Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

“Death of a Gossip” by M.C. Beaton

Death of a Gossip (1985) Warner Books, 179 pages, $6.50 paperback  ISBN 0‑446‑60713‑4 Every week during salmon-fishing season a new class arrives at the fishing school in Lochdubh run by John and Heather Cartwright. But town constable Hamish Macbeth has a bad feeling about this particular class…. Macbeth is the lone police officer in Lochdubh, […]

“Death of a Gossip” by M.C. Beaton Read More »

M.C. Beaton: Introductory Notes

M.C. Beaton is a pseudonym of Marion Chesney, who is known primarily for the more than 100 historical romance novels she has published under her own name and under several pseudonyms: Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward. But M.C. Beaton is the pseudonym she reserves for her mystery novels. Marion Chesney was

M.C. Beaton: Introductory Notes Read More »

The Best Books I Read in 1999

Listed alphabetically by author Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh Cheever, Susan. Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory Deane, Seamus. Reading in the Dark Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin

The Best Books I Read in 1999 Read More »

“Certain Prey” by John Sandford

Sandford, John. Certain Prey (1999)  G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 339 pages, $24.95 hardcover   ISBN 0 399 14496 X   In his latest Lucas Davenport thriller John Sandford does something different: he focuses on the villain as much as on the hero. And what a villain it is: Clara Rinker, the best hit woman (or hit

“Certain Prey” by John Sandford Read More »

book review

“The Body Project” by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls Random House, 1997Hardcover, 267 pagesISBN 0-679-40297-7 Joan Jacobs Brumberg teaches in the fields of history, human development, and women’s studies at Cornell University. In this cultural and historical study, she describes how growing up female has changed over the last century and how, in

“The Body Project” by Joan Jacobs Brumberg Read More »

“Orchid Beach” by Stuart Woods

Woods, Stuart. Orchid Beach (1998)HarperCollins, 325 pages, $25.00 hardcover  ISBN 0-06-019181-3 Finally, a new book by Stuart Woods that doesn’t feature philandering superhero Stone Barrington. In fact, the protagonist of Woods’s latest novel is a woman, 37-year-old Holly Barker. After 20 years in the army, Barker retires when a male superior whom she and another

“Orchid Beach” by Stuart Woods Read More »

book review

“The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester

Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman HarperCollins, 1998Hardcover, 242 pagesISBN 0-06-017596-6 Recommended Compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), begun in 1857, required more than 70 years and the help of hundreds of volunteers who submitted examples of the usage of individual words. The editor of the project was Professor James Murray, a scholarly former

“The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester Read More »

“The Hunter” by Richard Stark

Stark, Richard.  The Hunter (1962); rpt. as Point Blank   Allison & Busby, 154 pages, $13.95 hardcover    ISBN 0 85031 591 3 {Richard Stark is a pseudonym Donald E. Westlake used for a series of stark noir thrillers featuring the character Parker.} As Parker walks across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan at the

“The Hunter” by Richard Stark Read More »

“Shell Game” by Carol O’Connell

O’Connell, Carol. Shell Game (1999)G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 374 pages, $24.95 hardcover   ISBN 0 399 14495-1 After a break for Judas Child, Carol O’Connell returns to her series character, NYPD detective Kathleen Mallory, in Shell Game.  When an elderly magician dies horribly in what appears to be a botched magic act, only Mallory suspects murder.

“Shell Game” by Carol O’Connell Read More »

book review

“Note Found in a Bottle” by Susan Cheever

Cheever, Susan. Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker Simon & Schuster, 1999Hardcover, 192 pagesISBN 0-684-80432-8 Recommended My grandmother Cheever taught me how to embroider, how to say the Lord’s Prayer, and how to make a perfect dry martini. She showed me how to tilt the gin bottle into the tumbler with the

“Note Found in a Bottle” by Susan Cheever Read More »

Scroll to Top