A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My love of Doyle comes from his science and studies of man. Here he combines both. Most won’t pick up how much of both subjects is stuffed in this odd novel. Most will also be surprised that this is not an entirely London based novel.

Doyle has a readable style that can make about any subject readable. Most writing today write down to the reader, where Doyle wrote up. Making it all that more intriguing.

Though the Holmes and Watson characters are quickly established, the mystery is established to a point. Then suddenly a western starts in the middle of the book and trails on with little sign Holmes will ever reappear. The story of the western U.S. is extremely well done (Though there are British slips, like the use of “Likely lad”). Doyle also mostly well lays out the story of Mormons. His view of creation myths scream from this section.

All returns to London and wraps to an interesting conclusion. Though i would’ve liked to see the two tales told in this book as two books with similar conclusions in each location. The location shift i found a hard jolt. A smoother telling of both tales would’ve made two very story stories.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.

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Sharky’s Machine by William Diehl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve wanted to read this book since I saw the film nearly 40 years ago. I’d purchased a few editions of the book over the years, but had not read the book. I finally got to it!
The book is very good. I found the back story excessive and likely more an issue of a first time writer. The first chapters being edited to one more focused would’ve made the bulk of the police procedural more powerful. The film needed more back story. The happy compromise missed.

Getting past the back story, the Sharky and Machine part is excellent in approach and writing. The dialogue – especially for a first time writer – is extraordinary. The back and forth and the rest is as I’ve witnessed with my involvement with law enforcement over the decades.

The bad guys are another story. Diehl is trying to create some believable bad guys, but I get the impression he didn’t want to make them too evil and held back more than he should have. The suspense is also thwarted near the end. At that point I didn’t care what happened to the bad guys.

I wanted to read more of the “Machine”. I wish Diehl had picked up the McBain waning series and continued with an Atlanta based version. GREAT characters.

Bottom line: i recommend this book: 6 out of ten points.

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A Few Minutes Past Midnight by Stuart M. Kaminsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The last peters book I loved due to Kaminsky’s writing of W.C. Fields. This one was just a good story and good writing. Again i could hear Chaplin in the writing of dialogue.

This entry is also better due to less focus of side characters and weird dream sequences. Still a bit too much of poems and presentation of an amateur writers, though this latter folded in well with the Chaplin story this time. Settings were better written and characters are excellent.
I also love the ending.

Bottom line: I recommend this book: 8 out of ten points.

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The Sentries by Ed McBain
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Despite myopic reviews here oddly relating the book to this current time period, the book’s problems are in construction and setting. I turn to my podcast to review this book and similar problems with McBain’s Matthew Hope series.

Here’s the podcast:
https://anchor.fm/swampysflorida/epis…

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book 2 out of ten points.

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A Fatal Glass of Beer by Stuart M. Kaminsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I believe this chalks up to my favorite of the Peters tales. It does seem far fetched, except Fields lived a bit of a far fetched life and did deposit money in banks all over the place. Gets one to wonder just how the Fields family got all of that money from such a list of banks.

Kaminsky was often excellent at getting the voice of the celebrity starring in his books of Peters. Huge exception are his two Rockford Files books. Here, I can hear Fields voice throughout the book. The banter is terrific and full of Fileds well known outrageous storytelling. Peters is played down quite a bit here. Almost a co-star despite the book being in first person.

The story of why there is, essentially, a great chase is ridiculous as is the ending, but stilla great book.

About Florida: One of the stories Fields tells is of having a kumquat farm near Homosassa and that being ruined by alligators. The tale is told and sounds as Fields. i know no truth to the story. Extremely well done and thought out by Kaminsky, including using an actual Florida location and such location as kumquats are usually grown!

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.

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The Man Who Shot Lewis Vance by Stuart M. Kaminsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kaminsky starts this book as all do: continuing from the book before. In this case the one before ends with a call involving John Wayne. This one starts inconsistently with a different beginning not connecting with the end of the last book, though both involve Wayne.

The entire tale Kaminsky has assembled is conflated and ridiculous. The various bad guys involved really couldn’t have pulled off what is written. These are very different bad guys. Making it worse are layer of bad guys that really don’t work. Especially considering the ending. John Wayne appears shoved in to it all and then Charlie Chaplin is looped in. Both are a stretch of Kaminsky’s effort to include celebrities. He does do an excellent job of writing their dialogue. I could hear both in the writings.

Though the plot is over blown,the over all writing is very good. There are some very good and funny scenes,making this still worth reading.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 5 out of ten points.

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Down for the Count by Stuart M. Kaminsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the underlying sadness of most of the characters, Kaminsky molds this series into a very humorous lot. This one is better than others. Knowing the characters from previous books helped liking this book more. Coming into this cold and not knowing certain relationships, a new reader might find this a tougher go.

The plot is very well thought out. Others in the series feels as if Kaminsky is taking a celebrity and forming a story around. This was a stronger story that seemed a celebrity was found to drop in. Again, there is the oddity that another celebrity becomes a friend of the main character and then is dropped off.

