Whitstable Pearl Mystery, January 10, 2019

Whitstable Pearl Mystery by Julie Wassmer

January 10, 2019

Julie Wassmer was born in the East End of London, studied at

Kingston University and had a variety of different jobs before she

finally settled down to become a professional television drama writer.

She worked on several TV series, including ITV’s London’s Burning,

C5’s Family Affairs and the popular BBC soap, Eastenders, which she

wrote for almost 20 years.

In 2015, Julie’s debut crime novel, The Whitstable Pearl Mystery,

was published ….. and the television rights to the series have been
optioned by the TV production company, Buccaneer.

The Whitstable pearl mystery (2018)

Pearl Nolan always wanted to be a detective but life, and a teenage pregnancy, got in the way of a police career and instead shebuilt up a successful seafood restaurant in her coastal hometown of Whitstable. … she discovers the drowned body of local oyster fisherman. Is it a tragic accident, suicide - or murder?

Series: Whitstable Pearl mysteries, 1

Murder-on-sea  (2015)

Pearl's busy planning her family Christmas and providing mulled wine for a charity church fundraiser when Christmas cards begin arriving all over town - filled with spiteful messages from an anonymous writer. Series: Whitstable Pearl mysteries, 2

May Day murder (2018)

While neither the restaurant nor detective agency is too busy, Pearl resolves to spend some time at the family allotment. But her best friend, Nathan, has persuaded one of his favorite actresses to open the May Day festivities at Whitstable Castle and involves Pearl in his plans. …. It's left to Pearl and DCI Mike McGuire to unravel the mystery of the May Day murder.

Series: Whitstable Pearl mysteries, 3

Murder on the Pilgrims Way (2017)

Pearl receives a surprise present from her mother: an early
summer break at a riverside manor house that has been
recently transformed into an exclusive hotel. …. She's
started to enjoy Caruso's attentions -- and his cookery --
when one of the guests goes missing and it becomes clear
that murder is on the menu.

Series: Whitstable Pearl mysteries, 4

Disappearance at Oare (2018)

Christina Scott confides that seven years ago she had the
perfect life with a seaside home, a confirmed pregnancy and
Steven, a loving husband, until one morning she woke to find herself alone. Her husband had vanished…. Series: Whitstable Pearl mysteries, 5

READ A-LIKES:

Death at the Seaside by Frances Brody (2017)

Love, Lies, and Liquor; An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton,

(2006)

Fall of A Philanderer by Carola Dunn (2005)

No Corners for the Devil; murder and Mystery in A Cornish  Seaside

Village by Olive Etchells  (2005)

Author’s website: https://www.juliewassmer.com

She rides again Dec 2018

SHE RIDES AGAIN   by Jordan Harper

December 13, 2018

PERSONAL INFORMATION: Born in MO; married;. Addresses: Home: Los Angeles, CA.

CAREER: Author; television writer and producer for The Mentalist, 2013-15,

and Gotham, 2015; has worked as a music journalist and film critic.

AWARDS: Best First Novel by an American Author Prize, Edgar Awards, 2018,

for She Rides Shotgun.

WRITINGS: American Death Songs (stories),

Beautiful Trash, 2013. (Contributor)

Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce

Springsteen, edited by Joe Clifford, Gutter Books, 2014.

Love and Other Wounds (stories), Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2015.

She Rides Shotgun, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2017.

She rides shotgun By: Harper, Jordan   Fresh out of jail, Nate thrusts his 11-

year-old daughter into a world of robbery and violence in an effort to keep her

safe from the prison gang that has put a bounty on his head and murdered her

mother.

