Like several other reviewers of this book, I first read "Ammie" in the Reader's Digest Condensed Book format. I devoured it! I recently picked up my own copy and haven't changed my positive opinion of this book one bit. It has a little of everything for every reader as it is a ghost story, a mystery, and a romance all rolled into one. Barbara Michaels tells an excellent story and the reader will easily become familiar with her characters, as if they are old friends. Highly recommended!

I have a paperback copy circa 1968. The opening pages set up much like a typical treatment of horror and as the announcers usually proclaim "unspeakable horror". However Ms. Michaels narrative soon becomes a psychological puzzle involving the primary characters, both living and dead. I have read the book a dozen times in the last 10 or 15 years(I always manage to rediscover it from time to time). I still feel the same bone deep chills as the plot unfolds. Upon turning the last page, I am overcome with the sense that this story of human compulsion is one that is stamped upon the history of the human race. We know what we should do, but are led to disaster by forces within ourselves apparently beyond our control. This is no ordinary ghost story, but a commentary on the human experience. Still If you are looking for a ghost story that will have you hiding under the covers, I recommend this one.

Barbara Michaels weaves a web of supernatural "reality" around a 1960s era Washington, DC suburban neighborhood. The web is so well woven, so gripping, that you don't want to escape. Fiction becomes reality as the presence of a malevolent evil focuses in on an innocent teenager and her aunt. Read this one with the lights on and don't be surprised if the chill creeping up your spine doesn't come from the temperature in the room. I was 14 years old the first time I "met" Barbara Michaels in a Readers Digest Condensed Book and "Ammie Come Home" was our introduction. Since that time, I haved read every book she has written, including those written under other names and have kept every one of them. I finally managed to find my own paperback copy of "Ammie Come Home" - in fact I have two- one is so dog-eared from my years of reading it sits on the book shelf like an antique porcelain doll. That one is just to look at. The other I share with my 20 year-old daughter, as I share all my books. When it comes to creating a haunting presence, there's no one like Barbara Michaels.

In "Erasure",Percival Everett has written a book within a book and the reader can be excused for feeling he or she has purchased two books in one. Everett is clearly fed up with the current plague of "blaxploitation" novels, badly written by writers with no art and even less craft, whose only purpose is to jump on the "ghetto fab" bandwagon and make a quick buck. His protagonist, Thelonious Ellison (with the name Thelonius, what else could he be called but Monk?), writes literature deemed too obscure (read: too "white") for a black audience and finds his work relegated to dusty corners in the back of the bookstores. Fueling his outrage is a piece of trash literature called "We Lives In Da Ghetto", hailed as an "authentic" voice of the "black experience" by reviewers who lump all blacks as ghetto blacks, which rakes in $3 million. What's a struggling author with bills to pay and a terminally ailing mother to do? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em... better yet, out-do 'em. In no time at all, Monk has banged out the blaxploitation novel to end all blaxploitation novels, a mishmash called "My Pafology" (later renamed a four-letter word I can't print here), under the pseudonym Stagg R. Lee, which not only wins the National Book Award, but also has Hollywood beating his door down for the movie rights. Everett is clearly disgusted both at those whites whose contempt of blacks runs so deep that they take trash "blaxploitation" novels at face value and consider them as representative of "the black experience" (as if there is one single "black experience"), and at those blacks whose lack of self-respect is so deep that they buy into the hype. As a black reader, I share his feelings totally. Everett at times takes himself too seriously and this is the only thing that kept me from giving this book five stars; but he's an enormously talented and promising writer who has the gift of making you think even while he has you laughing out loud. I'm looking forward to his next book.

I wanted to be the first to say it but someone beat me to it. Erasure is a Awesome, a multifaceted satire of the NEW Black Literature scene, dead on target and right on time, no doubt one of the best books I've read this year.

Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is a lit professor slash writer who has had marginal success with his previous novels and now can't get a publisher for his new book because he doesn't write "black enough". While visiting his mother and sister in his hometown, Washington DC, he steps into a Border's bookstore and is mortified by the fact that one of his previous works was found in the "African American Studies" section of the store when his book has nothing to do with African American studies but instead a Greek tragedy. He comes across a book called, We Lives In Da Ghetto, and his sister lets him know that it's the hottest selling book right now and will be made into a movie. He opens the book and reads the first few paragraphs and again, mortified, "this is the black experience that they want him to write about." So he does, under an pseudonymous alter ego. The novel catapults him to instant success and money, which he is in need of badly to care for his mother who has Alzheimers.

