Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Book: FREE FALL (1993) by Robert Crais

Jennifer Sheridan, the young and impressionable, innocent and plucky heroine of Robert Crais' fourth Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel is just the kind of girl that Elvis was born to protect. After all Elvis is the ultimate self-confessed, knight-in-shining armor in the guise of a Los Angeles-based private eye -  someone to turn to when your life begins to go down the tubes. He is the original gun-carrying, bone-crushing, boy-scout; a self-admitted Peter Pan who, for a two thousand dollar advance, will come to your rescue with a quip and an elbow to the gut. He is (in his own words) 'the world's greatest detective." Or at least, that's how he answers his phone. World's Greatest to the rescue.

If you can read this book and NOT fall in love with Elvis, then, well, you are beyond mortal help.

Back to the story: Jennifer Sheridan is sure that her fiance Mark Thurman is in some sort of deep trouble but since he won't talk to her about it, she can't help him. She wants to help him. She loves him. He lover her - that will never change. No matter what. Her earnestness is infectious.

"On the phone you said something about your boyfriend."

"My fiance. I think he's mixed up in some kind of criminal thing. I've asked him, and he denies it, but I know that something going on. I think he's scared, and that worries me. My fiance is not scared of very much."

I nodded again and tucked that away. Fearless Fiance. "Okay. What kind of crime are we talking about.?"

"I don't know."

"Is he stealing cars?"

"I don't think so."

"Is he embezzling?"

"No. It wouldn't be that."

"How about fraud?"

She shook her head.

"We're running out of choices, Ms. Sheridan."

.....I took out a yellow legal pad, a black SenseMatic pencil, and made as if I were poised to copy the rush of information she was about to provide. I drew a couple of practice marks on the page. Subliminal prompting. "I'm ready. Fire away."

She swallowed.

"Anytime."

She stared at the floor.

I put the pad on the desk and the pencil on the pad. I put my fingertips together and looked at Jennifer Sheridan through the steeple, and then I looked at the Pinocchio clock that I've got on my wall. It has eyes that swing from side to side as it tocks, and it's always smiling. Happiness is contagious. It was twelve twenty-two, and if I could get down to the deli fast enough, the turkey would still be moist and the baguette would still be edible. I said, "Maybe you should go to the police, Ms. Sheridan. I don't think I can help you."

She clutched the purse even tighter and gave me miserable. "I can't do that."

I spread my hands and stood up. "If your fiance is in danger, it is better to get in trouble with the police than it is to be hurt or killed....Try the police, Ms. Sheridan. The police can help you."

"I can't do that, Mr. Cole." The misery turned into fear. "My fiance is the police."

"Oh." Now it was my turn. I sat down.

So begins this very tricky case.

Turns out Mark is a 'special forces' L.A. cop and cops have 'codes' they live by - Jennifer understands that. But Mark has NEVER kept anything from her before. Jennifer is worried. She wants to hire Elvis to find out what's going on.

Elvis isn't crazy about the idea of checking into a cop's private life - they don't usually like that.

Sure enough, almost as soon as Jennifer  Sheridan has left his office, Mark Thurman and his quarrelsome drunken lout of a partner, Floyd Riggins show up, with attitude. (Obviously they had been waiting and watching outside.) The meeting doesn't go well. Floyd is a pain in the ass from the get-go. Mark calms him down and explains to Elvis that the 'trouble' Jennifer senses is of a 'personal' nature and Elvis needs to give him [Mark] time to set things right.  It's personal, he insists. Okay, sounds reasonable.

So Elvis has another go at disentangling himself from what has the appearance of turning into a very messy business. He meets Jennifer for lunch near her office, to let her down gently.

What follows is a very funny restaurant scene when Jennifer refuses to let Elvis off the hook. Every time I read this book I can't wait to get to this moment. And every single time I laugh out loud. It's one of those perfectly paced sequences RC is famous for. Elvis is such a sucker for a dame in distress. Especially for a dame who won't stop crying in a crowded restaurant with diners nearby ready to spring to her aid.

AND before you get the idea that this is all fun and games, please think again. It's just that life is occasionally funny (it would have to be for us to stand the rest of it) and Robert Crais makes the most of it. This is one of the things I love best about his writing.

The plot of FREE FALL swirls around L.A. racial troubles, wayward cops and gang violence. But somehow, RC makes it all work together in a new way. (The book is over twenty years old but the same type of troubles, unfortunately, are still pretty much on-going.)

Once he finally accepts the case Elvis finds himself up against a rogue unit of the fearsome L.A. police. Within days, calling on his partner, the enigmatic, taciturn, sunglasses-wearing man of few words, Joe Pike, seems like a good idea. Pike is a man of, shall we say, 'reputation.' Everyone treads carefully around Pike, an ex-cop who doesn't suffer fools lightly and is afraid of no one.

The first phone call between Elvis and Joe:

I used the payphone there to dial a gun shop in Culver City, and man's voice answered on the second ring. "Pike."

"It's me. I'm standing in a 7-Eleven parking lot on San Pedro about three blocks south of Martin Luther King Boulevard. I'm with a black guy in his early twenties named James Edward Washington. A white guy and a Hispanic guy in a dark blue 1989 sedan are following us. I think they've been following me for the past two days."

"Shoot them." Life is simple for some of us.

"I was thinking more that you could follow them as they follow me and we could find out who they are."

Pike didn't say anything.

"Also, I think they're cops."

Pike grunted. "Where you headed?"

"A place called Ray's Gym. In South Central."

Pike grunted again. "I know Ray's. Are you in immediate danger?"

I looked around. "Well, I could probably get hit by a meteor."

Pike said, "Go to Ray's. You won't see me, but I'll be there when you come out."
Then he hung up. Some partner, huh?

