The Hungry Detective

The leaves are changing faster than I have posted around here. The summer was a hot sweaty mess. And once the final decision was made not to attend the SF B'Con , The Hungry Detective was all at sea. However, there is nothing worse than a blogger complaining about the morass of complacency. Fall 2010 looks to be fruitful. Everything on the list is a distant second to MOONLIGHT MILE. The return of Mr. Lehane is giving me a panic attack. I am actually being more careful in life lest some horrid accident befall me before November. Do yourself a favor, find yourself a hammock and read these books! My thanks to Fantastic Fiction and The Bloodstained Bookshelf . THE HANGING TREE - Bryan Gruley - In stores now! Mr. Gruley returns with his follow-up to STRAVATION LAKE. I am not along in thinking that Mr. Gruley's first was a winner from the word go. The book has been out a few weeks now, but I'll be looking for this in the coming months. THE BODY AND THE BLOOD - Michael Lis...

It is the good fortune of The Hungry Detective to now and again receive books from authors, publishers or their associated marketing agencies. These books were received in the month of August 2010. SIX SUSPECTS - Vikas Swarup - Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books 

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The 2010 PWA Shamus nominations made their appearance last week. And like a lot of things with The Hungry Detective they are pretty late in showing up here. As in most cases I have read very few of the nominated books. Still I'd love to see Michael Koryta win. THE SILENT HOUR is fantastic. The Hungry Detective extends our congratulations to all of the nominees and wishes them the best of luck when the awards are handed out at this year's San Francisco B'Con . Best Hardcover P.I. Novel THE SILENT HOUR - Michael Koryta - Minotaur WHERE THE DEAD LAY - David Levien - Doubleday LOCKED IN - Marcia Muller - Grand Central SCHEMERS - Bill Pronzini - Forge MY SOUL TO TAKE - Yrsa Sigurdardottir - William Morrow Best First P.I. Novel   LOSER'S TOWN - Daniel Depp - Simon & Schuster THE LAST GIG - Norman Green - Minotaur THE GOOD SON - Russel D. McLean - Minotaur FACES OF THE GONE - Brad Parks - Minotaur CHINATOWN ANGEL - A.E. Roman - Minotaur Best P...

Out of the loop for so long that I missed this bit of recent greatness. 11.2.10!

It is the good fortune of The Hungry Detective to now and again receive books from authors, publishers or their associated marketing agencies. These books were received in the month of July 2010 DEVIL'S TRILL - Gerald Elias - Minotaur Books VILLIAN - Shuichi Yoshida - Pantheon THE CHARMING QUIRKS OF OTHERS - Alexander McCall Smith - Pantheon STRONG ENOUGH TO DIE - Jon Land - Forge Books STRONG JUSTICE - Jon Land - Forge Books

Small confession. If you throw the word 'spy' into the title of your novel, I am probably gonna read it. I have two sources for my obsession, neither of them are James Bond. Now, I love James, but I have never mistaken what 007 does for anything remotely resembling real tradecraft. TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY is about the zenith of fictional spy reality. If you have not seen the 6 hour miniseries from the early 80's do yourself a favor and hole up on some rainy Saturday and let Alec Guiness as George Smiley teach you life lessons about spying for Queen and Country. The other source for me is THE SANDBAGGERS. A wonderful ITV show that played in the UK from 1978 to 1980. Both of these are hyper-realistic... or what I imagine to be hyper-realistic... depictions of the work a day world of the counter-intelligence officer. So that is the short story to why Keith Thomson's ONCE A SPY ended up on my plate. The hook for ONCE A SPY is Alzheimer's. Drummond Clark is the leg...