The Summing Up, Friday, October 3, 2008

Thanks to all of today's contributors on both topics. I'm only posting the forgotten books list since the banned books deviates from our focus on that list. Perhaps we will have a second list in the future.
I have to say that in the six months I have been posting forgotten books only a handful of people have not come through with a review when they said they would. And only another handful refused or didn't respond. Isn't that amazing considering how busy you all are? And how so many of you had no idea who I was when I asked you to contribute? I can't thank you all enough and most especially that small group of angels that review almost every week.

Karen Anderson, Robak in Black, Joe Hensley
Paul Bishop, Blayde R.I.P., John Wainwright
Joe Boland, Protocol for Kidnapping, Oliver Bleeck (Ross Thomas)
David Cranmer, The Flight of the Falcon, Daphne DuMaurier
Bill Crider, The Man with Bogart's Face, Andre Fenady
Martin Edwards, Bat of Hell, Frances Durbridge
Kathryn Miller Haines, Fantomas, Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain
Ed Lynskey, Sunset Trail, Wayne Overholser
Rafe McGregor, The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka, Josef Skovorecky
Juri Nummelin, Private I & Foreign Exchange, Jimmy Sangster
Scott D. Parker, Cop Hater, Ed McBain
James Reasoner, Suitable for Framing, James Atlee Phillips

A PAUSE NEXT WEEK AND THEN BACK ON THE 17th. Thanks.

Banned Books Week Review

Several weeks ago, Karen Olson, at First Offenders asked if some of her readers might like to read a book that various groups had tried to ban at libraries in recent years and talk about it during "banned books week."

I chose a book from the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice in the Know. This book looks at a lot of controversial and difficult issues: teen sex, what constitutes rape, Internet hi-jinks, racism, shop-lifting, cancer in children, etc, but all of it is handled in a responsible way. I was not the least bit offended. If talking about these issues is offensive to some people, they should not be allowed to make judgments for the rest of us.

What did surprise, or even shock me, about the book was how rooted in these issues it was. Issues became the plot. Scarcely a page was devoid of controversy and adversity for Alice and her pals and family.

If the average teenager leads a life that is this difficult and issue-laden, I feel sorry for them. If I led such a life, I am not sure I'd want to read a book like this one. I think I'd prefer a book where some good times were had. One issue per book might be a good rule. So LIGHTEN UP.
I hope that Naylor's earlier books in this series, written for younger children, are not so bleak. Karen Olson says they are lighter in tone.

I'm sorry to be somewhat critical of this book when I set out to uphold its right to be in a library. It certainly has a right to be in every library. The rest is secondary to that issue. Patti Abbott

Kathy Fannon is a librarian and events coordinator at Romeo Public Library in Michigan. Romeo is the town everyone wishes was theirs. Find Kathy Fannon at : http://thelibraryfairy.blogspot.com/

Chris Crutcher's Athletic Shorts.

I read Chris Crutcher’s Athletic Shorts. 6 short stories published in 1991 that have won the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Award as well as the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults Award.

The book has been banned for homosexuality and offensive language. It has been on the Top Ten List of Banned Books for the past 10 years. Yes, the book uses language that is normally considered offensive. But it is also the language you hear everyday in the hallways of almost every high school in this country. That’s why kids like the book-it’s real;
real stuff that happens to real people, just like them. Chris Crutcher gets that. He has coached high school teams. He has and still is, I believe, counseling troubled teen-agers so he knows what he’s talking about. Teen readers respect that.
What I liked about the stories is that each one had a moment that offered hope or redemption to at least one of the characters. And it’s done so well, some kids may not even notice. Kids can see that over done story and won’t read it or tell their friends about it. In Athletic Shorts, they just might see themselves.

Yes, we need to make sure what our kids read has some kind of value-even if it is just entertainment value. But is also our job as parents, educators, librarians, and citizens to have free access. If we don’t want our kids reading something, then it is our responsibility to monitor said kid and also to teach them to make those decisions. Reading is such an individual occupation that what I like, you may not and vice versa.
However, it is not my responsibility to tell you what you can or cannot read. It should not be up to one individual to decide whether a book is acceptable to a whole community. So we have Banned Books Week to remind us of that.


Here are a few more banned books sites and reviews:

http://freelancemother.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/the-banned-books-that-changed-my-life
http://randall120.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/banning-the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz/
http://www.journalscape.com/Hedgehog/2008-09-26-12:06/
http://barbaramartin.blogspot.com/
http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2008/10/fridays-forgotten-books-banned-books.html
http://www.jensbookthoughts.blogspot.com/
http://www.womenofmystery.blogspot.com/
http://www.bookmamasworld.blogspot.com/
http://bernardsvillereadersadvisory.blogspot.com/
http://pattispenandpicks.blogspot.com/
http://readspace.net/2008/10/forgotten-book-banned-books-week/
http://barriesummy.blogspot.com/

Friday's Forgotten Books, October 3, 2008

Karen G. Anderson
Writer Way
http://writerway.blogspot.com

Karen G. Anderson is a Seattle-based blogger and web content writer. She's a member of the National Book Critics Circle and was a reviewer for the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest.

ROBAK IN BLACK by Joe Hensley (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2002)

Let me start by staking out the territory: I'm a fan of the crime fiction of K.C. Constantine, John D. MacDonald, and Archer Mayor. These authors convey a powerful sense of character and setting; oh, their stories are skillful enough, but for years after I close one of their books I'm haunted by the people I've met and the places I've gone with them.

I was thrilled to come across the work of Joe Hensley. An Indiana attorney, judge, and politician, he created a series with a protagonist with a similar resume. Hensley's Don Robak series spans four decades, and includes the memorable Robak in Black (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2002).

Hensley, who died last year, started his writing career in 1960 with the paperback The Color of Hate (Ace, 1960). I mention that because, though he launched the Robak series (with Deliver Us to Evil) in 1971, his writing always carries with it more than a whiff of the mid-century pulps. His men are tough, self-reliant, and quick to anger. His women are either angels (Robak's beautiful, and tragically injured, wife) or bitches.

