false 176053 1399738 0002005212 9780002005210 6 <![CDATA[The Man Who Forgot How to Read]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1200939869m/1399738.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1200939869s/1399738.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1399738.The_Man_Who_Forgot_How_to_Read 3.08 25
One hot mid-summer morning in Toronto, bestselling crime novelist Howard Engel got up to fetch his morning paper and discovered he could no longer read it. The letters had mysteriously jumbled themselves into something that looked like Cyrillic one moment and Korean the next. "Was this a Serbo-Croatian version of The Globe?" he wondered. Overnight, while he slept, Engel had experienced a stroke and now suffered from a rare condition called alexia sine agraphia, meaning that while he could still write, he could no longer read. Engel's gentle humour and matter-of- fact tone set the stage for this extraordinary memoir that traces the writer's journey through a life-changing episode. Describing his stay in hospital, Engel also discovers other horrifying and fascinating new "insults" to his brain: Geography eludes him; he can no longer navigate.

Apples and grapefruit now look the same (only by smelling each one can he tell them apart). And yet, despite these devastating disabilities and the almost certain loss of his career and a huge chunk of his identity, Engel prepares to reconcile with his condition. He contacts renowned neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks for advice, forging a lasting friendship. He bravely begins to learn how to read all over again. And, in the face of obstacles, his imagination triumphs in the writing of his latest Benny Cooperman detective novel, Memory Book. Engel describes the painstaking writing process of this 2005 bestseller, which has the detective developing alexia after being struck on the head.

An absorbingly detailed and uplifting story, filled with sly wit and candid insights, The Man Who Forgot How to Read will appeal to Engel's legion of fans, as well as to all those fascinated by the mysteries of the mind, on and off the page. ]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 2008 305609 0786716444 9780786716449 2 <![CDATA[Memory Book: A Benny Cooperman Detective Novel]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173572816m/305609.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173572816s/305609.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/305609.Memory_Book_A_Benny_Cooperman_Detective_Novel 3.32 19 Benny is recovering in a Toronto hospital from a serious blow to the head. He has a condition called alexia sine agraphia; in layman's terms, it means he can still write but cannot read. And his memory has been affected too: although he can quote lines from his high school production of Twelfth Night, he finds himself brushing his teeth with his shaving cream. Even his girlfriend's name—Anna Abraham—continues to elude him.

When Benny learns that he was found unconscious beside a dead woman, he figures he must have been close to solving a case. With Anna working as field agent and two Toronto cops reluctantly sharing their discoveries, Benny pieces together the events that led to a murder-and his own injuries.

]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 2005 424946 1585670944 9781585670949 3 <![CDATA[Murder in Montparnasse: A Mystery of Literary Paris]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174625097m/424946.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174625097s/424946.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/424946.Murder_in_Montparnasse_A_Mystery_of_Literary_Paris 3.07 14
In a feat of literature reminiscent of Caleb Carr's The Alienist, Howard Engel blends intriguing historical fact with nail-biting fiction to produce a thriller of the highest order. Murder in Montparnasse will delight both new readers of Engel and his long-time fans.]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 1999 1350516 186105159X 9781861051592 0 <![CDATA[Lord High Executioner: Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen and Their Kind]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182921536m/1350516.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182921536s/1350516.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1350516.Lord_High_Executioner_Unashamed_Look_at_Hangmen_Headsmen_and_Their_Kind 4.17 6 176053 3.29 124 31 1996 1922412 0140077405 9780140077407 4 <![CDATA[The Suicide Murders: A Benny Cooperman Mystery]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190375362m/1922412.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190375362s/1922412.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1922412.The_Suicide_Murders_A_Benny_Cooperman_Mystery 3.33 9 176053 3.29 124 31 1984 1350521 1552633551 9781552633557 2 <![CDATA[Crimes of Passion: An Unblinking Look at Murderous Love]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182921539m/1350521.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182921539s/1350521.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1350521.Crimes_of_Passion_An_Unblinking_Look_at_Murderous_Love 3.00 6 176053 3.29 124 31 2001 6581486 014316757X 9780143167570 0 <![CDATA[Cooperman Variations]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6581486-cooperman-variations 4.00 2 Alas, not just the plots and settings have changed in Howard Engel's 10th Benny Cooperman mystery. While Canada's favourite fictional detective is still his smart-alecky but unsophisticated self ("Dim Sum may be unknown in Grantham, Mr. Cooperman, but we in Toronto have had it for nearly forty years"), his talents seem washed out, if not washed up, in this nasty little mystery set in the high-tech, high-pressure world of a Toronto TV station far up the road from his native Grantham. All the stock figures are there: the former high school love goddess who calls at the detective's office wondering if she's in the path of a killer, the small-town lawyer, the slobbish cops, the heavies in dark glasses. What's missing are the gritty small-town ambience and naked class antagonisms that drive best hard-boiled detective fiction, including Engel's early novels. Burdened with the bland homogeneity of the contemporary city and with convoluted literary references, the tale becomes progressively less gripping. In fact Cooperman hasn't been himself since 1990's Dead and Buried, when his creator first fell for the suits and the happy ending. The warning of his first sentence--"I should have seen the writing on the wall"--should have been a message to readers as well. --Robyn Gillam

]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 2001 1140628 1585674176 9781585674176 1 <![CDATA[Mr Doyle And Dr Bell]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181345426m/1140628.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181345426s/1140628.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1140628.Mr_Doyle_And_Dr_Bell 3.00 3 Mr. Doyle and Dr. Bell, is a brilliant departure from the Cooperman series, set in the Edinburgh of late 1800s and peopled with such illustrious historical figures as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Benjamin Disraeli.

