Review: PLAY DEAD, Richard Montanari

William Heinemann 2008, ISBN 978-0-4340-1601-3, 381 pages.

The night children, the runaways, come to the city by the hundreds, filled with hope and fear and promise. They gather during the day in free spaces: bus and train stations, libraries and museums, art galleries, and cheap eating places. And that's where Joseph Swann, magician, illusionist and conjuror, master of disguises, observes and selects them for his Seven Wonders project. He has a particular type of girl in mind. Each will be a guest in a room in his house until their great moment.

The year is 2008, the city is Philadelphia, referred to once in PLAY DEAD as Killadelphia. When Joseph Swann was born his father, the Great Cygne, momentarily thought he had silver eyes, the mark of the devil. The Great Cygne was a master magician, and each of girls whom Joseph befriends will be matched to one of his father's most remarkable illusions. Joseph's desire for approval, recognition, and the admiration of others stems from the way his father treated him.

The body of the first of Joseph's victims, Caitlin O'Riordan, is discovered in May 2008, carefully posed in a glass display case. In August 2008, by which time the O'Riordan case is already regarded as a "cold case", the body of a second victim is discovered. The investigation becomes the first handled by homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Baldano after their transfer to the Special Investigations Unit. Even as multi-stranded investigations into the bodies already discovered begin, the serial killings continue, and the reader is "introduced" to new potential victims.

PLAY DEAD is the first novel I have read where I can recall seeing the Aristotelian Incline so obviously utilised. After the prologue which sets the scene, the novel implements a three act structure. In the final part, Death Clock, the action and tension ratchet up as Byrne and Baldano race against the clock to beat Swann to his horrifying climax.

This is my most satisfying read so far this year. Meticulously plotted, full of puzzles, it is bound together by the heightening tension. I would like to hear what a Philadelphian reader thinks of it. It is one thing to read a book as scary as this one from an outsider's point of view, quite another to read it as an "insider".

There is a lot of back story throughout PLAY DEAD, and in places it makes the main story unfold just that bit more slowly. However by the final section I had come to appreciate why it was there. The only jarring note for me was one of the final chapters that, Poirot-like, "revealed all", and I just wish Montanari had found another way to do it.

My rating: 5.0

PLAY DEAD is the 4th in the Byrne and Baldano series:
1. The Rosary Girls (2005)
2. The Skin Gods (2006)
3. Broken Angels (2007) aka Merciless
4. Play Dead (2008) aka Badlands

Richard Montanari has a website at http://www.richardmontanari.com. There you can watch an exclusive 8-minute interview with Richard about PLAY DEAD (Badlands), why his books are set in Philadelphia, what Jessica Balzano means to him, and what's coming next.
Verlagsgruppe Lubbe has announced June 16, 2009 as the publication date of SEPTAGON, the German-language edition of BADLANDS.

Did Agatha Christie have Alzheimer's?

Many thanks to Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare for highlighting the original article about this.

In some recent research Sixteen novels—including Christie’s first, written at age 28, and her last, composed at 82, three years before her death in 1976—were put through a “computational-linguistic” screen to analyze vocabulary and phrase repetition. Use of indefinite nouns and the indefinite article “thing” increased significantly over time, they found, as did phrase repetition, while vocabulary declined by 15 to 30 per cent. The most precipitous change occurs in Christie’s penultimate novel, Elephants Can Remember, written when she was 81; it contained a 30 per cent drop in vocabulary compared to her writing at age 63, 18 per cent more repeated phrases, and a nearly threefold increase in indefinite nouns.

Read more on the blog posting The Ultimate whodunit.

It seems to me that the research may be reading something into the late Agatha Christie books that is barely there. Mind you, if I'm still in charge of all my vocabulary when I'm 81, it will be a great cause for celebration. I don't know of many 81 year olds of my close acqauaintance writing blogs, or for that matter books.

Tell me some writers who are still productive today at over 81.
Here is a starting list. Who can you add?
Let's see, 81 this year would mean they were born in or before 1928

PD James - 89, born in 1920
Dick Francis - 89 born in 1920
Andrea Camilleri - 84, born in 1925
Elmore Leonard - 84, born in 1925

Forgotten Books: Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy series

Another contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books

Peter Corris is still adding to this series so it probably doesn't qualify all that well in "forgotten books". However my records show that I read the 3rd in the series THE MARVELLOUS BOY back in 1982. Since then Corris has added to the series almost annually.







It began in 1980 with THE DYING TRADE.
The blurb from the book:

Hardy needs work. In fact, he's the type of detective who never turns down a case. He can't afford to.

So when wealthy Bryn Gutteridge, a real estate heir who amuses himself by shooting seagulls, asks Hardy to find out who has been threatening his twin sister, Susan, the private eye agrees. And finds himself on a case that turns more brutal every day.

