Dear Great Book Guru,  I am leaving Sea Cliff for a week in sunny Miami- of course, I am bereft- there is no place I would rather be than Sea Cliff- snowy or sunny . So can you recommend a good book, something so compelling to read that it will get me through my time in the wildness?  Dreading to Leave

Dear Dreading to Leave,  I understand your feelings completely and I just read a rather long, very engrossing legal thriller by Nick Stone: THE VERDICT. Stone is an English citizen with a French-Haitian background who has won numerous literary awards in England but is relatively unknown here in the States.  Set in London over the last twenty years, THE VERDICT is reminiscent of a John Grisham work at its best: great dialogue, cleverly unfolding story line, colorfully rogue characters, and a morally flawed hero.  The story opens with Vernon Jackson, a billionaire financier, in a lush hotel suite, preparing his acceptance speech for “ The Ethical Person of the Year” award;  as Jackson’s sordid history is revealed, we are equally horrified and amused at the irony of his  having been considered for this honor. The hero narrator of the tale is Terry Flynt, a law clerk with a history of “bad moments,” who has the unenviable task of proving Jackson innocent of a particularly violent murder. Israeli operatives, South African assassins, Quaker missionaries, and real estate moguls all join in to make for a story that is fascinating from beginning to end. Recommended! 

Another interesting I read recently was Elizabeth Kolbert's THE SIXTH EXTINCTION