Category: Authors Page 6 of 124

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #32
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 288 pg.
Read Date: July 3-4, 2025

What’s Dogged Pursuit About?

Andy Carpenter has recently left the Prosecutor’s Office to become a defense lawyer. He’s rented an office, helped one client, and…well, that’s it. His wife is leaning on him to take a job as a corporate lawyer (and her father can get him such a position), but his heart isn’t in it.

He has decided it’s past time for him to get a dog after years of wanting one—so he goes to a shelter, falls head over heels with one, and adopts her. The shelter tells him that his new dog (Carpenter fans know Tara very well at his point) has bonded with the dog she shared a run with. So he offers to adopt her, too. That can’t happen because her owner is in jail awaiting trial. They assure him that if he can get a release from the owner, he can take the dog.

Carpenter fans know at this point that this will be Andy’s first client. People new to the series will probably know this, too. Rosenfelt isn’t playing his cards close to his chest here.

And, hey, what do you know? That’s exactly what happens. The trick is that Andy’s new client is charged with multiple murders—that of his old friend and boss who fired him two weeks previously, and the two people he was giving a ride home to (so they wouldn’t drive after drinking at a corporate party).

The circumstantial case is pretty strong—almost too strong. No one that Andy talks to at his client’s old company could believe he’d be capable of such a thing. And he really seems to care about his dog. Which is enough for Andy to dive in.

He just needs evidence on his side, an investigator to do some work for him, and a clue about how to defend this particular client. But that’ll come, right?

The Prequel-ness

I was surprised when I saw this was a prequel. I don’t know that I ever stopped and wondered, “How did Andy get started in the business?” Particularly as early in his career that book one, Open and Shut, isn’t that far into his career and really serves just as well as an origin story.

That said…this is a really good novel, a solid prequel, and a treat for fans of the series. Let’s take a quick glance at some of the series regulars we meet here:

bullet Tara. You don’t have an Andy Carpenter book without his best friend. Their meeting goes beyond a meet-cute, and watching their relationship blossom is great. Honestly, the rest of this list isn’t necessary, as long as Rosenfelt nailed this one, and it’s no surprise that he did.
bullet Sam. Sam gets a little more “screen time” here than he typically does. This is a-ok with me, Sam’s great. We get some seeds planted for a lot of what we see from this accountant/hacker in the future. What we don’t get—and this is the biggest problem with this book—is the song talking. I get that he and Andy have grown out of it by later books (as odd as it is to think of Andy maturing). I miss it, but I can cope (as well as grumble about it). But they’re not there yet. Something that so characterizes their relationship in the first few books should be here now.
bullet Laurie. Andy meets and hires Laurie here, a wonderful decision on his part. It’s totally platonic, Rosenfelt shows us that Andy is a stand-up guy on that front (as he continues to be). Given where their relationship ends up, I have to give Rosenfelt a lot of credit for keeping it professional. Laurie struggles some (as I think she continues to do for quite a bit) with working for the defense—not as much as say, Harry Bosch does (although she wasn’t working for the PD as long as Bosch did). And that’s good to see, but her adaptability and smarts are on full display.
bullet Pete. Pete and Andy aren’t as friendly as they will one day be. It’s actually nice to see them approach bonding, and the beginning of Andy picking up Pete’s tab.
bullet Nelson Carpenter. We don’t get to see a lot of Andy’s father before his death, so it was really nice to see the healthy relationship here. It’s hard not to like this guy, and you can see why he was such a legend in the legal community in the area.
bullet Edna. Andy hasn’t hired—much less met—Edna at this point, but she’s mentioned to him a few times as someone he should hire. Reading what Andy is told about her, and what we know about her, is one of the best chuckle-generators of this novel.
bullet Nicole. This has to be the trickiest one in the book—the relationship is doomed, we all know this. But neither Andy nor Nicole is ready for it to end. Rosenfelt has to show the crumbling, without showing the last straws—as those straws are still to come. And man…I liked Nicole. I enjoyed seeing her bond with Tara. I liked seeing her interact with Andy; she seems like a pretty good match for him.

Marcus

In a couple of the more recent books, I’ve wondered if Marcus is losing a bit of what made him such a fun character for the readers because we’ve learned more about him. Is the mystique gone? Is he on the verge of becoming just another member of Andy’s circle?

That question gets set on the back burner for a while—phew—because in this prequel, Marcus is all mystique. Nothing but mystique and mystery.

So, what did I think about Dogged Pursuit?

Okay, let’s set aside all the fun of the prequel stuff. How’s the mystery, the case, the resolution?

Those are just what you want. Andy’s not the cocky, flashy trial lawyer he will become. But you can see it on the horizon. He’s nervous—in and out of the courtroom. He’s not prepared to meet with some of the truly nasty characters he needs to—or the threat they can represent.

There are plenty of twists and a revelation or two at the end that are just satisfying.

There’s not a huge conspiracy with international implications afoot. There’s some criminal activity around the murders that Andy runs across—but it’s not at the heart of the book.

There are some truly good lines (particularly involving Andy’s cowardice and lack of ability to defend himself—always a good place for Rosenfelt to return to). The momentum carries you right along, right up to the surprises at the end.

Throw in Andy and Tara’s relationship? You’ve got a solid book.

