Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Janine's Wish List

Here are my candidates for the series I'd most like to have back in print to introduce to you:

Rob Kantner - Ben Perkins Series

Jerome Doolittle - Tom Bethany Series

Ed Dee - Ryan & Gregory Series

Jamie Harrison - Jules Clement Series

Martha Lawrence - Dr. Elizabeth Chase Series

The Case of the Thoughtless Author

There are many things an author can do to undermine themselves in the eyes of a bookseller. In some cases, they’re rookie mistakes – things done because the author has little experience in the world of books. In other cases, they’re just rude, thoughtless and close-minded. In rarer instances – I’m glad to say they’re rarer – it’s because the author is just cruel.

But let’s deal with rookie mistakes: you’re a new author, the publisher gives you a carton of books as part of your contract and of course everyone wants you to give them a copy of your book and, of course you want to be a pal, so you give away all your author copies. How can you tell your college roommate to buy a copy, or Aunt Zelda who sends you $20 for your birthday every year even though you’re now 42? On one hand, it’s understandable. On the other hand, you’ve just drained the natural pool of buyers: friends and family members. If they love you, ask them to buy the book to support you, the bookseller and the publisher, and put that carton of books in a safe place so that you have copies when you’re rich and famous and you’re looking back on a long and lustrious career.

Another rookie mistake is to do too little. Do not for an instant think that your work is done once the book is published. Uh uh. You need to be the chief bookseller. Or do too much; just because you have a book published doesn’t mean every bookseller owes you a signing. Or wants you to drop in unannounced.

But something came up yesterday that combines the rookies mistake with the rude and thoughtless variety. I will not name the author. We’ve already let our thoughts be know to him/her.

Author X wrote a wonderful first book last year. Three of us here read it, loved it and promoted it heavily. We spent the money to send copies to the author since X’s publisher wasn’t paying for a tour. That takes quite a bit of time and money – first to pack the books well for the shipping and then the costs of shipping both ways and the call tags. (We add $1 to the price of the books when we do that but that nowhere near covers the costs of doing this.) X seemed impresssed with our efforts and promised to come in to sign the second book due out this year. Now, last year’s debut is out in paperback and the second one is out soon in hardcover.

We must not be the only shop happy with the first book. We belong to the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association and, each year, well all vote on the book we most enjoyed selling. Others must’ve liked X’s book too as it is one of the finalists for the award.

Yesterday, we get an e-mail from X that was clearly sent to a large number of people, undoubtedly all of the readers who’d e-mailed after the debut was published. X starts off relaying the great news that the book is a finalist for this award from the Independent Mystery Booksellers and isn’t that great and here’s how to order it from Amazon and nicely provided a live link to that corporate behemoth.

In the next paragraph, X informs everyone how the second book is coming out in hardcover soon and, if you click on this other link to Amazon, you can order it in advance for $11.26. Isn’t that nice of X? In my reply to X, I pointed out that this price was $2 less than what the publisher was charging us. I also informed this X that I would be cancelling my order with the publisher for this book (which I have done).

So, if you’re a new author, here’s what you don’t want to do: trumpet the news that a group of independent booksellers has nominated you for an award and then direct potential buyers to a corporate outfit that is destroying their industry. If you do want to spread the word about your forthcoming hardcover, you might also check your mailing list to ensure you’re not sending advice to booksellers that you’re instructing book buyers how they can cut the legs out from underneath small businesses.

Think of it this way: X had a large number of booksellers handselling these books across the country. They were all probably thrilled about this second book and have been looking forward to reading it and selling it. Now, since we all talk and exchange news from our little pond, they all know what a careless and rude author X is and many have already let me know that they’ll stop carrying the books – as will we – altogether.

So, by directing fans to buy from a heartless corporation that cares for sales and profits more than what is between the covers of a book, X will be left to rely on them to sell the books. Here, X would have been a writer we’d have cared about, hand-sold and talked up, one of a few dozen we’d help to nurture and promote. Now, X’ll be just one of MILLIONS, sold along with household products and electronic gizmos.

We no longer care about X or the books. Think they do?

Bill's "Wish List"

Here's my first pass at a list of items I'd like to see rescued from the Museum of Forgotten Books.

