The Hungry Detective

I'll admit that it was a difficult to say good-bye to Michael Forsythe. Over the course of three novels, DEAD I MAY WELL BE, THE DEAD YARD and THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD, Adrian McKinty crafted three fantastic stories and many wonderful characters. The books are bloody, gritty reads. They are the finest example of 21st Century Noir, and along with his first stand alone HIDDEN RIVER, without peer. FIFTY GRAND is the latest and greatest from Mr. McKinty, and it does a lot to ease my anxiety over the loss Mr. Forsythe. 50K is a revenge story played out in the rich enclave of Fairview Colorado. A Cuban Police Officer masquerades as an illegal alien to discovery who killed her long absent father. As plot outlines go, this is pretty spare, but with some books it really is about the journey. Strangely more fascinating than the revenge story is the Alexis de Tocquville-like examination of American society by the protagonist Officer Mercado. Through out the book Officer Mercado expresses complete...

The Hungry Detective's wife celebrated her Birthday over the weekend. WooHoo! My unfailing dedication to her meant that I missed posting the Barry nominations in a timely manner. Given the delay I had though I would forgo posting, but I changed my mind once I decided that I had a few things to say about them. Best Novel: • Trigger City - Sean Chercover • The Draining Lake - Arnaldur Indridason • Envy the Night - Michael Koryta • Red Knife - William Kent Krueger • The Cruelest Month - Louise Penny • The Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow The usual suspects as of late. Chercover, Krueger, Penny. The other three I know get a lot of love. As the lone woman in the group Louise Penny can rely on precedent. Last year's winner, Laura Lippman, was also the lone female. I know who I would like to see win, but I also have an idea of who might win. Best First Novel: • The Kind One - Tom Epperson • Stalking Susan - Julie Kramer • City of the Sun - David Levien • Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith • ...

The Woman Affairs Desk of The Hungry Detective Office has been picketing the building for the last few days. It is a very troubling situation. I'll be the first to admit that the Summer '09 Preview is a sausage fest. I've held on to the list for a few days in the hopes that some more female written crime fiction would come to light. Alas, I have been too busy smoking cigars and drinking Brandy at my Men's Only Club downtown. MIND SCRAMBLER - Chris Grabenstein - June 23 I have been a long time advocate of these books. After Book Three I called it the best series I was reading. I think these books work so well because of wish fulfillment and identification. We want to be John Ceepak, but we are Danny Boyle. BURY ME DEEP - Megan Abbott - July 7 Release of this author's fourth novel reminds me that I have yet to read her third. One could write that she is the reigning Queen of Noir, which she is, but I feel like that labels her work in way to make it palatable for au...

Well this brightens an otherwise dull Thursday afternoon. Scorsese's adaptation of Mr. Lehane's SHUTTER ISLAND looks a little crazy. Here is hoping that with his Oscar win for THE DEPARTED Mr. Scorsese will have a little fun. As Scorsese is huge movie fanatic, I'm hoping for a good old Haunted House movie like the ones Val Lewton used to make. Although Lewton didn't make a Haunted House film per se, he did make movies about things that go bump in the night.

C.J. Box is one of those authors I have always wanted to read. Sitting, very lonely, on the shelf is his first book OPEN SEASON . First in his Joe Pickett series, I never read it and now I feel I am too far behind to play catch up. BLUE HEAVEN is his first non-series title. BLUE HEAVEN is set in North Idaho, the panhandle of the state. This section of Idaho has become a refuge for former/retired Los Angeles police officers. A lot of what BLUE HEAVEN is about is the uneasy relationship between the native population of Idaho and their new residents. Each group holds little respect for the other, each believing that their way of life holds more value than the other. The story of BLUE HEAVEN surrounds the unfortunate witnessing of a murder by two young kids. The murder is that of a cop, killed by his own brethren to cover up for a highly lucrative crime in their past. The book is an intense thriller when its focus is on the evil that men do. The ordinariness of human deceit and how chara...