DECLAN HUGHES – The Wrong Kind of Blood. Nominated for Best Private Eye First Novel of the Year, 2007.

William Morrow, hardcover, February 2006. Harper, paperback, February 2007.

Book Description:

After twenty years in Los Angeles, Ed Loy has come home to bury his mother. But hers is only the first dead body he encounters after crossing an ocean.

The city Loy once knew is an unrecognizable place, filled with gangsters, seducers, hucksters, and crazies, each with a scheme and an angle. But he can’t refuse the sexy former schoolmate who asks him to find her missing husband – or the old pal-turned-small time criminal who shows up on Loy’s doorstep with a hard-luck story and a recently fired gun. Suddenly, a tragic homecoming could prove fatal for the grieving investigator, as an unexplained photograph of his long-vanished father, a murky property deal, and a corpse discovered in the foundations of town hall combine to turn a curious case into a dark obsession – dragging Ed Loy into a violent underworld of drugs, extortion, and murder … and through his own haunted past where the dead will never rest.

   About the Author:

Declan Hughes has worked for more than twenty years in the theater in Dublin as director and playwright. In 1984, he cofounded Rough Magic, Ireland’s leading independent theater company. He has been writer in association with the Abbey Theatre and remains an artistic associate of Rough Magic. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

   Review excerpts:

Publishers Weekly: “In this overly busy and bloody crime thriller from Irish playwright Hughes, Edward Loy, an Irish PI transplanted to L.A., returns home to Dublin for his mother’s funeral. […] When the pace momentarily slackens, the author supplies some nicely observed pastoral views of Dublin and the Irish countryside, but the ongoing cacophony of violence deafens one to all but the most sanguinary details. Hughes has talent, but this caper, his first, doesn’t whet one’s appetite for more of the same.”

Booklist: “Loy is the sort of brash PI who would as soon use his head for inflicting blunt-force trauma as for cogitation. Hughes lacks his countryman Ken Bruen’s knack for making such feral types compelling, and his fine turn of phrase is marred by a proclivity for long expository speeches. On the other hand, he vividly conveys the sights, sounds, and smells of the Dublin streets. He’s clearly a cut or two below such gritty Irish bards as Bruen, John Connolly, and Adrian McKinty, but he bears watching.”

   Newly released and forthcoming Ed Loy novels:

The Color of Blood. William Morrow, hardcover, April 2007. Harper, paperback, March 2008.

The Price of Blood. William Morrow, hardcover, March 2008.

      Carter Brown Interview:

Opening:    [Music]    Carter Brown Mysteries! Adventures in excitement and suspense based on the best-selling novels by the slick story-telling sensation Carter Brown.   [Music]

   We take pride in bringing you the first in a new series a program drawn from the celebrated books by Carter Brown which have sold more than ten million copies and continue to sell at the rate of over one million copies a year. Each week you’ll hear a complete story dramatised in the smooth modern style which has been responsible for Carter Brown’s enormous popularity both in Australia and abroad. And here to introduce the Carter Brown Mystery Theatre is Carter Brown himself.

   How do you do, ladies and gentlemen. I am very pleased indeed, and I must admit flattered too, to have been asked to bring my stories to you.

   Mr Brown, I know you’ve led a pretty adventurous life yourself you’ve travelled around the world yourself as a salesman, publicity writer, film technician. And now finally as a best selling author. And quite a number of people seem think that the heroes in your stories are really yourself, now is that true?

   No, it’s not and if I sound very definite about that it’s because my wife’s listening to me and I don’t think she’d like the idea of my running into so many blondes, brunettes and redheads as the gentlemen in my books do.

   Nooo, nor as much trouble as they do.

   No I don’t think she’d like that either, I hope.

   Yes, your heroes certainly do wind up strife. Like Johnny Lane, for instance. Johnny’s a newspaper columnist and they’ve got a premium on problems. Not that they all run into the same bother as Johnny. They wouldn’t want to. Well, he’s a cocky character with an eye for a beautiful babe and printer’s ink instead of blood. But suppose you find out for yourselves, here’s Johnny Lane to tell the story which we’ve titled, “Call for a Columnist.”

