Best to admit bias up front: Pasta is one of my favorite dishes. For me, it's not only tasty, but totally satisfying and can be served in a myriad of ways. Now, while I thought I had a number of pasta recipes I had no idea how many different pastas there were. My cravings for that hunger busting "mixture of durum wheat flour and water" will be fulfilled for a very long time.

Principal of IJP Architects in London and a leading specialist in complex surfaces author Legendre celebrates the multitude of wonderful shapes in which pasta is found. From acini de pepe (the smallest member of the tiny pasta family, perfect for consommes) to ziti (a tubular hollow pasta often served on special occasions) each pasta is given its due. Over ninety forms of pasta are featured in remarkable phonographs that clearly reveal shapes and surfaces.

Each form is accompanied by a brief text outlining the special qualities of that pasta as well as a note on cooking it. For instance, with Linguine we find that it has a "straight longitudinal profile, solid cross section, smooth surface and edges." We read that it is the thinnest member of its particular family, and is best accompanied by "fresh tomato, herbs, a drop of olive oil, garlic, anchovies and hot peppers." A mouth-watering suggestion! It is also properly served with shellfish sauces or flavored white sauces.

In addition each pasta receives a mathematical formula describing its shape and revelatory drawings. Nothing is overlooked in this paean to an extraordinary everyday food.

I find my pasta at Manicaretti ([...] Italian food importers. They offer every kind of pasta imaginable as well as superb pasta sauces.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

I've said it before and will say it again - Tim Dorsey is simply one of the funniest writers working today. Manic? Yes. Madcap? Of course. Tossing pineapples at some of our most cherished icons? Every time. This time Dorsey takes on Christmas, that family oriented, carol singing, love to all mankind time of year. Accompanied by his looney sidekick, Coleman, Florida historian/loveable psychopath Serge A. Storms sets out to set things straight (or as straight as he sees them) in the hilarious When Elves Attack.

Most of us have a code, a set of values to which we adhere - Serge does, too. While he's adept at amassing large piles of stolen copper pipes and wires, he does draw the line (albeit a thin one) at some things. For instance, he honors our veterans. In light of a recent theft that he heard about on the news, Serge explains, "...even the War on Terror has rules. Like, you don't use crowbars to pry the brass plaques of VFW posts that list the names of all the local patriots who have made the supreme sacrifice since the First World War."

And, they're off on a raucous romp including a never to be forgotten office party and a spree at the mall. Serge may have criminal tendencies, but they're certainly creative ones.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

With the winning of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Snow Falling On Cedars David Guterson was recognized as a literary giant. That recognition is underscored with Ed King, a highly imaginative, intriguing exploration of the effects of the choices we make and the directions in which fate takes us.

The scene is 1962 Seattle, long before the technology boom, when Walter Cousins, a rather mild actuary, hires Diane Burroughs a British exchange student as an au pair for his children while his wife is hospitalized for a mental breakdown. He sees Diane as plucky, eager, full of life; he does not see that she is a sociopath.

Before long she and Walter are sleeping together and she becomes pregnant. Diane flees with the baby as soon as she can. Walter spends years sending her child support little knowing that she had deposited the child on a doorstep. After the infant is found and turned over to an agency he is adopted by a reformed Jewish couple, Alice and Dan King, who choose not to tell Ed, as he is named, that he was adopted. Later, unexpectedly, the couple will have another son.

As Ed grows into his teens he takes up with an undesirable crowd, and is involved in a fatal road accident. He quickly exits the scene, feels a bit of guilt for a bit, then forgets. After graduating from high school where he enjoyed a brief affair with an older teacher, he becomes a computer whiz in college. His younger brother, Simon, becomes adept at computer gaming. At this point the listener has an inkling of where the story is going.....almost.)

During these years Diane has reinvented herself several times, taking advantage of others and being scammed herself. Ed's company grows to dwarf Amazon as well as Google, and he meets Diane at an exhibition. In 2017 as he experiments with artificial intelligence Ed begins to see things about himself that he had never imagined.

