Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense Blog

REVIEW: GEORGE GENTLY

George Gently: Series 4. Acorn Media. 2 episodes on two CD. 178 minutes. $39.99.

The British culture of the 1960s fascinated me when I was growing up.

I so embraced the music, the hairstyles, the clothes and everything else about England.

The Beatles were my favorite (I was a Paul Girl and still am.) But I also loved Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and all of them. I wanted to be a girl drummer like Honey Lantree of The Honeycombs. I wore my hair like Jane Asher, straight and with long bangs. I devoured the Mary Quant fashions. And I bought Yardley’s Oh! de London cologne (I wonder what I would think of that today). And yet, I was just a kid from a small town in Southeast Missouri.

The England of the 1960s seemed like such an exotic land to this farm girl.

But it really wasn’t.

England gave us the best music of the time and the edgy fashion but it had the same concerns as any you’d find in small-town America.

The British series George Gently, now on DVD, isn’t just a highly entertaining police procedural. It also is a glimpse of the 1960s, examining our recent history and how we dealt with the situations.

George Gently is based on the Inspector Gently novels by Alan Hunter that debuted in 1961 with Gently Go Man.

Debuting on BBC in 2007, the series stars Martin Shaw as Gently, and Lee Ingleby as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus, his younger partner with the Paul McCartney haircut. Simon Hubbard mans the police station front desk as PC Taylor.

In the novels, Gently and his squad operated out of Norfolk, England, while the TV series has moved the action to Northumberland and County Durham. The series’ fifth season is set to continue later in 2012.

The episodes deliciously portray the yin and yang of the detectives’ approaches: the world-weary experience of George Gently and the novice, know-it-all approach of John Bacchus. John is often ready to wrap up a case on the surface evidence while George often sees there is more to the case than they have uncovered.

While both men have compassion for the victim, John sees that some cases have shades of grey while George is strictly black and white.

The Series 4 that I screened has two very distinct and very involving episodes.

“Goodbye China” is a heartbreaking story that involves the death of a former informant, two young hoodlums and a mentally handicapped school. The story has so many layers that are well explored.

“Gently Upside Down” is about the murder of a student who was poised for a bright future. The story also shows the call of fame that arose from local teenage music shows, men who prey on the naivete and trust of teenage girls, pop music and the youth moment.

I can’t wait to see more of George Gently and John Bacchus.

PHOTO: Lee Ingleby as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus,left, and Martin Shaw as George Gently. Acorn Media photo

THE MYSTERY OF THE WOMAN IN THE RED DRESS

One of the things we critics, and readers, quickly learn is that there’s no copyright for book titles.

So it’s not uncommon to see several books, each with a different approach, but with the same title. And to have that title work for each of those books.

The same is with book jackets.

It’s not uncommon to see the same theme in a book jacket on several different books.

And each of those artists was working independent of each other. (Truth be told, the same occurs with critics; many of us will say the same thing and no one has peeked.)

So we now we have the month of the woman running in a red coat.

Three novels, that I know of, each use the motif of a retreating woman wearing a red coat.

And, yes, each of these mysteries are totally different and, yes, the woman in red works well to set the tone for each novel.

Hank Phillippi Ryan’s political thriller The Other Woman features a woman wearing a longish red coat running on a bridge. There are a lot of "other women" in Ryan’s novel.

In my review of The Other Woman, I said that “Politics, dirty campaigns and compromised candidates are a compelling plot foundation in any year, but especially in this presidential election year.  Ryan combines both a timely tale and a multi-layered plot with gripping suspense. The Other Woman works well as a political thriller and romantic suspense, delving into political and journalism ethics. “

Michael Robotham’s Say You’re Sorry has the woman in red running through the snow. In this thriller, the British author looks at the disappearance of two popular young women. Three years after they vanish during the century’s worst blizzard, a troubled young man claims that he remembers the night the women disappeared. And that he saw one of them being chased by a snowman.

A woman wearing a short red coat faces a city skyscape in Keigo Higashino’s Salvation of a Saint. This Japanese author made an impact last year with his novel The Devotion of Suspect X, which garnered an Edgar nomination.

Salvation of a Saint already has received a couple of starred reviews.

