A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES - Rebecca Cantrell

FIRST LINE: "Wind rustled in grass browned by the drought plaguing Europe."

Hannah Vogel is traveling to Switzerland from South America on a writing assignment when the zeppelin her and her young son Anton are traveling in is stopped in Germany. Hannah knows right away that the authorities have stopped the zeppelin to take she and Anton into custody. Three years prior they escaped Germany and the clutches of a head Nazi SA officer, Ernst Rohm. Rohm will stop at nothing to regain custody of Anton, who he claims is his son.

Rohm's men kidnap Hannah and Anton once the zeppelin has landed. They are separated and Hannah is taken to Rohm who insists she must marry him if she hopes to ever see Anton again. Hitler steps in to prevent Hannah from marrying Rohm; he has Rohm and his SA troops executed. But Hannah still does not have Anton. She's desperate to find him and once again escape Germany.

A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES is Rebecca Cantrell's follow-up to her award-winning historical mystery A TRACE OF SMOKE. Returning to World War II and Nazi Germany, Cantrell develops a very dark and depressing setting. Where readers may be accustomed to the common view point of the Jewish character in such plots, Cantrell examines how Hitler affected those connected to the SA troops. The title of Cantrell's book comes from the actual event in history where masses of men were silently executed and their families were left with no answers, no remains to bury, nothing. This is a group where empathy is not as easily created, given they were initially part of Hitler's forces. But by running Hannah Vogel's desperate search for her own "son" parallel to the stories of the families affected by this slaughter, Cantrell allows the reader to connect and empathize. Family is the epicenter around which the major themes of this novel work, and readers can connect and identify with family.

What struck me the most in this novel was the way Cantrell so articulately depicted the inability to trust. No one knew who they could trust and who they couldn't trust. Families separated as allegiances are divided. Trust is such a vital, yet fragile commodity. And this utter lack of trust is a major element in developing the darkness shrouding the people of Nazi Germany. The loneliness emanates from the pages as the characters flounder in a sea of emotional isolation. It's also an important element in developing her characters and the relationships between them. Trust, when present, is the glimmer of light and hope, but it is not easy to come by.

Cantrell also examines the persecution of the journalists; a strong reminder of the importance of the freedom of speech and value of knowledge.

In the midst of an action-filled plot, A KNIGHT OF LONG KNIVES will make you think. It should remind you of all that we take take for granted on a daily basis. The blending of historical facts and the passionately imagined lives of these characters makes for a thought-provoking, riveting read.

A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES is available today in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-7653-2045-2) from Forge Books.

Technorati Tags: Rebecca Cantrell, Review, Historical Fiction, Crime Fiction

Looking Foward

Been super busy the last couple of days preparing reviews and other items for next week's "Detectives Around the World" theme week. I do hope you'll all check back daily next week to see all the great bloggers who are participating and highlighting detectives. It could be a great opportunity for you to discover some new detectives and to chat with each other about detectives you know and like. There will be some contests, guest posts from authors, and even great recipes you can check out. Each day I'll provide links to all the participating blogs so you can use Jen's Book Thoughts as your guide. I'll also be posting my own contributions to the fun. There will be a scavenger hunt that you can complete for a chance to win prizes and of course we'll be voting in the final face-off of the "World's Favorite Detective" tournament. I hope you'll check all of it out.

I'm falling a little behind on my reading since I've been doing a lot of planning and plotting, but I thought I'd share some of what I'm looking forward to this spring and summer:

Murder in the Abstract is Susan Shea's debut. It comes out this summer.

Bolt from the Blue is Diane Stuckart's newest in the Leonardo Di Vinci mystery series. Love this series, so looking forward to this one. It's out now, waiting for me to get to it. Soon, very soon!

Dead Head is Rosemary Harris' next in the Dirty Business mystery series. Another series I love, and I've been looking forward to this one for awhile. Dead Head is out this Tuesday. I still have to get my copy of this one.

Silent Auction is presently in my grimy paws awaiting it's turn to be read. It's also out this month and is the next Josie Prescott novel from Jane Cleland. If you're a regular to the blog, you know how much I'm always raving about this series.

Expiration Date is just a gorgeous book! Duane Swierczynski claims ownership of this lovely prize. Also out right now.

