Gordon Cope's Blog

I had a harbinger of the future when I checked in to the Casa Q, a cloud hotel in Guadalajara.

 There were no human staff. I pressed a button on the front door frame and a friendly computer-generated voice said “Zmmph!”

The door-unlocked and I was greeted by a Zen Garden that calmly declined to carry my bags up the stairs.

My room had no chairs, drinking glasses or bathroom sink plug. It did have a Raid room freshener, which I did not take to be a good sign.

I received a welcome PDF via WhatsApp explaining how to lock the room door, but it self-destructed 30 seconds after I opened it.

There was a discount coupon for a nearby restaurant but I was reluctant to use it in case they had no cutlery.

When I did return from dinner the smart knob on my room refused to disable the door lock. I spent the night sleeping in the hall, which wasn’t too bad because the other guests left pillow mints.

Expedia asked me if I would recommend the hotel. Absolutely – to my worst enemies!

You can now listen to A Paris Moment, Magnus the Magnificent and Joan the Saint!

All three Audio books are available on Amazon (and should be on Kindle Unlimited).

Check them out and let me know what you think!

I get a lot of requests for this recipe from dinner guests, so I’m happy to repost the recipe!

Making your own pizza is quite easy and the result is both healthy and delicious. All it takes is a little preparation and you will be the toast of your family and friends!

DOUGH (makes 4 pizza crusts)

5 ¼ cups of OO (fine) flour.

1 tsp of salt.

1 tsp of dry yeast.

1 tsp of brown sugar

400 ml of warm water.

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.

Mix the yeast and brown sugar in the warm water and let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour the liquid into the flour and knead until the consistency of soft Play-Doh. (You may have to sprinkle some flour on if it’s too sticky).

SAUCE

1 jar of tomato sauce (I like to use an Italian brand with Pomodoro tomatoes)

3 Tsp of Italian seasoning mix.

1 tsp of salt.

1 Tsp of olive oil.

Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the olive oil into the jar of tomato sauce and swish around then add that to the mix. Let rest for at least half an hour.

TOPPINGS

Pepperoni, ham

Chopped onion, peppers, olives, etc.

Shredded cheese

PREPARATION

Heat the oven to 450F. Divide the dough into four balls (any you don’t need can be frozen for later use). Roll out the ball flat with a rolling pin (hint; I cut a piece of parchment paper into a 12” circle as a rolling surface). You will have to sprinkle some flour on the dough to keep the rolling pin from sticking.

Place the rolled dough into a pizza pan and bake it in the oven for 5 minutes. (You can do this in advance and keep the crusts in the freezer indefinitely).

Spread 5 Tsp of sauce on the pizza crust and add desired toppings. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in the oven for up to 15 minutes (check after 10 minutes to make sure the crust isn’t burning). Serve hot!

You gotta love that title!

Aubrey Merritt rose to the top of her profession by solving mysteries that had everyone else stumped. She now lives in a fantastic apartment in New York, picking and choosing only the most perplexing cases.

When Aubrey fires her old assistant, Olivia Blunt applies for the job. A young, impoverished writer who happens to be a wiz at research, Merritt reluctantly agrees to put her on probation.

The agency gets a call from Haley Summersworth, whose mother Victoria recently committed suicide by jumping off a seaside cliff; Hazel thinks it was murder!

Aubrey and Olivia promptly decamp for the exclusive family resort in Vermont where Victoria met her doom. Potential suspects abound, including the drug-addled son, the Vegas gigolo courting her and a daughter-in-law from hell.

The novel is fast-paced and light-hearted. Tully is a pen name for Elisabeth Brink, who is best known for dark thrillers; she decided to take a break from her more gruesome works and pen a comedy mystery.

And I’m glad she did. A sequel is already in the works, and I can hardly wait to read it. I highly recommend The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant.

This doesn’t often happened to me, but I remember exactly where I was the day John Candy passed away at the age of 43, in 1994. I was shocked and saddened that a great comedic talent had died so young.

The documentary features interviews with his family and many of the stars who acted beside him in so many memorable films – Tom Hanks in Splash, Steve Martin in Trains, Planes and Automobiles – as well as colleagues from his years at SCTV, like Martin Short and Andrea Martin.

Director Colin Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks, had met Candy as a child on the set of Splash, and was reluctant at first to direct the documentary, but friend Ryan Reynolds convinced him to take on the project in order to honor the memory of the great Canadian comedian.

A compilation of TV, film, personal home movies and interviews, the documentary catalogs Candy’s rise to stardom, as well as the dichotomy between his quiet family life and the bombastic characters he portrayed in public.

Warning; this one’s a tear-jerker, but I highly recommend John Candy: I Like Me.

A few fun facts;

There are more Buddhist Temples in Mexico than Driving Schools. The majority of Mexicans learn how to drive by watching Fast & Furious.

The emergency flasher allows you to enact new driving legislation. If, for instance, you miss your turnoff on the highway, you can hit that switch and drive backwards on the shoulder for up to one mile.

Traffic police encourage you to text while driving; it makes finding your next-of-kin that much easier.

The average Mexican would rather spend $3000 on a car stereo than two bucks on a new brake light.

You can legally run a stop light 5 seconds after it turns red, or up to 10 seconds if you’re texting (see above).

