Customer Reviews:
A must read!.......2001-03-27
As a high school guidance counselor for the past 17 years, I have often suggested this book to high achieving and highly motivated students and their parents. They want to know what selective colleges are looking for in the admission process. Richard Moll opens the door to this mysterious process and offers valuable insight about what it takes to get in to those most highly selective schools. The sooner in the high school years that a student or parent gets this information, the better their chances for acceptance to the college of their dreams.
Customer Reviews:
Game Plan for Getting into Private School.......2000-05-05
Peterson's starts with a general Planning Calendar beginning in 7th grade. It discusses what Private Schools offer and how to consider which type of school is best for your child. How to start looking for a school and how to help your child prepare for the application process. What to look for in a school and how to narrow down choices. There is a section about Financial Aid and finally the transition into Private School. It does not describe particular schools.
I thought the book covers this subject well and I have read from several different sources.
Book Description
In the annals of art theft, no case has matched—for sheer criminal panache—the heist at Ireland’s Russborough House in 1986.
The Irish police knew right away that the mastermind was a Dublin gangster named Martin Cahill. Yet the great plunder —including a Gainsborough, a Goya, two Rubenses, and a Vermeer— remained at large for years. Cahill taunted the police with a string of other crimes, but in the end it was the paintings that brought him low. The challenge of disposing of such famous works forced him to reach outside his familiar world into the international arena, and when he did, his pursuers were waiting.
The movie-perfect sting that broke Cahill uncovered an astonishing maze of banking and drug-dealing connections that redefined the way police view art theft. As if that were not enough, the recovery of the Vermeer—by then worth $200 million—led to a remarkable discovery about the way Vermeer achieved his photographic perspective.
The Irish Game places the great theft in Ireland’s long sad history of violence and follows the thread that led, as a direct result of Cahill’s desperate adventures with the Russborough art, to his assassination by the IRA. With the storytelling skill of a novelist and the instincts of a detective, Matthew Hart follows the twists and turns of this celebrated case, linking it with two other world-famous thefts—of Vermeer’s “The Concert” and other famous paintings at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” at the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo. Sharply observed, fully explored, The Irish Game is a masterpiece in the literature of true crime.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read About Real Crime and Art.......2006-04-03
Matthew Hart's The Irish Game : A True Story of Crime and Art is an excellent read about Ireland, art, art theft, and criminal investigation. This is a very intiguing non-fiction book about the theft of art by Johannes Vermeer in 1986 from a great house/museum known as Russborough in Ireland.
Not only is this book a pleasure to read, I walked away learning quite a bit about art techniques, and art theft. Whereas non-fiction, if not done right, can tend to drag, this real story moves along at a brisk pace due in large part to the story, compelling characters, and smooth pace.
I really enjoyed learning about the Irish police AKA the Garda and the techniques they employed to track the art theft's chief suspect Martin Cahill.
I would encourage anyone interested in any of the aforementioned matters, inlcuding but not limited too: art theft, criminal investigative techniques, art techniques, and Ireland, to give this excellent book a try.
"Every time you touch me I become a hero.".......2006-03-25
I don't generally read mystery novels;for the simple reason that when I finish one,I don't really feel that I've learned anything.Sure,there is the suspense, of trying to figure out whodunit;in the final analysis,logic isn't the governing factor;and the author calls the shot.
True crime is quite a different matter,and I find that getting into the real mind of a real person,is much more interesting.
Reading this book, one gets a very real insight into crime in the art world. The way the mind of Cahill works is unveiled as well as the way that the Irish police operate. After all,Irish culture is the result of many centuries of the people fighting the establishment.
The author beautifully sums it up with this paragraph;
"But the roots of insurrection stretch much farther back in time,into an ancient tradition of secret,peasant societies formed by the dispossessed Gaels in the centuries following the Norman invasion,and persisting into later times. These small,clandestine bands had no chnce of reversing history. Their mission was to exact a steady taxation of terror from those in power over them. They depended on concealment on the complicity of their fellow Irishmen,who shared their language,race and fate. This old tradition of resistance to authority was too deeply engrained to evaporate with Irish independence,and the job of a policeman in Ireland is always at war with the past."
Along with gaining a good insight into Irish crime; we get a real understanding of the nature of crime in the world of priceless art. I often wondered why criminals stole these items when they are so easily identifiable and therefore virtually impossible to fence. This book clearly explains what goes on here. When a great piece of art is stolen,we also see that it becomes an international crime.
This book reads like fiction; but when you come to the end ;you are left with the satisfaction that you've really learned something.
A fun and interesting read.......2005-12-04
A delightful book. If you like true stories about the almost perfect heist involving great works of art, then you'll enjoy this book. And like any good book, it is not only entertaining but teaches you something you didn't know...in this case about the world of crime and art.
Matthew Hart Paints a Picture. . ........2005-08-22
This is the first true crime book I have ever read, and it won't be the last! Hart gives a history lesson of the Russborough Mansion and some of the paintings in it. You don't have to be familiar with art to really understand the heists and why the paintings were stolen. Hart gives you enough overall information; by the end of the book you will be an expert yourself. This book is packed to the max with great information. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants suspense, and historical information about the paintings.
Engaging Shaggy Dog Story.......2004-12-23
Matthew Hart is a charming and engaging writer who can bring any subject to light, and yet THE IRISH GAME is all over the place. Its subtitle, "A True Story of Crime and Art," might as well have been "Nine or Ten True Stories of Crime and Art." You do the math--there are the two parallel sagas of the robberies at Russborough House, which apparently have nothingto do with each other and that's the point. Then there is the story of the world's love of Vermeer, and how he above all other painters is venerated today. Hart compounds the Vermeer story by showing how art restorers have come up with soome farfetched theories of how Vermeer painted, presenting them as newly-discovered facts rather than the wild speculations they are. We also get the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum here in the USA and the finally the team that made away with THE SCREAM in Norway.
Any one of these storylines could have made a good book. I particularly liked the beginning chapters, which showed the political education of a British heiress and how she found herself deeper and deeper into the ideological clutches of the IRA; her story is worthy of Joseph Conrad, and Hart does it justice, even though he is forced to conclude it after only one or two chapters. The personality of Martin Cahill, whom I remember from the awesome John Boorman film of THE GENERAL, gets some new shadings here too. I imagine Hart had to be discreet in some places, both to protect his sources and to protect himself, as well, from libel suits, and the book is a splendid example of how to insinuate certain things without every having to come out and say them out loud. I still didn't get the title, "The Irish Game," might as well have called it, "The Norwegian Game."
Customer Reviews:
If You Love Casino Gambling, Read This Book.......2006-09-04
Beat the Players by Bob Nersesian, a Nevada lawyer who represents advantage players against the casinos, starts his preface with three stingingly dramatic words, "Nevada hates you...." - and the rest of the book attempts to prove why those three words have the ring of truth.
The casinos of Las Vegas, and by extension, the casinos throughout the United States have a love-hate relationship with their players. Most casino players don't realize this since most casino players are only thinking about one-half of the casino equation - the half they are on.
The casinos love the losers - who make up maybe 99.99+ percent of all the players, whose towering losses make casino gambling a multi-billion dollar industry - but the casinos hate the advantage players, those Davids who by skill and intellect have found ways to turn the tables on the casino Goliaths, beating those monstrous Goliaths at their own games. Goliaths don't like to lose to slingshot carrying Davids - that is for sure.
Nersesian's book goes through many of his cases, as well as other cases, where advantage players were mistreated and at times abused by casino security and even law enforcement personnel - even though these players were doing nothing illegal. Sadly casinos can ask players to stop playing and/or leave their properties even though the players are doing nothing illegal but the casino personnel are often not content to just do this - as the book brutally shows.
You'll read about phony charges of players cheating which are totally discredited by the security cameras; phony "eye-witness" reports that are totally discredited by the security cameras; and depositions where the security personnel and the police offer explanations that would be very funny in a National Lampoon movie, but are downright terrifying when you realize these are being made to hurt honest America citizens doing nothing wrong. Imagine a hero who fought for America in our wars; or one who rushed into the World Trade Center in New York after the terrorist attack to save those poor souls trapped therein, being told he can't play in an American casino because "you are too good" or, worse, being escorted to or being dragged into the "backroom" to be illegally detained. Disgraceful but it has happened - far too frequently.
The book is an eye-opener and a page-turner from start to finish. If you are a card counter, a shuffle tracker, a hole card catcher, or dice controller; even if you are only a smart casino gambler taking your best shot at the house - this book makes for enlightening and frightening reading.
Nersesian has done all of us who love to play the casino games a great service by showing us what has happened to some of our unfortunate fellows who have the temerity to be "too good."
