Jen's Book Thoughts

BLOODLAND - Alan Glynn

2012-02-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

I reviewed BLOODLAND by Alan Glynn for Shelf Awareness. If you missed its appearance earlier this month, I am reposting it here today. If you don't receive Shelf Awareness already, you can sign up through the widget in my side bar.

First line: "The way his heart is beating is unreal, the rate, the intensity - it's like a jackhammer drilling into rock.

In an attempt to keep journalist Jimmy Gilroy from accidentally uncovering a dark secret while writing a book about reality star Susie Monaghan and her untimely death, Phil Sweeney arranges for a sweetheart of a deal. Jimmy can assist former Irish Prime Minister Larry Bolger with writing his memoir. What Phil Sweeney didn’t count on was Bolger falling off the wagon and revealing just enough of the secret to spark Jimmy’s curiosity. When Jimmy starts digging, he reveals clues that lead him across countries, oceans and a hierarchy of the world’s powerfully elite. His perseverance may earn him the story of a lifetime or a place on the obits page.

Alan Glynn (Limitless, Winterland) capably juggles several subplots in Bloodland, giving the reader just enough detail to know the subplots are going to come together, but not enough to figure out how before Glynn’s ready for the reader to know. The constant movement of the novel’s players and the lack of foresight keep the plot’s momentum barreling at a full tilt pace.

Glynn employs timely political, corporate, military and scientific issues to keep the reader fully engaged. But this is a book readers must pay close attention to as there are many players in the game.

Bloodland sprints to the finish, in a race full of dirty, corrupt competitors. And readers keep the pace turning page after page, checking over their shoulders and watching for black helicopters. Bloodland will put your cardiovascular system to the test; don’t forget to breathe!

BLOODLAND is available in trade paper (ISBN: 9780312621285) from Picador.

PRIME SUSPECT - Lynda La Plante

2012-02-14T03:00:00.000-05:00

First sentence: "Mrs. Corrina Salbanna was woken from a deep sleep by the sound of the front door banging in the wind."

Jane Tennison is the only female Detective Chief Inspector in the murder squad at Scotland Yard, and the old boys club isn't any too happy about it. They've managed to keep her out of the murder investigations so far, but when Detective Chief Inspector John Shefford dies of a massive heart attack, there's no option but to let Tennison take over the investigation of a murdered prostitute. What Shefford's team was touting as an open-and-shut case turns out to be far more than that. Tennison finds holes in the investigation and the team is forced to release their prime suspect. But Tennison is bound and determined to close this case and securely nail the guilty party, no matter what it might cost her personally.

Lynda La Plante makes a bold statement with PRIME SUSPECT. Not only is she portraying a woman who has to battle the "old boys school" of law enforcement, she's portraying an ambitious woman trying to climb the ladder. And that character isn't always the most lovable character. As readers we want to see a lot of the stereotypes our society reinforces: the female "fixer" who makes everyone happy, the discreet affair between a male and female in the department that makes everything work out in the end. Tennison doesn't have any of that. She has aspirations of where she wants to go in her career. Standing in her way, she has a department that will fight her over her ambition and a significant other that doesn't understand or support those aspirations when it isn't convenient for him.

There were times when I wanted to throttle Tennison. "Really? You're making that choice?" But as I digested it more I realized those choices made her deliciously human. I have a list of decisions a mile long that I look back on now: they seemed like the right choices at the time, but now all I can say is, "what WAS I thinking?"

I appreciate La Plante's willingness to portray the no-always-so-likable female climber. I'm not sure I'd want to work with Tennison, but I can appreciate her struggles. The other underlying implication is the hypocrisy of the system. La Plante does a fine job of intimating it, without letting it interrupt the plot.

The plot of PRIME SUSPECT is tight and well-developed. La Plante builds anticipation with each chapter and keeps the pace moving swiftly.

Not much has been changed in the way of local colloquialism. I found myself having to figure out some phrases and idioms that are not common in the U.S., but that also lent itself to appropriate atmosphere.

I enjoyed PRIME SUSPECT and look forward to following Jane Tennison on to her next appearance in La Plante's series.

PRIME SUSPECT was originally published in the UK in 1991. It has been re-released this year in the U.S. in trade paper (ISBN: 978-0062134370) by Harper Collins.

My review is part of a TLC blog tour for the PRIME SUSPECT three-book series. You can see other reviews and their thoughts on the books by checking the TLC tour page.

Announcing the 2012 Crime Fiction Bracket Tourney

2012-02-12T11:59:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. March, and therefore March Madness, is approaching. And the third annual crime fiction bracket tournament is also approaching. It's time to start taking nominations for this year's tourney.

This year's theme week is "Heroes and Villains," so the corresponding bracket tourney will be protagonists versus antagonists. The tourney will run a tad bit different as all the antagonists (a.k.a. villains) will face off against each other while all the protagonists (a.k.a. heroes) will face off against each other, and then the lone remaining one on each side of the bracket will face off in the final week - during the theme week: Top Hero vs. Top Villain.

You all will decide who competes in this year's contest! I'll take the top 32 heroes nominated and the top 32 villains nominated. Nominees can be part of a series or they can come from stand alone novels, but they must come from crime fiction. You may nominate as many characters as you like as often as you like through March 4th. Then I will tally all of the nominations, build the bracket and announce our competitors on March 7th.

As in the two previous tourneys there will be a correlating contest, so if you want to get your predictions in for the contest you will be able to do that between March 7th and March 15th. Voting for Round 1 begins March 12th. So mark your calendars and get your nominations in. Let's make this the most exciting tourney yet!

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Perfect Place for a Murder

2012-02-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I reviewed Hilary Davidson's second novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, that is due out on Tuesday. And incidentally I also tag-team interviewed Hilary with Ruth Jordan in Issue #45 of CRIMESPREE Magazine. So if you don't subscribe give Murder by the Book a ring and get a copy! Hilary was kind enough to stop by and talk about the exotic locale of her book. And you just have to love a person who travels to Peru and thinks:

"This would be the perfect place to kill someone." - by Hilary Davidson

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that’s what I said just after I arrived at Machu Picchu. When I first got there, the rain and fog were so heavy that a gray shroud hid most of the Inca city from view. It was only when the rain stopped and the sun burned off the fog that I saw Machu Picchu in all its glory. I’m not sure what it says about me that I can visit a place, fall head-over-heels in love with it, and then decide to plot a murder there. A fictional murder, to be precise, but does that make it any better?

Machu Picchu with a llama!
My new novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, is set in Peru, a country I had the good fortune to visit for three weeks in the fall of 2007. It was love at first sight for me. When I travel, there are certain things that I gravitate to. One is ancient or historic sites. Another is beautiful scenery — especially when it includes adorable animals (you may already know of my llama obsession). Good food is a big attraction for me. I also love museums, especially small collections that focus on the work of local artists. Most of all, I love visiting a place where it’s easy to get into conversations with locals and with other travelers; some of the best discoveries I’ve made when I travel have come out of casual discussions like that.

Peru got a perfect score on every front — and, in particular, the city of Cusco and the nearby “Sacred Valley” that leads to Machu Picchu. The combination of Inca and Spanish colonial history and sites caught my imagination. Even though the Inca Empire fell hundreds of years ago, the way that they reshaped the Peruvian landscape has stood the test of time. The Incas carved terraces onto the sides of mountains so they could grow crops there; when you stand in a place like the Sacred Valley or the Colca Canyon, all you see for miles are hundreds of terraces.
Inca terraces

Cusco, the city that was the capital of the Inca Empire, is filled with colonial architecture, much of which is built on Inca foundations. The Cathedral and several churches and convents now double as art galleries, featuring work by the Cusco School (also called the Cuzco School) of the 17th and 18th centuries, which had European painters come to Cusco to teach local artists to paint in the European style. The results were beautiful, beatific, and occasionally bizarre. The indigenous artists converted to Catholicism, but they retained certain Inca ideas. For example, depicting Jesus in a loincloth was profoundly disrespectful in their eyes, so Jesus wears the knee-length linen skirt of the Inca nobility in scenes of the crucifixion.
Jesus in the linen skirt of Inca nobility

It’s incredibly exciting to me to get to share stories about a place I love, and it is doubly so to do it through fiction. I used to write guidebooks, so I know how people’s eyes glaze over when you recite a bunch of dates and descriptions to them. But having the opportunity to show people Peru through the eyes of Lily Moore and Jesse Robb is thrilling. Lily is, in some ways, going through what I did when I first arrived. I experienced altitude sickness, too (it takes a while to acclimatize to the thin Andean air — Cusco is 11,500 feet above sea level!). She’s seeing Peru for the first time, and even though she’s caught up in her own grief, it starts to intrigue her. Jesse has visited Peru again and again, falling in love with the place as I did. Some people who’ve read the book have said it makes them feel as if they’d visited Peru. The woman’s body on the stone steps at Machu Picchu? That’s fiction. But the magical beauty of Peru itself is entirely real.
Jesuit Church from 1668

Hilary has very graciously supplied the beautiful pictures from this post. Aren't they astounding? She has also donated a copy of her new book for me to give away to a lucky reader. She knows how I am - I'm not going to part with my own copy!

So, if you'd like to have a chance at winning THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, simply tell me in the comments where you think the perfect place for a murder might be. And be sure I have an email I can contact you at if you win! I'll take entries through next Friday. And the contest is open internationally!

In the meantime, you can find out more about Hilary at her website, check out all the locations she'll be visiting on her book tour. You can follow her on Twitter and you can hook up with her on Facebook. She's just omnipresent these days.

And since THE NEXT ONE TO FALL doesn't come out until Tuesday, you can whet your appetite with the first three chapters that are posted over at Criminal Element!

THE NEXT ONE TO FALL - Hilary Davidson

2012-02-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

FIRST LINE: "Standing at the edge of the mountain, I imagined what it would feel like to let go."

Lily Moore and Jesse Robb return in Hilary Davidson’s sophomore novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL. While she isn’t traveling for her job, it’s fitting that the travel writer sleuth should find herself outside of New York City for her next adventure. Lily and Jesse are visiting Machu Picchu in Peru when they discover a fatally injured woman who claims she was murdered, pushed down the ancient stone staircase. The woman’s dying words lead the pair away from their mundane tour group into a world of secrets, deception and death.

While Davidson’s victim in this novel fell to her death, Davidson is doing nothing but climbing. THE NEXT ONE TO FALL is an exquisite novel in plotting, setting and characterization. The plot is filled with unsuspecting twists, creating a mental labyrinth in which readers will likely find themselves thinking in the wrong direction. But never fear, as you scurry through the pages, Davidson will lead you safely to the end and you will want to turn around and try it again.

The Peru setting is both beautiful and dangerous. Davidson envelopes the reader in the geography without weighing down the plot with superfluous detail. Her writing manages to create imagery and atmosphere while being succinct and efficacious. Those who have not visited Machu Picchu themselves will feel as though they have after THE NEXT ONE TO FALL.

THE DAMAGE DONE introduced readers to Lily and Jesse, and while those unfamiliar to the first novel will not need to backtrack before THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, those who have read Davidson’s work will appreciate the way Davidson reflects their past experiences in their present characterization. Lily and Jesse suffered hardships and still have open wounds that can be easily re-opened. But their core strengths still guide them day to day. Jesse still exudes wit and charm; Lily is still thoughtful and introspective. And the relationship between the two is still shaping up to be one of the greatest in crime fiction.

THE NEXT ONE TO FALL is a creative blend of intrigue, suspense and mystery that will keep your blood pumping this winter. The hard-boiled ladies of crime fiction most definitely have another card-holding member in Hilary Davidson.

THE NEXT ONE TO FALL is available next Tuesday - Valentine's Day - as a hardcover (ISBN: 9780765326980), and for my audiobook friends, I'm thrilled to announce that Dreamscape Media will be releasing an audio version (ISBN: 9781611206647), narrated by Hilary Huber.

BOCA DAZE - Steven Forman

2012-02-06T03:00:00.000-05:00

First Line: "The Japanese war flag...sixteen red rays bursting from a rising sun in a field of white...flew over the coral island of Tarawa."

In the third novel of the Boca Knights series, Eddie Perlmutter finds himself investigating illegal pill mills, the death of a homeless man and a financial scammer. His reputation - both as the "Boca Knight" and as a former Boston police detective - helps open doors and make things happen. But his reputation can do nothing to smooth the way with his biggest challenge - erectile dysfunction (I really never thought I'd be typing that into a book review, but hey, this genre is full of surprises). Eddie faces some of the most heartless villains and those close to him could be prime targets.

While BOCA DAZE is the third book in Steven Forman's series, this is my first dance with Eddie Perlmutter. It wasn't difficult to pick up the third book, but I'm sure I'd understand some secondary elements better had I read the first two books before this one. Regardless BOCA DAZE was an entertaining reading experience.

Forman's humor is a stand-out quality for BOCA DAZE. He's rather daringly chosen a retirement-age hero, and he mocks everything stereotypical about the Florida retirement community: from driving to bed times to pastimes. His characters are quirky and spunky and endearing. Eddie Perlmutter doesn't fancy himself a super hero. Rather he's an average retired police detective who wants to help make the world he lives in a better place. He fights for the underdog; you don't have to be ravishingly handsome or unbelievably strong to win the hearts of readers when you're standing up for those who can't stand up for themselves.

Forman's depiction of the homeless is well crafted. The care he takes in extracting the humanity of Bailey adds an extra depth to the overall plot. But he also doesn't treat her with kid gloves. Bailey doesn't escape the target of Forman's humor, nor does Forman excuse her from her own responsibilities. Instead, he shows the whole person and readers can't help but cheer her on right alongside Eddie.

BOCA DAZE is a careful blend of comedy and serious current issues. The humor doesn't downplay the severity of homelessness, pill mills, theft, etc. Instead it balances out the range of emotions the reader will experience in the pages of the book. A serious look at a world that still has a glimmer of hope shining through. Through Eddie Perlmutter readers are reminded that we can find heroes in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely skins. Like Jerry Small readers will find themselves unable to resist the urge to "aid and abet an idiot" because Eddie is irresistible.

BOCA DAZE is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780765328762) from Forge.

THE WHISPERER - Donato Carrisi

2012-02-01T09:09:00.000-05:00

If you missed my review of THE WHISPERER previously published by Shelf Awareness, today I am re-posting it here with their permission.

First line: "The big moth carried him along, moving by memory through the night."

Donato Carrisi’s debut thriller isn’t for the faint of heart, but it is most definitely for the connoisseur of fine fiction. A race to find the monster that has kidnapped and murdered five young girls, leaving only their arms behind, creates the foundation of the plot. A sixth arm is uncovered but forensic evidence indicates the child is still alive. From there Carrisi weaves in the psychological exploration of the investigative team: criminologist Goran Gavilia, missing person’s specialist Mila Vasquez, homicide investigator Sarah Rosa; they all harbor secrets that work to waylay the investigation and build the suspense of the novel.

Carrisi carefully and effectively toggles the point of view between a limited third person vantage point, an unknown first person perspective and a series of prison reports. This alternating frame of reference helps Carrisi to catch the reader off-guard with well-crafted plot twists that fuel the book’s intensity.

The translation of this novel is a bit awkward and inconsistent at times, causing the reader to possibly question location or experience a stiffness in dialogue. But aside from these types of small details, The Whisperer is a hauntingly exciting, graphically thought-provoking psychological thriller.

Start this one early in the day, you won’t want to put it down and you won’t want to turn out the lights. Carrisi is setting the bar of excellence high right off the bat in 2012.

The Whisperer is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978031619472) from Mulholland Books and on audio (ISBN: 9781611133547) from Hachette Audio, narrated by Carol Monda.

HELPLESS - Daniel Palmer

2012-01-31T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: Love can make you do surprising things.

The bitter divorce is not a foreign concept in the United States. And Tom Hawkins deals with that bitterness from his ex-wife Kelly. He could tolerate the cold shoulder from her if she wasn’t poisoning their daughter Jill’s view of him as well.

Tom coaches Jill’s soccer team and makes extra efforts to overcome Kelly’s negativity, but there’s still a chasm that exists between he and Jill. It’s that chasm that wreaks havoc on Jill’s ability to trust Tom when Kelly is murdered and Tom is accused of inappropriate behavior with his soccer players. When evidence starts to surface proving the accusations, Tom has to race time to protect Jill and find out who is working to destroy his life.

Daniel Palmer proved his thriller-writing chops with his debut novel, DELIRIOUS. Now back for Round Number Two, he’s honing those skills and the readers reap the benefits. HELPLESS is a fast-paced, timely novel that will have parents checking their children’s cell phone daily, if not hourly. Building on his foundation of suspense-writing, he moves away from the techno-thriller and into our everyday lives. We don’t wonder if technology like that can exist. We’ve read about sexting in our newspapers and heard related crimes on the TV news shows. Tom’s experience seems less like a conspiracy and more like a terrifying reality.

The greatest growth I see in Palmer’s writing between DELIRIOUS and HELPLESS is his character development. This may be in part due to the circumstances he’s created for his characters in this second go round, but the depth of Tom’s character intermingled with his struggling father-daughter relationship creates an empathetic protagonist. And likewise, Palmer does an exceptional job of illustrating the conflicted teen-age girl. His uncanny representation of all of the teens in this novel would lead you to think there are several living in his house with him. That’s not the case, so the fact that he’s done so well with them is a credit to his skill.

If I highly recommend this novel, I must also give it a warning. If you pick it up, you’ll be HELPLESS to put it down.

HELPLESS is available today in hardcover (ISBN: 9780758246653 ) from Kensington and on audio (ISBN: 9781611063516) from Brilliance, narrated by Phil Gigante.

ASSUME NOTHING - Gar Anthony Haywood

2012-01-24T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "His last night in Florida, Joe Reddick remembered the blood in the goldfish bowl."

Living through the experience of losing his family to a crazed killer causes Joe Reddick to be over-protective of his second family. Andy Baumhower has no knowledge of Reddick or his past when fate sends Baumhower's van crashing into Reddick's car. Baumhower happens to be returning from dumping a body in the L.A. River. Reddick's completely ignorant to that fact, but it doesn't keep Baumhower's partners from thinking otherwise. They decide to threaten Reddick's family to make sure he doesn't talk. Wrong decision!

ASSUME NOTHING is the type of plot where one freak situation leads to another freak situation and events simply snowball. Haywood doesn't interject insulting humor that often comes with stories like this, leaving readers shaking their heads and mumbling, "that would never happen; how ridiculous." Instead he depicts a scenario readers will find highly probable. One that may even leave them to be terrified of experiencing a fender bender ever again. The plot is built with well-placed twists and unexpected turns. And his use of alternating perspectives creates mini-cliff-hangers that intensify the suspense.

While I can't say that the scarred hero taking on improbable odds is a unique story concept, I can say that Gar Anthony Haywood writes with an exquisite style unlike anyone else. His descriptions bring dimension to a flat page and breathe life into fictional characters:

"The man named Junior Greene whom Reddick knew during his old days on the Riviera Beach Police Department was tall, black, and ugly as homemade sin. And it only made matters worse that he had the teeth of a bull moose.

"When Greene smiled, he looked like a fighter trying to eject his mouthpiece."

The dichotomy of beautiful use of language to create an ugliness so vivid you feel goosebumps raise on your arms is what this joy of reading is all about. And Haywood's writing can grab your heart just as effectively:

"He'd been an emotional cripple for a long time, a borderline psychopath walking a razor wire between normalcy and madness, and now he'd been pushed over the edge. His head throbbed and his body ached, and he felt like the only thing holding him together was his skin, that if he turned too quickly in one direction or another, he'd crumble into a pile of ashes that would then scatter to the far winds."

ASSUME NOTHING has good guys employing vigilante tactics to defeat the bad guys. Whether readers condone his cowboy approach or not, they'll be cheering for Reddick because ultimately they're praying that life isn't so cruel as to condemn the innocent and reward the guilty over and over and over again. In Haywood's world, Fate can be very unkind; the question is, can man's determination overpower it?

ASSUME NOTHING is fast-paced, beautifully written, thought-provoking and simply put, a spectacular book. Gar Anthony Haywood is a hidden gem. It's time for crime fiction to expose this prize and let him sparkle!

ASSUME NOTHING is available now from Severn House in hardcover (ISBN: 9780727880833).

TAKEN - Robert Crais

2012-01-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "Jack Berman wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, Krista Morales, and watched his breath fog in the cold desert air."

In Robert Crais' fifteenth book of the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series (18th book overall), he dives head first into the timely subject of illegal immigration. But instead of attacking this subject in the way we're most accustomed, he examines it at a new angle.

Bajadores are criminals who feed on other criminals. Coyotes help guide the immigrants across American borders, often for astronomical sums of money - astronomical to the people asking for their help anyway. These are mostly poor, destitute immigrants looking for a better way of life. They'll sacrifice whatever they possibly can. The bajadores attack the coyotes when they are leading their groups to safety. They kill the coyotes, kidnap the immigrants and hold them for ransom until their families can no longer pay. Then they kill the immigrants. Jack and Krista, a first generation Hispanic-American, inadvertently find themselves in the midst of one of these kidnappings. Corralled up with the immigrants, the bajadores haul off the young couple to be ransomed to their families.

Krista's mother initially thinks her daughter is pulling a prank on her, but when the situation seems like more than a prank, she does what few families in this situation dare to do, she goes in search of help. Having read a newspaper article about the "World's Greatest Detective," she calls on Elvis Cole. But the situation escalates when Elvis also finds himself captured by the bajadores. Joe Pike and mercenary pal, Jon Stone, race time and an intricate network of deceit to find Elvis before the bajadores kill him and move on.

TAKEN is an emotionally charged novel; I've come to expect nothing less from Crais. While Crais avoids the gratuitous gore that others might use to evoke a reaction in the reader, he also doesn't sugar coat the horrors. His approach is far more effective in that it strikes the readers' hearts instead of their gag reflexes. To experience the utter disregard for human life and the disdain for fellow man leaves scars on your soul. There is no doubt that the sociopaths of TAKEN are the stuff true nightmares of made of.

Crais' continuing theme of family is once again strong in TAKEN. The most obvious illustration is the bajadores abuse of strong family ties. The non-traditional family form is seen in Jack's relationship with his guardian. And a highly symbolic car-washing scenes reinforce the bonds between Elvis and Joe. While family ties leave people vulnerable, they also infuse those same people with extraordinary determination.

Stone's return to the fold is most welcome. Crais continues to flush out his character, making him a more integral part of the Cole/Pike world. And his humor lightens the heaviness of the subject matter. I, for one, hope to see more of Stone in the future and wouldn't mind Stone taking the reins of his own book.

The one element of TAKEN that I wrestled with and mulled over for quite awhile was the sequencing. Crais plots this novel out of time sequence, dancing back and forth to before and after Elvis is abducted. I found it distracting at times, thinking something didn't fit correctly in the sequence and trying to go back and confirm. But after thinking about my reactions to this approach, I realized it also left me in a discombobulated state: not being sure of time or place. And that mimicked the state the captives experienced being locked in rooms with no view to the outside world, no grasp on time or place. So in the end, I think that technique achieved its goal.

TAKEN illustrates everything that is exceptional about Robert Crais' writing. If after four years of my touting his skill you still have not experienced Crais. Now is the time. If you're a Craisie like me, TAKEN will not disappoint.

TAKEN is available tomorrow from Putnam in hardcover (ISBN: 9780399158278) and from Brilliance Audio, narrated by Luke Daniels, on audiobook (ISBN: 9781423375654).

