Les Standiford. Last Train to Paradise. Broadway, 2002.

Just a little over a hundred years ago, engineers and workers built a railroad from Miami to Key West. It was called the railroad across the sea. Last Train to Paradise tells the fascinating story of this project and its mastermind, Henry Flagler.

Flagler at one time was partner with John D. Rockefeller, and next to him, the richest man in the world. He has been called the Man who Invented Florida. Standiford gives us a bit of Flagler’s background and how he almost singlehandedly began the development of the state of Florida.

Though he made his fortune in oil, Flagler began building railroads in Florida. An Ohio native who moved to New York, he used to winter in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is in Northern Florida next to Georgia. That is where the railroad in the 1890s ended. Once he visited St. Augustine and thought this historic oldest city in the United States would attract visitors if they could get there easily. He built a railroad from Jacksonville to St. Augustine and a luxury hotel in the city to attract wealthy visitors.

He would do the same with his Florida Eastern Coastal Railway (FEC) all the way down the coast including Daytona, Palm Beach, and ultimately Miami. Back then, Miami was Fort Douglas and had a population of around 300. He built a hotel there, and newsmen and soldiers used it as a port to get to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. More people began to settle there. The rest would become history.

Standiford notes that Flagler refused to have Miami renamed for himself. Instead, he insisted it be given a Native American name, so they named it Miami, after a tribe in Flagler’s natal state of Ohio. We note that today there is a county in Florida named after Flagler, but that came after his death.

It is hard to imagine, but in 1900 the most populous city in Florida was Key West. It had a population of 20,000 and was only accessible by boat. Still, it held military significance as the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico with a couple of forts and a Navy base. Flagler thought it could have potential both as the closest point to Cuba, then a popular tourist destination, and potentially a port for handling traffic to and from the proposed Panama Canal.

Flagler’s vision seemed impossible. Most of the Florida Keys were and are small coral islands. The highest point anywhere is a mere sixteen feet above sea level. At one point there is a distance of seven miles between two keys. The undertaking was remarkable. In some ways it was more of a challenge than the Panama Canal. As long as people could safely dig, the canal could be created. The Suez Canal had been done. People had built canals for centuries. Building a bridge across the sea itself was another matter.

Last Train to Paradise names two other heroes, two engineers who both served as the railroad’s project managers: Joseph Meredith and Charles Krome. Meredith designed much of the construction methods and route. Krome would take over when Meredith, a diabetic, passed away. We also read about the struggles and obstacles the construction workers themselves had to overcome.

The project began in 1906 and was finished in 1912. Among other things, the workers on the railroad had to contend with three hurricanes. The first one taught people about some things that worked well and other things that did not. Although they were significant hurdles, they also showed how the railway could withstand such forces. In spite of the natural and political obstacles, the octogenarian Flagler lived to see its completion.

Lessons learned would eventually lead to the building of the Route 1 Highway to Key West in the 1930s. The railroad no longer exists, but the highway most certainly does.

Standiford keeps the readers interested by telling the story in a novelistic manner. Standiford mostly writes novels, though he has done some nonfiction. (We mentioned a film based on his The Man Who Invented Christmas on these pages.) The Florida book gets its title because it begins by telling the harrowing story of the last train ever to ride on this Key West track.

The story starts in 1935 with not only the train but a big WPA project building the Key West Highway. That Labor Day, September 3, saw the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the United States. The winds were stronger than those of most tornadoes, and it set a still-standing record for the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the U. S.

Because the storm was so powerful, it was much tighter. It virtually wiped out everything on land in the Middle Keys, especially Matecumbe Key. Ernest Hemingway was living in Key West at the time and wrote about the destruction he saw there. Like many others, he helped with rescue efforts.

Hemingway wrote on the hurricane for New Masses, a Communist publication. Hemingway would become less sympathetic toward Communism after observing them in the Spanish Civil War. Still, he warned John Dos Passos about criticizing them openly. If that happened, he told him, most New York publishers would have nothing to do with him. Dos Passos did not heed Hemingway’s advice and critics and publishers largely ignored his later works. Hemingway was more careful to keep his opinions to himself. Things have not changed much in the world of publishing.

To tell much more would give too much away, but the federal bureaucracy had not learned some of the lessons from the railroad builders thirty years before. This is more than just a story of Florida development and a historical engineering project. There is a lot of action—not only concerning heavy construction but about survival when nature pushes its worst.

M. C. Beaton. Death of a Nag. Warner, 1995.

Death of a Nag is an earlier Hamish Macbeth mystery. (For followers of Hamish, he still has Towser, so this is before Lugs.) These are murder mysteries told in a tone of humor and good cheer. Macbeth has been demoted and he and Priscilla have agreed to call off their wedding. The combination has left the tongues of Lochdubh wagging about their resident policeman. Macbeth thinks it is time to take a vacation.

He travels across Scotland to an inn in the village of Skag on the North Sea. Readers know from the beginning who is going to get murdered because of the book’s title. There is only one nag in the story, and by the time he is knocked off, we understand that nobody likes him.

