Roseledge Books is open. Summer has started, fleece hoodies and blankies over the knees on the porch during inaugural wine not withstanding.
Fig. #21. The only Roseledge Books sign “before” Charlie fixed the winter stressed message on his way to Boston’s Logan Airport. The “after” sign is in place, but you’ll have to visit to see it because Charlie didn’t have time to take a picture.
And Roseledge Books, always in the forefront, now has a webcam. The webcam picture of the harbor from atop Paul Wellstone
Already a comment (okay, a complaint) from friend, Jerry:
“The picture on the webcam doesn’t move,” she noted.
No, it doesn’t. You have to refresh it every five seconds to get the next picture, a little like slow animation. Think of it as “relaxed animation” which is, to me, a particular joy of Maine. (But then I am so slow, I give new meaning to the verb “to turtle.”
“I see.”
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*Bill Lohy’s Paul Wellstone
because it was a mystery set in Maine with (I think) a series P.I., Charlie Parker, based in Portland and a NYTimes Bestseller to boot. Surely Roseledge Books should have this. But of the idea of Maine, there was no there there (with apologies to Gertrude Stein on Oakland, CA). Characters are Mainers in name only and the Maine terrain reads like a guidebook embellished by a visit, e.g. the breakfast crowd in The Porthole in Portland or the visit to Supermax in Warren. So Roseledge Books will not have this as a “Maine” book, but maybe I ought to have it as a mystery just to enjoy the argument with a reader who differs.
. The book was okay, but not special enough to spend time reading about her or Los Angeles. (Montana of the title is an avenue in Los Angeles. I really like the real Montana. Where are you Jamie Lee Harrison?) FBI agent Ana Grey was compared [by NYT Book Review] to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, and I’m not that wild about Ms. Millhone either. Maybe it’s the evidence presented in the cases; I like obscure records and aberrant flow of information. Thanks to my sister’s introduction, Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch has LA covered for me, but few Roseledge Books readers ask for Pacific Ocean seaport reads, though if I have them, they sometimes buy them, e.g. Paul Gauguin’s 
, Captain Bligh’s Log of the HMS Bounty 1787-1789, Dana Stabenow’s 
, an Alaskan crabbing mystery.
. He “understands the nuances of [the CIA] trade (says George Tenet) and “the world of CIA operations in the Middle East” (says Seymour Hersh). I like him after reading his “seminal” spy novel set in Beirut of the early ‘80’s.
, which is set among al-Qaeda in the mountains of Pakistan. It was a NYTimes Bestseller, but even better for quality control, it won the Edgar Award.
, and — hark! — I liked him. He’s not bleak, but he’s no bundle of peppiness, either. He’s dogged, smart, outraged, avoiding his diabetes, willing to risk new friends, and a really good group leader.
, joins his former military team in a search for the killers of their former colleagues. This is a group of peers, almost interchangeable, hugely trained, and well-experienced nine years earlier. Reacher understands how and when to stand back, take charge or join in.
) which is good because Roseledge Books only has a picture-less guide to Maine places where birds might be. But that wasn’t what I meant either.
, the latest John March paperback mystery. I like John March. I like his decisions, dialogue, NYC detail, and I like author Spiegelman’s continuing background of family, finance, friendships, maybe especially finance. Since Paul Erdman died, I’ve had no one so able to teach me about finance through fiction, and learning about money is part of knowing how the world works — my most major reading goal.
, though I have liked them until now. And Millie and Kathy both thought Tony Hillerman’s 
, his latest paperback with Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, was a little less. So were the last two Stephanie Plum “numbers” by Janet Evanovich. I thought each needed one more escapade, and it’s time to settle the Joe/Ranger issue. Do authors get bored with their characters after a while? I think I remember John Sanford saying he did. Do readers? I do.
. St. Martin’s Press, 2006
in Tenants Harbor.
is the only must purchase for Roseledge Books. It REALLY covers the North Atlantic and has a nugget in the Notes which ties it to Tenants Harbor because TH is on Penobscot Bay. I’m not going to say more than that about that. Yes, it has Notes, which makes sense when a PhD in Archaeology decides to write a novel. I love this book for it’s balance of documentation and speculation.
, edited by Will and Jane Curtis. Greater St. George includes Monhegan because the ferry leaves from Port Clyde. Monhegan is an artists’ island because a lot of artists have and do live there. It is a wonderful place where people sit on the rocks and paint the water then move to the schoolhouse lawn and applaud the sunset. Monhegan, The Artists’ Island is a big, handsome book that tells the story of the Island with local art, usually paintings, used to make whatever points need making.