Crime Writers as Adjectives

I saw this article last month and today I was doing some interview work and used the term Fitzgeraldesque, which got me thinking about what adjectivized versions of crime writers names would mean. Don't worry; I won't be anywhere near as focused on sex as the Flavorwire writer was.

The one that jumped to mind immediately was:

(James) Burkeian

Exceptionally atmospheric detail that entices all the senses.

And you know I absolutely had to have one for:

(Robert) Craisish

Characterized by loud shirts and funky socks.

or

Pertaining to intimate bonds between adult heterosexual males.

(Craig) Johnsonesque

Having desirable qualities. A Johnsonesque town is one everyone wants to visit; a Johnsonesque character is one everyone wants as their friend.

(Bryan) Gruleyian

Containing hockey metaphors.

(Lee) Childish...wait, maybe that one doesn't work so well, how about Lee Childian...Childesque???

Marked by a nomadic nature.

(Gregg) Hurwitzian

Having a whirlwind of emotion. If it makes you laugh, cry, scream, rejoice...it's Hurwitzian.

I haven't forgotten the criminal woman. Here we go with theirs:

(Sophie) Littlefieldesque

Of or pertaining to creatively smart women.

(Karin) Slaughterish

Marked by a dark, painful history.

(Rosemary) Harrisian

The quality of blossoming.

(Lisa) Ungerian
Of or pertaining to the psychological examination of one's actions.
(Cara) Blackesque

Marked by French couture.

I started with Burkeian and I'll finish with a Burkeish:

(Alafair) Burkeish

Of or pertaining to a love of Nutella

or

Having an incredible knowledge base of pop culture

O.k. so my creative genes aren't that strong. Help me out here. What crime writer adjectives would YOU add?

Caught! - Lee Child

Well, we saw Stephen King reading Lee Child's book, so what is the top Reacher Creature reading? I'm glad you asked. Ali Karim caught Lee also checking out THRILLERS: 100 MUST READS.

Lee's newest Jack Reacher novel, 61 HOURS, is just hours away from the U.S. release. O.k., maybe it's actually days, but that doesn't sound as good. 61 HOURS releases May 18th here in the States and Lee Child has another Jack Reacher novel due out in October.

Technorati Tags: Lee Child, Crime Writers Caught Reading Crime

May is "Get Caught Reading" Month

Did you know that May is "Get Caught Reading Month"? Personally, I think every month should be "Get Caught Reading Month." I'm caught reading every day. But, in the spirit of this movement, we're going to catch Crime Writers reading Crime here at the blog. So, I do declare May "Crime Writers Caught Reading Crime" month. I will be sharing a crime writer photo each day this month. When I post interviews, the most common response from readers is "I love to hear what the writers are reading or what they recommend." So stop in each day this month to see what the crime writers are reading!

As an added incentive, for each comment you leave on a "Crime Writers Caught Reading Crime" post this month, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a copy of Michael Koryta's upcoming SO COLD THE RIVER. I will even have Michael sign it for you if you'd like. So tell us what YOU'RE reading, what you want to read, what you've seen others reading. If you've read a book the authors are reading, what did you think of it? Let's make getting caught reading a cool event! This contest will be open to anyone.

And, I'll have an extra special post for the celebration on May 31st. I hope you'll stop by every day to see who is caught reading! And how about if we start off with one of the most well-known crime writers reading another of the genre's greats. Stephen King is thoroughly engrossed in Lee Child's TRIPWIRE.

Maggie from "Team Lee" send this picture taken by John Wilcox of the Boston Herald. Lee's out now promoting his new book 61 HOURS (out this month in the U.S.) but we still might see something else of him this month...Stephen King released a novella in April called BLOCKADE BILLY. 

Technorati Tags: Lee Child, Stephen King, CWCRC

You Have the Right to Six Words - WEEK 14

Week Fourteen! Just when you thought I surely must be running out of interesting crime fiction writers to highlight, right? Well, do I have a treat for you! This week's group of writers take us all over the map in their books, their travels, their schooling, their homes. We cover England, France, Ireland, Australia and more. Let's visit the world, shall we?

