What we're reading right now #1

[Justin]

I like Robert Parker's Spenser stories all right, but I agree, Joe, they aren't top shelf crime fiction. I do like how the character react to/engage with the turbulent 1970s though.

[Joe]

Justin wrote: "I like Robert Parker's Spenser stories all right, but I agree, Joe, they aren't top shelf crime fiction. I do like how the character react to/engage with the turbulent 1970s though."

oh yeah. mortal stakes definitely hung with the '70's...spenser took a few walks through-out the book and would describe the clothing people were wearing...starting with...ba-da-bing...ye old bell-bottoms!

[Samuel]

just got through The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, decent book (if not a little iffy) and am going to dive into one of Arthur Upfield's next, not sure which, there's a lot!

[Justin]

All I'm reading is Hawaiian Noir -- one after the other!

For the next two episodes, we are focusing on two books:

1. For A Song by Rodney Morales
2. Yakudoshi: Age of Calamity Chris McKinney

Check em out!

[Joe]

Justin wrote: "All I'm reading is Hawaiian Noir -- one after the other!

For the next two episodes, we are focusing on two books:

1. For A Song by Rodney Morales
2. Yakudoshi: Age of Calamity Chris McKinney

Che..."

I'm a 100 pgs into For A Song...it's good, straight ahead and a fairly easy read, which I'm glad because it's 500+ pgs...the Hawaii setting and the PI are great...

[Joe]

Saturday evening, 5/30/2020....I'm watching the George Floyd protests/riots, focusing on L.A. over the last hour...Mean while, here's the last five crime fiction books I've read...I got long-winded, sorry:

1. A Ticket To Hell (1959) by Harry Whittington...Harry Whittington was part of the 2nd wave of noir/pulp writers along with Davis Goodis, Day Keene and other authors from mainly the '50's. Whittington wrote an incredible 170 novels...he's known as the master of 'plot'. A Ticket to Hell is considered one of his best...and it does move along at a whip-neck pace...I'd say 80% of the book takes place inside a car screaming down the New Mexico highways and back roads. The main character is Ric, a former convict searching for the kidnapped baby of the judge that sentenced him to prison years before...so it's kind of a story of redemption along with a lot of action...and cars, cars, cars! The only drawbacks to A Ticket to Hell is it's very schmaltzy....very lovely-dovely...it contrasts with the action too much...and for a 128 pages it's a lonnnng read...it reads more like 228 pages. -There is a long (20 pages) Introduction written by Whittington himself that is very interesting...it talks quite a bit about the art/craft of pulp-fiction writing. -A Ticket to Hell is a good book and I feel like I should score it higher than 3.0 stars...but there you go...a solid, strong 3.0 stars out of 5.0!
2. The Hunter > Point Blank (1962) by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake), I read the first novel to feature Parker, many years ago...but, I remembered the story mostly from the Lee Marvin film...so my reread was fresh. Over the last two years I have read Parker in The Outfit, which I thought was pretty good, but not great, and Slayground, which I thought was cartoon-ish. But, I've got to say Point Blank is one of the best noir > crime fiction > pulp fiction I've ever read. It's Excellent! Well written with a solid, simple plot-line, merciless...and introduces one of the top crime fiction characters of all time. Parker. I could go on, let's just say I highly recommend! -Only slight take-away....the body count gets extremely high! But, this is crime fiction after all! 5 Stars for this genre classic...
3. Easy Motion Tourist (2016) by Leye Adenle...Easy Motion Tourist (2016) by Leye Adenle is a first novel by the author. It's not a bad book it just could have been better. What EMT needs is a firm edit! One-third of the book could have been removed and you would have never missed it...being a 1st novel I blame this lack of editing on the publisher not the author. The plot line starts off strong...In Lagos, Guy, a white man from London gets pegged by the police out of a crowd at the scene a murdered prostitute...and Guy's path of noir begins...he gets saved from the cops by local, but worldly & well-to-do Amalaka who is fighting for the rights of female street-walkers. Guy & Amalaka become a crime-fighting duo! -Now, I thought the character Guy was rather one-dimensional & weak...he's the lone, wimpy white guy...Amalaka is OK...I wish there was more description of the setting of Lagos, it could have been any city...some of the prose was cartoon-ish...I read this on Kindle and the story-line was strong until 60% then things went hay-wire...too many new characters suddenly introduced...the story-line lost it's way...ya-da ya-da...I must admit the book pulled it together for the ending...and there's a nice little twist thrown in...but over-all I thought EMT was just OK. I hope his editor does a better job on the next book...2 outta 5 stars!

