Who Killed Madcap Millicent? by Roger Fuller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did my best to put out of mind Gene Berry’s Amos Burke, but his voice fit so well with Fuller’s writing, that he stayed throughout. Thus revealing the fine job Fuller did re-creating the televised character to novel form. That is Fuller’s specialty, turning that on film to written novels. This book is an example at his great ability and success.

This story is very good and entirely misses the nasty trappings of the contemporary novels of excessive writing and lack of editing. The story is very tight, yet leaving a vast cast of characters and a very nice mystery. Though, I’m usually figuring out the end early, here i did not. This done without various typical literary devices as twists and shell games. This story involves a set of quintuplets. Most mystery writers would use this to confuse the reader. Not in this case, which makes the ending that much better.

The characters are well written, with a few exceptions. Unfortunately the exceptions seem to be the regular cast, with exception of Amos Burke. Burke’s driver and other of the police force are lightly touched upon, then left to the imagination. The settings are also loosely defined.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.

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There Was an Old Woman by Ellery Queen
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It was a couple dozen pages in that I knew I was in trouble. This Queen “mystery” is an unfortunate one where it’s clear the author’s knew the ending and then forced the poor constructed story.

There really is no excuse for how bad this is. Something happens very early that the Queen character would never have missed. Of course, that oversight was what the authors had to use to continue the story. Then a series of characters act as if police procedure is determined by the public. Again all to build the story. The worse part is that it’s do damned obvious. How did the duo, known as Ellery Queen, let this happen. Why did an editor not flag it. Sounds like an issue of speeding a contracted book out.

If you can view this more as a fairy tale, which isn’t hard once into the contents, then this book has some very distinct characters. Queen et al of the regular cast are written per usual with the exception that they are otherwise entirely inept in this book.

This really comes down to the horrible , obvious ending that is written as if Queen was a brilliant genius. Certainly this is the worse book I’ve read in the series.

Nevertheless, if all could be ignored, the writing is good…

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 3 out of ten points.

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A Study in Terror by Ellery Queen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great deal of fun! I love Ellery Queen and having this unorthodox way of presenting a Sherlock Holmes story within a Queen tale made a Queen book all the more fun! There is a bit of awkwardness about it all, but quite a change of pace for a Queen novel.

Apparently there were three authors involved. The two cousins who masquerade as Queen and the another who wrote the Holmes part of the book. The styles are obviously very different, but also well reflect the change of time period and location, as it should.

Seems to me the representation of the Holmes character gallery is extremely well done. The Queen characters are handled as the Queen characters are always.

Setting is far better rendered on the Holmes side. You can well feel the foggy, dreary setting.

I have not seen the film the book is based on, thought that is neither here nor there. The book story stand on it’s own without outside influence of other depictions.

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

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The Silver Tombstone by Frank Gruber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love the characters of this book! Johnny Fletcher and his pal Sam are two whose adventures I’ll to track down more of! Why is it so hard for contemporary writers to create such distinct characters????

Gruber does a crackerjack job of presenting these two ne’er-do-wells as their unorthodox methods of survival propel them into a murder investigation. Past that Gruber’s efforts are more rocky. The whole setup is way to easy. Little complexity to the core story. The few diversions are, for some reason, far too inflated. The ending is short changed by some rather shoddy writing.

Nevertheless, the entire book is great fun and I really enjoyed it.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of ten stars.

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All inked and ready for watercolor!

This newest painting is set in an exclusive area of Brevard County in Florida. Thanks to, my friends, the Cronkhite family I was able to take photos in the area. I used those to construct this illustration. More to come!

The finished painting can be seen during the 4th Anniversary open house at The Knowledge Exchange December 4th in Palm Bay, Florida.

Enemy of Mine by Brad Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brad Taylor whips up a doozy in this third in his Pike Logan series. Though this is another save the world adventure story, this one has many angles and characters involved in an overlapping narrative where everybody has all kinds of problems. Here’s the rare book of it’s kind where nothing goes smoothly. Making this an exciting thriller that deserves the adjectives more than most.

I marvel at the work Taylor had to do to have so much going on with so many and keeping it all straight enough to make a readable and entertaining book. The writing is very good and most of the settings are typically described for a thriller.

The weakest part are the characters, including the main one, Logan. Helpful are the names and nicknames. Though there’s a bit of confusion involving alternate names through parts of the book. Otherwise distinction is slim and descriptions slimmer. Most are illustrated involving their might and muscle. One key character is very well written and described. There’s a lot of emotional background included and not enough of the physical to make most of the characters whole.

Still, it’s a great book, story-wise.

Bottom Line: i recommend it. 7 out of 10 points.

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Had a whirlwind last three days with little rest and lots done! Sunday I inked this set of cartoons for my Swampy’s Florida site.

Inked with a PITT Brush, soft brush and Tombow Fudenosuke hard brush pen.

This project dropped in as I drove to Lakeland Saturday afternoon and needed by Sunday night. Penciling and inking is easy. Coloring is the time eater.

This was inked with a Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen – Hard and a PITT medium pen.

Been entertaining at a private event, here, in Lakeland, Florida this evening. Now at an IHOP penciling a last minute editorial cartoon assignment for a very good cause! Part of that will likely be my Daily Inks for tomorrow.
Caricatures inked with Markettes and a Kuretake brush.

Thought I’d add a small bit of an editorial cartoon i did tonight. This is the now infamous Melissa Click of the University of Missouri. I’m posting this involving producing the art and not the politics.

Inked with a Kuretake brush, she was easy to draw. Coloring even easier. Drawing so many family members who have red, curly hair over the decades, this was easy! So, I include the color version used in the final cartoon, too.

If you would like to see the whole cartoon, let me know below or in a private message and I’ll send you over to my editorial cartoon Facebook page. I’ve kept it kinda quiet, but you can join in, if you would like.