I picked this 1989 book because it looked noirish and I thought it was about golf. Right and wrong. Private eye Nick Polo is in Carmel, California body-guarding a famous author who’s in town for what was then called The Crosby and is now called the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The author bites the dust well before the Monday practice round and Nick is off, detecting circles around the local sheriff, the FBI and the Secret Service. Kennealy writes with perhaps too much economy. The dame in the story falls a little too easily into Nick’s bed, witnesses cheerily volunteer details they omitted from multiple police interviews and Nick solves the crime ba da boom ba da bing.
Polo in the Rough by Jerry Kennealy
June 1, 2009 by khbooksSwordspoint by Ellen Kushner
May 29, 2009 by khbooksIt took me a while to get into this 1987 swords-and-horses-without-many-horses fantasy. Once I did, though, the intrigue and period detail drew me in, reminding me of Les Liasons Dangereuses. In this Regency-flavored world, disagreements are settled with swords, often by proxy swordsmen like Richard St. Vier, who lives with his mysterious lover Alec among the lower classes in Riverside but earns his keep fighting the battles of the lords on The Hill. I was sorry when we lost track of the noble young rake and aspiring swordsman Michael Godwin, and hoped we see him return in a sequel. Alas, Kushner waited 13 years to write The Privilege of the Sword and the online summaries don’t mention Michael.
Alex Berenson’s The Silent Man
May 24, 2009 by khbooksBy Sharlan Douglas
Can’t say too much, because Ken still has to read it, but …
Berenson’s first book, The Faithful Spy, is one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read. In this latest book he continues to demonstrate his plotting skill and his knowledge of Muslim terrorism, but I fear he may have worn out John Wells as a subject. Berenson has to invent increasingly implausible circumstances to insert Wells into the action. That’s OK in something like the Vince Flynn books — they don’t even pretend to resemble reality – -but the versimilitude of The Faithful Spy leaves my hungry for a little more logic.
Tom Clancy fans will love the details on how to manufacture a nuclear weapon. I just kept thinking COMSUBSYNCPAC.
Estleman coming to Ann Arbor Book Fair
May 14, 2009 by sharlanWe’ll be at the Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair this Sunday, May 17 at the Michigan Union. There’s a good chance Loren Estleman will be there (he lives in nearby Whitmore Lake), and he’s always kind enough to sign what we’ve got, so we’re bringing just a few of our 87(!) Estleman books.
Check our inventory: http://tinyurl.com/q4qday. If there’s anything there that interests you, call or email us before Sunday and we’ll sell it signed for the list price.
Ken’s been hitting the book sales …
May 5, 2009 by sharlan
New acquisitions awaiting processing, as seen from my desk
Most days we look at each other across our adjacent desks — except when Ken’s been shopping. Now, not only do I not see much of him, but I fear for my life.
How to Get Balled in Berkeley
May 1, 2009 by khbooksSubtitle: A Historial Romance of the 60s, by Anne Steinhardt
Just picked this book up at a book sale and here’s what I want to know: Was it so difficult that a how-to book was necessary?
By the author of Thunder La Boom. We have a copy, if you’re interested. Blurbed by Terry Southern.
Kay Scarpetta movie on the horizon
April 24, 2009 by khbooksThe NY Times reports on 4/24/09 that Angelina Jolie will play Kay Scarpetta on film. The movie will not be based on a single Patricia Cornwell book; it will combine elements from several.
Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath
April 15, 2009 by khbooksby Sharlan Douglas
Sue Grafton really painted herself into a corner with the Kinsey Milhone books: 26 and she’s done. J.A. Konrath has no such problem. His six books featuring Chicago cop Jacqueline (Jack) Daniels are named for cocktails and my Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide lists more than 1,700 possibilities.
I read the first, Whiskey Sour, and I liked the wise-cracking heroine, who shoots pool and perps and also has a tendency to shoot herself in the foot. In the latest, Bloody Mary, I’ve grown a little tired of Jack’s bungling. Whenever Konrath needs to create some action, he just has her do something stupid. How’d she get to be such a hot shot in the CPD? When he needs cheap comic relief he trots out Jack’s oafish ex-partner. And I was hard-pressed to believe that the serial killer in Bloody Mary had gotten away with so much for so long.
Authors’ references to each other
April 13, 2009 by khbooksby Sharlan Douglas
I’m reading J.A. Konrath’s Bloody Mary (review to come). One of the characters mentions in passing that he has a fake passport in the name of Barry Eisler. I’m always amused when authors refer to each other like this. My favorite is the character in a Michael Connelly or Robert Crais book (can’t remember which) who wears a T shirt from “Robicheaux’s bait house and boat dock.” On a related note: A character in an Elmore Leonard novel is named Randy Agley. That’s the name of a a noted Michigan business owner and I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence: Leonard probably donated the naming rights to a local charity auction.
Do you have examples of favorite “insider” character names?
