Books & writing – Page 18 – Pop Culture Nerd

THE ANGEL’S GAME Is a Dangerous One

Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s international phenomenon, The Shadow of the Wind, is a luscious epic about how the love of books can transform and even save lives. Zafon could’ve been writing about readers’ feelings towards Shadow itself. Therefore, it was with great elation that I began reading his follow-up, The Angel’s Game (out June 16 in the U.S.). Alas, it’s not as strong as Shadow but still an impressive accomplishment.

Set in Barcelona in the 1920s, the gothic tale revolves around David Martin, a sickly writer who makes a deal with an enigmatic publisher to write a book perhaps to rival the Bible. The publisher, Andreas Corelli, offers him an astronomical advance but the real incentive is the promise that Martin’s health would be restored. As Martin researches his project, he discovers similarities between his situation and the mystery surrounding the previous owner of the house he’s renting. Apparently, the man was also a writer who went mad while working on a book for an unknown publisher and ultimately killed himself. Or did he? As Martin investigates, more people start dying around him and Martin wonders what he’d really gotten himself into.

As with Shadow, Zafon’s prose (translated by Lucia Graves) is breathtaking. Here’s the opening paragraph:

A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood, and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will provide him with a roof over his head, a hot meal at the end of the day, and what he covets most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price.

Are you nodding your head, thinking, “I know exactly what he means?”

Zafon also has a winning sense of humor. He describes Martin’s newspaper editor thusly:

Don Basilio is a forbidding-looking man…who did not suffer fools and who subscribed to the theory that the liberal use of adverbs and adjectives was the mark of a pervert or someone with a vitamin deficiency.

And when Martin tells Don Basilio he writes crime fiction:

If I’d said I devoted my time to sculpting figures for Nativity scenes out of fresh dung I would have drawn three times as much enthusiasm from him.

Passages like these helped me get through the middle part, which was bogged down by didactic theological discussions. Zafon raises important questions about many topics—morality, the nature of faith, immortality, obsessive love, to name a few—but sometimes I wished the narrative would stay on one track instead of diverting to another.

Also, it’s ironic that Corelli wants Martin to write a fable to avoid preachiness, but Zafon sometimes uses a heavy hand to hammer home certain points. The ending felt a bit rushed but it reveals the connection between this and Shadow, though both are standalones and can be read in any order.

Despite these issues, I still think Zafon is a brilliant writer with a singular gift for lyrical language and evocative imagery. According to this Amazon interview, Zafon promises two more novels involving the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which is fantastic news. I can say quite confidently his books won’t end up in that cemetery anytime soon.

Nerd verdict: Game remains in shadow of Shadow but is still winning

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SHUTTER ISLAND Trailer

Cannes poster, from firstshowing.net

Here’s another one to put on your must-see/must-read list (sorry, Shelley P and Julien, for making your stack so tall!). When Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island first came out in 2003, I wrote the review below for mysteryinkonline.com. When I heard about Martin Scorsese directing a movie version with that cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, Emily Mortimer—insane!), I was like a kid who couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve.

Now the trailer’s here. How crazy, creepy is it? The movie opens October 2 in the U.S. and Canada (Oct. 1 for Shelley P, Oct. 9 for Poncho and Oct. 14 for Julien) but Santa can’t come soon enough!

My 2003 review of the book (no spoilers):

A few years ago, Dennis Lehane decided to take a sabbatical from his Patrick Kenzie/Angie Gennaro series to write a different kind of thriller. Lehane has said he wanted to improve his prose instead of relying on his usual minimalist, dialogue-laden style. This change of direction led him to Mystic River, a languidly-paced, character-driven mystery that became a critical and commercial breakthrough for him (and an Oscar-winning Clint Eastwood movie). Now, with his follow-up, Shutter Island, Lehane continues his growth as a sophisticated and insightful writer.

Island takes place in 1954 and follows U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of a mental patient from a maximum security institution for the most violent and insane offenders. This hospital is located on the eponymous island and shelters almost as many secrets as residents. After the marshals’ arrivals, the island is hit by a deadly hurricane which temporarily neutralizes the electric-powered security systems. Daniels and Aule are trapped with escaped criminals, ambiguous doctors possibly dabbling in illegal experiments and a mysterious “67th patient” whose identity no one seems to know. Daniels struggles to uncover the truth about the island’s nefarious activities while struggling with grief from the recent death of his wife (aptly named Dolores, meaning “pains” in Spanish). Daniels may also have a secret agenda for being on the island but the question becomes: Will he and Aule ever get off the island?

