Category Archives: Books

Finland and the Holocaust by Hannu Rautkallio (1987: Holocaust Library. ISBN 978-0-89604-121-9) My wife Rene’, our son Jack,and I visited the Holocaust Museum this past August in D.C. As you’d expect, it was a moving, distressing, enlightening experience. While there, … Continue reading →

Sometimes Madness is Wisdom by Kendall Taylor (2001: Ballatine Books. ISBN 0-345-44715-8) I’m no different than most white, middle-class Americans. I am titillated and intrigued by personal train wrecks. Well, it turns out, in the literary world, there’s no bigger … Continue reading →

  Ford County Stories by John Grisham (2010: Dell. ISBN 978-0-307-57620-0) Two stories. In a book of seven pieces of short fiction, legendary legal genre writer John Grisham gives his fans, including me, two decent stories. That’s what, like 29%? … Continue reading →

The Love Hunter by Jon Hassler (1981: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-35017-0) and Staggerford by Jon Hassler (1986: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-33375-6) I re-read both of these Hassler classics during a recent craft show to pass the time between customers. I was prompted … Continue reading →

Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance by Jarkko Sipila (2009: Ice Cold Crime. ISBN 978-0-9824449-1-7) This is the second book I’ve read by Finnish journalist-turned-crime fiction writer, Jarkko Sipila. For anyone with an interest in how the Finnish police and investigative system works … Continue reading →

Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range by Aaron Brown (2008: Red Step Press. ISBN 978-098007890-9) For a young person, Aaron Brown possesses extraordinary powers of reflection and observation. He also happens to be one hell of a writer. This … Continue reading →

The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein (2008: Ballantine. ISBN 978-345-49610-2) When I began reading The Invisible Wall, given the time frame described in the book (pre-WWI), and given we are now nearly a century after the Great War, I was … Continue reading →

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (1990: Mariner. ISBN 978-0-618-70641-9) I tend to write large. This may be a sign of insecurity or confirmation of my verbose nature. When I say large, I mean “big”; as in 100,000 plus … Continue reading →

Raid and the Blackest Sheep By Harri Nykanen (Originally Published by WSOY in 2000 as Raid jan Mutempi Lammas; English translation by Peter Ylitalo Leppa. Published by Ice Cold Crime, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9824449-2-4) For a non-Finnish author (Suomalaiset: People of … Continue reading →

The Dance Boots by Linda LeGarde Grover (2010: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3580-3) A Duluth author wins the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. There’s some immediate hubbub in the local newspaper. Some book signings around town (we only … Continue reading →