I strongly recommend this book to people who’ve read Andy Carpenter in the past (even if you’ve taken a break for whatever reason). If people have seen my glowing posts in the back and haven’t wanted to dive into a series of 30 mid-stream, this is a great place to jump on board. If people have never seen a thing I’ve written about this series before—this is a great place to jump on board, too. Really, there’s no one that I wouldn’t recommend this book to. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I think you will, too.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley—thanks to both for this. I apologize for the tardiness.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis: Do you listen to the angels on the outskirts?

By HCNewton

On June 29, 2025

In C.S. Lewis, Fantasy, K-O, Theology/Christian Living

Further Up and Further In A Year with C.S.Lewis

The Great Divorce

by C. S. Lewis

DETAILS:
Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Company
Publication Date: 1946
Format: Paperback
Length: 128
Read Date: June 22, 2025

“Then those people are right who say tht Heaven and Hell are only states of mind?”

“Hush,” said he sternly. “Do not blaspheme. Hell is a state of mind—ye never said a truer word, And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind—is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakable remains.”

Sixpence None the Richer’s “Soul”

Since 1994 (two or three years after I read this for the first time) I haven’t been able to think about, much less read, this book without thinking of this song. So why not let you have it run through your head as you read this?

What’s The Great Divorce About?

The conceit of this book is that C.S. Lewis is granted a vision in a dream of the afterlife. He starts out in a miserable place, full of people that could best be described as miserable (although that might be being too kind). He sees a bunch of them waiting for a bus, and since that’s pretty much the only people he can see around, he joins the queue. Before he knows it, he gets one of the last remaining seats.

After a couple of really unpleasant interactions with fellow passengers, the bus comes to a stop and everyone disembarks. They’re near some trees, but mostly there’s a large amount of grassy land near a cliff. Everyone kind of separates and walks around, while others come from a distance toward them. The best way that Lewis can come up with to describe these people is “Bright Ones” or “Solid People.”

They seem more solid and bright than anyone else—who now pretty much seem like disembodied ghosts to Lewis. Meanwhile, the grass is intensely hard and sharp; the trees and rocks are similarly “more real.” Once the Bright Ones arrive, they all head off to talk to individual ghosts—and the interactions that Lewis watches/overhears, the interactions aren’t all that pleasant.

The Bright Ones, it should be stressed, aren’t the problems. They’re patient, kind, and entirely honest. The Ghosts, on the other hand, are nasty, defensive, selfish, and seem to go out of their way to twist the words of the Bright Ones. The Bright Ones are trying to convince the Ghosts to leave these problems—and so many others behind, so they can find true happiness and forgiveness in the City.

Lewis watches some of these, and then is met by his own Bright One, who answers some questions for him about what’s going on.

Okay, that’s more of a summary than I typically give—but the meat of the book isn’t in that outline, it’s in the individual interactions between Bright Ones and the Ghosts.

“The Transmortal Conditions”

In his Preface, Lewis stresses that this book is a Fantasy, sure, it’s one with a moral—but it’s Fantasy. “The transmortal conditions are solely an imaginative supposal; they are not even a guess or a speculation of what may actually await us.”

That’s for the best because there are many problems with his vision of the realms—but at the same time, he does a wonderful job of depicting them

The loneliness of Hell/Purgatory* and how the denizens exacerbate the problem continuously to their own detriment is utterly fantastic. Even better is the hyper reality of the outskirts of the City and the Bright Ones. Lewis said he got the idea from some article he read by an American whose name he’d forgotten years before.

Between this book and Perelandra, I’m starting to come to the conclusion that Lewis’ best writing is reserved for him trying to capture Paradise and relate it to his readers. He falls short, obviously, but the way he does communicate either the area around Heaven or a Pre-Fall Venus are so fantastic that I find myself trying to describe the ineffable.

* It’s Hell for those who don’t take the opportunity to repent, Purgatory for those who do. An intriguing way to be able to placate either the Roman Catholic or Protestant in his readership.

George MacDonald

On one of the rocks sat a very tall man, almost a giant, with a flowing beard. I had not yet looked one of the Solid People in the face. Now, when I did so, I discovered that one sees them with a kind of double vision. Here was an enthroned and shining god, whose ageless spirit weighed upon mine like a burden of solid gold: and yet, at the very same moment, here was an old weather-beaten man, one who might have been a shepherd—such a man as tourists think simple because he is honest and neighbours think “deep” for the same reason. His eyes had the farseeing look of one who has lived long in open, solitary places; and somehow I divined the network of wrinkles which must have surrounded them before re-birth had washed him in immortality.

Among the many things I forgot about this book is the way that MacDonald serves as Virgil, guiding Lewis around the area, answering many of the questions he has about what he’s seeing and experiencing. Having read Surprised by Joy pretty recently, when he goes into what kind of impact MacDonald made on him really helped underline this part for me.

When so many of the other Ghosts had Bright Spirits appear to them that were someone important to them—mostly family members, Lewis (who isn’t quite a Ghost, but is largely treated as one) gets an author who was instrumental in laying the groundwork for his conversion. A great choice, and a very honest/self-revelatory one.

So, what did I think about The Great Divorce?

Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened

I absolutely loved this. I remembered liking it, but I was just blown away this read-through.

Yes, I’d quibble with some of the theology here—Lewis and I aren’t going to see eye-to-eye on many things until we both arrive in the City to be corrected (and neither of us will care about that then). But this isn’t a systematic theology, it’s a Fantasy story with apologetic aims. As such, it’s wonderful. And, I’m never going to sneeze at the chance to read Lewis describing a paradise.

