Seattle Mystery Bookshop

The New Economic Warfare of Books

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/amazon-pulls-macmillan-books-over-e-book-price-disagreement/

As you may've heard, a new kind of economic warfare has begun. Over the last few months, publishers and Amazon have been battling over the price Amazon charges for downloading e-books to their e-reader, the Kindle. Publishers - and authors - have spoken up about this price and the impact it will have on printed books and whether such a low price is economically sustainable for publishers and authors.

Things heated up in the last couple of days once Apple introduced their new e-reader, the iPad. The major difference between the two readers is that the Apple version allows for color, photos and graphics and embedded links to the net. Textbooks will reportedly be one of their major targets. All of this renders the Kindle as being about as flexible and visually interesting as a Big Chief tablet.

Apple has lined up agreements with most of the corporate publishers and stories have mentioned that downloading books to their reader will cost around $15, when Amazon's price is under $10. Various stories note that the publishers had been negotiating (or 'begging' as it is known in the regular world) for Amazon to raise the price of their e-book downloads to the $15 neighborhood, so far to no result.

News came out Friday, Jan 29th, that Amazon had removed all of the books from one major publisher from their website. Macmillan is not just a small, American publisher - or even just a large American publisher - they're a huge, multinational publishing behemoth. In the US, they have the imprints St. Martin's (and the Minotaur mystery press), Forge, Tor, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt, Bloomsbury and many more.

Mystery and crime authors affected include Carola Dunn, S.J Rozan, Steve Hamilton, M.C. Beaton, Rhys Bowen, Donna Andrews, Tasha Alexander, Ken Bruen,James D. Doss, J.D. Rhoades, Lindsey Davis, Janet Evanovich, Joseph Finder, Alan Folsom, Brent Ghelfi, Andrew Grant, James W. Hall, Joan Hess, Steve Hockensmith, Michael Koryta, Louise Penny, Lisa Scottoline, Kelli Stanley - and those are just the names I can read from my perch here at this computer looking across the way at the new hardcover shelves. While I hate to think about how many of these authors' books are sold through Amazon and not through independents like us, their sales will take some kind of a hit - has to be.

What if Amazon expands this to other publishers? Do other publishers have any sort of recourse, can they stop selling to Amazon? Can Macmillan? What happens to all those 'millions', as Amazon claims, who have Kindles but whom can no longer get the e-books they want? Or, what happens to those millions who refuse to pay more than the $9.99 - as Amazon says they will - if the publishers don't allow Amazon to provide their books?

The biggest point to all of this comes down to how the major publishers have allowed themselves to become beholden to these huge conglomerates. Sometime ago, it was reported that the huge chains were not paying their bills with money but with the return of books. It was reported that the chains were not reporting individual damaged books as we must, but were taking a percentage deduction from their bills as compensation for any expected damages whether they happened or not. We know of instances where covers of books were changed because the big chains didn't like them. We've been told by sales reps that this author's paperback or that author's new release was canceled because the chains didn't order enough. There used to be a terrific mystery calendar that came out each year in the late 90s. It was dropped because one year a big chain decided to not carry it.

This dangerous concentration of power impact us all in different ways: there is less variety of books and authors because of what the chains will or won't stock; it is no longer a given that a book will come out in paperback in a year as it once was, as many never do come out in softcover; the corporate booksellers drive out local independents who keep the money and jobs local and the money is often funneled out of state; book prices continue to escalate seemingly with the understanding that they'll be discounted by the chains anyway, so what does it matter; and, finally, it puts publishers in a place where they can be pushed around by one company, one corporation, one conglomerate.

That benefits no one. That hurts us all. That way lies madness, as recent events have proven.

And the madness, we can be sure, is just beginning.

Seattle's History of Decadence

Here I am in Seattle, minding my own business and signing books at Seattle Mystery Bookshop, when a poor, unsuspecting customer asks me why I decided to set a book in historical Seattle, and opens up a floodgate. No doubt she expected just a few sentences, and frankly I pity anyone who gets me started on my favorite subject of all: history. And the history of the city I love? Well, I'm surprised she didn't run screaming from the store.

