Dick Francis to the top of the pile

The best part of my job is seeing the new books arrive and getting to handle them in their pristine condition. This week the large-print edition of the new Dick Francis novel, Dead Heat arrived. I took it upon myself to run a quality control page count of the book to be certain no pages were missing and I can verify today that all 511 pages are present and accounted for.

Dick Francis has never disappointed me except for not developing a continuing character more than he did. (Except for Kit Fielding in Break In and Bolt,and Sid Halley in Odds Against, Whip Hand, Come to Grief, and Under Orders.) But since all his main characters capture my interest, I'll forgive him. I guess I start liking the characters so much that I want to continue knocking around in their world in subsequent novels.

In Dead Heat, Max Moreton is owner and chef of a Newcastle restaurant, the Hay Net, and is responsible for food poisoning that strikes 200+ race-goers at the book's outset and then as they say, we are "off to the races." (I couldn't resist.)

Francis credits his son Felix as co-author. Following the death of wife Mary Francis, Dick looked to one of his sons as fill-in to replace the research formerly done by Mary. Apparently, Felix left a career as a private school teacher for the post. According to Wikipedia, Felix was the inspiration behind the leading character in Twice Shy.

Dick Francis fans will not be disappointed in the story, it is quintessentially Dick Francis with the smell of horses not far in the background. His 42nd outing. Dick Francis is 87.

The book discussion group on Ragtime

Currently reading:
The 47th Samurai
by Stephen Hunter
Genre: Thriller
Reason: Judged by its cover.
Waiting: Pale Horse Coming
by Stephen Hunter

My discussion group met this morning to discuss Ragtime which I enjoyed. It got mixed reviews. Some found it disjointed and hard to follow, the sex put some off, and others couldn't say exactly why they didn't like it, they just didn't.

It is an unusual book in that Doctorow makes no use of quotation marks throughout the book. Dialog is made clear contextually, and for me it worked. I am a forgiving reader, if the story grabs my interest I seem to get inside the story and enter without my critical reader tools. As long as the author does not ask me to suspend belief for an impossibly implausible turn of events I am willing to work with him or her to get to the end of the story.

Next, we are reading St. Agnes' Stand by Tom Eidson which the publisher daringly compared to Larry McMurtry and which looks from its cover like it might have shades of Two Mules for Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine and Clint Eastwood) in it. Following St. Agnes' Stand we will be reading In Cold Blood then Kite Runner.

As we wrapped up the gathering, I distributed a list titled: The 112 Best of the American Novelists, Novels. We used the list to discuss possible titles for the next series of books we will discuss.

What I liked about the list was that it wasn't compiled by scholars or literary critics who usually head their list with Ulysses by James Joyce which everyone agrees they haven't read. At the time I Googled for the list I did not pay much attention to the source of the list, I was more interested in what was on the list as far as being fair and representative and not especially leaning towards the scholarly. I will stand by the list for breadth and inclusiveness and hope I don't take too bad a licking when you see where it did come from.

Lee Child and Jack Reacher

The following is a YouTube of Lee Child talking about his character Jack Reacher in which he reveals two facts about Reacher that he has not spoken of before.



I love the Reacher stories. He is a former U.S. Army Military Police Major. He served thirteen years, was mustered out, and now lives with no permanent address, no suitcase, and no income. He is an unconventional character with the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes. His adventures are twisting and require unique skills to solve. I was captured by the series on the first page of the first one I read. There are eleven in the series so far. I'll list them for you:

1. Killing Floor 1997
2. Die Trying 1998
3. Tripwire 1999
4. Running Blind 2000
5. Echo Burning 2001
6. Without Fail 2002
7. Persuader 2003
8. The Enemy 2004
9. One Shot 2005
10. The Hard Way 2006
11. Bad Luck and Trouble 2007

Lee Child is in his 50's so the series could have a long run if he doesn't get tired of the character. I think Child's skill as a writer will continue even if he does and the compelling stories will continue.