4. Guilty Bystander (1947) by Wade Miller...The Guilty Bystander by Wade Miller (Robert Wade and Bill Miller), published in 1947, introduces San Diego down & out detective Max Thursday in a series of seven books. This first book finds Thursday approached by his ex-wife to find their kidnapped son...The book overall is well written with plenty of action...Thursday receives his share of lumps, and gives it right back...there is some serious tough-guy stuff going on. The only issues I had with the book is there's too many characters, and some of them are introduced near the end of the book...other words, it could have used some editing. I liked The Guilty Bystander enough where I would read another in the series hoping it improves because this book was not far from being really good...3 outta 5 stars...

5. The Avenging Angel (1983) by Rex Burns...A week ago I watched Death Wish (1974) starring Charles Bronson. After watching I viewed a few Bronson trailers and I came upon a film called Messenger of Death (1988)...and it rang a bell. After doing some research I found it was the Hollywood feature of the book The Avenging Angel (1983) by Rex Burns...which I had on the shelf in my basement. Not only did I have this book starring Denver Homicide Detective Gabe Wager, I have the entire eleven book series! I couldn't remember Angel since I had read it back in the '80's, soooooo, I decided to give it a re-read and prep me for the Bronson movie. First, Rex Burns is an excellent writer, the Gabe Wager series leans toward police procedure similar to Bosch, but Gabe Wager came first. Burns prose is excellent (read the final long paragraph in the book) he's right there with Michael Connelly, maybe even a little better, just a notch below Ross Macdonald. His characters are strong and believable, especially Wager, a tough cop who's main conflict is putting work over relationships. Burns plotting & story telling is strong (he won an Edgar for The Alvarez Journal)...the only issue I have with Burns writing is story endings could be a little stronger, sometimes you can predict 'who done it' rather early...The Avenging Angel (1983) is a really good, tight mystery that takes a look at Mormon Fundamentalists gone-outa- whack. The case takes Wager throughout downtown Denver, to Pueblo, and a good portion of the book takes place in a fictitious town in sw Colorado. Travel also includes back country 4-wheelin' to the Utah border....Wager is at odds with all, including his girl-friend Jo, his partner Max, his boss, and on...nobody is a happy-camper in Angel. There is a fair amount of violence and a heck of a shoot-out near the end. I'm going to give The Avenging Angel (1983) by Rex Burns 4 outta 5 Strong Stars. Next I'm going to watch the Bronson film Messenger of Death (1988) (it got horrible reviews) and I may re-read the whole Gabe Wager series in order. -One note...after the Gabe Wager series author Rex Burns took a decade off...he has recently published two new books...check 'em out...

[Simon]

I am reading Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner, a science-fiction novel from the 1960s set in an overcrowded dystopian future and written in a weird invented futuristic slang that isn't explained to the reader. The plot follows an important businessman who slowly finds out that he is being spied on, the overall effect is something that feels like it could be set in the same universe as A Clockwork Orange except told from the upper crust's viewpoint instead of the lower classes.

[Justin]

Hi, y'all:

I am building a list of contemporary BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) crime fiction / noir writers, esp. Indigenous authors who live near / write about Albuquerque. Any thoughts?

Pretty much all the crime fiction I found featuring Native American detectives is written by white people. (See this list: https://www.mysterytribune.com/24-bes...)

[Simon]

I am currently reading Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. Surprised at how it spends as much time on building atmosphere and the protagonist's incredibly dysfunctional private life as on the plot mechanics, though there's a couple of action scenes in here which feels too "Hollywood action movie"-ish to be believable in the context of the rest of the book.

[Joe]

Simon wrote: "I am currently reading Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. Surprised at how it spends as much time on building atmosphere and the protagonist's incredibly dysfunctiona..."

Joe
Faceless Killers was an early Five Round Burst of Justin & Kurt's...i posted about Faceless Killers 9/17/1018 at P.B...i liked it but i agree the atmosphere build up was both overt, the woe is me of the middle-aged lead detective, and covert, the weather to set mood...and yeah, i remember a take down at an immigration camp that was Hollyweed BIG....-Ha! I recommended F.K. to a Friend on FB, a girl i went to high school with many moons ago...she came back and said it was "Boring!" LOL I haven't heard from her since! Boy did I luck out! :-)