Unless it’s already occupied by a baby carriage, you can drive on the sidewalk to avoid a traffic jam.

Motorcyclists are only allowed to carry one rooster under their arm.

This is an easy meal to make and very delicious!

2 Tsp sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, diced

6 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined.

1 Tsp Frank’s hot sauce.

2 cups cooked rice

¼ cup fish sauce

1 Tsp soy sauce

2 Tsp brown sugar

Pinch of black pepper

½ cup sliced onion

½ cup tomato chunks

1 green onion, sliced

¼ cup cilantro

¼ cup cucumber slices

Directions

Fry garlic and shrimp in sesame oil.

Add the rice, sauces, sugar and pepper. Fry briefly.

Add the onion, tomato, green onion, cilantro and cucumber slices.

Enjoy!

DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Unless, of course, you like banana peels, boners, bacchanals, babes in bikinis, beer consumption and general bedlam, then go nuts.

Reid is one of the most enjoyable contemporary authors writing today; The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six are just two of her gems.

Her latest novel doesn’t disappoint. Joan Goodwin has wanted to go into space since the age of six. Growing up in the sixties, she was thrilled by the Apollo missions to the moon and vowed that one day she would be an astronaut.

A genius at math, she focuses on astrophysics at college and becomes a science teacher. When NASA finally opens up positions for women in the late 1970s, she is selected as a trainee. Moving to Houston, she begins the long voyage to qualify for the Space Shuttle.

Her journey encounters major hurdles. Although she excels at aero-science, she falls in love with Vanessa, a fellow astronaut. Their forbidden relationship threatens to scuttle their careers.

Naturally, high drama intervenes when a mission goes disastrously wrong. Joan must battle to save not only Vanessa, but the very soul of NASA itself. I highly recommend Atmosphere!

Mo (played by Mohammed Amer), is a young Palestinian refugee who has grown up his entire life in Houston. He is devoted to his widowed mother Yusla, where he lives in her suburban home with his brother Sameer and a cat named Crystal.

As an undocumented refugee, Mo thrives at the fringes of society, hustling to stay one step ahead of ICE and care for his family. He sells knock-off luxury handbags and watches from the trunk of his 1970 Ford Fairlane, always with one eye out for the police.

This doesn’t sound much like the premise for a comedy, but Mo and his gang of misfit friends bring a warmth and vitality to each episode as they struggle to keep their heads above water.

The series has been critically acclaimed (winning a Peabody Award in its debut season), but the true enjoyment comes from watching the ensemble fill the small screen with life and vitality. I highly recommend Mo!

Prose, a Toronto-based author, made a big splash in 2022 with her first novel, The Maid. The cozy mystery chronicles the unlikely adventures of an autistic young woman named Molly who is raised by her maternal grandmother after she is abandoned by her mom.

Since childhood, Molly has aspired to be a hotel maid. She holds cleanliness in the highest standard and falls into a Zen-like state as she cleans the rooms in the majestic Regency Grand, a luxury boutique hotel. Unfortunately, she is always stumbling upon murdered guests, interfering with her dusting and whatnot.

In The Mystery Guest, the corpse belongs to celebrated author Grimthorpe, who theatrically croaks in the hotel tea room while regaling fans with a reading from his latest book.

Along comes Detective Stark who, like all good gumshoes, assumes the maid did it, and Molly has to prove that she is not a cold-blooded killer. Fortunately, her spectrum of odd tics and mannerisms make her the perfect sleuth. A heart-warming cozy with a charming cast of characters, I highly recommend both The Maid and The Mystery Guest!

What, Me Worry?

If you’ve never been to the Badlands in Drumheller, you’re in for a treat; the valley, gouged out of the surrounding farmland by glacier meltwater, resembles a landscape more suited to the moon than Earth.

But the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, which has been welcoming visitors since 1985, is an even bigger delight; a major restoration in 2024 has turned it into a must-see destination for anyone visiting Canada.

Using the latest exhibition technologies, kids of all ages are treated to an experience that is both fun and educational. Instead of just static displays, visitors can interact with maps and even create their own dinosaur, choosing from a selection of morphologies to sculpt fang-toothed monstrosities.

The theme of the museum is ‘life on earth’, and it follows the evolution of organisms from cyanobacteria to modern man. But one of the biggest goals is to explain the death of the dinosaurs during the end of the Cretaceous 63 million years ago; everything from a meteor impact to massive volcanic eruptions is explored in detail.

Personally, I think Gary Larson of The Far Side got it right;

This is a great way to start the day – just don’t tell your doctor!

Ingredients

1 egg

1 slice of cheese

1 slice of ham

1 English muffin.

Mayonnaise

Directions

Fry the egg in a pan, making sure you crack the yolk. Add in the slice of ham and top the egg with the cheese.

Toast the English muffin and coat it with a dab of mayonnaise. Top off with the ham, cheese and egg and serve with fresh fruit and coffee. Enjoy!

I first read The Thursday Murder Club some years ago when it made a big splash on the best seller lists. Richard Osman is a well-known TV personality in the UK (and a very talented writer), who took the traditional English cozy and turned it into a publishing phenomenon that has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The series is set in a bucolic seniors home located in the rolling hills of southern England. Elizabeth is a former spy who chairs a club that goes over cold cases in the hopes of catching the murderer. Joining her are Joyce, a widowed nurse, Ibrahim, a retired psychiatrist, and Ron, a former union organizer.

