FIRST SENTENCE HOOK

I received a book I had ordered this morning through the mail. It's the third book in a series, though needless to say I haven't yet read either of the first two, a big surprise........ not!

Handling the book and admiring the cover and flicking to the first page.........." On Saturday she watched Robert have sex with four women. She had sex with two men."......I'm instantly hooked.

I have no real interest myself in indulging in any extra marital relationships, and I'll try (not always successfully) to withhold judgement on anyone who does, but I'm immediately drawn into this book after 10 written words. I want to read about this woman, her husband and her family and as it's a crime novel, falling under the police procedural umbrella - I want to discover what happens to her and whether the behaviour exhibited above is integral to the mystery or incidental. I have loads of unanswered questions in my head already.

Because I haven't read the first two and I'm a bit OCD, I will reluctantly set this aside.

The second book that came in the mail this morning, has a first sentence.

"My big mistake was allowing happiness to creep in." I'm intrigued but it hasn't quite got the same pizzazz (is that even a word?) as the first book.

No prizes on offer, but can anyone guess the first book, both author and title, with a few clues?

Police procedural series, running to at least three titles, but this one was first released in 2005 so there could be more, author is fairly prolific with one other series and a lot of standalone books as well, and he hails from a land down under.........I've probably made it too easy now for both regular readers of the blog!

What's the first sentence in your current read and did it grab you instantly?

SUE GRAFTON - A IS FOR ALIBI (1982)

Synopsis/blurb........

‘My name is Kinsey Millhone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind . . .’ When Laurence Fife was murdered, few cared. A slick divorce attorney with a reputation for ruthlessness, Fife was also rumoured to be a slippery ladies’ man. Plenty of people in the picturesque Southern California town of Santa Teresa had reason to want him dead. Including, thought the cops, his young and beautiful wife, Nikki. With motive, access and opportunity, Nikki was their number one suspect. The Jury thought so too. Eight years later and out on parole, Nikki Fife hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her husband. But the trail has gone cold and there is a chilling twist even Kinsey didn’t expect . . . ‘Skilful and ingenious’ Irish Times ‘I love Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels . . . you are never disappointed’ Guardian ‘Will keep you awake until the last page has been turned’ Daily Mail

Well having admonished myself for ignoring the female crime writing fraternity for not months, in truth years, I have decided to address that deficiency in my reading. As an aside, I was once browsing a second hand book store and picked up a book - Bleedout  - authored by I thought John Brady, on closer examination it was actually written by Joan Brady............so I put it back, why? I can’t really explain. Any way glossing over that example of blatant sexism, we return to Sue Grafton and the first in her Alphabet series starring Kinsey Millhone.

Kinsey is hired by Nikki Fife to uncover who killed her adulterous husband, Laurence. Nikki having just been released from prison after serving eight years for the murder professes her innocence and wants Millhone to dig into the past.

Having had a passing acquaintance with the dead Laurence and a vague recollection of his murder, Kinsey starts looking over the original investigation, discovering there was a second fatality exactly like Fife’s death a short period afterwards. Libby Glass, an accountant who crossed paths with Laurence Fife was poisoned in exactly the same way as the lawyer, though her client was never charged.

Kinsey backtracks into Fife’s personal and business relationships as well as looking at Libby Glass’ surviving family believing that there is an obvious link between the two crimes. Gwen, who was Fife’s first wife and Charlie Scorsoni, Fife’s friend and former business partner are obvious avenues for information as well as Fife’s children with Gwen and one of his rumoured sexual partners who may have held something over him judging by her attitude towards him in the workplace; Sharon Napier.

Fast forward to page 345, a longish book for a first novel and Grafton brings Millhone’s first highlighted investigation to a satisfying conclusion.