The psuedo novel is included in Erasure and is complete with have finished sentences, Ebonics to the tenth degree and lots of explicatives that describe sex, violence and finally, life in da ghetto. Alas, he's written a "true gritty black novel." The pressure mounts when his publisher wants him to make a public appearance as Stagg R. Leigh, his alter ego. Does he show his face to the literature community that he once mocked for it's incompetence and ingnorance? The cover of the book pretty much tells the rest of the story.

My last few reads have been easy reads, just a step above watching televison in terms of depth and plot. Hey, sometimes I enjoy a nice breezy read.

With Erasure, Mr. Everett isn't making things that simple. It's not a complicated, boring textbook read but you will have to *think* (and in some cases, bust out a foreign language dictionary) and the more you think, the more layers you'll uncover.

While the main plot centers around Monk, a writer with marginal success, and his sudden fame at writing a ghetto fabulous new-wave Mantan novel, the incidents that surround this rise to fame touch deeply on other themes - family ties, socio-economic status, and love (to name a few). Everett covers a lot of ground with this book and ties it all together masterfully (and with quite a bit of humor).

If you're at all interested how race intersects with the publishing industry (i.e. "Hey, I wrote a book about plumbing and I happen to be Black, why is my plumbing book in the African-American section of the bookstore?"), pick this book up. If you want a good read that will make you think without making you choke on your own yawns, pick this book up. Hey, even if you like stereotypical novels filled with difficult to read Ebonics, pick this book up - just skip to Monk's mini-novel in the middle.

...and I found it to be well worth the read. The story is well constructed, the characters are quite interesting and the action called for head-and-page turning. The depictions of Black professional and social life in D.C. had me feeling like I had to know these people. I got a little lost in some of the departmental acronyms (I would advise readers to make a note or two) and the mythical references, but overall, the book was a simple pleasure to read.

I hope that Brother Chambers can finagle a movie deal out of this one. If the casting and production quality match the level of the original work, he just might have a major hit on his hands.

I recommend this book for all fiction and non-fiction readers, and I look forward to the next Angela Bivens work. I truly hope that I can soon look back on my first book and feel that it was as well written.

There are many very good African American authors and/or mystery series on the market, but I think Chambers just shot to the head of the class . . . And what a class it is!! His Angela Bivens, FBI agent eclipes Eleanor Taylor Bland's police officer Marti MacAlister; Christopher Darden's Nikki Hill; Grace Edwards' Mali Anderson; Norman Kelley's Nina Halligan; Penny Mickelbury's Carol Ann Gibson; Gary Phillips'Martha Chainey; Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle and Paula Woods' Charlotte Justice. The elite list is even longer when you include Nikki Baker's Virginia Kelley; Charlotte Carter's Nanette Hayes; Nora DeLoach's Mama series; Penny Mickelbury's Gianna Magilione; Barbara Neely's Blanche; and Judith Smith-Levin's Starletta Duvall. All excellent mystery writers. However, Christopher Chambers has written not just a mystery, but a true thriller and an excellent, yet complex, read.

Sympathy for the Devil is a white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat, tightly written romp through the true Washington, DC, elite and underworld dens. Chambers flavors his knowledge of FBI procedure and hierarcy in the city with taste and appreciation for every other element (beyond the federal and city governments) that the Nation's Capitol has to offer. Chambers'insight is to Washington, DC, what Grace Edwards is to Harlem, New York. Beyond the rich texture, Chambers keeps us hanging by our collective finger nails through chapter by chapter trying to get a grip on the many twists and turns and then cold-cocks us with his finale. Don't pass this one up or you'll be way behind by the time the next installment is released in the bookstores!

A high-octane thriller is one of the best ways to describe Christopher Chambers' debut novel, Sympathy for The Devil.

As SYMPATHY opens, we are introduced to FBI Special Agent Angela Bivens, who has just won a sex and race discrimination lawsuit against the FBI. She's anxious and weary to see what type of job the Bureau will hand her after the dust has settled, and when she receives a case that will allow her to be the field agent she's always wanted to be, Angela is happy, but quickly the joy of her new job is erased. Angela's case involves the recent deaths of two black teenage girls and a rash of macabre murders that involve rival gangs. Everyone in the Bureau is quick to blame the deaths on gangs, but Angela has her suspicions.

