South County Library Mystery Readers

A Favorite Late-Night TV Guest Is Writer--

2011-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

I may catch part of the Dave Letterman show after the local news but as a rule I don't catch "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" which follows. Not to knock Ferguson, I remember hearing his monologues a time or two and liked his commercials promoting his show. And I like that he does the show with a loosed neck tie--yep, he looks like he's *hard at work.*

As it turns out as I checked on my favorite entertainment website Entertainment Weekly yesterday, and found that Ferguson likes to interview a certain mystery writer on his show. Long-time writer Lawrence Block , author of the PI "Matthew Scudder" series which Ferguson enjoys, is also a hoot to share the late night TV guest chair.

Need some convincing? Take a look here on YouTube as Block visited the show last month and talked about his newest book and more. Here's a googled photo of Block too who claims he's retired at 73 but spent his year writing...well, you listen to him explain it.

Recommended mystery (politicially speaking) --

2011-12-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Are you one of the 99 percent? If so, there's a recent mystery for you.

Charlotte is a home of the weekly newspaper "Creative Loafing"--several exist around the country, I still believe--and it had an informative cover story about the Occupy Wall Street movement last week. The story was nicely-detailed about the movement and even included a small accompanying list of examples of popular media sharing the populist sentiment of the movement.

Included are columnist John Glooms book selections with the story and his first was a 2005 mystery by Sara Pare tsky, Fire Sale. Glooms writes (under the coarsely-titled subheading of "Corporate D[***]-Head Fiction" a quick blurb) "Paretsky's novel is a fast-moving mystery about scheming corporate bullies and the struggles of the working poor."

And writing about these matters puts writer Paretsky in the right ball park as she has a longtime association with community activism (look at her bio on her webpage).

For the one of my co-workers...

2011-08-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

After my co-worker teased me about my messy desk, I found a title on the shelf to match her fondness for felines. She is without a doubt a *big* cat lover and, as to be expected, a long-time cat owner. Oh, and she has worked as a librarian for years and the protagonist of this series is a librarian.

Author Miranda James who has started "a cat in the stacks" series with librarian Charlie Harris has a second in her series with Classified as Murder on shelves this year. Mississippi is the setting for these cozy stories with librarian Charlie playing detective with his helpful cat, "Diesel" helping him in murder investigations.

The first novel was published the previous year and is entitled Murder Past Due.

Clean up your mess (hint, hint)!

2011-07-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

One of my dear colleagues shared a cute paperback mystery title today (with a knowing smile) from her new display as a suggested read: Death Loves a Messy Desk. It is the third book in the "Charlotte Adams" series by writer Mary Jane Maffini.

Ms. Adams is a fictional professional organizer and an amateur sleuth in upstate New York. The 30-year-old Adams is in her comfort zone working, as the author's website says, " surrounded by old friends, new dogs and plenty of clients."

I'm afraid my comfort zone includes large piles of papers on my desk (from computer classes or book club stuff and more), checked out books or music CDs, bookmarks, a lunch bag, an old paperweight my father received for serving on the public library board years ago, a framed art print, hand sanitizers, (often) a package of crackers, a cup with scissors, straws, pens, datebooks, and more old books from book sales or removed from the library collection. And, well, there's more with my chair sometimes holding the last items I've touched for the day...

So, I'd be wise to take my co-worker's advice and read the book, especially with tips at the beginning of the chapters like "five minutes of filing at the end of every workday can save hours searching through piles of papers for documents later on." And for more about the book, take a look at this video book ad.

Writer Lilian Jackson Braun dies--

2011-06-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

To live into your nineties is seen as a blessing and that hopefully was the case for mystery writer Lilian Jackson Braun. Today's news outlets report that she died last week in South Carolina (and here's a googled photo).

Braun was a fixture on the mystery book shelves with her long-running "The Cat Who..." series. A devotee to the cozy mystery genre, she retired from newspaper work in 1984 and turned to writing mysteries full-time until retiring again in 2007.

(Another) Mystery writer blog

2011-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Maybe two years (or so) I signed up for email updates from writer Julia Spencer-Fleming entitled "Kill from the Hill" for messages about her series featuring "Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne. It's possible it might be much further back though, double-checking the date when the book club read Spencer-Fleming's first book (In the Bleak Midwinter) it was in October 2004.

There's a new book in the series One was a Soldier due for release in April and Spencer-Fleming joined a blog featuring eight mystery writers now called JungleRed. I'm actually quite glad to read about the blog because (too often) I tend to go to a few websites and I'm done so it is good to see what else is available. The blog also features the work of Rhys Bowen, Jan Brogan, Roberta Isleib, Hallie Ephron, Deborah Crombie, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Rosemary Harris.

The blog description reads (in part): Welcome to Jungle Red, a salon of eight mystery writers. Here, it's all about writing. And not writing. And our search for motive in life, love, fiction and reality.

All have books in the library system.

Holiday reading--

2011-01-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays a visiting sister-in-law had a small paperback mystery that kept her attention until she polished it off just after Christmas. The book's cover didn't catch my interest--it looked like a "cozy mystery" I'd be reluctant to try--but I reconsidered and took a closer look.

The book is Tapped Out (2007) by writer Natalie M. Roberts, which is the second book of the "Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mysteries." I began to wonder if my library had that book or any Roberts books so I checked into it. The library system does have a couple of copies of Robert's first of the series Tutu Deadly. It was also printed in 2007.

I was glad to see the author's work carried in the area libraries so that the collection is that varied and diverse. It's reassuring to know we mix it up including a writer who doesn't have a long-running series (see here for Roberts).

Book club discusses "Anatomy of Fear" (October)

2010-12-31T13:34:00.002-08:00

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--

2010-12-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

'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]

2010-11-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

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]

2010-11-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

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)--

2010-11-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-09-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

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]

2010-09-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-08-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

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]

2010-07-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-06-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-06-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

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...!

2010-06-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-05-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-05-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-05-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-04-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-03-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-03-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

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]

2010-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

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--

2010-03-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

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]

2010-02-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-02-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-02-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-02-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-01-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

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]

2010-01-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-01-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

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???

2010-01-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

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--

2010-01-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

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.

"Mystery" movie DVDs in the library--

2009-12-29T12:36:00.000-08:00

I appreciate that our library system has the various categories that it does for DVDs such as "classic," "drama," (the videos have been removed and maybe Blu-ray movies will come...???) and "mystery" is included.

While in the back work area recently, I spied an old movie from the 70s and checked it out that day. It was director Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler's private eye Phillip Marlowe. I enjoyed the movie with its almost oddball detective who walks around nearly unaffected by his environment. And I hope it was a joke that Marlowe went through the movie with an ever present cigarette--usually lit--in his mouth and dressed in the same black suit.

The DVD cover (as found on Amazon) is cool too--good job by the marketing people.

Also, this is the movie with the surprise ending and I will give it that. And the Arnold Swarzengeer sighting is nifty too.

By chance, days later I grabbed foreign film DVD based on Harlan Coben's book of the same name "Tell No One." Now, it is a foreign film but it is a mystery story. I had mentioned this in the blog last year as a movie to look out for and it took me a while to get the dvd and watch it. It was a very well-done movie with its story moved from the U.S. to France. I watched the movie the first time in its original French language with English subtitles and then started watching the movie again with the English language dubbing. I preferred it the first time--I was good with the subtitles and the French language is nice to hear.

Heard on the TV News this morning that (Christmas book sales)--

2009-12-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

Before dashing out the door to work this morning, I heard that this is the first Christmas in which sales for physical book were surpassed by the e-book. Taking a look on the web later, I read that Amazon claims this feat was due to the popular Kindle e-reader. There's a little more information here from InformationWeek but the future is here and now with electronic reading.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of the mystery novel--

2009-12-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

I checked out a book recently and read about another just released one in USAToday which both tackle the craft of mystery writing--from different angles. The newer book is Talking About Detective Fiction by long-time mystery writer P.D. James. It gives an illuminating, big-picture approach to mysteries with information about the history of the genre in certain literature titles (i.e., Charles Dickins's Bleak House) to present day works with writers like Colin Dexter as shared in Amazon's product description of the book.

