Books into TV Series: you can borrow both from the library

Mysteries rely on the setting to engage the reader - from country house to gritty urban locales to exotic places around the world, readers travel with their favorite detectives. Here are several dark and moody police procedural series that take place in northern England that have been turned into equally engaging television series.

'Vera,' based on the novels by Ann Cleeves, starring the irascible, but highly effective, police detective Vera Stanhope. Vera unflinchingly solves crimes in the windy chill of beautiful Northumberland, UK.

'DCI Banks,' another blunt and edgy police detective, comes to life based on the books by Peter Robinson. Banks solves crimes from the windswept and rainy moors of Yorkshire to the urban areas of Leeds.

Away from the wild moors and urban projects of Northern England, we go to the beautiful university city of Oxford to follow another character whose TV life became more well known than the books.
'Endeavour' imagines the early life of Inspector Morse, the Oxfordshire detective created by Colin Dexter.

The more whimsical comedy-drama, 'Midsomer Murders' is the long-running television series based on Caroline Graham's mysteries. There are more episodes of the television show by far than there ever were of Ms. Graham's books. Ms. Graham's and Mr. Dexter's books are out of print and hard to find, but well worth it if you can track them down.

Off to Scotland for the 'Shetland' series based on the novels of Ann Cleeves: 'Red Bones,' 'Raven Black,' 'Blue Lightening,' 'Dead Water.' Again the beautiful, but at times slightly menacing, landscape and weather makes a perfect backdrop for these mysteries.

To Sweden for more grey, windswept landscapes and a moody detective with 'issues', watch 'Wallander' based on the novels by Henning Mankell.

From mysteries to non-fiction and an urban setting, try 'Call the Midwife' based on the biography of an English midwife in post-war London, written by Jennifer Worth.

On a lighter note, try 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' based on the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood. The intrepid Australian Flapper solves crimes in post World War I Melbourne. The costumes and Victorian architecture are fantastic in this tv series.

Related Resources: Some of these books and movies can be found in our library catalog and some can be found on our downloadable resources listed on our All Things E page.

The 'Shetland' series by Ann Cleeves is now available as a downloadable audiobook from Hoopla. The 'Vera' tv series is also available on Hoopla now. Music from the 'Inspector Morse' series is available on Hoopla.
Several of Henning Mankell's books, 'Call the Midwife' and Ann Cleeves' and Peter Robinson's books are also available on 'eLibraryNJ.'

The White House Chef mystery series

This will be a short post about one of my favorite series.  Julie Hyzy started the 'White House Chef' Mysteries in 2008 with State of the Onion and ended in 2016 with Foreign Eclairs.  The seven other titles include: Home of the Braised; Affairs of Steak; All the President’s Menus; Buffalo West Wing; Hail to the Chef; Eggsecutive Orders: and Fonduing Fathers.  Olivia Paras, Head Chef in the White House kitchen, was in charge of all things food related from daily meals for the First Family to assisting in planning large scale events.  Checking dietary restrictions, allergies, and protocol for how and what to serve visiting dignitaries was crucial.  Making the Secret Service a little crazy was an added benefit of her job. Ollie had a knack of finding herself in the middle of espionage, sabotage and mayhem.  The books also included a little romance and a few recipes.

Moving on to the reason for this post, Ollie Paras and the White House Chef Mysteries, as written by Julie Hyzy, have come to last meal.  The author had been hired to write the series, but did not own the concept or copyright.    When the company that owns the series ran into financial problems, the problems quickly trickled down to the level of delayed payments to the author.  ReadJulie Hyzy’s blog to understand how little she was being paid for each book purchased.  If Work-for-Hire is a common publishing practice, I wonder how anyone can afford to write.  I understand that the company is spending money to produce and promote the books, assuming the risk of poor sales, and, generally, not making a fortune on the great majority of books published.  It is not my intention to question the convoluted contracts between authors and publishers, I am just expressing my disappointment that the Ollie Paras I have known and enjoyed may not be seen again.  Yes, a different author could be offered a similar Work-for-Hire agreement, but the pairing of Ollie and Julie was a good one.