If you are looking for a good book give one of these a try. They were a jackpot for me.

Ten Best Detective Novels

Currently reading:
The Scent of Blood
by Raymond Miller
Genre: Crime
Date started: September 18
Reason: Cover blurb by Lee Child

Waiting:
The 47th Samurai
by Stephen Hunter

The following list is lifted from Crime Fiction Dossier. I like the concept although my list would vary some from it.

10 Greatest Detective Novels (in alphabetical order):

• Lawrence Block - When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
• Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
  
• Michael Connelly - The Black Echo
• Robert Crais - L.A. Requium
• James Crumley - The Last Good Kiss
• Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
• John D. MacDonald -- The Dreadful Lemon Sky
• Walter Mosley - The Devil in A Blue Dress
• Robert B. Parker - Looking for Rachel Waller
• Rex Stout - The League of Frightened Men

The list is going to drive me back into the dusty lairs to locate the Chandler, Hammett, and the Stout. All the rest I am conversant with and would rank highly but if I read the three older titles I don't remember it so I will do my homework and take a look at them.

There is an interesting conversation associated with the original post that expands and confirms the list, check it out. Some readers criticized the list for excluding women and mention Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Cristie. How does the list strike you? Did they miss any that you would like to see on the list? Let me know. I like Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins but I don't think he rates the 10 Best list, what about one of Stuart Kaminsky's detectives like Lieberman or Rostnikov? And what about Dana Stabenow, Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, or James Lee Burke? Not to mention Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko and Ed McBain's 87th Precinct. And if the list is going to be inclusive I would have to go with Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, I mean gimme a break.

They say Poe created the genre with Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) but Holmes breathed life into it from 1887 until 1930 and deserves top billing.

At our Friends of the Library book sale a couple of weeks ago I picked up a 10 cent bargain, 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett, which reminded me of his poem:

221B

Here dwell together still two men of note
Who never lived and so can never die:
How very near they seem, yet how remote
That age before the world went all awry.
But still the game’s afoot for those with ears
Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:
England is England yet, for all our fears–
Only those things the heart believes are true.

A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane
As night descends upon this fabled street:
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.
Here, though the world explode, these two survive,
And it is always eighteen ninety-five.

– Vincent Starrett

For me 10 won't work, I could maybe work with the 25 best, but the 50 best would be even better.

Small world crossings

Currently reading:
The Patience of the Spider
by Andrea Camilleri
Genre: Crime
Date started: September 17
Reason: It has a scooter on the cover

Waiting:
The Scent of Blood
by Raymond Miller

Thanks to Matthew Coenen for the idea to list "Reading" and "Waiting."

Recently I did one of those periodic Google searches that some of us do on names from the past. I searched the name Anita Spearman.

The number one return out of 91,400 citations for "Anita Spearman" was for an feature article titled Tell the story, tell the truth, that ran 5/28/2006, in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, written by Michael Connelly.

Anita Spearman had been murdered in late 1985, while recovering at home from a mastectomy. She was beaten to death by an intruder. She was my boss. I was the director of the West Palm Beach Public Library at the time and Anita was an Assistant City Manager for an old Florida cracker from Kissimmee named Dick Simmons. At her funeral, this big-eared country good old boy cried for everyone there, he was inconsolable with shock and grief amid the hundreds of mourners who attended her funeral. Very quickly her husband was charged and convicted of hiring the murder. He was killed in prison. The actual perpetrator was also brought to trial.

The Michael Connelly is That Michael Connelly. Who knew. He worked as a cub reporter for the Sun-Sentinel and West Palm Beach city government was his first beat. I wish I could say I remember meeting him but I don't. I do remember one of his replacements, Scott Hiaasen, son of novelist Karl Hiaasen and as nice a young man as you could want.

