2026 01 03 small

January 2026 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

There’s a small village across the highway from where I live in Manzanillo. Miramar (which is best known for its beautiful beach, above), has around 1000 people living in modest homes. The main square is flanked by the church and businesses selling clothing and fresh-caught dorado.

It also has about a dozen restaurants. Mexicans love to meet and eat at taco stands, breakfast joints and snack bars. My favorite is Crazy Wings, a café by day and a chicken wings joint at night.

They don’t have a Starbuck’s, but every morning a farmer parks his truck holding a nanny goat. He serves pajarete, a mix of goat milk, cane alcohol and powdered coffee.

People and stray cats are very friendly to strangers, and I have no qualms walking its streets late at night when a local band is playing accordion music in the square.

Here’s to Miramar and the thousands of wonderful villages throughout Mexico!

Recipe: Burmese Chicken

My friends Rick and JoJo love this dish so I thought I’d share it with everyone else! Easy to make and so delicious – it will become an instant favorite for your family and friends.

Ingredients

2 shallots or ½ a red onion, chopped.

4 chicken thighs, skinned and deboned.

¼ cup fish sauce

1 large can of tomatoes

1 cup of cream

1 tsp of sugar

1 tsp of yellow (madras) curry powder.

1 tsp of red curry paste.

Directions

Fry chopped shallots/red onion in butter until caramelized, and set aside.

In a large, covered pan, fry yellow curry powder and red curry paste in butter for one minute, then add chicken thighs and brown on both sides. 

Add cream, sugar, fish sauce and can of tomatoes (with juice), bring to a boil and then let simmer for 30 minutes.  Serve on rice, with shallots/red onion sprinkled on top.

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Book Review

The Proving Ground

By Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is the master of police procedurals as well as courtroom dramas, two of my favorite mystery genres. I’m always delighted when he publishes a new novel featuring Micky Haller, lawyer extraordinaire.

For most of the books in the Lincoln Lawyer series, Haller is a criminal defense attorney, taking on a wide array of clientele. In The Proving Ground, however, he has switched over to civil litigation, looking for the David vs Goliath case that can make a difference.

As a novelist, Connelly takes great care to seek out contemporary issues that affect not only his fictional characters but his readers, as well; one of his recent books was dedicated to the dangers that lurk beneath the unregulated DNA sector.

In The Proving Ground, Haller takes on a case involving Artificial Intelligence. A young teenager became fixated on an AI avatar that convinced him to kill his girlfriend. Now, the mother of the victim wants to sue the AI company that created the calamitous situation. Haller relies on his sidekicks Cisco and Lorna to put together a compelling case for the plaintiff, but the defendants are all too eager to use underhanded tactics to trip him up at trial. They’re no match for the battle-hardened Lincoln Lawyer, however, and justice prevails. I highly recommend The Proving Ground! 

Bonus Book Review

Jane Steele

By Lindsay Faye

This is a wonderfully imaginative mash-up of genres; Emily Bronte meets Hannibal Lector!

When an orphaned child is ousted from her family mansion and sent to a boarding school by greedy relatives, Jane Steele must forge her own future. She survives wicked teachers through wits and pluck.

And, of course, various lethal weapons. Already a murderess after she flung her lecherous cousin Eddie off a cliff, she subsequently stabs her perverted school master through the throat with a letter opener.

Fleeing to London, the corpses continue to pile up as she expands out into poisons, drowning and other nefarious ways to dispatch miscreants. Her string of murders is interrupted when she spies a want-ad for a governess at Highgate House, her former mansion. Donning a fake persona, she soon lands the job.

Her employer is handsome Charles Thornfield. Recently returned from the Punjab, he is in need of a governess for his ward Sahjara, an engaging young girl who quickly takes a shine to Jane.

But the Thornfield household holds dark secrets. As Jane finds herself increasingly attracted to Charles, she also learns of the terrible tragedies that occurred to him during times of war in India.

Needless to say, enemies from the past begin to appear at their door. As she fights to help defend her new friends, Jane’s unique talents emerge, much to everyone’s consternation. I highly recommend Jane Steele!

2025 07 03

July/August 2025 Newsletter

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Life in Canada

Tom Thompson Trees

Yay! Back in Canada. I’m off to my sister’s cottage near the metropolis of Combermere, situated in northern Ontario amid the rolling, tree-covered hills of the Canadian Shield.

Ah, the rural life. Loons croon, sunlight dapples off pristine lakes and canoes paddle down gently flowing rivers. Oh, and the deer flies rip a strip out of your scalp at every chance, but that’s another story.

Here’s a cottage country joke, courtesy of Don Conway, the sports columnist for The Valley Gazette;

Bruce was at Tim Hortons yesterday when he suddenly realized he desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so he timed his blasts with the beat of the music. After a couple of songs, he started to feel better. He finished his coffee, then noticed that everyone was staring at him…Then he remembered he was listening to his iPod.

Recipe; Thai BBQ Thighs

It’s summertime, so break out the BBQ! This recipe is super simple to make, but so delicious.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on.

¼ cup of fish sauce

1 teaspoon of red curry paste

¼ cup of brown sugar.

Directions

Heat BBQ to 400 F.

Mix fish sauce, red curry paste and brown sugar and marinate the thighs.

Place the thighs on the grill, skin-side up. Close the lid and grill for 4 minutes.

Turn the thighs and grill 4 minutes.

Turn the thighs one last time and grill for 4 minutes. Slit one thigh to check if the meat is cooked through to the bone; if not, leave on for another 2 minutes.

Plate the thighs, cover them with tinfoil and let rest for a few minutes. Serve with rice, potato salad or baked spuds. Enjoy!

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Movie Review

Jaws

It’s been half a century since the iconic movie made its summer debut, coining the very phrase ‘blockbuster.’

