Bestsellers include
If You Really Loved Me, the chilling chronicle of a millionaire’s murderous secret life
Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder, the horrific account of a woman’s homicidal assault on her three young children .
Everything She Ever Wanted, her terrifying book about a sociopathic Georgia belle and her fatal allure.

Other titles include the bestsellers Dead by Sunset, The Want-Ad Killer, The I-5 Killer, Lust Killer, Possession

She is also the author of
Every Breath You Take, the only true-crime book written at the request of the murder victim. A woman ensnared by the violent obsessions of her millionaire ex-husband;
And Never Let Her Go, the nationally renowned case of deadly seducer Thomas Capano, which was made into a CBS miniseries;
Bitter Harvest: A Woman’s Fury, a Mother’s Sacrifice, which unravels the shattering case of Debora Green, a doctor and loving mother driven to lethal acts of vengeance.
Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer–America’s Deadliest Serial Murderer
The Stranger Beside Me, the unnerving chronicle of Rule’s dawning horror as she realizes her friend and coworker Ted Bundy is a serial killer;
Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death

Ann Rule’s Crime Files books have delivered the very best in true crime reading since A Rose for Her Grave, first in the acclaimed series, made its debut. In this first gripping true crime anthology, Ann Rule, with her policewoman’s razor-sharp eye for telling detail and her penetrating analysis of the criminal mind, has created compelling true crime accounts from her personal case files. She examines one of the most infamous cases in the Pacific Northwest - that of Randy Roth, a man who married - and murdered - for profit, and the women who were his victims.

In her trademark narrative style, Ann Rule weaves a tale that is heartbreakingly riveting and enraging. She brilliantly chronicles the shattering investigation into Roth’s heinous crimes, she delves into the personalities and backgrounds of the criminals, their families, and the circumstances that brought about the crimes. Packed with honest details, clear cut characters, and unravelled secrets, this is a unique collection of true crime stories in that unique style that makes her books such extraordinary page-turners.

She has written eleven Crime Files volumes:
Last Dance, Last Chance;
Empty Promises;
A Rage to Kill;
The End of the Dream;
In the Name of Love;
A Fever in the Heart;
You Belong to Me;
A Rose for Her Grave.
Kiss Me, Kill Me: And Other True Cases
Worth More Dead and Other True Cases,
No Regrets and Other True Cases:

Ann Rule, has been described by John Saul as “the undisputed master crime writer of the eighties and nineties and it seems that she’ll be writing well into the naughties as well. She has two new books coming called Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder: And Other True Cases and Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal. They are due out around Christmas 07.

If you like true crime and would like to listen to such books rather than read them, you can a range of true crime titles from this Online Audio Bookseller. Audio books are a great way to make time fly while on long car trips.

Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule on Audio

Finders Keepers - Mark Bowden

My Life Among the Serial Killers - Helen Morrison

Portrait of a Killer - Patricia Cornwell

The Prosecuters - Gary Delsohn

Baddiel’s book centers on a husband and wife who escaped Germany and came to England with their baby daughter. Isaac, son of a rabbi, an intellectual who believes in communism - in theory, has insufficient command of English to hide this when interviewed by immigration. Although classified as a low threat, he is interred on the Isle of White for the duration of the war. His wife and child are left to fend for themselves and do what they can to secure his release to freedom.

The insight this brings to our own government’s policy of interring refugees, is something that makes this book very compelling. A religion he has all but abandoned caused Isaac to face execution in his own country, then when he thought he had escaped to a secure place, he was separated from his wife and baby, because the country he escaped from is at war with the country he escaped to.

The confusion and resentment this causes is more than understandable. That the people are naïve and make unwise emotional choices though is what holds the attention. A very touching, human book.

Her first book The Great Deliverance, written in 1988, won the Anthony and Agatha Best First Novel awards in America and received the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiene in France. Well Schooled in Murder won the prestigious German prix for international mystery fiction, the MIMI, in 1990.

There have been fourteen novels and one short story book from 1988 to 2006, each with a completely different storyline.

Most of her books revolve around New Scotland Yard in London but the location of the action is usually in other parts of England and she shows a remarkable insight into the intricacies of village life, which could so easily be misinterpreted, especially by someone who has never lived in that kind of environment.

