Classic Mystery Series: John Dunning & The Bookman

Today we're starting a new series on mystery and thriller classics, called Mystery Playground Classic. These are books, book series and TV shows that we love so much that we've read or watched again and again. To become a Mystery Playground Classic requires a high bar. Two or more of the gang in the Mystery Playground blog team has to love, love, love it. We'll be featuring these the last Wednesday of every month, and today we start with John Dunning and the Cliff Janeway novels. But Amy & I call them the Bookman books and Cliff Janeway is The Bookman, so we'll go with that...

Do you know those books that stick with you for years? The cover is torn and taped together but you refuse to give it up and recommend it often? For me the John Dunning series with homicide detective Cliff Janeway fits the description. I can’t remember how I originally came across the series but I just recently found the series in a box and immediately lent them to a friend who was looking for a good mystery. The first book, Booked to Die, is set in Denver.  The series features Detective Janeway, a collector of rare and first editions, who occasionally has questionable detecting methods.  The book kicks off when Janeway is assigned to investigate a murder of a book scout, but his anger gets the best of him and his police career is cut short.

To keep himself busy and pay the rent, Janeway opens a small rare bookshop.  He continues to investigate the original murder, but as new much sought after volumes start to appear, so do the dead bodies. The book contains surprise after surprise and will keep you enthralled to the last page. For book lovers, the fact that the mystery revolves around books is a bonus.  

John Dunning writes with first-hand experience from his experience in the used and rare book trade as well as years as a Denver Post police reporter in the 1970s. This is only the first in a five book series so you are guaranteed to be entertained for some time to come.  

The full series includes:

1) Booked To Die, 1992

2) The Bookman’s Wake, 1995

3) The Bookman’s Promise, 2004

4) Sign of the Book, 2005

5) The Bookwoman’s Last Fling, 2006

Look for our Next Mystery Playground Classic on Feb 24, where we'll delve into the wonderful world of the TV show, JAG.

Storytelling Leather Journals

Love these leather journals from some of our favorite stories - Harry Potter, Dr. Who, Star Wars and The Raven. The journals are refillable so you never have to let them go.

Who doesn't want a Dalek around when you need one?

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"

Good for making lists of which planets you're going to blow up next.

BBC Sherlock Shoes

How can you call yourself a Sherlock fan if you don't have the shoes to prove it? Well, now you can be "Sherwalked" thanks to JansShoeCandy on Etsy. You send Jan the blank shoes and you get back a masterpiece. 

These shoes are pretty amazing and you can get non-Sherlock styles as well.

X Files Reboot Starts Tomorrow Night

Mia Giannotti, who runs the Target Addict blog, is here today to tell us how she feels about the new X Files reboot. The show returns tomorrow night (January 24th) on FOX 10ET/7PT. 

Don't hate me, but I'm more excited about the upcoming X-Files "six episode event" than the latest Star Wars movie. In fact, I haven't even SEEN the new installment of Star Wars, but I will definitely be tuning in on Sunday night for The X-Files reboot.

In case you've been hiding under a rock these past few months, David Duchovny (Agent Fox Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Agent Dan Scully) are reprising their roles in a limited-run continuation of their mega-popular Fox series from the 1990's. Circa 1995 I was even mistaken for Gillian Anderson once at a department store (during a red-hair moment) which flattered me to death but made my boyfriend at the time just roll his eyes.  I digress, but the point is that I was a fan then, and I still am now, although I'd be hard-pressed to pick my favorite episode. I always gravitated more towards the stories tying up the whole mythology (the aliens, Fox's complicated lineage, his sister's disappearance, Dana's abduction, etc.) vs. the psycho killers and random madmen (the mere thought of the inbreds in "Home", for instance, still gives me nightmares).

The other big draw for me was the chemistry between Agents Mulder and Scully. Mulder was a believer in the paranormal, whereas Scully - a woman of science - was always there at his side to try to poke holes in his crazy theories. Their relationship started out platonic, but soon the believer and the skeptic became romantically involved as the cases they investigated became increasingly more complex. 

