The mystery in this book was a bit more complex than that in George's first book in this series: the solution was not as apparent. Unfortunately, there were so many secondary characters that it was hard to keep them straight. It was obvious that these characters were there to act as "red herrings".

I also thought that the coincidence of Lady Helen being on the scene of a murder, and intimately involved, was a bit of a stretch, but was able to accept it with just a grain of salt.

George did a fairly good job of giving us more insight into the main characters (Lynley, Havers, Helen, and Deborah) and fleshed out their backgrounds quite well.

I thought that the last third of the book was far too dragged out...I found myself skimming a lot.

I enjoy the Lynley/Havers series very much and found this book very hard to put down. The central mystery involves the death of a Playwright on a Scottish estate and the cast of suspects that were involved. The story moves from the estate to various other locations which keeps the reader interested.

There were some problems that I had with the story. There were too many characters and sub-plots involved that took away from the main mystery- including the romantic turmoil of Lynley and some past crimes. There was also a conspiracy plot thrown which only took away from the main mystery.

I did like the character development and I did feel for Lynley and Havers at various times during the novel. This is still a good mystery to add to your collection and I will continue to follow this series.

Even though George paints a somewhat old-fashioned portrait of English life, she is still able to write very very good mysteries.

Her detecive thrillers are clever, intuitive, have nice twists, good, well evoked settings, and are very well written, if somewhat OVER written.

the mystery here is first class as ever. she writes with the style of agatha christie, and comes up with solutions that the dead queen would be proud of. It is only a shame that Lynley is not quite as interesting as Poirot. However, the relationships the main characters 5 characters really are VERY interesting. they add weight, credibility, and realism to the story. they add a more personal and intimate side, and prove an ongoing drama to mix with that of the different crimes which come up in each book.

She is very good at drawing her character, and very good at coming up with agatha christie style plots. her psychology is accurate, and her writing very descriptive.

Definitely worth a read. This second book was very very good. So far, i dont think she written a bad one, and i've read nearly all of them. A good build up A Great Deliverance, and got the series off to a really smashing start.

George Sand was a feminist back in the days when women really had things to gripe about -- long before the incessant crusades for abortion and the whining about the "glass ceiling." An occasionally cross-dressing, cigar-smoking iconoclast, amazingly prolific writer, and friend and lover to many a luminary in 19-century France, she knew poverty, luxury and class struggles. She also left a rich paper-trail legacy, including a monumental autobiography. So it's surprising, not to mention disappointing, that this book on her is so dull. Belinda Jack reels off facts and events about the France of that era but somehow does not manage to give us a real flavor for the place where Sand was rooted. Born Aurore Dupin, the writer adopted the masculine pen name and became a notorious character of her day: Madonna, Yoko Ono, J.K. Rowling rolled into one. Her celebrated affairs included one with the composer Chopin that was featured in the fine movie with Judy Davis,"Impromptu." Her fight to split legally with her husband was a cause celebre at the time, and her political involvements and lifestyle choices were controversial, as well. I refreshed my memory by reading a couple of Sand's novels; they stimulated my curiosity to read this autobiography, which I slogged through in constant hope that it would get better. I imagine that even with all the documentation of books, diaries and letters, a complex person like Sand would be hard to pin down. But it seems as if a lively,graceful writer should've been able to do so. (Books on writers such as Virginia Woolf and George Eliot, to cite two examples, have been filled with interesting insights.) Regrettably, Jack's book is not up to the task of introducing this compelling, multitalented woman of the 1800s to the readers of today.

I admit that my knowledge of George Sand's writings is very limited. I have heard of her, probably in the more amorous context because of her "sordid" past. However, upon recently having viewed for the first time the movie "Impromptu," I became intrigued with this fasinating woman and sought to search out what was myth and what was reality. There have been several biographies of the writer; however, they seem to have concentrated on her art, or her writing, or her plays, or her personal adventures. The authors at all times attempted to place George into a category as a way to contain a palatable explanation of her. What I have found through reading Belinda Jack's book is that the only category of which Sand is a member is the human category. Belinda took all facets of the writer's life to reveal a woman in constant evolution. Driven to form explanations to first deal with her fears then to reconcile a practice to life, Sand formed a being who was uniquely herself that absorbed and expanded as she grew.