Of course Michael Connelly has gone on to write sixteen successful crime novels, some featuring detective Harry Bosch. The point of the Sun-Sentinel article was to register Connelly's regret over the one article he did at the time of the Spearman murder in which he took an objective view and did not reveal his own grief and sadness over the loss of that gentlewoman who had been so cordial and welcoming to him as a young reporter. His regret was in not showing his heart in telling the truth and he claims that the lesson was learned, he writes; "When I write now I am free to reveal my compassion, my passion, my hopes and regrets. In a way I am free to tell the truth about myself in my novels, whereas when I was writing the stories in newspapers I had to hold things back."

Connelly tells the story in his non-fiction book Crime Beat, which is on-order at the time of this writing.

Beauty and obsession

I picked up the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (LP 635.93 Orlean,) after seeing a reference to it by another poster on Douban and because I had seen the movie and had been curious about the character of John Larouche upon whom the film was focused. I had brushed up against the orchid acquisition fever (Orchidelirium) while I lived in Florida and I knew firsthand the power that collecting orchids could have.

I innocently bought one orchid, then another, and six months later had seventy five orchids with no easing of the drive for more. I found good homes for them all when I left Florida but I must confess that I have murdered four since moving to Kansas in attempts to bring them back into my life. Here is a photo of an orchid growing on my patio fence.


Orlean captures the essence of the disease as she writes the story of John Laroche the orchid thief. She traces the history of orchid collecting (poaching) that swept the modern world as an obsession from the beginning. Laroche was a poacher and he focused on the Fakahatchee Strand area of Florida for his poaching. The primary focus of his desire was the ghost orchid which he thought he could propagate at his nursury and supply in the millions to the masses thereby saving the plant from other poachers and getting rich in the process.

The movie, Adaptation, follows the book, mostly, with the Nicholas Cage twin brother thing thrown in to keep the box office busy, and the Chris Cooper/ Meryl Streep affair thrown in for dramatic effect, I guess. But the character of John Laroche matches up pretty well with the character described by Orlean.

The ghost orchid, an illusive Florida native plant is the main object of Laroche's obsession and drives the story, Orlean puts herself through difficulty trying to just see just one ghost orchid but fails in her quest. As a matter of fact the ghost orchid is mentioned so often and with such passion that one's curiosity could not fail to be stirred but for some reason no photograph nor drawing was included with the book. The orchid bloom on the cover of the book is not a Ghost orchid it is a dendrobium. To satisfy my own need I found a picture of the ghost and included it below.

The flower is beautiful though short-lived. The plant itself is easily overlooked without the bloom. It grows adhering itself to pond apple trees in Florida swamp areas.

Read any good books lately?

I am always on the lookout for a good book. I have my favorite authors - Lawrence Block, Elmore Leonard, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Lee Child, Giles Blount, Larry McMurtry, Mankell Henning, Ken Bruen, and so forth. But they all write more slowly than I would have them write so I either reread somebody or I keep looking for new authors to read. Every once in a while one of them dies, knock on wood, and the output dies with them (not always, sometimes publishers keep finding lost manuscripts.) So when they die I have an opening that can be hard to fill.

Remember when John D. MacDonald died? I was bummed for a long time that there would never be another Travis McGee story, and I find now that Travis has not aged well and that they do not bear up well on a reread. Tony Hillerman rereads well, as do Connelly and Block.

This morning the American Libraries Direct e-newsletter offered up Books Toolbox: 50+ Sites for Book Lovers. It covers Book Reviews, Book Communities, Publishing, Book Search, and more. I am going to try a few of the recommendations for finding leads to new authors and a site named Douban as a place to keep track of what I have read and want to read.
My book discussion group is reading E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime for the next discussion and I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. Very little dialog which I thought would drag down the story but it has not. The characters and setting are fascinating. Thankfully I do not remember the movie based on the book, so the ending will be a surprise.