Seattle has a fascinating history: for many years it was a city of transients, and the south end of Seattle is where they all went, because it was a hotbed of illicit businesses, saloons and brothels, boxhouses amd opium dens, all frowned upon my those who wanted to make Seattle a respectable city, but tacitly encouraged by politicians and city fathers--because it was those businesses that paid the license fees that filled the city coffers. When Seattle gave women the vote in 1873, they joined the reform party in droves, voted to close down those immoral and decadent businesses, and empied the city treasury.

Seattle's legislature stripped the vote from women the next session, and the women of Seattle did  not regain it until it was federally mandated.

Why did I set Prima Donna in historical Seattle? Because it's one of the most fascinating cities I know. Just don't ask me about it unless you'd like to listen to me expound upon it for an hour.

Megan

James Patterson, Inc.

If you haven't read the cover article in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, I recommend it. It is a clear and harsh look at Big Time Publishing and the phenomenon of the James Patterson Machine.

While fascinating on many levels (the sales of John Grisham, Stephen King and Dan Brown combined don't meet Patterson's sales figures, according to the article, and "since 2006, one out of every 17 hardcovers has been written by James Patterson") it left me wanting to either run screaming down the street, brush my teeth or quit bookselling and work at Ace Hardware - or all three.

First, the writer - Jonathan Mahler - is quite accurate about the ills of the publishing world: how the new corporate owners have concentrated on the blockbuster to the detriment to the beginning or mid-list author; how the chains have over-taken the publishing world by discounts and payments for placement of their books (something not extended to independents like us); how the reliance on the Big Bestselling Authors becomes a vicious circle of narrowing choices for booksellers and readers.

But he'll then real off a sentence that is snooty and/or simply wrong: "But never had authors been marketed essentially as consumer goods..." Countless authors labored in the pulps of the twenties and thirties and the mass market original trenches of the 50s on magazine stories and books that were marketed exactly as 'consumer goods'. Some - Evan Hunter/Ed McBain, Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake to name just three - made it out of the paperback 'ghetto' of the 50s to be bestselling authors. Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Erle Stanley Gardner made it out of the pulp 'ghetto' to become bestselling novelists as well. One of the chief reasons magazines like "Dime Detective" or "Black Mask" have become so collectable is that they were meant to be disposable - ie, just consumer goods.

"Patterson's bookshelves are evenly divided between thrillers - books by Michael Connelly and Jeffrey Deaver- and more highbrow, literary fare..." What a snot. Where is it written, other than in the minds of too many people in the book world, that thrillers or mysteries or crime novels cannot by definition be literary? Bullfeathers. This is continued on by quoting Patterson: "At first, Patterson's literary taste ran toward the highbrow - Jerzy Kosinski, Jean Genet, Evan S. Connell. 'I was a snob,' he says." Oh go to hell.

"Nearly all of those books are published a second and third time, first as traditional paperbacks, then as pocket-sized, mass market paperbacks." No, maybe Mahler is too young, but a traditional paperback IS the pocket-sized, mass market paperback. That is why they were refered to as 'pocket books' and why one of the original publishers was Pocket books and their icon a kangaroo. There are two newer types of paperbacks - trade or quality (those larger format softcovers almost as large and expensive as a hardcover) or the new abomination, the 'premium' paperback that is the same width as the mass market but taller and more expensive. Mistakes like this make him sound like a goof who doesn't know what he is writing about and make it difficult to take him seriously.

"...Patterson seemed bothered by the fact that he has not been given his due - unlike King or even Grisham, who have managed to transcend their genres.." Again, what a snooty attitude that authors are fortunate or lucky to be let out of the hole that small-minded nitwits have jammed them into. And what exactly is the genre of "The Body" (King's short story made into the movie Stand By Me) or "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"? Far from The Shinning or Salem's Lot. What is Stephen King's genre, after all, that he needed or was able, to transcend? You can just as easily pigeon hole Hemingway as merely a writer of war stories or fishing stories, or 'men's fiction'.

