Right to Remain Silent

Rating:
Summary: Good plot, humorous, with great insights into Deaf culture
Review: Penny Warner's latest book, Right to Remain Silent, (as well as her other two Connor Westphal mysteries, Dead Body Language and Sign of Foul Play), besides being a fun, modern mystery, could be an excellent companion to any text teaching students of Sign Language or Deaf Studies. The comings and going of Connor and local characters from Flat Skunk with frequent references to ASL, lip reading, use of TTY and Relay calls, and daily communication between deaf people or deaf and hearing are accurate and insightful. I could picture Connor signing from Warner's descriptions. I look forward to the next book.

Rating:
Summary: Overall excellence flawed by research errors.
Review: Warner writes well, and her exploration of the deaf world is fascinating. Right to Remain Silent contains serious mis-information regarding "blue-babies", and such seriously flawed research on Rhesus-negative that I can only hope the readers don't remember the content. The mininformation in this book could be dangerous or fatal towards your progeny if you are an Rh- woman. (See March of Dimes RHDisease)and ([e-mail] for Well Water, Nitrates and the "Blue Baby" Syndrome Methemoglobinemia)

Rating:
Summary: It's hard to keep quiet about this one!
Review: Yeah, yeah, cheesy pun- but this is definitely my favourite book in Warner's outstanding Connor Westphal series. While all the books are well-plotted mysteries and informative glimpses into the Deaf community, the juxtaposition of the three Deaf/deaf characters in this book is revealing: Connor is well-educated, but an outsider in both Deaf and hearing company because of her oral orientation; Caleb is at the other extreme, completely uneducated and unable to communicate conventionally; and the proprietor of the local Deaf club, who makes a cameo appearance, is well-educated, witty, and non-oral.

Add to the political mix a thrilling murder with countless twists, a few dramatic scrapes for Connor, and an accurate description of a few vulgar signs to try out on your friends (::grin::), and "Right to Remain Silent" is a winner!

Rating:
Summary: It's hard to keep quiet about this one!
Review: Yeah, yeah, cheesy pun- but this is definitely my favourite book in Warner's outstanding Connor Westphal series. While all the books are well-plotted mysteries and informative glimpses into the Deaf community, the juxtaposition of the three Deaf/deaf characters in this book is revealing: Connor is well-educated, but an outsider in both Deaf and hearing company because of her oral orientation; Caleb is at the other extreme, completely uneducated and unable to communicate conventionally; and the proprietor of the local Deaf club, who makes a cameo appearance, is well-educated, witty, and non-oral.

Add to the political mix a thrilling murder with countless twists, a few dramatic scrapes for Connor, and an accurate description of a few vulgar signs to try out on your friends (::grin::), and "Right to Remain Silent" is a winner!