Liz Alterman

Liz Alterman lives in New Jersey with her husband, three sons, and two cats. She spends most days repeatedly microwaving the same cup of coffee and looking up synonyms.

Alterman's new novel is Claire Casey's Had Enough.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

This past month I’ve been focusing on non-fiction. I was very fortunate to receive an advance reader copy of Rebecca Bloom’s insightful When Women Get Sick: An Empowering Approach for Getting the Support You Need, which is a fantastic resource for anyone navigating the complexities of our healthcare system. Filled with practical strategies, hard-won wisdom, and eye-opening anecdotes, this is a must-read for those with an illness and anyone who supports them.

I listened to Happy to Help by Amy Wilson. As someone who has a difficult time saying “no,” I found this relatable and empowering. A trained actor, Wilson does a wonderful job bringing “characters” to life in this essay collection which also explores the way women are frequently dismissed when seeking a proper diagnosis, underscoring the need for Bloom’s When Women Get Sick.

Whenever I’m between books, I return to Ann Patchett. This month, I listened to Truth & Beauty, which offers a heartbreaking and diary-like look at Patchett’s friendship with author and poet Lucy Grealy, who wrote the critically-acclaimed memoir Autobiography of a Face. Grealy undergoes countless surgeries to restore her jaw after losing part of it to cancer as a child. Without intending to, I've been immersed in stories that illuminate how truly flawed our healthcare system is. (Again, see Bloom's book.) As devastating as Truth & Beauty is, it also brims with love and a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how two writers approach their craft very differently.

I recommend all of these.

Visit Liz Alterman's website.

Q&A with Liz Alterman.

My Book, The Movie: The Perfect Neighborhood.

The Page 69 Test: The Perfect Neighborhood.

The Page 69 Test: The House on Cold Creek Lane.

My Book, The Movie: The House on Cold Creek Lane.

Writers Read: Liz Alterman (August 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Claire Casey's Had Enough.

The Page 69 Test: Claire Casey's Had Enough.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mark Stevens

The son of two librarians, Mark Stevens was raised in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and has worked as a reporter, as a national television news producer, and in public relations. The Fireballer (2023) was named Best Baseball Novel by Twin Bill literary magazine and named a Best Baseball Book of the Year by Spitball Magazine. His novel Antler Dust was a Denver Post bestseller in 2007 and 2009. Buried by the Roan, Trapline, and Lake of Fire were all finalists for the Colorado Book Award (2012, 2015, and 2016, respectively), which Trapline won. Trapline also won the Colorado Authors League Award for Best Genre Fiction.

Stevens’s short stories have been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Tribune, and Denver Noir. In both 2016 and 2023, Stevens was named Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year. He hosts a regular podcast for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and has served as president of the Rocky Mountain chapter for Mystery Writers of America.

His new novel is No Lie Lasts Forever.

Recently I asked Stevens about what he was reading. The author's reply:

Deep Fury by David Freed

The latest entry in the Cordell Logan series is smooth, witty, and a joy to read. Logan is a former government assassin turned flight instructor. He’s a wannabe Buddha. His student pilots learn in a Cessna 172 called the Ruptured Duck. He’s a burrito aficionado. He lives in a converted garage apartment in a seaside California town called Rancho Bonito. with his “orange blimp” of a cat named Kiddiot. The case here involves a dead guy who literally fell out of the sky. It’s Logan’s old wingman from his U.S. Air Force days. The plot moves from the obvious (drug cartels) into something more interesting and a tad more complex about government and military technology. What you get with Cordell Logan is a jaded but-still-willing-to-help worldview and, in Deep Fury, a story engine that purrs like the Ruptured Duck’s engine, thrumming along with “nary a hiccup.”

Better to Beg by Kristi MacKenzie

You won’t soon forget Viv and Hux. Or their fights as their band The Deserters makes its way cross-country on an epic journey to, well, one of the best endings you’ll come across. This is the story of a rowdy rock band. There will be a drugs. It’s the voices that drive Better to Beg. Back and forth from Hux to Viv we go and it’s rarely convivial. Viv is the grown-up (and that’s a relative term) and Hux is the delinquent subadult. Hux isn’t good with time or money. Viv tries to lay down the law after a show in Boston. Sitting in an alley after dumpster-diving for some scraps, Hux doesn’t care too much that the band is broke. He wants to cultivate a “myth” like Ziggy Stardust or Captain Beefheart. “All art must be the presence of craft, not the reminder of labor,” he tries to explain to Viv. “They only want the finished product.” Viv wants a record deal. Hux wants to work on his rowdy, drug-fueled reputation. What can I say about the ending other than it’s one of the most well-earned, perfect moments I’ve read in a long time. Art, myth, identity … and the power of story. Despite themselves and because of who they are, Hux and Viv are legends. So it starts, so it goes.

