BILL PRONZINI - THE VANISHED (1973)

Synopsis/blurb....

His name was Roy Sands, and he had everything to look forward to. He was getting out of the service and coming home to marry his beautiful Fiancée. He had his debts paid, money in the bank, and a happy new life ahead of him. Then he disappeared.

Having decided to follow Pronzini’s Nameless detective last month and been delighted enough to  select the first outing “The Snatch” as my March pick of the month, I was keen to read this second instalment in the series  - The Vanished.

Nameless is employed by Sands’ fiancée Elaine to track him down after he goes missing.  Sands and Elaine have made plans now that he’s left the army. They are committed to each other. The wedding’s in a few weeks and now Elaine’s worried by Ray’s unexplained disappearance.

The search takes Nameless out of San Francisco and north to Eugene where the last trace of Sands originated. He interviews his ex-army buddies, without any of them shedding too much light on the quiet, committed Ray; the contemplative, non-hell raising veteran Ray whose only concern seemed to be towards Elaine and their future life together.

Nameless picks up a glimmer of a clue that points him towards Germany and the US army base where Ray and his troop were stationed. Frantic at her loss, Elaine agrees for Nameless to fly to Europe. Despite threats against his and Elaine’s lives, Nameless doggedly persists with his enquiries. After uncovering further details regarding Ray’s recent past in Germany, the trail leads Nameless back to the States and ever closer to providing a solution to the mysterious disappearance. Elaine will be getting answers, even if she won’t be hearing any wedding bells.

If at all possible, I actually enjoyed this book more than the first. Pronzini has drawn a compelling detective who pursues his vocation with intelligence and tact. There’s little recourse to violence during the book. Nameless has an integrity about him, and a compassion and empathy for the pain others are feeling. He treats both client and prostitute alike with the same level of respect and decency. He worries what impact his enquiry will have on the ongoing welfare of his client. Basically he’s a gentleman, no bullying, no strong-arming, no intimidation – but he’s never boring.

This book picks up several months after the conclusion of the earlier “Snatch” case and there’s a personal journey that Nameless is taking in addition to his case load. As a bachelor, ex-cop, PI in his 40’s he hasn’t yet given up on the hope of finding a life partner. During the course of “The Vanished” he might have met her. Whether the fledgling relationship survives the conclusion and aftermath of this book, is something I’m looking forward to finding out next month in book 3 – Undercurrent.

Pronzini has created an intriguing, likeable protagonist that even at this early stage has me hooked.           

5 from 5 – another contender for my favourite book choice this month.

I purchased my copy second hand from Amazon UK.

A's ENJOYED, A's UNREAD

Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise is running her 4th Crime Alphabet challenge.
I may be bending her rules slightly but I want to remember 3 books I've read which qualify by virtue of the author's surname and 3 books I have yet to read. One title Albom's "5 People" would in no way qualify as crime fiction, I just feel it would be criminal not to mention it!

Ablow, Arnott, Albom.................3 A’s I have read

Keith Ablow – Murder, Suicide..........read and enjoyed back in January 2010

The fifth in a series of six books with Frank Clevenger. Can’t remember too much about it, only that I enjoyed it. This book and the faded memories form part of my reason for blogging, so I can remember what I read and enjoyed when I look back.

John Snow is a brilliant inventor who has made millions from his genius in aeronautics. He has everything a man could desire: wealth, family, even a beautiful mistress. But he also has a brain disease, a rare form of epilepsy, that threatens his most valuable possession—his mind. Only one doctor may be able to cure it surgically, but at a terrible cost, one that Snow reveals to no one: Snow will have no memory whatsoever of his past—of its emotional entanglements or its secrets. The night before he is to enter the hospital, he is murdered. Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Frank Clevenger delves into Snow's complex past and tortured relationships to unlock the identity of Snow's killer: Was it the wife who can never forgive what he's done to their child, the son who loathes him, the beautiful mistress who takes pleasure in inflicting emotional cruelty, or the business partner who helped him build his fortune?

