2024-04-24 12:00
Flamingo Roadby Sasscer HillMinotaur Books, 2017
Flamingo Road, Sasscer
Hill’s first (of two) featuring former Baltimore PD officer Fia McKee, is a
satisfying by-the-numbers detecti… Read More
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I have a thing for books. I love them, absolutely. There is nothing better--well almost nothing--than escaping into a dusty old bookstore and searching the stacks for that lost treasure.
2024-04-22 16:22
Introduction to Heretic: Stories
by Philip José Farmer
The critic Leslie Fiedler called Philip
José Farmer “the greatest science fiction writer ever” an… Read More
2024-04-15 12:00
from ED GORMAN’S Desk
City
That Never Sleeps
from Nov. 16, 2009
directed by JOHN H. AUER / written by STEVE
FISHER / starring: GIG YOUNG, MALA POWERS, WILLIAM TALMAN, E… Read More
2024-04-11 12:00
Pretty Girl Goneby David HousewrightMinotaur Books, 2006
Pretty Girl Gone, David
Housewright’s entertaining third Rushmore McKenzie mystery, finds McKenzie doing
a favor for his o… Read More
2024-04-08 12:00
This nice profile of
Roger E. Mosley (1938 – 2022) appeared in the June 5, 1983, issue of the Salt
Lake Tribune. By every account I have read—and this piece contin… Read More
2024-04-03 12:00
The
Summonsby Peter LoveseySoho Crime, 2004
Peter Lovesey’s third Peter Diamond
detective novel, The Summons—originally published in 1995 by Mysterious
Press&mda&hell…Read More
2024-04-01 12:14
Over the past few years I abandoned using
notebooks to keep track of the books I read in favor of Goodreads. A practice
that came about out of laziness more than anything else, but this year… Read More
2024-03-27 12:00
Half Crimeby Rusty BarnesRedneck Press, 2024
Rusty Barnes’s Half Crime collects nine
original stories about small crimes, human frailties, and sorrow. The tales lea… Read More
2024-03-25 12:00
Tin Cityby David HousewrightMinotaur Books, 2005
Tin City is David Housewright’s excellent
second mystery featuring unlicensed private eye Rushmore McKenzie. When aske… Read More
2024-03-20 12:00
In for the Killby John LutzPinnacle, 2007
There was a time not so long ago when serial
killer police procedurals were everywhere. From film to television to fiction. Per… Read More
2024-03-18 12:00
from ED GORMAN’S Desk
Richard
NeelyNov. 10, 2005
The first time I ever spoke to Richard
Neely, suspense novelist extraordinaire, he kept trying to place my name. &l… Read More
2024-03-13 12:03
Top Secret Killby James P. CodyBrash Books, 2024
Top Secret Kill—originally
published as a paperback original by Berkley-Medallion in 1974—is the first of
four titles in the s… Read More
2024-03-11 12:53
Did you say, Cannon? Yeah, I did, and this
sweet write-up about William Conrad appeared in the December 16, 1973, issue
of TV Week, included in the Salt Lake Tribune. Whi… Read More
2024-03-06 13:00
The Sleeping Cityby Marty HollandStark House, 2023
The Sleeping City is a hardboiled
novella-length crime tale by Marty Holland originally published in the Fall
1952 issue of Thrilling… Read More
2024-03-04 13:00
This autobiographical
essay by science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton appeared in the April 1956
issue of Imagination alongside Hamilton’s novella, “The… Read More
2024-02-28 13:00
“Is Betsey Blake Still Alive?”by Robert BlochIvy Books, 1987
A couple things I like: 1) stories written by
Robert Bloch; and 2) stories about Hollywood. So it was inevitable I… Read More
2024-02-26 13:00
A Night at the Shoreby Tony KnightonBrash Books, 2024
Tony Knighton’s third Nameless Thief crime
novel, A Night at the Shore, is a fast-driving, exciting, and downright
cool heist… Read More
2024-02-21 13:00
The Devil May Careby David HousewrightMinotaur Books, 2014
David Housewright’s eleventh Rushmore
