Irene's Last Waltz

Irene's Last Waltz by Carole Nelson Douglas

Carole Nelson Douglas wrote 8 books in a series based on a minor character from the first Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia." This story contains the most memorable female character in Doyles Holmes' stories, Irene Adler, who outsmarts the famous detective and wins his admiration.

Irene's Last Waltz (later reissued as Another Scandal in Bohemia) is the fourth novel in Douglas' series featuring Irene Adler as a singer/actor who is also an amateur detective. Like Sherlock Holmes, Irene has a sidekick named Penelope Huxleigh who accompanies her and keeps a detailed journal of events. While Irene is very flamboyant and daring, Penelope is conservative and proper. It is from Penelope's long lost journals, supposedly discovered by a 20th century scholar Fiona Witherspoon, that the books of the series are drawn.

This book finds Irene and Penelope, as well as Irene's new husband Godfrey, returning to Bohemia at the request of the Rothschilds banking family to work undercover to get information on the political situation. Intrigue builds on intrigue as the threesome find themselves entangled in web of danger that is both entertaining and compelling reading.

This book and the entire series will amuse fans of books based on the Sherlock Holmes series who enjoy the introduction of a feminine and feminist point of view.

The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear

The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Reverent William Barber's memoir tells the story of how he started the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina and frames it as part of a much larger Third Reconstruction. Thus showing its roots in the original Reconstruction era following the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s (which he calls the Second Reconstruction). He shows how those in power use Divide and Conquer strategies, and how Fusion Politics, the bringing together of many different Social Justice movements, is the key to forming a New Justice Movement that can speak Truth to Power. This is a very good book for people who want to know the story behind the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina.