Product Description
Midnight Louie, the black tomcat detective with a nose for the notorious, is back in the eighth volume of Carole Nelson Douglas's popular series. When the head honcho of a Madison Avenue ad agency forgoes his traditional Santa suit for a company party and hires an actor instead, someone puts the substitute in permanent deep freeze. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Louie Takes Manhattan
I have to admit so far, this was my favorite Midnight Louie mystery.When Santa is murdered, Louie is on the case along with persistant Miss Temple Barr, they will not rest until the case is solved.The descriptions of New York and it's beauty and hustle and bustle made me smile, remembering my trips to the big apple. Temple's Aunt Kit is a hoot! I enjoyed all the background info into the 1960's.
There is a lot of action and developments in the subplots, involing Cliff Effinger, and Temple's suitors Max and Matt.I especially enjoyed Matt's holdiay trip home to Chicago to confront his family and to try and get some answers to the questions about his life growing up and his ethnic background. His Christmas opens up his mind to new possibilites.
As usual, Midnight Louie is the best.You never know what he will do next!
Very enjoyable and well written.Thank you, Ms. Douglas, for such good story telling.I cannot wait to read the next book!

Fantastic Who-Done-It for the Holidays
Las Vegas advertiser, Temple Barr, and her black tomcat, Midnight Louie, are looking for a fun holiday vacation in New York City, where Temple will play stage Mother to Louie, in an attempt to land him a part as a pet star in a new commercial. In Temple's opinion, New York City is filled with lights, people, and best of all, no dead bodies. But when the boss of an ad agency dresses up as Jolly Old Saint Nick for a holiday party, Midnight Louie just knows it's a trap, and before they know it, Saint Nick is dead, and Temple and Midnight Louie are on the case. But between detective work, Louie's rival in Temple's love, Max, appears with a surprise holiday proposal, which leaves Temple breathless, and may leave Louie out in the cold.

This was my first Carole Nelson Douglas novel, and I am not at all disappointed in the turn out of it. Midnight Louie is a great character, who keeps you hanging on his every word, even though he's only a cat, and leaves you wanting more. Temple, while a tiny woman, is a tough one. Her rambunctious personality keeps you turning the pages until the crime is solved, and the case is put to rest. Douglas is a fantastic author who pulls you into the story, and doesn't let you out until the very last sentence. Her frequent talk about AIDS in the novel proves that she is very socially conscious, and interested in spreading the word of being safe. A fantastic who-done-it for the holidays that all mystery fans will enjoy and relish in.

Erika Sorocco

Carole Nelson Douglas - Does it again... A GREAT READ!!!!!
The Midnight Louie mysteries series is a GREAT READ!!! The deiscriptions of Las Vegas ( and in this book New York) are right on the money and makes the reader long to take a trip to Las Vegas!!

With each new book, theplot gets thicker, the competition between Max and Matt gets better witheach new installment! Which one will Temple choose??Midnight Louis is acat after my own heart, and I love his point of view and devotion to hishuman.

Congrations to Carole Nelson Douglas on a another hit book!!

Merry Christmas from everyone's favorite feline PI
They're back, Midnight Louie, that irresistable dude about town and his favorite human, Temple Barr.This time, the duo sets out to take the Big Apple by storm as Louie auditions for the position of chief spokescat. Once again, however, they find themselves in the thick of another murder asthe actor hired to play Santa Claus at the ad agency Christmas party, turnsup dead.Never fear, Louie is on the case, sniffing out clues (and catnip)wherever they may be! Meanwhile, in Las Vegas. ex-priest, Matt Devine,keeps Lt. Molina's life from becoming dull as he tracks down the illusiveCliff Effinger, while Temple's other beau, Max Kinsella tries some holidaymagic of his own. Douglas paints a vivid picture of her characters, bothhuman and feline, and their relationships, while weaving a mystery thatkeeps the reader engrossed until the last page.Merry Christmas to all andto all a good read from Carole Nelson Douglas and Midnight Louie!

