Getting it the crime novel right--

While reading books for the book club and having our book club discussions, I find myself either flipping to the back or the front of the book to check on the "Acknowledgements."  I'm curious how the writer gets to develop "the voice" for the novel to give an authentic sense of place or the right dialogue.  I guess you'd have to have the assistance or support of those who either work in the field or had worked in law enforcement--for mysteries in this case.  Of course, that is not the same in every case (listed in print, anyway) but I look for it.



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That might even become a discussion point during the book club sessions to see whom the author credits in acknowledgements.  Does it appear to be a back bone for what is in print or a deficient that more help is needed? 

As it goes, a number of us carefully watch television to follow crime on the news, serialized dramas and some news magazine shows.  Though it's not that these readers and TV watchers want to join law enforcement to live out the printed page or screen, there are questions about what crime investigation is actually like.  And enter the writer to build that bridge.

So what's out there for the writer who might want help to write realistically about police crime investigations?  A former policeman has offered and an answer in the creation of a new company.  Crime Writers Consultants created by Sgt. Derek Pacifico offers writers help through consultations or a two-day writing program.  Pacifico had retired from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department in Southern California after working nearly 6 years in homicide and handling roughly 200 murder investigations.

When I heard about this on public radio, I thought "aha!"  How many writers work this hard to try to get it from the horse's mouth (so to speak).  I just wonder about that attention to detail.

A Gem of a Writer

Yesterday a patron stopped at the library desk to ask for a copy of the Agatha Christie standout title The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.  He commented that it is said to be one of the best mysteries ever as he had his finger placed in a book of his possession (I guess that book mentions Roger Ackroyd.)  and the Library Journal description (as shown on Amazon) mostly agrees. 


Agatha Christie
photo from Google

It says, "written in 1927, [it] is considered the best and most successful of the early mysteries.  It met with no small outrage when it appeared, as it uses a plot device many readers thought 'unfair.' There is a full complement of characters populating the cozy English village of King's Abbot: Major Blunt, Colonel Carter, Miss Gannett, the butler, the housekeeper, the narrator, Dr. Sheppard, and his know-it-all sister (the precursor of Miss Marple, according to Christie), and, of course, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. There are clues with a capital C to mislead us, and the listener gets so involved with these red herrings (or not) that the very simple truth eludes the puzzler."

That book request reminded me how Christie received nationwide acknowledgement earlier in the month at the Democratic National Convention.  Key note speaker San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke of his grandmother learning English by "reading her Agatha Christie novels late into the night."  

All and all, Christie has been a gem as a writing treasure in more ways than one.

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.   

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 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.

 

Book club discusses "The Snowman"

The book club's July selection was Norway's crime writer Jo Nesbø's The Snowman. It is the seventh in the series featuring Oslo police Inspector Harry Hole.  A trained expert serial killers, Hole receives a letter telling of the arrival of a "snowman" with the first season's snow and the threat of death. In closing, the letter makes mention of a deceased serial killer Hole had investigated.

Jo Nesbø
(photo from author's website)

The threat turns real as one missing woman has a snowman placed at her home with her scarf around its neck.  Later, her part of her dismembered body is bizarrely attached to the snowman and the police investigation turns to homicide and the exploration of a trail of murders which form the ritual of a killer.  A new partner, Katrine Bratt, joins Harry and he assembles a small detective team for a case which can burn him professionally if anyone missteps.

   

Borrowing from the noir tradition, Nesbø's Hole is a recovering alcoholic with an uneven personal life.  His long-time girl friend broke off the relationship because of his devotion to the job and he works in a stressful and troubled environment.  Despite it all, including physical scars here and there, Hole is committed and determined to see his cases through.

One book club attendee had read Nesbø's work before.  The comments about The Snowman included the following:

• the story shows good detective work
• the detectives thought outside the box with the investigation
• noticed the people in the community are "more inward and protective," not inclined to shard feelings and also very conscious about their image
• good benefits may come from a small(er) team of investigating detectives on a case (as Harry requests and receives in the book) 
• "hard time reading it" and "kept putting it down"
• hated the "eerie, creepy, weird" elements of the story
• "dark and stupid" 
• Harry drinks a lot--common for detectives in mystery stories. 

And in a move that doesn't happen often, two different attendees read passages from the book which they liked.

