Book club discusses "Anatomy of Fear" (October)

October's book club selection was writer Jonathan Santlofer's Anatomy of Fear which cleverly includes on the book cover the billing "a novel of visual suspense." That is because, if you flip through the first chapter alone you will find nine sketches of a criminal suspect--from the start to finished version--and that is reflected throughout the book.

The story follows the work of police sketch artist Nate Rodriguez with examples of his work incorporated throughout although in actually, author and accomplished artist Santlofer produces the art in the novel. More than 50 pages, including the back flap of the book with author information a self-portrait (seen here), feature Santlofer's sketches and some photographs demonstrating sketching.

The novel follows the work of the talented Rodriguez as he is brought in to assist on a case of a serial killer who sketches of his victims and leaves them--roughly--as calling cards for the police. The police also quietly suspect the murders are hate crimes and Detective Terri Russo finds Nate's background, track record and training at Quantico a good asset to help crack the case. Nate's life away from work is another major part of the book as his diverse background and unique life is revealed.

Attendee comments included:

• Nate is a good listener to get an accurate description of a person for a sketch
• the art is "fascinating" and process Nate uses his mind and creativity to sketch suspects
• perhaps the artwork is too good for the work of a police sketch artist
• the character (Nate) is flawed but the story is not formulated
• Nate has the training to notice which emotions are reflected through the use of facial muscles and it was said that can be better to use than a lie detector
• why does Nate stay put where he is with his training and background?
• the book is well-edited
• one liked the use of color in the book with a deep red lettering on the top of each page for the author's name, book title and spots (of blood maybe?) at the start of each chapter
• the book has a lot of stories woven together
• two people didn't find the book very engaging
• the book is a good idea but the writing as effective with the characters and dialog
• one person read the follow-up book to Anatomy of Fear and found it different in tone without a big story line featuring Nate's very religious and spiritual grandmother--more focused on the crime story.

Anatomy was published in 2007 and its follow-up The Murder Notebook came the next year.

End of year praise--

'Tis the end of the year and time to review the best (and worse) of everything and the ever-popular mystery books are not immune to this subjective and crowd-pleasing practice. I usually check for "the best of the year" winners for future book club suggestions and introductions to books I might miss otherwise. I have two listed here from resources I routinely use.

I stumbled across one such list last week on the National Public Radio website while looking for general news stories and it featured a modest-sized list of five titles for the "mystery and suspense novels of 2010." First on the list is Tana French's Faithful Place.

I typically look at the print version of "Booklist" as it is a professional resource for our staff but it has a useful website including the best crime novels of the year here. The list has a "top 10" with Louise Penny's The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache strikes again in a new mystery) listed first with the books in alphabetical order by title. Included are also the "best crime novel debuts" with Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan leading the (alphabetical) list.

Book club discusses "Murder in Exile" [September]

The award-winning Murder in Exile was the September selection for the book club. Vincent H. O'Neil's debut mystery was the winner of the 2005 St. Martin's Press Malice Domestic contest introducing his series featuring Frank Cole.

Here's a googled pix of author O'Neil.

Cole is a background checker in Florida where he recently settled after a frustrating legal matter deals him a severe professional setback. His life is downsized and he's content for now but his newest assignment is grating his nerves. He is told to work to deny an insurance claim for a young man killed during a biking accident. Convinced his supervisor is in error, he attempts to continue his investigation of the death and comes to believes the victim was mistaken for another man.

Stubbornly pursuing this insurance case, Cole reaches what he feels is a good spot in his work when he arrives home and finds a threat in a "bullet sitting straight up and insolent on my kitchen table." That threat is not dismissed as Cole gets help from a private detective acquaintance and--along with his and operatives--unearth a sticky mess involving questionable businessmen.

Some book club discussion included the following:

• the book is a "good summer read"
• an informative book about all elements covered
• liked the mystery and characters but not the writing (felt the writing was aimed for those at a young reading level)
• liked the humor in the book
• the theme of justice was nicely presented in Cole's sense of feeling wronged at on the job and the victim doing wronged too and in another situation where a mental challenged employed man faced a tough situation--he was fairly supported by others
• Cole is flexible with his pared down lifestyle and makes do without much fuss.

O'Neil has three additional "Frank Cole mystery" books in print with the newest Contest of Wills published this year.

Book club discusses "Snow Angel" [July]

As the year is winding up, it is time to finish up certain matters and one for me is recapping book club discussions I missed earlier here.

One summer selection this year did often up a chill as we read James Thompson's debut thriller Snow Angels. Here's a copy of the same pix Thompson has on his website. Set in Lapland, Finland during the Christmas holiday season, the police are set upon an investigation of a gruesome murder of a Somali immigrant. The victim, Sufia Elmi, is an actress with a modestly-successful series of movies behind her and is staying in the area under the generous assistance of a private benefactor.

Then abruptly, she is violently murdered and left in an outdoor location with a racial epithet carved in her flesh.