As the social turbulence of the 1960s moved inland from the coasts to Indiana, Hensley, through Robak, painted a deeply moving portrait of a man raised in a traditional American culture coming to grips with a new one in which a black man could become a close friend and neighbors could become gun-toting cult members.

While Hensley's use of language is often inelegant (as perhaps suits the blunt Robak character) his narrative style is rich and compelling. Robak in Black opens with Judge Robak's wife, Jo, in the hospital. She's delirious and possibly near death from a illness that has the doctors baffled. Robak is furious to discover that her test samples have vanished, along with a hospital employee. Because he's involved in some highly controversial legal cases, Robak immediately suspects that Jo has been poisoned as revenge, or as a threat. He has reason to be suspicious: a murderer he'd put away for 50 years has just been pardoned; a local religious cult is up in arms because Robak sentenced one of its members to death for child murder; and he's about to hear a major lawsuit against the town's largest employer.

The situation soon becomes chilling. Robak discovers that the local law enforcement and medical authorities are afraid to investigate -- possibly because the corrupt county commissioners are campaigning to defeat Robak in the upcoming judicial elections.

Robak grudgingly enlists the help of three friends who've assisted him in previous cases: an eccentric retired bailiff, a tough-as-nails court reporter, and a charismatic black gospel preacher with a streak of pureevil. Hensley draws this colorful trio brilliantly, and doesn't stint on confrontations with the bad guys --or with the arrogant local FBI agent, who orders Robak out of his way so he can go after the religious cult on his own.

Hensley puts some fascinating characters on stage in this book, and then unleashes a rip-roaring plot that gives them plenty of opportunity for skullduggery, shoot-outs, and chewing of scenery. For aficionados of fast-paced, hardboiled crime fiction, Robak in Black is simply delicious.


Kathryn Miller Haines is the author of THE WINTER OF HER DISCONTENT and THE WAR AGAINST MISS WINTER, a series set in 1940s New York.

FANTOMAS by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain.

Looking for a nefarious villain, a surreal plot, and more absurd gadgets than a Rube Goldberg fire sale? Look no further than Fantomas by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. Heck, the whole series (32 books authored by both men, 11 additional ones by Allain alone) is worth picking up, if you can find them (the first five have been reissued and are available through amazon.com).

The initial, co-authored series was published in Paris between 1911 and 1913 – one a month, if you can imagine – and features one of the most popular characters in French crime fiction. Part master criminal, part serial killer, part gang leader, Fantomas is the kind of character who seemed ready made for comic books (in fact he makes in appearance in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). Utilizing plague infested rats and sulfuric acid infused perfume as readily as knives and revolvers as his weapons of choice, Fantomas is a master of disguise, clever enough to wear the skin of a dead man long before Hannibal Lecter came up with the idea.

And yeah, you find yourself rooting for him, in some sick and twisted way. Vive le Dexter!
In the first book alone, Fantomas murders a Marquise, woos the wealthy, robs royalty, and frames an innocent man by utilizing his impressive skills with theatrical makeup. Of course he has an arch nemesis: the good-hearted Paris policeman Inspector Juve who’s always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to tracking him down. But then, what fun would there be in locking up the master criminal?

There’s no psychoanalysis here; Souvestre and Allain aren’t interested in why Fantomas does what he does. Moral order is never restored and incongruities are often never explained. But Fantomas isn’t just silly fun. He inspired the surrealist movement (Magritte painted pictures of him) and served as the model for American pulp fiction.
And for those of you already familiar with the series, don’t miss David L. White’s Fantomas in America (Blackcoat Press, 2007), a new Fantomas tale inspired by the lost 1920s American serial film based on the character.


Ed Lynskey is the author of THE BLUE CHEER and PELHAM FELL HERE.
SUNSET TRAIL: A WESTERN DUO by Wayne D. Overholser. Five Star, 2007.

I don't know why the popular perception says Westerns are a shrinking reader niche. I guess it has something to do with what we grew up knowing. I recall liking as a kid the TV Westerns like THE HIGH CHAPPARAL, THE VIRGINIAN, THE LAWMAN, DEATH VALLEY DAYS (Mr. Reagan as host) and to nail down the point, GUNSMOKE. Thankfully a part of us never grows up. For me, Westerns make for an occasional foray in my reading habits.

Wayne D. Overhosler (1906-1996) was a prolific writer and won the Spur Award three times. He lived and wrote about Colorado. SUNSET TRAIL offers two novellas bundled into one book. SUNSET TRAIL (really a long short story) originally appeared in 1947 in Frontier Stories. It involves a wagon train leaving Independence, MO in 1846 headed for Santa Fe. Bruce Shane is hired to guide it through Indian territory, and the bad guys are suspected of shipping contraband rifles aboard the wagons. This yarn ended a little abruptly for me, and the dialogue as dialect was a bit distracting. But this remains a well-told, entertaining yarn.

The novella TWELVE HOURS UNTIL NOON is the real appeal. It takes place in Amity, Colorado, following the Panic of 1893. Matt Dugan, the local banker, brings in Governor Wyatt to speak at the celebration of a local dam project. Jean, Matt's daughter, is engaged to Sheriff Jerry Corrigan. The bad guys hired by the Governor's enemies plot to assassinate him in Amity while speaking at the podium.

TWELVE HOURS demonstrates Overholser's considerable skill at pacing, setting, and characterization. Overholser likes to use history. The plot is nothing new (I almost envisioned the building climax in HIGH NOON), but I actually stayed up late enjoying TWELVE HOURS.


Rafe McGregor is the author of the forthcoming THE ARCHITECT OF MURDER.

