Crime Fiction Friday: “The Story Daddy Never Know” by Elisha Efua Bartels

 

• Selected and Introduced by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

In honor of International Crime Fiction month, we’re sharing some of our favorite pieces from Akashic Books’ Mondays are Murder series. Each story is shaped by its unique setting. Our last Friday to feature Akashic’s Mondays Are Murder ends with a trip to Trinidad courtesy of Elisha Efua Bartels. She uses an interesting cadence and meter for a story with one dark ending.

“The Story Daddy Never Know” by Elisha Efua Bartels

“What sweet in goat mouth does sour in he bambam . . . her mother’s words seem an echo but come from inside, making the chorus of a song (something she cyah remember doing since reaching double-digits) with verses of mondayjanuarysixthtwentyfourteen and eighteenthbirthdayfirstdayofmylife—sometimes she hearing first-day, sometimes last, but mostly first; annoying, even so. She turn and snap, “shut up, ma!” more to break the singsongy internal refrain than for lack of comprehending the futility of her words.”

Read the rest of the story.

If you like Don Winslow’s THE FORCE…

Don Winslow’s epic cop novel The Force is one of the must-reads of the summer. If you’ve gotten caught up in intricate tales of police plagued by moral ambiguity we suggest these three books on three different continents.

Doing The Devil’s Work by Bill Loehfelm

The third in Loehfelm’s Maureen Coughlin series has the newly minted NOPD patrol woman dealing with gangs, white supremacists, and her corrupt fellow officers, all connected to one New Orleans. Loehfelm shows the difficulty in navigating through a corrupt police force and staying clean yourself. You can find copies on our shelves and via bookpeople.com. 

The Night Of The Panthers by Piergiorgio Pulixi

The head of an Italian police that also works for one mafia family cuts a deal with an ambitious government agent to stop a war between the families right when his men kill an officer when breaking one of their own out of a police van, forcing him to play every dangerous end against the middle. You can find copies on our shelves and via bookpeople.com. 

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

American crime fiction sometimes seemed defined by intentionality – cops are either effective or corrupt, but certainly never incompetent. Not so in Japanese crime fiction, or at least, in this sprawling Ellroy-esque take-down of a vast police conspiracy designed to cover up a single, stupid mistake. After a botched kidnapping rescue resulting in the death of the victim, a department’s urge to prove professional competency plus the need to save face lead to a cover-up that goes all the way up to the top. Years later, a cop transferred to media relations puts aside his former departmental loyalties to continue the kidnapping investigation and discover the shocking truth behind the initial investigation. You can find copies on our shelves and via bookpeople.com. 

MysteryPeople Review: CAST THE FIRST STONE by James W. Ziskin

• Review by MysteryPeople Contributor and Mystery Maven Meike Alana

Cast the First Stone is the latest installment in James Ziskin’s Ellie Stone mystery series featuring newspaper reporter Ellie Stone.  Ziskin joins us here at the store to speak and sign his new installment in the series on August 26th, when he’ll be appearing with another favorite from Seventh Street Books, Mark Pryor. 

Ellie’s bosses may sometimes assign her the fluff pieces, but as Ziskin’s latest begins, Ellie lands an assignment sure to be interesting throughout. For once the paper’s publisher has a meaty story for her to cover—the New Holland Republic is going to send her to Los Angeles to profile local hero Tony Eberle; the actor has just landed his first starring movie role in the latest beach-themed Hollywood blockbuster.  But when Ellie arrives on the studio set to interview her subject, he doesn’t show up for filming and is promptly fired from the production.   

Go Down to the Basement: MysteryPeople Q&A with Meg Gardiner

Meg Gardiner comes to BookPeople to launch her latest on Monday, June 26, at 7 PM. She’ll be in conversation with Jeff Abbott. You can find copies of UNSUB on our shelves starting Monday, June 26th – one day before the official release date!

Molly Odintz: You have a Hemingway-esque talent for communicating far more about your characters than would seem possible from the word count—how do you balance creating fully formed characters with the need to always move a thriller’s plot forward?

Meg Gardiner: Plot is what the characters do. Characters spring to life when I put them into action, in conflict, under pressure. What do they want? What do they fear? What will the heroine do when the antagonist threatens the people she loves? In UNSUB, young cop Caitlin Hendrix is hunting a legendary killer. The choices she makes when she’s put to the test—and the choices everyone in the novel make—reveal their character. Revelation is always most powerful when it unfolds through action.

And I’m honored by the comparison to Hemingway. I can only strive to approach the vivid economy of his writing.

Crime Fiction Friday: “Lena” by Preston Lang

 

• Selected and Introduced by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

With it being International Crime Fiction Month, we will be offering some selections from Akashic Press’ Mondays Are Murder blog series. The series challenges authors to write a short crime story under 750 words with a distinct setting. First we stop off at Heathrow Airport with Preston Lang’s tale of con artist correspondence.

“Lena” by Preston Lang

“My dear. My sweetest intimate. I long to be with you. We will touch with a profound fondness. You are the house of my soul. I count on you to send the funds so that we may be together—85,000 United States Dollars….”

Read the rest of the story.

MysteryPeople Review: UNSUB by Meg Gardiner

• Review by Director of Suspense Molly Odintz

Meg Gardiner takes the Zodiac killer into the 21st century with her (frankly) terrifying new thriller, UNSUB. Now represented by Shane Salerno’s Story Factory, Gardner’s already signed a deal with CBS to turn UNSUB into a series, and when you sit down to read this pulse-pounding thriller, you’ll immediately understand why. Gardiner’s escalating violence, well-crafted characters, and creative murder scenes will keep you turning the pages as fast as you can (and staying up later than you should – but hey! It’s summer!).

