Katy Steele Mystery No. 1: Tracks of Deceit & Katy Steele Mystery No. 2: Imperial Intrigue

"Tracks of Deceit" is the first mystery story in a series about the 19th century American detective Katy Steele. After her father is murdered, Katy's determination to find her father's killer brings her to the construction site of the transcontinental railroad. With her partner Sam Bronte, Katy uncovers a ruthless plot to sabotage the railroad project, and finds herself faced with murderous and money hungry villains who will stop at nothing to achieve their aims, even if it means Katy and her companions need to be "eliminated."

"Imperial Intrigue" is the second volume in the series, and describes Katy and Sam's new assignment in protecting an Austrian prince and princess who are settling down on a ranch in the American West. Katy soon shares in the struggles faced by the foreign royal party: adjusting to ranch life, befriending the ranch family, facing the murderous attempts of a greedy neighbouring rancher to take over the property, and avoiding death at the hands of a skilled assassin.

What NOT to expect:

1. Solid theology and a thought provoking message..... Typical of much evangelical thinking, this book offers only shallow theology. Typical are the ideas that heaven will be "enriched" by a wonderful Christian ("Tracks of Deceit" p.45), a false contrast between an Old Testament God of justice and the New Testament God of love (p.129), the idea that it is entirely wrong to judge someone even from their lifestyle (p.195), the pop-psychology assessment that an evil self-centred life is not really sin but rather indicative of being "seriously sick...insane." (p.216), the secular notion that Christians must learn to love themselves more ("Imperial Intrigue" p.178), and that it is possible for an unbeliever to be "basically a good person." Despite the fall into sin, the authors have rather too much faith in human nature, which is probably not surprising considering their Arminian theology (p.50,142). Such shallow thinking was evident throughout, and results in a grinding down of the gospel of Christ into a super-sweet sugar coating and sprinkling it over the story-line. Also of concern is the Biblical thinking that is missing from these books. Instead of focussing on the "unseen" heavenly promises, the authors focus with nauseating regularity on the "seen" qualities of physical beauty and physical attraction ("Tracks of Deceit" p.76,164, "Imperial Intrigue" p.32,47). When this secular focus was combined with a liberal dose of sappy romance ("Tracks of Deceit" p.125, "Imperial Intrigue" p.81) where characters habitually wind up kissing at their first meeting or soon afterwards, at times I could hardly believe I was reading a Christian book.

2. Strong characterization..... Katy herself is rather one-dimensional. While barely shedding a tear over her father's death, she immediately goes off to play detective and find his murderer. Although the characterization does improve in "Imperial Intrigue" (especially the attention devoted to the internal relationships of the ranch family), on the whole the characterization leaves much to be desired. Even the unbelieving "good guys" are surprisingly unselfish or else become Christian at the tip of a hat, whereas the "bad guys" have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and are nearly always presented as "human monsters" that are always evil all the time.

3. A surprising and unpredictable plot..... The authors left so many clues that one of the surprising plot twists at the end of "Tracks of Deceit" came as no surprise whatsoever, but was instead entirely expected. When there are surprises, in both books they are frequently the result of most remarkable coincidences that are hardly credible, and thus hardly satisfying. Although "Imperial Intrigue" was certainly more credible and convincing than "Tracks of Deceit", weaknesses are still evident - among them an incident where the authors resort to having one of the characters have an unexplained urge to visit a grave in the middle of the night (p.195) in order to get three of the characters out of the house. Oh please!

What to expect:

1. Lots of action, intrigue and murder..... There is constant riveting action and intrigue, as Katy tumbles from one hair-raising situation to another. There is action aplenty, and by the end of the "Tracks of Deceit" there are several corpses, gun battles, kidnappings and sabotage. "Imperial Intrigue" also features constant action and intrigue, and probably even surpasses the effort of the first book. Despite the lack of realism at times, it is really the story-line that gives these books any measure of success.

