A LITTLE BIT OF READING

THE SEERSUCKER WHIPSAW - Ross Thomas

2012-01-29T11:36:00.002+13:00

Political Manager Clint Shartelle and P.R guru Peter Upshaw are contracted to see that Chief Sunday Akomolo is elected Premier of the soon to be independent African nation Albertia.

To do this they enlist campaign tactics from the U.S that have seen Shartelle's candidates loose only once in his career. Upshaw is there to write the speeches , pay the bills and drink alot of gin and brandy.

As usual with Ross Thomas the dialogue is sharp and sparkles, the story is interesting with insider information regarding how campaigns are run.

Amusing and as with all Thomas's writings a twist in the tail at the end.

Thomas never wrote a bad sentence and I am an unashamed cheerleader but it is very good. This is out of print which is a crime but is available over the net from the U.S. (Published 1967)

GALLOWS LANE - Brian McGilloway

2012-01-27T10:20:00.001+13:00

The second Inspector Benedict Devlin Mystery, again set on the border of Ireland and the North.

A series of nasty murders occur including a Crucifixion done with twelve inch nails - not a common way for authors to dispatch their characters. At the same time a number of young women are being sexually assaulted and killed - all this and a dollop of police corruption thrown in.

This is another good read with lots of nasty characters just like McGilloway's first effort 'Borderlands'.

The crimes are all solved; in a logical and sensible way, no superhero antics involved but then you could never accuse Devlin of being the sharpest knife in the drawer by any stretch of the imagination. He is no Sherlock Holmes when it comes to lateral thinking, but I suppose this makes the character more human.

A good crime novel and I will follow this series. ( Published 2008)

THE BOOKWOMANS LAST FLING - John Dunning

2012-01-24T16:26:00.003+13:00

The fifth 'Cliff Janaway" Bookman mystery. Cliff is contacted to appraise a collection of children's books worth many thousands by the family of the deceased collector to get a Will finalised.

On arrival he discovers that many books are missing and have been replaced by copies and that books worth even more have been left behind.

To solve this problem he has to confirm that the owner of the books was murdered twenty years earlier and then delve into her life to explain the book mystery. To do this he gets involved in the families other business which is race horses, travelling to Californian race tracks working as a groom.

Its a good story not the best and although the author looses his way in the middle he manages to get it all back on track in a very hurried fashion at the end and reaches a satisfying conclusion.

We have some good violence and interesting facts about the racing scene this time. Not so much information regarding the second hand book scene as in the two previous stories I have read. ( Published 2006)

THE LOO SANCTION - Trevanian

2012-01-22T11:43:00.000+13:00

If you want four hours of absolute escapism this is for you. Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, art historian, mountaineer and assassin returns. This time he is in London and is coerced into locating films of establishment figures taken in compromising positions with professional women. This will involve lots of killing and other fictional assassin type stuff.

It total fantasy and not a cultural experience ,its a very violent James Bondish read but the writing is of a higher calibre.

It does slip into total parody in parts and the language dates it but its the perfect airport book.

I'd be very surprised if you can find it even in a secondhand store in New Zealand but again there's plenty on the Internet. I got mine from Trinity City Books, Garland, Texas for $1 plus postage. (Published 1973)

CHARLOTTE GRAY - Sebastian Faulks

2012-01-21T13:39:00.001+13:00

In 1942 Charlotte Gray, a young Scottish woman is parachuted in France to assist another intelligence agent who struggles with the language. She then stays on to look for her lover, a RAF pilot who is missing in action.

The books concentrates on the occupants of the village where she bases herself, Lavaurette. There is very little in regards direct wartime action but rather its all about the personalities of these people as circumstances change, some for the better some for the worst.

It is a harrowing read in places due to the fact that the weakness's and ignorance of people lead directly to the deaths of some of their fellow villagers. As the book says 'evil is easy'.

Reading this I didn't realise how keen the French were on bundling their Jewish neighbours off to the concentration camps, sadly they were very keen indeed.

This story has a basis in fact and I believe people should never be allowed to forget the monstrosity that was Nazism , that is why quality writing like this on the subject is needed.

Not a relaxing read but worth the effort. (Published 1998)

BORDERLANDS - Brian McGILLOWAY

2012-01-17T21:04:00.005+13:00

What a delightful surprise from the bargain bin ($3.00).

Detective Benedict Devlin has three recent murders and one old one going back 25 years to solve. It seems that a police colleague is implicated in the whole affair.

Set in Ireland right on the border with the north we have a great wee whodunit, full of totally dislikeable characters, lots of red herrings and a good plot.

