Scarecrow

Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

December, 2014

PERSONAL INFORMATION:    Born July 21, 1956, in Philadelphia, PA; Education: Graduated from University of Florida, 1980.Memberships: Mystery Writers of America (president, 2003-04). Addresses: Home: Tampa, FL. E-mail: janed@michaelconnelly.com.

CAREER:   Writer and journalist. Worked as a newspaper reporter in Florida and for the Los Angeles Times;full-time novelist.

AWARDS:   Pulitzer Prize finalist for feature writing (with two other reporters), 1986, for an article in the Sun-Sentinel about a major airline crash and its survivors; Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1993, for The Black Echo; Anthony Award for best novel, 1997, for The Poet, 1999, for Blood Work, and 2003, fo rCity of Bones; Macavity Award for best novel, 1999, for Blood Work, and 2003, for City of Bones;Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for best novel, 1999, for Blood Work, 2003, for City of Bones, and 2006, for The Lincoln Lawyer; Shamus Award, 2006, for The Lincoln Lawyer; Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award; Dilys Award; Nero Award; Barry Award; Audie Award; Ridley Award; Maltese Falcon Award (Japan); .38 Caliber Award (France); Grand Prix Award (France); Premio Bancarella Award (Italy); Pepe Carvalho award (Spain).

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

• The Poet, 1996.
• Blood Work, , 1998.
• Void Moon,  2000.
• Chasing the Dime, 2002.
• The Scarecrow, 2009.

Connelly returns to the protagonist from his award-winning The Poet for his 2009 stand-alone novel The Scarecrow. Jack McEvoy has been laid off from his job at theLos Angeles Times and decides to write a final story as a way to screw over the people he feels did him wrong or otherwise just deserve it. Mary Melton, writing in Los Angeles, called the novel's plot "ridiculous" and opined that the characters are missing "the 'breadth and depth' that McEvoy" espouses. Melton retreated from being fully critical, however, by calling the novel "a page-turner."

Pursuing a big story in anticipation of his imminent layoff, Los Angeles reporter Jack McEvoy investigates the murder confession of a teen drug dealer and realizes that the youth may be innocent, a discovery that pits him against a killer operating below police radar.

"LINCOLN LAWYER" SERIES

• The Lincoln Lawyer, 2005.
• The Brass Verdict, 2008.
• The Reversal, 2010.
• The Fifth Witness, 2011.
• The Gods of Guilt,  2013.

"HARRY BOSCH" SERIES

• The Black Echo, 1992.
• The Black Ice,  1993.
• The Concrete Blonde, 1994.
• The Last Coyote, 1995.
• Trunk Music, 1997.
• Angels Flight, 1999.
• A Darkness More than Night,, 2001.
• City of Bones, 2002.
• Lost Light, 2003.
• The Narrows, 2004.
• The Closers, 2005.
• Echo Park, 2006.
• The Overlook, 2007.
• Nine Dragons, 2009.
• The Drop, 2011.
• Angle of Investigation: Three Harry Bosch Short Stories Amazon Digital Services 2011.
• Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories Amazon Digital Services 2011.
• The Black Box, 2012.

MEDIA ADAPTATIONS:

Blood Work was adapted for a film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, released by Warner Bros., 2002. The Lincoln Lawyer was adapted for a film starring Matthew McConaughey, released by Lionsgate, 2011.

Connelly, Michael

Michael Connelly's cunningly plotted mysteries blend realistic police procedurals with the forlorn

heroism of classic hardboiled fiction. Protagonist Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch -- named for a

Renaissance painter of hellish scenes -- is burdened by his own painful origins. Connelly portrays

Bosch as a maverick hero whose vision of justice means that "everybody counts or nobody counts."

Thriller and suspense fans will find that Connelly's plots hit the ground running: full of shocking twists,

climactic build-up, and often violent confrontations, Connelly ultimately allows characters to carve

meaning out of darkness -- if they live. Start with: The Black Echo.

Read-alikes

1.

