tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210129092024-03-13T19:03:40.853-04:00Lost in BooksReviews on mystery books, author interviewsLourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-68825061926003631792015-06-30T09:53:00.004-04:002015-06-30T09:57:23.256-04:00The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro<br />
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Protagonist: Claire Roth<br />
Setting: Boston, present-day<br />
Rating: 5.0<br />
There’s not even a murder in this mystery book, but it kept me absolutely riveted, with its setting in the art world — specifically, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and the real-life 1990 heist. Claire Roth, a pariah in the art world (even though she was in the right), is asked to paint a copy of one of the paintings stolen in the heist. She does so, in return for a show at a prominent gallery. As events spin out of control, can Claire save her reputation, and perhaps uncover an old art mystery? <br />
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This is a book that I read in two days (and which one friend read in one day). The character draws you in so completely — and the topic is so fascinating (especially for art lovers) — that I was hooked from beginning to end. Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-40198145914779642642014-02-14T13:33:00.000-05:002014-02-14T13:34:14.527-05:00Interview with Nancy Tesler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVsxQvQcD5gHORGSwQj7ntr4-iQepNYAaHVtmdBRZ9MmQSJbXgQZocGw4KYro2bIZ1D50bBALiiQRlkXZ_ne2YMXhGUGkvDqDPV84IUW5zVEZILzh9uSZzwzB3RY4t_buddLI/s1600/_FINAL_COVER_ABLAZE_300x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVsxQvQcD5gHORGSwQj7ntr4-iQepNYAaHVtmdBRZ9MmQSJbXgQZocGw4KYro2bIZ1D50bBALiiQRlkXZ_ne2YMXhGUGkvDqDPV84IUW5zVEZILzh9uSZzwzB3RY4t_buddLI/s320/_FINAL_COVER_ABLAZE_300x480.jpg" /></a></div>Nancy Tesler has written a string of successful mysteries in her “Other Deadly Things” series, but has recently turned to a standalone that’s a bit different. Here, I ask her about the change:<br />
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<b>Q.</b> Nancy, can you tell us first about the Other Deadly Things mysteries and the character, Carrie Carlin? Her character seems to be modeled somewhat on yourself: How much of Carrie is you and how much is fictional? <br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The “Other Deadly Things” series is the lemonade I made when life handed me a bunch of lemons and I’m enjoying every drop. The series is pure fiction but the idea for the series came about as a result of my own divorce. My amateur sleuth Carrie is a forty-year- old- suburban mother of two pre-teeners and the “proxy” mom of four animals whose husband of eighteen years has run off with a sexy twenty-eight-year-old wicked witch. Carrie is desperately trying not to fall apart especially for the sake of her children and to build her practice as a biofeedback (stress-reduction) therapist. In Book 1, “Pink Balloons and Other Deadly Things,” just when Carrie thinks her life couldn’t possible get any worse, she is accused of whacking the bimbo. Well, I’m a mother, I’ve been divorced under circumstances not dissimilar to Carrie’s, I’ve been a biofeedback professional, and like Carrie, I’ve had homicidal thoughts about Sirens and their songs. But there the similarity between Carrie and me ends. Carrie is gutsy and occasionally she’s a little reckless. She often gets herself (well, I put her) into situations where even a cop would fear to tread without backup, whereas I’m squeamish. When I was five, I ran screaming from the theater when the witch in “Snow White” poisoned the apple and to this day I avoid scary horror films. I do, however, have a vivid imagination. <br />
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<b>Q.</b> You’ve gained quite a following with that series, but now you’ve turned to a romantic suspense novel. Why did you decide to switch in the middle of a successful series?<br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> When your protagonist is an amateur sleuth, not a law enforcement professional, it sometimes becomes difficult to have her keep falling over dead bodies and continue to maintain some degree of realism. Her profession does bring her in contact with people from all walks of life which I had originally thought would provide me with endless material but the character herself, took over. By the end of “Slippery Slopes” Carrie has grown. She’s begun to question her motives in continually endangering her own life. She begins to wonder what it is about her that makes her flirt with danger. She has children for whom she is responsible and she has found a man she loves who wants to marry her but who is ready to leave her because of this flaw in her character. When Carrie agrees to marry her cop lover, it seemed a good place to end the series, but it put me in the mood to write a romance. Because I am essentially a mystery writer, it had to be a romantic suspense with the mystery an essential part of the plot.<br />
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Some years back I’d been doing research on cults for a TV spec script. When the network cancelled that show, all the research I’d done became useless until the plot for “Ablaze” began to form in my mind. My protagonist in “Ablaze” is Samantha Barron, a victim/advocate working in the prosecutor’s office. Her world is turned upside down when a man with whom she had once been in love shows up at her office. She is forced to work with him to save a young witness to a murder, from the machinations of a malignant cult. Attorney and crisis team leader, Doug Ruark had thrown Samantha off his elite crisis response team for defying his orders and running into a burning building to save a dog. This is a love story about two people who are deeply attracted to each other but whose inability to work through past experience, keeps them apart. In the end, of course, love triumphs. This is, after all, a romance.<br />
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<b>Q.</b> What was most difficult about writing this standalone novel?<br />
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<b>A.</b> Unquestionably, writing the love scenes. I did not want to write erotic scenes that were gratuitous, sex for sex sake. I wanted them to be real and to grow out of the relationship between the two people. I wanted the moment to be a turning point, to enhance the relationship. To me, if an author is going to have a graphic love scene in a book, it has to be sensitively and realistically written. I’ve read romance novels where those scenes seem written only to titillate which, as a reader, totally turns me off. I worked the hardest on those scenes, editing and reediting over and over. <br />
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<b>Q.</b> Will you return now to the Other Deadly Things mysteries, or will you write more standalone books – or both?<br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> I am working on Book 1 of a new amateur sleuth. I have been asked by several of my wonderful readers to write a sixth Carrie but for the above-mentioned reasons, I haven’t done it. Occasionally, because I’ve lived with these characters for so long, an idea will surface and I’m tempted. One day perhaps, I’ll choose one of the other characters from the book and base a series on him or her.<br />
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<b>Q.</b> You started out with a traditional publisher, but now you self-publish. Why did you make that move and which do you prefer?<br />
