Mark Stevens's Blog, page 40
June 26, 2015
Q & A #31 With Manuel Ramos – “The Skull of Pancho Villa And Other Stories”
Two years ago, Manuel Ramos published Desperado: A Mile High Noir. In 2014, that title earned Ramos the Colorado Book Award for best mystery–the latest award in an ongoing collection of honors. Ramos’ first novel, The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz, was … Continue reading →
June 12, 2015
Craig Johnson – “Dry Bones”
I listen to Craig Johnson novels on audio for one reason: George Guidall. George Guidall is the voice of Walt Longmire. He perfectly captures Longmire’s wise, calm inner workings. As fans of the main character know, Sheriff Longmire never gets too … Continue reading →
June 1, 2015
Q & A #30 With Gregory Hill – “The Lonesome Trials of Johnny Riles”
Gregory Hill won the Literary Fiction category for the 2013 Colorado Book Award for his first novel, East of Denver. Earlier, that same novel had won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest (out of 5,000 entries). Some time ago Greg stopped by … Continue reading →
May 28, 2015
Q & A #29 With James Ziskin – Stone Cold Dead
Jump back in time with me now to the innocent years of 1960 and 1961 and imagine a tender, young female reporter working for a small newspaper in upstate New York. Now, trash whatever bucolic image is in your head … Continue reading →
May 21, 2015
Q & A #28 With Tim Johnston – “Descent”
In the Q & A below, Tim Johnston mentions one of my favorite writers and writing instructors, Ron Carlson. And here is a quote from Carlson that nails, perfectly, why Tim Johnston’s novel Descent works so well. “It is not … Continue reading →
May 14, 2015
Gwen Florio and “Missoula” by Jon Krakauer
If you read Missoula (and you should) you’ll run across the name Gwen Florio about as as often as the names of the victims and perpetrators and prosecutors and defense lawyers in this harrowing account of sexual assault and rape … Continue reading →
May 9, 2015
David Morrell – “Murder as a Fine Art”
In early April of 2015, I heard David Morrell give a talk in Denver. He said he spent three years researching London of 1854���and reading nothing but books about that time and place���before he began writing this book. The work … Continue reading →
May 1, 2015
“Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives”
���The Heroine��� rocks. It���s a Patricia Highsmith gem���dark and warped. There���s a genuine shudder at the end. It���s pure Highsmith, so matter-of fact. An odd au pair with her own odd ideas about how best to demonstrate her worth. ���No … Continue reading →
April 16, 2015
Christopher Bartley – “They Die Alone”
Are you a gangster if you don���t belong to a gang? Ross Duncan moves in the gangster world, knows the gangster ways and is all too familiar with the gangster���s needs, but he works in a kind of twilight zone … Continue reading →
March 26, 2015
Q & A #26 Ausma Zehanat Khan – “The Unquiet Dead”
A couple weeks after finishing The Unquiet Dead, a slow-burn and well-executed mystery that uses the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica as its plot seed, I opened the newspaper to read that war crimes prosecutors were moving to arrest direct participants … Continue reading →
