Reviews

Ratio: the Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking
By Michael RuhlmanBeing a public librarian with access to an unending supply of books, it takes something really special to make me want to part with $27.00 just so I can call it my own. Ruhlman has found the secret in Ratio and my copy should be in my mailbox by tomorrow. It's a weird format for a cookbook in that Ruhlman buries his recipes in parts or chapters that explain the basic ratios for, for instance, doughs and batters.
This second in the Bess Crawford mystery series, finds the World War I nurse once again embroiled in solving a murder. She has returned to England from the trenches with a convoy of severely wounded men. One of her patients is a burned pilot who insists on having his wife’s picture pinned to his tunic at all times.
The Luxe, by Anna Godbersen, reminds me a little of a Jane Austen novel in that the rules of society can be imprsioning and can cause much tragedy and heartache. The story takes place in Manhattan at the very end of 1899. It is the story of the elite, the upper class, the wealthy.
Elixir by Hilary Duff yes, Hilary Duff aka Lizzie Maguire. Don't let that put you off this intriguing paranormal young adult mystery. Clea is the daughter of a well-known scientist and a politician and has been in the spotlight her whole life. An interest in photography has turned into a career for her and allows her to travel all over the world.
In early summer, 1917, Bess Crawford returns from the trenches in France with badly wounded patients, among them a severe burn victim who has a picture of his wife pinned to his tunic. Bess turns her patients over to a clinic in England and boards another train to London for her few hours of leave before returning