Elementary my Dear…

Great topic! I'd comment but I'm right in the midst of re-reading a wonderful Josephine Tey, "The Franchise Affair." I must get it back to it now, but to be continued, for sure. Favorite authors? Jane Langton, Martha Grimes...Reginald Hill...

It is interesting to note that, in Doyle's originals, Sherlock Holmes never says "Elementary, my dear Watson."  He often says, "Elementary" and even more often, "My dear Watson" but never in the canon does he put the to phrases together.  It's rather like "Play it again, Sam" that way.

Although most of my fellow classic movie fans probably have a soft spot for Basil Rathbone's Holmes, Doyle devotees tend to prefer Jeremy Brett's Granada TV interpretation by a long shot.  There is even a book about Brett's work as Holmes called Bending the Willow.  And no one will deny that both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke have it all over Nigel Bruce (a fun, if limited, character actor) as Doyle's alter ego, Dr. Watson.

I just finished reading Caleb Carr's The Alienist and it was, by far, the best novel I have read this year.  A brilliantly intellectual police procedural chock full of details of late 19th century New York.  The most unputdownable book written recently.  I highly recommend it.

I adore the movies Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, and Strangers on a Train but I have never read any of the books so I cannot speak in terms of loyalty to source material; I can only judge the films on their own merits and by their own standards.  In today's poll, I ultimately voted for Double Indemnity which is second only to Casablanca as my favorite film of the 1940s.

JP-I grew up with the Canon, Sherlock was The Man. Then I discovered Hammedtt and Chandler, and I fell hard for Marlowe and Spade. The Thin Man, not so much. Couple of lucky lushes.

New writers abound, but one of my favorites is Bartholomew Gill, who writes wonderful crime novels set in Ireland, full of intrigue, marvelously original plots, and lots and lots of Irish culture. Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding historical detective fiction novels are outstanding. Carl Hiaasen is great, and funny, Boris Akunin gives us the Russian historical slant. My current fave is Lee Child, whose Jack Reacher novels are just astonishing. Why they haven't been made into movies yet is beyond me, for they are naturals for the Bourne treatment, and better than Bourne in my humble opinion. James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, and Chester Himes are also worthy of mention. That's just scratching the surface, but I'm a sleepy girl.

Oh, wait-if you're looking for wonderful editions of classic American writing, the Library of America books are outstanding, and cheap as anything on ebay. Check it out!

Olivia signing off...

Hammett, dammit.

Taking a cue from yesterday's postings, the detective genre has become hopelessly asexualized by forensic television shows. The premise of these shows is that there really is no mystery, and that all problems will be readily soluble (during the final ten minutes) by DNA analysis, toxicology, GC-mass spec, and autopsy.

These shows make me think of TS ELiot's question: "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?" What of flashes of insight, intuition, hunches, and gut feelings? I would disagree totally with Peterman's quoted psychiatrist, so fecklessly indoctrinated as he is by the Viennese Quack. What draws me to my favorite detective film, The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart, is narrative richness, layers of themes, dialogue (written by William Faulkner, wasn't it). And, yes, sexuality strongly informs some of the dialogue.

I also tip my hat conspicuously to Night Train, an existential detective story by Martin Amis, hardly a participant in the genre. 

To Olivia: Death of a Joyce Scholar...Gil's best. Quite wonderful. ALSO speaking of charm, the M.C Beaton, Hamish MacBeth series.

  I agree with DreadPirateRoberts (above), Caleb Carr's The Alienist is a great modern find!As for the classics,Dorthy Sayors for her Lord Peter Wimsey.  Freeman Wills Croft (For the inverted mystery: Describing  perpetrator and crime at the outset.) Ngaio Marsh for her surpurb short story, Death On The Air. The Beloved characters of Agatha Christy, although I must admit, that Peroit has always annoyed me. And of course, who doesn't want to pull their coat tight and brave the swirling fog to find the window's light on Baker Street? I've climbed those stairs again and again. Arthur Conan Doyle is by far the master. Lucky Dr. Watson!

Arthur Conan-Doyle was a Student of Dr. Joseph Bell, and a Lab Rat for him for years during Doyle's matriculation thru Medical School ... He was fascinated with Bell's approach to solving the mysteries of life and the human body, and studied closely as Dr. Bell developed the field of Pathology into a Forensic Science, with the express purpose of solving crimes. Bell himself was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and it was Bell who coined the phrase, "Inductive Reasoning" ... which was for years thereafter considered no more a serious method than cheating at Solitaire ...  I have read all there is about Sherlock Holmes and have seen every Picture ever made, with the various Actors playing the Great Detective... but I must confess that when I think of Holmes, it is Basil Rathbone who springs immediately to mind, as to me, he was Sherlock Holmes ... Conan-Doyle produced some incredibly detailed stories, most of which were technically correct in every way, altho' he did stretch the limits of Physics a time or two ... When in London for the first time in my life, I went to 221-B Baker Street and was a little sophomoric about being there, but it wasn't exactly as I had imagined it would be or thought it should have remained since 1895 ...
Sir Arthur was so highly esteemed as a Mystery Writer and had so developed his grasp of Inductive Reasoning, that he was considered to be a prime suspect in the colossal hoax about the, Piltdown Man ... Conan-Doyle was dead long before the whole issue was ever resolved and proved to be a hoax, but to this day, no one knows who the actual perpitrator was ... I read Sherlock Holmes to all ten of my children while they were growing up, and am still today, fifty-five years after reading Holmes for the first, am a Card Carrying Member of The Baker Street Irregulars ... All of the other fictional Detectives are marvelous also, but it was Sherlock Holmes who spurred my imagination since elementary school .......

Marjorie Allinghham's Albert Campion was a sort of Bentley to Lord Peter's RR, if you will, but an entirely different take on the apparently languid aristocrat. His logical (if not moral) heir is the Hon Charlie Mortdecai, created by Kyril Bonfiglioli.

Bonfiglioli's character ( you can hardly call him a hero) does a little mystery solving, but mostly in the name of saving his own skin, in DON'T POINT THAT THING AT ME and AFTER YOU WITH THE PISTOL. By the time we get to SOMETHING NASTY IN THE WOODSHED, his own situation has changed and he has become a solver of other people's mysteries. [BTW, "SNITW" is of course, borrowed from COLD COMFORT FARM, not a mystery exactly, but a hoot .]

For those who manage to enjoy mysteries without an English accent and don't mind things that could have happened yesterday, it's hard to beat  Philip DePoy's excellent "Easy" series  ( Not to be confused with Easy Rollins, who has loyal fans of his own), featuring the quirky Flap Tucker  and the state of Georgia. Flap and his sweetie Dalliance Oglethorpe ( a bar owner and probable Eyester) wander around the subjects of love, life and who, exactly done it.

And don;t forget, Patricia Highsmithj, who wrote Strangers on a Train, also wrote the Ripley books. 

More conventional spellers sometimes leave the "j" off the end of Highsmith's name.

Robert-I knew I would forget someone, and Caleb Carr was he who was left out. Both of his books are wonderful, as is Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost, an incredibly rich and intricate historical mystery that is very long, but one of those books that can't BE too long, and I still wanted it to go on after nearly 700 pages. And I SO agree about your movie picks-love 'em all.

Gia-YES!

Jalopkin, thanks for the reminder about Doyle's Dr. Bell. I enjoy the history behind The Canon almost as much as the stories themselves. Although I feel that no one can top Jeremy Brett's dedication (and Granada TV"s-the clothes! the sets!) to accuracy in portrayal of SH, Basil Rathbone just LOOKS like my mental picture of Holmes. Still, Brett literally gave his life to it. I was always so annoyed by Nigel Bruce's buffoonish Watson. Rathbone deserved better, and that includes the writing for his movie portrayals too. He was the best thing abut that Holmes series. I'm so ambivalent about visiting Baker Street, because I know it's not what it should be, yet I'm so drawn to making the pilgrimage...

Mark-Those shows are just icky, and really mislead people about forensic crime. We have people coming to our advising center at the college who think we're going to train them and have them ON TV in a year-weird. Some people are losing their ability to differentiate between television fantasy and the real world-another reason I just can't stand television.

WORD FROM DOC!!! He's managing with batteries, but he has to conserve, so I'll cut and paste his 'Survivor' message:

It's five am, and I've just finished emailing family members.... OK here.  No electricity (this is being done on battery #2 of 3 on my laptop).  Lots of trees down, but my place is OK.  Bathtub filled so no water problems.  Refrigerator was filled with ice, but as it finishes melting, the perishables are almost gone, too -- just a package of chicken left.  (Unfortunately I don't have a gas grill.) 

So, all in all, fine.  I've been reading a G.A. Henty historical novel rescued from my late father's library (about two English lads in the 1560s involving battles in Holland, the Spanish Armada, capture and escapes in Spain and from the Barbary pirates... you get the idea).  Thank goodness for my REI headlamp;  the LEDs have been cooking along on the first set of batteries!

And so it goes.... I see Merrill Lynch is going, and Lehman is gone, and AIG may go next.   Galveston Island -- well what can you say. 

I know Galveston pretty well, having been 'on the island' about once a month for the last 15 years.  It always lived 'on death row' with a dying economy propped up only by tourism on one side and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) on the other.  And as for the idiots who built McMansions on the west end (beyond the seawall), well, I used to shake my head in disbelief... THREE feet above sea level?!?!?!?!

