Popular Female Crime Investigators Hit the Big Screen--

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Club discusses "Wife of the Gods"

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

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

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

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

Here are some observations from the book:

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

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

The late Peter Graves as a fictional PI--

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

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

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

Author responses to post

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

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

Book Club discusses "Gallows Lane" [February]

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

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

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

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

Some observations included the following:

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

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

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

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

But I lucked out.

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

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

Book club discusses "House Rules" [December]

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

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

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

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

Some observations included:

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

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

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

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

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

Writer Dick Francis dies--

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

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

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

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

Mystery reading on the go--

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

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

Here's a googled pix of Rachel.

The *Best* of 2009--

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

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

Book club discusses "Cold in Hand" [November]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Writer Robert B. Parker dies--

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

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

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

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

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

Staff Picks Their Favorites for 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Year Resolution Suggestion--

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

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

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

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

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

"Mystery" movie DVDs in the library--

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)--

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--

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--

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.