Without having any expectations, I bought this book and was pleasantly surprised that I finished it in two sittings. The most engaging part of the book was how the reader shadowed Gareth in his adventure. It was like being a passenger in the same car: experiencing what he did on a moment-to-moment basis. The reader was transported to different corners of the city at a good pace, and then sadly, it was over. Here's hoping that there will be a sequel!

Author Britto need not fear a malpractice suit for his writing skills. This is a well written mystery which enlightens the reader on a number of fronts, including the pursuit and collecting of art pottery. Britto's writing skill is such that he imbeds the information in the reader's mind, creating a desire to learn more about art pottery independently. Maybe author Britto is really a transplant surgeon, not a plastic surgeon! Let's hear more from this author, and soon

A really excellent first novel. You can taste the food, smell the smells and see the people because the descriptions are so good. The feelings are a little hidden, but this is, after all, a mystery. The editing could have been a little tighter to smooth out some of the slightly stilted language in parts. When is the last time you got up in the middle of the night to read more because of that blue car following the protagonists little girl? This writer is a physician and I would like to know if the book is understandable for non-physicians

This book is hard to classify. It's not strictly speaking a historical, nor is it a solid contemporary. Instead, it's a wonderful mix of both. If you like books that make you think a little, you'll like THIEF OF SOULS.

Like THE PLAGUE TALES, THIEF OF SOULS is set in both the past and present, centering on two strong, determined women working hard to solve their own current-day mysteries of missing children.

The different voice Benson uses in her past and present scenes is smoothly transitioned so the reader is never left wondering where s/he is. The foreshadowing is a little heavy-handed, however Benson makes you really care for her characters and the outcome to each story.

If you've read THE PLAGUE TALES and THE BURNING ROAD (which I did), I strongly suggest adding THIEF OF SOULS to your Ann Benson collection. You won't be disappointed.

Detective Lany Dunbar and Abbess Guillemette le Drappiere are sisters in both time and crime. Though they are separated by some 600 years of history, each is in pursuit of an abductor and murderer of children. Similiar to her earlier novels, "The Plague Tales" and its sequel, "The Burning Road", Ann Benson weaves two stories, one set in modern times and one in the 1400s. Though this novel doesn't contain a physical link, such as the piece of cloth that ties the two stories together in "The Plague Tales", there are enough nuances and references to keep any detective of historical fiction going. While Lany's perpetrator is fictional, what makes Guillemette's quest even more eerie is that she pursues an actual person, the infamous Gilles de Rais, upon whom Bluebeard is based. De Rais' debauchery is especially unnerving because it is based upon true accounts. How many ghouls would save the heads of over 300 children just to determine who was the prettiest? Ugh! While the collection of the skulls of dead children is a key in the case against de Rais, a collection of footwear plays a part in Lany's investigation. "They eat small children there" is a reference to de Rais' castle but it is also a movie title in Lany Dunbars 21st century Los Angeles. In her pursuit of the serial abductor, Lany uses a text book that references de Rais.

We, as readers, cannot help but root for these strong willed women, both of whom must fight for everything they can in order to succeed in their endeavors in a male dominated society, in Guillemette's case, and in a male dominated profession in Lany's case. Both must deal with the arrogance of their respective abductors and both must find the emerging pattern in their respective investigations.

Ms. Benson throws in some historical plums just for the interest. The actual childhood nurse of de Rais was named Guillemette La Drappiere and some of the 21st century detectives are named for real police detectives. But, still, it is the villains who warrant our attention. The thief in each case here not only steals souls but steals lives as well. And, when each seeks absolution and feels that it is at hand, each thief, as Ann Benson so beautifully puts it, will be as far from absolution as he would ever be in his life and yet more in need of it than ever before. Five stars indeed.

In 1440 Nantes, the abbess Guillemette le Drappiere, assistant and companion to Bishop of Nantes, learns that a child has gone missing. After talking to the mother of the abducted child, she starts an investigation and discovers that many similar children have vanished over the years. Guillemette and the bishop slowly come to the conclusion that the boy she nursed, the powerful Baron Gilles de Rais, is the guilty party but he is untouchable until he commits a crime of unspeakable horror against a churchman.

Over five and a half centuries later in Los Angles, Lany Dunbar is working on a case study eerily similar to the one that Guillemette investigated. Several young males, almost feminine in looks, have been abducted and their bodies never found. Each victim visited a certain popular exhibit at the La Brea Tar pits, leading Lany to the conclusion that the perpetrator is somebody connected to the exhibit who is very wealthy and has time to play out his or her fantasies. She intends to unearth and arrest this person even though the culprit knows that Lany is on the prowl.

Crime and depravity doesn't change very much over the centuries as the actions of the villains in THIEF OF SOULS prove. In both cases, a very strong woman in a position of power brings down a seemingly untouchable person. This is a long juicy novel that takes place ten years after Joan of Arc won the battle of Orleans as well as in the present. The crimes show that the more things change the more things remain the same.

Harriet Klausner

Words cannot even begin to describe the beauty of the works of art contained in this book. If you only ever buy one book in your life to just look at the pictures let it be this one. I could sit entranced by this embroidery for hours. I agree with another reviewer who stated that you can't conceive of this art being created by human hands. If you need proof simply look at the cover. That is not a photograph folks, it is embroidered.
The photographs are also quite beatiful. Consider as you look at them that the photo's are trying to capture texture...something very elusive in that medium. In many cases you can barely tell the photo from the embroidery and in others the embroidery is an interpretation of the photo.
I cannot state this enough... this book is truly, truly extraordinary and I don't think that there is anything else like it out there.