Well, gotta save battery life.... Catch you later.  Don't worry. 

I havent't even started on the boiled potatoes, crackers, and bread yet :-)
Doc

Check out a new series of books called "Hard Case Crime" available at Border's or on www.hardcasecrime.com They publish a new pulp fiction/ mystery book each month. Both old and new releases like Lawrence Block, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Max Phillips, Earl Stanley Gardner. Great reading for a rainy night or whenever!!!

And don't forget some of the great European writers. Donna Leone...Barbara Nadel, whose police procedurals are set in Istanbul.

And go Willie. Always taking people to trask, you might say. Speaking of Highsmith, you'd have to include the "Talented Mr. Ripley" on the list. 

Olivia!

Thanks for pasting that in. 

Doc Nolan,

When you get this, glad you are surviving. Your 'setting' actually sounds perfect for a good mystery.

I grew up on Nancy Drew. I know, i'm going to take this very high brow, as usual, but I loved them. My parents drove us all over the country every summer, and Drew came with me.

Read a lot of Holmes in grad school. Given my pention for dark, self destructive characters, loved Holmes, especially in the opium dens. 

I wrote a thirty-pager for a class where I argued that Doyle's Holmes was his physician's purgative for the excitement over anomaly  in their 'cases.' Was not an attack on doctors, really, just a look at the duality of their desire to heal, but the necessity to see the body/case at its worst in order to learn about the body/case. There are some incredibly dark passages in Doyle where you can hear the excitement in others' pain. Anyone else hear it? Any doctors thoughts? Love reading him. Really. I actually pulled my anthology off the shelf on Saturday because of all the rain. Never read it, though.

My favorite mystery movie ever: Private Eyes—Don Knotts and Tim Conway. "Them two idiots" are flipping hilarious.  If anyone on this forum has ever seen it, we will be friends for life.

Am submitting cover letter, resume and writing samples today for a job as head news editor for a university. Would mean that it would  be my job to skulk all over campus with pad and pen and tweedy garb, digging up stories. Maybe I should add magnifying glass to the wardrobe. Would be fun.

Mr. Peterman,

Saw that you 'honor rolled' my post on the adventure to Chicago. We have the group of girls and are going. If you want in, contact me at my site. Really. These girls make a lot of noise wherever they go. They would be more than happy to make noise for Peterman and Co. Question is, do you want our kind of noise? Grinning.

M.I. 

P.S. If you are a lady on this site and want to come, please pop over to the site and email me under 'profile.' Would love to have you. Will be giving more details privately. After all, no boys allowed. Can't give away all our secrets!

http://sandinmyswimsuit.blogspot.com/2008/09/love-drake.html

The Grijpstra and de Gier" series of detective novels, set in Amsterdam, were terrific. As was the Per Wahloo and Maj Wahloo Swedish series. The Martin Beck books, like the "Laughing Policeman."

The "Hardboiled" school also gave us both MacDonalds, Ross and John D. Nothing compares to them today.

Ellis Peters, aka Elizabeth Peters, aka Edith Pargeter, was a wonder British crime/mystery writer.  Her Brother Cadfael series is one of my favorites.  It is about a 12th century Welsh crusader turned herbalist/monk who uses enlightened thinking to solve murders.  PBS's series Mystery! aired the film versions of several of the books.

I haven't really read any whodunits lately...unless "Monster of Florence" counts, but it wasn't fiction.

Busy day, won't be in much, but will check in later to make a list of books and movies that sound promising.

~Suz

PS-Search for dress was miserable failure, sunburn at family weekend, but redeemed by Sunday afternoon trip to the UMFA's collection and the travelling exhibit "Monet to Picasso".

And speaking of "the Postman Rings Twice," the book and the movie, the OJ trial is starting today. If he's convicted, he might get life.

Michael Connelly's LAPD det. Harry Bosch is one of the best modern-day slueths around. Connelly writes great too!

Miss Ive - please do be careful in the high waters of Chicago - we can't have you stranded like those in Galveston -

With some luck, the waters may have receded by the time you visit - but I understand there is also water today in Buffalo Grove (where there are no buffalo)

And everyone should catch the exciting news about the discovery of tapes made by Agatha Christie - probably a more formal announcement later, but the NYT today has a story about this elegant find made by her grandson - and her voice - that elegant voice - My Fair Lady all over again!

Such excitement - and remember everyone - be careful out there; it's not Black October yet but you can see it from here.  As one who lived through The Big Depression, there are more lessons to be learned.

Sad note:

Did anyone else know of the little known author, David Foster Wallace?  I don't know the whole story yet but he was found dead, supposedly he hung himself.  What a shame.  He was very talented. 

Peace to all 

Many of my favorite mystery/crime novels have already been listed, so I'll just toss in some of my lesser known favorite books and authors to this wonderful stew. We have simmering today.

