Against a backdrop of preparations for a possible invasion of England by the French, Matthew Shardlake investigates the case of two children who became wards of a wealthy landowner. Shardlake is a lawyer whose passions are engaged by the dark secrets buried in the court records and the political corruption that reaches right into Henry VIII’s court. This is the fifth Shardlake novel in a top-notch series of historical mysteries. Sansom brings the 16th Century alive (you would NOT want to live there!). There’s plenty of historical detail, but the history never gets in the way of the mysteries. If you’re in the mood for an gripping historical mystery novel, I highly recommend Heartstone. GRADE: A

Pioneers of Television on PBS tonight will feature crime dramas. I’m looking forward to seeing Desi Arnez (The Untouchables), Bruce Geller (Mission: Impossible and Mannix), Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files), and Art Scott’s hero, Jack Webb (Dragnet). I’ve found the previous episodes of this series full of unexpected facts and stories. Very entertaining and enlightening! Check your local listings for the time in your area.

The Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit differs from the iconic John Wayne version chiefly by being true to the classic Charles Portis novel. The Coen Brothers revel in the black humor that ran through that darkly comic novel and it shows up on the screen. Much of the baroque dialogue is taken directly from the novel. Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, the 14-year-old intent on avenging her murdered father, and Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn dominate the screen. Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Barry Pepper ably assist. If you haven’t seen this new version of True Grit, you’re missing a fine movie. GRADE: A

I want to honor people who do extraordinary things to make our lives better. My first “hero” is David Kleinman who developed the critical battle-field first-aid kit for the Tucson police. Those kits saved lives after the recent shooting incident. Below is a short summary of the National Public Radio story that inspired me to recognize Mr. Kleinman. You can hear the entire story if you click below.
First responders at the Arizona shootings had an unusual tool: a fanny-pack-sized collection of first-aid materials based on gear used to save soldiers on the battlefield. And it allowed Pima County sheriff’s deputies to begin treating the wounded in the crucial minutes before paramedics arrived. Other deputies arrived. They began CPR and opened the kits. Each contained $99 worth of gear assembled by David Kleinman, the medic for the sheriff’s SWAT team. He got the idea to carry the packs after noticing how many police officers were dying from wounds they got in the line of duty.

“It wasn’t necessary for them to perish,” Kleinman says. “Had there been tools like this they probably would have survived.”

The bandage — developed by the Israeli military — looks like an Ace bandage you’d wrap around your knee, with a gauze pad and clips to tighten it. It can be used on any part of the body to cover a wound and stop bleeding; you can even wrap it with a stick and use it as a leg splint. Combat gauze is also in the kit. It’s infused with coagulant to stop bleeding. There are shears to cut away clothing. A black nylon tourniquet. And an Asherman chest seal — a bandage that fits over a gunshot or stab wound and has a valve for fluid to escape. Everything in the kit is designed to be used quickly. That’s because people with severe wounds can die in the precious minutes before paramedics arrive or before it’s safe for them to enter a crime scene or an accident area.

When Patti Abbott  invited me to participate in FORGOTTEN BOOKS some 100 weeks ago, my first posting was Theodore Sturgeon’s The Dreaming Jewels (aka, The Synthetic Man).  Now that I’ve hit the century mark, I figured I should pay homage to Theodore Sturgeon, a great writer who is practically forgotten, and to North Atlantic Books who published 13 volumes of Sturgeon’s complete short stories.  Given the new publishing environment and the rise of ebooks, I doubt if such a project that took over a decade to complete, will be viable again.  I love this marvelous set of books.  Great care was taken in the production, editing, and presentation of these volumes.  All the volumes are still in print, but who knows how long that will last.  Theodore Sturgeon wrote some of the most innovative and empathic fiction I’ve ever read.  While his early work was more conventional, it was always distinctive.  Sturgeon’s later work become more experimental.  He never stopped pushing the limits of his craft.  I highly recommend this monumental series!