One of the main attractions of her books is the interaction between her two main characters. Lord Asherton or, as he prefers to be called Tommy Lynley, is a landowner with a large estate in Cornwall and a public school education. Barbara Havers, on the other hand, had a very sketchy education and in the early books is living with her parents, her father is continually on oxygen and her mother has dementia. Barbara’s mother is always planning elaborate holidays that she imagines that she and Barbara can take next year.

Barbara Havers also has a very guilty conscience about a younger brother who had leukemia and who died alone. She always feels that she let him down. A constant reminder of him is the fact that her mother has built a shrine to him in a corner of the sitting room. Perhaps it is not surprising that she has a chip on her shoulder about the aristocracy who never have to worry about making ends meet. She believes that all bluebloods will stick together even to the extent of perverting the course of justice. She has already been teamed with several other Inspectors and they have been less than impressed, mainly by her inability to take orders if she considers that they are incorrect or unnecessary.

Lynley and Havers are as incompatible as it is possible to be. Lynley is always dressed immaculately and Havers looks as though she dressed in the dark, but as their association progresses, Lynley realises that Havers has an instinct about people and becomes more receptive to any suggestions she puts forward. She continues to be aggressive and sometimes insubordinate but she also comes to appreciate the intelligence of her superior officer.

The other regular characters are all friends of Lynley. Simon St. James who badly injured his leg in a car accident, a car being driven by Lynley when they were both drunk, is a pathologist working mainly for the police. There is also Deborah Cotter, the daughter of Simon’s servant-friend and Lady Helen Clyde, who assists Simon in his work.

The novels should be read in the correct order or you will find yourself confused by the relations between these four characters. Simon has always been in love with Deborah but considers that he was not good enough for her because he was several years older than her and he was a ‘cripple’. Deborah was in love with Simon but because he refused to take the relationship further than friendship, she teamed up with Tommy (Lynley) and went as far as planning the wedding but you will have to read the book “Suitable Vengeance” to find out what happened. Helen Clyde apparently had an affair with Simon somewhere along the line, although it didn’t go any further, but they all remained friends.

The warming part of the group is that they all treat Havers as a person they like and trust and often take her part against Lynley when they consider that he is being pig-headed; mainly when the case being investigated contains people of his own class or people he considers his friends.

The beauty of Elizabeth George’s books is that they are all completely different story lines and different locations. The characters can be controversial but you will find that you keep on reading long after you should have been asleep. The solution is never easy to see and if you do work out who the culprit is, you should be very proud of yourself.

A television series has been made called Inspector Lynley Mysteries but you need to disregard the descriptions of the main characters as given in the books because not one of them is as you would have imagined them. Lynley is described as blonde, Havers is far too neat, Deborah should be red headed and Helen very beautiful. Added to that, although the main outline is the same, some of the endings are changed - which is a pity because they were perfect as they were…

Author GM Francis

Audio books available from this Online Audio Bookstore are an instant download and nice just to listen to relaxing in bed.

Her 13th novel “With No-one as Witness” returns us to Havers and Lynley with a serial killer on the loose. Changing her pace in this book, she writes more like Patricia Cornwell, a fast paced novel guaranteed to make you stay up all night to find out what happens and leave you devastated by the end.

Her 14th novel again takes us away from the main characters that tie the series together and into the minds of young London teens. She achingly describes how while thinking he is doing the only thing possible and with the best of motives a child can devastate the lives of so many people. It is the other side of the story to “With No-one as Witness”
This book reads like a Greek tradgedy where you can see the inevitable consequences and only wish you could guide the characters away before disaster strikes. Of course few teens can be guided by adults because they know that as an adult, you understand nothing of the world they live in. It may not explain things satisfactorily but it does explain why.

Like all his novels it is huge as a world concept and like a game of chess, while you’re trying to think several moves ahead and hold them all for comparison, it’s mind twisting. At the same time, the story progresses linearly, with each move described intimately and is lovingly detailed with each character’s thoughts as they proceed to their destined end game.

It is a story that can be read by anyone, that will touch your heart on many levels, for it is Ender, a young boy first encountered at six years of age, that is it’s main character.

It is an action tale that will appeal to any boy between the age of 10-18 because it describes the use of computer games although not in a way that might be expected. It is a shocking novel - that is a novel that shocks because its characters are so young, yet so advanced in their actions and because the adults, mostly military personel and rarely mentioned, train children to train other children in a battle school.

