In The Good Goodbye, Carla Buckley’s fourth novel, Arden and Rory Falcone are more like sisters than cousins; they grew up together, are best friends, and even look alike. Rory was always the leader and Arden the follower. They both have dreams of their own: Arden wants to go to art school in California and Rory wants to go to Harvard, but when their parents’ jointly owned restaurant begins to fail, they agree to be roommates at an affordable, local college. It is seemingly idyllic, but everything falls apart when Arden’s mother, Natalie, gets a telephone call that her daughter and Rory are in critical condition after jumping from the window of their dorm room to escape a fire.
The circumstances of the fire are suspect, and Natalie can’t reconcile the daughter she knows with what the arson investigation begins to bring to the surface. The girls’ relationship is more complicated than Natalie ever knew.
The Good Goodbye opens with fragmented confusion, both Natalie’s and the reader’s—skipping from the present to past and back again—but as the story forms, and the characters are revealed, it settles into something unexpected. The narrative alternates perspective among Natalie, Arden, and Rory, revealing the girls’ secrets in a tantalizing, suspenseful way. It is a melancholy coming-of-age story filled with secrets, fear, rivalry, and betrayal. It’s also an entertaining story with a nicely executed climactic twist as satisfying as it is surprising.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-07 17:02:32
Killing Trail
Craig Sisterson
The rugged beauty of rural Colorado provides the setting for Margaret Mizushima’s solid mystery debut, but it is the buddy cop relationship between Officer Mattie Cobb and her canine partner Robo that may pull readers in for any ongoing series. Fresh out of training school, Cobb and Robo uncover the body of a local girl in the woods, creating ripples in many relationships in their small town of Timber Creek.
While Robo is new to Timber Creek, Officer Cobb grew up there—in foster care. As such, she has a mix of familiarity and guardedness when it comes to the people in her town. From her police colleagues and former teachers to local vet and single father Cole Walker, she’s not always sure of how to connect with or act around others, let alone whom to trust. With drug crime and murder threatening her hometown, Mattie and Robo have to negotiate a treacherous path to nose out just who is behind it all.
While the mystery plotline is fairly linear and occasionally stumbles, and skews genteel, there is plenty to like about Killing Trail, particularly in the way Mizushima weaves insights about dog handling into the tale. Readers who love animals and the outdoors will particularly enjoy what is a good read.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-07 17:06:20
The Covenant
Hank Wagner
A former Memphis police detective and recovering addict, Jackie Lyons currently ekes out a meager living as a photographer. Although initially pleased at being offered a job photographing a decrepit estate, Jackie’s happiness quickly dissipates when, shortly after arriving on site, she witnesses a man plunge into a lake and drown. As an ex-cop, Jackie would normally be more stoic about his passing, an apparent suicide, but for the fact that she was born with the preternatural ability to see spirits and what she witnesses is his ghost. This explains the fact that the victim has been long dead before she discovers him, and perhaps why Jackie isn’t sure the man took his own life. Hoping to help the friend who hired her, Jackie seeks to disprove the alleged suicide, pursuing the shoot even as she pursues the truth, and bringing her into conflict with the local community, the local police, and, unfortunately for her, the killer.
The Covenant is a worthy follow-up to the first Jackie Lyons mystery, 2012’s The Sleeping and the Dead. Jackie is still a hot mess, capable of leaping to wrong conclusions, but that’s what makes the story so entertaining: Will she succeed in spite of herself? Readers will certainly hope so, with their moods rising and falling in tandem with their harried heroine’s trials and tribulations. Jeff Crook also succeeds in bringing Stirling Estates (“in Malvern, Tennessee, fifteen interstate miles and two worlds away from Memphis”) to vivid life, almost to the point where the wealthy gated community becomes another character. Doing so, the author provides an intriguing and amusing backdrop to the morbid and dangerous goings-on that unfold.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-07 17:10:26
Runaway
Vanessa Orr
There are turning points in every life, and the novel Runaway is about how decisions made in those times can affect one’s past, present, and future. After being expelled from school, Jack Mackay decides to run away from Glasgow to London, and convinces four friends to go with him. Members of a band, they believe that they’ll find stardom in the new city; instead, they find themselves immersed in a world that they barely understand, full of drugs, violence, and murder.
The story is skillfully written in chapters that alternate the present when Mackay and his friends are in their late 60s, and the past when the teens still think that they can take on the world. The lead singer of the band, Maurie Cohen, is dying, and he wants the remaining band members to travel to London to revisit the crime that changed their lives. Jack gets his grandson, Ricky, to drive them, and May does an excellent job of intertwining the past and the present road trips to reveal how the events of the past have affected every aspect of the men’s lives. Somewhat nostalgic, the story is also tinged with sadness as one sees how bad decisions can turn the dreams of young boys into the regrets of old men.
While the story is fairly dark, it has lighthearted moments as the older men, with nothing left to lose, “borrow” cars and fake their identities to continue their journey. Jack’s evolving relationship with his layabout grandson also touches beautifully on the issue of how one generation sees the other, never realizing that our parents, or grandparents, were once young and full of hope. Though their journey may be almost over, I was glad that, like Ricky, I got to go along for the ride.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-07 17:16:26
Floodgate
Kevin Burton Smith
Johnny Shaw has already given us two wonderfully dry, dusty little noir gems set along the open wound of the American-Mexican border. But Floodgate is something else.
Welcome to Auction City, a fictitious Midwest metropolis so corrupt, dangerous, and dysfunctional that even the priests pack iron. It is Gotham City without Batman, a town without pity or hope, the Great Wrong Place, drawn in cynical, extra-bold strokes. Nearly burned to the ground back in 1929 when its various criminal factions (including the cops) finally squared off against each other, the resulting spree of rape, arson, and murder became known locally as “The Flood.”
The plot yo-yos back and forth between the Year of the Flood and 1985, where we meet Andy Destra, a slightly too-honest ex-cop. Since being “shitcanned,” he’s become obsessed with bringing down the odious Police Commissioner Gray, the man behind the trumped-up charges that lead to his dismissal. But the more Andy continues his one-man investigation, the more he becomes convinced there is an even larger conspiracy out there.
Turns out he is right—the truth is revealed to him by Floodgate, a small cabal of five members (representing the church, the mobsters, the gangs, the police, and the citizens), who have kept the lid on Auction for over 50 years, controlling and placating the various factions, hoping to head off another Flood. And they want Andy to join them.
There’s a real whiz-bang vibe at loose here, a giddily outrageous, intentionally larger-than-life epic, full of wit and verve, crammed full of primary-color action, and outrageous characters, including one-armed gangbangers, killer nuns, and sewer-dwelling cannibals.
Alas, that initial rush wears thin. One character actually complains that things are “too much like a comic book,” while Andy later confesses it is all a “little too Scooby-Doo for my taste.”
