Irene Kelly, reporter for the Las Piernas Express and newly engaged to boyfriend, Frank Harriman, has received her share of crank mail and calls. But nothing like this. The first letter from "Thanatos" (Greek God of death) details the death of Clio (Greek Muse of history) using the hammer of Hephaestus, saying the eyes of Argus (Hera took the 100 eyes of Argus and put them in a peacocks tail) will be upon her remains. And that night, history professor Edna Blaylock, was bludgeoned to death and her body was thrown into the peacock exhibit at the zoo. Unfortunately, this is only the first letter from Thanatos. It looks like Las Piernas has a serial killer on its hands who will only communicate with Irene. No matter how fast Irene and the police solve the riddles in these mythological letters, they're always a step behind the killer. As the body count rises, Irene digs into the background of Thanatos' victims trying to find a link and a motive to these senseless murders, hoping next time, she won't be too late..... Jan Burke has done it again. Another great Irene Kelly mystery that will put you on the edge of your seat and keep you turning pages to the end. This story has it all...smart, crisp writing and witty dialogue, a terrific plot line full of twists, turns and surprises, great characters and suspenseful scenes. Ms Burke has a real talent for scaring you one moment and making you laugh out loud, the next. Dear Irene is pure entertainment and a joy to read. If you're new to the series, go back and start at the beginning with Goodnight Irene. If you're already a fan, this mystery won't disappoint.

Another riveting and intelligent mystery by Jan Burke. All of her books maintain the same quality level (excellent)! Reading her is always a pleasure. I highly recommend her to anyone who likes a really well written modern mystery.

Bookseller John Oats has been found dead in the Pacific Ocean. The death has been ruled accidental, perhaps suicide. This explanation doesn't satisfy insurance claims investigator Dave Brandstetter. He comes to believe Oats was murdered for his considerable policy and sets out to find the culprit. Whodunit? Oats's elusive son? The closeted, all-American TV star? A washed up screenwriter? Or maybe even Oats young lover, a woman who took care of the man until his dying day?

This is a beautifully written page turn, very smooth and very engaging. Brandstetter is no angst-torn hero despairing of the state of the world. He's a solid, mature professional out to do his job (though not without his own personal problems). Though the killer's identity should be obvious, Hansen weaves the story in such fashion that we are still surprised to find out who done it.

If Hansen has a flaw as a writer, it might be his relentless need to describe all exteriors and interiors, even those that play a scant role in the story. The abundance of detail and description bogs the story down some. But not much. After all Hansen is doing his storyteller's duty to put the reader into the world he has created.

Dave Brandstetter, a claims investigator for Medallion Life Insurance Company, is checking into bookseller John Oat's 'death by misadventure.' The misadventure was a drowning that took place in the ocean. At night. During a rainstorm. After Oats decided to change his insurance policy so that his son wouldn't inherit. Yeah, it's a little suspicious, and it doesn't help that the son is now missing. Maybe this doesn't sound that thrilling (insurance claims? ), but Hansen, frequently compared to Hammett, Chandler and MacDonald, catches your attention from the first line: "Arena Blancas was right. The sand that bracketed the little bay was so white it hurt the eyes." And he never lets go, never wanders off track through an unexpectedly twisty tale of betrayal and murder. Hansen is that rarity, a brilliant stylist who actually has something to say. Sure, the message is unrelentingly liberal, but it is also tempered with commonsense and compassion. Most impressively, the man knows how to tell a good story. DEATH CLAIMS, book two in the Brandstetter series, is one of the best.

Marty Goldman was the consummate Hollywood player - a high-powered lawyer who could make things happen at the studios. So why did he commit suicide?

That's what Kurt Goldman wonders when he arrives for his brother's funeral. As he struggles to make sense of Marty's tangled business affairs, Kurt begins to think that maybe it wasn't suicide at all. Maybe Marty was murdered. And maybe his own life is now in danger. A fast-paced, darkly funny thriller.

"The sudden supposed suicide of his beloved older brother Marty thrusts Kurt Goldman into the unwanted and uncomfortable role of executor. Marty's widow and the partners in his prestigious but recently formed L.A. movie-and-music-deal law firm clamor for an autopsy because suicide will nullify his life insurance and ruin the business. Kurt takes his time, however, not really believing that his brother was a suicide and soon finding ample motive for Murder."

"In-depth characterization, densely described venues, and clever plotting: a promising work from a new author." from Library Journal, December 1998

I am experiencing some Deed problems in California and to try and get detailed information from the clerks office is impossible. This book has all the info you need. I highly recommend it!

If you need to change a deed on your house or other real property -- changed your name, separated, married, adding a survivor to inherit -- don't pay a lawyer or title company hundreds of dollars to do it. Buy this book. Read the instructions carefully, fill out the forms and then go to the county recorder's office and file it yourself. Even if you have to pay for parking.

If I can do it, anyone can do it. After finding this book such a great help, I have turned to Nolo Press time and again for self-help legal books. Written my will, created powers of attorney for my domestic partner, even helped my folks set up living trusts. If you read the book and decide you do need legal help, you'll be better prepared to ask questions and direct the professional to do what you want, and to do what you can yourself to save dollars. Just shaving a half hour off a lawyer's time spent more than pays for the book.

A top-flite "Namless" mystery driven by a good story and, as always in Pronzini's books, and equally good personal back-story.

Why isn't this book in print? Why isn't the "Nameless" series more acclaimed? In my opinion, "Nameless" ranks as among the best detectives in the genre (along with Block's Scudder).

