I just finished another Dana Stabenow book, 'A Cold-Blooded Business'. It's
another in her series with Kate Shugak. I really like the way Stabenow writes
about Alaska, she conveys a lot of feel of the Last Frontier' in her books,
and Shugak is a believable and interesting character. This book is set at
Prudhoe Bay oil production base. I work in the oil industry, on drilling 
igs,
so I've experienced most of what Stabenow writes about first hand. She is 
ead
on with her descriptions of camp life, and workings around oil rigs and
production sites. This is the first book that I have ever read that has 
otten
the ambience even remotely right. Her description of a grader coming out of
the ice fog and snow was right on the mark, she compared it to a scene in the
movie 'Alien'.  If her books have a weakness, it's that the puzzle part of 
he
story is usually pretty thin; I can usually figure out the who-dun-it before
I'm half way through. I'll gladly overlook that for the strength of her
descriptive prose.
A friend left me a John Grisham book, 'The Runaway Jury' when he was staying
with me for a few days. He said for Grisham it wasn't too bad. I got about
half way through it and got tired of all the incredible lapses of logic that
Grisham seems to sprinkle throughout his books. The characters are still two-
dimensional stereotypes, and although the writing is a lot better than in 
The
Firm' it still is pretty lame. This one is getting chucked into the recycle
pile to go to the UBS.
I also finished a Robert Campbell mystery. His books are set in Chicago and
feature Jimmy Flannery, an Irish city worker and Democratic Party ward boss.
The little throwaway Irishcisms ('On my mother's grave' and such) gets a bit
much at times, but the stories weave around in the immigrant neighborhoods of
old Chicago and I find them generally pretty enjoyable reads. The one I just
finished is 'Hip Deep in Alligators' and centers around the urban legend of
pet alligators growing to full size in big city sewers.
'A Fatal Attachment' by Robert Barnard isn't as good as most of his books. It
lacked the black humor and ironic twists that characterize his other books.
But he does have a good eye and ear for the details of village life in
England, and the story and characters are convincing to me. If you like
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, you'll probably like Barnard.
I've just started the latest Jenny Cain mystery by Nancy Pickard, 'Twilight'.
I'm not into it enough to really say much about it, but this is a series that
I really like, and I thank Kevin Robinson for introducing me to it.  My only
complaint so far is the PB copy that I have is printed in very small type,
about 8 point, and is somewhat taxing to read. At least for my 50 year-old
eyes. Maybe Pickard has a kickback deal with optometrists or something :)
Anyway I find it hard to read for more than about 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
That's it for now,
Bob 8-{)
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