Click here to read additional information including a Publisher's Weekly review about this book which says it does cover British writers to a major although not exlusively degree. Look for attention focused on Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh and more. The book is 198 pages.

James has a great expertise to lend to her book while the other book The Lineup: the world's greatest crime writers tell the inside story of their greatest detectives gives a multiple voice approach. Edited by Otto Penzler, the book features 21 authors talking about the characters that they have created--the inspirations and what makes up the characteristics of the detectives. I skipped around and read the entries about writer John Harvey's Charlie Resnick and Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan. The book is 406 pages.

A Christmas wish for a DVD set--

2009-12-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Its Christmas time again and I enjoy receiving DVDs (or DVD sets) like many this time of year. My dream DVD set would be an old personal favorite TV show--a private eye series from the 1970s, "Harry O" starring David Janssen. Here's a googled pix of Janssen from the series.

The series only ran two years and that can be one reason it doesn't appear to be joining other shows on the DVD racks--sadly. I had hope it would make it as more shows were coming to DVD a few years back but the DVD television show glut has eased I believe. Still, Janssen's big TV hit, "The Fugitive" is released regularly for the interested to purchase in half season "chunks"--OK, DVD sets.

Anyway, I liked the nature of the Harry Orwell character with his wit and unconventional lifestyle of living on a boat on the beach. And to get around for a while during the series he would just take public transportation--the bus. Also Janssen's voice over segments during the episodes worked for me too.

On the other hand, I still have a paperback book based on the series simplyly entitled Harry O. It was the first book with a #1 in the top left corner and was published in 1975. So till my dream happens (a studio DVD television set), I'll keep check for upcoming DVD releases but I won't hold my breath. Finally, I'm including the opening for the show courtesy of YouTube. I'm including the first and second, the third is just OK.

Book Club discusses "An Incomplete Revenge" [October]

2009-12-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

The book club discussed the fifth book of the "Maisie Dobbs" series by Jacqueline Winspear several weeks back during the October session. An Incomplete Revenge features psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs--a highly motivated woman who pursuits an education and opportunities to move to a professionally-recognized status from that of a house servant. This book series is set during and following the first World War.

Winspear's picture here comes courtesy of her website.

In this novel, Maisie Dobbs is employed by an old friend to check out the feasibility of a land purchase. The land is in a village outside London in Kent and peculiar news stories from the area raise concern for Dobbs employer--incidents of fires. She arrives during a harvest season and works to gain the trust of the locals, including a gypsy community with which she finds an affinity.

The truth of the mysteries lie in a community's hidden secrets and try as she might, Maisie is the outsider--the woman driving around the village in her MG car.

Some quick observations (shared here) included:

Maisie attempts to fit a community setting by picking up on the language or terms used by the residents or setting
Maisie has a young assistant who's also a working stiff type and family man, Billy, and she offers him some work with investigations but hasn't reached out to help him as a mentor
Maisie has personal troubles that stop her from leading a cheerful life
however, she has a warm relationship with her father
incidents of community secrets (or shame?) include nearly the whole community.

New Mystery by Celebrity Author--

2009-12-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

NBC's "Today" show weatherman Al Roker is stretching his writing talents with a new mystery book, The Morning Show Murders, co-authored by Dick Lochte. The author of previous titles about fatherhood and cooking, has a made a splash into fiction writing here. The photo of Mr. Roker comes courtesy of the"NBC Today Show" website.

Sticking close to what Al knows, the book, as the title suggests, deals with a murder mystery in a network TV setting. It begins as TV morning personality, Billy Blessing, a chef and restaurant owner, is suspected in the murder of a network head. The television executive has just dined at Billy's restaurant and dies after consuming poison in his meal. But who is the actual murderer? With his professional life snapped shut and on hold (no TV and restaurant work), Billy turns into a self-styled sleuth.

This is one of two new mysteries I remember from a recent book catalog at work (the other was the new Sue Grafton book).

Library System Gets a Pat on the Back

2009-12-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

(Here's some big news from our Main Library:) The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (formerly the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) and South County Regional Library have once again been designated a “Five-Star” library. This is a due in large part to the support and patronage we receive from you, the people of Charlotte. Thanks! Wondering what a Five-Star Library is? It’s the highest possible rating given out by the Library Journal, and it’s similar to the Michelin and Mobile guides used for restaurants and hotels. They’ve actually given it to use twice: first in February 2009, then again in November 2009.

You can read more on our website [link to http://www.plcmc.org/About_Us/in_The_News/releaseDetails.asp?id=407].
The Library Journal Index is based equally on four things: visits, circulation, program attendance, and public Internet computer use.

The Newest in a Loooonng Series

2009-12-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

A co-worker smiled yesterday as she received the newest Sue Grafton alphabet mystery, U is for Undertow, before leaving for the day. She noted how the series is coming to end soon and marveled that she remembered reading the first book in the early 1980s. At that time, she was at a church sleepover with two of her children--then in grade school--reading "A" is for Alibi: a Kinsey Millhone mystery.

I'm impressed that Grafton is still going strong with this clever mystery concept and has carvered a unique spot in the mystery genre for herself. And as the new People magazine notes in a book review, private detective Millhone--reaching book 20 now--does that have the wonderful author blessing of not aging in natural years as all novels are still set in the 1980s.

Interested in a Mystery Movie?

2009-11-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

I browsed through USA Today on the web last week and found an poll about holiday movies. I selected one I'd like to see, to see how it fared with the others, and to my surprise Sherlock Holmes--not my choice--did quite well. That peaked my curiousity and I decided to look for other upcoming movies and I found two others which can fairly can be called mysteries.

Naturally, you'd want to see a movie trailer before going to the theater--so you can take a look here. I have "The Lovely Bones," "The Missing Person" and "Sherlock Holmes" (thanks YouTube and click on the "Back" button at the top of the page to toggle between selections). Look them over and select your choice below. I appreciate your vote.

Which Movie Would You Rather See This Holiday Season? (Correction--the last entry should read "I want to go to a comedy film instead")

Book Club discusses "The Body in the Record Room" [September]

2009-11-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

Unexpectedly, I got behind with book club comments about our selections so I'm catching up now. The September selection was The Body in the Record Room by Joe Barone. Set in 1954 at a Missouri mental hospital, an assertive patient discovers a body in the facility's record room and begins his own investigation of the death.

Here's a photo of author Barone from his blog under "Crimeplace: a place for readers and writers of crime fiction to meet." At this point, he appears to participate in blogs instead of having a website.

With the assistance of a fellow patient and an outside contact, the patient actually makes strides in this endeavour without outwardly upsetting established practices. And the patient does have a name--he goes by "Roy Rogers" after his idol, the cowboy movie star.

The book club had a very good discussion about the novel and it covered a range of topics. Mainly though, the book takes a major turn in the storyline which is only slyly hinted in book descriptions and reviews. That being the case, I'll keep that big plot line quiet here too.

Otherwise, our comments include the following:

the novel has its share of bad acts by characters but the author plays fair by finding fault all around

Roy has genuine mental issues but he is able to keep them at bay while focused on his investigations

Roy also has a unique ability to move around the grounds with the ease of being undetected and getting the trust of necessary allies

the manner which the town hosting this mental facility appears to benefit from the operation but isolates it.

As I recall, we all found the book a worthwhile read.

