Friday, July 15, 2011

Bill Crider

Bill Crider is the winner of two Anthony Awards and is an Edgar Award finalist.

His latest novel is The Wild Hog Murders, Volume 18 of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries.

Late last month I asked Crider what he was reading. His reply:
Earlier this week I read Megan Abbott’s new novel, The End of Everything. It’s a coming-of-age story narrated by a 13-year-old girl named Lizzie. Well, not exactly. It’s the grown-up Lizzie who’s really telling the story of her 13-year-old self. Lizzie’s next door neighbor, Evie, seems to Lizzie to have the perfect family. And then Evie is abducted. Lizzie knows things that no one else does, and while the search goes on, she does her own investigation. Secrets are revealed, though not necessarily the ones you might expect.

Right after reading that contemporary book, I plunged into something very different, Day Keene’s Hunt the Killer, a paperback original from 1951 that’s about to be reprinted by Stark House. I always enjoy Keene’s stories. This one’s about a man who’s just been released after four years in prison. He’s out for revenge, and naturally beautiful women are involved. The pace never lets up in a Day Keene novel, and this one’s no exception.

Meanwhile, when I’ve had a spare moment or two, I’ve been reading some of the short stories in the L. A. Noire collection published on Kindle. I liked Joe Lansdale’s “Naked Angel.” Megan Abbott has a story in this one, too. The stories are set in 1947 and connected to the video game with the same name as the book title. I won’t be playing the game. I need the time to read.
Visit Bill Crider's website and blog.

Read the Page 69 Test entries for Crider's A Mammoth Murder, Murder Among the OWLS, Of All Sad Words, Murder in Four Parts, and Murder in the Air, as well as an excellent write-up about Dan Rhodes on the big screen at "My Book, The Movie."

The Page 69 Test: The Wild Hog Murders.

--Marshal Zeringue