McKenzie mystery, The Devil May Care, is a thinking man’s thriller with
a bi… Read More
2024-02-19 13:00
Women Wrote the Future, Vol. 1: Tales from Galaxy is an extravaganza of great science fiction written by
women and published in Galaxy in the 1950s. It is available
now… Read More
2024-02-14 13:00
Turnaboutby Jeremiah HealyLeisure Books, 2005 Turnabout—which was originally
published by Five Star in 2001—is an appealing, slow-paced, and surprising
crime novel by the au… Read More
2024-02-12 13:02
In the late hours I
tell myself I’m a reader, not a collector, which is (mostly) true and so I’ve
never had a problem repairing books for the purpose of making them readab… Read More
2024-02-07 13:00
This morning I realized I needed some Harry O love. I found this marvelous little article
published in the January 20, 1974, issue of TV Week, included in the Salt Lake
Tribun… Read More
2024-02-05 13:00
In at the Killby Emmett McDowellStark House Press, 2023*
In at the Kill—which began
life as one-half of an Ace Double in 1960 (paired with McDowell’s own Bloodline
to Murder)… Read More
2024-01-31 13:00
Heroby Thomas PerryMysterious Press, 2024
Hero, Thomas Perry’s latest thriller,
is a shotgun blast from the first page to the last. Justine Poole is a security
agent for Los Angeles… Read More
2024-01-25 13:00
“On Texas Street”by Ernest HaycoxLittle,
Brown & Co., 1942
Originally appearing in the Dec. 1932 issue
of Collier’s, “On Texas Street” is an appealing li… Read More
2024-01-22 13:00
This autobiographical
essay by science fiction writer Frank M. Robinson appeared in the June 1955
issue of Imagination alongside Robinson’s novelette, “Wanted: One… Read More
2024-01-17 13:00
Cause of Deathby Patricia CornwellBerkley, 1997
Patricia Cornwell’s seventh Dr. Kay
Scarpetta novel, originally published by G. P. Putnam in 1996, is a blander
production than her e… Read More
2024-01-15 13:00
S. S. Van Dine Sets Down Twenty Rules
for Writing Detective Stories
The American Magazine, Sep. 1928
_________
“There simply must be a corpse in a
detective novel, and the… Read More
2024-01-10 13:00
The Poker Clubby Ed GormanLeisure Books, 2000
The Poker Club, by Ed Gorman,
originally published as a limited and signed edition hardcover by Cemetery
Dance in 1999, is an expansion of Go… Read More
2024-01-08 13:00
This
autobiographical essay by science fiction writer Robert Heinlein appeared in
the Nov. 1953 issue of Imagination alongside Heinlein’s short story, “Sky
Lift”… Read More
2024-01-03 13:30
Dust Devilsby James ReasonerThe Book Place, 2011
James Reasoner’s marvelous crime thriller, Dust
Devils—published by Point Blank Press in 2007—received a starred review… Read More
2023-12-20 13:00
O Little
Town of Donutsby Ron
Peer with Mitzi Lynton2022
O Little Town of Donuts, by
screenwriter Ron Peer with Mitzi Lynton, is a sweet-hearted
story about good feelings, love, and Chris… Read More
2023-12-18 13:00
Two new collections of
Norbert Davis’s pulp stories dropped last week—Do a Dame a Favor &
Other Stories and Walk Across My Grave & Other Stories—from an
up… Read More
2023-12-13 14:45
Texas Windby James ReasonerThe
Book Place, 2010
James Reasoner’s first novel, Texas Wind,
is a great hardboiled private eye tale set in Fort Worth, Texas in the
late-1970s. It was ori… Read More
2023-12-11 13:00
Sometimes
I need to know what was on television during the week of September 9, 1974. This
is from the Logan Herald Journal, (Utah) Sep. 9, 1974. KUTV Channel 2 was—at l… Read More
2023-12-06 13:00
The Tithing Herdby J. R. LindermuthSundown Press, 2017The Tithing Herd, by J.
R. Lindermuth, is a traditional Western with a bevy of action, solid
characterization, and a literate and… Read More
2023-12-04 13:00
This light-hearted,
but informative autobiographical essay by Evan Hunter appeared in the Dec.