It is however an adult novel with mature concepts - about boys, about siblings, about friends and about enemies, about bullying and duty, about love and respect.

It is a science fiction novel woven around the threat of an alien race called the buggers who tried to invade earth and it is an introduction to complex ethics, posing many questions about right and wrong actions and the motives behind them. It examines leadership and lonliness, it examines groups and camaraderie, it examines winning and losing, fairness and discipline, love and hate and truth and lies.

“Ender nodded. It was a lie, of course, that it wouldn’t hurt a bit. But since adults always said it when it was going to hurt, he could count on that statement as an accurate prediction of the future. Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.”

Like Harry Potter, Ender Wiggin gets very little love and support and engages our sympathy from the start, like Harry Potter the setting is a school environment and like Harry Potter, Ender is a child with the hopes of many adults resting on him like a huge weight.There have been wizard books and fantasy novels touted to be like Harry Potter ever since he became the character of best selling books. This book that developed from a short story originating around 1977 preceded Rowling’s brilliant novels and makes no claim to the humour or magic they have, but there are many similarities in the structure of their plots. Rowling however has clear black and white good and evil rules, Card has so many shades of grey we don’t know what to think.

More than anything else Ender’s Game is a thrilling story that holds you from start to finish, with a thirst to reach the end and find out what happens. A novel that is revisitable and mind twisting, that is both passionate and perfectly executed. It is our first encounter with the characters that Card has written six more novels about; each big in concept but fine in detail and each one expanding his alternate Universe with high imagination and humanity.

If you have a teenager reluctant to read, or to read anything other than Harry Potter, this will be a hit to most and if anyone, any age wants a good fast book, this is it.

You can read about Orson Scott Card at his website www.hatrack.com and if you do a search on him by name you’ll find some very interesting sites on politics, global issues and many other things as he has very specific and sometimes controversial views.

Author JA Francis

These titles of Orson Scott Card are available from an Online Audio Bookseller.  Audio books are fantastic for people who’s eyesight is failing. Good for long car trips as well.

Seventh Son: Tales of Alvin Series Vol 1
Orson Scott Card

From the author of the award-winning Ender’s Game comes the unforgettable story of
young Alvin Maker, the seventh son of a seventh son. Born into an alternative frontier America where life is hard and folk magic is real, Alvin is gifted with power, but he must learn to use his gift wisely. Dark forces are arrayed against Alvin, and only a young girl with second sight can protect him.

Red Prophet: Tales of Alvin Series Vol 2 

Alvin has discovered his own unique talent for making things whole again. Now he summons all his powers to prevent the tragic war between Native Americans and the white settlers of North America. Red Prophet is but a section of a vast American fantasy epic. It is vividly written, and the principal actors Alvin, Ta-Kumsaw the Prophet, and Alvin’s Gandalfesque mentor Taleswapper are all complete and memorable characters.”

Prentice Alvin: Tales of Alvin Series Vol 3 

Young Alvin returns to the town of his birth and begins his apprenticeship with Makepeace Smith, committing seven years of his life in exchange for the skills and knowledge of a blacksmith. But Alvin must also learn to control and use his own talent, that of a Maker, else his destiny will be unfulfilled.

Alvin Journeyman : Tales of Alvin Vol 4 

Alvin is a Maker, the first to be born in a century. Now a grown man and a journeyman smith, Alvin has returned to his family in the town of Vigor Church. He will share in their isolation, work as a blacksmith, and try to teach anyone who wishes to learn the knack of being a Maker. For Alvin has had a vision of the Crystal City he will build, and he knows that he cannot build it alone. But he has left behind in Hatrack River enemies as well as true friends. His ancient foe, the Unmaker, whose cruel whispers and deadly plots have threatened Alvin’s life at every turn, has found new hands to do his work of destruction.

(The above are from the books blurb descriptions)

These books are a wonderful blend of so many different elements. Alvin is a warm human kind hearted and creative boy with a knack that goes well beyond most knacks. Peggy, his protectress is feisty and canny. The alternate history in the books include black slavery and American Indians and the allegory of Alvins knack related to the Creator while his enemy the Unmaker aims to foil him brings a delightful philosophical discussion to the novels regarding superstitions, creativity, love and hatred.

