Plainsong

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Plainsong, according to Kent Haruf's epigraph, is "any simple and unadorned melody or air." It's a perfect description of this lovely, rough-edged book, set on the very edge of the Colorado plains. Tom Guthrie is a high school teacher whose wife can't--or won't--get out of bed; the McPherons are two bachelor brothers who know little about the world beyond their farm gate; Victoria Roubideaux is a pregnant 17-year-old with no place to turn. Their lives parallel each other in much the same way any small-town lives would--until Maggie Jones, another teacher, makes them intersect. Even as she tries to draw Guthrie out of his black cloud, she sends Victoria to live with the two elderly McPheron brothers, who know far more about cattle than about teenage girls. Trying to console her when she think she's hurt her baby, the best lie they can come up with is this: "I knew of a heifer we had one time that was carrying a calf, and she got a length of fencewire down her some way and it never hurt her or the calf."

Holt, Colorado, is the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone's business before that business even happens. In a way, that's true of the book, too. There's not a lot of suspense here, plotwise; you can see each narrative twist and turn coming several miles down the pike. What Plainsong has instead is note-perfect dialogue, surrounded by prose that's straightforward yet rich in particulars: "a woman walking a white lapdog on a piece of ribbon," glimpsed from a car window; the boys' mother, her face "as pale as schoolhouse chalk"; the smells of hay and manure, the variations of prairie light. Even the novel's larger questions are sized to a domestic scale. Will Guthrie find love? Will Victoria run away with the father of her baby? Will the McPherons learn to hold a conversation? But in this case, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and Plainsong manages to capture nothing less than an entire world--fencing pliers, calf-pullers, and all. Kent Haruf has a gorgeous ear, and a knack for rendering the simple complex. --Mary Park

Book Description

"Ambitious, but never seeming so, Kent Haruf reveals a whole community as he interweaves the stories of a pregnant high school girl, a lonely teacher, a pair of boys abandoned by their mother, and a couple of crusty bachelor farmers. From simple elements, Haruf achieves a novel of wisdom and grace--a narrative that builds in strength and feeling until, as in a choral chant, the voices in the book surround, transport, and lift the reader off the ground."
-FROM THE CITATION FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

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In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising two young boys alone after their mother retreats first to her bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl, her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house -- is pregnant, alone herself, with nowhere to go. And out in the country, two brothers, elderly bachelors, work the family homestead, the only world they've ever known. As the milieu widens to embrace four generations, Kent Haruf displays an emotional and aesthetic authority to rival the past masters of a classic American tradition.

Customer Reviews:

Quiet Surprise ..........2007-07-24

What a quiet surprise and delight this book became. It was a book club choice and one I started reluctantly. I dislike the lack of quotes in dialogue and rolled my eyes to begin. I'm so glad I stuck with it; and soon fell into the rhythm of life in a small town in Colorado. As other reviewers have noted, the characters really start to develop in second half of this book. I ended up just loving the characters, story, country and plot. By the end, I was truly sad to see them go. I also thought this novel showed a sensitive kindness between human beings that I have not seen in a while. This really is a beautiful book that makes you feel yourself wanting to do a random act of kindness.

MUST READ.......2007-03-24

Plainsong is the best book I have read this year. It is so well written. Kent knows how to write a book! It grabs you from the first page. I did not want to put it down, yet did not want to finish it. The character development is fantastic. I would highly recommend this book to fellow fiction readers!

Excellent book for anyone AND for book clubs.......2007-03-21

Every single one of the people in my book club loved this book, and we are a varied group. We all breezed right through it and looked for a sequel.

big booklover "jmb".......2007-03-16

i absolutely loved this book. after i finished it, i bought the follow-up, eventide, and i loved it as well.

Solid.......2007-03-06

Sometimes simplicity is beauty. Plainsong is one of those times. Haruf has a talent for conveying the emotions of his characters through physical description and dialog alone. His style is reminiscent to Hemingway -- short simple sentences and plenty of detailed descriptions of nature.

There's a nice intermingling of 2 1/2 storylines, but I found the section about Victoria and her cohabitation with two hermit brothers the most compelling piece.

I did have a couple of minor quibbles. First, the lack of quotation marks around the dialog. I'm not sure what the point of that was. Second, the evil of a few characters seemed a bit sensationalized. Haruf was relatively even-handed with the flaws of his heros, but he seemed to neglect any redeeming characteristics in the villians.

Overall this is still a strong effort and among the best modern novels I've read in the last couple of years.

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Saint Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter

Manufacturer: Lancelot Andrewes Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0971404682

Product Description

A beautifully bound edition of the Psalter (Book of Psalms) set to plainsong (chant). The book is well laid-out, with music for each Psalm given at the beginning of the Psalm. The book includes a lengthy and thorough introduction with a section on Notes on Plainsong. Following the Psalter is the ordinary and Propers for the Daily Office (Morning and Evening Prayer), the Canticles set to the Psalm tones, and at the end listings and music of the various tones themselves.

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Don't Miss This Author!
Wild Ride
If Pynchon wrote a long lyric poem...

The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong
Stephen Graham Jones
Manufacturer: Fiction Collective 2
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1573660884

Book Description

The Fast Red Road—A Plainsong is a gleeful, two-fisted plundering of the myth and pop- culture surrounding the American Indian. It is a novel fueled on pot fumes and blues, a surreal pseudo-Western, in which imitation is the sincerest form of subversion. Indians, cowboys, and outlaws are as changeable as their outfits; horses are traded for Trans-Ams, and men are as likely to strike poses from Gunsmoke as they are from Custer's last stand. Pidgin, the half-blood protagonist, inhabits a world of illusion—of aliens, ghosts, telekinesis, and water-pistol violence, where TV and porn offer redemption, and the Indian always gets it in the end. His attempts to reconcile the death of his father with five hundred years of colonial myth-making lead him to criss-cross a wasted New Mexico, returning compulsively to his hometown of Clovis, the site of his father's burial.

Accompanied by car thief Charlie Ward, he evades the cops in a top-down drag race, tearing through barriers "Dukestyle." The land they travel seems bent with fever—post-apocalyptic—as though the end has arrived and no one noticed. Its occupants hawk bodies and pastel bomb shelters, wandering a bleak hallucination of strip-joints, strip-malls, and all you can eat beef fed beef stalls. They speak a lingo of disposable nicknames, truncated punch lines—slang with an expiration date. Pidgin strays through bar and junkyards, rodeos and carnivals, encountering the remnants of the Goliard tribe. There's the mysterious Mexican Paiute, Uncle Birdfinger, checkout-girl Stiya 6—the reincarnation of Pidgin's mother—and media-queen Psychic Sally, who predicts the group's demise. Each plays a part in the search that will eventually place Pidgin in a position to rewrite history.

Jones delivers his stunning epic in violent, palpable prose, rendering a dark yet recognizable vision. The Fast Red Road blazes a trail through the puppets and mirrors of myth, meeting the unexpected at every turn, and proving that the past—the texture of the road—can and must be changed.

Customer Reviews:

Don't Miss This Author!.......2003-05-23

The Fast Red Road is the kind of novel that makes you want to write, and drive, and read more of Jones' work. The prose is clear and uninhibited, and never takes itself too seriously. A syllabus in Jones' class at Texas Tech is more entertaining than most books on the bestseller list; his fiction is remarkable.

Wild Ride.......2002-11-28

The Fast Red Road is a wild ride that moves beyond postmodernism into something totally new. This is a fun, fast, read that sticks with you after you are finished. Young authors like Jones give us a reason to be excited about the future of literature.

If Pynchon wrote a long lyric poem..........2002-10-06

This is probably the best novel I have ever read. Jones' style in this book is very much akin to Pynchon's in The Crying of Lot 49, except more sonically tasty. The plot jumps out at you in complex imagery that mirrors this linguistic free-for-all (I read this book with more than one dictionary at hand). It's very tough to get a hold of mentally, but, in the end, well worth it. Anyone interested in contemporary fiction does themselves a disservice by not reading this book.

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Heartwarming, old fashioned story
Graceful Tale
A quiet, graceful tale of a small prairie town
Complete and utter waste of time.

Plainsong
Kent Haruf
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0330393146

Customer Reviews:

Heartwarming, old fashioned story .......2007-03-30

This is a lovely tale of people in a small town who help one another get over bad times. The prose is beautiful. The story will give you faith in your fellow man.

