Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Freshening Up a Detective Series at LAT; Praising TOKYO VICE at the B&N Review

In an act of serendipity, both of my crime fiction columns appeared online on the same day. At the LA Times, my newest "Dark Passages" column looks at how authors try to freshen up a detective series - most recently Marcia Muller, who's taken a rather audacious step with her newest Sharon McCone novel, LOCKED IN: 

When "Locked In" (Grand Central: 282 pp., $24.99) opens, it's "a typical July night in San Francisco. Mist swirling off the bay, a foghorn bellowing every thirty seconds out at the Golden Gate." McCone's on her way back to the office to retrieve a cellphone, a three-block trip from where her car ran out of gas. And then typical becomes atypical when she's shot in the head: The next thing she knows she's in the hospital, able to understand every word and every gesture without reciprocating in kind, a victim of "Locked-in" syndrome: "[N]ow a fragmented bullet was lodged near her brain stem, doing more harm than all the criminals and aeronautical malfunctions could. A deadly little piece of metal, that none of her smarts and guts could combat."

So it would seem, at least: How on earth will Muller write her way out of this brazen predicament she's placed McCone into?

Obviously, Muller does, and in doing so injects her series with some added verve.

Meanwhile, at the Barnes & Noble Review, my newest "Criminalist" piece centers around a non-fiction account of criminal doings abroad. TOKYO VICE by Jake Adelstein, an American reporter working the police beat in Japan, is an amazing book on its own and reflective of a culture that has produced some very strange and wonderful fiction, as I explain in the piece's opener:

Contemporary Japanese crime novelists explore violent territory that Americans, even with their love of serial killings and on- and off-screen horror, would be loath to touch. The 1999 novel Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, as controversial as it was in Japan for its depiction of youthful brutality, might never have seen the light of day here had it originated from an American writer, especially as its initial publication came about around the same time as the Columbine school shootings. Women writers based here certainly do go deep into the heart of the gruesome (Chelsea Cain and Karin Slaughter are the most recent examples), but Natsuo Kirino’s Out, coolly brilliant in its portrayal of four desperate women resorting to the dismemberment (and beyond) of a dead man formerly viewed as a threat, barrels straight through every limit of tolerance.

The fearlessness of Japanese crime writers (not to mention the violence pervading a great deal of the manga published there) owes something to the news they find at hand, despite the fact that the rate of violent acts in Japan pales next to that in America. Consider the case of Issei Sagawa, who murdered and ate parts of a fellow student while studying abroad in the early 1980s. Upon returning home, Sagawa was declared not responsible for his crimes and never served time in jail – instead, improbably, he became something of a celebrity, and now has several books to his name. A series of child murders that terrorized Tokyo in the late 1980s turned out to be the horrible handiwork of a psychopathic teenager. Violent crime may be rare, but when it does happen, it explodes with the force of multiple powder kegs.

Read on for the rest, and an extended Q&A with Adelstein will also appear soon at the Review, and when it does, I'll link here.

Glenn Beck, the New Patron Saint of Thriller Writing?

I suspect reading Motoko Rich's story on "the Glenn Beck effect" on thriller writers might have caused a trace of discomfort among many writers and publishing industry types. It's certainly different than a spot on Oprah, or Craig Ferguson, or NPR, or the Daily Show or the Colbert Report, as those media outlets lean more towards the left, or the comedic, or keep politics to a minimum, let alone whip up a frenzy of cartoonish propaganda Warner Bros. would have balked at during the apex of World War II.

But publishing casts about for anyone resembling a savior, someone whose recommendations will lead to the magic elixir of book sales. Even Oprah's own transformative powers have decreased this year (picking a short story collection that, while exceedingly well-written, centers around poverty and violence in Africa) So now Glenn Beck, that "outspoken media darling of populist conservatism," gets his turn.