The year is 1879 and Alan Lambert has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang for the murder of a dazzling opera star and her lover. But Lambert's brother believes in his innocence and pleads with Dr. Bell, a celebrated professor of anatomy, to uncover the truth. Dr. Bell agrees and sets out to crack the case, with his keen powers of deduction and the help of his young student, Arthur Conan Doyle.]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 1997 3436175 0143053329 9780143053323 0 <![CDATA[East Of Suez]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3436175.East_Of_Suez 3.00 4 176053 3.29 124 31 2008 2686375 158567155X 9781585671557 1 <![CDATA[Dead And Buried]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2686375.Dead_And_Buried 4.00 1
Engel has once again created a colorful cast of good guys and rogues, another satisfying chapter in the sleuthing life of Benny Cooperman-a mystery guaranteed to challenge novice and seasoned fan alike.]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 1990 951917 0140077421 9780140077421 0 <![CDATA[Murder On Location]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/951917.Murder_On_Location 3.00 2 176053 3.29 124 31 1982 1568853 0879518294 9780879518295 0 <![CDATA[Getting Away with Murder: A New Benny Cooperman Mystery]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1185317829m/1568853.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1185317829s/1568853.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1568853.Getting_Away_with_Murder_A_New_Benny_Cooperman_Mystery 4.00 1 Booklist)

Benny Cooperman is a detective with flair-a witty, egg salad-loving, gentlemanly Jewish detective with a pronounced squeamishness when things get violent. In his most baffling case yet, Benny Cooperman is snug in his bed in quiet Grantham, a town near Niagara Falls, when three unsavory thugs drag him out of bed and present him like a trophy to notorious crime boss, Abram Wise. Someone has made two attempts on the gangster's life and-with no else to turn to-he wants Benny to investigate.

Howard Engel has once again assembled a colorful cast that includes Wise's two disgruntled ex-wives, an alluring supermodel, an irate foreign car dealer, and an eccentric retired librarian. In an intricately woven plot that mixes past and present, murder and Middle Eastern food, fashion and auto repair, Cooperman finds himself entangled in more corruption, vengeance and intrigue than one ever imagined could exist in a sleepy little town.]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 1995 7125752 0140077413 9780140077414 1 <![CDATA[Ransom Game]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7125752-ransom-game 3.00 1 176053 3.29 124 31 1981 1915046 1550139223 9781550139228 1 <![CDATA[A Child's Christmas in Scarborough]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190256711m/1915046.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190256711s/1915046.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1915046.A_Child_s_Christmas_in_Scarborough 3.00 1 176053 3.29 124 31 1997 4067158 0670852597 9780670852598 0 <![CDATA[There Was an Old Woman]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4067158.There_Was_an_Old_Woman 0.0 0 The Toronto Star)

There Was an Old Woman, another delicious Benny Cooperman mystery, is an election-year gem and "an audience-grabber right from page one" (The Vancouver Sun).

It all starts with a noisy toilet. Benny's janitor, Kogan, is preoccupied with the death of his sometime girlfriend, Lizzy Oldridge, who appears to have starved to death. Benny agrees to attend the inquest if Kogan will look into the plumbing.

Lizzy may have died hungry but she had plenty of money, and somehow former alderman and mayoralty candidate Thurleigh Ramsden, an unsavory character if there ever was one, has gained control of it. Ramsden escapes the inquest with his reputation untarnished, while Benny finds himself hopelessly enmeshed in the posthumous troubles of Kogan's late love. By the end of this twisting, turning tale, the body count has increased alarmingly. But has the toilet been fixed? Only Benny and his loyal readers now for sure.

"There Was an Old Woman has all Engel's trademarks--the quick one-liners, the elaborate plot, the engaging characters.... Welcome back, Benny."-- Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

"Mr. Engel is a born writer, a natural stylist.... This is a writer who can bring a character to life in a few lines." --Ruth Rendell]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 1993 2956845 0312553242 9780312553241 1 <![CDATA[Murder Sees the Light]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2956845.Murder_Sees_the_Light 1.00 1 176053 3.29 124 31 1985 2681414 1552783278 9781552783276 0 <![CDATA[My Brothers Keeper]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2681414.My_Brothers_Keeper 0.0 0 Chapters alternate between Cooperman (in the first person) and Salter (in the third person), as they head for a combined resolution of the mystery of Horner's vanishing. Considering the book had four hands working it over, the style is surprisingly seamless, with Engel/Cooperman's wry humour much in evidence, along with Wright/Salter's gentle intelligence. The dialogue is punchy and the plot sufficiently contorted with several intriguing twists near the end. Once a plot has been established, detective fiction is all about character, and these are two of the more likable characters in the genre. You know you're hearing the voice of experience when Benny Cooperman says, "Over the years I've discovered that the number of answers you get often depends on the number and quality of the questions you ask." Cooperman and Salter still know how to ask the right questions. --Mark Frutkin

]]> 176053 3.29 124 31 97553 3.46 54 12 276144 4.00 2 2 2002 424938 0140092382 9780140092387 0 <![CDATA[City Called July]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174625082m/424938.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174625082s/424938.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/424938.City_Called_July 0.0 0 176053 3.29 124 31 1986 4447081 0312023154 9780312023157 0 <![CDATA[A Victim Must Be Found]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4447081.A_Victim_Must_Be_Found 0.0 0 176053 3.29 124 31 1988 7422045 1615608117 9781615608119 0 <![CDATA[Memory Book]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7422045-memory-book 0.0 0 176053 3.29 124 31 3168661 4.00 2 1 2005 3172956 3353000577 0 <![CDATA[Erkundungen. 26 kanadische Erzähler.]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3172956.Erkundungen_26_kanadische_Erz_hler_ 0.0 0 1351284 0.0 0 0 176053 3.29 124 31 561952 2.67 3 0 1990