Saturay Music: Beth Orton

Nothing Compares 2 U

Friday's Forgotten Books, April 29, 2016

                                   NEXT FRIDAY, SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRST BOOKS
 

Geoff Dyer, But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz (from Ron Scheer in the archives)

I guess you’d call this creative nonfiction. A former colleague recommended this book to me after reading some of my thoughts on the life-affirming and health-inducing aspects of listening to jazz as I deal with a visitation of brain cancer. The great irony is that the joyous practice of improvisation in smoky clubs of the bebop era was so virulently self-destructive for its musicians.

In Dyer’s evocative and impressionistic character sketches of several of its iconic figures (Lester Young, Bud Powell, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Ben Webster, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus) we witness mostly downward trajectories, as drugs, prison, racism, alcoholism, mental illness, and violence take their toll. Whether or not you think of them as survivors, you come to understand that the music they invented and played was an act of defiance and subversion in the face of demons both internal and external.

I don’t want this to sound over dramatized. Dyer immerses the reader in an imagined subjective world of each musician, and that world is seldom as harrowing as it appears from outside. Like some, Lester Young floats in the isolation of an alcohol haze, never quite sure if he is living or already dead. Thelonious Monk glories in an ongoing rage against fellow musicians and the instrument he plays. 

Meanwhile, some escape to Europe, where they find an appreciative audience and are granted a reprieve from the vestiges of Jim Crow discrimination. If anyone fares badly in the book, it is Chet Baker, who is portrayed musically as someone whose seductiveness as a performer was always in the form of promises he never kept—a self-absorption that verged on coitus interruptus. 

Dyer bases his book on biographical and historical accounts, but is more interested in impressions than facts. The end result is a cross between dream and documentary. While representing jazz composition and performance as driven by the effort to capture evanescent and transcendent moods (think of Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo”), Dyer’s lucidly clear prose is a wonder of poetic expression.

He closes the book with a stimulating essay on mid-century jazz, with an overview of the wave of high-profile jazz musicians who followed in the decades since (e.g., Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett), while illuminating some of the key issues that have animated the discourse of musicologists who have never lost their love for the genre. There is also a discography and a lengthy bibliography.

Sergio Angelini, DEAD MEN DON'T SKI, Patricia Moyes
Yvette Banek, MURDER AT ARROWAYS, Helen Reilly
Les Blatt, THE SIRENS SANG OF MURDER, Sarah Caudwell
Bill Crider, THE LAST TALK WITH LOLA FAYE, Thomas H. Cook
Martin Edwards, THE CHISTLEHURST MYSTERY, E. L. Mann
Curt Evans, CAPE COD
Ed Gorman, BONJOUR TRISTESSE, Francoise Sagan
Rich Horton, TWO BLACK SHEEP, Warwick Deeping
Jerry House, EARTH'S LAST CITADEL, Moore and Kuttner
Nick Jones, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, Patricia Highsmith
George Kelley, THE SALIVA TREE, Brian Aldiss
Margot Kinberg, THE CASK, Freeman Wills Crofts
Rob Kitchin, JAPAN 1941,  Ari Hotta
B.V. Lawson, MURDER AT THE FOUL LINE, edited by Otto Penzler
Steve Lewis/Barry Gardner, MAKE NO BONES, Aaron Elkins
Todd Mason, FANTASTIC, February 1969, edited by Barry N. Malzberg; F&SF, February 1969, edited by Edward L. Ferman; STARTLING MYSTERY STORIES, Summer 1969, edited by Robert A. W. Lowndes
J. F. Norris, DEATH MY DARLING DAUGHTER, Jonathan Stagge
Mathew Paust, WHAT'S WRONG WITH DORFMAN? John Blumenthal
Reactions to Reading, THE DROWNED BOY, Karin Fossum
James Reasoner, LIAR'S KISS, Eric Skillman
Richard Robinson, First Contacts, The Essential Murray Leinster by edited by Joe Rico
Gerard Saylor, WEST TEXAS, Al Sarrantonio, THE COLD. COLD GROUND, Adrian McKinty
Kerrie Smith, THE BARRAKKE MYSTERY, Arthur Upfield
Kevin Tipple, SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN, Tim Hallinan
TomCat, THE GREAT MERLINI, Clayton Rawson 
TracyK LIVE AND LET DIE, Ian Fleming 

Nothing Compare 2 U

SHOT IN DETROIT: Ramir Obabie

In SHOT IN DETROIT, twelve African-American men under forty die. At one point in its long gestation, I composed back stories for each man, not sure if I would use them or not. 

