Thoughts on Dublin Dead

I read Gerard's novel The Priest at the beginning of this year and it was dark, well paced and distinctly Irish. I rarely take arcs with when I travel but I was happy to make an exception for this. Dublin Dead is a worthy follow up set bang up to date in the midst of the Irish financial crisis and as each twist and turn of the story unfolded, I couldn't help feeling that this book would translate well to TV, I was even casting actors in my head. O'Donovan is a great writer he has the gift of letting you think you know what's going on, giving you the facts and allowing you to jump to the wrong conclusions. If you like Tana French or Irish crime in general the you are going to love Dublin Dead (released in March full review then)

Christmas count down

Gearing up to fly away for Christmas but I'm still reading. Arcs of Budapest Noir (which drops in February) and The Confession by Charles Todd (An Inspector Rutledge novel, coming January). I bought John Verdon's Shut Your Eyes Tight, the follow up to Think of a Number sight unseen and then there's an arc of the new Gerard O'Donovan (The Priest) novel Dublin Dead (coming in March).

Working every day this week - come by and say hi.

Time to tell A**zon to dry up!

If you've read Jasper Fforde you'll know about Goliath, the uber corporation that controls everything in Fforde's Thursday Next novels.. Think of Goliath as the love child of Microsoft, the stasi and the worst control freak you can imagine. From now on I'm going to call A**zon Goliath because they want to control everything, they want to destroy any competition and they want their customers to spy for them. We can defeat "Goliath" by shopping local.

Now there are some of you who will read this and say "ah she's just worried about her job" and for those of you who think that "meet me at camera three."

I have always loved books, I am an avid reader and until I found out what damage A**zon can do I used them for all my book purchases. Now I sell books, I am passionate about putting a good book in the hands of a person who will enjoy reading that book. If there is only one source for everything god what a boring world we'll have, we'll all dress alike and read the same books and have the same appliances because there is no other choice. I'm extrapolating to worst case scenario here but I'm making an early new years resolution. From now on I'm going to use A**zon's search engine to find books or DVDs or whatever I'm after and then I'm going to source it locally or through another website that isn't them and (gulp) that includes Zappos and I encourage you to do the same.

Update 1/13 - Abe books is also a front for A**zon - so down to Alibris and Powells for my used books.

Desperately seeking Rook

I read a review of The Rook by Daniel O'Malley in shelf awareness yesterday and since then I've been searching high and low for an advanced reader copy and so far no luck. I don't have any contacts at Hachette or Little Brown so it looks like I'm going to have to wait until January.

A new discovery

John Verdon’s Think of a Number quite literally landed at my feet the other day. I picked it up, read the blurb on the back and bought it on the spot. I was not disappointed, Verdon’s lead Dave Gurney is an investigator who has put away numerous serial killers before taking early retirement and moving to the catskill mountains at the urging of his beautiful, but long-suffering wife. However, retirement doesn’t sit well with Dave and an old friend from college is about to dump a fascinating puzzle in his lap. The puzzle, the plot and the pacing are all top-notch. I love a mystery that keeps me guessing but allows me a few small victories in working out what’s going on and this delivers. So much so that I’m buying his latest Shut Your Eyes Tight in hardback tomorrow.

Flavia's back with a bang

Alan Bradley's new Flavia De Luce novel, I am Half Sick of Shadows (the title is a line from Tennyson's Lady of Shalott) is a Christmas treat. You don't have to read the first three to 'get' Flavia. All relationships are nicely summarized and it's  hard to believe that Bradley is packing so much into Flavia's 11th year.

Christmas is coming to Buckshaw and Flavia is determined to prove to her older sisters that Santa Claus does exist but before she can put her sticky plan into action a film crew descends and even Flavia is captivated by leading lady Phyllis Wyvern. With the entire village trapped at Buckshaw by a snowstorm and a very dead leading lady on the first floor, Flavia, ably assisted by Dogger the gardener offers Inspector Hewitt help with his enquiries. Bradley isn't afraid to plunge his plucky young heroine into danger and will have you turning the pages until the fireworks at the end.

The Demi-Monde:Winter, Rod Rees

The year is 2018. The Demi-Monde is a complex  heuristic computer simulation designed to train US army recruits in an asymmetric war environment and save the US army billions of dollars a year. And what the sales pitch doesn’t say? That the most evil, cunning strategists history has witnessed from Henry VIII to the embodiment of the final solution have been digitally recreated to wage war all over again, that they have weapons and ambitions beyond the Demi-Monde and they have Norma Williams.

Singer Ella Thomas thought she was auditioning for an army gig, instead she’s thrust through a backdoor in the Demi-Monde, a reluctant one girl rescue team. Her mission? Recover President Williams’ daughter before she is sucked dry of blood and information. She’ll encounter hordes and hordes of SS, a debutante turned revolutionary heroine, a charming fake Russian physic, his holiness Alistair Crowley, the legendary Josephine Baker, and a whinging prima donna whom Ella may have to stand in line to put a bullet into. And if Ella succeeds in saving Norma will the army generals back in the real world believe her Cassandra-like warnings. They are coming. Or are they already here?

Dead Man’s Grip, Peter James

Road traffic accidents in Brighton, Sussex are never simple, but when all four people involved in the accident were in the wrong and the victim is connected to the Giordano crime family; things are only going to get more complicated.  Superintendant Roy Grace is sure that one of his trusted team is leaking information to the press and when the victim’s mother puts up an eye-watering reward for identity – not information, the case takes a murderous twist.  With the new assistant chief constable breathing down his neck and a potential threat to the mother of his child stealing his attention, Grace gets a break.

The police think they’ve identified the next target but they’re wrong. Dead wrong.

1222, Anne Holt

The engine driver was the first casualty of the Finse train disaster but not the last.  Dazed and bleeding the 196 passengers are taken to the safety of the Finse 1222, an old Norwegian hotel close to the railway line, to await rescue. Among the passengers is former detective inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, confined to a wheelchair since two bullets shattered her spine.

Finse 1222 has been cut off by the worst winter storm in living memory. Snow gradually buries the hotel, and Hanne watches as the passengers begin to turn on one another – and then one of them turns up dead.  Hanne is grudgingly drawn into the investigation and she has a pool of 195 suspects, 194, 193, 192, 191….