Reading Challenges for 2012

2012-01-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

It's kind of funny for me to be contemplating reading challenges. I should be challenging myself to post more consistently! I have tons of content and am falling behind. But this post is part of that content, so I guess it's o.k.

I joined three reading challenges this year. I'm taking another stab at the "What's in a Name" challenge, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. I did pretty good last year, but didn't end up with a book title that contained a gem or jewelry. This year I'll probably have 10 titles that fit it! Anyway, this year's challenge includes these requirements books with following in their titles:

a topographical feature
something you'd see in the sky
a creepy crawly
a type of house
something you'd carry in your pocket, purse or backpack
something you'd find on a calendar

I've already finished my requirement for something you'd see in the sky. Any thoughts on the other categories?

The second challenge is the Audiobook Challenge. I should easily accomplish the "married" status on this one, but for anyone who's needed a little nudging to get started with audiobooks, this might be the motivation you've been waiting for. Check it out.

And then since I'm hosting a challenge, I thought it a good idea to participate in it: Criminal Plots II. But I'm hearing people talk about their titles and I think everyone else is better prepared for my challenge than I am. The topics this year include:

Book with a weapon in the title
Book published at least 10 years ago
Book written by an author from your state/providence
Book written by an author using a pen name
Crime novel whose protagonist is the opposite gender of the author
Standalone novel written by an author who writes at least one series

I do have my choice for the author from Ohio. It just so happens I was pitched a great sounding novel from a brand new-to-me author from Ohio. I'm excited about that one. If you haven't signed up to join us, I hope you'll take the plunge. Also, encourage a friend to join you, make it a friendly challenge! I would really like to encourage some folks who aren't typically crime readers to test the waters of the genre. And I love finding out what others are reading. I always discover some new authors/titles this way!

And a quick reminder that I'm recruiting bloggers to join the theme week in April. This year it's called HEROES AND VILLAINS. I'll be sending out the information sheet to interested bloggers soon, so if you think you might want to participate, please go here and fill out the form so I know to send you the info. We have a great time each year so if you haven't participated in the past, I hope you'll consider it this year. If you're not a blogger, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to participate during the theme week with great posts and contests. Plus we'll have the annual tournament as well and will need your votes!

For those of you in the cold parts of the world, stay warm. Those of you in the warm parts of the world...I'm jealous. And to everyone, Happy Reading!

THE DISPATCHER - Ryan David Jahn

2012-01-19T09:33:00.001-05:00

I am posting my review of THE DISPATCHER with permission from Shelf Awareness where the review appeared earlier this month.

First line: "Ian Hunt is less than an hour from the end of his shift when he gets the call from his dead daughter."

Ian Hunt, the town police dispatcher, is hard at work on a solitaire game when the 9-1-1 call comes into the Bulls Mouth police station. Expecting the usual small-town emergency call, he discovers his daughter on the other end, the daughter who was kidnapped seven years ago, the daughter who they buried in a symbolic ceremony only four months earlier. She manages to elude her captors. But before Ian can get help to her, the kidnapper grabs her again and is on the run. Now the depths of Ian’s love for his child are put to the test. How far is he willing to go to save her?

Ryan David Jahn (Good Neighbors) expertly weaves the story of a battle between two men who both believe they are fighting to protect their families. Their actions mirror one other, and each judges the opposite for those actions. When man pushes aside the laws of society for what he deems justifiable cause, the result is physical, mental and emotional carnage.

Jahn’s quiet intensity lulls the reader into the sleepy town atmosphere. And the explosive action is heightened as a result. Meanwhile Jahn builds the reader’s empathy for his characters through flashback scenes, helping the reader find justification in lawlessness. The Dispatcher is a tale that challenges readers’ perceptions of right and wrong, good and bad. The grime of this small town leaves everyone’s hat dirty; it’s virtually impossible to tell who’s wearing the white ones.

THE DISPATCHER is available now in trade paper (ISBN 978-0143120704) from Penguin.

THE SILENT OLIGARCH - Chris Morgan Jones

2012-01-17T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "High in the air Webster watches the unbroken desert flow past, a deep copper red in the dawn, the sand ridged like waves rolling down toward the south."

Richard Lock, an English lawyer, leads a seemingly plush life as the puppet running a Russian company. The company is nothing more than a front, allowing Konstantin Malin to hide the complex network that enables him to control the Russian oil industry. When a disgruntled and equally corrupt competitor tries to unveil their secrets by hiring a corporate intelligence spy, Lock's plush life quickly comes apart at its very loosely sewn seems.

THE SILENT OLIGARCH is an astonishing debut novel. The complexity of the network Morgan Jones has devised demands an equally complex plot and that's exactly what THE SILENT OLIGARCH is. Much like a labyrinth, the series of corporate hide-a-ways leads Benjamin Webster, the corporate intelligence spy, down many dead ends, literally. When Webster begins turning over rocks, he finds he's leaving a trail of corpses. Webster's fervor to take Malin down is linked to a horror from his past. But he must ask himself if his determination to avenge that nightmare is worth creating more.

Chris Morgan Jones writes with the confidence of an insider, thanks to his years at the world's largest business intelligence company, but he also writes with the confidence of someone who understands his characters inside and out. Malin's constant calm, composed veneer contrasts sharply against Richard Lock's genuine panic. And while Webster simply wants justice, his conflict over whether or not the price of that justice is too high grips the empathy of the reader. That in turn enables the average reader to connect with a world - and the people inhabiting it - that most will never know personally. Yet, they'll walk away feeling as if they do. There are no characters wearing magic capes in THE SILENT OLIGARCH, only real flesh and blood humans.

The pacing is swift, but not so much so that readers will have difficulty keeping up with all the players in the game. Dialogue is well written and natural. And the atmosphere creates a definite sense of place. The scenes in Moscow have a much darker tone than those set in London or Monte Carlo. Readers will be able to feel the deception in Moscow and the sheer desperation to escape in London.

Chris Morgan Jones is definitely on his way to claim a spot among the elite international thriller writers.

THE SILENT OLIGARCH releases Thursday in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1594203190) from The Penguin Press.

My post today is the first on TLC's blog tour. I hope you'll check out the other blogs and as they post their reactions to THE SILENT OLIGARCH throughout January and February.

And if any of my former students happen to be reading this blog post, I told you "oligarchy" would be a valuable vocabulary word one day! ;-) Happy Reading!

Odds and Ends and the 2012 Theme Week

2012-01-15T19:53:00.000-05:00

Time is already trying to speed by me in 2012. Goodness. To bad this snow isn't speeding by. I'm over it already.

I wanted to share a few odds and ends with you. The first being a "full disclosure" type of thing. I have been doing some work now for awhile with Maddee James at xuni.com, as you know. And I've also started to do some support work with Erin Mitchell for her business HEW (which handles author PR). Some of the authors I read are clients of Maddee or Erin. Their status as clients doesn't change the stipulations for reviews here. I still have to be interested in a book to read it and I have to like it to post about it. There are no expectations that my blog will be used for anything related to either organization. It is my personal and private endeavor - so my opinions reflect only ME, not xuni.com and not HEW. That being said, I am also going to label any of those authors with the "xuni" tag or the "HEW" tag, so you know if they have that connection. You may take that into consideration when deciding whether you're going to heed my advice on a book. It's very important to me that I'm up front about it.

O.k., on to fun stuff, like World Book Night. Have you all heard about this? I've mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook because I put my name into the hat for consideration as a book giver. I hope you'll take a minute or two to check it out. And if you're interested, sign up to be considered as a book giver!

There are a couple of book giveaways that Regal Literary is holding you might be interested in. First they have Josh Bazell's WILD THING and then also Donato Carrisi's THE WHISPERER. You have to enter by February 8th to be considered for those.

Speaking of giveaways! Congratulations to Michael A (CA) and Bobbie R (IL) who won the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY giveaway here. I have passed on your mailing addresses to the folks at Focus Features (trying saying that three times fast) so you can receive your loot! I loved all of your spy names.

And the last item I have for this post is the blogger sign-up for this year's theme week. The theme is "Heroes & Villains" and will encompass all sub-genres. So no matter what crime fiction you fancy, it will fit in this year's theme week. The dates of the theme week are April 16-20. I hope you'll join in. And I hope you'll encourage others to join in as well. I'd love for some folks who aren't typical readers of the genre to give it a try. Really, what do you have to lose? Bloggers interested in participating, please just complete the quick form below and I'll be sending out an info sheet with all the specifics.

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Stay warm and happy reading!

START SHOOTING - Charlie Newton

2012-01-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "The girl was thirteen and Irish, and fashioned out of sunlight so bright she made you believe in angels."

Bobby Vargas is a Chicago beat cop - about as straight as they come – with aspirations of making a living playing jazz guitar. When a blast from his past shows up in the form of an old girlfriend he believed to be dead, Bobby’s life is turned upside down and inside out. Arlene has remained the elusive “love of Bobby’s life.” Much like their hallowed childhood friend, Pete Pan, Arlene remained forever young and pure and perfect in Bobby’s memory. However, reality splashes harsh color on the canvas and a whole different picture evolves; Bobby fights to hold his life together, watching helplessly as powerful forces tear apart his very foundation.

There may have been some time between Charlie Newton’s acclaimed debut novel, CALUMET CITY, and this follow-up, but the product was more than worth the wait. The dark underside of Chicago’s gangland snarls and bites juxtaposed against the sheer beauty of Newton’s writing. Echoes of Newton’s musical influence come through in his language and that dichotomy raises the emotional impact.

The characters that compose the cast of START SHOOTING run the gamut, and not one feels forced or flat or superficial. Every character carries the weight of life; some characters just have a heavier bag than others.

Themes of dreams, sacrifice, hope and perseverance proliferate: Chicago setting its sights on an Olympic bid, no name actresses seeing their names in lights, the innocent believing in the justice system. No matter how slim the chance, somehow striving to reach the goal is worth the likelihood of missing altogether.

This gritty, dark, brutal love story hidden in the guise of a crime novel captivates readers, transporting them to Newton’s chilling world where nothing is as it seems and if you don’t learn to play dirty, you’re guaranteed to lose.

If you’ve experienced Newton’s CALUMET CITY, you’ve likely been waiting anxiously for this release. If you haven’t experienced Charlie Newton’s art yet, now is the time. Make haste!

START SHOOTING is available today from Doubleday (ISBN: 9780385534697). I believe there will also be an audio version produced from Books on Tape, narrated by Nancy Linari, Tish Hicks and Serafin Falcon.

Resolutions and other stuff

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

Holy cow! How did a week of this year go by already? It's been a whirlwind, and I'm wondering if that's going to be an oddity or a sign of what's to come.

Anyway, I wanted to mention my reading and blogging resolutions for this year.

Last year I mentioned the second annual theme week. That happened. Very excited about the success of Moonlighting for Murder. The third annual theme week is in the planning stages. Look for more information coming soon on "Heroes and Villains."

The first Criminal Plots reading challenge took place last year. And we're going for year #2. I'd like to increase the number of participants and my big goal with the Criminal Plots II challenge is to encourage some readers who wouldn't have otherwise picked up crime fiction to take a look. I hope you'll help me coax some of those folks into participating. I'm ready to help with any recommendations anyone might need. Younger readers are welcome, too. There's lots of fun mystery content out there for Middle Grades and YA.

And that brings me to a new resolution...I'm going to try to cover at least a smattering of Middle Grades and YA books this year, to share all ranges of the genre. We'll see how that one goes.

Last year I wanted to read at least 40 books from new-to-me authors. I ended the year with 51, so I did very well in that category. I'd like to have at least 50 again this year. But this is actually getting harder. There are so many now that I need to make sure I read whenever a new one comes out. Adding 50 new authors. We'll see how that goes.

I set a goal to average at least 1 author event a month. I definitely made that mark. The big events included: Love is Murder in Chicago, Printers Row in Chicago, BEA/Book Bloggers Conference in New York, Bouchercon in St. Louis and Muskego in Milwaukee. Good lord, no wonder I'm still tired! I also was able to see Robert Crais, my first event at Mystery One in Milwaukee. Yay! I finally got to meet the wonderful Linda Fairstein in person! Just love her. Craig Johnson came to CAMEX and he accompanied me on my first trip to Houston's Murder by the Book! Brian Freeman came to Cleveland in May and Chris Grabenstein came for the Young Authors event at Lorain County Community College. The snow and ice finally let up and Michael Koryta made it back to Cleveland. Karin Slaughter visited our wonderful library system, as did Louise Penny and Craig McDonald. At BEA I finally got to meet Brad Meltzer who is just spectacular! In July I went to the Chicago Comic Con to see Gregg Hurwitz, who also happened to be the Sexiest Male Author this year, have I mentioned that? ;-) I'm thrilled that I was finally able to meet Bill Cameron and Will Lavender in person and that I was fortunate to see many of my other friends in this community as well. It's definitely a gift! I probably won't make as many big events this year, but I do hope to again average at least one author event of some kind each month.

I always aim for a total of 100 books read. I fell a couple books short in 2011, but I'll aim for 100 again in 2012. I wish it could be 1000. There are so many great books out there.

And above all, I want to continue to find new and creative ways to share my love of reading and crime fiction with you all.

2011 brought a lot of unseen changes, including reviewing for Shelf Awareness and joining the xuni.com team. I presented at the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show and interviewed Val McDermid at Bouchercon. So I'm looking forward to more unforeseen and wonderful events in 2012.

Bouchercon will be hosted in Cleveland. I'm excited about that. I hope a lot of you will attend and that I have the chance to meet many more friends in real life.

Oh and I almost forgot Thursday marks four years of blogging for me! I'm pretty excited about that accomplishment.

So tell me...what are YOUR reading goals for this year?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - The Giveaway!

2012-01-06T03:00:00.000-05:00

Today John le Carré's TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY film from Focus Features hits movie theaters around the country...you know, not just in those select areas.

I was offered the opportunity to host a contest for the movie opening and I just couldn't pass it up. But before I tell you about the contest, take a gander at the movie trailer:

The film features Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, and Colin Firth. It's directed by Tomas Alfredson

For those unfamiliar with the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY story, it's set in 1973 and the MI6 (Britain's Secret Intelligence) seems to be compromised. The government believes there's a double agent at work. A disgraced MI6 agent is called in to help look for the spy, only he becomes one of the five possible suspects, code names: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poor Man...and of course, the Spy.

You can check out the movie's Facebook Page, the Focus Features Twitter account and see more video at the YouTube channel.

And to celebrate this release, I have TWO fun prize packs. They include: a movie tie-in copy of the TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY book, a long-sleeve t-shirt, a voice recorder pen and a post-it note cube. Here's a picture of the spy swag:

I'm excited to be able to host the giveaway and thank the generous folks at Focus Features for providing the great prizes. I'm also really excited to see the movie (pssst! Did you see Colin Firth is in this movie! A spy thriller AND Colin Firth?). But I'm sure you want more giveaway details, so here they are: contest is open to U.S. residents - or if you know someone in the U.S. and you can use their mailing address, that works, too. Complete my short form below and leave a comment telling me what you would want your code name to be if you were a spy! I'll draw two winners next Wednesday, January 11th, so you need to be enter by the end of the day on Tuesday.

Questions? Drop me an email. Good luck!

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Chatting With Hilary Davidson

2012-01-04T08:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday marked the release of Hilary Davidson's award-winning THE DAMAGE DONE in paperback. Back when she was touring for the hardcover release (yes, I'm sorry, I'm embarrassing late on this), I interviewed Hilary. She shares some insight into THE DAMAGE DONE, her writing life and other fun topics. Unfortunately I didn't pick the greatest locale for the interview, so there are some noisy trains that pass through a couple times, but hopefully you're still able to hear o.k.

This is Part 1 of my chat with Hilary:

And if you're a GoodReads user, you can enter to win a copy of THE DAMAGE DONE. But however you get a copy, be sure to read this amazing debut (see my review here) and you'll be up to date next month when Hilary's second novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL hits bookshelves.

Stay tuned for more of my interview with Hilary still to come! Happy Reading!

2011 Overall Favorite Reads

2011-12-30T03:00:00.000-05:00

Wow! We've come to the end of yet another year. Next month I will celebrate four years of blogging. Doesn't seem possible at all. A lot of growing and changing have happened in those years. A lot of new friends and of course a lot of books! I love that we can share that common bond.

But, before I start getting too sentimental, let's concentrate on 2011. This year I read 98 books, which was four below last year's total of 102. I try to aim for 100 each year, but given all the wonderful busy-ness of this year, I'm not at all disappointed in that total.

Of the 98 books, 47 were audiobooks - so almost half.

There were 83 different authors in the 98 book mix, 51 were new-to-me authors and 14 were debut novels. 65 books were written by men, 3 were written by male/female duos and 30 were written by women.

Now for the hard part. Winnowing down my favorite 10, but here we go:

10. THE HANGING TREE (Bryan Gruley) - this book was released in Summer 2010, so I was a little late in reading it, but Gruley blows me away with each book and I'm very much looking forward to his next book in this series, SKELETON BOX, that comes out next summer. I won't be waiting long to read that one, rest assured. STARVATION LAKE was great and THE HANGING TREE was even better. Can't wait to see what awaits Gus next. (Touchstone)

9. EL GAVILAN (Craig McDonald) - Craig consistently writes great fiction and with EL GAVILAN he stretched his wings a bit. I love that this book shows both his versatility as a writer and his traditional strengths as well. I love that he drew me in with characters I couldn't decide if I loved or hated. (Tyrus Books)

8. LONG GONE (Alafair Burke) - with every book Alafair Burke grows as a story teller and in LONG GONE she veered off the path she's been so successful with to date. She blazed a new trail proving yet again that she's got writing chops, y'all! Spending time with her characters in the NYC she so expertly creates is a treat. LONG GONE is possible the sweetest treat yet. (Harper)

7. DOMINANCE (Will Lavender) - WATCH. THIS. MAN. He is flat-out amazing. And he's young and with luck we will be seeing a lot more from him. DOMINANCE is complex and puzzling and mysterious and brilliant. This book was so much fun to read. And Will Lavender is a new-to-me author this year. DOMINANCE is his second novel. (Simon & Schuster)

6. SATORI (Don Winslow) - the very first book I read in 2011 and back then I said, "this will be on my favorites list" and it is. I loved SATORI as a book by itself, having not read SHIBUMI beforehand. After I read SHIBUMI I realized further how astounding SATORI is. Winslow managed to stay true to Travanian's characters and still infuse his own style and technique. SATORI is a work of art. (Grand Central)

5. THE SURROGATE/CAGE OF BONES (Tania Carver) - I'm putting these together, not trying to cheat, but CAGE OF BONES is not yet released in the U.S. I read both books this year, THE SURROGATE being the debut novel from Tania Carver - which is the writing team of Martyn Waites and his wife, Linda. Martyn writes independently under his own name as well, so it's not really his debut, but semantics. Like Bryan Gruley, I see the Tania Carver books as starting out great and only getting better. For those of you who like dark suspense, this is an absolute DO NOT MISS series. I'm hooked. I have to jump back and read THE CREEPER (due out in the US in 2012) - the middle book in the series - but once I'm all caught up this is definitely a series I'll be waiting impatiently for each new installment. Martyn's just thankful that he's across the pond so I can't camp outside his house waiting for the next book! ;-) (Pegasus)

4. THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES (Marcus Sakey) - The fact that I get to be a high-powered, kick-ass lawyer in this book has nothing to do with it's appearance on this list. And you should not hold Marcus' questionable choice in character names against him. This is the most amazing of his books. It's smart, fast-paced, brilliant plot twists. It keeps you on your toes and while the momentum of the book drives you to turn pages faster and faster, you don't want it to end. It's just too much fun. And that's what reading should be. (Dutton)

3. HELL IS EMPTY (Craig Johnson) - Yes indeed, I am an evangelist for this series. I do indeed have a crush on Walt Longmire. And if I didn't adore Vic so much, I'd want to kick her butt! O.k., don't worry, I do realize these are fictional characters, but when you're caught up in the books, they're friends. Breaking open a new Walt Longmire is like taking a vacation to my favorite destination. Prior to HELL IS EMPTY, KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED stayed my favorite, stayed my favorite, stayed my favorite and then HELL IS EMPTY rocked my reading world. There are so many wonderful layers to this book and you can enjoy one, some or all. (Viking)

2. YOU'RE NEXT (Gregg Hurwitz) - This book is always the hardest one for me to articulate why I love. Not because it's for bad reasons but rather because it affected me so deeply. This is a book that still resonates with me months after finishing it. The relationships that Hurwitz created between his characters are pulchritudinous (yes, I did learn that word just for this book...nothing else seemed to embrace the magnitude of what I was trying to say). I don't know how Gregg can tops this one, and how the heck can I top pulchritudinous if he does? (St. Martins)

1. THE RIDGE (Michael Koryta) - I, of course, revealed this last week in the year end meme. Michael's approach to both his human and feline characters is stunning. The world he created is dark and haunting, but I so wanted to be there. THE RIDGE gets the top spot this year because Koryta did what few are ever able to with me - he enticed me to let go of the reality I cling to and willingly follow into his. With any luck, Koryta will never want to be a cult leader. I think I'm a goner if he does. (Little, Brown)

In year's past, I've had debut authors in my top favorite 10. This year I didn't, but not because there weren't excellent debut authors, those danged veterans were just showing their experience! Anyway, I wanted to recognize a few debut authors as my favorites for 2011:

Sara Henry released LEARNING TO SWIM this year. I look forward to watching her grow as a writer and experiencing her work.

James Barney released THE GENESIS KEY which I felt did a wonderful job blending science, religion and crime! (Harper)

And Daniel Palmer released DELIRIOUS and I was glued to it. I've actually had the chance to read his follow-up to DELIRIOUS which is still a thriller, but quite different in content, so I can already see his versatility as writer in this genre. Problem with getting to read those ahead is you have to wait longer for the next one to come. I'm sure I can keep busy in the interim, though! (Kensington)

I feel very blessed that I learned to love reading and can appreciate the wonder and magnificence. While it's a challenge to narrow down a list to 10 favorites, it's also a tremendous gift to have experienced all of these worlds and characters - friends. My heartfelt thanks go out to all the authors who have shared their talents.

And many, many thanks to everyone who has entrusted me with books this year. I wish I was able to read every last one. And there are so many that I still intend to read. As things continue to change in my world, I hope that it offers me more opportunity to read and share and enjoy books with you all.

Thanks for hanging out with me this year! Let's do it again in 2012, o.k?

2011 Favorite Audiobooks

2011-12-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

2011 has been an especially satisfying year for my audiobook listening experience. I believe there is an art to teaming the best narrator with each story. And that art is further enhanced when the narrator is on the same wave as the book's author. Then add in the magicians who do the editing. To create a great listening experience from a great book, there is a considerable amount of time, consideration and effort.

There have been many wonderful matches between great narrators and exceptional stories this year. I've listened to 47 audios and hope to add at least one more. Coming up with my favorite list was quite challenging. However, I do have to say that since I haven't had a chance to listen to HELL'S EMPTY on audiobook yet, that helped a teensy bit!

After much hemming and hawing and re-reading my reviews, I've come up with my favorite audiobooks of 2011:

10. FALLEN (written by Karin Slaughter; narrated by Shannon Cochran) - if I am completely honest, and when you get through my list you'll see I really have no choice but to be honest, I have a harder time listening to female narrators than I do male. Very rarely do I find a female narrator who does male characters justice in crime fiction, at least for my ear. Cochran is one of the best I've heard. And not only did she exhibit a wonderful range for the gender of the characters, she gave each character a distinct sound within the Southern dialect, which was not over-the-top ridiculous like many can be. It had been a little while since my last dance through Slaughter's fictional world and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy her characters. This audiobook was a delightful treat for me. Kudos to the AudioGo team that made FALLEN happen.

