Barry’s Picks and Pans: January to June 2021

Xavier (Photo by Barry)

As regular readers of Kevin's blog may have noticed, I haven't sent him any book reviews for more than a year. (Reviews of mine that've occasionally been posted are from the "archives.") The reason is simple: I haven't written any new ones because I just haven't been in the mood. Thus, and leaving you to look up the titles that may be of interest (go through Kevin's Amazon link if you do), here are the books I've read so far this year that I enjoyed--some with brief comments--and others I felt less charitable about:

 

Goodnight, Irene by James Scott Byrnside is a pretty good locked-room mystery introducing a new detective and his Watson.

The Case of the Murdered Model by Thomas B. Dewey is an early entry in the author's excellent series about Chicago private eye Mac.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson: Allan Karlson is Sweden's answer to Forrest Gump in this seriocomic novel.

The Pot Thief Who Studied the Woman at Otowi Crossing by J. Michael Orenduff

Six-Gun in Cheek by Bill Pronzini

The Return of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n by Leo Rosten: the sequel to the first book written by Rosten as Leonard Q. Ross.

Ah, Treachery! by Ross Thomas

Missing by Jonathan Valin: the (so far, between now and original publication of) final entry in the excellent Harry Stoner series that Valin stopped writing when he chose to review high-end stereo equipment and related matters. (I say this as a refugee from the retail audio/video business who used to read the magazines he wrote for.)

 

Just so-so:

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: 1st book in the Thursday Next literary fantasy series. Cleverly done, I readily admit, but not the kind of thing that generally grabs me. (And I have another title in the series I may get to one of these years.)

 

The pits:

The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley. I was on the verge of quitting this "classic" Golden Age whodunit when a friend urged me to keep at it. I shouldn't have listened. It's ploddingly slow and dull.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. This one tries desperately to take a clever approach to the detective story, but for this reader it was a slog full of confused lack of characterization because of the way its premise handles that crucial element, and because ultimately I just wanted the damn thing to end.

 

Barry Ergang ©2011, 2021 

Some of Derringer Award-winning author’s Barry Ergang’s work is available at Smashwords and Amazon. For the month of July, a number of Barry’s titles at Smashwords are marked down as he participates in the annual Smashwords Summer Sale.