September 15, 2000
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September 15, 2000 |
The world is full of mysteries. Why couldn't Doug Bruce have stayed in
California? Why do so many Americans judge Presidential candidates by
their hairdos and the color of their suits? Why does Dr. Laura hate
libraries?
Since I don't know the answers to any of those mysteries, I take great
comfort in mysteries that do have answers - novels. And this summer
two of the best authors in the genre have produced new books.
One of my favorite characters is Joanna Brady, Sheriff of Cochise County
in southeast Arizona. Her creator is J. A. Jance, who does an excellent
job of blending characterization with plot. In her newest book is
"Devil's Claw," Joanna is looking forward to a quiet wedding just a
week and a day ahead. But it is not to be. Two complicated murder
cases, her over-zealous mother and a teenage daughter make these two
weeks anything but peaceful. On the other hand, the bridegroom,
restaurant owner Butch Dixon, is so helpful, so unquestioningly
supportive, that you know he'll make Joanna a great wife!
Jance's plots are well developed, but the best part of her novels is the
characterization. Joanna is perhaps the most completely human woman in
the genre. She is a busy professional with a young daughter (her
sheriff husband was shot in the first book of the series), a rocky
relationship with her mother, close personal friends and a new romance.
The author wrote an Amazon essay reflecting on where Joanna Brady comes
from. "I also know what it is like to lose a spouse ... and to be left
dealing with fatherless children who persist in asking unanswerable
questions... I believe that my readers can look forward with some hope
to the eventual resolution of the mother-daughter feud...since I'm the
one who puts words in their mouths. In real life it may not be possible
to learn from other people's mistakes, but since I write fiction -- and
since I have literary license -- anything is possible."
Beside Joanna Brady, Stephanie Plum is back. Stephanie is the popular
creation of Janet Evanovich, one of the top female mystery writers.
Stephanie's latest adventure in "Hot Six," is a fine addition to the
other five. Somewhere between slapstick and mystery, Stephanie shares
the series with a wild cast of characters. The most fascinating is
Grandma Mazur, who carries a gun, drives a big old white Buick and has
taken up residence in Stephanie's apartment along with a dog name Bob
who has a slight eating disorder. By profession Stephanie is a
bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie in Trenton, New Jersey. Ranger,
Stephanie's mentor and sometime lover is in trouble for carrying a
concealed weapon and Vinnie tells Stephanie to find him That is a bit
like turning the hen loose in the fox den, but she always delivers her
man, or woman. Publishers Weekly says it is a "Lunatic tapestry of
nonstop action peopled by wacky characters straight out of a 1930s
screwball comedy... Evanovich keeps getting better."
"Horse Heaven" by Jane Smiley is not specifically a mystery, but it has
lots of excitement and a happy ending (I insist on happy endings in my
fiction).
I like to read her books because her writing is so beautiful, her
research so thorough and she truly loves animals. One of her early
books, "Moo," made me a fan. "Horse Heaven" is utterly different, and I
learned more about horses than I ever thought I wanted to know. Smiley
has researched horse racing and thoroughbred race horses in amazing
detail. There are a lot of human characters in the story, but the most
important ones are the horses. And each horse has a personality as
distinctive as the humans around it and considerably better than most of
them.
A first novel by an author I just discovered is "Shiny Water," by Anna
Salter. Forensic psychologist Michael Stone is an expert in child
abuse. A southerner transplanted to Vermont, she is most interesting
when she talks about the pitfalls of examining children. She is not yet
in a class with Kay Scarpetta, but this is a great first novel.
Gotta quit. Haven't quite finished "Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire."