How excited I was to find Dirk Wyle's second book is now available. This one is even better than the first elegant science mystery! Now Ben investigates a get rich quick cure for cancer surrounded by girls, boats, South Florida, mystery and greed. Dirk Wyle has hit his stride in this novel. In the closing chapters, hero Ben develops the daring of 007.

How excited I was to find Dirk Wyle's second book is now available. This one is even better than the first elegant science mystery! Now Ben investigates a get rich quick cure for cancer surrounded by girls, boats, South Florida, mystery and greed. In the closing chapters, Ben develops the daring of 007. Dirk Wyle has hit his stride in this novel. Don't take my word for it, check out the excerpts on the author's web site.

Dirk Wyle follows up his 1998 Best First Mystery Pharmacology is Murder with Biotechnology Is Murder. With his more than 30 year experience in Biomedical Science and his considerable knowledge in the areas of psychology, business, science, and writing, he is a sure winner. His character Ben Candidi is just finishing his Ph.D., but Ben packs more punch per square inch than most veteran detectives.

A pharmacology student and Mensa activist, Ben Candidi is tapped for a 4-day consulting job, guaranteed to generate $24,000 to check scientific claims by a company called BIOTECH. Ben quickly learns that: there is a legitimate product that can shrink tumors in rats, but it has not been tested in humans. The group that Ben is supposed to work with function on a "need to know" basis only, and communicate little. Ben's predecessor disappeared, and no one is talking. When Ben tries to communicate with the inventor of the product, Dr. Moon, he is met with an uncooperative, paranoid little man who refuses to give out information:

"What was I to make of this posturing? It was straight out of a B-grade karate flick. He was treating me like an intruder who had pissed on the floor of his "dojo." Is this the way he had treated my predecessor, Dr. Yang? Had he killed him with a sucker chop to the neck? Was he fermenting Yang's flesh in the back room? The thought must have made me smile again, since Dr. Moon's eyes were now flashing angry."

Mr. Wyle knows his stuff in the biotechnology area, and he has Ben take the reader though an incredibly intricate maze of information in a straightforward manner. Ben is a delightful character, being all too human for his amazing intellectual capacity. We see graphic images spilling out of Ben's narration, and can't wait to turn the page to see what else this scientific deathtrap has in store.

Dirk Wyle has written a timely plot with larger than life characters with which the reader has an immediate affinity. Ben Candidi is the young Jack Ryan of the biotechnological world. He is drawn into the clutches of industrial pirates from every direction and still manages to entertain.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

WHEN I PURCHASED THIS INSPIRATIONAL BOOK ON THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, I NEVER SAW THE DAY WHEN I WOULD BE READING AND RE READING A BOOK FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME. BOOK HAS IMPACT ON ANYONE INTERESTED IN SOCIETY AND IT'S ENHANCEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT. THERE SHOULD BE MORE OF DR. GREER'S KIND OF LITERATURE AND FEELINGS EXRESSED IN WRITING. THE TEXT IN GENERAL IS NOT HEAVY READING BUT HAS CONSIDERABLE EMOTION AND GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A WHITE COAT SERVING HIS COMMUNITY ESPECIALLY WITH THE ENDORSEMENT OF HIS WIFE AND FAMILY. THE DOCTOR IS ALSO TRAINING DOCTORS HOW TO BECOME SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION SHOULD BE USING THIS TYPE OF BOOK AS A METHOD OF TEACHING AND EDUCATING OTHER DOCTORS WITHIN THEIR HALLS OF ACADEMIA. AS AM INSTRUCTOR AT AREA COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN BUSINESS, I WILL INCLUDE THIS BOOK ON MY SUGGESTED READ LIST FOR ETHICS IN BUSINESS AND AREAS WHERE THEY ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE.

I purchased and read Dr. Greer's book and was expremely impressed with the details that were modestly included. I did see his presentation on cable TV and his image is is as modest as the book is written. I feel that he is an asset to the medical profession and writing profession and would sincerely like to see more work by him in literature. I would like to stresss here that I have read this book 4 times and still pickup different things while reading this text. The book is an excellent credit to his modesty, profession, humbleness, an sincerity to society.