These books are not comedies, not cozies, not anything but great private eye stories with their fair share of action and violence, but that not especially overdone. The duo's sense of justice and the rightness of things is especially acute and I like that no matter how difficult the situation, there is never any idea that Elvis and Pike won't do the right thing.

From the moment Pike comes on board, he and Elvis will take on the whole LA Police force AND a bunch of heavily armed lethal gang bangers. As the violence escalates, they find themselves on the other side of the law, (my favorite part of the book), on the run from desperate bad cops, misinformed good cops and a bunch of murderous punks - ugly, nasty dudes who will stop at nothing, to hang onto their turf. It is especially satisfying to read about bad cops getting their comeuppance but it is also especially disturbing reading about cops who have compromised their souls and in the process lost themselves.

But despite the constant sense of danger, there are still moments of pure delight as the relationship between Elvis and Joe is always a joy to read about. These books are basically at their heart all about the strength of their friendship - how Elvis and Joe react to the world around them. A world that isn't  easy. A world in which each man relies completely on the other. There's never any question in my mind that Joe would die for Elvis and vice versa. Though not related, they are brothers. I love that about these books. There are certain 'absolutes' that I enjoy reading about - Elvis and Joe's friendship is one of them. 

Robert Crais loves the city of Los Angeles and knows it like he knows the back of his hand. This comes across in his books as the setting is an integral part of each story. I don't know L.A. at all, but somehow, sometimes, reading R.C., I feel as if I do.

This is a series that should probably be read in order. (Always remembering that Joe and Elvis grow richer and stronger in tone and depth of character as the series goes on almost as if Robert Crais didn't actually realize what he'd created until the series took deeper hold of his imagination.)

My favorites going in:

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT 

LULLABY TOWN
FREE FALL

VOODOO RIVER

INDIGO SLAM

L.A. REQUIEM

I recommend reading at least two of these BEFORE you read L.A. REQUIEM which is, to my mind, a genre masterpiece. REQUIEM is very much enhanced if you already know the depth of Elvis and Joe's friendship and Elvis's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier whom he met in VOODOO RIVER. After that, as you please. It's difficult to go wrong with Robert Crais at the helm. Sequence is not absolutely necessary, after all I began with VOODOO RIVER and then worked my way around the series. Not every book is a keeper, but those that are will remain in my library (to be read and reread) forever.

There are also some quite wonderful books written later on from the point of view of Joe Pike - not to be missed.

Since this is Friday once again (funny how that works) it's time to check in at author Patricia Abbott's blog Pattinase, to see what other forgotten or overlooked books other writers are talking about today.

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Letter Z is for ZUGZWANG by Ronan Bennet

I have a confession to make. I read this book three years ago and yet I have no memory of it except that I know I enjoyed it because I listed it in my journal with a big red check. The name of the book popped into my consciousness (with not much else) when the Letter Z came along - as it inevitably would - in the Crime Fiction Alphabet Weekly Meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE.

I no longer keep a running tab of what I read because I list the books here on the blog. (But I miss the physicality of a journal so I'm debating going back to it.) Anyway, I looked the book up on my library web page and nothing rang a bell. What can I say? This happens sometimes. Actually, a lot of the time. But I just pick up the fragments of memory and move on.

So, long story, short, I'm going to use the library's synopsis to shed a guiding light on this historical thriller by Ronan Bennet.

What is ZUGZWANG? Well, you may ask.

Turns out it's a situational chess term - the one where no matter what move the player makes it can only worsen his position on the board. Sounds like a quicksand sort of thing to me. So, good title for this mystery set in 1914 Tsarist Russia on the eve of an International Chess Tournament.

When two murders occur within weeks of each other as St. Petersburg readies for the tournament...
psychoanalyst Dr. Otto Spethmann, his young daughter and his patients find themselves pawns in a nightmarish game of political intrigue.

...Despite plenty of the usual suspects - Bolsheviks, pro-German reactionaries, Polish nationalists - the police start grilling...a respected psychoanalyst and his eighteen year old daughter. The doctor's protestations of innocence cut no ice with the mysterious police Inspector Mintimer Lychev who shares the doctor's love of chess. The only hope the Doctor has, is to use his analytical skills to crack the case while attempting to keep the mysterious inspector from check-mating his efforts.

Roiling with class tensions and rife with danger, St. Petersburg, during the twilight of the last Czar serves as the chess board on which Irish author Ronan Bennett stages this heady historical thriller.

Sounds good to me.
And I don't even play chess.

This is one of several historical mysteries set in Russia that I happen, coincidentally, to have read within the past couple of years. It's a setting I'm still not completely comfortable with. No matter how much I read about it, it still seems coldly exotic and unfamiliar, but I know I enjoyed the books enormously (my journal tells me that) - though it's true, some of them are remembered more than others.

Crime Fiction Alphabet: X is for Xenobiotic

Letter X is the current letter in the Crime Fiction Alphabet weekly meme hosted by Kerrie Smith. Link here to see the other entries this week. 

Okay, I'm stretching it, I know by choosing XENOBIOTIC, but try as I might I couldn't find any other interesting X lettered themes (and xenophobia was already taken).  I haven't yet read any writers with X as their first or last names though I know they're out there..

The meaning of xenobiotic though, fits in nicely enough with the staple of most mysteries and/or thrillers: murder most foul.

Xenobiotic: Indicating a substance or item foreign to the body. 

When you are killing someone you are generally introducing an item or substance foreign to their body. Wouldn't you say? I would.