Unlike many of the Hamish Macbeth stories, this is for all practical purposes a closed room mystery like the kind that Agatha Christie popularized. There are two families and a few other strangers all staying at the inn. Except for family members, it appears no one knows each other, but also no one in the small town knows any of the visitors staying at the inn. One of them has to have killed the nag, but who?

Hamish at one point stops Bob Harris from beating his wife. That gives us a sense of why no one likes Mr. Harris, but it also means that Hamish is a suspect. He told the nag that things would be much worse if he tried beating his wife again.

Some of the humor comes from Miss Gunnery, a retired teacher who latches on to Macbeth and who helps him do some investigating. It is not that she is funny, but that she gets sweet on him even though she is probably twenty-five years his senior.

The local police are annoyed at Macbeth because he is a fellow copper but also a suspect. They appreciate his help with the investigation, but they also assign a young female constable to assist but also to keep an eye on him. Miss Gunnery might be a tad jealous over Maggie.

We begin to realize that the inn’s customers all seem to have something to hide. There may be a reason why they come to this remote village for a holiday. There is a man and woman with three kids. The kids call them Mommy and Daddy, but the couple are not married to each other. There are two young women who prefer clothing that calls attention to their figures—and we learn that they have police records. Another single male guest, retired from the army, seems overly protective of Mrs. Harris. Even the one teenager in the ersatz family says she’s likely to kill Mr. Harris because of some of the things he does.

The plot has a number of surprises. Hamish at one point has to return to Lochdubh, accompanied by the young constable. Some of his investigation takes him to England for a few days. The plot gets more and more complicated, and the story ends with about three plot twists in the last dozen pages.

Once I directed an Agatha Christie play. The script for the film version originally cut out about the last eleven pages so that even the cast would not know the surprises at the ending. Death of a Nag is like that. We are kept guessing right until the end. And even after the crime is solved with only about three pages left, there are still more surprises! Smile.

Kelly Sokol. Breach. Köehlerbooks, 2022.

If the Navy wanted you have a wife, they would have issued you one.

Anyone in the military has probably heard that applied to whatever branch they were serving in.

Breach is an intense, realistic novel. There are likely Navy wives whose experience is similar to that of Marleigh Holt. Marleigh has pretty much raised herself since both of her parents are alcoholics. Her one family rock is her grandfather who operates a seedy boxing gym in the Tidewater area of Virginia, home to numerous military bases. But her grandfather is getting senile and her alcoholic parents are stealing from him.

Marleigh holds down three jobs to keep things going: she works most nights at the gym for her grandfather, she waitresses, and she is a skilled tattoo artist. At the gym she meets and falls in love with Jace Holt. Their affair is torrid, but they do get married.

Jace’s family background is not unlike Marleigh’s: his mother is an alcoholic widow, so he is raised by an aunt and uncle. His sister tells Marleigh she is the best thing that has happened to him.

Jace has one of the hairiest duties in the military. He is an explosive ordnance disposal technician, or EOD. He will serve multiple tours overseas disarming explosive devices, mostly roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices) which the Middle East has become notorious for. It is nerve-wracking. Each attempt at disarming could erupt in an explosion. And even when things go OK so that no one is killed, there still can be damage and political consequences.

We get the whole story from Marleigh’s perspective. Because she grew up near Navy bases, she is not unfamiliar with sailors and their ways. She especially sees the hierarchy among Navy wives even before she becomes one.

The first half of Breach tells of her love affair and marriage to Jace. They really do have a lot of affection for each other. The graphic descriptions of their lovemaking may be too explicit for some readers, but their love seems to take. The descriptions of Marleigh giving birth (three babies in four years) are also quite vivid.

The second half of Breach, things go south. If any readers have read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, they know that the main character Jurgis just has one setback after another. It does not seem to end. If you think things could not get any worse, just wait till you read the next chapter. Without giving too much away, Breach becomes like that.

Since we only see things from Marleigh’s perspective, there are a few things we never find out. Why did Jace’s personality change after his last deployment? What happened? If he was talking about getting a big reenlistment bonus, why did he get a general discharge? And why did he not continue his life insurance, for which sailors can get a good discount when they are released?

The grittiness of the some of the hospital scenes and related drama (I am trying to avoid too many spoilers) reminded this reviewer of John Barth’s The End of the Road, and not just because of the location. There seem to be parallels between midwives and tattoo artists in Breach—the author admires both.

Unlike The End of the Road, Breach concludes with a glimmer of hope. And unlike The Jungle, the hope is not based on some unrealistic political utopia.

Breach tells a gritty tale, but one that some military wives can probably identify with. No, I suspect few have accumulated as many difficulties as Marleigh, but we can see how they could happen. They can probably say, “I know someone who had something like that happen to them” or “That reminds of (fill in the blank)” or “So-and-so in my husband’s unit did the same thing” or even “Those EOD techs are in their own little world.”

