Crime Fiction Dossier

Book of the Week: Sean Chercover's "Trigger City"

Sean Chercover set the bar pretty high with his first novel, the Gumshoe Award-winning Big City, Bad Blood. It would be natural to expect that his follow-up book might have trouble matching up. But I'm pleased to report that Trigger City is not just the equal of Chercover's debut, it's even better. Chicago PI Ray Dudgeon is hired by a grieving father to investigate his late daughter's life. Dudgeon's not doing so well himself, still recovering from the abuse, both physical and psychic, that he took in the first book. Those two elements combine to set the PI down a dangerous path that sees him involved with some nasty stuff, including a government conspiracy that finds Dudgeon in way over his head. The plot might be a little over-the-top, but Chercover makes it work. He's a smooth, deft writer, Dudgeon is a great character, and the city of Chicago makes a fine backdrop for this hardboiled tale. What more could you ask for?

Goodbye Elaine

I've been trying to think of how to express some of the thoughts and feelings I've had since learning that my friend Elaine Flinn passed away over the weekend. My inclination was not to write anything at all -- there's something a little awkward about public displays of grief, especially when conveyed through a medium as crass as a blog.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Elaine would have wanted people to talk about her. Not because she was vain or needy, but because she liked being a part of things and loved being a member of the crime writing community. She took great pleasure in spending time with other writers, introducing people to each other, dispensing advice and cracking wise. So I think she deserves a last turn in the spotlight.

I first met Elaine five years ago. She wrote me a polite email before the publication of her first mystery, Dealing in Murder, to let me know she was a new author and that she hoped I'd have a chance to look at her book. I dug it out of the "get rid of" pile, read it -- and loved it. I ended up reviewing it in the Chicago Sun-Times.

We met in person a few months after that first email, at the Bouchercon mystery conference in Las Vegas. We got together in the bar (along with Elaine's wonderful husband, Joe, a man with a great sense of humor) and it was like we'd been friends for years.

Elaine was the kind of person who knew more about a variety of subjects than you'd ever expect. We'd be talking about some new mystery novel we'd read -- and she read most of them, it seems -- and she'd bring up Camus or Dostoevsky or some other writer I'd always meant to read, but never had.

Elaine had not only read a lot of literature, and could discuss it intelligently, she could discourse on philosophy, politics, whatever. The conversation would turn to sports and she'd tell some funny story about Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner. (She and Joe had staged tennis tournaments in the Bay Area back in the early-'70s.) Just when you thought you had her figured out, she'd surprise you.

I don't think it will come as a shock to anyone if I state that there is a lot of phoniness in the mystery community. A lot of it is good-natured -- it's generally a convivial bunch of people, after all -- but it does get tiresome after a while. Elaine didn't have any patience for it. She had no tolerance for the bullshit and backstabbing. She was never rude, but she was honest. You knew where you stood with Elaine.

Elaine didn't write books because she was trying to be the next big bestseller or make a lot of money. She wasn't looking for a movie deal or a six-figure advance. (She'd already had a couple of long and successful careers.) She wrote because she loved it. She loved to tell stories, loved to entertain fans. She was as crazy and neurotic as all the rest of us -- when you get right down to it, virtually every writer is barking mad -- but her motives were among the purest: she wanted to write books that people would enjoy reading. And she did.

Elaine was a dear friend, and even as we were made richer by her friendship, losing her has robbed us of something rare and special. I'm going to miss her.

Bonus Book of the Week: Justin Peacock's "A Cure for Night"

I was late getting to this book, but it's definitely worth picking up if you missed it as well. Peacock's debut is a gritty legal thriller about Joel Deveraux, a high-flying attorney who crashes and burns due to drugs. In an effort to resurrect his career (and redeem himself), Deveraux takes a job as a public defender in Brooklyn. Assigned to a hot-button murder trial -- defending a a black man from the projects accused of killing a white college student -- Deveraux is forced to confront issues he thought he'd left behind. The plotting in A Cure for Night groans on occasion, but this is a sharp and impressive debut. Peacock appears to have good things ahead of him.

Get M.J. Rose's "The Reincarnationist" for free

The main reason I became a book reviewer is so that I could get free books. Okay, that's not strictly true... But still. Is there anything better than free books? Free booze, maybe, but how often do you get that?

For the next ten days, M.J. Rose is giving away her thriller, The Reincarnationist, for free. You can download it to read on your computer or Kindle -- see her website for details. (Now if I could just get a free Kindle...)

