The Hungry Detective

As THD alluded to in our Summer Preview there are a bevy books soon to be a available for purchase. Recently, we chose two. See below. The King of Lies - John Hart Nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel last year, this is a nice pick up for THD. Mr. Hart's second, the 2008 Edgar winning Down River, was purchased about a month ago. THD is excited for both books. Note the UK jacket at left. The Evil that Men Do - Dave White One of the young guns of the crime fiction world drops his second book. Trade paperback on this release got us thinking that that the trade paperback format will eventually become the standard for a lot, if not most, of crime fiction releases. Need to purchase some poly bags to keep this books safe from the ravages of time.

Well it is time for the Summer Preview. Not surprisingly there are bunch of books releasing between now and September. This list is a little different from past lists. THD has included a few books that while very interesting it is doubtful that we will purchase, let alone read. These books mainly fall under the heading of 'wish we had the time.' The Evil that Men Do - Dave White - June 17 Second of the Jackson Dunne books. I liked the first book to the extent that while I felt I had read it before it was still highly enjoyable. Ok, so technically this is a late Spring release. Chasing Darkness - Robert Crais - July 1 Back to Elvis. I think the 9th or 10th book for Elvis Cole. I have read most of this author's canon, I think The Watchman is the only book I am missing. Mr. Crais is a good to great author who's early work we find a tad more enjoyable than his later. But 'good' Crais is like 'great' most everyone else. Fuzzy Navel - JA Konrath - July 8...

My one word review is followed by my slightly more in depth musings on Severance Package. AWESOME! A tiny secret is that I enjoyed The Wheelman but not to the degree that others did. I can only really recall one passage where our mute 'lead' effects an escape by blowing up a propane tank. Good stuff there. In my defense that was about a hundred books ago. The Blonde never really clicked with me and as far as I am concerned it is all my fault. I have only re-read one book in my life, The Great Gatsby, I am nearly certain that the The Blonde will be the second. As for Severance Package I dug the he-hi-hell out of this book. The book contains an ever amount of escalating violence that strangely becomes only more hilarious. The basic plot revolves around a Saturday Morning meeting to announce that the office is closing up shop and the employees all need to find new jobs as casket fillers for eternity. It is kind of like The Breakfast Club if Principal Vernon had announced that ever...

In the, unfortunately, prolonged absence through the end of May and early June I missed making some timely comments about all of the nominations that appeared for the Barry, Anthony and Dagger awards. The events that lead to the temporary shut down of THD will one day be published in another little read blog. For now let us look forward, not back. The full list of nominations for the Anthony's can be found at the B'Con 2008 blog . The big three are as follows. Best Novel: Tin Roof Blowdown - James Lee Burke Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child The Watchman - Robert Crais Thunder Bay - William Kent Krueger What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman A pretty safe list. All the authors are beloved by the B'Con crowd. Impossible to pick a favorite. Ms. Lippman and Mr. Krueger have won the last four awards in this category. I'll say that Mr. Krueger and Ms. Lippman cancel each other out and the award goes to Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble. Picking against Ms. Lippman in Baltimore...

Well back at it. I still have two more posts on tap before I will be caught up. Nose to the grindstone. Super Spy - Matt Kindt This is the graphic novel I mentioned in my last post. And I loved it. The book is a collection of about 25 or so shorts stories that are interconnected. Presented out of order, they can be read in order with a little patience and some code deciphering. All of this reminded me of the great Alan Furst or the fantastic Jean-Pierre Melville film Army of Shadows . Super Spy is easily the equal of those examples. Spying for country, spying for conscious, spying for love, spying out of fear. A thrilling, mess. Wonderfully sad. The dialog is teasingly, maddeningly spare. The artwork frequently diverges from the typical comic style and is GORGEOUS from the first panel. Super Spy is the best thing I have read this year! And the best news yet, Super Spy is the follow up to the similarly themed Two Sisters . Vices of My Blood - Maureen Jennings Toronto before the turn ...

So with this return to the THD blog I am going to briefly cover all of the books I have read in the last 5-6 weeks. I read four books in this stretch and a one graphic novel. I am terribly pleased with all of this progress. Even though the Anthony's , the Barry's and the Dagger's all released nominations a while ago I still have some commentary I would like to share. But not wanting that to get lost in the shuffle, I'll save commentary for another post. Thanks to Rap Sheet and Confessions for the links. Body Scissors - Michael Simon I really adored Michael Simon's first book, Dirty Sally . That book was very reminiscent of early Connelly say up to Trunk Music. Body Scissors did not reach the heights of Dirty Sally, but it was a pretty good read. Detective Dan Reles is a transplanted New Yorker in Austin Texas circa 1991. The first Gulf War, the first President Bush.... ahhhh those halcyon days. Mr. Simon writes a tight, gritty little story about real people wh...

I'm in Walnut Creek, CA. Family commitments. I should be back soon. Just wanted to point you to the Anthony noms which can be found at the B'Con 2008 blog , and at The Rap Sheet . I've got some commentary... but it will have to wait.