We’re coming down to the wire on 2018, but let me just squeeze in a post following up on some things I mentioned late last week.
First off, blogs participating in the inaugural mystery-fiction Reprint of the Year Award competition have finally named their winner: it’s Locked Room Murders, an unpretentious-looking book originally published back in 1979 and described on the Amazon sales site as “a bibliography containing a description of the problem and, separately, the solution to locked-room and impossible-crime novels and short stories.” Second place honors went to Bats in the Belfry, E.C.R. Lorac’s 1937 thriller. You’ll find the full results of this contest here.
Second, the UK blog Killing Times has concluded announcing its “top 20 crime dramas of the year.” Here are its five foremost picks:
1. American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace
(BBC Two)
2. Unforgotten (Series 3, ITV)
3. The Bridge (Series 4, BBC Two)
4. The Deuce (Series 2, Sky Atlantic)
5. Trust (BBC Two)
Killing Times’ rundown of its favorite TV presentations rolled out in four separate posts—20-16, 15-11, 10-6, and 5-1.
Finally, we have more bloggers late to the game of declaring their favorite crime, mystery, and thriller novels released over the last 12 months. Ayo Onatade’s choices, posted in Shotsmag Confidential, include Michael Connelly’s Dark Sacred Night, Laura Lippman’s Sunburn, and Mick Herron’s The Drop. Lesa Holstine applauds Lou Berney’s November Road, Laurie Loewensteins Death of a Rainmaker, and Brendan DuBois’ The Negotiator, among others. And L.J. Roberts adds her thumbs-up for such works as Allen Eskens’ The Shadows We Hide, Ann Cleeves’ Wild Fire, and G.M. Ford’s Soul Survivor.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Friday, December 28, 2018
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2018,
Part III: Steven Nester
Steven Nester is the longtime host of Poets of the Tabloid Murder, a weekly Internet radio program heard on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). In addition, he is a New York-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Rap Sheet, January Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Yellow Mama, Mystery Scene, and Firsts Magazine.
• The Sinners, by Ace Atkins (Putnam):
As if continuing the adventures of Robert B. Parker’s Boston private eye, Spenser, weren’t sufficiently time-consuming, author Ace Atkins also pens a series about Quinn Colson, a former U.S. Army Ranger and current sheriff of Mississippi’s (fictional) Tibbehah County. One hell of a series it is, too. The Sinners, the eighth Colson novel, really hits it out of the park. Colson may have finally put his nemesis, corrupt businessman
Johnny Stagg, behind bars some while back, but crime abhors a vacuum, and Stagg has since been replaced by one Fannie Hathcock, a red-headed strip-club proprietor we got to know in Atkins’ previous installment in this series, The Fallen (2017). In The Sinners, Hatchcock’s able bartender, Ordeen Davis, is murdered by Heath Pritchard, an old-school marijuana grower who likes “racin’, growin’ weed, drinking and screwin”—not necessarily in that order. Hamp Beckett, Colson’s deceased uncle and law-enforcement predecessor, consigned Pritchard to their state’s notorious Parchman prison 23 years ago, but now he’s returned—and he wants what he figures is his share of the family pot business still being carried on by his not-too-bright nephews, stock-car neophytes (and comic-relief providers) Tyler and Cody Pritchard. As one might expect, Hathcock is upset at Davis’ death, especially since it comes on top of other trouble she’s already been having with the Pritchard boys and moves her closer into conflict with the Dixie Mafia. Meanwhile, Boom Kimbrough—Colson’s wingman, fellow vet, and the designated best man at the sheriff’s impending nuptials—has gone to work for a trucking enterprise that’s also caught up in the drug trade, and a determined federal agent wants Kimbrough to don a wire and help her bring down his employer. As they might be in real life, the obstacles thrown in Colson’s way here are reconciled in a bittersweet manner that lends this book the resonance of reality.
• Swift Vengeance, by T. Jefferson Parker (Putnam):
Californian Jeff Parker boasts of an elegant prose style, and there are few other fiction writers who can come anywhere near to achieving his concision and beauty of expression. Parker also claims a firm grasp on the development of plot and characters, with 24 novels to his credit as proof. Saying much with little causes readers to want more—and Parker is happy to deliver. In this second tale starring Roland Ford (introduced in last year’s The Room of White Fire), this San Diego cop turned Marine turned private investigator endeavors to help Lindsey Rakes, a stressed-out ex-U.S. Air Force drone pilot, who has received the most gruesome death threats from a mysterious figured identified only as “Caliphornia.” It seems that would-be assassin intends to exact revenge upon Rakes for the deaths she caused in the Middle East during her military service. The handwriting on the menacing notes resembles that of Rasha Samara, a Saudi landscape architect she’s dated during her divorce from husband Brandon Goff. But the angry Goff might just as well be the source of the threats. Rakes goes into hiding for her own protection, while Ford works with an FBI specialist to identify her would-be assailant. The beheading of one of Rakes’ former Air Force colleagues, who had also been terrorized by Caliphornia, raises the stakes all around. While tackling international issues and the violence that
may derive from them with confidence and prowess, Parker brings enough verisimilitude to his escapist fiction, that one can’t help feeling both thrilled by his storytelling … and on constant alert for dangers ahead.
• Pirata, by Patrick Hasburgh
(Harper Perennial):
A crew of louche ex-patriots killing time and abundant brain cells on a Central American beach find themselves in a most un-mellow situation; yet despite the violence, debauchery, and broken families, this book makes the life of a surf bum seem rather attractive. “Part of the deal with expats in Mexico is that we get to be whoever we want to be—as long as we don’t cause too much trouble,” opines Nick Lutz, a California used-car salesman turned slacker. After being shot in the head by a would-be client determined to hijack some wheels, then seeing his young son injured in an automobile accident and losing his wife, Lutz flees south of the border in hopes of finding a new life. It’s all good—until a pretty femme fatale named Meagan dumps her abusive boyfriend, Winsor, who also happens to be Nick’s drinking buddy. When she seeks refuge for herself and her two boys in Nick’s casita, Winsor doesn’t take too kindly to the disruption of his love life. Not too kindly at all. Suddenly dead bodies begin to appear, together with a distinctly unfriendly FBI agent; and in short order Lutz must fight for the few things that are genuinely important to him. Amid everything else, he realizes that his ex-wife back in the States, who now has custody of their child, may have had a hand in his attempted murder. Hasburgh created the 1987-1991 Fox-TV series 21 Jump Street, so it’s little wonder that Pirata moves quickly and credibly, tempting one to chuck it all and head to a beach with a board and suntan lotion.
Finally, one work from the non-fiction stacks …
• The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking):
Edwin Rist, a 22-year-old home-schooled prodigy from upstate New York, brings unwanted scrutiny to the arcane and sometimes secretive circle of salmon-fly tiers when his “crime of the century” (at least in that world) unravels in Johnson’s The Feather Thief. Brilliant and protean, an extremely talented flautist with an intelligence bordering perhaps on Asperger’s Syndrome,
Rist broke into Britain’s Natural History Museum at Tring, in Hertfordshire, in June 2009 and stole hundreds of brightly colored bird skins, putting him in the enviable position of owning one of the greatest such collections ever amassed. He then sought to peddle individual feathers and entire birds to fellow fly tiers at top-dollar prices. Many of those species are protected by law, whether the birds are dead or alive. But Rist figured that some of the world’s best tiers would nonetheless want his rare and otherwise-unattainable feathers in order to create flies in the style of the pastime’s masters. He also convinced himself that he’d acted in the public service, freeing the natural beauty that had been hidden in museums for decades. Over the course of The Feather Thief, Johnson—a master of erudition, concision, and simplicity—will make you slightly conversant in evolution, ecology, woman’s fashions at the turn of the last century, the rise of the British Empire, and exotic birds among many other things, without ever coming across as a prig. And all of that information is wrapped around a story worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle.
