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36+ Werken 363 Leden 15 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Jack Batten and his wife, Marjorie Harris, one of Canada's leading gardening writers, bought their Annex house in 1967 and live in it to this day. He is the author of 30 books, including biographies, histories, sports books and crime novels
Fotografie: photo:marjorieharris2002

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Werken van Jack Batten

Lawyers (1980) 27 exemplaren
Judges (1986) 18 exemplaren
Canada Moves Westward 1880/1890 (1977) 12 exemplaren
Crang Plays the Ace (1987) 11 exemplaren
In Court (1982) 11 exemplaren
Booking In: A Crang Mystery (2017) 10 exemplaren
Riviera Blues (1990) 10 exemplaren

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Tagged

Algemene kennis

Gangbare naam
Batten, Jack
Geboortedatum
1932-01-23
Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
Canada
Geboorteplaats
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Woonplaatsen
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opleiding
University of Toronto (BA | 1954)
University of Toronto (LL.B. | 1957)
Beroepen
lawyer (1959 - 1963)
author
Relaties
Harris, Marjorie (wife)
Organisaties
Globe and Mail
Toronto Star
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Prijzen en onderscheidingen
Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction (2002)
Victoria College Distinguished Alumni Award (2003)
Korte biografie
Jack Batten practised law in Toronto for four years before turning to a life of writing. He has written for all the major Canadian magazines and is the author of thirty-three books including four crime novels. Five of his nonfiction books dealt with real-life Canadian lawyers, judges, and court cases; a biography of John Robinette was among these books. Batten's books have also dealt with sports, Canadian history, and biography. He has reviewed jazz for The Globe and Mail, movies for CBC radio, and still writes a column on crime fiction for the Toronto Star. His biography of Tom Longboat won the $10,000 Norma Fleck Award for best children's nonfiction in 2002, and the book is being made into a feature film.

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Besprekingen

Crang Plays the Ace. Jack Batten. 2011. Crang must have been compared to Robert B. Parker’s Spencer on Crimereads.com for me to have purchased this book; it has been languishing on my “to be read” bookcase for several years… Anyway, he is good, but he is not Spencer. Crang is a lawyer who takes cases he usually loses. He has a beautiful, self-confident, successful girlfriend, loves jazz, good food, and good drink. A wealthy business man comes to see him and wants him to look into Ace Disposal Services. He has invested over 300,000 dollars into the company, and he is afraid that is so profitable that it may not be on the up and up. Oh, by the way, his cousin, Alice Brackely is working for the company and may be involved with the new manager so Crang needs to be very discrete. This is a good book, but I doubt I’ll go out of my way to read another. I have to many other books to read.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
judithrs | Jul 5, 2020 |
Silent in an Evil Time: The Brave War of Edith Cavell by Jack Batten is a straight forward, factual account of Nurse Edith Cavells’ life and her death in front of an execution squad of German soldiers during World War I. I had heard of her and knew that streets, parks and mountains had been named after her but I didn’t quite know how this all came about. This book describes how, as a Matron of a Belgium hospital, she helped to save the lives of hundreds Allied soldiers. She was involved in a secret organization that assisted soldiers who found themselves trapped behind enemy lines. Although her work put her in terrible personal danger, she gave the soldiers shelter, helped to disguise them, and assisted in finding them a safe route across the border to neutral Holland.

In October of 1915, the Germans rounded up a number of people who were helping Allied soldiers to escape and Edith Cavell was one of them. Her fate became one of the turning points in the war, after world wide revulsion was directed at Germany for her execution, the Kaiser declared that no other woman would be shot unless under his direct orders. This decree actually saved three other women that had worked in the same organization from the firing squad. Her death also brought a surge of recruits who wanted to avenge this execution.

Although the author has delivered a concise, well researched and highly readable account of the life of Edith Cavell, I never quite felt that I learned much about the inner woman. She was a very private person and certainly had no desire to be famous, yet truly deserves to be remembered as a great heroine. Among her last words were her reassurances to her family that she felt her soul was safe and at peace, and that she was glad to die for her country.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
DeltaQueen50 | 1 andere bespreking | Nov 1, 2018 |
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I gather this is the latest in a series featuring Crang, a Toronto lawyer who behaves more like a maverick PI. I have not read any of the earlier instalments, but this one worked fine as a stand alone story. Crang is employed by an antique bookseller whose safe has been broken into. It is unclear which of the items in the safe was the burglar's real target and Crang, with the help of a friendly former burglar and a former safe breaker, starts investigating.

I enjoyed this story, which was told in a humorous, light tone throughout. The breezy tone did grate occasionally,

SPOILERS

particularly when Biscuit was killed and neither Crang nor Maury seemed to feel any personal responsibility whatsoever. I didn't really grasp why the forged poems had to be returned to the safe secretly anyway - why didn't Crang just give them back to Fletcher and tell him he knew they were fake forgeries? The scene in the garden at the end, where I think we were supposed to be amused by the ploy to save the plants being trampled was tiresome to me. Crang did seem to subscribe to the view that the police only needed to know what he chose to reveal. On the other hand I did very much enjoy the scene where Crang gets Charlie's neighbour some Fruit Loops.

Pleasant enough, with a coherent plot and lots of twists and turns, but I don't think I'd rush to read another.
… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
pgchuis | Sep 23, 2017 |
This book profiles a number of lawyers who were deemed by the author to illustrate a facet of legal practise. It is indicative of the time (1980) that none of the lawyers were female. As a young female lawyer at the time I faced my share of inequities because of my gender. I think (hope) that a similar book written now would include a number of women. However, it wouldn't include me because I left the field of law a number of years ago after slugging it out in the family law ghetto to which a lot of females are consigned.… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
gypsysmom | Aug 14, 2017 |

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Statistieken

Werken
36
Ook door
1
Leden
363
Populariteit
#66,173
Waardering
½ 3.4
Besprekingen
15
ISBNs
77

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