Henning Mankell's latest

My review of Henning Mankell's latest, Daniel, ran in today's Boston Globe. I wished I liked it more. I've also just read an advance of his last Wallander mystery and, wow, did I hate that. Sometimes, I think, a writer loses respect for his readers, and that's a sad thing.

From today's Globe:

How do we see our world, and how does that vision affect others? These are the questions at the heart of Henning Mankell’s “Daniel,’’ a quiet tragedy that sets an obtuse white man against a young African boy....

Me on "Moonlight Mile"

I'm not usually a Dennis Lehane fan. Usually seems like he's trying too hard. But going back to Patrick and Angie, he hits all the right notes - the real notes. My review in today's Globe.

"What We Have," a review

We plan, God laughs... my review of Amy Boesky's moving memoir, "What We Have," in today's Boston Globe.

"Girl Who Fell From the Sky" by Heidi Durrow

Meant to post this review, which I wrote for the Boston Globe. Belatedly...
"Does truth, as well as beauty, exist in the eye of the beholder? That’s one of the questions posed in Bellwether Prize-winner Heidi Durrow’s heartbreaking debut, “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky.’’ Others - about race and memory, love and family - follow hard on its heels in this dramatic coming-of-age novel.."
(more here.)

David Liss returns with "The Whiskey Rebels"

David Liss has returned to historical mysteries with The Whiskey Rebels, a thoroughly enjoyable book. As I wrote in today's Boston Globe:

"Blame the speculators! Banks are unstable, and the nation itself appears on the verge of collapse. Americans have turned against each other, each convinced that the other side is intent on destroying the country. No, it's not 2008, it's 1792, but that doesn't mean that the means and motives aren't the same. Indeed, in his engaging new historical novel, David Liss recounts the dawn of the fledgling US banking industry up through its almost-demise, in the 18th-century Whiskey Rebellion, through characters as intriguing, and often as disreputable, as many we are observing today...."

(Read more here.)

End of an era

Well, I'm not the first and I'm afraid I won't be the last, but I'm now a victim of the economy. Although I focus this blog on my crime fiction (and occasional book reviews), for the last 12 years I've also written a weekly column for the Boston Globe about radio. But after next week's column, I will do so no longer. The paper is being "redesigned," i.e., made smaller, and my column has been eliminated.

Wait a minute. Writing about radio? Yes, the column – called "Radio Tracks" – let me write about everything from a beloved old-school soul and R&B music show on a tiny college station ("Captain Al's R&B Jukebox" on on WMBR), radio historians (like this week's on Donna Halper, my penultimate column), Howard Stern, Don Imus, and the ups and downs of a fledgling medium known as Internet radio. And ratings. Those quarterly Arbitron ratings. Okay, so I won't miss explaining AQH – average quarter hour – to both readers and, inevitably, the copy desk.

Anyway, there hasn't been all that much overlap between my column and my fiction life (though some folks who know me recognize some of Theda's misadventures). But some of you do, so here's my chance to say farewell! I'll run a link to my last column whenever it runs (originally on Thursdays, now often held till Saturday). Thanks for tuning in!

... the king is dead, long live...

What's in a name? If you're Dr. Hector Carpentier, an impoverished young physician in 1818 Paris, everything....
(my review of Louis Bayard's The Black Tower in today's Boston Globe).

How not to write

Now, there are clearly Kathryn Harrison fans out there, but I'm not one of them. I just found While They Slept, her take on the Gilley family tragedy to be narcissistic and unnecessary.

The numbers game

It's 90 degrees out and I'm trying to rouse myself to go back to revising the manuscript I put aside to finish "Probable Claws," while "Probable Claws" is with my editor. Wouldn't this be a great day to take a break? Yes, but as David Mehegan explains in this article, that's not going to happen.

Meanwhile, did anyone out there enjoy Elizabeth George's new "Careless in Red"? I wish I did, but as you can read here, in my Boston Globe review, I didn't.