Fuzz
Posted: 2018/09/17 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, book lust i, book review, crime, Ed McBain, Fiction, murder, mystery, september, series Leave a commentMcBain, Ed. Fuzz. New York: Warner Books, 2000.
Reason read: to finish the series started in July in memory of McBain’s passing.
McBain is a master of character development and dialogue detail.
The 87th Precinct has met its match in Fuzz. After a prominent citizen of a fictitious New York City is gunned down witnesses can only say they saw a man wearing a hearing aid. Dubbed the Deaf Man, it isn’t long before he strikes again. His modus operandi is to call the precinct to extort a sum of money or else someone is going to die. In the case of Parks Commissioner Cowper, it was $5,000. The next threat was aimed at the deputy mayor for $50,000. Finally, it was the mayor’s turn to die. Meanwhile on a different assignment, Steve Carella tries to figure out who is setting homeless people on fire. Dressed as a derelict Carella puts himself in danger and isn’t fast enough to get out of harm’s way…
Quotes I liked, “In a city notorious for its indifference, the citizens were obviously withdrawn now, hurrying past each other without so much as eyes meeting, insulating themselves, becoming tight private cocoons that defied the cold” (p 23),
Author fact: So, here’s a really odd one. McBain can describe the weather so well the heat detailed on the page can send trickles of sweat down your back or the lack of it can freeze your fingertips. Impressive, considering all the while you are in the comfort of your own temperature controlled home.
Book trivia: Fuzz was made into a movie in starring Burt Reynolds.
Nancy said: I read Fuzz and Big Bad City out of order because Pearl listed Big Bad City before Fuzz. I should have known better than to trust Pearl to put the series in the order in which they should be read. It’s an attention to detail I would have appreciated.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 120).
Den of Thieves
Posted: 2018/07/30 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, NonFiction | Tags: 2018, book lust i, book review, crime, James Stewart, july, NonFiction, wall street Leave a commentStewart, James B. Den of Thieves. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
Reason read: July is typically Job Fair month (although this is not the job most would want to have…).
In a nutshell, Den of Thieves recounts the largest insider-trading scandal in the all-about-me 1980s. It is what happens when all-out avarice collides with above-the-law arrogance. Everyone has a hazy remembrance of Milken, Siegel and Freeman (to name a few) but with thorough research Stewart’s book keeps the details in sharp focus.
Confessional: in this criminal climate we currently live in, I had a hard time reading about a group of individuals who had a blatant disregard for the law. Some things never change. I couldn’t finish this book.
Author fact: Stewart likes going after big time dirty deeds. He has written other books on big time falls from grace.
Book trivia: Stewart includes a great selection of photographs.
Nancy said: Nancy called Den of Thieves “frightening” (Book Lust, p 34).
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “BBB: Best Business Books” (p 33). How it is considered a “best business book” I’ll never know.
Cop Hater
Posted: 2018/07/27 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, book lust i, book review, crime, Ed McBain, Fiction, july, mystery, series Leave a commentMcBain, Ed. Cop Hater. New York: Pocket Books, 1999.
Reason read: McBain died in the month of July; read Cop Hater in his memory.
Someone is going around killing cops. One right after another in quick succession, three plain-clothed detectives are gunned down. At first glance Joe Public assumes someone out there is a serious cop hater. That seems to be the only connection between the three victims. They are all law enforcement. So, someone must really hate the fuzz, right? The only other common denominator is the heat. It’s summertime and every day is blazing hot, hot, hot. Tempers are flaring but is it hot enough to drive someone to murder? That’s what protagonist Detective Steve Carella needs to find out.
What I loved about McBain’s style is how he drops clues along the way. Once you know “whodunit” you can go back and see the answers peeking out way before the individual crimes are solved. While the details are a little dated and police procedures are very different than they were in the 50s, Cop Hater is still an entertaining read.
I forgot to mention my favorite line, “The elevator crawled up the intestinal track of the building” (p 92). Great image!
Author fact: Ed McBain is actually Evan Hunter and Cop Hater is his first 87th Precinct book of the series.
Book trivia: Cop Hater was originally published in 1956 and made into a movie in 1958. The funny thing is, as I was reading it I thought it would make the perfect crime series for television. Turns out, McBain modeled Cop Hater after the television show, Dragnet.
Nancy said: Nancy said Cop Hater takes place in New York City. I am guessing she didn’t read McBain’s introduction because he makes a point of explaining the Eighty-seventh Precinct is based on a New York City precinct. Cop Hater actually takes place in the fictional city of Isola.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the huge chapter “I Love a Mystery” (p 120).
Miss Lizzie
Posted: 2018/07/19 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, biography, book lust i, book review, crime, Fiction, july, mystery, Walter Salterthwait Leave a commentSatterthwait, Walter. Miss Lizzie. New York: International Polygonics, Ltd. 2000.
Reason read: Lizzie Borden was born in July; read in her honor.
Everyone remembers the rhyme about Lizzie Borden giving her parents a certain number of whacks. Everyone also knows she was found not guilty. But! She wasn’t found innocent either. So what happens when, thirty years later, another parent is found murdered in the exact same way and Lizzie just happens to be the neighbor living right next door? Coincidence? Amanda Burden is a teenager of thirteen and has befriended Miss Borden who has lived alone all this time. This is Amanda’s story.
Satterthwait keeps the tension tight in this clever whodunit. Amanda believes in Miss Lizzie’s innocence and yet Satterthwait is careful to leave a little room for doubt.
There were several things I found unusual about this plot. For starters, Amanda is, as I said, only thirteen years old and yet her father leaves Amanda with Miss Lizzie while he conducts business (and an affair) in Boston. Amanda has been keeping her friendship with Miss Lizzie a secret, so how or why would Mr. Burden trust his only daughter to the care of a woman who may or may not have murdered her parents? I don’t think it ruins the plot to say that I was even further confused when it was revealed Amanda’s father left his daughter to be the one to discover her stepmother’s body hacked to death. Who does that?
Quotes to quote, “Families are held together as much by what they do not say as by what they do” (p 86), and “Decades can pass sometimes, and even entire lives, before we forgive our parents their humanity” (p 316).
Author fact: Satterthwait has a sense of humor. His Amazon page says he was raised by wolverines because the wolves wouldn’t take him.
Nancy said: Miss Lizzie was one of the best biographical novels she’s read (Book Lust, p 37).
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Biographical Novels” (p 37). As an aside, this could also be in the More Book Lust chapter called “Men Channeling Women” (p 166).
