May 1, 2008

Gordon Campbell
Missing Witness (2007) tells the story of Doug McKenzie who returns in 1973 to his home town of Phoenix, Arizona to work with legendary defense lawyer Dan Morgan. The case seems clear: a rich rancher’s son has been shot by either his beautiful wife, Rita, or emotionally disturbed 12-year old daughter, Miranda. When Miranda slips into a catatonic state, the murdered man’s father hires Morgan to defend his daughter-in-law. Nominated for the Edgar for Best First Novel, this powerful courtroom drama has a twisty plot and finely drawn portraits of two very different lawyers.

Tana French
In the Woods (2007) is narrated by Dublin detective Rob Ryan, whose two childhood friends disappeared in the woods 20 years earlier. Only his partner, Cassie Maddox, knows that Ryan was the third child, found with no memory of the event. When Ryan and Maddox begin to investigate the murder of a 12-year-old girl whose body is found at a local archeological dig near the same woods, the past and present collide. Ryan knows he should remove himself from the investigation, but the chilling similarities between the two cases give him hope of laying old ghosts to rest. Ryan and Maddox are complex and empathetic characters, and their relationship gives this police procedural thriller unexpected emotional depth. This impressive debut novel is a finalist for the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Jonathan Lethem
Motherless Brooklyn (1999) narrates the exploits of Lionel Essrog and a crew of high-school dropout orphans, who are borrowed from an orphanage to do some heavy lifting of a dubious nature for Frank Minna. The group graduates into the “Minna Men” operating a private limo service and detective agency in Brooklyn. The kicker in all this is that Lionel is an intelligent and heartwarming sufferer of Tourette’s Syndrome, although Lionel accepts and even glories in his condition. The 2000 Gold Dagger winner takes on Lionel’s personal rhythm of wordplay, outbursts, tics, and physical exhibitions, integrating with a complex story of murder, cults, and mafiosi. One of the most amazing and rewarding books we’ve recently read.

Craig McDonald
Head Games (2007) tells the story of Hector Lassiter (aging crime writer), Bud Fiske (a young poet sent by True Magazine in 1957 to interview Lassiter), and the stolen head of Mexican general Pancho Villa. Lassiter embodies the pulp fiction he writes, tearing through the desert from Mexico to LA with a trunkful of heads while fighting off Mexican nationalists as well as creepy members of Yale University’s Skull & Bones Fraternity with his trusty 1873 Colt Pacemaker. Full of history and legends, this fun wild ride of a first novel is nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Deanna Raybourn
Silent in the Grave (2007) introduces Lady Julia Grey, whose husband Edmond dies suddenly of heart disease at a dinner party in their London townhouse. Over her husband’s body, Julia meets Nicholas Brisbane, a mysterious private detective who suspects murder since he is working for Edmond to find the source of threatening letters. In 1880s London, England, it’s not easy to be a widow, especially in the first year of deep mourning, and it is over a year before Julia finds an indication that Brisbane might be right. A pitch-perfect historical, this is an impressive first novel with an interesting heroine, a disturbing but attractive detective, and a slightly eccentric cast of supporting characters. The themes are dark for a traditional mystery, but Julia’s sprightly narration and optimism provide the balance to earn a nomination for an Agatha Best First Mystery.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
Prime Time (2007) introduces Charlotte “Charlie” McNally, a TV investigative reporter, in Boston, Massachusetts. At age 46, workaholic Charlie, whose strongest relationship seems to be with her Emmy Award, worries that her news director is about to replace her with a younger model. Charlie is sent to interview the wife of a man killed in an auto accident and learns that the dead man recently emailed her about some mysterious papers. While searching through her SPAM, Charlie finds some intriguing messages that she hopes will result in a block buster news story just in time for Sweeps Week. Charlie meets the first man who has interested her in ages, but her instinct to investigate everything suspects he may not be one of the good guys. This novel just won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Kevin Wignall
Who Is Conrad Hirst? (2007) is the story of a hit man who decides to retire. Knowing that a retired hit man is a liability to the organization, Conrad decides to kill the four men who know who he is and what he does. He is slightly worried when the first victim tells him that everything he has been told is a lie. When the face of the German crime boss he believes he has been working for does not match the face of the man who hired him, Conrad realizes he has no idea how to extricate himself from the situation. Conrad kills with no emotion, yet somehow becomes a sympathetic character as he tries to unravel his present and past. (Nominee for 2008 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original)

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Eric Garcia
Anonymous Rex (1999) introduces an unexpected PI, an undercover Velociraptor, but then all the 14 surviving dinosaur species are undercover in the human world. Vinny Rubio thus has a double challenge, as a standard hard-boiled PI in Los Angeles, who also has to tread the dino-humie line. Oddly enough, the book is so convincing, that the reader finds the challenges and interactions convincingly natural, and the story of bosses and gangsters and lowlifes and dames, etc., proceeds in nearly traditional noir fashion. A weird excursion in some standard cliched situations, but freshly interpreted.

Michael Innes
Hamlet, Revenge! (1937) is the second in the Inspector Appleby series, but the first we could find, and it is just as well, with 31 suspects in an amazingly complex, erudite, academic country house murder mystery by a master, an originator of the “donnish” investigation. Inspector Appleby doesn’t arrive until page 75, but the academic lectures on Shakespeare's Hamlet keep the reader busy. In the end, the struggles are worth it, and Innes provides a towering literary mystery, rewarding the time it takes to analyze the professorial sentences. This, and presumably its series fellows, provide a depth of comfort that the language and literature has been well-served.

Peter Lovesey
The Circle (2005) tells the story of Bob Naylor, a van driver who enjoys playing with rhymes. Prodded by his daughter to get out more, Bob attends a meeting of the Chichester Writers’ Circle where the chair is taken by the police in suspicion of the arson that killed his disreputable publisher. Bob is pressured by the women in the group to help clear the chair's name, and after a second death the entire group is added to the list of suspects. Henrietta “Hen” Mallin, a police inspector on loan from West Sussex eventually arrives to take over the case, but it is the amateurs who stumble over most of the clues. Bob’s rhymes add a playful touch to this book sure to please fans of traditional mysteries. (The 2nd Hen Mallin book, The Headhunters, comes out this month.)

Claire Matturo
Skinny-Dipping (2004) introduces Lilly Belle Rose Cleary, a junior partner in a prestigious law firm in Sarasota, Florida. Lilly, a vegetarian who frets that her fruit might be treated with pesticides or germ-laden, is just finishing a kayak whiplash case when two medical malpractice suits get dumped on her desk. Obsessive-compulsive by nature, Lilly notices that the neatly aligned paper clips on the files in her office are no longer parallel—someone has been rummaging through her papers. Then one of her clients is murdered, Lilly is attacked, and the investigation is off and running. Lilly is a wonderful narrator—funny, witty, and smart as a whip.

Asa Nonami
The Hunter (1996) is the first English translation in the Takako Otomichi series, following police procedural detail, as well as Japanese proto-feminist internal dialog, as homicide detective and also elite motorcycle cop Takako works in the rigid old boys’ police network to solve a bizarre immolation murder. This is one that operates not-so-subtly on several levels, and is rewarding in terms of cultural factors, gender politics in modern Japan, and, not the least, a tight murder story, notwithstanding a bit of extraneous wolf-stuff. One of the best Japanese mysteries to arrive in English, in a wonderfully accessible translation.

Rick Riordan
Big Red Tequila (1996) introduces Jackson “Tres” Navarre, who left San Antonio, Texas, after he witnessed the murder of his sheriff father. Ten years later, responding to letters from his high school sweetheart, Tres returns to San Antonio armed with a PhD in English, a mastery of Tai Chi, investigative skills learned working for a San Francisco law firm, and an enchilada-eating cat. Tres decides to tackle the unsolved homicide of his father, but then his old girlfriend disappears, and things quickly move from bad to worse. Lively narration, vivid characters, snappy dialog, and a wry sense of humor make this book a winner.

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March 1, 2008

Nicola Griffith
The Blue Place (1998) introduces Aud Torvingen, a half-American, half-Norwegian lesbian ex-Atlanta cop. Now working as a self-defense teacher and part-time body guard, Aud has a disconcerting habit of automatically figuring out how many seconds it would take her to snap the neck of random people. This killing mindset is her “blue place,” where violence provides the only pleasure. Convinced to help Julia, an art dealer whose friend has been murdered, Aud is slowly drawn back into a life containing other joys.

Lisa Lutz
The Spellman Files (2007) introduces Isabele “Izzy Spellman, a 28-year old sleuth working for her parents’ private investigation firm, in San Francisco, California. This book isn’t so much a mystery as an exploration of growing up in a family of detectives. The family dynamics are hilarious, and a bit frightening—in this family privacy doesn’t exist. Izzy’s mother pries full names and birthdates out of Izzy’s dates so that she can run a complete check, her uncle teaches her to pick locks as a birthday present, and her father smashes her left tail light so he can shadow her more easily after dark. When Izzy’s much younger sister Rae begins to involve herself in the family business, becoming addicted to “recreational surveillance,” Izzy begins to wonder what it would be like to be normal, and tries to extract herself from the Spellman household and agency. This book is original, funny, fast-paced, totally involving, and highly recommended.

Eliot Pattison
The Skull Mantra (1999) introduces Shan Tao Yun, a Chinese bureaucrat imprisoned with Buddhist monks in a Himalayan labor camp. Formerly the inspector general of the Ministry of Economy in Beijing, Shan manages to survive torture and hard labor because of the protection and spiritual support from his fellow prisoners of the 404th. When the headless body of a local Chinese official is found by the prisoners building a road through the mountains, Shan is forced by the Red Army colonel in charge of the district to conduct the investigation. Colonel Tan wants a quick resolution of the case, but Shan is determined to find the truth. Like Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko, Shan manages to retain his humanity despite the oppression of socialist bureaucracy. Rich with details of Tibetan Buddhist life, this book draws you into another reality. Highly recommended.

James Sallis
Cypress Grove (2003) introduces John Turner, an ex-cop, ex-con, ex-psychotherapist who has retired to remote Cripple Creek, Tennessee. His solitude is interrupted by the local sheriff, asking for help with a murder case. Turner is drawn reluctantly into the investigation of the bizarre murder. Alternating chapters flash back into Turner’s past, building the story of what made him the man he is today. The murder plot is detailed and involving, but this is more a story of the detective than the detection. Excellent writing throughout.