The resourceful Inspector Kari Vaara is charge of the investigation and he has a challenging time with the apparent appearance of a hate crime and devoting attention to his pregnant American-born wife. A few of our observations of the book during our discussion included the following:

• the writer does an affective job setting mood with the despondent nature of some Finnish people and how it can show up through heavy drinking (along those lines, one attendee mentioned how in a social setting that some from that part of the world would seemingly only perk up after some drinking although another person wondered if the "Finns" were displeased by the author's overall characterization of them--writer James Thompson is a native American but lives in Finland's capital of Helsinki)
• the constant cold weather and type of community that results of such led to discussions about coping with colder temps in some parts of the U.S. where others had lived
• the book was well-received for good writing and a good mystery with a ending perhaps strangely fitting for the novel (while another take is that the ending feels rushed in relation to the story)
• Inspector Vaara takes a jack-of-all trades persona at work as a supervisor, detective and crime scene investigator (complete with equipment he conveniently stores in his car)--sometimes the job requires all those tasks
• the novel does have an additional element of conflict--should Vaara get outside help to run the case especially when an ex-wife becomes involved
• the book's title has a partially sharp ring as the Sufia's mother once appears to talk to her deceased daughter and gestures to the sky saying [in part] "...my angel..."

Writer James Thompson wrote the library's website (cmlibrary.org) a short message when he read the book club was using his book and I emailed him on behalf of the book club but signals got crossed, I guess, and I didn't hear from him. According to his website, a sequel to Snow Angels is coming entitled Dead of Winter.

Recommended (writer Spencer Quinn)--

While assisting a woman last month in the library, she passed on to me a reading recommendation of a mystery she had recently read. Well, she qualified it as a good choice if you like dogs. The book Dog On It: a Chet and Bernie mystery is the first of a new series by writer Spencer Quinn about the mystery (man and dog) team of a private investigator and his pooch.

She shared the book was funny as the story is told through the dog's (Chet) viewpoint. Imagine the world we see through a dog's eyes. Imagine how helpful it is to be a canine and assisting on a missing person case by sniffing out glues. Well, actually that helps a ton and as we see by the book cover, Chet does appear to ride shotgun. Anyway, Chet is devoted to that "down-on-his-luck" Bernie--even if he can't understand his life's troubles (from the book jacket).

Here's a book one library user solidly recommends.

Writer (and TV producer) Stephen J. Cannell has died

I wrote earlier in the year about writer Stephen J. Cannell and I was saddened to hear of his recent death. Reading the stories about him, many others as I were fans of his TV work, especially "The Rockford Files" from the '70s (I wrote earlier about a reboot of that series coming soon). The smooth mix of crime investigation and humor (actor James Garner was wonderfully cast) made it desirable TV viewing for years.

Here's a pix of Cannell as seen on his website.

Cannell had another professional life as a writer and the latest of his crime series with LAPD Sergeant Shane Scully (one cool cop name, huh?) and mystery novels in general (see here). The newest of his successful work--counting the titles on his website, he was up to 17 books--is the newest "Shane Scully" novel, The Prostitutes' Ball was released earlier this month.

New modern-day "Sherlock Holmes" TV series is here

I listened to the National Public Radio last week and caught an interesting story about arguably the world's most famous fictional detective, "Sherlock Holmes" in a new series on the BBC. It is a modern take on the detective in a series just entitled "Sherlock" and it will air in the United States beginning this month.

The revision of Holmes sounds reasonable if the character was to be dropped in the present day but read (or listen) to the story and reach your own conclusions. I'm rather curious.

Local author has success--

Reading this week's copy of my community weekly newspaper, "The Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly," I happened up0n a refreshing article about a new author. The headline read "Matthews book lover becomes published author" featuring a story about new writer David Clarke. His mystery novel is entitled The Parole Officer set in Birmingham, Alabama where Clarke was a native. It is available in paperback and a Kindle version.

His picture is taken from his Amazon.com page (which is a surprise to me, I believe I use Amazon a lot and I didn't know authors may have their own page).

Working part-time on the novel, Clarke cranked it out in a period of months and used the book genre he enjoys reading which are mysteries. His story follows parole officer and family man Pete Watson as he investigates the death of his newest parolee--which troubles him. That man happens to be the brother of another parolee, Earl Stallings, whom Watson has worked with for a successful rehabilitation in the past. So, as the police quickly close the case, Watson and Stallings begin to work together with their own investigation.

For more information about the book, check the book's Amazon page. Clarke is currently writing a sequel to The Parole Officer.

Book club discusses "Neptune Avenue" [June]

In June, the book club discussed the third "Jack Leightner crime novel" published last year entitled Neptune Avenue by Gabriel Cohen. Leightner is a veteran Brooklyn South homicide detective who catches the case of a young woman found dead in an abandoned row house with his new, young detective partner. It appears to be a suicide from the initial inspection.

Leightner, however, looks harder and knows otherwise.

