LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART FIFTY-SEVEN

Books, books, more ferkin' books.........

Tub 57........ooh Agatha Christie!

William Boyd, Robert Rotstein, J. G. Ballard, Sam Savage, Eamon Loingsigh,

Eamon "Lynch" - US author.

Sam Savage - sounds like he ought to be playing in a punk rock group.

Lynne Raimondo, Adrian McKinty, John Florio, Carolyn Hart, Francis Beeding,

Carolyn Hart

Second Jersey Leo book

Harry Bingham, Sebastian Faulks, Zoran Feric, Patricia Highsmith, Erec Stebbins,

Lawrence Block, Walter Mosley, Robert Rotstein, Victor Gischler, Barry Fantoni,

Disturbing cover - Mosley standalone novel 

Hit man Keller book 4

Quirky PI book

Blog favourite, though I've not read him for a few years.

G. K. Chesterton, Thomas H. Cook, Elmore Leonard, Graham Hurley, Robert B. Parker,

G. K. Chesterton - 1908 book

Agatha Christie, Bill S. Ballinger x 2, Simon Kernick, Roy Keane,

UK crime

Bill S. Ballinger 50s two-fer.

Peter Corris, Jonathon King, T. Jefferson Parker, Simon Kernick, Quintin Jardine,

Cliff Hardy series book.

Nelson DeMille, Mark Billingham, Peter Spiegelman, Colin Bateman, Paul Thomas,

Bill Pronzini x 4, Ariel S. Winter x 3,

David Cray x 2, Guillermo Orsi,

Three connected books, forming one book, I think!

Tub 57 sorted.

HIGHLIGHTS...... David Cray, Victor Gischler, Elmore Leonard, John Florio, Barry Fantoni, Ariel S. Winter... to name a few


LOWLIGHTS....... not too sure about the William Boyd or the Graham Hurley to be honest - buy in haste - repent at leisure!

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS:

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES
BALLARD	J. G.	MIRACLES OF LIFE	2008
BALLINGER	BILL S.	PORTRAIT IN SMOKE	1950
BALLINGER	BILL S.	THE TOOTH AND THE NAIL	1955
BATEMAN	COLIN	TURBULENT PRIESTS	1999	DS3
BEEDING	FRANCIS	DEATH WALKS IN EASTREPPS	1931
BILLINGHAM	MARK	LIFELINE	2005	TT5
BINGHAM	HARRY	TALKING TO THE DEAD	2012	FG1
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	HIT AND RUN	2008	K4
BOYD	WILLIAM	THE BLUE AFTERNOON	1993
CHESTERTON	G. K.	THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY	1908
CHRISTIE	AGATHA	FIVE LITTLE PIGS	1942	HP24
COOK	THOMAS H.	BREAKHEART HILL	1995
CORRIS	PETER	MAKE ME RICH	1985	CH6
CRAY	DAVID	DEAD IS FOREVER	2004
CRAY	DAVID	PARTNERS	2003
DEMILLE	NELSON	THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER	1992	PB1
FANTONI	BARRY	HARRY LIPKIN PI	2012
FAULKS	SEBASTIAN	CHARLOTTE GRAY	1998
FERIC	ZORAN	THE DEATH OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL	2007
FLORIO	JOHN	BLIND MOON ALLEY	2014	JL2
GISCHLER	VICTOR	THE DEPUTY	2010
HART	CAROLYN	CASTLE ROCK	1983
HIGHSMITH	PATRICIA	THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY	1955	R1
HURLEY	GRAHAM	NOCTURNE	1998
JARDINE	QUINTIN	SKINNER'S TRAIL	1994	BS3
KEANE	ROY	KEANE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY	2002
KERNICK	SIMON	THE CRIME TRADE	2004	TB1
KERNICK	SIMON	A GOOD DAY TO DIE	2005	DM2
KING	JONATHON	ACTS OF NATURE	2007	MF5
LEONARD	ELMORE	MR MAJESTYK	1974
LOINSIGH	EAMON	LIGHT OF THE DIDDICOY	2014
McKINTY	ADRIAN	IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE	2014	SD3
MOSLEY	WALTER	THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT	2004
ORSI	GUILLERMO	HOLY CITY	2012
PARKER	ROBERT B.	SPARE CHANGE	2007	SR6
PARKER	T. JEFFERSON	THE BLUE HOUR	1998	MR1
PRONZINI	BILL	THE STALKER	1971
PRONZINI	BILL	IN AN EVIL TIME	2001
PRONZINI	BILL	NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT	1999
PRONZINI	BILL	STEP TO THE GRAVEYARD EASY	2002
RAIMONDO	LYNNE	DANTE'S WOOD	2013	MA1
ROTSTEIN	ROBERT	CORRUPT PRACTISES	2013	PS1
ROTSTEIN	ROBERT	RECKLESS DISREGARD	2014	PS2
SAVAGE	SAM	FIRMIN	2006
SPIEGELMAN	PETER	NO WAY HOME	2005	JM2
STEBBINS	EREC	THE RAGNAROK CONSPIRACY	2012	I1
THOMAS	PAUL	THE EMPY BED	2002
WINTER	ARIEL S.	MALVINEAU PRISON	2014	T-YDT1
WINTER	ARIEL S.	THE FALLING STAR	2014	T-YDT2
WINTER	ARIEL S.	POLICE AT THE FUNERAL	2014	T-YDT3

A FEW SNAPS OF THE LIBRARY! DAN FANTE - RIP

Most people have their books on shelves in a study or a living room, not me. I don't suppose I'm alone in my love for the written word, but maybe I have a few too many.

The library in the loft!

Fortunately the roof is quite high in the vast majority of the attic, so I could go higher than 5, but my confidence in the weight bearing capacity of the loft is getting to be a bit shaky!

An overview!

Tubs 'R' Us

All blue apart from a random grey!

A bit of a pain when the one I want is at the bottom!

Now where did I leave that Agatha Christie?

The unsorted un-photographed tubs!

View from the top!

A line of soldiers!

Sad news....... I heard that Dan Fante passed last week. He was featured recently in a two by post - 2 BY DAN FANTE!

His Guardian obituary is here. Time to read one of his books, I think

BILL PRONZINI - DRAGONFIRE (1982)

Synopsis/blurb………

It's a lazy mid-August Sunday afternoon. The "Nameless Detective" and his old friend Lieutenant Eberhardt are relaxing on the patio, drinking beer and shooting the breeze, when the doorbell rings. As Eberhardt answers the door, Nameless hears two sharp echoing reports - gunshots; they could only be gunshots. Rushing into the house, Nameless glimpses the bloody body of his friend sprawled on the floor - just before he feels a bullet strike his own chest.

While Eberhardt lies in a coma, Nameless is released from the hospital and hits the San Francisco streets, determined to track down the gunman. Facing the toughest case of his career, Nameless doggedly pursues the secret behind his friend's shooting - only to find himself plunged into an action-packed intrigue involving murder, bribery, violence, and the forces of organized crime in San Francisco's Chinatown.

The inimitable Nameless Detective, an overweight private eye of Italian descent with a penchant for pulp magazines, is in top form in this gripping, fast-paced tale.

"Pronzini is a pro."

- The New York Times

My 9^th outing with Bill Pronzini and his PI - Nameless was a blast. Is there anything better than a lazy Sunday and reading a great tale cover to cover over the course of a day?

Probably fair to say I enjoyed this one a bit more than the last couple I read, perhaps it was slightly more straightforward as there was a focus on a single case – the shooting of Eberhardt and Nameless – rather than a few cases being juggled by our main man. I was less irritated by the re-emergence of Kerry – Nameless’ on-off, latterly off love interest as a possible on again back story. Perhaps it was Nameless himself being less of a sad-sack love-lost puppy dog that had me reaching for the sick-bag in the last couple of books. This time around he seems more assured and determined.

Nameless digs around Chinatown to get to the bottom of the mystery and butts heads with some of the less salubrious members of the Chinatown community. All this set against the back drop of an official police investigation getting nowhere and Nameless currently with his PI license suspended. 

Roll on book 10 in the series!  (Bindlestiff from 1983)

4.5 from 5

Bought copy – second hand a couple of years ago.

