Key Biscayne The Romance of Cape Florida by Jim Woodman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful book of history! Well written and thorough to it’s goals. The book has a great airy feel in it’s construction and makes reading far more enjoyable than history books can usually be.

Author Woodman does focus most on pre-1900 and whips up the 20th century, up to it’s publication of 1961, in just a few pages.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this hard to find book.
So hard to find, I had to add it to Goodreads.

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Here’s the inked art for #Inktober today!

Here’s the Swampy’s Florida post: http://wp.me/p46j33-2Xk

Here’s the inked art for #Inktober today!

Here’s part of the Swampy’s Florida post:
Swampy says Happy World Octopus Day!
More about the legend of the St Augustine Monster:  http://swampysflorida.com/?p=11318

The Riddle of the Third Mile by Colin Dexter
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really like Dexter’s writing style and the characters he creates. This selection of the adventures of Inspector Morse provides more background of Morse’s origins and, for me , that’s the best part of the book.

The rest is a convoluted mess. Body parts, various people who are part of the college and not part of the college and are the body parts and aren’t the body parts and I just wanted to part with the whole thing.

Seems to me Dexter stretched hard to get this book to work. There were many other ways to get to solving the main mystery of who a body is. Yet, Morse and all go gallivanting off into all kinds of directions that really make little sense. A prelude to the main story is to help the reader follow some of the mechanization of the crime. But, it seems to me, that Dexter then went about trying to fit a story to the prelude. Along the way trying to make very confusing who did what and why. There should always be confusion to a reader and it’s what I love with the previous novels I’ve read. In this case, I think Dexter was being a bit too cute in his switchbacks in the story. Keeping the reader guessing is imperative, but so is clarity in the end.

In the end, I still didn’t understand the motives of all the characters in their actions. It was tricky writing to wrap up so many loose ends. All too convenient. I just don’t think the conclusions are plausible.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book.

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The Dead of Jericho by Colin Dexter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third in the Inspector Morse series I’ve read and continue to like the series more and more. It was just a couple of months ago that I happened to come across most of the Morse series at a used book store and took a gamble and picked them up. I’m so glad I did.

This one has the many layers that the other books do of what seems like a simple story. As Inspector Morse gets on the trail, and soon to be many trails, to solve the mystery he finds deadends, misdirections and so much more that makes this book so much fun. Really like how Morse and all make mistakes.

It’s all also so well written. Author Colin Dexter lays out the story that leaves the reader hanging on from chapter to chapter. At times, it seemed the book was wrapping up and I was disappointed. The deadends and the like are far better than explosions and mass gun fire found in so many other books.

Bottom line: I recommend this book.

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This is the finished color art for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida product. There’s a bit more to this, but I’m leaving that for the Swampy’s Florida page. Look for it there.

This is just a small sample of a twenty foot wide mural I’m starting on. This part is of a stream with a cypress tree. In the stream is a bear and bunny making there way along. The mural also includes a Cracker-style home, a Florida panther cooking and, of course, an alligator – playing a banjo. I’ll add updates as I go along.

Drew for a number of hours for my friend Lisa Saupp’s family event along Lake Weir in Ocklawaha, Florida. An unusual event for me to do these days since I pretty much don’t draw at events with young people. I made an exception in that Lisa is a great friend and a HUGE help recently for my Swampy’s Florida and helping me do more in protecting Florida’s natural areas and saving taxpayer money.

(Gonna try to get back to more regular postings of art, if I can not have weeks like the past one! 🙂 )

On the #drawing board today: Signed and drew in lots and lots of Swampy’s Florida books today at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park for “Speak Up Homosassa Springs”. Here are a couple photos from teh event.

The young fellow was funny. I asked him about what he likes and found him very articulate. So as he spoke of how he would like to wash things, I asked what he would like to wash. A car. How will you be sure the cars get washed? Will you be a manager? Yes. And on it went. He’s a thinking youngster and hope he stays that way!

A brief hour and a half stop at a local coffee spot found me getting the above artwork done plus more. Rough sketches of baby gators, a sketch for a mural and a cartoon illustration for Swampy’s Florida. I also penciled and inked three editorial cartoons.