|
|
Reflections of a Reluctant Mystery Fan
-
Just what is so fascinating about crime? Like most libraries, our mystery section, filled with novels about murder, mayhem, and nefarious deeds, is one of the most popular. If you dont think of yourself as a mystery reader, think again. We have mysteries to please history buffs, foodies, or fantasy fans. You can find a mystery with a sense of humor, or a low level of violence, or a high gross-out factor, depending on what youre looking for.
The
Bonus Army is one of the more interesting and lesser known chapters in
American history. In 1932, more than 45,000 veterans of World War I gathered
in Washington, DC, to demand the bonus promised them at the end of the
war. In Someone to Watch Over Me, Jill
Churchill has devised a Depression era mystery with a sub-plot that
includes a vivid account of the Bonus Army's expulsion from the capitol
by U.S. troops. Its one of the books in her Grace & Favor series, whose
titles are all borrowed from popular songs of the era. You can also look
for Bonus Army: an American Epic by Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen for
a straight forward recounting of this tragedy. For a witty, funny story with plenty of literary allusions, check out The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. His heroine, Tuesday Next, is a detective with the Literary Division of the Special Operations Network. If you haven't guessed yet, this mystery takes place in a slightly altered England in 1985, though youll be sure to recognize certain characters, events and locations.
If an alternate universe is too far out for you, maybe youll be happier on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The first international bestseller by Alexander McCall Smith, this entrancing novel details the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, a traditionally builtwoman who opens up shop as the first female gumshoe in the African nation of Botswana.
True
crime is usually stranger than fiction, and every bit as interesting. The
Smartest Guys in the Room: the Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany
McLean and Peter Elkind, was just made into a documentary film. Its
a truly incredible story of corporate greed, deception and delusion. For
a dip into mass delusion, check out Ponzi's Scheme: the True Story
of a Financial Legend by Mitchell
Zuckoff. In 1920, Charles Ponzi offered Bostonians a chance to earn
interest at a rate of 50% on a three week investment. Thousands flocked
to his office and millions poured into his coffers. The book includes charming
period photographs of various players in the real life drama, from Ponzi's
wife and mother to the lawmen and newsmen who brought him down.— Julie Zelman
Reviews
- Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
-
Sarah
Vowell, well-known to listeners of NPR's This
American Life, has odd tastes in vacations. She starts her latest
one, and this book, with the Sondheim musical Assassins, and spends
an inordinate amount of time in the book tracking down scenes of the assassinations
and deaths of Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and James Garfield. Along
the way, she visits plaques in Washington, DC, and places from Buffalo,
New York to Fort
Jefferson, a post-Civil War federal prison in the Florida Keys. Her
comments on the politics of the times, and how they relate to today, make
the book both fascinating and a trifle scary. Bonus: get the audio
edition; Vowell uses various celebrity voices to read historic quotes!— Joe Makowiec
- Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
-
When
I was young, there was a book around the house called With
Malice Toward Some, a 1938 potboiler by Margaret Halsey. It was
distinguished for me mainly by its cover illustration - a gent, quite pleased
with himself, standing at the rail of a passenger boat. The caption read
something like 'He was the sort you wanted to push overboard'. What might
happen if somebody actually decided to carry out a plan like that? That's
the premise and starting point of this comic novel by Florida writer and
columnist Carl Hiaasen, when sham scientist Chaz Perrone decides to send
his wife Joey over the rail on their second anniversary cruise. What he
forgets is that she was a champion swimmer in college. Capitalizing on
the fact that Chaz thinks she's dead, Joey spends the rest of the novel
making his life miserable with help from Mick Stranahan, a former police
officer who was retired because he killed a corrupt judge and now lives
as a hermit on an island, and her brother, who has moved to New Zealand
to ranch sheep.The novel is set in South Florida, and it's notable that the most normal characters are Mick Stranahan, Tool, a hulk of a man with an embedded bullet and a Fentanyl habit, and the Viet Nam vet who lives in the middle of the Everglades and hears voices. There are loose ends to the book, but it's a quick and entertaining read which makes it a good choice for beach reading this summer.
— Joe Makowiec
Book News! See the list of new books!
 |
|
| Best Seller Lists | Sunday Book Review |
| Writer's Almanac from Minnesota Public Radio | |