DAVID WHISH-WILSON - LINE OF SIGHT (2010)

Synopsis/blurb………

When a brothel madam is shot on a Perth golf course in 1975 it should be a routine murder enquiry. But it isn't. In fact there's barely an investigation at all, and Superintendent Swann thinks he knows why. Heroin is the new drug in town and the money is finding its way into some very respectable hands. It's the brave or the foolish who accuse their fellow cops of corruption, and sometimes not even Swann is sure which he is. Especially when those he's pointing the finger at have mates in every stronghold of power in the state big business, organised crime, the government. He might have won the first round by forcing a royal commission, but the judge is an ailing patsy and the outcome seems predetermined. If that's not enough to contend with, Swann's teenage daughter has disappeared, he doesn't know whether she's alive or not, and the word on the street is he's a dead man walking. Line of Sight is classic crime noir, a tale of dark corruption set in a city of sun and heat.

My first taste of author David Whish-Wilson but not my last. Line of Sight takes us to mid-70s Perth – a city under the control of corrupt politicians and a bent police force. Drugs, prostitution and tax fiddles are the means of enrichment and if the odd brothel madam gets murdered in the meantime, to preserve the status quo, it’s one of the costs of doing business.

Frank Swann, a discredited cop with a missing teenage daughter tries to bring the whole charade down. Unfortunately he’s a man with few friends to watch his back. A Royal Commission may be the opportunity to blow the whistle, but with limited terms of reference, disappearing evidence, witnesses frightened into perjuring themselves or retracting earlier statements, the smart money is on failure.

We feel Swann’s isolation as he desperately tries to join the dots up concerning Ruby Devine’s murder. He’s an interesting protagonist; his heart in the right place though he feels guilt at having disappointed and failed his family. Flawed would be a fair assessment – he’s not above dispensing a beating to coerce information from a witness and he’s similarly stoic when on the receiving end.

Great setting, fantastic characters, pace, tension, paranoia, violence and a quest for justice. What I also liked was Whish-Wilson’s trust in his readership to join up the dots with an understated style of narration. Not everything is telegraphed.

Apparently the story is based around a true case. If so, it’s all the more scary because of it.  

5 from 5 

David Whish-Wilson has a couple of other books that sit on the stacks – Down in the Zero - a second Frank Swann book and The Summons – a tale set in Berlin in the 30’s. I’m reliably informed there is a third Swann book due in 2016 – happy days!

David Whish-Wilson has his website here and he’s on Twitter - @DaveWhishWilson

The author was kind enough to send me a copy for review. I’m just sorry it took me so long to get to it….2 years, ouch!

WALTER RHEIN - RECKLESS TRAVELER (2015)

Synopsis/blurb…….

Reckless Traveler: an autobiographical novel of adventuring in South America, sure to delight anyone with a passport. > > Perú and beyond: Through the alchemy of travel, youthful folly may bring disaster or wisdom . . . and more. > > The instructional travel guide for aspiring backpackers: learn how to bribe police, avoid malaria, and find employment abroad -- and what to do (and not to do) when armed mercenaries detain your charter bus. > > Awaken your inner explorer with Walter Rhein's Reckless Traveler, expat tales from a decade of discovery.

Another bit of a reading departure for me with Walter Rhein’s Reckless Traveler, an amusing anecdotal diary of his adventures, both mundane and otherwise from spending 10 years in Peru.

I think I enjoyed it in part because it wasn’t full of dramatic episodes fraught with peril and danger. We just accompany Walter as he immerses himself in an alien culture and the difficulties that presents.

Problems with language and interpretation, meeting people, finding accommodation, navigating the city, acquiring the necessary bartering skills, adapting to the cuisine and coping with minor hindrances – bed bugs, mosquitos/malaria. Unavoidable interactions with immigration on a quarterly basis and the obvious delight petty bureaucrats worldwide seem to take from messing with those they purport to serve.

What comes across is the warmth of the Peruvian people in general and our narrator’s genial disposition, as well as a willingness to adapt. He learns the language – not itself without an odd experience or two; before subsequently supporting himself by teaching English.

Just an enjoyable all-round trip.  

One passage of prose – relating less to Peru and more a memory from his childhood – struck me.

In Lima, the day passed, while everything I did brought back some vivid recollection from childhood. 

A thousand forgotten images came alive. Memories long locked away, lost in a sense, came forth due to the strangeness of my new surroundings. The exotic culture of Peru shook my thought patterns free from where they had settled, and gave a new twist to anything and everything I could recall.

I basked in it.

