One advantage of Steel’s characterization is that we have been spared an extended description and explanation of her taste in music, food or clothes. And nor have we been presented with the odd zany detail: Steel does not have a troupe of cats named after jazz greats, for example, or a friend with a predilection for t-shirts with ‘amusing’ slogans.
Category: Crime Fiction
A review of Wild Wives by Charles Willeford
Charles Willeford has been much praised by Elmore Leonard and others in the know, yet even now he remains something of a cult figure. This is a pity, for he is a rewarding writer for any reader. Certainly, he should really be better known and more widely appreciated than he is at present.
A review of Dirty Money by Richard Stark
Stark as a crime writer is beyond criticism. He does pretty much everything well. The way he writes dialogue, especially scenes where three or more people are talking, is well worthy of study. His art as a storyteller is to create problematical situations, uncertainties, iffy anxious stuff – and then to resolve them in a felicitous manner.
A review of Pervalism by M.E Ellis
M.E’s skill is consummate. Her voice, consistent and eerie, will ensnare the most reticent reader. An English setting, the backdrop for Brookes’ heinous acts, provides a rich tapestry of British culture that weaves depth and a strong sense of place…
A review of Wolves of Memory by Bill James.
Among crime writers – among writers in general, come to that – Bill James is something pretty special. Out of a novel about a grass (or, in American parlance, a stool pigeon) trying to resettle into a new life, he…