MARK HASKELL SMITH - NAKED AT LUNCH (2015)

Synopsis/blurb ....

People have been getting naked in public for reasons other than sex for centuries. But as novelist and narrative journalist Mark Haskell Smith shows in Naked at Lunch, being a nudist is more complicated than simply dropping trou. "Nonsexual social nudism," as it's called, rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century. Intellectuals, outcasts, and health nuts from Victorian England and colonial India to Belle Epoque France and Gilded Age Manhattan disrobed and wrote manifestos about the joys of going clothing-free. From stories of ancient Greek athletes slathered in olive oil to the millions of Germans who fled the cities for a naked frolic during the Weimar Republic to American soldiers given "naturist" magazines by the Pentagon in the interest of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, Haskell Smith uncovers nudism's amusing and provocative past. Naked at Lunch is equal parts cultural history and gonzo participatory journalism. Coated in multiple layers of high SPF sunblock, Haskell Smith dives into the nudist world today. He publicly disrobes for the first time in Palm Springs, observes the culture of family nudism in a clothing-free Spanish town, and travels to the largest nudist resort in the world, a hedonist's paradise in the south of France. He reports on San Francisco's controversial ban on public nudity, participates in a week of naked hiking in the Austrian Alps, and caps off his adventures with a week on the Big Nude Boat, a Caribbean cruise full of nudists.

A bit of non-fiction from Mark Haskell Smith with Naked at Lunch. Smith offers up a history of naturism across the globe, or more specifically in Europe and North America .... its origins and roots as well as the evolution of naturism with frequent opposition to the movement in the form of local political outrage and reactionary laws introduced to curb it, both historically and in recent times.

While the history of the subject was interesting, the best bits of the books related to Smith's own experiences, shedding his inhibitions and getting naked. Some of his observations I found incredibly funny....

"A skeletal man in his eighties wandered around the ship wearing only a fluorescent thong, his loose skin draped around his bones like freckled frosting,"

"I wondered how someone could get a sunburn on the underside of his scrotum and then go out the next day and do it again and again. Isn't once enough? Isn't a toasted nutsack a warning sign?"

"I stood naked in front of a mirror and checked my body. What was I looking for? Gravy stains? Some physical deformation that was so humiliating that I should just call this whole thing off for humanitarian reasons?"

"Have you ever seen a seventy-year old woman with her pubic hair shaved into what's called a landing strip? I have."

"The spray-on sunblock that I had so scrupulously and thickly applied had turned my dick into something resembling a solar flare. I could've sent a distress signal to a search and rescue team. Fortunately, I did not get an erection."  

4 from 5

I've enjoyed Mark Haskell Smith's fiction before. Raw was read back in 2013. Moist was enjoyed back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Delicious and Salty sit on the unread mountain.

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2015

Page count - 320

Source - purchased copy

Format - paperback

PAUL HEATLEY - GUILLOTINE (2019)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

After suffering a lifetime of tyranny under her father’s oppressive rule, when Lou-Lou sees a chance to make a break with the man she loves, she takes it. Problem is, daddy’s also known as Big Bobby Joe, a dangerous and powerful man in the local area—powerful enough to put out a sixty grand bounty on the head of the man she’s run off with, who also happens to be one of his ex-employees.

With every criminal affiliate out looking for them, making good on their getaway doesn’t seem promising. Even their so-called friends are on the take, willing to pull a double-cross if that’s what’s going to turn them a quick buck. But Big Bobby Joe hasn’t counted on his daughter's resolve to distance herself from him. No matter what he throws at her, no matter what he does, she’s going to get away—or die trying.

Brutal, violent, confrontational but with a lot of heart.

Family eh? Great when they are loving and supportive. Not so much fun when they are controlling, abusive and violent. When daddy knows best and suffocates your spirit, denying you oxygen. Perhaps you should expect a reaction, especially if your daughter inherits your genes and your determination and resilience. Perhaps you're too arrogant to notice and it catches you by surprise.

An illicit romance, love, plans, flight, holing-up, pursuit, betrayal, confrontation, death, infringement of copyright, a blast from the past, meetings, consequences, and a final settling of the family account.

Cracking, my kind of book with Heatley delivering again. My kind of author. Probably not for the faint-hearted.

Mr Heatley has been enjoyed before ..... The Pitbull, The Motel Whore, The Vampire, The Boy, FatBoy and An Eye For An Eye

4.5 from 5

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2019

Page count - 156

Source - purchased copy

Format - paperback

DEREK BARTON - ELUDE PART TWO (2018)

 

Synopsis/blurb....

Stepping blindly into a horrific murder scene, a young ex-con, Vicente Vargas, must flee from the police while eluding the real killer who continues to pin more bodies on him in this intricate cat-and-mouse game. Cut off from all friends and family, tried and convicted by the press, Vic must survive on his wits and cunning on the gritty streets of Phoenix, Arizona long enough to clear his name.

Second episodic outing in Derek Barton's Elude series. So two down and one to go.

Truthfully, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first. The set-up is intriguing .... a young Hispanic kid, one who has made mistakes is framed for several murders and on the run. Also sucked in is a young teenage girl who has some hacking skills, but is also being manipulated and framed. The two have teamed up together.