First of all, I heartily agree with Fran's nomination of Dereske and Ford. (I think we should be encouraged to duplicate. For instance Janine and I immediately said, "Rob Kantner." It makes a stronger endorsement.)

Beyond Kantner, I nominate K. C. Constantine, all Mario Balzac titles, super-sensitive police procedcurals

BarbaraNeely, Blanche on the Lam. This book has an important message which should not be lost.

Cyril Hare, alll titles. wonderfully dry British humor.

S. S. VanDine. I've never read them, but I know they're important to the mystery genre, and I'd like to read them..

Gary Alexander, both the Kiet and Balam series. Much better than most things being published now. But, gasp, different.

K. K. Beck. Especially the Iris Cooper and Jane DiSilva series. Golden Age stuff written in our time.

Margaret Millar. Ross MacDonald's wife may have been a better writer than he was (JB: I presume you won't agree, but have you read them?) My favorites are the ones with Tom Aragon, and Rose's Last Summer (somewhat the same message as Blanche on the Lam).

Fredrick Nolan, The Brass Target. Wonderful WWII intrigue.

Craig Rice. Anything. Everything. Terrific 1940's screwball comedy.

Margaret Scherf. Especially The Beaded Banana. She could make cozy comedy suddenly give you a chill.

Robert Campbell. Lots of good stuff, but I especially liked the ones with Jake Hatch, railroad detective.

Charles Goodrum. Superior bibliomyteries.

C. W. Grafton. Sue's dad wrote 3 pretty good ones.

Michael Bond. The early Pamplemousse stories.

Joyce Porter, Inspector Dover titles

Parnell Hall writing as J. P. Hailey

William Marshall, Yellowthread Street series

Lowen Clausen. Books 1,2, and 3. We could sell tons of them in paperback. Same for...

Curt Colbert.

And Fred Huebner.

More to come as time permits.

There's a million of them. --Bill

Monastery Murders Come to Seattle

 
What a great time!  Thank you, Seattle Mystery Bookshop.  A time to meet old friends and make new ones, introducing people to Felicity, my young American woman who goes off to study in a Monastery in darkest Yorkshire and becomes involved in a bloody murder that launches her into her future through learning about the past.  And for all you mystery fans, after you read A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, join me in looking forward to A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH, book 2 in the series, which will be out in September in the UK and a yer from now in the US. 

In the meantime I'll be off to Wales to research for Book #3 in order to keep the fun and mystery coming.

Every blessing to my readers, old and new,

Donna Fletcher Crow

Fran's Reissue Wish List

Books go out of print all the time. It's a fact of publishing and bookselling life, and while, in some cases, it's probably a merciful thing, there are some books that really should never go out of print, and I don't mean just the classics.

There's a new thing on the horizon that would keep all books in print pretty much all the time, which would be sweet, except. . .there's always a catch, isn't there? And I don't mean e-books, although I know that's an option. But we're a brick-and-mortar store, and we're concerned about books we can put in your hands.

In this case, the catch is price. These older books have become basically print-on-demand, and the cost for that is fairly high.

There's a trade paperback book that I love and have loved selling. And I could when it was $14.95 or so. Now, though, I can order it for you, but the cost -- for the same trade paperback book, not a hardcover -- is $22.95. As much as I love the book, I can't ask you to pay that much for a paperback. I wouldn't.

But that means that there are some series I really, really want to get you to read, series that I love, but I can't. It's frustrating.

The series that spring immediately to mind are:

Jo Dereske's "Miss Zukas" series. We have the later ones, but that's not nearly enough. And if there's a publisher out there, in addition to bringing these back in print, you ought to snag her new Zukas script, which is ready and waiting for you!

And while you're at it, could we have the early Hazel Holt series back, please? The "Mrs. Malory" series is still quite popular! Really truly true it is!

G. M. Ford's "Leo Waterman" series. It's a true joy to get folks hooked on that one, especially people who want a lighter taste of life in Seattle. We've been grinding our teeth and scouring used book stores looking for older copies, and they sell. Again, publishers take note!

Speaking of Fords, the first one of Clyde Ford's "Charlie Noble" series needs to be back in print, right now and right away. Especially with tourist season coming up and folks going out onto the water!

