R.I.P. John Updike

John Updike passed away today. I discovered Updike in high school -- an assignment had me writing about a contemporary American author. I don't remember the librarian's name, but I'm forever in her debt for introducing me to Updike.

Duma Key by Stephen King

Duma Key by Stephen King (audio)
Protagonist: Edgar Freemantle
Setting: Duma Key, Florida
Rating: 5.0

I was wary of horror master Stephen King’s latest book, and sought out opinions before deciding whether to even read it (after all, it is a long book, and I’d grown tired of King’s books, which all seemed to have the same voice). But this, muchachos (as Edgar’s friend Wireman would say), is one great book. Yes, there are elements of the supernatural, but they don’t overwhelm the story, which is really about Edgar, redemption, and good and evil.

Owner of a construction company, Edgar loses an arm and suffers brain injury in a horrific crane accident. He sells his business. His wife, unable to put up with his bouts of anger, divorces him. So Edgar takes his psychologist's advice and moves far from Minneapolis – to the fictional Duma Key island off Florida’s West coast. Here, he astounds the Florida art scene with his Dali-like paintings. But his hand is guided, in part, by some other force and his works are more than paintings – they are a window into the future and the past. His life and his experiences are intertwined with the only other residents of Duma Key – the elderly Elizabeth Eastlake and her caretaker, Wireman, both of whom have also experienced the island’s eerie power. A battle of good versus evil eventually ensues.

This book unravels slowly, and wonderfully. Much of the first part is gothic, but then King starts ratcheting up the suspense – and the terror. This is undeniably a King book, but a different kind of King. It also may be one of his finest works. I’m glad I didn’t miss out on it.

Other recent reads:

The Demon of Dakar by Kjell Eriksson
Protagonist: Ann Lindell
Setting: Uppsala, Sweden
Rating: 3.0
Although this is billed as an Ann Lindell mystery, there is little to be seen of the detective or her colleagues. The book focuses more on the victims and killers (yes, plural – there are several bad guys). The first murder is that of restaurateur and drug smuggler Armas, killed by the brother of a Mexican man who was caught and jailed for smuggling drugs for Armas. There are several characters and several stories in this book, and they do intersect at some point. While the stories are interesting, and the book was readable, it was very light on the police procedural aspects. This could have been a stronger book with more of an emphasis on the detective work. It also could have been a better-edited book. If typos annoy you, this book will have you gritting your teeth.

Lamb to the Slaughter by Aline Templeton
Protagonist: Det. Insp. Marjory Fleming
Setting: Kirkluce, Scotland
Rating: 4.7
Now this is the way to write a police procedural. Strong detectives with interesting family lives, and a good mystery, of course. A sheep is killed, then an elderly but influential man in town, and finally a young thug. They don’t seem to have anything in common, yet the detectives are convinced there is only one killer. Meanwhile, town residents are divided over a big grocery chain that wants to move in, which would force out the craft center. Elderly residents are being terrorized by motorcycle-riding teens. And Fleming’s own teenage daughter is caught up in the lure of these bad boys. Templeton writes about these small towns with wonderful details (even if they aren’t real) and creates just-as-interesting characters.

Rating system:
5.0: Wow!
4.0: A book I'd recommend
3.0: Mediocre to good
2.0: Pretty Bad

Edgar Nominees and More

The Edgars have been announced. A partial list is below and the full list is here. This means much more reading for me -- I've not read any of the Best Novel or Best First Novel nominees. But also exciting for me is that favorite author Andrew Taylor (see post below) has won the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association for sustained excellence in crime writing. Taylor is not as well known here in the U.S., and that's a great pity.

Best Novel
• Missing, by Karin Alvtegen (Felony & Mayhem Press)
• Blue Heaven, by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Sins of the Assassin, by Robert Ferrigno (Scribner)
• The Price of Blood, by Declan Hughes (Morrow)
• The Night Following, by Morag Joss (Delacorte Press)
• Curse of the Spellmans, by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)

Best First Novel by an American Author
• The Kind One, by Tom Epperson (Five Star)
• Sweetsmoke, by David Fuller (Hyperion)
• The Foreigner, by Francie Lin (Picador)
• Calumet City, by Charlie Newton (Touchstone)
• A Cure for Night, by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)

Best Paperback Original
• The Prince of Bagram Prison, by Alex Carr (Random House Trade)
• Money Shot, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
• Enemy Combatant, by Ed Gaffney (Dell)
• China Lake, by Meg Gardiner (Obsidian Mysteries)
• The Cold Spot, by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)

Best Fact Crime
• For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago, by Simon Baatz (HarperCollins)
• American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century, by Howard Blum (Crown)--one of January Magazine’s favorite books of 2008
• Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution, by T.J. English (Morrow)
• The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren, by Jonathan Lopez (Harcourt)
• The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Company)

Best Critical/Biographical
• African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study, by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Company)
• Hard-boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories, by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia University Press)
• Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction, by David Geherin (McFarland & Company)
• The Rise of True Crime, by Jean Murley (Praeger)
• Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Metro Books)

