I was assured as a child that god must have a sense of humor, look at the platypus. Now I am totally convinced that god does or else we wouldn't have all the hilarity of the Vicar of Dibley in one set of DVD's.

I was introduced to the Vicar by a friend who brought her set of VHS tapes into the office one week end. We spent the entire afternoon laughing out loud at the eccentrics of Dibley.

Now I own all of the episodes as well as some nice extras and when I feel a little down Dawn French and rest of the cast help cheer me up.

I had some real doubts when I first read on a historical mystery list that Ms. Gellis was going to be doing a series of mysteries with Lucrezia Borgia as the detective. Even though in past decades writers have sent a great many famous historical figures off sleuthing after murderers, Lucrezia Borgia has a couple of strikes against her. One is that the popular image of her as a serial poisoner still lives. Another is that even if this image was the work of her enemies (as it was) she still lived a very circumscribed life as the daughter of a Pope and the wife of a Duke's heir.

However Roberta Gellis has very neatly got around both of these problems. High born women were watched closely if there was no legitimate heir yet and Gellis does a great job of showing how she could have coped with a life I would describe as claustrophobic. She places the murder in the Duke's court but also within Lucrezia's sphere. She further keeps the cast to a manageable size by concentrating on a few trusted companions and servants and keeps the time period where the story occurs into a few days. Meanwhile there is a sense of urgency because there is always the fear that if she does not act fast her father or her brother might step in to solve her problem (and incidentally make it worse.)

This is a very pleasant read, although I do have to say that Lucrezia's relationship with her husband is a little-- well, peculiar, although it's not outside the bounds of possiblity.

While it has a satisfying ending there are some loose ends that hopefully will be tied in later books in this seris.

Described in the biographical paragraph in the back of the book as the daughter of a stage musician and gothic novelist, it sounds like Liz Williams could be a character in one of her own books.

I recommend this book particularly for those who enjoy the Baroque and who have a strong ability to visual the scenes described. The alchemical imagery meshes well with the culture that has arisen from the combination of Elizabethan era dessenters and alien culture. There's also a great sense of the theatrical in the descriptions of the Anubes-- enigmatic natives of the planet where the humans find themselves, and the great palaces where certain indentured humans labor to provide their alien masters with subtle pleasures.

Also there is a darkly humorous take on the traditional gothic novel in the relationship between the lead characters and the situation the heroine discovers herself in for the last part of the novel. While serious in intent, the author is quite playful in execution of parts of this novel.

All in all a definite reading pleasure.

I was not a viewer when Profiler was first run on network television but now I've seen the first season and I can see both strengths and weaknesses.

Things I liked:

1. Samantha's character and her relationship with her friend Angel in the first couple of episodes. Ally Walker did a great job with this character.

2. Some of the cinematography-- the way the pilot was shot was very good.

3. The way Samantha's flashes of insight where dealt with in the story.

4. The sexual zing between Samantha and Coop, especially when they first met on the series.

Things I found distracting or unfortunate:

1. A lot of scenes are played out in the dark but with glints of light off eyeballs and teeth. The watcher may not know what else is going on but is never in doubt as to where the eyeballs and teeth are in these scenes.

2. Angel was shoved from an artist who created metal sculpture with a blow torch to a baby sitter-- ok, she was teaching art to inner city kids or something, but she was seen most of th time watching Samantha's kid. Really a waste of a good character.

3. Icky saliva sounds that went with all of the love scenes.

Just as a side note the commentaries from Ally Walker and Robert Davi on the pilot are unintentionally hilarious. Unlike a lot of these tracks, these were recorded separately so there is no intereaction between the commentors. Ally tells us things like Robert Davi's infatuation with hair spray and a stetson hat. Robert Davi seems really upset that the series didn't last longer or at least that they didn't do a made for TV movie spin off because NBC owned the whole package.

My final impression was that this was a good idea, that it had some good characters involved but all of the really good ideas were used early or muted down for one reason or another.

The only books I have read by these authors to date have been the Anasazi Mysteries-- Visitant, Summoning God and Bone Walker. In those books there was more of an intrusion by the past on the present and by the present on the past as the authors interwove the stories of the specialists who study the past, the present day Native Americans, and the people who lived at a time of crisis in the Anasazi culture.

In this book there is a brief mention of the modern day characters who are more fully fleshed out in the Anasazi Mysteries as they examine an unusual pair of skeletons and associated artifacts found at a dig in New York.

This discovery is used as a springboard to tell the story of Iraquoian villages trying to figure out how to survive in proximity to one another.

The authors appear to romanticize the Indian cultures but not to the point where I'm rolling my eyes and going "oh, really!" (Anyone who as read an "Indian Romance" knows what I am talking about.) They do their usual good job of presenting the Native Americans as they would appear to one another. For instance a tall person is decribed as being so many hands high. A hand is about four inches. A quick calculation and you realize that the "tall" person would be considered quite short today. By using a method of measuring that many of their readers may not be familiar with, they are able to give accurate information without breaking the willing suspension of disbelief.

In addition the authors present the differences in their way of life and thought without sensationalizing or demonizing things that many readers would find distasteful in the culture such as the exposure of unwanted children after birth or the use of torture.

All in all, well worth reading.

