A Fatal Glass of Beer (Toby Peters, 20) Stuart M. Kaminsky. MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (ISBN: 9781453247525) 2012, first published 1997.
Summary: Toby Peters is hired by W.C. Fields to find the imposter emptying Fields’ bank accounts across the country.
In number 20 in the series, Hollywood detective Toby Peters is hired by W.C. Fields to find the person emptying Fields’ bank accounts. As Fields travelled across the country, he opened accounts under names like Otis J. Raisincluster, Quigley E. Sneersight, and Cormorant Beecham III. All told, he had about a million dollars in those different accounts. Now, someone has stolen about half of the bank books associated with the accounts and is withdrawing the funds.
So, he hires Toby Peters to catch up to the thief and recover the money. But he doesn’t leave it at that. He wants to accompany Peters. That’s where Gunther Whertman, who we met in Murder on the Yellow Brick Road comes in. Peter hires him to drive Fields’ Cadillac. What results is a madcap adventure across the country beginning in Philadelphia. In a note, the thief identifies himself as Lester O. Hipnoodle, and through a police friend, they find his apartment in Philadelphia. But no Hipnoodle. Only a note where he is going to strike next.
Oddly, although it seems Hipnoodle wants them to follow, a caller warns them not to, on danger of death. But that doesn’t deter Fields, who has survived his share of scrapes, as Peters will hear. However, Hipnoodle outfoxes them at each bank, using a fake ID and the bank book to empty the account, leaving a clue to where he would hit next. As they pursue, they are pursued by someone they identify as “The Chimp” and the threats become real. Is one person behind all this, they wonder?
The story portrays Fields as dauntless, one who doesn’t suffer fools gladly, yet generous. Also, he often thinks he is funnier than he is. But the combination of Fields, Gunther, and Peters makes for great fun. Meanwhile, the dentist he shares an office with yields to move Peters and his receptionist out.
In sum, this isn’t great detective fiction, although there are some interesting plot twists. Rather, this is just a fun, cross-country romp.
Summary: In seasons of imminent change, a guide to holy waiting infused with God’s presence and promise.
The season of Advent, preceding Christmas, is not the only time in our lives when we wait. Seasons of waiting populate our lives. Applying for college and awaiting admission. Sensing it is time to change jobs, or even career direction, but not quite sure to what yet. Preparing for marriage or the birth of one’s first child. Experiencing loss and waiting with our grief to see what life will hold subsequently.
Laurie Brink, OP has written this book as a guide for how we might wait in such times of transition. She calls navigating this liminal space “radical advent”:
“I call this liminal space radical advent, which is first and foremost a holy waiting, infused with God’s presence and promise. The term “radical,” coming from the Latin word for “root,” reflects the deeply rooted nature of this liminal space and time. We are not talking about waiting to check out at the grocery store. Radical advent is serious waiting–waiting for your test results, waiting to hear good news, waiting beside the bed of a loved one. Radical advent is the waiting that accompanies the profound moments of transition in our lives” (p. 4).
Brink proposes eight “stepping stones” as we wait through times of transition. The first is to look for and respond to God’s invitation, as Abram did, when he went to the land God would show him. Then secondly, we choose to go forward, as Naomi and Ruth did in their partnership of hesed.
Third, is discerning a new vocation, as Peter did in the boat as he falls at Jesus feet and Jesus invites him to fish for people. To say “yes” to a new vocation is to go deeper in friendship with God. But, fourthly, a new vocation often means crossing boundaries. It did for Jesus and the Samaritan woman, as they enter “into another’s garden,” resulting in faith for many in Samaria. Likewise, new vocations and boundary crossing lead to the fifth stepping stone of counting the costs. It may mean leaving a place we’ve called “home” for we know not what.
Not only do we leave home. We also recognize the destination, the sixth stepping stone. Specifically, for the follower of Jesus, that destination is always “Jerusalem” in some form. In some way, we will embrace the call to lose our lives for Christ’s sake. Seventh, the call to follow Jesus is a call to become reconciled. Through Christ, we are reconciled to God, who no longer counts our trespasses against us. But that also means that we reconcile with those we’ve wronged. Finally, our new situation means crossing the eighth stepping stone of changed expectations. For example, Mary of Magdala did not expect the death of the one who had healed her. Then, when she went to the tomb, expecting to anoint a dead body, she did not expect to encounter Jesus alive, until he called her name.
Brink devotes a chapter to each of the stepping stones, including relevant biblical narratives and personal commentary. Then she offers prompts for reflecting and a four step process of reading, reflecting, responding, and returning.
This is not a traditional book on the Season of Advent. Rather, it is about all the “Advents” of our lives and how we might both await and respond to all the “comings” of the Lord to us. Change is not always something we like. But change happens. The “stepping stones” of this book position us to experience change as a sacred encounter. And it assures us that in change, God wants to meet us afresh and deepen our relationship with Him.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club, 4), Richard Osman. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780593299449) 2024.
Summary: The Thursday Murder Club investigates the murder of Stephen’s friend Kuldesh while Stephen’s dementia worsens.