********************************

Death by fencing foil in OVER MY DEAD BODY by Rex Stout

Death by knife slice in DEATH ON THE NILE by Agatha Christie

Death by poison in SPARKLING CYANIDE by Agatha Christie

Death by meat skewer in DEATH OF A PEER by Ngaio Marsh

Death by dagger in ARTISTS IN CRIME by Ngaio Marsh

Death by explosion in THE WOODEN LEG OF INSPECTOR ANDERS  by Marshall Browne

Death by bullets in ONE SHOT by Lee Child

Death by snapping turtle in VOODOO RIVER by Robert Crais

Death by arrow in LONGSHOT by Dick Francis

Death by dinosaur in JURASSIC PARK by Michael Chrichton

...and on and on and on and...

Crime Fiction Alphabet - Letter W is for: The WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE by Joan Aiken

Cover art by Edward Gorey.

I thought about doing W for Nero Wolfe, but I'd already done N is for Nero Wolfe - wouldn't want to repeat myself - if I can help it.  The Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 is a weekly meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. 

THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE is my entry for the Letter W.

Joan Aiken (1924 - 2004) a daughter of poet and novelist Conrad Aiken, was an amazingly prolific writer of the sort you hardly see anymore. All you need do is look at her publication history  on  her fantastic fiction page and you will be wowed. In this case, W could also stand for Wow.

THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE (1963) is the first book in The Wolf Chronicles, a series of books for slightly older children or YA as they're called today. The two I've read (WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE and MIDWINTER NIGHTINGALE) were just as much fun for me to read as they must have been for kids over the years. Maybe more, because I have an appreciation of the type of Victorian story telling that Aiken was parodying. Long before Lemony Snicket showed up on the scene with his Series of Unfortunate Events, there was Joan Aiken doing it earlier and doing it very well indeed.

Aiken was not afraid to fill her tales with good doses of doom and gloom - just enough to place her young protagonists in dire peril - living in an England where dark doings (and bands of roving wolves) were commonplace and parents were often separated from their children by Unhappy Circumstance.

In THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE, we have the story of Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia. Both girls have been left in the care of the cruel governess, Miss Slighcarp, when Bonnie's parents go on a long sea voyage. Uh-oh.

When news comes of the suspicious sinking of the parental ship - well you knew that was coming -Miss Slighcarp takes over the house - the servants are dismissed and the furniture sold. Dressed in rags, the two young girls are turned out - sent to a prison-like orphanage. What are Bonne and Sylvia to do?

Luckily, they are plucky types and with the help of Simon the goose boy and his flock, the girls escape and then must look to find a way to wrest their family home, Willoughby Chase, back from the evil clutches of Miss Slighcarp.

I wish I'd read more of Joan Aiken's work (Oh well, there's always tomorrow.) - though it seems to me that I read several of her novels written for adults once upon a time. Oh, if only I'd begun keeping track of books read over the years.

I own the hardcover of THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE which has some mighty fine interior illustrations by Pat Marriott. Another wish: I wish the dustjacket were in better shape.

The other Joan Aiken YA book I've read and loved.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 - Letter V is for VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE by Diana Killian

No, no, get it out of your mind. Immediately. This is not a book about vampires - actual vampires that is. Not at all. It's just a book with a catchy vampire title. So even if you're currently suffering from vampire fatigue, this review will not agitate you in the least. Trust me.

Disclosure: I have read two books about actual vampires in my whole life: SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley which I recommend to anyone who doesn't like vampire books and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE by Anne Rice which I don't recommend to anyone.

I do plan on reading DRACULA by Bram Stoker for my Victorian Reading Challenge but that's later on in the year and besides, the book is a lit classic. I'm covered.

Back to VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE. (A great title, you have to admit.) Perfect for the Letter V entry in Kerrie Smith's weekly meme - Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011. WXYZ are the letters still left and this is where it gets really tricky, especially for XY and Z. My mind is blank waiting for inspiration. Please use the link to see the other Letter V posts at Kerrie's blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE.

This title is the second book in the Poetic Death series by Diana Killian begun with the excellent debut novel, HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS. (Killian's titles alone are terrific don't you think?) The books are set in and around the Lake District of England - if there is a more beautiful spot on earth, by the way, I haven't seen it.

The stories concern the mis-adventures of American literary scholar Grace Hollister who, in the first book was travelling in Wordsworth country when murder and mayhem interrupted the trip and she met the very enigmatic antique dealer Peter Fox. Needless to say, Ms Hollister has decided stay on a bit longer in England and see what develops. We should all be so lucky.

Here's the copy from the back of  VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE to give you an idea of what goes on in this idyllic area of England, at least according to the author: As Halloween comes to the English Village of Innisdale all manner of trickery leads to intrigue and mortal danger...

American schoolteacher and literary scholar Grace Hollister has extended her stay in the Lake District to do research and act as advisor (that's her story and she's sticking to it) to a local production of THE VAMPYRE, a play written by Lord Byron's doctor. But when accidents begin befalling the cast - culminating in the death of a society lady at a masquerade ball, replete with puncture wounds on her neck - it seems a real vampire may be roaming the village. (Uh-oh.)

If that's not chilling enough, Grace is being stalked and her enigmatic love interest, ex-jewel thief (Oh, did I forget to mention that little detail?) Peter Fox, has been behaving suspiciously (what - again?) after a rash of local thefts. Armed with little more than her passion for poetry and a determined spirit, Grace sets out to solve both mysteries...and to take her own bite out of crime. (I didn't make up that last line. It's all here in black and white.)

These books were a very nice surprise for me because truth to tell I hadn't expected much when I picked up the arc of HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS a few years ago. I'd only decided to read it because I love the setting. I mean - who wouldn't? But that's the most fun of reading, I think, the surprise: a book you hadn't, necessarily, expected much from that makes you sit up and take notice.

