Entries from Westport Public Library BOOK blog tagged with 'police'
A latter-day Dostoevsky
If there was a "Life’s Little Ironies" competition, author Ruth Rendell might be the winner. She was fired from her newspaper job after writing an article about the local tennis club's annual dinner which she had not actually attended – and so she “neglected” to mention the untimely death of the after-dinner speaker mid-speech. False alibis, erroneous statements, sudden deaths … some of the major ingredients of good crime fiction! Rendell moved on to become one of the most celebrated mystery authors of our time and has won the Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association, three Edgars and a Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America, and countless other awards. In addition to over forty psychological crime novels – which she also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine – Rendell has produced twenty two Chief Inspector Wexford police procedurals. The series began in 1964, and the latest book, The Monster in the Box, was recently released.The Diamond Dagger
Award winning British author Peter Lovesey will be joining us at the Library on Sunday, October 25 at 2 pm, along with master blender of fact and fiction, Connecticut author James R. Benn. They will be interviewed by Joe Meyers of the Connecticut Post. This is a rare opportunity to meet Lovesey, the author Publishers Weekly says “has no peer in presenting a traditional mystery with all the clues hiding in plain sight. Skeleton Hill, his new Peter Diamond novel, is the tenth book in this contemporary series, which is set in Bath. The PW review says “Diamond remains one of the most realistic and human of fictional sleuths.”The Indy Five
The 40th Bouchercon World Mystery Convention will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 15 - 18, 2009. Author Michael Connelly will be the Guest of Honor. The Anthony Awards, named in memory of mystery writer and critic Anthony Boucher, will be given out at a ceremony on Saturday, October 17. The five Best Novel nominees are Trigger City by Sean Chercover, The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly, Red Knife by William Kent Krueger, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny. The Cruelest Month has already won this year’s Agatha Award for Best Novel and is nominated for the McAvity and the Barry awards as well as the Anthony. Louise Penny is an author that I suggest to readers often and they never come back to me disappointed. The New York Times attributes this success to the “elegance and depth” that she brings to her traditional village mysteries.Playing Clue in Bollywood
Vikas Swarup, the author of Q&A, the novel that became the critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire, has turned to writing crime fiction. Janet Maslin of the New York Times calls his second novel, Six Suspects, "a Bollywood version of the board game Clue with a strain of screwball comedy thrown in" and adds “the whole thing feels handily confined to the kind of isolated, air-tight setting that Agatha Christie’s readers love.” In a starred review Booklist said “If Agatha Christie wrote a mystery about modern India, it might be something like this.”Deep in the heart of Texas
San Antonio author Rick Riordan has become a household name – at least in households with children – for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series which features a twelve-year-old boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of an ancient Greek god. Riordan also wrote the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults. Jackson “Tres” Navarre is not your stereotypical private investigator. He is a Tai Chi master with a Ph.D. in English from Berkeley. There are seven titles in the series which began in 1996 with Big Red Tequila. Next Sunday, August 16th, at 2 pm, the Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will discuss the third title, The Last King of Texas, published in 2000. New faces are always welcome. To reserve a copy of the book, call 291-4821.Sirius business
The Dog Days of Summer are those insufferably hot days of summer that can happen anytime between July and September. The term originates with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sirius, the "Dog Star," was the brightest star in the heavens besides the sun, and it rose and set with the sun in summer. The ancients believed that it generated the heat responsible for the hellish weather. The Library will be hosting a series of delightful pet-oriented programs to counteract the otherwise unpleasant Dog Days in Westport. Mystery fans looking for the perfect reading companion should try Spencer Quinn’s Dog on It. Meet Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. They are investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl who may or may not have been kidnapped, but who has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. In one of its many starred reviews, Library Journal said "At last, a dog lover's mystery that portrays dogs as they really are....Quinn's characters are endearing, and his narrative is intriguing, fast-moving, and well written. Even cat lovers will find it entertaining.”Swear not at all
Sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community of Painters Mill, Ohio, where the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. The crimes were never solved. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl traumatized by the crimes, left the community, abandoned her heritage, and ultimately went on to study law enforcement. Sixteen years after the Slaughterhouse Murders, as they came to be known, a gun-toting, cursing Kate returns to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. Publishers Weekly praised author Linda Castillo’s “well-paced plot that illuminates the divide between the Amish and ‘English’ world.” Library Journal said that the recently released Sworn to Silence “marks Castillo's move from romantic suspense to straight mystery, and judging by this novel, the move is a good one.”Like sharks through ginger ale
“You're going to love meeting Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, a pair of hip homicide detectives with the LAPD; unless, of course, you're the perp. Smart, funny and intuitive, Lomax and Biggs glide through the overlit shoals of Los Angeles like sharks through ginger ale. As up to the minute as they are intensely observant, the guys, this time, prowl the golden muck of the LA real estate bubble to fine effect; an exhilarating read.” This is a recommendation from the late Donald Westlake for Marshall Karp’s third Lomax and Briggs mystery, Flipping Out.Tartan Noir
Prolific bestselling author Val McDermid comes from Fife in the coal-mining region of eastern Scotland. On her website she explains “I had always wanted to write, ever since I realised that real people actually produced all those books in the library.” After a career in journalism she began her first crime novel in 1984. She recalls that reading a Sara Paretsky mystery a "defining moment" because it was "a mystery with an urban setting that dealt with contemporary women's lives, that didn't shy away from engaging with the politics of the society it reflected, and that was fun."Last seen writing
Connecticut mystery writer Hillary Waugh was one of the pioneers of the American police procedural novel. He died on Dec. 8th at the age of 88. Waugh's 1952 novel Last Seen Wearing was listed by the Mystery Writers of America as one of the top 100 mysteries of all time and in 1989 he was named a Grand Master by the MWA. He used Connecticut as the setting for many of his stories, and had an eleven title series which featured Fred Fellows, chief of police in Stockford, a fictional small town.Mystery solved
What to buy … what to buy? If you cannot find just the right thing for that mystery lover on your gift list, come on over to the Library and check out the holiday issue of Mystery Scene magazine – the one with author Donna Andrews on the cover. It features a delightful gift guide that includes gift ideas ranging from items of apparel such as The Three Stooges detective tie ($14.95) to pretend private detective badges ($4.99) and birdhouses hand-crafted from vintage copies of To Kill a Mockingbird ($114.95) as well as a selection of interactive detective games, DVDs and special edition books sure to please every taste.A nose for the news
There has been a noticeable increase in the number of broadcast crime and investigative reporter mysteries of late. Michael A. Black and Julie Hyzy have brought their respective series detectives P.I. Ron Shade and TV reporter Alex St. James together in Dead Ringer. Julie Kramer’s debut mystery Stalking Susan introduces Riley Spartz, a Twin Cities investigative TV journalist. Kramer is a freelance news producer for the Today Show and Dateline. Real-life BBC crime correspondent Simon Hall has created fictional TV crime reporter Dan Groves who becomes involved in the death of painter who is murdered after he creates a series of ten paintings containing a mysterious riddle.An Unsuitable Job for a Woman?
The Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will be exploring the role of woman as detective in a two-book discussion series, “An Unsuitable Job for a Woman?” The first book, being discussed next Sunday at 2 p.m., is The Friend of Madame Maigret by Georges Simenon. Maigret attempts to prove that a murder has actually been committed without a corpse and he begins to suspect that his wife’s earlier strange encounter with a woman and her baby may hold the key. Although Maigret is a police professional and Madame Maigret is a stay-at-home wife they often work together as a team. According to the official Maigret website, “Mme Maigret provides the calm balance to Maigret's hectic working life … Her female insights are invaluable to Maigret and her wise answers to his apparently innocuous questions often help him with his cases.”The Catch of the day
Mystery author Archer Mayor will be speaking at the Library a week from today – Monday, October 27th at 7:30 p.m. – as part of the authors@the library series. Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, described by the Chicago Tribune as “the best police procedurals being written in America.”A Mainely man
Kate Flora’s Portland, Maine, homicide detective Joe Burgess perseveres in his investigations despite his personal demons and he never quits until the guilty party is brought to justice. Flora’s latest book, The Angel of Knowlton Park, received a starred review in Booklist, which said “Flora excels at portraying the police as real people with strengths and weaknesses who unite to bring some measure of justice to the dead and living alike. Flora's thought-provoking second police procedural marks her as one of the best in the genre.”The City of Light
Murder on The Eiffel Tower is the first in a promising new series from Claude Izner. Izner is a pseudonym for sisters and Parisian booksellers Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre. The brand-new, shiny Eiffel Tower is the pride and glory of the 1889 World Exposition. But one sunny afternoon, as visitors are crowding the viewing platforms, a woman collapses and dies on this great Paris landmark. Can a bee sting really be the cause of death? Or is there a more sinister explanation? Young bookseller Victor Legris witnesses the woman’s death. Appalled by the media coverage of the event, he is determined to find out what actually happened and is caught in a race against time when there are more mysterious deaths.Astonish me
Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs was a national bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2003, an Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel 2003, the Agatha Award winner for Best First Novel 2003, and one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Mysteries of 2003. The New York Times review for this book said “Prepare to be astonished …” The Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will be discussing Maisie Dobbs next Sunday, September 21st, at 2 p.m.Whiskey a Go Go
There are two somewhat intoxicating mystery series on the shelves these days. Nina Wright’s Whiskey Mattimoe is a recently widowed real estate agent in a small resort town in Michigan. She made her debut in Whiskey on the Rocks (2005) which received a starred review in Library Journal. J. A. Konrath’s Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is with the Chicago Police Violent Crimes Unit. When we meet Jack in Whiskey Sour (2004) her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has maxed out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases, and a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man" is dumping mutilated bodies in her district.Dying to get elected
There is an interesting variety of mystery and suspense fiction set on the campaign trail. Just in case you have extreme campaign fever and can’t get enough of the real thing, here are a few titles to try!Workingman’s Dead
Gary McKinney’s Slipknot is billed as a mystery with an ecological twist that features Gavin Pruitt, a County Sheriff in Washington State who is a “Deadhead” from the sixties. Even while working as a cop he has not lost touch with his hippie “roots” and continues to battle the “establishment.” He finds that the lyrics of old Grateful Dead songs help him make sense of it all.And the winners are …
This year’s Best Novel Edgar went to John Hart for Down River. Quite an achievement, as this is only his second published work. His first book was The King of Lies which was nominated for a Best First Novel Edgar. Both books made the New York Times Bestseller list. This year’s Best Novel Agatha went to Louise Penny for A Fatal Grace, which is the second title in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, preceded by Still Life and followed by the recently released The Cruelest Month.Double indemnity re-defined
As an addendum to Monday’s posting about the pseudonyms of mystery writing literary authors, I just encountered a problem with a new book from a “new” author named Inger Ash Wolfe – which the book jacket says “is the pseudonym for a North American literary novelist.” I did a quick Google to see if I could solve the mystery of her true identity and found out that there is quite a flap in the book world over the name because it turns out there is already a Danish mystery writer named Inger Wolf – no “e” at the end. Several of the major blogs are abuzz about it. If you want to join the fray, check out Scrivener's Error and Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.Abrupt endings
Fans of the international crime novel are mourning the passing of three significant writers in the genre. Magdalen Nabb was the author of the Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia novels, which are set in modern day Florence. Another author of what has been called the “renaissance of Italian crime fiction,” Michael Dibdin, gave us Aurelio Zen, one of the quirkiest detectives in all of crime fiction. The late Batya Gur’s groundbreaking Chief Inspector Michael Ohayon mysteries took us across the Mediterranean to Jerusalem.An author of interest
Theresa Schwegel’s latest book, A Person of Interest, reinforces her position as one of today's top authors of hard-boiled police procedurals. A Person of Interest is set in Chicago – her hometown – where detective Craig McHugh is working undercover to bust a powerful Chinese gang that traffics in heroin. Meanwhile, his teenage daughter, Ivy, is caught with a small amount of ecstasy, and his wife, convinced he's having an affair, begins flirting with Ivy's boyfriend. Schwegel deftly weaves these three subplots together. Her vivid characterizations of a family in crisis elevate the story beyond the crime thriller and into the realm of the literary novel.In the dead of winter
It is not even officially winter yet, and I don't know about you, but I have already used up all of my bad weather driving nerves. A few hearty souls made their way in on Sunday to join me for the Usual Suspects discussion of Ngaio Marsh's Tied up in Tinsel. I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the "In the Dead of Winter" theme for our January and February books. I should have come up with something tropical. On Sunday, January 20th, at 2 p.m. we will be discussing Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon.Crime in the City
If you missed NPR’s recent Crime in the City series featuring four of today’s hottest mystery authors giving guided tours of the places they and their characters inhabit, the good news is that you can play them on-line.
Red, Black, and Blue
Leonardo Padura is the internationally acclaimed author of several novels including the Havana Quartet, a series of detective stories featuring police inspector Mario Conde, who has been called “a tropical Marlowe.”
Havana Red, Havana Black, and, most recently, Havana Blue, have made their way onto our shelves. The fourth title, Havana Yellow, is expected next year.
Padura describes his books as detective stories with “social character” growing out of his need to “leave behind a mark of an historical moment that we lived through in Cuba and, more specifically, the feeling of disillusionment when the ideal world which they spoke of began to disappear.” Therefore, “they are also sad.”
Joie de mort
Join the Usual Suspects this coming Sunday, June 17th, at 2 p.m. for a discussion of The Circle by Peter Lovesey.
Publisher Edgar Blacker is murdered shortly after speaking to an eccentric group of would-be writers. His body is found in the charred remains of his house.
Will writers really kill to be published?
Sketchy clues
Two men - one good, one evil - who think in pictures.
Police sketch artist Nate Rodriguez, and a vicious serial killer who makes portraits of his victims and leaves them pinned to their bodies.
Jonathan Santlofer’s Anatomy of Fear has an interesting subtitle: A Novel of Visual Suspense.
There are 100 or so sketches scattered throughout the book that enhance the narrative in this unique thriller.
Crime and Punishment, continued
In The Gentle Axe, R.N. Morris has picked up police magistrate Porfiry Petrovich’s career where Dostoevsky left off.
Two dead bodies in St. Petersburg’s Petrovsky Park. A big, burly man hanging from a tree with a bloodied axe tucked into his belt and a dwarf packed inside of a suitcase with a deep axe wound in his head.
Petrovich soon has reason to reject the obvious explanation that one man killed the other and then hanged himself.
“Oh, who can ever be tired of Bath?”
Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland journeys to Bath in Northanger Abbey to “walk and be seen” and is quite taken with the city.
I will be visiting there this coming week to walk in the footsteps of Jane Austen herself, albeit hoping to see, rather than be seen.
This is the city of Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond as well, and I will be watching for all of the landmarks described in author Peter Lovesey’s mysteries. I am eagerly awaiting the newest book in the series, The Secret Hangman, which is due out in early summer.
Mark your calendar for April 15th
I am excited to announce the upcoming book discussion of Josephine Tey’s classic mystery, The Daughter of Time . Written in 1951, this book came in at #4 on the list of the all-time 100 best mysteries by the Mystery Writers of America.
If you have already read it, give it a quick once over again and join us! If you have never read it, you ought to give it a try. And even if you can't get around to reading it, come any way. This is a great chance to get together with some fellow mystery fans.
Finely tuned mysteries
Here are a few musical mysteries for mystery fans who want to keep pace with the excitement of this year’s Westport Reads which features Mark Salzman’s The Soloist.
Bologna and cheese?
Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen has returned in Back to Bologna, his 10th mystery.
The ever-cynical, brooding detective investigates the murder of a millionaire entrepreneur who is found in his car impaled on a parmesan cheese knife.
Like father, like daughter
Mystery writer Alafair Burke is the daughter of acclaimed writer James Lee Burke.
North Korea, hard-boiled
In a starred Publishers Weekly review James Church’s A Corpse in the Koryo is heralded as “an impressive debut that calls to mind such mystery thrillers as Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park.”
Against the backdrop of totalitarian North Korea, Police Inspector O is called in when the government becomes desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decades-old kidnappings and murders.
Iceland and Sweden are hot, hot, hot!
No, not global warming! Outstanding mysteries set in Reykjavik, the cosmopolitan capital of Iceland, and Ystad, a small town in the wind-lashed Swedish province of Skane.
Arnaldur Indridason’s second Inspector Erlandur Sveinsson mystery Silence of the Grave is expected in October. Erlandur was first introduced to us in Jar City (2005).
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