Though her job keeps her stressed, when Angela meets P. T. "Trey" Williams, an attorney from a well-to-do family, full of connections and looks, Angela tries to find the balance between her hectic job and her blooming love life. Little does Angela know that her love life will interplay with the case she's working on in such horrific ways not even imaginable. Will Angela be able to solve the complexity of the crimes at hand...without being condemned by her FBI bosses, WHILE getting to keep her relationship?

I LOVED this novel, point blank. I enjoyed reading a novel with a strong female lead who used her inner strength to do what she had to do. Chambers' characters are wonderfully drawn out, with crisp dialogue and fast-paced action and suspense. There were a few times where the FBI titles and terminology were kind of heavy, but the excellent writing eradicated those problems. There was a multi-layered complexity to this novel, that may be daunting to some, but once again, the storyline is so tight and intriguing, I think readers will be able to overcome that and realize just how great this novel is.

I would DEFINITELY recommend SYMPATHY to all readers, black, white, or other...and will be on the lookout for new work by Chambers.

Reviewed by Shonie

This is as fine a debut novel as you will come across and is one of the better police novels I have read in many years! I say that without qualification and I have read many a mystery novel and police procedural. This one is excellent and what is so surprising is that this book is the author's first effort!

The author, Lowen Clausen, spent 13 years with the Seattle PD. Obviously, his main character, Sam, is his literary version of himself. The way Mr. Clausen develops this character, as well as the second figure, a young female officer who is new to the police department is what makes this novel a thinking reader's police story. To be sure, this is not your bang-bang, action-packed police procedural. There are no "unbelievable" scenes or conversations. Although pacing is not the quickest of what would be expected and found in this type of story, Mr. Clausen does a fine job moving this story forward in a way that will keep the reader involved and concerned.

The main character is a police officer who routinely patrols First Ave. in Seattle before it was gentrified. The average reader may not know enough about Seattle history to know when that happened and Clausen does not say, but that's okay. Sam is a policeman who almost seems to be a character out of place and out of his element. He is, somewhat incongruously, a poetry writing patrolman. That alone sets him apart from his fellow officers and unlike the other career members of the force, he has taken college courses at the University of Washington in of all things, literature.

The plot here revolves around the finding of a dead baby and the questions it raises about the location of the mother. Sam and a couple of other "concerned police officers" decide to pursue what few leads they have in an attempt to close the case. They want to close it not just to fill a square and because the rules say they must, but for the simple reason that Sam vaguely knew the mother and was also aware that she would never abandon her infant child.

Clausen very effectively uses scene and descriptions of the locale to create mood, tension, relief and and the very end, closure. Had I never been to Seattle, this book would have served as an excellent primer on what I might expect to find when I did get there.

In addition to the attempts to find the young mother of the dead baby, Clausen interjects the possibility of high level corruption, dissolute heirs to newspaper fortunes and drug smuggling. He does an exceptional job of blending all of the disparate plot elements together to create an outstanding story and one that leaves you feeling for the main characters when the book ends.

This is not your typical police novel. But then, it doesn't have to be. Mr. Clausen is a talented and accomplished writer who will probably defy typecasting. This book shows that he will be able to transcend genre labeling and I hope we see more of his work very soon.

Paul Connors

I am Lowen's Little Brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and I want to tell you what I like about this story. I like First Avenue because of the way Lowen Clausen made the characters seem to tell everything that went on in their lives. Sam, one of the important characters, seems to live a life that has no problems. He is also a man who wants to avoid looking at his past or future. But that all changes when he finds a dead baby in a hotel room. The image of the baby won't leave his mind, and the only way for the image to leave is if he finds out what happened.

This story is more than a shoot-em-up cop story. This story is sure to give you a taste of life in Seattle and what it is like to be a cop for a major city. Lowen wanted to write, and that's what he will be doing.

This is a well-crafted story of policework in Seattle, solving a mystery along the way and introducing a cast of likable characters based on real life.

Growing up in Seattle the locales are spot-on, and the times well-portrayed (the image of the cop as a student-by-day, policeman-by-night, and unable to tell either group of friends about the other, is a perfect metaphor).

The main character of Sam, the beat cop who writes poetry in his slack times, is a wonderful antidote to the hardboiled cop stereotype and, to some large degree, appears to be autobiographical. Lowen Clausen, from the reading I attended last week, appears to be that "cop with a soul."

