Whodunit?

whodunits by jane haddam

 

PERSONAL COMMENTS:

our yard is gloriously illuminated by light reflected from the flowers of white dogwoods, white azaleas and a curtain of white wisteria. believe me, it's nothing i've done. it's all due to the, as usual, odd ohio weather.

 

speaking of odd: when i was in n.y. a few weeks ago, i did stop in at christie's pre-auction show of post world war 2 paintings where the now famous bare breasted bea arthur painting was being exhibited. my own feeling is that fifty years from now, critics will be amused that someone paid $1.9 million for it; that is, if with inflation $1.9 million is still a lot of money!

 

BOOKS:

'Glass Houses' and 'Blood in the Water' are two more gregor demarkian mysteries by Jane Haddam. Ms Haddam is a good writer who adds interesting twists to her long running series. there are certain similarities between the novels, patterns you can trace if you want to. save it for your british lit. class. these novels are to be enjoyed. and you will enjoy them.

 

i'll list some of the similarities for you. otherwise they are so well integarted into the stories, you won't notice them. ms. haddam always has one 'outside' character. in 'glass houses' she satirizes a totally anti-american british newspaper writer, phillipa lydgate. also, some place in each novel, something doesn't fit. why would bennis hanaford demarkian, demarkian's main-line, philadelphia, wife disappear for almost a year because she had to figure out her cancer? when wealthy arthur heydreich is first arrested and put in jail in 'blood in the water,' why would he be satisfied with a court ordered public defender. he and his company must have a team of lawyers on call.

 

i say quit quibbling. go with the flow. you know you are going to end with the crime(s) satisfactorily solved, with gregor demarkian back having breakfast at the ararat neighborhood restaurant on cavanaugh street where the demarkians and buddies touch base with their roots. speaking of which, why doesn't bennis have any friends from her previous life. she much have know one decent person she respects. ah, well. i still highly recommend this series. published by st. martin's minotaur. the books run $5.99 and $6.99.

 

CONTESTS:

check out Ohio Poetry Day Contests.  The entry fee is $10.00 to enter over two dozen contests.  The deadline is a postmark of May 31, 2013.

whodunit? read haddam's prep school satire 'the headmaster's wife'

BOOKS:

i've read a number of books during this past week. i can't help myself. even if they are terrible, 99% of the time, i finish them.

 

but today i want to write about one that i thoroughly enjoyed. i think you will, too.

 

Jane Haddam's 'The Headmaster's Wife' takes place at a precious new england prep school. if you or anyone you know has attended a preparatory school, a college (or university) or a public high school with a monolithic culture, even though, of course, they all try for 'diversity,' if you fall into any of these categories, you will love her satire on a prep school that has adopted an ultra liberal stance. yes, this is an easy target, but it is funny. and haddam doesn't hammer at the targets as much as she does in other books. well, maybe she does, but in this case it's all part of the plot, whereas in other novels, her aim has been directed to add-on targets instead of to ones that are part of the plot.

 

we have three murders (i think), multiple robberies, and an attempt at poisoning, also various infidelities and other minor crimes. they all add to the fun. yes, they do. i'm not sure how ms. haddam knows that one couple who announces themselves as lesbians aren't. but maybe i skipped a salacious page where that was explained!

 

it really doesn't matter whodunit, though you'll want to know. the characters and minor plots are so well drawn that you won't be able to put the book down

 

it is 436 delightful pages, published by st. martin's minotaur. the book sells for $6.99. the copy i have was marked down to 50 cents!

 

MOTHER"S DAY: happy mother's day to all. last minute gifts are kindle editions of my books. they are delivered immediately and cost only a few bucks.

 

HOW TO WRITE:

1. free summer writing workshops, please contact the Cuyahoga County Public Library

2. Breaking Genre: A Writers Conference will take place June 1, 2013 on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. please contact c.w.r.u. 

 

audreylavin.com http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

i love a good murder mystery: old or new

 

COMMENTS on latest blog:

(even from family) Yay marriage equality! Yay Mom's blog!

 

from d. r. of north canton, oh, referring to suggested reading:

'will check these out'

 

and from me: is it because i took the name for my book 'aspects of the author' from e. m. forster's famous book, 'aspects of the novel' that i like michael gorra's 'portrait of a novel,' based on henry james's 'portrait of a lady'?

