Ford County

Product Details

• Pub. Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Format: Hardcover, 320pp
• Sales Rank: 1

Synopsis

John Grisham returns to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his immensely popular first novel, A Time to Kill. This wholly surprising collection of stories reminds us once again why Grisham is America’s favorite storyteller.

The New York Times – Janet Maslin

Mr. Grisham took seven of his unused plot ideas and turned each of them into a sharp, lean tale free of subplots and padding. At an average length of slightly over 40 pages, these narratives are shorter than novellas but longer than conventional short stories. For a fledgling author, this format would be a tough sell; for Mr. Grisham, it’s a vacation from whatever grueling work goes into the construction of fully rigged best sellers. The change invigorates him in ways that show up on the page…His novels sometimes moralize; these short stories don’t need to because they transform their agendas into pure, vigorous plot.

Kindred in Death

Product Details

• Pub. Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Format: Hardcover, 384pp
• Sales Rank: 2

• Series: In Death Series, #29

 

Synopsis

When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena’s body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate.

When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.

Publishers Weekly

New York City law officers have more technological weapons at their disposal in bestseller Robb’s snappy near-future series, but so do criminals, including the sadistic rapist killer who strikes down Deena MacMasters, the 16-year-old daughter of police captain Jonah MacMasters, in the 30th full-length novel to feature homicide detective Lt. Eve Dallas (after Promises in Death). MacMasters specifically asks that Dallas, who has a knack for clever insights and deductions, lead the investigation into his daughter’s murder. An impressive team of professionals—augmented by Dallas’s husband, Roarke, and his young protégé, Jaime Lingstrom—begins the arduous task of collecting and analyzing data. Clues suggest Deena may not be the only victim targeted by her killer and increase the pressure on Dallas and her cohorts. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) combines sex, horrific crime, forensics and technological wizardry for another winner sure to please her many fans. (Nov.)

G4’s Fresh Ink Online Presents: Brian Michael Bendis Interview

Dig this 2-part Fresh Ink Online special where host Blair Butler chats with
comic book legend Brian Michael Bendis at Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood.

In Part 1, they chat about the evolution of Spiderwoman, from The Avengers
to his upcoming print and motion comic editions, which leads to a spirited
discussion of comics going digital via Kindle, iTunes, and Apple or
Microsoft tablets. What does then future hold for comic books and does going
digital represent the death of print media?

In Part 2, Blair and Brian chat about the evolution of intellectual property
and creator owned books. They get into the history of bringing his acclaimed
comic Torso to the big screen and he gives insight into consulting on Iron
Man movie and being part of Marvel creative committee. You’ll also get juicy
details on the Powers TV pilot for FX, plus updates on Kenneth Branagh’s
upcoming Thor movie and the upcoming Avengers movie. In addition, Brian
talks about the re-launch of Powers on November 27 and the December launch
of Marvel’s 4-issue mini-series Siege, which kicks off with the Siege of the
Cabal debut issue, unites Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, and marks a
seismic shift in the Avengers books via the end of the Dark Reign plot.
Whew!
part 1

part 2

Fresh Ink Online Presents: Brian Michael Bendis Interview

Dig this 2-part Fresh Ink Online special where host Blair Butler chats with
comic book legend Brian Michael Bendis at Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood.

In Part 1, they chat about the evolution of Spiderwoman, from The Avengers
to his upcoming print and motion comic editions, which leads to a spirited
discussion of comics going digital via Kindle, iTunes, and Apple or
Microsoft tablets. What does then future hold for comic books and does going
digital represent the death of print media?

In Part 2, Blair and Brian chat about the evolution of intellectual property
and creator owned books. They get into the history of bringing his acclaimed
comic Torso to the big screen and he gives insight into consulting on Iron
Man movie and being part of Marvel creative committee. You’ll also get juicy
details on the Powers TV pilot for FX, plus updates on Kenneth Branagh’s
upcoming Thor movie and the upcoming Avengers movie. In addition, Brian
talks about the re-launch of Powers on November 27 and the December launch
of Marvel’s 4-issue mini-series Siege, which kicks off with the Siege of the
Cabal debut issue, unites Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, and marks a
seismic shift in the Avengers books via the end of the Dark Reign plot.
Whew!