When Cara Black's son started kindergarten, Cara started writing classes. The writing classes lead to a writing group and the writing group ultimately lead to her debut mystery novel, MURDER IN THE MARAIS, an Anthony Award nomination and a Macavity Award nomination. Having some extensive knowledge of France from attending schools in France, but not BEING French, Cara created Aimee Leduc, her heroine who is half French, half American. Cara also wanted to capture the "salt of the earth" people in France, the folks "you sit next to on the metro." And these characters have translated into nine successful novels. Cara's most recent Aimee Leduc novel, MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER, was released this year and book number 10 of the series, MURDER IN THE PALAIS ROYAL, is due in 2010. Like her heroine, Cara likes dogs and use to own a moped. She can also be found taking black and white photos when she isn't writing. Cara and her family call San Francisco home, but

Heaven - Paris at dawn, coffee, croissant.

Adrian McKinty was raised in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland and attended Oxford University before emigrating to the United States. Living in Harlem, he worked in bars, bookstores, building sites and the stacks of the Columbia University Medical School Library until 2000 when he moved to Denver and focused his energies on writing. His efforts paid off in spades when his first book DEAD I WELL MAY BE was shortlisted for an Ian Fleming Steel Daggar Award and was chosen as one of Booklists' 10 best crime novels of 2004.

Last year Adrian took his family on yet another journey. Lately they find themselves in the land down under. But Australia seems to be fairing equally well for the man Ken Bruen calls "a friggin genius" and Frank McCourt called "a cross between Mickey Spillane and Damon Runyan, the toughest, the best." This year Adrian released the novel FIFTY GRAND to much acclaim and is working on a young adult novel, tentatively titled DARK ENERGY.

And I have to admit that ever since Adrian sent his memoir, I have been itching to share it with you. It is one of the most poignant of the entire series (in my opinion anyway):

stillness, iceberg,
crash,
listing, sinking, stillness

Doesn't that just send chills up your spine? I know you all are looking his books up on Amazon or the library now!

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels. She has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy and has worked in numerous trauma centers, as a crisis counselor, victim advocate, as well as a flight physician for Life Flight. CJ credits her patients and their families for teaching her the art of medicine and giving her the courage to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist.

CJ calls her novels "thrillers with heart;" the first of which is titled LIFELINES. LIFELINES was released in 2008, became a National Bestseller and won a Reader's Choice Award for Best First Novel. Her second novel, WARNING SIGNS, was published in January of this year and the third, URGENT CARE, is scheduled for release this November. I look forward to Mondays when I can indulge in small snippets of writing from CJ as she blogs for 7 Criminal Minds each week.

When she isn't doctoring or writing or blogging, CJ enjoys traveling, hiking, white water rafting, outdoor photography...whew! And she holds an orange belt in Kempo. She's been all over the world including Kenya, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Caribbean; she's seen a world of experiences in the ER; it makes perfect sense for her to recognize:

Among us, everyday, heroes are born.

Our final author is this guy I'm sure none of you have ever heard of before. Really, he's almost virtually unknown around these parts. I'm sure he's going to be the one people are least interested in. He writes a series around an ex-Army Major named Jack Reacher. Wait! Wait-wait-wait! You've heard of this guy? You're telling me you know who Lee Child is? Of course you do! You can't exist in the crime fiction realm and not know that Jim Grant, known to all of us as Lee Child, is the author of 13 Jack Reacher novels and almost as many short stories. This award-winning crime fiction writer and President of the Mystery Writers of America spent the first half of his working career in television, and then just before his 40th birthday he was fired. And what a birthday present that turned out to be. After dealing with a little anger and disbelief, Lee bought himself some writing materials and produced KILLING FLOOR, which not only turned into his first Jack Reacher novel but also earned him a Barry and an Anthony award.

