All Things BAD in Ann Arbor?
No, they are not actually. They are lovely.
As we head into the holidays and I actually venture out on some shopping expeditions (yes I procrastinate like a champ) I want to take a minute to share some thoughts about a couple of amazing books.
BAD THINGS HAPPEN is a mystery by novelist Harry Dolan, a fellow Ann Arborite. I got this book 2 summers ago at my local favorite Indie bookstore, Nicola's upon recommendation by Nicola herself. A good beach read, written by a local, cool, I thought. And headed South to Fripp Island, South Carolina with the family.
You know beach reads are by definition easily put-downable. It's the book that, if you do drop it onto the sand and it gets half soaked and swells up from the tide, you reeeeeally don't care that much. It's a throw away. The stuff that gets left behind in the rental condo.
Yeah.
That was not this book. I came as close as I've ever done to a serious sun burn after nearly eight hours straight spent not taking my eyes from its pages. Harry crafted a world, based on one familiar and dear to me with its street names, neighborhoods and restaurants but yet new, and purposefully erie with his sparse, one might call terse, prose.
There is a guy, see, David Loogan. And he apparently has Something Serious to hide. He ends up in our beloved Ann Arbor, gets a job as editor for a local "literary magazine" (these abound in a college town), ends up banging the publisher's wife AFTER he helps said publisher bury a body then ends up a person of interest when the publisher is found dead on the sidewalk out side his office window. Hmmm.
No, he says he shall leave the "naughty side" of Ann Arbor to me!
Ann Arbor is a pretty tame place, until Dolan gets hold of it!
The twist at the end is, as one would suspect, a surprise. But along the way, David meets girl. They fall in love. Which leads to...
The sequel:
Very Bad Men. (my copy is signed as I got to meet Harry and hear him speak at the now famous Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Our Fair City)
David and his GF, Elizabeth (great name choice, no?) who is an Ann Arbor police detective (I know of few of these, just saying) stumble onto an even scarier set of circumstances. They include:
a 17 year old bank robbery in a sort of obscure Michigan town "up north"
corrupt officials
a candidate for the senate
and a sexy, ambitious newspaper reporter.
And somehow he makes it work. I will admit, I like the first one better. It was more "Noir" than the 2nd which was a bit more traditional and Scott Turrow-like with its deep layering of characters and back stories. But I am a sucker for a rich back story. So I loved it.
These would make excellent holiday gifts for the mystery reader on your list. Hell, for any reader who loves a well-turned-phrase and a scintillating page turner. My skin is still recovering from that first one.
The Verdict?
5 Pints (the highest possible ranking Liz The Beer Wench gives)
for them both!
And just wait until you meet the guy--he's gonna chat and sip some beer with me here on the Brewing Passion blog on Friday!
cheers
Liz
Me and Himself and another amazing Ann Arbor writer of Cozy Mysteries, Tammi Hart:
As we head into the holidays and I actually venture out on some shopping expeditions (yes I procrastinate like a champ) I want to take a minute to share some thoughts about a couple of amazing books.
BAD THINGS HAPPEN is a mystery by novelist Harry Dolan, a fellow Ann Arborite. I got this book 2 summers ago at my local favorite Indie bookstore, Nicola's upon recommendation by Nicola herself. A good beach read, written by a local, cool, I thought. And headed South to Fripp Island, South Carolina with the family.
You know beach reads are by definition easily put-downable. It's the book that, if you do drop it onto the sand and it gets half soaked and swells up from the tide, you reeeeeally don't care that much. It's a throw away. The stuff that gets left behind in the rental condo.
Yeah.
That was not this book. I came as close as I've ever done to a serious sun burn after nearly eight hours straight spent not taking my eyes from its pages. Harry crafted a world, based on one familiar and dear to me with its street names, neighborhoods and restaurants but yet new, and purposefully erie with his sparse, one might call terse, prose.
There is a guy, see, David Loogan. And he apparently has Something Serious to hide. He ends up in our beloved Ann Arbor, gets a job as editor for a local "literary magazine" (these abound in a college town), ends up banging the publisher's wife AFTER he helps said publisher bury a body then ends up a person of interest when the publisher is found dead on the sidewalk out side his office window. Hmmm.
No, he says he shall leave the "naughty side" of Ann Arbor to me!
Ann Arbor is a pretty tame place, until Dolan gets hold of it!
The twist at the end is, as one would suspect, a surprise. But along the way, David meets girl. They fall in love. Which leads to...
The sequel:
Very Bad Men. (my copy is signed as I got to meet Harry and hear him speak at the now famous Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Our Fair City)
David and his GF, Elizabeth (great name choice, no?) who is an Ann Arbor police detective (I know of few of these, just saying) stumble onto an even scarier set of circumstances. They include:
a 17 year old bank robbery in a sort of obscure Michigan town "up north"
corrupt officials
a candidate for the senate
and a sexy, ambitious newspaper reporter.
And somehow he makes it work. I will admit, I like the first one better. It was more "Noir" than the 2nd which was a bit more traditional and Scott Turrow-like with its deep layering of characters and back stories. But I am a sucker for a rich back story. So I loved it.
These would make excellent holiday gifts for the mystery reader on your list. Hell, for any reader who loves a well-turned-phrase and a scintillating page turner. My skin is still recovering from that first one.
The Verdict?
5 Pints (the highest possible ranking Liz The Beer Wench gives)
for them both!
And just wait until you meet the guy--he's gonna chat and sip some beer with me here on the Brewing Passion blog on Friday!
cheers
Liz
Me and Himself and another amazing Ann Arbor writer of Cozy Mysteries, Tammi Hart:
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