I recently discovered two Scandinavian mystery who have truly captured the feel of noir fiction at its very best. Although well known internationally, they have only recently appeared on our shores.

Arnauld Indridason's Reykjaic Mystery series which features Inspector Erlendur provides a very moody, yet provocative insight into the world of today's Iceland while the investigations give us a taste of its history. His books include: Jar City, Silence of the Grave, The Draining Lake, Mind's Eye and Voices.

Hakan Nesser's Inspector Van Veerteren Mysteries are also excellent representatives of the genre. I've enjoyed his novels as well, especially Borkmans Point and The Return

I also enjoy Chicago based crime novels. Two authors that are worth checking out are:

Michael Harvey, who's "composes punchy noir sentences that he stacks into punchy noir paragraphs that have all the rhythm, irony, and wit of the genre's manly classics of the 1920' and ‘30s." His books include The Chicago Way and the Fifth Floor. Both are very good reads.

Another "hard-boiled Chicago based crime writer is the mysteriously departed Eugene Izzy who's "lifeless body was found hanging outside his Michigan Avenue writing office in the Chicago cold. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but many speculate that foul play may have been involved. Izzi had been working on a large manuscript at the time of his death, and a disc containing the work was in his pockets when he died".

I really enjoyed his novels. His works include A Matter of Honor, Invasions, Prowlers, Bad Guys, and Safe Harbor.

One of my all time favorite crime stories is Truman Capotes "non-fiction novel" In Cold Blood which I read in one sitting, staying up all night in a well lit kitchen, having barely touched the pot of coffee that I had made for the occasion ‘cos the telling of this tale was all the stimulation I needed to stay awake and hyper-alert.

I thank you all for your recommendations. This genre is such a great escape.

I must be a minority ~ but I can't handle Sherlock Holmes, its my sisters fault, ~ REALLY it is, as she had a middle school English teacher OBSESSED with Mr. Holmes.  My sister & I were very good readers, had paretns who never told us not to read any type of a book & never really bothered to ban us from authors or topics.  She had a VERY hard time with Holmes & way this teacher taught about him, I can remember her coming home crying about her literature class which was strange (Cuz it was normally math that caused that reaction.)  She has disliked Mr. Doyle, Homles & Watson since.  thank goodness that teacher retired right beofre I hit middle school.  The teacher I had was fresh out of college & really had no relative insights to the writing unless it was what was in the pre-written lesson plan.  So Holmes was something I dreaded and then was introduced to in such a non descript way that I never really took the time or the interest to grasp the greatness. 

I have seen the Basil films though & I enjoy Basil playing Holmes, haven't had the chance to see any of Jeremy Bretts performances as him, but I do have a copy of Bretts performance as Maxim De Winnter from a BBC production of Rebecca form the 70's. From that I can IMAGINE what a Grand Holmes he makes & he was very protective of the Holmes Imagine that was portrayed because of the amount of kids that watched & loved it.

As for my favorite Detectives was introduced to Nancy Drew a young age & her books where everywhere for a long time. Still have them the blue heathered covered ones with the embossed title & line underneath of it.... Read a few of the Trixie Belden also read a few of the Cherry Ames Student Nurse those kind of had a mystery in the storylines.

As for more "Grown Up" mysteries I like Hammett & Chandler's works am a HUGE FAN of the Thin Man films.  (I LOVE Mr. Wm Powell)  I also really enjoyed reading "The Lady Vanishes" By Ethel Lina White & Hitchcock's film based on the story.  

As for MY answer to the Poll ?. I will have to say DD... I think the book was as interesting as the film & how can you not LOVE the dialouge at the Market over the shelving... Classic, and the wig & glasses just such a strange but at the same time intriguing look for a Femme Fatale.

Willie Trask ~ I just received Cold Comfort Farm in the mail this AM, It has been on my reading list 2 years now AM so excited to get started on it....   

PeterLake!!!

I never thought I could ever disagree with you. Really. But today is the day, friend. Btw, loved your fiance's site. Lovely goods. (Thought I'd at least thow you a bone before I disagree!)

HATED _In Cold Blood_ Hated it. Member my first post on PE? The one for Hiroshima? Member the prof I referenced who had a problem with 'subjective journalism' in Hersey's account of Hiroshima? Well she loved Capote. In that very same class she praised his story. I walked out of class (only nine students in class, so it was fairly obvious) two times. 

Here's my complaint, boiled down: Can't stand it when people slip in and out of fact and opinion, I think this is often called soliquizatioin (????) without making it clear they have moved into speculation. He told that family's story like he total rights to it. He speculated that the mom was so unhappy in her suburban role, when, how could he have known? Not to mention his blatant fixation and attraction with one of the killers.

