Best of Enemies; LAPD '53; Vengeance is Mine

I love Jen Lancaster. This latest work of fiction by her was so much fun. Kitty and Jack (short for Jacqueline) have hated each other ever since they roomed together in college. What started out as a promising friendship turned into bitter rivalry after a series of misunderstandings. The two could not be more different: Jack is a reporter who thrives on danger and Kitty is raising her three kids in a tony Chicago suburb while running a popular lifestyle blog. Now the only thing these two ladies can agree on is their mutual friend, Sarabeth ("Sars" to Jack, "Betsy" to Kitty). Sarabeth's husband, Trip, has been killed in a plane crash and the two put their differences aside to be there for Sarabeth. Reporter Jack smells a rat though: Trip was about to be indicted by the SEC for fraudulent practices, and the timing of his plane crash is awfully convenient. After Jack discovers Kitty despised Trip, she enlists her help in getting to the bottom of his disappearance. It was lots of fun, I loved the flashbacks to the ladies in college. I just hope women my age don't actually ever use phrases like "totes adorbs" except in an ironic way. Otherwise, that's just sad.

James Ellroy collected a bunch of the LAPD's crime scene photos from 1953 and published them alongside his sardonic wit and unique Ellroy slang, which made for interesting reading. I don't want to say it was fun, since it was, after all, a collection of horrific crimes, but it was definitely illuminating and different. I also learned that the LAPD has a museum! How neat is that? I'll have to make a trip up there and check it out.

Another Mickey Spillane reread, "Vengeance is Mine". Mike wakes up drunk in a hotel room with the dead body of an old buddy of his. He can't remember the night before, and the D.A. is itching to pin the murder on him. He takes away his P.I. License and his gun. Mike is able, with much help from Velda and Pat, to start to piece together the events leading up to his friend's murder. This book has one of the best closing sentences in the history of books, the first time I read it I literally gasped out loud. Did not see it coming a mile away.

My Gun is Quick; Devil's Bridge; The Little Brother

Some more Mickey Spillane rereads! "My Gun is Quick" finds Mike down and out one night in a dive hash joint when he meets a red headed gal also down on her luck. Mike sees a glimmer of good beneath the hardened surface and gives her some money, tells her to get her act cleaned up. The next day, the red head is dead: an accident, the police determine, hit by a car. Very unfortunate, but Mike knows a murder when he sees one and starts investigating, wanting to give the girl a name and some dignity in her death. It was a great story, I enjoyed it.

Linda Fairstein's latest was really good. Early on in the book, Alex is kidnapped and the POV of the story switches, for the first time ever, to Detective Mike Chapman. Fairstein doesn't do a fantastic job writing from a male point of view, honestly, but it was still a fun change, and with Mike busy hunting for his best gal there wasn't any of the nasty repartee that Fairstein thinks of as flirtatious but I just find cringe worthy. It was nice to get some more background on Mike, too, he's quite likeable. I hope she pops into his head in some of her future books.

When I read the reviews for Victoria Patterson's latest, "The Little Brother", I knew I wanted to read it. Gabe and Even's parents get divorced, and Gabe stays behind with their mother in Rancho Cucamonga ("Rancho" for short, Victoria, never "Cucamonga". No one calls it that. "The IE" or "The 909" are also acceptable) while Even moves with their dad to Newport Beach (what are the odds?). Even is pretty happy in Newport (it helps that his dad is pretty wealthy, trust me, you're a lot happier in NB with money than without it) but he is concerned for his big brother Gabe. Whenever Gabe visits, he seems off, unhappy, complaining about being stuck with their needy, dependent mother. Then one fourth of July holiday Gabe comes to visit with some Rancho friends. Even leaves to go to a party with his friends. Later, one of his friends calls him: she has Gabe's video camera and is horrified by what's on there. She doesn't know what to do. When Even sees it, he doesn't know what to do either. He does know his brother could get in big trouble. Feeling sick and guilty, he turns the camera over anonymously to the police. It was a pretty good story, even if I winced every time I read the word "Cucamonga" by itself :)

The Taming of the Queen; Wind/Pinball; So Nude, So Dead

I was disappointed by Philippa Gregory's latest, "The Taming of the Queen". I think Kathryn Parr is a fascinating woman, and I've read lots of fiction and nonfiction about her remarkable life at court, but most of this book is just religious debate. I understand that was a huge part of life for the time and place, but after about 200 pages of it, it's just repetitious and boring. I was also hoping for Gregory to touch on Kathryn's life after Henry died, but she didn't. If you enjoy reading the same theme over and over again for several hundred pages, then you'll like this one. Otherwise, skip it.

Two early novellas from the 70s, republished in one volume by Haruki Murakami. I enjoyed both of these stories very much, but what really stuck with me was the introduction. He talked about how he wrote the first one, and he was unhappy with it, so he wrote it all over again English. Since English isn't his native language, he was forced to write it very simply and straightforwardly, and he was pleased with the results. "Wind" is about a young man during his summer break from college who spends most of his free time hanging out in J's Bar, drinking with a slightly older man named Rat. The second story, "Pinball", features Rat's business partner and his obsession with a certain pinball machine.

"So Nude, So Dead" by Ed McBain was apparently his first published book, and Hard Case Crime has reprinted it (an aside: I love Hard Case Crime books. That is all). The reviews weren't very good, but I enjoyed it. Ray is a heroin junkie who wakes up one morning next to a dead blonde. He partied with Elaine the night before, both of them getting higher than kites, and now it's morning and Elaine has been shot to death and the sixteen ounces of heroin she had is gone. Ray is desperate for a fix, but the cops are after him, figuring he killed Elaine and took the heroin. Ray tries to figure out who killed her so he can clear his name, all while trying to locate some money and some heroin so he can fix. I thought McBain did a great job of getting his desperation through, and the ending made sense. Not bad. I wish someone would find a long lost 87th Precinct novel somewhere, I really miss those.

Memories are Made of This; I, the Jury

I've been on a Rat Pack kick lately, rewatching the old films (the original "Ocean's 11" is so brilliant. So, so brilliant) and listening to my Frank Sinatra albums. I've already read a lot about Mr. Sinatra, so I thought I should learn more about Dean Martin, and read his daughter Deana's memoir. It was very loving, and she definitely wanted him to come across as a good guy, but jeez, he did some very terrible things to his kids. Deana makes excuses for him, since he was so incredibly busy and successful, his time was very precious and valuable, but come on. Don't have seven kids if you don't want to devote the time and energy into raising them. She tells a story of how she was so excited to have her Dad agree to go out to dinner with her and her husband on her birthday, only to have her dad's manager call a few days beforehand and cancel. Deana was so upset, in tears, and her husband called Dean's private line and basically told him to be a man and cancel himself, not get his lackey to do it. Dean protested ignorance, claiming the man must have gotten it wrong, he had no intention of canceling on Deana, and he did end up going out to dinner with them--but then he changed his private number and whenever Deana wanted to talk to her own father she had to go through his service. Very disappointing to hear.

Years ago, I bought (and read) volumes one and two of the Mickey Spillane collection. I hadn't read them in a very long time and was in the mood for something dark and gritty, so I reread "I, the Jury". I'd forgotten how good it was. Mike is angry when a good friend of his is brutally murdered and vows revenge. As he starts digging, he starts unraveling a complex syndicate of pimps and drug dealers operating in creative ways. More and more bodies pile up until Mike is finally able to get his revenge.

Voices in the Night; White Out; Losing the Signal

I know I keep saying that I'm not a big fan of short stories, but I did like Steven Millhauser's previous collection, "We Others", and I enjoyed his latest as well. There seemed to be a lot of stories about things going wrong in small towns, but there was a really good one about a son going to visit his mother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. They were all pretty good.

"White Out" by Michael W. Clune is a memoir about his heroin addiction. It was interesting, although I would have preferred more details, like how exactly it started. I suppose sometimes it's hard to say, he seemed to be a normal middle class college student who just started doing heroin and got hooked. I'm glad he made it out of his addiction spiral and seems to be doing fine now, I know how hard it is for drug addicts, especially heroin users, to break that cycle. Evil stuff.

