Seattle Mystery Bookshop

MURDER, NORTH TO SOUTH

I set my last novel, Bonereapers, in Norway. Norwegian winters are long and dark and bitter and there seems to be a gloomy streak in the national temperament that inclines people to thoughts of death. The brooding landscapes, the aura of ancient stones and ghosts of the past strike a deep psychological chord and add a special sense of horror to the crime of murder. Ironically, the homicide rates in Scandinavia are among the lowest on the planet. Perhaps it’s the rarity of murder that makes crime fiction so popular. A pool of blood oozing across a field of pure white snow is more shocking than a blood-drenched body sprawled in a filth-strewn alley.   

Far to the south in sunny Greece, the murder rate is climbing fast. Foreigners are being beaten and stabbed to death on an almost daily basis. Violence against women and the elderly has risen sharply and the police seem unable to stop the rash of brutal muggings and robberies.

My most recent book, “Her Boyfriend’s Bones,” takes place on the Aegean island of Samos, which has become a chokepoint for refugees fleeing wars in the Middle East and Africa. Smugglers can transport their human cargo across the narrow Mycale Strait from Turkey in less than an hour, but the passage is treacherous. Many die in the attempt and the Samians, left to cope with the bodies washing up on their beaches and the horde of survivors who must be fed and housed, feel increasingly resentful. The Greek debt crisis and burgeoning unemployment have stoked fear and xenophobia. Corruption is rampant and bitterness bred during the military junta of the late ‘60s makes the island fertile ground for murder. 

My sleuth Dinah Pelerin has seen murder both north and south.  Trust her when she says that blood spilled on a gleaming white beach is no less horrifying that blood on a field of snow. 

 

Jeanne Matthews

For more information about Jeanne’s books, visit her website www.jeannematthews.com

Platitudes and other Drugs for Depression

Life is what you make it.  That used to be my favorite platitude and it meant nothing--now, as I approach my dotage, it has a horrible ring of truth.  Why horrible?  Because it means I have to quit blaming and start doing/acting.

Oh, boy, the woman is in a philosophical mood.  Not really, just face-to-face with what only I can change.  If I'm in the pits it's up to me to climb out.  Now that's bad news.  Blame was always so useful, together with duvet diving (pulling the covers over my head and trying to sleep my way out of "not being happy.")

No more.  If I duvet dive in future it has to be because a) I'm tired or b)I'm cold.  Otherwise it's chin up and get the hell on with it, Cameron.

Today has been good for me.  Being with my friends at Seattle Mystery Bookshop has to help--they don't care what color sneakers I turn up in or if my socks are inside out.  But it helped that I found my lines to live by.  Not a platitude but true, meaningful lines:  Happiness is not the destination, it's the journey.

I'll leave all my mates on the journey with that thought--and the news that I'm just finishing COLD, Introducing Alex Duggins, my reluctant but budding sleuth in a new (and I hope enduring) mystery series set in Folly-on-Weir in the English Cotswold Hills--with the occasional sidetrip to London or other places of fascination.

Loving and leaving you for now--but happy:)

Stella

 

 

J.R. Rain Giving Out Kisses!

Bestselling author and world-class flirt, J.R. Rain, is a puckering fool down here at Seattle Mystery Bookshop. What had started as a simple booksigning has turned into...something else entirely. The signings have given away to a "kiss fest," as J.R. Rain referred to it (between smooches, of course). Hurry down and get in line where the kisses are free, even if the books aren't.

The Perfect Bus Book

The idea for the Arabella Beaumont series sprang from an ongoing annoyance of mine. Frequently, I find myself leaving for the bus stop in the morning, with my coat on, ready to go...and nothing to read. This may sound odd, coming from a woman with over 2,000 books in her personal library, but it can’t be just any book, you see. A traveling book has to be lightweight, in both senses of the word, and small enough to fit into a pocket. It must be engaging in a way that won’t distract me too much from the business of getting onto the precise bus which will take me to my destination. (I am not a multi-tasker.) It should also be cheap, and a paperback, so that I won’t feel bad if the pages get a bit crumpled in transit.

I have a few books like this, but I’ve read them already. And they’re getting harder to find these days. (I should have mentioned that I’m also very picky. My books of choice must be well-written, with interesting characters and a plot of some kind. And I ‘mutht be amuthed,’ though I theldom am, these days; amusing books seem to be out of fashion. So, in the end, I had to write my own. It’s not perfect; the dimensions are 8 ¼” x 5 ½” rather than 7”x 4 ¼,” and it’s not as cheap as I’d imagined. I was envisioning my 1959 copy of The Manchurian Candidate, which cost $1.50 new. Probably not too realistic nowadays. But in all other respects, Death and the Courtesan is exactly what I’ve been looking for – good for up to 10 bus trips to and from work. And of course, it’s a paperback.

There is just one problem: I’ve already read it.

