The Mentalist is CBS's new spin on the detective/crime scene genre of TV shows.  It is like a modern day Sherlock Holmes and it is amazingly popular.  The characters are fun, quirky, and interesting.  The "mystery" part of the plot captures the ellusive aspect of making sense while not being obvious. Watching the "mentalist" do his stuff is intriguing as well.  This is definitely one of the better shows on TV right now. One of our favorite things to do during the show is to try and figure out who the guilty party is.  In most cases it is a surprise but after the fact you can see how all of the pieces fit together.  It is tantalizing to think that there is enough information to figure it out during the show but it is still not obvious.  This is a part of the fun of the show.

While watching the show recently, and trying to figure it out, I realized that we could make a fun game out of it.  And so the "Mentalist Betting Game" was born.  Here is how it works.

A Mind To Murder is a great P. D. James mystery (of course all P. D. James mysteries are great) with the inspector Adam Dalgliesh called upon to solve a murder case at the Steen psychiatric hospital.  An eclectic array of doctors and staff members at the clinic are all suspects with their own motives and weak alibis.  Despite the reticence of his witnesses and the seemingly impossible circumstances, Dalgliesh is able to dig to the bottom of the quagmire and ferret out the killer.  

A Wizard of Earthsea is the first book in the Earthsea series written by Ursula K. Le Guin.  The central character is Ged, a young man who has the potential to be one of the most powerful wizards in all of Earthsea.  Ged starts as a boy who slowly discovers that he has vast talent to become a wizard.  He is soon adopted by a regional mage who promises to train him.  The boy's excitement is too much and he can't bear to follow the slow and subtle training that the mage offers.  In a foolish and impatient move Ged leaves and head to wizard school.  

I read this book once before years ago.  Back then I'm not sure I appreciated it as much as I did when I read it now.  I had forgotten how persuasive some of the simple and straight-forward arguments for classic Christian beliefs are.  McDowell does an excellent job of covering the issues in a clear and deliberate manner.  He covers everything from the deity of Christ to the reliability of the scriptures to the truth of the ressurection. A hardcore philosophical attack on the contents of this book would likely find some holes but I believe it easily covers 95% of the issues.  The other 5% is still up for grabs.