"The Jugger" by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake)

Yet another in the Parker series of novels written by Donald Westlake under the pseudonym Richard Stark. The Jugger follows the story of former safe cracker ("a jugger") Joe Scheer is retired and living in a small mid-west town and remains the main conduit through which to reach Parker to setup a job. When Parker arrives he finds his friend Joe already deceased and Parker needs to dig into a mystery in order to save his cover life as Charles Wills. If you've read some of my previous posts on other Parker novels (see here, here and here) then you'll know that I find this series one of the more inventive concepts for a mystery series with an intriguing and unlikely hero in career criminal Parker. As the novel develops, Parker's concerns move from finding Joe's killer to finding out how much about his cover has leaked out and trying to perform damage control.

Bottom line - like other novels in the Parker series at 175 pages this is a short easy to read novel that provides a couple of interesting twists that will keep you on your toes as Parker hunts for the killer and to save himself.

What to make of a Yahoo! combination with Microsoft

After being out sick for a few days I wanted to get back in the swing of things by putting a few thoughts out there on Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!

While lots is being written about the financial implications for shareholders and the remaining Yahoos! what isn't being widely discussed is what Microsoft is likely to do with the assets that it garners from this acquisition. At this point despite the protests from Yahoo's management and board it simply seems like posturing to get a better price at which to close the transaction.

If you're like me I rarely use Yahoo's dated search engine (if I use it for 1 out of 10 searches - which arguably is 1 more than I ever use MSN) the loss of this part of the web really won't be any loss at all.

For my own use the biggest asset that Yahoo! has is the strength of the firm's Yahoo Finance brand. It's always boggled my mind that Yahoo never attempted to move to a more powerful subscription tool for this part of the service given the growth in equity investing among small investors. Frequently Yahoo Finance actually beats major firms with dedicated wire services to tracking and releasing company specific news. In fact, Google Finance sources a number of its articles from Yahoo Finance and typically lags Yahoo in terms of updating the news wire feed to its site. While the firm did leverage traditional click-through ads as a means of monetizing the traffic to Yahoo Finance myself along with others would have gladly shelled out for an annual subscription with the promise of a few extra features.

At this point I'm busy hunting for an alternative but must admit few good options exist that enable a personal investor to get a comprehensive wire service coverage across a portfolio of stocks. While we still have some time since the deal is not yet done you can clearly see the headlights of the approaching Microsoft train heading toward Yahoo!

Send in any alternatives you have and I'll update this post.

"God Save The Mark" By Donald Westlake

After reading a number of novels by Donald Westlake written under the pen-name of Richard Stark I opted to pick up another of his works. This time I chose "God Save the Mark" a mystery published in the late 1960s featuring the challenges a born "mark" named Fred Fitch faces. The interesting twist is that Fred Fitch inherits $300,000 from his long-lost Uncle Matt a former con-man. The mystery begins with the murder of Uncle Matt and a number of mysterious happenings taking place around Fred Fitch. Westlake takes this original premise and builds a strong plot with a solid pace of action and suspense as Fitch sets out to find his Uncle's killer and get to the bottom of the unexpected winfall in the form of the inheritance.

Overall, I would say the "God Save The Mark" is an enjoyable read but is not without its faults. The premise behind the novel is a little odd to say the least in terms of the character of Fred Fitch being the ultimate mark for con-men. I was skeptical about 20 pages in as to whether this novel was going anywhere but Westlake quickly turned up the heat as he begins to layer a strong plot-line around the mysterious inheritance and the death of Uncle Matt. If you're looking for an easy read and need a book to take with you to cottage to relax its worth adding "God Save The Mark" to your reading list.