9. PORTRAIT OF A SPY (written by Daniel Silva; narrated by Simon Vance) - I haven't had a chance to review this one, yet, but last year I finally discovered Silva's Gabriel Allon series and I jumped at the chance to listen to the newest on audio this year. Vance achieved a great feat in delivering a convincing Gabriel for me. It's hard to do when I've read the character first and developed an image and sound in my brain. But I have to say, I prefered Vance's to my own. Harper Audio gets the nod for this great audibook.

8. THE ALIENIST (written by Caleb Carr; narrated by George Guidall) - I know everyone on the planet but me had read this book prior to 2011, but have you listened to George Guidall read it to you? Guidall is a master at picking up subtle nuances and humor, which were vital in THE ALIENIST. And while I've listened to him bring Walt Longmire to life book after book, Guidall still manages to completely recreate himself for each character in each book, so there were no echos of Walt only the sounds of the world Carr depicted through his words. The masterminds at Recorded Books get an enthusiastic round of applause on THE ALIENIST.

7. THE PALE BLUE EYE (written by Louis Bayard; narrated by Charles Leggett) - This audiobook was an astounding combination of story and narrator. Leggett nailed Edgar Allen Poe and, boy, did he ever tap into Bayard's humor. THE PALE BLUE EYE was entertainment at its finest. The folks at AudioGo (formerly BBC America) did Bayard's fine work justice.

6. CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER (written by Tom Franklin; narrated by Kevin Kenerly) - Books like CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER can present special challenges that result in the audio being either a phenomenal performance or a dreadful bomb. The sense of time and place, the depth of character, the range and intensity of theme. Kevin Kenerly nailed ALL of it. A tip of the hat to the Blackstone Audio folks for this exceptional production.

5. A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE (written by R.J. Ellory; narrated by Kevin Kenerly) - Maybe I should start up Kenerly's fan club? As with CLCL, Kenerly takes the challenges of a richly complex novel and gives them pitch-perfect sound. The atmosphere is vital to this novel and it's obvious that Kenerly is keenly aware of its importance. The mystery is enhanced through his tempo. Both of these novels are ones I imagine narrators would be tempted to over-dramatize. He doesn't go down that road, and the results are hauntingly effective. Exquisite. Again, the Blackstone Audio crew are responsible for this great audiobook.

4. THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE (written by Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis; narrated by Katherine Kellgren) Kellgren does a such a superb job of setting the book's tone in this narration. Kaaberbøl & Friis have created female characters who are determined, yet struggling. They are simultaneously fearful and persistent. Kellgren motivates the audience to feel that internal conflict, which I feel is essential to comprehending the full extent of this novel. This is another one from those AudioGo pros!

3. FUN & GAMES/HELL & GONE (written by Duane Swierczynski; narrated by Pete Larkin) I paired these two books up because they share the same author, the same narrator and the same trilogy. Pete Larkin not only understood Swierczynski and his humor, he appreciated the work at every level. Larkin IS Charlie Hardie: the gruffness of Hardie's life experiences, the submission to fate, as well as Hardie's intuition, intelligence and curiosity. As I've mentioned before I think these audios are the perfect storm of audiobooks and Hachette Audio is the team responsible for making that storm happen.

2. SHIBUMI (written by Travanian; narrated by Joe Barrett) I was so pleasantly surprised with SHIBUMI. Too often a books I love are ravaged by over-eager narrators who makes the writing sound like a daytime drama. SHIBUMI has the content to possibly encourage that, but I should have had faith in one of my favorite narrators, Joe Barrett, who just does not ever over dramatize. Nicholai Hel would have no place in his world for drama. He's calm; he's in control; and he's at peace. Barrett exemplified both that and Trevanian's beautifully sensual, rich novel. He also nailed the esoteric essence of the novel. Thanks to Blackstone for making this one happen.

1. GOOD GRACES (written by Lesley Kagen; narrated by Lesley Kagen) I battled with the order of these last three as I think they are all spectacular, but I decided on GOOD GRACES for the top spot because Lesley Kagen pulled every emotion possible from me in the course of this audiobook. I laughed at things I remembered during my childhood; I cried for honest mistakes that change your world; I raged at intolerance; and I melted from the innocence of youth. It was a perfect audiobook experience for me. Nice job AudioGo!

So that rounds out my favorite audiobooks for 2011. What was on YOUR list of favorites that you listened to this year?

Check back tomorrow for my final post - my favorite overall reads of 2011.

The Devil's Highway to the Buckeye State - Craig McDonald

2011-12-28T03:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted my review of Craig McDonald's EL GAVILAN. I have a guest post as a special holiday treat from Craig today. I know I really enjoyed this piece as it's especially relevant to me where I live. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Happy Holidays!

The Devil's Highway to the Buckeye State

—Craig McDonald

My new novel, El Gavilan, examines the effects of illegal immigration and a single murder on one Ohio town. Many of those undocumented workers came to the Buckeye State via a torturous path dubbed the Devil's Highway.

The Devil's Highway technically runs between northern Mexico, across the Sonoran Desert wastelands of blasted-out ironwood and saguaro, and on up into Arizona. It's considered the deadliest stretch of ground to cover for those who would flee Mexico to America, yet thousands try every year and many don't make it to the other side.

El Gavilan opens with a quote of unknown provenance: "Never attach more feeling to a thing than God does."

The poet Ofelia Zepeda said of the region through which the Devil's Highway runs, "You need a new kind of prayers to negotiate with this land."

I'd argue the Devil's Highway knows no true end. The ones who do reach the American portion of the borderlands don't always opt to live out their days in Arizona, California or Texas. They head in deeper, trekking further north to make their meager living at myriad Mexican food restaurants . . . by mowing lawns or picking fruit for half-minimum wages in Georgia or Michigan and all points in-between.

Like the Oakies chased from their homes by the Dust Bowl tragedy nearly a century before -- the destitute immortalized in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath -- men and women fleeing Mexico for El Norte found their path hastened by the American highway system. Route 66, "The Mother Road," may not be doing so dandy these days, but the U.S. interstate system is cranking right along.

A recent immigration study puts a fine point on it: "Ohio has the nation's 10th largest highway network and is within a single-day drive for half of North America's population. Ohio contains 70 percent of the country's manufacturing capacity. The state links the Northeast and Midwest; thus, much business and cargo traffic passes through its borders on this well-developed highway network. Ohio's economy is primarily based in Agriculture and Industry."

In other words, and in any language: Ohio=Prosperity. (Or it used to; these days, Ohio is just about the hardest hit state economically outside of Michigan.)

But circa 2005, or thereabouts, before the housing bubble burst, my corner of Ohio was literally swamped with undocumented workers. Like drunken sailors, developers were plowing under acres of corn and soybeans and platting out vistas of cookie-cutter subdivisions constructed largely through the sweat and effort of illegal immigrants. The bastards trucked them in by the dozens in old Ford Aerostars to frame-out houses for chump change wages. (An exposed wall of one side of my garage—a house built circa 2000—is covered with Spanish writings scrawled in Sharpie).

The influx of undocumented, unassimilated workers changed the face of central Ohio, nearly overnight. As a journalist, I saw results some while before the average Ohio citizen maybe took notice. When the citizenry of central Ohio realized what was happening, handwringing ensued. Racial tensions rose, then spiked.

The impact on infrastructure and public services here in Ohio was profound.

The immigration report put it this way, by the numbers: "Seventy-two percent of the total population growth between 2000 and 2006 in Ohio was directly attributed to the immigrant population . . . The annual fiscal cost to Ohio taxpayers for emergency medical care, education and incarceration is currently $224 million and is estimated to rise to $372 million per year in 2010 and $627 million per year in 2020."

When the Great Recession hit, a number of undocumented workers ventured back across that dusty line, suddenly finding prospects more enticing in the Mexico they'd earlier fled than in the financially decimated wastelands of post-recession America.

My aim in El Gavilan was to take one family's immigrant experience, trace it up into Ohio, and then watch the ripples flare out when a member of that family falls prey to a seemingly racially motivated spasm of fatal violence.

But before the murder that fires the story of El Gavilan occurs, there is another scene of violence and loss, very near the start of the book:

El Gavilan opens with a tragic fire that claims more victims than necessary when first responders and Latino firebombing victims aren't speaking the same language. Failure to communicate literally kills. The scene is based on all too real firebombing in Ohio that occurred in a mostly Latino, non-English-speaking apartment enclave in what had formerly been a white, working class neighborhood.

The victims were part of a family who'd chased prosperity from central Mexico all the way to Ohio's Capital City -- braving and surviving the passage through the desert wastelands only to be taken down deeper along The Devil's Highway, taken down in Ohio, "the heart of it all," as our state's publicists like to phrase it.

Author Bio
Craig McDonald, author of El Gavilan, is an Edgar®-nominee and an award-winning journalist, editor and fiction writer. His short fiction has appeared in literary magazines, anthologies and several online crime fiction sites. His debut novel, Head Games, was published by Bleak House Books in September 2007. Head Games was selected as a 2008 Edgar®-nominee for Best First Novel by an American Author. Head Games was also a finalist for the Anthony, Gumshoe and Crimespree Magazineawards for best first novel. His nonfiction books include Art in the Blood, a collection of interviews with 20 major crime authors which appeared in 2006, and Rogue Males: Conversations and Confrontations About the Writing Life, a second collection of interviews published by Bleak House Books in 2009. McDonald was also a contributor to the NYT's nonfiction bestseller, Secrets of the Code. He recently won national awards for his profiles of crime novelists James Crumley, Daniel Woodrell, James Sallis and Elmore Leonard. His new novel, El Gavilan, is available from Tyrus Books.

For more information please visit http://www.craigmcdonaldbooks.com, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

GOOD GRACES - Lesley Kagen

2011-12-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "That summer earned itself a place in the record books that's never been beat."

Lesley Kagen returns to Milwaukee and her O'Malley sisters - Troo and Sally - in the sequel to Whistling in the Dark. But, if like me, you are just discovering the wonderfulness that is Lesley Kagen, you needn't worry about reading Whistling in the Dark first. You'll likely want to return to it after experiencing the summer exploits of these "Irish twins" as they fret over a town bully who's escaped from reform school, a series of home invasions, a run-away orphan, their mother's annulment and the popular parish priest who just doesn't sit right with Sally. Narrated by Kagen, herself, the summer of 1959 comes alive through the eyes of Sally with a realism rarely, if ever, so astutely rendered by an adult.

Sally has been saddled with the responsibility of looking after Troo. Her father asked this of her shortly before he died of injuries from a car accident. The young, impressionable and devastated Sally promised her father, and she fully intends to live up to that promise. Only Troo is a hard one to keep pinned down and out of trouble. Troo is spirited and rebellious and regularly finding herself in hot water.

Kagen's characters are so profoundly drawn readers will likely recognize younger versions of themselves and friends they knew growing up. Kagen doesn't just pull readers into her story, she pulls them back into their own stories - to 'Ghost in the Graveyard,' penny candy, soda fountains and Breck girls. Making that kind of connection with a book turns the story into something far more memorable than simple entertainment.

Most readers are familiar with the eye rolls and sarcastic tones of the younger lots. We used those devices ourselves and have watched our children discover them as well. In her narration of Good Graces, Kagen gives voice to the growing pains of adolescence as well at the compassion of caring adults, the self-centered obsession of egotists, the all-consuming regret of the remorseful. And on top of everything else, she transports us back to 1959 Small-Town USA. The sights of a Fourth of July fireworks display, sounds of the playground, smells of picnics and zoos and summer camp, all rolled into an incredible listening experience.

The author's name listed as the audiobook's narrator often gives cause for dread, but in the case of Good Graces, I don't believe another narrator could have done even half as well as Kagen, a former radio DJ, commercial voice and television actress. All the nuances to which Kagen is so intimately attuned deliver their desired effects through her professional training and her obvious adoration of the world and its inhabitants she's created.

There is a richness to Kagen's writing, a richness that remembers the innocence and clarity of childhood:

"It's so hard to lose someone you love. Our hearts growl for Daddy the same way our tummies do when we're hungry. It must be even worse for Mr. Kenfield. I know my daddy's gone forever in the deep blue of the western sky. I'll never hear the sound of his voice again or feel his late-day whiskers on my cheek or spend time after supper curled up on his lap listening to his happy shouts when Hank Aaron hits a homer on the radio. But Mr. Kenfield's daughter is not dead. She's out there somewhere. I bet if my old neighbor had it to do all over again, he wouldn't have sent Dottie away to the unwed mothers' home the way the church told him to do."

And there's a warm humor that makes you laugh out loud and reminisce:

"'You've got the wrong idea about our church,' I tell Ethel. 'You've only been up there for funerals. You don't know how bad it can get.'

'Mmmmm...hmmmm.' In southern, that means, Go on, tell me more.

'You gotta starve yourself for hours before you receive Holy Communion.' Ethel would especially not like that part. She adores a big country breakfast with ham first thing every morning. She wouldn't like the taste of the body and blood of Christ. He's really bland. (I'm too nervous to bring this up to anybody who might know the answer, but isn't swallowing down Jesus kinda like being a cannibal?) 'And the nuns, they got ways of torturin' people that are worse than the Red Chinese.'"

Good Graces encapsulates all the elements of a good book by my reading standards: endearing characters, rich experiences, suspenseful plot elements, intelligent humor and sincerity. I can't believe it took me this long to discover Lesley Kagen's work, but I'm extremely thankful I finally did.

Good Graces is without a doubt, the audiobook highlight of my year. There simply wasn't a bad element to the production, not even a mediocre one. It is superb at every turn and I can't recommend it highly enough. This would be a fantastic audiobook for someone just considering the possibility of audiobooks for themselves.

Good Graces is available on audio download from AudioGo (ISBN: 978-1-609-98525-7) and in print from Dutton (ISBN: 978-0-525-95238-1)

EL GAVILAN - Craig McDonald

2011-12-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

My review of EL GAVILAN is appearing here with permission from Shelf Awareness. This review appeared in Tuesday's Readers' edition. If you are not already subscribed to Shelf Awareness, you can do so here for free and have the twice-weekly newsletter delivered to your email.

First line: "Her grandmother was the first to die of thirst crossing the Sonoran Desert."

Craig McDonald veers from his Hector Lassiter series to tackle the timely issue of illegal immigration in the United States. Taking neither a pro nor con stance, McDonald probes the gray areas while illustrating the volatile effects of the rape-murder of a Mexican-American mother in small town Ohio.

El Gavilan follows three law men: Sheriff Able Hawk, Police Chief Tell Lyon and Sheriff Walt Pierce as they battle each other for the territorial rights in the rape-murder investigation. Each law enforcement officer has his own agenda and none wears an unsullied white hat. Through their actions, McDonald smudges the lines between right and wrong – is it really wrong if it’s done for the right reasons - leaving his readers with conflicting feelings about the characters. It’s this conflict that makes El Gavilan so irresistible. As Hawk, Lyon and Pierce delve into the investigation, the reader delves into his/her feelings for the characters. Love or hate them, you can’t help but invest in them.

In his previous novels, McDonald brought the past to life for readers. In El Gavilan, he crafts a fictitious small town as real as any on an Ohio map. The sights, sounds and even the smells reach from the pages to pull the reader into this world.

El Gavilan proves that Craig McDonald’s talents aren’t limited to the historical thriller novel, and we can only hope that he has many more opportunities to bring his stories to print.

El Gavilan is available in both trade paper (ISBN: 978-1-4405-3191-0) and in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1-4405-3194-1) from Tyrus Books.

The Year-End Meme

2011-12-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

I completed this meme last year and wanted to kick off my year-end lists with it again this year. It may foreshadow the lists that will be coming throughout the next week or so but I think there will still be quite a few surprises for you to uncover in those lists.

1. Best Book of 2011 – Last year I had a tie in this one and while there are a lot of great, great books I read this year, one does stand out above the rest for me and that’s THE RIDGE. Michael Koryta has been a wonderful writer since his debut with TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE, but THE RIDGE takes him to a whole new level of greatness.

2. Worst Book of 2011 – This year was a great, great year for reading but I also had quite a few books that I didn't review because they just hit all the wrong chords with me. And this year I believe I had more books that I simply didn't finish than ever before. It's hard for me to pick one that stands out, but these four were no-gos for me: THE WEIGHT (Andrew Vachss), LOVE ME TO DEATH (Allison Brennan), THIEVES GET RICH, SAINTS GET SHOT (Jodi Compton) and TABLOID CITY (Pete Hamill).

3. Most Disappointing Book of 2011 – DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X. I know a lot of people liked this and I was looking forward to it, but it just fell flat for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I'm actually surprised I finished the book at all.

4. Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2011 – I'm going to go with HOUSE DIVIDED by Mike Lawson here. I wasn't expecting it to be bad. I had no idea what to expect, so when it was so wonderful, I was very pleasantly surprised.

5. Book you recommended to people most in 2011 – I recommended YOU’RE NEXT, THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES and SATORI endlessly this year, so I’m not sure which of those was the most often.

6. Best series you discovered in 2011 – Phillip Brennan/Marina Esposito series from Tania Carver and the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alystyne series from Julia Spencer-Fleming.

7. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011 – Martyn Waites, Louis Bayard, Lesley Kagen, Will Lavender, Mike Lawson, Daniel Palmer, Todd Ritter, Ace Atkins - I read 50 new authors this year and it's wonderful that so many were this spectacular, but my must-read list is growing out of control!

8. Most hilarious read of 2011 – This category's a little more difficult for me because I don't read books that would be categorized as "comedy" but at the same time, one of the qualities I love about my favorite books are the humor that weaves its way in. But I think the book I enjoyed the most and that packed the most humor would be THE WORLD'S GREATEST SLEUTH! (Steve Hockensmith).

9. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011 –YOU’RE NEXT. This book is just WOW on every level imaginable. Even though I despise the word “unputdownable” I had a terrible time parting with YOU’RE NEXT and it was one of my very few single sitting reads this year.

10. Book you most anticipated in 2011 – This would be a toss up between LONG GONE, because I always anticipate a new Alafair Burke book, THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES because there was a bit of a lull between Marcus’ publications and A HARD DEATH because I've been waiting several years for the U.S. folks to publish Jonathan Hayes' second novel. Yay!

11. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011 – I think I have to give this nod to THE RIDGE. All the jackets that Michael Koryta has had with Little, Brown have been wonderful, but this was my favorite. And I love the texture of it as well as the look of it.

12. Most memorable character in 2011 – I have to go back to Daniel in Robert Crais' THE SENTRY for this one. He is by far my favorite antagonist ever. I sure would like to see him come back maybe in a book of his own.

13. Most beautifully written book in 2011 – This one is so hard this year. SATORI was just incredibly written, CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER amazing, THE RIDGE left me breathless, THE HANGING TREE was stunning, A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE - I seriously think Roger can only write beautifully, it would be a challenge for him to write mediocre, and finally YOU'RE NEXT - I can't imagine not being struck to your soul by Gregg's amazing book.

14. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011 – This is definitely a tight race between THE RIDGE and YOU'RE NEXT. They impacted me in different ways but both tremendously so. These will both be books I'm recommending for years and years to come.

15. Book you can’t believe you waited until 2011 to finally read? – this one is easy for me again. THE ALIENIST. How far behind can I possibly be?

THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE - Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis

2011-12-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "Holding the glass door open with her hip, she dragged the suitcase into the stairwell leading down to the underground parking lot."

When it comes to doing right, Nina Borg seems to be able to do so by everyone except her own family. So when her old friend Karin contacts the Red Cross nurse asking for a favor, Nina can't turn her down. Karin leaves Nina with a train station locker key and a lot of questions! Those questions increase exponentially when Nina finds a suitcase filled with a three-year-old boy in the locker. Who is this boy? Where did he come from? Are his parents missing him or did they sell him? And why is he packed in a suitcase at the train station? Nina doesn't know whether it's safe to go to the police or not. At the risk of damaging an already fragile relationship with her family, Nina sets off to find answers to her questions because above all she doesn't want to hand the boy over to anyone who will do him more harm.

Kaaberbøl is a renowned fantasy writer; Friis a children's writer. How the two of them teamed up to write such a spectacular crime novel is a mystery to me, but they have managed to do it and make it look easy. The audiobook of THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE is beautifully narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Nina's conflicting feelings, her frustration and fear and determination all emanate from Kellgren's interpretation. Those feelings also mirror those of Sigita, the boy's mother, as she searches desperately for her missing child.

Likewise the pure evil of Andrius Jucas drips from every word as he leaves a trail of devastation in his campaign to recover the child and fulfill his contract.

The plot oscillates between the present day and years earlier when Sigita first met her estranged husband. The flashbacks lead up to the present, slowing awakening an understanding in the reader. It isn't until the climax, however, that all the players in this game are able to piece together the parts and fully understand the enormity of this crime that spans years and countries. The changes in time are easy to follow and work to expertly build the suspense.

While the events of the plot circle around the kidnapping, Kaaberbøl and Friis illustrate family bonds and commonalities that transcend language, borders, time and age. Kaaberbøl translated the original Danish to English. The excellent translation teamed with Kellgren's narration leaves the listener with no choice but to empathize with these women who experience extraordinary regret and who are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their families safe.

The cover of THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE labels this book as the "#1 Danish Bestselling Crime Series..." I hope that "series" means we will be seeing more from these two talented writers. THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE is a must read for crime fans, and the audiobook from AudioGo is a must listen for audio fans.

The print version of THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE is available from Soho Press (ISBN: 978-1-56947-981-0) and the audio is available from AudioGo on CD (ISNB: 978-1-60998-658-2) or as an mp3 download (ISBN: 978-1-60998-559-2).

I was very excited to be given the opportunity to participate in AudioGo's blog tour for THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE. It has afforded me the opportunity to share a segment of the audiobook with you and to hold a drawing to give away two copies of the audiobook. I'm the tail end of the blog tour - I prefer to think of myself as the anchor! Anyway, that means that there have already been some segments shared, so if you haven't had a chance to listen to the ones before, you may want to back up and listen to mine last:

Reflections of a Book Addict

The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Teresa's Reading Corner

The Literate Housewife

So now that you want to listen to this audiobook ;-) I can tempt you further by offering a chance to win a copy. Simply fill out the form below by Thursday, December 22nd and I'll draw two winners on Friday...just before Christmas! The contest is open to U.S. residents only, please. Drop me an email if you have any questions. Good luck!

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A Little of This and That

2011-12-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

Since I haven't done a "what's going on" update in awhile, I have a number of fun items to share with you in case you don't already know about them.

First, there are some pre-order contests going on for a couple of books I'll be talking about here soon. The first is Hilary Davidson's second novel, THE FIRST ONE TO FALL. You can find the details for her creative contest here. And the second is for Daniel Palmer's second novel, HELPLESS. Details for that one are here.

Bill Cameron's DAY ONE is free on ebook here and here. I'm not sure how long you have on this deal, so hop to it and don't miss out!

Michael Lister has THE BODY AND THE BLOOD from his John Jordan series free on Kindle right now, if you're a Kindle owner. I really like this series and thought this was the best book of the series to date. This offer is only this week, so if you want this one, move quick!

