It has been 17 years since I last read a new Ross MacDonald book. Boy, was it great to get back to a real master. Even the Introduction was informative and well written. The three stories in this book are typical Ross MacDonald short stories in that they are like short versions of his books. It was worth the wait.

Being a southern California-based mystery writer who has read everything Ross Macdonald wrote several times over, I was thrilled when I first heard about Tom Nolan's new effort. Nolan's last book was the authoritative biography of Ross Macdonald, creatively entitled ROSS MACDONALD: A BIOGRAPHY. It won last year's Macavity Award, and it should have swept the other awards.

STRANGERS IN TOWN is Nolan's remarkable follow-up to that magnificent biography. It features three previously unpublished Macdonald short stories. The stories cast new light on Macdonald, his writings, and the development of his unique talent. Being well-versed in Macdonld's works made it possible for me to spot numerous parallels between the short stories and Macdonald's Lew Archer books.

While I enjoyed reading fresh works by the man I consider the greatest mystery author of all time, my favorite parts of the book were Nolan's lengthy and perceptive introduction to the collection as well as his shorter yet insightful introductions to each story.

STRANGERS IN TOWN is among the best books I have read this year. It provided me with the final inspiration I needed to finish my second mystery novel. Thank you, Tom Nolan.

I am an avid reader of mystery novels from the time I was a little girl - being the only girl in my group of friends to read mystery. I loved Lew Archer stories but was not really knowledgeable about the author. When I came across the book in the library, I checked it out and thoroughly enjoyed the book. His life was so wonderful yet pitifully sad. I thought Tom Nolan did a great job doing his research and his talent for writing made the book one that I could not put down until I had completely finished it. I can identify with some of the things McDonald's daughter went through. Her life hit a nerve and I believe Tom Nolan did an excellent job describing that part. I am an aspiring writer myself and I was amazed at the time and effort Tom put into this book. Hats off to him and I will be looking to read other books by him. The photograph of the author is very familiar to me. I feel that I may have known him. Strange.

As a personal friend of Ken Millar (Ross MacDonald) during the sixties and seventies, as well as a regular attendant at the writers' luncheon he encouraged and supported in Santa Barbara during those years, I was especially interested in reading Tom Nolan's "Ross MacDonald: A Biography." I was curious to see whether the writer could possibly capture the personality of Ken, a man whose combination of brilliance and internal conflicts made him so enigmatic that most people, even after knowing him for years, could scarcely undestand him at all. I was pleased and amazed to discover, after reading the book, that Tom Nolan had come closer to explaining him than anyone I'm aware of--and by "anyone" I mean to include not just those who have written about him, but also those other friends of his, who, like me, found him so fascinating and incomprehensible. And this from an author who never even met the man! While it is true that Tom Nolan, as a biographer, had to present sides of Millar's pesonality and events from his life that Millar, understandably, had been interested in keeping secret while he was alive, Ken indicated to me many times that he knew anything that had happened to him would, of necessity, have to be eventually included in any biography that was ever done, and I don't feel he would have had an objection to the balanced and considerate way that material was presented by Tom Nolan in "Ross MacDonald: A Biography." I certainly had no objection. The forthright, kind and dispassionate way Nolan treated this material reminds me of those same qualities I often observed in Ken Millar. Had they met, he and Tom Nolan would have become great friends.

This exhaustively researched book is not so much a biography of Ken Millar (real name of "Ross Macdonald") so much as a history of Millar's career as a writer, and as such it is extremely valuable to anyone who dreams of being an author.

Millar examplifies the classic situation of the genre author who achieves "overnight" fame after publishing 18 previous critically aclaimed books. This book makes it clear just how much work and how much frustration is involved in the life of the genre novelist, as well as portraying how complex it can be to deal with success when it finally comes.

What is particularly interesting in this story too, is the fact that Millar's wife, Margaret, was a successful mystery writer long before he was. The way that these two authors, with their quirky, authorial personalities, supported each other through their life's journeys and tragedies is particularly poignant, though Nolan, unfortunately, takes a very negative attitude--unjustified by much of the data he himself presents--towards Margaret's personality and achievements.

Today's novelists often look back with envy at those who wrote in the "Golden Age" of the pulps, before TV had ended the brief Age of Literacy of the first half of this century. Reading this book will dispell much of that envy. The tiny numbers of books sold in that "golden age" (3,500 being a typical hard cover sale of Ross Macdonald's first 16 books) and the pathetic sums paid him for paperback rights to books that had gotten enthusiastic NYTimes reviews show us that if anything today's genre writers are doing better(in adjusted dollars), not worse than those of Millar's day.

Nolan Ryan and Tom House put together a wonderful how-to book of conditioning and pitching. Everyone needs to condition to keep muscled tightened, Ryan and House emphasize that wonderfully in "Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible"

Nolan breaks down his book into mechanics and training in a very readable format. The critics who said that the book focuses too much on conditioning and not enough on pitching secrets are missing the boat: CONDITIONING IS HIS PITCHING SECRET. How else did he last 27 years?

My perspective outlines this book like this. Without a proper work-out ethic, you are not going to succeed in pitching or anything else. I dont understand why people are knocking this book. It helped me to EARN a spot on the H.S. team here in Texas. Yes, pitching mechanics is part of the game but it is what you do before that game is what counts. Quote from the book,"You can blow a game without proper conditioning" It clearly defines in the book about mechanics and conditioning. Yes there where too much repetitive stuff about where Ryan works out at before and during the season but I rank it as very helpful tool to be better at the game. For all of you "Disapointed" you are not seeing the real reason for success for you or your son or daughter or players. CONDITIONING is the only reason you stay on top of your game. That is what Nolan and Tom discuss. I found that no other book will dicuss the both conditioning and mechanics in one book. I like to see anyone try to work on mech. and not work on conditioning and see how successful they are. It is the best. Could be better but still the best!