   I am currently working on the Carter Brown Mysteries/Mystery Theatre. Is anyone interested in my findings? I’m happy to submit a summary for y’all.

   Can I also recommend “Swimsuit Sweetheart” for anyone who wants to get a ‘feel’ for the less hardboiled/later style of Carter Brown?    — Cheers,  Toni from Down Under   🙂  

   Click on the following for MP3 recordings of:

          Call for a Columnist, Part 1.

          Call for a Columnist, Part 2.

          Call for a Columnist, Part 3.

          Call for a Columnist, Part 4.

          Swimsuit Sweetheart.

JOHN R. FEEGEL – Autopsy.

Avon 22574. Paperback original, 1975.

   When a Florida tomato salesman apparently commits suicide in a second-rate Connecticut motel, the insurance company naturally refuses to payoff, and off to court they go.

   A lot of book is summarized in that one line. Feegel is both a lawyer and a practicing forensic pathologist, quoting from inside the back cover, and he lovingly fills in all the clinical details of embalming, funeral procedures, exhumations and so on that any of us would ever want to know. His courtroom expertise is equally evident, but may I say that the insurance company’s defense attorneys do a hopelessly inadequate job, and that’s a tremendously difficult premise to swallow.

   The detective story aspect rings completely false as well, which is surprising, since this book won an MWA Edgar as the best paperback mystery of the year. Again if I may, I’d say that Feegel is guilty of [literary malpractice] in his portrayal of the killer’s [deliberately misleading] post-mortem behavior, and the way he handles the questioning of the girl in the next room is most singularly strange. In fact, while Feegel, a Floridian, obviously doesn’t think much at all of coroners and policemen up here in good old Connecticut, that’s hardly a reason to make every one of his characters from this state a completely stereotyped caricature. How can a book so eminently readable also be so woefully inadequate?    (B minus)

[UPDATE] 07-22-07. It’s far too late, I know, but I’ll issue the author an apology anyway for misspelling his name as “Fleegel” throughout this review, and it’s been corrected. I also said earlier that I wouldn’t change anything in these old reviews, but in this case I overruled myself and made an exception, as you’ll see above.

   The following was taken from an online obituary for the author:

   From Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, here’s a complete list of his fictional work that qualifies as crime-related, slightly expanded:

      o Autopsy (n.) Avon, pbo, 1975.
      o Death Sails the Bay (n.) Avon, pbo, 1978.
      o The Dance Card (n.) Dial Press, hardcover, 1981. Avon, pb, 1982.
      o Malpractice (n.) New American Library, hardcover, 1981. Signet, pb, 1982.
      o Not a Stranger (n.) New American Library, hardcover, 1983. Signet, pb, 1984.

[Later.] I’ve just noticed that the obituary said that John Feegel wrote seven mysteries, but Al Hubin lists only five. Hmm. That’s something that should be looked into.

[Still later.] Aha. I’ve found both of the missing titles:

      o Eco-Park: The Al-Hikma Legacy (n.) Authors Choice Press, softcover, March 2001.
      o Death Among the Ruins (n.) Writers Club Press, softcover, September 2002.

[UPDATE] 07-23-07.   In my original post I included a comment that cover images for Feegel’s books were difficult to come by. The only one I could find yesterday was the one for Malpractice.

   In this morning’s email Bill Crider, whose supply of old mystery paperbacks is nearly endless, sent me two additional ones, both of which you now see here. Unfortunately the silver reflective covers don’t scan well, so the results are not up to either Bill’s or my standards, but I think they will do.

   I also asked Bill if he’d ever read one or both. His reply: “I read the first one because it won the Edgar. I remember nothing at all about it except that I was impressed by the forensic details. I thought of the book back when Patsy Cornwell was becoming famous and wondered if it was one of the first to introduce that kind of stuff.”