"All Good Things..." , author Julie Hyzy's blog post about the end of her 'White House Chef' series.

Author Julie Hyzy's website listing her books including her other mystery series, 'Manor House mysteries.' 

All the President's Menus by Julie Hyzy is available to borrow as an ebook from eLibraryNJ.

- S. Bakos

Author to Visit Library Blog in July

New Jersey author Laura Sassi will present a story time on Tuesday, July 19 at 10:30 am. Ms. Sassi, author of the children's picture book, Goodnight, Ark, will bring her skunk puppets to entertain our regular Tuesday morning Story Fun toddlers and preschoolers. She will also be available for an interview on this blog next week. Stay tuned for that interview about her writing and creative process.

This blog's first author visitor was Susan Wittig Albert in the post 'The Other Half.' In that blog interview, the author and her husband Bill Albert, who co-wrote under the name Robin Paige a series of Edwardian mysteries, discussed their prolific careers and writing habits.

I just finished Ms. Albert's latest book, Blood Orange,  a China Bayles Mystery. As usual in this long-running series, the reader learns about growing and using herbs from the narrator/amateur sleuth China Bayles who runs an herb store and tea shop in Texas. Recipes mentioned in the story are included at the end of the book. The China Bayles series should appeal to fans of regional cozy style mysteries set in different parts of the U.S.A. and featuring various small business owners. For other culinary mystery series, try Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse series, Laura Childs' tea house series or Lucy Burdette's Key West food critic series. Ms. Burdette also wrote as Roberta Isleib and lived in Berkeley Heights. Look for our interview with her in this post about her book Looking for Murder.

Related resources;
Click on the labels 'Author visit'  or 'New Jersey Authors' in this blog for related posts. The tag cloud lives in the right-hand column of this blog.

Visit our Children's page for the roster of summertime programs for children at the library
http://berkeleyheightskids.blogspot.com/

What to Read While Sick

This winter, yours truly disappeared from the Reference Desk for several months after contracting a rare condition called Guillain Barre Syndrome. On the day that I headed to the emergency department of the local hospital, I threw the book I was reading into my purse:The Road to Little Dribbling, adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson. Mr. Bryson is one of my favorite authors, a very funny travel writer and humorist, so I was not going anywhere without his book. But it turned out to be too big and too heavy to pick up and hold as my hands were growing weaker quickly. As strength gradually returned to my hands, I finally did finish the book. It was great. It took my tired mind a month to get through it, but finish it, I did. Then I re-read Mr. Bryson's travel books in reverse chronological order after I got home by raiding my daughter's bookcases. I was looking forward to the bit about how hard it is to understand Glasgow cabdrivers and it did not disappoint. My daughter and I used to read aloud this bit and other Bryson gems to each other, but could never get through them without breaking up. He is that kind of funny. I guess the greater lesson might be: don't take heavy books to the ED, you might be too sick to read/hold them. On the other hand, humor is the best medicine. So take the book anyway.

What else did I read while sick? Well, first of all, when a librarian gets sick, the library staff naturally starts thinking about what that sick librarian might like to read and dispatches a staff member to the  hospital with a book bag full of books. Using their best readers' advisory skills, my colleagues felt that light, humorous books would seem to be the order of the day. The books had to be lightweight in both senses of the word - easy to hold and  easy to read. So all this got me to thinking about how do we accommodate our reading habits to an illness? I started in the usual way by browsing through magazines that were mostly pictures and celebrity gossip that my daughter bought in the hospital gift shop. Then I graduated to my favorite mystery author M.C. Beaton whose books my coworker had brought in the BHPL bookbag. Perfect: escaping to the Highlands of Scotland to solve murders was just the ticket. I reread Death of a Nurse and Death of a Valentine

After returning home, I reread some of my favorite children's books:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was even better than I remembered and was about the curative powers of hanging out in nature, breathing in fresh air and, of course, gardening. How apropos! I could not garden without falling over, but I could read about it.
Beyond the Paw Paw Trees and The Silver Nutmeg  by Palmer Brown were so enchanting and inventive and slyly humorous - good for early elementary age or a sick person wanting to escape.
The first two Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were better the second time around.

