The Little Lion

Author: Nancy Wright Beasley

Laibale Gillman was naturally brave. At the age of four, he rescued his older brother from a large, ferocious dog by distracting the snarling animal with a rake while Moshe — who was terrified of dogs — ran into the house. Because of this bravery, Laibale’s mother nicknamed him “the little lion.”

Laibale also had an innate mechanical ability. He used this ability to work on his motorcycle and to fix things for his mother and neighbors.

At 15 years old, Laibale raced motorcycles. In this opening scene, Laibale was determined to win the race, to beat the other boys who now attended Catholic school and teased him for being a Jew. When Joel, a friend participating in the race, crashed into Mr. Todras’s potato cart, Laibale’s quick reactions allowed him to avoid the accident, speed along, and win the race.

Laibale was a typical teenager living in Kaunas, Lithuania, when Nazi troops forced his family and thousands of other Jews into Kovno Ghetto, where they endured persistent threats of beatings, starvation, and death.

In the ghetto, Laibale’s skills came in handy. His ability to work on engines proved useful and allowed him to have some freedoms within Kovno Ghetto, as the Nazis found him to be a valuable asset. Laibale took advantage of the freedoms and also took additional risks over a two-year period of escaping the barbed-wire fence to return with food, medicine, and hope. Laibale, showing courage beyond his years and living up to his nickname, devised a plan that helped several of his family members escape to freedom — at a time when some 40,000 individuals (the vast majority of them Jews) were being executed within a few miles.

Without having read the acknowledgments, a reader would not know that this book was the thesis for the author’s MFA in children’s literature. The book is well-written, and the scenes are extremely vivid. The author uses few words to develop entire scenes and involve the reader as a participant in the story.

As a rare privilege, this book was adapted for a screenplay where the Nazi horrors came to life. This book — and the play — shares the risks Jews took to survive. The timeless messages are presented in a way that will grab the readers’ attention and keep them hooked until the end.

This book is a good educational read for young adults learning about the Holocaust, but it is also an excellent read for all readers as a great reminder of what occurred in 1941. The Little Lion emphasizes the importance of being brave and selfless in a time of German oppression. This book is sure to spark discussion among fellow readers.

The Little Lion: A Hero in the Holocaust is the remarkable story of a teen’s heroism during the horrors of the Holocaust.

Izzy’s Fire

Author: Nancy Wright Beasley

Bravery was rare during the Holocaust in Lithuania, as many people tried to keep their head down and simply survive. However, the bravery of one small Catholic family saved thirteen Jews.

Chapter 1 opens in the year 1943 in the Kovno Ghetto with Edna Ipson, her son, and her husband escaping in the middle of the night. The tension is strong, and the details are vivid. Edna climbs up on a wagon, and once seated, she regrets how she climbed up, worried that she may have lost a button from her sweater. It is too dark to see, but she slides her hand along her sweater’s edge, counting the buttons. One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five. All there!

The reader is quickly captivated by this family to discover if they survive their escape. However, the next few chapters take the reader back in time, leaving the reader to continue wondering and unable to put the book down. Several chapters describe Edna’s life in Lithuania before the Nazis entered. Their simple but happy life was filled with family, friends, and love until 1941. Their life even included a baby daughter, leading the reader to wonder where this baby was during the escape from Kovno Ghetto.

Edna was given the nickname “Izzy’s Fire” when she was young and her husband’s sisters were trying to convince their mother to allow Edna and Izzy to marry. She was called “Simchah Fire,” everlasting flame or unquenchable fire. Izzy’s parents had wanted him to marry a wealthy woman so he could rise in society.

Nancy Wright Beasley is a gifted writer. She is able to keep the information accurate while entertaining the reader at the same time. Beasley brings the characters to life and helps the reader relive the events through the eyes of Edna. She showcases the tensions between family members who make different decisions and shares how families are ripped apart emotionally and physically.