 

ARTICLES worth reading

http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/2013/04/four-issues-facing-china by frank lavin for the Heritage Foundation, she says proudly!

 

New York Times OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR (ted gup): Diagnosis: Human
Is being human fast becoming a condition to be contained by prescription drugs?http://nyti.ms/Z78EZJ, forwarded by d. l., n. y.

EXHIBITS worth seeing

Bill Price writes, I have an assemblage sculpture on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art until June 2. The piece is on display at the Connecting with Caporali exhibition. congratulations, bill.

 

 

BOOKS:

i don't know how many sub-genres there are to the mystery novel or to the murder mystery novel, which would be sub-genre #1 of the mystery novel category. here are representatives of two of them. liking one certainly does not mean rejecting the other.

 

'A Bullet in the Ballet' by Caryl Brahms (abrahams) and S.J. Snow was published in 1937, a gentler time. the date in no way detracts from this clever satire, specifically of the ballet russe de monte carlo, but truly of any dance company anywhere, in fact, of any enthusiast who takes his enthusiasm to the extreme. although a number of murders occur (never be tempted to dance the role of petroushka. three who do die.), the novel is one laugh after the other. i just bought a copy on-line to give as a gift.

 

it was published by doubleday, doran and co. in 1938, and is 269 pages. there is a large price range on-line. i think i settled for a $40 edition.

 

at the other end of the murder spectrum, we find 'A Wanted Man,'  a new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. those of you who have read other books in the seventeen-novel series know that reacher is one tough hombre, though basically nice, and very, very smart about all sorts of arcane subjects.

the book opens as he is hitch hiking to virginia.  he is picked up by two men and one woman in a car. no one is who he/she seems to be, which takes reacher and us a while to figure out. meanwhile, the state police enter the case as do the f.b.i. and c.i.a., each organization getting in each others' way as well as reacher's, who eventually, as you might guess, solves the case and strides off into the dark.

intelligently written, the novel is 405 pages, and published by delacorte press. the hardback edition sells for $28.

 

please continue to send me your comments and continue to buy (or borrow from you library) the three novels that so far make up the eloquent series.

NOT MUDER MYSTERIES-------FOR A CHANGE

 

 

KUDOS:

Denise Talbott, adult services librarian of the akron_summit county public library, deserves applause for all of the work she did to set up accommodations at the green library for my book chat there.  imagine driving up to the library and seeing 'dr. audrey lavin' in flashing lights. i thought i was in vegas for a while!

thanks, denise.

BOOKS:

in case readers of this blog think that all i read is murder mysteries, i am going to write about three of the non-crime books i am now in process of reading:

1. 'The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson' is worth dipping into. i think many of you who are also writers and who dream of publication will enjoy a different twist:

Publication-is the Auction

Of the Mind of Man-

Poverty -be justifying

For so foul a thing

 

it ends

But reduce no Human Spirit

To Disgrace of Price-

 

Ms Dickinson's  1775 poems are contained in the book's 716 pages. open at random and sniff around. you will enjoy most of what you read. the editor is thomas h. johnson and the book is published by little, brown and co.

 

2.  Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Other Stories" is a pleasure. at least the story that is included in the title. the extracts from adam's and eve's diaries ("translated from the original") are charming satires on feminism and masculinity with many sly pokes at religious establishments. for all of his jokes about men and women, twain ends the story with adam at eve's grave, saying "wheresoever she was, there was eden."

'extracts from adam and eve' is 28 delightful pages.

the other six stories in the collection are not as interesting, but occasionally show flashes of twain's humor, understanding, and descriptive abilities, esp. the seven pages that comprise 'the californian's tale.

 

dover publications is the publisher of this ninety-four page book that sells for $4.95. you'll be happy i suggested it.

 

3. Michael Gorra's "Portrait of a Novel"  is subtitled 'henry james and the making of an american masterpiece.' it is an elegant biography of james. i'm sure there are those who will disagree with me, but i really think that you have to read or have some familiarity with james's most famous novel, 'the portrait of a lady' before reading it. the title of gorra's novel echoing that of james's almost tells us that.

when i started the book, gorra's  book, i was overcome with all of his words and references. then i thought, 'if he is spending a large chunk of his life reading james that's exactly what he will end up sounding like,' and plunged on, much to my own reward.

mr. gorra weaves together literary criticism, travelogue, and psychological analysis of real and literary characters in his 334 enjoyable pages published by liveright publishing corp. it can be yours for $29.95 or stop by your nearest public library and put your name on the waiting list. there must be one.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. A workshop in poetry and performance

on Friday, March 29th, 2013, 12:30-1:50 p.m.

at Case Western Reserve University
Clark 309, 11130 Bellflower Rd.

