False Colours

 

By Georgette Heyer

Christopher "Kit" Fancot come home to London unexpectedly from his diplomatic service on the continent only to find his poor mother very upset about the disappearance of his twin brother, Evelyn. Adding to her distress is the knowledge that her debts may be part of the reason Evelyn has vanished. 

After their father, the Earl of Denville, died, his wife's debts should have been paid out of his estate. But Lady Denville failed to disclose just how much money she owed. For try as she might, she never learned how to be prudent with money. So her debts fell upon the Earl's heir, the older twin, Evelyn. 

Unfortunately, the estate is in trust until Evelyn turns 25 because his father thought his son was too flighty and careless to be in charge of the fortune he would inherit. However, if he showed he has settled down by marrying a suitable young woman, the trust would be ended and he would have access to the funds needed to pay off his mother's debts. Toward that end, Evelyn proposed and was accepted by Cressy Stavely.

Neither Evelyn nor Cressy is in love with each other. We know why Evelyn has proposed. We find out that Cressy is very unhappy in her father's house since he remarried. Her stepmother doesn't like Cressy and life has become uncomfortable for Cressy. Anxious to break away from a bad situation, Cressy is willing to get married if that is what it takes.

Kit is informed by their mother that Evelyn is supposed to attend a dinner at Cressy's house in order to meet her family and gain the approval of the Dowager Lady Stavely, her grandmother. So if Evelyn is a no-show, it will mean the end of the engagement and Lady Denville's financial problems will continue to mount. Kit jokes that he could step in for Evelyn as they are identical twins and Lady Denville loves the idea. She talks Kit into it, when she explains how important it is to both her and to Evelyn, who is finding the lack of control of his inheritance dispiriting and humiliating.

Kit makes it through the dinner and the plan is for him to travel to the ancestral home in the country and thus remain in seclusion until Evelyn turns up or can be located. But events conspire to thrust Kit and Cressy together and Kit finds he is falling in love with Cressy and she with him. Meanwhile, no trace of Evelyn is found, until he shows up one night. He informs Kit and Lady Denville that he can't marry Cressy because he has fallen in love with another woman! 

This was a fun read, watching Kit and Lady Denville trying to succeed in hiding his true identity from everyone. I did enjoy the book but of Heyer's romances, it is not one of my favorites. But it is still a good read.

Here is a review by Laurel Ann Nattress on Austenprose.

The Dirty Dozen

 

By E. M. Nathanson

It's World War II and the US military has come up with a plan: Select twelve military prisoners, some slated to be executed, and train them in behind-the-lines operations and sneak them into Europe to wreak havoc on the Nazi war machine. The man in charge of training these prisoners is Captain John Reisman, a man with an extensive military and mercenary experience. His job is to turn these thugs, murderers, rapists and thieves into the reliable and trustworthy soldiers they never were. His method involves rigorous physical training and gradually gaining their trust. He helped in this task by a young lieutenant whose specialty is psychological warfare. 

What a disappointment this book was! I was expecting a story of a group of  reformed villains, working together to sabotage the German war effort. Instead, 97% of the book is about Reisman's training of these criminals. Their secret mission only takes up about 15 pages at the end of the book. I kept reading and kept reading and I was getting puzzled as to when the story of the mission would appear. True, it was interesting reading about the prisoners being trained. But 500 pages of it? Too much! The story I wanted was just a footnote to the rest of it.

Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews from 1965.

Riders of the Storm

 

By Julie E. Czerneda

Book Two of Stratification 

Aryl Sarc and the other outcasts of the Yena Clan set off to find a new home. They stumble across the remains of an old village and find it is well stocked with provisions that will help them survive the winter. They also discover the original inhabitants were slaughtered, as their bones litter the ground. Still, with winter coming on, they have little choice but to stay in the abandoned village known as Sona. 

This was a much better read than the first book, Reap the Wild Wind.  I found that first book a bit confusing. This one just held together better and didn't have as big a story to tell as the first, although it is just as long, over 400 pages in the paperback version. I was so discouraged by the first book that I let the second sit for years before tackling it. But it was much easier to read and more enjoyable. I might even go so far as to get the third book in the series, Rift in the Sky. 

The Invisible MAD

 

Edited by Albert B. Feldstein

Excerpts from MAD Magazine dating from the 1960s and 1970s. Includes:

• Will Success Spoil Charlie Brown?
• The MAD Library of Extremely Thin Books
• Spy vs Spy
• Advantages of the Suburbs for Kids
• Don Martin cartooons
• Dave Berg's The Lighter Side of Friendship
• Mission: Ridiculous
• MAD's Medical Mother Goose
• More Announcements for Everything
• MAD's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
• Air Pollution Problems of the Future
• You Know You're Really Getting Old When

A fun read, with lots of content, a trip to the humorous past for the young and the old.