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<b>A.</b> When the Bertelsmann conglomerate bought Dell and many other houses, quite a few of us newer mid-list authors who were not yet bringing in the big bucks had our contracts dropped. Amazon came along and saved our careers. As the whole world knows by now, self-publishing has really taken off. When I was originally published by Dell, self-publishing was looked down upon by nearly everyone in the industry. Today many indie authors are reaching a larger readership and making more money by going the indie route than if they stay with a traditional publisher. I have mixed feelings. If I were to be offered a traditional contract with a major house for “Ablaze,” I would probably take it for the advantage the exposure to editorial reviewers that would give me, but I would try to hold on to my e-Book rights. And I would want to hold on to my great cover artist as well.<br />
<br />
“Ablaze” is available as an eBook; a print book will be available soon.<br />
<br />
Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-77732757232980565472014-01-05T17:26:00.000-05:002014-01-05T17:28:27.356-05:00Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield Protagonist: William Bellman<br />
Setting: England, 19th century<br />
Rating: 2.5<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyn8vFNWwjcX-AdV-W54_ZJN8eBUb8EMgxEzUZOSrO7uzLuGeatczZFT916pRmiJk8YyLWdKTC5ndmzO-LUpDk0VGFXgrXB9ixANpbinRCN6MLcu7bqtc0nCaeX0nW28P05gMb/s1600/bellman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyn8vFNWwjcX-AdV-W54_ZJN8eBUb8EMgxEzUZOSrO7uzLuGeatczZFT916pRmiJk8YyLWdKTC5ndmzO-LUpDk0VGFXgrXB9ixANpbinRCN6MLcu7bqtc0nCaeX0nW28P05gMb/s320/bellman.jpg" /></a></div>As an 11-year-old boy, William Bellman, out with a group of friends, tries out his new catapault. Against all odds, the rock he slings hits and kills a black rook. Years pass, and William Bellman seems to be a success in all areas of his life: business as well as personal, marrying a woman he loves and raising children. But then a mysterious stranger continues showing up at family funerals. When Bellman's most immediate family is touched by a plague, Bellman makes (in his mind, at least) a pact with this stranger.<br />
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This is where the story falls apart. While beautifully written (Setterfield is nothing less than a poet), the plot is very thin and the character of Bellman, on which the story hinges, is not really plumbed. Black rooks, of course, haunt Bellman's life, but in a not-very-scary way. <br />
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If you loved Setterfield's <i>The Thirteenth Tale</i>, a deliciously gothic tale, you may very well be disappointed in this follow-up book. If you haven't read a Setterfield book yet, then I recommend <i>The Thirteenth Tale</i>. You can skip <i>Bellman & Black</i>.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-24273778898951008102013-09-27T00:43:00.000-04:002015-06-30T09:58:16.886-04:00The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan<b>The Other Woman </b>by Hank Phillippi Ryan (audio)<br />
<b>Protagonist:</b> Jane Ryland<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Boston<br />
<b>Rating: </b> 3.7<br />
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Jane Ryland has lost her job as a Boston television reporter — even though she was in the right, she refused to name a source, costing her TV station millions in a lawsuit and earning her the nickname “Wrong Guy” Ryland. She lands a newspaper job, where she must begin at the bottom and prove herself. In the meantime, her one-time love interest, Det. Jake Brogan, is investigating the murders of young women found under bridges. The media quickly conclude there’s a serial killer loose; Brogan doesn’t think so. The third plotline involves Gov. Owen Lassiter, running for a senate seat. Ryland is convinced he’s having an affair with a young woman who keeps popping up in photos of him at campaign stops. But if Ryland is wrong again, it could really cost her career. All of these plotlines converge, of course, in this great thriller, in which nothing is what it seems.<br />
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As a newspaper journalist, I also really enjoyed the descriptions of journalists. Newspapering is far from a glamorous life, and we see Ryland having to share a desk with another reporter and subsisting on drive-through tacos. Then again, you can also feel the adrenalin flow as she works on a big story, the magical part of journalism. Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-10684907731727926872013-01-07T22:07:00.001-05:002013-01-07T22:07:30.503-05:00Interview with Eleanor Kuhns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP5It0ikQNGz3-CyducER-Ft_j-4J8PfpsGbzbstCxs4D4njloAlTd7_3MgQuJaP9qJBPE7BtxyMxEIRxwCpSAaB8T-Xftcltgl4bsieylhDcYGAydnhQx2IzhAqziQaNf8Ba/s1600/kuhns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="279" width="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEP5It0ikQNGz3-CyducER-Ft_j-4J8PfpsGbzbstCxs4D4njloAlTd7_3MgQuJaP9qJBPE7BtxyMxEIRxwCpSAaB8T-Xftcltgl4bsieylhDcYGAydnhQx2IzhAqziQaNf8Ba/s320/kuhns.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<b>Q. First, congratulations on your success with your debut novel, “A Simple Murder,” which won the Mystery Writers of America/Minotaur contest. Had you written anything else before this, and how did it feel to win this prestigious award on your first novel?</b><br />
<br />
A. I wrote science fiction for many years. I always read mysteries though and in retrospect, I realize it was a signal to me about where my true interests lay. I could hardly believe I'd won and even now, when the second book is coming out next spring and I've finished a third, I still have to pinch myself. Accepting the award was one of the best moments of my life.<br />
<b><br />
Q. You were a librarian when “A Simple Murder” was published. Are you still working as a librarian? And what made you take the step into writing?</b><br />
<br />
A. I am still working as a librarian. In some ways it is a good fit with writing. I like to be out with the people. It is in the world of books so I think many librarians are closet writers. Plus, I've always been a big reader, even as a child. I wrote my first story at the age of ten.<br />
<b><br />
Q. “A Simple Murder” is steeped in the 1790s, in a Shaker community. How much research went into this book, and why this specific place and time?</b><br />
<br />
A. I researched the time period and the Shakers for about two years, and the research continues now. I regularly find conflicting information in the sources. I regularly visit Shaker Museums and buy all the self-published materials, which usually has new information. I especially like visiting the community in Maine which still has four living Shakers. <br />
I am fascinated by the Whiskey Rebellion since we are still fighting many of the same issues (state's rights, the role of the federal government, taxation) today. And I wanted to write about our country. Many of the historical mysteries, even those by American writers, are about England, Japan, Europe, not about the US.<br />
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<b>Q. Why did you write this as a mystery instead of, say, a straight historical novel?</b><br />
<br />
A. I love mysteries but more than that, the terrible things we do to one another is part of what makes us human (unfortunately). I don't think people change very much, no matter what the social and cultural landscape around them.<br />
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<b>Q. I know you are working on upcoming books. Can you tell us a bit about them? Are they part of the same series?</b><br />
<br />
A. I left some loose ends at the end of The Simple Murder. In the next book (Death of a Dyer) I send Will Rees home to resolve most of them as well as to fill in some backstory. It also gives me the chance to talk about dyes and dyeing, something I enjoy as a hobby. (I also weave, which is one reason I made my character a weaver.) The third puts Mouse into danger so I send Rees and Lydia back to the Shaker world, at least tangentially, to investigate.<br />