DR.PEDRO JOSE GREER,M.D.-REKINDLED THE PHRASE BY PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY-ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU-ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY."THE COMPASSION THAT THIS MAN SHOWS TOWARDS THE LOST AND FORGOTTEN SOULS IN AMERICA NEEDS TO BE REKINDLED IN ALL OF US.IT REMINDED ME OF THE TIME I SPENT AT THE LOS ANGELES FREE CLINIC DURING THE EARLY 70'S.DR.GREER SHOWED US THAT SOCIAL AWARENESS AND COMPASSION MUST BE AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK -24 HRS/DAY.TACKLING MEDICAL PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY CAN BE ACHIEVED IF ALL OF US WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM FOR THE BETTERMENT OF A HUMAN BEING.

This book is a gem. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. I even had to rush to the bookstore to pick up Never Let Them See You Cry. This woman has a refreshing tell-it-like-is tone. A truly wonderful book about one of America's most colorful cities.

This is my all-time favorite book. It inspires and enthralls. I am glad to see that Amazon carries it. Edna Buchanan truly is a great talent of our time.

If you really want to get a feeling for Miami, read this true crime book along with a standard tour guide. Edna Buchanan is as good as anybody in this genre; her love of the city, warts and all, shines through everyone of these gripping pages.

Author Dirk Wyle is at it again. In his smartly drawn "Medical School
is Murder," he's managed to synthesize the worst of crimes with the
best of science, and put them together in a setting that academics
would especially find riveting -- a university campus.

"Medical School is Murder" is Wyle's third Ben Candidi mystery and as
with the first two, Wyle puts his reluctant hero into jeopardy that
emerges as a byproduct of seemingly ordinary circumstances. This time
around, Ben is asked to return to Bryan Medical School in Miami and
finish out the term of an eccentric professor whose body was found in
a canal near the school. All indications suggest that the professor,
Pete Peterson, fell into the canal after suffering a heart attack.
Ben isn't all that keen on taking the job; he'll have to leave his
soul mate behind for a good chunk of time. But accepting the position
will present him with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, not to
mention a much-needed boost to his income, and so he agrees.

All is not well at Bryan Medical School, however, and the more deeply
Ben immerses himself in Peterson's life, the closer he gets to
uncovering a shocking scenario that a lot of his own colleagues
would rather he not explore. When he presses on, the quiet halls of
academia explode in a life-and-death drama that calls for an equal
measure of brain and brawn. Ben's a survivor, but he's no Rambo.
Whether he makes it is entirely up to Dirk Wyle and the wily twists
and turns he always brings to his mysteries.

Sit back. Enjoy the ride. Learn a little science on the way.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It is well written (entirely in the first-person) and quite funny. I am a former university scientist and enjoyed his accurate (but exaggerated) depiction of university politics, as well as his clear and accurate explanations of biological principles. A reader without a scientific background will learn a bit of science, and about the way university science gets done. While this book has no pretense of being literature, it is a real novel with believable characters you care about.

In summary, this mystery is suspenseful and funny, while describing a world you may not know much about, through characters you care about. What more could you want? Highly recommended.

Dirk Wyle is a pseudonym for Duncan H. Haynes, Ph.D. in molecular biology and 30-year veteran of biomedical science. Since 1973 Dr. Haynes has served as a medical school professor in Miami for the past twenty-five years, conducting research in blood coagulation and drug delivery. He has experience with numerous grants, the pharmaceutical industry, and outside financial donors. Eschewing guns, he plots his murders using more devious and interesting weapons.

Ben Candidi returns after the exciting Pharmacology is Murder and Biotechnology is Murder. He has received his coveted Ph.D. and is working with patents for the feds in Washington, D.C. when he is not on his boat with fiancee Rebecca Levis (M.D.). But in murder mysteries life does not remain idyllic for long, and Ben answers a call to return to his alma mater, Bryan Medical School, to take over a grant after fellow scientist Dr. Peter Peterson suddenly dies. Peterson has stipulated in his will that he wants his biography written, which seems like a whim until Ben meets up with a hostile Dean of the College and is attacked in Dr. Peterson's apartment:

"No accident--attacked by a man,'" came the diagnostic from my shocked cerebrum. Escaping. You'll lose him in a few seconds.' I willed myself to my knees and crawled in the direction of the sound. Stumbled to my feet and groped along the wall. A door slammed in the distance. I ran through the front door, hitting my shoulder on its metal frame."