Perhaps that’s why Shaw kicks each chapter off with a brief, clever epigraph—lyrics, news clippings, quotations, interview transcriptions (all fake, of course)—to reassure readers that he is still a serious writer? This is essentially a comic book in prose, more Sin City than Red Harvest. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But some pictures would be nice.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-07 17:21:19
Long Upon the Land
Art Taylor
The final words of Long Upon the Land, Margaret Maron’s 20th—and as it turns out, last—Deborah Knott mystery, are these: “Full circle.”
There’s no need to attach a spoiler alert to that, but I might’ve needed to add one if I was to disclose who said those words, and to whom, and especially what prompted the saying. And I definitely would add one before discussing the many specific ways that this book gracefully brings the whole series full circle, because ideally readers should discover those storytelling turns on their own.
But suffice it to say that when you look at the novels which bookend the series— 1992’s Bootlegger’s Daughter and Long Upon the Land—many of the conflicts and concerns of the first book find both echo and answer in the final one. Stepping back further to the first appearance of Deborah Knott in the 1991 short story “Deborah’s Judgment,” you’ll find even more connections: both that story and the new novel hinge on the younger days of Deborah’s mother, Sue Stephenson Knott, and her experiences during World War II with her sister Zell and best friend Beulah in Goldsboro, North Carolina; both deal with an airman who was loved and lost; and both unearth decades-old secrets about the long shadows cast by old love affairs. In several ways, Long Upon the Land revisits and reworks twists and themes from Maron’s early works—and always in satisfying ways.
The murder mystery at the heart of the new novel strikes close to home—literally, since Deborah’s father Kezzie Knott discovers the victim’s body on his own farm, and the ensuing investigation reveals the many ties (and troubles) between the murdered man and his family on the one hand, and Kezzie and his kin on the other. (It is not the first time that Deborah’s family has come under suspicion in the books, of course.) The investigation touches on themes of domestic abuse, of rivalries within families and between them, and of what the land means to the people who’ve lived on it. The solution is ultimately a satisfying one, too—multilayered answers to the puzzle instead of a simple issue of whodunit. (Watch that cat.)
But as with many of Maron’s novels, the crime at the core of the book is hardly the biggest story or the more important mystery being explored.
As much as I’ve enjoyed each mystery in the series, looking back on them, I’m not sure I can always remember who killed whom and why in individual books. Instead, what stands out is the overarching story of these characters—these people, I should stress, since they’ve become more than characters to me. Deborah’s life and career, her relationships with her father and brothers and extended family, her romance and then marriage to sherriff’s deputy Dwight Bryant, her stepmotherhood to his son Cal—that’s what’s drawn me in as much as the crimes, that and the portrait of a North Carolina suffering from the ills of the past while simultaneously undergoing tremendous change: racial conflicts, immigration issues, the high costs of development, and right on down the line.
Particularly with Deborah’s family in mind, the special appeal of Long Upon the Land is discovering more about Deborah’s mother, her past, and the beginnings of her relationship with Kezzie. The opening section of the new book is dated “1943” and revisits World War II experiences hinted at nearly a quarter-century earlier in “Deborah’s Judgment.” The Zippo lighter that’s mentioned at the end of Long Upon The Land’s opening section first appeared in Bootlegger’s Daughter, as a cherished possession of Deborah’s mother and an item that Deborah’s brothers had fought over after her death, even though Deborah alone among the children “knew who’d given her the lighter and why she kept it.”
The Zippo had belonged to an airman named Walter McIntyre, with whom Sue had fallen “a little in love” during the war. It had been a souvenir of the airman’s own lost love—and he’d given it to Sue before shipping off to battle in Europe, never to be seen again. When Deborah finally receives the lighter herself at the start of Long Upon the Land, it prompts her to dig deeper into her mother’s past, to search out people who might’ve known her or Walter or Walter’s own lost love, Leslie, whose name is engraved on the lighter’s casing—a suicide, Deborah knew. Why did Leslie kill herself? Deborah wonders. And what had Walter and his story truly meant to Deborah’s mother? How had it sent her into Kezzie’s arms in the first place?
For readers, Maron teases out the answers to those questions by alternating scenes from 1943 to 1946, grounded in Sue’s perspective, with stories from Deborah’s present-day search. If you’re like me and you’ve followed the series for a long time, those answers, those stories, might well bring a tear or two to your eyes.
But even so, let’s not shed a tear because this book is last of the Deborah Knott novels. Even with its intense focus on a sometimes tragic past, Long Upon the Land ultimately proves an affirmative novel— and one as forward-looking as any in the series, right to that last line. Even if we won’t be reading about them, there are surely adventures still ahead for all these people.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-09 15:58:47
R. L. Stine Honored at Lit Fest, Bouchercon
Generations of youngsters have been entertained—and frightened—by R. L. Stine’s multitude of novels, especially his Goosebumps series.
Stine, left, has been quoted as saying he has the best job: “My job is to give kids the CREEPS!”
I’d say that is about right.
His bibliography takes up so many pages on his website that it seems impossible to count them all. He has more than 400 million books in print worldwide, making him one of the best-selling children's authors in history.
But even Stine can be frightened.
Did anyone catch him as the guest bartender on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live a few months ago? He told host Andy Cohen he was a bit afraid to be on this chatty, gossipy show.
I’ve had the pleasure of sitting at the same table during the Edgar Awards with R. L. Stine and his wife, Jane, at least twice. Both he and his wife are witty, friendly, and knowledgeable on a variety of subjects.
And Stine’s books aren’t just for kids. Adults also can take pleasure in these deliciously creepy books, as well as Red Rain, his first novel not for children. Released in 2013, Red Rain is about a woman who adopts twins following a hurricane. It does not go well.
What is going well are the honors that Stine can expect this year.
Stine is this year's Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize recipient for the Printers Row Lit Fest, the largest literary festival in the Midwest. He will be honored on June 11 during the festival.
Each year, the Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize honors an author whose work is aimed at a young adult audience, “addresses themes especially relevant to adolescents, inspires young readers, and champions literacy,” according to the festival. Past honorees include Lois Lowry, James Patterson, John Greene, Judy Blume, and LeVar Burton.
The Printers Row Lit Fest, now entering its 32nd year, is free and open to the public, as is the majority of programming.
Bouchercon for Kids will take place on Saturday, September 17, at the New Orleans Public Library (219 Loyola Avenue).
A children’s event during Bouchercon is inspired! The earlier children learn to read and appreciate the imagination of books, the better.
Oline Cogdill
2016-03-23 15:10:04
Michael Robotham on “The Lord of the Rings”
Michael Robotham
The first book I ever "earned"
Although I can’t remember exactly when I discovered the joys of reading, one particular book in my library has special pride of place, because it is the first one that I ever “earned.”
The battered copy of The Lord of the Rings is held together by sticky tape, glue, and a large rubber band. It once resided in my high school library and still has the library card in a sleeve inside the back cover.