2. Thursday, March 28th
Dana Ward at Case Western Reserve University
Guilford Parlor, 11112 Bellflower Rd.
6:00 p.m.
for those of you still ending submissions to the LITTLE magazine on the blog, thank you, but i have closed the journal. i loved publishing it, but i am not looking for a full-time job, which is what i was getting into. i did tell  mrs. kurtz i would give her a plug (when i thought i was going to publish some of her work), so  try reading The Way It Was, Recollections of the Life and Times of an Opinionated Granny, a memoir by Olga B. Kurtz

 

 

audreylavin.com http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

final edition: the LITTLE magazine on the blog/ ben b's bosom poem

the  LITTLE magazine on the blog

march 2013 and final edition.

 

to all who submit and all who read the LITTLE mag: thank you. thank you. i have been delighted with our contacts. i have enjoyed editing your work. but oh! the time-consuming computer problems associated with publishing this journal. i've fought and tried to solve them for a year now. the computer wins. 

 

Jrosenb357@aol.com this is supposed to be joel's cartoon. i've tried for two days to post it!

 

itwas supposed to have been followed by part of the first chapter of my humorous murder mystery, 'eloquent blood.' it didn't work out, so please buy the novel and read it for yourself! let me know what you think.

 

STILL A TEENAGER (AT 65)

Ben Bartman   090212                              

 

I dream of caressing her supple breast

Coddled in silk beneath her blouse.

I fancy it in my hand at rest

A ruttish blaze I cannot douse.

 

Perchance I see a lass a'strolling  added apostrophe

My gaze glides towards her assets

My desire bubbles as if fermenting

Spawning prurient vignettes

 

With age my yearning remains tumescent

Despite my dream’s improbable goal.

The thought alone can leave me spent      

 The prospect recharges my soul.  

                       

If chance rewards my desire with pity

I fear I might faint as I reach for that titty

 

i will continue to write my regular blog

audreylavin.com  or http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  or cantonrep.com. please read it and continue to send me your comments. audrey

Related articles

Submissions, Whodunit, Dick Wolf

whodunits to read and your thoughts on endings, please

 

 

  

COMMENTS regarding the LITTLE magazine on the blog:

"I TIP MY HAT TO YOU" from jo m., chicago

"YAYAYA!!!" from eleanor l., n.y.

"Great Moldova story" from m.l., chicago

"Loved the Moldova story and Gary Sirak's "If Money Talked..."

Always enjoy your web site" from caroline t. canton oh

and finally "J" from betty m., canton oh  

PLANS TO START 2013:

now i'm going to list some books i've read over the holidays, more than i usually list in one blog. i'm doing this because lately i've been thinking of endings.  i would like your in-put for the next whodunit blog.  i would like it to be all about endings. do you like endings that tie up crime, romance, and any other puzzle that has made an appearance in the novel you're reading? say, like jane austen does? or do you like the crime solved, but not the subsidiary stories? or neither? or both? please dash off your thoughts in just a few words or long paragraphs. send your ideas as comments on this blog or to me personally at lavingroup@aol.com. thanks so much.

BOOKS:

Anarchy and Old Dogs, Never Hand Money to a Transvestite on a Street Corner, The Merry Misogynist and anything else you can find by Colin Cotterill. i've read the three books listed above during the last week or two and have enjoyed them immensely. they're about 265 pages. as a first step, enjoy the titles listed! any  book i've read about dr. siri paiboun, the reluctant national coroner of laos, has been a pleasure. dr.siri is in his 70s; his second, noodle-making wife is in her 60s and they become astounding, brave, intelligent, satiric, and funny guides through a county not many of us know.

i also am extremely fond of the author colin cotterill. he dedicates the merry misogynist, 'to my wife, jessi, who rescued me from my misogynous ways and turned me into a big soft thing.' awww.

