BOOKS | Looking Forward 2009 - Nordic Crime

I've been hearing so much about Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. Kenneth Branagh starred in a BBC serialization of the novels, and it garnered about 6 million in viewership. Nordic crime thrillers seem like the flavour of the season. Maybe it is time I sample some of the authors available in English translation. Boyd Tonkin's overview of Nordic mysteries is a good primer on who is available.

I may start with Mankell. Since I'm anal things like chronology, I'm going to try to start in order. First with Faceless Killers - and if it's good, I will continue with The Dogs of Riga, The White Lioness and more.

Jo Nesbø's (Norwegian) titles has unfortunately been translated out of order. (Why do they do that? It's annoying.) I did a quick web search and found the chronological sequence of his Harry Hole novels:

2000 – Rødstrupe; English translation: The Redbreast (2006)
2002 – Sorgenfri; English translation: Nemesis (2008)
2003 – Marekors; English translation: The Devil's Star (2005)

I will start with The Redbreast, and then we will see.

Other authors I might check-out (as though I have that much time?!) Camilla Läckberg's The Ice Princess (Swedish) which has been very successful in her native land. Then there's Karin Fossum (Norwegian) and Mari Jungstedt (Swedish). Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire is already on my 2009 reading list.

That reminds me that I have always been meaning to read Peter Høeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow.

The joy of making lists for 2009. :)

BOOKS | Your Best Crime Reads in 2008

Just passing the news.

Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise is asking for Your Best Crime Reads in 2008:

1. it is about crime fiction you've read in 2008. Year of publication doesn't matter.
2. about 10 titles in the format of title, author (no need for description etc).
3. any order will do. If you think one was so much better than the others, you might like to put it in your list twice.
4. You have until Jan 4 to do it.
5. You can help on your own blog by writing about what I am doing and pointing people to this post, so they can come here and contribute their list.

I wish I could contribute, but my reading for 2008 is a little sparse. But if you have something similar, please drop your list on a comment here.

I am curious to see what people come up with.

GK Chesterton on Detective Stories

G.K. Chesterton has written some of the finest detective stories in English. His Father Brown stories has a gawky Catholic priest whose secret to crime solving lies in his astute empathy and psychological insight. Personally I esteem him above Arthur Conan Doyle - because Chesterton is obviously a more gifted writer. Not just of fiction - Chesterton is also a poet (an okay one) and a great essayist.

I found a link to some Chesterton essays on the detective stories today. Rereading them was a pleasure and the highlight of my day, so I'm passing them on:

• A Defence of Detective Stories


• Errors about Detective Stories


• How to Write a Detective Story


• The Blue Cross


• The Ideal Detective Story

Hopefully you will enjoy Chesterton as much as I do.

Finished The Cold Moon

I've just finished reading Jeffrey Deaver's The Cold Moon. The plot was labyrinthine, to say the least - which is afterall, one of the reasons we read Deaver. But this time he may have written himself into very tight knots. The way the crimes are set up, and the motives - they stack up too unconvincingly. It has it moments though, like the little odd facts dropped around on time and clocks by the criminal known only as 'The Watchmaker'. Too bad it was scantily sprinkled around the novel.

This is not the best Deaver book I have read, but it does introduce a new character, Kathryn Dance, an expert in kinesics - which seems to be a science of reading body language. Deaver set it up nicely the way the people-based science of kinesics complements the hard fact/evidence based forensics of Lincoln Rhyme. Dance was pivotal in the way she was able to read people, perhaps reminding us that crimes are perpetuated by human begins, and we need to understand people to solve the crimes.

By the way, if you're interested in the Kathryn Dance character introduced in The Cold Moon (hi, Jenclair!), she will be making a lead appearance in the newest Deaver novel, The Sleeping Doll, which should be out in the bookstores already.

I'm also about 100 pages into Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the story of a serial killer who kills only serial killer. The prose is a little bone-dry, the characterisation a little sparse and flat. I'm interested enough in the premise to continue reading, although if I don't finish this book, it's because the writing style is too weak to sustain my attention.

I've also started on Val McDermid's The Wire in the Blood on impulse. Why do I do things like this? I have enough books to read already! The Cold Moon was supposed to be a temporary diversion from the more serious readings, and now it seems I've picked up some more mystery thrillers to the TBR pile.

COMICS | GAIL SIMONE TALKS BIRDS OF PREY EXIT

Gail Simone is leaving Birds of Prey! I can't deal! NOOOO!!!