Objectively, and separately, I don't have problems with these issues: attraction for one's subject, speculation on feelings, soliquization (?), but please make it clear to your audience that you are moving between modes, especially when you are intentionally sensationalizing a family's tragedy and slaughter.

Hate that book. I never say that about books, either. Am pretty open to whatever anyone wants to write. I just kept thinking, What if that was me. What if that was my neck being cut and my children slaughtered, and some man was sensationalizing it in a book. 

I might me wrong to be that upset, but I hated it so much that I can't even enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's anymore. And that's a real crime.

Do like you, though, PeterLake, so I'll respect our differences here! (Smiling at you, but not that book. Grrrrrr.) 

PeterLake,

Have paced thoroughly and calmed down. Kidding. Am definitely interested in your thoughts on my complaints—or anyone else's. Am always open to a good debate. Also, I really don't like being so volatile about a book, a person's personal expression. I just CAN'T get past this one. You are calm. Maybe you can help!

Miss Ive,

I do remember your Hiroshima post and how impressed I was by it.  I believe it was your first contribution and I purchased the book on your recommendations.  I read that in one sitting too.  It was intense.

I am probably an author's/film maker's most wished for reader/audience.  Once I read the first line of a book or see the first scene in a movie I pretty much let the author or director lead me blindly into their world, in other words, I usually jump into their rabbit hole.  Once there, I pretty much decide if I like it or not strictly based on whats in between the covers of the book or between the opening and closing credits of the film.  Everything that preceeds that experience and/or follows is pretty much "white noise" to me.  But I try to only take this approach with fiction.

I've always been more sceptical of books/movies that are supposed to be based on facts.

In Cold Blood is really a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction.  In hind sight it probably really is more of a bastardized non-fiction book. I read it as a novel that scared the bejeezez out of me and I couldn't put it down 'till it was over.  To  me, a non-fiction novel becomes all fiction because I don't want to bother to weed out the facts.

I sure do understand your perspective and if I were to read it again in that light; I doubt I would finish it.

I guess what I'm saying is that my approach is probably pretty naive and simplistic, but I'm OK with that.

I am very happy that you are smiling at me 'cos you always bring out a smile from me.

Be well

Miss Ive,

I was off-line gathering my thoughts with a big assist from spell check and grammer check while youfollowed up to your post.

I admire your spunk and passion, I truly do.  I've got a streak in me just like it but found I needed to take it down a notch or two just to feel more comfortable about things.  All I do is remind myself that most of the time, the things that have me all riled up, in the long-run, well it just doesn't matter.  I also know that can be a slippery slope too so I try totread carefully upon it.

Does anyone else get ticked off when you read a really interesting crime/mystery novel and in the end the mystery is never solved?  I know that is how it sometimes in life, but if I wanted reality I'd read unsolved crime files, not fiction.  Guess its the know-it-all in me.

Off Topic...

Saw a John White Alexander painting at the UMFA yesterday that looked like a page out of a J. Peterman catalog.  Portrait of a tall lean woman with her back turned to the viewer in a black, long, close fitting coat that had a double tiered cape around the shoulders and a high collar.  She was also wearing tight pants and tall black boots with a square toe.  If you've never seen his work you should google him, he had a way with the female form and dresses.

I stopped reading this post after the word "esoteric".
First time I've heard it outside of the play I'm currently in.
Now if someone would just slip in a "katzenjammer" or "salacious", I'll explode with excitement.
...

Okay, I read the rest now.
I'm not actually that huge of a fan of mystery anymore.
In elementary school I became obsessed with the Encylopedia Brown series [intellectual everyboy solves mysteries in a small town, eveything's safe, always petty theft and never murder], only because I felt extremely smart when I could figure out the answer without looking in the back.
Everyone loves feeling clever.
I went to a Clue party once; we all had an assigned identity and game money [bribery was encouraged].
I had loads of fun staying in character [I was Glenna Glib, a waitress working at the bar until I had enough money to move out to California and pursue a career in radio] and screaming every time the lights went off and someone would fall to the floor.
I didn't ever find any of the weapons to kill anyone with, but by the end of the night five people had "died" and I got a little award for guessing the most correct killers and motives.
But yeah.
Mystery.
I'd like to get into feeling clever again, anyone recommend any "beginners" mystery novels?

A couple of shout-outs:

First, to Carolyn Keene, author of the original Nancy Drew books, for sparking both my and my mother's childhood fascinations with mystery and clever female heroins.

I'd also like to recognize Joel and Ethan Coen for creating The Big Lebowski- not only my favorite movie bar none, but also a brilliant adaptation of Chandler's The Big Sleep.  Pure genius...

