My Reading in July 2019

I read a lot of books in July. Of the fifteen books I read, ten were crime fiction, although one of the graphic novels could be placed in that genre and the nonfiction book I read was mystery reference. Two graphic novels, both very good. And two older straight fiction books.

Mystery reference

Hardboiled, Noir and Gold Medals (2017) by Rick Ollerman

The subtitle of this wonderful mystery reference book is "Essays on Crime Fiction Writers from the '50s Through the '90s." Rick Ollerman has written several introductions to omnibus editions of works published by Stark House, and he shares several of them here, along with other essays or articles written for his book. Authors covered include: Peter Rabe, Donald Westlake, Ed Gorman, James Hadley Chase, Wade Miller, and Charles Williams. An entertaining and informative book.

Fiction

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith

This is a well-known and enduring classic story of poverty in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn. The story of Francie Nolan, her parents, and her brother Neeley begins in 1912.  While reading When Books Went to War, I was surprised to learn of this book's huge popularity when distributed as an Armed Services Edition. I am very glad I finally read this book but I found it very hard to read.

Benighted (1927) by J.B. Priestley

This book is sometimes described as horror or psychological terror, but it is not very horrific. It is atmospheric and a good read. And short. Benighted was adapted to film by James Whale, as The Old Dark House in 1932. Introduction by Orrin Grey. My thoughts are here.

Graphic Novels

Aetheric Mechanics (2008) by Warren Ellis (Writer),  Gianluca Pagliarini (Artist)

This is really a graphic novella at only 40 pages. It is a wonderful mish mash of mystery (Sherlock Holmes style), alternate history, science fiction. The line drawings by Gianluca Pagliarani are lovely.

Ignition City (2009) by Warren Ellis (Writer),  Gianluca Pagliarini (Artist)

This could also fit right into the crime fiction section, although it is also science fiction. Mary Raven is a grounded space pilot who finds out that her father has died in Ignition City. She goes there to find out who killed him. Ignition City is a spaceport filled with thinly disguised versions of older space heroes.  I enjoyed this one a lot, even I didn't get a lot of the references. I was surprised that the illustrator was the same as for Aetheric Mechanics, since the artwork is completely different. 

Crime Fiction

Might as Well Be Dead (1956) by Rex Stout

This is a Nero Wolfe novel, published in 1956. The case starts as a search for a missing person, then later turns into a hunt for a murderer. This time Nero Wolfe solves the case from the brownstone, while  Archie Goodwin and the freelance investigators do the legwork. My review here.

Pearls Before Swine (1945) by Margery Allingham

This is the 12th book in the Albert Campion series, also published as Coroner's  Pidgin. This one is set in wartime London, towards the end of the war. Campion has just returned from years on an assignment, and gets pulled into a very strange case. My review here.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (2007) by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Carl Mørck has returned to work as a homicide detective after being on leave following an incident which ended badly, leaving him nearly dead. Another policeman was killed and the third was left paralyzed. Moerk feels guilty and responsible, has lost his  edge and is not keeping up with his work. His boss plots to put him in charge of a new department to follow up on high profile cold cases and use most of the funds for the new department to shore up the main Homicide area. This is the first book in the Department Q series, and was published in the UK as Mercy. Set in Denmark. Carl and his assistant Assad are both unusual characters and I hope to continue the series.

Allmen and the Dragonflies (2011) by Martin Suter

This is an unusual crime fiction novel set in Switzerland. Translated from German by Steph Morris. I enjoyed it very much. My review here.

China Lake (2002) by Meg Gardiner

Evan Delaney series, book #1. I bought this book because it was set in California and a large portion of it takes place in  Santa Barbara. I had also heard good things about the author. The book was a page turner but it was too much of a thriller for me and I had problems with the characters. I still have Mission Canyon, the 2nd book in the series, and Mission Canyon is the part of the Santa Barbara area that we lived in the first six years in California. So I am sure I will read that one too.

Broken Harbor (2012) by Tana French

The fourth book in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series features Mike "Scorcher" Kennedy, who had a minor role in Faithful Place, and his new partner, rookie detective Richie Curran. See my thoughts on the book here.

Colonel Butler's Wolf (1972) by Anthony Price

I had just purchased this book when I learned that the author, Anthony Price, had died recently, at the age of 91. This is the third book in the David Audley / Colonel Butler series, a cold war espionage series set in the UK and usually featuring some historical element (in this case, Hadrian's Wall). Colonel Butler was a secondary character in the first two books, but this book is told from his point of view. David Audley is the central character throughout the series, but each book is different and in this book he has a smaller although significant role. I am truly enjoying this series.

The Disciple of Las Vegas (2011) by Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee series, book #2. This book is similar to China Lake by Meg Gardiner, also read this month. Both books are thrillers, and focus on action and pacing. They both have interesting settings (at least for me). The difference is the characters. In The Disciple of Las Vegas, the main characters are interesting, professional, low key -- highly focused on the job at hand. I enjoyed the book throughout and look forward to continuing the series. However, I will admit to being bothered by some distasteful and graphic violence.

The Summons (1995) by Peter Lovesey

The third book in the Peter Diamond series, set mostly in Bath, England. The series started in 1991, and the 18th book was published this year. Goodreads describes Peter Diamond as "a modern-day police detective in Bath". In the early books he is most definitely not interested in modern day techniques, and I look forward to seeing how that changes. In this book, he has not been working as a policeman for a while, and Bath CID is forced to ask him to return to help with a case.

