By Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Although written 50 years apart, Simenon and Camilleri deal with themes concerning weather, aging, and flawed heroism of their series characters Maigret and Montalbano.

Maigret Afraid – Georges Simenon (1953)

In Maigret Afraid, our favorite Inspector Jules Maigret finds himself in Fontenay-le-Comte, in the southern Vendée. The climate there is usually mild, but given the importance of the weather for Simenon in creating mood,  the miserable rain adds to the fear of the people of the town where a serial killer is pounding harmless people to death with a pipe.

August Heat – Andrea Camilleri (2006)

In August Heat, our second favorite Inspector Salvo Montalbano has to summer in Vigàta when his subordinate Mimi is allowed to extend his summer vacation.  In August, Sicily is sweltering, with a palpable heat that soaks clothes in minutes, exhausts the spirit and mind, and shortens the already infamously short Sicilian temper. Salvo is driven to lock his office door and in his underwear figure out the case of a body found in a truck in an illegally constructed apartment.

Both books address the themes of the effect of aging on confidence. On his way back from a conference of police officials, Maigret thinks about his bored lack of interest at hearing about the latest forensic techniques. Confronted with the uneasiness of this less than professional reaction, he worries, “Was he perhaps suddenly feeling old?”  Similarly, in the tenth novel of the series, fifty-something  Montalbano’s concern about heart attacks and his brooding about his own mortality will connect with a middle-aged audience. Plus, with long-time GF Livia not speaking to him (for lousy reasons, this time), he frets about a weakening will unable to resist temptation to do the wrong thing with the stunning twin sister of the murder victim, who is young enough to be his daughter.  The undermining of Montalbano’s confidence due to his worries about growing old leads to unfortunate outcomes in this one.

The protaganists of the two novels are both honest and moral. Both Maigret and Montalbano  have reached middle-age, old enough to know their own frailties and thus be patient with people whose weaknesses have gotten them into deep trouble. Maigret feels sympathy toward crooks who have been unable to withstand internal and external pressures that drive them to crime. Montalbano feels melancholy compassion toward a wide range of people who have been damaged by criminals, from the grieving survivors of murder victims to immigrant workers exploited to death, literally, in Berlusconi’s corrupt Italy. Both inspectors must deal with the difficulties ethical officials face when confronted with the machinations of politicians and crooks in cahoots. Both Simenon and Camilleri take as a given that men in power will do terrible things with impunity because they assume other people exist to be used, though Simenon is resigned to it and Camilleri is scathing about it.

Fans of mysteries set in Europe – especially middle-aged ones – will enjoy these stories. Younger readers might find it neurotic to fix on aging, but, well, it’s better to deal with getting old than obsess about the alternative.

Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe: 160 New Recipes from New York’s Favorite Restaurant

by Danny Meyer & Michael Romano

Review by Carole C. (craftnut)

This is a book that foodies will love.  Beginner cooks may find some of the recipes a bit daunting, but there are still many recipes that are easy enough to gain confidence to try the more challenging ones.

The book begins with a nice introduction detailing the authors’ trip to Italy and gives a behind the scenes look at what goes into the menu selections at the Union Square Café.

There are also some notes on equipment and ingredients that are well worth the read.  The recipes cover every menu category and most contain easily obtained but artesian ingredients like Portobello mushrooms, prosciutto, artichokes, quail, goose, panko bread-crumbs, and artesian breads.

Try the Portobello Crostini, the Pan-Roasted Chicken with Cognac Peppercorn Sauce, or the Spicy Corn Chowder for a real treat.

There are more than 70 pages of vegetable, salad, and side dishes, with some that could easily serve as a vegetarian main course.  The main course section has a number of fish offerings, and this is a separate section from the pasta section.

The final chapter is devoted to basics like making stocks and fresh pasta dough.

Each recipe has an author comment and a wine pairing.  Sprinkled throughout the book are wonderful black and white photos of patrons and restaurant scenes.

One downside is that there are no pictures of the finished dishes.  However, this is still a neat cookbook that anyone who loves to cook will enjoy.

Brak the Barbarian by John Jakes

Review by Chris C. (chrisnsally)

I recently read the pistachio joy that is Brak the Barbarian. I didn’t know John Jakes had written these novels of adventure until I read The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories vol. 2  as edited by Lin Carter.

I was familiar with Mr. Jakes for his novel North & South which appeared as television mini-series when I was an adolescent. I have probably mentioned, a time or two, I love the old Swords and Sorcery tales because they are just plain, fun reading. So, I found a copy of Brak the Barbarian through Paperback Swap to study this earlier work of Mr. Jakes.

 Any questions about the influences for this work are answered in the dedication to this volume;

for my son Michael, who has yet to make the acquaintance of Conan,

The Mouser and Fafhrd, Cugel, or the rest of that splendid company

that Sprague de Camp has so aptly named The Brotherhood of the Sword.

During the entirety of this book Brak has one garment of clothing, a lion skin girded about his loins, and one weapon, a broad sword. While I find it hard to believe, I got the impression he wore the same lion skin through the entire tale. I know the broad sword had to be replaced after he threw the original sword into the eye a T’muk, a giant spider-like beast of the desert which bleeds acid.