I strongly commend this book to anyone and everyone who desires to learn more about the psychological makeup of George Sand. The author of this excellent book does not hesitate to share her own conclusions and hypotheses about George Sand's character, and gives special emphasis to both the origins of her makeup and the contradictions in her thought process and conduct. I have read several other good biographies of George Sand, and while I prefer not to rank them, my knowledge of George Sand would be very incomplete if I had not read and digested this too. While the other biographies have given a lot of emphasis to her relation with Chopin, this biography probably slights Chopin in favor of the many other (and probably more important) men and women in her life. Once you begin to read this book, you will not be able to return it to its shelf until you finish it.

Pat Kines' portrayal of Elizabeth Custer in "A Life Within a Life" is to Libbie Custer biographies what Cliff's Notes are to literature. Kines does an admirable job of summing up the high points in Libbie's life, and of laboriously summarizing the memoirs Custer left behind. Unfortunately, she doesn't do much else in terms of making original observations or assertions about this very fascinating person.

For somebody who is completely unfamiliar with Elizabeth Custer and doesn't want to take the time to read Boots and Saddles or any of her other writings, A Life Within A Life is a fine place to start. For others, Leckie's 1993 biography (which Kines actually points to as the impetus for her book) will be a far more interesting read.

I loved reading about Libbie Custer! She was a strong and intelligent woman with a fascinating life. In this book I learned so many things. Among them I learned that George Armstrong Custer had a more human side to him than what history books portrayed. It really opened my eyes!

"A life within a life" is a book about the wife of General George Armstrong Custer. But the book is about much more than the life of Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon Custer. The book is also about her adventures with her husband and with the U.S. Army.

The author (Pat Kines) brings personal family experience of the old West to enhance her book. Her Grandmother had direct encounters with hostile natives, and Pat and her family have always lived in the West.

Libbie was born in Monroe, Michigan. She kept a diary from which we learn a great deal about her and the life she lived. Libbie was from a wealthy family, was well educated, and had an intellectual sense of humor.

The book brings Libbie to life with a variety of anecdotes, words from Libbie's own hand, and relevant (and interesting) historical facts of the period. Of particular historical interest is the chapter titled, "After the Civil War". That chapter shows how Libbie, from the North, viewed the people from the South as they tried to regain some normalcy after losing the war.

The book describes Libbie's down-to-earth, every-day living conditions. The descriptions are excellent and include her life in Army tents, how she traveled with her personal and military entourage, what it was like for her to stay at various forts, and how she and the other occupants of the forts (men and women) entertained themselves. Life was very hard at times, but Libbie was determined to remain a lady no matter how difficult the living conditions became.

Entertainment at the forts was very important and included dancing, singing, riding outside of the fort (even in inclement weather), and picnics. Sometimes the military band from the fort played at the picnics!

Libbie outlived her husband by fifty years, during which time she made a successful life by herself. She was able to travel a great deal and had many friends around the world.

I think that "A life within a life" is an important as well as interesting book. It shows Libbie to be a resourceful woman dedicated to her husband and at the same time she was independent and caring of those less fortunate. The book is a perfect candidate for Oprah's Book Club.

The story of Caroline of Brunswick, the injured Queen of England, is a fascinating and worthwhile read. According to Jane Austen, "She was bad, but she would not have become as bad as she was if he (Britain's George IV) had not been infinitely worse."

Jean Plaidy, a good story-teller, does an admirable job of matching history as it was to the story she writes. Still, she gets a few things wrong but this is due more to lack of access to key historical documents than to sloppy research.

After reading Flora Fraser's more recent, scholarly biography, The Unruly Queen : The Life of Queen Caroline, I found Plaidy errs in identifying the little Italian girl, Vittoria, as the daughter of Pergami when she was his niece. She also errs in calling Pergami, "Baron Pergami," at the time he first meets Caroline. He doesn't become a Baron until after Caroline visits Malta and buys an estate and the title of Baron for him. Still, Jean Plaidy takes the clay of scholarly biography and moulds a living, breathing character for the reader.

