Mildred, a heart-broken girl, wants to run away from everything. When a hitchhiking girl killed herself, Mildred takes her identity to live a completely new life.

It is crazy to replace oneself with a complete stranger. It would be an artificial story if Mildred's despair were not convincingly described. And it would be tiresome if her misery were tediously described. Gardner describes her hopeless feeling concisely but convincingly. He is an excellent writer. No more explanation will be needed. Please enjoy how Mason brilliantly rescues Mildred from predicament.

This book is written in 1958. The general public is so strict to an unmarried pregnant woman that she will be driven to suicide. It is interesting how times has changed.

I'm not going to give away the plot like eveyone else does in their reviews. I'll just tell you that the way this book is plotted is awesome. Gardner's Perry Mason novels are almost entirely plot driven. This story moves fast, gets complicated without becoming sloppy, and then is resolved when Mason amazingly figures it all out. This book is better than some of the others I've read in the series because in this one you don't doubt his logic as much as in some of the others. You find yourself surprised but not in disbelief about how Mason puts it all together. In some of the other books it's simply a leap of faith to believe that he was able to deduce the answer from the information given. This one is seamlessly put together. If your looking for sex and violence, don't bother, but if your looking for a well plotted mystery this book will not dissappoint. My only criticism is that Gardner absolutely refuses to hit pause long enough to give good descriptions of the characters and scenery.

This is my favorite Perry Mason Mystery. It has the feel of an Alfred Hitchcock mystery. A woman who is running away from life is in a one car accident in which her passenger, a hitchhiker, is killed and mutilated beyond recognition. So she begins a new life, assuming the identity of the hitchhiker. All goes well until an insurance adjuster figures out her secret and tries to blackmail her.

Erle Stanley Garnder's THE SHOPLIFTER'S SHOE is vintage Perry Mason, published in the 30s when Gardner was at the height of his powers. This is a complex tale of sinister gem thieves, blood-stained shoes, phantom bullets, and a double murder. Of course, the most obviously innocent person is immediately determined by the police to be guilty and that propels Perry into action. Perry is more hard-boiled in this story than he is in the 50s and 60s. I don't think audiences were intended to LIKE him as much as we are meant to later in the series. His treatment of Paul Drake (his detective friend who gives constant assistance), for example, is a little more gruff in this tale. And Perry has no time to give to the hysterical Virginia Trant, when a second body almost literally falls in her lap. Gardner, at this stage in his writing, seems to be influenced by his BLACK MASK days, when he was writing his Lester Leith and Phantom Crook tales. But watching Perry in action, whether hard-boiled or not, is always fun.

So the question remains: is THE SHOPLIFTER'S SHOE a good book? Yes, but with some reservations. The mystery itself is very good, with a dazzling defense of the defendant. The entire case hinges on which pocket a policemen uses to store the incriminating evidence. This won't ruin anything because we are not actually shown this event when it occurs in the story. Once again, Perry shows the unreliability of circumstantial evidence, which is a Gardner trademark. However, I don't think the characters were as fully developed as in some of the other books. There is really no one to latch on to emotionally. Also, Della Street takes a back seat in this story, which doesn't help either. In fact, Della doesn't really make her mark until the very last page. But I will say that it is worth the wait...To conclude, the plot is very strong in this book, with interesting clues and a strong trial sequence. Though not one of Gardner's main masterpieces, it is still well worth the three hours it would take to read.

Very well-plotted mystery entangled with two murders and two guns. Events occured one after another from the beginning to the end and I never got bored. Mrs. Breel, the shoplifting old lady, was the most peculiar of all Mason's clients; her attitude was as cold as a cucumber but what she really did were highly irrational. I wouldn't say I liked her, but anyway she was very impressive.

We used this case book in our MBA course for corporate finance. The real cases are exciting. The topics are very broad and ranging from cash budgeting to financial risk management. Most of the cases are supported with good background material like charts and income statements. The book is excellent for class discussions, but not for the ambituous reader who wants to teach himself corporate finance. There are simply no right or wrong answers why there's no solution provided. It's a great book to work with, but deadly boring if you want to read it page by page.

As a student utilizing this text for class, I found it extremely insightful, as well as challenging in content. The book is subdivided in to various topib headings related to corporate finance, everything from debt and equity offerings to derivative risk management. After a chapter introduction outlining and reviewing pertinent academic information, there are several case studies on real companies. The book closes with three case studies which incorporate multiple topics highlighted in the book.

This book is packed with information. It is easy to read and straight to the point. I loved the section covering how to grow the different plants. It really eliminated the guess work concerning the nutrient solution requirements for a particular type of plant. I look forward to even more plants being covered in future editions.

A fine nutrient reference for specific plants and systems. Not real big on systems "techie" info, but it covers all the major types. I rate it a 'must have' for beginner or advanced grower.

THE DEADLY ORBIT MISSION describes Hugh North's twenty-sixth and last case in a career which goes back to World War I service in France. Some elements of suspense remind us of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The story is vintage North with lots of close combat featuring knives and blunt instruments. The cast of characters includes an ex-patriot night club operator and diamond smuggler, a local thief, a madame and an infamous masseuse. These are the supporting actors for the good guys. The other side is led by the cold war version of the yellow peril backed up by the depths of Tangier Society. Tangier itself is described in detail reflecting the benefits of Mason's earlier research for TWO TICKETS FOR TANGIER.

