Stuart M. Kaminsky is the prolific author of three distinctive mystery series (Chandler-esque vintage Hollywood private eye Toby Peters: _Murder on the Yellow Brick Road_, Chicago cop Abe Lieberman, and here, the McBain-esque Moscovite Office of Special Operations.)

In the Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov series, Kaminsky has deftly transplanted the Ed McBain police procedural to Russia: individual detectives, each having his/her own serial back stories, investigating different cases. And through the time span of the series, the reader also watches as the Soviet Union disintegrates.This time, there is the mysterious disappearance of a Syrian Oil Minister's daughter and the murders of a Russian Orthodox Priest and Nun.

'With faith in his mission, Father Merhum [the eponymous dead Russian Orthodox Priest] had stood up to commissars, the leaders of his own church, the KGB, and state leaders from Stalin to Gorbachev. And now, days after the end of the seventy-year failure of Soviet socialism, he stood ready to take up the demands for reform with Yeltsin himself." ... "He would supply the names. He would read them in Red Square atop the empty tomb that had held the profane icon of Lenin." Hunh? Lenin isn't in Lenin's Tomb anymore?!? Where is he? I guess the old "stumper" of "Who is buried in Lenin's Tomb?" isn't so obvious anymore, nyet?

Here's a savvy and snappy comment on the State of Russian Dys-union at the time: "Tatyana smiled. `You are a year too late, pretty policeman,' she said. `You can't do such things anymore. People will run and tell on you and you will have to say five Hail Yeltsins in penance."

This is one of the series in the intermediate years between communism and post-communism. The emotional conflicts of the characters and how they are expressed are very real. Excellent!

Tony Hillerman says, "Never miss a Kaminsky book, and be especially sure not to miss 'Death of a Russian Priest.'" With a recommendation like that, who needs to wait!

Stuart Kaminsky, himself an Edgar Award winner, proves once again that his Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov series in not one to miss. Set in Russia amid the rumblings and eventual fall of the Iron Curtain, the series captures convincingly the Russian atmosphere, politically, socially, criminally, and with such conviction, especially for an American writer who has not devoted his life to Russian studies.

In "Death of a Russian Priest," Inspector Rostnikov, accompanied by one of the few individuals he can fully trust, journeys to Arkush to investigate the murder of a local priest, an outspoken cleric and one whose death has shocked the local community.

Of course, as with all the Rostnikov books, nothing is as it seems and it takes the cunning, the skill, and the intellect of his team to bring all this together. He and Karpo, known as "the Vampire," are busy solving this murder while meanwhile back in Moscow, Sasha Tkach, Rostinok's handsome and randy and very married assistant, is involved in another investigation. Tkach has a new partner, Elena Timofeyeva (which opens up other complications!), and they are trying to find a missing girl and a cold-blooded killer. Kaminsky manages to tie these assignments together and quite satsifactorily by the book's conclusion. He, once again, has managed to provide humanity in an area where little is often found! Kaminsky's Russian tales are absorbing, and it is nail-biting waiting for the next episode.

Billyjhobbs@tyler.net

I co-edited this important literary document with Dr. Thomas F. Staley, Director of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, where the vast Stuart Gilbert collection was acquired in the early 1990s. Gilbert was a British citizen, who, after retiring from his work as a judge in Burma, married a French woman and moved to Paris in the early 1920s to pursue more intellectual pursuits. Once in Paris, he became an intimate part of the literary circle surrounding James Joyce, and wrote the first book on Joyce ("James Joyce's Ulysses"), before falling out of favor with him. His dyspeptic journal, at turns scandalous and illuminating, gives an inside account of life in the Parisian literary circles where Joyce lived and worked, and is prefaced by an introductory essay by Dr. Staley, one of the leading scholars of literary modernism. It should be useful to the many students and scholars interested in better appreciating Joyce, European modernism generally, or simply the joys of Paris in the twenties.

Randolph Lewis rrlewis@hotmail.com

This book gives the reader a much better understanding of Joyce and his writings . It fills in many gaps in this 'larger then life' authors career . The many previously unpublished letters to his friend and literary collaborator , Stuart Gilbert , allow one to see the author is his own light . The rare photos , provide the reader with an intriguing glimpse of this colorful author .

A must have book for the serious James Joyce scholar .

