The Hungry Detective

A few weekends ago I went to the Rare Books LA show in Pasadena, California. I have attended that show or a version of that show more often than not in the last 7-8 years. In the earlier years I tended to walk out of there with something. I grabbed Michael Connelly's THE BLACK ECHO with blue rebate band. On a couple of occasions I was able to mine some moderately priced Edward Gorey books. But the last few shows, as my interests have narrowed, have been slim pickings. On the Edward Gorey side, there always manages to be a bookseller or two. Gorey was a prolific producer. But as a prolific producer many of those books are small run, virtually hand produced copies. Some stray into the hundreds of dollars for that reason. I am not opposed to buying the occasional expensive book, but when there are 30 or 40 with that price tag...  and as much as I like Edward Gorey... I am not quite there. [ Editor's Note: He means 'yet'. He's not there yet. ] I have, also, never really...

At some point in the last year Barnes and Noble got interested in selling Crime Fiction. The last four Barnes & Noble in four different cities and in two different states I browsed now have large displays that feature Crime Fiction. For years Crime Fiction was shoe horned between Sci-Fi and the General Fiction section. Usually buried in the back half of the store taking up only 2 or 3 shelves with only meager hardcover availability. Now in 3 of the 4 stores I visited there was a large U-Shaped section encompassing 16-20 shelves. In all cases there were dozens of hardcover offerings. It looked great to see that much variety and it certainly spurred the purchase of the three books below. So after not buying from Barnes and Noble for the last handful of years...save for the most desperate circumstances...I think I might have to reconsider. Anyway these are my recent purchases. THE MAID - Nita Prose I went from definitely getting this, to not getting this, to putting a hold at the Libr...

Hi Team,  One of my goals for the Summer was to read three James Lee Burke books. THE WAYFARING STRANGER, HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN, and THE JEALOUS KIND.  I liked those books probably in that exact order. My lingering issue is not properly understanding the Holland Family tree, especially in THE JEALOUS KIND. This despite JBL's own explanation of the Holland Family . The critical piece missing is who is the connective tissue from Aaron Holland Broussard to Hackberry Holland. THE JEALOUS KIND explains that it is his mother, obviously. But Aaron's mother is never referred to in STRANGER or RISING SUN as far as I remember. It leaves me wanting. Still lovely work across the board. This aside I have 24 books on my to be read pile. I want, and at this point maybe need, to bring that down definitively into the mid-teens before the end of the year. Titling this post 'A Little Break' does not bode well for me finishing that goal. But it leads me to look at...

Often my wife and I make tentative plans to go out later. These usually occur just as we are getting home from work. We never go out later though. Within 5 seconds of entering our apartment, we are in for the night. But a few weekends ago, after an extensive wardrobe reduction project and watching a movie, we ventured out into the world at 8pm! Vapors!? We went to Target in Burbank California ostensibly to look for removable hooks. We bought those hooks. I also purchased a cute baby outfit for my best friends 9 month old... ...and THE CHAIN by Adrian McKinty. Target is not my bookstore of choice, [ Editor's Note: Ha! ] but seeing THE CHAIN sitting there on the end cap in an honest to goodness Target is likely to be the most pleasing book experience I will have this year. I don't advocate buying books at Target under any circumstances. However... I hold this writer in the highest regard. I have bought his books in many fine independent bookstores since DEAD I MA...

Thirty is now fourteen. I am at the halfway point of The List . The List was born out of a desire to reinvigorate my interest in Crime Fiction. Almost two years into this plan and I feel good about where I am...emotionally....physically...with Crime Fiction Although difficult to quantify I knew that the smart play two years ago was to focus on my core authors as a way to rekindle my interest in Crime Fiction. Chasing new authors with 'hot' debuts had lead me to a kind of ruin. My shelves became littered with authors and their two book deals that had come to nothing. A bunch three out of five star books that passed the time but never excelled. The other effect this plan had was to appease my desire to buy books. All those disappointing debuts that amounted to so much nothing still needed replacing. The promise of buying a book is completely separate from the shrug that it can elicit when I read the last page. Filling the gaps of my core authors also filled the need I have...

[Editor's Note: I have massaged this piece for longer than I care to admit. One should never openly denigrate ones work, but in wondering why this has taking me so long to finish I confront two options. One, I was trying to get it 'right,' and that is true up to a point. I am driving at something with this post that I am never quite able to quantify, hence the endless editing. Which then leads me into the second reason, that it just doesn't make any sense. The post starts by making a point then goes about proving it...or not proving it in this case..in the least effective way possible.]  I wish my ennui with Amazon had something to do with any one of the corporate messes that they have found themselves in over the last ten years, but that is not the reason. In a previous post I figured, through some suspect math, that I spend $700 a year on new Crime Fiction. While this number does not account for used, and rather expensive back catalog books, it is a useful number...