When I was in the service, I had a motorcycle. My uncle was a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. He received a bronze star and silver star in World War II. He saw intense action in Italy and received his silver star from General Marshall for a classified commando raid. He told me, though, he lost more men on leave at home through careless behavior than he did in battle. He liked the motorcycle. Earlier in his life he had been a motorcycle policeman. He just wanted to make sure I kept my head when I was off duty. According to Breach things are no different in the modern era than they were in the forties.

B. L. Blanchard. The Peace Keeper. 47 North, 2022.

I once started to read an alternate history novel about the American Civil War. If I recall correctly, the South won Gettysburg and became independent. I never finished the book. It was just too weird. The generals did not behave the way history portrayed them. It was like reading a Gnostic Gospel.

The Peace Keeper is a different kind of alternate history. It imagines a contemporary North America (it begins in 2020) that was never colonized by Europeans. All the technology we know today is present, but the continent is made up of various countries ruled by and inhabited by Native Americans. The few Europeans there are tourists.

Unlike that alternate history book which took actual events and changed them into something else, this just lets us imagine such a place or such a planet. The people and places all have Indian names. In many cases, the reader can figure them out. The big city in the Chippewa/Ojibwe nation is Shikaakwa. Just saying it out loud shows us it is Chicago. I am happy to say that I was able to identify a number of the Native American words. I did not discover the glossary in the back till I was nearly finished.

Chibenashi has lived all his life in a small village on the shores of a Great Lake, probably northern Lake Michigan. The glossary locates it at Sault Ste. Marie. He is a peace keeper, what in English we call a policeman. There is little crime in the small village. Everyone knows everyone else. He is not very busy except during tourist season, but even then there is mostly petty crime and everyone looks out for everyone else. The police chief usually goes on vacation for most of the winter to Penzacola, i.e. Pensacola, Florida.

Still, Chibenashi’s life has not been without conflict. Twenty years before, when he was seventeen, his mother was murdered on the evening of the big harvest festival. There were many tourists there, but Chibenashi’s father confessed to the murder and has been in prison in Shikaakwa ever since. Chibenashi has had nothing to do with him.

Chibenashi’s younger sister Ashwiyaa, who was twelve at the time, discovered the body and has been traumatized ever since. She is afraid to be alone and trusts no one other than her brother. She tolerates Meoquanee, her mother’s best friend and neighbor, who has done much to take care of both brother and sister.

Chibenashi has never married or traveled much outside of his village. He once had a serious girlfriend, but she realized that if she married, she would be taking on the burden of Ashwiyaa as well. She ended up going to Shikaakwa for college and stayed there for work.

Exactly twenty years later on the same Rice Harvest Festival, Meoquanee is murdered. Chibenashi has to be on duty because of the festival and asks Meoquanee to check up on his sister. Meoquanee never made it to Chibenashi’s wigwam but was murdered in her own wigwam. (The Peace Keeper uses the traditional term wigwam, but it is clear it describes a modern single-family house.)

The uncanny circumstances make Chibenashi think the two murders are somehow related. Obviously, his father is still in prison, but very little investigation was done with his mother’s murder because his father confessed right away. Still, Meoquanee was like a second mother to his family, and he is determined to find out who killed her, even if it means going outside the law.

Much of the story takes place in Chicago. While it is still a big city with tall buildings and distinct neighborhoods, it is clearly Native American. Families will go outside on lawns and parks for campfires. People from various tribes live there. One of the Chicago policemen Chibenashi works with is Miami. Miami is the Chippewa name, Myaamia; they call themselves T’wah T’wah. He carries a sense of resentment like that of other minority groups in other countries. In other words, this alternate world is still like the real world. It is based on Native American culture, yes, but it is no idyll.

Soon the reader has made his or her Coleridgean “willing suspension of disbelief,” and accepts the alien culture as if it were a foreign country with recognizable geographic points. This is, after all, first and foremost a murder mystery. To solve it, Chibenashi has to dig up a lot of his personal roots.

He will have to face his father in prison after twenty years. His former girlfriend has a highly placed job as a Mediator, like a judge in our culture, and she is able to help him, but needless to say it is a little uncomfortable and awkward for both of them.

Solving the crime includes modern technology. Whoever murdered Meoquanee removed all her personal belongings like combs and toothbrushes that might have carried her DNA, but the new DNA analysis on evidence from the old murder reveals some surprising details. Computers and cell phones also figure significantly.

And like any good mystery there are lots of surprises and plot twists. To say much more would turn this review into a spoiler, but it is very entertaining. With the effects the murders have had on Chibenashi’s family, his distressed sister, the old memories surfacing, and new challenges appearing almost daily, the story is quite intense.

We accept the revised history without question because nothing much is explained. This is just the way it is. I was thinking that all three of those modern inventions and discoveries came from North America by descendants of European settlers. The name Watson figures in all three: J. D. Watson for DNA, T. J. Watson for computers, and Thomas Watson for the telephone.

I was happy to observe that in this alternate North America the Passenger Pigeons still darken the skies for days during their migrations; nevertheless, there were national rivalries. The Chippewa did not trust the Lakota nation to the west of them. Historically, the Sioux were originally woodland Indians north of the Great Lakes. They were driven to the plains when the Cree obtained European weapons and drove them out. In The Peace Keeper they ended up on the plains as well. Again, we accept the history.

