The King's Deception. Steve Berry. Ballantine Books, 2013. 432 pages. Book 8 of 20 in the Cotton Malone Series.
The adventures of former Justice Department agent turned Copenhagen rare book dealer Cotton Malone continue in this volume, centered in and around London. Cotton Malone and his son Gary are flying from Atlanta to Copenhagen for a school break vacation, but they're not alone. As a favor. Malone has agreed to transport a 15-year old London street kid from Atlanta back to London. The kid is wanted by both the CIA and British intelligence. What should be a simple handoff turns into an all-out life or death adventure that threatens them all, and it's rooted in not one, but two, 400-year old British mysteries: what happened to the legendary "Tudor treasure" and did Elizabeth I harbor a huge secret that would shake the foundations of the United Kingdom? Some people might look down on these novels, but I find them enjoyable reads. Berry always starts with tons of research and a real historical question at the core of the book, and he then embellishes the story with a lot of action. The mysteries are always intriguing and pique my alternate history interests. There may be plot lines that you can see coming from miles away, but there are enough plot twists to hold your attention. The audiobook versions are great for walks, exercise, housework, sitting around the pool, etc.
Torpedo Juice. Tim Dorsey. William Morrow, 2005. 336 pages. Book 7 of 26 in the Serge Storms series.
Sadness is realizing that I only have one Serge Storms left to read after this one, since author Tim Dorsey died far too early a couple of years ago. This is an early one, and the characters of Serge Storms and his boon companion, Coleman, are still being refined and developed. However, it's jumped to a high position on my favorite Serge adventures list. It's hilarious from beginning to end, and there's plenty of knowledge to be gleaned about the history and culture of the Florida Keys. Serge has two missions in life: to bring justice to those who prey on the innocent and to absorb and then to dispense every bit of Florida history, natural and human, that exists. He makes progress on both fronts here, but he also embarks on a third mission, getting married. The hunt for his soulmate takes Serge on a typically twisted journey on which he crosses paths with drug dealing kingpins, evil executives, and would-be cult followers. Along the way, the book takes kind of a meta turn as the Narrator decides to become a part of the story, a brilliant and incredibly original and fun twist. Also, two sheriff's deputies, Gus and Walter, make a huge contribution to the fun.
Author Talk
The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning. Eve Fairbanks. Simon & Schuster, 2022. 416 pages. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa underwent a revolution, scrapping more than a century of harshly enforced racial segregation and minority rule and instantly pivoting to a majority-rule democracy - an unparalleled transformation. Americans being Americans, and American media being American media, South Africa basically ceased to exist at that point because we have almost no attention span for domestic events in foreign countries, especially African countries. The Inheritors provides an insight into that transformation for American readers, primarily through the experiences of three South Africans: Dipuo, a young black woman and anti-apartheid organizer, Malaika, her daughter born around the time of the transition, and Christo, a white Afrikaans farm boy who was one of the last South Africans drafted to fight in Angola. Eve Fairbanks built relationships with the three over the course of a decade, and she basically allows them to tell their stories. Readers learn about the struggles of the country through the struggles of these individuals as they try to cope with unprecedented change. It's an extremely moving, enlightening, and thought-provoking book.
Author Talk
She Came To Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman. Erica Armstrong Dunbar. 37 Ink, 2019. 176 pages. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.
If any American deserves a fresh, thoroughly researched, well-written, originally illustrated, biography that is equally accessible and enjoyable for everyone from grade school to adulthood, it is Harriet Tubman, and this is the book. Of course, we all know the basics, that Tubman was the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad who personally escorted hundreds enslaved people to freedom after her own escape. Some of us may know of her long career as an abolitionist before the Civil War and her service as a spy and nurse during the Civil War. Fewer know that she became the first woman to lead an armed combat mission - a very consequential mission. Even after the war, she never stopped, becoming an active suffragist and an advocate for veterans and for the aged. Tubman's always been near the top of my list of greatest Americans, and this biography is great introduction to her life for yourself and for any younger readers in your life.
