Peter Lovesey, COP TO CORPSE: More Peter Diamond Crime-Solving

Peter Lovesey is a master storyteller. Tucked within this police investigation, under the aegis of long-running series character Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond, are tension, intrigue, humor, affection, and neat layers of theory, crime scenes, police politics, and struggles with the humanity of both villains and victors. COP TO CORPSE is a good read that pushes insistently from one scene to the next, and one trail of crime to another, without once making me get up to check that the doors were locked.

Here's how it all starts:

Hero to zero.
Cop to Corpse.
One minute PC Harry Tasker is strolling up Walcot Street, Bath, on foot patrol. The next he is shot through the head. No scream, no struggle, no last words. He is picked off, felled, dead. 

Fortunately, after a brief scene-setting in the present tense, the stoytelling in this Lovesey classic resumes a more usual format, and familiar conflicts emerge: between Diamond and other branches of the police, between the Detective Superintendent and his politically inclined superior, and even within his team, where the eager forensics attempts of DC Ingeborg Smith sometimes shine, and sometimes make her, along with Diamond, the topic of the latest joke.

I actually wished at times that I were reading this one aloud, because when entertaining moments come up in the plot twists, they're often truly funny -- the kind that make you choke on your iced tea and snort unexpectedly. I didn't keep count, but I think Diamond got injured four times between the start and end of the sniper case he's investigating, and at least twice it was the fault of someone on the police force.

Is COP TO CORPSE deep? No. But it's delightfully successful. Pack it in the beach-reading bag, or set it near the couch for the rainy week that was supposed to be your vacation. I'm going to give a copy to my sister.  It's that good.

By the way, this is the twelfth Peter Diamond investigation -- and there's no need to read the others before this one. But since I enjoyed this one so much (and number 11, Stagestruck), I think I'll line them all up for next winter. It will be a pleasure.

Writing the Good One: Skill, Passion, and the Right Place

More mystery reviews this week ... watch this evening for what else is being published in June, or what's perfect to add to the summer reading stack.

Meanwhile, for those who are writing this summer/fall, or thinking of it: Author Julia Shipley in Craftsbury, Vermont, offers a "farmhouse studio" for the perfect writing vacation. Called The Writer's Retreat, this peaceful and richly rural opportunity for "writing on the farm" even comes with the possibility of adding coaching from Julia, who is a gentle yet powerful teacher of writing skills and whose poetry, short fiction, and elegant letterpress work appear at workshops as far away as Wisconsin.

Here are two samples of what Julia recently crafted, perfect for the writing life:

* * *

And another reminder: Writing is a craft. (Yes, an art, too, but that's a subject for another day.) A craft depends on specific skills, learned, practiced, valued, and strengthened. Undertake all of that at your own writing retreat in Vermont -- or indulge in learning from an assortment of writing professionals just outside Boston, at Pine Manor College, which now allows auditing of the summer workshops:

The Solstice Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program invites writers to audit graduate-level creative writing courses during its summer residency, scheduled from July 6-15, 2012 on the Pine Manor College campus in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Classes include several sessions taking place as part of State of the Union: Diversity & Poetic Craft, a two-day colloquium designed to encourage cross-pollination between styles and approaches to poetry, open up a broader discourse about the art of writing poetry, and encourage experimentation across poetic “camps.”

Classes are open to serious writers working at all levels; the registration fee is $30 per course for Solstice graduates/$40 per course for the general public. The State of the Union: Diversity & Poetic Craft panel discussion & keynote speech by Stephen Dunn are FREE and open to the public.

For course descriptions, dates and times, a detailed audit policy, and a downloadable registration form, go to: http://www.pmc.edu/mfa-classes-for-audit. The deadline for enrolling as an auditor for summer 2012 Residency is Friday, June 22, 2012.

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

Fiction:
• Fragmented/Fractured Narrative
• Creating a Sense of Place
• Writing the End

Creative Nonfiction:
• Writing Personal Essays
• Nonfiction as Fiction
• Dateline Zanzibar: Travel Writing 101

Writing for Stage & Screen:
• Writer-in-Residence Dennis Lehane on Writing for Cable Television

State of the Union: Diversity & Poetic Craft:
• Where I’m From: Identity & Subjectivity in Poetry
• Oulipo: Experiments in Potential Literature
• FREE: State of the Union: Panel Discussion featuring all faculty & guests
• An Eye For An I: Lyrical Elements In Poetry—For The Prose Writer
• Incorporating Sound Into Poetry
• FREE: State Of The Union (Or Disunion) Keynote with Stephen Dunn

The Business of Writing:
• Publishing in Literary Magazines

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.

www.pmc.edu/mfa includes all contact info.