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<b>Q. You wrote a book that is not trendy; it has no vampires and is not a car-chase thriller. It's even set in a community where there's no sex or swearing! Yet it has gotten great reviews (in addition to winning this award, of course). What do you say to writers who ask you what they should write about?</b> <br />
<br />
A. I think people should write about what interests them and what they care about. Not necessarily what they know -- I've never been a Shaker, but it has to fascinate them. Also, I read a lot of those mash-ups but the ones that work best, in my opinion, are the ones that involve the reader in the lives of the characters. Does the reader care what happens?<br />
<br />
<b>Q. Any lessons you’ve learned post-publication about being a writer?</b><br />
<br />
A. It is a lot more work than I ever dreamed. Writing the book is just the first step.<br />
<br />
<b>Q. Finally, the question I ask everyone: Who are your favorite authors, and who are you reading now? </b><br />
<br />
A. I have pretty catholic tastes and read widely. I love both Anne Perry and Barbara Hambly (especially the Benjamin January series) but I also read Michael Connolly, C.J. Box and Linda Castillo. Right now I am reading Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje. I have a Mankell Henning that is next on my list.<br />
Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-72469473772176692112012-12-30T23:39:00.001-05:002012-12-30T23:42:07.322-05:00 A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4oH9hT3NuSwvvLh5GT7qaFzBCmoCnwhdwXSM00feLVKYzcLklceevZZeis8PngQqzaPsRFvxco5VdQ9empRBD6uOUSLKrmlcCsSxFfJlXtGF0zdu85T194BeVKwSrHpgd0YZ/s1600/simplemurder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4oH9hT3NuSwvvLh5GT7qaFzBCmoCnwhdwXSM00feLVKYzcLklceevZZeis8PngQqzaPsRFvxco5VdQ9empRBD6uOUSLKrmlcCsSxFfJlXtGF0zdu85T194BeVKwSrHpgd0YZ/s320/simplemurder.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Protagonist:</b> William Rees<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Durham, Maine, 1796<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.3<br />
<br />
William Rees, a weaver, has chased his runaway son, David, 14, to the Zion Shaker community in Durham, Maine, in 1796. The community elders aren’t pleased to see him at first, but later they seek out his help. One of the Shaker women have been murdered; Rees has been known to solve small mysteries and he has an eye for detail.<br />
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The Shakers pair Rees with a chaperone of sorts, Lydia Jane Farrell, a former Shaker who is opinionated and outspoken. Although asked to leave the Shaker community, she still lives nearby, although no one will talk about her transgression.<br />
<br />
This debut novel by a librarian won the First Crime Novel Award from Mystery Writers of America/Minotaur Books, and it is simple to see why. The story unspools slowly, and is not only about the murders (more than one, as it turns out). It’s about a father and son’s relationship, and about a community that struggles with its principles as it shuns the modern world. <br />
<br />
This appears on its way to becoming a series. I'm looking forward to the second book. Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-56897764797768322722012-11-23T23:22:00.001-05:002012-11-23T23:22:15.432-05:00No Corners for the Devil by Olive Etchells<b>Protagonist:</b> DCI Bill Channon<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Cornish coast England<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.5<br />
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Sally and Rob Baxter and their three children have moved to a Cornish sea village, where they live in a roundhouse and rent out vacation cottages on the property. As the townspeople like to remark, there are “no corners for the devil in a round house.” <br />
<br />
Yet, there is evil out there. Someone has killed a teenage girl not far from their home, along the beach below their home. Their older son, Luke, is the last to have seen the girl and becomes a suspect. Rob begins to act distant and doesn’t rush to support Luke, leaving it up to Sally to deal with the police.<br />
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Sally (through whose eyes much of the story is seen) trusts the detective in charge, DCI Channon. There’s even a spark between the two, although neither acts on it. If there’s any fault with this novel, it’s the shifting point of view. Much of it is through Sally’s eye, someone who is connected to a suspect. Then the book shifts to Cannon, as the book becomes more of a police procedural. It’s a strange shift, although it didn’t really affect my enjoyment too much. I do wish, however, that I could have gotten to know Channon and his sidekick, Sgt. Bowles, a bit more. Hopefully I will, in later books.<br />
<br />
This first book has all the marks of a promising series. It's a pity, therefore, to see that only three were written in this series.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-43032160609726087672012-09-02T20:57:00.000-04:002012-09-02T20:57:24.054-04:00The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall<b>Protagonist:</b> Vish Puri<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Delhi, India<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 3.3<br />
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Dr. Jha, the Guru Buster who denounces frauds claiming to be in touch with the supernatural, dies while doing laughter therapy. An entire group of men see him murdered -- by a floating apparition, no less.<br />
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Vish Puri, of Most Private Investigators, also disbelieves in the supernatural and in those holy men who would extract large sums from the faithful, based on trickery. He investigates, along with his staff, Tubelight and Facecream. In the meantime, Vish's wife, Rumpi, and his Mummy-ji are off on their own, investigating a robbery that took place during a women’s house party.<br />
<br />
While Vish doesn’t like to be compared to Sherlock Holmes, you can barely fault the people who do. After all, in one passage, Vish deduces from a glance: "His back was turned to the dhaba so that the detective was unable to see his face. But beyond the obvious -- that the man was in his early to mid-fifties, married, owned a dog and had reached the rendezvous within the past few minutes -- Puri was able to deduce that he was having an affair (there was a clear impression of an unwrapped condom in his back pocket) and had grown up in a rural area where the drinking water was contaminated by arsenic (his hands were covered by black blotches)."<br />
<br />
Hall’s books are not deep mysteries. But they are delightful and whimsical, while also providing a look into the social mores of India. Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-23658036125597067952012-06-26T23:54:00.000-04:002012-06-26T23:56:26.413-04:00The Reckoning by Jane Casey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOri-AHfMK5YwtUVjOBoEXLSBhE7_3JNbAIel0mwwBOy8fSYp_aRPxaeSJnaETnAxXV-vSOo8AzPQZRWDDLhWc2wzcRD48FKZ7F3AX4omebgrmkY1j18bRM6qCwd0QFy9eyokZ/s1600/reckoning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOri-AHfMK5YwtUVjOBoEXLSBhE7_3JNbAIel0mwwBOy8fSYp_aRPxaeSJnaETnAxXV-vSOo8AzPQZRWDDLhWc2wzcRD48FKZ7F3AX4omebgrmkY1j18bRM6qCwd0QFy9eyokZ/s320/reckoning.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>Protagonist</b>: Det. Constable Maeve Kerrigan<br />
<b>Setting:</b> London<br />
<b>Rating</b>: 4.5<br />
<br />
In this London police procedural, someone is torturing, then killing, sex offenders, specifically men who target preteen girls. Author Casey leads us down one path, sensitively detailing the lives of the victims and their families, only to stop mid-book and suddenly take another road: The man behind the killings is caught, and he has a compelling reason for having murdered those men.<br />