New for December

These titles will go fast - get 'em while they're hot.

Pleasure - without the guilt

I have always been wary of TV tie ins, they usually don't have a handle on the characters (some of the Torchwood novels have pretty good characterisation but I digress) However there is an exception to every rule. Those of you who know my viewing habits know that 'Castle' is must see TV for me but the books I thought were a marketing gimmick - until I read them and whether you are a fan of the show - or not - these are straight up and down well plotted police procedurals. Tom Straw is the writer abc has used - read his novel the The Trigger Episode if you don't believe me - and he has picked themes from the show and of course the main characters Heat and Rook are Beckett and Castle but the books work even if you don't watch the show. I have all three in hardback and I used to refer to them as my guilty pleasure but I'm revising that and taking out the guilt.

Business as usual

November is not usually very post-heavy but this year due to the re-write (now finished) reviews have been sadly lacking. That is all about to change, I've got the new Alan Bradley Flavia book I am Half Sick of Shadows - which came out in November - and Think of a Number by John Verdon, which somehow passed me by in hardcover. Also the new Dana Haynes (Crashers) novel Breaking Point.

Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill

Hill's sixth in the Serrailler series finds the cathedral town of Lafferton underwater and as the floods recede they reveal the body of a local  teenage girl who went missing years before. DCI Simon Serrailler has to reopen a cold case with hardly any manpower due to budget cuts and staff shortages but he relishes the challenge. So much so that he may be neglecting the only family he has left.

NB Hill doesn't shy away from hot button issues - in this case - assisted suicide, but she explores the subject both sensitively and thoroughly.

Time to crack open a good arc

Ahh, it's good to be reading again.  The second rewrite of 'Rollover' is done and dusted. So to celebrate I cracked open the arc of The Trail of the Spellman's, yes Lisa Lutz's wonderfully dysfunctional PI family are back, and even though two years have gone by Izzy and co had me laughing in minutes.

On a completely different note, if you love sci fi writers - or even if you don't check out Prophets of Science Fiction on the Science channel. So far they've covered Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the work of Phillip K Dick and next week is HG Wells. Each program goes into aspects of the author's work and shows how ideas and concepts they wrote about (genetic mutation, smart water, constant surveillance, robotics ect) now exist.or are being investigated to check their viability. Fascinating.

The Limit, Michael Cannell

Since its inception Formula One racing has been the epitome of money, spectacle, glamour and danger; and back in the swinging sixties that danger could be deadly.  F1 racing drivers didn’t have fireproof suits and wore flying helmets and goggles. Their attrition rate was high and just watching a race could get you killed.  Into this high-octane world drove Phil Hill, a lone American driver in a sea of Europeans.  Hill’s goal? To race for the legendary Enzo Ferrari.  In this true story Hill battles racing greats like Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and ultimately his Ferrari team mate Wolfgang Von Trips.  Ferrari pits his two drivers against each other as they battle for the 1961 world championship.

The Limit is a snapshot of a sport that is still a European obsession.

New For November

This marks a first, I've actually blurbed a sports book.  I have a bunch of rewrites to get through and I've got the new Lisa Lutz arc staring at me from the shelf. Plus more positive feedback for the book. It's all good.

Thoughts on Bloodland and 1222

Two excellent arcs to round off October. Both thrillers - no surprise there.

Bloodland by Alan Glynn, a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller.  Featuring a young journalist who uncovers a life threatening international conspiracy.  Glynn taps into our obsession with celebrity, the murky world of big business, the high stakes of a political career in this world of internet and CNN and the one percent who pull the strings.

1222 by Anne Holt, rural Norway, a train crash; an old hotel, the storm of the century and trapped with the other passengers is a killer. I liked Holt's protagonist, Hanne.  She reminded me of a younger bitter-er wheel chair bound version of Miss Marple. There are numerous red herrings along the way, as the body count rises and the passengers start to turn on one another.

Bloodland comes out in January 2012 and 1222 is published in December.

Violence for violence's sake

In most mysteries there is murder and mayhem and that's just fine - most of the time.  But when the violence just comes out of nowhere I'm not down with it.  You can almost hear the character crying 'where's my motivation for this' followed by the sound of me shutting the book.

I'm in the middle of Bloodland by Alan Glynn at the moment - political intrigue, mysterious deaths, c list celebs - and it has the feel of State of Play about it (the TV mini series NOT the movie)  My last one before November is 1222 by Anne Holt which the publisher sent me yesterday.  I'm very interested in this one because it has a Christie-esque plot device which I'm also playing around with.

Change of Plans

November will not be nano month for me it will be polish plot month for Rollover!  This is going to be huge.

Write your socks off month approaching.

So November is looming on the horizon and you know what that means. Nanowrimo!

I was considering giving it a miss this year but I suddenly had a plot idea so I'm going to get signed up today.  Finished and loved the new Deborah Crombie - full review soon.  I just finished the arc of The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith and I have mixed feelings.  I really enjoyed it but I almost stopped reading when I thought a kid was going to get hurt.(the blurb said the kid didn't get hurt but sometimes the blurbs are a little economical with the truth).  If you like 'Dexter' then this story of an information retrieval specialist (IR not torture) with a strong moral code will hook you pretty quick.  Now I have to scatter-gun the remaining four arcs cos I can only finish and blurb two before Halloween.

Thoughts on The Demi-Monde:Winter

First of all this is the first in a series - which is good because Winter is a barnstormer.  Imagine a cash-strapped US military devising a fully immersive battle simulation that plugs new recruits into a hyper-real computer generated world - a world populated by duplicates of people who exist or have existed in the real world.  Cunning strategists, evil dictators, men who would've been more feared than Adolf Hitler had they lived.  To give them something to fight over certain commodities are rare, and the tech is decidedly low.  But being the US army you give your trainees top-of-the-line M4 machine guns to play with and your trainees get captured.  This pesky computer program is becoming a problem, time to pull the plug.  But your virtual counterparts are way ahead of you and they lure the daughter of the US President into the Demi-Monde.  Now you have to get her out before you can pull the plug because if you die in the Demi-Monde you die in the real world...

Demi-Monde:Winter comes out in Jan 2012 - full review then.

