KP, a longtime Pelecanos fan, urged me to stick with The Night Gardener. I'm glad that I did. The final few chapters were really worth the wait. I also like the way the Washington, DC based plot moves back and forth between today and 1985 (that's because TodaysFrase actually lived in DC in 1985! This seems like a good time to confide that TF almost always moves in the direction of omens when they present themselves. I also save highly positive fortune cookies).
KP says that her favorite Pelecanos novels are the Stefanos books (I'm not quite sure what that means, but it sounds good): Down By the River; A Firing Offence; and Nick's Trip. Thanks for the suggestions, KP. I hope that other TF-ers will recommend favorite books too. KP, did you try The Vanished Child yet?
MAFFIE confided that my love of Aveeno's SPF 70 sunblock could seem to some people to be a little over-the-top. MAFFIE, I must respectfully disagree here. After all, I once got an incredibly painful sunburn on the upper half of my fourth toe on my left foot -- just because I managed to overlook it when reapplying suntan lotion (that was back in the day when 15 was about as high as anyone went). Now, I always pay special attention to my toes and I urge others to do the same.
That said, I take MAFFIE's point. In my effort to be relevant to as many TF-ers as possible, let me mention that, on somewhat cloudy days, I switch to Neutrogena's 30 Body Mist Sunblock SPF 30. But I'm always a little nervous when I go that route.
Finally, thanks to all TF-ers who sent in recipe ideas. More more more!
2 comments:
Hi TF--Just to clarify, I meant by Pelecanos' Stefanos books those early novels with Nick Stefanos as a character. And I'm waiting for my copy of The Vanished Child to come in to my local library, something fitting about being in suspense waiting for a spine-tingler on order. I am in the middle of a mystery about which I haven't made up my mind, River Ghosts by B.R. Robb. I am intrigued because the first-person character is a victim (unusual perspective for a mystery--or at least for the kind I normally choose) and intensely self-loathing and isolated, and yet I'm drawn to him. The writing is very good and there are, so far, nice spikes of suspense.
After all of this, I wanted to recommend a writer to you: James Sallis. I have only read a couple of his mysteries, but he is a published poet and biographer (Chester Himes)--Cripple Creek and Cypress Grove--and he writes like a poet. Check him out if you are so inclined
Thanks Kascha. I have never read anything by Sallis, but I am intrigued, since the thing that matters most to me in a mystery writer is the caliber of the writing. So, writing like a poet sounds darn good. I'm going to give it a try.
Have you read anything by Jean-Claude Izzo? He's a stylist, although not a poet - very much like a French film noir type novelist. I read the first book of his Marseilles trilogy (Total Chaos) and liked it very much, since it had that sense of place which I really love. The very descriptions of fish related dinners was worth the whole novel ... but the mystery was pretty good too.
As for the Vanished Child, I can't wait to hear what you think. You and I will need to discuss more via emails, so that we don't give away great plot details to all those other TF-ers who I hope will one day read this as well.
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