Whodunit?

NOT MUDER MYSTERIES-------FOR A CHANGE

 

 

KUDOS:

Denise Talbott, adult services librarian of the akron_summit county public library, deserves applause for all of the work she did to set up accommodations at the green library for my book chat there.  imagine driving up to the library and seeing 'dr. audrey lavin' in flashing lights. i thought i was in vegas for a while!

thanks, denise.

BOOKS:

in case readers of this blog think that all i read is murder mysteries, i am going to write about three of the non-crime books i am now in process of reading:

1. 'The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson' is worth dipping into. i think many of you who are also writers and who dream of publication will enjoy a different twist:

Publication-is the Auction

Of the Mind of Man-

Poverty -be justifying

For so foul a thing

 

it ends

But reduce no Human Spirit

To Disgrace of Price-

 

Ms Dickinson's  1775 poems are contained in the book's 716 pages. open at random and sniff around. you will enjoy most of what you read. the editor is thomas h. johnson and the book is published by little, brown and co.

 

2.  Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Other Stories" is a pleasure. at least the story that is included in the title. the extracts from adam's and eve's diaries ("translated from the original") are charming satires on feminism and masculinity with many sly pokes at religious establishments. for all of his jokes about men and women, twain ends the story with adam at eve's grave, saying "wheresoever she was, there was eden."

'extracts from adam and eve' is 28 delightful pages.

the other six stories in the collection are not as interesting, but occasionally show flashes of twain's humor, understanding, and descriptive abilities, esp. the seven pages that comprise 'the californian's tale.

 

dover publications is the publisher of this ninety-four page book that sells for $4.95. you'll be happy i suggested it.

 

3. Michael Gorra's "Portrait of a Novel"  is subtitled 'henry james and the making of an american masterpiece.' it is an elegant biography of james. i'm sure there are those who will disagree with me, but i really think that you have to read or have some familiarity with james's most famous novel, 'the portrait of a lady' before reading it. the title of gorra's novel echoing that of james's almost tells us that.

when i started the book, gorra's  book, i was overcome with all of his words and references. then i thought, 'if he is spending a large chunk of his life reading james that's exactly what he will end up sounding like,' and plunged on, much to my own reward.

mr. gorra weaves together literary criticism, travelogue, and psychological analysis of real and literary characters in his 334 enjoyable pages published by liveright publishing corp. it can be yours for $29.95 or stop by your nearest public library and put your name on the waiting list. there must be one.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. A workshop in poetry and performance

on Friday, March 29th, 2013, 12:30-1:50 p.m.

at Case Western Reserve University
Clark 309, 11130 Bellflower Rd.

2. Thursday, March 28th
Dana Ward at Case Western Reserve University
Guilford Parlor, 11112 Bellflower Rd.
6:00 p.m.
for those of you still ending submissions to the LITTLE magazine on the blog, thank you, but i have closed the journal. i loved publishing it, but i am not looking for a full-time job, which is what i was getting into. i did tell  mrs. kurtz i would give her a plug (when i thought i was going to publish some of her work), so  try reading The Way It Was, Recollections of the Life and Times of an Opinionated Granny, a memoir by Olga B. Kurtz

 

 

audreylavin.com http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

final edition: the LITTLE magazine on the blog/ ben b's bosom poem

the  LITTLE magazine on the blog

march 2013 and final edition.

 

to all who submit and all who read the LITTLE mag: thank you. thank you. i have been delighted with our contacts. i have enjoyed editing your work. but oh! the time-consuming computer problems associated with publishing this journal. i've fought and tried to solve them for a year now. the computer wins. 

 

Jrosenb357@aol.com this is supposed to be joel's cartoon. i've tried for two days to post it!

 

itwas supposed to have been followed by part of the first chapter of my humorous murder mystery, 'eloquent blood.' it didn't work out, so please buy the novel and read it for yourself! let me know what you think.

 

STILL A TEENAGER (AT 65)

Ben Bartman   090212                              

 

I dream of caressing her supple breast

Coddled in silk beneath her blouse.

I fancy it in my hand at rest

A ruttish blaze I cannot douse.