Work in Progress

Two arcs I'm working on this week.  The Demi Monde by Rod Rees and Not a Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie (the envelope it arrived in said Not a Mark Up Her which made the UPS guy laugh)  I also just bought The Night Circus by Ellen Morgenstern - I love, love, love that book.  I'm also trying to get hold of the arc of I am Half-Sick of Shadows the new Allen Bradley (Flavia de Luce) which is published next month.

Revelations (don't worry they're not the biblical kind)

I've had some comments about the lack of reviews lately - it's OK I haven't developed an aversion to reading but the last few months editing has been more important and I'm pleased to say after heaven knows how many iterations we're done!  This throws up a whole completely different sent of problems - which as a close-to-getting-published-author are good ones to have.  I have a couple of people 'in the industry' who have agreed to read the finished ms.  And ( trust me on this )  when I go for it I really go for it ; I've sent my ms to Kirkus indie for a review.  So while we were breakfasting this morning I was in two minds - literally.  Whilst one part of me was laughing and joking with the others, the other half was running through today's pre-pub to-do list.  I do have a competitive side to my nature and I was just having this big 'oh my god' moment where I'm realising that rather than my analytic side or my problem-solving skills or my bubbly personality which has landed me every job I've ever interviewed for (except the one at the greengrocers - don't ever ask me to weigh plums) for the first time I'm testing my creative self, and what if that side is found wanting.

Just then Ann said the perfect thing, she said not everyone that starts writing a book completes it.  That in itself is a huge achievement.  And you know what - she's right.  Whatever happens, I had a hell of a lot of fun writing it and I created the project from scratch.

Thoughts on The Book of Lost Fragrances

Perfume - unless you've read Susskind's dark tale - doesn't sound that gripping.  M.J. Rose's new book which drops in March 2012 (full review then) had me at the first chapter.  This book has everything, a transcendent love story, the Dalai Lama, and a perfume commissioned by the Queen of the Nile (all things ancient Egyptian fascinate me.) which not only stirs scent memory it recalls past existences or 'envelopes' as the Bhuddists call them.  And wherever there's a memory tool Dr Malachai Samuels isn't going to be far behind.Blend in the China/Tibet situation and set the story in Paris against the background of a famed perfume house and you've got the recipe for a great story. 

Thoughts on The Limit

I don't love all motor sport; Nascar sends me to sleep but Formula One racing is a breed apart.  I was raised on it and last year I got to attend my first ever live race in Singapore.  So when The Limit appeared in my box I was pretty excited because up until a week before I'd never heard of Phil Hill - not a lot of people have.  He is the only American ever to win a F1 world championship (1961).  Phil Hill won the championship at Monza and he was driving a Ferrari - the Tifosi (Ferrari supporters) must've gone nuts.  But Hill's name doesn't ring any bells with Americans because the final race of the season at Watkins Glen Ferrari didn't bother to attend so Hill was denied the chance to race in front of his home crowd. 

Racing drivers in the 1960s were more like WWII fighter pilots or gladiators, their life expectancy was short.  They wore simple coveralls and leather flying helmets and goggles, death was a constant companion and it stalked the spectators as well.  The Limit comes out in November - your armchair boy racer will love it.

Covenant, Dean Crawford

Hours before an historic peace treaty signing between Israel and the Palestinians an American scientist, Dr Lucy Morgan, unearths an intact humanoid skeleton deep in the Negev desert. Her tests show that the bones are of extra-terrestrial origin.  But Lucy and her find are snatched and her grandfather pulls some strings to bring in Ethan Warner, a former solider and journalist.   

Warner has the contacts and the skills to find Lucy and retrieve the remains without creating a media firestorm but he and Lucy’s mother are blocked at every turn by a private security contractor who has close links to Capitol Hill and a fanatical evangelist. The closer Ethan gets to rescuing Lucy the more links he finds to his fiancé Joanna abducted in Gaza five years before.

Deadly Cool, Gemma Halliday

Hartley just found out via the whole school that her boyfriend is cheating on her with Courtney Cline and Hartley’s ready to kill both of them only someone got there first.  With one dead and the other on the run for murder, Hart and bff Sam team up with the editor of the school newspaper who just happened to be on the crime scene and is more than a little H O T.  Only Herbert Hoover High’s wannabe Veronica Mars keeps tripping over bodies and she may be next on the killer’s list.

Moab Rocks

Spent the weekend in Moab - visited both bookshops the used one and Back of Beyond Books and guess what, Moab reads.  Right now they are reading Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams.  We didn't just visit bookstores, we hiked up to delicate arch and did some serious off-roading (Kane Canyon Road I believe). 

Right now I'm reading The Limit by Michael Cannell - F1 in the sixties - back when it was a lot more dangerous for the drivers and the crowds.  I've also got the new MJ Rose, The Book of Lost Fragrances and Swamplandia for bookclub.  New releases for October to follow.

A book in the hand...

So many people have been on my case recently about my lack of an e-reader.  Regular readers of this blog know that hubby has my permission to bash me over the head with said device if he ever sees me using one.  A friend - who shall remain nameless - teased me that she has all her text books, all her mills and boon novels, and all her outlines in the palm of her hand.  I responded with the following.

I was nineteen and on a youth hostelling trip around Europe.  We were crossing from Austria into Switzerland by train and as is my habit the book I bought to read in Austria had just been donated to the Vienna hostel's library and another one bought at the station, The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian - no brainer really.  At the Austraian/Swiss border immigration hopped on to check our papers and having given the guy my passport I went back to my book.  He smirked at me as he gave the passport back and I thought he was being friendly until I put my book down.  Emblazoned across the back of it was PLENTY OF ACTION, PLENTY OF SEX in really big letters.  I'll never forget that trip because of that book.

Also I take one book and come back with another.  I buy according to country - I've discovered many new titles that way. Angelology by Daniella Trussoni being a prime example. 

I have been known to leave a book in the seat back pocket on a plane or train if it doesn't grab me.  The book jacket tells you something about the person reading it.  Try getting that from your e-reader.

Upsetting the balance

From time to time the amount I write overshadows the amount I read or vice versa.  It doesn't help that this is the busiest I've been for ages so getting the time to do either has been hard to come by.  Have a meeting with my editor this week - and I managed to revise a full two pages of Tball yesterday!  Couple of books I should mention that passed me by at the arc stage.  The Night Circus by Ellen Morgernstern and Headhunter by Jo Nesbo.  Also read Sister by Rosamund Lupton which is a modern day gothic with a stunner of a twist.  On the list this week Hell and Gone by Duane Swierszynski - worth buying for the cover alone - which you can't say about an e-book.  Finish Dracula for book club - and more revisions.

