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Confessions
As always, we have an eclectic mix of reviews for you this month, but they all have something in common: confessions. Two are from the dead, divulging secrets that change the families they leave behind. The other is from a man who is dying, who knows he is dying, and is trying to make a connection before he goes. There, however, the similarity ends. As Evelyn’s review of The Whale will show, the film is a poignant portrait of a life lived in regret. Sahar’s review deals with last wishes, and my review is a family in chaos (hilariously and sometimes gruesomely so). Let’s get started. Evelyn Infante I recently…
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Good and Evil
This month, we have two very different books and two rabbit holes. While Evelyn explores the other side of death with popular author Dean Koontz, Sahar is tackling civic responsibility and pondering the fate of our nation. Evelyn Infante Because it was written by Dean Koontz, and because the title intrigued me, I purchased his latest novel, After Death without reading reviews. When I finished the book, I read many reviews, mostly written by long-time Koontz fans who compared Koontz’s past work with his latest book and found it wanting. I have to say, I found more bad reviews than good ones. I agree with some of the points made,…
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Looking for something mysterious and exciting?
“The Augusta McKee Mysteries” are unique in that each has music as part of the plot, but in different ways. The first book, The Case of the Slain Soprano, took place on a college campus while preparing for the performance of an operetta, The Pirates of Penzance. This is where Augusta met Cincinnati Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell, the other half of our sleuthing team. In the second book of the series, The Case of the Disappearing Director, the story’s setting expands to include members of a Mafia family in the nearby town of Newport, Kentucky. All this while Augusta was directing a “ghostly” opera workshop production at the other college…
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View Club Favorites 2023
2023 is about done, so we’ve taken a look back at all we’ve watched and read and experienced this year to pick our favorite moments. A lot of them are disturbingly murder-y, which happens a lot with this group! Thankfully, at least one of us is filled with gratitude. <3 Sahar Abdulaziz The Chelsea Detective Have you ever been in the mood to watch something that is not too heavy, not too light, not corny but witty… but with fascinating characters? I’m not a big TV watcher. In fact, I barely watch TV at all, but once in a while, when my mind needs a break, and I want to…
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Another Day, Another Avian Adventure
The alert came in at 6:30 AM and my collaborator texted me the particulars. I had dressed but still needed a strong cup of coffee to be of any use to her. Less than fifteen minutes later, she began the journey to my location. I had just enough time to change into my hunting clothes and prepare my vehicle. A vigilant spotter had arrived at first light to see if our target had moved during the night. We knew it would not hang around for very long. A stranger to this region, the creature’s habitat reached far into Alaska and to the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean during its…
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Politics, Corruption, and Kindness
Welcome to the October edition of the Shaggy Dog View Club. We have another all-book edition from last month with three of our authors recommending three very different books. Kelly Jensen I remember seeing this book on a list somewhere, recommending books with politics and intrigue. The books were rated in order of intricacy from least to most with The Goblin Emperor near, if not at the end. I decided against reading it. My attention span can be difficult to pin down and I utterly fail at politics. Many months later, however, when looking for more challenging reads, I referred back to that list and picked a book at random.…
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Slow Dancing with the Asphalt
I recently got my driveway repaved. It had been over twenty years since it had first been laid and the freeze/thaw cycle of Pennsylvania winters had taken its toll despite regular maintenance. It started to crumble in spots and if I didn’t get it done now when the base could still be salvaged, it would cost a lot more to remove the old asphalt, lay a new base, and then let it settle over the winter before adding a new layer. The crew began showing up at eight in the morning on what promised to be an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny, temperature in the low seventies, light winds and low…
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Conquering the Acropolis of Athens
A (Very Brief) History of Athens, Greece Athens, Greece is the oldest capital in Europe. The highest hill in the city, The Acropolis, consists of a flat-topped rock over one-hundred-fifty meters high with three incredibly steep sides. An easily defended fortress and military base from both land and sea, it only became a religious center dedicated to the worship of the goddess Athena much later during the rise and fall of the Mycenae civilization near the end of the Bronze Age. For the next four hundred years, Greece plunged into a dark age when little is known. What we think of as Ancient Greek civilization began around the fifth century…
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Murder, Murder, and Found Family
We have an interesting mix of reviews for you this month on SDP! Murder, Murder, and Found Family. But while one of these things is not like the other, the list does illustrate why our group works so well: we’re all very different writers and quite different readers and viewers. This makes for great variety when we’re writing reviews for our blog and great conversations when we get together. But we also value these different perspectives when we’re giving each other advice and critique. Often, one of us sees the things no one else does! And, apparently, this month it’s mostly murder. So let’s start there. Sahar Abdulaziz Murder Your…
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Ode to a Grecian Spring
Many countries celebrate May First as International Labor Day, but it’s more commonly referred to as Protomagia throughout Greece. Literally, the first day of May. It all started with the ancient Greeks who honored the Greek Goddess Maia, who was somehow related to a Roman goddess of fertility. Festivals and parades abound. The locals go out to the country to gather wildflowers or attempt the season’s first swim. This year it fell on a Monday, and being a major holiday, Athenians decided to enjoy a long weekend. Even the land celebrated; the countryside overflowed with flowers. Arriving in Athens later than expected on Friday, we barely had time for a…