The author's website notes this novel won "Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize 2007 for Best Novel of the Year and with The Norwegian Book Club Prize (Den norske leserprisen) 2007 for Best Novel of the Year."

The "Harry Hole" story is expected to receive a big screen treatment as famed Hollywood director Martin Scorsese is reportedly set to direct a movie based on The Snowman .

Author Mark de Castrique Visits Library

Local mystery writer Mark de Castrique visited my library recently for a special program in arrangement with the adult summer reading program for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  Billed the "Writing a mystery series," program,  de Castrique talked about development of his mystery series and components for effective fiction writing. 

De Castrique has two adult mystery series under his belt which are set in North Carolina. Combining the concepts that appealed to him to share in a narrative story and in locales he likes, the first series features a funeral director named Barry Clayton (Mark's father was a funeral director).  It is set in a fictional mountain town, resembling his childhood hometown.  Adding built-in personal conflicts for Barry to confront (such as self-sacrifice) along with murder investigations--a mystery series was created.  The second series features an Iraq veteran Sam Blackman set in Asheville.   

Some other points de Castrique shared included:

Mark de Castrique  (photo by blogger)

• likes to connect people and stories from the past to a present day story with interesting characters
• had worked from outlines to develop stories in earlier novels but works mostly from following the characters' stories now
• likes to include irony in stories
• when writing, he likes to pose the "what if" question
• hopes to write another Barry Clayton novel in the future
• works to be careful that too much research shared in a book doesn't turn it boring
• looks to a book editor to help shape a novel about when it should start and when it should stop
• "I'm a big believer everyone reads a different book" by the nature of experiences one brings to the story

de Castrique (photo by blogger)

De Castrique's newest book is the recently released is The 13th Target and set in Washington D.C. with a new central character former Secret Services agent Russell Mullins. De Castrique lived in the nation's capital briefly in the 70s and likes visiting the area.  He gave his first public reading of a passage from the new book which included a storyline about the Federal Reserve which interested him.

And de Castrique is careful to check facts in his writing as he shared this little story: in a pivotal scene for his newest novel, he wanted to re-examine a scene for accuracy so he took a day trip from North Carolina to Washington to settle the matter.  After arriving in the capitol, within an half hour the goal was accomplished to de Castrique's satisfaction.  Then he was free to visit family in the area--a second reward of the trip.

Book club discusses "Ghost Hero"

In June, the book club selection was S.J. Rozan's mystery novel Ghost Hero.  It is the 11th of the "Lydia Chin/Bill Smith" series pairing the frequent private eye team in New York.  This is the second selection the book club made from this series (the October 2003 selection was Winter and Night).

S.J. Rozan
(photo from her website)

Set in the art world, PI Lyida Chin is hired to verify a rumor that a brilliant Chinese artist, Chau Chun, has new paintings available and circulating in the Manhattan area.  Known as "Ghost Hero Chau," the artist was a professor at the Beijing Art Institute while painting artwork valued at half a million apiece during the 1980s.  The work featured sly political messages--looked upon    disfavorably by the Chinese government--within classical and traditional-looking Chinese art.  The investigation should be considered a "shot in the dark" assignment as Ghost Hero Chau has been reportedly dead in China for twenty years. 

Bill joins Lydia in the investigation, mainly to shadow but also in the guise as a Russian mob associate with a big interest in the new art.  And to assist, Bill confers with another Chinese-American private investigator Jack Lee who is an actual art expert (unlike Lydia).  The three work together--a first, particularly as Lydia hasn't met Jack before--and in the while deal with difficult Chinese art contacts and attract the unwanted attention of a few shadowy, menacing types.

Comments about the book included the following:

• although the book is well into the "Lydia Chin/Bill Smith" series, it is a good title to start the series
• the novel handled a nice blend with good plotting for integration of a detective story in the art world "that a PI would handle"
• the meals the characters ate in the novel sounded appealing although only one entrée was familiar to one attendee
• Lydia has repeated trouble with her mother about potential romantic interests (as it was noted Chinese mothers are harsh critics in these matters)
• liked the introduction of Chinese-American Jack Lee to the book series.