Best Short Story
• “A Sleep Not Unlike Death,” by Sean Chercover (from Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson; Kensington Publishing)
• “Skin and Bones,” by David Edgerley Gate (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, October 2008)
• “Scratch of a Woman,” by Laura Lippman (from Hardly Knew Her; Morrow)
• “La Vie en Rose,” by Dominique Mainard (from Paris Noir; edited by Aurelien Masson; Akashic Books)
• “Skinhead Central,” by T. Jefferson Parker (from The Blue Religion, edited by Michael Connelly; Little, Brown)

Best Juvenile
• The Postcard, by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Enigma: A Magical Mystery, by Graeme Base (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
• Eleven, by Patricia Reilly Giff (Random House/Wendy Lamb Books)
• The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow, by Riford McKenzie (Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books)
• Cemetery Street, by Brenda Seabrooke (Holiday House)

Best Young Adult
• Bog Child, by Siobhan Dowd (Random House/David Fickling Books)
• The Big Splash, by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Amulet Books)
• Paper Towns, by John Green (Dutton Children’s Books)
• Getting the Girl, by Susan Juby (HarperTeen)
• Torn to Pieces, by Margo McDonnell (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Caroline Minuscule by Andrew Taylor

Caroline Minuscule by Andrew Taylor
Protagonist: William Dougal
Setting: England
Rating: 4.5
I hate for a year to go by without having read a Taylor novel, so I went back to his first book, published in 1982. Dougal is a graduate student, the type of person who, upon finding his tutor murdered, walks away without alerting anyone; he doesn't want to spoil his dinner plans with girlfriend Amanda. But soon enough, he's enmeshed in the puzzle that killed his professor; it involves Caroline Minuscule (the name of a Medieval script). The payoff involves diamonds, but Dougal and Amanda have an adversary who will stop at nothing.

By the end of the book, Dougal has undergone quite a transformation. He’s also not the usual detective. As Taylor writes, “in a sense William Dougal is a modified Tom Ripley transposed into a British key.”

It's amazing what Taylor packed into a small novel (234 pages in paperback). This novel, in fact, won the John Creasey Award of the Crime Writers' Association and was shortlisted for an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America. Taylor went on to write seven more novels in the Dougal series. So while I wait for Taylor’s next book in his Lydmouth series, I will continue to dip into the Dougal books. Taylor has written an interesting essay on his first book here.

2008 Tops

This was a good year for books, with some favorite authors again providing solid books, as well as some new-to-me authors, at least one of whom surprised me (I didn’t expect to like his books that much!). Here were my favorites this year:

Two favorites delivered, as always – Ann Cleeves, with White Nights, the second in her Shetland quartet, and Louise Penny with The Cruelest Month, her third in a seasonal quartet. These two rank highest for me. Not surprisingly, there are similarities between the two – beautifully drawn descriptions of the land, the villages and the people. Also, Cleeves and Penny write very much in the vein of traditional mysteries. I will read anything in the crime fiction genre – thrillers, spy novels, noir – but these traditional whodunits satisfy me the most.

The Pure in Heart and The Risk of Darkness, by Susan Hill, both part of the Serrailler series. These two character-driven books barely touched on crime, instead focusing on Simon Serrailler and his family. Not traditional, yet that was fine with me.

Another character-driven series is the one by Scottish author Aline Templeton. Her first three books on DI Marjory Fleming – Cold in the Earth, The Darkness and the Deep, and Lying Dead – were all among my tops. Fleming’s family life, with all its heartbreaks, is a large part of the books, but they also are strong police procedurals. This was a new author, but now is a favorite.

Another series – the surprise one – was Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series, set in Wyoming. A surprise because I thought it would be too cowboyish. But Johnson’s The Cold Dish, Death Without Company and Kindness Goes Unpunished has great characters (no stereotypes) and witty dialogue that reminds me of Robert Parker’s Spenser series. This is a series I now recommend without pause.

My other tops this year included:

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, set in Norway. This is a long, complex novel, but still a fast, gripping read.

Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina, the third in her Paddy Meehan series, which will run to five books. Paddy has grown up, and is a well-known Scottish journalist and a mom. The series deals with family relationships and justice. A series that definitely needs to be read in order (no. 1 and no. 2 are The Field of Blood and The Dead Hour).

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. There was a lot of buzz about this book, the first in a series in the Millennium trilogy (Larsson died after writing the third book). The buzz was on target, this time. This Swedish novel, which features the unlikely team of a magazine journalist and a young computer hacker, is long – yet you’ll want to read it in one sitting.

The Writing Class by Jincy Willette is a light, fast, fun read – with murder, to boot! Amy Gallup is a writing teacher at an extension course. For once, she has a great class. But there’s a fly in the ointment – a murderer in the class. Since the police aren’t investigating, the whole class decides to find out which one of them is the killer. A great read!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt was published in 1992, and has become a semi-classic in the genre. It’s another big book that I couldn’t put down, even though you know in the opening pages who the killers are. This is a whodunit in reverse, as the book unveils why and how the murder took place, and then the consequences.

I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming is the latest in her Millers Kill series. This is a series that must be read in order, as the relationship between the Rev. Clare Fergusson and Chief Russ Van Alstyne is pivotal in the books. I love the series, but it does have a romance aspect that not everyone likes.

