Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys super mystery

"Martin Garbus, one of the country's most celebrated trial lawyers and First Amendment attorneys, has been watching the Court closely for decades, and in Courting Disaster, he argues that it's time to acknowledge that the Court has been a political hotbed for years. For more than a generation, the Supreme Court has been quietly but aggressively rolling back legislation that has been fundamental to our justice system and economy since the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Although they may remain on the books, laws concerning everything from abortion to the rights of suspects have been all but eviscerated." "Courting Disaster offers a cogent analysis of the recent history of the Court, as well as the entire federal judiciary, and explains the complex workings of the different courts. Garbus examines and evaluates each of the nine current justices, and shows us, case by case, how critically important the vote of a single justice can be."--BOOK JACKET.

Another vivid, grisly fictional reappraisal of a true crime case--by the crisply British author of Jack the Ripper and many other medically informed novels. Here Gordon interweaves the ever-familiar Crippen case with the story of two Crippen acquaintances: Dr. Eliot Beckett, who runs a free clinic in Edwardian London; and his nurse/lover Nancy--an American heiress whose tubercular sister ""Baby"" has died in a Swiss sanitorium. And among those who have offered advice on ""Baby's"" case is American-born nostrums peddler Hawley Harvey Crippen, a modest con man with vague medical credentials. So Eliot and Nancy have some inside views as the focus turns to Crippen's own domestic crisis: he's in love with typist Ethel Le Neve but married to Belle--a fat, adulterous, stupid-shrewd, would-be vaudevillian with expensive tastes. It is Ellot's copy of Gray's Anatomy, in fact, which provides Crippen with the necessary information for the murder: he poisons Belle, beheads her, eviscerates and debones the body in the bathtub--burying the remains under the cellar coal pile. (The bones, meanwhile, find their way to Poupart's Piccadilly Potted Meat company.) From the scene of the crime to well-sketched trial: an ironic reconstruction, laced with black comedy and grim wit--clever, stylish, but not for those with delicate stomachs. (Kirkus Review)

In this gripping, page-turning account, Sam Moses has told a story in the tradition of Sebastian Junger's A Perfect Storm, Robert Kurson's Shadow Divers, and Hampton Sides's Ghost Soldiers. It's a story about the heroism of two men in battle at sea during World War II, and one woman fleeing Nazi Norway with her child. It's about how courage can change the course of history. AT ALL COSTS: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Marines Turned the Tide of World War II is the astonishing untold account, with original historical reporting, of how two men faced unfathomable danger to help save the island of Malta, Churchill's crux of the war. In 1942, the tiny island of Malta was the most heavily bombed place on earth. Hitler needed Malta as a stepping-stone to get to the oil in Iraq and Iran (Persia at the time). Blockaded by sea, Malta was running on empty, in food, fuel and ammunition. Axis U-boats and dive-bombers made supply convoys to Malta more like suicide missions. In this last-hope convoy, 50 warships escorted 13 freighters carrying aviation fuel, and a single critical tanker, the SS Ohio, with 107,000 barrels of oil from Texas. Winston Churchill had traveled to Washington and asked FDR for the tanker--his prime ministership was at stake over this mission to Malta. Relentlessly dive-bombed and repeatedly torpedoed, the Ohio suffered huge hits and was abandoned. Two young American merchant mariners--pulled from the sea after their own ship went down in flames--boarded the ravaged tanker, repaired her guns and fought off German and Italian dive-bombers, as the sinking Ohio was towed at 4 knots toward Malta with a tiny crew of volunteers. Sam Moses' AT ALL COSTS is a triumphant story of human bravery: fearless, selfless acts by men determined to save a ship and win a war; profound communal courage from an island under brutal siege; and leaders who understood the cause of freedom. Kirkus (starred review)A historical footnote provides a riveting tale of true American grit during World War II.In 1942, the island of Malta was the primary launching point in the Mediterranean for Alliedaircraft and submarine attacks against Axis supply convoys. At the height of the North Africancampaign, Rommel's tanks prepared to sweep into Egypt, Iran and Iraq. The only thing they lacked wasthe fuel to get there, and the shortage was equally desperate on Malta. The Allies launched OperationPedestal, a last-ditch effort to re-supply the base by sending a convoy from Britain through the GibraltarStrait to the beleaguered island. The convoy, which included the American tanker Ohio and the U.S.freighter Santa Elisa, was anything but a milk run. Vietnam vet Moses (Fast Guys, Rich Guys andIdiots, not reviewed) crafts a thrilling adventure on the high seas, though it takes a while to get started.The book's first third juxtaposes Malta's plight against the stories of two American merchant seamenon the Santa Elisa: Lonnie Dales and Fred Larsen, through whose eyes the battle will be viewed in bluecollardetail. Once Operation Pedestal begins, the narrative is all action. The convoy comes underrepeated attack, lives are lost, the Santa Elisa is sunk. Dales and Larsen find themselves aboard thewounded Ohio, full to the brim with Texas crude. If they can hold off Nazi attacks and keep their newship afloat long enough to reach Malta, the operation will be a success. Moses takes readers directlyinto the heat of battle, demonstrating a strong command of historical detail.Highly recommended for fans of naval...