Product Description
Inside the Child's Head traces the emergence of biomedical diagnoses of behavior disorders in children. It provides a new critical counterpoint to the kind of 'myth-or-reality' debate on childhood disorders. Social policy debates about ADHD for example, inasmuch as they are conducted around essentialist dichotomies of 'the biological' and 'the social', lead into a philosophical cul-de-sac. The authors suggest that understanding and acting upon childhood disorders lie not so much in elucidating grand philosophical and etiological questions, or in pinning our hopes on new scientific discovery of what is going on 'in the child's head', as in the historical possibilities of the present-day make-up of this 'inside'.The book provides an account of the historical contexts in which the biomedical and social bases for disorders have been formulated, showing that both sets of understandings draw on common phenomena and use similar instruments to reach their conclusions. Outlined are a series of formative locations whence particular and localized governmental problems to do with managing discrete populations rub up against fairly inauspicious technical solutions, focused on pivotal events in specific institutional and social spaces. These include changes to the spatial organization of classroom; changes in the science of policing social space; the war-time development and extended clinical deployment of the electroencephalograph; the hand-in-hand emergence of computer and cognitive science; and the effects of the computer itself on the way we conceptualize brain-space. The book treats the appearance of the child with behavior disorder as an achievement of various agencies of science-and-government, rather than an initial encounter for discovering scientific truths. ... Read more

Product Description
Developed in response to the calculus reform movement, this problem-driven text features exceptional exercises directed toward students in the management, life and social sciences. Functions are presented graphically, numerically and algebraically to give students the benefit of alternate interpretations. Uses technology to help students learn to think mathematically. ... Read more

Product Description
An innovative text that emphasizes the graphical, numerical and analytical aspects of calculus throughout and often asks students to explain ideas using words. This problem driven text introduces topics with a real-world problem and derives the general results from it. It can be used with any technology that can graph and find definite integrals numerically. The derivative, the integral, differentiation, and differential equations are among the topics covered. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Most fascinagting bit of history
This describes a budding inventor's attempt tocompete with Samuel MOrse GTelegraph by designing and patenting in fact a device which is extremely reliable, does not use consumables such as paper and b pencils and by its design is morst reliable.
The author in his description covers all bases, simplicity, ease of training operators, potential world wide market.
It is a magnificent piece of engineering writing and I recomend igt to any teacher of writing, as a model of quality and comprehensiveness. ... Read more

Product Description
Concepts are presented graphically, numerically, and algebraically to give students the benefit of several interpretations. The book is problem driven and features exceptional exercises based on real-world applications for management, life and social science students. Technology is used as a tool to help students visualize the concepts and learn to think mathematically. Contains the main ideas of calculus in a clear, simple manner to improve students' understanding and encourage them to read the examples. ... Read more

Product Description

On America's newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

Chased out of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are planning to invade the neighboring oil-rich Republic of Turkmenistan, an isolated and wealthy central Asian state. As alliances form and forces collide, the impending battle for control of the world's largest oil deposits threatens to tear apart the tenuous peace created by America's victories in Afghanistan. It's up to McLanahan and a handful of American commandos half a world away, aided by an untested and unproven force of robotic warplanes, to win a war in which everyone -- even "friendly" forces at home -- wants them to fail.

Performed by David McCallum.

Customer Reviews (10)

Too much tech but still very good....
and for his sake I hope he cuts the technical jargon down to a minimum.Other than the too much tech I enjoyed how he spent a lot of time on the Taliban.I found that enjoyable and refreshing for a change.The parts about the Russians were the same old story line on how they start every bad situation then denied it and blame the poor old USA.

Sometimes the writer goes overboard in making heroes out of his characters.This time I feel he does not go there because he spent so much time on the Taliban.I enjoyed how he progressed and degressed the 2 Taliban leaders.

The writer portrays Thorn as someone who has complete opposite ways of running the White House from all the others who precedeeded him.With our actual Presential race being contested next week I really take an interest at someone who is very different from his predecessors.The two canditates that are actually running this presendential year are the typical candidates.One will keep it the system the same (incumbent party) and the other will change it.Thorn may be fictional but at least he is portrated as his own man.Such as that he did not even attend his own swearing in ceremony because he was too busy.Can you see that being done in the real world?No, way!

