I recently purchased Vengeance Man by Dan Marlowe. I'm
looking forward to reading it soon.
I'll probably pick up Run now that it's out in paper.
I've been catching up on my Michael Connellys. I read the
Poet, Trunk Music and I'm a little more than halfway through
Blood Work. I've liked them all, he really can write and has
clearly done his research, employing lots of telling details.
However, I must admit I prefer his Bosch series books to his
one-shots. I'm catching up to be ready for his latest, which
combines the two.
I also recently got (from Terrill's new store) and read Ice
Harvest by Scott Phillips. This is a nice, contained
narrative, with everything happening in one night, as the
lead character's scam comes to a head. Although I still
haven't decided whether or not a small twist at the very end
was a bit too O'Henry, the book would have made a very nice
Gold Medal paperback, which is pretty high praise in my mind.
(Terrill, is he the same Scott Phillips who wrote the movie
The Drive? That's a pretty good trash action film, plenty of
momentum with a few goofy, quirky sidetrips.)
At the same time, I picked up Mark Coggin's The Immortal
Game. This is a solid, traditional PI debut. (Is there going
to be a sequel?) The wisecracks sometimes get to be a bit too
much (and I'm a fan of wisecracks, the early Elvis Coles
never bothered me), but it has a nice plot, likeable side
characters and a nice sense of place. Speaking of the last,
any fan of Hammett will get a kick of the locations in this
book. PI August Riordan lives in Sam Spade's apartment
building, his office is in the building which housed the
Continental/Pinkerton Agency; he rubs the Samuel Jewelers
clock for luck, stops into John's Grill, etc. Coggins never
calls attention to any of these, but it's a nice touch for
fans to pick up on. Even though I pulled out my copy of Don
Herron's Dashiell Hammett Tour, I'm sure there were many more
references I missed.
By the way, I may only have Herron's guidebook, but a friend
of mine recently went on the actual tour and loved it.
Afterwards, she sat around with Herron in John's Grill and
they talked about Hammett and Willeford over a few
beers
Mark
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