Skip to main content

Winter Preview - 2007/08

In an attempt to maintain an earlier promise this is THD's Winter Preview 2007/08. BooYah?!

The thing is I have been at a low ebb as it concerns new releases. The Preview has always been about expanding past what we at THD are interested in to books and authors that tap into the zeitgeist of what is new, fresh, and/or interesting in crime fiction.

Part of this low ebb is due to the fact the 2008 release dates seem to be rather sparse, but as 2008 dates firm up I am sure that my general 2008 and Spring 2008 Preview will be a bit more expansive. Saying all of that now leads me into a few books that might be of interest to you and me..... but especially you.

Red Mandarin Dress - Qiu Xiaolong
Here is the fifth in the Detective Chen Cao series. I read his his first, Death of a Red Heroine, and loved it. Sadly I have never read any of the following books. I take only partial blame for this as I feel that poor distribution is also at the root of the problem.

Hell for the Holidays - Chris Grabenstein
Second book in this second series from Chris Grabenstein. For as much as I love his Ceepak series I have been strangely uninterested in these Holiday themed books. That and the fact the the book(s) appear simultaneously in trade and hardback editions with the trade edition only available at my local bookstore. I should purchase both as an early Christmas present to myself. Yeah that's right I just wrote 'Christmas' present..... not 'Holiday' present!

The Crimes of Doctor Watson - John H. Watson MD./Duane Swierczynski
No brainer purchase here... or (cough) Christmas present (cough). I love both these authors' work. It is about time they collaborated.

The Nameless Night - GM Ford
I think Ford's Leo Waterman character was one of the best and most interesting characters out there, but his Frank Corso character has never really connected to me to the extent that I have not even read the last two novel in that series. This is a stand-alone.

Slip of the Knife - Denise Mina
Need to read this author as we are recommending this title purely on reputation. To that end, THD is making this author their next read. The UK edition is titled The Last Breath.

The Black Dove - Stephen Hockensmith
Here is the third book in this Western themed series. THD has read the previous two efforts and felt that they just missed being really great books. Hardly matters as I am in for this third book come h-e-double hockey sticks or high water.

Good selection here. I believe that the first three books on this list have already hit the stands, so more important than reading these books or authors is buying these books from these authors.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Very Best of Mr. Dennis Lehane

I thought this post would appear in October. Ya, know when SHUTTER ISLAND: THE MOVIE was supposed to be released. And then it wasn't. Something about Leo not being able to do 'press' for the movie. Doesn't really matter the reason, a February release date has one of those fancy Hollywood meanings: Not Good. Look I'll be honest, I didn't connect with SHUTTER ISLAND. I loved the fifties setting, the haunted house atmosphere, and impending doom of the Hurricane. Even the set-up of the story was intriguing but how it played out just didn't work for me. Some interesting characters, a bunch of great set pieces, but the ending announces itself with an expected, thud that went nowhere. Am I still going to the movie? Its Lehane, Scorsese, Leo, and Ruffalo of course I am. Anyway the list. 8. Prayers for Rain - 1999 The last Kenzie-Gennaro book follows our heroes as they investigate a guy who is terrorizing women into committing suicide. The book played like an episo

A Fogotten Post: A Remembrance

[Editor's Note: Started this missive, never came back to it. Still relevant, I suppose.] I am reading MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev Marsh. This was... technically still is... on my to buy pile. In the before time... the overwhelming to be read pile time... I would have bought this and thrown it on the shelf to read in the near or more likely distant future. I hope I like it enough to buy the second in the series. Buying a book is fun, buying a book that is good is better. [Editor's Note: Abandoned this book, unfinished.] BLACKTOP WASTELAND - S.A. COSBY So glad I didn't buy this last summer. Good decision to put off buying and reading what would have certainly been one of the best books of the year. New goal for the remaining 2021 calendar. Don't be dumb. Buy Mr. Cosby's follow up and read day one! [Editor's Note: I did buy a signed copy of RAZORBLADE  TEARS, meanwhile B.W. won every award, except the Edgar where it wasn't even nominated!? Also Signed firsts of

Small Mercies - The Return of Dennis Lehane

 A time honored tradition at The Hungry Detective HQ is to perform the twice annual, and largely ceremonial, 'Dennis Lehane New book 20XX" Google search. Nothing comes up on his long abandoned Website, except notification of the script work for his television and film projects.  Grousing aside, 2022 was a big year for Mr. Lehane. BLACK BIRD, a show he created, played on Apple+ to solid acclaim. The show's star, Paul Walter Hauser, won a Golden Globe. But despite that I have yet to watch it. Not for any other reason than I am a movie person more than a TV person. The TV I do watch is watched in an arcane order that is difficult to decipher and even more baffling to explain. Short story, I need to watch ANDOR [Editor's Note: Slow going on ANDOR despite everyone telling me it is amazing.] And then BLACK BIRD, or maybe SLOW HORSES. I'll get there...  Anyway at the dead end of 2022, I did the search. Found out he wrote a book. SMALL MERCIES . I was excited to hear it. I