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Book Review: Die For Me, Karen Rose

September 29, 2011 — 10 Comments

What made me dig out this review of Karen Rose, “Die For Me” is that I’m reading Sandra Brown’s latest, Lethal and I’m not getting anywhere fast with it and I’m a fan. Romantic suspense is a not a favorite for a lot of readers. Usually the plots are implausible and the characters do a lot of stupid stuff. Added to that, the romance is not well balanced with the suspense or vice versa. Well, with new writers emerging in this area, I wanted to highlight a writer who does a good job of balancing romance and suspense and that’s Karen Rose. She’s written 12 romantic suspense books (not counting anthologies) to date with her latest being You Belong To Me. The first book I read from this author was Die For Me (2007) and I am re-posting the review. I plan to read her latest.

PPD officers, Vito Ciccotelli and his partner, Nick Lawrence have to race against time to catch a perp who uses Medieval torture devices to kill his victims. Sophie Johannsen is a linguist and archaeologist who helps the PPD uncover nine graves most of which are filled with human remains from years past. With more than a few still empty. Another thread develops with a cop from the Georgia Bureau looking for his estranged parents. Then there’s the romance that is pretty well balanced with the suspense part of the story. Continue Reading…

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Bad Language in Crime Fiction

September 28, 2011 — 16 Comments

There seems to be/or has been an increasing pressure, steadily building, on writers to avoid using bad language in their mystery novels. How do you feel about that? This is seen more in the U.S. than abroad. Readers are pushing against bad language and are penalizing writers with one star reviews on Amazon (who takes those reviews seriously anyway?). I’m not sure if the complaint is about the use of bad language period or the excessive use of bad language in crime fiction.

At any rate, readers have felt the need to complain about it to the writer, to the publisher, to whoever. Editors are responding to it, too, which is troublesome to me, because these folks aren’t representative of me and vice versa. I will direct you to read reviewer Sunita’s conference notes from her attendance at Bouchercon this year where authors voiced their frustrations about this very thing. Continue Reading…

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Book Review: The Caller, by Karin Fossum

September 26, 2011 — 8 Comments

The Caller (Inspecter Sejer 8), written by Karin Fossum and translated from the Norwegian by K.E. Semmel. This is my second book by this author, her latest and the eighth book in the Inspector Konrad Sejer series, that’s only out in the UK as I write this. Karin Fossum is the master at creating quiet moments that subsequently build up in intensity and suspense. That’s her trademark. Another strength is her recreating the daily minutiae of regular, everyday people whose lives are suddenly changed as a result of a crime. For her latest, we watch as the community reacts/responds when someone carries out cruel jokes on random strangers. In her usual style, the author peers closely at how these crimes affect each victim’s life and that of the intrusive offender while at the same time trying to solve the case.

The story begins with a sinister feeling of sorts, in third person narrative, with a happily married couple enjoying their dinner together while their infant daughter sleeps soundly and quietly in the garden. Out of the shadows comes a stranger, who quietly sneaks up to the pram, while the parents are oblivious to the danger. If this were a movie, you all would shriek in horror at the most likely scenarios. Thus begins a wave of crime and terror as Inspector Konrad Sejer and his partner, Jacob Skarre try to find a jokester who finds amusement in other people’s pain and misery. The tricks are cruel and before they begin in earnest, Inspector Sejer receives an ominous postcard telling him of what’s to come. An elderly woman, idly contemplating her mortality and still in good health, reads her own obituary in the newspaper. A man in the last stages of ALS finds a hearse parked in his driveway, invited there by an anonymous caller. Ultimately, these antics get more serious and snowball out of control. Continue Reading…

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Book signing Event (notes on the evening)

September 24, 2011 — 10 Comments

Please note: all links in this post are unaffiliated links (no referral fees).

It’s been several years since I’ve attended an author signing/reading event. I love attending these when I have the opportunity. I’ve met some wonderful authors from over the years. Last Tuesday, Colin Cotterill (promoting Killed At the Whim of a Hat) and Stuart Neville (promoting Stolen Souls)1 and James Benn (promoting A Mortal Terror) were in my area so I took off to go pay them a visit. All three had recently attended Bouchercon. Cotterill said he’s been traveling without an iron so please excuse his disheveled look (he looked fine). I bought Colin Cotterill’s Killed at the Whim of a Hat, the first book in a new series. I’m a big fan of his Dr. Siri books, set in 1970′s Laos (first book is The Coroner’s Lunch). Surprisingly, I had the most paper books for him to sign.