New book news (author Mike Lawson)



Michael Lawson
(photo from website)

Over the years I've been picked up as a contact for a few writers as far as receiving emails about upcoming book releases and Mike Lawson, author of the "Joe DeMarco" series passed on an email about the next in his series of the private assistant to the speaker of the House of Representatives.  DeMarco is a lawyer by trade but works these days as a genuine troubleshooter (or moreso a "bagman) for Speaker John Mahoney. 

Our book club read the third book in the series House Rules for its monthly selection in 2009.  I thought the book was a reasonably good one--I liked the characters and the Washington setting storyline--but my interest was grew as one participant said the follow-up book was quite better.

With the newest book in the series, Lawson shared this: "...I have a new book available in stores now and from the usual ebook sellers. It's the seventh book in the DeMarco series and is called House Blood. Booklist gave it a starred review and Library Journal said: "Lawson’s seventh novel (after House Divided) in his Joe DeMarco thriller series is another page-turner brimming with authentic Washington, DC, detail and distinctive, engaging characters. Even the bad guys are interesting. Adventure-seeking readers will love."

Eye-catching Photo of Detective Duo



Scene from CBS-TV's "Elementary" from Google

 The other day online I spotted an eye-catching photo--I thought--of a couple in an urban setting.  It was actress Lucy Liu whom I recognized and actor Jonny Lee Miller from a scene of an new upcoming fall TV series.  Now, the actual TV show is called "Elementary" which features the two playing (another) version of "Sherlock Holmes."  This time Miller plays Holmes and she is "Dr. Joan Watson."  Okaaay.

When I saw the photo I was reminded almost immediately writer S.J. Rozan's detective team of Lydia Chin and Bill Smith.  In fact, I had hoped it would be.  It would be a different TV show to closely follow the format of the books with either Chen or Smith as the primary investigator for the case.  The two reside in New York City with the American-born Chinese Chen working usually in the Chinatown community with Smith often "shadowing" Chen.

Smith has strong American roots which go back to Kentucky although he's a full-time New Yorker these days.  His work in Rozan's books have taken him around the New York area.  Chen, however, has cases typically with her Chinese community.

Frequent investigations into Chinatown could lead to a culturally enlightening show--as the books do.  I'd imagine such a series would include--for the sake of realism--times of characters speaking only Chinese and closed captioned scenes.  How might that go over on network TV?   Of course, there's always cable, right?

I think Rozan has the thought-provoking elements for a unique TV series with her fictional detectives.

Book club discusses "The Last Child"

The book club selection for May was John Hart's third published novel, The Last Child.  The award-winning North Carolina writer uses the state again as a backdrop for crimes, mystery and family discord in the story of a missing child.


John Hart (picture from his website)

 The book focuses on 13-year-old Johnny Merrimon whose missing twin sister, Alyssa, consumes his thoughts and goals.  She suddenly disappears one day and he works relentlessly to find her. 

Convinced that he can do what his family and the police could not, Johnny fearlessly strikes out on his own.  His mother, Katherine is nearly an emotional wreck after his father quietly disappears leaving the two alone and the local detective, Clyde Hunt in charge of the investigation, is concerned but cannot find Alyssa.  That leaves Johnny and a reluctant but faithful friend Jack to travel on the road into an unknown and dangerous environment with criminals, peril and another missing child case.

Comments from the book club included:

• the novel "pulled me in."
• liked the characters and the (plot) twists
• "liked the puzzle and the solution but not the writing."
• "writing didn't flow"
•  Detective Hunt seemed too good to be true
•  a drug abuse element of the story seemed far-fetched
• liked book jacket cover with the silhouette of a boy walking a bike 

The Last Child was the 2010 best novel winner for the Edgar Award.

That's a Good Reading Choice--

When you receive positive comments about your new choice for a book to read then--you're bound to swell up inside with pride and anticipate what you have.  That was almost the case when I was sitting at work and two different women commented on my new selection for the book club.

The responses were like "that is a good really good book" and I wanted to quickly agree.  In actually though I had yet to start reading the book.  I just felt that my judgment might be different.  I had read the book reviews earlier but they were distant memories now as I wanted to develop my own assessment of the book.  It was John Hart's The Last Child and this is the second Hart novel the book club had selected after his first successful work The King of Lies.  And, full disclosure, I did like that mystery. 

In some cases though, a character's actions may be off-putting or the author may take huge leaps of faith that annoy the reader along with several other situations which may nose-dive the reading experience.  Everyone is a critic.

