A Prison Diary 1 by Jeffrey Archer

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A great story teller.

A Prison Diary is a series of three books of diaries written by Jeffrey Archer during his time in prisons following his convictions for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Each volume is named after a part of Dante‘s The Divine Comedy. The volumes become progressively longer due to his stay being longer and longer at each prison in which he was confined.

Volume 1: Belmarsh: Hell

This book, written under the nom de plume FF 8282, documents Archer’s introduction to the prison system.

He was to spend the first 22 days and 14 hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London. Although Archer spent less than a month there, Belmarsh is described as a real hell-hole. Despite this, many of the inmates are extremely kind to him and regale him with anecdotes, which he duly records.

One such prisoner apparently spoken of is the inspiration to one of his short stories from Cat O’Nine Tales, “It Can’t Be October Already”.

On the other hand, some of the information Archer learns in his three weeks at Belmarsh is extremely disturbing, and he makes great play of imagining that the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, ought to be reading it and asks for his attention.

One theme is the fact that some inmates are thrown into cells for first time offences even though the cellmate is a hardened criminal or murderer and/or drug addict.

No One to Trust by Iris Johansen

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No One to Trust (2002) by Iris Johansen is a kinda dumb, easy to read, fast paced thriller.

The story follows Elena Kyler, a trained military sniper and assassin on the run from Rico Chavez, a ruthless Colombian drug lord and the father of her five-year-old son.

Desperate to keep her son from being raised in Chavez’s image, she turns to Sean Galen, a mysterious and capable operative.

Together, they flee across the country, facing a trail of murders and a final showdown as they realize there is truly “no one to trust”. 

Water Creatures luring People into the Lake

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A nix is a water creature of Scandinavian folklore which can transform into many shapes.

It’s often depicted as an aquatic monster that takes the shape of a gray, horse-like creature with inverted hoofs.

The Nykur often appears on the lakeshore, with half its body in the water, and looks to be quite tame to its unsuspecting victims.  It tries to lure them into the water.

I passed by on the road on a dark, rainy, windy day — surprised to see the horse in the water.

In the lake of Sørvágsvatn/Leitisvatn, this statue was unveiled November 2017.

Local sculptor and artist Pól Skarðenni built it.

Of course this is only one of many myths of Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

related Trip Report – The Lake that Hovers Over the North Atlantic

Rough Justice by Lisa Scottoline

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Not bad.

Rough Justice is a legal thriller by Lisa Scottoline.

Published 1997, it serves as the third book in her popular Rosato & Associates series, which centres on a dynamic, all-female law firm based in Philadelphia.

Criminal defense attorney Marta Richter is just hours away from securing an acquittal for her client, Elliot Steere, a wealthy real estate mogul on trial for killing a homeless man in what he claims was self-defense during a carjacking.

However, right as the jury leaves to deliberate, Steere lets slip the chilling truth: he is completely guilty and completely unrepentant. 

Infuriated by the manipulation, Marta turns against her own client.

She races against the clock to uncover the evidence needed to convict him before the jury returns a “not guilty” verdict. To help her search, she recruits two young associates from the local firm Rosato & Associates—Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier.

See How They Fall by Rachel Paris

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The 2025 debut novel by Rachel Paris — See How They Fall — is a hit.

Personally, I’m not a fan of rich people behaving badly.

Some of the actions taken by characters are inexplicable.

When Skye married into the wealthy Turner family, she thought she was entering paradise. But now, several years later, she remains uneasy amid the opulence of her husband’s world, struggling with her own secrets and working to maintain a normal life for their young daughter, Tilly.

Skye’s delicate balance is undone when the family patriarch, Sir Campbell Turner, dies suddenly and an illegitimate heir comes forward to stake his claim in the luxury goods empire the old man leaves behind.

Visiting Berat, Albania

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, travelLeave a comment

Everyone loves this quirky little town about 2 hours by bus from Triana. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In fact, Albania is a tourism hotspot in 2026. Berat had 50,000 tourists a year a decade ago. Today it’s 1 million.

