Jack’s Books: The Earlier Darkness of Winter…
…makes for some good mystery reading, right?
“A Walk in The Darkness” by Jon Land (2000) Continuing his innovative series teaming up a Palestinian-American detective, Ben Kamal, with an Israeli inspector, Danielle Barnea, the two are drawn into a case where a team of archaelogists is murdered in the Judea, Ben has a personal connection to one victim, and Kamal and Barnea have an ever-more complicated connection to each other. It’s a series best read in order.
“The Far Side of The Dollar” by Ross MacDonald (1965) Another mid-century masterpiece featuring PI Lew Archer and a cast of characters revolving around a sinister, old, abandoned hotel and a missing young man whose family is so unhappy that it’s not clear whether finding him would be the best or worst thing that Archer could do.
“A Fatal Grace” by Louise Penny (2006) I only recently discovered this brilliant series of police procedurals set in Canada. Not every one will get the reference, but there is more than a whiff of “Twin Peaks” in the little town of Three Maples and the case Chief Inspector Gamache faces.
“The Bourne Ascendancy” by Eric von Lustbader (2014) It takes a special book for me to read it all day in an airport and on a flight, all pretty much in one day…and still not want it to end. So I always pack one of EVL’s sequels to the legendary Jason Bourne character created by the late Robert Ludlum. Only Ludlum’s own books were better for the carry-on bag.
“The Professional” by Robert Parker (2009) Spenser is hired by a group of young, rich wives who’ve all had affairs with the same con man, who is now blackmailing them. To our surprise, the wives are not very sympathetic, the husbands are not entirely blameless and the rake himself is almost likeable. Spenser has to find his way around a complicated landscape littered with bodies.
“Dark Star” by Alan Furst (1991) Furst is a master of the historical thriller, weaving in characters and storylines to the world of 1937 Europe and Soviet spies.
“Triple” by Ken Follett (1979) One of the author’s earlier novels, already showcasing his thriller chops, as three men who met at the end of WW2 are now tangled in a modern day race to build a nuke in the Middle East. The action is swift and fluid, careening all around the world, on land, sea and air.
“Long Time, No See” by Ed McBain (1977) Like all McBain’s “87th Precinct” books, this one is a short, sharp, tenacious and sometimes humorous whodunit: a blind Vietnam vet is murdered on a icy street, and before the detectives of the 87th get very far into the case, his wife (also blind) turns up dead as well.
As always, if you give any of these a try, let me know what you think! Or share your picks: [email protected]