Marked for Murder – Brett Halliday

©1945 Dell, New York

As a mystery reader there are a few standards that I like to get to from time to time. Hammett is a must; Chandler is excellent to read occasionally; it’s nice to enjoy Poirot or Miss Marple once in awhile. So there are some standards I like to pick up when I can find them. I don’t always like them, though I know I ought to try them. I’ll admit that I’ve never made it through one case with Perry Mason, though I’ve tried two or three. But until 2008 I hadn’t had the opportunity for several great detective stories. As readers will recall, toward the end of 2008 I finally took the opportunity to join the 87^th Precinct in a case or two and look forward to more book fairs to find more of those good cases. Also, as the year drew to a close and I was looking for a good relaxing mystery, I discovered my first Mike Shayne story in a stack of book fair finds. Halliday’s Shayne has been one of those characters, like Hammett’s Nick Charles or Sam Spade that everyone should at least try out if you want to read mysteries.

What with the holiday bustle and the endless travel that accompanies it, I took a bit longer to read Marked for Murder than I would have desired, but here’s what I found:

Mike Shayne is all he’s cracked up to be. He’s a quick thinker, a man’s man (not to mention a ladies’ man). He solves the case with dogged persistence that is sometimes lacking in the police. In this case, his best friend, Tim Rourke, is stirring up a Miami Beach hornet’s nest as he reports a series of murders that seems to be connected to the burgeoning gambling racket on the Beach. Each of three victims has been seduced away from winning tables by a gorgeous blond, and subsequently found dead minus the winnings and with .32 bullets managing the murder at close range.

For all the trouble he’s causing with his stories, Rourke is found shot in his apartment. It doesn’t hurt that a number of blonds have been seen visiting, or that he is known to have an affinity for blonds. At the news of his buddy’s misfortune, Shayne hops the first train from New Orleans to work with his friends at the Miami Police Department to the chagrin of the Miami Beach Police Chief. Amid the incompetence (or lack of initiative) of the police, Shayne investigates by following leads that the Chief Painter wants to ignore. . . and finds the killer in the sea of blonds.

Lovers of mystery stories will like this one. I know I did. The dated language and setting are easy to overlook because the characters and the plot itself are so enjoyable. Halliday doesn’t waste time with intricate plot twists, but instead lets us watch while his private detective methodically tries every piece of the puzzle until it fits.

Brett Halliday, Mike Shayne, and Marked for Murder, get three and one-half stars for a fun story. I’m looking forward to more outings with this master detective.

—Benjamin Potter, January 6, 2009

O. Henry a la Carte – O Henry

©1973 Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO

Sometimes finding the right holiday reading occurs at the annual book fair. In June I picked up this little gift book from days gone by at the local hospital fund-raiser. The $3.00 price clip on the dust jacket made this an excellent buy for the holidays in 1973. The seventy-five cents I paid at the fair seemed a good exchange.

As an O Henry fan, I was happy to get a great little collection of his writing at a pocket-change price. Specifically, I was interested in having a simple copy of his famous Christmas story “The Gift of the Magi” (which is the only selection mentioned in the sub-title of this little volume). The collection, selected by Jan Miller Gilmore, includes both short stories and poems by the author.

The poetry leaves a bit to be desired, being much the same as the simplistic verse I was writing in high school. I was mildly entertained by the selection “Nothing to Say” which presents a politician who has nothing to say on the matter and proceeds to discourse ad nauseam on the topic of which he has nothing to say.

Among the short fiction included in the book are (of course) “The Gift of the Magi” which causes me to ask each time I read it, how can one have “sixty cents of it in pennies” when the total amount is $1.87 cents? Also you will find the age-old favorite “The Ransom of Red Chief” which is always good for a laugh and a sigh.

New to me, but well worth the reading were the stories “The Last Leaf” and “Hearts and Hands”. I was not quite so impressed (save with the exercise of superb language) with “Springtime a la Carte”. Another selection that is awkward for the collection is the little two-page snippet entitled appropriately enough “A Strange Story” which provides a good foundation on which to build a story by Edgar A. Poe.

For holiday fare, this is an excellent little volume because it is filled with easily read, wonderfully written stories that touch the depths of the English language while remembering the hearts of the reader. One thing that the editor did well was to anchor the book (begin and end) with two of the more powerful stories (“The Gift of the Magi” and “Hearts and Hands”) included.

As a reader, I’d give the book three stars; as a gift-book, it could easily reach the coveted five-star rating. So, I’ll split the difference for purposes of rating and give O. Henry a la Carte four out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, December 17, 2008

Shotgun – Ed McBain

©1969 Signet, New York

I’ve found a new “go to” collection whenever I’ve run out of good reading material—or when I’m waiting on the next “must read” to hit the streets. I found them down at the 87th Precinct.

Shotgun is another masterful procedural that makes you know that somebody in the seventies and eighties was reading McBain. How else could we explain the resemblance that shows like Hill Street Blues had to the boys in blue at the 87th? At any rate, true to form, Shotgun opens on the scene of a bloody murder—not just a murder but a double murder, and Carella and Kling swing into action.

I think what makes these books work so well is that it doesn’t focus so much on the cops as it does on the crime. True, the cops are the ones that solve the crime, but it is the solving of the crime that is the star of the show. In this case, Andrew and Rosie Leyden have been murdered in their uptown apartment. Not just any murder, but murdered with a shotgun. Not just any murder with a shotgun, but two blasts each to the face. As an afterthought, the murderer tried to make the husband look like a murderer turned suicidist. The job is a sloppy one, though that will not fool even the greenest of beat cops.

Shotgun is a fast read that will while away a few moments when you don’t want to think, but don’t mind a puzzle. Prop up your feet and grab a paperback reissue of an 87th Precinct novel and you’ll enjoy a good story. Shotgun would be a good choice. Four out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, December 15, 2008

The Paper Bag Christmas – Kevin Alan Milne

©2006 Center Street, New York

As the Christmas season rolls around, finding new (or new to me) stories with a Christmas setting captures my fancy. This year my habit got a start with a re-issue of a 2006 feel-good called The Paper Bag Christmas.

Nine-year-old Molar (named for his orthodontist father’s favorite tooth) and his eleven-year-old brother, Aaron, are whisked away the day after Thanksgiving to see Santa at the local mall and present him with their wish list. What they found was the most interesting Santa with a more interesting suggestion. After they filled both sides of the paper given them to put “Everything I ever wanted for Christmas . . .” on, the boys are challenged to meet Santa at a local children’s hospital where they will find everything they never wanted for Christmas.

Assigned as elves to help Dr. Christoffer K. Ringle (aka Santa Claus) bring Christmas cheer to a floor full of young cancer patients, Mo and Aaron find themselves in the perfect place to find the real meaning of Christmas.

With an international cast of characters like the Scottish doctor, the janitor/elf from the Bronx (the story takes place in Oregon), and an intriguing but wise patient from India, this little book is great holiday fare. Bring a box of tissues with you to handle the obligatory jerk of tears that accompanies any good Christmas story.

The Paper Bag Christmas is a heartwarming reminder of what Christmas is all about that struggle

s in the telling. The dialogue is a mixture of great and mediocre writing owing most likely to the fact that this is Milne’s debut novel. The awkward writing found mostly in the conversational passages in which Molar sounds more like a boy of fifteen with a limited vocabulary than a nine-year-old with an advanced one do not distract from the story itself.

As regular reading I’d probably give this book only three reading glasses, but because it is the season and it is a Christmas book, and I did enjoy it very much, and I think anyone wanting to read Christmas fare (whatever time they want to read it) will want to read this book, I recommend it with four out of five reading glasses.

Merry Christmas—Benjamin Potter, December 6, 2008

Killer’s Choice – Ed McBain

©1958 Dell, New York

Ed McBain. The name strikes a chord in the hearts of mystery lovers everywhere. Of course, we know that it’s one of the more notable pseudonyms for celebrated novelist Evan Hunter. Still, along with the name our minds jump to the 87^th Precinct.

Killer’s Choice is one of McBain’s 87^th Precinct stories, and it is an excellent example of why the author enjoyed celebrity as one of the foremost crafters of the police procedural.

The book opens at the crime scene involving the murder of Anne Boone and the wanton destruction of the liquor store where she worked. It is easy to get lost in the pages of the story while following the detectives of the 87^th squad. Carella and Kling question suspect after suspect. Among them are the boss, the ex-husband, and a variety of boyfriends. Throw into the mix a green transfer from the much more genteel 30^th with a crazy moniker like Cotton Hawes who must redeem a blunder by finding the punk who killed fellow detective Havilland and you have great mystery reading.

Finding Annie’s killer turns out to be a chore that involves a variety of the bulls of the 87^th because the suspects’ alibis are air-tight, and with every new suspect we discover a new Annie Boone.

Once or twice the dialogue slows down because the book was written at another time, but generally the read is very forthright. McBain shows why people love his police procedurals with just the right amount of repetition and just the right amount of personality. Typical of the descriptive passage is the set-up of Stewart City:

Stewart City had been named after British royalty. It was a compact little area of Isola, running for perhaps three square blocks midtown, three square blocks that hugged the curve of the River Dix Stewart City had been named after British royalty, and the apartment buildings which faced the river in terraced luxury were indeed royal.

The mystery unfolds pleasantly with just such descriptions and tight concise dialog that includes both interviews of witnesses, suspects and various other characters and the daily banter that occurs between the bulls of the 87^th squad room that make life bearable.

Killer’s Choice was my first 87^th Precinct novel (though I’ve long wanted to read some of Hunter’s or McBain’s writing), and you can bet it won’t be my last. It’s just entertaining police work. (Four out of five reading glasses.) Though I’ve come late to the precinct and (sadly) McBain shuffled out of his mortal coil, I can relish the fact that I have a whole new set of mysteries to keep me busy when my favorites are between publishing dates.

—Benjamin Potter, December 2, 2008

Worldliness – ed. C.J. Mahaney

©2008 Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL

With a Foreword by John Piper, and cover blurbs from the likes of Randy Alcorn, D.A. Carson, and Mark Dever, this little collection of essays would seem to be the perfect tool for helping Christians grow in their faith. The subtitle gives the reader the gist of the book: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World. This is not an effort to identify worldliness as much as an attempt to remind Christ followers of the need to be separate from the world.

The editor, Mahaney, sets the stage for the scope of the book with the first (I’ll call them) sermon. The focus of the book is on a verse in 1 John (2:15) which reads, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” An explanation ensues to put into context the difference between the term world John uses here and when he writes “God so loved the world . . .” in the gospel bearing his name.

Other sermons included in the collection deal with the Christian and Media (Craig Cabaniss), Music (Bob Kauflin), Stuff (Dave Harvey), and Clothes (Mahaney). The final entry is a work by Jeff Purswell on “How to Love the World”.

This book will be a challenge for some, a stumbling block for others, and just another book to still others. It is not a book for a wide-ranging audience. It is written to help Christ followers grow in their walk with the Master. It will likely anger many of those who number themselves in the Christian community because of the high standard that is espoused. The writers themselves admit to struggles with meeting the ideals put forth in the writing.

In general, I find the collection to be faithful to the Scripture. The authors take to task a generation of believers who have allowed worldliness to infiltrate their numbers to the point of being no different from the world. It is because of this worldly trend in the church that many readers will get angry and toss the book out the window. It is also this trend that makes a book like this sadly necessary.

As with any book of this type, some readers will latch onto the truths pointed out and use them as a sledgehammer to cream their neighbors with. Giant football fingers will be donned to point at the sinners who need to take this chapter or that to heart. Many will use the essay/sermons in this little book to gain new heights in legalism. Such is the danger of any book like this—and often of any sermon that takes seriously the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

Most of the chapters dealing with specific areas where worldliness is increasingly tempting are well written and founded faithfully to scripture. While the fashion chapter is lopsided toward women and can be seen as chauvinistic, Mahaney points out the reasoning behind his focus on women’s fascination with worldly fashion.

The closing chapter is probably the least coherent of the essays and might seem a little awkward in a book designed to help us turn away from the world.

Included in the book are thought questions for each chapter and a couple of appendices which address more specifically ways that women can be more scriptural when choosing the clothes they wear.

I don’t recommend this book for wide circulation—even among the Christian community. I do, however, believe that this would be an excellent tool in the hands of someone who desires to become more like Christ. Because of the concerns I have with the book being used as a foundation for legalistic finger pointing, I have to hold it to three out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, November 25, 2008

It's That Time of Year Again!