This is my first post to the list, and have I ever been taking notes!  Thank you, one and all, for the list I am compiling, because I really did want to branch out a bit.  Ultimately, amazon.com likely will be the primary beneficiary in short order.  Some of my favorite mystery/crime authors have not been mentioned, so I must be afflicted with a fondness for Brit/banal, because I rather enjoy curling up with a Dick Francis or the occasional PD James, particularly if Dalgleish is doing the honors.  Now, he may not make the genre entirely, but Nicholas Christopher's Veronica was intriguing and tinged with mystery, although probably not noir, it was definitely deep violet.  Perhaps I liked it most because it was set in New York City, and I was living in Dallas, TX and homesick at the time.

In regards to true life crime, go no further than "Fatal Vision" Joe  McGuinness, and his last one about the Hong Kong murderess, Nancy Kissel...referred to as the "Milk Shake" killer. Also, it must be mentioned the Peter Robinson series, with Alan Banks as the detective. Surprised no one as mentioned Val McDermid, if you like sordid serial killers, this is the one.

For Lovey, a beginner mystery? Why not Agatha Christie? The ABC murders. One of her best. Or Dorothy Hughes,  In a Lonely Place. Not too many characters. Right in the mind of...well, I won't give it away.

Missy-Did you mean 'soliloquization'? It's a syndrome acquired from repetitious perusal of Hamlet and also may be applied to any extended self-indulgent masturbatory fantasies such as Capote was fond of printing. Ooh, was that too harsh? Actually, I enjoyed some of his stuff, a little. Like burping and accidentally throwing up, a little. Dang, now I'm all off topic...

Another great writer I've mentioned before is James Ellroy. He's way out there, as in edgy and experimental (like me-woohoo!) but great. For mixing fact and fiction, he and Hunter Thompson get my vote over Capote, although HST didn't write mysteries per se. Some might say Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had its murky parts, and his demise was rather questionable, but still.

Got another email from Doc, he's living the Life of Reilly around old Houston Town, so we can all settle down. Whoa, I'm a poet and don't know it...

Okay, off to drain the rest of my birthday champagne and eat whatever I want, get gloriously sick and guilty, then pass out. What's not to like?

Missy I emailed you-didja get it? It kept trying to make me use Outlook Express from your site, and I don't have it, so I went to my rickety Comcast account and sent it. Hope it muddled through.

Stephen Fry says "You couldn't snuggle under the duvet with anything more disreputable and delightful" than Bonfiglioli's Mortdecai bookks, available as The Mortdecai Trilogy or as Don't Point That Thing at Me,  After You with the Pistol, and Something Nasty in the Woodshed...

Others warn that they aren't "traditional mysteries" and that Bonfiglioli's ideas about women ( and other things) are definitely pre 1970, but then, so are those of Dickens and Socrates, not to mention Doyle and Poe... .. I recommend them for beginning and returning mystery readers, for lovers of the absurd, for people with little patience for fools, etc.  

Hey JillyBean- THE DUDE ABIDES. Carolyn Keene is a mysterious person herself. There is a great article in the New Yorker from November of 2004 ( NANCY DREW'S FATHER ) for those who are wiling to pursue clues to learn unexpected facts.

Gia,

2 thumbs way up on "The Dude" and the Coen Bother's.  Can't wait to see their new movie tomorrow.  I think I saw Fargo about 10 times.

Olivia,

If you look up "intense" in the dictionary, in addition to the definition, you may find James Ellroy's photo.  Great writer.  He's in your face and is about as subtle as electro-shock therapy.  Glad the Doc is doing well.  Happy "B" month!!!!

austensibly,

Well met and welcome to the group.

Thanks Peter, and wassail to austensibly and all gentlefolk upon this fine day.

So right about Ellroy, and Willie, I just love Stephen Fry, so I'll have to check those books out. Must add Lebowsky to my rent and re-rent video list...

Oops-forgot to mention John Burdett's Bangkok detective series. Next best thing to being there, and SO KINKY-in a good way, I mean, er, story line, or whatever...

Olivia, is everything OK at home? I detect a certain , um, throbbingly persistent theme in your posts. I hope you have rechargeable batteries, otherwise, you will be bankrupt soon...

Fry has written books himself, as has Hugh Laurie, but I haven't read any of them.

And I wouldn't RENT Lebowski. As Lauren Bacall used to say in her ad for the New Yorker, "Get your own, darling." 

Willie, I'm FINE, honey. Better than fine. No man, but that's ok, since I seem to have bad luck there. I'll do better now since I've sworn off marriage. I'm just a woman who has never had a problem with my sexuality-I love it, love being a woman, love sex, better shut up now, so ok. Drinking champagne makes my, um, inhibitions fall off. For some reason a sexual woman intimidates a lot of guys, never got that...

Also, if you'll notice, I am irrepressibly goofy about most everything, sex included. Can't help it, don't WANT to help it. That's just silly me.