The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka by Josef Škvorecký

“Mournful Demeanour” – what a title, if only I’d thought of that first...Josef Škvorecký is a contemporary Czech writer and publisher who spent two years as a slave labourer to the Nazis in the Second World War, and fled to Canada following the Soviet invasion of his country in 1968. He is best known for his numerous literary works, but The Mournful Demeanour is the first of a trilogy of books with the melancholy Lieutenant Boruvka as the protagonist. It was followed by The End of Lieutenant Boruvka in 1975, and The Return of Lieutenant Boruvka in 1981. At the time of writing, the latter – set in Canada – is the only one still in print, along with a short story collection entitled Sins for Father Knox (1988), which features Boruvka in two of the ten tales. The Mournful Demeanour was first published in Czechoslovakia in 1966 and first translated into English in 1973. It contains twelve short stories which are fiendishly clever mysteries and offer a fascinating insight into Communist Czechoslovakia prior to the Soviet invasion.
Boruvka is an officer in the Prague police, a kind-hearted family man who shares his creator’s love for jazz music. The first tale, The Supernatural Powers of Lieutenant Boruvka, is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read in any genre. There are plenty of other outstanding offerings in the volume, and Škvorecký has a particular talent for complementing his fine stories with unusual and interesting titles: Death on Needlepoint, Aristotelian Logic, and Crime in a Girls’ High School to name but three. Don’t be fooled into thinking these are cosy mysteries, however. As one might expect from an author who suffered so much himself, there is a very grim edge to the anthology, albeit it tempered by the great depth of feeling Boruvka conceals behind his world-weary, soft-spoken mien. The collection is almost unique in my experience in that it contains some ingenious plotting and puzzles, as well as many of the qualities for which literary – as opposed to popular – fiction is so frequently praised. Enthralling and bittersweet at the same time.

And the rest:
http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/
http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/
http://davidcranmer.blogspot.com/
http://bishsbeat.blogspot.com/2008/10/forgotten-books-blayde-rip-by-john.html
http://www.mysterybookspot.com/brianlindenmuth/?p=560
http://pulpetti.blogspot.com/
http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/
http://joeboland.blogspot.com/

2008 Campaign is Not the Most Negative on Record

I would have sworn 2008 was the most negative Presidential campaign on record, but not yet according to Emmett Buell and Lee Sigelman who have been tracking Presidential campaign ads since 1960. And, contrary to what I've thought, the Democrats are usually more negative in their ads than the Republicans. Here are the breakdown in negative ads.

Seems like Al Gore in 2000 was the least negative of all. I wonder if that explains his loss.





Democrats Republicans
1960 65.6% 45.0%
1964 64.6% 66.3%
1968 57.1% 49.6%
1972 64.1% 49.7%
1976 47.2% 41.6%
1980 54.5% 58.6%
1984 66.0% 38.7%
1988 61.5% 57.5%
1992 59.6% 65.8%
1996 51.8% 48.4%
2000 36.7% 53.2%
2004 71.9% 52.9%
2008 45.6% 37.5%

You can read more about it in their book Attack Politics, or on the website The Monkey Cage.
A good lesson to me that I don't listen to ads with neutral ears.

REMIND ME BECAUSE I'M AN OLD LADY

if you're going to post a forgotten or a banned book this week. I have about six banned book promises and three forgotten ones on file so far.

Notice the big font. I turn the volume up too. OLD.

Power Point

Is it just me or does the average power point presentation reduce the subject matter to either banalities or cliches?

And printing a hard copy and sending it via email only highlights the problem.

Give + Take, Stona Fitch

TODAY IS OCTOBER 1.

Stona Fitch, author of Senseless, has written a new book, Give + Take.

It will be distributed without charge through the Concord Free Press beginning on October 1, online and in independent bookstores to those willing to make a donation to a local charity or to a local person in need.

This is a wonderful idea and hopefully will raise money and consciousness about those in need in your own community and reward you with a fabulous book from an exciting writer. Please get more details on the website below and inform others.

Maybe we can save the world one book at a time.

http://www.concordfreepress.com/

TCM Honors Paul Newman on October 12th

In honor of Paul Newman, who died on September 26, TCM will air a tribute to the actor on Sunday, October 12th, replacing the current scheduled programming with the following movies:

Sunday, October 12 Program for TCM
6:00 AM The Rack
8:00 AM Until They Sail
10:00 AM Torn Curtain
12:15 PM Exodus
3:45 PM Sweet Bird of Youth
6:00 PM Hud
8:00 PM Somebody Up There Likes Me
10:00 PM Cool Hand Luke
12:15 AM Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
2:15 AM Rachel, Rachel
4:00 AM The Outrage

Mad Men

It is only when I read a comprehensive analysis such as this one (recommended by Wallace Stroby on his blog today) that I realize just how many subtle references in Mad Men slip by me. Some of them are offered at the speed of light, like Betty Draper's choice of reading matter as she falls entirely apart (Ship of Fools by Katherine Porter).

What makes Mad Men great is the need for the viewer to intuit or decipher what Betty's up to. What any of them are up to. It's rarely spelled out because the characters all seem to act without discussion and in isolation. Such confiding is actually scorned, especially with men. Being a "real" man then was especially difficult.

I think people of my generation (baby boomers) are not used to watching television carefully enough to pick up rapid-fire allusions such as those tossed out of Mad Men, The Shield, The Wire. It requires a deep focus that we never had to extend to television. I used to read a book while watching TV, for Pete's sake. It was the book that required the attention.

Similarly I remember the struggle my parents' generation had with watching movies that were not chronological in their story-telling. They needed to learn a new language as I do now.

I need to learn how to watch TV again. I may pick up overt visual hints (product placement and that sort of referencing), but the more subtle visual and audio allusions are getting away from me. Do you notice this, baby boomers?

My Town Monday: Detroit--City Mouse

Clair Dickson and I live 90 minutes apart yet our lives are very different or so I surmise from her MTM blogs. We both spend a lot of time in front of our computers and our weather's similar, but when we walk out the door, there's an entirely different vista awaiting.

Although I often complain about Detroit, I can't imagine not living in a city. Or near one. My husband grew up in the country and could easily reinsert himself, but me....I don't settle in easily. What would I do there?

The reasons I like city life: arthouse movies on a regular basis, and the Detroit area has four venues showing them; major cultural institutions: a symphony, museums, theaters, an opera house, etc; access to sports teams for my husband and son if not myself; public transportation to get to work. I barely drive. (Although Detroit is pretty poor in this regard); live music. Bookstores: new ones, used ones, specialty ones.