Elaine Viets
Shop till You Drop (2003) introduces Helen Hawthorne, who gave up her affluent lifestyle for a minimum-wage job at Juliana’s, an ultra-exclusive Florida boutique with a locked door to keep out unfashionable undesirables wearing cheap shoes. The clientele at Juliana’s are uniformly underweight, usually blond, and sculpted by injections and surgery. Helen can’t help noticing that more than size 2 clothes are sold at Juliana’s; designer drugs hidden in vintage evening purses are also a hot item. Wickedly funny, this book lampoons fashion, Florida, dating, and especially cosmetic surgery. When the Florida police find a body in a barrel in the bag, she is identified by the serial numbers on her silicon implants! Murder with Reservations (#6 in the series) has just been nominated for the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel.

Robert Wilson
A Small Death in Lisbon (1999) won the Gold Dagger for the best mystery of the year. The novel switches back and forth between two stories. In 1941, Klaus Felsen, an industrialist in Germany, who is pressured by the SS to go to Lisbon, Portugal, and oversee the smuggling of wolfram (tungsten) which is needed to produce tanks and weapons. In 1999, Lisbon detective Ze Coelho is investigating the murder of a 15-year old girl. At first the two stories seem unrelated, but as the story of Felson and his Portuguese partner moves forward, and Coelho looks back, the link is finally completed. This book is a fascinating look at Portuguese history as well as a suspenseful mystery.

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February 1, 2008

Gianrico Carofiglio
Involuntary Witness (2002) introduces Guido Guerrieri, a defense lawyer in Bari, Italy. As the book opens, Guido’s wife leaves him and he sinks into a mixture of despair and panic. He is unable to concentrate on his work until he is convinced to take on the defense of a Senegalese peddler accused of killing a young boy. Guido eventually accepts that his client is innocent and, despite the weight of police evidence, takes the unconventional step of going to trial rather than accepting a plea bargain. This court procedural is an indictment of the Italian justice system and a portrait of a lawyer rediscovering his compassion.

Ariana Franklin
Mistress of the Art of Death (2007) takes place in 12th century England. When four children are brutally murdered and mutilated in Cambridge, the Catholic townspeople blame their Jewish neighbors, who are placed under the protection of King Henry II. In desperate need of the taxes from the Jewish merchants, King Henry asks his cousin the King of Sicily to send a medical examiner. The University of Salerno chooses Adelia (Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar of Salerno), a young prodigy in anatomy, trained as a “doctor for the dead.” In England Adelia faces accusations of witchcraft and of necessity pretends to be the assistant to her servant, a Saracen eunuch. This mystery provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily life and social position of Jews and women at that time.

Sebastien Japrisot
The 10:30 from Marseille (1962) [APA: The Sleeping Car Murders] is the French author’s first mystery, written in a whimsical and offhand manner, that can turn sudden and direct, as the perspective moves from person to person. More people die than one would expect, after a porter finds a woman’s body in a six-person overnight berth on the train from Marseille to Paris. Cops and victims each get their time in the spotlight. Detective Grazziano, called Grazzi, faces many challenges, including political pressures and the inability of people to remember his name. The book is a breezy, yet sometimes complex read; nicely compact at under 180 pages, it seems like more.

Michael Pearce
A Dead Man in Trieste (2004) introduces Sandor Pelczynski Seymour, reared by immigrant parents in London's working-class East End and now an officer with Special Branch. Seymour’s language skills are strong, but his geography is weak, and he's not exactly sure where Trieste is when sent to investigate the disappearance of the British consul. It’s 1906 and the political scene is dynamic, but totally incomprehensible to Seymour who has to consult the corner newspaper vender for local information. Luckily the affable Seymour is adept at interpreting people and events. He connects with the local dockworkers, artists, and socialists and soon finds the exotic environment familiar.

Linda L. Richards
Mad Money (2004) introduces Madeline Carter, a stockbroker in New York. When Madeline’s fellow broker is shot at the office, she decides to change her life and moves to Los Angeles, California. Missing the adrenaline rush of her former life, Madeline becomes a day trader. An insider tip from a former lover endangers her entire savings and Madeline is soon embroiled in a quest to figure out what is going on. A mixture of humor, romance, and thriller with an engaging heroine, this book is hard to put down.

Carsten Stroud
Black Water Transit (2001) is a bloody non-series police procedural, of sorts, as the central engine driving the plot involves the competition and confusion among NYPD and NY state cops, and the ATF, driven by an ambitious US attorney. On the other side in the intricate plot is the tough, but victimized, owner of the shipping company in the title, and a somewhat unbelievable superhuman paramilitary businessman and sharpshooter, along with a dose of sympathetic and unsympathetic Mafia types. While the literal police radio communications are tiresome, only making the book overlong, the characterizations and plot line are strong and compelling, and there is some humor, too. A bit of an agenda about the ATF and property seizures shows through, but it fits into the story well enough to make our cut.

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January 1, 2008

G.M. Ford
Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca? (1995) is the first in the six-book series featuring Leo Waterman, a semi-hard boiled PI in Seattle with a crew of old homeless guys assisting, after a fashion, on stakeouts — who better than “invisible” street people. Leo is hired by a local gangster to find his missing, rebellious granddaughter, now into environmental causes. Good local color, energetic writing, along with a dose of humor make for an entertaining read, including the immortal line: Somebody once said that living in Seattle was like being married to a beautiful woman who was sick all the time.

