The Seattle Mystery Bookshop has a cavalcade of stars this week appearing in support of new releases in crime fiction. The city is cooperating by not jackhammering Cherry Street in their relentless pursuit of a Northwest Passage believed to be a gateway to China. The great search has shifted over to Second Avenue even as late summer tourists take the Underground Tour.
Your reporter met Tim Hallinan over the weekend. Tim’s Bangkok novel A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART was released in June by Wm. Morrow, an imprint of Harper-Collins. He’s at the Poisoned Pen in Phoenix this week, followed by a visit to M is for Mystery in San Mateo.
Tim and I established beyond a shadow of a doubt that I cannot remember anyone’s name. Luckily through grunting and pointing at books I was able to express my admiration for several authors whose names escape me. Michael Gruber, Denise Mina, Stuart MacBride, Natsuo Kirino sprang to mind when the spines of their books became visible.
Zoe Sharp is town on Thursday. Her novel SECOND SHOT is out. I read it and liked it, and it appears that her character, Charlie Fox, is moving to New York. Ms. Sharp is refreshingly grounded in the school of realism.
MJ Rose is here on Friday for a lunchtime appearance. Her latest novel, THE RESURRECTIONIST, is generating plenty of buzz.
Have you read TOKYO YEAR ZERO by David Peace? No? I want you to, and not only that, so do the entire staff of the Druidical & Literary including sullen intern Lucretia Borgia. I’ll have to gather my wits and talk about this novel another time. I’ve seen the James Ellroy comparison, in fact, he blurbed the novel, but my thoughts ran toward Mo Hayder’s THE DEVIL OF NANKING and even Shirley Hazzard’s THE GREAT FIRE.
Correction: MJ Rose’s new book is entitled THE REINCARNATIONIST, not what I wrote earlier. Sorry MJ!
I almost changed my name to David Peace back in the sixties, but then I found this other guy was already using it. (Same problem with David Unicorn Love, so I gave up.)
Even though he ripped off my name, I’m going to buy the book. You make it sound impressive, and, hey–I can forgive and forget.
I almost changed my name to Richard Milhous Nixon, but thought better of it.
Spiro Agnew?
Spiro T. Agnew.
As in Spiro T. and the MG’s.