I decided not. The story belonged to Violet Hart, the photographer, and these long pieces diluted that--and it made for too many characters, something I personally don't care for. 

But I do feel their stories are worth telling. The stories are all basically fictitious but mirror the sort of deaths that take place in any urban area. 

PORTRAITS OF DETROIT: RAMIR OBABIE

Ramir watched his father die in ’93, swearing he’d never touch the stuff. Not drugs, nor drink. The smell in Daddy’s room was enough to put him off. Daddy never got past Nam, talked about it for the next twenty-five years, dreamed about napalm, Agent Orange, rounds quickly jammed into a gun, jungle stuff. Hot sweaty nightmares, bone-chilling ones, waking everyone up with his moaning, yelling, thrashing. A bed board pounding the wall didn’t mean sex in the Obabie household. Daddy went to a Vet’s group once or twice, but no one down there encouraged his return. Tyrone was too damned angry for anyone to deal with. Except his wife—and not always her.

The three kids could hear Mama soothing Daddy in a sing-songy voice on those nights. “Gonna be alright, Baby. Gonna be alright.”
 
It wasn’t all right, though. Tyrone Obabie, who’d picked up the habit during his 1969 tour, cashed out because he couldn’t remember how much heroin he’d already put in his veins.
 
“Would’ve killed a horse,” the White Coat in the ER said.
 
“Maybe he wanted it that way,” Ramir’s older sister told White Coat in the corridor in her sassiest voice. She never was any good at dealing with men like him.
 
“Thirty years of drug use—should’ve done him in years ago.”
 
Ramir’s older sister had no quick comeback for that. White Coat turned his back on the Obabies.
 
“Your Daddy wasn’t meant to be a solider.” The children turned to look at Mama. Mama had never said a bad word about Ty, even if she was pretty much used-up by then. Was anyone meant for war, Ramir wanted to ask.
 
Ramir’s two sisters grew up to be school teachers—one teaching math in a community college. They married, even when nobody else was doing it. Had kids. Moved to Southfield—bought ranch houses with deep back lots that their husbands mowed on Saturdays. Put their father and his ranting and his drug use behind them. Helped their Mother out when she needed an extra twenty, a weekend away, a grandkid to hug.
 
Ramir—well nothing worked out the way he expected. Didn’t finish high school—even 11th grade—despite his sisters’ team-ragging him whenever they could. Him being the baby only got Ramir so far, and he was just a no-count drag on them eventually.
 
Mama—she finally tossed him out too— tired of finding his drug shit everywhere—scared of cars stopping outside the house late, sick of coming in from her job book-keeping at an auto parts supplier to find him unconscious on the sofa, weary of dialing 911, sitting by his hospital bed to see if he was gonna join his Daddy.
 
The only thing Ramir had going for him was his looks. Sometimes girls did tricks, then turned over the money. Not that he was a pimp. They did it without him asking—least most of the time. Put a ten or a twenty in his hand, stuck their hand down his pants. He put their hard-earned money in his nose or his vein. Had a girl out in Troy, white girl too, who earned a hundred dollars a pop. Fixed him up with a new dealer when his old one got sent to Wayne Country Correctional. Said this guy had some sweet stuff for him to try. Something new. Sheila, she was his favorite coochie all right. Took care of him good.
 
He did everything right, new needle, cleaned the vein, but that drug—that sweet stuff Sheila found—took him to another place, place he’d never been. Couldn’t move, couldn’t shout, couldn’t blink his eyes even. And eventually, he couldn’t breathe.

Author's Note: Although this is in a larger font on my compose function, I can't get it to be larger here. Sorry. 

Nothing Compares 2 U

Series

I believe that in a series-and I am thinking as much of series like Ferrante's Neopolitan books as in crime fiction- that each book should basically function as a standalone. You should not have to read the second book to understand the first one. It's okay to do this on a TV show, but not in a book or even a movie. Now Book 2 can give you a greater understanding of the characters or extend the plot but it should not be necessary to read it to understand the story.