I am a pretty voracious consumer of these sorts of things, leaving my carbon footprint, size 6, all over the place. I like diverse restaurants and the people who come with them. Give me an Arab/Thai dive any day.

I guess I've never built up the inner resources to entertain myself very well in pristine surroundings. I need stimuli and plenty of it. I admire those who can forge a life without needing so much...much, but I think you have to be born to it. Or be "saved" from cultural neediness.

When I go on vacation, I go to other cities. I just don't "get" country life. Cows scare me, for one thing. Hate the smell of skunks and manure. All those stars in the country sky are pretty horrific too. It's supposed to be dark at night.

Where is the sound of gunfire and ambulances in the country? Where is the smell of garbage and asphalt? Where is the feel of cement beneath my feet?

I may end up in a retirement village in the bucolic confines of the country. But since I'll probably never leave the facility, I'll never know the difference.

Take it away, Clair. Persuade me that country life is the way to go.

Check out more My Town Monday posts at the wonderful Travis Erwin's blog: http://traviserwin.blogspot.com

Your Favorite Paul Newman Film

I am torn between choosing one where his physical perfection and romanticism is most in evidence, the part of him that made me crazy at 15, or the ones I most enjoyed. I guess I'll go with Hud, which has both elements.

He ranks pretty high on my list of heroes. Lots of sad deaths lately.

A Guy Walks Into the Room

and he turns out to be someone who collects sports cars from the 1960s. WHAT!

Suddenly you spend an hour or more identifying sports car from his era. You know nothing about this subject. Where did he come from? Where does his hobby come from?

When this happens to you in your writing, do you slam the door on him and his research-demanding hobby, regard him as someone trying to hijack your plot? Or do you go with it, even if you must now spend an hour or more looking at cars online?

Are you suspicious about whether this is a good sidebar for your story? Do you ever wonder if you're looking for a way to go online and fool around instead of cranking out words? Is he a ridiculous diversion or a gift from your unconscious?

The Summing Up, Friday, September 26, 2008

Next week I'll post a combination of reviews of forgotten books and reviews or discussion of banned books. I'll probably do the forgotten books first and then the banned books a few hours later so as not to confuse. Please feel free to submit either (OR BOTH), just give me a day or two jump on it since I continue to have blogger problems. The following week, we'll take a week off for Bouchercon but resume in full force on October 17th.

Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews over the last six months.

Suzanne Aruda, Trader Horn, Alfred Aloysius Horn
Patrick Shawn Bagley, Hell House, Richard Matheson
Paul Bishop, The Golden Keel, Desmond Bagley
David Cranmer, High Lonesome, Louis L'Amour
Bill Crider, (writing from the Kroger's store in Alvin, TX) The (Old) Man in the Corner (Baroness Orczy
Jane Finnis, The Caves of Steel, Issac Asimov
Lesa Holstine, The Good Friday Murder, Lee Harris
Randy Johnson, The Other, Tom Tryon
Brian Lindenmuth, The Jones Men, Verne Smith
Rafe McGregor, The Night of the Generals, Hans Hellmut Kirst
Medora, The Sense of the Past, Henry James
Terrie Farley Moran, First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped Presidents, Bonnie Angelo
Scott D. Parker, Top of the Heap, Erle Stanley Gardner
Nancy Pickard, Why They Kill, Richard Rhodes
James Reasoner, The Fast Buck, Ross Laurence
Kerrie Smith, When in Rome, Ngaio Marsh
Susan Smith, The Last Refuge, Chris Knopf
Barry Summy, The Last of the Crazy People, Timothy Findley
Wallace Stroby, The Out is Death, Peter Rabe
Tom Whitmore, King & Joker, Peter Dickson

Forgotten Books, Friday, September 26, 2008

Suzanne Arruda, Author of the Jade del Cameron Mystery series set in 1920’s Africa www.suzannearruda.com http://suzannearruda.blogspot.com/

TRADER HORN by Alfred Aloysius Horn

Come on board a steamer bound for the African Ivory Coast in the 1870’s. Slip up previously uncharted rivers
and trade for rubber and other goods with cannibal tribes. Meet the founder of Rhodesia, and take a missionary woman upriver.
Join a secret fraternity, the Egbo society, to worship a jungle spirit and meet a living white goddess. In short,
travel with Trader Horn.

Most people who have heard of Trader Horn will likely associate it with the 1931 motion picture of the same name.
And while that film is a classic, the book that it is based on is a rare gem among African tales.
Trader Horn is not a fictionalized adventure tale. It is the real account of Alfred Aloysius Horn who went to sea as a young man around 1870 and became the first white man to pilot some of the rivers in Western Africa.

When he recounts his experiences, it’s as an old man, down on his luck and peddling housewares to housewives. It’s in this capacity that he meets South African novelist, Ethelreda Lewis. She convinces him to write down his memories and turn them into her for publication. Ms. Lewis takes these accounts as Mr. Horn wrote them, then adds her records of their personal conversations. And therein is one of the treasures of this volume. We hear the true voice of the man.

That voice is not one of false bragging nor of disdain for the wild tribesmen that he met. It’s one of a genuine good soul who truly loved Africa and its peoples. Instead of a treatise on horrifying peoples and hyped up tales of bravado, we see the Ivory Coast through the eyes of someone who truly appreciated it. It makes his accounts of battles and near escapes all the more believable since they aren’t painted over with self-pride or feelings of superiority.

In short, for all who have seen the movie, the book is better.


Rafe McGregor is the author of the forthcoming The Architect of Murder. You can find him at: http://rafemcgregor.blogspot.com/ Go look at Rafe's other nine choices.

THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS, Hans Hellmut Kirst

It probably seems strange to choose, as a ‘forgotten’ book, one that is not only still in print as a mass market paperback, but was also made into a very successful film. The Night of the Generals was released in 1967, five years after the novel was first published (in German), with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif in the lead roles. O’Toole had recently appeared as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia and played his part to perfection alongside an all-star supporting cast which included the likes of Christopher Plummer and Harry Andrews. Forty years on, however, the novel behind the film is largely forgotten, and only kept in print by Cassell Military Paperbacks; Cassell produce some excellent books, but their line is almost exclusively military history and biography. Kirst himself was a Second World War veteran who wrote both war and crime fiction, the former illustrating how the Nazi influence had corrupted the traditions of the Wehrmacht, and the latter concerning a detective in 1960s Munich.