Finally, two books in which I recommend the audiobook version, because the narrator does such a good job of bringing these characters alive:

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris has wonderful plotting that revolves around a boy’s school and an outsider that pretends to be a student (and later a teacher), hoping to exact revenge. Another teacher, though, stands in the way. The plot unfolds like a chess game, although it’s the author who is always a move ahead of you.

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay takes an unlikely event – teenager Cynthia Bigge’s entire family disappears from her home overnight – and gives us a readable, likely plot. Twenty-five years, after a television show about the old mystery, strange events threaten Cynthia and her family. I’m not a huge fan of thrillers, but this one had me sitting in the car long after I had pulled into the driveway.

Pick of the Month: The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Protagonist: Chief Insp. Armand Gamache
Setting: Three Pines, Canada
Rating: 5.0

If a book of crime fiction can be a comfort read, this is it. Despite the murder, and all the other small cruelties and jealousies in this story, I still want to live in Three Pines. There's a warmth that resides there, at Olivier's Bistro, where you can have cafe au lait and fresh-baked croissants. In the woods, the village green, the shops. At the homes, where books, beautiful art and food welcome visitors.

Well, most homes. Not at the old Hadley House, where the familiar group of Three Pines residents decides on a lark to hold a seance. One of the group, though, is literally scared to death. Gamache and his team move temporary headquarters into Three Pines. While investigating the murder, Gamache finds himself threatened by his enemies at the Sûreté, more than ever.

Throughout the book, Penny lays small clues along the way, much as the villagers in the opening scene carefully hid Easter eggs. When the murderer is revealed, in a traditional Poirot-like scene, everything clicks into place. Mysteries are puzzles, and Penny has beautifully laid out each piece, but we don't see the big picture until that final piece is in place.

This is the third in the series, and there is some resolution regarding Gamache and his future at the Sûreté. But there are some threads left hanging at the end of the book, and so we look forward to book 4 (A Rule Against Murder, being published Jan. 20th in the U.S.). I suspect some of those threads will begin to unravel.

December Reads

The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black (audio)
Protagonist: Gannet Quirke
Setting: Dublin, 1950s
Rating: 4.5
This is the second in the series by Black (author John Banville, who uses a pseudonym for his crime fiction) about a pathologist investigator. Quirke is asked by former school acquaintance Billy Hunt to forego a postmortem on his wife, the attractive Deirdre Hunt, owner of The Silver Swan beauty parlor. Of course, Quirke is now curious, and a look at the body reveals a needle mark. Deirdre, pulled from a river, was thought to have been a suicide. The scenes of Quirke’s investigation are interwoven with flashbacks of Deirdre’s life. Quirke’s daughter also becomes entangled in the investigation when she starts a relationship with Deirdre’s lover. In this series, it really pays to have read the first book, since the second has more resonance if you know the history. While I liked Black’s first book, Christine Falls, for its lush prose, I found The Silver Swan an even better book. In addition to that wonderful prose, there is a very good mystery here.

A Christmas Beginning by Anne Perry
Protatonist: Superintendent Runcorn
Setting: Island of Anglesey off the north coast of Wales
Rating: 4.0
Superintendent Runcorn of Scotland Yard is on vacation in Wales when he comes across a young woman’s body in the village churchyard. Although a chief constable is called in from the mainland, it soon becomes clear that someone more experienced is needed, and so Runcorn steps in. Runcorn, a lifelong bachelor at 50, also finds himself falling in love. Runcorn is also a central character in the William Monk series, but nonreaders of the series (such as I) can still enjoy this novella.


Legally Dead by Edna Buchanan
Protagonist: Michael Venturi
Setting: South Florida
Rating: 3.5
This is the first in a new series in which Venturi, a deputy U.S. marshal in the Federal Witness Protection Program, takes matters into his own hands when he finds out that a mobster they’ve been protecting has been sexually assaulting and killing young girls. This, of course, gets him fired. Venturi moves to Florida, where he (with some help from friends) start staging fake deaths for people they feel are deserving – who’ve been falsely accused of something, for instance, but still are villified. Declared “legally dead,” they can begin their new lives in another country under new names. One after another, “clients” start appearing. The number of clients is a bit of a stretch, but I did like these individual stories. But soon, something goes wrong. Someone is killing those whom Venturi protected as a U.S. marshal -– and then someone kills one of his innocent clients. While the book has some faults, such as some thinly-drawn characters and a plot that goes overboard at times –- it was a fun, fast read for me.

Strange Affair by Peter Robinson (audio)
Protagonist: Insp. Alan Banks
Setting: London
Rating: 4.0
This is the 15th in the series, but this is not a problem if you haven't read the rest (or just read one other, like myself). Banks is on a leave of absence, dealing already with personal problems, when his somewhat estranged brother leaves a message on his answering machine, asking for help. Unable to reach him, Banks drives to London, only to find his brother's door unlocked -- and no sign of his brother. Meanwhile, a woman driver is killed on the highway. And Banks' address is in her back pocket. As partner Annie Cabbot investigates the death, it soon becomes clear that there's a link between the two incidents. A police procedural, this is also a heart-wrenching novel. It makes me want to go back and start the series in order.


