Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

A mystery novel in which a flock of sheep attempts to solve the murder of their shepherd. 5 years ago, I would have overlooked this book. But today, I am the owner and caregiver of several Nigerian Dwarf goats, I've become an amateur vet tech for a variety of animals, and I can't get enough mystery stories. So, this book seems to check off a lot of interests for me.

I first became aware of this 2005 novel about a month ago and I owe it all to Facebook. It was on that social media site that I came across the trailer for the live action film adaptation. Sheep Detectives, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson, is due out later this Spring. By the end of the 2 minute sneak preview, I was dying laughing and so ready to go see it in theaters. I must admit, it's been a long time since I have been left wanting to see an full-fledged comedy of any sort that wasn't rated appropriate for general audiences. And even though I am not happy with Jackman divorcing his wife after an affair with a much younger actress, I was willing to overlook it to see this movie!

The trailer is where I learned that Sheep Detectives is based on a mystery novel. I immediately went to Amazon in hopes of purchasing a copy. Only, I couldn't find anything cheaper than $35. In fact, most editions were priced in the $80 to $100 plus range. For a 20 year old book! What the frick?! 

I then learned that the book was originally published as Three Bags Full. Also, in order to tie in with the film, all previous editions were placed out of print in place of a brand new edition. Thus the move prompted most sellers to raise their prices to those astronomical prices. I don't think they realized that this is actually a dumb move, as with a much cheaper edition coming out, and pretty soon as well, I was willing to wait for the pre-order. I assume that with how insane overall prices have become, a lot of eager mystery fans were willing to wait for a more pocket book friendly edition to come out.

My book arrived just before Easter. That seemed very appropriate considering how lambs and lush fields are symbols of the holiday season. I was taken by the adorable set of sheep on the front cover. I would encounter them more as they all appear in a makeshift animated sequence that plays out on the bottom right corner of the book if you flip the pages kinda fast. 

I learned from the back cover that this book was originally written in German where it has the different title of Glenkill, the name of the rustic Irish town where the murder takes place. Since I would be reading an English translation of a German text, I was concerned that some of the charm and humor might be stunted; forever lost in translation. However I was pleasantly surprised. This was a very cute book with many humorous moments as the flock try to solve the murder of George Glenn from their observations of the human race. 

Naturally, these ruminants get things wrong. Hilariously wrong. As the story is told from the point of view of the sheep, there's a lot of missing parts. Being that nothing happens in this book unless one of George's sheep are present, you might wonder how much mystery can be solved in a small pasture. But it's a very busy crime scene and these goats like to wander off... a lot.

When I read a gritty crime noir, I often get a little lost. (I chalk it up to my growing short term memory loss issues.) So I'll go back and thumb through the book trying to figure out what I missed. As all of the action in this book occurs only in front of the sheep, and they don't quite understand humans very well, there is a lot of incomplete data. Thus, if something didn't make sense, I think that was intentional on the part of the author. Still, not all of the pieces to all of the puzzles fit neatly together at the end. But if you can read between the lines, you should do okay. 

Glenkill is like any small town in the U.K., full of unsavory people who might or might not have something to do with the murders or one of a dozen other scandals that it seems everyone but the sheep and the reader know about. Is it the priest? The butcher? The scorn woman? Everyone is guilty about something but only 1 of the townsfolk knows the truth behind who killed George the shepherd.

Fanciful and fun. Funny too. The charm doesn't have to end and I am not just talking about going to see the film in theaters. Leonie Swann has actually written a sequel; 2010's Big Bad Wool. As opposed to a mystery, it's got a horror edge to it. I wonder if I can wait until October to devour it as part of my Halloween time reading list. It'll be tough but I think I can do it!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Classic Illustrated Special Issue: Moses and the Ten Commandments

I stumbled across this early silver age beauty last weekend during my biannual visit to the flea market at the Fairgrounds in Raleigh, NC. Actually, my wife found it. She knew that I like to collect Gilberton's Classics Illustrated and while this wasn't an official entry in their lineup, it is a spin-off. 

I didn't even know that this book existed. But it was in amazing condition. The price was very nice. And with Passover/Easter coming up, I was thrilled to have a Spring holiday comic read.

This retelling of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt wasn't produced to celebrate Passover or Easter. It was actually a tie-in to Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments; although you don't find that out until you get to the inside back cover where there is a full page ad along with photos of Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Pharaoh. 