But let's turn to Patterson: "...he continues to be dismissed as an airport author or, worse, a markenting genius who has cynically maneuvered his way to best-sellerdom by writing remedial novels that pander to the public's basest instincts. 'Caricature assassination,' Patterson called it." Yet, before this bit on page 39, Mahler has detailed:

 - "Neatly arranged on an adjacent L-shapped desk were 23 stacks of paper of varying heights, Patterson's works in progress." page 36

- "'I always felt I could write a reasonable literary novel, but not a great one,' he says." page 36

- "The book won a prestigious Edgar Award for a first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. No doubt, some of those who praise it at the time would now say Patterson has failed to live up to its literary promise. That's not how Patterson sees it. 'It's more convoluted, more bleak - more of the sort of thing that some people will find praiseworthy', he says of The Thomas Berryman Number. 'The sentences are superior to a lot of the stuff I write now, but the story isn't as good. I'm less interested in sentences now and more interested in stories.'" page 37

 - "Patterson's chapters are very short, which creates a lot of half-blank pages; his books are, in a very literal sense, page-turners. He avoids description, back story and scene setting whenever possible..." page 37

- "To maintain his frenetic pace of production, Patterson now uses co-authors for nearly all of his books." page 37

 - "The way it usually works, Patterson will write a detailed outline -sometimes as long as 50 pages, triple-spaced - and one of his co-authors will draft the chapters for him to read, revise and, when necessary, rewrite." page 38

 - "'A brand is just a connection between something and a bunch of people,' Patterson told me. 'Crest toothpaste: I always used it, it tastes O.K., so I don't have any particular reason to switch. Here the connection is that James Patterson writes books that bubble along with heroes I can get interested in. That's it'". page 39

So, to recap - he thinks it is 'caricature assassination' to "be dismissed as an airport author or, worse, a markenting genius who has cynically maneuvered his way to best-sellerdom by writing remedial novels" yet he mass produces his books, having nearly two dozen in progress, that are largely written by other writers, he acknowleges writing sentences that aren't as good as he once wrote (though, too, how many of them does he write himself?), he accepts his inability to write 'literary' books but doesn't really seem concerned to try and doesn't seem interested in writing more complicated books that people would find 'praiseworthy', he rejects adding depth to his books with extraneous details like description, back story and scene setting, his detailed outlines are triple-spaced (no doubt to eliminate the need for description or scene setting) and he compares his popularity to working the same as marketing toothpaste...

How can his approach allow us to view him as anything but a manager of assembly-line constructed products? Cry all you want, Mr. Patterson, cry all the way to the bank - but nothing in the way you approach your work calls for the respect you seem to think you're entitled to. All the riches in the world can't buy you such respect. You have to earn it with your sentences, not your sales.

Welcome to the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia!

Mysteries on the Move

Above is the newly re-figured Historical Mystery secion. It is where there used to be a display of Signed Hardcover. This puts them in the same line as other special sections - Culinary, Animysteries, True Crime and Urban Fantasy.

Sherlockiana and Classics have just pivoted toward the Northwest wall and are now closer to Agatha's books - which makes a nice fit. You'll see these straight ahead of you when you open the front door.

Come look it all over.

Next Up - the desk goes where Sherlock was!
 
 

Bill's 10 Favorite Books of the Decade - 2000-2009

 In the order I read them:

Gone Bamboo, Anthony Bourdain. For the plot: hit man misses, slinks off to tropical island; quarry retreats for safety to same island.

Ghost Riders, Sharyn McCrumb. For the message: it's a lot easier to start a war than it is to end one.

Black Water Transit, Carsten Stroud. For the writing: an eloquent lament that organized crime has lost its flamboyance.

All the Flowers Are Dying, Lawrence Block. For the scare: that my friends Matt Scudder and/or Elaine might not survive.

Open and Shut, David Rosenfelt. For the debut: first appearance of Tara, the dog of the decade.

Hit Parade, Lawrence Block. For the structure: a novel composed of short stories, by an architect with words.

