Helen Macie Osterman has lived an extraordinary life. She was a nurse in her native Chicago for 45 years, raising five children along the way. She is the author of the Emma Winberry mystery series, as well as several other books. Four of her paintings hang in the Chicago History Museum. Like her heroine, she bakes and gardens and is an ardent fan of opera. Maybe she should be called Wonder Woman. I just finished the first novel in the series, The Accidental Sleuth. I feel bad saying this, but I found it ordinary, a tad over-written, although I enjoyed the aspect about a troubled teenage girl and had a visceral reaction to the plight of a homeless woman. Although there is a lot of unpleasantness in the narrative, it lacks the genuine feel for menace, the realism, that the better works of the genre share, and I was not at all surprised at how the story lines turned out. I’d guess her books would appeal to fans of Debbie Meier and Debbie Macomber rather than those of Tami Hoag and Michael Connolly. On a scale of five, two-and-a-half. I’m much more impressed with the life she has led than this one book. Kudos on that, madam. I expect she is as noble as her heroine.
Things were back to normal at the floating book shop following two unusually strong sessions. I sold books to two of my regulars, Sue and Lorraine, and I suspect they were merely being charitable. Thanks, ladies, and to the woman who bought a non-fiction account of WWII Frogmen for her 80-year-old dad, a veteran of the Navy. I have now sold all but one of the Stuart Woods novels Joanne donated about a year ago. There were at least ten. I've put a major dent in my overall inventory and don't expect to see any donations for a while. Tomorrow I will return to my nook at the corner of East 13th & Avenue Y and see how it goes. The contrast between conditions in Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay is stark. There is no evidence of the storm along the busy 86th Street, while in the Bay CVS, Rite Aid and Stop n Shop do not seem to be close to re-opening. I wonder how voter turnout will be affected. The gas lines are still long. I have more than enough to get my friend to her doctor's visit and back on Tuesday. I hope the situation will be better if she keeps her Thursday appointment, or she will have to cancel. I will not wait hours to buy gas.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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