There are a number of interesting takeaways, the first being the types of books Beck gravitates towards and who is writing them. They are, by and large, thrillers that hinge more on elaborate plot twists, conspiracies and grand schemes, featuring protagonists who are more absolutist (what they do is good, who they battle is bad, with little room for grey areas or introspection) and more conservative in outlook. In the past couple of years, Beck's interviewed David Baldacci, James Patterson, Brad Thor, Ted Bell, Andrew Gross, Brad Meltzer, Vince Flynn, Christopher Reich and Daniel Silva, among others - in other words, it's like Beck has a line into the upper echelons of ITW. (The most notable absence at first blush would be Lee Child, but consider that the first of his Reacher novels to top the NYT list, NOTHING TO LOSE, was also the most heavily criticized by the right.) Beck definitely has a line into what his viewers - especially the 800,000-odd people in the coveted 25-54 demographic - might be interested in reading. Chances are they are not avid book buyers, lucky to put a couple of hundred bucks' total into publishers' coffers.

Beck's viewership also skews predominately towards white males, and at the risk of gross overgeneralization, fall into the stereotypical category of those who shy away from reading books outside their own gender (or ethnic and cultural worldview.) I didn't search through Beck's entire interview archive of radio programs and tv episodes, but at least since he's moved over to FOXNews, he doesn't appear to have talked with a female thriller writer. Not doing so cuts off access to the larger, predominantly female book-buying demographic, but they aren't really Beck's audience - and I'm not sure he's all that interested in catering to that particular group.

Increasing overall ratings is certainly of high priority - 3 million or so watch Beck daily, a loud minority that's only about 1% of America's total population. (Such is cable television.) But to put things in perspective, that's a phenomenal number of potential book buyers. So no wonder William Morrow attributes Beck as the reason James Rollins' THE DOOMSDAY KEY stayed on the NYT bestseller list longer than they anticipated, since all it takes to stay on the list is a steady sales stream of several thousand copies per week.

But then comes the proverbial problem: now that Rich's story has run, will Beck's producers be besieged by writers wanting to appear on his show? And if they don't share Beck's views, or deviate considerably from them, will they run into similar situations as befaced Andrew Gross?

"I'll get people who are obviously fans of his who write me e-mails, saying, 'I paid $27 for this, and I didn't want to buy a bunch of lefty [shit,] Mr. Gross said. “And then I get calls from people on the left who say, 'I've always liked your books but now that I see you have an association with Glenn Beck, I'm reconsidering.'"

Mr. Gross said he defended himself to both sides. "Invariably, I've had people who said, 'I wasn't going to read it because I saw it was endorsed by Glenn Beck,'" he said. "And I've pushed them to hold their judgment. And several of them have written back and said, 'I take it back.'"

In other words, Beck's reach works because it's self-selecting to his chosen audience, and when there's a sales bump of a certain author's titles, the publisher beams. Threshold, the conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, will have plenty of occasion to do just that when Beck's own thriller (still untitled) is released next spring. But move outside that self-selection bubble and the happy scenario may play out far, far differently. It's a dance that requires a great deal of delicacy - a far cry from Beck's own outsized, button-pushing persona.

The State of the Crime Novel ca. 2009

Jason Pinter, as part of his new gig as a columnist for the Huffington Post's recently launched books section, gathered together an excellent group of crime fiction critics, observers and prognosticators to consider where the genre is at and where things are headed. Here's a sampling from the round-table featuring Patrick Anderson, Jon Jordan, Oline Cogdill, Kate Stine, David Montgomery and yours truly:

What do you feel is your individual mission statement when it comes to covering crime novels?

Anderson: To steer intelligent readers toward good crime fiction and away from bad crime fiction.

Cogdill: I want to cover the crime novel/mystery genre to showcase new books that deserve an audience. To show what is the best and brightest of our times. I don't have a problem giving a book a negative review and in fact do it all the time, but I would rather guide the reader to what they should be reading. In a way, it is consumerism. I think the state of the mystery genre is the strongest it has ever been. I think the stories are stronger than ever, characters more vivid and plots more involved. And that is both in hardback and paperback. Some very strong novels are paperback originals.