• The Sinners, by Ace Atkins (Putnam):
As if continuing the adventures of Robert B. Parker’s Boston private eye, Spenser, weren’t sufficiently time-consuming, author Ace Atkins also pens a series about Quinn Colson, a former U.S. Army Ranger and current sheriff of Mississippi’s (fictional) Tibbehah County. One hell of a series it is, too. The Sinners, the eighth Colson novel, really hits it out of the park. Colson may have finally put his nemesis, corrupt businessman
Johnny Stagg, behind bars some while back, but crime abhors a vacuum, and Stagg has since been replaced by one Fannie Hathcock, a red-headed strip-club proprietor we got to know in Atkins’ previous installment in this series, The Fallen (2017). In The Sinners, Hatchcock’s able bartender, Ordeen Davis, is murdered by Heath Pritchard, an old-school marijuana grower who likes “racin’, growin’ weed, drinking and screwin”—not necessarily in that order. Hamp Beckett, Colson’s deceased uncle and law-enforcement predecessor, consigned Pritchard to their state’s notorious Parchman prison 23 years ago, but now he’s returned—and he wants what he figures is his share of the family pot business still being carried on by his not-too-bright nephews, stock-car neophytes (and comic-relief providers) Tyler and Cody Pritchard. As one might expect, Hathcock is upset at Davis’ death, especially since it comes on top of other trouble she’s already been having with the Pritchard boys and moves her closer into conflict with the Dixie Mafia. Meanwhile, Boom Kimbrough—Colson’s wingman, fellow vet, and the designated best man at the sheriff’s impending nuptials—has gone to work for a trucking enterprise that’s also caught up in the drug trade, and a determined federal agent wants Kimbrough to don a wire and help her bring down his employer. As they might be in real life, the obstacles thrown in Colson’s way here are reconciled in a bittersweet manner that lends this book the resonance of reality.• Swift Vengeance, by T. Jefferson Parker (Putnam):
Californian Jeff Parker boasts of an elegant prose style, and there are few other fiction writers who can come anywhere near to achieving his concision and beauty of expression. Parker also claims a firm grasp on the development of plot and characters, with 24 novels to his credit as proof. Saying much with little causes readers to want more—and Parker is happy to deliver. In this second tale starring Roland Ford (introduced in last year’s The Room of White Fire), this San Diego cop turned Marine turned private investigator endeavors to help Lindsey Rakes, a stressed-out ex-U.S. Air Force drone pilot, who has received the most gruesome death threats from a mysterious figured identified only as “Caliphornia.” It seems that would-be assassin intends to exact revenge upon Rakes for the deaths she caused in the Middle East during her military service. The handwriting on the menacing notes resembles that of Rasha Samara, a Saudi landscape architect she’s dated during her divorce from husband Brandon Goff. But the angry Goff might just as well be the source of the threats. Rakes goes into hiding for her own protection, while Ford works with an FBI specialist to identify her would-be assailant. The beheading of one of Rakes’ former Air Force colleagues, who had also been terrorized by Caliphornia, raises the stakes all around. While tackling international issues and the violence that
may derive from them with confidence and prowess, Parker brings enough verisimilitude to his escapist fiction, that one can’t help feeling both thrilled by his storytelling … and on constant alert for dangers ahead.• Pirata, by Patrick Hasburgh
(Harper Perennial):
A crew of louche ex-patriots killing time and abundant brain cells on a Central American beach find themselves in a most un-mellow situation; yet despite the violence, debauchery, and broken families, this book makes the life of a surf bum seem rather attractive. “Part of the deal with expats in Mexico is that we get to be whoever we want to be—as long as we don’t cause too much trouble,” opines Nick Lutz, a California used-car salesman turned slacker. After being shot in the head by a would-be client determined to hijack some wheels, then seeing his young son injured in an automobile accident and losing his wife, Lutz flees south of the border in hopes of finding a new life. It’s all good—until a pretty femme fatale named Meagan dumps her abusive boyfriend, Winsor, who also happens to be Nick’s drinking buddy. When she seeks refuge for herself and her two boys in Nick’s casita, Winsor doesn’t take too kindly to the disruption of his love life. Not too kindly at all. Suddenly dead bodies begin to appear, together with a distinctly unfriendly FBI agent; and in short order Lutz must fight for the few things that are genuinely important to him. Amid everything else, he realizes that his ex-wife back in the States, who now has custody of their child, may have had a hand in his attempted murder. Hasburgh created the 1987-1991 Fox-TV series 21 Jump Street, so it’s little wonder that Pirata moves quickly and credibly, tempting one to chuck it all and head to a beach with a board and suntan lotion.
Finally, one work from the non-fiction stacks …
• The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking):
Edwin Rist, a 22-year-old home-schooled prodigy from upstate New York, brings unwanted scrutiny to the arcane and sometimes secretive circle of salmon-fly tiers when his “crime of the century” (at least in that world) unravels in Johnson’s The Feather Thief. Brilliant and protean, an extremely talented flautist with an intelligence bordering perhaps on Asperger’s Syndrome,
Rist broke into Britain’s Natural History Museum at Tring, in Hertfordshire, in June 2009 and stole hundreds of brightly colored bird skins, putting him in the enviable position of owning one of the greatest such collections ever amassed. He then sought to peddle individual feathers and entire birds to fellow fly tiers at top-dollar prices. Many of those species are protected by law, whether the birds are dead or alive. But Rist figured that some of the world’s best tiers would nonetheless want his rare and otherwise-unattainable feathers in order to create flies in the style of the pastime’s masters. He also convinced himself that he’d acted in the public service, freeing the natural beauty that had been hidden in museums for decades. Over the course of The Feather Thief, Johnson—a master of erudition, concision, and simplicity—will make you slightly conversant in evolution, ecology, woman’s fashions at the turn of the last century, the rise of the British Empire, and exotic birds among many other things, without ever coming across as a prig. And all of that information is wrapped around a story worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Choices, Choices Everywhere
Due to other distractions, personal as well as professional, I’ve fallen behind in my efforts to highlight “best crime fiction of 2018” assessments as they appear all over the Web. But I haven’t neglected to bookmark those I have found. So here are many more that might be of interest to you: Three contributors to the British site Crime Fiction Lover sound off on their favorite genre releases from the last 12 months—here, here, and here; Criminal Element’s “Best Books of 2018” rundown includes works by Lou Berney, Karin Slaughter, and Alex Segura; both that site and Murder & Mayhem laud nine works apiece, but the latter’s list diverges significantly in its selections, praising books by Megan Abbott, Stephen King, Simone St. Janes, and others; for BuzzFeed News, critic-author Sarah Weinman commends novels by the likes of William Boyle, Oyinkan Braithwaite, and Tara Isabella Burton; and the blog For Winter Nights renders its favorable judgment on 10 books, mostly mysteries but not all.
Meanwhile, some of the employees at MysteryPeople, a store-within-a-store at Austin, Texas-based BookPeople, have found it necessary to express their own opinions as to the most commendable crime, mystery, and thriller fiction issued in 2018. Click on these links to consider the choices of Scott Butki and the evidently single-monikered Meike; and click here to see which 2018 debut novels crime-fiction coordinator Scott Montgomery thought rose above the rest. CrimeReads posted a plethora of picks in this, the first holiday season of its existence, but four in particular stood out: “The Best Noir Fiction of 2018,” “The Best Historical Crime Novels of 2018,” “The 10 Best Crime Anthologies of 2018,” and “The Best International Crime Fiction of 2018.” The blog still maintained by Portland, Oregon’s old bookstore, Murder by the Book, offers a wide-ranging list of 18 titles worthy of our mutual appreciation. In the Mysterious Book Report, blogger John Dwaine McKenna applauds a baker’s dozen of yarns that made their initial appearances this year. Beneath the Stains of Time writer “TomCat” features vintage-only works in his (or her?) “Best and Worst of 2018” inventory. Finally, Dead Good asked 19 authors—among them Lee Child, Jo Jakeman, Lizzy Barber, and Tim Weaver—to identify what they most enjoyed reading over the last twelvemonth.
Also worth mentioning here, even though it doesn’t focus at all on books, is Killing Times’ collection of what its critics have determined are the “Top 20 Crime Dramas of the Year.” It looks as if this is a four-part feature; Part I is here, Part II is here, and you’ll have to keep watching the site for the concluding two posts.
I noted earlier this month that several blogs specializing in vintage crime and mystery fiction have banded together to choose their favorite reprints of the year. The four-stage process, explained here, includes an online survey open to public involvement. To find the poll, with its 20 nominees, simply click here. Books by Dorothy B. Hughes, E.C.R. Lorac, Margaret Millar, and Patrick Quentin are all vying to be tapped as Reprint of the Year. Vote now, if you’d like to take part, because the winner is due to be declared tomorrow!
Meanwhile, some of the employees at MysteryPeople, a store-within-a-store at Austin, Texas-based BookPeople, have found it necessary to express their own opinions as to the most commendable crime, mystery, and thriller fiction issued in 2018. Click on these links to consider the choices of Scott Butki and the evidently single-monikered Meike; and click here to see which 2018 debut novels crime-fiction coordinator Scott Montgomery thought rose above the rest. CrimeReads posted a plethora of picks in this, the first holiday season of its existence, but four in particular stood out: “The Best Noir Fiction of 2018,” “The Best Historical Crime Novels of 2018,” “The 10 Best Crime Anthologies of 2018,” and “The Best International Crime Fiction of 2018.” The blog still maintained by Portland, Oregon’s old bookstore, Murder by the Book, offers a wide-ranging list of 18 titles worthy of our mutual appreciation. In the Mysterious Book Report, blogger John Dwaine McKenna applauds a baker’s dozen of yarns that made their initial appearances this year. Beneath the Stains of Time writer “TomCat” features vintage-only works in his (or her?) “Best and Worst of 2018” inventory. Finally, Dead Good asked 19 authors—among them Lee Child, Jo Jakeman, Lizzy Barber, and Tim Weaver—to identify what they most enjoyed reading over the last twelvemonth.
Also worth mentioning here, even though it doesn’t focus at all on books, is Killing Times’ collection of what its critics have determined are the “Top 20 Crime Dramas of the Year.” It looks as if this is a four-part feature; Part I is here, Part II is here, and you’ll have to keep watching the site for the concluding two posts.
I noted earlier this month that several blogs specializing in vintage crime and mystery fiction have banded together to choose their favorite reprints of the year. The four-stage process, explained here, includes an online survey open to public involvement. To find the poll, with its 20 nominees, simply click here. Books by Dorothy B. Hughes, E.C.R. Lorac, Margaret Millar, and Patrick Quentin are all vying to be tapped as Reprint of the Year. Vote now, if you’d like to take part, because the winner is due to be declared tomorrow!
* * *
One more thing: Many of us received books, even stacks of books, over the holidays. Unlike yours truly, not everyone holds onto all of the works they read and enjoy. If you’re looking to let go of some hardcover or paperback gifts, please consider donating them to your local libraries. I’ve been doing this for years, knowing that what Seattle libraries themselves can’t use will be sold to raise money for the whole local system. A worthy cause, indeed.
Let’s All Ring in a New Reading Year
We’re still playing Christmas music at my house, yet 2019 is set to begin only four days away. If you are on the hunt for reading matter to ring in the new year, hop over to Mystery Fanfare, where Janet Rudolph lists dozens of mystery and crime novels with stories taking place around January 1. In addition, Rudolph spotlights 11 mystery movies with New Year’s Day connections.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
PaperBack: “The Girl from Big Pine”
Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.
The Girl from Big Pine, by Talmage Powell (Monarch, 1961).
Cover illustration by Rafael de Soto.
The Girl from Big Pine, by Talmage Powell (Monarch, 1961).
Cover illustration by Rafael de Soto.
Hello, Dolls!
Sorry for the recent shortage of fresh posts on this page. Between planning for the holidays, helping to open a new independent bookstore in Seattle, and working on various editorial assignments, I’ve had little free time lately. But I did launch, on Monday, a second “Twelve Dames of Christmas” series in my book-design blog, Killer Covers. Through January 5, I shall be expanding a selection of vintage novels—all boasting the word “dame” in their titles—that I introduced two years ago on the same page. You can follow the series here.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Revue of Reviewers, 12-20-18
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.
