The Bike Cop in the Greater Weight of Evidence
by James H.K. Bruner
Published by XLibris 2018
Pages 248 Price $19.99 Paperback

“The Bike Cop in the Greater Weight of Evidence” is a novel  about a young college student who gets a job during the summer as a policeman on a bike in a small New England town called Port Talbot. One can visualize Kennebunkport where the author lives in the summer, although this is a fictional work.

James Bruner, the author who grew up in Biddeford Pool, said in an interview, ”I was motivated to write this novel for my children so that they could see what it was like growing up in the 1970’s in a small seaside village.”

Bruner is an attorney and said “Part of the title of the book, ‘The Greater Weight of Evidence’ is a legal standard in proving one’s case.The winning of a civil action requires the greater weight of evidence.” Bruner continued, “The book could be considered a satire on the importance of the law and its red tape.” He continued, “I hope it will be read by adolescents as well as adults because it shows the struggles that young people go through in finding their identity.”

The story has a quality similar in tone to the writing of John Grisham, in his series titled “Theodore Boone.” Young Theo always solves the problems in the book and gives the reader respect for the wonderful ingenuity of young people.

In James Bruner’s book, “The Bike Cop in the Greater Weight in the Evidence,” David Adam Davenport Jr. is the hero of the story and we see him struggle with painful adolescent growth in becoming independent. He survives the snobbery of professors at New York University and gets a down- to- earth summer job by the sea. He has aways loved the sea and knows a great deal about it from his childhood including the art of fishing.

In fact as a child he used to dig up worms and gained a nickname “Digger.”

As an adult, Digger’s fishing rod gets caught on the clothes of a dead body. He brings the remains of the body to shore, and people come running to help. Police Chief Nickerson arrives and Digger  shows him where he got the body, near some mud flats. As Digger climbs over the rocks near the incident he sees blood remnants and yells that out to Nickerson. The Chief yells back,”Don’t touch anything!” But Digger follows the trail on his own and we find out that the Chief is a lucky guy to have such a bright young college student working with him independently leading the way.

The book states, “Digger’s life from all accounts was a charmed existence.He bounced between his family’s winter residence on Lake Placid in upstate New York to the summer home in Port Talbot, Maine. It may have not been quite jet-setting, but certainly fortunate.”

The author relates that Digger seems to be an outsider in both places, but has a friendly disposition and gets along with everyone. At times he acts as a  detached observer. The novel has an aspect of sociology in it because the author describes social class structure in the story. Digger is not a “townie” in each community, yet he is not a tourist either. The son of a doctor, Digger is an affluent middle class young person, with a good education and very intelligent. Yet he does not seem to fit into any conventional group and not at all with the yacht club set where his father has entered him for sailing lessons.

Police Chief Nickerson saves the day by offering Digger a position as a Port Talbot bicycle patrol officer. Digger is thrilled and accepts. Now he has meaning in life. He can be helpful in a position of responsibility, yet have fun at the same time. The Chief says “You are a peace officer, not Eliot Ness. You understand?”  “Yes,” Digger replies and understands. He will not  let the power of being an authority in the police department go to his head. At nineteen, he has a great job for the summer. It will be exciting but he will remember to reflect peace and care, not prosecuting judgement.

Digger has many adventures including a close relationship  with Margie, not quite his girlfriend, but he is thinking about it. Other significant characters in the book are Janie and Chuck searching for fun as well as their identity. This book’s characters bring to mind a great classic titled “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger because Digger is as memorable as Holden Caufield, the protagonist in the “Catcher in the Rye.”

However, Digger is not neurotic like Holden Caufield. He is a strong character with his feet on the ground. Digger is a leader for the good. He is the best of the next generation and offers the reader hope for a more stable future. Like Holden Caulfield, Digger is an outsider and an observer,  but unlike Holden, Digger is healthy and secure in his own ability. He is a force of nature, curious about life, and glad to meet it.Part of the author’s style is subtle but sharp humor, which is  reflected in wisdom in the character of Digger. In his humorous thoughts Digger is accurate in his observations.

In conclusion, the story is thought- provoking with a dash of humor and merits respect because it tells the next generation the beauty of growing up in a small Maine town by the sea, where everyone knows you, in the 1970’s. The investigation of a dead body found while fishing including other adventures, makes the book suitable for both adults interested in the law and its red tape, and adolescents interested in solving mysteries own their own. Be sure to read the author’s next book in the series titled “The Bike Cop, Son over the Yardarm,” to continue to follow the adventures of David Adam Davenport Jr. affectionately called “Digger.” It is available now.This series is an American Odyssey into the journey of growing up. I recommend it highly.

