Small House of Everything
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
BLINDSIDE
Blindside by Ed Gorman
Political consultant Dev Conrad is back for his third outing, this time doing a favor for an old friend of his father -- and it's going to get messy.
Former Congressman Tom Ward once saved Conrad's father's life. His son Jeff is now a Congressman and is in a battle for reelection. Jeff Ward is a liberal who actually does a decent job in Washington. He is also an egoistic megalomaniac who can't comprehend the phrase "zip it up." His opponent, Rusty Burkhart, is a charismatic and jingoistic multimillionaire ho wants to make "every sitting member of Congress sign a loyalty oarth and then he was going to suppoena the private e-mails of a target list of House and Senate members he suspected of being 'anti-American.' During all this time he was going to permanently shut down the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency and he was going to prove once and for all that the president was a Muslim Manchurian Candidate." Burkhart is ahead in the polls, in part because there is a mole in Ward's camgaign organization.
The former Congressman asks Conrad to "consult" with his son's campaign for a couple of days and to try to find the mole.
Ward's campaign is in turmoil. The candidate resents Conrad's appearance and begins acting like a petulent child. His decisions are hurting the campaign. He is being blackmailed. His speechwriter (and best friend) is missing because Ward slept with his wife. The day Conrad shows up, another staffer is found murdered. One of Conrad's rivals, a viscious and immoral campaigner, is running Burkhart's campaign.
Conrad finds himself fighting for a candidate he despises, in part because the alternative is far worse. But this is politics and Conrad has had to make these decisions many times before. His personal life continues to darken when his ex-wife discovers she has third-stage breast cancer, a situation that causes Conrad to look back on all the wrong choices he has made in his life.
Ed Gorman is one of the best suspense writers he have. He knows the inside workings of political campaign well. This series of down and dirty politics make for exciting reading. Dev Conrad is a likeable character often placed in unlikeable situations and I hope he continues solving mysteries for a long time.
Political consultant Dev Conrad is back for his third outing, this time doing a favor for an old friend of his father -- and it's going to get messy.
Former Congressman Tom Ward once saved Conrad's father's life. His son Jeff is now a Congressman and is in a battle for reelection. Jeff Ward is a liberal who actually does a decent job in Washington. He is also an egoistic megalomaniac who can't comprehend the phrase "zip it up." His opponent, Rusty Burkhart, is a charismatic and jingoistic multimillionaire ho wants to make "every sitting member of Congress sign a loyalty oarth and then he was going to suppoena the private e-mails of a target list of House and Senate members he suspected of being 'anti-American.' During all this time he was going to permanently shut down the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency and he was going to prove once and for all that the president was a Muslim Manchurian Candidate." Burkhart is ahead in the polls, in part because there is a mole in Ward's camgaign organization.
The former Congressman asks Conrad to "consult" with his son's campaign for a couple of days and to try to find the mole.
Ward's campaign is in turmoil. The candidate resents Conrad's appearance and begins acting like a petulent child. His decisions are hurting the campaign. He is being blackmailed. His speechwriter (and best friend) is missing because Ward slept with his wife. The day Conrad shows up, another staffer is found murdered. One of Conrad's rivals, a viscious and immoral campaigner, is running Burkhart's campaign.
Conrad finds himself fighting for a candidate he despises, in part because the alternative is far worse. But this is politics and Conrad has had to make these decisions many times before. His personal life continues to darken when his ex-wife discovers she has third-stage breast cancer, a situation that causes Conrad to look back on all the wrong choices he has made in his life.
Ed Gorman is one of the best suspense writers he have. He knows the inside workings of political campaign well. This series of down and dirty politics make for exciting reading. Dev Conrad is a likeable character often placed in unlikeable situations and I hope he continues solving mysteries for a long time.
Friday, December 2, 2011
FORGTTEN BOOK: LAST SEEN WEARING...
Last Seen Wearing... by Hillary Waugh (1952)
I'm not sure how "forgotten" this novel is but I'm willing to bet that not many modern readers have read it. Which is a shame because Last Seen Wearing... still holds up very nicely, even after almost sixty years.
This was Waugh's fourth mystery and his first major success. British critic and mystery author Julian Symons included this in his list of the 100 best mystery novels. Ditto the Mystery Writers of America and England's Crime Writers Association. Considered one of the first modern police procedural novels, Waugh got his inspiration after reading true crime books and realizing that a mystery based on actual police techniques was worth attempting. There are no subplots here, no overt sensationalism, no intimate details of the lives of the officers involved, no gimmicks, or maguffins, or distractions...just a straight-on narration of the investigation of the disappearance of a college co-ed. It makes for a riveting read.