New Thriller from John Gilstrap: DAMAGE CONTROL

I promise there will be some beach reads mentioned this week. But John Gilstrap's vital new Jonathan Grave thriller, DAMAGE CONTROL, is not going to work for an hour of sleepy, sunstruck browsing. Here's why: From the moment Jonathan Grave steps forward on page 3, there's no good place to stop reading in the entire book -- it's the best page-turning thriller I've grabbed in ages. Repeat: There is no place to put this one down.  You know what that's going to mean for your life.

It's a perfect summer read, though, if you can manhandle your schedule to leave good long blocks of time. For one thing, that sweat trickling down Jonathan Grave's face as he sets up a rescue of a bus full of students in the tropics pulled me directly into the hottest form of summer. What a relief to find his partner Boxers nearby, ready with covering fire -- and the voice of Venice, better known operationally as Mother Hen, giving Grave tips from her observation by satellite and her swift computations back in the home office. In moments, gunfire explodes from all the wrong locations, and it's clear that the standard rescue-the-kidnapped-victims plan is way off base for what's really happening. And Grave and his team are in as much danger as their "precious cargo" being rescued. Grave lets Venice know, as he presses his mike button:

"Mother Hen, Scorpion."

"I'm here."

"We've got a pretty significant change of plans here." As he detailed all of the careful planning that now was meaningless, Jonathan tried to shake away the growing sense of dread that blossomed in his belly.

Jonathan and Boxers have been a rescue team for three of John Gilstrap's books, and they're impressive, with their complimentary skills in the field. (I especially like Hostage Zero.) Most intriguing for those who've enjoyed the earlier books is that in DAMAGE CONTROL, we get into the minds and memories of these two ultra-capable but still heartbreakingly human characters, as they teach some of this to a youngster who absolutely must keep up with them, for the sake of his life and those of others. Power, greed, manipulation -- those are countered by loyalty, commitment, and determined investigation by the
"good guys."

When I reached the end of DAMAGE CONTROL, I realized I'd been gone from my ordinary life for as long as it took to devour the book. And at the same moment, I realized this thriller is actually one extended crisis that lasts for more than 400 pages. Gilstrap is one of the very few writers who can position a set of characters in a situation, ramp up the tension, and -- yes, keep it there, all the way through. Whew! Good thing I've got a bit of time off until the next Jonathan Grave adventure.

Post-Flood Wilmington, VT: Hurrah for Bartleby's Books

When we talk about the survival of independent bookstores, it's usually financial survival that's under discussion -- but in Wilmington, Vermont, last fall's devastation from Hurricane Irene literally washed out Bartleby's Books on West Main Street. So it was great yesterday not only to visit the thriving and very well-stocked rebuilt shop, but, even more important, to hear the story of how owners Lisa Sullivan and Philip Taylor reached out to their town as they struggled to emerge from the wreckage. As the Preservation Trust of Vermont celebrated RESILIENCY for Vermont's recovery, Taylor (speaking in this photo), Sullivan, and others from Wilmington received awards for their work.

Of course, after snapping this photo, we visited the shop to buy a book!

Crime and Conversation with Joseph Olshan

Joseph Olshan and CLOUDLAND at Kingdom Books

Many thanks to Joe Olshan, who traveled north today with friend and fellow writer Barry Raine (author of Where the River Bends) to visit Kingdom Books. We enjoyed hearing about his adventures with his new Vermont-set mystery, CLOUDLAND -- and caught up on some details of what he's writing next (oh yeah, sounds like a winner, crime, secrets, friendship ... and a touch of baseball).

To catch some conversation with this New York-born, Cambridge and Vermont-living author, listen to Olshan's recent radio interviews:

VPR: click here.

NHPR: click here.

Both interviews offer written material on the radio websites, as well as the chance to listen to Olshan's literate and thoughtful path and process.

And, of course, we happen to have a few signed  copies now on hand -- your chance to get one for your collection. As soon as Dave's placed them onto ABE, I'll post the purchase link here. Thank you, Joe and Barry.

Looking for a chance to meet Joseph Olshan? Mark your calendar for Bookstock in July in Vermont, or the New England Crime Bake in November outside Boston.

International Mysteries from Atria

Dave and I drove to Brattleboro last month to meet the Atria Books "Great Mystery Bus Tour," with authors William Kent Krueger, Liza Marklund, John Connolly, and M. J. Rose -- it took two hours to get there, and much longer to get home (we stopped to visit friends), but it was worth it. Kind host David Wilson at Mystery on Main Street swapped stories with us, too.

The cream in the coffee (well, really, it was more like that final swirled heart that the barista magically creates on the top of the cappuccino) was a modest paperback handed out to exiting readers by one of the bus staff: The Atria International Books of Mysteries, Your Passport to a World of Murder and Mayhem; Circle the Globe with 15 First-Class Mystery Writers.

This, of course, was one of that strange breed of "free" books known as "samplers." It contains chapter one -- ONLY chapter one -- of each of fifteen mysteries (crime fiction in this case) presented by authors that Atria (a Simon & Schuster imprint) publishes. How nice that it was a gift, and a softcover one at that. I knew Dave wouldn't mind if I toted the book around casually, reading on the couch, in bed, on the deck. Matter of fact, I barely put it down. Because every single chapter one in this sampler is a good one.

So my "free" book ended up costing me quite a bit, as I scrambled to purchase the books that were started within it. We already had plenty on the shelves by John Connolly and Liza Marklund and Walter Mosley, and a growing section of William Kent Krueger (because I enjoyed finding his books at the mystery shop in Madison, Wisconsin, a few years back). And Spencer Quinn is a regular in the Kingdom Books collections, as is M. J. Rose.

But Paul Cleave, of New Zealand? New to me. And his book Collecting Cooper is a wonderfully dark investigation, a cross between Garry Fisher and Dave Zeltserman with maybe more bodies. Malla Nunn of South Africa? Wow! Kristina Ohlsson, a Swedish author I'd missed in the new Scandinavian fiction craze, is going to be a new favorite, too.

(And don't worry, I'll get to talking about the other authors in there, too. Just not all at once, OK?)

I am ready for a long, long summer of reading. Thanks for the nudge, Atria Books.

Oh, almost forgot -- if you didn't get to one of the bus tour events, you can STILL get a free copy of this sampler, if you don't mind receiving it as an ebook. Here's the link. Go for it!

Slow, Moody, Penetrating: The Spring Mystery by Joseph Olshan, CLOUDLAND

Looking at a list of Joseph Olshan's novels and their publishers, it's clear this Cambridge, Mass., author has long been associated with literary fiction -- the kind that slowly eats its way into you, through the tenaciousness of ordinary people grappling with extraordinary stresses. Here are the titles that preceded this spring's publication of CLOUDLAND:

• The Conversion (St. Martin's Press, 2008)
• In Clara's Hands (Bloomsbury, 2003)
• Vanitas (Simon & Schuster, 1998)
• Nightswimmer (Simon & Schuster, 1994)
• The Sound of Heaven (Bloomsbury, 1992)
• The Waterline (Doubleday, 1989)
• A Warmer Season (Bloomsbury/McGraw-Hill, co-pub, 1987)
• Clara's Heart (Arbor House, 1985)

At first glance, that's the genre for CLOUDLAND, too, with its epigraph in French that translates as "The first love is the only love" (we know that's not true), and its opening chapter that's rich in description of the grainy snow of late March. But it is in fact a corpse that's discovered in this opening -- the corpse of Angela Parker -- and our protagonist, journalist Catherine Winslow, may be writing household hints these days, but she was once a major news reporter with crime knowledge of her own.

I sank into the book with something of the same discomfort as tramping in a Vermont early spring, one moment in wet, icy snow, the next in sticky mud or a cow pie. Catherine's life now isn't much different from what she once described as she waited for her daughter's precarious mental health to perhaps turn toward something better: "I lived from day to day in a stupor of anxiety, hardly eating anything myself, waiting for bulletins that were never very promising ... What they didn't tell me, couldn't tell me, wouldn't dare to tell me was, 'She wants to kill herself.'"