Anne George
Murder on a Girls’ Night Out (1996) introduces Patricia Anne “Mouse” Hollowell, a retired English teacher in Alabama, and her dynamic sister, Mary Alice “Sister” Crane, who has just bought a country-western club. When the previous owner is murdered in the club and Patricia Anne discovers that a former star student may be suspected, the sisters find themselves in the midst of the investigation, to the chagrin of the local sheriff. The mystery takes a back seat to the relationship and dialog between the sisters, at times laugh-out-loud funny. Recommended for all sisters who enjoy light mysteries.

Morag Joss
Half Broken Things (2003) is a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense. Jean, a housesitter about to be age-retired, Steph, a very pregnant runaway, and Michael, a timid thief, all end up at a secluded country house for the summer through a combination of coincidence and deceit. Supported by the manor’s riches, the three lonely people begin to come out of their separate shells and bond into a family. Then an unexpected visitor arrives and the facade begins to crumble. Very well written and complex, this novel is hard to put down.

Charles Todd
A Test of Wills (1996) introduces Ian Rutledge, a shell-shocked World War I veteran returning to his job at Scotland Yard, in London, England. Rutledge is barely functional, tormented by the ever-present voice of the young Scott he had executed in the trenches for refusing to fight, but hopes that returning to work will help him solidify his grip on sanity. Unfortunately his first case is too close to the bone: a decorated war hero is the main suspect in the murder of a popular career colonel and the witness is a shell shock victim veering between drunkenness and madness. Rutledge’s firm rein on his emotions creates a distance between himself and the world which is slowly eroded throughout the case.

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Ruth Dudley Edwards
Corridors of Death (1982) introduces civil servant Robert Amiss as a reluctant sleuth (in what surprisingly is now an 11-book series), but he seems more like a vehicle for the erudite and witty observations on politics and bureaucracy in England, and by extension, the English speaking world. The rest of the world should be so lucky. (The author’s delightful presence at Anchorage Bouchercon this fall encouraged our interest.) The first book is dense with detail and characterization, as well as delightful dialogue and political intrigue. The satirical and knowledgeable descriptions of modern politics and government compete with the plot, but delightfully so. For those who have enjoyed the “Yes, Minister” series, this book is bound to delight.

David Markson
Epitaph for a Tramp (1959) and Epitaph for a Dead Beat (1961), now in print in the same volume, set a very high literary standard for pulp fiction. The first book introduced Harry Fannin, a private detective in 1960s New York, who rarely seems to be in control of his situation. The “tramp” in the first book is his ex-wife, and so we have some period conventions, but the writing and literary allusions more than make up for the predictable weaknesses of the time. The Fannin books set a high standard for mid-century pulp fiction that is hard to beat, and rarely, if ever equaled.

Patrick Neate
The City of Tiny Lights (2005) features Tommy Akhtar, at first glance a typical shamus with cigarette in hand, bottle in drawer, and snappy reparte. But Tommy is of Ugandan Indian extraction, a cricket fan, and a devoted son to a slightly loopy father. The first person narration of this book is distinctive and dense with London slang, comic in a darkish way. Hopefully we will hear from Tommy Akhtar again. Finalist 2007 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

Kate Wilhelm
Death Qualified (1991) is a complex mix of murder mystery, science fiction, and psychology. Barbara Holloway, a defense attorney in Oregon, is “death qualified,” legally able to act in capital cases, though she has not practiced law for years. Convinced by her father to take on a murder defense, Barbara struggles with balancing ideals of justice with legal ethics. Mathematical theories of chaos, interpersonal relationships, and courtroom drama all share the stage. This well crafted novel will appeal to mainstream as well as mystery readers.

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November 1, 2007

Colin Cotterill
The Coroner’s Lunch (2004) introduces Dr. Siri Paiboun, who was conscripted in 1975, after the Communist takeover, to become the chief medical examiner of Laos, though he has no experience with forensic medicine. At the age of 72, Siri had hoped to retire with a state pension, but the party won’t agree. The death of an important official's wife and the sudden appearance of three bodies that may create problems between Laos and Vietnam prod Siri out of his normal boring routine of doing minimal examinations and enjoying lunch on his favorite bench in the park. The pace of the book starts slowly, in keeping with Siri’s minimal involvement with life, and accelerates as he starts to take more interest in his job and the puzzle of the mystery. Great descriptions, sympathetic characters, and a compelling time and place.

Michael Dibdin
Ratking (1988), is the first Aurelio Zen police mystery, set in Italy, by the recently and untimely deceased Dibdin. This renowned series starts with a kidnapping of a rich businessman, but on some levels, that plot is less interesting than the convolutions of the investigation and the intricacies of the Italian police bureaucracy and the disfavored Zen's place in it. The action is dense with characters, observations, and local color, interesting even to those who have never been to Perugia. This first in the series compels the reader to want more; luckily there are 10 left.

Gabriella Herkert
Catnapped (2007) introduces Sara Townley, an investigator for a Seattle law firm, who is assigned the task of finding a missing heir who happens to be a cat. Sara hasn’t much experience with detective work, but has plenty of curiosity and determination. Sara is supported by her husband Connor, a Navy Seal who suddenly reappears after months away on assignment, and her best friend Russ, the sexy tenor on late-night radio. There are plenty of suspects and lots of fun in this debut mystery.