The book list I selected for the discussion group has had a mixed reception but this should be one of the best. We started with Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird which is so easy to use to elicit even the most timid 'discusser' but it is a tough act to follow. Will anyone make suggestions for the next list for the discussion group?

Two local artists - Nick Wright and Terry Ricketts

Nick Wright is the photographer responsible for the wonderful shot of our Carnegie building at dusk that is featured on the library's home page. Nick's day job is as a photojournalist for the Independence Daily Reporter, and if you live here you see his work every day. Nick posts a blog of his own that you can check out HERE. He hasn't posted to it since April so we need to get on his case to bring it up to date. I would like to see the work he did of the flood and the flood recovery efforts.

Nick's blog links to a Photography 101 course that is online and free, you can access it HERE.

Coincidentally, another local artist is featured on Nick's blog whose name is Terry Ricketts. Terry is the artist who designed and created the stained glass stabile in the library atrium. This photo is by Nick Wright for the Independence Daily Reporter.


The piece was funded by the Friends of the Library and the Campbell Memorial and it was installed just days before we opened on February 10, 2007.

This is a shot of Terry and an assistant finishing the installation taken by Julie Hildebrand. Terry's studio is located in Sedan and is a fun place to visit. The studio is filled with stained glass work, paintings, sculptures, and some jewelery. Classes in stained glass work and other types glass artistry and offered. The Studio in the Hills is located at 126 West Main in Sedan.

It's been driving me crazy ...

Have you seen the I-Pod Nano commercial with the catchy tune 1-2-3-4? The artist is Leslie Feist a Canadian. Maybe we can all get it out of our systems if we listen to it 200 or 300 times. Go ahead, you know you want to.

New Books Coming Soon

USA Today has a long article previewing the Fall 2007 books. Big names on the list include John Grisham, Tom Brokaw, Phillip Roth, Steve Martin and Eric Clapton. We will buy some from the list but not all. Let us know any of the titles on the list that you would like for us to purchase and we will weigh our selections with that information.

Why don't we just go ahead and buy them all? It is a cost driven decision. We have so many dollars for books and when that runs out we are done for the year. The Friends of the Library help us all year long with money for library materials, to the tune of several thousand dollars.

We rank near the bottom of the pile when we compare our library materials (books, magazines, video's, DVD's, children's books, tapes, etc.) funding to other public libraries in Kansas. On the annual Read Index which ranks Kansas Public Libraries on a variety of factors including Collection Expense Per Capita, we rank 16th out of 18 libraries in our group. I expect that our relative position will improve this year with our expanded building in operation since the size of the library is one of the ranking factors. But book budget-wise, 2008 will not be a banner year for funding. We are shaving our Materials Budget just a little to expand our hours from the current 40 hours per week. How much we expand our hours is in the hands of our city commission. The newest commissioner, Darrell Unruh has pressed the city manager and the other commissioners to come up with $31,000 more for the library so we can expand our hours. The issue will be revisited late this year as unreimbursed flood related expense is better known.

So, typically we add between 2,000 and 3,000 new items to the colleciton every year out of the 175,000 plus published yearly. About 10,000 fiction books are published in the US with a few dozen being the ones everyone wants to read. The stinkers cost as much as the prize-winners but far outlast them on the shelves. It is somewhat a guessing game and some years not even John Grisham produces a winner.

Library Friends Book Sale

Our Friends of the Library group will hold their annual book sale next week on September 14 and 15, Friday and Saturday. On Friday the sale will open at 4:00 for 4 hours and then on Saturday it will open at 8:00 AM and run until noon. The big crowds are there for the opening both days and by noon on Saturday the bargain hunters can fill a pickup truck for about a $1.50 (sort of kidding, but make Scott an offer and you may have a deal.)