The next book is one of my favourites and also tackles the theme of creativity, it’s ability to move other people and the confusing and sometimes disastrous effect that it can have on other people.

*******

Songmaster: Orson Scott Card (A stand alone novel)

Kidnapped at an early age, Ansset has been raised in isolation at a mystical retreat called the Songhouse. His life is filled with music, and having only songs for companions, he develops a voice that is unlike any other. But Ansset’s voice is both a blessing and a curse–for it reflects all the hopes and fears of his audience, and, by magnifying their emotions, can be used either to heal or to destroy.

When it is discovered that his is the voice that the Emperor has waited decades for, Ansset is summoned to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. Many fates rest in Ansset’s hands, and his songs will soon be put to the test: either to salve the troubled conscience of a conqueror or drive him, and the universe, into mad chaos.

My solution is to read one book by as many authors that appeal to me in the genres I enjoy. Since there are few genres I don’t enjoy - this still leaves me with a huge reading list, especially since my reading is not confined to fiction.

There are some exceptions to this rule. They are few, but there are occasional authors that genuinely push my buttons - that speak to me in such a way that I seek them out as I would the one friend you know at a crowded party. I will buy, rather than borrow what they write, I will keep most of their novels and I may even reread what they write from start to finish, simply because I want to.

As I said, this is rare and I freely admit that although the authors I like may be high selling authors, they are not always bestselling authors - not to everyone’s taste. They contain usually a high degree of character self examination and philosophising. Their characters are often moody, melancholy and traumatised, people who have difficult choices to make, who question their own ethics and motivations, who are cynical and brutally honest, who have equal parts angel and devil and who live with guilt.

I also love imagination - which is why fantasy and Science Fiction is my preferred genre. They have little in common in one way; fantasy deriving from the past and Science fiction extrapolating the future - but each deals with “What if…?” scenarios.

What if there was an animal with the body of a lizard, the wings of a bat, the eyes of a fly in the iridescent colour of peacock feathers? What if it breathed fire, lived in a cave in the mountains, could communicate telepathically, hoarded gold and possessed the wisdom of ages having lived for centuries. Where did the dragon come from, able to fly ‘between’ times and spaces and who would dare to ride upon his back and call him friend?

What if one element of history hadn’t happened, if Jesus had never lived, if Hitler had been accepted as an artist. What if we had machines that could fly faster than light through space, that could split our atoms and put them back together in another place. What if we cured disease and no one ever died. What if up was down and night was day and what if we’re not the only planet with intelligent life.

Genre wise, I prefer a little fantasy to a dearth of a reality, reading to escape the mundane, so I prefer the heroic to the common, however well written or imagined it may be if it has primary characters that I would hate to know or have to spend a lot of time with. Horror elements are things I tolerate rather than enjoy.

Patterns please me. The complex weaving of a story is an intricate skill involving many threads and where they start and end should all be neatly tied off or cut rather than raggedly freying away.

Rich and bitchy rarely appeals to me, extreme forensic detail I skim over, torture, fighting, chases - all plot elements that hurl me through the book at lightning pace are good but not what pleases or satisfies or touches my emotions. High tech equipment blinds me with science, war is too heartrendingly tragic, romance too contrived and predictable and action thrillers make me too jumpy.

Having said that, all of the above in small doses - in a story about a person or people that I like and identify with is - part of the story. Its just when a genre concentrates on its elements at the expence of its characters that I find it tedious.

So now you know what I like and dislike and are therefore forwarned about novels that I review. If you find a resonance in these thoughts you may enjoy my recommendations. Oh yeah, and if its bad - I don’t bother - life’s short.

Author JA Francis

It is black Friday, the 13th, and although I was unsure as to which author I would start this ‘blog’ with, not wishing to play favourites, it all became clear when I read in the newspaper today that Kurt Vonnegut had died. Not of old age,or smoking, although at 84 that would not have been unexpected, but as a result of one of those freak accidents that your mother always warns you to wear clean underwear for.I’m sorry,that sounds very flippent, but please don’t think I am being so. I am sure that Mr Vonnegut would have appreciated the irony, for he was a man who always managed to wring the wryest laugh out of the blackest event.