RIP Noah Boyd

From this morning's Shelf Awareness

Obituary Note: Paul Lindsay aka Noah Boyd

Paul Lindsay, who wrote seven novels as Noah Boyd, died Thursday night. He was 68 and had battled blood cancer since 2005.

Lindsay was a Marine Corps platoon commander in Vietnam, where he was awarded two Purple Hearts and the Silver Star for Bravery. He was then an FBI agent in Detroit for more than 20 years. His novels include Agent X, The Bricklayer and Last Chance to Die. The Bricklayer is being made into a movie.

His family wrote that Lindsay "thought of himself as a literary grifter, someone who, in his own words, 'appeals to a publisher's implicit need for profit rather than producing something of literary merit.' "

He once wrote: "Real writers care far more about publishing what they create than the number of commas in their advances. Fortunately, I have never been cursed with that kind of character. So, for a literary con man, an incurable disease is an opportunity, one that has little choice but to exploit."

Gripped by Dead Man's Grip

Dead Man's Grip by Peter James arrived in my box last week and I didn't look at it until this morning and then only in a cursory, 'lets read the first couple of pages and decide' kind of a way.  The book isn't out until December and I'm not 50 pages in yet but I'm hooked.  One of the big reasons is that Peter James has a detective series set in Brighton, Sussex - a place I lived and worked and partied in for many years.  Second good reason - a police procedural with an authentic feel.  Third reason, the writing is tight, short chapters, intriguing plot.  This is a series to read from the beginning.  Will be ordering the first book Dead Simple this afternoon.

The old routine

So I'm back to Tuesday and Fridays - workwise. 

Bookwise, I just finished Ice Station Zebra, I'm half-way through To Say Nothing of The Dog by Connie Willis, honestly time travel and chaos theory was never quite so funny.  Simon Toyne's Sanctus is out now but I only just got hold of the arc, if you like Dan Brown et al this is one for you.  Book club pick for October is Dracula, I have to re-read Day of Honey for an event next week and big, big news.  The edit is complete - all 40 chapters of Rollover! 

All Cry Chaos, Leonard Rosen - September's must-read

American mathematics genius James Fenster has just been blown to bits during a World Trade Organization meeting in Amsterdam and aging Interpol agent Henri Poincaré takes the case.  His wife wants him to retire but Henri has kept his family away from the less savoury aspects of his work for so long that it never entered his head that his recent single-minded apprehension of a war criminal could put all of them in danger.

Henri immerses himself in the Fenster puzzle, finding that Fenster had much in common with Henri’s revered great grandfather but Fenster was only modeling fractals and exploring chaos theory so why are so many people fighting to get hold of his data and would one of them kill him for it?  Against a background of a global countdown by religious crazies trying to hasten the end times, Henri heartsick in more ways than one has a week left on active service and he’s determined to close this case even if it kills him.

The Lantern, Deborah Lawrenson

Nestled in the heart of Provence, Les Genévriers is a run-down but idyllic farm house.  Newly wed Eve falls in love with the place the moment she sees it.  All summer she only has eyes for Dom – the man she calls the best thing that ever happened to her – as they explore the house and grounds and uncover many of its secrets – but not all.  With the passion cooling on their whirlwind romance, Eve starts to look into the history of the house and probe Dom’s reticence to talk about his first wife Rachel and strange things start happening.  Has Dom been here before?  Is the house haunted by a ghost and what is that intoxicating perfume?  Why won’t Dom talk about his first marriage?  Is Eve in danger? Les Genévriers’ rugged beauty veils a terrible secret, one the locals have suspected for decades, one that holds Bénédicte Lincel there still.

Death and the Maiden, Gerald Elias

The New Magini String Quartet appears to be suffering a musical curse, amid flying lawsuits, delays, accidents and no-shows, the members struggle to put together their make-or-break concert, a multi-media laden performance of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, at Carnegie Hall. 

Daniel Jacobus, renowned blind violin teacher and amateur sleuth is feeling even more curmudgeonly than usual.  He gets pulled into the quartet’s misfortunes by his concern for its newest member, his former student second violinist Yumi Shinagawa, but Yumi is keeping some secrets of her own.

With help from Yumi, cellist Nathaniel Williams and Trotsky (because he can’t runsky) the bulldog Jacobus starts poking his nose in.  Among his suspects, a awol first violinist, a litigious Englishman, the Soviet refugees who made up the original Magini Quartet, a Russian who ‘collects’ rare violins and a music fan with a body odour problem who may be lying dead on the streets of Lima, Peru.

On opening night Death could be visiting the entire quartet, including Jacobus.

New for September

Enjoy.

Currently reading arcs of Sanctus and The Infernals.  Five chapters to go on the edit for my book.  It's all coming together.

Snippets

From the bought/borrowed but didn't have time to read pile - until now that is.

You are next (bought) by Katia Lief

Former detective takes on the Domino killer - who wiped out her husband and son - and has just escaped from prison.  Taught, tense and scary.

Shoot to Thrill (borrowed) by PJ Tracy

Minneapolis' Monkeewrenchers are at it again.  This time they 'assist' the FBI in tracking down a killer who posts his kills on YouTube.  Plenty of twists turns and the cop humour of Rolseth and Magozzi - can't miss.

Until Thy Wrath by Past  (arc) by Asa Larsson -

Swedish mystery with echoes of the "The Lovely Bones" as a murder victim interacts with the police trying to solve her case and that of her missing boyfriend.

Lovejoy!!

Those of you who have known me a long time will remember my 'summer of Lovejoy'  When I read every Jonathan Gash  novel I could lay my hands on - even that one where he ends up Japan.  For those who don't know what I'm on about, Lovejoy is an antiques dealer and a 'divvie' which means that he can tell real from fake (his gift or his curse depending on how it gets used)  He's a scruffy womanizer and though he tries to do the right thing; Lovejoy is not a pacifist. In fact he's a lover and a fighter.  Head and shoulders above the rest of the Gash books was The Judas Pair but my copy got put on the wrong pile and donated by my mum to the local charity shop.