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder was not one of her best, but I think the idea of rereading the Little House series was good. I still like The Long Winter and Little House in the Big Woods best.

I also read from a pile of 'emergency' books that I buy from the library sale racks, mostly mysteries. Owning books has the advantage of no due dates to worry about. Admit it- you have a pile of emergency books, right? I read the second and third Smiley books by John Le Carre: A Murder of Quality and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (and then watched the movie which I borrowed from the library.) Those were the first Smiley books I ever read and obviously I now have to track down the first one, Call for the Dead, and read that because these old spy thrillers were great.

As noted in the post from earlier this month, hoping to get some perspective on my situation, I read two books about how people cope with severe illnesses: Left Neglected and A Lucky Life Interrupted. On my 'To Read' list is The Anatomy of Hope: how people prevail in the face of illness by Jerome Groopman which Tom Brokaw, author of A Lucky Life Interrupted recommended.

I did not read or listen to books on my iPad, but for some patients, listening to audiobooks is a good
option, especially if there are vision issues or trouble holding books or possibly while undergoing infusions which can take quite a while. Another option is to use Hoopla on a tablet. The library offers movies, music, audio- and e-books and TV shows through Hoopla. Patrons can put the app on their tablet and watch/listen/read up to 8 titles per month for free. Flipster and Zinio offer free browseable magazines to library card holders which look beautiful using the app on a tablet. Take a look at our All Things E page for these and other downloadables.

What to read while sick? Whatever you want is the answer. This was one time in my life when I did not feel I really should read some difficult, 'improving' tome. Thanks to all the authors who helped me get through this and thanks to the BHPL staff for those book bags full of light mysteries and quirky novels. Thanks to so many patrons, family and friends for visiting, texting, emailing, calling, sending cards and flowers. I am back at the Reference Desk, see my cartoon below, awaiting your questions.

Further Reading:
Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, may be the most famous author to get Guillain Barre Syndrome and he wrote a book about the experience, No Laughing Matter. I just started it and it is fantastically written. I may put Catch 22 on my reread list now.

Guillain Barre Syndrome Fact Sheet from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

The library's All Things E page has links to our downloadable resources for Berkeley Heights Public Library card holders.

Before falling ill, my only knowledge of certain medical specialties was from reading funny medical blogs:
My favorite neurologist, besides my own, writes the very funny Dr. Grumpy is in the House
My favorite physiatrist, doctors who treat patients needing physical therapy is the blogger Dr. Fizzy who writes The Cartoon Guide to Becoming a Doctor
No, really, what is a physiatrist? Read this AAPM&R 

If You Like PBS Mysteries, Read the Books

'In a Dry Season

If you like the PBS television show 'DCI Banks,' read the series it is based on by Peter Robinson. 'In a Dry Season' is the tenth in the series and the first I've read. Alan Banks has been relegated to boring desk jobs for insubordination and is assigned to a cold case when a skeleton is found in an abandoned village which is revealed when the summer drought dries up the reservoir that had covered the town for fifty years. The book alternates between the story of the village during WWII and the current investigation into what appears to have been an unreported murder there. This book is a great depiction of the deprivations and tragedies of WWII in the U.K., interwoven with a believable present-day police procedural. The suspense lasts until the last chapter.
Recommended for fans of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series and Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series.' This was first posted February 19, 2014

BHPL owns the following titles in the DCI Banks series, shelved in Mysteries under the author's name, MYS Robinson:
Abatoir Blues
Bad Boy 
Children of the Revolution
Close to Home
Friend of the Devil
Piece of my Heart
Playing with Fire
Watching the Dark

BHPL owns seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series based on the the Peter Robinson books: DCI BANKS, shelved with the DVD's under 'DCI'

Bryant and May and the Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler

A new Bryant and May 'Peculiar Crimes Unit' mystery is always eagerly awaited by fans of Christopher Fowler's British crime series and this one lived up to the anticipation for me. 'Bryant and May and the Bleeding Heart' (2014) showcases Arthur Bryant, the more eccentric detective of the venerable old pair. Bryant always meanders to the solution by studying ancient London archaeology and myths and consulting his extensive network of psychics, witches and warlocks and other arcane researchers and experts. This mystery somehow brought together New Resurrectionists (grave-robbing medical students) and missing ravens from the Tower of London. The PCU is now under attack, or management reform, by an MBA-wielding young woman who spouts lines like, 'I've objectivised an agenda for an informal intracommunicational face session... I'm here to discuss administrative flexibility and workforce incentivisation, bringing you up to speed on the public interface components of your skill sets.' (39) To which Bryant reacts just as we all wish we could in that kind of meeting,
'Bryant tapped at his hearing aid. 'I'm sorry,' he said loudly, 'I think this thing's on the blink. I can see your lips moving but all I can hear is rubbish.' (40)
Wonderful satire of this kind of management style and the usual arcane London history and archaeology plus smart, unconventional, but highly successful characters make this a perfect mix for fans.

Resurrectionists (1847), by Hablot Knight Browne.

What I Read in 2014

Because December is a good time to think back on the year, I was just tidying up my reading journal to see what I read in 2014. What I read was lots of very light mysteries of the type called cozies, with a monthly foray into something a bit more literary for the library book group and the occasional detour into the quirky. I did not read much non-fiction this year, but I did follow up on mystery series that I enjoy,  re-read some classics and discovered some new authors.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Best Holiday Title: A Nantucket Christmas by Nancy Thayer (2013)
Best Rediscovered mystery series: The Riddle of the Third Mile, an Inspector Morse mystery by Colin Dexter (1997)
Best mystery on which a TV series is based: In a Dry Season, a DCI Banks mystery by Peter Robinson (1999)
Best Book Group Selection: The Round House by Louise Erdrich (2012)
Best Sherlock Holmes recreation: 'The Baker Street' series by Michael Robertson (2009 - 2014)
Best Mystery Series Debut: The Outsmarting of Criminals by Steven Riglosi (2014)
Best Books about Bookshops: Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley  (1917) and
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (2014)
Best Summer/Beach Read: The Vacationers by Emma Straub (2014) and Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (2012)
Best Continuation of Classic Mystery: The Monogram Murders, the new Hercule Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah (2014)
Best Re-read Classic: Dubliners by James Joyce (1917)
Best Self-Help: 10% Happier by Dan Harris (2014)
Best Foodie Book or book on which movie was based: The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard Marais (2010)
Best Fixing Up an Old House Memoir: Castles in the Air by Judy Corbett (2005)




My Year of Reading 2013, the first six months
My Year of Reading 2013, the second half
The Year in Books 2012

If You Like Sherlock Holmes, read these books

Fans of all-things Sherlock will enjoy Moriarty Returns a Letter (2014) by Michael Robertson, the fourth in his 'Baker Street Mystery' series. The premise - a law firm at 221B Baker Street still receives letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes and is required by the lease to reply to all of them. A descendent of Moriarty, Holmes' arch-enemy, returns to seek revenge in this outing. The fine line between the fictional stories and the confusion starting over a century ago about whether Sherlock Holmes existed or not, with some believing that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as literary agent to the real Dr. Watson, is explained. This is a series best read in order. Start with The Baker Street Letters (2009)
Related websites
The Baker Street Letters, author Michael Robertson's website
The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
Free ebooks by Conan Doyle on Project Gutenberg
New York Times obituary for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Re-reading Classic Mysteries

