Crime Fiction Dossier

Book of the Week: John Lange's "Zero Cool"

The pseudonymous John Lange (better known to readers as Michael Crichton) returns with his second Hard Case Crime reprint and it's another winner. An American doctor heads for Spain for a little R&R -- and instead finds himself caught up in a Maltese Falcon-inspired intrigue involving mysterious fat men, leggy dames and a whole host of bad guys trying to knock him off. Zero Cool isn't exactly a serious story, but it is a fun, fast and highly entertaining read. (I used to have scour used bookstores to find the old Lange paperbacks -- so much easier to get them now. Thanks Hard Case Crime!)

Book of the Week: Laura Lippman's "Another Thing to Fall"

The publication of a new book by Laura Lippman, one of the genre's most talented writers, is always a cause for celebration. In recent years she has alternated between standalone novels and books in her series featuring Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan. This year it's time for Tess to make an appearance, and although I prefer her non-series books, Another Thing to Fall is a fun (and occasionally funny), entertaining mystery. Drawing on her knowledge of the television industry, Lippman has Monaghan working as a bodyguard for a spoiled young Hollywood diva who's in town to film a TV show. The mystery plot is fine, the Hollywood satire is excellent, and Tess is a joy as always.

Book of the Week: Ken Bruen's "Cross"

Ken Bruen, the poet laureate of Irish crime fiction, returns with his sixth novel featuring PI Jack Taylor. Jack's off the sauce, but all the drinking has taken a toll, leaving his body and soul in sad repair and his life in a shambles. He can still rouse himself to investigate a brutal murder, but even then his heart is hardly in it. Cross is not a traditional detective novel -- the case really doesn't matter very much -- but the aching poetry of Bruen's language, and his gift for character and setting, elevate this to very high ground.

Book of the Week: Steve Hockensmith's "The Black Dove"

Steve Hockensmith returns to the rambunctious frontier world of the late-19th century American West, with his deducifying detective duo of Old Red and Big Red Amlingmeyer. The Amlingmeyers are between jobs, having been fired by the Southern Pacific Railroad, and at loose ends in San Francisco. When their friend Dr. Chan is murdered, the brothers head for Chinatown to track down his killer. The Black Dove is an amusing homage to the great Sherlock Holmes (the Amlingmeyers' hero) and an entertaining period mystery.

Book of the Week: Sean Chercover's "Big City, Bad Blood"

I reviewed this book when it was released in hardcover last year, but now that it's being published in mass market paperback, I wanted to give it another plug. I just read it again last week and I liked it even more than the first time. Chercover makes a standard hard-boiled PI story come alive with crisp writing and a winning protagonist. If you missed Big City, Bad Blood last year, don't make that mistake again. Chercover is one of the rising stars of the mystery genre, and PI Ray Dudgeon is one of my favorite new characters.

Book of the Week: Alex Berenson's "The Ghost War"

I didn't read Alex Berenson's The Faithful Spy, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel last year, but I wish I had. The Ghost War, that book's sequel, has just been released and it's one of the best spy thrillers I've read in a long time. CIA agent John Wells is a fine character, and The Ghost War leads him on a series of thrilling adventures, stretching from DC to Afghanistan to Beijing. Readers who like Barry Eisler or David Ignatius, in particular, should pick this one up right away.

Book of the Week: Christa Faust's "Money Shot"

Hard Case Crime has published their first book by a female author -- How tired must Christa Faust be of hearing that? -- and it's a dark, violent, action-packed ride. Angel Dare, a former porn star-turned-businesswoman, wakes up in the truck of a car, having been beaten up and shot -- and things just get worse from there. The plot of Money Shot -- an innocent person on-the-run revenge fantasy -- isn't anything we haven't seen before, but the pacing is swift and the prose is crisp. The content is dark, so this book won't be for everyone. But for those who enjoy their noir on the noir-side, Money Shot is one of the best of Hard Case Crime's originals.

Book of the Week: Richard Stark's "The Jugger"

Richard Stark has a new Parker novel coming out in April -- always something to get excited about. I received a galley of it a while back, but before I read it I realized that I had one of the Stark reprints that Mysterious Press did a couple years ago that I still hadn't read. The Jugger is a different kind of story for Parker, in that it's not a heist novel -- Parker isn't planning a job at all. He's spending time in a small town in Nebraska where an old friend has just died, leading to several complications. I could read Stark all day long. There is such an elegance about his lean & mean prose. The Jugger isn't up there with the best of the series, but they're all good. (While preparing this post, I learned that this book is once again out-of-print. That is a damn shame. If you're looking for a great read, pick up one of his other books instead.)

Book of the Week: James Grippando's "Last Call"

I don't know why I don't read James Grippando more often. I think I've only read two of his books -- with Last Call being the second -- but I enjoyed both of them a lot. Maybe it's the Florida thing -- do I really want to read another book set in Miami? Or maybe it's the bestseller thing -- could he actually be any good if he's that popular? Whatever the reason, I need to make a note for next time that Grippando is worth giving a try. Last Call features attorney Jack Swyteck helping his old friend Theo Knight, who's in trouble with an escaped con who claims to know the truth about the murder of Knight's mother. Good characters, good story, good thriller.

Book of the Week: Matthew Reilly's "The 6 Sacred Stones"

If you're looking for fine writing and character development and all that fancy stuff, look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you're looking for the literary equivalent of an Indiana Jones movie, this is the book for you. Matthew Reilly's prose is only serviceable at best, but his imagination -- and his sheer audacity -- runs circles around most writers. The 6 Sacred Stones is never remotely believable, but, damn, it's a lot of fun to read. (One thing to note: this book ends in a huge cliffhanger that isn't going to be resolved until the book's sequel. Drove me up the wall!)