Blog Archives

The Great Pronzini

April 13, 2013
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The Great Pronzini

Today marks Bill Pronzini’s 70th birthday, and I want to join the discussion on the blogosphere with my own tribute to this admirable author of mystery, suspense, Western, and critical works. Pronzini is a well-known and respected author, but he’s something of a rarity on the modern mystery scene: he knows a lot about the genre’s history. His collection of books and pulp magazines is massive, and he has written and contributed to several reference volumes, including three books on “alternative classics” (i.e. books so bad that they…

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The Tyranny of Contemporary Cliches

March 13, 2013
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The Tyranny of Contemporary Cliches

There’s a certain type of mystery plot out there that is really starting to get on my nerves. The plot isn’t confined to a single sub-genre. The book can be set in a charming English village where an elderly lady plays the role of amateur sleuth. It can just as easily be a tough-as-nails hardboiled story about a tough wise-cracking PI. But for some reason, many authors think it’s a clever idea to use the following twist ending: the killer is gay. What does the…

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Collins’s Latest Mystery Depicts Cultural Controversy, Is a First-Rate Read

March 11, 2013
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Collins’s Latest Mystery Depicts Cultural Controversy, Is a First-Rate Read

The comic book industry is in a tough place. Congress is getting set to examine the problem of comic books and how they defile the moral fabric of America’s youth. Angry parenting groups are burning comic books, and the industry is losing money. Enter Jack Starr, the Starr syndicate’s troubleshooter. Whenever trouble rears its ugly head, Jack has to go and take care of it, and Dr. Frederick’s passionate anti-comic-books crusade certainly qualifies. This forms the plot of Max Allan Collins’ excellent new mystery, 'Seduction…

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Polish Crime Novel Evokes Memories of Communist Terror

February 13, 2013
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Polish Crime Novel Evokes Memories of Communist Terror

Zygmunt Miłoszewski is an award-winning Polish author, writer of one of the few Polish crime novels to cross the language barrier into English. The novel is Uwikłanie, translated as Entanglement and published by the Bitter Lemon Press in 2010. It has its flaws, but it's a good mystery, and it is valuable in illustrating some of the lasting effects of the horrors of Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe. . . .

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Mystery Awards Celebrate Mediocrity, Do Genre Great Disservice

February 11, 2013
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Mystery Awards Celebrate Mediocrity, Do Genre Great Disservice

The Agatha Awards nominations for contemporary mystery fiction have just been announced, and looking over the list, I am overcome with a wave of emotion: sheer apathy. I just don’t care about any of these nominations. I read plenty of new books in 2012, and I enjoyed myself for the most part. But come awards season, it seems to be a celebration of the bestseller lists and of the over-appreciated art of mediocrity. . . .

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Review: 1890s Sleuths in Enjoyable Mysteries in Holmes-Era U.S.

January 14, 2013
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Review: 1890s Sleuths in Enjoyable Mysteries in Holmes-Era U.S.

"As these cases often do, 'The Bughouse Affair' begins as a relatively simple matter. Sabina Carpenter is hired to catch a ruthless lady pickpocket. Meanwhile, John Quincannon is hired to tackle a house burglar who seems to be working his way down an insurance company’s list. These cases have no apparent connection to each other, but after some investigation, the detectives realize that there is a connection between the two crimes. But almost on cue, a bizarre locked-room murder takes place, and the detectives are…

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Pronzini’s Latest Mystery Novel Is a Compelling Read

January 11, 2013
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Pronzini’s Latest Mystery Novel Is a Compelling Read

"Kerry attempts to make her way out of the 'hellbox' in which she is imprisoned, but it’s no easy feat, being guarded by a mean-looking, possibly carnivorous dog. Not only that, she is bound and the doors are locked, with nothing sharp around with which she can free herself or pick the lock. It’s a maddening scenario for anyone, let alone a character we’ve come to know and love over the course of the series. . . . 'Hellbox' is an interesting book. It’s quite…

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Book Review: Rivers of Blood

January 8, 2013
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Book Review: Rivers of Blood

A murder mystery set in the Medieval era, 'Bloodstone' is quite satisfying. It’s a complex story with plenty of murders to fuel the action, two impossibilities, and plenty of historical color. I also really enjoyed the characterization. I hesitate to say too much, but there are really some memorable characters in this book, and some of the murder victims’ fates are genuinely tragic ones. . . .

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‘Jack Reacher’ Is Entertaining Despite Questionable Casting of Cruise

January 2, 2013
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‘Jack Reacher’ Is Entertaining Despite Questionable Casting of Cruise

I didn’t even know who Jack Reacher was when I first saw the trailer for the movie, a trailer that made me laugh out loud. Tom Cruise as some badass “I’m-not-a-hero” antihero, obviously looking to reboot his action star career and possibly feed his ego? Who would want to watch that? But then I found out who Jack Reacher was, and the more I found out about the movie the more curious I became. Usually, I read a book before seeing the movie upon which…

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Halter’s Brilliant ‘Hypothesis’ May Be His Masterpiece of Mystery

December 26, 2012
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Halter’s Brilliant ‘Hypothesis’ May Be His Masterpiece of Mystery

'The Seventh Hypothesis' is quite possibly Paul Halter’s masterpiece, a book of amazing complexity. There is so much meat to this story, and you’re never quite certain what on earth is going on until the end, even if, by some chance, you tumble to the secret behind a trick or two before the end. Just as much fun as the classic impossible crimes are the verbal duels, which seem to have been inspired by the verbal duels in 'Sleuth,' with revelation after revelation further complicating…

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Review: ‘Hitchcock’ Movie for the Ignorant Only

December 19, 2012
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Review: ‘Hitchcock’ Movie for the Ignorant Only

'Hitchcock’s' main problem is that it doesn’t find reality interesting enough. It decides to ignore the drama that actually surrounded the production in favor of the fictional and naturally far better drama that someone has invented in their heads, to make political points and strike blows for feminism.

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Perry’s ‘The Scroll’ an Engaging Short Mystery

December 10, 2012
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Perry’s ‘The Scroll’ an Engaging Short Mystery

MysteriousPress.com is introducing a new series of stories called Bibliomysteries. The concept of the series is relatively simple: these are all relatively short tales centered on some sort of deadly book, manuscript, etc. Four titles have been released, all written by prominent mystery authors: Anne Perry, C. J. Box, Jeffrey Deaver, and Ken Bruen all contribute tale. In Anne Perry’s 'The Scroll,' the book that sets the entire plot in motion is the titular scroll . . .

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Fun Mystery Novel Sets Sail for Murder

November 16, 2012
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Fun Mystery Novel Sets Sail for Murder

Marsali Taylor is really quite a promising talent. She throws plot threads wildly in the wind as though they were confetti, and then navigates the reader through the pea-souper she’s created with almost alarming ease. It’s all very well-done, with clues fairly planted for the reader to spot. And I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t spot the culprit. I was convinced we were going to get ending X, and all the time I failed to realize that was what the author wanted me to…

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Murder . . . with an Overpowering Dose of Romance Thrown In

November 13, 2012
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Murder . . . with an Overpowering Dose of Romance Thrown In

. . . 'A Fatal Winter' is not bad, but G. M. Malliet has some atrocious luck when it comes to being read by me. I had just read a novel which pretty much uses this book’s entire twist as just a part of its solution, and by comparison solving this one was a snap. So I was left on the sidelines waiting for the outcome I knew was coming sooner or later, and being annoyed whenever the romantic mush interrupted the proceedings. . .…

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Review: Nero Wolfe’s Great Partnership Begins

November 12, 2012
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Review: Nero Wolfe’s Great Partnership Begins

The classic fictional detective Nero Wolfe meets his assistant Archie Goodwin in Robert Goldsborough's latest entry in his continuation of Rex Stout's classic mystery series. Goldsborough's prequel to the Wolfe-Goodwin series is excellent and overcomes many of the problems inherent in such efforts to continue other writers' series, writes Patrick Ohl: "It's a delight to see Nero Wolfe back in action, and I'm really very pleased with the result."

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