When I was 12 years old, being bullied at a new school, I sought refuge in the school library. I discovered J. R. R. Tolkien and borrowed The Lord of the Rings so often that the librarian, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, forbade me ever taking it out again because she felt that other children should have a turn.
I overcame this obstacle by hiding the book in various obscure corners of the library, rarely visited by students (the physics and chemistry corner). Each lunchtime and recess, avoiding the bullies, I would sneak in and read another chapter. Like all good librarians, Mrs. Fitzpatrick could smell a book that is out of place and I was eventually caught and hauled into her office.
I expected to be punished, but instead she asked me why I came to the library so often.
“My friends are here,” I told her.
“What friends?”
“Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Frodo Baggins…”
Mrs. Fitzpatrick took the battered book and gave it to me. “You’ve earned it,” she said.
I didn’t understand what she meant by that, but I do now. I have treasured that book always—long after I stopped reading science fiction and moved on to Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald.
I love books, and not just the words—I love the smell of them. My favorite part of the writing process is that moment when a package arrives from my publishers containing a newly minted copy of my latest book. I open it up on a random page, read a few paragraphs, and then bury my nose deep inside. Man, that’s good! It’s a wonder it’s legal.
Occasionally, I hear people say that they don’t like reading. I don’t believe them. Saying you don’t like reading is like saying you don’t like sex—you’re just not doing it right. You haven’t found the right one (book or partner).
Those of us who love books should make it our mission to help others rediscover the joy of reading. We can rescue these lost souls from a bookless future. We can bring them back into the fold. There is no greater feeling than recommending a book to a friend and having them come back and say, “Wow, that was brilliant. I loved it. What else have you got?”
And if you get them reading, a day will come when they’ll repay you by suggesting a book to you that will change your life, or make you laugh or move you to tears.
So, my true believers—we have our mission. We are an unlikely bunch of disciples, a bit rough around the edges and sleep-deprived, but we are up to this challenge because we believe in the good book.
There is more than one. There are loads of them.
Michael Robotham is the author of the New York Times bestseller Say You’re Sorry, as well as the Edgar Award–nominated Life or Death, Bleed for Me, Shatter, and many other novels of suspense. A former investigative journalist who has worked in Britain, Australia, and the United States, Robotham is one of the world’s most acclaimed authors of thriller fiction. He lives in Sydney with his wife and three daughters.
This “Writers on Reading” essay was originally published in “At the Scene” eNews April 2016 as a first-look exclusive to our enewsletter subscribers. For more special content available first to our enewsletter subscribers, sign up here.
Teri Duerr
2016-03-25 21:27:27
“One particular book in my library has special pride of place, because it is the first one that I ever earned."
Joe Pickett TV Series Is No More
Last month, C. J. Box was the guest of honor at Sleuthfest, the writers’ conference sponsored by the Florida chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.
Box, as usual, charmed his audience with tales of how he got into writing, book tours, and his background. I also moderated a panel with him and Neil Nyren, executive vice president, associate publisher, and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Our panel was about the writer-editor relationship.
One of the tidbits that Box mentioned during Sleuthfest was that a television series based on his character, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, was in the works.
Many of us were thrilled with the idea of Joe Pickett, and the novels’ supporting characters, being the basis of a television series. Box’s series is tailor-made for film.
The stories are involving and the characters appealing and easy to relate to. And the scenery is highly visual—the wide open spaces of Wyoming, wildlife, and blue skies.
But just a couple of weeks ago, Box announced via Facebook that the Joe Pickett TV series is dead.
“For those interested in seeing a Joe Pickett television series: there won't be one. We have withdrawn the project from the producers who were in charge of developing and placing a series,” wrote Box.
“Why? We didn't like the direction they were going. It is of paramount importance that if a Joe Pickett series is ever produced and broadcast that it maintain the characters, story lines, sequence, themes, location, and narrative integrity of the books. Naming actors ‘Joe Pickett’ or ‘Marybeth’ or ‘Nate Romanowski’ and creating wholly new personalities and motivations for them in a faux-Wyoming location won't cut it.
“If and when there is ever a Joe Pickett television series we owe it to our readers and ourselves to present a quality product based on the unique world of the novels—not shaped by the brand of the network or the predilections of the producers. We want to be proud of the end result,” he added.
Good for you, Chuck Box! We’ve all seen our beloved mystery characters turned into weak shadows in a film or TV series.
While I am always happy to see mystery novels make it to the small—or big—screen, I also am pleased to learn Box felt the integrity of his novels was paramount. For me, films are a nice bonus but books are more important.
And Box agrees, apparently, adding, “A television series (or movie) is not the be-all and end-all for a novelist.”
Box added, “What is the be-all and end-all? Meeting the expectations of enthusiastic and dedicated readers of the Joe Pickett series book by book. We don't want to let you down. And we can hold out until we're absolutely assured it will be done right.”
Readers also apparently agree with Box’s decision. In an email, he told Mystery Scene that he has been “very pleasantly surprised how supportive readers have been in regard to the decision. Not only on Facebook but in person during the Off the Grid tour. Readers have very strong feelings about Hollywood screwing up books and characters—and strong feelings toward authors who allow it to happen.”
Again, good for Box. I think Joe Pickett would have made a terrific TV series. Netflix has done justice to Longmire, based on Craig Johnston’s Walt Longmire novels. And Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch has a second life on the very good Amazon Prime seriesBosch.
Joe Pickett’s appearance on the screen—if it ever does happen—will be worth the wait.
Oline Cogdill
2016-03-26 19:03:11
"Mind Hunter" Netflix-Bound
Oline H. Cogdill
John Douglas’ 1996 nonfiction book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit has always seemed to be tailor-made for film.
The book, co-written with novelist Mark Olshaker, detailed former FBI Special Agent Douglas’ 25-year career tracking down serial killers and how he is often credited with developing criminal profiling techniques for the FBI.
During his career, Douglas interviewed and studied myriad serial killers, including Ted Bundy, Charlie Manson, and Ed Gein, and examined scores of crime scenes.
The character Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs is said to be modeled after Douglas.
And the TV series Criminal Minds, now in its 11th year, certainly takes its cues from Douglas’ work.
Now Mind Hunter will get its own TV series.
Mind Hunter will be a Netflix crime drama set to air in 2017. And it has a good team behind it—the executive producers are David Fincher and Charlize Theron.
Mind Hunter will star Holt McCallany (Lights Out), left, as FBI Agent Bill Tench, who will be based, of course, on Douglas. Tench is being described as “inquisitive and skilled” in the press release. McCallany also will co-star with Tom Cruise in the next Jack Reacher film, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Jonathan Groff (Glee, Looking, American Sniper, and a Tony nominee for Spring Awakening on Broadway) and Anna Torv (Fringe) will costar.