I could go on telling how I did have fun trying to decipher the meaning of some of the different words before I discovered the glossary. One minor character was a woman named Kishkadee. We are told she was named for the bird. Since this is set in the upper Midwest, it is clearly what in English is the Chickadee. But there is a bird found in Texas and in much of Latin America called the Kiskadee. A doodem is clearly a variation of totem. The usual greeting is boozhoo. That makes me wonder about things, though, like with the Watsons. The Great Lakes were the trade routes for French explorers and voyageurs. That greeting sounds an awful lot like bonjour.

Mark Zides. The #Pace. Armin Lear P, 2022.

The #Pace is subtitled Process for Early Career Success. This is a very practical book about a subject that for some reason is not always written about, namely, what should a person do looking for his or her first full-time job. This is oriented towards someone graduating from college, but it could be useful to anyone looking for a full-time job for the first time or entering the job market after a long time off, such as someone who took time off to raise a family.

To an older person like me, the number sign or hash tag seems perhaps a bit affected, but I know it is very meaningful to my high schoolers. And it actually does stand for something.

P is for Prepare. Zides gives us several chapters on how to prepare to look for a job: what steps to take and what to avoid. Perhaps the most sobering warning he gives is that this is not going to be easy. People sometimes joke or complain about hypersensitive or intolerant “snowflakes” who have been sheltered all their lives. The #Pace is a wake-up call. Things are going to be different.

He notes that the term snowflake was probably coined in the 1996 novel Fight Club. Zides quotes author Palahniuk himself:

Discussing his own experience as a young adult, Palahniuk wrote: “Everyone [was] saying ‘you’re wonderful just the way you are. You’re perfect.’…A lifetime of disingenuous, one-size-fits-all praise had kept most of my peers from pushing hard to acheive any actual triumphs.” (7)

Not only will someone entering the real world need to develop a thicker skin, Zides also recommends developing a network. Even if it is just other peers interested in some of the same things you are, it is a start. Zides especially recommends LinkedIn. He also warns about things not to post on social media sites.

A is for Apply. Yes, one has to apply for jobs. This often means that the applicant may have hundreds of competitors. It means crafting each resume and cover letter to the specifics of the job. And, yes, networking can help.

Part of this reminded this reviewer of Pitch Like Hollywood. That book was all about personal visual presentations. But pitches are not unlike interviews, and The #Pace has a lot of good advice for interviews. For example, within a day or two after an interview, write a short note to the interviewer thanking him or her for taking out time to interview. Even if you do not get the job, it may help to establish some good will either in networking or future opportunities.

Similarly, if you are offered a job that you decide not to take, let them know by a polite note or other communication that you have decided to go elsewhere. I recall when I was looking for a teaching job, one school had said they wanted to hire me. I was interested, but they said they would need some time to work out a contract. In the meantime, I was offered another job that was more appealing and closer to my wife’s family. I called the principal of the first school to tell him what had happened. I called really to find out if they had come up with a specific offer. He just said about my other job offer, “Take it. That’s a great school.” You never know. I ran into that principal a few times at teacher conventions, and our little reunions were cordial. At least there was good will.

C is for Commit. First of all, before you sign on, be sure to check every detail of the contract and any other paperwork. For example, as a school teacher, most schools have standards of behavior we are expected to observe. They also have a mission statement. Also make sure that you are being hired for the job that you thought you were being hired for.

Here Zides also notes that any new hire should have some plans, what he calls the thirty, sixty, and ninety day plans. It will take time to learn the new job. It will take time to understand and navigate the company culture.

One of his excellent pieces of advice is to find a mentor. It does not have to be formal, but find someone more experienced who can show you the ropes. For example, I will be eternally grateful to the principal of that school that I ended up taking the job with. He just gave me lots of practical advice, as did a couple of other more experienced teachers.

Zides is again slightly counter-cultural here:

The goal in finding an internal mentor is someone who can help you navigate your way through the company. Someone who can support you, give unbiased feedback, and provide a different perspective. In the current political landscape, people have become afraid of other perspectives. They have an all or nothing mentality; anyone who believes differently is the enemy. You have to rid yourself of that idea and instead seek to understand even when you don’t agree. Remember, a mentorship is not just about taking. You need to provide value to your mentor as well…All relationships are give-and-take, and a mentorship is no different. (124-125)

E is evaluate. This section can also be important. Sometimes people find themselves in a toxic workplace. That may be extreme, but what do you do? Or, perhaps after a few years, you decide it is time to move on. How do you know? What if you are looking for a career change?

Zides again gives very practical advice. For one thing, the author himself has worked for small companies and large well-known outfits, and he has started his own businesses. He gives examples from each and tells why he made moves when he did and what did and did not work.

Books given at graduation are often motivational and meditational. If this book is given at graduation, it may be too late. This would be perfect for someone who will be graduating, whether from college or a graduate program of some kind, in six months to a year.

