Copyright 2006 by Randy Wayne White. Published by the Berkeley Publishing Group, New York.

Randy Wayne White is an author who lives in – and writes about – southwest Florida. His books, with settings familiar to me, have special interest. I wanted very much to enjoy Dark Light, his 13th book featuring marine biologist Doc Ford.

I wanted to enjoy it but didn’t.

Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind (whatever that might be) to enjoy his writing or maybe his literary cheese is slipping off the cracker, but whatever the reason I simply couldn’t get by the first 50 pages. The plot was so confusing and the characters were so poorly formed that I just gave up. It just wasn’t worth the effort.

2 out of 10. I would have given it a 1 but maybe I would have liked it more if I had fought through to the end. But I doubt it.

Copyright 1961 by Bruce Catton. Published by Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc, New York.

This is the second volume of Catton’s Civil War trilogy. It covers just one year of the war – 1862. That year warrants an entire volume because it is the year that shaped the war. When the year began, there was a belief on both sides that the war would be brief and that the differences between North and South could be resolved without great bloodshed and without eliminating the institution of slavery. When the year ended, those illusions were gone. It would be a long, bloody war and if the North won then slavery would be banished from the entire nation.

1862 was the year when Robert E Lee was put in charge of the Army of Northern Virginia. He is the man who, pretty much single-handedly, eliminated the possibility of a short war. While the North made significant advances in both the west (e.g., the capture of New Orleans) and the east (e.g., assuming control of the Carolina coast), Lee, with an army significantly smaller than the North’s, managed to out-maneuver his counterpart, the ever-cautious George McClellan. The Seven Days battle to the east of Richmond the last week in June put an end to the North’s hope for a quick victory. But the devastating battle in the fall at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg MD – a tactical draw but with losses heavier than Lee could afford – ended the South’s hope for a quick victory. After Antietam Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves, thereby redefining what the war was about. At the end of 1862 it was clear to all that the Civil War would be long and bloody and would forever reshape the Union.

8 out of 10.

Copyright 2003 by Stuart Woods. Published by Penguin Putnam, Inc, New York.

This is a book featuring Stone Barrington, Esquire, a lawyer who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. In this Barrington novel – the 9th of 67 (Woods is very prolific) – the “dirty work” is photographing a husband getting a “happy ending” massage. The photographs were to be used in breaking a prenup so that the rich wife could continue to remain rich when she divorced her philandering hubby. Of course that work was a bit too dirty or too mundane for Stone so he subcontracted it. Unfortunately the subcontracting photographer fell through the skylight while getting the money shots, killing the husband on the massage table.

Or so it seemed. But an autopsy proved that hubby was already dead when crushed by the photographer, apparently poisoned by the masseuse who was a notorious assassin, sought by British agents. The clumsy photographer did get some good photos of her – the only photos of her in existence. One of the British agents looking for the assassin was “Carpenter” (her code name – her real name may or may not have been Felicity), a beautiful woman who had a history with Stone. And, apparently, she was the next target of the assassin.

This is a book of mistakes, screw-ups and misunderstandings. A lot of people die, usually for no good reason. In the wrong place at the wrong time or incorrectly accused of wrongdoing. Stone is caught between Carpenter and Marie-Therese (the maybe true name of the assassin), for whom he develops a begrudging respect because she seems to have more morals than most of the people searching for her. He puts himself into the odd position of becoming her lawyer and negotiating a truce between her and the Brits looking for her. But even that gets screwed up and more people die.

There aren’t a lot of heroes in this book, but it is well-written with some interesting twists.

7 out of 10.

Copyright 1961 by Bruce Catton. Published by Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc, New York.

I mostly read fiction. Mysteries, with some action/adventure thrown into the mix. But on rare occasions I read some non-fiction. This is one of my rare non-fiction readings.

[NOTE: The image is for the audiobook version, but I read the paperback version. I just couldn’t locate an image of the paperback.]

Those of you who know me and have followed this blog know that I am a bit of a Civil War aficionado. I like visiting Civil War battlefields. And there is no question that those years, 1861-1865, did much to shape our country into what it is today. Because it was so important I want to understand it and Bruce Catton’s 3-volume trilogy, which a friend loaned to me, is a good way to achieve some understanding. The Coming Fury, the first volume in that trilogy, is about the events and the politics that preceded the war. It ends with the first battle of Bull Run – the battle that finally convinced the nation that this would be a long, brutal conflict.

I learned a lot. Lincoln’s nomination to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 1860 was not a lock. He was a long shot, really, but had a good campaign manager. Some of his early speeches were far from eloquent. He was viewed as incompetent, at first, by many people in government. The Confederacy, consisting of 6 states, existed before Fort Sumter was taken. The fighting at Fort Sumter was nearly bloodless with the only two casualties occurring during the ceremonial striking of the US flag after surrendering. Baltimore was so pro-secessionist that trains carrying Union troops to Washington to defend the capital had to be diverted.

While many men – including Lincoln – wanted desperately to avoid bloodshed, passions about slavery ran so deep that there was never a serious attempt to find a compromise solution. A compromise was probably not possible anyway. A civil war was the inevitable result.

A good, well-written and scholarly book. I am looking forward to the other two volumes. 7 out of 10,

The usual disclaimer: David Benjamin is a lifelong friend so I might be biased. But I think I know a good book when I read one. This is a good book.

Copyright 2023 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI.

This is #4 in Benjamin’s series featuring Jim Otis, a disgraced ex-cop from Chicago who is serving as police-chief-in-exile in Hercules WI, a fictional small farming community near LaCrosse. He is divorced with a precocious teen daughter living with the ex-wife in Chicago. He is dating a high school English teacher. And he isn’t particularly busy in a quiet town like Hercules.

But he has a history with young women. One, Elena, a young (too young when he met her in Chicago) Hispanic woman, pops in and out of his life at inopportune moments. Another, Josie Dobbs, a recent Hercules High grad now at Bryn Mawr, also pops in and out of his life. But where Elena is just confused, Josie is pure evil.

To round out Jim’s life, he is surrounded by a colorful cast of Hercules residents, all of whom appear regularly at A.J.’s, Jim’s local bar of choice.

So that is Jim’s life. All of these characters appear in this book and provide secondary narratives. But the main story is Meryl Clark, Stone McCulloch and Clay Lutz. And the ghost of John Roszak. Yes, the main storyline in this book involves some supernatural events. I don’t like supernatural stories. I avoid Stephen King for that reason. But this one seemed natural. It fit.

The basic backstory is that Clay Lutz, then 17, raped and impregnated Meryl Clark. She left Hercules to have her child, but has returned to finish her high school career. Stone McCullock is the local basketball hero. Probably the best Hercules hoop star since John Roszak who died tragically, on the court while driving for a game-winning basket some 50 years before. Some say that his ghost haunts the gym, which, despite all attempts to brighten it, remains gloomy. It is called the Black Hole by everyone who attends games there. It is said that Roszak’s ghost has the ability to deflect shots made by players who are very talented – like Stone McCulloch.

Also back in town is Clay Lutz, a determined troublemaker, racist and a generally crazy guy. He remains obsessed with Meryl and is determined to take her away with him. Just about the time he arrives Meryl strikes up a romance with Stone. Who just happens to be black. A perfect recipe for trouble.

And there is trouble. The nature of the trouble and how it all resolves is what makes this book so good. It is, I believe, Benjamin’s best book ever. And he has written some good ones.

My only complaint is that the main story seemed to drag a bit in the middle. But the characters at A.J.’s kept it interesting.

8 out of 10.