There is NO ONE that creates such vivid characters of men with black hearts and even blacker souls, and the woman compelled to love them no matter what. Moonrise is my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE book, but Night Fall comes a close second.

Cassidy is the daughter to a famous tell-all writer father, Sean, who has just made a pack with the devil, a pack that includes 'giving' his daughter to the devil for his own dark purposes. Her ailing father see the chance to have the book of the decade - maybe his last work - to reveal what a court trial did not: what happened to Richard Tiernan's children the night he murdered his wife. Did he kill them as well and hide their bodies?

In order to secure the inside information, he invite Tiernan into his own home while the book is in the works, and Tiernan awaits sentencing that could result in his death for the murders of his wife and children. Manipulated by the powerful father, Cassidy is forced to agree to edit the book, but soon begins to feel that is merely an excuse to put her in the path of Tiernan.

What does he want with her? What dark plans does he have for her? Repulsed by a murderer, Cassidy is slowly drawn against will to the compelling man full of secrets and darkness. What more can he be hiding? Isn't killing his wife and children bad enough? What dark secrets lurk in his soul, and why is Cassidy and his complete control over her so suddenly important?

Stuart delivers a sexy, steamy dark mystery that will keep you biting your nails to the very end. A book that lingers in the mind years after you finish. I literally could not put this one down!!

There is NO ONE that creates such vivid characters of men with black hearts and even blacker souls, and the woman compelled to love them no matter what. Moonrise is my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE book, but Night Fall comes a close second.

Cassidy is the daughter to a famous tell-all writer father, Sean, who has just made a pack with the devil, a pack that includes 'giving' his daughter to the devil for his own dark purposes. Her ailing father see the chance to have the book of the decade - maybe his last work - to reveal what a court trial did not: what happened to Richard Tiernan's children the night he murdered his wife. Did he kill them as well and hide their bodies?

In order to secure the inside information, he invite Tiernan into his own home while the book is in the works, and Tiernan awaits sentencing that could result in his death for the murders of his wife and children. Manipulated by the powerful father, Cassidy is forced to agree to edit the book, but soon begins to feel that is merely an excuse to put her in the path of Tiernan.

What does he want with her? What dark plans does he have for her? Repulsed by a murderer, Cassidy is slowly drawn against will to the compelling man full of secrets and darkness. What more can he be hiding? Isn't killing his wife and children bad enough? What dark secrets lurk in his soul, and why is Cassidy and his complete control over her so suddenly important?

Stuart delivers a sexy, steamy dark mystery that will keep you biting your nails to the very end. A book that lingers in the mind years after you finish. I literally could not put this one down!!

If there was an award for the very best writer of romantic suspense, Anne Stuart should receive it. Like most of her books, this one is dark and edgy, sensual and romantic. Why does Cass's father bring a killer into their home? Is Richard a killer? And, if he's not; who killed Richard's wife? And, what happened to Richard's children? Richard's motivations, Cass' motivations, and her father's make up the gist of the story. With the suspense of the story alone, you have enough to read, to keep you mesmerized. With the romance, you have the taste of spice, that makes all Ms. Stuart's books so special.

This collection reprints the first 3 issues of Transmet, and deals with Spider Jerusalem, a reluctantly famous writer/journalist who must come back to the city he hates to reclaim his fiery muse and crank out two more books to finish off his contract with his publisher. In his first adventure, Spider gets embroiled in a minor culture war and ends up giving the establishment the finger and getting a hell of a column out of it.This is the sort fo thing you won't get from mainstream comic companies and can't cull from stories about grown men prancing about in tights -- it's a comic that says something and says it well. Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis (PREACHER) are two of the genre's finest writers out there today -- Ennis shares his admiration for Ellis' series in the forward ot this collection. Transmetropolitan is a bit like Hunter S. Thompson 2099. It's a bit like the best of the old 2000 AD comics from the UK -- dark comedy and socio-political satire that is also very entertaining. The artwork is magnificent, the writing is some of the best I've read in comics -- the concept is startling. My highest reccommendation for this book!

Transmet follows the adventures of hard hitting, chain smoking, drug abusing, foul mouthed reporter Spider Jerusalem as he travels through the City of the future. That's the basic premise. However, the series is so much more. It is a discourse on politics, journalism, and above all, The Truth. Especially in today's era of Homeland security and paranoia, the series is vital. Described by Warren Ellis as a 1300 page graphic novel, Transmet is a work of art.