Naturally, un-nabbed murderers tend to resent meddling, and their efforts attract threats that are thwarted through ingenuity and cake baking until the miscreants are ultimately exposed.

With any adaptation, the question of which genre prevails always arises. Does the story leap from the page and gain new life on the big screen, or is it a so-so rehash? With the likes of Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in the main roles, one might think the former, but the movie cuts too many corners from the narrative and leaves the result rather flat and pedestrian.

That said, The Thursday Murder Club is a delightful series, and I highly recommend you read the books!

OK, you have to be a fan of The Addams Family.

Created in the Sixties from the cartoons of Charles Addams, it featured Gomez, his wife Morticia, their children Pugsley and Wednesday, as well as a cast of misfits including Uncle Fester, butler Lurch and Thing, a dismembered hand.

The latest reincarnation is the brainchild of Tim Burton, and focuses on Wednesday (played in brilliant deadpan by Jenna Ortega), a Goth teenager with a penchant for necromancy.

In season one, Wednesday saved Nevermore Academy from destruction. Season two begins with her return to Nevermore, where a murder of crows begin pecking eyes out.

Mayhem ensues, with the body count quickly surpassing most Schwarzenegger movies. Wednesday perseveres, however, and all that is ooky and spooky is saved (presumably for Season three). Dig it.

This is the first in the William Warwick series, a highly entertaining police procedural set in London. William Warwick is the son of a prominent barrister who decides to forego the family business and instead become a copper with Scotland Yard. He subsequently falls under the wing of Detective Hawkley, who soon has Warwick and his fellow officers hard on the trail of murderers, drug dealers and villains.

None of it matches the hijinks experienced in real life by its creator, however. Jeffrey Archer has been a UK Member of Parliament and a life Peer in the House of Lords. He was also a client of latex-clad ladies and a guest at HM Prison Belmarsh for fibbing under oath during a libel court case regarding his nocturnal hobbies.

Nothing Ventured follows William and the gang as they pursue Miles Faulkner, an international art thief and all-around cad. Faulkner manages to stay one step ahead of the police as he shuffles his collection of Masters around the globe, all with the aid of his salacious wife Christina.

The series is not, by any means, Daggers Award material, but it is engaging fun and Archer takes tremendous advantage of his intimate knowledge of trials and prisons to give the reader an authentic feel for crime and punishment. I highly recommend the William Warwick series!

Tom Thompson Trees

Yay! Back in Canada. I’m off to my sister’s cottage near the metropolis of Combermere, situated in northern Ontario amid the rolling, tree-covered hills of the Canadian Shield.

Ah, the rural life. Loons croon, sunlight dapples off pristine lakes and canoes paddle down gently flowing rivers. Oh, and the deer flies rip a strip out of your scalp at every chance, but that’s another story.

Here’s a cottage country joke, courtesy of Don Conway, the sports columnist for The Valley Gazette;

Bruce was at Tim Hortons yesterday when he suddenly realized he desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so he timed his blasts with the beat of the music. After a couple of songs, he started to feel better. He finished his coffee, then noticed that everyone was staring at him…Then he remembered he was listening to his iPod.

It’s summertime, so break out the BBQ! This recipe is super simple to make, but so delicious.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on.

¼ cup of fish sauce

1 teaspoon of red curry paste

¼ cup of brown sugar.

Directions

Heat BBQ to 400 F.

Mix fish sauce, red curry paste and brown sugar and marinate the thighs.

Place the thighs on the grill, skin-side up. Close the lid and grill for 4 minutes.

Turn the thighs and grill 4 minutes.

Turn the thighs one last time and grill for 4 minutes. Slit one thigh to check if the meat is cooked through to the bone; if not, leave on for another 2 minutes.

Plate the thighs, cover them with tinfoil and let rest for a few minutes. Serve with rice, potato salad or baked spuds. Enjoy!

It’s been half a century since the iconic movie made its summer debut, coining the very phrase ‘blockbuster.’

The movie is set in a seaside resort on the Atlantic. A young woman’s torso, covered in immense bite marks, washes up on the beach. Mayor Vaughn wants to keep it hushed up ahead of the long weekend, worried that the news might scare off tourists.

Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider), is more worried about public safety, but he keeps silent and pays the price when other swimmers go missing.

Ultimately, the town hires Quint (Robert Shaw), to hunt down the shark. He enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and the pair try unsuccessfully to harpoon it.

In the climax, Quint is devoured by the avaricious fish and Brody barely escapes with his life before the creature is vanquished.

Unfortunately, the damage was done, and many of the millions of movie goers who saw the movie never went into the ocean again!

Lots of lore surrounds the film; Bruce the mechanical shark played havoc with the film schedule, causing huge budget overruns, director Steven Spielberg laughed when composer John Williams played the now-famous two-note theme, Chief Brody’s famous understatement when the shark rips the back off Quint’s boat; ‘you’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ was an adlib.

All of it contributed to the epic that continues to fill you with chills and thrills fifty years later. I highly recommend Jaws!