If I was the type to throw a temper tantrum, I'd certainly throw one to get the middle books in David Handler's "Berger and Mitry" series reissued. I feel guilty about selling people the first one, knowing darned good and well that they'll be hooked and left dangling. And while you're at it, publishers, please put the last three out in paperback! Please?

There are some books being reissued, although not soon enough for me -- the first two of Mike Lawson's "DeMarco" series, the early Lindsey Davis "Falco" books, some of Carola Dunn's "Daisy Dalrymple" midlist for example -- and for those I really am grateful!

But there has to be a way to get some of these older books into the hands of readers, readers who do not want electronic books but who love the feel of paper in their hands. And there has to be a way to do it economically, so that buyers can buy, authors can be read, and we who still sell print books can do so.

It's raining in Seattle, big surprise

So, I'm at the fabulous Seattle Mystery Bookshop, of which I got LOST trying to find, walking around, because, hello, country girl in the big city, and the rain threw me--rain is really hard to come by in western South Dakota, and I was sort of mesmerized by the reflections of the oil and pollution in the puddles in the street. Also, I wore my cowboy boots, and a few Seattle-ites gave me strange looks, but I figure hey, we're even, cause I'm betting they have a different umbrella for every day of the week.

Thrown into the blogsphere without warning and trying to be funny on the fly? Not so much today. Sorry. folks, at least I'm not angry. Okay, that's a total fucking lie, I'm thinking of the cold, frosty local beer I'm about to have at lunch with two fellow mystery authors -- what can I say? I'm a simple girl, murder, mystery, mayhem, beer and boots in the big city. Nothing really changes with me no matter where I am.

BUY MERCY KILL -- it's gotten great reviews! Keep me in beer for a few more months :)

Lori Armstrong

Lorelei James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lori with her lunch companions, Robert Dugoni and Boyd Morrison.

2011 Edgar Award Nominations

Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards,         honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at 65th Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City. Here are the top three categories. For the full list with all categories, click on the MWA link and then on the link to the PDF of the full list.

BEST NOVEL

Caught by Harlan Coben (Dutton)

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin ( Morrow)

Faithful Place by Tana French (Viking)

The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (Morrow)

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur)

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Forge)

The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)

The Serialist by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)

Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (Scribner)

Snow Angels by James Thompson (Putnam)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Bantam)

The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)

Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur)

Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis (Random House )

Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

Last of the Best

Here's the last of our Best Lists of 2010: JB’s

These are roughly in the order in which they were read:

Lou Berney’s Gutshot Straight – nice to start the year off with a bang, a very funny debut.

Don Winslow’s The Gentleman’s Hour – more fun and mayhem in his surfing world.

Scott Turow’s Innocent – the masterful part of the book is something we can’t talk about unless you’ve read Presumed Innocent AND this sequel.

Keith Thompson’s Once a Spy – the other great and funny debut of the year.

Philip Kerr’s If The Dead Not Rise – can’t praise this noir series enough

David Rosenfelt’s New Tricks – if you haven’t read his Andy Carpenter books, you’re missing out on great fun!

Mike Lawson’s House Justice – Mister Smooth does it again

Dennis Lehane’s Moonlight Mile – there is no way he could write too much about Patrick ‘n Angie

John Restor’s The Cold Kiss – the great traditional noir debut of the year

Don Winslow’s Satori – his prequel to Trevanian’s Shibumi (read that if you haven’t!)

Don Winslow’s Savages – meloncholy noir and a treat to have three Winslows in one year

Loren D. Estleman’s Amos Walker: Complete Short Stories – wow… just wow

James Lee Burke’s The Glass Rainbow – if this is the final Robicheaux, it was a perfect end to the series.