I loved my BlackBerry. I got my Storm 2 in October of 2009, the day it came out, and I was so excited, other than the LG Chocolate I had previously I'd never been excited for a phone before or since. I had that phone for almost 5 years, finally replacing it with an Android in 2014. It still worked pretty well, and I was sad to part with it, but what killed BlackBerry for me was the lack of apps. I was even willing to overlook the 3 days in 2011 when their servers went down and I lost my crackberry for the first time and I realized how addicted I was to the damn thing. "Losing the Signal" was a great story about the meteoric rise of an underdog little Canadian company, Research in Motion (RIM). How one tiny misstep led to their complete downfall. It was heartbreaking, truly. I'd love for BB to make a comeback and provide some much needed competition in the smartphone market. I don't like only having two different types to choose from, honestly (I don't count Windows phones, since they have such a small market share). I definitely don't want a phone like everyone else in the world has, either, which is why I won't own an iPhone. I'm afraid BB's time has come and gone.

Speaking in Bones; Fables Vol. 21; The Familiar Vol. 1

The latest Temperance Brennan book by Kathy Reichs was really good. Tempe is contacted by a woman who is a cybersleuth, trying to help find missing persons using online tools. She believes some unidentified remains that Tempe found belong to a young girl whose family claims she isn't even missing. No one has seen the girl in years, but the family says she ran off with some boy and they aren't concerned about her. Tempe is reluctant to dig in at first, but once she does she finds that nothing is as it actually seems. I enjoyed it, plus, bonus, it looks like Tempe and Detective Ryan are moving in together! Not quite marriage, but I'll take it :)

"Fables: Vol. 21" by Bill Willingham was pretty good, too. It seems like he might be gearing up to end the run, he's wrapping up loose ends. Rose Red discovers that the former Mrs. Spratt has been controlling Bigby through her glass ring and takes it from her. She also discovers that she and Snow are locked in a battle they cannot escape: due to a longtime family curse, only one daughter can inherit the power, so they cannot both survive. One has to kill the other. It looks like Rose is going to try to use Bigby to kill his wife. Oh boy...

There is no way I could succinctly summarize Mark Z. Danielewski's latest. I can't even begin to try. It was fascinating, though, and very good, extremely readable, despite its brick like appearance. The book takes place over the course of one rainy day in May, following a group of people from all over the world, although mostly in L.A. At the heart of the book is a young girl named Xanther, who is going with her stepdad to pick up a highly trained dog that should help her with her epilepsy. I'm excited for the next volume, to see how all these seemingly random people's stories tie together.  

Go Set a Watchman; The Cartel

Like most people, I was quite excited when I first heard that Harper Lee had finally consented to have another one of her books published. After reading so much about her over the years, and her adamant assertions that she would publish nothing else while living, I assumed I would have to wait for the sad day of her death. But then the details of *how* this book came to be emerged, and I got an icky feeling about not only the content but about Ms. Lee being taken advantage of. Nevertheless, I wanted to read it, because I did enjoy "Mockingbird" so much.
The first two-thirds or so were good. I can see why her publisher wanted her to write a different book from Scout's point of view: the best parts are the childhood flashbacks. Her humor is dead on sharp and her Southern sarcasm is so thick as to smother you, which I enjoyed. But then the last third of the book became a lecture on race relations in the South, and when I finished the book I realized there was no story. No plot. Nothing happened. It just was. I really hope this doesn't destroy people's love of "To Kill a Mockingbird", and make them think less of Harper Lee as a writer. Clearly if she was in her full capacity this book wouldn't have seen the light of day. If you read it for what it is, a draft, unfinished, unpolished, then it's okay, but if you're expecting greatness, you'll be disappointed.

I loved "The Cartel" by Don Winslow. Wow, what a ride. It takes place over about a decade and dives into the drug wars in North America. Keller is determined to get Adan Berrera, and the drug kingpin is imprisoned, but allowed to escape by a corrupt government and Keller spends the next ten years or so trying to hunt and bring him down. Winslow does an excellent job of highlighting the pointless, ugly brutality of drug violence and the utter hopelessness and pointlessness of trying to fight these insanely wealthy and well connected criminals. It was so good.