Usual Suspects

New York Times Notable Book of the Year author Deborah Crombie has garnered tremendous praise—and has been nominated for virtually every major mystery award—for her piercing police procedurals featuring Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, who are personally and professionally entwined.

On Sunday, February 13, the Usual Suspects will be discussing Dreaming of the Bones (1997), the fifth book in the series.read more

We first meet French American private investigator Aimée Leduc in Cara Black's first mystery novel, Murder in the Marais (1999). Leduc is a corporate security expert moonlighting as a Nazi hunter. Assigned to decrypt a coded photograph from the 1940s and deliver it to an old woman living in the Marias—Paris's historic Jewish quarter—she discovers the old woman dead, a swastika carved in her forehead. With the help of her partner, a dwarf with extraordinary computer skills, she is determined to solve this horrendous crime and as the murders pile up Leduc finds herself in the middle of a dangerous game of current politics and old war crimes. Read it for yourself and find out why the Los Angeles Times calls Aimée Leduc “The Parisienne Kinsey Milhone” and why author Lee Child thinks she is “One of the best heroines in crime fiction.” Then, join the Usual Suspects for their discussion of the book on Sunday, October 17th, at 2 PM. We enjoy meeting fellow mystery fans! For a copy of the book, phone 203-291-4821. There are ten titles in the Leduc series to date, including the recent Murder in the Palais Royal. Author Black identifies Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret stories as a major influence, as well as Leo Malet's lesser-known detective, Nestor Burma, whose cases take him to the darker corners and forgotten pockets of Paris. She says “I've liked them so much I hope to do the same with Aimée, so she and the reader can discover an off-the-tourist-track Paris, real and sometimes gritty." You can find even more French detectives on our Mysteries around the World list.

Peter Robinson’s first novel in 1987, Gallows View, introduced Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. The series is set in and around the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale. There are now 18 Banks titles in print, with the 19th, Bad Boy, due out later this month. In a Dry Season, the 10th in the series, won the Anthony and Barry awards for best novel and was nominated for the Edgar, Hammett, Macavity and Arthur Ellis Awards. It also won France’s Grand Prix of Crime Writing and Sweden’s Martin Beck Award and was a New York Times “notable book” of 1999. When a drought drains the local Thornfield Reservoir, uncovering a long-drowned small village and the skeleton of a murder victim from the 1940s, Detective Alan Banks and his Detective Sergeant, Annie Cabot, must investigate the decades-old crime and unmask an evil secret from the past. Robinson says “Often my stories are inspired by places. In this instance, it was a reservoir that I had visited near Otley, Yorkshire, in 1995. The water had all dried up, and what remained of the drowned village of West End was on view for the first time since the late 1970s. I just got an eerie feeling walking around there. And, of course, I imagined what if someone found a body that had been hidden underwater there for decades.” Robinson’s work is most often spoken of and reviewed in relation to that of prominent British crime writers, such as Reginald Hill and Ian Rankin. In a curious coincidence, only months before In a Dry Season came out, British author Reginald Hill published his novel On Beulah Height, in which another town and another mystery are exposed from beneath a reservoir. The author says he was relieved to find that “… apart from the reservoir, there are no comparisons to be made.” However, On Beulah Height was also a winner … Hill took home the 1999 Barry Award for best novel and it and was an Anthony and Gold Dagger Award nominee. It is the 18th novel in Hill’s legendary Superintendent Dalziel and Pascoe series, which is, ironically enough, also set in Yorkshire. Not certain whether or not Hill was inspired by the exact same reservoir as Robinson! Next Sunday, August 15th, at 2 pm, The Usual Suspects will be discussing In a Dry Season. For a copy of the book, phone 203-291-4821. New participants are always welcome.

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi, and has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin. In an interview at bookreporter.com she describes her writing style: “Here’s the main fact about the way I write: I have no clue what I’m doing. When I start on a book, I don’t know where it’s going to end up; I have a narrator, the kernel of a premise, an awful lot of coffee, and that’s it. Then I dive in and figure out the rest as I go along.” As for how she got into the mystery writing business, she explains “… almost by accident. When I had the idea for In the Woods I was working on an archaeological dig, between shows. There was a wood near the dig, and one day I thought, That would be a great place for kids to play … and instead of stopping there, I thought … what if three kids ran in there, and only one came out? I scribbled the idea down on a piece of paper. A year later I found it again, under a heap of phone bills, and I decided that I really wanted to do something with this idea. I never thought I could write a whole book, but I figured I could probably write one little section, and then another …” In the Woods, which was published in 2007, went on to win four major mystery awards: an Agatha, a Barry, an Edgar and a Macavity. The plot: Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories. In a starred review, Booklist called it “a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland” and an “outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.” Ryan’s partner, Cassie Maddox returns in French’s 2008 novel, The Likeness, and Booklist, in a second starred review called it “another winner.” Set six months after the events of In the Woods, a still traumatized Maddox is investigating the unsettling murder of a young woman whose name matches an alias she had once used as an undercover officer. French’s fans are eagerly awaiting her third book, Faithful Place, which is due July 13th. In yet another starred review, Booklist calls this one “her best book yet.” Planning to run away with his girlfriend Rosie, Frank Mackey (now Cassie Maddox’s boss) concludes he has been dumped when she fails to join him and is astonished when Rosie's suitcase and evidence of foul play are discovered more than twenty years later. The Usual Suspects will be discussing In the Woods on Sunday, June 20th at 2 pm. New faces are always welcome. To reserve a copy of the book, call 291-4821.