First with Mystic River and now with Island, Lehane proves he is definitely moving in the right direction. There are many passages in Island which beautifully demonstrate his insight into the human condition. He can illustrate emotions such as love and sorrow as tangible entities, living things which can lift you off your feet or stab you in the heart. And while his prose has certainly become more eloquent, he has not abandoned his gift for dialogue. The marshals have an easy banter between them and there are touches of humor courtesy of Aule, who functions as the good cop of the duo.

As good as Mystic River was, Shutter Island is even more accomplished, with a plot that’s more complex. Just when the reader thinks he knows where the story is headed, it turns down a surprising path. As many plot twists as Island contains, however, they’re not there just for shock value and nothing else. Each revelation is duly supported by earlier events, making the ending—and the book—a tense and satisfyingly plausible read.

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Free Stuff: Giveaway of Autographed Galley of Kathryn Casey's BLOOD LINES

Kathryn Casey, true crime writer and novelist, is generously offering a signed, personalized galley of her upcoming mystery, Blood Lines, to one of my readers, even if you’re outside the U.S.! The book is the second (after last summer’s Singularity) to feature Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong and here’s a synopsis from Kathryn’s website:

Cassidy Collins is living the dream. The latest teen singing sensation and the darling of the fan magazines, Collins has money and fame. After growing up poor, she’s escaped her trailer park beginnings to become a star. Everything is perfect. Everything except for one complication, a potentially fatal one: the stalker who threatens to take her life.

Meanwhile, Faith Roberts believes her dead sister, Billie Cox, is contacting her from beyond the grave. What does Billie want Faith to know? Is she trying to tell her who pulled the trigger?

A year after tackling the most dangerous case of her career, profiler Sarah Armstrong is back and charged with untangling two troubling cases, that take her from Houston oil mansions to behind the scenes at rock concerts and the world’s biggest rodeo.

In the end, Sarah’s forced into a battle of wits with a brilliant criminal intent on murder.

To be entered in the giveaway, you have to be a subscriber (see below or upper right corner of this blog) and leave me a comment expressing your interest. You’re not automatically entered if you’re already a subscriber; I’d like the ARC to go to someone who really wants it. As previously mentioned, international readers are eligible, too.

I’ll take names through next Monday, June 15, after which I’ll randomly select a winner. If you win, you can impress your friends when they ask you, “What are you reading?” by saying, “Oh, this new book that doesn’t come out until July 21.” You can further impress them by showing off Kathryn’s personalized inscription to you. Even if you don’t read the genre but know someone who might enjoy the book, enter anyway because Kathryn will sign it to whomever you’d like.

Good luck!

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Jim Kelly's DEATH WORE WHITE Has Dark Edges

I love a good locked-room mystery and that’s essentially what Jim Kelly’s Death Wore White (out June 9) is, except it takes place outdoors. One winter evening during a blizzard, eight drivers are trapped after taking a detour down a small road surrounded by a wide ditch on one side and marshland on the other. A felled pine tree lies across the road, making it impassable, and the last car in line somehow gets stuck sideways, preventing the drivers from backing out. And of course, they’re in a black hole with no cell signal.

When the police arrive about three hours later, they find a corpse behind the wheel of the lead vehicle. No one at the scene saw the murder and there are no incriminating footprints in the snow surrounding the truck. How can this be? Furthermore, the viciousness of the stabbing would have resulted in a lot of blood in the truck and on the killer, but there’s none on any of the other drivers and only a small amount in the cab, implying the man was killed elsewhere. What the hell?!

Detective Inspector Peter Shaw (Scotland Yard’s youngest DI) and his partner, George Valentine, catch the case on the same night they find the corpse of another man washed up on a nearby beach. Before they can get to the bottom of either mystery, more bodies pile up and the puzzle becomes more puzzling. Shaw and Valentine are also dealing with unspoken tension between them resulting from a twelve-year-old case involving a murdered boy which Valentine worked with Shaw’s father, Jack. Valentine and the senior Shaw were accused of planting evidence in that case and Jack eventually died of heartbreak from disappointment. While dealing with all the murders happening on his watch, Peter is also re-investigating the cold case to maybe clear his father’s name.

Death Wore White is interesting in that it reads like an old Agatha Christie novel but the detectives text-message each other and the story is very much a contemporary one. Jim Kelly piles on a lot of subplots and many twists but he deftly juggles them and resolves everything by the end. Except for one subplot, which sets up the next novel featuring Shaw and Valentine. I normally get annoyed when all mysteries aren’t cleared up but in this case, it makes me really eager to see what happens next in this new series.

