Bayda sucessfully merges a bit of Zen and a bit of Vipassana-style mindfulness into a way of meditation practice and life practice. The book is stripped of almost all Buddhist terminology. There is no mention of karma, reincarnation, codependent origination, and any other Buddhist terms. What you get is a manual for learning to see yourself plainly and non-judgmentally without our usual hidden agendas, strategies, ego clinging, duplicity. Especially helpful are the chapters on Practicing with Fear, Practicing with Distress, Practicing with Anger. I tried the methods outlined in "Practicing with Distress" on a day when a small catastrophe popped up at work. I stayed with my breath and tried to notice the physical reactions going on. When you do that, you can actually begin to non-judgmentally notice the mind churning out thoughts.

The chapter about Bayda's experience working with hospice patients was very moving, but they weren't just an anecdote. He successfully pointed how the experiences deepened his practice.

The chapter on loving kindness meditation was also interesting. It's more commonly used by teachers in the Vipassana tradition, like Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, so I was suprised to see it here. Bayda uses the method not to create some special mind-state, but to see where he has blocked off his being from experiencing what's going on in the moment.

In summary, this is a good book if you are new to meditation and are looking for a way to approach spiritual practice that is free of Buddhist terms. I think people of any religion find this book useful. It outlines tools for seeing the reactive patterns and habits that narrow our lives and that inhibit meaningful interactions with the world.

Being Zen is one of the clearest books on spiritual practice I have ever read. It uses plain language, and like Pema Chodron, has a heart quality that seems to speak directly to the reader. Perhaps best of all, the book is filled with practical and specific suggestions, seemingly based on the author's direct personal experience. I highly recommend this book. Anna Hughes, Oklahoma

BEING ZEN provides a practical, heartfelt approach for addressing the messiness of everyday life - our difficult situations, our anger and confusion, and most of all, our fears. Ezra Bayda does this without losing sight of the bigger picture of our basic connectedness. In fact, the basic theme of the book is about moving from our "cocoon world of protectedness" to living in a genuine way.
Spiritual practice has to withstand the unrelenting quizzes of daily challenge. Bayda has certainly had his share, as described, for example, in his own struggles with fear, self-doubt and illness. These and other examples are used as a basis for describing very specific and practical tools for using the challenges of everyday life as opportunities to become free. And he does so in a very clear and down-to-earth way, making this immediately accessible to the reader.

Life has never been easy for Charlotte Russell Johnson. As a child she was overweight, had low self esteem issues and grew up in a single parent home. As she came upon her teenage years Charlotte blossomed into a beautiful young woman. She was very intelligent at an early age and had the tools to achieve whatever goals and dreams she had in mind. Charlotte had one major downfall, herself. She liked to take walks on the wild side and that often got her into trouble.

With her intelligence and book smarts Charlotte just knew that one day she would go to college. Instead she fell into a world of drugs, pregnancy, prison and despair. Her penchant for trouble led her to a very bad situation that would forever change the course of her life.

A Journey To Hell and Back by author Charlotte Russell Johnson is filled with pain and hope. The author is very honest and up front about the bad choices that she has made in life. She also shows that she has overcome her troubles and has become a productive member of society. My only complaint about this book was repetition. Throughout the story the author kept referring to certain events over and over again and that proved to be distracting. After reading her story I have tremendous respect for Charlotte Russell Johnson and wish her well with her life and any future projects.

Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks

This awe inspiring book was meant to motivate and encourage the readers to seek new vision for their life. This book has a accomplished its mission. It's hard to walk away from this book feeling discouraged or disappointed. The characters are real and vividly presented. There are characters who you will love and others you will hate. The book is a story of miracles. Yet there is something deeper than the interesting details of the book. Within each page there is a special message for the reader. The book has an easy flow. However, the depth of the book provokes you to read the book over and over again as you face new trials in your life. The book demands a second edition.