I really liked how the plot connected to a few earlier parts of the series and continued the character’s stories…or ended it. The bad guys are a bit similar to earlier Kaminsky bad guys, just with different names for two.

The writing is sharp and funny. All leading to a surprise ending.

Drawback is more focus on side characters and poetry and other’s writings that gets a bit long. Though, shorter than in other entries.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.

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Running Scared by Tome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series of ‘Spirou and Fantasio’ spans decades. I’ve read only a handful. The few have been brilliant in plot, story and illustration. The closest anything has gotten close to this is the work of Will Eisner with his ‘Spirit’ series and his ‘Contract with God’, though the latter lacks the depth of just this volume of the two adventurers.. That’s an odd thing to write in that Eisner’s entire reason for producing his first of a series of graphic novels was a depth of faith and life.

The tale starts one way and then unfolds with more and more involved. The involvement has the characters further defined. The supporting characters are as good or better. Human and non-human. Each has a role,though all could just be on for the ride. Nothing is involved that doesn’t hook into the overall story. Just brilliant in writing and detail.

Part of the brilliance is in the details drawn. For instance, at one point the guide spirits a gun from some bad guys. This isn’t known until after the encounter illustrated pages before. Going back to look for the theft, the actual theft is not shown, but the panels of bad guy with gun, a spurious hug by the guide and then the tiniest detail of the bad guy with an open open holster flap two panels later. The details are illustrated with he simplest care. Sometimes not being shown at all. While traveling to seek their goal, the group traverses mountainous area. the beauty is in the simplicity that tells what otherwise would have been pages of description. The area the good guy’s vehicle is in, the expanse beyond in layers of mere line indicating mountain peaks at various distances, some village of few lines. Quite a task to pull off in one panel.

This is technique is repeated later involving an exchange with still another group of guys, the rebels, as the good guys are herded off revealing distance of where the bad guys are, the good guys had been, a distance of travel and where the group could look backwards to the distance. Seeing the illustrated version tells all. Brilliant work.

The largest draw back is that this is a two part tale. Though, considering this result, I have no doubt the entire tale gets even better.

Bottom line: i recommend this book: 10 out of 10 points.

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He Done Her Wrong by Stuart M. Kaminsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another fun excursion with Toby Peters with a pretty good, but obvious for me, mystery.
The writing is what makes this worth reading. THat and the sly references throughout. Though, the misspelling of Ish Kabibble’s name bugged me.

The general situations are the same of settings, angry brother, office problems, just about every big star becoming a fleeting friend, mystery of somebody attached and resolution being about the same.
This one was more tedious as Kaminsky went much longer involving tedious side stories. Funny to read, but that many pages could’ve been another book.

The plot, writing, characters, settings are nearly all the same and Kaminsky covers the worn territory well.

Bottom Line: i recommend this book: 6 out of ten points.

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Killer’s Payoff by Ed McBain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s been a while since I visited the 87th Precinct. About 20 years. That visit I didn’t like. This one I do.

Being a strict procedural, this book is never boring. The structure of the plot is perfect to scatter elements of the story for the police officers to track and assemble theories and answers. McBain uses many literary tricks sprinkled throughout to draw the reader in and through the tale.

Establishing the characters is done mostly through actions and less narrative. Writers ability to do this takes a great deal of focus and organization to do this in various parts of a book that can add up to a completing profile by the reader. This is a crackerjack job.

The settings are also extremely well written as both urban and rural and wooded areas are all part of the story. McBain is weakest describing the outdoor areas. I love how McBain can write of various structures in the city he created and each have a separate distinction. So very impressive.

Sadly, there was an obvious and required move to be made by the police that wasn’t written in. That told me what had happened early in the book and I knew eventually where the story would end up.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.

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The Instant Enemy by Ross Macdonald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For me, real page turners are rare. Though not necessarily a mark of a well written book of great quality, it is certainly a mark of an author that knows how to craft a story to charge a reader through their tale. This is one of those for me.

Ross launches his story off the first few pages and then charges across the pages with twists and turns and revelations that beg another page turned. This is still another Ross story that starts one way and transforms into something else. Again, I believe this is a book Ross over-plotted to throw readers and sacrificed near the end a truly excellent book. A few twists less would’ve strengthened this entry in the Lew Archer series.

Part of the problem is a shifting of characters and plot to a point a reader best read straight through. Put this one off a day or two after 50 pages in, is likely to lose the reader. Also many characters are written too much a like adding further confusion. Especially considering how Ross handles them all.

There’s also the plot holes where the Archer character could’ve stepped away from hearsay and spent shorter time researching and gotten further faster. This would’ve spoiled a number of twists and turns by Ross later in the tale, but the actions of a good detective.

As usual, Ross writes characters enough to salt the book as needed. His settings here were lacking.

Still quite a production.

Bottom line: Irecommend this book. 7 out often points.

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