Sierra Lavotini is back and the story is even better than ever. Someone is targeting the dancers at the Tiffany Gentlemen's Club in Panama City. At first the police think that Sierra's nemesis, Marla, is trying to stop the competition by killing Venus Lovemotion and Frosty Licks. Sierra is not convinced that even though she hates Marla's guts she does not think that she is responsible and will do her best to find out.

This book is even more fun and the author provides more information about Sierra mainly why she moved from Philadelphia to work at Panama City. In DRAG STRIP we met one of Sierra's four brothers and here we meet another brother. He helps Sierra work the case by pretending to be Little Moose Lavotini, a well-known mobster. As far as Sierra knows she has no relation to Moose Lavotini but she uses this 'familial' connection to help her control her boss, Vincent Gambuzzo, and to put fear at the person she believes to be the killer. She provides a unique touch to her investigation and at the same time helps her police boyfriend, Detective John Nailor. The book is filled with many laugh out loud moments and provides a nice twist at the end of this book. STRIP POKER is going to be a lot of fun.

Nancy Bartholomew has done it again. In this third book of the Sierra Lavotini series, the action and intrigue is non-stop.

Sierra, who claims to have "family" ties, is the classy, headlining exotic dancer at The Tiffany. When a pair of visiting stippers get gunned down and her co-worker, Marla the Bomber, is arrested as the primary suspect, Sierra must spring into action to get to the bottom of the crime.

All of the regulars are back, including the crazy, yet irreplaceable, scene-stealing Raydean. Sierra's love interest with top cop John Nailor also heats up in this book, so watch out for the sparks. Bartholomew does a fantastic job of meshing all of these diverse characters together into one intersting mystery. The dialogue and scenarios are quite funny, and this humor peppers the already excellent, cohesive writing.

This is a very entertaining book, and is sure to make you laugh out loud several times, let alone, flipping the pages in a rapid motion. FILM STRIP is another excellent effort.

...Since I'm writing this review, you know I believe Nancy Bartholomew's FILM STRIP works. It is another fun novel about those adult entertainers at the Tiffany in Panama City, Florida. Venus Lovemotion and Frosty Licks are two big name porn stars brought in to boost the gentlemen's club's profits. Both end up dead, and we know who finds herself struggling to solve the murder. Yes, Sierra Lavotini is on the case, and this case is loaded with fun. There is even a little fun for Sierra to share with her detective friend John Nailor. FILM STRIP is a fun read and sassy read, if you are looking for a fun and sassy read. Even Fluffy has a good time.

My family and I have all read this book and enjoyed it immensely.It was doubly enjoyable since we know the family personally. It's a good book for family reading and Myrna's writing style makes for easy reading.

Every family should be so lucky as to have a
Myrna. Together with an amazing memory
and talent for writing, she has the gift of
compassion. And from an ex-Zonian..."Thanks,
Myrna, for reminding us of things which we
grew up taking for granted."

I highly recommend this book. There is so much worth reading about a strip of land that was transformed from jungle into a delightfully livable home away from home that will be immortalized for centuries, The Panama Canal Zone.

William Friar is the rare writer who is detailed enough to mind his p's and q's (solid information on hotels, guides, restaurants, outdoor activities) without losing the enthusiasm and energy that a good travel writer must possess. As soon as I started reading about the exotic animals, the differences between the Pacific and Atlantic sides, the Kuna Indians and the dichotomy between modernity and tradition, I knew I had to go to Panama.

Excellent book. You don't really need to be an adventurer to get a lot of use from this book, just be interested in the outdoors.

We visited Isle Grande (crowded only on weekends), Boca Brava, San Blas, and the Volcan Baru region and found the book to be quite accurate and reliable. The San Blas islands were our favorite, but we enjoyed all places. No one got sick. All had a great time.

We did not use the book for either hotel or restaurant recommendations so I can't rate it there.

Do not, repeat, do not go to Panama without this book. There is little of interest spared from this book. Mr Friar obviously has traveled the paths about which he writes, from the trails in the western highlands of Chrirqui to the bustling streets of Panama City. If he makes a comment such as 'your call', believe me be cautious. We just returned from a 10 day trip that included hiking some of the highland trails. We negotiated roads that should not be driven, and competed for space in streets barely wide enough for our rental van in San Felipe. We hiked trails that require athletic skill and wrestled our way through the market at Sal Si Puede.

