This novel is set in and around the Pine Barrens in the south of New Jersey, and has been labelled a mother-daughter story, although it sure looks like an excellent police procedural. Callie left town, excelled at Rutgers and in the state police drug group, and is back in a small town as Chief of Police. Her mother's DUI opens the book. Her mom is well-known as the sixteen-year-old who found the corpse of an infant on the side of the road in 1991. Callie opens the cold case and focuses on some local drug dealing. The cold case opens a plethora of interconnected and very troubling issues of sexual consent, paternity, and perhaps, inappropriate punishment, while the drug case eventually envelops the department. Another really good one.
9.20.2026
Dissection Of A Murder, Murray - B+
This is one helluva page-turning legal thriller set in Durham, England. Leila Reynolds is an up-and-coming barrister who has managed to overcome her blue-collar upbringing to crack the English class system. It doesn't hurt that she's very sexy, was mentored by the predatory head of Chambers, and is married to a KC, wearing the silk. She is assigned to defend a man accused of murder and is up against her husband, who is handling the prosecution. Behind the story of trial prep and drama lie multiple background themes of deprivation, infidelity, and murder that color the outcome and make this a must-read
9.14.2026
Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, And The Descent Into Total War, Scott - A*
"Truman and Hirohito: a former farmer and a socially awkward monarch. Upon the shoulders of this unlikely pair rested the fate of two nations and millions of lives." The unassuming and virtually unknown Truman became president on the afternoon of April 12th. Twelve days later, the Secretary of War briefed him on the Manhattan Project. Throughout the spring, planning for completion of the weapon continued, training for the delivery of the heavy bombs was conducted, and the targeting of cities analyzed.
That spring, Japan's 44-year-old emperor sat in his palace and brooded as the city of Tokyo burned around him. The nation was being battered on every front, the war was obviously lost, and, most importantly, the people were giving up as they slowly starved to death. The very first firebombing of Tokyo in March killed 100,000, destroyed 260,000 buildings, and left a million homeless.
Truman had to find the best way to end the war, and end it with the fewest American casualties. Gen. Marshall wanted to invade the home islands, and Adm. King preferred a blockade. Gen. LeMay thought that firebombing the cities would lead to surrender. On June 18th, the JCS recommended an invasion by 766,700 Americans, and Truman agreed. The same day, Hirohito met with the military council and told them that they needed to find a way to end the war.
The president traveled to Potsdam, Germany, to meet Churchill and Stalin. He wanted the USSR to keep its promise to enter the war against Japan. On July 16th, at 5:30 a.m. in New Mexico, the US successfully tested the first atomic bomb. When someone observed that the war was over, Gen. Groves said, "After we drop two bombs on Japan."
Ongoing intelligence intercepts indicated Japan would fight and not accept unconditional surrender. Faced with the success of the bomb's test and fearing innumerable American casualties, Truman made the decision to drop the bomb at some point between July 22nd and 24th while in Potsdam. A final ultimatum, which used the phrase "the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces," not of the country itself, was ignored by Japan. The die was cast, and the focus turned from Washington and Potsdam to Tinian, the home of the 509th Composite Group.
On August 6th, thirty-year-old Col. Paul Tibbets took off in a specially modified B-29 carrying the 9,700-pound bomb. Tibbets had flown the 8th Air Force's first raid over France three years earlier. The bombardier released the Little Boy at 9:14 a.m. The airmen could see the mushroom cloud from 400 miles away.
The president learned of the news in the middle of his Atlantic crossing; he announced the results to the jubilant crew of the Augusta. A prepared press release was issued in Washington. It said that Japan would be totally destroyed. In Tokyo, there was confusion as the army downplayed the bomb and the emperor demanded peace. On Tinian, Fat Man was prepared for August 9th, and it was released over Nagasaki at 11:58 a.m.
Even the news of the second bomb did not convince the cabinet to surrender, and Hirohito agreed to meet them at midnight. After two and a half more hours of debate, they finally asked the emperor his thoughts. He stood. "I have given serious thought to the situation prevailing at home and abroad and have concluded that continuing the war can only mean destruction for the nation and a prolonging of bloodshed and cruelty in the world. It goes without saying that it is unbearable for me to see the brave fighting men of Japan disarmed. It is equally unbearable that others who have rendered me devoted service should now be punished as instigators of war. Nevertheless, the time has come that we must bear the unbearable."
The following morning, Radio Tokyo broadcast an acceptance of terms but asked for a retention of the emperor's prerogatives. The US responded that the emperor would be "subject to" the supreme commander. The army and navy chiefs went to the palace and stated that they did not wish to surrender. There was fear in the city that junior officers would rebel and even kidnap Hirohito. On the 14th, he again told the military's leaders to surrender, and that he would address the nation by radio, stating the war was over. At that point, the senior leaders bowed to his command. The army chief asserted, "No officer in the Imperial Army will disobey the emperor's command." Hirohito recorded his speech that night. Hirohito's broadcast was made to the nation at noon on the 15th. The people of Japan had never heard his voice, as he told them they were accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Japan had lost, the war was over, and he directed the armed forces to surrender and sign all required documents presented by the Allies.
For eight decades, the question of the necessity of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been debated. Those opposed speak to the inhumanity of it all, and argue that Japan would have surrendered anyway. Proponents say the attack on Pearl Harbor, the brutalities inflicted on the Bataan Death March, along with their horrific occupation of much of eastern Asia for four years justified the punishment inflicted. Furthermore, there were 900,000 men preparing to defend Kyushu in the expected November 1945 invasion. The Department of War manufactured 500,000 Purple Hearts that were never awarded. I personally believe the saving of American lives and the immediate cessation of hostilities justified Truman's decision. This is a brilliant, and highly recommended, history book.
9.11.2026
Murder At The Hotel Orient, Ranelli - B -
This is a delightful, charming, but somewhat lengthy and complex, mystery about a couple found dead in their hotel suite in today's Vienna. The Orient is a real-life love hotel, where rooms have been rented either overnight or in four-hour blocks since late in the Habsburg era. It features Sterling Lockwood, the sexy, mysterious American concierge and keeper of secrets. She helps the police because a murder in a place where everyone pays in cash and uses aliases is uniquely challenging, and she is a suspect simply because she was the only other person with access to the suite. Sterling also does not mind keeping her own past under wraps. Everyone in the Orient's world is extraordinarily circumspect and considerably disreputable. The investigation leads to innumerable twists and turns amongst Vienna's low lives before the surprising conclusion is reached. The consensus seems to be too cute for its own good.
9.07.2026
The Silver Fish, - B -
This spy thriller is set in Accra, Ghana. The overarching plot line is the rivalry between the US and China for control of the oil and internet in Africa. There are two parallel stories, one involving an American journalist, Dani, and the goings-on of two CIA men, Ford and Billy. Dani is a down-and-out journalist looking for a story, and she finds it. She uncovers the corruption of a relationship between the Chinese and some Ghanaian politicians. The Yanks are trying to turn a Ghanaian double into finding out more about the Chinese construction of a closed net that would avoid all American interference. The lines cross in a confusing, very bloody, and unsatisfying finale. The author is an intelligence professional who is a bit preachy about the security services.
9.05.2026
I Spy, Kemp - B
This is an intriguing, very brief spy thriller focused more on motherhood than tradecraft. After her romantic partner and fellow spy was murdered, pregnant Kendall retreated to a hopefully secure hidden life raising Rosie. When faced with a murderous threat, Ken calls in her former employer, a private security firm, to help, and they usher her back to London. She settles into a normal routine until it falls apart. Fun.
9.02.2026
The Keeper, French - B+
This novel is extraordinary. The author's ability to use dialogue is so authentic that you feel as if you're sitting in a pub in a small western Ireland farm town. Much more importantly, she plumbs the depths of the community's closeness and the extraordinary cliquishness of the rural Irish. She attributes the people's inability to tackle personal issues directly and their tendency to do things indirectly as a consequence of being oppressed and occupied by the English for centuries. But more than anything else, French tells a tale that strikes fear in you as you watch the powerful oppress, threaten, and intimidate the ordinary folks of Ardnakelty.