The movie is set in a seaside resort on the Atlantic. A young woman’s torso, covered in immense bite marks, washes up on the beach. Mayor Vaughn wants to keep it hushed up ahead of the long weekend, worried that the news might scare off tourists.

Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider), is more worried about public safety, but he keeps silent and pays the price when other swimmers go missing.

Ultimately, the town hires Quint (Robert Shaw), to hunt down the shark. He enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and the pair try unsuccessfully to harpoon it.

In the climax, Quint is devoured by the avaricious fish and Brody barely escapes with his life before the creature is vanquished.

Unfortunately, the damage was done, and many of the millions of movie goers who saw the movie never went into the ocean again!

Lots of lore surrounds the film; Bruce the mechanical shark played havoc with the film schedule, causing huge budget overruns, director Steven Spielberg laughed when composer John Williams played the now-famous two-note theme, Chief Brody’s famous understatement when the shark rips the back off Quint’s boat; ‘you’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ was an adlib.

All of it contributed to the epic that continues to fill you with chills and thrills fifty years later. I highly recommend Jaws!

Book Review

The Searcher

By Tana French

Tana French is a very talented mystery writer based in Dublin. Most of her novels focus on the police procedural, describing the gritty criminals and jaded police who haunt the cobbled lanes of the nation’s capital.

The Searcher is an entertaining variant. Detective Cal Hooper has retired after 25 years with the Chicago Police Department and purchased a parcel of land in the quiet backwaters of rural Ireland. His goal is to lose himself in the bucolic setting, healing a soul bruised by disillusionment with his career and an acrimonious divorce.

At first, all goes well as he patches up an abandoned farmhouse, using the carpentry tools inherited from his grandfather. His neighbors, including a bachelor farmer named Mart, provide charm and companionship at the local pub.

Things go awry, however, with the appearance of a twelve-year old child named Trey. Half wild from parental neglect, she is seeking Cal’s help in tracking down her older brother Brendan, who has disappeared without a trace; the police say he is just off having a lark and will eventually resurface, but Trey has her doubts.

Cal uses his detective skills to interview friends and family, searching for the reason the young man vanished into thin air. Brendan’s phone, credit cards and social media contacts are all silent, pointing to a potentially dodgy demise.

As Cal spirals closer to the truth, both he and Trey come under attack. He finds himself in a race to uncover what really happened to the lad before it’s too late for all of them.

The novel is a real treat because the author has the lyrical gift of the Irish and the penchant to spin a yarn out in a slow, measured pace that seductively pulls the reader into the lives and heart of the countryside. I highly recommend The Searcher!

Bonus Book Review

James

By Percival Everett

James

By Percival Everett

In Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Huck escapes his abusive father and sails away to far-fetched adventures with Jim.

In Everett’s imaginative re-imagining, the story is told from the viewpoint of Jim, the slave of Miss Watson. When Jim hears that he is going to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter, he decides to run away with Huck until he can figure out how to rescue his family.

The story is a brilliant blend of humor and trenchant observations that ridicule the absurdity of racial supremacy. While steadfastly pursuing his goal, Jim endures the brutalities and humiliations that illuminate the vicious reality of being a slave in Dixie America.

Everett is a tremendously talented author and worthy of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for this novel. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend James as a starting point!

2025 03 06

March 2025 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

More authentic Mexican food!

A few weeks ago, my neighbor Daniel took me to a Barbacoa de Borrego, a hole-in-the-wall taco stand in the barrio of Via Rosa in Manzanillo.

Borrego is the name for a one-year old sheep. You take lamb roasts and cover them with banana leaves and then cook it in a coal pit for a day. You then strip the meat like pulled pork and serve it in a corn taco, along with chopped onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. It is so succulent and delicious!

I went back with my pal Darcy last Sunday for more excellent tacos. While we were eating, I asked Mario the proprietor why Borrego stands were only opened on the weekend.

“The lamb cannot survive in Manzanillo’s heat – it is covered in wool,” he explained. “We have to order in the meat from Guadalajara, and one carcass only lasts two days.”

So, if that doesn’t get your goat, I don’t know what will.

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Book Review

The Kind Worth Killing

By Peter Swanson

I can’t seem to get enough of Peter Swanson. Last month, I wrote a review on Eight Perfect Murders; I enjoyed the book so much I had to read another of his novels.

The Kind Worth Killing is, in a way, an homage to his literary hero Patricia Highsmith. Noted mainly for her work The Amazing Mr. Ripley, the American expat in Europe wrote several amazing mystery novels, including Strangers on a Train, in which two complete strangers decide to kill each other’s nemeses in an effort to escape detection.

In Swanson’s book, the killers in question are Ted Severson, a successful dot.com millionaire, and Lily Kintner, the daughter of a famous English novelist. Severson catches his trophy wife Miranda screwing their house contractor Brad, and Lily, well, she just likes to kill people, so she decides to help Ted dispose of his wife.

Naturally, things go wrong, and the body count starts to mount. Flashbacks to Lily’s past reveal her rationale for her deadly hobby, as well as the back-story between her and Miranda.  Although the story takes place in contemporary times, it has that 50s film noir feel. In the end, they all get their just desserts. I highly recommend The Kind Worth Killing!

Recipe; Pork Belly Roast

Super simple to make and mouth-watering delicious, you can get frozen portions of pork belly at La Comer in Manzanillo (just ask for ‘pork belly’).

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly (serves four).

Salt

Brown sugar

Ground pepper.

Directions

Score the fat by cutting through the outer layer, about ½ cm. Cut at 90 degree angles to create a diamond-pattern. Sprinkle salt, brown sugar and ground pepper on the top. Place in a shallow tin pan to catch the drippings.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Place, uncovered, on a mid rack and cook for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 300F and leave for another hour.

Remove the pan and let the roast sit for 5 minutes before carving. Use the drippings to make gravy.