This is rather cool. The NoirCon 2012 folks are having their first ever NoirCon Poetry Contest. They are defining Noir Poetry as "1.) Poetry that makes reference to the subject matter, dialog or style of film noir or the hard-boiled detective genre, or, 2.) Poetry that invokes stark urban landscapes and atmosphere, and which either alludes to crime and perilous attachments or else seems to bear dark knowledge of this territory, or 3.) Poetry that tells the story of tortured souls - lovers, psychopaths, obsessives - drive down deadly paths, following desperate plans that are doomed to failure."

You can get all the details on the contest here.

If you're an Ed McBain fan, Thomas & Mercer will be re-issuing some of his 87th Precinct books.

And I know it's early to be excited about this, but I heard from Michael Koryta that his next book, a traditional crime novel this time, is due out in October 2012. It's called THE PROPHET, and I can't help it, I'm SOOOOO excited.

Just a reminder that I've set up the site and requirements for the Criminal Plots II reading challenge for 2012. I hope you'll join us for that. There's still some time to finish Criminal Plots I and get in on the drawing for the prizes.

The last item I want to mention tonight is related to xuni. There are starting to be occasions where I'm able to provide some bloggers books for review from our authors. If you have a blog and would be interested in reviewing books in the future, please complete my little form below so I can contact you when opportunities come up and see if you're interested. My promise is always that I will not ask anyone to read anything that I myself did not like. You would never be required to say anything other than your honest opinion about the books and you don't have to like everything I do, but I'm just promising that I won't be contacting people about just any old books.

Hope you're having a grand week filled with wonderful crime novels! Happy Reading!

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HEADSTONE - Ken Bruen

2011-12-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "He drained the last of the pint, thought,
'Christ, that was good.'"

Jack Taylor returns in Ken Bruen's ninth book of the series about the former guard turned Irish PI. Jack's damaged emotionally and physically, tainting his view of the world. But in HEADSTONE, he's daring to let hope weasel its way into his heart. That light is violently extinguished when a gang of sociopaths begin their march of terror through Galway and set their collective sights on Jack himself.

Ken Bruen fans will not be disappointed in his newest installment, labeled a "Jack Taylor novel of terror." Bruen's signature style glows as strong as ever: a pitch-black tone, with ever-so-tiny fissures of light and hope daring to invade the space. Damaged characters who simultaneously scare the bejesus out of you while making you want to take them home and protect them from all life's evils - give them the chance the world has deprived them of. John Lee, the HEADSTONE audiobook narrator, captures that dichotomy superbly. Lee allows the reader to hear and FEEL Taylor's rage and hopelessness, to experience the disbelief and horror.

Those not familiar with Bruen's work will easily be able to pick up HEADSTONE and join Jack Taylor's life odyssey mid-series. John Lee gives Bruen's unyielding sense of place dimension through his Irish brogue and obvious understanding of Taylor. Bruen's chilling atmosphere wraps around the reader in the form of Lee's voice.

I kept the print version of HEADSTONE close during my audio experience. It is a unique combination, probably enhanced by my American-ness. Bruen writes in a distinct style that is essential to the story. His placement of words on a page are just as much a part of his art as Jack Taylor. One shouldn't experience this series without experiencing the way Bruen has painted his pages. Lee gives sound to Taylor, a sound that a naive American with little experience of the variety in Irish dialect would completely botch without help. Experiencing the two together was an explosion of the senses - an experience I would recommend to any true crime fiction fan.

HEADSTONE is available in the United States in print (ISBN: 978-0-8021-2600-9) from The Mysterious Press and on audio from High Bridge Audio (ISBN: 978-1-61174-598-6). The audio runs 5 1/2 hours.

Criminal Plots II

2011-12-07T19:28:00.001-05:00

About this time last year I announced the inaugural Criminal Plots Reading Challenge. For the first year, things have gone pretty well. If you signed up, there's still time to finish and be included in the drawing for the prizes. You have until the end of the month.

In the meantime, I have put together the second year of Criminal Plots and I hope you'll join in the fun. It's six crime fiction books in the following categories, read anytime between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012:

1. Novel with a weapon in the title (examples: A Night of Long Knives, A Nail Through the Heart, Sharp Objects, The Rope, Lay Down my Sword and Shield)

2. Book published at least 10 years ago - this should be an easy one, time to pull out those backlists (examples: Goodnight Irene, The Black Echo, Indemnity Only)

3. Book written by an author from the state/provinence/etc. where you live. (I live in Ohio, so examples for me would be Carla Buckley, Les Roberts, Craig McDonald)

4. Book written by an author using a pen name (examples: Spencer Quinn, Ross Macdonald, Ariana Franklin, Noah Boyd, Juliett Blackwell, Lisa Black)

5. Crime novel whose protagonist is the opposite gender of the author (examples: Demolition Angel, Bury Your Dead, Calumet City)

6. A stand-alone novel written by an author who writes at least one series (examples: El Gavilan (Craig McDonald), Long Gone (Alafair Burke), The Lock Artist (Steve Hamilton), Envy the Night (Michael Koryta), The Most Dangerous Thing (Laura Lippman))

As with last year's challenge, you can use the same books from other challenges but you can not use the same book in two or more categories of THIS challenge. So you need six different books. You don't have to read them in the order I've listed them, they can be in any format and any crime fiction sub-genre (i.e., thrillers, cozies, procedurals, etc.). You don't need to decide your books ahead of time, choose them as you go, and you don't need a blog to participate.

Sign-ups are located at the Criminal Plots site. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I hope to see all of you there! Happy Reading!

Are You Ready for HIDDEN CITY?

2011-12-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow HIDDEN CITY debuts on the Travel Channel. This show probably would have escaped my notice, since I don't watch television, but it's being hosted by one of my favorite writers, Marcus Sakey. I'll be trekkin' over to the parents' house to watch; I'm very excited.

I was able to pin Marcus down for a few minutes and get him to talk about his experiences working on the show. I've also collected some of the videos that have been made to preview the show. So, I hope it entices you to check it out as well.

Now over to Marcus.

Q. You have a rather solitary career now. Was it refreshing to be with people all day or did it take some getting use to?

Marcus: It’s been great. The people I’m working with are all spectacular: smart, funny, and dedicated. Every one of them is trying to elevate the show, and that’s a cool feeling.

Though I admit that I miss working in goofy morning hair and slippers. That’s frowned on in the television world.

At least, if you’re in front of the camera. The crew mostly does look that way.

Q. So, you were offered this opportunity; you said, "hot damn! Let's do it." Then what surprised you most about television production - the actual back stage process, filming, any part of it good or bad?

Marcus: The most surprising thing about television is just how much work and time goes into every aspect. It’s sort of like the old line about watching the sausage get made; once you’ve seen the process, you never look at the result the same way.

Every shot is captured multiple times, multiple ways. The setup for an interview takes three guys an hour to light and rig. At any moment we have no fewer than three cameras running, and often as many as seven if you count some of the ones we use for effects. And that’s not even mentioning the planning, the editing, the writing. It’s a pretty complex process.

Q. What was the experience that you'd do again in a heartbeat?

Marcus: There have been so many. I’ve gotten to interview the most incredible people: mayors, armored car thieves, Harvey Milk’s campaign manager, FBI task force leaders, convicted murderers.

But my favorite parts of the show are the ones where I get to do something. This season alone I’ve been pepper sprayed, trained with SWAT, landed a plane, driven an airboat, fired a sniper rifle, gone diving for treasure, tried to outrun State Troopers, been attacked by a dog...

Q. What experience would you refuse to do again regardless of the money you might be offered?

Marcus: There hasn’t been one. There are a few I’m leery of—all of my cop buddies urge me not to get Tased, for example—but I like getting my hands dirty, and I don’t mind taking lumps.

Q. Your favorite place you visited?

Marcus: The only one I hadn’t been before was Anchorage, and I loved it. The city itself is nice enough, but it’s really Alaska that swept me away. It’s just as breathtakingly majestic as you imagine. Watching the sun rise over a glacier, or hiking against 80 mph winds on a frozen river, these things turn me right on.

Q. Place you won't be rushing back to anytime soon?

Marcus: Oddly enough, the Florida Keys. There’s some stunningly beautiful stuff there, but after a week of sixteen hours days, sweating in places I didn’t know I had places, I was ready to go.

Q. Through this experience did you discover anything that crime fiction is portraying all wrong? Or something that crime fiction nails and gives the "everyman" an accurate portrayal of?

Marcus: One thing that is never really portrayed right is how matter of fact this all is; how much paperwork is involved, how many hoops need jumping, how many T’s and I’s need crossing and dotting. The truth is that for a homicide detective or an a FBI task force member or a ballistics expert, this is a job just like yours. They love it and they live it, but they have a lot of the same hassles and frustrations you do.

On the flip side, one thing crime fiction does really well is portray the intensity of it: the moments in life when everything changes, the pounding heart and sweaty armpits, the fear and tension and passion. Whether you’re talking the moments before a thief goes into the bank with a gun, the frustration that leads to an assassination, or the culture clash that ends up with a bloody body count, it’s all real, and ironically, fiction nails that.

Q. Do you feel this experience has changed you as a writer at all? If so, how?

Marcus: I don’t see how it can’t. I’ve met too many people and gotten too thorough a look into this world for it not to play in. Not only that, but writing for television is a lot like writing for advertising—you need to keep stripping down and down and down until you get to the essence of the thing, the one line that will slap someone awake, that will make their chest swell or their heart hurt.

I have to expect that will play into my novel writing as well. At least, I hope so.

Q. So where does Marcus Sakey go from here? Back to a full-time writer, "thanks for the fun, once was enough for me"? Is Spielberg going to be knocking down your door? Would you do this again?

Marcus: I had a blast, and if you’ll forgive me saying, I think the end result is great. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, we’re talking about Season Two now…

That said, I love being a novelist. Books were my first love, and I’ve been faithful to them. I wouldn’t want to stop writing novels.

So tomorrow night, I won't be reading, I'll be checking out the first episode, featuring Chicago. It airs at 10pm on the Travel Channel. I'll look forward to hearing what you all think. Have a great week!

SPEAK NO EVIL - Martyn Waites

2011-12-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "A room."

In the fourth book of the Joe Donovan series, Donovan finds himself working with a child murderer to write her memoirs. Anne Marie is no ordinary child murderer, though. She committed her crime when she was a child herself, eleven years old. Now, years later, out of jail and trying to hold together some semblance of a normal life with her family, she's suffering blackouts. During one of these blackouts a young boy dies. With no where else to go, Anne Marie turns to Joe Donovan for help.

SPEAK NO EVIL is without a doubt the strongest book of the Joe Donovan series. That says a great deal considering my feelings about THE MERCY SEAT, the first book in the series. In SPEAK NO EVIL Martyn Waites gives us a front-row seat into Donovan's personal life that has previously been on the cusp of his character but not quite so central. Donovan's connection to his daughter and hers to him infuses him with a new dimension, which is further heightened by the parallel existence of Anne Marie and her son, Calvin.

The supporting cast in this series provide color to the very dark themes. Amar excels in technology and fashion; Jamal is the street-smart kid who's blossoming with the security and identity Donovan has cultivated in him. Peta, too, is becoming secure in her own skin. Watching these characters grow and bond throughout the series has been a large part of the enjoyment. In SPEAK NO EVIL the bonds that they've formed illustrate another level of the book's family theme.

Waites' dialogue flows naturally, seamlessly and at times very powerfully. In the Isis audio version, read by Waites himself, this is especially apparent as the audience becomes lost in the story, watching through the mind's picture, the life of a tortured woman unfold before them...the conflict of a young girl dealing with her separated parents...the drive of a young man, trying to prove his abilities. And Waites' subtle humor worms its way in every now and again as he voices the lives he's created on paper. I dare you not to care about them.

SPEAK NO EVIL is an emotionally intense, physically thrilling novel that is ramped up several notches in Waites' narration on the audiobook. You'll give your heart a workout experiencing it. The series is growing better with each book and I can't wait to see what comes next.

SPEAK NO EVIL is available in the US in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1605980966) from Pegasus Books and on audio (ISBN: 978-0753142608) from Isis Audio.

A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE - R.J. Ellory

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "She stands in the kitchen, and for a moment she holds her breath."

Someone is killing people in a most horrendous fashion, beating them viciously before death and leaving them with a blank tag tied with ribbon to their neck and the scent of lavender in the room. Detective Robert Miller was the poor sap who caught the first victim, so this serial case is his. But as he delves further and further into the victims and the clues, the pieces of the puzzle don't seem to fit, as if they're parts from different puzzles. The victims don't really exist and all the murders don't line up exactly right. But when Miller's investigation is pulled from him and his career is threatened, he's come too far to let go and back down.

With the use of alternating points of view: third person omniscient and first person with an unknown narrator, R. J. Ellory (A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGLES) exquisitely builds tension and suspense throughout the over 400-page novel. He works in much the same way eerie music works in a suspenseful movie - you know something is coming, you may even be guessing what it is, but it still scares the devil out of you when it arrives. Kevin Kenerly is Blackstone Audio's reader for A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE and his narration of this work adds to the tension and suspense that Ellory has created with words.

Ellory's books continually give lessons in creating atmosphere, atmosphere that blends beautifully into the backdrop of the plot and works on the reader without interrupting the course of events. This is especially present in A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE as Ellory constructs the heinous crimes of the novel and simultaneously illustrates the blooming of a relationship that withstands it all. Kenerly seems to have a firm grasp of Ellory's atmosphere, bringing it out through volume and tone. Ellory's juxtaposition of the horror and the beauty combined with Kenerly's well-balanced energy is what leaves the reader breathless and awed. Kenerly doesn't over dramatize, which would be devastating to this novel. He infuses just the right amount of fervor when it's called for.

The characters of Ellory's novels are flawed humans, often with heavy baggage and history. A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE is no different and let's face it, perfect characters would be boring. But Ellory is able to show all of his characters in full dimension, which often leads to increased suspense. When you've connected with each of the characters, how can you view any of them as the black-hearted villain? Which melds beautifully into the themes of corruption and susceptibility to it.

Finally, winding its tendrils through every aspect of the novel, is Ellory's amazing use of language. Just as the juxtaposition exists in the plot, a juxtaposition exists in the dark subject matter and the beauty of the language. Case in point:

"It was like a line from a song. There was a cadence and a rhythm to it that made it difficult to forget. It started somewhere in Miller's mind, and once it had started it just seemed to keep on going. Like the flat-nose .22s the Mafia used. Sufficient punch to get it through the skull, insufficient to make its way out again, and that dime's-worth of lead just battered and ricocheted around inside, banging off the internal walls of some poor sucker's head until their brain was chicken soup. The thought went like that, and he wanted it to stop."

The image is harsh and brutal and sublimely clear, just like the images haunting Miller. And in the same book you find:

"I could feel her sadness and loss and heartache and loneliness all tightly bound together. I wanted to untie it all, spread it out and see what was there and decide which to keep and which to cast aside."

"A vast silence. Chest fit to burst, but holding it all inside until we mustered sufficient stillness to fold into one another like the pattern of a fingerprint."

Ellory doesn't write about cheerful, sunny topics and themes, but his language spreads a beauty over pain and corruption and you simply can't get enough of it. Kenerly reads A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS with an acute awareness of the effect Ellory's language has on the subject matter. And it is, quite honestly, what makes you want to drive a little further out of your way, so you can listen to "just a little bit more."

A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE is available in the U.S. in hardcover (ISBN: 978-159020318) from Overlook Press and on audio from Blackstone Audio (ISBN: 978-1455122462).

Crime Fiction's Sexiest Authors of 2011 - Part 2

2011-11-25T03:00:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned on Wednesday with Part 1 of this project, I started mulling over this idea when I read the post You Know You're an English Major If... and saw the identifier, "You consider authors to be sex symbols." And with People Magazine having their Sexiest Male issue and Salon.com weighing in on their Sexiest choices, I decided now would be a good time to bring my own choices to the blog.

However, I'm going to veer a bit from People and Salon because I'm also choosing the Sexiest Women of Crime Fiction. To make my choices here, I thought about those women I'd love to be. Who have characteristics I admire and yes, even envy...but not in a bad way, I promise.

So, mirroring the categories for the men, here are my choices for Crime Fiction's Sexiest Women. Note, I asked the ladies to send me a very unsexy picture to use with this project, and while I think they all still look quite sexy, many of them had fun with this. So here we go...enjoy!

SEXIEST WRITER-ATHLETE

Curlers are the new sexy, right?

I just can't imagine not choosing Christa Faust for this category. Some might argue the athlete part of the category since she's not running marathons or boxing or whatnot, but gosh darn it she keeps herself in shape and I'd much rather run into a marathon runner in a dark alley than a pissed off Christa Faust! Just kidding. Beyond those model good looks, she's a genuinely wonderful person. I admit to having been completely intimidated until I met her. And now I'm just thrilled to know her. She's wicked smart and self-confident and funny. And she's an amazing mama to Noir Dog, Butch.

Christa has a new book due out in February featuring a lesbian PI called BUTCH FATALE; DYKE DICK IN DOUBLE-D DOUBLE CROSS. The much anticipated follow-up to her multiple-award nominee MONEY SHOT is CHOKE HOLD and now out from Hard Case Crime.

SEXIEST TRIPLE-SERIES WRITER

Sophie takes beauty tips from Junior

I don't know how Sophie Littlefield has time to do all that she does! She's raising kids and a dog, taking care of a home, mentoring other writers, and actively publishing THREE series - a crime series, a dystopian series and a YA series. Her writing reflects her wit and spirit, and you need only spend two minutes around her to experience the charm.

Sophie's drive and determination resulted in success in an extremely competitive field. Her talent with words and character netted her an Anthony Award. But it's Sophie's kindness and generosity that have won her the respect of her peers. It's also won her a spot on this list!

Sophie's new book in her dystopian series, HORIZON, is due out in January. And next June will bring the fourth book in her Stella Hardesty series, A BAD DAY FOR MERCY.

SEXIEST AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR


Hey! Really? Me? No way!

I had to do an eenie, meanie, miney, moe for this category because all of these sexy writers are award winners. But Megan Abbott wins out for this one. The Edgar-award-winning author will never fade from my memory because the first time we met in person she said, "You read Bob Crais, right? Can we talk about his books today?" And I've adored her ever since! No, really, Megan is incredibly talented, original and funny. Her books have dark themes but I've never seen Megan when she wasn't bright and energized. I've also never seen Megan speak down to anyone or act as though she doesn't have time for them. Watching her with her fans, she exudes an authentic appreciation of their support and their conversation.

Megan's newest novel, THE END OF EVERYTHING, is garnering a tremendous amount of attention and well deserved accolades. I doubt this one will be overlooked for awards in the coming months.

SEXIEST WRITER UNDER 40

I'd like to thank the Academy for this sexy award....

None of the women on this list even come close to looking their ages and doesn't that just make you grumble? But how can you grumble at someone as charming and endearing and gracious as Hilary Davidson? Some people in the world you say a silent prayer of thanks to God (or whomever) for bequeathing them talent like Hilary's. You say thanks because they so richly deserve that talent and appreciate it and do wonderful things with it. Hilary is one of those people. And human characteristics don't get any sexier than that.

Hilary's debut novel, THE DAMAGE DONE, won the Anthony Award and Crimespree Award for best first novel. Her second novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, is due out on Valentine's Day.

SEXIEST WRITER ON TV

Watch out! Hank will uncover your secrets!

Hank Phillippi Ryan just wins awards where ever she goes. She's won more Emmy's than she can count on fingers AND toes for her hard-hitting investigative reporting for NBC. And those awards all have to share space with the Anthony, the Macavity and the Agatha Awards for her equally amazing writing.

What really made me positive Hank belonged on my list was her astounding compassion and kindness. And if you ever hear her talk about her husband, now there's the fairy tale romance - true love.

I had communicated with Hank before the first time I met her in person...in Indianapolis...at Bouchercon. I showed her the scrapbook page with her memoir she submitted and she teared up. I had no intention of making her cry, but boy what a gift she gave me to appreciate it that much. Hank has a heart of gold, and I just think that's sexy beyond compare.

Hank is branching out from her wildly successful Charlotte McNally series next year to publish the first in a new suspense series, THE OTHER WOMAN.

O.k., the final spot on my list goes to....

JEN'S SEXIEST FEMALE WRITER ALIVE

The reigning queen!

Alafair Burke! It would be far easier for me to say what isn't sexy about Alafair because I couldn't give you anything. I admire her tremendously and consider her one of my heroes. She's smart, clever and full of life. She's generous, kind and true. Her ability to laugh at herself is endearing and rare. There aren't many people who can do that with ease. And that allows others to be at ease around Alafair. She's human. And DAMN that's just sexy!

I, of course, adore Alafair's love of her French bulldog, Duffer. She takes him to day care, dresses him for Halloween, and collects the home videos of his life.

She doesn't dress her husband for Halloween, but she does treasure him and their life together.

Years ago now I went to meet Alafair because I was enamored with her writing. I was rewarded with a woman I now admire as so much more than an author. And I don't want to make this sound like I admire her because she's perfect; I don't think that would be real. I do think she's stunning and beautiful inside and out, but I admire Alafair because she's challenged herself throughout her life. She's accomplished so much in a short time and still aspires to accomplish more; I can't wait to see where she is 40 years from now. I aspire to be that happy in my own skin, and I find it quite sexy.

Alafair released her first stand alone novel this year with LONG GONE. She also publishes a series with Assistant Prosecutor Samantha Kincaid and a series with NYC Police Detective Ellie Hatcher.

There you have it! My choices for the Sexiest Women of Crime Fiction in 2011. Now you can weigh in. Who do you think I left off the list? There are many, of course, so I can't wait to hear your choices.

As with Wednesday's group, this post is meant to be fun. I whole-heartedly mean what I've written about the authors, and I received their permission to include them in the post. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Crime Fiction's Sexiest Authors of 2011

2011-11-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

This blog post has been in the works for almost a year now. The seed was planted waaaaaay back in January when my attention was pointed to this post called You Know You're an English Major If...Probably about a third of the way down the list, you'll notice the entry, "You consider authors to be sex symbols."

I reckon I have to admit to being in that camp. I do think it's sexy to be smart and creative and funny, so with People Magazine releasing their Sexiest People issue, and Salon.com weighing in on their Sexiest Men, I thought it was high time I got my post ready for public consumption. And I'm all about gender equality, so come back on Friday for the ladies' turn.

People puts the honorees into categories, and I've done the same. I have 5 honorees and a "Sexiest Man Alive." So here we go:

THE SEXIEST WRITER-ATHLETE

Those shorts are sexy, Tom!

Tom Schreck runs, boxes, plays basketball...I don't think swimming in the hot tub counts, but that's o.k. He is a black belt in karate even though he gave up "wearing pajamas" to wear robes. Other factors that contribute to Tom being on this list are his sense of humor, his kindness, and his love of animals.

Tom writes the Duffy Dombrowski series, the fourth of which, VEGAS KNOCKOUT, will be out from Thomas and Mercer in May.

SEXIEST TRIPLE-SERIES WRITER

New Reeds, old Reeds, they're all Great Reeds!

At least right now there are three. Since he's a long way from retirement, we don't know how many series Reed Farrel Coleman will ultimately end up with. Reed seems to work in 3s. He's won the Shamus Award three times - as well as three other awards: the Barry, the Macavity and the Anthony; he has three series: Moe Prager, Joe Serpe/Bob Healy, Dylan Klein; and he's published in three formats: novel, short story and poem.

Reed is gregarious; he wields his sarcastic wit as effectively as his pen; and he's always up on the latest hair styles! In all seriousness, when I first met Reed in person, I was more than a little intimidated. But it took round about 30 seconds to know he's one of the nicest people you'll have the chance to meet.

