The Story: The title refers to the name given to an enormous albino sperm whale who is being hunted by Captain Ahab, the ruthless, single-minded, driven master of a whaling ship. Ahab hunts Moby Dick because, in a previous hunt, Moby Dick amputated Ahab's leg in a failed attempt by Ahab to catch the white whale. The story is told in retrospect by a crewman, Ishmael, of the ship, who was a young, somewhat naive man at the time.

This is not a novel for everyone; it takes a patient and persistent reader to tackle the rich but complicated writing style of Melville, as well as the author's penchant for going off on detailed, descriptive tangents. However, the writing style almost becomes poetic at times, and symbolism and metaphor abound. The closest thing to Melville's style I've found amongst contemporary writers is Gene Wolfe ("The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Short Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun"). Wolfe also borrowed from Melville the device of telling the story from the viewpoint of young, naive observers, who report what they see with little bias or editorializing, which leaves the reader to interpret the story on his/her own.

To me, this story is a detailed and adventurous tale of obsession verging on insanity. Ahab is so focused on catching and killing Moby Dick that he loses sight of his own welfare and the welfare of his men. He never questions his own motives; he is out after revenge for losing his leg, as well as out to redress the insult of a simple beast not accepting the dominion of Man. Moby Dick's defiance of Mankind's superiority and sovereignty is seen as an outrage, a matter of honor for Captain Ahab to resolve. But, why did Moby Dick bite off Ahab's leg in the first place? Ahab sees it as an act of war by the whale, a refusal to bow down to the Master of the Earth (Mankind). Might it not just as easily be an animal naturally defending itself against a predator (Mankind) invading his (Moby Dick's) domain?

Jay Nussbaum wrote a book called "Blue Road to Atlantis" which is a gem of a story that retells Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" from the fish's point of view. Mr. Nussbaum could make quite a story out of Moby Dick's point of view of this puny maniac who keeps harassing him and trying to kill him.

I'm still reading the book, but this version is quite helpful because in the back it has explanations for Melville's sometimes confusing allusions.

This is a compilation of the funniest 4-book trilogy every written (not a typo), with one bonus book. It's bound in genuine bonded leather, and has a built-in page marker. It's easily mistaken for a bible. More importantly, it's got detailed instructions for leaving the planet before your phone bill arrives.

A great view on how the universe works. You'll be sure to go mad. But don't worry, it's worth it. Makes fun of us, humans, so primitive that we still think that digital watches are a neat idea. Some recent movie makers seem to have read this book; MIB, Contact and Event Horizon all seem to refer to the book in some way (Event Horizon refering directly to the Heart of Gold).

This guy Michael Jahn's family has been in New York since before there were printing presses. He knows more about the Big Apple than any other writer. Read "Murder In Central Park" and you will know enough to give guided tours, somebody said, and I agree. Have a great day!

Though Manhattan's Central Park seems like a vast oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle, there are sections that few people will ever visit. Captain Bill Donovan, Chief of NYPD's Special Investigations Unit, camps out in the park with a friend who is conducting research on crows. The next morning, Bill sees a crow eating a human corpse slashed several times by a knife. Bill's overnight companion Lauriat is a suspect because he was not with his camping partner at the time death occurred. Bill and Lauriat heard teenagers nearby, but when Donovan and his men track down the two people, they find it to be the researcher's son and his cyber-stripper girlfriend.

Officials believe the victim was killed for spying on the queen of cyber-nudity. Lauriat lies to protect his son, which only muddles the bewildering case further. Bill goes undercover to try to ascertain new leads since he does not truly believe the trio of prime suspects are killers. Bill's hunches have always worked out in the past, but this time his need is more personal than ever before.

Anyone who has not read the Bill Donovan mysteries should try them because the lead character is an everyman doing his best. Bill is a devoted husband, a doting father, a dedicated police officer, and a recovering alcoholic. MURDER IN CENTRAL PARK continues this fifty plus anti-hero's exploits to see that justice is served. The support cast enhances the star quality of Bill by making him seem more vulnerable and human. Respected author Michael Jahn focuses his latest police procedural on one of Bill's most puzzling cases and will send the audience seeking out Mr. Donovan's previous tales.