Caroline of Brunswick was, at turns, warm-hearted and maternal, and defiant and unconventional. Rejected by her husband as unfit, unkempt and embarrassingly gauche, she became even more so as a means of getting back at him. In the end, she only harmed herself.

Surprisingly, the sad story of this unloved bride and wife is almost the same of Princess Diana. And she was also loved by the British people. I strongly recommend the book.

I really enjoyed reading Ella Enchanted. It was a very good book. It is about a royal girl named Ella, who had a problem. When she was born a fairy gave her a gift the gift of obedience. Ella hates this gift. It is always getting in her way.
When her mother dies she is devistated. She can't tell anybody about the curse.
She finds friendship with a young prince. Her father decides that it would be better if she went to boarding school with her two fathers friend's daughters.
The girls find out that Ella is obedient. But they do not know why. She decides to run away.
She ends up with her father and he has decided to marry the woman. She is not pleased. But her guyfriend wants her to marry him. What about the curse? You have to read the book to find out!

I'll start with the books I haven't read. Because I haven't read "Dear Mr. Henshaw" and "One Eyed-Cat" I had to give this collection only four stars though I'd love to give it five. "Dear Mr. Henshaw" was part of my elementary school library. Everyone was demanding that I read Mr. Henshaw, but there were so many other books to read so I never got around to it. I had never heard of "One Eyed-Cat" when I was young, but from what I hear it is worth the read.

Scott O'Dell is one of my all time favorite authors. I have read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" a million times and would read it a million more. It is the story that first drew me to the Native American culture and his other works were equally enticing. The story of Karana's survival alone on the island of her birth and the life and family she makes for herself there is magnificent. Her neverending yearning for her people, but continuing love for the home she makes creates a bittersweet ending when she leaves for her people. It is made even more sad when in his author's notes O'Dell revealed that her people never made it to their new home and that is why they never sent for her. Scot O'Dell writes an alluting tale of a woman who must survive on her own. I would heartily recommend any book he has written.

Elizabeth George Speare is not far behind on my favorite author list. I also read "The Sign of the Beaver" a million times. It is a wonderful story of a wary friendship between a teenage white settler left to care for their new home while his father goes to fetch his mother, sister, and the soon to be born baby and a teenage Indian who has inherited the bitterness of his culture to the white man. Together they teach each other what is needed to know to survive in the other's world. Another bittersweet ending, this is a wonderful story about how two radically different people can learn to respect the other and what they have to offer. "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" is the story about a girl from the Caribbean who is tossed into her own survival story when she must live with her Puritan relatives. Here, her culture of clashes with the rigid structure of the Puritan people who consider her a hopeless sinner. They radically distrust her and it comes to a head when she is accused of witchcraft. The only drawback of this story is that it helps to understand the Puritans and it is my experience that their history is learned in highschool when one is just a tad old for her works.

I ordered The Vegetable Bible because I was interested in top notch vegetable recipes. When I received the book and perused it thoroughly, it was more encyclopedic in content with copious, fabulous photographs instead of a recipe book. Tuebner is painstakingly thorough and for someone who wants to master every conceivable vegetable, their origin, seasonal info, best way to cook them, etc.... this is the book to buy. For someone who would like alot of recipes, this isn't the book to get....Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" would be more suitable. The above mentioned does not include many photographs, however.

I did return the cookbook for the lack of recipes.

This cookbook is a good introductory book on vegetables. It has a lot of pictures of vegetables, vegetables dishes, and techniques in preparing vegetables. Content-wise, the cookbook starts with a pretty good introduction to the health aspects of vegetables followed by an encyclopedia of different vegetables. It's not a comprehensive encyclopedia but the vegetables that it portrays, it gives historical as well as botanical info. Some Asian vegetables are mentioned in the encyclopedia. There's a section on the practical aspects of preparing vegetables and a wide variety of recipes involving varied cooking techniques such as raw to boiling to stuffing to braising to sweating. There's a fair number of recipes with some international flavor (European, Asian) but I think this cookbook is good for getting an overview of vegetables, in terms of historical info, health info, the different ways to cook vegetables, and a nice selection of recipes but not too overwhelming. But this is the cookbook to get about vegetables if you like pictures, more than 1000 color photographs!