Despite being set during the Second World War, The Night of the Generals is very definitely crime fiction, a clever murder mystery presented in the style of a police procedural. It shares some similarities with Nelson Demille’s The General’s Daughter, but is larger in concept – concerning a series of crimes committed over fourteen years – and faster paced, beginning with the protagonist – Major Grau – and the Polish police at the first crime scene, in Warsaw in 1942. A witness gives evidence as to the uniform of the killer, from which Grau is able to identify the suspect as one of three German generals in the city. Two years later, in Paris, Grau and the same three generals are reunited by the murder of a second woman. It’s impossible to reveal more of the plot (which differs from the film) without spoiling the end, suffice to say that a third murder occurs in Dresden, in East Germany, in 1956. The film is good, but as is so often the case, the book is better. A really tense, gripping mystery, full of surprises.


Nancy Pickard is the award-winning author of The Virgin of Small Plains and Seven Steps on the Writer's Path

WHY THEY KILL by Richard Rhodes


Means, motive, and opportunity are the three classic clues in a crime story, but they bore me, even though I’m a mystery writer.
They may point to a killer, but they’re a shallow approach to thinking about violent crime. Much more interesting, at least to me
is the deeper issue of why and how people become victims or perpetrators.

The most believable explanation I’ve ever read of how a person becomes a violent criminal is contained in Richard Rhodes' book about the biography and theories of the criminologist, Lonnie H. Athens, PhD. The book, Why They Kill, came out in 1999
from Knopf, and failed to catch on with the general public even though Rhodes is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of big, important books. I think the problem with this book is two-fold: it is awkwardly balanced between biography and reportage, when it might have been more smoothly mixed, and the main thrust of Athens’ discoveries goes against the grain of conventional
thinking on the subject. Take this sentence, for instance:
Violentization is an authentic developmental process, and unless someone has undergone it . . he will not become a dangerous violent criminal.
If that bold and unequivocal statement catches your attention, then you may want to read the entire book that supports it.
My own copy is heavily underlined, asterisked, and highlighted. It has changed forever the way I view certain clichés such as the “nice guy/good neighbor” killer or the “bad seed” criminal.
The contents of Why They Kill are startling, revealing, and could be revolutionary if enough people paid attention to them.
I don’t think that will happen, but I appreciate this chance to give this book a little boost from the sidelines.


Tom Whitmore was a partner for over 30 years in The Other Change of Hobbit (www.otherchangeofhobbit.com),
a science-fiction specialty store with an excellent mystery selection. He wrote reviews for Locus (www.locusmag.com) for several years, and is now living in Seattle.

KING AND JOKER by Peter Dickinson

Peter Dickinson is on my list of the best writers of fiction of the twentieth century. No one book can show just how amazing his range is. King and Joker comes close. It's an alternate history set in its own time (1972), featuring a British royal family that is quite different from the one we had then. It's a mystery, with more than one murder and very skillfully planted clues to allow any reader who wants to try to figure out whodunnit to do so. And it shows just how good Dickinson is at writing from the point of view of a particular character.

There are two viewpoint characters in this book. The first is the thirteen-year-old Princess Louise, the daughter of the royal family who is discovering that her family is much more complex than she thought. She's been raised with the difference between public and private faces: not every schoolgirl gets followed by cameras as she enters the schoolyard. Her family has more faces than that: and the faces start showing as a practical joker starts leaving unpleasant surprises for various members of the family. It's apparently illegal in the UK to write fiction featuring the current British royal family as characters, which gives Dickinson a very good chance to write about the complexities of a very unconventional family that has to appear totally conventional. Louise learns to come to grips with the fact that her parents have been involved in a long-term polyamorous relationship -- one that even predates her conception. Dickinson looks at what love may mean in a non-traditional family, and did so at a time when very few people were willing to explore it.

The other viewpoint character is the venerable governess Miss Durdon (known within the family as Durdy), who has raised three generations of royal children. Many of the crowned heads of Europe have passed through the kingdom of her nursery. She's now completely bedridden, able to move just two fingers of her left hand, and subject to going drifting in time to a period when she was just starting out as a governess. Back then, she chose between personal love and love of the family of royals. The choice is an explicit and specific one, and she remembers it well. Durdy and Louise use very different languages: it's always obvious who's speaking. And they're both concentrating on what family really means, and what bonds are important. Their choices are very different, and very clearly right for each.

King and Joker seems to have slid under a lot of people's radar screens. It's a strong statement in favor of people making their own decisions about who is and isn't family, the pernicious nature of trying to make only one type of family or love acceptable, and what it can mean to take a stand. This book was well ahead of its time. Re-reading it for this comment gave me the same kind of shock that some people have on re-reading Heinlein and discovering that he'd predicted metal detectors at (the equivalent of) airports. Sympathetic lesbian characters and fully polyamorous families weren't common in literature at all then. They're commoner now, but still not fully accepted.

All that political and social commentary aside, it's a cracking good read. It's well paced, with some very good unexpected revelations that are headslappingly obvious once they're revealed. The question of what the joker will do next, and who will be targeted, gets more gripping as the jokes get less pleasant. Read the book first for the top-notch mystery story it is; come back to it for the politics. Any really good book succeeds on more than one level.

Check out these sites for more forgotten books:

Steve Allan
Patrick Shawn Bagley
Paul Bishop
Joe Boland
David Cranmer
Bill Crider
Jane Finnis
Lesa Holstine
Randy Johnson
Brian Lindenmuth
Medora

Terrie Farley Moran

Scott D. Parker


James Reasoner
Kerrie Smith
Susan Smith
Barrie Summy
Wallace Stroby

Banned Books Week: Reading Lolita in Dubuque

Librarians across the country want you to know.....



http://www.dubuque.lib.ia.us/adult/blog/?p=221

Three Books for a Desert Island

What's the point of taking books along I've already read? Instead, what three books would you take along that you haven't read but are pretty sure you'd enjoy.