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Sinner – Ted Dekker

©2008 Thomas Nelson, Nashville

I tested my on-again, off-again reader’s relationship with Ted Dekker the past couple of weeks. Dekker is the breakthrough author of books that have loose connections (or not so loose connections) with each other. His early works thrilled the Christian reading community because they followed the age-old pattern set by pioneers in the Christian fiction industry. I believe that the departure from this well-worn path started with Thr3e. The stretching of his writing wings brought in an entirely new readership for Dekker. It also prompted me, from time to time, to liken Dekker’s writing style to that of mainstream novelist Stephen King. Dekker’s good with words, and this latest release is an excellent example.

For this effort we were on-again. Sinner is the culmination of a trilogy of books set in Paradise, Colorado. The story begins in Showdown where we learn about the Books of History into which a young boy, Billy, has written pure evil. And Evil’s name is Marsuvees Black. The story continues in Saint, the not-so-engaging story of a grown-up Johnny (who helped facedown Black in Showdown in order to save his hometown).

In this third effort, we follow the lives of the three children (Billy, Darcy, and Johnny) all grown up and learning to deal with special “gifts” they had written into the Books of History for themselves in order to defeat evil wherever they found it. Thirteen years after the destruction of the monastery outside of Paradise where Billy and Darcy spent their childhood years, we find them young adults discovering that Billy can read the thoughts of people he is looking at and that Darcy can control the actions of people with her voice.

Armed with their new talents, these two young people wind up in Washington, DC where they help a select council of the elite to change the Constitution in order for Tolerance to be the law. In rewriting the Constitution, most religious jargon becomes relegated to the arena of hate speech.

Side stories include the coming to faith of a young witch named Kat, and lynchings and riots orchestrated by Black behind the scenes setting the stage for the aforementioned law change.

Fans of Dekker and his later writings will lap up Sinner. Readers who were turned off by the edginess of stories like Red, White, and Black will find Sinner to be more of the same. Readers outside Christian circles may find the text a bit too preachy for their tastes, but the story flows well. Dekker includes his trademark plot and character twists which keep the reader interested and guessing. All in all this one is worth being on-again with Dekker. I give it four reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, November 20, 2008

Planting Churches in the Real World -- Joel Rainey

[I have come into an extra copy of this book. If you would like to try for it, please click this link and take a stab at the question in a comment on my other blog.]

©2008 Missional Press, Smyrna, DE

Church planting is the way to go for young (and not-so-young) preacher types these days. The younger generation wants to make its mark on the world, and the older fellows have come to their wits’ end trying to get the church to do what’s right. The answer? Start your own church, then you can start get them doing right from the very start, set up your rules and make all the members play by them. Joel Rainey, Director of Mid-Maryland Baptist Association located near Washington, D.C. and experienced church planter has something to say to those who would jump in with the idea that they are looking at an easy task. That something is, “Think again!”

Planting Churches in the Real World is the kind of book that church planting circles have needed for a long time. Rainey speaks frankly and candidly about the hard work and often disappointing results that accompany starting churches from the ground up. He includes practical advice about how to go about choosing location and leadership. He warns against trusting in numbers, but encourages church planters and would-be church planters to watch for signs of steady, healthy growth.

With a host of books lining the shelves of bookstores that are written by big-name mega-church planters, it is easy to get the idea that within the first year of launching a church one should see upwards of 100 regular attenders, and within five years you ought to be pushing 1000. This, asserts Rainey, is the exception and not the rule. The majority of church planters work long hours for little reward, and to have that first 100 within the first three years is doing well. This should encourage those who are in the process of planting a new church and not seeing throngs of their target group bursting through the door of their rented storefront.

I liked this book. I like the writing style and pace. I like the candor of the examples brought straight from the author’s own church planting experience. I like the size of the book (approximately 150 pages). I would suggest that it be the first must read for someone who feels the calling to plant churches. I also find that it would be a perfect main textbook for a church planting course at any Bible College or Seminary. Even more, I believe that much of what is suggested for the church planter should be given ear by the local pastor who would like to see his “already planted” church show signs of health and growth. The principles are the same whether starting from scratch or building on a previously laid foundation.

For those who want to plant churches, hear Rainey’s words:

Of all the things I have been privileged to do in my sixteen years of ministry, church planting was by far the most enlightening educational, rewarding, heartbreaking, health-threatening, marriage-testing, glorious, faith-building, faith-testing, fulfilling, challenging, daunting, empowering, sweat-producing, excruciating, wonderful, God-glorifying thing I have ever done!

This one is a keeper—and a book to refer to time and again when going through the process of helping churches become all that they can be. I give it four out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, October 30, 2008

Essential Church? – Thom S. Rainer & Sam Rainer III

[I have an extra copy of the ARC of Essential Church? I will be offering it to a diligent reader this copy at the end of the review.]

©2008 B&H, Nashville

I’ve been reading quite a lot of statistically based books lately. This is usually not my cup of tea, but the research helps me to understand trends in such a way as to be better at leading my congregation. As you might have guessed, Thom and Sam are related. Thom Rainer is the president and of LifeWay Christian Resources, the co-author of Simple Church, and the author of several other books, many of which are based on statistical research. His eldest son, Sam, is the senior pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, and the president and CEO of Rainer Research.

These statisticians have written a book that examines the trend of church drop-outs. What their research shows is that the American church is in decline, and the largest group of people dropping out of church is young adults aged 18 to 22. Seventy percent of this age group are dropping out of church while only 30% are staying. Consequently the conclusions they draw and the suggestions they make are aimed at what churches can do to stem the tide of back door users in this age group. Even so, the material can be applied across age brackets when church leaders are trying to invigorate their churches.

The book is divided into two sections: Part 1, dedicated to the research itself explaining “why people are leaving the nonessential church”; and part 2, relating “how essential churches close the back door.” The dire picture that the statistics paints is one that causes the first part of the book to seem rather on the negative side.

What we are exposed to in part one is the stark reality that the American church is in decline. It is not really all that surprising with books like unChristian opening our eyes to the fact that the up-and-coming generations are finding more and more things to be disenchanted with about the church. Even so, the Rainers present some interview material that shows that the exodus of young people really has less to do with people getting mad at the church than it does with life change. What the authors discovered in polling and interviewing church dropouts was that these young adults just got out of the habit of going to church because it wasn’t an “essential” in their lives.

The authors offer these top ten reasons for 18 to 22 year olds ceasing to attend church:

1. Simply wanted a break from church.
2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. Moved to college and stopped attending church.
4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending.
5. Moved too far away from the church to continue attending.
6. Became too busy but still wanted to attend.
7. Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church.
8. Disagreed with the church’s stance of political or social issues.
9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church.
10. Was only going to church to please others.

Part two of the book is actually the more helpful part of what the Rainers write. When you read the book don’t skip the foundational material of part one, but for the book to be useful, you’ll want to get to part two as quickly as possible. In part two we find the positive side of the message—even though young adults are leaving the church in record numbers, they tide can be turned. And it is, the authors argue, in essential churches. What makes an essential church? According to the book, an essential church is one that:

• Simplifies: Getting the Structure Right
• Deepens: Getting the Content Right
• Expects: Getting the Attitude Right, and
• Multiplies: Getting the Action Right

There are two cautions that I would place when reading this book. The first is mine alone: Beware the temptation to approach the material with an attitude of “churchiolatry.” While reading the concerns about the exodus of young adults from the church it is easy to begin thinking that the church is the most important thing. Understanding that scripture dictates the importance of gathering with fellow Christ followers, and understanding also the gravity of the fact that Jesus himself created the church for believers, it is easy to make the creation more important than the Creator—especially when we know (or at least think we know) the best way to express church.

The second caution is one that the authors themselves render when offering the suggested answers to what an essential church is and how you can lead your church to be one, and I concur: Beware of the temptation to use the material in part two of the book to create a “cookie cutter” church. All churches have their own personality, so apply the information according to your situation. All churches are also found in unique situations, so approach the process of becoming essential with your location in mind.

The book itself presents some valuable information in a very readable manner. If you can overlook the overuse of the word plethora (I’m reminded of a certain scene in The Three Amigos), you will be able to use this resource toward turning your church into a God-honoring Essential Church in your community. Wade through the stats and dine on the meat in part two. You will be inspired and challenged. I give Essential Church? three and one-half out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, October 21, 2008

[I will give a copy of Essential Church? to the first reader to correctly answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

In the second part of Essential Church? the authors use one word rather extensively. I mention a movie in which this word is an interesting joke. What is the villain's name who uses the word and the important question that he asks?]