Act Now or Pay for It Later
Mystery Fanfare reminds us that the registration price for Left Coast Crime 2019, “Whale of a Crime”—to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from March 28 through 31—is headed upward after the end of this year. Until December 31, the charge will be $300 Canadian; starting on January 1, you’ll have to fork over $335 Canadian.
The fee for attending this year’s Bouchercon in Dallas (October 31-November 3) is set to increase, as well. Until December 31, it’ll set you back $150; from January 1 onward, expect to pay $175.
You might want to make some decisions on both of these soon.
The fee for attending this year’s Bouchercon in Dallas (October 31-November 3) is set to increase, as well. Until December 31, it’ll set you back $150; from January 1 onward, expect to pay $175.
You might want to make some decisions on both of these soon.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Crider to Be Honored in Dallas
Bouchercon 2019—the 50th convention of its kind, to be held next October 31-November 3 in Dallas, Texas—will debut a new commendation named in honor of the late author Bill Crider. Called the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, it will offer a first-place award of $1,000 (plus prizes for second and third place) to what judges determine are the best original stories—3,500 to 5,000 words in length, and submitted anonymously—“relating to Texas ... with an element of mystery or crime.” The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2019. You will find more details here.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Crime in Short Order
In October, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA) announced that it was holding its second-annual Six-Word Mystery Contest, and that its panel of judges would include Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan as well as author Anne Hillerman. The competition opened on October 1, with a deadline for submissions of November 1. Five categories of entries were available to those folks daring enough to share their ideas: Hard-boiled or Noir, Cozy, Thriller, Police Procedural, and Romance or Lust.
The finalists and winner in each category, as well as the overall winner, were declared last Thursday night, December 14. They are as follows:
Cozy:
Winner: Auntie’s needles were not for knitting. (Matthew Porter)
Was picture perfect. I framed him. (Julie Kerr)
Ukulele club. Jealousy. Death by G-string. (C.C. Harrison)
Wedding gown cheap. Red stain discount. (Kris Neri)
Deserted island, our last breakfast together. (Kristin Horton)
Hard-boiled/Noir:
Winner: Concrete boots replaced the blonde’s stilettos. (Margaret Mizushima)
Stole her heart—and ate it. (Julie Kerr)
Dog ate more than her homework. (Julie Kerr)
She confessed. It wasn’t my baby. (Vaibhab Hassija)
One gun. One bullet. Two dead. (Geri Hannah)
Police Procedural:
Winner: Autopsy couldn’t reveal his true heart. (Matthew Porter)
Only witness to murder. Blind teacher. (Vaibhav Hassija)
Cops unearth killer! Paperwork buries cop. (Mo Walsh)
Always check the evidence room again. (Cynthia Kuhn)
His sins blazed like luminol stars. (Sue Hinkin)
Romance:
Winner: Crossed her heart. Helped him die. (Julie Kerr)
“Choose. Him or me.” I chose. (Stina Branson)
Here lies, my love: name unknown. (Franz Margitza)
“He’s dead. Your place or mine?” (Margaret Mizushima)
His smoldering kisses were ruled arson. (Sue Hinkin)
Thriller:
Winner: She took his name. For starters. (Matthew Porter)
The diamond glittered like freedom. Irresistible. (M.A. Monnin)
He raised his gun. I unloaded. (Daniel Sanchez)
The microfilm reely tasted like treason. (Jazz Lawless)
My neighbor smiled between the shades. (Connor McCloskey)
2018 RMMWA Six-Word Mystery Contest Overall Contest Winner:
She took his name. For starters. (Matthew Porter)
Just for the record, last year’s macabre, overall winner was in the Thriller category: “Eyes so lovely I kept them,” by Cindy Marsh.
An RMMWA news release about this contest explained that “According to legend, the first six-word novel was born in the 1920s when Ernest Hemingway, at New York’s Algonquin Hotel or Luchow’s restaurant (depending on whom you ask), won a $10 bet by writing a six-word story. His dark and dramatic submission was: ‘For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.’ Urban legend or no, memorable, heartbreaking, and sublime six-word stories have been penned ever since.”
Like the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which asks that readers and writers submit their worst (that is, most humorous and over-the-top) opening sentences from (thankfully) never-to-be-finished books, the RMMWA’s Six-Word Mystery Contest sounds like a challenge I might wish to take up sometime.
The finalists and winner in each category, as well as the overall winner, were declared last Thursday night, December 14. They are as follows:
Cozy:
Winner: Auntie’s needles were not for knitting. (Matthew Porter)
Was picture perfect. I framed him. (Julie Kerr)
Ukulele club. Jealousy. Death by G-string. (C.C. Harrison)
Wedding gown cheap. Red stain discount. (Kris Neri)
Deserted island, our last breakfast together. (Kristin Horton)
Hard-boiled/Noir:
Winner: Concrete boots replaced the blonde’s stilettos. (Margaret Mizushima)
Stole her heart—and ate it. (Julie Kerr)
Dog ate more than her homework. (Julie Kerr)
She confessed. It wasn’t my baby. (Vaibhab Hassija)
One gun. One bullet. Two dead. (Geri Hannah)
Police Procedural:
Winner: Autopsy couldn’t reveal his true heart. (Matthew Porter)
Only witness to murder. Blind teacher. (Vaibhav Hassija)
Cops unearth killer! Paperwork buries cop. (Mo Walsh)
Always check the evidence room again. (Cynthia Kuhn)
His sins blazed like luminol stars. (Sue Hinkin)
Romance:
Winner: Crossed her heart. Helped him die. (Julie Kerr)
“Choose. Him or me.” I chose. (Stina Branson)
Here lies, my love: name unknown. (Franz Margitza)
“He’s dead. Your place or mine?” (Margaret Mizushima)
His smoldering kisses were ruled arson. (Sue Hinkin)
Thriller:
Winner: She took his name. For starters. (Matthew Porter)
The diamond glittered like freedom. Irresistible. (M.A. Monnin)
He raised his gun. I unloaded. (Daniel Sanchez)
The microfilm reely tasted like treason. (Jazz Lawless)
My neighbor smiled between the shades. (Connor McCloskey)
2018 RMMWA Six-Word Mystery Contest Overall Contest Winner:
She took his name. For starters. (Matthew Porter)
Just for the record, last year’s macabre, overall winner was in the Thriller category: “Eyes so lovely I kept them,” by Cindy Marsh.
An RMMWA news release about this contest explained that “According to legend, the first six-word novel was born in the 1920s when Ernest Hemingway, at New York’s Algonquin Hotel or Luchow’s restaurant (depending on whom you ask), won a $10 bet by writing a six-word story. His dark and dramatic submission was: ‘For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.’ Urban legend or no, memorable, heartbreaking, and sublime six-word stories have been penned ever since.”
Like the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which asks that readers and writers submit their worst (that is, most humorous and over-the-top) opening sentences from (thankfully) never-to-be-finished books, the RMMWA’s Six-Word Mystery Contest sounds like a challenge I might wish to take up sometime.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2018,
Part II: Kevin Burton Smith
Kevin Burton Smith is the Montreal-born founder and editor of that essential 20-year-old resource, The (New) Thrilling Detective Web Site, as well as the Web monkey for The Private Eye Writers of America and a contributing editor of Mystery Scene. He lives in Southern California’s High Desert region, where he’s working on a 
non-fiction book about married detective couples with his wife, mystery author D.L. Browne (aka Diana Killian and Josh Lanyon).
• The Man Who Came Uptown, by George Pelecanos (Mulholland):
His day-job among the pornographers on HBO-TV’s The Deuce must keep Pelecanos pretty busy. Fortunately, his latest novel is a clear sign that he hasn’t turned his back on the literary side of the street. Michael Hudson is a soft-spoken young knucklehead, squeezing out his sentence for armed robbery by burying himself in books borrowed from the library of a prison in Washington, D.C. For him, reading is a whole new world. Anna Kaplan Byrne is a restless, idealistic young married woman, not much older than Michael, working as a literacy tutor at the lockup, out to save the world one convict at a time. Michael is a point of light in her world. His newfound enthusiasm keeps her going, and a friendship beyond books begins to develop. But then Michael is sprung early, thanks to some slippery witness tampering by Phil Ornazian, a shady, middle-aged private detective working for Michael’s lawyer. Out on the mean streets again, Michael is determined to walk the straight and narrow. He gets a job, a place to live, and a bookcase he hopes to fill. But Ornazian, a family man who has a side gig ripping off drug dealers, needs a driver. And Michael owes him. That these three characters are on a collision course is a given, but the way their lives smash into one another is not only the sort of stand-up, hard-boiled delight we expect from Pelecanos, but (get this!) a stirring, passionate shout-out to the redemptive power of reading, and the ability of literature to change lives—and maybe even the world.
• The Feral Detective, by Jonathan Lethem (Ecco):
Other private eyes keep a bottle of hooch in the desk drawer. Charles Heist keeps a possum. The 50-something “feral detective” of this phantasmagorical, swirling tale (by the author of Motherless Brooklyn), wasn’t raised by wolves, but he comes close. Heist works out of a shabby office near a trailer park in Upland, California, and seems to operate according to a whole set of not easily defined rules. Here he agrees
(reluctantly) to help a snappy, snarky former New York Times reporter, Phoebe Siegler, find Arabella, a friend’s runaway teenage daughter. After a brief sojourn up Mount Baldy to pay homage to the late singer Leonard Cohen, Arabella has disappeared into the Mojave Desert, where she's apparently hanging out with the Rabbits, a mostly female cult involved in some decades-old tribal conflict with the Bears, a mostly male clan. This story is a wild, picaresque hoot, full of cultural and sociological spelunking of the finest kind, and lots of talky-talk (the high-strung Phoebe serves as the neurotic narrator), while it plays host to a slew of desert rats and other eccentric characters, plus a lot of moaning and groaning about the 2016 election of Donald Trump and the subsequent “barking madness of the world.” It is also an intoxicating release (at least for me), something like an acid flashback of suppressed pop culture memories, dredging up everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and Ross Macdonald’s novels to Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain, the Mad Max movies, and several of Margaret Atwood’s books. Your mileage may vary. I’m not quite sure I “got” The Feral Detective, but I’m pretty sure I loved it.
• Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow):
If you’re not squirming after reading the beginning of this twisted, twisty slice of nasty—wherein private investigator Adam Bosk (“Like the pear, only with a ‘k’ instead of a ‘c.’”) ponders the sunburned shoulders of his target, Polly Costello—well, you’ve never had a sunburn. But don’t worry. By book’s end, everyone gets burned one way or another. Lippman has been threatening to write this yarn for at least as long as I’ve known her. Acting like a One-Woman Chamber of Commerce for Charm City’s Vaunted Coterie of Crime Writers (Poe, Hammett, James M. Cain, that Simon guy, etc.), she finally raises a little Cain of her own, resulting in a blistering bit of noir. Of course,
anyone who’s ever read Lippman’s Tess Monaghan detective novels or, especially, her potent standalones, knows that—sunny disposition aside—she has a heart of darkness that can beat like a hammer on a drum. Here she shows it to the world. It’s 1995, and Polly is sitting on a barstool in Belleville, Delaware, a sad little town stuck 45 miles from the beach. We soon learn that she’s on the lam from a busted marriage, a doofus husband, and a 3-year old daughter. Alpha male Adam, the P.I. who’s taken on the job of following her (though his employer is a mystery), slides onto a nearby seat. They’re two good-looking young people, with an almost immediate mutual attraction, and before you know it they’re both lying their asses off to each other—and to the reader. Adam’s secrets are more or less what you’d expect, but they’re nothing compared to those of shapeshifter Polly (if that’s even her real name), who has secrets inside of secrets, wrapped in lies and more lies, and dusted with greed, betrayal, and murder—all eventually revealed by the harsh, relentless, burning light of the Truth. Pass the Coppertone.
• Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth):
I should hate this book. I wanted to hate this book. It’s a continuation of the adventures of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, a joint effort by the Chandler estate and hired English author Lawrence Osborne, ostensibly released to mark the 130th anniversary of the master’s birth. The more cynical among us might also note the looming copyright expiry date, and ask, “Who the hell is Lawrence Osborne?” Turns out he’s a legit writer, fairly well respected, with a handful of well-received novels to his name, although there doesn’t seem to be much connection to Chandler, or to crime fiction, in general. Nonetheless, Osborne must have been aware of how previous attempts to nail down Chandler had gone, and so Osborne presents his version of Marlowe. Forget the years of Marlowe’s prime—Osborne gives us a retired old coot, living off what savings he has. In Mexico.
In 1980. The City of Angels is a world away. This is a smart, audacious move on Osborne’s part. Because what works best in this book is all the ways it’s not slavishly Chandler, but merely Chandleresque. Osborne doesn’t even try to match Chandler’s style. The pages aren’t loaded with strained similes, metaphors that don’t work and wisecracks that don’t crack—a common failing of those who seek to mimic Chandler. Osborne’s 72-year-old Marlowe is intriguing enough all on his own. Mournful, exhausted, and ready to meet his maker, maybe, but not quite yet, and only on his own terms. Of course, he’s still Marlowe: he still narrates his own adventures, Linda Loring is mentioned, though not by name (“I was married once”), and he still occasionally drinks gimlets. Despite himself, Marlowe still has a romantic eye and an appreciation for beauty (“When she came back to the table, half-soaked from the surf, and happier, she seemed as fresh and real as anyone I could remember”). Naturally, he’s urged out of retirement. By two L.A. insurance men, who want him to look into the suspicious death of a wealthy but shady real-estate dealer (sound familiar?), who drowned somewhere along the Mexican coast, leaving behind a young and very rich widow. When he finally tracks her down, it’s clear the long career of going down the mean streets has left Marlowe both tarnished and afraid. There’s a palpable sense of sorrow here; an elegiac sense of time running out, ushered along by some quietly beautiful writing: “We sat there for a long time, declining to disturb the moment or to add a single word to what had already been left unsaid.” Osborne’s Marlowe isn’t 
Chandler’s Marlowe. But I think the two would have understood each other. I don’t hate this book. I loved this book.
• Eight Million Ways to Die, by Lawrence Block and John K. Snyder III (IDW Publishing):
It’s almost cheating, saying that comic writer-artist John K. Snyder III’s graphic novel adaptation of Lawrence Block’s 1982 masterpiece was one of 2018’s best reads. Even the 1986 film, based on a screenplay by Oliver Stone and directed by Hal Ashby, is looking a little long in the tooth. Mind you, the original novel is a bit of a personal ringer for me (let’s just say some family members drank). It’s a gut-wrenching, swirling blast of damnation and salvation; a pitch-black Hallmark card from Hell, as troubled, unlicensed New York City private eye Matt Scudder struggles to come to terms with his drinking, after four previous novels, each of which nudged Scudder closer to the abyss. By the time of Eight Million, Scudder was suffering from blackouts and memory loss, and the realization that both he and his hometown—then in the throes of a rash of violence—were damned. The Jeff Bridges/Rosanna Arquette film did nobody’s reputation any favors. The novel pinned the intoxicating fog of Scudder’s alcoholism and his investigation of a murdered hooker against a noirish backdrop of a Big Apple rotten to its 1970s core; a string of random murders ringing like the Bells of Impending Doom in the headlines. There was a palpable, dark, claustrophobic sense of decay setting in, and you got the sense that the city itself was coming for Scudder. So what did the movie do? Chucked it all for the sunshiney beaches and endless wide-open spaces of Los Angeles. Even Bridges as Scudder couldn’t save it. Block despised that picture. But now we have Snyder to wash away Hollywood’s sins, and welcome us back to the Hell Block intended. His seedy, rough impressionistic art and grimy palette—all muddy grays, browns, and muted primary colors—suggests old pulp magazine covers, grainy, deteriorating 1940s B-films, and a rain-drenched midnight, perfectly nailing how I felt when reading the novel more than 30 years ago: a nightmare of conflicting emotions clutching at me as I raced to the bleak, heart-thumping conclusion. Roll over, Hal Ashby, and tell Ollie Stone the news: this is how it’s done.
non-fiction book about married detective couples with his wife, mystery author D.L. Browne (aka Diana Killian and Josh Lanyon).• The Man Who Came Uptown, by George Pelecanos (Mulholland):
His day-job among the pornographers on HBO-TV’s The Deuce must keep Pelecanos pretty busy. Fortunately, his latest novel is a clear sign that he hasn’t turned his back on the literary side of the street. Michael Hudson is a soft-spoken young knucklehead, squeezing out his sentence for armed robbery by burying himself in books borrowed from the library of a prison in Washington, D.C. For him, reading is a whole new world. Anna Kaplan Byrne is a restless, idealistic young married woman, not much older than Michael, working as a literacy tutor at the lockup, out to save the world one convict at a time. Michael is a point of light in her world. His newfound enthusiasm keeps her going, and a friendship beyond books begins to develop. But then Michael is sprung early, thanks to some slippery witness tampering by Phil Ornazian, a shady, middle-aged private detective working for Michael’s lawyer. Out on the mean streets again, Michael is determined to walk the straight and narrow. He gets a job, a place to live, and a bookcase he hopes to fill. But Ornazian, a family man who has a side gig ripping off drug dealers, needs a driver. And Michael owes him. That these three characters are on a collision course is a given, but the way their lives smash into one another is not only the sort of stand-up, hard-boiled delight we expect from Pelecanos, but (get this!) a stirring, passionate shout-out to the redemptive power of reading, and the ability of literature to change lives—and maybe even the world.
• The Feral Detective, by Jonathan Lethem (Ecco):
Other private eyes keep a bottle of hooch in the desk drawer. Charles Heist keeps a possum. The 50-something “feral detective” of this phantasmagorical, swirling tale (by the author of Motherless Brooklyn), wasn’t raised by wolves, but he comes close. Heist works out of a shabby office near a trailer park in Upland, California, and seems to operate according to a whole set of not easily defined rules. Here he agrees
(reluctantly) to help a snappy, snarky former New York Times reporter, Phoebe Siegler, find Arabella, a friend’s runaway teenage daughter. After a brief sojourn up Mount Baldy to pay homage to the late singer Leonard Cohen, Arabella has disappeared into the Mojave Desert, where she's apparently hanging out with the Rabbits, a mostly female cult involved in some decades-old tribal conflict with the Bears, a mostly male clan. This story is a wild, picaresque hoot, full of cultural and sociological spelunking of the finest kind, and lots of talky-talk (the high-strung Phoebe serves as the neurotic narrator), while it plays host to a slew of desert rats and other eccentric characters, plus a lot of moaning and groaning about the 2016 election of Donald Trump and the subsequent “barking madness of the world.” It is also an intoxicating release (at least for me), something like an acid flashback of suppressed pop culture memories, dredging up everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and Ross Macdonald’s novels to Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain, the Mad Max movies, and several of Margaret Atwood’s books. Your mileage may vary. I’m not quite sure I “got” The Feral Detective, but I’m pretty sure I loved it.• Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow):
If you’re not squirming after reading the beginning of this twisted, twisty slice of nasty—wherein private investigator Adam Bosk (“Like the pear, only with a ‘k’ instead of a ‘c.’”) ponders the sunburned shoulders of his target, Polly Costello—well, you’ve never had a sunburn. But don’t worry. By book’s end, everyone gets burned one way or another. Lippman has been threatening to write this yarn for at least as long as I’ve known her. Acting like a One-Woman Chamber of Commerce for Charm City’s Vaunted Coterie of Crime Writers (Poe, Hammett, James M. Cain, that Simon guy, etc.), she finally raises a little Cain of her own, resulting in a blistering bit of noir. Of course,
anyone who’s ever read Lippman’s Tess Monaghan detective novels or, especially, her potent standalones, knows that—sunny disposition aside—she has a heart of darkness that can beat like a hammer on a drum. Here she shows it to the world. It’s 1995, and Polly is sitting on a barstool in Belleville, Delaware, a sad little town stuck 45 miles from the beach. We soon learn that she’s on the lam from a busted marriage, a doofus husband, and a 3-year old daughter. Alpha male Adam, the P.I. who’s taken on the job of following her (though his employer is a mystery), slides onto a nearby seat. They’re two good-looking young people, with an almost immediate mutual attraction, and before you know it they’re both lying their asses off to each other—and to the reader. Adam’s secrets are more or less what you’d expect, but they’re nothing compared to those of shapeshifter Polly (if that’s even her real name), who has secrets inside of secrets, wrapped in lies and more lies, and dusted with greed, betrayal, and murder—all eventually revealed by the harsh, relentless, burning light of the Truth. Pass the Coppertone.• Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth):
I should hate this book. I wanted to hate this book. It’s a continuation of the adventures of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, a joint effort by the Chandler estate and hired English author Lawrence Osborne, ostensibly released to mark the 130th anniversary of the master’s birth. The more cynical among us might also note the looming copyright expiry date, and ask, “Who the hell is Lawrence Osborne?” Turns out he’s a legit writer, fairly well respected, with a handful of well-received novels to his name, although there doesn’t seem to be much connection to Chandler, or to crime fiction, in general. Nonetheless, Osborne must have been aware of how previous attempts to nail down Chandler had gone, and so Osborne presents his version of Marlowe. Forget the years of Marlowe’s prime—Osborne gives us a retired old coot, living off what savings he has. In Mexico.