Jake Arnott – The Long Firm.......read and enjoyed back in November 2011

First book in a series of three about crime in swinging 60’s London. Violent and gripping, I must read the other two.

A long firm is a particular type of scam perpetrated by British gangs on unsuspecting innocents. Harry Starks is a kind of fraud, too. He likes to think of himself as an impresario in roaring-60s London, a club owner. Certainly, he is a romantic but, in truth, he is a gangster, a rival of the infamous Krays and every bit as ruthless (and gay)..

He has an expensive flat in Chelsea full of scrapbooks showing him with Sonny Liston, Johnny Ray, Ruby Ryder, and other celebrities who appear at his club. Even Judy Garland. He likes to hobnob with fighters and performers and, recently, a member of parliament whose allegiance he has cultivated. Harry collects them, as if proximity will give him legitimacy..

Harry Starks is a force, a contradiction. Harry is ingenuous and evil. He is menacing and ruthless, yet compelling, a romantic who insists on honour, insists on loyalty, on his cut of the cosmic pie. His generosity is as renowned as his barbarity, and he is very generous.

Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet In Heaven.... read back in December 2010.

Not a crime novel but a fantastic piece of fiction, thought provoking and uplifting.

Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit, their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "What was I here?"

Abbott, Abel, Ammaniti..............3 on Mount TBR

Megan Abbott – Die A Little

Her debut novel published back in 2005, on pile TBR 4 or 5 years at a minimum

FEMME FATALES

OBSESSIVE LOVE

DOUBLE CROSSES

How does a respectable young woman fall into Los Angeles' hard-boiled underworld?

Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott's debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue. This ingenious twist on a classic noir tale tells the story of Lora King, a schoolteacher, and her brother Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney's office. Lora's comfortable, suburban life is jarringly disrupted when Bill falls in love with a mysterious young woman named Alice Steele, a Hollywood wardrobe assistant with a murky past.

Made sisters by marriage but not by choice, the bond between Lora and Alice is marred by envy and mistrust. Spurred on by inconsistencies in Alice's personal history and possibly jealous of Alice's hold on her brother, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy Los Angeles. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she uncovers a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution, and ultimately, murder.

Lora's fascination with Alice's "sins" increases in direct proportion to the escalation of her own relationship with Mike Standish, a charmingly amoral press agent who appears to know more about his old friend Alice than he reveals. The deeper Lora digs to uncover Alice's secrets, the more her own life begins to resemble Alice's sinister past -- and present.

Steeped in atmospheric suspense and voyeuristic appeal, Die a Little shines as a dark star among Hollywood lights.

Kenneth Abel – The Blue Wall

Published back in 1996, quite highly regarded, but languishing on TBR for 5 or 6 years now.

Investigating the murder of a young woman who was found clutching an NYPD detective badge, Dave Moser and his partner find clues that link the victim's unsavory father to a corrupt cop.

Niccolo Ammaniti – I’m Not Scared

A debut novel from 2003, unread now for about 4 years

“Stop all this talk about monsters, Michele. Monsters don't exist. It's men you should be afraid of, not monsters.”

A sweltering heat wave hits a tiny village in Southern Italy, sending the adults to seek shelter, while their children bicycle freely throughout the countryside, playing games and getting into trouble. On a dare, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano enters an old, abandoned farmhouse, where he stumbles upon a secret so terrible that he can't tell anybody. As the truth emerges, Michele learns that the horror in the creepy old house is closer to home than he ever imagined.

A widely acclaimed international bestseller, I'm Not Scared is a spine-tingling novel that combines a coming of age narrative with a satisfying, enthralling story of suspense.

HARLAN COBEN - PLAY DEAD (1990)

Synopsis/blurb......