As of 2015, five of the thirteen Jews that were saved were still living. Beasley interviewed survivors and read memoirs, which led her on a seven-year journey of Edna Ipson. This enlightening and empowering book was nominated for a People’s Choice Awards in 2006.

To the Moon and Back to Me

Author: Christine Hassing

 

The physical loss of a loved one is always hard, and it takes time to accept and then process the end of a relationship and then the beginning of a life without the loved one. And even then, when loss comes again in life, feelings from a previous loss can resurface, and one is then forced to try to cope with both losses. This is what happened to the author Christine Hassing.

In To the Moon and Back to Me, Hassing writes in short journal entries as she processes the loss of her four-legged running partner Too. To the author, this partner was more than a dog; it was the member who completed their family.

“In my dream, I handed you to your daddy, our family of three, you as our baby girl, to make us better people, to make us complete. . . . The child I didn’t bring into the world in you I would find.”

When reading along, though the journal entries speak directly of images of Roo, Hassing’s first loss are hinted at in the pages.

The journal entries, which begin with dates to help the reader follow along, go back and forth from the present to memories — the present trying to cope with the current loss of Roo and the memories thinking about the encouragement Roo provided when running alongside.

Written in the first person to Roo, Hassing describes well the feelings of loss that she experiences over one year. The reader walks alongside the author as she processes her feelings, slowly comes to acceptance, and even finds a way to move on.

This book is a positive read for anyone struggling with a loss. It can help the reader process their emotions and grow, while learning to live when the circumstances have changed.

Even Climate Change Can’t Stop Love and Murder

Author: A.E.S. O’Neill

 

As Ginger and Alby cross the United States to relocate to their new witness protection home in Arizona, their search for love is marred by violent interludes with insurrectionists, white supremacists, and jihadists. But those are not enough antagonists for this author! The setting is an antagonist as well with the fury of climate chaos — storms beyond measure that bring about death and destruction.

Similar to the first book in this series, A.E.S. O’Neill writes an action-packed novel that takes place in a short time span, allowing a lot to happen in a single day.

Chapter 1, the hook for the novel, is written from the perspective of Ginger. The reader reads her thoughts on running away, on the Handlers managing Alby’s witness protection, and on Alby – as Ginger continues to analyze him out of the corner of her eye. This is particularly notable for a male author to successfully write from a female perspective, and to do so in the novel’s hook.

Written in the third person, this book seamlessly jumps to various characters. Jagger, the man hunting down Alby but currently too injured to complete the job, reminisces on his horrible upbringing. Ginger frequently thinks about what she is running away from, an overbearing mother who controls her acting career as well as much of her life. Alby has minimal thoughts about the present. He thinks about Ginger’s quirks and his need for a drink, but he does not think much about the past or the future – a characteristic emphasizing that Alby has been worn down by the past and doesn’t see himself as having much of a future.

Even Climate Change Can’t Stop Love and Murder, Volume 2: Paying the Price is the second novel of this romance thriller series and offers a uniquely American vision of love and murder, trauma and healing. However, this book could easily be read as a standalone novel. O’Neill provides the necessary information about the relationship between Ginger and Alby, for example, to make it so, including that Ginger is running away with a man she hardly knows who is on the run.

Traveling with Alby, Ginger shares information about her life with him, but not the dark secrets of her childhood, which explain so much of her strong, determined character. All the threads of the old life and new culminate at Tuzigoot National Monument, where Ginger and Alby once again face death.

Volume 1 opens in a high-action scene, whereas volume 2 opens with character development of Ginger and her relationship with Alby. While the high-impact scenes could have been filled with more emotion and intensity, the author clearly develops scenes and characters, and his overall story telling is outstanding. This is an excellent read, and one we greatly recommend.

To Kingdom Come

Author: Claudia Riess

Amateur sleuths, Erika Shawn-Wheatley and Harrison Wheatley, are at it again! Erika, an art magazine editor, and Harrison, an art history professor, are in a Zoom meeting of individuals whose goal is to return African art looted during the colonial era. Olivia Chatham, a math instructor at London University, is speaking about a journal penned by her great-granduncle, Andrew Barrett, an active member of the Royal Army Medical Service during England’s 1897 “punitive expedition” launched against the Kingdom of Benin.