What do you think?

Prince: Nothing Compares

Forgotten Movies: RAISING ARIZONA

I loved this movie from the Coen Brothers when I saw it in 1987. Now, not so much. What seemed clever then seems cloying now. Hi (Cage)and Ed (Hunter) steal a baby from parents who have five of them. The theft yields little happiness for them and various other people get in the way. There is too much racing around, too many alternative southern accents, too much screaming. There were so few scenes of them with their baby, it never felt real. Hunter was in it too little for it to become the screwball romance it wanted to be. This was very disappointing. Was my taste in 1987 bad or am I jaded now? It was easy to find places that better lines and better situations could have saved the day. I don't know. Maybe it's me.Have you seen it lately?
What movie did not hold up for you thirty years on?

SHOT IN DETROIT: Pete Oberon

In SHOT IN DETROIT, twelve African-American men under forty die. At one point in its long gestation, I composed back stories for each man, not sure if I would use them or not. 

I decided not. The story belonged to Violet Hart, the photographer, and these long pieces diluted that--and it made for too many characters, something I personally don't care for. 

But I do feel their stories are worth telling. The stories are all basically fictitious but mirror the sort of deaths that take place in any urban area. 

PORTRAITS OF DETROIT: Peter Oberon

            A female reporter stuck a mike in Pete’s face on Christmas morning, after the fire was out. “How many years have you been with the DFD?” 

Seventeen, he told her. Most of them spent in a 109-year old firehouse that was a fire hazard itself. No one knew about the condition of the wiring, but who had the money to replace it? Not Detroit. He didn’t tell her that, of course. They’d been read the riot act about dissing the City.

            “I hear you’re the one they call on when a fellow fire fighter is buried under debris.”

Pete was 6”4 and weighted 270. He could yank floorboards out if it took that. Hoist fallen walls, loosen joists, carry two people at once. 

 “Done it once or twice.”

“Like today, right? You pulled someone out today? On Christmas.”

He nodded.

 “How do you feel about risking your life to put out a fire set by arsonists? Torched a house that’s been scheduled for demolition for five years.”

Suddenly she sounded angry; her eyes dark holes. Pete was flummoxed for a second, still taking in the face he’d watched for years on the nightly news. A black woman with lighter freckles that he saw now. He guessed the heat had melted her makeup. Was she angry with him or was it just for show? Did she want him to rant about it?

 “Breaks your heart. Breaks your heart,” he answered senselessly. Then he caught the jittery look of his crew commander and tried to come up with something better. “And  these guys here today—man—they do whatever they can for the people  in Detroit. Today and every day.  ‘Specially on Christmas.” He stopped short, seeing she’d already pulled the mike away.

The Christmas wreath with bells on her lapel jingled as she walked away. He wondered how she could navigate the icy sidewalk in those high heels.

They didn’t show much of what he said on the news that night. Instead the shot was of the rubble from the vacant house burned to the ground, a comment on the DFD failure or the vicissitudes of this city. But the fire hadn’t spread to the house next door, inhabited by an elderly woman and her grandson. That was their success.                
Sephia and he watched the whole thing after they finished off the holiday ham and exchanged gifts. Just the two youngest looking on with saucer eyes.

“That bitch,” Sephie said, switching the TV off. “She didn’t have to show that trashy yard. Made it look like you guys failed."

“Doubt it was her decision,” Pete said, defending the woman he’d spent two minutes with. The face familiar to him from years of watching the TV news—except for those freckles. “Don’t they have bosses to decide that?”

“Damn, I wish I’d taped it,” Sephie said, jumping up. “Maybe they’ll show it again at eleven. I wonder if any of the neighbors saw it”   

That hadn’t, of course. Didn’t watch the news. And Channel 8 didn’t air the segment again. There were new fires, robberies, and deaths to report. The Free Press story the next morning was on page 6 and didn’t even mention him. The headline read EARLY MORNING CHRISTMAS FIRE ON THE EASTSIDE. It barely got a column.

It was a vacant house again just a few weeks later. Another on the list for years. Maybe inhabited by a squatter. Sometimes a squatter would torch a house he knew was due for demolition—just out of pique.