Based on a 1946 unsolved murder that resulting in the formation of the Vermont state police, Waugh carefully builds his story step by step. An eighteen-year-old student at a small Massachusetts college has disappeared and Police Chief Frank Ford is called in to investigate. Even though Ford feels that this is probably a case of boy trouble (the girl might have been pregnant and was seeking an illegal abortion, or she may have run off with a man), he painstakingly follows the evidence. Friends, family, and her diary all point to there being no man in her life, yet police determinedly check out every male mentioned in her diary with no results. They follow every lead that comes their way but get nowhere. A decapitated woman is found in Boston Harbor but it is shown not to be the missing girl.
In the early spring a barrette belong to the girl is found near a small river. Soon her body is found and is originally thought to have been a suicide. Ford soon proves that this is a case of murder. During autopsy it is discovered that she had been six weeks pregnant, something that astounded those who knew her. Ford and his police department have to go back to square one and, in their plodding fashion, have to reexamine all the evidence.
One amazing thing about this book is that the murderer never appears, nor does he have to. Last Seen Wearing... is a tour de force that deserves a new generation of readers.
Chief Ford made his only appearance in this novel, but seven years later Waugh created another classic police chief, Fred Fellows, who would be featured in eleven of Waugh's forty-six novels.
Hillary Waugh (1920-2008) appears to be on his way to becoming a forgotten writer, despite being named a Grand Master by both the MWA and the Swedish Academy of Detection. A past-president of the MWA, Waugh also edited one anthology for the organization and wrote a how-to book on mystery writing.
__________
For links to other of today's Forgotten Book, check out Pattinase.
I'm not sure how "forgotten" this novel is but I'm willing to bet that not many modern readers have read it. Which is a shame because Last Seen Wearing... still holds up very nicely, even after almost sixty years.
This was Waugh's fourth mystery and his first major success. British critic and mystery author Julian Symons included this in his list of the 100 best mystery novels. Ditto the Mystery Writers of America and England's Crime Writers Association. Considered one of the first modern police procedural novels, Waugh got his inspiration after reading true crime books and realizing that a mystery based on actual police techniques was worth attempting. There are no subplots here, no overt sensationalism, no intimate details of the lives of the officers involved, no gimmicks, or maguffins, or distractions...just a straight-on narration of the investigation of the disappearance of a college co-ed. It makes for a riveting read.
Based on a 1946 unsolved murder that resulting in the formation of the Vermont state police, Waugh carefully builds his story step by step. An eighteen-year-old student at a small Massachusetts college has disappeared and Police Chief Frank Ford is called in to investigate. Even though Ford feels that this is probably a case of boy trouble (the girl might have been pregnant and was seeking an illegal abortion, or she may have run off with a man), he painstakingly follows the evidence. Friends, family, and her diary all point to there being no man in her life, yet police determinedly check out every male mentioned in her diary with no results. They follow every lead that comes their way but get nowhere. A decapitated woman is found in Boston Harbor but it is shown not to be the missing girl.
In the early spring a barrette belong to the girl is found near a small river. Soon her body is found and is originally thought to have been a suicide. Ford soon proves that this is a case of murder. During autopsy it is discovered that she had been six weeks pregnant, something that astounded those who knew her. Ford and his police department have to go back to square one and, in their plodding fashion, have to reexamine all the evidence.
One amazing thing about this book is that the murderer never appears, nor does he have to. Last Seen Wearing... is a tour de force that deserves a new generation of readers.
Chief Ford made his only appearance in this novel, but seven years later Waugh created another classic police chief, Fred Fellows, who would be featured in eleven of Waugh's forty-six novels.
Hillary Waugh (1920-2008) appears to be on his way to becoming a forgotten writer, despite being named a Grand Master by both the MWA and the Swedish Academy of Detection. A past-president of the MWA, Waugh also edited one anthology for the organization and wrote a how-to book on mystery writing.
__________
For links to other of today's Forgotten Book, check out Pattinase.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
SADLY IRONIC
Today is Rosa Parks Day. On this day sixty-five years ago, she took a bus ride that would help change history for the better.
Today, I also read a news item about a church in Kentucky that voted to ban interracial couples from membership. Said couples would be allowed to attend public church functions and funerals. They'd just have to come in throught the back door, I presume.
Today, I also read a news item about a church in Kentucky that voted to ban interracial couples from membership. Said couples would be allowed to attend public church functions and funerals. They'd just have to come in throught the back door, I presume.
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