The foundations of the series are layed out in Back on the Street, which collects the first three issues of Spider's journey. Yeah, it's a little short, but you can't skip it- the events in this TPB provide the basis for everything else that happens in the 60 issues run.

Most people know Ellis as the creator of the groundbreaking super-hero comic "The Authority." Understand- there are no super heroes here. There are no hereos, in fact. Ellis conveys the insanity of the city, and the fact that Spider is just doing his best to hep the millions of people who dont want to listen to him. This is the series which Ellis poured most of his persona, and it shows- by the end, you want to find Spider at a bar and listen to him talk all night long. Darrick Robertson's art is amazing- it has the level of detail that Bryan Hitch brings, but still has a comic flair and style which brings the city to life. You can get lost just staring at his buildings.

Buy this book, and then buy the rest. I promise you will find it entertaining. At the very least, it will open your eyes to the word around you.

"That's what I hate most about this city- lies are news and Truth is obsolete." -Spider Jerusalem.

What an amazing glance into the future society is creating for itself. Transmetropolitan delivers a brutal, scary and amazingly well crafted story accompanied by fabulous art. Warren Ellis' gritty style of writing shines in this book about a journalist (Spider Jerusalem) who is forced out of hiding in the mountains to come down to his former home - a wretched city full of drug addicted household appliances, mutated house pets and people who turn themselves into aliens.

In Palindrome, Liz Barwick is married to a professional football player, named Bake Ramsey, who has beaten her for years. After an awful beating that sends Liz to the emergency room, she decides to leave her husband. She tries to find a place where Bake will never be able to find her, but after several gruesome murders, he is able to track her down.

Palindrome is an excellent piece of escape fiction by Stuart Woods. This exciting novel pulls the reader in with a fast-paced story that includes murder, mystery, and love. Stuart Woods provides the reader with sufficient information to keep the story interesting while still leaving the reader wanting to know more. This novel does not contain any profound thoughts on life's problems, but if you are looking for an exciting story, this is a good book to read.

Palindrome is a masterful novel that no reader will soon forget. Palindrome is an excellent piece of escape fiction by Stuart Woods. This exciting novel pulls the reader in with a fast-paced story that includes murder, mystery, and love. Stuart Woods provides the reader with sufficient information to keep the story interesting while still leaving the reader wanting to know more. He also does an excellent job of integrating the characters and plot with the physical setting to make a truly unique story. The setting for this book is a small island off the coast of Georgia. This is where our main character Liz Barwick has escaped from her potentially dangerous husband, pro football player Bake Ramsey. After Liz has settled down in her newborn house on Cumberland Island, her memories begin to fade, but soon two murders of her close friends send Liz into a panic, and she feels her husband is trying to find her. Soon she discovers that there is no place to hide, not even on an isolated island. This book is full of expense and action, but does not suppress a hard reading level or any deep thought. I recommend this book to the exuberant reader, one that is searching for apprehension.

If you ever thought about reading a novel written by Stuart Woods and could only pick one, this is it. This was a great suspenseful, romantic and exciting book to read. The story is wonderfully crafted and I had a hard time putting it down. It is about Liz Barwick who has run away from an abusive marriage to a football star Bake Ramsey and is hiding for fear that he is coming after her to kill her. This is an amazing book and I would recommend it to anyone.

As with all abridgements, this version by Sunset is very badly edited, and leaves out significant parts of the book that make it the 4star work it is. Whoever does these abridgements has no literary sense at all.

Most writers of mystery in Soviet Russia are boring without the KGB "badguy" holding their hero back. Kaminsky does a terrific job with the new problems of Russia. Read his series from the beginning as the character development from book to book is worth it!

This was a satisfying crime novel set in a gloomy Russia. It was so gloomy I was reminded of New York in the classic sci-fi movie Escape from New York. Is it really so horrible? But the characters sparkle, especially Rostnikov, as they somehow survive and cope amidst the corruption, crime and depression.

This book is composed of three interesting and suspenseful crime stories. Rostnikov's team is split up into three pairs and each pair is assigned to a case. All three tales are compelling and all of the characters, both good and bad, are fully developed.