Ex fashion model and successful business woman Laura Ayars' perfect world is shattered at a time which should have been the happiest of her life. On her honeymoon, her sports superstar husband goes for a swim - and never returns. But what has happened to David - can he really be dead? Whilst struggling to cope with her almost overwhelming grief, Laura is plagued by questions and doubts. Was it an accident? Or suicide? Or is it some terrible, ill-judged hoax? As events begin to unfold, Laura starts to question David's mysterious disappearance. She begins to uncover a conspiracy which reaches deep into the past, and is now slowly beginning to destroy everyone involved. Someone will do anything to keep Laura away from the awful truth - and she has no idea who she can trust . . .

I’ve read a few of Coben’s books in the last 6 or 7 months. My wife enjoys his stories and if she reads something I usually follow on a few months later. This was a reprint of Coben’s first book published back around 1990. He does write a forward in which he gently attempts to steer people away from this and in the direction of another of his books first. About halfway through reading this I could sort of guess why......if I had picked this as my first Coben read, I probably wouldn’t come back to him at all.

Perfect Laura was an imperfect physical specimen of a child, but having overcome those awkward school years with the help of her sister who sort of looked more perfect than her at this stage, she blossomed through puberty into.....how to say it......a perfect physical specimen who became the world’s greatest superstar fashion model, aided by her perfect feet, perfect legs, perfect butt, perfect hips, perfect waist, perfect breasts, perfect neck, perfect mouth, perfect lips, perfect nose, perfect eyes, perfect ears and beautiful hair.....which was always styled to perfection. I think her perfect posture may have also helped. After retiring from modelling, she decided to become a successful businesswoman. Everyone laughed, everyone mocked, everyone scorned her, but do you know what? She was absolutely perfect at it. Fast forward a bit, she meets David. He’s a world class mega-smega-superstar basketball player, whose pretty perfect.....perfect looks, perfect bank account, and where does he find the time to do all that charity work for the children? They fall in love, they marry.........at this stage I wanted them to quickly pop out a child, because I was kind of curious to see if it would be ....perfect.....but I’m digressing.......

The wheels fall off, Laura’s family has secrets, you know dark ones that will come back to haunt you. David disappears, and I was thinking.....wait - perhaps it has something to do with dark secrets from Laura’s past. Without giving too much away, Laura’s world goes all imperfect for a fair few hundred pages or so, and she doesn’t know who to trust, apart from Australian Graham.

Still I needn’t have worried as we were safe in Harlan’s hands.

Unbelievable plot, unbelievable characters, unbelievable reactions from unbelievable characters to unbelievable situations. If he could have addressed those minor flaws, it would have been perfect.

2 from 5, on the basis that I didn’t quite reach the point where I wanted to commit hari-kari with my bookmark whilst reading.

My copy was bought last year probably second hand, can’t remember to be truthful.

PS, I will no doubt read him again and I'll look forward to it. Generally I've enjoyed his books in the past, this was a stinker though.

DICK FRANCIS - FORFEIT (1968)

Synopsis/blurb....

Bert Checkov was a Fleet Street racing correspondent with an unnerving talent for tipping non-starters for big races. But the advice he gave James Tyrone, a few minutes before he fell to his death, was of a completely different nature... Not one for the quiet life, Tyrone has a bloodhound's nose for trouble and pretty soon he's caught up in an increasingly dangerous game. One that threatens him, his crippled wife and the credibility of the racing world. Blowing the roof off is the number one policy of The Sunday Blaze ... and Tyrone has stumbled upon explosive material. 'A superb chiller and killer' New York Times Book Review

My first introduction to Dick Francis and his thrillers set in the world of horse racing. This offering was the recipient of the 1970 Edgar Award for best novel, with the author having been a runner-up in each of the 3 preceding years.