All smart gamblers should read this book.......2006-08-11
Casinos use mathematics and intelligence in trying to beat the players. Their games are normally fair, but mathematically skewed so that they will win over the long run. Yet, may casinos abhor players that try to use their own intelligence and legal skills to win at the games of chance that the casinos offer. Some casinos take it way too far and illegally abuse these players. This is when attorney Bob Nersesian steps in. Nersesian represents players who are playing legally who have been unfairly and illegally treated by the casinos, casino security and possibly the police force as well. In Beat the Players, Nersesian writes about some of these situations and cases, many showcase the amazing stupidity of casino security forces and the police force. He also gives advice to players on how to act and what to expect in the casino security offices (the backroom), including when it is appropriate or inappropriate to use an alias. This book should be read by all smart gamblers simply to prepare themselves for what could happen.
This book should also be read by casino personnel and cops. Along with giving advice to players on their rights and what to expect, Nersesian also gives advice to the casinos and cops on what not to do and the misconceptions that they may have. Card counting is legal. Hole carding due to dealer's mistakes is legal. Abusing, illegally detaining and illegally searching patrons is not legal. In the short run, the bully casino security force may get some satisfaction, but in the long run, the casinos (and in these corporate days, their shareholders as well) suffer in paying out losses in court cases.
Although I am not a lawyer and much of this book deals with the law, I still found it very readable. This is due to the way Nersesian wrote the book. Anyone will find it readable and easy to understand. I recommend this book to all gamblers who play in casinos, and especially those that think they can win.
A book that should be read before setting foot in a Las Vegas casino.......2006-08-05
"The casino hates you."
That's the first sentence of the first chapter. Direct. Powerful. Compelling. Unambiguous. Authoritative. Easy to understand.
Just like the rest of the book.
This 320-page book should be read by everyone who patronizes, or is in any way associated with casinos in Las Vegas. A fascinating read by a Las Vegas attorney who is THE authority on the tactics and abuses casinos apply towards blackjack players they think is winning too much of "their" money.
The chapter titles are:
Your Money or Your Liberty;
Scary Cop Statements;
They'll Take Your Liberty Anyway;
Gaming Agents Speak;
The Take of the State;
Rules for Casino Patrons;
Gambling at the Legal Limits;
Cops Hate Card Counters;
Griffin Investigations;
Casinos Cheat With Impunity;
A Judicial and Government Overlay;
Finding a Nickel Brings Trouble;
Names and Aliases;
The Security Office and Surveillance Functions,
Casinos and Cops.
Learn your rights and what a casino can and cannot do to you and what you can do to do to protect yourself and substantiate your claims if you initiate a future lawsuit.
Learn of the cozy relationships between the casinos, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and the Las Vegas Metro Police Department.
If you work in casino management or security or Surveillance, the NGCB, or Metro, learn the law (!) and how to protect yourself from those pesky lawsuits.
It's all here. It's scary. It's real. You need to know it.
Average customer rating:
- Fantastic Read
- Loved it!
- Private Games Is A Blast
|
Private Games
Tawny Taylor
Manufacturer: Ellora's Cave
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1419952196 |
Product Description
Who would have thought a simple board game could change your life. Three women learn it can when they toss the dice, face a challenge or two, and win...love, laughter, and hot, hot sex. Playing for Keeps Maddy Beaudet needs to shake things up a bit, but playing a board game isn't exactly what she considers exciting. Jace Michael has just moved across country to recover from an ugly divorce. Anxious to dive into work with both feet, the last thing he needs is a distraction, but the minute he meets Maddy, his employee no less, and learns about the game she's playing with her friends, a whole different game comes to mind. Master May I? Britt Olsen is shocked when Andre Cruz-Romero delivers a birthday gift, mistakenly mailed to Britt's former home. Unfortunately, what she finds in the box isn't what Britt expected. Then again, neither is Andre. The sexy entrepreneur who sports golf shirts and khaki pants by day wears leather by night. And the room that used to house Britt's workout equipment now holds a different kind of...apparatus...for an entirely different kind of game. A Game of Risk Taking risks is what day-trader Olivia Blake's life is all about. Well, at least financially. Personally is another story. It takes the draw of a card for her to approach the man she's pined over, her older sister's brother-in-law. The minute she does, she wonders if she's made the right decision. EMT Ty Wilcox spends his days rescuing people who toss caution to the wind and get injured or worse in the process. Playing it safe is the only way to live. But after seeing Olivia in a skimpy dress that almost covers her vitals, he wonders if risk is the four-letter word he'd always thought it was.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Read.......2007-05-09
i would reccomend this book to anyone with a desire for a hot, steamy can't put it down kind of read. its very erotic and a very good read.