Caught Out in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho
Protagonist: Rose Trevelyan
Setting: Penzance, Cornwall, England
Rating: 3.5
Rose Trevelyan almost always seems to be in the right place (or maybe the wrong place) at the right time. Here, she witnesses a man scoop up a little girl at the beach, and minutes later realizes she's seen a kidnapping, when a little girl goes missing. Rose, who is dating Det. Insp. Jack Pearce, is soon nosing around. This was not a book that grabbed me and made me want to read more in the series, but it was still pleasurable enough. The characters were barely sketched and the mystery was easily solved beforehand, but Bolitho's descriptions of Cornwall made up for that. This is the seventh in the series, and the last, as Bolitho has passed away.

The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns
Setting: Town of Aurelius, upstate New York
Rating: 4.3
This is not a crime novel in the usual sense, although several crimes are committed. It's about how a small town reacts when three girls, one after another, are abducted. The three girls are never found alive -- but we know that from the opening pages -- so this is really not about them. It's about the rest of the town. Residents begin to turn on each other, suspect each other, and even attack each other. Although Dobyns has written a mystery series, this falls more into the category of psychological thriller.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Rating: 3.3
This is a slim children's book (can be read in an hour or less), and I'd only recommend it for the die-hard Potter fan. These fairy tales, especially the last one ("The Tale of the Three Brothers") plays a part in the last Potter book. As such, it's a nice edition to the Potter folklore.

Rating system:
5.0: Wow!
4.0: A book I'd recommend
3.0: Mediocre to good
2.0: Pretty Bad

The best of the year

It's that time of the year. Lists of best crime fiction books of the year are appearing all over (my own top 10 pick will come in a few weeks; I still need to mull, and maybe read a book or two).

At The New York Times, Marilyn Stasio’s picks make me realize that I’m far behind in all the books I wanted to read this year; she names several on my list. Sarah Weinman, writing for the Los Angeles Times, has an entirely different list of top books.

NPR’s Maureen Corrigan picks five (only five!) crime fiction books for her list. From the Brits, Marcel Berlins at The Times offers a list, as well.

And, finally, if you like your holidays with a little crime, then Tom Nolan at The Wall Street Journal offers Christmas-themed mysteries.

Around the blogs

Books to the Ceiling has a great post on The New York Times' 100 notable books for 2008, which include only four crime fiction books. Writes blogger Roberta Rood: "I cheerfully acknowledge that most of the fiction I read is crime fiction. IMHO, that’s where you’ll find great writing, great characters, terrific stories - and blessedly little self-conscious, hyper-literary posturing."

There are all sorts of blog challenges. Here's one I may or may not officially join for 2009: Read your own books. The truth is that was my own personal challenge this year. I have at least 200 unread books (OK, closer to 300). I had thought to make a dent in them, but I kept adding books faster than I read them. And I kept hearing about books that I had to check out of the library. Considering I only read between 60-70 books a year, it's going to take a while to winnow down that pile. Plus, there's also a 2009 Support Your Local Library challenge. What's a reader to do?!

Finally, I came across the literature map quite by accident, but it's a fun little spot. You type in the name of an author and suddenly all these names will float across your screen, with the most closely related near your original name. It's fun to play with, even if you don't agree with all the choices.

Pick of the Month: The Writing Class by Jincy Willett

The Writing Class by Jincy Willett
Protagonist: Amy Gallup
Setting: Southern California
Rating: 5.0

Every once in a while comes a book that I drag from room to room, because it literally is hard to put down. The Writing Class is that book. Willett takes a conventional murder mystery format (the closed community), but gives it a fresh, dark humor twist. Amy Gallup is a fiction writing teacher at an extension college. She's also, as Willett writes, a "bitter, peculiar person" who lives alone with her dog and hasn't written herself for years. But, for once, Amy finds that she has a writing class that really clicks -- 13 people of varying degrees of talent. Yet almost immediately class members and Amy start receiving poison pen letters, then prank calls. It spirals out of control, until one class member is seemingly murdered. The police won't investigate, thinking it's an accident. So it's up to the class members, which include the killer, to figure out the mystery.

Willett has drawn each character so well that you really don't want any of them to be the murderer. Throughout the book, Amy draws up lists for her blog. So I, pen in hand, was soon making a list of each class member, trying to figure out the whodunnit (I never did). A few pages later, Amy herself has drawn up the same list (still no help).

The book also works on another level, for whoever has ever wanted to be a writer or just loves language. Willett includes parts of students' stories, some very good, some so bad they make you laugh. The critiques and Amy's lessons make you feel part of the class, as well as providing clues about each character.

The Writing Class hasn't gotten much buzz, which is unfortunate. This is a funny, well-crafted mystery, very worthy of reading.

