Food Writing Class with Randall Kenan!! Deadline Dec. 23

OMG, Pine Manor College is offering a class in food writing -- with Randall Kenan! If you live within commuting distance of Boston, how can you pass this up? (And if you decide to enroll, I want to hear all about it!!)

First, in case you don't know who Randall Kenan is: Here are his photo and the cover of one of his books. His speaking agent has a good website description of his work and his radio appearances and more. You'll also find his work in The Nation and he has given a stunning number of prestigious lectures recently.

And here's your invitation from Pine Manor College, just outside Boston:

PINE MANOR COLLEGE INVITES LOCAL WRITERS
TO AUDIT GRADUATE-LEVEL CREATIVE WRITING CLASSES

[Chestnut Hill, MA] Pine Manor College is pleased to announce that a select number of graduate-level creative writing courses will be open to the public for auditing during the winter residency of its Solstice MFA Program, scheduled from December 30, 2011 to January 8, 2012. Classes are open to serious writers working at all levels; auditors are encouraged to complete the advance preparation requirements for any MFA class they wish to attend. The registration fee is $30 per course for Solstice graduates/$40 per course for the general public; the deadline for enrolling as an auditor for winter 2011 Residency is Friday, December 23, 2011.

For course descriptions, our audit policy, and a downloadable registration form, go to: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa-classes-for-audit.

Winter 2012 MFA classes that are open to the public include:


Prose (fiction and nonfiction):
·        Looking Back In Fiction
·        Seeing Anew: What Prose Writers Can Discover From Graphic Novelists About Crafting Stories
·        Everything Matters: The Sentence

Creative Nonfiction:
·        The Fundamentals Of Food Writing: An Introduction
·        Sentimentality In Memoir

Writing for Young People:
·        Inspiring Young Readers & Writers
·        Picture Book Techniques

Poetry:
·        Talking Back, Taking Back: Moments Of Re-appropriation In Native Poetry
·        Saying The Poem: Bringing The Fictionist’s Art Of Dialogue Into Poetry

Inspiration, Outreach, and Social Media:
·        Higher Ground: How To Enrich Your Community And Make A Difference Through Your Art
·        The Demons That Keep You From Writing
·       Best Practices For Writers Using Social Media


ABOUT SOLSTICE & PINE MANOR COLLEGE
As an undergraduate institution consistently ranked among the most diverse in the country, Pine Manor College emphasizes an inclusive, community-building approach to liberal arts education. The Solstice MFA in Creative Writing reflects the College’s overall mission by creating a supportive, welcoming environment in which writers of all backgrounds are encouraged to take creative risks. We strive to instill in our students an appreciation for the value of community-building and community service, and see engagement with the literary arts not only as a means to personal fulfillment but also as an instrument for real cultural change.

For more information, visit www.pmc.edu/mfa

Diversion: Poets for Winter Reading: Larissa Szporluk, Janine Oshiro

The shortest day of the year is almost upon us -- and the long nights mean extra time for deep reading. I'm savoring Mark Twain's autobiography and some long-deferred and powerful books of poetry.

TRAFFIC WITH MACBETH (Tupelo, 2011) is the best book of poems I've read this year, hands down. The epigraph from the Shakespeare play is, "Come what come may, / Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." And Larissa Szporluk's poems seize that roughness, that painful sandpaper side, that edged blade of dislike, even hatred, and touch it all to the tongue and cheek. From a gargoyle to the Russian witch Baba Yaga to the flailing power of an octopus, Szporluk pulls the powers of the night into our living spaces and pushed the friction to light an inner fire.

Enough of this babble of metaphors -- let me show you some of her lines. Here's the opening of "Sunflower," the first poem in the collection:

Wind takes your hair
like a hooligan owl
and leaves a deep pocket
of dusk in your scalp.

What follows this includes "mutinous dust" and a comment on love.

"Traffic with Macbeth" (the poem) brings us "afraid of, afraid of / the heft / of nothing to love." And "Rogue's March" declares, "We are tied to love and hate— / same track, same train." Later, I shivered at the image of the nihilistic shepherd about to kill a lamb in "The Face That Promised Joy"; in "Rainmaker" I found "one raised brow, so chalked with loss // that it could be the bastard / of an answered prayer."

Szporluck's language springs so fresh that it has to be the product of much life, living, and wrestling. Most of the forms are simple: one-page columns of medium-length lines, sometimes in stanzas, sometimes not, but always driven by comment and conclusion, to the point of having their own miniaturized plots in place. The poem "Dunce" with its book-reading, corner-caught commentator entranced me. And knowing that this poet who is a mother of three, I inhaled with much delight "Baba Yaga," which opens with "I cooked my little children in the sun. / I threw grass on them and then they died. / I sit here and wonder what I've done."  The poem is visited by the "wise man / who tries to teach the wicked to be kind," and shivers to its end with "I was witch but still your mother."

Forget the desert island backpack; this book goes into my "next to the armchair when snowed in" stack!

I promised myself I'd introduce two books of poems here today, so the only way I can add a second is to present one as different as grass is from ocean, in writing about Janine Oshiro's PIER (Alice James Books, 2011; winner of the 2010 Kundiman Poetry Prize). The forms are complex, often straddling multiple pages; their pathways refuse the alignment of direct narrative; and yet there's a hard, fully shaped reaction to life, standing behind the flicker of each. I'm hopelessly enamored of a ten-page poem here called "Next, Dust" -- if I've sorted the impacts in anything like what the poet intended, the death of one's mother or grandmother is standing within the lines, although I also thought I heard rape or perhaps just sex. The ending haunts me:

Everywhere is a potential
exit, except the door.

I drew a high wall at the skin;
at the bottom I drew a gutter.

I was eleven.
These are the words I have for it.

In the rambling shaped-prose stanzas of "Duck Hunting," I found "Come backache, come rapture, come reconfigure / sky. Come watch the show of her knees in the grass." And in "Mountain Vision," what wonder there is in the declaration, "I know what the mountain is called. His head rests in one place, his feet in another, his face a sudden cliff where birds might land and never wonder about the landscape's correspondence to a chin,"

Oshiro's poems take me far away from my own landscape, to a habitat of dance, an amputated leg, a relic ... I choose this collection for intentionally savoring the sharp discomfort of displacement and uncertainty. And I recommend it.

