Has excellent photos, maps, directions and places that I was not able to find on other books for this part of the state.

We've been exploring this area for 20 yrs, but this book has led us to some new places. Directions and descriptions are very good. So far, Dusty Lake is my favorite- see it online.

Acts of murder is an excellant book sure to grab even the most reluctant reader. Karl Alberg once again finds him self trying to piece together murders that seem unrelated, yet somehow, he suspects, they are all related. In this book, the lives of several different people, who for the most part do not know one another exist, are intertwined by one person. The cleaning lady has taken it upon her to punish the "sinners". Now, it's up to Karl Alberg and his new female sargent to piece this puzzle together.

After living together for many years, Staff Sargent Karl Alberg and Cassandra Mitchell marry. On that same day, a virus infects the townsfolk of Sechelt, Canada. It begins with the disappearance of a teenage girl, whose corpse was found in a shallow grave over a year later.

A young woman also vanishes after an ugly argument with her now worried spouse. Her body is found near the first body. A housewife thinks she kills her husband when she can no longer tolerate his infidelities. However, when she goes to dispose of the corpse, the body is missing. A waitress at the local diner turns up missing as well.Karl knows that he must uncover the identity of someone who is executing non-repenting sinners.

Laurali R. Wright, who is considered one of Canada's top mystery writers, is actually is one of the world's top crime authors. She is able to capture the mindset of the victims, perpetrators, and authorities with clarity rarely seen in novels. ACTS OF MURDER is actually three stories woven together by decade old actions. However, the book is very atmospheric, depending more on mood rather than action, and why rather than who. Ms. Wright may be in line for another Edgar with this terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

At last! An historical novel that's interesting, amusing, and *entertaining* and so *real* you feel you need to clean your boots every time you read a piece of it. Yeah, the pictures are faded. They're *old*, dammit, *real*. These are *everybody's* folks, the way they grew up and loved and lost their limbs just so we could be here. John Sayles, *do* read these books. You'll have another "Matewan" in your hands.

'Labor of love' seems inadequate in describing BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS, authored by resident-historian, Mona Leeson Vanek. This engaging book narrates virtually every known event of significance in the region, through the use of oral tape recordings, letters, and written documentation. Beginning before the arrival of David Thompson, it contains determined homesteaders, exciting log drives down river, pioneering merchants, establishment of schools and churches, and the horrors of the 1910 forest fire. Countless stories of individuals, ranging from mildly amusing to hilarious enliven this history. Where else in a book of this sort can one find characters who vow to escape from a local jail "disguised as a bunch of radishes?" or a shingle-mill owner who closed down his mill after having to ante up compensation for too many workers' sawed-off fingers - at $1,000 per finger. BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS stands as the definitive history of its region, the lower Clark's Fork of the Columbia River and the Bull River valley in Sanders County, Montana. The chapter on the Forest Service's arrival in the valley clearly describes the bitter struggles between pioneer ranger Augustus Ferdinand Silcox and local businessmen, led by Clifford R. Weare, who wanted to continue their unfettered exploitation of the public domain. The more than 200 photographs are positioned in the book to match and enhance the text, but reporoduction of many of them obviously is more faded and washed out than the author would have liked. The thorough index is a boon for genealogists. A complete set of end notes contain material that enhance the stories, and if readers ignore the footnotes, they'll miss some stirring accounts of vigilante activity during the 1880s. Excellent accounts of the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which opened the northwest area of Montana to settlement, provide vivid accounts of problems along this 'most difficult and expensive division' of the entire NPRR line. Vanek has done her community and Montana a great service

While there are several multi-day trips in the guide, this book is targeted at the more serious recreational rider who is looking for day rides of 25 to 60 miles. It covers quite a large area, mostly in Washington State, with general and detailed descriptions of the routes, augmented by line maps. One nice feature is that it details the vertical profile of each ride so you can see what you're getting into when it comes to climbing hills at various milage points in the rides.

