Arts, Briefly – Janet Evanovich Moves On – NYTimes.com.
Good luck, Random House!
Archives For July
I will be on vacation beginning Thursday due to a much needed rest for two weeks. Help me pick some good reading material! I have an extensive list of books and an ebook reader so, the titles I’ve listed are just off the top. I started this blog because I am interested in reading crime fiction and I want to highlight some good books. I average about 42 hits per day here so if you are just passing through, can you please either recommend a good mystery to read or vote for a title in my poll? Thanks! The poll is open for one day only and you can only vote for one book (updated, poll doesn’t allow more than one choice, sorry!). Appreciate your help.
I love historical mysteries. Do you? If you do, you should check out Diana Norman (The Vizard Mask) who uses the pen name of Ariana Franklin for her Mistress of the Art of Death series set in 12th Century England featuring a female medieval pathologist. There are four books in this series thus far and the main protagonist is Adelia Aguilar. She’s an anatomist who studied at the University of Salerno, the only medical school at the time to allow women to study medicine.
Adelia says many times that medieval England is a backward thinking country. Women are not allowed to be doctors and are viewed as witches and burned at the stake for it. Also, women own no property and someone with Adelia’s knowledge about the dead, she isn’t allowed to touch the body. The church doesn’t allow any desecration of the flesh after death. So Adelia’s adapted to the restrictions of this time period, using her Arabic manservant, Mansur, to pretend to be a doctor while she acts as his interpreter and assistant. I will dive briefly into the synopsis of each book I read and share my thoughts on each one. There are some minor spoilers. Continue Reading…
New Mysteries From Japan, Nigeria, German and Korea Hit the U.S. – WSJ.com.
(July 1, 2010)
This is a good article to read over for fans of international crime fiction. U.S. publishers are searching for that next Stieg Larsson and are acquiring rights to translated works of authors whose works are selling well in their home countries like Camilla Lackberg and Liza Marklund. Notable quotes (and there are plenty):
Publishers seem increasingly willing to gamble, however, especially on Nordic noir. The Stockholm-based Salomonsson Agency, which represents 36 Scandinavian writers, has sold nearly 40 books to U.S. publishers in the last three years, says co-founder Niclas Salomonsson. Twenty-one went to Alfred A. Knopf, which publishes Mr. Larsson and recently signed Jo Nesbø, who was formerly with HarperCollins. This spring, Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books paid more than $500,000 for rights to four novels by Swedish crime queen Liza Marklund, whose books have sold 12 million copies world-wide.
and this one:
The explosion of crime fiction overseas could come at a price for U.S. publishers. Danny Baror, president of Baror International, which sells foreign rights for more than 100 American authors, says his sales have dropped by 25% in Germany and 15% in France and Italy in recent years because publishers there are focused on local writers. His worst market is Scandinavia, where sales have dropped by 90% since 2000: local stars like Mr. Dahl and Ms. Marklund now dominate there.
“We used to sell our entire catalogue in Sweden,” Mr. Baror says. “These days, they only buy Robert Ludlum.”
One last thing. Michael Connelly is quoted in the article as being influenced by crime fiction he’s read overseas and is going to start making some changes by adding more social elements like the bad economy that drives someone to murder. Should be interesting. I like authors who are willing to change it up and try to stay fresh. There’s only so many ways to write crime fiction and I think we’ve read them all. I don’t know what it is about international crime fiction but there’s a difference.
The Wire (HBO) 2002 to 2008: I enjoyed all five seasons of creator/writer David Simon’s unappreciated series, The Wire, set in Baltimore, Maryland which focused on urban crime on the street level then moved on up to the inter workings and politics of law enforcement (in how they solve crimes) and on up to the government level (on how they run on reducing crime stats and so forth) then to the media in how they handle/cover urban crime. That’s a simple view for a fascinating series.
The Shield (Fox) 2002 to 2008: The Shield, (writer Shawn Ryan) is another intense crime show that follows dirty cop, Vic Mackey and his strike team for seven seasons. The show was inspired by the real life events relating to the scandal surrounding the anti-gang unit in Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division. The series is again, intense. I bought the box set and was captivated from the first to the last season. I stayed up all night watching it. Mackey and his team did everything: planted evidence, sold drugs, stole money, killed other cops and the list goes on and on. In the last two seasons, Mackey and his team start to implode as they begin to answer for their actions from the previous three years.
