Talking Crime Fiction all Along the Watchtower
Wellington Leg: Keeping my voice at a whisper as I escape the Tower. Yes, the earl here, crawling down the mighty edifice by sheer strength of will, reckless of wind and howling beasts…hand over hand when, without warning, my cellular telephone commences its ‘ring tone’ of “Love is a Battlefield” not my first choice but rather institutionalized by the sales clerk. One suspects a different or customized ring tone is available somewhere for the cognoscenti but “Love is a Battlefield” certainly suffices in terms of alerting the garrison that something is amiss….fortunately my neoprene wet suit renders me invisible although tangled in the ivy. These are less than optimal reviewing conditions but do bear with me.
CITY OF FIRE by Robert Ellis SMP-Minotaur: something of a page turner with a front cover blurb from Michael Connelly. Strong story, some odd moments, well written.
A SPY BY NATURE, by Charles Cumming. A debut by this UK author a Scot recruited by the SIS. I had to set Mrs. Frothingmunster’s prized rattan Starbuck’s holder on fire to spirit this one from the TBR file.
A DANGEROUS MAN by Charlie Huston Ballantine paper: A Henry Thompson joint with murder and baseball, Russian Geezers and scenes from Brooklyn. These are a few of my favorite things.
THE CAIRO DIARY by Maxim Chattam. Another debut, this one from a Frenchman about a young woman hidden by the DST at a remote monastery where she discovers the diary of an English policeman in colonial Cairo. His investigation is more interesting than hers and the familiar elements of the plots weigh the story down.
The fellow in the neighboring cell is playing the spoons, a haunting melody…Love is a Battlefield. Last week it was From a Buick Six: they’ve brought out the vertical dogs…musn’t blog now. YHS, the Earl.