"Horatio's Drive" - America's First Road Trip

"Horatio's Drive" is a film directed by Ken Burns for PBS and tells the story of the first successful road trip across America from San Francisco to New York in 1903.  Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson decided on a whim (and as the result of a $50 bet) to drive a car across country.  He hired a mechanic to make the trip with him at a time when there were no real roads for car travel.  This DVD is the story of their adventure -- many breakdowns and delays along the way -- and their success despite two cars sponsored by Packard and Oldsmobile who started the trip after them.  These drivers had better equipment and regular supplies enroute while Jackson paid for his journey and supplies himself.

It's a fascinating look at early road trips and the unreliability of early cars.  If it had been me, I would have given up after the first day probably but his letters home to his wife in Vermont are upbeat and always optimistic as well as full of love for his wife.  Adding personal appeal to the film is input from two of his granddaughters.

Dr. Jackson is a fascinating man in many other ways as he goes on to be a successful businessman in many fields and volunteers to serve as a doctor in World War II even though he's in his 40's at that time.  He returns home decorated and lives on into his 80's.

Although I don't remember where I first heard about this film, it was well worth watching (and listening to the voice of Tom Hanks as Horatio)!  pazt

"3rd Degree" - Women's Murder Club Novel

"3rd Degree" was written by James Patterson and Andrew Gross and is the third novel in the Women's Murder Club series starring Detective Lindsay Boxer.  This book is a #1 New York Times bestseller  as well as #1 in the Publisher's Weekly, Washington Post, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and #2 in the Wall Street Journal.

It is a thriller so suspenseful that I felt dared to finish it in one sitting.  Unfortunately, it was a few days before Christmas when I started reading it so working, holiday baking, and gift wrapping took precedence but I did finish it before Christmas!

Lindsay and her friend, Jill, are out for a morning run but, when Lindsay is on her way home, there is an explosion and a townhouse is on fire.  After calling for help she plunges into the burning building and pulls out a young boy, discovers three dead bodies and later learns there is a missing baby.  When the fire marshall finds it is not accidental and more bodies turn up in mysterious circumstances, Lindsay and her team have their hands full.  The cavalry arrives to assist them, though, in the form of the Deputy Director of Homeland Security, Joe Molinari.

As Joe and Lindsay team up, she finds he listens to her input and takes her seriously and together they make a good team but there is also another attraction between them.  Can they solve the case without getting too cozy personally?  This is a great read!  pazt

"After The Thin Man"

"After The Thin Man" is, I think, the second movie William Powell and Myrna Loy made in the Thin Man series and it is just as fun as the first and Jimmy Stewart has been added to the cast.  Nick and Nora Charles have returned home to the West Coast just in time for New Year's Eve.  However, their plans to close the curtains and get some sleep (after their train ride home) are spoiled by the disappearance of Nora's cousin's husband.  When they're summoned to her Aunt's home (who has no love for Nick but insists he come, too), they're asked to find him.  They do but that's when things turn tricky and now they're solving murders instead of looking for a missing person.  pazt

"The Shadowed Sun"

"The Shadowed Sun" by N. K. Jemisin is the second book in her Dreamblood fantasy series.  I had forgotten how much I love Jemisin's writing as I've had this book checked out from the library for a while and always chose to read my mysteries first.  However, it was time to return the book and I decided I should read it first!

I think what stalls my starting one is the complex world Jemisin sets up with its own vocabulary and I feel lost until I really get into the book.  (The author does provide a glossary of terms to help navigate her fantasy world.)  Once I'm in it, though, I don't want to put it down.  This book has a very strong feminine heroine - the first woman ever allowed to join the dream godddess's priesthood.  Paired with an exiled prince they need to free the city of Gujaareh from the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate as well as a deadly nightmare plague that is killing citizens in their sleep. If you enjoy fantasy, I'd recommend this series.  pazt

"The Thin Man"

Dashiell Hammett's "Thin Man" movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy have always been a favorite of my spouse and I so we decided it was time to watch them again for some lighthearted detecting.  We started with "The Thin Man" DVD and I didn't remember it so I either haven't seen this one or it's been so long ago that it was all new to me.  (I suspect it was the latter.)