Mr. Brown keep up the action and limit the technical trite.

this book stinks
I've read every Dale Brown book published. This is not the same old Dale Brown we are used to. Hope it gets better from here, or I am done.

Military Drudgery in the [Tarnished] Name of Clancy...
Dale Brown can't decide what he wants to do: Either be a military writer, or be a fiction writer. Frankly, in both arenas, he fails. Quite miserably. There is virtually no plot development in this book, and the endless drudgery of military and technological description becomes mind-numbing, even to the most adherent military fiction fans. His writing is far from fluid, rather he utilises a blocky, counter-intuitive way to write, which makes this book doubly hard to get through.

He attempts to formulate some sort of character development between Daren and Rebecca Furness, both characters in this novel. Rather than adding dimension, however, it merely makes the characters even more cardboard-y: All Brown seems good at is describing missiles and aeroplane fuselage. Which is fine, if you're writing a military guide. And not so fine if you're writing fiction.

The premise of the story is simple enough: Taliban fighters are invading Turkmenistan. In the great name of Clancy, Brown can't help but to throw in some malevolent Russian forces to take a low jab at our Gulagian friends. Additionally, he throws a General (P. McLanahan) into the mix, a General who has faced his share of trials and tribulations, as well as military drama. Finally, there is a political twist: There are two candidates running for presidential office of the United States.

Truth be told, though, after five hundred+ pages of this book, and upon its finishing, I couldn't help but ask: What, exactly, happened? One never finds out the outcome of the political race, you don't quite find out what happens to any of the characters besides in their military circumstances...The characters accesorize the guns, rather than vice-versa.

It seems that Brown tries to do too many things at once, and as a result, doesn't even marginally succeed at any of them. I bought this book as a 'beach read' and figured I'd blow through it in about three days. Wrongo. It took me upwards of two weeks to finally finish it. The novel drags its feet in all the wrong places, and doesn't have any real plot development. I'm *not* looking for a literary masterpiece in the name of "The Red Badge of Courage," I was simply looking for an entertaining read.

Not really worth your time, unless you like to read an aircraft manual thinley veiled with what seem to be the threads of a plot line.

Air Battle Force is too much tech, too little plot
Having read several Dale Brown novels now, I'm tiring of his incredible attention to technical detail and seemingly too little effort in developing a story line.Air Battle Force takes way too much time telling us every detail of every tank,fighter plane and computer system while leaving the reader waiting and waiting for something to develop amongst the characters.

I'm also wondering how much more he plans to wring out of the Dreamland story with its fancy, tech-stuffed bombers and Tin Men.
If you want a far more intriguing read still full of lots of airplane and fighter action,read James Huston.

G Sinclair

Not the best but still good
I've read every single one of Mr. Brown's books and this one is by far the weakest.Still good though but not his best.It was nice to see old characters like General Furness and Colonel Mace.But Thorn has to go.Hopefully he gets ousted from office in the next book.The plot in this one is kinda a weak but it seems to set up the next book nicely.(A war with Russia?)The robot planes are totally unbelieveable though.It breaks my heart to see Mr. Brown, a former navigator himself, take the real heros out of the picture.Whats the fun in flying if your gonna do it from the ground?A lot seems to be missing from Air Battle Force.But hopefully its just a set up for the next one. ... Read more

Product Description
Concepts are presented graphically, numerically, and algebraically to give students the benefit of several interpretations. The book is problem driven and features exceptional exercises based on real-world applications for management, life and social science students. Technology is used as a tool to help students visualize the concepts and learn to think mathematically. Contains the main ideas of calculus in a clear, simple manner to improve students' understanding and encourage them to read the examples. ... Read more

Product Description

On America's newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

Chased out of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are planning to invade the neighboring oil-rich Republic of Turkmenistan, an isolated and wealthy central Asian state. As alliances form and forces collide, the impending battle for control of the world's largest oil deposits threatens to tear apart the tenuous peace created by America's victories in Afghanistan. It's up to McLanahan and a handful of American commandos half a world away, aided by an untested and unproven force of robotic warplanes, to win a war in which everyone -- even "friendly" forces at home -- wants them to fail.