And the verdict was........ interesting and enjoyable, albeit a little bit different from the male PIs I have been reading a lot of lately. Whilst Matthew Scudder and Elvis Cole can on occasion be drawn into physical violence and their authors can engage the readers with a bout of fisticuffs, this approach is never really going to work for Kinsey, particularly as Grafton has not gifted her a skill-set involving the martial arts. Instead Millhone uses intelligence, tenacity and a logical approach to her sleuthing. When the inevitable confrontations arise, she doesn’t lack for bravery.  

I didn’t really feel a great warmth or affection for our heroine, as yet. I was probably more of an interested bystander watching Millhone’s enquiry progress. Kinsey has a past, with two failed marriages behind her. She lives economically in a small apartment, with apparently no close friends or family. She enjoys sex and alcohol when it’s available, but has no addiction or issues with either. She appears to be alone without being lonely. Definitely someone I would like to read more about, particularly in the hope of discovering more about her past. I’ll be back at some point with B, then probably C and maybe D, but not straight away.

4 stars from 5

I picked up my copy by swapping on the Readitswapit  website in exchange for something else.

I do anticipate reading further female written fiction this month. Go me!

  

J's UNREAD, J's ENJOYED

Week 10 on our marathon journey through the Crime Fiction Alphabet, hosted by Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise. Here are a few J's to consider, both enjoyed and unread as yet!

James, James, Johnstone........3 enjoyed. 

Bill James – You’d Better Believe It

The first in a 30 long series starring Harpur and Iles, though I’m not sure if both have lasted the pace. At a guess I read this maybe 8 or 9 years ago and although I enjoyed it and tracked down some of the subsequent books in the series, I haven’t been back. When life stops interfering with my reading habits, I will try and get back to it, probably re-reading this one first.

 

Nominated for England's Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 1986, You'd Better Believe It introduced Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur to reader in England and the United States. Harpur's domain is a small seaport city south of London. It's not unusual for the big-town criminals to consider such a spot as easy prey. At such times a policeman must rely keenly upon his colleagues, to be sure, and also upon his retinue of narks (tipsters). This time it's a Lloyd's Bank branch that's the target. When the heist is postponed, a policeman is killed. One nark, then another, is murdered. As Harpur becomes driven to his limit, he must bypass regulations and settle things once and for all with a vicious crook named Holly. But not necessarily on his own terms.

Russell James – Underground

I tracked this down after it appeared on Al Guthrie’s list of 200 Noirs. I must have read it maybe 5 or 6 years ago, at a guess, as I only started keeping records in 2010. I reckon I enjoyed it, but that's as far as it goes unfortunately. My memory isn’t what it used to be. I’m fairly sure I have some other stuff by this author still to get to..... Daylight, Payback, Slaughter Music....to mention a few. James writes on the dark side of British crime, gangsters and violence the order of the day.

 

This is a tense thriller in which a "sleeper", hiding in the urban decay of South-East London, is forced to go on the run. He has a mission to complete but it is a race against time. Can he do the job before capture and possible death?

 

Doug Johnstone – Smokeheads

I read and enjoyed this late last year. I felt it was a bit like Deliverance comes to Scotland, a little bit far-fetched but for the most part believable. It was my first taste of this particular author and whilst I would read more from him again. I’m especially like the look of an earlier book of his – Tombstoning.

 

Four friends, one weekend, gallons of whisky. What could go wrong? Driven by amateur whisky-nut Adam, four late-thirties ex-university mates are heading to Islay - the remote Scottish island

world famous for its single malts - with a wallet full of cash, a stash of coke and a serious thirst. Over a weekend soaked in the finest cask strength spirit, they meet young divorcee Molly, who Adam has a soft spot for, her little sister Ash who has all sorts of problems and Molly's ex-husband Joe, a control freak who also happens to be the local police. As events spiral out of control, they are all thrown into a nightmare that gets worse at every turn.

 Jackson, Johnson, Jones.......3 unread.

