Hemingway said: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn… It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”

I first read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was in Junior High School (aka, Middle School). I was in 8th Grade and the whole English class was assigned Tom Sawyer which I read quickly and enjoyed. Our School Library had a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so I quickly read that, too. The story of Huck, an orphan, and Jim, a runaway slave, traveling on a raft on the Mississippi River made for some thrilling reading.

Fast forward 60 years and now there’s James by Percival Everett. James tells the story of Jim (aka, James) during that trip on the Mississippi River from a slave’s point of view. Several times in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck and Jim get separated. James fills in those gaps. And James’ “adventures” are way more harrowing than Huck’s. He’s hunted as a runaway slave with a $300 reward for his capture.

James’ goal is to return to Hannibal and reunite with his wife and daughter…and then head North for freedom. But Everett puts plenty of obstacles and dangers in James’ way.

If you’re a fan of Huck Finn, you’ll be fascinated by the stories James tells. GRADE: A (for both novels)

Selling a million records really isn’t an indicator of quality. But that’s the supposition of NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A MILLION. Classic songs like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” rub up against more obscure million sellers like James Arthur’s “Impossible” and Boyzone’s “No Matter What.”

The compilers of this 3-CD set weren’t afraid to go way back to Paul Anka’s “Diana” and Bill Haley And His Comets’ “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” for early million selling hits. Elvis is represented by “It’s Now or Never”–one of his lesser songs.

There are plenty of One-Hit Wonders on these CDs: Irene Cara’s “Fame,” Gotye’s “Someone I Used to Know,” and Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” stand out.

Some songs I wasn’t familiar with. Have you heard Atomic Kitty’s “Whole Again”? Or All Saints’ “Never Ever”? Or New Order’s “Blue Monday 88”?

Despite the filler songs, there are plenty of hits here to bring back a lot of memories. How many of these 61 songs do you remember? Any favorites here? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1952) is a collection of 12 short stories that try to fill in the gaps left by Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories. My favorite stories in The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes are “The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers” and “The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle.” These are two stories that were mostly written by John Dickson Carr.

“The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers” begins with an injured Sherlock Holmes who ends up solving this case like Nero Wolfe would: without leaving his Baker Street apartment. A young woman and her elderly father bring Holmes a puzzle from Madame Taupin’s exhibition of wax figures. Carr manages to mix boxing and code-breaking into the story.

“The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle” revolves around the mystery of. why a man would sleep with his umbrella. The man’s wife challenges Sherlock Holmes to solve this wacky puzzle…and, of course, Holmes does. But the solution is typically clever and outlandish in John Dickson Carr fashion.

If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes provides a dozen diversions. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ALWAYS HOLMES — vii

Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr:

1.) The adventure of the seven clocks — 1

2.) The adventure of the gold hunter — 25

3.) The adventure of the wax gamblers — 45

4.) The adventure of the Highgate miracle — 67

5.) The adventure of the black baronet — 93

6.) The adventure of the sealed room — 113

Adrian Conan Doyle:

7.) The adventure of Foulkes Rath — 137

8.) The adventure of the Abbas ruby — 158

9.) The adventure of the dark angels — 178

10.) The adventure of the two women — 199

11.) The adventure of the Deptford horror — 218

12.) The adventure of the red widow — 240

I’m presently in the middle of Mick Herron’s Spook Street (2017) and Slow Horses, Season 4–which is based on Spook Street–begins on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, September 4. I’ll have Spook Street read before I start watching Slow Horses, Season 4 tomorrow.

The Slow Horses series follows a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents–and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). The head of MI5,  Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), is under enormous pressure after a bombing. Needless to say, the Slow Horses get involved. I can’t wait to watch the six new episodes!

And more Good News: on January 2024, Slow Horses was renewed for a fifth series, which will be based on the fifth book in the series, London Rules.

Are you a fan of Slow Horses?

What if Sherlock Holmes was an Angel?

What if the Angel named Crow needed a roommate and accepted Doctor J. H. Doyle (a Watson clone) as a partner. What if London was full of vampires, werewolves, and Magic galore?

Blend in Jack the Ripper and a twist on The Sign of the Four and a few other classic Sherlock Holmes touches and you have The Angel of the Crows (Tor, 2020). Lovers of fantasy fiction and Sherlock Holmes will enjoy the adventures of Crow and Doyle. I found The Angel of the Crows.a bridge too far. I prefer my Sherlock Holmes pastiches grounded in more substance and less fantastical surroundings.

