The Hungry Detective

Dear Michael McGarrity, I really like your Kevin Kerney series. I just finished the last two books, DEATH SONG and DEAD OR ALIVE. I wish I could say I finished the latest in the series, but as you know DEAD OR ALIVE, was published in 2009. Eight years is a long time to wait for another Kevin Kerney book. I know the Kerney Family prequels exists, but for right now I have to say they are not the same thing. It is sort of in the nature for the reader to want a series to go on and on. I wonder if the author has other thoughts. When I attend author signings the one question I want to ask again and again is: "How will it end?" Recently I have had to confront the juxtaposition of the 'end we want' versus the 'end we get'. And although a fundamental part of me is desperate for the end I want, it is in fact the ending that we get that holds more value to me.The ending that we did not consider has the ability to teach us something about ourselves...as long as w...

Edward Marston does this thing. He builds a compelling crime narrative, elucidates some subtle character moments and interesting 'B' and 'C' story lines. Then something happens about three quarters of the way through  DEEDS OF DARKNESS, Mr. Marston's fourth book in the Home Front Series . The 'A' story here concerns the murder of two young women by a sexual deviant. The 'B' story line follows the peculiar behavior of a neighbor who has lost two sons in WWI and refuses to allow a third to join up. The 'C' story concerns the experiences of Paul Marimon, the soldier son of our lead Detective Harvey Marimon, during the Battle of Somme. These story lines are interwoven to great effect, but with the end of the novel in sight, Mr. Marston abandons the 'A' plot and camps out in the 'B' and 'C' stories. And even though it is only for a chapter or two, front lining these sub-plots has the effect of draining much of the...