Archive for the ‘Crime Fiction’ Category
Coy Coroners in Crime Thrillers
I am reading a crime thriller that I'm rather enjoying (Giles Blunt, Black Fly Season); it's the second of his that I've read and so far and he suits my taste. It's got elements of police procedural to it: the central recurring characters are police detectives working in the fictional northern-Ontario town of Algonquin Bay. […]
In: Crime Fiction, Feeling Peevish
Best Seller: Worst Writing
As you know, aside from all the science books I write about here, I also read crime fiction, about which I write much less frequently. Last night I finished the collection of short stories called A New Omnibus of Crime, edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert, contributing editors Sue Grafton and Jeffrey Deaver (Oxford […]
In: All, Books, Crime Fiction, Writing
In the Mood for Mystery
Melanie (The Indextrious Reader) had this to say recently upon reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie: Suffice it to say I read this over a long weekend, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea. Is there any better way to read Agatha Christie? It puts me in mind, almost needless […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Crime Fiction
Earworms in Literature I
An earworm* appears in Ian Rankin's Fleshmarket Alley (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004) p. 82: This morning, [Detective] Rebus looked innocent enough: sleepy eyes and a patch of gray bristle on his throat which the razor had missed. He wore a tie the way some schoolkids did — on sufferance. Each morning, he […]
In: All, Crime Fiction, Such Language!
Truisms for Older Men
A few years ago, in a period of reading the excellent Saratoga mysteries by Stephen Dobyns, I read Saratoga Backtalk (finishing it on 17 April 2000, according to my database of books read for the year 2000). Since then, I've had occasion to retell as sage wisdom some advice for men past middle age that […]
In: All, Crime Fiction, Writing
Michael Innes (TTMA05)
Michael Innes, an academic (English Professor) whose "real" name was J.I.M. Stewart, died in 1994; as I write this, he's one of only two authors on my TTMA05 list not still living and producing. He's also the author on this list I'm least likely to recommend without reservation, because I can't bring myself to say […]
Jo Bannister (TTMA05)
A prolific British author, Jo Bannister has written a number of novels, including three mystery series. It is her series set in the East Anglian town of Castlemere, featuring a trio of CID officers (Sergeant Donovan, Inspector Liz Graham, Superintendent Frank Shapiro) that I'm most familiar with, but I have read one of the "Brodie […]
Nancy Atherton (TTMA05)
I once went into a mystery bookstore of the rather snooty variety, and had a brief chat with the owner about Ms. Atherton and her Aunt Dimity series. "Oh," he sniffed, "she's so terribly sentimental and precious, don't you think?" "Exactly," I said, "and she's very, very good at it, too." Aunt Dimity is the […]
My Top 20 Mystery Authors: 2005
I started compiling and writing this list at the end of 2004. I didn't manage to finish it then, so I'm having a go now and giving it this year's number. Perhaps I can get through all twenty before the end of this year. The list is written as though it is a compilation of […]