Colin Cotterill is very funny. I deemed him the star of the evening. He told us what his next book title will be in the series after Killed at the Whim of a Hat, it’s tentatively titled, Grandad, There’s a Head on the Beach. *LOL* According to him, nothing is made up in his books. What’s interesting is that Cotterill says he always begins with the title for his books before writing them. He’s already completed book two in the series. Fans of his Laos series will understand this next one. His original title for Anarchy and Old Dogs was The Devil’s Vagina. He said the marketing team had a problem with that one (ya think?) so he changed it (he polled all the independent bookstores asking them to offer an alternative title). That was the first time he’d been asked to change one of his titles. The next Dr. Siri book, Slash and Burn, is due out at the end of the year. Continue Reading…

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HBO’s Treme

September 18, 2011 — 4 Comments

I spent most of today watching HBO’s Treme, about a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana, that takes place three months post-Katrina. I enjoyed it. When the show premiered, I couldn’t get into it. I kept asking my family and friends who were watching it at the time: is it good? is it like the Wire? They would roll their eyes at me and tell me to just watch it for myself, but yes, they liked it. I watched one episode and to me, it wasn’t The Wire in terms of quality, whatever that may be. Simply put: I wasn’t impressed with the first episode or the second so I quit. Continue Reading…

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Cover & Release Date for Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner

September 17, 2011 — 8 Comments

For those Outlander fans who are eagerly awaiting the next Lord John book, The Scottish Prisoner will be released in hardcover and in digital format, November 29, 2011. It is the third full length story in the Lord John series that started with Lord John and the Private Matter in 2003. Lord John Grey is a minor yet significant character from the Outlander series and it is a favorite series of mine because each story is complete versus the Outlander series that seems to be 700+ pages of endless storylines and characters in peril (still love it though).

Brief Overview of the series
For those unfamiliar with either series, Outlander (also known as Cross Stitch in the UK) is the first book out of seven in this ongoing series (and the author just announced the title of the eighth book). The series is rather difficult to categorize but the stories all contain elements of historical fiction, romance and time travel. The heroine, Claire Randall, is a nurse who is enjoying her second honeymoon on the Scottish Isles before she finds herself inadvertently going through some stepping stones that takes her from 1945 to 1743. The first three books were captivating reads for me. I almost gave up on the first book because it was slow going but after a couple of chapters, I was immersed into the story. Claire’s husband, Frank, is a history professor who often explores his family background. He tells her all about his most infamous relative, Black Jack Randall, who Claire meets when she finds herself propelled back in time. She finds that he is nothing like her husband at all. I remember that scene and it kept me riveted from there on, as she scrambles to survive in the 18th Century. Continue Reading…

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Review: The Indian Bride, by Karin Fossum

September 16, 2011 — 13 Comments

In The Indian Bride (2007) also known as Calling Out For You in the UK, is translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund. A woman is found beaten to death in a meadow in the tiny village of Elvestad. It’s a quiet community with a total population of two thousand people. The local cafe serves as heart of the village. A place where the young & the old hang out for news and gossip. Inspector Konrad Sejer says that this is the most horrific crime he’s saw in Norway. The police turn to the community for help as they try to find the killer.

I thought this was a terrific read although I did have some issues with certain character’s actions in here. I see why Karin Fossum is popular but she won’t be to everybody’s tastes. She writes atypical, unconventional crime fiction stories that for me are refreshing. Her novels focus more (like she said) on the psychology of her characters and examines the impact and the aftermath of a murder in a community. You have a foreign woman found brutally beaten in a meadow. This is an unplanned crime. This is a crime of rage and impulsiveness. Continue Reading…

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Grave Goods, by Ariana Franklin

September 13, 2011 — 12 Comments

In Grave Goods (Mistress of the Art of Death series), a Glastonbury monk claims to know where the final resting place of legendary warrior, King Arthur and Queen Guinevere is located. The bones are supposed to be in the sacred place of the Isle of Avalon. It takes almost a quarter of a century for the news of King Arthur’s final resting place to reach King Henry II. He sends Adelia Aguilar, a Salerno trained doctor, to authenticate the two skeletons that allegedly belong to the Welsh warrior and his queen. This will go a long way in helping the King subdue the Welsh rebellion and the warriors who continue to fight in King Arthur’s name.

