Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is celebrating its 2014 community read week event with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  Various events are scheduled as everyone is encouraged to read--as possibly discuss at a scheduled library program--the classic science fiction title.  Click here for the events at area libraries and elsewhere. 

I had considered looking at the book for the mystery book club--as library book clubs were encouraged-- but our April date was set.  And the book is far from a standard mystery story so I don't want to buck our book club orientation.  All the same, this American classic fiction book is one worthy of reading, discussing and thought.

Book club favorite title 2012--

During an earlier book club session this year, I asked those present which book selection for the past year was their favorite.

I was curious which title stuck with them and decided it would be good to get a consensus of the best liked mystery novel.  I didn't know quite what to expect among the various books we read (and some prodding was needed to remember them all).


Mark de Castrique
(photo by blogger)

As I recall, I asked for written responses on paper slips and the runaway favorite--after some brief discussion--was Mark de Castrique's  The 13th Target.  It was his newest book, published earlier in the year.  The book follows  Russell Mullins, a former Secret agent now working bodyguard assignments for a private security company. His currently assigned client is found dead and he is convinced the matter deserves further investigation than the police's conclusion of a suicide.  Matters compound for Mullins with a murder and tracking a suspicious money trial from the Federal Reserve.

The book club also benefited from a visit from this local author who was the guest for the November book club session.  Those in attendance found him a pleasant, affable guest.

Recommended reading--

"What's the best book you've read this year?" asked the librarian patron.  He was a one-time regular book club attendee and I was glad to see him so I took a few moments to contemplate on the question.   

Blogger


 I was certain he was asking about mystery novels and this question came earlier this month, roughly midyear through the monthly sessions of book club mysteries for the year.  The last title read was Jo Nesbø's The Snowman which stuck with me but the part of the ending left me cold (pun intended).  I liked the somewhat offbeat Killed by the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill but considered it might be closer to an acquired taste. 

I finally decided to suggest Elly Griffiths' The Janus Stone as a satisfying mystery and story to pass the mustard. And in part, the recommendation was for the reader's taste too--a nice English mystery with a likable amateur sleuth.  This situation also repeated itself so later with a former co-worker who likes mysteries and I suggested this same title to her.  Again, a good read but also likely to fit her reading tastes.

 

End of year praise--

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

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

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

Recommended (writer Spencer Quinn)--

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

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

Here's a book one library user solidly recommends.

Staff Picks Their Favorites for 2009

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

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

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

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

Recommended Reading (2)

Not that long ago, a fellow librarian mentioned that her most recently read novel was a good title so I jotted the title down to save for a time like this. The book she read was In Their Blood by Sharon Potts and it is her debut novel according to her author website.

The story's plot is about a college student personal investigation of a double murder in his family's home--consisting of his parents. The student, Jeremy Stroeb, explores his parents' background to find out what would lead to their attack and, with expected results in the process, stirs up the trouble for himself and his sister. Jeremy's investigation finds his parents were not the people he believed them to be.

Set in Miami Beach, Florida, the novel is 354 pages and was published this year.

Recommended Reading (1)

As you sit behind the library desk, you're bound to get advice about a good book you ought to read (or just hang around in the library--no difference) and when I get ambitious I do write the title down. That happened just the other day when a retired librarian spoke to me about a novel which she said the book club should read. It is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson with translation from Swedish by Reg Keeland. She cautioned the story takes a while to get into but she is preparing to purchase a follow-up novel (although I can't recall if it is the new The Girl Who Played with Fire or the upcoming The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest).

Dragon Tattoo was published in 2008 in the United States and is a rather hefty 485 pages (more reading than I'd like to ask of the book club for the monthly selection). The book is popular though as the library system has copies in regular print, large print and CD with double-digit requests for the title.

The novel's story covers the investigation of a missing young heir to a very wealthy Swedish family by a journalist and--seemingly unlikely ally--a young, tattooed computer hacker. This investigation also begins after a 40-year-old disappearance.

New Black and Latino mystery collections

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).