Mysteries

Saint, Mrs. Bradley Return to Print, and Saint Will Be Back on TV

May 13, 2013
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Saint, Mrs. Bradley Return to Print, and Saint Will Be Back on TV

The republishing of classic genre fiction (which I know is a contradiction in terms for some people) continues apace as e-publishing and print-on-demand reduce publication costs. The latest good news: Amazon Publishing is reprinting most of the Saint novels by Leslie Charteris and the Mrs. Bradley books of Gladys Mitchell. Both series began in the late 1920s and lasted for several decades. Both still have very enthusiastic followings (and somewhat separate ones) among current-day aficionados of mystery and suspense fiction. Exemplifying this continuing interest, a…

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“The Fifth Witness” Is First Rate

April 29, 2013
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“The Fifth Witness” Is First Rate

“I just don’t know why you can’t have it both ways. You know, give unbridled effort in your defense but be conscientious about your work. Try for the best outcome.” “The best outcome for who? Your client? Society? Or for yourself? Your responsibility is to your client and the law, Bullocks. That’s it.” I gave her a long stare before continuing. “Don’t go growing a conscience on me,” I said. “I’ve been down that road. It doesn’t lead you to anything good.” I’ve said before…

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The Great Pronzini

April 13, 2013
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The Great Pronzini

Today marks Bill Pronzini’s 70th birthday, and I want to join the discussion on the blogosphere with my own tribute to this admirable author of mystery, suspense, Western, and critical works. Pronzini is a well-known and respected author, but he’s something of a rarity on the modern mystery scene: he knows a lot about the genre’s history. His collection of books and pulp magazines is massive, and he has written and contributed to several reference volumes, including three books on “alternative classics” (i.e. books so bad that they…

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“Kill Your Darlings” Will Please Hard-Boiled Fans

April 2, 2013
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“Kill Your Darlings” Will Please Hard-Boiled Fans

“I’m jealous,” she said, pretending not to be. “You could have had room service with me.” She said that flatly, without stressing the innuendo – but the “nuendo” was in there, all right. “Kill your darlings” is writers’ jargon for one of the hardest lessons of the craft – that the particular passage you worked hardest on and are proudest of is very likely the one you need most to cut. Max Allan Collins’ early novel Kill Your Darlings is another of his Mallory books,…

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AETV’s ‘Bates Motel’ Worth Checking Into

March 27, 2013
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AETV’s ‘Bates Motel’ Worth Checking Into

A&E's new drama series, 'Bates Motel,' is another entry in the already overpopulated serial-killer genre, but it tries to do a bit more than just invent new ways to show gore and cruelty. In fact, its attempts to place in context the protagonist's eventual murderous behavior suggest an interesting social criticism. . . .

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“The Black Box” Has Good Reading Inside.

March 19, 2013
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“The Black Box” Has Good Reading Inside.

I wonder if the recent popularity surge of Scandinavian detective novels influenced Michael Connelly to add a Scandinavian element to his latest Harry Bosch novel, The Black Box. It doesn’t really matter. The Bosch series continues very strong, and I think even Scandinavians will like it for its own sake. When Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch, Connelly’s most famous detective, first appeared in a novel, he was dealing with the chaos of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. This story takes us back to that surreal…

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The Tyranny of Contemporary Cliches

March 13, 2013
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The Tyranny of Contemporary Cliches

There’s a certain type of mystery plot out there that is really starting to get on my nerves. The plot isn’t confined to a single sub-genre. The book can be set in a charming English village where an elderly lady plays the role of amateur sleuth. It can just as easily be a tough-as-nails hardboiled story about a tough wise-cracking PI. But for some reason, many authors think it’s a clever idea to use the following twist ending: the killer is gay. What does the…

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Collins’s Latest Mystery Depicts Cultural Controversy, Is a First-Rate Read

March 11, 2013
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Collins’s Latest Mystery Depicts Cultural Controversy, Is a First-Rate Read

The comic book industry is in a tough place. Congress is getting set to examine the problem of comic books and how they defile the moral fabric of America’s youth. Angry parenting groups are burning comic books, and the industry is losing money. Enter Jack Starr, the Starr syndicate’s troubleshooter. Whenever trouble rears its ugly head, Jack has to go and take care of it, and Dr. Frederick’s passionate anti-comic-books crusade certainly qualifies. This forms the plot of Max Allan Collins’ excellent new mystery, 'Seduction…

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CW’s ‘Cult’ Presents Interesting Idea, but Does It Work?