Lou Reed: The King of New York by Will Hermes

This highly detailed biography, told with a calm style, follows Reed step by step through high school and college as he endures electroshock therapy, absorbs the poetry of Delmore Schwartz, forms bands, listens to jazz, listens to doo-wop, explores the avant-garde arts community, and befriends Andy Warhol. “Aesthetically,” writes Hermes, “Warhol surely confirmed, and likely amplified, Reed’s notions about finding beauty in the ugly, banal, reviled, and despised, just as he mirrored Reed’s taste for repetition, noise, distortion, cultural provocation, and periodic arcs toward transcendence.”

Reed turned himself inside out for art and music. And he frequently did it for cultural provocation. He struggled with commercialism, but commercialism ultimately bailed him out. He struggled with professional jealousy and envy, but was ultimately revered. A terrific portrait of an inimitable artistic force.

Visit Mark Stevens's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Fireballer.

Q&A with Mark Stevens.

My Book, The Movie: The Fireballer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nev March

Author Nev March is the first Indian-born writer to win Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America’s Award for Best First Crime Fiction. Her debut novel Murder in Old Bombay was an Edgar and Anthony finalist.

March’s books deal with issues of identity, race and moral boundaries. Her sequel, Peril at the Exposition is set at the 1893 World’s Fair, during a time of conflict that planted the seeds of today’s red-blue political divide. In Captain Jim and Lady Diana’s third adventure The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret they face a strange, otherworldly foe who causes Jim to question the nature of justice. In the newly released The Silversmith’s Puzzle, Captain Jim and Diana race back to colonial India to rescue Diana’s beloved brother Adi, who is accused of murder.

Recently I asked March about what she was reading. The author's reply:

The Kidnapping of Mark Twain: A Bombay Mystery by Anuradha Kumar

I picked up this book because of the premise. I knew Mark Twain had visited Bombay in the 1890s, since that’s the period I write about. This was a charming romp through Bombay with fun and unexpected characters! Young American Consul Henry Baker and his trusty manservant Abdul meet a bewildering array of Indian and English characters. When the famous writer Mark Twain goes missing, Henry must rely on Maya, a green eyed Anglo Indian woman, and a strange magician, to investigate and rescue the great man. In enjoyed this unexpectedly fun tale with lovely atmospheric detail. Felt like I was there, back in the narrow gullies watching hawkers and tamashas of roving actors on the streets. It had some nice surprises, and a couple of poignant moments set in a splendid backdrop.

In Search of Amrit Kaur: A Lost Princess and Her Vanished World by Livia Manera Sambuy, Todd Portnowitz (Translator)

Did Amrit Kaur sell her priceless emerald necklace to save a Jewish family from the holocaust? This was a poignant story of a lost princess and early feminist. This book was part of my research for my next novel and held enormous fascination. The interwoven investigative and historical passages are painful and engrossing. Add to this an emotional layer: parallel stories of two daughters estranged from their mothers, and the ways we come to terms with the tears in our hearts. I had no idea that the Sikh Raja, Amrit Kaur’s father was such a Francophile! His palace in Pumjab is a mini Versailles! It was an eye opener to know that this early feminist had her heart broken when her husband took a second wife (Raja’s often did). She was so disappointed she went to Europe and when it was time to return, she absconded with a pair of American friends! The passages of her deprivations in a Paris prison during WW2 brought me to tears.

Beast and Man in India A Popular Sketch of Indian Animals in their Relations with the People by John Lockwood Kipling

Published in 1904, by the father of Rudyard Kipling, this little book contains more than the details of horse breeds and the often-comical sayings about animals. These sayings reveal a great deal about the late nineteenth century in India under the British Raj. It also inadvertently describes the bigotry and attitudes of the British administrative class towards Indians (Orientals, as they are called in the book.) In part funny, engaging and cringy, this honest little book was written to amuse members of the British public who were curious about their largest colony, India. While it shows a keen interest in the animals and customs of Indians, sadly, now, it reflects far more than the author ever intended, his own arrogance and disdain for Indians.

Next on my list: Canary in the Coal Mine by Charles Salzberg

Why did I pick it up? I attended CrimeConn, the crimewriters conference recently and met Charles Salzberg. He moderated a brilliant panel devoted to the justice system—it included folks that worked within it, some that help inmates reintegrate into society, and some that were impacted by the justice system (read, lived through imprisonment). The book is a hardboiled mystery, and I like to mix up my reading, so will take this on the plane when I travel next week. The premise intrigued me: A NY city PI who suffers from anger management issues and insomnia is hired by a beautiful woman to find her husband, dead or alive.

Visit Nev March's website.

Q&A with Nev March.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in Old Bombay.

My Book, The Movie: Murder in Old Bombay.

Writers Read: Nev March (October 2022).

The Page 69 Test: The Silversmith's Puzzle.

--Marshal Zeringue