This year, in addition to publishing the 13th Jack Reacher novel, GONE TOMORROW, Lee funded 52 "Jack Reacher scholarships" at his alma mater, The University of Sheffield; received an honorary doctorate from that same university; and toured alongside his younger brother, Andrew, as Andrew made his debut in the world of crime fiction. This is a man I'd like our young people to look up to: his creativity, his work ethic, and his generosity make for an exemplary role model. At age 40, life gave Lee Child lemons and Lee Child made enough lemonade to share with everyone. Today he shares his six-word memoir with us:

Needed a job. Tried this one.

And I know an awful lot of Reacher Creatures who are so, so glad he did! I want to add a small little tidbit here that I thought was rather impressive. As part of Lee's book tour this year, he did an event at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. My sister works as a contractor there, which was why I initially took notice of it, but it's just one more example of Lee's generous nature.

I would like to thank all of our authors today for their generosity. Cara, Adrian, CJ, and Lee, your willingness to participate and share with us is so greatly appreciated! And of course we also appreciate your sweat and tears that go into the wonderful books you write for us to enjoy. Best of luck for continued success!

Well? Another good week? I think I'm rather partial to this week. But there's still a lot of big-time stuff still to come in this series. I hope you'll be back next week. Same time! Same place! See ya then!

Happy Reading.



Bouchercon countdown: 50 days!!

Tripwire - Lee Child

In Tripwire, the third book in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, Reacher is in Key West digging swimming pools - with a shovel. The job is suiting him just fine until a New York City private detective comes looking for Reacher on behalf of a woman named Mrs. Jacob. The fact that he's never heard of Mrs. Jacob is bothersome enough, but when the private investigator ends up dead, Reacher has to find out why.

When Reacher travels to New York City he discovers that Mrs. Jacob is actually Jody Garber, the daughter of Reacher's former army commander, Leon Garber. Leon had been investigating an M.I.A. situation from Vietnam for an elderly couple whose son never returned. He wasn't going to be able to see the investigation through and asked his daughter to track down his old subordinate, Jack Reacher. But when Reacher finally arrives in New York, Leon's died and Reacher has very little information to work from, but he starts investigating nonetheless.

I know that I'm in the minority when I say I would never qualify as a "Reacher Creature." The whole Superman persona just does absolutely nothing for me. And for as much time as he spends wandering in obscure places, how is he so in tuned to urban drug and gun dealers? Yet, still I continue to listen to the audiobooks for this series. Maybe I get some kind of perverse pleasure from rolling my eyes and heaving exaggerated sighs. But, more likely, I enjoy the plots. This one I saw the outcome from a mile away, and the reason I saw it coming was in part because there were strong similarities to Die Trying, the second Reacher novel. In an effort to avoid a blatant spoiler, I'll not share those similarities, though.

I was excited when Reacher made a trip to CILHI in this novel. I'd have been even more so if he'd gone to see my friend Tom, but no such luck. Instead we learn what a pro Reacher is with forensic science as well as everything else.

While I'm not a big fan of Reacher, I thought Child did one stupendous job on the antagonists in this book. I wanted the scenes with Hobie and his sidekick to hurry and be over because I found them horrifying. Their utter egocentricity was downright scary. The desensitization and complete lack of empathy were extreme but effective. The two of them gave new meaning to the word "psychotic." I must tell myself that this is FICTION so I can sleep at night. God willing I'll never cross paths with anyone as terrifying as these two!

All the Reacher books I've read so far have been audiobook versions, so technically I've "listened" so far. As with the other two (I believe) this is a Brillance audiobook and it was read by Dick Hill. I think he does a tremendous job for Reacher. In my imagination, Reacher will never have a voice other than that of Dick Hill. However, he does this annoying thing with the role of the woman who is head over heels for Reacher. She always has this sound that is kind of like, "oh my, whatever will I do Reacher?" She doesn't actually say that, but it sounds like that's what she's thinking all the time. I really hope that isn't what Child is imagining for these roles. I don't think it is because otherwise he wouldn't make them intelligent, educated women capable of thinking and doing for themselves.

So, despite the fact that I'm not Reacher's biggest fan, I'll more than likely listen to another book when I have a lull in the audiobook schedule.

Happy Reading!