"the gritty past..."

When hardest of the hard-boiled author Thomas Pluck moderated a panel I was on at last year's Bouchercon, I didn't expect to find much common ground. But, as is often true of crime writers, Pluck - whose motto is "unflinching fiction" - was warm, witty, welcoming, and a downright blast to work with. I've now read his new Bad Boy Boogie, which is sharp, sharp, sharp - full of blood and really imaginative killings but also emotionally astute and very funny as well. So, of course, I sent him an advance copy of "World Enough." And I was THRILLED when he included it - along with the great Don Winslow – as one of his Books of Summer.

Thomas Pluck (BAD BOY BOOGIE)

THE FORCE by Don Winslow is the summer crime blockbuster this year, and deservedly so. Winslow mastered the crime epic with THE CARTEL and now he aims his investigative skills northward to look into the abyss of the failed American Drug War.

I also enjoyed WORLD ENOUGH, by Clea Simon, which comes out in a month or two. It's a nostalgic trip back to the '80s Boston rock scene by someone who was there. Simon's best known for her cat mysteries like hardboiled (or should I say tough mouser?) THE NINTH LIFE but she is equally adept evoking the gritty past of the sleazy rock clubs of our youth.