Recommended without reservation.

Set in Washington DC in the last 1980s, this is a very well done cops and robbers genre detective novel - but then it is much more. Part of why I loved this book was because it was set in a city I know so well that it was a little like being at home. The characters in Pelecanos' story are dirty cops, drug runners and pushers, a couple of record store managers, a couple of street kids (who might or might not go bad), and a backdrop of March Madness in a city that was cheering on the magnificent Len Bias (at U Maryland) the year he suddenly dropped dead (weak heart + cocaine) at the tender age of 22. The book opens with a number of interesting witnesses to a horrible car crash on U Street in which the driver (a drug-runner, we later learn) is decapitated, and the bag containing all his money is snatched impetuously out of the back seat by a bystander who regrets it later. The tale weaves in and out of, primarily, Marcus Clay's (the record store owner) and his buddy, Dimitri Karras's (the manager of the stores) lives during these events. The prose is excellent for a crime novel, and I am eager to continue reading Pelecanos.

Set in Washington DC in the mid-1980s, the drug of choice has now changed from marijuana to cocaine. Dimitri Karras and Marcus Clay are featured again, as in King Suckerman, but Nick Stefanos (both the older and younger) make appearances. To avoid confusion, it is highly recommended that before reading this book you try reading a couple of Pelecanos' earlier books, particularly The Big Blowdown and King Suckerman which are the earlier of this particular series.

In this book, a drug car smashes and bursts into flames outside Marcus Cray's Real Right record store. Someone waiting outside the record store walks over to the car and takes a pillowcase filled with money out of the burning car. When the local gang-leader, and owner of the money, finds out about the theft of his dough, he's not very happy and seeks to regain his money. Dimitri and Marcus are drawn into this fight because of their proximity to the original accident.

Once again, the mood of the book is set by the use of street talk by the characters, the description of the music they listen to, and the ongoing NCAA basketball tournament of the day. As with all Pelecanos books, the drug culture is strongly featured and appears to have gripped Dimitri pretty tightly now. This is the third of a series of four books, with the fourth title being Shame the Devil.

If you haven't read George P. Pelecanos, you're missing one hell of an experience! This is easily his best book and that's saying alot, since he's yet to make a misstep with any of his crime/detective novels.

_The Sweet Forever_ is a beautifully- done book (one of the jacket blurbs likens it to a crime-thriller version of _Bonfire of the Vanities_, a particularly apt comparison, I think). It is the second book to feature the team of Dimitri Karras/Marcus Clay (first introduced in _King Suckerman_), two old friends now running a chain of D.C.-based record stores.

The book is set in 1986, when cocaine was at its peak of popularity and just before the advent of crack. The streets of Washington D. C. are growing ever more dangerous and the town continues to dwindle and wither away, ignored by a corrupt, drug-using mayor and his regime.

Dimitri and Marcus run afoul of a gang of cocaine runners in the neighborhood of Marcus' new store,located in a particularly run-down part of the city. He's trying to put something back into the community, so he's willing to put up with slow sales. But when the gang members start pushing around young kids in the area, Marcus gets involved, almost against his better judgement.

One of the neat things about the book is that Dimitri himself is hooked on cocaine and his habit is dragging him down further and further, only he himself is not aware of this yet. The novel gets only that much more morally complex when one of the two leads is involved, however slightly, in the very drug trade that is ruining the city and which the characters must battle with.

There are so many great scenes here and great characters. Marcus has a huge heart and is willing to go out on the line for people that some might ignore or turn their backs on. Add in a corrupt cop whose conscience keeps digging at him and a drug runner who isn't sure about what he's doing, and you've got one memorable mixture.

I'm a sucker for emotional movies, I'll admit. Play my heartstrings and I get a lump in my throat just like that. But I very seldom, if ever, have the same response to the written word. When reading this book, however, I had more "throat-lump" moments than I could keep track of. This is very highly recommended and a perfect example of how the lowly "crime thriller" can operate far outside the boundaries of its genre. This is literature, folks!

I'm a climber, and I enjoyed the book. There were some bits that weren't terribly interesting, but much of it was. The chapter on meadow restoration was fascinating. Another chapter illuminates something I've long wondered about: why you so often see insects and spiders on the snow thousands of feet above their apparent habitat. It'll be a while before I scoop up a handful of snow to suck on while climbing!