This is the first outing for McGilloway and is recommended it continues to surprise right to the end. (Published 2007)

POLICE AT THE FUNERAL - Margery Allingham

2012-01-16T08:32:00.002+13:00

From 1931 we have Albert Campion solving the murder of a loathed nephew in a country house, a house still living in Victorian times run by the 80 year old matriarch.

Its pretty standard whodunnit fare, lots of suspects and red herrings strewn about. All the information is given to the reader to solve the mystery but it plods along so pedantically it gets to the stage where the reader couldn't be bothered.

This is the fourth Campion novel by Allingham and evidently the series picked up,so perhaps this one was an off day rather than representative of the entire series. (Published 1931)

CHASING THE DIME - Michael Connelly

2012-01-13T19:10:00.002+13:00

This is a stand alone novel from Connelly as opposed to his Harry Bosch series.

The scenario involves Henry Pierce a computer genius moving into a new apartment and receiving numerous calls from clients of a call girl who previously had this number.

From here Henry is dragged into the Los Angeles world of escort services and Internet web sites.

The story has some merit but the plotting is ridiculous, which is a shame because Connelly is usually so much better than this. He puts out a lot of books so I am presuming this was a bad day, however his editor needs a kick in the backside for letting it go out as is.(Published 2002)

GREENMANTLE - John Buchan

2012-01-12T05:55:00.002+13:00

The second adventure involving Richard Hannay, the hero from 'The 39 Steps'.

This story is set during the Great War and Hannay volunteers with two associates to travel to occupied territory to uncover a plot that could see Britain loose the war.

The language is old fashioned and many today will laugh at the idea of King and Country and 'honour' but this is an excellent old fashioned adventure yarn, a forebear of Indiana Jones. Great fun. (Published 1916)

ETON CROP - Bill James

2012-01-09T21:10:00.002+13:00

A Harpur and Iles novel involving the placing of a undercover policewoman into local drug gangs.

Iles is still very funny and bent, Harpur seems to put up with it but at the end of the book , I just asked myself, what was the point, it just got silly and I knew I had wasted my time. (Published 1999)

THE SIRIUS CROSSING - John Creed

2012-01-08T16:32:00.002+13:00

Set in Ireland our hero, Jack Valentine, a cross between James Bond and 22 SAS, takes on one last job. This involves locating a body that was buried in Northern Ireland in the 70's ,one that should not have been there and recovering a package.

Along the way he enlists the help of loyalists and provo's alike as well as most intelligence agencies around the world.

A highlight involves a channel crossing in a major storm in Valentines converted trawler.

It is far fetched, very , but very readable. Its well written, Creed is the pen name of Eoin McNamee. Worth the effort and as it only cost me fifty cents at a book fair complaining would be miserable in the extreme. (Published 2002)

DAN LENO & THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM - Peter Ackroyd

2012-01-06T06:57:00.002+13:00

Elizabeth Cree is hanged at the beginning of this book for the murder of her husband, but was she guilty?

We are then taken into the Victorian world of theatre and gross murder.

Ackroyd writes about London superbly and he has managed to combine this with a good crime novel, some wonderfully horrible writing here.(Published 1994)

GOODBYE TO BERLIN - Christopher Isherwood

2012-01-06T06:55:00.002+13:00

Written in 1945 this consists of a semi fictionalised diary and four short stories that all inter link.

These stories are the basis for the musical 'Caberet'.

What these stories do do is give a street level view of Germany in the early 1930's as Nazism was taking hold, it wasn't abrupt just insidious, many people doing nothing was all it took.

As I said these stories are semi autobiographical, an easy read Isherwood had a great ear for relaying conversation.( Published 1939)

HAVANA BAY -Martin Cruz Smith

2012-01-04T05:40:00.005+13:00

The fourth Arkady Renko novel. Here he travels to Havana to identify the body of a Russian found dead in Havana Bay.

The facts don't add up and he persistently digs into the circumstances. Along the way he enlists the help of a Cuban Policewoman ,(never ugly,always beautiful,obviously unattractive woman are never helpful).

After seeing William Hurt portray Renko in 'Gorky Park' he is forever this character when I read about him, his slow pedantic speech and manner was played superbly by Hurt so this book just rocks along slowly, sometimes so slowly the book treads water, but its a good story. And like most things 'follow the money'. (Published 1999)

THE BOOKMAN'S WAKE - John Dunning

2012-01-01T20:42:00.002+13:00

The second outing for retired Denver detective now book dealer Cliff Janaway.