In Salvation of a Saint, the logical suspect in a husband’s death by poisoning is his wife, whom he was going to leave. But the wife was hundreds of miles away when he sipped that coffee; plus she’s considered to be a “saint” by nearly everyone.

Each of these novels was published by a different publisher.

I have a theory on why these covers are so similar. Great minds think alike!

DONNA LEON AND OPERA

Mysteries and music often go together.

Think of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks listening to those wonderful jazz performers.

Or Mark Billingham’s British cop Tom Thorne who prefers country music. Ian Rankin’s Rebus loved rock.

Jeffery Deaver, who once opened for Bob Dylan, wrote the lyrics for a CD to go along with XO, his latest novel.

And one of my favorite short story collections is A Merry Band of Murderers in which each mystery writer contributed an original short story and an original song themed around the story.

Detectives and music just seems a natural fit. But the soundtrack of mysteries is fodder for another blog.

Today, let’s concentrate on opera.

Yes, opera.

Music you don’t often, if ever, attribute to mysteries.

Fittingly enough, this opera infusion comes from Donna Leon, author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series set in Venice.

Leon’s first stand-alone novel, The Jewels of Paradise, is based on Baroque composer Agostino Steffani, who apparently was quite popular during his time but has been forgotten through the centuries.

Leon is teaming up with world-famous opera singer Cecilia Bartoli, whose new recording Mission features Steffani’s music.  Both The Jewels of Paradise and Mission will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 2.

While Leon’s novels seem permanently fixed to the best-sellers lists, she also is passionate about opera.

Leon is heavily involved in the management of the Florence-based opera company Il Compresso Barocco, formed by another American expatriate, Alan Curtis.

Curtis conducts the award-winning orchestra, which Leon helps subsidize with sales from her writing life.

Leon also helps to find and audition new singers and choose new projects for recording and performance, according to her publisher.

Through her involvement with the orchestra, Leon met Bartoli more than 20 years ago. They became “opera pals” after Leon interviewed Bartoli for a German newspaper a decade ago.

More recently, Bartoli was recording an album of Steffani’s music.

For inspiration, the opera singer began to research the life of the composer, who is credited with ushering in the Baroque era of opera. She thought his story would make a good novel, so Bartoli approached her old friend, Leon, with the story of Steffani.

In turn, Leon did what every writer does – she began her own research, and the result is The Jewels of Paradise, a contemporary mystery that links back to Steffani’s work.

Once again, Leon found a way to mix her passions of opera and mystery fiction.

Photo: Donna Leon, left, and Cecilia Bartoli. Photo courtesy Decca/Uli Weber

AUNT AGATHA’S CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

There’s a party going on this week and everyone who loves mystery fiction is invited.

The occasion is the 20th anniversary of Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Book Shop in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. The festivities will be 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at the bookstore, spilling over to the art gallery space next door so there will be room for the many authors and readers expected to come.

About 15 authors, many of them from Michigan, will be on hand to sign books and talk with customers. Each hour of the open house will feature a different set of authors. And yes, there will be cake and refreshments.

Robin and Jamie Agnew, the store’s husband-and-wife owners, are thrilled to reach that 20-year milestone.

“We can’t believe it’s been 20 years, the time has gone so fast,” said Robin Agnew, during a telephone conversation last week. “I also can’t believe that we outlasted Borders. When we opened, Borders was the local bookstore.”

Jamie Agnew had been working at Borders and Robin Agnew had been making the rounds at art fairs as a water-color painter when the couple decided to open their own store. The couple had recently had a baby and both felt it was time for a change.

Opening the store was a challenge as the couple had only a little experience in working retail. Plus Jamie wasn’t really a fan of mystery fiction. They were, however, quite familiar with the bookstore Uncle Edgar's in Minneapolis where they had lived for several years and knew that the genre had a loyal following.

Through the years, the couple learned on the job and Jamie became quite a fan of mystery fiction.

Aunt Agatha’s, like other mystery bookstores around the country, thrives because it offers the kind of customer service that large chain stores cannot.

“Some of our customers we have known for 20 years, so we know them really well,” said Robin. “For new customers, I can ask a few questions and know what they might like to read. It’s great fun to introduce our customers to new authors. We introduced customers who are fans of Steve Hamilton to Bryan Gruley [author of Starvation Lake.]

And those customers become like family. “A bookstore can do what no other store can—offer a community,” said Robin Agnew. “We are a gathering place for people who like the same thing. There are not a lot of places left like that.”