Tana French is a very talented mystery writer based in Dublin. Most of her novels focus on the police procedural, describing the gritty criminals and jaded police who haunt the cobbled lanes of the nation’s capital.

The Searcher is an entertaining variant. Detective Cal Hooper has retired after 25 years with the Chicago Police Department and purchased a parcel of land in the quiet backwaters of rural Ireland. His goal is to lose himself in the bucolic setting, healing a soul bruised by disillusionment with his career and an acrimonious divorce.

At first, all goes well as he patches up an abandoned farmhouse, using the carpentry tools inherited from his grandfather. His neighbors, including a bachelor farmer named Mart, provide charm and companionship at the local pub.

Things go awry, however, with the appearance of a twelve-year old child named Trey. Half wild from parental neglect, she is seeking Cal’s help in tracking down her older brother Brendan, who has disappeared without a trace; the police say he is just off having a lark and will eventually resurface, but Trey has her doubts.

Cal uses his detective skills to interview friends and family, searching for the reason the young man vanished into thin air. Brendan’s phone, credit cards and social media contacts are all silent, pointing to a potentially dodgy demise.

As Cal spirals closer to the truth, both he and Trey come under attack. He finds himself in a race to uncover what really happened to the lad before it’s too late for all of them.

The novel is a real treat because the author has the lyrical gift of the Irish and the penchant to spin a yarn out in a slow, measured pace that seductively pulls the reader into the lives and heart of the countryside. I highly recommend The Searcher!

James

By Percival Everett

In Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Huck escapes his abusive father and sails away to far-fetched adventures with Jim.

In Everett’s imaginative re-imagining, the story is told from the viewpoint of Jim, the slave of Miss Watson. When Jim hears that he is going to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter, he decides to run away with Huck until he can figure out how to rescue his family.

The story is a brilliant blend of humor and trenchant observations that ridicule the absurdity of racial supremacy. While steadfastly pursuing his goal, Jim endures the brutalities and humiliations that illuminate the vicious reality of being a slave in Dixie America.

Everett is a tremendously talented author and worthy of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for this novel. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend James as a starting point!

Every June, the good people of San Miguel de Allende present Dia de Los Locos, or Day of the Crazies. Popular lore has it the original celebration was started by the town’s gardeners to honor San Pascual, the patron saint of agriculture.

The mile-long procession begins at the church of St. Anthony, where the parish priest blesses everyone. The reason for the costumes? Life is too short to take yourself seriously all the time, says the prelate, so dress up in a goofy costume and go have some fun.

Now, that’s my kind of old-time religion.

The procession snakes its way through the center of town. Each neighborhood sponsors a group and adopts a theme, whether it be elves & faeries or Disney characters & rock stars. Spectators line the roadways where they catch candy tossed by the revelers.

It’s a high-energy, fun-filled day for both participants and viewers, and one of the most anticipated events of the year in a town filled with amazing festivals and activities.

Man, the folks of SMA sure know how to have fun!

My pal Len discovered this gem in San Miguel de Allende’s Colonia Guadalupe. La Moneda is a tiny chocolate shop located near the intersection of Calz de La Luz and Hidalgo. It is owned by Veronica Gomez, a chocolatier who learned her skills from a pastry chef in Mexico City.

Veronica and her daughter Avi (that’s her in the picture), take great joy in creating a host of fun chocolates using everything from tequila and marshmallows to raspberries. The hand-made confections are absolutely delicious (and at a reasonable cost).

Drop by and sample some of their wares; they are open from Thursday to Tuesday 9:30-5pm (closed Wednesdays).

La Moneda Chocolates, Julian Carrillo #3, Guadalupe, SMA.

You can find them on Facebook at La Moneda-Chocolates.

I cooked this for friends a little while ago and they begged me for the recipe. It takes a little time to prepare, but the results are absolutely amazing! This is a great dinner meal when serving guests, and leftovers can also be frozen for quick lunches.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 chicken breasts, deboned

Salt

2 eggs

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tsp fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced

1 can tomato sauce

1 Tsp Italian seasoning spice

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper.

Garlic bread

Cooked spaghetti

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400 F.

2 Mix the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper together. Set aside.

3 Cut each breast into three pieces and pound thin.

4 Mix together the breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, and pinch of salt.

5 Pour the olive oil into an electric skillet and turn to medium.

6 Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl and coat the chicken pieces. Dip the chicken pieces in the breadcrumb mix and place in the skillet. Gently fry the chicken cutlets until they are golden brown on each side, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

7 Arrange 1/2 the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Place the cutlets on the sauce then top with the rest of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the tops with sliced basil, then lay slices of mozzarella over each cutlet and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.

 8 Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the mozzarella begins to brown.

Serve with pasta and the garlic bread. Enjoy!

I’ve enjoyed Fargo since the release of the movie in 1996; Frances McDormand plays the intrepid Fargo Police Department Detective Marge Gunderson and Steve Buscemi is the sleazy low-life criminal Carl. Produced and directed by the Coen Brothers, it won two Oscars.

The TV series, which began in 2014, has had its ups-and-downs as various artists take turns bringing the quirky, violent personae to the small screen. Season 1, with Billy Bob Thornton’s psycho Norm Lalvo meeting a grisly end in a bear trap, was a treat.