Nor is she the most reliable detective. She admits to us, in this first-person narrative, that the absence of a book from its familiar spot on her shelf confuses her. "I began to worry that I'd somehow lent it out and completely forgotten to whom. Perhaps my memory wasn't so good after all."

Yet these twinges of doubt are equally clues to what's gone wrong on the mountain ridge known as "Cloudland," where Catherine and her sparse neighbors barely speak, yet attempt to still be neighborly somehow. Drawing from some of Vermont's unsolved and unfinished murder cases, Olshan crafts a haunted -- and haunting -- progression from unease to risk to deadly danger.

This is a a book that requires readerly attentiveness and patience. But the rewards are powerful and unforgettable. CLOUDLAND will last on the shelf.

Coming Soon: Summer Mysteries

I plan to post a long-ish description tomorrow about the effects of reading a recent ATRIA books sampler, crammed with first chapters of international thriller/mystery authors.

Also, here are some of the reviews coming for this summer, with the publication months of the books:

John Gilstrap, DAMAGE CONTROL, June 
Peter Lovesey, COP TO CORPSE, June
Timothy Hallinan, THE FEAR ARTIST, July
Alexander Campion, KILLER CRITIQUE, July
Martin Limón, THE JOY BRIGADE, July
Jon Land, STRONG VENGEANCE, July
Lisa Jackson, YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW, August
Barbara Cleverly, NOT MY BLOOD, August

In general, I aim to post a review about a week before a book will release, although sometimes I wait until a little while after the release date. Let us know if there are reviews you'd like to see earlier than that.
Oh yes, the photo here? Well, we don't do "coffee reviews," but we vote with our orders, which we continue to send to Café Grumpy in New York, with great pleasure. The sack of coffee shown here (with blossoming apple branch) is from Rwanda, and each time I've ground the beans and Dave's savored the beverage, we sighed with pleasure and marveled at what the new international connections offer us.

Think about it: International mysteries. International coffees. Oh yes, we buy LOTS of American, too. But isn't it nice to have such wide choices?

As you can tell, it's a happy day here at Kingdom Books.

Joyful News: David Downing's Fifth Berlin Thriller Is Available Now!

Want to know the downside of being a bookseller at Kingdom Books? Here it is: The books we love the most, that are really, really well written, are the ones we talk about enthusiastically with collectors and readers who stop in - and as a result, we keep selling them off the shelf!

That's been the case for every one of David Downing's John Russell novels. Set (mostly) in Berlin, as World War II and its close aftermath unfold, they feature British journalist John Russell and his family: his somewhat estranged teenage son living with Russell's divorces wife; his creative and strong-minded lover, Effi, an actress forced to work for Hilter's propaganda machine, while secretly fostering a Jewish child and helping Jews to escape almost certain death; and most of all, the city of Berlin itself, beloved by Russell and Effi and their friends, but occupied, bombed, shattered, dangerous -- and somehow inescapable, no matter how much safer John Russell would be if he stayed back in England or even Russia, where his travels at one point take him.

LEHRTER STATION opens with an ominous scene from December 1943, then leaps forward into 1945, as Russell discovers that the rash trades he's made during the war, in order to secure the safety of his family members, now require payment -- in a set of obligations that force him into espionage in the most distasteful ways. Effi too is caught in the pinch of threats from international spy forces, end-of-war trade-offs, and the need to track the surviving remaining parent of the child she's taken to her heart. As organized crime enters the picture, thirsting for the spoils of war, Russell and Effi find increasing threats to their safety, their family members, and their honor.

Powerfully and skillfully written, with constant suspense and sudden surprises of satisfaction, LEHRTER STATION is one of the vital 2012 books that I'd pack for a desert island -- or a beach vacation, or a rainy weekend.

Do you need to read the other David Downing John Russell novels first? Well, not exactly ... but it will add a lot of depth and resonance, so I'd recommend it. Look at the bright side: If Downing is new to you, you'll have five rainy-weekend delights ahead of you. And if you already have his earlier titles -- Zoo Station, Silesian Station, Stettin Station, and Potsdam Station -- now you can re-read and refresh before you cruise into this fifth and possibly final in the series. Or will John Russell rise in new ways, with the new Berlin? I wonder.