The history is well done; the story the early history of the park were very interesting. And his is the most complete account of the Army airplane crash into the Tacoma Glacier that I've ever read.

He mentioned a couple of other books that I've been grateful to learn about: "The unpublished journals of John Muir" (published now, of course) and "Mountain Fever", an account of the early ascents of Mt. Rainier, both of which I've got now, and one of which I've read.

I feel I've learned something fairly profound from this book. He climbed to the summit and still doesn't appreciate the urge that drives people to do that sort of thing. He felt nothing at the summit, or at Camp Muir, except an emptiness. When I climb, it's always a deeply meaningful experience: last time I was on the summit, I called my wife on the cell phone, and was actually in tears. Each time I climb Mt. Rainier, even if it's just a hike up to Camp Muir, I feel on the descent a tremendous reluctance to leave, and keep looking back for one last look of the icefalls, the massive, serene, intricately shaped rock formations. For me, climbing Mt. Rainer is like visiting a lover, and each time I leave, to return to my life, my job, my wife, the question "but when will I get to see you again?" looms largest.

So I might be expected to reject his experience, or his interpretation. But what he's finally helped me to understand is that different people appreciate different things. It's as futile for me to try to convince someone else to love mountaineering they way I do as it is to try and convince someone to enjoy a particular sort of food that they find distasteful. "How can you not like sushi? Here, just try some flying fish roe!"

So I'll take what he's taught me about the mountain and its history, and be grateful to him for the work and craft that went into it. I'll admire his clear and concise writing style. And, I'll be grateful that there are people who don't enjoy climbing, since it lowers the traffic on the glaciers and the summits.

I bought this book a couple of years ago and have reread it twice already. The first time I read it I found myself hunting down my husband over and over saying "you've got to listen to this"... Parts of the book are laugh-out-loud funny. But in addition to the humor, the book is a well-written and imformative glimpse into all facets of Mt. Rainier. I've been in love with this mountain since I was a child, and I highly recommend this interesting book by a talented author.

Bruce Barcott's riveting book about Mt. Ranier, its geology, history, wildlife and everything else you might want to know is here in this unusual book. If you are a climber however, you may be insulted by the author's tone. He is highly critical of the macho pursuit of climbing, though he does yield to the tempatation of Rainier by the end of the book and climbs it. He calls it the one of the stupidest acts of his life. The lesson is that climbing the moutain is the poorest way to get to know it.Those of you searching for another hair-raising adventure story will be disappointed, but those of you who want a well written, thoughtful and fascianting look at men, mountains and the lure of a place will love this work. Highly recommended!

George Pelecanos Hell to Pay is an enjoyable read full of quick wit and fast dialogue. Pelecanos focuses on Derek Strange, a private investigator in DC and his partner Terry Quinn. The novel follows several story lines, some of which become intertwined, some of which don't. Reading it reminded me of watching an episode of C.S.I.--addictive, enjoyable, filled with various, disturbing story lines. The characters are very well-done, rounded, believable. All in all, an enjoyable read which I think will appeal to all--not just fans of crime novels.

Working for the Aiding Prostitutes in Peril non-profit organization, Montgomery County sleuths Karen Bagley and Sue Tracey specialize in locating teenage runaways. They hire DC private detective Derek Strange to help them with cases in the District. After proving his worth to his retainers, Derek and his partner Terry Quinn are sent to bring in fourteen-year-old Germantown runaway Jennifer from the cold mean streets of the city.
While Terry works the child prostitution case, Derek has a more personal vendetta to handle. Someone(s) killed the quarterback of the Pee Wee football team that Derek coaches while the kid was at an ice cream stand. At the same time Derek anguishes over the lad's murder, his longtime lover is all over him for his frequent visits to the massage parlor.

No one describes the neighborhoods of Washington DC better than George Pelecanos who take his audience on quite a vivid tour of the other side of Washington. The two subplots are well written and exciting, but the action is the streets of the city, homicide hot even on a wintry night. The characters are believable and make the story line sing while augmenting Mr. Pelecanos tour guide of the nation's capital. Fans of gritty urban investigative tales will want to read HELL TO PAY and its predecessor RIGHT AS RAIN because these are some of the best the sub-genre offer.