 

Perchance I see a lass a'strolling  added apostrophe

My gaze glides towards her assets

My desire bubbles as if fermenting

Spawning prurient vignettes

 

With age my yearning remains tumescent

Despite my dream’s improbable goal.

The thought alone can leave me spent      

 The prospect recharges my soul.  

                       

If chance rewards my desire with pity

I fear I might faint as I reach for that titty

 

i will continue to write my regular blog

audreylavin.com  or http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  or cantonrep.com. please read it and continue to send me your comments. audrey

Related articles

Submissions, Whodunit, Dick Wolf

the LITTLE magazine on the blog

the Little magazine on the blog presents three creative non-fiction stories that relate to travel and/or coincidence. please submit your pieces about travel and/or coincidence for the next edition to audrey lavin at lavingroup @aol.com. we could also (and obviously) use some volunteer help with graphics. you will get a grateful credit line!

 

 A Japanese Shaggy Dog Story

 by audrey lavin

          Academic studies of U.S.-Japanese relations examine the aggression sometimes found in Japan’s history, politics, economics, and religions, but fall short when they fail to include in their examinations the popular texts used to teach English. Some of these school books are rife with unexplored areas of hostility to U. S. values and much that we as clean, decent, dog-loving people stand for.

         Perhaps the texts are following the anti-canine tradition noted by Orientalist and author William Elliot Griffis when in 1882 he wrote, “In Japan, dogs are held in very little honor except the ‘chin’ or Japanese spaniel.” Earlier, Scottish naturalist Robert Fortune had written of dogs in Japan, “It was not unusual to meet with wretched specimens in a half-starved condition and covered with loathsome disease.”

          Casual observation, though, shows us that all dogs were not created equal. In fact, the six related breeds of the Japanese dog, Nihon Ken, (Shiba Inu, Shikoku Inu, Kishu Inu, Kai Inu, Hokkaido Inu, and Akita Inu) have been named National Treasures and Cultural Monuments of Japan.

          It is still possible that contemporary Japanese leaders who first studied English at Japanese schools in the 80s and 90s were indoctrinated with hate and fear of the best-friend relationships cherished by Americans.  If we look into one textbook from that period, we see that examples abound.  Here are some from Modern English: An Oral Approach-Book 7: 

 

                 Jill has three dogs on her hands.

                 Jack was really mad when he saw the dogs.

                 Both the cocker spaniel and the Dalmatian bit Jack.

                 Maybe Jack smells funny or something.

 

       Ten other references to people being bitten by dogs or strongly disliking them can be found in this 138-page textbook, published by Seido Language Institute. The lessons ask students to repeat practice sentences such as, “I can’t stand dogs” and “Jack threatened the dog.” 

       Even the fictive teacher demonstrates an anti-canine bias in her textual conversational gambits that usually combine grammar lessons with pedagogical advice, such as, “You’ll never learn English if you don’t practice.”  She follows her sentence, “They’d better get tickets now or they’ll miss the concert,” with the sudden and uncalled for outburst, “I’ll kill that dog if you don’t get it out of here.”

       What is the effect of this indoctrination? And does Modern English intentionally foster aggression toward only Western breeds such as the cocker spaniels and Dalmatians mentioned in the text?

      Maybe the Japanese students and the anonymous writers of their school book remember our conflicted past. Maybe dogs are used somewhat metaphorically.

      Or, just maybe, Jack does smell funny.

      Or something.

  

                                                              #####

  

                                          An Ordinary (?) Life

                                            by Fred Perlman

 

While we were touring a small town in NE Connecticut, I stayed at a coffee shop reading a book when the rest of the family took a stroll.   One table away from me another man was doing a similar kind of nothing in particular: reading his newspaper and drinking his coffee.  As his cell phone rang, he picked it up, and I couldn't help hearing his very enthusiastic side of a conversation.  After hanging up he was still animated and continued to talk; this time to me.  He had been a local high school teacher for the past twelve years.  The call had been a big city newspaper asking him to write a daily column. Nothing like this had happened to him in those twelve years.
    Whether it was a big break, a small break, or in-between, I thought the coincidence of my being a witness to this event was remarkable.
    In a lifetime, how many change of life events like this do you see, right before your eyes?

                                                       

                                                  ####                          

 

                                                        Lost

                                           by Biloine (Billie) Young

Dear members of the Friendship Baptist Church of Pasadina, California. I am Biloine (Billie) Young and I have been looking for the Rev. Marvin Robinson for many years. Here is the story: 

In 1951 my husband , George P. Young, and I were hitch-hiking from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Mexico. My husband, George, had just completed a graduate degree, we had been married only a year and were not yet ready to settle down. We had enough money to live for the summer but not much else. I had spent the year prior to my marriage to George in Europe but we could not afford to go there. He had been in Europe during the war in the Navy. I had also spent a summer, while in college, in Mexico, so we decided to go there – and to hitch hike to save money.  

We were unlikely hitch-hikers. George wore a white shirt and good slacks, I wore a dress. We had a 16mm movie camera with us and a tripod – as well as our back-packs. In 1951 there were no throughways – just narrow two- lane roads and it took a long time to get anywhere. We were in Louisiana, I believe, after about 3 or 4 days of non-stop hitch-hiking, when a well dressed black man in a late model car stopped for us. There was good matched luggage in the rear. In the front seat with him was an elderly and obviously poor white couple. George and I tumbled into the back seat and immediately fell sound asleep. We woke up when the driver stopped to let the elderly couple out and then he invited us to join him in the front seat.

 We introduced ourselves. The driver was the pastor of a Baptist church in the Chicago area and he was driving to a conference in Texas. We found we had a lot to talk about. After a time we became hungry and suggested that we stop for something to eat. George and I always bought the breakfasts or lunches for the people who picked us up. Marvin explained that, in the south, the only way he could get food from a café was to go to the back door. He refused to do that so he fasted when driving in the South. We compromised. When we came to a roadside restaurant, Marvin drove a little way past it. George stayed in the car with him while I walked back to buy us sandwiches and beverages. By this time the three of us had bonded.

 

Some time later Marvin asked if we would mind going off the road to visit the mother of one of his parishioners who lived in a “dog-trot” cabin about 20 miles off the highway. She would be thrilled to meet her son’s pastor. We were delighted, so we turned off on this dirt road, found the cabin, found the woman. We pumped water from a well and had a cool drink from a tin cup that hung on the well handle. On the way back toward the highway Marvin’s car began to develop a flat tire and just ahead was a rural gas station. Marvin turned to George and said, “ This is your car and I am your driver.” We barely grasped what he meant but the car rolled into the station and we all got out. 

No one there moved. Men in overalls leaned against the wall of the garage and did not move or speak. I had never felt such hostility and hatred in my life. It took my husband a long time to convince the men standing around to change the tire. They finally did it. George paid, and then we had enough sense to get into the back of the car while Marvin got in behind the wheel. When we reached the highway Marvin stopped again, invited us back into the front set with him and said, “ If you had not been with me, I would not have come out of there alive.” We both believed him.

 

Before we finally parted company, later that day , we clasped hands and Marvin offered a fervent prayer for our safety on our trip to Mexico. And we prayed for his. 

As it turned out we went beyond Mexico to Guatemala and then to Colombia – returning permanently to the United States in 1958. George corresponded for a time with Marvin and he sent us an article he wrote about the Cicero, Illinois race riots. On a trip home a year or two later, George and I were driving ( in our own car by now) and wanted to stop in Chicago to visit Marvin. We called to ask if we could come but he said he would rather we did not, His wife, he explained, felt threatened by his friendship with Whites, and he did not want her to be upset. Perhaps she feared for him picking up hitch-hikers. In any event, we never communicated again. But we never forgot the brave, humanitarian gentlemen we knew for one day of our lives. I have wanted to find him for some time and be sure his children knew how he lived his life.

 My husband, Dr. George P. Young, went on to have a distinguished career in education – and was superintendent of schools in St. Paul, Minnesota for many years before his death in 1991. I am a writer of non-fiction books and live in St. Paul.