Documentary Review

Churchill at War

Streaming on Netflix

I’m such a big fan of Churchill that I featured him as a pivotal historical character in The Hotel Seamstress, set in Paris in WWII.

Churchill at War is an interesting mix of archival footage and dramatization. The producers use AI to both colorize WWII film and mimic Churchill’s voice when presenting correspondence and unrecorded speeches.

While most of the four-part series is focused on Churchill’s role as prime minister during his battle against Hitler and the Nazis, it also backtracks to his formative school years and escapades as an officer in the Boer War.

The series is augmented by historians placing events in context, as well as commentaries from politicians like former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ex-president George Bush.

Altogether, it is a fascinating and well-edited documentary that highlights the pivotal role played by of one of the foremost politicians of the last century. When historians say that Churchill saved western civilization from utter destruction, they weren’t exaggerating. I highly recommend Churchill at War!

Bonus Book Review

A Murder Most French

By Colleen Cambridge

There’s a sub-genre in cozy mysteries in which the sleuth hooks up with a famous person like Einstein or Groucho Marx to solve a murder. They’re usually too gimmicky and poorly written to appeal to me, but I ran across An American in Paris Mystery series, and it caught my attention.

The book is about the adventures of one Tabitha Knight, a young, precocious woman from Michigan. The year is 1949, and she has moved to Paris to stay with her grandfather in a wonderful mansion in the Left Bank. The hook is that her friend Julia Child lives right across the street.

In all good cozy mysteries, the amateur sleuth is a magnet for gruesome murders, and Tabitha is no exception. While accompanying Julia to a cooking demonstration at the Cordon Bleu School, Master Chef Beauchaine is murdered when he sips from a bottle of wine laced with arsenic.

Detective Merveille, he of the steely eye and cleft chin, is soon on the scene, and Tabitha pesters him to distraction with her theories. Her investigation soon leads to the sinister catacombs beneath the city and a mysterious restaurant closed by the Germans during the occupation.

You get the drift. Tabitha is chased by no-goodniks and only escapes certain death through her own pluckiness. It may not be Agatha Christie, but if you’re looking for a diversion on a cold winter day, I highly recommend A Murder Most French!

2025 01 08

January 2025 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

Sometimes it feels like you’re back in the 1970s here in Mexico.

Folks are especially laid back about driving. Not enough room in the truck cab for all the kids? Just stick ’em in the back with the watermelons!

But, most of all, they don’t get in your face if you’re just weirding out. Many years ago, we finally finished paying off our condo. I called my pal Ross in Manzanillo and asked if anyone would care if we burned our mortgage papers on the beach.

“Hell, no!” he said. “They don’t even care if you burn your car on the beach!

Recipe: Pasta Puttanesca

Tradition has it that this dish was invented in a brothel in Naples where the girls would whip up a meal from whatever was cheap and plentiful. It’s a delicious recipe and super easy to make when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare!

Ingredients

2 Tsp of olive oil

1/4 white onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

3 anchovy fillets

¼ cup of chopped black olives

1 tsp of capers

1 tsp of dried oregano

½ cup of white wine

2 cups of cooked spaghetti

Chopped fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

Directions

Fry the white onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the tomatoes and simmer until they soften.

Add the anchovy, black olives, capers and oregano.

Pour in the white wine and reduce for a few minutes.

Add in the spaghetti and stir the ingredients together.

Serve in a bowl, garnished with fresh basil and Parmesan.

Enjoy!

Members of Kindle Unlimited Can Now Read Crystal Ball for Free!

FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire. They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case. As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Book Review

We Solve Murders

By Richard Osman

We’ve been reading Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series for several years now, and have loved every page. So we were excited to see that he’s branched out to We Solve Murders.

The book features Steve, a retired copper in the UK who lives in a tiny village where he spends his time at quiz night in the local pub and chatting on the phone with his daughter-in-law Amy, a professional bodyguard who works for Maximum Impact Solutions.

Things get hinky when Maximum Impact’s clients suddenly start being offed in spectacular fashion, setting up Amy as the fall gal. Amy, who is guarding Rosie D’Antonio, a famous author of bodice-rippers, has to hightail it with her client when the mysterious Francois Loubet puts out a hit on her.

Amy calls in Steve to help her solve the murders so that they can clear her name and chill. The result is a mayhem-filled romp from South Carolina to Ireland. Throughout the book, Osman’s wit and sense of absurdity keeps the pace at full throttle. I highly recommend We Solve Murders!

Movie Review

The Conclave

Streaming on Netflix

You might tend to think that the process to pick a new Pope would be about as exciting as watching mud dry, but The Conclave, based on the novel by Robert Harris, lifts the experience to the level of a political thriller.

Pope Francis has passed away, and it’s up to Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes), to convene the Cardinals from around the world to pick a successor from its ranks. Leading candidates include Cardinal Tremblay (played by John Lithgow), and Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci).

Of course, not all is serene. One by one, aspirants reveal their true agendas and skeletons in the closet, making Cardinal Lawrence’s job a living nightmare that no amount of prayer to the All-mighty is going to dissipate.

This is one of the best movies that I’ve seen in 2024, and will no doubt attract a slew of Oscar nominations, including best director for Edward Berger, best actor for Fiennes and supporting nods to Tucci and Lithgow (not surprisingly, there are no female roles in a story about the Catholic Church – Boo!). I highly recommend The Conclave!

Documentary Review

Hallelujah; Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.

Streaming on Prime

Arguably one of Leonard Cohen’s most famous songs, Hallelujah is a secular poem to the divine that, if you ever bother to listen to the lyrics, is just weird.

But that didn’t stop everybody from KD Lang to Shrek from singing it. Now, director Daniel Geller has gone to the effort of creating a 2-hour documentary focused on its creation.

Cohen, who passed away at the age of 82 in 2016, was notorious for his approach to writing. He thought nothing of taking the better part of a decade to grind out a song, going through endless variations of meter and prose. He dragged the lyrics and score of Hallelujah around the world for years, until finally finishing a version.