Barre, Richard

Reason:  Connelly and Richard Barre both evoke urban settings where world-weary protagonists

wrestle personal demons while chasing down un-righted wrongs and cracking unsolved cases. Is

Barre's take less optimistic--or simply more realistic--than Connelly's? Readers will have to decide

for themselves. -- Kim Burton

2.

Rankin, Ian

Reason:  Connelly and Rankin produce gripping stories of investigators whose tenacious, hard-

living, hard-working qualities are matched only by their resistance to authority. Their fiercely

independent heroes whose obsession with justice comes at great personal cost feature in police

Mysteries with complex plots, psychological depth, harsh realism and a touch of wistful poetry. --

Katherine Johnson

3.

Turow, Scott

Reason:  Connelly's fans might like Scott Turow's novels for their vivid characterizations, complex

and provocative plots, investigative details, and realistic dialog, though Turow's are generally

lighter in tone. -- Ellen Guerci

4.

Child, Lee

Reason:  Child's Jack Reacher, with his military background, keen intelligence, and obscure past,

is a hero similar to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, despite the fact that he lives entirely off the

grid and works outside the law. Child's intelligent writing an complex plots will also appeal, as will

Reacher's strong moral code. -- Shauna Griffin

5.

Sandford, John, 1944 Feb. 23-

Reason:  John Sandford rivals Connelly for grim tone and depressing circumstances. Any of

Sandford's Suspense and Mystery novels should appeal to Connelly fans for their grit, violence,

and fast pace. -- Krista Biggs

6.

Pelecanos, George P.

Reason:  Fans of Michael Connelly's gritty and intricate mysteries will want to try the hard-boiled

fiction of George P. Pelecanos. Both authors feature detectives who are doggedly thorough and

relentless in their pursuit of fairness. -- Victoria Caplinger

7.

Kellerman, Jonathan

Reason:  Both Kellerman and Connelly set their gritty and suspenseful crime series in a darkly

Read-alikes for Connelly, Michael

Find more read-alikes in NoveList.

drawn and atmospheric Los Angeles. Investigative techniques, vividly-drawn characters, complex

and twisted story lines, and building suspense characterize both series. -- Joyce Saricks

8.

Larsson, Stieg, 1954-2004

Reason:  Although Stieg Larsson's intricately plotted, character-driven Mysteries are set in

Sweden, fans of American crime novelist Michael Connelly will appreciate Larsson's flawed but

heroic characters and suspenseful, twist-filled stories. -- Gillian Speace

9.

Eccles, Marjorie

Reason:  Michael Connelly writes well plotted, gritty, fast-paced mysteries. Readers who enjoy his

novels might try Marjorie Eccles, whose mysteries, though historical, share the same dark,

atmospheric feel and fast pace. -- Nanci Milone Hill

© 2014 EBSCO Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

P D James -- Talking About Detective Fiction

‘TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE FICTION’

February 2015

P.D. (Phyllis Dorothy) James was born in Oxford, England, on August 3, 1920. She began working as a civil servant at age 16 through marriage and motherhood, and began writing mystery novels in her late 30s. By the time she retired to write full-time, she had become famous as the creator of fictional detective Adam Dalgliesh. James also wrote the novels Children of Men and Death Comes to Pemberley. James died on November 27, 2014 at the age of 94.

Here are some suggestions for more about Mysteries and lists of titles ….

Check NoveList for suggestions by mystery sub-genre and some articles about mysteries (Look in the Professional Tool Box for these.)

Mystery Categories used by NoveList

• By the Book
• Christian Mysteries
• Classic Mysteries
• Cooking Up Crime
• Crafty Crimes
• Fatally Funny
• Getting Cozy
• Gumshoes and Flatfoots
• Historical Mysteries
• Make Mine Hardboiled
• Not Just for Teens: Mysteries
• Paranormal Mysteries
• Police Procedurals

Getting Up to Speed in Mystery (Dec 2013)    Contributed By: Saricks, Joyce                         Summary: Mysteries are puzzles. The author provides clues to the solution but attempts to obscure some information so that the puzzle cannot be solved too easily. Along with the detective, readers are drawn into the puzzle while attempting to solve it.