Jon A. Jackson – The Diehard

I’m unsure how this author got onto my radar, as I can’t recall seeing him mentioned on the various blogs I used to hang out at, and I don’t think his books have been published in the UK, but I may well be wrong. This was published in 1977, the first in a 9 or 10 books series that was published intermittently up to 2004. It’s been unread and ignored for at least 6 years or so, this and most of the others in the series, unfortunately. Detective Sergeant Mulheisen will hopefully be on active reading duty before the end of the year, if I can lay my hands on it!      

 

 

Mulheisen investigates when a beautiful young heiress turns up dead in Indian Village, an exclusive enclave in Detroit, and discovers that her husband is the only executive of Fidelity Trust Insurance to escape blame for a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme.

 

 

 

Denis Johnson – Nobody Move

A one-off novel on this occasion, published in 2009 to great acclaim apparently, so I haven’t been ignoring it for that long. Truth be told, it will still be sat unread for another few years I guess.

From the National Book Award-winning, bestselling author of Tree of Smoke comes a provocative thriller set in the American West. Nobody Move, which first appeared in the pages of Playboy, is the story of an assortment of lowlifes in Bakersfield, California, and their cat-and-mouse game over $2.3 million. Touched by echoes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Nobody Move is at once an homage to and a variation on literary form. It salutes one of our most enduring and popular genres - the American crime novel - but does so with a grisly humor and outrageousness that are Denis Johnson's own. Sexy, suspenseful, and above all entertaining, Nobody Move shows one of our greatest novelists at his versatile best. From the National Book Award-winning, bestselling author of Tree of Smoke comes a provocative thriller set in the American West. �Nobody Move, which first appeared in the pages of Playboy, is the story of an assortment of lowlifes in Bakersfield, California, and their cat-and-mouse game over $2.3 million. Touched by echoes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Nobody Move is at once an homage to and a variation on literary form. It salutes one of our most enduring and popular genres - the American crime novel - but does so with a grisly humor and outrageousness that are Denis Johnson's own. Sexy, suspenseful, and above all entertaining, Nobody Move shows one of our greatest novelists at his versatile best.

Matthew F. Jones – A Single Shot

I’ve only had this about 6 months or so, as I believe it was a most welcome Christmas present from one of my girls. I think it has or is being turned into a film due out later this year. I will need to read before watching. He has written about 5 or 6 other books that I have on my wish-list. If Daniel Woodrell rates him, he's worth checking out.  

Abandoned by his wife and young son, John Moon sits in his trailer on the mountainside, feeling abused by the world. All he has left is an acre-and-a-half of the family farm, and he makes do with odd jobs and poaching game off state land. One morning he goes hunting a deer out of season and winds up killing a young runaway instead. In trying to hide the evidence of his accidental crime, Moon finds a huge sum of money, plus evidence that the young girl was not alone. Will Moon’s crime be discovered? What will be the consequences for him and his family?

“One of the finest novels of rural crime and moral horror in the past few decades.” – Daniel Woodrell, author or Winter’s Bone

I'll be boning up on my K's now!


 

ROB KITCHIN - STIFFED (2013)

Synopsis/blurb.....

Tadhg Maguire wakes to find himself spooning a dead man. The stiff is Tony Marino, lieutenant to mobster Aldo Pirelli. It doesn't matter how the local enforcer ended up between Tadhg’s sheets, Pirelli is liable to leap to the wrong conclusion and demand rough justice. The right thing to do would be to call the cops. The sensible thing to do would be to disappear. Forever. The only other option is to get rid of the body and pretend it was never there. No body, no crime. What he needs is a couple of friends to help dispose of the heavy corpse. Little do Tadhg’s friends know what kind of reward they’ll receive for their selfless act – threatened, chased, shot at, and kidnapped with demands to return a million dollars they don’t possess. By mid-afternoon Tadhg is the most wanted man in America. Not bad for someone who’d never previously had so much as parking ticket. If he survives the day he’s resigned to serving time, but not before he saves his friends from the same fate.

It’s a bit of a tricky review to write this one is. So we’ll have a quick Q&A session to see if that can help instead.