Graceful Tale.......2006-10-05

This is a book that runs counter to our fractured hyperspeed society. It is tender. Full of sentiment without being sentimental. Plainsong is an artful piece of writing that has a pace that some can't wait for. Once it engulfed me, I was made to feel... at home. Thank you Kent Haruf.

A quiet, graceful tale of a small prairie town.......2005-08-28

PLAINSONG is one of those novels that sneaks up on a reader, beginning with understated prose and culminating with such authorial affection that the reader does not want to leave the fictional world. Haruf follows the lives of several characters in rural Holt, Colorado - Guthrie, an honest school teacher whose wife has suffered a nervous breakdown; his two sons, Ike and Bobby, who find themselves facing death, independence, and growing up; Victoria Roubideaux, a pregnant teenager thrown out of her mother's house; the McPherons, Harold and Raymond, bachelor brothers who know more about cattle prices and corn cribs than they do about people; and Maggie Jones, the woman who connects them.

I did not fall in love with this novel until the hundredth page or so, and then I could not put it down. The narrative flows like a meandering river - steadily but without visible ripples on the surface - and so it takes time to become fully invested in Haruf's characters. Fortunately, the characterizations, fictional details and the quality of the prose are strong enough from the start to keep one reading. The rhythms of life in Holt and the honest, almost innocent, way its citizens face their trials give this novel a graceful elegiac quality.

PLAINSONG is a quiet character-driven novel that evokes small town life on the American Plains. I heartily recommend it to readers who like this kind of fiction.

Complete and utter waste of time........2005-08-19

It reeked. There is no plot, no storyline, no build-up, no climax, and pretty much no point. The author must feel that he is above proper punctuation because he almost never uses it. I wish I'd saved myself the time and money this book took from me.

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I love this book!
its a book that you will read over and over
Plainsong For Caitlyn
A bittersweet story of love, loss, and grief.
exalent

Plainsong for Caitlin (American Dreams)
Elizabeth M. Rees
Manufacturer: Flare
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0380782162

Customer Reviews:

I love this book!.......2006-02-13

This book is one of my favorite books! This book is about a girl named Caitlin who moves to Nebraska with her sister. Her sister, Rebbeca, is moving there so she can marry Nate. After meeting Nate, Caitlin soon comes to relize that she should be the one to marry Nate. And even though Nate has feelings for Caitlin, he decides to follow through with his promise and marry Rebbeca. Caitlin feels uncomfortable living in the same house as Nate and Rebbeca so she tries to rush marrige in hopes that she can forget about her feelings for Nate. When a tragedy occurs, will it bring Caitlin and Nate closer together or further apart? I highly reccomend this book!

its a book that you will read over and over .......2005-02-27

i really love this book its my all time favorite book. the author reall captures the romance between caitlin and nate. its a love story that makes want to fall in love like they did. i promis you that its a book that you cant put down. i just love this book .

Plainsong For Caitlyn.......2004-10-30

I would say this book is realy good. It really makes you understand how much endurance it would have taken to live back then. It starts out with Caitlyn and Rebeccas father and Rebecca's fiance are in a whaleing accident. The girls end up having to move cause of the price of the morgage on the house. So Rebecca answers a add in the paper for a bride and they go to Nebraska to live with Nate. But Nate and Caitlyn are the ones to fall in love. Nate goes ahead and marrys Rebecca even though he loves Caitlyn. Through out the book they have to face the many challanges that the prarie has. as it nears the end there is a tragetie. But the auther rounds it out quite nicely. I hope if you read this book you will enjoy it as much as i did!!

A bittersweet story of love, loss, and grief........2000-08-05

Fifteen-year-old Caitlin's entire world falls apart when she recieves the news that her father has died in a shipwreck. Caitlin's older sister, Rebecca, decides the best thing for the two of them to do is to move west to Nebraska, where Rebecca is to marry a man she has never even met. But from the day they arrive in Nebraska and Caitlin meets Rebecca's husband-to-be, she knows this is going to be harder than she ever imagine. Caitlin and Nate fall in love immediatley, but Nate is determined to remain honorable and marry Rebecca, as he promised to do. Living in the same house as Nate is sheer torture for Caitlin, especially after Nate and Rebecca marry and Rebecca becomes pregnant. Although she eventually resigns herself to never having Nate, a terrible tragedy gives them a chance to be together, paving the way for an ending that is both happy and sad (with an especially ironic twist in the end). I wish this book hadn't gone out of print, because it's a wonderful book for teenage girls who love historical romances, like myself (although I was actually quite young, only eleven, when I read it years ago).

exalent.......1999-10-20

soooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooood

Music in the Medieval English Liturgy: Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society Centennial Essays

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Music in the Medieval English Liturgy: Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society Centennial Essays

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Music | Judaism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Ritual | Other Practices | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0193161257

Book Description

This collection of essays celebrates the work of the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music society and was written in particular to celebrate their centenary. Founded in 1888, the Society quickly established two areas of activity: to propagate information on medieval music and to revitalize the Anglican liturgy with the riches of the plainchant of the Roman Rite. Of the two sides of the Society's activities, the scholarly and the practical, this collection represents the former. The essays reflect the founders' interest in medieval music, both monophonic and polyphonic, and, particularly, their concern with chant. From its inception, the PMMS has directed much of its attention to the British source of medieval music, the music which might contribute to a renewal of the liturgy of the Anglican church, and this is reflected here. The contributors to this volume are among the most distinguished scholars of medieval music of recent years. Their essays are complemented by many music examples and a number of line drawings.

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Plainsong Psalter

Manufacturer: Church Hymnal Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0898691621

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Plainsong is C.S. Lewis, Pullman and the Bible all in one...an apocalyptic, speculative, pseudo-relegious, fantasy
The shock and delight of discovery
One of the best books of this millenium

Plainsong
Deborah Grabien
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0449219852
Release Date: 1991-10-21

Customer Reviews:

Plainsong is C.S. Lewis, Pullman and the Bible all in one...an apocalyptic, speculative, pseudo-relegious, fantasy.......2007-09-13

Oh glorious discovery of something magical that just happens upon us by chance. Oh the enchanting memories, the gems of ghostlike images that I recall so many years after reading Plainsong. The whimsical aura of a fantasy world with a very original concept. 'The Big One' has happened, and the earth's beauty is all that remains except the children and the animals, and they learn how to communicate with each other. It is very entertaining. However five special adults are spared, and linked in someway. In the glorious countryside that Ms. Grabien paints, the remainder of humans await a new child, perhaps a new savior, or someone to rekindle a new hope. The author understands the many facets of symbolism, and touches it gracefully. The characters are very personable and deep with emotion, and the areas surrounding the story are brought to life with exceptional purity and prose that dance in your senses like lightning bugs in a mason jar at your bedside.

I was thirteen years old and was in a an old mill town with my family. We hardly had enough for a boxed lunch at the time. I remember the day like it was only yesterday, however nearly 16 or 17 years ago. I remember the clouds in the sky, and even what my beautiful mother had on that day. We were in a bargain bookstore, one of those johnny come lately types of places that is there one day and seemingly 'poof' the next. I found Plainsong in the bargain, (ultra bargain) bin for fifty cents. The title immediately grabbed my attention. I think I was reading 'Eyes of the Dragon' at the time, King's fantasy eating away at my creative angst, and the cover of Plainsong sort of inrigued me sitting next to the oversized cookbooks. Even a dollar at the time was alot for anyone in my family, but I was given permission to sit on the floor of this dollar book basement and after I read the synopsis on the cover, I was into it headstrong like a young boy with a crisp twenty at a penny candy store somewhere on the Cape. I was so enchanted by this far away world that Ms. Grabien had painted for me I never wanted to leave it. I had not yet discovered the epic power of C.S. Lewis or Tolkien at that age, and I am so glad I didn't. Possiblly like those acerebral elitist of amazon, worried perhaps that I would throw it to the hounds of hell anything that remotely even tried to compare with the likes of those greats. I had nothing to compare it to. I was an engaged virgin in the world of apocalyptic faux relegious fantasy. My family was devote Roman Catholic. I was a lost youth who didn't know anything than what my remote world told me: that God was true, Jesus was the son of man, and question nothing as prayer and repentence is the word and all will be well for you. Stuff of nonsense. Well the reason I mention all that relegious babbling is the number of times I questioned my mother with references in the book to biblical events or how the 'Crows' in the book were named after the gospels of the bible, and how I found that so ironic, that she could make this imaginary world, where only children and animals surviving a huge catastrophic disaster, symobolically relegious in anyway, and yet with no real touching of any type of Godlike, fundmentalist touch to it. But the imagery, even at thirteen was there regardless. I could see in this warped relegion I was in, how ignorant the one tracked minded followers were. But here I was God. I was creating another world, where I saw fit who got along with each other.

The premise of the book, as there are a few Plainsong's that have come out through the years, and not to be confused with those, is:

After an event that wipes out nearly all of humanity, only a a few (or choosen?) children, birds, and animals are left to enjoy Earth's beauty. Evidentally through time, they learn to communicate with eath other, often times in hilarious banter. Five adults have also been spared from the plague that swept away everyone else. They all seem to await, or know of the coming of another; a child perhaps who has the answers, perhaps a new world order, or a new hope.

There are some purist, dolt professeurs or older Mercedes driving woman who write reviews perhaps for the LA Times, who would say the book had little plot and went nowhere fast. I feel really bad for these type of people. The ones that work for a company for so long, they becaome pre-programmed robots, with cookie cutter personalities, and who soccer mom their world of total pessimism and do nothing optimism to experiences of an author that is able to take someone, especially a child to a magical place, away from fueding parents, sibling rivarly, family dramas, and the like.

Please don't let the relegious connotations turn you off. Believe me I am the utmost agnostic now, (after college I lost all my faith) and it really just skims that surface. Which is great as the author lets the reader decide, in their own personal beliefs, what to conjure up after reading it. Though the message, the pure power of this story, is knowing she used details from the bible to portray her characters in a way that doesn't overdo it. I think you will appreciate that. It's a quick read. I finished it in a few hours, and since it's been out of print for so long, it's great you can still get it on amazon.

If I only had a better supplement to my income, I surely would find a fine cinematographer, ask Ms. Grabien if I could write the screenplay, and make this into a tiny, feel good, mini fantasy film that I am sure would find its niche in today's heyday of crap. One can dream still, at least that hasn't been taken away by the masses.

Enjoy this!

The shock and delight of discovery.......2000-04-09

I stumbled across this book quite by accident; Ms. Grabien is an extraordinary writer. Fantasy fiction, like most genres, is choked with re-writes of a handful of themes. Ms. Grabien has taken a few threads from different classic fantasy themes, added her own spinnings, and woven them all together in an entirely original way to create a book of great imagination, spirit, wonder and magic. This book has luminousity. I want to live in it. If you ever come across it - or I suspect any others written by her - please grab it before I do!

Oh yes, the theme - the Big One has struck, and several ancient beings travel across the bucolic face of England, to be present at the birth of the new... And by the way, all the grown-ups are dead, while children and animals talk to each other. But it's not as precious as it sounds.

One of the best books of this millenium.......1999-11-23

Deborah Grabien is such a fantastic author! I read Plainsong about two years ago and loved it! I'm in the middle of it right now. Apparently the newspapers, etc. are comparing her books to those of C.S. Lewis and Madeline L'Engle, I've never read any of their books, but if they're anything like what Ms. Grabien has written, then expect me to be reading them soon. Of course this book has a few religious insights, which I loved, but others may not. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

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Catalogue of the Society's Library
[The Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society]
Manufacturer: The Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N85OSC

The Elements of Plainsong Compiled from A Series of Lectures Delivered before Members of the Plainsong and Mediæval Music Society

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The Elements of Plainsong Compiled from A Series of Lectures Delivered before Members of the Plainsong and Mediæval Music Society
[The Plainsong & Mediæval Music Society]
Manufacturer: The Plainsong & Mediæval Music Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KYT3JK

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Predictable

Sooo hip and GROOVY

It's a groovy story

The 60s, murder, and fun

Funny and charming
It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder: A Murder A-Go-Go Mystery (A Murder a-Go-Go Mystery)
Rosemary Martin
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0451214706

Book Description

With a degree from secretarial school, Bebe Bennett has split Richmond, Virginia, for the whirlwind of Manhattan. Getting in on the British invasion, her boss at Rip City Records has signed up Philip Royal and the Beefeaters. But when Bebe and her stewardess roommate Darlene go to meet two members of the band for a fab night out, they find Philip dead, electrocuted with his own guitar. Even worse, the fuzz suspect Darlene. So, it's up to Bebe to abandon her Jackie Kennedy-inspired suits and venture into the smoky nightclubs of Greenwich Village, delving into the dark side of the swinging city to expose a killer.

