The Measure > recordedbookreview.com

There should be and will be a measure of a good writer, which is the number of words it takes for the reader to be INSIDE the story. Up, up and away. Peter Robinson: 10. Kristin Hannah/Hannah Kristin: 25. Ernest Hemingway: 4.

19 Years of Reviews

Before Patricia Cornwell, before CSI, did anybody read dead bodies or examine them for traces of their killer? Yes, as it happens. Where there are bodies, there are secrets and where there are secrets, there are readers. Gaudinus the African, for example, who remembers people only by diseases, andThe Mistress of the Art of the Dead by Ariana Franklin read by Roslyn Landor

The conservative Rabbi of a small Massachusetts town inserts himself into the secular and criminal affairs of his congregation, illustrating that the same hypocracies, connivances and plots have been at work in American Jewry since at least 1960....Thursday the rabbi Walked Out by Harry Kemelman read by George Guidall

Kinsey is a tough dame. Brutally honest about herself and therefore about others. She's twice divorced, and is determined to stay that way. As Kinsey says: "I'm difficult". She says it to account for her reluctance to marry for the third time. Also because she likes toT is for Trespass by Sue Grafton read by Judy Kaye

When a computer salesman comes home she greets him with a smile which denies the need to talk about the bill, all the bills, for things he wants to deny her. Later, in the bath, she shoots him. His name is Dennis Poole. He is the kind of man whoNightlife by Thomas Perry read by Shelley Frasier

Even little old Canadian villages have murders, and artists. Jane Neal lived and painted in a big house and kept both her canvases and her home private. Except for the kitchen. To it she invited her circle of friends and fellow-artists, poor and English speaking. TheyStill Life by Louise Penny read by Ralph Cosham

Gwenda gets off the boat at Plymouth, hires a car, looks for village to live in. And finds one: a perfectly charming cottage with aga, a kitchen garden and flowered wallpaper. Gwenda moves in with her rosewood, her mahogany, her papermache, her chintz and all the fabrics ofSleeping Murder by Agatha Christie read by Rosemary Leach

The slightly hysterical, staccato reading misses the funny lines. And Dick just doesn't sound sexy. Too bad, because this book is both funny and sexy. Indeed, the sex scenes could pass for light porn.... The CIA guy is as wholesome and loveable and American as Special K. He rents fastKiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard read by Dick Hill & ...

fake cheese on fake crackers... shoplifted and served with warmed over leftovers. Shame on the publishers. Jennifer Crusie and Mary Kay Andrews and Cheez Whiz

Even if you buy all your clothes at Walmart's, even if you never finished high-school and you still collect Happy Meal toys, even if your little girl never saw her father, who thinned out after a while, like smoke, you can still write a recipe book. Then someone with Aids,Going to Bend by Diane Hammond read by Hilary Huber

Your average everyday Mohammedan maniac, trained by your friendly neighbourhood terrorist, puts on a baseball cap,whistles 'Freebird' and disintegrates the 14th street bridge, the Dallas-Ft Worth Airport, and suburban D.C. before his Tourist Visa even expires. Welcome to America, stay as long as you want, come back anytime.The Enemy Within by Larry Bond read by Michael Russotto

Interesting detective novel about an ex-Mexican ex-sheriff and his deputy-historian. A little bloody but lots of clean writing, and a sharpening style. Good lines. Cartwright was spry and walked fast… he led me around a lush Palo Verdi tree. It reminded me of the way trenches had been constructed on the Western FrontThe Night Detectives by Jon Talton read by Jim Meskimen (A David Mapstone Mystery)

Cynthia Darlow always lends coziness and warmth to stories about Southern life, Southern manners, and Southern towns. Like many, this story begins with an inheritance: the old Farrington mansion along with its papers, pictures, and privy things. This time, the heir is a 45 year old single mother andFirst Impressions by Jude Devereaux read by Cynthia Darlow

It is so civilized to recognize that one is old, so English. Mary Sharp is a spritely, frank, practical English lady, retired, and almost 60. She has lively, vivid opinions and wobbly upper arms and lives in a not very nice part of West London with a sweet young lodger.No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club by Virginia Ironside Read by Sian Phillips

Alone. Another Abridged Morality Play by Lisa Gardner Sometimes one wonders whether books get written by stringing together the top keywords in Google. Sex-cops-beautiful wife-abused child-murder-guns-rich family-domestic violence-sharpshooter-alcoholic father-politics-doctors-baseball. (Never forget baseball.) Calculate the page rank, and you get: Good cop gets bad girl. Bad girl has good excuse. Good copAlone. Another Abridged Morality Play by Lisa Gardner

Libby, an archeological historian who works on historic preservation is informed that she has inherited a run down inn in a beach town where her father lived. "Why isn't this place in the historical register?" she asks the Sheriff, who is helping her find her kidnapped friend. The kidnapping makesTidewater Inn by Colleen Coble read by Devon O'Day