Halloween Music

THE TURN OF THE SCREW

Is it harder to scare people on the page than on the screen? I think so.  Especially if the screen is one in the dark theater. I can't recall ever jumping at something I read. More like a shiver down the back than a jump or scream.

What is the scariest book or story you ever read? I would choose TURN OF THE SCREW by Henry James. It scared me as a kid. I like the ambiguity of the story. James wasn't fond of the typical ghost apparently.  Runnerup would be CUJO but I am scared of dogs anyway.

Saturday Night Music

AMERICAN HONEY Reviewed

http://crimespreemag.com/american-honey-reviewed/

Friday's Forgotten Books, October 28, 2016

PLEASE REMEMBER TO JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY, November 2 WITH REMEMBRANCES, REVIEWS, ETC, ABOUT ED GORMAN ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY!




STRANGLEHOLD, Ed Gorman (from the archives)

A few years ago, I read Ed Gorman's first book in the Dev Conrad series (SLEEPING DOGS) and asked him if he planned on writing another one. He said he was mulling it over. It felt like a perfect fit for Ed then and the second book just solidifies that feeling. Ed knows the world of political campaigns well and his portrait of it is completely convincing.

Dev is a political consultant, called in by campaigns to straighten out messes more often than not. Not as a "cleaner" or anything sinister, but more to give advice, succor, and to straighten out the kind of trouble a life in politics seems to encourage. Dev is a guy easy to spend time with. He reminds me of Jim Rockford or Travis McGee.

This time his client is a Congresswoman who's acting strangely and worrying her family and staff in the midst of a campaign. She's disappearing for hours at a time. Much of her support comes from her wealthy stepmother who doesn't like the behavior she's witnessing and is used to calling the shots. The candidate had a troubled youth and there's worry she's returned to her errant ways.

Dev follows the trail to some nasty adversaries and into the Congresswoman's back story, which is an interesting one. As I said, Ed Gorman knows politics and every note is pitch perfect here.

What I love about Ed's books are three-fold. He is a great instructor (for anyone learning to write) in the art of moving a plot along without any lag time. At the same time, he is able to work in little asides: humor, cynicism (and who over fifty doesn't have that) and his knowledge about how politics work--all without even seeming didactic or dull. Thirdly, and I have said this before, Ed likes women. He writes about them well; his protagonist treats them well. Do you know how rare this is lately?

If I was in trouble, Dev Conrad (or Ed Gorman) would be the first one I sought out. Look for this book: Stranglehold. The time is right for a look at politics through Ed Gorman's eyes. His vision is clear.

Mark Baker, SUNSET EXPRESS, Robert Crais
Yvetter Banek, "Skeleton Crew"
Les Blatt, MURDER IN PICADILLY, Charles Kingston
Brian Busby, RECALLED TO LIFE, Grant Allen
Bill Crider, Four by Alistair MacLean
Martin Edwards, DUMB VENGEANCE, Stella Tower
Richard Horton "An Ace Double" 
Jerry House, SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, Allen Ullman, Louise Fletcher
George Kelley, CORNERED and THE LONG RIDE, James McKimmey
Margot Kinberg, THE FIXER, John Daniell
Rob Kitchin, A GENTLE AXE,  R.N. Morris
B.V. Lawson, AH, SWEET MYSTERY, Celestine Sibley
Steve Lewis/William Deeck, DEATH ON THE SET, Victor MacClure
Todd Mason, "Helen Hoke: Anthologies
J.F. Norris, THE LISTENER, Algernon Blackwood
Matth Paust, FAHRENHEIT 451, Ray Bardbury
Reactions to Reading, WHAT STRANGE CREATURES, Emily Arsenault
James Reasoner, MURGUNSTRUMM, Hugh B. Cave
Richard Robinson, Birthday Swag 
Kevin Tipple, STUFF TO DIE FOR, Don Bruns
TomCat, THE INVISIBLE CIRCLE, Paul Halter
TracyK, QUOTH THE RAVEN, Jane Haddam

Do You Remember When the Mask Was the Main Thing in a Costume?

Man's Best Friend

Continuing on the theme of friendship, we watched two shows last week where dogs starred . "Grandpa" was an episode of HIGH MAINTENANCE, an HBO anthology. It is told entirely from the dog's POV. He falls in love with his dog walker and like all romances, it has its ups and downs.