The directions are impeccable, and food recommendations are excellent plus still quite current. If he does not write about something it is likely of little interest or non existent. Example: when we lived there from 1994-97, there was a nice artesan market at Stevens Circle at the foot of the canal commission headquarters. We wrongly thought Mr Friar missed it, however,it was not mentioned because it no longer exists. We found it has moved to just up the street from the YMCA on the way to the Bridge of the Americas.

Even as former residents, this book was a truly valuable guide to travel in this quite interesting little country.

Richard Delgaudio has traveled to Panama six times so far, has met with me and so many others from my country, has seen what is going on firsthand, and this book together with his sequel, Still a Just Cause, the Last and Next Battle for the Panama Canal, is an excellent account of the situation here and well worth reading for policymakers in both countries and all those who wish to exert an influence on Panama-USA policy and future relations between our two countries, so important for us both. Having testified before a U.S. House of Representatives hearing thanks to the good work of Richard Delgaudio and other U.S. friends and spoken at his Panama Canal Symposium, this book contains original research on the growing influence of the Peoples Republic of China here in Panama and why American and Panamanian patriots ought to be concerned about the threat to the sovereignty of Panama and the national security of our friends in the United States. For anyone interested in national security issues and the devastating economic impact of a Panama Canal closure on the U.S. economy (not to mention my nation's economy) I highly recommend this book and its sequel, as a citizen of Panama, as a journalist, university professor and as a concerned friend of the United States.

This book describes the events that have transpired, allowing Red China to become the gatekeepers of the Panama Canal by proxy. The Clinton administration as well as Congress share the blame for not exercising America's option to rescind the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Treaty in the name of national security. All that has been accomplished is to give the Red Chinese a staging area for launching medium-range missiles on America; not to mention the very real risk of impeding the transport of American military vehicles in times of crisis. In short, the Peril in Panama is not an IF proposition, but a WHEN proposition. The short-term myopic (non-)response of the President and Congress IS going to result in a long-term national/military crisis. The nature of the crisis and when it can be expected are not certain. But there will be a crisis of national security to be sure. Protecting citizens from threats, both foreign and domestic, are one of the few responsibilities of the federal government. So why aren't our national leaders doing their job? Every freedom-loving American needs to read this booklet and contact their Senators/Representative to demand action.

Yes, I can see that there is a "Peril in Panama." The author makes a compelling case, very timely and well documented. If somebody thinks Communist China has nothing to do with Hutchison Whampoa then they are either decieved or they have not read this book. One of the definitive works on recent developments in Panama - together with Captain Evans' Death Knell of the Panama Canal? - this book leaves you wondering what the heck Congress is doing while Bill Clinton ignores Communist China's emergence as the "Gatekeeper of the Panama Canal," still a most vital strategic terway for the USA.

This book was a GREAT read. This type of novel, historical fiction and adventure, is not my typical choice in reading. But this book grabbed me and I couldn't let go. It was like escapism! I enjoy novels that leave me with a sense of knowing something more than I knew when I started. I knew very little about the history of Panama and this book inspired me. The Panama Canal is no doubt one of the best things that happened to modern industry and economy, as is true for the Suez Canal. And the US just returned control of the Canal Zone to Panama at the end of 1999. Perfect time for this book to show up! This work is informative, and it kept me wanting more adventure! "Panama" includes romance, adventure, as well as a history lesson, not to mention the intrique. As for the main character, I hope we get to hear more about him--this guy's a trip! He changed his life with no fear! I want to go to Panama! This author has another novel out called Belize, and I'm definitely going to read it.

"Panama" is a fictional story about a man who lived in the Canal Zone as a kid, then returns to Panama as an adult during the end of the Noriega years. The hero has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and inadvertently influences history on several occasions. Although he returned to Panama just to write a tourism article, Hank Duque gets caught up in the turmoil between Noriega's PDF and the CIA, and almost gets himself killed in the process.

There are a couple of chapters in the book that are set further back in history, and the reader is given a sidesaddle view of Balboa's arrival in Panama in 1514, the English pirate Morgan's sacking of on Panama City 1671, Teddy Roosevelt's visit to the canal construction site in 1906, and the January 1964 riots that ultimately resulted in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty and Panama's independence from the United States. Miller handles all of these complex issues with ease, and the reader is simultaneously entertained and educated

The book is an easy and entertaining read, and is an exceptional book for anyone who has ever set foot in Panama. The narrative takes the reader from one easily recognizable landmark to another. The political, sociologic, demographic, geographic, and historical settings are all accurate throughout the book, a testament to the writer's research and attention to detail.

