Review of "Not The Ones Dead: A Kate Shugak Mystery" by Dana Stabenow

In this 23rd book in the 'Kate Shugak' series, the Alaskan private investigator investigates the reason for a mid-air collision between two small planes. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.



Aleut Kate Shugak lives in 'The Park', a federally owned twenty-million acre national park in Alaska with scattered private properties grandfathered in. The residents in the area, referred to as 'park rats', are a mixture of indigenous people and incomers that settled down.



It's hard for law enforcement to police an area as large as The Park, but the authorities do the best they can. Dan O'Brian, The Park's chief ranger, takes notice when armed men in desert camo outfits - claiming to be private security for local landowners - start running hikers and other visitors off PUBLIC park lands.



Things escalate even further when the camo-clad men start harassing black and indigenous park residents.



While Dan is planning a visit to the 'local landowners' protecting their privacy, a mid-air collision between two small planes - which kills all nine people on the two aircraft - brings in the NTSB. The reason for the collision is unclear, and the report of a tenth body among the debris, with no identification, adds to the mystery.



The pilot of one of the downed planes was 87-year-old Frank Barr Sr., and it's strongly hinted that he caused the collision. Frank's children, Frank Barr Jr. and his sister Elsa, don't believe their dad was responsible for the crash, and they hire private investigator Kate Shugak to determine what happened.

Kate begins investigating with the assistance of her wolf-dog mix Mutt.....



....and her boyfriend Jim Chopin, a former Alaska State Trooper. Jim pilots a small plane which he uses (among other things) to transport Kate and Mutt to observe the scene of the crash, investigate areas of interest, interview people, and so on.





As Kate and company conduct their inquiries, they come across another dead body and a muddy cap with a logo that matches the insignia sported by the 'private security' individuals.

As it turns out there's a LOT going on The Park, where SOME people seem to think they can do whatever they like because the territory's vastness hides their activities. However Kate - with the assistance of a reporter, a PI colleague, ranger Dan O'Brian, an FBI agent, and others - exposes what's going on. The novel echoes some issues seen in the news over the last few years, which makes the story particularly relevant.



As usual in this series, there are picturesque descriptions of the beautiful Alaska landscape, and glimpses into indigenous culture, such as a Potlatch (ceremonial feast) for people lost in the Covid pandemic, and the 'aunties' - the influential native women who rule the roost among the park rats. In this book Kate becomes an auntie herself, much to her chagrin.


Potlatch

One of the best characters in the series is the wolf-dog Mutt, who reigns over The Park and gets obeisance - in the form of beef jerky, bones, and other treats - wherever she goes. Other recurring characters make an appearance as well, including Bobby Clark - the black DJ at the Park's radio station; the little weasel Howie Katelnikof - a minor criminal; Willard Shugak - Howie's mentally challenged roommate, who's manipulated into a life of misdemeanors; Auntie Vi - who runs a B&B and cooks up fry bread, caribou steaks, mooseburgers, and so on; the other park aunties; Bernie Kowlowski - who runs The Park's only bar; and more.


Caribou Steak


Fry Bread

I enjoyed this mystery and recommend it to fans of the Kate Shugak series and to other readers who like suspense novels.

Thanks to Netgalley, Dana Stabenow, and Aria & Aries, Head of Zeus publishers for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "A Promise of Ankles: A 44 Scotland Street Novel" by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the 14th book in the "44 Scotland Street" series. It can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is a plus.



In these affable, humorous books Alexander McCall Smith follows the lives of a group of people who reside in Edinburgh's "New Town" neighborhood. Many of the characters live in apartments at 44 Scotland Street - and others are their neighbors, friends and acquaintances.

*****

Domenica is an independent anthropologist who's interested in people, especially the new renters moving into the ground floor of 44 Scotland Street.



The new tenants turn out to be five university students, and everyone knows students can be bad news with their parties and such. Nevertheless, Domenica is impressed when she meets the 'leader' of the group, an affable, well-built young man named Torquil, who has a strikingly handsome face with dimples.



Domenica is even more impressed when Torquil borrows her mop and bucket to take his turn wiping down the building's staircases.


Domenica's husband, Angus Lordie, is a portrait artist whose best friend is his dog Cyril.



Cyril is a good boy aside from his compulsion to bite ankles, which is usually kept under control. One day Angus and his friend are hiking with Cyril when the canine digs up what looks like an old human skull. Domenica opines that the skull might be from a Neanderthal man, and the couple are excited to check with experts.



*****

Irene Pollock is a difficult controlling woman who dominated the lives of her husband Stuart and her seven-year-old son Bertie. Now - to the relief of Bertie, Stuart, and Stuart's mother Nicola - Irene has taken herself off to Aberdeen to study for her Ph.D. and continue her affair with Dr. Fairbairn. Still, Irene visits Edinburgh on occasion, and she's in town to see her sons, Bertie and his baby brother Ulysses.

The instant Irene steps into the apartment she starts criticizing, her first issue being that Nicola moved the bread bin from one table to another.