I found that revisiting old memories changes their nature. The advantage of an adult perspective takes the sting out of old wounds. Words remembered as being spoken in anger are revealed, upon examination, to be no more than a friendly jest. Revisiting instances of harboured guilt often expose that the action was not taken as a cruelty. All our perceptions are magnified and distorted by the mists of memory. The passage of time reveals we are neither as good nor as evil as we might have come to believe.

Such exploration is liberating.

4.5 stars from 5

Walter Rhein is on Facebook here and Twitter - @swordreaver    

Walter Rhein was born in northern Wisconsin. After earning a degree in English literature, he began traveling and teaching English in various parts of the world. He currently splits his time between South America and Wisconsin. He has also written in the fantasy-sci-fi genre.

The author supplied me a copy of Reckless Traveler for review.                         

2 BY TOM KAKONIS

Tom Kakonis is one of my favourite authors and Michigan Roll is one of my favourite books of all time. In truth I've probably read only 4 of the 7 books he has published, which kind of makes sense to me, because once they're gone they're gone and there's nothing left to look forward to. Only a re-read of course!

Kakonis has written about 7 books to date, including a couple which came out in the 90s under the pseudonym of Adam Barrow. Disillusionment with the publishing game caused him to put down the pen for a number of years, before publisher Brash Books brought him back into the game.

After a gap of about 15 years – Treasure Coast came out in 2014. Since then Brash have republished all his titles including the two pseudonymously published – Flawless and Blind Spot.  

Treasure Coast was read and reviewed a year ago - here. 

Gamblers, low lives, mobsters, psychopaths and damsels sometimes in distress - sometimes playing a game....my kind of books!

His 7 books are.....

Timothy Waverly series

1. Michigan Roll (1988)

2. Criss-Cross (1990)

3. Double Down (1991)

4. Shadow Counter (1993)

Novels

Treasure Coast (2014)

Flawless (2015) 

Blind Spot (2015)

Michigan Roll (1988)

Ex-con, professional poker player Timothy Waverly travels to Traverse City, Michigan for a break... and falls into bed with a seductress named Midnight. She's an out-of-towner, too, there to rescue her self-destructive brother, who has stupidly ripped off a fortune in cocaine from a vicious Chicago mobster. Now she is being chased pursued by Shadow, a hemorrhoidal hitman who gleefully specializes in torture and rape, and Gleep, his muscle-bound henchman. The odds are stacked against her, but Waverly is a gambler who knows how to play them...

"A sure narrative voice, a richly shaded hero and heroine, nightmare-vivid villains, and a plot paved with switchbacks and big curves add up to classy, if brutal, crime entertainment: this one cooks," Kirkus Reviews

"Aptly compared to Elmore Leonard, Kakonis builds exquisite tension." Publishers Weekly

"Original, brutal, nightmarish. Kakonis is a sharp new gambler in the literary crap game. He just takes the pot,"

I've read Michigan Roll two possibly three times and when I couldn't find my dog-eared paperback copy, after reading Treasure Coast - I went out and bought another one!

Shadow Counter (1993)

Timothy Waverly, an ex-con and ambitious card shark, is up to his ears in trouble in Las Vegas as he becomes involved in an ingenious basketball point-shaving scam and matches wits with a calculating psychopath, with his sister's life at stake.

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART FIFTY-SIX

I must admit whilst I feel foolish about the number of books I have it is fun rediscovering titles and authors I have forgotten about, though unless I actually read them what's the point........

Tub 56!

Donald Westlake x 4, Richard Stark x 1 - same thing really!

Dortmunder series book

Alan Grofield - a mate of Parker's!

James W. Hall, Bill Fitzhugh, Donald Westlake, James Patterson, Garry Disher,

Aussie crime - a Wyatt series book,

Joe Nelms, Russ Litten, Carl Hiaasen, Max Pemberton, Harper Lee,

Scream if you want to go Faster!

New-to-me author

Thomas Perry, Anthony Price, Steve Redgrave, Stuart MacBride, Adam Hall,

Roddy Doyle, John McFetridge, Kim Zupan, David Cray x 2, Donald Westlake, Thomas F. Murphy,

Michael Dobbs

Dr. David Audley series book,

Stuart Pawson, Dallas Murphy, Elmore Leonard, Karin Slaughter,

Henry Porter, Stuart Pawson, Chris Petit,

David Peace, Anthony Price, Charles Perry, Leonardo Padura x 2, Kevin Power,

"Powerful and disturbing"

Another Audley series book,

Thomas Perry, Urban Waite, Charlie Higson, Marcus Trescothick, 

90s UK comedic crime!

