Crime Fiction Thread 2.0. - Page 2

Lush Life is so good, I can forgive Price for writing that particular episode of the Wire where you know what happened to you know who.

Did Price write that one?

Episode 8 of Season Five?

Edit to add: My mistake. Dennis Lehane, not Price, wrote the aforementioned episode. Price wrote the prior episode, "Took." Still, Lehane's done enough great work that I can forgive him for you know what.

Yeah, I guess so...

...But don't get too comfortable, Lehane.

You wouldn't know if Lehane came up with that storyline...

As for Lush Life, Amazon is sending it my way.

Recent arrivals in the mail -

Escape Clause, the most recent procedural from James O. Born. Born is with the Flordia Department of Law Enforcement, just like his protaganist Bill Tasker. He knows the way things work in certain circles and fortunately he has the writing chops to go along with his experience. His books have their humorous moments but unlike some of the lesser caper-books set in Florida it's more low key and not all constantly nudging the reader in the ribs and going "OOH HOO, IT'S WAAAAAAAAAAAACKY! HOO HOO!"

Money Shot by Christa Faust, published by Hard Case Crime. This one knocked me over, for sure. A hardboiled excursion into the LA porn scene, and other far less savory enterprises with a certain ring of authenticity. Told from the first person POV of Angel Dare, ex-porn star turned head of an adult modeling agency who finds herself left for dead and framed for murder, she's a character who is blunt and candor-tastic whose transformation into ass-whooping anti-heroine also feels quite authentic.

I'm trying not to spoil anything for people who haven't seen the last season of The Wire, but a Simon interview that was published after the fact talked about how Lehane loved the gunslinger/western aspects of that particular character, and was not gung-ho, but certainly petitioned to write that particular episode.

Due to RACHEL WALLACE's unavailabaility, I had to get this, and you're absolutely right, it's by far the best of the 4 I've read. Plenty of PI-craft along with the philosophical stuff, and it's definitely the most likeable I've seen Spenser be.

Speaking of which, is Spenser the least proactive PI of all time? He spends most of his time waiting for clues to fall into his lap. I think one of his rules is "When in doubt, follow somebody". And he's in doubt A LOT.

Really, Spenser is a bit of a joke as a pi, aside from his obvious relishing of his autonomy. I once read an interview with a pi who was a consultant on some mystery novels, and he said all that kept him going through Spenser's novels was his writing ability, which is admittedly pretty solid.

So I just finished "Cold Six Thousand", and was somewhat confused by the ending. Highlight for spoiler Did Pete return to Sparta to kill Barb or was he trying to rehabilitate their relationship? It may be a dumb question, but their meeting seemed ominous.

I must say, hat's off to you finishing Cold Six Thousand. I could not for the life of me get through that book. Ellroy's style in that is just too grating for me.

On another note I highly recommend the Joe Pitt trilogy from Charlie Huston.

Heads up for Joe Lansdale fans. He's got a new hardcover novel, Leather Maiden, due out in early August. For me, that's the best book news there is for the whole summer.

Sweet! Thanks for the heads-up. Is it a Hap and Leonard novel?

Here's the skinny:

http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2008/...-lansdale.html

Been reading Lansdale's adaptation of Pigeons from Hell, in comic shops now - pretty good read, although I don't think it quite matches up to the 1980s edition.

The new Robert Crais/Elvis Cole comes out early July.

I'm not very well-versed in crime fiction, but Crais is easily my favourite out of the guys I do know. Any fans here?

That's high praise, but the genre is due for a kick in the pants.

Finished that over the weekend. I thought it was OK. It'll make little sense if you haven't read Nobody Runs Forever.

I'm putting aside Philip K. Dick to return to the land of Ellery Queen. Next up is Ten Days Wonder, followed by The King is Dead.

Was doing a little tidying yesterday and cam across an old copy of Stone City, maybe the best modern prison novel. Mitchell Smith is a hell of a writer.

I finished At the Citys Edge by Marcus Sakey last week but I can't say that it was anything special. I think it was better then his previous book because I couldn't even get half way through that one.

Now I'm reading The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey who is co-creator of Cold Case Files on A&E. So far it's fantastic except for the Cold Case refrence. I really hate that self referential stuff. But other then that I'm really enjoying it.

Ok so I started my first James Ellroy The Cold Six Thousand and it is a pretty cool read but Ellroy's style is going to take some time to get used to. Also he was throwing out so many gangsters that I had to hit Wiki and so who these people are. Good stuff so far but I have a long way to go.

I thought A CATSKILL EAGLE was near-genius. Spenser and Hawk, armed with only their wits, versus essentially the entire United States. Mythic!

When people say the Spenser series started sucking at CATSKILL, do they mean that CATSKILL is overblown and silly, or that the series reaches a glorious apotheosis at CATSKILL, and there was nowhere to go but down?

CEREMONY is also my favourite Spenser so far. There's a stunning set-piece at the finale where Spenser and Hawk fight off an orgy of people. Literally; an orgy.

Has anyone here read 'A Song for You' by Megan Abbott? She got props from Ellroy on the cover and the rest of her stuff sounds like great sleazy noir in the tradition of James M. Cain.

The Travis McGee books by John D MacDonald:

I've read 3, but didn't enjoy them as much as I was expecting to. They're very densely written, which I think is a mistake when it comes to disposable trash paperback crime fiction, and the narration doesn't seem to suit McGee. I just can't see a guy like him using words that big. And they're not as frivolous and fun as the concept would suggest. That said, there's some fascinating stuff in these. I think I'd rather read a volume consisting entirely of MacDonald's musings.

But hell yeah, I'll try some more.