The resulting case requires its share of police legwork but Leightner becomes quietly distracted as he learns of the death of a likable Russian acquaintance and attempts to investigate that death and comfort his friend's widow. And unexpectedly--his professional work takes a back seat to his personal interests and desires.

The detective character and the writer are a bi product of the Brooklyn neighborhoods as Cohen writes with an understanding and appreciation for the ethnically diverse communities ranging from Brooklyn Heights to Coney Island.

The book was well-received with comments during the book club including:

• it is a surprise how Leightner comes to ignore his professional case to look into the investigation of his friend's death
• the two concurrent cases though give the novel a quick pace of storytelling
  
• the detailed focus on the Russian based community in the novel was appreciated
• perhaps two (or so) incidents or descriptions of the neighborhood made one curious of when the book was written or when the story actually occurred
• one person who read the first book of the series, Red Hook, noted that Leightner gets different partners on-the-job due to his special detective rank
  
• Jack's attraction to his friend's widow, Eugenia, turns to into a surprisingly quick romance [one view]
• the map in front of the book was useful and one attendee (who grew up in the area) talked briefly about her childhood in Brooklyn.
  

The author photograph comes his website.

The Appeal of Reading Mysteries--

A recent Newsweek magazine featured the appeal of mysteries and thrillers for those seeking summer reads (I know--summer is moving on) and the magazine editor was happy to dish. Jon Meacham likes to promote reading mystery novels and even says as much during a visit earlier this year in Charlotte on a radio talk show (Meacham was in Charlotte as a guest speaker at a university about the media, politics and bias). As I remember during the radio show, he said he likes to throw in a line about reading good mysteries as a tip for graduates during commencement speeches.

Here's a photo of Meacham from Google.

In that particular weekly column, Meacham wrote about the fun of reading mysteries and takes the opportunity (nicely, I'd add) to offer reader suggestions for several authors. I liked it.

Book club discusses "Her Royal Spyness" [May]

The book club selection back in May was Rhys Bowen's debut series with a new character Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie. This young "minor royal"--as she refers to her spot on the line of royalty--is 21-years-old and determined to create fresh start for herself without relying on a preselected husband to support her. So, she quietly looks for a job, in London leaving Scotland without her previously steady allowance.

Here is a color version of the author photo that you would find in a copy of this title.

The results are basis for the book as "Georgie" (to her friends) oddly--and secretively--settles in employment as a maid only then to turn amateur detective as she becomes determined to investigate the murder of a man found in a family home and leading to her brother, Binky, as the suspected murder. And, in the meanwhile, Georgie is asked by the queen to spy on her son and his new romantic interest. This book also is the first of a series.

Observations from the book club included:

• the book title doesn't bear any genuine relation to the murder and mystery (though it does set the stage for this new series)
• the book focuses on the queen although the king (King George V) was alive then
• the story actually demonstrates the problems that "minor" royals might have encountered in their lives
• one commented that the book was well-edited
• one commented that she figured out the mystery before finishing the story
• it was suggested the book could become a good TV series.
  

Author tour hits town--

Weeks ago I had written that a co-worker would share newsletters from bestseller writer Janet Evanovich and tact them up on the bulletin board in the staff lounge. As I read (and re-read) the newest one hanging in the lounge, I was genuinely surprised to see that she was coming to my home area in Charlotte for a book tour stop. WOW.

Her new book is Sizzlin' Sixteen and features the newest adventures of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum with her family and associates (and romantic interests).

I actually worked the night when Evanovich was scheduled to arrive here so I took a chance to run by the bookstore after work. And it worked out for me.

I ran in the big chain bookstore and found, ladies, ladies, ladies waiting with books for autographs the opportunity to take pictures of (and with) Evanovich. It was a festive affair with colorful balloons, a live musical performances and lapel pins for those to wear who prefer Plum's suitor Morelli or Ranger. While standing by I noticed one fellow was doing better than the other in the votes...

I only had my cell phone's camera to use but here's a shot of the author in "meet and greet (the public) mode."

***

Years ago, I purchased a paperback copy of Evanovich's first Plum novel One for the Money as a fun summer vacation read (my only Evanovich purchase). And I enjoyed and appreciated it for what it offered.

Yesterday, I felt pressed for time and didn't stand in line to see Evanovich but I'm curious of those of you reading--would you wait in line to see Ms. Evanovich???

A Favorite Branch Library Closes--

This past weekend I visited a small branch library near where I work to help (along with staff and the public) bid a fond adieu (here's a story from the local paper). Carmel branch library was a nice, little aging library loved by the locals for its convenience and staff. It has closed and I'll direct you to the library system's home page to read why and about the funding shortfall for the area public library system (it is quite a story...).

Carmel is also a library I visited years ago when I began planning to develop a mystery book club at my library and I took some time to visit the mystery book club there. I had not hosted a book club before and I was eager for ideas and a closer look at the dynamics of hosting a book club. Well, you have to get people involved--keep the ideas flowing (for titles and topics) and energy going for chatting.