Having wallowed through the darkest winter months reading light, fluffy, predictable cozy mysteries, I decided to up my game just a bit. The very addictive formula for the cozies I had been reading goes like this:
Amateur woman detective who is very nosy and...
Owns a small business...
Or is retired...
And involved or married to a policeman,
Has lots of friends who drop by her cottage or business (herbs, tea, knitting, antiques...)
In her small town or village or small part of a larger city (town within a town)
Somehow gets involved in a murder and decides to solve it herself because:
She is a suspect, or,
Her friend is a suspect and
She doesn't think the police are taking the investigation seriously.
So she annoys the police by interfering and
Puts herself in danger at the end of the book
And stumbles onto a solution and figures out whodunnit by almost getting murdered herself.
These amateur sleuths are not exactly Miss Marple who calmly observes and knows who did it almost from the beginning. These amateurs just stumble around like the unsuspecting teens in the horror films who always go down to the basement in the middle of the night unarmed to investigate the strange noise; we know how that turns out.

This fluffy genre of cozy mysteries is very popular, but after a while I felt like I had dined on dessert one time too many, so I decided to re-read the classic mysteries of the past that these new ones are descended from. What better mystery writer than Dame Agatha Christie herself? I just re-read 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' and even though I remembered the plot twist at the end when the murderer is revealed, I enjoyed this even more the second time around. The clues (or 'clews' as it is spelled in the book) are all reported along the way for observant readers; the characters are introduced in a list at the beginning of the book; a diagram of the scene of the crime is included. The whole exposition of the crime moves along at a nice pace with no extraneous dialogue, descriptions or digressions. Hercule Poirot is a professional detective, not an amateur, and is always several steps ahead of the reader in his observations and conclusions about the crime. M. Poirot never blindly wanders around aimlessly looking for clues. The amateur sleuths may be more easy to relate to for many readers than Poirot or Miss Marple, but the reader can aspire to figure out the mystery and compete with the keen intelligence of Christie's detectives.

Related websites:
Cozy Mystery List
Cozy Mysteries Unlimited
Mystery Cozy
Agatha Christie
'The Top Ten Agatha Christie mysteries' article in the Guardian

In a Dry Season

If you like the PBS television show 'DCI Banks,' read the series it is based on by Peter Robinson. 'In a Dry Season' is the tenth in the series and the first I've read. Alan Banks has been relegated to boring desk jobs for insubordination and is assigned to a cold case when a skeleton is found in an abandoned village which is revealed when the summer drought dries up the reservoir that had covered the town for fifty years. The book alternates between the story of the village during WWII and the current investigation into what appears to have been an unreported murder there. This book is a great depiction of the deprivations and tragedies of WWII in the U.K., interwoven with a believable present-day police procedural. The suspense lasts until the last chapter.
Recommended for fans of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series and Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series.

Flavia de Luce series: where is it going?

The Dead in their Vaulted Arches, the 6th in Alan Bradley's 'Flavia de Luce' series seems to be a bridge between the series as it was and whatever it will become from now on. Flavia is an almost 12 year old girl living in a small village in England after WWII (1951 in this book). She lives in a crumbling old estate with her emotionally distant father, two older sisters who dislike her and a small household staff. She loves chemistry and solving crimes. In this book, the mystery of what happened to her mother, missing for ten years, is solved. Harriet de Luce's body is discovered in the Himalayas and shipped home to her family. The mysteries that remain unsolved are: what was Flavia's mother really doing in the Himalayas? Why is the family involved in British intelligence work and in what way? At the end, Flavia's father tells her that she will be sent to boarding school in Canada, so in addition to a change of venue, the series seems to be taking a turn toward Flavia as international spy in training, but we will have to wait for the next installment to find some answers and to find out if the series improves once it makes some major changes. I enjoyed the earlier books in this series and hopes it regains its footing now that this book has sent it into a new direction as Flavia matures.