Is it a straight-forward crime or mystery novel? Err, not really in my opinion, as the author intentionally strives for large doses of humour throughout. As a black comedy it’s superb, with likeable good guys (for the most part) going that extra mile in the name of friendship. As a mystery or crime story with a ratcheting sense of danger and fear for the safety of our intrepid band of brethren, less so. Despite an ever increasing number of villains joining in the hunt for the missing $1 million, all brandishing a splendid array of firepower and inflicting regular doses of pain and injury on Taghg and his gang, I didn’t really feel at any time that their lives were in jeopardy.  

Did the lack of tension or danger then detract from my enjoyment of the book? Actually no, as the author gave his main characters sufficient doses of likeability, charm, intelligence, stupidity, naivety and frailty to off-set this. I viewed it more as a comedy than an out and out crime read.

Did the novel amuse, entertain, enthral and captivate you? Did you skip meals and bunk off work, in a heightened state of anxiety to try and finish in a record time? Yes, yes, hmmm...sort of, no – that’s too strong, no and no. Enjoyable, amusing, fun, interesting, a few laugh out loud moments and a few moments of quiet contemplation whilst I considered my own friendships. I read it leisurely, dragging it out over the best part of the week.

What niggled about the book? Nothing especially, some characters annoyed and irritated but I think that was the author’s intention. As the book progressed and Tadhg’s longest day unfolded, some previous unknowns were revealed, offering explanations for some earlier behaviour.

Would you read more about the characters, more from this author? Yes and yes again. I’d happily re-visit Tadgh at some point in the future, if there’s a sequel...are you listening, Rob? That said, I wouldn’t be unhappy reading more of the author’s fiction with or without Maguire and his cronies. But maybe Tadgh on a road trip to Mexico, or Cuba.....    

Overall impression then? 4 from 5, a welcome diversion from my usual fare of grittier crime books. A wee bit like the first Dortmunder novel I read from Donald Westlake – The Hot Rock.

Rob was kind enough to offer up this copy for me to read and review - cheers.

LAWRENCE BLOCK - EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE (1982)

Synopsis/blurb......

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned PI was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

My fifth and probably most enjoyable book so far in this prolific author’s series of 17 books to date. On the front cover of my edition, Stephen King blurbs “A hell of a book!” Whilst on the odd occasion I may take exception to King’s recommendations and disagree, not this time around. The book also won the Shamus Award for Best Hardcover PI Novel in 1982.

When I say probably, I will qualify it by saying I was a little bit disappointed in the resolution of the crime and the motivations and raison d’être for the protagonist acting the way he/she did – I’ll leave it ambiguous to avoid spoiling anyone’s subsequent reading of the book. It’s a minor gripe to be honest, but it was a little bit of a niggle for me just the same.         

Kim, a good-time girl for hire, wants out of the game. Scudder is asked to speak to Kim’s pimp, Chance on her behalf to arrange this. Chance, once Scudder has spoken to him has no objections and an amicable arrangement is reached. Kim is murdered a few short days later. After overcoming his initial scepticism, believing her pimp is responsible for the killing; Matt is engaged by Chance to track down the killer, with Chance correctly believing that now he has been eliminated from the list of suspects, the cops will scale back the investigation giving it a low priority. Scudder, with lead detective Durkin’s approval, makes his usual diligent enquiries, doggedly moving closer to some answers.

The mystery in itself was fairly interesting, but for me the best parts of the book, and the other Scudder’s I have read, chart Scudder’s daily routine, his interactions with his associates and “friends”, and his general separateness. He’s in a city of eight million people and he’s lonely.      

My main enjoyment was derived from the characters prominent in the book and the subsequent inter-play between them. Chance, a likeable black pimp; educated, elusive, enigmatic, caring and considered in everything he did and Scudder, who at the end manages to let his stoic, steely mask slip showing his frailty. His humanity has never been in doubt, but seeing this side of him, as he tries to tackle his alcoholism was endearing.

Looking forward to book six next month – When The Sacred Ginmill Closes...err actually this month, as Eight Million should have been done and dusted in May.