Midnight Louie srikes again:)
Las Vegas publicist Temple Barr sheds her professional persona to become the doting stage mother to her feline companion, the audacious Midnight Louie.Madison Avenue gurus are thinking of using Louie as a spokes-cat for a feline product.Temple, believing that her "Baby" needs his chance to shine, accompanies him to New York where they stay at her aunt's place.

Wherever Temple goes, a corpse will follow.During a Christmas party given by the owners of the advertising agency, Santa Claus chokes to death while performing.At first, everyone thinks that the president of the company died, but soon it is realized that the deceased is someone else.The incident seems too freaky to be an accident so Temple and Louie will not rest until they know for sure.

NYC, seen through the eyes of Temple and Louie, is a humorous and ingenious experience that almost seems absurd.Carole Nelson Douglas provides lovable Louie with several believable anthropomorphic traits that makes him seem like a feline with a human brain inside.CAT IN A GOLDEN GARLAND has a very complex sub-plot involving one of the heroine's erstwhile suitors, allowing readers a chance to understand what drives him yet holds him back from committing to his beloved.This entire series is unique and refreshing and highly recommended for someone who enjoys a different type of mystery.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Product Description
Asking for a raise, ending a relationship, saying no to someone in need. At work, home, and across the garden fence, difficult conversations are attempted or avoided every day. This book shows the reader how to manage their emotions and deal with these difficult conversations.Amazon.com Review
We've all been there: We know we must confront a coworker,store clerk, or friend about some especially sticky situation--and weknow the encounter will be uncomfortable. So we repeatedly mull itover until we can no longer put it off, and then finally stumblethrough the confrontation. Difficult Conversations, by DouglasStone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, offers advice for handling theseunpleasant exchanges in a manner that accomplishes their objective anddiminishes the possibility that anyone will be needlessly hurt. Theauthors, associated with Harvard Law School and the Harvard Project onNegotiation, show how such dialogues actually comprise three separatecomponents: the "what happened" conversation (verbalizing what webelieve really was said and done), the "feelings" conversation(communicating and acknowledging each party's emotional impact), andthe "identity" conversation (expressing the situation's underlyingpersonal meaning). The explanations and suggested improvements are,admittedly, somewhat complicated. And they certainly don't guaranteepositive results. But if you honestly are interested in elevating yourcommunication skills, this book will walk you through both mistakesand remedies in a way that will boost your confidence when suchunavoidable clashes arise. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (156)

Teaches a lot
A must have for all the people who have difficulties in communications. The book shows you how to approach other people.

Fabulous Communication Tool!
I have suggested this book to everyone I know. It really breaks conversations down to our own issues and assumptions. You are forced to deal with the three conversations that are really happening: The 'What really happened?'conversation, The emotions conversation, and the Identity conversation. Once I really tore apart some of the conversations that I had been wanting to have with these ideas in mind, they didn't seem to very difficult at all. One of the key messages is that avoidance is just as bad as having the conversation because it erodes relationships. There is also a huge focus on assumptions. We always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, yet how often do we really do that with others? It is a quick, easy read that will leave you ready to tackle the big conversations in your own life.

Easy reading
Easy to read, full of immediately applicable advice, and focused on a subject relevant to any human being: interpersonal relationships. I learned as much from this book as from seven years of psychotherapy (but then again maybe I learned only because the therapy prepared me to really listen...). I even bought a copy to my former boss!

Difficult Conversations
I had heard that this was a good book for those in my field: Psychotherapy, and it is indeed. But it is a great book for dealing with any situations that trigger emotions in any setting: family,work,and social settings. It is a well written, easy to follow book that gives the reader new tools. I have been recommending it to others that I supervise as well as friends and family.

Useful reading for business people and those who seek to improve relationships
This is a useful book, but in my mind, is applicable very narrowly to certain business situations.

Throughout our lives, how many times do we feel that if only we could have communicated better, we wouldn't be where we are.If I communicated more clearly and with purpose, would my relationship be better?Would my friendships be less strained?Would my interaction with my co-workers be less awkward?Would I have been promoted more quickly, or prevented being fired?