   Not being a fan of forensic details myself, it hadn’t occurred to me before, but I really think that Bill is onto something here.

STEVE HOCKENSMITH – Holmes on the Range. Nominated for Best Private Eye First Novel of the Year, 2007.

St. Martin’s, hardcover, February 2006. Trade paperback, February 2007.

   Book description:

1893 is a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job. When Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at the secretive Bar-VR cattle spread, they’re not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a comfortable campfire around which they can enjoy their favorite pastime: scouring Harper’s Weekly for stories about the famous Sherlock Holmes. When another ranch hand turns up in an outhouse with a bullet in his brain, Old Red sees the perfect opportunity to employ his Holmes-inspired “deducifyin” skills, puts his ranch work squarely on the back burner, and sets out to solve the case. Big Red, like it or not (and mostly he does not), is along for the wild ride in this clever, compelling, and completely one-of-a-kind mystery.

   About the Author:

Excerpted from the author’s Web site : “Though the town elders of Louisville, Ky., have yet to acknowledge it with so much as a single commemorative plaque, Steve Hockensmith was born in the Derby City on August 17, 1968. […] Hockensmith is also the creator of mystery-solving cowboys Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer. The Amlingmeyer brothers first appeared in Ellery Queen in the story ‘Dear Mr. Holmes,’ which was voted the fifth most-popular story of 2003 by the magazine’s readers. The Sherlock Holmes-worshipping drovers have returned to Ellery Queen‘s pages three times since then. […] Though he considers himself a Midwesterner at heart, Hockensmith currently lives in California’s Bay Area.”

   Review excerpts:

Publishers Weekly: “Sherlockians, western fans and mystery lovers who enjoy their whodunits leavened with humor should all be delighted by Hockensmith’s captivating debut, which features Montana cowboys and brothers Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer (better known as Old Red and Big Red, respectively). […] The melding of genres will remind some of the late Bill DeAndrea’s western Nero Wolfe pastiches, while the skillful plotting and characterization augur well for the sequel.”

Booklist: “The Amlingmeyers have graced the pages of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and their initial book-length case is every bit as memorable. At times, they may remind readers of Joe Lansdale’s Hap Collins and Leonard Pine with their smart mouths, penchant for trouble, and unflagging loyalty to each other. This is a great reworking of the Holmes conceit, and one suspects Hockensmith will have a steady readership as long as the Amlingmeyers are on the case.”

   Recently published:

On the Wrong Track: A Holmes on the Range Mystery. St. Martin’s, hardcover, March 2007. Trade paperback: January 2008.

JACK FREDRICKSON – A Safe Place for Dying. Nominated for Best Private Eye First Novel of the Year, 2007.

St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, November 2006.

   Book Description:

An extortion letter arrives at Crystal Waters, one of Chicago’s wealthiest gated communities. It makes no specific threats, gives no instructions, demands only that $50,000 be gotten ready – chump change for an enclave where the cheapest house is worth three million. It’s easy to see it as harmless – a note from a nut.

Then a mansion explodes. The homeowners panic, and want it hushed up. If word gets out that a bomber is targeting Crystal Waters, their multimillion-dollar homes will become worthless, a last catastrophe for people strung out from living the good life too well. They hire Dek Elstrom to investigate.

Dek Elstrom used to soar high, too, when he lived with his multimillionaire wife at Crystal Waters, but that was before the dominos of his life tipped over and his ex-wife threw him out. Now reduced to living in a crumbling stone turret, bankrupt of everything but attitude, he’s not even his own ideal choice for the job. He’s too broke, however, to question the motives of a gift-horse client. He needs the money – and the chance to reconnect with his ex-wife. Another bomb goes off, and Dek realizes the culprit must be someone who is angry, needs money, and used to live at Crystal Waters. Then he realizes something else. He himself is the prime suspect.

A sly and clever caper among the richest of the rich, A Safe Place for Dying is for fans of Carl Hiaasen and Robert Crais.

