And now, the end is near... by Cathy Ace

So, 2020 is finally drawing to a close, but it seems this year still has more bitter pills for us to swallow. The death of John le Carré has encouraged me to add this “Foreword” to the piece I had prepared for today, so – if you’ll forgive me – I’d like to open by tipping my hat to a master of our craft. 

Whilst his stories centered (in the main) upon the world of professional spies, le Carré's writing about human relationships (both personal and professional), politics (from the intimate to the global in scale), the David vs Goliath scenarios he so often utilized - and his ability to create characters, mood, and setting so seamlessly -  made a huge impact upon me from the time I first read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (which I think I read in the mid-1970s) right through to my reading of Agent Running In The Field, which I read earlier this year. I find it hard to express how very much I was in awe of his skills, and the extent to which his works gave me delight. If ever I wanted to slow down and truly relax when reading a book, I’d choose one of his; he gave me the priceless gift of allowing me to take time to think as I read, and to experience the world through which his tales moved in a very real way. As I write this, I can still conjure characters and settings, as well as scenes, of his I haven’t read for decades, and that’s saying something. Thank you. You, and your talent, will be missed. Many others have been able to write with more knowledge and eloquence than I possess about his enormous influence upon a certain sub-genre of crime writing, but – for me – I shall just remember him as a great writer.

Because I read le Carré I also discovered Len Deighton’s books and, more recently, those by Mick Herron – all of which have also allowed me countless hours of pleasure. I should also mention here - because I'm now thinking "spy" - the Evan Tanner books by Lawrence Block - which are an absolute delight...bizarre, whimsical, yet truly set in this sub-genre. 

 

 

That being said, I’d also like to pick up on comments made by some of my fellow-bloggers here at 7 Criminal Minds: as a group of writers our output covers a wide-range of sub-genres – check out our offerings and you’re likely to find the type of book that would appeal to anyone for whom you need a gift.

Beyond our coterie I would suggest the following: 

The Logan McRae books by Stuart MacBride: dark, not for the faint-hearted! Topics/themes include child abduction, torture and murder, cannibalism, and sex crimes; the violence is graphic, and heartrending. But…if you have a dark heart (it seems I do!) you’ll also find these books to be laugh-out-loud funny. The vividly-drawn characterizations are second to none, and the humor arises from situations that are…well, without context it’s pointless me trying to describe how these police “procedurals” work, but they do – sublimely well, for me.

The Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books by Robert Crais: stylish, full of memorable and enjoyable characters, twisty tales with a real LA flavor. Not too dark, but with call-backs to classic noir and much hat-tipping to Chandler and Hammett.

The Ruth Galloway books by Elly Griffiths: excellent traditional mysteries featuring a strong but flawed female protagonist, and a supporting cast of (mainly) loveable returning characters. I don’t know why Elly’s books aren’t better known than they are in North America, but maybe her recent win of an Edgar (for a standalone, The Stranger Diaries) will change that.

 

Books by Martina Cole: most of Martina Cole’s books are standalones, though there are a few which return to characters over the years (the Maura Ryan trilogy and the DI Kate Burrows quartet). For anyone who enjoys London crime family/London gangster underworld tales (think The Long Good Friday) these books are for them! She’s the Queen of Gangland writing for a reason – she’s bloody good at it; you don’t get to sell a gazillion books by accident. Again, not as widely read in North America as in the UK (strong language, graphic violence warning) but she should be!

 

The Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley: the antithesis of Martina Cole’s books, this series featuring a young girl living out her life (full of science and murder!) in a crumbling once-grand home in mid-twentieth century England are a delight for ANY age of reader (tweens upwards). Traditional mysteries rather than cozies, they’re one of my guilty pleasures!

 

The Peter Diamond books by Peter Lovesey: from Wobble To Death (pub. 1970, featuring Victorian detective Sergeant Cribb) to The Finisher (pub. 2020, featuring Supt. Diamond) I have enjoyed every book I have read written by Peter Lovesey. You can't go wrong with any of his works, but I recommend diving into the wonderful Peter Diamond books, set in Bath. 

 

As we face the end of what has – for many – been a desperate fight to stay safe and sane, seemingly unending months of uncertainty and (sadly, for many) loss and heartbreak, I hope you and those you care about are able to find peace and enjoyment between the covers of a book. Escape, enjoy, discover, challenge yourself, solve the crime, bring the culprits to justice…if you can.