The Netflix series will be set in 1979, which should give the writers plenty of material to explore. The series will show how real police work is done, without cell phones, computers, or fancy labs.
Oline Cogdill
2016-03-30 16:30:00
Return to Grantchester
Oline H. Cogdill
A trip to Grantchester is a most welcome journey, as evidenced by the second season of this exquisite series now on PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery!
Grantchester is based on James Runcie's novel Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, which has been called "the coziest of cozy murder mysteries."
Well, it is and it isn’t.
True, Grantchester doesn’t contain overt violence or graphic sex, but there are secrets that abound in this seemingly idyllic town in the English countryside during the early 1950s.
That era of the early 1950s might seem to be a simpler time, but it also was a period of secrets. Abuse, sexuality, violence, incest—all occurred during that time, it’s just that people preferred not to talk about it. Women’s rights and gay rights were nonexistent.
And while the subjects that Grantchester explores are adult in nature, this is PBS after all. You won’t be embarrassed watching this series with your children.
Much of that Is due to the leads—James Norton as town vicar Sidney Chambers and Robson Green as Inspector Geordie Keating.
Sidney is no cloistered man of the cloth, though he studied for the ministry at nearby Cambridge University. He is a war hero who is all too familiar with human frailties because he also has experienced passion, jealousy, and even revenge.
A running theme in Grantchester is how Sidney finds comfort in his religion while not denying the secular world. Sidney can forgive just about anything but overt cruelty and those who prey on the weaker. And he struggles with this hesitation to not offer forgiveness to all, no matter the crime.
The personality dynamics between the educated Sidney and the working-class Geordie elevate the stories.
In the second season of Grantchester, the stories could easily fit in the 21st century. In the first episode, a child’s diary points to a pattern of sexual assault by a pillar of the community—with a jaw-dropping ending. Other plot themes in this six-episode season include the Holocaust, the Cold War, and suicide.
Grantchester airs on most PBS channels at 9 p.m. Sundays through May 1 with frequent encores, and is available on demand. Grantchester’s Season One also is available on Acorn Online.
Photo: James Norton as town vicar Sidney Chambers and Robson Green as Inspector Geordie Keating; courtesy PBS.
Oline Cogdill
2016-04-02 08:00:00
Philadelphia: A City of Mystery
Oline H. Cogdill
One of the nice things about loving mysteries and traveling is the regional novel.
Those crime fictions are so rooted to the city or state they are set in that you feel you are actually there.
So as I prepare to visit Philadelphia later this month, one of the first things I do is think about what mystery novels were set in the City of Brotherly Love.
Here are a few mystery writers whose novels capture the history, culture, and contemporary concerns of Philadelphia.
And you don’t even have to plan a trip to enjoy them.
By the way, if I have missed a few—and I am sure I have—let me know.
Jonathon King (his character Max Freeman was from Philadelphia).
Oline Cogdill
2016-04-05 10:00:00
Beyond the Book: The Saint
Dick Lochte
Leslie Charteris and The Saint
For the first in an ongoing series about classic sleuths reappearing in new media formats, Mystery Scene’s award-winning contributor Dick Lochte discusses Leslie Charteris’ The Saint.
Twenty years after his birth in Singapore on May 12, 1907, Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, renamed Leslie Charteris, wrote his third novel, Meet the Tiger. It marked the debut of Simon Templar, aka The Saint, “the Robin Hood of modern crime,” at the age of 27, fully formed, with no apparent need of a backstory. The Saint and his famous haloed stickman logo have continued on for more than 50 books (novels and short story collections), nearly all back in print as Thomas & Mercer softcovers. (Alas, minus Templar’s meeting with the Tiger, reportedly because Charteris, who died in 1993, never much cared for that youthful effort.)
AUDIOBOOK
Most of the Saint books are available in audio format from Brilliance Audio (and Audible downloads), performed by British actor John Telfer, whose interpretation of Templar is impeccable—sarcastic when parrying with the ungodly, blithe in the face of danger, tough when dispensing justice. He’s just as successful enacting Templar’s friends and enemies, as well as his creator, who introduces several of the volumes. These are very much “historical” adventures, some dating back to 1929, with no attempt to alter them to this smartphone-Internet era. 1935’s The Saint in New York (7 hours, 49 minutes, unabridged, $14.99) is probably the series’ best, a breakout book in which Templar travels to Prohibition-era Manhattan to winnow its gangster population. Though typically witty, it’s surprisingly hardboiled, with an unusually bittersweet finale. A word of caution: its prologue includes a summary of Templar’s activities that is rife with spoilers. Most grievously affected are three early novels that form an arc: The Saint Closes the Case, The Avenging Saint, and The Saint’s Getaway (7 hours, 35-39 minutes each, unabridged, $9.99), in which the Saint moves from “small” capers to the bigger game of international politics, battling a loathsome war profiteer, Dr. Rayt Marius, and his presumed benefactor, arrogant Crown Prince Rudolph. Though dated, the trilogy features the Saint and his crew full of youthful flamboyance.
FILM
The Saint's Girl Friday, only on YouTube
The Saint stepped into movies in 1938 with a faithful adaptation of The Saint in New York, starring Louis Hayward as Templar. Future black and white adventures featured George Sanders in the role. The Saint in New York and The Saint Strikes Back, a Sanders-starrer, are available as a TCM Double Feature (Warner, VHS Tape, $19.98). The Strikes Back, The Saint in London, The Saint’s Double Trouble, The Saint Takes Over, and The Saint in Palm Springs, are all part of The George Sanders Saint Movies Collection (Warner Bros. Archive, 2-DVDs, $35.99) The third movie Saint, Hugh Sinclair, was a step down from Sanders, but the scripts were a step up. The Saint’s Vacation, loosely adapted from The Saint’s Getaway, and The Saint Meets the Tiger are humorous and action-packed. (Warner Archive, 1 DVD, $19.99). Hayward returned to the role in 1954 in a fast-paced British programmer, The Saint’s Girl Friday, which can be seen only on YouTube. The final Templar film, thus far, is 1997’s The Saint which starred Val Kilmer as a religious guilt-tripped thief-for-hire who bore little or no resemblance to Charteris’ concept (Paramount, DVD, priced from $5 to $45).
RADIO
As Ian Dickerson, the curator of Charteris’ literary estate, writes in his excellent survey, The Saint on Radio (Purview Press, paperback $22.95; Kindle, $9.99), “When you mention The Saint on radio most people think of Vincent Price . . ..” Happily hours of the actor’s blithe, not-quite-British-accented Templar may be streamed from YouTube or other Old Time Radio venues and 20 digitally restored and remastered choice episodes may be purchased from Radio Spirits (10 CDs, $27.99), including a collector’s item: a 1940 adaptation of Charteris’ short story, "The Miracle Tea Party," introduced by the author.
