I love books that are part of a series. This is the ninth book in the Charles Lenox Series of mysteries and is a good read on its own. I was lucky to have started with the first book in the series, A Beautiful Blue Death, chosen as one of the Library Journal's best books of 2007. I then read the subsequent books in the order in which they were written. I recommend this approach to the reader.

This ninth book, as are all of the books in the series, is set in Victorian England in the 1880's. Charles Lenox is a gentleman who has chosen to be an amateur sleuth. The atmosphere is what one hopes for. Charles is often found in his private study viewing soft rain and dense smog out the window, with a good book, cup of tea and a roaring fire to keep him warm.

Yet the aristocratic detective leaves this to fight the depravity and death that is all too common in Victorian London. To our delight his quest takes us to mansions and servant quarters as well as Parliament and Oxford. The characters develop naturally, the plot is interesting, and the suspense palatable. So pull up your chair and enjoy a good read whether it be this book or the whole series.

A beautifully written story about a young man who volunteered for three months to work in an orphanage in Nepal and found the orphaned children were really not orphans but victims of child traffickers who sold them in to slavery. In trying to find the parents of the children to reunite them with their children the author also found his soul. Once I started reading this book I could not put it down.

Nepal has suffered horribly from a corrupt government at war with Maoist guerrillas. The trafficking in children continues. A portion of the proceeds from purchasing this book will go to Next Generation Nepal, the foundation created by the author to continue the work of finding the families of the of trafficked children in Nepal.

Susan Casey has led a life of outdoor adventure including surfing waves. Along with her and the world's greatest surfers the reader vicariously experiences the terror and exhilaration of riding waves all around the world including a 100 foot wave, the holy grail of waves. Reported by sailors and long seen as impossible, satellite imagery has verified their existence. Waves pose a danger not only to surfers who seek them out. The world’s most eminent wave scientists fear the rising sea level, which rose approximately 6.7 inches in the twentieth century, will create waves which not only threaten the world's coastal shores but some of our greatest cities. There is a sense in this book that not only surfers but all of us should as one scientist says, "Go grab a couple of those total 'now' moments, because that’s all there’s gonna be anyway."