First Gutteridge's butler is murdered. Then his pretty young stepmother is badly beaten. Hardy himself takes a few punches. And before long it's hard to tell the victims from the villains.

I recently listened to one of the much later titles, APPEAL DENIED.

So if you are looking for an Australian crime fiction series in the PI tradition, consider this one.

Peter Corris is regarded by many as the "father of Australian crime fiction", and has been recognised by Ned Kelly shortlists and Awards and in 1999 with a Life Time Achievement Award.

Peter Corris' own website will be of interest.

You'll find a list of titles with some reviews on Aust Crime Fiction.

More about Cliff Hardy on The Thrilling Detective with a list of books and short stories.
You might remember the film The Empty Beach (1985) with Bryan Brown as Cliff Hardy.

Various short list nominations in crime fiction

Some of the prizes listed here are not exclusively for crime fiction, but some of the nominated titles are. I have asterisked and linked to books I have read.

2008 Agatha Nominees

Winners to be announced 2 May 2009

Best Novel:
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews (Minotaur Books)
***** A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
***** The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry (Random House)
I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel:
Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell (Berkley Trade)
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis (Penguin Group)
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris (Minotaur Books)
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan (Midnight Ink)

Strand Magazine Awards

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party on July 8 in New York City. A lifetime achievement award will be given posthumously to English author John Mortimer.

Best Novel:
****** When Will There Be Good News?, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown)
Master of the Delta, by Thomas H. Cook (Houghton Mifflin)
The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
Lush Life, by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
Hollywood Crows, by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown)

Best First Novel:
******* The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
City of the Sun, by David Levien (Doubleday)
A Cure for Night, by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)
Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
A Carrion Death, by Michael Stanley (Harper)

2nd Annual Spinetingler Award Nominees

Winners to be announced April 30. Winners will be determined by public vote.
You can vote online from April 25.

New Voice

Toby Barlow - SHARP TEETH
Declan Hughes - THE PRICE OF BLOOD
John McFetridge - EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE
Brian McGilloway - BORDERLANDS
Castle Freeman JR - GO WITH ME
Cornelia Read - THE CRAZY SCHOOL
Kevin Wignall - WHO IS CONRAD HIRST?
Austin Williams - CRIMSON ORGY

Rising Star

***** Kate Atkinson - WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?
Ray Banks - NO MORE HEROES
Christa Faust - MONEY SHOT
Jeffrey Ford - THE SHADOW YEAR
Allan Guthrie - SAVAGE NIGHT
***** Timothy Hallinan - A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART
Andrew Klavan - EMPIRE OF LIES
Olen Steinhauer - VICTORY SQUARE

Legend

Lawrence Block - HIT AND RUN
Lee Child - NOTHING TO LOSE
Robert Crais - CHASING DARKNESS
Joe Lansdale - LEATHER MAIDEN
Dennis Lehane - THE GIVEN DAY
Norah McClintock - DOOLEY TAKES THE FALL
Val McDermid - A DARKER DOMAIN
James Sallis - SALT RIVER

Graphic Novel

100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Femme Noir by Christopher Mills and Joe Staton
Hawaiian Dick by B. Clay Moore and Steven Griffin
Incognegro by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece
Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera

Best Editor

Ben LeRoy - Bleak House
Charles Ardai - Hard Case Crime
Neil Nyren - Putnam
John Schoenfelder - Thomas Dunne

Best Reviewer

Ali Karim
Larry Gandle
Lesa Holstine
Karen Chisholm
Glenn Harper

Best Publisher

Bleak House
Hard Case Crime
Soho

Special Services to the Industry

Declan Burke: Crime Always Pays
Barbara Franchi: Reviewing The Evidence
J. Kingston Pierce: The Rap Sheet
John & Ruth Jordan: Crimespree
Peter Rozovsky: Detectives Beyond Borders
Ruth Jordan & Judy Bobolik: Bouchercon 2008

Best Cover

AT THE CITY’S EDGE by Marcus Sakey - Cover design by The DesignWorks Group
DEATH WAS THE OTHER WOMAN by Linda L Richards - Cover design by David Baldeosignh Rotstein
EMPTY AFTER AFTER by Reed Farrel Coleman - Cover design by 2Faced Designs
FIFTY TO ONE by Charles Ardai - Cover design by Cooley Design Lab
MAD DOGS by Brian Hodge - Cover design by Jill Bauman
SHARP TEETH by Toby Barlow - Cover design by Christine Van Bree illustrated by Natasha Michaels