Season 5 (which was released in 2023), holds a special cachet, as when it was filming in Calgary, Jon Hamm (the star of Mad Men), was staying in a house that we subsequently rented. What’s more, Jon left his copy of the first five episodes in the bookshelf, and I spent many hours curled up in the living room couch reading the scripts.

So I was filled with great expectations when it finally came to Prime. The series stars Juno Temple as Dot Lyon, a suburban housewife with a dark past. Jon Hamm plays Sheriff Roy Tillman, obsessed with kidnapping her.

Getting back to its original roots, Season 5 is unapologetically noisy, nasty and absolutely redolent with black humor. Sam Spruell, playing contract killer Old Munch, takes his character to another planet, and Jon’s Sheriff Tillman is so way over-the-top that he earned praise from one critic for being a ‘thick slice of Hamm.’

You get the picture. This is classic stuff, and I highly recommend Fargo Season 5!

How can you go wrong with a title like that?

Capri Sanzio is the founder of SF Killer Crime Tours; she spends her days conducting excursions to the stomping grounds of infamous serial killers.

She is also the granddaughter of William ‘Overkill Bill’ Sanzio, a predator who dated prostitutes then hit them with a rock, stuck them with a knife, then slit their throats (hence the nickname).

So it comes as no surprise when a copycat killer starts offing his victims in the same manner decades after his death. Unfortunately, the first victim is Capri’s former mother-in-law, a rich socialite who was threatened to cut off tuition payments to Capri’s daughter Morgan.

Enter dashing SFPD Homicide Inspector Dan Petito (he has a dimple, natch). Petito quickly focuses on Capri and her daughter Morgan as prime suspects. Capri is justifiably indignant, and vows to find the real killer.

Lots of red herrings ensue; the result is a delightfully entertaining murder mystery that’s part cozy, part police procedural and totally charming. I highly recommend The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco!

It’s May, so I’m celebrating International Bird Month!

And what better place to party than Manzanillo. Hummingbirds fly at supersonic speed from blossom to blossom, totally buzzed out by pollen.

A pair of bright yellow caciques have fallen in love with their reflections on a glass door in my courtyard. They sit and coo at themselves for an hour each morning.

Buzzards love to swoop down and pick at the carcasses of blowfish on the beach. Falcons pluck baby rats from their nests in palm trees. Pelicans surf for red snapper fish. Even chickens get into the groove, wandering the streets eating ants and stuff.

So, next time one of our feathery friends divebombs your car, take time to give them the bird!

This is real easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, split open along the back (get your butcher to do it).

1 cup of brown sugar

¼ cup of fish sauce.

¼ cup of soy sauce.

1 tsp of red curry paste.

Directions.

Mix the sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and red curry paste together. Smear it on the chicken

Cook the chicken on medium for 45 minutes with the BBQ lid closed. Cook 15 minutes with the skin up, 15 minutes with the skin down, then finish the final 15 minutes with the skin up again.

Let rest covered in tinfoil for 10 minutes, then serve with coconut rice and pickled ginger.

Enjoy!

“I didn’t kill my wife.”

It’s been over three decades since I first heard Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford), utter these words.

He had just escaped death row for the murder of Helen (the gorgeous Sela Ward). US Marshall Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), and his team were in relentless pursuit.

But it was clear that Kimble would stop at nothing (including throwing himself off a dam), to find the one-armed man responsible for his wife’s death.

Based on a 1960s television show that ran for four seasons, the 1993 reboot is rife with plot holes and stuff that really doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the pace and action are so unrelenting that you just don’t give a shit.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences certainly didn’t. It was selected for seven Oscars, including best picture (Tommy Lee Jones, who went on record saying this picture would never be nominated, won for best supporting actor).

So whip up a bowl of popcorn, plop down in your comfy chair and take a stroll down memory lane. I highly recommend The Fugitive!

It’s been almost a decade since A Gentleman in Moscow cemented the author’s reputation as a stellar chronicler of the absurdities of life; even if you’ve read it before, it richly deserves savoring a second time.

Count Alexander Rostov is a wealthy Russian who is caught on the wrong side of history. When Bolsheviks take control of his country, fellow aristocrats are rounded up and summarily shot.

Thanks to a polemic poem he published ridiculing the Tsar, however, Rostov is spared. Instead of the firing squad, he is placed under house arrest in the majestic Metropol, Moscow’s premier hotel.

Over the ensuing decades, Count Rostov serves his sentence with panache and dignity, finding love and joy with the staff and guests amidst the crushing weight of the state.

In addition to insights into the tragicomic nature of human behavior, this is a rollicking good book that one will wish to never end. I highly recommend A Gentleman in Moscow!

Jo Krishna is a wealthy expatriate Indian living in London when he is invited to stay at the Samsara Spa over the Christmas holidays. The Himalayan resort is the playground of the rich as well as a spiritual retreat; the Beatles famously once studied yoga and meditation within its immaculately landscaped grounds.

The tranquility is broken by the brutal murder of Amrit, a beautiful, spoiled socialite. Inspector Singh is sent to sort out the mess, assisted by Ro and the owner of the spa, the delightfully bossy Mrs. Banerjee.