Part two, sees one of the two detectives on the case killed, while the second is harbouring doubts about Vargas' guilt because everything seems too neat, too packaged, too easy. 

We get a glimpse as to who is behind events and how it is being done, which is where the book went pear-shaped for me. Not my cup of tea, not my thing at all. It's a journey into mind control and psychic abilities and loads of other stuff that I just don't believe in, have any time for or have any real interest in reading about.

I did enjoy the characters in the book. I like an underdog or two trying to battle difficult odds. I liked the narration, which injects a real urgency into the narrative. It's just the turn the book took which disappointed me.

3 from 5

Elude Part One was enjoyed back in March. I'll get to the final one sometime soon. I've come this far, I might as well go the distance. 

Read - (listened to) May, 2021

Published - 2018

Page count - 103 (2 hrs 19 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

ARMAND ROSAMILIA - DIRTY DEEDS 3 (2017)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Philadelphia. City of Brotherly Love. Unless you have the Philly mob trying to kill you and the FBI wanting to sit you down for an interview about your connections to organized crime. Not to mention being wanted for your own illegal business ventures. Did you guess I was in trouble?

This is the third installment of about nine in author, Armand Rosamilia's Dirty Deeds series featuring James Gaffney.

It's another book which I kind of liked, but kind of didn't. Gaffney and his partners in crime from previous books, Marco, Chaz and the near retired FBI agent Keene butt heads with the Philly mob and rogue agents on their payroll. There are a lot of confrontations, near confrontations, escapes, close run things and a fair amount of charging around the city, holing up, meetings, more charging, more hiding etc etc.

Plus points, I do like some of the characters and the dynamics between them. There are some humorous moments and it's a book which doesn't take itself too seriously.

Negatives - the plot's a bit of a nonsense and it doesn't really go anywhere. Gaffney has some links with criminals, but more in regards to spiriting away their children when they have had enough of them, than day-to-day knowledge of their operations and personnel. He's piggy in the middle with testimony wanted by the authorities against the mob and them not wanting him to cooperate. He has his own reasons for not wanting law enforcement to know what he's been doing.

Again we have a closing chapter which obviously gets the ball rolling for the fourth outing. I'm not a fan of this unsubtle tactic from authors. That said I have books four and five in the Audible library, so I'll go that far with the author.

I was entertained while reading it and it wasn't the worst thing I've ever encountered.

3 from 5

I think this was my fifth outing with Armand Rosamilia. I prefer his books which feature the everyday and mundane of ordinary people to the Dirty Deeds series. Belford
Stories and JandJ Fitness, as well as Dirty Deeds and Dirty Deeds 2 have been enjoyed before. 

Read - (listened to) April, 2021

Published - 2017

Page count - 190 (5 hrs 2 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

CHRIS RHATIGAN and DAVID NEMETH (ed.) - ALL DUE RESPECT 2020 (2020)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Twelve short stories from the top writers in crime fiction today.

Featuring the work of Stephen D. Rogers, Tom Leins, Michael Pool, Andrew Davie, Sharon Diane King, Preston Lang, Jay Butkowski, Steven Berry, Craig Francis Coates, Bobby Mathews, Michael Penncavage, and BV Lawson. Edited by Chris Rhatigan and David Nemeth.

2020's latest All Due Respect anthology book collates the stories which featured on their site through the course of the year. The full list of stories is (with a brief summary) ....

Stephen D. Rodgers - Mad Dog ... a violent confrontation

Tom Leins - 49,000 Ways to Die ... Leins main man, Joe Rey looking for a guy. 

Full of the author's renowned poetic turns of phrase..... 

Still once a punk, always a punk - the guy smells like a petrol station toilet.

Michael Pool - Everything's Coming Up Duane .... the pool guy and a difficult client, a bucket of jobbies and a confrontation

Andrew Davie - Perennial .... prison, a new life, illness, more

Sharon Diane King - On the Edge ... a final therapy session of sorts, family issues, and a lack of forgiveness

Preston Lang - The Woman from Florence .... an art con, some conflict

Jay Butkowski - What's One More? .... crematorium setting, extra work load

Steven Berry - The Gangster's Game .... stolen goods, The Krays, the Richardsons, friends of friends, a future reunion

Craig Francis Coates - Donors .... sickness, fund-raising, organ donation, recompense and an account settled

Bobby Matthews - A Little Push .... a murder podcast and a hitman as a subject, a sailing trip

Michael Penncavage - The Last Supper .... death row dining

Dave (not Chris)

BV Lawson - Quaking in My Boots .... rocks, robbery, earthquake tremors or not

I'm familiar with a few of the authors featured. I absolutely love Preston Lang and Tom Leins. They are both auto-purchase authors as soon as anything new drops from them. I've also enjoyed reading Andrew Davie and Michael Pool in the past, with more from all four on the TBR pile.

An enjoyable collection and a few hours entertaining reading into the bargain. I think I smashed through the whole collection in a few hours sitting in the sun in my back garden.