November reads

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (audio)
Protagonist: Cynthia and Terry Archer
Setting: Milford, Connecticut
Rating: 5.0
One morning, 14-year-old Cynthia wakes up and her entire family has vanished from their suburban home – no note, no bodies. For 25 years, she wonders and waits. But after a television show does a story on the disappearance for the 25th anniversary, strange occurrences begin to happen. Cynthia’s husband doesn’t know whether to believe his wife – or believe she’s making things happen. To say anything else about the plot would be unfair. But this thriller is a grabber – from beginning to end, even when you figure out what’s really happening. This will make my top 10 reads for the year.

A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva (audio)
Protagonist: Gabriel Allon
Setting: Vienna and Venice
Rating: 4.5
After an explosion at the Wartimes Claims and Inquiry office, spy and art restorer Allon is sent to Vienna – a bit unwillingly, as this is where his wife and son were victims of a car bomb. There are also other reasons why Allon is not welcome in Vienna. Those reasons intensify when Allon begins hunting down a Nazi official. Amid all this, we learn Allon’s mother was a Holocaust survivor. Silva does wonderfully in weaving all the threads together, in a powerful, moving spy thriller. Although this is the last of three interconnected novels, it stands very well alone.

A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
Protagonist: Assistant Police Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu
Setting: Botswana
Rating: 3.7
This is the debut novel by authors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, and introduces Kubu, whose nickname means “hippo,” appropriate to the detective, who is always thinking of his next meal. But Kubu is also a thinking detective, and watching him connect the dots is a delight in this novel that opens with a body found in a remote gaming area, hyenas grazing on it. The case keeps returning to the influential Botswana Cattle and Mining, and the bodies keep piling up. Although I thought the pace lagged at some points, overall I found it an entertaining read – and the setting of Botswana add to the pleasure.

Rating system:
5.0: Wow!
4.0: A book I'd recommend
3.0: Mediocre to good
2.0: Pretty Bad

Books for the Holiday

My blogging friend Amy, who has done much for promoting book blogs, now is promoting buying books for the holidays. Her new blog has recommendations for all ages.

Now this is nothing new in this household. My wish lists have always included books. And I love to give books -- especially to the nieces and nephews. This year, older stepson-to-be mentioned he liked the Hardy Boys. Mysteries! My favorite genre! Coincidentially, my friends at 4Mystery Addicts supplied a list of mysteries for young readers at about the same time. You can guess what he'll be getting from me.

But holiday books don't always have to be fiction. My brother and sister-in-law often get books on modern architecture or interior design (they hope to build a modernist home in upstate New York). My sister and mother get books on scrapbooking. My brother once gave me a lavish cookbook/travelogue on Spain. Cookbooks often make wonderful gifts.

I do have one recommendation this holiday season: Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season by Jennifer Basye Sander and Peter Sander. Some of their tips will make you rethink what the holiday season really is about.

Have a happy one!

Other October reads

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (audio)
Protagonist: Juliet Ashton
Setting: London and Guernsey island
Rating: 4.5
Juliet is a journalist who usually writes light, fluffy stories about the war. After the war, she seeks something of more substance to write about -- and stumbles upon the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, formed when the island was under Nazi occupation. Eventually, Juliet decides she has to leave London and visit the island to write her book. The story is told through letters, telegraphs and journals, and is not so much about books as it is about connections between people.

The Black Path by Asa Larsson
Protagonist: Rebecka Martinsson and Insp. Ana-Maria Mella
Setting: Sweden
Rating: 3.7
A woman is found dead on a frozen lake, and police soon discover she was a key player in a large mining company. That's the crime, but the book also delves into the minds of many of its characters, including Rebecka, who has just returned to work after being the victim of a crime herself (I do feel as if I missed something in not reading the first book in this series). Other people raved about this book. For me, it was a good read, but it is a dark and often uncomfortable book to read.

Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre (audio)
Protagonist: Parlabene
Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland
Rating: 3.2
When his neighbor is found dead, and journalist Parlabene ends up as a suspect for about a day, he decides to investigate. This book has awful amounts of bloodshed, throw-up and fecal matter -- and that's just in the first chapter. If you can handle that, there's also a dark sense of humor and great writing. While I could appreciate the book, not an author I'd probably return to.

Rating system:
5.0: Wow!
4.0: A book I'd recommend
3.0: Mediocre to good
2.0: Pretty Bad

Interview with Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves has become a favorite author. While I really enjoyed her Vera Stanhope novels, her Shetland series has made me a devoted fan (and others, judging from the success of it). In the Shetland books, she writes of a place bleak yet beautiful, with characters whose families go back generations in an insular community, and so secrets are often kept for years -- in short, a perfect setting for murder.

Cleeves graciously agreed to answer some questions about her novels and writing. Below is my interview with her:

Q. Your latest series, the Shetland quartet, is set on the remote, isolated Shetland Islands. Can you tell us how you came to set your series there?

I first went to Shetland more than thirty years ago. I'd dropped out of college and a friend got me a job as assistant cook in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, one of the more remote islands in the group. I couldn't cook and knew nothing about birds... but I loved it. And my cooking must have been OK because I went back the following year as head cook! I met my husband there and we've been back to the Isle and to Shetland mainland many times since. In fact I'm writing this on the train south after a visit to friends there. RAVEN BLACK was conceived after a visit in mid-winter. The place was beautiful - very cold, snow and ice and a big orange sun. There were three ravens, very black against the snow. I thought if there was blood too it would be a stunning image. And primitive, like a fairy story. I wanted to explore what it is to be an outsider - the islands provide a great background for that.