Junkyard Dogs is the next Walt Longmire. Enough said! It's out at the end of May.

Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein and Reckless by Andrew Gross you'll hear about next week from me. Loved them both! Reckless is out the end of this month, Rolling Thunder is May. Also, I'll be seeing Andy Gross in L.A. in a couple weeks. Very jazzed about that!

Also up soon is The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien. This is the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien. This is his second novel, and it sounds outstanding. Looking forward to this one. I think you can actually get this one now. If not then very soon. Definitely within the month.

Shane Gericke's Torn Apart is out this summer. I'm anxiously anticipating that book. In the interim, I get my Gericke fix with his blog posts at Criminal Minds.

Another Criminal Mind that has a release this summer is Rebecca Cantrell. Her A Night of Long Knives, the follow-up to A Trace of Smoke, will hit bookstores in June.

Last but by far not least, actually probably what I'm looking most forward to is So Cold the River, Michael Koryta's first book with Little Brown. Now mind you, I've had this book since October, and have tortured myself with it every day since I got it. I kid you not, it sits right next to my keyboard and every day I say, "that's what I want to read next." And it IS going with me to L.A. so I can read it on vacation. The torture simply must stop!

So your turn. Share with us what you are most looking forward to this spring and summer!

And the last thing I wanted to share with you before I get back to theme week preparations is this beauty that came in the mail. I ordered this from Michelle Scalise on her Etsy shop to commemorate my appearance in ROLLING THUNDER.


Cool? I love it!

Don't forget it's your last day to vote in the Final Four round. Check back tomorrow for the results of who will be our champions facing off for the title of "World's Favorite Detective"!

Happy Reading!

Bouchercon Diary - The Final Day & Scrapbook Pictures

Sunday, the final day of Indianapolis Bouchercon 2009. I signed up to volunteer for set-up of what they called the "book bizarre." As with anything else at Bouchercon, I had no idea what to expect. However, this was a brand new concept and no one else really had any idea what to expect either. I was supposed to be there around 8, but since I got up early to take care of packing my car and checking out, I actually showed up around 7:30 thinking I would have to sit and read awhile before anyone came. WRONG! They put me to work right away.

I helped haul out tons of boxes of books from a storage area. We had to take the boxes out of the storage area, then put them in the area that had been marked for the author. I should have taken some pictures of this so you could have seen, but we were so busy there just wasn't time. But the whole lobby area was filled with long tables; six rows of long tables, and each author was assigned to half of a long table.

Alright, once we got all the boxes out, then we unpacked the books. All of that is great, but here's where things got a little icky. We kind of had to stand guard, for lack of a better term, to keep people from coming in and taking the books or anything like that. The head volunteers had determined a place for people to start a line for the bizarre and only the volunteers and authors were allowed inside the bizarre area.

This is when you find all those fun people who think all the rules should apply to everyone but them. And I'm not a good enforcer. I don't like to be mean, and I especially don't like people who put me in a position where I have to be mean. I ran into a handful of those kinds of people and that was icky. But otherwise, it was fine, and I enjoyed helping. And the authors who were giving out their books filtered in to find their places.

The point of the bizarre was to give authors a chance to give away their books - provided the publishers donated them to do so. And I have to say the publishers were really quite generous in this bizarre. Michael Stanley was giving away hard covers of their A CARRION DEATH, Craig Johnson was giving hard covers of his THE DARK HORSE or trade papers of his ANOTHER MAN'S MOCCASINS. Sean Chercover had some hardcovers of his TRIGGER CITY. Tons of authors were present. Some weren't present but the publishers still sent books to give away.

