Dog on it: A Chet and Bernie Mystery – “A New Game”

My old dog, Kafka.

Dog on it: A Chet and Bernie Mystery

by Spencer Quin

Atria Books

305 pages, $15

Right from the beginning of this series, I though Quin was on to something. A literal-minded narrator, the dog Chet, who tells us more than his human partner knows thus creating real suspense. I love them both, but this is the first book that builds a dramatic arc, that pays off in a terrific finish. There is also a very sophisticated mirroring of Bernie’s relationship with his young son (Bernie is divorced and the son has material things with the ex that make Bernie feel inadequate) and the case, a missing teen-aged girl also of divorced parents. Emotionally this reaches a new level.

Not that we don’t already love Chet: “Bernie grabbed the rubber bone and flung it through the open window. I dove out after the bone, raced across the backyard, snagged it, spun around, and jumped back inside. A new game, and what a game, indoors and outdoors, running and leaping—this one had it all.” I felt worse when, after escaping being captured by the villains, Chet was scheduled to be put down by an animal shelter, than I did later when Bernie was taken prisoner

This is a fully realized novel that will keep you turning pages well into the night (I read it on my Kindle). As much as I enjoyed the previous books, with this one Spencer Quin, Bernie and Chet have arrived. My number one, stranded-on-a-desert-island choice.

Buy directly from Amazon for $11.50. Click: Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery (Chet and Bernie Mysteries)

Sparky and the Dipshit – “Having a Big Brother”

Sparky and the Dipshit

Rod Russell-Ides

Fireside Publishing

284 pages, $17.95

I love the title of this book, Sparky and the Dipshit. I wish it were mine. As a matter of  fact I do have a movie review site that is pretty damn close. It is: www.SpankyAndJohnGoToTheMovies.com.

Can’t believe this is Rod’s first book, though he admits to help from his writer wife and editor (plus others). He baits the hook then allows us time to squirm while he spins a drama-building back story (his doctor father was a philanderer, his mother somewhat alcoholic, and, of course, there is the Midwest vs. the East Coast dynamics which people like me, from Wisconsin, love). Yet certain chapters, like the one on the death of Uncle Marion, are very moving.

I admit to having had an older brother, and therefore connected with the story line immediately. But there are elegant passages, too, that put real meat on the bone:

Exploring the abandoned dreams of Kansas farmers, I discovered a harsh land. It seemed some lives lead nowhere, dried up with the wind that harried the grasslands, leaving traces of something having come this way and passed on. In one old house, I found clothes still on hangers in a closet. A broken doll. Old letters held together with yellowing string.

This book is a product of the publishing revolution. Why should we wait twenty years for someone (like us) to tell a story we want to hear (our story). Sure a lot of the Kindle and publish-on-demand stuff is crap, but so is 90% of everything else.

This book did find a traditional publisher and thank god, a reader (me) who is inspired by it. As Rod Russell-Ides says he is a true believer in “the mystery right side the door.”

Way to go, Dipshit!

Order directly from Amazon, click: Sparky and the Dipshit

The Big Clear – “Burnout”

The Big Clear

Christopher Harris

Short Cipher Press

275 pages, $12

A former Special Forces sniper is now a slacker detective trying to find a kidnapped child on the weekend the US invades Iraq. This is neo-noir where the parts fit, like they did in the originals though the plot is confused and scenes (ultra credible) seem to lead nowhere.

I don’t like the title, Austin Texas (the novel’s locale) means nothing to me (even though Bat Bridge is kind of neat), but the back story is mine

Immediate Fiction – “Want, Obstacle, Action”

Immediate Fiction

Jerry Cleaver

St. Martin’s Griffin

275 pages, $15.99

This book reminds me of a section in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in which the author is putting together a barbecue grill manufactured in Japan. The first number of the instruction says something like “1. Be in the right frame of mind.” That, it seems to me is what this book does for wanabe writers, puts them in the right frame of mind.

The Start of Everything – “What is Mystery”

The Start of Everything

by Emily Winslow

255 pages, $26

Publisher: Delacorte Press

A teenage body floating near Cambridge, England. But wait a minute, we are getting the details from an autistic narrator. No that’s just in the first chapter, narrators rotate. As do murders. As do people’s identities. There’s a difference between the mystery of genre and the mystery of mystery. While trying for both, The Start of Everything succeeds only at confusing the reader.

From First Word to Last–“Shut up and write.”

From First Word to Last

by Arlene F. Marks

247 pages, $19.95

Publisher: Legacy Books Press Reference

A behind the scenes look at writing risks spoiling the magic trick (at least in my experience teaching high school and adult students), but for a writer it is essential learning.  My technique emphasizes the dynamics between characters in scenes, but many of Arlene Marks observations hold. This is what we need (at least the first three-quarters of the book, then it starts to seem pedantic).

The Book of Illusions – “Beneath the Surface”

The Book of Illusions

by Paul Auster

321 pages, $10.98

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Paul Auster

I’ve been on and off about this author. I read The New York Trilogy, a few of his other novels and I actually heard him read at the Wisconsin Book Festival a number of years ago. I always thought he got caught up a bit too much in his own games.

Until now. The Book of Illusions probes the mystery of a silent film star/writer/director who disappears.

A Drop of the Hard Stuff – “On the Wagon”

A Drop of the Hard Stuff

by  Lawerence Block

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Mulholland Books

ISBN-10: 0316127310

Ever start reading a book for one reason and then find out it delivers in a completely unexpected different way? I began this one a little cautiously because it used the twelve step program of AA. Then I remembered that my older brother (now deceased) had belonged to AA for twenty years, without telling any of his relatives and I thought maybe I could learn a little about that secret life.

This Is How – “Stumbling with Scissors”

This Is How

by Augusten Burroughs

St. Martin’s Press, 240 pages

$14.04 (hardcover)

In this honest-to-goodness self-help book Burroughs writes: “We are alone. The truth is, nobody is owed an apology. They are lovely when they happen, but change nothing.

“The truth is, life itself is unfair. Fairness is not among the laws of the universe. Take responsibility for everything that happens to you, even if somebody else is at fault.

“Move forward. Move on. You are alone. You were born alone. You die alone.”

But is that true? I just received a call from my daughter in Florida. I am not alone. She

has a seven-year old autistic son. He is not alone. My parents died fifteen years

ago, yet I still think of them often. They are not alone. And someone is reading this, sharing it with me. Someone I don’t know. Someone who doesn’t know me. We are not

together, but we are not alone.

No, I remember my mother’s last day. She was in the hospital (my sister and brother with their families because mom seemed to be doing OK). My mom said to me, “I know this is crazy, but your father, brother, sister, all the grandkids seem to all be around my bed. Next day my brother called me. She was dead.

But she was not alone.

To buy this directly from Amazon, click the title below:

This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

Cocktail Waitress – “Bad Title, Good Book”

Cocktail Waitress

by James M. Cain

Hard Case Crime Novel

270 pages, 13.44 hardback

It’s easy to skip over this last, and previously unpublished, novel by James M. Cain (best known for Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice