Gripping. Fascinating. Entrancing. The Vesuvius Isotope is 2013's Top Thriller!

At this moment, somewhere in the world, children died of starvation, bombs exploded to maim and kill the innocent, hurricanes destroyed everything in their path, but the loveliness of this moment was as real as wars and plagues and heartbreak. Pleasure and beauty are as valid as pain and ugliness and when I am fortunate enough to enjoy the former, I do so.

Mary Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.

Los Angeles is a sprawl of broken dreams and lost opportunities, disconnected souls and entertainment junkies. The sunny skies and graceful palms don't redeem jammed roadways to nowhere.

Words are, quite simply, weapons. How a person or an act or a thought looks depends entirely upon how - and by whom - it is described.

Oh, the joys of baseball, manly men in tight pants.

All reporters have a stripe of irreverence in their mental makeup. It usually keeps them from turning into toadies, a danger for those who associate, even in an adversarial way, with the rich and powerful.