Neal Thompson's Blog: Blood & Whiskey, page 5

Neal's 'Blood & Whiskey' - #16

Hello friends and readers…

An invitation to a literary event in Ireland inspired a side trip to Marseille which, combined with an intro to Louise Penny and her fictional Three Pines (more on that below), has given this month’s roundup an international flair.

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First up is my man-crush on French “Mediterranean noir” writer Jean-Claude Izzo, who penned a trio of gritty crime novels set in Marseille before d...

Blood & Whiskey #15

Hello friends and readers…

Welcome to this month’s roundup of books, booze, and tunes. I’m excited to share a special guest essay, a beautifully written homage to the overlooked author Walter Tevis from Dan Conaway — literary agent, cyclist, New Jersey guy, fan of the cocktail and the pool table and a good bar, and all-around good dude.

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But first, a few books I read and dug this month…

The Local (Doubleday) — Joey Hartston...

Blood & Whiskey #14

Hello friends and readers…

Well, the sun finally came out here in Seattle, and it’s mostly shined for the past few weeks — the hard-earned start to a stunning mid-70s Seattle summer. In contrast to that warm-and-shiny intro, here’s some dark and bloody storytelling…

Bluebird, Bluebird (Mullholand) — Attica Locke

One of the best books I’ve read this year. Written in 2018, my paperback is now defaced with notes and highlights, starting with: “They pulled a body out of the bayou last night … a white o...

Blood & Whiskey #13

Hello friends and readers…

Here in Seattle, we’d just come off the rainiest, coldest May in decades and then June — known here as June-uary — got off to a wet and chilly, record-breaking start, which is saying a lot for a soggy city like Seattle. It’s the first time in 14 years of Pacific Northwest living that I’ve felt worn down by the weather. We’re still wearing down coats here, people! It’s pissing me off. So… I’m starting this month’s newsletter off with a hopeful, Summer Breeze-themed playl...

Blood & Whiskey #12

Hello friends and readers…

And, we’re back! I skipped April’s newsletter to recover from weeks on the road and many hundreds of highway miles touring for THE FIRST KENNEDYS: THE HUMBLE ROOTS OF AN AMERICAN DYNASTY. But I’m home now in my writing cave, and eager to share a few book, drink, and music recs with you.

I’d started this newsletter a year ago to indulge my passion for reading mysteries, thrillers, spy novels, suspense, and true crime (and my passion for cocktails) — also to find a way to ...

Blood & Whiskey #11

Hello friends and readers…

My book THE FIRST KENNEDYS: THE HUMBLE ROOTS OF AN AMERICAN DYNASTY is out in the world, and since I spent nearly two weeks on the road — and am off for more travels tomorrow (you can check my tour schedule HERE) — I’ll jump right into this month’s somewhat Irish-themed books and drinks.

Small Things Like These (Graywolf) — by Claire Keegan

This is a taut, finely-woven story set in small-town Ireland in 1985 — beside the River Barrow, “dark as stout, swelled up with rain”...

Blood & Whiskey #10

Hello friends and readers…

Allow me to interrupt our regularly scheduled crime fiction newsletter with a special one-off edition featuring my forthcoming sixth book, THE FIRST KENNEDYS. Twenty years in the making, it’ll hit bookstore shelves — and hopefully a few of your bookshelves — starting next week.

So, I’m showcasing a bit less blood this month, but plenty of whiskey...

About the book… THE FIRST KENNEDYS: THE HUMBLE ROOTS OF AN AMERICAN DYNASTY is the story of the refugee Kennedys' escape fr...

Blood & Whiskey #9

Hello friends and readers…

Welcome to ’22 and I hope the holidays were safe, healthy, cocktail-y, and that Santa added some great books to your stacks. Here are a few I devoured during an annoyingly snowy, icy, rainy, slushy, basement-floody few weeks. (All that wet came during a dry-ish January happily bisected by the two cocktails below.)

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Five Decembers (Hard Case Crime) — James Kestral

Oh, man — I loved this one. It hit all the right notes for me: historical, noirish, extrem...

Blood & Whiskey #8

Dear friends and readers…

I do love me a good book list, but at this time of year I find the best-of-the-year tallies a bit shame inducing, reminding me of all the books I didn’t read.

I won't pummel you with another list, though I did enjoy seeing some Blood & Whiskey books on the year-end collections of Barack Obama, the New York Times, Time, Crime Reads, Amazon, Goodreads, Apple, and others. Including: Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot, Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle, S.A. Cosby's Razorblade T...

Washington Post: NASCAR’s founders were hunted by the law. Supporting protests makes sense.

NASCAR’s founders were hunted by the law. Supporting protests makes sense.Supporting Black Lives Matter is in line with NASCAR’s history of moonshiners

Bubba Wallace's team unveiled a paint scheme for his car in Martinsville, Va., last week.

By Neal Thompson

(This story originally appeared in the Washington Post on June 17, 2020)

NASCAR’s announcement last week that it would ban the Confederate flag from its events and venues highlighted the complicated history of a symbol so synonymous with the ...