Dance Hall of the Dead (1973) by Tony Hillerman

This book was my introduction to Hillerman's series of books featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. The first three books featured Joe Leaphorn, the next three books were focused on Jim Chee, and the remaining books were about both of them. This is the 2nd book in the series and I am glad I started the series here. This was one of my favorite reads this month.

Reading in November 2016

Another wonderful month of reading with a good bit of variety. Some relatively current crime fiction, a fantasy novel, a couple of mysteries set at Christmas, and some mysteries from earlier decades.

I started out the month with a book from the fantasy genre, one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. I read Mort, the first book in the Death series. I am glad that I have finally started reading Pratchett's books.

I also read a very short graphic novel, RED. This graphic novel by Warren Ellis was the basis for the movie of the same title, released in 2010, starring Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, and a lot of other entertaining and talented actors. When I say it was short, it was only three issues when first published, for a total of 66 pages. The book also includes character design sketches and the script and layouts for issue 1. I found these very interesting since I don't know the processes for developing a comic.



These are the crime fiction books I read in November...

A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake
(Originally published in 1935, this book is set in a boarding school. This was the first book in the Nigel Strangeways mysteries by Nicholas Blake. Nicholas Blake was the pseudonym of Cecil Day Lewis, a poet laureate in the UK in the late 1960's into the early 1970's.)

Thou Shell of Death by Nicholas Blake
(This was the second book in the Nigel Strangeways mystery series. It is set at Christmas, and is a traditional English country house mystery.)

The Dreadful Lemon Sky by John D. MacDonald (reviewed here)

Past Tense by Margot Kinberg (reviewed here)

Dupe by Liza Cody (reviewed here)

Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves
(This is the second book in Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope series, which is also now a TV series. A woman was put in prison ten years before for killing a teenage girl, the daughter of her ex-lover. Now it has been discovered that the woman was innocent, and Vera is looking into the original investigation.)

Murder Goes Mumming by Alisa Craig
(Another book set at Christmas. This one is a cozy, a humorous tale set in New Brunswick, Canada. Alisa Craig is the pseudonym of Charlotte MacLeod, used for two series set in Canada . Review coming soon.)

Planetary (comic book series)

In the last couple of weeks, I read four trade paperbacks that collected a series of 27 comics. The comic book series is Planetary.

Some people refer to these collected works as graphic novels, others disagree with that definition. But for the purposes of this review, I consider them graphic novels. Each of the collected books covers a set of stories that work together. They are titled:

Planetary Book 1: All Over the World and Other Stories

Planetary Book 2: The Fourth Man

Planetary Book 3: Leaving the Twentieth Century

Planetary Book 4: Spacetime Archeology

I have always enjoyed comic books, but reading comic books has not been a constant in my life. I read comic books as a child... I was always a reader. Little Lulu, Richie Rich, Mighty Mouse, and Katy Keene. When my son was younger we read all kinds of comics: Disney comics like Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge; the Archie Comics with Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose and Midge. I loved the Archie universe. Also Superman, Spiderman, and Batman. In later years we graduated to alternative comics like The Tick, Usagi Yojimbo, Flaming Carrot, and Xenozoic Tales.

My son has continued to read various comics, especially Manga. He recently purchased the 4 volume set of graphic novels that collect all of the Planetary comics. There are only 27 comics in the series and he previously had read less than half of those. After reading them all, he encouraged me to give them a try.

You would think 27 comics would be a snap to get through but the overarching story is complex and I am out of the habit of reading comics. So I ended up doing a bit of rereading of the first couple of volumes.

The protagonists we follow in this series of comics describe themselves as “Archaeologists of the Impossible." They are trying to discover the world's secret history. Funded by a mysterious Fourth Man, they include three superhuman beings: Jakita (super strong and nearly invulnerable); The Drummer (the techie of the group); and Elijah Snow, who is picked up to join the team, somewhat unwillingly, in the first story. Elijah can create intense cold and extract heat.

As the stories move along, we realize the overall story is about a universe that pulls together new (and very different) versions of comic book heroes from many universes (DC, Marvel, etc.), pulp fiction heroes, and even heroes from detective fiction (Sherlock Holmes). This is not a spoof, but a retelling and a different vision. I am sure those more familiar with the comics universe would get even more of a kick out of this. To be honest, I did not recognize the origin of a lot of these alternate heroes or villains, but the story was still meaningful to me. In my opinion, it can be enjoyed on various levels.

Each comic is a stand-alone story, but as the books progress, the reader can see that each mission leads the heroes toward a goal which they are initially not aware of. I liked the slow development of the story, the extracting of the origins of the heroes and what they know and what they have “forgotten.”

Quote from a review at Examiner.com:

I find that the true mark of a long-lasting, high-quality book is its ability to strike a chord long after the dust has settled upon its pages, and the creative team has scattered, moving on to new and different projects. Planetary was a sporadically running series that ran from 1999 to 2009, which consisted of 27-issues residing well within the trenches of the Wildstorm Universe.

Over the years, Planetary has developed enough of a following to justify the release of several editions collecting the issues over the years. There is the four book set I read, another two volume set published later, and a final set that collects them all in one volume. The story by Warren Ellis is excellent, as is the artwork. The penciler was John Cassaday; the comics were colored by Laura Depuy (also credited as Laura Martin); with David Baron and Wildstorm FX.

Another graphic novel that my son has recommended is Watchmen. I will be reading that sometime in the next year.