TELEVISION
While at least two attempts to bring the Saint to television have failed, three have made the cut. The Return of the Saint, lasted one season (1978). Its lead, Ian Ogilvy is an actor with the proper amount of swash and sophistication, but the stories, often with terrorism themes, were surprisingly glum. Since the only DVD sets are region 2, US fans can turn to YouTube for their Ogilvy fix. (Check out the two-parter, The Brave Goose.) In six 1989 TV movies, Simon Dutton is well cast as Simon Templar – British, debonair, properly athletic. See for yourself on two DVD sets from Acorn TV ($49.99 each set). The most popular incarnation of the Saint in any media is, of course, Sir Roger Moore, whose complete 1962-1968, 118-episode run is DVD-available from Timeless Media (Boxed set, 33 discs, $199.98). From the third wall-breaking openings with Moore discussing his surroundings with obvious amusement to the often-surprising finales, the shows are universally entertaining. The best, IMO, are found in the first four seasons, when the show was in black and white and the stories were adapted from Charteris’ originals, with guest stars like Julie Christie, Oliver Reed and Honor Blackman. The color seasons are worth watching, too, even with their almost parodic swinging 60s look. This perfectly cast series, arguably, is the main reason why, nearly 90 years after his creation, the Saint has remained one of crime fiction’s most-beloved heroes.
Dick Lochte is a well-known literary and drama critic and contributes the "Sounds of Suspense" audiobook review column to Mystery Scene. He received the 2003 Ellen Nehr Award for Excellence in Mystery Reviewing. His prize-winning Sleeping Dog and its sequel, Laughing Dog, are available from Brash Books.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-01 17:07:20
Leslie Charteris and The Saint the first in an ongoing series about classic sleuths reappearing in new media formats
What's Going on With Mary Russell?
Oline H. Cogdill
Book publicists try all kinds of inventive press releases to entice reviewers to take a second look at a novel.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
But my heart sank a bit when I saw this header on an email: L.R. King, The End of Her Series?/The Murder of Mary Russell.
Could it be that Laurie R. King is ending her popular series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes?
Is her latest novel The Murder of Mary Russell truly the end of the line?
King’s series about the intelligent feminist Mary Russell who eventually marries the much older Sherlock Holmes are a personal favorite.
They are the novels that I recommend for all ages—young teens can read them and identify with the bright, independent Mary Russell, beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice in 1994.
Adult readers, including those Sherlock experts, find much to like about King’s series, which honors the Arthur Conan Doyle canon while also updating it.
And that brings us to King’s 14th novel in her series, The Murder of Mary Russell.
Without giving away any secrets, King explores the “indissoluble bond” between Mary and Sherlock, who are partners in every sense of the word.
Mary’s other confidant is the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson.
According to the novel’s description:
“Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.
“What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson,” the release continues.
“The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson’s past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper’s secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away,” according to the publisher.
The release continues with this statemet: “There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed. And nothing will ever be the same.”
But really, we expect nothing else.
As for Mary Russell’s future—you will have to read The Murder of Mary Russell.
Oline Cogdill
2016-04-09 14:45:00
Dilys Winn’s Magical Mystery Tour
Joseph Goodrich
Dilys Winn, the pioneering mystery bookseller, editor died on February 5, 2016, in Asheville, North Carolina. Winn opened Murder Ink, the very first bookstore devoted solely to mystery fiction, in New York City in 1972.
Early in the summer of 1976, I was a 13-year-old boy in a small Minnesota town, and I was about to do something I’d never done before.
Everyone was occupied. The kitchen was empty. I eased the door shut. And then I did it.
I picked up the telephone receiver and held it to my ear. Nothing but the dial tone. Good. This meant the line was clear—we were on a party line, and I often had to wait for Mrs. Maday to finish her call before I could make one of my own.
The phone was mine.
I dialed the ten digits of a New York City phone number.
It was a mind-boggling thing to do. The world was larger then. Distances were greater. Especially if you’d never been farther from home than Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a whopping 60 miles away. No one called New York City, much less went there.
But I had to make that call.
I waited, listening to the phone ringing in some unimaginable other place. Ghost voices danced in the distance between the heart of the country and its east coast.
Someone picked up at the other end of the line.
“Murder Ink,” a voice said.
I cleared my throat, gathered my wits, and spoke.
A week before I made that call, I’d seen the latest Mystery Monthly on the magazine rack in Swanson’s supermarket. I bought it, took it home, and devoured it. Along with short stories and book and movie reviews, that issue featured an interview with Dilys Winn, founder and owner of the world’s first bookstore dedicated to mysteries. Punningly named Murder Ink, it was located on West 87th Street in Manhattan—Ellery Queen’s old neighborhood. Winn spoke about the impulse that led her into the book business. Unhappy with her job as an advertising copywriter, she was looking for a change. She’d been impressed by expatriate bookseller Sylvia Beach, founder of the original Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and Beach’s example offered a way out of Madison Avenue. “I’ll open a bookstore, and call it Murder Ink,” Winn said. “That was on a Wednesday. I found the store Thursday, and signed the lease Friday. I opened six weeks later.”
Murder Ink was a success, rapidly developing a clientele composed of mystery readers and writers, as well as policemen, clergymen, and psychiatrists. Winn eventually sold the store and left New York City. Murder Ink moved to a new location on Upper Broadway and closed in 2006, a victim of the plague that’s destroyed so many long-standing Manhattan businesses—death by rent increase.
But back then, brick-and-mortar bookstores and the publishing houses that filled them with the latest mysteries were alive and well. Murder Ink was open for business. If a customer asked for a recommendation, Winn was happy to oblige: Such Men Are Dangerous, attributed to Paul Kavanagh but really written by (as we know now) the one and only Lawrence Block; The Red Right Hand, Joel Townsley Roger’s cult classic; and anything by Dick Francis, “except the new one, which is sentimental.” Winn had strong opinions and didn’t mind sharing them. “I thought Murder on the Orient Express was one of the worst movies I ever saw. Same thing with Chinatown.”
It’s a good interview, but it wasn’t what set my pulse racing and had me making long-distance phone calls. It was the item that followed her interview, a notice for “The Mystery Reader’s Tour of Britain”:
Sixteen-day conducted tours, led by Dilys Winn, owner of Murder Ink, featuring lunch, tea, and cocktails with authors, book-buying binges, midnight train rides, walks on moors, ghosthunting, bell-ringing, talks by firearm experts, newspaper reporters, practicing barristers, village bobbies, rare book dealers, theatre tickets to mystery plays, a suggested reading list completed by Murder Ink. Sightseeing throughout England, Scotland, and Wales. Departure dates: June 27, 1976; September 1, 1976.
The cost of the tour included:
Round-trip jet flight from New York to London. Bed and breakfast accommodations. (Twin rooms with bath or shower.) Lunch, tea, dinner, cocktails where outlined in itinerary. Luxury coach transportation. Sightseeing tours. Tour escort. Airport taxes, local taxes, service charges.