I was chatting to George Easter; editor of Deadly Pleasures magazine, which you may have seen in our mystery section, before Chris Ewan's event and I mentioned that Charlie Howard reminds me a little bit of Lovejoy and that after Sleepers of Erin, Judas Pair was my favourite.  Yesterday, I found not one - but three Lovejoy novels, Grail Tree, Gold by Gemini and Judas Pair - sitting in my box.  There could well be an 'autumn of Lovejoy' coming up!

San Francisco Videos

I've  had some comments that the link to the videos of the San Francisco trip is playing up.  If you want to see all of them go to

http://www.youtube.com/user/englishrosesloverain?feature=mhee#g/u

Enjoy.

Ice Station Zebra (redux?)

Yesterday I found a copy of Ice Station Zebra by Alistair Maclean in my box.  This really confused me because it was oringally released in 1963. I read it when I was 10 'ish along with Puppet on a Chain and The Guns of Navarone, classic Maclean.(Be thankful that I could reach my Dad's reading material before my Mum's Barbara Cartland collection or this would be a whole different kind of blog!)  My colleague said that ISZ had never been published in the US and I find that hard to believe - as the movie was a world wide hit.  So rather than talk politics in the shop today - lets talk Ice Station Zebra.  I'm also trying to get hold of a thriller by Laurence O'Bryan called Istanbul Puzzle which I may have to order from England so that I can decide whether or not to try and get some in to handsell when the book is released in the US sometime in 2012.  O'Bryan got his publishing deal through Authonomy - I'd left the site by the time he came through - but as I've said before there are some real gems hidden on that site.

Have to finish Phantom of the Opera before bookclub on Sunday.

Also I have a question that's publishing related, I went looking for a book that I really enjoyed on Authonomy last year with a view to ordering a couple of copies for the store to handsell (not the Istanbul Puzzle -that is a real book) and its only available as an e-book and not available through google books - if you know what I mean.  This is doubly frustrating because a) I can't get it in and b) if I talk it up people won't be able to buy it from us.  So my question is this - would you rather see a book you've written as a physical thing in your hand or would you just e-publish.  My opinion goes directly against hubby's who thinks that e-pub is the way to go.  I think if you don't have an actual book to promote its the equivalent of straight-to-video.

So yesterday's topics were The Khan Academy and out of touch politicians.  Today's are ISZ and paper or cloud publishing.  I really am at the store all week.  

Good Thief's Guide to Venice

Saturday evening, met Chris and his wife Jo and gave them a tour of the store.  The event was out on the patio and not only was every chair filled but we had to add a bunch.  Apparently Utah time is similar to that on the Isle of Man (although the weather is not!) but we started at 7pm on- the-dot. 

Chris entertained the crowd with stories about his research for the books, how the series came about and how he came to be published in the first place.  The lock picking demo that he normally does couldn’t take place because, well lock-picking tools and the TSA… you get the picture.  There were a bunch of questions, even my hubbie asked a question, and no I hadn’t pre-primed him.  There were suggestions for Charlie’s next port of call ranging from Hong Kong to Prison.  Everyone  - Chris included - decided that research for that one might be a bit dodgy.   

We always try and ask our visiting authors to recommended their favourite authors and Chris boosted Megan Abbott’s sales, we had no copies of The End of Everything by the end of the evening and a bunch of orders for her other books as well.  Everyone got their books signed and everybody came away happy.  We hope to see Chris and Jo at the store again soon, either for The Good Thief’s Guide to Berlin or the stand-alone (The) Safe House.

Of course TKE’s events are run by a team and they don’t get enough recognition for making everything run smoothly so big thanks to Helen, Nathan and Jennifer.

Oh and I think Wendy may be planning a field trip to the Isle of Man!

TKE's got talent

I have known Dawn Houghton for a ton of time and the girl is multi talented let me tell you.  She's a bookseller, a mum, a realtor, a writer and she's just been short-listed for the Flannery O'Connor Short Story Prize.

See multi-talented.  Congratulations Dawn!

San Fran Saturday

Saturday afternoon - we regrouped and headed for West Portal Books for our book group discussion of Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black.  West Portal books is a lot like TKE, lovely, knowledgeable staff, good layout, well-stocked mystery section (back left-hand corner) and in supporting a fellow indie I came away with a new Laurie King book, the follow-up to Dan Airely's Predictably Irrational, a small book of French stories and a copy of Wired (my on-plane reading)

As more and more of the San Francisco book group arrived, Wendy introduced us to them, as I've said before Wendy knows everybody, I met Cara Black, who asked how my book was coming along and so I gave her and David the doctor/cartoonist my elevator pitch - and started talking with my hands again.  There was Sherri who has karma when it comes to finding parking spaces, Marsha and Dick, I had a long chat with Marsha afterwards. She and Wendy and Eleanor, who guided us around the mission district yesterday all taught in the Lick-Wilmerding English department. And many more all arrived chatting and laughing, it was like the best kind of cocktail party. Then we all crammed into the back room for our discussion and chat with Cara, which was fascinating, informative and funny.  I would've filmed the whole thing but as soon as the discussion began it would've seemed rude to just film and never truly participate.  Cara signed a load of her books and then we all headed to the Oppenheim's house for dinner where Wendy gave a lovely speech and gave the San Francisco group a copy of Betsy's book.

Thanks to the San Francisco group for making us feel so welcome, to Cara for meeting with us, to West Portal Books for hosting us and to Wendy who set the whole trip up.

photo link

Rather than post everything separately here is the link to all the still photos I took on on our trip. 

SF day one

Our first day in SF I won't bore you with the adventure of how we got here.Breakfast at Cafe de la Presse off to the mission district for the morning and then down through China town to City Lights bookstore - here's Linda under the sign.

Love the quotes they had on the ground.

Good Thief's Guide To Venice, Chris Ewan

Since his luck turned bad in Vegas a year ago, Charlie Howard has been living an honest writer’s life in Venice.  He reckons his latest Faulks manuscript will crack those bestseller lists wide open and he can’t wait for his agent Victoria’s verdict.

But first he has to get his priceless signed first edition of The Maltese Falcon back from a fetching but rather loopy cat burglar.  The price? One simple job and Charlie will get the ‘Falcon’ back. Refuse and the book will be destroyed.