Q. You’d been writing for about 20 years before the publication of Raven Black (the first in the quartet and winner of the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award for the best crime novel of the year) brought you greater success. How does it feel to achieve such success after you’ve been writing for so long?

Absolutely wonderful! And very lucky. It's hard for mid-list writers to be recognised late in their career. There are lots of good writers who haven't received the recognition they deserve, so I hope publishers will look again at their established lists and look at new ways to promote the authors already there. I don't take anything for granted. This is a precarious business. All you can do is write the best possible book and hope that readers enjoy it.

Q. From the very beginning, your books have featured birds – and birdwatchers in the Palmer-Jones series. How did this come about?

My husband is a passionate birder. I started writing seriously when he was warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee estuary on the west coast of England. We were the only residents and lived in an old telegraph cottage. There was no mains water or electricity and there wasn't much else to do. I met lots of birders through him. Most of them were great people, but definitely obsessed! Obsession is a good subject for a crime novel. I killed off a birdwatcher in the first book. The fourth Shetland book returns to the world of birding and is set in Fair Isle. Almost like going back to where it all started.

Q. How do you create your characters? Do they pop up in your mind unannounced, or are they based on people you know?

When I started off I was a very lazy writer and the characters were based on people I knew. Now they're all made up. I think about them all the time when I'm writing. They're lurking in the back of my brain somewhere, so when they come out on the page, it's as if I'm writing from memory not imagination.

Q. Your third Shetland book, Red Bones, is scheduled for publication in February. What’s next after the Shetland series? Will you return to another of your series or start something new?

I'm working on the last book in the Shetland quartet now - one reason for spending the last week there. After that I'll write a Vera Stanhope novel. She's a cop based in Northumberland and I enjoy writing her. Also, HIDDEN DEPTHS, one of the books in which she features has just been optioned for TV here, and it would be good to have a new book out to coincide with a possible film! After that? I'm not sure. I haven't definitely given up on Shetland though.

Q. You recently toured the East Coast of the United States and attended Bouchercon in Baltimore. What were your impressions of the U.S. during this trip?

I always enjoy visiting the U.S. I love the space and the energy and the hospitality of the people. This time I sensed a lack of confidence, a questioning of accepted values. I don't think that's a bad thing. I admire the way people seem to be engaged in politics again - the people on the street checking that residents are registered to vote, kids talking about policies and politicians. It was certainly an interesting time to be there.


Q. Who are the authors you love to read?

A. My favourite authors in the UK are Andrew Taylor and John Harvey, but my real reading passion is translated crime fiction from Scandinavia and mainland Europe. I enjoy Dominique Manotti's work and was delighted when she won the International Dagger this year. Her translators are magnificent! For something light and witty I go for Andrea Camilleri who sets his books in Sicily: you get a wonderful sense of the heat and the food - and the absurd nature of Italian politics. He's brilliantly translated too.

Q. My 10-year-old stepson recently decided he’s going to write a book, and he’s considering two genres: either mystery or science fiction. He asked for my opinion, but now I’ll ask you: why mystery? What’s so special about writing in the mystery genre?

Mystery works for me because I don't have to worry about the plot. If you write in the English tradition - as I do - the plot is really set out in advance. There's a murder, a limited number of suspects, some resolution at the end. That leaves me the space to explore the stuff I really enjoy: relationships, families, the influence of place on people. I like playing with the rules of the form. And I am a real sucker for the cheap thrill of the surprise ending.

Photo courtesy of Duncan Lawrie Private Bank. For more information on Ann Cleeves, visit her website.

White Nights by Ann Cleeves

White Nights by Ann Cleeves
Protagonist: Det. Jimmy Perez
Setting: Shetland Islands
Rating: 5.0

This is Cleeves’ second book in the Shetland quartet, and where the first one left us with the haunting image of black ravens against white snow, this one is set in the summer, where the nights are long and white, because the sun hardly sets. Amid the isolation of the Shetland Islands (very much a closed community), a strange thing happens at a gallery art opening where Perez’s friend Fran is exhibiting. A man starts sobbing, and falls to the floor. When Perez takes him away, the man claims to have amnesia, and has no identification on him. The next day, he’s found dead. Throughout the book, there’s constant mention of another man who went missing years ago, so you know he will soon play a part in the plot. Cleeves cleverly weaves a story about a close-knit community and long-kept secrets. While I figured out who might be the murderer, there was still a shocker at the end.

As murder mysteries, the Shetland quartet is superb. But I also enjoy it for the setting. As Cleeves has said herself, hardly anyone has set stories in this part of the world. While part of Scotland, Shetland has a Norse past that is still celebrated in the annual Up Helly Aa festival, featured in the first book. Cleeves continues to let us look into the lives of Shetlanders in this book, from the fiddle music (to hear it, go to YouTube and seek out Shetland fiddle music) to the shearing of the sheep, described in a beautiful little passage.