The song was a flop; his record label refused to release it in the US. But it was a hit with fellow musicians. Dylan thought it was the best song he ever heard. Eventually, Cohen took to the road on an international tour and the world fell in love with it.

Hallelujah faithfully follows Cohen’s career using CBC archive footage, interviews with contemporaries, and performances by Cohen and pals. I highly recommend Hallelujah!

2024 09 01

September 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

As many readers know, I started my professional writing career as a reporter for the Calgary Herald. Thanks to the Daily Oil Bulletin, being back in Calgary has given me the opportunity to practice being a newspaper hack once again.

A few weeks ago, I attended an energy conference at the Banff Springs Hotel. The featured speaker was Stephen Harper, former prime minister and current international consultant.

I had never heard him speak before, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he has a very sharp sense of humor. In his opening remarks, he lamented the name change of the Edmonton Eskimos to the Elks due to political correctness.

“What’s next?” he queried. “Are they going to start calling the Oilers the Renewables?”

Crystal Ball Now Available on Amazon!

Read an Excerpt Here!

Movie Review; 50th Anniversary

Blazing Saddles

Streaming on Prime

Half a century ago, Blazing Saddles made its debut. Directed by Mel Brooks, it was a desperate attempt to revitalize his career after a number of flops had pushed him to the edge of bankruptcy.

Undeterred, the comic genius set out to spoof Westerns, a staple of Hollywood. The premise of the movie was standard fare; the town of Rock Ridge hires a sheriff to save them from the clutches of evil politician Hedley Lammar (Harvey Korman), when a railroad is routed through their town.

Brooks then ran the genre completely off the rails. Sheriff Bart, played by black actor Cleavon Little, is almost lynched by the town’s residents but manages to escape their clutches by threatening to shoot himself first.

Bart then enlists the legendary talents of The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), and Mongo (NFL star Alex Karras), to battle Hedley’s thugs. Along the way, Brooks mixes in Nazis, motorcycle thugs, a Bavarian seductress and a Yiddish Indian Chief. Oh, and the fart scene.

Critics universally panned the movie, but audiences fell out of their seats laughing and the picture took in over $100 million, placing it among the top ten grossing films for that time. It was subsequently nominated for three Academy Awards.

Gross, tasteless and raunchy, Blazing Saddles is considered by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 funniest movies ever made. It has stood the test of time; I highly recommend you watch it!

Book Review

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

By Benjamin Stevenson

You have to admit, that’s a great title. The murder mystery is written by an Australian stand-up comedian, and it’s very funny.

The mystery takes place in a ski lodge on the tallest peak in Australia. The Cunningham family has gathered there to celebrate the release from prison of Michael Cunningham, who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a lifelong criminal.

The Cunninghams are notorious throughout Australia after the family patriarch killed a policeman during a botched robbery in which he was also gunned down in graphic fashion.

His widow subsequently raises three young boys amid public scorn. Ernest, the middle boy, is the narrator of the novel, frequently cataloguing the victims of his siblings and in-laws in satiric fashion through direct observation and flashbacks.

Obviously, a stand-up comic uses stage communication with the audience as their primary means of story-telling, and Stevenson frequently pauses the narrative to seek out the sensibilities of you. The technique can be quite disruptive in the wrong hands as it deliberately suspends the reader’s sense-of-disbelief, but the author uses it to great effect.

Anyway, the family reunion is thrown into disarray when a stranger is consumed by flames during a raging blizzard. Who is the murderer stalking among them? Is it the anal sister-in-law, or her dweeb husband? Constable Reynolds, trapped by the blizzard, must suss out the guilty before they strike again!

I won’t give too much away but the narrator finally pieces the puzzle together just in time for a fiery finale. I highly recommend Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone!

TV Series

The Perfect Couple

Streaming on Netflix

Yes, I know I reviewed this last month, but that was really about the book, and this is about the series, plus I never pass up an opportunity to post a photo of Nicole Kidman.

As you recall, Greer and Tag Winbury (played by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber), are hosting the wedding of their son Benji and his bride Celeste at their fabulous beachside mansion on the island of Nantucket. Hundreds have been invited to the lavish affair, which is expected to be the talk of the island.

The eve of the wedding is tragically marred by the death of the maid-of-honor, however. Merritt is found on the beach below the mansion, apparently drowned. But when the Chief of Police begins to investigate, he soon discovers an undercurrent of deceit and chicanery that belies the reputation of ‘the perfect couple’ and their family.

I was greatly impressed by Nicole’s portrayal of the steely matriarch Greer (she can win an Emmy with the wiggle of one eyebrow), but I was unexpectedly pleased by the performances of two secondary characters, the wedding planner (Tim Bagley), and the maid (Irina Dubova). When the police call them in for questioning, they spill the cattiest gossip you can imagine in straight face; the series is worth watching just to see these two veterans perform.

The critics, of course, are calling The Perfect Couple mindless soap-opera trash, but it’s all done in the over-the-top, prime-time tradition of Dallas, and you’re not going to find a better performer of a wily villain than Nicole Kidman!

Join me for a reading of Crystal Ball on Sunday, September 15, 4 pm at Owls Nest Books!

beautificia

August 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

Back in the summer of ‘67, my pal Bennie bought Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and invited me over to hear it.

I was especially intrigued by one song; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

“What’s that all about?” I asked.

“LSD,” said Bennie.

“Ooh.”

Before it was banned in the late 1960s, chemistry undergraduates at McMaster University were enthusiastically whipping up batches of a potential stress reliever called lysergic acid diethylamide. While the relief of stress was negligible, a microgram of LSD did have the side effect of glorious hallucinations.

Alas, that era is long past, but the visual effects live on in Beautifica, a highly entertaining music and visual extravaganza created by the musician James Hood.