There's some great stuff buried in them. For example, I now know how to throw knives at baddies!

Hint: aim with your elbow.

I know I've got Wambaugh's first book coming in the mail any day now. Can't wait to start reading it.

Not surprised. He writes fear and disgust more accurately than anyone else I've found. McGee is probably the most human superheroic PI badass I've encountered thus far, which also means the books are a lot less fun than the usual.

By the way, it's not crime fiction. But I highly highly recommend Wambaugh's book on Glendale fire Captain John Orr called "Fire Lover". Great stuff about Orr who is believed to be the most prolific serial arsonist in American history.

I've stared reading The New Centurions which is Wambaugh's first book. Fascinating stuff. You know you're going to get something good by the fact he gets the Spanish phrase for whitey correct.

I do remember from the interview that Wambaugh said Orr liked the book and had no problems with it. So go fig on that one.

So, Michael Connelly. Any good? Any recommendations? I seem to recall reading one of his books a long time ago...and I have no idea if I did and IF I did, if I liked it.

Connelly's The Poet is a good stand-alone. But, it also has a sequel involving characters from his other series'.

A lot of fun of McGee is everyone looks at him as the knuckle-dragger or beach bum because of his looks. But the guy has nothing but time and is educated, even if a lot of it is self education.

And while there is a lot of McGee which is from that time, he gets a lot right about Florida since a lot of the same shit is going on now.

Dawn Patrol may be my favorite Winslow yet, and I didn't think it was possible to be more fun than Frankie Machine. I'm going to say this right now: Eckhart for the movie. Tom Jane as Dave the Love God.

Sorry to be rude but: Shut up you evil bastard!

I'm limiting my Winslow intake so I always have something new from him on my bookshelf. So that means I can't touch Dawn Patrol or Frankie Machine until at least next year. Bobby Z is what I'm reading next but Frankie Machine calls to me from the other room. It's very sick. I think I have some Don Winslow issues.

I would almost say read Frankie Machine before Dawn Patrol (which I blazed through in about three days as I do with most Winslows), because the latter is a refinement of the style he started playing around with in the former and even in Power of the Dog (which I've started about three or four times). He'll go on these semi-long digressions about San Diego and California cultural history, but it always has a point and it never goes on too long, always bringing it back to the action.

When I read Frankie Machine, I made the comparison here that most modern crime novels are like jazz and variations on a theme. The same's true for private investigator/detective novels -- the girl will always go missing, and there's always someone who wants to find her. Winslow is one of the best guys riffing today. Even more than that, Winslow understands that the best P.I. novels, whether it's a single novel or a series that goes on for thirty years, are wish-fufillment at their core. They can be violent and disturbing at times, but they're supposed to be fun. And Dawn Patrol is a lot of fun, a great book for the summer season. My only hope is that we don't have to wait five years for the next one.

Since the books are in somewhat of a continuity. (Although not like you have to start at the beginning otherwise you won't get what's going on). I'd start with the first one which is The Black Echo and the next one The Black Ice and go from there.

Also you can check out his reporting in a book called "Crime Beat" which is great along with his other standalone called "The Lincoln Lawyer".


BTW did Anyone ever try reading the "Burke" series? I tried but could not get into them for the life of me.

I discovered Vachss last year, and yeah, the Burke books pretty much changed my life. But I concede that they are definitely an acquired taste. Did you start with the first book, Flood? Because if you tried to read the recent novels, then I understand not getting into them. Vachss put the series on autopilot for a while, but thankfully the next book is the last, and I'm hoping for a solid ending.

If you still have an interest in Vachss, then you might want to check out his stand alone novels, which avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the Burke series. The Getaway Man in particular is a very quick, very fun read.

Yeah, it was a later Burke book. That's probably what happened. Speaking of a series taking a huge slide. John Sandford's recent books have been terrible.

Flood, Strega, Blue Belle and Hard Candy are all solid books, I stopped after Hard Candy.

The Burke series is worth reading for primarily three reasons: 1) the intensity of the lead character 2) Vachss's first-hand knowledge of crime and 3) Vachss's peerless insight on child abuse. The first four that you mentioned deliver all three from an author who had fought to be published for nearly 15 years, and they are all fresh and impassioned. After that, Vachss lost the urgency of these early books, but the series still has plenty of life until the 10th book, Safe House. Most of the books after that feature a great premise, but never delivers on it. Dead and Gone, the book where Burke gets shot in the head within the first few chapters, for instance, is goddamn amazing for the first third, but finishes with a lifeless. anticlimactic ending.

Vachss once said, "I may not be a good writer, but I write for a good reason."

Echoing what everyone has to say about Vachss, especially with respect to his early work. I found myself more interested in him than I did the Burke character(though Burke is a stone-cold motherfucker), and he's a pretty great writer to boot.

I just finished Charlie Huston's Been Caught Stealing a couple of weeks ago and am eager to get into the rest of the Hank Thompson series, but need to stop hopping around from book-to-book like I've been doing lately.

Just finished The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski thanks to Cameron's review of The Blonde (because the library didn't have The Blonde. Bastards.). Read it in about 4 hours. Really fun book. I don't think it's a coincidence that the protagonist, a mute Irishman who is a very good wheelman for bank robberies, name drops Donald Westlake, "but preferred the books he wrote as Richard Stark," because this feels very inspired but his stuff, especially what would become Payback (the movie). Inspired in a very good way, mind you. Quick, lean and hard, this is great summer reading. I also picked up Stone City at the same time, thanks to someone in this thread.

Jake, you dig Caught Stealing? I've got it on my mp3 player, but havn't started listening to it yet.