The movie advertisement claims to have extra material not found in the modern Bible. That would explain some extra material to the Exodus story that seemed unfamiliar to me. I understand artistic license adding scenes and dialogue to the movie. DeMille's epic is over 3 hours long and from what I remember there was a side plot about an Israelite in love with an Egyptian girl. But to claim that the extra material is from newly released documents just seems not to be Gilberton's style. 

A couple of years ago, I read a book about the history of Classics Illustrated. I don't remember reading anything about the publisher releasing movie tie-ins. Was this a one time experiment? Or did they capitalize on other epic films being based on classics of world literature? 

A very appropriate read for Passover with awesome art. But above all, I think the use of a Leroy Lettering Machine in lieu of a human letterer actually works well here. The more formal font in bigger, bolder typeface really exudes the forceful commands of God to Moses and his people.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 

Daniel Boone #7 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

If you're the execs at 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney refuses to sell you the rights to one of their most lucrative properties, the legendary Davy Crockett, what do you do? You've already got Fess Parker, who played Davy in a series of TV movies that spawned a craze in the mid-1950s. You even have Parker wearing a coon skin cap, like he did back then, along with a slew of frontier set scripts, some historical sets and several actors who could pass for native American Indians. You even have a corporate sponsor in the Feldspar Corp., ready to cover some of your production expenses. Yet, you just cannot come to terms on the licensing rights for your main character. 

So what do you do? In this case, you pivot and focus instead on another similar figure of early American folklore. Enter: Daniel Boone!

Daniel Boone was born in 1734 in what was Colonial Pennsylvania. He was a noted frontiersmen and behind the settlement of Kentucky. Settling the town of Boonesborough, Boone participated in a border war with American Indians, where his exploits became legend. He later represented Kentucky territory in the Virginia state assembly before encountering financial hardships and moving stakes from Kentucky to what would now be Missouri. Boone died in 1820, preceded by his wife Rebecca 7 years earlier.

The television show based on Daniel Boone debuted in 1964 on NBC. It takes place during Boone's having just settled Boonesborough and featured stories that involved skirmishes with the neighboring Miami tribe, the occasional visiting stranger with a mysterious past and legal disputes with the US government. There was very little historical accuracy however. Boone's wife, Rebecca was a character on the show, as are children Israel and Jemima. However, Boone in real life had a total of 10 children. 

Daughter Jemima was famously abducted by Indians and rescued by a posse led by her father. The incident later became inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. In real life, Jemima Boone was a hostage for 3 days. By the end of season 2 of the TV series, the character played by Angela Cartwright, soon of Lost in Space fame, Jemima was quietly removed from the show and never mentioned again.  

Jemima was no longer even a character on the show when this first hit shelves in 1966. The girl and her brother are the heroes of the backup feature titled 'Land of Giants'. When during an hunting expedition Boone and his compatriots are captured by hostile natives, the children use their knowledge of Native American folklore and pretend to be the giants of legend to scare the captors away. 

The opening story is titled 'The Battle for the Boats.' It involves a trader who foolishly believes that the Miami tribe living north of the Ohio River will embrace trading furs and other goods with him. Boone warns that the man's caravan of barges are going to be attacked and goes out to prevent the Miami from obtaining the guns and ammunition carried aboard before the weapons could be used against the Boonesborough settlement. 

Included along with the pair of Daniel Boone stories was a filler starring a character named Zachariah Yankee Peddler. He's a travelling salesman whose adventures have filled the pages of numerous Gold Key/Dell Western adventures such as The Lone Ranger. A pair of non-fiction one-pagers about Native American hunting practices grace the internal back and front covers along with a prose article on Chief Joseph. The exterior back cover features a photographed pin up of Fess as Daniel Boone. 

The 60s saw comic book artists and writers beginning to receive credit for their contributions. However, Gold Key was still rather late to that party. Current research indicates that  Paul S. Newman was the author behind all of the main stories and the interior cover scripts. Only the Chief Joseph biography is unaccounted for. Artwork and inks for this issue were split amongst Joe Certa, Mike Roy and Mike Peppe.

The Daniel Boone TV series ran for 6 seasons; lasting until Spring of 1970. Gold Key's adaptation ran for 15 issues. Published sporadically, it's last issue was dated April, 1969.