Michael Ayoob’s In Search of Mercy – a terrific debut, a mystery without a body

Greg Rucka’s The Last Run – timely intrigue from a young master

Reggie Nadelson’s Blood Count – nearly a locked room mystery but certainly a nice whodunnit in Harlem

 Urban Waite’s Terror of Living – stunning debut by a local guy

Bill James’ Poplular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence – the baseball genius turns his mind to crime and why we’re all riveted by it and the larger impacts it has on our society, an interesting book well written

And three non-mysteries to mention, and, speaking of James, two are baseball:

Larry Tye’s Satchel - a marvelous yet heart-breaking biography of Satchel Paige

Cait Murphy’s Crazy ’08 – a history of a single year (+1908) in baseball, filled with great games and names

Robin D.G. Kelly’s Thelonious Monk – also marvelous and heartbreaking

Joe Pike in Seattle

Ducked into Seattle Mystery Books to get out of the rain, and found Joe Pike behind the stacks.  Along with a hundred fantastic fans come to get signed copies of THE SENTRY.  Pike had my back while I signed.  No bloodshed.  Thanks, JB, Fran, and the crew.  Pike and I will return next year, and Elvis Cole, too.  Stay dry!

 

RC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[And there were homemade cookies!]

  

 

 

 

It is that dark time of the year. Perhaps it is the depth of the Winter or that time of the year when you feel as if Winter never really will end, you’ll never be able to go outside and feel warm, that you’re going to be futzing with the damned thermostat forever. And the snow just won’t let up.

It doesn’t help when some maniac shoots up a Safeway parking lot and kills a 9 year-old girl born on 9/11. Seems to defeat all sanity and hope, taking the air out of the room and leaving a void that is rapidly filled with nonsense.

To our bleak view of the world in this New Year came news this week of the closing of yet another independent mystery bookshop. The Mystery Bookstore in the Westwood section of Los Angeles will close at the end of this month. It was originally opened in 1987 as a West-coast branch of Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop in NYC. Penzler sold it in 2000 and the buyers moved it to its current location near UCLA. It traded hands yet again in 2008.

The current owners Kirk Pasich and Pamela Woods cite the usual suspects in the demise of the shop. The deep discounts offered by the Big Box stores and Amazon. It is impossible for small joints to compete with them on an equal footing. It is suicide to try. They also point to the continued economy miasma that affects 95% of the US citzenry, and then there are the particular economics of running a small business in any large city. One has to wonder how much the fascination with e-books had to do with this. And what about the continuing rise in the price of books to where the publishers are pricing themselves out of the mass market? Probably some aspect of it.

A crestfallen Lisa Lutz wrote an interesting piece about the news. “Call me naive, but I don't understand why we aren't considering another option. While I know most mystery writers are scraping by, there are others who aren’t scraping so much. It doesn’t seem unrealistic to me that we could pull together enough local writers to invest in the store and keep it alive long enough to figure out how to make it competitive in this hostile climate. If we don’t, we’re consenting to a process that will soon completely kill the independent bookstore, the book itself, and potentially, many authors’ livelihoods.”

In a Publisher's Weekly story written by Wendy Werris, she noted “In addition to stocking new titles, the store had a wide selection of used and out of print books, signed first editions, British imports, and mysteries for children. 'I owe my career to specialty bookstores such as the Mystery Bookstore,” says bestselling author Laura Lippman, “places where a new author could find an audience because an enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff hand-sold the hell out of our books. It was a great store, staffed with great people, and I am heartbroken.' The Mystery Bookstore was known for its author events, sometimes hosting up to three a day on the weekends, and showed consistent support for first-time crime novelists.” Sound like any other independent mystery bookshop you know?

In Murderati today Brett Battles writes about his experiences as a rookie author, how well they treated him and how much he hates the thought of them closing. But he does say one thing we have to take issue with. In relating is discussion with one of the owners, he writes: “As Pam said, and I won’t get this quote correct, the business model for the independent bookseller just doesn’t work anymore. At least, not in their case, and I have a feeling not in most.”

That attitude would say that this shop too, then, is doomed. Or any independent. We don’t agree with the idea that the business model is wrong. It isn’t that the idea of independent bookshops is faulty or no longer works. There are two sides to the system: one is the shop that offers books for sale; the other half is the buying public. What is not working in the model is that the buyers are deserting the small independent bookseller.

All of this comes down to is where you choose to spend your money. The independent bookseller, specialty or general, can only survive if customers support it with their purchases. If you, the reader of this blog and the reader of books, chooses to spend money at large corporate bookstores, or buy your books at Amazon or Costco, or decide to convert to e-readers, you cannot bemoan that small independent booksellers crash and burn. If you don’t support them – us – they will disappear.

