Vaboomer -- Baby Boomer Views & News

NEW! Nancy Drew Inspired Boomer Mystery Series--NOW on Kindle

Now Available -- Kindle copy:

 

Art Theft & Sex Trafficking

The Mystery of the Ming Connection is a light-hearted and riveting page turner with two serious themes: international art theft and sex trafficking.

Boomer retirees become Sleuths

 The story opens with the theft of a valuable Ming Dynasty jar from the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Sandra Troux and her life long friends, Bobbi Power and Lizbet Sheridan, are quickly engaged in pursuing the elusive Gold Scarf Man, the probable art thief, across Korea and China. Two additional thefts of Ming porcelains from Seoul and Beijing threaten to set off an international scandal that is overshadowed only by a series of scurrilous kidnappings of local and foreign girls and young women—the closest to home being Bobbi’s college-student daughter Sophie Rose, adopted from China as an infant.

Taina Ziping

At the site of each theft and kidnapping is left a curious coin on which is engrave

d the words in Chinese characters — "Taina Ziping" and a right-facing swastika, the hideous sign of the Nazis. Two of the words on the coin hark back to the Taiping Rebellion of 1800s China. But what do the other two words mean and why is the Nazi symbol engraved on it as well? Is the coin left as a clue, an arrogant calling card, or a threat? And what does the Taiping Rebellion, the Nazi swastika, the desire for a valuable gold and diamond bracelet, art thefts and kidnapping all have to do with each other?

Chased on the Great Wall of China

In a series of thrilling chases and adventures—by horseback on the Great Wall, through the streets of Beijing in a blinding blizzard, and underground in a secret Xian tunnel system filled with cells of trafficked girls, Sandy and her sister sleuths pursue the heinous criminals to unravel the mystery of the Ming connection. The book’s climatic chapter brings the super shero trio face to face with the surprising and heart-stopping solution of The Mystery of the Ming Connection.

NOW here is another mystery: WHO IS CRYSTAL SHARPE? AND WHY IS HER BOOK FEATURED ON VABOOMER?

To Find Out:  Buy this exciting new mystery on Amazon Kindle:  

Order Kindle copy here:

 

 

Book Review: "Sex and the River Styx" by Edward Hoagland

by Nancy Mehegan

This should be required reading for Seniors, or anyone else.  Profound and beautiful.

In Greek mythology, the Styx is a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, Hades.  The River Styx is guarded by Phlegyas, who passes the souls from one side to another of the river.

The Styx is a border marking passage.  And this book is about passage.  The last passage of our lives.

 

"I've Seen Enough"

It consists of 13 Essays by the 78-old acclaimed essayist Edward Hoagland. Hoagland deftly captures the experience of the latter stage of life.  He has quirkly revelations:  the realization that there are some geographic places he will never visit because of his age and declining energy, etc.  And the strange part is that it doesn't seem to matter. It's perhaps a kind of grace that age bestows.  What he has seen will suffice.

 

 

The Beauty of Feeding Pigeons

He speaks of the renewed interest that he has in nature, instead of mundane human activities,  such as politics.  I always wondered why the aged fed pigeons.  Hoagland explores the new sense of wonder that age bestows -- an interest in nature and its creatures.  It's like the wonder of the child which returns.  No self-pity here, just glorious explorations of connectedness to nature, lost loves, disappointments and the grace of acceptance of the human journey.  An absolute masterpiece of a book.

 

 

PLEASE do yourself a favor & submit your name into Vaboomer's Drawing (we have several copies as a Giveaway).  Simply send email to:  safeinthewoods@gmail.com

 

Note:  these book copies were provided to Vaboomer by the Publisher for review

 

 

 

 

book review: "A Storm Called Katrina"

 

"A Storm Called Katrina" by Myron Uhlberg and Colin Bootman

 

Haunting, beautiful images portray  a sense of the confusions, and the eerie beauty of New Orleans when Katrina struck.

 The book is the story of a hurricane called Katrina seen through the eyes of a child. Ten year- old Louis Daniel is African-American and a horn player like his idol, Louis Armstrong. He goes to bed during a fierce storm and awakens to encroaching water.

The boy's shiny cornet horn, serves to save them, but I won't spoil the story for you.  A lovely, haunting book.  

 

Inspiring, a good gift and instructive for children.  It's an unusually close look at a disaster which still haunts us today.    

 

 

*Note:  this book was provided to Vaboomer by the publisher for review.  Vaboomer has a copy for a Giveaway.  To enter drawing of September 15, send email to "safeinthewoods@gmail.com"