Thrillers

I really like thrillers, of all kinds: spy/espionage, terrorist, common folk caught up in a mess, military thrillers, you name it, I'll try it, and hopefully will enjoy it. I like the runaway-train feeling of a good thriller, the feeling that things are going so fast you can't get off, so you better hold on tight and you might even have fun!
 I especially like listening to thrillers on audio. Nothing like a good thriller to liven up a long, boring drive, just watch the speed and make sure you don't get so caught up in the story that you forget you're driving. So, I'll regularly talk about some of the thrillers I've read, and about thriller authors, starting today with David Baldacci.
David Baldacci has become a regular read of mine. He has three ongoing series, The Camel Club, King and Maxwell, and A. Shaw, plus several standalones. I'm up-to-date on all the series except for The Camel Club, because a new book in the series, Hell's Corner was just published Nov.9.
         Oliver Stone is asked by the President to serve his country again, but before he can start his new assignment, there is a terrorist attack. Oliver calls upon the members of the Camel Club to help him discover who is behind the terrorist plot.

Just a few warnings when read Baldacci: 1)you should read the series in order, as there are definite

changes in the members of the Camel Club throughout the series. 2) Just as with any thriller, you need to suspend your disbelief when reading these books. They are fiction, Thank God.  3) Don't read these books one right after the other. You've got to leave some time in between titles, and read a couple of other books to cleanse your palate so you don't lose your enjoyment of the books. Remember, familiarity breeds contempt.

The Camel Club titles, in order, are:

The Camel Club                                                  

The Collectors

Stone Cold

Divine Justice

Hell's Corner

I do have one worry about Baldacci and that is that he is writing a lot of books. Since October/09, he has published three books, and when an author starts to do that I become a little concerned about the quality of their product. Either it may start to go down, or the author may go the route of James Patterson and have a bunch of people write for him...I hope not. So as much as fans keep bugging authors to write faster, please don't give up quality for quantity.

Bye for now.

Bouchercon 2010

In October, I attended Bouchercon 2010 in San Francisco. Yes, I admit that there is a secondary reason for attending these conventions, and that is to travel. Anyway, Bouchercon is the world mystery convention, held every fall, usually in October, and attended by 1500-2000 fans, authors, publishers, publicists, and others in the publishing/mystery world.  Bouchercon By the Bay: San Francisco was a blast, helped by the fact that for the first few days I was there, the temps were about 30C (absolute bliss), meeting up with friends, and eating great food. This convention for me was the perfect combination of panels and site-seeing, so I am very happy about what I got out of my trip.

For anyone unfamiliar with these types of conventions, they are usually made up of 2-4 days of panels that last 45-50 minutes. The panels cover a wide variety of topics, such as historical mysteries, police procedurals, humor, etc. Sometimes there are panels that cover a specific topic about publishing, PR, or other more business-like subjects. This year the panels were named after episodes from The Streets of San Francisco. Some examples of the panels are:
"Most Likely to Succeed" - Our Favorite books - fan/reviewer panel
"The Year of the Locusts" - Books to screen featuring Kelli Stanley, Derek Haas, Paul Levine, Val McDermid, & Ken Bruen
"A Good Cop...But" - US/UK cops featuring Robin Burcell, Colin Campbell, Mike Black, Connie Dial, Matt Hilton, just to name a few.

One of the panels I went to was "Murder By Proxy" - Mulholland Books Presents. Mulholland books is a new imprint of Little, Brown, and Company that is devoted to suspense fiction. The panelists were John Schoenfelder, Miriam Parker (I think they are publisher and publicist, maybe?), Mark Billingham, Marcia Clark, Duane Swierczynski, Daniel Woodrell, and Sebastian Rotella. I went to this panel for one reason only: Marcia Clark. Yes, that Marcia Clark...O.J. Simpson Marcia Clark. Most of my non-mystery friends haven't heard of the authors I read, but I figured they would have heard of Marcia Clark, so this was my opportunity to meet someone they would know. Ms. Clark has written a book, Guilt By Association, with a lawyer as the protagonist, of course, which is due to be published April 2011. I went to her signing and the publisher was giving out free ARCs (advanced readers' copy) of her book. Hell yes! And I met her and took a picture to prove it. Very nice lady. I have yet to read the book, but will post when I do.

Re: Mullholland books. I went to the panel to see Marcia Clark, but was impressed with all the authors. I've already read Mark Billingham and have some more of his books on my TBR (to be read)  mountain. I bought 2 of Duane Swierczynski's books, and was impressed by Daniel Woodrell, so will give him a try.  Mulholland Books has a great list of authors, and I'll be checking them out frequently.

Tata for now.

The Beginning

This blog is about mysteries: mostly crime fiction, but also movies, tv shows, and anything else that crops up. I've been reading mysteries for decades, but in the last ten years or so, my mystery reading has become more intense, and I have started to travel to mystery conventions and have met a ton of really special people. It sounds corny, but reading mysteries has changed my life.

Now to the books: I recently finished City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris. This is the second book in her series set in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. The book features Katya, a lab tech, her  religious conservative friend Nayir Sharqi, and introduces Detective Osama Ibrahim. The trio investigates the murder of Leila Nawar, a young filmmaker. I have really enjoyed the mysteries in both this book and the first in the series, Finding Nouf, but find the background of Saudi culture and the treatment of women just as fascinating as the mystery. I highly recommend this book, and would encourage anyone interested in reading it to read Finding Nouf first.