One day a petite dark haired lady named Diane St. Cyr comes to see Robert at their rental house on Catte Street. Robert is not present and Susanna takes a message to have him meet Diane at a place called the Falcon. Susanna is aware that Diane is probably one of Robert's many mistresses but gives him the message anyway. Robert goes to see Diane to find out what she wants. The next morning Diane is found in the streets dead.

In order to clear Robert's name, Susanna begins to look into the murder and discovers that there have been several women(mostly prostitutes),with the same physical features murdered on the same day over a period of seven years.

With the help of her maid-servant and friend Jennet, as well as a brothel keeper named Petronella, Susanna discovers who is killing the Winchester Geese(prostitutes)and what Robert has up his sleeve.

This is the second Susanna, Lady Appleton mystery that I have read and found this one to be much more enjoyable.

In production for over one hundred years, and with over seven and one half million of these rifles produced so far, there isn't any question that the most popular deer rifle in America is the Winchester Model 1894, and that it has held that favorite spot for quite some time.

The author begins with a concise, accurate history of this timeless lever action that starts with it's designer John Moses Browning and carries right up through the post 1964 models, the commemoratives and the latest angle eject 94's. Every aspect of the 1894 is covered; engineering changes, alterations, finishes, calibers and wood, often in great detail. The components, and variations thereof, are graphically presented with very clear close-up black and white photography. Collectors love it when information is offered to them in such a way that it quickly answers all their questions. So often I have been asked "Can you show me what to look for with such and such a detail, so I will know what I am buying?". This is that book for the Winchester 1894, it answers questions quickly and it shows you what and where.

Fanciers of the Winchester Model 1894 will be absolutely delighted with what is in this book for it truly gives you "everything you ever wanted to know about the 1894 Winchester", as well as covering a lot of questions you probably wouldn't have thought to ask. I also enjoyed seeing the excerpts from early 20th century Winchester salesman's catalogs, where for instance, a standard 38-55 caliber carbine could be had for the hefty sum of $17.50!

This reviewer was very impressed with the large amount of well presented information and the attention that is given to accurate photographic illustration. The book was a joy to read and I would highly recommend it for the library of anyone who collects or who simply enjoys Winchester's wonderful Model 1894.

Things I picked up.

Until now Winchester never produced a factory 410 guage lever action shotgun.

Half Octagon/ Half Round Carbines are very rare. Take a look
at the Lone Star Commemorative.

Make sure you give this one a try.

Winchester visited the remote British Indian Ocean Territory (or BIOT), thousands of miles from the mainland. The territory, made up pretty much of the Chagos Islands, was at one time home to over 2,000 islanders (more than the population of the Falkland Islands), earning their livelihood from a French-run copra and coconut oil company and possessing schools, churches, roads, and the inhabitants having lived there for generations. In the saddest part of the book, Winchester described how the islanders were all more or less deported to Mauritius, 1,800 miles from their former home, even though they were under supposedly British protection, all in the interests of establishing an American military base in Diego Garcia (sometimes called either the Footprint of Freedom due to the island's vaguely foot-shaped appearance, or the Rock by those posted there who hate its isolation).

Winchester visited several remote South Atlantic islands. Tristan da Cunha, 1,800 miles southwest of Cape Town, was a fascinating place, very difficult to reach or even get onto owing to rough seas, weather, and no real harbor. The island essentially one massive volcano (which erupted in 1961, forcing the islanders to temporarily retreat to the UK), in its isolation has produced a unique group of people, all comprised of just seven family names, these Tristinians speaking a unique dialect of English. Ascension Island was he writes once officially dubbed HMS Ascension and treated bureaucratically as a ship! Originally annexed as a place for a transatlantic cable station, today it serves as an electronic listening post and military base, largely for the Americans. St. Helena is an island inhabited by a proud but kind people ("Saints" to outsiders, "Yamstocks" to each other), their language a mixture of various dialects and somewhat akin to what one might find in Dickens novel. Famous as the final place of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte, it has served as a prison for others, including the Chief of the Zulus and many Boers; now the islanders feel imprisoned by their remoteness from the outside world, a problem exacerbated by the lack of an airport. The Falkland Islands of course get attention in the book, Winchester having visited the islands on the eve of the Falkland Islands War and even served some time in prison in Argentina.