The book is a journey of survival against all odds. The scenes are extremely vivid and well written. It is a book of overcoming adversity. A Journey To Hell and Back provides a blueprint to survival. The story details a mother's strength and love for the child of her womb. It an inspiration for others who think they are alone or hopeless. The book is a must read.

This book is a comical mystery about seven rich boys who live in ancient Rome and go to the Xanthos school for boys. Cauis isn't very bright, Rufus is the class clown, Aucius is a hard worker, Flavius is the slow boy, Antonius is the fast boy, Publius is the poorest one, and Julius is the boy with the best ideas. In the beginning of the book, Cauis and Rufus pick a fight with each other. Rufus, the class clown wrote, "Cauis is a dumbbell" on a writing tablet. The teacher cruelly punishes Rufus and kicks him out of school. The next day, when the teacher didn't show up for school, they went to his house and found him manacled. Everything in his house was demolished. The same day, another crime was committed. Graffiti was found on the temple wall that was dedicated to Cauis' father, Senator Vinivius...I think this was a great book with an unbelievable ending. The ending was so awesome because I never saw it coming.

My fifth grade class just read this book for our reading group. It was amazing! The suspense and the humor added just the right touch to this woderful book. I won't give too much away because it would ruin yhe suspense. Seven young Romans attend the Xanthos school. Two students, Rufus and Caius, get into a fight over a tablet reading 'Caius is a Dumbell' that Rufus wrote. The next day in red paint, the same thing is written on a temple dedicated to the Emperor, who is Caius' father! But rufus is innocent. I really enjoyed this book, and you will too! Enjoy!

Roman history, boring? You wouldn't think so, reading "Detectives in Togas." Seven high-spirited Roman boys and their crabby teacher make up the cast of this outstanding head-scratcher, set in the heydey of Rome's domination.

Rufus disrupted Xantippus's class by writing "Caius is a dumbbell" on a tablet, provoking Caius to start yelling. In the blink of an eye, Rufus has been thrown out of the schoolmates, alarming his classmates. What's even more alarming is that the same message is scrawled on a sacred temple's wall the next day -- in Rufus's handwriting. This act of sacrilege will destroy Rufus's life, and for some reason he won't deny it.

The day of the defacing, Xantippus's house is robbed and the wax tablet is taken, but the robber leaves behind a beautiful golden brooch. The boys go to the soothsayer Lukos, but that goes horribly wrong when the soothsayer chases them out, and they leave behind Mucius, who then proceeds to fall into the Baths of Diana -- discovering that Rufus spent the night there before. The boys soon become enmeshed in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse centering on politics, money and revenge.

Henry Winterfield clearly had solid memories of being a teenage boys. His gaggle of young boys are entirely realistic -- they bicker, they make idiots of themselves, they make all the wrong decisions, they all have distinct personalities. With a cast including seven young boys from similar backgrounds, you would think that they would all be the same, but Winterfield manages to make each one unique. Xantippus is the crabby grandfather with a marshmallowy interior. He clearly cares about all the boys, but is impatient about their blunders.

Kids may leave this charming mystery with a wish to learn a little more about Rome (and to read the sequel, of course). And don't be surprised if you hear someone shouting, "Mike asinus est!"

Joko Beck's thesis is a simple one: That life, just as it is at any moment, is all that it can be and therefore is perfect. Pointing again and again to the troubles we cause ourselves by living life not in the moment, but out of a confused fog of fantasies and "what ifs," Beck challenges us to divest ourselves of our mental defense mechanisms and dare to be OK with life as it is. Yet she is a compassionate teacher, intimately familiar with human weaknesses and struggles, and she extends one hand of comfort even as the other hand pulls the rug out from under our feet. Perhaps the only shortcoming of this book is that it is much more clear about the "deconstructive" aspect of Zen practice than about exploring the ultimate manifestations and benefits of enlightenment. Knowing her aversion to "holding out cookies," however, this absence is understandable.