No Sunscreen For the Dead. Tim Dorsey. William Morrow, 2019. 336 pages. Book 22 of 26 in Serge Storms series. (AI generated photo)
Sadly, it's over. After three or four years, I've now read all 26 books of the Serge Storms books, and there will never be another one. It's hard to imagine that another author could ever match the perfect combination of insanity and genius that Tim Dorsey displayed in every single title. Every book is filled with Florida, and American, history, laugh out loud hilarity, biting dead-on satire, and utter chaos. Granted, his work is not for everyone. It's filled with absurd, adult comic book-ish, graphic sex and violence that will turn off some readers, but others will recognize the brilliance and will be entertained like never before.
I read the books out of order because of availability in used book stores and the public library, and that was not an issue for me, but others might need to read them in order. This book is number 22 of 26, but, in many ways, I think it is a fitting final adventure. The theme of the book is retirement in Florida, and Serge explores the idea somewhat wistfully, as he finds his people, people who match his love of Florida, of history, and of life itself - people, like him, who have packed a lot of living into life. He becomes an honorary resident of a retirement mobile home community and realized that the other residents led incredibly vital lives and made major contributions to society, but now others are taking advantage of them. That doesn't stand in Serge-world, and his vigilantism in this book is particularly satisfying. But wait - there's more. Dorsey also throws in a great Cold War espionage storyline, and the climax is unbridled chaos. There are a couple of minor glitches. The first couple of pages lead the reader to believe that it's a book about the notorious community called The Villages, and all of the action takes place a couple of hours south, in and around Sarasota. (If Florida is jokingly called God's waiting room," Sarasota is the exam room.) There's also an historical error: In a flashback, one of the characters reports to a submarine base in 1970. The problem is that it wasn't a submarine base until 1978. Whether that was an uncharacteristic slip-up or just a little story-telling adjustment, I don't know, but it wouldn't even register with 99.9% of readers. In any case, No Sunscreen is a more-than-fitting conclusion for me.
The Birth of the Feature Film: Crash Course in Film History
The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles. Gary Krist. Crown, 2018. 416 pages.
Gary Krist is one of those authors at the top of the narrative nonfiction writing game, along with authors like Erik Larson and Abbott Kahler. In this 2018 book, Krist tells the story of Los Angeles through the lives of three towering figures and their careers from 1910 to 1930: William Mulholland, the engineering visionary who brought power and water to a formerly written-off barren wasteland in order to make the city even possible, D.W. Griffith, the "father of American film" who built a powerful culture-shaping industry out of a minor novelty, and Aimee Semple McPherson, the charismatic evangelist who built a church that drew tens of thousands of believers each week and who reached millions more each week through magazines, newspapers, tours, and broadcasts on her own radio station. Singly, they became American icons. Collectively, they created Los Angeles and made it a major city physically, economically, creatively, and spiritually. Krist makes the case that all three were both masters of their crafts and masters of illusion, capable of dreaming big dreams and making those dreams come true, overcoming major obstacles in the process. Yet, the mirages or illusions that they created all dissipated because of their own tragic flaws, "a crescendo of hubris, scandal, and catastrophic failure of design." Each of them saw his or her fortunes and legacies suffer, but the city remained and prospered. It's a riveting history. No, wait, it's boffo, epic, spectacular, stunning, thrilling, legendary, unforgettable, electrifying, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, .... etc.
Author talk
Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination and Secret Diplomacy to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East. Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar. Simon & Schuster, 2023. 368 pages. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.