Olivia is about to disclose the task she hopes the sleuthing duo will accept when the proceedings are disrupted by unusual movement. Frozen disbelief erupts into a frenzy of calls for help as the group watches the murder of Timothy Thorpe, assistant curator of the British Museum, — witnesses to the brutal murder who can do nothing because they are on the other end of a worldwide conversation.

The opening pages are well written, with the scenes moving along vividly. The Zoom call was described with great detail, and the conversation among the guests flowed well. Then, the murder. It happened so quickly and within the same seamlessness without any buildup, leading to that paragraph needing to be read again.

While this is book fourth in the series, it is not necessary to have read the other books first. (The previous books in the series reveal how the couple grows and develops in their relationship.) Erika and Harrison are now married with an infant son. The interactions between the couple can be felt — they still act like newlyweds. The love scenes are vivid enough to show their love for one another without being too graphic. And in the scenes with their infant son, Erika’s love changes to that of motherly love. The author does an excellent job at describing both types of love.

Even as the couple begins to study the Barrett journal, the reader can feel the couple’s interest in going on another adventure. To bring some lightheartedness into the scene, Jake, Harrison and Erika’s chocolate Lab, requests a belly rub before resigning himself to the desk’s knee hole.

The author does well introducing more about Andrew Barrett through three journal entries, and separating the entries with conversations and note-taking by Erika and Harrison. The prologue was a scene from 1897 with Andrew Barrett discovering his first Benin treasure, and the first journal entry shows him having a handful of the treasures. Claudia Riess did an excellent job of intertwining the prologue with the information in the journal entries so that the reader can get to know Andrew Barrett better, as the second journal entry shows Andrew being infatuated with the barrister’s daughter.

This book is extremely well written, with scenes being created vividly and interactions occurring effortlessly. This author is gifted in storytelling. It was difficult to put this book down.

In the cool air of autumn, the big, small town of Albuquerque is heating up! Bodies are piling up at the zoo — both inside and outside of the lion enclosure. Murder mystery lover in her spare time, and full-time zoo veterinarian, Miranda Scott finds herself in the middle of this deepening mystery. With a mobster for a godfather, and a father who has lots of secrets and gangster friends, Miranda begins to wonder if she might be the next victim. Can the voices in her head — Agatha, Raymond, and Sherlock — the handsome detective who’s smitten by her, or her mobster uncles help her solve the mystery before the animals she loves devour her?

If you love murder mysteries and animals, you’ll be captivated by Marcia Rosen’s latest book, Murder at the Zoo. Get ready to stay up late — brew a pot of coffee or open a bottle of wine — because you won’t be able to put this one down!

 

Elizabeth Belasco, PhD

Murder Mystery Lover, Animal Lover, aka the DogEaredGhostwriter!

Mystery writer Marcia Rosen knows that the most powerful lines of William Shakespeare’s Tempest:

O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t
tell only half our human story[1].

Indeed, the opening lines of Murder offer readers into a man-made dystopia: From the lion’s den at the Albuquerque Zoo, a human arm, chewed off from its shoulder, beckons to the public.

Rosen’s sleuth, Dr. Miranda Scott, is tasked with solving this murder—but she faces five challenges. First, she hears voices in her head, each in its own trademark manner:

“Agatha, even for a dame, you talk too damn much.”
“Raymond, my dear, you’ve used that line too many times. I fear it is a bit uncouth.”
Sherlock snapped, “Will you both be quiet so I can consider the evidence?”

The snark and wisdom of Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes persist as the pile of bodies at the zoo increases. And Miranda finds time to serve her day shift as its senior veterinarian.

Second, Miranda copes with an unusual set of divorced parents. Her mother Lillian, who lives on a ranch near Taos, is a grifter forever pushing Miranda around. Miranda’s father Jacob, whom she lived with following the divorce, holds close to the vest his relationship with a certain criminal syndicate. Miranda’s appetite for detection was nourished by a steady supply of mystery and gangster novels and their cinematic adaptations, thanks to her godfather Joseph.

