Other articles by J.c. Martin:

Birds used to teach lessons in local book southern arizona authors : Husband-wife team produces readable guides Author mixes mystery with O'odham culture Love of golf spurs short stories Southern arizona authors : Successful tale of losses and the bomb Southern Arizona authors : Fun reads will entertain young and old 'Chopin Manuscript' wins top Audie southern arizona authors : 'Cool in Tucson' points Gunn toward Tucson Southern arizona authors : Singing Wind store to honor two writers 'Just Add Water' a fun look at gardening

General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER

When Don Honnas was in college, a buddy gave him the nickname "Poco." So, when Honnas decided to give his Arivaca cattle ranch a name, what could be more natural than "Pocahonnas?" As you might imagine, he's had some fun with it. Particularly with those helpful souls who inform him that the lady herself — or her friends, at any rate — spelled it "Pocahontas." In his cheerful memoir, "Happenings on the Pocahonnas: A Southern Arizona Cattle Ranch" (self-published, $20 plus $3 shipping and handling), Honnas actually expands his scope to include growing up in the 1930s and 1940s in Sonoita and Patagonia.

Honnas was attracted by local history from his earliest years, and "Happenings" is a collection of memories of life in Southern Arizona in the 20th century, backed by news clippings, photos and daybook entries. Honnas also has a word to say about the unpredictability of life lived in a major corridor for illegal drugs and humans.

Leighton H. Rockafellow is also mining the world he knows best — the legal scene. In "Diminished Capacity" (iUniverse, $16.95), however, he has chosen to put it into fiction.

His lawyer protagonist, Larry Ross, is having trouble paying the rent, keeping the office lights on in his small one-man legal practice, when suddenly he has two major clients — one accused of murdering his business partner, the other a couple whose two little boys have just been killed in a van rollover involving product liability — and a very decent bank account.

As the story winds its way through Tucson place names and traditions — the ice breaks on the Santa Cruz, and Cinco de Mayo is celebrated — Rockafellow provides his readers with a short course in legal procedures as well as shenanigans employed by unscrupulous lawyers. He also is fond of general crime statistics, which are sprinkled around.

The plot doesn't carry a lot of tension, the good guys win, and protagonist Ross, especially, winds up blessed with an extravagant amount of good fortune, but fans of legal procedurals will enjoy it all.

Connie Solano is a Pennsylvania transplant whose memoir, "Cochise Connie" (self-published, $25), relates the story of a hard life. Her relationship with her mother and older sister when she was growing up is a study in cruelty and rejection. Her gender was a disappointment to her father, but he gave what support he could until his early death from tuberculosis. Married first at 15, Solano has had four husbands, three children and numerous illnesses, but through it all her spirit triumphed. Finally, succeeding in real estate in the Phoenix area, she has moved to Pearce where, for all intents and purposes, she couldn't be happier.

Kay W. Bigglestone is a retired teacher who is no stranger to researching local history. In 2003, with her husband, William, she tackled "Catalina Vista: The Neighborhood and Some of Its People," making a valuable contribution to contemporary Tucson history. Now she has researched two Tucson churches with deep roots in the community. The result is "Pilgrim Souls: Grace and St. Paul's Episcopal Churches and Their Merger" (Grace St. Paul Episcopal Church, $15).

Bigglestone gets her history off to a rousing start in the first chapter with "The Saga of Mrs. Jacobs," the 1900 story that she confesses "hooked" her on the church's history while working to organize a musty collection of papers.

Nothing quite rises to this lively level again (you can be so much bolder with ancient history, and choir director Jacobs wasn't even an Episcopalian). But Bigglestone conscientiously lists concerns the churches wrestled with as they faced the problems of segregation, gender and sexual orientation, experiments with liturgy and internal squabbles. The index is pretty much limited to names of participants in Grace/St. Paul's history. These include wealthy Tucson philanthropist and Episcopalian Ada Peirce McCormick. The book deserves a more comprehensive index.

There is a nice assortment of pictures.

Be sure to read Bonnie Henry's profile in today's Accent of Paul J. Lawton and his book, "Old Tucson Studios" (Arcadia Publishing in partnership with the Arizona Historical Foundation, $19.99). This is a part of Arcadia's Images of America series.