I would greatly appreciate your putting me in contact with Marvin Robinson’s children. My only intent is to pass on the story of one day in his life recounted above. Many thanks. Biloine [Billie] Young

                                                               #####

 you  can respond to lavin, perlman, or young by writing to the little magazine on the blog at lavingroup@aol.com

 

 

 

 

new journal, two whodunits (hannah and lackberg), & a keeland note

NEW E_JOURNAL:

i have taken all of your suggestions seriously and will start the little magazine on the blog with my next blog. right now, i am thinking of publishing three stories or poems per issue, all linked to visits to or work in other countries, plus stories of coincidences that might or might not take place on these travels. remember mother angelica! submissions are welcomed.

 

BOOKS:

 

Cradle in the Grave, previously published as Room Swept Clean is strange, but i'm afraid, not in the way that author sophie hannah wants it to be.

 

i read an earlier novel in this series that features simon and charlie, a couple that has not been able to consummate their romance during murder after murder. there's no tension any longer. fish or cut bait, kids. nobody cares.

 

 but that's not the problem with the story.  whereas previously ms. hannah has been pleasantly weird. in cradle in the grave, she is just weirdly boring.

three mothers who are wrongly accused of killing their children, whose deaths are due to crib death (or some variety thereof), tell their stories over and over and over again. the novel gets interesting when one of the mothers herself is killed and another is attacked. meanwhile a reporter type young woman is investigating. i hope, dear blog reader, you have noticed how many reporters have been leading the charge lately. they make good lead characters in a murder mystery as they are stereotypically inquisitive, intelligent, know how to ask the right questions, and can write reports for us as readers to see.

 

this 454 page book is published by penguin and costs $15.

 

The Ice Princess is another popular swedish import. it started with two minor mysteries for me. the translator of this novel is steven t. murray. on the inside back flap of the cover, it says that murray is the translator of the stieg larsson millennium trilogy. what? reg keeland is the translator. i'm sure. it has taken me a little time and, i'm embarrassed to admit, wilkipedia to realize that they are one and the same translator. (i was going to write to you, reg, about this imposter!)

 

my second minor mystery is based on pre-conceived notions of the darkness of all scandinavian police procedurals and murder mysteries. author camilla lackberg can chill and can use chill and ice as recurring metaphors, but she can also include  a happy ending love story. every time detective patrik hedstrom leaves his friend erica falck, i am sure they will never meet again. danger does await him, her, too, but there are happy times as they search together and separately for the murder of alex, erica's childhood best friend, and the other murders they encounter on the way.

 

this all takes place in a small town on the swedish coast, shades of agatha christie.

the novel is not great, but will reward readers with a few pleasant hours of escape.

 

pegasus books is the publisher. the novel is 393 pages and the price  is $25.95. that's for the hardback. 

 

CONTEST announcement:

 submissions requested for stories and poems, deadline 30 august.,

organized by The National Ceramic Museum and Heritage Center.

the museum is located in southeast Ohio.

send your manuscript to:  Alma Mae Hoopes
CvilleArt@aol.com
with "Pottery Show" in the subject line

everybody loves jane--p.d. james, writing hints, and submissions

 

COMMENTS:

 

for those of you who are still trying to find this whodunit blog at the rep.com's community blogger page, dwight kier, on-line news editor, and melissa griffy, also of the rep.com, assure me that the problem will be solved by their tech team (or by my changing to firefox). hold on!

 

BOOKS:

 

it is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone loves jane austen and that the opening line of her pride and prejudice is one of the most quoted literary lines to be found, 'it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'

 

it is also accepted that those readers who are seriously interested in murder mysteries are fans of p.d. james; that is, baroness james of holland park. that means when we fans see a novel that will combine ideas from those two authors,  there is more than a frisson of excitement.

 

frisson-ing with excitement is how i approached death comes to pemberly. many of you will remember that pemberly is the magnificent estate owned by darcy. he and elizabeth bennett take up residence there after their marriage. the story takes place in 1803, enough time after the marriage to give darcy and elizabeth two boys with another child on the way.

 

p.d. james gives us a good summary of the story of pride and prejudice to start her novel. she tells the story from an even more economy-based point of view than did austen, who was quite aware of social and wealth levels.

 

many of the characters (all of elizabeth's family) and small details (white soup) reappear, chief among them, george wickham, husband of elizabeth's sister lydia. he is no longer in the army, but is still causing trouble. i don't remember mr. bennett being as intelligent as james's version. to balance this, elizabeth is less intelligent. james also recreates much of the feeling of austen's language.