I arrived in Panama in July of 1987 and lived through the events leading up to Operation Just Cause. I never considered it an "invasion" because I was already here. Carlos Miller's book "Panama" does justice to the events of 1987-1989. It is an exceptionally well written book. Miller does for Panama what James A. Michener did for the Chesapeake, Alaska, and Hawaii.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, but it is an absolute must read for anyone who lives here now, has lived here at some time in the past, or who has spent any time in Panama at all. "Panama" is a great book.

I enjoyed Panama, Carlos Ledson Miller's story of a man who embarks on an innocent journey to re-visit his roots and becomes entangled in a life-or-death struggle to save himself and his new found love and her son in the Panamanian upheaval of 1989. The novel offers much more than the gripping personal saga of Hank Duque. It take us into the history and background of the politics and culture of a fractured nation. Miller's flowing style immerses the reader in Panama, its troubled past and dangerous present when no one can be trusted. It's a great read for vacations (you won't want to put it down) or any other time.

I never thought I would love a book about paratroopers. I never thought a book about paratroopers could be so evocative and romantic--I knew it might be funny. This book just sucked me right in, I couldn't bear to finish it. It offers a reader like me (female) a rare opportunity to feel what it feels like to be a lost young man (you think this happens all the time in books, but it doesn't). The characters are vivid, the settings brilliant (a passage about jumping while high on mescaline no more so than one about sitting on a barstool watching Saturday night take place) and the whole thing is suffused with the mystery and hopefulness that make life so hard to get on the right side of when you're twenty--no matter what sex you are.

Utterly real. One of the best books ever written about the US Army; Put in on the shelf alongide Jones' FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and Crumley's ONE TO CALL CADENCE.

I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD is a dead-on accurate picture of the Army in the bad old days of the late 70's/early 80's. Correa captures the personalities and places, and he has a great gift for language -- the dialogue is perfect.

The plot is basically a series of peacetime war stories -- a Scout platoon from the 82nd Airobrne at Fort Bragg deploys to Panama for Jungle School. The nameless narrator recounts the events years later, looking back on the various ways he has messed up his life. The whole thing is as authentic as having the goofy "pirate ship" Jungle Expert patch sewn on the right pocket of an OD-green permanent press fatigue shirt.

You have to hate how the publisher handled the book. The copy editing was obviously doen by someone with no military background (you get 1/73 and 173 Airborne in the same paragraph), and while the blurbs on the back-cover may be from heavy-hitters in the literary field, the book would have done much better if they could have gotten Nelson DeMille, Dave Hackworth, or someone like that to have given it a prod.

Wow! I just started to read this book and am very impressed! Mr. Correa's book is a tremendous accomplishment. In reading it I feel like I am right there with his narrator, experiencing all the ups and downs, good times and bad, all the sights and smells. There are some excellent reviews mentioned on the cover of this book, some of them comparing Mr. Correa very favorably to other authors. I would certainly not question these but, to me, this book reminds me completely of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. While the subject matter, writing style, etc., are not exactly the same, in reading Grapes of Wrath I felt like I was right there experiencing all the joys and sorrows of the Okies fleeing the dustbowl. In reading I Don't Know But I've Been Told I feel like I am right there with the young paratroopers, trying to live their life while succeeding as soldiers and also coming to grips with becoming adults and finding their place in the world.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in finding what it is like to be a young soldier in a peacetime army, a young man growing up while trying to find out just who and what he is, a Steinbeck fan, or who just wants to read a really excellently written book by a new author. You won't be disappointed!

Let me say first of all that I am a layman who is a science buff. My education is in Psychology, but I love biology, neuroscience, physics, and related topics. Tapir's Bath looked like an entertaining way to cram more about creature behavior into my brain. Actually you end up learning not an awful lot about the behavior of animals in the wild, but you do get an education about the behavior of scientists in the wild. While most primates, man included, are social animals, scientists seem to be loners like members of the cat family. They often are reclusive, enticed to be social only by the promise of a party that offers booze and food. Territorially jealous they form caste systems that allow them to sneer at other specialties. They grumble about cell biologists that sit in nice warm laboratories while they have to plow through muck and rain, bitten by a variety of small insects. Oh yes, and the microbiologists get all of the public attention, and the research funding. The public just doesn't seem to care about the distance a bat flies to obtain food.

The science bits are quite interesting, but not comprehensive enough to add much to your knowledge of biology. But that doesn't matter. The scientists on Barro Colorado Island deserve a lot of credit for their painstaking, difficult, uncomfortable research. I was interested in reading about their field research while being thankful that I majored in a subject that keeps me indoors where my biggest environmental problem is getting the thermostat adjusted correctly. Elizabeth Royte also proves that science writers often have to endure hardships. Pregnant during some of her long stay on Barro Colorado, she also trekked through rain and mud, returning to base to rest in bed and meditate on the cockroaches climbing her walls. It's a fun book.