Irene then complains about the contents of the kitchen cabinets and proceeds to needle and demean Stuart. Stuart manages to escape to meet his friend Katie, with whom Stuart hopes to have a romance.....but there may be a spanner in the works.



Meanwhile, poor little Bertie.....



.....is still being plagued by his classmate Olive, who's constantly make spiteful, cutting remarks and insisting that Bertie will have to marry her.



Bertie's grandmother Nicola has had enough of this and makes a plan to get Bertie away for a time.



*****

Art gallery owner Matthew.....



.....and his wife Elspeth have toddler triplet boys who are more than a handful.





Matthew and Elspeth employ a nineteen-year-old au pair named James, who's wonderful with the children and a great cook to boot.



Elspeth is getting antsy about being stuck in the country with the kids, so Matthew bought a 51% share of Big Lou's Coffee Shop (run by Big Lou), which Elspeth will (eventually) help manage.



Meanwhile, Matthew and Elspeth arrange for James to be a part-time au pair and a part-time assistant in Big Lou's Coffee Shop - where James will create new noshes for the customers.

James has something else on his mind as well. James has been calling and texting his eccentric uncle, the Duke of Johannesburg, but the duke hasn't responded. So James and Matthew take steps to see what's up with the duke.

*****

Nosy, aphorism-spouting Italian nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, has been rapidly climbing the Edinburgh social ladder since she moved to town.



The nun is now on the board of the Scottish National Gallery, which is considering putting warning labels on 'disturbing paintings' such as Nicolas Poussin's 'Landscape with a Man Killed by a Snake.'



****

We meet two new characters in this book - two professional men patronizing Big Lou's Coffee Shop - who happen to be the director and secretary of the Scottish nudist society. There's a rivalry between Edinburgh nudists and Glasgow nudists, and this vignette is hilarious.



****

I always enjoy the books in this series, and like the fact that the novels - replete with words and phrases from the author's profession as a legal scholar - expand my vocabulary. Recommended for a bit of light reading.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen" by Robert Hofler

This book is all about the making of the movie 'The Way We War', a 1973 romantic drama starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.

Ever since the American Film Institute started keeping track, 'The Way We Were' has always been among the top ten movie romances of all time, in the venerable company of 'Casablanca' and 'Gone With The Wind.' I'm going to write about the plot of 'The Way We Were' in this review, so if you're not familiar with the film and plan to see it, you might want to stop reading now.

Chronologically, 'The Way We Were' starts in 1937, when Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) is a Jewish, working class, college student and a member of the Young Communist League. Katie rails against the Spanish Civil War and unsuccessfully tries to engage other students in her cause.





Katie is attracted to handsome, gentile, blonde jock Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford), an upper class boy in her writing class who appears to have it all.



Hubbell admires Katie's spunk, but they're just schoolmates, and Hubbell hangs with his own crowd.



Katie and Hubbell meet again after World War II, when Katie works for a New York radio station and Hubbell is back from his stint as a naval officer. Romantic sparks ignite between the pair, and they become a couple.



Trouble erupts when activist Katie takes umbrage against Hubbell's rich dilettante friends, whose lives seem to revolve around fun and parties.



Katie and Hubbell break up, but get back together and marry.



Hubbell's novel has been optioned for a Hollywood movie, and Katie and Hubbell move to California, where Hubbell will write the screenplay.



While the couple is living in California, the red scare flares up and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) pursues a mission to root out subversives in Hollywood. This leads to the blacklist, which denies employment to actors, screenwriters, directors, musicians, and other entertainment personnel who are (or were) Communists or sympathizers.

Katie and other activists who feel their freedom of speech is being abridged go to Washington to protest, and Katie's radicalism threatens to blow back on Hubbell and his career.





Katie and Hubbell part, but happen to meet years later for a final goodbye.



That's the jist of the finished movie, but the road to get there was long, sinuous, and difficult.

'The Way We Were' began when producer Ray Stark commissioned screenwriter Arthur Laurents to write a movie for Barbra Streisand.


Producer Ray Stark with Barbra Streisand

Laurents penned the script for the film 'The Way We Were' - and later the book of the same name - based on his own experiences. Laurents, who was Jewish, tended to fall for handsome gentile men, and his script for 'The Way We Were' was based on Laurents' romance with actor Tom Hatcher......where Laurents is Katie and Hatcher is Hubbell.


Screenwriter Arthur Laurents (right) with Tom Hatcher

Moreover, "over the years Laurents never gave an interview without failing to mention how his movie career got upended when the House Un-American Activities Committee swung into action in 1947 and declared....the motion picture industry a hotbed of communism."

Director Sydney Pollack liked Laurents' script and wanted Robert Redford to play Hubbell Gardiner.


Director Sydney Pollack (right) with Robert Redford

Redford refused to sign on though, because he thought the Hubbell role was too shallow and one-dimensional. Redford noted, "All I am supposed to be is this blond, blue-eyed hunk of romance that all the girls go crazy over, and I have absolutely nothing else to do in the picture." The actor "had assiduously avoided playing any [movie] role that capitalized on his awesome chiseled face and his dazzling golden hair." Redford felt his looks got in the way of audiences and critics recognizing his real talent as a subtle and gifted actor.