I read this book after reading "Nothing Special". I like Joko's writing a lot, simple, direct to the points just as Zen should be simple. This book may be hard for people trying to understand Zen only (without practice) or beginners. But to people practicing sitting Zen daily I think it contains a lot of good advices which I can apply into living. I will read and read again both books by Joko. I have read many Zen books and found that this book and "Nothing Special" are among the best for me. Highly recommend both "Everyday Zen" and "Nothing Special".

This is one of my favorite books on Zen. Charlotte Joko Beck is the resident Zen teacher at the Zen Center of San Diego, and "Everyday Zen" is a collection of her talks. Joko speaks about Zen in an ordinary, conversational, down-to-earth way--as opposed to the paradoxical, poetic, non-logical style that is typical of Zen--and she explicitly relates Zen to everyday life. For Joko, Zen is about being OK with everything, an OK-ness that does not imply fatalism, passivity, or an absence of feelings. She says: "For something to be OK, it doesn't mean that I don't scream or cry or protest or hate it. . . . What _is_ the enlightened state? When there is no longer any separation between myself and the circumstances of my life, whatever they may be, that is it."

While this book is a good one for newcomers to Zen--and for old-timers too--it does not include nitty-gritty beginning instruction in Zen meditation, so for that you'll need to look elsewhere. (I'd recommend "The Three Pillars of Zen" or a Zen center.)

This is not the best Zen book for everyone. When you're in a swamp of existential angst, desperately wanting to know that peace and joy can be found within this fleeting life so full of suffering--exactly the issues Zen addresses--Joko's "everyday" approach can be exasperating and can seem not to address those issues, and you may prefer "The Three Pillars of Zen" or "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." I appreciate Joko's wariness of leading us astray with images of "enlightenment," which is so easily misunderstood as a thing we can achieve that will make our lives perfect at last, but sometimes I want more reminders than Joko offers that our life can be utterly transformed (while still being the same old, imperfect life).

i originally had no intention of reading this book, just my favorite band is good charlotte, so i was looking for stuff about them. i got the book and was bored so i decided to read it....not only is it a great book but it gives good charlotte a good name...read it and listen to good charlotte!...pa usa

Well, my favorite band in the whole world named themselves after this book, so I guess Im gonna have to say this is my new favorite book. Im gonna buy like five copies of this book: one for each of the guys and one for me, then when they come to my city on Warped Tour, Im gonna give them the books. Te-he, I know Im a dork, but oh well!

this book is really good. it is about a girl who is picked on and her grandma calls her good charlotte. i think the band rocks 2. i know for a fact that no one in the band has read it but it is probably really good.

Perhaps many of those who had previously read The Fifth Discipline were not aware (until now) that Peter Senge later co-authored this book with Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross, George Roth, and Bryan Smith. Why read The Dance of Change? Its in Learning Organizations." Yes, there are challenges. Lots of them...and many are indeed formidable. And yes, obviously, without momentum, efforts to energize or re-energize any organization will fail.

My own experience suggests that there will then be at least three whatever was undertaken was doomed to fail; also, therefore, that such efforts should never be undertaken again; finally, defenders of the status quo (whatever it may be) will become even more aggressive in their opposition to change in almost any form.

Of course, Senge understood full well when he wrote The Fifth Discipline that those who attempted to implement an appropriate (emphasis on "appropriate") combination of his ideas and suggestions would encounter all manner of resistance. In my opinion, that is why he then co-authored the Fieldbook. (I strongly suggest that it be read only after reading The Fifth Discipline.) Here is how The Dance of Change Change)

The Challenges of Initiating (Not Enough Time, No Help [Coaching and Support], Not Relevant, Walk the Talk)

The Challenges of Sustaining Transformation (Fear and Anxiety, Assessment and Measurement, True Believers and Nonbelievers)

The Challenges of Redesigning and Rethinking (Governance, Diffusion, Strategies Purpose)