The #Pace, as you can see even from the two quotations given here, is very frank. It is direct. Occasionally it is profane, which might not appeal to some readers, but if you equate the profanity with honesty and directness, it should not offend.

The author also notes that career plans change. Goals may change. Some people are working for the paycheck or the profit. Others are working to help people. Some are working because they seek some kind of authority. Some are attracted to different fields or people groups. It is not all about the Benjamins, but about satisfaction. The #Pace can be a compass to orient you in the best direction as well a map to help get you there.

Spencer Quinn. It’s a Wonderful Woof. Forge, 2021.

Since the English Plus Language Blog became primarily a place for book reviews, this is the sixteenth Chet and Bernie book we have reviewed. That includes a few that are only available on Kindle. It appears, then, we have read more books by Spencer Quinn than any other single author on this blog, even not including the YA title we just reviewed.

It’s a Wonderful Woof takes its title from a popular Christmas film. Unlike most of Quinn’s other titles, the title actually has a little connection with its namesake. It’s a Wonderful Woof, like It’s a Wonderful Life, takes place at Christmas time.

Like the other Chet and Bernie stories, we get the story from Chet the dog’s perspective. Because of his acute senses, Chet always notices things that get by Bernie Little of the Little Detective Agency in “the Valley” in Arizona. As has been the case with a few other tales, part of the story involves another private detective.

Victor Klovsky specializes in cybercrime and research. When Bernie is asked about taking on a client who seems interested in art history, Bernie refers this man with a Eastern European accent to Victor. The problem is that a few days later Victor has disappeared. Victor lives with his mother, and his mother asks Bernie to help find Victor.

The plot gets quite complicated. Bernie’s tracking takes him to many different places. Other stories have told us about Livia’s brothel. Bernie has to make a stop there for information to find out that the employee who may know something about Victor no longer works for Livia.

He also has to make a stop at an art dealer and an art museum. He finds the name of the man who may have hired Victor to find out that the man recently moved from the poor side of town to an exclusive new development. He has to track down a retired priest who lives by himself in a trailer park. He investigates a couple of gym clubs.

At one point he goes up into the mountains where Chet for the first time experiences snow. (I recall a visit to San Diego where I was told that people there could tell how cold it was by how low in elevation the snow came. I think it came to about 3,000 feet when I was there in February. I was told 1,500 feet was serious.)

Everything, though, seems to point to Nuestra Señora de los Saguaros, an old mission said to have first been established in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. The church had closed years before, and the property had been recently auctioned off. The first time Bernie and Chet go there, they meet Johanna who identifies herself as an archaeologist hired by the buyers of the property.

As Bernie is trying to figure out a connection between and among all these parties and what they know about the missing Victor, he seeks some help from an art professor at the local college. The professor had represented a group that was unsuccessful in its bid for the property. There appears to be some value to the rundown but baroque style church. The professor recently went on sabbatical, but who should Bernie find at the professor’s office but Johanna. Whom was she really representing?

It turns out that the mission itself has a legend connected with it about the “false penitent” who may have cursed the property. He was said to be from southern Italy, which was ruled by Spain at the time the mission was established. Some businessmen with connections to Spain and Italy, including a third private eye, come to the Valley and express an interest in Nuestra Señora. The detective claims to be working for the Prado, the famous Madrid art museum.

The reader may guess that businessmen from southern Italy may be legitimate businessmen—or something else. It may be unfair stereotyping, but one of their names is Vito…Not only is it complicated, but it gets pretty hairy.

Readers know that Bernie has not had great luck with women. He is divorced, and his son Charlie lives with his ex-wife and her new husband. His girlfriend Suzie from many of the books ends up marrying someone else. And in It’s a Wonderful Woof, Bernie sticks his foot in his mouth while with his latest girlfriend, Weatherly, who now ignores his phone calls. He just can’t seem to win.

Mysteries usually surprise us, and this one is complicated enough that most readers will be caught up in it. Still, I was happy to note a clue early in the story that Bernie and Chet would overlook until much later. The names of a number of Renaissance masters appear in the story including Titian, Tintoretto, and Caravaggio.

The ending—one could say the denouement or epilogue—of It’s a Wonderful Woof also has echoes of It’s a Wonderful Life. We know that Bernie often has trouble making ends meet, but here we see a different side of him. Yes, Chet’s canine narrative simplicity is often joyful, but here we see a joyful side of Bernie as well: one we usually miss, but perhaps we begin to understand.

Esmé, the smartest kid in Charlie’s fourth grade class, says Christmas really did not happen. When Charlie asks his father about it, Bernie replies, “I wouldn’t count it out.” Happy holidays!

Links to other Chet and Bernie reviews on the English Plus Language Blog:
Bark to the Future
Tender is the Bite
Of Mutts and Men
4 Chet and Bernie Books
The Sound and the Furry
Paw and Order
3 Chet and Bernie Mysteries
A Fistful of Collars
Chet and Bernie Mysteries (3)
Up On the Woof Top

Spencer Quinn. Ruff vs. Fluff. Scholastic, 2019.