Chester Himes
A Rage in Harlem (1957) introduces Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, detectives in Harlem. The book is raw and full of the 1950s sense of place and character. This first, of nine in the series, doesn't read like the main characters were meant to survive. But they do, and it is handily managed in the next book (The Crazy Kill). In some ways, looking back from 2007, the story isn’t as important as the characters. Himes is direct, honest, and unapologetic in his characterizations. The action is real as the detectives deal with the realities of Harlem in the ’50s and with being black police officers who need to mediate between the white world and Harlem.

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October 1, 2007

Sean Doolittle
The Cleanup (2006) follows Matt Worth, an Omaha, Nebraska, cop who falls into helping an abused young woman dispose of her boyfriend's body. Worth has troubles of his own, working nighttime security at a supermarket after being disciplined for slugging a superior officer his ex-wife is living with. Little lies and big lies lead to a web of confusion, trapping the somewhat unwitting Worth and those around him. This Anthony nominee and Barry award winner for Best Paperback Original is written in a clear and direct style, with great pacing throughout, and a hint of noir.

Gwen Freeman
Murder… Suicide… Whatever… (2007) introduces Fifi Cutter, a feisty, bi-racial, unemployed, twenty-something who is surprised when her free-loading half-brother, Bosco, appears on her front porch moaning that Uncle Ted has just been murdered. Though unsure she even had an Uncle Ted, Fifi is soon partnered with Bosco pretending to be private investigators pretending to be grief counselors. They stumble over bodies, but all the violence happens off screen. Fifi and Bosco have real personalities and the minor characters are classic Los Angeles. The author promises that a sequel is in the works.

Batya Gur
A Literary Murder (1989) [1993 English trans.] is the second in the series featuring Michael Ohayon, a chief inspector of police in Jerusalem. Gur's books are complex and intellectual — sometimes one can almost get lost in the rich and knowledgeable prose and forget about the mystery. Like the first in the series, this book involves murders in a close-knit group — the “closed milieu” sub-genre — this time in the literature department of Hebrew University. Inspector Ohayon unravels layer after layer of complex relationships, professional jealousies, and scholarly betrayals, as he works relentlessly to solve the crimes. A rewarding read, full of detailed characterizations and fascinating settings.

Louise Penny
Still Life (2005) introduces Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, who is called to the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec, Canada, to investigate a suspicious death. Gamache is a sympathetic and talented detective, and the other characters are compelling and complex. This traditional mystery is enhanced by a great setting and interesting tidbits about hunting and art. (2007 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, 2007 Barry Award for Best First Novel)

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September 1, 2007

John Banville
The Untouchable (1997) is not the usual spy novel. Seventy-two year old Victor Maskell’s career as one of the “Cambridge spies” for Russia is interwoven with philosophical and artistic reflections, presented in a series of wry reminiscences and internal conversations, as the now-disgraced double agent tells his story to a would be biographer. This highly literary work doesn’t have a traditional plot, but is full of little surprises and great questions. (Banville’s pseudonymous Christine Falls (Benjamin Black) is nominated for a 2007 Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel.)

Jan Burke
Goodnight, Irene (1993) introduces Irene Kelly, a former newspaper reporter in the fictional town of Las Piernas in Southern California. O’Conner, Irene's best friend is killed by a bomb and old flame Detective Frank Harriman is in charge of the case. Suspecting that the killing had something to do with O’Conner’s obsession with the unsolved murder and mutilation of a woman 30 years earlier, Irene finagles her old job back with the newspaper and soon finds herself sitting in O’Conner’s desk and reading his cryptic notes. The pacing of the book is a bit uneven, but Irene is a character I want to read more about.

Dorothy B. Hughes
In a Lonely Place (1947) presents Dix Steele, in post-WWII Los Angeles. Steele is a writer, living on an uncle's allowance. He reflects on each moment, analyzing things in a logical way, while emotions swarm around him, as he stumbles from event to event, full of jealousy, fantasy, and self-doubt. He is also a serial rapist and strangler, but one who makes sense, in his own way. Consummate psychological suspense from the “Queen of Noir”.

Barbara Seranella
No Human Involved (1997) introduces Munch Mancini, a flawed, vulnerable heroine. Mace St. John of the LAPD has Munch at the top of his suspect list for the murder of a drug dealer. St. John loses track of Munch as he works on his other cases and cares for his father, who has suffered a series of strokes. Meanwhile, Munch is busy burying her former identity as she struggles with kicking her heroin addiction. The strength of this book is the characters: richly drawn and sympathetic.

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Reed Farrel Coleman
Walking The Perfect Square (2002) introduces Moe Prager, an ex-cop in New York City. The novel begins in 1998, but most of the action is in 1978 when Moe was invalided out of the police force because of a bad knee. Convinced by a friend to investigate the disappearance of a young man, Moe finds himself repelled by the missing man’s father and attracted to his sister. Moe’s casual narrative style draws the reader easily into his life. The characters are individual, the mystery unfolds at a satisfying pace, the writing is excellent. The book feels so complete at the end that I had to check again that it really is the start of a series.

