My rating: It’s July 1976. Dana Franklin just woke up in the hospital—minus an arm. She swears her husband, Kevin, had nothing to do with it but the police are skeptical. Clearly Dana and Kevin know exactly what happened and it somehow involves a wall and an explanation no one in his right might would … Continue reading Book Review: “Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler

Shannon Baldos wants to divorce her husband, Justin. Now if she could just find the courage to tell him. She’s tried it once: taking her infant son, Chad, and leaving, but Justin tracked them down and bullied her into returning. Classic abuse. Her friend Peg thinks all she needs is a good affair—Justin makes no … Continue reading Book Review: “Breaking the Rules” by Tinthia Clemant

It was the title that snared me.  Ever since I first heard a loon call across a mountain lake, I’ve loved them. It’s a haunting sort of sound that catches you off guard at first but quickly becomes a welcoming call. And haunting is exactly what “Winter Loon” is. Fifteen-year-old Wes Ballot’s mother swears she … Continue reading Book Review: “Winter Loon” by Susan Bernhard

  George Withers is happy with his reclusive life, comfortable living alone in his boyhood home with his collection of intricate puzzle boxes. On weekdays he shuts himself inside his tiny office at the Times where he creates the cryptic crosswords that are the bane of puzzle solvers throughout London. It’s a job he’s been … Continue reading Book Review: The Puzzlemaker by Brian Christopher

Judith Leyster. Do you recognize the name? What if I added a list of her contemporaries?  Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer. “Aha!” you might say. “She’s an artist.” And indeed she was. A very gifted seventeenth century Dutch artist, and one whose works were not recognized as her own until the late nineteenth century. She was the … Continue reading Book Review: “A Light of Her Own” by Carrie Callaghan

I spent much of my early life hearing stories about "Uncle Jim," aka James D. Benton, my great-great-grandfather's brother. My father, a huge Civil War buff, visited local school groups and historical societies, dressed in Uncle Jim's uniform and sharing his stories of battle conditions. His (unrealized) dream was to publish a book about the … Continue reading Book Review: Death, Disease, and Life at War by Christopher E. Loperfido