Harriet Klausner

Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, who were introduced to us in Right As Rain, return for a second gruelling case that once again takes them (and us) through the sleazy, dangerous backstreets of Washington DC.

Strange is a middle aged black private investigator who is essentially a good man who has to deal with all manner of low-lifes, and consequently is forced to do things that weigh heavily on his mind. Hell To Pay focuses on Strange's devotion to the black youth living in the projects of Washington. He is determined to give them every possible chance to make something of themselves by building self-esteem and confidence.

Furthering the youth theme and, in a way, counterbalancing all his good work, are the two cases that Strange and Quinn work on throughout the book. The first involves a fourteen year old prostitute and their attempts to get her off the streets and back home to her family. The second is the investigation of the murder of a child. This becomes a much more emotional case that turns personal, with Strange walking a moral tightrope.

Once again, Pelecanos has delivered a powerful story that graphically portrays the mean streets and dangerous characters of modern day society. Although relentlessly illustrating the everyday tragedy surrounding us all, there is at least an underlying tone of hope.

A good basic guide book for campgrounds in the northwest. What this book lacks is a way to evaluate campgrounds before you get there. Ya, it gives you the facts but it is hard to distinguish the enviromental factors (road noise, etc.) until you pull in with your tent on a Friday night. It is best to supplement this book with guides such as:

"Camping! Washington : The Complete Guide to Public Campgrounds for Rvs and Tents"

which give a general feel for what public campgrounds are more desirable and why.

After reviewing many camping books for the northwest, this one is far and away the MOST complete, the MOST helpful, and the MOST fun! The organization has obviously been well thought out and tested, and the information is priceless. It's like having your own personal guide to ALL the campgrounds, primitive to RVparks. I found 30 campgrounds within an hour of my home, 20 of which I never knew existed! No review can do this book, or it's author, justice. It's undoubtedly best camping investment I've ever made, period. This also makes an EXCELLENT gift for anyone, beginner or expert, who does any camping at all in Oregon or Washington...bought one for my Mom just weeks after pre-ordering mine, who's had previous editions and sworn by them.

I had the pleasure of running into Tom on top of Mt St. Helens. He turned out to have a personality just like he writes! He was generous with his time and seemed happy to talk with me and find out how I like his work. I had been using an old edition of PNW Camping for a few years. He told me to get the new one because he and his staff did a ton of new research and a lot has changed and been improved. So I got one. Wow. My wife and I just finished a two week tour of Oregon: the coast, Cascades, and southestern high desert. The new book was right on, every time. It would be a total understatement to say it was useful. It was utterly indispensible. The text let us look at all the possibililties for each night, and make a really reasoned choice, then the directions got us right to the place we had chosen. I felt like the book was my co-pilot and trusted advisor. I also had the old version along, and found that things had indeed changed, and that the directions, style, and content of the new one to be quite a jump in quality and utility. Stienstra totally nailed it this time. I wont go anywhere in the PNW without this book. Bravo!

I have read practically all of Mary Higgins Clark's novels, but "Stillwatch" is, by far, my favorite. I love the imagery and the character development. The weaving of the characters into each other's lives emphasizes the cliche, "It's a Small World." I actually own this novel as a part of the three-novel collection including "Weep No More My Lady," and "A Cry in the Night." I find myself pulling this book of the shelf time after time, and skipping the other two novels because I think that "Stillwatch" truly displays Clark's mastery as an excellent storyteller. To all who read the reviews before picking up the book, "Stillwatch" is a definite must, to past, present, and future Mary Higgins Clark fans. BRAVO!

Patricia Traymore is wealthy, young, and beautiful. She has a stable career in television doing programs on famous American women. Her first subject: Abigail Jennings, senoir senator from Virginia. When Pat moves to her family house in Washington DC, to research Abigail, she has breakthrough memories about her own childhood, which her sub concence has hidden from her. Her mother and father were both murdered when she was 3, and she was slammed against the fireplace and shattered her right leg. With the help of the man she loves, Sam, she digs into Abigail's past, only to find it more troubling than her own. Will her own past be revealed to her? Who killed her parents, her mother or her father? Will Abigail become vice president? What about Abigail's past, was her husband's death an accident? Find out all the answers in "Stillwatch", one of Mary H. Clark's best books. If you like mystery and suspense, you'll love this one!