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Now Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan and the rest of the police team are thrust into another direction that leads them to the search for yet another killer. Aside from a gripping plot, Casey writes authentic characters. Maeve Kerrigan, a young, pretty policewoman, is still proving herself to male colleagues; as part of this, she hesitates to have a full relationship with a fellow detective (their off-again, on-again relationship is a central part of the book). In this investigation, she’s paired with Detective Inspector John Derwent, who has a reputation for being aggressive and abrasive; he cuts Kerrigan very little slack. And there’s Superintendent Godley, whose usual by-the-book investigating takes a sudden turn with this case. The characters are drawn in such shades of grey that, as a reader, it’s hard to anticipate what they will do next, creating an extra layer of tension.<br />
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The Reckoning is Casey’s third book (the second featuring Kerrigan), and the author is quickly gaining notice. She’s been compared to Nicci French, Sophie Hannah, and Tana French—and the comparisons are fitting, for this strong writer. In fact, the Kerrigan books seem set to become a series. Let’s hope it’s a long one; Kerrigan and the rest of her colleagues will easily draw you into their livesLourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-89734985528751099732012-02-15T13:07:00.000-05:002012-02-15T13:29:50.881-05:00Blood on the Tongue by Stephen Booth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"He was climbing steadily higher toward the top of Irontongue Hill, where the wreckage of <i>Sugar Uncle Victor</i> lay. In the gullies, snow already lay over a thin layer of ice that cracked and gave way under his weight. In the deeper areas of snow, his feet plunged in. But on the smoother areas he was aware only of the crackle and squeak as the snow compressed under his boots."<br />
<br />
<b>Protagonists:</b> Diane Fry and Ben Cooper<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Peak District, England<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.5<br />
It’s a brutal winter in the Peak District, and bodies are being found all over the place: a woman’s body in a snowdrift; a man’s body alongside the road on Snake Pass, which is very treacherous during the worse of the season; and another body inside the wreckage of a World War II bomber.<br />
<br />
As Det. Sgt. Diane Fry investigates those, Det. Constable Ben Cooper is looking at a cold case of sorts: the disappearance of a WWII bomber, Danny McTeague, who vanished shortly after his plane crashed on Irontongue Hill in the changeable moors. McTeague’s granddaughter has received a parcel in the mail -- the pilot’s old medal, mailed from the area. Of course, the cases, new and old, will all coalesce in the end.<br />
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The third in the series, this is the strongest Booth book yet -- a very good police procedural, with an interesting cold case (which I always love), and wonderful, atmospheric writing. The maybe or maybe-not Fry/Cooper relationship is, thankfully, not delved into, making for a more potent mystery.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-24742735672324473532011-12-26T16:12:00.001-05:002011-12-26T16:14:17.980-05:00The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey<b>Protagonist:</b> Insp. Alan Grant<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Scotland Highlands, Hebrides Islands and London<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.7<br />
<br />
Insp. Alan Grant is on sick leave from Scotland Yard and on a train to the Scottish Highlands when a man is found dead. No concern of his -- he is on vacation -- so Grant goes on his way. But he has unwittingly picked up and taken the man’s newspaper with him. He finds a scrawled verse --"the singing sands, that guard the way to paradise" -- on a newspaper page, and those mysterious words draw him into the man’s death. Police claim he is a Frenchman who died accidentally, but Grant can’t help but believe that he is an Englishman -- because of the scratched verse -- and that his death may not have been accidental, even though he has no proof of such a thing.<br />
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This is a very introspective novel with Grant at the center, and with the mystery not even taking hold until halfway through the book. But I love Tey, and I especially loved this novel, with its slow unrevealing of the mystery. In a little over 200 pages, Grant moves from the Scottish Highlands to the Hebrides Islands to London, and we get a greater sense of who he is. Sadly, Tey died young, in her early 50s, and this is the last of her mysteries.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-35960890139589224092011-11-13T13:46:00.000-05:002011-11-13T13:46:30.590-05:00Elizabeth Zelvin and her mantras<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOWtPzCcAUd3vc1M9BBVhMEHfj2gWWqs9ob_rQCvOpcOH4OBtfDhORLmVwEy11Ix-9n8i54O7qk2yeSNA72AadJlwM8MlGXCg_SATYc6MGKhs3EkBZ8hegWHe9-qZKRYjcYgB/s1600/lizzelvin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOWtPzCcAUd3vc1M9BBVhMEHfj2gWWqs9ob_rQCvOpcOH4OBtfDhORLmVwEy11Ix-9n8i54O7qk2yeSNA72AadJlwM8MlGXCg_SATYc6MGKhs3EkBZ8hegWHe9-qZKRYjcYgB/s320/lizzelvin.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime recently hosted New York mystery author Elizabeth Zelvin (<i>Death Will Get You Sober</i> and <i>Death Will Help You Leave Him</i>). Zelvin, at left above, with LISINC president Marilyn Levinson, had great writing tips for other authors. Her mantras:<br />
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<b>Just keep telling the story.</b> Keep writing until you've finished the first draft, edit later.<br />
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<b>Talent, Persistence and Luck help</b> -- and sometimes you just have to do with persistence, persistence and persistence. You have to be persistent through every stage -- writing, revising, even networking. <br />
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<b>Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle</b>. Zelvin said she wanted to quit many times, but she continued -- and eventually succeeded in getting her first novel published.<br />
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<b>Nothing is wasted.</b> Either the mistakes will teach you something or you'll be able to use the discarded material in another way.<br />
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<b>I'm writing the best I can.</b> Someone else may write better, or differently, but write to your ability.<br />
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<b>More will be revealed.</b> "I continue to see things that need fixing, that I didn't see three months ago," Zelvin said.<br />
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Zelvin has more on the writing process at <a href="http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/">Poe's Deadly Daughters</a>, the blog she shares with five other authors.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0Long Island, New York, USA40.7891424 -73.13496049999997740.4896229 -74.227785499999982 41.088661900000005 -72.042135499999972tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-79524089654236399622011-08-12T12:07:00.000-04:002011-08-12T12:07:22.879-04:00The Vices by Lawrence Douglas<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1590514157&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Protagonist: Oliver Vice<br />
Setting: New England<br />
Rating: 4.0<br />
On a trip aboard the Queen Mary 2 with his mother, Oliver Vice, 41, disappears. Did he jump overboard, was it an accident, or was it murder? An unnamed narrator who says he was Vice’s closest friend exams his life for clues. Outwardly, Vice, a philosophy professor at Harkness College in New England, was doing well, with a successful career and a string of girlfriends. Yet he had sent the narrator a two-word email from the ship: “Desperately depressed.”<br />