Nerd verdict: White will suit most mystery fans

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Jack Reacher Will Not Be GONE TOMORROW

The title of Lee Child’s 13th Jack Reacher novel, Gone Tomorrow (out today), is misleading since Reacher ain’t going anywhere any time soon. He’s back, this time in New York City, kicking asses like always and kicking them hard.

Reacher, a former military cop who’s now just a traveling man, finds himself on the subway at 2 a.m. as the story opens. He sees a woman who shows all the outward signs of being a suicide bomber. Reacher approaches her and attempts to diffuse the situation but instead sets off a shocking series of events that escalate faster than the train on tracks.

The web of intrigue ensnares a former Delta Force major now running for the Senate, a pair of Ukrainian women who may not be what they seem, a human resources clerk in the Pentagon and lots of guys in suits who won’t show ID. Reacher becomes both hunter and prey in the urban jungle, trying to stay one step ahead of deadly opponents who match him in fighting and survival skills but whose hearts are pure evil.

I’m a huge fan of all Reacher novels but I particular like the ones written in first person, as this one is. Reacher is so clever and meticulous that it’s fun to be inside his head when he’s figuring out how to get himself out of a bad situation. I never really want a magician to show me his secrets but with Reacher, I think, Aha! I’ll remember that next time two guys come at me while I’m walking down the street.

Actually, I’m more likely to walk away from a fight or talk myself out of a conflict. But when reading the Reacher books, I always want him to put some serious hurt into the bad guys. This is a testament to Child’s writing skills. A protagonist can only be as heroic as the villains are evil, and Child gives Reacher enemies so hideous that only the Reacher brand of justice will satisfy.

Nerd verdict: Grab Tomorrow today

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Ayelet Waldman's Annoying BAD MOTHER

This review was written by contributing writer Thuy Dinh, a practicing attorney and an editor of the webzine Da Mau. She is also a mother of three.

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Ayelet Waldman, wife of Michael Chabon, is no stranger to controversy. She became notorious by publicly admitting that she loves her husband more than her kids and wishing that her son will turn out gay (he’s the same son who likes to give his mother long “movie kisses” and wishes to marry her when he grows up). Waldman’s new essay collection, Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, is occasionally thoughtful but most of the time dull and relentless—not unlike Chinese water torture—no, worse, perhaps more like waterboarding.

Waldman, who compares her “unnaturalness” to Anna Karenina (but admits she lacks the impulse to fling herself under the wheels of a train), acknowledges that at times she puts her own “selfish” and “[not] insignificant needs” before her children’s needs. Indeed, this collection, like Waldman’s description of her bipolar disorder, reflects a “mixed-state” enterprise: It is neither literary memoir nor a consciousness-raising tract. Anticipating itself as a book club selection, the book helpfully includes a list of discussion questions at the back. The last question is, “Why do you think the author chose to write this book? Do you think it was successful in its aims?”

I was stumped when I got to that question. In an Amazon interview, Waldman said her purpose is to commiserate with other mothers who march to a different drummer and are crippled by guilt. She also said her “snarky” purpose for writing this book is to say “F**k you” to all those mothers who judge her. But this is disingenuous because her writing reeks of her desperately wanting to be liked.

It seems Waldman doesn’t truly believe she’s a bad mother, only a quirky one, as she spends over 200 pages trying to prove that she, despite her bottomless need for attention and affirmation, is aware, sincere and loving. One moment she hooks you with her astute analysis that a mother’s conflicted role comes from a lack of delegation and an ill-defined role for her husband, the next moment she drones on about the discomfort of using paid, Third-World domestic help to ease her burdens. There’s something faintly hypocritical about the need to disclose that she has to hire a second maid to clean after the first one because Waldman has neither the heart to fire the former nor the spine to show her how to clean house.

The only insight I seem to gain from the book is a negative one. Waldman mainly succeeds in proving to readers her manic compulsion. It dominates her core: her early promiscuity, her insecurity, her jealousy—of her future mother-in-law for having weekly lunches with Chabon during their courtship days, of her baby daughter for having quality time with her husband. Even if one manages to remain non-judgmental, how should one process Waldman’s revelations? What she probably intends as honest and complex just comes off chaotic and alienating. Granted, a writer is not expected to be perfect, but Waldman should at least show some groundedness in her writing to convince her readers of gutsier and truer ways to define motherhood.

The recent trend, when so-called “bad mothers” try to outdo each other in confessing war tales both true and tall from the domestic front, makes one almost long to be born into the age of Mad Men, when emotional repression—reflected in wonderful literary dialogues—seemed, well, glamorous, more interesting and less cruel than the relentless push for neurotic analysis and over-sharing.