We caught a showing at the TELUS Spark Science Center in Calgary, and were treated to the wonderful sensation of zooming through the universe in a psychedelic starship. The show is on its last leg in Calgary, but you can catch it at various locations in the US this summer.

Available this Fall!

Click Here to Read Excerpt

FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire.

They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case.

As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Recipe: Veal Burgers

This is easy to mix together and creates a delightful summer BBQ meal!

Ingredients

1 lb. of minced veal (if the butcher doesn’t have it, check the frozen food section).

2 oz. of parmesan, grated

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of paprika

Garnishing

Cob’s Bakery buns.

Directions

Mix parmesan, salt and paprika into the veal. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then form in to patties.

Grill on the BBQ, and garnish with onions, pickles, caramelized onions etc., and serve on lightly toasted buns from Cob’s Bakery.

Enjoy!

Book Review

A Death in Cornwall

By Daniel Silva

This is the 24th  book in the Gabriel Allon series, and it’s a peach.

Allon is an Israeli secret agent who served for many years as a Mossad assassin, rising through the ranks to become the boss of ‘The Office’. His legendary exploits took him around the world, hunting Israel’s sworn enemies in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Now retired, he devotes his life to restoring the Masters, whether it’s an altarpiece by Raphael or a painting by Rothko. He lives the quiet life with his wife Chiara in Venice with their two children, striving to stay out of the limelight.

Until something royally pisses him off, that is. The effrontery in question is the brutal hatchet murder of an Oxford professor. Allon soon discovers she was on the trail of a Picasso painting, looted from a Paris art collector by the Nazis in WWII.

His investigation leads him to the Geneva Freeport, a tax-free haven where billionaires and crooks store their tax-free loot, including gold and valuable paintings.

Naturally, the bad guys hiding trillions would rather not have the light of the law shone on their shenanigans, and the body count starts to climb. Allon relies on his coterie of contacts and faithful sidekicks to stay one jump ahead of the pack as he dashes across Europe, pursuing his goal with laser focus.

You don’t have to read any of the previous series; each book stands on its own. But it you aren’t familiar with Silva’s work, I highly recommend you start at the beginning and peruse through the lot; you won’t be disappointed!

TV Series Review

The Perfect Couple

Streaming on Netflix September 6, 2024

I don’t normally review something I haven’t seen yet, but there’s a first time for everything!

The Perfect Couple is based on the novel of the same name by Elin Hildebrand. She has written several dozen books set on the island of Nantucket; they chronicle the lives of both the rich summer residents as well as the full-time citizens who (literally) cater to them.

Greer and Tag Winbury (played by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber), are hosting the wedding of their son Benji and his bride Celeste at their fabulous beachside mansion on the island of Nantucket. Hundreds have been invited to the lavish affair, which is expected to be the talk of the island.

The eve of the wedding is tragically marred by the death of the maid of honor, however. Merritt is found on the beach below the mansion, apparently drowned. But when Chief of Police Ed Kapenash begins to investigate, he soon discovers an undercurrent of deceit and chicanery that belies the reputation of ‘the perfect couple’ and their family.

The novel is a very entertaining mix of whodunit and soap opera as the author explores both the backstories and the unraveling of the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I look forward to seeing the mini-series!

Upcoming Book Launch in Calgary!

Join me on Sunday, September 15, 2024, 4 pm., at Owl’s Nest Books for the launch of Crystal Ball. I’ll be doing a reading and signing and greeting all our pals from Calgary!

2024-07-05

July 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

It’s Stampede time! For ten days every July, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth takes over the city and turns it into a very large punch bowl.

Folks outside town tend to think of The Stampede as an excuse to wear a cowboy hat and get drunk (and they’re generally correct), but there’s also an international cultural aspect that often gets overlooked.

Take, for instance, the Mexifest located across the street from our condo in a downtown parking lot. Mariachi bands and churro vendors compete with Lucha Libre wrestlers for the admiration of thousands of Mexican people who now call Calgary home.

Until you hear La Bamba sung with a country twang, you ain’t heard nothing yet.

Coming this Fall: The Official Launch of my latest FBI Agent Jack Kenyon series takes place at Owls Nest Books in Calgary on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 4 pm.

I’ll be doing a reading and signing paperbacks. You can also order previous books in the series on Amazon.

Book Review

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

By Holly Jackson

I love reading (and writing) murder mysteries. I enjoy everything from police procedurals (Michael Connelly’s Detective Bosch series), to ‘cozy’ murder mysteries in which an amateur sleuth finds the killer when the authorities are baffled.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder falls into the latter category. The town of Fairview is rocked when high-school sweetheart Andie Bell goes missing. Her body is never discovered, but her boyfriend Sal commits suicide, leaving behind a note confessing to murder.

The police close the file, but enough disturbing questions remain to motivate young Pippi to dig further; as her senior high-school assignment, she chooses to investigate the tragedy. Along with the help of Sal’s older brother Raji, she interviews Andie’s gang, sifting through their recollections and social media postings for inconsistencies.

Her snooping soon attracts scoundrels who threaten her with harm if she doesn’t desist. Like all good sleuths, however, she toils on, placing herself at personal risk in order to uncover the truth.

The author (pictured) has written two sequels, and the series has just been made into a TV series by the BBC. I highly recommend you check out the novel first, however; it’s a great summer read!

Recipe: Ceviche

This is the perfect summer meal, and easy to prepare!

Ingredients

1/2 lb. of raw chopped white fish (basa)

1/2 lb. raw chopped shrimp.

1 cup lime juice

1 Tsp salt

1 tomato, chopped

1 mango, diced

½ red onion, slivered

1 avocado, diced

3 Tsp cilantro, diced

½ chili pepper, diced

Tortilla chips

Directions

Mix fish, lime juice and salt. Seal in a container and marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours (this cures the raw fish).

