Review of "One Thousand White Women - The Journals of May Dodd: A Novel" by Jim Fergus

This is an excellent novel about an  1800's government program to send 1000 white women to marry into the Cheyenne Indian tribe in exchange for 1000 horses.



The plan is for the Caucasian-Indian couples to have children, which will theoretically promote peace between Indians and settlers. -



Most of the women in the program are volunteers from prisons and insane asylums, though the dozen or so females in the story are 'nice girls' who got locked up due to unfortunate circumstances.

The novel is composed of journal entries from one of the women, May Dodd, who was committed to an asylum by her wealthy father for choosing a man below her station.



The book illustrates the women's lives in Chief Little Wolf's Cheyenne tribe in the Montana Territory, and ends with an army raid on the tribe's encampment.



The women have a fascinating adventure and the narrator, May Dodd is a kind of hoot.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Little Secrets: A Novel of Suspense" by Jennifer Hillier

Marin Machado is Christmas shopping with her 4-year-old son Sebastian at Seattle's 'Pike Place Market' when the unthinkable happens.



Distracted by a phone call, Marin releases Sebastian's hand for a moment, and when she looks around the boy is gone.



A hunt for the child is fruitless, and security footage shows that a figure in a Santa Claus costume led Sebastian away.

The police search for Sebastian is thorough and extensive since Marin and her husband Derek are high profile citizens. Marin is the owner of a beauty salon that caters to celebrities.....



 .....and Derek is a wealthy business mogul. 



Sebastian isn't found, and Marin - who's both inconsolable and guilt-ridden - attempts suicide.



After a brief stint in a psychiatric hospital Marin joins a support group for parents of missing children and - encouraged by her sympathetic salon manager - returns to work.



After eighteen months Marin and Derek, though still living together, have grown apart - and Marin thinks Derek blames her for the tragedy. Marin is barely holding herself together, but her support group acquaintances and her best friend Sal - who was her college boyfriend years ago - help her go on.



When the police stop actively looking for Sebastian, Marin can't stand the idea that the search has ended. So, unbeknownst to Derek, Marin hires private investigator Vanessa Castro to continue the hunt.



Part of Castro's strategy is to look into all of Marin and Derek's friends, acquaintances, and employees. Thus, Castro happens to learn that Derek is having an affair with a pretty, pink-haired art student/barista called McKenzie Li. The PI immediately tells Marin....and shows her pictures.



Marin is furious, and - thinking she's lost her child - determines that she can't lose her husband too. Encouraged by her longtime friend Sal, who's always been a reckless irresponsible guy, Marin does something drastic - and it has unexpected repercussions.

The book alternates between the perspectives of Marin and McKenzie, and we get a close look at the behavior of both women. Marin is a sympathetic character - a distraught woman out of her mind with grief, while McKenzie is a piece of work I'd like to send to Jupiter.

There are some surprises in the story, one of which I found completely unbelievable. That said, this is a well-written suspenseful story, well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jennifer Hillier,  and Minotaur Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Light of the World: A Detective Dave Robicheaux Mystery" by James Lee Burke

In this 20th book in the 'Dave Robicheaux' series, the Louisiana detective is on vacation in Montana, but can't get away from vicious criminals. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.

*****



Louisiana Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux is on vacation in Montana with his wife Molly, novelist daughter Alafair, and private detective friend Clete Purcell. They are soon joined by Gretchen Horowitz, the daughter Clete first met when she was an adult. Gretchen, severely abused as a child, was once a hit-woman for the mob. She's now a filmmaker, making a documentary about oil shale drilling.



The visitors are staying at the ranch of Dave's friend Albert Hollister, a famous writer and environmental activist.



Trouble soon rears it head when someone shoots an arrow at Alafair while she's jogging.



In addition, a local teenage girl, Angel Deer Heart, is abducted and killed. Angel is the adopted daughter of Caspian Younger and his wife Felicity Louviere; Angel's grandfather is Love Younger, one of the wealthiest men in the country. As usual in Burke's books, the 'evil wealthy family' - in this case the Youngers - harbor dark secrets and are apparently up to no good.



Clete Purcell also stays true to character and falls under the spell of a beautiful young woman, this time the married Felicity Louviere. As Clete gets older and less healthy in book after book, this trope gets increasingly harder to accept.