Jordan: With Crimespree we hope to turn people on to some books and authors they might not have heard about and give them some insight into authors they might not otherwise get.

Montgomery: I try to highlight the best of the genre, whether by popular authors or unknowns, and help readers to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of crime fiction. My goal is to cover the genre in both a serious and entertaining way, to give the great books and authors the recognition they deserve, but also to emphasize the pleasure to be had by reading crime novels. I also take a particular pleasure from discovering new writers and helping to bring their work to a larger audience.

Stine: My mission as an editor is to hire expert writers and reviewers and make sure that Mystery Scene readers get excellent critical coverage of the entire crime and mystery genre.

Weinman: Ideally, to talk about books I love that others will love as well. But when it's a book I don't love, then I want to tell the truth in an honest but informed way, pointing out what works, what doesn't, or why I may not like it but others might.

But I'd strongly urge reading the whole thing and perhaps coming up with your own answers, predictions and thoughts - the comments box is wide open...

And the Publishing Beat Goes On

When I left GalleyCat a couple of years ago the prospect of covering the publishing industry on a daily basis had become something of a grind. There were other projects to pursue - some successful, others less so and hence never discussed publicly - that stuck closer to my beloved genre of crime fiction or flew further afield.

But a funny thing happened in the intervening years: I didn't burn out on publishing. Far from it, as the convergence of a recessed economy, the rise of e-books (even if just in terms of how many stories are published about said rise) and the enthusiasm of many observers and insiders who want to mold publishing into a model that better fits the 21st century all make this a very exciting - albeit disturbing and not-so-occasionally depressing - time for publishing. Twitter helped keep track of that, and occasional stints hosting Publishers Lunch over the last year and a half confirmed I had too much of a personal stake to stay away.

Now comes a new gig: As of last week, I'll be writing about the publishing industry for DailyFinance, AOL's money and finance news blog. There will be short posts (like this and this) when news breaks and longer features every week or two. DailyFinance is a business-oriented site, and so too will my stories for them, which means I can cut loose on more stat-and-numbers geekery and learn more about the twin engines - technology and financials - that will drive publishing forward.

So a word of warning: between DailyFinance, my crime fiction columns at the LA Times and the Barnes & Noble Review and other freelance assignments - not to mention some larger projects in the works - Confessions will likely operate at a reduced frequency (aka when the mood strikes me.) Of course, the moment I announce such things, I end up blogging like a demon, which is how I've stayed at this for over six (!) years. But unpredictability is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Sunday Smatterings Post-Halloween

Marilyn Stasio reviews new crime fiction offerings by Michael Connelly, Ruth Rendell, Archer Mayor, and Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom.

Oline Cogdill hears the McBain-like echoes in Lou Manfredo's debut cop novel RIZZO'S WAR.

Janet Maslin adores THE LINE-UP, Otto Penzler's anthology of crime writers talking about their iconic series characters.

Denise Hamilton hails John Connolly's THE GATES as a potential middle-school Halloween classic in the LA Times.The Chicago Sun-Times' Jeffrey Westhoff is also enthusiastic about the book.

The Guardian's John O'Connell has his say on new thrillers by Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Michael Robotham and Emili Rosales.

Over at the Times of London, Marcel Berlins looks at new crime novels by Attica Locke and Ryan David Jahn as well as PD James' nonfiction treatise on detective fiction.

The Globe & Mail's Margaret Cannon analyzes recent mysteries and thrillers by Arnaldur Indridason, Louise Penny, Barbara Fradkin, R.J. Harlick, Leslie Crewe and Ethan Brown.

Tom & Enid Schantz round up new mysteries by Tasha Alexander, Carola Dunn, Louise Penny and Ann Cleeves in the Denver Post.

The Scotsman fetes Philip Kerr on his Ellis Peters Historical Dagger win for IF THE DEAD RISE NOT.

