Gimme Five: The New York Yankees

The house that Ruth built : a new stadium, the first Yankees championship, and the redemption of 1923 / Robert Weintraub.
New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2011.

In 1923, the losing New York Yankees played their first season on their own field, and everything changed. Babe Ruth bounced back from a contentious season to carry the team to their first title. This is the untold tale of the Yankees' breakout season.

Yankee colors : the glory years of the Mantle era / photographs by Marvin E. Newman ; text by Al Silverman ; foreword by Yogi Berra. New York : Abrams Book, c2009.

Tells the story of the legendary period during the 1950s and 1960s when New York baseball was supreme. This book features many colour photographs and portraits of Yankee greats such as Mickey Mantle,

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning : 1977, baseball, politics, and the battle for the soul of a city / Jonathan Mahler. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

A passionate and dramatic account of a year in the life of a city, when baseball and crime reigned supreme, and when several remarkable figures emerged to steer New York clear of one of its most harrowing periods.

The last boy : Mickey Mantle and the end of America's childhood / Jane Leavy. New York : Harper, c2010.

Drawing on interviews with friends and family, as well as teammates and opponents, "New York Times"-bestselling author Leavy delivers the definitive account of one of the biggest talents and most tragic figures ever to play baseball--Mickey Mantle.

56 : Joe DiMaggio and the last magic number in sports / Kostya Kennedy.
New York, N.Y. : Sports Illustrated Books, c2011.

Recounts Joe DiMaggio's streak during the summer of 1941 and how it found its way into countless lives.

Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts

In ten words or less: Lucky O'Toole is a problem solver at a Vegas casino.

Review: Head of Customer Relations at the Babylon Casino, Lucky O'Toole fixes problems every day that the average person can't even imagine. Today she has a huge naked man sleeping in a stairwell, a "whale" named Fujikara who wrecked one of the casino's Ferraris, an elderly man who wants a hug, and on the nightly news she sees footage of a woman killed while falling from a helicopter into the casino's lagoon.
The Big Boss asks Lucky to investigate, telling her he doesn't trust his new hire in security, Paxton Dane. The news media and the police assume Lyda Sue, the victim, is a suicide. But Lucky doesn't agree. The Big Boss is lying about something, and she doesn't trust Dane. She enlists an eager police detective to help her track down the killer.

Why bother? The Las Vegas casino setting, with all its glitz and excess, provides a bottomless source of odd characters for an entertaining mystery. There's a fair amount of sex, but mostly in a humorous context. Fast paced and funny, readers who enjoy a mixture of chick lit and mystery should pick this one up.

I Shall Not Want by Debbie Viguie

In ten words or less:
Someone is targeting homeless people and their dogs--Cindy investigates.

Review: Cindy is a church secretary who has a habit of stumbling over dead bodies. In the second book of this series, Cindy is at a charity event at the home of one of her church members. Homeless people are matched with dogs from the local shelter. It seems to be going well, but there are protesters outside. When Cindy discovers the host's assistant murdered, and one of the dogs missing, the police can't discover a motive for the crime.
Rabbi Jeremiah Silverman, whose synagogue is next door to Cindy's church, reveals a mysterious past. But more dogs go missing, and more bodies turn up. What has Cindy gotten herself into this time?

Why bother? Readers who enjoy Christian fiction, or those who prefer mysteries without profanity or sex, may enjoy this series.

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston

In ten words or less: Loan shark pursues Anastasia, who is accused of murder.

Review: If Stephanie Plum were a forty-something widow with two teenagers, she might be Anastasia Pollock. After her husband's unexpected death, Anastasia discovers he was a secret gambler who had drained their savings accounts and borrowed heavily. And when she gets threatening calls from someone named Ricardo, she finds out he owed a loan shark $50,000, and the loan shark has no intention of forgiving the loan.
As if she doesn't have enough problems--with her cantankerous mother-in-law sharing her home, her own mother returns from a cruise, sans her latest husband. And an unpleasant co-worker is found dead--the murder weapon is Anastasia's own hot glue gun.

Why bother? Fans of humorous cozy mysteries--like those by Tamar Myers and Mary Daheim--will enjoy Anastasia's escapades. More, please!

Saturday at the Farmers' Market

The first strawberries were out, as well as spinach, zucchini, radishes, and a whole assortment of greens. If you feel compelled to do something with the strawberries other than eat them plain, here's a salad you can try. Everything was available at the market except the oranges.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

6-8 cups of spinach, washed and dried
2 white icicle radishes, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
2 oranges, peeled and sectioned
10 -12 strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced


Combine spinach, radishes, oranges and strawberries. Pour Spring Vinaigrette dressing over all. Serve immediately.

Spring Vinaigrette dressing

3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons finely minced green onions
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

In ten words or less: Was man alive when zipped into body bag? Scarpetta investigates.

Review: Kay Scarpetta's military ties complicate her life and career in the latest offering from Patricia Cornwell. After accepting a scholarship from the Air Force to finance her college and medical school education, Scarpetta found herself tangled in a case involving hate crimes against two Americans in South Africa. Twenty years later, she still has nightmares about the case, and is shocked when the mother of a young man her office has autopsied seems to be dredging up the old case, and accuses Scarpetta of racism.

Scarpetta has been at Dover Air Force base, running a fellowship program on CT-assisted virtual autopsies, when word reachers her from Massachusetts. At her forensic center in Cambridge, a young man who had dropped dead is found in his body bag, and there are indications that he was alive when he was zipped up. Did her office screw up, and why is her second-in-command missing?

Why bother? Cornwell interweaves a number of plots, from the present and the past, and Scarpetta doesn't know who to trust, including her husband and niece. The military mortuary at Dover lent an air of despair and urgency to the mystery.

Saturday at the Farmer's Market

Today was the opening of the Farmer's market for the season. It's been a cold, wet spring here in the frozen north, and the only items for sale were green onions, asparagus, and rhubarb. Here's a great dessert recipe for that rhubarb.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

3/4 lb. diced rhubarb
3/4 lb. sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 stick butter

In a bowl, mix rhubarb, strawberries, and white sugar. Put in a greased, 8 inch square baking pan. In another bowl, mix oats, flour, salt, brown sugar and orange peel until mixture is crumbly. Cut in butter. Sprinkle over fruit in baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Makes 8 servings. You can top each serving with whipped cream or ice cream, but it is perfectly delicious on its own.

May's Books

TV's favorite snoop, Jessica Fletcher, is at it again. In "A Question of murder," while Jessica is attending a writers' conference, one of the actors in a murder mystery play meets his death on state. Who could have killed him, with all eyes on the drama? Jessica solves the murder and leaves the local police in the dust.

Sixkill by Robert B. Parker
Only a game by J.M. Gregson
Devils food cake murder by Joanne Fluke
Memory of running by Ron McLarty
Spoonful of poison by M.C. Beaton
Planet Dagenham by Jeremy Clarkson
Death of a garage sale newbie by Sharon Dunn
Musclebound by Liza Cody
365 ways to cook eggs by Elaine Corn
Drop of the hard stuff by Lawrence Block
Heads you lose by Lisa Lutz
Wreck the halls by Sarah Graves
Question of murder by Donald Bain
A murderous yarn by Monica Ferris
Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies 2010
Wicked fix by Sarah Graves