In a bowl, mix tomato, mango, onion, avocado, cilantro and chili.

Add cured fish. Garnish with cilantro and sliced onion.

Serve with tortilla chips and lots of cold cerveza.

Enjoy!

TV Series

The Sopranos

Created by David Chase

It’s been 25 years since the launch of The Sopranos? Fuggedaboudit!

For a quarter of a century, Tony, Carmela, Christopher, Silvio and the rest of the crew have been robbing, racketeering, whacking and screwing each other with criminal abandon.

This isn’t one of the best TV series every made, it’s the best TV series ever made. The show was so faithful to the mob life that James Gandolfini, who played the patriarch of the family, noted that he was frequently complimented by real ‘wise guys’ on its authenticity.

But most of all, it was tremendously entertaining. The mix of violence, irony and slapstick keeps you constantly riveted, even when you’ve seen each episode time and time again.

Creator David Chase and HBO, of course, had no idea how much the series would change modern American culture. The set, which is available on DVD and download, contains never-before-seen clips, as well as a documentary in which the cast and crew reflect on the show.

You don’t have to be a die-hard fan to enjoy it, but if you are, then no matter how hard you try to get out, they’ll pull you back in!

2024 06 01

June 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Calgary

Maybe too much air in the tires?

Canadian Tire had a sale on mountain bikes last week. I found one I liked but the back tire was flat, so I asked the sports clerk to inflate it. I then bought the bike and threw it in the back of my car.

By the time I got home, however, the tire was again flat. I immediately turned around and went back to the store, receipt in hand.

Unfortunately, CT has a lot of problems with people banging canoes into rocks and trying to get their money back, so they no longer allow most sports equipment to be returned or exchanged.

The customer-service clerk pointed to my bill. “See, it says right here, no returns or exchanges.”

“But you sold me a flat tire,” I responded. “You do see the irony here.”

“What?”

“Your store is called CT. Do you want to change it to CFT?”

The clerk pondered for a moment. “Canadian Flat Tire?”

“I was thinking of another four-letter word.”

She eventually relented and allowed me to exchange my bike for the same model. “Is there anything else you need help with?” She asked

“Yes, I hear you rent car tires, as well. Can you give me your flat rate?”

Coming This Fall!

Reading and Signing at Owls Nest Books, September 15, 4 pm!

An Interview With Author Gordon Cope

Crystal Ball is the sixth book featuring FBI Agent Jack Kenyon. To what do you attribute the longevity of the series?

I’ve been writing the series for several decades now, and the characters – Jack, Jasmine, Marge – are all like old friends. Whenever I start a new book, it’s like a reunion. I also try to create a unique crisis – hackers, genetic terrorists – that reflects what’s happening on the front pages of the real world. And finally, there’s lots of twists and turns that keep readers turning the pages!

A lot of series are episodic, in which the action happens and then everyone switches back to default mode until the next crisis comes along. Do you do that with this series?

Jack and the other characters have evolved through the series, growing older, changing jobs, etc. Crystal Ball is an important installment in their lives, in that Jack and Bee are getting married, and one of the main characters dies. It’s going to be a very traumatic book for fans of the series.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It takes me about twelve months from start to finish. I spend a month or two plotting out the premise, then about six months writing the first draft, then another month editing and getting feedback from my cadre of volunteer readers, and then laying out the book and having it converted to eBook and paperback files for Kindle. I end up wearing a lot of hats! By the time the book reaches the official launch date, a year has passed.

Are you planning another book for Jack Kenyon?

Yes! Without giving away too much from Crystal Ball, Jack and Bee start a new life together, with lots of complications ensuing! Once I launch Crystal Ball, I’ll begin plotting out the premise for the next book.

Recipe: BBQ Cod

This is an easy and delicious summer meal; simply flavor the cod and let it cook! Great with asparagus and rice on the side.

Ingredients

4 cod fillets or cod loins about 8 ounces each

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

1/2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

½ teaspoon salt

1 clove crushed garlic

Chopped green onion

Chopped fresh parsley

Lemons for garnish and juice

Instructions

Pat the cod fish very dry with paper towels. Brush them with olive oil.

Combine the Cajun seasoning, salt, and crushed garlic. Sprinkle evenly over the filets.

Bake in the BBQ at medium for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork at its thickest point.

Sprinkle with green onion and chopped fresh parsley.  Serve with fresh lemon wedges or spritz with fresh lemon juice.

Book Review

Trunk Music

By Michael Connelly

Connelly is our all-time favorite police-procedural author, and we’ve been reading him for several decades. Trunk Music came out in 1997, and is one of his classic tales revolving around LAPD Detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch.

The book opens with the discovery of a murder victim in the trunk of his Rolls Royce, which is found abandoned in a fire lane above the Hollywood Bowl. Harry and his team are called out to investigate what appears to be a mob hit; the corpse was killed with two execution-style wounds to his skull from a .22 pistol.

Harry soon focuses on a mafia gang that has its tentacles in a number of Vegas casinos, but things aren’t quite what they seem; the evidence pointing to a prominent capo is simply too good to be true.

Harry’s dogged determination to find the real killers makes all kinds of enemies both within the mafia as well as LAPD headquarters, where entrenched interests would just as soon not see the truth revealed. Soon, Harry is dodging more bullets than a marine on D-Day. Justice ultimately wins out, however, and the bad guys are royally punished.

I found reading the book just as enjoyable today as when I first laid eyes on it over a quarter-century ago. I highly recommend Trunk Music!

Movie Review

Queen Bees

Streaming on Netflix

This is a feel-good movie starring some of Hollywood’s most endearing actors. Ellen Burstyn plays Helen, an independent widow living on her own until she gets forgetful and lights her kitchen on fire. Her worried daughter insists she temporarily relocate to a senior’s home during renovation, and Helen reluctantly agrees.