The good work of our Friends group is fueled by this event and those who love book sales have a good time. The Friends spend their money supporting library efforts. Recently they have:

• Funded our Opening Day event with music and food;
• Completely set up the Meeting Room kitchen with dessert plates, cups, saucers, pitchers, tumblers, coffee service, table cloths, table skirts, and napkins;
• Funded our starting collection of talking books on MP3 players;
• Funded a grant to bolster our Young Adult collection;
• Funded again, our leased Books on Tape (and CD) collection;
• Funded again, our leased books collection (the bestseller books we all love;) and,
  
• Funded program after program since we opened our new building.
  

And the list goes on. This is a group you need to join if you are interested in and supportive of our library. There is a small but active group the drives this organization and they don't ask for much they just work hard and make the library a better place.

The kiss of death, usually ...

Almost anything I find that has the words, "Translated from the (you name it)" on the cover is prime material for a pass. But Henning Mankell proved me wrong. Mankell's mysteries, translated from Swedish, are solid police procedurals with an engagingly flawed lead character, Detective Kurt Wallander. There are 11 books in the series, with number 12 The Chinaman, slated for release this year. Set in the southern Sweden town of Ystad, the stories are longer and more involved and have more depth than many mysteries. I like a book that spends a few days on the nightstand although an occasional one-nighter is ok.

The series starts with Faceless Killers, published in 1991 (US release 1997,) The Dogs of Riga in 1992, The White Lioness in 1993, and so on. Since we have to wait for the translation and the American release, our books arrive later and not necessarily in the order written. The earliest Wallander stories come in The Pyramid which has 5 short stories that begin in 1979, but in publishing chronology The Pyramid comes after Faceless Killers.

Mankell can be found not on his own website buy on the Kurt Wallander website where one may find more information than one is likely to need, but if nothing else, the site provides publication and release dates for the series. Also mentioned on the site is the likelihood of a British television series featuring Wallander.

Reviewing Faceless Killers, Sue Magee at The Bookbag writes, "Few characters arrive on the scene as fully-formed as Kurt Wallander." I think she nails the feeling I got when I first read him. There are reviews of 2 more of the Kurt Wallender mysteries at The Bookbag.

They do a good job reviewing at The Bookbag, not always positive but usually. I like the depth in the reviews and the way they many times link one review to another with, "If you liked this book you may like this other one ..." type of connection. There are a variety of reviewers at the site so there is a mix of styles and tastes. The site and reviewers are British so there is a bit of a bias towards all things British.

Author Websites

This morning I had the latest newsletter from Stop, You're Killing Me! in my in basket. It is a twice-monthly posting about mystery authors, characters, and forthcoming books. The site was started by Bonnie Brown in 1998 and later taken over by Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich when Ms. Brown's health forced a change. Quoting from the site about why it was created:

“I love a good mystery! When I find new authors, I want to read everything they’ve written. I like to go back to the beginning title and follow the development of a writer's work. With the exception of Sue Grafton and her alphabet series, it can be difficult to find an author's first book. So I have searched online and in reference books to list the books featuring series characters in the order written. Of course, some good mystery and suspense writers don’t use a series character—these are included in the order written.

This site has a straightforward format. The books are arranged by author, series character, and by date written.”

I visit the site frequently when I want to see the complete bibliography of an author or to jog my memory about a character I remember but can no longer place with a title or an author. There are those of us who relish finding a new author that we like who has a long list of titles that can be savored and this is a great site to help with the search for the complete run of work for many authors. You can subscribe to their newsletter here.

Over the weekend I picked up an old favorite, Charles Willeford's New Hope for the Dead (Vintage, 2004) the third of four mysteries featuring Miami cop Hoke Moseley. You might have seen the Jennifer Jason Leigh/Alec Baldwin movie Miami Blues which featured Fred Ward as Sgt. Moseley, and which had some great film of Miami and Miami Beach. There is an introduction to the re-release of New Hope for the Dead by James Lee Burke in which he credits Willeford with helping him get his start in publishing. They taught together at Miami-Dade Community College. The Willeford books are not easy to find but they are a treat when you do. Some excerpts can be found here.