The Inside Ring, by Mike Lawson. For the tone: one of the most assured first novels I've ever read (his second is even better).

The Dawn Patrol, Don Winslow. For the tempo: epic macking crunchy (surfer-speak for a good wave).

Dirty Money, Richard Stark (a/k/a Donald E. Westlake). For the series: the last appearance of Parker.

Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell. For the voice: something fresh (in every sense) that I hope to hear a lot more of in the next 10 years.

2010 Edgar Award Nominees

On Monday the 18th, the 2010 Edgar Award Nominations were released. For a complete list in all categories, go to http://www.mysterywriters.org/files/2010_Edgar_Nominations.pdf   

The winners will be announced on April 29th, 2010

Here are the big three categories for books published in 2009:

BEST NOVEL    

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Knopf)   

The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)

The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books) *signed copies available*  

Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine)   

Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)    

A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Atria Books)

 

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR   

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)  

Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)   

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)   

A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books)    

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)  

In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)

Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)    

The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio)   

Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press)  

The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem)

Congratulations to all the nominees.

We do have to say that as, as with most years, the books we heard most about - from customers or reviews - are not nominated. In fact, some of these books we've never heard of, and some we didn't stock because the publisher did not make it clear in their catalogs that the books were 'mysteries' (something they are loath to do as they don't want their authors to be pigeon holed as lowly genre writers).

A decade ago, the release of the list of nominees would cause a flurry of calls from around the country from collectors trying to find first printings of the titles. That stopped happening around the last of the 20th Century. No one seems to pay much attention to the Edgars any more - customers at least - except, understandably, the authors and publishers. Here we are three days after the announcement and no one has called.

Are the Edgars irrelevant?

Guns, Strippers, Swindlers, Panama, Good Times!

Somebody please help me. I came into the Seattle Mystery Bookshop to sign my novel Gutshot Straight, and now they won't let me leave until I tell them which character in the book is based on my wife. Please. Thank you. The basement is cold.

Lou

Robert B. Parker died on Monday, Jan 18th, 2010.

Robert Brown Parker was born Sept. 17, 1932, in Springfield, MA. After the army, he got his masters degree and then went on to get a doctorate in 1971 from Boston University. His doctoral dissertation was "The Violent Hero, Wilderness Heritage and Urban Reality: A Study of the Private Eye in the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald."

While teaching college, he began writing and his first novel, The Godwulf Manuscript, was published in 1973 – it was the first of 37 books with Boston private eye Spenser, Susan and Hawk.

Prolific is hardly an accurate term for the man. Force of nature perhaps? Besides Spencer, there were Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall, Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole, and he also wrote about Phillip Marlowe, Jackie Robinson and Wyatt Earp.

He won the 1977 Edgar Award for Best Novel for Promised Land, his 4th Spencer book. In 2002, he was made a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

Perhaps the best way to sum up is to use the title from his final Spencer novel, out last year   – The Professional.

Robert B. Parker was found dead at his desk, having died, presumably, while writing, of natural causes.

 

International Mystery Booksellers Association Bestsellers for Dec 2009

Hardcovers

1 - Sue Grafton, U is for Undertow, Putnam

2 - P.D. James, Talking About Detective Fiction, Knopf

3 - tie

Michael Connelly, 9 Dragons, Little Brown

J.A. Jance, Trail by Fire, Touchstone

5 - Sue Henry, The End of the Road, Obsidian

6 - Steve Berry, The Paris Vendetta, Ballantine

7 - Robert B. Parker, The Professional, Putnam

8 - Stieg Larsson, The Girl who Played with Fire, Knopf

9 - tie

Jayne Ann Krentz, Fired Up, Putnam

Archer Mayor, The Price of Malice, St. Martin's

Loren D. Estleman, Alone, Forge

Softcover

1 - Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Vintage

2 - P.D. James, The Private Patient, Vintage

3 - Laura Childs, Eggs Benedict Arnold, Berkley

4 - Spencer Quinn, Dog On It, Atria

5 - Reginald Hill, The Price of Butcher's Meat, Harper

6 - Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper, Back Bay

7 - Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman, Tower, Busted Flush

8 - tie

Jacqueline Winspear, Among the Mad, Picador

Hazel Holt, Mrs. Malory and Any Man's Death, Berkley

Monica Ferris, Thai Die, Berkley

He still wears his Batman t-shirt!

JB Over My Shoulder

Crais here in Seattle.  Cloudy, rainy, but warm.  Joe Pike is here, but he doesn't care--warm, cold, rain, dry.  He's impervious (or, at least, zenned out about physical things.)  Me, I'm on tour in January, and the weather sucks.  Worth it,though, because the store was filled with the greatest people--fans and readers who came to hang out, and, you know?, this is the payoff--connecting with people who enjoy my work. 

Thanks, Seattle. 

Thanks, Seattle Mystery Bookstore.  Thanks for the warm welcome for me and Joe Pike.  Crais out.

Fun in the Sun

 
A very determined rain storm followed me all the way down from Vancouver yesterday. It was most disappointing because I'd wanted to visit various locations as research, particularly a few graveyards. However, visiting cemeteries in the pouring rain is not nearly as fun as one might think.

However, the minute the sun broke through the shades of my hotel room this morning I knew that the Seattle Mystery Bookshop had pulled through for me once again! I have lucked out with the weather here every year I've visited. Last year's snow storms totally missed my visit and the year before a massive ice rain fell just hours after I left.

So after I leave my signing today I will be making my way to various haunts and cool locations that will no doubt inspire and offer up details in all their sunny glory. I may choose to write them in the rain later, but seeing their details in light fires my imagination.

Thanks to Fran for the invite and for chasing away the bad weather and for always making me feel special and welcome in this book-filled wonderland!

Wendy Roberts

Our 2009 Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 – Lee Child, Gone Tomorrow, Delacorte

2 – J.A. Jance, Fire and Ice, Morrow

3 – Michael Connelly, The Scarecrow, Little Brown

4 – Jayne Ann Krentz, Fired Up, Putnam

5 – Amanda Quick, Perfect Poison, Putnam

6 – Earl Emerson, Cape Disappointment, Ballantine

7 - Andrew Grant, Even, St. Martin’s

8 – Michael Connelly, 9 Dragons, Little Brown

9 – J.A. Jance, Trial by Fire, Touchstone

10 – Jayne Ann Krentz, Running Hot, Putnam 1

1 – Sue Grafton, U is for Undertow, Putnam

12 – tie

Sara Paretsky, Hardball, Putnam

Jacqueline Winspear, Among the Mad, Holt

14 – tie

Mike Lawson, House Secrets, Atlantic

Gillian Flynn, Dark Places, Shaye Areheart

James Lee Burke, Rain Gods, Simon & Schuster

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Angel’s Game, Doubleday

18 – Aaron Elkins, Skull Duggery, Berkley

19 – Laurie R. King, The Language of Bees, Bantam

20 – Jeffery Deaver, Roadside Crosses, Simon & Schuster

[All of these hardcovers sales were the results of in-shop signings or signed copies provided by the publisher.]

Trade Paperbacks

1 – Curt Colbert, ed., Seattle Noir, Akashic

2 – Neil Low, Sign of the Dragon, Tigress

3 – David Benioff, City of Thieves, Plume

4 – Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs, Penguin*

5 – Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects, Three Rivers

6 – Luis Castillo, Echoes of Time, Tigress*

7 – tie

Tana French, In the Woods, Penguin*

Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men, Overlook*

9 – Mary Malloy, The Wandering Heart, Leapfrog

10 – tie

Charlie Huston, Caught Stealing, Ballantine*

Cricket McRae, Lye in Wait, Midnight Ink*

12 – tie

Joshilyn Jackson, The Girl who Stopped Swimming, Grand Central

L.R. Wright, The Suspect, Felony & Mayhem*

14 - tie

Adria Lang, For the Sake of the Vine, Tigress*

Tana French, The Likeness, Penguin

Richard Stark, The Hunter, University of Chicago Press*

17 – tie

Laurie R. King, Touchstone, Bantam

Timothy Bone, Shadows of Eden, Bonneville*

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper, Back Bay*

20 – Cara Black, Murder in the Marais, Soho*

[Books marked with an asterisk are either debut books or first in series.]

