Archive for June, 2009

SHADOW AND LIGHT by Jonathan Rabb

Berlin in 1927 is a difficult city to leave, even for the best of reasons. There’s the Wannsee and its beaches in summer, the Ice Palast and Luna Park in winter, and the ever beautiful Unter den Linden, the Tiergarten, the Zoologischer Garten and multiple cafes with rich pastries all year round. Berlin is the city of divine decadence, (remember the movie “Caberet?”), and a thriving film industry. And Weimar Berlin still suffers from losers’ blues, with a treasury depleted by war reparations it is not able to pay. The capital city is also where the reader gets a sense of how strong the NAZI Party has grown, from 27,000 members nationwide in 1925 to 108,000 in 1929.

June 4, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Facing History, Germany, Mystery/Suspense, Noir, Sleuths Series

THE CUTIE by Donald E. Westlake

Billy-Billy Cantrell is involved in narcotics, as a junkie and as a retailer on New York City’s Lower East Side. Heroin is his thing…Bigtime!. He’s a “meek, nervous, quiet little guy whose only offense is dope.” One evening he shoots up and falls asleep in a doorway. When he wakes up, in a drug induced stupor, he finds himself in the apartment of Mavis St. Paul, who until very recently was a would-be actress and singer. Now, Ms. St. Paul is a fresh corpse.

June 3, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Mystery/Suspense, New York City, Noir, y Award Winning Author

FAKE I.D. by Jason Starr

Don’t let the retro-noir painting on the cover of FAKE I.D. fool you, this is not one of those old books from the fifties that Hard Case Crime has rediscovered. It’s a smart, mean-spirited little tale of addiction and rage from Jason Starr who is one of the most under-read authors of the last fifteen years.

June 1, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Drift-of-Life, Noir