My earlier reviews in the series are as follows;

The Sins Of The Father

Time To Murder And Create

In The Midst Of Death

A Stab In The Dark      

4 stars from 5

I bought or swapped my copy a long, long time ago from I know not where.

    

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I's UNREAD, I's ENJOYED

It is week 9 on my Crime Fiction Alphabet journey hosted by Kerrie at her Mysteries in Paradise blog. It is the turn of the I’s and I’m scratching around to put a team out for this week’s challenge. Usually I can pull six players from the heaving racks of my bookshelves, but this week I have to settle for four members only; one of which could by no means possible be classed as a crime fiction author. John Irving – do you really want me to disqualify him on the basis that he doesn’t write crime? In my opinion it would be criminally negligent not to mention him or to at least read one of his books in your reading lifetime.

Izzo, Indridason..........2 unread

Jean-Claude Izzo – Total Chaos

I bought this and the other two in the Marseille Trilogy maybe six or seven years ago. I was a wee bit tired of continually reading US-based crime fiction, so cast my net a bit closer to home and a sprinkling of French noir. I ought to get to it sometime this decade with a bit of luck!  

 

Jean-Claude Izzo's . . . growing literary renown and huge sales are leading to a recognizable new trend in continental fiction: the rise of the sophisticated Mediterranean thriller. . . . Caught between pride and crime, racism and fraternity, tragedy and light, messy urbanization and generous beauty, the city for [detective Fabio Montale] is a Utopia, an ultimate port of call for exiles. There, he is torn between fatalism and revolt, despair and sensualism."-The Economist

This first installment in the legendary Marseilles Trilogy sees Fabio Montale turning his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and taking the fight against the mafia into his own hands.

Arnaldur Indridason – Arctic Chill

I read one of his first three books in the series a fair few years ago, and picked up and read The Draining Lake a few months ago. Having knocked my OCD tendencies for six by reading the series out of order, I plan on reading this one next, then continuing on with the later books before dropping back to the beginning. No doubt life and many other books, will disrupt my planning.

On an icy January day the Reykjavik police are called to a block of flats where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The discovery of a stab wound in his stomach extinguishes any hope that this was a tragic accident. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation with little to go on but the news that the boy's Thai half-brother is missing. Is he implicated, or simply afraid for his own life? The investigation soon unearths tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland's outwardly liberal, multicultural society. A teacher at the boy's school makes no secret of his anti-immigration stance; incidents are reported between Icelandic pupils and the disaffected children of incomers; and, to confuse matters further, a suspected paedophile has been spotted in the area. Meanwhile, the boy's murder forces Erlendur to confront the tragedy in his own past. Soon, facts are emerging from the snow-filled darkness that are more chilling even than the Arctic night.

 

Irving, Izzi.........2 enjoyed

John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany

WARNING WARNING WARNING – THE BRIEF PASSAGE YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IN NO WAY REFERS TO A CRIME FICTION BOOK EITHER LIVING OR DEAD. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ONE IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. BUT IT IS A BLOODY GOOD BOOK!

I read this either late 80’s or early90’s whilst working long twelve hour shifts in a bakery. The brief accompanying blurb, doesn’t actually sell the book to be honest. Funny, sad, tender and moving, I’m not afraid to say Irving had me in tears reading this. Absolutely, definitely, without a shadow of a doubt – one of my Top 10 books of all time. His “Garp” book was similarly stunning in my opinion but “Owen Meany” shades it for me.  

 

 

Owen Meany hits a foul ball while playing baseball in the summer of 1953 that kills his best friend's mother, an accident that Owen is sure is the result of divine intervention.

 

 

 

Eugene Izzi – The Take

I picked this up in the early 90’s and absolutely loved it.  Chicago hoods, tough guys, Mafiosi, guns, drugs, cops......everything you could want in a book and more. I tracked down all of his other books probably not for another 10 years or so, because not many were published in the UK. He had a few out under the Nick Gaitano moniker as he was in dispute with his publisher at the time. I’ve note read them all, but this one remains a firm favourite with me.

