Hammet - The Thin Man

The Thin Man. Dashiell Hammett. Vintage. 1933/1972. The final and perhaps best book, certainly the funniest, from Dashiel Hammet. His previous books were violent hard boiled tales, with a sprinkling of humor; this book is full-out humor with just a touch of the violence. The Thin Man takes place on Christmas, but it could as easily be New Year's Eve, as the holiday is used only to establish a party ambience. And this book is, essentially, a party. The movie, especially the first one, is as good. Picture Nick Charles laying on the couch, popping away at balloons with a pellet pistol, as Nora Charles looks on with humor and affection. That scene is from the movie. But the book also has many funny scenes, plus the characters of Nick and Nora, a supporting cast of eccentrics, and a real mystery too! The more Nick insists he is retired and not working on a case, the more everyone believes the great detective has left retirement to do exactly that. The story ends with the same sense of fun and humor that enriches the entire novel. Read the book and see the movie (or the first three).

Milne - Winnie-The-Pooh

Winnie-The-pooh. A.A. Milne. Methuen. 1926.

Review by guest poster Dorothy Parker, aka Constant Reader.

"Tonstant weader fwowed up." - Parker

Evanovich - One For The Money

One For The Money. Janet Evanovich. Scribner, 1994, & St Martin's Press. 2003. This is the first in a highly successful mystery series about Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum. Out of work, behind in rent, with a pet Hamster named Rex to feed, Stephanie blackmails her way into a job at her cousin's bail bonding company. Stephanie is forced to learn on the job, and with wit and perseverance, and some luck, she persues her man. The book follows a main plot with it's twists and turns and unique characters, and intersects with subplots of Steph's family and other fugitives. Evanovich handles the balance of drama, action, and humor very well.

Ellroy - L.A. Confidential

L.A. Confidential. James Ellroy. Warner. 1990. Bud White, Jack Vincennes, Preston Exley. Three police detectives. Each drawn to the same case. An L.A. of the 1950's rife with corruption. A dark noir novel of stakeouts, murder, scandal. Everyone has a dirty secret, the corruption taints even the three heroes. The novel sprawls along eight years in the mid to late fifties'. For the three detectives, each discovery leads ever deeper into the noir darkness which threatens to destroy them.

MacInnes - The Salzburg Connection

The Salzburg Connection. Helen MacInnes. Fawcett. 1968. What is buried in a lake in the Austrian mountains? Are Bill Mathison and Lynn Conway in over their heads? Whose side is Felix Zauner really on? Where is Eric Yates? Why are Chinese agents in Zurich? How are the British and American agents involved? Who and what is Elissa Lang? This thriller was 10 months on the Times best seller list and maintains its page-turning power today.

Vance - The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph

The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph. Jack Vance. Daw Books. 1966, 1980. A collection of short stories, comprising the entire adventures of Magnus Ridolph, written by famed sf/fantasy/mystery writer Jack Vance. Magnus is a combination Sherlock Holmes and mercenary adventurer. He is an anti-hero, defying the expected appearance of the typical fictional adventurer, and being entirely professional, or perhaps profit-driven. Magnus will take almost any case, but expects a fee commensurate with his considerable abilities. He posesses a James-Bond level of self-assurance, and for good reason. Travelling from planet to planet, alien culture to alien culture, each of Magnus' cases are different, each presenting a new challenge for Magnus and for the reader: things are never dull in the career of Magnus Ridolph. This thin volume contains all eight of Ridolph's recorded cases. It is SF's loss that Vance did not write a hundred more.

Barthelme - The King

The King. Donald Barthelme. Penguin Books. 1990. Illustrated by Barry Moser. In the thick of World War Two. Winston Churchill is Prime Minister. King Arthur and Guinevere head the Royal Family. Arthur considers seeking the Grail to counter the threat of an atomic bomb. Ezra Pound broadcasts propaganda from Italy. Arthur and his knights join the fighting as Rommel's tanks menace Tobruk. Mordred is left in England as regent.

The world of Arthurian Romance and WWII history overlap and interact. Each mileu seems at times to operate independantly of the other, though occupying the same space; and at other times they mesh totally. This novel of magic realism is one of the best five fiction books ever written, and certainly the best thing Barthelme ever wrote.

Leonard - LaBrava

LaBrava. Elmore Leonard. Avon Books. 1983. Not that Leonard needs a plug. But while Glitz was his first best-seller, I always preferred LaBrava. The title character is a former secret service agent turned pro artsy photographer. He suffers regrets over the only time he had to kill someone. Soon he runs afoul of a crazy ex-cop the force is well rid of. Next his mentor/friend and a sultry ex-starlet are threatened in an extortion scheme. LaBrava is happy to help, but soon notices that some aspects of the case resemble plot elements from the star's movies. A coincidence? A deranged fan? What's the answer?