Wyle creates Ben as the playful idealized man: mensa member; looks like Frankie Avalon; can fight like a pit bull; has a steady relationship with the beautiful Rebecca while tossing off adversaries with stumbling panache and outwitting the evil administration. Sounds like a winning recipe, and it is. Medical School is Murder is pure and simple entertainment. Ben Candidi is his adorable self, and Dirk Wyle knows how to stun and delight the reader with clear science put into layman's terms. Medical School is Murder continues Dirk Wyle's winning ways as a feature science mystery writer. Ben is a bicycle-wielding, high energy Gen-Xer who is just rebellious enough to be considered brilliant.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

LOVE Muhammad Ali - always have - didn't know alot about the young 19 year old Cassius Clay. The boy who becomes the man who is Muhammad Ali - This book tells some interesting stories about Cassius - I'm not sure why I'm suprised, or how I seperated the two in my mind...I mean...they are the same person...and you can see how Cassius is Muhammad - think to when you were 19 and imagine if your greatest qualities grew and become better etc -

Anyway - the book is really good - not 5 star, but 4 - I would have liked MANY more pictures of Cassius and more stories too - I was left wanting more - which is normally a good thing - but here it felt somewhat incomplete

Don't missunderstand - I would buy this again and buy it as gift for folks - if you don't have it - get it - it will make you smile

If you are a fan of Muhammad Ali or sports photography, you'll find this book a joy to read. The book focuses on Flip Schulke's black and white photographs of Ali that were taken on a few occasions from the early to mid-1960s. Flip's comments about the photos and Ali provide rare glimpses into Ali's early penchant for showmanship and the racial prejudice that affected his views. If you admire Ali for his impact in the boxing, social and political arenas, this book will bring tremendous joy to your heart.

This is a book that's hard to put down. Just when you've thought you had read all you can read about Ali, a book like this comes along. The pictures make you feel as if as though you were there yourself. This was one of the best gifts I've ever received. I plan to pass this treasure on to many for Christmas.

Tananarive Due is a wonderfully exciting author. I don't think I could write a review that would do her justice or adequately display my joy in reading this book. I have recommended her books and bought them for friends and family. The characters jump off the page. The descriptions of the settings are so vivid. Ms. Due takes the reader through a series of twist and turns without being confusing or neglectful of character development, writing this story so well, that you ask yourself if what she's writing about is real. I not only enjoyed this exploration of the unknown, I am intrigued by it. The depth and intelligence with which it is written makes it believable! You stop reading only to wonder whether or not these events could have actually taken place. I could not put the book down. Although 500 plus pages, the ease in which Due writes makes for a voraciously fast-paced read. The writing style keeps you turning the pages with more and more interest.

The Living Blood is some of the very best storytelling I've ever experienced. It is truly an exceptional book and definitely a must have on every book shelf. I recommend it to all readers.

I could not wait to get my hands on a copy of the sequel to My Soul to Keep...The Living Blood. When I finally got it, I waited a couple of hours to read it (took me about a day and a half). Anyway, I really enjoyed reading the Living Blood, though I wish the author had spent more time on Jessica and Dawit/David than the other characters. I'm not sure I liked the way the book ended, but I hope there will be another sequel...with Fana as a young woman. I'd really like to see how she turns out. Why does this book deserve five stars? At times it was heartwrenching and I really, really felt for the characters, especially Dr. Shepard. The story was well-told and quick-paced, though at times I wanted to skip over parts that had nothing to do with Jessica, David, or Fana. The book also scared me, and I like nothing more than a good scare. Overall, it was a very, very good read...my high expectations were met for the sequel. Ms. Due , I look forward to reading more