Elizabeth, Countess of Longford, explores the life and poetry of Lord Byron in this striking and sympathetic study. Longford describes the lovable quirks and embarassing foibles of this controversial poet in an elegant and witty prose that makes the book a genuine treat. Here is biography at its finest, presenting the reader with a peculiar multi-faceted individual from whom we can learn so much. -- Crede Byron!

This is a book I had a hard time putting down. It is an eyewitness account of civilian Civil War times, and is a "must" for Civil War period buffs. It tends to deromanticize the era, as Libbie Custer tells the day-by-day details of marching with the Union Army, living in then near-desolate Washington D.C., and taking over rooms in Confederate farmhouses to set up camp. But those details are nevertheless fascinating, because they are so different from life today. Her memoirs unfortunately give too little information about Custer's personality and her relationship with him, which I was eager to learn. This is probably due to the writing style of the era, however, as Victorians tended to be "closed" about their personal feelings.

Taking just a few verses at a time, this book made bible study easy to fit in a busy scedule for this working mom. Even though the lesson was fairly easy to study each week, it amazed me at how much you gain by going over the same few verses over and over and really getting down to the meaning and application it may have in our lives. I found it very easy to understand and I as well as the rest of the women in my bible study have really enjoyed this study.

This is an interesting book that takes a look at George W. Bush and how his life shaped him all the way up to his running for President. The main premise of the book is that GW is following in his father footsteps out of love and admiration for him and a strong sense of duty. The author also gives us about 50% of the book on the first George Bush and his life story which is needed to show you how close GW follows in his footsteps. I would have liked a bit more detail on the other Bush children though, as the author states that all the children have a desire to follow in the father's footsteps.

I really did not expect this book to provide me all the details it did about the first President George Bush. That was a pleasant surprise for me. We get a good run down of his overall life and some interesting details about his time as VP and President. I also enjoyed reading how he felt a responsibility and loyalty to Nixon enough to take the RNC post. I actually came away with a better understanding of the father as both a person and a leader. I thought some of the insights also made the Bush handling of the 92 race a little clearer for me.

The fist part of the book makes you think this is a love fest book put out by the GW campaign. To be honest, I really did not get that much out of all the details of him in grade school / high school. The book really started to matter to me when the author got into his time in College and later. Once GW started to move on in life the less then faltering facts started to populate the book. Given that that author gives you so many facts, both good and bad, you get a balanced look and the book, in its totality, comes off as a balanced report. I actually did think the author could have played up some of the questions on the Viet Nam issue and the business failures / bailouts to get a more sensational book.

The one area that I would have liked more detail on was the major successes of GW. The book does a good job of running down his less then stellar business career, but I also wanted more detail on his work on his father's campaign. What the book does say on that point makes GW out to be good at the roll he was a playing - I wanted more detail. I also thought we got shortchanged on his run for the Governor and his service in the office. I wanted more detail on his major accomplishments in office. Basically I felt the author rushed this part through to get to print.

This book will not be the end all be all biography of his years before he became President, it is a bit light for that. What the book is though, is a very readable and interesting look at GW and his relationship with his father. If you are interested in either of these two men then this is a good way to learn some facts and not get bogged down in a heavy work.

Don't be misled by the title! I began this book under the assumption that this book was designed to slam the 43rd President of the United States. Surprisingly, it is no such thing, and from my perspective, the book was a wonderful account of "Dubya" and his development as a human being - just like the rest of us. I found it very entertaining and wonderfully written. I recommend it to all people interested in learning about our president, and I implore those who would chastise one political party or another to be as objective as possible when reviewing works such as these. Simply, this book is educational, informative, and best of all, a pleasure to read.

What a great book. Democrat or Republican, all should appreciate this writing. Not a documentary, but more, a story. Very easy reading. I'll be looking forward to reading more from this author.