Robert Redford

Pollack cajoled Redford for months, saying "You really have to do it. It's really important. I, as your director, want you to do it, and I think you'll be good in it." Streisand and scriptwriter Laurents also fought for Redford to play Hubbell. However producer Ray Stark was indifferent to the actor and asserted "We've got Streisand. What do we need Redford for?" The producer pushed for Ryan O'Neal and seemed to think almost any handsome (preferably blond) actor would do. Thus other suggestions for Hubbell were Ken Howard, Dennis Cole, and Warren Beatty.


Actor Ryan O'Neal

Pollack insisted on Redford though, and proclaimed "Redford is one of the great screen actors." Pollack pressured Laurents' to change the script to beef up the Hubbell character, and when Laurents refused, the director hired other writers to turn Hubbell into something Redford wanted to play. And Redford finally (if reluctantly) agreed to star in the film.

Stark and Pollack also wanted the writers to play down the politics because the blacklist was still a sensitive subject in Hollywood.



The top executives at Columbia Pictures, which was financing the movie, feared what would be exposed. For instance, the William Morris Agency, which represented some of the best known entertainers in film, television, and music, had vigorously enforced the blacklist....and people were still resentful.

Script re-writes continued throughout the filming and the ever-expanding and changing screenplay emerged as the greatest problem dividing producer Ray Stark and director Sydney Pollack. "We were rewriting all the time," said Pollack. "While we were shooting, we were rewriting. We didn't know how to mix the politics and the love story and make it work."

The actors also presented challenges. Three weeks into production, Pollack could see he was dealing with two extremely different actors. Pollack recalled, "Barbra wanted precision; Redford spontaneity. Barbra likes lengthy rehearsals and multiple takes; Redford [refuses to rehearse and] is better in his early takes. After that he just gets bored." In addition, Streisand phoned Pollack at eleven o'clock most nights to discuss everything that had happened that day and what would be taking place the next day.


Sydney Pollack directing Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford

'The Way We Were' had a five-million-dollar budget, which was very tight. Streisand and Redford together were earning $2.2 million, and that didn't leave Pollack much money to replicate New York City in the year 1945, where Katie and Hubbell meet after the war. It was expensive to rent vintage cars, set up shots for the luxury Beekman Place apartment of Hubbell's best friend, and camouflage anachronisms like modern parking meters and post office boxes.



Additionally, photographing stars like Streisand and Redford on the streets of New York City demanded a good deal of security control, which was expensive. Finally, numerous scenes were filmed that never made it into the final cut of the movie.

When it came to the music for the film, producer Stark approached Marvin Hamlisch and asked him to write a song for Barbara on spec. If the song passed muster, Hamlisch would get to do the whole movie. Stark put Hamlisch together with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and together they wrote the theme song for Streisand to sing. As it turned out, the song - also titled 'The Way We Were' - ended up being as tightly linked to the film as 'Over the Rainbow' is to 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Moon River' is to 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.'


Composer Marvin Hamlisch with Barbra Streisand

The film was edited by John Burnett and Margaret Booth, and Burnett observed, "You put the movie together and it's not exactly what the director for a year or two has had in his head." After Pollack had the first private screening of the (more or less) completed movie, he and Burnett removed whole chunks of the film, taking out most of the blacklist material, which made the movie basically about a couple.

'The Way We Were' had its world premiere on October 16,1973, at the Loew's State Theatre in Times Square, with an after-party at the Plaza Hotel. On the red carpet, Pollack downplayed the film's politics, telling reporters "It's a star vehicle for our two reigning superstars." The movie went on to become the year's fifth most popular film, earning nearly fifty million dollars....and the eponymous song became a number one hit and the best-selling single of the year.

Upon the film's release, the influential critics Pauline Kael and Judith Crist broke from the majority male opinion of 'The Way We Were.' The women found the film 'enjoyable.' Almost fifty years later, critic Christina Newland wrote, "[The movie is] wonderful because it addresses what so many women know to be true: some men want you to be less of yourself, and that simply will not do. Even if they are Robert Redford."

There was talk of a sequel to 'The Way We Were' but it never happened.


Barbra Streisand singing The Way We Were

I've mentioned a bit about the making of 'The Way We Were', but every aspect of the movie, including the cast, costumes, extras, lighting, etc. is extensively covered by author Robert Hofler - who did numerous interviews and prodigious research. Hofler also includes juicy gossip about some of the major players, especially screenwriter Arthur Laurents, who had a mean streak, lots of affairs, and a very colorful life. Hofler also mentions that Barbra Streisand often slept with her male co-stars, but not Redford, who was a married father and careful to keep his distance. There are plenty of other interesting tidbits as well, and I enjoyed this peek into Hollywood history.

I'd recommend the book to fans of 'The Way We Were', film buffs in general, and people interested in HUAC and the blacklist.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Hofler, and Kensington Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars