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"Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) este cunoscut publicului român într-o mult mai mare măsură pentru opera lirică, pentru prozele sale romantice sau activitatea jurnalistică, decât în calitatea sa de culegător de basme. Cu toate acestea, interesul faţă de folclor al scriitorului născut la Ipoteşti reprezintă o constantă funda-mentală a operei sale. În 1869 înfiinţează, alături de alţi prieteni, cercul literar Orientul, scopul declarat fiind acela al culegerii de basme, poezii populare şi alte creaţii folclorice. Pe lângă basmele culese din gura poporului, Eminescu este şi autorul basmului cult Făt-Frumos din lacrimă, publicat în 1870 în Convorbiri literare, text care a marcat debutul său în proză." (Basmele romanilor, vol 5, N.D.Popescu, M.Eminescu)

Precum pictorul zugraveste prin nuantele culorilor tablourile sale, la fel si poezia se naste din multitudinea sentimentelor si trairilor celui care o scrie Imi este foarte greu sa vorbesc despre mine, prefer sa las poezia sa vorbeasca. M-am refugiat in poezie de cate ori am avut ceva de spus, mi-am descoperit libertatea de a fi implinit sufleteste. Poezia este modul meu de adresare si patrundere in inima celor din jurul meu. Sper ca prin poeziile mele sa aduc momente de bucurie si relaxare in sufletele celor ce le vor citi si aprecia. Cine mai scrie poezieEtalandu-si gandurilePe o foaie de hartieZgariindu-si tamplele?Cine mai citeste aziPoezie sau roman, Cand toti umbla virtualPrin internetul globalCa pestii intr-un ocean? (Internetul).Cristian Laurentiu Plapamaru

Beethoven's 250th anniversary falls at the end of a long period in which he has been under constant, relentless attacks by postmodern musicology. Scholars like Editha and Richard Sterba, Maynard Solomon, Susan McClary, Lawrence Kramer and others have speculated wildly along the lines of the modern "-isms," spreading falsehoods rather than pursuing new truths about Beethoven. Even his music, once hailed as a guiding light of humanity, has been under attack by modern-day feminism portraying it - Beethoven's music - as the epitome of "toxic masculinity" and a tool of oppressing patriarchy! These "novel" visions of Beethoven have become part of mainstream scholarship, without having been ever subjected to in-depth scrutiny.Stefan Romanó's book submits to an evidential in-depth analysis the argumentation of the most important postmodern theories concerning Beethoven and his music, and reveals the facts that completely invalidate these theories, exposing them as scholarly misconstructions. Putting to rest such demonstrably fallacious postmodern speculations that have sullied Beethoven's image and his music for over half a century is a most appropriate way to honor him on his 250th anniversary. "I think Beethoven found a good, reliable and knowledgeable defender in Stefan Romanó. (I bet he also knows where the composer misplaced his coin that inspired him "The Rage over the lost penny" piano capriccio Op. 129.) By making clear the major errors of several postmodernist theories about Beethoven and his music, Romanó's book helps us understand better the great composer's personality and love his music more and more" (Horia Ion Groza, writer and scientist, author of The Sign of the North: Poems and Discovering the Sacred Time of Our Life).

Wisconsin is the American Dairyland, a country of corn, potato, cranberry, and ginseng. The bluegrass, the tornadoes and the Northern Lights, together with the singular beauty of the nature and its harsh climate, create a unique philosophy in the Wisconsin people. They have a deep understanding of life, a mind of firm certitudes, a warm heart fed by a family of three to five children, a special sense of humor, and a solid discipline of hard work. Many poems of this book are inspired by my years spent in Wisconsin and I dedicate it to the great hearts of the people that I was blessed to meet there. They became a luminous part of my life. - Horia Ion GrozaHoria Groza is surprising for a plant breeder who by nature ought to be entirely realistic and uncompromising when the issue is beauty, truth, love of little things. DIFFERENT... Horia is DIFFERENT. True, he loves the potato for it is a good thing to love, but he loves also the tender, the small, the seldom seen. This is a blessed state. I shall end there... for the purpose of life of gentles and giants is to arrive at the Blessed State. Poetry is a potato fork. I have several. With a fork you feel the earth, feel gravity, feel the lifting, feel the worms, feel the soil, feel the sweat, feel the tilth. And if you are like Horia and me, feel the godliness of the potato. This book of poems by Horia is not the monster Lenco, instead a potato fork. Poetry equipped with a short handle to feel the gravity of our lives, its worms, its tilth. A forkful at a time, digging is necessary, and in the lifting, to feel the earth's desire. These words of this potato researcher I'm so honored to know and call friend. - Justin Isherwood, Author of Book of Plough, Essays on the Virtue of Farm; of Family & Rural Life; and of Pulse, A Farmer's Take on the Universe.Horia came from the East -- you could say from behind the curtain. He brought passion for freedom and justice emboldened by the belief in higher good. Medicine was not an option so the science of agriculture and potato became his vocational pursuit. In our time to know him, Horia chose to invest uniquely in what he could offer; not limited by distance, living almost nine years more than half a continent away from his beloved Joanna, we learned about the culture and faith that supported Horia as he invested knowledge, sweat and practice into our fledgling program of potato breeding. And there were also the weekly afternoon tennis matches with the club! While the potato program continues on to international recognition, more significant is that we became friends and family and brothers in the faith.- Bryan Bowen, Director of Agronomy, Black Gold Farms; former Associate Researcher at University of Madison-Wisconsin and Superintendent of Rhinelander Agric. Research Station.

Saint Paisius Velichkovsky (1722-1794), also known as Saint Paisius of Neamts, lived a monastic life in Ukraine, Romania and Greece (Mt.Athos). He was a man of fervent prayer, a promoter of Jesus Prayer, an ascetic monk, the author of the first translation of Greek Philokalia, a teacher of spiritual improvement, a great reorganizer of large monastic communities, a wise and loving abbot, and a Saint with many outstanding gifts from God. By his work and writings, he ties in a marvelous manner the heritage of the Holy Fathers of fourth to fifteenth centuries to the three great hesychastic centers of the eighteen century (Mt. Athos, Moldo-Vlachia, Russia) and to the origins of Orthodox Christianity in North America (St. Herman of Alaska). The effect of Paisianism and Post-Paisianism on the spirituality of the monastic and laity life is obvious for the whole period from the eighteenth century until today. Contemporary with the Era of Reason in Western Europe marked by Enlightenment (Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau), Saint Paisius defended an Era of Faith in Eastern Europe, which today gives a firm riposte to the Apostasy so obvious in Occident. This book analyzes Saint Paisius' life and work and also some important Paisian moments from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: in Romania (Saint Callinicus of Chernika and the "Burning Bush" Movement), in Russia (Saint Seraphim of Sarov and Elders of Optina), and in America (Saint Herman of Alaska and Father Seraphim Rose of Platina). Comments are made on the importance of practicing Jesus Prayer in the daily life of every Orthodox Christian.

This book is addressed to contemporary Christians. They are under a continuous attack from many unbelieving scientists and from the so-called "free" thinkers. I think religion provides the spinal column of the ethics of a society and therefore it is necessary more now than in previous times. If we may paraphrase the historian of religions Mircea Eliade's terms, we might say that, for a person with faith in God, there are two kinds of time: sacred time and profane time. The sacred time is the time of God, of the Creator; it is chairos and it is eternal. The profane time is the historical time, the time of the creation, of man and of all living creatures; it is chronos, the quotidian time that flows unceasingly without repeating itself. Our soul is immortal and its time, since we were conceived, is eternal. Our body is perishable and its time is transitory. Therefore, a Christian is called to discover the ever-living time of his soul, and especially the sacred aspect of it. This book is a continuation of a previous volume, "Discovering the Sacred Time of Our Life," which pleaded for the necessity of realizing the profound eternity, proper to God and our soul, that hides like an invisible, long and uninterrupted shadow behind all our daily events. This second volume talks about the actual "living the sacred time of our life". It discusses the principles of a Christian life in relation to personal, family, and societal necessities. It refers to the Sunday and Feast readings in Church. The book invites to a higher receptivity to the miracles, the language of God, especially the little miracles which occur all the time around us, inspiring our souls and strengthening us in our daily trials. The book brings suggestions applied directly to the specificity of a Christian life in our American society and supplies less accessible information from the spiritual teachings of the Eastern European Fathers, including Romanian Elders. Romania is a country where Holy Apostle Andrew evangelized, martyrs suffered for their faith since the third century, and the monastic life reached a peak of outstanding hesychastic wisdom, becoming in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a center of Christian spirituality as strong as Mount Sinai was in the sixth century and Mount Athos was in the eleventh to fourteenth centuries.About the authorThe essayist, poet and novel writer Horia Ion Groza (born in Romania and established in USA in 1986), has a PhD in plant genetics and breeding and he worked 40 years in the latter domain of scientific research. He authored eleven books from which five are about Christian faith and tradition. For his Romanian publications he was awarded the LiterArt XXI Prize for journalism (1999) and for essays (2002).

"Versurile acestea, impreuna cu cele cateva lucrari stiintifice pe care le-am scris in decursul anilor, reprezinta dara de lumina lasata de scurta mea trecere prin bezna timpului. Nu stiu daca intensitatea ei a fost suficienta ca sa lumineze cai, dar daca caldura ei va putea sa dezghete cateva inimi, voi fi multumit ca nu am trecut degeaba prin lumea asta." A. Dinculescu Dr. Dinculescu este cercetator stiintific si a publicat numeroase lucrari de specialitate in fizica, chimie si matematica (vezi https: //www.researchgate.net/profi le/Antonie_Dinculescu/publications). Cei care vor sa afle mai multe despre autor pot citi articolul "A Chemical Engineer with Remarkable Discoveries in Organic Chemistry, Astrophysics, and Number Theory," publicat in Rev. Chim. 67 (4), 2016. Articolul poate fi gasit la: http: //www.revistadechimie.ro/pdf/AL%20BALABAN%204%2016.pdf

The author, Horia Ion Groza (born in Romania and established in USA in 1986), has a PhD in plant genetics and breeding. He worked 40 years in this domain of scientific research, at a plant research institute, for several bioengineering companies and for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also an essayist, poet and novel writer and has authored three books of essays on philosophical and social themes, three books on Christian faith and tradition, one volume of poems, one novel and one book of literature critique. All of them have been published in Romanian and were very well received. He was awarded the LiterArt XXI Prize for journalism (1999) and for essays (2002). The present book offers a lesser known perspective from the Eastern European millenary Christianity. It is largely based on the teachings and the exemplary existence of spiritually enhanced Fathers that produced a profound revelation to the contemporary Orthodox American world, such as several Romanian Fathers and Elders. Their suffering under forty years of atheistic communist regime provided more strength to their life of prayer and helped them reach new and precious insight for the soul of man in the modern era. The book is an invitation to make life richer and much fuller of sense. This can be accomplished by discovering the eternal, sacred meaning that is hidden behind the temporary, perishable one whose minutes we consume with our chores, efforts, troubles, and worries. We are called to discover the peace God's presence offers beyond the ordinary drama of our existence, a peace and understanding that our souls long for, yet we ignore. The book begins with questions like "Should we believe in God? Is there meaning to our daily life? Why should we live in faith?" It continues with what it actually implies to live a Christian life, and touches on themes such as the goal of a Christian life and the labor within that involves dispassion, virtues, fasting, vigil and prayers. The book ends with the joy of discovering the sacred essence of being: the Holy Trinity above us and its beneficial attributes as it relates to us. Here are some subtitles: "God is Light, He brings sacred existence," "God is Love, He did not create evil," "God is Truth, He is the Savior." Such books are welcome in today's society and their message of love for God and one's neighbor could bring moral improvement, peace and harmony to our vastly troubled world. "It gives me great joy to see that Horia is publishing his reflections on the spiritual life in a form accessible to English readers. Many conversations and reflections through the years have gone into this book. It stands in continuity with the writings of the great fathers, through the experience of the Romanian elders, into the modern Orthodox spiritual intellectual tradition. I advise the reader not to be misled by the straightforward simplicity of this work. We live in a chaotic and impulsive age that claims to be spiritual without discipline and intellectual without logic. We are not used to systematic, authentic, philosophical reflection. This is the work of a patient thinker, who is first and foremost an Orthodox believer. Horia started this work with the passionate desire to pass on to his family, and then to a world in need, the great treasure he has received. Anyone who desires to approach the spiritual life with sincerity will find treasure here." Rt.Rev.Arch. Mark Melone, St. Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Lawrence, Massachusetts