Besides the gorgeous English Lake District setting, you can also expect to like the two main characters Grace and Peter, though Peter takes a bit of getting used to at first. You will also pick up bits and pieces about the Lake Poets and their lives and you'll get to hang out in a beautiful English village. Not much there not to like. Diana Killian is a clever, talented and imaginative writer who has, so far, written four books in the series and I'm here to recommend three of them. (I haven't yet read the fourth, but I plan to.)

TIP: Seeing that the setting for this book is Halloween in Innisdale, by the way, you may want to wait and read the book in the Fall.

Link here to Diana Killian's fun website.

Link here to get a complete instant list of Diana's books.

Turns out that Diana has a second series about which I know nothing. I think I have some catch-up reading to do. See what happens when you turn your back for a moment?

Crime Fiction Alphabet - Letter U is for UNEASY RELATIONS and UNNATURAL SELECTION, both by Aaron Elkins

Aaron Elkins is a helluva writer. I've been reading his work for years so I feel free enough to say that good and loud. He's been churning out the Gideon Oliver, 'skeleton detective' mysteries since forever, making it all look easy - which we all know is a talent in itself. There are lots of terrific Gideon Oliver books to choose from. Elkins is also the writer of the Chris Norgren, art history mysteries of which, unfortunately there are only a few. He has also written several 'stand-alone' books, one of which, LOOT is on my list of All Time Favorite Books. (You've probably heard me rave about LOOT now and again on this blog.) AND as if that weren't enough, he also writes, with his wife Charlotte Elkins, a golf-mystery series. Does the man never sleep?

Because this is an entry in the Crime Fiction Alphabet Community Meme, hosted by Kerrie Smith over at her blog MYSTERIES IN PARADISE, and we are currently up to the Letter U - the nitty-gritty of the alphabet coming up - I'll concentrate today on the two books shown at the top of the post: UNNATURAL SELECTON and UNEASY RELATIONS. Does Elkins have a way with book titles or what? He is also fortunate in that his publisher has a great design staff doing the covers.

If you are not familiar with these books, then I say: get familiar. You might probably want to read the Gideon Oliver books in order, but really, it's not necessary. The main thrust of the books never changes even if Professor Oliver's marital status does. These are not books about Oliver's personal life so much as they are elegant whodunits in the Golden Age style. Mysteries with a beginning, a middle and an end in which, usually, the bad guy is either done for or gets carted off to jail. One of several reasons why I find these books so much fun to read and, in the end, utterly satisfying as mysteries.

Go here to see the entire list of Aaron Elkins' prolific output.  

In UNNATURAL SELECTION (2006) we find Gideon Oliver - a forensics expert known as 'the skeleton detective' - and his park ranger, wildfire-expert wife, Julie, at a conservation gig in the magical (and to me, totally unfamiliar) Isles of Scilly off the British coast of Cornwall. They have been invited to a conference at Star Castle, home of Russian expatriate, Vasily Kozlov, scientist and eccentric millionaire. (Is there any other kind?)

When a bone is discovered in one of the island's neolithic sites, it is assumed to be, well, a 'neolithic' find. Until Gideon takes a look and deduces that the bone is a more modern sample - it is murder yet again. Luckily, the likeable Gideon Oliver,  a most cerebral and celebrated forensics detective is on the case.

In UNEASY RELATIONS (2008) We again find Gideon and Julie in an unfamiliar setting (part of the easy charm of these books) - the Rock of Gibraltar. Anthropologists and Paleolithic archaeologists have been arguing for years over whether Neanderthal and Homo Sapien co-existed side by side around 25,000 years ago.

When a sensational find is made: a skeleton of a woman holding a part-Neanderthal child found in a cave on Gibraltar, the scientific world is amazed. At a conference anniversary celebrating the find, Gideon Oliver is on hand at the current excavation when murder most modern enters the fray.

I continue to recommend these books and the other assorted and terrific writings of Aaron Elkins.

Crime Fiction Alphabet - Letter Q for Quincy

Remember Quincy M.E.? It was a very popular crime show starring Jack Klugman which ran for 8 sesaons on American television from 1976 - 1983. Quincy was a Los Angeles County medical examiner who went about solving mysteries much to the consternation of the cops of the homicide division.

Quincy M.E. was the first of the CSI type shows - the first of its kind, really. I can't remember another show then which took us to the morgue weekly. Jack Klugman was his usual irascible self in the starring role of the divorced medical examiner who was always bucking his boss and a department too eager to okay a body's release when it was obvious - at least to Quincy - that something was amiss.

I think this was Klugman's next television show after having starred for years in THE ODD COUPLE with Tony Randall. (Another favorite of mine.) It was a revelation for me to see Klugman appearing in a medical mystery drama dealing with dead bodies on slabs at the morgue after watching him play Oscar Madison for laughs. But it didn't take long for him to convince me that he could do anything. Read more about Quincy, M.E., here.

The shows are currently available on dvd and for viewing on Netflix. Good news.

This is my entry in the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 Weekly Meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. Check out this link to see the other Letter Q entries.

Crime Fiction Alphabet - LETTER P = Poirot

The Crime Fiction Alphabet is a weekly meme hosted by Kerrie at her bloc, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. This week's letter is P. Don't forget to check this link to see who is participating this week and what books or topics they've chosen.

For me, the letter P means Hercule Poirot, none other. Poirot was first introduced to us in Agatha Christie's debut, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES. He was then a Belgian refugee, a retired policeman, who runs into his friend Captain Hastings and helps solve an 'unsolvable' crime.

From then on there was no stopping Poirot. If there was a celebrated crime usually among the British upper crust, then Poirot was on the job. His French...uh, Belgian, mannerisms duly noted by his often amused patrons who looked at his fussy dressing, his patent leather shoes, his egg-shaped head, and most of all, his waxed mustaches, with some derision. Derision which turned to respect when Poirot gathered everyone in a room and named the murderer.