In 1980. The City of Angels is a world away. This is a smart, audacious move on Osborne’s part. Because what works best in this book is all the ways it’s not slavishly Chandler, but merely Chandleresque. Osborne doesn’t even try to match Chandler’s style. The pages aren’t loaded with strained similes, metaphors that don’t work and wisecracks that don’t crack—a common failing of those who seek to mimic Chandler. Osborne’s 72-year-old Marlowe is intriguing enough all on his own. Mournful, exhausted, and ready to meet his maker, maybe, but not quite yet, and only on his own terms. Of course, he’s still Marlowe: he still narrates his own adventures, Linda Loring is mentioned, though not by name (“I was married once”), and he still occasionally drinks gimlets. Despite himself, Marlowe still has a romantic eye and an appreciation for beauty (“When she came back to the table, half-soaked from the surf, and happier, she seemed as fresh and real as anyone I could remember”). Naturally, he’s urged out of retirement. By two L.A. insurance men, who want him to look into the suspicious death of a wealthy but shady real-estate dealer (sound familiar?), who drowned somewhere along the Mexican coast, leaving behind a young and very rich widow. When he finally tracks her down, it’s clear the long career of going down the mean streets has left Marlowe both tarnished and afraid. There’s a palpable sense of sorrow here; an elegiac sense of time running out, ushered along by some quietly beautiful writing: “We sat there for a long time, declining to disturb the moment or to add a single word to what had already been left unsaid.” Osborne’s Marlowe isn’t Chandler’s Marlowe. But I think the two would have understood each other. I don’t hate this book. I loved this book.• Eight Million Ways to Die, by Lawrence Block and John K. Snyder III (IDW Publishing):
It’s almost cheating, saying that comic writer-artist John K. Snyder III’s graphic novel adaptation of Lawrence Block’s 1982 masterpiece was one of 2018’s best reads. Even the 1986 film, based on a screenplay by Oliver Stone and directed by Hal Ashby, is looking a little long in the tooth. Mind you, the original novel is a bit of a personal ringer for me (let’s just say some family members drank). It’s a gut-wrenching, swirling blast of damnation and salvation; a pitch-black Hallmark card from Hell, as troubled, unlicensed New York City private eye Matt Scudder struggles to come to terms with his drinking, after four previous novels, each of which nudged Scudder closer to the abyss. By the time of Eight Million, Scudder was suffering from blackouts and memory loss, and the realization that both he and his hometown—then in the throes of a rash of violence—were damned. The Jeff Bridges/Rosanna Arquette film did nobody’s reputation any favors. The novel pinned the intoxicating fog of Scudder’s alcoholism and his investigation of a murdered hooker against a noirish backdrop of a Big Apple rotten to its 1970s core; a string of random murders ringing like the Bells of Impending Doom in the headlines. There was a palpable, dark, claustrophobic sense of decay setting in, and you got the sense that the city itself was coming for Scudder. So what did the movie do? Chucked it all for the sunshiney beaches and endless wide-open spaces of Los Angeles. Even Bridges as Scudder couldn’t save it. Block despised that picture. But now we have Snyder to wash away Hollywood’s sins, and welcome us back to the Hell Block intended. His seedy, rough impressionistic art and grimy palette—all muddy grays, browns, and muted primary colors—suggests old pulp magazine covers, grainy, deteriorating 1940s B-films, and a rain-drenched midnight, perfectly nailing how I felt when reading the novel more than 30 years ago: a nightmare of conflicting emotions clutching at me as I raced to the bleak, heart-thumping conclusion. Roll over, Hal Ashby, and tell Ollie Stone the news: this is how it’s done.
Hearing from Two Big Players
An old friend of The Rap Sheet, Tom Nolan of The Wall Street Journal is one of the reviewers whose “best crime fiction of the year” lists we most look forward to seeing. Unfortunately, the Journal hides them behind a paywall. Refusing to be daunted by such a trivial obstruction, we simply e-mailed Tom to ask which 2018 releases he thinks were the most commendable. Here are his 10 picks:
• Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• The Accident on the A35, by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Arcade)
• The Silent Ones, by William Brodrick (Overlook)
• Lethal White, by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland)
• The Word Is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Wrecked, by Joe Ide (Mulholland)
• The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, by Nova Jacobs (Touchstone)
• Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Don’t Send Flowers, by MartÃn Solares (Black Cat)
• Charlesgate Confidential, by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)
• The Middleman, by Olen Steinhauer (Minotaur)
• Safe Houses, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• Shell Game, by Sara Paretsky (Morrow)
• Broken Ground, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Robicheaux, by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster)
• In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown)
• The Witch Elm, by Tana French (Viking)
• Don’t Let Go, by Michel Bussi (World Noir)
• Transcription, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown)
• Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• Who Is Vera Kelly?, by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House)
• The Killing Habit, by Mark Billingham (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, by Amy Stewart (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Wife, by Alafair Burke (Harper)
• Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• The Accident on the A35, by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Arcade)
• The Silent Ones, by William Brodrick (Overlook)
• Lethal White, by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland)
• The Word Is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Wrecked, by Joe Ide (Mulholland)
• The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, by Nova Jacobs (Touchstone)
• Sunburn, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Don’t Send Flowers, by MartÃn Solares (Black Cat)
• Charlesgate Confidential, by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)
* * *
Meanwhile, The Boston Globe is out with its “Best Books of 2018” selections. There are five categories, but here are that paper’s 16 mystery-fiction favorites:• The Middleman, by Olen Steinhauer (Minotaur)
• Safe Houses, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• Shell Game, by Sara Paretsky (Morrow)
• Broken Ground, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Robicheaux, by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster)
• In a House of Lies, by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown)
• The Witch Elm, by Tana French (Viking)
• Don’t Let Go, by Michel Bussi (World Noir)
• Transcription, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown)
• Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• Who Is Vera Kelly?, by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House)
• The Killing Habit, by Mark Billingham (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, by Amy Stewart (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Wife, by Alafair Burke (Harper)
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2018,
Part I: Jim Napier
Jim Napier is a crime-fiction critic based in Quebec, Canada. Since 2005, his reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on various crime-fiction and literary Web sites, including January Magazine and his own award-winning review site, Deadly Diversions. His debut crime novel, Legacy, was published in the spring of 2017, and the second book in that series, Ridley’s War, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2019.
• The Witch Elm, by Tana French (Viking):
Dubliner Toby Hennessy—who’d previously believed himself to be a fortunate, happy man—is attacked in his flat by two burglars. He suffers a massive beating. Days later, he awakens to find himself in a hospital bed, barely able to function. His balance is iffy, his coordination and speech are impaired, and his memory of the violence recently visited upon him is fragmentary, at best. Now flash forward two months: Toby is only marginally better. Anxious to put his
apartment and its bleak memories behind him, he looks forward to moving, if only for a few months, to Ivy House, the domain of his uncle Hugo. When Toby learns that Hugo has cancer and is dying, he is determined to make the most of things, to be useful in caring for his relative. Toby’s thoughts also turn to the nexus of friends dating back to his youth. As the group of them had often spent their summers at Ivy House, Toby invites them to return for a weekend visit. They do, and for a moment it seems that things are taking a turn for the better in Toby’s life. But the casual closeness of this group masks important underlying tensions. Envy and suspicion, along with secrets and slights, rise to the surface, where their long friendships will be put to the test. Then a human skull is discovered in Ivy House’s backyard, and Toby is left to reassess everything he thought he understood about his life and family. Told in the first-person, this standalone yarn from the author of the Dublin Murder Squad series (The Trespasser) provides an intriguing exploration of the human psyche. French forces readers to confront the issue of who we are, individually, and what we are capable of doing under extreme conditions. Like some of her earlier works, The Witch Elm violates cardinal rules of writing, but she manages to hold readers firmly in her grasp. A superb story, destined to become a classic.