Vasile Militaru s-a nascut la 19 septembrie 1886 in comuna Dobreni - Ilfov - Romania. A inceput sa scrie la varsta de 15 ani si a continuat sa scrie intre cele doua razboaie mondiale, tiparind o parte din lucrarile sale, iar altele au ramas in manuscris. La varsta de 74 de ani a fost arestat si condamnat de tribunalul militar din Craiova la 42 ani de inchisoare corectionala. A inchis ochii pentru totdeauna la 8 iulie 1959 in Minele de sare din Ocnele Mari, judetul Valcea. Bun crestin si patriot, Vasile Militaru in toate lucrarile sale a proslavit pe Dumnezeu, iubirea de grai si de neam, casa parinteasca, lasandu-ne poezii pline de lirism si melodicitate, de aroma duhovniceasca si cu profund caracter religios. Deosebit de duioase si emotive sunt si poeziile sale despre mama, unele dintre ele cantandu-se azi ca romante. In intreaga sa creatie stralucesc ca niste adevarate nestemate lirice lucrarile cu tematica religioasa: Psaltirea in versuri si Divina Zidire SINTEZA BIBLICA IN VERSURI, "Scara catre Dumnezeu" Rugaciuni in versuri pentru parinti si copii, editii ingrijite cu suportul AO Societatii Culturale "VASILE MILITARU", aparute in Basarabia.- Maria Salaru

"Eva Halus este o persoana studioasa, care lucreaza si ca profesoara de pictura si ca pictor de studio, iar in restul timpului este poetesa, avand succes in ambele domenii. Cred ca Horatiu spunea "Ut pictura poesis" (o poezie e ca o pictura), lucru pe care Eva Halus il demonstreaza in cartile sale." Traian Gardus - scriitor, epigramist si profesor universitar de limba engleza. Cuvantul autoarei: "Titlul cartii, Muza des-compusa, este un joc de cuvinte. Descompusa devine des-compusa, adica compusa des. Muza des-compusa nu este alta decat Poezia. Cartea porneste cu prima poezie care-i poarta titlul, scrisa de data aceasta ca Muza descompusa - fiinta care a fost Muza altora si care simte ca incepe sa se fragmenteze, fiind neglijata. Insa, ea devenind des-compusa (compusa des), renaste prin insasi materia ei, poezia. Aceasta carte Muza des-compusa nu este altceva decat o serie de fragmente de imagini, sentimente si imaginatie, secondand de aproape modelele ei: natura, dragostea, urmand indeaproape modelele naturale ale gandirii poetice... Ilustratiile care insotesc unele poezii, urmeaza si ele geometria intima a cartii, construind oglinzi pentru a vedea poeziile asa cum mi le-am inchipuit."

