Regulator Bookshop, Durham, NC………………..82
Timothy Egan The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA………………..88
Dave Eggers Green Apple Books, San Francisco, CA………………..91
Louise Erdrich Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis, MN………………..95
Jonathan Evison Eagle Harbor Book Co., Bainbridge Island, WA………………..98
Kathleen Finneran Left Bank Books, St Louis, MO………………..101
Fannie Flagg Page & Palette, Fairhope, AL………………..112
Ian Frazier Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, NJ………………..116
Mindy Friddle Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC………………..120
David Fulmer Eagle Eye Book Shop, Decatur, GA………………..123
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA………………..127
Peter Geye Micawber’s, St. Paul, MN………………..131
Albert Goldbarth Watermark Books and Café, Wichita, KS………………..137
John Grisham That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, AR………………..141
Pete Hamill Strand Book Store, New York, NY………………..144
Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA………………..148
Elin Hilderbrand Nantucket Bookworks, Nantucket, MA………………..152
Ann Hood Island Books, Middletown, RI………………..156
Pico Iyer Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara, CA………………..161
Ward Just Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Vineyard Haven, MA………………..171
Lesley Kagen Next Chapter Bookshop, Mequon, WI………………..174
Stephanie Kallos Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, WA………………..178
Larry Kane Chester County Book & Music Company, West Chester, PA………………..183
Laurie R. King Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA………………..189
Katrina Kittle Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI………………..194
Scott Lasser Explore Booksellers, Aspen, CO………………..198
Ann Haywood Leal Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT………………..201
Caroline Leavitt McNally Jackson Books, New York, NY………………..206
Mike Leonard The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka, IL………………..209
Robert N. Macomber The Muse Book Shop, DeLand, FL………………..214
Jill McCorkle Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC………………..217
Mameve Medwed Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA………………..221
Wendell and Florence Minor The Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Depot, CT………………..226
Barry Moser Lemuria, Jackson, MS………………..231
Howard Frank Mosher Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, VT………………..237
Arthur Nersesian St. Mark’s Bookshop, New York, NY………………..243
Kate Niles Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, CO………………..247
Ann Packer The Capitola Book Café, Capitola, CA………………..252
Chuck Palahniuk Powell’s City of Books, Portland, OR………………..255
Ann Patchett McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI………………..261
Edith Pearlman Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA………………..266
Jack Pendarvis Square Books, Oxford, MS………………..269
Francine Prose Strand Book Store, New York, NY………………..274
Ron Rash City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC………………..277
Tom Robbins Village Books, Bellingham, WA………………..279
Adam Ross Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN………………..282
Carrie Ryan Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC………………..286
Lisa See Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena CA………………..290
Brian Selznick Warwick’s, La Jolla, CA………………..295
Mahbod Seraji Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park, CA………………..299
Nancy Shaw Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, MI………………..302
Jeff Smith The Book Loft, Columbus, OH………………..305
Lee Smith Purple Crow Books, Hillsborough, NC………………..308
Les Standiford Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL………………..313
Nancy Thayer Mitchell’s Book Corner, Nantucket, MA………………..319
Michael Tisserand Octavia Books, New Orleans, LA………………..322
Luis Alberto Urrea Anderson’s Bookshops, Naperville, IL………………..327
Abraham Verghese Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA………………..332
Audrey Vernick BookTowne, Manasquan, NJ………………..336
Matt Weiland Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY………………..340
Stephen White Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO………………..344
Joan Wickersham The Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH………………..353
Terry Tempest Williams The King’s English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, UT………………..357
Simon Winchester The Bookloft, Great Barrington, MA………………..36

I first encountered The Kassa Gambit by M. C. Planck while reading Carl Anderson’s comments on Clarksworld here where M. C. Planck talks about the influence Jack Vance had on his writing. The Kassa Gambit begins with an attack on the farming planet of Kassa. The defenseless planet is bombed into rubble. Prudence Falling, the Captain of a tramp starship engaged in interstellar trade, is drawn into the Kassa recovery. She makes a critical find which points to possible aliens behind the attack. Meanwhile, Kyle Daspar, a police investigator from Altair Prime, suspects a more convoluted plot. If you enjoy space opera, you’ll enjoy M.C. Planck’s first novel. GRADE: B

I somehow neglected to read Truman Capote’s novella, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” when it was first published in Esquire back in 1958 (of course, I was only nine years old). My parents bought the soundtrack of Breakfast at Tiffany’s with the great Mancini music and Johnny Mercer’s classic, “Moon River.” I must have played that soundtrack a thousand times. Last week, I listened to a bit of ON POINT on NPR which featured a discussion of the new play, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, that was closer to Capote’s novella than the film version. So, I sat down and read the novella. In Capote’s version, Holly Golightly is an American geisha. She entertains men for money, but rarely sleeps with men (“only 11 times”). For 1958, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was Hot Stuff. Hints of sex, plenty of gay and lesbian references, and a drug sub-plot. If the play follow’s Capote’s novella, it will be dark indeed.