Brak is no magician, diplomat or politician. He is just a simple barbarian who wants journey to the southern extreme of known civilization to Khurdisan the Golden. Brak’s knowledge of Khurdisan is limited to the rumors of the splendor and glory, beauty and treasures to be found there. As an outside observer of Brak’s world, I have to question why he’d believe the Khurdisan would be any better the perilous lands which precede it.  Perhaps I want to route for the underdog but I just can’t admit that Brak is an Oaf as well as a barbarian.

In each chapter Brak faces a unique monster, each a new and deadly opponent from the imagination of Mr. Jakes. One of the most memorable passages from the novel is, appropriately, Jakes’ description of one of many of the vile beasts which Brak is forced to face in combat;

“Brak realized dimly that the monster must be some vile crossbreeding of life forms older than time. It was able to lift its long fish’s body half out of the pool by means of a series of frog-like webbed appendages down either side of its shimmering scaled body. Brak counted eight, ten, twelve of those webbed half-legs on one side. They churned in a rhythm like galley oars as the Fangfish bore down.”

Although he is paired with a new and seemingly more beautiful maiden in each of his adventures Brak is also the most chivalrous barbarian I have ever encountered. In the end Brak’s journey requires that he take up residence with one of these ladies;

“He and Rhea had taken a poor upper chamber in a bad quarter. They had slept on pallets with a straw screen between them, and lived all the months much like brother and sister, untouched and untouching, although several times … Brak had yearned to speak to her.”

But Brak the chivalrous remains chased to the end.

Mr. Jakes wrote 5  Brak the Barbarian books,  if you’ve read the Conan books, over and over, just click on the following links to the listings on PBS for these books to fill your barbaric adventure needs.

1. Brak the Barbarian (1968)
2. Brak the Barbarian versus the Sorceress (1969)
3. Brak the Barbarian versus the Mark of Demons (1969)
4. When the Idols Walked (1978)
5. The Fortunes of Brak (1980)

Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty the World’s Least Likely Agility Dog by Robert Rodi

Review by McGuffyAnn M. (nightprose)

Robert Rodi rescues a pathetic little Shetland Sheepdog named Dusty. He decides that to help create a bond and forge a relationship he and Dusty should join Dog Agility. This training offers a competitive world of shows, where trainers take their dog through an obstacle course by commands. Robert explains and educates on the world of agility dog shows, and the difference from traditional dog shows.

Robert thinks this is an excellent way to bond with Dusty, though Dusty does not make it easy. Dusty seems to do everything his own way and “wrong”. Together, they literally learn by trial and error. This becomes a challenge for Dusty and Robert, and a funny but touching book to read.

Robert, an educated urbanite and Dusty, a pitiful little rescue dog bond make their way through many situations, including the dog show world. Both make many mistakes, but ultimately with perseverance, they find success together.

The book is interesting, inspiring, and very funny. Whether your dog is a show dog or not, you will love Dusty, and Robert Rodi, too.

Miss Dornton’s Hero by Elisabeth Fairchild

Review by Jerseygirltoo

This book is part of the Signet Regency line of romances. Signet Regencies were published from the late 1970’s up until the beginning of 2006, but in my opinion their heyday was in the 1980’s and 90’s.  I think they were the first romance books that I ever read and I still love them. Many of the authors, like Mary Balogh, Catherine Coulter and Loretta Chase became very well known and went on to publish longer historical best-sellers. Signet Regencies are easy to spot because they all have the same cover design. All of them take place roughly during the era of British history known as the Regency, the first two decades of the 1800’s, which also covers the time period of the Napoleonic Wars, when England was at war with France. Since they are fairly short books, the plot has to move along quickly; you won’t find any long digressions into spy or mystery subplots or secondary romances. You are mainly reading about the hero and heroine falling in love, which is fine with me! These are also good reads for people who enjoy romance but don’t want an erotic novel. Although some of the authors, like Mary Balogh, venture past the bedroom door, you generally won’t find explicit love scenes. In keeping with the historical period, many of them, like this book, end the same way as Jane Austen did, with a marriage proposal and a kiss.

I got “Miss Dornton’s Hero” and another by the same author through PaperBackSwap. It was my first book by Elisabeth Fairchild, but I never hesitate to try out a new author in the Signet Regency series because they are consistently well written and edited. Some of the authors are more to my taste than others, but there really isn’t a loser in the bunch.

Miss Dornton’s Hero was a nice surprise because the hero, Captain Evelyn Dade, is a war veteran who is suffering from PTSD (not that they knew what it was then) and his feelings and experiences are described in a grittier, darker way than you might expect in a light romance novel. The heroine, Miss Margaret Dornton is young and naïve and she has some unreal, idealistic notions about heroism. But underneath that, she is a warm and sympathetic person with strong principles, who strikes a chord in Captain Dade. They prove to be a perfect match. The hero’s recovery from complete despair and depression, to falling in love, and feeling a sense of hope about life in general, is gradual and realistic. I won’t go into more plot details, except to say that most of the story takes place in London, among the haunts of the upper class at that time, and that society’s expectations are the main obstacle to the hero and heroine getting together. Elisabeth Fairchild writes in a slightly formal old-fashioned style, similar to Edith Layton or Georgette Heyer, which is perfect for this type of story. I really enjoyed the book and plan to read more of her works.