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The Vices is no conventional mystery, as the narrator unwinds Oliver’s life, and we are pulled deeper into his story and that of his eccentric, enigmatic family: Francizka Nagy, a former model who can be ruthless, who never quite tells the truth, and who wears her two sons’ Phi Beta Kappa keys on a necklace; Vice’s twin brother, Bartholomew, a gluttonous, slightly unhinged man; and his two fathers -- his “BF,” or biological father, and the Jewish stepfather who raised him. The Vices are well-off, a wealth that is tied to distant crimes, possibly having to do with stolen Nazi art.<br />
<br />
Told through wry humor, The Vices is as much a philosophical look at identity. For the Vice family, not everything is as it seems. Oliver, inspired by the Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein, almost mimics parts of his life. Meanwhile, the narrator has an unhealthy obsession with the Vices, to the point of dressing like Oliver; his life, too, comes to be shaped by this family. Ultimately, he does reveal many of the Vices’ secrets. And while not all our questions are answered, it almost doesn’t matter -- we’ve come to know the Vices, and that is enough.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-13167508612795257642011-08-04T10:48:00.001-04:002011-08-04T10:48:55.377-04:00Faithful Place by Tana French<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0143119494&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Protagonist: Det. Sgt. Frank Mackey<br />
Setting: Dublin<br />
Rating: 5.0<br />
Estranged from most of his family, Frank Mackey returns to his old neighborhood of Faithful Place after a suitcase is found in an abandoned flat -- a suitcase that belonged to his first sweetheart, Rosie Daly. Twenty-two years earlier, Frank and Rosie had secretly plotted to run away to England, but Rosie never showed at the meeting spot. Now, Frank tries to find out what happened, with an underlying fear that his family may be at the root of it.<br />
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As much as a mystery novel, Faithful Place is a novel about family -- a very dysfunctional one. Or as Frank describes them: “the bubbling cauldron of crazy that is the Mackeys at their finest.”<br />
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His abusive father, an alcoholic, is battling illness, and his mother is as abrasive as ever. His four siblings have never strayed far from their parents -- only Frank, who hasn’t even wanted to introduce his daughter to his family. With an unerring eye, the book also describes Frank’s relationship with his ex-wife and his 9-year-old daughter.<br />
<br />
This book was so perfect, so captivating, that my only disappointment is that we might not see Frank Mackey again, since French uses a new protagonist in each book, usually someone who was a secondary character in a previous book (as Frank was in “The Likeness”). I’ll miss Frank, but I look forward to what French will bring us in her next book.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-6836911684960218072011-08-04T10:23:00.000-04:002011-08-04T10:23:35.800-04:00To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0684006316&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Protagonist: Alan Grant<br />
Setting: London<br />
Rating: 4.0<br />
Taken from a Francis Bacon quote -- It is impossible to love and to be wise -- Tey spins a story about love and its consequences. Scotland Yard’s Insp. Grant is called in when American photographer Leslie Searle goes missing and is presumed drowned.<br />
<br />
Grant is asked to quietly question those with whom Searle had been spending time in the English countryside, among them radio commentator Walter Whitmore, who had been on a camping/boating trip with Searle when he went missing. Searle also had been spending quite a lot of time with Whitmore’s fiancee, and the two were seen arguing just before Searle’s disappearance. Grant doesn’t think Whitmore capable of killing Searle, but he also finds it difficult to call it an accidental drowning.<br />
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This is not the strongest Tey book, but it was still very enjoyable, with a twist ending I liked.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-60533523823598458682011-06-06T22:24:00.000-04:002011-06-06T22:24:45.186-04:00Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0312573553&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
Protagonists: Rev. Harry Laycock and psychiatrist Evi Oliver<br />
Setting: Heptonclough, England<br />
Rating: 4.7<br />
Alice and Gareth Fletcher have moved into a new home on the crest of a moor with their children, Tom, 10, Joe, 6, and Millie, 2. The house is snuggled in between an old church and the even older, crumbling church, with a graveyard in their backyard. Bolton writes gothic thrillers like no one else, and from the beginning she ratchets up the tension, just by describing the moors surrounding the house: “Sometimes, when clouds were moving fast in the sky and their shadows were racing across the ground, it seemed to Tom that the moors were rippling, the way water does when there’s something beneath the surface; or stirring, like a sleeping monster about to wake up. And just occasionally, when the sun went down across the valley and the darkness was coming, Tom couldn’t help thinking that the moors around them had moved closer.”<br />
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The tension increases when we learn two girl toddlers have died in mysterious circumstances in recent years, and that Millie may now be in danger. There’s also what appears to be a female ghost (or monster?) haunting the graveyard. The Fletcher children aren’t the only one seeing and hearing things; Harry, the village’s new vicar, hears voices in the locked church -- and later, even worse occurs. Like the Fletchers, he’s having a hard time adjusting to the insular town, which still holds on to old traditions, such as the blood harvest, in which animals are slaughtered. He finds a friend, and possibly romance, in Dr. Evi Oliver, a psychiatrist with a disability. Together, they try to unravel what’s going on -- and try to prevent the Fletcher children from coming to harm. <br />
<br />
As in previous books, Bolton starts with seriously creepy happenings -- but the story evolves and changes midstream, into more of a psychological thriller. This makes the book even more compelling. And with its short chapters, riveting plot and engaging (and sometimes sinister) characters, the story will keep you hooked. Bolton is one of my favorite thriller writers, and <i>Blood Harvest</i> is one of her best, so far.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-62514975040164720672011-06-05T12:12:00.000-04:002011-06-05T12:12:44.627-04:00Interview with Douglas Corleone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmFMRw_4_whvDWXkm6ZND5JPRDhGF3ngLtlyyD4rTVj6RSibag9Kk0tlOzJmSOOUK5LJHlf77rohi6uCBYNK67jRmrf2_JS033_eODZmvniOi4JjgiD1qCbv1ojN6WIt4c493/s1600/Author+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="319" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmFMRw_4_whvDWXkm6ZND5JPRDhGF3ngLtlyyD4rTVj6RSibag9Kk0tlOzJmSOOUK5LJHlf77rohi6uCBYNK67jRmrf2_JS033_eODZmvniOi4JjgiD1qCbv1ojN6WIt4c493/s320/Author+photo.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Douglas Corleone has written two successful legal thrillers (his debut book won the 2009 Minotaur Book/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award). My review of his second book, Night on Fire, is at <a href="http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=8855">Reviewingtheevidence</a>.<br />
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Below is my interview with Corleone:<br />