While this book doesn't present answers to such specific scenarios, the book analyzes elements having a difficult conversation in a methodical manner, 'to discuss what matters most.'In that sense, the book is instrumental for any manager to become familiar with, in order to address those instances that organizational leaders inevitably face: how to confront difficult people or situations and dealing with them in a proper manner. Analytically speaking, the authors break down the conversational approach into three types: 1) "What Happened"?, 2) Feelings, and 3) Identity Conversations.

The book itself is an offshoot of the Harvard Negotiation Project (an earlier title from that project is the famous "Getting to Yes" by Ury and Fisher).

My opinion of book's main limitations are two-fold: One is that it might best pertain to hierarchical organizations.Otherwise, it's not always helpful to have structured approach when talking about matters of heart ... it doesn't work that way in life.When it comes to things of heart, honesty, confession, and parable may be more appropriate, to present a few examples.Second limitation is that even in a business setting, what leads to difficult conversations are bad management and engagement amongst co-workers.In that case, the problems arise long before the need for a difficult conversation.

Hence, in my mind, this book is applicable very narrowly to certain business situations. ... Read more

Product Description
This completely revised and updated edition of Key Topics in Anaesthesia contains essential information on over 100 major subjects pertinent to modern clinical practice in anaesthesia. The uniform, systematic structure of the text is designed to encourage a problem-based approach to clinical scenarios.The book is the ideal revision aid for trainee anaesthetists and a useful reference source for qualified anaesthetists. ... Read more

Product Description
One spring morning in 1957, veteran photojournalist David Douglas Duncan paid a visit to his friend and frequent photographic subject Pablo Picasso, at the artistÕs villa near Cannes. As copilot alongside Duncan in his Mercedes Gullwing 300 SL was the photographerÕs dachshund, Lump. Photographer and dog were close companions, but DuncanÕs nomadic lifestyle and his other dog Ñ a giant Afghan hound who had tormented the autocratic and temperamental Lump Ñ made home life in Rome difficult. When they arrived at PicassoÕs Villa La Californie that historic day, Lump decided that he had found paradise on earth, and that he would move in with Picasso, whether the artist wanted him to or not.

This is the background for an utterly original book that offers an uncommonly sensitive portrait of Picasso. Lump was immortalized in a Picasso portrait painted on a plate the day they met, but that was just the beginning. In a suite of 45 paintings reinterpreting Vel‡squezÕs masterpiece Las Meninas, Picasso replaced the impassive hound in the foreground with jaunty renderings of Lump. Fifteen of those paintings are reproduced here in full color, juxtaposed with DuncanÕs dramatic and intimate black-and-white photographs of Picasso and Lump, bringing full circle the odyssey of a fortunate dachshund who found his way from reluctant road warrior to furry and elongated icon of modern art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Picasso & Lump: A Dachshund's Odyssey
Picasso & Lump: A Dachshund's Odyssey is a heartwarming read for the dachshund lover and any one else fond of Dogs and Picasso.He treated his little doxie as a good friend & muse.The photos are delightful.

Picasso & Lump
As an art and animal lover, this book was a treat to read and to linger over each photo, including the author/photographer's Gullwing Mercedes.I felt like a guest in Picasso's villa.This was to be a gift for my friends with two dogs...one being Bella, a mini-dachshund...but I couldn't part with it and purchased another book for them.

Beautiful Dachshund Love Story!
This is a great book ~ loved the photos and story of Picasso and his love for the little dachshund Lump! Any dachshund lover will appreciate this book. Makes a great gift! Highly recommended!!!!!

birthday gift
This purchase was a gift for a dachshund-obsessed friend's birthday.He loved the book and the photos, so I'm giving it 5-stars.As for the buying experience, the book came earlier than expected, so I'm satisfied.

