Some reviews, a profile and a bit of mystery twittering

Even in the summer heat and at the peak of Wimbledon, there's lots of entertaining, stimulating  reading on that ol' Internet. Via In Reference to Murder and dBusiness news, I learn that on June 15th, "the Tweet Mystery of Death became Twitter’s first live murder mystery — letting Twitter users follow nine characters to engage with the story and solve a series of crimes." The mystery is running live on Twitter from 15 June to 27 July: see  tweetmystery.com or hashtag #tmod on Twitter.com for more.

There's a highly readable profile of Yrsa Sigurdadottir in PW, by Jonathan Segura, who writes "in addition to international bestselling author, mother of two, grandmother of one and owner of two pugs, Yrsa’s a civil engineer. With the economy in a death spiral, the engineering work has slowed, but, she says, her books are doing better than ever: her most recent Thora novel debuted in December as the #2 hardcover bestseller in Iceland (its initial print run, 10,000, was huge by Icelandic standards), and she’s in the middle of writing the next, on track to deliver this fall and maintain her average of a novel per year. She doesn’t do much press in Iceland—one interview per year, so people “won’t get tired of me”—but is frequently on the road to promote her books abroad. There is much terrain to cover; she’s been translated into nearly 30 languages." See here for my Euro Crime review of Yrsa Sigurdadottir's debut, Last Rituals.

There's a lovely review of Case Histories, Kate Atkinson's first Jackson Brodie novel, by Dorte on DJ's Krimiblog. I must read One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News?, both of which have been on my shelves unread for far too long, given how much I enjoyed Case Histories - especially the first two-thirds of the novel.

Very appropriate for the current weather, Norman Price reviews the latest Camilleri to be translated into English, August Heat. Norman's quote says it all:
"How about a few big platters of antipasto di mare with shrimps, prawns, baby octopus, anchovies, sardines, mussels and clams?"
"Sounds good. And for second course?"
"Mullet in onions: served cold a delight."
Served cold, a delight indeed. I'm already looking forward to Montalbano's next outing.

The Brothers Judd have just reviewed The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson, and give the book a C! "Try a Martin Beck instead", they write. I can't argue with trying Martin Beck - but you can do both! Incidentally, if, like me, you are interested in Scandinavian crime fiction and keeping up with the latest news about books, films, translations and so on, Peter at Nordic Bookblog has a very informative and useful post up - with some good news for Jo Nesbo fans.

Kim at Reading Matters writes a spiffing review of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I read and loved all Wyndham's books when I was young (I think I read them all, I may have missed a couple), and it's surprising, though maybe it shouldn't be, how often one comes across posts about his books, and how many people I encounter on the Internet are fellow-enthusiasts for this author's books. Kim writes that The Chrysalids is set in a "post-apocalyptic world a few thousands years in the future. But in this case society has regressed to the point of living a rather primitive frontier-like existence reminiscent of 18th century pastoral America..... But all is not as it seems. This is a society obsessed with fundamental Christianity to the point where anyone not born in the true Image of God is regarded as a blasphemy to be dispatched at birth or condemned to live in the Fringes, a wild untamed area where other rejected "humans" roam." Read the rest of Kim's excellent review here.

Comments

[steffi suhr]

I very much enjoyed all of the Jackson Brodie novels - and I can't believe there should be crime fiction I've read and you haven't, Maxine ;)

[kimbofo]

Thanks for the kind words about my review. I'm in the mood to read more by Wyndham now. I really enjoyed The Chrysalids and even though I read it when I was 16 I basically could not remember a darn thing about it! I read the Kraken Wakes at about the same time, but I can't remember much about that either, although when I read the blurb on Amazon the other day it gave me goosebumps, because it's obviously about global warming...

[Clare D]

Yes, Kim's review on the Chrysalids was really good - it made me want to read it again. Especially since it was obvious reading the review that I'd forgotten the actual book almost completely - except for the bit about the six toes.