Noir Collections, Old and New

From Dave, this morning:

This pulp/noir 1946 magazine has survived for about 66 years and we have just listed it on ABE Books. One of the authors in Short Stories Magazine is Frank Gruber, a pulp author who passed away in 1969. I was a collector of the books in his Simon Lash series. We love the pulp/noir cover of the magazine. You never know what treasure you will find at Kingdom Books. Great items for the holidays!

Thanks, Chief!

Here are some others that I see on the shelf at the moment:

James Ellroy, L. A. Noir

George Pelecanos, D. C. Noir

Ed Gorman, ed., The Big Book of Noir

Anthony Neil Smith, ed., Plots with Guns: A Noir Anthology

K. C. Constantine: Reclusive Mystery Author Revealed at Last!

Dave offers today's take on under-appreciated mystery authors, and he picked K. C. Constantine. We credit our client J. C. for getting us enthused about the Pennsylvania author's long-running police procedural series. And by a coincidence, 2011 is the year this highly reclusive author chose to break the barriers he's kept around himself! Read on:

My vote for one of the most under appreciated authors is K.C. Constantine (a pseudonym for Carl Constantine Kozak: born in 1934 in Mckees Rocks, PA). He is the author of 16 books in the Mario Balzic mystery series and one stand-alone mystery novel.

There is little public definitive information about Constantine and for many years he proved to be a mysterious person in the mystery world. His last novel was published ten years ago, in 2002.

His best known creation, Mario Balzic, is the police chief in the fictional town of Rocksburg, Pennsylvania, and for me his books portray both the benefits of residing in a small town and at the same time the negatives of living in a small community where your life is an open book and pettiness and rivalries are an every day occurrence. The police chief is always walking a very fine line.

A list of Constantine’s books:

Mario Balzic series

The Rocksburg Railroad Murders (1972)

The Man Who Liked To Look at Himself (1973)

The Blank Page (1974)

A Fix Like This (1975)

The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes (1982)

Always a Body To Trade (1983)

Upon Some Midnights Clear (1985)

Joey's Case (1988)

Sunshine Enemies (1990)

Bottom Liner Blues (1993)

Cranks and Shadows (1995)

Good Sons (1996)

Family Values (1997)

Brushback (novel) (1998)

Blood Mud (1999)

Grievance (novel) (2000)

Stand-Alone Novel

Saving Room for Dessert (2002)

In May 2011 Kosak appeared in public as K. C. Constantine for the first time, at the 16th annual Festival Of Mystery in Oakmont, PA, which is facilitated by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop located in the same town.

The Kingdom Books inventory has ten K.C. Constantine books for sale and we even have a couple of books that are signed.

 

Congrats to Louise Penny -- Again!

Lovely news for Louise Penny's 2011 book A Trick of the Light, in the continuing Inspector Armand Gamache series, as announced on her website:

We have had more great news for A TRICK OF THE LIGHT it has been named by the New York Times as one of the Best Crime Novels of 2011. Both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca have named it among the Best Books of 2011 – and in the top 10 Crime Fiction books of the year! It has also made Publisher’s Weekly list of Best Mysteries of 2011, Toronto Globe and Mail has named A Trick of the Light as one of the best crime novels of 2011! and BookPage voted A Trick of the Light the sixth best book published in the United States all year. Of any kind.

Once again, readers affect authors, as much as authors affect readers. Way to go!

Kingdom Books also is very excited to join the list of independent mystery bookstores on this author's website. We try to keep signed copies of Louise Penny's books on hand, and have some unusual printings on the shelf right now. See them here.

'Tis the season to celebrate independent bookstores, indeed, so when you get a chance, take a look also at the website for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA). Happy holiday shopping and reading.

Caper Mystery, Set in Vermont: David Carkeet, FROM AWAY

David Carkeet at Kingdom Books, among the mysteries.

"My" Dave asked me to put some posts up this month on "under-appreciated authors" -- the ones that are writing great stuff but whose publishers can't necessarily afford to toss up full-page ads or buy them seats on late-night TV shows. High on my list is David Carkeet, who moved to Vermont in 2003, just in time to set his sixth novel here. FROM AWAY is a classic caper novel, full of laughter and "you won't believe this scene" exhilaration. If you've lived in a rural location, you'll recognize the title phrase as the casual description for someone who comes from "someplace other than here." And that's the situation when Denny Braintree, con artist extraordinaire, arrives in Vermont's pretty little capital city of Montpelier and tumbles into a look-alike situation. Rather than recap the book here, let me just provide the link to the review we offered when it first came out.

If you think you'd have fun collecting this author's books, click here to see what we've got in stock. I think they're all signed, and I know they are in gorgeous condition.

Helene Tursten, THE GLASS DEVIL, A Detective Inspector Irene Huss Investigation Set in Sweden and England

This third translated crime novel from Swede Helene Tursten -- made available in the US in 2007 from Soho Crime -- is a nice place to start in getting acquainted with a new detective. It's easy to find copies in good condition (we have two lovely ones), and there's some agreement among readers that THE GLASS DEVIL, whether by translation quality or author experience, is a stronger read than its predecessors (Detective Inspector Huss and The Torso). I wanted to catch up a bit, before next February's release of the new Tursten.

And glory be, here's a Scandinavian detection novel that's not all shadows and violence! Yes, there are deaths -- in fact, they take place at the start of the book -- but police detective Irene Huss is entirely involved with the living: her not-very-healthy boss, her overscheduled co-workers, the many people in the Kullahult Church Association affected by the murders of their pastor and his wife and son, and, most compelling of all, the last living member of that family, the pastor's daughter, living in England and unwilling to talk about her family or the circumstances that could have led to the three deaths. But there are hints that a Satanist might have been involved.

Huss is alert and attentive, and her observations bring out possibilities in plot and characters. Consider this, from the interviews she holds with the Church Association leaders:

Irene nodded and was about to ask her next question when a new thought suddenly struck her. "Do you know if Rebecka had helped her father to trace the Satanists over the Internet?" she asked.

Bengt Måårdh looked at Irene in surprise. "I really don't know! Certainly Sten had a lot of ideas about how he was going to find those responsible, but I've never heard him talk about tracking them via the Internet."

But others have, thought Irene. If Rebecka was involved in her father's investigation in some way, maybe she would have some information to give them. Was she threatened as well? That couldn't be ruled out. Thankfully, the English police had promised to keep an eye on her.

