JANUARY 2020 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST!

Start the year as you mean to go on.....

Six more into the collection...

Maxime Chattam - Carnage (2012) - purchased copy

 A French author with some New York set crime

When a massacre takes place in a Harlem school, Lamar, A New York detective for twelve years, is called to the scene. A student, aged seventeen, has shot everyone in his path before shooting himself. Having collected all the evidence, Lamar reconstructs the blood-soaked morning of the killer. Ten days later, a second massacre occurs at a school in Queens. Once more, a student kills multiple victims before turning the gun on himself. A new massacre occurs elsewhere. Three sets of killings in three weeks, all the same with the perpetrators committing suicide. It isn't just a coincidence ...

Lawrence Block - Generally Speaking (2019) - review copy from author

A bit of non-fiction from Lawrence Block - happy days!

For almost three years, novelist and short-story writer Lawrence Block’s monthly column, “Generally Speaking,” was one of the most popular features in Linn’s Stamp News. A general collector of pre-1940 issues, Block had the entire world of stamps as his subject, and he turned in 33 columns before he decided it was time to stop.

But Keller, the author’s fictional character, never lost his enthusiasm for philately. A wistful and introspective killer for hire, Keller rekindled a boyhood passion for stamps at the end of Hit Man, the first of a series of books about him. Like Block, Keller collects the whole world through philately’s first century. (How’s that for coincidence?) And the nature of his profession gives Keller more discretionary income than Block—and a lot more money to spend on stamps.


Published here for the first time is the full run of columns from Linn’s, along with six selections from the Keller saga chosen for their philatelic perspective.

Mike McCrary - Remo Went Rogue (2017) - copy from author

I've enjoyed Mike McCrary before - I actually thought I'd read this one, but apparently not. It's the first of four Remo novels.

A couple of his novels and a couple of his short stories have though - Getting Ugly (2013), Genuinely Dangerous (2016), Separate Checks (2019), Broken(2019)

He betrayed two ruthless killers, and no good verdict goes unpunished…
Remo Cobb is ready to wash his grimy soul clean. In an uncharacteristic burst of righteousness, the New York defense attorney throws the case of the most heinous criminals he’s ever represented. But after the psychotic Mashburn Brothers pull off an impossible prison break, Remo's instincts tell him his double crossing act of kindness may come back to kill him.

Barely staying one step ahead of his murderous pursuers, his only chance to survive lies in convincing a former client to help him stand and fight. All he has to do is trust someone who hates his guts as much as the Mashburns…

When the bullets start flying, will the best thing Remo ever did be the death of him?

Remo Went Rogue is the first book in the riveting Remo Cobb crime series. If you like pulp thrillers, dark humor, and wickedly entertaining antiheroes, then you’ll love Mike McCrary’s high-octane novel.

Ann Cleeves - Raven Black (2006) - book club copy aka where my wife works!

Another author I've been meaning to read, but haven't gotten around to. It's the first in her Shetland series, something I've enjoyed on TV thus far.

It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunters eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one manloner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherines neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst. Raven Black is a haunting, beautifully crafted crime story, and establishes Ann Cleeves as a rising talent in psychological crime writing.

Sebastien Japrisot - The 10.30 from Marseille (1963) - purchased copy

More French crime, this time actually set in France from an author described as "the French Graham Greene." I've a couple more from Japrisot on the shelves - The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1967) and One Deadly Summer (1980) 

An apparently motiveless murder carried out on a train after its arrival in Paris is followed by a series of ruthless killings in the French capital. The only thing these crimes have in common is that all the victims travelled north that night in carriage IV of the 10:30 train from Marseille.

Corey Burns - Hick Lawyer (2018) - Amazon FREEBIE

On spec. purchase

Dexter Smith muddled his way through college and law school. Now, he has found a small Nebraska town to hide out in while he muddles his way through life doing simple, court appointed cases. Then Donald Birch is charged with three counts of first degree murder. And when the other lawyers in the county are conflicted out of representing Donald for various reasons, Dexter is appointed to the case. Will Dexter step-up and be the kind of lawyer he used to dream of being, or is he just a half assed hick lawyer in way over his head?