Issue: August 1, 2024 After Oz. By Gordon McAlpine 240p. Crooked Lane, Readers confronting this novel—especially if they're unfamiliar with McAlpine's work—might wonder whether this is a tiresome retread of Frank Baum's masterpiece, wordplay, or a pseudo- scholarly bore. But no! Author McAlpine's last novel—sadly, he recently passed away—is a blast of enchanting writing, straight-ahead storytelling, and a murder mystery too. The setting is a little prairie town on a Kansas plain late in the nineteenth century. A tornado has wreaked havoc, and eleven-year-old Dorothy is missing. She's found eventually, rattling on about a tin man and red slippers and murdering a wicked witch. Damningly, a town woman is murdered in distressingly similar circumstances, and townspeople conclude that Dorothy's a crazed killer. A young woman psychologist, having none of it, examines the evidence, and suddenly, we're in Sherlock Holmes territory, realizing the importance of previously unimportant details. Then a skip to the Golden Age of mystery as the psychologist-turned-detective explains what's happened to the stunned townspeople. Golden Age, golden prose—it's a smart, classy reading experience. — Don Crinklaw

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Another of our favorite songs about one of our favorite places.

One of our favorites, in so many different ways. #music #sentimental #california #yellowcard @Anthony Rossano @roseannrossano @joe.carrillo @michellepontell

The Answer: The German owns the fish tank. How did we arrive at this? You can work this all out by making a table. In the top row, list all the houses, 1-5 (where the numbers relate to position - ie: 1 is to the left of 2, 3 is to the right of 2, etc.). Then in each column, list the main attributes: • nationality • color of house • cigarette smoked by owner • type of drink owner prefers • type of pet owner keeps Then fill in what you know starting with the houses. There are a few details we know right away: • the owner of the middle house (#3) drinks milk • the Norwegian lives in the first house (#1) • the Norwegian lives next door to the blue house, which means house #2 is blue since the Norwegian is on the far left With these in place, we can think more about what we know about position. There is one peculiar detail. Did you spot it? The green house is on the immediate left of the white house. This is important because the owner of the green house drinks coffee, so the green house can't be the middle house (since its owner drinks milk). And, since the blue house is the second house, the green and white can't be the first or second (since green is immediately left of white), so they have to be the fourth and fifth respectively. Knowing this, a few more pieces fall into place: • the owner of the green house drinks coffee (house #4) • the Brit lives in the red house, which means the remaining color (yellow) must be the Norwegian's house. This also means the Brit lives in the third (red) house The second detail makes another piece fall into place: The owner of the yellow house (Norwegian #1) smokes Dunhills. Now, we know the man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhills, so since the Norwegian smokes Dunhills, that means house #2's owner must keep horses. It might look like we've hit a wall here. In a way, we have, because this is where the puzzle gets tricky (and why it's nicknamed "Einstein's Mystery"). To move forward, we'll put all the remaining possibilities in the empty boxes. At this point, we can eliminate some of the possibilities based on what we know. • the man who smokes Camel's drinks beer (so the Norwegian can't drink beer because he smokes Dunhill's) • the Dane drinks tea (so the Norwegian can't drink tea either, which means the only possibility is that he drinks water Next, we can eliminate some more: • the Dane drinks tea (so he can't be in house #4) • the Swede keeps dogs as pets (so house #1, the Norwegian, can't keep dogs, nor house #3, and house #2 can't be Swede, since its owner keeps horses). • the man who smokes Marlboro's has a neighbor who drinks water. And since we now know the Norwegian drinks water, this means house #2, the only neighbor, must smoke Marlboro Ok, now knowing that house #2's owner smokes Marlboro opens another door: • the owner who smokes Camel's drinks beer (so this can't be house #2 and can only be house #5, which also means that house #5's owner smokes Camel) • The German smokes Rothman's, so that means #2's owner must be the Dane We're getting close now..... • the German smokes Rothman's, which leaves only house #4 for him (and means house #5 has to be the Swede, which also means the Brit smokes Pall Mall) • the owner who smokes Pall Mall (now we know it's the Brit) keeps birds • the owner who smokes Marlboro lives next door to the one who keeps cats (so this must be the Norwegian, #1, since we just found out the other neighbor, #3, keeps birds) And finally - the Swede keeps dogs as pets, which means......the German keeps fish! There you have it. Orderly thinking and pure logic lead the way, walking hand in hand with a necessary overdose of patience!

Here a look at some of the Saturday morning line up from 1983.

Start your journey into his fantastical world here. (link in pic)

The quintessential 1967 cover of this classic song.

First cover of Dave Frishberg's "Peel Me A Grape" in August 1962.

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We love this guy's instructional videos and we did this at home. It is delicious! Enjoy and cheers! #cocktails #booze #tequila #cheers #islandfeverart #islandfeverartisan8264 @joe.carrillo  @Shohan Alwis

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