That’s a cold, hard fact, as cold and unattractive as the weather outside your windows. You can’t do anything about the weather. You can choose what businesses you want to survive.

 So what’re you gonna do?

Janine’s 2010

In random order but yowza do I love Dreda Say Mitchell's writing!

Geezer Girls and Gangster Girl, by Dreda Say Mitchell (both to be released in the US in April)

A Drop of the Hard Stuff, by Lawrence Block (due out April, 2011)

The Sentry, by Robert Crais [signing this Friday!]

Bury Your Dead, by Louise Penny (but read The Brutal Telling first!!!!)

Invisible Boy, by Cornelia Read

61 Hours and Worth Dying For, by Lee Child

Dangerous to Know, Tasha Alexander

The Passage, by Justin Cronin

Fran’s 2010 Top 10 (alphabetized by author, because who can pick just one?)

Lori Armstrong -- Both "Mercy" books, No Mercy (Simon & Schuster) and Mercy Kill (Simon & Schuster)

John Connolly -- Whisperers (Atria)

Gary Corby -- The Pericles Commission (Minotaur)

Tana French -- Faithful Place (Viking)

Joshilyn Jackson -- Backseat Saints (Grand Central)

William Kent Krueger -- Vermillion Drift (Atria)

Dennis Lehane -- Moonlight Mile (Morrow)

Lisa Lutz -- The Spellmans Strike Again (Simon & Schuster)

Cornelia Read -- Invisible Boy (Hachette)

Kelli Stanley -- City of Dragons (VHPS) although I must add that there are a couple coming up next year that I read and can't wait for, including the next Arcturus by Kelli Stanley and the new series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child!

2010 Local Authors

Robert Dugoni -- Bodily Harm (Simon & Schuster)

Michael Gruber -- The Good Son (Henry Holt)

Mike Lawson -- House Justice (Atlantic)

Kat Richardson -- Labyrinth (Roc) and Kat leads me to another list, the Urban Fantasy one, which she's on as well.

2010 Best Urban Fantasy

Justin Cronin -- The Passage (Ballantine)

Kat Richardson -- Labyrinth (Roc)

Carrie Vaughn -- Discord's Apple (Tor)

2010 Best Paperbacks

D. D. Barant -- both "Jace" books, Dying Bites (St. Martins) and Death Blows (VHPS)

Cate Culpepper -- River Walker (Bold Strokes)

Yasmine Galenorn -- Night Myst (Jove) and Harvest Hunting (Jove)

Boyd Morrison -- Rogue Wave (Pocket)

Simon Wood -- Terminated (Leisure Books) and again, next year I'm seriously looking forward to Cherie Priest's new vampire-thief book, Bloodshot (Random House).

2011 Noir City Film Festival at SIFF Cinema

http://www.siff.net/cinema/seriesDetail.aspx?FID=221

Tickets: Double bills, two movies a night for $12.00 / $11.00 Student/Senior (with valid ID) or $7.00 for SIFF Members. Series Pass Available! All 14 films for $60 ($35 SIFF Members)

Friday, February 11, 2011

High Wall, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, 1947, 99 min. (7:00 pm) Brain-damaged vet Robert Taylor confesses to murdering his unfaithful wife and is sentenced to a sanitarium. His doctor (sexy Audrey Totter) gradually realizes he might not be guilty.

Stranger On The Third Floor, directed by Boris Ingster, 1940, 64 min. (9:00 pm) Peter Lorre is The Stranger, haunting a reporter whose testimony sentenced a possibly innocent man to death.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

They Won't Believe Me, directed by Irving Pichel, 1947, 95 min. (2:00 pm, 6:00 pm) Robert Young is brilliantly cast against type as a married man whose sex addiction leads to murder.

