Mickey Spillane Died Monday

It's a bit of a stun and surprise to me to hear that mystery writer Mickey Spinane died today. I had just pulled a couple of his titles for a mystery book display this past weekend. The display was entitled "The Modern Masters of the Mystery Genre" and Spillane makes the cut as a recipient of a "Grand Master" category during one year for a national mystery book award series.

I've never read a Spillane title and I didn't think his books with his hero, detective Mike Hammer would appeal to me for 200 pages or so. And I remember the TV show of Mike Hammer with actor Stacy Keach only holding mild appeal. All the same, I do fondly remember the 1950s film Kiss Me Deadly as a different, out there movie. It did have a neat film noir take with the rarely pleasant Hammer. Ralph Meeker started in the movie. And watching it on the big screen while in college, made for a fun evening.

Spillane certainly had a varied but truly successful career. Only after googling him, did I find out that he also wrote comic books at one time and even starred as his fictional detective in the movies. Here's an old pix of Spillane.

New Mysteries on the Shelves--

When I travel downstairs at work, I can find the newest fiction books in the library. Here are two new mystery titles:

The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth was first published in the United States in 2005. The story follows John Madden, a former Scotland Yard police inspector. Unfortunately, his quiet family life in rural 1932 England shattered by the brutal murder of a young village girl, and Madden teams up with former Scotland Yard colleagues, the British secret service, and the German police to investigate. The book is 340 pages.


The other book is High Priestess ("a tarot card mystery" is printed on the book cover) by David Skibbins.


Booklist describes the title as being the second of the Skibbins' tarot card series. The book brings back hippie-of-a-certain-age Warren Ritter, who has settled in as a tarot reader in Berkeley, still trying to live under the radar thanks to his radical past. Warren is a thoroughly endearing character, despite (and partially because of) his tendency to run at the first sign of danger. This time, however, when two Satanists who Warren knew back in the day, appear at his tarot table, Warren doesn't run. Satanists don't generate a whole lot of sympathy, but Skibbins' portrayal of Warren and his ability to evoke Berkeley's hippie detritus make this offbeat series worth a look. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved This book is 280 pages.

Some Recommended Detective series--

I recently read celebrity librarian Nancy Pearl's book More Book Lust and came away with a short list of detective series to consider reading or remember for others. More Book Lust is the follow-up to the successful Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason and would be very handy to keep or to use to find books which cover a huge range of topics. For more information about More Lust, I wrote a book review for PLCMC.

I'll mention three series here and more another time.

Author Lee Child is recommended as one "too good to miss." His official website would likely agree. Child's biggest fame has come from a series of books with his character Jack Reacher, a former military policeman. Pearl suggests reading in this order The Enemy (a 2004 title), Killing Floor, and Persuader. After that, she says that the order doesn't matter although she cautions about intense violence in the books.

And Child was just mentioned to me by another librarian as an author who she has recently started reading. I've read about him but have yet to read one of his books.

Another writer is Donna Leon with the Italian detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti. Pearl comments how her character's "love of good food and despair about political corruption in his native land play prominent roles in each book." Uniform Justice is recommended as a particularly good title, the story is about Brunetti's investigation of a murder of a military academy student and how officials repeatedly undermind his investigation.

Finally, author Ellis Peters is mentioned by Pearl as "the best pure mysteries featuring a member of the clergy." Set in 12th century England, Brother Cadfael, a Bendictive monk, is involved in mysteries during the bloody battles between King Stephen and the Empress Maud for the rule of Britain.
Pearl writes one should start with the first book, A Morbid Taste for Bones and read in order.

Get Rewarded for Summer Reading

PLCMC is hosting a "Relax and Read: adult reading club" this summer. It asks for participants to read five books to quality for a weekly--even some random--prize drawings. To be eligible for prizes, you must be a resident of Mecklenburg county or a PLCMC library card holder.

For those tackling summer reading, this could be well worth your time to check out. This program ends Saturday, August 19th.

Book Club Meeting (6/8)--

George Pelecanos' Drama City was the book for discussion and the book received a mildly mixed reaction. The book, which is a strong character study of individuals in certain Washington D.C. neigbhorhoods, was appreciated for what it offered. The characters grow on you and root for them to succeed. And to be honest, the people highlighted in the novel are working in possibly dangerous and likely shunned jobs (a human society enforcement officer and a parole officer--I have short book review on the library's Reader's Club web site). All the same, you respect the characters who are hard working and need extra patience and prayers to finish the workday.

