Podcasts
LeVar Burton Reads: The Best Short Fiction, Handpicked by the World’s Greatest Storyteller – Literally LeVar Burton (of Reading Rainbow & Star Trek fame) reading short stories (all kinds) to you!
Netflix has released a new series that IS interesting and certainly IS grisly: Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. It is also full of period film of Seattle in the 70s.
Word of the Month
supergrass (n): supergrass is a British slang term for an informant who turns Queen’s evidence, often in return for protection and immunity from prosecution. In the British criminal world, police informants have been called “grasses” since the late 1930s, and the “super” prefix was coined by journalists in the early 1970s to describe those who witnessed against fellow criminals in a series of high-profile mass trials at the time…
The first known use of “grass” in that context is Arthur Gardner’s crime novel Tinker’s Kitchen, published in 1932, in which a “grass” is defined as “an informer”. The origin of the term “grass” being used as signifying a traitor, a person who informs on people he or she knows intimately, ostensibly can be traced to the expression “snake in the grass”, which has a similar meaning. The phrase derives from the writings of Virgil (in Latin, latet anguis in herba) and has been known in the English language, meaning “traitor”, since the late 17th century.
An alternative claim is made for the term originating from rhyming slang, whereby “grasshopper” is defined as “copper”, meaning “policeman”. The rhyming slang version was supported in 1950 by lexicographer Paul Tempest. (wikipedia)
Book Events
February 4: April Henry, 7pm Powell’s
February 9: Mike Lawson, 1pm Barnes & Noble, Silverdale
February 14: Mary Daheim AND Candace Robb, 7pm Third Place/LFP
February 16: Mike Lawson, 3pm, Magnolia Bookstore
February 24: Jasper Fforde, 6pm Third Place/LFP
Links of Interest
January 1: Books are good for your brain. These techniques will help you read more.
January 2: Australian police respond to spider death threats
January 3: Can An Auto-Immune Disease Explain The Salem Witch Trials?
January 4: Manson family murderer Robert Beausoleil recommended for parole
January 5: ‘Kidnapper’ chased out of North Carolina karate studio
January 6 (from the UK): Independent bookshops grow for second year after 20-year decline
January 7: ‘The Sopranos’ at 20: How did the show change TV — and us?
January 7: David Chase on ‘The Sopranos,’ Trump and, Yes, That Ending
January 8: A woman’s murder in Peking and a literary feud
January 8: How true-crime podcasts find clues the police miss
January 9: ‘The Millions’ Will Live on, But the Indie Book Blog Is Dead
January 10: Woman fined after bragging about illegal hunt on dating app
January 11: Some Dos and Don’ts from Famous Authors
January 11: ‘Hugely heavy’ hippo sculpture stolen
January 11: Can Romance Novels Save Heterosexual Sex?
January 11: British sarcasm ‘lost on Americans’
January 12: Can a fugitive remain on the run forever?
January 13: ‘True Detective’: Three Real-Life Cases Behind the Show’s Central Mystery
January 13: After Stephen King Tweeted at a Maine Paper for Cutting Book Reviews, It Gave Readers a ‘Scary Good’ Offer
January 14: The Hunt for the Nazi Loot Still Sitting on Library Shelves
January 15: The Homeless Man Who Set Up A Book Club
January 15: ‘Most famous’ banned book to be sold
January 16: TV series based on Portland writer Chelsea Cain’s novel premieres on WGN America
January 16: The Villainous Bitch Has Become the Most Boring Trend in Literature
January 17: The Library Of Forbidden Books
January 17: New York’s Secret Travel Club
January 17: Nancy Drew is Still Influencing – Well the covers are at any rate
January 17: Sherrilyn Kenyon~Bestselling author accuses husband of poisoning her in ‘Shakespearean plot’
January 18: Earliest Fragments of the English Language Revealed
January 21: How ‘Sherlock’ went from super-sleuth to the Baker Street Men Behaving Badly
January 22: ‘Sopranos’ Prequel Film Finds Young Tony: Michael Gandolfini Is Chip Off Old Block
January 23: An infamous mobster’s home was up for sale in Vegas. Buyers made an offer. Who could refuse?
January 23: ‘Buffy’ returns with a modern comic book reboot
January 23: Guillermo del Toro leads drive to save horror bookshop Dark Delicacies
January 23: San Francisco’s Aardvark Bookstore Closes after 40 Years
January 23: Adam Sternbergh ~ If I Hate Violence So Much, Why Do I Love Writing About It?
January 23: Don Winslow ~ I Write Fiction About Border Crime, But Unlike Trump I Tell the Truth.
January 23: A week in the life of a London murder detective
January 24: Medieval book coffer shows appetite for mobile reading ‘is nothing new’
January 24: Times reporter pens book about mystery of missing Skelton brothers
January 24: 7-year-old’s book accepted into Library of Congress
January 24: Amanda Knox ~ European court orders Italy to pay damages
January 25: Penguin Random House Closes the Prestigious Imprint Spiegel & Grau
January 27: Booker Prize Looses Sponsor
January 27: The Knotty Nostalgia of the Hardy Boys Series
January 28: The tiny library bringing books to remote villages
January 28: Book explores old murder mysteries in Lorain County
Word of the Month – Continued
croodle (v): To cower or cuddle together, as from fear or cold; to lie close and snug together, as pigs in straw. (thanks to wordfinder)
R.I.P.
December 29: June Whitfield – The wonderful voice of Miss Marple on BBC Radio
We say farewell to Ed Kennedy, a customer who went back to the early days
of the shop. He’d bop in with a big smile and a friendly “Hey, Man!” He bought books for himself, mysteries and special orders for himself and relatives. Ed had a deep, smooth voice and would often be on his way to or from a session of taping a book for the Washington Talking Book. This seemed to be one of his great pleasures, reading a book aloud for those who couldn’t read themselves. With that voice he must’ve been one of their stars.
