Crime Fiction Thread 2.0. - Page 3

Swierczynski and The Blonde really didn't do it for me. The book was really short but it felt like I was never going to finish. His new one Severance Package sounds pretty cool but I doubt that I'll be picking that one up unless my library gets it.

Huston is pretty great IMHO. I want to finish up the Hank Thompson series before I start his vampire series.

Pelecanos is the subject of a piece in the Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071502119.html

I think there's a Q&A in the paper with him tomorrow, may be taking questions.

Queenpin arrived for me at the bookstore the other day, what a great, tight little novel. It's really cool to see the female character in a noir story dig herself deeper and deeper into a hole, it makes a change from the usual male viewpoint.

Review of Pelecanos' latest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/books/28masl.html

Anybody read James Lee Burke's latest Dave Robicheaux novel yet? I've got a copy but haven't had the time to crack it open. Just curious for any opinions.

It's good. It ties into one of the first Robicheaux books, 20 years earlier, also set in Montana. If you've enjoyed the others in the Robicheaux series, no reason you wouldn't like this one. Plenty of Clete Purcel - always a good thing.

Oh wow, I had no idea Pelecanos had a new book out. Better put that on reserve.

Over at Collider.com you can see Ed Harris' adaptation of Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa - doesn't look like he did a bad job with the straightforward western.

Has anyone read any of Richard Marinicks' books? His stuff sounds pretty interesting.

How are Dan Simmons' Joe Kurtz novels?

The first two Kurtz books are good. Maybe nothing spectacular, but certainly an enjoyable read. I never got around to the third one, however.

I didn't think too much of them. Simmons isn't cut out to be a crime writer, IMO.

And sad news today. James Crumley, dead at 68.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/bo...=1&oref=slogin


Without hyperbole, one of the great crime writers, and a champion of younger masters like Kent Anderson. Check out The Last Good Kiss if you haven't yet, and if you have, heck, time to re-read it.

Good to see some love for Dawn Patrol in this thread, since I just got a free copy from some dude I met on the bus. Also looking forward to picking up Swierczynski's stuff based on what mediumdave said.

And yeah, Caught Stealing was great. Fuck, I hate that I missed out on this thread since my last post. After I finish up Dawn Patrol I've got Huston's The Shotgun Rule, Dogface by Jeff Garigliano, and Judgment Day by Sheldon Siegel all to pore through (again, free). Any word on these?

After ready and enjoying Two Minute Rule and The Watchman by Crais I've been going back through his older novels like The Monkey's Raincoat. So far I like his earlier Cole novels although they aren't nearly as good as the new stuff.

Update on some of my recent reading:
Finally got around to Swan Peak by James Lee Burke. Great stuff. Classic lyrical Burke prose and good to see Clete Purcell for a change get to play the lead character for a good share of the story. Also was very impressed with the character arc the prison guard out for revenge goes through when he meets and falls in love with a tough-hearted cowgirl. However, I do wish Burke would change it up when it comes to the heavy in his stories. Do they always have to be this rich, privledged family believing they are above all else?
Leather Maiden by Joe Lansdale was good. Not great, but by far better than his previous two novels, Lost Echoes and Sunset and Sawdust. After reading his latest collection of horror work in the anthology The Shadows, Kith and Kin, I really wish Joe would take a break from crime and give us a one more horror novel. Doubtful that'll happen, but I did hear he's about ready to start back up with Hap and Leonard. There's some great news.
The Whelman and Severance Package by Duane Swierczyski. This guy's stuff just isn't for me. I had to make myself finish Wheelman and Severance Package I could only get through around the first 60 pages. There's something about his fast and loose writing style that turns me off and the plot holes in both novels were godawful huge and too much to ignore. I won't read anything else by him again.
And a quick heads up about Max Allan Collins' latest, The First Quarry, just out in papaerback. It may have the best cover yet of any Hardcase Crime novel.

Just scrolled up and read about James Crumley's passing. Everyone should read him. Especially The Last Good Kiss, maybe the best private eye novel ever written. But don't ignore such greats as Dancing Bear and The Wrong Case, either.

Breaking Cover by J.D Rhoades. Undercover F.B.I killing machine + bad guy bikers = Pulp greatness. Really a super fun read if just a little too short. Now I'm really looking forward to picking up his bounty hunter series.