I have spent more time then I care to admit watching 'Book Haul' videos on YouTube recently. If you don't know these are videos that almost exclusively feature young women who display recent purchases that focus heavily on YA fiction. Fascinating. I'm not going to do a video because I just don't have that kind of energy. But I do like talking about books, so here is what I bought at Bouchercon 2014. Justice Hall - Laurie R. King  - Bantam I lost this book when The Hungry Detective moved Headquarters. The book got inexplicably crushed. This is the first book I have had to repurchase. Let it be the last.... [Editor's Note: Maybe you should wait until the end of this post before you make this claim]. Japantown - Barry Lancet - Simon and Schuster A book and author I identified for purchase before I went to the show. It is a thriller which gives me a bit of a pause. I've burned out on thrillers over the last couple years. On the plus...

It is late on Sunday. A long, fun weekend and honestly I am exhausted. My recap of the 2014 Long Beach Bouchercon could wait until tomorrow. But why put off today what you will probably have to complete tomorrow or the next day. [Editor's Note: Probably?] I had good luck with the panels this year. It amazes me that you throw a bunch of authors in a room and more often then not the panel works. I found myself in a number of panels this year where I either knew nothing of the author or only what I could glean while doing Amazon searchers for their books in the five minutes before the panel started. It works when it feels like it should fail more often. I do know that I have become selective in the panels I choose to attend. There was at least one panel session on Thursday and Friday I did not attend. There was only one panel that was a bust from the get go. For those little traumas I have long learned to follow the adage of life being too short. A quick, quiet exit is smart f...

This list has actually changed a lot more than I thought it would in first year of existence. The small mysteries of life... 1.  Heaven's Prisoners  - James Lee Burke Still on top. When I first created this list I strongly considered Robert Crais's LULLABY TOWN for the head of the list, primarily under the assumption that the cost would prohibit me from buying it. It was not and now HEAVEN'S PRISONERS has been here since the beginning. Soon, I'll head to the same Pasadena Book show where I was tripping over copies last year, and with the express purpose is to land a copy there. Writing that dooms the whole enterprise. [Editor's Note: B'ah it totally did...] 2.  The Beekeeper's Apprentice  - Laurie R. King Previously I have written that my hopes are pinned the acquisition of this book at the Long Beach B'Con in a few months time. That plan has not changed. [Editor's Note: I can no longer state with any certainty if this assertion or the o...

I bought another Edward Gorey. A SILENT FILM. It is the least illustrated book that Edward Gorey ever created...although I am not an expert. I bought it at an auction. An honest to goodness...albeit over the internet....auction. I frequent an Edward Gorey blog that announced the auction of a Gorey collection at the Swann Auction House. Of the 200 or so lots, three caught my eye. Which is too say there were delusions of grandeur. The day of the auction I watched two of three bids fall quickly away. One was for his first book, THE UNSTRUNG HARP, and the other was for his second Fantod Press package. Those lots sold for far more money than I thought they were worth. As for the third lot, A SILENT FILM, I was the sole bidder. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! It is a lovely little book. A screenplay with a sole illustration on the front cover. The book is a limited edition release of 100 copies. I have book 26. [Editors Note: This is incorrect, but for the life of me I can not remember to...

[ Editors Note: I wrote this post about six weeks ago. I have been tinkering with it since. It is a bog standard post so I don't understand my reticence. Even now I don't think it is done. ] My latest purchases are Edward Gorey books. I'll talk about them, but first let me go back. I bought the four most recent books by Adrian McKinty. I read them in about six weeks. The books were restorative in the exact way that I had hoped. A solid author turning in solid work. Perhaps that sounds like damning them with faint praise, not all. I found the Duffy Trilogy along with FALLING GLASS to be the most evocative books I've read in sometime. Along with the McKinty, the latest Michael Connolly, and likely the best Easy Rawlins in fifteen years means that I can't even remember the last book I read that was a dud.  The California Antiquarian Book Fair happened more than a few months ago now. I talked up the lock I felt that purchasing James Lee Burke's HEAVEN'S P...

(Photo above is evidence of corrected behavior) Dear Adrien McKinty -- I could use the excuse that gutless American publishers have kept me from purchasing your books over the last few years. They did not. Amazon UK is both a blessing and a curse in this case. I could tell you that I have experienced an ennui about Crime Fiction over the last three years. I could also tell you an equally convoluted story about priorities and lessons of adulthood that are still mysterious even at the age of 42. I'll spare you as I am certain that it would bore you as quickly as it does me at this point.      So, let me write that I recently bought three of your books, and that I think of DEAD I MAY WELL BE so often. All my very best to you in the New Year, Dan  The Hungry Detective

A good mail day that should be classified as great. These three book are big for me. I stared at them so often only to put them back on shelves and walk away. I no longer have to do that. I own them. They belong to me. They are a completion of a thought that began long ago with the words "One day I will..." Today is that day.

Alan Furst Night Soldiers Dark Star The World at Night Red Gold Spies of Balkan Mission to Paris Alan Furst is a tough get. Only occasionally do his books show up in stores or shows. When they do it's the early work from the late 70's early 80's or The Polish Officer. My guess is The Polish Officer was the publishers push to put Mr. Furst in the same public consciousness as John Le Carre. Anyway Red Gold was mercifully priced at $25. I would have paid double, but I would not have been happy about it.