Getting Up to Speed in Police Procedurals (Aug 2013)  Contributed By: Zellers, Jessica    Summary: A subgenre of the Mystery novel, Police Procedurals follow police officers and their associates as they investigate a crime, typically a murder

A few of many websites …..

Omnimystery: A Family of Mystery Websites.

www.omnimystery.com/

Our websites are committed to providing visitors with the best and most current information about their favorite mystery books, authors, characters, television

Mystery.ComCozy                                                                                                    www.cozy-mystery.com/                                                                                             A guide to Cozy Mystery books, TV, & movies. Chronological lists of books by hundreds of Cozy Mystery authors. Many Cozy Mystery themes & holiday books.

TopMystery: The Best Mystery Books and Movies                                       www.topmystery.com/                                                                                                      Welcome to Topmystery.com - the website about the top mystery books, movies and authors. Use the menu on the top to navigate through the sections of the …

Mystery Net.com: Online mysteries, mystery games, mystery ...

www.mysterynet.com/    and    mysternet.com/authors/ for links to author websites            Mystery Network. Mystery entertainment and information for everyone who likes mysteries                                           

Looking for a Mystery                                  http://www.sldirectory.com/mystery.html                                            Categorized lists

Some Works about Mysteries in PLS ...

From Detective Fiction m Victorian Sleuths to the Present By Alexander, M. Lee (Spoken-word CD - 2010 )   Professor Alexander offers 14 lectures that cover groundbreaking authors from Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle to Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, and modern writers such as Nevada Barr and Jonathan Kellerman.

Books to Die for The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels (2012)  Mystery authors from twenty countries reveal their favorite mystery novels, in a collection of essays that features contributions from Jo Nesbo, Jeffery Deaver, and Sophie Hannah.

Women of Mystery The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists By DuBose, Martha Hailey (2000)  A collection of biographical vignettes focuses on the best female mystery writers in the business, including lawyer Anna Green, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Josephine Tey, and Margery Allingham.

The Dashiell Hammett Tour Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook By Herron, Don  (2000)  Detailing locations of interest, including all of Hammett’s known residences and the majority of settings from The Maltese Falcon, this guidebook contains maps, self-guided tours, and photographs of Hammett-related locations from both then and now.

Philosophies of Crime Fiction By Hoffmann, Josef (2013)  Josef Hoffmann covers influences and inspirations in crime writing with references to a stellar cast of crime writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Dashiell Hammett, Albert Camus, Borges, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Ted Lewis. Hoffmann examines why crime literature may provide stronger consolation for readers than philosophy

Crimes of the Scene A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler By King, Nina (1997)

An annotated guide to atmospheric mysteries organized by country allows the traveling reader total immersion in the culture, people, and attractions of a place

Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep

January 2015

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), an early student of the hard-boiled detective school, is arguably its most accomplished graduate. More complex than his contemporaries, Chandler's prose is emphatically accomplished -- acerbic and, at the same time, lyrically detailed, stunning in its creation of ambiance. His mysteries, set in the seamy underbelly of sunny California, provide a dark parallel to the glamour of the 1940s and 50s, a gritty world inhabited by brutal men and slickly dangerous dames. Crime is omnipresent, and Chandler's reluctantly romantic protagonists must cling to their decency to keep from drowning in the corruptive morass. Start with: The Big Sleep.

BOOKS

• The Big Sleep ( 1939).
• Farewell, My Lovely ( 1940).
• The High Window ( 1942).
• The Lady in the Lake (, 1943).
• Five Murderers ( 1944).
• Five Sinister Characters ( 1945).
• The Finger Man and Other Stories (, 1947).
• The Little Sister ( 1949).
• The Simple Art of Murder ( 1950).
• The Long Good-Bye ( 1953).
• Playback ( 1958).
• Raymond Chandler Speaking, edited by Dorothy Gardiner and Kathrine Sorley Walker ( 1962).
• Killer in the Rain (1964).
• Chandler Before Marlowe, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli ( 1973).
• The Blue Dahlia: A Screenplay, edited by Bruccoli ( 1976.
• The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler & English Summer, edited by Frank MacShane (, 1976).
• Raymond Chandler's Unknown Thriller: The Screenplay of Playback (1985).
• Poodle Springs, by Chandler and Robert B. Parker (1989).