Traveling from Boston to Washington, D.C., Pat Traymore has come to do a TV documentary on Senator Abigail Jennings of Virginia, the first woman expected to become Vice President of the United States. But before Pat even starts, she receives several threatening phone calls--and, later, a note--telling her not to pursue the program, and to definitely not reside in the same house she had lived in the first three years of her life. This last half of the threat is alarming to her, because very few people know about her parent's murder-suicide in that house, which is part of the reason why she had decided to stay there--so she could find out the truth about their death in private.

When she's not searching for clues about that, Pat is delving into Senator Jennings' background, though the woman is reluctant to open up about certain parts of her life, forcing Pat to investigate further. She eventually does get into trouble for that when she reveals too much about the senator's past--involving theft, infidelity, and murder.

"Stillwatch" is fairly fast-paced and an all-around good read. While partially a political mystery, it's relatively uncomplicated and free of political jargon, so the average reader can understand it. There's also a small amount of romance involving Pat and Sam Kingsley, an older congressman she had had a brief affair with a couple of years ago, but who has now become somewhat involved with the senator. I'm not much of a romance fan, but this underlying storyline was tolerable and doesn't overshadow the main story; plus I admired how Pat acted in the relationship; she wasn't the typical clingy, overly-sentimental heroine. If this book is any indication of what her others are like, then this certainly won't be my last Mary Higgins Clark book.

Anthony Pitch has written a memorable account of a seminal event in American history. His portrayal of the British burning of our nation's capitol is an exciting, fast-paced description of events which catch and hold the reader's attention from the first to last page. Pitch's suspenseful story captures the essence of what is best in historical nonfiction - the ability to depict events in an accurate and yet dramatic style, painting word pictures in a crisp, authoritative fashion which entrances the reader. This book is a must for the library of every history buff, and for that matter, for every civic-minded citizen. There is no doubt in my mind that it will be made into an intriguing motion picture.

This fast-paced, incredibly well-researched book changed my view of American history. I never appreciated that the War of 1812 was, in fact, our second war of independence, one which we came close to losing. I never knew that the terrified U.S. government, in fleeing Washington, allowed the British Army to literally amble into town virtually unopposed and burn most of the government buildings (yet treat the populace with unimagined civility!). I never knew much about the inspiration and writing of the Star Spangled Banner and the importance of the Battle of Baltimore. And I was fascinated to learn that the Battle of New Orleans, in addition to being one of the worst defeats ever suffered by the mighty British Army (mostly at the hands of Andrew Jackson and a bunch of Kentucky and Tennessee hillbillys, no less), was a battle that never should have been fought. I have generally found history books to be ponderous reading, written more for the benefit of academic historians than for popular consumption -- often only giving me added details about things I already knew about. This book is different. It's crisp, fast-moving and very authoritative. Anthony Pitch has written a focused and important book about a pivotal period of American History about which most Americans, I suspect, know little. And after you read it, when you sing "The Star Spangled Banner", you'll appreciate with greater depth, possibly for the first time, what you're singing about. I loved the book!

Anthony S. Pitch is a first class story teller. From the humiliating defeat of the panic-stricken American troops at Bladensburg, Maryland (north of Washington, D.C.) to their magnificent victory over the British army at New Orleans (under the command of the immortal Andrew Jackson), it's all here. I found it difficult to put this riveting book down. As a native of Baltimore, I particularly enjoyed the author's fact filled account of the important battle at Fort McHenry and the birth of our National Anthem. The heroics of American Generals George Armistead, Samuel Smith, and John Stricker are faithfully retold, along with rich details about many other gallant defenders of the then-young Baltimore City. I grew up during WWII on Locust Point, in south Baltimore, where the Fort still stands as a sentinel, jutting out into the Patapsco River. Pitch's research of the combatants' competing military strategies in that seminal battle is very illuminating, indicative of the author's background as a journalist. The death of British General Robert Ross, just before the start of the decisive land battle at North Point (just east of Fort McHenry) at the hand of two sharp shooting patriotic riflemen, Henry McComas and Daniel Wells, deserves a chapter all to itself. Pitch also describes marvelous anecdotes about the torching of the city of Washington by the British that should be read by every American that cares about his country's history. I never fully realized just how close our nation came to again becoming a province of the British Empire. Pitch relates it was a lot closer then most of us ever imagined. I can't wait for this well-documented book to become a movie. It would make a great sequel to Mel Gibson's splendid film, "The Patriot."