The book was quite entertaining. Tyrone was likeable and sympathetic particularly in his efforts to care for his stricken wife and in the sacrifices he had made through the years since she contracted polio. At the same time he was still quite driven in his need to delve deeper into the mystery of his friend, Bert Checkov’s last words in the moments before he died. That this investigation would put him and his wife in danger was a consideration, particularly as the pieces of the puzzle unfolded, but not a sufficient deterrent to his enquiries.  Tyrone’s need to find physical release in the company of a woman, whilst remaining loyal and faithful to his invalid wife, was understandable if slightly disappointing. Still, heroes have warts and failings just like the rest of us.

I enjoyed the book for the aspects of community shown in the horse racing environment, with nearly everyone knowing everyone else. Francis realistically portrayed life in the lower echelons of the industry and glamorous it certainly isn’t. As a former champion jockey and the unfortunate rider of the Queen’s Mother’s ill-fated mount Devon Loch in the Grand National, you would expect him to know the ins and outs of racing. Having the skill and ability to transfer that experience and knowledge into written form shows a different quality. I’ll read more of Francis and his horse racing thrillers in the future.

4 from 5

I acquired my copy after swapping a book on the Readitswap it website.

MICHAEL CONNELLY - THE DROP (2011)

Synopsis/blurb......

When evidence links a brutal murder in 1989 to a convicted rapist named Clayton Pell, the case should be water-tight. Pell's DNA was found on the victim - but he was only eight years old at the time.

This not the only mystery Harry Bosch has to solve. A man jumped - or was pushed - from a window. The victim's father is Councilman Irving, who's been intent on destroying Harry's career for years. Now Irving wants Harry to head up the investigation.

Harry uncovers traces of two of the city's deepest secrets: a killer operating for as many as three decades without being detected, and a conspiracy that goes back into the dark history of the police department ...

Throughout my 20 plus years as a crime fiction reader, I’ve encountered many a detective that I have admired. I’ve followed the progress of their investigations, marvelling at their skills and intuition; the ability to dissect the various strands of evidence and point themselves in the next logical direction; their empathy for the victims and their families; their tenacity in pursuing their case; their courage and bravery in facing physical danger and their character and backbone much needed to withstand the interference and pressures from those higher up the food chain, often running in tandem with a hostile media and angry public. Of all the detectives I’ve read about, Connelly’s creation Harry Bosch is definitely my favourite. (If anyone decided to murder my skinny ass.....ok it’s not skinny....he’s the guy I want seconded to the Bedfordshire police to head up the investigation.)

In The Drop, Harry runs two enquiries. He has an open unsolved case over twenty years old where the DNA evidence points to a suspect, who already has convictions for sex offences but who was a young boy when the crime was committed.   

His second case is an investigation that sees him cross paths with his nemesis, Councilman Irving. Irving’s son has fallen from a seventh storey window at a hotel and he wants Bosch to establish the truth of the matter; suicide, accident or murder.

Connelly skilfully weaves together the investigation into the two crimes, which Bosch runs concurrently, despite being pressured by the brass upstairs and Irving to prioritise the Councilman’s son’s death. Bosch resists Irving’s attempts to control his enquiry and delves deeper into the background of George Irving’s business dealings and marriage, uncovering possible corruption in City Hall and Irvin Irving’s alleged involvement in feathering his son’s nest.

Harry’s cold case sees him gain a romantic attachment with a sex therapist who is counselling his major suspect, whilst harbouring her own secrets regarding her fractured family. Bosch also contends with a working partner, Chu who he doesn’t fully trust and as a consequence finds Chu’s resentment at his treatment deflecting his focus from the investigations. His teenage daughter also occupies a lot of his thoughts, as he continues to construct and nurture a relationship with her after the death of her mother several years ago. All the while, the clock runs down on his tenure with the police department and he considers life on the outside.  

Having struggled to enjoy Connelly’s last few books with the exception of The Fifth Witness, I was delighted to read this offering. Back on form and attains the heights of some of his earlier work.

5 from 5......and an early contender for April’s book of the month.