The novel starts off with Adelia, her Arabic manservant Mansur, her daughter Allie and the child’s nurse being run off from Cambridgeshire. The town doctors have complained to the archdeacon about Adelia (posing as translator) and Mansur (posing as the doctor), stealing all their patients. Even though Adelia is a trained doctor and recognized as one in her native Sicily, she’s not accepted as one here, in this “backwards thinking country.” Church policy forbid Adelia from doing anything to the body after death. The local doctors manage to convince church authorities that Adelia and Mansur are “heretics” and thus they are forced to leave the fenlands. Continue Reading…

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Karin Fossum: “I just don’t care about the plot”

September 7, 2011 — 4 Comments

Ran across this “article in the Ireland Herald.ie where Karin Fossum discusses what interests her most about crime fiction:

“People always talk about the plot: is it clever, is it smart and so on. I just don’t care about the plot,” laughs Fossum, “I care about the people, the psychology, the tragedy and sorrow . . . I’m far more interested in the human consequences of people’s actions.”

I am too. I’ve always been more character focused than plot focused. After reading the article, I went to my digital reader and pulled up The Indian Bride and am reading it now. Here is the description of the book that is apart of her Inspector Sejer series set in Norway.

When long-time bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. Then, on the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found on the outskirts of town. The “good people of Elvestad” can’t believe that anyone among them could be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that no one is completely innocent—not the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants the attention that comes with being a witness, or the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.

The first translated book in the U.S. is Don’t Look Back if you have an interest in the reading the series. Karin Fossum is regarded as one of the most respected and successful crime writers in Europe. One of my reading goals was to read her this year so I am happy to be doing just that.

In other news, I started Headhunters by Jo Nesbo before going to work yesterday evening. The story is written in first person narrative and is very verbose and very boring. I have to be in the mood to read this book so I’ve set it aside for later. I won’t be zipping through it like I did the Harry Hole books I see. I pray that it gets better once the plot kicks in.

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Misterioso: A Crime Novel, by Arne Dahl and translated by Tiina Nunnally

September 6, 2011 — 4 Comments

Misterioso (c2011 ; 352 pages) is the first book in the Intercrime series written by Arne Dahl, pen name for Jan Arnald and translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally. I must admit that the prologue didn’t grab me and I set the book aside. Several weeks later, I picked it back up again and couldn’t put it down. That’s why I hate prologues because they are utterly useless. Anyway, this is a well written and well thought out police procedural set in Stockholm during the mid-1990′s. It’s what I would say is a thinking person’s thriller. I spent all day Sunday reading this book until I finished it.

Sweden is going through an economic crisis. Out of this financial instability, a serial killer emerges and starts targeting the titans of the business industry, catapulting Sweden into a panic. Continue Reading…

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a catch of consequence

A Catch of Consequence, by Diana Norman

September 4, 2011 — 6 Comments

The reading world was dealt a devastating blow with the loss of Diana Norman (Aug 25, 1933 – Jan 27, 2011). For readers who are unfamiliar with her work, she wrote mostly historical fiction novels set in late 18th Century and a set of crime fiction novels featuring a female pathologist set during the 12th Century. She had a way of bringing her characters to life like no other and her recreation of the past made you feel like you were right there. She was a gifted storyteller who will be sorely missed.

I pulled out A Catch of Consequence (2003) for a reread and wanted to give a brief review. This is the first book I’d read by her that made me a fan. The story is broken down into three parts covering several years. There’s love, tragedy, hope and peace between these pages. This is the first of three books that feature the indomitable Makepeace Burke. She’s an independent woman running a successful tavern called The Roaring Meg in Boston, out by the waterfront. Continue Reading…

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