Charlie can’t risk losing his good luck charm but when the ‘simple job’ blasts him head-first into the canal he’s pretty sure the ‘Falcon’ is gone for good.  Charlie’s landed himself and Victoria in the middle of an assassination plot, but Victoria has a plan – and enough non-lethal weaponary to make Q branch green with envy. Her idea is outrageous and it might work but either way once it’s over Charlie’s leaving Venice for good.

Don't forget Chris will be reading at TKE 7pm Saturday August 13th.

Machine Man, Max Barry

When we first meet him, brilliant scientist Charlie Neumann has a brain more like a computer, zero social skills and he’s about to lose a leg.  He works for the Better Future corporation and the company does everything it can for him, even paying for a top-of-the-line replacement limb. As Charlie improves under the care of Lola Shanks he doesn’t concern himself with how he came to have the accident.  He just wants to get back to work and redesign his pathetic prosthetic. 

Soon Charlie’s leg can think for itself and he’s thinking of upgrading the rest of him and Better Future are keen to have him do just that.  Along the way Charlie creates his own little monsters – a team of enhanced lab assistants who have no idea when to stop pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.  Machine Man is a hybrid of thriller, snarky nerd humour, a love story and some serious corporate greed.

Spycatcher, Matthew Dunn

Spycatcher hurls you into the world of the modern day spook.  Will Cochrane, a ruthless, dedicated, fallible MI6 agent. Part heat seeking missile, part stealth bomber he obeys his masters only when he sees fit.  Will and a US seal team must hunt down and capture an Iranian terrorist before he orchestrates the most appalling atrocity on western soil since 9/11. 

Will has to play a deadly game to lure the terrorist from his hideout but in a world where today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy and sudden death is a way of life, who can he trust and who is really conducting the operation.  Unarmed, outgunned and rocked to his very core can Will save thousands of innocents including the life of the woman he loves?

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler Olsen

If you're missing your Steig Larsson fix look no further.

For a broken detective, the last thing Carl Morck expected was a promotion but his assignment to Department Q – cases so cold he could get freezer burn just by paging through them – has an unexpected pay-off.  Carl and his assistant Assad make an unlikely team as they re-investigate the case of a missing-presumed-dead politician – but she’s not dead – not yet.

Plugged, Eoin Colfer

Danny McEvoy, former soldier and formerly bald is having trouble making it in New York City in this comedy noir. He just lost his girlfriend, his crooked Doctor pal is missing, he's about to lose his job as a bouncer and he's got cops, the Irish mob and an angry rotweiler all vying for pieces of him.  Can he plug them before they plug him?  

Cracking new books for August

August is definitely my favourite month for new releases so enjoy.

Shush!!

I was trying to scale back on the arcs, with the San Francisco trip being next week (!)  But they just keep on coming.  And funny story, I did an offsite event this week at the main library.  The event itself went smoothly even my hasty primer on the mobile credit card machine - no problem.  The problem - the dolly - it wouldn't sit up, it wouldn't lay flat.  I jerry rigged it and got up to the room OK. Coming down, that was a different story.  The dolly was in errant shopping trolly mode so folks if you were in the library on Wednesday afternoon around 5.30 and wondered what that horrendous noise was.  It was me pulling a dolly that was acting more like an errant puppy and my goodness it was loud.  So sorry.

The hotel in SF has wifi so I'm going to try and photo blog while we are out there.  Looking forward to meeting Cara and visiting West Portal books and all the other fab things we can pack into a weekend.

In Other News

I have all the feedback from draft #3 so this week I have to cull some characters and even a re-assign a storyline or two.  I also have to brush up my public speaking skills as I'm doing the intro for Chris Ewan when he comes to the store for Good Thief's Guide to Venice but it isn't until August 13th so plenty of time to write and practice that.

Oh and can anyone suggest some mind mapping software that works with Windows - mindnode would be perfect but I don't have a mac.

7/29 Thanks for all the suggestions I went with sky mind as it works on the Ipod touch and its free.

Thoughts on All Cry Chaos

Leonard Rosen's book has taken me a while to finish and that's a good thing because its the first time for a long time that a book has made me put it down every few chapters because I had to ponder on a concept or a puzzle or even a set of pictures and get it straight in my head before I could move on.  All Cry Chaos is a thriller, a fractal lover's dream date, thought provoking, and a damn good read.  Coming in September, full review then.

Lanterns, Latin and Latte

So I'm finishing The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson which is lush, gothic, a ghost story and French (again with the French)  The re-work of chapter 26 of my book was a success.  Our San Francisco trip is coming up very fast so a re-read of Cara Black's Murder in the Latin Quarter is in order as we're discussing the book and meeting with Cara - which is going to be a lot of fun.  Now I'm off to my local Beans n Brews (never fear they're local first) with my laptop for a frozen coffee hopefully with an added dash of inspiration.

Angels or Aliens - you decide

Just blurbed Covenant by Dean Crawford, it's a first novel which comes out in October - full review then.  If you want a tag line it's X-Files meets 24 in the middle of the age old Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  I'm hoping this is the start of a series.  Now I just have to re-jigg chapter 26 before I go in to work.

Original Sin by Beth McMullen

NB Don't let the pink (with a capital P) cover put you off. 

Lucy Hamilton (not her real name) meets Will on a diving holiday and its love at first sight.  A whirlwind courtship follows and 9 years later Lucy - mother of Theo - is the picture of suburban bliss.  And then Lucy’s former employer gets in touch and all hell breaks loose, because Lucy used to be Agent 26 codenamed Sally Sin and her former employer is Uncle Sam.  Lucy’s former nemesis has resurfaced and her bosses want to use her as bait to draw him out while Lucy’s agenda is a whole lot more family oriented.  Lucy is Sydney Bristow with the smart mouth of Izzy Spellman, she has a license to kill and Carpool.

Quiet House

Back to business, Vegas mugged me as usual but I did manage to get some reading done.  Death and the Maiden, the new Gerald Elias, Covenant by Dean Crawford and The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson and waiting in the wings is All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen which - like Covenant - I requested.  One to watch for this month is Twice a Spy by Keith Thompson haven't read it yet but Once a Spy was brilliant.  Tomorrow I have to rework chapter 26 of Rollover and that will be the first serious writing - apart from solving the crossword every day - that I've done for a week.