Feast Day of Fools - James Lee Burke I have previously detailed my foolish decision to stop purchasing Mr. Burke's work. Now that I put more thought in to it I think I have done this before. Why I keep thumbing my nose at the author I consider the best crime fiction author is a mystery for the ages. Feast Day of Fools is the second book in the Hackberry Holland series. Which in turn is a companion to Billy Bob Holland books. I really dug those three books, and truth be told it was that series that brought me back into Mr. Burke's writing the first time. I'm still woefully behind... Poseidon's Arrow - Clive and Dirk Cussler I don't believe in guilty pleasures. The Dirk Pitt books are ridiculous, but they sure are a blast. Tons of action. They are are a mid-nineties action film of the best kind. Clive Cussler was one of the first authors I picked up and I never regret it every time I do. This books catches me up on the collection dating back to Dragon. ...

I should have know things were about to get serious. The booth had my big four books. The Black Echo (with blue rebate band), The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie R. King, Heaven's Prisoners by James Lee Burke, and Lullaby Town by Robert Crais. Written in pencil on the inside of this particular copy of Lullaby Town was a price I had not seen since I started paying attention to the book. It has been well above $400 for decade, and this price made my throat close. Ms. King's book was reasonable as well, and the Burke was in my wheel house if, unfortunately for my purposes, inscribed to someone else. The Connelly loomed there on the shelf daring me to name a price that I would pay. And wouldn't you know it I hit right on its head. It was a steal at this price. I put it back on the shelf. I walked around giving the room one last shake, but much like The Vinegar Works I had already bought the book. I had a momentary debate about picking up the Crais as it was just as goo...

I was wrong of course. I wasn't going to find The Vinegar Works for cheaper. And like most things the money did not really matter. With each step up the street to find my wife and friends, the book became more and more mine. By the time we hugged our friends good-bye for the third time, I should have walked back across the street to save myself the eventual postage I would pay a week later. In the two weeks that followed I built a list of Crime Fiction books I planned to procure and picked a Gorey or two from his daunting catalog too focus my attention. Obviously, the next logical step was the Pasadena Convention Center. It had been a good long while since I had been on the floor of a proper book fair. Eleven of the thirteen years I lived in Rochester I went to the Rochester Antiquarian Book Fair. More than half those years I was able to survey the complete run of booksellers in fifteen minutes, and leave soon after. I do not want to bad mouth ROC too much. A few of those ye...

"I'll show you some treasures" In a bookstore, as in life, you wait your whole life to see treasures. And the owner of this shop; she had them. Three Books from Fantod Press 1+2. The Beastly Baby. The Wuggly Ump, The Vinegar Works, The Unstrung Harp, A Limerick, The Broken Spoke. Lovely stuff. I would have bought them all. Still laboring under the extreme delusion that I wasn't going to spend a lot of money I grabbed most of the books south of $50. The others were seriously out of my price range. I was just happy to see them. The two books that gave me serious pause were Mr. Gorey's first, The Unstrung Harp. At just over $100 I felt I could justify it based on it being his first and not in terrible condition. A small tear, a few chips but otherwise a very nice copy. The other was the three book collection entitled The Vinegar Works of which Mr. Gorey's most famous creation, The Gashlycrumb Tinies is apart. If a singular book can encapsulate an author'...

Friends had made the decision to marry near the small town of Hudson, New York. This part of New York is rabbit's warren of little burgs that are filled with many cutesy gift and antique stores for NYC residents during the weekends and Summer months. The wife and I traveled into Hudson to meet up with another set of old friends that we don't see nearly enough now that we are well across the country. What was a 5 minute ride a cross the Rip Van Winkle bridge for us was a three hour car trek for them. We are in there debt for the trouble they took to travel 6 hours round trip with two kids who seem to have excessive amount sass. Lunch was boozy and Mexican. And it turned into a walk around the three block main drag. The kids were bored by the adults, and promises of a cheap present for the ride home needed to be filled. While they hunted for something appropriate in a CVS. I ducked into bookstore. Immediately I knew that I would find Edward Gorey books. While the owner smoke...

Edward Gorey produced books from the early 1950's right up to his death in 2000. During the 60's and 70's he produced two to three books a year.  Many of these books have been reissued, some as many as three times. Most of his output was widely available while not an insignificant amount was privately published. Scarce even upon release these books now brings hundreds if not thousands of dollars. The rest follow the typical pattern of the older the book the higher the cost. Then there are the collaborations, the work done under assumed names, and the work he did purely as an illustrator. It is a daunting catalog. I'm going to spend the rest of my life building it. The work of Mr. Gorey still falls under the broad umbrella of Crime Fiction. Many of his books deal with disreputable people doing disreputable things. I enjoy them because of their relative brevity and their rather sweet nature despite their macabre settings. I buy serviceable copies that while not cheap...