2. An informative historical picture..... Despite the presence of a few questionable anachronisms (such as Katy's strong anti-discrimination and pro-feminist sentiments, as well as the frequent portrayal of minority groups as Christian), both books give interesting historical information without being tedious. "Tracks of Deceit" passes on many interesting and accurate historical details about the construction of the transcontinental railroad project - without allowing the novel to degenerate into a history lecture. Especially the conflict between two rival railway construction companies and the conflict between the Irish and the Chinese laborers is finely portrayed. Similarly, "Imperial Intrigue" gives a fascinating portrait of the prairie setting, and the trials and triumphs of ranch life.

In short, if you are willing to overlook the over-sweetened sugar-coating of shallow soap opera theology, you can enjoy these books as mediocre mysteries. But at best, these books offer little more than a so-so story-line, shoddily dressed in a rather poor-quality garment of thin Christian content.

This book seems to be part of a set for younger readers, say around ten to twelve. Good for what it is but not as comprehensive as I would have liked.

The Bonnie Spear book, The Killing of Ned Christie, contains an extensive biography documenting her research for writing this book. However, some information in this book is not accurate. For example the information given regarding the Palone murder case lacks correct information from the case file in Fort Smith, Arkansas and at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. While the incorrect information from this source does not cloud the significance of the work, it is disappointing. A real and apparently honest attempt to research the Ned Christie story was attempted. The book reads easily and is comprehendable. Some names are found to be in error such as refering to Ned's paternal grandfather as Ned, his name was Lacy (in English)(He did have a great uncle named Ned Christie);this error is indicitive of several errors in family history information. Some names are in error and some individuals are left out of the story. The author also incorrectly identifies the name "Christie" as having been originally pronounced "Wattie" and writes it meant gourd. While, in fact, the original Christie name was "Wakigu" and doesn't translate to Christie but to Sugartree or StepAlong. The Christie name was take from a female family member prior to the 1839 Removals. It may also be noted Nancy Grease was not Ned's second wife. She was his fourth wife. Also on page 18 is a photograph identified as Ned Christie, when in fact this is a photograph of one of the marshals whom sought Ned's capture. It is also incorrect (on page 58) that the word Keetoowah means "principle people" or "real people." On page 71 the author translates Ned's Cherokee name, Nede Wade, to mean Ned Christie. It translates roughly as Ned son of Watt. On page 83 in the footnote, Betsy Christie Wolf is a cousin of Ned's, not his sister (although, he had a sister named Betsy). There are a few other errors. While these errors do not effect the readability of the book, they are disappointing. Many people will not know the truth or take the time to research or document Ms. Speers work. I did enjoy reading the book, as I have all other books about Ned, fiction and nonfiction. Ned was my great-great uncle. I grew up and have lived my 40 years in Wauhillau. Wauhillau is where Ned was born and died. Many Christie descendant still live in the area, as do I. I can be reached for further comment at e-mail outofthebox@intellex.com

This is the last book in the Marriage Pledge series. To be honest all three books are basically the same. There is a pattern that is followed in all three. Astra is beautiful, rich, and smart and loves her job in personal finance. That is until Sayre Baxendale points out a huge mistake that she made, and Astra being the proud woman she is feels she has no choice but to quit her job. Astra's cousin Greville, who played minor roles in the other two books is a major character in this one. Just Astra's luck Greville falls for Sayres sister. Astra is forced to spend time with Sayre and quickly realizes she is attracted to him.

If you have read the other two books than you know exactly how this story is going to unfold. In all three books the women are beautiful, come from money, and are very sassy. The men are stubborn, rich, and powerful. The women come off as stupid in the romance department. Astra however is the worst-At twenty two she honestly thought that necking was making love. The story was one sided, we only know it from Astra's point of view. The reader only finds out what Sayre is thinking at the very end when he tells us. The book was okay, but like the other two, it could have been a lot better.

When I first found this title, I'm not sure what I was expecting. The author, Tony Steele, is a member of the Ordo Anno Mundi, which promulgates the practices within this work. The basis of the OAM, so far as I can tell, is another curious work entitled _The Oera Linda Book_. There are some scholars who feel that TOLB is merely a 19th C forgery. Mr. Steele attempts to confront this notion in an end chapter to _The Rites and Rituals of Traditional Witchcraft_.