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George Pelecanos's THE WAY HOME Is Worth Taking

This review was written by contributing writer Eric Edwards.

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I’ve never read any of George Pelecanos’s novels so I was very surprised to finish The Way Home (out today) in a single sitting. The book’s lean prose held my interest without sacrificing character development, setting or, most importantly, story. I literally could not put it down because the characters really shook me up.

The story begins with 17-year old Chris Flynn sitting opposite his parents during visiting day at Pine Ridge, a juvenile detention center in Maryland. Despite the agony he had caused his hard-working middle-class parents, all Chris has on his mind is why a place on flat ground with no pine trees anywhere would be named Pine Ridge. Never wanting for anything, Chris had nonetheless gone from being a strong athlete and avid churchgoer to petty thief and budding pot dealer. When our supposedly rehabilitated hero finally rejoins society, his father gives him a chance to prove himself by providing Chris with a job installing carpet for the family business. Mr. Flynn is even open-minded enough to give Ben, one of Chris’s fellow inmates, employment as well. Alone on one particular install, Chris and Ben find a bag full of money hidden underneath the old flooring they were hired to cover. Ben tries to convince Chris to split it between them. “I’ve seen this movie,” thought Chris. “It always ended up bad.” And that’s exactly what happens.

I literally held my breath as I devoured the pages. Has our hero learned his lesson? What about the people who put the money there in the first place? You know it’s only a matter of time before they come looking for the cash. Admittedly, this is not a particularly new storyline, but Pelecanos manages to keep it fresh and the action moving. It’s a solid read I highly recommend.

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Mystery and Mirth Mingle at Malice Domestic 2009

Malice Domestic is a mystery convention that takes place every year in the D.C. area., honoring the traditional mystery (no explicit sex or violence). The organization hands out the Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie. This year’s convention took place May 1 – 3 in Arlington, VA and author Elizabeth J. Duncan (The Cold Light of Mourning, which I reviewed here) attended as a panelist. She generously sent me the following insider account and photos of the festivities, which included an interview with Anne Perry. Thank you, Elizabeth!

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This was my fourth Malice. In 2006, I was a prize winner (William F. Deeck – Malice Domestic grant); in 2007, I was nobody in particular; in 2008, I was a prize winner again (St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic contest) and this year, I attended as a published author.

Of course my book, The Cold Light of Mourning, had only been out for five minutes (published April 28). There was a stack of 12 of them in the dealers’ room on Friday. I walked by every now and then. Yep, still 12.

On Saturday morning I attended the new authors breakfast, sponsored by Kate Stine and Brian Skupin, publishers of Mystery Scene magazine. Talking to facilitator Cindy Silberblatt, we got a chance to promote our books to a very targeted audience. Then it was on to my first panel as an author. Imagine how thrilling it was for me to share a platform with Katherine Neville, Ann Cleeves, Hannah Dennison, Maria Hudgins–-all authors of wonderful novels–-to discuss mysteries set in foreign places. Mine is set in North Wales, where every hillside is dotted with sheep. We were up against stiff competition, as the nominees for the best novel were having their panel at the same time, so we were especially pleased that attendance in our salon was rather good!

Then it was on to the group author signing session. This was my first signing as an author. I wasn’t nervous about the signing part-–I was afraid no one would show up as I was signing at the same time as Carolyn Hart, Anne Perry, Louise Penny, Rhys Bowen and other heavy hitters in the traditional mystery world. Remember those 12 copies of The Cold Light of Mourning stacked up in the dealers’ room? Not anymore! I was delighted to be kept rather busy signing copies for readers and, bless their hearts, I hope they enjoy the book.

The banquet menu was standard three-course fare for this sort of event at a hotel like the Marriott: salad, pecan-crusted chicken breast (yum!) with pureed sweet potatoes and sautéed green beans. Dessert, or pudding, as we say in Wales, was a triple chocolate Charlotte–-a richly layered mousse.

The awards presentation started during dessert and I was touched when Harriette Sackler, who is a lovely, gracious woman, acknowledged me and G.M. Malliet, two previous winners, before she named this year’s winner of the William F. Deeck – Malice Domestic Grant: Kimberly Gray.

And in case you haven’t heard yet, here are this year’s Agatha Award winners:

Best novel – The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny, St. Martin’s Press
Best first novel – Death of a Cozy Writer, G.M. Malliet, Midnight Ink
Best non-fiction – How to Write Killer Mysteries – Kathy Lynn Emerson, Perseverance Press
Best Short Story – “The Night Things Changed” – Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, Penguin Group
Best Children’s/Young Adult – The Crossroads, Chris Grabenstein, Random House

One of the convention’s best-attended events was a sit-down chat between Anne Perry and Don Maas, her New York literary agent. Here are some highlights:

Maas began by describing Perry’s prolific volume of work: 25 novels in the Pitt series, 17 in the Monk series, seven Christmas novellas, and six in the World War I series, to name the most popular. Her books have continuously been in print for 30 years.