White Night was recently released in the United States. The third in the quartet, Red Bones, will be released in the U.K. in February. I highly recommend this series!

Diary of an Eccentric

As part of BBAW, I was paired up for an interview with fellow blogger Anna at Diary of an Eccentric, who writes about knitting, being a mom and -- mostly -- about reading. What I like most about Anna's blog are the author interviews. I've already added several books to my TBR list after reading her interviews and reviews. And for those who like to knit, by the way, some great photos and patterns (I myself will admit to having only learned to knit scarves). Please check out her wonderful blog!

Here's my Q and A with Anna:


Your blog says you write about reading, writing, knitting, and being a mom. Is there one interest, though, that you write the most about?

Definitely books. Books have taken over my life, and I'm thrilled! (My husband isn't, though, considering I now need another book shelf. Or two. But who's counting?) Writing and reading always have been my passions, and I love being able to write about what I read.

Can you tell us about yourself and your life, your interests?

First and foremost, I'm a wife and the mother of a beautiful, intelligent 8-year-old girl (dubbed "The Girl" on my blog...and I'm not biased or anything LOL). I work full-time as an editor and writer in the D.C. area, and in my spare time, I read, write book reviews, knit a few stitches, and work on the novel and short-story collection I hope to someday publish. I also love to stroll through nature, though a rambunctious kid makes it difficult to do much strolling!

Why did you start a blog, and how long have you been doing it? Has it evolved since you started it?

I started blogging a little more than a year ago, and my plan at the time was to catalog my knitting projects and discuss books and writing on the side. I've always been a bookworm, and when I started taking public transit to work, I suddenly had a little more than 3 hours per day of free time. Rather than spend it sleeping through my stops, I started reading one or two books a week. And when the unfinished knitting projects started piling up in my knitting basket, I found it easy to transform my blog into a space for my thoughts on books. I've also started interviewing authors, and that's been a wonderful experience. I still plan to post pictures of my knitting projects when I finish them, but knitting definitely has taken a backseat to books, and I've never been happier!

Your blog has some interesting interviews with authors. Has it been hard getting authors to commit to interviews?

Actually, it hasn't been hard at all! I'm finding that authors love the free publicity, which is great because I love trading emails with them and learning things about them and their writing processes that I can put to good use. And I'm making some friends. Generally, I just contact the author by email to let him or her know how much I've enjoyed their book, and then I ask if they'd be willing to answer a few questions by email at their convenience. So far, all the authors I've contacted have been so friendly and enthusiastic.

Is there one genre of books you read the most? What do you like about that genre?

I don't tend to stick to one genre. I just look for good books. I don't even have a definition for a "good" book...I just know it when I see it. I'm a sucker for a good family saga, though. I love books that cover a particular family over many generations, and I don't really know why. I've always been drawn to these books, and I think it's because I like seeing the characters evolve over many years. My favorites are "Liars and Saints" and "A Family Daughter" by Maile Meloy.

What's been the best experience you've had since you started blogging about books?

I've had tons of great experiences. "Meeting" fellow book bloggers, landing my first author interview, being contacted for the first time by a publisher to give away books on my blog, being contacted by an author who noticed I was currently reading her book, and being asked by an author to write a guest post on her blog. Those were BIG for me! But I really love when someone says a review that I wrote prompted them to read a particular book. It's always about the books and passing on my passion for reading.

What are some great books you've read recently that you'd recommend?

I'm not sure there's enough space to list them all! I loved Michelle Moran's Nefertiti, Ann Patchett's Run, Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Painter From Shanghai, Kate Veitch's Without a Backward Glance, Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Mrs. Lieutenant, and John Addiego's The Islands of Divine Music. An older book I read recently and really enjoyed was Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible.

What is your favorite book blog?

I have to give a shout out to my good friend Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit. I've seen her site evolve over the past year. I also enjoy reading Booking Mama, Literarily, Book Escape, Books on the Brain, The Written Word, and the list goes on. There's scores of great book blogs out there, which probably explains why the number of unread posts in Bloglines is usually in the hundreds!!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Didn't know there was such a thing? Well, there is.

BBAW was started this year by blogger My Friend Amy, who explains why: "Acknowledging the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general, I am excited to announce the first Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation."

There will be events all week long at My Friend Amy's blog and others: awards for best blogs in many categories, giveaways, interviews, etc. For daily giveaways, see here. There will be over 100 books, plus other goodies, given away!

But the best thing about BBAW may be discovering new blogs; I've come across several good ones already. One of those is my interview partner Anna, whose interview I will post here on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

September reads

Death Without Company by Craig Johnson (2nd in series)
Protagonist: Sheriff Walt Longmire
Setting: Wyoming
Rating: 4.8
Visiting the old sheriff, Lucian Connally, in the Durant Home for Assisted Living, Longmire is drawn into what at first seems a natural death, that of Mari Baroja. Lucian is convinced it's murder, and turns out he's right. But that only begins the unraveling of decades-old secrets. Johnson's debut novel was wonderful, with witty, wise-cracking characters. They're back -- and this novel is just as good as the first one.