• Two Kinds of Truth, by Michael Connelly
(Grand Central Publishing):
Like so many other people nowadays, Harry Bosch finds himself still working after nominally retiring. Yet it’s not for the money; he’s driven by his crime-breaking labors, the satisfaction they give him. After being ousted from the Los Angeles Police Department, he’s now volunteering with Southern California’s San Fernando PD, operating out of a repurposed office that was formerly a drunk tank, and poring over old files, looking to bring justice to the victims of unsolved crimes—and closure to their families and friends. But his day doesn’t get off to the best start when he learns that Preston Borders, a man he put on Death Row three decades ago, is seeking to have his conviction overturned on the basis of previously unexamined DNA evidence, claiming that Bosch planted damning “proof” of his guilt at trial. Bosch knows it’s BS, but he’s stumped to prove it. And before he can make any headway in ensuring Borders’ continued incarceration, he’s called out to the scene of a double homicide: father and son pharmacists have been brutally gunned down in their place of business, in what looks more like an execution than a robbery gone wrong. As Bosch dives into this fresh case, he’s drawn into the shadowy world of prescription painkillers and the organized criminals who traffic in them. Bosch agrees to go undercover—a risky role that he has largely avoided during his long career—and as a consequence, is compelled to fight not only for his reputation, but also for his life. Meticulously researched and packed with sordid ambience, Two Kinds of Truth is a grim and gritty exposé of a major scourge of modern-day America, wrapped up in a compelling drama that reaffirms Connelly’s place as quite simply his country’s
finest crime writer. This 20th Bosch novel was originally published in late 2017, but the release of a paperback edition in 2018 qualifies it (barely) for The Rap Sheet’s list.
• Though the Heavens Fall, by Anne
Emery (ECW Press):
1995: When Halifax, Nova Scotia, lawyer Monty Collins travels to Northern Ireland to perform some work on behalf of his firm, his good friend Father Brennan Burke takes advantage of the opportunity, and tags along. Much of Burke’s family remained in Northern Ireland during the euphemistically termed “Troubles.” Now, however, events are inching toward reconciliation, and a compromise solution seems to be on the horizon. Father Brennan’s cousin Ronan Burke spent some time behind bars during the decades of conflict, but he’s now a free man, hugely popular among the Republicans and an odds-on favorite to play a leading part in the proposed joint political assembly, once it’s established. Lurking not far beneath the surface of all this, though, are age-old enmities, and deeds gone unpunished on both sides of the turmoil. Brennan is drawn into the intrigue, and when his involvement is discovered, he’s thrown into prison, there to await trial in a courtroom where the customary safeguards of rights for the accused no longer apply, and under threat that he could spend the the rest of his days in a place of unspeakable degradation. Though the Heavens Fall chronicles the times leading up to a ceasefire between opposing forces in Northern Ireland, and the eventual Good Friday Agreement. With its many harrowing tales based on fact, this is a dark novel, by far the darkest yet in Emery’s 10-book series, guaranteed to leave even the most casual reader deeply disturbed that these sorts of things could be allowed to happen in a nation that regards itself as civilized. Though the Heavens Fall is a fine example of how, in the hands of a skilled and dedicated writer, a novel can enlarge our understanding of complex issues in the real world. Clearly one of the finest reads of 2018.
• Chasing the Wind, by C.C. Humphreys
(Library and Archives Canada):
Roxy Loewen is a feisty, indefatigable, yet refreshingly fallible aviatrix in the America of the 1930s. Friends with Amelia Earhart no less, she will, before this story ends, match wits with Nazi leader Hermann Göring in a bid to prevent him from possessing a previously unknown, yet priceless, painting—not because of her political views, but because she needs that work of art, or rather the wealth it represents, to extricate herself from crippling family debts and secure her independence. Roxy is aided in her quest by fellow pilot Jocco Zomack, who couldn’t be more different from her. Jocco is an idealist, with sympathies for communist causes and the rebels fighting a civil war in Spain. Theirs is an uneasy alliance, and one which will come back to haunt the intrepid Roxy before this book’s final page. Together, the pair face a truly sinister adversary named Sidney Munroe. He’s responsible, at least indirectly, for Roxy’s father’s death, and he too wants the painting, together with all of Roxy’s family inheritance. Munroe is also a friend of Herr Göring. Not an easy man to like, then. Deftly combining the politics of the day, art history,
and the catastrophic fate of the airship Hindenburg, Chasing the Wind blends escapist fun into an action-packed yarn that begs for a film
treatment to do it justice.
• Insidious Intent, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press):
Barely squeaking onto this list with a December 2017 publication date, Insidious Intent is one of the best crime novels of this or any other year. In Bonny Scotland, the bodies of young women are being found in burned-out cars, all apparently unconnected with one another, and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan (last seen in 2015’s Splinter the Silence) is certain there is a serial killer on the loose. The culprit is cunning, though, and even with his formidable skills, profiler Tony Hill has nothing to work with. Maddeningly, just as the team does move toward identifying a suspect, it seems that person—aided by a formidable lawyer—will walk free with the chance to murder again. As always, Jordon’s turbulent personal life lurks not far beneath the surface of this plot. After a night of drinking, she’d been involved in a traffic accident. Members of her team had derailed the resulting inquiry by claiming that the breathalyzer used to establish the DCI’s alcohol level had been faulty. The resulting acquittal, bad enough in it’s own right, had led to similar verdicts for several other drunk-driver defendants, and one of them had gone free only to kill himself and others in yet another incident. Now an energetic reporter, aided by a disgruntled police officer who is nursing his own grudge, is on the trail of the cover-up, and it seems to be only a matter of time before Jordan’s professional life—as well as those of several officers involved in the cover-up—are in tatters. Reading one of Val McDermid’s novels is like taking a master class in creative writing, her nuanced characters and layered back-stories encompassing profound moral themes wrapped in a gripping story line. Her body of work firmly establishes her as one of our age’s foremost crime fictionists.
• The Witch Elm, by Tana French (Viking):
Dubliner Toby Hennessy—who’d previously believed himself to be a fortunate, happy man—is attacked in his flat by two burglars. He suffers a massive beating. Days later, he awakens to find himself in a hospital bed, barely able to function. His balance is iffy, his coordination and speech are impaired, and his memory of the violence recently visited upon him is fragmentary, at best. Now flash forward two months: Toby is only marginally better. Anxious to put his
apartment and its bleak memories behind him, he looks forward to moving, if only for a few months, to Ivy House, the domain of his uncle Hugo. When Toby learns that Hugo has cancer and is dying, he is determined to make the most of things, to be useful in caring for his relative. Toby’s thoughts also turn to the nexus of friends dating back to his youth. As the group of them had often spent their summers at Ivy House, Toby invites them to return for a weekend visit. They do, and for a moment it seems that things are taking a turn for the better in Toby’s life. But the casual closeness of this group masks important underlying tensions. Envy and suspicion, along with secrets and slights, rise to the surface, where their long friendships will be put to the test. Then a human skull is discovered in Ivy House’s backyard, and Toby is left to reassess everything he thought he understood about his life and family. Told in the first-person, this standalone yarn from the author of the Dublin Murder Squad series (The Trespasser) provides an intriguing exploration of the human psyche. French forces readers to confront the issue of who we are, individually, and what we are capable of doing under extreme conditions. Like some of her earlier works, The Witch Elm violates cardinal rules of writing, but she manages to hold readers firmly in her grasp. A superb story, destined to become a classic.• Two Kinds of Truth, by Michael Connelly
(Grand Central Publishing):
Like so many other people nowadays, Harry Bosch finds himself still working after nominally retiring. Yet it’s not for the money; he’s driven by his crime-breaking labors, the satisfaction they give him. After being ousted from the Los Angeles Police Department, he’s now volunteering with Southern California’s San Fernando PD, operating out of a repurposed office that was formerly a drunk tank, and poring over old files, looking to bring justice to the victims of unsolved crimes—and closure to their families and friends. But his day doesn’t get off to the best start when he learns that Preston Borders, a man he put on Death Row three decades ago, is seeking to have his conviction overturned on the basis of previously unexamined DNA evidence, claiming that Bosch planted damning “proof” of his guilt at trial. Bosch knows it’s BS, but he’s stumped to prove it. And before he can make any headway in ensuring Borders’ continued incarceration, he’s called out to the scene of a double homicide: father and son pharmacists have been brutally gunned down in their place of business, in what looks more like an execution than a robbery gone wrong. As Bosch dives into this fresh case, he’s drawn into the shadowy world of prescription painkillers and the organized criminals who traffic in them. Bosch agrees to go undercover—a risky role that he has largely avoided during his long career—and as a consequence, is compelled to fight not only for his reputation, but also for his life. Meticulously researched and packed with sordid ambience, Two Kinds of Truth is a grim and gritty exposé of a major scourge of modern-day America, wrapped up in a compelling drama that reaffirms Connelly’s place as quite simply his country’s
finest crime writer. This 20th Bosch novel was originally published in late 2017, but the release of a paperback edition in 2018 qualifies it (barely) for The Rap Sheet’s list.• Though the Heavens Fall, by Anne
Emery (ECW Press):
1995: When Halifax, Nova Scotia, lawyer Monty Collins travels to Northern Ireland to perform some work on behalf of his firm, his good friend Father Brennan Burke takes advantage of the opportunity, and tags along. Much of Burke’s family remained in Northern Ireland during the euphemistically termed “Troubles.” Now, however, events are inching toward reconciliation, and a compromise solution seems to be on the horizon. Father Brennan’s cousin Ronan Burke spent some time behind bars during the decades of conflict, but he’s now a free man, hugely popular among the Republicans and an odds-on favorite to play a leading part in the proposed joint political assembly, once it’s established. Lurking not far beneath the surface of all this, though, are age-old enmities, and deeds gone unpunished on both sides of the turmoil. Brennan is drawn into the intrigue, and when his involvement is discovered, he’s thrown into prison, there to await trial in a courtroom where the customary safeguards of rights for the accused no longer apply, and under threat that he could spend the the rest of his days in a place of unspeakable degradation. Though the Heavens Fall chronicles the times leading up to a ceasefire between opposing forces in Northern Ireland, and the eventual Good Friday Agreement. With its many harrowing tales based on fact, this is a dark novel, by far the darkest yet in Emery’s 10-book series, guaranteed to leave even the most casual reader deeply disturbed that these sorts of things could be allowed to happen in a nation that regards itself as civilized. Though the Heavens Fall is a fine example of how, in the hands of a skilled and dedicated writer, a novel can enlarge our understanding of complex issues in the real world. Clearly one of the finest reads of 2018.