What follows is a wickedly funny whodunit as the guests trapped in the hotel, including a dodgy politician, international movie star and CIA spy are all revealed to be less than innocent.

In addition, this debut work by a very promising writer is a thoughtful and delightfully subversive study into the racial relations between Asian and European societies. I highly recommend Death in the Air!

It’s Primavera time!

Every April, Manzanillo is festooned with the blossoms of these gorgeous trees. One moment the streets are lined with immense bare trunks, and seemingly overnight the boulevards are decorated with giant yellow lollipops.

The magic only lasts a week or so and then work crews are left with the mess of cleaning it all up. In the meantime, though, they bring a big smile to the face of everyone who admires them!

This is a family favorite that is easy to make, yet tastes spicy and exotic!

Ingredients

1 lb of rib eye beef, cut into ½ inch strips

1 cup of mushrooms, quartered

1 Tsp of minced garlic

1 Tsp of minced ginger

1 tsp of black pepper.

¼ cup of soy sauce

¼ cup of brown sugar

¼ cup of brandy or Marsala wine

1 Tsp of oil (sesame or canola).

Chopped green onions

Cooked rice.

Directions

Mix the beef, mushrooms and marinade ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Fry the mixture in a pan over medium heat for two minutes.

Serve on rice with green onion garnish.

Enjoy!

This is a delightfully daffy detective comedy from producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy).

The head usher of the White House is murdered during a gala dinner in honor of Australia. Detective Cecilia Cupp (Uzo Abuda, Orange is the New Black), is called in to figure out whodunit.

The list of suspects include 157 staff and guests. Along the way, we meet the president’s cousin Nan Cox (played way over-the-top by Jane Curtin), as well as Kylie Minogue and a host of Ozzie celebrities.

In addition, there’s a pile of red herrings to throw Cecilia off the scent, but the world’s-greatest-detective will not be prevented from finding out the truth and arresting the guilty.

This is not going to win a lot of Emmys but it’s a great binge show that you’ll either love or hate. In any event, I recommend you check out The Residence.

The Peruvian author recently passed away at the age of 89. He was the last of the Latin American literary giants, celebrated along with Gabriel García Márquez for their ground-breaking works in political criticism and magic realism.

My favorite Llosa novel is Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, which he wrote in 1977 at the age of 41. It documents the coming-of-age of Marito, a young radio news journalist in the 1950s, who has a clandestine affair with his aunt. Compounding his life, Marito is put in charge of hand-holding Pedro Comacho, a manic radio scriptwriter whose scandalous soap operas are holding the entire nation in thrall.

Llosa demonstrates his command of character, plot and vivid description in a novel that is both comic and tragic. Although he wrote more than 50 books in his prolific career, the legacy of the Nobel laureate resides as much in this seemingly light-hearted, mischievous romp as in his lauded political novels such as The Feast of the Goat. I highly recommend Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter!

More authentic Mexican food!

A few weeks ago, my neighbor Daniel took me to a Barbacoa de Borrego, a hole-in-the-wall taco stand in the barrio of Via Rosa in Manzanillo.

Borrego is the name for a one-year old sheep. You take lamb roasts and cover them with banana leaves and then cook it in a coal pit for a day. You then strip the meat like pulled pork and serve it in a corn taco, along with chopped onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. It is so succulent and delicious!

I went back with my pal Darcy last Sunday for more excellent tacos. While we were eating, I asked Mario the proprietor why Borrego stands were only opened on the weekend.

“The lamb cannot survive in Manzanillo’s heat – it is covered in wool,” he explained. “We have to order in the meat from Guadalajara, and one carcass only lasts two days.”

So, if that doesn’t get your goat, I don’t know what will.

I can’t seem to get enough of Peter Swanson. Last month, I wrote a review on Eight Perfect Murders; I enjoyed the book so much I had to read another of his novels.

The Kind Worth Killing is, in a way, an homage to his literary hero Patricia Highsmith. Noted mainly for her work The Amazing Mr. Ripley, the American expat in Europe wrote several amazing mystery novels, including Strangers on a Train, in which two complete strangers decide to kill each other’s nemeses in an effort to escape detection.

In Swanson’s book, the killers in question are Ted Severson, a successful dot.com millionaire, and Lily Kintner, the daughter of a famous English novelist. Severson catches his trophy wife Miranda screwing their house contractor Brad, and Lily, well, she just likes to kill people, so she decides to help Ted dispose of his wife.

Naturally, things go wrong, and the body count starts to mount. Flashbacks to Lily’s past reveal her rationale for her deadly hobby, as well as the back-story between her and Miranda.  Although the story takes place in contemporary times, it has that 50s film noir feel. In the end, they all get their just desserts. I highly recommend The Kind Worth Killing!

Super simple to make and mouth-watering delicious, you can get frozen portions of pork belly at La Comer in Manzanillo (just ask for ‘pork belly’).

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly (serves four).

Salt

Brown sugar

Ground pepper.

Directions

Score the fat by cutting through the outer layer, about ½ cm. Cut at 90 degree angles to create a diamond-pattern. Sprinkle salt, brown sugar and ground pepper on the top. Place in a shallow tin pan to catch the drippings.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Place, uncovered, on a mid rack and cook for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 300F and leave for another hour.