Poirot's reliance on his 'little grey cells' and his belief in his own infallibility grew wearisome at times, but mostly he delivered the goods and who can quarrel with success? I loved the character even if Christie herself got tired of him and bemoaned the day she thought him up with all his little quirks and peculiarities AND Belgian, to boot. She made fun of him in several books, through her character Ariadne Oliver - fictional mystery writer - and her eccentric Norwegian detective.

But Poirot became a fixture, at least in my world. I found him strangely attractive and sympathetic, even with his out-sized ego and odd appearance. I've always admired brains in men, even men who wore patent leather shoes in all sorts of weather.

My favorite Hercule Poirot books, then and now:

THE ABC MURDERS

CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS

CARDS ON THE TABLE

HALLOWE'EN MURDER

MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA

DEATH IN THE CLOUDS

ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE

DEATH ON THE NILE

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD

The best portrayer of Poirot in films? In my opinion, David Suchet, without a single doubt. Suchet was born to play Poirot. He 'gets' him perfectly. Suchet uses his eyes as all great actors on film, do, to express thought, intelligence and sympathy.

On the other hand, Peter Ustinov, despite playing him in three films (EVIL UNDER THE SUN, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH and DEATH ON THE NILE), was just physically TOO BIG and generally too unsympathetic, more a bon-vivant than a detective. Although I did enjoy the unexpected view of Ustinov in a bathing suit and matching cap in EVIL UNDER THE SUN, a fun film with Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Jane Birkin and Sylvia Miles - all wonderful. What I remember best about that film are the beautiful opening credits featuring gorgeous watercolors, the Cole Porter music and the terrific cinematography - filmed in Majorca, how could they go wrong? A better screenplay would have helped, but hey, you can't have everything.

Albert Finney as Poirot in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS didn't do it for me either. He was just too, too...I don't know, TOO something or other. Too unlikable, I think. Also that hair net - did we really need to see that? But with a great rest-of-the-cast and director - Sidney Lumet - the film is still a very good one. Okay, I admit it, I'm not a fan of Albert Finney in anything, so sue me. He was horrible in the last Bourne film, but that's another story for another day.

Crime Fiction Alphabet - Letter N = Nero Wolfe

The Crime Fiction Alphabet is a weekly meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. This week's letter is the natty Letter N. For links to all the participants and their alphabet posts, please check out this link to Kerrie's blog.
I was going to wait for W to post about Nero Wolfe, but decided N for Nero was quite good enough. I can't remember when I didn't know about Nero Wolfe, it seems he's been a part of my imagination since forever. He and Archie Goodwin still live in that brownstone on thirty-something street with the orchid greenhouse on the roof, and always will. My only complaint is that I'm not as fond of yellow as Wolfe is, so if I had a chance to decorate the place I'd do away with the color and bring in some green - other than that, the place is perfection. The ideal New York establishment especially with Fritz Brenner, the live-in chef cooking up gourmet meals and Theodore Horstmann the orchid man coming in every day to fuss about the flowers on the roof.

Over the years, I've read and re-read all the Wolfe books, most especially my favorites, and for whatever reason, I never get tired of doing so. It's become a lifelong habit of mine. I am very fond of reading about genius and its eccentric ways especially when written about with such style and panache by prolific author Rex Stout. (1886 - 1975)


Nero Wolfe was born in Montenegro but became an American citizen. There is some shadowy mystery connected with his early beginnings and I've always assumed he was involved in political skullduggery and espionage of some sort. His world view is from a jaundiced international eye. Whatever happened in his younger years, it has driven him to a nearly stationary and rather regimented existence in NYC where he uses his genius to earn the kind of living necessary to maintain his eccentric lifestyle. There's just something about the corpulent, cranky, misogynist thinking machine, a man who by his own admission, uses his weight to insulate himself from the vagaries of human emotion. He is someone hard to like, but once you fall under his spell, you are his for life. Archie Goodwin - who narrates all the books - was more of an acquired taste for me. In the beginning I didn't like his smart-mouth attitude but once I realized that he would give his life for Wolfe without batting an eye, he was okay with me as well.

If you enjoy books set mostly in the NYC you remember from all those black and white RKO films, if you like an intriguing, tightly woven private-eye mystery with a whodunit puzzle and a grand denouement at the end (usually in Wolfe's office with all the suspects and a bunch of cops in attendance), then these are the books for you. Rex Stout brought a certain strata of New York and its wary citizens to life beginning in 1934 with FER-DE-LANCE (one of the best titled books ever, in my opinion) and ending in the year of his death, 1975, with A FAMILY AFFAIR - a book which ends with as memorable a shock as any mystery author has ever created. (In 1985 the posthumous DEATH TIMES THREE was also published.)

Some of my favorite Nero Wolfe books: (In no particular order.)


FER-DE-LANCE


THE RUBBER BAND


THE RED BOX


THE GOLDEN SPIDERS


THE LEAGUE OF FRIGHTENED MEN


THE MOTHER HUNT


PRISONER'S BASE


THE FATHER HUNT


BEFORE MIDNIGHT


MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD


WHERE THERE'S A WILL


MURDER BY THE BOOK


PLOT IT YOURSELF


THE DOORBELL RANG


I can't bring myself to re-read only one of the books, A FAMILY AFFAIR. I still haven't gotten over the shock.

Of course, with my Old Lady Memory, I tend to forget the plots and so re-reading becomes almost like reading for the first time. One of the few advantages, I suppose, of old age. Ha!

Crime Fiction Alphabet - This Week: Letter M Is For Mystery

M is for Mystery, of which I've read plenty. (I was going to do a poem, but I couldn't find many words that rhyme with 'plenty'.) You could say that my downfall began with PIPPI LONGSTOCKING's adventures in hoodwinking adults and you'd be right. I'm all for hoodwinking adults and anyone else that cares to show up. Ha! The Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 is a weekly meme hosted by Kerrie over at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. Check out who else is participating and their choices for this week's letter. Link.

