Authors

No E-Book For Stephen King

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I tried to purchase the latest Stephen King this weekend. At an honest to goodness real live indie bookstore in N. Jersey. They were out of stock. Out of stock!! After my mouth stopped its jaw dropping, the bookman explained he couldn’t keep it in the store,  that it’s an original paperback and not in … Read more

Reverend William D. Campbell 1924-2013

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willdcampbellby Jas Faulkner

The daily email feed from one of the local papers had two links to stories that showed the city’s religious past and present passing each other in ways that could be seen as fitting, if not entirely ironic.

The first headline, listed as a top story:  Southern Baptists Shrink For Sixth Straight Year. 

The second, which was tabbed under “City News” :   Rev. Will D. Campbell Dies At 88.    

The declining Southern Baptist Convention (or whatever it’s calling itself these days) might have elicited a sage nod from Reverend Campbell, followed by a pithy, decidedly un-PC observation about the state of the Southern Baptist church.  Campbell was nominally a Baptist who was equal parts Jiminy Cricket and a tenacious gadfly towards the conservative religious establishment.

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Incomprehensible Margery Allingham

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I remembered why I didn’t read many crime novels by Margery Allingham. Of the books I’ve read so far, Her writing is gibberish to me. Excepting Traitor’s Purse, that is. That book is on my list for the very reason that it’s not remotely like any others she wrote. It’s straight forward, with regular language, no … Read more

At Holmes With Author Carla Coupe

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There are some writers who excel in the short story form, such as Ed Hoch did, opposed to full length novels.  Another is Carla Coupe whose short story pastiches of Sherlock Holmes have garnered critical and reader praise. Not that she couldn’t and won’t lengthen her work in the future–as she explains in this author … Read more

Denise Swanson–Not Just a Small Town Woman

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Denise Swanson is a character out of one of her books. A small town girl, intelligent, kind, and successful. Very successful. Her Scumble River soft boiled mystery series has been running for many years now, with appearances on the New York Time Bestseller‘s list and slews of award nominations, including a Best First Novel Agatha, … Read more

Robin Burcell, The Real Deal

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I thought the succinct bio from author Robin Burcell’s webpage would do the trick in introducing her to those who haven’t already read her suspenseful novels. “Robin Burcell, an FBI-trained forensic artist, has worked in law enforcement for over two decades as a police officer, detective and hostage negotiator. She is the author of the … Read more

The Wit and Wisdom Of Dorothy Parker

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Dorothy Parker and the Round Table of sophisticated New Yorkers held an alluring atmosphere in my adolescent mind. So much so, I hunted down obscure texts by Robert Benchley, and Alexander Woolcott,  two of the mainstays. The literati of the twenties were probably looked upon as obnoxious snobbish decadent do-nothings, by those in the hard … Read more