One word: Engaging. After the success of her second novel, My Soul To Keep, Tananarive Due fans have been waiting for the continued story of Jessica, her family and Dawit and the Immortals. However, The Living Blood has surpassed all high expectations. First of all, The Living Blood is a self-contained story and one needs not to have read My Soul To Keep to follow the fast paced action and addictive plot line. I read most of this book in one weekend and I feel that others will have the same experience. There is something to be said for good "page turners" and I believe it is an art within itself to keep readers so glued to the page that they miss appointments, bus stops and much needed sleep. The Living Blood takes us on a journey over a massive landscape, touching down on different countries within Africa, Europe and landing within the United States. Ms. Due's narrative descriptions are so powerful that I often felt if I were to look out my own window I would see the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela or the greying skies of a coming tropic storm. The Living Blood takes you to these places through the eyes of several memorable characters. Jessica and her sister's tenacity continue into this novel from the previous, however, we are also introduced to Lucas Shepherd and experience his one-man quest to find a cure for his son's leukemia. Each character is distinct in their system of beliefs and Ms. Due has done a wonderful job in showing what ethical and moral questions might arise if the world were to become aware of the existence of a blood so powerful that it can heal most diseases and even cause immortality. By far one of the most interesting characters is Fana, the first child born of two immortals. Tananarive Due takes us inside the mind of this unprecedented girl as she discovers the full range of her powers over time. Truthfully, I couldn't put this book down until I hit the last page, and even after that I read the book jacket, the notes, and scanned the back cover looking for more!

Tananarive Due is a wonderful author. At every opportunity, I have recommended her books to friends and family. There is one thing that I enjoy in particular about her books, The Living Blood and My Soul To Keep, and that is how Ms. Due's landscape of characters demonstrate the different faces of Americans and the rest of the world. While most of the main characters are African-American there are also prominent Caucasian and African characters, Latino characters, and Italian and Irish characters. All of these people are in roles of doctors, families, soldiers, scholars, lawyers and corporate heads. What is exciting is that while all of these characters interact with one another, the focus of the novel is not the _fact_ that they are interacting. I am so happy to see an author writing books that demonstrate the richness of the world we live in. We are all influenced by one another and Ms. Due's books let that be known through the character's likes/dislikes and experiences. Furthermore, while all of these ethnic and racial groups are interacting, there is little sense of the "other" or outcasts and stereotypes. In fact, the division is not between races but a dichotomy of mortals and immortals, and by the end of The Living Blood even those lines are blurred. Congratulations to Tananarive Due she is a wonderful and innovative author. I wish her much continued success.

Wow. I finished the book last week and I'm still thinking about it, so I thought I would write a review.

The Sugar Island is a memorable book. It's one of those stories that leaves you staring and stroking the book cover. What's so great about it? Well, the writing style for one thing. Very alive, and real. The imagery the author invoked really put you in revolutionary Cuba. You can almost smell the place. The story is narrarated by a teenager named Tanya. Their is alot of dialouge and it's written in a very interesting way. The book is in English but you almost feel like you are reading Spanish.

The relationship between Tanya and her mother, set in revolutionary Cuba presents a back drop for a multitude of questions about the human condition.

I'm going to read it again, which will be easy because it's short. But I could have read 500 words of this story.

The Sugar Island by Ivonne Lamazares captivated me from the first page. The narrator, Tanya, is the best adolescent female since Member of the Wedding and every bit as memorable.Her relationship with her slippery-hearted mother made me laugh and cry and wince with the truth of it. Tanya is independent of her mother and yet fearful of being without her, idealistic enough to be angry at her mother's shabby choices and guilty about her own feeling that she has betrayed her mother. As a story about a mother whose expressed motive is to take her children from Cuba to a better life in the U.S., this novel is both timely and eternal. Tanya's mother has motives that are slippery and suspect enough to make her real and lovable (to the reader as well as Tanya) if not always admirable and believable. As I read The Sugar Island, I kept thinking it was wonderfully visual and, with its vivid and varied characters, would make a great movie. I would only hope that a movie could capture Lamazares' language which is exquisite. She is a poet, and her care with language brings forth delicious images and metaphors which will stay with me forever. This book is relatively short, but it has enough meat (not just enough sugar) for long pondering and discussion of issues of parent/child relationships, effects of Communism on family life and economic structure, friendship, sexual awakening, escape, freedom, and more.

I found myself emotionally enwrapped in this book, a first novel that mostly lives in Cuba. It is told by a girl named Tanya, who exists in a struggle with her mother, a woman who is a painfully ambitious, helpless dreamer, who hates to work, who hates this world of drudgery, and who seeks always to defiantly escape. Within the novel, the mother grows into a giant figure, huge like the island of Cuba itself. Tanya attempts to evade her, but her mother's too giant.

I found this mother a doomed, sexy puzzle; I began to share Tanya's dirty frustration and fury.

The book has very alert politics; as I read it, I thought "this may be the most objective book ever written about Cuba." The petty, almost benign bureaucracy that runs this "revolution" is lovable, sort of -- not as gruesome as the menacing Russians. An island will always have a more attractive nationalism than an empire.