Mass Market

1 – Jayne Castle, Obsidian Prey, Jove

2 – Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Vintage*

3 – tie

Mike Lawson, The Inside Ring, Vintage*

Brett Battles, The Cleaner, Dell*

5 – Kat Richardson, Greywalker, Roc*

6 – Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files, Pocket*

7 – Kat Richardson, Underground, Roc

8 – Lee Child, Killing Floor, Jove*

9 – Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s*

10 – Mike Lawson, House Rules, Atlantic

11 – tie

Yasmine Galenorn, Night Huntress, Berkley

William Dietrich, The Rosetta Key, Harper

13 – Carola Dunn, Death at Wentwater Court, Kensington*

14 – Mary Daheim, The Alpine Traitor, Ballantine

15 – tie

Lee Child, Nothing to Lose, Dell

G.M. Ford, Nameless Night, Harper

17 – William Dietrich, Napoleon’s Pyramid, Harper*

18 – tie

Robert Ferrigno, Sins of the Assassin, Pocket

Yasmine Galenorn, Witchling, Berkley*

Ann Rule, The Stranger Beside Me, Pocket*

John Hart, Downriver, St. Martin’s

Kate Carlisle, Homicide in Hardcover, Obsidian*

IMBA’s Killer Books December 2009

Edited by Jerry Lenaz, the Cloak & Dagger, Princeton, NJ. www.thecloakanddagger.com

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, (Minotaur Books hc, $24.99), recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, Mich., www.auntagathas.com:

There are a lot of suspense novels out there, and I read a fair number. I´ve been trying to figure out the difference between a perfectly acceptable - yet ho-hum - suspense novel, and one that feels like it was written by someone at the top of their game, like Steve Hamilton. One element is prose: Hamilton´s sparkles. Another element is specificity. In this novel, the interesting specific detail is lock picking, and its a great plot element. After reading this book you almost feel like you could pick a lock yourself. Much like Michael Connelly´s Void Moon, which was more or less a primer on robbing a Vegas casino, this book is a primer on picking locks. It turns out that to be really good at picking locks, along with specialized knowledge; you also need a special touch, an ability to "feel" the lock, especially if it´s the combination to a safe. Another element would be a good hook, and Hamilton has a great one. The narrator, Mike, is as well known for his lock picking skills as for the fact that he doesn´t speak. It´s traced back to a childhood trauma, referred to throughout the book, but never fully explained until the end. This showcases another great Hamilton element, his mastery of narrative and suspense. None of these elements stand apart from one another, because the end result is seamless.

The speeding train that is this novel´s narrative begins with Mike in a jail cell, going back to the beginning of his life, explaining how he got there. As he jumps back and forth a bit in time, foreshadowing relationships and events, as a reader you are helpless in the grip of the narrative. I don´t think any of this would work if Mike weren´t such an interesting and shaded character. However he got there, Mike begins his story more or less living with his Uncle Lito, who owns a liquor store in sleepy Milford, Michigan. Hamilton sure doesn´t sugarcoat Milford, and since he grew up there, I guess he knows what he´s talking about. The only thing Mike has, besides his ability to pick locks (which is acquired later) is an ability to draw. Both things lead him ultimately to his eventual girlfriend, Amelia. Many parts of this story are unexpected, and the way more or less good boy Mike meets Amelia is not only interesting, it also explains both his character and his later more criminal path through life. While Amelia is not a straight up good girl, she´s far more of an innocent than Mike, despite her pose of sophistication. One thing they share is artistic talent.

In a way this is a typical Hamilton novel: concise, flashes of humor, terrific plot, great detail and setting. But to say there´s anything typical about this kind of skill would be a stretch. This isn´t the straight up P.I.novel he´s been delivering, it´s a little different, but it´s still, to any Hamilton aficionado, familiar. Hamilton catapults himself into the upper echelon of suspense writers with this novel, which is where he´s belonged all along.