Loved it!.......2007-01-15
The perfect weekend read! This book has three stories based around women's different experiences with a racy board game, the stories are all of the perfect length with just enough "building up the scene", "the peak" and "the happy ending"
The writer has a background in psychology and romance writing, and skillfully builds dreamy characters into fantasy settings and appeals to the romantic in us all...you will feel good after reading this!
Private Games Is A Blast.......2006-09-05
Tawny Taylor is one of those erotic writers that makes me want to take mental notes for the bedroom. In these three stories, Ms. Taylor explores some hot ideas that were really fun. The stories all center around a new board game with "challenges" that lead her main characters into all sorts of situations and eventually to romance. As hot as she writes, Ms. Taylor doesn't ignore the romance. Her characters are fun and realistic and these stories showcase Ms. Taylor's ability to be sexy and sweet at the same time.
Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, June 2000: Here's a first novel that pays homage to Hammett, Chandler, and every wisecracking PI in the genre, and then some. It also introduces one of the most delightful characters to come along in some time: August Riordan, a jazz bass-playing PI who is cynical, irreverent, and a laugh a minute. Mark Coggins slyly references his mentors--Riordan is superstitious about the clock in front of Samuel's Jewelers, and he eats at John's Grill. Although mystery buffs will find these references throughout the story, readers who do not pick up on them will not come away feeling cheated. The setting here is present-day San Francisco and the very modern world of Silicon Valley, where software theft has replaced "the stuff that dreams are made of."
The aptly named Edwin Bishop, a multimillionaire entrepreneur, has developed advanced chess software able to make decisions while playing human opponents, unlike the usual software that tends to follow set moves. Bishop himself is a highly intelligent, arrogant man who lives his eccentric life in his mansion with several paid female companions. He is unaware that his software has been stolen until he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating his game at a trade show. Enter Riordan, who must negotiate his way through the world of high technology, jazz, and the underground arena of S/M as he searches for the missing software. His sometime partner in this venture is Chris Duckworth, who works part-time for Bishop's competitor, and who, in his spare time, works as a transvestite at the Stigmata bar. The characters in this charming, fresh, and entertaining mystery are fully fleshed; the dialogue is fast, compelling, and witty; and the grainy photographs that accompany each chapter opening add a pleasing dimension to this delightful first outing. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
Meet Edwin Bishop: a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who has founded and taken public several very successful software game companies. Highly intelligent, arrogant, yet unschooled in social graces, Bishop lives an eccentric life in his Silicon Valley mansion with several paid female companions.
Bishop has developed a software program to play chess against human opponents that he claims is the most advanced ever written, but before it is released, he finds that the software has been stolen when he stumbles across a vendor demonstrating the game at a trade show.
Enter August Riordan: a jazz bass-playing private eye who is cynical, irreverent and given to speaking his mind with unreconstructed candor. Although Bishop wants to hire a discreet private detective with a strong sense of professional ethics, as Riordan says, It was his tough luck he happened to pick me.
Riordan careens through the very modern milieu of Silicon Valley in his quest for the chess program, enmeshing himself in more than just high technology. Jazz music, the underground world of S&M and an unlikely partnership with Chris Duckworth, a smart aleck gay man whom he meets at a bar called The Stigmata, are all part of the intriguing adventure.
Full of well-drawn, idiosyncratic characters, fast dialogue and compelling and realistic portrayals of many San Francisco Bay Area locales, The Immortal Game is a very fresh and entertaining mystery in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
This special edition from Poltroon Press is illustrated with 30 photographs and incorporates many of the design elements of the famous Borzoi Books first edition of The Big Sleep published by Knopf in 1939.
Customer Reviews:
First-Rate Detective Story.......2003-09-22
Mark Coggins's "Immortal Game" is a fast-paced, easy-to-read detective novel. The protagonist is August Riordan, a sarcastic private detective who moonlights as a string base player for local jazz ensembles. Riordan is commissioned by a software entrepeneur, Edwin Bishop, to track down and retrieve a virtual reality chess program which Bishop believes was stolen by his former mistress. Riordan bumbles the case, is fired and proceeds to stumble upon clue after clue in true Columbo-like fashion.
There is a lot in this novel to hold the reader's interest. There are jokes, puns and allusions to classic detective fiction. There are intriguing portrayals of San Francisco culture and equally-intriguing, strategically-placed photographs of San Francisco architecture, neighborhoods, and landmarks throughout the novel.
The excerpts on the back cover of the book bill it as a chess mystery. If you are looking for a good chess novel, don't give up on this book. The chess symbolism and chess theme wasn't obvious to me for the first two-thirds of the book. At some point in the final third, I realized that I needed to look up the Anderssen-Kieseritzky match, the 'Immortal Game' of the title. The plot and final resolution of the mystery does somewhat mirror the moves in this famous game. This made this novel all the more engaging. You can find this game, as well as a move-by-move analysis, in Martin Beheim's "Chess with the Masters".
If you enjoyed this novel, you might enjoy another work of chess fiction concerning the Andersson-Kieseritzky game, Poul Anderson's short story, "The Immortal Game."
This book contains one or two fairly explicit descriptions of a sado-masochistic relationship. Some readers may find these passages distasteful. Otherwise, this is an enjoyable, carefully-crafted mystery.
A New Detective Joins San Francisco's Best.......2002-05-02
Mark Coggins is a writer to look forward to. He evokes a San Francisco reminiscent of Raymond Chandler. Despite being set in a modern day, Silicon Valley-contemporary environment, Coggins manages to cast a fustiness over the sunny San Francisco cityscape he depicts in word and photograph. His frequently sexually contorted characters stand up well. In the case of his main character, private detective August Riordan, and his part time sidekick (also part time transvestite), Chris Duckworth, you hope to see them again in a future novel. The technology theft of a chess game and the subsequent trail of murders in interesting circumstances and locations is challenging enough to keep us guessing and reading.
Mark Coggins has done his own photography for the book. Each chapter starts with a photo related to the action or locale of the chapter's action, adding greatly to the sense of place, and to the texture of the story.
The Immortal Game is a gritty story. It is one of those books can't put down, hate to finish, and are left wondering what the main charaters are doing today.
Excellent mystery!.......2002-03-12
This book, while reminiscent of Chandler and other great mysteries, is packed with wit and intelligence, not to mention light descriptions of S&M and one very sexy character. The photographs are beautifully matched to Coggins' pen and the story is anything but boring with great twists and a push to hurry to the finish. Highly recommended and looking forward to the next one!
Great Mystery Novel with a Fun Chess Twist.......2001-06-28
If you love Raymond Chandler's novels, you'll love this book. It is stylishly written, with a good plot and fun characters. It is particularly enjoyable to see how the San Francisco Bay Area is woven into the fabric of the story.
I should add that for me personally the chess theme was a guaranteed hook; I used to play chess professionally and I wrote the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. But while the chess aspect of the story is fun, this is really a mystery thriller written as an homage to Raymond Chandler. Read this book because you love a well-written hard-boiled mystery, not because you love chess. (Although loving chess will add to your pleasure!)
A bonus to this book is that there are many inside winks to people who are knowledgeable about Raymond Chandler or the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, each chapter is framed by a photo of some place in the Bay Area, and some of these photos are quite nice.
Compulsively Readable.......2000-06-15
"The Immortal Game" - chess afficionados willrecognize it as the famous battle between Anderssen and Kieseritzkywith the ingenious endgame, while mystery fans will instantly draw parallels with other crime novels that carried chess themes. This is a more than competent debut by Mark Coggins and he successfully recreates a Chandler-esque flavor throughout the novel. In fact, many fans will no doubt enjoy spotting various little references to Chandler and other hard-boiled greats.
The premise itself is relatively simple: millionaire game developer, Edwin Bishop, has had the latest - and only - copy of his Grand Master-level, computer chess game stolen. He comes across an almost identical game at a trade convention and hires PI August Riordan to track down the stolen program and Tracy McCulloch, his former live-in female companion whom he suspects for the crime. What ensues is a page-turning tour through the Bay Area's more "interesting" locales. Riordan encounters thugs, killers, computer geeks, transvestite entertainers, socialites and a fair share of dominatrices. Highly entertaining and compulsively readable, I zipped through this one in no time at all. Will I pick up Mr. Coggins' next novel (tentatively titled "Vulture Capital")? Most definitely - he's a very good writer with a solid grasp of pacing and dialogue. The characters are well drawn too, especially that of Chris Duckworth, Riordan's sidekick wannabe. There is a lot of material here that can be solidly followed up on in subsequent novels - there is at least one other August Riordan novel in the works.