Composed and self-assured, Perry answered his questions with warmth and honesty.

Maas: What drives you?

Perry: I think I’m finally beginning to get the hang of it! I always think the best book is the next one. I feel I am writing stronger, more complex books now that go deeper and push characters into more dilemmas. There are always more things to learn and I enjoy that.

Maas: How to you develop your characters?

Perry: I imagine them at the end of the world overlooking an abyss. What would he do now? I think about all the things I see and hear. How would they deal with certain situations, like disillusionment.

Maas: Can you describe your writing process?

Perry: I live on the east coast of Scotland, about three hours north of Edinburgh in a small fishing village. I have a secretary who comes in three days a week and my brother, a retired physician, is my researcher and he comes in four days a week. I do write on the road. A hotel room with the door closed can be a fine and private place. I outline my work pretty tightly and the less familiar I am with the material, the more I outline. The outline for a book of 12 chapters will be about 24 pages.

Mass: Do things happen in your stories that surprise you?

Perry: Occasionally. Once I discovered I liked the culprit too much so I had to give that role to someone else.

Maas: Is it true that a single copy of the first edition of Cater Street Hangman (first in the Pitt series, 1979) now sells for more than the advance you received for the book?

Perry: That’s true!

Maas: You bring the Victorian world vividly alive. How do you call out all that detail and still keep things fresh and interesting?

Perry: I am getting better at cutting things out and I keep reminding myself that the detail has to serve the story.

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Gillian Flynn’s Creepy DARK PLACES

When I received my copy of Gillian Flynn‘s Dark Places (out today), I yelped with joy because I’d been waiting three years for the follow-up to her superb, Dagger-winning Sharp Objects. My reaction is ironic because there’s no joy in this story—it’s a vicious tale of mass murder and the aftereffects on the lone survivor. But, to paraphrase Tina Fey, you want to go to there because of Flynn’s exceptional prose.

The story concerns Libby Day, who at age 7 survived the slaughter of her family in the so-called “Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She then testified that her 15-year-old brother Ben committed the murders. Twenty-five years later, Ben is serving a life sentence and Libby is drifting aimlessly, running out of money from strangers who’ve been sending sympathy checks since she was little. As her trust fund manager explains, she’s now a has-been because there are new victims every day.

Fortuitously, Libby is contacted by the Kill Club, a group of true-crime aficionados who believe her brother is innocent and that Libby should review the case and recant her previous testimony, which they think was coached by a child psychologist. They offer to pay Libby to interview Ben and other people involved with the case and report back any new findings. Libby at first agrees to the scheme strictly for the cash but soon starts to question what she really saw that night. She’s ultimately forced to confront the terrifying Darkplace which she’s managed to block out most of her life.

Yes, all this sounds pitch black but Flynn’s prose is so exquisite, she makes you want to go with Libby to that Darkplace, perhaps even lead the way, wielding a flickering flashlight. Flynn’s descriptions instantly paint vivid pictures and you envy her literary skill even as you sometimes recoil from the image. She talks about a man who’s such a cheat, he steals fake money from the bank when playing Monopoly with his kids. She describes a house so dilapidated, it’s “a home past the expiration date.” A girl who looks “sexy-sleepy…like you woke her up from a dream she had about you.” And then there’s this personification of a residential neighborhood: “The houses reminded me of hopeful, homely girls on a Friday night, hopping bars in spangly tops, packs of them where you assumed at least one might be pretty, but none were, and never would be. And here was Magda’s house, the ugliest girl with the most accessories, frantically piled on.”

It’s fitting that even the house is a misfit because Flynn’s characters are mostly anti-heroes, nasty bitches and oily bastards. But her razor-sharp prose will cut through any preconceived notions you might have about such people and convince you their point of view should at least be counted. Libby might be pissed at the world, lacking in social skills, and a serious klepto, but Flynn still manages to make her relatable without asking for an ounce of pity. It’s as if the author reaches into your brain and adjusts it by giving it a slight twist, counter-clockwise. All of a sudden, you see things differently, like maybe you’ve got some blackness in you, too. But instead of hiding it, Flynn suggests you embrace it like klepto Libby clutching her stolen knickknacks.

