This post is just to inform readers who regularly visit that WordPress.com has made changes to the commenting system/discussion. On the comment page there’s an option to subscribe to comments. Before the change, you had the choice to select this option but now this option is selected for you by default. As a WordPress member, I don’t have the ability to change this setting since my blog is hosted on their platform. I appreciate the comments that readers leave when they are moved to do so. The purpose of my post is to ask readers that if you leave comments and don’t want to be notified of follow-up comments via email:please uncheck the box before you hit submit reply. The burden is on you to do this unfortunately. Continue Reading…
Archives For Miscellaneous
Here comes another book by Keigo Higashino with Alexander O. Smith translating – Salvation of a Saint (Oct 2012). His second translated book in the US, The Devotion of Suspect X out now, was good about two academic professors, on opposite sides of the law, matching wits with each during a murder investigation. The book was nominated for an Edgar this year. Here is the book description below and yes it is another novel featuring physics professor, Manabu Yukawa dubbed Detective Galileo by the detectives:
Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect—except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi, is immediately smitten with her and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime. His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty. While Utsumi’s instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter. So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied—she calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa.
But even the brilliant mind of Dr. Yukawa has trouble with this one, and he must somehow find a way to solve an impossible murder and capture a very real, very deadly murderer.
Salvation for a Saint is Keigo Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a beautifully plotted crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will astonish and surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers.
From The Daily Beast: John Grisham’s Favorite Mistake: Giving Away First Editions
I had this invoice that was due to pay for them wholesale, so I started giving books away. We took them back to my office and packed them in the reception area. The boxes were everywhere, and I would just give them away. If one of my clients wanted a book, I’d try to sell it. If not, I’d give it away. I’d sell them for 10 bucks, five bucks. I used them for doorstops. I couldn’t get rid of these books.
That’s John Grisham explaining why he gave away first editions of his book. Can you guess which book he’s referring to? Answer below the break. Continue Reading…
From Reuters:
The Justice Department could reach a settlement in the next few weeks with Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and some of the major publishers suspected of colluding to push up electronic book prices, according to two people close to the negotiations.
I started reading ebooks in 2006. I mainly shopped at Fictionwise because they offered micropay rewards and discounts if you were a member. Before agency pricing, I’d bought around 400 ebooks. When the agency model was adopted by publishers, Fictionwise was left standing in the wind. Well, it looks like the agency model introduced by Apple, Inc is about to be struck down and hip hip hooray for that.
Everybody is watching this case because the result of this agency model being struck down is sure to shake things up. It can only mean good things for consumers, lower prices for one, but for bookstores and publishers, they have to contend with Amazon and the return of the $9.99 ebook that they hate so much. The consensus is that some of these folks aren’t going to make it. The economic landscape is rapidly changing. Yesterday it was announced that Best Buy is closing 50 of their stores to re-structure. During my meetings at work, it’s been told to us that e-commerce is the next big thing. Continue Reading…
Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series seems to be going strong after eighteen books. She’s about to release book #19 on Valentine’s Day, RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE (2012), set in
Alaska. Unfortunately for me, I started off with her Liam Campbell series that hasn’t seen a new release since BETTER TO REST in 2002. A series I loved for the humor and romance. The author breaks down the difference between the series here. Poor Liam. He only had four books and I enjoyed every last one. The last one had a cliffhanger but it wasn’t a bad cliffhanger. But there is good news for Liam Campbell fans. Liam Campbell is coming back…in the newest Kate Shugak novel, RESTLESS IN THE GRAVE (2012). Yay! I can’t explain why I loved the Liam Campbell series so much – I just did. Mostly because it had comedy and romance. The mysteries weren’t the focus I will admit but if you’re a romance reader, the highs and lows of Liam and Wy’s relationship was the main draw. I’ve discussed Dana Stabenow here before and I don’t mind pimping her one more time because I think she’s awesome. Also, I love that she’s digitizing her backlist for the Kate Shugak books and the Liam Campbell books (both of which have their first books priced at free or $99 cents!). Often I recommend these books to people who say they’ve enjoyed Julia Spencer-Fleming’s work (IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER). The two series have nothing in common really only in that the relationship starts off in a similar fashion (which might not be a good thing for some readers). Liam is sweet but scared of flying and Wy is a bush pilot who makes him work hard for her affections. Cravat: I haven’t read the Liam Campbell books in quite awhile but I loved them at the time that I did and I hope to reread them and maybe review them here, hoping fervently that they aren’t too dated. Continue Reading…
Washington Post: “The Leopard” is a bloated, near-total disaster. ”
The Washington Post review of The Leopard written by Jo Nesbø, is the eighth book in the Harry Hole series, written by Patrick Anderson (a review I don’t agree with) highlights a problem I see coming with the commercialization of Scandinavian writers for U.S. audiences. Just to quickly pick on the review: I read the review and thought it quite harsh and incorrect. For starters, his dismissive tone or remarks about the “pointless memories of people’s childhoods” ignores a key aspect to the pathos that is Harry Hole. A man who is beset with demons and who uses alcohol to chase them away. His past is a significant part of his character development and that to me is not “pointless.”