BUT I recall when Albania was off limits to tourists. During the repressive communist regime of Enver Hoxha (1944–1985), Albania became one of the most isolated “hermit states” in the world.

Enver Hoxha was a totalitarian dictator who ruled Albania with extreme repression, paranoia, and isolationism from 1944 until 1985. He closed all churches & mosques, for example.

Like Trump, he wanted his name everywhere — including on this mountain seem from Berat. BUT in 2012 the first two letters were swapped to spell NEVER as part of an art project by filmmaker Armando Lulaj.

Brilliant.

Berat is much more than just “the city of a thousand windows“. There are NOT a thousand windows. That’s a marketing tag line that started as a language misinterpretation — but stuck. 😀

Detail of the beautiful houses of the illuminated historical city of Berat in Albania

There’s a great hostel. I paid 12 Euro / night ($14) including breakfast. Sweet.

Berat was +45C recently, the highest temperature ever recorded.

SO I decided to climb up to Berat Castle in the cooler evening. It’s open 24 hours / day as families still live there.

Interior of the bridge of the illuminated historic city of Berat in Albania, UNESCO, the city of a thousand windows

Next day I climbed the slope opposite Berat Castle, Gorica Hill.

More great vistas.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Visiting Ohrid, North Macedonia

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Ohrid in North Macedonia is a super popular tourist stop.

Designated a Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. 

Samuel’s Fortress is the biggest attraction. You can walk parts of the ancient walls.

By kallerna – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139070032

The many Byzantine churches were what I liked best. So impressive.

Ali Pasha Mosque is the most important of many in the city.

This is St. Clement of Ohrid, celebrated here for creating Cyrillic scripts — the alphabet confusing me so severely while traveling in the West Baltics. 😀

At night, everyone walks the lake front. ESPECIALLY when it was 35C+ during the afternoon.

Mmmm. Pizza.

Visiting Skopje, North Macedonia

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My most memorable city in the region.

Memorable mainly due to the surprising huge neoclassical buildings and monuments. They have nothing to do with the culture and history of this region. 😀

Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. 

Old town bridge and cityscape at night, Skopje, Macedonia

Tourists spend time on both sides of the river, crossing the ancient pedestrian bridge.

Weirdly, there are wrecked ships in the river that anyone can explore.

Super dangerous, in my opinion.

Apparently they are fake concrete-and-steel imitation galleons built as tourist attractions — but are rapidly falling apart.

Macedonian Street is the mostly pedestrian area where visitors hang out. Shops, bars, restaurants, fast food, ice cream.

Huge Skopje Fortress looms over the river and old city. I enjoyed exploring that attraction — but it could be much improved.

Most impressive to me in this region are the Byzantine-style churches. I love the look.

As ornate as Trump’s toilet.

Of course there are many mosques, and many very historic mosques.

Mustafa Pasha Mosque

See more churches & mosques.

The Memorial House of Mother Teresa is located here in her home town.

All in all, I’d recommend Skopje.

I stayed at an entertaining hostel here. Mama and a litter of brand new kittens.

I signed up for a half day tour which would get me up to the giant crucifix. Sadly, the cable car has been out for months. BUT it did get me to a great day hike in nearby Matka Canyon.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Skopje, North Macedonia – STATUES

On By Rick McIn Art and beauty, travel1 Comment

Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, is widely known as the “City of Statues” for hundreds of monumental sculptures.

In order to attract tourists to this little known city, in 2014 the city spent a LOT of money they didn’t have to revamp the city centre building historically inaccurate neoclassical buildings and monuments.

Locals argued that money should have gone to schools, hospitals, or infrastructure. And trash removal !

Many contracts were awarded without public tenders or open competition, leading to widespread accusations of corruption and money laundering.

In any case, all these huge statues are weird and wonderful for the tourist.

In 1963, an earthquake destroyed roughly 80% of the city. Spearheaded by a United Nations-backed master plan from Japanese architect Kenzō Tange, the city was rebuilt using raw concrete (béton brut). Designed to withstand the next earthquake — and reflect the (boring) socialist aesthetic.

Skopje Post Office