This was as good as A Cold Red Sunrise, which won an Edgar. Recommended reading for all mystery fans.

I like the Rostnikov detective series because while certainly living in a depressing climate the characters all seem to show their humanity in small ways. Even the gaunt unsmiling Karpo shows that he can care with his befriending of mad genius in the forensics department.

If you like mysteries that tell you everything then you'll like this one. I can only hope though that Russia gets less depressing as time goes on because no matter if it is even greatly exaggerated it makes America's ghettos pale in comparison.

Simply great stuff, why is it not more widely known?
Once you have read one, you will want to read the whole series.Inspector Rostnikov is my hero!

plain and simple this book just did not "ring my bell".it was just dark and unappealling to me.i found myself skipping through to the end just so i knew how it ended then i put it away.
instead of reading this i would suggest"ritual sins" or an anthology of some of her shorter stories "looking for trouble",the latter being a trifle more light hearted with some humor involved.

Annie Sutherland wants answers. After discovering her father's body at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck, she is horrified to discover that he has been murdered. Until he was gone, she didn't realize that her father molded her into exactly what he wanted his only daughter to be, docile, elegant, and ladylike. He even went so far as to hand pick and train a husband for her. Even after realizing how much she was manipulated, Annie wants to find who killed the man she had loved forever. So she goes to the only person that she thinks she can trust, the man that her father loved like a son.

James McKinley is doing all that he can to keep himself alive. When Annie turns up on his doorstep in Mexico, he tells himself that it would be easier on both of them if he would just kill her. He can't do it though. He watched her grow from a child of seven to a woman of twenty seven, and he is unable to take her life in the many lethal ways he knows how. This infuriates him. He felt he lost his soul so long ago, and that this blond haired angel can make him feel anything again fills him with a rage that he embraces.

James and Annie travel the globe to uncover the conspiracy around Win Sutherland's murder. When the murderer was uncovered I was so shocked that I didn't comprehend for about a half a page! The only thing that I think could have been better was the ending. I am curious to see how Stuart would depict her darker characters taking a stab at a normal life, with a normal relationship.

Above all, this was a great book. If you try this and like it, also try Nightfall by Anne Stuart!

Of all the books historical and contemporary I really love and Keep, this is MY FAVOURITE! I have it in a well used paperback, but was delighted to find it in hardback.

WOW!! Anne Stuart is always SUPER but this one is absolutely a knockout!!!

Annie Sutherland is fast finding out her life was built on nothing but lies. Her father had been murdered. The former head of the CIA hit squad (though she does not know this), left her instructions,that she should seek out his former 'pet' James Mc Kinley...and man she thought she knew, and once even may have been falling in love with.

Only nothing is as it seems, and nothing was as it seemed. James is holding up on an island, looks like a man haunted by demons. Gone is the conservative bureaucrat she adored, leaving her facing a tortured fugitive - but one that is armed and extremely dangerous. Suddenly, the Texas accent is an Irish brogue, hinting he hold secrets that could mean her life.

Annie and James are thrown together on a cross-country trek, which eventually leads to Ireland and back again to the US, all on the quest to solve the murder of her father . Is James a cherish lover or the man assigned to kill her?

Stuart crafted a knock out of a book that should not be missed.

WISE Readers and Writers Book of the Month January 2000 and Book of the Year 2000

Something doesn't feel right when so many senior officers are ordered away on vacation-- and Rostnikov *knows* that something's wrong when one of his fellow vacationers dies suspiciously. All trails in this mystery set in the last days of the USSR lead to a problem larger than simple homicide...

Well-written, but ultimately not compelling.

Perhaps this story requires a little "willing suspension of disbelief" as to the story line more than some of the others of this series, but the characters are drawn with Kaminsky's usual excellence. No reader will be disappointed!

It's Yalta, and it's not a peace conference between heads of state!

Following orders from headquarters, Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov is taking a vacation in this resort city. (Some say, it's because they want him out of Moscow for a while!) With his wife, he is all set to take some needed rest and recuperation.

But this is a Stuart Kaminsky work and his fictionalized inspector is not about to be left alone in peace and quiet. In no time, naturally, he is involved in another murder--a fellow policeman is killed in less than honorable circumstances. So, Rostnikov's dreams of beach-side relaxation, of making sure his convalescent wife follows the doctors' orders, and of reading his favorite novels (American Ed McBain!), are put on hold.

