Friday, September 02, 2011

Mike Ripley on Track

Mike Ripley’s September “Getting Away with Murder” column is up and running at the Webzine Shots. As always, Ripley’s coverage is so complete, I don’t even know where to start in recounting it: festivals and new series and old series and general comments about the crime corner of the book industry we all love.

Ripley’s observations tend to be spot-on and--quite often--are stated with great wit. Take, for example, this quick look at a new novel from Deon Meyer:
I am steeling myself for this month’s inevitable hysteria as publishers and booksellers trumpet that “South Africa is the new Scandinavia” when it comes to crime writing and that Deon Meyer is “South Africa’s Answer to Stieg Larsson”. He’s not; he’s far better.
As it happens, Trackers showed up in my office just today and I’d already decided to sneak it to the top of my TBR pile when I read Meyer’s sharp--and positive--assessment. Meyer writes in Afrikaans, which he explains in a touching comment in an interview that arrived with the book. “If I write in English, it takes me longer,” Meyer explains. “I have to translate my thoughts. ... Afrikaans is my mother tongue. It’s a small language, an endangered language. The one thing I can do for the language is to write in it.”

In the same interview, Meyer reports that he’s a big fan of Michael Connelly and insists that 2002’s “City of Bones is the most perfect crime novel I’ve ever read.”

Ironically enough, Connelly blurbs the North American editions of this book, which will be out next week from Atlantic Monthly Press in the States and Random House Canada north of the border. “With Deon Meyer, you can’t go wrong,” Connelly enthuses. I guess I’m going to trust in Ripley and Connelly and plan on spending a few hours with Meyer in the near future. Thanks, guys!

4 comments:

mystery book girl said...

Ya- I have to agree- City of Bones is one amazing book. I highly reccomend it too.

J F Norris said...

Here's a piece of nostalgic trivia for you: Copies of Deon Myes's third book Heart of the Hunter were included in the free book bag at the Chicago Bouchercon in 2005. At the end of the convention I saw that hundreds of them were dumped in the recycled books bin. Hundreds of people missed out on a superior and intelligent thriller. Finally he is getting his notice. You ought to check him out soon, Jeff.

RJR said...

How odd that Mike Ripley should crown Nora Roberts as "the new John Creasy" because she's published 200 novels. I know several authors--including myself--who have published more than that.

Unless he's just talking about mysteries.

RJR

kathy d. said...

Omigosh, here I am trying to read global crime fiction, translated and not, and here I am reminded to read more about Harry Bosch.

What can we do? Demand 36-hour days, listen to an audio book while reading another paper book, get a clone? Cut sleep? Abdicate bill-paying and task-doing and errands?