Of the essays in Private Investigations, I like the ones that dealt with the author’s writing career best. Jeffrey Deaver’s “Plot Twists: This Writer’s Life” tells how Deaver left his job as a lawyer to become a successful thriller writer. I admire Cara Black’s “Field Notes a la Maigret From Paris,” where Black shows how her love of George Simenon’s novels about Parisian police inspector Maigret led her to writing 19 books in her Private Investigator Aimee Leduc series set in Paris.
The most moving essay (for me) was William Kent Krueger’s story about his mentally ill mother who was an alcoholic and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. I was engrossed in Jacqueline Winspear’s “Writing About War” which shows how her experience of war as a child impacted her writing in the Maisie Dobbs series (a former World War I nurse who becomes a private investigator).
Carole Nelson Douglas’s “Godfathers, Nancy Drew, and Cats” explores the impacts of various events on her writing career. This collection ends appropriately with Anne Perry’s “I Want to Be a Magician” which captures the spirit of her writing. If you want to know more about these writers, these essays reveal some hidden truths, insights, and fascinating background stories. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction : solving the mystery / Victoria Zackheim — 1
Ghosted / Hallie Ephron — 7
Plot twists : this writer’s life / Jeffrey Deaver — 21
An extra child / Sulari Gentill — 33
Field notes à la Maigret from Paris / Cara Black — 45
Lydia and Jack / Connie May Fowler — 57
The land of the morning calm (and other military mysteries) / Martin Limón — 81
The clay that we shape / William Kent Krueger — 95
Origins and destinations / Ausma Zehanat Khan — 105
A trick of the light / Kristen Lepionka — 110
The mystery of deception / Lynn Cahoon — 131
The long shadow of war / Rhys Bowen — 143
I don’t know this word / Rachel Howzell Hallie — 155
The beams keep falling / Steph Cha — 175
Writing about war / Jacqueline Winspear — 187
Can we live without mystery? / Tasha Alexander — 207
Godfathers, Nancy Drea, and cats / Carole Nelson Douglas — 221
The mystery of my lost voice / Caroline Leavitt — 243
Remembering the dead / Charles Todd — 259
Nuns, magic, and Steven King / Robert Dugoni — 273
I want to be a magician / Anne Perry — 287
Acknowledgements — 301
About the Contributors — 303
I tend to like this kind of book. A lot more writers here that I have never heard of than I would have expected. Gentil, Khan, Hallie, Alexander, Leavitt, Lepionka and Cahoon are all unknown to me. I wonder if Anne Perry’s past as a murderess helped guide her into writing crime fiction?
Steve, after reading some of these essays by unfamiliar writers I’m tempted to give them a try.
I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve only heard of about half of these people, and I mean “heard of” in the narrowest sense, meaning that I know that they are writers. Deaver is the only one here I’ve read anything by, and that was one novel years ago. Perhaps I ought to get out more. That may be possible since my library, which has been closed since mid-March, is FINALLY reopening, at least in a minimal sense. While they were closed and I was paying little attention to them, they’ve added Hoopla to the mix, and that looks to be a real treasure trove.
Michael, most of our Libraries are now open with restrictions on the number of people in the building…and masks are required.
I like those kinds of books too. I’ve read several essays by Deaver about his life, always interesting. Not a Maisie Dobbs fan. I enjoyed seeing Sulari Gentill speak at Bouchercon on the Aussie panel, so I’m interested in what she has to say. I like Martin Limon’s Korean-set series a lot,, especially the short stories. The Black sounds good too. I never heard of Kristen Lepionka until I read a review of her new book a couple of days ago. I’ve liked the Krueger books I’ve read a lot.
OK, just downloaded it to the Kindle from the library.
Jeff, I’m sure you’ll find many of these essays intriguing.
Ditto for liking this sort of book. Off to order it.
Patti, I’m sure you’ll find a lot to like in PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS.
I love this sort of book and am especially intrigued by the authors unfamiliar to me, which could be a goldmine of new reading for me.
Jerry, you’ll be delighted with PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS. Plenty of new writers to explore!
This one sounds good, I;ll try to get it from the library. Thanks, George.
Rick, I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by William Kent Krueger’s essay.
The library shows it on order, and then several people in line ahead of me, so it will be a while. I look forward to it.
Rick, isn’t it great that Libraries are finally opening! I really missed them during the Stay-At-Home order.
I like to find out about the backgrounds of books – how an author came to write that book at that time.
I also like to find out how people came to buy certain books.
You might enjoy Laura Lippman’s new book of essays, My Life as a Villainess. If I wasn’t already a fan, this would have sealed the deal.
Beth, thanks for the heads up! I’m ordering Laura Lippman’s MY LIFE AS A VILAINESS right now!