My default position is usually "Truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction," and this book definitely makes that case. I am not a spy thriller reader, but this book should appeal to that group and to those that are fans of political shows like West Wing and The Diplomat. It is an incredibly inside look at Israel’s covert operations aimed at thwarting Iran’s movement toward becoming a nuclear power. The authors show how Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, has combined sabotage, cyberwarfare, assassinations, diplomatic efforts, and intelligence gathering over the last 20 years or so to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms and to reshape power dynamics in the Middle East. It concentrates on events since Israeli agents and Iranians opposed to their government stole Iran's top secret nuclear archives in 2018 in order to prove that Iran was violating previous agreements and actively deceiving the world. Twenty-first century warfare is in full force as Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force use cyberwarfare and drones in addition to embedded agents and on-the-ground assets and targeted assassinations to destroy Iran's program. In the process, both Israel and Iran have become Top 5 world cyber-powers. At the same time, there have been some unbelievable diplomatic gains as Israel has forged relationships with several of the Gulf states because they all see Iran as their greatest existential threat. The book does have some shortcomings. It is largely one-sided; the authors had much more access to US and Israeli participants than to Iranians. Much of the subject matter is still, of course, highly classified, so the authors had to rely on limited declassified documents and interviews with individuals involved, and intelligence agencies and those people involved all have their own agendas. Finally, time is an issue. The authors completed writing the book in April 2023, and lots of new developments have already occurred. Nevertheless, it was a more satisfying read than I anticipated, and I learned a lot about the current climate in the Middle East.
Author talk
Too many people think of the 1950s as a decade of conformity and complacency, picturing sock hops, soda fountains, and poodle skirts, but, as I tried to impress upon my students each year, there was always turbulence under that placid surface. There was the rise of rock and roll and teenage rebellion which shocked older generations. Beatniks challenged middle-class norms. Artists shook up the art world. The Red Scare and the Lavender Scare sent shock waves through government and society. The civil rights and feminist movements started ramping up. There was a lot of angst, anger, confusion, and conflict. This book celebrates several individuals who were brave enough to stand - often alone - on their principles and lead fights that they believed needed fighting. In particular, Gaines selects gay rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmental movements. A couple of the people discussed are familiar names, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, and Rachel Carson for example, but the others aren't nearly as well known, or as celebrated as they should be. There's Norbert Wiener, a mathematician and computer scientist who is considered the father of cybernetics, the forerunner of Artificial Intelligence. There's Harry Hay who first envisioned a national gay rights movement in the 1940s. There's Pauli Murray whose law school thesis provided much of the legal basis for Thurgood Marshall's arguments in Brown vs Board of Education and whose legal work made sexual discrimination unconstitutional. Gerda Lerner pioneered the concept of women's history as an academic field, despite being told by superiors and colleagues that there wasn't enough material to study. Isaac Woodard was a black WWII veteran who was blinded by a South Carolina sheriff because he dared to look him in the eye. These are all important stories that should be shared. This book should be widely read. Almost makes me wish that I was back in the classroom in order to share them. ... Almost.
Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?"
Dr. Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen's previous book Quackery was a fun and informative look at various medical frauds, missteps, and deceptions over the years. In this book they broaden their investigation to look at many pseudosciences and conspiracy theories, investigate their origins, debunk them, and offer explanations for why anyone believed them. A partial list of the topics covered: rumpology (reading one's character and future by examining his/her butt), cryptids, UFOs, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, the Bermuda Triangle, polygraphs, personality tests, faked moon landing conspiracy, world ice theory, flat Earth theory, and ghost hunting. I recommend this book and Quackery for those interested in science history and in human nature in general.
Who was Xolotl?
Xolo. Donna Barba Higuera and Mariana Ruiz Johnson. Levine Querido, release date November 4 2025. 224 pages. Ages 7-10.
I bought a copy of this book to read during a break at the Southern Festival of Books this past weekend, and it proved to be a great discovery. I wish I had attended the author's session. It's a beautifully illustrated children's story of Aztec mythology. Aztec creator and feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl had a dog-headed twin brother, a hideous monster, named Xolotl. Shunned and denigrated by his brother and the other gods, Xolotl struggles to find himself and his function in the realm of the gods. Of course, he becomes the hero, rescuing mankind from extinction and becoming the powerful Lord of the Underworld, In the process, he creates dogs as humanity's most loyal and devoted companions. If there's a child in your life that is interested in other cultures, mythology, and art, especially a child who love dogs, this book will be a huge hit. And if there is not such a child in your life, get a copy for yourself. You'll love it.
book trailer
The Impossible Fortune. Richard Osman. Pamela Dorman Books, 2025. 368 pages. Book 5 of 5 in Thursday Murder Club mysteries.