"Eva Halus is an industrious young woman who works a lot both as a teacher of painting, a studio painter and, of course, in spare time, as a poetess, successful in both fields. I think Horace`s saying Ut pictura poesis (a poem is like a painting), appeals very well to Eva`s preoccupations." Traian Gardus - writer "I am very impressed. This is quite a collection of poems that are evenly held together through recurrent themes of nature, spirituality, solitude and a sense of hope (very subtle at times). The collaboration with her art work adds an enforcing visual aspect that binds all together in a whole (a rarity in most of the collections I see that usually seem to have a sense of random disparate poems that don't seem to relate). This has been well put together and her sense of "tone" and symbolism/imagery is quite powerful..." Derek Bateman - writer and English teacher at Concordia University

Pictorita, fotograf, jurnalista, Eva Halus a imigrat in Canada in 1989. A studiat in design grafic la Universitatea Concordia, a expus in diferite galerii si a predat cursuri de pictura la adulti si copii.Din 2004 activitatea ei artistica s-a reintersectat cu cultura si comunitatea romana la Montreal. Poeziile ei de debut sint un fel de a dialoga cu diverse aspecte ale vietii, reveland intr-un limbaj cat mai veridic relatia ei cu lumea, in stransa legatura cu imaginea care le acompaniaza. Peintre, photographe et journaliste, Eva Halus a immigree au Canada en 1989. Elle a etudiee le Design Graphique à l'Universite Concordia, a exposee dans diverses galeries et a enseignee la peinture aux enfants et adultes. Depuis 2004 son activite artistique s'est intersectee avec la communaute roumaine de Montreal. Ses poemes de debout sont un dialogue avec differentes aspectes de la vie, en relevant dans un langage veridique sa relation avec le Monde. Les poemes sont correles avec les images qui les accompagnent.

Cartea De prin State adunate este o introducere in universul intern magic si spiritual al scriitorului roman din Diaspora. Coerenta cu care este alcatuita reprezinta o invitatie adresata cititorului de a-si pastra mintea limpede, de a-si deschide inima, sa observe normalitatea, democratia, altruismul, succesul si nobletea oamenilor de valoare, dar si libertatea in sensul sau cel mai pur - oriunde viata il va purta. Lucrarea se distinge prin originalitate, caracter direct, tonic - atractiva pentru oricare iubitor de carte - pentru toti romanii din diaspora, dar si pentru cei din tar . Autorul tese povesti pasionante in care realitatea prezentata sfasie voalul iluziilor, pentru ca inima romanasilor sa fie ferita de tentatiile Lumii Noi si de greseli. Sunt sintetizate elemente autobiografice cu interviuri recent realizate cu artisti consacrati si oameni de cultura din Romania, dar si cu personalitati si artisti romani aflati in vizita n State. O parte importanta este consacrata prezentarii experientelor traite n periplul autorului c tre pamantul fagaduintei - USA! Un loc aparte il ocupa opiniile despre evenimentele din Romania, dar si reflectiile, gandurile si analizele despre sentimente ori trasaturi de caracter, fiind atent si profund prezentate. Sunt abordate subiecte precum: Proxenetism politic made in Romania; evenimentul 15 noiembrie 1987; drogul numit Facebook sau limba romana vorbita pe Messenger. Un amplu capitol este alocat, cu onoare si mandrie de roman autentic, unor extrem de valoroase interviuri cu personalitati remarcabile ale stiintei, culturii si artei din Romania. Aici amintim numai cateva dintre acestea: Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, unicul cosmonaut roman; Aura Imbarus, Romanca Nominalizata la Premiul Pulitzer sau Luminita Dobrescu, prima castigatoare romanca a festivalului Cerbul de Aur din 1969, reprezinta doar cateva dintre motivele pentru care cartea De prin Sate adunate trebuie citita. Prin lectiile de via a aduse in atentia cititorului, lectii incununate de succes, cartea va ofera o lectura originala si cu mult umor!

Easy to say- "Robin, you need to leave this alone. Just get back in your car and drive away." Easy to say- "What I think is that you ought to take this young woman's fingerprints, see where she's been in that house and what she's been touching." Easy to say- "You see what the testimony means, your honor. Ms. Starling is most probably an accessory after the fact to the crime of murder." Easy to say- "Let's assume for the moment that I'm a reasonable person, and not some nut-job who goes around dribbling the blood of murder victims on every horizontal surface she comes across." Harder to do It's not as easy as you might think for a woman who's five-foot eleven and wearing a dress to wedge herself through a tiny window with a sill about four or four-and-a-half feet off the ground. Let's just say I managed it and that I'm glad no one was watching. Somehow Robin Starling always manages to do what she needs to do...or at least she always has until now...