Place was a dump. And also an inferno by the time they arrived. Flames and smoke were already blowing out the windows on the second floor. Engine 28 and Squad Car 2 arrived, joined by two more pumpers, a ladder truck, and a battalion chief. An additional crew stood ready. Engine 28 fired a surge of water that knocked back the fire. The crew stormed the house seconds later, a Detroit fire-fighting tactic not shared in many cities where the approach was more cautious. They advanced up the stairs, hose in hand. Pete in front, ready to knock down whatever got in the way. He was high on adrenalin. That’s the way it worked, the reason they went forward. The men doused hot spots as they moved up the steps and into the attic.

It happened quickly. There was a creaking sound, and few pieces of wood from the ceiling dropped to the floor. Less than two seconds later, the entire roof collapsed. Pete Oberon was pinned to the floor. He made it out of there on a stretcher, made it a few weeks more in a hospital bed. But the pain was too enormous, the infections too great. Septicemia killed him as much as the burns. 

He made the headline this time.

Review from Publisher's Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-940610-82-5

Friday's Forgotten Books, April 22, 2016

 Happy Eighth Birthday Friday Forgotten Books

Here is what it looked like then.

FRIDAYS: The Book You Have to Read

This is the first of what I optimistically hope will become Friday recommendations of books we love but might have forgotten over the years. I have asked several people to help me by also remembering a favorite book. Their blog sites are listed below. I also asked each of them to tag someone to recommend a book for next Friday. I'm worried great books of the recent past are sliding out of print and out of our consciousness. Not the first-tier classics we all can name, but the books that come next. Here's my choice.

Desperate Characters by Paula Fox
It's difficult to remember, thirty years on, New York in the seventies, The City was facing bankruptcy, the streets were dangerous, frequent strikes left unattended garbage for the rodents, buildings crumbled. Paula Fox's novel Desperate Characters perfectly captures that time along with the similarly disintegrating marriage of Sophie and Otto Bentwood. The story begins with an unexpected cat bite. "Because it's savage," Otto answers Sophie's puzzled, "why?" It was a cat she was trying to feed that bit her. This well-intentioned act, this McGuffin, sends the couple off on a weekend odyssey, where ominous events continue to haunt the childless couple. They find little solace in each other and there is no easy resolution at the end. The quiet desperation that suffuses their story is heart-breaking. The writing is haunting, lucid, and succinct.
Fox has also written two books about her life (Borrowed Finery and The Coldest Winter), a few other novels (The Widow's Children) and many children's books. But nothing is finer than this one for me.

Check out other recommendations here:
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/
http://bofexler.blogspot.com/
http://anthonyneilsmith.typepad.com/crimedog_one_the_internet/
http://sandrascoppettone.blogspot.com/
http://patrickshawnbagley.blogspot.com/
http://sandrablabber.blogspot.com/
http://josephinedamian.blogspot.com/
http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/
http://randomactsofunkindness.blogspot.com/

http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/

http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/BrianL

 Here it is now


Yvette Banek, DEATH AS A DINOSAUR, Frances and Richard Lockridge
Joe Barone, STICK GAME, Peter Bowen
Elgin Bleeker, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, William Lindsay Gresham
Les Blatt, RICHARDSON'S FIRST CASE, Sir Basil Thomson
Brian Busby, Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, Jean Rivard [Vida Bruce, trans]