Robert Fate
Baby Shark (2006) introduces Kristin Van Dijk, a teenager who travels around with her father hustling pool in 1950s Texas. Dad is killed in the first few pages, and Baby Shark is is raped, beaten, and barely alive. But she comes back with a vengeance that could fuel a spaghetti Western. This is a fast-paced read, with a good feel for the time and place, and a regular dose of violence. Kristin returns a few years later as a PI in Baby Shark’s Beaumont Blues, which isn’t as interesting as the debut, but every bit as violent. (Baby Shark: Finalist 2007 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original)

Gillian Flynn
Sharp Objects (2006) is narrated by Camille Preaker, a reporter for a third-rate Chicago newspaper sent back to her hometown of Wind Gap, MO, to write a human-interest piece about the murder of one young girl and the disappearance of another. Camille is clearly uneasy about returning home, and the more we get to know about her family the better we understand her misgivings—dysfunctional doesn't begin to describe these family dynamics. The author skillfully reveals successive hidden layers of Camille’s past as she investigates the current mystery. This is a psychological thriller you won’t want to put down once you start. (Finalist 2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel)

Christopher Fowler
Full Dark House (2003) starts at the end for the 60-year partnership of detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, when May learns of Bryant's death in an explosion at the headquarters of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, in London. The book bounces between their first case during the Blitz in WWII, and the present, which sometimes annoys, but the writing is vigorous and blackly humorous, the characters interesting, and the historical atmosphere engaging. Much of the book takes place in a theatre, where the duo investigate the death of a dancer whose feet… well, let’s not get too macabre here. The theatre setting, where Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld is being produced, is particularly interesting.

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July 1, 2007

Ken Bruen
The White Trilogy: A White Arrest (1998), Taming the Alien (1999), The McDead (2000) — read them together, since they are linked and not very long (416 pp. for the 3). The interplay of the proper DCI Roberts and the thuggish DS Brant keeps the pace lively, and WPC Falls has tragedy enough to keep things serious. The police work isn't entirely by the book, particularly for London police, but the brutality is leavened by Bruen’s humorous and absurdist writing.

KJ Erickson
Third Person Singular (2001) introduces Marshall “Mars” Bahr, a detective who serves as a special investigator reporting directly to the chief of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A solid police procedural with an interesting mystery, the real strength of this book is the characters and the relationships between them. Mars is divorced, and his struggle to be a good father to his unique eight-year old son Chris is one of the highlights of the book.

Kenneth Fearing
The Big Clock (1946) is a brilliant, methodical, clockwork noir thriller, full of period details, corporate power-plays, urban sophistication post-WW2, and a well-crafted use of the multiple perspective style that multiplies the tension of the story. This book has been made into movies at least twice (which we haven’t seen), but it is hard to believe anything could beat the reading experience.

David Skibbins
Eight of Swords (2005) introduces an unlikely investigator: Warren Ritter, a bipolar 55-year-old former Weather Underground member who has been living under a succession of pseudonyms since an explosion in which he was presumed dead. Now working as a tarot card reader in Berkeley, California, Warren gives a reading to a young student who is kidnapped. When Warren is framed for a murder he enlists the help of paraplegic computer hacker and a Hispanic security specialist and the fun begins. Warren’s mood swings and his conflicting desires to flee and to connect to a sister he hasn’t seen for nearly 30 years and a daughter he has never met keep the reader solidly inside his head. While the mystery itself is resolved at the end of the book, the mystery of Warren’s past and future is still open.

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David Goodis
Down There¹ (1956) demonstrates that no matter how hard you try to stay out of trouble, it can find you anyway, particularly when your family is involved. Eddie seemed to have found the solution to his problems, playing piano for survival wages in a drinking joint near the docks in Philadelphia. The past was buried and everything was cool, until… A noir classic, that inspired Truffaut’s film, Shoot the Piano Player.
1. Included in Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s (1997)

Bob Morris
Bahamarama (2004) introduces Zack Chasteen, an ex-football player who was unjustly imprisoned, and now trying to get back in the groove with his rich magazine-mogul girlfriend. But the business that got him in prison in the first place isn’t over, neither to the Caribbean thugs nor to Zack and his friend Boggy, who is the only Taino Indian we know of in crime fiction. Funny, adventuresome, and serious, too, and a Finalist for the 2005 Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel.

Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Circular Staircase (1908) “is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous.” Women are inclined to swoon and racial stereotypes creep in here and there, but the narrative voice is fresh and compelling. (The stage play and movie based on this book were called The Bat.)

Julie Smith
Death Turns a Trick (1982) introduces Rebecca Schwartz, a Jewish feminist lawyer in San Francisco, California. While playing piano in the bordello owned by one of her clients, Rebecca flees a police raid one night and arrives home to find a corpse bleeding all over her Flokati carpet. Fast-paced and funny, the characters make this book something special. I became especially fond of Rebecca’s law partner who substitutes nonsense words (like “pigball”) for those she can’t recall.

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May 1, 2007

Fredric Brown
The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947) starts the Ed and Am Hunter series. Brown has a knack for natural dialog, direct story-telling, and creating a subtle sense of time and place. The first of a series, and hard to find, this title impresses with endearing characters and good plotting. A trip into the past in Chicago 60 years ago, as a teenager deals with his father’s death, with help from Uncle Ambrose, from one of the masters from that era.