I've ridden about 1/3 of the routes and have found the rides well planned and accurately described. There is always a place to stop for a break near mid-way, and often alternatives to shorten or lengthen the trip. A great book to get you in touch with quiet roads or bike trails that you otherwise may never discover.

Good reference of some of the favorite multi-day bicycle tours in the Northwest.

The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read.

John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955. Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s.

The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.

Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today? The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community. There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.

The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources. While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized. It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.

The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye. This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it. Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal. He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail.

A must-read for anyone interested in GLBT history, and also a classic piece of investigative journalism, Gerassi's book is an astonishing piece of work. (Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.)

If you have looked for great muffin, coffee cake, cobbler recipes, this book has them. I'm pretty picky about recipes but I have found some great ones in here. I made the blueberry coffee cake and it was so easy and delicious. The banana bread was great and I can't wait to try others. I'm going to check out her other one!

Carol Frieberg continues to find the most delicious, and easy to prepare, breakfasts in town. There are so many good recipes, this book makes it easy to celebrate the morning! I cannot wait until Carol's next B&B adventure.

This is one of the finest historical novels that I have read. I am a real fan of Pamela Jeckel. All of her novels are meticulously researched and historically accurate. Her use of both the human saga and the animal life of the area are interwoven and really two stories in one. I am a Northwest native and reading of the history of the mighty Columbia before man was in the area, to the building of the Gramd Coulee Dam was an eye opener. The lives of the characters are interwoven from the Portland Chinese immigrant woman, the Indian shaman, and the dam builder. A terrific book.

I am from the Pacific Northwest and this is one super book! I enjoyed reading it and was facinated with the accuracy of this historical novel. I highly recommend it! It is a "hard to put down" book.

Love Tony and Price Shadowbrook, a husband and wife writing team who are entertainingly portrayed in a hidden west locale full of adventures and struggles. Price fights for her place in the co-writing and comforts a new friend and widow who suspects her husband's death wasn't accidental. Tony fights for a private place to write while tourists traipse through their unusual summer home. Meanwhile, their adult kids provide complications. It's fun and inspirational reading.

I highly recommend all of Stephen and Janet's books. I was able to meet them Labor Day weekend 1999(after having written to them for several years). They are such a wonderful couple as well as great authors. I can't wait until the next book comes out, no matter what the series is!

This is a book written in easy to understand terms, that takes away much of the fear-out-of-ignorance associated with mental illness. It has the potential of taking the reader from a state of ignorance to the level of being able to take a first crack at diagnosis.

These doctors do the general public a great service by sharing their thoughts on mental health issues. Columbia University is one of the premier colleges to participate in the revolution going on in the field of psychiatry. This book is recommended for any public or private library.

Bill Wolversten in this, the first in a three-volume guide to Cruising the British Columbia waters, does a great job helping both the "Yachties" and the "Sporties" find the best places to spend an enjoyable time in BC. Bill offers a foundation of answers to: Where is it? How do I get there? and What is there? For enjoyment, he seasons this solid information with historical background and local knowledge. And finally, in case you didn't get the message from the text that Canada's BC is one of the world's best cruising ground, he drives the point home with stunningly beautiful pictures of the area. For anybody venturing into British Columbia in a pleasure boat, this and the other two books in the series are a must-add to your collection of cruising guides.

Bill Wolversten in this, the last in a three-volume guide to Cruising the British Columbia waters, does again a great job helping both the "Yachties" and the "Sporties" find the best places to spend an enjoyable time in BC. Bill offers a foundation of answers to: Where is it? How do I get there? and What is there? For enjoyment, he seasons this solid information with historical background and local knowledge. And finally, in case you didn't get the message from the text that Canada's BC is one of the world's best cruising ground, he drives the point home with stunningly beautiful pictures of the area. For anybody venturing into British Columbia in a pleasure boat, this book is a must-add to your collection of cruising guides.