Leighton Gage has been a copywriter, an advertising creative director, a magazine editor, and a writer/producer/director of documentary films and industrial videos.His latest novel in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series, Every Bitter Thing, is now out from Soho Crime.
Last month I asked him what he was reading. His reply:
Last year, I was one of the judges for the “first best” jury for the Mystery Writers of America.Read more about Every Bitter Thing.
As anyone who’s ever had the experience will tell you, it’s a reading marathon that doesn’t give a writer a heck of a lot of time to read anything else, particularly if he/she expects to get any work done during the process.Two books I loved didn’t garner the necessary votes from my colleagues to make the final cut, but both have stuck with me through time, and I continue to think that both of them should have been so honored.
I can’t really recommend one over the other. You’re gonna have to read them both.
One is Lenny Kleinfeld’s Shooters and Chasers, a story that begins in Chicago and ends in the California wine country.
Lenny’s romp through the lives of a couple of star-crossed contract killers is an absolute delight. He has a rare talent for being able to tie-up murder, mayhem and humor in a neat, satisfying package.The other book is Jeffrey Siger’s Murder in Mykonos. Jeff writes the kind of stuff I write, police procedurals set outside the United States. His particular area of expertise is Greece, which he knows inside out. As well he should. He’s American by birth, but has maintained a home on the aforementioned island for more than twenty-five years.
The only defect these two books have is that they’re too short. Once you start reading, you want them to go on and on.
I can only hope that you’ll enjoy them as much as I did. Which was a lot.
Visit Leighton Gage's website and the Murder is Everywhere blog.
The Page 69 Test: Blood of the Wicked.
My Book, The Movie: Buried Strangers.
The Page 69 Test: Dying Gasp.
--Marshal Zeringue
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