Remove the pan and let the roast sit for 5 minutes before carving. Use the drippings to make gravy.

I’m such a big fan of Churchill that I featured him as a pivotal historical character in The Hotel Seamstress, set in Paris in WWII.

Churchill at War is an interesting mix of archival footage and dramatization. The producers use AI to both colorize WWII film and mimic Churchill’s voice when presenting correspondence and unrecorded speeches.

While most of the four-part series is focused on Churchill’s role as prime minister during his battle against Hitler and the Nazis, it also backtracks to his formative school years and escapades as an officer in the Boer War.

The series is augmented by historians placing events in context, as well as commentaries from politicians like former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ex-president George Bush.

Altogether, it is a fascinating and well-edited documentary that highlights the pivotal role played by of one of the foremost politicians of the last century. When historians say that Churchill saved western civilization from utter destruction, they weren’t exaggerating. I highly recommend Churchill at War!

There’s a sub-genre in cozy mysteries in which the sleuth hooks up with a famous person like Einstein or Groucho Marx to solve a murder. They’re usually too gimmicky and poorly written to appeal to me, but I ran across An American in Paris Mystery series, and it caught my attention.

The book is about the adventures of one Tabitha Knight, a young, precocious woman from Michigan. The year is 1949, and she has moved to Paris to stay with her grandfather in a wonderful mansion in the Left Bank. The hook is that her friend Julia Child lives right across the street.

In all good cozy mysteries, the amateur sleuth is a magnet for gruesome murders, and Tabitha is no exception. While accompanying Julia to a cooking demonstration at the Cordon Bleu School, Master Chef Beauchaine is murdered when he sips from a bottle of wine laced with arsenic.

Detective Merveille, he of the steely eye and cleft chin, is soon on the scene, and Tabitha pesters him to distraction with her theories. Her investigation soon leads to the sinister catacombs beneath the city and a mysterious restaurant closed by the Germans during the occupation.

You get the drift. Tabitha is chased by no-goodniks and only escapes certain death through her own pluckiness. It may not be Agatha Christie, but if you’re looking for a diversion on a cold winter day, I highly recommend A Murder Most French!

I blame Taco Bell.

Even though the food chain didn’t come to Canada until 1979, their insipid, bland interpretation of Mexican food permeated North American culture like a chili-flavored tsunami.

We would buy a packet containing a half dozen tortilla shells, spice mix and a handy-little cardboard holder to stuff cheese and ground meat into your taco (although the holder tasted better than the shells).

Contrast that insipid experience with the amazing spectrum of food celebrated every day in Mexico. From mole in Oaxaca to birria (lamb stew) in Jalisco, Mexicans eat delicious, inexpensive and wholesome meals using recipes that date back hundreds of years.

Pictured, Joanne and Rick are enjoying a real taco lunch at Don Julio’s, located just across the street from Soriana’s in Manzanillo. The popular restaurant specializes in a wide range of meat and fish tacos, along with ‘volcanoes’, food served in a sizzling-hot rock bowl carved from lava.

Along with the tacos, you get an array of fillings, including onions, cucumber and a sauce made of mayo, chipotle powder and lime juice. We’re drinking micheladas, a mix of beer and clamato juice rimmed with chili powder (although the little cocktail umbrellas are not strictly kosher).

Here’s to the celebration of Mexican cuisine!

This is ridiculously easy to make, tastes delicious and is an excellent way to use up left-over roast chicken!

Ingredients

2 cups of diced roast chicken

1 cup of shredded cheese

½ cup of diced red pepper

½ cup of diced white onion

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of chili

1 tsp of cumin

Tortillas

Butter

Sour cream

Directions

Mix chicken, onion, peppers and spices together.

Fill ½ the tortilla and fold over.

Lightly butter the outside of the tortillas. Back on a cookie sheet at 350 F for 8-10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream.

Enjoy!

Ive been reading Hannah’s novels for several years now; her work is always authentic, insightful and captivating.

The Women is the story of Frances ‘Frankie’ McGrath, a naïve, sheltered girl growing up in the 1960s in an affluent Southern California home. When her older brother enlists in the US Navy and is sent to Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army as a nurse and is posted to Asia as well.

Her naivety is quickly smothered as she experiences the hell of war as an emergency room nurse at an evacuation hospital near the front lines. She is daily confronted by mangled young men, torn apart by landmines and mortars. Amidst the carnage, she forms lasting friendships with her fellow nurses.

When Frankie finally returns to the US, she discovers a vastly changed culture. Soldiers are vilified for their war sacrifices. She finds herself ashamed to admit she served in Vietnam and plunges into depression.

Fortunately, Frankie’s friends are there to support her, and she eventually achieves peace while supporting other women who fought and were forgotten. This is a book that explores the horrific reality of war, and the lasting bonds that it creates. I highly recommend The Women!

This spy thriller marks Cameron Diaz’s return to the big screen after a decade-long hiatus. She stars as Emily, wife of Mark (played by Jamie Foxx), a pair of middle-class parents raising their teenage kids in American suburbia.

All that goes out the window when their cover is blown and they have to return to the field as CIA agents.