It was a fun sesson from what I remember as the group was led by library patrons with a theme for each book club (i.e. settings in cold places, etc--you select your own title to read). That certainly was a way to open the the session to range of titles and personal favorites for each to discuss in a round-the-table manner. I liked that approach but wanted to have a book list to present to those coming (or considering attending).

I do not know how long the book club kept meeting after my visits (two, I guess), but I would said my long-time work with my book club certainly spring-boarded from their efforts.

Writing a good mystery...!

Following a recent book club, one attendee asked me if perhaps it seems our group is more harsh in our criticism of books than others. This came after another book discussion of book which took its share of lumps courtesy of our pointed opinions.

Sometimes I think we stick it rather hard with our critiques of the monthly mysteries but there is no true reason to meet and to gloss over a disappointing read. And we should share our opinions, some might have a completely different take on a book or an issue in it and the group as a whole benefits from that insight.

So, to get back to the question, I said I can't compare this book club to others as I only attend the one. However, another person who heard the question said she attends two other book clubs and remarked that "no" our book club is not any more harsher than those in critiques and comments.

Some common complaints include a mystery book with a minor mystery theme, a story which has trouble with continuality within the novel (or a book series), and a disappointing sense of atmosphere in the story whereas the novel could appear to take place anywhere and not where its set.

Of course there are formulas to making a successful mystery story and those formulas get slifted to degrees to mix it up and to keep things fresh. Mystery fiction can have the most unlikeliest of detectives and stories taking place half way around the world--the readers just want a worthy (if not just reasonable) and worthwhile effort for their reading investment.

So what is said at your book club?

WRITERS messages for interested fans--

Over the past years, one co-worker would post her mail correspondence from writer Janet Evanovich in the staff break room bulletin board. It was a newsletter called "Plum News" (of course, named after the writer's series protagonist Stephanie Plum) and checking the author's website, I see it is up to volume 13 now.

The newsletter is a fun product with personal family fun info (pet news, anyone?) aside from promos about the newest Evanovich book to hit the book shelves. Now, Evanovich does produce books with a cheetah's running pace so a newsletter is a good idea, however, others need to reach interested readers too and I've been the recipient in some instances. You may definitely put me in that camp but move me over to the email category as those are my only messages after shooting off an email to an author.

My most recent messages have been a series of emails--blog updates, actually--from writer Kwei Quartley ("Update from KweiQuartley.com") in Ghana doing research for an upcoming novel Children of the Street. It is a new book to feature his series protagonist Darko Dawson, who does reside in Ghana. The other writers I've received upcoming book updates include Julia Spencer-Flemming (e-newsletter "News from the Kill") and Sara Paretsky.

This is a fun practice and I'd suggest anyone really interested in a certain author or their work to sign up for email alerts if available.

Writer's messages for interested fans--

It is very nice to get a message from a writer you've been in contact with that person at some point. That occurred just last week when I heard from Mike Lawson, creator of the Joe DeMarco series.

He wrote the following to several and included me:

Although I know I've told many people recently that my new book, House Justice, is coming out June 1, I wanted to spread the word to everyone that's emailed me in the past. House Justice is about a press leak that gets a CIA agent killed and was sorta inspired by the real life Valerie Plame case. Library Journal called House Justice "a perfect political thriller" and Booklist said it was "a superb example of the post–cold war espionage novel." Personally, I doubt it's perfect - but those are great quotes. At any rate, House Justice will be stores on June 1 and the mass-market version of my fourth book, House Secrets, will be out the same day. House Secrets, by the way, was listed as one of the top thrillers of 2009 by three different publications. Also, I'll be signing my books in a lot of stores this summer. Usually I only sign in the Northwest but this year I'll be in Portland, Phoenix, Houston, and San Francisco as well. My website has the dates and places. Anyway, hope you'll consider getting the new book and telling your friends about it if you like it.

Thanks, Mike

(And thanks for writing Mike.)

Final Nights for New "Law & Order" Episodes on NBC-TV--

I was stunned when I read NBC-TV's long running series "LAW & ORDER" was cancelled from the upcoming fall season. It has hung around through cast changes and time changes over the years until I thought it could air another two or three years. Well, that was not to be.

I liked the set-up of the shows episodes split between the police detectives and the district attorneys' work on a case. And I liked the New York City sets. I became hooked on the show during the last season of the Briscoe/Curtis detective (with actors Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt) era and hung in ever since. The procedural set-up won me over as good and life-like storytelling for TV crime fiction. Here's a pix of the current cast from Google.

I like the current cast and think they have done some good work. And yet, we have all favorites and my true favorite was during the Briscoe/Green detective (with actors Orbach and Jesse L. Martin) era. In any regard, I'm a bigger fan of watching the detective work for the set-up of the case although I do want to see how the case survives (and concludes) in court.

Thanks to various cable stations over the years, I've been able to see most shows going back the first episode and I have a greater appreciate for the entire body of work. Some stories stretch too hard for the famed "ripped from the headlines" theme of the show but I have found most "Law & Order" shows very watchable.