Nerd verdict: Embrace the Dark side

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Tony Hays's Compelling KILLING WAY

One of my contributing writers, Eric Edwards, a huge fan of the Arthurian legend, turned in this guest review of Tony Hays‘s new novel, The Killing Way.

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Billing The Killing Way as “An Arthurian Mystery” is a bit misleading to fans of the legend but if you look past that bit of subterfuge, a compelling murder mystery awaits.

A gruesome murder occurs within the first few pages and all the evidence implicates Merlin as the one responsible. Arthur knows his old friend isn’t the culprit, but due to an impending election he must be both impartial and swift with his judgment. Arthur’s command over all of Britannia is at stake, as many enemies await a wrong move by the once and future king so they can wrest both power and public favor from him. Arthur turns to his former trusted lieutenant, Malgwyn, to clear Merlin’s name and expose the real killer. The problem is that Malgwyn is now a one-armed drunk with an undying hatred of Arthur after he refused to let Malgwyn die on the battlefield.

The author’s research borders upon the exhausting and he’s occasionally repetitive in his description of the period clothing and politics. While the story itself kept me turning the pages, Arthurian legend purists could become frustrated by the constant mentioning of familiar characters without allowing these characters to live and breathe as they should.

Obviously Arthur is depicted, but this Arthur is not the boy king we know. In fact, he is already graying but has yet to sit upon his throne and political ramifications have kept him from actually marrying Guinevere. There’s no mention of Lancelot, but there is a most prominent Sir Kay and the expectedly evil Mordred. Nimue makes an appearance, but she’s almost an afterthought as a member of Arthur’s household who gives testimony to Malgwyn. The biggest disappointment is Merlin, whom Hays depicts as a once-sharp advisor who fancied himself a sorcerer, but is now perceived as a crazy old man. But the story isn’t about them. It’s about Malgwyn and the inner thoughts of an original medieval detective.

Malgwyn is sharp as a tack when it comes to the dark side of human nature because of his own personal demons. He was a happy and hardworking farmer until the Saxons came, raped and killed his wife. He’s off-putting at first, but his tenacity in searching for the truth while his adversaries try to sabotage his every turn made me root for him to save the day. I look forward to a series with Malgwyn solving medieval crimes.

Guest Nerd Verdict: A good read, but not necessarily for fans of King Arthur

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Crais, Parker, Winslow & Wambaugh discuss “Cops & Crooks in California” — Conclusion

This is part two of my report on the “Cops & Crooks in California” panel held this past Saturday, April 25, as part of the L.A. Times Festival of Books. (Click here for part one.) The participants were crime novelists T. Jefferson Parker (The Renegades), Don Winslow (The Dawn Patrol), Joseph Wambaugh (Hollywood Crows) with Robert Crais (The Watchman) as moderator.

Crais had asked the panelists why they write crime fiction. Parker launched into a story about a signing he did in Norwalk, CA, where a woman asked what his book was about.

“It’s about friendship, love and hate, crime and betrayal,” Parker responded. The woman asked, “What’d you want to write about that stuff for?” Parker said he found those subjects compelling. The woman then said she could afford only one hardcover book a month and had already bought it but wanted Parker to sign it. She proceeded to pull out a copy of a Robert James Waller bestseller, which Parker dutifully signed. “Somewhere out there, there’s a copy of Bridges of Madison County with my name on it!”

Wambaugh had his own funny anecdote about a signing he did at the East Ambassador Hotel in Chicago. A woman came looking for the writer Irving Stone and was disappointed to find Wambaugh there. “You’re not Irving Stone,” she said. “No, lady, I’m Truman Capote,” Wambaugh quipped. The woman looked him over and said, “But, Mr. Capote, on television you look so much more masculine!”

Crais chimed in with his story about a signing he did with four other writers. A man came sniffing around the table, looking over everybody’s books. “Me being me, I said, ‘Are you gonna buy something?’ ” Crais said. The man asked, “Whose book is the cheapest?”

Not to be outdone, Winslow shared details of one of his bizarre signing experiences. “The lady who owned the store had me come in and there was a flood that day…there were sandbags in front of the store. I had to take off my shoes and wade…nobody came. It was a two-hour signing. After an hour ten minutes into it, the lady said, ‘Just lock up for me.’ Irish-Catholic boy that I am, I sat there, robbed the till, then left.”

After the laughter died down, Crais asked, “So, you’ve been on tour, you’ve met the fans. Have you ever been frightened?”

Winslow went first with a story about a signing in Greenwich Village where a woman showed up dressed in full S & M garb. She wanted him to sign a book called Slave Girls of Rome [when Crais mentioned this title during introductions, Winslow said it was another Don Winslow, an 82-year-old man, who wrote it]. This woman approached the author, “her voice dropped an octave and she said, ‘I love your other stuff, too.’ Mine went up two or three octaves. ‘No, you don’t! No, you don’t!'” Winslow said.

