veer - As far as PLAR goes, I think we see right from the start that the Land family is at ease with guns - the first thing we read about is the goose hunting trip the family has together. Hunting is for the family's enjoyment, yes, but also for their dinner. Hunting as a family activity is very common in the U.S., certainly in the states that serve as the backdrop for this story. We also see from the beginning that Jeremiah is not a violent man, nor does he condone violence in any way. Here in lies the conflict - a tension that is played out in the Land family, and in the broader human arena as well. Jeremiah's peaceful ways, his mild and passive behavior, his ability to turn the other cheek, bring his family as much sorrow and trouble as it does good.(eg losing his job at the school; I also think his passive behavior is the reason his wife left him.) Davey's choice to deal violently with a bad person brings nothing but pain to everybody - there is nothing good about his choice. This is made plain in the book, I think. (Although Reuben and Swede, as children, think that loyalty to Davey trumps everything, Jeremiah does not think loyalty equals aiding and abetting their brother's escape from jail) Davey's choice to use violence is also part of Jeremiah's anguish with the situation, I think. How can the beloved son of a peaceful man choose to solve problems with violence? Now we have a setting for an almost unresolvable conflict within Jeremiah, and anyone who has a family member who has committed a heinous crime; how do we continue to love them, and in the Land family's case, how do they do it without breaking the law themselves? I don't think Jeremiah is searching for Davey in order to get his son off the hook, I think he is trying to bring him to justice. I think Jeremiah believes Davey has a better chance at redeeming some portion of his life by facing the consequences of his actions in the courts, rather than running from the law for the rest of his life. Does he still love his son? Of course. Does he think Davey has done the right thing by committing murder - absolutely not.

Killer in the Rain ~ Raymond Chandler (a collection of shorter stories, some of which he expanded into novels)

Boxing Legend Joe Louis - Matt de la Pena (don't worry Connie I know a few nuns who could throw a good punch)

Ann I haven't read anything by Heyer since I was about 15! Not so long ago I was at a church sale and picked up a copy of something by GH and casually remarked to a woman next to me "We used to read her stuff when young perhaps as a lead-in to Jane Austen". The woman, a rather serious do-gooder, looked at me as though I told her I still read Enid Blyton. I returned the book to the counter and slunk away. Tim, EJH certainly had 'boundary issues' as you well-describe them. When first married and very young and naive with her husband away at Sea, and living with his family she and his equally young half-brother had a 'crush' on each other; probably nothing serious but they made the fatal mistake of telling both the husband and the M-in-L. Her whole life seems to have been a series of similar moral blunders. She wrote about them quite candidly in her autobiography Slipstream; well worth reading.