This year Reed releases two new books. GUN CHURCH is an audiobook original, and you'll be hearing more about that soon. And HURT MACHINE is the latest Moe Prager novel, due out next month.

SEXIEST AWARD-WINNING WRITER

King of the...Pier?

Self-confidence is sexy, right? Well, Brad Parks has plenty of that! And did you know Brad won the 2010 Shamus award?! The cockiness is part of the facade Brad sports (well, maybe not all facade..) but under that is a supportive, generous, funny individual with a grand imagination and love of life.

Brad writes the Carter Ross mystery series. His third installment, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, will be out in March from Minotaur Books.

SEXIEST WRITER UNDER 30

"I've got it all up here."

O.k., so most folks grumble when they discover that Michael Koryta is as wildly talented and polished as he is and he hasn't celebrated his 30th birthday yet. But, I just look at it this way, I should be able to enjoy his new books all the way until they spread my ashes. Right? If you ever listen to Michael talk about his craft all you can hear is passion. And I completely love that he works with the Exotic Cat Preserve to rescue the great creatures. He's smart and witty and deserves his place on the list.

Michael's latest novel, THE RIDGE, was released this past summer. He informed us via Twitter that his next book will be a Vampire kitten/PI novel hybrid - I'm just kidding. He did say that but in jest. He's returning to a classic crime novel, but I don't have release date for that.

SEXIEST WRITER ON TV

The hat shadow is covering the five o'clock shadow.

Since the commercial is now showing, I can say the winner of this category is Marcus Sakey. And no, his hair played no role in the decision. When I first met Marcus' wife g.g. she explained that we all have dreams and aspirations in life, Marcus' are just usually higher than most. That was when he was training to climb Mt. Rainier. Marcus is full of life and always ready for the next challenge. This year that challenge was a television series called Hidden City, scheduled to begin airing next month.

One of the "extras" to Marcus' character that boosted him onto this list was his ability to make people feel like SUPERSTARS, no matter how ordinary. Look at me...I went from author groupie to high powered lawyer in less than 300 pages!

Marcus' latest release is THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES. He's hard at work on his new novel, but obviously had to take time out for that television thing! I'll have more about that at a later date.

And drum roll please....

JEN'S SEXIEST MALE WRITER ALIVE

Gregg Hurwitz! My first chance to meet Gregg in person was my first visit to L.A. for the book festival back in 2009. I had already discovered THE CRIME WRITER and was so excited to meet him. He hung out and talked with Michael Alatorre and I for quite a good spell, told us how he met his wife, made us laugh, obviously left a lasting impression. And on top of that, before I got home there was an email in my inbox saying "it was nice to meet you."

Since that I've learned what a great pet parent he is as he often talks about taking Simba to the dog park, having Simba at his feet while he writes, visiting Simba on his trips home during book tour. And of course his daughters! He's such a proud papa and his adoration of his girls simply radiates from him.

Gregg is smart, funny, talented - his skill range goes from Shakespeare to The Penguin to V. He's generous and kind - he tolerates me and there's no restraining order...yet. And I'm pretty certain he could get anyone to do his bidding with that 100 watt smile.

I can't remember the last time I was asked for a book recommendation and one of Gregg's books wasn't on the top of my list. For this book nerd, that's as sexy as it gets. Move over Bradley Cooper, ya ain't got nothin' on Gregg!

As with anyone's choice in a topic like this, there will be much dissension among the ranks. So it's your turn. Who would be on YOUR list? And let's keep the conversations family appropriate, please!

Remember, the ladies will get their turn on Friday! Have a great Thanksgiving and Happy Reading.

**Note: this post is meant to be fun. I sincerely mean what I've written about the authors, but I contacted each author to get his/her permission to use them in this post. I did not want to include anyone who would be uncomfortable or feel awkward about being mentioned. I hope you've enjoyed it.

THE END OF EVERYTHING - Megan Abbott

2011-11-21T03:00:00.000-05:00

First line: "She, light-streaky out of the corner of my eye."

The depth of talent that Megan Abbott possesses is indeed enviable. But given the fact that her readers are able to reap the benefits of her talents, I think we can forgo the envy and celebrate her works instead. The most recent work to celebrate is a bit of a change for Abbott. THE END OF EVERYTHING is a modern novel set in the Midwest told through the voice of thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hood. When Lizzie's best friend and next door neighbor Evie Verver disappears one afternoon, the entire community is sent into a state of panic and Lizzie finds her childhood stolen as swiftly as her best friend.

Abbott's novel is narrated on audio by Emily Bauer who brings not only Lizzie's teenage voice to life, but also the sights and sounds and rich flavors of Abbott's small Michigan town. The sensual nature of THE END OF EVERYTHING transports readers back to their own childhood:

"...I know Evie's cartwheels, the way she floated through them, like moving through molasses, smooth and dawdling and tongue-sweet, why, that's how it was."

Lizzie's experiences thankfully differ from most teen-agers in losing her best friend. But there are still strong similarities to the average teen in her fairy tale ideas of love, her hero-worship of Mr. Verver, and her unadulterated devotion to her friendship with Evie. Bauer articulates Lizzie's characteristics in such a way that we never question why a child would make such choices, instead we find them to be the natural choices. We're no longer logical, careful adults; we're the innocent naive child again.

Megan Abbott is forging new territory with every novel she pens. THE END OF EVERYTHING has taken her to new heights and it has taken the crime fiction genre to new heights. Not only does she examine the crime of kidnapping but she examines the crime of a stolen soul, ripped from its unsuspecting owner who struggles to make sense of her loss. This is a beautiful novel and a terrifying novel. A gentle, sensual novel and a dark, violent novel. It will lovingly haunt the reader who finds that the end comes far too soon.

Emily Bauer taps into Abbott's world seamlessly making this audiobook a chilling treat. I wouldn't recommend missing this one.

THE END OF EVERYTHING is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-316-09779-6) from Reagan Arthur Books and on audio (ISBN: 978-1-441-78171-0) from Blackstone Audio.

V is for Vengeance - Sue Grafton

2011-11-18T03:00:00.000-05:00

This review appeared in Tuesday's Shelf Awareness for Readers and is appearing now with permission from the folks at Shelf Awareness.

First line: "Phillip Lanahan drove to Vegas in his 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, a snappy little red car his parents had given him two months before, when he graduated from Princeton."

In her twenty-second outing with P.I. Kinsey Milhone, Sue Grafton brings back all the quirky, loveable characteristics of her protagonist while ramping up the intensity of Kinsey’s experiences.

There are few authors who can open a novel with a gruesome murder and flawlessly transition to her heroine shopping for underwear without losing credibility, but that’s precisely the way Grafton begins V is for Vengeance. And in Kinsey’s world, even shopping for underwear can’t be easy. She observes a woman shoplifting and notifies the store employee. When the shoplifter is arrested and then apparently commits suicide, Kinsey finds herself investigating the woman’s death on behalf of her fiancé. As hidden details of the woman’s life are uncovered, Kinsey comes face-to-face with her own mortality and discovers her work on this investigation may very well be a threat to her own life.

Grafton’s Alphabet Series is a rare series that continues to show momentum after more than 20 books. V is for Vengeance is entertaining, while still making your heart race with a thriller’s anticipation. Kinsey Milhone remains a unique protagonist in the P.I. genre, while Grafton continues to surround her with dimensional supporting characters and antagonists. Readers can’t help but invest in the entire cast, turning pages swiftly to reveal their fates.

Grafton most assuredly still has her stride. Series fans won’t be disappointed and newcomers can pick up V without any knowledge of the previous 21 books. Another winner for the matriarch of the P.I. novel.

V is for Vengeance is available from Marian Wood Book/Putnam in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0399157868) and on unabridged audio (ASIN: B0067EYTDM) from Random House Audio, narrated by Judy Kaye.

Books Are the Markers of Your Life

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

"Books are the Markers of Your Life" was one of the most poignant statements I heard during Murder & Mayhem in Muskego this year and I thought it a fitting title for this post.

Yet another wonderful convention hosted by the Muskego Library with mucho support from Jon and Ruth Jordan.

This weekend is always filled with wonderful fun. The program starts out with an informal meet and greet session on Friday night. There's usually one panel that takes place and this year, Dana Kaye moderated John Connolly, Marcus Sakey, Duane Swierczynski and Dana Cameron. If you haven't seen any of these people in person, they are all incredibly funny and together it was wonderful entertainment. Dana ended up putting her feet up and just relaxing while the panelists did all the work!

Meanwhile, the other authors were all looking on from the audience.

During lunch on Saturday, one of the women sitting at the table commented on how accessible the authors are at M&M. She had hoped to see an author at Bouchercon but said author was always surrounded by people, but she didn't run into that issue at this convention. And I think that's a big reason so many people enjoy this weekend. It's a hidden gem.

Speaking of Saturday, the panels started off with excitement as the moderator, Alison Janssen-Dasho, was M.I.A. However, Reed Farrel Coleman surprised the conference goers by being present - he wasn't on the author list this year. So, Reed filled in on the "Playing Fair With the Reader" panel until Alison arrived. Also on this panel were Joelle Charbonneau, Alison Gaylen, Gar Anthony Haywood and Andrew Grant. In this panel we learned that Alison Gaylin feels every character should have a part of the author in them, thereby allowing the reader to understand motivation. Joelle keeps a running document about her characters and as they develop in the writing process she adds to the document. And Gar was in Annie Get Your Gun in junior high school! Unfortunately, he didn't sing for us.

The other panel before lunch highlighted historical writers: "My Generation: Mysteries of the Past." Sadly Tony Hayes and Tasha Alexander were unable to make the festivities, so Andrew Grant sat in as moderator and Reed filled in again, since his books are somewhat historical. Not quite as historical as Jeri Westerson and Kelli Stanely, but it worked out well nonetheless. Kelli talked about enjoying her ability to enter the dark elements of a time period we like to romanticize now. And Jeri emphasized the need to be sensible to the time and its people. Kelli's bit of advice in this panel is for writers to learn to self-edit. Which was not a signal to do away with outside editors but rather to complement their work with your own editing.

Following lunch, my panel took the stage. We were titled: "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: Writing Without Borders." I was so excited to be moderating Megan Abbott, Martyn Waites, Hilary Davidson and Sean Chercover. They were funny and energetic and no one killed me when I asked them to pick their theme songs.

Martyn told us about his experiences writing with his wife. He types because he's faster and she tells him what to type. However, he isn't permitted to help with her job as a costume designer! And in the series he writes alone, he was so proud of himself for "creating" the idea of an information brokerage until an ex-girlfriend called him and threatened to sue him if he was stealing her idea as she'd just started an information brokerage as her job.

We learned Megan doesn't like to write about sex and body parts. No matter what, she can't help but think about her mother reading what she writes.

Sean opted to set his books in Chicago over a Canadian location because he had experience as a P.I. in Chicago and there are more people in the U.S....thereby, more people to buy and read his books!

Hilary shared with us her tendency to get so caught up in the world she's writing in, she can't find her friend's apartment or cross the street without assistance.

As you can see these four talented writers were both entertaining and informative. It was such a pleasure to moderate this panel with them.

After us the panel "We're Not Going to Take It: Breaking Out of the Traditional" took the stage. Meanwhile, Tom gave boxing lessons.

This panel was led by moderator Jennifer Jordan with authors Gary Phillips (who does NOT need a microphone by the way), Stephanie Pintoff (who does), Duane Swierczynski, and F. Paul Wilson. This panel discussed Father Knox's Decalogue: The Ten Rules of (Golden Age) Detective Fiction. The panel came to the conclusion that "Father Knox is full of shit."

The final panel of the day was "Who Are You? Characters CAn Make or Break a Story" featuring Tom Schreck as the moderator, Dana Cameron, Gar Anthony Haywood, Jess Loury and Marcus Sakey.

Jess Loury recommended not over-planning. characters. And Gar said he starts off by deciding what he doesn't want his characters to be. Marcus doesn't start with a superman-type character because then the action has to be more elaborate and exaggerated and that can quickly become silly. As did this panel when Tom began talking about his farting dogs.

The actual conference was wrapped up with Ruth Jordan's interview of John Connolly. And John is the one who gets the credit for talking about books as markers of your life. He emphasized the continued value of print books...and not by disparaging electronic books but by saying that what we choose to keep in print still tells a story about us individually. He spoke specifically to a beat-up paperback he had that was a marker of a relationship earlier in his life.

When John spoke about Irish crime fiction specifically he said that it's a way for Irish writers to connect with their history.

And he also recommended that writers never underestimate the power of the chip on your shoulder.

A truly spectacular day that continued with dinner and time with the authors. This wonderful picture I'm having framed!

I also have a few new pictures to add to the Most Wanted wall, so look for those soon (I hope).

I want to send out a very special thank you to everyone who took the time to stop and tell me they enjoyed the panel or that they read the blog. In person I'm sometimes so overwhelmed by these kindnesses that I don't know how to appropriately express how much that means to me. I hope you know, you make my heart smile. Thank you so much for that gift.

I'm always sad when Muskego is over. It's such a bonding time for me and the whole fan-girl experience hasn't lessened one iota. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend you attend a Murder & Mayhem in Muskego. Even if you think you don't have the opportunity, MAKE it. This weekend is well worth it.

Happy Reading!

Awards and "Best Of" Lists

2011-11-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Kirkus had a major snafu. For those that don't already know, editor Elaine Szewczyk included Q.R. Markham's ASSASSIN OF SECRETS on their 2011 Best of Fiction. In the intro to the list, it says,

"While selecting this year's best fiction, Kirkus' reviewers and I engaged in a lot of arm wrestling, chair hurling and booze swilling. Not really."

Maybe they should have engaged in at least a little publication current events since the news of Markham's plagiarism had been plastered all over for a week prior to this list's appearance online.

Kirkus site before the removal of ASSASSIN OF SECRETS.

By the time the email announcement of their list hit my inbox, the book had been removed from the website post, but not before the word had been spread - ahhhh, social media. As authors and publishers announced their inclusion on the list throughout the day, I couldn't help but think, "Kirkus - and that list - really lost credibility with me." And not to begrudge anyone their kudos, but when this publication is supposed to be among the "elite" opinion of the industry, how can their "best of" list be taken seriously when they appear to not know what's going on in the publishing world? Or at the very least, not care enough to double check their list? But, the point of this post is not to bash Kirkus, so let me get back on track, since I seem to be doing just that.

What that snafu also made me think about today was how much credence I give to these "best of" lists. I really dislike that phrase - best of. And I don't use it when I do my end of the year lists. Instead, I opt to say, "my [insert year] favorites." I have never felt I could presume to judge the "best of." First of all, I can't read everything. Second, reading is too subjective. Granted there is stuff out there that's crap no matter who the judge is, but what's "best" is really up to an individual's preferences - feel free to ask me about Ulysses some day. But anyway, I realized that I've never read a book because it's been on a publication's "Best of" list. I've been happy for authors because of the acknowledgement they receive, but such things have never encouraged me to pick up a book I wasn't already planning to read.

Which leads me to awards. I've also never read a book because it was an award-winner. I've actually yet to see an award that I felt was actually a measure of quality more so than popularity. Sometimes the two can coincide, but not always. It is, however, always the popularity that wins out with awards. And some awards try to pick "obscure" so it doesn't look like popularity, but it's just popularity amongst the obscure when you boil it all down. Again, I'm happy for the authors when the recognition is bestowed on them, but I'm not motivated to read a book I hadn't chosen already for some other reason.

And then there's the whole question of which is more significant - the award that is chosen by fellow writers (we all know the "Academy" ALWAYS makes the best choices in the film industry) or the award chosen by the fans - you know, the people who buy the books, spread the word, write awe-inspiring Amazon reviews and put Glenn Beck on the New York Times best seller list? I guess my award skepticism is showing, isn't it?

What reasons do I pick up a book? I'm glad you asked. A short time ago, I talked about how I pick the next book from the TBR stack, but how do they get to the TBR stack? (And I hope this doesn't seem repetitive to anyone who reads here regularly.) I pick up books first because of history. I was pontificating on this subject over the weekend. An author I read for years started to write with a slightly different approach to the genre; an approach I typically don't like. But, because the author had established a history of good books - in my eyes - I read the new book. (I liked it by the way.)

And y'all know when Robert Crais starts writing the phone book, I'll be reviewing that here. In all seriousness, a history of writing books I've enjoyed is the strongest motivator for me to read a new book by that author.

A recommendation from someone I trust is the second strongest motivator. Unknown reviewers from "elite" publications could be anyone. And if a different unknown reviewer reviewed the same book for said publication, the review could be entirely different. Thus, it's not a consistent measure I can align with my own preferences. But I know that Lesa Holstine and I share overlapping interests. Pop Culture Nerd and I share overlapping interests. Naomi Johnson...o.k., you get the point. I trust them. I also trust them to say, "Jen, I really liked this book, but I'm not sure you would." We have overlapping interests but not identical interests. What we always share is a trust of each other not to knowingly guide one another to a book that just isn't right for the other.

It was through recommendations from people I trust that I discovered Chris Grabenstein, Louise Penny, Craig Johnson, Martyn Waites, Craig McDonald and Louis Bayard - among others. I also want to mention good publicists in this category. I so deeply appreciate the publicists that take the time to know me and what I enjoy. I know if Dana Kaye tells me she thinks I'll like a certain book, she genuinely thinks that; she's not simply trying to get coverage. So, again, the trust factor comes into play.

And the last of the big motivators for me is simply an author's public activity. For example I discovered Bill Cameron on Twitter. I think I know what the gold miner's felt when they discovered their shiny nuggets. Finding Bill was like that. Steve Hockensmith I heard speak on a panel and knew right away that I wanted to read his books - the combo of me and Hockensmith's series turned out to be akin to chocolate and peanut butter! Sophie Littlefield and Rebecca Cantrell I discovered on the Criminal Minds blog. Based on their fun writing there, I was motivated to read their debut novels. Which then moved them to the "history" category.

And that's not a fail-safe model. There are some extremely fun, nice, entertaining people who write books that aren't my style. But a good public persona will improve the chances that I give a book a first chance. Being a jerk guarantees I'll never read the author's work, no matter how good it might be.

And of course, all of these motivators are assuming the book synopsis sounds like something I would enjoy reading.

Yes, I did indeed spend far too much time mulling these thoughts over today. But I'm curious now if I'm just the oddball or if others share my sentiments. Do awards and "Best of" lists motivate YOU to read a book you wouldn't otherwise have picked up? Have you ever changed your mind about reading a book because it won an award? We've talked about blurbs and book jackets before. Are you motivated by those? Do you have other triggers that encourage you to pick up books? I hope you'll share your thoughts - differing opinions welcome and encouraged. But please be respectful of everyone's opinion.

I have lots to share on the Murder & Mayhem in Muskego weekend, some fun projects I've been hatching and gads of reviews to catch up on. So stay tuned and happy reading!

Out and About

2011-11-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

I spent the weekend in Virginia with my friend Ginny Phillips. I completely unplugged from the Internet and had a most restful weekend. That made it extremely hard to come back. I mean, look at the scenes that surrounded me for three days:

Duffy

I'll be turning around to leave again on Friday for Muskego. Is anyone going to be at the Murder & Mayhem in Muskego Conference this Saturday? Please say "hi." Even if I look complete confused or lost, I'm so happy to see the faces of people who stop by, leave comments, send emails, or just read.

A few other things I wanted to share with you quickly while I have a few minutes.

It's about that time of year when we start thinking about our "Best of" lists. I'm planning to have my regulars plus a few unusually fun ones to wrap up 2011. Gosh, can you believe how close 2012 is already? Anyway...Publishers Weekly has their "Best of" list out. What do you think about the mystery category? Which of your favorites from this year are missing?

Tyrus Books is doing another round of promotions and right now you can get Michael Lister's DOUBLE EXPOSURE free on the Nook or on Kindle until November 12th. This was a unique book that I really enjoyed. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, here's an opportunity to get it for free!

A.S.A.P. Publishing sent me a notice about a beautiful book they have ready to ship right now, THE GALWAY HOOKER. It's a limited edition (85 copies total), 52-page book with a wood inlay in the cover. It's Jack Taylor, of course by Ken Bruen. There's an introduction by George Pelecanos and an afterward by Wendy Horsby and some illustrations by Phil Parks. It's a bit out of my price range at $100, but you collectors may want to check into this one! Contact asap-publishing@cox.net (phone 949.455.1319) to find out more.

I'm listening to Reed Farrel Coleman's GUN CHURCH right now on audio. It comes out today exclusively as an audio at Audible. I'll be talking to Reed later about this project, but in the meantime you'll want to check it out!

And to wrap up the fun today, you have to check out the interview (with audio clips) the Criminal Elements folks did with Mark Harmon. I've been a Harmon fan since the freakin' Coors commercials; I know I'm weird. I'd have watched him play football, too, had I been born.

NORTHWEST ANGLE - William Kent Krueger

2011-11-02T03:00:00.000-04:00

I will have to double check, but this may be the last of the catch-ups on reviews from Shelf Awareness. So, as with the previous reviews, this one appears with permission from the Shelf Awareness folks.

First line: "He woke long before was necessary, had wakened in this way for weeks, troubled and afraid."

The O’Connor family is in the midst of a vacation on a houseboat in the Lake of the Woods when a derechos rips across the area, stranding the family members on various islands. Much to her horror, Jenny O’Connor discovers a devastation much crueler than the derechos. Where the derechos left downed trees and damaged boats, this disaster left a dead woman and an abandoned infant. The derechos has ended but the O’Connor’s nightmare has just begun.

In his eleventh novel of the Cork O’Connor series, William Kent Krueger delves into the theme of isolation and the question, “[Is] there any limit to how alone a human being could be?” The value of connections, whether physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual, emanates from every aspect of the plot.

One of the great strengths of this series is Kent’s juxtaposition of Christianity and the Ojibwe spiritual beliefs. Cork O’Connor, the series protagonist, claims both backgrounds in his heritage. Northwest Angle brings their peaceful co-existence to the forefront of plot with stunning depictions of each.

Some readers may find Jenny’s interactions with the infant a little extreme, but the underlying theme of human connection is otherwise well illustrated.

Those familiar with the series will appreciate the consistent characteristics of Kent’s writing. While those new to the series, can easily pick up the novel and enjoy the adventure without needing a history lesson.

NORTHWEST ANGLE was released from Atria Books in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1439153956) this past August. It is also available as an unabridged audio from Brilliance (ISBN: 978-142339617).

THE SURROGATE - Tania Carver

2011-11-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

First line: "There was a knock at the door."

When Detective Inspector Philip Brennan and his team are called to the scene of a double homicide, it isn't the first time they've seen the gruesome scenario: a pregnant woman murdered, her abdomen sliced open and the baby removed. This IS the first time the baby hasn't been left dead at the scene, however. With this incident, the third of its kind, the department decides to bring in criminal psychologist Marina Esposito to help profile the killer. There are no apparent connections between the women, but this third victim has recently left the baby's father, her abusive boyfriend, and he's the main suspect for the police. Marina has strong doubts that he's the killer. But when connections start popping up between the boyfriend and all three murdered women, she begins to have doubts and Phil can't dismiss him and chance another murder.

THE SURROGATE is the first novel from British husband and wife writing team, Tania Carver. Whatever their formula is for writing a novel together, they seem to have perfected it on the first try. THE SURROGATE is an intense, fast-paced psychological thriller that will leave the reader wondering who did it right up to the end.

THE SURROGATE is not a comfortable read; it examines some of the ugliest of human nature's scum and the effects that scum has on every one and every thing around it. The novel seems to be addressing the question of whether there can be light and hope existent in this world? We often view children as the hope for the future, but the children are being savagely destroyed.