Simmon's Kurtz trilogy is one of my all time favs actually. And, I was heartbroken a couple of years back when his website announced that the Kurtz novels would, indeed, stop at three rather than continue on as a series like originally planned.

I realize they're not to everyone's tastes, but I just loved 'em.
But, then again, I was already a big fan of Simmons work in the horror genre ( with his SUMMER OF NIGHT being among my top three favorite books of all time along with 'SALEM"S LOT & T.E.D. Klein's under-known & under-appreciated THE CEREMONIES ) & I also happen to be a Buffalo/western New York native/resident ( the setting for the trilogy ), which certainly helped their appeal to me.

Cool. I'm just about to start LEATHER MAIDEN later on tonight & I'm really looking forward to it.

After spending the month of September voraciously reading my way through Allan Guthrie's novels as well as Swierczynski's SEVERANCE PACKAGE ( which, I enjoyed in all it's over the top glory BTW ), I got next to nothing read in October. As the vast majority of my spare time was spent online following the Presidential campaigns & enjoying a copious amount of horror films in honor of my birthday & Halloween.

Now we're talking! Crais is my favourite.

IMO, his best three are his mid-period Elvis Cole books, Voodoo River, Sunset Express and Indigo Slam. They're richer than his earlier stuff, but not as over-the-top melodramatic as his modern stuff. He was at the top of his game.

He's also a really nice guy to boot. He put my friend in a headlock at a book signing! I can't remember why, but it was awesome!

His latest, however, CHASING DARKNESS, is a piece of shit. I don't know if anyone's read it, but it's really baffling that he'd put out something so paper-thin. This is the big new chapter in Elvis Cole's life? Pfffttt.

Oh, and while I'm here, Spenser fan/nerd casting:

Samuel L Jackson as Hawk is a no-brainer, but I had to deliberate a little over Spenser. Harrison Ford has the requisite humour and toughness and busted-up nose, but I can't help but shake the notion of Bill Murray. He's a big guy too, but the retarded sense of humour is a good fit. Spenser's smug humour is only bearable if you picture it coming out of Murray.

Hollywood; DROP ME A LINE GUYS!

Hmmm, a Spenser update on the big screen, huh?

I could go for that. Even though, after being a huge Robert B. Parker fan for several years, I eventually gave up on the Spenser series about a decade ago. It just became too formulmatic & I grew far too weary of long passages describing ( yet again ) Susan's impossibly small bites of food & sips of wine. As well as their disaggreements over how to properly raise their dog ...

But, I could see myself enjoying a film based on the characters. And Jackson would be ideal as the now, more mature Hawk.

Spenser?
Personally I can't see Ford in the role. Nor, Murray. Though that's an interesting, offbeat idea.

How about Tommy Lee Jones?

The thing about Murray and Ford is that they're the right age at the right time for the books. I know what they looked like circa 1980, and can picture them ageing with Spenser. So if I read a late-period Parker book, I can picture white-haired Bill Murray or earring-wearing Harrison Ford. Or if I'm reading an early classic, Han Solo-era Ford and Stripes Murray.

Just a fun aid to reading the books. Spenser seems so smug and competent as to be inhuman, and visualising a person helps out in that department.

I got a compendium of pulp stories called 'Black Lizards The Big Book of Pulps' which is a huge book of pulp stories from the 20's, 30's and the 40's, so far so good, I'm getting through the first section which is all about detectives, Double Check by Thomas Walsh is real hardboiled stuff, the dialogue is unreal.

I have that one, Dragon. It's fantastic.

I seem to recall hearing in a radio interview many years back Robert Parker saying he thought Nick Nolte would make the perfect Spenser. Personally, I always imagined Tom Selleck would be best suited for the character.

Beat the Reaper definitely lives up to the hype. I read it in about a day. The climax is something you really have to read for yourself.

Been reading the shit out of David Peace. His latest is Tokyo Year Zero. Got his sublime sports bio-fic, The Damned Utd, last year, went back and re-read the start of his UK serial-killer series, the Red Riding quartet, then the others.

Best crime writer out there. American, European, whatever. Ellroy at his peak, that's how good this guy is. Only problem is a lot of his stuff isn't available in North America thru the usual channels.

I'm about halfway through 'Terminal' by Andrew Vachss. It's the latest in his Burke series. So far, this is one of the better entries.

Ellroy at his peak? Consider me intrigued. I am currently looking for a good new crime series to dive in so this might very well be a good point to start as any. Do you have any recommondation where to start?