READ-ALIKES

1. The twelve lives of Samuel Hawley  by Hannah Tinti, Reason: Compelling,

suspenseful novels presenting flawed, sympathetic criminal fathers on the run

with their young daughters. She Rides Shotgun is grittier and faster-paced,

while The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley is more of a coming-of-age version,

developing over a longer time. -- Karen Brissette

2. Blackbird by Michael L. Fiegel,  Reason: These compelling, gritty works of

crime fiction feature criminal fathers (or father figures) with unusually honest

and forthright relationships with their preteen daughters, taking them on the

lam and teaching them lessons in self-defense, strategy, and weaponry along

the way. -- Karen Brissette

3. The good wife by Stewart O'Nan, - Reason: The fathers' crimes have dire

consequences for their children in these bleak novels. In one, the daughter

joins the criminal world with her father. In The Good Wife, a wife and child try

to survive while he's incarcerated. -- Lauren Havens

4. Presidio by Randy  Kennedy, Reason: Gritty, atmospheric debut crime

novels feature well-developed characters on the hunt (Presidio) and on the run

(She Rides Shotgun). Presidio vividly portrays the violent Texas Panhandle of

the 1970s; She Rides Shotgun takes place in the contemporary southern

California underworld. -- Kaitlin Conner

5. Pyres by Derek Nikitas,  Reason: Strong, underage females are central to

these bleak novels. Inadvertently drawn into the crime world that killed a

parent, the heroines reveal how tough they are. While both plots are

compelling, She Rides Shotgun may be more disturbing. -- Lauren Havens

6. Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn  Reason: These gritty noir novels feature

familarly hard-bitten, reformed ex-cons who wind up on the run while trying to

prorotect innocents: his own young precocious daughter in She Rides; in

Tijuana Straits, a female activist who runs afoul of drug gangs. -- Kim Burton

https://crimefictionlover.com/2017/06/interview-jordan-harper/

Interview with Jordan Harper

Strawberry Yellow Nov 2018

STRAWBERRY YELLOW by Naomi Hirahara

November 8, 2018

PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Born May 12, 1962, in Pasadena, CA; daughter of Isamu (a gardener) and Mayumi

Hirahara; married Wes Fukuchi. Education: Stanford University, B.A.,

1983; studied at the Inter-University Center for Advanced Japanese

Language Studies, Tokyo, Japan. Memberships: Mystery Writers of

America. Addresses: Home: Pasadena, CA. E-mail:

bachi@naomihirahara.com.

CAREER:
Writer. Rafu Shimpo, reporter and editor, until 1996; Newman University,

Wichita, KS, Milton Center Fellow in creative writing, 1996-97; freelance

writer, 1997--. Member of advisory boards, Asian Pacific American Book

Festival, Los Angeles, CA, 2007, and Orange County Agricultural and

Nikkei Heritage Museum, Fullerton Arboretum; teaches writing workshops

and a bilingual writing class at the Japanese Retirement Home, Los

Angeles.

AWARDS:
"Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2004" citation, Chicago Tribune, and

"Best Books of 2004" pick, Publishers Weekly, both for Summer of the

Big Bachi; Edgar Allan Poe award for best paperback original, 2007, for

Snakeskin Shamisen; grant, National Endowment for the Arts; T.

Jefferson Parker Award, Southern California Independent Booksellers

Association, 2014, for best mystery, for Murder on Bamboo Lane.

WRITINGS:
"MAS ARAI" MYSTERY SERIES. (Most Recent: Mar 2018)

(First book in series) Set in modern L.A., this novel of moral and spiritual

reckoning finds a Japanese American who survived the horrors of

Hiroshima forced to relive the nightmare when a stranger show up looking

for him. Original.

    Summer of the Big Bachi, 2004.
    Gasa-Gasa Girl, Delta2005.
    Snakeskin Shamisen, 2006.
    Blood Hina, 2010.
    Strawberry Yellow, 2013.

    Sayonara Slam, 2016

    Hiroshima Boy, 2018

ELLIE RUSH MYSTERIES.  (Most Recent: Apr 2015)
    Murder on Bamboo Lane (Apr 2014)

    (First book in series) During the L.A.'s Chinese New Year Parade,

rookie bike cop        Ellie Rush's day turns dangerous when a murder

investigation falls into her lap.