Completing this review completes Task #29 (A Fictional Comic About a Real Person) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

How to Eat a Lobster and Other Edible Enigmas Explained by Ashley Blom

The culinary arts are chock full of conundrums. How do you crack open a lobster in order to get the maximum amount of meat from inside? Is it possible to eat an artichoke without getting those eternally dry thistles stuck in your throat? Which fork do you use for the salad course? Can you prepare yourself to eat demonically spicy food when in reality, you've got the palette of an iceberg?

Food Blogger Ashley Blom explores dozens of mysteries that have dominated kitchens and dinner tables for centuries. This is a book I wish I had years ago. I recall a demo I did for my culinary students that used a technique that I learned in culinary school involving opening a coconut. The established way had me using the hilt of a very sharp chef's knife and bringing it down in force atop one of the fruit's trio of eyes. The blade ended up cracking off the handle and shooting about 10 feet across the lab. While quite comical, it could have ended disastrously if the blade impaled one of my students. Needless to say, I haven't conducted a coconut demo since. Now thanks to another possible method brought forth from this book, I'm willing to give the coconut another go!

A very short read, both in size and length, this 2017 guide from Quirk Books would make a great gift for the foodie in your life. Pair it with a bottle of wine and you've got an exquisite house warming gift. Add a portrait of Ulysses Grant or Ben Franklin inside and you've got an informative graduation gift that might help bring another lost soul into the world of food and fine dining. Just overlook the millennial slang peppered throughout these pages.

Featuring tips for food prep, table etiquette and how to interact properly when challenges arrive dining out or as a dinner party guest, this should be required reading. Everybody eats. But not everyone knows just how to do it. I've been in the culinary industry for nearly 2 decades and I learned new tips and tricks here. This is definitely going to be a reference book for me to use in my culinary lesson plans. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Classics Illustrated Junior #531: Rapunzel (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 1953, Gilberton began a spin-off of its vastly popular Classics Illustrated series of comics. Titled Classics Illustrated Junior, this new line was aimed at readers younger than 8. Issues featured fairy tales, nursery rhymes and fables. To distinguish itself from the sister line, Classic Illustrated Junior began its numbering at #501. This makes  #501, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' the first issue in the series that lasted until 1971, when new owners Twin Circle Publishing discontinued all of its former Gilberton holdings.

In this issue, the story of 'Rapunzel' is explored. The fairy tale of the maiden with the lengthy tresses, locked away in a very tall tower is popularly attributed to the German folklorists, the Brothers Grimm, in their 1812 fairy tale collection Children's and Household Tales. However, modern researchers trace origins of the story to a couple of 17th century French fairy tales as well as the classical myth of the Greek hero Perseus, whose mother was confined to a bronze tower by her father. Regardless of the origins of the story, Gilberton focused on the Brothers Grimm as the primary source material.

The tale begins before the main character is even born. Her mother is having cravings for a salad made of rampion, a flowering plant with edible blossoms and roots. The nearest source of the plant is in the next door garden which belongs to an evil witch. Refusing to eat anything else except for the tantalizing rampions, the expecting mother sends her husband to gather some of the plants. 

Afraid of the witch, the husband sneaks into the garden and steals some of the rampion. He's caught by the crone. But since the plants are for the wife, the witch allows her rampions to be harvested- for a price! In return for the edibles, the old woman gets ownership of the couple's daughter; to which the very afraid husband willingly agrees.

After the birth of the child, the witch takes the infant girl into her custody. The babe is named Rapunzel, which is another name for rampion. Over the years, Rapunzel's hair grows ridiculously long. At around age 10, the conjurer imprisons Rapunzel in a tower that has no entrance way except for a lone widow at the very top. After destroying the ladder that gained the witch entrance into the tower, the hag checks on Rapunzel each morning by ordering the girl to lower her lengthy tresses. The witch then climbs up the hair to provide nourishment.

One day, a travelling prince hears Rapunzel singing in her tower and becomes immediately enamored. Hidden in a thicket, he witnesses the witch commanding Rapunzel to lower her hair. When the sorceress leaves, the prince makes the same request of Rapunzel and after making his climb, asks the girl to become his bride. But first, they've got to get rid of Rapunzel's jailer!

While Classics Illustrated Junior has a lessened page count than its older sibling series, there are several added features to the issue. Also included is a one-page recital of the nursery rhyme 'Little Miss Muffet', the Aesop Fable of the belling of the cat (titled 'The Mice in Council') as well as a 'The Animal World', a small nature strip about the abilities and  attributes of the Arctic reindeer. A connect the dot activity which reveals a kangaroo and a coloring page depicting Rapunzel in her tower bedroom round out the offerings. 