When people had picked up their registration packets, they got five red tickets that they would use at this bizarre, trading a ticket for a book. Now, given all the loot that's hanging around this joint, you know people got a little crazy. The hope was that people would all move around the tables in the same direction - there wasn't a lot of room down the rows between tables. However, the "all moving in one direction" down the rows, didn't work very well. People just went where ever. They let the set-up volunteers go first, so I just kind of got my books and got out of the way. I wanted to wait around a grab pictures with a few authors before everything ended, but I stayed clear of the masses. So, I know you're wondering what I came home with. Uh huh! My prizes were awesome!! I picked up Tom Schreck's second Duffy Dombroski, TKO, Marcus Sakey's first novel, GOOD PEOPLE, Libby Fischer Hellmann's Ellie Foreman novel, A SHOT TO DIE FOR, Shane Gericke's CUT TO THE BONE, Andy Gross's THE DARK TIDE, Rebecca Cantrell's A TRACE OF SMOKE, two Sniplits CDs of audiobook short stories and two books that are completely new to me. (Sorry, don't have those titles because I already loaned them to my dad.) So, yeah, I cleaned up. There is one book I regret not picking up, but I don't need to be a book hog!

So, after collecting my loot and my bag runneth over. I collected a few more pictures. Here is my beloved friend, Kaye Barley:

And here's Sean Chercover and I. I had the pleasure of meeting Sean's wife and she was kind enough to take the picture for me. Both incredibly nice people. Such a pleasure to have had the chance to meet them.

And Rebecca Cantrell. Simply can't say enough about her either. Are you seeing a pattern here? This is why I'm not a writer. I can't come up with the words to articulate my joy. I'm not a person who can easily strike up a conversation, and I'm terrible with small talk. But when I me Rebecca, I didn't feel like I had any trouble having a conversation. It just came natural. That's how she makes you feel.
And I absolutely couldn't leave Bouchercon without having a picture with Marcus Sakey. If you encounter Marcus and have a chance to talk to him you will experience something few people are really and truly skilled at. When he talks to you, you feel as though you are the only person in the room. That is no exaggeration. You never doubt that he's paying attention to you and you feel as though he is genuinely invested in your conversation.

This weekend was truly a gift for me. I had the chance to meet so many people I admire and respect. Now I admire and respect them even more. As I've sat throughout this week, recapping my experiences, I've smiled all over again. These memories are precious and I thank each and ever person who helped me build them at the Indianapolis Bouchercon.

After my picture with Marcus, I found Kaye one last time and ended my trip the way I began it - with a hug and a smile from her.

Thank you, all, for giving me the chance to share this with you. I'll get to work now catching up on my reviews; lord, am I behind! But today, I'll leave you with some sample shots of the scrapbook pages I had signed at Bouchercon. Each page is 8" x 8". I plan to add pictures to this album as well. So, come visit me in person some time and I'll share the whole thing with you. Happy Reading!

You Have the Right to Six Words - XV

So, I'm totally thrilled that I finally topped the number of Rocky sequels and people still like my series! ;) It's the first post of September! This week I have some real prize fighters to share with you. All four of my memoirists are duking it out each and every day in the ring of publishing, and at the bell they come out winners. Or maybe we come out the winners? O.k., maybe I'm not great with boxing metaphors and the folks over at Criminal Minds have just got me thinking boxing subliminally. Wait, come to think of it, not only are they over there talking about a boxing ring, but I'm also reading Tom Schreck's newest Duffy Dombrowski novel, OUT COLD...no wonder I'm trying to create boxing metaphors. I'm surrounded by boxing. ♪ ♫ It's the eye of the tiger...♪ ♫ Oh, sorry. Let's get started, before you actually hear me singing (yikes!).

My first memoirist today is actually one of those Criminal Minds folks. She's the Tuesday blogger for the 7 Criminal Minds blog. But when Rebecca Cantrell isn't entertaining us there, she's hard at work in Hawaii on her Hannah Vogal series about a newspaper reporter and crime trial sketch artist in 1930s Berlin. A TRACE OF SMOKE, Hannah Vogal's debut, emerged from Rebecca's imagination and significant research after Rebecca saw a faded pink triangle pasted to the wall of Dachau Concentration Camp; see Rebecca's post at 7 Criminal Minds here. She also spent time living in Berlin. Rebecca graduated from John F. Kennedy Schule and went on to college at both the Freie Universität in Berlin and the Georg August Universität in Göttingen. In addition to her mystery series, Rebecca will have a short story, "Coffee," published in February's publication MISSING. She has also dabbled in screenwriting. Next up for Hannah Vogal? A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES due in May of 2010. And how does Rebecca sum up all this accomplishment?

Created life, books; cleaned up after.