Ex-cop, safecracker Fabe Falletti plans to retire--after one more score. But when he and his partner break into a condo and find a beautiful corpse, a million Mob dollars and a stash of cocaine, Fabe must run a super-slick scam to avoid the Mafia, Chicago's drug world, and the cops.

 

 

On a sad note, some years later I found out he had died somewhat bizarrely at the age of 43. I was upset to think he had gone at such a young age and in such strange circumstances – see the entry from Wikipedia below. It’s strange how the death of someone you’ve never met can affect you.  

On December 7, 1996, Izzi was found hanged, his body dangling outside the 14th-story window of his writing office in downtown Chicago. When his body was discovered, Izzi was wearing a bulletproof vest. In his pockets, investigators found brass knuckles, a can of "disabling spray" (likely mace or pepper spray), and a computer disc containing an unfinished manuscript.

Although officially ruled to be suicide and his family accepted the coroner's verdict,the strange manner of Izzi's death and unusual items found with his body have led to numerous conspiracy theories. Among these were claims that Izzi had infiltrated a white supremacist group and was planning to detail their activities in a future book.In addition, the bizarre scene is said to resemble one portrayed in the unfinished manuscript.

 

 

MAY 2013 - READING LIST

A mixed bag this month really; I read 14 books in total so I'm well on course for hitting my year end target of 120 to match last year's reading figure. There were a few more books this month that didn't rock me to be honest, no out and out stinkers but fair to say they were endured rather than enjoyed.

I kept on top of one of my other targets, reading a Scandinavian crime fiction book each month, with Leif G.W. Persson's Another Time, Another Place sneaking in at the bottom of the list when I finished it on the morning of the 31st.

I sort of missed my other target when unable to finish Lawrence Block's Eight Million Ways To Die before the end of the month. This would have been my "Award" winning read as it trousered a Shamus Award in 1983 for best PI Hardcover Novel. Finishing would have kept me up to speed on the 6 different series I am reading concurrently. However, as I got over halfway through it, I won't beat myself up too badly.

Where I do need to give myself a bit of a talking to and maybe a detention with 500 lines or so......
I must read more female authors.
I must read more female authors.
I must read more.........a bit fat ZERO!!!!!!!!

Sue Grafton is definitely on the list for June, one's a start!

Highlights were Max Allan Collins, Bill Pronzini and Elmore Leonard, which was my Goodreads Pulp Fiction Monthly Read, but the 2 standout books were Robert Crais' Voodoo River and Alan Furst's Mission To Paris.

Crais' series just gets better and better, Voodoo River was the 5th so far and my most enjoyable, but my vote for book of the month is Alan Furst's superb pre-war tale Mission To Paris. My first Furst but definitely not my last Furst!

The full list of reads is below with links to my half-baked reviews. Marks from 5 in brackets.

Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise collates together fellow crime fiction aficionados' monthly reads and pick of their month over here. Well worth a visit for some ideas for your TBR pile!


Martin Amis - Lionel Asbo (2012) (2)

Tom Robbins - B Is For Beer (2009) (2)

Stephen King - Dark Tower 1 - The Gunslinger (1982) (3)

Alan Furst - Mission To Paris (2012) (5)

Jack Tunney (AKA Gerard Brennan) - Fightcard: Welcome To The Octagon (2013) (4)

Seeley James - The Geneva Decision (2012) (2)

John D. MacDonald - The Quick Red Fox (1964) (4)

Robert Crais - Voodoo River (1995) (5)

Elmore Leonard - Valdez Is Coming (1969) (4)

Max Allan Collins - Fly Paper (1981) (4)

Randy Wayne White - The Man Who Invented Florida (1993) (2)

Dick Francis - Dead Cert (1962) (4)

Bill Pronzini - Undercurrent (1973) (4)

Leif G. W. Persson - Another Time, Another Life (2011) (4)