Best Short Story on the Web

Cold Rifts by Sandra Seamans (Originally published at Crooked)
Fruits by Steve Mosby (Originally published ay Spinetingler)
Hard Bite by by Anonymous-9 (Originally published at Beat to a Pulp)
Lenny and Earl Go Shooting Off Their Mouths by Ray Morrison (originally published at Word Riot)
Random Acts of Fatherhood by Robert Pesa (Originally published at Darkest Before the Dawn)
Red Hair and Black Leather by Jordan Harper (Originally published at Thuglit)
She Watches Him Swim by Claude Lalumiere (Originally published at Back Alley)
Sisters Under the Skin by Naomi Johnson (Originally published at A Twist of Noir)
They Take You by Kyle Minor (Originally published at Plots With Guns)
Wishing on Whores by John Weagly (Originally published at Thieves Jargon)

2009 Thriller Award Nominees

Winners will be announced during ThrillerFest 2009, July 8-11

BEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

BEST SHORT STORY
Between the Dark and the Daylight (Ellery Queen Magazine) by Tom Piccirilli
Last Island South (Ellery Queen Magazine) by John C. Boland
The Edge of Seventeen (The Darker Mask) by Alexandra Sokoloff
The Point Guard (Killer Year Anthology) by Jason Pinter
Time of the Green (Killer Year Anthology) by Ken Bruen

THRILLERMASTER AWARD
David Morrell honoring his influential body of work

SILVER BULLET AWARD
Brad Meltzer for his outstanding charitable contributions

Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award

Awards to be announced on May 6, 2009

****** GALLOWS LANE by Brian McGilloway
THE LIKENESS by Tana French
UNDERTOW by Arlene Hunt
BLOOD RUNS COLD by Alex Barclay

2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize shortlists

Winners to be announced Mid May 2009.

Africa

Best Book

Damon Galgut (South Africa) The Imposter Penguin
Tim Keegan (South Africa) My Life with the Duvals Umuzi
Sindiwe Magona (South Africa) Beauty's Gift Kwela books
Mandla Langa (South Africa) The Lost Colours of the Chameleon Picador Africa
Zoe Wicomb (South Africa) The One That Got Away Umuzi

Best First Book

Jassy Mackenzie (South Africa) Random Violence Umuzi
Uwem Akpan (Nigeria) Say You're One of Them Abacus
Megan Voysey-Braig (South Africa) Till We Can Keep An Animal Jacana Media
Chris Mamewick (South Africa) Shepherds and Butchers Umuzi
Sue Rabie (South Africa) Boston Snowplough Human & Rousseau
Jane Bennett (South Africa ) Porcupine Kwela Books

Canada and Caribbean

Best Book

Marina Endicott (Canada) Good to a Fault Freehand Books
Kenneth J Harvey (Canada) Blackstrap Hawco Random House Canada
Nino Ricci (Canada) The Origin of Species Doubleday Canada
Jacob Ross(Grenada) Pynter Bender Fourth Estate
Jaspreet Singh (Canada) Chef Véhicule Press
Fred Stenson (Canada) The Great Karoo Doubleday Canada

Best First Book

Theanna Bischoff (Canada) Cleavage NeWest Press
Mark Blagrave (Canada) Silver Salts Cormorant Books
Craig Boyko (Canada) Blackouts McClelland and Stewart
Nila Gupta (Canada) The Sherpa and Other Fictions Sumach Press
Pasha Malla (Canada) The Withdrawal Method House of Anansi Press
Joan Thomas (Canada) Reading By Lightning Goose Lane Editions
Padma Viswanathan (Canada)The Toss of a Lemon Random House Canada

Europe and South Asia

Best Book

Chris Cleave (United Kingdom) The Other Hand Sceptre
Shashi Deshpande (India) The Country of Deceit Penguin
Philip Hensher (United Kingdom) The Northern Clemency Fourth Estate
Jhumpa Lahiri (United Kingdom) Unaccustomed Earth Bloomsbury Publishing
David Lodge (United Kingdom) Deaf Sentence Harvill Secker
Salman Rushdie (United Kingdom) The Enchantress of Florence Random House

Best First Book

Sulaiman Addonia (United Kingdom) The Consequences of Love Chatto and Windus
Daniel Clay (United Kingdom) Broken HarperPress
Joe Dunthorne (United Kingdom) Submarine Hamish Hamilton/Penguin
Mohammed Hanif (Pakistan) The Case of Exploding Mangoes Jonathan Cape
Murzban Shroff (India) Breathless in Bombay St. Martin's Griffin
Rowan Somerville (United Kingdom) The End of Sleep Weidenfield and Nicholson

