Not all families are disfunctional. In fact, Shelly Reuben proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. What a wonderful portrait of a loving father as told through her eyes and through his own letters. Reuben paints a picture in words that creates images of a real father. One who lives in a houseful of love, surrounded by his five children, tolerant and loving wife, friends and crazy relatives. One readily sees why Reuben has selected words as her vocation. Her father created, plagerized, quoted and paraphrased the thought provoking guidence and evocative sentiments with which he communicated to his offspring. Written on stationary, or on the back of landlord-tenant court documents, these jewels of creative writing tell of a romantic soul. He is clearly adored, not for his incredible inventions or tenacity regarding real estate investments, but for his character, strength, concern and consideration. Those of us who can relate have surely had fathers of similar noble quality. Those who cannot fathom the beautiful relationships between father and child have missed an incredible experience. Reach back into childhood, read this and enjoy the experience.

If you want to read something that makes you feel good about life, read Shelly Reuben's book, Come Home Love Dad. With so many books flooding the market about serial killers and political espionage it's a pleasure to read something about an actual person that really touches you. Miss Reuben expertly uses narration as well as actual letters written by her father to gradually reveal his personality to the reader. I came to know a man who was an inventor, a landlord, and a salesman, but first and foremost - a father.

This is a fantastic mystery with a unique plot. Not a cookie cutter mystery. This is true writing talent. I just finished the sequel, Spent Matches, and it is even better than Origin & Cause. They were both page turners for me.

This mystery novel presents three interesting arson investigations in the context of a single story, but the 3 don't hang together. The book comes off as a poorly integrated set of what could have been 3 great short stories. The writing is OK, not great, but the primary mystery is a whopper. Imagine a locked room arson in which 5 paintings are destroyed -- but their frames left charred but intact.