Ladies, humor me for a few minutes while I regal you with details about my latest reading material.

If you are even reading this article, you must have a small interest in books. And if you are like me at all, you are probably the type who stands in the aisle of a bookstore searching for a book that fits whatever your requirement may be at that moment. Sometimes you want a good mystery, other times you're looking for memorable writing. Maybe you want a moral, or perhaps you only want a good story. Obviously, this last requirement is perfectly valid and is quite possibly the most common desire for today's readers.

However, even if you are the picky, hard-to-please, million-prerequisite type, I think I have found a book that will satisfy your reading tastes.

Cover to Cover by D.M. Brown is an entertaining mystery, but, beyond this surface level, it raises a large number of heavy issues as well.

A woman awakens in a hospital room with amnesia to find that she has been raped and beaten nearly to death.

This makes for a stimulating mystery, but it brings up touchy topics such as violence against women as well.

The opening scenario exemplifies one of the strengths of this novel: it takes a good story and mixes it up with sensitive subjects, forcing a reaction from the reader.

Brown never shares too much. For example, you never know the main character's name, origin or race. One must judge the main character with no background references — interesting reading if you can acknowledge to yourself how much you depend on background information to relate to your characters.

This anonymous quality of Brown's main character is probably why this book can appeal to such a large audience — it is definitely female-oriented, but that's as far as it goes in trying to appeal to specific readers.

Something else I liked about the book was its slant on a woman's place in society.

There are a few interesting scenes in which the main character shows us how she overcomes societal and emotional obstacles to express herself as a woman and as a valid contributor to the community.

This is where the moral lesson comes in, without which the book would not be complete.

The most I can reveal to you is that it talks to all human beings, asking them to carefully reexamine their lives and actions.

Cover to Cover can be approached simply as a good mystery or as a book with a message for society.

Brown asks her readers to evaluate their lives only if they are up to it.

If you are just looking for a good story to curl up with — well then, that's enough of a reason to read it too.