I'll miss it--or do you think 20 years was too long for this series?

Book club discusses "Paper Butterfly"

Another international setting was the target for the book club this month as the novel Paper Butterfly is set in Beijing. The second in a series of mysteries by Diane Wei Liang, the book features Mei Wang as a private investigator in modern day China.

In this googled photo of author Liang, you have the same picture as shown in the book jacket of Paper Butterfly.

Wang, formerly with the Ministry of Public Security (the police), works independently as a detective with all with the trappings of a successful businesswoman including the employment of a male secretary.

She is beginning a new case to search for an up and coming pop singer, Kaili, who has recently disappeared for several days and a record company executive, who summons Mei, concludes that Kaili is actually missing. Meanwhile, Mei's reliable assistant Gupin also appears to have oddly disappeared and she starts to wonder about him.

Paper Butterfly is divided (for a period) between Mei's investigation of the mysterious Kaili and a poor laborer, Lin, who is en routine to Beijing to meet a special person in his life which does have an impact on Mei's work.

The book club attendees had the following observations:

• the novel didn't give enough atmosphere or information about China culture's today for most
• the question of money popped up when it was asked how Mei supported herself to the extent that she did or being successful in her business
• Mei's personality was questioned too as it seemed aside from work and immediate family, she had no interests although it was noted she is finicky about her tea
• despite working in a location (Beijing) not traditionally used for mystery novels, I liked that Mei is very similar to other fictional detectives in her makeup as [for instance] being determined to close cases and as another mentioned, she has a resourceful network of associates and contacts for her work
• the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 was featured in the book as an important time in history for Mei and Lin and the same is likewise for the author but one attendee thought the book became close to a rant from the author about the protests
• one attendee said Mei's foot travels through Beijing seemed dangerous (or unlikely?) while another said the situation there is likely very different from the U.S. [and to add a related perspective, I mentioned that the author has a short video on her author web page of an actress (?) representing Mei who walks around various neighborhoods, etc., on her own]
• one book club regular wrote and shared with me as an email, "I enjoyed 'Paper Butterfly' and would like to read more books by this author. At first, I was a little confused and thrown off stride by the alternating of chapters between Mei and Lin. Then I got used to it, and at that moment, they came together. The weaving of the story with the events in Tiananmen Square, and the reality of the oppression, with Lin's imprisonment, set the background..[spoiler material omitted]..I kind of wanted Lin to come out all right, but that would have been too easy."
• still another person said this book was her least favorite of the books she had read in the book club (in two years).

Has anyone else read Paper Butterfly or the first Mei Wang mystery The Eye of Jade? What did you think?

Remember that book we (the book club) read about--

Do you remember when? Well, sometimes you just don't and that's why I'm writing about a growingly frequent situation in our book club sessions.

The question comes up about a book read earlier--a month ago, several months ago or even years ago now (think of how long you have been meeting as a book club)--and you have a pregnant pause trying to remember the book.

That happened last time when as we discussed our new book set in Beijing , China this month and one attendee mentioned another book set in China we had read. I could not remember the title--nor anyone else for that matter--but I did finally remember the author's name, Peter May, and mentioned it.

Checking later, I found that the book we read was The Firemaker by May and it was the first of his "China thriller" series (he has another series too). The book club read that book back in October 2007.

I'm guessing for the future I ought to keep with me a copy of the book list of the book club going forward during the book club sessions. I suppose it would give us at least a fightin' chance when remembering book titles...

Popular Female Crime Investigators Hit the Big Screen--

It has seemed a big mystery to me why Hollywood does not have more women in leads of detective stories when the fiction world has its share (although it still has a way to go no doubt). And there certainly has to be a number of actresses who would love to bring these characters to the screen.

I suspect that too many think that women do not fill the bill as a tough authority type and when it comes to physical confrontations. Also there may be a desire to spice up a movie story with a car chase or foot chase and with a female detective that is less likely. And perhaps the female detective story loses something in the transition to the big screen. Just a few thoughts here.

So I was pleased to read about two new upcoming film projects featuring two of Hollywood's talented, familiar faces.

A real surprise to me was the recent announcement of actress Katherine Heigl of TV's "Grey's Anatomy" fame set to portray New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum of the Janet Evanovich number series (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc.). I would not imagine a normally very blond-haired Heigl playing that role but recent photos show otherwise (see here from Google).

Also actress Angelina Jolie as is pursuing the opportunity to portray medical examiner Kay Scarpetta from the Patricia Cornwell novels.

So with the rich number of novels featuring these two characters alone (Evanovich is up to book number 15 in the number series with Plum for instance) the public has reasonable hopes for good films. I certainly do anyway.

Book Club discusses "Wife of the Gods"

The book club selection for March, Wife of the Gods, is debut novel and first of a series from writer Kwei Quartey. Set in west Africa, Detective Inspector Darko Dawson travels from Accra, his home and the capital of Ghana, to the nearby small community of Ketanu to investigate the murder of a medical student.