And this is not an apologetic work in the way most of his are—he’s not trying to make a case for the thoughtfulness of Christianity, the reasonableness in the belief in miracles, or anything like that. He’s looking at the core of people, how they think; how they react; how in every thought, word, and deed they are selfish; it’s all about self-interest, self-importance, self-worth. They may try to dress it up somehow, but eventually—even if it’s just for a moment, it’s about them. Seeing myself in these ghosts—I assume that most readers do—is not unlike seeing yourself in the words of advice that Screwtape gives to his nephew. Neither is a pleasant experience, but the mirror that Lewis holds before his readers is pretty clear.

Of the works by Lewis that I’ve read this year, this is his best writing, his most subtle thinking, his most heart-opening thoughts. I heartily encourage this one to those who are curious—even if just for the Fantasy of it all.

5 Stars

REPOST: Quick Fire Fantasy Book Tag

By HCNewton

On June 12, 2025

In Alex Bledsoe, Book Tag, Books, Chronicles of Prydain, Fiction, News/Misc., Nicholas Eames, The Band, The Blackwood Saga, Tufa

I’m not going to finish the post today that I meant to put up yesterday. So…let’s look at this again (all but the third prompt are still valid). I’ve been thinking a lot about the Fantasy genre. Might as well keep the trend going…

I saw this over at Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road, and it seemed like a fun way to revisit some Fantasy Favorites, and indulge in a bit of nostalgia while I was at it.

Play along, will ya?

Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post
Link to the creator’s blog (thebookwormdreamer.wordpress.com) in your post
Answer the prompts below – all fantasy books!
Tag 5 others to take part
Enjoy!

5 star book

The Lies of Locke Lamora
I’ve read this at least 4 times and love it more each time. A Con Novel, a Heist Novel, a story of Found Family and vengence gone wrong (and, right, if you think that’s possible). I can’t get enough of Book I of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence. It’s fun, it’s suspenseful, good fight scenes, and characters you want to spend more time with.

Oh, and the fantasy world is pretty cool, too 🙂

(I have a very short post about it here)

Always going to recommend

The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Narnia made me a Lewis fan. The Chronicls of Prydain turned me into a Fantasy fan (which is why I had to use the covers I owned as a kid). Yeah, it’s written for what we’d call today a Middle Grade audience, but when I listened to the audiobooks a year or two ago (or when I read them to my kids a decade ago), I thought it was just about as effective as you could hope. A little bit of fun, a dash of romance, a hero quest straight out of Campbell, a decent amount of magic (but not too much), a good mythic basis—and a oracular pig! It’s also probably the series that taught me that you’ll end up having emotional attachments to characters to the extent you may get teary about when they die and/or say good-bye to each other (and, yeah, did as an adult).

(my posts about the audiobook series)

Own it but haven’t read it yet

Bloody Rose

I tried to read this last year, and failed. I’m hoping to read it this year, and am likely to fail. I less-than-three’d Kings of the Wyld (in print and audio) so much, I don’t know why I haven’t made the time for the sequel.

Would read again

The Brothers Three

The first of The Blackwood Saga is everything I loved about portal fantasies as a kid—but it’s written for adults. Some good characters, a good amount of growth (especially in the later books in the series), good fight scenes and a pretty cool world to explore. This worked for me in ways I didn’t expect—and the sequels have done a good job building on this one. I’ve yet to read the newest in the series, but this one feels like a good comfort-read if I needed one.

(my post about this one)

In another world

The Warlock in Spite of Himself

(I probably would’ve gone with Brooks’ The Magic Kingdom for Sale, but Bookstooge beat me to it in his post).

I honestly remember very little about this novel, despite having read it several times. But the last time was probably in 1990-91. I was able to find a couple of the later novels in the series, too—just not enough for me at the time (I probably could now—yay, Internet). Still, somehow this is what sprang to mind when I thought of a fantasy on another world. A cool combination of SF and fantasy, as I recall.

Back on Earth

The Hum and the Shiver

(and the rest of the series, too, but this is good enough—as good as many series hope to be in itself)

A magical people with amazing musical talent in the Smoky Mountains, dealing with modernization, an Iraqi war vet, and a feud going back generations. I’m not a believer in magic, but Bledsoe makes me want to with these books—this is the best of a great series, and thinking about it now has got me thinking it might be time for read #4 of this one.

As for the tagging . . . nah, I’ll just leave this open to all my readers, I’d love to see what you all would put here. (W&S Book Club, here’s another chance to talk about The Dragonlance Chronicles—you’re welcome)

Return to Sender by Craig Johnson: The Misadventures of the World’s Worst Undercover Sheriff

By HCNewton

On June 9, 2025

In Craig Johnson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S-Z, Walt Longmire

Return to Sender

by Craig Johnson

DETAILS:
Series:Walt Longmire, #21
Publisher: Viking
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Format: Hardcover 
Length: 321 pg.
Read Date: May 30-June 2, 2025

“You know this is how you’re going to get yourself killed, right? Something stupid like this?”

“I hope not.”

“I’m serious. It’s when you least suspect it, Walt.”

What’s Return to Sender About?

For the previous twenty books, we’ve learned a lot about Martha, Walt’s late wife. We learn a little more about her here—she had a cousin who is now the Postal Inspector for Wyoming. Sure, this doesn’t give us a lot of insight into her as a person—but it does allow this cousin, Mike Thurmin, to call upon Walt for a favor.