Bill Crider, WIPED OUT, John D. Newsome

Martin Edwards, THE RIVERSIDE VILLAS MURDERS, Kingsley Amis

Curt Evans, DEATH OF A BUSYBODY, George Bellairs
Ed Gorman, CROSS COUNTRY: THE BOOK BIZ. Herbert Kastle
Rich Horton,  Ace Double Reviews, 95: The Genetic General, by Gordon R. Dickson/Time to Teleport, by Gordon R. Dickson
Jerry House, THE BIG BOOK OF ADVENTURE STORIES, ed. Otto Penzler
Nic Jones,  DEATH OF A CITIZEN, Donald Hamilton
George Kelley, COLOR OUT OF TIME, Michael Shea
Margot Kinberg, THE PAGE 3 MURDERS, Kalpana Swaminathan
B.V. Lawson, A TIME FOR PIRATES, Gavin Black
Steve Lewis/Barry Gardner, DEATH OF A RUSSIAN PRIEST, Stuart Kaminsky 
Todd Mason, THE COMPLETE HUMBUG, edited by Harvey Kurtzman et al.
J. F. Norris, I'LL BE JUDGE, I'LL BE JURY, Elizaberth Hely
Mathew Paust, JACKSTRAW, Ron Faust
Reactions to Reading, SIX FOUR, Hideo Yokoyama 
James Reasoner, PHANTOM RAIDERS, Peter Dawson
Gerard Saylor, PARADISE SKY, Joe R. Lansdale
Kerrie Smith, PROHIBITED ZONE, Alastair Sarre
The Rap Sheet, Steven Nester. THE FEARMAKERS, Darwin L. Teilhut
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, SON OF A WANTED MAN, Louis L'Amour
TomCat, THE MYSTERY OF THE INVISIBLE DOG, M.V. Carey
TracyK, WHAT IS MINE, Anne Holt; TROUBLE ON THE THAMES, Victor Bridges 
Westlake Review, ONE OF US IS WRONG, Samuel Holt

R.I.P Prince

About UNLOADED

This anthology was conceived and put together by Eric Beetner through Down and Out Books. Here is an article with Eric at the Washington Post where he explains the concept behind asking writers for crime stories that do not feature guns as a weapon. Any profits from the collection will be sent to organizations working for better gun control in our society.

My story is called "Stark Raving" and concerns two elderly siblings fighting over the disposition of their mother's collection of beanie babies. I had a lot of fun writing it. About as close to a cozy as I have ever gotten.

You can find it in the usual places. 

My First Library (Well almost)

This was my first library. Well, almost. Earlier we had a mobile library because my section of Philly was considered almost a suburb. Most of the houses were built in the forties. What was your first library?

What I remember most about this glorious library was that I went every Friday after school and took out the number of books I was permitted often.  I have told this before but the children's librarian was an African-American woman named Mrs. Robinson. She was the smartest person I knew and tried to steer me from reading Cherry Ames and Sue Barton books and on to more classical works. A hard thing because I was wedded to reading dull books about nurses instead of exciting ones about going into space of boating down the Mississippi or Amazon. When I was twelve, I moved into the adult section and waved longingly to Mrs. Robinson who was trying her best with other kids by then.
I never had an overdue book and still dread having one today.

Tuesday Night Music: PRESSURE

Forgotten Movies: A NEW LEAF

One of my absolute favorites. Elaine May directed this film about a man (Walter Mathau) who loses all of his money due to his profligate ways and must marry to avoid an impoverished existence. Who cannot love both the klutzy botanist, Elaine May, and the rehabilitation of a man who becomes her most devoted admirer. Truly magical. It can never be remade and please keep Ben Stiller away from it.

Megan's Mother's Day Piece for REAL SIMPLE

http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/inside-magazine/life-lessons/surprising-way-movie-brought-me-closer-my-mom

Friday's Forgotten Books, April 15, 2016

Check for the links with Todd Mason.

Movie Stars

This is the title of a new Jack Pendarvis collection of stories, which I don't yet own. But it got me to thinking about the importance of movie stars for me in my childhood. I sent away for their photos and they were sent back properly machine autographed. I spent most of my allowance on magazines such as PHOTOPLAY and MODERN SCREEN. I was especially enamored of (with?) Clark Gable, who was exactly my grandfather's age. More suitable candidates (but still the age of my father) were Tony Curtis, George Maharis, Richard Chamberlain and Troy Donahue. (Notice the prevalence of men who turned out to be gay)
I spent a lot of time fantasizing about how we might meet up when I was old enough to take off for Hollywood.

I know you are mostly male, but who was your teen fantasy figure.

National Theater Live

Find out about the National Theater Life which may be in your neighborhood theater.
http://crimespreemag.com/hangmen-reviewed/

Friday's Forgotten Books, April 8, 2016

Look to Todd Mason next week for the links.