What was missing in the book was any true mystery story. It was a good crime noir story but that was it. That frustrated us as readers (it was an Edgar nominee this year) and one book club attendee stopped reading after one or two chapters since it didn't appear to be a mystery. Oh well. We'll repeat the process in a few short weeks with a new book.

Now available at a new location--

This blog is now available at the South County Regional Library webpage on the PLCMC web site (plcmc.org). Go to "Library Locations" located to the left (the eighth entry down under "For Teens") on the PLCMC main library webpage. Otherwise, click on the "South County Regional Library" link to the right to see the webpage.

New on DVD today--

Last fall I received movie passes in the mail for a modest feature starring Robert Downing Jr. and Val Kilmer Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The movie is actually described as containing a mystery story and that's good and seemingly rare for Hollywood these days. I was pleased to get those passes because I had heard about the movie and concluded they would be ideal for the book club. I was also very pleased to learn the book club was recognized outside the library walls.

The movie passes came from a marketing firm in Atlanta. However, I also had a great disappointment with the movie passes--they arrived too late to be used.

But to make the long story short, the book club does get movie passes now and again on a timely basis. And the movie that we missed has been released DVD today. A commentator on CNN Headline News said today that hopefully the movie will find an audience on DVD as it did not as a motion picture release. He described it as a mystery with a lot of humor.

And of interest to those in the Charlotte area, the DVD will soon be available at the public library. It is rated R for language, violence, sexuality and nudity.

Mystery novels set in and near Charlotte--

Sunday's The Charlotte Observer book section featured two new titles which are set in and near Charlotte, N.C. The first is a debut mystery by John Hart titled The King of Lies. It features a Salisbury (N.C.) lawyer named Jackson Workman "Work" Pickens who is going through a tragically hard time. His father has just been murdered and he becomes a suspect along with his sister. Thomas Dunne Books is the book publisher. Next is a first-time novel by Mark Ethridge Grievances. Reporter Matt Harper, of a fictional Charlotte newspaper, pursues a sensitive story and risks his job to unravel a 20-year-old murder in a remote South Carolina community. The book publisher is NewSouth Books.

Mystery Book Events in PLCMC

I would certain tell a big fat one if I said that South County Library is the only Charlotte public library with a mystery book club. It is not.

Off hand, I checked to find mystery book clubs at the Mint Hill, Morrison Regional Mountain Island and Steele Creek. Some are headed by current staff librarians whereas others are not but meet at that particular library. Call the individual library if you have any questions.

As far as upcoming events--there is a special one with a local mystery writer Mark de Castrique. "A Tea Party to Die For with Mystery Author Mark de Castrique" will be held on Saturday, June 10th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mint Hill Branch Library. Mark de Castrique is the author of Barry Clayton mystery series set in the North Carolina mountains. The tea party will also include book signing--call 704-573-4054 for more information.

And this author has turned up as a good resource for book clubs at both the South County and Mint Hill mystery book clubs. Both read recently De Castrique's first mystery Dangerous Undertaking.

The June Book Discussion for South County Mystery Readers

The next book for discussion with the South County Mystery Readers Book Club is Drama City by George Pelecanos. The book club will meet on Thursday, June 8th at 6:30 p.m. in Conference Room A.

Drama City was an Edgar Award nominee this year.

A Recognition of Arthur Conan Doyle

The Google display yesterday was a nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock Holmes. He was born on May 22, 1859 and died June 7, 1930.

Look at Google today 5/22

Take a look at

Google

today and you'll see a silhouette of a man who is most likely--detective Sherlock Holmes. It's nice as it includes character with a pipe in his mouth and holding a magnifying glass while following footprints. It's nicely done and I haven't seen it before.

Newly created

My name is Lawrence and I'm a librarian who hosts a mystery book reading club at my library. This new blog is for those who enjoy reading and discussing mysteries. I have worked with the library's (South County Regional Library) mystery book club since 2002 since its creation. We meet each second Thursday of the month at 6: 30 to discuss a selected title.

We select titles from a suggested list I compile from library publications (such as Booklist), popular magazines (such as Time or Entertainment Weekly) or newspapers (locally The Charlotte [NC] Observer or The New York Times). I ask for votes from those attending the book club, tally the votes and email later with the results. However, to mix things up a little--I do not assign a title for the group and we do a book talk about a title of our own choosing.

In the past couple of years the book club has read books by Sue Henry (Cold Company: an Alaska Mystery), Steve Hamilton (Blood in the Sky), Laura Lippman (In a Strange City), Mark Cohen (The Fractal Murders) among others.