Here is a googled photo of Quartey, which is the same as in his book jacket.

In addition to the investigation, Dawson is reacquainted with a seldom seen aunt and also reflects upon the disappearance of his mother near that area when he was a young child.

And while working, the investigation takes several uncomfortable turns for the inspector as his arrival is a surprise to the local law enforcement and he is repelled by the old, local custom of trokosi where teenage girls are offered to the fetish priest as a "wife of the gods." Furthermore, the assignment also takes Dawson away from his young family for a period of time.

Here are some observations from the book:

• the book invites some comparisons to Alexander McCall Smith series of "the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" but the tone for Quarteys' book is tough-minded
• Dawson has his set of flaws in the story but they don't overshadow the mystery and he works through them
• as the mystery builds and later unravels, it can be shown that a small community is accepting of certain people's behavior and events which should be scrutinized
• it was suggested the book's might be better served by a different title which is closer to the story's core
• the dress shown on the cover of the book should be blue (not white) according to the novel regarding the trokosi ceremony
• the author did a good job keeping the various characters unique and distinct
• the glossary for the book was appreciated although one could read the book without its use
• all book club attendees said they enjoyed the book and two said they would not have selected the book to read if not for the book club selection.

Some asked and I mentioned that Quartey has a new book "Darko Dawson mystery" Children of the Street scheduled for release this year as promoted on his website.

The late Peter Graves as a fictional PI--

As I flipped through the new Time magazine, I ran across a brief article about the recent passing of journeyman actor Peter Graves. A star of the hit "Mission Impossible" TV series, Graves did have a long and successful career which includes one role I'm mention here. Here's a googled pix of the actor.

My recollection for an old TV movie clicked when I thought of Graves. He did star as a fictional private investigator from a successful book series in a 1974 movie which I remember watching way back then. "The Underground Man" which was based on a book by the same name featured writer Ross MacDonald's PI Lew Archer. A Wikipedia article says the movie was a pilot for a TV series.

And although MacDonald's work was written and published mainly in the 50s and 60s, it has been resurrected recently in paperbacks including some titles in our local library system.

Author responses to post

The recent blog post about Michael Lawson's House Rules marks the first time the blog has received a direct author response to a blog post. He wrote and replied to the post message about the book club's discussion about his book from December (the photo included here comes from his website).

This is a nice treat as I did not attempt to contact him until after he wrote and I emailed his website to ask how he found the blog. He soon replied and--as one would expect--he said he periodically googles his name and books to get reaction to his work and found the blog that way. Cool.

Book Club discusses "Gallows Lane" [February]

The new year started with a police mystery set in Ireland featuring Inspector Benedict Devlin. Devlin is a police official working the location which is the borderlands between North and South Ireland.

Writer Brian McGilloway's second book of the Devlin series, Gallows Lane was the month's selection. His picture (as shown in the back of the book) is to the right.

The beating death of a young woman after a visit to a night club is the new assignment for Devlin and his partner, Caroline Williams, but he was also previously asked by his supervisor to keep tabs on a newly-released convict, James Kerr. But Kerr gives Devlin the slip and is later found viciously murdered.

In the meanwhile, Devlin's attention is directed to inter-department affairs with important promotion opportunities and coping with fellow police and their prickly personalities. That has some ramification beyond the job as DI Devlin does have a young family to consider.

Some observations included the following:

• the book stays focused on a telling a straightforward crime story--it doesn't include any humor or much about description about Ireland (a couple of suggestions)
• the novel's atmospheric nature is mainly only in reference to weather on occasion but slang and Irish expressions pop up regularly in the dialogue
• the book includes a surprise in the end with its promotion storyline
• the practice of smoking is carried on frequently (much more so than the U.S.) and that was a little surprise [I added the author says in an interview that he used to be a smoker]
• those who read McGilloway's first book Borderlands preferred it to Gallows Lane.

A Close Call for Participating in This Month's Book Club--

This month I was facing the dilemma of not owning a copy of the book club selection in time for the book club. Looking at the title's library wait list, I was third of the list to get a copy so I guessed I would not be able to get a copy of The Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey in time.

Working at the library reference desk from time to time I speak to people in immediate need of their book club selection from the library and I know sometimes it is too late to get a desired book in time. And I almost forgot to place my request for this book until it seemed too late.

But I lucked out.

I checked the internet and found a preview for the novel in Google Books and plowed through the first 80 pages so pages--with omitted pages here and there, I guessed a few juicy bits got shaved off. Now that is tough for a mystery but with this arrangement, you just have to roll with it. Fortunately, my copy of Wife came with two days to spare and I zipped through the rest.

I was lucky this time and thankful for the leg up from the web site. Anyone else out there have similar luck with an interest site offering books to read?

