As I write this book review, I am still excited at having solved this mystery, not simply by guessing, but largely through careful deduction. My reasoning was not entirely flawless, nor as systematic and precise and complete as the final explanation by Ellery Queen, but it was sufficiently exacting to warrant some self-praise. I did take the author's suggestion and set the book aside for several hours and wrestled with the conundrum before looking at the final chapter.

The Spanish Cape Mystery is classic Ellery Queen: a superbly crafted mystery with intriguing characters, a rather remarkable setting, and a concluding exercise in impeccable logic. The title refers to both the fictional setting, a small rocky peninsula on the New England coast, and a key element in the mystery, a rather flamboyant item of dress.

Ellery Queen mysteries are entertainingly written, but are not as literate as works by P. D. James or Colin Dexter. However, as his fans have come to expect, Ellery does sprinkle his conversation with literary and poetic quotations. Look for Voltaire, Bacon, Keats, Coleridge, La Rochefoucauld, Germaine de Stael, and William Collins in The Spanish Cape Mystery. We also occasionally meet examples of Ellery's vocabulary excesses like natatorial habits and prestidigitating deductions.

Although The Spanish Cape Mystery was first published in 1935, it has been reprinted many times, and a paperback version is readily available through Amazon.com. Apparently, The Spanish Cape Mystery is also available on audio tape.

If you enjoy trying to unravel a carefully constructed mystery, I highly recommend Ellery Queen's many excellent stories. The Spanish Cape Mystery would make a good introduction to Ellery Queen for the reader that has yet to have the pleasure of his acquaintance.

Spinning Jenny just keeps getting better & better. While they're only on their fifth issue, the work is fresh, innovative, & the editor has already established a strong sense of direction. The sequencing, the mix of poems & prose seems just right in number 5. I've seen a lot of litmags come & go, but my gut tells me that this one will be around for a while.

Other strong new contenders: Fence, Hunger. Stay away from New Yorker or Poetry. Those places have become pits of New Formalist (read "Neo Fascist") conservatism.

Any casual to avid sports fan will love this book! It is loaded with great stories and quotes from an eclectic cast of characters that spans generations. It is impossible to put down and leaves you wanting more. After reading this book you will be the hit any conversation touching the lore of sport.

This book covers some of the more elusive aspects of Celtic mysticism: astronomy and mathemetical representations of the heavens written in symbolic rather than alpha language. The scientific sources he cites are compelling, and his writing style is easy to read and succinct. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Celtic mysticism, or paleo- or neolithic astronomy.

The book is very neat, though used, it is as good as new. Delivery was incredibly fast. Good job.

I have used this system on numerous students over the years. It is wonderful for English speaking adults who have a large sightword vocabulary. It helped severly learning disabled students when most other systems failed to help. Easy to use for all. Best for one-on-one. Does not address comprehension, but is great for decoding.

This book is easy to read, easy to understand and covers substance abuse counseling concerns extremely well. As a graduate student in counseling, you get to read some really awful textbooks. This is NOT one of them. The book covers all aspects of addiction and helps the practioner consider his or her own biases and bases for treatment. The authors use case studies from their own practices to illustrate issues concerning assessment, diagnosis, intervention, relapse prevention, family issues and ACOAs, as well as the sticky area of ethics.

This is a great collection of information on Pollock. One of the greatest things to note is the inclusion of material from after his death in 1956, his influence on society. This includes editorial cartoons, poems written about and inspired by Pollock and his work, as well as scripts from plays based on his life. I would have to say that if you were looking for a good introduction to the man, the artist, and the influence he had/has on contemporary society, then pick this collection up.

An invitation to spend the summer on Grandma Bates's horse farm leaves Elizabeth Hater with mixed feelings. In the past eleven years, Elizabeth has been near a horse only a handful of times, and she hasn't seen her grandmother even once. She'd rather spend the summer in New York studying water color panting. Yet, this might be just the opportunity she'd hoped for to learn about her mother, an accomplished artist and horsewoman, who died when Elizabeth was very young. But Grandma Bates seems more interested in the horses she raises for harness racing than in her granddaughter, and she won't talk about her daughter. Elizabeth feels more and more like an outsider until Carrie, her mother's childhood friend, and Maggie Last Chance, a spirited filly, draw her into her mother's world and she slowly begins to learn not only about her mother, but about her grandmother-and herself.

This powerful new novel by the author of Legends of the Fall and Farmer concerns the life and loves of a foreman named Robert Corvus Strang. Strang worked on giant dam projects in the U.S., South America, and Africa, until he was crippled in a fall down a three-hundred-foot dam. Now as he tries to regain use of his legs, he has a chance to reassess his life, and a blasé journalist who has heard of Strang's reputation in the field arrives to draw him out about his various incarnations. Strang recounts his life, including his childhood in the Midwest, his several marriages and children, dozens of lovers, and his work on projects around the world. Strang has the violently heightened sensibilities of a man who has gone to the limits and back, a man who is passionately and unequivocally committed to life. Harrison captures the foreman's tale with head-on frankness and clarity that needs no elabornation, no embellishment. This is a story as true and gripping as real life, and ultimately as victorious.

About the Author
Jim Harrison has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts (1968-69) and the Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70). He is the author of Wolf: A False Memoir, A Good Day to Die, Farmer, Legends of the Fall, Warlock, and Selected and New Poems. The author lives in Michigan.