A teacher of performance and writing Arthur Morey delivers an outstanding reading of this compelling story. Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Finding the plot for an unfinished novel in the late Mickey Spillane's files Max Allan Collins took keyboard in hand and fashioned a noir story replete with all the Spillane trademarks: snappy patter, plot twists and gangster comeuppance.
Collins worked with Spillane on several occasions and was chosen by Spillane to complete a number of his unfinished works. More than an excellent pick!

Encore For Murder finds Hammer playing bodyguard to a former flame, Rita Vance, who is about to make a comeback on Broadway. Yes, we did say old flame but those embers are rekindled Rita is the recipient of numerous death threats and hit men are, you know, trying to hit on Hammer.

However, before the curtain goes up on Rita's big night she disappears, and has to be found fast. The trail takes Hammer a long way from the Big Apple's bright lights as he tries to solve a perplexing mystery, save Rita and himself.

After seeing Stacy Keach on television as Mike Hammer, it was clear there couldn't be another. His narration of this story along with a full cast is topnotch entertainment. Doubt if you'll find a better performance anywhere, so enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Confession: I absolutely cannot resist kittens or cats. Admittedly, I'm totally untrustworthy anywhere near where cats are offered for adoption. That said you'll know there's bias in my comments re SCRAWNY CAT.

Alison Friend's gouache illustrations are sweet, touching when we first see the cat with his bony body and huge golden eyes. "He was lonely. He was little. He was lost." He had once belonged to someone who was kind to him and knew his name. But now everyone called him "Get out of here" as he was repeatedly shut out of any place of comfort or safety.

One day a big dog began to chase the cat who ran for his life all the way to the dock where he hid in a dinghy. When a heavy storm developed the dog ran away but the wind blew so hard that it broke the rope tying the dinghy to the dock.

What can happen to a small hungry cat when he finds himself alone at sea? Phyllis Root provides a satisfying answer to that question.

- Enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

The song alone as sung by Judy Collins would be a pleasure to hear over and over again; the imaginative eye-popping full page paintings by Eric Puybaret are treasures. To have both in one book is a rare treat.

The same two who paired to bring us the bestseller Over The Rainbow have joined talents to give us the beloved When You Wish Upon A Star, a song that has been in many hearts for over 60 years. Few could sing it as touchingly as Grammy Award winner Collins, and few could create the visual fantasy land to accompany it as did artist Puybaret.

Do believe all ages will respond to the idea of hope as expressed in the song, and youngsters will surely ask to hear the enclosed CD played over and over again while looking at the enchanting images accompanying the familiar words.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

It began so peacefully. The scene is tranquil, domestic, happy. A young widow, Honor Gillette, is frosting cupcakes under the watchful eyes of her four-year-old daughter, Emily. The words finally penetrate "that innate mom-screen that filtered out unimportant chatter" - Emily is saying there's a sick man in their backyard.

There is, indeed. Honor asks Emily to retrieve her phone from the bedroom and goes outside, but as she draws closer the obviously wounded man acts so quickly, so professionally that she doesn't even have time to recoil before he has her neck in a hold and a gun pointed toward her heart.

Life change in a nano second - from baking cupcakes to being held hostage in her own home, forced to save herself and most of all, Emily. The man is Lee Coburn, the prime suspect in the massacre of seven people the previous night. Obviously, he is capable of anything, a soulless creature. He promises Honor he will not harm them if she does exactly as he says. She has no choice - her home is isolated, bordering a Louisiana bayou. Honor has remained there because it is the home she and her late policeman husband, Eddie, had shared.

Coburn begins to systematically dismantle her house, searching for something he claims Eddie has hidden. Despite Honor's denials of knowing what he is talking about he literally reduces the home to a shambles, while hinting that Eddie's death was not an accident, that he was killed for what he knew. Further, he claims that what he is looking for is of such great value that the lives of Honor and Emily are in danger.

In a shocking turn of events Honor comes to believe Coburn is telling the truth and they go on the run in search of the secret Eddie held and the mastermind behind the mass killings, barely staying inches ahead of the law, those who were her trusted friends.