• Chasing the Wind, by C.C. Humphreys
(Library and Archives Canada):
Roxy Loewen is a feisty, indefatigable, yet refreshingly fallible aviatrix in the America of the 1930s. Friends with Amelia Earhart no less, she will, before this story ends, match wits with Nazi leader Hermann Göring in a bid to prevent him from possessing a previously unknown, yet priceless, painting—not because of her political views, but because she needs that work of art, or rather the wealth it represents, to extricate herself from crippling family debts and secure her independence. Roxy is aided in her quest by fellow pilot Jocco Zomack, who couldn’t be more different from her. Jocco is an idealist, with sympathies for communist causes and the rebels fighting a civil war in Spain. Theirs is an uneasy alliance, and one which will come back to haunt the intrepid Roxy before this book’s final page. Together, the pair face a truly sinister adversary named Sidney Munroe. He’s responsible, at least indirectly, for Roxy’s father’s death, and he too wants the painting, together with all of Roxy’s family inheritance. Munroe is also a friend of Herr Göring. Not an easy man to like, then. Deftly combining the politics of the day, art history,
and the catastrophic fate of the airship Hindenburg, Chasing the Wind blends escapist fun into an action-packed yarn that begs for a film
treatment to do it justice.• Insidious Intent, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press):
Barely squeaking onto this list with a December 2017 publication date, Insidious Intent is one of the best crime novels of this or any other year. In Bonny Scotland, the bodies of young women are being found in burned-out cars, all apparently unconnected with one another, and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan (last seen in 2015’s Splinter the Silence) is certain there is a serial killer on the loose. The culprit is cunning, though, and even with his formidable skills, profiler Tony Hill has nothing to work with. Maddeningly, just as the team does move toward identifying a suspect, it seems that person—aided by a formidable lawyer—will walk free with the chance to murder again. As always, Jordon’s turbulent personal life lurks not far beneath the surface of this plot. After a night of drinking, she’d been involved in a traffic accident. Members of her team had derailed the resulting inquiry by claiming that the breathalyzer used to establish the DCI’s alcohol level had been faulty. The resulting acquittal, bad enough in it’s own right, had led to similar verdicts for several other drunk-driver defendants, and one of them had gone free only to kill himself and others in yet another incident. Now an energetic reporter, aided by a disgruntled police officer who is nursing his own grudge, is on the trail of the cover-up, and it seems to be only a matter of time before Jordan’s professional life—as well as those of several officers involved in the cover-up—are in tatters. Reading one of Val McDermid’s novels is like taking a master class in creative writing, her nuanced characters and layered back-stories encompassing profound moral themes wrapped in a gripping story line. Her body of work firmly establishes her as one of our age’s foremost crime fictionists.
Hey, Can We Play, Too?
As other media outlets have recently rolled out their rundowns of what they deem to be the foremost crime-fiction releases of 2018, The Rap Sheet’s small cadre of critics have been making their own lists and checking them twice. Later this morning, we will begin posting those “Favorite Crime Fiction of 2018” selections, and will continue publishing them over the next couple of weeks.
Please let us know what you think of our choices, and whether there are also other new-in-2018 works you especially enjoyed.
Please let us know what you think of our choices, and whether there are also other new-in-2018 works you especially enjoyed.
You Can Quote Me on That
Kenneth Millar, who would grow up to become the detective novelist known as Ross Macdonald, was born on December 13, 1915—103 years ago today. To honor his life and literary works, CrimeReads has compiled “30 unforgettable lines” from his books. They include this haunting quote from his 1964 Lew Archer private-eye novel, The Chill: “Some men spend their lives looking for ways to punish themselves for having been born.” And among the Macdonald lines I’d most like to steal is this description taken from 1961’s The Wycherly Woman: “She was trouble looking for somebody to happen to.”
Macdonald has enjoyed a good amount of coverage in The Rap Sheet. Last year I put together a list of those stories, found here.
Macdonald has enjoyed a good amount of coverage in The Rap Sheet. Last year I put together a list of those stories, found here.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
PaperBack: “The Color of Murder”
Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.
The Color of Murder, by Julian Symons (Dell, 1959).
Cover illustration by Robert Maguire.
The Color of Murder, by Julian Symons (Dell, 1959).
Cover illustration by Robert Maguire.
’Tis the Season for Reading
I keep thinking that Christmas is still many weeks away, but in fact there are only 13 days left now before presents will be ogled beneath decorated trees all over the world. Fortunately, Janet Rudolph seems to be keeping better track of the calendar than I have been. She has already posted her alphabetized and updated list of Christmas-related crime and mystery novels, in three parts—authors A-E, authors F-L, authors M-Z. Plus, she’s assembled a separate catalogue of Christmas mystery short stories and novellas, which you’ll find here.
These works might be just right, should you plan to bring Iceland’s Christmas Eve book-giving tradition into your own home.
These works might be just right, should you plan to bring Iceland’s Christmas Eve book-giving tradition into your own home.
Good-bye, Keanu
Readers of Bill Crider’s blog as well as The Rap Sheet will likely recall the story of how that Alvin, Texas, author adopted three kittens he had discovered in the drainage ditch across the street from his house in the spring of 2016. That mischievous trio—Keanu, Ginger Tom, and Gilligan—quickly became famous on the Internet as the “VBKs” (or Very Bad Kittens). Shortly before Crider died last February, his goddaughter, Liz Romig Hatlestad, adopted the cats and moved them to her home in the central Texas town of Brownwood. She also created a Facebook page where we could keep track of their continuing antics.
Sadly, Hatlestad reports on Facebook that little Keanu—who Crider first introduced here and here—has died. She wrote on December 6:
Sadly, Hatlestad reports on Facebook that little Keanu—who Crider first introduced here and here—has died. She wrote on December 6:
We’re not sure how or why but she died in an accident in a neighbor’s fenced-in yard.You can enjoy some photographs of Keanu on the VBKs (Very Bad Kittens) Fan Page on Facebook.
We had taken to calling her Teensy at our house, because she was so petite compared to her brothers. Lately we had been finding her right next to [Hatlestad’s baby daughter] Alice’s crib when we came in the nursery in the morning, keeping the baby company. She was our sweetest and most beautiful kitty, and we loved hearing her meow. …
I know from many stories that she was the first one to be found [by] Bill, and we are just sick that she had to be the first one to leave us. I hate so much to have to make this post and I just dread telling all the VBK family out there about this loss. This group has been a source of joy for me but today is very hard.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Le Carré Prepares His “Field” Notes
Word that renowned British spy novelist John le Carré has a new novel—his 25th—due out in October 2019 has made a predictably large splash in the press. The Guardian reports:
We’ll have to wait another 10 months to find out how much more.
John le Carré is set to confront “the division and rage at the heart of our modern world” in a new novel setDouble O Section blogger Matthew Bradford adds that le Carré (whose real name is David Cornwell) “may be in the second half of his Eighties now, but, happily, the undisputed master of the spy genre keeps going strong. While either a personal memoir (2016’s The Pigeon Tunnel) or a novel revisiting his most famous character, George Smiley, one last(?) time (2017’s A Legacy of Spies) both seemed like they might be fitting moments to retire, le Carré clearly still has more to say.”in London in 2018 that will be published next year. Agent Running in the Field follows a 26-year-old “solitary” man who, “in a desperate attempt to resist the new political turbulence swirling around him, makes connections that will take him down a very dangerous path,” according to publisher Viking. …
Mary Mount, the author’s publisher at Viking, said that the times called for writers like le Carré. “In his plot and characterisation le Carré is as thrilling as ever, and in the way he writes about our times he proves himself once again to be the greatest chronicler of our age,” she said. “At a moment like this we need writers like him.”
Agent Running in the Field was the original working title for le Carré’s 1986 novel A Perfect Spy, according to Adam Sisman’s 2015 biography of the author.
We’ll have to wait another 10 months to find out how much more.
Plainly, Readers Can’t All Agree
Less than a week after asking its critics and contributors (including yours truly) to list their favorite crime-oriented books of the year, CrimeReads editors today express their own opinions on that same pressing matter. Their 20 choices include Lou Berney’s November Road, Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny, James McLaughlin’s Bearskin, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, The Serial Killer, Jonathan Lethem’s The Feral Detective, and Lucy Atkins’ The Night Visitor. If you haven’t yet read all of these works, don’t feel bad—neither have I.
* * *
Speaking of critical preferences, note that Crime Time continues its seeming annual tradition of asking prominent British reviewers to identify the crime, mystery, and thriller works they believe showed off the genre’s strengths best this year. Philip Kerr’s Greeks Bearing Gifts, Belinda Bauer’s Snap, Mick Herron’s London Rules, Manda Scott’s A Treachery of Spies, Jack Grimwood’s Nightfall Berlin, and Derek B. Miller’s American by Day all earn mentions.
Happy Birthday, Rita Moreno!
The Puerto Rico-born actress turn 87 years old today. After a seven-decades-long career, Rita Moreno may be best known for filling supporting parts in films such as The King and I and West Side Story, as well as her long-running participation on the children’s TV series Electric Company. But her crime-fiction credentials are also solid. They include her essential role in the 1969 James Garner film Marlowe and her regular spot on The Cosby Mysteries (1994-1995), as well as her guest appearances on small-screen series such as Burke’s Law, The Rockford Files, B.L. Stryker, and In Plain Sight.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Tana French Series Heads to TV
As Tana French’s latest novel—a standalone titled The Witch Elm—finds a place on more and more “best crime fiction of 2018” lists, In Reference to Murder blogger B.V. Lawson highlights this news about her series of Dublin Murder Squad yarns:
READ MORE: “Dublin Murders Makes a Murky Mess of Tana French’s Lyrical Crime Novels,” by Laura Miller (Slate).