The home is dominated by the Queen Bees, a quartet of bitchy divas led by the seriously uptight Janet Poindexter (played with demonic glee by Jane Curtin), whose purpose in life is to make life unbearable for all the other tenants.

Helen isn’t intimidated by the Queen Bees, and makes it her task to give them their comeuppance. Along the way, she meets handsome widower Dan (played by James Caan), who becomes her love interest.

This is a great movie for cameos; pay close attention and you’ll see French Stewart, who played the delightfully goofy Harry in 3rd Rock from the Sun.

While a few hearts get broken, it all ends well; I especially like the fact that there wasn’t a single car chase scene or shoot-em-up in the entire movie. I highly recommend Queen Bees!

2024 04 09

April 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Paris

Sigh. It’s snowing like hell in Calgary so I thought I’d dig through the vault and find a bit of happiness in Paris. This is the El Vecino Mexican Restaurant located near Place de la République. We didn’t eat there, but the sign out front caught my eye and I couldn’t resist a selfie. Fu*K your Diet is the name of their signature German ginger beer.

Life in Mexico

Years ago, the area around Club Santiago was a castor oil plantation. The beans from the plant were used to make plastics, varnishes and paints. When cheaper alternatives were found, the plantations were abandoned. But the plant itself is quite hardy, and descendants can be found growing in ditches along roads throughout the area.

Unfortunately, the beans contain ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind. Even a speck as small as a grain of sand can kill you. Casual contact with the skin can also lead to burning and blistering.

The reason I’m calling it to your attention is because the plant grows around the Club Santiago golf course; you can see them in profusion along the third and fourth fairways where they border the highway.

If the beans are inadvertently ground up and dispersed by the ground crews mowing the fairways, you can accidentally come in contact with traces of ricin.

Soviet agents have used ricin to poison their foes, so you should avoid them too. (That’s Xenia Onatopp, the deadly spy from Goldeneye, in case you’re wondering.)

Should you break out in a rash or blisters, treat it with over-the-counter cortisone cream or Calamine lotion.

TV Review

The Gentlemen

Streaming on Netflix

I’m not the biggest fan of film producer Guy Ritchie. He loves to do British crime gang movies with lots of Cockney low life and grisly shot-gun duels. So it was with trepidation that I approached The Gentlemen.

On the surface, it’s much like his usual fare. A career officer by the name of Eddie inherits a dukedom from his father Lord Halstead when the latter prefers him over his dissipated eldest son Freddy. Freddy is flamboyantly aghast at this turn of events, mainly because he owes 4 million to a nasty bit of business to whom Theo must cough up lest his brother suffer defenestration

That’s not the worst of Eddie’s problems. It turns out that a gang run by a carbuncle named Bobby Glass has established a grow-op on the estate and isn’t about to up sticks. His daughter, the delicious Susie Glass, must play intermediary as various shenanigans, including heists and murder, complicate matters.

What makes the TV series so much fun is the fast-pace, plot twists and general eccentricity that seems to permeate every character. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and I highly recommend The Gentlemen!

All my novels are available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!

You can also buy eBooks and paperbacks on Amazon!

Movie Review

The Holdovers

Streaming on Amazon Prime

It’s a quirky premise; a cranky professor at a prestigious prep academy is forced to stay on duty over the Christmas holidays along with a stranded student and a grieving school cook.

So, why did this period piece set in 1971 receive 5 Academy award nominations, including Best Picture of the Year?

Paul Giamatti is reason number one. The award-winning actor brings his rumpled everyman persona to the role of Paul Hunhan, a life-long bachelor who has dedicated his career to nurturing the pampered spawn of America’s elites. His efforts at Barton Academy in the face of supreme apathy has completely depleted his passion for teaching, leaving a bitter husk of a man.

Angus, the student (played by Dominic Sessa), has been abandoned at the last minute after his mother and his new step-dad elope to St. Kitts.  He vows to make the holiday as miserable as only an angst-filled teenage boy can do.

Mary, the head cook (brilliantly portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph), has lost her drafted son in the Vietnam War. Her grief and anger toward the deferred boys who attend Barton is palpable.

Together, the three form an unlikely alliance in an effort to survive their odious fortune. Slowly, they forge bridges between their emotional isolation. Each character grows in self-esteem and maturity, achieving the gift of Christmas that no mere present beneath the tree could achieve.

Although the only winning Oscar went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Supporting Actress, all of the nominees, including Giamatti as Leading Actor and David Meningson for Best Original Screenplay, are highly deserving.  This is a gem of a movie; I highly recommend The Holdovers!

Recipe: Roast Pork Belly

Cooking dinner literally doesn’t get any easier than this. You can pick up fresh pork belly at any Chinese butcher (a big shout-out to T&T market in Calgary!) and make this tender, succulent dish in under an hour.

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly

Instructions

Score the top fat layer in a diamond shape pattern. Place in a shallow tin pan (I line the pan with parchment paper to make the clean-up easier).

Roast for 40 minutes at 400F.

Slice and serve with baked sweet potato and corn. Enjoy!

Book Review

Table for Two

By Amor Towles

Creating a short story is undoubtedly one of the most difficult tasks a writer can face. You have to create the main characters, setting, story and outcome to the satisfaction of the reader, all in a fraction of the space that a novel allows you. In addition, you have to include a twist in the plot, one that is both totally unexpected and, at the same time, totally believable.

I’m not an avid short story reader for that reason. I find that contemporary writers fall short of the mark when compared to O. Henry.

The exception is Amor Towles. We’ve always enjoyed his novels (A Gentleman in Moscow), so I didn’t hesitate when his latest fictional effort, Table for Two, was published. It’s a set of six short stories set in New York, and a novella set in Hollywood. The short stories are crafted like a fine Swiss watch, every word and phrase so exact that each tale captures the frailties and aspirations of the characters with exquisite precision, and each ending comes as both a surprise and a wish for the story to continue.