View Fresh Ink Online Presents: Brian Michael Bendis Interview

courtesy of G4

Christine Feehan on DARK HUNGER Manga

Spotlight on the Nightside

Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Author: Simon R. Green

Publisher: Ace Books

Review Rating: 9.5

 

Welcome to the Nightside, the dark heart of London, where it’s always 3am and forever night-time, gods and demons and everything in between roam the streets, and our hero John Taylor tries to make a “living” as a private detective who can find, well, anything really. If it doesn’t find him first. Written, created, and awesomely tended by Simon R. Green!

 

John Taylor, probably the first private dick to wear the distinctive white trenchcoat, is a man with a past, and a gift: he can Find anything. He tried, after being chased all his life by the enemies known as the Harrowing, and being shot in the back as he tried to escape, to leave the Nightside. That of course didn’t work out at all, and he’s back to walk among such memorable characters as Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor; Shotgun Suzie, also known as “Oh Crap it’s her, run!”; Julian Advent the legendary Victorian Adventurer; Larry Oblivion the dead detective; Alex Morrissey, descendant of the feared sorcerer Merlin, who runs the best bar in the Nightside, Strangefellows; and many more!

 

Something from the Nightside
After an absence of five years, John Taylor, private eye and man who can find anything (for the right cheque), is dragged back to the Nightside for a case of a missing daughter and a strangely determined mother who insists on accompanying Taylor to the Nightside to search. In a place where nothing is as it seems, Taylor searches for Cathy’s bright light, before the Nightside snuffs it out forever!

 

 

 

 

Agents of Light and Darkness

The Unholy Grail, the cup that Judas drank from at the last supper, has come to the Nightside. And everyone from wanna-be sorcerors to the Vatican Church itself, wants John Taylor to find it for them before it’s too late. Too late for what, you ask? The Agents of Light and Darkness, Angels from Above and Below, have come to the Nightside looking for the Unholy Grail too. And now Taylor has to find the cup and stop the Angels from tearing apart the Nightside to get it!

 

 

 

 

Nightingale’s Lament

The hottest singing act in the Nightside is an adorable little goth chick who calls herself Nightingale. Her shows are always sold out, her fans are more than rabid, and her family is greatly concerned for her safety and well-being. Especially when the rabid fans begin offing themselves in the most sudden and violent ways imaginable, right at the foot of the stage during Nightingale’s shows. Enter our wayward hero, private eye John Taylor, hired by Nightingale’s father to determine what happened to his little girl and hopefully save her before it’s too late!

 

 

 

Hex and the City

That enigmatic Being known as Lady Luck has hired John Taylor to investigate the origins of the Nightside and all its wonders. However, the deeper he digs, the more dangerous things get, and soon Taylor discovers that the origins of the Nightside intertwine closely with his long-missing mother, whom he never suspected of being entirely human.

 

 

 

 

 

Paths Not Taken

After being blindsided with the knowledge that his long-lost not-quite-human mother created the Nightside, John Taylor is determined to go back in time to the very origins of the dark heart of London, and save it from destruction. Featuring a jaunt through Dark Ages Nightside, and Roman Nightside, Paths Not Taken demonstrates a versatility in Green’s writing that is hard to match!

 

 

 

 

Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth

Back from his jaunt through time, John Taylor arrives in the Nightside just barely in the nick of time to watch it’s destruction at the hands of his awesome and terrible mother, that fearsome creature known as the Mother of Demons and She who Defied Adam and God, Lillith. Gathering together the last remaining remnants of an army, Taylor goes to confront his dreaded mother and save the Nightside, his only home, at last.