Interesting little book
If you love all things Doxie andyouare not looking for just another silly picture book ( although there are great photos included) you'll love it. ... Read more

Product Description
Australian Sir Douglas Mawson chose not to go with Robert Scott to the South Pole in 1911, but instead set out on a less prestigious expedition to chart Antarctica's coastline. Mawson was not inexperienced - in 1908 he had led an important expedition to the South Magnetic Pole - but nothing could have prepared him for what happened on this trek. Mawson's task was to chart 1,500 miles of coastline and claim it for the British crown. Setting out in a party of three, he faced mountains, crevasse-filled glaciers, and 60-mile-per-hour winds. Six weeks and 320 miles out, one man fell into a crevasse, along with the tent, most equipment, and all but a week's supply of food. After losing his other companion and the dogs, Mawson fought his way back home alone through horrific wind, snow, and cold to leave his own mark in history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Man vs. Continent
It's a bit rich to put right in the subtitle of a book that it is the greatest of its genre (blame the publishers, not Bickel), but Bickel's book may just pull it off.I say "may" because I haven't read every polar survival story, but this one is pretty fantastic.I have read quite a lot about Antarctica, and especially about Antarctic exploration (though little about the northern polar region), so I approached this book with some knowledge of the context within which the events took place.And I knew a bit about the Australian explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson by reference from other books.(He had, for example, been on a previous expedition with Shackleton.)But there is nothing quite like a detailed account drawn in part from Mawson's own journal to give a sense of immediacy to this amazing story of ambition, loss, and survival.Mawson does not receive the same attention as the other leading figures of the "heroic age" of Antarctic exploration (Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton), but his ambition was no less powerful even if his desire for fame was perhaps less prominent than that of his contemporaries.Indeed, he declined a personal invitation by Robert Scott to join him on his quest to be first to the South Pole.Had Mawson accepted, it is highly likely Scott would have chosen him as one of the small party to make the final dash to the pole, and that, with Scott and his other companions, Mawson would have died of cold and hunger on the way back.But Mawson's interests lay elsewhere.He wanted to explore vast reaches of the continent where no one had set foot, to claim those lands (and their potential mineral wealth) for the king, and to send a team to accurately mark the South Magnetic Pole.As it was, Mawson very nearly suffered the same fate as Scott, surviving only by the barest of margins.SPOILER ALERT: Don't read further if you don't want to know what happened.The short version is this: In January 1912 Mawson and his party landed at Cape Denison, where they established a base and waited out the Antarctic winter, using the time to train and make preparations for several sledging teams to undertake specific exploration missions.In November of that year, Mawson and two companions (Ninnis and Mertz) set out from their main base on an ambitious expedition to explore and map hundreds of miles of Antarctic territory.This was in an area Mawson described as the "kingdom of blizzards," a land of unspeakable cold, rugged ice, treacherous (and often hidden) crevasses, and fearsome winds.The men had to carry enough food and other supplies for the entire journey, since except for a snow cavern that Mawson's team built a little over 5 miles from their main base and dubbed "Aladdin's Cave," there were no caches of food to aim for on the outbound or inbound journeys.When they were not far short of the distance Mawson had intended to go, disaster struck.Ninnis fell through an unstable snow covering over a deep crevasse and fell to his death, taking the team's best dogs, many of their supplies, and most of their food with him.There was no choice but to turn back at that point, but it was going to be a desperate struggle with severely-diminished manpower, dog-power, food, and supplies.As food dwindled and the dogs weakened to the point of ineffectiveness, the two explorers killed them and ate what remained.The dog meat--and particularly the livers--contributed to Mertz's physical and mental illness.(The condition was only identified decades later, through the discovery that dogs' livers contain amounts of Vitamin A that are toxic to humans.Bickel attributes Mawson's relatively milder case of the disease to the fact that he fed more of the liver to Mertz in an unsuccessful attempt to shore up the failing health of his companion and friend.)After Mertz died--delirious, rambling, wasted away to nearly nothing--Mawson continued on alone, with over one hundred miles still to go before he could reach the safety of the winter hut.He was in a severely weakened state himself, with little food, few supplies, and slim prospects of ever seeing anyone again.But his iron will and his belief that Providence would guide him kept him going against the longest odds imaginable.Day after day he trudged on, more than once falling into deep crevasses that would have been his doom if not for a rope ladder he fashioned, in a moment of inspiration, allowing him to climb back up to his sledge again and again.The discovery of a snow cairn containing a bag of food and a message, left by a party sent to look for him from the relief ship sent to return the entire expedition team back to Australia, gave him renewed hope.But it was still a miracle that he found "Aladdin's Cave" and, after a frustrating weather delay of several days, made his wayback to the hut.As a parting shot at Mawson's perseverance, the three men who had stayed behind in the hope that Mawson would return informed him that the relief ship "Aurora" had left only that morning.Mawson sent a radio message for it to return, but ice and weather prevented a landing.Mawson and his companions stayed another winter on the continent.It's an amazing story of survival, iron will, and the strength of slim hope in the face of almost certain destruction.Bickel tells the story well, allowing Mawson, through diaries and later accounts, to speak for himself often enough to heighten the intensity and the intimacy.For me, it doesn't have quite the drama of Shackleton's "Endurance" story (particularly as recounted in Alfred Lansing's book), but that may simply be because of my long interest in Shackleton.There's really no point in comparing the two stories and trying to decide which is more dramatic.It's like asking which river is wetter.They are both remarkable.Shackleton's last expedition never made it to the Antarctic continent, so as far as I am concerned the subtitle of this book can stay.If I read a more unlikely story of Antarctic survival against even greater odds, I may need oxygen.