 

Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis is a period murder mystery that takes place in vienna and is solved by a psychoanalyst/detective. it's 369 pages, not bad, but not my cup of tea. if you like historical fiction with a medical slant, it might be yours.

 

The Other Woman's House by Sophie Hannah is a little longer at 438 pages. it stars charlie zailer and simon waterhouse, who are now married, but still don't have their sex-act together! hannah is well-known for her suspense fiction and award wining poetry.  she can write. she is super at the beginning of the novel, but by the end she is kind of twisted up in her own plot, which would be great if only slightly less convoluted. the narrator's husband kit has another woman, or so she suspects. she takes a virtual tour of the other woman's house on the internet. there's a dead body in a pool of blood in the living room. she tires to show others and oops! there's no dead body in a pool of blood. it's 438 pages that will pull any reader along with it, except for that darn ending!

 

to all who are reading, thanks so much. i appreciate your support and the comments you send to me. reading and writing can make for a lonely life. i don't think of these activities that way at all, but still it is wonderful to have this internet bond with you. i sincerely and happily wish you all a merry   2013 full of good health, joy, laughter, and whooo dunits?

audrey

september edition of the little magazine on the blog

 

the LITTLE magazine on the blog
september 2012 issue, please scroll down

 

trying to transfer submitted and accepted cartoon here. any ides? SCROLL DOWN FOR L>L> COOL J AND MORE

by Joel Rosenblum, 
                                       My “Breakthrough”
                                      Title and quotes from the LL Cool J song
 

      In my 70s, when I gave up being a blond, who fooled no one, I found that as a graying granny I was still considered attractive—especially to 80-year old men.  Although some charms remained, they remained well outside the demographics of the typical rap star groupie.
     This is perhaps why L.L. Cool J. seemed startled when I approached him in Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. I probably had “little old lady in tennis shoes” written all over me, even though those tennis shoes were my daring, bright red Mephistos. He easily one-upped me with his “Purple Devils” by New Balance.  But I didn’t have to look at those shoes to recognize that the big, handsome stranger had mega-star written all over him!
     At first, I didn’t know which mega-star he was, but anyone being followed at a discreet distance by two burly body-guards as flash-bulbs went off around him had to be someone important. This tall, handsome stranger radiated presence that went beyond his massive gold chains. Crowds parted as he strode with purposeful abandonment through his Red Sea. He knew he was “the leader of the show” and dressed the part, wearing a warm-up suit, not any warm-suit, but rather one made on Saville Row---if Saville Row made warm-ups.
     He took it for granted that I knew who he was. I should have: even at that time, he had been a star for more than 15 years.  He had made ten albums and was constantly featured in Upscale, Source, Jet, Ebony, YourTV, and other magazines that, unfortunately, aren’t any of the academic journals that I read!  So I played it safe.  Not being at all sure which mega-star I was introducing myself to and thinking it a tad rude to ask (“I know that you’re famous, but really, who are you?”), I addressed him as “Sir” during the beginning of our airport interlude.
     “Sir” might seem a bit formal for a brief encounter, but hey, if I had recognized him and quoted “LL this” and “LL that,” It might have been a bit too much. When I did figure out who he was, I didn’t become much more intimate in the name-game.  – Hey, Mr. Cool j?  Mr. J?  “Sir” worked just fine.
     Knowing that everyone is interested in my grandchildren, I told Sir Cool J that I was en route from Washington where I had just given $50 to my granddaughter Abby because her paycheck was late and she was out of money. My problem was, I explained to LL, that the gift left me without anything to give my grandson Austin who had been with us, not broke, it was true, but still a deserving grandchild. “Don’t you agree with me,” I asked Sir LL. “Shouldn’t I send Austin an equalizing amount?”
     I’m not 100% sure that LL Cool J was fascinated by this conversation, but cool was his name and cool were his actions. With that mega-smile that still ensures his mega-stardom, Sir Cool J asked if I had any money on me at all. I took out a crumpled $5.00 bill. He flourished his pen, scrawled his signature across the bill and returned it to me. “Send Austin this. It’ll be worth more than the $50 to him, and I’ll have saved you some money, too.”
     In one spontaneous act of kindness with “the words of the master…the professor, the teacher, the hi-hop dean” LL had equalized my gifts to my grandchildren -- $5.00 to be framed was as good as $50 when needed – and had done wonders for my reputation within the family as a cool grandmother!  
     The demographics of LL Cool J’s fan clubs changed in that
few minutes it took him to smooth the bill and write his name. I became and remain a groupie of “the kind of the sound. LL Cool J, the baddest around.”
.
by audrey lavin, canton oh
 
