Discovering Scudder

Thanks to a new deal at Audible.com, which now lets members access a vast library of older titles in addition to the one book a month its basic membership previously allowed, I've been getting into some new series I've always meant to check out.  In particular, lately I've really been enjoying Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series.

With a character name like "Scudder", I always thought this series was about a "tough guy" detective who engaged in fisticuffs, gun play, and all that gritty P.I. stuff. But no, Matthew Scudder is an introspective type, who quietly interviews those involved in the cases we accepts, then thinks about those interviews, usually over a drink or two in a quiet bar, while he puts the pieces together.

It's almost like author Block writes his Scudder novels (well, at least the first three I've experienced so far) as if they were meant to be adapted into community theater productions with limited budgets.  There are no action scenes, no jet setting, nothing "big".  The first three books are basically Matthew Scudder getting his case, interviewing people in their offices, apartments, or on the phone, then finally figuring things out and confronting whodunit. And no, despite the talkiness, none of this is dull. These efficient little novels move along nicely and the cases feature interesting puzzles.

Two other elements were also compelling in the first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, and the two follow-ups I've read (actually, listened to) so far. Scudder himself is an interesting guy who carries some guilt on his shoulders from his time on the police force (with him possibly being too hard on himself), and that guilt informs his musing and mulling over his cases.  The other thing is that, despite the general quietness of the books and the Scudder charcter himself, Matthew Scudder is a kind of avenging angel who in his own way demands eye-for-an-eye justice from those he ultimately confronts with their crimes, and he does so in ways that can make you feel bad for the accused, even if what they did in the first place was pretty bad. But again, his retributions, memorable as they are, are done in quiet, introspective ways. That's not something I've seen a lot in other detective novels.

I'm glad I'm finally getting into this series that's been around since the early 1970's.  I have a feeling that as I move along it's going to go into some intertesting places.

 

When dads read books...

On this fine September day, here are a few "dad jokes" about our favorite pastime of reading.

I read a thriller in Braille. You can really feel the suspense.

I read a book about submarine construction. It was riveting.

I'm reading a book about adhesives. It has me glued to my seat.

I've written a book on penguins. In hindsight, using paper would have been better.

My friend was recently seriously hurt when a huge pile of books fell on him. Of course, he only had his shelf to blame.

Whenever I read a comic book I always tear the last page out. I like to draw my own conclusions.

I saw a book on how to resolve 50% of your problems, so I bought two.

That's it for now. Enjoy these nice autumn days!

No grudge here

It's nice to have Sunny Randall back again. Starting with Blood Feud last year, the late Robert B. Parker's intrepid female detective was the last of his series characters to get continuation novels after Mr. Parker's passing in 2010. But with Mike Lupica at the helm, we're finally getting more of Sunny and her new adventures have been solid.

For the record, I'm not against new writers being commissioned to produce new novels in a series after the original author passes away.  After all, don't we all continue watching a favorite TV show even though writers, showrunners, and even stars come and go?  The only reason to leave is if the stories aren't good anymore. End of disclaimer,

And, as said, Mr. Lupica's Sunny Randall stories have certainly been entertaining and exciting so far, with Sunny being the same Sunny we remember from Mr. Parker's half dozen or so Sunny novels.  What always made Sunny interesting were her opposing, contradictory qualities, and how she reconciles them over the course of the novels.  She's dangerous and tough but also revels in being girly and feminine.  She won't let men push her around or decide things for her, but- when she chooses to- she is not opposed to being vulnerable and and wanting to be taken care of by the men in her life.  And, often the most fun, even though she is always fiercely loyal to her current romantic interest (in this case, her ex-husband Richie) she is not above flirting and showing interest in other men who cross her path, and even second guessing who should actually be her current romantic interest.