A few months ago, a postal worker who carries mail on the longest route in the U.S., 307 miles, disappeared from the face of the Earth. Law enforcement has written it off as an adult willingly leaving her home, her boyfriend has sold off pretty much everything she left behind, but her supervisor/friend isn’t satisfied. And that lack of satisfaction worked its way up to Thurman—who roped Walt into looking for her.

It’s possible, if not likely, that Blair McGowan’s boyfriend is behind her disappearance (he’s certainly unpleasant enough that you can see why many people would speculate about it); she’s an activist, and it’s possible she’s irked someone powerful; there’s a lot that can happen in 307 miles; or the aliens she claimed that abducted her a few years ago came back and picked her up again. Walt’s pretty sure it’s something else, but he has to look into things.

This book pretty much has three acts—let’s take a quick look at them.

The Search for Blair McGowan

In this part, we get the lay of the land and meet the essential characters. Walt tries to go undercover as a postal carrier brought in to cover for Blair temporarily (at least). While doing so, he makes some attempts to investigate—many of which lead people to believe he’s not a postal carrier.

Still, Walt and Dog have some interesting encounters with people in and around the Red Desert of Wyoming. There’s a little bit of consultation with Vic over the phone, and she (and a few others) repeatedly remind Walt to get to Cheyenne for a reception that is important to Cady.

The Women in Walt’s Life

Vic, Cady, Ruby, and Lola feature prominently in the second act (although we don’t get to really see Lola)—with a quick chat or two with Lucian and Henry. It’s all about the change in Wyoming government—a new governor and a prospective promotion for the greatest legal mind of our time.

That promotion to A.G. is complicated by her father’s position in the state—both as a sheriff of one county and his prominence in the law enforcement community.

It breaks up the search for McGowan, it moves some storylines forward, but it largely feels out of place in this book. Still, it was good to see these things move forward a little (and we can assume it will continue to do so).

The Next Search for Blair McGowan

That dealt with, the search for Blair picks back up in earnest. There’ve been a few developments while Walt was in Cheyenne, but Walt has reason to question them—and a greater determination to get to the bottom of things.

This Act takes up the majority of the book, and we learn a lot more about almost everyone we were introduced to in the first Act. There’s a lot of action, some fun new characters are introduced, and Walt is pushed to the limits physically and maybe mentally.

We really have to go back a few books for me to enjoy things as much as I enjoyed this portion of the book, really. I’m thinking Daughter of the Morning Star or Next to Last Stand. The first two parts felt more like Johnson was getting warmed up, and then things really kicked into gear when Walt came back.

Dog

Dog rarely gets to shine in this series—he’s largely just a presence to receive a pat or two, to scarf down some food, and maybe to intimidate someone. But when he does get the spotlight—as he does a few times in Return to Sender—it’s a lot of fun. He’s almost too good to be true, but honestly—who cares? Johnson keeps it pretty grounded (much more so than the ghost of Virgil that might pop up here and there).

For a lot of this book, it’s Walt and Dog against the world—and there are few dogs that can carry that weight.

Oh, yeah, that…

There’s some movement on the part from First Frost about the disappearance of Ruth One Heart. But that’s pretty much all I can cover.

So, what did I think about Return to Sender?

I watched my family members enjoying themselves and then asked. “Lucian, how did you know it was time to hang up your star?”

“You came along.”

“No, seriously.”

“l am being serious.” He stopped and turned to look at me. “When I saw the county would be in good hands, I stepped down and never bad a second thought.”

“I don’t think I have that luxury. Saizarbitoria isn’t ready, and the voters won’t elect Vic.”

He smiled. “Maybe if you gag her.”

Walt’s retirement has been discussed a lot recently, and it seems like it’ll come up more (up until he actually puts in his papers).

Now, I was fully entertained—but also frustrated by Johnson—in the first two Acts. But I have few quibbles or frustrations with the rest. I do wonder about Walt’s ability to do everything physically that he did—but what’s the point of being able to suspend disbelief if you don’t do it occasionally? And there’s much to be said for the combination of adrenaline, necessity, and stubbornness.

Walt vs. nature; Walt vs. big odds; Walt’s determination to do the right thing even when he’s on his own. These are all hallmarks of the best of this series. We got them all, with some great character moments for friends old and new.

What’s not to like? This would work as a jumping-on point for the series (Johnson says every book should work like that, but I beg to differ). For fans? It’s a must read.

4 Stars

Towel Day ’25 (observed): Scattered Thoughts about Reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy

By HCNewton

On May 26, 2025

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(updated and revised this 5/26/25)

I’ve been trying for a few years now to come up with a tribute to Adams. This isn’t quite what I had in mind, but it’s a start. In my mind, this is a work in progress (a multiple-year project), but I’m posting it anyway. Next year’s version will be better—or at least more complete.

Some time in 7th or 8th grade (I believe), I was at a friend’s house and his brother let us try his copy of the text-based Hitchhiker’s Guide game, and we were no good at it at all. Really, it was embarrassing. However, his brother had a copy of the first novel, and we all figured that the novel held the keys we needed for success with the game (alas, it did not help us one whit). My friends all decided that I’d be the one to read the book and come back in a few days as an expert.

I fell in love with the book almost instantly, and I quickly forgot about the game. Adams’ irreverent style rocked my world—could people actually get away with saying some of these things? His skewed take on the world, his style, his humor…and a depressed robot, too! It was truly love at first read. As I recall, I started re-reading it as soon as I finished it—the only time in my life I’ve done that sort of thing.