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<b>Q. Your protagonist, Kevin Corvelli, is a former New York defense attorney now living in Hawaii – not unlike yourself. How much of your own experience did you use in forming him?</b><br />
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A. More than I’d like to admit, though not as much as readers might think. Fortunately, unlike Kevin, my legal career in New York didn’t end in disgrace. But Kevin and I both picked up and moved to Hawaii sight-unseen, so we each experienced the islands through fresh eyes, and I think I captured that experience fairly well in my debut novel, <i>One Man’s Paradise</i>. Kevin was imbued with many of my own flaws, including some of my insecurities, internal conflicts, and a taste for strong drink. But he’s also a talented lawyer, unafraid to use unconventional tactics and questionable courtroom techniques. Kevin practices law in a way many lawyers would if there were no consequences like ethics inquiries and contempt citations. <br />
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<b>Q. At what point did you decide to stop practicing law and become a writer, and how difficult was it to leave behind a lucrative job for the unknown that is writing?</b><br />
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A. I began winding down my law practice in 2005, and first moved to Hawaii in September of that year. At the time it seemed like a fairly simple decision, but looking back I realize it was a life-changer in so many ways. I’ve since returned to the law in a different capacity; my current practice, the Corleone Law Firm, is limited to U.S. immigration law. It’s not quite as thrilling as criminal law, but on a personal level, it can be very rewarding. <br />
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<b>Q. Were there other legal thriller or crime fiction writers who inspired you?</b><br />
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A. I began reading legal thrillers in high school. Some of my favorite authors were John Lescroart, Steve Martini, John Grisham, William Lashner, and Scott Turow. These writers inspired me not only to write but to go to law school. Later, I discovered the works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet, and I knew how I wanted to distinguish myself from other legal thriller authors – by making my novels darker and creating a lawyer-protagonist who had the capacity to become a hard-boiled investigator. <br />
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<b>Q. And would you describe your books just as legal thrillers? I see a bit of noir or hard-boiled in them, with endings that are not all tied up happily-ever-after.</b><br />
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A. I think of my books as crime novels, which covers the spectrum. I was somewhat surprised - though not disappointed - when I first saw that the cover for Night on Fire read “A Kevin Corvelli mystery.” Not because my books aren’t mysteries; they are. But they’re not your typical whodunits. I’d like to think my stories are driven more by character than by plot, and that the twists and turns in Act III are simply the olives at the bottom of a dirty martini. It’s difficult to escape the label “legal thriller” when your protagonist is a criminal defense attorney and your books culminate with a trial, but again, I think of the courtroom scenes as a way to showcase the talents and flaws of Kevin Corvelli, not as a way to dig for the truth and expose a killer. <br />
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<b>Q. Your first novel, One Man’s Paradise, won the MWA/Minotaur Books First Crime Novel Award. How did that impact your writing? Did it make it easier to continue writing?</b><br />
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A. I found that it’s definitely easier (and much more fun) to write when you have a contract in place. Shortly before the release of One Man’s Paradise, I signed a contract with St. Martin’s Press for the next two Kevin Corvelli novels, and knowing that they’d be read by at least a few thousand people pushed me in ways writing on spec never could. <br />
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<b>Q. Hawaii, to anyone who’s visited, is paradise. But you show a different side – even when he’s at a tourist resort, Corvelli is getting his head bashed in. What has the reaction been by locals to your books?</b><br />
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A. The reaction here in Hawaii has been very favorable. My latest novel received a glowing review from Hawaii’s only major newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and both books received acclaim from Honolulu Weekly and Hawaii Book Blog. Last year, Midweek featured me and my family in an article titled “Ex-Lawyer Writes Own ‘Paradise’ After Move to Kapolei.” More recently I appeared on ABC affiliate KITV’s morning news show and KZOO’s “Thinking Out Loud” radio program, sponsored by the University of Hawaii and the Japanese Cultural Center. For the past two years I’ve given hour-long presentations at the annual Hawaii Book & Music Festival, and I’ve spoken to local book clubs and given readings at local libraries. The response at all these events has been overwhelmingly positive, and my works received favorable comparisons to the new Hawaii Five-O, which also takes a look at the seedier side of paradise. <br />
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<b>Q. Are you working on a third Corvelli book? If so, what is it about?</b><br />
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A. The third Kevin Corvelli manuscript is currently with my extraordinary editor, Kelley Ragland. In the third novel, the governor of Hawaii is suspected by the FBI of hiring an international assassin known as The Pharmacist to murder his pregnant mistress. Kevin is retained not only to conduct an independent investigation, but to handle the national news media and ensure that the FBI’s suspicions do not interfere with the governor’s bid for reelection. Meanwhile, Kevin’s most loyal client, Turi Ahina, is accused of gunning down an off-duty cop on a dark street in Pearl City days after he agrees to provide the DEA information on a ruthless drug kingpin known as Orlando Masonet. The question becomes not whether Turi shot and killed the off-duty cop, but whether he did so in self-defense. In order to discover the truth, Kevin is forced to plumb the depths of police corruption and ultimately unearth some of the city’s deepest, darkest, and dirtiest secrets. <br />
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<b>Q. Finally, what authors do you like to read?</b><br />
<br />
A. I’m currently reading (and loving) Lawrence Block’s <i>A Drop of the Hard Stuff</i>. My taste in novels varies; in addition to the authors I mentioned above, I read everything written by Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, Joe Hill, David Ellis, David Rosenfelt, Stefanie Pintoff, and Todd Ritter. I also love the works of Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson. Bukowski’s alter ego, Henry Chinaski, is probably my favorite character in all of fiction.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-75073737125416801952011-05-29T11:42:00.001-04:002011-05-29T11:47:22.104-04:00One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0312334893&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><b>Protagonists:</b> Rev. Clare Fergusson and Chief Russ Van Alstyne<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Millers Kill, New York<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.8<br />
