“Someone who holds you too close/Someone who hurts you too deep/Someone who sits in your chair and ruins your sleep/And makes you aware of being alive . . . “ Animal lovers are unabashedly unapologetic about it. Too bad for you if you don't get it, we say. People measure their lives in significant chunks. … Continue reading ELEGY FOR BEAU
Life
MYSTERY AND HISTORY: The First Classic Murder Case
It’s a new month, so the Tuesday Night Bloggers are changing the subject! Throughout November we will be discussing mysteries that have some connection to history. I would like to modestly boast that this was my idea, and I sold it as a topic broad enough to encompass a variety of perspectives. Yet, while my … Continue reading MYSTERY AND HISTORY: The First Classic Murder Case
THE CAPE AND THE COWL: The Ultimate Costumed Detective
Murder at Mystery Castle has everything you could desire in a Golden Age detective story. Take one exotic setting: an ancient medieval castle that has been taken apart and reassembled, brick by brick, on island cliffs overlooking a modern American city. Add a powerful victim, one James Barham, munitions manufacturer, who has invited four guests … Continue reading THE CAPE AND THE COWL: The Ultimate Costumed Detective
THE CASE OF THE PERILOUS POLITICIAN
I am not a political writer, so tackling this business of Donald Trump through my perferred métier of murder mysteries and musicals seems apt. In my lifetime, I have never seen so bizarre a drama unfold in the top echelons of politics, and I survived George W. Bush! America is essentially run by a two-party … Continue reading THE CASE OF THE PERILOUS POLITICIAN
NOW APPEARING IN YOUR KINDLE 99¢ BIN
I had planned to title this post, “One Cranky Voice Among Many,” because today is my one-year anniversary as a blogger. But then I thought, “Okay, you made a small hoopla about your 100th post only a couple of weeks ago, so enough is enough! Plus, you’re not really cranky, just opinionated.” What has one … Continue reading NOW APPEARING IN YOUR KINDLE 99¢ BIN
A CENTENARY CELEBRATION (with special guests!)
Coming up just ahead of my first birthday as a blogger, I am excited to present my one hundredth post. A mere eleven and a half months ago, I was a mere shlub brimming with excitement to have discovered a community of readers, writers and thinkers who were just as obsessed with a love for … Continue reading A CENTENARY CELEBRATION (with special guests!)
KA-POOWW! KA-BOOOM! Holmes and Queen in Four Colors
In the early 1960’s, Dell’s Four Color Series experimented with giving some of the great detectives the Superman treatment by trying them out as comic books. The newsstands’ luster was raised by the appearance of original stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and Ellery Queen. Unfortunately, these experiments did not bear fruit, and neither detective earned enough … Continue reading KA-POOWW! KA-BOOOM! Holmes and Queen in Four Colors
HARRY POTTER AND THE CREATIVE CASH COW
The seven books of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga occupy a prominent position on my bookshelf (the downstairs one in the living room!) I read them all and listened to the audio versions read by the marvelous Jim Dale, he of a thousand voices, many times! I own the movies (except for the last one … Continue reading HARRY POTTER AND THE CREATIVE CASH COW
LIFE FRAYED AT THE EDGES: Reviewing “The Humans”
Sometimes drama chronicles the grand passions of grand people unfolding in palaces far away. Oedipus unwittingly kills his own father and sleeps with his mother, and everybody pays for it. Hamlet willfully causes the death of nearly every member of the royal court of Denmark. George and Martha consider excoriating each other in front of … Continue reading LIFE FRAYED AT THE EDGES: Reviewing “The Humans”
SICK OF ENTITLEMENT: The Stanford Rape Case
Another college rape, another moment of outrage. Like random shootings across America, which always seem to end up as a rallying cry by the NRA and Congress to protect “basic gun rights,” college assault cases tend to take on a certain sameness. The act occurs, often at a party, usually after much drinking. A boy rapes … Continue reading SICK OF ENTITLEMENT: The Stanford Rape Case
Ah Sweet Mystery! 