Then we watched DUMB WITNESS, a Hercule Poirot, where a fox terrier has the key to the mystery. I have never had a dog but this one was a temptation.

What are some other books/movie dogs that stand out for you?

Tuesday Night Music: American Honey

Forgotten TV: REMINGTON STEELE

 The death last week of Michael Gleason reminded me of an old favorite.

REMINGTON STEELE was on TV from 1982 to 1987 and starred Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan. It was a light romantic detective series. Their chemistry worked for a while-and then it didn't. But in the early years, it gave us lots of pleasure. More a romance than a detective series, it still managed to put out 20 some episodes a year with concrete plots.

It began like this:

Try this for a deep, dark secret. The great detective Remington Steele? He doesn't exist. I invented him.

I always loved excitement, so I studied and apprenticed, and put my name on an office. But absolutely nobody knocked down my door. A female private investigator seemed so . . . feminine. So I invented a superior. A decidedly masculine superior.

Suddenly, there were cases around the block. It was working like a charm. Until the day he walked in.

With his blue eyes and mysterious past, and before I knew it, he assumed Remington Steele's identity.

Now I do the work and he takes the bows.

It's a dangerous way to live, but as long as people buy it, I can get the job done.

We never mix business with pleasure. Well, almost never. I don't even know his real name.

We know what happened to Pierce Brosnan but what happened to Stephanie Zimbalist? 

Monday Night Music: Copperhead Road

Friendship

Friendship is a common theme in children's literature but less so in adult literature. I just read ANOTHER BROOKLYN where four teenage girls in seventies Brooklyn sustain each other through a lot of difficulties. But they are still children. In books for adults, there is, of course, OF MICE AND MEN and THE GROUP but what else. In KRAMER V KRAMER, Ted  and Margaret forge a friendship, which was somewhat novel at the time. The idea that a man and a woman could be friends and not romantic interests.

The Lansdale books about Hap & Leonard stand out. And the Walter Mosley and Robert Parker series.What else?

Sunday Night Music: Dream Baby, Dream

Saturday Night Music: Fade Into You

Review GIRL ON A TRAIN

http://crimespreemag.com/the-girl-on-a-train-reviewed/

Friday's Forgotten Books, October 21, 2016

 

Todd Mason will have the links today. Decided Phil needed a special trip for his birthday this week.

Where I Ate Dinner at a Child.

When I was a kid this was the only restaurant in my neighborhood. That would have been the mid-sixties. Was your neighborhood this spare on places to eat? How often did you go out to dinner as a kid? Where did you go? What did you order? Linton's had no ambience and was pretty much like the diner, Littleton's, that was right down the road. We went out to eat a lot when we went to the shore in the summer. But not much beyond that. Christmas Eve found us at Linton's though. An odd tradition.In retrospect, I believe there were restaurants for the adult crowd, but not the sort of place children were welcome.

Forgotten Movies: HOSPITAL (And the forgotten career of George C. Scott)

George C Scott and Diana Riggs starred in this very black look at a city hospital. Arthur Hiller directed the Paddy Chayefsky script in 1971. T hey don't make this sort of movie anymore. Life is too dark to joke about now.George C. Scott was such a figure then. Has anyone heard of him now?I guess he's most remembered for PATTON, my least favorite of his films. Biopics seldom work for me because they are never nuanced enough.

Who Never Disappoints?

I am going with Tana French. Although I was not as much in love with THE LIKENESS as her other books, (I just couldn't buy the major premise) all of her others have been strong and interesting studies of Dublin, of the Irish, of social problems, of the police in Ireland for me. Maybe a tad too long for my taste, but lovely writing, lovely plotting.

Who never (or rarely disappoints you?

November 2, Ed Gorman Day

I believe November 2 would have been Ed's 75 birthday. Let's talk about his books, his presence among the crime fiction community on that day. Reviews, reminiscences, whatever you like to do on November 2nd. I will post here or link.

Ed Gorman

Very few people reached out to me earlier in my writing life than Ed Gorman, kindly including stories of mine in two of his yearly anthologies. Sending me copies of his books. Giving me encouragement numerous times. And being part of FFB  almost from the beginning. He loved having his review featured, and I was happy to do that. He sent me an email now and then, offering encouragement, talking politics, telling me about a new book. I will miss him very much. Although we never met in person, I felt I knew him well. At least I have his blog to peruse. Hope now one takes it down.