The damage to one’s wallet? $880. A steal even by contemporary standards: $880 in 1976 has the buying power today of $3,700. That’ll barely get a tourist to London, much less keep that traveler there for 16 days—taxes, tips, and book-buying binges most definitely not included.
“I’d like to speak to Dilys Winn, please.”
“This is Dilys.”
Heart in mouth, I said that I’d read about the tour of England she’d be leading, and told her how much I wanted to go. But there was a problem: my age. I was too young to go on my own. Would there be anyone on the trip who could keep an eye on me and thereby prevent my relatives from having nervous breakdowns while I was away?
Ms. Winn considered my dilemma. Yes, she said after reflection, there would be several ladies who could look after me on our journey through the United Kingdom. I’d be looked after. She’d see to that.
We talked a while longer, and she promised to send me further information about the trip. I could discuss things with my family and take it from there.
I thanked her and hung up, a jubilant, sweating mess.
My relief was immense. I’d be all right in England. The family wouldn’t have to worry. Now all I had do was to convince my elders to not only part with me but with $880. I could deal with that later. The important thing was—I’d called Murder Ink! In New York City! I’d spoken with Dilys Winn!
I told the family at dinner, thrilled to share my news. I was sure they’d be thrilled, too. But as I looked from face to face, all I saw were puzzled expressions that quickly shifted into consternation. Never mind, I said to myself. They just need some time to get used to the idea. They can see how badly I want to go to England.
England: Just the sound of the word was an elixir to me. England. The home of Agatha Christie. Scotland Yard. The Tower of London. The Mousetrap. Earl Grey tea and buttered crumpets. History and murder everywhere.
I waited for further information about the trip to arrive. I was sure that the postman would bring it any day.
But he didn’t.
That further information never arrived.
Or should I say...I never saw it.
I believe that Ms. Winn sent that information. I believe that it turned up in our mailbox. I also believe that the powers that be in my house took that information, shredded it, and watched the pieces flutter into the trashcan.
To my great disappointment, I wasn’t a part of the Mystery Reader’s Tour, but I never forgot speaking with Dilys Winn, and the way she took me and my questions seriously. Her kindness meant everything to a mystery-obsessed boy who dreamed of Manhattan’s spires and England’s country houses.
Winn has long been recognized as a groundbreaking bookseller. She received a special Edgar Award in 1978 for her book Murder Ink: A Mystery Lover’s Companion, a delightful compendium of essays by and about some of the greatest figures then working in the field. And speaking of awards, there’s one named after her: The Dilys, which was created by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association and is given each year to the book which IMBA members most enjoyed hand-selling.
Shortly after I joined the Mystery Writers of America in 2002, I sent out a message on the MWA listserv: “Does anyone know where Dilys Winn is?”
She responded quickly. I sent her a long email describing my youthful telephone call. “I remember you perfectly,” she wrote, and invited me to visit her if I ever got within hailing distance.
A true lady, Dilys Winn.
I haven’t met her yet.
But I’m still hoping.
Joseph Goodrich is an author and an Edgar-winning playwright. His adaptation of The Red Boxmarks Nero Wolfe’s stage debut. He lives in New York City.
Dilys Winn appeared on the TV game show To Tell the Truth in 1972, the year she opened Murder Ink. She couldn’t conceal her expertise, however, and three of the four celebrity panelists correctly identified her as the mystery bookstore owner.
Dilys Winn received a special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her charming anthology Murder Ink: The Mystery Readers Companion (1977; revised ed., 1984). She followed that book up with Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery (1979).
Teri Duerr
2016-04-06 18:07:46
Dilys Winn, the pioneering mystery bookseller, editor died on February 5, 2016, in Asheville, North Carolina. Winn opened Murder Ink, the very first bookstore devoted solely to mystery fiction, in New York City in 1972.
The Other Widow
Jordan Foster
Affairs abound all over Boston in Susan Crawford’s sophomore effort (following 2015’s The Pocket Wife). Aspiring actress Doreen Keating is carrying on a secret relationship with her boss, Joe Lindsay, at Home Runs Renovations. Pay no heed to the fact that both are married: neither union is a particularly happy one. Dorrie, as she is known, thinks everything is running smoothly until Joe blindsides her one night during a snowy drive with the news that their affair needs to end. It isn’t safe, he tells her, for either of them. A moment later, Joe is blindsided, literally, by a tree when his Audi slides on a patch of black ice and slams at full speed into a tree. Dorrie’s airbag deploys. Joe’s does not. Not wanting to complicate an already messy situation—Joe is dead on impact—Dorrie extricates herself from the car, and stumbles away into the blizzard before the EMTs arrive. A cut on her forehead and jangled nerves are all she has to show for the accident that killed her lover.
Crawford alternates the narrative between the shaken Dorrie, Joe’s wife, Karen, and Maggie Brennan, an ex-cop who now works as an insurance investigator for Mass Casualty (just the name implies that multiple hearts, if not physical bodies, will be broken in the ensuing pages). Karen, it turns out, knew about Joe’s philandering. She found suspicious emails on his computer, she confesses to her friend, Alice. Karen wasn't above a little extramarital sleeping around herself. The plot thickens, the characters multiply.
Dorrie’s husband, Samuel, a wild-haired man with a passion for finding and fixing up the perfect beater car for their daughter, Lily, and who has a bit too much of a taste for booze, is also not clueless when it comes to his wife’s attraction to another man. But perhaps what at first seems like an overly complicated plot device—it’s hard to keep track of who’s sleeping with who and who knows what about which affair—is the author capturing the complexities and sacrifices of long-term marriages, when the spark isn’t what it used to be, and yet the obligation to one another remains, and the thought of separating is more painful than the knowledge of any affair.