T. F. Banks, who is actually two Canadian fantasists named Sean Russell and Ian Dennis, did a very good job recreating a Regency London that might have been. I think, even if I hadn't read the second novel first and learned their identities, that I would have suspected the author wrote sff for a couple of reasons.

First, the ability to bring to life a place that no one now living has ever visited. World building is the term usually used. The touchstone for fiction about the Regency era has been the historical writer Georgette Heyer, but she made infrequent forrays into the seamier side of the Regency world in her novels. Banks while having Morton press his nose up the glass and look wistfully inward at the life style that Heyer described, deals with issues like child prostitution from the Regency viewpoint rather than trying to impose a modern sensibility. His use of Regency cant is effective and not overdone.

Second Henry Morton is a hero in the classical sense. In an effort to mock him another Runner refers to him as Sir Galahad, but it's not far from the truth. However, he does have his human foibles-- for instance, setting himself up as a ha'penny gentleman, a wannabe in modern terms, even employing the discarded valet of a nobleman. Sff is one of the few areas of fiction where heroes remain heroic and rarely fall into whining introspection. (Not that I'm against introspection, it's the whining I dislike.)

Another thing I really like about this book is Morton's mistress. This is one of the few female characters I have run into recently in any genre novel who has her own concerns and pursues them without regard to the hero's sensibilities.

I've deliberately tried to talk about characters and setting because I don't want to give any of the plot away. It is actually two plots that neatly twine together in the end as Morton is hired to kind the killer of a young gentleman and is himself stalked by a ruthless force.

This is not a book to inspire Deep Thoughts but it is a book that is entertaining and well repays reading. (Read the sequel, too!)

One of the things I have enjoyed about the release of so many television series on DVD is the opportunity to own so many British television series that I have missed for one reason or another over the years.

As a reader of Caroline Graham's mysteries, I was pleased to find this series based on her characters. Well written and well acted-- John Nettles as Inspector Barnaby is particularly appealing-- these stories peer under the peaceful facade of Midsomer County where a whole bunch of worms are writhing.

One thing I really enjoyed about this series is the lack of prettification of the actors. Many of the main characters are unabashedly middle aged and their faces show it, yet they are still attractive and vibrant. I think it was Charlotte Armstrong who once wrote how some signs of experience in the face was more interesting than "the bald brow of youth." This show illustrates this.

Don't buy this series for the DVD bonus extras though. They hardly exist.

As a firm believer that good content can overcome low production budget, I only winced a little at the obviously rubber body part and less than believable reptiles in "Mad Hatter's Holiday."

After all, the fun in this series is Alan Dobie's dry commentary on Victorian society and poor Constable Thackeray's suffering as he does all of the scut work while Sergeant Cribb deducts his way to the conclusion. It is great fun to watch Cribb sit and eat a hearty meal (with some very Victorian touches) while his table companion loses his appetite under Cribb's comments and questions, all done with the utmost politeness.

"A Case of Spirits" which deals with another Victorian fad--table turning or spiritualism-- is also fun as Cribb and Thackeray are given a case that starts with the theft of a painting of an undraped nude and a vase worth thirty guineas, both occurring after the appearance of a new trance medium at private sittings at the respective houses. Then a murder occurs under seemingly impossible circumstances and secrets start to surface as Cribb looks into their proper Victorian lives.

The dialogue and the characters from Lovesey's novels as brought to life by the cast in this series can make me forget a lot of rubber body parts.

The Mrs. Bradley series appears to be loosely based on the series written by Gladys Mitchell. Gladys Mitchell began writing the series in 1929 with Speedy Death and continued until shortly before her death in 1983. They are not easy to find in the US, but well worth the search.

However, back to the DVD. Diana Rigg, who thrilled me in the Avengers in the 60's, continues to appeal in the first decade of a new millenium. While the black leather is now relegated to shoes and gloves, her smooth and sophisticated style adapts well to a 1929 setting. Neil Dudgeon, her chauffeur and crime solving sidekick, manages to inject just a frisson of possible romance (held back by class difference maybe?).

Fun to watch and it's worth adding to your DVD library for future reruns.

If the whole point of this book is to show fans of Regency romances that the heroes they enjoy in their books would be dead bores in their living room, I would have to say the author succeeded. However, St. Just is also a dead bore as a fictional character come to life in a contemporary mystery.

I was rather intrigued by the premise in a 60's sitcom sort of way (think of My Favorite Martian or, better, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) but the execution fell flat. While it doesn't surprise me that St. Just (the aristocratic Regency detective come alive) is rather two dimensional, the fact that all of the other characters are caricatures really destroyed any enjoyment I might have wrung from the situation. The gay, African-American doorman (with an impressive appendage); the hard drinking, tough talking editor with a bit of a marshmellow center; the conventional agent with shark teeth when it comes to a contract; the fan who only reads the books for their sexual content; and the self centered former boyfriend who is trying to rewoo the previous object of his affection. These are all too familiar and Casey does nothing to bring them to life.

Then smack in the middle of the book the author makes an error about a will that turns the rest of the plot and probably the plot of the book to come into a dog's dinner. There's a fact about wills and divorce that every divorced person should know but evidently Ms. Casey doesn't.

This one is not worth the effort.