As hinted by the book's long subtitle, the investigation takes Huss to England herself, to interview Rebecka in person, twice. Sane, friendly, only mildly wounded by controversies and confrontations from her own past, Irene Huss is a persistent and determined detective, a "Sherlock Holmes" with neither a drug habit nor a violin but a willingness to assemble enough evidence to eventually make clear the underlying causes and entangled people for the crimes.

I noticed that police technology is changing so rapidly that some of the actions Irene undertakes are already a bit dated, in terms of computers and the Internet. But the story holds up well, and I'm glad I dove into it. If you've been wondering whether all Scandinavian crime fiction was desperate and dark, here's the answer: Not all of it. This one's a charmer, leaving the dire aspects at the side of the corpses, and letting the investigator -- and her family -- show an active, mostly cheerful life.

Oh -- there's no website for Tursten at this point, although there's a fan site and I found a good review at Detectives Beyond Borders (love that blog!). Let's hope Soho Crime makes more info available on this native Swede, whose work has already been adapted to films and television in Europe.

Snow Returns to Kingdom Books ... and Helene Tursten's Swedish Mysteries

Last night the weather changed, moving into December at last, a bit late. First sleet arrived, laying down a treacherous wet layer of ice fragments and water; then snow built up, and by morning we had about three inches. I hurried out to shovel and salt the path and steps, as a collector was due to arrive at mid morning.

The snow fit completely with what I'm reading. Helene Tursten has a new book, NIGHT ROUNDS coming out in February, after a five-year drought in translations of her work arriving here. It happens that we have a couple of copies of the preceding title, THE GLASS DEVIL, so I figured I'd start there, to get some perspective on Detective Inspector Irene Huss. (So far, I haven't found a lot of info on the author, but I'm printing off what there is, to study.) Then I'll be ready for the new book.

I also have been admiring the cover for Leighton Gage's latest Brazilian detective novel featuring Chief Inspector Mario Silva, so I'm tucking it into here. It's beautifully moody; I read an early galley of this one and will re-read it before providing a review later this month. (The release date is Dec. 27.)

Also I rashly (and eagerly) said I'd fit in reading a new political spoof, PKP FOR PRESIDENT. How could I resist, once I had a copy in my hand? (Cat lovers in particular, check this one out!) So I've got to leave the desk and curl up with a cup of tea and a good book -- or three. Nice work if you can get it.

What's in a Name? Change "Cozy" to "Amateur Sleuth" and Then ...

A lot of emotional attachment to mystery genres seems to begin with the books that first turn us into "readers." Those who teethed on Nancy Drew have an itch for adventurous detection; dare I guess that readers of the Hardy Boys were primed for espionage? And if you start with Sherlock Holmes, or with Father Brown ... Well, to be honest, I'm attached to all of those. And Agatha Christie and John D. McDonald and and John Creasey and "The Saint" and more. Some I read on my own; some were books my mother took out of the library and I gobbled up after she'd finished them, before they were due back.

But the childhood mystery series and teenage discoveries can't fully be what forms our adult tastes. I don't think there's a children's or young adult sequence that clearly pushes a person into devouring James Patterson's books, or Lee Child's (although I have a theory that people who respect steady, affectionate marriages make up a large part of Donna Leon's readers, along with those who adore Venice). Sometimes it's recognition of protagonists who resemble us; sometimes it's wishing we could be doing the same investigation, even though we know we never will (how many crushed archaeology dropouts delved into Elizabeth Peterson's books with relief and exhilaration?).

Mysteries that feature amateur sleuths may be the most direct in appealing to us to put ourselves into the shoes of the would-be detective. The amateur sleuth relies on cooking skills, or a good memory for flowers, or kindly curiosity (and friends in the police force). She or he could be -- us.

Kaitlyn Dunnett's November 2011 release, SCOTCHED, is a great example. Liss MacCrimmon owns the Scottish Emporium in the small Maine tourist town of Moosetookalook. Her friend Angie owns the bookshop down the road. Nola Ventress, giving back to the town with great energy, has just organized a mystery authors' convention at its sole hotel. And as authors local and regional (many with the names of real Maine authors!) check in, friction among them rises -- particularly in every person spoken to by journalist Jane Nedlinger. When the needling, meddlesome, cruel reporter turns up dead at the foot of a cliff, routine police work reveals the death to be homicide. And soon Liss and her fiancé Dan and her friends in local law enforcement are digging through a compost heap of rotten reasons that Nedlinger deserved to ... well, maybe not die, but at least get out of town. Too bad, too sad, and only the accused people with motives (lots of them!) are unhappy with Liss's efforts.


There's plenty to identify with: the excitement of meeting the Big Authors, the fun of seeing a small town pull itself together, the gentle romance between Liss and Dan. You don't need to know the difference between various firearms, as you might in a Patricia Cornwell suspense novel -- you just need to follow along with Liss and you may even guess the murderer a few pages before she's clear about it herself. That's it: You've identified, been a careful reader alert for clues, and enjoyed realizing you're just as smart as the person solving the crime! It's charming, entertaining, and -- that's the point of an "amateur sleuth" mystery, right?

(PS to those checking on authors -- Kaitlyn Dunnett is a pen name for Kathy Lynn Emerson, a Maine writer herself, who has four different series in action, two of them historical. Her website is unfortunately not helpful, but here's a nice Wikipedia entry on her.)

Jeffrey Allen (a pen name for Jeff Shelby) is bringing out his first mystery in a new series, available in January 2012. STAY AT HOME DEAD features Deuce Winters, dad to precocious three-year-old Carly, living in the town where he grew up and where his old high school buddies turn up connected to a dead body left in Deuce's car ("Daddy, who's the man in my car?" his daughter demands to know. She's already smart enough to disagree with the suggestion that the man is sleeping in there.) Equally an amateur in tracking down a criminal, Deuce wouldn't get into any of this if it weren't for those high school chums trying to blame him. "So I'm gonna need a lawyer," he concludes, and his wife Julianne responds, "Good thing you married one." But Deuce needs more than just his wife's backing -- it's one thing when people try to hurt him, but when they do things that can hurt his three-year-old ... wait a moment, did I just notice you "identifying"? I know I did at that point. My kids are long grown, but I'd still do a LOT to protect them if I saw the hurt coming at them. And tag, there we go: Amateur sleuths make it easy for us to see ourselves in the investigative shoes. No need for an extra passport or a stash of Dutch currency. We have, we are, what we need to solve the mystery. And it's a fun read!