A little break from history to read the latest Thursday Murder Club mystery. We love the whole series, and this one does not disappoint. (We have still not seen the movie yet because we we are afraid of being let down.) The four main characters are residents in a retiree community in Britain who solve murders, including a former MI-6 secret agent, a former labor union organizer and agitator, a psychologist, and a nurse. There is also a large supporting cast of characters, and each one is a well-developed delight. The mysteries are solid, and there is a lot of humor, with many LOL moments.
Publisher blurb:
"Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?"
The Patriot Threat. Steve Berry. Minotaur Books, 2015. 400 pages. Book 10 of 20 in Cotton Malone series.
Cotton Malone is back. The busiest retired secret agent ever in the history of the world. Working much harder and more often than when he was actually employed. In this case, his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, tasks him with tracking a rogue North Korean who was once the dictator's anointed heir but who was disinherited and forced into exile. The problem? The North Korean is trying to lay hands on top secret historic documents that could cause the collapse of the United States and the destabilization of the world. You know, the same thing Cotton faces once or twice a year. The issue is whether or not the 16th amendment establishing the federal income tax was legitimately ratified. If it was not, the federal government would lose 90% of its revenue and be liable for trillions and trillions of dollars in damages to everyone who ever paid income tax over the last century and who was prosecuted for tax evasion. In 24 hours time, Cotton, along with agent Luke Daniels and US Treasury Agent Isabella Schaefer, engage in the usual fast-spaced thrilling action in Vienna and across Croatia, racing against North Korean and Chinese intelligence to keep the documents out of the wrong hands. Typical Cotton formula, but as satisfying as usual for what it is. Also, as usual, I learned something from reading this book. In this case, I learned the stories of Haym Salomon, the Jewish businessman who basically financed the American Revolution and was never repaid what he was owned, and Andrew Mellon, the former Treasury Secretary who built the National Gallery of Art. I also learned about the real conspiracy theory that the 16th amendment, and the federal income tax, is illegal.
Author Talk
Matisse At War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France. Christopher C. Gorham. Citadel, 2025. 320 pages. Thanks to Kensington Publishing and Citadel for the review copy.
Christopher C. Gorham is an excellent researcher and biographer. In his newest book, his subject is the great 20th century French artist Henri Matisse, specifically his life in Nice France during Nazi occupation. Unlike other European creatives who fled Europe during the late 1930s and the early days of World War II, Matisse decided to remain in his home and to continue working, a decision not solely based on patriotism. As the war progressed, Matisse's health declined, to the point of near death at least once. It was during this period that he began to move away from painting and adopted the medium of paper cutouts and collage, creating most of my personal favorites of his works. Gorham discusses his work as skillfully as any art historian, but his real focus is to try to determine what, if anything, Matisse did to aid the Allied war effort, a question that has not been satisfactorily answered in other biographies. What does he find after a thorough search through letters, journals, and other primary sources? Spoiler alert: not much. No, Matisse didn't join the military Resistance or send coded messages revealing German troop movements or hide Jews downed Allied pilots and help them escape. Instead, Matisse worked, often incorporating French and American patriotic symbolism in his art. In fact, his mere presence, as others fled, became sort of a minor rallying point for people who knew of it. Question answered, but honestly, it's not the most exciting answer. The real excitement and action lay in the lives of Matisse's ex-wife and their children, all of whom risked their lives, and nearly lost them, and joined active resistance cells. Even Matisse's son Jean, who had already moved to New York before the war and become an important art dealer, worked hard to help Jewish (and other) artists escape to New York and to help them make a living. It's a good book about Occupied France and an artistic genius.
Short Lydia Knag interview
Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them. Lydia Kang, MD, and Nate Pedersen. Workman Publishing Company, 2025. 320 pages.
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