This woman has an obsession with lofty goals, I think! But Lordy, she's sure attaining them.

My next author is a familiar face from his interview here. I held back his memoir from the interview since the series had been started, so I'm excited to have Simon Lewis back with us. Simon has worked as a travel writer in addition to a "barman, a shelf stacker, barrsita, life model, sandwich deliverer and an English teacher." All of this experience resulted in his writing BAD TRAFFIC, which was nominated for the 2009 L.A. Times Book Prize in the mystery/thriller category. His protagonist, Inspector Jian, befalls a similar fate to Simon's own. Simon was sent to China to write a travel book, but he didn't know the language. He had to muddle his way through. Then back in London he began to learn the Chinese language from illegal immigrants in return for teaching them English. Simon turned the experience in reverse and created a Chinese inspector who travels to England not knowing how to speak English. These days Simon splits time between London and Asia as he works on the follow-up to BAD TRAFFIC, which we all hope will make it's way across the pond! When asked what his greatest flaw was, his response was "modesty." Well, you kind of have to chuckle at that response. Simon's a funny fellow, but he is also modest. His memoir?

Just pleased to get this far.

I do believe Simon will be going much further, and we intend to keep track of his accomplishments here!

Theresa Schwegel developed a love affair with all things Hollywood while she was an intern with an independent commercial production company. Following graduation from Loyola University, Theresa left the Chicago she had always known and headed out to Southern California. While working on a film/screenwriting Masters at Chapman University, she co-founded a theater company, as well as wrote, produced and acted. But it was 2002 that brought about the turning point in Theresa's life as a crime fiction novelist. Taking up her thesis screenplay, she began to re-write it as a novel. Three years later, OFFICER DOWN was not only published but was selected as the Edgar-winning Best First Novel. In July of this year, after two more acclaimed, Chicago-based books and additional publications in England, Japan, France, Italy and the Netherlands, Theresa published her fourth crime fiction novel, LAST KNOWN ADDRESS. And for this memoir, all of her fans are eternally grateful:

Always curious, sometimes content, never
convinced.

That truly says it all!

We will wrap up this week with a man who could almost be considered a legend in his own time. I know that he ranks up among my all-time favorite writers, period. He doesn't really need to be introduced, and I'm sure I'm not going to tell you anything you don't already know about Dennis Lehane, but that would take all the fun out of the post for ME! So, let's start where Dennis started - at least where he started in crime fiction anyway. Dennis's first novel, A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR, was published in 1994 when his Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series began. This book also earned Dennis his first award for crime fiction: the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel. From there he went on to write four more Kenzie/Gennaro novels and the fourth GONE BABY GONE was optioned for a movie and was ultimately Ben Afflack's first film as a producer. Following the Kenzie/Gennaro series that earned him great acclaim, Dennis wrote MYSTIC RIVER and collected an Anthony, a Barry, a Dilys and the Massachusettes Book Awards for his efforts. Hollywood thought this book would make a great movie as well and the film version walked away with one (oops, that should be two - see Michael's correction in the comments) Oscars and four other nominations. Also in Dennis' bibliography are the urban Gothic novel SHUTTER ISLAND, a collection of short works titled CORONADO, and most recently his historical epic, THE GIVEN DAY, centered around the Boston Police Strike of 1919.

Outside of the published novel, Dennis has also been involved in screenwriting, having written on several episodes of HBO's THE WIRE.

Dennis has accomplished much in his writing career. An element that may often be overlooked, however, is his generosity in giving back. He has been an active teacher at various colleges, workshops and conferences for aspiring writers.

He says the one job he regrets never having was bartender. He can chat with Simon and Theresa. They're both former bar tenders. But how does Dennis sum it all? With a very humble six words:

I owe it all to libraries.

Well golly, what more can you say? O.k., I'm still a little awe-struck by this week's guests, so let me just wrap this up and go try to get the stars out of my eyes from four amazingly talented crime fiction writers. I can't possibly thank them each enough for their time, for their fabulous memoirs, and more than anything their contributions to the crime fiction genre. I wish you all many more successes in your writing careers.

And thanks everyone for stopping by this week. We've had some pretty mammoth weeks of memoirs in the last three months, but we're not done! I'll see ya back here in seven days!

Happy Reading!