The author keeps Hugh North still current in this 1968 story about Chinese and Albanian agents trying to gain control of an erratic Soviet satellite containing an illegal hydrogen bomb warhead. The Soviets admit it is out of control by mistake and join forces with US intelligence to get the errant satellite back on course or destroy it. This effort pits North against Chinese and Albanian agents in exotic Tangier.

The DEADLY ORBIT MISSION is an account of Hugh North's last case and the book reflects Van Wyck Mason's usual high standards.

Through excerpts of Satow's writings along with his own commentary, Ian Ruxton draws a compelling portrait of a British diplomat mostly remembered for his service in Meiji-era Japan. Reading this book, I was struck by the similarities between Satow and Lafcadio Hearn, best known as a collector of Japanese folk tales. Both men were misfits in their own countries, and discovered incredible personal freedoms and possibilities in an unfamiliar Asian culture. In this culture they would achieve their highest potentials, and yet in the end both became disillusioned as they realized they would never fit in. As one who lived in Japan for over twelve years, I recognize this mentality as still present in many long-time Western residents. I feel that the portrayal of this mentality gives Ruxton's book its widest appeal.

All history is a necessary telescoping of time into a compact form capable of being gathered up in one sweep, understood in one gaze, and the unfortunate consequence of this is that hindsight often has the final say, seeming to make small events necessary, destined steps towards final outcomes. The best kind of history is thus the kind that lingers on the many contingent moments when the broad sweep of history may have taken a different course. This is what this book does for the Japan of Satow's time. Thanks to the editor's judicious selections of texts, we follow Satow's activities and reflections month by month, week by week or day by day. and find ourselves in the company of a remarkably astute and often prescient observer of events. I finished this book with a somewhat modified conception of Japanese history, and recommend it as a spot of enjoyable homework for all would-be Japan specialists.

Connie Mason's "Flame" was wonderful! I loved the characters from start to finish. Tanner MacTavish was a great male specimen, the type of man women dream about...the dashing man that comes to your rescue just in time. The love scenes just sizzled off the pages, and the antagonizism was good but a little overdone with Ashley. But all-in-all a wonderful book!

I thought that this was a very good book. There were times when I disliked Tanner but he soon proved to be a passionate, caring man. The plot was great and the characters were very realistic.

JUST GOT THIS BOOK AND SO FAR IT IS A WEALTH OF IMFORMATION DEALING WITH SANTERIA OR ORISHA WORSHIP ESPECIALLY DEALING WITH EGGUN WORSHIP.AS A ORISHA PRIEST I AM PLEASE AS THEY ARE MANY BOOKS OUT THERE BUT A LOT OF THEM HAVE VERY LITTLE IMFORMATION ON THE SUBJECT THIS BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN AND HATS OFF TO THE AUTHOR.

MAY OBATALA BLESS HIM...

This book and its accompanying cassette are a great manual for the olorisha. The book helps cue you in thos critical parts of a ceremony where you forget what step comes next, and the cassette is a great resource for initiates whohave distant Godparents. He teaches you all of the songs that accompany the ebo eje and the egun ceremonies, and best of all, he teaches you a very concise and clear way to throw coco. I recommend this book to any orisha priest or priestess as a great addition to their library.

A great book, about some of the coolest and most cutting edge theories out there. Certainly not for the layman though. Most of the chapters are filled with equation after equation however those with advanced math and a good math program will have lots of fun. This book is the real deal! Read it all and you just might fry your brain! It would get five stars if it was better organized. The best use of this book is for quick reference if you have a specific idea or question about the topics contained and don't or can't get to the internet. Not a must buy but worth the money.

This book makes the greatest mousepad I've ever had. Good book.

From Aunt Jane's Girls to Sweet Valley High, series books for girls have been a staple of girls' literary diets. Bobbie Ann Mason (author of "In Country") is one of many who devoured series like The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew. She looks back at the books with affection and the amused rememberings of adulthood, but also acknowledges some of the faults of the book - especially in matters of racism, stereotyping, bourgeois entitlement and sexism. She also brings some of the lesser-known girl detectives into the spotlight - especially Judy Bolton, a far more satisfying heroine than the rigid, frigid Nancy Drew. If a college course can be taught on Madonna, then this genre definitely deserves study and reflection for its influence on generations of little women.

Reading The Girl Sleuth was like getting in a car with a friend at the wheel and going back to the neighborhood where we lived from ages 10 - 12. Together we uncovered the probable reasons why my mother and the school librarian disapproved of Nancy Drew and what those series mysteries did for our self images as women. The overt mainstream racism of the earlier editions of the series books is shocking; it gives me some comfort to think that our culture has grown up in the last few decades to understand how very wrong that thinking was. This book was completed in 1975 when Mason was a young post-doc coming off a Nabokov dissertation. It is relatively free of scholarspeak, though the feminism and Freudian references are starkly of their time. It's not dated, however: Mason writes from the heart as well as the mind and this slim book is a timeless good ride.