The movie has been criticized as being too formulaic for such talented leads, but it was never meant to be Oscar bait. Diaz and Foxx bring a spark and chemistry as husband and wife, using their skills to dodge the evil intent of the bad guys and save the world.

A special treat is Glenn Close playing Ginny, Emily’s English mother. When she meets her two grandchildren for the first time, she threatens dismemberment if they mar the parquet floors of her mansion.

All in all, it’s an entertaining film with more than its fair share of excitement and laughs. I heartily recommend Back in Action!

This is a great mystery novel by murder-master Peter Swanson.

The plot revolves around Malcolm Kershaw, owner of the Old Devil’s bookstore in Boston. Years ago, Malcolm wrote an entry in the bookstore blog, Eight Perfect Murders, where he listed classic murder mysteries, including Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C. Murders. Now, FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey shows up at his shop with the theory that a serial killer is using the plots to get away with murder.

Malcolm, a life-long lover of murder mysteries, is both intrigued and appalled. Malcolm had picked the books because they allowed the killer to go Scot-free; hence, the ‘perfect’ murder. But how do you trace a real serial killer who is using the same modus operandi from each book?

As their investigation progresses, we learn that neither Malcolm or Agent Mulvey are as innocent as they seem. The reader has to discern when Malcolm, as narrator, is telling the truth, or lying. This book will keep you riveted to the very last page. I highly recommend Eight Perfect Murders!

Sometimes it feels like you’re back in the 1970s here in Mexico.

Folks are especially laid back about driving. Not enough room in the truck cab for all the kids? Just stick ’em in the back with the watermelons!

But, most of all, they don’t get in your face if you’re just weirding out. Many years ago, we finally finished paying off our condo. I called my pal Ross in Manzanillo and asked if anyone would care if we burned our mortgage papers on the beach.

“Hell, no!” he said. “They don’t even care if you burn your car on the beach!

Tradition has it that this dish was invented in a brothel in Naples where the girls would whip up a meal from whatever was cheap and plentiful. It’s a delicious recipe and super easy to make when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare!

Ingredients

2 Tsp of olive oil

1/4 white onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

3 anchovy fillets

¼ cup of chopped black olives

1 tsp of capers

1 tsp of dried oregano

½ cup of white wine

2 cups of cooked spaghetti

Chopped fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

Directions

Fry the white onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the tomatoes and simmer until they soften.

Add the anchovy, black olives, capers and oregano.

Pour in the white wine and reduce for a few minutes.

Add in the spaghetti and stir the ingredients together.

Serve in a bowl, garnished with fresh basil and Parmesan.

Enjoy!

FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire. They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case. As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

We’ve been reading Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series for several years now, and have loved every page. So we were excited to see that he’s branched out to We Solve Murders.

The book features Steve, a retired copper in the UK who lives in a tiny village where he spends his time at quiz night in the local pub and chatting on the phone with his daughter-in-law Amy, a professional bodyguard who works for Maximum Impact Solutions.

Things get hinky when Maximum Impact’s clients suddenly start being offed in spectacular fashion, setting up Amy as the fall gal. Amy, who is guarding Rosie D’Antonio, a famous author of bodice-rippers, has to hightail it with her client when the mysterious Francois Loubet puts out a hit on her.

Amy calls in Steve to help her solve the murders so that they can clear her name and chill. The result is a mayhem-filled romp from South Carolina to Ireland. Throughout the book, Osman’s wit and sense of absurdity keeps the pace at full throttle. I highly recommend We Solve Murders!

You might tend to think that the process to pick a new Pope would be about as exciting as watching mud dry, but The Conclave, based on the novel by Robert Harris, lifts the experience to the level of a political thriller.

Pope Francis has passed away, and it’s up to Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes), to convene the Cardinals from around the world to pick a successor from its ranks. Leading candidates include Cardinal Tremblay (played by John Lithgow), and Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci).

Of course, not all is serene. One by one, aspirants reveal their true agendas and skeletons in the closet, making Cardinal Lawrence’s job a living nightmare that no amount of prayer to the All-mighty is going to dissipate.

This is one of the best movies that I’ve seen in 2024, and will no doubt attract a slew of Oscar nominations, including best director for Edward Berger, best actor for Fiennes and supporting nods to Tucci and Lithgow (not surprisingly, there are no female roles in a story about the Catholic Church – Boo!). I highly recommend The Conclave!

Arguably one of Leonard Cohen’s most famous songs, Hallelujah is a secular poem to the divine that, if you ever bother to listen to the lyrics, is just weird.

But that didn’t stop everybody from KD Lang to Shrek from singing it. Now, director Daniel Geller has gone to the effort of creating a 2-hour documentary focused on its creation.

Cohen, who passed away at the age of 82 in 2016, was notorious for his approach to writing. He thought nothing of taking the better part of a decade to grind out a song, going through endless variations of meter and prose. He dragged the lyrics and score of Hallelujah around the world for years, until finally finishing a version.

The song was a flop; his record label refused to release it in the US. But it was a hit with fellow musicians. Dylan thought it was the best song he ever heard. Eventually, Cohen took to the road on an international tour and the world fell in love with it.

Hallelujah faithfully follows Cohen’s career using CBC archive footage, interviews with contemporaries, and performances by Cohen and pals. I highly recommend Hallelujah!