Okay, drama over. She's moving on, and I know whatever new project she's picking up, it'll be kickass. Meanwhile, I'm hearing great things that's coming up for the forthcoming Birds of Prey: Secret Six vs Birds of Prey! Yes! And more, as Simone promises:

Finally, man alive are we going out with a bang. This is absolutely the most fun I've ever had on an arc on the book. Not just because it guest stars the Secret Six. Not just because I got to write Hawkgirl. Not because we brought back one of the great JLI characters. Not because I got to write Helena throwing a meatball at Catman's head, but because the art team of Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood has delivered something exquisite on every page.

Okay, I want to see Huntress throw meatball at Catman's head. Really, I want to see that.

Newsarama has the full interview with Gail Simone, here.

BOOKS | The Art of Detection

The Art of Detection
By Laurie R. King
[04/01/2007 ~ 20/01/2007]
[Mystery, Detective Fiction]

This post is long-overdue. I finished reading the book some time back, but just never got around to writing about it - as usual.

The latest in Laurie R. King's Kate Martinelli series, The Art of Detection features the usual set of characters that fans are familiar with: San Francisco homicide detective Kate Martinelli and her detective-partner Al Hawkins, as well as her life-partner, Lee Cooper. In this book we finally meet little 5 year old Nora - Lee and Kate's precocious daughter.

Since last we left Kate, she has settled into domestic life and juggling her police work with her duty to home. The character is at peace, which unfortunately seems to throw her and most of the characters into a blandness. Laurie R. King has the ability to write believable three dimensional characters with rich emotional lives - that is one of the reason she has such a strong following for her Kate Martinelli and Mary Russell series. In Art of Detection unfortunately, the characters are more pushed into motion than active protagonists.

Present time, San Francisco, the story opens with Detective Kate Martinelli going into the home of a murder victim, Philip Gilbert. What is disturbing is that the victim had set up his entire apartment like the interior of 221 Baker Street, with violin, fireplace, and bullet holes in the wall spelling the initial of Queen Victoria. It turns out the late Mr Gilbert was a collector-dealer in Sherlock Holmes memorabilia and he has recently acquired a typrwritten manuscript that is supposedly written by Sherlock Holmes himself.

The best part of Art of Detection is this mysterious manuscript, a short mystery story told in the first person by a male narrator of extraordinary deduction skills. Here is where fans of the Mary Russell series, especially those who have read Locked Rooms, will be excited.

I visit the Laurie R. King's blog from time to time, and my impression is that she is an intelligent, self-aware lady with a wry sense of humour. Here is the author playing on the consciousness of her own literary creations. Sometimes the characters you create seem to possess a life if their own and all you really are doing is acting as biographer for someone else's life. The crossover between the Mary Russell and Kate Martinelli in Art of Detection is playful, wry and very well-done. It is fun, and shows us how sometimes authors need to take a step back and not that themselves too seriously.

But one complaint: The Art of Detection pales in comparison to other Kate Martinelli novels, especially the wonderful first Martinelli novel, A Grave Talent (which won King the Edgar Award), and To Play the Fool, where we meet the most intriguing character King has ever created: Brother Erasmus - a living embodiment of the archetypal Fool, who buried within himself some tragic secret too terrible to speak of, that he could only communication in quotations.

A fan of Laurie R. King would find enough to enjoy the book, but I would not recommend it to newcomers. The plot is too conveniently tied up at the end, and there is none of the emotional engagement with the characters found in previously books. Even the victim, Philip Gilbert, is hardly a sympathetic character. I would suggest a newcomer to King try the abovementioned titles: A Grave Talent and To Play the Fool if you're interested in the Kate Martinelli series.

Or try the Mary Russell series, if you're more inclined towards Sherlock Holmes pastiche. In The Beekeeper's Apprentice (first in the series), in the year 1914, young, feisty Mary Russell meets a beekeeper and becomes his assistant in the world of mystery and intrigue. The Mary Russell series by the way, has always been more successful for King.

A little background: King has a BA degree in comparative religion and an MA in Old Testament Theology - all of which she puts in good use when she writes. Odd theological knowledge comes up when you least suspects it, and Mary Russell, protagonist of her Sherlock Holmes pastiche series, translates Sanskrit for leisure.

Another good King to start will be A Dark Place. It's a stand-alone, which features Anne Waverly, an esteemed university professor, who also works with the FBI on cult activities. (Here, King again puts her theological education to very good use) She goes undercover to unravel the truth behind a new fangled cult, the People of Change. A complicated and haunted character, Anne Waverly was previously a member of a cult herself, where she lost her family. Tragic, self-destructive, you feel for Anne Waverly as she gradually loses herself in her new assignment. The character of Anne Waverly was so compelling that I wish there was a sequel for her. But just as well. Sometimes a good thing is knowing when to stop.

Meanwhile, if you are already a fan of the Mary Russell mystery, check this out.