Brennan’s investigation turns up disturbing facts about Joe’s car, calling into question whether the accident was really an accident at all. The information puts everyone on edge, especially when Joe’s partner at the renovation company begins acting squirrelly about the company’s dwindling finances, which don’t quite add up to the figures in the official ledger. With Karen and Dorrie on edge and circling each other like animals sizing up their opponent before a fight, it is only a matter of time before everything comes to a head. To her credit, Crawford avoids a scrappy catfight over a man that, by the end of the novel, doesn’t seem worth a hard word, much less an all-out brawl. The startling climax to The Other Widow is as unexpected as a car crashing into a tree on a silent snowy night.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-08 19:08:17
For You Were Strangers
Betty Webb
It isn’t hard to find a good novel set during the Civil War, but it’s rarer to find one that nimbly leaps back and forth between the war itself, to the social upheaval that arrived immediately afterward. D. M. Pirrone’s superb For You Were Strangers does just that. We all know what the history books tell us, that the war was fought over the issue of slavery, and that brother fought against brother, tearing families apart. Less discussed in fiction is the wreckage in the wake of the South’s surrender. For instance, some former slaves—especially the quadroons (people who were one-fourth black)—decided to pass as white. That difficult decision lies at the heart of Pirrone’s frequently heartbreaking novel. The book begins in 1864. Dorrie, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, has disguised herself as a man to join her brother Tom in battle. When they are captured by Yankee soldiers, Tom is killed and Dorrie is scheduled for execution. She is allowed to escape, however, because traveling with the Yankees is Billie, a former slave from Dorrie’s plantation—and a man who just happens to be her half-brother. In this case, blood trumps wartime politics. For You Were Strangers delves into the complex familial ties of slaves and their former masters. Years later in 1872, Dorrie and Billie (now a physician calling himself Will) meet by chance in Chicago. There, they are caught up in the case of Ebenezer Champion, a former Yankee captain found murdered by a bayonet thrust. As if race and the master-slave issue aren’t enough to provide rich reading, religious and cultural issues now come into play. Detective Frank Hanley, an Irish Catholic, is enlisted to solve Champion’s murder. Hanley’s personal life is complicated, too, for he is in love with Rivka Kelmansky, the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish family. Rivka’s traditional father is urging her to marry someone of her own faith, so more loyalties become tested. Then Aaron, Rivka’s long-missing brother, arrives on her doorstep with his mulatto wife and their child. Night Riders (the forerunners of the KKK) have burned down their home, and have pursued them all the way to Chicago. Even if there had been no murder in this engrossing novel, the history covered here would still make for page-turning reading. The Great Fire of Chicago has uprooted entire neighborhoods. Once-proud Southern belles are selling themselves in brothels. The government is looking into the wartime sales of rifles so poorly designed that they exploded in soldiers’ faces. But there is a murder here—and a particularly gruesome one at that. Readers who prefer relaxation reading could possibly be overwhelmed by this complex, challenging book. But readers who like deeply drawn characters combined with a whopping helping of history’s hard lessons will love it. I certainly did.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-15 19:25:28
Beijing Red
Betty Webb
Alex Ryan’s Beijing Red is a thriller with a difference. In this heart-pounding adventure, the Red Chinese are actually on our side when a mysterious illness begins felling workers on a construction project near a small Chinese village. Supervising the project is ex-Navy SEAL Nick Foley, who suspects the worst when he and the other survivors are quarantined and forced to undergo a barrage of tests, then are released after being told a series of obvious lies. The only person who seems to care about the truth is the beautiful Dr. Chen Dazhong, who works for China’s equivalent of the CDC. Soon Foley and Chen are secretly working together to discover the cause of the viral outbreak. Eventually joining them in their quest for answers is Commander Zhang, of the elite Snow Leopards, China’s counter-terrorism unit. But Zhang’s allegiance is to the Chinese government, and he is suspicious of Foley’s past as a SEAL. Not so Chen, who believes that “disease has no political agenda.” Eventually, all three come to believe the original attack was a trial run by a terrorist organization, and that a more serious attack—possibly against Beijing—will happen shortly. Thrillers frequently come up short on character development, but not in Beijing Red. Through Foley’s memories of horrors in Afghanistan, author Ryan develops the ex-SEAL as a three-dimensional human being. He is far from perfect, but he’s trying. Chen, too, is marvelously drawn. Torn between loyalty to her country and her difficult husband, she is both vulnerable and strong. Yet it is Commander Zhang, the Snow Leopard, who is in some ways this book’s most unforgettable character. Fiercely patriotic, Zhang is determined to save his country even if it means putting aside his hostility towards the West. Once the creator of the virus is revealed, author Ryan turns up the heat even further, placing these three unlikely comrades in personal danger in the subterranean tunnels beneath Beijing. Not only do we learn about a part of Beijing most of us never knew existed, we get the bejesus scared out of us, too. Beijing Red is a major thrill ride that takes chances and is the better for it.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 16:25:17
Practical Sins for Cold Climates
Betty Webb
Shelley Costa’s Practical Sins for Cold Climates possesses all the charms of a cozy (humor, a klutzy heroine, etc.) while offering up the sad history of a declining Canadian summer camp where a beautiful woman was once murdered. Citified New York editor Val Cameron is sent, Prada stilettos and all, to the chilly North Woods to get a book contract signed by a bestselling but reclusive sci-fi author. Not that Val is really interested in what she calls a “space junk” novel. She’d rather be back in Manhattan, in bed with her two-timing boyfriend who also just happens to be her boss. But valiant Val does what she must. Her difficulty in navigating the North Woods’ rough terrain in her Pradas are at first hilarious, but it takes on a darker tone when she realizes a murderer lives among the seemingly nice people who inhabit Camp Sajo. Once a popular place for summer visitors, an unsolved murder has caused Camp Sajo to lose business. The victim was Leslie Selkirk Decker, daughter of the revered sports hero who founded the camp decades earlier. Now the camp is falling into ruin, with once-faithful visitors deserting it for safer vacation spots. Val, who unlike her philandering boss has a heart, is touched by the camp’s struggles, so when her efforts to reach the “space junk” author are temporarily thwarted, she decides to look into Leslie’s death. She is very much an outsider, and, as such, is distrusted by the still-living members of the Selkirk family. Among them is Caroline, the murdered woman’s sister, and Wade Decker, Leslie’s bush pilot widower. Told from differing points of view—Val’s, Caroline’s, and that of other residents of the small community—the hijinks that begin the novel soon disappear. The lakeside mud may be rough on high heels, and the ever-present insects are annoying, but the danger is real and Val is smart enough to know it. Author Costa has a rare talent for combining laughter and shivers, and it serves her well in this twisty, compelling mystery.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 16:40:29
St. Ernan’s Blues
Betty Webb
In Paul Charles’ St. Ernan’s Blues, the Irish Catholic Church takes another hit when young Father McKaye is found murdered in a “retirement” home for clergy whose sins have made them vulnerable to scandal. So when Garda Inspector Starrett is dispatched to St. Ernan’s Island, just off Ireland’s Donegal coast, he finds a houseful of suspects, all of them priests. Even more shocking, the moment Inspector Starrett, an ex-seminarian himself, spies the stately Bishop Cormac Freeman among them, he rips off the bishop’s clerical collar and throws it in his face. As it turns out, the haughty bishop is a beast, all right, but the other priests are sinners, too. One of the least wicked—perhaps—is old Father Peregrine Dugan, who has been writing “The History of Ireland” for more than 40 years. Dugan rarely leaves his room, so at first Starrett dismisses him as a suspect, preferring to focus on the dirty bishop or the church’s other priestly castoffs. Then he is forced to revisit all his assumptions. After spending only a few days on the island, Starrett finally concludes that the murdered Father McKaye was probably the least wicked of the entire motley group. Was he killed because he was so pure? Given its unlikely suspects, St. Ernan’s Blues makes for an unusually intriguing mystery novel, especially when it takes pains to show both sides of the priests’ unsavory lives. As one of the characters in the book explains to the embittered ex-seminarian detective, “You need to catch, punish, and occasionally, try to prevent; we need to save souls and offer all who seek it redemption.”
