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Fiction A set of lies agreed upon RETURN TO TAYLOR’S CROSSING By Janie Dempsey Watts 277 pp. CreateSpace Reviewed by Dennis C. Rizzo I recall my Austrian-born mother being chastised by an elderly matron for innocently drinking from the “colored only” fountain at an Oklahoma bus station. In Return to Taylor’s Crossing , Janie Watts has penned a story that draws out memories like this from anyone living in America in the 1960s. It is clear she is drawing on personal experiences living in the Deep South; her character’s white bigotry rings all too true. Interestingly, she has also used colloquial dialogue in her characters, requiring some   familiarity with the phrases and idioms. Dropped conjunctions and disrupted tenses are characteristic. “Care for some pie?” he said.   “I’m putting away this slaw,” she said.   Old Miss Lizzie, who wore red lipstick that matched her New Testament she carried in her pocket piped up. “Go ahead, Lola, I take care of it.”   “Are you sure...

Nonfiction Puffs of steam and other lies THE CARNIVAL CAMPAIGN: How the Rollicking 1840 Campaign of “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” Changed Presidential Elections Forever By Ronald G. Shafer 279 pp. Chicago Review Press Reviewed by Marty Carlock There was a happy time in American history when presidential candidates did not campaign for themselves. They sat modestly at home and let their adherents extoll their virtues. This golden age came to an end in 1839. In December of that year the Whig party met to choose a candidate for the presidency. The Kentucky statesman Henry Clay expected to win, but the convention thought he had too many political enemies and, as a slave-holder, would be a loser in the North. They settled instead on ex-General William Henry Harrison, a hero of the Indian wars, who had been out of the public eye for so long that no one had any idea what his policies might be. Not to worry – the Whig politicos’ strategy was “never to defend or explain anything, but persistently ...

Nonfiction King of the Puerto Ricans BEDLAM’S DOOR: True Tales of Madness and Hope By Mark Rubinstein, M.D. 296 pp. Thunder Lake Press Reviewed by David E. Hoekenga, M.D. This collection of stories from Doctor Rubinstein’s practice of psychiatry is truly far stranger than fiction. For example, the one entitled the ‘Man of Means’ tells of a very well dressed man in a soiled and threadbare suit hanging out outside the Regency Hotel. He carried a gold-plated cigarette case and matching gold-plated lighter. An elegant briefcase was filled with a few million dollars in Monopoly money. Rubinstein diagnosed this man as “paranoid with delusions of grandeur.” One of the admirable parts of this book is that the author includes an afterword with a follow-up on each client. Several psychiatrists in New York had seen Man of Means, but none could track down his past. Rubinstein wrote, “I feel in love with psychiatry because each patient—though sharing human commonalities—had a unique personal story....

Fiction Unraveling in America NATIVE BELIEVER By Ali Eteraz 272 pp. Akashic Reviewed by Dennis C. Rizzo Any society tends to be xenophobic. Outsiders are scanned and tested and permitted entry only upon assuaging the fear (or guilt) of the group. In  Native Believer , Ali Eteraz gives us a character who has been successfully assimilated; so he is led to believe. Set in the first person, our unnamed protagonist starts off as a medium-level ad executive at a medium-level advertising firm in Philadelphia. Eteraz chooses average-to-mundane for all of the settings, including Philadelphia. It’s not New York, not ‘top of the barrel’, but life is good. M (as he refers to himself at one point) embraces the new boss at work, then is fired because the boss finds a Koran in M’s apartment. This duplicity startles both M and his Southern-born wife because they have been studiously non-religious. M was not even aware his mother had placed a Koran on the very top shelf of his bookcase, to be disco...

Fiction Like having a cuppa with Conan DOING THE DEVIL'S WORK By Bill Loehfelm 308 pp. Picador Reviewed by Alan Goodman A nicely done who-done-it in the long tradition of who-done-its. The author, Bill Loehfelm, brings to New Orleans what Walter Mosley and Michael Connelly bring to Los Angeles and Arthur Conan Doyle brings to London. I don't sense the writing here has quite the bite, the tang of these more well-known mystery writers. But it certainly keeps the reader turning pages. This book was my introduction to the lead character, Maureen Coughlin, who apparently made her first appearances in at least two previous mystery books by Mr. Loehfelm – The Devil In Her Way and The Devil She Knows .  One might better begin with the earlier works, as I felt at a disadvantage jumping into the life of Officer Coughlin somewhere in the middle of her third adventure, where her backstory was essential to the tale, but yet seemed a bit too veiled.  Officer Coughlin is a rookie officer on...

Nonfiction Typhoid Mary and pungent stew THE PRISONER OF HELL GATE By Dana I. Wolff 212 pp. Picador Reviewed by Dennis C. Rizzo Dana Wolff is a pseudonym; something adopted to hide a real identity. The Prisoner of Hell Gate might also be considered a pseudonym. The book's eerie premise is well-conceived and then hidden in an undergrowth of information dump and affected events. At 212 pages this really should be a novella and might work better as a short story or expanded to a full-length piece. I read it in about two hours. That said, The Prisoner of Hell Gate has hidden merits. The East River in New York City is a place long associated with the disposition of unwanted members of society, whether via prisons, asylums, or mob hits. It is on North Brother Island that Wolff strands her characters. The now-abandoned island hosted one of New York's most notorious asylums and was also the scene of one of the most atrocious cruise ship disasters of the early 20 th Century. It is to...

Fiction Beautiful woman, tempted man MANHATTAN NIGHT By Colin Harrison 358 pp. Picador Reviewed by Sue Ellis Colin Harrison’s Manhattan Night , a New York Times Notable Book of the Year originally named Manhattan Nocturne , is the gripping story of a smart guy who got reckless. His name is Porter Wren, a Manhattan tabloid writer trying to backpedal after a lapse in judgment. It’s an old premise: Beautiful woman, tempted man, and his frantic attempts to hide the indiscretion from his wife. When he’s blackmailed by the richest man in the city (who happens to be the owner of the newspaper he works for), his only option, if he wants to hold onto his family, is to out-think a couple of psychologically twisted people. He seems to be the perfect man for the job. Here’s an excerpt from the first page of the book, an effective hook that reveals the main character’s self image and sets the tone for what’s to come: I SELL MAYHEM, scandal, murder, and doom. Oh, Jesus I do, I sell tragedy, vengeanc...