Well holy bat guano!  I just realized I read"In Cold Blood" 43 years ago when I was a senior in HS.  Time sure . . . .

Olivia:

Did Burdett write Bangkok 8? Very absorbing crime drama novel that I bought in Seoul airport, and have mislaid.

Did anyone see the eerily timed NYT article today about how certain Indian courts are admiting as evidence the results of functional brain MR imaging performed on suspects? It is taken to be highly accurate as regards truth-telling versus lying. Though I doubt it would ever be admittable as evidence in a first-world court, acceptance could usurp the detective genre.

The world financial meltdown has me glued to CNBC, which will be covering it all night. It's giving me a stomach ache. Which reminds me, a propos of being a gastroenterolgist, of the most unforgivable of Sherlock Holmes jokes:

Watson: "Holmes, I have a stomach ache. What do you think the problem is?"

Holmes: "Alimentary, my dear Watson."

Thank you all for cheering me up.  Woke up horribly ill today (truly hope it wasn't last night's restaurant in Chinatown; it's always been one of my favorites) and haven't spent much time out of bed.  Finally crawled over to the computer and you have all put a smile on my face.  I am truly grateful.

Willie,

Try Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller.  Best opening paragraph since 1984.

Mark Swaim, are you ectually a gastro?

Ever see Bowser and Blue's "Colo-rectal surgeon song"?

Here's to the Colo-rectal suregon

surely is a friend of mine, slaving away in the heart of darkness

working where the sun don't shine 

 There's much more and it is all funny. You can probably find it on youtube, if you poke aroud a little bit...

Olivia, I am not at all  intimidated- as long as you stay on your side of the mouse... Always nice to see a lady with her inhibitions down.

There has been some mention of Josephine Tey here but not of her greatest work, The Daughter of Time.  Missive might take exception to her mix of documented history and her own speculation but, in this case, that's precisely the point.  The crime is still unsolved and the novel is essentially Tey's attempt to solve it.  I also happen to agree with most of her findings and was a member of the Richard III Society for many years.

Another Tey work I love is Brat Farrar.  It takes the Prince and the Pauper/Prisoner of Zenda format and turns it on its head.

One great crime writer who has yet to be mentioned is Ed McBain.  Most famous for his 87th Precinct novels, he also wrote King's Ransom which Akira Kurosawa transformed into his beyond brilliant masterwork, High and Low.

Bright Greetings, all...

I am new, and this is my first post.  I must confess; as a career academic (professor by trade, doctoral student by necessity, researcher for fun) the gamut of my current reading rarely leaves the genre of textbooks or literature suitable for backing up my conference papers.  I am, actually, an avid researcher in the philosophy of biology and an uber-fan of books by David Sloan Wilson, a biologist.  Also enjoy the work of Kim Sterelny and (some) Daniel Dennett.  Any thoughts? 

Good grief! How could we omit Ed McBain and the gang at the 87th. They are like family. Good catch DPR.

A tossing in of personal two cents worth regarding In Cold Blood.

In my view, the only blood for which temperature was in question was Capote's. The national news undercoverage of murders in small-town Kansas afforded Capote a situation upon which he could wreak himself, with all of his solipsism, personal theatre, and flagrancy. His projections would be subjected to little establishment of their veracity. What facts he garnered were as a result of being a busybody and a boundary-violator.  Strong words from me, I guess, and no one should be afraid to disagree with me. His claims on inventing a new kind of writing (the non-fiction novel) are for me a negative trifecta: he hardly invented it, and his book was neither non-fiction nor novel.

Remember also that In Cold Blood basically would never have come about without the participation and immersion of Nelle Harper Lee, Capote's small-town Alabama childhood friend, whose star was shooting meteorically because of To Kill A Mockingbird. Capote's book really would never have come about without Lee's presence and intervention, yet Capote never credited her appropriately, ostensibly because of his own narcissism. I have always wondered whether the pain I am sure Lee felt over this had much to do with the fact that she never produced another novel. SInce I doubt Capote was an outright sociopath, he must have felt something of Lee's disappointment; perhaps this contributed to his succumbing to the drink.

To DRP: I am an avid Josephine Tey fan, and have read all SIX of her books, I know the critics all consider A Daughter of Time, her best. However, it's not one of my favorites. A few that I enjoyed more: A Shilling for Candles. Man in the Queue.

Also, Peter Lovesy has not been mentioned...the Peter Diamond series. Any thoughts?

A terrific read about the history and personal opinions on the Detective Novel is called "Bloody Murder" and it's written by Julian Symons...a terrific mystery writer himself. Reginald Hill should also be mentioned. Simon Brett...Michael Gilbert...

