Are you someone who will read a random book you picked up in a thrift store? Such people must exist since there are so many thrift stores still carrying old paperbacks. My copy of Booked to Die has a 1992 copyright way back when the cover price for a paperback was $5.99. It’s already been resold at least once for $4.00 according to the penciled … Continue reading Booked to Die by John Dunning
My new favorite book. I am a fan of crime fiction, but I’ll admit the genre can be a bit stale at times. Someone I know, not a fan, described it as too “rat-a-tat-tat” for his taste. Fair enough, I guess. Much of the time the formula is part of the fun. Readers of crime fiction don’t necessarily want to be challenged with experimentation or … Continue reading Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
The detective in Syndrome E is a paranoid schizophrenic. While solving cases he is constantly accompanied by his hallucinations of his deceased six-year-old daughter. She is not giving him hints to help solve the case but acting like a six-year-old: crying out for attention; becoming sick at the sight of bloody crime scenes; complaining that she wants her father to play with her, feed her … Continue reading Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti
Last summer I joined Camp TOB 2022, my first time with the Tournament of Books summer reading game. I’ve enjoyed reading along and voting in the Tournament of Books for the last couple of years, and I’ve even found a few “new favorite books” as a result. So, I thought I’d give the summer reading game a go. I did find a “new favorite book,” … Continue reading Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
I saw it. I bought it. I read it. It was okay. Continue reading My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby
The narrator in John Fante’s The Road to Los Angeles kept reminding me of Ignatius J. Riley in John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. But without the heart. Both characters are really incapable of functioning in the world. Both live at the bottom of society, relying on the good graces of their mother for support. Both are convinced of their own genius and not … Continue reading The Road to Los Angeles by John Fante
The greatest American crime novelist you’ve never heard of is Dorothy Hughes. Unless, of course, you’ve already heard of her. Ms. Hughes wrote some 14 crime novels in the 1950’s and 60’s, then retired from the scene to become a leading critic of the genre. She’s something of a writer’s writer, long admired by those working in crime fiction but not widely known. You may … Continue reading The Expendable Man by Dorothy Hughes
On May 8, 1945, the day Nazi Germany surrendered, the French government began a massacre of Muslim nationalists in Algeria that ended with the deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 civilians. There were soldiers who fought for France in Germany who returned to Algeria only to find the families dead, and their homes destroyed. Not something I expected to learn in a gritty, noir detective novel … Continue reading Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis
At 144 pages The Madman of Bergerac just fits the 150-page definition of a novella over at the Novellas in November reading challenge. It was first published in 1932 which makes it old and therefore a classic which is the challenge category for this week. It’s also a fun read for fans of Inspector Maigret. I’m not sure I’d send it along to anyone else. … Continue reading The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon for Novellas in November 2022
I come to this book by way of the recent television series. Both are very good. The television series, while based on a true crime, is largely fiction. The producers created entire characters and storylines to flesh out the historical plotline into multiple episodes. The book fleshes out its true crime story with a fascinating history of Mormonism focused on the religions violent past and … Continue reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Michelle McNamara didn’t live to complete her excellent account of hunting the Golden State Killer, whom she didn’t live to see arrested. So, what to make of this book? Incomplete at the time of the author’s death. About an unsolved crime. Let’s start with did I like it? Yes, I did. I liked the portions the author completed before her death the most, possibly only … Continue reading I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
First an admission. This book opens with the life of a 12th century cleric who spends his days copying the books in the monastery’s library reading them in his spare time. This is something of an escapist fantasy for me. That’s my confession. I’m betting that I’m not alone. It’s not something I would want to do for life, but for a long weekend… Sounds … Continue reading Murder and Glass in Medieval Venice. “The Eye Stone” by Roberto Tiraboschi, Translated by Katherine Gregor
May Contain Spoilers 