Starz has acquired the eight-episode crime drama series Dublin Murders, adapted from Tana French’s first two novels in the Dublin Murder Squad crime series, In the Woods and The Likeness. Dublin Murders follows Rob Reilly (Killian Scott)—a smart-suited detective whose English accent marks him as an outsider—who is dispatched to investigate the murder of a young girl on the outskirts of Dublin with his partner, Cassie Maddox (Sarah Greene). Reilly is pulled back into another case of missing children and forced to confront his own darkness even as Cassie is sent undercover for another murder case and forced to come face to face with her own brutal reckoning.U.S. TV viewers should see Dublin Murders premiere in 2019.
READ MORE: “Dublin Murders Makes a Murky Mess of Tana French’s Lyrical Crime Novels,” by Laura Miller (Slate).
Sunday, December 09, 2018
Revue of Reviewers, 12-9-18
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.
How Many Can You Read Before 2019?
As 2018 spins to a close, the proliferation of “best crime books of the year” lists is increasingly dramatically. For Open Letters Review, Steve Donoghue presents 10 books—all published over the last dozen months—that he believes are worth special attention. Among those are Anne Perry’s Dark Tide Rising (her latest William Monk mystery) to Philip Kerr’s Greeks Bearing Gifts (his penultimate Bernie Gunther thriller), and Wendy Webb’s Daughters of the Lake.
Meanwhile, National Public Radio offers up 24 “great reads” from the Mysteries and Thriller shelves, including Sara Gran’s The Infinite Blacktop, Lawrence Osbourne’s Only to Sleep (his Philip Marlowe continuation novel), Tana French’s The Witch Elm, and Anthony Horowitz’s The World Is Murder. In its rundown of the “Best Thrillers of 2018,” The Real Book Spy mentions Jack Carr’s The Terminal List, J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart, Lou Berney’s November Road, and Daniel Silva’s The Other Woman (“Of all the great, must-read new thrillers that hit bookstores in 2018, nobody delivered more than Daniel Silva.”). Book Marks highlights the best-reviewed mystery, crime, and thriller novels of the year. And The Christian Science Monitor weighs in with a more generalized selection of “Best Fiction Reads of 2018” that features two works drawn from this genre’s riches: Kate Atkinson’s Transgression and Kerr’s Greeks Bearing Gifts.
2018 marks the beginning of a new practice by several blogs specializing in vintage crime fiction, to choose reprints of the year. The process will evolve in four stages, as explained here. The winner “has to be a reprint published this year and not a title released for the first time,” explains Kate Jackson in Cross-Examining Crime. “We’ve not been draconian about setting a time period for the original publication dates, but in the main our choices unsurprisingly focus more on pre-1960s texts.” Saturday brought the start of this competition, and you will find links to all of the participating blogs here. An ultimate victor will be announced on December 29.
Finally, a quite different kind of “best of the year” list: Emily Stein of CrimeReads has selected what she says are “The Best New Crime Podcasts of 2018.”
Meanwhile, National Public Radio offers up 24 “great reads” from the Mysteries and Thriller shelves, including Sara Gran’s The Infinite Blacktop, Lawrence Osbourne’s Only to Sleep (his Philip Marlowe continuation novel), Tana French’s The Witch Elm, and Anthony Horowitz’s The World Is Murder. In its rundown of the “Best Thrillers of 2018,” The Real Book Spy mentions Jack Carr’s The Terminal List, J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart, Lou Berney’s November Road, and Daniel Silva’s The Other Woman (“Of all the great, must-read new thrillers that hit bookstores in 2018, nobody delivered more than Daniel Silva.”). Book Marks highlights the best-reviewed mystery, crime, and thriller novels of the year. And The Christian Science Monitor weighs in with a more generalized selection of “Best Fiction Reads of 2018” that features two works drawn from this genre’s riches: Kate Atkinson’s Transgression and Kerr’s Greeks Bearing Gifts.
2018 marks the beginning of a new practice by several blogs specializing in vintage crime fiction, to choose reprints of the year. The process will evolve in four stages, as explained here. The winner “has to be a reprint published this year and not a title released for the first time,” explains Kate Jackson in Cross-Examining Crime. “We’ve not been draconian about setting a time period for the original publication dates, but in the main our choices unsurprisingly focus more on pre-1960s texts.” Saturday brought the start of this competition, and you will find links to all of the participating blogs here. An ultimate victor will be announced on December 29.
Finally, a quite different kind of “best of the year” list: Emily Stein of CrimeReads has selected what she says are “The Best New Crime Podcasts of 2018.”
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
CrimeReads’ Critical Judgment
The editors and contributors at CrimeReads weigh in today with their choices of favorite mystery, crime, and thriller novels published in 2018 (plus a handful of non-fiction works about crime). There are 62 books mentioned in all—one of which is Philip Kerr’s penultimate Bernie Gunther historical thriller, Greeks Bearing Gifts, about which I was asked to comment. There are plenty of excellent reading choices here, if you’re still looking for holiday presents for book lovers.
You can enjoy the full CrimeReads feature here.
You can enjoy the full CrimeReads feature here.
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
King Rules Again
After three rounds of online voting, beginning on October 30, users of the “social cataloguing” site Goodreads have selected their favorite books of 2018. Stephen King’s The Outsider (Scribner) won in the Mystery & Thriller category, with 62,170 votes. Click here to see the top-20 vote-getters among that group. Or go here to find the honorees in all of this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards categories.
READ MORE: “Goodreads Choice Awards: An Annual Reminder That Critics and Readers Don’t Often Agree,” by Ron Charles (The Washington Post).
READ MORE: “Goodreads Choice Awards: An Annual Reminder That Critics and Readers Don’t Often Agree,” by Ron Charles (The Washington Post).
Monday, December 03, 2018
PaperBack: “Renegades of Time”
Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.
Renegades of Time, by Raymond F. Jones (Laser, 19750.
Cover illustration by Kelly Freas.
I can pretty much guarantee that you’re not the only one looking at this latest installment in The Rap Sheet’s “PaperBack” series and wondering, How in the heck did a science-fiction novel manage to worm its way into this mix? I thought the “PaperBack” choices were all from the crime, mystery, and thriller shelves.
The change of pace is provoked by a couple of unfortunate anniversaries occurring this week. First, it was exactly one year ago today—on December 3, 2017—that Texas mystery writer and longtime blogger Bill Crider posted the front and back covers from Raymond F. Jones’ 1977 novel, The River and the Dream (which, I just noticed, he misspelled The River and the Dread). That was the concluding installment in Crider’s own “PaperBack” series, which he’d debuted in his blog back in 2010—and which The Rap Sheet picked up, in his honor, just before the author’s death in February 2018.
I had thought originally to highlight a different book front here today, from the only Jones work I know is in my possession: his 1965 TV tie-in novel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Whitman). As a boy, I was a huge fan of the 1964-1968 Irwin Allen series on which Jones based that adventure yarn, and have managed to hold
onto my copy of the book ever since. However, after digging through the boxes in my basement to find said “authorized edition”—shown on the left (click for an enlargement)—I discovered it was a hardcover book, not a paperback. So I have substituted Renegades of Time, instead.
This week’s second sad occasion falls on Wednesday, December 5, which will mark one year since Crider—then 76 years old and suffering from a very aggressive prostate cancer—announced he was giving up blogging after an impressive decade-and-a-half-long run. He wrote:
Renegades of Time, by Raymond F. Jones (Laser, 19750.
Cover illustration by Kelly Freas.
I can pretty much guarantee that you’re not the only one looking at this latest installment in The Rap Sheet’s “PaperBack” series and wondering, How in the heck did a science-fiction novel manage to worm its way into this mix? I thought the “PaperBack” choices were all from the crime, mystery, and thriller shelves.
The change of pace is provoked by a couple of unfortunate anniversaries occurring this week. First, it was exactly one year ago today—on December 3, 2017—that Texas mystery writer and longtime blogger Bill Crider posted the front and back covers from Raymond F. Jones’ 1977 novel, The River and the Dream (which, I just noticed, he misspelled The River and the Dread). That was the concluding installment in Crider’s own “PaperBack” series, which he’d debuted in his blog back in 2010—and which The Rap Sheet picked up, in his honor, just before the author’s death in February 2018.
I had thought originally to highlight a different book front here today, from the only Jones work I know is in my possession: his 1965 TV tie-in novel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Whitman). As a boy, I was a huge fan of the 1964-1968 Irwin Allen series on which Jones based that adventure yarn, and have managed to hold
onto my copy of the book ever since. However, after digging through the boxes in my basement to find said “authorized edition”—shown on the left (click for an enlargement)—I discovered it was a hardcover book, not a paperback. So I have substituted Renegades of Time, instead.This week’s second sad occasion falls on Wednesday, December 5, which will mark one year since Crider—then 76 years old and suffering from a very aggressive prostate cancer—announced he was giving up blogging after an impressive decade-and-a-half-long run. He wrote:
Things could change, but I suspect this will be my final post on the blog. I met with some doctors at M.D. Anderson [Cancer Center] today, and they suggested that I enter hospice care. A few weeks, a few months is about all I have left. The blog has been a tremendous source of pleasure to me over the years, and I’ve made a lot of friends here. My only regret is that I have several unreviewed books, including Lawrence Block’s fine new anthology, Alive in Shape and Color, and Max Allan Collins’ latest collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Last Stand, which is a collection of two novellas, “A Bullet for Satisfaction,” an early Spillane manuscript with an interesting history, and “The Last Stand,” the last thing that Spillane completed. It saddens me to think of all the great books by many writers that I’ll never read. But I’ve had a great life, and my readers have been a big part of it. Much love to you all.Bill Crider passed away quietly a little over two months later. And there’s probably not a day that has gone by since, when I didn’t read something about a brand-new novel, or hear about a news event involving crocodiles, Nicolas Cage, or the passing of another celebrity, and think, I wonder how Bill would’ve treated that in his blog.
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