PRODUCED SCRIPTS

• Double Indemnity, motion picture, script by Chandler and Billy Wilder, Paramount, 1944.
• And Now Tomorrow, motion picture, script by Chandler, Frank Partos, and Frank Patton, Paramount, 1944.
• The Unseen, motion picture, script by Chandler and Hager Wilde, Paramount, 1945.
• The Blue Dahlia, motion picture, Paramount, 1946.
• The Lady in the Lake, motion picture, script by Chandler (uncredited) and Steve Fisher, M-G-M, 1947.
• Strangers on a Train, motion picture, script by Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde, Warner Bros., 1951.

Biographies:

• Frank MacShane, The Life of Raymond Chandler (New York: Dutton, 1976).
• Tom Hiney, Raymond Chandler: A Biography (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997)
• Tom Williams, A Mysterious Something in the Light; the Life of Raymond Chandler (2013)
• "The life of Raymond Chandler has long been obscured by secrets and half-truths as deceptive as anything in his novel The Long Goodbye. Now, drawing on new interviews, previously unpublished letters, and archives on both sides of the Atlantic, Tom Williams casts a new light on this most mysterious of writers" -- publisher's description.

Read­alikes

1. Estleman, Loren D.

Reason: Loren Estleman and Raymond Chandler both use hardboiled protagonists to do the detecting in their mystery stories: Estleman's Amos Walker is often lauded as a modern day successor to Philip Marlowe, and stylistically, Estleman is recognized as a throwback to the era of Chandler's heyday. ­­  Bethany Latham

2. Grafton, Sue

Reason: Hardboiled detective novels by Sue Grafton may also be of interest, as Chandler is Grafton's classic precursor. Grafton updates Chandler with her loner female investigator, but the two authors have similar tone and atmosphere, as well as the California settings. ­­ Katherine Johnson

3. Harvey, Michael T.

Reason: If you like hardboiled mysteries with a witty undertone, you may like both Michael T. Harvey and Raymond Chandler. Both feature loner detectives who solve crime that brings them into contact with the darkest elements of society. ­­ Rebecca Sigmon

4. Thomas, Ross,

Reason: Though Thomas writes international thrillers as well as mysteries, he shares Chandler's elegant prose style, gripping and intricate plots, keen cynical wit, and vividly evocative characterization of roguish heroes and seedy villains that defy easy distinctions between good and evil. ­­ Derek Keyser

5. Connelly, Michael,

Reason: Michael Connelly may be of interest, as Chandler is Connelly's classic precursor. The two authors have similar tone and atmosphere, as well as the California settings, but their heroes tie them together. Their stoic integrity amidst the squalid seediness of their cities imbues them with pathos and quiet nobility. ­­

Katherine Johnson

6. Hammett, Dashiell, 1894­-1961

Reason: If Dashiell Hammett is the father of "hard­boiled" detection, Raymond Chandler is a son to make him proud ­­ both feature private eyes who seek common criminals in a grittily realistic, 1930s­50s setting. ­­ Bethany Latham

7. Himes, Chester B., 1909-­1984

Reason: Like Chester B. Grimes, Raymond Chandler writes gritty, atmospheric, and tautly written hard­boiled mysteries featuring fast ­paced and twist ­filled plots, violent crimes, and eccentric and shady characters. ­­ Derek Keyser

8. Cain, James M. (James Mallahan), 1892­-1977.Reason: James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler both craft dark tales, film noir­ ready, that feature caustically witty protagonists and dangerous dames against a backdrop of 1940s and 50s California. ­­  Bethany Latham

9. Murakami, Haruki,

Reason: Haruki Murakami's novels employ a straight forward, often terse style that resembles Raymond Chandler's. Moreover, Murakami's characters embark on quests that resemble the assignments Chandler's hardboiled detectives accept, though Murakami employs a magical realist approach to plotting that contrasts with Chandler's realism. Readers of each may enjoy exploring the other. ­­ Katherine Johnson