I’ve enjoyed James Lovegrove’s mashup of Sherlock Holmes and Cthulhu but that’s about as far as I’m willing to go with extending A. Conan Doyle’s creation. But if you’re fond of vampires and werewolves and Magic, by all means check out The Angel of the Crows. C+

Monsieur Spade is an American neo-noir television miniseries created by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, and starring Clive Owen as Dashiell Hammett‘s fictional private detective Sam Spade.

This six-episode series is mostly set in 1963 with Sam Spade retired in France. The little village of Bozouls panics when six nuns are murdered at a nearby church. Spade gets out of his luscious swimming pool, dons the trench coat, and goes looking for trouble.

In addition to Clive Owen’s solid performance, I liked Teresa (Cara Bossom), the 15-year-old Sam Spade pledged to protect. Teresa discovers her own capacity for investigation at a key moment. Patrice Michaud (Denis Ménochet) plays the cynical chief of police who acts as a kind of Lestrade figure to Spade’s Sherlock. Then there’s the pair of eccentric and highly suspicious Brits (Matthew Beard and Rebecca Root) who move in next door and reek of danger! Add a war veteran (Stanley Weber) suffering from PTSD and the mixture of crime, deception, and violence is complete. A Second Season of Monsieur Spade is being considered. Are you a Dashiell Hammett fan? GRADE: B

Bill Crider is best known for his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. But Bill was a versatile writer and would occasionally branch out into other characters and settings. One of my favorite Bill Crider series is the Professor Sally Good series.

Dr. Sally Good, chair of the Department of English at Hughes Community College, just violated one of the major rules for department chairs: never date the staff. Of course Sally hadn’t actually dated Jack Neville, but she had said yes when he asked her to go out with him.

Dating is put on hold as Jack Neville comes under suspicion of murdering one of the college trustees, and faces arrest. Sally plunges into the investigation to clear Jack.

If you’re a fan of Sheriff Dan Rhodes, you’l also enjoy the antics of Professor Sally Good. Bill Crider was the Head of the Department of English at a community college so all the problems and difficulties Sally faces ring true! GRADE: B+

Professor Sally Good series:

• Murder Is An Art (St. Martin’s, 1999)
• A Knife in the Back (St. Martin’s, 2002)
• A Bond with Death (St. Martin’s, 2004)

Classic Rock Gold (2005) presents a variety of music from oddities like Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” to more well known hits like Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” I’m fond of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” with Brenda Lee “Comin’ On Strong.”

Included in this 2-CD set is one of my favorite songs by The Cars, “Just What I Needed.” That’s a song I replay a lot!

Our local NHL hockey team uses The Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane” for their intro music to their on-air TV broadcasts.

Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

Jan Carson is an Irish writer and Quickly, While They Still Have Horses (2024) is her first book published in North America. After reading these 16 short stories, my opinion of Carson’s work is “unsettling.” Take the first story in the book, “A Certain Degree of Ownership,” for example. A distracted couple on a deserted beach don’t notice their baby is crawling towards the ocean.

In “Grand So,” a car is haunted by the ghost of its previous owner who lurks in the backseat. A confused father loses his two sons in an adventure park in “Fair Play.”

I was most affected by the title story, “Quickly, While They Still Have Horses.” A man deals with a difficult woman who only seems to like horses. Also troubling is “Victor Soda” where residents of a small village send their virgin daughters to an older man for sex education before they are to be married.

If you’re in the mood for some dark stories set in Ireland, give Quickly, While They Still Have Horses a try. GRADE: B-

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. A Certain Degree of Ownership — 1
2. Grand So — 7
3. Fair Play — 21
4. 4. Tinged — 41
5. 5. Quickly, While They Still Have Horses — 53
6. 6. Victor Soda — 67
7. 7. Pillars — 91
8. 8. Jellyfish — 103
9. 9. Mostly People Just Throw Bricks — 119
10. 10. Bat McElhatton Learns to Drive — 141
11. 11. Caravan — 159
12. 12. Troubling the Water — 175
13. 13. In the Car with the Rain Coming Down — 187
14. 14. One-Hander — 211
15. 15. Coasters — 231
16. 16. Family Circle — 253
17. A Note on Previously Published Stories — 265
18. Acknowledgments — 267
19. About the Author — 271