Both series are highly recommended if you’re looking for good crime shows to watch. Can’t think of anything on TV now that rivals them.
“Wages of Sin” by Penelope Williamson (2004, 496 pages) is a mystery featuring Detective Daman Rourke and set during the late 1920′s New Orleans. “Mortal Sins” (2003, 496 pages) is the first book in this two book series that introduced Daman Rourke aka Day and his sexy, movie star girlfriend, Remy Lelourie.
New Orleans comes vividly to life thanks to the author’s careful and meticulous attention to the culture, politics and atmosphere of the city. “Wages of Sin” is a tale about obsession and scandal. The author drops enough bombshells to keep you hooked into the story while giving you a quick tour of the city.
There are several threads going on in the story and all are engaging. The first subplot deals with an obsessed fan who dubs himself Romeo and who’s stalking the popular Hollywood actress, Remy LeLourie. He’s creepy because we are privy to his thoughts first hand which are clearly provoked just by LeLourie’s beauty and mere existence.
Secondly, there’s the death of a priest whose body is found crucified on a crossbeam in the macaroni factory. Day gets pulled from his girlfriends party to attend the crime scene. The murder took place in an area hobos refuse to visit. The victim, Father Patrick Walsh, was well liked by his congregation that is until the vestry is given a closer look. Father Walsh was harboring an explosive secret and was a polarizing figure with his political views. His death exposes possible corruption within the church and exposing some eye-brow raising secrets that promises to shake the community. Continue Reading…
P.B. Ryan (Patricia Ryan) got the rights reverted back to her historical mysteries, set during the Gilded Age. The series features Nell Sweeney, an Irish immigrant and governess to the prominent Hewitt household. In the first book, “Still Life With Murder” the Hewitt’s son, Will Hewitt, an opium addict, is in jail and accused of a heinous crime. Nell’s persuaded to help clear Will’s good name and thus you have the start of this wonderful series.
I read “Still Life With Murder” when it first came out in 2003. It’s a quick read. I bought up the rest of the series (six total) in digital format thanks to the author making them all available at Smashwords at 2.99 each but there’s a site wide 25% off promotion going on that ends July 31. You have to make sure to use the coupon code of SWS25 for each book (it’s listed at the site as well). The ebooks are also available in various formats and are DRM free which means you have the freedom to read these books on any device. For completion, the books are also available in Kindle format at Amazon. Sarah at Monkey Bear Reviews has already read and reviewed the first book, Still Life With Murder and has finished the second. Dear Author also did a review of Still Life With Murder as well (Janine). As readers, we are all excited about authors making their backlist available to us and at reasonable cost, too. Thank You.
Reading order for the series is as follows:
Still Life With Murder
Murder in a Mill Town
Death on Beacon Hill
Murder on Black Friday
Murder in the North End
A Bucket of Ashes
This might be old news to some of you but I just found this Publisher’s Weekly article (May 2010) spotlighting Janet Evanovich in Mixing It Up while reading the reader discussion board at Amazon (Who’s Writing the Stephanie Plum Series?). It’s quite interesting in that Evanovich asserts in the article that the writing process for her Stephanie Plum series is indeed, a family effort:
If the format is new, the collaboration isn’t. When Evanovich got the call 16 years ago that Columbia Tristar wanted to pay her $1 million for rights to the first Stephanie Plum novel, the family gathered together. “My husband and I gave our two adult children the choice,” she says. “We could form a family business, or they could go their own way and we’d help them to do whatever they wanted. Everybody decided to do the family business.” That includes husband Pete, who acts as business manager, son Peter, who acts as agent, and daughter Alex, who runs the publicity arm of the business. “Instead of moving apart, we keep moving closer together, with our jobs overlapping more and more,” says Evanovich. “We’re like this little herd. It can be hard to tell where I stop and they start.”