 

the problem is that there is really no crime. we have a death. we have a suspect (wickham, of course). how all of this is connected is a slight mystery, which includes too many pages of explanation at the end of the novel, but if you are expecting this to be a murder mystery, as i did, you will be disappointed. if you are looking for a continuation of darcy and elizabeth's life together, fine.

 

the novel is 291 pages and is published by alfred a. knopf.

 

WRITING HINT:

give yourself time. when you write something (business letter, poem, press release, story), and you think it is finished, put it aside. come back to it later. ideally, you'll wait a day before taking it up again. in the real world of writing in an office or writing for immediate publication, we don't always have that luxury. but you can take a coffee break, come back and pick the document up again. amazing what you will see that you had not seen a few minutes earlier. 

 

CONTESTS, SUBMISSIONS, etc. 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

Conference content areas:

• Theoretical and methodological problems of language study, consciousness, thinking
• Modern technologies in education and professional activity
• Intercultural communication and social interaction
• Translation studies
• Language. Culture. Communication
• English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

E-mail: send proposals, papers and registration forms to conference2012.imo@yandex.ru

 this is a call from the university in novocherkaas, russia. papers are to be in english. 

anaphora press, the company that published my newest book eloquent tattoo is now accepting submissions for books (prose and poetry) to be published. submit your manuscripts to 163 lucas road, apt. 1-2, cochran, ga. 31014

audreylavin.com http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

whodunit and the canton rep. robert harris and artificial intelligence

COMMENTS:

 

the only comment i'll be publishing today is my own. as part of a community blog page? section? the rep on line (canton's repository) has picked up this whodunit? blog. i'll let you all know when it will start appearing under the community blog heading in the repository. the main way to reach me will continue to be <http://bit.ly/OhAudrey>

 

BOOKS:

 

the hype surrounding robert harris's the fear index has been intense. for example, the guardian calls it an ingenious financial thriller. it is. other reviews speak of hedge funds, algorithmic trading, etc.; about a book filled with acronyms: cern, emh, bf; and clothed in sophisticated language dotted with french, german, and other phrases. they almost frightened me away.

 

but you know what, the fear index is a fun, science fiction novel in the best sci/fi tradition. it is the dybbuk, frankenstein, jekyl and hyde brought up to date. our mad scientist (he isn't really mad, but traps are well laid around him to make him appear dangerously mentally ill) dr. alex hoffman is responsible for developing an artificial intelligence machine, called vixal4. the machine feeds on fear, hence the title of the novel. hoffman uses this machine to successfully predict financial markets.

 

ah, ha, those of you who have read or heard of any of the sci fi books mentioned above (and who hasn't?) will know that the machine will turn. i hope this isn't a spoiler for anyone who doesn't know that in our literary world that's what machines do, turn on their creators.

the novel takes place during twenty-four hours in switzerland, although there is a back story that we readers get piece by piece.

 

it helps if the reader knows a few financial terms, but those terms shouldn't be off-putting. you'll enjoy the novel if you enjoy a good science fiction mystery.

 

it is 286 pages and published by alfred a. knopf.

michael crichton, james patterson, and audrey lavin's whodunit?

 

COMMENTS:

many messages wishing me a happy new year received in return for my recent mailing . thanks to all of you and the happy year of the dragon people, too. no messages about reading or writing except for a write-up by denise sautters of the repository. following is a condensation:

Around Town: Canton Repository by denise sautters
"If you are a follower of Audrey Lavin's whodunit blog, thanks to her son and blogmeister, Carl Lavin, it is easier to get to it."   http://bit.ly/OhAudrey  

 

CONTESTS:

i try not to list contests and shows that ask for a fee. for all i know, they might all be legitimate, but i'm not doing their advertising for them. so thanks g.l.r., for notices about shows asking $100 per shared table, etc. BUT

 

BOOKS:

the two murder mysteries i'm going to talk about this afternoon are michael crichton's micro and james patterson's catch me if you can.

 

 both have co-authors. one at a time, audrey.