In other words, what books have you just not got around to yet? No matter how extensively you've read, there must be three.

These are my picks.

OKAY, I SAID THAT WAS MY LAST POLITICAL POST

(Disclaimer: I am a Democrat and Obama supporter)

but I have to mention this. What happened to truth in advertising? This may be happening from PACs on both sides, but in Macomb County here, right down the road, a group of people is being stealthily targeted with ads suggesting that Obama has disreputable friends, like Kwame Kilpatrick and Reverend Johnson. The ads are all racially oriented and run in white areas.
Obama and Kilpatrick have never been friends and indeed don't get along. They have some footage of Kilpatrick introducting Obama to the Detroit Economic Club that they use. And Obama distanced himself from Reverend Johnson long ago. Is anyone really responsible for the things their clergyman says?
Reagan Democrats were not able to hand the state over to Bush in the last two elections but will the race card make Michigan go Red? Unions are working hard for Obama but is it enough. Are their similar ads in other swing states?

I Hereby Suspend All Political Posts on This Blog

throughout the election because I am tired of the rancorous comments.

I state here that I am an Obama supporter and am working in his campaign. So I am not trying to mask my true posture as has been suggested.

I find it strange that people who never comment on anything else on here, find their way onto this blog when a political discussion comes up. Anybody else notice this? Are we being monitored?

FDR on the Banking Crisis

Who removed these safeguards and why?

FDR's speech on the banking crisis.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstfiresidechat.html

Check out Megan reading "Cheer" on Crimewav

http://crimewav.com/?q=content/episode-12-megan-abbott-cheer
Crimewav is my weekly treat. How nice to have a someone read me a bedtime story again.

FALL FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE

What I need to do to take me away from so much stressful news is to write something short and sassy. Will you join me? It's been six months.

Aldo Calgagno, Gerald So and I are ready to challenge flash fiction writers once again. I hope you're in the mood.

Since women have become a bit of a political football of late, I have a choice of two lines to use in a 750 or so word story. Both lines come from an obscure and strange Kay Francis movie from 1932 called Cynara.

"I have been faithful to you, Cynara, in my fashion."
Or
"Call no woman respectable till she's dead."

Change the name to whatever suits you if you choose line 1, although it's hard to beat Cynara for mystique.

We're thinking of an end date of October 20th. Aldo will post stories for those without sites on Powder Burn Flash . And Gerald So and I will post the links for those who do have blogs. Hope to hear from you.

My Town Monday: Detroit's Neighbor to the West-Dearborn

Dearborn's large (almost 25 square miles), populous (close to 100,000 residents), young (median age is 34½) and Arab (almost a third of its residents claim Arab descent). That number's probably too low, as Dearborn is home to the largest population of Middle Eastern residents anywhere outside of the Middle East. It's a city where the Arabic and English alphabets are both displayed. Students exiting the high school I often pass appear to be almost entirely of Arabic descent based on their dress.

Dearborn's past — and hopefully its future —are linked to Henry Ford. He lived here (his house remains), he built the Rouge Plant there, and developed subdivisions for his employees. Most buildings and residential homes have some tie to the man.

My parents live in a 1100 person senior living facility called Henry Ford Village. Many of the streets reference Ford and his accomplishments. The Ford Center for the Performing Arts sits at the major intersection. "The Henry Ford" is a huge complex with historical homes transported there, an historical museum, a car museum, trips to the new Rouge, and many other enjoyable activities, both indoors and out. Many weddings take place here. The parks bear his name. If Michigan has a Pontiac and a Cadillac why not a Ford? Doesn't sound like a city, I guess.

Dearborn has taken a lot of raps over the years for excluding neighboring Detroiters from their parks and recreational activities but now Dearborn has a growing African-American population.
It is an interesting community that is striving to keep its youthful population by providing night life, college life, and a vibrant restaurant scene. Hopefully it will succeed. And likewise the car company that resides there.

Check out more My Town Monday posts at the wonderful Travis Erwin's blog: http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/

I AM LEGEND, Richard Matheson

And I am enthralled with a book as fresh as yesterday.

Not being much of a horror/sci fi reader, however, I have a question for anyone who is. In books about vampires, the humans always seem to have to learn the ways of vampires.

But "new" vampires, always seem to immediately understand the rules and oddities of their kind. Is this a misconception? Are there novels where vampires struggle to understand that they cannot be outside in daylight. Or that mirrors are dangerous things?

Is there a rulebook for new vampires or are they converted to vampirism with the instructions embedded?

The Summing Up, Friday, September 19, 2008

Thanks to everyone. Hope next week is more stressfree.

Patrick Balester, The Unquiet Night, Patricia Carlon
Charles Benoit, Uncle Dynamite, P.G. Wodehouse
Bill Castanier, Crooked Tree, Robert C. Wilson
Bill Crider, The Black Glove, Geoffrey Miller
David Cranmer, The Crime of Colin Wise, Michael Underwood
Jen Forbus, White Doves at Morning, James Lee Burke
Lesa Holstine, Triple Play, Elizabeth Gunn
Scott Parker, The Case of the Velvet Claws, Erle Stanley Gardner
Louise Penny, The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey
Kerrie Smith, Halloween Party, Agatha Christie
Delores Gordon-Smith, The 12:30 from Croyden, Freeman Wills Croft
August West, The Last Detail, Darryl Ponicsan

A correction that blogger won't make

Scott Parker's blog can be found at http://scottdparker.blogspot.com

Friday's Forgotten Books, September 19, 2008

With heartfelt thanks to Clair Dickson who found a way to blindside blogger. Any typos are mine because I had to retype all of it.





Patrick Balester is the author of In the Dismal Swamp. You can find him at Picks by Pat.

The Unquiet Night by Patricia Carlon

The Unquiet Night by Patricia Carlon was originally published in the 1960s in Great Britain. Available in the U.S. only in the past few years, the novels of Patricia Carlon are still virtually unknown here. Yet she wrote some of the most suspenseful novels ever to come out of Australia and this may be her finest work.