Pamela Christie

The Return of Walter, Easy and Mouse

Walter Mosley was in yesterday to sign copies of his new Easy Rawlins, Little Green. Set in the 60s with an appropriately psychedelic dust jacket. Here's an interview with Walter about his return to the neighborhoods in which he grew up, and to Easy's world.
Signed and dated 1st Printings still available, $25.95

The Innocence Game

It's a beautiful day in Seattle. I'm visting the city's premier bookstore to promote my latest stand-alone, THE INNOCENCE GAME. It's about three grad students at Northwestern who, as part of a class assignment, reopen a death penalty case the Chicago PD would prefer remain undisturbed. Quick tip for would-be gumshoes: if you're investigating cops (especially Chicago cops) you suspect might be framing people for murder, be careful you don't wind up getting framed yourself.

On a serious note, there are pieces of this novel that are taken from real-life capital cases I've worked as a journalist. Check out the case of Odell Barnes on-line. He was executed by the state of Texas in 2000 and has his own Wikipedia page. If you read about Odell and read INNOCENCE, you'll see the connection...and wonder if, in real life, Texas didn't execute an innocent man.

Hope you get a chance to check out my latest and visit me as

Michael Harvey

Blood and Thunder at Seattle Mystery Bookshop

    I'm making my upteenth visit to Seattle's premier mystery bookstore today, signing copies of No. 6 in the Ethan Gage series, 'The Barbed Crown,' as well as other titles. The store is always friendly, despite its shelves being filled with gruesome crimes, and warm, despite the outlines of coldblooded killings, and comprehensive, meaning they carry my books! I also learned the back alley is sometimes used for fashion shoots by local photographers. What's not to like?

In 'The Barbed Crown,' my American hero lands in France in 1804 bent on revenge against Napoleon, and is soon entangled with spies and counterspies in plans for Bonaparte's invasion of England, his coronation as emperor, and eventually the decisive naval battle of Trafalgar. His wife Astiza comes back from the dead (explained, of course) and his four-year-old son Harry plays a critical role. Skirmishes, storms, battles, new-fangled weapons and the birth of the modern police (French) and spy service (British.)

Hope you browse my signed books at the store and all the others of Mystery Bookshop's magnificent collection. Thanks to J.B. and gang for the warm welcome again.

William Dietrich

Suzanne Rindell Has Super Powers!

On my way over to Seattle Mystery Bookstore, my media escort, Eileen, took me for a quick stroll by Pioneer Square.  She pointed out the pergola, a beautiful turn of the century structure originally made in Paris.  "One time," she told me, "a truck was turning at that corner, and accidentally crashed into the pergola and took it down. The trucking company paid for its restoration." Just as she finished telling me this, sure enough, a truck cut the corner too close and clipped the side of the pergola.  Within minutes, it became wedged over a bollard and under the overhang of the perola's roof! 

Bystanders stared in disbelief, and soon after started snapping photos. Everyone began speculating over how to solve the riddle of getting the truck unstuck. As for my media escort and I, we couldn't believe our eyes. "Wow," Eileen said.  " I suppose I should've said one time I won the lottery, just to see what happens." 

She walked me over to the bookstore, where as people drifted in and out, the main refrain was: "Did you see what happened to the pergola in Pioneer Square?"  I settled into the store, and eventually Eileen went to go take a walk.  I asked her if she was going back to the scene of the crime. "I'm going to buy a lottery ticket," she said with an impish smile. 

Here's to hoping Eileen buys a winning ticket, and that the mystery of how to get the truck unwedged from the pergola is quickly and safely solved! 

 Suzanne Rindell

Mr. Lovesey's Visit: Books, Baseball and BBQ

As you know, we're deadly serious here.

To prove that, here are some photos of Peter Lovesey's first ever signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop.

First up, the table, full of his books, waiting for him and his fans:

Signing one of Leon's baseballs (probably the first time for Peter, we think):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two grand ol'Men of Mystery, shop founder Bill Farley and author Peter Lovesey:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lunch tableb - Dianna, Bill, Peter and Jim - BBQ chicken sandwich for the author

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damn - do we know how to show an author a grand time or what!

Together, We Can Save the Independent Bookstores

The following is a post by William Kent Krueger which he posted on his own blog today, April 22nd. He kindly gave us permission to repost it.

When I was a kid, every town had a bookstore. An independent bookstore. Some towns had several. They were as ubiquitous as local drugstores with soda fountains and as important as any other element to the life of a community. It’s not like that now. Our local, independently owned bookstores are an endangered species. They’re the victims of big chains and of Amazon, yes. But they’re also endangered because of our own lethargy and our insensitivity to both the necessity and the importance of these very valuable resources.

Borders has gone the way of the dodo bird. If what we hear is true, Barnes and Noble is on the ropes. And when that chain is gone, know who’s left? Amazon. The big faceless corporation for whom books are simply another commodity and each of us is simply a revenue source.

Buying from independents is in our own best interest. It assures that no one large entity will control what’s available to us as readers. Freedom—and it does come down to this—is all about choice.

Most of the signings I do are at independents. I’ll be signing on Friday at a wonderful small bookstore in Hudson, Wisconsin, called Chapter2Books. Like most independents, they walk a fine line between red ink and black. If you live in the area, I would consider it a personal favor if you came and experienced this lovely shop and began to do your book buying there. Here’s a link to a great blog about these folks and their plight.

Thanks for listening. And remember: Think globally. Shop locally.

Thanks, Kent, for your efforts on behalf of us little guys!