As an aside, people often ask me where I get my ideas. As any writer will tell you, it’s a combination of observation and inspiration. I’ll give you an example of the former. I was driving down McLeod Trail adjacent to the Stampede Grounds one evening when I glanced over and spotted a woman sitting at a bus shelter clutching a giant stuffed panda and crying her eyes out. Now you know there’s gotta be a story there.

Well I didn’t write about my observation, but Towles did. I will Survive involves a happenstance encounter that the author must have made while walking in Central Park that was so unique that it inspired him to cut a fascinating tale out of imaginary cloth. I won’t tell you and spoil it, but you’ll recognize immediately what I’m talking about when you read it. I highly recommend Table for Two!

2024 03 03

March 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico

It’s the little things in life that makes living in Mexico so enjoyable.

Every other week, we go down to the Santiago market where the chicken ladies have a stall under a staircase. Their counters are festooned with broilers and eggs and poultry appendages.

Their free-range produce is classified as Mexi-organic, because Tia Maria who raises them can’t afford hormones or antibiotics, so you get them the same way they’ve been sold for the last 500 years.

Mama Angelica is in charge. When I ask for ‘Milanesa’, she picks up her razor-sharp cleaver and slices a breast so thin it’s the size of a bread board when she’s done.

Whenever I want to make paté, I always buy my livers there; although ‘buy’ is a misnomer as they just give me a bag.

And the price? I can buy enough chicken for twenty servings for around twenty-five bucks. Read it and weep.

Recipe; Mariposa Chicken

Mariposa (or butterfly) chicken is easy to make in less than an hour, and it always comes out moist, tender and delicious!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

½ cup of butter, soft

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

2 Tsp of parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat the oven to 425F. (You can also cook it on the BBQ).

Split the backbone so that the whole chicken lies flat. You can do it at home if you have a good pair of meat shears, but it’s also sold pre-prepared; if you don’t see one out on the shelf, just ask the butcher to split one for you (butterfly translates as ‘mariposa’ in Spanish – easy to remember).

Lay the chicken skin-side up in an oven tray that has been sprayed with oil or covered with parchment paper and allow it to warm to room temperature.

Mix together the butter, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley into a paste. Place half the paste under the skin of the breast and legs, and spread the rest on top of the skin.

Roast for 45 minutes, then cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Enjoy!

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You can also purchase eBooks and Paperbacks on Amazon!

Book Review

The Appeal

By Janice Hallett

The novel attracted quite a bit of attention when it debuted in 2021 due to the unusual structure; rather than telling the story of a murder using chronological narrative, the majority of the book is told through a series of emails and instant messages sent between the primary suspects.

This is a bit of a spoiler, but it will help you understand the premise right from the first paragraphby rather than having to fumble through several chapters trying to figure out what’s going on. Two independent investigators have been hired by the lawyer representing the imprisoned murderer in an attempt to overthrow the conviction. They are trolling through messages sent between friends and acquaintances prior to, and after, the murder in an attempt to find the real killer.

The story itself points to an intriguing range of motives. A two-year old girl is suffering from a rare brain cancer, one with little chance of survival. Her parents and grandparents are part of an amateur theatre company in an affluent English village, and they decide to launch a Gofundme appeal to raise money for an expensive, experimental treatment developed in the US.

As the investigators work through the correspondence, however, troubling questions emerge. Is someone stealing money from the appeal? Does the experimental cure, in fact, even exist? The reader is drawn through a series of interpersonal disputes that could very well escalate into nasty repercussions.

Even though the author creates a dozen potential suspects, in the end, Hallett wraps it up neatly with a bow, much to the satisfaction of yours truly. This is a unique twist on the Agatha-Christie English village murder mystery. I highly recommend The Appeal!

TV Series Review

Expats

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This six-part mini-series set in Hong Kong is based on the novel by Janice Lee. Normally, I would give the domestic drama a pass, but it stars Nicole Kidman, and I’d be a fool not to give it the sniff test.

I’m sure glad I did. Nicole stars as Margaret, the mother of three children, who is stationed in HK with her husband Clarke (played by Brian Tee). One day, she takes the children with their young nanny Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo), to the night market, where her four year old son Gus suddenly disappears.

The abduction sets off a series of crises in her family, with Margaret searching the city for signs of her son, and Michael retreating to the comfort of religion. The remaining two children are traumatized by fear that they might be next, and there’s nothing their parents can do to protect them.

The series explores a further layer of trauma within the extended community of HK’s domestic service industry. The opportunity for work draws hundreds of thousands of Filipina and Indonesian women to Singapore, HK and the North America seeking to support their families back home. Mercy is wracked by guilt, and Essie, who raised Margaret’s children from infancy, experiences the same nightmare that every mother faces.

The series is brilliantly cast, but it is Nicole who rises a level above with her unrivaled ability to evince her character’s grief through the tiniest of micro-expressions, magnified by the intense close-ups used by the cinematographer. You feel her pain, not through cries of anguish, but the immense, deep distress in her eyes.

This is a feast of Nicole Kidman’s talent that equals her best performances on both the big and small screens; I highly recommend Expats!

Documentary Review

American Symphony

Streaming on Netflix

For years, Jon Baptiste was well-known as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

He is also an accomplished song writer, singer and performer, teaming up with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Ed Sheeran. He has won 5 Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for We Are, in 2021.

The documentary, directed by Matthew Heineman and executive-produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, follows the artist as he composes American Symphony, an orchestral arrangement featuring black musical styles, and simultaneously deals with his wife Suleika’s relapse into leukemia.

This is a portrayal of their struggles to beat a deadly disease and to finish the biggest musical challenge of his career. The documentary is both intimate and majestic, as they suffer the pains of chemotherapy and celebrate the debut at Carnegie Hall. I highly recommend American Symphony.