Write - cubed

In between getting the house shipshape for inspection.  I'm trying to write as much as possible over the next three days as I can't write when we have visitors, which is odd because I can write in coffee shops.  But in coffee shops I sit in a booth so no one is looking over my shoulder - aha.  That's two breakthroughs, the other one is my desk, it's actually tidy!

Lost in France

I just finished the arc for Maxine Kenneth's Paris to Die For (published July 28th) it's pitched as Charade meets James Bond which is fairly accurate but the protagonist is the interesting point for me, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.  The fiction is wound around actual events in Jackie's life and uses a mix of real and imagined characters and it is set in a rich vein of American history.

Sticking with the French theme, I'm currently halfway through The Grave Gourmet by Alexander Campion, the start of a new culinary mystery series set in Paris.  It features a glamourous police lieutenant and her restaurant critic husband, and the jacket blurb and first chapter was enough to make me buy it.

An evening with Michael Feeney Callan

This week is flying, attended the Robert Redford bio event last night - no he wasn't there - although the bio is authorized Redford is a very private guy and no one was expecting him to put in an appearance.  There was some talk of obtaining a cardboard cutout but that never went anywhere. 

Michael Feeney Callan - the author - is a charming Irishman who answered the many, many questions the vocal audience put to him.  Lets lay to rest the idea that this book is a tell-all, Callan put it best when he said (I'm paraphrasing him) that the book was a 16 year project shaped by voices of people who have worked with Redford and by Callan's observations of Redford - they bumped heads a few times but have remained friends.

Here is a link to a great interview that Doug Fabrizio conducted with Callan yesterday (June 21)

At the event Callan did have a few comments on sloppy mis-informed journalism (Doug's interview is none of those things!).  One review in an LA newspaper showed that not only had the reviewer not read Callan's book (Cardinal sin as far as I'm concerned).  He or she had taken Redford's mythical baseball career from a post on the internet and used it as fact.  Callan wrote to the editor and asked for a correction (which he got) and an apology (which he didn't get) 

Feet up weekend

First weekend when I haven't needed a jacket to sit outside and read.  Read and loved The Good Thief's Guide to Venice (more thoughts of that once I've written a blurb for the store), started our bookclub book Gaston Laroux's Phantom of the Opera (look past the mass market cover) the book is gothic suspense, romance and a hint of comedy, which I was not expecting. Started reading 'Them' by Jon Ronson (author of The Psychopath Test and The Men Who Stare at Goats) on Monday.  I also want to read The Glass Key before our trip to San Francisco.  At this time of year my reading is a group of holding patterns, and each room holds a different book.

Interview with Matt Richtel

Rather than repeat what is posted on TKE's website here's the link to my interview with Matt.

Thoughts on Machine Man

Max Barry's new book is a thriller, a thought provoker, has a wicked thread of humour running through it but also some seriously moral questions.  His character Charlie turns a lemon of an accident into lemonade by upgrading himself and his lab assistants come along for the ride in the ultimate open source development competition.

My favourite line from this book

"Compared to you, Kevin Warwick is a pussy!"

NB Kevin Warwick was my husband's cybernetics professor at Reading University and has a computer chip embedded in his arm.

Full review when Machine Man comes out in August.

Thoughts on the new Sophie Hannah

It fascinates me when a book starts out as one idea and transitions to something you didn't know was coming and does it seamlessly.  That's the experience I just had with The Cradle In The Grave.  Without giving it away a medical issue comes up that is current and needs a lot more investigation and that despite numerous studies to the contrary I still wouldn't put a member of my family through.  There is also that number puzzle I mentioned in the last post which I'm ashamed I couldn't work out.

Sophie Hannah

I'm immersed in the newest Sophie Hannah, Cradle in The Grave, it has everything, injustice, murder, characters with lots of secrets to hide, a medical side and a number puzzle that once it was solved left me slapping my head and I'm not done yet.  I'm on the last 50 pages and for someone it isn't going to end well.  Full review when the book is published in September.  Still have to finish Paris to Die For and then in-between book club books, I've got Machine Man by Max Barry and Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid.

The Good Thief is coming to Salt Lake!

Saturday August 13th - that is when Chris Ewan, author of the Good Thief's Guide series will be coming to TKE to read from and sign his latest book The Good Thief's Guide to Venice.  Chris has a lot of fans in Salt Lake and we're really excited to be hosting him.

The Hypnotist, Lars Kepler

National CID Detective Joona Linna takes on a bizarre and tragic murder case.  A young Swedish family hacked to pieces in their own home.  Questioning the barely surviving witness is not an option, the boy’s life hangs by a thread.  What Linna needs is a hypnotist.

Erik Maria Bark is that hypnotist, problem is he gave up practising ten years ago.  Bark went on national TV and swore he would never hypnotise another soul.  But the detective won’t take no for an answer so Erik puts the boy in a trance.  What happens next won’t just threaten everything Erik has managed to rebuild.  It will tear families apart, turn friends into bitter enemies and rob Erik of Benjamin – his only son.  Gritty, fast-paced and hard to put down.

Before I Go To Sleep, S.J Watson

Every day middle-aged housewife Christine Lucas wakes, her mind a blank slate.  Victim of a car accident, Christine cannot hold on to memories, her husband Ben has given up hope and simply edits her life to make things easier.  But Christine has a secret, Dr Nash and her personal memory book are bringing back flashes of faces and events from the past.    

Every time Christine tries to picture the accident she remembers a hotel room, flowers, champagne and a sensation of drowning and on the eve of a Wedding Anniversary trip she finds three words scrawled across the first page of her journal DON’T TRUST BEN.  But if she can’t trust the man she married who can she trust?

New for June

Before I Go To Sleep and The Hypnotist both come out this month.  Read them with the lights on.

Thoughts on Spycatcher

I didn't get much sleep last night, mainly because once I picked Spycatcher up I could not put it down.  The author Matthew Dunn used to work for MI6 so for authenticity it's right up there with my other favourite used-to-be-a-spy-author Noah Boyd.  The story, pacing and characterization are perfectly pitched and the fact that hero/antihero Will Cochrane isn't just a womanizing blunt instrument just adds to the idea that this is right here right now.

Interesting that William Morrow are publishing Dunn as they also publish Noah Boyd's books.  Is there a spies only imprint coming to WM?  Spycatcher lands in August - full review then.