Along with "Shackles," I think this is a high point of the Nameless Detective series. The PI agrees to take on the kind of job he hates the most as a favor to a friend -- help a woman whose husband is having an affair. The husband's paramour, Nedra, is a seductress with whom he is completely obsessed. Eventually, Nedra goes missing -- and in her absence, the cheating husband goes off the deep end. This is a totally absorbing book, made even more so by the addition of personal problems in the detective's life (his longtime love, Kerry, appears to be having an affair of her own; his ex-partner, Eberhardt, continues giving Nameless the cold shoulder). I'm so grateful to Pronzini for continuing this series and really wish more people realized how great it is!

Although I'm waiting try the new hikes detailed in this book (I'll wait till summer passes, thanks), I have found it to be a great read on its own merits. The physical descriptions of the areas covered are detailed and evocative without being flowery; the driving and trail directions are as exact as they can be given the remoteness of some of these areas. Mr. Zdon knows these places inside and out, and he goes well beyond the obvious choices into some wild and relatively unexplored terrain. This book introduced me to some new places I want to experience, and made me realize I don't know my "familiar" spots as well as I thought. The volume is also very handsomely illustrated and produced.

Andy Zdon has done a very thorough job researching the approaches and hiking/climbing routes in this guide book. I especially liked the fact that he warns the reader against taking passenger cars up roads which he feels require 4WD capability. The inclusion of general area maps and actual photographs make the book even more useful. Descriptions are great but someone said "a picture is worth a thousand words". Included in the descriptions are such useful topics as the anticipated round trip elevation gain and hiking distance. In some instances Andy has added his personal comments regarding safety issue or things like "don't underestimate the difficulty of this hike". The personal touch gives the guide book user more of a "hands on" feel to the overall hike. I recommend Desert Summits to all of those folks who are planning to get out and hike/climb the areas described in the book. Hey, here's another "list" to get you out of the house this winter.

This book is so accurate and descriptive it made hiking the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness a pleasure. The authors describe the trails in detail, steep, vertical, not for beginners etc. The map included in the back is an assest, the detailed book a must for anyone heading into the wilderness of Tahoe.

This is the best book to get for hiking around Lake Tahoe - it is written clearly with step by step descriptions of each hike, the flora and fauna of the area and the difficulty level for each hike. Definitely a must when visiting the Tahoe basin area.

I have lived in Santa Maria for 17 years, and have never heard anything about all of this. I knew that a toxic waste landfill existed in Casmalia, but i never knew that the drinking water was contaminated.

This book chronicles in engaging fashion the terrible and true story of how a city's water supply was contaminated when multiple measures to protect the citizens failed. It presents an interesting story on a personal level of one man who recognized a problem and did a tremendous amount of work on his own to bring it to the attention of elected officials. In this sense, it is a encouraging story because it shows one person can make a difference. It also emphasizes that the individual must attempt to make a difference because our representatives can not always be relied on to protect our interests. I think it would also be a very interesting read for anyone interested in environmental issues or who has a similar problem in their own community. This incident was not as well publicized nationally as some more infamous catastrophies. But to the residents in this area, the problem is well known. It is sometimes hard to comprehend how a disaster like this could occur. This book explains how it happened to this unfortunate community and is a must read to raise people's awareness. It could happen anywhere....

Those of us in public health have been regularly frustrated by the lack of collaboration and persistant fragmentation in the field. Dr. Gustin's sentinal work lays the groundwork for a system which circumvents these problems. He then goes on to develop a web-based architecture based on vector analysis that he calls 'situational cubes' to seamlessly identify and interdigitate public health sectors, public health problems, and at risk groups. This is an inspirational forward thinking work. Well-referenced and well-conceived, it is a quick yet powerful read.

This text should be standard reading in all public health academic programs in the US and abroad...

This book appears to be the first written work detailing the role of the internet in the process of public health collaboration and data, information, and resource sharing. It is clearly a major breakthrough for those of us in public health that have been frustrated with the redundancy and fragmentation that occurs between the various sectors of the community that participate in solving public health problems.

A visionary, Dr. Gustin brilliantly lays out a concise foundation for his theoretical basis of an on-line network. He then goes on to develop a web architecture based on what he calls 'situational cubes' a three dimensional vector creation which takes into account all the perturbations of sectors, public health problems, and at-risk groups. In my opinion, simply brilliant.

I would like to see some follow-up to this work, simply because it is so right on target and because the utility/possibilities are so large!

I have read most of the second book and really enjoyed it.. I was rather surprised that Beth was never written into the story... This shows Rockford at his best. Going after the bad guys and making sure that they get wha's coming to them.. True to original Characters... I want MORE Rockford!

I thoroughly enjoyed Stuart Kaminsky's "The Rockford Files: The Green Bottle." This book is even better. Many of the old characters return...Jim, Dennis, Angel, and the Firebird...only Beth is missing.

The humor, intrigue, and pathos that characterized the televison series is richly abundant in this novel. Jim discovers a young girl sleeping on the deck of his trailer in Malibu who claims to be his daughter and in need of his help. With a sense of chivalry and suspicion, Jim sets out to unravel the disappearance of the girl's mother, an old Rockford love from years ago. The trail leads him to the Mafia, U.S. Marshals, and his old nemesis, Captian Diehl with the LAPD. A subplot, involving an art scam with Angel, is cleverly integrated with the more sinister main plot.

Mr. Kaminsky portrays the orignal Rockford characters in true form. He further adds new characters with depth and color. A sophisticated Mafia hit-man who recites poetry and enjoys classical music and opera is particularly interesting. The plot is complex and intricate. The ending is well-conceived and should prove touching to those who enjoy the Rockford legend. I sincerely hope Mr. Kaminsky will continue this series.