I liked stories featuring shady characters .... con men, ex-prisoners, grifters, desperate people and others of a similar ilk. Not a cop in sight. 

Chris (not Dave)

4 from 5

Read - April, 2021

Publihed - 2020

Page count - 160

Source - purchased copy

Format - paperback

CHRIS OFFUTT - THE KILLING HILLS (2021)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

A veteran on leave investigates a murder in his Kentucky backwoods hometown in this Appalachian noir by the acclaimed author of Country Dark.

Mick Hardin, a combat veteran and Army CID agent, is home on a leave to be with his pregnant wife—but they aren’t getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder investigation—but local politicians are pushing for someone else to take the case. Maybe they think she can’t handle it. Or maybe their concerns run deeper.

With his experience and knowledge of the area, Mick is well-suited to help his sister investigate while staying under the radar. Now he’s dodging calls from his commanding officer as he delves into the dangerous rivalries lurking beneath the surface of his fiercely private hometown. And he needs to talk to his wife.

The Killing Hills is a novel of betrayal within and between the clans that populate the hollers—and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honor, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.

Two word review - bloody brilliant.

Story, setting, community, history, family, politics, distrust, fractures, murder, investigation, interference, control, going AWOL, marital issues, pregnancy, job issues, suspicion of authority, silence, outsider amateur cleaners, drugs, a patsy and a helluva lot more besides.

It's pretty hard to articulate exactly what I loved about this book, a few weeks on from reading it. 

I'll try ... the family dynamics between the sheriff, Linda under pressure to close a murder case and her brother, Mick an absent army investigator; the Kentucky setting, with the people and their connection to the land, with a deep sense of belonging and family, with people judged on the behaviour of previous generational interactions between families; the wildness of the setting; the relationship between Linda and her staff and sister-in-law; the outside tension and pressure applied to her investigation; Mick, his suffering and estrangement from his pregnant wife, with both bearing responsibility for the schisms in their relationship; his skillset in gaining the trust of people and his genuine desire to help others while assisting his sister in finding answers and justice for the murder victim. That's enough for starters.    

It's a fantastic story, a really enjoyable murder investigation which offers a lot more than a typical mystery - where A gets murdered by B because of X and C sets out to catch them. You get the feeling that Chris Offutt cares deeply for this land and these people. Reminded me a bit of Larry Brown. Can't give any higher praise than that.

"Which one are you?"

"Joe."

"Big Joe or Little Joe?"

"Neither one. They're my cousins. They call me Little Big Joe. You wanting tires, gas or a Bible? They'll everyone get you where you need to be."

5 from 5

This was possibly my first time with Chris Offutt. I might have read The Good Brother many years ago - so long ago it probably doesn't count. His other books - Country Dark, Out of the Woods and Kentucky Straight are moving up the pile. 

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2021

Page count - 240

Source - review copy courtesy of Edelweiss - Above the Treeline site

Format - Kindle

MALCOLM HOLLINGDRAKE - CATCH AS CATCH CAN (2021)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Catch as Catch Can is the first in the Merseyside Crime Series from Malcolm Hollingdrake – bestselling author of the Harrogate Crime Series.

A mutilated body apparently washed up on a windswept beach…

A violent criminal gang preys on moped riders across the area…

A teenage girl is desperate to escape sexual exploitation…

It’s a tough introduction to Merseyside for Detective Inspector April Decent, who’s just arrived from her native Yorkshire. Together with new colleague Skeeter Warlock, Decent quickly discovers there’s a sinister link between them all, one that will bring them face-to-face with some uncomfortable home truths.

My first time with author Malcolm Hollingdrake, courtesy of publisher Hobeck Books, but not my last after this enjoyable encounter.

Liverpool, murder, organised gang crime, moped snatch squads, drug smuggling, nosey neighbours, an ill-conceived get rich quick plan from a deluded pensioner, exploitation - young victims, gang loyalty, Bitcoin trading, poor decisions, punishment, young love and young love lost, CCTV, surveillance and a police team investigating, led by a new female Detective Inspector in town.

I liked the book. I don't read that many police procedurals, but when I do I invariably enjoy them. I liked the set-up with a new DI in town, April Decent. We got to know her team at the same time she did. There's also a bit of the personal attached to her back story, enough to add some flesh to her bones. She's a dog lover which is good enough for me. She's also a career minded, driven individual, but not at the cost of her humanity.  

The story evolves quickly and it unfolds from different perspectives. We follow various members of the investigative team, with a few hints that one, maybe two of them may be batting for the other side. This adds a bit of tension to the narrative as you're unsure who can be trusted and whether information uncovered will be of benefit to the police or will tip-off the criminals to the progress of the investigation. We also get to see some of the action from the perspective of the criminals. I like books where the perspective changes and you see a different POV throughout.

Decent pace, decent storyline, interesting characters, satisfying outcome, not too long either - all plusses. I enjoyed the setting of Liverpool and Merseyside and I liked the backdrop of the Anthony Gormley art works in the narrative. 

4 from 5

Syn the second on this series sits waiting on the pile.

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2021

Page count - 312

Source - review copy from publisher, Hobeck Books

Format - Kindle