The start of a new series, UNSUB models its Mercury-obsessed murderer off of one of the most eternally befuddling unsolved killers in US history – the Zodiac Killer. Caitlin Hendrix’s father failed to catch a serial killer known as the Prophet during his time in the force, and now it’s Caitlin’s turn to track down the vicious predator when the Prophet resumes his murderous activity after a twenty year hiatus. Unsure if she’s chasing the original killer or a copycat, Caitlin’s sure of one thing – she was born to solve this case. Hendrix and The Prophet play a game of cat and mouse, switching roles back and forth as the Prophet gets personal with his messages to Caitlin, elevating their relationship to nemesis status and heightening the tension of their inevitable confrontation.

A Dangerous Game of Espionage: MysteryPeople Q&A with Barry Lancet

• Interview by MysteryPeople Contributor Scott Butki

Barry Lancet has done it again: he’s written another thriller that crosses from America to Japan to North Korea and China, educating readers about cultural and political issues in the four nations.

The Spy Across the Table is Lancet’s fourth in his series about Jim Brodie, who works as an expert on Japanese art (often selling it to rich Americans) and runs a detective agency in Japan that he inherited from his father. As with the other books in the series there’s plenty of hooks, twist and surprises in addition to a variety of interesting characters.

One of the things I like about Lancet’s series is he has a section in the back of each book called About Authenticity, separating truth from fiction. As a former journalist who likes his fact and fiction kept separate this is a move I’d like to see more writers doing.

As this book starts Brodie has arranged for one of his American friends to meet a Japanese friend of Brodie’s. After their meeting, both are found murdered. Despite his shock, Brodie pursues the killer and others responsible, a chase that will take him across several countries. Meanwhile, the First Lady, a college roommate of one of the victims, enlists Brodie to find the killer.

Lancet was kind enough to be interviewed for his new book. I previously interviewed him here for his prior book, Pacific Burn. 

Scott Butki: How did you come up with this story for this book?

Barry Lancet: I asked myself what’s keeping me up at night? As an American expat living in Tokyo on the far edge of the Pacific, I didn’t have far to look. The North Koreans were once again rattling their sabers and spouting off about going nuclear, while the Chinese were grabbing new territory, paving over uninhabited atolls to build airstrips. Everyone in Asia was on edge, though the rest of the world paid attention only sporadically. That was 18 months ago. I had no idea that these two countries would soon be grabbing major U.S. headlines as they have of late.

MysteryPeople Q&A with Don Winslow

• Interview by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

This week fans of crime fiction or good fiction in general will be hitting bookstores in droves for Don Winslow’s eagerly awaited masterpiece (and our MysteryPeople Pick Of The Month) The Force. This story – both intimate and epic – focuses on Denny Malone, a New York cop who heads up an elite unit and who’s corrupt practices catch up with him. The book gives a detailed view of today’s New York through police eyes. Don was kind enough to talk to us about the book and the world that inspired it.

 

MysteryPeople Scott: The Force shares some DNA with Seventies-era NYPD books and films like Serpico, Prince Of The City, and The Seven Ups. What was the main difference of the of the police force at that period and the post 9-11 one you write about?

Don Winslow: I was really influenced by both the books and the films of The French Connection, Serpico and Prince of the City. They’re part of the reason I became a crime writer. In some ways, things haven’t changed – police work is still police work and cops are still cops. But 9/11 did change things, especially in New York City. As the primary target of that attack, the city shifted a lot of resources from organized crime to anti-terrorism. Because of that the Mafia, which had been on the verge of extinction, made something of a comeback. Another major change has been one that has impacted society as a whole – computer-generated data. Police have largely adopted the ‘metrics’ that we see in business and sports, using sophisticated crime statistics to assign personnel, patrols and other resources to high-crime areas. The other major change is also technologically driven – the rise of personal cameras in mobile phones. Police used to work in relative obscurity, but now everyone is a journalist, putting police under an intense public scrutiny which has changed the public perception of police. Police shootings and brutality have always existed – the difference now is that they’re on social media.

MysteryPeople Q&A with Jen Conley

• Interview by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

Jen Conley is one of the hardest working writers in crime fiction. An editor on the famed (or is that infamous) webzine Shotgun Honey, she had been knocking out some of the best short work out there, and has the admiration of both readers and her peers alike. Her work follows working class folks on both (and in-between both) sides of the law, examining morality when lives veer far from plans. This is encapsulated in her widowed patrol officer Andrea Vogel, who she has used in several stories. Last year a collection of her work, Cannibals, was released by Down & Out Books. We caught up with Jen to discuss the art of the short story, character, and her stomping ground.

MysteryPeople Scott: While you have many great twists in your work and the internal logic of your stories is perfect, character is the over riding element that drives them. Do you think the people you write about share something in common?

Jen Conley: Probably survival. All my characters are strapped by finances, whether I point that out or not, and getting through life is difficult for them. The lack of money straps people of choices and when you throw a crime in there, a moment where something might get screwed up, there’s a chance there’s no coming back from that.

The Hard Word Book Club Spends the Summer with Parker

 

• Post by Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery

One of our three mystery book clubs here at the store, and the only one dedicated to hardboiled and noir fiction, gets rougher than ever this summer. The Hard Word Book Club has decided to bookend the the summer with the toughest heistman in history. Donald Westlake planned to end the literary life of his ice-cold robber Parker, written under the pseudonym, Richard Stark, in 1974, then decided to bring him back in 1994. We’ll be doing the aptly titled Comeback in August. For this month, it’s the supposed swan song, Butcher’s Moon.