“I think she came to one of my signings in D.C. She said, ‘You should read Don Winslow,'” Crais said. He then talked about a Philadelphia appearance where a woman came up to him with a toddler. “She plopped that boy on the table and said, ‘Here’s your daddy!'”

“What was your comeback, Bob?” Parker asked.

“I said, ‘Looks just like Jeff Parker!'” Crais answered.

At this point, Crais opened the floor to audience members and invited questions. The first person up asked whether or not the authors have any control over who reads their audio books.

Wambaugh said he had no control and the others agreed. “I’ve never listened to one of my books. I don’t know why. Can’t bring myself to read them, either,” Wambaugh said.

Crais said he finds it hard to listen to audio versions of his novels because he hears them in his voice so it’s jarring to hear them in someone else’s voice. “Most I can listen to is eight to ten minutes. I did do the abridged version of Hostage. That, I can listen to over and over.”

Next, someone asked whether the authors create outlines or just start writing and let the plot write itself (!).

“I do both,” Parker said. “I once started with a bar napkin with four character names circled on it. That was Little Saigon.” But he’s learned to outline because “I can’t hold a 500-page manuscript in my brain.”

“I’m an outliner,” Crais said. “I figure eighty percent of the stuff out beforehand. I’m a fan of notecards. I’m a very visual person and actually like to see the continuity of it. I actually believe that it helps me to balance and pace my books because if a lot of the scenes and stuff where nothing is really happening—if that’s all jammed to one side—I think, ‘Man, I’d better have something happening there’ so then I start moving cards around.”

“James Ellroy does 350-page outlines before he starts writing,” Wambaugh said.

A woman in the audience asked why in his books, Crais refers to the good guys by their last names but the bad guys by their first. She wondered if it was an intimacy issue.

“I never thought about it before. Now, I’ll obsess about it and never write again,” Crais said.

Another audience member asked how the writers felt about the Kindle.

“I’ve never seen one before,” Crais said, but added he’d be open to it if someone wants to send him one. Winslow said, “I don’t care, as long as people are reading.” He said he likes the tactile feel of books and how he can drop them in the tub and it’d be okay.

At this point, a woman behind me asked, “Can you explain what a Kindle is?”

Wambaugh threw up his hands and said, “I have no idea!” Another woman behind me helpfully held one up for all to see.

The last question was something about characters [how they’re created? Sorry, my handwriting was illegible here after an hour of scribbling].

“All writers are cannibals. You eat up your life,” Crais said. He explained that he infuses his characters with a lot of his worldview.

“I think characters are everything. If people don’t like them, they’re not going to care what happens to them,” Winslow said.

Parker said, “You pull from everything, little pastiches, combinations of everyone I’ve ever known. They represent something, an extreme of some kind, traits you recognize.”

“You guys have said it,” Wambaugh said. “I think I have one thing to offer. When you’re dealing with an audience like this that can be agenda-driven, ready to skewer you with political questions, give them a very brief two-word response to everything. Example: ‘Are you a Republican?’ Not yet!…’Are you Jewish?’ Not yet! ‘Are you gay?’ Same answer!”

On this note, the discussion ended, the authors hugged it out before fans swarmed them for photo ops.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it!
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From L: Winslow, Wambaugh, Parker, Crais

Crais with my friend Betsy

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"Cops & Crooks in California" Panel at L.A. Festival of Books with Crais, Winslow, Parker & Wambaugh

Remember in the ’70s when you bought K-Tel compilation albums because you didn’t want to buy a bunch of albums by different bands where most cuts were just filler? This past Saturday, at the annual L.A. Festival of Books, the “Cops & Crooks in California” panel was like a K-Tel collection, with Don Winslow (The Dawn Patrol), T. Jefferson Parker (The Renegades), Joseph Wambaugh (Hollywood Crows) and Robert Crais (The Watchman) as moderator. Everyone was a hit and you got them all in one place.

Apparently this panel sold out quickly so for those of you who couldn’t get in or don’t live in the area, I took notes and thought I’d post the highlights. There’s no way I can capture all the hilarity but there’s still plenty of juicy info to be had. Many thanks to Debbie DeNice, who helped me recall quotes in parts where my memory was foggy and my scribbles illegible. I’ll publish this in two parts so be sure and come back for all the good stuff.

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After introducing the panelists, Crais’s first question was whether there was “something about Southern California that’s particularly identifying” to the other writers. He addressed Parker first.