Then came Nancy Drew, then The Dana Girls, then Agatha Christie then, you name it, I've probably read it. Long as it's a mystery of a certain type I'll be there to say: Please sir, may I have some more?

Although lately, reading all the names of past authors (on all the wonderful Vintage themed Mystery Blogs) who seem to have eluded me, I'm thinking I didn't read that many after all. My only feeble excuse is that I can't have been expected to read EVERYTHING. Although sometimes it feels as though I did.

Confession: There was a time that for about four or five years, all I read were romances. I thought then I'd outgrown my love of mysteries. Mysteries were passe. I was a grown up. I wanted to read about the romantic entanglements of other grown-ups. (But only with happy endings, of course.) A friend introduced me to the romance 'genre' - books I hadn't even known existed - I'd led a very sheltered life.

But eventually I came to my senses. (Though I still will read a romance or two or three, usually from my own stacks and stacks of books leftover from The Phase. There are certain romance authors I remain devoted to, no matter what. And a couple of new ones too, i.e. Lauren Willig.

As for 'thrillers' - I didn't discover them until late in life. I thought I just was not a 'thriller' type reader. Of course, I was wrong. Mysteries and Thrillers go hand in hand far as I'm concerned - it just took me a while to discover it - I must be a slow learner. I am now happily devoted to Lee Child and Robert Crais and several other writers of so-called 'thrillers' and continue to be so.

When I'm blue, when I'm feeling not-so-hot, when I'm sick or just verklempt, I love a good mystery. Even on occasions when I'm deliriously happy, there's just nothing like a good mystery. In fact, there are very few occasions when a mystery won't do. But the truth is, here's nothing like a whodunit to chase away the occasional gloom. And since I seem to be gloomier than most, there are lots of mysteries piled on bookshelves in every room in my house save the bathroom. (Moisture is the enemy of books!) Mysteries are my brain's comfort food. No doubt about it.

And even if I know whodunit, I reread my favorites over and over and over again and never tire of their power to seduce. One good thing to be said for Old Lady Memory - I tend to forget occasionally who the killer is. Ha!

So, what are my Favorite Mystery and/or Thrillers? Well, if you read this blog, you probably already know the answer. But just in case you don't, here are my Top Twenty-Five (10 would be impossible to select and even 25 is hard as heck and likely to change on any given day):

1)THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Arthur Conan Doyle

2) THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE by Laurie R. King

3) O JERUSALEM by Laurie R. King

4) THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD by Agatha Christie

5) THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT by Agatha Christie

6) CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS by Agatha Christie

7) MURDER BY THE BOOK by Rex Stout

8) PLOT IT YOURSELF by Rex Stout

9) THE DOORBELL RANG by Rex Stout

10) INDIGO SLAM by Robert Crais

11) L.A. REQUIEM by Robert Crais

12) WORTH DYING FOR by Lee Child

13) THE MOVING TOYSHOP by Edmund Crispin

14) THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE by Mary Roberts Rinehart

15) LOOT by Aaron Elkins

16) DIED IN THE WOOL by Ngaio Marsh

17) SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY by Ngaio Marsh

18) DEATH OF A PEER by Ngaio Marsh

19)DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey

20) THE OLD SILENT by Martha Grimes

21) DIRTY LINEN by Nicholas Kilmer

22) LADY IN THE LAKE by Raymond Chandler

23) THE SECRET VANGUARD by Michael Innes

24)TO THE HILT by Dick Francis

25) CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK by Elizabeth Peters

...I could easily go on and name another 25 but I won't. Just keep in mind that this is a fluid list. M is certainly for Mysteries or even, for Murder Most Foul.

Crime Fiction Alphabet: Letter L = Lee Child

This is my Letter L entry in the weekly Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, MYSTERIES IN PARADISE.

Letter L = Lee Child. In my opinion, author Lee Child is the best damn thriller writer in the business (next to Robert Crais). No further equivocation. These two are the top of the heap. Today I'm concentrating on Lee's work and his main character Jack Reacher.

Reacher is a modern knight in not-so-shining armor, the go-to guy when trouble is brewing in a violence prone world. Reacher takes no prisoners. He is always on the side of justice, more often than not, his brand of justice, and more often than not, he gets the job done. He has no doubts. He wades in where others fear to tread. He is the ultimate competent man.

Jack Reacher is ex-Army, former Military Police. He is an intimidating 6'5" tall and afraid of nothing. A kind of modern vagabond, he travels light from place to place, not looking for trouble, but always ready when he finds it. From the first book in the series, KILLING FLOOR, you know what to expect from Lee Child: terrific writing, inventive plots and always, Reacher being Reacher with never a false note. He is what he is and makes no bones about it. He rarely spends time ruminating, doubting or second-guessing himself. He does what he does better than most and knows it. Besides being supremely competent, he is also confident in himself and his talent for righting wrongs.

I love the character. Consequently, I've read every book in the series. If you haven't read Lee Child's stuff, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. You're already playing catch-up.

Author Lee Child is British, but currently lives in NYC. He seems to have had little trouble in making his American hero, Reacher, an icon. I suppose it's his 'outsider's' point of view that gives Lee a clearer picture of Americans and their habits, gives Reacher his ironic stance. Do yourselves a favor and try and attend one of Lee's book signings if you can, you will rarely meet a more erudite, more charming, more knowledgeable man of letters. Please use this link to get a full listing of all the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. There's also a good website for Lee Child here.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter J for Josephine Tey. (1896 - 1952)

The Crime Fiction Alphabet meme is hosted by Kerrie at her blog MYSTERIES IN PARADISE. Today, St. Patrick's Day is Letter J day. For my Letter J entry I choose author Josephine Tey.