Note that I'm not the same gender as the protagonist, but I enjoyed the story and connected with Deuce's problems. NOTE to all "amateur sleuth" readers and writers: Gender doesn't frame us into particular books. Let's stop talking about "cozies" as chick lit. In fact, let's talk about them as "amateur sleuth" mysteries. That's always been their central characteristic!

Here's one more example, a book I'm delighted to have purchased a month or so ago -- NIGHT OF THE LIVING DANDELIONS. This is from the prolific author Kate Collins (a pen name for Linda Tsoutsouris) and is the 11th in the series featuring Abby Knight, now a flower-shop owner in a Midwestern college town and engaged to Marco, who's being called back to active duty in the Army Rangers. Marco's former foxhole buddy Vlad is in town, and Abby may be one of the last to realize that Vlad's Romanian heritage, pale face and dark hair, and black attire have caused a flock of townsfolk to assume he's a vampire. Women are swooning, their boyfriends are furious, and when a nurse turns up dead with a pair of neat puncture wounds at her throat, the case against Vlad as a bloodsucking killer turns furious and violent. Abby and her support crew -- a handful of sensible women and a few sweet nuts -- dig like crazy for the strands connecting people in town, until they unearth the real motive for the killing.

You won't be checking the door locks while reading this -- again, it's light reading, and poses a set of puzzles that the reader is challenged to solve, perhaps a little ahead of Abby herself, or else right next to her as she struggles to stick up for Marco's buddy and for justice. By the end of the book, you'll know a bit extra about vampires (how clever to toss in this "hot fad" term!) and more about some flowers and unusual plants (wolfsbane? strangleweed??). And you may have had a few hours of relaxing, imagining how you'd solve the situation yourself, and enjoying watching Abby tackle it.

By the way, Collins is more than prolific, actually -- NIGHT OF THE LIVING DANDELIONS came out this spring, and the sequel, To Catch a Leaf, followed in autumn. Wow!

Three amateur sleuths -- three casually enjoyable mysteries. I hope you'll be inspired to read one or more of them!

PS to COLLECTORS: Are you feeling like all these pen names must mean something?? Consider this: Donald Westlake, one of the greatest American mystery writers of the 20th century, used 22 of them ... at least! (He told us he might have forgotten one or two.) And John Banville, a compelling literary force of the 21st century, uses at least one.

Discussion? Comments? Revelations of pen names to come??

Would You Say a Louise Penny Book Is a "Cozy" Mystery? I Say It's NOT!

Louise Penny's 2011 title, A Trick of the Light, showed up on crime fiction reviewer Marilyn Stasio's list of best crime novels of the year last Sunday. That's great -- no question that Penny is a powerful writer and the titles keep amassing awards for her. What shocked me, though, was Stasio pronouncing the book to be her Favorite Cozy for the year.

It's not that I want to argue for another title -- rather, I disagree vehemently about classifying A Trick of the Light, or any other Louise Penny book, as a cozy.

Yes, Penny's series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache was initially nicknamed the "Three Pines" series, after the apocryphal Eastern Townships (rural Quebec) village that anchors many of the continued characters in the books. Maybe that conditioned some readers to think of the novels as "cozy." It's a subgenre label, and I checked in with www.cozy-mystery.com to get one authoritative version of how the subgenre is described:

Cozy mysteries have become a booming business. Many cozy mystery readers are intelligent women looking for a “fun read” that engages the mind, as well as provides entertainment… something to “look forward to getting back to.” This is not to say that intelligent men don’t read cozies…they do!
The crime-solver in a cozy mystery is usually a woman who is an amateur sleuth. Almost always, she has a college degree, whether she is using it or not. Her education and life’s experiences have provided her with certain skills that she will utilize in order to solve all the crimes that are “thrown her way.” The cozy mystery heroine is usually a very intuitive, bright woman. The occupations of the amateur sleuths are very diverse: caterer, bed and breakfast owner, quilter, cat fancier/owner, nun, gardener, librarian, book store owner, herbalist, florist, dog trainer, homemaker, teacher, needlepoint store owner, etc. These are just a few examples of what the amateur sleuth does…. When she’s not solving crimes, that is!
The cozy mystery usually takes place in a small town or village . The small size of the setting makes it believable that all the suspects know each other. The amateur sleuth is usually a very likeable person who is able to get the community members to talk freely (i.e. gossip) about each other. There is usually at least one very knowledgeable and nosy (and of course, very reliable!) character in the book who is able to fill in all of the blanks, thus enabling the amateur sleuth to solve the case.

Okay, there's that village hook I mentioned -- and the website author has even written an extra piece about the role of the village in the "cozy." Particularly in terms of the scope of plot and characters, the village setting creates a boundary: The villain/murderer must be part of the village, to satsify the "cozy" conventions. The village also allows the amateur sleuth to apply her (or his) understanding of the frailties and resentments within a small group of people. (I'm probably least concerned with the "niceness" of the subgenre -- many of its devoted readers say that they like it because there won't be material that makes them uncomfortable.)

But Penny and her publisher made a decision quite a few "titles" ago to change the name of the series, and thus the books' subtitles, away from "Three Pines," to "A Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Novel." And it's my contention that it was done for two reasons: (1) so Penny could alternate settings, which she now does regularly, putting one book in the village, the next well outside it (Montreal, say, or Quebec City), and (2) to escape the subgenre implications of the village name.

In fact, the later name of the series says quite clearly that it's a police detective series. And I maintain that A Trick of the Light is not just a police detective novel, but a segment of the ongoing dark underplot that links all of these books: Something is seriously rotten in the Sureté, the Quebec police force -- Armand Gamache has discovered the rot, attempted to expose it, been wounded both physically and emotionally by the forces of evil that thrive on that rot.  Even when he's in Three Pines, urging his detectives to pursue the trail of a criminal, Gamache is dogged by the knowledge that he hasn't actually rooted it out of the very organization he works for.

In fact, if my nose for plot is accurate, I'd make a guess that the arc of the series will position Three Pines as the (somewhat poisoned) pole of strength that pulls against the darkness ahead. Of course, because Penny creates complex plots and characters, it will run deeper than that; there have already been frightening hints that significant local resident Clara and her husband (their viewpoints are often narrated) are headed for disaster and that their quandary will drag others along. In fact, the reason Gamache and his team keep returning to the otherwise idyllic Three Pines (a sort of Brigadoon village that people discover when they "need" it) is revealed, over and over, to be related to a mirror-version rot in the pretty little town. Why else would it have such a terrible murder rate and such dreadful twists in the people living there?

