Calico Joe
AUTHOR: John Grisham
PUBLISHED BY: Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0-385-53607
RELEASED DATE: 2012
PAGES: 198




    Unexpected Paul Tracey gets a call from his most recent stepmother who informs him that his ex-major leaguer father, Warren Tracey, is dying of cancer. His relationship with his father has been very distant since his parents divorced when he was in his early teens. Knowing that his sister doesn’t want anything to do with their father, Paul takes it upon himself to go visit him, but first he makes a quick stop to Calico Rock to try to find Joe Castle.

    In the summer 1973, the Chicago Cubs rookie Joe Castle came out of nowhere and shocked the Major League Baseball fans as he hit home run after home run. Warren Tracey followed Joe Castle vigorously, even keeping a scrapbook full a newspaper clippings and autographs, so you can say he was a big fan. Warren also was a fan of the New York Mets, as his father was a starting pitcher and a major alcoholic with some anger problems. On August 24, 1973, the Cubs were playing at the Shea Stadium with Warren as the starting pitcher. Warren was in one of his foul moods that will forever change the life of Joe Castle.

Roan
BY: Jennifer Blake
PUBLISHED BY: Severn House
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8124-3
RELEASED DATE: 2012 (Original copyright in 2000)
PAGES: 380

 After one of the suspects jumps out of a moving van and rolls down a hill, Sheriff Roan Benedict pulls out his gun and fires, only to realize that he had just shot a woman. He takes her to the hospital with the intention to charge her for robbing a local grocery store. When Tory awakens, she claims that she was a kidnapping victim, but does not know the names of the men that were in the van. Roan does not want to believe her, but he cannot exactly arrest her either.

    Two unknown men try to break into the hospital. Roan knows that Tory is no longer safe there and invites her to stay at his house until she can identify the kidnappers. Of course, Tory is not exactly telling the truth. She is running away from her evil ex-fiancée and her stepfather, who are both after her inheritance. As a romance blossoms between Roan and Tory, she wonders if she can tell him the truth. However, she may not have a choice as her ex arrives in town for her.

A funny thing happened before a recent book signing of my published book Miss Hildreth Wore Brown - Anecdotes of a Southern Belle. A new library had just been built in my hometown and the library foundation had graciously asked me to do a book signing.  The event would be complete with a Southern tea and beautiful belles in antebellum dresses using the catchy theme “Books and Belles.” The Sunday before this lovely event, the announcement came out in our local newspaper, but due to a sleepy proof editor the event was billed “Books and Bellies—A Taste of the South.” The head of the library foundation immediately called with the words, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. My friend said to look on the bright side—maybe a lot of people will come just to see exactly what she is going to do!”

I assured this gracious gal that if they were expecting a belly dance they would be sorely disappointed. As I explained, “I was raised by a host of Southern women and threatened within an inch of my life if I ever showed my belly in public. I am still not over it. This belly has yet to see the light of day.”

As my birthright, I passed this on to my daughter. It is true I had to give in to bikinis, but if she were not within two inches of a beach, her belly was not to be seen. Before she left the house, I even made her perform the “belly test,” as she exasperatedly called it. She had to raise both arms so I could be sure her shirt covered every inch of her belly. If you are raised by a slew of Southern women, some lessons stick for life. Trust me on this one!

Midwife of Venice

AUTHOR: Roberta Rich

PUBLISHED BY: Gallery Books

ISBN: 978-1-44516-5747-0

RELEASED DATE: February 2012

PAGES: 344

    Hanna Levi, a Jewish midwife, is known through Venice for helping mothers give birth by using the ‘birthing spoons’ that she designs herself. A Papal forbids any Jews to give medical treatments to Christians, which the rule has never been a problem for Hanna, until a Christian nobleman asks for her help. His wife has been in labor for days and he wants Hanna to help with his son’s birth. In exchange, he’ll pay for husband Isaac’s ransom. Isaac has been captured and forced into slavery in Malta. Hanna must go against her religion to help save her husband.

Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch
BY: Lara Parker
PUBLISHED BY: Tor
PUBLISHED IN: First Mass Market Edition 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7002-0
PAGES: 336

    The now human Barnabas Collins is ready to start a new life with his fiancée Dr. Julia Hoffman, who curried him from the vampire curse set upon him by the witch Angelique. The Old House, which was mostly burnt in the previous novel, is now owned by the mysterious flower child named Antoinette, who is the split image of Angelique. Julia tells him to forget about it, but he can’t forget about all the horror the witch has put him through.

    Barnabas, along with his manservant Willie Loomis, stumbles into the reconstructed Old House and he shockingly finds that the interior is the exact duplicate, as if the fire never occurred. Now he is more than sure that Angelique has returned from the grave. Before leaving, they find a corpse with bite marks on the neck. Is there another vampire in Collinsport?

    Barnabas is determined to find out the truth, which takes him and young David Collins to Salem, where he starts to have doubts about who Antoinette is. He even starts to fall in love with her. Barnabas is soon encountered with the so-called-vampire and is bitten. Now to save the Collins family he may have to return to his curse.

I stumbled upon Dark Shadows: The Best of Barnabas part of The Greatest Episodes Collection at my local Wal-Mart for under ten dollars. Dark Shadows aired from 1966 to 1971 normally in the late afternoons. At the time of it’s peek Dark Shadows had around twenty million viewers, which is an incredible number compared to the low ratings of today’s soap operas (Sadly, there are only four on the air.). And it was known for having errors, such as actors forgetting their lines; stagehands walking in the background; microphones where in the frame shot; etc, because of the tight filming schedule demanded by ABC.

There have been dozens of Dark Shadows sets released over the years. The complete series is coming out this summer but at a whopping $599.98 retail price tag. The show has become more popular due to Tim Burton’s remake starring Johnny Depp being released on Friday, resulting in MPI Home Video releasing The Best of Barnabas to DVD.

Dark Shadows: Angelique’s Descent
BY: Lara Parker
PUBLISHED BY: Tor
PUBLISHED IN: First Mass Market Edition 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7002-0
PAGES: 336

    Now cured of the vampire curse, Barnabas is ready to start a new live as a mortal, starting by furthering his relationship with his savior Dr. Julia Hoffman. He is now living in the Collinwood estate and plans on becoming a productive member of the family. The night before the demolition crew is scheduled to tear down the Old House, he returns there just before a mysterious fire occurs, burning down almost the entire house. The only item that survived the burning was a journal. The journal of the witch Angelique Bouchard.

    Despite of Julia’s demands for him to toss the book into the fireplace, Barnabas begins reading the haunted tale that takes place on island of Martinique. At a young age Angelique is ripped from her mother’s arms and forced to live with her father, a plantation owner. Voodoo witchcraft had been in her family line and at an early age her father recognized it in her. Angelique is treated more like a slave than a daughter as she is used in her father’s scheme to control his slaves, leading her into pledging her soul to darkness and becoming immortal.

    I received The Best of Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? in a DVD giveaway package I won from a blog several weeks ago. The show aired in 1994 and ended in 1998. I vaguely recall the series ever airing as I was a thirteen-year-old and I was more into horror movies at the time. The series is based on the popular pc/video game and the PBS kid’s game show; both titled Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. Thanks to Cookie Jar (Mill Creek Entertainment) this cartoon and others are now available on DVD.

    The show takes place in a virtual reality where a 'live' kid known as “The Player” is playing the game as two sibling characters Zack and Ivy, who are both ACME detectives. Carmen Sandiego is the main thief along with her V.I.L.E gang, who in each episode steals an artifact and travels the world to through off the authorities. This is where Zack and Ivy come in as they must find the clues Carmen leaves behind and figure out her next move. Of course at the end of every episode, the kids recover the artifact and Carmen gets away.