Earlene Fowler
The Saddlemaker’s Wife (2006) tells the story of a woman unraveling her husband’s past. When Ruby's husband dies in an accident she discovers he is not an orphan; he has left her a share in his family’s ranch in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Everyone in the small town of Cardinal seems to be connected somehow to the secret Ruby wants to uncover--why did Cole hide his family from her? Finalist for the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel

Cornelia Read
A Field of Darkness (2006) is a powerful debut novel. Born into an old-money family, Madeline Dare marries a farmboy-inventor and moves to his hometown of Syracuse, New York. "There are people who can be happy anywhere. I am not one of them." Working as a part-time journalist covering food news for the local paper, Maddie becomes involved in a 20-year old murder while her husband is away working for the railroad. The characters are sharply drawn, the narration is compelling, and the social commentary acidly funny. Finalist 2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and highly recommended.

Jim Thompson
The Grifters (1963) starts as a casual record of a small con, making his money with the twenties and the tat and other minor schemes. He’s so careful, you’d wonder how he could go wrong, if you weren’t reading his story. A dysfunctional family, too. Powerful writing from a master writer in a downer noir vein.

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April 1, 2007

Dorothy Cannell
The Thin Woman (1984) introduces Ellie Simons, an interior decorator who is longing to release her interior thin woman, and Ben Haskell, a pornographer who would like to write real books currently moonlighting as an escort-for-hire. When Ellie hires Ben to help her through another ghastly family weekend at Uncle Merlin’s castle the fun begins. This English country-house mystery includes a quirky will, a treasure hunt, and odd-ball characters I enjoyed spending time with.

Jasper Fforde
The Big Over Easy (2005) introduces Detective Jack Spratt, an investigator in the Nursery Crimes Division in Reading, England: an oddly familiar alternate universe where nursery rhyme characters reside next to regular folk. Spratt is a dedicated and talented investigator, but is undervalued since his cases aren’t dramatic enough to appear in Amazing Crime Stories. His team consists of a hypercondriac, an alien who speaks binary, and an ambitious new officer who longs to become an Official Sidekick. Spratt’s current case is the death of Humpty Dumpty, killed (of course) by a fall from a wall. Full of literary allusions, word play, and puns, this book pokes fun at mystery fiction protocol while retaining the elements of a police procedural.

Sparkle Hayter
Robin Hudson, a third-string cable news reporter in New York City, first appears in What’s a Girl Gotta Do? (1994). Hayter's driven and somewhat daffy protagonist is caught up in the edgy, back-stabbing world of cable TV news where journalistic talent frequently plays third fiddle to youth and beauty. Robin's personal life suffers the same challenge, with husband Burke Avery having traded her in for a younger model. Robin is drawn into sleuthing out of necessity, when she is accused of murdering an apparent blackmailer. The book is funny and a bit offbeat, with an appealing, wacky heroine, who can find herself clutching a tire iron at just the wrong moment.

Shane Maloney
Stiff (1994, US publication 1998) introduces Murray Whelan, an aide for Australia’s minister for industry in Melbourne. Whelan’s estranged wife is off pursuing a more successful career, leaving him to cope with home maintenance and their young son. Through Whelan’s wry narration, Maloney pokes fun at anything and everything. Great Australian flavor.

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March 1, 2007

Louis Bayard
The Pale Blue Eye (2006) is set at West Point Academy in 1830. Worried about negative publicity, Augustus Landor, a New York police detective retired for health reasons, is asked to quietly investigate a cadet death. Landor, who narrates the bulk of the novel, is a wonderful character: clever, quirky, lonely, prone to drink, and a wonderful writer. Landor soon recruits an equally unique cadet to serve as his eyes and ears on the inside: a certain E.A. Poe who shoves lengthy reports under his door in the middle of the night. The relationship between the two men, united by their intelligence and alienation, make this book something special. The mystery is also a wonderful puzzle that continues to unfold and surprise throughout the book. Nominated for the 2007 Edgar for Best Mystery Novel and highly recommended!

Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933) was the start of a series of over 80 books featuring the tricky, smart, and rough-edged lawyer Perry Mason, his secretary and more, Della Street, and the indispensable investigator, Paul Drake. The early Perry Mason skates close to the ethical line, and has little respect for the officials, but some kind of higher justice always seems to be his goal, in these still highly readable books. The early books are marred by some casual racism of the time, which is somewhat surprising in light of lawyer Gardner’s career fighting for the underdog. Gardner’s books can be hard to find and seem to be disappearing from libraries.

Joanne Harris
Gentlemen and Players (2006) is set at St. Oswald’s Grammar School for Boys, which has educated generations of privileged young men. Classics teacher Roy Straitley is close to achieving “Centurion” status by teaching 100 terms. Unknown to him, a secret opponent with a bitter grudge from the past has a carefully crafted plan to ruin both the school and Straitley. Narrated with humor and style from both points of view, this suspenseful novel enthralls. Nominated for the 2007 Edgar for Best Mystery Novel and highly recommended!

Håkan Nesser
Borkmann’s Point (Sweden 1994, English 2006) introduces DCI Van Veeteren (actually the first in English, the second in the series) whose vacation is interrupted when he is assigned to assist the local police in investigating some ax murderers in an unnamed northern European country. Nesser’s belated entry into the English-reading world is worth the wait. Strong characterizations, believable characters, and complex factual interactions, along with philosophical touches make this police procedural a standout.

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Mark Coggins
The Immortal Game (1999) introduces August Riordan, a jazz bass-player and private investigator, in San Francisco, California. While chasing down the source code for a new chess game, August gets help with the techie aspects of the case from Chris Duckworth, a nerdy drag queen. Great characters, snappy dialogue, and a tight plot make this book hard to put down.

