Is there light in the dark?
Crime in the Civil War, WWII, in the 60s, in the present day... crime, it seems, is always with us, and the people who deal with it continue to cope with its effect on themselves in different ways. Meanwhile authors write about them. I've enjoyed a number of books with backgrounds in crime recently--an escape perhaps to a more dangerous world, where good people remind me my comfort doesn't only rest on the world being good. Not that all these books had terribly positive endings, but you can join me in a read and a coffee if you choose.
First on my review list is Money and Good Things by Yael Politis. Fifth in the Olivia series, and due to be released later this month, it's a fast-moving, exciting tale of love in a time of approaching Civil War, and of the various machinations needed to protect a good man from evil. Watch out for it coming soon, and enjoy with some elegant complex four-star coffee.
Transcription by Kate Atkinson starts in England on the road to WWII. It's a slower novel, told in first person by an oddly humorous narrator who ends up treading an oddly dangerous path. Transcribing the recorded conversation of potential rebels, she ends up, in the novel, almost transcribing her own life. But where has it led? A dark tale lightened by humor and voice, enjoy this one with some dark five-star coffee.
Then there's The Interpreter by A.J. Sidransky, another novel set in WWII, with a Jewish immigrant assigned to interpret for a Nazi prisoner. The protagonist soon learns that his adopted country is not as perfect as he'd dreamed, and his search for the girl he loved becomes a search for himself. Dark and haunting, this is a novel to read and enjoy with a dark five-star coffee. (But again, it's not yet been released.)
Little Altar Boy by John Guzlowski is set in the 60s and follows two cops, darkened by their wartime experiences, and finding the cold world of Chicago in winter meets their darkened needs. There's a dead nun, who accused a live priest, plus a boy at serious risk, and a missing teenager. Nothing comes easy in this tale, evocatively sad and depressing, yet threaded, and made real, with a good man's need to do good. Enjoy it with some more dark five-star coffee (but you might have to wait until it comes out).
Belle Isle by Howard Owen takes readers to present-day Richmond VA where a reporter rails against the world of blogs, drinks, hangs out with friends, sees too much, and wonders where the severed leg found on a island could have come from. He has his contacts and his column inches. And eventually he'll have the truth. It's another not-yet-released book, to enjoy with some seriously complex four-star coffee.
And finally, The Lyme Regis Murders by Andrew Segal is set in the present day in a quiet British seaside town. Shades of TVs Broadchurch perhaps, and there are plenty of suspects, plus a singularly intriguing investigator with plenty of troubles of her own. It's dark, odd, and a long slow read to enjoy with a long tall five-star dark coffee.
Mysteries, suspense, and a dark world seeking the light... But light really is always with us too, and that's what makes a story more than a wallow.
First on my review list is Money and Good Things by Yael Politis. Fifth in the Olivia series, and due to be released later this month, it's a fast-moving, exciting tale of love in a time of approaching Civil War, and of the various machinations needed to protect a good man from evil. Watch out for it coming soon, and enjoy with some elegant complex four-star coffee.
Transcription by Kate Atkinson starts in England on the road to WWII. It's a slower novel, told in first person by an oddly humorous narrator who ends up treading an oddly dangerous path. Transcribing the recorded conversation of potential rebels, she ends up, in the novel, almost transcribing her own life. But where has it led? A dark tale lightened by humor and voice, enjoy this one with some dark five-star coffee.
Then there's The Interpreter by A.J. Sidransky, another novel set in WWII, with a Jewish immigrant assigned to interpret for a Nazi prisoner. The protagonist soon learns that his adopted country is not as perfect as he'd dreamed, and his search for the girl he loved becomes a search for himself. Dark and haunting, this is a novel to read and enjoy with a dark five-star coffee. (But again, it's not yet been released.)
Little Altar Boy by John Guzlowski is set in the 60s and follows two cops, darkened by their wartime experiences, and finding the cold world of Chicago in winter meets their darkened needs. There's a dead nun, who accused a live priest, plus a boy at serious risk, and a missing teenager. Nothing comes easy in this tale, evocatively sad and depressing, yet threaded, and made real, with a good man's need to do good. Enjoy it with some more dark five-star coffee (but you might have to wait until it comes out).
Belle Isle by Howard Owen takes readers to present-day Richmond VA where a reporter rails against the world of blogs, drinks, hangs out with friends, sees too much, and wonders where the severed leg found on a island could have come from. He has his contacts and his column inches. And eventually he'll have the truth. It's another not-yet-released book, to enjoy with some seriously complex four-star coffee.
And finally, The Lyme Regis Murders by Andrew Segal is set in the present day in a quiet British seaside town. Shades of TVs Broadchurch perhaps, and there are plenty of suspects, plus a singularly intriguing investigator with plenty of troubles of her own. It's dark, odd, and a long slow read to enjoy with a long tall five-star dark coffee.
Mysteries, suspense, and a dark world seeking the light... But light really is always with us too, and that's what makes a story more than a wallow.
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