Don't Bother To Knock, directed by Roy Baker, 1952, 76 min. (4:00 pm, 8:00pm) Marilyn Monroe gives the finest performance of her fledgling career as a mentally unbalanced babysitter (in sheer negligee!) hired by a couple visiting Manhattan.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Angel Face, directed by Otto Preminger, 1952, 91 min. (2:00 pm, 6:00 pm) Jean Simmons is simultaneously sexy and creepy as a Los Angeles heiress who will do anything to get the man she wants. In this case, it’s ultimate noir hero-chump Robert Mitchum.

The Hunted, directed by Jack Bernhard, 1948, 88 min. (4:00 pm, 8:00pm) Laura Mead has served her time for robbery and still claims her innocence. She returns to the city where her former cop lover sent her up.

Monday, February 14, 2011

A Double Life, directed by George Cukor, 1947, 104 min. (7:00 pm) In this extraordinary film, Ronald Coleman delivers an Oscar-winning performance as Anthony John, a Broadway actor who discovers madness in his Method.

 Among The Living, directed by Stuart Heisler, 1941, 67 min. (9:00 pm) Albert Dekker stars as identical twins, one a brain-damaged psychopath who stirs up a Gothic whirlwind of insanity, family skeletons and murder in a small town paralyzed by fear.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Dark Mirror, directed by Robert Siodmak, 1946, 85 min. (7:00 pm) Olivia de Havilland stars as a pair of identical twins, one loving and nice and the other severely disturbed.

Crack-Up, directed by Irving Reis, 1946, 93 min. (9:00 pm) A museum curator survives a massive train wreck, but wakes up an amnesiac. It gets worse… seems the accident never happened, and now everyone is convinced he’s losing his mind.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Woman On The Beach, directed by Jean Renoir, 1947, 71 min. (7:00 pm) Legendary French director Jean Renoir elicits deeply compelling performances from the triangle of Robert Ryan, Joan Bennett, and Charles Bickford, the latter as a famous painter blinded by his beautiful wife.

Beware, My Lovely, directed by Harry Horner, 1952, 77 min. (9:00 pm) The great Ida Lupino plays a lonely war widow who employs a drifter (Robert Ryan) as a household handyman, only to learn—too late—precisely why he has no references on his résumé.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Loophole, directed by Harold D. Schuster, 1954, 80 min. (7:00 pm) An innocent bank clerk (Barry Sullivan), made the fall guy in an embezzlement scheme, is pursued to the brink of insanity by a scarily righteous lawman.

Crashout, directed by Lewis R. Foster, 1955, 93 min. (9:00 pm) Killers on a Furlough from Hell! The rarest of jailbreak films, and one of the best!

Our Bestsellers of 2010 (top 25 in each binding)

