The Quintessential Hardboiled Detective

NPR's Morning Edition recently aired this examination of "Raymond Chandler's quintessential private eye, Philip Marlowe."

Dashiell Hammett may have been published earlier, but (IMHO) Raymond Chandler did it best. (And, if you click on the link for Chandler, you'll see he liked cats, too. A man after my heart.)

Turin Book Fair a Political Hot Spot

The Turin Book Fair started today and apparently the organizers' decision to honor Israeli writers at the fair, to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation, has led to protests and boycotts.

According to the article, the protesters are "a number of Arab and Italian intellectuals and left-wing activists, who charged that celebrating Israeli letters ignores the plight of the Palestinians."

Amid flag burnings and a volley of angry words, the article notes, "The festival's organizers are exasperated, noting the irony that a book fair is meant to broaden horizons, not build barriers."

Ironic, indeed. Communication, learning, understanding--aren't these the things literature is supposed to promote?

Presenting Charles Ardai

NPR recently interviewed Charles Ardai, founder of Hard Case Crime, on its show Fresh Air. Ardai, who also writes under the name Richard Aleas, has indeed provided a bit of fresh air to the pulp fiction genre, using HCC to show the mystery writing talent of Stephen King, reprint old stories by established writers like Lawrence Block and showcase some extraordinary new talent on the hardboiled and noir writing scene.

NPR also obligingly provides an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Aleas' latest book, SONGS OF INNOCENCE. A worthy read.

Review: Do You Have a 'Compulsion' to Read Jonathan Kellerman?

By guest blogger Star Lawrence

COMPULSION (audiobook), author Jonathan Kellerman and read by John Rubenstein.

COMPULSION is the 22^nd novel featuring urbane, koi-loving child psychologist Alex Delaware and his sidekick, Milo Sturgis, the loner, gay cop who never enters a restaurant without ordering. Of course, I listened to the book and did not read (detached retina). Delaware books are like Milo’s favorite snack food—irresistible to me. I throw them down like bon-bons—or make that in one ear and out the other.

This one is the usual knot of interweaving cases and themes, opening with the perennial favorite: woman in jep, as we used to say in the screenwriting game. Spaghetti straps askew, this one is hammered, mincing across a parking lot in the dark, alone, drops her keys, pats the ground around the car…eeek. Oh, she found them. Okay, now she drives off and takes a secluded shortcut in the Hollywood Hills…and runs out of gas. Really runs out of it. But a shiny black Bentley appears, and the driver is a woman. Saved!

Don’t count on it. The theme is shiny black cars.

You will have to read or listen to see how this plays out. But Kellerman rhapsodizes about his new baby koi, the jumbled symphony of life that is New York City (he travels, but we aren’t too jealous because the LAPD puts him in a crappy hotel), and detailed descriptions of what everyone is wearing when he meets them. Has anyone seen this author and Michael Kors in the same room?

The CDs are read by John Rubenstein, a bit actor I have seen on TV several times. He does a marvelous job not chewing up the distinctive accents and speech patterns of the various characters. He is one of the best. I especially liked his reading of an eccentric old lady in a tiny California town remarking on the hairstyles of her fellow residents. “Some these gals have hair that looks like roadkill,” she cackles.

I have been to that beauty parlor.

This is not the best Kellerman ever—but it won’t disappoint if you like Dr Rationality. At least his instrument carving GF Robin (yes, they are back together—he could use his own psychologist) has a minor role. They do have a new bulldog, though—Blanche.

Oh, and I was never sure what the “compulsion” was. Kink, maybe.

Star Lawrence
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Those Girly Book Covers

Karen Heller has an axe to grind. In fact, she'd like to take an axe to some of the women's literature she's seen with these froo-frooey covers.

Heller cites Katie Crouch's Girls in Trucks as an example. The "debut novel about Southern debs gone bad is winsome. Crouch possesses a deft comic voice, a gift for observation, and the ending is free from the prince-saves-heroine gimmick of much chick lit," Heller writes. However, she says the cover "is literal and beyond cliche, the obligatory back of a woman in a vintage gown, barefoot on a blurry country road, a truck in the background. In a time of innovative design, the cover is visual Splenda."

"This isn't a great time for publishers," Heller notes. "If they would banish the uniform covers, which were stale from the get-go, and realize that women--who buy an awful lot of books--will buy ones without pink or shoes or severed body parts on the cover, they might sell a good deal more copies."

I know I'm turned off by ultra-fem cliche covers. My favorite genre is hardboiled mystery. And you don't see Lifetime channel-type images on the covers of hardboiled crime fiction--even when it is written by women.

So what gives? When will "women authors" be treated as simply "authors" in the wacky world of literary fiction?

Review: 'Stalking Death' is a Suspenseful Delight

I was fortunate enough to buy an early release copy of STALKING DEATH (The Mystery Company 2008), part of the Thea Kozak mystery series by Kate Flora, when I attended Malice Domestic a couple of weekends ago. It's an absorbing read.

Thea Kozak is the "crisis expert" in the private school consulting firm that she and her partner operate. In this story, Shondra Jones, a black female student at St. Matthew's prep school, claims she's being harassed by a male student. When Kozak shows up to handle the situation, she's given a less-than-enthusiastic reception from the people she's trying to help. It seems the alleged stalker is the grandson of one of the school's major donors. So guess how anxious they are to punish the stalker--not very.

Before you know it, someone is murdered and Jones' brother is accused of committing the crime. But there's a whole lot more going on at St. Matt's than meets the eye. And it's up to Kozak to figure it out so she can do her job and try to protect Shondra (who has become a target, because she refuses to drop her complaints against the school). In doing so, Kozak puts herself squarely in harm's way and must keep on her toes to stay alive.

With a dry wit and fine-tuned sense of the ambiguities of dealing with people, Flora does a great job of exploring the difficulties of being a consultant--the outsider who must look behind her clients' bland representations and challenge their complacent attitudes in order to get the job done. I can't help but be reminded of when I was practicing law and had to see through what clients told me to understand their true agendas. Flora's previous career as an attorney no doubt contributes to her keen understanding of what it's like to have clients lie to you and balk at taking advice they don't want to hear.

The story is well-structured and engaging, building in suspense and tension as Shondra and Kozak face one peril after another, until it reaches a nail-biting climax.

Flora also does a great job of weaving in enough detail about previous books in the series to bring you up-to-speed about what's come before without dragging the plot down with excessive detail--giving one all the more reason to go back and read them, as well.

A Talk With Reed Farrel Coleman

Reed Farrel Coleman is one of those authors I hope to see succeed in a big way. His Moe Prager mystery series is (IMHO) brilliant. Each story builds on what came before it, while Prager and his relationship with his wife (who starts out the series as his girlfriend) goes through changes, too. It all leads up to a shattering development that culminates in a cliff-hanger scene at the end of the first book, WALKING THE PERFECT SQUARE.

While this short interview with Coleman focuses on SOUL PATCH, which was nominated for the Edgar, it also tells you a little bit about him. Though it didn't end up winning, as Coleman says it truly is an honor just to be nominated. Besides, he won a bunch of awards for his previous effort, THE JAMES DEANS. Plus in his latest Prager novel, EMPTY EVER AFTER, the story arc appears to finally reach that shattering cliff-hanger I mentioned. Having read and enjoyed the entire series so far, this latest book gets a spot high up on my TBR list.