Posts Categorized: Guest Posts

Shadow Counter: Kakonis Scores Again

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' gambling thriller Shadow Counter. Shadow Counter is the third and final volume in Tom Kakonis’s excellent series featuring Timothy Waverly, a professional card player who has found nothing but trouble ever since Kakonis first introduced him in Michigan Roll. At the end of the second book, Double Down, he and his long-time partner Bennie Epstein had to race away from another dicey situation in Florida. It’s now 1993, and they’ve landed in Vegas, living in a pitiful house and trying to fly under the radar while they attempt to cobble together the stake that will put... more

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Michigan Roll: For Fans of Elmore Leonard

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' thriller Michigan Roll Timothy Waverly's business card describes him as an "Applied Probabilities Analyst," which is Waverly's idea of a little joke. Timothy is an ex-con out of Michigan who now makes his living in south Florida as a professional gambler, trimming the doctors, dentists and others who search out a little high-stakes action while on their Florida vacations. Waverly did a stretch for accidentally killing his ex-wife's lawyer. The ex-wife is now remarried and living in Traverse City, Michigan, with the young son that Waverly never had a chance to know. Restless,... more

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Flummery: Writing Nero Wolfe For TV

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Brash Books co-founder Lee Goldberg was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for his work on the A&E TV series “Nero Wolfe.” This article about adapting the Rex Stout novels for TV first appeared in Mystery Scene magazine and is reprinted with the author’s permission. INT. BROWNSTONE — WOLFE’S OFFICE — DAY Archie sits at his desk, OILING HIS TWO MARLEY .38s. As we hear his voice-over, he switches to OILING HIS TYPEWRITER with the SAME OIL. ARCHIE’S VOICE Nero Wolfe is a creature of habit. Every morning, from nine until eleven, he tends his 10,000 orchids and I, Archie Goodwin, his confidential secretary and legman extraordinaire, tend... more

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The Bragg Novels: Paladin of the Dispossessed

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Jared Shurin reviews books for one of our favorite websites, Pornokitsch. Today he shares his admiration for the Bragg series of novels by Jack Lynch. There's no feeling in the world better than discovering a new series. Not just a good book, but a vast array of them. And, in this case, the series is Jack Lynch's Peter Bragg- a San Francisco private investigator who combines angst and wit in the perfect proportion. If that sounds familiar - perhaps like my beloved Travis McGee (John D. MacDonald) - it is, and part of the appeal of the Bragg series is that he is a West Coast McGee - a scarred-but-tender, manly-but-sensitive paladin of the dispossessed. The series is... more

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Criss Cross: A Wild & Entertaining Romp

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Novelist James L. Thane, author of the crime novels No Place to Die and Until Death, shares his fondness for Tom Kakonis' thriller Criss Cross. In Cross Cross, his second crime novel, Tom Kakonis brings together a disparate cast of odd, strange and curious characters who come together very uneasily in the hope of making one big score. Principal among them is Mitchell Morse, a former college football player and ex-cop who's spiraled downhill to the point where he's now employed as a security guard at a Fleets superstore in Grand Rapids, Michigan, chasing down shoplifters. Before being fired from his last job, Mitch had met a fellow security guard named Jean Satterfield. Mitch has not... more

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The Rap on “MAN EATER”

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J. Kingston Pierce,  the editor of The Rap Sheet and the senior editor of January Magazine, reviews Gar Anthony Haywood's thriller Man Eater.  Cutthroat film development executive Ronnie Deal ("smart, single, and beautiful -- 'heartbreak in a tall, dark hourglass,' somebody had once called her") is sitting in an L.A. bar one day, nursing her anger at a rival for fouling up her "breakout film," when a "physically intimidating" black guy suddenly commences to wail on a "young, frail blonde woman" nearby. Reacting viscerally, her adrenaline poisoned by rage at her own manifest misfortunes, Ronnie shocks even herself by battering the thug unconscious with a beer bottle. Only later, when... more

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