 

i know we're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but what was michael crichton thinking? or what was his family and whoever manages his estate thinking when they decided to go ahead with his notes for micro and hired richard preston to finish the novel? this is not to blame preston, who has good enough credentials. i have no idea what 'notes' he was given.

 

i read the novel under extreme and extremely favorable conditions. all of our electricity was off for three hours. we didn't know it was only going to be for three hours, and even with the winter we've been having, we didn't want to be without heat or light in january in canton oh. so i sat bundled up by a nice roaring fire prepared by my husband, eating yum left overs, fortunately prepared by me, and reading crichton by flashlight. 'what a delight,' thought i.

 

also, i like some of crichton's earlier novels, such as andromeda strain and the one that (honest!) proved we aren't having global warming. none of his novels are what some would call high literature. they aren't beautifully written. they are fun. not micro.

 

it is the 21st century's answer to gulliver's travels, or better it is the 1989 movie honey, i shrunk the kids brought up to date. this time the shrinking is on purpose, the mad scientist isn't supposed to be funny, and the shrinking is on the micro level. 'microorganisms and nanobots drive the action, 'as the wsj says. seven nice graduate student (o,k,, one of them isn't so nice, but he's not one of the bad guys either.)scientists are millimeters of their former selves and left to fend off the evils of the rain forest. each one conveniently has a speciality allowing them to make some progress against the difficulties of the real world.

 

i'm sure the book will have millions of readers. it is published by harper collins and is 424 pages plus five pages of bibliography.

 

the second book is james patterson's kill me if you can. it is written with marshall karp. it is not one of patterson's alex cross or women's murder club series. i really do like those two series.

 

in this novel, the young artist protagonist finds a bag of diamonds in a locker in grand central station. it's all i can do to find my luggage, or worse, the person i'm supposed to meet, when i'm there. he keeps the bag, takes his girl friend to paris (that part is logical). it turns out that the people who want the diamonds or who want the man who put them in the locker and was killed before he could get them out are not just dropping the subject.

 

patterson and/or karp give us two plot twists (i don't think this is giving away anything. the twists are basically that the hero and the villain are respectively not as nice and worse than we think they are.). the two twists might have something to do with character development (that's a stretch), but really nothing to do with plot.

 

the 356 page novel is published by little, brown and co. most readers are going to enjoy this quick read for what it is.

many comments today + lee child

i thought The Appearance of Print in Eighteenth-Century Fiction (cambridge university press) sounded as if it would be quite interesting to all of us who are interested in writing, publishing, and reading. i lifted the following paragraph, more or less in total, from a mailing from case western reserve u.: in The Appearance of Print Fiction , the author christopher Flint examines how the era’s printing resources shaped the organization of the written word—from typography to page format to book construction. He notes that “the novel” began exclusively as a printed object. Unlike drama, epic poetry or even the Renaissance romance, it was written explicitly to be published. It oriented readers toward the visual particularities of uniform alphabetic letterpress.' 

 sounds to me as if it is worth looking into. any comments?

speaking of comments, i want to thank g. p. in california for her suggestion about finding the remnants of booktour on godaddy. good idea. and i talked with nice godaddy employees, but nothing came of it. i guess my booktour info. is lost. lost. lost.

another nice comment on this blog was rec'd from Deron Paul. unfortunately, he has the two audrey lavins who are writers confused. the california audrey lavin, or the OTHER audrey lavin as she is known around here, is the one who wrote the children's book about divorce. my last book is an anthology of prose and poetry Turning Leaves: an anthology of prose and poetry and my newest book is a murder mystery eloquent tattoo. thanks anyway, deron.

  

dr. f. w. writes from florida to tell me that he finds my blog interesting. i guess that can mean anything!!

 

more comments about the subject of series from c.l. in the san francisco area. he writes: 'i like your (and l.l's ) point about Evanovich, that a loyal fan base props up her duds. I have a guilty pleasure book series I love. It is fantasy Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Each book is about 200 pages, lots of corny jokes and is at a middle school reading level. The first two books are excellent. The next 7 are pretty good. The trilogy after that was interesting. The next 23 books in the series are mediocre, some better than others, but it is very formulaic (the author has even explained his formula in depth in a book). 

