Pennyworth Books

In 1684, the body of a young woman, who had been violated horribly, is found in a New England river. The tagline of the book states that the story is based on an actual unsolved murder from Colonial American records. However, Mistress Coffin reads more like historical literature than a murder mystery.

Begiebing is an English professor at New Hampshire teaching American Literature (at the time of the copyright), so his writing style reflects the writing of the latter half of the seventeenth century. As historical fiction, the book is superbly written and paints a colorful picture of Colonial life, as a stream of people continues to pour into New England seeking new beginnings and possible fortunes.

As a mystery, it falls flat. No words were wasted on building suspense, as there was no sense of urgency to find the murderer, since the book takes place over the course of over thirty…

Stephen V. Masse combines a flair for writing an imaginative creative plot with colorful conversation and believable, likable characters. In “A Jolly Good Fellow” Duncan Wagner, a professional Santa Claus, who supports himself from the proceeds of his “beggar’s kettle,” plots a kidnapping.

After weeks of careful planning and surveillance, equipped with rope, chain, and duct tape, Duncan is ready to snatch his prey. Eleven-year-old, Gabriel, son of State Representative Win Booker, is the planned victim of the kidnapping. Ironically Gabriel decides to run away from home. He purposefully misses his school bus and is hitchhiking. As Duncan opens the car door to offer the young hitchhiker a ride, Gabriel slips in beside him.

As the plot unfolds there are multiple clever plot twists. Duncan finds Gabriel smart, vulnerable, and demanding. A bonding relationship between an unhappy man and a scared “kid” develops. Duncan soon realizes he has not thought through a…

When confronted with truly life-changing circumstances, such as serious illness, injury or disability, most people find the situation extremely overwhelming and horrifying. Most of us think that something of the kind will never happen to us or our nearest and dearest, and when it does we do not know where to turn to and how to react.

Mr. Eldredge’s “You’ve Gotta Fight Back!” is an inspiring and very much no-nonsense book about fighting back when confronted with such adversity in life. Through more than a dozen touching and encouraging true life stories of people afflicted by different diseases, conditions or accidents we learn about their way of dealing with their conditions. We learn about different approaches to life-changing events and how different people learned to accept the changes and/or learned how to fight back. One of the simple, yet very profound insights in fighting back and being happy again is the…