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 16:44:36
Swords, Sandals and Sirens
Bill Crider
I first became acquainted with Marilyn Todd’s historical crime stories through their appearances in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Some of those genre stories, along with others, are collected in Swords, Sandals and Sirens. Among the other stories is the comic fantasy “Bad Day on Mount Olympus,” which features the Olympian gods and a lot of puns. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. More serious, though still amusing, are the stories featuring Claudia Seferius. These are set in ancient Rome, and Claudia is a wonderful character. “Cupid’s Arrow” provides a good example of Claudia’s abilities, and evidence that maybe the arrow is real. Another entertaining character is Ilionia, who’s the high priestess of the Temple of Eurotas in Ancient Sparta. Ilionia works with the Krypteia, the secret police, though not of her own free will. “Cover Them With Flowers” finds her in fine form in dealing with some sinister hangings. Todd provides a short introduction to the collection, as well as brief introductions to each story. The volume concludes with a checklist of Todd’s novels and stories. Highly recommended (despite the omission of the Oxford comma in the title; I’m a proponent of the Oxford comma).
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 18:33:40
Shadow Games and Other Sinister Stories of Show Business
Bill Crider
Ed Gorman is one of the best writers around, and he’s equally at home whether writing novels or short stories. If you are not familiar with his work, you should be, and a great place to begin would be Shadow Games and Other Sinister Stories of Show Business, because it contains both a novel and four short stories. Since this column is supposed to be devoted to short stories, I’ll just mention that the novel is both violent and bleakly funny. The short stories demonstrate Gorman’s ability to write shocking stories with real suspense and menace that can tear your heart out at the same time that they frighten you. This is evident in all four stories, but especially in “Scream Queen,” which is also a sort of coming-of-age tale, and “Riff.” It’s impossible not to be impressed by Gorman’s writing in these stories.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 18:43:59
Death Crashes the Party
Lynne F. Maxwell
In Death Crashes the Party, newcomer Vickie Fee introduces her Liv and Di in Dixie mystery series. Meet professional party planner Liv McKay and her BFF Di Souther. Liv and Di (get it?) reside in the small Tennessee town of Dixie (groan!). As Liv plans a party for some high-maintenance guests, she stumbles upon a corpse in the garage freezer—and then she discovers a second body, stashed in the trash. Even more bizarre is the fact that both bodies are clothed in Civil War attire. Identified as brothers, the deceased worked in the trucking firm owned by Liv’s father-in-law, Daddy Wayne, along with her husband, Larry Joe. Matters deteriorate when the police discover a cache of drugs concealed in one of their trucks. This is so shocking that Daddy Wayne has a major heart attack that lands him in the hospital. Since Liv has close ties to both events, she takes on the investigation, enlisting Di as co-conspirator. Their hilarious investigation prompts them to set up surveillance in Di’s trailer park and break into a camper. Yes, Liv and Di unearth the unlikely killer, but what is most satisfying about the book is the depth of the characters’ relationships and interrelationships. Not only do Liv and Larry Joe love one another—even in trying circumstances— but they are also devoted to Daddy Wayne and his wife, Miss Betty. Furthermore, Liv and Di share an amazing friendship that rings true. The real mystery, though, is how Liv manages to keep her business afloat. While her party is a crashing success, she spends so much time investigating death, drugs, and Civil War apparatus, that a reader may well fear for her livelihood! Hopefully, the next series entry, It’s Your Party, Die If You Want To, will resolve this question and continue the quick wit featured in this inaugural novel.
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 18:49:16
Kernel of Truth
Lynne F. Maxwell
Kernel of Truth, by Kristi Abbott, is a promising first-in-a-new-series mystery. (Is it my imagination, or are new series books proliferating?) This engaging new novel introduces protagonist Rebecca Anderson, proud owner of POPS, a gourmet popcorn shop. Like so many other cozy characters, Rebecca has come home (to the town of Grand Lake, Ohio), escaping California and a failed marriage to a celebrity chef to build a new, independent life as a small-business owner. Channeling her professional culinary skills to concoct new popcorn-centered creations, Rebecca has grand plans to grow her burgeoning business. Principally, she has entered into a not-yet-disclosed business agreement with her former mentor Coco, proprietor of Coco’s Cocoas, a successful, well-established confectionary shop. The new business plan would allow the two partners to capitalize on Coco’s secret chocolate recipe and Rebecca’s ingenuity, resulting in an exciting new product line. Unfortunately, the plan is thwarted by Coco’s untimely murder. Not only has Rebecca lost her dear friend and prospective business partner, but their business agreement has not been memorialized, and Coco’s culinary-challenged niece, Jessica, claims ownership of Coco’s Cocoas and the proprietary chocolate recipe. Meanwhile, evidence points to Jake, a heretofore harmless and apparently schizophrenic homeless man, as the killer. Despite the clues, Rebecca is not convinced that Jake is the culprit. But who is? Ultimately, Rebecca follows the money and identifies the murderer. Despite some improbable plot twists involving Jake, readers will readily welcome Rebecca to the cozy club. I, for one, will be delighted to see the second in this new series. I would also love to know how one can turn a profit selling gourmet popcorn!
Teri Duerr
2016-04-18 18:54:31
Spring Issue #144 Contents
Features
Catriona McPherson
Whether it’s her Golden Age mysteries featuring Dandy Gilver or her contemporary novels of suspense, McPherson has an appreciative and growing audience. by Oline H. Cogdill
Philip MacDonald
Once a bestselling author, as well as a prolific film and TV writer, MacDonald is sadly neglected today. by Michael Mallory
Mod Squad: Odd Squad
Behind the scenes as a TV writer on one of the grooviest cop shows ever. by Rita Lakin
The Hook
First Lines That Caught Our Attention
Adrian McKinty
Memories of his Belfast child- hood during The Troubles fuel McKinty’s fiction. by Oline H. Cogdill
Girls Like Us
Female readers are increasingly demanding—and getting—crime fiction that reflects their lives and concerns. by Megan Abbott
Gormania
A chat with Wallace Stroby, author of thrillers about professional thief Crissa Stone. by Ed Gorman
Publish & Perish: Judith Flanders
The author uses her own background as a book editor to enrich her mysteries set in London’s literary world. by Cheryl Solimini
Those crime fictions are so rooted to the city or state they are set in that you feel you are actually there.
As Ian Dickerson, the curator of Charteris’ literary estate, writes in his excellent survey, 
Without giving away any secrets, King explores the “indissoluble bond” between Mary and Sherlock, who are partners in every sense of the word.
Early in the summer of 1976, I was a 13-year-old boy in a small Minnesota town, and I was about to do something I’d never done before.