ETA: Speaking of Ellroy, any definite release date for "Blood´s A Rover" yet? I am dying to read that one. As long as it will be readable given his writing style lately. I only see it being pushed back again and again.

Jan: Consider Andrew Vachss if you're looking for a new writer to get into. He's best known for his Burke series (starts with the novel 'Flood', although they can be read out of order), but he has some standalone novels that are quite good ('Shella' is a standalone novel that's fantastic). He even wrote a Batman book that's decent ('Batman: The Ultimate Evil').

Jan, according to Ellroy's literary agent, "Blood's a Rover" is allegedly being released on September 15th.

Thanks a bunch Sir. Looking at this thread you seem to hold him in high regard indeed. I will look if our library has some of his books over here next time I´ll hit it. They are rather good equipped so there is a very realistic chance. I´ll let you know what I thought of it if I´ll hunt it down.

Thank you as well. While that is still far down the road it is nice to see that there is finally a definite date on the horizon. Can´t wait for this one albeit I am obviously a bit anxious. But it is James fuckin´ Ellroy so it better be worth the wait.

You're very welcome. Thinking over his catalog, I really think that you ought to start with 'Shella' if you can get it. By this point, Vachss had really found his voice. The early Burke novels (while excellent) are more wordy than his later output and are not good representations of his lean writing style. 'Shella' would give you a better representation of what to expect from Vachss and his writing, really. If you dig it, hit the Burke series.

As anecdotal evidence: I've recommended Vachss to several people looking for a new writer to get into. All of them have, at the very least, LIKED him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Vachss

This post reminded me that I need to pull Tokyo Year Zero off my shelf and finish it.

Vachss fans may know that he recently pulled the plug on the series starring his franchise character, Burke, with Another Life. A couple of weeks ago he had a long-ass webchat which is now up on his website for QT viewing.

If you've never heard Vachss live (he did Oprah once - still have the show on VHS) you really have to hear him, fan or not.

http://a4.g.akamai.net/7/4/66623/v1/...ub8/index.html

Vachss' short story/comic/radio play about the phone sex operator will fuck you up. Just saying.

I met the man on a book-signing tour that he did for 'Sacrifice'. He is a very smart, very intense man, but he was also very open to talking to the kid (me) who approached him as a new fan.

I remember asking him if Hollywood had ever approached him about making movies of any of his books, and he said that development had been made on turning 'Blue Belle' into a feature film. I haven't seen anything materialize in the intervening years, unfortunately.

I believe that he won awards for that work.

Do you have a link to view his Oprah appearance? I read the transcript of it years ago and it was fascinating.

His latest, Tokyo Year Zero, is widely available; his Red-Riding quartet is being re-released starting this February, starting with 1974 (1977, 1980, 1983 following.)

One of my favourite crime writers, Adrian McKinty (Fifty Grand hitting this April), had this to say about Peace and 1974 on his blog:

http://adrianmckinty.blogspot.com/se...max-results=52

Subotai, I'll take your word about Peace. I've read a couple of authors you've recommended and loved them all. Comparing him to Ellroy is pretty high compliments.

Thanks, I know them's big words. Anyone feel free to call me out later.

A month late, but hey:

Merry Christmas from Spenser and Hawk!

Prince of Thieves was a good read. Damn depressing ending. But a good book. Nothing great or earth shattering, but I could really see Affleck using it as a way to comment on gentrification in a movie. And if done right, I could really see it as a good one with Damon and Wahlberg.

Money Shot, by filmmaker-bondage model-former Times Square peep show girl Christa Faust, is one of the better straight-up pulp novels I've read in good while. It's about a porn star out for revenge. It makes sense why Tarantino is blurbed on the back: it's a real "flashlight under the covers" (pun not intended) kind of book.

Anyone read L.A. Rex by Will Beale, a serving LA cop. Heard good things.

It's pretty good/well written. Would make an awesome movie if the ground hadn't already been covered by a bunch of just okay flicks. Beale's style and POV is enough to read it, though.

I saw that and it sounded like a fun piece of pulp, if you haven't already I suggest reading 'Queenpin' by Megan Abbott, a terrific little noir.

Michael Connelly might be too mainstream for you guys, but so far I'm digging him. 'The Lincoln Lawyer' was great, and I've just started 'The Poet', about a crime-reporter investigating nationwide cop suicides which might actually be murders.