I picked up my copy late last year whilst casing some charity shop book stocks.  

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JANUARY - MARCH....AUTHORS NEW TO ME

Kerrie's excellent blog Mysteries in Paradise has asked fellow bloggers to chip in with a summary of the new authors they have read in the first 3 months of the year. My contribution is the following.

Twenty Major - The Order of the Phoenix Park (2008) (2)

Austin S. Camacho - The Payback Assignment  (1999) (3)

Jo Nesbo - The Bat  (2012) (4)

Joe Clifford - Choice Cuts (2012) (4)

Ed Lacey - Room to Swing (1957) (4)

Chuck Palahniuk - Survivor (1999) (3)

Gary Carson - Hot Wire (2012) (3)

John D. Macdonald - The Deep Blue Goodbye (1964) (4)

Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon (2002) (2)

Andrew Nette - Ghost Money (2012) (4)

Adam Hall - The Quiller Memorandum  (1965) (4)

Max Allan Collins - Bait Money (1973) (3)

Randy Wayne White - Sanibel Flats (1990) (4)

Bill Pronzini - The Snatch (1971) (5)

Jack London - The Call of the Wild (1903) (4)

Dorothy B. Hughes - In a Lonely Place (1947) (4)

Henry Baum - The Golden Calf (2000) (4)

H. J. Hampson - The Vanity Game (2012) (4)

18 in total for me, with my non-scientific rating or score after the title. I haven't considered setting myself a target of newbies to read and wouldn't know how many I read last year, though with some time and a bit of inclination I could check back.

There's a couple in there that probably wouldn't stand up as crime fiction, but hey.... and a couple of authors in there I won't be reading again.

Highlights..........Pronzini, Nesbo, MacDonald.

Apologies for the lack of links to my individual posts about the books and a link to the Mysteries in Paradise website.........my pc skills need some tutoring, perhaps I should hone my skills as a challenge for myself. 

Sorted! Well mostly, apart from the link to the Mysteries in Paradise website - CBA with that one.

MARCH 2013 - READING LIST

Gerald Seymour - The Outsiders (2012) (4)

Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009) (4)

Robert Crais - Lullaby Town (1992) (4)

Gene Kerrigan - The Rage (2011) (4)

Linwood Barclay - Clouded Vision (2011) (3)

Max Allan Collins - Bait Money (1973) (3)

Randy Wayne White - Sanibel Flats (1990) (4)

Marek Krajewski - The End Of The World In Breslau (2009) (1)

Bill Pronzini - The Snatch (1971) (5)

Lawrence Block - In The Midst Of Death (1976) (4)

Jack London - The Call Of The Wild (1903) (4)

Dorothy B Hughes - In A Lonely Place (1947) (4)

John D. MacDonald - Nightmare In Pink (1964) (3)

Henry Baum - The Golden Calf (2000) (4)

Pinckney Benedict - Dogs Of God (1993) (3)

H. J. Hampson - The Vanity Game (2012) (4)

A little bit of variety in my reading this month. I've been to 1920's Germany, late 19th century Canada, 60's New York and a crime infested present day Dublin, to mention a few. I've not got my non-fiction mojo back - sticking to fiction again for the second consecutive month. I have managed to read two books by female authors, which is two more than last month.

I've stayed on top of my reading challenges; Award winner - tick, Scandinavia - tick, overall numbers - double tick.

I've kept going with the two series I had started, plus I've begun a further three. If I maintain my series bent, my reading in coming months may become a little bit predictable, so I'll have to keep an eye on that. It doesn't pay to be too restrictive in my choices as my reading might turn into a chore rather than remain a pleasure.

One stinker in the month which I struggled with - Krajewski and Breslau. Pretty much everything else I enjoyed, some a lot more than others.........Kerrigan, Block, Seymour, London......were a lot closer to the top of the pile than the rest.

Book of the month though - the first in Bill Pronzini's long running Nameless detective series - The Snatch.