On the trail of the scientists who make the trails

A journalist follows researchers into the South American rain forest to study the mystery of their devotion

By Diana Muir

Deep in the tropical rain forest, a small fruit-eating bat carefully nicks the veins on the underside of a philodendron leaf, causing the edges to fold down like a miniature tent. The bat curls up under its little tent and goes to sleep. Other bats don't make tents, why do these?
In "The Tapir's Morning Bath," journalist Elizabeth Royte follows field biologists into the rain forest with a similar question: Other people, after all, do not feel compelled to sit up all night being bitten by mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers. Why do these?

The Panama Canal is made up of a channel leading inland from each coast, joined by an immense manmade lake that covers what was once a rain forest. Numerous islands dot the lake. In the 1920s, a group of foresighted scientists managed to have the largest, Barro Colorado, with its nearly intact tropical forest, set aside as a scientific preserve.

In these pages, the present-day researchers of Barro Colorado spring vividly to life. Royte follows a young biologist from UC Berkeley, as the biologist follows a troop of spider monkeys.

Studying monkeys like this entails long days of trailing the agile little creatures as they skitter through the treetops, clambering easily from branch to branch. For an earth-bound researcher, keeping up with the troop entails scrambling up steep ravines, pushing through tangled undergrowth, and skidding down hillsides slick with rain. The early weeks are especially frustrating, as distrustful monkeys shy away from the interloper.

Royte, a New York journalist, is as much an interloper on the island as this scientist is among the troop of monkeys. The scientists, after all, have paid their dues to get here. They have spent years in graduate school, and they reach Barro Colorado only after their laboriously planned studies survive rigorous review to be selected for funding.

But Royte ingratiates herself by offering to help. On the island, these scientists work long hours, and conversation can be larded with arcane jargon incomprehensible to an outsider. She's willing to wade through this - and the muck of mangrove swamps - to hang insect traps on branches and sit on the forest floor counting the number of leaf-cutter ants that march past.

As they whiz across the lake in a Boston whaler, Royte is determined to pursue her subject at full throttle, even as the distinguished biologist perched in the bow tries to net moths without falling overboard. He shares his excitement about the natural world in all its magnificent complexity.

For instance, he tells her, urania moths migrate annually. Some years, however, only a few hundred appear. Other years, several hundred million moths fly past the island. No one knows where they come from or where they are bound. In Royte's retelling, scientific enthusiasm is infectious. Soon we, too, want to know what drives these winged nomads.

Readers will come away from "The Tapir's Bath" with an appreciation of the way narrow research questions become the material from which useful knowledge is constructed. But don't read it for that.

Read it for the thrill of the chase. Will the young researcher from Berkeley who has trudged the forest for three days without so much as a glimpse of a non-human primate ever locate her spider-monkey troop? Will the German biologist whose sophisticated equipment fails manage to contrive an impromptu method to measure the effect of leaf-cutting ants on the trees they harvest? And will the PhD candidate from the University of Michigan astound his professors by synthesizing a new theory to explain why biological diversity decreases with distance from the equator, or fulfill their expectations by failing even to discover why bats make tents?

And just why does a tapir take a morning bath?

• Diana Muir is the author of 'Bullough's Pond,' winner of the 2001 Massachusetts Book Award

Elizabeth Royte successfully outlines the mysteries of the tropical rainforest and the plenty of questions it still harbors. A layman who is overwhelmed by the abundance of species gets a glimpse of an understanding of biodiversity and its interdependencies. For me it was impressive how Royte narrows down that each living being is part of that big wonder called nature. Like in a waterfall she is coming down 3 levels from general questions raised by Charles Darwin and S.T.R.I. founder's spirit to the emphatically described individual projects of the scientists on BCI. By watching the scientists at their work in a first place she finally learns that she can not remain out of the loop, but is herself a part of the permanent cycle of life. I was lucky enough to visit BCI for a couple of days only, but immediately felt a deep affection and rememberance during reading. This great book has the potential to make researcher's work more transparent und thus more popular and at the end of the day to have people treating nature with more respect.

I found Mr. McCullough's book about the building of the Panama Canal to be well written, extra-well researched, and highly entertaining! I would recommend this book to anyone who truly wants to know what it took to build such an engineering marvel. Having lived in Panama twice and visited on many occasions, I can attest to the fact Mr. McCullough's book is THE SOURCE for accurate information on the canal and it's builders (both French and American efforts). I would also recommend purchasing the NOVA video, which Mr. McCullough narrates, called "A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama". He even quotes out of his own book on screen! I've never read a book so intricately and fastidiously researched. MUST READING for the true Canal enthusiast.