New Black and Latino mystery collections

2009-10-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I noticed an interesting title Hit List: the best of Latino Mystery among the library's new fiction books. It is a collection of mystery and crime short stories. Publishers Weekly wrote (I couldn't find my library's copy) that the book claims to be a first-ever anthology of mystery short stories by Latino writers. Included are stories by Manuel Ramos, A.E. Roman, Lucha Corpi, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Rolando Hinojos and Steve Torres. Writer Carolina García-Aguilera is the only one whom I ever remember reading (from her "Lupe Solano" private investigator mystery series).

Anyway, I'm glad to see the book in our library. Hit List was edited by Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez and it is 191 pages.

Next, as an appropriate follow-up, I discovered the new book Black Noir: mystery, crime, and suspense stories by African-American writers in the same new fiction location. The book was edited by Otto Penzler. It features work by Walter Mosley, Edard P. Jones, Chester Himes, Charles W. Chesnutt, Elanor Taylor Bland and more. The book was edited by Otto Penzler and he writes in his introduction, "On the pages that follow, you will find stories that transcend race and genre to fulfill their primary purpose to inform and entertain."

Black Noir is 349 pages. And I'll repeat, I'm glad to see this book in the libray (and in print).

Needlecraft and Mysteries sown together...

2009-10-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

It hasn't happened yet but my wife tells me she'd attend my book club if we'd read a Monica Ferris book. And as it turns out, she said that to me again after I'd brought her home another new Ferris book, Blackwork, from the library a few days ago. My wife knits religiously as her time allows.

Ms. Ferris is the busy author of this hobby-orientated mystery series which feature needlework shop owner and part-time sleuth Betsy Devonshire in small-town Minnosota.

The author--who writes under the pseudonym "Monica Ferris" according to her website--is at novel number 13 with the needlecraft mysteries. Ms. Ferris also loves to wear hats as you can see here courstesy of Google.

Now, will the book club ever read a book in the needlecraft series? It could happen but I have steered the club toward the more hard-edged type of mysteries (not just hardboiled) but the club votes on titles and we're not struck in the mud on types of mysteries.

The "fun" of writing young adult novels

2009-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Parade magazine in yesterday's Sunday newspaper had a timely question about adult fiction writers moving on to pen young adult titles. In the "Walter Scott's Personality Parade" section, a reader asked that question of writers Carl Hiaasen and Jane Smiley. Smiley was contacted--the article said her first young adult novel was published last month--and described the process as "fun." She added, "Since we want kids to read good books, why not try a hand at writing them?"

The same can be quickly said for some mystery writers as I wrote about Robert B. Parker two years ago with his first such book Edenton Owls. And he is continuing with his third young adult book--this time with his most popular adult character "Spenser" in a story from his childhood. Chasing the Bear: a young Spenser novel is a story of the then 14-year-old living with his father and two uncles involved in a dangerous bout of rescue and friendship.

More about the future of books and reading--

2009-10-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

I did not listen to the entire "Charlotte Talks" program I mentioned just previously about the "digital age" and books but I don't believe the discussion reached vooks. A recent New York Times newspaper article described "vooks" as being a new innovation of the reading method with titles boosting the blending of text, video and Internet features. Click here for the entire article and related information.

This sort of hybrid book (as the Times aptly puts) may be the new panacea to draw readers as some book publishers hope. That is particularly the great expectation for younger people.

Writers, on the other hand, are mixed too. But mystery writer Walter Mosley said the practice has no appeal to him. He said, "Reading is one of the few experiences we have outside of relationships in which our cognitive abilities grow,” according to the novelist. “And our cognitive abilities actually go backwards when we’re watching television or doing stuff on computers.”

The Health of Libraries and Books--

2009-10-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, our library director joined a panel of fellow administrators for a discussion about the future of libraries for our local public radio's "Charlotte Talks" program. Entitled " Libraries and Books in the Digital Age" that show asked how books are keeping up with the changing times and demands from the public with the growing preferences for download able items (books and information) and e-book devices.

Library director Charles Brown said he felt despite the interest in newer technology that print books would still keep its audience. He noted how he still sees young children fascinated with holding and using books and that there are still upcoming new book titles which draw a big adult audience (i.e., the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol).

The full program is at wfae.org.

The late William Safire

2009-10-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I became a fan of "On Language" the writing column in the New York Times magazine by wordsmith William Safire and I caught myself saying a woeful "awww" upon reading of his death last week.

I would find the columns interesting, timely and informative. I enjoyed that someone would take all that time to examine our use of words and their meaning--particularly words which had become significant due to some news story or other media interest (I have a googled recent photo of him here).

*I also took the time to attend a class he spoke to years ago when he make a campus visit to my former employer (then Queens College)--and he favorably impressed me as a thoughtful gent.*

Truth be told, I bet the next time I yank a dictionary off the shelf to double-check the meanings of a word, he may come to mind.

It Came in the Mail (2)--

2009-09-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

In another mailing (months ago old, I'm afraid), I received 10 very nice promotional brochures for writer Jane K. Cleland's new book Killer Keepsakes (a Josie Prescott antiques mystery). Called a "sneak preview" on the top, this brochure gives the first two chapters of the book, book series information, and invitations to contact Ms. Cleland.

Of course, the author's website is mentioned which includes interactive appraisal challenges from a notable auction house, book discussion questions and comments of critic's praise for earlier work. That website also has a nifty YouTube video with Cleland discussing the five components of a "traditional mystery."

I passed out the brochures during the September book club and two attendees recognized the author and had read her work with one saying she had read Killer Keepsakes.

Keepsakes is the fourth Josie Prescott book of the series.

It Came in the Mail--

2009-09-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

Months ago I received a nice postcard promoting a new mystery The Examined Life (a Gil Rodrigues Mystery) by Virgil Jose for the book club. Unfortunately for us, we don't have it in our library system but its good to find out what we're missing.

War vet and widower Rodrigues is a private investigator who receives a jot to his stagnant world as his best friend, David Chang, is suddenly murdered. He looks into the crime and finds Chang's business affairs along the way touches upon professional assassins and international espionage. Pushing the issue on this case, Rodrigues does move to enact a personal revenge.

Crime Spree Magazine says the book is "one of those small gems that deserves to be dug out of the thousands of books published each year." According to the Amazon website, this is Jose's first published work of fiction.

A Fan for Rick Riordan

2009-09-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

As I was waiting in the car dealership for my car for a routine service call last week, I pulled out my book club selection, The Body in the Record Room and began reading. You have to travel with a book right? Also, the book club session was mere days away.

Anyway, at some point I snickered at a line in book--which I'll unabashedly do while reading--when a woman sitting near by heard me and asked about my book. I showed it to her and she said the book cover is possibly enough to sell her to read the book (she read inside the book jacket too). Take a look for yourself.

Truth be told, I didn't get into the grimmer aspects of the book at that point so I could not share such in a conversation but we talked a little and she brought up the topic of favorite authors. She really enjoyed reading the adult mystery titles of Rick Riordan with private eye Tres Navarre (he's a renaissance man with backgrounds as a martial arts expert and a doctorate in medieval literature according to the author website).

The fellow driver said she enjoys Riordan's capture of the Texas lifestyle, etc., etc., as she is former resident of Austin and the novels take her there in stories. Here's a googled pix of Riodan.

That's good for me to know. I have to admit--for a while I've heard much more about teen readers interested in Riordan's Percy Jackson fantasy series for youth.

Overall, of course, it's good to know what others like to read and I enjoyed talking to the fellow Honda driver.

A Few Questions with Mary Anna Evans--

2009-08-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Shortly before our last book club, I decided I'd chance a quick email to writer Mary Anna Evans about her book Findings. It is a newer edition of her Faye Longchamp mysteries after reading her website (her photo comes from that site). I had hoped to hear from her at some time but she was able to write back shortly after I had emailed her.

I asked four questions and I shared her responses with the book club. I'll do the same here:

What do you hope we talk about with the book club regarding your book?