This is, by far, the most beautiful embroidery book I've ever seen anywhere, at any time. It seems impossible that such impressive works of art could have been created. Robert Ketchum's photographs are beautiful, but the embroideries are, indeed, so breathtaking that it's hard to believe real human beings could have worked on them. This is the kind of embroidery I would love to be able to do, but it is so amazing that I know I'll never reach such a high level of expertise (at least not in this lifetime). My thanks to all the people involved in this project for sharing their special gifts with me and anyone else fortunate enough to have purchased this book or, better still, to have seen these works in person.

This book contains lavish photos of breathtaking embroidery from the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute, representing the pinnacle of Chinese embroidery. Many of the examples are photorealistic interpretations of landscape photographs - an amazing achievement. It makes one understand why embroidery has long been regarded as a fine art in China, often esteemed higher than painting. A must for anyone who loves embroidery or textiles.

This book is not understood by many people, mainly the white race is taking charge of black men in gangs, yeah many of us black men today gang bang today, and what are you all going to do about it? the only thing I can tell y'all is to take this seriously and you know this is a black thing, we are taking charge of our lives cuzz.

I thought this book would teach much out to young brothers that grow into this gang life and any child into a path of destruction, they need this book -Reid Korach

This book taught me more about the inner workings of gangs than any newspaper article or magazine piece I have ever read. Finally I have begun to grasp what is truly going on in the hearts and minds of gang members. It is a mind opening book and I encourage all people to read it especially educators.

Los Angeles has always meant/will always be/is many things to many people. Some write it off as the City of Pilates-loving, Yoga meditating, Chai Tea Consuming Crack Pots. Well, yes...it is that and so much more as exemplified in the mind expanding, colossally comprehensive, edited by David Ulin: "Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology." That so many important writers have deemed Los Angeles as appropriate subject matter, both positive and negative, only supports the notion that the City of the Angels "gets" to everyone who comes in contact with it. Some like Faulkner and Fitzgerald came to Hollywood late in their careers and left disillusioned to say the least while Nathanael West and James M. Cain thrived and wrote some of their best stuff here.
"Writing Los Angeles" is exhaustively researched and some of the expected writers are represented here: Cain, West, Ellroy, Didion but what of Simone De Beauvoir and Umberto Eco? Probably the most important thing Ulin has done is introduce us to SoCal writers we didn't know or of whom we've forgotten: D.J. Waldie or Ruben Martinez, for example.
If nothing else, Ulin has proven that Los Angeles is fertile ground for the creation of writing of the highest order. And for this, we Los Angelenos are forever in his debt.

"definitive" is a an overused adjective... but this volume is indeed just that. ulin's winning (and sometimes surprising) selection of material captures the breadth and depth of a literary milieu artfully and evenhandledly. (ulin must be uniquely well read and/or uniquely familiar with his material - some of his choices, e.g. robert towne's intro to chinatown screenplay, are fun just to consider in a potentially crusty dusty Lirbrary of America anthology). forget the heavy intellectual (and physical!) weight of this tome -- this is no door stop or boat anchor, its a joyous sojourn in the searing sun. brevity, clarity and wit!

Compiled and edited by David L. Ulin, Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology is a unique and diverse collection of fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, diaries, and more, contributed by over seventy writers (ranging from William Faulkner, M.F.K. Fisher, and Bertolt Brecht, to Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, and Tom Wolfe), and showcasing the "City of Angels". Through varied eyes, the teeming and diverse West Coast metropolis manifests its best and its worst during its eventful history as Writing Los Angeles explores a wide range of issues and events ranging from the post World War I economic boom to recent and nationally televised violence. A very highly recommended compendium of artistic, emotional, severe, gritty, nostalgic, and clear-eyed literary pieces, Writing Los Angeles vividly brings a city and its people to life throughout the generations.

THis book is a great trail map for bars in Los Angeles. Mr. Mulvey is a truly likable man with a genuine interest in the semi-lost tradition of decent dives. The format of the book is convienent and has within it, a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes. If you are interested in bars, or if you aren't, this is the book for you. It will bring you up to speed about what's cool in LA.

This book gives all pertinent information regarding many bars in L.A. The descriptions of setting and atmosphere are accurate and it even provides history and interesting stories and facts about L.A. bars. It provides a variety of different bars in L.A., from the most trendy, hip places, to the divey hole-in-the-walls. I've been to most of these places and frequent some, but this book makes me want to try each bar mentioned!

No entertainment assistant should be without the Gayot L.A. Restaurant guide. All of the assistants in my office use it and keep it on their desks. We refer to it as the "bible." On a daily basis, we need to come up with the best restaurants for important breakfasts and power lunches. A major part of my job is arranging such meals, and the Gayot guide always provides us with reliable suggestions. Everyone's satisfaction with the food, ambiance, and service at a restaurant I send them to is very important. Knowing that Gayot sends food critics to review each restaurant gives us all peace of mind - which is often hard to find in our busy work environment. We live by it, we swear by it, and we'd be at a loss without it!

I appreciate the frank and witty reviews in LA RESTAURANTS, and take comfort in knowing this is the only guidebook available that actually sends profesional critics in to review the food. Zagat is unreliable, relying only on questionnaires, to make their judgements on a restaurant. It has been proven to me on a number of occasions while using a Zagat guide that surveys don't take the place of a through review by a critic. I have been able to avoid paying lots of money on bad meals ever since I switched from Zagat and bought Gayot's LA RESTAURANTS. I keep a copy in my car, home, and office.

THE CHEFF ROLAND IS ////THE BEST CHEFF >>>>>GOOD LUCK<<<<<

Gorgeous fine art cookbook

As a professional photographer, I can appreciate the creative portraits that were chosen for this lushly produced photo driven cook book. The restaurant is fabulous and I am excited to be able to now create the dishes at home. Although, it will be hard pressed to re create the simple elegance of the restaurant, I will save a bit of money by cooking these great recipes in my own kitchen.