Mr. Lupica has fun with all of the above, while also delivering a cool thriller plot once again (his first Sunny book was the engaging Blood Feud).  This time Sunny is hired by her sometimes underworld ally Tony Marcus, who wants Sunny to find his missing girlfriend and business associate. Does Tony want to find his lady love Lisa purely for the sentimental reasons he tells Sunny, or is he worried the missing woman might know a little too much about his illegal business dealings and thus needs to be dealt with in some way?  As there are indications that the woman might be in real trouble, Sunny takes the case, but then has to decide just how much to tell Tony about her progress.

Grudge Match (the full title is Robert B. Parker's Grudge Match, in tribute to the character's creator) was a lot of fun and I look forward to future Sunny Randall novels by Mike Lupica.  The author, by the way, will also be writing Mr. Parker's Jesse Stone series for the time being, too. His first novel in that series will be Fool's Paradise, which will be out before the end of the year.  I hope it's not revealing too much to say that, based on Grudge Match, our gal Sunny may actually put in an appearance in Mr. Lupica's first Stone novel, too!

Thrillers and the pandemic

Even though we're still well under a year into the current pandemic, fictional works incorporating quarantine, social distancing, etc. have already started to appear, though mostly in the form of shorter audiobook productions. Inside Jobs by Ben H. Winters was pretty good, consisting of a few short crime thrillers, all incorporating or complicated by the Covid 19 situation.

Even better was The Cuckoo's Cry by Caroline Overington, a 4-plus hour Audible Original.  Just released, it involves pleasant senior citizen Don Barlow being suddenly confronted by the 16 year old granddaughter he never knew he had, courtesy of a youthful indiscretion occurring long before Don's marriage. After the initial surprise, widower Don is delighted by the company and lets the girl quarantine with him, with Don's grown daughter becoming very suspicious about the girl and her murky past.

Is there more to granddaughter Morgan than meets the eye?  It's well worth listening to find out. While definitely a thriller, the story employs character interaction and themes worthy of a good straight-up drama or literary work.  And the inclusion of the Covid crisis as a backdrop doesn't come off as a gimmick, but an effective detail that enriches the narrative.

The story is also nicely read by Aimee Horne, who navigates the many emotions and moods of Ms. Overington's fast-paced but rich narrative.

Both Inside Jobs and The Cuckoo's Cry are available to download at Audible.  I listened to them free as part of the two Audible originals productions subscribers are allowed to select each month at no cost, but their normal costs are pretty modest if you go that route instead.

Real fast now...

I usually enjoy writing richer, longer reviews (see my "Antiques Ravin'" review a couple of posts down), but it's hot, I'm tired, and the ongoing pandemic is sapping my creative energies.  But short, quickie tips can be fun, too. Here are a few that may lead you to some good entertainment experiences...

Want to watch some creepy horror movies but nothing too gory? Try The Darkness, with Kevin Bacon, on Netflix and Winchester, with Helen Mirren, also on Netflix. Both are PG-13, which means they had to work a little harder for their tension and scares, not just throw in lots of profanity and violence (not that there's anything wrong with a good R-rated horror movie). Anyway, I found both these movies to be nicely creepy with enough good scares to move things along.

The Soho series of mystery novels by Greg Keen continues to entertain. Each one is set in London's Soho district, a major center of dining and nightlife in the UK.  I'm enjoying Soho Angel now.  The first two books are Soho Dead and Soho Ghosts. For whatever reason, these books have been free for me to borrow on my Kindle as part of the Kindle Lending Library. This may be a free program for anybody who has a Kindle for all I know, and not something you have to subscribe to.  Anyway, check out the program and check out this series.  Kenny Gabriel is an engaging investigator, even if he eats, drinks, and smokes too much.

Finally, Stephen King's If It Bleeds presents four new novellas by the master.  All are solid and immersive, and are actually growing in my estimation as I think back on them (even though I liked them just fine as I was reading them). My favorite story is probably the last one, Rat, which is about writer's block, or more precisely, about a writer reveling in the fact that his chronic writer's block and writing-related stress have lifted and he is happily hammering out a new novel like gangbusters.  But is there a price? Anyway, it's always great when Stephen King writes about writing, and this is no exception.  Too lazy to read? Well, pretty much all four of these stories have been announced as future Netflix movies. But heck, try to read the book first if you can.