FINDINGS is an interesting place to start my series, if your members haven't read my work before. I write all my books so that they can be read independently, but FINDINGS is the culmination of the slowly developing relationship between Faye and Joe, so it's special to me because of that. I was also very fond of my historical couple, Jedediah and Viola. They were fun to write and people seem to respond well to them. My books are mysteries. To me, mystery is the literature of justice, in the way that some people call science fiction the literature of ideas. In a mystery, the world is set akew and it takes everything the protagonist has got to make things right. Things are not as they were--the victim is still dead--but justice has been done in a way that isn't always possible in real life. In a mystery, you can explore the boundaries of justice and right and wrong; what is just is not always right, and what is right is not always just. So, if asked what my first three mysteries were about, I would say, "Justice." Imagine my surprise when I wrote the last chapter of FINDINGS and realized that this book was not about justice. It was about love. There is no character who is not touched, for good or ill, by romantic love.

I've been looking at your previous interviews and user friendly webpage for talking points for the book club. Any special challenges for writing this book?

This book took me back to the setting of my first book, ARTIFACTS, so I didn't have to create a new setting. I did, however, need to communicate the setting and the recurring characters to people who hadn't read ARTIFACTS, without boring long-time readers. And I had to decide how to resolve Faye's and Joe's relationship...or whether to resolve it at all.

What is your writing and book promotion schedule like?

When my daughter is in school, I write from the time I take her to school until it's time to pick her up--basically 8 to 3. On non-school days, it's very hard for me to get creative work done, but I'll write then if I'm on deadline. More often, I do business or promotional work during the time when I can't be alone in the house. I promote heavily during the first few months after a book comes out, then I focus more on writing the next book. I still do events, but I tend to just go where I'm invited, instead of actively seeking appearances. It works out to about an event a month.

And how did you come to write mysteries?

I write in many genres, but Faye's stories are the ones that captured the attention of my publisher. And I'm glad, because I enjoy writing Faye. She's become almost like my invisible twin. :-)

[Hope this helps! Mary Anna]

Yes, it does. Thanks.

Mystery Graphic Novel

2009-08-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

One of my job responsibilities has been to process new graphic novels coming to my library branch and recently I ran across the title Britten and Brulightly, an engaging yet somber graphic novel of a private detective named Fernandez Britten. Set in England, this noir title follows the Ecuador native (you look like you're French, he's told) as he latches on to a possible murder case of a man judged to have died by suicide. Britten, who describes himself as a "researcher" and is nicknamed "The Heartbreaker" for handling numerous cases of couples and infidelity.

The story follows the expected private investigator fiction traits of secretive snooping and personal threats or attacks. The book also goes an unexpected route with Britten's partner, Brulightly, who is not just another body to help manage a case.

Muted colors and the frequent rainfalls add to the gloomy mood of Hannah Berry's book, but why not? This is just not the type of situation to find people with a sunny disposition, although Berry successes in presenting a memorable graphic novel.

Local writer doing good--

2009-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

During a recent short family trip--or an attempt at slipping in a few mental health days--we hit the road for South Carolina beaches (the hotel was on the beach) and I was pleased to find a local mystery writer had her works on prominent display at the hotel's gift shop. Writer Kathryn R. Wall had a nice display with autographed copies of books from her "Bay Tanner Mystery" series.

I was pleased to see that since I believe this is an excellent way to give a visitor a quick and lasting (you can keep the book) flavor of the local community. (And it worked in my case, I purchased the first book of the series.)

Wall's books are set in the coastal South Carolina area which is where she currently resides with her husband in their retirement home. I was also glad to find her titles on shelves of my library at work.

This pix of Wall is one from her website and book jackets and her "Bay Tanner" series is reaching the double digits in number of novels with Covenant Hall earlier this year.

Book Club discusses "Stranger Room"

2009-07-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

[This post was started in May but got delayed.] In May, the book club had a great surprise for its book discussion session as it was joined by writer Frederick Ramsay, the author of Stranger Room our book selection for the month. And the meeting was quite different for us as Ramsay joined by conference call from his home in Arizona. This is the first time we've hosted a guest author by phone.

Thankfully, everything went very well--handling the conference call with our phones, etc.-- and I believe we talked for about 40 minutes or so. Here's an author photography from the his website. Also, Ramsay contacted the group about speaking to us as he happened to google his name and found that we had his book scheduled for May. I was never more surprised then when I actually received that first call from Mr. Ramsay.

Ramsay is the author of the "Ike Schwartz mystery" series and Stranger Room (published last year) is his newest until Choker hit the book stores and library shelves just recently. Schwartz is the sheriff in a fictional rural Virginia mountain community which is his actual hometown. Following a stint in the CIA, Schwartz is back in Picketsville, Va., and works to shape up a badly-managed sheriff's department.

In Stranger Room, the death of a traveler to the town nearly mirrors the unexplained death of another in same building--now a possible historical local attraction--and to solve the crime will take a long trip back almost 150 years before the Civil War.

Also, as I wrote earlier the conservation went on for nearly most our time and here are some of the things our guest author shared:

he is "retired and writing for fun" with the typical goal of writing a novel within three months by producing a chapter a day

as Ramsay started his writing career, his wife assisted him by typing his work but not these days as she is a full-time student

he says he hates research when writing novels and says he'll fake some matters and "make things up"

"it is hard to edit your own stuff" and you have to recognize the book's story needs to move along

as books make a profit, the book publishers will ask for more books

on the disappointing side, "people aren't buying books, especially young people" (for instance, at book signings the attendees appear to be 45-years-old and older)

when writing, "the hardest challenge is to make each book better and to not repeat" a story

while writing this series, Ramsay says he develops the characters one book at a time and doesn't plan ahead where the characters should "wind up"

when asked about having input on book covers, he said it depends but his suggestions were used for what to show for Stranger Room cover.

Ramsay definitely won us over after we finished our discussion with his healthy dose of wit, clear-thinking judgment and good prose. Again, (as I said that night) thanks for calling and your time, Frederick Ramsay.

The "Booklists" are complete--

2009-07-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

After flipping through old printouts of book club material going back several years, I believe I have compiled my final list of book club selections. That is, I have listed on the blog's sidebars (to the left) the entire list of books the book club has read over the years. The book club started in November 2001 with an initial meeting and, luckily, has been going steadily since then with monthly sessions.

Unfortunately, I have missed a date or two in 2002 and 2003 but I'm a little impressed as I look at all the titles read, including a true crime book early on (Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia by Edward Humes) and award winners like the first book selection (Edgar winner, The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale).

And as I wrote in a recent post, the book club would regularly have "open dates" without assigned titles for the entire group and I didn't list each one for the book lists. So, looking back, I'm surprised how the time has flew by--it has been fun.

Open Book Club Date--

2009-07-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Last week, the book club had one of its "open dates" for a meeting without any assigned book title. It is as I say, a session to select your own title and to come to discuss it for the group.

It can be a good way to mix things up, to read and discuss a title you'd personally like to share, to select something offbeat and to get a greater variety of books included in the book club.

The mystery books we discussed were as follows:

The September Society by Charles Finch--a follow-up to the British mystery with freelance detective Charles Lenox [the book club read and discussed the author's first book the previous month]

Choker by Frederick Ramsay--the newest book in the series with Sheriff Ike Schwartz in rural Virgina [the book club read and discussed the author's previous book The Stranger Room for the May book club and a previously delayed post will cover the book discussion]

The Trail of the Wild Rose by Anthony Eglin--the next book in the series with retired botany professor (and amateur sleuth) Lawrence Kingston

Walla Walla Suite by Anne Argula--the second book to feature Quinn an ex-cop, now a private investigator in Seattle

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl--this historical fiction debut tells of the pursuit of a serial killer in Boston following the end of the Civil War by a literary club which is matching the deaths to its translation of Dante's Inferno for the American public.