The circumstances, indeed, are harbingers of what is happening in Moscow as the Iron Curtain is rapidly being packed away. The USSR is falling apart! Meanwhile, back in the capital, Rostnikov's pair of assistants, Emil ("The Vampire") and Sasha Tkach, are investigating crimes dealing with computers and psychos! "Rostnikov's Vacation" is yet another installment in a very exciting series set in the USSR.

The eighth in the series, readers have come to recognize--and respect--Kaminsky's penchant for detail, for finely-tuned characterization, and for thrilling resolutions.

The major fault in Kaminsky's work is that he doesn't produce his Rostnikov stories fast enough!

Billyjhobbs@tyler.net

Stuart Woods' novel Dead in the Water is a suspenseful tale of murder, romance, and deception. Woods has crafted a story that captures the reader's attention from the opening paragraph until the closing lines. Never is there a dull moment in this thriller. The reader follows the adventures of Stone Barrington, an ex-cop turned lawyer who is intriguing yet refreshingly real. Stone's tropical vacation is interrupted when he meets murder suspect Elizabeth Manning. Through his own good will, he decides to defend this mysterious beauty who stands to lose her life if found guilty. The case has a new twist at every corner, and somehow it never manages to get dull. The story rises to higher levels of suspense as Stone and his client become romantically and passionately involved. The characters develop nicely throughout the novel. As the story line progresses, the reader develops a seemingly intimate relationship with the novel's protagonists and exhibits genuine concern for their well-being. Woods should be commended for this stellar literary accomplishment. By constantly introducing new elements into the complexity of the plot, Woods manages to keep the reader guessing. In fact, the novel's outcome is not clear until the final pages; therefore, no reader can willingly put it down without finishing. The story's conclusion is slightly far-fetched but enjoyable and ironic nonetheless. Woods' endeavor is a page-turner extraordinaire and a treat for anyone lucky enough to pick it up. Dead in the Water receives four out of five stars. Highly recommended.

Stuart Woods writes fast paced fiction and I really like his detective turned lawyer Stone Barrington. However, more than once during my quick read of 'Dead in the Wa;ter," Woods lost me. There are more plot twists and turns in this than a bad day at Wimbeldon. Ultimately, I liked the book, but I think he could have simplied the plot some...ex-wives, insurance investigators, a blood-thirsty Prime Minister, a dowdy old attorney, a bar-keep with his own secrets, a downed plane, reporters...well, you get the picture.

I hope Woods will trim down his character list for the next Barrington mystery, which, by the way, begins where 'Dead in the Water" ends.

A good summer read

"Dead in the Water" by Stuart Woods delivers a suspenseful thriller formula about a beautiful young woman that docks a yacht in a Caribbean port. Allison Manning, claims her husband had a heart attack and she buried him at sea. The plot thickens when she is charged with murder after the authorities learn about the $12 million insurance policy her husband took out several years ago. Vacationing lawyer Stone Barrington, whose girlfriend misses their flight to the Caribbean because of a work assignment, leaves Barrington free to come to Manning's aid. Allison tearfully tells the authorities, how her husband suffered a fatal heart attack while she was lodged atop a mast and was unable to help herself down much less help him through his unfortunate incident, and was forced to finally bury him at sea. The story's good enough for the coroner's inquest, but not enough for Sir Winston Sutherland, an ambitious Minister of Justice, who thinks a high-profile conviction might be just the thing to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post. Allison comes off as the poor little rich girl with all the right credentials (blond hair, killer body, and boundless sexual stamina) to secure herself the premier legal representation on St. Marks in the vacationing New York lawyer, Stone Barrington and his side kick Leslie Hewitt an elderly local barrister. Stone believes that he need only lodge a media campaign to expose the islands government that assumes that the accused is guilty and the real crime would be keeping the jury past dinnertime. Stone is pulled deeper into the mysterious web of Allison Manning by succumbing to her seductive advances which render him impotent to a justice system which bears very little resemblance to the American courts. Dead in the Water is a cyclone of a roller coaster ride. Every page leaves you on the edge and the verge of suspense.