Nevermore: Tami Hoag, Pat Conroy, Sharyn McCrumb and more!

Nevermore opened with praise for Tami Hoag’s novel The 9th Girl, a thriller about a serial killer whose victims are adolescents.   Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac are faced with trying to identify his latest victim, a girl whose body was found on New Year’s Eve.  Hoag balances the characters’ home lives with the case, and shows a shrewd understanding of high school culture and the role social media plays in the lives of young people—not to mention that this is an extremely well done thriller.  Our reviewer praised the strong characterization and commented that while Hoag isn’t an author that’s usually at the top of the list, this book was very good indeed.  Other reviewers have said that this is one of Hoag’s best.

The next book up was The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.  Most of Conroy’s fiction is thinly disguised autobiography, but this nonfiction book is very open about its sources: Conroy’s real family.  The book concentrates on the last few years of Conroy’s father, the model for the father of The Great Santini.  Our reviewer said that some sequences bordered on the fantastical, but felt Conroy was trying to tell the story as honestly as he could. He pulls no punches in the telling, either.  All his siblings were strongly influenced by their father, but the reactions to his domineering ways were varied.  The verdict was that this wasn’t a book that she enjoyed as much as some, but it was worth reading.

Innocence by Dean Koontz had been picked up by another reader who felt that parts of it were excellent.  He read a thought-provoking selection but then added that for him the ending fell flat, which was sad in a book that had so much promise.

Two series were recommended without a great deal of in-depth comment.  Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs was praised as a World War I era detective novel series, one that might surprise you with a woman as the private investigator.  The other series applauded was by Oliver Pötzsch, set in Germany in the 1600’s about a man who carries on the familial tradition of being an executioner.  In that time, executioners performed a necessary duty but were shunned by society.  The series contains four books, beginning with The Hangman’s Daughter.

Finally, King’s Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb was brought to the table once again.  With a nod to the local history of the North Carolina/Tennessee area, McCrumb writes novels that are a great blend of fiction and history.  Set during the American Revolution, this is a story of the Carolina Overmountain Men and their commander John Sevier.

Book News: Craig Johnson, Pat Conroy, Margaret Maron & More!

Catherine Coulter is teaming up with writer J.T. Ellison for a new thriller series about a British agent with the FBI.  The first title is Final Cut and is due out in September.  Coulter is best known for her FBI series with Savich and Sherlock, while Ellison has had a successful thriller paperback series featuring an FBI profiler.

Paranoia, a nifty thriller by Joseph Finder, is now a movie starring Liam Helmsworth, Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss.  Finder spent part of his childhood abroad (including some time in Afghanistan) and majored in Russian studies at Harvard and Yale, so it should come as no surprise that his books move in international circles.  If you haven’t read Finder, give him a try—preferably before you see the movie!

Craig Johnson, author of Longmire series, will have a novella out in October which will involve Walt’s predecessor, Lucian Connally. We’ll also get a look at a young Walt.  The title is Spirit of Steamboat and it’s described as a holiday-themed book.

Pat Conroy has a new memoir coming out in late October!  It’s called The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son. According to Conroy’s blog, his father loathed the novel The Great Santini—so much so that he became a changed man and a beloved one to his son.  It sounds like an incredible book.  You may want to re-read The Great Santini before you read this one, or at least watch the DVD version.  Robert Duvall was excellent as usual as Santini.

Lee Smith’s new book, Guests on Earth, features none other than Zelda Fitzgerald in a supporting role.  It’s the story of a young girl from New Orleans who is sent to live in a mental hospital in North Carolina where Zelda is a patient. It’s due out in October.

Margaret Maron’s 19th Deborah Knott mystery is tentatively titled Designated Daughter, and will be out in 2014.

Spider Woman’s Daughter is new book with Navajo policemen Leaphorn and Chee, but this one is written by Anne Hillerman, Tony's daughter.  She uses Bernadette Manuelito, Chee’s girlfriend and a policewoman in her own right, as the central character.  The book is due out on October 1, and Hillerman is under contract for a second book.

Finally, we bid a sad farewell to Elmore Leonard who passed away this week.  He was a former advertising copy editor who started writing Western short stories and then novels before turning his pen to mystery and crime.  Some of the stories became well-known movies, including Hombre, 3:10 to Yuma, Get Shorty, The Big Bounce, and Killshot. The TV show Justified is based some of his stories. Leonard was known for his gritty stories, realistic dialog, and memorable characters.