Nancy Moskowitz's blog

Over the week-end came the sad news that noted mystery writer Dick Francis had passed away at the age of 89. Mr. Francis, a championship jockey turned successful crime novelist was one of the most prolific writers in the mystery field. He wrote 42 novels, all revolving around horse racing. Even people who were not particularly interested in horse racing praised these books.  With virtually no sex or bad language (in deference to the Queen Mother who was his biggest fan) Mr. Francis told compelling stories, adored the world over. One of the biggest mysteries involving Mr. Francis was, who actually wrote the novels.  Although he freely gave collaborative credit to his beloved wife, Mary, skeptics felt that an uneducated jockey was incapable of writing such fine work, and ascribed the authorship to the better educated Mary.  After Mary's death in 2000, he announced that there would be no more books, perhaps giving credence to this theory. However, he did produce four more splendid novels albeit working with his son Felix.

Pity the poor first time author!  After years of painstaking writing and re-writing, possibly years of rejections, somehow a book is published.  It will be reviewed, publicized, and ordered by bookstores and libraries.  Now what?  Does it remain hopefully on the shelf, while its better known brethren (yes, you Janet Evanovich and Mary Higgins Clark) are eagerly snatched up?  Is the author's creation doomed to languish on the shelf, unread, ignored, and eventually discarded?  As the librarian who orders the mysteries, I struggle between satisfying enormous popular demand for bestsellers, and purchasing the quiet, well-reviewed gems which the public may not even notice.  To rectify this situation, I want to take this opportunity to introduce some authors who have just published their first mysteries and deserve a wide readership. Try one today!

Have yourself a merry little...murder?

No matter what holiday we celebrate we all have our special traditions.  Decorating the tree, frying latkes, wearing gaudy holiday sweaters, baking Christmas cookies, lighting a unity candle, endless shopping and family get togethers all help to make this time of year meaningful.   Ideally, the holidays are a time to reflect on the year gone by and a time to cherish friends and relatives. But even if your family reunions are strained, no one really wants a grisly murder to occur right before the turkey is served.  However, you may want to read about one and if you don’t mind a little blood with your egg nog, here are just a few mystery holiday favorites:

Why do we read mysteries?  If you are reading this blog, it can be assumed that you like mysteries.  An interesting thread on Librarything discussed why people read mysteries, and there were some interesting theories.

1. We love to see people being punished for their evil deeds, and generally, mysteries accomplish this with the guilty being punished, or at least, arrested.

2. We love puzzles, figuring thngs out, and mysteries certainly contain puzzles.

3. Many mystery writers are superb at characterization, as well as plotting, and are just some of the best writers around.

4. In a long running series we become invested in our favorite characters like Stephanie Plum, Peter Decker and Alan Banks.

5. Mysteries explore the mind and actions of people who do terrible things and it satisfies our need to understand the human condition.

Do any of these reasons resonate with you?  Maybe you just like to settle in with any engrossing book and here are a few you mignt want to check out.

Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell.  Inspector Wexford returns and we get some intriguing looks into his past.

Prolific mystery author Stuart Kaminsky died last week at the age of 75.  While not a superstar of the publishing world, Mr. Kaminsky  (or rather Dr. Kaminsky, as he earned a Ph.D and was a film studies scholar) had a long and distinguished career.  Starting in 1977 and including this year, he wrote over 60 books.  The more astonishing fact is that he wrote not one, not two, but four different mystery series!  Some of you may have read his Chicago cop series featuring Abe Lieberman,  or his Russian Police Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov series.  Others may remember his Lew Foneseca, the depressive process server, or Toby Peters, the slightly seedy Hollywood P.I.  In 2006, Stuart Kaminsky was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization's highest honor. Mystery fans everywhere mourn the passing of this very talented writer.