Carver constructs a plot packed with red herrings and well-placed twists that keep the momentum - and your pulse rate - moving at a rapid pace. The characters are created in such a way as to leave you no choice but to empathize with them. And you may find yourself connecting with different characters before the end plays out. Carver works the dynamics of humanity like a holographic image. Depending on which way you're looking you could see something entirely different than the first time you peeked.

THE SURROGATE is explosive and captivating. You won't want to read this home alone at night, but you won't want to put it down either. Tania Carver has set the expectations for this series high and I, for one, am anxiously looking forward to the next one.

THE SURROGATE was released in the United States this past September in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1605982564) from Pegasus books.

HELL & GONE - Duane Swierczynski

2011-10-31T03:00:00.000-04:00

First line: "Julie Lippman woke up early the day her boyfriend died."

At the conclusion of FUN & GAMES Charlie Hardie, a professional housesitter, was seriously injured and being kidnapped in an ambulance. HELL & GONE, the second installment of Duane Swierczynski's trilogy finds Charlie Hardie mostly recovered and in a seemingly inescapable, underground prison. However, instead of being an inmate, he's the warden. The prison guards almost equal the inmates in number, the inmates who are "the most dangerous criminals in the world." The longer Charlie is in the prison, the more he wonders how dangerous these criminals truly are, but it's this curiosity that leads Charlie into trouble, trouble that may mean bad things for his family.

Pete Larkin returns as the narrator of Charlie Hardie's new caper, and that means only good things for HELL & GONE. Larkin seems to share a kindred spirit with Hardy, a spirit that brings a rare richness to the listening experience. Swierczynski has written a unique novel blending the comic book action hero with noir and thriller and just a twist of mystery to shake things up. Larkin keeps pace at every turn, convincingly expressing disbelief at the absurd, fury at the unjust, sarcasm at, well, the world.

All the strengths of FUN & GAMES are present in HELL & GONE without simply writing a formulaic sequel. Swierczynski brings innovative plotting, fresh characters and constant action. Larkin, for his part, gives voice to the world Swiercacynski has created. The pair have produced a story experience unlike any other.

I have the utmost respect for those writers who can coax me out of my reading comfort zone and entice me with a style I'd usually dismiss. There are elements of the absurd in HELL & GONE, but they've been written in such a way as to provide entertainment in the midst of considerable action and drama. The unquestionable devotion Hardie has for his family and remorse he carries for his former partner build a credible Everyman. And we can't help but want to cheer him on to victory.

It remains to be see if Hardie will pull a complete victory out of his hat. We'll have to wait for the final part of Swierczynski's trilogy. The ultimate winners, however, are the readers and listeners. As an audio performance, this is the "perfect storm": a great story partnered with the perfect narrator, produced flawlessly. These audiobooks will top my favorites list for 2011.

HELL & GONE is available today from Mulholland Books in trade paper (ISBN: 978-0316133296) and from Hachette Audio in downloadable mp3 (ISBN: 978-1611139310).

SCARY GODMOTHER - Jill Thompson

2011-10-28T03:00:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I started talking about this book and promised a review of it, what better time than Halloween season? Bear with me as I'm not accustomed to reviewing graphic novels, but here goes!

SCARY GODMOTHER is the first of two Scary Godmother collections by multi-Eisner Award-winning illustrator Jill Thompson. This first collection includes: "The Scary Godmother," "The Revenge of Jimmy," "The Mystery Date," "The Boo Flu," "Tea for Orson," and as a special bonus at the end, there's some additional art. The collection is labeled as a children's fiction/fantasy book, but I spent literally hours pouring over the pages and enjoying both the stories and the art.

Thompson touches on topics that affect nearly everyone at some point in their lives: fears, being left out, bullies. The stories are fun and uplifting; readers will be able to identify themselves, their children, their friends in the characters - both human and monster!

The writing is both poetic and playful:

'She's cookin' up potions and bottling frights! Capturin' shrieks an' paintin' clouds into the night! An' when every autumn leaf is crisped, and shivers chill your bones - she gathers up the Boozle, 'cause their work has just begun!' ("The Revenge of Jimmy")

From alliteration to metaphor to rhyme, Thompson paints as magically with her words as she does with her colors:

With time running out, and so much at stake, she didn't have time for her unionized breaks! It's hard to eat sandwiches by the light of the moon...or sip slurps of soup while you're riding a broom! ("The Boo Flu")

Nature is personified page after page:

Thunder rumbled in the inky clouds that hung in the Fright Side sky. BOOM HOO HOO! The sky sobbed furiously - casting down sheets of stormy tears! ("The Revenge of Jimmy")

There's a combination of narrative and illustrated dialogue bubbles to tell the stories. Within the illustrated dialogue bubbles, Thompson develops character through word choice; style and weight of lettering - I love that the spider speaks in cursive - and dialect, "What 'choo talkin' 'bout, Hannah?"

It's hard for me to say whether the art or the language is my favorite element of this collection. They are both so vivid and brilliant and make the stories come alive on the page.

The full-color comic sheets of this book are spectacular. The attention to detail makes for literally hours of entertainment as the reader makes out bone curlers and boo-tifying cream, a seat-belted broom, the grade on a discarded school paper amidst a mountain of mess in a young boys bedroom. And one of the most endearing features? Thompson's resemblance to her Spooky Godmother.

This beautifully bound collection is over 200 pages of smiles and laughs and heart-warming fun. It will provide young and old alike with hours of entertainment and some very sore smiling muscles.

SCARY GODMOTHER is available in hardcover from Dark Horse Books (ISBN: 978-1-59582-589-6)

A Few Fun Items to Share

2011-10-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

I have a few fun items to throw out for you all, in case you haven't seen them elsewhere.

We're hearing a lot of depressing news about the publishing industry so it's always nice to hear optimistic news. One such tidbit is the launch of MysteriousPress.com. MysteriousPress.com in partnership with Open Road Integrated Media is going to "digitize classic works of crime, mystery and suspense fiction by the most distinguished crime writers in the world." To kick off the launch, MysteriousPress.com is hosting a contest. If you follow them on Twitter (@eMysteries) you're entered to win three free eBooks in the format of your choice. The books include: The City When It Rains (Thomas H. Cook), Rilke on Black (Ken Bruen) and The Mordida Man by Ross Thomas. You need to be following @eMysteries before November 2nd to be eligible.

You can also follow the MysteriousPress.com blog at their website.

Ken Bruen is among writers on the Mysterious Press docket and he happens to be blogging now. Love what he had to say about Craig McDonald!

Another fun tidbit from publishing is the announcement of Dennis Lehane's imprint with William Morrow.

And since there are so many publishing opportunities opening up for crime fiction, we need crime fiction writers, correct? Well then it is a good thing that the Center for Fiction is debuting a Crime Fiction Academy in February! The Academy will hold classes in Manhattan and will include instructors such as Dennis Lehane (wait, when is this man going to be writing???), Megan Abbott, Linda Fairstein, Laura Lippman, Lee Child and others. While I don't have a burning desire to write, I'd love to sit in on the classes just to see what goes on. I'm sure it's a fascinating experience. If any one of you enroll and take the classes, let's talk so I can interview you about your experience. I'll see Megan Abbott in Muskego in a few weeks so I'll get more of the lowdown and share it with you.

I also thought this was really great, partly because I learned of John Burnham Schwartz through xuni.com. He's been tapped to write HBO's screen play for a Bernie Madoff movie. I've learned about the most fascinating people working with Maddee James and the xuni crew. Are you following us on Twitter or Facebook? I try to keep folks apprised of all the wonderfully fun things the authors are doing.

Later this week I'll be covering a couple of books to contribute to Jenn's Bookshelves' Murder, Monsters & Mayhem Month. Watch for those reviews and check out what else she's done over at her blog. It's a great celebration of Horror and Thriller in honor of Halloween.

Many thanks to everyone who stopped by earlier this week to talk about how they pick their next read from the overwhelming TBR pile. I may have to try some of the approaches people take. The conversation was fascinating and informative.

That's it for me today. Do you have any fun tidbits to add to the roundup?

Happy Reading everyone!

Eenie Meenie Miny Moe

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-04:00

I love organization. I'm a bit of an organization junkie, actually. Which makes the utter chaos I call home rather ironic. I made a resolution this weekend that I was going to commit a minimum of one hour every day over the next few months...or until I finish, if that comes first...to REALLY organizing my house.

Regardless of which way you look in my house, you see books, so that really has to be the place I start. And today I did just that. Here is a look at the books that have come into my house in the last 3 months AND that I haven't been able to read yet.

I took about a dozen to a friend yesterday and about three dozen from this picture are going to be shipped to another friend this week. That still leaves a lot of books, and they are all books that have an appealing concept to me; therefore, ones I'd like to read.

That got me thinking about a conversation I had with an author at the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association's trade show. He asked me about how I decide which book to pick up next. He shared a story with me about a book he decided on from his pile because he remembered there had been some discussion about it online. He couldn't remember what the discussion was exactly, but the fact that the discussion had been about that particular book made him pick it up.

Then last week in Friday's Shelf Awareness Pro, Robert Gray talked about "How do we decide which ARC to read next?" His present choices are due to a conversation. Hmmm, I'm sensing a pattern here. Word of mouth seems to be making an impression.

But even readers who don't receive ARCs, I'm pretty certain you're like me and walk out of the book store, book sale, library, etc., with far more than one book. So how do YOU decide which one gets priority in the reading order? For me right now I'm reading books of the authors I'll moderate on a panel in Muskego next month. And sometimes a deadline for a review or a release date might prompt me to choose one book over the others. But a lot of times I'll look at the stack...ok the mountain...and after recovering from the minor coronary, I'll choose the book that fits my mood. And I think a lot of determining that comes from what I've heard about it...or maybe what I know about the author.

That leads to the question: what about the authors you don't know? Or better yet, the brand new authors...the ones who you don't really have much, if anything, to base your choice on? What makes you pick up THAT book?

A friend recently told me that he was at a point where his "regular" favorites were writing often enough for him to stay reading without having to pick up any new authors. That can be an incredible hurdle to overcome for fledgling writers.

I admit that I sometimes have to force myself to put aside a book of a favorite author in an effort to read a new-to-me author. Had I not opted to do that, I wouldn't have discovered the likes of James Thompson, John Verdon, Hilary Davidson, Daniel Palmer, Keith Thomson, Brad Parks, Kelli Stanley, Rebecca Cantrell...

And on the flip side of that, there are times when my mood demands that I curl up with the comfort of something I know and can count on. When life is feeling a bit overwhelming, I know I can count on Elvis Cole, John Ceepak or Walt Longmire to whisk me away from my reality.

As you can see from my picture, which represents only a small fraction of the books taking up residence in my house right now, I have the luxury of doing both. But I'm curious. What book(s) are YOU reading right now and what made you pick that one over all others to read now?

THE VAULTS - Toby Ball

2011-10-19T03:00:00.000-04:00

First line: "The Vaults took up nearly half a city block."

In Toby Ball's debut novel, archivist Arthur Puskis, private eye Ethan Poole and investigative journalist Frank Frings begin to uncover a large-scale corruption ring known as the "The Navajo Project" in "The City" of the 1930s. Puskis, Poole and Frings start out as strangers, but as each races the clock with his own agenda in regards to the Navajo Project, their worlds collide in their separate attempts to stay alive.

Narrated by Michael Agostini for Iambik Audiobooks, the recording takes on a fittingly dark, Gotham-esque tone. The opening scenes of this dystopian novel describe the "Vaults" themselves. A place inhabited only by Puskis, the elevator operator and the cleaning crew. A court messenger arrives and leaves regularly as well, but for the most part Puskis ambles through the deserted basement level tomb alone. And Puskis doesn't venture out into the "real world" after hours either. He heads straight home with possibly a stop at the market. Agostini brings the isolation of this character to life in his personification.

However, the remainder of the characters mimic Puskis' tone in Agostini's narration and the audience never really feels like they leave the desolation of the Vaults. I attribute this partly to his reading and partly to the writing constructs of the novel, which are often stiff and awkward, more scholarly than aesthetic. When reading a print version of a book, this can sometimes be overlooked, but it is painfully evident in an audio recording.

The pacing is slower, so while the novel is classified as a "dystopian thriller" it is much more the dystopian than the thriller.

That being said, the plot is a unique concept constructed with strong twists. The characters showed great potential and I believe Ball will grow into a skilled character writer as he continues to hone his craft.

THE VAULTS is available from St. Martin's Press in hardcover (ISBN: 9780312580735) and from Iambic Audio (July 2011) as either an mp3 recording (ISBN: 9781926673554) or an m4b recording, running 9 hours and 5 minutes.

A Look at What's Going On...

2011-10-18T03:00:00.000-04:00

In all the traveling craziness lately, I haven't done a look at what fun things are going on around the web. So I thought I'd share what's come across my computer screen today and then you can share other things YOU know about in the comments!

Brilliance Audio has a podcast with Iris Johansen about her upcoming suspense novel, BONNIE.

Things are gearing up for the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego conference. You should really try to come if you can. I mean, look at this awesome lineup!

And speaking of conferences, don't forget that you can register for Bouchercon 2012 now. It's in my neck of the woods next year, and if you register before the end of the year, you can get a $25 discount.

Don't forget to go and nominate your favorite 2011 crime novels in the Independent Literary Awards! I'm part of the committee reading and voting on the short list, so nominate a good bunch of books for me to choose from. Make my job VERY HARD! :-)

Those of you looking forward to Stephen King's 11/22/63, Simon and Schuster are posting audio samples on Mondays and Fridays through October 24th.

Todd Ritter has his Magical Mystery Tour going on right now. If he's in your area, stop out and say "hi." Buy a book and you could be a big winner!

Tama Ryder is making her debut with a memoir about Len Lesser who passed away in February. You probably know him from Seinfeld as "Uncle Leo" but he has also had character parts in many television crime dramas, including Hardcastle and McCormick (remember that one?), The Rockford Files, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Simon & Simon, Remington Steele, and more.

Mark Harmon's role as Lucas Davenport in a TV movie adaptation of Certain Prey was announced earlier this year and it's set to air on November 6th. I'm wondering if I should watch this. I'm a huge Harmon fan; Davenport, not so much. Wondering if the movie might change my feelings about Sandford's character.

It isn't coming out until December, but I'm reading Craig McDonald's EL GAVILAN right now, and I can't recommend highly enough that you check this book out. It's just...WOW! You'll hear more about it from me later, but in the mean time, check out his website and here's the trailer for the book.

This is a book that will come in under the 2011 wire and make my favorite's list. Few books are able to keep me up past my normal bed time these days, this is one of the exceptions.

O.k., your turn. What do you have to share for the good of the order?

The Last....I Promise...Bouchercon Post

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

I apologize for taking so ridiculously long to get this final Bouchercon post finished. But here we go, my final recap for this wonderfully amazing convention.

Saturday in St. Louis was the big day for me, and I started it off by attending my good friend Erin Mitchell's panel. She was moderating a Bouchercon panel for the first time this year, and actually she moderated two panels. This panel included one of my heroes, Gregg Hurwitz, the exceptionally talented Lisa Unger and a relatively new-to-me author, Linwood Barclay.

Erin was well prepared and did a wonderful job leading the panel. All of the panelists were humorous and generous. And one of the links among the panelists is their tendency to create ordinary characters and put them in extraordinary circumstances.

Gregg emphasized the importance of relationships in the stories. One of his goals as a writer is to encourage his readers to invest in not only the characters but the relationships they have throughout the books. And he's moved away from writing villains. As he's matured as a writer, he's turned more to antagonists than villains. (I just love that statement. I think it's often what makes the difference between a good book and a great book.) In terms of his protagonists, he's also shifted. His early books dealt with characters whose jobs it was to investigate the crimes involved. But as Gregg's shifted more to common people as protagonists, the motives for what draws them into their circumstances becomes wide open.

Linwood believes that his background as a humor columnist paved the way for his career writing fiction - he always had a rather careless regard for facts, he says. Linwood likes to write about people who are ill-equipped to deal with bad people...as opposed to folks who are well-trained (i.e., P.I.s, cops, military, etc.). Part of his reason for this is that he doesn't know what it's like to be "well-equipped" to deal with bad people and he's extremely lazy; he doesn't want to have to research for months to find out what it IS like to be these people. Instead he wants to know what people like him would do if faced with those bad people; for Linwood, it heightens the suspense. He also pointed out that there's more room for transition in the character because they have to overcome a lot more in order to triumph.

For Lisa, it's always a character that she hears speaking to her or one that she's seen that pulls her into writing a novel. But while writing FRAGILE, The Hollows, her setting, started to evolve as a character and have its own personality and a "beating heart." Above all else, Lisa feels it's imperative to have an equal level of compassion for all her characters. That compassion lends itself to authenticity in the creation much more than researching "people." Lisa also believes that writers are first and foremost observers. They are acutely conscientious to who and what goes on around them.

The panel was a most wonderful way to start the day. My only regret is that more people weren't able to experience it. One other perk of this panel was snagging Will Lavender who was in the audience and getting this picture.

If you haven't already read my raving about his book, DOMINANCE, I encourage you to do so. After having met Will in person now, I know that he's not only talented, but an extremely wonderful person as well.

Another author I caught up with on Saturday was Bill Cameron. He was signing at the Crimespree table and I stopped by so he could sign my copy of COUNTY LINE. I cherish all my pictures with the authors I meet, but I have to say, I really like this picture a lot:

O.k., so I already yapped and yapped quite a bit for this final post, and this isn't even a fraction of what happened on Saturday. Before I give you the grand finale, I have to congratulate one of the most wonderful people in crime fiction...Hilary Davidson, as you know, won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. And I have to memorialize that here at the blog. If you've ever been so happy for someone's success that it completely eradicated your own disappointment for yourself, then you know how monumentally excited I was for Hilary to win this distinction. Congratulations, my friend! No one deserved this more:

And one more thing. I promise, this is it. I GOT TO MEET AYO!! This is Ayo Onatade who is part of the Shots Blog crew, and she is just wonderful. She's funny and smart and kind and I have to figure out how she can live closer to me because I started missing her the minute I said good bye. She lurks around here at the blog from time to time, but there's nothing like spending time with her in person. Thank goodness for Bouchercons!

As promised, here is the finale...Please try to overlook my bumbling in the beginning and I apologize profusely for the person who kicked the camera toward the end of the interview and wasn't kind enough to move it back. You can still see both of us, but we're quite off-center... my interview with the spectacular, funny, intelligent, talented, and genuine, Val McDermid - 2011 Bouchercon International Guest of Honor.

THE DOG WHO KNEW TOO MUCH - Spencer Quinn

2011-10-12T03:00:00.000-04:00

Continuing in my quest to post all the Shelf Awareness reviews, today's review appears with their permission.

First line: "Was I proud of Bernie or what?"

The fourth installment of Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series finds the dynamic PI duo tracking a missing boy. Devin vanishes one night while out camping in the high country with his leader and four other boys. The leader theorizes that Devin wandered off in the night to go to the bathroom and simply got lost. His mother thinks her ex-husband snatched the boy. And all the theories go down the drain when expert tracker, Chet, uncovers startling new clues and Bernie ends up in jail on suspicion of murder. And life with Chet and Bernie can never be simple as a stray puppy proves in The Dog Who Knew Too Much.

The relationship between Chet and Bernie has been compared to Scooby Doo and Shaggy or Wallace and Gromit, but those comparisons miss the depth of connection Quinn builds between his protagonist duo. The relationship is undoubtedly humorous but it’s also respectful, insightful and passionate. Chet and Bernie are a pack unto themselves and they know their roles, so when other factors influence that pack dynamic, such as a stray puppy, the character interactions are as suspenseful as the plot events.

Quinn balances humor well with his content. Murder and a missing child are dark, solemn topics; Quinn manages to convey that seriousness while still entertaining his readers.

With Chet narrating, readers are reminded of many things we humans take for granted. And we even get a look at ourselves that we may not have ever thought about before.

Give Quinn a treat. He’s earned it with The Dog Who Knew Too Much.

The Dog Who Knew Too Much is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-1439157091) from Atria and on audio, narrated by Jim Frangione, from Recorded Books (B005LEV0P4).

DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND - Lisa Unger

2011-10-10T03:00:00.000-04:00

Slowly but surely, I'm getting my reviews from Shelf Awareness posted here. Today I have another, this one by Lisa Unger - her most recent novel, DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND. This review appears, of course, with permission from the folks at Shelf Awareness.

First line: "Failure wasn't a feeling; it was a taste in his mouth, an ache at the base of his neck."

Jones Cooper retired from his beloved position with the Hollows Police Department and now “putters” around the house. Instead of people coming to him with law enforcement issues, they call him to water their plants and take care of their pets while they are out of town. This occupies his time, but it doesn’t fill the hole in his life that his job loss created.

When Michael Holt returns to the Hollows looking for answers to his mother’s disappearance, Jones’ calm is shattered. Michael’s mother’s disappearance was the first major investigation for Jones Cooper many years ago; it always remained unsolved and now Jones is pulled back into the case. After all these years can he figure out what really happened?

In the follow-up to her novel Fragile, Lisa Unger brings back some beloved characters while also introducing new residents to the Hollows. The small town setting allows Unger to highlight her strongest writing skill: character relationships. Whether husband and wife, parent and child, doctor and patient, Unger probes the mysteries of human connection, leaving her characters raw and exposed to the critical stares of her readers. When the plot sews them back together, the end result isn’t necessarily the sum of the pieces.

The resolution to this plot may be anticipated early by some readers, but the greater mystery lies in the resolution of the characters themselves. This is the beauty of Unger’s writing and it is what keeps readers glued to pages.

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND is available in hardcover from Crown and on audio from Random House Audio

THE NIGHTMARE THIEF - Meg Gardiner

2011-10-07T03:00:00.000-04:00

My next in a line of reviews I covered for Shelf Awareness. This one did not appear in the newsletter and is appearing here with their permission.

First line: "The young trader stumbled from the trees like a scarecrow running on legs of straw."

Jo Beckett and Gabe Quintana are investigating a possible murder scene when they find themselves caught in the middle of an elaborate kidnapping scheme. The twenty-one-year-old daughter of a wealthy hedge fund manager and five of her friends are abducted in the midst of an “urban reality game.” A car accident allows the group to escape from their captors in the midst of the Sierras. But the kidnappers are still out there hunting them down. Jo and Gabe have to use their know-how to evade these psychopaths, travel the terrain and bear the elements, so hopefully they can bring their charges to safety.

Meg Gardiner brings her entire crew together in The Nightmare Thief. Evan Delaney and Jo Beckett team up to investigate the suspicious death of a lawyer. Amy Tang, Ferd and Mr. Peebles all join in the hunt when Jo and Gabe fail to return from the crime scene. Gardiner stays true to her regular crew, but the real stars come in the form of the twenty-something set. Their dialogue, behaviors, attitudes elicit strong emotion from the reader.

The action is constant from beginning to end. Sudden twists keep the novel from an entirely straight, forward momentum. Some twists are possibly predictable, while others will catch the reader off guard. All contribute to a strong, cohesive plot.

For those who love the exhilaration of high speed action and suspense, The Nightmare Thief is sure to get your heart pumping.

I also had a chance to listen to this book on audio, narrated by Susan Ericksen who really does a great job with this series. She's able to elicit the depth of relationship between the characters without over-dramatizing. And likewise, she illustrations the action elements of the novel without going over the top and making them unbelievable. But above all else, she makes me love Ferd. Her characterization of Ferd uses stereotype expertly to bring the eccentric character to life.