***
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss
by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
Published by The Dial Press  2019
Pages 345 Price $27.00

This unusual and new book is about an eccentric professor who is a genius, and at 70 he is a permanent fixture in a college inside Cambridge University. One day he is called in by the Master of his college for a discussion of student complaints. In England at Cambridge University there are a number of different colleges inside the institution. Individual colleges are headed by an administrative official called a Master. Professor Chandra is an internationally known economist, but has just missed out on receiving the Nobel Prize. He feels very badly but is trying to appear casual about it.

Professor Chandra is always impeccably polite but recently has had a difficult time getting along with students who do not understand his intellectual concepts. The amazing snobbery in upper class circles of English education is revealed in the book, which is fictional but tells more than a documentary about the competition for recognition in academic circles. Publish or perish and awards for academic achievement are a must.

In an austere but friendly meeting in the Master’s  office,  (which was requested) Professor Chandra learns that there have been some student complaints that he has been rather abrupt with some students. Professor Chandra asks,”Who?” “Well, students can be a little oversensitive but one girl says you called her an ‘imbecile’ repeatedly many times,” replied the Master.

Professor Chandra states, ”I am rather lenient with my students, but I do expect them  to acknowledge fundamental economic facts. It is a fact that if companies make higher profits, they invest more and so employment increases. One can’t go out in a thunder storm and say in my opinion the sun is shining. The student did exactly say that, so I pointed out another fact.”  “That she was an ‘imbecile,’ said the Master. “Yes” Professor Chandra remarked. “I quite understand,” said the Master, ”but in this day and age the word ‘imbecile’ is rather, shall we say politically incorrect.” The Master suggests he take a holiday, but Professor Chandra feels he does not need a holiday and rushes off to get to a student appointment in his rooms.

Ram Singh, his PhD. student, was waiting for him. Singh needed money to fund extra research on his paper in Brazil (where his girlfriend was living) and needed a recommendation. That transaction completed and okayed Professor Chandra considers  going out.

Professor Chandra was the foremost trade economist in the world and could call any finance minister in any country and they would take his call. But he lost the Nobel Prize. He felt alone. His wife was long gone, (through a divorce), and his children were grown up and gone too. He decides to go to a local sweet shop near his apartment and talks to the girl behind the counter as he orders his favorite candies.The girl seems to know him and what he usually selects. As he leaves the candy shop he notices the student whom he had called an ‘imbecile’ across the street. He starts to cross the street to her and isn’t looking at the traffic. He gets hit by a bicycle rider.

“Professor Chandra, have you been in an accident?” a voice says. Of course he has been in an accident, as he waits for an ambulance. Half the student body arrives to watch this final indignity.

A 32- year-old American doctor takes care of him at the hospital after the accident and says you can’t work for two months or eat mayonnaise, sugar, fries, coffee, dairy, red meat, wine, or potato chips. (What a thrilling list of health care provisions, Professor Chandra thinks.) The doctor suggests meditation. “My work is my meditation,” Chandra states. “If you want to go on working for another decade you have to start enjoying yourself. You have to follow your bliss,” the doctor states.

So that night Professor Chandra goes home and takes out his atlas and looks over the different places he might like to travel to follow his bliss. By Christmas it was all settled he would travel to America and accept a job as visiting professor at UC Bella Vista which meant nothing more than giving an occasional lecture. He arrives in Bella Vista and finds out it is not a walk in the park in America as imagined. He tries to unite his dysfunctional family who lives in America which is a secondary goal after he relocates at Bella Vista. He loves teaching.

Following his bliss is not that easy. Teaching is his bliss. He learns you have to get along with people, even if you are a genius. If you want to find out if Professor Chandra is able to unite his family and resolve his problems, you will have to read the book. This is a charming story about an East Indian professor who is a great intellect but is only at home in a classroom. He can’t seem to relax and make friends.  It is a story where laughter is seen through tears and is heart warming because it lifts your soul. I recommend it.

— Pat Davidson Reef is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. She received her Masters Degree at the University of Southern Maine. She taught English and Art History at Catherine McAuley High for many years. She now teaches at the University of Southern Maine in Portland in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Classic Films. She recently wrote a children’s book,”Dahlov Ipcar Artist,” and has now completed another children’s book “Bernard Langlais Revisited.”