That sense of community and being part of a family resulted in a remarkable event when a long-time customer left money in his will to the Agnews.

“He was always coming in and spending time here; he’d tell us he was going to put us in his will, but we thought he was kidding. He had no family and a few weeks after he died we got a call from his lawyer.

“We are sending our daughter to college with the money,” she added.

Aunt Agatha’s doesn’t sell coffee or games – just books, new and used. It has one book club with about 12 to 15 regular attendees who come for the “lively discussion,” said Robin Agnew. “Often the book club members are divided down the middle about what they think about whatever we are reading. It’s always a lot of fun.”

And some of those book club members who have been coming since the doors opened have passed on their love of mysteries to the next generation. “One woman’s daughter now comes by herself because she’s a grownup,” said Robin Agnew. “Another member recently brought her daughter who was so excited to meet Jennifer Allison.”

A university town, Ann Arbor is a town of readers. Aunt Agatha’s customers include a number of professors and graduate students from the University of Michigan as well as visitors on their way to Michigan’s tourist destinations.

Many customers come from Michigan but also from Canada. One woman regularly drives for two hours from Grand Rapids to attend the book clubs.

“They come from all over,” said Robin Agnew.

International mysteries and classic crime fiction sell well at Aunt Agatha’s, as do the used books.

Many authors, such as William Kent Krueger and Steve Hamilton, at left in the store, had their first signings at Aunt Agatha’s where the many book events continue to draw in customers.

"Robin and Jamie and Aunt Agatha's are so dear to my heart and the heart of many, many authors," said Krueger in an email to Mystery Scene. "The one bookstore outside my beloved Minnesota that I work like crazy to get on every tour itinerary—and have from the beginning of my career—is Aunt Agatha’s.

"What makes a bookstore great has nothing to do with square footage or the size of the inventory. It’s the people inside, behind the counter. It’s that heartfelt welcome you get when you walk in. It’s the good advice and the informed opinion. I don’t know anyone who fills that bill better than Robin and Jamie. They know the genre. They know the tastes of their customers. They have prominence in the mystery community. And, God bless ’em, they treat the authors who visit like family," added Krueger.

“Robin and Jamie Agnew supported me from my debut mystery in 2002; ten years later I still go back every time I release a new novel--unless there's a blizzard,” said Libby Fischer Hellman, whose latest novel is A Bitter Veil.

“Aunt Agatha's is a place where their broad knowledge of the genre and their personal warmth have created a welcoming, nurturing place for mystery authors. Here's to 20 more years!” added Hellman in an email.

In addition to scheduled signings, it’s not uncommon to find authors at the store, buying books, or signing stock and talking with customers.

Loren Estleman lives nearby and is “such a book hound,” said Robin Agnew affectionately. “He’s been in shopping and talking to customers. They end up finding out who he is and buying all his books.”

A similar thing happened when S.J. Rozan left the store after signing stock. “A customer asked if she was an author and what were her books like,” said Robin Agnew. “She bought every book in her series.”

Robin Agnew said that it is rewarding to see an author go from their first book to a successful career. “Jim Huang [a former independent bookstore owner and a Mystery Scene contributing editor] was in our store once when Steve Hamilton came in for the first time. Jim greeted him and congratulated him on winning the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award for A Cold Day in Paradise.

“It was a nice moment,” said Robin.

And 20 years of selling books have brought the Agnews a lot of nice moments. As for the next 20 years, well, the couple is just trying to get through the next week.

“We are just enjoying Aunt Agatha’s so much. And we are going to really enjoy the party,” said Robin Agnew.

Aunt Agatha’s is located at 213 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. Call 734-769-1114 or visit http://auntagathas.com/

Authors expected to attend the 20th anniversary party include

Steve Hamilton

Loren D. Estelman

Louise Penny

Julia Spencer-Fleming

William Kent Krueger

Rhys Bowen

Alyse Carlson

Sharon Fiffer

Sarah Zettel

Libby Fischer Hellman

Steve Miller

Rick Blechta

Vicki Delany

D.E. Johnson

Sharan Newman

Photos: Top, Aunt Agatha's store front; center, William Kent Krueger, left, and Steve Hamilton. Photos courtesty Aunt Agatha's.