Black Wings is a fascinating  novel written by CDR Kathleen Jabs, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, about the lives of three young female naval officers.  The narrative shifts between details of events early in Academy life and later in their careers. The US Navy is an old institution with  a profoundly male identity and traditions dating back to the British Royal Navy.  Women had a difficult time gaining acceptance into this masculine fraternity. The action in Black Wings takes place in the 1980’s and early 90’s when female Midshipmen were still new.  They often faced deep resentment, hazing and scorn by male Mids.  Jabs brilliantly brings out the struggles of young women trying to survive this environment to become Naval officers while also maintaining personal and gender pride.  She has written an exciting novel of intrigue (no details–don’t want to spoil the surprise) and romance loaded with meticulous, realistic plot details that display the author’s wealth of Navy experience and keen powers of observation. Black Wings is an intelligent, powerful, and thought-provoking novel.

–Edward W. Jewell, CDR, USN (ret)

I don’t know but I’ve been told, Naval Academy novels are made of gold…at least Black Wings seems that way.

–Alan Cheuse, author of Songs of Slaves in the Desert

Part thriller, part whodunit, I couldn’t put the book down.

–Todd Balf, The Last Jungle, The Lost River.

Told in taut, fast-moving chapters, Jabs’s suspenseful novel rings with authenticity.

– Jon Peede, publisher, Virginia Quarterly Review.

A chilling, fast-paced, and intelligent story, wonderfully written.

–Susan Shreeve, A Student of Living Things.

Compelling mystery told with the authenticity that can come only from an author who knows the territory.  A terrific addition to current, military fiction.

–Tom Young, Silent Enemy, the Mullah’s Storm.

Losing the connection with your child is one of the most horrifying things many mothers will face. The Mother Daughter Show is a novel surrounding a high society prep school where a musical act that is held annually allows three mothers one last chance to form something special with their daughters who have drifted far from them throughout their teenage and young adult years. The Mother Daughter Show is a humorous and thoughtful story of family, very much worth considering.

–The Midwest Book Review

The Mother-Daughter Show is a wise and lively look at real grown-ups, alleged adults, and women-in-training.  The characters are wonderfully rendered and the setting, the ultimate, upscale private school in Washington, D.C., is perfect for author Natalie Wexler’s satire.

- Susan Isaacs, New York Times bestselling author of As Husbands Go, Past Perfect, and others

The Barton Friends School’s mother daughter musical is the stage on which the wildly talented Natalie Wexler plays out the foibles, insecurities, and imperfections that plague us all. Every page of this very contemporary page-turner is written with a heartfelt, humorous touch, with characters so vivid and real, they came to feel like friends I’d known forever. I loved the satirical look at the world of private schools, and I cherished the way it inspired me to feel: that ultimately it takes all of us, opening our hearts and turning to each other, for the show of life to go on.

- Rachel Simon, New York Times bestselling author of The Story of Beautiful Girl, Riding the Bus With My Sister, and others

A terrific read. Told from the alternating points of view of Amanda, Susan and Barb, the book touches the dangerous heart of the mother-daughter relationship and captures an intimate portrait of these flawed and entirely sympathetic mothers.  It’s funny and heartbreaking and so credible I laughed out loud.  But oh, do I remember this story as my own!

-Susan Richards Shreve, author of Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR’s Polio Haven, A Student of Living Things, and others

These housewives of D.C. may be privileged, but they are nonetheless sandwiched between the rocks of their ailing mothers’ needs and the hard places of their unreadable daughters’ imminent graduation. Toss in a few marital and professional insecurities, and who can blame them if some of their stress gets displaced onto the planning of the annual musical? Witty and wise throughout, The Mother Daughter Show highlights Natalie Wexler’s keen perceptions—of family dynamics, social mores, and professional subcultures—and reminds us of life’s one constant: change.

- Erika Dreifus, author of Quiet Americans

A fish out of water memoir about realizing when one is in too deep and struggling to survive, Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak is a humorous and much recommended read.

–Midwest Book Review

Mark Saunders is the classic American innocent abroad, part clueless tourist, part critic, and always a lover. Humor crackles on every page.

–Foster Church , Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Discovering Main Street

Humorist Mark Saunders has invigorated the memoir form by delivering clever, tightly written comic episodes with hilarity and heart. You’ll laugh out loud at these lovable, yet often inept, mid-life expats and their eccentric pets. A breezy, delightful read!

–Kathleen Gerard, award-winning author of In Transit

If you treasure great American humorists—be they Thurber or Perelman, Barry or Sedaris—you’ll love Mark Saunders. His story is as witty as it is wise, a full-course feast for head, heart and funny bone.

–Rich Rubin, Playwright

Thank you, Mark Saunders, for being the one to break out of the rat race, soar off the cliff into the unknown, and live to tell us this heartwarming and hilarious true story. This is one smart, funny, real-life adventure.

–Cynthia Whitcomb, TV Writer and Playwright

A discovery can send a village in a direction they thought was impossible. The Gift of El Tio is a memoir of Larry Buchanan and Karen Gans as they reflect on their journeys through the remote Quechuan village in Bolivia, as a discovery sends the city into a whirlwind that changed it forever. A remarkable story of the many things that can radically [alter] these remote communities, The Gift of El Tio is an insightful exploration of history and the dangers that go into exploring it.