Now for the quibbles. As an homage to Chandler, Hammett, etc., "The Immortal Game" fulfills every expectation I had of it. However, Mr. Coggins mentioned in his amazon.com interview that the novel carries a major chess theme, and I have no choice but to take issue with that. Sure, the plot of the novel surrounds a stolen piece of chess software and the solution to the mystery does have something to do with The Immortal Game, but that's about as far as it goes. Riordan himself does not know much about chess, although he does learn quite a bit about it by the end of the case. The other major quibble is that Mr. Coggins' description of the stolen piece of software just doesn't seem all that compelling. There is a virtual reality game interface and an artificial intelligence or human emulation engine built into it that allows the computer to perform like a real player, i.e. declining gambits, accepting tactical sacrifices for positional/strategic gains, etc. Well, there are quite a few examples of chess games out there that already do this and have for some time. In fact, the stolen chess game could have been substituted for just about anything else - some other kind of software, jewellery, confidential documents - and the novel would still have been as good.
As things stand, I think I'd say that chess appears more as a device rather than a theme or motif. If you're an avid chess fan, you'll be disappointed by the intermittent role that the game plays in the story - look for Paolo Maurensig's "The Luneberg Variation" or Arturo Perez-Reverte's "The Flanders Panel" instead. I'm sure that most mystery fans will enjoy "The Immortal Game" and those who don't already know much about Anderssen Vs. Kieseritzky might feel inspired enough to do some of their own research afterwards. If the sign of a good book is its ability to open the doors to new worlds and interests, then I'm sure that Mark Coggins has done an admirable job with this fine debut effort.
Book Description
In a fashionable apartment in Paris a double murder is committed; the victims are Clie Montereau, a young woman from a wealthy family, and the man who was blackmailing her. Aristide Roussel is the young investigator, and freelance undercover agent, who is responsible for finding the truth. But in the post-revolutionary city of Paris, he must negotiate an elaborate and ornate web of hidden secrets, long-nurtured hatreds, crimes of passionand of course, high-society scandal. With elaborate French culture atmosphere, author Susanne Alleyn creates a sophisticated and stylish mystery.
Customer Reviews:
a must read for mystery lovers.......2007-09-01
"Game of Patience" opens in 1796 post revolutionary Paris. A police "investigator" (as he prefers to be called, rather than an informer or a spy) by the name of Aristide Ravel is called upon to assist in solving a double murder case. The two victims, an extortionist named Saint-Ange, and a respectable young woman, Celie Montereau, at first appear to have no connection. As Ravel begins his investigation; searching for clues and interogating witnesses, he unravels a case far more complicated than what he originally suspected.
The synopsis I just gave barely touches upon the plot of the book, but as is the case with many mysteries, its tough to give an accurate overview without giving away the story. To avoid spoiling the entire book for any potential readers, we'll just leave it at that, and focus on my opinions of the work.
It took me a while to warm up to this story. The language is a bit rough for those of us who don't speak a word of French. Not that there is an overwhelming amount of French vocabulary included in the story, but rather its the foreign names and places that are involved in the plot that I got hung up on. It's hard (for me at least) to envision a place that I can't envision pronouncing accurately. Once I got past that however, I got sucked into a who done it murder mystery that had me pretty baffled until the end.
Alleyn is an expert on French history and culture, that much is blatantly obvious from reading this book. She weaves her knowledge in skillfully, and is able to transport her readers to another place and time as they read. One that to many readers, is completely new and alien, yet they will quickly begin to feel at home there, as I did. There are several characters that we become intimately acquainted with throughout the story; a few are quite endearing, while others are basically revolting.
Without giving much away, I do have to say that the ending of this book is one of the most satisfying endings I've read in a while. All loose ends are wrapped up into a tight bow, and all unanswered questions are at last explained. The reasoning and logic included at the end of the story make the entire book worthwhile...its a perfect ending to an all around good read.
A Great Mystery.......2007-06-27
In Sussanne Alleyn's first Astride Ravel book, she creates a fantastic historical mystery novel. The historical accuracy is amazing, its the first fiction book I've read with a biblography. The mystery is great, the twists keep piling up. Its one of the best books I've read in a long time.