Performed by David McCallum.

Customer Reviews (10)

Too much tech but still very good....
and for his sake I hope he cuts the technical jargon down to a minimum.Other than the too much tech I enjoyed how he spent a lot of time on the Taliban.I found that enjoyable and refreshing for a change.The parts about the Russians were the same old story line on how they start every bad situation then denied it and blame the poor old USA.

Sometimes the writer goes overboard in making heroes out of his characters.This time I feel he does not go there because he spent so much time on the Taliban.I enjoyed how he progressed and degressed the 2 Taliban leaders.

The writer portrays Thorn as someone who has complete opposite ways of running the White House from all the others who precedeeded him.With our actual Presential race being contested next week I really take an interest at someone who is very different from his predecessors.The two canditates that are actually running this presendential year are the typical candidates.One will keep it the system the same (incumbent party) and the other will change it.Thorn may be fictional but at least he is portrated as his own man.Such as that he did not even attend his own swearing in ceremony because he was too busy.Can you see that being done in the real world?No, way!

Mr. Brown keep up the action and limit the technical trite.

this book stinks
I've read every Dale Brown book published. This is not the same old Dale Brown we are used to. Hope it gets better from here, or I am done.

Military Drudgery in the [Tarnished] Name of Clancy...
Dale Brown can't decide what he wants to do: Either be a military writer, or be a fiction writer. Frankly, in both arenas, he fails. Quite miserably. There is virtually no plot development in this book, and the endless drudgery of military and technological description becomes mind-numbing, even to the most adherent military fiction fans. His writing is far from fluid, rather he utilises a blocky, counter-intuitive way to write, which makes this book doubly hard to get through.

He attempts to formulate some sort of character development between Daren and Rebecca Furness, both characters in this novel. Rather than adding dimension, however, it merely makes the characters even more cardboard-y: All Brown seems good at is describing missiles and aeroplane fuselage. Which is fine, if you're writing a military guide. And not so fine if you're writing fiction.

The premise of the story is simple enough: Taliban fighters are invading Turkmenistan. In the great name of Clancy, Brown can't help but to throw in some malevolent Russian forces to take a low jab at our Gulagian friends. Additionally, he throws a General (P. McLanahan) into the mix, a General who has faced his share of trials and tribulations, as well as military drama. Finally, there is a political twist: There are two candidates running for presidential office of the United States.

Truth be told, though, after five hundred+ pages of this book, and upon its finishing, I couldn't help but ask: What, exactly, happened? One never finds out the outcome of the political race, you don't quite find out what happens to any of the characters besides in their military circumstances...The characters accesorize the guns, rather than vice-versa.

It seems that Brown tries to do too many things at once, and as a result, doesn't even marginally succeed at any of them. I bought this book as a 'beach read' and figured I'd blow through it in about three days. Wrongo. It took me upwards of two weeks to finally finish it. The novel drags its feet in all the wrong places, and doesn't have any real plot development. I'm *not* looking for a literary masterpiece in the name of "The Red Badge of Courage," I was simply looking for an entertaining read.

Not really worth your time, unless you like to read an aircraft manual thinley veiled with what seem to be the threads of a plot line.

Air Battle Force is too much tech, too little plot
Having read several Dale Brown novels now, I'm tiring of his incredible attention to technical detail and seemingly too little effort in developing a story line.Air Battle Force takes way too much time telling us every detail of every tank,fighter plane and computer system while leaving the reader waiting and waiting for something to develop amongst the characters.

I'm also wondering how much more he plans to wring out of the Dreamland story with its fancy, tech-stuffed bombers and Tin Men.
If you want a far more intriguing read still full of lots of airplane and fighter action,read James Huston.

G Sinclair

Not the best but still good
I've read every single one of Mr. Brown's books and this one is by far the weakest.Still good though but not his best.It was nice to see old characters like General Furness and Colonel Mace.But Thorn has to go.Hopefully he gets ousted from office in the next book.The plot in this one is kinda a weak but it seems to set up the next book nicely.(A war with Russia?)The robot planes are totally unbelieveable though.It breaks my heart to see Mr. Brown, a former navigator himself, take the real heros out of the picture.Whats the fun in flying if your gonna do it from the ground?A lot seems to be missing from Air Battle Force.But hopefully its just a set up for the next one. ... Read more

Product Description
By the close of the twentieth century, China had gathered secret information concerning United States military surveillance and guided-missile technology.

Now, in 2005, the technology is in production in China's new breed of submarine-based long-range missiles. The dragon has stirred.

Admiral Arnold Morgan, the President's National Security Adviser, cannot sit back and wait for China to perfect their new ballistic weapon. He dispatches the most lethal hunter-killer submarine in the fleet, U.S.S. Seawolf, deep into the China Seas.

Seawolf eludes the Chinese until a catastrophic accident suddenly puts the U.S. submarine at their mercy. The crew vanishes, plainly captive. At the risk of starting World War III, Admiral Morgan orders in the elite Navy SEALs to rescue the Americans at all cost. Under cover of darkness, the SEALs move into the forbidden waters of the South China Sea. Their orders are brutal: Whatever it takes. Failure, unthinkable.

U.S.S. Seawolf is epic in its sweep, meticulous in its authenticity and breathtaking in its pacing. It is a terrifying and thrilling tale for our times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (110)

NOT WORTH THE EFFORT
I like submarine novels, and if the author knows his or her way around a nuclear boat, then I try to give him/her the benefit of the doubt on their treatment of the story, providing, of course, that's it's filled with realistic underwater super action. But I'm afraid I have to go along with the naysayers on this one. It's shallow, unbelievable, something is definitely wrong with the writing, and it's just not worth the effort. I managed to read the whole thing thinking it would get better, but nothing worked. From the fly on the wall view of the Chinese high command, to the idiotic Executive Officer of the U.S.S. Seawolf, it was a total let down. I wish I had watched television. I give it two stars, and that's being generous.

Seawolf - Good story with some major flaws
This is the fourth Patrick Robinson book I've read in six months, and he cranks them out with a formula.He loves Navy Seals - every man an iron man, make that a superman that can do no wrong.Supermen can handle anything - and do!

But the major flaw in this story is the XO of the Seawolf who could never have passed a psych screening required for subermine service, not to mention be detailed as the XO of the Seawolf, (no matter who is father was).When he lost it the first time during work-ups, he should have been relieved.But to think any officer would have ignored a Captains standard orders (written in any navy vessels logbook but not mentioned by the author), then ignored the Cheif of the Boat's and OOD's suggestions to call the Captain to the control room is just too unbelievable.I'm surprised that Admiral Woodward couldn't have convinced Patrick Robinson to come up with another disaster, such as a mechanical fault that would have caused the boat to surface.The result would have been the same, whithout inventing an impossibly flawed character among the best if the best to drive the story.Then there's the ahout face in the President's character traits as the book winds up.That just doesn't compute for me.

At least the Chinese captured the crew, unlike the USA who just sunk a bunch of innocent Kilos without warning, killing all the crews without warning in two earlier books.

Guess that's why they call it fiction.

Dissatisfying
An excellent basis for a story but poorly handled. Lots of weak points in the story line and the ending was brutal, left reader unsatisfied.

Excellent or just good, depending...
There is no question that this is an exciting book. Please recall the expression, "I couldn't put it down." Well, that was exactly my reaction. I couldn't put it down!
After I finished reading it I looked back over the entire story. That is when I became a little disappointed. The key to whole story (the capture of an American submarine by the Chinese Navy) is based on a weak assumption: that an inexperienced XO can make a catastrophic error while the CO is sleeping, and not one of the crew members simply wakes up the Captain so he can prevent the obvious and inevitable disaster. There was plenty of time for the captain to be awakened.
I found the end of the book disappointing, too. The Captain was found guilty of gross negligence. The XO just danced away. Not surprising, when you recall that the XO was the President's son. So the CO kills himself immediately after the trial. I don't think that's realistic. He was portrayed as a gutsy fighter; He wouldn't commit suicide.
Do the words, PUEBLO, LLOYD "PETE" BUCHER, NORTH KOREA ring any bells in your head, dear reader? If you're old enough to know those words, you're old enough to see that the ending is just barely believable.
I do recommend this book if you just allow a bit of fantasy. Otherwise, it is a GREAT STORY by a master storyteller!