Josephine Tey was the mystery writing pseudonym of Elizabeth MacIntosh, author and playwright. (She wrote plays under the name Gordon Daviot.) Tey was born in Inverness, Scotland and apparently, began writing professionally in 1926. Overall, she was not a prolific writer. But what she left us is 'choice.' She wrote several mysteries featuring her likable Scotland Yard inspector, Alan Grant. In my view, she wrote four classics, two of which transcend the 'mystery genre' classification. But all four are superb.

1) THE DAUGHTER OF TIME. (1951) Who really killed the two young princes in the tower? Everyone supposes it was the evil hunchback, Richard Plantagenet, Richard III - well, at least according to Shakespeare and several other historical figures including 'the sainted' Thomas More. Their view: the two boys were cruelly eliminated so that Richard (the boys' uncle) could grab the throne after the death of his brother.

But suppose this assessment is the result of incorrect speculation over the centuries and even, downright vindictiveness? Suppose Richard III was not a villain but a maligned victim of history?

When in 'contemporary' time, Scotland Yard Superintendent Alan Grant is laid up in hospital, he soon grows bored with the pace of the place and the 'invalid' routine. Desperate to find something interesting to do while lying in bed recuperating from a bad fall, he eventually becomes interested in a portrait of Richard III. He then asks a friend to bring him some research material, books, etc. on the much maligned king.

This is a book that takes place while Grant lies in bed and ruminates. So essentially, all the action takes place in his mind. But what a mind it is. And what a writer is Josephine Tey. Somehow she turns this story of historical speculation into a fascinating mystery. A tale of deductive reasoning that is one of the most intriguing books I've ever read.

I knew little about Richard III and the story of the missing brothers. I only knew vaguely what everyone else knows. (At least those that have read a bit of English history in school or elsewhere.) So this book was an eye-opener for me.

For, if Tey is correct, her detective Alan Grant, in the form of surmises and deductions based on some simple research and logic, solves the mystery of the princes in the tower and turns history upside down. A brilliant book that anyone with any sort of interest in history and puzzle-solving and mysteries should definitely read. I think this is her best book. The title, by the way, comes from the old saying: Truth is the daughter of time.

2) BRAT FARRAR. (1950) The best story of 'criminal' impersonation I've ever read. The best story of a 'con' gone right. One of the best mysteries ever, even if you know almost right from the beginning that the hero is not who he claims to be and may, really, be not such a good guy after all.

Simon Ashby will soon turn twenty one and claim his inheritance. Years before, upon his parents' death, his Aunt Bee had come to Latchetts, the horsey and ramshackle country estate belonging to his family, to take care of him, his three sisters and his twin brother Patrick. It has been years since the tragedy of Patrick's disappearance cast a pall over the family. Patrick, a quiet thoughtful boy, has long been presumed to have run off and committed suicide. His body was never found.

Enter Brat Farrar. He is a young man down on his luck who is suddenly given the chance to belong somewhere, a chance to claim part of an inheritance worth a fortune. All he has to do is impersonate the missing and presumed dead, Patrick Ashby. The thing is, you see, that Brat looks exactly like Patrick - close enough to be an Ashby twin. He is the image of Simon, presumably what Patrick would also have looked like grown-up.

What happens next is what some people believe is Tey's finest book. Though I still give the edge to DAUGHTER OF TIME, on some days I might switch the two. Their excellence is so close that there's hardly a glimmer of light between them.

BRAT FARRAR was turned into a superb PBS TV movie in 1986 with a wonderful cast. The story remained almost completely faithful to the book and is a pleasure to watch - if you can find it.

3) THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR (1948) This is basically the story of malicious injustice and the gross power that gossip can have, especially in an 'enclosed' society. A small town English lawyer is called upon to help two women who have been accused of kidnapping and mistreating a young girl. It is based on a real-life 18th century case though Tey sets the book in 'contemporary' times. The 'Franchise' in the title refers to the name of the house in the story. This is the sort of book that makes you uneasy while reading because Tey's expertise is such you're never quite sure if the people you are rooting for are what they claim to be.

4) A SHILLING FOR CANDLES (1936) One of my favorites though others may quibble. Inspector Alan Grant is called in when the body of Christine Clay, a famous film actress is found on a secluded English beach. The young man she'd picked up and brought down to her beach house with her is instantly suspected when 'suicide' turns into 'murder'. When he goes 'on the lam' and the search is on, Tey introduces a delightful young girl into the story. She is Erica, the 16 year old daughter of the local constable and she could easily be the standard for all the young girl detectives that have followed over the years. Certainly she reminds me most of the precocious Flavia de Luce created by Alan Bradley in his prize winning books beginning with THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE. (Though Flavia is younger.) You just can't help but see the resemblance in personality, attitude and intelligence. I loved this character and wish that Tey had brought her back in some other book. (Grant himself is so charmed by the sixteen year old you could easily see him waiting for her to grow up. It would have made a great story.)

Josephine Tey didn't write nearly as much as the rest of the Golden Agers, but what she did write left an indelible impression. She is one of the writers I never tire of re-reading. If you've never read her, be prepared for something a little different, especially in the first three books mentioned above. The fourth book, A SHILLING FOR CANDLES is more the standard mystery, but the inclusion of the wonderfully inventive character of Erica lifts it above the average and makes it one of my personal favorites.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter I

The Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011 is a Weekly Meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. This week the Letter I takes center stage.

For my entry I've chosen the British author Iain Pears concentrating on one of my favorite art mystery series: Pear's Jonathan Argyll books set mostly in Italy. (Italy is my second letter I choice, so it's a combo, today. Couldn't resist.)