Ian Rankin talks about his newest standalone novel THE COMPLAINTS with Maclean's.

Val McDermid explains to Janet Rudolph how her deservedly acclaimed novel A PLACE FOR EXECUTION was adapted for a film, now airing on PBS.

Michael Connelly relates how the fictional premise of NINE DRAGONS intersected with a real-life (and still unresolved) missing persons case in an essay for CNN.

John Le Carre, who recently switched UK publishers from Hodder to Penguin after 38 years, is profiled in the Observer.

NPR's Glen Weldon talks up a new comics anthology of noir stories.

And finally, yeah, I want to read Andre Agassi's memoir. Even if it seems to have left out the most important part.

Lionel Davidson Dies at Age 87

Lionel Davidson, a notable British writer of thrillers who was a three-time Gold Dagger winner - not to mention the 2001 recepient of the CWA's Diamond Dagger - died on October 21 at his home in London. He was 87, and according to the NYT obit, the cause was lung cancer.

I'm sorry to say I never got around to reading Davidson's work, and years of good intentions will, once again, fade away into post-mortem catch-up (thankfully, Faber & Faber has been reprinting Davidson's eight novels over the last little while.) So I'll urge people to take their cues from Christopher Fowler, who wrote about Davidson's work as part of his "Forgotten Authors" column in the Independent just last month.

UPDATE, 11/3: Dennis Barker's obituary appears in the Guardian.

Don Winslow Picks up Trevanian's Mantle - And Gains Two New Publishers in the Process

I first heard about this piece of news a little while ago but yesterday, the news was more or less official: Don Winslow has been tapped to write SATORI, a prequel to Trevanian's excellent 1979 thriller SHIBUMI, for Grand Central Publishing. According to Mitch Hoffman, who acquired the novel, SATORI will be published in early 2011. I'm hoping to hear more from Hoffman (and from Winslow), and when I do, I'll add their respective information to this post, but the news is interesting on multiple fronts: first, Trevanian's backlist was reissued around the time of his death in 2005 by Crown/Three Rivers, but they aren't the ones who'll publish this prequel. Second, Winslow's own publishing status in the US is in a bit of limbo, as THE GENTLEMEN'S HOUR - the even-better sequel to the amazing THE DAWN PATROL - was published in the UK, but there's no US publication date in sight. Finally, Trevanian is just the latest author to continue posthumous publication (cf. Nabokov, Bolano and most recently, Isaac Asimov.)

More soon, and suffice to say, a lot of people are quite excited about this.

UPDATE, 11/3: I've altered the post's headline to reflect today's news that Winslow not only is writing as Trevanian for Grand Central, but his own work will have a new publisher, namely Simon & Schuster. Richard Pine of Inkwell Management made the deal to S&S publisher David Rosenthal, with Sarah Hochman - recently promoted to senior editor- slated to edit both books.

According to Publishers Marketplace, THE GENTLEMEN'S HOUR won't be published until July 2011, which is a hell of a long way away - but that's because the house has elected to publish Winslow's standalone novel SAVAGES, described as "a gritty, humorous, and drug-fueled ransom thriller set amidst the Baja Cartel in Laguna Beach, CA," next summer. Hochman explained things further when I reached out to her via e-mail: "We’re knocked out by SAVAGES, and feel it can be a bestseller as a stand-alone, so we wanted to get [Winslow] rolling with an unencumbered book before getting back to the surfing series."

Getting Re-Sensitized to Violence

In the September issue of Standpoint Magazine, Jessica Mann - a regular reviewer for the Literary Review and a writer of crime fiction for over 35 years - expressed her disgust over how a number of crime titles she gets for review increasingly resort to graphic violence:

When a female corpse appeared on the jacket of a crime-writing colleague's new book, she pointed out to her publisher that the victim in the story was actually a man. Never mind that, came the reply, dead, brutalised women sell books, dead men don't. Nor do dead children or geriatrics. Which explains why an increasing proportion of the crime fiction I am sent to review features male perpetrators and almost invariably female victims — series of them.  Each psychopath is more sadistic than the last and his victims' sufferings are described in detail that becomes ever more explicit, as young women are imprisoned, bound, gagged, strung up or tied down, raped, sliced, burned, blinded, beaten, eaten, starved, suffocated,  stabbed, boiled or buried alive. 