South East Asia and the Pacific

Best Book

Aravind Adiga (Australia) Between The Assassinations Atlantic Books
Helen Garner (Australia) The Spare Room The Text Publishing Company
Joan London (Australia) The Good Parents Random House Australia (Vintage Imprint)
Paula Morris (New Zealand) Forbidden Cities Penguin New Zealand
Christos Tsiolkas (Australia) The Slap Allen and Unwin
Tim Winton, (Australia) Breath Penguin/Hamish Hamilton

Best First Book

****** Aravind Adiga (Australia), The White Tiger Atlantic Books
Nam Le (Australia) The Boat Hamish Hamilton
Mo Zhi Hong (New Zealand) The Year of The Shanghai Shark Penguin New Zealand
Bridget van der Zijpp (New Zealand) Misconduct Victoria University Press
Preeta Samarasan (Malaysian) Evening is the Whole Day Fourth Estate
Ashley Sievwright (Australia) The Shallow End Clouds of Magellan

My March 2009 Reads

As you can see, a pretty even sort of month.
I read rather less than I had anticipated, considering I spent so much time travelling.
33 books read so far this year, but still not a 5 star amongst them.

4.3, THREE BAGS FULL, Leonie Swann
3.1, THE MIND OF A GENIUS, David Snowdon
4.7, TOUCHSTONE, Laurie R. King
4.1, THE GLASS DEVIL, Helen Tursten
4.0, THE CRUEL STARS OF THE NIGHT, kjell eriksson
4.2, HER ROYAL SPYNESS, Rhys Bowen
4.0, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY, Agatha Christie
4.2, PORTOBELLO, Ruth Rendell
4.3, A ROYAL PAIN, Rhys Bowen
4.3, PERFECTLY PURE AND GOOD, Frances Fyfield

Review: PANDORA'S DAUGHTER, Iris Johansen

Published 2007, digital audio version of 11 hours of listening on 9 CDs, from Brilliance Audio, narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck.



Megan Blair, once had a different name. That was before her mother was murdered. But when she was 15, at her mother's funeral, her mother's brother, whom she had never met before, came into her life.

Megan has always wondered if she is not just a little mad - she hears voices, sometimes screaming so loud that she can barely think. It has happened all her life, and her mother warned her not to tell anybody.

But now she is an adult, a qualified physician, and someone is trying to kill her. The voices, which seem to have been under control, have come back, and Neal Grady whom she remembers from the summer when her mother was killed, has re-appeared. And her life will never be the same.

The blurbs I have seen at Brilliance Audio and Fantastic Fiction tell you much more of the story than I want to do here. I enjoyed listening to the book, but be warned there is a paranormal element that may stretch credibility for you. It is just slightly towards the edge of the crime fiction/thriller books that I usually read.

My rating: 4.2

Iris Johansen is an incredibly prolific writer. She will be publishing 4 books this year, and there were 3 new titles in 2008. Megan Blair makes a second appearance in QUICKSAND.

It make increase your enjoyment of the story if you do a little background reading about Pandora.

Other reviews to check:

• M&C says the book "is a nicely developed thriller that combines strong antagonists, likeable protagonists and just the right amount of sexual tension for a dynamite read."
• Book Reporter says "fans of romantic suspense should find PANDORA'S DAUGHTER to be a highly satisfying read."

And the winner is...

I've been running a competition over the last few days for a copy of ===>

The winner is Dorte - drawn randomly by reliable hubby!

Here are the questions and the answers:

1. What is the name of the village in which Louise Penny sets her series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache?
   Three Pines
   
2. What festive season is THE CRUELLEST MONTH set in?
   Easter
   
3. Which of her books did Louise Penny win the John Creasey New Blood Dagger with?
   STILL LIFE
   
4. Name 2 other awards this particular book won (the book in Q3 that is)
   The Arthur Ellis Award and the Dilys Award
   
5. Two of Penny's books have had different titles for US and Canadian publications. Give both titles of one of them.
   A RULE AGAINST MURDER (US)/ THE MURDER STONE (CANADA)
   A FATAL GRACE (US)/ DEAD COLD (CANADA)
   
6. What is the name of the house where the seance was held in THE CRUELLEST MONTH?
   The Hadley House
   
7. What rating did I give THE CRUELLEST MONTH?
   4.8 - see my review
   
8. When Louise Penny has her birthday this year, how old will she be?
   51 - a mere spring chicken!
   
9. UND DIE FURCHT GEBIERT DEN ZORN is the title of the German publication of which Canadian title?
   DEAD COLD
   
10. In DEAD COLD a spectator is killed while watching a sports match. What was the sport, and how was the person killed?
    Curling, the person was electrocuted.
    

Thank you to Kaye, Dorte and Pierre for entering.

I am aiming to make this a regular feature of my blog but probably on a fortnightly basis, so watch out after Easter