Die A Stranger by Steve Hamilton Minotaur Books, $25.99, 278 pages, ISBN 978-0-312-64021-7 We reviewed Mr. Hamilton’s most recent Edgar Winner The Lock Artist last week, and this week we’ll review his newest work, Die A Stranger, the latest, in his acclaimed Alex McKnight series. It takes place in northern Michigan, where McKnight is living a quiet life, making his living renting cabins to tourists. As the book begins,
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton Minotaur Books, $14.99, 304 pages, ISBN 978-0-312-38042-7 Over the next three or four weeks, who knows, maybe longer, we’ll review some of the novels, and the novelists, who’ve been awarded and Edgar. The Edgars are given each spring by the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) for the best mysteries of the year in several categories, but our focus will be on two of
Head Games, (the Hector Lassiter Series) by Craig McDonald Black House Books, PB, 2007, $14.95, 300 pages, ISBN #978-0-615-44110-8 Memorial day weekend is by tradition the start of summer, and the beginning of vacation season. It’s when we look forward to ice cream, baseball and garage sales . . . as well as “lazy hazy days,” halter tops, short shorts, sandals and flowers blooming for three months or more.
Questions Answered John Dwaine McKenna It is time, as the Lochinvar Rooster said to young Miss Mallard; It is time for something a bit different! And so, like the guy on TV who says, “I’m here, not just to entertain, but to educate you as well.” I’m going to use this week’s MBR to answer some of the questions piling up in my inbox, or asked at book club
Roscoe by William Kennedy Viking, 2002, $24.95, 291 pages, ISBN 0-670-03029-5) by William Kennedy I don’t know about you, but from my point of view, it seems like these days are dominated politics. We’re being force-fed a steady diet of it, like geese being prepared for goose-liver pate’ in a gourmet restaurant, at least until the fall slaughter, er, ah, I meant to say election, when it will all
The Drop By Michael Connelly Little brown & Co, $27.99, 388 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-06941-0 The Drop is the kind of novel other writers wish they could write. Although it is his 27th, most of which have featured the hard-driving Los Angeles detective Heironymous “Harry” Bosch, each and every one stands on its own. The character remains fresh. By that I mean Connelly’s plots are always new, and never formulaic.
Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty Scribner, 2003, $19.99, 384 pages, ISBN 978-0-7432-5355-0 This week’s MBR is by another Irish writer named Adrian McKinty. His novel is, Dead I May Well Be, which follows the trail of Michael Forsythe as he leaves Belfast, Northern Ireland to work for a shady Irish ex-pat named Darby White in New York City. Darby is a mid-level criminal in the organization
Headstone By Ken Bruen Mysterious Press, 256 pages, $24.00, ISBN 978-0-80-1212600-9 I’m sitting here in Colorado Springs, munching on Irish soda bread and preparing MBR Number 46, and hey, guess what . . . it’s by one of the outstanding Irish crime fiction writers in the field today. His name is Ken Bruen, and one of his best and most interesting serial characters is an infamous and much maligned
Raylan by Elmore Leonard William Morrow, $26.99, 263 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-211946-9 Whew! I don’t know about you, but after all of that heavy-duty real-crime and religion stuff last week, I’m ready for a change of pace. Something with lots of action . . . where the good guys are good and the women are all pretty and virtuous, the kids polite and smart, and the bad guys are dastardly, have
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer Anchor Books, paperback, $14.95, 375 pages, ISBN 1-4000-3280-6 What’s the scariest thing you can think of? Financial collapse? World-wide pandemic? Street crime? A giant asteroid hitting the Earth? Nuclear war? All of those things are frightening as hell, but for me personally, the scariest thing we face in the world today . . . is religious fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalists are scary