My review of the book (I wrote it up in the Chicago Sun-Times) is no longer available online, but if it were, you would see I really liked it. It also got a nice review in People, plus stars from PW and Library Journal.

Why is she giving away the book for free? You can read an essay about that on the Huffington Post. (Short version: giving consumers a free sample of something will make them buy the product if they like it).

The sort-of sequel to The Reincarnationist, a new book called The Memorist, is coming out on November 1st and is already getting some good reviews, so here's your chance to get up to speed on the series by reading the first book for free.

Latest Chicago Sun-Times mystery/thriller column

My latest mystery/thriller roundup appears this morning in the Chicago Sun-Times. It contains reviews of the following books:

• Katherine Neville: The Fire
• Laura Lippman: Hardly Knew Her
• Zoe Sharp: Third Strike
• Mark Billingham: In the Dark
• Charlie Huston: Every Last Drop

Enjoy!

Win This Book: Barry Eisler's "Fault Line"

Up for grabs is an Advanced Reading Copy of Barry Eisler's excellent new standalone thriller, Fault Line, which will be published in the U.S. by Ballantine at the end of February. Here's your chance to snag a copy four months before it's available elsewhere. What a deal!

To enter, just send an email with "Contest" in the subject line and your name in the body of the email.

Good luck! If you don't win, please consider buying the book anyway. I've read it and it's terrific. (Note: the copy the winner will receive is the one I read. But I take good care of books, so it's still in excellent shape.)

Contest ends on 10/31. Only one entry per person. Only U.S. residents are eligible to win. All decisions are final. Your name and email address will never be used for any purpose other than the contest. This is a softcover ARC of the book, not the final hardcover edition. Crime Fiction Dossier is not responsible for anything.

Ask the Critic: Can you identify this book?

A librarian in Illinois writes in:

A library patron is looking for an author whose detective is a bumbler who does everything wrong; may be Irish or British; his boss drives a Jaguar; and in an early book, a suspect pees in the front seat of the detective's car.

It sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I don't know what it is. Can you help?

Book of the Week: Michael Connelly's "The Brass Verdict"

Michael Connelly returns to the world of Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller (first introduced in The Lincoln Lawyer) in this fast-paced and entertaining story. One of Haller's colleagues is killed and he's responsible for taking over the deceased lawyer's cases, one of which has him representing a Hollywood executive accused of murder. The plot is fairly conventional, but the real draw here is Haller, an interesting character with a personality far removed from that of Connelly's regular series character, Harry Bosch. The Brass Verdict isn't as good as The Lincoln Laywer, nor does it match up to the best of the Bosch series, although it's still better than most of the books I've read this year. Readers should note that, although this book is being billed as "Harry Bosch meets Mickey Haller," Bosch only appears briefly and his part is a bit of a letdown.

Back from Bouchercon

Bouchercon in Baltimore wrapped up yesterday afternoon. It was four very interesting and entertaining days. I'm not going to write a lot about it, since I imagine I'd basically be saying the same things that other people are already writing. So just a few comments...

It was a very well organized conference with the big things done right and a lot of nice little touches that showed fine attention to detail. I thought the panels were a bit dull, but I almost always feel that way.

San Francisco was overwhelmingly chosen by the voters as the site of Bouchercon 2010. I'm already looking forward to it.

There was a lot of "flat is the new up" talk, but also a lot of pep talks from the publishers that the industry is doing okay and that there's no cause for panic at this point. There is still optimism that people will continue to buy books during challenging economic times (as has been the case in past contractions) -- people tend to seek out escapist entertainment and books are competitively priced relative to other media.

In terms of the organized programming activity, the highlight for me was Larry Block being interviewed by Charles Ardai. Block is, and has long been, one of my favorite writers so it was a pleasure to hear him speak again. The sad part was knowing that this might be the last time seeing him in a situation like this, now that he is semi-retired. (He said during the talk that he doesn't know if he'll write any more books.)

CFD didn't win the Anthony Award for Best Website, which wasn't much of a surprise given the quality of the competition. When my wife picked me up yesterday after the awards brunch, she asked, "Did you win?" I said, "No, Stop You're Killing Me did." She replied, "Oh, I love that site." I like it, too, and use it all the time -- so what you gonna do? They gave me a nice plaque for being nominated and that's good enough for me.

If you've never been to a Bouchercon, give yourself a treat and attend one of these days. You'll have a great time.