Jake Strait, Bogeyman – Frank Rich (Randy Johnson from the archives)

1: Avenging Angel
2: The Devil Knocks
3: Day of Judgment
4: Twist of Cain
It’s 2031 and the world is in a terrible mess. The Party controls everything and have for to many years. All military forces in the world have been disbanded and instead a Security and Protection Force guard all the nicer areas, i. e. the suburbs, the few still fertile farmlands, and the rich! The City is a hell where anything goes, no law, no protection. A Reclamation Service keeps the bodies cleaned up(one can get a small fee finding a body and reporting it) and sent to be used as protein fertilizer or other things if one believed the rumors. The milk didn’t come from a cow, the meat didn’t come from an animal(the real thing in both cases was very expensive). Soy is king.
Jake Strait is an enforcer, a bounty hunter, a “Bogeyman” in common parlance, who makes his living picking up criminals. He really functions as a private eye, preferring the criminal element to political warrants. One could make a good living picking up the “political” criminals which, while they didn’t pay a lot, were plentiful(a lot of people offended the Party). But Jake didn’t agree with Party principles. He’s also well skilled in weapons and self defense(an ex- Ranger from when there were still such groups).
That line he wouldn’t cross kept him poor.
He was sitting in his office one day wondering where the rent was going to come from, how he was going to pay his answering service(they weren’t taking any more calls until he did), where he was going to get his next meal, when the rich couple walked in. They were officious, sneering, not at all nice.
But they did have an execution-without-trial warrant that paid 5,000 credits.
Not willing to pay a retainer, Jake forced them to let him scan their hands to make sure they were who they said(everyone has a chip in their that has IDs and banking information). Jake had an illegal scanner that furnished more than ID information. They were legit, so he took their warrant.
The subject was not a nice fellow. He pushed whack, crack, and squeeze, did a little pimping and gunrunning on the side, not to mention a little rape and murder on the odd occasion.
Tracking his target down, Jake takes him out and gets his proof(the way you proved your kills was taking the hand with the chip). Heading home, and nearly out of alcohol fuel for his car, he decides to let his victim pay. Stopping at an auto station, he fills up and scans the hand for payment.
That’s when things started to get weird.
His victim had 46 credits left after payment. He also had a second account at a much higher scale bank. Hitting the nearest bank, he transferred the 46 credits to his account and then went looking for a higher scale bank to see what was there. A quarter of a million credits! Quickly moving them to his account, Jake is feeling smug.
When he goes to the local SPF headquarters to collect his reward bounty, the second weird hits. The execution warrant is a fake. The kill was simply a small time poet with a minor arrest warrant out on him.
Jake’s been set up and the possibility of a murder charge hangs over his head. After one long drinking binge, he gets mad and decides to find out what’s going on. The clients are among the super rich and their home is among a well guarded enclave. It won’t be easy to get into, surrounded by minefields as it was, not to mention the extra security at each home within the development.
Throw in the beautiful, homicidal young woman and the death squad sent after Jake, it made for a fun novel. It’s told in the first person, like most PI tales, and reads like one. Four books in the series, from the early nineties, although there was a reissue in 2007, I have only read the first one so far. It interested me enough that the others move up in the TBR pile.
A commentator clued me in to which Frank Rich is up to these days. Go HERE.

Sergio Angelini, WHOSE BODY, Dorothy L. Sayers
Mark Baker, THE CONCRETE BLONDE, Michael Connelly
Joe Barone, MULTIPLE EXPOSURE, Ellen Crosby
Les Blatt, THE NOTTING HILL MYSTERY, Charles Warren Adams
Brian Busby, HILDA WADE, Grant Allen
Bill Crider, QUARRY'S VOTE, Max Allan Collins
Martin Edwards, MEASURE FOR MURDER, Clifford Witting
Ed Gorman, MURDER AMONG OWLS, Bill Crider
Rich Horton, THE LANGUAGE NOBODY SPEAKS, Eugene Mirabelli
Jerry House, "Indian Sign" Robert Bloch
Nick Jones, RED HARVEST, Dashiell Hammett
George Kelley, EDWARD GOREY: HIS BOOK COVER ART AND DESIGN
Margot Kinberg, A DARK AND TWISTED TALE, Sharon Bolton
Rob Kitchin, NIGHT PASSAGE, Robert Parker
B.V. Lawson, ARISTOTLE DETECTIVE, Margaret Doody
Steve Lewis/ David Vineyard, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE SEVEN KINGS, L.T. Meade and   Robert Eustace.
Todd Mason,  FANTASTIC: STORIES OF IMAGINATION, April 1963, edited by Cele Goldsmith, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, February 1964, edited by Avram Davidson 
J.F. Norris, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, Leslie Ford
Mathew Paust, WILD SWANS, Jung Chang
James Reasoner, LEAVE HER TO HELL, Fletcher Flora
Gerard Saylor, DOVE SEASON, Johnny Shaw
Kevin Tipple, 47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS, Troy Cook
Kerrie Smith, HINDSIGHT, Melanie Casey
TomCat, MURDER IN THE MAD HOUSE, Jonathan Latimer
TracyK, BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN, Len Deighton