Harriet Klausner

This book is the 4th Book in the Scumble River Mystery series written by Denise Swanson. In this installment, Skye Denison has a lot to deal with. The town of Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial by throwing a large celebration, which means everyone in town will be participating in the events. Skye's ex-fiancé, Luc St. Amant, has chosen this time to come to town to try to win over Skye's heart once more, bringing into question whether Skye wants to turn to the past for a romance, or if she sees herself in a long-term relationship with her current love interest, Simon Reid. Also adding to her trouble is a gang of rowdy teenagers and then the murder of the guest of honor at the Scumble River celebration. At first, Skye does not want to get involved in the murder investigation, but when several people close to Skye become involved, she once again sets out to find a killer.

I have really enjoyed the entire Scumble River series, and this book was a delight. This book was interesting and entertaining with just the right amount of suspense thrown in. I thought I knew the identity of the killer several times throughout the book, but was mildly surprised at the ending. I was also happy to see that Skye makes a decision about her love life at the end of this book, since I felt that the Simon/Wally triangle had dragged on long enough. This is a fun, easy read for any cozy mystery lover.

The first book in this series is "Murder of a Small-Town Honey". Enjoy!

Skye Denison is an amazing character. After giving a high school speech that lets the community know just what she thinks of them, she ends up some years later coming back broke and dumped by her fiance. The community has not forgotten her speech.
More about the above is contained in earlier books in this series.
Now, while Scumble River is in the thick of its bicentennial celebration, her ex-fiance comes back and a murder comes in.
Skye always had guts and compassion but she has grown.
I'm already standing in line for "Murder of a Barbie and Ken", the next Scumble River book, due out November, 2003.
Denise Swanson never lets a reader down and the Scumble River series is not to be missed.

The bicentennial celebrations in Scumble River are in full swing. A descendant of the original Scumble is in attendance. Skye's love life is ever more confusing. Things are going well with Simon, but she still has feelings for Wally, and to make things worse, her ex fiance` seems to want her back. As usual, there is a particularly tricky problem with one of the children at the High School. Skye doesn't need another murder investigation right now, but when Gabriel Scumble is found murdered on the bandstand at the celebration and her ex is implicated, Skye has to get involved. If only to get him out of her life forever.

This series keeps getting better and better. The characters are quirky and fun and the problems of the residents of Scumble River are very realistic. I read this one in one sitting and look forward to the next.

No one writes suspense better than Michael Jahn! This book is un-put-downable! If John Grisham were alive today, he would be writing books like this one! Highly recommended!!!

It is the day after Thanksgiving and all seems right in fifty-two year old police Captain Jim Donovan's life because he has married his beloved Marcie. In a few weeks they will have their first child, a boy. Being over forty, Marcie faces a high-risk pregnancy and is under constant medical monitoring. Jim is working a part-time schedule centered in his spouse's hospital room.

However, his superior abruptly suspends Jim's status when a Santa's angel uses a gun containing trace uranium bullets to break through a bulletproof window, killing a customer. Subsequently, a second store is hit with another patron murdered. Donovan ducks bullets and tries to keep the mayor alive. However, his biggest problem is a pregnant woman, who wants her husband safe and at her side when she gives birth to their son.

The sixth novel in the Jim Donovan mystery series is an engaging who-done-it that is impossible to solve. Jim is a flawed person, who has finally found peace in his middle age. Michael Jahn brilliantly catches the flavor of a large city as well as the problems facing an ethnically mixed couple. MURDER ON FITH AVENUE catches the nuances and mindsets of the varying cultures to a rarely seen perfection that becomes the heart of the novel. This reviewer is looking forward to a harried Jim changing the diaper of an out of control infant boy.

Harriet Klausner

I can not say enough about the Baynes Clan series of books. McCord is equal in every way to Louis L'Lamour in his writing abilities. I just wonder why someone has not made a movie of the Baynes Clan yet. It is the best family western series since the Sacketts and I do not exagerate at all. After reading the Baynes Clan and Walking Hawk, another excellent book by McCord, I am a devoted fan of his writing style. I am eagerly awaiting his next western book!!! ~Bev. Bozman~

I am a very big western reader and Mr.McCord is the only author that has done a better job than Louis L'amour in writing these books.The reason is,how human he makes his characters,they laugh,cry,fight and love.He also lets you hear from the little characters.All of this makes it great reading I can't wait for his next novel

I lived on Martha's Vineyard for several years year-round, during the bustling summers and what is known as the "off season." Philip R. Craig's novel captures perfectly the sense of community that year-round Islanders enjoy. He also gives a realistic account about how everyone knows everyone else's business in a closely-knit environment. His characters Mimi and Nash are true to life. His descriptions about how people eke out a living scallopping and fishing in the off-season are also quite accurate. Craig also mixes into his cast of characters a few professional and business people, and their interaction with the native Islanders is key to his story. The suspense in "Off Season" is great, and I could not guess the outcome until the final pages of the book. I also love this book because it contains so many evocative passages about Martha's Vineyard. I feel like I am living there again when I read Craig's (a/k/a J.W. Jackson's) descriptions of my beloved Island. I know every secluded beach and back road about which he writes. When he writes about Wasque Point, I can almost see the sun setting westward over the beach in the late afternoon and feel the salty spray on my face from the crashing waves. Reading this book was like taking another vacation on the Vineyard!

L LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THESE BOOKS!!!!! A very dear friend introduced me to this marvelous series a couple of months ago and i'm completely, totalllllly addicted!!! i think it would be great to have a recipe section at the end of each book...i'd love to try j.w.'s bluefish pate! as i was reading the earlier fantabulous books, i wondered how martha's vineyard would be 'off season' and lo and behold, that was the very next book in the pile to read....never, ever stop writing about j.w. and zee and their crazy adventures....i'd love to have this great couple as next door neighbors!!!! thanx for so many wonderful hours savoring the incredible descriptions of places and recipes!!!!! i'm simply thrilled that i have 3 more books of this fun series in order to catch up to the present!!!! and when i'm reading something else, i actuallly miss j.w. and zee....crazy, huh???

If you haven't discovered Harpur and Iles, you owe yourself a treat.

ACC Iles's concept of a controlled city where drugs are handled locally and violence is kept off the streets is threatened by his boss, Mark Lane's desire for a crusade against crime, by one of his officer's apparent double-dealing (the Pay Days of the title), and by an outbreak of murder within the untrusting mobs that control the drug business. As usual, Detective Chief Superintendent Harpur is the only one who will face the moral dilemnas and try to achieve a solution.

Author Bill James does a wonderful job detailing the fine line between police and criminal--their similarities are disturbing. His deft touch for dialogue made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Panicking Ralph Ember, in particular, has become something of a friend as well as a monumental villain.

Harpur and Iles is a great series and this is a great example.

BooksForABuck.

I appreciate your helpful vote.

As a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I enjoy the books in this series written by Bill James. In PAY DAYS, James has pulled it all together once again. Harpur and Iles are in familiar form, struggling through their unorthodox crime-solving partnership. So are our heroes' criminal rivals Ember and Shale. James has a plot here featuring a possibly turncoat cop who no one on either side of the law knows whether or not he can be trusted. In PAY DAYS, Bill James does what Bill James does as well as any other writer working today. If you enjoy this type of mystery, read this book soon.

I've read that John D. MacDonald had 4 or 5 of the first McGee's written before he decided to publish them. As a result, these 1st novels in the series can be seen as experiments in developing a series character. In this, the 3rd or 4th published in the series, we see McGee in a situation as close as he will ever get to a classic mystery novel. Before he can be hired by Mona Fox Yeoman to free her and her money from the clutches of her husband Jass Yeoman, she's shot dead right in front of him by a desert sniper. -And the police won't start searching for a killer until McGee can prove she's dead. Seems her body disappeared while McGee was calling the police and she was always threatening to one away with her lover and weren't they spotted on a commercial flight getting away, and-. Eventually, Trav is looking for the killer for Jass, who may not be the tyrant that Mona described to McGee. McGee tracks down the true story, ending up unarmed against a pair of killers in the desert. Classic McGee with a "Ross Macdonald-ish" twist at the end as the solution becomes mired in the Yeoman past.

AS always MacDonald spins an enthralling tale.

I have read all the T McGee books except one, and for some reason this one sticks out as my favorite. John D MacDonald is a superb wordsmith. Just ask Sue Grafton! MacDonald used colors, Grafton uses alphabet. It is tight, well-written, as descriptive as it needs to be and I didn't want to put it down! MacDonald is masterful in so many ways. He never resorts to profanity and he gets away with it. Unheard of, by today's standards! For those of you who've not read about Travis, I surely do envy you! Some great reading awaits you! Larry 'Possum' Ronnow

I have alsways enjoyed spoofs obout Christmas, and this one had me laughing so hard that I cried. Prof. Peter Shandy did what I always wanted to do about December 23rd, when the pressures of this "giving season" are really getting to me. It is also a really good mystery with a plot, cleverly drawn characters and a satisfactor ending. I recommend it highly (especially in the third week of December).

If you like eccentric, crazy characters, and good mystery, this is a great book!