Cartoon of the Day: Book

Marcia Clark on Craig Ferguson

Love this segment with Marcia Clark. Craig Ferguson also mentions Larry Block. LOL. 

James Thompson: R.I.P.

Jim Thompson was an amazing writer of Finnish Noir. He died too soon. James Thompson was the author of the Inspector Vaara novels, including Helsinki Blood, Helsinki White, Lucifer's Tears, Snow Angels. His novel Snow Angels, the first book in his acclaimed Kari Vaara series, was one of Booklist’s Best Crime Novel Debuts of the Year and was nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Critics awards. Kirkus selected Lucifer’s Tears, the second book in the series, as one of the best books of 2011.

Born in eastern Kentucky in 1964, he died unexpectedly a few days ago. He was an American-Finnish crime writer based in Lahti. He had a Master's degree in English philology from The University of Helsinki, where he also studied Finnish, in which he was fluent. American by birth, Thompson lived in Finland for fifteen years. He resided in Helsinki with his Finnish wife. In the past, Thompson worked as a bartender, bouncer, construction worker, and soldier.

Helsinki Noir will be published by Akashic Books November 2014. It is an anthology edited by Thompson and it includes one story he wrote. Helsinki Dead was scheduled for release later in 2014, but was unfinished at the time of his death.

Read Gareth Rice's moving tribute here.

Read an interview here. 

Spencer Quinn: Secrets of Chet and Bernie Revealed

Today I welcome back Spencer Quinn on the publication of his 7th Chet and Bernie mystery. Spencer Quinn is the pseudonmym of Massachusetts author Peter Abrahams, who has written literary thrillers such as Oblivion and Lights Out. His Chet and Bernie books, starting with 2009's Dog on It have brought him a whole new base of fans. In their latest adventure, Chet and his private-eye human head to Washington, D.C., for a case involving political corruption, an insidious international conspiracy and a menacing guinea pig named Barnum.

Spencer Quinn
Secrets of Chet and Bernie Revealed: 

I saw this sign somewhere recently: “If there are no dogs in heaven, I want to go where they go.”

Welcome to the world where dogs take center stage! I’m part of that world, although it happened pretty much by accident. One day my wife said, “You should do something with dogs.” Dogs have wandered in and out of many of my novels – there’s Buster in OBLIVION, for example, singled out for praise by the L.A. Times reviewer, but I was brought up never to descend to the level of mentioning my own reviews, so forget this part. The point is, I’d never written from the dog’s POV before, in fact, had almost never written in the first person. Yet somehow I knew right away – this is the fun kind of thing that can happen in the writing biz – that I wanted to write detective fiction through the eyes, and way more important, the ears and nose, of the detective’s dog. And this dog would not be a talking dog! Not a human dressed up in a dog suit! Not knowing and ironic! But a dog, a dog as canine as I could make him. Thus: Chet.

The Chet and Bernie novels are classic mysteries of the sidekick narration school, which goes all the way back to Conan Doyle. Plotting mysteries is a lot like solving real crimes: you sift through clues until a logical chain starts to reveal itself. Well, logical chains are not Chet’s thing. And even if they were, at the moment a logical clue was about to emerge he might sniff a cheeto under a couch and become instantly non-present. So – as I happily discovered not far into DOG ON IT, first in the series – Chet turned out to be an unreliable narrator, big time. To marry the unreliable narrator to the traditional mystery is exciting, fun, and challenging, which keeps things interesting for the writer. That’s important: There’s no faking interest, as readers of series that have gone dead in midstream well know.

PAW AND ORDER is the seventh book in the series, and second on a dangerous road trip Chet and Bernie have taken, away from their home territory out west – actually Arizona, a fact Chet finally picked up in THE SOUND AND THE FURRY, book six. People often ask if the series should be read in any particular order. That is not a question Chet would ever ask! He’s the type who just dives in. You’re welcome to do likewise!

The Chet and Bernie novels are not cozies. There’s darkness and suffering. Chet goes through some harsh and difficult things. But – and I noticed this more as a reader than a writer – he bounces back to his reset position pretty quickly. His reset position is one of optimism and joie de vie. I myself am not a quick bouncer back, but here’s a strange thing: since Chet came along, I find myself copying him in this regard. How strange that a figment of your own imagination could change you! Chet’s sunny disposition has struck many readers, by the way, and the most rewarding thing about the series for me are the emails and comments I get about how these books have brightened some lives. I never set out to do that. It’s humbling.

Readers at signings often ask about my approach to research. So now I’d like to introduce my crack research team: Audrey on the left, Pearl on the right. Plus here’s Willow, an intern just added to the west coast office, under the direction of one of my daughters. They do sleep on the job quite a bit, but they’ve never steered me wrong, and they work for chew strips and pats. If there’s a better business plan than mine, let me know.

Audrey

Pearl

 

Willow

Dorothy Salisbury Davis: R.I.P.

Sad news. Mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis passed away on August 3. She was an MWA Grand Master and 6 - time Edgar nominee. Ms Davis wrote 17 crime novels, three historical novels and numerous short stories. She served as president of MWA and was one of the founders of Sisters in Crime. She was presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards from Bouchercon and Malice Domestic.

Dorothy Salisbury Davis was a wonderful woman and terrific writer of mystery and suspense. I met her several times over the years. Each time was an honor and a pleasure. Ms Davis was born in 1916.

Open Road Media has brought out this year 22 works by pioneeing crime writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis as ebooks.

Read Sarah Weinman's essay on Dorothy Salisbury Davis in Mystery Scene this month. It's not online, but you can order a copy.

Here's a link to another article by Sarah Weinman that appeared in The Daily Beast.

A complete list of Dorothy Salisbury Davis can be found HERE.

Ngaio Marsh Award Shortlist

Four outstanding novels have been announced as the finalists for the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which will be presented on August 30 following The Great New Zealand Crime Debate event at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival. The Ngaio Marsh Award is made annually for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident.

“This has absolutely been the toughest year for the judges in the five-year history of the Award,” says Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “We had eight excellent, incredibly different novels that made up our deepest and most diverse long list yet. Those books illustrate that local writers are exploring questions of crime and mystery in a variety of exciting ways, and providing readers with a great mix of entertainment, fine storytelling, and beautiful prose. It has made our job very hard, but it’s a nice problem to have.”

After much deliberation, and some fairly divergent opinions, the international judging panel has settled on the following four finalists (in alphabetical order):

• JOE VICTIM by Paul Cleave (Penguin) 
• FREDERICK’S COAT by Alan Duff (Random House) 
• MY BROTHER’S KEEPER by Donna Malane (HarperCollins) 
• WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO by Liam McIlvanney (Faber) 

The judges praised JOE VICTIM as “visceral” and packed with “clever dialogue, black humour, and incredible twists”; called FREDERICK’S COAT a “unique and sensitive book in style and subject matter” with “terrific writing and great characters”; said MY BROTHER’S KEEPER was a “consistently compelling and character-rich story” that was executed with rare “grace and human complications”; and rated WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO as a “thought-provoking novel with very real characters and a fascinating, complex plot” that wove in topical and important real-world issues.

The winner will receive a set of Ngaio Marsh Award novels courtesy of HarperCollins and a cash prize of $1,000 provided by the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust.