THE DISPATCHER by Ryan David JAHN

Ian Hunt works as a 911-dispatcher for the police of Bulls Mouth (Texas), trying to save lives while he lets his own slowly disintegrate. But one day, towards the end of his shift, hunt receives a distress call from his daughter Maggie, who had been abducted 7 years earlier and never heard from since. Hunt’s only goal now is to bring Maggie back home.

This is a nerve-wracking, suspenseful story that makes us reflect about who we are during our daily lives in comparison to who we could become when we are down to our last hope, our last purpose. Some of us would stay within the limits established by law and follow the line, but others would go to extremes, crossing the line and ready to do anything at all. Ian Hunt is of the latter group, although he’s never tested his limits before. His daughter’s kidnapper, henry dean, is also of that group, but he knows how it feels to kill; he’s done it many times already.

THE TECHNOLOGISTS by Matthew PEARL

Matthew Pearl continues his series of historical novels, following The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow & The Last Dickens, with The Technologists, a story about the confrontation between old and new ideas of technology, in 1868; it’s a time when manpower is starting to lose ground to improved machinery that produce at a faster rate, with higher quality and bigger quantities. After writing books that concentrated around a writer and his work (Dante, Poe, Dickens) mixed in with a series of murders, this time Pearl went for the bigger picture, focusing on a city (Boston) and attacks against its population.

Two bizarre events spread fear and panic into the streets, bringing many of its inhabitants to flee the city. It all starts during a foggy night that sees mayhem and destruction in Boston Harbor; every navigational instrument goes haywire, causing ships to ram into each other or crash into docks. Fortunately, there is no casualty. The second incident occurs a few days later in the city’s downtown when all the windows of the buildings suddenly dissolve and melt as if by an act of evil magic.  

The House of Crime & Mystery is 1 year old today!

I'll try to make it a quick note to thank everyone who has supported this blog at one time or another over the last 12 months. A special thank you to J. Kingston Pierce, of the unique and fabulous blogs The Rap Sheet and Killer Covers of the Week, who made me feel welcome right from the start in this unbelievably friendly community of bloggers, readers, writers, fans, and even two or three interesting (from a distance) nut jobs. 

A huge thank you to my contributors, Grenouille Noire and Bulle Noire, without whom the French section Ze Room Noire couldn't be as interesting and as informative as it is. 

Thank you also to my new contributor, L'Etranger and to my friends and collaborators at the fabulous UK site Crime Fiction Lover: I admire each one of you and you inspire me, especially the brilliant editor Garrick Webster who does magic with my reviews and makes my writing look way better than it really is (behind every reviewer there should be an editor like the G-Man). Having grown up mainly in French, I still learn everyday about the English language and even though my writing is far from where I'd like it to be, no one has ever negatively criticized it and I truly appreciate the all around support. 

I also want to thank my friend and conspirator in co-founding the QuebeCrime Writers Festival, Guy Dubois, owner of La Maison Anglaise Bookstore in Quebec City. (Next edition October 25-27, 2012). Thank you to the writers who came to the festival last October: Lawrence Block, John Brady, Hilary Davidson, Anne Emery, John Farrow, Tom Henighan, Craig McDonald, Denise Mina, Andrew Pyper, Ian Rankin, Simon Toyne, and Daniel Woodrell. And of course thank you to everyone who attended the festival, we hope to see you again this year.

Thank you to the many publicists and publishers who took this site seriously and who hopefully still do! To the sales reps in Eastern Canada (that I also consider friends) who generously share books, you are a tremendous help.

Thank you to the writers who took time out of their insanely busy schedules to grant me interviews without knowing who I was. Some of these interviews are posted on the site, others will be in the coming months.
Of course, thank you to everyone who visited the site at one point or another, but especially to those who liked it enough to come back. Without your support, it would all be pointless. 

And last but not least, big hugs and lots of love to my collaborators in life, my wife Nathalie and our great kids Thomas and Lucca, who understand my passion for books in general and for crime fiction in particular, and they let me indulge. Because they also know that it'll always be second to them. (It helps that they are big readers too).

Here's to another great year!

JF

March 1st, 2012

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On February 16th, The House of Crime & Mystery was scheduled to host Matthew Pearl's blog tour with a review of his upcoming novel THE TECHNOLOGISTS (pub date February 21st). Unfortunately, I will be unable to do so. A friend of mine has lost his life in a car accident earlier today (Wednesday).

I will post the review of Matthew Pearl's book as soon as possible. I can assure you that it is a great book, his best one yet.
I will also soon announce the winner of a copy of Elly Griffiths's book A Room Full of Bones. Thank you to everyone who participated, and thanks for your patience.

JF
February 15, 2012

"Un ami qui meurt c'est quelque chose de vous qui meurt"  --Gustave Flaubert
 (A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies)

WHAT IT WAS by George PELECANOS

(a shorter version of this review has been published at the Crime Fiction Lover website) 

On a rainy afternoon, Nick Stefanos and Derek Strange are having drinks at Leo’s, content enough to just be sitting down with each other. When The Dramatics’s In The Rain, plays on the bar’s jukebox, it ignites in them reminiscences about 1972, the year of that song’s release. For Stefanos, it was “The summer that Watergate broke.” But for Strange, it was an entirely different time. It was “…the summer that Red went off. (…) Some called him Red Fury. (…) on account of his light skin and the tint of his hair. Fury was the car his woman drove.”

“We got all afternoon,” said Stefanos.

“Then let me tell it,” replied Strange. And so he does.  

Strange’s narration starts with the murder of Bobby Odum and with a stolen ring, “probably a fake piece”. Funkadelic’s I Wanna Know If It’s Good To You (Eddie Hazel on guitar) played on the victim’s turntable, and parked outside was “a Plymouth Fury, the GT Sport, a two-door 440 V-8 with hidden headlamps and a four-barrel carb.” Vanity plates: “Coco” –as in brothel-owner Coco Watkins, Robert Lee Jones’s woman. More blood will soon flow as scores are settled.

Strange, who at the time was a private detective –four years after the events from “Hard Revolution” when he was a rookie cop— is hired by Maybelline Walker, Odum’s friend, to recover her stolen ring. Meanwhile, detective Frank Vaughn, Strange’s former partner in the DC police, tries to catch ‘Red Fury’ and put an end to his murderous rampage. Vaughn and Strange will team up together once again, although unofficially this time.

One of Pelecanos’s brilliant ideas is to use the seemingly unimportant ring throughout the story, as it will change hands a few more times before it ends up in its rightful owner’s possession, all the while connecting different plot lines together and serving as a thread between some characters, and helping others who follow its trail.  

New Giveaway: Elly Griffiths's A Room Full of Bones

UPDATE: We have a winner and it is Olga Petrik, of Guelp (Ontario, Canada). This was our most popular giveaway so far, even more than the Stephen King one last fall. Thank you to everyone who participated, thank you to McClelland & Stewart for the book, and stay tuned for another giveaway very soon. --JF February 18th
Open to residents of Canada and the US, aged 18 and over. A Room Full of Bones is Elly Griffiths's new book, her fourth crime novel. She lives near Brighton, UK. Elly has received high praises on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but she's only been seriously noticed in North America since last year's The House at Sea's End. Don't miss out on one of the best young crime writers. Just send me your name and address at housecrimyst@gmail.com for a chance to win a copy of A Room Full of Bones. You have until Wednesday, February 15th, at noon Eastern Time. Bonne chance!
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