But Cuba is also squalid and obtuse.

Has anyone else written so well about the disappointment of an immigrant who leaves a difficult, miserable life for the featureless prosperity of Miami?

And Tanya's sexual discoveries, at age 15, are mysterious and almost botanical.

[Also I always wondered what the adherents of Santeria intuit, and sense.]

The book is written in very clear, spare prose, and some of the end-lines of the chapters are formidable and sharp, like the sound of a glass cracking.

Having tried several recipes that turned out to be absolutely superb, I drooled at the prospect of working through the rest. I mean, the churascos served with the 3 sauces, and the chicken adobo served with the papaya and black bean vinegarette are in the top five of my all time favorite dishes (see the Barbecue! Bible for the other 3). But as I came across recipes calling for pompano, conch, grouper, the lychees, etc., I wondered how I would ever find these ingredients in Colorado. Quite simply, I can't. I've gone as far as I can go with this book...of the twenty or so recipes I've made out of this book, a half dozen have been incredible, another half dozen very good, and the rest just so-so. Quite a few are more calorific than I'd like.

This cookbook is just fantastic. It contains a broad range of recipes inspired by the flavors of Miami, from cocktails to deserts. The instructions are clearly written. Most dishes take only a short time to prepare and all of the results have been great. This book is for people who love richly flavored food but do not want to spend their entire day preparing it.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. This has everything from appetizers to desserts. I especially like the special citrusy marinades and dressings. Some of the recipes are totally authentic Latin recipes while others are based on the original dishes. Everything I've made from this cookbook has been wonderful!

This book is all about the show. It has lots of pictures. Even summeries of all the episodes with what songs were sung. This book is perfect for anyone who loved the series. Even comes with posters!

Although this book doesn't really have that much info on the band, it has billions of pictures. There are several fold-out posters, losts of collages, and an episode guide, too.

Even though it's a bit old, every S Club fan should own this!

The S Club 7 has millions of pictures, good info about the band, and 2 great posters that I put on my locker @ school. The pictures are great, and for their birthday!! Happy reading!

Where Yesterday Lives was a good book, but not my favorite by Karen Kingsbury. While I thought her other books were amazing, this one got a little more tedious. However, the end was terrific. On the other hand, I found the characters very realistic. When the Barrett kids were young, they got along really well. As they grew older, they changed, and their relationships deteriorated as their problems came between them. As their stories were told, I found myself feeling sympathetic for them and understanding each one's individual problems. It was as if I was right there, which is what can make a book really great. And it also showed me what can happen when a family doesn't work to stay together.
I think the only thing that got slightly monotonous was the constant fighting between the siblings. This book only takes place over one week, and when there was so much obvious tension, I began skipping ahead to see when things would finally change. Also, the book is supposed to be mainly about Ellen, but there were many pages about her siblings, which was also necessary to learn about their past. And though I wasn't completely happy with some parts of this book, by the end I was satisfied. And I think anyone who reads this book will finish it feeling satisfied and perhaps even looking at how their own life can change. After all, this book is really about families and love, and how great families really are!

A scattered family is drawn together when the father dies. Four sisters, a brother, and their grieving mother are forced to face the past demons that haunt them and have made them a most disfunctional family in this moving, tear jerking novel. Sibling rivalry, temptation, and buried secrets come against this family as long held resentments are forced to the surface and arguments and tempers flare over the smallest things.

Amidst this ballistic scenario, one of the sisters, Ellen, is reunited with a lost love, at the worst possible time. Her marriage is troubled and she is angry and hurt by her husband's behavior. Finding the man she has always loved again is a temptation almost too great to bear, especially as her family crumbles around her.

Yet, despite all the negative forces, a more powerful one is interceding to work to make all things come together for the good. A new prayer chain encircles this grieving clan in the hope that the power of it will repel the forces of darkness that they have each allowed to enter their heart.

Everyone who has ever lost someone they love or been involved in family contentions will identify with someone in this book. Powerful, realistic, and moving, this novel will inspire you with the power of prayer and love. Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

As with all books by Karen Kingsbury, I was unable to put it down. I've concluded several of her books at 2:00 a.m. when I had to get up at 6:00 because I needed to know how the characters would make it through the tough situations. You won't be disappointed.