“He hadn’t meant her to die.” With that opening sentence, we are drawn into the world of Mart Deeford, a young man with a violent temper who strangles a pickup date in a small park on a late Sunday afternoon.

Convinced he can be identified by a woman he sees in the park after the crime, Mart begins to hunt for her and the young girl. He poses as a shopkeeper who needs to find a girl with ponytails who left a parcel in his store. By taking advantage of other people’s good nature and eager desire to help, he eventually tracks down the woman, Rachel Penghill, who is oblivious to the danger she faces until it’s too late. He tricks Rachel into opening her door, and then leaves her entombed in a vault in her small shop. It is only then that we begin to feel the slow terror grow as Rachel realizes that she has been victimized not by a thief, but by a murderer. As the air is consumed, the tension mounts.

Her only hope is to be missed, yet as the night turns into day, repairmen, milkmen and friends move across her threshold, only to step back before they can discover that Rachel has not gone to a jewelry convention in another town, but is gasping for breath just a few yards away. She begins to realize just how isolated her existences has become, and the nosy friends and neighbors she has pushed away become ironically important.

This novel will keep you guessing until the last page. I highly recommend it, and hope more readers will be as thrilled as I was to discover the work of Patricia Carlon.

Charles Benoit is the author of Noble Lives, Relative Danger, and Out of Order

Uncle Dynamite by P.G. Wodehouse

My favorite fantasy about winning the lottery isn’t having the cash to travel all around the world or buying some fancy sports car—it is the blissful knowledge that if I had buckets of the stuff, I’d have a lot more time for reading.

Not (yet) being a lottery winner and paparazzi target, I have to seek out books that cram as much good stuff into one reading as possible, and as a fan of the comic caper novel, that means lots of phony felonious types, rare and priceless/worthless objects, setup plans as intricate as an HDTV manual, multiple mistaken identities, late night crime scene follies, plots that take twists and turns worthy of the Gordian Knot, and a Criminal Mastermind that’s equal parts George Clooney, Cary Grant, John Cleese and Steve Martin, with a heavy dash of a drunken Peter O’Toole. And all of it has to be superbly written with laugh-out-loud chapters, head-slapping brilliant phrases and dialog that fizzes like a champagne cocktail.

Given my caper novel needs, you would assume that I’d make straight for the masterful works of Donald Westlake and you would be correct. Except we’re talking forgotten books and no mystery reader worth the title would forget Westlake. The book I’d like to recommend today has everything you’d expect to find in the best Westlake caper, but—and I know this sounds impossible—this one’s even better. It’s Uncle Dynamite, and it’s by the only author who could out Westlake, Westlake, the inimitable P.G Wodehouse.

If you know Wodehouse, you can stop reading here and call it a day. There’s nothing I can say that can add to The Master’s reputation, and if you don’t know Wodehouse, it’s your loss. But even if you hold Wodehouse in as high esteem as I do (highly unlikely, but I throw it out there just to be sporting), and you haven’t read Uncle Dynamite, well, all I can say is that your quest to discover a meaning to your life is about to be realized.

Lord Ickeham—the Uncle Fred of the title—is the sort of whirlwind you can only encounter in the kind of English clubs where rolls are tossed at the dinner table and vast sums are wagered on the likelihood that the waiter will trip as he carries a tray of cocktails across a shaving cream—covered 13th century Persian carpet. It’s his massive brain that is put to the task of pinching a plaster bust from a country home, a bust that secretly hides a cache of jewels, hidden to avoid paying the customs duty. The bust resides in the stately country home of Sir Aylmer Bostock, a retired colonial governor who collects ghastly African curios and who once went by the nickname “Mugsy.” There’s Uncle Fred’s lovesick nephew, Reginald “Pongo” Twistleton; the lovely Sally Painter, ex-fiancee of said Pongo; the headstrong Hermione, the current Pongo fiancée; Pongo’s pal, Bill, who gazes at Hermione in the way young Romeo used to gawk at fair Juliet; Elsie Been, the straight talking saucy maid who's in love eith Constable Harold Potter, the very same Constable Harold Potter, who had once arrested Lord Ickeham and Pongo during a fracas at the dog races, the self-same dog racing arrest in which Lord Ickeham supplies the false names of George Robinson and Edwin Smith of 14 and 11 Nasturtium Road, East Dulwich. When Constable Potter points this inconvenient truth out to our Lord Ickeham, the peerless peer of the realm simply states that he is, in fact, Major Brabazon-Plank, noted Brazilian explorer…who just happens to arrive for an extended stay at Sir Aylmer’s forementioned country home. And, being a caper novel, there is a bonny baby contest to be judged.

If this sounds impossibly complicated and preposterously ridiculous, then I have done my job well and admirably.

It is one sad shortcoming of the modern educational system that Uncle Dynamite is not required reading in every school in the land, and as a result, this word-perfect caper novel is seldom read by otherwise intelligent and well-meaning mystery readers. Track this book down, give it a read, and if you are not in total agreement that it is indeed, if not the Greatest Single Work of Fiction Ever Written, it’s still a fun read.

You can thank me later.

Louise Penny is the author of the forthcoming THE MURDER STONE, Book 4 in the Armand Gamache mysteries, which began with the award-winning STILL LIFE.

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey


I'm not totally convinced she's been forgotten - I sure hope she hasn't.
But this is my small contribution to helping spread the word. For many
years my favorite Tey book was the remarkable, The Daughter of Time.
Infact, I was resistant to reading The Franchise Affair - perhaps out of a
misguided sense of fidelity to The Daughter of Time. I didn't want to be
seen playing footsy with another one of Tey's creations. Or, more likely,
it was the ridiculous title. The Franchise Affair? I ask you. It sounds
like love among the french fries, or groping in the donuts.

Instead, when I finally succumbed and read The Franchise Affair I was
treated to what I now believe is the best mystery of all time. My heart was
quite stolen.

There's no body, no murder in The Franchise Affair, though it is based on
the 18th century case of Elizabeth Canning. Like all of Josephine Tey's
books it's about appearances vs reality. Perceptions and manipulation.
Duality. What else drives a really great mystery? Not blood, not a body -
but what's eating away at the marrow. Our deepest selves, hidden, masked.
Then agonizingly revealed.

