Patti Abbott is on vacation this week, so I've gathered up a list of the "forgotten" books for this Friday...before finally going to make my own NoirCon plunge. What I'm aware of so far:
Paul Bishop: Whiteout and Black Camelot by Duncan Kyle (Bish is also heavy on the "men's sweat" magazine and other colorful cover illos this week)
Bill Crider: The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
Scott Cupp: Pixie Dust by Henry Melton
Martin Edwards: Heir Presumptive by Henry Wade
Ed Gorman: The Crime Lover's Casebook (aka The New Mystery) edited by Jerome Charyn
Glenn Harper: The Coast Road by John Brady
George Kelley: The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 (the new edition)
Steve Lewis's The Mystery File, as usual, has a plethora of arguably FFB reviews.
Todd Mason (that guy): Death Qualified by Kate Wilhelm; In Deep by Damon Knight
Ann Parker: Rose by Martin Cruz Smith
Eric Peterson: Men, Women and Chainsaws by Carol Glover
James Reasoner: Tarzan and the Lion Man by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Kerrie Smith: Deadly Variations by Paul Myers
Honorable Mentions:
Peter Enfantino's story-by-story run through the issues of Manhunt magazine
B.V. Lawon's round-up of crime-fiction ezines
If you've done an FFB and I've not listed you, I'll appreciate the update! Patti will be back at it on her blog next week.
Death Qualified has the most "What the hell was that?" ending of any book I can remember; I loved it but I can see how anyone looking for a straight mystery might not. It also introduced me to the subject of fractals, which I don't think I had ever heard of before. I haven't read all that many of Wilhelm's novels and some I don't like (pretty much all the Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl books except The Hamlet Trap); others I like a lot. Like Knight, she is a fine short-story writer. I think her story "The Funeral" was the best entry in Again, Dangerous Visions, although there is some formidable competition there.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost a pity that the subsequent Barbara Holloway novels have been relatively straightforward, if good, by me...and while I have a copy of THE HAMLET TRAP and at least one other in the Meiklejohn and Leidl series, I haven't read them yet. I'm still in the all-plus column with Wilhelm's novels...if anything, WHEN LATE THE SWEET BIRDS SANG seems like one of the lesser titles in her bibliography to me, as groundbreaking (with Pamela Sargent's work) as it in exploring certain questions. I'm inclined to agree with you about "The Funeral" taking pride of place in a good lot in A, DV (the late Ms. Lee Hoffman's "Silent Evening" will kick you in the head, too)...even her first sf novel, THE CLONE (1963, iirc) with Ted Thomas (radically expanding his shorter work), might well surprise you.
ReplyDelete