First Wednesday Book Review Club

                                 

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, Anthony Doerr

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE tells the story of World War II through the narratives of two children. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris; Werner, along with his sister, is growing up in an orphanage in a mining town in Germany.  

When Marie-Laure goes blind at six, her father builds a miniature of their neighborhood and gradually she learns how to navigate the streets, first with him and eventually alone. By age 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and her father, who works in the Museum of Natural History, takes her to Saint Malo to live with her eccentric uncle. They carry with them something precious to the French.

Werner, an extremely bright boy, evades his future in the mines by making himself useful to a scientist through his ability to build and repair radios. But eventually he finds himself in the Hitler Youth and he becomes part of dangerous operations.He is the less sympathetic of the two but perhaps the more interesting, standing in for the Germans who didn't balk when they should have.

Eventually these two characters come together in Saint Malo.
 
ALL THE LIGHT is written in short chapters that vibrate with Doerr's great gift for description. These are two memorable characters and their stories will not fail to draw you in. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, it became a best seller and is the darling of book groups across the country. It's the sort of book you feel virtuous for reading. But it was a book I admired more than liked. 

For more reviews, see Barrie Summy.

THE DEUCE

April 05, 2016 11:00am PT by Bryn Elise Sandberg( Hollywood Reporter)

David Simon's HBO Porn Drama 'The Deuce' Adds Two Writers

Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz  Ulf Andersen/Getty Images; Courtesy of Morgan Dox

Novelists Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz will join George Pelecanos, Richard Price and Simon in the writers' room.

The Deuce is filling out its writers' room.

The upcoming HBO drama from David Simon has tapped novelists Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz as new writers on the series. They'll join current writers George Pelecanos, Richard Price and Simon, who together penned the pilot.

The project, which was given a series order in January, stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco and is in pre-production in New York. It follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market all ended the bawdy turbulence.

Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of seven novels, including “Dare Me” and “The Fever.” Her next book, “You Will Know Me,” comes out in July 2016, and her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Lutz is the New York Times' best-selling author of nine novels, including this spring’s new thriller “The Passenger,” “How to Start a Fire,” six novels in the Spellman books series and “Heads You Lose,” which she co-authored with David Hayward. She has also written the children's book “How to Negotiate Everything.”

Read More David Simon's HBO Porn Drama Starring James Franco Picked Up to Series

In addition to Simon, Price and Pelecanos, Nina Noble will executive produce alongside Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad), with the latter having directed the pilot but not continuing on with the series beyond that. Marc Henry Johnson produces. In addition to starring, Franco will receive an exec producer credit, while Gyllenhaal also will be credited as a producer. 

The Deuce is one of two Simon projects in the works at HBO. The other, an untitled Capitol Hill entry, is still in the pilot stage. The series joins a roster of dramas at the cabler that also includes Game of Thrones, the third and final season of The Leftovers and forthcoming Westworld (which shut down production months ago but is expected to bow this year), as well as period rock drama Vinyl from Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. Still in the works is 18th-century music entry Virtuoso from Alan Ball and Elton John.

Forgotten Movies: Heavenly Creatures

I have been impressed with Melanie Lynskey on TOGETHERNESS so decided to revisit her first film HEAVENLY CREATURES from 1994. It is the story of two schoolgirls (the other played by Kate Winslett) who form an intense relationship based on their joint love of fantasy and literature. And what happens when their parents decide the friendship is perhaps too intense. Peter Jackson certainly showed an immediate affinity and flair for knowing how to do this sort of film. Both women are compelling although not entirely sympathetic in their race toward judgment. Very fine film. And, of course, one goes on to become Anne Perry.