Dave comes to suspect that the perpetrator of bad deeds is the sadistic serial killer Asa Surrette, about whom Alafair wrote a series of scathing articles when he was in prison.



Though Surette is officially 'dead' - killed when a prison transport was in a fiery collision - Dave is convinced he survived and is in Montana. Dave fears that Surette means to continue his murderous spree in Montana and that he has Alafair in his sights.

Basically the story is about Dave and Clete trying to stop Asa Surette while they expose the sinister doings of the Younger family. Alafair and Gretchen are on board with this agenda, getting into various kinds of trouble along the way. Gretchen especially has the bad luck to meet the worst people imaginable.

There are a plenty of additional characters in the story: a troubled but tough rodeo cowboy, his lady friend, a local sheriff, corrupt law enforcement officers, some vicious thugs, and so on. There is also a prominent sub-theme about whether evil is a real, tangible thing. Dave's frequent musings on the subject seemed a bit hazy to me and somewhat disconnected from the story.



Burke's ongoing characters are favorites of mine and I always enjoy visiting with them in his books. I also liked the basic mystery premise of the story, and even some of the sub-plots. However, there were elements of the story that didn't come together at the end and one odd character seemed to be completely unexplained.

All in all I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to mystery fans.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "Live Wire: A Myron Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben

In this 10th book in the 'Myron Bolitar' series the former basketball star, and current proprietor of MB Reps, is enlisted to help a retired tennis player. The book can be read as a standalone, but knowing the characters is a big plus.

*****

Myron Bolitar was set to be a professional basketball player when a knee injury scuttled his career. So Myron went to law school and became a sports agent.



Myron is currently the co-owner of MB Reps, a New York agency that represents sports figures, actors, and musicians. Myron is aided in this endeavor by his partner Esperanza; his office manager Big Cyndi; and his financial advisor Windsor Horne Lockwood III (Win)....all of whom are VERY colorful characters.

In addition to getting his clients jobs and negotiating their contracts, Myron fixes his clients' problems. So it's no surprise when retired tennis player Suzze T comes to him for help. Suzze T is married to rock legend Lex Ryder, expecting a baby, and happily posting updates on Facebook.



Suzze T is mortified when someone writes 'NOT HIS' (meaning not Lex's) under her baby news, and wants Myron to discover who posted this malicious lie. Myron is also tasked with smoothing things over with Lex.....who's gone incommunicado.

Myron tracks Lex to a nightclub, and after speaking to the rocker, happens to spot his sister-in-law Kitty, which is a shock. Kitty skedaddles before Myron can speak to her, though he tries to give chase.



Myron's brother Brad married Kitty sixteen years ago - over Myron's vociferous objections - and the couple ran off and didn't come back. As it happens, Kitty had been a tennis star before she absconded, but was dethroned by the underhanded machinations of Suzze T.

Myron puts two and two together and concludes that Kitty wrote 'NOT HIS' on Suzze T's Facebook page.....for revenge.

The story gets complicated from this point as Myron tries to reunite Suzze T and Lex; make amends with Kitty and Brad; and deal with gangsters who have their fingers in the drug trade and music world. On top of that Myron's feisty 74-year-old father has a heart attack - leaving his loved ones in dread of the outcome.



This book isn't one of Harlen Coben's best efforts (IMO). The story is padded with excessive violence, overwritten scenes, and annoying characters. I especially disliked entitled twin teenage boys who are walking thesauruses of naughty/degrading language. I wanted to stuff their mouths with rags.

On the upside, there are some fun scenes, like the evening Esperanza - a bombshell who once wrestled under the moniker 'Little Pocahontas' - has to get dowdy Myron into a nightclub;



And the time Big Cyndi runs around New York City in a Batgirl costume, or wears enough rouge to paint a van....and no one even raises an eyebrow.



Win also plays does his part, doling out violence in his usual uppity patrician manner.



Still, unless you're a big Myron Bolitar fan, you won't miss much if you skip this book.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Review of "Baltimore Blues: A Tess Monaghan Mystery" by Laura Lippman

This is the first book in Laura Lippmann's popular 'Tess Monaghan' private investigator series. 