March 8, 2013
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CW’s ‘Cult’ Presents Interesting Idea, but Does It Work?

The story line of the new CW show 'Cult' is reasonably complex. The protagonist, a newspaper reporter named Jeff Sefton, is searching for his troubled brother, Nate, who disappears in the first episode, leaving behind a blood-soaked chair in his apartment. The sister of the main character on the show-within-the-show (SWAS), named Meadow, is also missing, in the narrative of the SWAS—and this is where things really get weird and possibly headache-inducing for the unwary: numerous phone calls and texts from the ostensibly fictional Meadow…

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Polish Crime Novel Evokes Memories of Communist Terror

February 13, 2013
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Polish Crime Novel Evokes Memories of Communist Terror

Zygmunt Miłoszewski is an award-winning Polish author, writer of one of the few Polish crime novels to cross the language barrier into English. The novel is Uwikłanie, translated as Entanglement and published by the Bitter Lemon Press in 2010. It has its flaws, but it's a good mystery, and it is valuable in illustrating some of the lasting effects of the horrors of Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe. . . .

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Mystery Awards Celebrate Mediocrity, Do Genre Great Disservice

February 11, 2013
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Mystery Awards Celebrate Mediocrity, Do Genre Great Disservice

The Agatha Awards nominations for contemporary mystery fiction have just been announced, and looking over the list, I am overcome with a wave of emotion: sheer apathy. I just don’t care about any of these nominations. I read plenty of new books in 2012, and I enjoyed myself for the most part. But come awards season, it seems to be a celebration of the bestseller lists and of the over-appreciated art of mediocrity. . . .

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‘A Killer in the Wind’ Will Get into Your Head

January 15, 2013
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‘A Killer in the Wind’ Will Get into Your Head

See, I’d seen that look before. That wrinkled nose, that laughing sparkle in the eyes. In the movies, evil guys laugh out loud. Bwa-ha-ha. Or they chuckle suavely, swirling their drinks in their glasses. But this is the real deal, the real look most monsters have. A sort of cute, dainty, delicate recoil from speaking the thing out loud. The forbidden joke of it. Are we being naughty now? I know you’re used to seeing me review Andrew Klavan’s books, and I know you’ve come…

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Review: 1890s Sleuths in Enjoyable Mysteries in Holmes-Era U.S.

January 14, 2013
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Review: 1890s Sleuths in Enjoyable Mysteries in Holmes-Era U.S.

"As these cases often do, 'The Bughouse Affair' begins as a relatively simple matter. Sabina Carpenter is hired to catch a ruthless lady pickpocket. Meanwhile, John Quincannon is hired to tackle a house burglar who seems to be working his way down an insurance company’s list. These cases have no apparent connection to each other, but after some investigation, the detectives realize that there is a connection between the two crimes. But almost on cue, a bizarre locked-room murder takes place, and the detectives are…

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Book Review — ‘The Casebook of Jonas P. Jonas’

January 12, 2013
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Book Review — ‘The Casebook of Jonas P. Jonas’

"She had a marvellous talent for weaving elegant mysteries around middle-class characters in a traditional English setting."

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Pronzini’s Latest Mystery Novel Is a Compelling Read

January 11, 2013
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Pronzini’s Latest Mystery Novel Is a Compelling Read

"Kerry attempts to make her way out of the 'hellbox' in which she is imprisoned, but it’s no easy feat, being guarded by a mean-looking, possibly carnivorous dog. Not only that, she is bound and the doors are locked, with nothing sharp around with which she can free herself or pick the lock. It’s a maddening scenario for anyone, let alone a character we’ve come to know and love over the course of the series. . . . 'Hellbox' is an interesting book. It’s quite…

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