Hollywood Nate Archives > recordedbookreview.com

It is not obvious that what happens to English in L.A. is natural, because what is natural in California is not natural anywhere else. But if nature is not local, what is? What localizes language? Why does Hollywood Nate understand another cop who asks him whether an Indian girl is feather or dot?

19 Years of Reviews

Charlie has been a guest and a prisoner of the dictator of Batanga for 12 years when he has an affair with the dictator's favorite wife. After the wife is tortured, Charlie extradites himself to America, and stands trial for an old murder. The crime is investigated, reconstructedPhillip Margolin, Fugitive, read by Jonathan Davis

The bored and boring life of a typically immoral English banker in the city of London in the 1960s.George Evans by A.F. Gillotti read by Philip Rose

Sit down at the kitchen table, have a cup of tea, and listen to the gossip, the rumours, the superstitions, the confabulations and conjurations of the people living in the village near Saint Anne's well, in the magic woods of Whitethorn, where everybody tells stories. For example,Maeve Binchy Whitethorn Woods read by Jenny Sterlin

Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me hard boils the story from the start: London as the small bad city with its own 87th precinct: Brant, who cuts a bit off the top of every drug bust, makes himself loved by women, plays laid back surfer dude copCalibre by Ken Bruen read by Gerard Doyle

More than a little over the top, Clara Hutt is dropping her 2 boys off this morning wearing her pajama bottoms (again) and wondering (again) why all the other mothers can arrive at school with perfectly starched blouses and expertly applied makiage. Not now, Darling, I'm Paaaarking," andIndia Knight's My Life on a Plate read by Jill Tanner

A delightful, witty murder mystery about a small-town gated-community studded with the usual sociopathic suspects, albeit wealthy, and gorgeous social commentary. Waldorf Pines is an exclusive ex-1920's ex-golf-course on which marbled kitchens and bathrooms have been built, bricked over with Tudorish frontage and populated by odd, classless, moneyed characters badlyBlood in the Water by Jane Haddam read by David Collacci

Wed Sep 08, 2004 After P. Cornwell it is impossible or almost impossible to fob off a respectable forensic report, fake a fictional autopsy, or counterfeit the routine day to day life of an imaginary female coroner. If you want to be taken seriously, that is. The rather silly scene thatBlindsided by Karen Slaughter

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.The Measure

Imagine three divorced fairy godmothers wearing red hats feeding you yellow cake, laying out your new life, and getting you ready for the charity ball by teaching you how to play bridge. There you have it. The almost penniless newly divorced matron with good manners sets up a home decoratingRed Hat Society's Queens of Woodlawn Avenue by Regina Hale Sutherland read by Staci Snell

Forget the tax on sugar. Tax bad dialogue, dreadful characterizations, idiotic psychological profiles. To wit: When he was a child the twitch had made him the target of merciless teasing and bullying. It had made him burn with hatred. And that hatred had driven him to succeed. Victor Orlov wanted toThe Defector by Daniel Silva read by Phil Gigante

All About Eve, Manhattan style. A generous but unwitting socialite wife is betrayed by a younger version of herself. Exiled from high society, kicked off the boards of the most desirable charities, she obsesses about the woman who took her place. Fat, friendless, and poor, she plots the woman's Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock read by Barbara Rosenblat

Fury in the doctors office: odd thinking and odder emotions find their way into clinical space. The Emergency Room doctor as addict, as alcoholic, as James Dean, or James Bond. Genetically modified foods unregulated by the Department of Agriculture served with grandmotherly love by a local eatery are at the basisOath of Office by Michael Palmer read by Robert Petkoff

After the funeral, there is the family and the village. There is a batty aunt, a hysterical and heirless English lord, his ancient butler, and a smattering of inadequate and weak-willed in-laws, waiting for their share. These are the leftovers of the comfortable class, who married badly and relied onAfter The Funeral by Agatha Christie read by Hugh Fraser

Another alcoholic ex-cop running a bar? Yes! This time in Fort Myers, living every cop's retirement dream: living on a houseboat, dating a Cuban woman and solving murders on the side. It's good. From the very first paragraph Jack feels like a detective, sounds like a detective, and makes it clear thatThe Dollar-A-Year Detective by William Wells

Despite a perfect narrator, with a perfect Italian pronunciation of pithy Italian sayings, the mystery lacks a singularly compelling plot, indeed any plot. Disappointing because the author has a lot to say. .... Murder in Tranquility Park by J.D. Griffo

Tag: Hollywood Nate

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh