Blog Posts

Posted in #History

The Day Lincoln Was Shot

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

“This classic of popular history vividly dramatizes a pivotal moment in the life of our country . . . a happy blend of good scholarship and good storytelling.” —AudioFile

The Day Lincoln Was Shot is a gripping, hour-by-hour account of April fourteen, 1865: the day President Abraham Lincoln was tragically assassinated.

It chronicles the movements of Lincoln and his assassin John Wilkes Booth during every movement of that fateful day. Author and journalist Jim Bishop has fashioned an unforgettable tale of tragedy, more gripping than fiction, more alive than any newspaper account.First published in 1955, The Day Lincoln Was Shot was a huge bestseller, and in 1998 it was made into a TNT movie, with Rob Morrow as Booth.

“Everything that concerned Lincoln’s assassination from 7:00 A.M. Friday until 7:22 A.M. Saturday, the moment of his death. A new kind of Lincoln book.” —The New York Times

“Startling, tabloid immediacy . . . police-blotter facts.” —Time

“A great news story brilliantly recaptured.” —New York Herald Tribune

“Reads like a novel—holds you in suspense like a detective story!” —Pittsburgh Press

“History with the impact of a Page One news story.” —Syracuse Herald American

“Terror and suspense.” —Cleveland News

Posted in Daily Thought

Verse of the Day February 2, 2026

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Posted in From My Kitchen

Ultimate Guide to Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

How to Make the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are one of our go-to bakes. Our Test Kitchen regularly whips up these big and buttery cookies (and they are an office favorite!). But there are lots of ways for you to create your version of a great cookie at home. If you want to play around with the recipe, then learn how to make a giant chocolate chip pizookie.

Also before moving ahead, take a quick look at this cookie salad recipe perfect as a sweet side.

Taste of Home

Find more recipes like this on my companion blog, “Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let’s Eat!”

Posted in Cozy Mysteries

Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

New York Times Bestseller: An anti-Semitic millionaire is murdered, and Rabbi Small must defend his congregants from false accusations . . .
Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, is thriving. Every year, more young couples move to this cozy New England village to raise their families, and many of them join Rabbi David Small’s synagogue. But the town is jolted out of domestic tranquility when Ellsworth Jordon, the town selectman, is murdered. An outspoken anti-Semite, and one of the town’s richest and most powerful men, it seems like everyone had a reason to dislike Jordan. When he’s murdered, not even the rabbi is surprised.
 
Police suspicion falls on several upstanding members of the synagogue, so Rabbi Small endeavors to clear them the way only he can—with God at his back and the Talmud in hand. Surprises lurk at every turn as the rabbi narrows down the long list of suspects to find the killer.

Posted in #History

Ride the Devil’s Herd

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Wyatt Earp’s Epic Battle Against the West’s Biggest Outlaw Gang

The story of how a young Wyatt Earp and his brothers defeated the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang, by the New York Times–bestselling author of Texas Ranger.
Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full.
The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.
Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone.
Praise for Ride the Devil’s Herd
A Pim County Public Library Southwest Books of the Year 2021
A True West Reader’s Choice for Best 2020 Western Nonfiction
Winner of the Best Book Award by the Wild West History Association
“A marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened “Manifest Destiny” and the successful taming of the Wild West.” —Robert K. DeArment, author and historian
“A ripsnortin’ ramble across the bloodstained Arizona desert with Wyatt Earp and company. . . . Boessenecker displays a fine eye for period detail. . . . A pleasure for thoughtful fans of Old West history, revisionist without being iconoclastic.” —Kirkus Reviews