Robin Starling, Lady Lawyer "What did Carly say about me?" I asked. "That you were new here and really, really nice, but she understood you'd been fired from your last job for being-" She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "-something of a loose cannon." The drop in volume was a habit of speech Carly had when she was delivering the goods on someone. "And after those introductions, Chloe chose me over Dave. Interesting. Disconcerting, even." "She said her daughter would be more comfortable with a lady lawyer." I shook my head. Lady lawyer was a phrase I'd be happy to go the rest of my life and never hear again. "You do wonder why she'd be lawyer-shopping in an executive suite. Does it bother you that she seems to have chosen you because she thought you'd be a lightweight?" "Not at all. I'm a blonde female just a few months over thirty-one. I get that kind of thing all the time." Her love life I tore open the protein bar. It was a bit melted from Paul's body heat, but I took a bite and chewed. "Messy, but delicious," I said with my mouth full. "Do you always carry protein bars?" Brooke asked Paul. "One of the benefits of having a fat boyfriend," I said, chewing. "Ouch," Brooke said. "She called you fat." "She called me her boyfriend." "So she did." They both looked at me. Her family life My puppy and I spent Christmas in Charlottesville with my mother and my brother and his family. My father, long estranged from the family after leaving my mother for his veterinary assistant, showed up for lunch, bringing presents. Nobody told me he was coming, and his expression was cautious when he spoke to me-or even looked at me. "Look," I said finally. "I'm not the scary bitch you seem to think I am." "Said the scary bitch in her most belligerent voice," my brother said. "You're not helping," I said. "Sorry." Though he didn't look it. Her professional life Paul said, "I understand the case changed on you this week." I exhaled. "Yes, it did that." "And it wasn't even your fault," Paul said. "What do you mean by that?" "Well, to be fair, all your cases tend to thunder along like a pack of greyhounds." I rolled my eyes. "Just tell us the story," Paul said. "Start from the beginning, right where this exquisitely beautiful woman walks into your office." My eyes slid to Brooke. "Describe her body in as much detail as you'd like," Paul said. "I don't mind. Start with her slim, silky legs, and work your way up."

The one eyewitness to the murder was last seen fleeing the scene in Robin Starling's car. She left her keys lying on the coffee table, but nobody believes it because Robin Starling, a 5'11" thirty-year-old attorney, is representing the accused. Starling is a cross between Stephanie Plum and Perry Mason: She does whatever the heck she wants and relies on constant motion to keep her out of trouble. The tone is light, and the action builds to a crescendo.

Out of the Office and On the Move I slowed as a man in a security uniform came out, but he only stretched his back and swung his arms and watched me as I rolled past. I was in, and the most disturbing thing so far was that the song "Secret Agent Man" kept playing in my head. This just wasn't the kind of thing lawyers did, not any of the ones I knew. For one thing, it was hard to see how I was going to bill anyone 300 dollars an hour for it. Unfortunately, things were about to get a lot more disturbing... Trial by Ambush, the first of the Robin Starling legal thrillers, is a tightly plotted thriller with a light tone and an athletic protagonist with a weak sense of personal modesty.

Emil Creangă, este unul din scriitorii care se vrea înțeles, care vrea să-i fie cunoscută valoarea aurului scos din adâncul minei lui. De aceea limitele cuvântului rostit sunt deosebit de importante: este cuvântul folosit de toți cei din jur, dar ale cărui dimensiuni sunt diferite, funcție de capacitatea celui ce le folosește și de cultura ce-i stă la bază. O comunicare bună are loc doar pe drumul unui limbaj limpede, motivul ce determină prezența defi nițiilor și conceptelor - un ceva natural în lumea asta plină de schimonosiri a limbii, în care până și conceptul de "familie" este pe cale de a fi schimbat. Destinatarul tuturor creatorilor este omul. Acest "om" a lui Emil Creangă este în atenția Marelui Creator, indiferent că acceptă acest adevăr sau nu. Acesta este muncitor în Grădina lumii acesteia, ca și Creatorul său. Emil a pus întotdeauna accentul pe ceea ce Creatorul a modelat în el - "adică de la el spre alții" - nu pe drepturile ce vin în urma muncii - "adică de la alții spre el". Acesta este adevăratul "Har Divin care lucrează în noi" și ce nu permite epigonismul murdar specifi c omului înstrăinat. În virtutea lui, omul-rază a adevăratei Lumini, ce nu aparține țărânii de rând, este descris de apostolul Pavel stăpânind ca și cum n-ar stăpâni, folosind ca și cum nu ar folosi. În acest fel, păstorul și profesorul Emil Creangă urmărește familia, ca un singur fi r trainic împletit în trei, trecând prin fi liera dragostei, moralei, a spiritualității pe plan intelectual și pragmatic. În felul acesta a călătorit nestingherit străinul acestei lumi, fără să se fi murdărit în vreun fel, lăsând să se vadă cetățenia lui de sus. Rob credincios Stăpânului și oglindă loială a înțelepciunii Lui, el a fost farul care a ars, dând lumină, până la ultima picătură a untdelemnului din vas. A lăsat în urmă un ecou - armonie pragmatică în câmp semiotic - care va rămâne peste veac în scrisul lui mărunt, totul prin fi liera caracterului său pe care adresanți-l vor numi lapidar "a lui Creangă".- Nelu Terpea

She was a lawyer with an unsympathetic client The first day of trial, the defendant bared his nicotine-stained teeth at the jury as it filed into the courtroom. His clothing, combined with his yellow teeth, oily hair, and prominent hooked nose, made him look like Lucifer's indigent second cousin. It soon became clear to everyone, including Robin Starling, his idealistic attorney, that he would have killed Bill Hill if he had felt like it. The only question was, had he felt like it back on that brisk March day?

She should have had that second fritter . . . But instead Robin Starling agrees to represent the D.A.'s sister in a murder trial. An orthopedic surgeon, prominent in local politics, has been found dead in her apartment. Now the D.A. wants help-from the attorney he just tried to get disbarred-and trust seems to be a commodity in short supply. Once again, attorney Robin Starling must risk her career to discover who is lying and who is not, to untangle the intersecting knots of pursuit, love, and betrayal-and to herself find true love while people all around her are engaged in . . . Sexual Misconduct

Robin Starling traces a pistol that arrived in her mail to a recently murdered man who had been cheating on his wife. The police like the wife for the crime. The D.A. likes Robin as an accessory-after-the-fact. Robin, though she feels sympathy for the widow and her young son, likes running with her dog and hanging out with her teddy-bear boyfriend, but she is a young attorney in need of work. The case promises to be the case of her career right up to the moment when everything goes ballistic.

You're a 32-year-old attorney. Five years ago, you had an affair with your boss's daughter. She was seventeen. Though you didn't go to prison, you work somewhere else now. Guilt-ridden, you've managed to put your life back together; then your old girlfriend, now a 23-year-old, dark-eyed beauty, shows up on your doorstep. She's got a gun and a wild tale about the penny-ante drug dealers who are after her. She needs sanctuary. Within days, she will need a lawyer to defend her on a murder charge, and her tales will have only gotten wilder. What will you do? If you're Alan Dougherty, you will take the case, betting everything on the character of the girl you once loved with reckless passion. You will win it all, the case and the girl, or you will lose everything. This time there may be no putting the pieces back together. Guilty Knowledge is a courtroom drama that has everything you expect from a legal crime novel: drug smuggling and money laundering, crime lords and criminal syndicates, and vigilante justice. Alan Dougherty is an idealistic young attorney who must find courage enough to face down the mob, brains enough to solve a brutal murder, and the ingenuity to best an arrogant young prosecutor. The pace and the plotting put it in the ranks of organized-crime fiction.