Penny Vincenzi writes those books that are called door stoppers because of their length. They can be fun to read though. About The Best of Times:
On an ordinary London afternoon, a truck swerves across five lanes of traffic and creates a tangle of chaos and confusion. As loved ones wait to hear news and the hospital prepares to receive the injured, a dozen lives hang in the balance. A doctor is torn between helping the injured and hiding his young mistress; a bridegroom hopes to get to the church on time; a widow waiting to reunite with a lost love ponders whether she’ll ever see him again; and the mysterious hitchhiker, the only person who knows what really happened, is nowhere to be found.
Filled with suspense, romance, and more twists than a country highway, The Best of Times proves once again why Penny Vincenzi is the queen of happy endings.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Baltimore Blues is the first in the Tess Monahan mystery series. She is a Baltimore reporter.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
As many of my readers know, my grandfather suffered both physical wounds and shell shock in the Great War, and as a child I remember having to be quiet around him, so as not to excite or trouble an elderly man with terrible memories. Later, in my mid-teens, I attended a school where we were required to undertake community service one afternoon each week (and we had to attend school on Saturday mornings to make up for it!). So, on Wednesday afternoons, I joined a small group who visited a psychiatric hospital–to talk to the patients, make the tea, read to them and generally offer kindness and companionship. I can recall many of the patients, some who were obviously not able to live outside an institution, and others who inspired one to wonder why they were there at all–and when you found out, the reason was often shocking. I remember one patient I talked with each week, an astoundingly sharp, intelligent man. He had been a top-ranking surgeon, one who was regarded as almost without peer. He was also a madman, a murderer. I thought of him often while writing Among the Mad.
Last year, during my book tour, a military chaplain came to one of my events and stayed behind afterwards to talk to me. He told me that he recommended my books to the families of those who have suffered loss during the Iraq war, and especially to people who are trying to accommodate the special needs of a soldier suffering from what we today call Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). He added that in reading a story where such losses are suffered in a time of war, yet separated by history, it facilitates a deeper understanding of what the returning veteran might be experiencing, and challenges involved in coming home from war.
The recent news that servicemen and woman wounded by PTSD will not be eligible for the Military Order of the Purple Heart–awarded to US military personnel who have been wounded or killed in a war zone–struck a chord. In Britain during and following the Great War there was much controversy about war neuroses, and many soldiers were denied a pension as a result of a clampdown on the diagnosis of shell shock. In my second novel, Birds of a Feather, one of the characters says, “That’s the trouble with war, it’s never over when it’s over, it lives on inside the living.” Such a sentiment is never more true than in the case of the man or woman who has served their country in a time of war, but who has to live with that war reverberating in their mind every single day for the rest of their lives. Maisie Dobbs is such a person, as is the person she is in a race to find in Among the Mad.
This book is a good one for a nursery or pre-k library. In this story, Alycat is looking forward to a school field trip. When she does not get to sit with her best friend on the bus, she at first is sad. However, Alycat figures out a way to have two good friends! In addition, this book has some health information because the field trip involves meeting with Dr. Katz. A bonus is that this book has instructions for making a simple friendship bracelet at the end.
This is the first novel that I have read by this Australian author…and I am glad that I did! The story of a home and the people who lived in it is told with warmth and insight. We follow the elderly seller of the house as she is moved to assisted living. She has her memories though and we experience her earlier life and relationships. In the present, a young mom tries to understand her life and parenthood. A warm and lovely book! Thanks Net Galley.
A look through this title shows that there will be lots of good reading this fall. Nine novels are excerpted in this volume. Here they are:
Many books have been written for children retelling the stories of the great Greek myths. This book deserves a welcome place on that shelf. Each God or Goddess is introduced with a paragraph stating their Latin name, their parents, their appearance, character traits and role. The stories are told in a lively manner that demonstrates the human qualities of the gods; they can be jealous, have affairs, go to war, fight with their siblings, etc. The illustrations are lovely and have a painterly quality. If you or your child wants to know more about mythology, take a look at this appealing book.
Under her Galbraith pseudonym, J.K. Rowling impressively sustains suspense over the course of a lengthy mystery in her fourth outing for London PI Cormoran Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott. The pair have reunited professionally after the events of 2015’s Career of Evil, in which Strike fired Robin for her handling of the Shacklewell Ripper case; their personal relationship remains unsettled in the wake of Robin’s marriage to a man who resents her job. The “curious case of a government minister, slashed horses and a body buried in a pink blanket, down in a dell” begins when a man named Billy, “one of those ill and desperate people you saw in the capital who were always somebody else’s problem,” bursts into Strike’s office and claims that he saw a child strangled when he was very young. Billy flees before offering more information, but Strike’s curiosity about the possible cold case leads him to try to trace Billy. Soon after, in what seems to be suspicious timing, Strike is retained by Culture Minister Jasper Chiswell to protect him against an extortionist, who turns out to be Billy’s brother, Jimmy Knight. Rowling’s emotionally intelligent portrayal of her protagonists never overwhelms the whodunit story line. Agent: Neil Blair, the Blair Partnership (U.K.). (Sept.)
A Tale of Two Mommies is an excellent book for home and school libraries. It reflects that, in families, adults take care of their children with love. In a rhyming cadence, questions are asked and answered about which female parent meets her son’s needs in different situations. Sometimes it is one mother, sometimes the other and sometimes the little boy can take care of himself. This book is an easy and positive way to teach children that there are many kinds of families and that they are all alike in so many important ways.
Read a story about this novel in today’s New York Times. This looks like it will be an excellent read from the talented Ms. Atkinson. See link below.![Lethal White (A Cormoran Strike Novel) by [Galbraith, Robert]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514wvVBGykL.jpg)
Tomorrow is pub day for the newest Cormoran Strike. A related article link is below.![The Chalon Heads (The Brock and Kolla Mysteries) by [Maitland, Barry]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519a8a%2BnrJL.jpg)
Barry Maitlandis the author of a very British police procedural series. As you can tell from the cover, this one centers on a stamp. This entry is an e-book bargain today. As I read it long ago, I will include some others’ opinions below:
. The Marx Sisters was the first in the series. It was well written and engaging. The Malcontenta takes place at a health spa. I adored it.
Here are the British and American covers for this novel; American is on the left and British on the right. Which do you prefer?
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 