Burglars Can’t Be Choosers by Lawrence Block
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I do like Block’s writing very much, but as I wade further into his work, the plotting and core stories are proving the lack of an ability to construct a cogent story.

This was the first of a series involving a burglar who finds himself in larger stories than his choice of occupation. This first story is a surprise to start off with as I ended the book and looked back on a convoluted tale with tacked on characters. It all made sense when I read the postscript by author Block in the 1994 edition of the book, basically, explaining the ending came from a person he lodged with in his travels. Sounds like emotion got the better of reason and produced a ridiculous solution to a crime that no part of law enforcement could prosecute.

His characters are, again, top notch. They seem for real, despite many used just for window dressing.

Nevertheless, Blocks writing make the silly trip worthwhile again. I shall continue with his books for that reason only.

Bottom line:
I don’t recommend this book (Unless you want to read Block’s writing). 5 out of 10 points.

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Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m becoming more and more a fan of du Maurier. This is another tale so very well written and enthralling.

One thing I really like about du Maurier is her writing of characters. All are distinct and most very memorable. Her tales are pretty simple is the characters and the setting and dialogue that raise the book above simply plotting.

Much like Frank Slaughter she does a terrific job of creating the backdrop of her literary theater. Her writing of period London, Cornwall, Frenchman’s Creek, the ship and homes are well constructed and you can place yourself and, more importantly the characters in the scenes. You can almost hear the echo as the main character enters her Cornwall home at the beginning of the book.

This is a very romantic tale and conjured up memories of Barbara Cartland. Though far better written.

A side note: I love the cover by one of my favorite illustrators, Charles Geer.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 7 out of 10 points.

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Finished an editorial illustration this past week. This is a part of the color piece.

This is just another drawing of the set of illustrations that will be part of a booklette at our annual Florida Springs Festival, March 3rd and 4th, at Silver Springs State Park. One page of the booklette will be just for me to create a personalized drawing per your request. The booklettes will be free for you and yours!

I have a staggering amount of very different projects swirling around and I’ll be posting here about them just about everyday. This is squirrel illustration posted earlier when rough penciled. Here, inks and some color has been applied. A lot more to do! I’ll share that down the road.

Tomorrow I’ll add a bit of fun to posts.

On my way to Cocoa Beach on January 24th to perform for a wedding I felt a developing cold. By the time I got there, I had a cold – and still have it. But, the show must go on! But could I continue my further altering my approach to caricature to some thing a bit more comic-booky illustration?

Somehow I did, in between sneezing and feeling awful. After the 24th event I rested and did all I could to be prepared for the next event on the 27th. Still sick for this event near Clermont, I really worked at not having a set place for the head and working harder to get each person’s story into the illustration….in between a runny nose and taking in many cough drops.

The 27th event had a lot of young people at it and worked on the larger paper for each. Three of those are the last of the pictures here.

Please let me know how you like this approach. I love, my friend, Trisha Kirby’s response of this approach. “It’s like an entire comic book or illustrated novel wrapped into one image.”

Here are a few from both events:

Travelled to Dade City, Florida, for the bi-monthly Pasco County Historical Society meeting, of which I’m a member. Being a bit buried in work at the moment knew I had to get some work done while there. So, during, guest speaker, Susan NcManus’ talk I did scribble some work out!

Monahan’s Massacre by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, the Johnstone Clan best keep this ghost writer in the stable. Book 2 of this new series is setting a standard above Johnstone himself.

Book 2 in the series continues to follow the journey of Dooley Monahan. It’s a tough journey that is full of, a Johnstone trademark, outstanding characters and a journey that is added with complicated plot developments this ghost writer placed in the first book that made it so compelling. My favorite of complications is the issue of Manahan’s memory. After the last book, the ghost writer has made the reader uncertain what is real and what may be some hallucination. Another is the main female character featured is NOTHING like I’ve read before in any book. Kinda wish we could know more about her and how on earth the writer saw her getting to be where she is in the book.

I also love the way the writer works in Blue, the dog, and General Grant, the horse. They are also main characters in the book and greatly affect all events.

The settings are very well written. I like how the writer intersperses the characters, narrative and dialogue and the setting. I would have to figure the writer is a huge fan of Twain and learned from him.

My only qualm with the writer is that Monahan escapes certain death a bit too often. It’s a neat plot device, but used a bit much.

My qualm involving the top of the Johnstone Clan, on the superficial side, again, involves poor choices of unrelated cover image and a dumb title that has nothing to do with the book. The books clearly state over and over again Monaham being older and having trouble realizing his age. The writer indicated a couple times that Monahan is around 40 or older. Also, Blue is – Surprise! – BLUE! The horse, also could not be General Grant. Finally there is no “massacre” in the book. But I won’t grade this book based upon the publisher’s bad moves.

Overall this book is a joy to read and I hope the Johnstone Clan doesn’t lose this one!

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.

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#Inktober #8 –

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