War During Peace Time
I enjoyed reading this high seas adventure of our modern day "Silent Service" who is always on war alert during peace time and sometimes actually at war during peace time. The author portraits great respect for our Navy fighting forces and our Special Forces in the form of Navy Seals. This respect comes out throughout the story.

If you like the swords clashing of two superpowers, U.S. and China, you're like this story. It has action and excitment throughout with a very surprising ending. ... Read more

Product Description

This Student Solutions Manual is meant to accompany Calculus: Single and Multivariable, 4th Edition. This book has the ability of striking a balance between concepts, modeling, and skills, this highly acclaimed book arms readers with an accessible introduction to calculus. It builds on the strengths from previous editions, presenting key concepts graphically, numerically, symbolically, and verbally. Guided by this innovative Rule of Four approach, the fourth edition examines new topics while providing readers with a strong conceptual understanding of the material.

Product Description
2 Cassettes, 3 hours
Performance by David McCallum

Inspector Thomas Pitt is called to a shocking murder scene.The dead man lies in a battered punt drifting on the Thames, his arms and legs chained to the sides of the boat.He is clad in a torn green gown.Flowers bestrew his battered body.Pitt's determined search for answers leads him deep into London's bohemia and into studios where masters of light and shadow are experimenting with the fascinating new art of photography.And as always, his pursuit is relentless...

Amazon.com Review
Secrets and lies, calumnies and evasions: in Anne Perry's Victorian mysteries, these elements, rather than a hat or gloves, a bustle or a watch fob, are the usual accoutrements of refined ladies and gentlemen. Half Moon Street marks the return of Inspector Thomas Pitt (20 novels now, beginning with The Cater Street Hangman and still going strong) to the cobblestoned streets and elegant drawing rooms of 19th-century London.

The inhabitants of those drawing rooms aren't usually thrilled to see him, because he always comes bearing bad news. This time, a body has turned up in a boat on the Thames: Delbert Cathcart, a talented portrait photographer with a taste for blackmail. Clad in a velvet dress, wrists manacled, legs spread grotesquely, skull crushed, Cathcart reminds Pitt of a perverse echo of the Lady of Shalott, or perhaps a debased Ophelia. Which of Cathcart's clients could have been pushed so far as to retaliate in such hideous fashion?

Pitt's official investigation is usually combined with another more idiosyncratic approach to the crime; this secondary analysis gives Perry free rein to dissect the manners and morals of Victorian society. In Half Moon Street, the genteel inquisition falls to Caroline Fielding, Charlotte's mother (Charlotte, who must need a bit of rest after so many outings, has been packed off to Paris for a vacation; her presence in the book is restricted to letters marveling, rather tediously, at the scandalous iniquities of the Moulin Rouge dance hall). Perry's readers will no doubt remember that Caroline scandalized society by marrying a much younger actor, Joshua. Half Moon Street introduces Caroline to his theatrical world, and to Cecily Antrim, a beautiful actress with liberal politics. Cecily poses both a personal and philosophical threat to Caroline, who is disturbed by her willingness to expose the realities of female sexuality on stage: "Should such things be said? Was there something indecent in the exposure of feelings so intimate? To know it herself was one thing, to realize that others also knew was quite different. It was being publicly naked rather than privately." This fear of exposure resonates through the worlds of theatrical and photographic art, as actors, diplomats, and genteel citizens race to hide their secrets from Pitt and Caroline.