Readers may recognize the author Spencer Quinn who writes the very enjoyable Chet and Bernie mysteries—of which we have reviewed many. Ruff vs. Fluff is Chet and Bernie for the younger set. This is probably a bit younger than YA, but let’s say late elementary through middle school.

Harmony and Bro are twins, brother and sister, whose mother owns an inn in the Northeast not too far from the Canadian border. The state is not specified, but it sounds like Vermont. (It is only giving away a little by noting Vermont has a mountain pass called Smugglers’ Notch.)

There is a mystery. And like the Chet and Bernie stories, the story is told from the animal’s point of view. Only in this case, there are two animals, both residents of the Blackberry Hill Inn.

Chapters are told by Archie the mutt and Queenie the cat. Quinn’s readers may easily catch onto Archie’s point of view. He has a slightly different personality than Chet—for one thing, no one would ever call Archie the Jet—but he is all dog like Chet. He spends a lot of time reminiscing about food, especially bacon. Oh, and like Bernie’s Little Detective Agency, the inn is having financial problems.

Queenie the cat’s persona makes us realize that Quinn understands cats also. Queenie sees herself as queen indeed. She spends a lot of time looking down from the heights of the grandfather clock in the inn. She is saying with the poet that she is monarch of all she surveys. At one point when someone tells the cat, “It’s not about you,” Queenie thinks, “Not about me? What an odd remark!” Archie has all kinds of weaknesses and lacks any kind of self-control, a quality which Queenie despises in him. Nevertheless, Queenie does have at least one weakness herself: catnip.

The only person currently staying at the inn is interested in an old logging trail that no one uses any more on a nearby mountain. When Alex LeMaire, the customer, does not return to the inn after a day and a night, Harmony and Archie go looking for him. They find him, but he is dead. The sheriff can tell it is murder. The sheriff immediately arrests their cousin Matty, the best guide in the region. No one other than the sheriff believes Matty could have done it, but what can they do? Matty is probably the only local who would know where to go on the mountain. Of course, Archie finds him because he can trace his scent.

There are other freaky goings-on. Several people, both locals and strangers, seem interested in a postcard from the 1930s. It is written to another LeMaire, but it just has a one-letter message. And then there’s an old trail map stolen from the public library.

The son of one of the locals interested in the postcard has gotten into a fight with Bro while they are playing hockey. Being hockey, the coach lets them fight it out, but that complicates things as well. Archie, by the way, likes hockey because the pucks are great to carry and chew. But he cannot understand why they call the team the Tigers. Tigers are cats, and everyone knows cats are not team players. Why didn’t they call them the dogs? (Connecticut has an AHL hockey team called the Wolf Pack. Archie would understand that.)

The narrators have a tale telling flair which makes the readers smile and laugh. But Ruff vs. Fluff is a serious mystery that kids will enjoy—and maybe learn a bit of American history from the last century as well.

Eric Metaxas. Seven Men. Nelson, 2015.
Charles P. Stetson with Jack Wyman. Men without Equal in their Times. King’s College P, 1999.

Both Seven Men and Men without Equal in their Times present sketches of men of courage who had a positive effect in the world. In Seven Men, the sketches run about thirty pages each, so they outline the person’s life and discuss the significance of what they accomplished. The eight sketches in Men without Equal run about twelve pages each, so they are considerably shorter.

There is one overlap. Both books have a chapter on William Wilberforce. Metaxas especially notes how impressive his accomplishments were. He was upper class, best friends of the son of the Prime Minister (who later himself would become P.M.), but he looked out for those who could not look out for themselves—not by giving them handouts but by giving them freedom.

Wilberforce’s life work was to end the slave trade in the British Empire. He lived long enough to see slavery itself abolished. But more than that, Wilberforce worked for what he called a reformation of manners. His appeal to what Abraham Lincoln would call “the better angels of our nature” helped usher in the respect and morality that typify the Victorian Age. Stetson would note that if done properly, politics can be a noble profession.

Metaxas begins with George Washington. Our first president has been subject to ad hominem attacks in the last thirty years. Metaxas shows us that, while not perfect, Washington would set the tone for American presidents and, to some degree, American politics in general. Even King George III could not believe that Washington would give up the power he had gained by winning the Revolutionary War. But he did.

Eventually Washington would become president of the country eight years after the war ended, but only because he was duly elected. He also set a standard, broken only once, of limiting himself to two terms. He wanted to show that he was not interested in amassing power or wealth from his position—unlike many “presidents for life” in many countries today. Americans have much to be grateful for including the character of their first chief executive.

Metaxas gives us stories of the lives of men we know about but sometimes only superficially. One of the men is Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman” track star best known today from the film Chariots of Fire. Metaxas tells us what really made Liddell tick. We also learn a lot about what he endured as a prisoner of the Japanese in China and some interesting details about his relationship with Harold Abrahams, the other runner featured in the movie.