   About the Author:

Jack Fredrickson has had his fiction published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and anthologized by the Mystery Writers of America in Michael Connelly’s Burden of the Badge. He lives with his wife west of Chicago, where he is hard at work on the next Dek Elstrom novel. Visit his Web site at www.JackFredrickson.com.

   Review excerpts:

Publishers Weekly: “In an impressive debut, Fredrickson introduces Vlodek ‘Dek’ Elstrom, an intrepid investigator of Norwegian extraction who has neared bottom with his failed marriage and battered reputation. […] Smartly plotted, briskly paced and laced with humor, this accomplished first marks Fredrickson as a mystery writer to watch.”

Booklist: “Vlodek ‘Dek’ Elstrom is trying to put his life back together. A scandal destroyed his career as an investigator, and no one seems to have read the notice exonerating him. […] As he digs into the case, he wonders why the residents refuse to go to the police. Closing in, Dek suspects an inside job and becomes a suspect himself. Fredrickson has created an engaging new detective in this funny, hard-boiled story that will appeal to readers who enjoy Robert B. Parker’s Spenser.”

R. AUSTIN FREEMAN – The Shadow of the Wolf.

Hodder & Stoughton, UK, hardcover, 1925. House of Stratus, UK, softcover, 2001. Dodd Mead & Co, US, hardcover, 1925. Included in R. Austin Omnibus Volume 3 : Helen Vardon’s Confession;The Cat’s Eye;The Mystery of Angelina Frood;The Shadow of the Wolf , Battered Silicon Box, US, hardcover, 1999.

   One of the Psalms speaks of those who go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters, but such ventures usually do not involve murder. However, this very crime occurs in The Shadow of the Wolf. The reader knows whodunit and why right away and so the novel relates how Dr Thorndyke reasons out the solution to the case.

   Messrs Varney and Purcell, old school and college chums now engaged in forging banknotes, quarrel while sailing in the English Channel. Varney wants to end their joint venture but Purcell will not agree. To make matters worse, Purcell married Margaret Haygarth, the woman Varney loved, while the latter was engaged in the dangerous business of passing forged banknotes abroad. A thick fog descends and Varney takes advantage of its concealment to murder Purcell, weight the body, and toss it overboard near the Wolf Rock lighthouse. Once ashore, Varney cleverly lays a false trail giving the impression Purcell has absconded.

   The Rodney brothers, medical practitioner Philip and solicitor Jack, own the small yacht borrowed for the fatal voyage, being friends of Varney and the Purcells. They are puzzled by Purcell’s apparent abandonment of his wife, and Varney plays along by pretending to investigate possible sightings of Purcell. In due course Dr Thorndyke is engaged to find the missing man since Mrs Purcell wishes to obtain her freedom either by having her husband legally declared dead or obtaining a divorce, for she suspects he has left her for another woman. Then a mysterious tenant disappears from chambers in Clifford’s Inn, almost on Thorndyke’s doorstep, and this event provides Thorndyke with certain information that ultimately leads to the cracking of the case.

   My verdict: A good book for a quiet evening’s read, being slower paced than some Thorndyke novels. Nevertheless the reader’s interest remains engaged while following Thorndyke’s reasoning of the circumstances of the case and how he obtains and confirms the necessary evidence. As a bonus they’ll also learn something about methods of forgery!

   Etext: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/

   Here is a case where, if you weren’t convinced already, having an etext you can read online is going to be a big, big money saver. The least expensive copy of the Dodd Mead edition that I spotted moments ago on Abebooks will set you back you $60. (It’s not the same one, but it is the Dodd edition that you see to the left.) The asking price for the Battered Silicon Box edition is $65, and the cheapest Hodder & Stoughton edition will cost you around $80, including postage from England.

   I can’t tell you why, but the Stratus reprint is going for $200. Surprisingly enough, though, you can obtain a copy of the Hodder edition in dust jacket for around $120. At that price, it’s probably a bargain.

   Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures are pleased to announce the 2007 Barry Award nominations. The Barry Awards are named for of one of the most ardent and beloved ambassadors of mystery fiction, Barry Gardner, and are voted on by the readers of Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures. The 11th Annual Barry Awards presentation will take place at Bouchercon in Anchorage, Alaska in late September. The date, time and location of the awards presentation will be announced later. This is the first year that the Barry Awards are co-sponsored by Mystery News.

   Best Novel

White Shadow by Ace Atkins

Oh Danny Boy by Rhys Bowen

The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler

The Prisoner of Guantanamo by Dan Fesperman

City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos

   Best First Mystery

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The Berlin Conspiracy by Tom Gabbay

The King of Lies by John Hart

Still Life by Louise Penny

A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read

   Best British Mystery

Priest by Ken Bruen

Dying Light by Stuart MacBride

Sovereign by C.J. Sansom

The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom

Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone

Red Sky Lament by Edward Wright

   Best Thriller Novel

Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder

The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst

Relentless by Simon Kernick

Cold Kill by Stephen Leather

The Messenger by Daniel Silva

Kill Me by Stephen White

   Best Paperback Original

Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins

The Cleanup by Sean Doolittle

Live Wire by Jay MacLarty

Deadman’s Poker by Jim Swain

Crooked by Brian Wiprud

   Best Short Story

“Cain was Innocent” by Simon Brett (Thou Shalt Not Kill, published by Carroll & Graf)

“Shaping the Ends” by Judith Cutler (EQMM May, 2006)

“The Right Call” by Brendan DuBois (EQMM Sept/Oct, 2006)

“A Man of Taste” by Kate Ellis (EQMM Mar/Apr, 2006)

“The Flower Girl” by Paul Halter (The Night of the Wolf, published by Wildside Press)

“A Case for Inspector Ghote” by June Thomson (The Verdict of Us All, published by Crippen & Landru)

   For more information about the Barry Awards, visit the Mystery News website at www.blackravenpress.com and the Deadly Pleasures website at
www.deadlypleasures.com. Questions about the awards and nominations can be directed to BarryAwards2007 [at] gmail.com or caldrich [at] blackravenpress.com.

   Congratulations to all of the nominees!

JOHN CREASEY – The Toff Among the Millions. Walker & Co., US, hardcover, 1976. First Edition: John Long Ltd., UK, 1943; paperback reprints, UK: Panther, 1964; Corgi, revised edition, 1972.

   The title could be taken in two ways, I guess. What begins with Richard Rollinson’s determined attempt to throw ice cold water on a friend’s summer romance leads not unexpectedly to a case of murder, perhaps of a missing industrialist supposedly worth a good many pounds. Rumors being what they are, this could also have been called The Toff and the Stock Market.

   Of course, as either protagonist or antagonist, the Toff is “one in a million,” so there you are. If you’ve never been properly introduced, the best description I could give might be that he’s a foppish sort of imitation of the Saint, complete with a devoted valet named Jolly, This particular book shows its age rather badly, however, and it’s not at all recommended for beginners. Just as in all too many bad radio dramas, the mystery is applied in layer upon layer of confusion and clod-pated characterization, so that at any stage the problem for the reader really becomes figuring out exactly what it is that’s going on.    (C minus)

[UPDATE] 07-21-07.  Ouch. I’m afraid that at the time I didn’t care very much for this one, did I? My general impression of the books in the Toff series has been that they’re very uneven, and perhaps the same might be said about Mr. Creasey’s work in general. This could have been one of the Toff’s lower spots, or perhaps it was I who might have been having a better day.

   Or? Here’s another possibility. Creasey first wrote the book in 1943, and at least by 1972, if not earlier, it had been revised for the Corgi edition. I’m not sure how much rewriting might have been involved, but maybe it just didn’t work –the book was written in one era for one audience, and then revamped for another, more sophisticated one. In any case, here’s a book I’d like to have another chance at. Maybe someday.

