The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin
Goodwin now returns with another mystery, a tale as exotic as the first one, delicious in its evocation of the last days of the Ottoman dynasty. Here, however, the territory is dangerously personal.
View ArticleThe Quiet Girl by Peter Høeg
A thriller is often a race, but without the understanding of exactly why this girl is so great a prize, it makes it harder to follow the runner.
View ArticleTrashed by Alison Gaylin
These driven individuals scour celebrity garbage cans, pose as anyone but themselves, lie as though the truth was a concept to be scorned and in general have all of the journalistic ethics commonly...
View ArticleGentlemen and Players
Yet it is the amateur, the eccentric and the outsider who plays the hero in the whodunnit. Lord Peter, with his silly-ass-about-town front, Holmes, with his Goethe and cocaine bottle and Poirot with...
View ArticleCity of Fire By Robert Ellis
There are red herrings aplenty, but once finished reading the novel I’m left with a sense of annoyance at these diversions, so often delightful necessities in other mysteries, but close to being filler...
View ArticleThe Tin Roof Blowdown By James Lee Burke
Because he’s a damn good writer James Lee Burke knows how to keep a plot going from start to finish with no loose ends or out-of-the-blue surprises that amateurishly attempt to explain and finish off a...
View ArticleLots in a Name
Rather more subtle is Hercule Poirot, whose name contains elements of both “Hercules”, the classical hero, and “Pierrot”, the Italian clown - an interesting combination of heroism and buffoonery. The...
View ArticleDouble Cross By James Patterson
I love John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series but always thought that his love scenes were clunkers to the point of being embarrassing. Compared to Patterson’s portrayals, MacDonald comes off like...
View ArticleThe Right Side of the Tracks
Detective fiction revels in the possibilities offered by railway travel, but it also expresses some anxiety about them. The ability to travel across Britain at such speeds was exciting, but also...
View ArticleGas City by Loren Estleman
The characters and the settings in Gas City are rife with intriguing promise that never seems delivered. The story seems one- two-dimensional, never fully realized. That’s why I was unable to remember...
View ArticleScarpetta by Patricia Cornwell
There are flashes of wit – the description of the morgue as a “deconstruction site”, for example - and a sense of the book probing its own genre at times. A particularly striking passage involves faked...
View ArticleNuclear Jellyfish by Tim Dorsey
To take on one of Dorsey’s books is to suspend notions of political correctness (thankfully) and the sadly homogeneous behavior associated with society’s coercing decency. The novels are an energized...
View ArticleThe Roar of the Butterflies by Reginald Hill
Hill has written far fewer books about the black Luton lathe operator turned PI, but The Roar of the Butterflies displays the same qualities which make the Dalziel and Pascoe series so notable: a...
View ArticleNobody Move by Denis Johnson
For people who liked Johnson’s recent National Book Award winner Tree of Smoke or his drug-laden 1992 short story collection Jesus’ Son, his latest, Nobody Move, is a real change of pace. Originally...
View ArticleShadow and Light by Jonathan Rabb
A man is found dead in a bathtub, brandy is poured and the whodunit game grows darker with every turn. Throw in a gritty 1927 Berlin, a major film studio and a chief inspector who never misses a beat...
View ArticleRain Gods By James Lee Burke
Burke’s life has provided ample experience to draw from for his mysteries that feature world-wise and often world-weary characters that have come to the points in their existences where doing the right...
View ArticleThe Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell
She’s developed an enjoyable way of beginning novels in the middle of a story, letting her audience watch the characters carry out conversations and actions which they don’t yet understand, but which...
View ArticleBook Review: The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer
Garrity is an archetype, an ill-understood and imperiled hero who after overcoming every obstacle, exits hand-in-hand with the alluring heroine. It is part of the fun for our heroes to be bigger,...
View ArticleMovie Time Nostalgia, Part 2: North By Northwest Revisited
I got myself a videotape of Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest at a young age, and proceeded to watch the ever-living hell out of it. I can't recall having seen what you might call a grown-up movie...
View ArticleA Watchful Eye On… Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes as a strict Victorian period piece is over and done with, but the character still has potential in a new context. The only rule is not to stray from the unique faculties that make...
View ArticleBrighton Rock Rises Again. Graham Greene Abides.
Acclaimed screenwriter Rowan Joffé will try his hand at the directing game next year. For his debut, he has selected an auspiciously high-profile story. Brighton Rock, adapted from Graham Greene's 1938...
View Article“Let Me In!” Cries A Voice In The Night
A certain writer for the California Literary Review has thoughtfully distilled a whole year of reviews, reactions, and reflections into two comprehensive and well-researched essays entitled "The 10...
View ArticleThe Weekly Listicle: A Question Of Identity
Identity is a wonderful device for deception and suspense in storytelling. In some cases a whole plot hinges on whether or not someone is who they claim to be. The quest for identity, whether inwardly...
View ArticleBook Review: The Craigslist Murders by Brenda Cullerton
An interior “desecrator” who despises the bored super-rich housewives who can afford her services, she lives amongst people for whom money has dissolved away the real world, and takes her revenge by...
View ArticleThe Weekly Listicle: The Art Of The Heist
This week, I join forces with Brett Davinger to chronicle some of the best heists, rip-offs, and holdups ever put on screen. So just sit quietly and keep your hands away from the phone, where we can...
View ArticleTrailer Watch: Sherlock Holmes 2, The Woman In Black, Chronicle
This week is rife with compelling but problematic new trailers. Compelling but problematic but informative. Without excessive judgment before the fact, here are a few early impressions.
View ArticleYes Academy, We Do Need To Talk About Kevin
This film will upset you. This film will follow you home and haunt you. This film takes courage to face. You will not forget We Need To Talk About Kevin.
View ArticleBook Review: Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins
Her measured and elegant style does indeed evoke Austen, and the grace of the writing makes the book all the more chilling. With pitiless clarity, Jenkins limns the process of self-deception by which...
View ArticleBook Review: Broken Harbor by Tana French
Right out of the gate, French displayed a gift for rich psychological plots, complex characterizations, and evocative prose. With her fourth, Broken Harbor, she continues to mature as a writer and (one...
View ArticleBook Review: The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes
As befits a former poet, Hughes’s writing is economical yet stylish, atmospheric without being fussy. And as with almost any vintage detective novel, there are many pleasures to be had in the details...
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