Moving on. Admittedly, I have enjoyed other books in the Harry Hole series more but The Leopard was not a near total disaster but then that is my opinion of course. Was it the best in the series? Probably not. Patrick Anderson is welcome to his opinion and I don’t dispute many of his claims of how far afield Jo Nesbo’s plots have strayed from the rest of his other titles. Reading the criticism in the review does bring to mind a fear that I have in that Scandinavian writers will probably lose much of what made them different and respected in the first place if they are to succeed in a U.S. market. I say that with scant evidence to back it up and am only going by what I perceive and I am no industry insider. I am just a reader with an opinion. Continue Reading…
The News
Just a gentle reminder to US mystery readers that Jo Nesbo’s latest Harry Hole novel, The Leopard will be released next week, Dec 13th. I’ve already read it and it’s good. The Redeemer still holds the top spot for me though and I still don’t see a publication date for it on Amazon.
Also, Jo Nesbo’s website just released news that The Redeemer, is a hit in Croatia. I imagine so since it has one of the most memorable assassins I’ve read in crime fiction and he was, you guessed it, Croatian. It is a fascinating storyline with a semi-sympathetic villain. Wish the US would get a move on and publish it soon.
I don’t usually follow the Bad Sex in Fiction awards unless someone mentions it and this year, David Guterson gets handed the title for retelling the Oedipus story. It’s the other titles that were nominated that got my attention though: Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84, Lee Child’s “The Affair” and Stephen King’s “11/22/63.” The award is given by the Literary Review which in and of itself says it all. I’m more amused that they even have this type of award. Continue Reading…
Since it’s going on day 11 or 12 since I last blogged about anything, I thought I’d write a quick note to say that I haven’t had time to read anything online or off. I’m behind. I hope to get back on track and catch up with everything and everybody as soon as I can. It’s my day job. I’m working longer hours of late because it’s busy and I have no life (partly joking). Oh, I did attempt to read one book, a novella, by James Sallis and that novel was Drive and that didn’t work out at all. The story is super short (like I said) about a stunt driver but I had to call it quits after 23 very rough going pages. I hear Sallis is a popular author though so I’m not completely discouraged from trying him again.
What I have done is watch a lot of movies/documentaries. Here are a few of the highlights. I finally saw and don’t laugh, in its entirety, The Social Network and came away hating Facebook even more. Joking, joking. I don’t even have a Facebook account and don’t see the appeal of having one either. But I will admit to being the last person in the world to finally see this movie and thought it was somewhat entertaining. Saw PBS doc Prohibition by Ken Burns and thought it was meh. I usually enjoy his stuff and was expecting–I don’t know what– but it was okay I guess. Right now I am in the middle of watching a Steven Soderbergh film ala documentary style starring Benicio del Toro as Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the movie “Che“, about the socialist leader/physician/guerrilla leader who was a major political figure in the Cuban revolution. This movie is available for streaming via Netflix. Interesting movie. That is all.
This is not by any means an exhaustive list and most of these titles are books that I’ve bought or have put on my wish list. Geo restrictions may apply if you live outside the U.S.
Choke Hold by Christa Faust (sequel to Money Shot) / bought
Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville (third book in the Jack Lennon series set post-Troubles) / wish listed
I am seriously tempted to buy Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. The story is described as a novel of “love and suspense.” The premise is interesting as it’s set in the Appalachian mountains. I’ve never read this author before. I usually ignore books that are hyped but I don’t know. This one sounds good. I’m still thinking about it.
There’s a slew of new Ross Thomas titles being digitized and released by Open Road Media. I’ve never read this author but after reading Lawrence Block’s blog that listed him as one of his favorite writers, I thought I’d give him a shot so I bought, The Fools In Town are on Our Side . Same for Derek Raymond, He Died with His Eyes Open (Factory Book #1) set in South London Continue Reading…
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…
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…