The Nightmare Thief is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-052595221) from Dutton and on audiobook (ISBN: 978-1441820099) from Brilliance Audio.

HOUSE DIVIDED - Mike Lawson

2011-10-04T03:00:00.000-04:00

House Divided is another review I submitted to Shelf Awareness and they were unable to run. So with their permission, I'm posting it here now. This was my first experience reading Mike Lawson's work and I'm officially hooked:

First line: "A satellite orbits a blue planet, huge solar panels extended like wings."

The National Security Agency is illegally recording when a double murder is carried out by a U.S. military group. Needing to take action, but in a way that prevents anyone from discovering their unlawful behaviors, the NSA group, led by Dillon Crane, takes on a covert mission to discover the truth behind the murders.

Meanwhile, Joe DeMarco finds himself trapped in the middle of the mission because one of the citizens murdered was his cousin, Paul Russo.

Lawson’s symbolic title for the sixth novel in his Joe DeMarco series indicates a new civil war brewing in the United States. Only this war isn’t fought on the traditional battle grounds. Instead it’s fought in the political factions of our intelligence agencies. The weapons being technology and information, but the victims still U.S. citizens. As with any war, each side feels its platform is justified and best for the nation.

Instead the reader finds Lawson’s characters are all ethically questionable yet magnetically appealing. There are no distinct “good guys” and “bad guys.” Instead, their presence creates philosophical questions the reader must ask him/herself.

Lawson fleshes out his female characters masterfully, careful to avoid stereotypes and give them distinct personalities. It would be a great shame if Claire and Alice did not reappear in future novels.

Lawson draws the political climate through sharp imagery and metaphor. His humor is fittingly dark and sarcastic to match the murky waters he’s dragging his characters through.

House Divided is the epitome of “political thriller.”

House Divided is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780802119780) from Atlantic Monthly Press and on audiobook from Blackstone (ISBN: 9781455112470), narrated by one of my favorites, Joe Barrett.

The Pokey Little Bouchercon Post

2011-10-03T03:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm still blogging about Bouchercon. Yes, it is a little sad on my part. In my defense I had three other planned posts for last week, and the last two posts I have are totally worth waiting for. Why you ask? Well let's take a look at Friday in St. Louis!

The morning started bright and early with a very nice breakfast co-sponsored by the Midwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America and CriminalElement.com. The breakfast was held for librarians, bloggers, booksellers and other related conference attendees. Guests of Honor Charlaine Harris and Colin Cotterill spoke, while additional Minotaur authors hosted individual tables.

Brad Parks and Sabrina Ogden


Charlaine Harris


Colin Cotterill deep in thought about Charlaine's speech?


Ali is tweeting? Or Facebooking maybe?

Once we had full tummies, we could move on to the programming of the day. For me that started with a panel called "Shake and Finger Pop." It's a bit of a misleading title as the panel dealt with fight sports in crime fiction. The panelists included Jamie Freveletti, Tom Schreck, Christa Faust, and Frank Bill all moderated by Eric Beetner. It's fascinating to hear the way each of the panelists views fighting in relation to plotting and their characters. Tom Schreck and Frank Bill have more of a boxing background and Jamie Freveletti is a martial artist with a black belt in aikido. Christa Faust's character is a former porn star, and Christa pointed out parallels between the porn industry and professional fighting.

Jamie Freveletti and Christa Faust


Jamie Freveletti


Christa Faust and Tom Schreck

Tom Shreck and Frank Bill

The next session I attended was Ridley Pearson's interview by Jeff Abbott. I know from my own experiences interviewing Ridley, that he's a wonderful interviewee. Add to that Jeff Abbott is a fabulous interviewer and this session was outstanding! Jeff rocked the house with his self-deprecating sense of humor, his knowledge of his subject and his appreciation for Bouchercon as a fan conference. Sometimes participants forget that. This isn't a writer's conference. The fans come to know the writers more than the writing. The unfortunate part of this interview was its time slot. The charity bowling tournament was going on at the same time. I'm sad more people couldn't have enjoyed this wonderful interview. And sadly, I arrived a few minutes late, so I didn't get to record it. That was my biggest regret of the conference. But here are some pictures from the fun:

Jeff made Ridley really think on this question.

This picture says so much about the entire interview.

Ooooh, I think Ridley is telling a secret!

I just love this shot! Doesn't Ridley look like an excited little kid? So much fun!

Following Ridley's interview I opted to see Dark Angel: Morally Challenged Heroes. This was an extra special panel for me because two people I've gotten to know and really like through social media were teamed up here. Chris Holm was the moderator and Bill Cameron was one of the panelists. And I can attest that they are super great people and it was wonderful to get to meet them in person. Also on this panel were Blake Crouch, Theresa Schwegel, Michael Wiley and Leighton Gage. After a little unforeseen informercial, the panel was off and running and quite entertaining. The interesting outcome was that none of the authors really viewed their heroes as morally challenged.


Chris Holm and Bill Cameron


Theresa Schwegel and Michael Wiley

The programming element of the day ended with one of my highlights for the conference: Gregg Hurwitz interviewed Robert Crais. I'm not going to say a lot about this interview because I have it recorded for you to see yourself. If you didn't get to attend, here's your chance to see it. If you did attend and just want to relive it...here you go. What I will say is that Gregg Hurwitz did an exceptional job. He understood the idea of the fan convention and created an environment where the fans could know the man behind the writing. It was fun, humorous and enlightening. Gregg has given me much to aspire to in the realm of interviewing. And that's enough from me. Here's the video:

Finally, I'll wrap with our gift to Robert Crais. The Craisies did a little brainstorming and with the initiative of Naomi Johnson (The Drowning Machine) we got jersey's that said "The Craisies" across the front. Then we each picked an RC character and had the name put on the back. He was gifted the #1 shirt:

More Thoughts on Banned Books Week

2011-09-30T03:00:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have more fun Banned Books Week content from the Open Road Media folks to bookend the week's celebration. Did anyone read a banned book this week? Anyone discover a book that's been banned or challenged that really surprised you? I think they stopped surprising me after I learned people have tried to ban Shel Silverstein's poetry from A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC for ridiculous reasons like, "A suggestive illustration that might encourage kids to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Alrighty then.

But enough about my thoughts, let's see what our final three authors have to say about books that have been banned:

Loren D. Estleman is the award-winning author of more than sixty-five novels, including mysteries and westerns. His most enduring character, Amos Walker, has been featured in twenty novels and his adventure novel, The High Rocks was nominated for a National Book Award. Before “sounding off” on which banned books surprised him the most, Estleman thanked us for “sending the latest list of The Damned”.

I’m never surprised by any of the choices, however innocuous some of them may seem. There will always be pinch-brained bigots who aren’t satisfied just to take offense at a thing, but to keep everyone else from being exposed to it, and since these days the censorship comes from left as well as right, there’s no mystery of the length of the list.

I’ve read many, although, not most, of these books, and in some cases (1984, In Cold Blood, The Sun Also Rises) have re-read them more than once. The best ones make me reconsider my world or take me far away from it; but these are all my favorites if they spike the blood pressure – fatally, perhaps – of the human slime that would set a match to them.

I don’t waste time getting angry over the choices, because it infuriates me that any book should be banned for any reason. This is America. Our society was founded on the principle that no idea is as dangerous as any action taken to silence it.

Edgar award-winning author Jonathon King is the creator of the Max Freeman crime series. A police and court reporter for twenty-four years with the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and Philadelphia Daily News, King talks about his favorite book on the banned list.

My favorite on the list is East of Eden, which I’ve read several times, and if it’s banned for some reason, pity. Louis L'Amour said: “Shakespeare's work has lived as long as it has because he dealt with normal human emotions; envy, ambition, rivalry, love, hate, greed and so on. These are the basic drives among us humans and are with us forever.”

Put all those things in a story and you’ve got East of Eden. If you want to ban literary depictions of those emotions, put your head in the sand because you’ve got nothing.

Stephen Rebello is a screenwriter, journalist, and the author of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, which has been bought by Paramount Pictures and The Montecito Picture Company for production as a dramatic feature film. The horror film expert speaks out on the topic of banning books as it relates to Capote, Hitchcock, and more.

Banning books? What a pointless, wrong-headed, and flat-world pursuit. I’m with the much-censored Mark Twain who wrote, “the truth is, that when a library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.” One of my very favorites on the list of so-called “banned books” is In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s brilliant, bone-freezing nonfiction novel about the killing of the Clutter family in rural Holcomb, Kansas. The prose is beautifully lean and disciplined. Its documentary-like, you-are-there atmosphere is palpable. Evil has rarely seemed so banal, terrifying, and heartbreaking. I sometimes tend to bracket director RichardBrooks’ very good film version of In Cold Blood with certain aspects of Alfred Hitchcock’s film of Robert Bloch’s Psycho—a dark, nasty, despairing novel so many claim to have read but clearly haven’t. Both Brooks’ and Hitchcock’s films have eloquent, moody black-and-white cinematography, of course, but they also share a tough, bleak, unsparing view of the way the world works. They’re works of great outrage and compassion. Bloch’s novel has apparently never been high profile enough to land on “banned” lists, but Hitchcock’s notorious and phenomenally successful 1960 movie brought on cries for censorship by a number of church organizations and at least one publicity-happy, barnstorming psychiatrist who, rumor had it, Hitchcock cleverly and quietly bought off. All that said, nothing I’ve written to date has been banned. But rest assured, on my new stuff, I’m working very hard to rectify this oversight.

While everyone has books they think are inappropriate or wrong, when we start banning books from libraries and schools and whatnot, there's no line or stopping point. Any book becomes fair game. The true power against things such as racism or sexism or violence isn't limiting access to books that might contain them, it's educating our young people. This week recognizes our citizens' rights to read what they choose to read. Many thanks to the authors of Open Road Media who helped us highlight this week and its importance to our society.

Happy Reading - because you CAN!

Q is for Quarry - Sue Grafton

2011-09-29T03:00:00.001-04:00

As many of you may know, Sue Grafton's new book V is for Vengeance is coming out November 14th. The nice folks at Putnam asked if I would participate in their fun blog tour for this release, and I agreed. Lesa Holstine and I were asked to kick it off this week with reviews for Q is for Quarry. You can see Lesa's review here. As for mine, well here we go...

First line: "It was Wednesday, the second week in April, and Santa Teresa was making a wanton display of herself."

Southern California PI, Kinsey Milhone, is gearing up for her 37th birthday when a cold case lands on her doorstep. Well, actually Lieutenant Con Dolan lands on her doorstep. His good friend Stacey Oliphant, a retired sheriff's department officer, has cancer and Dolan wants to help his frame of mind. So when he runs across the file for a cold case, a case where Dolan and Oliphant actually found the victim, he approaches Kinsey to help them finally solve the murder of Jane Doe, stabbed to death and dumped in a quarry.

I have to read Kinsey Milhone novels in moderation. While reading them, I have strange cravings for fast food. Of course series devotees know that Kinsey is a bit of a fast food junkie, and in this outing she introduces Stacey Oliphant to the world of fast food. The two of them do a fast food joint tour throughout Q is for Quarry. And Stacey's over zealousness for the cuisine manages to make Kinsey crave healthy food! It's this lightness to Grafton's novels that makes them fun and entertaining. It brings her characters down to earth and makes us all feel a bit better about ourselves.

She blends the lightness of her protagonist with the heaviness of the cold case. That heft instills a sense of empathy in her characters. The need to identify a woman who was murdered 18 years earlier, to bring closure to her family, possibly justice to the victim, that's what we crave in our crime novels. The added element of Dolan and Oliphant's friendship and Dolan's need to help his friend in what may be his final days enhances that empathy.

At book 17 in the Alphabet series, Grafton is still doing a masterful job of balancing the blithe with the harrowing to produce an entertaining crime novel.

Q is for Quarry was originally published as a hardcover (ISBN: 978-0399149153) in 2002 by Putnam. It is available in trade paper (ISBN: 978-0425239001) from Berkley Trade, mass market paper (ISBN: 978-0425192726) from Berkley and on audio, narrated by Judy Kaye. For my audiobook readers, Kaye does a great job with this narration. It is available from Audible or your libraries may have the older version from Books on Tape.

You can find Sue Grafton at her website or her Facebook Fan Page. And you can find the next stop on this blog tour here on Tuesday, October 4th.

As an added bonus, I get to offer you the second sneak peek of V is for Vengeance. Lesa offered the first snippet, so if you missed hers be sure to back up and read that one first. Then click here to continue. If you comment on all ten blogs for the blog tour, you'll be eligible to win one of three sets of books that include: Q, R, S, T, U in paperback and a copy of the new one, V is for Vengeance. So, to help you on that task, I'll give you a question to respond to..."If you could go out to dinner with Kinsey Milhone, where would you like to go?"

More of Bouchercon 2011

2011-09-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

The convention officially kicked off on Thursday with the beginning of the programming, more people coming in and an opening night ceremony. But I forgot to mention about my big surprise that arrived on Wednesday evening. Well, I can't claim it as totally mine, but when Pop Culture Nerd knocked on my hotel room door, I was OVERJOYED. The Craisie brigade would be out in full form!

The first session I attended was the Guest of Honor Panel, which included Colin Cotterill, Charlaine Harris, Val McDermid and Robert Crais, moderated by Oline Cogdill. Before the panel started I got to hang out with Daniel Palmer (DELIRIOUS) and we chatted about a number of things, but he also shared some fun info about his new book, coming out in February - and I'm reading right now. It's a page-turner y'all, so you'll want to check it out next year. Anyway, back to business.


Don't ask what was going on with my hair this weekend; it's hopeless!

The "Passengers" panel was lively and thoroughly entertaining. Robert Crais was asked out for a drink by a woman in the audience, Colin Cotterill wanted to know if anyone in the audience was NOT there to see RC. Val McDermid referred to writers as vampires (a la Charlaine Harris) - Val explained that they suck the life out of those around them to put in their stories. The only panelist to answer Oline's question about "sharing something the audience wouldn't know about you" was Val McDermid who said she knits scarves.

Following that panel, I attended the "Timebomb" panel. This time Daniel Palmer was ON the panel instead of watching it. He was joined by the most wonderful Meg Gardiner, JT Ellison, Adrian Magson and debut novelist Simon Toyne. This panel revolved around a lot of the age old thriller questions: "difference between a mystery and a thriller" - that sort of thing. The panelists were wonderful fun; Daniel and Meg bemoaned the horrors of the end of the school day for writers. My friend and librarian, Wendy Bartlett, commented to me later how impressed with Daniel Palmer she was. This is always good news to me because Wendy's the one who brings authors to the Cuyahoga Library System!

The final panel I attended on Thursday was "I Got the Right to Sing the Blues." This was also a very animated panel, but I don't think you could expect less with Mark Billingham, Jonathan Hayes and Roger Ellory all on the podium together. Debut novelist Rochelle Staab also contributed quite a bit to the energy of this panel. The final panelist was Bryan Gilmer and the panel was moderated by Wallace Stroby. Mark Billingham expressed his undying devotion to Phil Collins - that's a joke for anyone who doesn't know how much Billingham dislikes Phil Collins' solo work. And Rochelle Staab talked about meeting John Lennon.

Mark Billingham and Jonathan Hayes

Mark Billingham, Jonathan Hayes, Rochelle Staab

The official convention day ended on Thursday after the Opening Night Festivities, emceed by Ridley Pearson. Ridley is such a perfect emcee. I can't imagine ever being tired of listening to his wonderful stories. Each of the guests of honor was recognized, the Macavity, Barry and Crimespree Awards were all announced and authors from Harper and William Morrow signed books.

Ridley Pearson takes the prize for Outstanding Emcee

Robert Crais recognized as American Guest of Honor

Here you can see the Craisie Club gathered. We made Erin Mitchell an honorary member! This picture makes me so happy. What a joy to be with all of these wonderful friends. From the right: Michael, Carolyn, Naomi, Elyse, Lauren and Erin. I wish I had months to spend with them instead of just days.

Some of crime fiction's most powerful women congregating. Better watch out!


Val McDermid, Laura Lippman and Karin Slaughter

Following the ceremonies, people found their ways to dinner, publishing parties and of course the hotel bar. A very successful first day! And since I can never do anything in condensed style, there will be more Bouchercon fun, photos and VIDEO to come!

Banned Books Week 2011

2011-09-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

If you've been reading this blog awhile, you may remember my Banned Books Week post here about To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm very passionate about my right to read what I choose to read. I'm also passionate about educating our young people so they know how to read and how to determine what's good and worthy versus what's destructive and wrong. If our energies focus on educating people, we shouldn't need to withhold anything.

It's Banned Books Week this week, and the wonderful folks at Open Road Media have shared some great content with me to celebrate this week. I'm going to divide it up so that we can start and end this week in celebration of our right to read uncensored.

So, today, courtesy of Open Road Media, we have bestselling authors speaking out on behalf of Banned Books Week by sharing their favorite banned books and more.

Susan Isaacs is a New York Times bestselling author of mysteries and literary fiction. Her first mystery, Compromising Positions, was a runaway success and adapted into a film starring Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. The former president of the Mystery Writers of America, she is also the winner of several awards including the John Steinbeck Award. Ms. Isaacs shares her favorite on the Banned Books List.

My favorite banned book is Huckleberry Finn. It's famous for its depiction of race and class in America, but what I love most are the characters. They are so human -- courageous, venal, funny, cruel -- and seem more alive than half the people I meet every day. Yes, the escaped slave is called Nigger Jim, but that was the truth of the time, the offhand viciousness Suppressing that fact to save feelings from being hurt is the cowardly way out.

I don't want anyone else judging what books I can read. I don't need to be protected. Anyway, who is fit to judge? A Supreme Court justice? A librarian? Whom do you trust to ban books for you or your kids? And if the person you'd choose is too busy, or not interested in being a censor, who gets the job?

I am never surprised at any book being banned. Everybody has a sore spot, some idea he or she thinks is dangerous to let out. We want to shut up racists, gun advocates, gay advocates, blasphemers, and mega-church preachers. If we can ban Merchant of Venice or Catch-22, the world will be a better place. Wrong. Shut up a neighbor and next week or next year it's your favorite book's turn to get muzzledWeenies ban books. They're scared of new thoughts and tough words. Be brave. Fight censorship. And buy a banned book.

Jon Land, bestselling and award-winning author of more than twenty-five novels shares with readers his favorite banned book along with which book on the list surprises him the most.

I'd have to say my favorite banned book is Huckleberry Finn. It's not only one of my favorite books, but also arguably the greatest American novel ever written. To even consider taking it from shelves, and restricting its teaching by teachers, risks denying young people a coming of age tale that pictures America in the last moments before the Industrial revolution, capturing an innocence that in Twain's mind was always a sham. Huck himself remains one of the great American heroes of all time and his character provides countless life lessons of loyalty, friendship, heroism, and sacrifice that are denied to those who reach up to grab the book only to find it's not there.

As far as which surprises me the most? Well, the truth is any and all of them. But I'm going to focus on The Diary of Anne Frank because to deny access to this book, in any way, shape, or form, is to risk denying the horrors perpetuated on humanity by the most vile monsters in modern history. And to deny those horrors is to risk the very real possibility that such monsters could return in a different age with a different target. Could the banning of a single book cause such a thing? Of course not. But the mentality that would allow such a book to be banned could definitely allow, if not encourage, a new wave of monsters and the heinous acts they perpetuate.

New York Times bestselling Dame Ruth Rendell has written more than seventy books and sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, including her popular crime series featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. Dame Rendell, who lives in the U.K. was surprised to hear any of these books had been banned.

I'd no idea any of these books were banned anywhere. My two favourites would be Orwell's 1984 because it is, in my opinion, the best science fiction ever written, and a wonderful cry for freedom and expose of what we have to fear in the modern world, and Alice in Wonderland because I first read it when I was about five, because it is funny and witty and clever, which most children's books are not and it stays with you in all its details for the whole of your life.

So now it's your turn. What is YOUR favorite banned book? Or what surprised you the most when you heard it had been challenged or banned? I will have another group of authors sharing their thoughts on banned books Friday, so check back!

Bouchercon 2011

2011-09-25T17:13:00.001-04:00

This will be the first of a few posts on Bouchercon 2011. I have much to share: memories, pictures, video, etc. So let's get started, shall we?

I was fortunate to be able to leave for St. Louis early and spend several days doing touristy stuff. I drove, and the timing of the trip was such that on the way home, there was much more color in the leaves of the trees than a week earlier when I was driving down.

Between Sunday and Wednesday, I was able to visit the St. Louis Zoo, which was wonderful;

the Arch,

including a ride to the observation deck on top;

and simply wander around the city a bit.

I had hoped to get a pedicure, but St. Louis proper is sorely in need of a good spa. One salon didn't have a nail tech all week and the nail specific salon wasn't open at all. Well, such is life.

The weather was gorgeous Sunday through Tuesday, so I soaked up many sun rays while at the zoo. But on Wednesday when we unloaded the book bags and supplies from the trucks, it poured rain. I was a little wet by the time all the book bags were out of the trucks. But I got myself cleaned up in plenty of time to attend the volunteer dinner with the guests of honor.

The dinner was held at Pappy's Smokehouse (warning, there's auto music at this link - you can turn it off), which was appropriate for St. Louis because it was voted the "Best BBQ in St. Louis" by the Riverfront Times, "one of the 101 best places to chow down in American" by the Travel Channel, and one of St. Louis Magazines "Top 40 Restaurants."

BBQ is their thing, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the fixin's. There were a few vegetarians and they had some alternatives to eat. Everyone seemed to leave happy and full.


Ayo Onatade and Val McDermid


RC with Murder by the Book's McKenna and John


Ridley Pearson and Colin Cotterill

Note the full roll of paper towels that were left on each table! Dinner was followed up by the requisite time in the hotel bar. This year's bar was difficult for me because it was so enclosed and there were just far too many people in at the same time, so I stayed outside the bar - more in the lobby area - for the most part and talked to folks there. Wednesday night meant most people were making their way in and there were a lot of overdue greetings to enjoy. The conference was off to a fantastic start!

I will of course have much more to share with you this week on my Bouchercon memories. Be sure to check back for Bouchercon recaps, I have two interviews from the conference recorded to share with you and some Banned Books Week fun as well. Hope your week is a great one!

My Community Part 2 - BBAW

2011-09-13T01:32:00.000-04:00

Today most of the participants of Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be exchanging interviews. Unfortunately, due to Bouchercon happening simultaneously, I just didn't have time to participate. But I would like to recognize a few more bloggers that are an integral part of my blogging community.

Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves is so often my sounding board for ideas, logistics, organizational concepts. I look forward to hearing about her reading adventures as well as stories about her adorable sons. When I get excited about books, I make a bee-line for Jenn. She gets excited with me, and that is a treasure! We also gush over audiobooks together. It can be a scary thing when the two of us are discovering new and wonderful audiobooks.

Beth Fish Reads is another blogger who shares our love of audiobooks. I have to be careful around BFR because she can enable me as much as I can enable her! Sharing daily tidbits via Twitter with BFR is one of life's little pleasures. And of course I'm incredibly envious of her cooking skills!

SuziQOregon not only talks books with me, but she posts these amazing pictures for Wordless Wednesday every week on her Wimpulsive blog. I look forward to Wednesdays so I can go and see what new snapshot of the world she's shared with us. Her creative eye is so inspiring. Now I go through each day thinking, how would THAT look as a picture? How would SuziQ see THAT through her lens? We start our friendships through our common love of books, but it grows far and wide! I'm also completely envious of her creativity with names. How cool is Wimpulsive for a blog name?