   

       Grave on Grand Avenue (Apr 2015)

Author. Read-alikes
1.   Massey, Sujata  Reason: Massey and Hirahara write amateur

detective mysteries that feature Japanese American sleuths. Their

sleuths are likeble characters who are sensitively dealing with their

multicultural heritage. The stories feature sharp dialogue, ingenious plots,

and sharp characterization. The books bring in interesting information

about Japanese heritage while giving a keen sense of place. -- Merle Jacob
2.   Friedman, Daniel, Reason:  Daniel Friedman and Naomi Hirahara

write mysteries featuring senior citizens as their amateur sleuths. The

gruff elderly Jewish ex-cop and Japanese American gardener use their

cultural and worldly knowledge of people to solve crimes. The books are

filled with ethnic details, funny dialogue, and intricately detailed plots. --

Merle Jacob

Clair DeWitt #1

CLAIRE DEWITT AND THE CITY OF THE DEAD by Sara Gran

October 11, 2018

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born December 2, 1971, in Brooklyn, NY. Addresses: Agent: Sita White, Artists Agency, 230 W. 55th St., Ste. 29D, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

Writer. TNT network, scriptwriter for Southland. Has also worked in bookstores Shakespeare & Co., Strand, and Housing Works.

AWARDS:

Macavity Award for best novel, 2012, for Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead.

MEDIA ADAPTATIONS:

Come Closer and Dope have been optioned for film by Miramax and Paramount, respectively.

WEBSITES:

https://www.worldsbestdetective.com  (author’s website)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/07/24/claire.dewitt/index.html?iref=allsearch    (transcript of interview with author)

BOOKS:

Saturn's return to New York (Sep 2001)

Come closer (Aug 2003)

Dope (Feb 2006)

Claire DeWitt and the city of the dead (Jun 2011)

Augmenting her brilliant deductive skills with dream analysis, marijuana, and the written work of a mysterious French detective, private investigator Claire DeWitt reluctantly returns to post-Katrina New Orleans to solve the disappearance of an unpopular prosecutor.

Claire DeWitt and the bohemian highway (Jun 2013)

(Claire DeWitt) The infinite blacktop (Sep 2018)

Read-alikes:

The marauders  by Tom Cooper  Reason:  One-of-a-kind characterizations and a sometimes offbeat yet compelling writing style set these tales apart from most crime novels. Both take place in the haunting landscape of post-Katrina Louisiana, where serendipitous clues and connections race to convoluted conclusions. -- Jen Baker

Hawthorn & Child  by Keith Ridgway,   Reason:  Featuring unorthodox detectives whose ability to piece together seemingly unconnected clues may or may not point the way to a solution, these offbeat, intricately plotted mysteries will appeal to readers who enjoy experimental approaches to the genre. -- Gillian Speace

The Lower Quarter  by Elise Blackwell   Reason:  Well-developed characters and a strong sense of place distinguish these gritty mysteries, which explore connections between the missing and the dead in post-Katrina New Orleans. Unlike Claire DeWitt, The Lower Quarter introduces an ensemble cast linked by tragedy and mystery. -- Gillian Speace

Carly Paladino and Noah Lang mysteries  by Ronald Tierney  Reason:  The Claire DeWitt and Carly Paladino mysteries feature off-beat private detectives in fast paced stories that are filled with wacky characters, humorous dialogue, and atmospheric descriptions of New Orleans and San Francisco. These cozy-like mysteries are filled with plot twists. -- Merle Jacob

Nick Stefanos mysteries  by George P. Pelecanos.   Reason:  These gritty noir fiction tales star substance-abusing amateur detectives who live on the edge. The series' share a strong sense of place, complex protagonists, and a fast pace, although the Nick Stefanos mysteries are more violent. -- Mike Nilsson