Library Loot Mini-Reviews: Crime Blotter

The older I get, the harder it seems for me to string actual words together to form cogent thoughts - which means I've been getting through more books than I've actually blogged about so far this year.  If I actually had some energy maybe this blog wouldn't languish so much between posts?  So in a bid to sprinkle in some updated content, here is a batch of crime-related mini-reviews of books I leveraged my library card to read and/or listen to. Seriously y'all - support your local library.

In The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz, Alex is still wallowing over the spectacular demise of her friendship with Wren when she wins the opportunity to attend a month-long writer's retreat hosted by her idol, feminist horror writer, Roza Vallo at the woman's secluded Gothic manor.  The cause of angst besides her year-long case of writer's block?  Wren also won a spot. As if navigating her estrangement with Wren weren't enough, the retreat is grueling and shenanigans are afoot. 

The first clue I should have taken away before starting this book is that it's subtitled "A Novel" - which means the first 50% doesn't really go much of anywhere other than making me hate whiny, hand-wringing Alex (seriously girl, suck it up and grow a pair!) and narcissistic, mean-girl-ish Wren.  The only character worth anything in this book is Kiera, who is the one member of the retreat who realizes that Roza ain't all she's cracked up to be.  But the Gothic atmosphere is fantastic and the second half of the book truly cooks.  I didn't love this, I hated everybody but Kiera, but it's memorable - I'll give it that.  Final Grade = C+/B- ish

I am trash for suspense stories set in Los Angeles that expose the seedy side of Hollywood and I was all set to love Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper.  Mae is a black-bag publicist (she's a fixer) who is constantly spinning stories to wriggle her messy clients out of trouble.  Then her boss hints to her that he's got something big cooking, but before he can loop her in he's gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Words cannot express how amazing the world-building is in this story - it is pitch perfect, 110%, Grade A Los Angeles Sleaze.  So what's the problem?  Well, it's a little too ripped from the headlines for my tastes - with characters that are obvious "homages" (if you want to call them that?) to Ed Buck and Dan Schneider.  It's also a book that offends my sense of justice and fair play.  Nobody gets their comeuppance and gross people continue on being gross.  That's not what I want out of my fictional suspense reading - I like the bad guys actually losing and being punished.  It makes for a nice change of pace from the trash fire that is real life.  Starts with a bang, ends with a whimper. Final Grade = C

I spent the first part of 2022 glomming my way through Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, so I was hoping the answer to that for 2023 would be Richard Stark's (AKA Donald E. Westlake) Parker series.  I'm fully aware that The Hunter was published in the early 1960s, and I do have a strong constitution for crime fiction of a certain age - but yeah, no.  I can dig a good anti-hero and I'm down with Parker being a thief.  It's the whole murdering without compunction and treating women like punching bags I've got issues with.  And speaking of women, they're all whores, drug-addicts or drug-addicted whores in this book.  Matthew Scudder is Alan Alda by comparison.  Final Grade = D-

Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weaver is a dark-side of celebrity culture mystery for the YA set.  Summer Cartwright is a social media influencer and full-time mean girl.  When she goes missing, and then is found dead, at her invitation-only Halloween party, the spotlight starts to shine on a group of teens who, at one time or another, were among Summer's exclusive inner circle.  The writing style didn't always click for me, but this book is chock-full of secrets (literally, everybody has them!) and that kept me reading.  Unfortunately it's another book that offended my sense of justice, and I felt like some of the characters' secrets (especially Grace!) got the short-shift.  But then I read somewhere (and I'm not sure where now!) that this might be the first book in a series?  Which makes some sense.  Teen Wendy would have loved this, Adult Wendy wanted more closure.  Final Grade = B-

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green is the antithesis of a lot of true crime I've read over the years. Certainly the crimes are horrific and graphic (fair warning: dismemberment) - but this book never descends into lurid. The author uncovers the story of a serial killer who preyed on (largely closeted) gay men in 1980s and 1990s New York City but instead of focusing the book on the serial killer - he focuses on the victims, the people who worked the case and building the world of early 1990s New York City.  The serial killer? Yeah, that guy doesn't show up on page until the 70% mark.  It's a fascinating book and largely depressing (and outrage-inducing) for all the reasons you would expect. It might not satisfy readers who want to crawl around in a killer's head, find out what makes him tick, find out why he did it - but for my money, this one is sticking with me for a long time. Final Grade = B+ 

You know what I learned from A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak?  That Edgar Allan Poe was an insufferable human being. Brilliant writer - no doubt. But what a jackass. And the ability to self-sabotage? Second to none. This book does recount Poe's life in a bid to answer the mystery behind his utterly bizarre death, and to (hopefully) debunk the rumors surrounding it.  It's well-researched but very dry.  There's just nothing here that pulled me in and made me want to care and sure as heck no way I would have finished this had I not listened to the audio version. Meh.  Final Grade = C-