Also, I finally understood that song, “Marvin, I Love You,” that I kept hearing on Dr. Demento.

It was one of those experiences that, looking back, I can say shaped my reading and thinking for the rest of my life (make of that what you will). Were my life the subject of a Doctor Who or Legends of Tomorrow episode, it’d be one of those immutable fixed points. I got my hands on the next three books as quickly as I could (the idea of a four-volume trilogy was one of the funniest ideas I’d encountered up to that point), and devoured them. I do know that I didn’t understand all of the humor, several of the references shot past me at the speed of light, and I couldn’t appreciate everything that was being satirized. But what I did understand, I thought was brilliant. Not only did I find it funny, the series taught me about comedy—how to construct a joke, how to twist it in ways a reader wouldn’t always expect, and when not to twist but to go for the obviously funny idea. The trilogy also helped me to learn to see the absurdity in life.

Years later, when the final volume (by Adams) was released, I’d already cemented what I thought about the books from these frequent re-reads. I’m not sure that Mostly Harmless changed things much (except for making me think for the first time that maybe I didn’t want him to write more in this series). His non-Hitchhiker’s work illustrated that he was capable of making you see things in a new light–either with a smile or a sense of regret—even when he wasn’t writing the trilogy, even when he was writing non-fiction. It was never the setting or the genre—it was Adams.

But here on Towel Day—as with most of the time I talk about Adams (but I need to change that), it comes down to where I started—the Trilogy. I read the books (particularly the first) so many times that I can quote significant portions of them, and frequently do so without noticing that I’m doing that. I have (at this time) two literary-inspired tattoos, one of which is the planet logo* featured on the original US covers. In essence, I’m saying that Adams and the series that made him famous have had an outsized influence on my life and are probably my biggest enduring fandom. If carrying around a (massively useful) piece of cloth for a day in some small way honors his memory? Sure, I’m in.

So, Happy Towel Day, You Hoopy Froods.

* I didn’t know it at the time, but Adams didn’t like that guy. Whoops.

Towel Day ’25 (observed): Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

By HCNewton

On May 26, 2025

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(updated and revised this 5/26/25)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Towel Day was yesterday, May 25, but I’m going to observe it today (in the tradition of all Weekend Holidays in the U.S>0

Towel Day, for the few who don’t know, is the annual celebration of Douglas Adams’ life and work. It was first held two weeks after his death, fans were to carry a towel with them for the day to use as a talking point to encourage those who have never read HHGTTG to do so, or to just converse with someone about Adams. Adams is one of that handful of authors that I can’t imagine I’d be the same without having encountered/read/re-read/re-re-re-re-read, and so I do my best to pay a little tribute to him each year, even if it’s just carrying around a towel.

In commemoration of this date, here’s most of what I’ve written about Adams. I’ve struggled to come up with new material to share for Towel Day over the years, mostly sticking with updating and revising existing posts. And, this year is no exception A few years back, I did a re-read of all of Adams’ (completed) fiction. For reasons beyond my ken (or recollection), I didn’t get around to blogging about the Dirk Gently books, but I did do the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, The Universe and Everything
So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish
Mostly Harmless
I had a thing or two to say about the 40th Anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I took a look at the 42nd Anniversary Illustrated Edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I should also point to a posts I wrote about Douglas Adams’ London by Yvette Keller and 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams edited by Kevin Jon Davies—both are great ways of filling out one’s understanding of Adams and his work. I have to mention the one book that Adams/Hitchhiker’s aficionado needs to read is Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman, David K. Dickson and MJ Simpson.

If you’re more in the mood for a podcast, I’d suggest The Waterstones Podcast How We Made: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—I’ve listened to several podcast episodes about this book, and generally roll my eyes at them. But this is just fantastic. Were it available, I’d listen to a Peter Jackson-length version of the episode.

I’ve only been able to get one of my sons into Adams, he’s the taller, thinner one in the picture from a few several years ago.
(although I did get he and his younger siblings to use their towels to make themselves safe from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal a few years earlier:)

You really need to check out this comic from Sheldon Comics—part of the Anatomy of Authors series: The Anatomy of Douglas Adams.

Lit in a Nutshell gives this quick explanation of The Hitchiiker’s Guide:

TowelDay.org is the best collection of resources on the day. One of my favorite posts there is this pretty cool video, shot on the ISS by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Even better—here’s an appearance by Douglas Adams himself from the old Letterman show—I’m so glad someone preserved this:

Love the anecdote (Also, I want this tie.)

Class Clown by Dave Barry: A Chuckle-Filled Peek Behind the Curtain

By HCNewton

On May 16, 2025

In (Auto)Biography, Dave Barry, Humor, Non-Fiction

Class Clown:
The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

by Dave Barry,

DETAILS:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 13, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 256 pg.
Read Date: May 4-6, 2025

What’s Class Clown About?

It’s really all there in the subtitle: it’s Dave Barry’s memoirs about his career as a professional wiseass—primarily through his humor column, but he’s found other outlets for it, too.

Here’s some of the jacket copy to help beef that up:

America’s most beloved wiseass finally tells his life story with all the humor you’d expect from a man who made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?

In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment—there was no internet—and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).

He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God’s sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone…

Class Clown isn’t just a memoir; it’s a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.

His Origin Story

The first four chapters are the most autobiographical part of the book—a little less than 50% of it. Here we cover his parents, his childhood, schooling, and early career—from his first newspaper job, his detour through business education, and then finding his way back to journalism and becoming a humor columnist.