Book Club discusses "A Beautiful Blue Death"

2009-07-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last month the book club discussed a title set during the infancy of the Scotland Yard with Charles Finch's A Beautiful Blue Death. This mystery is the first of a series to feature a well-to-do, freelance detective of the 1860s named Charles Lenox. The book was published in 2007 and here's a pix of Finch from his website.

The book jacket dubs this book as "equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Gosford Park, and P. G. Wodenhouse" and it appears to have its aims well placed.

In the story, Charles takes an assignment from his close friend, Lady Jane, to investigate the death of servant Prudence Smith--a former employee of Lady Jane--when it appears she has committed suicide. His investigation, though, leads him another direction to suspect that Smith was murdered by a unique poison. As Charles continues, he enlists the help of resourceful allies while bypassing Scotland Yard (mostly) and endearing himself to Lady Jane.

Now, as I recall, the group as a whole liked the book. Responses to the book included:

the story was the type of mystery one attendee really enjoyed reading

Charles and Lady Jane's relationship although close, it could be the same as if between a gay man and straight woman (one take)

Charles led a very relaxed, pampered life as a Victorian gentleman and would be very ill-suited to work as a detective on a full-time basis

Charles enlists his valet Graham to assist with the investigation and the two men share a relationship which occasionally crosses class lines--very unlikely it was suggested

a filmed version of this novel could be a good period piece but would drag along otherwise

how Charles managed to be independently wealthy without an apparent livelihood was curious

the story almost takes a long tangent of political discourse during the period when the novel veers back to the central story (the author does have a background in politics)

One attendee also had a copy of the next book in the series The September Society that night.

When your writing hand breaks--

2009-06-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

With a busy month, I have--to my chagrin--neglected to post to this blog (oh no!) I always attempt to post once a week which I consider reasonable. This month, it certainly did not happen.

I don't want to say my writing hand broke but I did catch myself taking a breather.

As a reminder of such I found an apropro article in the newspaper courtesy of the New York Times about blogs going by the way side by some writers. In addition to its reasoned information about some blogs biting the dust, it nicely features a mystery writer Judy Nicholas (her most recent is the paperback Tree Huggers if you check Amazon). It appeared that the passion, Ms. Nicholas started with the blog cooled (possibly) and writing for a novel took precedence.

Internet Radio Show "Mystery Matters"

2009-05-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Looking at mystery writer Maggie Bishop's website [see below], I checked her webpage of personal appearances and saw it included an interview on May 15th. More specifically, it says: Radio interview by Fran Stewart on Mystery Matters internet radio.

Mystery Matters?

Well, checking Fran Stewart's webpage I found a link to "Mystery Matters: Where Murder is an Open Book." It is an hour-long, weekly radio show hosted by the award-winning mystery writer Stewart with interviews and discussions about all types of mysteries. (Stewart writes the "Biscuit McKee" mystery series--a librarian and amateur sleuth in Georgia--with the newest title Indigo as an Iris. The webpage includes a search show option which would lead me to the "Maggie Bishop interview" I mentioned earlier.

This radio show airs on Fridays at 10 a.m. EST on the VoiceAmerica, talk radio network. And as one who listens to talk radio on the internet anyway (along with other programming), I'm glad to catch on this show which is PC keystrokes away.

Traveling through the Appalachians--

2009-05-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

With the vacation season rapidly coming into full tilt, stories with a sense of community and adventure are appreciated and writer Maggie Bishop manages that with her North Carolina mountains stories. Her newest book was released last year and I found on my library's new fiction shelf weeks ago--Perfect for Framing.

Bishop's author website (which includes this photo) says: In Perfect for Framing, the second in the Appalachian Adventures Mystery series, CSI wannabe, Jemma Chase, has carpentry skills that lead to fire, a peeping Tom, truck trouble and a body. Jemma knows it wasn't an accident but tangles with Detective Tucker about the meaning of clues. The first book was Murder at Blue Falls: the Horse Found the Body and published in 2006.

In fact, during a recent trip to Asheville I remember browsing through mysteries at a bookshop and thinking that a local writer should have a book there...

All the same, I'm glad to discover Ms. Bishop's now and I look forward to listening to her as this month's participant on Mystery Matters.

From a(nother) Desk Calendar

2009-05-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

A co-worker passed on a entry from her calendar months ago and I've held on it, guessing it might be useful at some point. Her calendar, the Book Lover's Calendar for 2009 has daily picks for recommended books and/or authors.

The date I have is for January 27th for two titles by Ian Sansom. In a nice synopsis from Booklist, it reads: British author Ian Sansom (The Impartial Recorder) gives us a hilarious mystery series set in north Ireland and starring Israel Armstrong, a bumbling, lovable vegetarian nebbish of a librarian who takes a mobile library.

Hence, the "mobile mystery series" is born with the first two titles The Case of the Missing Books and Mr. Dixon Disappears mentioned on the calendar entry. (Here's a pix of the first book,) My library has those titles and a third, newer one, The Book Stops Here from last year. It is also a book, I've noticed on our library's "new fiction" display downstairs. All book titles are paperbacks.

The Pix of the Week (from my desk calendar)...

2009-05-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

For several years, I've purchased a weekly engagement calendar to prop up on my desk at work to keep up with events and to use for note taking during an occasional meeting. Typically, it would some sort of art, I love Claude Monet's work. This year, though, I purchased Jill Krementz's The Writer's Desk 2009 Calendar--it has great black and white photographs of famous authors--and this week I have photo and quote from writer Elemore Leonard. Here's a photo from the author's website.

And if I remember correctly, I did mention to my library's mystery book club that during a 2005 Time magazine interview, Leonard was described as being "the greatest living writer of crime fiction" by the New York Times. The calendar features Leonard quoting: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

A "Mystery 101" Column for All

2009-05-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

I peeked through the newest Booklist magazine--an American Librarian Association publication--and found an enjoyable column about mystery books for the librarian and general reader alike. Joyce Saricks, adjunct faculty member of Dominican University and writer, dubs her newest column a sort of "Mystery 101 for readers."

Saricks is author of Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library and nicely nails down the popularity and wide appeal of mysteries here. This is a well-constructed, quick read for those whom may even read crime fiction all the time.

Book Club discusses "The Good Thief's Guide to Paris"

2009-04-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

This month the book club read and discussed Chris Ewan's The Good Thief's Guide to Paris [a mystery]. The second of a new series--the first is The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam--continues the escapades of mystery writer and professional thief Charlie Howard. Here's a googled photo of writer Ewan.

The fictional roving Englishman Howard is on a book tour in France when he boldly takes a challenge to show how to break into an apartment. Rather, he takes the challenge after drinking too much wine with a new acquaintance.

Charlie pulls it off and soon he approached to break in the same apartment again--this time, to steal an oil painting. OK--Charlie is in his element--but things spin out of control when he discovers a dead body in his living room and he concludes he can't go to the police about the crime. Against the odds, he tries to clear his name while sinking deeper into art thefts.

The book was well-liked. Here are a few quick observations:

Charlie enjoys success as a thief by working within a certain range of risk

Charlie's books enjoy moderate success but it's suggested he has yet to reach his potential as a writer

one book clubber said the writing on occasion seemed to awkward in the novel (the phrasing of sentences) while another said for English writers the sentences appear typical

the novel takes the proper tone of not taking the story too seriously.

Fun note: with Ewan's next book, Charlie Howard will come stateside for a story set in Las Vegas.

"How Can I Keep Up With the Newest Books at the Library?"

2009-04-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

In so many words, I was asked that question at my book club last week in regards to keeping up with new books at the library from authors that one may want to follow. Fortunately, the public library has a new convenient way to handle through your PC.