At first glance, Jonathan Argyll seems an unpromising sort of series hero. He is a bumbling Englishman, an art historian who doesn't have much get up and go to get on in the cut throat world of art. One might not ordinarily suspect that art collecting and the rarefied world of museums are the breeding grounds for all sorts of chicanery and murderous doings, but turns out, they are. Author Iain Pears, an Oxford art historian himself, appears to know the ins-and-outs of these worlds. Though I'm sure 'reality' is much less murderously colorful than Argyll's fictional world - at least I hope so.

I've loved these mysteries since the first book, THE RAPHAEL AFFAIR, read many years ago. The author's art expertise and gift for characterization give these books such an allure. As of course does the setting: Italy.

Over the life of the series, Argyll experiences changes which grow him as a character. First and foremost, he moves to Rome to pursue his new career as an occasional consultant to the Italian National Art Theft Squad headed by General Bottando (nearing retirement) and his beautiful associate Flavia Di Stefano.

But in the debut book, it all begins very unceremoniously: Argyll is arrested - caught breaking into an old Italian church - and brought to the attention of Bottando who, on the whole, would rather be sitting at an outdoor cafe enjoying the fruits of his long career. Part of the joy of this series is reading the harassed Bottando's outlook on life and the work of his perpetually cash-strapped art recovery unit of the Italian police. He and Di Stefano work well together and at first don't know what to make of the bumbling, perplexing Englishman who has stumbled into their midst.

The fun of this well researched and well-written series is seeing, over the course of several books, how Jonathan Argyll's heretofore hidden charms slowly grow on his two Italian friends and how they all come to rely on each other to solve some of the most heinous art mysteries.

Iain Pears is not only a gifted writer, but as an art historian, he obviously knows Italy well; all these talents coalesce and come alive in these intricately plotted and very colorful mysteries.

Pears is also the author of the best-selling AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST and several other stand-alone, historical novels. For a full list of all the Jonathan Argyll books as well as Iain Pears' historical titles, please check this link to the Fantastic Fiction website.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter H

When I think of the Letter H in the context of mystery/crime fiction/thrillers, there are two possibilities: Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes. For the Crime Alphabet Meme being hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise I'm choosing Holmes. Simply put he has been and will always be my favorite fictional character as well as the best and most brilliant detective (consulting or otherwise) in the entire history of crime and detection.

I began reading the Sherlock Holmes stories early and just quietly and easily fell under their spell. Of the novels, I am a major fan of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. THE SIGN OF FOUR and A STUDY IN SCARLET, not so much. I also love most of the short stories though I haven't, lately, read them as frequently as I used to and my memory is not what it should be. (I see though I could have just as easily chosen The Hound for my letter H. But I'll stick with Holmes.)

For whatever magical reason, the stories continue to capture the imagination these many years, these many readings later. Holmes is just one of those eternal characters. If you ask me to list chapter and verse why this should be so, I don't know that I could. But once you fall under the spell of his personality, his oddities and eccentricities, you are his forever.

I always say that I fell in love with Holmes when I was a kid and I just never fell out. One of several reasons I am an Anglophile is because of Holmes.

When I traveled to London many years ago, I even went so far as to stay on Baker Street at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel. Yes, I can see you all rolling your eyes. But you know, once I saw the name of the hotel I really had no choice. I even brought home a deerstalker cap. Ha!

If you have the entire Holmes canon (as I do) in one or two volumes, it's fun to dip in now and then and pick up one of the stories. Occasionally I will listen to an audio version which is just as much fun. I've never grown tired of listening to THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. The audios are much better than any of the filmed versions unfortunately. For whatever reason, they always muck up the story one way or another when it's filmed. So I'll stick to the audio or the written word.

I am still, to this moment, thrilled when I hear or read the words: "Come Watson, come! The game is afoot!" This is my favorite line in literature.

I am fond of watching Jeremy Brett play Holmes in the series he did for PBS in the 80's. (Available on Netflix instant play which is really most accommodating of them.) They're as faithful to the stories as you're going to find - especially the first two seasons. Just beautifully done. Brett is the ultimate Holmes. Later the shows veered away from the canon and the series suffered, as of course, it must.

Another good choice for Holmes-watching are the films done by the second best Holmes of all time: Basil Rathbone. I am an unabashed fan of Basil Rathbone and he can do no wrong in my book, so take care if you are in the mood to criticize. These films are kind of a mish-mash, of course, since they never followed any of the actual Conan Doyle stories but merely took bits and pieces of a few and spliced them here and there to make 'new' stories.

Most are dreadful. But I never minded because I had a good time watching Basil and Nigel Bruce giving their all to the definitive (until Jeremy Brett) portrayals of Holmes and Watson. The films are watchable ONLY because of these two actors and that's why, in spite of my misgivings, I still recommend them. (I also had a great crush on Basil, but let's not go there.)

There have been, of course, hundreds of attempts by various writers over the years to capture the 'magic' of Holmes, continuing the character in 'newly discovered' stories written by Watson. Most of them I haven't read. Of those I have, I've liked THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA by Rick Boyer and THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND by Michael Hardwick. But my very favorite interpretation continues to be that of Laure R. King's. In her series beginning in 1994 with THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE she has taken Holmes and turned him into a flesh and blood man, something even Doyle had trouble with. The series will now be 11 books along with the publication in September 2011 of The Pirate King. I can't wait. This is my favorite historical mystery series over-all and I recommend it highly.

For a full list of Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes books, please check out this link.

For those of us fortunate enough to have fallen under the spell of Holmes and Watson, nothing much else needs to be said, I'm preaching to the converted here. For those less fortunate: you don't know what you're missing.

For links to all the bloggers participating in the Crime Fiction Alphabet Letter 2011 Meme please go to Kerrie's blog MYSTERIES IN PARADISE.