Low Country Boil

Take ears of corn, hot sausage links, plenty of shrimp, and large doses of seasoning. Throw in a big pot and let it boil. You will have some good coastal Carolina eating, or in the case of Susan Boyer's book, some good reading.

Liz Talbot, an attractive female private investigator with a penchant for trouble inherits her grandma's home on the beach near Charleston, SC. and with the home comes an array of problems, not the least of which is the discovery that Grams was murdered.

As in similar stories, the conflict is between developers hoping to make small fortunes and the locals who want to keep Stella Maris from becoming another Myrtle Beach, but it is the characters with their peculiar flaws that engage the reader.

And perhaps no character is more interesting than Colleen, the ghost of Liz's childhood friend, who appears and disappears at will.

Low Country Boil was justifiably a finalist for the Daphne Du Maurier Award in the "Mainstream/Mystery/Suspense" category.

Unhappy Season for Tea Party

"Bah, humbug"

In this Christmas season, we are hearing a vitriolic mean-spirited, hate-filled diatribe by a variety of Tea Party Republicans. One is tempted to ask, "Where do they find these clowns?" but everyone knows that they are lurking around in our very midst. On top of that, thanks to the GOP gerrymandered districts, they even get elected to public office. Then, once elected, the Koch Brothers' group, ALEC, writes legislation for them and the Tea Baggers try to get it passed.

And that is the dangerous part. If they just ran around saying stupid things, the majority could put up with that (a bit of comic relief), but shutting down the government and preventing the appointment of judges and other nominees is unacceptable.

It's unacceptable because their perspective is contrary to American values. This is their creed:

1. Poverty is a crime; poor people are criminals.
2. Wealth is a sign of God's blessing; the wealthy are the "Chosen Ones."
3. Pope Francis is Marxist and a threat to our hallowed "Greed-is-good" way of life.
4. Guns are necessary for the wealthy to protect themselves from the unwashed masses.
5. A fetus has more rights than a poor young rape victim.
6. Government cannot provide contraception, but government can, against her will, probe a woman's body with an ultra-sound device. Orwellian logic.
7. The homeless should be removed from city streets ("They are bad for business.")  and relocated under railroad viaducts where they belong.
8. Non-documented immigrants should be sent back to where they came from. After all, they work harder, study harder, open new businesses, and pay all their taxes. They are making our affluent children look bad.
9. Foreign policy is simple. Forget diplomacy. Tell other countries what to do and if they don't do it, bomb them and invade. Sure, many Americans will die in war, but they are the children of the "47% who are freeloaders."
10. And then there is education. The government has to stop educating the poor, unwashed masses. We have to divert those public funds to unregulated and quasi religious Charter Schools. We can't have the children of the 47% showing up our affluent, privileged children.
11. The environment. We have to eliminate the "tree huggers." Environmentalists are a threat to unfettered capitalism.
12. Unfortunately all votes count the same, including those of the freeloading 47%. Therefore we need to institute a whole arsenal of ways to suppress the vote. What a sad state of affairs it would be if everyone in a democracy was given an opportunity to vote!

I feel sorry for my Tea Party friends at this time of the year. Burdened by all that hate and bigotry, they are not able to participate in the spirit of the season. However, all is not lost; they can, like Sarah Palin and Fox News, rant and rave about the perceived "War on Christmas" -- yet another way of stirring up community discord and religious division.

The Cuckoo's Calling -- J.K. Rowling

J.K Rowling's Mystery

When The Cuckoo's Calling was first released, the author was identified as Robert Galbraith, but many readers suspected that to be a pseudonym for some famous author. And they were correct. This is J.K Rowling's entry into the mystery genre. Although worlds away from Harry Potter and Hogwarts, The Cuckoo's Calling will delight not only her established fans, but also entice all of us mystery aficionados.

The story begins with the apparent suicide of a world famous model, Lula Landry, but as you already suspect, it's murder. The task of solving this case falls into the lap of a down-and-out private investigator, Cormoran Strike. And, he has several strikes against him before he becomes involved in this case. His girl friend has just dumped him -- for the umpteenth time. He is homeless; he sleeps on a cot in his office. He has only one client, and he has no money to pay the office rent. In addition, he has lost part of his leg in Afghanistan and gets around with the aid of a prosthesis. He has a temporary secretary, Robin, who plans to leave and get a "real job."

The two main characters and the array of the rich and famous as well as the down-and-out are one of the strengths of the novel. In addition, most readers will appreciate Rowling's ability to describe the often over-looked detail of ordinary life and crime scenes.

It appears that many times in the face of a complicated mystery, the author will throw in details to mislead the reader, and then at the end leave those details hanging with no explanation. In this case, the ending accounts for all of those twists and turns.

J.K. Rowling has created two characters, Cormoran and Robin,  whom I suspect we will be following in a sequel. 

Seeking the Historical Jesus

The historical Jesus is quite elusive. His contemporaries seem to have been unaware of his existence. Josephus Flavius makes a brief reference to him, but most scholars agree that the reference was added years later. Therefore we are left with the conflicting Gospel accounts (written many years after his death) as to his existence and teachings.

Given that derth of historical information, there are many other theories as to the origins of Christianity, and one of those is that it sprang from the Caesar Augustus cult which tried to incorporate beliefs and ideas from throughout the Roman Empire. Although some historical facts; the use of the term, Pontifex Maximus, to refer to the Pope; and the three-tiered papal crown fit into that theory, I find Dr. Atchity's premise a bit of a stretch.

On the other hand, The Messiah Matrix, is an entertaining novel and not an historical treatise.
A renowned Jesuit scholar is murdered on the streets of Rome, and his protege, Father Ryan, seeks to understand the motive since the killer told him he was hired by a monsignor. He soon finds himself involved in a conflict between the Jesuits and the Roman Curia of a conservative Pope.

In the course of of his investigation Father Ryan crosses paths with a famous iconograher and archaeologist, Emily, who is pursuing a rare Roman coin that was stolen from her and apparently is in the hands of people who want to keep the coin hidden from the world.  Father Ryan and Emily soon join forces since it appears their existence is being threatened by the same interests.

In the course of telling a good story, Dr. Atchity provides the reader with considerable history and research -- interesting in itself. In addition, he surprisingly predicts the resignation of a conservative Pope who is replaced by a Jesuit Pope.

Christian readers who are uncomfortable with questions about the origins of Christianity may be reluctant to deal with this novel, but they will be missing out on an engaging mystery.