While Perry evokes the London atmosphere with her usual skill, her narrative lacks its usual finesse. Rather than balancing Pitt's and Caroline's investigation, the novel lurches between them so that it seems all too often that Perry, in pursuit of one story, has forgotten the other. Additionally, Caroline's reaction to feminist politics and sexuality is inexplicably repetitive; her turgid expressions of horror seem the result of an overly eager copy-and-paste procedure. One hopes that this is a momentary lapse in an otherwise solid series. --Kelly Flynn ... Read more

Customer Reviews (35)

More than a mystery
If you already love Anne Perry mysteries for not only the plot but also the setting, the details of Victorian England, and the characters, you can buy this book without reading further, and you won't be disappointed.But if you're wondering whether this is a good author to get into, and a good book to read on its own merits--let me assure you: it is more than a mystery.It has a major theme that speaks to a person of any generation: the theme of openness/frankness (generally prized by the younger generation, especially Americans) and privacy/reticence (seen often in the older generation even in America.) "Why don't they say what they mean?" the youngsters ask of their grandparents. And "Why do they insist upon letting it all hang out?" ask the oldsters (probably in less slangy language).With brilliance, Perry shows the pros and cons of these two attitudes, associating them to different degrees with different characters in her novel.Just as you feel like saying "Right on!" for the boldness of a frank and forward-looking woman, you are confronted with the unnecessary pain such overtness would cause another woman. You have to reconsider your endorsement. This is a book to make you assess and reassess your own assumptions, to force you to recognize the pros and cons, on both personal and societal levels, of different attitudes towards "truth-telling" and censorship, and to lead you to more of both understanding and being understood across generational lines. Besides, it's a good story, an engaging mystery--what better combination could you ask for?

Good rainy night read
If you like classic British mysteries, this is a good choice. You expect a good read from Anne Perry, this does not disappoint.

Waaaaay too preachy -- and morally indefensible, too.
"All right, boys and girls, the social issue for today's Superintendent Pitt mystery novel is censorship!" Yeah, Perry has to include a problem of conscience for the characters to address in every book she writes, whether it's economic inequality, loan-sharking, the vote for women, or -- in this case -- whether censorship and freedom of speech is a good thing because it protects people from the ugliness in the world, or whether it's a bad thing because it results in intellectual and social stagnation. She can't quite seem to make up her mind, either. Oh, there's a story in here, too, about a prominent society photographer found grotesquely dead, posed like Ophelia in a dress and chains in a small boat on the Thames. Also prominent in the story, for a change, is Caroline, mother of Charlotte and Emily (both of whom are in Paris for a few weeks and who therefore do not appear in this book at all), who has remarried to a Jewish actor seventeen years her junior, and whose life style has loosened up a good deal as a result. That brings in the theater, and you know how liberal and undependable those theater people can be. I admit it, this 20th entry in a generally enjoyable series irritated me considerably. Thomas and/or Charlotte generally have served as mouthpieces for the author's own opinions, which is okay, but here they fulminate against things that have been proved factually inaccurate -- such as the notion that "pornography" (defined as anything those in power don't like) destroys society. Photos that Pitt considers sickening and obscene would be rated no worse than PG-13 in today's world -- and present-day society certainly is demonstrably superior, socially and politically, to that of 1890. I guess I don't understand how any professional novelist could have anything good to say about elitist governmental censorship.

Where was Charlotte?
As a fan of Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, I was greatly dissapointed by this book.

Firstly, the murder plot was boring and obvious and the mistaken identity "twist" was nonsensical.

Secondly, the absence of Charlotte Pitt was much missed.She was vacationing in Paris with her sister Emily in this installment.Charlotte is usually a central character in the books and without her this novel fell flat.

Thirdly, the focus on Thomas' mother in law and grandmother in law was too much.They are usually perimiter characters and they did not mesh with what we had learned about them in previous books.

Overall, the character format of this novel was not as enjoyable as Ms. Perry's other books from this series.

Come back Charlotte!!!

Heavy-handed
If you are a fan of Anne Perry's novels, this is not the review to read. This was the first book I have read by her, and I doubt there will be another.