 
                            CONFRONTATION
 
From a narrow trail among aspens
I scan the distant snowy peaks;
turn to find a curious moose scrutinizing me.
He ponders assailing this puny human
with his armament of magnificent antlers
that could easily toss me into the treetops.
Not worth the effort, he concludes,
and trots off across the meadow.
 
      published in 2012 in "Naturally Inspied:  Poems of the Great Outdoors,"copyright by Erica Stux, Los Angeles, CA
 
 
                            FOCUS--POCUS
 
heading for home on our summer vacation,
we congratulated ourselves all the way;
The pictures we have are the loveliest ever,
to bring back the mem'ries on some future day.
No double exposures, no off-center landmarks,
no blurs on the prints caused by unsteady hands.
Not one out-of-focus, or marred by poor lighting --
We bought all of them at the souvenir stands.
 
      published in 1969 in "Jelly--Laughs and Chuckle--Lets," copyright by Erica H. Stux, Los Angeles CA
 
 
NB: please send your submissions to 'the little magazine' to audrey lavin at lavingroup@apl.com

end of summer, writing hint, and martin cruz smith's whodunit

SUMMER & HOLIDAYS:

Already the iron door of the north

Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows

Order their populations forth,

And a cruel wind blows.

 

i'm not as pessimistic as stanley kunitz, the author of 'the end of summer' (quoted above) but i do hate this mid-august autumnal feel of the air. on the other hand, we have much to look forward to and celebrate. for example, 24 september is national punctuation day. see

http://www.NationalPunctuationDay.com

 

for WRITERS:

“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.”
—Jack Kerouac

 

for READERS:

Polar Star, a tale of murder and the slime line of a soviet factory ship in the bering sea off alaska, is not a book i ever thought i'd read.  and more, enjoy. in a recent wall street journal article, john lanchester listed it as one of the top five mysteries that will stand the test of time.

 

martin cruz smith's sequel to his gorky park brings back detective arkady renko and a figure from renko's moscow past karp korobetz, but basically polar star is a stand-alone novel. cruz-smith will hate me for the next comment, especially after the tremendous amount of research he must have done to write this book. however, it is a typical agatha christie locked room novel. instead of the english country house, we have the ship polar star and the accompanying american ship. like the country house stories, no one leaves, no one can join the group. what is really different is that cruz smith is a much better writer than our dear ms. christie. good guys and bad guys (gals, too) are intermingled. all russians are not bad. all americans are not good.

 

for some people, polar star might be, by now, an historical murder mystery. at 386 pages, it is quite a good read. wry humour and bleak landscapes dominate. random house is the publisher. 1989 is the copyright date. the price on the hard back copy i read is $19.95. it must be more by now.

 

SUBMISSIONS:

please continue to send stories (fiction, non-fiction) poems and cartoons to me at lavingroup@aolcom.

and to all of you who i said i would quote today, sorry. the dog ate my blog-or something like that happened to first copy.

 

audreylavin.com       http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

your comments, the little magazine, alafair burke, and colin cotterill

Comments regarding  the little magazine:

an ambitious undertaking.
I am proud to be on the mail list of someone
who can put that whole thing together.  d.w cleveland oh area

 

I enjoyed all three pieces; each with a style of one's own & very fun. Short thoughtful pieces are perfect for me. l.s. canton oh

 

Very weird.  Anti-dog indoctrination? lg-l, n.y.

 

Comment regarding eloquent tattoo:

eloquent tattoo is now available on-line at www: ohioshoppingnetwork.com
the only problem is that i can't find it. can you? seriously, dear reader, if you can find the mystery novel, please let me know how. 

 

 

Whodunit BOOKS:

Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by colin cotterill and

Never Tell by alafair  burke

 

i'm sure you'll agree with me that grandad, there's a head on the beach is a super title. it's a good, not super, but a good read, too. it is the second novel in the jimm juree mystery series. i reviewed the first one, killed at the whim of a hat, in this blog a few weeks ago. the locale itself is interesting. the stories take place in maprao, a small town on the gulf of siam in southern thailand, an area not familiar to most of us. jimm is an ex newspaper gal, which gives us her motivation of curiosity and detecting. the slightly odd concept of this book is to present us with jimm and her eccentric family, something like janet evanovich's stephanie plum's relatives, only more so because of their sexual confusion. i mis-speak, not exactly sexual confusion: many characters in this novel are trying out different sexual roles. for example, jimm's ex-brother is now her sister sisi. we are presented with the family and the head on the beach at the beginning; then the novel takes a left turn against  burmese slavery and indentured seamen. who knew?

 

this second novel in the interesting series is published by minotaur books. it is 324 pages and sells for $24.99.

 

Never Tell by alafair burke is based on a familiar theme, the presumed suicide of a young girl and the n.y.p.d. detective, ellie hatcher, who thinks it is not a suicide. this time, she's not alone, the parents of 16-year old julia whitmire also think it is murder. the novel is quite contemporary: the father is in the rock music world, and computers, texting, cyberbulling, and prescription drugs are big parts of the story. detective ellie's love life makes a nice background. she is a little more human than many of her literary counterparts as she very often makes mistakes.

 

this is the fourth in the series. it is 348 pages and published by harper. it also sells for $24.99.

 

i close by thanking all readers of this blog.  not counting the repository hits, we are up to over 12, 850. keep your comments coming, and  please submit cartoons, poems, short stories (fiction or creative non-fiction) for the little magazine on the blog.

 

 

audreylavin.com http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

comments, grossman, evanovich, and submissions

 

 

audreylavin.com  http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

 

---

From: Lavingroup@aol.com
To: lavingroup@aol.com
Sent: 8/27/2012 1:02:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: (no subject)

 

 

 

Explanation:

i have been away from this blog for about a week because of family visits and the death of our lovely family member, florence shay of deerfield, il. florence was consuegra, fellow book-ie, and fellow blog writer. vaya con dios, florence.

 

COMMENTS:

now that i'm back, following are some excerpts from comments made about the el anatsui show in akron:

 

 

I am happy that you loved the Anatsui show as much as I do.  One probably needs to call him a genius, having invented a new way of making art  and then having discovered how to evoke so many different forms, colors, moods, associations from the same material. Who knew bottle caps could be as versatile as paint?  m/kahane, director akron museum of art

 

Just read your blog and wanted to acknowledge our appreciation for sharing your experience with your followers. It’s a fun blog and Gravity and Grace truly is an amazing show…breathtaking, inspiring, mesmerizing – every superlative you can think of. e.w. director,akron museum of art

and about the new little magazine on the blog:  I read the blog and really liked the one about the hitchhikers to Mexico. f.p., fl.

 

BOOKS:

Children of Wrath by paul grossman and

Wicked Business by janet evanovich are two murder mysteries i could not finish. other readers might enjoy one or the other of them, though it's difficult to imagine the person with the  literary sensibilities that would carry  her through both of them.

 

i couldn't finish either for completely opposite reasons. children of wrath takes place in pre-ww2 germany in 1929, the country's last days of prosperity. will kraus, a jew, is the police detective. the reader knows that the obvious and subtle anti-semitic slurs that surround him are not 'only' slurs. we know what comes next. it was that knowledge that kept me for completing this well-written novel. if it weren't well-written, it wouldn't have been so frightening. if you like historical murder mysteries, i'm sure you will enjoy this, though 'enjoy' isn't quite the word.

 

it is 324 pages, published by st. martin's press, and sells for $25.99.

 

on the other hand, what was janet evonovich thinking when she wrote wicked business?  i and probably millions of others have laughed our way through the wacky world of the stephanie plum series. but this lizzie and diesel series is simply plumb awful. i'd say that the humor was infantile except that the children i know  tell much funnier jokes.

 

it is 299 pages (wide margins, plenty of space between lines), published by bantam books, which should know better, and sells for $28.00

SUBMISSIONS:

i usually do not list requests for submissions when a fee is involved, but i know these people. they are legitimate, so i suggest you look into the possibility of submitting to

1. indigo ink press

now accepting submissions
through Sept. 1st for  Modern Grimmoire     

check internet listing

  2. the little magazine on the blog  lavingroup@aol.com (no fee here)

audreylavin.com               http://bit.ly/OhAudrey