Kent asked:
> >
> > Last year another Phillips mystery titled Only
the Wicked was supposed
to be
> > released. Anyone know anything about
it?
>
On the Wicked was released by Write Way Press, and as I
recall, went out of print pretty quickly. Phillips has had
enormous difficulty with publishers having any clue how to
promote or market him. It's a shame, since the man is an
incredible writer. You might find a copy of Only the Wicked
on something like abebooks.com, or perhaps from the mystery
booksellers that specialize in first editions (Poisoned Pen
comes to mind). Also, No Exit had printed many of his Monk
novels in paperback, but don't know if this was one of
them.
Kent went on to ask:
> Also can anyone comment on the last couple of St.
Martin's Best
> > First P.I. Novel winners? The latest is
Catching Water in a Net by J.L.
> > Abramo.
> >
I tried reading Abramo twice, and both times could not get
past page thirty or so. Insufferably cliche-ridden. It seems
the writer wasn't sure if he was writing a tribute to the old
style, a pastiche or a parody. Had he chosen one, it might
have worked. I thought it was an extremely weak book.
The last three or four have been pretty good. Steve
Hamilton's A Cold Day in Paradise will knock your socks off.
Lise Baker's book The Liar's Club won in 1998 and while it's
not terribly HB, I thought it was very well done, although I
know I hold a minority view. For readers who have tired of
Grafton and Paretsky but haven't given up on female
protagonists, Baker is worth a read. In 1999, Bob Truluck
scored the award with Street Level, which is pretty HB, has
great energy, but I thought went on too long and
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 28 Nov 2001 EST