Celine by Peter Heller Alfred A Knopf/Penguin Random House, $25.95, 334 pages, ISBN 978-0-451-49389-7 In order to be successful, today’s crime fiction writer must be able to come up with a unique, new and different kind of detective that readers haven’t encountered before. Let’s face it, we’ve all seen Sam Spade, Spenser, Marlowe and Miss Marple many many times already . . . as well as an endless number
The Painter by Peter Heller Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House, $24.95, 365 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-35209-3 I keep a couple of different stacks of books to be reviewed in my office—actually it’s our dining room table–at all times. The stacks increase and decrease as I read and review, and sometimes, a new novel gets inadvertently shoved down the pile . . . which means that it doesn’t get the attention
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller Knopf, $24.95, 320 pages, ISBN 978-0-307-95994-2 Woof-woof-woof. There’s an old saw that goes like this: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, that I learned from my mother’s mother when I was just a little boy. Superstitious to the end, “Nanny,” as Grandma O’Toole was called, set store by it and many others like it. Well . . . without any disrespect