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In what may be her best book to date, Spencer-Fleming writes about the soldiers who return from war, and the scars they carry, emotional as well as physical. Clare Fergusson is among those -- she has returned from an 18-month tour in Iraq and is suffering from flashbacks; she can't function without taking uppers, downers and painkillers, mixed with alcohol, a secret she hides from everyone. She join a veteran's support group where she finds four others in similar situations: police officer Eric McCrea, who was an MP and who is unable to control violent tendencies; Will Ellis, a young man who returned as a double amputee; doctor Trip Stillman, who has suffered a brain injury and is hiding his memory issues from patients and family; and bookkeeper Tally McNabb, who had an affair with a fellow soldier. One of these people will die.<br />
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When Russ rules the death a suicide, Clare and her fellow vets disagree, and begin an investigation of their own. While there's some friction between Clare and Russ, most of the will-they or won't-they aspect of previous books is missing -- which is a good thing. Spencer-Fleming concentrates more on the mystery plot and presents us with a gripping character study of returning vets. There's still some romance, of course, and series readers will appreciate this book, too.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-69568124079978510172011-05-14T22:44:00.000-04:002011-05-14T22:44:31.666-04:00Talking With the Tough Guys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzugsuCF8J0RhBZjeq7rVpKQzML3y-x7_Iet185YXdJj6OujrYMuCTFiOhRu6k6VInGGmQOKlw-rFgtdXYL5BTQGd1hjntbOsbHfrZ4VGmdhyphenhyphenUNV8jwKqFEyzClNJ2bCdR26BQ/s1600/sagharbor+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzugsuCF8J0RhBZjeq7rVpKQzML3y-x7_Iet185YXdJj6OujrYMuCTFiOhRu6k6VInGGmQOKlw-rFgtdXYL5BTQGd1hjntbOsbHfrZ4VGmdhyphenhyphenUNV8jwKqFEyzClNJ2bCdR26BQ/s320/sagharbor+004.JPG" /></a></div><br />
When it comes to noir, a long-practiced form of fiction, both in book and film, how do modern-day authors put their stamp on it? That was part of a panel today at Mayhem at Bookhampton, an event at several of the bookseller's Hamptons stores. On the panel (and in photo above), from left: Reed Farrel Coleman, Justin Evans, Wallace Stroby, Ken Wishnia and Michael Atkinson (not pictured).<br />
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Coleman, who writes the popular Moe Prager series, said noir was fresh when Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett were writing, and that today's writers "work with the same themes, but we can't get away with writing those books...The themes remain the same, how they play out is different."<br />
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Atkinson, who has written two books starring author Ernest Hemingway, said the way to keep these books fresh is to focus on the characters. His Hemingway is not only the larger-than-life author, but a more nuanced character.<br />
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The authors themselves don't think of themselves as tough guys. Said Evans, who second book has just been released: "I am ever so not tough. My characters can't even change a tire." For most, being tough meant "getting through the day ... it's more like emotional toughness," said Wishnia, author of four books. For Coleman, who used to be a heating oil delivery man, "tough is when you have to go out in the freezing rain."<br />
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And tough is writing, they all agreed. There's no magic bullet, said Coleman. "This is our job. You can't just sit there," he said, making the gesture for twiddling your thumbs.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-53016437395504284232011-04-24T12:43:00.000-04:002011-04-24T12:43:15.020-04:00A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0684842386&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Protagonist: Insp. Alan Grant<br />
Setting: London<br />
Rating: 4.6<br />
When actress Christine Clay is found dead on the beach, suspicion immediately falls on the young man whom she had been hosting at her house in the English countryside -- Robin Tisdall. Insp. Grant and the police force have enough evidence, and even a motive -- the actress had recently written a codicil to her will, leaving her California house to Tisdall, whom she had just met. But no investigation -- at least, fictional investigation -- is ever that easy. And just what did Clay mean by leaving “a shilling for candles” to her brother?<br />
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Tey’s novels have a lot of wit and charm in them. In one passage, a police sergeant assesses Tisdall, emotional one moment, composed the next: “Light-weights, these moderns. No real emotion about anything. Just hysteria. What they called love was just a barn-yard exercise; they thought anything else “sentimental.” No discipline. No putting up with things. Every time something got difficult, they ran away. Not slapped enough in their youth. All this modern idea about giving children their own way. Look what it led to. Howling on the beach one minute and then cool as cucumber the next.”<br />
<br />
Tey doesn't exactly play fair with the reader -- we can't figure out the killer because a vital clue is withheld from us -- but I'm OK with that. When reading Tey, it's more about the journey than the arrival.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-37848077486016932542011-04-24T12:23:00.000-04:002011-04-24T12:23:52.827-04:00Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=030745469X&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Protagonist: Bruno Courrèges<br />
Setting: St. Denis, Dordogne region, France<br />
Rating: 4.4<br />
An old man, who is a war hero and an Algerian immigrant, is killed, a swastika cut into this chest. His war medal is missing and, inexplicably, a photo from his youth, when he was on a soccer team. The death sparks racial tensions in the quiet French village of St. Denis, where Bruno Courrèges is police chief. The national police are called in to investigate, but Bruno plays a large part in the investigation.<br />
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Walker, who has lived in France, draws an idyllic French setting -- with its farmers market, its famous caves with centuries-old drawings, and patriotic parades. Bruno whips up wonderful meals, whether for a picnic or a dinner at home. But there's also a dark underside in St. Denis, and Walker brings this to life. The resolution bothered me a bit, but this was still an enjoyable book.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-59740111104628054192011-04-13T11:19:00.000-04:002011-04-13T11:19:04.651-04:00The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004SIAH0I&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><b>Protagonist</b>: Dr. Stratham Younger<br />
<b>Setting:</b> New York City, 1909<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.6<br />
In the book’s beginning, the author tells us the story is loosely based on Sigmund Freud’s real-life visit to the United States, where he was invited to speak at Clark University. The author says something traumatic happened to Freud during his visit; afterward, he referred to Americans as savages and blamed them for his lifelong ailments, many of which he had before his trip. Using that, the author spins a fictional murder case.<br />
<br />
A young heiress is found bound and strangled in a New York City penthouse; the next day, a 17-year-old girl from another well-to-do family survives a similar attempt on her life. The girl, Nora Acton, has lost her ability to speak and doesn’t remember what happened to her. Dr. Younger, a fictional psychoanalyst, is asked to work with Nora to retrieve her memories. He’s also been shepherding Freud around New York City, and seeks advice from the famed psychoanalyst. Younger’s involvement deepens from the initial therapy sessions, and he joins Detective Jimmy Littlemore in unraveling the many threads of this complicated case.<br />