We keep reading because each book still brings us back to the world, characters and story that first excited us. We read the duds in hope to find remnants of a glorious past. As the author keeps disappointing us, we lose faith in the series. But as long as enough die-hards remain, new books will keep coming out.'      absolutely right on the nail.

 

a final note is my suggestion to take a look at the light poetry in the  new book 'swing' by akron poets and sisters ruth hale and maryann fear. 

 

now to the mystery of the day, lee child's The Affair: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher). this is sub-titled 'a reacher novel.' i am embarrassed to say that the sub-title meant nothing to me. i must be the only person in the u.s. who doesn't know who jack reacher is since the affair is child's sixteenth (yes, 16th) novel about him.

 

i think there must be a special audience for the sub-genre of tough army guy who solves crimes. and this guy is tough. at one point (i can't help smiling as i write this. where do these people come from? child looks attractively normal in his cover shot.) anyway, at one point reacher is faced with and easily defeats six big, burly tough macho guys, who come to hunt him down. the reader gets a good description of each blow reacher lands. this kind of detail by the author works much better in his sex scenes or scene. pretty good.

 

the story take place in carter crossing, mississippi, in 1997. elite military cop jack reacher's orders are: go undercover, keep your distance, monitor the investigation. of course, there is a beautiful sheriff to help.

the cover-up of murders by famous people for famous people (famous in the context of the story, perhaps powerful would be a better descriptive) is no more a problem for reacher than those six steroidal guys are. he solves the problems and, in doing so, gives  good reason why he is not still in the army.

 

i don't know how much suspense this novel holds for the average reader. i would guess not much, but the pace picks up as the reader continues  along. if you like tough guys, you're going to love jack reacher. you probably already do.

 

delacorte press is the publisher of this 405 page novel.

whodunits? by michael connelly and john grisham + a taste of philosopher david hume

 

does anyone know how to access a defunct web site? i've listed a number of my book chats, library talks, book signings, etc. on  www.BookTour.com , always figuring that some day i'd copy them for my own records. that 'some day' came along and booktour was no longer waiting for me. i would really like to get my hands on dates and places of these missing materials. any suggestions? please?

 

i've been reading books by two of the u.s's most famous and most prolific murder mystery/thriller/police procedural&legal puzzler writers. it's been interesting to read them in themselves and also in conjunction with each other.

 

the books are michael connelly's The Drop (Harry Bosch) and john grisham's The Litigators. 

in The Drop (Harry Bosch), our old friend detective harry bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. in one morning, he gets two. one is a new opening (dna) to a case from 1989. the other is a present-day case with political connotations. i'm not sure how it can happen, but with murder, rape, possible suicide, child molestation, and other sordid crimes on almost every page, the book is never exciting. even the sexual attraction is dull. of course, the object of his passion has serious problems of her own. i've read other michael connelly novels, even other ones starring harry bosch. i find it hard to believe with all turns and twists of plot being telegraphed ahead to the reader, that this author is the lincoln lawyer guy.  f.y.i., this is the 17th of the bosch chronicles. again, it might be a series that has run its course. 

published by little, brown and co., the novel is 388 pages.

i am happy to report however, that john grisham's The Litigators is a heck of a lot of fun. our 'outsider,' the fictive device necessary to tell the story, is david zinc, a harvard trained lawyer, who has been working miserably for five years for a 600-lawyer chicago law firm. on a drunken bender, he stumbles into the so-called firm of finley and figg, all two of them, and the story takes off. the woman he picks up in a bar on that bender is a 90 year old. ya gotta love them all.

my highest compliment is that the story and the characters in it remind me of donald westlake's work. but grisham is different. we have in our observer, david, a true legal innocent, who continues to stay decent after learning the hard way about courtroom strategies and the ways of the world. the cases are interesting, even when finley and figg are the loosing attorneys, which is often in their practice.

the book is published by doubleday and is 385 pages.

i'm also reading An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by david hume, 1711-1776. ideas were a little different then. speaking of women and fidelity, hume says: 'the smallest failure is here sufficient to blast her character. a female has so many opportunities of secretly indulging these appetites, that nothing can give us security but her absolute modesty and reserve; and where a breach is once made, it can scarcely ever be fully repaired."