 

 

 

 

Hell To Pay

The Griffin family is quite possibly one of the very few actual remaining Immortals left in the Nightside in the wake of the last War. But Jeremiah Griffin, leader of the family and reason for their Immortality, wants to hire John Taylor to find his missing granddaughter Melissa. The whole house of cards will tumble if Melissa isn’t found in a certain amount of time, and to make matters worse, something very strong is blocking Taylor’s gift for Finding things, so it’s down to detective work the good old-fashioned way: treading the streets, kicking in doors and asking pointed questions, all with Hell hot on his heels!

 

 

 

The Unnatural Inquirer

Rumors of an actual recording of the Afterlife have popped up in the Nightside, and the most notorious gossip rag of the night, the Unnatural Inquirer, has somehow already managed to buy the rights to it. Now, with the recording and it’s dubious owner on the run and a lot of people chasing them, the Unnatural Inquirer wants to hire Taylor, saddle him with a half-Succubus partner who has designs on him, and get Taylor to bring back their property!

 

 

 

 

Just Another Judgement Day

The Walking Man, Scourge of the human realm, the Hand (or rather the Gun) of God’s wrath, has come to the Nightside. The newly acquired Authorities, some of whom John Taylor actually knows, are quaking at the news and give John the assignment to deal with the Walking Man by any means necessary. And since the Walking Man isn’t allowed concepts like restraint or pity, the whole Nightside may be decimated before Taylor can stop him!

Spotlight on Sano Ichiro

 

 Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Author: Laura Joh Rowland

Publisher: Amazon

Review Rating: 9.5

 

Sano Ichiro, likened to a Japanese feudal-era Sam Spade or Alex Cross, investigates mysteries and murders as first a Detective, and then as the Shogun’s Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations and People.

 

One would think that writing a series of murder mystery novels set in feudal-era Japan circa approximately 1700 featuring a protagonist with such crazed sensibilities as getting help with his investigations from women, would be impossible. Yet Rowland brings across Sano Ichiro in a strong and yet curiously humanly vulnerable way. Sano faces all the slings and arrows modern life throws at us: a wife and children, an at-times impossible job with an overbearing boss (one that could order your death at any moment, mind), familial piety, and enthusiastically loyal co-workers, all tossed together in a time when Japan’s Edo had great cultural signifigance. With all that in mind, I invite you to enter the world of Sano Ichiro and his many adventures!

 

 

Shinju

Detective Sano’s first big case, the double suicide (Shinju) of wealthy Yukiko and impoverished artist Nuriyoshi. When the official report is released, Sano is convinced there is a murderer involved.

 

 

Bundori

Sano Ichiro is hot on the trail of a killer who practices the ancient custom of Bundori, or taking war trophies. This particular murderer, known for taking heads, causes Sano to risk it everything from his career to his life, in order to catch him.

 

 

 

The Way of the Traitor

Nagasaki is a city rife with corruption and suspicion, but also curiosity and strange new wonders. When the body of one of the very few Westerners in Japan, a Dutch trader named Jan Saen, washes up on shore, Sano Ichiro finds himself conducting a very dangerous investigation. For not only is his usual honor at stake, his very life could depend on finding the killer!

 

 

The Concubine’s Tattoo

When the Shogun’s favorite concubine Lady Harume is found dead from, of all things, a poisonous lovers’ tattoo, Most Honorable Investigator of People, Situations and Events Sano Ichiro, is brought in to investigate. While navigating the private female world of the palace women and Lady Harume’s private lovers and secrets, Sano finds his mind on other things, having just acquired a new wife, Lady Reiko.

 

 

The Samurai’s Wife

Most Honorable Investigator Sano Ichiro and his strong-willed wife Lady Reiko are summoned to the Shogun’s palace to investigate the murder of a high Kyoto official. The manner of death, caused by the ancient legend of kiai or spirit cry, leads Sano and Reiko into political machination plots, illicit lovers and dark secrets hidden in the very palace.

 

 

Black Lotus

A fire set on the prestigious Black Lotus Temple that killed three members yielded only one likely culprit, a low orphan girl that everyone but Lady Reiko is ready to condemn guilty. Using her unique vantage point as Sano’s wife to gain privileged information, Lady Reiko discovers dark doings inside the Black Lotus sect, and sets out to convince her stubborn husband before the entire city is set aflame!