Twentysomething Baltimore resident Tess Monaghan was a journalist until her newspaper the 'Baltimore Star' folded. Now Tess works part-time in her Aunt Kitty's bookstore and puts in a few hours a week in her Uncle Donald's government office. This gives Tess plenty of time to indulge her two favorite pursuits - sculling and running.



Tess wakes up at 5:30 every morning to row for a couple of hours.....then runs in the evenings after work. All this exercise leaves Tess's long lean body muscular and toned.

Tess's best friend is Darryl "Rock" Paxton, a science researcher whose passion is competitive rowing.



Tess and Rock meet at the Patapsco River boathouse every morning, and - after sculling in their individual shells - go out to breakfast on Rock's dime. 😊

One day Rock asks Tess to do a job for him. Rock's beautiful blonde fiancé Ava Hill, a budding lawyer who's failed the bar exam twice, has been acting squirrelly lately.....and Rock wants to know why.



Rock asks Tess to investigate Ava, and offers to pay Tess standard private investigator fees. Cash-strapped Tess agrees, and her discoveries lead to a world of trouble.

Tess learns that Ava has afternoon trysts in a hotel with Michael Abramowitz, a partner in the "Three O's" law firm that employs them both.



Rock is appraised of this news, and - soon afterwards - Abramowitz is killed in his office. Before you can say prime suspect, Rock is arrested for murder.

Rock's lawyer, also a rowing aficionado, employs Tess to look for exonerating evidence to clear Rock. While Tess is researching Abramowitz's life, she's hounded by her former boyfriend - investigative journalist Jonathan Ross - who wants a scoop for his newspaper. Ross is a lothario who drops in on Tess for a bit of nooky whenever he feels like it, and I didn't like him. 😝



Looking for information about Abramowitz's murder, Tess interviews the security guard at the Three O's law firm, and the cleaner who found Abramowitz's body. She also delves into Abramowitz's cases, to identify people who might have wanted him dead.

Tess discovers that Abramowitz started his career as a public defender, and that he got off a number of accused rapists. The rapists' female victims formed a support group, and these women - as well as convicts Abramowitz didn't exonerate - form a pool of possible suspects.



Additional characters in the book include Tess's beautiful Aunt Kitty - a woman of a certain age who still attracts men like flies; Crow - a young man who works for Aunt Kitty.....and has a big crush; Whitney - a clever young woman who helps Tess investigate; Shamus O'Neil - the managing partner at the Three O's law firm, who has a roving eye; Shamus's wife - who knows her husband runs around; and more. In addition the city of Baltimore, whose gritty neighborhoods are described in cinematic detail, is almost a character in the novel.



Tess's investigation endangers her life, but she solves the crime.....and starts her career as a private detective. Tess is an appealing sleuth and I enjoyed the book.

Rating: 3 stars 

Review of "Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat: How Two Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics" by Paul Halpern

Two of the most important developments in theoretical physics occurred in the early 20th century. Albert Einstein formulated the theory of general relativity and Erwin Schrödinger, Max Planck, Louie de Broglie and others devised quantum physics. In this book, physics professor Paul Halpern discusses the origin and evolution of these groundbreaking ideas.....and Einstein and Schrödinger's lifelong quest to find a 'unified theory of everything.'


Albert Einstein


Erwin Schrödinger


Max Planck


Louie de Broglie

Theoretical physics encompasses difficult ideas described by dense mathematical formulas. Halpern, however, devises clever analogies to help the reader understand the big picture. For example, curvature in the universe is compared to a saddle or - for snack lovers - a potato chip.



And quanta (energy packets that are multiples of a very small quantity) are correlated with coins of different denominations (penny, nickel, dime, etc.).



Einstein is considered one of the greatest scientists who ever lived but - as a young person - was a rather indifferent student. The budding genius did love geometry, though, and this may have led to his developing the theory of general relativity.

The geometry Einstein studied as a boy (and what we learn in middle school) is called Euclidean geometry. This is geometry on a flat surface. In the real universe, though, things aren't flat, and a different kind of geometry - called Non-Euclidean geometry - is needed. Non-Euclidean geometry has precepts that differ from what we're used to. For instance, triangles can have three right angles and parallel lines can meet.

Einstein's theory of general relativity is based on Non-Euclidean geometry and spacetime.