   Whenever anyone stops by where I live and asks me if I’ve “read all of these books,” my answer is always, “some of them more than once.”

MIKE DOOGAN – Lost Angel. Nominated for Best Private Eye First Novel of the Year, 2007.

Putnam, hardcover, August 2006. Paperback: Berkley, August 2007.

   Book Description:

The icy interior of Alaska is the setting for this breathtaking first mystery from the winner of the Robert L. Fish Award for short fiction.

Lost Angel is an astonishing debut novel from Mike Doogan. In the tradition of Nevada Barr and C. J. Box, Doogan explores the darker side of man’s nature against the backdrop of stunning natural beauty.

Moses Wright founded the Christian commune of Rejoice. The rough-and-tumble interior of Alaska may seem a strange place for such a community, but for twenty years it has served as a beacon in the wilderness. Two decades later Moses granddaughter, Faith, is the star of the younger generation. Pretty and intelligent, she’s the first teenager in the town to choose to experience the outside world. When Faith disappears, the elders of Rejoice look beyond their village for help.

Ex-cop Nik Kane lost his faith long ago-dissolved in a bottle. A few drinks, a dark night, and a shooting led to seven years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Nothing can give him back his career or his family, but the search for Faith may restore his soul.

By turns lyrical and hard-edged, Lost Angel is a remarkable first novel from a powerful new voice in mystery fiction.

   About the Author:

Mike Doogan has been called “the columnist Alaskans love to hate.” A third-generation native of the state, he lives in Anchorage. Currently, he is seeking a seat in the Alaska State House.

   Review excerpts:

Publishers Weekly: “Meet Nik Kane, the charming star of a new series by Anchorage Daily News columnist Doogan. Kane, a 55-year-old ex-cop who’s also an ex-con, not to mention an ex-husband, heads to the Alaskan interior to do some detective work for a remote religious community called Rejoice. […] While Doogan telegraphs the solution to the riddle of Faith’s disappearance, engaging, lucid prose more than compensates.”

Booklist: “A white-knuckle flight in a bush plane over the Alaskan wilderness jump-starts this debut novel, establishing both the unforgiving setting and the desperate resolve of the main character. […] This is a richly textured novel on several counts. Kane is achingly well delineated; his struggle to adjust to a much bigger, louder, more confusing world after the confines of prison – and to try to find meaning in a life stripped bare of supports – is gripping. All the exigencies of struggling through an Alaskan winter ring true […], and the portrayal of a religious community that holds both secrets and dangers is fascinating. A top-notch start to a projected mystery series.”

PAUL MALMONT – The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.

Simon & Schuster; hardcover. First Edition: May 2006. Trade paperback: June 2007.

   In 1937, the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. For entertainment there was no television, only radio, the movies and – the pulps. The newsstands were filled with magazines made of cheap paper with lurid covers. Two of the best of these were The Shadow and Doc Savage, written by Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, respectively, although the general public knew them only by their pseudonyms, Maxwell Grant and Kenneth Robeson.

   What Paul Malmont proposes in this almost hoot of a novel is that Gibson, Dent, and a gent named L. Ron Hubbard combined forces to solve the murder of a fellow writer, one H. P. Lovecraft, and to track down at the same time a fellow from China trying to give his country a step up on Japan in those desperate days before World War II.

   Other real names which can be spotted in the narrative are Robert Heinlein, Chester Himes, Louis L’Amour and more than a few others. There is only one problem. No pulp novel ever took more than 150 pages to get started, as this book does.

   The author seems to feel that many readers will need a long expository history of the pulp magazines before he can begin, along with the life stories of each of the primary protagonists. Those who do not require this information will be bored, I fear – unless they enjoy quibbling about the details – expecting a faster pace by far. As for the uninitiated for whom the background would be useful, I wonder how many of them will ever get past the background.

   But when the book finally does take off, it’s hang-on-to-your-seatbelt time, there’s no doubt about it!

   Note: This review appeared earlier in Historical Novels Review.