To prep for Sunday's debut, you may want to watch this rather long video preview (20+ minutes!) to catch you up to date. But a warning: it contains a few spoilers (including a major one relating to the history between Dana/Fox) so if you want to come in completely "cold", I'd recommend skipping it.

Drinks with Reads: Six Years & Hibiscus Iced Tea

Today we are matching Harlan Coben’s standalone thriller, Six Years, with Hibiscus Tea. The main character, Professor Jacob “Jake” Fisher, gets drunk a couple of times in the story, and he was not drinking hibiscus tea but I’ll tell you why I picked it in a moment. First a little bit about the book.

The book starts out with Jake telling us about attending his lost love Natalie’s wedding to her ex-boyfriend after dumping him suddenly the day before.  He’s heartbroken. She asks him never to bother her and her new husband. Makes him promise. He does. And he keeps that promise for six years, until he sees an obituary for the husband. Now that the husband is gone, he has a glimmer of hope that he can win Natalie back. 

Jake proceeds to do some crazy things that some people might consider stalking, but he pulls it off with humor and aplomb. I started to like the guy even though he was doing things that I wouldn’t do – like visiting the new wife of Natalie’s dead husband a few days after he died. But it works for him and it works for the book. Soon the same people that killed Natalie’s dead husband are after Jake – with guns, power tools, and accusations- they even threaten his students. Everyone he knows keeps telling him that people will die if he doesn’t let go. He tried but he can’t let go. He has to find out what happened to Natalie and to make sure she’s OK.

Why did I pick such a mellow drink for such an amped up book? 

Easy. 

Once I started reading this book, I could not stop. I think I stood up once because I had a leg cramp. You’ll need something soothing and refreshing as Jake runs from place to place, getting shot at, and discovering things that I am not going to tell you about because it would spoil the suspense. 

This is a perfect airplane or vacation book. 

To make Hibiscus Iced Tea, the first thing you need is dried Hibiscus leaves. Some Smart & Final Stores carry them in their bulk department, and you can also order them online at a variety of places. 

Once you have your dried flowers, here’s how you make Hibiscus Tea.

1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers (about 1/2 ounce or 15 grams)

4 cups hot water

Lime wedges (save for serving)

Steep the flowers in the hot water and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate. Add ice and lime wedges for that extra punch. And now you're ready to sit down with your Hibiscus Tea and Six Years. 

- Deborah Lacy, Mystery Playground

Crafty Thursdays: Globe Clock

Kerry Hammond is here for Crafty Thursdays today to show us how to make a clock out of a globe. I love the end result of this craft and it doesn't look too hard...

For today’s craft, I am combining my love of travel and my love of clocks (daylight savings time at my house is not fun). The difficulty level for this craft will depend on the globe you find. Some globes are two hemispheres attached at the equator, and you can twist them apart. Others, like the one shown here, are a solid circle. I had a friend use a saw to cut it apart for me. If you don’t have a friend with a saw, and you don’t want to attempt to cut it on your own, search for a globe that twists apart. Flea markets and thrift stores are a good place to go.

Materials

Globe

Clock Works

Washers

Drill

Mounting Bracket (optional)

Nail

Step One: Cut Globe in Half

Again, if your globe twists apart, you’re all set. If not, a cut along the equator is in order. It won’t matter if your cut isn’t perfect, you will still be able to make two clocks and no one will be the wiser.

Step Two: Drill Hole at the Pole

Using a drill, make a hole at the center of the North or South Pole. This is where you will insert your clockworks.

Step Three: Attach Clockworks

These clockwork packs can be purchased at Michaels, and you can usually buy them with gold or black hands. Push the works through the hole you drilled and attach your hands as shown on the package, leaving the part that holds the battery inside your globe. So that my hands didn’t stick out too far, I put a few washers over the clock works before I pushed them through the hole, leaving less of an area sticking out to attach the hands.

Step Four: Hang

You can attach a fancy mounting bracket on the back, but I just hung mine from a nail on the wall.

The best part is that there are two halves of a globe, so when you make this project you have one for yourself and one to give as a gift. If you want to keep them both for yourself, you can set them to different time zones and hang a sign below each with the time zone or city name that corresponds to the time on the clock.

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