1953 issue of Imagination alongside Hunter’s novelette, “First… Read More
2023-11-29 13:00
Homicide: Saigonby Stephen MertzWolfpack
Publishing, 2021 Homicide: Saigon, by
action maestro Stephen Mertz, is as fast as a bullet and as much fun as a
summer afternoon. It is 1970. Th… Read More
2023-11-27 13:00
Introduction
to Tales of the Macabre by Jim Kjelgaard
[now available from Vintage Lists in the Tales of the Macabre /
The Black Fawn collection]
Jim Kjelgaard was a regular contributor of… Read More
2023-11-22 16:45
There
are a couple new reviews of mine out in the world. Unfortunately, none of them
are here, so I figured I’d point them out anyone interested enough to jump to a
few websites. … Read More
2023-11-20 22:15
Something a little different at the
blog this evening—and forgive my shameless familial promotion—but… My sweet and kind and
beautiful wife has a… Read More
2023-11-16 13:00
A marvelously self-effacing
biographical essay from Philip K. Dick. It appeared in the February 1953
issue of Imagination alongside his short story, “Piper in the… Read More
2023-11-07 13:00
Crown Vic
is
different from what novelist and screenwriter Lee Goldberg is known for writing
– easy going, well-plotted, and general audience mysteries like his brilliant Eve
Ronin ser… Read More
2023-11-04 17:45
An interview, of a sort mostly about fishing
and outdoor fun, with Jim Kjelgaard that appeared in the Nov. 10, 1945 issue of
the pulp magazine Short Stories with Kjelgaard’s short-shor… Read More
2023-10-11 18:30
A new collection of four crime
novelettes from pulp maestro Cleve F. Adams is available at Amazon, as both a
paperback and Kindle, titled Punk & Other Stories. Inside is a
brief… Read More
2022-06-21 17:05
This Red-Handed Wretch:Bill Hickman and The Murder of Richard Yates by Ben Boulden In the dying minutes of October 18, 1857, the notorious lawman, lawyer, and admitted murderer, Will… Read More
2022-05-10 17:10
Misogyny & Murder: Betty Webb’s Polygamy Mysteries by Ben Boulden Mystery writer and journalist Betty Webb made a literary splash when her second Lena Jones detective n… Read More
2022-04-27 16:00
Jim Kjelgaard’s Adventure Magazine Stories by Ben Boulden Jim Kjelgaard (pronounced kel-guard) is best remembered for his young adult adventures featuring dogs, young boys, and always… Read More
2022-04-20 21:22
A Little About Jack Higgins: A Life in Writing by Ben Boulden Jack Higgins is a familiar name to most readers. His thrillers have routinely appeared on international bestseller lists s… Read More
2022-04-13 16:00
Domino Island – published in 2019 by HarperCollins – is Desmond Bagley’s “lost” novel. The manuscript (ms) was discovered by the researcher Philip Eastwood at B… Read More
2022-04-05 21:50
William G. Tapply’s tenth Brady Coyne novel, The Spotted Cats, is a measured affair defined by its rich characters and Coyne’s sense of loyalty and jus… Read More
2022-03-31 21:25
The 1970’s men’s fiction market was rotten with revenge tales populated by veterans of America’s unpopular war in Vietnam. These isolated, disaffected, and angry men brough… Read More
2022-03-29 16:00
“If You Have Another Hobby, Take That Up”: The Thrillers of Harrison Arnston by Ben Boulden Harrison Arnston – Harry to his friends and pretty much everyone else &ndas&hell…Read More
2022-03-15 19:30
Professional Tennis, Amateur Spying: Jack M. Bickham’s Brad Smith Thrillers by Ben Boulden The six Brad Smith espionage thrillers, published by Tor between 1989 and 1994, are Jac… Read More
2022-03-05 15:40
A new edition of a great mystery novel is officially on the street: The Tenth Virgin, by Gary Stewart. Set in Salt Lake City and Southern Utah in the mid-1980… Read More
2022-03-02 18:00
Any readers kind enough to frequent Gravetapping have noticed an eerie quiet has settled in over the past several months. I was bored with blogging and things slipp… Read More
2021-04-14 18:30
Richard Matheson’s 1958 novel, A Stir of Echoes, is more than a horror story. The plot is speculative—Tom Wallace, after being hypnotized at a neig… Read More
2021-04-08 21:15
My companion to the late-Jack Bickham’s novels, titled Killers, Crooks & Spies: Jack Bickham’s Fiction, is coming out next Tue… Read More
2021-03-02 01:15