This explains a lot and this might also be the problem. I don’t have a personal vendetta against the author or her family. Trust me, I really don’t and I wish them the best with their family business. Just glad not to be contributing to it (never did really since I quit reading the series a long time ago). Anyway, I will leave you with Janet’s secret for getting over writer’s block:
“When I’m writing a book, I’ll go off into my office for the morning, and then come out and we all have lunch together, and I’ll say, I’m stuck, and my son, Peter, will say, ‘Throw in some midgets and a monkey!’
Year 2010 is half over and I haven’t read much 2010 titles but these titles stood out thus far this year.
Met or Exceeded Reading Expectations
The Little Death (2010) by P.J. Parrish featuring private detective Louis Kincaid from Fort Meyers who’s having to solve a baffling murder that has the potential to cause a sex scandal involving a few of the affluent residents of Palm Beach. Suspenseful, tension filled mystery with a shocking ending. Plan to read more by this author.
The Three Evangelists (2007) by Fred Vargas that follows three amateur sleuths who are medieval historians trying to solve the mystery of a missing opera singer and the mysterious tree that appeared in her backyard prior to her disappearance. Paris setting, interesting protagonists, slow pacing though but otherwise, an impressive read.
The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin (2009) by far the best of the bunch in discoveries this year. Johan Theorin is an author to watch. I’m very impressed with the author. To the point: The Darkest Room is a meaty, complex ghost story that is atmospheric and suspenseful.
The Ghosts of Belfast (2010) by Stuart Neville. Great debut post-Troubles, featuring an ex-IRA contract killer who’s haunted and being followed by the people he murdered. Edgy, suspenseful, political intrigue and tension building in the last fourth of the novel. Look forward to reading more by this author.
Disappointments Thus Far
Broken (Grant County No. 7) by Karin Slaughter. Oh, I had problems with this book. Let me summarize them for you. Starting with dereliction of duty by a police officer, a weak suspense plot, a villain that just shows up out of nowhere and a diminishing interest in the series due to the actions of certain characters. All of that added up to a disappointing read. Yes, I posted this just to give the book another kick.
“The Pusher” written by Ed McBain (who also wrote as Evan Hunter) is the third book in the 87th Precinct series that started with Cop Hater. Surprisingly, The Pusher being published in 1956 still reads well today. The series is told in third person and has a large and diverse cast of characters. It’s only after the author’s death that I’ve grown to appreciate his work. In the afterword, the author sums up the premise of the series saying it’s about the “conglomerate hero in a mythical city.”
“There are, to be truthful, a lot of troubles with murder–but there’s one in particular.
It gets to be a habit.”
Much of the story takes place in the fictional city of Isola. In, “The Pusher,” a high-ranking cop learns an ugly truth about his son and finds himself compromising his job and his principles to protect him. Continue Reading…
Often when you pick up a book, you don’t know if you’re gonna love it or hate it. Or neither. In the case of The Last Coyote (2007 reprint, 528 pages) Harry Bosch book No.4. I picked it up and had thoughts of putting it down after 3 very slow chapters. Then a plot twist caught me and I didn’t put the book down until I finished it. After being impressed with The Black Echo and The Concrete Blonde, I felt assured that The Last Coyote wouldn’t let me down and it didn’t. It’s just a slow starter.
The plot in The Last Coyote (1995) is personal for Harry. It involves the investigation into his mother’s murder. Early on in the series, we knew about Harry’s mother being a prostitute. Against the advice of others, Harry decides to delve into the 30 year-old cold case and yes, it takes its toll. The last half of the book is gripping with an ending that’s shocking as well. I’m a reader who reads for character and Michael Connelly does such a damn good job with Harry Bosch in fleshing him out. The most puzzling though is why I haven’t read past The Last Coyote? No reason really only that there are over 600 ebooks vying for my attention. I rated The Last Coyote a B+ read. Looking over the reviews, seems Connelly can’t write a bad book even if he tried.
He’s currently writing a series featuring Harry Bosch’s half-brother, Mickey Haller, who’s a lawyer in The Lincoln Lawyer (2008, 432 pages) that I rated a B read and The Brass Verdict (2009, 592 pages) is the latest and unread read by me. I started Connelly with Blood Work and I’ve been a fan ever since then. Anyway, here’s The Last Coyote in the author’s own words (at his website).