Nicolas Freeling
Love in Amsterdam (1962 [APA: Death in Amsterdam (1964)] introduced Chief Inspector Van Der Valk in Amsterdam, Netherlands, who operates quickly and intuitively to understand the dynamics of the crime and identify the most likely suspects and wear them down to a final resolution. He's relentless and quirky, almost in an Inspector Morse-like way, sometimes making the inspector more intriguing than the plot. The second in the series, Because of the Cats (1963), finds an alarming poor little rich kid gang of spoiled teenagers that almost seems to anticipate a Dutch Manson Family — except for Van Der Valk's intervention.

Jim Fusilli
Closing Time (2001) introduces Terry Orr, a newly-licensed private investigator, and his daughter Bella, in Manhattan, New York. This book reads more like a novel than a mystery, what with the emphasis on character and mood. Terry was a writer until his wife and baby son were killed. Now a private investigator working without payment, he is struggling to adapt to his new reality. The relationship between Terry Orr and his twelve-year old daughter Bella is wonderfully drawn. Highly recommended!

Naomi Hirahara
Snakeskin Shamisen (2006), the third Mas Arai book, featuring the 70s year old Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor. The first book, The Summer of the Big Bachi (2004) is grander than a mystery (if such a thing is possible!) because of its Hiroshima bomb thread. In her third book, nominated for an Edgar, we find Mas reluctantly involved in a high-stakes set of circumstances involving half a million dollars, Spam sushi, and murder, along with the usual harkening back to events in Japanese-American and this time Okinawan history.

Rummaging in some older lists finds us reading John P. Marquand's Thank You, Mr. Moto (1936), the second in that odd, but highly literary series; John Buchan's influential The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915); and Carter Brown's pulpy Hellcat (1962), the 22nd Al Wheeler title.

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January 1, 2007

James Calder
Knockout Mouse (2002) introduces Bill Damen, a filmmaker turned sleuth, in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Bill stumbles on some scary industrial doings in Silicon Valley, and has some emotional adventures besides. Watch that shellfish!

Åsa Larsson
Sun Storm (2003, translated 2006) introduces Rebecka Martinsson, a tax attorney in Stockholm, called back to her hometown Kiruna, north of the Arctic Circle, in Sweden. Rebecka returns to Kiruna to support a neurotic childhood friend accused of murdering her brother. More a psychological thriller than a police procedural, this book haunts even after the last page.

Walter Mosley
Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) introduces Easy Rawlins, a black WWII veteran living in 1940s Los Angeles, California, who finds himself learning to be an investigator in order to survive. Easy is hard-boiled yet compassionate, the supporting characters are vividly drawn, and the compelling narrative voice makes this a hard book to put down.

Dana Stabenow
Ramping up for Bouchercon in Anchorage in September 2007, we're reading Dana Stabenow, and where better to be snowily refreshed than the first Kate Shugak entry, A Cold Day for Murder (1992), featuring the native Alaskan ex-DA investigator.

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December 1, 2006

Chris Grabenstein
Tilt-a-Whirl (2005) is set in a beach resort town and features an unlikely set of partners—John Ceepak, a veteran of the Iraq war, and his sidekick Danny Boyle, in Sea Haven, New Jersey. Ceepak is 100% cop living by his personal code of honor while Boyle is a "summer cop" more interested in how the police cap looks to the girls than carrying a gun. The mystery is involving, but the characters make this book stand out. (2006 Anthony Award for Best First Novel)

James Grady
Six Days of the Condor (1974) provides a healthy dose of paranoia, when Richard Malcolm, a CIA a lowly CIA analyst and grad student in Washington, DC, code-named Condor, steps out for lunch and things get crazy. Condor has resourceful survival instincts, perhaps thanks to his job reading mystery fiction. (What a deal!)

Nancy Livingston
The Trouble at Aquitaine (1985) is a traditional manor house weekend murder with a twist. Castle Aquitaine is now a health spa and the author manages to pay homage to the tradition while poking fun at the same time. G.D.H. Pringle, a retired tax inspector in England, is the epitome of the hesitant fumbling amateur.

Helene Tursten
The Detective Inspector Huss (1999) is a police procedural introducing Irene Huss, a detective inspector in the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden. Huss is a believable and sympathetic character struggling to balance the demands of her job and her family in a society facing all-too-familiar modern problems: alienated youth, drug dealers, and motorcycle gangs.

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November 1, 2006

Arnaldur Indridason
Jar City (2000, translated 2004) features Erlendur Sveinsson, a detective inspector, and his colleagues Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg, in Reykjavik, Iceland. This book presents realistic life in modern Iceland with compassion. (Note: This author should be alphabetized under first name following traditional practice for Icelandic names, per Library of Congress Catalog, but we’ve found him under the “I” in many bookstores and libraries.)

Sujata Massey
The Salaryman’s Wife (1998) introduces Rei Shimura, a Japanese-American English teacher who would like to become an antiques dealer in Tokyo, Japan. Life in modern Japan is viewed from an American-Japanese perspective with a different aspect of Japanese life featured in each book.

Bill Pronzini
It can be difficult finding copies of the early books featuring the nameless private eye in San Francisco, California, but have we have enjoyed The Snatch, Blowback, and especially Labyrinth.

Donald Westlake
The Hot Rock (1970) introduces John Dortmunder, a comic thief in New York City. This book is clever and funny all at once.