Southern Arizona authors
"Letters From Tucson, 1933-1942"
By Ethel Stiffler Carpenter, edited and published by Roger Carpenter, $28.50.
On Dec. 15, 1942, driving a five-year-old Oldsmobile accompanied by children, ages 3 and 7, and the family dog, Ethel Stiffler Carpenter began a cross-country trip to join her husband, University of Arizona astronomer Edwin Carpenter.
Edwin Carpenter had gone ahead to Cornell University, where the Navy had recruited him to teach navigation. Driving a steady 35 mph to conserve rationed gas and rolling on wartime "reclaimed rubber" tires, Ethel Carpenter arrived at her family home in Parkton, Md., around midnight Christmas Eve. ("Don't worry about Christmas presents," she had written ahead to her mother. "We'll just wrap up some walnuts.")
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The life of this unpretentious, modestly intrepid woman is told in her second volume of letters, collected and edited by her son, Roger. (The first was "Letters from Tucson 1925-1927.")
Ethel Carpenter's prolific output was directed to her family back in Maryland. She wrote by hand, almost daily. It's hard to figure out when she had time to attend to her many and various duties as wife, mother, homemaker and faculty activity organizer. But very little escaped her funny, warm, intelligent observation. Whether it was socializing with the Emil Haurys or attending one of Ina Gittings' "archery parties," Carpenter was taking mental notes. (Of one faculty wife, she wrote, "She's always knitting something.")
Ethel Stiffler arrived in Tucson in 1925 and taught botany at the UA for two years. She returned in 1933 married to Edwin Carpenter, an associate of the famed astronomer and developer of the theory of tree-ring dating, Andrew Ellicott Douglass. She lived to be 96. A photo taken when she was 91 shows her to be as brightly engaged in her 90s as she was in her 20s.
"Where the Heart Was"
By Glenn G. Boyer, Legendary Publishing, $34.95.
This beautifully written saga covers almost 100 years in the life of the nation and in the lives of members of the Cheek and Todd families. It begins with 88-year-old Edwin Newton Cheek's recollection, as an 11-year-old, of riding off with the Illinois Volunteers to fight for "the Republic" in the Civil War.
Flashing back and forward, Boyer brings his story full circle when the novel's principal protagonist, Bennie Todd, is recruited for World War II. In between, Boyer has tucked in dozens of cameo appearances by gamblers, farmers, politicians, businessmen and miners from Alaska to Tombstone, city slums to grim backcountry. Skillfully worked into the story are the morals, ethics and culture of the times.
"9800 Savage Road"
By M.E. Harrigan, Forge / Tom Doherty Associates, $24.99.
M.E. "Betsy" Harrigan worked for the National Security Agency for 27 years. A number of years ago, she began converting her experiences into a novel. She is, she writes, "the first insider in NSA's 57-year history to publish a book about the agency." She adds, "Believe me . . . going through NSA's pre-publication review process was excruciatingly painful."
The story begins just after Thanksgiving of 2000 and ends on Sept. 11, 2001. In those nine months, the NSA (where everything is reduced to its initials, and UBL stands for Usama bin Laden) goes through an agonizing series of setbacks, cutbacks and betrayals.
"Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel: 100 Dirty Little Money-Grubbing Secrets"
By Phil Villarreal, Skyhorse Publishing, $12.95.
If cheap is the new chic, this little book by Arizona Daily Star reporter Villarreal may just have arrived in time's nick. There are useful tips on saving money to be found here: Rebates are real, use them; you can get reductions for cash, especially on big-ticket items (the example given is a hospital bill); before you use your credit card in a small shop, be sure the shopkeeper doesn't charge a credit-card-use fee; and there are toll-free "800" phone numbers for all kinds of current information.
Of course, there are some tips that might just be felonious - or certainly tacky. Using a McDonald's Happy Meal purchase to bag a year's supply of ketchup at the free-condiment bar?
It might be "priceless," but just give it a chuckle and move on.
"Obedient Till Death"
By Marlene Bachmann, PublishAmerica, $27.95.
A well-crafted police procedural from the author of "Corridor of Death" (Tucson's South Sixth Avenue), dealing with greyhounds, animal abuse and drug running. The author is a retired Tucson Police Department veteran who lightens a grim scenario with insider knowledge of how a police department works.
"Everyday Evil: My Memoir"
By Marilyn Anne Pate, Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing Inc., $16.95.
This is Green Valley retiree Pate's carefully detailed recollection of a life spent dealing with a difficult, overbearing, if not psychotic parent.
"The Unholy Triangle"
By Nick A. Uglesich, Inkwater Press, $22.95.
Satanism and evil spirits dominate this metaphysical tale of a half-century of tragedies and deaths from retired football coach Uglesich.
"Leaks"
By Susan Mrosek, Pondering Pool, $16.50.
An unusual collection of philosophical poems and brief paragraphs covering a wide variety of contemporary ideas.