Thanks, Ed. Vios con dios!
January 4: Edgar Winner Brian Garfield, dead at 79
January 20: Tony Mendez, Mastermind of the Rescue of the US Hostages in Iran
January 31: Dick Miller, Gremlins and Terminator actor, dies aged 90
Word of the Month – Lastly
Rivulose – adjective – marked with irregular, narrow, sinuous, crooked lines or furrows resembling rivers marked on a map.
While they may use this word primarily to describe the irregular, surfaces of bugs, fishes, and mushrooms (for purposes entomological, ichthyological, and mycological), you can apply it as you wish. It can, for example, do the job of describing the wrinkles on your typical lexicographer’s shirt. The word is Latin in origin, tracing back to rivulus, meaning “rivulet,” and the English suffix –ose, meaning “possessing the qualities of.” Something that is rivulose is marked with lines reminiscent of those made by a rivulet—that is, a small stream—as viewed from far above.
(thank-you to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)
What We’ve Been Doing
Amber
Don’t forget! Check out my mystery blog!
Finder Of Lost Things
After an eventful night which included a mysterious FLYT fare, the discovery of Little Ben’s ill conceived pet cemetery plans and getting chewed out by Joseph at Nevermore. Phoebe’s on her way home for a quiet snack and then bed…
But her night’s not quite over yet!
No Wind Of Blame by Georgette Heyer
So this mystery is a bit of a conundrum.
Because, for one reason or another, until the murder of Wally Carter I disliked every character Heyer introduced into the narrative. Since the deed wasn’t done until page one-hundred-and-thirty-one…well let’s just say it took me a while to work my through the cast’s hysterics, dramatics, whining, and martyrdom to the meat of the matter.
But two things kept me from shelving the book permanently, neither Heyer nor her foil, Inspector Hemingway has ever let me down.
And as you’ve guessed, (since I’m writing a review) my patience was rewarded, because the last half of the book was excellent.
Even better?
Through Hemingway’s investigation, observations, and dry wit, you come to understand exactly who these people are and their motivations, which shed an entirely new light on the first half of the book, making it infinitely more interesting – and well worth a reread.
Perhaps not the best of Heyer’s mysteries (it is definitely not the worst), the solution straining the boundary of credulity, it is still a satisfying read.
You just need to stick with it!
BTW – Source Books has reissued all of Georgette Heyer’s mysteries! So if you couldn’t find them previously, they are easy to find now! And I highly recommend a read thru of her mysteries, if you enjoy classic 1930s-1950s British mysteries!
My favorites: Death In The Stocks & Why Shoot A Butler?
Fran
Okay, let me just say up front that I adore Amber and trust her implicitly. Therefore you have to understand the sorrow with which I tell you, Amber lied.
Amber lied BIG TIME.
Okay, first of all, go back and read her review of Brandon Sanderson‘s book, LEGION. It’s okay, we’ve got time. I’ll wait. It’s back in December, so you won’t have to scroll far.
Done? Groovy.
I’m not going to recap the synopsis; you just read it. But what you’re not getting is how BADLY SHE UNDERSELLS THIS BOOK!
Holy cats.
Granted, if you’re looking for Sanderson’s telltale fantasy story, you’ll be disappointed, but only briefly because the writing is incredible! It’s a suspense story, yes, and it’s told in three parts, but once again, it’s the characters that make it. And Stephen Leeds’ “aspects” are so fully formed, so incredibly wonderful, that you can’t help but get involved with them.
And if you have an artistic friend, perhaps a writer, this helps you understand how complex characters can be created.
I’ll be re-reading it, I have no doubt. It’s the kind of story that is multi-layered, and psychologically complex.
And I do wish we were still working together because Amber would have had me read this much sooner than I did, and that would have been wonderful. So now, listen to her, listen to me, and go read Brandon Sanderson’s LEGION!
Why are you still here? Go!
JB
Coming in April is a fascinating history of the Allies’ use of women to work with the Resistance during World War II in preparation for the invasion of Europe.
Sarah Rose’s D-Day Girls is a heady mix of mission and personality as you get to know these women – Rose takes pain to note that the women involved did refer to themselves as “girls” – the men in charge of the missions in London, and the men hunting them in France.
Rose details the resistance within the Allies to allowing women to have a role in the fight, partly due to the usual, age-old sexism that women can’t or shouldn’t go into battle, partly due to racism (one woman was Jewish and could she be trusted!!), and partly due to real qualms about possible sexual torture if captured. There’s a pageant of humanity in this story – fear and courage, hope and frustration, passion and fury, good and evil – all told with a lively writing style that is somewhere in-between Ben McIntyre, Eric Larson, and Alan Furst.
In one of those strange quirks of history, the man in charge of these heroes was Captain Selwyn Jepson. It was his job to find people to insert into France and it seemed only logical to him that if men were in short supply send women. Jepson was a well-known mystery novelist and screenwriter before and after the war.
It’s a fascinating story with details and dates. I guess I’d always thought that the French Resistance took place throughout the war but Rose shows that the Resistance as a nation-wide organization really only started in 1943, with the women spending ’42 being trained in tradecraft. It was due to the approach of the invasion that the Allies used the Resistance to bedevil the Nazis so that they couldn’t respond well to an invasion. Luckily for us all it worked well enough to allow Normandy to succeed.
Thank god the men got out of the way and let these women do their jobs!
The author notes that the indignities these women went through before going into enemy territory didn’t end then. After the war, they were not awarded to the same extent as the men who did the same thing, their medals were of lesser levels. And then, of course, they were ignored by historians for the last sixty years.
I’m glad Sarah Rose has stepped in to redress this contemptuous treatment.
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