I could go on with more reasons that this isn't a cozy -- the sleuth is not an amateur but a professional, the violence may not be gory but it's still horrible, the betrayals are not confined to one or two characters, Gamache is likeable on the outside but clearly a dangerous man when you know him better, and there have already been quite a variety of "uncomfortable"  scenes in the book. Plus, if you look further on www.cozy-mystery.com, you'll find the site author admitting that in cozies, "The victim is usually a character who had terrible vices or who treated others very badly. Dare I say…. the victim 'deserved to die'?”


And that's my final discussion point: Penny's crime fiction portrays what we readers already know from our daily news -- that many of the people who die violent deaths, especially when they live in places where we may actually know them, are not people who "deserve to die." They are innocent victims (like one whose death literally haunts Gamache) or potentially retrievable idiots whose stupidity has led them to bad choices.

So: I maintain that the Louise Penny series is absolutely not a cozy series. I understand the urge people have to apply the "village" rule and classify some of her titles that way. But I feel it's a serious mistake in reading the books and their very savvy, sophisticated, and determined author.

Discussion, anyone??

Vermont Gifts That Haunt: Joseph Citro's Novels and Collections

Some of the spookiest page-turners around are by Joseph Citro, a mild-mannered author who lives in Burlington, Vermont, and collects ghost stories -- then creates more.

Citro has often produced volumes of "factual" hauntings, with reportorial precision, representing different locations around Vermont and their historically resonant tales of the weird or other-worldly. He's also written some downright creepy novels of his own.

We'd like to see our Joe Citro collection -- all signed except one -- get into some holiday packages. Some are sure to be holiday gifts (they're in lovely condition); others may be the flashlight-under-the-blanket spooky treat that you give to yourself for a winter's reading.

To make it especially easier to purchase these, we've cut all their prices by half, as of this evening. Please do browse our ABE listings under Joseph Citro, and find the ones that are right for you.

Joseph Citro

Diversion: Poetry from Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Thanks to Claire Van Vliet

Thursday evening I slipped away from the desk for a bit, to see the new exhibit of pulp paintings by Vermont and Canadian book artist Claire Van Vliet at St. Johnsbury's medical center, Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. The images on the corridor walls capture moonrise, plowed fields, wild mountains -- some in Van Vliet's trademark earth tones, some in provocative azure and rose shades that call forth exotic visions of the hidden wonder of the northern lands that Van Vliet portrays. Those appreciating the show were mostly authors, artists, a craftsman, a poet or two.

Van Vliet drew out some samples of a new creation to show us: a "trade" edition of GONE by Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, poet and president of Marlboro (VT) College. McCulloch-Lovell's poems have been slow to come forward, as her positions in arts leadership caused her to hold them close and not flaunt them in any way. Earlier this year, Claire Van Vliet and her team of artisans, including Andrew Miller-Brown and Aubrey Holden, created an elegant limited edition of GONE, printed on Richard de Bas Apta paper that had been handmade at the late, lamented Hayle Mill in Maidstone, Kent, England. Complete with slipcase, the collection emerged in an edition of only 100 copies, all signed by the author and artist (and including a haunting lithograph by Claire Van Vliet),

The trade edition is a modest, machine-printed softcover, wrapped in paper that bears the tinted cloud forms of one of Van Vliet's pulp paintings. It's likely to sell for about $12 when it reaches the market, perhaps early next year. This will make McCulloch-Lovell's poems much more available to readers, and is a lovely gift from the press and poet.

But here's a special opportunity: Vamp & Tramp, Vicky and Bill Stewart's fine press bookshop in Birmingham, Alabama, has the final limited-edition copy of GONE available for purchase. Check it out here -- I hope one of you seizes the moment and captures this copy.

Meanwhile, watch for the new trade form of the book. It provides an enchanting vista of rural life, of Vermont beauty, and of the elegance of a fine poet.

Clouds, by Claire Van Vliet, a pulp painting shown at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center.

MR. KILL by Martin Limón: 7th in Korean DMZ Series (1970s)

Investigators George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. 8th Army in Korea in the "early seventies," represent America to the Koreans around them. Round eyed, big nosed, very tall, hairy of skin (like monkeys) -- that's how they appear to the people around them, much like any other Yank on hand in this time before tourism has much of a role in the divided nation.

Unfortunately, that's the same set of descriptors that Sueño and Bascom pick up from observers of crimes. And as MR. KILL opens, they're tackling one of the nastiest situations possible, one that's quickly antagonizing the Koreans around them: It appears that an American G.I. has just brutally raped a young woman on a train -- a woman traveling with two small children, who are terrified by what's just happened to their mother. The investigative team has solved a lot of crimes, in spite of getting themselves in plenty of trouble along the way (booze, women, a marked inability to kiss up to supervisors). Now they need to use their skills, and fast. Every hour of "unsolved" on this one means another hour of public anger, mounting and seething.

Behind us, on the overhead ramparts, a crowd gathered, people waiting for other trains. Some of the civilians murmured loudly about Miguk-nom, base American louts. Somehow they'd gotten wind of what had happened.

It's George Seuño who tells the tale, which is a good thing -- way too often, his partner is angrily drunk, or shacked up with a sweetie. Poor Miss Kim in the office is still heartbroken from breaking up with Ernie. This time, though, Ernie's not seeking a Korean "yobo" to keep him company. Instead, he's found a liaison with Marnie, leader of an all-female country-western band touring the U.S. bases. Coincidentally, the "girls" have complained about thefts and peeping Toms on the tour, so George and Ernie get assigned to chase that problem, too.

All too soon, their Korean law enforcement counterparts learn about the demands on George and Ernie's time. Faced with a horrifying criminal act, and a G.I criminal whose actions seem to be escalating further, the national forces can't grasp how protection for a girl band could compete. Maybe Ernie's the only one happy about the extra tasks involved!

If you've been reading Limón's engrossing and perceptive series, none of this will surprise you -- Ernie's got a track record of heedless trouble, and George has been rescuing him for six previous books. (There's some balance, though; Ernie's fists and determination have pulled George out of a lot of dangerous moments, too.)

But you're in for surprises as MR. KILL continues to unfold. For one thing, "Mr. Kill" is the nickname of a seriously amazing Korean investigator, head of the national investigative forces. For another, George's relationship with Mr. Kill shifts rapidly from enormous respect to desperation and then involves even more uncomfortable ties. There are plot twists that punch holes in the customary detection routines, and insights into religion, women, men, and national pride, tucked into the fast-paced scenes.