Remember Kuldesh Sharma? He was an antiques dealer and an old friend of Stephen’s who helped with a key piece of information in a previous case. A stranger brought an old box to his shop, asked a small amount for it with the assurance that another man would come the next day and offer him more. That night, he makes some calls, drives to a remote lane, and is murdered.
While Chris and Donna investigate, the Thursday Murder Club kicks into action. Bogdan had gotten the news and they could not let the murderer of Stephen’s friend go free. One of the first things they learn is that the box is missing. And it turns out there are a lot of people interested in it, mainly because of its contents–a large quantity of heroin. Although it was a local murder, the National Crime Agency send their senior agent, Jill Regan, to take over, kicking Chris and Donna of the case and out of their offices.
It turns out that the heroin network wants to find the box as well. The supplier is threatening death if they don’t pay up. And Samantha and Garth Barnes, who specialize in art fraud take an interest as well. As does a university professor, Nina Mishra. There’s a long list of suspects–until one by one, they start dying.
Part of the fun is that the Thursday Murder Club seems to have more information than Jill Regan. Meanwhile, they also are having fun trapping a romance fraudster bilking one of the residents out of money. But Elizabeth isn’t able to join all the fun.
Stephen’s dementia is worsening. Chapter 13 narrates Stephen’s increasing confusion in a remarkable description of the experience of dementia. It is clear he and Elizabeth are facing some hard decisions. This is a major subplot of the book. Osman’s treatment is sensitive and insightful.
However, Elizabeth is there for the denouement after a number of plot twists. Meanwhile, Joyce steps up her leadership while Elizabeth is absent. And Ibrahim continues to develop an interesting relationship with Connie.
In a conversation at the end of the book, Osman announces that the Thursday Murder Club will be on hiatus for a time while he introduces a new series (We Solve Murders being the first). I do hope Osman is able to keep his word. I love how this series is developing!
Accidental Pagans, Ryan Lokkesmoe. Tyndale | Elevate (ISBN: 9798400509674) 2026.
Summary: Christians often embrace a fear-driven faith more like pagan beliefs rather than living in freedom and joyful faith.
Ryan Lokkesmoe observes in this book that we often live out of a fear-driven view of God. This is not the healthy “fear of the Lord” that is an awareness that we live all of our lives before God. Rather, it is a view of God that thinks we have to get the words of our prayers “just right” and tick off lists of “the right things to do” or God will be unhappy with us. When we do so, he suggests that we live more like ancient pagans, not in the sense of immorality, but in the sense of a fear-based faith. Because we don’t intend it, we are accidental pagans.
What might be signs we are accidental pagans? Here are some of the indicators, according to Lokkesmoe:
We see ourselves as minor players in a cosmos where God holds little affection for us.
God is thin-skinned and temperamental and we may easily offend him.
We’re not convinced that God always acts morally or may be trusted.
God is not really present in every domain of life.
Likewise, God is more present in some parts of the world than others.
God changes. For example the Old Testament God of wrath gives way to a New Testament God of love.
God needs visible expressions of our faith to show us as serious followers of Christ.
We have to work hard to get God’s attention.
God is mysterious, unknowable, and always will be.
Likewise, God doesn’t understand what our lives are like.
Lokkesmoe devotes a chapter to each of these fears. First he sets the fear against the ancient pagan perspective, particularly that of the Greek and Roman gods of the New Testament era. Then he sets that against the truth as revealed in the Bible. Finally he offers practical steps by which we may counter this aspect of accidental paganism. For example, where we may question God’s goodness, he suggests we ask where we get our ideas of right and wrong. He also invites us to see God as even more upset about suffering than we are, and that God is just as present in our valleys.
Lokkesmoe concludes by reminding us of the many times in scripture where people hear, “Do not be afraid” from an angel or from Jesus himself. He offers this encouragement:
“Let’s not be accidental pagans who are afaid of God; let’s be intentional Christians who trust him. Because of Jesus, we know who God is and who we are in his eyes. He is good, all-powerful, ever-present, compassionate, just, faithful, slow to anger, abounding in love, ever-attentive, knowable, and comprehending of our experiences. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, and he is infinitely better than we could ever dream or imagine him to be” (p. 148).
In addition, Lokkesmoe includes five Bible studies that may be used on their own or with the book. They cover origins, God’s stability, omnipresence, attention, and God’s knowledge of us and ours of God. Not only do the studies include questions to reflect on biblical passage but also a video discussion.
People sometimes tell me they don’t believe in God. I often ask them to tell me about the God they don’t believe in. Most often, I tell them I don’t believe in that God either. Likewise, many Christians are troubled by needless fears about God. In many instances, the issue is “accidental pagan” beliefs. This book is helpful both in naming and countering those beliefs. For some, this could help them come to faith in Christ and know the triune God. For others, it could mean stepping into the “perfect love that casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Lokkesmoe combines a clear presentation with a warm pastoral presence creating the space to reconsider our fearful beliefs. He offers a compelling vision of the beauty of the God who loves us.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
I have over 4,000 books in my pocket. And the device in my pocket can access the libraries of the world. Never has it been more evident to me that there are SO many books and so little time. Yet at a time of such unprecedented access, statistics would suggest that many of us are reading less than ever.