Within TRRoTW the mythological structure is centered upon a divinity called Wr-alda, the creator god, and Irtha, the earth goddess. Now, Wr-alda is depicted by OAM as a great serpent/dragon, whose form has seven heads and ten horns. Mr. Steele explains divers manners of mythological links to the draconic image, but fails to tell his readers the most obvious. *No where* does he mention that this description is straight out of the _New Testament_ "Revelations" regarding the antichrist. In all of the many *scholarly* works that I have read over the years, none but the christian "Revelations" describes such a being. Even Aleister Crowley's "beast", as seen in his Book of Thoth, is simply a usage of this image. Is this where OAM derives its impetus? If so, they aren't saying. I took the liberty of contacting them personally with regard to this question, but I received no answer.

Mind you, I have no problem with a group utilizing christian diabolical imagery or worshipping a "dark" divinity, but honesty is a must--especially when one is claiming to represent a *pre-christian* tradition in a supposed scholarly fashion. The "honesty" thing my simply be the result of an oversight on OAM/Steele's part, or it may be more...a hope that people might not notice the reference.

We have all encountered enough intellectual dishonesty and bad scholarship at the hands of the American publishing house, Llewellyn. The Brits are quick to make fun of this manner of Yankee "pagan" literary brain mush (as well they should), yet it is disappointing that Capal Bann has cranked out this minger.

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
Revelation 13:1

This book is primarily a history of the fighting knife and descriptions of the author's preferences in field knives. There isn't much material on actual knife-fighting techniques. The author usually refers the reader to previous works by people such as Fairbairn, Styers and Applegate. There was very little consideration of the Asian knife-fighting styles which surprised me a bit, as I know David Steele is trained in several Asian styles including Escrima. I think this book is made up of Steele's previous magazine articles as it is a little disjointed. It's a good reference book and well worth the money, but I wouldn't recommend it as a how-to or as a first knife-fighting manual. The history related is excellent with some good war stories from folks who had occasion to use the knife in combat.

The book The Ship of Terror wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be. When I read the title I thought it was going to be the right book for me. I was dissapointed after I was about halfway through it. The book was not that interesting. The choiice of words in it was more for little kids. For example, they used good, get, fun, and other works like that. The vocabulary was made for a fourth or fifth grader. Ther words were way to easy for a 14 year old. Ther author didn't describe the characters very well. For example, when the author tried to describe the characters he only described their hair, eyes, age, and height. It was difficult to get a feel of what the characters were like. If the caracters were described in better delail I could have put a face on them and what they were doing. I had to use the cover to get more ingormation about them. Some of the characters weren't even described. On the oter hand they did a good job describing the setting. Again I feel this book isn't what the title led it up to be. I think I could have read this book in the fourth grade and had a better time reading it then I did now. There should have been something telling what age groups The Ship of Terror was meant for. The book was really boring since there wasn't any vocabulary for 14 year olds. I would encoiurage anyone in the fourth to fifth grade to read this book, but it would bore anyone older than me.

Plump and plain Becky deeply resents her cousin, Will, when he suddenly enters both her life and her Derbyshire home. How is she supposed to feel sorry about the death of her mother's never-before-mentioned twin sister? Or feel sympathy for this distinctly foreign-looking cousin dropped into her smugly anti-social world? Both kids are carrying around considerable emotional baggage as it is--too deeply mired in their own problems to help each other. This is a grimly stark YA novel, where a ghost Uses the Living to put closure on the Past.

Why is Will the only one to hear the wailing of a ghost boy--buried alive in a forgotten tunnel of an abandoned mine a century ago? Who is likely to be blamed for a poltergeist's rampage? Neither kid appeals to the reader at first, as they outdo each in being sullen, selfish, uncommunicative, ungrateful, spiteful--deliberately perverse. The adults around them stuggle with anger and frustration. Can a boy from the London slums lay to rest the tormented spirit of another boy, whose mother seemed to desert him too? Family relationships are questioned. Readers must be flexible, as each chapter alternates between the cousins as narrators. A Chilling Tale for middle school kids.

This book was excellant for a report I did on Jefferson. It is a pretty simple biography, easy to read. It gives basic information on Jefferson, but is not extremely in depth. Still,it was informative and worth reading.

The book, With Pen or Sword, is a fair book. It describes the life and family ties of the Ripley family. It is the biography of Rutland Ripley.