By the end of MR. KILL, the American team knows a lot more about both American and Korean mistakes and dangers. And it's clear there's a sequel already in the works.

That can only be good news -- because this is a truly top-notch series, and Soho Crime gets a tip of the hat again for finding it and keeping it coming.

A quick note for newcomers to the series: You don't need to have read the others before this one (although I'm hoping you'll want to, even if you read book 7 first). And you won't be circling the house checking the locks the way you might have with the recent Scandinavian noir, or grimacing over details of abuse or body fluids -- Limón's action is more geared to human affection and loyalty, despite the detection and risks involved. Pick this one up, in order to enjoy both the good read, and the good feeling afterward. Let me know if you agree.

(P.S. -- for a wildly different sense of this author's viewpoint, check out his recent rant on the future of the U.S. Postal Service, in his guest post on the crime fiction author blog "Murder is Everywhere." Worth a look!)

December SALE on All Mysteries: 30% Unsigned, 10% Signed

Don't let the green grass in the background fool you -- last week we had a quick eight inches of snow here, and although it melted, we're expecting more this afternoon. (I'll send snow images later!) And it feels like the Holiday Season, inside and out.

We know that for many of you, it would be a long trip to visit Kingdom Books in this wintry month. But we have to celebrate somehow! So ... for the rest of December, if you place an order directly with us -- via e-mail (KingdomBks@gmail.com) or phone (802-751-8374) -- we'll give you a holiday discount of 30% on any unsigned mysteries and 10% on any signed ones.

And to make things even merrier, if you purchase three or more books, we'll give you FREE "media mail" shipping as well.

Search our listings on ABE here: http://www.abebooks.com/kingdom-books-waterford-vt-u.s.a/1498832/sf

Happy Holidays!

Poet Ruth Stone, 96, Closes the Pages

We mourn the loss of poet Ruth Stone, who died on November 19 at the age of 96. Although we'd like to claim her as a "Vermont poet" (she lives outside Middlebury), she was far more than that. I've borrowed a phenomenal photo from Steve Brown's blog because it gives such a great sense of the energy and intensity Stone brought with her, despite her crippling blindness in her later years.

And for insight into her work and its effects, check out this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love).

Although Kingdom Books closed its poetry room two years ago in order to focus entirely on mysteries (sob -- letting go of some four thousand books of poetry), I still can't resist stocking a few shelves with the best work that I run across. And that includes some hardcover firsts from this powerful poet. Have at 'em.

News from Maine Author Paul Doiron: The Next Mike Bowditch Book Is ...

Doiron and Michael Connelly, picking up Strand awards

We've become huge fans of the Maine Game Warden crime novels of Paul Doiron, a long-time editor at Down East (yes, both the magazine and the books). Paul's November visit here at Kingdom Books drew an impressive gathering of authors -- my count was that all but one of the people attending were writers themselves, which shows how good Doiron's books are. It's the ultimate compliment when fellow authors salute your work. And Paul Doiron has surely earned that salute with Poacher's Son and Trespasser. (We sold a lot of his books, signed of course, in November; we have three signed copies left of the first book and four of the second. Collectors, please note: Dave has scouted around the Doiron's first book, in first edition, is already quite scarce. Get 'em while you can.)

And now, as an extra treat, the latest e-blast from this fiercely wonderful Registered Maine Guide announces the publication date of August 7, 2012, for book three in the Mike Bowditch series. It's called BAD LITTLE FALLS and takes place near the Canada border, with Mike isolated and exiled and coping with terrible risks. When Doiron was here, he showed us a not-yet-for-publication view of the book's proposed cover. Dave and I both suggested that he remind the publisher to make his author name on the front larger in size ... because by next summer, there's no question, readers will be specifically looking for "the next Paul Doiron book." Most noted detail for me in terms of this series: There are huge areas of Maine's forested landscape where the game warden is the only law enforcement officer around -- hence the wide range of crime he (or she) needs to tackle. Most noted aspect of Doiron's writing: These are character-driven novels, pounding with the tense emotional context of a flawed person tackling a job that takes all of your soul and mind to do it right.

In his discussion here at Kingdom Books, Doiron admitted that creating a fractured soul in a young game warden could have drawbacks for those Maine folks who prefer their law enforcement to come from balanced, mature, even-handed folks with lots of wisdom and sanity. On the other hand, who starts out that way, really? And the author promises forward motion for Mike Bowditch, as the demands of both the job and the people around him put him through a refining fire of a career.

Even though it's smartest in New England winter to stay "in the moment" and work with the season on hand, I confess I've got a big reason here to look forward to next August.

Meanwhile, I'm planning to give myself the holiday treat of re-reading books one and two. And, of course, giving copies to my best reading friends, to get them started with this memorable investigator over the holidays.

Colin Cotterill, SLASH AND BURN -- the Eighth Dr. Siri Mystery

It's the first of December, and it's going to be a great month for new mysteries. Top on my list for sheer enjoyment is the eighth "Dr. Siri" mystery from Colin Cotterill, SLASH AND BURN, releasing December 6 (yes, pre-order it now, or add it to your list). All through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I carried my copy around with me, sinking into any handy armchair (between kitchen tasks) to dip into this latest Laos crime novel. I'm afraid the title had my visiting relatives worried about me ... it's a bit deceptive, since this is far from a slasher novel, honest! The slashing and burning refers to the agricultural technique that surrounds 74-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun and his wife, and their friends, at a site in northern Laos where they're assisting the search for a downed U.S. helicopter pilot. Alive, or not? And what destroyed the helicopter and the surrounding jungle?

Poor Dr. Siri. At his age, he should be retiring. Actually, he already did once, but his country pulled him back into service, running the nation's only working morgue. But finally his latest retirement request has been accepted, so it's quite unexpected that his arch-enemy, Judge Haeng, asks him to supervise the coroner's portion of the ongoing search. A moment of acute perception -- realizing how badly the Party-oriented judge needs him for this one -- leads Dr. Siri to negotiate what ought to be a wildly cheerful final outing, with his friends in tow. Here, for example, is the coroner's introduction of his wife, as the MIA task force of Lao and American investigators and translators gets going:

"Next," said Siri, "a legend in the underground resistance forces against the French, a spy of many faces, never discovered, a woman with an intellect so high that she married me" -- riding the groans -- "and the maker of the best noodles on this and probably every other planet, I present you, Madame Daeng."