And so, having had enough, Mann concluded: "So however many more outpourings of sadistic misogyny are crammed on to the bandwagon, no more of them will be reviewed by me."

Almost two months later, after a bit of discussion by Martin Edwards and Maxine Clarke, now the broadsheets have climbed aboard this old bandwagon and blown it up to their liking. Instead of just giving up on serial killer thrillers and uber-violent crime novels, now Mann is purported to be quitting reviewing altogether, which makes for a catchy headline but isn't quite the truth (oh, well that's so inconvenient.)

But Mann's out-of-context statements aside, here we are, back on another go-round of a conversation that's raged in crime fiction circles for years. Are we too desensitized to violence, as Val McDermid says in the Observer piece that's been cited most this weekend? Or, as Transworld publishing director for crime Selina Walker says in the same piece, is it that "readers like to be vicariously frightened by stories of what's going on in the wicked world outside but closure is always a total given?"

The answers are manifold, depending on perspective as a reader or writer, and what sort of threshold is in place for how much is acceptable, violence-wise, within the pages of a crime novel. (And I agree with Steve Mosby - you want real, disgusting, balls-to-the-wall violence, read a horror novel.) But all the discussion about graphic violence masks what seems to me the larger issue: if all the other elements of a crime novel work, then be as violent as necessary, because if I'm engaged by the characters, when they go through turmoil, I feel alongside them and the cause and effect is heightened that much more. But too many novels of an uber-violent bent that I've picked up lately - no names, because I never got far enough into such books to count them as "read" - think that violence for violence's sake, without taking the time to invest in believable characters or a good story or making sure I, as a reader, actually care about what's going on, will save the book. It doesn't. And as a result, the serial killing action turns into cliche and bores the ever living crap out of me.

Consider, too, that as scary and lurid and disgusting as some of these books are (at least to Mann), the problem is exacerbated by their being an orderly ending that dispenses with the unruly, graphic chaos. The reality is more mundane, and thus, more scary. I spent the past weekend reading up on an unknown killer now dubbed EAR-ONS, whose pathology is orderly, fascinatingly textbook, and - by virtue of being a phantom who suddenly stopped in 1986, that much scarier than fiction. I've read a lot about serial killers, real and fictional, and yet this purported recording of the UNSUB's voice* is one of the creepiest I have ever heard (it didn't help that I clicked on the link late at night.) 

Chances are, if EAR-ONS is ever caught, his backstory will prove to be as unscriptable and unspeakable as that of Dennis Rader, whose unmasking as the BTK Killer proved to hinge on a twist so stupid - the metadata on a 3.5" floppy disk - it would never pass muster in a novel. But it's the little things, the most incidental ones, that really resolve order into chaos, turn horrible violence into a proper narrative - and when such connections, and more importantly, emotions are lost in the pursuit of telling yet another cliche-filled story, everyone loses out.

UPDATE: The Observer updated its article with the following note: "This article was amended on Tuesday 27 October 2009. We previously said that one of the country's leading crime writers and critics "is refusing to review new books" but that should have been "is refusing to review some violent new books". This has been corrected." That's because Mann left comments on various websites as follows: "I never said and it is not the case that I’m giving up reviewing. What I did say is that I’ve had enough torture-porn – which is a very small subsection of crime fiction – and won’t review that any more."

