I cannot think of a single topic that I know less about than the mafia--so I'm really desperate for suggestions in this area.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have.

The more recent PBS series is also wonderful, and has a companion book, entitled something like, "The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century." Excellent book, full of photos.

Don't forget T.E. Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia,' still a dashing and enigmatic figure in this new century. Lawrence's own writings as well as the many books written about him are worth a look, as well as David Lean's epic film (personally, I watch this film once a year or so - it never fails to interest me).

I guess you can tell that I am a bit of a WWI buff!

The Forger ~ Paul Watkins On the eve of WW 2, a talented young painter is convinced to duplicate the master paintings housed in the museums of Paris before the German army invades the city.

Postcards From No Man’s Land ~ Aidan Chambers A teen returns to Amsterdam to honour his grandfather who fought there in WW2 14++

Daniel Half Human:And The Good Nazi ~ David Chotjewitz The life of a teen in 1930’s Germany. Excellent historical fiction.

Mimi & Toutou’s Great Adventure ~ Giles Foden. Tanzania during WW1;The British Royal Navy assigns the seemingly impossible task of trekking two ships overland through the African bush to meet and battle a fleet of German ships controlling Lake Tanganyika. The motley crew of Brits are led by an eccentric lunatic, Commander Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson. Nonfiction, Mimi and Toutou are the names of the 2 British ships….

I especially like River of Darkness featuring an English dectective returned to work but recovering from trench warfare by Rennie Airth (1999). He did a second one this year called The Blood-Dimmed Tide with the same main character but after a 20-year hiatus.

In a similar vein, Charles Todd has a series featuring a detective haunted (literally) by a fellow soldier whom he had to have shot for refusing to continue to fight. He is hated by his superior at Scotland Yard and given all the impossible cases, which, of course, he solves. There are several of these, beginning with A Test of Wills published in 1996.

You might want to look these over before giving them to youngsters. They are not filled with sex and gore, but they may be more intense than you would like. However, if they like the Mafia . . .

Right or wrong, I believe one of the joys of being an Auntie is I'm not required to censor reading material or behavior. I just love those boys and send them home to mom for moral lessons. I think I'll try those Anne Perry books for my own enjoyment though--I always like to have one mystery on my pile.