 

 

The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria

The Shogun’s heir apparent and charming young cousin has been found murdered, stabbed through the eye by a Lady’s long hairpin, in the Yoshiwara or pleasure quarter. The purported murderer, Lady Wisteria, and her pillow book or diary, are nowhere to be found. Matters are considerably complicated when Sano is placed on the job and discovers it’s the same woman he had a brief but thrilling affair with years ago before he was married.

 

 

The Dragon King’s Palace

Sano’s wife Lady Reiko, the Shogun’s mother, Reiko’s friend Midori, and the wife of Sano’s strongest rival Lady Yanagisawa, have all been kidnapped by a madman and taken to a ruined palace. In order to save them, Sano has to ally with his enemies Lord Yanagisawa and policeman Hoshina, in a race against time and a madman’s quest for revenge!

 

 

The Perfumed Sleeve

The streets of Edo are teeming with violence as Chamberlain Yanagisawa and Lord Matsudiara, cousin to the Shogun, clash head-on for the rulership of all Japan. Senior Elder Makino is found dead in a most peculiar manner and posthumously makes a demand on Sano’s honor to investigate the case, which does indeed turn out to be a murder with a single strange clue left behind: a torn kimono sleeve trailing perfume.

 

 

The Assassin’s Touch

Despite his recent promotion to Chamberlain to the Shogun, Sano Ichiro is still in the thick of things. When Ejima Senzaemon falls dead off his horse during a race, Sano determines the cause to actually be dim-mak, the ancient way of killing with a single touch. Sano’s wife Reiko, in the midst of her own investigation into the slaying of her parents and sister supposedly by the lovely and recalcitrant Yugao, realizes her investigation and her husband’s are related somehow. Both Sano and Reiko become embroiled in the plot to stop the slaying of all the Shogun’s top officials.

 

 

The Red Chrysanthemum

Lord Mori, next heir to the Shogun’s regime, has been found murdered and mutilated in a most brutal fashion. But for Sano Ichiro, Chamberlain to the Shogun and Second-In-Command, the stakes are much higher than that. Found next to the body of Lord Mori is Sano’s own wife, Lady Reiko, heavily pregnant, naked and covered in blood. The one clue left behind to begin his desperate investigation is a white chrysanthemum, doused in blood.

 

 

The Snow Empress

Sano Ichiro’s eight year old son disappears during a moon viewing party, and his wife Lady Reiko insists on going with Sano when he receives a broad hint to go to Ezogashima if he wants his son returned. Upon arrival in Ezogashima, Sano and Reiko are stunned to learn Lord Matsumae is holding the entire city hostage for the confession of the murderer of his beloved Mistress. Sano agrees to find the murderer in exchange for his son’s life, but time and Lord Matsumae’s sanity, is running out.

 

 

The Fire Kimono

A storm unearths a skeleton near a Shinto shrine buried with swords indicating that it belongs to the Shogun’s own family, turning out to be yet another of the Shogun’s cousins, one who disappeared almost 40 years ago on a night when a raging fire almost destroyed the whole city. The investigation, rife with tensions as Lady Reiko, Sano’s wife, has several attempts made on her life supposedly by Lord Matsudiara of a rival faction, gets worse when many clues seem to lead right to Sano’s own mother.

Geisha

Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Author: Liza Dalby

Publisher: University of California Press

Review Rating: 9

 

The story of American Anthropologist Liza Dalby and her journey through being the only foreigner to ever become a geisha.

 

Far too little is understood about the Japanese culture, and the ways of geisha in particular. A world apart, with their own customs and rules, geisha have fascinated Westerners for ages with their mystery and sophistication. Dalby, through her own experiences being a geisha, brings a fresh understanding and sympathy for these icons of Japanese society. The history of geisha, including just how these women became confused as prostitutes for so long, is explored in depth. The day to day life of a modern geisha, her trials and triumphs, her attempts to keep up with a changing country while still maintaining the lacquer polish of geisha history, is all included in this gem of a book. Want to know what a maiko is, and the differences between tayu (courtesans) and geisha? The different geisha districts in Kyoto and Tokyo and their separate ways and customs are all explained in a way that even the unversed in the geisha world can understand. How about why Japanese humor at a zakishi (banquet) makes no sense to us Westerners? Dalby explains it all with a profound sympathy and sense of honest observation usually strictly prohibited in the select world of geisha. Many pictures of paintings and feudal-era etchings dot the book, bringing light to what Dalby speaks of.

Whether you’re reading Geisha to educate or entertain yourself, Liza Dalby accomplishes both in a happy medium that anyone can enjoy.

Keeping It Real

Reviewed by: Bethany Roberts-Garcia

Author: Justina Robson

Publisher: Pyr

Recommendation: Medium-High

The world as we know it is no longer real. As a matter of fact everything that happened before the Quantum Bomb of 2015 is not only in question much of it has been forgotten. Elves, Faeries, Demons and Elementals are real and their dimensions overlap ours. Special Agent Lila Black used to be a diplomat but her last mission went very wrong and now she is more machine then human. The only thing that burns hotter then the nuclear reactor that powers her assassin’s body, is her hatred of Elves. But the Powers That Be hardly care for their creations feeling, so her first independent mission is guarding the worlds only Elven rock star. Lila maybe able to control her machinery but there is no controlling her heart.

While Lila has the kind of control over her body that a Buddhist would envy, she has no idea what she is doing. She jumps from on crisis to the next hardly able to recuperate from the first before she is on the third or forth. Ms. Robson certainly puts her through the wringer! But it absolutely does not ring a false note. It is not like the author was straining for idea and one adventure flows straight from the previous one.

The only thing that bothers me about Lila is that she does things that make absolutely no sense. Her once mortal enemy too soon becomes a friend. She goes through a huge emotional evolution in less then a day. Not even the best therapist can achieve this. Her whole world view had been shifted once through highly unusual circumstances and now all it takes is a healing trance? Lila also continues to make impulsive and seemingly out of character decision with little or no reason.

I am hoping the series continues to improve but it was an enjoyable read. I find the premise full of promise and hope the author continues to explore this fascinating world she has created.

Wicked Game & Bad to the Bone

Reviewed by: Bethany Roberts-Garcia

Author: Jeri Smith-Ready

Publisher: Pocket Books

Recomendation: Medium High

Ciara Griffin who is trying to turn over a new leaf. After years of following in her con-artist parents foot steps she has decided to go straight, no more lying, no more stealing and no more cons. In hopes of landing a summer internship she interviews at a local radio station and lands in the biggest con of her life. The station is about to be sold to the highest bidder, a mega corporation who will fire all the DJs and replace them with a glorified i-pod. It is Ciara’s job to see that doesn’t happen, you see these DJ’saren’t just any old DJs, they are in fact vampires, real vampires and losing the station will mean that they each will fade away becoming little more then shadows of their past. And when one of these vampires becomes her boyfriend Ciara has a vested interest in seeing that doesn’t happen.

The first book in the series, Wicked Game, does a great job of setting the stage and telling a good story. Bad to the Bone, a little less so, as a matter of fact I found the title itself a bit of a turn off. “Good lord,” I thought, “another watch how bad ass I can be chick book.” I am happy to say I was wrong. Ciara Griffin kicks ass but she does it without getting physical. She out plots and out thinks everyone else, like a good con artist should. She seemed much more realistic then most other heroines and her bad girl gone good struggle isn’t a sugar coating or a convenient plot point, it is an actual struggle for her to keep it on the straight and narrow.

I found Ciara realistic, funny, and a fresh take on a genre that is getting to be a little been there, done that. The surrounding cast of characters are also fully threshed out, from the vampire DJ’s, to her best friend, and con artist parents (though I have to add the plot line with her dad is feeling a little contrived, though it is the only part of the books that feels that way).

As is stated earlier I was dreading reading these books based mostly on the cover design and titles, a mistake I should have learned fro m long ago. Don’t be fooled by these covers, there is some great reading between those pages and some even better music.