When Lincoln took office, the main role of the federal government was to deliver mail. The government also conducted foreign policy, defended the frontier with a small army, and collected import duties, but primarily, Washington was a post office. By the end of the Civil War, the government supported an army of a million men, carried a national debt of $2.5 billion, distributed public lands, printed a national currency, and collected an array of internal taxes. (p. 302) David Goldfield’s brilliant history of the Civil War is the best one-volume analysis of our tragic conflict that I’ve ever read. Goldfield shows how the build-up to the Civil War happened. He details the major events of the Civil War without getting bogged down in just a litany of battles (although his vivid descriptions of the carnage will cause your stomach to churn). There’s no sugar-coating of what war is like here.

Goldfield’s presentation of post-Civil War America is also graphic. Here’s how our ancestors dealt with Indians:
Some 30 or 40 squaws and children were hiding in a hole for protection. They sent out a little girl six years old with a white flag on a stick. She was shot and killed, all the others in the the hole were killed…I saw quite a number of infants in arms killed along with their mothers. (p. 447) This was a brutal time in our history. America Aflame is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. GRADE: A

MAD MEN starts its sixth season tonight with a 2-hour opening episode (9 P.M. EDT on AMC, check your local listings for times in your area). Although I’m not fond of the soap opera aspects of MAD MEN, I find myself fascinated by the characters and the plots. Advertising is a shady business (basically telling lies) so having so many flawed characters spinning their stories just adds to the drama. I’m amazed MAD MEN has been able to keep their talented cast together for so many years. The series ends next year and I’m already missing it.

John Beilein, coach of Michigan’s men’s basketball team, is a local guy. Beilein grew up and played high school basketball in Newfane (a tiny town about 20 miles from my house). Beilein coached at my College before he got his chance at a Division 1 job at Canisius College in Buffalo. Then, it was off to West Virginia and then to Michigan. John Beilein has the support of Western NY basketball fans, but I don’t think that will be enough for the Wolverines to upset Syracuse. Syracuse is peaking at exactly the right time. I’m picking them to play in the Championship game Monday night against Louisville. Who are you picking?

Ed Gorman, wonderful writer and fellow FFBer, is presently being treated at the Mayo Clinic. You can leave your well-wishes for Ed by going here and following the instructions. The March 2013 issue of Mystery Scene magazine has Ed Gorman’s “My 10 Favorite John D. MacDonald Standalone Novels.” I thought I might honor Ed by reviewing Ed’s JDM picks for the next ten FFBs. Here is Ed’s list:
1. Dead Low Tide
2. Soft Touch
3. Deadly Welcome
4. Murder in the Wind
5. The Executioners
6. Slam the Big Door
7. The End of the Night
8. A Key to the Suite
9. A Flash of Green
10. The Drowner

As I’m sure you figured out, I’ll be reviewing these novels in countdown order. So, let’s start with Number 10: The Drowner from 1963. Lucille Hanson, separated from an unfaithful husband, has a $106,000 secret. When Lucille’s body shows up floating off the Florida coast, her death attracts private investigator Paul Stanial. Stanial suspects Lucille’s drowning wasn’t an accident but murder. John D. MacDonald presents a satisfying story of double-dealing and deception.

John Kenny’s entertaining novel will appeal to fans of MAD MEN. Finbar Dolan, the narrator of True in Advertising, works for a major ad agency. One of their clients, Snugglies Diapers, wants to run a commercial during the Super Bowl. But, Finbar and his team, have only a short time to Make It Happen with Christmas looming. Kenny captures the manic energy of advertising and the zaniness of the commercials. I was less interested in Finbar’s dysfunctional relationships and his dying father. Kenny’s background in advertising brings plenty of Real World experience to what actually goes on behind the cameras. Check out what Kenny has to say about his novel below. GRADE: B

The past couple months I’ve been plagued with cracked and chipped fingernails. Whether it was caused by the long, cold, dismal winter or my attempt to shed a few pounds by changing my diet, the result was annoyingly thin and weak fingernails. I checked the Mayo Clinic website and discovered that taking daily supplements of biotin could produce stronger fingernails. So I bought a bottle of biotin and popped a capsule daily. Within a week, I noticed the difference. My fingernails were stronger. They weren’t chipping or cracking any more. If you have weak fingernails, give biotin a try! It worked for me.