Donald Hall Celebrates New England Summer

Last winter I found a story on National Public Radio on the 82-year-old poet Donald Hall. Dave and I try to get to at least one of his readings each year. He names the vivid, the deep, and the truthful, all within precise images and stories within his poems. Mostly they say "New England" to us -- but they also speak of honoring what we've seen, who we are, where our lives are taking us.

Today I photographed dandelions, the rock garden by the garage, lilacs budding and blooming. I hope Mr. Hall sees all of those today too, whether out in spring himself, or through his farmhouse window, or in the tender lens of linked memories.

Click here for our list of Donald Hall books on the shelves.  Make it a day to treasure.

Maurice Sendak, Age 83, Died This Morning

a PBS image of Maurice Sendak

What a loss for every reader, and especially every parent who ever shared one of Maurice Sendak's book, over and over again (because the kids demanded it!), with a child or grandchild. To my grandson, Where the Wild Things Are is the must-read book of every Skype visit -- "Grammy, read the monster book!" I love the sweet ending, as much as the wild rumpus.

It's raining in Vermont today, a soft gray farewell of the heart.

Publishers Weekly notice here.

New York Times obituary here (first of many).

Wikipedia page here.

Collector's Corner: A Special Subset of Donald E. Westlake Books

Here's a piece from Dave today:

I collect titles written by the late Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) and his many other pseudonyms such as Richard Stark. As part of the Richard Stark series Westlake wrote four Grofield Mysteries. In 1990 Foul Play Press/The Countryman Press in Vermont published the four Grofield Mysteries and they are becoming very difficult

to find in very good to fine condition. They were only published in soft cover.

 

The four titles are:

Lemons Never Lie, 1990

The Dame, 1990

The Damsel, 1990

The Black Bird, 1990

[Want to know more? Click HERE to see our Westlake books available.]

Clea Simon, CATS CAN'T SHOOT: Dark and Delightful

I dare you to read Clea Simon's CATS CAN'T SHOOT -- because it's the only way you'll be convinced how good this mystery author can be, if you've already sworn to reject any book that might involve a talking animal, or a cat that picks out criminals from a line-up. Oh, I understand: Dave and I get touchy about animal mysteries, too ... But Simon's Pru Marlowe "pet noir" series doesn't purr or meow. It scrapes against bone, dark and sharp, asking hard questions about people and the malicious things they often do. The things that can involve their pets.

When Marlowe gets a call to assist the police in a "cat shooting," the animal expert is understandably furious. Who's been shooting cats? She knows people can be cruel. But it turns out that the white Persian cowering in the corner is literally a killer kitty: Evidence indicates her paw pulled the trigger on a valuable firearm that's caused the death of her owner, Donal Franklin.

Marlowe's more than just good with animals -- she picks up their thoughts from time to time. It's a mixed blessing. After all, what does a dog waiting to go outside think about? (Hint: He's gotta go. Fast.) And how much do you really want to know about a hunter's feelings toward prey -- that is, a cat toward food? Or a cat toward a weakness in its "owner"? Pru Marlowe has had reason to regret her relatively new ability to overhear animal commentary (and their insults of her), especially since she can't explain it to even her closest friends without risking being locked up, herself.

Simon's sharp, quick plotting, sturdily mixed motivations, and decisive characters move this crime fiction along briskly. And if the idea of a pet psychic is a bit outside normal beliefs, it's the only notion the reader will have to swallow against the grain; this title, like its predecessor Dogs Don't Lie, is a thoroughly enjoyable traditional mystery with a likable twist.

And actually, now you mention it ... didn't you say your cat knows which sweater is your favorite, and always chooses to curl up and shed on that one?

Simon's created a worthy shelf companion to the great early titles by Lilian Jackson Braun, with shades of Agatha Christie in the character analysis that eventually solves the crimes. I'm looking forward to more in this series.

2012 Arthur Ellis Awards

Crime Writers of Canada is proud to announce...

The Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists

Best Crime Novel
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny, St. Martin’s Press
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson, McClelland and Stewart
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley, Doubleday Canada
I'll See you in My Dreams by William Deverell, McClelland and Stewart
The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg, Simon&Schuster

Best First Novel
The Man Who Killed by Fraser Nixon, Douglas & McIntrye
The Survivor by Sean Slater, Simon&Schuster
The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton, House of Anansi Press Inc.
Tight Corner by Roger White, BPS Books
Watching Jeopardy by Norm Foster, XLibris

Best Crime Book in French
La chorale du diable by Martin Michaud, Les Editions Guélette
Pwazon by Diane Vincent, Editors Triptyque
Pour Ne Pas Mourir ce soir by Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers, Lévesque Éditeur

Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book
Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, Candlewick Press
Charlie's Key by Rob Mills, Orca Book Publishers
Empire of Ruins by Arthur Slade, HarperCollins Publishers
Held by Edeet Ravel, Annick Press
Missing by Becky Citra, Orca Book Publishers

Best Crime Nonfiction
A Season in Hell by  Robert Fowler, Harper Collins
Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art by Joshua Knelman, Douglas& McIntyre
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Steven Laffoley, Pottersfield
The Pirates of Somalia by Jay Bahader, Harper Collins
The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob by Adrian Humphreys, Wiley

Best Crime Short Story
A New Pair of Pants by Jas. R. Petrin, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
Beer Money by Shane Nelson, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
The Girl with the Golden Hair by Scott Mackay, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
The Perfect Mark by Melodie Campbell, Flash Fiction Magazine
What Kelly Did by Catherine Astolfo, North Word Magazine

Best Unpublished First Novel - “Unhanged Arthur”
Gunning for Bear by Madeleine Harris-Callway
Last of the Independents by Sam Wiebe
Snake in the Snow by William Bonnell
The Rhymester by Valerie A. Drego
Too Far to Fall by Shane Sawyer 

Note for those who aren't familiar with the Arthur Ellis awards: These apply to crime fiction and, in one category, nonfiction, by Canadian citizens. For award guidelines, click here. And for past recipients, click here. The nominees list becomes an intriguing reading challenge -- climb out of one's own backyard and into a new set of perceptions. Award results for 2012 will be announced on May 31, in Toronto; tickets are still available ($80 each -- pretty good, considering!).

---

Jassy Mackenzie: New Crime Fiction in South Africa

With Soho Crime's help, Americans are catching up on the South African crime novels of Jassy Mackenzie. Random Violence came out in 2008, My Brother's Keeper in 2009, Stolen Lives in 2010 -- and now, hurrah, we get THE FALLEN.

This time, private investigator Jade de Jong isn't working in the cramped urban tension of Johannesburg. Instead, she's booked a vacation trip to St. Lucia, where she hopes her boyfriend, David, a police superintendent, will relax with her and rebuild their relationship -- which has been rough, thanks to the presence in Jade's life of a former partner in crime who wants her to apply her security skills to his own work instead. But David on arrival is clearly holding Jade at arm's length, for reasons that she can't fight. And then, off balance as she is, she's suddenly caught up in the murder of the resort's scuba-diving instructor. And, typical of Jade, she's got to try to sort things out, no matter the danger.

But ... it's complicated. Well, sorting out a well-executed murder usually is complex, because there's motive, means, opportunity, and all of those may be hidden at first. The attractive instructor, Monique, doesn't seem like someone who'd get into trouble that kills her, and violently. And what about the man Jade's just had sex with, trying to escape her despair over David? Is he involved? There's blood all over his room, isn't there? And Craig's emotionally off balance, too, after the horrific death of his father in a terrible crash.

Also complicating the story is Jade's effort to pay homage at her own mother's grave in the nearby industrial town, the major port of Richards Bay. Her mother's stone isn't at the cemetery ... and the retired nurse from the hospital is reacting oddly to Jade's visit:

"I'm Elise de Jong's daughter. You looked after her at the hospital."

When Mrs. Koekemoer turned to stare at Jade, it as like a light had suddenly gone on behind her eyes.

"You are so like your mother, my dear. I'd forgotten how she looked, but seeing you brings it all back."

Jade took a deep breath. She realised her hands were clenched so hard her nails were just about piercing her palms. "You remember her well?" she asked. ... "I don't even know where she's buried."

The old woman's eyes widened. "That's a secret, my dear. I'm not allowed to tell."

The deeper Jade dives into one investigation, the more the other one also threatens to drown her.