Hardcovers

1 – Amanda Quick, Burning Lamp, Putnam

2 – Jayne Ann Krentz, In Too Deep, Putnam

3 – J.A. Jance, Queen of the Night, Morrow

4 – Jayne Ann Krentz, Fired Up, Putnam

5 – Carl Hiaasen, Star Island, Knopf

6 – Robert Crais, The First Rule, Putnam

7 – Lee Child, 61 Hours, Delecorte

8 – Lee Child, Worth Dying For, Delacorte

9 – James Lee Burke, The Glass Rainbow, Simon & Schuster

10 – Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Knopf

11 – Jacqueline Winspear, Mapping of Love and Death, Harper

12 – Dennis Lehane, Moonlight Mile, Morrow

13 – Michael Connelly, The Reversal, Little Brown

14 – Laurie R. King, The God of the Hive, Bantam

15 – Don Winslow, Savages, Simon & Schuster

16 – tie

C.J. Box, Nowhere to Run, Putnam

Elizabeth George, This Body of Death, Harper

18 – Mike Lawson, House Justice, Atlantic Monthly

19 – Jeff Lindsey, Dexter is Delicious, Deoubleday

20 – John Connolly, The Whisperers, Atria

21 - Ann Rule, In the Still of the Night, Free Press

22 – Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey, Viking

23 – Jo Nesbo, The Devil’s Star, Harper

24 – Craig Johnson, Junkyard Dogs, Viking

25 – tie

Lisa Lutz, The Spellman’s Strike Again, Simon & Schuster

Tana French, Faithful Place, Viking

Trade Paperbacks

1 – Jo Nesbo, Redbreast, Harper

2 – Kelley Theron, Patient Enemy, Tigress

3– tie

Neil Low, Unreasonable Persuasion, Tigress

Jo Nesbo, Nemesis, Harper

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

6 – tie

Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Bantam

Stuart Neville, The Ghosts of Belfast, Sono

8 – Brian Thornton, The Book of Bastards, Adams

9 – David Benioff, City of Thieves, Plume

10 – Jon Talton, Deadline Man, Poisoned Pen

11 – Rick Anderson, Seattle Vice, Sasquatch

12 – tie

Cornelia Read, A Field of Darkness, Warner

Jeanne Matthews, Bones of Contention, Poisoned Pen

14 – Anthony Berkley, The Poisoned Chocolates Case, Felony & Mayhem

15 – Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men, Overlook

16 – tie

Bethany Maines, Bulletproof Mascara, Atria

Peter Lewis, Dead in the Dregs, Counterpoint

Cornelia Read, The Crazy School, Grand Central

Criag Johnson, A Cold Dish, Penguin

20 – Don Winslow, The Gentlemen’s Hour, Heinemann

21 – Matthew Dicks, Something Missing, Broadway

22 – tie

Gillian Flynn, Dark Places, Three Rivers

Charlie Huston, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, Ballantine

Tana French, In the Woods, Penguin

Mass Market Paperbacks

1 – Jayne Castle, Midnight Crystal, Jove

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

3 – Stieg Larsson, The Gril who Played with Fire, Vintage

4 – Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s

5 – Kat Richardson, Greywalker, Roc

6 – Earl Emerson, Cape Disappointment, Ballantine

7 – Brett Battles, The Cleaner, Dell

8 – Kevin O’Brien, Vicious, Pinnacle

9 – Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files, Pocket

10 – Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Vintage

11 – D.D. Barant, Dying Bites, St. Martin’s

12 – tie

Mike Lawson, House Secrets, Atlantic

Gregg Olsen, Victim Six, Kensington

14 – Mike Lawson, The Inside Ring, HarperCollins

15 – tie

Lee Child, Killing Floor, Jove

Andrew Grant, Even, St. Martin’s

Stella Cameron, Out of Body, Mira

18 – tie

D.D. Barant, Death Blows, St. Martin’s

Wendy Roberts, Dead and Kicking, Obsidian

20 – tie

Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War, Harper

Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity’s Death, Penguin

22 – Kat Richardson, Underground, Roc

23 – tie

J.A. Jance, Fire and Ice, Harper

Kat Richardson, Vanished, Roc

Robet Dugoni, Wrongful Death, Pocket

Adele’s List

 My personal top 10 books I read in 2010, in no particular order:

Jo Nesbo's "The Redbreast", "Nemesis", and "Devil's Star"

Travanian's "Shibumi"

Dennis Lehane's "Moonlight Mile"

Timothy Hallinan's "The Queen of Patpong"

Robert Crais' "The First Rule"

Louise Penny's "Bury Your Dead"

and the entire series Nevada Barr's "Liberty Falling" and "Deep South" (I am making my way through the whole series and, for a city dweller, really loving the outdoors from afar!)

Bill’s Best of 2010

Mystery Man, Colin Bateman. One of my all-time favorite authors returns with a new character who's the proprietor of a mystery bookstore in Belfast, Ireland. A neighbor of the shop, who's a private detective, has disappeared, so our hero tries to fill in for him -- primarily in an attempt to impress the girl in the shop across the street. Hilarity happens.

Something Missing, Matthew Dicks. The anti-hero as nice guy. A new college graduate can't get a job, so he takes up a life of crime. But he's business-like, so he researches potential "clients" whose living patterns he can learn, in order to visit their homes repeatedly without their knowledge, to relieve them of items they'll never miss. Thanks to our customer Jean C., who put us onto this one. (The subject of beneath-the-radar crime was handled equally well but very differently by Martin Limon in Slicky Boys some years ago.)

Memory, Donald E. Westlake. It took me a long time to realize how good this book is, because it was so unsettling to read. A man is given a well-deserved beating which leaves him with an odd kind of brain damage: amnesia which seems to follow him, erasing older memories as he gains new ones, so he can never find his way back to where he came from. A new, dark dimension in Westlake for me, a long-time fan of his writing.