Hesse - Siddharta

Siddharta. Hermann Hesse. New Directions. 1951. An exploration of Eastern Buddhist thought written by a western (Swiss) author. Young Siddharta is a Brahmin's son: "... growing up to be a great learned man, a priest, a prince among Brahmins." But Siddharta is not happy. He feels a spiritual void within himself. He decides to leave the world of the Brahmins behind, and, accompanied by his friend Govinda, he joins the Samanas of the forest. These are aesthetics who neglect the body to feed the mind. While with them Siddharta learns the arts of the mentalist, including levitation and mind control. Eventually he leaves the Samanas and encounters the Buddha in person. In these and other adventures Siddharta seeks the answers to his spirtual quest. Does he discover the secret of existance, the meaning of life, the true nature of humanities' place in the universe? Perhaps he discovers these are the wrong questions. Hesse's 'Steppenwolf' is his best known work, but 'Siddharta' is arguably his best written and most important.

Crichton - Rising Sun

Rising Sun. Michael Crichton. Ballantine. 1992. This is a murder mystery-thriller with political undertones. Actually the political issues are very blatant. It is different from much else of Crichton's work in that there is no science-fiction element. A murder is commited in the offices of a powerful Japanese conglomerate. Two police officers are assigned. They are part of a unit titled Special Operations, which seems to exist soley to interact with the Japanese. This book was made into a very good movie starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes back in the early 1990's. The book tells the same story in more detail, and clears up some of the inconsistencies of the movie. It was written when Japan's economy was very hot, and the international power of their companies was growing. Some Americans became paranoid, or at least concerned, that Japan might gain control of the U.S. through purchasing its assets. This idea is outdated today, and seems so when reading the book. But even so, Rising Sun is an excellent murder mystery very much worth the read.

Zimmer - The Lost Prince and King Chondos Ride (The Dark Border series)

The Dark Border duology. Incl: The Lost Prince, and King Chondos' Ride. Paul Edwin Zimmer. Playboy Paperbacks. 1982. I recently bagged a re-read of Zimmer's fantasy duology. Outwardly these are excellent works of drama, intrigue, and war. Inwardly, for those who care to look, there are themes of love and death, of honor, friendship, loyalty, and redemption. Zimmer, brother to famed author Marion Zimmer Bradley, was known more as a poet, swordsman, and scholar. These were his first novels, and in them he created a major work of fantasy. The dialogue is visceral, the character development crisp, the action scenes stirring, the drama absorbing. His following work did not live up to this excellent beginning. But in these works we have an underrated duo of epic fantasy that deserves to be read and studied.

Eshbach - The Land Beyond the Gate

The Land Beyond the Gate. Loyd Arthur Eshbach. Ballantine Books. 1984. Book one of his four volume Fantasy epic. A series for fans of Celtic Fantasy, featuring the Tuatha de Danann of Celtic myth, though gods of Sumerian and Indian mthos also appear in major roles, and some Christian elements also, including Lucifer's lieutenant Ahriman. A Scottish-American travels into the Scottish highlands in 1990. Things both good and bad happen to him. But he does not leave the highlands. Next chapter: a year later, his brother, our main character, enters the highlands to search for him. He finds the brother, a magic sword, a magic armlet, a scroll, and four magical gates leading to other worlds. In these worlds he encounters the above characters, plus Formores, Vikings, Trolls, Druids, Romans, and other dangers and surprises. What adventures await? What is Ahriman's (and Lucifer's) plan? What is the secret of the scroll? This series was written by one of the early pioneers of fantasy fiction. Esbach ran Fantasy Press in the fifties, and published many of the early sf and fantasy greats. He was twice guest of honor at the world fantasy convention. After his retirement he returned to writing and gave us this four volume epic fantasy. Book two is Armlet of the Gods, 1986. Book three is The Sorceress of Scath, 1988. Book four is The Scroll of Lucifer, 1990.

Hemingway - A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast. Ernest Hemingway. Bantam Books,1964. It was once remarked that Hemingway had written about Michigan, about Spain, Africa, and Cuba, but never (except for the first part of The Sun Also Rises) about Paris, the city which had been so important to him and his early career. Hemingway decided to cover this lack by writing A Moveable Feast. Each chapter in this collection of stories is a vivid peek inside Hemingway's experience of Paris in the 20's. Each story is a perfect gem, not a word wasted. These stories are Hemingway at his best. He refers to real events, and usually the participants are mentioned by their actual names. His portraits are not always kind, but remember Hemingway is not intending biography here; we need not, for example, believe Fitzgerald was exactly as Hemingway portrays him. But always in these stories is a great affection for the people, the times, and especially for Paris.
Hemingway began this collection in 1957, and worked on it intermittently until his death in 1961. In 1954, while in Africa, he was severely injured in a plane crash. The rescue plane then crashed en route to hospital. While undergoing treatment, he suffered kidney and liver infections. While still in hospital, there was a brush fire nearby. Hemingway left his bed to help fight the fire. But he collapsed and suffered smoke inhalation damage, and aggravated his other injuries. Hemingway never completely recovered from this ordeal. His health would continue to decline over the years. It was under these conditions that his mind turned to the past, to his years in Paris, his first marriage, the early struggle to write, the cafes, the sports, the curious events, and his friends of those days.