Wowbrary is a new resouce for weekly emails (or RSS) billed as providing information about "the newest stuff at your library (i.e. books, music CDs and DVDs)." On the website homepage, it also boasts of offering the advance of early notification of titles and the option to reserve bestsellers instantly. To begin, you provide your email address for the sign up page.

In the Charlotte area, go here to see our public library version of Wowbrary. The website is under the "Catalog Search" section and under the small heading "New Items." If you look closely, you will find "New Items" but this attractive resource doesn't get much promotion. Look and I think you're consider the website's layout is very user friendly too with its sections for top choices, dvds, recreation, personal growth, young people and more.

For the library user who has be up to date with new books and media this is just what the doctor ordered.

Updating "About Me"

2009-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I did not think about incorporating myself as a focal fixture within the blog. The blog is about the book club, mystery books and books in general. So, I had decided to skip a photograph of myself and to have a very short "About Me" entry. And in case you've never noticed, About Me is on the right hand side of this blog page at the bottom.

However, it you look at the revised "About Me" entry--you can see I changed my mind. Recently, I read about the advantage of providing a fuller entry for readers to understand why the blog exists. Point taken. As a result, I decided to give more background about how the book club started with my involvement.

Hope it's interesting.

Now regarding the photo--that comes from playing copycat to the writer's photos which accompany their books (some are quite showy). In particularly, I'd say I roughly modelled my picture on two writer's photographs featuring Ross McDonald (in the hat) and Robert Crais (in the shades) as shown here.

Funny, clever and cute

2009-04-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

In the book club selection this month of Chris Ewan's The Good Thief's Guide to Paris, I give credit him a good sense of wit. Late into this mystery novel, his protagist Charlie Howard describes one truly unique character as being "a good few hardbacks short of a full library, if you know what I mean."

Good line--or else I missed this joke during library school...

Book Club discusses "Death of a Cozy Writer"

2009-03-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

This month, the book club read and discussed the first of new series Death of a Cozy Writer: a St. Just mystery.

Writer G.M. Malliet, a former journalist, won the Malice Domestic Grant for this title. The grant is awarded to unpublished writers for traditional mysteries following in the tradition of a Agatha Christie novel--that is the setting is within a confined setting of people who know each other in a novel without explicit sex or excessive gore or violence. Here's a pix of Malliet from her website.

Death of a Cozy Writer is set in Cambridgeshire, England (where Malliet also lives) with the unsettling activities of a wealth writer's planned remarriage and the negative reaction by his adult children. The writer, Sir Adrian Beauclerk Fisk, has build a successful book series with an Agatha Christie-type character. As a result, he may offer his children Ruthven, Sarah, Albert or George a wealthy inheritance upon his death. Instead, he toys with that possibility and changes his written will at whim--showing contempt to all his children. Tragically, during a major family gathering for the engagement announcement, one in the party is found dead.

With almost a third of the story told, Detective Chief Inspector St. Just enters the novel.

Here are some takes on the novel:

DCI St. Just has an amazing gift of deduction to solve the case--he appears to shortcut the investigation process...

the novel has its share of humor but not the sort of British humour some readers would expect (except for the laughable American character who tries too hard to fit in) and it struck me as being "catty" too often

the "Cast of Characters" in the front of the book was nice for the reader

the book was nicely written

as a murder occurs in a eighteenth-century Cambridgeshire manor to bring the police to the location, the family and others remain there during the investigation and--unfortunately--another death occurs there so it was suggested the people should have been moved

the most shadowy and seldom seem character,Violet Mildenhall was judged the most interesting because of her unique background

the favoritism which Adrian displays to some of his children at times, and disapproval more often, raised a long discussion about favoritism in real families and how the issue is handled in fair and biased manners.

Overall, the book was judged as a OK but not noteworthy.

Two book reviews on library podcast--

2009-03-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

I think this is ironic timing. I discovered at work last week while my voice had pretty much left me and I was reduced to whispering--the results of a cold--that a podcast session I recorded last year is now available. That is, I recorded a segment for a monthly podcast recording for the library system's "Reader's Club" website. One librarian hosts the sessions and invites others to participate.

My contribution are two book reviews from two previous book club meetings last year for Terry Hoover's Double Dead and Jesse Kellerman's The Genius in the month of February.

I had hoped to incorporate podcasts with this blog for months (and months) but I really haven't yet. It is still in the plans though.

You Decide: Likable Characters Needed?

2009-03-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

I paused for a moment while listening to a radio interview with author Zoe Heller, promoting her new book The Believers. [Here's a pix of her which accompanies this National Public Radio story on the web.] She makes the point of explaining her work by saying "My hope, at least, is that I write difficult, complicated but sympathetic characters."

And to further stress this, she continues [in a forceful tone] "I'm slightly irritated by what I think is a kind of modern demand for characters you can root for, characters you would like to be friends with. Speaking as a reader, I have to say that some of my favorite characters in literature are some of the nasty ones." Those comments caught me as I hear during book club sessions about novels with unlikeable characters.

Being in a book club focusing on mysteries (i.e. crime stories), how do we reconcile this? It--frequently, it seems with my book club--comes up that a novel doesn't have any likable characters. Is it a must to have a character to at least root for (redeemable wouldn't be strong enough here) to have a good reading experience? Or should readers just accept that too many fictional characters operate from their own their own selfish, narrow or jaded interests and that's their lives?

What do you think?

Hollywood Celebrity Pens New Mystery

2009-03-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm not just one of the 20 people in the world who browse through Google News to catch up on news but I might be. In any case, I zipped through some "Entertainment" stories recently and found one about a new mystery book co-authored comic Joan Rivers.

Writing about what ones knows is safe ground for any writer and Ms. Rivers makes that connection with her new book Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery. Working with mystery writer Jerrilyn Farmer--a good match I believe, I read some of her work--Ms. Rivers broadens her writing chops with this genre fiction title. And the book has some genuine interest as it has a wait list for check-outs in library. Additionally, the library system has a few of her earlier books which are mainly biography and humor-themed.

How did the current contestant on NBC-TV's “The Celebrity Apprentice” get her mystery off the ground? She answers that during a recent interview found on "The Improper" website:

IM: Describe the writing process as you worked on “Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery.”

Rivers: Well I worked with someone who is a great mystery writer named Jerrilyn Farmer, so it was great because she really brought all the mystery and showed me how to do that because I didn’t have a clue in hell. She didn’t have a clue in hell about what happens on the red carpet, what goes on backstage, what goes on at The Kodak Theatre, and what goes on in the gifting rooms, etc. We worked together.

IM: Which challenges did you come across as you wrote the story?

Rivers: I don’t know, I struggle with everything! (laughs) So many of the characters are composites of real people, and you don’t want to get in too close, but you also want to be able to tell a story that you heard about this person or saw about that person… So that was fun. It was all fun, it really was fun writing the novel- much easier than writing my other book which was such a research project!

A Visit Back to 2008 for the "Best of.."

2009-02-28T12:37:00.000-08:00

Can you believe how quickly the year is going? Well, I thought about looking around for a "best of" list for mysteries last December then decided to let that go. Now, as it turns out, this morning I found such a list while looking at the National Public Radio website. Specifically, there's the "top five mystery and crime novels of 2008" with regular book review contributor Maureen Corrigan doing the honors (she has a great delivery for radio--I enjoy listening to her).

I like the selections although as I searched for them to my library system's collection, we only have The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson here.

Such as it is.

Book Club discusses "Christine Falls"

2009-02-25T09:05:00.001-08:00

This month the book club discussed Benjamin Black's Christine Falls as the month's selection. The book is the first of a new series featuring Dublin pathologist Quirke, a frequent drinker with a troubled background. Here's a picture of the author from his website.

"Benjamin Black" is also a pen name for the award-winning Irish writer John Banville. The last award as noted on his website is the Man Booker Prize 2005 for The Sea.