A man is murdered and the crime is solved, but the mystery is not the true focus of this book. If I began telling you that a man was found dead in a boat dressed as a woman, in a pose that the other characters clearly judged to be obscene, and Pitt spent his time figuring out who did it, I would mislead you. This is not what you will spend most of your time reading about.

Pitt does begin investigating, then he goes to the theatre where we are introduced to a subplot: the changing role of women in Victorian society. Ideas clash, and we are supposed to be excited about it. I was still interested at this point.

Then we have "ideas in practice" for three or four chapters, where the book turns into a soap opera about the dark secrets of private life in Victorian England, which, of course, can only mean one thing: sex. The reader's appetite is whetted for unspeakable family secrets on the part of Mariah, the mother-in-law of Pitt's mother-in-law, Caroline. The relationship between Mariah and Caroline is worth some attention, and Caroline's struggle - as the book's moral focus - to find her way in the confusion of old and new ideas is sympathetic. However, I was fast losing interest when chapter after chapter all we had was foreshadowing something really interesting that failed to come. When it did, it wasn't that interesting, but at least the characters were shocked to the core.

Meanwhile, the murder plot blossoms into a treatise on censorship, with an emphasis on the censorship of pornographic material and a foray into the emergence of photography. The characters are used as carriers of ideas, and only that, which makes them one-dimensional and uninteresting. They regularly break into dreadfully long monologues until we reach the climax of the book, where the ideas - dressed as the two central female characters - clash and we find out who the author thought was right. By this time, I was thoroughly bored.

This could have been an interesting book. Ideas are not uninteresting, but it is the experience of people's lives that gives them richness and texture. Even in a mystery, plot and character must come before the moral of the story.


... Read more

Product Description
Best of the Best. All of London is shocked when a dead man is found sprawled on the Bedford Square doorstep of Gen. Ballantyne, who denies any knowledge of the shabbily dressed victim. But Superintendent Thomas Pitt finds a rare snuff box in the dead man's pocket and knows that it has recently graced the general's desk. He must tread lightly, however, lest his investigation trigger a tragedy of immense proportions, ensnaring honorable men like flies in a web of terror.Amazon.com Review
Even if you prefer the tougher, edgier William Monk books by Anne Perry,such as A Breach ofPromise, there's no denying the wealth of detail and the powerfulemotions at work in her longer series of Victorian murder mysteriesfeaturing Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The Pitt books effectively merge HenryJames with Raymond Chandler: by having a middleclass policeman married to asocialite, Perry can probe both worlds, as she does in BedfordSquare, a story of high-level blackmail and murder.

A famous historical scandal called the Tranby Croft affair (a gambling caseinvolving the Prince of Wales) is very much in the news when the body of aworking-class man is found early one morning on the posh doorstep of General Brandon Balantyne. No one in the house claims to know the murderedman, but he has a valuable piece of jewelry belonging to the Balantynes inhis pocket.Thomas Pitt and his outspoken aide, Sergeant Tellman, musttread lightly, but Charlotte--and especially her sharp relative LadyVespasia Cumming-Gould--aren't restrained by such social niceties. Gracie,the Pitts' smart and rough-tongued maid, is also a valued asset to theinvestigation, which proceeds in a satisfying, if not particularlysurprising, manner to a highly dramatic conclusion.

Other recent books in the Pitt series include Brunswick Gardens, Ashworth Hall, and Pentecost Alley.--Dick Adler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Anne Perry is the best!
8-2-10
I discovered Anne Perry quite by mistake. I received a prize of free audiobook CDs for buying the audible mp3 player. There was not much to choose from, so I chose Anne Perry's Seven Dial and another one called midnight echoes by another writer, all of which were great. I loved the Charlotte Pitt & Thomas Pitt series, so I started buying them in sequence from beginning to the current one I am listening to. Bedford square is juxtopose with a real event in England and Anne Perry wove this event to the story which made it seem almost real. It made me research that part of England when it almost became a republic. I find Anne Perry's novel as good as Dorothy Gilman, who wrote about a 60 year old spy. You feel like a participant when you read their stories. Highly recommended.