Here’s to all of us working out how we’re able to live by The Golden Rule – to treat others as we would wish to be treated – and I wish you a healthy, peaceful end to this year, and 2021.

Cathy

http://www.cathyace.com/

More Books in Heaven and Earth

Do you read the kind of books that you write or do you tend to read books that are the opposite or different – and why?

by Paul D. Marks

These days I’m lucky to find the time to read anything. I don’t know where the time goes, but it goes. A lot of it is spent on writing and related tasks. Writing is a major time suck, but a good one. I also get asked to read a lot of books to blurb or for similar reasons, so that limits the amount of totally discretionary reading I have time for, though I’m trying to take a break from that so I have more time for pleasure reading, not that some of those books aren’t pleasurable. Plus, writing short stories I try to read as many of them as possible, too.

As to what I read, I read everything, though not as much of anything as I used to. Leisure time seems at a premium.

First, since the question asks in part “Do you read the kind of books that you write?” let’s start with what I write. I write various kinds of (mostly) crime fiction, from noir to traditional-hardboiled and even satire, with a crime-y bent. Nothing like having an audience laugh hard and hearty when you’re reading a story that you hope and pray is funny and find out others think it is, too. One of my best memories of this was reading a section of my story Continental Tilt to an audience and having them laugh uproariously. That was a good feeling.

I even write a series, the Ghosts of Bunker Hill stories, that has a paranormal element to it. So I’m all over the place. I’ve also written some mainstream, dare I say literary fiction, such as my story Terminal Island, published in Weber: The Contemporary West, and Endless Vacation, which garnered honorable mentions at both Glimmer Train and the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition.

Before I get to directly responding to the question, let me turn it around and say that I write books and stories that I like and that I would want to read. So now that I’ve talked about what I write, let me talk about what I read.

I do read mostly in my genre these days, though not necessarily only the types of books that I write. But I like to read outside the genre too. I like to read mainstream fiction and non-fiction. I don’t like to mention names of people I know because inevitably someone is left out and feelings get hurt so let me mention some well-known faves in the genre: Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Michael Connelly, Walter Mosley, James Ellroy, Carol O’Connell, Harlan Coben, Robert Crais, David Goodis and others.

On the other hand, I also read out of the genre. And, as I’ve also mentioned before my favorite book is far from a mystery-thriller type of book. It’s The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham, for a lot of reasons I won’t go into here. Other faves outside the genre include The Tartar Steppe (Dino Buzzati), Monte Walsh (Jack Schaefer), Journey to the End of the Night (Louis-Ferdinand Celine), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Milan Kundera), World’s Fair (E.L. Doctorow), Paint it Black (Janet Fitch), Bright Lights, Big City (Jay McInerney) and so many others, like Jonathan Franzen, Anne Tyler and John Irving.

I also like to read non-fiction. I recently read High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel. I’m fascinated by the blacklist, red scare and that whole era and this book hit that nail square on. I go through phases where I’ll read a lot about one particular subject. For example, a long time ago I read several books on the French and Russian revolutions and the Spanish Civil War. I’ve always loved history. My tastes run the gamut from reading about Los Angeles history and historical landmarks to Coney Island on the “other” coast. And I love reading rock history, especially the Beatles. Sometimes I’ll read about the history of the movie business—hell, I even made it into a book about the biz: MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot.

One of my current interests is in World War I, not so much the war itself but the aftermath and lasting effects and cultural changes that sprang from it.

And I would like to give John D. Macdonald a try again. I’ve read a couple of his books a long time ago and I’m afraid to say I wasn’t enthralled. But I’m up for another go.

So I read a wide variety of things. And even if I read a lot of different things from what I write, I think it influences my writing. My characters don't live in a one dimensional world of murder and crime, so I don't want to either. Like Shakespeare said there are more things in heaven and Earth.... Like pizza.

So, what about you—do you read the kind of books that you write or something else?

~.~.~

And now for the usual BSP:

My story Past is Prologue is out in the new July/August issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Available now at bookstores and newstands as well as online at: https://www.alfredhitchcockmysterymagazine.com/. Hope you'll check it out.

Also, check out Broken Windows, the sequel to my Shamus Award-winning novel, White Heat.

Please join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.d.marks and check out my website  www.PaulDMarks.com

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