The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer (memoir, audio)
Rating: 3.7
Someone recommended this, simply telling me it was a memoir about a journalist on Long Island, N.Y. That was enough to intrigue me, a journalist on Long Island. Well, because the memoir covers Moehringer's life from childhood to young adulthood, there's actually little of his journalistic career in this. This is a tale of growing up with an absent father, a loving mother and a cast of characters -- mainly the men from the Manhasset, Long Island bar who help raise him, including bartender Charlie, his uncle. They take him to the beach as a child, and, perhaps more importantly, give J.R. the gift of storytelling. There are other men in his life -- such as Bill and Bud, the managers of a bookstore who give J.R. his first job, an education in books and the push he needs to apply to Yale. While this book dragged out a little too long toward the end, it's still a nice tale, very well told.



December Heat by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (2nd in series)
Protagonist: Insp. Espinosa
Setting: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rating: 4.2
After a drunken night with his companion, a prostitute, a retired cop finds her murdered the next morning. Because of the alcohol, he can't remember anything. Worse yet, his belt was used in the murder, and his wallet and ID are gone. I'd read another in the Espinosa series and didn't like it as much. But here, Espinosa partners with the retired cop, Vieira, and the two work to solving this murder, along with other killings that follow them -- and soon threaten their own lives. The chemistry between the two makes this a much more readable, entertaining book.


Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson (3rd in series)
Protagonist: Sheriff Walt Longmire
Setting: Philadelphia
Rating: 4.5
This time, the setting changes to Philadelphia. Walt and Henry Standing Bear travel to Philly, Henry to set up an exhibit of Indian photographs and Walt to visit his daughter. But before he even has a chance to see Cady, she suffers a vicious attack that leaves her in a coma. There's no way that Walt will stay out of this investigation, of course. Like Johnson's first two books, this is a solid, well-crafted detective story. If I deducted any points, it was because it was set in Philadelphia. Part of the charm of the books is the Wyoming setting. Still, this is a highly enjoyable series -- one I'll continue.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Protagonist: Tom Ripley
Setting: Italy
Rating: 4.0
If you've seen the movie and think you know the plot, you don't. The book is quite different from the movie, with only broad strokes connecting the two. The initial premise is the same: Tom Ripley is asked by Dickie Greenleaf's father to go to Italy to try to persuade his son to return to the U.S., where Dickie's mother is in bad health. Once there, though, Tom decides he likes Italy and, later, he likes being Dickie Greenleaf. But in the book, Tom is much more of a cold-blooded sociopath, with an ending that is very different than the movie.

The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith (audio, 4th in series)
Protagonist: Isabel Dalhousie
Setting: Edinburgh
Rating: 3.8
This book moves Isabel in an entirely different direction -- here, she's the mother of baby Charlie, her son with Jamie, a younger man (and the ex-boyfriend of her niece Cat). Although Cat was the one to end the relationship with Jamie, there's now a chill in the air. Isabel has also been ousted from her job as editor of a philosophy journal in a political move, although she extracts her revenge. There's a lot of pondering about philosophy and morality, but the story really picks up when Isabel decides to meddle, as she is wont to do, and uncovers a little mystery surrounding paintings that may be forgeries.

The Book Awards Challenge

Along with 127 other people (and counting), I've taken up the Book Awards Challenge: To read 10 award-winning books in the next 10 months. My 10 picks:

The Edgar:
Best Novel: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (2007)
Best First Novel by an American Author: The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson (2007)
Best Novel: Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin (2004)

CWA Dagger:
New Blood: The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh (2002)

Man Booker:
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)

Dilys:
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill (2006)

Gumshoe:
Best First Novel: The Baby Game by Randall Hicks (2006)
Best First Novel: Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy (2004)

Pulitzer:
Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness by Pete Earley (2007)

Hugo:
Best Novel: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2005)

Pick of the Month -- The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (first in a series)
Protagonist: Sheriff Walt Longmire
Setting: Absaroka County, Wyoming
Rating: 4.8

The crimes reported in Absaroka County are not the usual: a kid chasing horses with his snow machine (turns out he was herding livestock with it), someone sliding off an icy road and hitting a yield sign; and someone stealing Old Lady Grossman’s snowman (a practical joke by her nephew). So when someone reports a dead body, Sheriff Longmire figures it’s probably dead sheep. But the body is that of Cody Pritchard’s, one of four young men who two years earlier received a light sentence for the rape of Melissa Little Bird, a Cheyenne girl with fetal alcohol syndrome. And Longmire has what seems a crime of revenge — a dish best served cold. With his deputy, foul-mouthed Vic Moretti, and his good friend Henry Standing Bear, Longmire tries to protect the other three men while investigating the murder.

This is a book that, while recommended by several people, I had feared as maybe too cowboy-ish. Nothing of the kind. It is wise-cracking in the tradition of Robert Parker’s Spenser books but set in the high plains of Wyoming, described so beautifully that I’ve almost booked a plane ticket there. The traditions of the Northern Cheyenne and life on the reservation are also a big part of the book, adding yet another layer. Craig Johnson is definitely a fresh voice in crime fiction (his fourth book has just been published) and one I'll keep reading. For a great interview with Johnson, head on over to Mysterious Musings.