G. I. Bones, by Martin Limón, (Soho Crime hc, $24), recommended by Barbara Tom, Murder by the Book, Portland, Oregon, www.mbtb.com:

What most of us know about the Korean War has been garnered from "M*A*S*H" reruns. What Martin Limón gives us is a complicated and dark look at South Korea twenty years after that war officially ended. In 1970s Korea, the U.S. still maintains a heavy-handed presence. George Sueño and Ernie Bascom are Army CID officers charged with solving crimes by and against G.I.s.

In this sixth book in Limón's series, Sueño and Bascom are charged with finding two things: the bones of a soldier who has been missing for twenty years and the wayward daughter of an Army bigwig.

In an eerie start to the book, Sueño and Bascom are brought to the home of a local fortune-teller. She tells them that the spirit of the long-dead soldier will not rest until his bones have been returned home. Because Sueño has a long-standing crush on Dr. Yong, the woman who brought him to the fortune-teller, he agrees to investigate the case. Sueño and Bascom's lives are complicated when a colonel's teenaged daughter apparently steals money from her father and runs away with a private, and they are ordered to find her, the private, and the money. Strangely, everything eventually ties into the mysterious "Seven Dragons," underworld lords of Seoul.

Limón takes his readers behind closed doors to see the fragile world of a Seoul that is still struggling with post-war problems: poverty, black market stealing, orphaned children, and an extensive red-light district. There is tip-toeing by both the South Koreans and the U.S. military about jurisdiction over crimes. Itaewon, the red-light district of Seoul, is not officially condoned by the military, but the military often turns a blind eye to its activities. It is in Itaewon that most of the action, both past and present, occurs.

Limón's series still has the ability to shock me. His depiction of Korea during the 50s and 70s is bleak, even as he allows rays of humanity and kindness to peek through. It is that way with G.I. Bones. With the characters of Moretti and Cort, Limón seeks to balance the oafish and generally imperialistic picture of Americans abroad. With the characters of Dr. Yong and Miss Kwon, a young prostitute, he puts sympathetic faces on the sad stories of survival.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Viking hc, $25.95), recommended by Fran Fuller, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, www.seattlemystery.com:

I picked up Jasper Fforde´s upcoming novel, the first in at least a trilogy, looking for something humorous and whimsical after having read the second Steig Larsson. And Shades of Grey certainly has humor and whimsy, there´s no doubt.

But it has much, much more than that. In a nutshell, the world has changed since the Something That Happened all those years ago that irrevocably changed the world, and now people can only see specific colors. Depending on the color you can see, and the percentage at which you can see it, your life is set out for you. Everyone is expected to follow Munsell´s Rules, and everyone is to work for the good of the Collective.

Edward Russett and his father are sent from their home city of Jade-under-Lime to East Carmine, where Eddie´s father, a swatchman (which is the Colortocracy´s version of a doctor), is to temporarily replace the recently deceased swatchman. Eddie has to go along to learn Humility, and to count the chairs. However, upon his return and after taking his color perception test, Eddie fully plans to marry Constance Oxblood, which is a step up in social standing for him, and because of his better-than-average red perception, a good match for her.

But the Rules are a bit more flexible out on the Fringes, and Eddie soon learns that his complacent understanding of how things work is to be challenged. If only he can survive being eaten by the yateveo tree.Then too, there´s Jane Grey of the retrousse´ nose and casual violence (which is totally against the Rules!) who has captured Eddie´s imagination, which is also against the Rules.

Shades of Grey is complex and detailed and not the light romp I was expecting. Fforde has created a world with depth and dark sociological observations. I was surprised, and at first rather miffed to find that instead of something fluffy and fun, I was embroiled in a fairly serious novel exploring the importance of rules in society, and sometimes the importance of breaking them.

Shades of Grey has all the earmarks of a book that is going to stick with me long after I´ve read it, and while that wasn´t what I had anticipated when I started it, I have to say that I can´t wait to read the next two!

Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman, (Busted Flush Press tpo, $15) recommended by Aline Lenaz, the Cloak & Dagger, Princeton, NJ, www.thecloakanddagger.com:

Divided into two halves, this tour of the underside of Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia marks the first collaboration between noir masters Bruen and Coleman. Based on the classic theme of childhood friends pulled toward different sides of the law, the coauthors tell the story of Nick and Todd in quick concise scenes that switch time and incidents in a fashion reminiscent of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Nick, the Irish-American kid is developed by Bruen and remains a "wise guy" throughout the story line while his friend Todd, Coleman´s character, evolves into an undercover cop unbeknown to Nick. Both grow up together on the streets of New York City working for a local crime boss. Ultimately Todd moves to Boston, then Philadelphia and finally returns to New York charged with bringing down Nick´s crime boss. Each author develops his character and their experiences framed by the writer's voice, providing an interesting writing style which reminded me of Celtic poetry clashing with gritty "wise guy" viewpoints.

The authors do an excellent job of making us care for the characters, the demons they face and what happens to them. This book is clearly for those who enjoy rich characters in a highly distilled, unsentimental story of criminals doing criminal deeds in a criminal world, where love, loyalty and redemption are just the means to an end.

Merry Wives of Maggody by Joan Hess. (Minotaur Books hc, $24.99), recommended by Judi Anderson, Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, PA, www.mysterylovers.com:

I never tire of Joan Hess´s Maggody series. In this 16th series installment, Arly Hanks, Maggody police chief and only officer is a lot like Earl from "My Name Is Earl," surrounded by insanity, lunacy and mayhem. Where else will you find the various members of the Buchanon family, including Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanon who is a Buchanon on both sides. In The Merry Wives of Maggody Mrs. Jim Bob´s latest scheme is to hold a charity golf tournament despite the fact that no one in Maggody plays golf and there is no golf course. And that´s just for starters. Chuckles and belly laughs to follow.

Our December 1009 Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 – Jayne Anne Krentz, Fired Up, Putnam

2 – J.A. Jance, Trial by Fire, Simon & Schuster

3 – Sue Grafton, U is for Undertow, Putnam

4 - Sue Henry, The End of the Road, Obsidian

5 – Greg Bear, Mariposa, Vanguard

6 – P.D. James, Talking about Detective Fiction, Knopf

7 – Michael Connelly, 9 Dragons, Little Brown

8 – tie

Jess Walter, The Financial Lives of Poets, Harper

R.J. Ellory, A Quiet Belief in Angels, Overlook

10 – tie

Martin Limón, G.I. Bones, Soho

Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Knopf

Trade Paperbacks

1 – Timothy Bone, Shadows of Eden, Bonneville

2 - tie

Andi Marquette, The Ties that Bind, Quest

Don Winslow, The Gentlemen’s Hour, Heineman

Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs, Penguin

Josh Bazell, Beat the Reaper, Back Bay

6 – tie

Thomas Perry, Runner, Mariner

Michael Jecks, The King of Thieves, Headline

8 – tie

Elizabeth Ironside, The Art of Deception, Felony & Mayhem

Edward Wilson, The Envoy, Arcadia

Richard Stark, The Hunter, Academy Chicago Press

Curt Colbert, ed., Seattle Noir, Akashic

Mass Market

1 – Jayne Ann Krentz, Running Hot, Jove

2 – Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Vintage

3 – tie

Michelle Gagnon, The Gatekeeper, Mira

Hazel Holt, Mrs. Malory and Any Man’s Death, Obsidian

5 – tie

Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s

Amanda Quick, Deception, Bantam

Amanda Quick, Scandal, Bantam

8 – Maureen Ash, Murder for Christ’s Mass, Berkley

9 – tie

Steve Forman, Boca Knights, Tor

Brett Battles, The Cleaner, Dell

Starting the New Year with Some Crime

Sometime early this morning, some smashed one of our large, front windows and ransacked the front counter. As far as we can tell, they got nothing - or, at least, nothing of value. But they left behind a hell of a mess, a large number of damaged books and what no doubt will be a hefty bill from the glass company. Happy New Year, indeed!