Quirke, who is never referred to by his first name Garret, becomes suspicious when his stepbrother and physician Malachy ("Mal") Griffin alters the death record of recently deceased young maid Christine Falls. What would prompt Mal to do this Quirke wonders and--against his usual disposition--he actually becomes concerned and investigates the matter. The results are long in developing as Quirke finds few full answers until he travels to Boston to accompany a family member and the entire situation comes into focus.

The book club had mixed to negative reactions to the novel--perhaps more disappointed is correct to say. Some observations included the following:

the mystery element of the story was lacking--a few suggestions popped up about ways the novel could have turned with plot twists

Quirke was too unlikeable to have appeal (of course, the author designed the character to be complex and troubled)

one person found the changes in character narration of the novel confusing (it was mainly two but at least two others were given short passages

the same person liked the writer's use of language

Quirke finds the Catholic Church is supporting a conspiracy which bears a relation to cover-up of Christine Falls death and it appeared to be a strong slap at that institution

too much of the story was devoted to Andy Stafford and his wife Claire (they are tied into the Catholic Church conspiracy)

well-written book gives little of the book setting in the 1950s Ireland

why use the pen name "Benjamin Black"?

The paperback version of the book includes 12 "discussion questions" in the back and I shared them in the book club. This is only the second time I remember having accompanying discussion questions for a book club mystery title.

More Poe news (courtesy of a post office visit)

2009-02-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up I collected commemorative postal stamps for a while and my mom even graciously purchased several of the special commemorative stamp sheets in an official binder. That said, I tend to look out for commemorative stamps even today although I slowly go through them (and the stamp postage price keeps rising before I do).

Anyway, I did have to make a trip to the post office earlier this week and I was pleasantly surprised to see a poster promoting a new Edgar Allan Poe stamp for sale in January. Of course, it came as the 200th birthday of Poe was observed (here's info about the stamp). I'll admit that the post office visit was guided by the simple need to get in and to get to mailers on the way but I look around to see if anything else is interesting.

I did not purchase any Poe stamps that day but I will likely in the near future. I guess I shouldn't pass on the "father of the mystery novel," huh? And with the increase in first class postage stamps coming in May, I feel prepared because I already have one and two cents stamps from the *last* price increase.

Final New Novels by Deceased Writers Craig and Spillane

2009-02-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

I didn't know about the death of writer Philip R. Craig until I was flipping through book reviews in one of the library's professional magazines a few weeks back. Craig, author of the "Martha Vineyard mystery" series with private investigator Jeff Jackson, died in May 7, 2008. The last book by Craig is Vineyard Chill as mentioned on the author's still current website. I counted 22 books in the series from the website. In fact, it is mentioned there that still another "J.W.(Jackson)" novel which is partially written "may someday be completed by his family per his instructions" by another writer. So, readers are urged to just stay tuned. Here's a pix of Craig from his website.

Writer Mickey Spillane, who died in 2006, has a writing story which the late Craig may follow. Spillane's last private detective novel with Mike Hammer was completed following his death by writer--a friend and a fan as mentioned on "The Guardian" website--Max Allan Collins. The book is entitled The Goliath Bone and was published last year. With a story that is ripped from the headlines--it features Hammer confronting Islamic terrorists and Israeli extremists following an attempted robbery. Included here is a recent, googled pix of Spillane.

Notice about a new cozy mystery series--

2009-01-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

Recently I received a reply to a post about a new book series courtesy of the author which stated "if you like pre-teen to grandmother for all ages, cozy mystery series, check out www.mrsbundle.com" and I thought mmmmm. Well, the website is for the "Mrs. Bundle Mystery Series" by author Allison Cesario Paton.

Our library system does not have any of the "Mrs. Bundle" titles (nor do any others as I checked in the WorldCat database) but that might change as the series continues. There are three titles to date. The stories involve Lettie Bundle, a senior sleuth in Vermont, her pet dog Cracker, and a teenage neighbor Angie Andersen teaming up in search for adventure. And take a look at the book covers, you'll know you're in cozy mystery territory with all the different colors and Mrs. Bundle's gentle, soft appearance.

Prolific writer Donald Westlake dies

2009-01-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

As the new year began a few weeks ago, I missed the news story of the passing of yet another giant in the mystery-writing field. The prolific Donald Westlake died on New Year's eve while vacationing in Mexico. He was 75 years-old and here's a googled recent pix.

His writing career reached back to 1960 when his first book was published. Since then, Westlake is credited with penning more than 90 books--most set in New York City and sometimes written under the another name, usually Richard Spark. To read more about his life, check here for three obituaries and for even some more, check his website.

Edgar Allen Poe Birthday Celebration

2009-01-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

One of my fellow librarian has been busy working on a special project during the past few weeks--developing a library celebration for the 200th birthday of writer Edgar Allen Poe. The event will be modest yet fun with cake and door prizes but our library is actually playing catch-up with a number of such events around the country. Poe's birthday is January 19th.

Of course, the literary giant--considered the inventor of detective fiction--will command much greater attention at his final resting place of Baltimore. And the website "Nevermore2009" gives the dirty on what to expect there with several big events scheduled throughout the year.

Anyone up for a trip to "Charm City"?

Book club discusses "The Seventh Sense"

2008-12-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

This month the book club used an older title (1999) for the book discussion--T.J. MacGregor's The Seventh Sense. This is a stand-alone fiction title by MacGregor, who has written under other versions of her name, the "Tango Key" series and astrology books. And here's a pix of Trish MacGregor from her website.

The setup for the Seventh Sense is a sudden and lethal case of road rage resulting in the death of a driver and shake up of the passenger, his pregnant wife. The enraged driver, attorney Frank Benedict, panics and drives away from the scene later consoling himself with the notion that bad things happen to people (that is, that's the G-rated version of his thinking). That pregnant passenger is FBI agent Charlotte "Charlie"Calloway, who has a tragic miscarriage and quietly vows revenge against the driver.

Meanwhile, Frank enlists the aid of his wife, Anita, to get rid of the damaged
vehicle and to cover up any signs of criminal activity. The results strain the relationship and the mistrust takes its toll.

And Charlie gets assistance from a co-worker who enlists the help of an old
friend, former agent Doug Logan, to figure the case out. Logan, it turns out, possess unique psychic powers which include visions from touching another person.

Our book club discussion including the topics:

the actions of Frank Benedict and his redeeming qualities

a lawyer as a good criminal

Anita Benedict's response to Frank's actions and her family background

the possible relationship between Doug and Charlie (and her possible growing supernatural power)

a surprise ending with a violent confrontation

favorite characters from the novel (including a woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease)

good pacing and writing of the book by the author (I disagreed on the pacing
and thought the book rushed the ending but no one else said so)

good tale of revenge for greatly wronged heroine Charlie (of course, Charlie is wronged but naked blood lust for Frank left me oddly cool too)

the seventh sense itself.

No had read MacGregor but a few looked up and started to read other books written by her.

Book series comes to HBO in 2009--

2008-12-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

I have HBO at home and aside from a few destinated shows, I don't watch it too much. And yet, I had it on between shows recently and got sucked into watched a long commercial segment with the networks' upcoming shows when I was surprised to see one new show. For just a split-second, the TV screen shows that Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series is coming soon.

I'm impressed that Botswana's fictional folksy detective, Precious Ramotswe, is bound for the screen although it is not brand new entertainment news (thanks, Variety). Oh well, good news is good news.

A Good Read in Advance of the Inauguration--

2008-12-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

After the presidential election, you'd expect a lull in the all things political scene but recent news stories dictate otherwise. And I think you regular news readers (or radio listeners for NPR) would agree with me.