Metaxas gives moving accounts of Jackie Robinson and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Both men suffered silently but their character changed the world in different ways. Robinson and baseball owner Branch Rickey implemented change in America even before what we call the Civil Rights Movement began. Though Bonhoeffer died young, he died in the service of his God and his books still affect readers today. Part of Metaxas’ own story, he tells us, comes from the effect reading Bonhoeffer had on his life.

Not surprisingly, Metaxas includes Chuck Colson, the somewhat notorious Nixon “hatchet man” who converted to Christianity and started a very effective prison ministry. Colson is quite quotable. He would acknowledge that crime is not a matter of poverty or society. After all, Colson was not poor. He quotes James Q. Wilson (the closest thing to a saint on my college campus when I was there): “Crime begins when children are not given adequate moral training, when they do not develop internal restraints on impulsive behavior.” (188)

I confess being a bit disappointed with the chapter on John Paul II. It gives an overview of his life, but it seems to miss some of its significance other than a Polish guy became pope. Having said that, it does follow Karol Wojtyla’s transformation from a fairly typical student into a believing Christian. His time as pope, perhaps like Washington, presents a kind of idea or ideal of what a person in his position can effect.

Men without Equal has a few men from the business world, Andrew Carnegie and Kurt Hahn. Carnegie demonstrates perhaps what the rich ought to be doing with their wealth. Hahn founded Outward Bound which has had an effect on the lives of many young people and a program that the author clearly admired.

Stetson reminds us of two famous missionary doctors: David Livingstone and Wilfred Grenfell. Both sketches are an appreciation of what selfless men can accomplish for mankind. Grenfell was Canadian. I only knew his name because he was pictured on a Canadian postage stamp. Now I can understand why he was honored in such a way. He was not so much an explorer but like Livingstone served people as a medical doctor in remote regions.

Stetson features two leaders of the United Kingdom in World War II, George VI and Winston Churchill. From what Stetson tells us of the four sons of the king, Albert, who would become George VI, was the man of character. One could argue his legacy lives on today in his daughter the current queen who is celebrating her seventieth year on the throne this year.

Churchill, we are told, mostly ruled with his words. But that is what leaders do. I could not help but think of President Zelensky of Ukraine these days. The chapter on Churchill is the most entertaining because he is the most quotable. Some of his sayings are quite funny, but many could and do inspire. One example: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

I was impressed by Stetson’s very short chapter on Nelson Mandela. It is mostly a long quotation from a Mandela biographer, but it opened my eyes to Mandela’s motivation. He is the one person in this book who rose to power during my lifetime, but, to be honest, I saw him as a victim of Apartheid, yes, but also as a politician. Still, when I compare the United States to other American countries, we can be thankful for Washington, In the same way, when compared to many other African states, the people of South Africa can be thankful for Mandela.

Nelson Mandela wrote “I knew people expected me to harbor anger towards whites. But I had none…I wanted South Africa to see that I loved even my enemies while I hated the system that turned us against one another.” (86)

He even invited the family of one of his Robben Island wardens to his inauguration, remaining “humane, dignified, unembittered, tolerant, and forgiving.” (87)

I thank both authors for presenting these men of character to us.

I should note that the edition of Seven Men has a bonus chapter from the author’s next book—Seven Women. That chapter featured Corrie ten Boom. I have read a number of her books over the years and even directed a theatrical version of her The Hiding Place. It was good to be reminded of her accomplishments and how God could use “ordinary people.” If we are to be famous, let us be famous for the things that are true and just.

Rachel Hauck. The Fifth Avenue Story Society. Nelson, 2020.

The reader may begin by saying, I’ve read or watched something like this before. The five main characters each receive an invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society which meets Monday nights at a famous private library in New York City. The invitations have no return address, there is no sign of who sent them. Isn’t this like an Agatha Cristie story or maybe Twelve Days at Bleakly Manor?

Unlike Ten Little Indians, no one gets murdered. Unlike Bleakly Manor, no one is trying to drive people away. There are only five people at the Story Society meeting, each with a similar invitation. There may be some method to the madness—two of the invitees are a divorced couple. The paths of two of the men had crossed briefly, but other than that, the setup appears random.

Lexa is the assistant to the CEO of a fast-rising fast food chain. She knows the ins and outs of the company better than anyone and is gunning for a promotion. She is recently divorced from Jett, an English professor at New York College (a stand-in for NYU) about to help the college by getting a large grant from the estate of a best-selling author Jett specializes in.

Chuck is a divorced Uber driver. He used to be prosperous, but since his divorce, he lost everything and even has a restraining order to keep him from his two children, a twin boy and girl.

Ed is retired. He still carries a torch for his wife who died over thirty years ago and hopes to write a book about their idyllic love. His one daughter is married with children and lives in a nice house on Long Island, but he prefers to live in the same apartment he shared with Esmerelda for the eight years they were married.

Coral is the CEO of a famous cosmetics firm started by her great-grandmother in the 1920s. Her recent life has been something of a roller coaster. She was engaged to a European prince (Grace Kelly or Meghan Markle?) but got cold feet at the last minute. In other words, she has turned into big tabloid fodder. Meanwhile, her latest cosmetic line seems to be mired in red ink.