No not flippent at all, for my nephew died only a week ago, and death is not a joke, it is a loss. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most imaginative writers - ever. There are few writers who actually change one’s perception of the world permanently, but he did. Had my nephew lived a little longer, I think he would have enjoyed reading his novels, for the sense of humour he enjoyed, was also definitely quirky.

Reviewers often categorised Vonnegut’s novels as dark or black humour, they describe him as a satirical novelist who questioned the validity of all that most hold dear. So far as bookshops go, Borders split-categorised him between general literature and science fiction but most bookshops put all works in one or the other, usually Science Fiction and Kurt Vonnegut himself refused to be categorised, as any self respecting author should.

The first Vonnegut novel I read was called Cats in the Cradle. The plot of this novel is a doomsday event around a substance called ice9 having an effect not dissimilar to the crystal effect in Return of Superman. Except, in Vonnegut’s world there were no supermen, only irrational human beings in a Greek tradgedy without the romance or drama. It must be thirty years since I first read it and decided that Bokonism was my new religion. Of course I was of an age to embrace new religions then, yet like all early age indoctrination there are tenets that I still adhere to.

“Bokonists believe that humanity is organized into teams, that do God’s will without ever discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a karass..” There are people that come into your life and you ‘know’ them, I still, when I meet one - which is rarely, feel that they are part of my karass. Your soul mate and yourself form a duprass, which is a karass composed of only two people. A duprass is not necessarily a man and wife, but may be a brother and sister, a parent and child or two people unrelated by genes and of either sex; the important qualifier for the term is their connection, their same heart.

The quirky philosophy of Bokonism gave me words for concepts that had no English words, but he also gave me a concept for something that was only a word to me.Now whether Scientists agree or not, it seemed perfectly clear to me when he explained that gravity is not a stable force.There are quite definitely high gravity days and low gravity days.It is infinitely harder to get out of bed on a high gravity day, while on a low gravity day, one springs out with a joyous smile and skips and hops to the kitchen for breakfast.

I forget now which book that was in, but he also wrote a novel in four dimensions. Ouspensky explained time as the fourth dimension in great detail, but Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five created a vivid illustration of it. He was never an easy read because he had themes of war and human destruction, the irrationality of historians and scientists and because he broke the world into pieces and put them all back in a different order.But he always made you laugh while he did it.

His son Mark wrote a gripping autobiography called ‘The Eden Express”. Mark developed schizophrenia and very honestly described the fracturing of his perception brilliantly. Vonnegut’s writing has a similar fractured quality, a way of turning a normal thought into a completely different perspective, except that rather than appearing unbalanced, mostly, he appears to be the only sane person on the planet.

Like this amendment to the constitution he proposed in Timequake.

“Article XXVIII: Every newborn shall be sincerely welcomed and cared for until maturity.
Article XXIX: Every adult who needs it shall be given meaningful work to do, at a living wage.
What we have created instead, as customers and employees and investors, is mountains of paper wealth so enormous that a handful of people in charge of them can take millions and billions for themselves without hurting anyone. Apparently. Many members of my generation are disappointed.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr has written at least 13 novels and several non fiction books. Most were written in the 60’s and 70’s and may not appeal to those of this generation who seek corporate success. If however, you ever feel that somethings not quite right with the world, then meet Kilgore Trout for a tour of an alternate but paralel universe and see how you feel. You won’t be disappointed and there’ll be lots of laughs. We’ll miss you Mr Vonnegut, my sincere sympathies to your family.

For an in depth synopsis of Cats Cradle, no answer to the question Who is Kilgore Trout? and to read the official bio page - follow the links .

Cat’s Cradle
Kilgore Trout
Official Biography

Hocus Pocus (Kurt Vonnegut)
7 hours $24.95 Audio Book
Hocus Pocus is the fictional autobiography of a West Point graduate who was in charge of the humiliating evacuation of U.S. personnel from the Saigon rooftops at the close of the Vietnam War. Returning home from the war, he unknowingly fathered an illegitimate son.

In 2001, the son begins a search for his father and catches up with him just in time to see him arrested for masterminding the prison break of 10,000 convicts. Using his unique brand of satire and wit, Vonnegut captures a vision of twenty-first century America as only he could foresee it. In Hocus Pocus, listeners will find a fresh novel, as fascinating and brilliantly offbeat as anything he’s written.