The Bill Crider tribute anthology, Bullets and Other Hurting Things, edited by Rick Ollerman (Down & Out Books), hit the street a few days ago. It features 20… Read More
2021-01-23 16:30
Double Feature, a 2020 release from Hard Case Crime and originally published as Enough in 1977, includes a short novel and a novella. The novel, A Travesty, is a slanted whodunit, which is m… Read More
2020-11-16 21:30
Hollywood Nocturnes, by James Ellroy, was published in hardcover by Otto Penzler Books in 1994. The edition that caught my eye is Dell’s paperback reprint published in 1995. The bright… Read More
2020-11-09 17:30
This is review is for a book different from the usual fare at Gravetapping, but it is a marvelous and important novel that satisfies on every level of good literature. It entertains, it educ… Read More
2020-11-04 14:00
When books appear as set background in film and television, I spend more time identifying the books than paying attention to the story. When a book gets actual screen time, it makes me… Read More
2020-10-26 17:30
Condominium, by John D. MacDonald, was published in hardcover by J.P. Lippincott in 1977, but the edition that caught my eye is Fawcett Crest’s paperback reprint published in 1978. Bro… Read More
2020-08-23 20:00
In 1988 a blandly designed hardcover—black type on a white background with a thumbnail image of a creepy house at the center—was published by St. Martin’s Press. Its title… Read More
2020-07-11 18:00
The Tenth Virgin, by Gary Stewart (St. Martin’s Press, 1983), is the best mystery novel set in Utah I have read. It is a private eye novel starring Gabe Utley. Gabe was raised on the e… Read More
2020-05-04 17:40
In 1989 a midlist writer named Jack Bickham published the slim suspense novel Tiebreaker. It was the first of six novels featuring aging professional tennis player, current teaching pro, som… Read More
2020-04-13 13:00
Never Live Twice, by Dan J. Marlowe, was published as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1964. The edition that caught my eye is Black Lizard Press’s 1988 reprint. A disappe… Read More
2020-03-30 15:30
The Burning Sky, by Ron Faust, was published in hardcover by Playboy Press in 1978, which is the very edition that caught my eye. The cover has a hardcover simplicity that pulls the me into… Read More
2020-03-20 11:00
It’s bargain Friday, and this time around I’ve collected a few free ebooks for your consideration. The first is W. Glenn Duncan’s Rafferty’s Rules:Rafferty ain’… Read More
2020-03-16 19:00
Ed Gorman is best remembered as a crime and western writer, but he wrote eight horror novels between 1986 (Toys in the Attic) and 1996 (Night Screams) using the pseudonym Daniel Ransom. The… Read More
2020-03-14 01:06
A bargain on Robert Silverberg’s dark masterpiece, The Book of Skulls, and it’s in time for the socially distanced weekend. For a limited time it’s available for Kindle for… Read More
2020-03-06 10:00
A bargain on the Richard Laymon’s In the Dark in time for the weekend. This was my introduction to Laymon’s work and I have fond memories reading the Leisure paperback edition so… Read More
2020-03-02 14:00
A good friend sent me an old issue of Mystery Scenefrom September, 1986. The content is fascinating for readers with an interest in pretty much anything being published in popular fiction in… Read More
2020-02-28 18:15
A bargain on the first book in Gregory Mcdonald’s Flynn. The first novel (of four) in, wait for it, the Flynn series. It’s a great weekend read, and it’s only 99-cents for… Read More
2020-02-26 14:00
Stark House Press and its imprint Black Gat Books are my favorite classic crime publishers. Black Gat publishes mass market paperback editions and their latest titles are:Tears Are for Angel… Read More
2020-02-19 21:00
To Die in Beverly Hills, by Gerald Petievich, was published in hardcover by Arbor House in 1983. The edition that caught my eye was Pinnacle Books’ mass market edition published in 198… Read More
2020-02-15 16:00
The February Stark House Press newsletter is live at their website:“The lead title—the book that Crime Club members will receive automatically—is another double volume from… Read More
2020-02-11 14:00
Cannon: Murder by Gemini, by Richard Gallagher was published as a paperback original by Magnum Books in 1971, which is the very edition that caught my eye. What’s not to like? Cannon t… Read More