Book club discusses "House Rules" [December]

In December the book club ended the year with a book discussion of a topical thriller set largely in Washington, D.C. with fictional character Joe DeMarco. A lawyer by profession, DeMarco works secretly for the Speaker of the House as a troubleshooter--or "bag man" depending on how one would explain his work--and gets involved in some hair-raising adventures.

House Rules by Mike Lawson was the book club's selection with DeMarco running down the possible reasons for a certain family's involvement in a Muslim-based terrorist attack in the United States. Here's a photo of Lawson from his website.

Speaker of the House John Mahoney has long-time ties to that Muslim family and he dispatches DeMarco to investigate their connection to the incident. And his work also coincides with an ambitious senator pushing for legislation to have extensive background checks on all Muslims in the United States.

DeMarco's legwork stretches to cover a series of attempted Muslim terrorist attacks. Along the way, DeMarco begins a new long distance relationship and enlists the aid of one very resourceful ally while also getting the services of a unlikely (and much undesired) ally .

Some observations included:

• rounding up all Muslims would be a logistical nightmare when attempting to determine if each person actually is a Muslim
• the novel had some nice touches with the set-up with a hidden meth lab and surprising murders
• another nice touch--tough women characters on both sides of the law
• the novel ends with a satisfying resolution for a long running subplot throughout the book
• one attendee enjoyed this book more than the past three previous novels
• some attendees expected more suspense in the story
• one attendee who read all books in the series said the newest book House Secrets is the best of the series.

Writer (and TV producer) Stephen J. Cannell--

I've run across a recent entertainment news story about NBC-TV lining up new dramas and one show, in particular, makes me smile if it manages to make it the screen. The 70s hit TV show "The Rockford Files" may get a reboot from NBC and I'm reminded of the talented Stephen J. Cannell's handiwork with the show. Cannell was a writer, producer and creator of the series and worked on others over the years.

The trademark ending of the show with Cannell banging out a page on a typewriter and throwing it in the air was an excellent way to relate to his continuing writing career (the resulting paper would turn into his company logo [take a look here from YouTube]). And as it turns out, he has kept the creative juices flowing by writing novels in recent years.

I have seen his books but haven't read any yet--although I think I would enjoy his work. Mainly, he writes a series with a Los Angeles police detective Shane Scully. The next book in the series is The Pallbearers and is due next month.

Writer Dick Francis dies--

I enjoy sports but horse racing was not one that greatly holds my interest. Former champion steeplechase jockey and sports writer Dick Francis was able to wisely and craftfully continue his love of the sport into another career by writing mysteries set with horse racing themes.

The author blurb in Francis' books jackets say that the author rode as a jockey until he couldn't physically and switched to writing a weekly racing column for the London Sunday Express. From the newspaper writing came the foray into crime fiction and Francis was off and running with titles such as High Stakes and Flying Finish.

Lucky Francis struck paydirt with his books and penned 42 novels until his death at 89. Here's a googled pix of Francis as shared on his book jackets from several years back.

I never read any of Francis's work (I did like the sylist book covers for his series though) but one co-worker liked his novels and wondered aloud if his son Felix would continue the crime writing work. Felix worked with his father on the three most recent Dick Francis titles in our library system. So if the son continues to follow the father's lead, we'll all know in due time.

Mystery reading on the go--

At this time, I'm content to listen to music on my (inherited, so to speak) iPod but after browsing through the weekly neighborhood newspaper insert last week--a version of "Parade" magazine--I ought to consider stepping up my game. I read a mini-profile of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and it included that on her iPod, she listens to thrillers and mysteries aside from music.

I prefer to read books but sometime in the future I ought to try my iPod with a mystery. My big drawback is for book clubs (or writing a book review), I want the item in print to review.

Here's a googled pix of Rachel.

The *Best* of 2009--

The new year is not quite a month old so I'll assume it's a-OK to look back for good books to read which were missed. Hence, I found on the web the (Fort Worth TX) Star-Telegram touting the top mysteries of 2009 in an appealing list of thirteen.A few titles and writers jumped off the page to me as the first pick The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly which I really enjoyed reading and number twelve by a personal favorite author George Pelecanos ' The Way Home. And there are more familiar names for me and my book club regulars, I know.

Click here for the entire list. What do you think?

Book club discusses "Cold in Hand" [November]

In November, the book club had the interesting project of reading and discussing a book that was identified as being the last book of a series featuring an English police detective. Writer John Harvey created Charlie Resnick a number of years ago and his first novel to be published in 1989 was Lonely Hearts. Here is a googled recent photo of Harvey.

In 2008, Cold in Hand was released with DI Resnick preparing to end his police career with retirement when a case with personal ties pulls him into a major investigation. A shooting and murder involving rival gangs takes place when DI Lynn Kellogg--Resnick's live-in girl-friend--plunges into the fray to settle things down without success. The murdered person, a young woman named Kelly Brent, has a vocal critic of the police in her father, Howard of the circumstances leading to that death. And yet, Howard, due to his shadowy activities draws the interest of the police in his daughter's death.