On the surface The Franchise Affair is about a fresh-faced young woman,
barely more than a girl, who accuses an elderly woman and her spinster
daughter of kidnapping and holding her in their dreary old home on the edge
of the village.

Like all of Tey's works this one is short, almost novella length. And
crystalline in its clarity. It is, in short, brilliant. Disturbing, witty,
sightful. And more horrific than any body count could ever achieve.

Josephine Tey - a pen-name for Elizabeth MacKintosh - wrote all 6 of her
mysteries between 1947 and 1952. Then she died, in her mid-50's. Almost
nothing is known of the woman. No photograph exists of her. Like her
books, she's a mystery. A real woman lurking behind a made-up one. But I
have happily given my heart to her.

A few more forgotten books

Scott Parker
Lesa Holstine
Jen Forbus
Bill Castanier
Kerrie Smith
Delores Gordon-Smith
Bill Crider
David Cranmer
Paul Bishop
August West

ALA Banned Books Week

It has been suggested to me by Andi Shechter that on Friday, October 3rd, we review banned books on this site.

The American Library Association has named the entire week banned books week. Here's the site: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.cfm
You will find many lists of books there that groups or individuals have attempted to ban over the last few centuries.

Karen Olson at First Offenders has also asked FOFO to "adopt" one of these books and talk about it.

So joining along with the Andi, the ALA and Karen, please consider writing about a banned book on October 3rd. It might be helpful to include a line or two about what the objection to the book might have been. I'll post reviews here or links to your site if you let me know you'll have one.

Banned books have been in the news a lot recently. Maybe it's time to take a look. Since I already read one for FO, I'll take the Alice books, a YA series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

Sarah Palin's Favorability Rating

Here is a place to fact-check various questions about the candidates.

http://www.factcheck.org/



This data and words is from
the Monkey Cage and John Sides at GWU).

Sarah Palin Favorability Ratings
Out of curiosity, I made this graph of Palin’s favorability ratings (data here, here, and here; this may not be exhaustive):

This is a nice lesson — e.g., for an undergraduate class — in the process of “opinionation,” where a large fraction of the public suddenly acquires an opinion.

In the last week, Palin’s favorability rating has, well, paled. This demonstrates the consequences of a highly visible campaign: it is difficult for any Republican or Democrat candidate to command sustained attention without attracting roughly equal proportions of detractors and admirers. In a September 4 Rasmussen poll, Palin’s favorability was 1 point higher than McCain’s or Obama’s. Nine days later, according to a Sept. 13 poll by Daily Kos, it is slightly lower than theirs (49% vs. 55%; however, given the margin of error, it isn’t conclusively lower).

Of course, we would expect the usual polarization along partisan lines here, with most Democratic respondents having an unfavorable opinion and most Republican respondents having a favorable opinion.

Hotel Maids

In doing some research I read an alarming story about hotel maids-- how hard they work and little they get paid. With the new plush bedding, their work is truly back-breaking.

Tipping etiquette suggests that they should get tipped $1-2 a day per room. The best way of meeting this obligation is to bring a few envelopes along and put a dollar or two in one every day, labeling it "housekeeper," and leaving in a conspicuous place.

If it is unclear whether the money is meant for them, they can't take it. Only about 25% of hotel patrons tip maids.

Maybe you knew all this already. I did not. We always leave a tip on departing, but not enough. We tip restaurant waitstaff 20%, perhaps because my husband and I were both waitstaff for years.

Maybe in Baltimore, the housekeeping staff will remember that those crime writers at Bouchercon were a generous bunch even if a bit rowdy.

State of Michigan Celebrates ANATOMY OF A MURDER

State of Michigan Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Renowned Michigan Book Anatomy of a Murder by John D. Voelker
(Robert Traver)

LANSING - When Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker, writing as
Robert Traver, penned Anatomy of a Murder, it became a national bestseller and
then a movie starring Jimmy Stewart as a character based on Voelker's
experience as a defense attorney in an Upper Peninsula murder trial. This fall,
the Library of Michigan and organizations around the state will celebrate the
50th anniversary of Voelker's book, as well as his legacy as an attorney,
author and angler.

A series of free events celebrating Voelker and his literary and legal
contributions will take place Friday, Sept. 26 and Saturday, Sept. 27 in
downtown Lansing. An Upper Peninsula celebration kicks off Sept. 18 in Ishpeming
with an exhibit of Voelker memorabilia and personal items. Movie screenings, a
concert and other events in Marquette will honor Voelker through Oct. 20.

"Writing as Robert Traver, Justice Voelker flourished, becoming one of our
great Michigan storytellers," said State Librarian Nancy Robertson.
"As the author of 11 well-loved books, a passionate fly fisherman and a
champion of the law, Justice Voelker gained admiration and respect from his
readers, his fellow sportsmen and his peers in the legal system. These events
celebrate his literary and legal legacy, and his place in Michigan
history."

Anniversary events in Lansing include:

-The opening of the exhibit "Justice John D. Voelker: Bard of
Frenchman's Pond" at the Michigan Supreme Court Hall of Justice, 925 W.
Ottawa St, with a reception starting at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26.

-A reception and presentation of the Jimmy Stewart stamp issued by the United
States Postal Service in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the publishing
of Anatomy of a Murder will follow the exhibit opening, from 4 to 6 p.m. on
Sept. 26 at Cooley Law School, Cooley Center Lobby, 300 S. Capitol Ave.

-A daylong event at the Library of Michigan, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., on Saturday,
Sept. 27 will feature screenings of the films Trout Madness and Anatomy of an
Author, along with discussions with the filmmakers; a look at Voelker's
courtroom drama Laughing Whitefish; a panel discussion of Anatomy of a Murder
and more.  The event will run from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

All the events are free and open to the public. Registration is not required.
Participants may purchase a boxed lunch on Sept. 27 at the Library of Michigan
for $7.50. For more information about the anniversary celebration and a complete
statewide schedule of events, visit www.nmu.edu/Anatomy50 or contact the Library
of Michigan at (517) 373-1300 or librarian@michigan.gov.