We meet Chuck and Jett before the invitations are sent. At a wedding reception, they defend one of the bridesmaids from an overaggressive groomsman. It turns into a melee, and they end up spending the night together in a jail cell.

Everyone in the Story Society is hurting. Each one has a secret they fear revealing. Yet they all meet every week for a few months because, frankly, they all are a bit lonely and have been spurned for one reason or another. Unlike the other tales mentioned at the beginning, they all seem to get along. Even Jett and Lexa still respect each other.

As the stories unwind, we discover there are many secrets. In that sense there are mysteries. Jett and Lexa seemed happily married until Jett’s brother died in a paragliding accident and Jett just withdrew. Lexa, meanwhile, was working long and hard to please her boss who seemed to merely take her for granted.

The family that owned the mansion where the library is located were friends of the gilded age author who is Jett’s specialty. There are rumors that Gordon Phipps Roth plagiarized some of his works, but there is no evidence, and he has been dead for a hundred years. There is one reason the Roth family is giving NYC a huge endowment: Jett appears to have proven that Roth indeed did his own work.

And why does Ed say every week that he wants to write about Esmerelda but never does? Why did Coral break off her royal wedding? Why is Chuck so restless and bitter?

The Fifth Avenue Story Society tells a clever yarn as these different tales and the people behind them begin to unravel. And Gilda—the quiet librarian who ushers the society members in and out of their weekly meetings—does she have anything to do with anything?

While The Fifth Avenue Story Society is hardly chick lit, it is presented as a romance and packaged in a way that the publisher presents its romances. As I read it, I did not have that sense of a packaged romance at all. Having said that, there is an epilogue, a short chapter that was probably not necessary but might tie some loose ends for readers looking for them. I could not help thinking of some of Shakespeare’s romances like Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and (especially) the aptly named As You Like It. What do they all have in common? That’s my secret.

Steven Rogers. Into the Room. Elk Lake, 2021.

Into the Room was a pleasant surprise to this reader. There are two things going on in the story. First and foremost, we read about Ben Cahill and how alcohol has made a mess of him and his life. Second, we join him on a tour of the biblical sites of Israel. We also meet the tour guide and other members of his tour group.

The police had to intervene as his booze-fueled rage threatened his wife and daughter. His wife tells him to leave. He does not know what to do or where to go. His brother happens to know that this group from a local church—Ben calls them the Holy Rollers—is traveling to the Holy Land. It might be good for him to get away.

As I began reading this, I was not sure whether I would like it. It had a cute situation. There were echoes of The Screwtape Letters or Clarence the Angel from It’s a Wonderful Life. It seemed like Brian was on his way to getting “saved” in what is almost a stock testimonial.

However, the addiction to alcohol was real. Ben was surprised that none of the Holy Rollers looked down on him because he drank. In fact, a few of them joined him at hotel bars, though he always had more than they, and he had three beers sent to his room each night.

We also have a chance to go on a little New Testament era travelogue. Brian went to Sunday School as a kid, so he has some recollection of stories that happened in some of places. In many places he notes that they cannot be the verified location, but they are traditional spots.

So Brian sees what may have been Peter’s house in Capernaum. He sees the Sea of Galilee, whether or not this specific beach is where Jesus met the disciples after his resurrection. Ditto with the Jordan River, even if it is not the exact location where Jesus was baptized. The Garden Tomb and Golgotha are reasonable guesses, even if we are not a hundred percent sure. But Masada and the Dead Sea Scrolls are certain as is the Garden of Gethsemane.

Readers themselves get a little tour of each of these places. We see them from Ben’s perspective, but he tells us what others say. That includes their Jewish Christian guide Avi, the Bible-quoting but sweet Gerri, Pastor Marcus who leads this church group, the vacationing nurse Addy, and his roommate and bus seatmate Joseph.

The plot appears to be going in a certain direction. In some ways it does continue, but it becomes more realistic. We see this is not a pat testimonial, but a real man dealing with real demons. As the travelers go into the desert, it seems that Ben is having his own desert experience—far from God and not close enough to the comfort of ethanol.

Without giving too much away, this becomes a fascinating psychological study. Maybe we understand the alcoholic some, but we also understand the underlying guilt and shame that often gets concealed behind the bravado. Let us just say that the ending is realistic. No, we cannot say everyone lives happily ever after, but we do get a sense of direction and a sense of hope.

What is the room in the title? It is a place that many people enter. Perhaps they get there because of a dark night of the soul. Perhaps they have been looking for it. Perhaps it just appears before them. But there are other rooms, too. Many who see the room or enter it, decide that it is not for them.

To allude to another Lewis tale, it may be like the place behind the wardrobe door, but it may take the person to the door at the end of The Last Battle. Jesus said, “Many are called but few are chosen.” And we don’t really know who’s who till the end of the New Testament story. So it is with this one, but readers will get caught up looking Into the Room even if they avoid taking the step themselves.