While it was not industry standards to attribute credits to the writers and artists who contributed to these pre-bronze age issues, devoted fans and comic book historians did exhaustive research in order to learn just who to admire for their work. From what I could look up, Lin Streeter painted the cover. He's also credited as the illustrator of both the title story as well as the Aesop Fable and the color page in the inside back cover. Alex A. Blum is ascribed for drawing the art for the 'Little Miss Muffet' page. William A. Walsh drew the reindeer lesson. 

No writer information was readily available. The Brothers Grimm are not even given credit for inspiring this tale whereas other issues, such as #525 'The Little Mermaid', bestows cover credit to Hans Christian Andersen.

Completing this review completes Task #28 (An issue of Classics Illustrated Jr) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Faculty Funnies #1 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In the late 1980s, Archie Comics revisited the Riverdale superheroes concept. Only this time, it was the teachers and staff of Riverdale High School that became empowered.

When Archie's science experiment explodes, several members of the faculty gain superpowers based on skills they've developed over their careers. Thanks to years of writing across a lengthy blackboard, Ms. Grundy's right arm becomes super-stretchy. Coach Clayton, develops super breath, thanks to his persistence with a P.E. whistle. His sneezes can also stun a criminal! Principle Weatherbee develops clairvoyance due to years of anticipating problems that arise within the realms of public education. Rounding out the group is Professor Flutesnoot, who became nigh invulnerable thanks to decades of suffering through exploding science experiments.

The four faculty members decide to become a superteam. Grundy sews up a quartet of very itchy wool costumes and the staff of Riverdale High become known as the Awesome Foursome. Their first adventure uncovers a plot in which the town's criminal underground seems to increase the crime rate through subliminal messages implanting in discount video tapes rented to Archie and his friends. 

George Gladir scripted with art by Stan Goldberg. Rudy Lapick inked. While not billed as a miniseries, Faculty Funnies was not intended to be a new regular title. The concept came to a planned end with issue #5, seeing the teachers losing their special abilities and realizing that being an educator who cared as their true super powers. 

The book was filled with the usual one-page gags and short stories; this time around starring other members of the RHS faculty. Gladir crafted a one-pager featuring the former drill Sargent turned Assistant Principal, Mr. Howitzer. Hal Smith wrote the 2-page filler starring the oft flummoxed Miss Haggly. And yes, that's the same Hal Smith who played town drunk Otis on The Andy Griffith Show! Again, the art in both was provided by Stan Goldberg with inks by Lapick. The pair also crafted the cover to this issue.

A fun, and at times silly comic of which I wouldn't mind having the other issues to round out a complete run.

Completing this review completes Task #26 (An Archie Comics release from the 1980s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Pep Comics #287 (2026 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

With a cover teasing the most one-sided snowball fight of all time, winter fun is the theme to this 1974 issue of Pep Comics. The opening story virtually has no dialogue, except for an exclamation from Archie that closes everything with a punchline. In 'Archie Says "It's Always the Same Old Story on a Weekend Ski Trip", Archie and Reggie head to the slopes. The tale is narrated like one of those Disney mockumentaries starring Goofy, as it's explained what to expect when you make an impromptu trip to the mountains. The unseen voice regales the reader with narration of a magical weekend ski trip while in reality we see everything go wrong for Archie and Reggie.

Follow up stories include Li'l Jinx engaged in a good ol' fashioned 1970s battle of the sexes. The task at hand: who makes a better pilot; men or women? But since Jinx and her pal are way too young to fly a commercial airliner, they'll have to settle for figuring out who can fly the better paper airplane. 

Archie bemoans a sudden snow storm in one yarn while Reggie and Moose struggle to get Archie up in time for a big game. Rounding out the issue are one-page gags starring Coach Kleats and Big Ethel as well as prize winning reports from members of 'Archie's Club News'. There's also a pin-up in which Archie gets Jughead to wrap him inside a giant gift wrapped box as Veronica's Christmas present. It's the only holiday themed part of this issue.

There are no creative credits anywhere to be found in this issue. But according to MyComicShop.com, Dan DeCarlo penciled the cover, Bob Bolling was the artist behind the ski trip opener and the Li'l Jinx story was written and illustrated by character creator Joe Edwards.

Completing this review completes Task #25 (An Archie Comics release from the 1970s) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.