Current Reviews

A GENTLEMAN AND A THIEF: THE DARING JEWEL HEISTS OF A JAZZ AGE ROGUE , by Dean Jobb
In A Gentleman and a Thief, author Dean Jobb calls Arthur Barry "one of the most brazen and successful jewel thieves in history," a burglar with a winning personality. Barry, born in 1896, in a shabby part of Worcester, MA, was drinking by age 7 and convicted on firearm charges at age 16, was sent to a reformatory, fought in World War I, and returned home to go to New York and become a jewel thief.
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FIVE DECEMBERS, by James Kestrel
This is the best crime novel I have read. Joe McGrady, a retired military officer, joins the Honolulu police department and his first case is a brutal double murder. It is in the late fall of 1940 and McGrady begins his investigation. For the next five years he travels across the Pacific, as World War II develops, and is in Hong Kong and Japan - often in prison. And near death his determination to solve the murders brings the readers fascinating views into Asian, and particularly Japanese, culture life.
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HORSE: A NOVEL, by Geraldine Brooks
Horse is a stunning success. It is charming, informative, insightful, educational and entertaining. It is an exceedingly deft portrait of horse racing and race--both currently and a century and a half ago, pre-Civil War. It is also a marvelous exposition and explanation of equestrian anatomy and art. In accomplishing this captivating story, the author's characters are vividly drawn and compelling, particularly a young Black boy as he progresses to and through his coming of age.
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PRESUMED GUILTY, by Scott Turow
Scott Turow has written another outstanding novel featuring a riveting courtroom drama. This one is not only gripping but totally authentic in its recounting of a criminal trial in which a young man is prosecuted for the murder of his girlfriend.
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THE BRIAR CLUB: A NOVEL, by Kate Quinn
What a rollicking good read. Interesting, informative, and sheet fun. This is a yarn about a small group of women who live together in a boarding house. Each one of whom is both flawed, and yet very compelling. While the book is 'billed" as a historical novel, most of the history consists of fleeting references to historical people and events, particularly Senator Joe McCarthy, and also Senator Margaret Chase Smith, and getting out of Germany in time.
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