So riveting is David McCullough's account of the construction of the Panama Canal, that it is one of the few works of nonfiction outside of the sciences that I have read twice. He chrnoicles a mesmerizing saga of despair and triumph, starting with Ferdinand de Lesseps disastrous attempt at building a sea level canal through the disease-infested jungles of Panama. The second half covers the American effort at building the Panama Canal, a project as grandiose as developing the atomic bomb or landing men on the moon. McCullough describes the groundbreaking work of Dr. Gorgas' team of doctors and nurses in combatting malaria and yellow fever; their success made possible the canal's eventual completion by U. S. Army engineer George Goethals. While McCullough does a splendid job in providing facts and figures with his graceful prose, he also excels in recounting the lives of many of the prominent figures associated with the Panama Canal's construction. For example, McCullough describes General Goethals' substantial role after the United States' entry into World War I and his subsequent work as the first chief engineer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Indeed, if there is a hero in this saga, it most certainly has to be General Goethals. Along with McCullough's history of the Brooklyn Bridge's construction, this has to rank as one of the most spellbinding tales written about American technological ingenuity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I hold a personal interest in the Canal as I have just visited it and am a direct descendant of Col. David Gaillard one of the American engineers of the Canal, and all everyone in Panama told me was to read Mr. McCullough's account of its creation. As a history major in school, I read many great and many bland histories; this book ranks in as one of the most captivating books I have read, fiction or non-fiction. Even if one does not have any previous interest in the Canal, after the first pages you will become hooked. McCullough writes with such elegant prose and interesting humor, that the story unfolds like a Victorian novel. From the incredible cast of characters (from Ferdinand de Lessups to Teddy Roosevelt), the intrigue, the conspiracies, the romance, the quest for one of Man's greatest achievements explodes into an incredible book that will keep the reader thinking about the Canal for years to come...and will compel the same reader to venture to this tropical country and view the incredible "8th Wonder of the World" himself.

My Christmas gift to myself was to read Delia's Way. I want more - when is the next book? Or else I am coming to Paso Robles to sit at your feet and listen to stories about growing up in Panama. I particularly liked the mixture of English and Spanish, not necessarily having the English right after the Spanish. It stretched my language abilities, and I enjoy the use of Spanglish (mixing English and Spanish words together in the same sentence).
;-)

Thank you for a great read!

(...) I couldn't put it down and I found it superior to many Oprah Book Club selections. It's an elegant coming of age story set in Panama. It brings the Latin American culture to the reader in a gentle and accurate portrayal of a family with its conflicts and passions. This book reaches readers from teen age girls to adults with its exotic setting and compeling plot.

I read this book because BOOKLIST recommended it as "After Oprah Read-Alike". I couldn't put it down and I found it superior to many Oprah Book Club selections. It's an elegant coming of age story set in Panama. It brings the Latin American culture to the reader in a gentle and accurate portrayal of a family with its conflicts and passions. This book reaches readers from teen age girls to adults with its exotic setting and compeling plot.

I purchased this book while transiting the Canal on the maiden voyage of the Norwegian Star . This was a historic trip, as the ship was the largest tonnage vessel to transit the canal. It also paid the largest fee of $214,000. The ship was designed to exacting specifications and barely cleared by width and length. To read the book regarding the canals history while transiting at the same time was exciting! The book's read is light and most informative. It added a great deal for me to what was already a "Trip of a Lifetime". I would highly recommend this book to anyone of any age. Truly Awesome!!!

I purchased this book while on the maiden voyage of the Norwegian Star from Miami to Los Angeles while transiting thru the Panama Canal. It was a historic trip as the ship was the largest tonnage vessel to transit the canal. The vessel was nearly as long as the locs could hold and the width was at its maximum as well. I understand the vessel paid the highest recorded fee of $214,000. To read the book and learn about the incredible construction of the canal both in the early 1900's and still today as we were actually transiting the canal was exciting. The book added to the most Awesome trip. The book was a fasinating read and very informative, making my trip truly a once in a lifetime adventure. I would highly recommend this book to others.

The first thing you'll notice about this book is the beautiful photos, marking the canal's history and beauty. The second thing you'll notice is this is no ordinary coffee table book. The writing is substantive, informative and engaging. It makes a great gift for someone who's going to Panama or has been there.