 The Ragtime Fool, Larry Karp. Third in a trilogy of mysteries built around the career of composer Scott Joplin. All are good, but this one contains a couple of put-downs of racism that deserve to be enshrined as classics.

The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, Sharyn McCrumb. I welcome the return of this fine writer to her "Ballad" series of novels about Appalacia in the 1800's, after several novels about, um, auto racing. (This is apparently a big interest in the eastern mountain states.) McCrumb is such a good writer that these books are interesting, too, even to someone like me who cares not a Honda Civic for auto racing. The new ballad book is set several decades earlier than the rest of the series, and features Nora Bonesteel, usually seen as an old woman, as a youth. It's like glimpsing your grandmother in her girlhood. Wonderful! Following are four books by authors who, I hope, need no introduction. Dependable entries from dependable authors.

The Gentlemen's Hour, Don Winslow

 61 Hours, Lee Child

The Reversal, Michael Connelly

A Drop of the Hard Stuff, Lawrence Block

We are truly fortunate to be living in the time that these writers are at their peak.

Lastly - House Divided, Mike Lawson. The sixth Joe DeMarco. It's not really fair for me to include this, as it won't be released until July 2011, and I finished reading the advance copy scarcely more than a few minutes before the end of 2010, but it's such a wonderful book I can't leave it off my list. Quite probably there are hyper-patriots in the National Security Agency, and hyper-patriots in the FBI. And quite possibly their respective over-eagernesses could collide, with hilarious as well as potentially catastrophic results. Mike Lawson has leapt to the head of the class.

 - Bill Farley

Our Dec 2010 Bestsellers

Hardcovers

1 – Jayne Ann Krentz, In Too Deep, Putnam

2 – J.A. Jance, Queen of the Night, Morrow

3 – Ken Harmon, The Fat Man: a Tale of North Pole Noir, Dutton

4 – Jon Talton, South Phoenix Rules, Poisoned Pen

5 – Dennis Lehane, Moonlight Mile, Morrow

6 – tie

Loren D. Estleman, The Left-Handed Dollar, Forge

Steve Berry, The Emperor’s Tomb, Ballantine

8 – Lee Child, Worth Dying For, Delacorte

9 – Lawrence Block & Donald Westlake, Hellcats and Honeygirls, Subteranean

10 – tie

Rachel Hawkens, Hex Hall, Hyperion

J.A. Jance, Trial by Fire, Touchstone

Patrick McManus, The Huckleberry Murders, Simon & Schuster

Trade Paperbacks

1 - Jon Talton, South Phoenix Rules, Poisoned Pen

2 – tie

Jon Talton, Deadline Man, Poisoned Pen

Stuart Neville, The Ghosts of Belfast, Soho

Spencer Quinn, Dog On It, Atria

5 - tie

P.L. Gaus, Broken English, Plume

Patrick McManus, The Blight Way, Simon & Schuster

John Mortimer, Rumpole Christmas, Penguin

8 – tie Jess Walter, The Financial Lives of Poets, Harper

L.R. Wright, Fall from Grace, Felony & Mayhem

Patrick McManus, The Double-Jack Murders, Simon & Schuster

Ann Cleeves, Raven Black, Minotaur

Andreas Camilleri, Track of Sand, Penguin

Helene Tursten, Detective Inspector Huss, Soho

Tana French, In the Woods, Penguin

Eliot Pattison, Eye of the Raven, Counterpoint

Mass Market Paperbacks

1 – Boyd Morrison, Rogue Wave, Pocket

2 – Greg Rucka, A Gentleman’s Game, Bantam

3 – tie

D.D. Barant, Dying Bites, St. Martin’s

Sue Grafton, U is the Undertow, Berkley

5 – Brett Battles, The Cleaner, Dell

6 – tie

D.D. Barant, Death Blows, St. Martin’s

Louise Penny, Still Life, St. Martin’s

Brandon Mull, Fablehaven, Aladdin

Dana Stabenow, Night too Dark, St. Martin’s

9 – tie

e.l.konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Simon Pulse

Nancy Atherton, Aun't Dimity's Death, Penguin

1.1.11

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011!