THE GOOD WIFE: Jumping the shark

This has long been the one network show that we liked. But over the last  two years it feels like they are throwing dozens of balls into the air in the hopes you won't notice that none of them land. In other words, they are diverting your eyes from the fact they ran out of ideas about the time they killed off Will.

 So no story line ever gets real development. Does anyone even know why Alicia was running for governor or why she lost? Does anyone care which law firm she works for or why? Why her husband thought he could run for president with his baggae? What in the world Eli does with his days? Does the actor playing Jason get by on that smile in other parts. It's just not charming enough I'm afraid.

I know this is the last season for THE GOOD WIFE, but how much better these characters would have been served ending it two years ago. Before Alicia became a boring alcoholic. Using a whole season to show  her grief seems excessive. And I am so tired of ditzy mothers and this show has two.

What other shows have gone off the tracks for you? What shows went on too long? 

EYE IN THE SKY

http://crimespreemag.com/author/patti-abbott/

Friday's Forgotten Books, April 1, 2016

                                       THE WHISPERING WALL, Patricia Carlon

Patricia Carlon's THE WHISPERING WALL tells the story of a wealthy, paralyzed, bed-ridden woman who, thanks to a vent in the wall, overhears murderous conversations. The Phippses plan to murder singer, Roderick Palmer.  A niece discovers  Sarah can blink in response to questions.  But the Phippses realize Sarah has overheard their plot and determine to kill her, too. With enormous effort, using letter games and Scrabble, Sarah attempts to warn Roderick in the only way she can.

Carlon proved herself to be a first class suspense writer with this novel. Carlon is Australian and wrote most of her books in the sixties. Occasionally I run across one, although less and less over time.Carlon was deaf from age 11 onward and kept out of the public eye her whole life. This may also explain why so many of her books used disabilities of some type as a feature.

Here is an interesting article about her. 

Sergio Angelini, LEAVE HER TO HELL, Fletcher Flora
Joe Barone, PIETR, THE LATVIAN, Georges Simenon
Les Blatt, CASE WITHOUT A CORPSE, Leo Bruce
Brian Busby, THE HOUSE IN BROOK STREET, Ronald Cocking
Bill Crider, HORRIBLE BEGINNINGS, Steven H. Silver and Martin Greenberg
Scott Cupp, AMAZON PLANET, Mack Reynolds
Martin Edwards, THE ORGAN SPEAKS, E.C.R. Lorac
Kurt Evans, HASTY PUDDING, Mignon Eberhart
Ed Gorman, THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE, Bill Pronzini
Rick Horton, Sanctuary in the Sky, by John Brunner/The Secret Martians, by Jack Sharkey
Jerry House, DEATH TAKES THE STAGE, Agatha Christie
Nick Jones, THE DASHELL HAMMETT OMNIBUS 
George Kelley, DOUBLE IN TROUBLE, Richard S. Prather, Stephen Marlowe
Margot Kinberg, THE HOT ROCK, Donald Westlake
B.V. Lawson, THIS'LL KILL YOU, Peter Chambers
Steve Lewis/Barry Gardner, VOODOO, LTD, Ross Thomas
Todd Mason, SHORT STORY INTERNATIONAL, February 1965 edited by Samuel Tankel; THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E MAGAZINE, February 1966 edited by Cylvia Kleinman
Neer, THE WORST WITCH. Jill Murphy
J.F. Norris, SKULDOGERY, Fletcher Flora
Mathew Paust, I'VE BEEN DEADER, Adam Sifre
James Reasoner, THE DEATH MISER, John Creasey
Richard Robinson, THE EXILES TRILOGY, Ben Bova
Gerard Saylor, FATE OF THE UNION, Max Allan Collins and Matthew Clemens
Kerrie Smith, STAGESTRUCK, Peter Lovesey
Kevin Tipple, TILT-A-WHIRL, Chris Grabenstein
TomCat, NOT TO BE TAKEN, Anthony Berkeley
TracyK, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, John LeCarre