2020-02-04 22:15
Ron Faust published 15 novels in a career that spanned nearly 40 years. The first, Tombs of Blue Ice, appeared in 1974 and the last, Jackstraw, was published posthumously in 2013. His work n… Read More
2020-01-31 02:46
Water Hole, by Julian Jay Savarin, is a Gordon Gallagher thriller. There were at least five in the series and Water Hole is either the first or second. It was published as a hardcover by St… Read More
2020-01-27 14:00
“‘Because my mother married a communist who wouldn’t kiss the rebbe’s ass. The rebbe, by the way, was Jacob Levy’s father. So, one man won’t kiss, pretty… Read More
2020-01-23 23:47
The Tribe, by Bari Wood (NAL, 1981), is a slow burning and suspenseful horror novel with a genuine Jewish golem at its core. It begins with the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp Belz… Read More
2020-01-17 16:42
I’ve never been accused of being a great writer or a prolific writer, but in 2019 I approached “working” writer status. I had four original crime short stories published. T… Read More
2020-01-14 00:47
Jack Higgins’ The Eagle Has Landed thundered onto the book scene in 1975. It was published simultaneously in the United Kingdom, by William Collins & Sons, and the United States, b… Read More
2020-01-07 14:30
The Spy in the Box was written by Ralph Dennis in the early 1980s, but this Brash Books edition, released nearly 40 years after it was written, is its first publication. … Read More
2019-12-31 02:30
2019 was a solid reading year. I finished 51 titles, which is 13 fewer than last year’s mark. As usual, the majority of the titles were fiction, but I did increase my nonfiction intake… Read More
2019-12-20 01:30
The Poker Club, by Ed Gorman, originally published as a limited and signed edition hardcover by Cemetery Dance in 1999, is an expansion of Gorman’s sleek novella, “Out There in t… Read More
2019-12-15 16:00
The Bavarian Connection, by Don Smith, is the twentieth installment of the popular Secret Mission series. It was a paperback original published by Charter in 1978, which is the very edition… Read More
2019-11-28 18:30
2019-11-18 13:30
“Sometimes, something happens that you can’t forgive. And it kills you because you can’t forgive. You drag it along with you your whole life and remember it at odd moments… Read More
2019-11-11 13:30
The Fall Line, by Mark T. Sullivan, was published in hardcover by Kensington in 1994, but the edition that caught my eye is the Pinnacle paperback published in 1995. The pastels are from the… Read More
2019-11-03 17:26
Missing at Tenoclock (1994), as by Arthur Williams—a one-off pseudonym of the prolific and reliably good Jack M. Bickham—is the first of the two Jonelle “Johnny” Bake… Read More
2019-10-21 12:00
“I found Edward Dollery, age forty-seven, defrocked accountant, big spender and dishonest person, living in a house rented in the name of Carol Pick. It was a new brick-veneer suburb b… Read More
2019-10-06 15:00
The Name of the Game is Death, by Dan J. Marlowe, was a paperback original published by Gold Medal in 1962, but the edition that caught my eye is the Black Lizard paperback published in 1988… Read More
2019-08-12 12:38
My magic as a writer—if I have any—happens in the second and third and fourth drafts. The first draft is a mad and passionate sprint. The characters and the… Read More
2019-08-01 12:00
I have a brand new short story in an anthology that hit the street last week. The anthology is Paul Bishop Presents… Criminal Tendencies. There are ten crime stories from Paul Bishop… Read More
2019-07-27 13:15
Me, Hood!, by Mickey Spillane, is a paperback original published by Signet Books in 1969, which is the very the edition that caught my eye. The simplicity of the background, the large text… Read More
2019-07-08 12:30
I’ve been pushing my own stuff too frequently the past few weeks, both here and at Gravetapping’s Facebook page, but—and please forgive me—I wanted to tell you about… Read More
2019-07-04 12:30
Deathwatch, by Elleston Trevor, was published as a hardcover by Beaufort Books in 1985, but the edition that caught my eye was the Star Book (imprint of W. H. Allen & Co.) mass market ed… Read More
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