Still, there are signs that all isn't as simple or sweet as it might be. For one thing, the local transvestite fortuneteller, Auntie Bpoo, has very seriously predicted that Siri will die before retirement. Die very soon, for that matter. So Auntie Bpoo has tagged along for the investigation. For another, people on the joint investigative task force are dying -- in ways that are clearly intentional, not accidental.

As the smoke surrounding the task force gets thicker, the landscape more treacherous, and the mix of Lao and American forces more unexpected, Siri tangles with the forces that have haunted him through his morgue-related career: spirits of the dead. What are they trying to tell him? Does the answer have any bearing on the missing American, or the death foretold for Dr. Siri?

This is a delightful classic mystery, imbued with enough exotic flavors of custom and language to make it deliciously distracting. It will last a lot longer than the Thanksgiving desserts ... and be even more fun.

Oh, one more bit of good news: If you haven't read the earlier Dr. Siri books, you'll still enjoy this one almost as much. But if you had a chance to savor Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, the seventh in the series, you'll feel like your feast is even better.

Will there be another Dr. Siri book? Cotterill has left room for one, twisting Dr. Siri's life madly. But he's also started another series, featuring Jimm Juree (stories of the feisty Thai lady journalist began last summer), so ... who knows? See what you can figure from the author's enjoyable website. And hats off to Soho Crime, for bringing us this one.

First of Three British Police Novels: James Craig, LONDON CALLING

After 30+ years as a journalist, James Craig talked Soho Crime into a three-book contract, starting with the just-released LONDON CALLING. Inspector John Carlyle is a mildly out of shape but loyal husband and father with a sensible sidekick (Joe Szyskowksi) and a rather distant female boss. He's human enough to be likable, and most if not all of his problems are due to not calling people back or not answering his cell phone. I like him.

LONDON CALLING does show its "debut" status, though, with some confused metaphors, contradictory adjectives, and, for my taste, a bit too much emphasis on the British class structure and the graphic consequences of anal sex. That said, though, the plot is quick and polished, the characters are highly believable, and I'll read the next one, in anticipation of a quick learning curve.

A sample of this police procedural:

Carlyle saw several hours of time wasting ahead of him and felt his body sag. He gritted his teeth to keep hold of his anger.

'This,' he said, pointing a finger at Brolin, 'had better not be one of your f***ed-up guests pissing about.' Aching with tiredness, Carlyle could feel himself starting to go off on one, but he was saved by Prentice putting a hand on his arm, gently telling him to give it a rest. It was a timely intervention, and Carlyle acknowledge it with a nod. He understood the sergeant's point: don't shoot the messenger -- even if he does appear to be a moron.

At the moment, the author's website isn't complete. Keep an eye on it; good things are likely.

Lawrence Block, Megan Abbott, Dwayne Swierczynski, Nancy Pickard, Barry Eisler

Barry Eisler

Nancy Pickard

All at once? Well, almost -- Dave and I spent an unreal number of days on the road this month, with absurd numbers of hours in the car. But it was worth it.

We headed first to New York City, to visit The Mysterious Bookshop, Otto Penzler's reliably wonderful shop "way downtown" -- for a presentation by three authors, MC'd by Lawrence Block. What can I say: It was worth every mile, and every swerve of the final taxi, to meet this author of so many lively and entertaining mysteries. Block stuck with the role of master of ceremonies, declining to talk about his current work or what's up ahead ("It's a secret") but giving some lively patter to introduce the three relatively younger authors lined up at the table. Megan Abbott brought out The End of Everything earlier in 2011, and I enjoyed it -- at first I thought it was a YA (young adult), but quickly realized its dark reflections were much better suited to an adult, especially one a bit nostalgic for the 1980s, when the story takes place. Abbott described it as "like a Grimm's fairy tale in the suburbs ... the results are fairly perilous and the wolf does indeed appear." Her next book "is about the dark heart of cheerleaders." Gulp.

Also on hand was Dwayne Swierczynski, whose name needs to become trained into the typing fingers for all the good books ahead from this author. He pitched his crime fiction Hell and Gone as a stand-alone, and the publisher requested a trilogy instead. Yes! He commented, "I like to give myself a pair of creative handcuffs," like putting all the action within a prison, or insisting that a book contain no swearing, and see what the pressure brings about, creatively. [Lawrence Block reckoned the same thing applies to his own Drop of the Hard Stuff.]

The third young author, whose initials that evening were Q.M., has since landed in such a swimming pool of fecal matter that we won't even go there. But darn it, he seemed such a nice person ...

Lawrence Block, at right, at The Mysterious Bookshop, NYC

Our next stop was outside Boston for the 10th eruption of the New England Crime Bake, with guests of honor Nancy Pickard and Barrry Eisler. Based on observation for three days, I can completely confirm that Pickard brings out the best in the people around her in every panel or conversation. How? By being both insightful and generous. She never tried (or needed) to push her own books forward -- instead, she pointed out the skilled work in the books of others, and drew out ideas about how to write well. I especially liked seeing her encourage Jennifer MacMahon and Brunonia Barry to "dish" about secrets and how they propel the plot forward, leading to depth and intensity. An example of her grace: "I'm a thirty-year overnight success. I just live long enough." Truth is, she pushes each of her novels beyond the predecessors, and The Scent of Rain and Lightning is already a classic of fine writing and immaculately paced suspense.

Seconding Pickard's recommendations about perseverance as a writer, flying star Barry Eisler (in the news a lot lately for his decision to have Amazon publish his next book, a sure-fire winner in his John Rain ex-CIA rebel sequence) confessed, "My attitude at the beginning was, 'If somebody has to be published, it might as well be me,' and I recommend that attitude." Simply, he added, "Write the best book you can possibly write." That's why we'll keep purchasing his.

Final result of all that running around: Dave added another 45 signed mysteries to our shelves. Some are quite scarce indeed ... and all of them, worth reading.

On the other hand, please, partner, can we spend next November just staying home and stuffing the turkey? And reading good books?

Catching Up With Maine Crime Writers Gerry Boyle, Lea Wait, Barb Ross ...

Gerry Boyle

Lea Wait

At the New England Crime Bake, it's great to catch up with authors you haven't seen in a while. Today I especially caught up with some Maine mystery authors, so here's a bit of news:

Gerry Boyle is working on his next Jack McMorrow book, savoring the differences between this investigator and the more wounded personality featured Boyle's other series, that of Brandon Blake, whose appearance in Port City Black and White gave us such a good read this season.

And Lea Wait reminded us that the Maine Crime Writers blog is featuring ... ta-da! ... the New England Crime Bake this week! Check it out here.

Had a great discussion with Barb Ross about reader involvement in the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime, and saw Kate Flora in passing. And meeting Donald Bain and Renée Paley-Bain, creators of the "Murder, She Wrote" series (set in Maine; the authors don't live there) was also a treat.

Tomorrow will be more geographically diverse, as the day starts with a talk from the Bains, Michael Palmer, Barry Eisler, and Nancy Pickard, moderated by Roberta Isleib. So ... how come you're not here? Three cheers for Sisters In Crime, which collaborates with Mystery Writers of America to pull this off each year. My kinda scene.

Deer Hunting Season, Vermont and Maine, and an Author to Watch: Paul Doiron, TRESPASSER and THE POACHER'S SON

Paul Doiron

Kingdom Books welcomes award-winning author Paul Doiron on Saturday Nov. 19 at 11 a.m., with a focus on Doiron's second book of crime fiction, TRESPASSER.

As we're getting ready (stacking up books, unfolding chairs, baking autumn treats), we're also firmly embedded in November's biggest calendar call for northern Vermont: deer season, or, more specifically, rifle hunting season for deer. It opens this Saturday, lasts for two weeks, and was preceded last weekend by a great state tradition, Youth Hunting Weekend.

Paul Doiron is a Registered Maine Guide (as well as editor-in-chief of Down East  -- the magazine, the book publisher, the website), and for him, "deer season" began a week and a half ago, as Maine's calendar works differently from Vermont's. But the issues are much the same: How much room is there for traditional live-off-the-land activities as the region becomes more heavily populated with people whose goals revolve more closely around high-speed Internet access or rescue of vulnerable species than around tracking wildlife? (Me, I like best the way some people are able to combine all of these into a range of personal passions. Reminder, no matter what your interest: Wear orange in the woods during deer season. It's only fair, and wise.)

Doiron's blog this week includes commentary on the hunting-related injuries and death in Maine this season, and the effect of news coverage and images related to those. It's worth reading.

And Dave and I hope you'll mark your own calendar to come meet this author on the 19th. Not only do the books -- TRESPASSER and THE POACHER'S SON -- draw on Doiron's life in and around the Maine woods, but they tap deep emotional conflicts between father and son ... and spin a taut, tense narrative of crime and consequences.

CROOKED LETTTER, CROOKED LETTER, by Tom Franklin

My mother used the memory device of "M, I, crooked letter crooked letter I, crooked letter crooked letter I, humpback humpback I" to spell Mississippi, so as soon as I saw the title of Tom Franklin's 2010 mystery, I knew something about it. And I waited until I wouldn't be rushed in reading it, remembering the slow relentless power of the Mississippi landscape, weather, and people. Most recently, the book won the CWA (Crime Writers Association) Gold Dagger Award in October.

CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER captures all of that. Although it's tucked into the mystery shelves for the crimes that open the book -- abductions, presumed murders, of two local girls, and a local constable hoping to find clues toward solving them -- count this as a deep and resonant novel, well outside the usual heart of the genre. And yet it's comparable to John Hart's Down River, which Dave and I have shelved among our mysteries. But it's also close in some ways to that great classic, Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy.

Take a look at the author's page provided by HarperCollins; and here's a good review by the Washington Post. Enough said. Well worth reading.

THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE: Available Nov. 8, Scandinavian Noir

Thank goodness for the pressure to translate the top Scandinavian crime fiction -- which brings us, this week, the first dark and intense translated book in the series featuring Nina Borg, a Danish Red Cross nurse.

Written by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis, and deftly translated to English by Kaaberbøl herself, THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE stakes out new ground in modern noir. Borg herself is a determined, dedicated professional, working at a known sanctuary for battered women. She's no savior figure or superhero -- just one of those people who witnesses and tries to assist the painful one-step-forward, two-steps-back process of women attempting to take back their lives. Brutality, compulsion, power. She knows them. But she doesn't live at home with them, where she has a husband and two children of her own.

But her friends, even her long estranged friend Karin, know Nina's abilities and dedication. So when Karin entraps Nina in a situation where Nina collects a suitcase from a Copenhagen train station, and the suitcase contains a three-year-old child, naked, drugged, but thank goodness, very much alive and grieving, Nina takes on the responsibility of saving the child and searching for his home.

Danger and risk -- in today's most frightening forms of child trafficking, moneyed criminals, and mob connections -- follow the child and Nina. Yet there are no dramatic kick-boxing or firearms scenes, no made-for-TV car chases, no wise mentors or rescuers drifting into the scenes. Instead, Kaaberbøl and Friis powerfully present the horror of everyday challenges in escaping evil: the moment you've lost your cell phone in the woods while hearing danger behind you, and you've got to take care of a small child:

Her heart gave a wild leap and raced even faster under her sweat-soaked T-shirt. She stumbled to her feet, still with the boy locked in her arms.

And then she ran.

The boy's body was tense with resistance and difficult to manage, and she felt the extra weight now in her knees and ankles. She was getting older, she thought, too old to be fleeing with a child in her arms.

Seconds later, she reached the Fiat and yanked open the door to the driver's seat.

The very ordinariness of the characters and scenes in THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE push its powerful dramatic pace and make it at times quite terrifying. I found myself taking breaks from the emotions that every parent or grandparent knows: anguish at the dangers that life sends flying toward our children, terror at what could happen to them, clenched fists and heart as we become their defenders, at any cost.

Here's the ultimate opposite of the era's already noted Scandinavian thriller, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, for the committed women in Kaaberbøl and Friis's narrative aren't twisted by abuse, aren't crippled by their pasts -- they take hold of what they must, and they race for safety, carrying a toddler if necessary, screaming internally but running as fast as they can.

It's a great new addition to the shelf, whether on the Scandinavian side, the thriller side, the darkly driven crime fiction side, or as an investigation of how the ordinary can rise to compelling significance. Pre-order a copy online or reserve it at your local shop; the first printings (brought to us by the talent spotters at Soho Crime) are likely to fly into buyers' hands, and collectors in particular should grab them while they're available.