“I was born here. I don’t have to go to a new place and ask questions and learn anything because it’s right in front of me,” Parker said. “You know, it’d be very hard to go set up a story in Boston and have the same sort of casualness to the story. I’d have to work really hard.” He equated being a native Californian to Nicholson having floor seats at Lakers games.

“I came out on a case [as a P.I.], went down the PCH, saw Laguna Beach, called my wife and said, ‘We’re moving out here,'” Winslow said.

Wambaugh said he came out here when he was 14. “Would it have been the same if I’d written East Pittsburgh noir?”

“I’d be terrified to go somewhere else and set a novel,” Parker added. “I lived in Orange County for 45 years. My big move was from Orange County to Fallbrook. It was 34 miles but I felt like Magellan.”

Crais next asked the writers how they felt about writing standalones vs. a series.

Wambaugh said, “I wrote a sequel to Hollywood Station because I thought maybe it’d be easier since I had some of the characters…But I found some of the characters didn’t want to come back…They didn’t help me plot. Plotting’s the hardest thing.” He added that on his tombstone, it’ll probably say “At Last, a Plot.”

“I didn’t know better,” Winslow said. “I thought all P.I. novels had to be series [he wrote the Neal Carey series].” He stopped writing about Carey when the detective became a “whiny, petulant, little bastard” and the author got tired of him. Winslow told a funny anecdote about a fan asking at a signing if he was anything like Carey and he denied it while his wife nodded vigorously. He then mentioned that the Dawn Patrol gang will be back in his next novel, The Gentleman’s Hour, which made me squeal internally. Hour will be released in the U.K. in June but won’t be out in the U.S. until next year.

Parker said he didn’t look at it as writing a series, more like “writing one big book that’s 2,000 pages.” He mentioned that Charlie Hood from L.A. Outlaws and The Renegades will be back for his third adventure next year called Iron River.

Crais next asked the other writers to share their Hollywood experiences. “Is screenwriting work as important as your prose work?”

“Screenwriting—adapting, I should say, a novel—is the only writing that’s actually fun. It’s like a crossword puzzle,” Wambaugh said.

“I have a guy turning The Fallen into a series…Maybe I can learn something new. Can’t wait,” Parker said. He then added, “Don’t hold your breath, though.”

Winslow had considerably less enthusiasm for Hollywood. He told a story about having a meeting at a studio “that shall remain nameless.” But then he said when he arrived, the guard told him to “go up Mickey Street then left on Dopey Lane.”

“So this was at Paramount?” Crais joked.

Winslow continued, “I told the guard, ‘I took a left on Dopey Lane back in ’89 and didn’t make it back onto Mickey Street until ’92!’ ” The guard said, “Don’t repeat that upstairs.” When Winslow finally got in to see the movie exec, who had several books on his desk, Winslow asked if he’d read them all. The exec answered, “I don’t read. I have people who read.”

Crais then told his own story about the “studio that shall remain nameless.” He said when The Monkey’s Raincoat first came out, he received a call from Michael Eisner’s office saying the then-CEO of Disney liked his work and wanted Crais to write a movie based on an original idea Eisner had. When Crais arrived for the meeting, he was met by an exec who said Eisner couldn’t make it. The man then asked Crais if he’d heard of Beverly Hills Cop. When Crais said yes, the exec said that Eisner felt “Beverly Hills as a location hasn’t been exhausted yet at the box office.” Crais said, “Great. What’s the idea?” The exec looked confused and said, “That’s it.”

Crais’s next question was why the men chose to write crime fiction. He said he does it because “I love this stuff” and he’d be reading it if he weren’t writing it.

“I guess if I knew anything about ballet, I’d write about ballet. I was a cop,” Wambaugh said, shrugging.”I went to CalTech to do some research and did end up writing a crime that took place at CalTech. The answer is: What else can I do?”

“Who do you like?” Crais asked.

“I like Tom Wolfe…that’s a guy you can learn something from. For those of you who are novelists or journalists, whatever—he can really put it together. I highly recommend him,” Wambaugh said.

Next, Winslow shared why he writes crime novels. “Same answer—you write what you know and frankly, I grew up around criminals…I always loved the genre, I love reading it. I think as a writer it gives you everything. I’m really greedy as a writer, I want it all. With the crime novel, you can take everyday life if you want drama, then you can also do murder and mayhem and political issues, the nexus of government…so for me, it just gives me that whole world. Any of that piece you want, you can do it in a crime novel.”

Come back tomorrow for the conclusion, when the panelists discuss scary tour experiences, their plotting techniques and how they feel about the Kindle.

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