This is a great series, and I enjoyed the change of venue, the insight into another part of South Africa, where the gulfs of rich and poor, white and black, criminal and victim, find new ways of haunting this nation's people. I'd walk a long, long ways to get the next Jade de Jong book from Jassy Mackenzie.

Thanks, Soho Crime, for bringing it to the bookstores nearby.

James Lilliefors, VIRAL: Espionage, Enemies, Excellent

Trust Soho Crime to bring us another thriller with global reach, as US author James Lilliefors -- an award-winning journalist for the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Baltimore Sun -- provides a hot new CIA adventure that focuses on medicine and murder in and around Uganda. The two poles of wealth exert a powerful magnetism here: the enormous profits available to pharmaceutical firms and bioweapons developers, and the tragic poverty and endemic diseases of regions of Black Africa.

How much of a stretch is it, to think that manipulative politicians might propose a form of racist eugenics in Third World regions, eliminating the undernourished and overpopulated, in favor of reshaping the world? Unfortunately, American history tells us it's happened before, on a smaller scale. The eugenics movements of the 1920s and 1930s took root in both the United States and Germany. We're still fighting, over and over in the courts, for how much autonomy should be available to people whose mental and emotional states differ from the mainstream -- and in America we've seen mandatory vaccination (now under challenge), sterilization, and involuntary commitment used as weapons instead of gifts.

In Jon Mallory, Lilliefors creates someone whose commitment to doing the right thing puts his life into jeopardy in ways that ring true and terrifying. When Jon goes undercover in Uganda, he's trying to ensure the safety of his brother Charles, who in turn is trapped in CIA connections but struggling to catch up with Jon's whereabouts and find a way to help him survive their mutual investigation and journalistic urge. Here's a sample of how it ramps up:

Her eyes shifted. Jon felt his heart racing, and he thought about logistics -- how would they get back to the airport, out of this country? Don't try too hard. "Is that what he told you? Is that who gave you the warning?"

... The calm steeliness in her eyes was arresting. "We don't know," she said. "We know that Paul had gotten inside. ... He made arrangements for me to come here some time ago. He wanted me to be a witness, in case the worst happened. A back-up."

"A human memory stick."

"Yes. ... He wanted to do something about it. But I'm afraid he didn't make it."

I bit my nails, stayed up too late, and swore I'd wait at least six months before re-reading this compelling thriller. But I may have to give in and tackle it again sooner.

Sara J. Henry's LEARNING TO SWIM Takes Wings

Vermont author alert! But much more ... southern Vermont resident Sara J. Henry, whose debut crime fiction LEARNING TO SWIM earned enthusiastic blurbs from such seasoned crime fiction authors as Lisa Unger, Reed Farrel Coleman, and Michael Robotham, is looking for your support.

Her thriller has won a slew of award nominations, including for an Agatha Award for best first novel; the Barry Award for best first novel; and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Fantastic!

But the rules around voting for the Agatha at Malice Domestic mean that every one of your votes -- if you are attending that fabulous conference (I wish I could this year!) -- is essential if the book's going to have a chance. That means: Please make time to read this one, quick-in-a-hurry, if you haven't already. It's an extraordinary debut, tightly written, tautly plotted, and in the long run, a book that reaches the heart.

Left, Sara J. Henry; right, yours truly (talking of course).

Sara can't exactly ask you (I ran into her yesterday at David Wilson's "Mystery on Main Street" bookshop in Brattleboro, VT), so I offered to speak up on behalf of this well-written book. (1) Please read it ASAP. (2) If you're attending Malice Domestic, please consider giving it your vote.

I can hardly wait to see the results of your work! Oh yes, looking for the list of all the nominees? Here you are:

2011
Best Novel:
The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis (Berkley)
Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet (Minotaur)
Three-Day Town by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Best First Novel:
Dire Threads by Janet Bolin (Berkley)
Choke by Kaye George (Mainly Murder Press)
Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (Crown)
Who Do, Voodoo? by Rochelle Staab (Berkley)
Tempest in the Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend (Berkley)
Best Non-fiction:
Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure by Leslie Budewitz (Linden)
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks by John Curran (Harper)
On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling by Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
Wilkie Collins, Vera Caspary and the Evolution of the Casebook Novel by A. B. Emrys (McFarland)
The Sookie Stackhouse Companion by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
Best Short Story:
"Disarming" (PDF) by Dana Cameron, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - June 2011
"Dead Eye Gravy" by Krista Davis, Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology (Wildside Press)
"Palace by the Lake" by Daryl Wood Gerber, Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology (Wildside Press)
"Truth and Consequences" by Barb Goffman, Mystery Times Ten (Buddhapuss Ink)
"The Itinerary" by Roberta Isleib, MWA Presents the Rich and the Dead (Grand Central Publishing)
Best Children's/Young Adult:
Shelter by Harlan Coben (Putnam)
The Black Heart Crypt by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (EgmontUSA)
The Code Busters Club, Case #1: The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner (EgmontUSA)
Best Historical Novel:
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
Murder Your Darlings by J.J. Murphy (Signet)
Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

Superhero Writers on Mystery Bus Tour -- Stopped at Brattleboro Today!

Consider this a photo tale of an amazing visit. ATRIA sent this bus out on the road -- you can see on the back the schedule of visits:

For an small-town stop between Massachusetts and Albany, NY, Atria chose to send the four authors in the bus to Mystery on Main Street, where owner David Wilson welcomed them to a packed house of appreciative readers, surrounded by stacks of books by these and other mystery professionals. Here are the Superhero Writers (you can almost see their capes, right?) - starting at left with host David Wilson, then John Connolly, Liza Marklund, M. J. Rose, and William Kent Krueger.

We'll have more to say about their books in the days ahead. Meanwhile ... after a day on the road ... we're happily exhausted, and came home with stacks more to read (happy, happy).

Timothy Hallinan's First Book: Free Today as an E-Book

Timothy Hallinan

I stayed up WAY late last night reading an advance review copy of the new Poke Rafferty crime novel (Bangkok, yay!) from Tim Hallinan -- a great read, and I'll give more details as we get closer to the late-summer publication date -- so I was thrilled to find this "free" offer today, in Kindle format, of Hallinan's first book, THE FOUR LAST THINGS. It's 488 pages, and I don't see any catch to the offer, other than needing to download the free Kindle application onto the computer if you don't have a Kindle (I don't; I'm a dedicated Mac user). Get the Hallinan book HERE.  Oh boy, there goes the weekend!

Hallinan's first book is not in the Poke Rafferty series. It launches his earlier series featuring Simeon Grist, set on the West Coast. Here's a bit from his Wikipedia page (which could use some loving attention):

In the 1990s he wrote six mysteries featuring the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, beginning with "The Four Last Things," which made several Ten Best lists, including that of The Drood Review. The other books in the series were widely and well reviewed, and several of them were optioned for motion pictures. The series is now regarded as a cult favorite.
In 2007, the first of his Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, "A Nail Through the Heart", was published to unanimously enthusiastic reviews. "Hallinan scores big-time," said Kirkus Reviews, which went on to call the book "dark, often funny, and ultimately enthralling." "Nail" was a Booksense Pick of the Month and was named one of the top mysteries of the year by The Japan Times and several major online review sites.

Hallinan won a 2011 Edgar nomination and also a Macavity for the Poke Rafferty thriller The Queen of Patpong. The 2012 book The Fear Artist is coming to us from Soho Crime, where editor Juliet Grames must spend a lot of air miles (and reading time) connecting with great international crime fiction.

A good middle section of my day, for sure.

Quick postscript for proud Vermonters: In the acknowledgments for The Fear Artist, where Hallinan credits the musicians whose work enriched his writing during this one, he mentions Neko Case. We're psyched -- Case, who lives in Vermont's culture-rich Northeast Kingdom, is one of our local treasures.

Vermont Quintessential: F. D. Reeve, NATHANIEL PURPLE

Ready for a charming Vermont novella, with just enough darkness and suspense to keep you reading? It's not crime fiction -- but F. D. Reeve's new book NATHANIEL PURPLE is a good read nonetheless, and likely to get multiple readings, too, because it's so satisfying.

If you're in northern Vermont, catch the chance to meet this Bennington-area novelist and prodigious poet and award winner at the St. Johnsbury (VT) Athenaeum at 7 pm on Wednesday April 11. It will be a great way to celebrate National Library Week.

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What's that? Where are the mystery reviews? I promise, there are half a dozen on the way. Watch this space tomorrow morning.