The Write Kind of Crime

I’d never heard of the Arthur Ellis Awards for best crime and mystery writing in Canada until recently. The annual awards given out by the Crime Writers of Canada — on May 31 this year – have as their icon a whimsically-designed hanging man statue. Cute, no? The CWC awards ‘Arthurs’ for best crime short story, crime nonfiction, juvenile crime book, French crime book, unpublished book and best first crime novel published in the previous year. For whodunit fans of all ages, what a great way to get a leg up on our got-to-read-soon list! Now I’m all into this awards scene because the engrossing mystery I’m reading now is up for Best Crime Novel. Go Peter Robinson!

Robinson, noted for his Inspector Banks mystery series, is from Yorkshire, England but now lives in Ontario. With this new book, Before the Poison, Robinson spins a tale of a British-born film composer, Chris Lowndes, in retreat from a successful life in Hollywood. Having recently lost his beloved wife to cancer, Chris buys an old estate house in the Yorkshire Dales, the former home of a woman hanged for murder. He wonders what really happened in his house, and whether the beautiful ‘murderess’ actually committed the crime of poisoning her cold fish of a husband. He discovers a lot more than he bargained for…

The other books on the 2012 Best Crime Novel shortlist are:

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Having won the Arthur Ellis best crime novel award last year with Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny makes her return to the limelight with A Trick of the Light, her seventh novel featuring the detective magic of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. “Like P.D. James, Penny shows how the tight structure of the classical mystery story can accommodate a wealth of deeply felt emotions and interpersonal drama.” (Booklist)

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Set in a cosy British village at Christmas, Bradley in this novel continues his detective-in-training Flavia de Luce stories which reflect his love of the singular (I love that word) Sherlock Holmes. “We find in Flavia an incorrigible and wholly lovable detective; from her chemical experiments in her sanctum sanctorum to her outrage at the idiocy of the adult world, she is unequaled.” (Library Journal)

I’ll See you in My Dreams by William Deverell

Another in Deverell’s series of Arthur Beauchamp comic mystery stories, this one “finds the outwardly crusty, poetry-loving, wily old lawyer compelled, by new developments, to look back at his first — and most disastrous — murder trial… which went horribly wrong. Now, nearly 50 years later, he is opening old wounds but also facing a chance for redemption and reconciliation.”

The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg

Famous American criminal lawyer F. Lee Bailey said: ”A few lawyers are really expert in managing cases — especially criminal cases — in the courtroom. A small percentage of these are very good at making trials come alive. Robert Rotenberg is one of the few, along with Scott Turow, David, Baldacci, John Lescroat. His Guilty Plea is a crackling good read, plan to keep turning pages late into the night!”

Take a look at the other shortlists on the Crime Writers website, and come back in June to find out who won. Now, back to my book!

Lyle

Getting a Clue – About Mystery Fiction

What attracts readers to mystery fiction? Simple curiosity? A desire to uncover the truth?  A need to see justice be done? The thrill of resolving a puzzle? All of the above?

Like many gamers, I have begun playing the excellent video game L.A. Noire, a detective console game in which one plays at solving crimes in 1940’s Los Angeles – as if you are in an interactive novel. And what better way to further immerse oneself into the gaming experience than to read a good mystery novel or two? But where to begin? The library has a huge selection of mystery fiction with lots of recommended authors and well-loved characters.

There are of course the Victorian classics like those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles is still one of my favourite detective stories, especially the dynamic interactions between Holmes and Watson during this investigation.

Inspector Maigret’s stories, by French author George Simenon, are set in Paris between the wars. These books are a fond favourite due to the slow tempo of the intrigue that contrasts with that of  more contemporary thrillers.

A little more modern and hard-boiled, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, and Dashiell Hammett’s Maltese Falcon are two of the un-missable authors of noir detective stories, where the plots are more action-oriented. The heroes, usually private investigators, must use their physical skills as well as their brains in order to succeed in a world more morally ambiguous and less orderly than depicted in Victorian mysteries. An added bonus is that both authors have seen some of their works adaptated for the silver screen so you can watch Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade on DVD at the library.

Of course, I always have a preference for detective stories with strong historical elements.  A good example is local author Allan Levine’s Sam Klein Mysteries series, notably “Sins of the Suffragette” and “The Bolshevik’s Revenge,” which brings 1910’s Winnipeg to life. He weaves intrigue around the issues of this period in history, including women’s rights and the Winnipeg General Strike, which adds an extra element of enjoyment for readers who enjoy historical elements in addition to a good whodunit.

In the same vein, the Murdoch Mystery series by Maureen Jennings explores the world of 1890′s Toronto, highlighting the harsh living conditions of the majority as well as describing police methods of the time.

These are only a few personal recommendations and I encourage anyone to share their own. It is after all a genre that is not lacking in quality titles.

- Louis-Philippe

The Icelandic James Patterson

Arnaldur Indriðason, the “James Patterson of Iceland” has only recently become known to North American mystery readers. He is a two-time winner of the Glass Key award, recognizing the best Nordic crime writing, in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Crime Writer’s Association Gold Dagger award for his novel Silence of the Grave. His novel Tainted Blood was made into a movie called “Jar City” which was Iceland’s official submission to the Oscars in 2008.

His stories follow the cases of Detective Erlendur, a veteran of the Reykjavik police force. While following leads, he is also trying to manage his life which seems to be in constant threat of falling apart around him. He has two grown children, both of whom have drug and alcohol problems and are a constant source of worry and trouble. He has an ex-wife who doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with him, and he is haunted by the death of his brother in a blizzard when Erlendur was just a child. Erlendur blames himself for the tragic loss and uses this guilt to fuel his passion for missing person cases. Erlendur is often teamed up with a female detective, Elinborg, who provides much needed comic relief as a moonlighting cookbook writer. A fearless rookie detective with secrets of his own, Sigurdur Óli, rounds out the trio of crime solvers.

Many of Arnaldur’s stories are bleak and may not necessarily have a happy Hollywood ending, but his character sketches and insight into human weakness and foibles make him worth reading, especially by those who enjoyed Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and sequels. Also, his poetic descriptions of nature and detailed portrayals of places around Iceland had me reaching for an atlas and doing Google Image searches several times throughout.

Arnaldur is so popular in Iceland that supposedly of the 10 most borrowed titles from the Reykjavik Public Library in 2004, seven of them were by Arnaldur.

As of 2010 he has written 10 books using the same characters, but not all of them have been translated into English. Winnipeg Public Library has 8 of his titles in English and 5 in French.

- Trevor