It's OK though because after a period of time you would have read the book.  You decide for yourself and then you can agree or counter the casual observer's book selection comments.

Old former school acquaintance, now mystery writer

During a backroom discussion at work about books and related matters last month, one co-worker (I'll just call her "M") mentioned that she had attended grade school years ago with a present-day mystery writer.  His name is Mike Faricy and he's new to me.  And since she readily recalled him, I was curious to hear about him.  Faricy does live in her old home state of Minnesota but only on a part-time basis.  He lives in Ireland during the other part of the year.

Mike Faricy
(from his website)





"M" forwarded his website address to me and reading a little, I see Faricy does have a ingenious twist with his book series. With titles like Mr Softee, Finders Keepers, and Chow for Now (8 books are promoted on his website), Faricy goes for catch-phrase titles while packing in sordid--if not also colorful--characters in various situations of action and humor.  He likes to write books based on private investigators--either the "skirt-chasing, dysfunctually" Dev Haskell or the houseboat resident, "owner of a failing bar" Dickie Mullins--but will also feature businessmen, mobsters and theives.  

Checking a national library database, Faricy's books don't sit on library shelves but he likely has a firm, selected fan base.  Dubbed as the "Minnesota Master of the Bizarre," Faircy's crime fiction books certainly have a regional scope--all are based in Minnesota.  So now when I feel the need to read about that area of the country, I know who I should consider.  Thanks "M." 

Book club discusses "The Janus Stone"

In April, the book club selection was the second of the "Ruth Galloway" British mystery series The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths.  Ruth is a forensic archaeologist and college educator.  She is called upon to assist the police when a child's headless skeleton is unearthed while an old mansion is razed.  Located beneath a doorway, the skeleton rested in a building that served as a Catholic orphanage years ago.  

Elly Griffiths
(googled photo)

The detective in charge of the investigation is a gruff Harry Nelson working with the horizontally challenged Ruth again for a second time.  Despite his demeanor, the two develop a bond of respect and even friendship

This case may have several possibilities as the body might be very old from the Roman-era times--related to a nearby archaeological dig--or much more recent with a story of two missing children 40 years ago.

Ruth pursues the matter with a firm determination but is hampered along the way: she is encountering credible threats to her life and she is mum about her being newly-pregnant.

Comments from the book club members included:

• bones in good preservation can offer many layers of investigation in the field of archaeology 
• the novel covers periods of British history with its archaeological digs
• although the second in the series, a recap would be helpful (and in general for series) 
• Ruth is a non-traditional lead character of a series being an over-weight person
• has the writer decided and planned well ahead for the series how to handle the implications of Ruth's unplanned pregnancy (?)
• a few read the first book of the series The Crossing Places and one read the third book of the series The House at Seas End
• good mystery book.

  

Clever Radio Message




Frank Deford
 (googled pix)



Listening to the commentator on the radio this morning you have to have a winner in sporting events.  That is if you do it the American way.

NPR's sport commentator Frank Deford declares such when he blasts games ending in a tie.  In his estimation it is just unsatisfying.  The sports writer and novelist says in conclusion "It's like not finding out who is the 'who' in the whodunit."   Clever.

If you're considering the Edgar Allan Poe movie--

If you are wondering about whether to visit the multiplex to see the new movie "The Raven" starring John Cusack as literary great Edgar Allan Poe--well, I feel you.  (He does look the part, huh?  Here's a googled movie still.)  I mentioned this movie the last time the book club met and there appeared to be some genuine interest although I didn't remember anyone saying they were going to see it opening weekend. 

The film struck my interest as a seeming good "what if" story and the trailer looked good. So I looked for movie reviews to help me decide if I should make an effort to go--I enjoy reading newspaper movie reviews, period--but I didn't see much on Friday.  Days later that changed as I ran across this story doing a web search,  giving me  some of what I wanted to read.  The reviews for the movie are truly mixed, see here.

My interest has been tempered by this story but not completely.  I hope to see it at some point in a movie theater.  I was just spooked when I heard a movie critic on the radio mention "Scooby Doo" in conjunction with the movie. 
 

A Favorite Late-Night TV Guest Is Writer--

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) --

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 Paretsky, 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...

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)!

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--

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

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.