Linda

Listening to a book written more than 100 years ago about a country that I was told by the media/government was an 'enemy' gives me comfort that what I'm going through - at work, at home, in governmental gyrations - has all been experienced before. Mankind survived that period of time, and will survive this. This is everything you could want in a classic - romance, comedy, action, history, philosophy, sadness - plus it gave me a view of wars that were not covered well in American history because our participation was limited to funding Napoleon through the Louisiana Purchase.
The reader is excellent, and gives life to the characters.
It's broken into short 'books' - 2 to 4 hour segments, so you don't have to listen to 30 continuous hours.
I think his philosophy is still relevant, and his opinion on historians and their perspective was interesting.

Adrian McKinty tells a wonderful story, and Gerard Doyle is a great narrator. I get bored when the climactic chase scene is dragged out and every detail of the car bumping over the road is spelled out. Mr. McKinty does not do that, and the climactic scenes are not one long chase scene around streets, but twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat.
I also like Mr. McKinty's understanding of how sociopaths think, and how he weaves that into the story in a very subtle way. His blog is really good, too. He posts frequently, and it's kind of fun to feel like you can interact with him through the comments.

This is not so much a mystery as a multi-generational story. It's about the change that happened in the South from a cotton based segregated economy to an integrated industrial based one, and the social changes that took place along with that change. (Of course, I'm an accountant, so I see most things from an economic point of view.)

I liked that the author is not graphic with the violence. I like murder mysteries, but I don't want to hear about the details of blood flying all over, or the mental anguish of a victim.

I am a northerner, but I thought the reader did a good job of the slow drawn out speech of the South.

This was a good book, and it did make me feel better that politicians are probably a little better now than they were then. Only criticism is that I doubt Cassatt was the saint she makes him out to be. You don't rise to that level by being a 'nice guy' even if you're very honest and forthright, and have the best of intentions.