As you can see, Senge and his co-authors provide a cohesive and comprehensive system with which to achieve and then sustain (emphasis on "sustain") "profound change." Once again, I want to stress the importance of carefully selecting what is most appropriate from this wealth of material. The selection process should be unhurried but expeditious. It should include only those who are wholeheartedly committed to achieving "profound change." Moreover, their number should not threaten effective communication and collaboration. My final suggestion (not necessarily Senge's) is to proceed with a "Big Picture" clearly in mind but to focus on the sequential completion of specific tasks according to plan. Like buildings, learning "blueprint," sufficient resources, materials of the highest quietly, inspiring leaders and effective managers, talented associates, and (most important) a shared commitment. Obviously, your organization will need its own "blueprint." Success or failure when implementing it will depend upon its own people. It cannot be otherwise. View The Dance of Change created by Senge and his co-authors, therefore, as an invaluable resource...and proceed accordingly.

You may also wish to consult Isaacs' Dialogue in which he addresses many of the same issues but from somewhat different perspectives. I also recommend Bennis and Biederman's Organizing Genius as well as O'Toole's Leading Change. Their own experiences, insights, and suggestions may also prove helpful to your efforts. I wish you great success!

Of the FIFTH DISCIPLINE SERIES books, THE DANCE OF CHANGE is by far the most important. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE and THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK are wonderful, valuable books, but they largely avoid the tough question of how to sustain a Learning Organization initiative. Based on lots of experiences in different companies, THE DANCE OF CHANGE is the most realistic, thorough, thoughtful work on achieving large-scale organizational change that has ever been my pleasure to read. I immediately found it helpful in overcoming some of my bad habits (including falling in love with my own jargon rather than using common English). Like THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK, THE DANCE OF CHANGE allows you to focus on the areas where you need help the most. The beginning is a wonderful systems-dynamic analysis of how successful change occurs, and how it can be derailed. Even if you do not want to have a Learning Organization, you will find THE DANCE OF CHANGE very valuable for giving you direction on how to achieve permanent, valuable changes. On the subject of achieving the strategy you wish to implement, I strongly urge you to also read THE BALANCED SCORECARD. These books are good complements to each other.

Of the FIFTH DISCIPLINE SERIES books, THE DANCE OF CHANGE is by far the most important for you to understand. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE and THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK are wonderful, valuable books, but they largely avoid the tough question of how to sustain a Learning Organization initiative. Based on lots of experiences in different companies, THE DANCE OF CHANGE is the most realistic, thorough, thoughtful work on achieving large-scale organizational change that has ever been my pleasure to read. I immediately found it helpful in overcoming some of my bad habits (including falling in love with my own jargon rather than using common English). Since I first read the book about 9 months ago, I have found it affecting my consulting practice by causing me to focus more on lasting change, than immediate change. That's an important lesson for everyone. Like THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK, THE DANCE OF CHANGE allows you to focus on the areas where you need help the most. The beginning is a wonderful systems-dynamic analysis of how successful change occurs, and how it can be derailed. Like THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELDBOOK, you do not need to read THE DANCE OF CHANGE from front to back. I found myself skipping around, and enjoyed the experience. Even if you do not want to have a Learning Organization, you will find THE DANCE OF CHANGE very valuable for giving you direction on how to achieve permanent, valuable changes. On the subject of achieving the strategy you wish to implement, I strongly urge you to also read THE BALANCED SCORECARD. These books are good complements to each other. For picking up on your most important issues, you will find Peter Drucker's MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY to be invaluable.

Charlotte Vale Allen has been absent for a few years and this book more than makes up for that absence.As with all of Allen's characters these people jump right at you with their reality. You laugh with them,cry with them and want to be there to share their lives. It is definitely a good read! Kyra and her family are the lovable family we all have desired.Their closeness,in spite of their differences,make them more charming..The interrelationships between the family and the other characters make this an even more likeable book.Jesse,who is dear from the start,develops into a many faceted child. His ties with both his family and extended family make him more endearing as the book develops.After enduring many problems even the ending is able to leave you feeling happy. Charlotte has done extensive research prior to writing this book and it is quite obvious in the reading. I am a long-time fan of Charlotte Vale Allen,and think this book tops the list of all she has written,although that is quite difficult to say as all of her books are so excellent.

Charlotte Vale Allen engages the reader of Parting Gifts with a moving tale of the profits and losses of love. A family drama set mostly in late twentieth century London, Parting Gifts involves a theatrical extended family. Kyra, a large woman with a heart to match, first loses her pilot husband of 10 years in a hit-and-run accident outside their New York apartment. While she is mourning his loss, a young woman arrives on her doorstep with her "grandchild". Unable to have children, but anxious to build a family, Kyra adopts Jesse. Her three-year old son is temporarily mute, the victim of abuse and neglect. Kyra and Jesse move to London to welcome the support of her actress mother; director father; and twin actor brother. Kyra's costume design career flourishes as her son blossoms as a budding writer--published at age twelve. Allen involves the reader with the conflicts of a loving family and avoids the standard platitudes of love lost, while dealing with issues of abuse, death and serious illness. One hopes that this novel is not Allen's Parting Gifts for readers eager for more well-written tomes.

I always look forward to a new Charlotte Vale Allen book as an escape from the stresses of everyday life, and a well written, well researched one at that. "Parting Gifts" certainly met the high standards that I've come to expect from the Vale Allen repetoire. The characters came alive and made me care about what happened to them. The setting of the English theater family brought to mind the Redgraves or the Mills, and was fascinating. The word pictures she paints are vivid. Allen's backdrop of the illness of Jesse as part of the storyline gives the reader some insight into what patients and parents go through in situations like these without becoming 'sappy'. Again, she has researched her topic as she did the vaudeville era in "Timesteps". I highly recommend this as a good read with a nice glass of wine or cup of cocoa before the fire. You deserve it!

A NEW ATTITUDE is warm-hearted and funny with a bizarre beginning!

Marilee Abernathy's minister husband deserts her for a floozy, and her adolescent son goes with him. Depressed, she plans an unbelievably inept attempt at suicide. When the fake-wood ceiling beam that she's slung her thin drapery cord over crashes to the floor, her gorgeous next-door neighbor comes to her rescue. Marilee quickly recognizes that suicide is not the answer. Instead, she decides to be strong for her son and show the people of Chickpea, South Carolina that she's made of stronger stuff and launches forth with a new attitude.
An attitude that helps her file for divorce, find a job in a funeral parlor in her small town of Chickpea, South Carolina, seek custody of her son, take in a pregnant teen, and find love with the bad-boy-next-door she longed for in high school.

Sam Brewer, who rushed to Marilee's rescue, recognizes her as the girl he had a high school crush on. Sam, a reformed bad boy, has sold his business and moved home to take care of his elderly mother. Although Sam has enough problems of his own - his mischievous, matchmaking mother and a clinging ex-wife, he can't stop himself from being drawn into Marilee's problems.

The romance between Sam and Marilee is there, but A NEW ATTITUDE is more about strong women finding personal empowerment. Charlotte Hughes blends macabre humor with real life issues like divorce, teenage pregnancy, divorce, and child custody to create an entertaining, funny story.

When her minister husband deserts her for a floozy, and her adolescent son goes with him, staid Marilee Abernathy is so depressed, she tries to take her own life. Don't let that rather shocking idea dissuade you from reading this wonderful book, though. Marilee clearly is not deadly serious about killing herself, because she uses thin drapery cord slung over a weak, fake-wood ceiling beam in an extremely unsuccessful attempt to hang herself.

When her sexy neighbor, Sam Brewer, rushes over in response to Marilee's screams, she is so humiliated at his witnessing the scene of her failed suicide, it sparks a determination in her to launch back into life. Many funny and touching situations ensue with the advent of Marilee's New Attitude: she finds a job in a funeral parlor in her small town of Chickpea, South Carolina, seeks custody of her son, takes in a pregnant teen, and, best of all, finds love with gorgeous Sam, the bad-boy-next-door she longed for in high school, who has matured into a warm, caring man.

If you love romances set in a small town with a raft of engaging, colorful characters, you will really enjoy this comedy by a truly talented author.

THIS WAS THE FIRST BOOK BY CHRLOTTE HUGHES THAT I READ, BUT IT DEFINATELY WON'T BE THE LAST! I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE WHO WNJOYS A TOUCHING ROMANCE WITH PLENTY OF HUMOR AS WELL!

Iserbyt's exhaustive research regarding education and the economy has exposed the many myths and misinformation underlying the history of related reforms. Presented in chronological order, the author presents a stunning indictment of public and private partnerships designed to restructure education and the economy, and ultimately to redefine the very nature and purpose of not only education, but man himself. Teachers will find this book extremely useful and instructive in identifying and comprehending recent changes in education certification and training that are increasingly threatening to academic freedom, and driving many out of the teaching profession altogether. Parents of children in public, private, and home-schools alike will find Iserbyt's research equally applicable to all, as the new system is deliberately mandated for everyone. No student or adult is to be exempt from the new systemic education and labor reforms. Only by understanding the underlying agenda and strategies of the reformists can we hope to restore academic freedom and moral agency in society, and protect our children. A Must Read for every parent, educator, and legislator concerned about our children!

This book is THE BOOK - to have- EVERY CONCERNED PARENT in America should invest in a copy of it. It's the encyclopedia -IN YEAR DATE ORDER- of just what has been going on in America in the public school system- now for years and years. I can't recommend this book enough- it holds alot of answers to so many unanswered questions. YEARS OF RESEARCH at our fingertips- & it's the size of a telephone book. It's the best inside look- it's HONEST- OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION- undisputable evidence. If every parent were to read this, we could right a terrible wrong being done in public schools today. I purchased two copies- one to share with a friend & one to keep by my computer on hand. Saves me years of research AT MY FINGERTIPS. What can I say, I could of used this book ten years ago. So don't be too late being really informed- the time to catch up is now. The fact she was once a Senior Policy Advisor for the US Dept. of Education- weighs alot on the books creditablity factor. It may be in the number FOUR slot- but to me it's NUMBER ONE.

This book argues that the academic meltdown in our public education system is intentional. It asserts that change agents have been working at the Education Department to change curriculum, not to improve teaching but to promote a socialist agenda. Their role is to create schools which will mold obedient citizens who no longer have the knowledge and skills to improve their lot in life, but are dependent on governement/multi-national companies' guidance to survive. The system will create imprisoned citizens that will be managed from cradle to grave to serve the needs of the state's managed economy. The book is clearly written,copiously documented, and finally asnwers the question "Why can't our kids read, write, and count?" A must-read for anyone with children. It presents a scary view of America's future if nothing is done to bring back our schools to the excellence of the turn of the century.

Southampton Row is an enjoyable read. Ms. Perry's knowledge of the Victorian era is undeniable extensive and the rich tapestry she is able to weave intrigued me. Reading this novel, I experienced the sounds, smells, and sights of Victorian London, not to mention the political climate of the time.

In Southampton Row, Pitt is troubled by his duty to discredit the sly Sir Charles Voisey. He's much better at solving murders. Fortunately for him, and the readers of this novel, Pit gets to do what he's best at. Pitt is a likeable hero and a pleasure to read.

Although the male characters are well written, what fascinated me most about Southampton Row are the female characters. Pitt's wife, Charlotte, is portrayed as a reluctantly obedient wife, but the other female characters are strong and individual, not stereotypical. Pitt's sister-in-law, Emily, is an intelligent political figure. Vespasia, Charlotte's great-aunt, is a pillar of strength and influence. Mrs. Underhill shines as the discontented, but dutiful, wife of the Bishop. In fact, all the female characters in Southampton Row are portrayed in fantastic detail. Ms. Perry gets inside the mind of every woman in her story. After reading the novel, I felt as though I knew all these women personally, like old friends.

