The fine blog Detectives Beyond Borders recently had a discussion about the significance of setting in crime fiction. Peter was commenting on an assertion by Clive James that many of today’s international crime novels are so crammed with geographic detail that they are essentially guidebooks. I’ve had the same reaction, most recently to “A Small Death in Lisbon,” where the protagonist’s steps through the city are described […]
Back to the keyboard — but it’s a new one
After a writing hiatus of quite a few months longer than I intended, I’m back to work on what I will refer to as “the book.” I knocked out another 500 words yesterday, and expect to make that the standard day’s output. But since I’ve had these productive impulses before, and since they tend to expire after about a week, I’m employing a few other strategies. First: […]
This just in: The woman can write
I’ve discovered this great new writer: Ruth Rendell. I predict that one day she will sell a lot of books. Seriously, I’m embarrassed to admit that even though I call myself a fan of crime fiction, I had completely ignored the works of Ruth Rendell until about a year ago. I’m even more embarrassed to say that I had deliberately browsed right past her books, mostly because […]
In fiction, short is not always so sweet
One of these days I suppose I should admit that my preferred creative form, short crime fiction, is all but dead. When’s the last time you enjoyed a good detective yarn that was under, say, 8,000 words? I thought so. Me too — even though I like writing short stories, I sure don’t read many of them these days. So why am I stuck on short stories? […]
Dirty work, but somebody has to do it
I’m one of those writers who does a lot of it my head, often late at night while I’m trying to go to sleep. As I toss and turn, I craft ingenious plots and dazzling metaphors — really great stuff. The only problem is that my head is not a leak-proof vessel. Most of the time, I stumble out of bed the next morning to find that […]
The worst book I’ve read this year …
… is “A Small Death in Lisbon” by Robert Wilson. Actually, it’s not the worst — that distinction goes to Harlen Coben’s dreadful “Promise Me” — I just liked the best-worst symmetry of this and the preceding post. Still, I didn’t much like this book. While I admire the author’s ambition and research, this is one of those yarns where meticulous geographic detail actually undermines the story. […]
The best book I’ve read this year …
… is Martin Cruz Smith’s “Stalin’s Ghost.” The morose and laconic Arkady Renko returns for the sixth time since his debut in the brilliant “Gorky Park” of 1982. This time he’s back in Moscow, which has changed a great deal in 25 years. It’s a city where the excesses of capitalism and corruption have engendered an odd nostalgia for the days of Stalinist Russia — even as […]
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