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Jill Norgren Reviews: Penny has won a large international audience — her books have been translated into more than twenty languages — with books that pay as much attention to character as to plot. This makes them rich and well-paced. Gamache, the cop who refuses to be disillusioned, sarcastic, or unhappy holds it all together, but never on his own. He believes in the abilities of others and draws upon their wit along with his own. In Paris Penny lets Gamache draw upon the intelligence and skills several women, including his wife, trained in library science. The scenes describing their work are among the highlights of this new book. Loyal series readers enjoy a trip abroad while first time readers will have no trouble slipping into Gamache’s world. more »

With work-from-home (still) in full swing, are you finding your quarantine quarters a little lacking? Do you dread logging into the morning meeting, coveting your colleagues’ digs while you slump at your desk seemingly made of Legos and leftover Ikea hardware? Yes, the ideal home office is the new status symbol, and Mia is here to help with Zoom-ready rooms straight from the galleries. Who wouldn’t want to brainstorm in the Studio of Gratifying Discourse? Or file those TPS reports from the sunny table in Pierre Bonnard’s Dining Room in the Country? more »

Life was golden for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman for the first 56 years of his life. He had served in all of the his state’s top political offices – secretary of state, attorney general, lt. Governor and Governor – even though he was a liberal Democrat in an increasingly Republican state. He had friends and contacts, a good marriage and two fine children. He was planning to run for President as soon as he was re-elected in 2002. Then he was slammed with a political hurricane, which went by the name of Karl Rove. Life’s been a steady slide downhill since then. Trial, imprisonment and appeal is a very complicated story which you will have to read the book to appreciate. Suffice it say that both men served their terms and saw their careers ruined. more »

Jill Norgren writes: I have galloped through this history. I want to end by suggesting how women running for elective office relates to the woman suffrage we celebrate this year. Suffrage is an important, but partial, expression of women’s political and legal citizenship. We must see the suffrage movement as part of something larger ... as intertwined with the temperance movement, the decades-long demands for married women’s property rights which included the right to make contracts and act on behalf of others, the Populist and Socialist movements and, of course, the right to run for elective office, an act Congressman John Lewis would have called “making good trouble.” more »