Linda Seldow
Carmel, CA

Boring whodunnit
This book set in London is the late 19th century begins with a murder and ends with 100 pages of snoring. It's not so much a whodunit as a who cares?

The characters are pallid and the plot concerns a blackmail plot of various high and mighties who risk losing their honor. There is much talk of honor -- very yawn-inducing.

There is also the "below stairs" aspect of the story. The working class characters all speak in Cockney which becomes incredibly tiresome after a few sentences of stuff like this" "You dunno nuffink. So 'oo did yer get yer bubble an' squeak from? I can't be getting on wif anything wif you standin' in the middle o' the floor. Spec' me ter walk 'around yer?"

Not only is this annoying and patronizing but it's not even accurate. If one was being consistent, one would say "anyfink' to rhyme wiv nuffink.

Bottom line: great for insomonia!

Bedford Square by Anne Perry
As with all of Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels,I am delighted with Bedford Square.I love reading mysteries and especially about either Victorian (or Regency) England. Her books are clean with no vulgar language and I appreciate this.They are some of the best mysteries I have read and I have read quite a few.

Judy Moughon

Pretty disappointing
The sociomoral theme for today, boys and girls, is reputation: How to build a good public one and how to maintain it in the face of blackmail, given people's tendency to believe anything bad they read in the newspapers about public figures. It begins with a body being discovered on the doorstep of General Balantyne, whose family figured in two earlier books in the series. Exactly why it's there is never satisfactorily explained, but Superintendent Pitt gradually uncovers a web of blackmail threats which the victims would find it almost impossible to disprove, set as they are in the professional pasts of a number of gentlemen. It's never quite clear, either, why the gentlemen in question would reveal these particular incidents to anyone else, and in such detail, in casual conversations at the club. The reader is unlikely to figure out whodunit (or why) until the last chapter, but that's largely because the author seems to have picked a bad guy more or less at random and then made assertions about how things happened with little regard for plausibility. This is the 19th book in the Victorian London mystery series and Perry has been getting more and more sloppy in making the story believable, seeming more interested in exploring ethical and moral questions than in writing a good murder mystery.

Weak Plot
I was dissapointed with this novel. It seemed to me that the book kept dragging itself. While there were interesting turns at some places, the conclusion was not dramatic. It did not make sense why one of those characters would have done the crime -- it was almost like the novel had to be ended and a culprit had to be picked by the toss of a coin.

While the details into Victorian society are good -- the author repeats the same sentences too many times in the book. It could definitely have been a shorter book with a poor end. ... Read more

Product Description
Who would have thought that the story of porcelain would be such a rousing tale of wealth, intrigue and outrageous greed and gluttony? In an all-but-abandoned German mountaintop castle called Albrechtsburg in the town of Meissen, a brilliant 18th-century apothecary and alchemist by the name of Johann Frederick Bottger discovered the secret for making porcelain, which was the next best thing to gold at the time in Europe. Like many other alchemists of his day, Bottger had once untruthfully claimed to have found the secret formula for turning base metals into gold. But for King Augustus of Saxony, who?smelling fortune?promptly imprisoned the young scientist, the arcanum for porcelain, or china, would have to suffice. Gleeson's lively account of how Meissen became the West's first porcelain center follows a colorful cast of characters: the lascivious Augustus; two rival decorative artists, Johann Gregor Herod and Johann Joachim Kaendler, who applied their skills as diligently against each other as they did in creating precious porcelain objects; and goldsmith Christo Konrad Hunger, a "hard-bitten profiteer" who would "happily stoop to intimidation, threats, and all manner of chicanery if it would help to fill his purse." Greed?for money, fame, porcelain or power?seems to have motivated everyone associated with Meissen, including the author's apparent favorite, "the unfortunate Bottger," whose youthful boasting and actual genius in the laboratory made it all possible. ... Read more

Product Description
The first in the series of 17th century novels; two cassette tapes in box, including an interview with the author. ... Read more

Product Description
Sham and the stable boy Agba travel from Morocco to France to England where, at last, Sham's majesty is recognized and he becomes the "Godolphin Arabian," ancestor of the most superior Thoroughbred horses. ... Read more