So what is the deal? I can’t help but think that the same device offering access to so many books also serves to distract us from them. Social media apps are designed to keep us scrolling. And it trains us to read in bits and bytes. Consequently, our longform reading muscles are going flabby.
I also wonder if many of us are simply too busy and too spent when we are not busy to read a book. Watching a video or listening to a podcast are far easier. And there is a wide range of good options.
If that’s you, no problem. But for a change of pace, may I suggest that some evening you grab a mug, and spend a quiet evening with an engrossing book. The stories we watch on the screens of our minds can be far richer than on our other screens. Need a recommendation? Your local bookseller or librarian would be glad to help. There’s a world of books available.
Five Articles Worth Reading
Several years ago, I had the chance to host physician and ethicist Lydia Dugdale in a forum talking about end of life issues. In “The Literacy Cure,” she discusses childhood literacy and explores why we are failing children when we know how to teach kids reading.
“Librarians on Libraries” features a host of librarians talking about what they actually do, the challenges they face, and what libraries need.
As we get older, we pay attention to our mental processes for signs of any deterioration. But what if you were from a family suffering from a hereditary condition leading to dementia? “The Mysteries of Human Personality” reviews Robert Kolker’s The Vanishing Family. While focusing on frontotemporal dementia, the book considers broader issues of dementia care and treatment.
Philosopher Matthew Adelstein posited the provocative idea that insects matter more than people. Sounds like something a philosopher might do for a good argument. It’s caused quite an online stir. In “Do Insects Matter More than People?,” Paul Nedilisky explores what arguments can and cannot do.
October is LGBTQ+ History Month. Whatever your beliefs, I’m persuaded that it is valuable to understand other communities from the inside. JSTOR has assembled another of its fabled article collections that can help with this in “Reading for LGBTQ+ History Month.”
Quote of the Week
Poet Wallace Stevens was born October 2, 1879. He said something that sounds like me.
“It’s not always easy to tell the difference between thinking and looking out of the window.”
Miscellaneous Musings
Earler, I mentioned the plethora of books and resources at our disposal in the internet age. The folks at Mere Orthodoxy are adding to that with “The Faith Received,” an online collection of 19,597 (currently) theological texts from the early church to the early modern period. There are scans of texts, original language, and English translations. And its all free. The website offers six different tours to show how to make the most of the resources available.
Computers hit the scene a few years before I was born. Jill Lepore’s new The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State begins with chronicling a history of all the development I’ve scene in our lifetime and the warnings as early as the 1950’s of how our technology could come to shape or even control our society. It’s a conversation that has gone on for sixty years, one, by and large, that the tech industry has preferred we not have.
It’s funny how TBR piles work. I currently seem to be in a patch of long books. Just finished one on Jonathan Edwards, am in the middle of one on early Christian theology, and have awaiting me the longest of these, a landmark work on the Apostle Paul. I try to compensate with shorter and easier to read books, including some children’s books.
Summary: Argues for consciousness opposing dualism, materialism, and cognitive science, proposing biological naturalism.
I recall a debate between Christian and atheist philosophers in which the atheist made a telling admission. He suggested that the problem of consciousness and how to explain it as a materialist atheist was one of the most vexing philosophical problems. John R. Searle would contend that some have dealt with consciousness and “the mind” by simply eliminating these realities altogether. In this book, he argues for the “rediscovery” of mind and consciousness.
In the early chapters of this book, Searle argues against both dualism, which he argues is incoherent and against reductive materialism in its various flavors. Specifically, he offers critiques of behaviorism, type identity theories, token-token identity theories, black box functionalism and strong artificial intelligence. This last is especially relevant and may need revisiting as AI has advanced to the point where even some of its developers wonder whether it is conscious. However, Searle’s rejection of computational models to account for consciousness leads him to reject the whole enterprise of cognitive science.
What Searle argues for instead is what he calls biological naturalism. He argues that consciousness is a higher level biological process dependent upon more basic and observable substrates of neurochemical processes. However, consciousness is not objectively observable, having a “first person ontology.”
Perhaps one of the most fascinating parts of the book is his discussion of the interaction of conscious and unconscious processes. What happens to our beliefs when we are asleep? How do we understand the content of dreams? And what is the role of intentionality in all of this? He also, contra Chomsky, argues against unconscious syntactic rules for understanding the world.
All in all, it is a fascinating discussion but I concluded that Searle wanted to eat his cake and have it too. He wants to rescue consciousness from both dualists and reductive materialists. He does this by arguing for consciousness as a higher level, yet still a biologically based process. Hence, it is not directly accessible to study. This sounds a bit like dualism. It seems to me like a bit of a halfway house solution. Like halfway houses, one must either go back or go on.
That said, his discussion of materialist accounts of the mind was worth the price of admission. And I think it is helpful to question whether we are locked into a false dichotomy in discussing dualism versus materialism and I see his effort as one seeking to transcend it. I just don’t think he has.