If you are a fan of Regency romance, PaperBackSwap is the best place to get the out-of-print Signets, although some of the most popular ones have impossibly long waiting lists, and on Amazon they sell used for well over their original cover prices. However, some of the lesser known authors are also excellent, so if you see them on someone’s bookshelf, take a chance and try one out!  Here are some recommendations:

The Duke’s Wager by Edith Layton

Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly

The Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh

A Highly Respectable Marriage by Sheila Walsh

A Step in Time by Anne Barbour

The Would-Be Widow by Mary Jo Putney

A Bird in Hand by Allison Lane

Lord Rathbone’s Flirt by Gayle Buck

Lord Harry’s Angel by Patricia Oliver

An Honorable Rogue by April Kihlstrom

Turn on the Heat by A.A. Fair

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Published in 1940, Turn on the Heat is the second Bertha Cool & Donald Lam PI mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair. An untrustworthy client hires them to find a woman who disappeared around 20 years before. Another investigator who was poking around the case then gets murdered. Cool and Lam must find the missing woman, but throw sand into the eyes of the police to keep them from getting close to their client. The title, therefore, refers to law-school grad Lam creating confusion and distraction.

The plus is that the story gets tangled plenty fast as Cool and Lam scramble to avoid jail and charges as accomplices after the fact. Lam tries to protect Cool by keeping her out of the loop, but as usual she blunders into the thick of things anyway. Another positive is that in the Cool and Lam novels, more than the Perry Mason novels, Gardner examines the rough side of local politics: seedy cops, crooked politicians, co-opted news reporters, mean gangsters, and cowed citizens. As in the Mason novels, the killing takes second to the complex criminal scheme that goes bad and leads up to the killing.

The negative is that being elaborate, plot and incident may be hard to follow and at least some of the time make extreme demands on intelligence and memory. Another qualm I had – this time it wasn’t enough telling myself to make allowances for 1940s attitudes – was related to the tone when Gardner described female characters. The running joke in the series is that the females fall for Lam due to his gentlemanly ways and willingness to listen without handing out advice. But in this one the young woman swoons for Lam, unbelievably. Bertha Cool’s dependence on Lam to see them through to the end wasn’t consistent with her confidence, assertiveness, and toughness. The chuckling references to her pounds didn’t do much for me.

Still, I think the Cool and Lam novels are funnier, grittier, and sexier than the Perry Mason novels. Well-worth reading. I found 10 Cool and Lam mysteries in a used book store this past summer. It was the find of the year so far.

Cugel’s Saga by Jack Vance

Review byBowden P. (Trey)

Since Cugel’s Saga is almost 30 years old, I think I can be fairly liberal with spoilers. The book literally picks right up where Eyes of the Overworld left off – with Cugel on the very beach he started his quest with, though without Firx to encourage him. Instead of repeating his path in Eyes of the Overworld Cugel takes a different route (mainly because people’s memories are long). This odyssey takes him into the employ of a wizard digging for the scales of Sadlark a creature of the Overworld, and provides a Macguffin that is very useful throughout Cugel’s journey.

From digging in a swamp for scales, to a duel of wits with Bunderwal for a position in a merchant house, to a job as worminger (or worm wrangler) on a ship for that merchant house, to mutineer and caravaner, Cugel makes his way back to Almery. Of course, Cugel being Cugel, his desire for wealth, food, comfort and feminine companionship at low prices to free frequently lead him into trouble. Trouble for him, amusement for us.

After reading this and sitting on it for a few days I think I figured out what I like about the book and Cugel – they have some Shakespearean traits. From the dialogue to Cugel seeming an unlikely bastard of Falstaff and Trinculo (the clown from The Tempest). He also begins to become a bit heroic – perhaps in the same style Flashman is heroic with an eye on the larger prize.

It also makes a nice change of pace from Eyes of the Overworld, in that Cugel actually benefits and profits some from his schemes. Some profit, but its nowhere near his targets, still enough to keep him moving along (usually in front of an angry mob) and from abject poverty. He also seems to do his best when he is honest and polite, particularly in his dealings with Facumeil, Phampoun and Iuconnu. He even begins to take on some traits of Odysseus as well in these encounters. Because of this it also reminds me of some of the older fairy tales where the hero does best by being polite, honest and personable. Cugel can do this, and like other fairy tales, he manages to out clever himself periodically.

Anyway, it’s a good book, worth at least 3½ stars. I’d love to see a stage or film adaptation of this, with Harry Anderson in his prime declaiming for all he’s worth.

Likes:

• Cugel. Like Falstaff, we can laugh at him and with him. And Trinculo, he gets above himself, but keeps things from becoming too grim.
• Imagery.
• Characters that were a match for Cugel.

Dislikes:

• The ending. It felt abrupt, but there was room for a sequel.

Suggested for: Jack Vance fans and fantasy fans.