Friday's Forgotten Books, November 9, 2018

IN A TRUE LIGHT, John Harvey  (Kent Morgan from the archives)

In 1998, John Harvey won the first-ever Sherlock Award for the best detective, Charlie Resnick, created by a British author. When he decided to stop writing the Resnick series, he opted to write a standalone where he could use his interest in both art and music in the storyline. The result is this book which received well-deserved raves from book reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic. Sloane is a 60-year-old painter who is just out of prison after serving time for duplicating fine art for a dealer. He takes the rap and doesn’t squeal on the dealer who promised him 20,000 pounds on his release. After he collects the money, he is contacted by a woman in Italy who tells him a prominent artist with whom he had a fling in New York when he was 18 is dying and wants to see him. She claims that Sloane is the father of her estranged daughter, who is a jazz singer in the States, and asks him to find her. This takes him back to New York where he discovers the younger woman is involved with a man who beats her and has ties to organized crime. Sloane isn’t convinced that the woman is his daughter and despite the fact that she doesn’t seem to want him in her life and any help with her problems that includes drugs, he can’t stop himself from getting involved. The story moves back and forth from New York to London and Pisa and Harvey’s characters jump off the page as Sloane attempts to resolve his issues as well as the woman’s problems. This is one of the few books I have read in recent years that I didn’t want to put down.

Mark Baker, DEATH ON THE NILE, Agatha Christie
Les Blatt, THE CONQUEROR, E.R. Punshon
Elgin Bleecker, GUNS OF BRIXTON, Paul Brazill
Brian Busby "Grant Allen" 
crossexaminingcrime, ROCKET TO THE MORGUE, Anthony Boucher
Martin Edwards, THE SHOP WINDOW MURDERS, Vernon Loder
Curt Evans, THE ELECTION BOOTH MURDER,   Milton M. Propper
Elisabeth Grace Foley, REST AND BE THANKFUL, Helen MacInnes

Richard Horton, SKIN HUNGER and SACRED SCARS, Kathleen Duey
Jerry House, STAR OVER BETHLEHEM AND OTHER STORIES, Agatha Christie Mallowan 
George Kelley, END OF THE LINE, Burt and Dolores Hitchens
Margot Kinberg, DESERT  HEAT, J.A. Jance 
Rob Kitchin, SIRENS, Joseph Knox
B.V. Lawson, VOICE OUT OF DARKNESS, Ursula Curtiss
Evan Lewis, THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION, Nicholas Meyer
Steve Lewis, SHADY LADY, Cleve Adams 
Todd Mason,  THE AMERICAN FOLK SCENE ed. David DeTurk & A. Poulin; BOB DYLAN: DON'T LOOK BACK transcribed & ed. by DJ Pennebaker et al.; DANGEROUSLY FUNNY by David Bianculli
J.F.Norris, MAYNARDS'S HOUSE, Herman Raucher
James Reasoner, THE COMPLETE MIKE SHAYNE, PRIVATE EYE, Ken Fitch and Ed Ashe 
Richard Robinson, THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS, Frederick Pohl
ONLY DETECT, DARKNESS TAKE MY HAND, Dennis Lehane 
Kevin Tipple, CORKSCREW, Ted Wood 
TomCat, THE HOUSE OF STRANGE GUESTS, Nicholas Brady
TracyK, THE BIRTHDAY MURDER, Lange Lewis