Reviews of the Flavia de Luce series and similar mysteries on this blog can be found here.http://bhplnjbookgroup.blogspot.com/search?q=flavia

Interview with author Alan Bradley

My Year of Reading 2013, July - December

As promised in the last post, My Year of Reading 2013, here is a list of my favorite books read in 2013 from July through December.
July was a good reading month with several favorites. Silent Voices, a Vera Stanhope mystery by Ann Cleeves, a British mystery series that always delivers,  is a bit of a departure from the usual 'cozy' style mysteries that I read for pure comfort and escapism. The hard-drinking, brooding Vera Stanhope character and her homicide cases and the cold, Northumberland landscape are portrayed true to the books in the PBS series Vera.
Also in July, I enjoyed Sue Grafton's Kinsey and Me, which includes some previously unpublished short stories and autobiographical essays. My review can be read on the blog here.
For August, let's pick some Jersey shore beach reading: Mad Mouse by Chris Grabenstein, which finds Iraq war veteran John Cepak solving  a murder on the amusement ride at a fictional Jersey shore town that sounds a lot like Seaside Heights. Read any of these mysteries based 'down the shore' as we allegedly say in 'Joisey' for a fun escape to the boardwalk.  Stephanie's review of summer reading including the John Cepak series can be read here.
From the dark, brooding U.K. mysteries to the light, sunny American ones, September's pick is humorous essays by Quinn Cummings, Pet Sounds, stories about her household devoted to nurturing eccentric pets that pet lovers everywhere will appreciate. Read my review here and be sure to read Ms. Cummings Notes from the Underwire if you enjoy here comic style.
In October, I discovered a new mystery series: Sydney Chamber and the Shadow of Death, the Grantchester mysteries by James Runcie. This series of two so far is set in an English village near Cambridge in the early 1950's. The review and related recommendations can be read here. A book that goes well with the Grantchester mysteries, a memoir set in 1950's U.K.: Sunlight on the Lawn, the third in the 'Merry Hall' series, is my other pick for October. Recommended for gardening enthusiasts and possible even the legions of Downton Abbey addicts looking for period pieces about living in grand houses in England of bygone days.

In November, the publishing world came forth with something I've been waiting for forty years to read: a new Bertie and Jeeves adventure. True, it's not by the master himself, P.G. Wodehouse, but Sebastian Faulks was picked by the great man's heirs to carry on the tradition and I think he did a really good job with Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. All of Plum's fans will want to read this and I hope you agree it's great to be back in the world of Bertie's bumbling and Jeeves saving the day with his fish-powered brain. Terrific.

Finally, in December I generally read nothing but very light, escapist, funny mysteries. So I revisited the 'Peculiar Crimes Unit' series and it didn't disappoint. The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler has the usual crazy mix of London history and eccentric police detectives from the PCU. I just reviewed that right after Christmas right before tidying up my book journal for another year.
Happy reading in 2014 everyone!

The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler

'The Invisible Code,' the 10th in Christopher Fowler's 'Peculiar Crimes Unit' series finds Detectives Bryant and May applying their unusual method of crime-solving in a baffling case involving international security issues and witchcraft. Arthur Bryant, the more eccentric of the two old detectives, brings his usual knowledge of London history and archaeology to bear on the case which somehow, circuitously, leads him to the answer. As usual at the very last moment, Bryant figures it out. The suspense about who done it and can they catch him continues to the last chapter. Fans will enjoy 'The Invisible Code'; newbies should start near or at the beginning of the series with 'Full Dark House.'