In that vein with an inauguration of a new president coming soon, I noticed this new paperback mystery which should have genuine appeal with all the fanfare of the upcoming presidential inauguration. The paperback is the second of the series featuring the most unlikeliest of heroines--a White House chef. Julie Hyzy writes about ambitious chef Ollie Paras with her new adventures in Hail to the Chef (a White House Chef Mystery). In this book, Ollie is quite busy when two strange deaths occur close to her and she feels drawn to follow her suspicions about them. The first death is of a careful electrician who is electrocuted to death and the second is of the First Lady's nephew who just hours before had worked with Ollie preparing food.

Hail to the Chef, also professes to include "recipes for a complete presidential meal" on the book cover.

Hyzy does show strong creative promise with this series. The first book is State of the Onion which my library system does not have.

The Recession and book publishing

2008-12-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

Bad news just doesn't escape most of us and the book world is not immune I heard a recent radio news story about a major book publisher cutting back its work force and looking today, I found related stories on the Web. In particular, an AP news story says book publisher Macmillian (which includes [popular mystery] writer Janet Evanovich according to the article) is reducing its work force.

And yet, the book budget is unfazed as Macmillian CEO John Sargent says there will not be a change in the budget for acquiring books. So, that's good news. Still, you have to expect this would economy impact the book industry in negative ways. You just have to hope the good stories keep finding their way into print.

Book Club discusses "Still Life"

2008-12-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

In November, the book club read and discussed the first Louise Penny book of the "Three Pines" mysteries Still Life. A few in the group had already read this book and moved through the three books of the series while the fourth book, A Rule Against Murder (an Armand Gamache Novel) arrives on bookshelves in January according to Amazon.

Here's a photo of Ms. Penny from her website. I also marveled at her busy schedule for her book tour including America (she lives in Canada). At the same day and time our book club met, she had a book signing scheduled for the Royal St. George's College in Toronto.

One book attendee said the series can read like a 900-page novel with the first three books running together. It certainly appears to make good sense as the same characters (mostly) appear in book after book. The series features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache from Quebec with a team of investigators called to handle homicide cases in the Three Pines village. In this story, Armand visits Three Pines for the first time to investigate the death of an old resident shot and killed by a hunting bow and arrow.

Some of the discussion focused on the following:

one character named "Ruth" who's a notable resident--a poet--and very blunt and harsh

the even temperament of Chief Inspector Gamache with his squad and the public in a noisy investigation

an expected climax when the police confront the murderer

how the relationship between one central couple in the story changes and sours

how Gamache works with a difficult young investigator on his squad (another very blunt-speaking character)

the appeal of the Three Pines village to the reader, the sense of community and humor.

The book was well-received and the group (all who attended began and finished the book) and some expressed interest in going through the series. I added additional information about the writer's background (working with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and the multiple awards that Still Life received (including the New Blood Dagger for best first Mystery by the Crime Writers Association in Great Britain and the Arthur Ellis for best first Mystery by the Crime Writers of Canada).

Those cutesy book titles--

2008-12-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

When moving the library's paperback mystery books collection recently, I noticed a book with a title that made me smile and shake my head. That book, Deader Than Disco by David Hiltbrand, was sitting at the end of the shelf and I had to smile while I caught myself (disco is fine with me--except the silly stuff). Oh well, if you can't catch the potential reader by the cover--at least go for the title, huh?

Looking over those paperbacks (and some others), I noticed a few other titles like Chili Con Corpses by J. B. Stanley, Monkey See, Monkey Die by Cynthia Baxter and Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned by Kinky Friedman. You have to know that a good murder mystery can use good humor to keep the reader going.

In fact, during some book club discussions I ask "why does the book have its title?" Some titles are self-evident while many are a mystery saved til the last chapters of the book (or the results of the book publisher and marketing one attendee said once).

In any case, you have to sell your goods to succeed.

If you want a genre bender title, then maybe--

2008-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Writer and college professor Justin Gustainis has a new paperback series which may dovetail in the hot popularity of the supernatural and fantasy (no vampires to my knowledge though). His titles feature supernatural investigator Quincey Morris and his partner white witch Libby Chastain. The first book is Black Magic Woman and I spied it in the new fiction book area of the library a few days ago.

Black Magic Woman tells of the investigative duo helping a family plagued by a curse which may date back to the Salem Witch Trials. They follow a trial through hazardous occult communities across the country--including San Francisco, New York and New Orleans--to resolve their case.

Although these works are a genre bender more as fantasy and thriller with all the action, Woman and the follow-up title (Evil Ways according to the author's website), I suspect it could have some strong appeal for those looking a bizarre sort of mystery.

Book Club discusses "The Blood Detective"

2008-11-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last month the book club discussed the first novel by writer Dan Waddell,
The Blood Detective. In this novel, a surprising alliance is formed to solve a murder case between the two London police officials in charge and a local genealogist. Nigel Barnes is the family historian brought into the police case headed by Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins. And Barnes' sharp eye and familiarity with the subject matter--genealogy information--keep him around as a consultant (and employed) for the immediate future.

This is Waddell's first novel after working a journalist and writer of 10 nonfiction books. The concept for the Barnes character came to Waddell following his book adaptation of a popular BBC TV series about genealolgy called Who Do You Think You Are? That is shared with other information by Waddell in a queston and answer session in an audio interview which Waddell discusses The Blood Detective and more. Here's a photo of Waddell from Google.

The novel treated the reader to interesting surprises as Barnes and Foster both
have background issues which they'd rather keep quiet. And the killer does murder more than one with gruesome methods as a message to the police.

Our discussion targeted several issues:
* a clever title for a book about an amateur sleuth working in the genealogy field
* the detail involved in genealogy study and the appeal for Barnes
* Foster and Jenkin's dilemma when handling the murder case of vagrant
* Foster's quiet background situation of possibly assisting in the death
of his ill father (he is acquitted of wrongdoing in the novel and that
is a fair decision--ultimately)
* Barnes leaves a university job after an affair with a student (a situation much less sordid than it seems)
* the messages left by the murders and the surprising reason for the murders
* English slang (this is a London story)

We have a good discussion about the book and there was interest in reading the next book of the series Blood Atonement due next year.

Paretsky Visits Charlotte for Author Festival

2008-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday and Thursday, my library system hosted mystery novelist Sara Paretsky for back-to-back evening events and I was able to attend both.

It was the end of the library's "Novello: festival of reading" and I worked as a volunteer, ushering the first night and helping to man the wine bar on the second. The first night consisted of an author talk with questions from the audience and book signings. The second night was a clued-filled mystery program with food, drink and music--Chicago themed.

I enjoyed the events and was glad I had attended. And I was able to speak Ms. Paretsky the second evening. Looking fashionably stylish in her black hat, here's a pix of Ms. Paretsky with the volunteer I worked with when pouring drinks at the mystery-dinner event (a new professional in Charlotte, she said just call her by her nickname "Kiki").

Now, the first evening when she spoke (and I ushered), I jotted down a few notes while sitting in the back. They included the following:
* as a youngster, girl detective Nancy Drew didn't appeal to her (particularly with "no siblings and domestic responsibilities")
* she moved to New York City to become a writer at 23 but later moved to Chicago to work as a secretary ("Chicago became the city that shaped my voice and view of the world.")
* as a devoted reader of crime novels, she became determined to write a private eye novel but that was only a dream for her for a eight-year period (afterwards, "V.I. Warshawski" was created)
* Paretsky wanted to create a female private eye who didn't fit the role of the standard role of women in noir fiction (i.e. victim or temptress)
* writing a story set in Chicago was a hard sell years ago
* "Fiction gives us the heroes we wish we could be."

Paretsky's newest "V.I. Warshawski novel" is entitled Hardball and is in the editors hands after several drafts, she said. Her website has an excerpt.

And she posts to a blog supported by Chicago six other crime writers called "The Outfit." She also read from her most recent blog post in the author talk "What happens to the novel in the Age of Fragmentation?"