James Patterson/Howard Roughan x 2, Tony Parsons, Leonardo Padura, Charles Portis,

Butcher Boy series book 3

HIGHLIGHTS.... Westlake-Stark, Garry Disher, Anthony Price, Thomas Perry, John McFetridge, Joe Nelms, David Cray,

LOWLIGHTS.... I've kind of inherited the Patterson and Patterson collaboration books from my son clearing out his stuff. I expect they'll entertain me to a greater or lesser degree if I get around to reading them, but I'm not eagerly anticipating them.

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS: 

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES
CRAY	DAVID	LITTLE GIRL BLUE	2001
CRAY	DAVID	WHAT YOU WISH FOR	2002
DISHER	GARRY	THE FALLOUT	1997	W6
DOBBS	MICHAEL	THE EDGE OF MADNESS	2008	HJ2
DOYLE	RODDY	PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA	1993
FITZHUGH	BILL	THE ORGAN GRINDERS	1998
HALL	JAMES W.	RED SKY AT NIGHT	1997	TPI6
HALL	ADAM	QUILLER'S RUN	1988	Q12
HIAASEN	CARL	NATURE GIRL	2006
HIGSON	CHARLIE	HAPPY NOW	1993
LEE	HARPER	TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD	1960
LEONARD	ELMORE	PRONTO	1993	RG1
LITTEN	RUSS	SCREAM IF YOU WANT TO GO FASTER	2011
MACBRIDE	STUART	BROKEN SKIN	2007	LMCR3
McFETRIDGE	JOHN	TUMBLIN' DICE	2012
MURPHY	THOMAS F.	EDGE OF ALLEGIANCE	2005
MURPHY	DALLAS	LUSH LIFE	1992	ADM2
NELMS	JOE	THE LAST TIME I DIED	2013
PADURA	LEONARDO	HAVANA BLACK	2006	MCM2
PADURA	LEONARDO	HAVANA BLUE	2007	MCM3
PADURA	LEONARDO	HAVANA FEVER	2009	MCM5
PARSONS	TONY	ONE FOR MY BABY	2001
PATTERSON	JAMES	CAT AND MOUSE	1997	AC4
PATTERSON/ROUGHAN	JAMES/HOWARD	SAIL	2008
PATTERSON/ROUGHAN	JAMES/HOWARD	HONEYMOON	2005	H1
PAWSON	STUART	LIMESTONE COWBOY	2003	CP9
PAWSON	STUART	SOME BY FIRE	1999	CP6
PEACE	DAVID	NINETEEN EIGHTY	2001	RRQ3
PEMBERTON	MAX	TRUST ME I'M A JUNIOR DOCTOR	2008
PERRY	THOMAS	RUNNER	2009	JW6
PERRY	THOMAS	THE INFORMANT	2011	BB3
PERRY	CHARLES	PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN DROWNING	1962
PETIT	CHRIS	THE HUMAN POOL	2002
PORTER	HENRY	BRANDENBURG	2005	RH3
PORTIS	CHARLES	TRUE GRIT	1968
POWER	KEVIN	BAD DAY IN BLACKROCK	2008
PRICE	ANTHONY	COLONEL BUTLER'S WOLF	1972	DDA3
PRICE	ANTHONY	OTHER PATHS TO GLORY	1974	DDA5
REDGRAVE	STEVE	A GOLDEN AGE	2000
SLAUGHTER	KARIN	FAITHLESS	2005	GC5
STARK	RICHARD	LEMONS NEVER LIE	1971	AG4
TRESCOTHICK	MARCUS	COMING BACK TO ME	2008
WAITE	URBAN	THE TERROR OF LIVING	2011
WESTLAKE	DONALD	THE GETAWAY CAR	2014
WESTLAKE	DONALD	GOOD BEHAVIOUR	1986	D6
WESTLAKE	DONALD	JIMMY THE KID	1974	D3
WESTLAKE	DONALD	THE DAMSEL	1967	AG1
WESTLAKE	DONALD	THE BLACKBIRD	1969	AG3
WESTLAKE	DONALD	THE DAME	1969	AG2
ZUPAN	KIM	THE PLOUGHMEN	2014