The high profile murder case for Resnick and Kellogg is only part of the professional issues they encounter as another murder case Kellogg has handled resurfaces with an interdepartmental investigation and tints of police corruption.

The book was well-received and here are a few observations:

• the novel caught some of us off guard with a sudden murder nearly midway in the story of an important character
• the murder investigation of Kelly focuses in one direction and--oddly--doesn't look at the gang fight for suspects
• the author plays with the reader's attitude towards Howard Brett as he is an angry parent after the death of a child but also pictured as an angry militant black man
• when a major character is introduced midway through the story, Harvey uses a telling example of personal judgment to represent her character early on
• the novel is well-written to share character background and scenes of threat and menace.

In closing, I looked to find a library music CD with singer Bessie Smith performing "Cold in Hand Blues" (hence, the book title) but I could not check it in time for the book club. So, I settled for the available Bessie Smith music CD I could check out and played it before the book club started.

Writer Robert B. Parker dies--

When I read the headline on the Internet today about the death of novelist Robert B. Parker, I gave a small gasp and mouthed "oh no." Although I did not keep up reading private eye Spenser books Parker cranked out at a steady quip for a number of years now, I was a fan. Here's a googled pix of one of the true favorites of the library mystery section.

When I was younger, I enjoyed the '80s TV series Spenser for Hire with actors Robert Urich and Avery Brooks--based on the Spenser series--and much later got into those characters stories in print. I started with The Godwulf Manuscript and--truth be told--just bounced around wildly from there.

And as a fan, I looked forward to seeing Parker's other work too, whether reading his young adult book Edenville Owls, a stand-alone book about a bodyguard for ballplayer Jackie Robinson in Double Play and the Jesse Stone and Sunny Randell novels. I was also pleasantly impressed when I watched the movie Appaloosa last year on cable and saw that it was based on the Parker novel at the movie's end. Usually, I'm not too excited about Westerns but I read this was a good one (and the actors were interesting).

At 77 years old, Parker did thankfully live to get nods of appreciation for his body of work which includes the recent Mystery Ink's Gumshoe Award in 2007 for the lifetime achievement. Here's much more here about Parker's work aside from my reflections.

He won't write any new stories of characters striving for justice, battling with fistacuffs or throwing wise-cracks but I've certainly enjoyed Parker's work over the years.

Staff Picks Their Favorites for 2009

Speaking of Avatar the movie in the previous message, "avatars" have come up at work as a fun resource to use for promoting a staff picks display. Spectifically, our library had one created for several staffers to accompany their selection list for their favorite reads of the past year.

I missed out on participating myself but decided to create an avatar anyway that I may use again. This one comes from doppelme.com. I reviewed the other staff's selections and came across a few mystery/thrller titles and thought I'd pass on those picks. Nine staff participated with maybe five in this list to follow.

Here goes: Dan Brown's The Last Symbol; Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Lee Child's Gone Tomorrow; C. J. Box's Blood Trail; John Hart's The Last Child; Michael Connelley's Scarecrow (I read and really enjoyed that one) and Sara Paretsky's Hardball.

If I got in the promotion with my choices I would have included Frederick Ramsey's Stranger Room; Joe Barone's The Body in the Record Room and Jacqueline Winspear's An Incomplete Revenge: a Maisie Dobbs Novel.

Movies, Movies--Do I Want To See That Movie???

It seems the official holdiay movie season may be technically over and Avatar is the big box office winner with--surprise(?)--a reworked version Sherlock Holmes making a very strong showing. This is the movie art shown on Yahoo! movies.

In November, I included Holmes along with two other movies for a mini-movie poll for upcoming movies and it placed first so I shouldn't be surprised it is doing well now. The other two movies I included were The Missing Person with a limited release in November so I'm unsure if it makes a theater in my area (ever) and The Lovely Bones is set to open nationwide next weekend.

From the poll (just from the movie trailers), my favorite movie was The Missing Person as it appeared to be a noir type of film. My least favorite was the Holmes movie with a nice update of the character but just too present day in manner (for my tastes).

I have read the book The Lovely Bones and I'm interested in the movie treatment.

And yet, I may only see these movies on DVD (or cable) as I just can't get the movie theater as often as I'd like...

New Year Resolution Suggestion--

My local daily newspaper had a syndicated guest column recently with a suggestion for a slightly different new year's resolution--join or start a book club. A little different, huh? Maybe--maybe not.

Anyway, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times columnist Robyn Blumner wrote such an article punctuated with rules for a successful book club (check for "Join a book club to open your mind" Dec. 17th).

I appreciated Blumner's analytical take on book clubs and want to borrow her third suggestion to "let each member pick a book as opposed to making a consensus list." That sounds like a good approach to shift book club leadership dynamics around the group.

My book club has used a consensus model for years--primarily the selections which get the most votes from the group and that has been an acceptable diplomatic treatment for book titles. But I think we can make Rule #3 an option to explore.

And participants can count this down to stretching their reading palette.