Southampton Row is only the second Anne Perry novel I've read so far. It will definitely not be the last.

This is a sequel to the previous novel, "The Whitechapel Conspiracy," which should be read first to fully understand the characters and background. The book possibly gets a little heavy into the position of women in society, etc., but otherwise is a good mystery. Charles Voisey was thwarted in his attempt to seize the government, but now is knighted and seeking a seat in the House of Commons. Thomas Pitt has been sent back to Special Branch, and the Inner Circle still exerts an evil influence on events. Some people have a lust for power and are willing to commit crimes to gain their objectives.

A spiritualist is murdered. Her death may be connected to the politics of the coming election. Pitt must send his wife and children off to the country on their own when his vacation is cancelled. Investigations lead to some surprising connections between individuals, and Pitt finds his reputation threatened before the case is finally resolved. Politics breed strange bedfellows, and Pitt's brother-in-law finds himself in an awkward position where he must decide between a friend and his own career in politics.

It is better to deal with an enemy you know rather than one you don't know. Crimes sometimes go unpunished, even murder.

This latest Thomas Pitt mystery is definitely a page turner. From the glittering drawing rooms where politics is discussed and policies decided, to the country side of Dartmoor, Anne Perry weaves a tale that is compelling and absorbing. And while I was disappointed that Charlotte Pitt and Gracie (the Pitts enterprising maid) did not figure prominently in this installment, I liked that Emily Radley (Charlotte's younger sister) had a bigger role in this novel -- she has been somewhat sidelined in the last few books, and I missed her character dreadfully.

In the previous Pitt mystery novel, "The Whitechapel Conspiracy" Pitt defeated the Inner Circle's plan to replace the English monarchy with a republic. This feat earned him the enmity of Charles Voisey, who was to be England's first president. Now, Voisey is running for the south Lambeth seat in Parliament on the Tory ticket. Meanwhile Pitt, who instead of being able to return to his previous position at Bow Street, has been seconded to Special Branch -- a department within the police force that deals primarily with the terrorist threats of the Irish Separatists. Now, Pitt's brief is to keep an eye on Voisey, and to see if Voisey is doing anything underhanded to ensure that he wins the election. But from what little Pitt can see, Voisey seems to be doing nothing nefarious in order to sway the voters -- save being a rather charismatic speaker. And then Pitt's superior commands him to investigate the murder of the clairvoyant, Maude Lamont. Pitt discovers that Voisey's Liberal opponent for the Lambeth seat is Aubrey Serracold and that Serracold's flamboyant and outspoken wife, Rose, was one of Lamont's clients. There is the fear that either Rose had something to do with Lamont's murder, or that Voisey will use this bit of information to discredit Serracold. Pitt is determined to bring the murderer of Maude Lamont to justice, no matter who he or she is. But the question he fears is if his superiors at Special Branch will allow justice to be done, or if they too, like the Inner Circle, have their own agenda, and if they will do whatever necessary to break the Inner Circle, no matter the cost.

Against the backdrop of the political questions of the day -- Home Rule for the Irish, the fear that a disintegrating Empire could mean the fall of the British economy and the massive loss of jobs, and the demand for eight hour days -- the clash between the Tories and the Liberals; as well as the swirling human emotions of fear, ambition, grief and pain, Anne Perry has worked her magic again to produce a novel that is compelling as it is intriguing. (I really love the manner in which she makes all her characters real -- flawed yet tragically human. It's a no mean feat, and I've practically never really come acorss anyone else who can do this.) I didn't expect that the next Pitt mystery novel could top or equal "The Whitchapel Conspiracy." I was wrong: "Southampton Row" is a moer than brilliant follow up to "The Whitechapel Conspiracy."