This is all the nitty-gritty stuff—what were his parents like? (nothing like you’d guess) What did his childhood entail? (bad jokes and throwing things) What did he write before making money with booger jokes? And so on.

This was the more educational—in a good way, I stress—part. He wrote about is parents, in particular, with warmth and humanity. He was open about some of their struggles, but with sensitivity. I really appreciated the way he talked about his marriages—past and present—very briefly, yet definitively. There is some humor, but it’s largely self-directed, or at the culture he and his parents were in.

This is really the kind of thing you come to a memoir for, and Barry did it well. He quotes some of his more serious (and some of his less-serious) columns here to show what he’s said about these things in the past.

Topical Memories

A little over half the book is devoted to what I’m describing as “Topical Memories”—he has a chapter on things like “My Readers,” “Politics,” and “Books, Music, and Movies.” In these, he relates a collection of stories and anecdotes from all over his career along these lines.

So we get stories about the great things his readers have sent him—and some of the less positive things they’ve said. Scandals he created—inadvertently or not. How he was involved in Obama’s first inaugural parade, or had Bruce Springsteen sing backup for him, how he accidentally offended an audience of Russians by screening one of his films. I particularly enjoyed him talking about his feud with his Neil Diamond-loving readers (I’m a pretty big Diamond fan, but thought Barry’s jokes were good and deserved, for what it’s worth)

There are several extended quotations from his columns here—and we get a lot of the stories behind the columns, too. Not the nuts-and-bolts of how he wrote them, but what led to them.

If the Origin Story chapters were educational—this was recess. Just a lot of fun and goofing off, telling wild stories and recounting past glories (and blunders). It was exactly the kind of thing that Barry readers pick up his books for.

The Appendix

I don’t frequently talk about appendices; they’re supplemental material, and I prefer to focus on the main portion of the book, but every now and then, one comes along that demands attention.

For example (as you might have guessed), this appendix. It was a hoot—its title is “A Good Name for a Rock Band.” Barry (like many of us) will frequently pick up on a phrase from something he quoted and say it would be a good name for a rock band (also known by the super-easy and memorable acronym WBAGNFARB). After discussing this practice a bit, Barry gives a non-exhaustive, but extensive list of some of those bands.

I think reading them in context is best—but you definitely can appreciate them in a different way with no context whatsoever. They are definitely more ridiculous that way.

It’s worth picking the book up from the shelf at your local bookstore/library just to read those few pages. (Of course, you’d be better served by reading the whole thing). Even people who don’t have a background with Barry will find some laughs there.

So, what did I think about Class Clown?

I’m fairly certain at this point in my life that I’m hardwired to enjoy Davy Barry’s writing, and that I don’t have the neuroplasticity to change that. No matter what apps for seniors I try. So maybe take this with a softball-sized grain of salt.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot—and on several levels.

Part of me would’ve liked a little more depth, a little more digging into details of his life, maybe his approach to writing. But it’d just feel strange knowing that much about Barry—and we all know what happens to a joke when you dissect it, knowing too much about how his sausage is made might not be that entertaining. Really, for Dave Barry—this is about as deep as we want. Every time I started to say “I wish he’d given us more about X,” I stopped myself and realized that no, this was just the right amount.

So no, it’s not as self-revealing as say, Patrick Stewart’s or Matthew Perry’s books—and that’s good.

This is a great way to get to know Barry a little better—given the nature of his work, a lot of us have had a para-social relationship with him before that was a phrase people used. It’s nice for us to deepen that relationship to a degree—before we get back to jokes about exploding cows, questionable song lyrics, or whatever.

I heartily encourage readers of Dave Barry to pick this up—even casual readers will have fun with this, you don’t have to be a die-hard like me. He’s one of a kind, and it’s great to bask in that for a little while.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman: You’ll Laugh All the Way to the Morgue

By HCNewton

On April 21, 2025

In Abbi Waxman, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, V-Z

(not that you actually go to a morgue in this book, I was just struggling with that headline)

One Death at a Time

by Abbi Waxman

DETAILS:
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: April 15, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 400 pg.
Read Date: April 11-15, 2025

What’s One Death at a Time About?

Natasha Mason is a twenty-something still trying to figure out what to do with her life—her alcoholism led to her leaving law school, and now she’s paying bills by delivering food and doing other gig economy standbys in L.A., and making sure she makes at least one meeting a day.

At one of these meetings, a vaguely familiar-looking woman shows up—and is not the friendliest of people. She seems—well, is—more concerned about getting her court-mandated signature than in anything else. Mason volunteers to be this woman’s interim sponsor. Now this older woman had been sober before, but on the night that led to the court-mandated meetings had a blood-alcohol level that stunned a rowdy twelve-step meeting into silence. She’d also come out of a blackout next to the dead body of a former lover/decades-long antagonist and what was probably the murder weapon. For a night she couldn’t remember—it’d clearly been eventful.

The next morning, Mason shows up at the gate of her obviously well-off sponsee. Thanks to some time on the internet, Mason knows her to be Julia Mann—a former box office star, now a lawyer taking on cases for as many Davids as she can in a city of Goliaths. Oh, and in between careers, she’d been in prison due to the death of her husband—the former business partner of the dead man she’s currently suspected of killing.