Third, Miranda faces corruption on the part of the local government. Readers will recognize the shameless egoism of Senator Matthew Graham and company.

Fourth, there is corruption on the part of the zoo staff, though Miranda may be too busy and too close to see.

Finally, Miranda entertains distraction from her duties, exchanging thrusts in an extended romantic exchange with a certain Bryan.

“Mystery lovers will enjoy Rosen’s nods to films and novels both old and new, making use of important tropes popularized by Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, and even Edgar Allan Poe. Rosen’s dialogue and narration—“I have to go. Have to see a lion about a man”—offer a gentler version of Chandler’s nonstop talking wise.

Murder at the Zoo is heartily recommended for vacation reading.

[1] The Tempest, V.1.182–5. These lines are spoken as a royal marriage comes together. The exile of Miranda, with her father Prospero, Duke of Milan, is coming to an end thanks to Miranda’s alliance to Ferdinand, the King of Naples’ son.

 

Since 1986, Jon Hartmann has reviewed books, films, and performances for academic, professional, and general audiences. Jon teaches Technical and Business Communication at The University of Texas at Dallas, and he copyedits government reports on food security in places like Haiti and East Africa.  Hartmann wrote The Marketing of Edgar Allan Poe (Routledge, 2008) and has published pieces on filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. Jon recommends his latest paper, published in Who Makes the Franchise (McFarland, 2022, edited by Rhonda Knight and Donald Quist), titled “You Always Spoof the One You Love: Thirty Years of Professional ­Take-Offs on The Muppet Show.”

Even a Pandemic Can’t Stop Love and Murder

Author: A.E.S. O’Neill

 

After having been set up in Iraq, Alby O’Brien is on the Iraqi hit list. Therefore, Alby is now hiding in southern New Jersey to avoid the wrath of terrorists who are after him. Believing he is safely hidden in his cave-like garage apartment, he supports himself on under-the-table fix-it work while wrestling with nightmares of what happened in Iraq. Being that he was only a government contractor, he is not privy to all of the employee benefits provided by the government, and this letdown continues throughout his new life.

The author, A.E.S. O’Neill, wrote this book during a pandemic and used the pandemic as the setting. O’Neill does a great job working the pandemic into scenes and showing various reactions to it and the new way of life. Some characters detest wearing the mask; others double mask. Some wear the cheap mask, while others wear a Plastimask. Even the psychotically polite killer is sure to wear a mask. The author also mentions vaccines, variants, and GPS trackers—all items readers can surely relate to.

Alby was in Iraq when the pandemic hit, so the United States he returns to is different than the one he left—something Alby regularly struggles with.

Though Alby is trying to avoid the terrorists, he cannot seem to avoid trouble.

Something very valuable has been taken from a mob-run bank. The mob believes the thief was Alby, and now everyone is after him, who appears to have drawn the short straw in life. Despite his life being on the line, all he can think about is the mysterious Ginger. As it all comes to a head, Alby knows his choices are few and his fate could go either way.

This novel is filled with action at a speedy pace and takes place in just one week. How many lives can be changed in just one week! Once the action begins, it just keeps coming, breaking up the action scenes with small episodes of normalcy.

A reader may desire the prologue to occur later in the story with Alby remembering his life in Iraq, once the reader has been able to connect with Alby. However, the reader is able to empathize with Alby in chapter 1, and then the action begins in chapter 2.

O’Neill is a gifted writer, developing a great story with suspense, and he was at the right place at the right time. This novel is based on a true story O’Neill’s father told his son about a mob bank being ripped off and the ensuing consequences. The author does an excellent job of taking this true story and placing it in a pandemic crisis and entangling the two challenges.

Even a Pandemic Can’t Stop Love and Murder, vol. 1 Break the Bank is the highly entertaining and almost implausible story of what can happen by being at the wrong place at the right time.