Winchester visited the five colonies of the Caribbean, with a far nicer climate and less remote but perhaps not any better off than the South Atlantic territories. The Turks and Caicos Islands - two distinct archipelagos- are the third largest inhabited colonial possession (after the Falklands and the BIOT), the Turks deriving their name from a local fez-like red cactus, the Turk's head, the Caicos derived from the word cay. The Turks were once major exporters of salt, though have fallen on hard times since losing that industry to a Bahamian factory. The British Virgin Islands (more properly simply the Virgin Islands) he visited as well, a slower paced - and poorer - counterpart to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Anguilla we find was subject to a massive invasion in 1969 - Operation Sheepskin - that involved two Royal Navy frigates and over 300 soldiers, all in an attempt to put down what was feared a rebellion by the 6,000 islanders. Instead it was a miscommunication, there was no rebellion, and not a shot was fired, much to British embarrassment. Britain's newest inhabited colony, choosing to remain with the UK when St. Kitts became independent, Anguilla demonstrates that some colonies are not yet ready to go independent, or maybe never will. Montserrat we find is another volcanic island, one that just missed out on being the only Irish colony in the Caribbean! Finally we visit the Cayman Islands, the most famous of the British possessions in the Caribbean, home to an (in)famous offshore banking industry, and not much else.

Winchester visited also Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Hong Kong, but decided against visiting Pitcairn Island.

So what states does Winchester find the British Empire in his grand tour? Not in a very good one unfortunately. He finds the colonies an "unhappy collection of peoples and places, wanting in imagination,...policy,...a future,...money,...sympathetic administration,... [and]...talented leaders." London he wrote didn't seem to care that drug money was being laundered in the Cayman Islands, or that the Turks and Caicos Islands were a transshipment point for drugs from South America. Several colonies had - at the encouragement of London - developed in the past one-crop economies, and when they failed those colonies - whether it was salt in the Turks and Caicos Islands, flax in St. Helena, or the dockyard in Gibraltar - faced bleak economic futures. None of this was aided by the fact that Whitehall seemed quite begrudging of monetary aid and quite slow to respond to any requests made by the colonial administrations.

Winchester felt though that a more grave injustice was done by the passing of the British Nationality Act in 1981, whereby only those who lived in the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar were full British citizens, able to come and go to the Great Britain as they please and even settle there if they liked. The remainder of the colonists cannot settle in the UK proper with such ease, and for all intents and purposes are aliens in that respect.

This book was both entertaining and somber.

It will make you want to pack your bags and travel to the distant ends of the earth!

JUGGLING ACT will help parents and kids "keep it together," while coping with the challenges of change, from how to talk with your children about their feelings and fears to how to communicate with your ex-spouse about the daily details of your child's life. Included in the Juggling Act kit are:

•The parents' book, Speaking of Divorce: How to Talk with Your Kids and Help Them Cope, provides specific information about what to say-and what not to say-to children, how to honestly yet reassuringly answer their questions, and how to understand and address their most common fears and concerns.

•Written for children ages 7-12, What in the World Do You Do When Your Parents Divorce? A Survival Guide for Kids works through the many different questions children have and provides gentle, easy-to-understand answers to help them work through fear, confusion, sadness, guilt, and anger.

•The Mom & Dad Pad (with carbonless copies and seal-able envelopes) is a deceptively simple but effective tool that divorcing and divorced parents can use to notify each other about school events, appointments, transportation arrangements, travel plans, and other scheduling issues relating to their child-without putting children in the middle. (Also leaves a paper trail...)

•The "Keep Track" Calendar For Kids helps children regain a sense of control by giving them one place to refer to so they know in advance which parent they'll be with on which days. And the colorful "Keep Track" Stickers For Kids, designed for use in conjunction with the calendar, are fun and easy to use.

For those millions of divorced parents and kids trying to keep more than one ball up in the air, the Juggling Act kit is a great help for "not dropping the ball" during change.

However, I think the book might be even more valuable for parents. All divorcing parents want to do the best thing for their children and they could do much worse than simply following the suggestions in this little book. Every parent who reads it will benefit.

R.L. Wilson, who wrote this book, also wrote one called 'Colt, an American Legend.' Both books are exquisite, coffee table size--eight and a half inches by eleven inches (landscape)--and each are over 400 pages, almost every page filled with extremely high quality color photographs.

R.L. Wilson, in addition to being a collector and well-known author in the firearms field, is a historical consultant to Colt's Firearms Division.

The subtitle on the first page says, "The official history of Winchester firearms and ammunition from 1849 to the present," which pretty much covers the entire history of the Winchester Firearms Company (now known as U.S. Repeating Arms, since a bankruptcy and change of ownership.)

If you are a Winchester aficionado, or just a Western history buff, with an interest in "The Gun That Won the West," this is a book you will want in your library.

It is one of my favorite books. It will probably be one of yours, also.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

I loved reading about the methods he used for farming, building, and general survival with none of what we consider the amenities of life. I found myself feeling very calm as I read this book....a sure sign that the conveniences of modern life bring stress with them!