One Peace, Singleton 2008 Hippie Art

One Peace(c) Singleton 2008He rifled through theglove box,paper cups, scratched CD'sand registrations to six cars back,thumbing for something,anything,to put his fingers on,that said yesterday"I loved".....The sky changed into athousand gowns,dripping with jewelsand then suddenly,barren blue...almost black...and he grasped at nothing....laughterless...And remembered.....The one peace he had laid

The Straight 'Dope' from Sara Gran

Review of DOPE (Penguin Group 2006)
Author, Sara Gran

The best stories are the kind that linger in your mind long after you've finished them. For me, DOPE by Sara Gran was that kind of story.

Josephine "Joe" Flannigan is just the girl next door--if you happen to live in Hell's Kitchen, that is. Joe grew up there under the not-so-watchful eye of a single mother, so it was up to Joe to look after herself and her kid sister, Shelley. Both girls end up falling in with the wrong crowd and getting addicted to heroin, but pulling themselves out of "the life" in very different ways. When the story begins, it's 1950 and Joe is making a living picking pockets and "boosting" (to use the parlance of that time) jewelry and other valuables from stores. Shelley has become a successful model and aspiring actress.

When a suburban couple hires Joe to find their wayward daughter in the streets from which she came, it looks like easy money. But the investigation turns out to be a lot more complicated than she expects. And the further Joe delves into the matter, the more trouble she unwittingly creates for herself.

Apparently, this is Gran's first foray into noir writing. For my money, she gets it all just right. I love the 1950s setting (back when men wore hats and women wore gloves). There's even a mention of the Automat, which took this reader down memory lane. (Not all the way back to 1950, mind you, but I do remember Horn & Hardart.) I hope Gran will consider writing more crime fiction, especially hardboiled or noir--we can always use more female authors in that genre.

Dave Robicheaux Looks for his Lost Mother in 'Purple Cane Road'

Review of PURPLE CANE ROAD (audiobook) by guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, James Lee Burke, reader Nick Sullivan

Are you a Dave Robicheaux fan? Dave is one of those rugged (but tortured, of course) ex-alcoholic cops so beloved in fiction—but in the hands of master storyteller James Lee Burke he always takes on an edge that surpasses his imitators.

In PURPLE CANE ROAD, Dave, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, after washing out of the New Orleans Police Department along with his sidekick Clete Purcell, is still living on the bayou with his wife Bootsy and adopted kid Alafair. As he sorts among the skells and lowlifes, he unearths several threads—twin sisters who might have been abused by and then murdered the state’s executioner, a politician who used to date his wife Bootsy, a black prostitute named Little Face, and of course (wait for it), a soft-spoken psycho hit man. The threads twine into skeins, the skeins into knots.

At the heart of this tangle is Dave’s late mother, casually described by a black pimp as a whore, which sets Dave off on the trail of who murdered her by drowning her in a mud puddle.

As always with Burke novels, the locale, Louisiana in this case, is at least the equal of any of the characters. Burke lovingly describes every sight and smell of nature down to the molecular level—the scent of fish spawning, cane fields laid parted like hair by wind and strobing in lightning strikes, the smell of testosterone on the sweat-crusted work clothes of men he meets.

Although many Burkes are read by Will Patton in a soft southern purr, this one is narrated by veteran reader Nick Sullivan, who does a pretty fine job also, especially with Purcell’s raspy growl and the lilting Cajun cadences.

If I had one criticism it would be the psycho killer hooking up with the daughter Alafair. Burke has played this card before. Leave the poor girl alone to go to the library in peace.

Star Lawrence is owner of the health humor site, Health’s Ass, http://healthsass.blogspot.com

Any Questions?

Sarah Statz Cords of Reader's Advisor Online is looking for a few good questions for a library book group. She mentions an online source for readers' groups and publishers' Web sites as potential places to mine for material. I've never been in a book group (unless you count me and two other attorneys I worked with trying to start a small book group by agreeing to read ALL THE KING'S MEN and discussing it over lunch one time). Anyone have ideas for where to come up with book group questions?

I've noticed some authors (or editors--I don't know who actually writes them) will provide suggested questions in the back of their books. But, if you have those, you wouldn't have to look for others, would you?

If it's a classic book (or even a high-profile modern one), I'd suggest Googling the title and looking for discussions about it. I'm sure there must be some great fodder for thought out there. Also, check online discussion groups. What's the buzz about the book? Is it controversial and, if so, why? What questions have other people raised about it?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

The Dagger Awards

Sarah Weinman has already posted this on her blog, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, but it bears repeating that the Crime Writers' Association has announced its Dagger Award winners.

And one of my very favorites, Sue Grafton, has won a Cartier Diamond Dagger (sounds like something you'd wear to a banquet) for T IS FOR TRESPASS. A great book, IMHO.

Peace is a Mirror, Singleton Hippie Art 2008

Peace is a Mirror(c) Singleton 2008Chaos raining,broken glass,in a summer showerandI'm abarefoot hippieskippingoversplinteredpuddles,dancing inthe mud.Chaos raining,reaking,wrecking,afternoon stormsbrewing,stewing,making perfecttell-talespooky stories....Slumber party hoo~hah.....And it's morning....and I touch the tired face in the mirror,embrace her,go to her....Peace is a placewithin.....

Jack Ryan’s Son a Footnote in 'Teeth of the Tiger'

Review of THE TEETH OF THE TIGER (audiobook) by guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, Tom Clancy; Reader, Stephen Hoye

The “Get the hell off of my plane” president Jack Ryan’s son, Jack Jr., has appeared in the pantheon of Tom Clancy heroes—then Clancy wrote this book that is not about him, really.

Clancy can be quite a kidder. You know those Eastern Shore former insurance agents.

In the interests of disclosure, I once ran into Clancy on the Internet—and asked his advice about a screenplay another gal and I were writing on Fred T. Jane, the naval artist who started Jane’s Fighting Ships and that whole publishing dynasty. Ironically, Clancy sent us a ton of downloads from Jane’s about dreadnoughts—and we countered many of his crinks with our research. He signed off, saying, “Well, I never said ladies couldn’t write about warships.”

I got sort of sick of Clancy novels in print when great gobs of Jane’s seemed to have regurgitated into them. Now, though, I listen—and found the blabby discursiveness more agreeable. And at least in this one, he avoids an icky romance, and God forbid, flirty talk, which is not the forte of any male techno-novelists that I know of.

As for the plot, you’ve heard of 9/11, right? And how shadowy, Internet-wielding bad guys are ceaselessly scheming to wipe out American women and children? In this version, a think-tanky place run by a former senator hires a set of twins, one an Afghanistan-toughened Marine and the other a bend-justice FBI agent to scoot around Europe in a rented Porsche and “eliminate” terrorist couriers, bag men, and annoying Saudi rich boys. The Carusos, Brian and Domenic, have some moral qualms at first, but another attack on America (the malls!) quickly quiets those and off they go.

Oh—and their cousin, Jack Ryan, Jr, is also an analyst at the same quasi-think tanky place. He sorts through terrorist missives and targets evil doers.

Eventually, of course, the three cousins tag up and Jack even has a little adventure of his own in the terrorist discouragement department.

The reader, Stephen Hoye, is a little nasal and can get sing-songy, but generally does a listenable, patient job of unfurling the story. The US is the tiger, the twins are the teeth, and I only have one question. What will Jack Ryan Senior say when he finds out his scion has become an assassin, however accidentally?

Star Lawrence is owner of the health humor site, Health’s Ass, http://healthsass.blogspot.com