A tale to chill your bones and give you nightmares
Mawson's Antarctic survival story is THE worst experience ever lived by any polar explorer. Even worst than the Crozier Party harrowing tale, worse than the Ross Sea party dismal experience, worse than the Endurance nightmare, worse than the Karluk disaster, worse than the longest winter experienced by Victor The Wicked Mate Campbell's group in 1912. What Douglas Mawson had to do to survive is incredible, incredible. The book is wonderfully writen, a quick read and it will stimulate your interest in all polar explorations.

You will not spend money more wisely on a book.

outstanding story
Douglas Mawson was one of the greatest polar explorers ever and this is a gripping retelling of his story. I bought it because I had read it years ago & recently gave it to a friend who had visited Antarctica -- it really gives a feel for what exploring those forbidding regions was like and what raw courage it took.

Incredible exhausting story - look for maps online
An incredible story of survival in unimaginable conditions - this book cost me sleep, for I couldnt put it down. You cant go to sleep in a nice warm bed with a guy hanging in an ice crevasse on a gracier!

This is the second book on arctic/antarctic exploration I've read. Both books have left me breathless. The first was The Ice Master, which, while an incredible story, isnt as well written as Mawson's will.

When the book arrived I was surprised that it was only 250 pages, but I soon found that that was part of the quality of this book - the author keeps the story moving along. To be honest I dont think I could have coped if it was twice as long!

The story and the writing are superb, but one criticism I have of the book is that there are no maps, so I hunted around online and found a superbly detailed map of the 600 mile trek, with each day's progress marked, as well as the significant locations. I found myself referring to it constantly, and marveling all the more.

So if you purchase the book, make sure you look for the map - there are at least two, one that shows the sea voyage, the other which shows the land trek. If you go to one of the big search engines and type in "map mawson antarctic" and select image search, and large images, you should see it easily enough. Print it off and keep it handy.

Well written and suspenseful
Rarely have I read a more courageous account of the unconquerable human will to survive. I believe that 99% of trekkers would have given up and died in the snow. I don't know if the title is completely accurate in claiming to be the greatest polar survival story ever written, but it certainly ranks up there near the top. At no time do I recall the story dragging. In fact, I kept finding excuses to quit what I was doing and go spend another hour with my nose buried in the pages. I liked this account about as much as I liked Into Thin Air by Krakauer. A cracking good tale. ... Read more