Unfortunately I can't acknowledge every blogger that has been important to me in the almost four years I've been blogging, but I do want to recognize Swapna Krishna. I'm astounded by her depth and breadth of reading and reviewing. She doesn't discount any type of book, but rather judges each book individually on its own merit. I visit Swapna's blog and end up adding a dozen books to my TBR list. But as with the other wonderful bloggers mentioned above my interactions with Swapna have extended beyond the books. And I think that's indicative of community.

Books have brought us all together and I cherish each of these bloggers as friends. The hidden gem, the unforeseen prize of book blogging for me has been the relationships I've built.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Community

2011-09-12T01:06:00.000-04:00

Today represents my 1000th post to Jen's Book Thoughts, and what an appropriate post for #1000. This is the first day of the 4th Annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and our topic for today's post is Community. That's what blogging is all about, right? It's the way we're able to experience our love of books with people all over the world who share that passion. The bloggers I'm going to highlight today won't be unknown names to those of you who read here regularly. And they shouldn't if they're part of my community, right? If you're new to Jen's Book Thoughts, these are four of my fellow bloggers who not only inspire me but support me in all that I do...sane or harebrained they're on my side, rooting me on. How lucky am I?

I've been so incredibly blessed when it comes to the book blogging community. I met the most generous woman, blogger and librarian, Lesa Holstine. She's fostered not only my love of the mystery genre, but also my love of blogging. She's supported me, advised me, encouraged me and indulged me. It's been through her generosity and kindness that I've been able to build my sense of security and my willingness to take a risk. While Lesa and I live on opposite sides of the country now, we both share a background of Northeast Ohio. We discovered each other through blogging, and it is my distinct pleasure to call her both mentor and friend.

Another blogger who is a vital part of my community is Naomi Johnson at The Drowning Machine. Naomi and I both live in Ohio: me in the Northern realm and Naomi in Central Ohio. We met through our mutual love of Robert Crais and began talking on a Crais discussion board. She was one of my first "regulars." Since then I look to her for everything from advice to laughs to attending book events with me. I look forward to every chance I have to interact with Naomi, as I know my heart will be in a constant state of smile.

Michael Alatorre is the author of It Rains...You Get Wet. I also met Michael on the Robert Crais discussion board and he too was an early regular of Jen's Book Thoughts. In addition to our shared love of Robert Crais and crime fiction, Michael is my guru when it comes to audiobooks. He is such a wealth of knowledge and he's incredibly generous with his willingness to share it. I often find myself emailing him with pleas for help. He never bats an eyelash, he's so tolerant of me! I made my first visit to Los Angeles for the L.A. Times Book Festival in 2008 and Michael shared the whole experience with my sister and I. His generosity went above and beyond. I returned to the Festival in 2009 and was able to meet Michael's family, who are as wonderful as I imagined from his hilarious stories. And I'm looking forward to seeing him again this week when the Craisies converge on St. Louis where Robert Crais is a guest of honor at this year's Bouchercon. I'll be giving RC a special thanks for bringing both Naomi and Michael into my life and my blogging community.

The last blogger I'm going to mention today is another blogger in the crime fiction community as well as the book blogging community and that's Pop Culture Nerd. I met PCN through Michael Alatorre because she too shares a love of Robert Crais with us. I'm continually inspired by PCN: she's energetic, fantastically funny, smart as a whip and creative. I wish I had a fraction of the wonderfulness in this spitfire! PCN and I will be embarking on a project together soon and then I'll be able to sponge off her wonderfulness. ;-) It's a special kind of person that you can disagree with but still completely respect the opposite opinion. With PCN, I know we can always have great conversations whether we completely agree on a topic or not. There's always a mutual respect and understanding. I cherish that part of our friendship. I am honored and humbled to call her friend.

I could write about the wonderful bloggers that make up my "community" for days and days. Tomorrow I'm going to share another small group of bloggers because I was unable to participate in the blogger interview exchange this year - Bouchercon and all. I hope you'll stop by and I hope you'll check out the blogs of the folks I've highlighted here in this post. They are wonderful, wonderful bloggers and well worth checking out! They inspire me regularly!

Before I wrap this up, I'd also like to take this opportunity to remember a very special member of our collective community (myself and my friends I've mentioned above). Corey Wilde started The Drowning Machine and due to his health, asked Naomi to join him in maintaining the blog. When he could no longer contribute, Naomi took the blog over completely. We haven't heard from Corey since that time and feel his absence regularly. He helped to nurture the community we are all a part of. It wouldn't be the same without his contributions. While I think of Corey regularly, today, I think of him especially. This blogging thing...it's really about far more than the books.

THE GENESIS KEY - James Barney

2011-09-09T03:00:00.004-04:00

Due to space and time constraints there were a handful of reviews I submitted to Shelf Awareness that were not able to appear in the newsletter. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing those reviews with you. The first appears today with permission from Shelf Awareness.

First Line: "Daniel Talbot wished he had his sunglasses."

Biologist Dr. Kathleen Sainsbury has a very personal reason for wanting to discover the gene in the human DNA that will prolong life, possibly by hundreds of years. But as her research carries her closer and closer to the answer, a man from her past appears and chaos follows close on his heels.

James Barney unlocks the secret to a successful debut novel in grand fashion. This adventure thriller delves into science, history, religion, and politics. In most labs that mixture would be deadly. But Barney manages to balance the components for an exciting, thought-provoking reading experience.

Kathleen Sainsbury, Barney’s female protagonist, is well fleshed out with myriad dimensions. She’s smart and ambitious with weaknesses and flaws. Kathleen depends on her friends and family which not only works to make her believable, but also heightens the value of the supporting characters to the novel.

The characters play such a pivotal role in a great thriller. While the plot can drive the pacing of the novel, if the reader isn’t making some emotional connection with the characters, the events seem unimportant. Barney doesn’t skimp on the characters, so when they are weaved into a fascinating, well-researched plot, the intensity is increased.

The Genesis Key pokes around ethical themes without expressing any personal commentary; readers won’t find this to be a passive experience. More likely they’ll find questions lingering long after the final page.

The Genesis Key is available in mass market paperback (ISBN: 978-0062021380) from Harper.

Voting for Book Blogger Appreciation Week...

2011-09-08T10:30:00.000-04:00

...is now open. You can go here to vote. They have the entire collection of short listed blogs for each category here as well. You need to use a Google or Twitter id for the system they set up for voting. I hope you will all go forth and vote! You have until Saturday.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS - Michael Stanley

2011-09-06T03:00:00.005-04:00

First line: "The desert glowed in the dawn light."

In the third installment of the Detective Kubu series, Assistant Superintendent David "Kubu" Bengu finds himself among the Bushman of the Kalahari. A ranger is found in a dry river bed with a massive skull injury. He's surrounded by three Bushman who are attempting to coax the ranger into drinking water. When the ranger dies on the way to the hospital and no evidence of any other humans can be found in the area, the three Bushman are arrested.

Meanwhile, in Gaborone, new father Kubu is unaware of the events. They come to his attention when his childhood friend Khumanego contacts him. The fact that Khumanego attended school with Kubu is a rarity. When Khumanego returned to the desert, he had difficulties fitting back in; ultimately he took a position advocating on behalf of the Bushman, so he is trying to save his fellow men from a crime he's certain they did not commit. But after Kubu works to free the Bushmen and similar crimes are committed, Kubu isn't so sure he agrees with Khumanego.

The Detective Kubu series has always been one in which the sense of place is as strong in illustrating who the characters are as the characters' actions. DEATH OF THE MANTIS is no exception. The relationship between the desert and its inhabitants is mysteriously beautiful even though it is also a volatile relationship. The life of the Bushman is a constant struggle; the Michael Stanley writing duo depict both the desert and the struggles in all their array of colors bringing the locales to life for all the readers who have never seen anything beyond a magazine photo.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS is also profoundly rich in relationships. The bond between Kubu and his wife, Joy, has consistently added depth to the series. In this book, however, that bond takes on a new dimension when their family dynamics change with the addition of the baby, Tumi.

And Kubu's relationships with his parents and friends have also added to the breadth of the novels. In DEATH OF THE MANTIS his friendship with Khumanego is challenged. Khumanego is the one who taught Kubu to see beyond the obvious; his affection is important to Kubu so damage of any kind to the friendship changes Kubu.

But probably the strongest influences on this Detective Kubu novel come from the relationships between the factions and the relationships between man (specifically the Bushman) and nature. The echos I heard as an American reader were those of the Native Americans, which lead me to believe this is a universal scenario. One that people around the world can relate to:

"We have to fight to keep the government from taking our culture, from making us empty of who we are. Making us nothing."

The power of these words resonate throughout DEATH OF THE MANTIS. The novel still includes humorous situations and exchanges like the two before it. The irony of Kubu's inability to see obvious things, like his wife's exhaustion from caring for their baby, when he never misses the concealed clues is always endearing. And the mystery is challenging and entertaining. But the DEATH OF THE MANTIS goes beyond the ordinary and presents questions of humanity, some of which have no easy answer.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS is an engaging, thrilling mystery with an exotic backdrop. It's not one readers will easily put down. But it also goes beyond; it's a challenging statement of politics and humanity, forcing readers to step out of what's comfortable and experience the extraordinary unknown.

DEATH OF THE MANTIS releases today from Harper Paperbacks as a Trade Paperback original (ISBN: 978-006200037). As an aside, the first two books of this series are available on audiobook, narrated by Simon Prebble. I haven't been able to find any information on whether DEATH OF THE MANTIS will be available on audio, but I highly recommend experiencing at least one of these books in audio to hear the sound of the language, most especially if you have had no experience with it before.

My review is part of the DEATH OF THE MANTIS blog tour with TLC Blog Tours. And I'm thrilled that I am able to kick off this tour. This has really been a series I've tried to be an evangelist for, so I'm happy to be able to sing the praises of Michael Stanley's work once again. At the TLC site, you can find links to additional reviews that will post through the next month.

And my final unrelated comment is to keep an eye on the blog after Bouchercon. I believe I'm going to be able to offer some lucky readers copies of the books in the Detective Kubu series, including DEATH OF THE MANTIS. Happy Reading!

Happy Labor Day

2011-09-05T10:31:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone is enjoying a grand weekend and Labor Day. Bouchercon is quickly approaching and I'll be leaving next Saturday for St. Louis, so it's been a constant flow of work lately to make sure as much is taken care of before I leave as possible. And that includes some blog and web updates!

First of all, for those of you attending Bouchercon, here's an update on the signing schedule at the Crimespree booth:

Thursday:

11:30-12/ Sophie Littlefield, Juliet Blackwell & Brad Parks
1-2:00/ William Kent Krueger
2-2:30/ Kelli Stanley, Tracy Kiely & Boyd Morrison
2:30-3/ Tim Hallinan
3-3:30/ Michael Wiley & Martyn Waites
3:30-4/ Hilary Davidson & Sean Chercover

Friday:

10:30-11/ Todd Ritter & Bryan Gruley
11-11:30/ Tim Hallinan & Gary Phillips
11:30-12/ Jonathan Hayes, Alafair Burke, & Joe Finder
12-12:30/ Hank Phillippi Ryan
1:30-2/ Mike Lawson
2-2:30/ Bob Truluck & R.J. Ellory
2:30-3/ Megan Abbott & Daniel Palmer
3:30-4/ Christa Faust & Duane Swierczynski

Saturday:

10-11/ Tom Schreck & Nicole Peeler
11-11:30/ Bill Cameron & J.L. Abramo
11:30-12/ Bill Cameron
12-12:30/ Bill Crider
1-1:30/ Cara Black & Rosemary Harris
1:30-2/ Michelle Gagnon & Lisa Unger
2-2:30/ Anthony Campbell & Michael Moreci

Plan accordingly! We want to keep these wonderful folks busy, busy, busy! I know all the authors will be so happy to talk with you and sign books. Remember to purchase your books from the vendors or bring them with you to the convention - there will NOT be books for sale at the Crimespree booth. There will be other fun things, like back issues of Crimespree, but no books.

Of course online registration has closed, so if you want to attend Bouchercon now, you'll need to buy your passes at the door. There will be day passes, so if you only want to come for one day (who would want to do that???), you can get a day pass for $75 at the door.

The nominations for the Independent Literary Awards are now open! Any and all readers (whose livelihoods are not based on the publication and sale of books) can nominate. Here is the link for the mystery nominations. I hope you'll go over and offer up what you thought were the best mystery books this year. Here's your chance to have a say. So go! Nominate!! And spread the word to your friends, family, neighbors, enemies...everyone!

And all my deepest thanks to those of you who nominated and got me a spot on the Book Blogger Appreciation Week nomination list again this year! It really is a tremendous honor to be recognized like this. The actual BBAW takes place during Bouchercon week...go figure. But I'm going to do my darnedest to participate.

And the last think I'll leave you with is this recording from BBC Radio 4 where you can listen to them talk to David Baldacci, Joseph Finder and C.J. Box. It starts at about 20:00. Enjoy and have a fabulous Labor Day!

My Life as a Book - 2011

2011-08-30T17:59:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I met my friend and fellow blogger, Pop Culture Nerd, through a meme about book titles. She has devotedly continued that meme each year, and I always look forward to it. I think partly because it's how I met her and partly because she is so darned creative with the sentences.

So, a few weeks ago I was asking her about it. I said, "did I miss it this year? I hope I didn't miss it." I didn't. Her post went up today and here are my responses, describing my life through the book titles I've read so far this year. Feel free to pick it up and run with it yourself. Be sure to drop us a link in the comments so we can come see your answers though. If you don't have your own blog, feel free to leave your responses in the comments! And here we go, MY LIFE AS A BOOK 2011:

One time at band/summer camp, I: Vainished (Joe Finder)

Weekends at my house are: Three Seconds (Roslund & Hellstrom) - blasted things are never long enough! ;-)

My neighbor is: On the Wrong Track (Steve Hockensmith)

My boss is: (the) Silent Enemy (Thomas Young)

My ex was: Delirious (Daniel Palmer)

My superhero secret identity is: The Nightmare Thief (Meg Gardner)

You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry because: You're Next (Gregg Hurwitz)

I’d win a gold medal in: The Last Strip Tease (Michael Wiley)

I’d pay good money for: (a) Portrait of a Spy (Daniel Silva)

If I were president, I would: Fall from Grace (Wayne Arhurson)

When I don’t have good books, I: (start a) Slugfest (Rosemary Harris)

Loud talkers at the movies should be: Long Gone (Alafair Burke)

O.k., there's my contribution. I can't wait to read yours next!

Catching Up...Again

2011-08-29T20:08:00.002-04:00

I keep managing to fall behind, so here I am catching up again. I have a slew of fun things to share with you, and God willing, I'll have some reviews to share this week, too.

First is an excited cheer for the fact that A&E officially picked up LONGMIRE. 10 episodes to be exact. So excited about this. And unlike every TV reporting website, it is NOT because Katee Sackhoff is returning to TV. She may be a very good actress, but her return is NOT my excitement. I am rather thrilled to see Lou Diamond Phillips, though. ;-) More than anything, congrats to Craig Johnson!

Bouchercon is almost here. If you still need to register and want to do so online, you need to do that by September 1st. All other registrations must be done onsite. There are also single day tickets available onsite.

Have you gotten your ticket for the Anthony's Brunch? You'll need to contact Jon Jordan ASAP if you haven't taken care of that detail yet.

I have an update on the authors signing at the Crimespree table. We've added some new names since last time, so be sure you mark them down on your schedule:

Thursday:

11:30-12/ Sophie Littlefield & Juliet Blackwell
1-2:00/ William Kent Krueger
2-2:30/ Kelli Stanley & Tracy Kiely
2:30-3/ Tim Hallinan
3-3:30/ Michael Wiley
3:30-4/Hilary Davidson

Friday:
10:30-11/ Todd Ritter & Bryan Gruley
11-11:30/ Tim Hallinan & Gary Phillips
11:30-12/ Jonathan Hayes, Alafair Burke, & Joe Finder
12-12:30/ Hank Phillippi Ryan
1:30-2/ Mike Lawson
2-2:30/ Bob Truluck & R.J. Ellory
2:30-3/ Martyn Waites, Megan Abbott & Daniel Palmer
3:30-4/ Christa Faust

Saturday:
10-11/ Tom Schreck
11-11:30/ Bill Cameron & J.L. Abramo
11:30-12/ Bill Cameron
12-12:30/ Bill Crider
1-1:30/ Cara Black
1:30-2/ Michelle Gagnon & Lisa Unger
2-2:30/ Anthony Campbell & Michael Moreci

For awhile now I've had my link up for the Indie Lit Awards. The nominations are going to start in September, so bookmark this link and be sure to nominate your favorite mystery books from 2011. Pass the word along to your friends as well! Anyone who does not "make their income through the sales of books" is eligible to nominate!

OK, I think that may be it for now. What news can you share with me?

Happy reading!

THE PALE BLUE EYE - Louis Bayard

2011-08-24T03:00:00.000-04:00

First line: "In two or three hours...well, it's hard to tell...in three hours, surely, or at the very outside, four hours...within four hours, let us say, I'll be dead."

An apparent suicide is discovered outside the parade grounds of West Point in 1830. A cadet has hung himself from a tree. To add insult to injury, someone sneaks into the coroner's and steals the dead cadet's heart.

In an effort to quietly and discreetly solve the mystery of who would commit such a ghoulish wrong on the dead, West Point Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer calls on Augustus "Gus" Landor, a former constable, to investigate the crime. Landor, being an outsider, needs to find an assistant who can penetrate the West Point code but who isn't a suspect and won't look suspicious in his inquiries. So Gus turns to Edgar Allan Poe.

Louis Bayard has a very rare skill. He manages to blend the literary, the mysterious and suspenseful, the historical and the comical altogether in a most effective combination. The euphonious language may at first deceive readers into thinking the plot's pacing will be slow, but it's quite the contrary. Bayard has constructed a murder mystery that only continues to gather layers and momentum as the story unfolds. Red herrings abound, teasing the reader to follow, daring him/her to just try to put the book down.

The dialogue in THE PALE BLUE EYE resonates with the time period and the characteristics of the speakers, but it is also sharp and witty. Bayard's portrayal of Poe through his language is deliciously priceless: he's at time sympathetic, at times unintentionally comical and always passionate.

The characters populating THE PALE BLUE EYE exude depth and realism, while remaining constructs of their author's imagination. I personally found myself talking to them: "get a grip," "no, don't do it," "awwww!" Those kinds of responses, whether positive or negative, are elicited by the characters who provoke our ardor. Bayard and his characters are excellent provocateurs.

I listened to THE PALE BLUE EYE on audio, which was an exceptional treat. Charles Leggett narrated Bayard's work with panache. His reading epitomizes what a great audiobook does. Leggett embodies each of the characters through their unique mannerisms, tones, and dialects. The demanding presence of Commandant Ethan Allen Hitchcock leaves even the reader a bit intimidated, while Poe's starry-eyed infatuation is cute and Landor's weariness lamentable. Bayard's wit comes through in Leggett's interpretation of the work, leaving the reader chuckling or even laughing out loud. And he seems to flow effortlessly through the various East Coast dialects spoken by the cast.

I believe that certain books should at be experienced on audio at least once. The beauty of the language, when performed well, is simply magical. THE PALE BLUE EYE read by Charles Leggett is one of these books.

THE PALE BLUE EYE is available in trade paper from Harper Perennial (ISBN: 978-0060733988) and on audio from AudioGo (previously BBC America) (ISBN: 978-0792742371).

PIRATE KING - Laurie R. King

2011-08-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

First line: "'Honestly, Holmes? Pirates?'"

Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes, is called into service by Scotland Yard to investigate the possible criminal activity happening with the Fflytte Silent Film Production Company. While not enamored by the idea of the job, Russell is even less excited about the prospect of her brother-in-law coming to stay. So, she packs her bags and sets off for Portugal with a film crew that is creating a "realistic" movie about people performing The Pirates of Penzance.

As if the sheer chaos of shooting a film of a story within a story is not enough to contend with during a criminal investigation, the director's desire for "realism," thirteen actresses, fourteen pirates, a Portuguese translator, and a ship in questionable sailing shape all provide obstacles to Russell's successful completion of this highly bizarre case.

PIRATE KING is my first experience with Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. Even though it is the eleventh book in the series, I encountered no difficulties following the narrative - this book can easily stand alone. The story includes an entertaining plot, full of quirky characters befitting a Sherlock Holmes tale - from a creatively-dressed, Napoleon-like director to a soprano-voiced, scar-faced pirate to gum-chewing prima donna.

As Watson narrates the original Doyle stories, Russell narrates King's series. The smart, motivated and witty Russell is a captivating character; her commentary on the events as they unfold provide for colorful story-telling. Her spunk provides humor.

The plot of PIRATE KING contains well placed twists in addition to developing plot layers that work to build suspense throughout the novel. King throws in the occasional silent film subtitle block, reinforcing the movie motif, and the silence imagery extends out to language barriers between characters as well as secrets.

This novel is clever, suspenseful and fun. PIRATE KING is indeed a treasure to be discovered.

PIRATE KING will be available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-553-80798-1) from Bantam Books on September 6, 2011.

The Weekend Update: Bouchercon!

2011-08-20T20:14:00.001-04:00

Bouchercon is inching closer and closer; excitement is building. I hope many of you are planning to attend. This will be the party of the year. Definitely not to be missed. I have a few items to share with you, but to stay completely up to date, be sure to check out the website and the Bouchercon blog.

First up is the pub quiz. I'll be working with Ruth Jordan to coordinate this session and I'm very excited about it. I think it will be a bunch of fun. We're recruiting teams, so consider this your personal invitation! The pub quiz is open to EVERYONE! So authors, fans, publicists, publishers, EVERYONE is welcome. All you need to do is coordinate three or four of your pals and show up at 8:30 Sunday morning. When you get your team together, email me so we can have an idea of how many folks will be attending. Authors, this is a great opportunity for you to mingle with fans. And fans, this is another opportunity for you to spend time with the authors and your fellow crime fiction friends. So let's all get together and have fun on the final day of Bouchercon!

As in years past the Crimespree Table will be hosting author signings throughout the convention. This is a time when the authors are available to sign and chat....and you KNOW where they are. :-) So if you'd like to meet the authors, get your books signed, etc., mark these times down in your planner and stop by. I know they'd love to see you!

Also, remember, their books aren't available for sale at the Crimespree table. So you either need to bring your book to St. Louis or purchase from one of the dealers there. I'll be updating the schedule periodically as more folks confirm, but here's the schedule as of today:

Thursday:

1-2:00 - William Kent Krueger
2-2:30 - Kelli Stanley
2:30-3 - Timothy Hallinan
3-3:30 - Michael Wiley
3:30-4 - Hilary Davidson

Friday:

11-11:30 - Timothy Hallinan
11:30-12 - Jonathan Hayes, Alafair Burke, Joe Finder
12-12:30 - Hank Phillippi Ryan
2-2:30: R.J. Ellory
2:30-3: Martyn Waites, Megan Abbott
3:30-4 - Christa Faust

Saturday

10-11 - Tom Schreck
11-12 - Bill Cameron
12-12:30 - Bill Crider
1-1:30 - Cara Black
1:30-2 - Michelle Gagnon

So, I hope if you're coming to Bouchercon, you take an opportunity to stop by the table and say hi to some of these wonderful folks!

Before I sign off, I want to wish the Shamus Award nominees a hearty congratulations. I see some very well-deserving names on the list. The Shamus Awards will be given out at a reception held during Bouchercon.