Powell and Loy portray Nick and Nora Charles -- a married couple from very different backgrounds.  Nick has been used to hanging out with the low lifes and being a detective while Nora comes from highbrow society.  After they marry and her father dies, Nick retires from detecting to manage all the companies Nora inherited.  However, Nora encourages Nick to become involved in helping solve a series of murders that involve a family who have been Nick's close friends for many years.

This movie had four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and five sequels were made.  W. S. "Woody" Van Dyke promised to shoot this movie in three weeks but actually accomplished it in 12 days.   It was fun entertainment! pazt

"Heat"

I checked out the "Heat" DVD starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy because I'd read a write up describing it as hilarious.  Sorry -- my spouse and I really tried watching it but didn't find it funny at all and gave up about halfway through.  The story pairs an uptight FBI special agent (Sandra) with a local unconventional cop (Melissa) whose paths collide on a case Sandra is working on.  Where Sandra is "Professional," Melissa's character is crude and foul mouthed and it was just a little too much crude and rude for me.  I'd have to give this a thumbs down from my family!  pazt

"Styx & Stone"

"Styx & Stone" is an Ellie Stone mystery - the first in a series written by James W. Ziskin - and is set in the year 1960.

Ellie Stone works for a newspaper - the New Holland Republic - where she ended up after her mother's death and her estrangement from her father.  When she receives a call to tell her that her father is in the hospital, she returns to New York City to stay at his apartment until he is well enough to come home.

However, when she arrives in New York, she learns (courtesy of Sergeant McKeever) that her father was the victim of an apparent burglary in his apartment and being bludgeoned over the head has him in the hospital in a coma.  On the same night her father was attacked another professor in the department where he worked was found dead in his apartment -- an apparent accident.

When Ellie questions Sergeant McKeever and some of the evidence that has been uncovered, she begins working on her own and with the Sergeant because she suspects murder and attempted murder is what they are really looking at.  In the meantime, a second attempt is made on her father's life in the hospital and convinces the Sergeant that she might have a point.

Some of the professorial and linguistic references were above my head at times but I enjoyed the way Ellie unraveled the mystery and helped the Sergeant solve the crimes.  I look forward to reading the second book in this series.  pazt

"Secret Asset"

"Secret Asset" is Stella Rimington's second novel featuring Liz Carlyle,a young MI5 intelligence officer.  She reports to Charles Wetherby who is Director of Counter-Terrorism.

When one of Carlyle's agents reports suspicious activities in an Islamic bookstore, Liz is surprised when Wetherby pulls her off the case to work on a special project for him.  He wants her to find someone who may have been planted as a mole by the IRA but never activated.  It's a rumor from a credible source and he is taking it seriously but he doesn't want anyone but Liz and Peggy, a young woman loaned from MI6 to work with her, to know the true reason he has them vetting older agents.

At first it seems pretty unlikely to Liz but as she and Peggy begin their vetting project, they make a discovery that ties the mole to the current operation Liz was removed from.  Will they be able to confirm the mole's identity and stop whatever he and his rogue colleagues have in mind?

In the meantime, Carlyle's mother is in need of surgery to remove a cancerous tumor so Liz is preoccupied with her mother's situation but it doesn't keep her from maintaining her on the job focus.

It's another exciting race to the finish -- can't wait to read the third book in the series!  pazt

"The Lucky One"

"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks is, like the other novels I've read by him, a love story but it is also a journey to find one's self.  If you read my blog regularly, you probably can guess that I enjoy mysteries and action, spy stories best.  Romance novels aren't my scene except when it comes to Nicholas Sparks.  I do like his love stories because they also contain substance.  I read "The Lucky One" in one day despite the fact I probably shouldn't have taken a day out to read it.  I was enjoying it so much that I kept going back to it until I finished it!  pazt