Best Historical Mystery in Years.......2007-05-11
Susanne Alleyn's GAME OF PATIENCE is just about the best historical
mystery I've read in a long time. It's a police procedural set in Paris,
just a few years after the Revolution. Aristides Ravel, the protagonist,
is an "agent of the police", a sort of investigator/police spy with a
troublesome conscience. Called in to help investigate the double
murder of a man and a young lady in the man's apartment, Ravel
stalks the decadent post-Revolution society, uncovering secret after
secret, passion, and revenge. The plot is marvelously devious, the
writing very good, and full of terrific detail about France between the
Terror and the rise of Napoleon. Alleyn really captures the atmosphere
of the time, as well as delivering a damn good mystery. I'm not a
particular fan of historical mysteries, but this one is as good as they
come. Time after time, it seems Ravel has the answers, only to discover
they only lead to more questions. The denouement is fantastic.
Be impatient to get your hands on it!.......2006-04-06
Few historical mystery novels I've read have been as painstakingly researched and yet as smoothly written as this gripping and suspenseful tale of 1790s Paris. The reader will find him/herself equally as engaged by the vivid portrayal of the times as the fast-paced and original plot. Game of Patience tries neither one's patience nor one's credulity, managing to keep the guessing game going up until its surprising yet logical ending. Love, murder, blackmail and cross-dressing.. what more could one want? A must-read for mystery lovers, Francophiles and anyone seeking to escape the ordinary for a few hundred pages.
taut French police procedural.......2006-03-26
In 1796 Paris, undercover police spy, investigator Aristide Ravel and his superior Commissaire Brasseur, investigate the murders of property landlord Jean-Louis Saint-Ange and his former lover, Célie Montereau in a chic apartment owned by the former. Aristide quickly learns that no one misses Jean-Louis with many rejoicing at his death because he was a nasty sort blackmailing aristocrat; the blackguard even extorted money from Celie, who was his lover.
An interrogation of Célie's acrimonious friend Rosalie Clément leads Aristide to Philippe Aubry, a violent man who allegedly loved the female victims, but he has an airtight alibi. At the same time to his chagrin, Aristide begins to fall in love with Rosalie, though he has not totally ruled her out as abetting the killer by hiding much of what she knows from him and Brasseur. Aristide keeps digging as he knows Brasseur plans to send Rosalie ton a date with Madame Guillotine.
This is a tremendous post-revolution but pre Napoleon taut French police procedural starring a hero with a bothered conscience because he knows he sent innocent people to the guillotine. The who-done-it is cleverly devised so that the audience obtains a deep look at 1796 Paris yet never slows down the pace of the investigation. Still this tale belongs to Aristide, who believes his past prevents him from a future filled with love that is if he can figure out who his rancorous beloved protects. Fans will also want to read the delightful homage to Dickens, A FAR BETTER REST
Harriet Klausner
Product Description
The popular Card Player columnist writes of his youth, his early gambling years and his ascent to the highest levels of poker.
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Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Illustrated Novels
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Manufacturer: Chancellor Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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British Detectives | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Sherlock Holmes | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0753705273 |
Book Description
Match wits with the razor-sharp mind and keenly honed instincts of literature's most famous detective. Every one of the immortal Sherlock Holmes novels appears in this single volume, unabridged, embellished with the beautiful original illustrations, and reasonably priced. The classic works include:
A Study in Scarlet: the very first Holmes adventure--and the start of a beautiful friendship between the detective and Dr. Watson.
The Sign of Four: Holmes is called upon to solve the case of a missing treasure in India.
The Hound of the Baskervilles: Holmes and Watson find themselves involved in an age-old curse.
The Valley of Fear: A cipher message. A grisly murder. A dark and powerful tale.with a battle between Holmes and his infamous nemesis, Professor Moriarty.
Books:
- Raising Vegetarian Children : A Guide to Good Health and Family Harmony
- Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion
- Roswell High Series 1 Through 10: The Outsider; The Wild One; The Seeker; The Watcher; The Intruder; The Stowaway; The Vanished; The Rebel; The Dark One; The Salvation
- Schaum's Outline of Heat Transfer
- Seduced by Moonlight (Meredith Gentry, Book 3)
- Sex Magic, Tantra & Tarot: The Way of the Secret Lover
- Shadows Of Destiny
- Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)
- Sigh for a Merlin : Testing the Spitfire
- Silent Night: Midnight in Death/Unexpected Gift/Christmas Promise/Berry Merry Christmas (Christmas Anthology)
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