His family has owned the journal for two centuries and Lord Papworth will do anything to keep it alive and well. Desperate for help, he turns to Robert Amiss, offering the civil servant an opportunity to take over as the business manager of the Wrangler before the highly regarded periodical leaves the aristocrat bankrupt. After seeing the pre-computer technology that is deeply entrenched as part of the culture, Robert wants to miss out on this opportunity. However, Baroness Jack Troutbeck pushes Robert into taking over the business side of the journal.

It is hard enough to prod dinosaurs forward four decades. However, Robert soon deals with a killer murdering the members of the Wrangler staff. An unknown assailant kills the political editor and the magazine's editor. Robert worries that he too could be on the hit list. Robert assists as Jack tries to uncover the identity of a murderer.

The seventh Amiss satirical amateur sleuth tale retains all the charm, wit, and skewing of society that readers expect from Ruth Dudley Edwards. The story line is typical of Robert, who finds employment to be a deadly occupation. Jack remains delightfully insolent as Ms. Edwards knocks out journalism and inflexible customs with one punch.

Harriet Klausner

A murder is exposed and it seems as though half the town of Newton Lauder comes under suspicion. Who is responsible for the murder, of a very unpleasant man? And who is responsible for some very nasty happenings, which nearly causes Keith to loose all that he holds dear? Read this exciting mystery to find out!

Not for those who dislike gun sports, but definitely for those who like strong plotting and active characters. Gerald Hammond has a sure hand in sketching out the details of his characters.

Whenever Keith Calder gets involved in mysteries, you can bet he'll find a way to turn it to profit. As always, Gerald Hammond plots an exciting mystery full of quirks, unexpected turns of plot, and marvelously compelling characters. Highly recommended.

Working the Flats this evening are the Rocksburg Police Department's only African-American William Rayford, giant Robert "BooBoo" Canoza, and Nam vet James Reseta. Each has personal problems they bring to the job, but all three dedicated men know they must not allow their troubles to interfere with the beat if they want to live another day. Quickly the three officers are going to learn first hand how the Flats is different from any other neighborhood in town because the incident seems trivial, but the aftermath explosion proves dangerous and life threatening.

Once series fans understand that Mario is not making a comeback and Rugs is not the headliner, the readers will quickly comprehend that SAVING ROOM FOR DESSERT is a gourmet feast for the police procedural crowd. The story line follows the three officers on routine patrols that turns nasty. The story line focuses more on the trio than on what they face as each has their moment of introspection involving their personal woes as much as their professional troubles. K.C. Constantine changes direction with this tale in which the crime activity is interesting, but the up front look at the three stars is fascinating and fabulous.

Harriet Klausner

"The Secret of Father Brown" - In this prologue, Father Brown has come to visit Flambeau, who has long since retired to a castle in Spain. Another visitor asks Father Brown for the secret of how he solves all his cases - and gets a startling answer. The epilogue at the end of the book is supposedly the end of the same evening (all the stories in between having been produced as examples). Don't worry, the narrative style is the same as usual; the prologue and epilogue are just here to tie all the stories together.

The key to coping with Chesterton's stories is to remember the dictum of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter: "When you've got how, you've got who." If you go haring off after motive in a Chesterton story, all I can wish you is luck; you'll need it. They're good stories, with lovely use of language and settings, but weird things happen for weirder reasons, sometimes. Just sit back and enjoy, and don't worry about whether anybody could *really* hope to get away with some of these crimes. Some stories have multiple crimes, where one crime is committed because of another. If you feel sympathy for some of these 'second' criminals, you might also like to try Chesterton's _The Club of Queer Trades_, even though Father Brown doesn't appear there.

"The Mirror of the Magistrate" - Agatha Christie's Poirot once asked Hastings to mention 'chocolate box' to him if he ever needed to be humbled with a reminder of failure. This case is the closest that Father Brown came to that - he refers to this case in later stories whenever his terse comments divert the authorities in the wrong direction in an investigation. I take comfort that *somebody* felt guilty about all those red herrings... :)

"The Man with Two Beards" - This case is sometimes referred to as the Moonshine murder. Michael Moonshine is a legendary burglar, who "stunned people - and bound and gagged them," but who made it a point of honour never to kill anyone. Now he's apparently in the neighbourhood - but someone died during this robbery. What really happened? (Incidentally, for Moonshine-style burglary, let me recommend Looking Glass Studios' game _Thief_.)

"The Song of the Flying Fish" - Locked-room theft (that is, a locked-room mystery which is a theft rather than the traditional murder). The rich man's favourite toy, an antique glass bowl of solid gold fish, gave him his favourite joke when meeting new people: "Have you seen my gold fish?" Now somebody, upon seeing them, has caused them to disappear.

"The Actor and the Alibi" - Locked-room murder. How was the theater manager murdered in his locked office, especially when most of the company was on stage for an undress rehearsal? The only member of the company who wasn't in view of witnesses - a hot-tempered Italian actress dissatisfied with her part - had locked herself in her dressing-room, hence Father Brown being called in to reason with his parishioner. (On being asked whether to break the door down, the priest advises against it, contrasting her with a certain broody metaphysical type; the other half of the comparison can be found in Chesterton's "A Tall Story" in _The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond_.)

"The Vanishing of Vaudrey" - Locked-room disappearance, more or less. The local squire disappeared in the middle of the morning in the tiny village near his home. Father Brown begins by accompanying Vaudrey's secretary in the search, and hears his troubles while picking up background information on the setting and characters.

"The Worst Crime in the World" - Father Brown accompanied his friend Granby to Sir John Musgrave's castle, but not to assist in finding out if Sir John's son was a good credit risk. Young Musgrave needs money because he wants to get married to Father Brown's niece - who isn't quite sure about him. Unfortunately, while setting Granby's mind at rest, Sir John made a cryptic pronouncement about his son's character...

"The Red Moon of Meru" - Again, a theft rather than a murder, and leaves an impression much like that of 'The Song of the Flying Fish' (see above). This time, a mystic has apparently made a ruby vanish - the best thing that ever happened to his reputation, in terms of psychic phenomena.

"The Chief Mourner of Marne" - The Marquis of Marne dropped all his old friends and left England many years ago, upon the sudden death of his best friend and idol, his cousin Maurice Mair. Even upon his return, he has shut himself up and appears to be obsessed with religion - his old friends often bewail the 'vampires' he's taken up with. Enough so that one of them now complains to Father Brown, who isn't about to hear his religion slandered...

"The Secret of Flambeau" - Returning to the scene of the prologue, the American visitor questions the wisdom of Father Brown's charity with criminals, to be countered by a rather startling defense from Flambeau. (See the first few stories in _The Innocence of Father Brown_ if you're not already familiar with Flambeau's history.)

The plot moves along quickly and abounds with humorous touches that weave through the suspenseful story. The characters are eccentric, loving, brave, swarthy and suave. This is the first in the series of Regan Reilly mysteries and sets the tone for those that follow.

PS - snagged refers to the panyhose industry....