This is a marvelous tale, whether the reader enjoys grand storytelling, expanding cultural horizons, or nuanced insights that emerge from the unique ‘he said-she said’ evolution of the book.  At another level, El Tio is a brilliant case study in the real complexities of economic and sociological development that so often are absent in modern economic analysis.  The book’s journey is made all the more riveting by prose that is quick, clear and always engaging.

–John W. Mayo, PhD, Professor of Economics, Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

A fine political thriller that will go far to entertain many a reader. Some would worry when sent to an unusual location. Tory Pierce sees opportunity. “Satan’s Chamber” tells the story of CIA Agent Tory Pierce as she takes her assignment to the chaotic Sudan as a chance to find out what happened to her father five years prior to the events. “Satan’s Chamber” is a fine political thriller that will go far to entertain many a reader.
—The Midwest Book Review

…takes the reader to Sudan where good and evil battle on the pages in a haze of yellow dust.
—The Island Sounder (read full article here)

Who knew that Vienna and McLean were such hotbeds of international intrigue? For starters, prominent suspense writers John Gilstrap and Patricia Cornwell did, and now, McLean’s Karetta Hubbard and co-author Molly Best Tinsley know that, too.
—The Connection Newspaper (read full article here)

Taut and perceptive, Satan’s Chamber is a spy novel with punch that sweats the details. It delivers the action with intelligence, wit, and style.
—Gardner Peckham, former member, National Commission on Terrorism, consultant to the CIA.

Satan’s Chamber hooks you right out of the chute and takes you to Khartoum, Sudan, where good and evil battle in a haze of yellow dust. Engrossing geopolitical intrigue…great book!
—Captain Thomas A. Myers (USN-Ret)

Satan’s Chamber inserts Tory Pierce, an inexperienced CIA operative, into the present dangers and mythical past of Sudan. Personal quest becomes political awakening and demands daring tactics, as this complex world explodes beyond Sudanese borders. Add this one to your must-read list of adventure thrillers.
—Commander Laureen Mahoney (USN-Ret)

Tory Pierce is no James Bond. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact it’s sort of the point. “Satan’s Chamber,” (Fuze Publishing) a new spy thriller by Molly Best Tinsley and Karetta Hubbard, turns the genre’s macho clichés inside out in a world in which many of the spooks- especially the good guys- are women.
—Book review by Bill Varble, Oregon Mail Tribune 8/30/2009 (read full article here)

Rich with intrigue, violence, political chicanery, and characters who believe in their own way–no matter what, Satan’s Chamber is reading manna from heaven, and the lead character is a young woman.”
–Denise Nicholas, author of the award-winning novel, Freshwater Road.

The authors of this book are masters both of the secret world of spies and intelligence and of Sudan. Put yourself in their hands and strap yourself in for a thrilling ride.
–Deborah Scroggins, author of the award-winning novel, Emma’s War: An Aid Worker, Radical Islam and the Politics of Oil – A True Story of Love and Death in the Sudan.

The tense action scenes tumbling one after another . . . along with its first-rate assortment of stark villains and stalwart friends make the book seem destined for the Hollywood screen.
–Jack Seybold

Satan’s Chamber hooks you right out of the chute and takes you to Khartoum, Sudan, where good and evil battle in a haze of yellow dust.  Engrossing geopolitical intrigue…great book!
–Captain Thomas A. Myers (USN-Ret)

Satan’s Chamber inserts Tory Pierce, an inexperienced CIA operative, into the present dangers and mythical past of Sudan.  . . . Add this one to your must-read list of adventure thrillers.
–Commander Laureen Mahoney (USN-Ret)

Wow! What a ride! This book does a fabulous job of bringing alive the experience of being in the desert of Sudan. . . . If you like spy novels or conspiracy theories, you will love this.
–Lauren A. Friedman

What I love about Satan’s Chamber . . . is the slow build-up of detail about a sacred mountain temple in Southern Sudan, Jebel Barkal, with its many-layered significance to history, religion and the current political situation in Sudan.
–Mary W. Carpenter

From the first sentence, Satan’s Chamber draws you into a paradoxical world of international corruption and grass-roots revolution.
–Heather Miller

Compelling and fascinating. Suspenseful tale about characters you can care about. Great depictions of two exotic locals: Sudan and Washington, DC.
–A. King

When a young CIA agent on her second assignment arrives in Sudan, she finds bad guys in the wrong places, good guys in unexpected places, and a priestess whose lineage goes back thousands of years.
–Addie Green

SATAN’S CHAMBER is a blast! An extremely smart and topical novel, gripping from page one and almost impossible to put down.
–Richard H. Rubin

Written in tight and concise prose, the book is a compulsive read with plenty of action, plot twists, and original characters.
–KT Jabs

The fast pace chapters satisfy like the perfect shuffle of a crisp deck of cards.
–Sergio Gonzales

Visit the Satan’s Chamber page on Amazon.com for more reviews from readers and reviewers.