Spacetime is the concept that the three-dimensional geometry of the universe (the location of things on an xyz-axis) and the time dimension (when events occur) are not separate things. They form a single unit.

In very simple terms, the theory of general relativity says:
- The presence of matter in the universe alters the geometry of spacetime - that is, it curves spacetime.
- Gravity is a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime.
- Objects that 'fall' because of gravity are following straight line paths in a curved spacetime.


Gravity is illustrated in this diagram. The grid is spacetime, the sphere is matter (let's say the Earth).....and gravity diverts the trajectory of the object (let's say the moon).


Instructor demonstrating gravity

In the early 1900s scientists discovered that sub-atomic particles (such as electrons and photons) can behave as both particles and waves. Schrödinger derived the wave equation, which is a basic tenet of quantum mechanics. Schrödinger's wave equation is used to determine information about a particle - such as its position, mass, velocity and energy - at every moment in time.



So far so good. Except that two other renowned physicists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, took quantum mechanics a step further.


Neils Bohr


Werner Heisenberg

They formulated the uncertainty principle, which states that you can't know dual properties of a particle - like its position and momentum - at the same instant. If you measure the position of a particle, you change it's momentum.....and vice versa. So the more precisely you know one quantity, the less precisely you know the other. Therefore, you have to rely on probabilities.



Even odder (to regular people) is the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. This states that particles DON'T HAVE definite properties until they're measured. In other words, a particle is 'smeared out' - or has a range of probabilities - until it's measured. At the moment of measurement, the particle acquires definitive properties.

Both Einstein and Schrödinger rejected this probability jibber jabber. They were sure the universe is deterministic, that events have causes, and that everything is predictable. This led Einstein to say "God does not play dice with the universe" and Schrödinger to devise "Schrödinger's cat" thought experiment - in which a cat in a sealed box is both alive and dead simultaneously. (You'll have to look it up.)



Because of their reservations, Einstein and Schrödinger tried to disprove the Copenhagen interpretation for decades, with no success. (That's probably because - according to experimental evidence - it's true.)

Both Einstein and Schrödinger also spent a large part of their lives trying to combine the general theory of relativity (the physics of large objects) and quantum mechanics (the physics of small objects) into a theory of quantum gravity (a unified theory of everything).

Einstein and Schrödinger were great friends - and had a friendly rivalry about their efforts - until 1947. That year Schrödinger thought he'd succeeded in unifying the theories and made a big announcement to the press, more or less thumbing his nose at Einstein. As it turned out, Schrödinger's equation was wrong......and Einstein didn't speak to him for three years.



Despite the efforts of many scientists, there still isn't a unified theory of everything.

Halpern doesn't shirk discussions of complex physics, and these sections can be difficult for the layperson to understand. However, the author also includes information about the personal lives of Einstein and Schrödinger, and these segments read like mini-biographies. Halpern writes about the scientists' young years, schooling, jobs, finances, children, escape from Germany and Austria before WWII, many contributions to science, Nobel Prizes, interest in philosophy (Einstein read Spinoza and Schrödinger leaned toward Schopenhauer and Eastern mysticism), and more.

Halpern also mentions some gossipy facts like: Einstein didn't like to get his hair cut, didn't wear socks, and - after divorcing his first wife - married his cousin.....to whom he wasn't faithful.


Einstein and his second wife Elsa

And Schrödinger had an open marriage. He often vacationed with a lady friend, and sometimes lived with his wife AND one or two girlfriends (some of whom had husbands).


Schrodinger and his wife Annemarie

Also, after Einstein died, the pathologist stole his brain, preserved it, and cut it up for scientific study.

Halpern emphasizes that great minds don't often make their major discoveries alone. Einstein and Schrödinger collaborated with other physicists and mathematicians - both in person and via mail. In later life Einstein had a routine: he would have breakfast with his colleagues and assistants, then stroll to his office with them - all the time having extensive discussions about physics. (Think of 'The Big Bang Theory' television show without the jokes.) Einstein also attended conferences and exchanged letters with other scientists.....as did Schrödinger. Thus, great leaps of knowledge are usually collaborative efforts - though 'celebrity scientists' often get the most credit.

I enjoyed the book (though some of it is tough going) and appreciated the insights into the advances in physics. I'd recommend the book to readers interested in the subject. 

Rating: 3.5 stars