Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:32:14 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Otto Penzler :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Otto+Penzler istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-a-great-pair/86439/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch has become one of the great figures in contemporary American mystery fiction, and this ethical, tough-but-softhearted Los Angeles policeman has brought enormous, well-deserved success to his creator, Michael Connelly. Driven to protect the good people of his city and to put away the bad guys, Bosch is haunted by every case he can't solve and by every killer or rapist he can't catch. He's the cop we would want on the case if something bad happened to someone we love... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-russian-front/86008/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Stuart Kaminsky was not named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America because of a single book or even a single series character. He was deservedly given the organization's highest honor for maintaining a consistently high level of professional crime fiction throughout a career that has spanned more than three decades. After a gap of seven years, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov is back in his 15th book, "People Who Walk in Darkness" (Forge, 287 pages, $23.95), and it is a good... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-mysterious-miscellany/85511/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST While recent motion-picture successes seem to be dominated by superheroes such as Batman, James Bond, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, and Hellboy, there appears to be a great deal of energy left in the film life of the man who was described by his closest friend as "the best and wisest man whom I have ever known," which indicates that Sherlock Holmes is also a superhero, though of a slightly different sort. Warner Bros. is scheduled to start filming "Sherlock Holmes" later this year... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-crime-writing-for-children/85050/ Wed, 3 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST One way or another, one day or another, everybody reads mysteries and likes them, and of what other genre may this be said? Yes, the staff of the New York Review of Books will leap to their collective feet, claiming they are above that sort of thing, that they wouldn't soil their pince-nez by reading a mystery. Oh, please. They've read "Crime and Punishment," "Bleak House," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Les Misérables," "Native Son" — all outstanding crime novels — and, if they'll come clean, they... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-anton-chekhovs-crime-fiction/84671/ Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST It has been correctly noted that the detective story could flourish only in a democratic society. Fictional works can only reflect what is known of real life, and in order for the police to do their job, there must be cooperation from citizens who prefer a condition of law and justice. If there is no reasonable justice system in real life, it is too great a leap of imagination to hope that writers could provide it as a form of literary entertainment. Standing up for the truth required almost... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-george-pelecanos-the-turnaround/84203/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Mystery fiction has a history of being redefined. When Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins wrote novels in which crime, kidnapping, murder, and chicanery were significant plot elements, their works were simply regarded as novels, and they were reviewed that way. They weren't classified as "genre" fiction or "literary" fiction; they were just fiction, and could be enjoyed (and were) as such. Sometime later, the road forked. Detective stories were packaged differently from other novels, usually in... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-fun-in-the-sun/83732/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST My wife loves the summer (and desires a beach house with the focused single-mindedness of a cat watching a mouse hole) but believes that, once August arrives, it's pretty much over, because next month everybody goes back to school or work. Well, it not over — it's at its peak — and there is no better time to catch up on terrific books that are so much toe-curling fun that it's obvious why publishers released them to be read on long, cell phone-free flights, quiet afternoons on a porch, or days... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/criminal-cornucopia/83241/ Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Just in case you find the waning days of summer (it seems to grow dark an hour earlier than it did just a few weeks ago) to be a little depressing, here are some things to look forward to in the upcoming days, weeks, and months: "Zombie," a play based on the chilling novella by Joyce Carol Oates, makes its world premiere as part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival. This hour-long adaptation by Bill Connington, who also stars, is the story of a sexual psychopath whose... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-john-darntons-black-white/82842/ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Names matter. They either resonate or they don't. The good ones sometimes define the character, or have a sequence of syllables that combine memorably to imprint the reader's consciousness. Would the great detective have become the most famous literary character in history if Arthur Conan Doyle had stayed with his initial choice of names, Sherrinford Holmes, instead of the slightly less outré Sherlock Holmes? Would Ellery Queen have become America's most famous detective for a quarter of a... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-hit-and-run-by-lawrence-block/82421/ Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST There are a lot of outstanding crime writers working today in what I like to think of as the platinum age of mystery fiction, but none is more versatile than Lawrence Block, with only Donald E. Westlake as his equal. Mr. Block's finest novels are those about Matthew Scudder, a former New York City policeman with a serious drinking problem, who becomes a sort-of unofficial private eye (he does what private eyes do, mostly as favors to people he knows, but has no license); in the later books, he... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-new-looks-at-old-james-bond/81951/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST In the history of literature, no character has had as many pastiches, parodies, burlesques, and other derivative works written about him as Sherlock Holmes, with more than 2,000 such homages (homage: noun, the French word for plagiarism). Recently, however, it seems that there has been a determined effort to challenge Holmes's position of influence by those jumping on the bandwagon of Bond — James Bond. The urge to use another author's creation was kept under fairly decent control in the first... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-chasing-darkness-finding-light/81460/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A situation that reviewers (or critics, if you want to get all uppity about it) confront that other readers don't: As a fan of a certain author, you are delighted to see a new title at your local bookstore. You get it, read it, probably enjoy it, and enhance your pleasure by recommending it to friends and acquaintances (presuming you are fortunate enough to have readers in your circle). A reviewer gets to recommend it to lots of people. But here's the tricky part. Once you confess that you are... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-a-thrill-a-minute/81089/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If you're taking off in July for a European vacation, or to your beach house in the Hamptons, this won't interest you. If, on the other hand, you expect to be in the city the weekend of July 11-13 and want a thrill, head over to the Grand Hyatt for the ThrillerFest convention, which features most of America's greatest writers of that genre (and maybe a few who aren't all that great, but still...). The event is sponsored by International Thriller Writers Inc. It seems an inclusive organization... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-spies-more-spies/80603/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST World War II has often been described as the last good war. Even if you accept the notion that no war is good, World War II nonetheless has much to recommend it, because the right side won. Amazingly, there are those who dispute this, including Patrick J. Buchanan — whose book "Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World" is convincing evidence that he has lost his mind — and Nicholson Baker, whose book "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-test-of-mystery-mettle/80188/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Sebastian Faulks has just written "Devil May Care," a new James Bond novel. Who of the following did not also write at least one 007 novel? (A) John Gardner, (B) Raymond Benson, (C) William F. Buckley, (D) Kingsley Amis 2. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career. What is the crime-related significance of the number? (A) the street address of a famous detective, (B) the total number of James Patterson novels, (C) the badge number of Jack Webb on the "Dragnet" television series, (D) the key... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-fantastical-mysteries/79718/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST There was a time when you knew where you stood. You went to the bookstore and bought a fantasy novel, and there would be wizards, mythical creatures, and impossible occurrences. If you bought a mystery, you were going to have a crime, suspects, clues, and a detective who solved it using rational thought processes. Now and then, there were exceptions, with apparently supernatural events usually exposed as fakery by a detective whose job it was to fearlessly enter the twilight zone of ghosts... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-alix-lamberts-criminal-interviews/79241/ Wed, 4 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the hopes we have when we hear or read an interview with a mystery writer is to get inside the writer's head, to learn something we didn't know before. Whether it's about a series character, a plot idea, or some other element of the writing process, access to the author's thought processes can be highly rewarding if we care about the particular subject. The author has a responsibility, it seems to me, to disclose truths or provide insights that might not be otherwise available. If he... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-crime-scene-the-headhunters-by-peter-lovesey/78697/ Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 EST As a sportswriter back in 1970, I was fascinated to read the first novel by Peter Lovesey, "Wobble to Death," which had as its background a six-day walking race (popular at the turn of the 19th century) called a "wobble." It is an extraordinary detective story in that it has two avenues of suspense: not only the expected whodunit element but also, and equally exciting, the description of the grueling race — the strategies of various competitors, the desperation to win the significant cash... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/good-pharma-bad-karma/76798/ Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the first lessons taught in elementary creative writing classes is to write about what you know. Better advice would be to write about what you can fake. Creative writing classes, by definition, are about fiction — you know, making up stories, or, as Lawrence Block stated it, telling lies for fun and profit. A way to accomplish the not-so-easy task of faking it, of making readers believe you actually know what you're writing about, is to do research. The mark of the amateur is to then... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/quivering-with-excitement/76404/ Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Being related to the boss is often a good thing, and nepotism of all kinds has a long and even occasionally honorable tradition, from royal families to American unions. Your father is king, maybe you get to be king. Your father is head of Local 123, you get a job loading trucks or, on Broadway, you get to be one of the three guys paid to move a lamp. When it's a question of royalty, the general population doesn't get to have a say in the matter very often; nor does an unrelated truck loader or... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/crime-scene-awards-season/75951/ Wed, 7 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The Mystery Writers of America celebrated its annual lovefest, the Edgar Awards banquet, last week, and it was, as it tends to be, a joyous occasion. Maybe not so much for the nominees who didn't get to go home with that bust of Poe, but for most in attendance, it was a blast. I've only been nominated for one Edgar, and won, so I've experienced a little more of the thrill of victory than the agony of defeat, but as an editor and publisher, I've had scores of books and stories nominated, and so... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/crime-scene-red-blood/75581/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Can anything be as incomprehensibly terrible as the serial killing of children? Yes: a state, a political system, that encourages it by denying the fact of its occurrence. This blindness to reality, the inability of a government to accommodate the very notion of human individuality of any kind, whether normal or aberrant, is at the heart of the best thriller of the year, Tom Rob Smith's "Child 44" (Grand Central, 448 pages, $24.99). "The killer," it is observed, "would continue to kill... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/crime-scene-not-very-dizzy/75167/ Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST For people who read a lot and have strong opinions about what they read (and, let's face it, everyone who reads a lot has strong opinions about what they read), one of the pleasures of life is talking about what they're reading. You know who they are. Or who you are. Hyperbole is never in short supply. "This is the greatest (or worst) book I've read this year" is a line as common as wronged women. For more nuanced critics (and every serious reader is a critic), there are references to a book... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mystery-quiz-did-you-know/74748/ Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Two cousins, Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay, created one of America's most famous and successful characters, Ellery Queen, and had the brilliant marketing scheme of using the same name for their pseudonym. In addition to books about the amateur sleuth, they also wrote a number of very successful stand-alone crime novels. Did you know that, in 1939, they hit upon an idea that they were certain was the best and most original plot they had yet invented? They stopped work on the book when they... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/nocturnes-in-blue/74390/ Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST If there is a man alive who understands the heart, mind, and soul of police officers and has the ability to write about them with eloquent simplicity, horror, and humor, illustrating their terrible truths and wondrous joys, it is Joseph Wambaugh. He was a cop for 15 years, finally forced to resign because his books were so successful that he had become a celebrity. Bad guys wanted their pictures taken with him and asked for his autograph. Other cops resented the fame and, oh, yes, the money... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mysterious-memoranda/74019/ Wed, 2 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Your first response to this sad news might be surprise that she was still alive, as she had not published a book in more than a decade, but Phyllis A. Whitney, the queen of romantic suspense fiction, died last month at the age of 106. Her first novel, "Red Is for Murder," was published in 1943, and she produced both adult novels and books for young readers at a steady pace for more than a half-century after that, virtually all of them resting on national best-seller lists with evocative dust... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/homicidal-hodgepodge/73637/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST As a bookseller, I probably shouldn't tell you about this, but since it is likely that you are a serious reader, you ought to know about the Mercantile Library if it has somehow escaped your notice. This terrific institution comes to mind because it has the largest circulating collection of mystery fiction in the country, and has just received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host a Big Read celebration for "The Maltese Falcon," one of the 16 great books chosen for this event... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/page-churner/73221/ Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Where do you go when you start out at the top? This was the challenge facing Andrew Gross. Before his first book was published, he was called on to co-write books with James Patterson, the 800-pound gorilla of thriller writers. This is like going for a first audition and getting the starring role in the next James Bond movie. Having just read "The Dark Tide" (Morrow, 435 pages, $25.95), Mr. Gross's second solo novel, it seems safe to say he's a lot more Pierce Brosnan than George Lazenby... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/tiresome-treatise/72788/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Many (oh, yes, many, many) years ago, when I was studying philosophy, certain schools of thought had appealing elements, helped bring coherence to vaguely formed ideas, or opened doors to illumination that I had never imagined. Then it came time to explore existentialism, which I decided, with all the arrogance that an 18-year-old sophomore can bring to the table, was as empty, stupid, corrupt, and sad a concept as the mind of man was capable of creating. Nearly a half-century later, nearly... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/young-blood-2008-03-05/72312/ Wed, 5 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST When reading mysteries (or maybe anything, for that matter), whether for fun or because it's part of the job (some job!), it's easy to fall into the fuzzy womb of familiarity, a comfort zone. If the books one has enjoyed the most for the past few years are hard-boiled private eye stories, chances are the next book to be picked up will be another. Ditto espionage novels, romantic suspense, legal thrillers, police procedurals, cozies, or noir fiction. And it's even worse than just that. I find... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mystery-magazines/71938/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST When we think of mystery magazines, and I'm not sure we think of them enough, we tend to focus on Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine; they have the largest circulation, the longest history, and the cachet that comes with attracting fiction by today's finest mystery writers. Fair enough. But if you are a mystery fan you might want to know about some smaller magazines devoted to the literature of crime, mainly published by fans. For fiction, the best is... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/no-horsing-around/71528/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST With only four novels in 14 years, April Smith cannot be regarded as a prolific author of crime fiction. Read them, however, and it is not difficult to tell why (aside from the usual stuff of a marriage, children, working as a journalist whose articles have appeared in such disparate venues as Mademoiselle, Antioch Review, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and Atlantic Monthly, as well as writing eight made-for-television movies, producing "Chicago Hope," "Cagney and Lacey," and being the... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/what-a-gas/71237/ Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST If Elmore Leonard had decided to stick with writing Westerns, as he did in the early years of his career, there can be no doubt that the most lauded crime writer who sets the majority of his novels in the essentially dead city of Detroit would be Loren D. Estleman. Like Mr. Leonard, this underrated author of more than 60 books has produced powerful Western fiction that is as hardboiled as his mystery novels, earning him five Golden Spur Awards and three Western Heritage Awards. Best known for... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/waves-of-crime-news/70795/ Wed, 6 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST The popular mystery writer Margaret Truman died on January 29 at the age of 83. She was also famous for being the daughter of President Harry S. Truman, a radio and television personality, singer, and author of nine non-mystery titles, including several best-selling biographies of her father and her mother. As an avid reader of mystery fiction, she approached her agent with an idea for "Murder at the White House," the first of what came to be known as her "Capital Crime Series," all of which... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/death-after-war/70473/ Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST There isn't much good to be said about World War I, the War to End All Wars or the Great War, as it was alternately known. It wasn't really all that great and, as we have come to know, it did not end war. It does, however, bear the distinction of directly costing the lives of more soldiers than any other war in the history of the world. Perhaps the one point that may be said in its favor is that it inspired many distinguished works of literature, from the beautiful, poignant poetry of Rupert... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mystery-medley/69981/ Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST When Craig Holden's first book, "The River Sorrow," was published, it carried an impressive quote by James Ellroy, which was good enough for me. Although I thought it terrific in many ways, especially stylistically, I'm not a huge fan of drug books. I think drug addicts, like drunks, are boring, and those who feed their habit have a character range that runs the gamut from A to B, as was once (unfairly) said of Katharine Hepburn's acting range. Drug dealers are rarely candidates for Rhodes... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/poe-of-the-20th-century/69578/ Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST It would be difficult for anyone to contest the argument that, considering his substantial body of work, Cornell Woolrich is the 20th century's greatest writer of suspense. There are challenges, perhaps, from Thomas Harris, whose "Red Dragon" remains the single most terrifying novel I've ever read (although "The Hound of the Baskervilles" doesn't lag far behind), and the French writing team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, who collaborated on the books on which "Vertigo" ("The Living and... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/another-thriller-of-a-year/69205/ Wed, 9 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST One would have to be a bit dim to assert that every year is simply wonderful and perfect. Indeed, saying it about a single year will get one a raised eyebrow, a skeptical sneer, and a mildly (if you have nice friends) smart-aleck response. Okay, folks — give me your best shot! I have a gajillion reasons to say that 2007 was a truly terrific year. Who could say it hasn't been a fine year when an espionage thriller as brilliant as the understated "The Lives of Others" is released? I'm not one of... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mysterious-quiz-2008-01-02/68791/ Wed, 2 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST Mystery readers generally like puzzles, so here is another challenge for you. This presumes that you like mysteries, of course, as your sanity would have to be questioned for reading this column if you don't. 1. Which of these authors did not write a novel involving the CIA? A. William F. Buckley; B. Norman Mailer; C. Charles McCarry; D. E. Phillips Oppenheim. 2. Who created the iconoclastic journalist Fletch? A. Ross Macdonald; B. Gregory Mcdonald; C. John D. MacDonald; D. Philip MacDonald. 3... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/top-of-the-world/68561/ Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST The end of the year is a nice time to reflect on the cornucopia of crime novels that brightened cold, dark days and enhanced the long, lazy hours of warm ones. In a rich and crowded year for good mysteries, the following should be required reading for all aficionados of the genre: 1. "The Tin Roof Blowdown" (Simon & Schuster, 373 pages, $26) by James Lee Burke. Hurricane Katrina and the good-hearted sheriff of nearby New Iberia, Dave Robicheaux, are spotlighted in the book of the year, with... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/under-the-tree/68340/ Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST There is still time to find the perfect gift for those you love, or for those who think you do. And books are the perfect gift. They are affordable, always the right size, easy to wrap, and no one has hurt feelings receiving a book, unlike, say, a nice assortment of soaps or grooming products. Unless your name is Bill Gates and your shopping budget is as unlimited as your imagination, the most beautiful book of recent memory (or distant memory, come to think of it) is not one for everyone on... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mysteries/68342/ Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST In a year filled with many outstanding volumes of mystery fiction (as, happily, most years are), it is absurd to pick one as the "best." Books are so different from each other that choosing just one is an exercise in futility. But it is possible to pick a favorite, recognizing that it is a purely subjective reaction to a book that resonates long after it was read. James Lee Burke's "The Tin Roof Blowdown" (Simon & Schuster, 373 pages, $26) is the perfect book for that perfect storm known as... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/holiday-reading-treats/67892/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST When you've finished shopping, trimming the tree, planning parties and dinners — and figuring out how to get out of certain invitations without hurting anyone's feelings — is anything more appealing than putting your feet up with a book good enough to draw you in so deeply that the hassle of the day dissolves as quickly as willpower when the dessert tray appears? Let me recommend a first novel by Caro Ramsay, a Scottish author who is able to write scenes of heartbreaking tenderness nestled amid... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/oh-the-horror-of-it-all/67513/ Wed, 5 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST The release of the motion picture reminded me how totally creeped out I was when I first read Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" (Orb, 317 pages, $14.95) as a youngster, so I decided to see if it still holds the same horror today. It does. It surely does. It is difficult not to be familiar with the rather simple story, since most of the greatest writers of dark fantasy, including Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Robert Bloch, have lavishly extolled its virtues, and there has been a plethora of... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/month-of-mourning/67145/ Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The literary world lost two immortals earlier this month. Ira Levin, who died of a heart attack November 12 at the age of 78, was viewed with affection by all who knew him, while the degree of his fame remained somewhat below the level of his accomplishments. Norman Mailer, on the other hand, received, shall we say, mixed reviews, while his fame dramatically surpassed his achievements as a writer. The gentle, somewhat reclusive Levin produced his first mystery novel, a masterpiece that... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/salmagundi-of-slaughter/66823/ Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST You have to give it to Ian Rankin: He just doesn't quit. As he was writing his first crime novel, "Knots and Crosses," he introduced an Edinburgh police detective, John Rebus, to the world. Having no expectations (or even hopes, for that matter) that he would write about the character again, he contemplated killing him at the end of the book for dramatic effect. It was not the most auspicious debut in the history of detective fiction, as buyers were as rare as warmhearted jihadists. His second... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/spenser-for-hire-again/66436/ Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST If weight is to be given to prolific output as well as to literary excellence, it would be no stretch to claim that America's greatest mystery writer is Robert B. Parker. There is, admittedly, a similarity between one book and another, but one could say the same about Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, and Raymond Chandler. The thing is, if you like one book, you're sure to like them all, which is no small accomplishment. Another prolific mystery writer — and also one of my all-time favorites... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/heroes-always-in-style/66017/ Wed, 7 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Not that I want to say anything negative about literary critics, but it often seems that they ought to either shut up or take a healthy swig of reality. The ever-widening gap between what they revere and what people actually read would, you might think, give them pause but, in love with their own pedantry, they continue foundering in their sea of exclusionary hype. There can be no better example of this than "Tree of Smoke," the new novel by Denis Johnson, which has had long, prominent, and... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/sharing-credit-and-blame/65588/ Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST For motion pictures and television, it is common to have writers collaborate. With different strengths, each may contribute to a scenario that becomes both richer and seamless for the viewer. No one could know which bit of dialogue in the film version of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" was written by William Faulkner and which by Leigh Brackett. No one cares which screenwriter executed the memorable lines of "Double Indemnity," Billy Wilder or Chandler, or even if they were lifted whole from... OTTO PENZLER http://www.nysun.com/arts/thumbs-up-for-down-river/65124/ Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST There is a rich tradition in America of the Southern Gothic novel. Generally placed in a rural setting, Southern Gothic fiction frequently involves genteel, patrician families operating within a semi-feudal society that flourished in the 19th century on the coastal plains, and in more contemporary times has featured older families trying to hang on to that bygone era. It is a genre wonderfully suited to writers of mystery fiction, just as was its antecedent, the Gothic novel of 18th-century...