 

 

audreylavin.com       http://bit.ly/flTthc

 

just thought i'd mention it!!

 

remarks re: jail, series, victoria thompson and laura childs

 

happy new year to all. to start 2012, here are three announcements of interest to readers of the whodunit? blog who are also writers

1.The 6^th Annual Women Writers’ Winter Retreat  

February 24 - February 26, 2012

Write, Read & Relax in Historic Downtown Willough

Phone: (440) 946–1902.  please email registration form to Deanna at DeeNCR@aol.com

 

2. Submission Call - The Columbus Creative Cooperative has announced the theme for a new anthology.  The theme is "While You Were Out: Stories of Life and Death and Life". 

  

3. i have a notice on my facebook page  (or am i supposed to say 'wall'?) asking if i would be interested in teaching writing or editing students' works in a prison. if any of you are interested, please go to facebook and check out 'audrey lavin.' an interesting coincidence is that i did teach in a prison once. it was the maximum security prison, outside of madrid, spain.

  

the university of alcala de henares, where i was a fulbright professor teaching american literature and culture, was asked for volunteers to teach at the jail. no one volunteered. it was not perceived as a career-enhancing move, and that's what other professors were interested in. i figured it was an opportunity for me to see a part of spanish life that  i would never see as a tourist, so volunteered. my special student  was named sammy wafula. he was in prison for murdering his wife. my husband accompanied me on my first few trips to the prison for possible protection. how did i know that sammy wouldn't think i was the spittin' image of that wife??

  

i will close with notes on two more novels that are good examples of something i've discussed before--not extending a series. i say this with a straight face, knowing that within a month anaphora press should have the third novel in my eloquent murder mystery series, eloquent tattoo, in bookstores and available on line. but i plan eloquent tattoo to be my third and last murder mystery starring professor mary beth goldberg.

 

the two mysteries are laura childs' The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) and victoria thompson's Murder on Sisters' Row (Gaslight Mystery).

  

on the positive side, i point out that i truly like tea. i am very serious about ordering my teas and brewing cups using tea leaves. i like the ceremony of doing this. not to be confusing, i am not talking here about the japanese tea ceremony, but rather something much simpler, my own breakfast, my own lunch. and charleston, where the novels take place, is indeed a lovely city. but and beware the 'buts' in life, theodosia browning this star of the cozy series, is stuck in the middle of a series that seemingly repeats itself. the three tea house characters are o.k., but (there we go again) the story that surrounds them seems to be the same story i've read a number of previous times. this might be due to the fact that this is the eleventh novel in the series. it's a strain (get it?) for tea to be involved in that many murders.

 

published by berkely prime crime, The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) is 318 pages plus recipes.

 

as the thirteenth novel in the gaslight series, Murder on Sisters' Row (Gaslight Mystery) suffers from the same problem. though not a cozy it is the kind of soft historical novel that is similar. again brave mid-wife sarah brandt faces the dangers of the tenements in nineteenth century new york. i have been consistently amazed with victoria thompson's ability to find new ways and places for our heroine to deliver those babies. this time it is in a house of prostitution. the woman who helps rescue the new mother from the house of prostitution is murdered. sarah and her boyfriend sgt. frank malloy, whose role is getting smaller and weaker, solve the murder. you will too. there is not much of a mystery about it. to me the biggest mystery is why the berkely publishing group didn't put an editor on board to help with point of view and dull dialogue in the 289 page novel.

 

 last week's comment from lauren concurs:

Lauren said:

What is wrong with Janet Evanovich? I struggled through Explosive Eighteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Stephanie Plum Novels). It was hard to stay interested in the diluted plot that started blah and ended without the promised bang. The loyalty stock Evanovich had created has kept us all reading her last half dozen duds but that party is over. Many reviewers suggest that she publish less and write better. In her earlier books Stephanie Plum was quirky and fun and bewildered about how to handle career and her love life. Stephanie hasn't changed, developed or evolved over the years. In 18- SPOILER ALERT, she destroys her 4th car and has sex with both guys. So I guess in 19 she will be pregnant and have her car insurance canceled.

 

only three months until spring!

audrey