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Overall, I liked this book, especially the vibrant scenes portraying New York City in the early 1900s, and the historical detail. But the book had some major flaws: the story switches from third person to first person, sometimes abruptly. It was so jarring that it cut into my enjoyment of the book. Also, we’re given to believe in the beginning that Freud is a major character in the book. But as the story progresses, he’s seen less and less often. Lastly, the early parts of the book read at times like a thesis on Freud and Jung; there’s so much detail on the psychoanalysts (some of it interesting, granted) that it bogs down the main mystery.<br />
<br />
And yet, I did like this book. And I will probably pick up Rubenfeld’s second book, the recently released <i>The Death Instinct</i>, which has some characters returning. I’m interested in seeing where the author takes them.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-39366269653056215972011-04-03T11:29:00.002-04:002011-04-03T11:31:42.033-04:00Frozen Sun by Stan Jones<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0979980372&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><b>Protagonist: </b>Nathan Active<br />
<b>Setting:</b> Anchorage and Chukchi, Alaska<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4.5<br />
Alaska State Trooper Nathan Jones is asked by the Chukchi high school principal, Jason Palmer, to find his missing daughter, Grace, who left home 10 years ago and was last seen on The Junction, a seedy strip of bars in Anchorage. A former Miss North World, the photos of Grace show a stunning teenager. So Nathan, although not officially on the case, begins to do some digging when he's sent to Anchorage for a computer class. This causes a rift between Nathan and his girlfriend Lucy, who is jealous of Grace. But can there be something behind Lucy's jealousy? Is there another reason Nathan is going beyond the obligations of his job? In this, the third book, Jones has hit his stride. His descriptions of Alaska and the culture made books one and two very readable, but here he complements that with a strong, compelling storyline and well-drawn characters. If you like Dana Stabenow's books, I'd recommend Stan Jones.<br />
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Below are descriptions of books one and two:<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001TK3AD4&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><b>White Sky, Black Ice </b><br />
Nathan Active has been posted to Chukchi, not Anchorage, where he’d like to be, but he makes the best of it. In this small town, with its persistent harsh west wind, despair sometimes takes hold; suicides are not uncommon. But when two men, George Clinton and Aaron Stone, who both worked at the Gray Wolf Mine, commit what seems like suicide, Active believes that they were killed -- even though one of them, Clinton, is under a family curse, city residents say. Two other Clinton sons have committed suicide. This, the first in a series, is a nice study of small-town Alaska. <br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1569474133&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><b>Shaman Pass</b> <br />
First, “Uncle Frosty” -- a native mummy that the Smithsonian has returned to the Inupiat museum in Chukchi -- is stolen, along with a harpoon and an owl amulet that had been with the body. Then a tribal elder is found dead, the harpoon impaled in his chest and the amulet in his mouth. As Nathan investigates, he finds that the death, as well as the theft, has roots in events that occurred generations ago. More than the plot, I loved this book, the second in the series, for its descriptions of the Inupiat and of Alaska, especially the isolated hunting and whaling camps and a remote mountain pass (where Jones writes a seat-gripping plane scene).Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-92129439704154463722011-03-19T17:00:00.002-04:002011-03-26T13:49:31.857-04:00The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0684815028&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
Protagonist: Insp. Alan Grant<br />
Setting: London<br />
Rating: 4.1<br />
<br />
When a friend sent me a box full of books late last year, I knew what my series read would be this year: Josephine Tey, who many consider one of the best crime novelists, although her books are not as popular as others Golden Age writers, such as Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers.<br />
<br />
To that end, I started with <i>The Man in the Queue</i>, her first, published in 1929. In the novel, a man is stabbed and killed in a line of people waiting to get into a popular show. No one saw him stabbed and, at first, no one claims to have even noticed the man waiting in line. Scotland Yard's Alan Grant painstakingly puts together a case, going from London to Scotland in pursuit of his suspect. But this not the usual whodunnit, or even a police procedural (although it reads like one). In fact, Tey disregarded the mystery conventions, according to mystery novelist Robert <a href="http://www.mysterynet.com/books/testimony/josephine-tey-mysteries/">Barnard</a>. "They all have crime at their heart," he notes, "but they are as far as possible from the 'body in the library' formula." That's so with this book, which gives us a nice surprise at the end.<br />
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This is Tey's first book, but the writing is already magnificent, such as this description of late-night London: “The midnight streets of London -- always so much more beautiful than the choppy crowded ones of the daytime -- fascinated him. At noon London made you a present of an entertainment, rich and varied and amusing. But at midnight she made you a present of herself; at midnight you could hear her breathe.” Or there's this phrase describing a waiter: “A new arrival took the table opposite, and Marcel, the geniality gone from his face like snowflakes on a wet pavement, went to listen to his needs with that mixture of tolerant superciliousness and godlike abstraction which he used to all but his five favourites.”<br />
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With writing like this, I can't wait to dip back into my Tey stash!Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21012909.post-51345797188259313102011-03-17T09:12:00.000-04:002011-03-17T09:12:52.317-04:00Brooklyn by Colm Toibin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggW-VgN-2K3k531NEqMWWRe8SuEmIKLgrMDxTRYt2EuVvLJxb0r_cItZSCgln7kojS3DC0rXYfOkMGnY9O5xmNuHDXcSxp8lWxseopumBahVJN_2MVDMzlCFTXqdgYH461eUEV/s1600/Ireland_Reading_Challenge_2011graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="201" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggW-VgN-2K3k531NEqMWWRe8SuEmIKLgrMDxTRYt2EuVvLJxb0r_cItZSCgln7kojS3DC0rXYfOkMGnY9O5xmNuHDXcSxp8lWxseopumBahVJN_2MVDMzlCFTXqdgYH461eUEV/s320/Ireland_Reading_Challenge_2011graphic.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Protagonist:: Eilis Lacey<br />
Setting: Enniscorthy, Ireland, and Brooklyn, N.Y.<br />
Rating: 4.0<br />
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lostinboo-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1439148953&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align:left;padding-top:5px;width:131px;height:245px;padding-right:10px;"align="left" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>This is one of those novels that sneak up on you. Eilis Lacey, a young girl from Ireland, is sent to the United States by her mom and older sister. After suffering a long, hard ship journey, and homesickness in Brooklyn, she begins to adapt and finds some happiness, working at a department store, going to night classes for accounting and finding a beau. But when a relative dies and she’s called back to Ireland, she has a choice to make: does she stay in her hometown, or return to Brooklyn. The novel is slow at first, but by the end, you are struggling along with Eilis as she tries to make a decision.Lourdeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15709586083954210888noreply@blogger.com0