Crime Fiction Dossier

Review of P.J. Parrish's "An Unquiet Grave"

I know I haven't been posting much lately. I've been busy with other things, including trying to finish my Guyot-beating novel. (Almost there!) In the meantime, I've also been drumming up new outlets for my reviews. The latest newspaper to feature my work is the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Review of P.J. Parrish's An Unquiet Grave

The regular reviewer for the Sun-Sentinel is, of course, the inestimable Oline Cogdill. (Oh, how I wish I got as much review space as she does!) It's a pleasure to be sharing the page with one of my favorite critics.

The book's not half bad, either.

Latest Chicago Sun-Times column

My February column ran in the Chicago Sun-Times this morning. It contains reviews of 5 new books:

• Robert Ferrigno - Prayers for the Assassin
• Lisa Garder - Gone
• James O. Born - Escape Clause
• P.J. Parrish - An Unquiet Grave
• Sara Gran - Dope

Enjoy!

More on pseudonyms

Two people emailed me in response to my recent post about the use of pseudonyms and whether or not journalists and reviewers have a responsibility to protect the authors' true identities.

I wrote that, in most cases, I didn't think there is an obligation to keep the secret. When I made that statement, I had in mind the recent trend in publishing where authors use pseudonyms either for marketing purposes or to "trick" the chain store buyers.

In that case, assuming that the author's true identity is somehow relevant to what I'm writing, I would not feel obligated to play along.

However, in the case of authors who use a dedicated pseudonym (i.e., they always write under the same alias) or authors who must cloak their identities for legitimate reasons, there would likely be no reason to discuss the author's real name or identity.

As one of my correspondents wrote, "Before revealing the writer's real name, it's the journalist's obligation to think through the consequences." Good point.

Ultimately, it comes down to relevance. Is the author's use of a pseudonym relevant to the discussion or critique of the book? If not, then mentioning it would not be appropriate.

Review of Richard Hawke's "Speak of the Devil"

My review of Richard Hawke's "debut" thriller, Speak of the Devil, ran today in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The true identity of Hawke (who is really Tim Cockey) is one of the worst-kept secrets in publishing. (For just one example, click through to their websites and look at their author photos.)

That's one of the reasons I mentioned it in my review. I thought it was an interesting aspect of the book and relevant to what I was saying about it.

It does bring up an interesting question, though: What obligation do reviewers, journalists, bloggers, etc. have to preserve the fiction of a pseudonym? In almost every case, I don't think there is one.

If you disagree, though, I'd love to hear about it. Send me an email.

Love is Murder 2006

I spent the weekend in Chicago at the Love is Murder conference, along with a couple hundred other writers, reviewers, editors and fans. This is the second time I've been to this particular conference, and both times it has been a very good experience.

Among the authors in attendance were David Morrell, Judith Guest, Barry Eisler, William Kent Krueger, Libby Fischer Hellmann, J.A. Konrath, Kevin Guilfoile, David Ellis, Barb d'Amato and a whole slew of other folks.

Love is Murder is geared more towards writers and aspiring writers than Bouchercon, so there are always a lot of panels and discussions focused on the business and craft of writing. And plenty of shoptalk, too, of course.

David Morrell offered a 3-hour workshop in writing, which I found to be particularly enlightening. He also gave the conference's keynote address, discussing "The Hidden Curriculum of Publishing."

I moderated one panel (on Writing Violence) and participated on three others, all of which seemed to go over well with the audience.

I usually enjoy these smaller conferences a lot, as you have the chance to talk to people in a more intimate way. So often at Bouchercon, it's all just nodding and waving from across the room. (Granted, you do get to wave at a lot more people.)

But at Love is Murder, I was actually able to talk to several good writers and friends, including most of the people mentioned above. I also met some very interesting new writers like Sean Chercover, Steve Mandel and Marcus Sakey. They are all terrific guys and now I'm excited to read their books. I also had a great talk with Dave Case, a sergeant with the Chicago PD, who is a new writer I've already read. (His book Out of Cabrini is awesome.)

John and Ruth Jordan (of CrimeSpree Magazine) where there, continuing the admirable work they do on behalf of the genre. They were great to see, as always. I finally met Ben LeRoy and Alison Janssen of Bleak House Books. I was appalled to see how young they are, but invigorated to see how passionate they are. With people like them in this business, there's still hope out there.

This is starting to be just a big name-drop, so I'm going to stop. The point is, if you go to a conference like this, you can meet and talk to a lot of fine writers, both famous and unknown, and other industry pros. Doing so can be fun and entertaining, and it can also be informative and inspiring.

So I definitely urge people to give one of these smaller conferences (Love is Murder, Left Coast Crime, Sleuthfest, Murder in the Magic City, etc.) a try. The big conventions are great, too, but the smaller ones have a charm of their own.

Review of Robert Ferrigno's "Prayers for the Assassin"

"Every once in a while, a novel comes along that is so dazzling, so audacious that it seizes you by the scruff of your neck and forces you to sit up and take notice."

So begins my review of Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin, the best book I read in 2005, and destined to be one of the best of 2006 as well. (I had to read it a second time in order to write the review, so it qualifies in both years.)

I strongly recommend you give it a try.