Always an ace at penning romantic suspense Sandra Drown has outdone herself with Lethal. From page 3 it's exciting, tightly plotted reading and ever mounting suspense peopled by finely drawn characters who are not who they appear to be.

This is stay-up-all-night reading!

- Gail Cooke

Affecting, poignant, unforgettable all describe Haley Tanner's wonderful debut novel VACLAV & LENA. One would be hard-pressed to think of anyone who would not be touched by her story, especially when read by two such talented actors as Kirby Heyborne and Rebecca Lowman.

A gifted and versatile performer Heyborne has received acclaim for not only his acting but his music (four solo albums) and his comedy. Lowman brings a wealth of stage, film and television experience to her narration. An inimitable pairing for this narration! Listen as they introduce us to Vaclav and Lena who first meet as children when they're enrolled in an English as a Second Language class in Brooklyn. Both are six-year-old Russian immigrants.

Drawn to one another they begin to play a game. He is to be a magician; she will be his assistant. Every day after school they practice their act; they grow closer and make promises. For instance, when they perform on the boardwalk at Coney Island they'll be billed as Vaclav the Magnificent and his assistant, the Lovely Lena. Another vow is that they will be together forever.

Vaclav's mother, Rasia, is sympathetic toward Lena who has no family but lives in an apartment with an aunt. Rasia walks Lena home every night after supper and is aware of the messy shabbiness of Lena's apartment as well as the unsavory way her aunt makes a living.

One day Lena does not show up for class. Rasia is stunned with what she finds when she goes to look for her and cannot bring herself to tell the frantic Vaclav the truth. Time passes until Vaclav is 17 and his phone rings - it is Lena. Yes, they are together again yet in Tanner's gifted hands there is more to come.

VACLAV & LENA is a love story that reminds us of the strength and redemptive power of love.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

Everyone loves heroes, those mysterious, almost super human fellows who wear a disguise to protect the innocent and fight the forces of evil. Their derring-do amazes and adventures thrill. We've followed them in comic strips, books, films, television and now, thanks to Blackstone Audio, we have a full cast audio drama that listeners will want to hear over and over again. Which hero does it feature? One of the most popular - Zorro!

In part, Zorro's lasting magnetism may lie in his setting - swashbuckling adventures set in Colonial Spanish California. No one knows his true identity and surely no one would expect that this valiant defender of the oppressed would actually be the rather silly goose son of the wealthiest ranchero in the country, Don Diego de la Vega.

Called an outlaw by California's corrupt governor Zorro is hunted by Capitan Ramon and his evil sidekick, Sergeant Pedro Gonzalez. Now, as if avenging the downtrodden were not a full time job Don Diego is also in danger of losing his inheritance unless he marries. Don Diego courts the beauteous Lolita Pulido. She is little impressed by Don Diego's overtures but finds herself drawn to the remarkable Zorro.

Casting of this audio version is brilliant with Val Kilmer in the title role, and supported by an outstanding griup of actors. THE MARK OF ZORRO is audio at its finest and most powerful. Listening to it recalls the glory days of radio when dramatizations delivered by wonderful actors captivated and brought stunning pictures to our minds.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

There's Stephen King whose 'weapon of choice is the frying pan.' As he says, 'You can call it sauteing if it makes you feel better - but it's really just educated frying.' It seems you can give him a fry pan, a hunk of butter, and he can cook anything. His tips on preparing an omelet are not only on target but as fascinating to read as his fiction. Mario Batali's kids are served monkfish liver and foie gras for breakfast - why not?

We thoroughly enjoyed every story from the dad who managed to cook with a toddler crawling around his ankles to the fellow who simply can't seem to get enough to eat and doesn't understand why everyone isn't the same way.

Each commentary is followed by a recipe or three. These range from the extremely simple to gourmet. Writer John Donohue is also a cartoonist of note and peppers his book with smile producing illustrations ( a favorite shows a torture chamber with the victim bound and at the mercy of a villainous looking fellow who says, 'You can stop the pain, Marcel. Just show us how to crust a sea bass.'

Don't miss 'MAN WITH A PAN'!

- Gail Cooke