Zachchange - I love the Harry Bosch novels! Great suspense, twists and turns throughout the plot, and always a surprise ending. I like the character of Harry Bosch. Obsessive, edgy, knows how to cut through the red tape, and doesn't mind stepping on a few toes along the way. Everything is in the details. Each novel has a beginning sentence that immediately pulls you in and keeps you turning pages. Michael Connelly is an outstanding writer.

The less I know about the personal lives of authors, directors, and actors, the easier it is for me to jump down the rabbit hole and enjoy their work. The real person behind the curtain usually disappoints

PeterLake:

Point very well taken. A writer I truly admired morphed rapidly into someone whose work I would never read again after I invited him to my school to speak and spent 36 hours hosting him. His rudeness, arrogance and gratuitous fight-picking were Olympian. Yeah, I drove him back to the airport myself, to make damn certain he got on the plane.

This person was a writer, as it turns out, in philolosphy of biology (cf. gradgirl's entry above; welcome gradgirl), but was not any of the ones gradgirl names, who are excellent. 

Gia,

I've never read A Shilling for Candles though I know it was the source material for Hitchcock's Young and Innocent which I enjoy very much.  I didn't know the ciritcs considered Daughter of Time to be Tey's best.  I only knew it was my favorite.

Under the name, Gordon Daviot, Tey also wrote a play called Dickon in a further attempt to clear Richard III's name.  While I admire the effort, I thought the writing wasn't anywhere near as good.

WELCOME gradgirl, to our nest of singing birds! Your contributions will be enjoyed I make no doubt.

Mark, Burdett DID write Bangkok 8, a great read, as you note.

I am up, I am trailing clouds of glory, I shall greet the dawn with a great shout and carpe diem. A wonderful day to you all!

Sorry all,

I dropped the Capote bomb and then fell off the planet.

Olivia, 

Yes. What you said. Soliqui. . . .? Thank you.

PeterLake,

I read just as you have so nicely described. Mostly, with my the tips of my fingers resting on my sternum in awe, even if it's tripe. I just like the escape. Am trying to read _Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day_. Tripe, really, but there's good heart. And I like that.

I am so surprised by my reaction to Capote. Am never like that. He just seemed to enjoy telling it so much, so hedonistically and with wreckless liberties. And that bothered me. That's all.

 DPR,

I never disapprove of genre mixing or even inventing. This was a unique 'reaction' for me. Honestly. 

Gradgirl,

Welcome!!!! 

Missy-Do not fear orthography, dive right in-it's FUN! (This from a winner of spelling bees, an impudent child who knew her power...lol)

And YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!!

Miss Ive,
So pleased to hear back from you. I was concerned that my words had offended and I would never intentionally do that to someone like you, . . . a dear friend.

Passionate people react passionately. You should read me sometime when I go ballistic because someone made hamburger out of one of my all too numerous sacred cows.

"Real boats rock" which I believe is an Assimov quote, pretty well sums up my perspective on things.

Gotta go trim those trees now that the sun has finally made an appearance here.

I'm amazed and delighted by this whoe site-- expect this is going to be fun.

I'll second my admiration for Michel Connolly. Another good Southrn Cal crime writer is T. Jefferson Parker. And Lawrence Block is great for modern noir.

 If you stretch the category to "crime novel" rather than (classic) mystery my favorite is Michael Gruber. His first three novels under his own name, Tropic of Night, Valley of Bones, and Night of the Jaguar, blew me away with their combination of audacity and erudition. They form trilogy of sorts but can be read separately. The next two, stand- alone books, are The Book of Air and Shadows and The Forgery of Venus-- the second maybe not quite as good as the others.

 He also ghost- wrote a series for his cousin Robert Tanenbaum, also good, but do not be deceived-- the last GRUBER Tannenbaum is Resolved. After that they are appalling-- watch the Amazon reviews go from four and  five stars to one and two.

He is a natural stoyrteller and a great creator of characters. He also knows enough about everything-- or at least everything I know, which happens to include biology, firearms, ethnobotany, languages, and the theology and religious orders of the Cathloc church (also Santeria, which I know nothing about, and Sibeian Shamans which I do.) I find it breaks the spell if something in an otherwise good story is wrong. I have trouble with the "Reacher" tales becuse the author is utterly ignorant of the firearms his hero constantly uses. And a recent book ofhis set in the Southwest was ludicrous in his portrait of society there, as though he had sat in New York and conjured up his most lurid fantasies of Texan ranchers and Mexicans. Gruber is the absolute opposite.

What else? My delight as I read down the list made me race through without notes. Oh, right, Bonfiglioli's Mortdecai. I think his problem is not his outdated attitudes-- he is just a charming and utterly unprincipled antihero, always out for himself to the point of hilarity. If Bonfiglioli were alive today he'd be just as outrageous.