This meeting didn’t go the way Mason suspected—for one, Julia Mann’s housekeeper is an amazing cook, as Mason learned. Also, the two kept butting heads—Mason wanted to talk about Julia’s sobriety, but Julia was rather fixated on the murder. And yet…something clicked between the two. In between verbal jousts,* Julia ends up hiring Mason to be her personal assistant and help with the investigation. Mason justifies this to herself as a way to stay near Julia and keep her sober. The chance to eat more of Claudia’s cooking and make more money than an app can pay doesn’t hurt.**

Before you know it, these two have got themselves involved in a separate murder investigation (another David for Juila to work for), arson, tensions around Julia’s former career in the film industry, tensions around Julia’s future career in the film industry (she wants none of it, but no one seems to care), brushes with organized crime, multiple reasons for both or either of them to ditch their sobriety, and more things that I can fit into this rambling sentence.

* The back-and-forth between these two is reason enough to try this book. Waxman will supply several others, it should be noted.
** Yes, this makes two books in as many months about an LA-based delivery driver turning amateur investigator.

The Murder Mystery(ies)

Murder mysteries surrounding the film industry tend to have a few things in common—secrets, petty grievances that get nurtured into full-blown rivalries (or worse), scandals (for an industry reputed to be filled with amoral hedonists, there really are a lot of moral scandals), and organized crime.

One Death at a Time ticks all of these boxes—and a few others that I should’ve listed above, but forgot to. This may be Waxman’s first mystery, but she clearly understands the genre and knows how to construct a classic whodunit in a contemporary setting.

You get all the twists, turns, red herrings, and layers upon layers of competing motives for multiple suspects that you need—doled out in just the right pacing with dollops of shocks and action along the way. The final reveal is satisfying, and every loose plotline is tied up. It’s a textbook example of the genre—pleasing in every way.

The Humor/Tone/Relationships

This might be a clumsy way to tackle these ideas, but it’s where I am.

Yes, Waxman is known for Rom Coms—or Rom Com-adjacent—books, so we all know she’s funny. This seemed to me to be more overtly comedic. There are jokes—many of them—not just funny situations and loveable, quirky characters doing goofy things. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of those (as well as non-lovable, quirky characters).

This reads like Dave Barry’s kind of crime novel, with the restraint of a Richard Osman. The verbal jousting is great, and the physical comedy is almost as good. The situations are frequently ridiculous, but never so much so that you get taken out of the moment.

The technical term that best describes Mason is “wiseass,” and one with poor impulse control. Someone who doesn’t know how to keep her trap shut, powered by Waxman’s wit is a fun character to read. Julia’s no slouch in that department either, but she’s more mature, she knows that she should pick her targets with care—and is therefore usually more effective.

The rest of Julia’s team (I will not tell you about them, so you can meet them properly) and some of the other characters the reader encounters have drier wits, largely fitting into the typical Waxman model. Oh, except this one actress…nope. You wouldn’t believe me if I tried to describe her.

Mason’s support system consists of the meetings she attends, her sponsor, and her cat. Julia has a strong team of employees and friends (the Venn diagram there has a large area of overlap)—they’re just not that effective on the sobriety front, but they make up for that with their loyalty. Julia also has a pretty strong network of former friends, employers, and employees in and around the film industry. These are loyal to their grudges against her and their own self-interest—however, they (or at least most of them) want her to succeed in her search for the killer, so they can move on with their lives and careers.

You combine all of this—with a (slowly) growing relationship of affection, trust, and appreciation between our protagonists—and you’ve got yourself a great basis for comedy with heart.

Sobriety

One thing that Waxman never made light of in all of this was the sobriety of the characters. Yes, Julia would mock Mason’s approach to being her sponsor, but that was about the characters’ personality differences—both of them took it seriously.

Not all of the characters appreciated the struggle and what the characters did to preserve it—but none of the comedy was about the drinking.

The opening meeting did get me to chuckle frequently, but that was character-based humor. The book never gets preachy at the reader, just to each other.

So, what did I think about One Death at a Time?

I had a blast with this—if you couldn’t tell. This is my fifth Waxman novel, so I went into it expecting that I would. I just wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy it, because of the genre. But if I didn’t know who she was before I picked this up, I’d be scouring the library for her Abbi Waxman now.

It does—as it should—feel very different than her previous works. I’d say this is closer to last year’s Christa Comes Out of Her Shell than the rest, but even saying that, this is different. The stakes are (obviously) higher for these characters; there are potentially lethal consequences for failure. Which might explain the more heavy-handed approach to the comedy.

I think I’ve said everything I wanted to above—the mystery part is really well done; the characters are well-designed and well-excecuted, the relationships between them are strong and obvious—you like the people you’re supposed to like enough that you wish you sat around the room with them, watching them go back and forth while eating whatever wonderful treat/meal Claudia has prepared. Also, it’s funny. That’s a one-two-three combination that I’ll always enjoy and recommend.

This feels like a standalone, but it could easily spawn a sequel or more. If it does, I’ll be first in line. If it doesn’t…well, that’s okay, too. It works really well either way.

Basically, reader, if any of the above tickles your fancy—you need to add this to your TBR. I practically guarantee you’ll have a great time.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post, which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

5 Stars

Miracles by C.S. Lewis: A Pleasant, If Not Particularly Helpful, Read

By HCNewton

On April 13, 2025

In C.S. Lewis, Further Up and Further In, Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Further Up and Further In A Year with C.S.Lewis

Miracles: A Preliminary Study

by C. S. Lewis

DETAILS:
Publisher: Collier Books
Publication Date: 1960
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Length: 168 pg.
Read Date: March 2-9, 2025

…the shock comes at the precise moment when the thrill of life is communicated to us along the clue we have been following. It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. “Look out!” we cry, “it’s alive.” And therefore this is the very point at which s many draw back—I would have done so myself if I could—and proceed no further with Christianity. An “impersonal God”—well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads—better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap—best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband—that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?

