Wednesday, March 25, 2009

One Local Poet, One on Catholicism, 11 Novels

Poetry

Falling Brick Kills Local Man by Mark Kraushaar. Kraushaar is the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry and has had his work published in multiple poetry and literary magazines.
EDIT: Kraushaar just googled his way over here. If you would like to meet the man himself come to the Men's Book Club on April 29th, 7 PM. We will be meeting at the tasting room in Tyranena Brewery. We will discuss The Poet of Tolstoy Park.

NonFiction

Practicing Catholic by James Carroll. Carroll "shows how Roman Catholic struggles illuminate spiritual quests in all faiths...charts the Church's transformation from a reactionary monolith to a vital institution in which the deepest aspects of faith are being called into question."

Fiction

No Survivors by Tom Cain. Samuel Carver, trained assassin, lies hospitalized. His Russian girlfriend has to leave him to go back to her job as a spy. Samuel slowly recovers to follow her and gets entangled in a billionaire's scheme to buy a Russian suitcase nuke.

Blood and Bone by William Lashner. 26 year old Kyle spends his time playing video games, drinking in Philadelphia bars, and scoring chicks. When a former legal partner of his dead father is killed the police look at Kyle as a suspect. Police questioning makes Kyle wonder about what really happened to his father.

Long Lost by Harlan Coben. Myron Bolitar heads to Paris to help a former girlfriend, Terese, who dumped him 10 years ago. She is accused of killing her ex-husband but soon Molitar and Terese are on the run from the police, Homeland Security and the Mossad.

True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman. Hey, a new author photo of Kellerman. He does not have any make-up on and his hair is combed back from his forehead.

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. Continuing tales of the detective agency Spellman Inc. Popular and funny mystery series of the Spellman family and the family business of private detecting.

Mixed Blood by Roger Smith. American bank robber Jack is hiding out in Cape Town, South Africa. When he bloodily repulses a home invasion two local cops and a neighboring security guard find out about Jack's profession and are hot after the three million US dollars he last stole.
Supposed to be really good with a great setting in Cape Town where the country's black versus white problems still linger.

The Dakota Cipher by William Dietrich. A french rogue and his Norwegian pal flee France to search the American frontier for a mythic Viking settlement that is supposed to hold Thor's hammer.

Execution Dock by Anne Perry. Monstrous pimp Jericho Phillips is suspected of murdering a thirteen year old boy prostitute. Commander William Monk attempts to catch and hang the monstrous Phillips but the wily crook and his wealthy clients won't make it easy.

Loser's Town by Daniel Depp. Former stuntman David Spandau works as a PI in Hollywood. Depp gets a job to help a blackmailed actor under pressure from a local drug dealer anxious to become a movie producer. "Crackling dialogue, fast-paced plot, and seedy, jaded characters...a gruesomely hilarious, occasionally wistful depiction of what goes on beneath those white letters on the mountainside."

Spade and Archer by Joe Gores. A prequel to The Maltese Falcon.

Shannon by Frank Delaney. Boston priest Robert Shannon travels to Ireland in 1922. Still suffering shell shock from WWI Shannon was sent there to both recover and shut him up about corruption in the Boston archdiocese. He is "thrust headlong into the maelstrom of Irish politics."

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