I teach Language Arts to 5th grade students. I enjoy reading to my students and try to expose them to a variety of literature. We really enjoyed this story. Boys and girls both ejoyed this story because they could identify with the main characters, Steve and Kendra. Set in the Land Between the Lakes area, Steve and Kendra wonder who is putting flowers on very old child's grave. This begins quite a few questions that the children simply must find an answer to. Through a variety of events the children find out about "the lonely grave". My students and I agree that the ending was quite a surprise, we never would have guess the actual ending.

This book is a splendid combination of deft story-telling with solid historical information. The reader really gets a feel of what it would have been like to be a female slave in ancient Rome -- unable to control what happens to your body, your child. Lorcis, the main character, is determined to win her freedom, even though others tell her that slaves have a kind of security which free people lack. The novel combines historical characters with fictitious ones in such a way that both seem to be very much alive. The Christians in Rome in the late first century AD play a significant part in the book, although it is not a Christian novel. Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, it took an unexpected turn, right up to the last page.

Professor Michael Herrington and travel-writer Corie Foster have risen to the top of my "favorite mystery couple" list. This novel introduces them as they meet in Italy and try to solve a murder before Corie herself becomes a victim. They emerge as very real characters while solving a fast-paced "whodunit." The descriptions of central Italy also add an enjoyable dimension to the book. At the end it's clear that their relationship is going somewhere. I hope the next book comes out soon.

In a truly fascinating look at both human nature and love Kill her Again by Albert A. Bell Jr. will keep you on the edge of your seat while you read. Corie Foster, a travel writer, is sent to a small town in Italy to do a story about an archaeological dig being conducted near the estate of an Italian. When she arrives, everyone she meets reacts strangely to her appearance, with their reactions ranging from shock to fear to disbelief. Corie soon finds out that she looks just like the senators late wife, Angela, so much so that most people believe she could be the senator's wife. When two women on the dig are murdered, Corie and professor Michael Herrington, whom she met at the dig, decide to do a little sleuthing and soon begin to wonder if Angela really did die of natural causes. As the search for the killer goes on everyone, including Michael and the senator, begin to wonder if Corie is the innocent writer she appears to be and if Angela is really dead. With as many twists and turns as an Italian mountain road, Kill Her Again will leave you guessing right up to the end.

I judge a book by its ability to hold my attention. This one held my attention from cover to cover. Well drawn characters, plenty of suspense, even a bit of a love interest, "Kill Her Again" is spell binding! Enjoy!!

Who doesn't love a great mystery? I know that I do. The reason I love this book is that it is suspenseful and gripping. I was immediately drawn into the plot and the details that the author describes in the book. Not only is it a great mystery but it provides Roman history for its reader as well. It gives us a look into the Roman citizen and his life.

If a writer wants to introduce a new series in the somewhat crowded field of Roman mysteries, he'd better have a unique twist. Albert Bell has done that. Instead of fictional sleuths, he uses historical characters, Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus, in the first of what promises to be a fine series. Bell combines historical knowledge, witty writing, and a plot with just enough complications and suspects to lead to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Pliny and Tacitus have to find out who murdered a man travelling with them while also protecting a beautiful young slave girl who may be the killer's next victim. I can't wait for the next one!

The field of mysteries set in ancient Rome is a bit crowded, with Davis, Saylor, and Roberts, but this new entry deserves to take its place at the head of the line. It features an historical character, Pliny the Younger, with his friend the historian Tacitus playing the Dr. Watson role. While traveling back to Rome in a caravan in 83 AD, they stop overnight in Smyrna. The next morning they discover that a member of the caravan has been brutally murdered. Suspects abound: a gambler who was in debt to the victim, a group of women who may be involved in occult practices, an abused slave, and several others. With no Roman magistrates on the scene, Pliny takes charge of the investigation. He soon realizes that the case is more complicated than at first appears. He must find the killer because he himself may have been the intended victim. First rate!