So it is a sort of Rubicon. One goes across; or not. But if one does, there is no manner of security against miracles. One may be in for anything.

What’s Miracles About?

In this book, Lewis sets out to defend the idea of miracles. The possibility of them. He flat out says he won’t defend the historicity of Christian miracles—that’s not his field (of course, neither is theology, but that doesn’t stop him). He wants to lay the groundwork. If he can convince the reader that miracles are possible—even better they expect them and appreciate the relationship between them and Christianity—well then, he hopes the reader will—like Lewis himself did—examine the claims of Christianity on a more reasonable and ready basis.

The Direction of the Argument

First, Lewis starts with Supernaturalism vs. Naturalism (and it’s here that he might be at his best for the book)

Belief in miracles, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible in so far as those laws are known. We have already seen that if you begin by ruling out the supernatural you will perceive no miracles, We must now add that you will equally perceive no miracles until you believe that nature works according to regular laws. If you have not yet noticed that the sun always rises in the East you will see nothing miraculous about his rising one morning in the West.

His point is essentially that his readers will fall into two camps: those who will refuse to accept a miracle because they can’t happen or those who are willing to accept there are—or at least might be—supernatural possibilities in the world. If you are a committed reader in the former camp, there’s nothing that Lewis can do or say to make you change your mind. He will, at least, help you to see that—and lay out the possibilities of a supernatural explanation.

If you’re open to a supernatural explanation for things—like a miracle. Then Lewis has some things he’d like to talk to you about.

…it is mere confusion of thought to suppose that advancing science has made it harder for us to accept miracles, We always knew they were contrary to the natural course of events; we know still that if there is something beyond Nature, they are possible. Those are the bare bones of the question; time and progress and science and civilisation have not altered them in the least.

Then he moves into Christian miracles—or at least the miracles that Christians claim as part of their story—their Scriptures, their religion.

…you cannot [remove miracles] with Christianity. It is precisely the story of a great Miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically Christian.

This is, he suggests, part of the path that he took to get to where he is.

If at any point along the line of argument, Lewis loses you, he will not ask you to accept his conclusion—or at least he has no basis to do so. Otherwise…

So, what did I think about Miracles?

You are probably quite right in thinking that you will never see a miracle done: you are probably equally right in thinking that there was a natural explanation of anything in your past life which seemed, at the first glance, to be “rum” or “odd.” God does not shake miracles into Nature at random as if from a pepper-caster. They come on great occasions: they are found at the great ganglions of history—not of political or social history, but of that spiritual history which cannot be fully known by men. If your own life does not happen to be near one of those great ganglions, how should you expect to see one? If we were heroic missionaries, apostles, or martyrs, it would be a different matter. But why you or I? Unless you live near a railway, you will not see trains go past your windows. How likely is it that you or I will be present when a peace-treaty is signed, when a great scientific discovery is made, when a dictator commits suicide? That we should see a miracle is even less likely. Nor, if we understand, shall we be anxious to do so. “Nothing almost sees miracles but misery.” Miracles and martyrdoms tend to bunch about the same areas of history—areas we have naturally no wish to frequent. Do not, I earnestly advise you, demand an ocular proof unless you are already perfectly certain that it is not forthcoming,

I enjoyed it—this was the second or third post-Narnia book I read by Lewis, and it’s one of them I’ve returned to the most. It’s also less and less effective to me the more times I read it. I just don’t like his line of argument. Nor do I appreciate some of what he says about the Scriptures. But, I do enjoy reading this.

There are two major aims for an apologetic work, as I’ve heard from a few apologetic professors/writers. The first is to present a defense for the faith to unbelievers—to convince them, to provide evidence for the faith to them, or at least to show that Christianity has a rational basis (things along those lines). The second aim is to buttress the confidence of the believer that they haven’t taken a blind leap of faith, that their convictions can stand against a hostile culture—or a disinterested one. I don’t see this working to well with the unbeliever (outside of maybe stressing that they’re committed to not accepting the possibility of miracles), rather the strength of his book falls into the latter category.

I appreciate what Lewis attempted to do here. I enjoy seeing him think through these things, and generally have a good time with his language. But it’s not the best thing he penned, and I’m not sure it’s all that useful.

Still, I like it. And anyone who’s going to name a chapter what he called Chapter 9? I want to spend a little time with.

3.5 Stars

HC Chats with M.D. Presley about Laurel K. Hamilton

By HCNewton

On March 18, 2025

In HC Chats, JCM Berne, Miscellany, News/Misc., The Hybrid Helix

Last year, you’ll have seen the name M.D. Presley here a few times–thanks to the first two books in his Inner Circle UF series. We had a fun chat last week that I bring to you today. Matt introduced me to the work of Laurel K. Hamilton and her influence on the genre.

Of course, better than that, would be checking out her site and work for yourself. But you might as well start with this chat.

M.D. Presley Links:

Website ~ Bluesky ~ Facebook ~ Rites of Passage (Inner Circle book 1) ~ Worldbuilding Nonfiction

Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

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