Thougts on the Keeper of Lost Causes

Stieg Larsson opened the floodgates for Scandinavian Crime - Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen is a rollercoaster ride and I look forward to many more cases for Denmark's Department Q.  Published in August, I'll post a full review then.

In writing news book #3 has suffered a set-back.  On re-reading, the beginning jerks around like a ruddy puppet. I've had to bin it and start again.

Also entered 'Rollover' into the Luke Mead Bursary last week.  Luke was in his mid thirties when he died and his family along with Legend press have set up a bursary in his name to help struggling writers with their careers.  White Summer -his first novel - isn't readily available over here but abe has some copies so I'll be able to get hold of one soon.


Now back to the books.  Next is Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn - I've been dying to read this.

You never know

who is going to walk through the door during any one shift.  We had a couple come in yesterday and we got chatting as I checked them out, and he mentioned that he'd done a reading at the store a while back so I asked him what the title of his book was and he says 'Up in the Air' the one they made into a movie with George Clooney. 

Me: (frantically searching the author database in my head) You're Walter? Walter Kirn?
Him : Yep Walter Kirn, nice to meet you.

Nice guy and hopefully we can get him for his new book.

Three, two, one, Go!

Been travelling and seriously deprived of wi-fi.  My plan was to post as normal but lack of said wi fi put that plan straight to bed. Things had been pretty quiet before I left but I had to hit the ground running yesterday.  My blurb for The Hypnotist was selected for the indie next list for July.  I've got another e interview to do with Matt Richtel - author of Hooked and the new one Devil's Plaything.  And a really great author event - hopefully in August - that I don't want to jinx but once it's confirmed I'll post the details here.  Oh and two blurbs which while they aren't seriously urgent still have to take priority and I have to work this afternoon.  Hope I don't yawn too much!

PJ Tracy #4

I was told that here the series slows down, but as long as you realize a couple of things that's not true.  First of all I'm not a shipper for Grace and Leo, their relationship is always going to progress at snail's pace, second the beginning of this book makes more sense once you're almost finished and third, the mother daughter combo set up scenarios that don't play out as they would in other books.  Will put #5 on order.

Now I have three arcs - all blurbed so no rush - and the third in Matt Reilly's Jack West Jr series and to be honest I'd rather read than exercise.

The White Devil, Justin Evans

Young American, Andrew Taylor’s father has bought his son’s way into Harrow School in the heart of London.  If Andrew gets thrown out of this school he’ll be cut off without a cent.  Hidden away in the confines of Harrow, Andrew resolves to buckle down and not get into trouble but trouble finds him.  Everyone at Harrow has heard of the ‘The Lot Ghost’ but Andrew’s connection to it is becoming stronger by the hour.  This presence, is volatile and insanely jealous and it can kill.

When Andrew is recruited into a play about Lord Byron, he realizes that his resemblance to Byron has fooled the ghost into believing his lover has returned and this time he will stop at nothing to possess him.

Prophecy, S.J. Parris

In this, the second of the Giordano Bruno series, the heretic philosopher still retains his status as friend of the French king while maintaining his role as Francis Walsingham’s spy.   

Walsingham enlists Bruno’s investigative talents on an urgent royal request.  One of Queen Elizabeth’s young favourites has been found dead with strange astrological symbols carved upon the body.  Bruno thinks that the murderer is closer to the Queen than even Walsingham realizes.  To prove this he has to sift through a welter of rumours, black magic, lies and multiple hidden agendas to expose a Catholic plot to remove Elizabeth and take over England by force and to make matters worse Bruno has caught the eye of one of his Catholic co-conspirators, the French ambassador’s lovely young wife.

The Preacher, Camilla Lackberg

In the Swedish coastal town of Fjallbacka, a July heatwave is stewing the local population and unearthing old bones.  In the summer of ’79 after two campers went missing, the only solid lead in the case took his own life.  When three bodies are discovered at a local beauty spot twenty three years later Detective Patrik Hedstrom  - weeks away from becoming a father - takes on the most baffling case of his career so far.  The evidence leads him back to the original suspect - Johannes Hult.  But Hult’s surviving family hate the police more than they hate each other.  And then another girl goes missing…

Devil’s Plaything, Matt Richtel

Matt’s last thriller Hooked introduced us to journalist Nat Idle.  Nat is now a blogger for Medblog but he does have a habit of exposing the police to public scrutiny so when someone takes a potshot at him in Golden Gate Park he’s concerned ; but more concerned because he had his Grandma Lane with him and just before the shooting started Lane said ‘danger’

Lane is in a nursing home since her mind dropped off a cliff. She’s trying to record her personal history using a computer program called the Human Memory Crusade. Lane advocated the program and got the director to sign up. He didn’t argue too much because the computers didn’t cost him a thing.

Nat, worried that something is happening to his grandmother starts to investigate and uncovers a military funded conspiracy that takes the internet into the 22^nd century using organic assets and they’ve already sourced a unwitting supply.  Nat’s just learned he’s about to become an adult and settle down but he just can’t leave the story alone.  It may be the last one he ever files.

Stagestruck, Peter Lovesey

Dying on stage takes on a whole new meaning.

The first night of the sold-out run of I am a Camera at Bath's Theatre Royal was a sensation for all the wrong reasons.  Fading pop star Clarion Calhoun didn’t get the chance to utter a single line of Sally Bowles' dialogue before someone dealt her a career-ending blow.  DI Diamond is pulled into the investigation as a favour to the Chief Constable and pushes through several personal phobias to a hotbed of jealousy, insecurities and superstition both onstage and off.  

In this play it isn't what you know but who you know that could kill you.

In The Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson

Erik Larson has that rare gift of making non fiction read like fiction.  His latest book is set mainly in Berlin during 1933 and 1934, charting the ascent of Hitler and the transformation of Germany as seen through the eyes of Ambassador William E Dodd, and his daughter Martha. 

Dodd - a history professor - not a natural choice for a diplomatic post – is sent to Germany.  The whole family transplants to a vibrant Berlin.  On the surface the capital is booming, but scratch beneath and slowly, with each bill of ‘co-ordination’ passed, each atrocity ignored, each show trial, each protestation of peace-while preparing for war, the horror of Hitler’s Germany emerges and Dodd like a political Cassandra attempts to warn his fellow Americans but they don’t want to listen.  A riveting read.