UPDATE 2: Val McDermid responds with an essay in the Guardian about how Mann's complaints mask the real point, as she sets out in the first couple of paragraphs:

Remember the Golden Age of detective fiction? Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham ... Well, yes. But the person who sold more books back in the 30s than all of them rolled together was a poisonous Little Englander called Sydney Horler whose books were badly written, brutish, nasty, antisemitic, homophobic misogynies that sold by the barrowload. They've since fallen into obscurity, known only to keen students of the darker corners of the genre.

So what's my point? Well, I have two. One is that quality lasts and rubbish meets its deserved fate. The other is that there have always been books that rely on something other than quality to make their mark.

And if a lot of the schlocky crap sucks, it will not endure. Simple as that.

*According to the EAR-ONS website, "the last known contact made by the EAR/ONS was a phone call that he made to one of his victims either in 1990 or 1991." Unfortunately I haven't been able to find independent corroboration, so I have no idea why the UNSUB would have called one of his victims years after his last known murder, or if this event took place.

Sunday Smatterings Curry Favor

Hallie Ephron reviews new mysterious tales by Ruth Rendell, Emily Arsenault and Keith Raffel for the Boston Globe.

At the Sunday Times, Peter Millar rounds up recent thrillers by Michael Robotham, Gerald Seymour and Mehmet Murat Somer.

The Missoulian recaps the recent James Crumley panel at the Montana Book Festival, which had Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and James Grady pay tribute to the late, great crime writer.

George V. Higgins gets his due from WBUR, as does his first (and best-loved) novel THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE.

Dennis Lehane appears to be almost done with his upcoming, untitled, Kenzie/Gennaro novel, about which he talks further with the Tampa Bay Tribune's Colette Bancroft.

Michael Connelly discusses his new Harry Bosch novel NINE DRAGONS with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

John Hart poses with his newly won Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the Greensboro News-Record.

The Sacramento Bee chats with Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller, arguably the First Couple of P.I. fiction.

Julie Rivett, the granddaughter of Dashiell Hammett, offers a glimpse into how the family has kept his literary legacy alive to the Tri-City Herald.

Sara Paretsky discourses on HARDBALL, her latest V.I. Warshawski outing, to the SF Chronicle.

Ruth Dudley Edwards can't be happier about the recent Irish crime wave.

Jess Walter talks with the Oregonian about moving from journalism to writing and his wonderful new novel THE FINANCIAL LIVES OF THE POETS.

Megan Abbott chats with Lee Horsley, who is one serious expert on all things noir fiction, in two parts for The Rap Sheet.

Anne Rice may have moved on, but she does dig the current vampire-lit craze.

The National Post's Afterword blog has perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, which goes on until next weekend.Though the Globe & Mail is giving the Post a run for its IFOA coverage money, too.

What to do about William Heirens? Something tells me that we're not going to know the whole story until he dies - most likely, behind bars.

A Look at Autopsies for Tablet's Jewish Body Week

To close out Tablet Magazine's Jewish Body Week, I wrote about the autopsy - spefically, religious objections, technological innovations, and the conflicts that come up. Here's how it opens:

A three-year-old Israeli girl was strangled to death by her father earlier this year, and the nation was shocked—by the luridness of the crime, by the father’s subsequent suicide attempts, by the divorce-gone-bad story it emerged was behind the crime, and, not least, by the fuel the child’s mother poured on an ongoing battle between ultra-Orthodox circles and the country’s law enforcement agencies over the permissibility of autopsies when she initially refused to allow one on her daughter’s body.

The objection grew from the Talmud’s interpretation of the biblical imperative for a speedy burial, first spelled out in Deuteronomy, where it states that a hanged man “shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day.” Not only must he be buried within 24 hours of death, according to the tractate Sanhedrin, but there can be no “disfigurement of the body as a result of postmortem dissection.” In other words, Jewish law mandates that the body, whenever possible, should be kept whole. An autopsy—with its incisions and tissue extractions, preservations and excisions—violates that mandate...

Read on for the rest, and check out at this 3-D image gallery of various facets of the virtual autopsy, which has become a viable alternative (but not an outright substitute) for autopsies.