Related links:  Janet Maslin's review in the New York Times
Christopher Fowler's blog

St. Brides Church

Capers, Heists and Cat Burglars: The Good Thief's Guide series

Book five in Chris Ewan's 'Good Thief's Guide' series finds cat burglar Charlie Howard taking a mysterious assignment for the British Embassy in Berlin. He is asked to break into four apartments to find an important item stolen from the embassy. While gazing out the window of his first break-in, he witnesses a murder in the apartment building across the street. His 'easy money' heist takes a serious turn for the worse at this point.
Each book in this 'caper' series of mysteries has a different city as the backdrop. Peripatetic thief Charlie finds himself in Amsterdam, Paris, Las Vegas and Venice, always one step ahead of the law, before landing in Berlin. Where will he go next? It doesn't look good at the end of the book for Charlie, but we will have to wait for the sixth in the series to catch up with him wherever he lands.
Recommended for fans of light, humorous mysteries and caper style heists like Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series and Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series. 'The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin' is a little darker than the rest of the series and not as madcap as Westlake and Block in style because Charlie seems to be developing a conscience about his life's work. 'GTG Berlin' ends with a cliff-hanger and leaves readers ready for Charlie's next city and next caper.

Related links:
Our  2009 blog review of the first two books in the Good Thief's Guide series and author Chris Ewan's comment!

Take a look at author Chris Ewan's website and blog for more information about his' Good Thief's Guide' series and his stand-alone thrillers, 'Safe House' and "Dead Line' (the latter not yet published in the U.S.)

Kinsey and Me by Sue Grafton

Kinsey and me: stories by Sue Grafton (2013)

Fans of Sue Grafton's 'alphabet' mystery series which started with "A" is for Alibi, a Kinsey Milhone Mystery (1982) will want to read this collection of mystery short stories which feature Kinsey early in her career as a private detective. Each story achieves the amazing feat of quickly setting the scene, introducing the characters in brief, deft descriptions and setting up the murder mystery. Kinsey energetically pursues the leads and usually figures out the solution before the actual story ending. Each story ends with a twist: unexpected, sometimes bizarre, often ironic or funny.

The second half of this book, the 'and me' part, are autobiographical essays about the author's childhood and early life with her alcoholic parents. What does it take to make a child raised in a family with problems, survive and succeed as a writer? Maybe the key is in these stories. When asked in an interview for Oprah Magazine how she survived her troubled childhood, Ms. Grafton answers:

" Writing. Pure and simple. Writing was my anchor and gave me a way to convert all of that unhappiness into something that would serve me."

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/Sue-Grafton-Interview-Kinsey-and-Me#ixzz2aZauKpjD

Highly recommended for fans of the series, murder mystery fans and fans of the short story. I loved this book and was sorry when it ended. I must go back and reread some of the alphabet series.


Related sources:

Sue Grafton's website http://www.suegrafton.com/

Oprah Winfrey interview with Sue Grafton

Isleib Cometh

Roberta Isleib, who grew up in Berkeley Heights and later became a psychologist and mystery author, is stopping by the blog on Tuesday, September 9, to talk about her newest mystery, Asking for Murder. If you'd like to ask her a question, just leave a comment at the bottom of the interview. (All of BHPL's copies of Roberta's books are checked out right now, but you can get on the waiting list.)


If you want to knock the socks off your book group, you can ask Roberta to speak to your book group over the phone. For extra credit, make one of the recipes in her book. And there are discussion questions for all the books in the Rebecca Butterman series too.

Berkeley Heights' Homegrown Author

Roberta Isleib, a clinical psychologist and the author of Advice Column mysteries and Golf Lover's mysteries, will be coming by the blog on September 9 for an interview about her newest mystery, Asking for Murder. Roberta is originally from Berkeley Heights and in a strange twist of fate her books are published by Berkley. There's even a story on her web site, Paying the Piper, that is set at Governor Livingston.


The Advice Column mysteries are set in Connecticut, where Dr. Rebecca Butterman counsels her patients and is an adjunct psychology professor at Yale. In her free time she solves murders, naturally, and also writes an advice column for an online women's magazine. If you'd like to catch up on the series, the first two installments are Deadly Advice and Preaching to the Corpse (available in the large print section at BHPL under ISL).

I enjoyed all the little bits of information about psychology that you pick up as the story unfolds (like never sit between a patient and the door!). There is also a very funny part in Deadly Advice in which Dr. Butterman can predict what her own psychoanalyst will say during their sessions (which she needs because her own personal life and history is not neat and tidy).