Customer Reviews:

Predictable.......2006-12-17

This book had a predictable storyline. I found it to be a 'sleeper' as a mystery.

Sooo hip and GROOVY.......2006-05-16

This book is so rad.. Reminded me of the Movie What's up Doc?
I loved this cute cozy and am purchasing the next one. Looking foward to more. This cute book flows easily and is beleivable and funny. The heroine Bebe is funny and her dad making stop in visits to her is hilarious! I can just see her father putting the whoop on Bebe's boss thinking he was putting the make on his little "magnolia blossom".
Won't disappoint.

It's a groovy story.......2005-04-29

The 1960's, with beehive hairdo's, go-go boots and cute little hats was a wonderful time to be a single young woman. And when you are off on your first adventure in the big city of New York, away from home for the first time, it doesn't get any better. Bebe Bennett has landed her dream job as a secretary in a record company and in addition to getting to meet all the musicians who come into the office, her boss is a dreamboat who she immediately falls in love with, despite his reputation as a womanizer. But when the lead singer of a band that her boss brought over from England is murdered, Bebe realizes that in order to save her bosses job (and let him see how invaluable she is); she has to solve the murder. So, with the help of her stewardess roommate, Bebe dives into the New York music scene to figure out who killed the singer and quickly finds herself being stalked by a killer.

If you remember the 60's this book will be a hilarious blast from the past with an ingénue heroine who will put you mind of That Girl crossed with Jessica Fletcher. With her wide eyed innocence, Bebe is able to charm even the most jaded New Yorkers she runs across. And if you don't remember the 60's you will enjoy a fun look at one of the most interesting eras of American history and either way you will laugh your way through Bebe's adventures. A wonderful start to a new cozy series.

The 60s, murder, and fun.......2005-04-18

Bebe Bennett is secretary to Bradley Williams at Rip-City Records. He is also the love of her life, although he isn't aware of it yet. She recently moved from Richmond, Virginia, to New York City and shares her first apartment with Darlene Roland. Darlene is a stewardess.

Darlene has a date with Philip, lead singer of Philip Royal and the Beefeaters, an act signed by Rip-City Records from England, who she just met on a flight from London. She has fixed Bebe up with Keith, the lead guitarist. When they arrive in the lobby of the Legends Hotel, the men don't show up. Finally Darlene and Bebe go up to their room. Unfortunately, they find Philip electrocuted in the bathtub.

The police believe Darlene killed him and ground her from flying. Bebe and Darlene set out to clear her name and find the real killer. They end up putting themselves in danger more than once and are cautioned by Bradley, Detective Finelli, and Bebe's dad to stop investigating before they find themselves killed as well. Darlene's friend Stu often aids the girls.

They are able to obtain some information, but will it be enough? Can they clear Darlene's name without either of them being harmed?

This is a fabulous book set back in the 60s. It is a fast read-I read it in just over a day. I felt like I was back in the 60s. It's a great cozy mystery with wonderful characters. Bebe and Darlene are very likeable. Bebe is very naïve and that really adds to the book. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

New York is a great location for this book. It really lends itself to the story and adds so much ambiance. The sexual tension is well written. I highly recommend this book!

Funny and charming.......2005-04-11

Welcome to Beatle Mania. It's the fun loving 60's and Bebe Bennett is living every girls dream. She is the secretary to the Vice President of Rip City Records, Bradley Williams, and she lives in the middle of fast paced New York. She hangs out with the "it" crowd including the new British music sensation Philp Royal and the Beefeaters. Life couldn't get more exciting, or could it?

When the lead singer of the band, Philip Royal is found murdered in his bathtub, Bebe gets stuck right in the middle of the investigation. Because her roommate, Darlene, is the prime suspect! Join Bebe in her attempt to catch the killer, before he catches her.

***** Funny and charming. You immediatly start rooting for the "good girls" as they fummble the way throught crime-solving. I loved this book, and when the sequel is released I'm jumping on that one. *****

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