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope some of this has been helpful.  Be good and we'll talk again soon.

Wear your mask.

I hope everyone is doing the best they can these days to stay positive and to do everything they can to curb the current pandemic. Probably the biggest thing one can do on that last point is to wear a mask, at least when one is indoors in places containing a sizable amount of people. 

As I read somewhere recently, if there was a drug out there that could vastly reduce your chances of getting this virus, we’d all be taking it. But that’s exactly what mask wearing does: greatly reduces to chance of catching the virus, or passing it on if we already have it. But it only works if we all do our part by wearing masks when we’re around other people, especially in close quarters.

This virus is going to be around for a while, so try to see past the inconvenience and minor discomfort of masks and do your part when you’re out on the front lines! End of the lecture for now, and normal posts will shortly follow. But thanks for listening.

Can't resist: Ravin' about Ravin'

Though I usually read more straight-up thriller fare, it's always fun to dive into another entry in the Trash 'n Treasures cozy mystery series, and Antiques Ravin' was no exception.  Written by "Barbara Allan", who is really the husband and wife writing team of Max Allan Collins and Barbara Collins, each book features a clever murder mystery set in the world of antiques buying and selling, with said mysteries being tackled and solved by mother and daughter antiques dealers Vivian and Brandy Borne.  Over the dozen or so books in the series so far, the mysteries are always good and the overall stories satisfyingly light and funny, though never so cozy as to totally avoid an occasional wince-inducing murder.  I like that fact, as these give the books some weight.

In fact, I particularly enjoyed Antiques Ravin' because this time the plot was dialed up a little bit more than usual into the "rich and dark" arena and the humor was alternately turned down the tiniest bit to let the meatier story nicely simmer.  Because the murders are modeled after creepy, classic death scenarios in various Edgar Allan Poe stories (and occur during a Poe festival being held in a small, quaint town heavy with antiques dealers, with maybe a David Lynch-like dark underbelly), maybe the authors decided to give the naturally-developing darker mood a long leash.  Whatever the case, I enjoyed the somewhat darker and scarier flavor this time.

But I don't want to overstate: this is, after all, a Trash n' Treasures cozy mystery, so there's a lot of the usual reliably funny banter between the eccentric Vivian and her stylish, put-upon narrator daughter, and a goofy scene here and there as the creatively-staged crimes are investigated.  But I appreciated that the authors resisted the many obvious opportunities for humor that were positioned like low-hanging fruit throughout the story. What do I mean? Well, you see, in this book the happily theatrical, often clumsy, half blind, usually reckless Vivian Borne is now the new county sheriff, thanks to developments in the previous entry in the series.  And that means there must have been many, many comic opportunities arising from the new situation of a woman many think of as crazy now wielding power and able to arrest people as she sees fit.  As make no mistake, there are some funny moments and scenarios mined out of this situation (for example, I loved how Brandy has to drive her drivers license-less mother around to crime scenes, and is introduced by Vivian as her "deputy daughter"), but I liked that overall the authors give Vivian some dignity and credit for some smarts, and some genuine talent for the job.  There are no Inspector Clouseau-like slapstick laughs at Vivian's expense.

If you've never read a book in this series, this one is fine to just pick up and enjoy.  While all the Trash 'n Treasures novels are stand-alone mysteries, some feature soap opera-like developments (always interesting) about Brandy and Vivian's extended family that build from book to book, as well as developments surrounding the other residents of Vivian and Brandy's town of Serenity, Iowa.  This one has none of that, and the story doesn't even take place in Serenity.  It's 100% focused on the mystery at hand, which further makes the already richer and darker story more so.

This review is probably a little long for what is still ultimately a fast-paced, banter-filled, very entertaining cozy, but I haven't talked about this series at length in a while and it's a good series to spread the word about.  Available on Kindle and now in paperback, Antiques Ravin' is well worth your valuable mystery-reading time.