He is looking for a girl believed to be in posession of a rare book by Edgar Alan Poe. This leads to a tale of obession and madness with a few murders thrown in

Again we have an excellent mystery coupled with trivia regarding the rare and used book trade which I find fascinating. The author is a book dealer so they information supplied is first rate.

The books are unavailable in New Zealand but there are plenty out of the USA, thank goodness. (Published 1995)

BOOKED TO DIE - John Dunning

2011-12-31T18:27:00.002+13:00

Books fairs, I love them, fifty cents got me this little gem concerning book collector / detective Cliff Janaway. The main story has Janaway trying to solve the murder of a down and out book dealer and a sub story of Janaway trying to end the reign of the local crime boss.

So, great plot, great characters and as the author is a book dealer , it is packed with trivia regarding the second hand book trade. Stephen King is worth thousands, who would have thought.

You won't be as lucky as me and score this for fifty cents but the series is available in the USA , all secondhand through Abe Books
(Published 1992)

CHASING DARKNESS - Robert Crais

2011-12-30T18:32:00.002+13:00

During a fire in Los Angeles a corpse is located in a house when the Fire department are trying evacuate the residents. In the hands of the corpse is a photo album showing the bodies of seven murder victims.

Of those victims one person has been charged but on evidence supplied by PI Elvis Cole this suspect walked free.

So now Cole has to find the killer or live with the fact that he may have contributed to the deaths of further victims.

A good Elvis Cole novel, together with his partner Joe Pike they set out to solve the problem.

This is darker and more gruesome, not as flippant and humorous as earlier books in the series but good value for money.

Crais is probably the best American writing in this genre at the moment (apologies to James Lee Burke though while brilliant has gone off the boil a bit) and he never disappoints . (Published 2008)

THE DROP - Michael Connelly

2011-12-29T18:12:00.002+13:00

The latest offering from Connelly in the 'Harry Bosch' series and it is excellent.

Harry is attached to the Open Unsolved Unit, investigating old homicides when he is called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a L. A. City Councillors son. The councillor is an ex- detective who loathes Bosch.

While doing this he is trying to solve an old murder where DNA was located on the victim but the suspect was only 8 years old at the time.

This is brilliant crime writing, the last 'Bosch' I read ( Nine Dragons) was poor, but the author has nailed this. Genuinely excellent. (Published 2011)

A DEATH IN SUMMER - Benjamin Black

2011-12-26T06:04:00.004+13:00

The fourth 'Quirke' mystery with the shambling drunken Dublin pathologist. Newspaper tycoon Richard Jewel is found with his head blown off, suicide/ murder?

There are plenty of suspects if it is a murder. Quirke managers to piece it all together as well as maintaining his shambolic relationship with a young actress and an infatuation with the dead mans wife.

This is the best of the four Quirke novels written by Black, the pen name of John Banville. Its another good atmospheric tale set in 1950's Ireland where connections and money rule.

NINE DRAGONS - Michael Connelly

2011-12-24T07:43:00.003+13:00

A 'Harry Bosch' story and its a poor one, which is unusual because Connelly really is the business in this genre. The problem for me was that the story is just too far fetched or probably our hero's actions are too ludicrous even for a fictional detective.

It starts off with a murder in L.A and then to Hong Kong for 24 hours where his daughter is kidnapped and then back to L.A where the murder is solved .

It would be a major plot spoiler if anymore was said about this tale, suffice to say that its sillier than it sounds.

Michael Connelly is productive and generally excellent, especially the 'Bosch' books but this doesn't have much to redeem it at all.4/10
(Published 2009)

ELEGY FOR APRIL - Benjamin Black

2011-12-21T20:08:00.003+13:00

Number three of the Quirke Dublin mysteries.

Quirke's daughter's friend April goes missing. April,a member of the powerful and wealthy Latimer family , a family from which she is estranged.

The cone of silence from the family due to their fear of scandal regarding the disappearance causes much hindrance to the police's and Quirke's investigation. An investigation that eventually finds much more than risk of scandal.

Quirke manages to unravel the secrets and lies that have been concocted over the disappearance as well as getting himself involved with a young actress, an affair that does nothing to assist in his attempts to stay sober.

Wonderful writing, as in the previous two novels, again, very dark but that's what the author is wanting to portray and he's does it very well.

Read the stories in order or it will get a wee bit confusing. (Published 2010)

STALKING THE ANGEL - Robert Crais

2011-12-19T20:20:00.000+13:00

THE CONCRETE BLONDE - Michael Connelly

2011-12-15T18:56:00.000+13:00

DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS - P D James

2011-12-11T08:26:00.000+13:00

L.A. REQUIEM - Robert Crais

2011-12-05T06:49:00.000+13:00