The Quirky Detective

He was a bum

2006-10-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Carl Wilcox would be the first to tell you he was a bum. An ex-con who was homeless, a drifter, a drinker and eventually called the murder man, might earn the bum label. Harold Adams created Carl Wilcox and placed him in the 1930s, as the depression was gripping the country, smothering rural America. Banks were foreclosing on mortgages, forcing home and farm sales. Many of these banks were having their doors closed because of ill-liquidity, leaving savers strapped. Jobs were drying up with the economy. Lives were drying up in the dust bowl.

Harold Adams places the town of Cordon in South Dakota, paints it the dreary beige of the dust, fills it with people who endure as much as they live, and then lets Carl Wilcox drift in after being released from prison. Carl gets a room in his parent’s boarding house and does odd jobs to help out. He’s casual, but cares about people. He’s aimless but not irresponsible. He stumbles as casually into a murder, as to a widow’s arms. His knack for resolving the murder puzzles in the first few books eventually earns him some respect in surrounding towns as a man who can figure out murders – a murder man. As the series progresses he becomes just a little more rooted, develops a profession, of sorts, as a sign painter, but continues to wear the aura of the lay about, the underachiever, the bum.

If Carl Wilcox were to put up a shingle as a P.I., he would have to paint the sign himself. This is a quirky lifestyle for a detective!

There are 16 books in the series, and it’s a good series to start at the beginning, with his 1981 book, Murder. Or you could jump into the middle with his Shamus Award winner from 1992, The Man Who Was Taller Than God (Shamus Award for best P.I.)

Discover Harold Adams, mystery writer, here.

The quirky hit man

2006-09-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

John Keller lives a very quiet, ordinary life. He’s single. Lives in Manhattan. Had a dog as a pet for a while. Had a midlife crisis, sort of, and thought about moving to a small town. Collects stamps, his one small obsession. Thinks about retirement, but has been making some large stamp purchases that eat into his savings. Travels widely in his work. Oh yes, his work – he kills people on contract, a hit man.

Lawrence Block created Keller in short stories that have evolved into three books, Hit Man, Hit List and the latest, Hit Parade. The books read like stitched together short stories and sketches but that’s ok. Block’s subject is a hired killer, but the stories are as much about Keller as any man, with any man’s concerns, interests and issues. The big anomaly is that killing other people is against the moral code of most any man. Block doesn’t shy from the mundane accounting of Keller’s workday, providing the occasional detail but not justifying or showcasing it. The hit man scenes in the stories are more about the business side, the planning, the problems to be worked out and the occasional moral or ethical hiccup. He’s a sociopath and a little sensitive about the label! Block doesn’t try to make you root for Keller and success in his work, but he does make you interested in Keller the man.

These stories are more about anti-detection – doing a job and avoiding getting caught or getting hurt; the law and order authorities play almost no role. Keller the man could almost be viewed as a boring nobody (with the exception of his profession). Yet, for me, Block gives him the appeal of the quirky detective, the oddball protagonist, or the non-hero that engages the reader. Caring is too strong, but you are interested in how it all plays out. The appeal might be that Keller does have everyman doubts, neighbor hood type issues, aging anxieties, and a sense of the struggle of daily life. Or it might be that Block is just such a darn fine writer.

Recommendation – Lawrence Block is such a fine and prolific author that recommending him is like saying you should catch a sunset sometime. His Matt Scudder books have complex story lines and a hard edge, about an alcoholic ex-cop who gets drafted into private detection of the noir kind. His Bernie Rhodenbarr series is light and fun reading about a casual burglar and bookstore owner. John Keller is the hit man, next door. Block has been equally prolific with the short story where he has given his series characters short spins, as well as created many other engaging good and bad folk. Start anywhere, but do catch a sunset.

This review is also featured at One Storm Day and at I Love A Mystery.

Naked, came the detective

2006-08-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

The detective – Pete Amsterdam, in The Naked Detective by Lawrence Shames, makes the cut as a quirky detective, by being a complete fraud as a detective. He hangs out his PI shingle as a business tax shelter on the advise of his accountant. He is living a good life in Key West that consists of tennis, a quality wine cellar and appetite, a music room, a pool and spa, and has no need or intention to work. He discourages all detecting inquiries and the book opens with his rejecting one in a personal visit by a cross dressing thief who asks for help while Pete is in the spa. Of course other peoples needs and events drag him into detecting. Along the way he turns down more clients and shirks payment. The book follows his dogged detecting and finds closure with Pete in the spa. Pete Amsterdam is not the first reluctant detective, but he is one of the most engaging, and yes, quirky.

The recommendation – This was my first experience with Lawrence Shames. Don’t know why it took me this long! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and especially the story telling. It was funny throughout, and Pete Amsterdam was engaging from the first scene to last. The first person narration works and Shames is a master of the simile. His voice is fluid with a rhythm that is easy listening. I recommend the book, and especially the audio book.

Dual kudos – I listened to the audio book version narrated by Ron McLarty. His performance was terrific. Firstly, his voice matched, perfectly for me, what Pete’s voice should sound like. His reading of Shames prose was less a reading and more a story telling. His voice for other characters managed to convey their personalities and become instantly recognizable as the story progressed. Even his handling of female characters was fine. He didn’t attempt to feminize the voice for these characters, just softened the tone and let the characters speak. Great combination of author, book and narrator!

How about a detective that’s not a human? Not even alive? Would that be quirky enough?

2006-07-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Turing Hopper is the name given to an artificial intelligence personality, or AIP, by her programmer creator Zack. He created several AIP’s as part of an online research service. The AIP’s deal with clients, do the research, and are programmed to interact like a human researcher would – chat, anticipate and even throw in a little personality. Zack crossed some sort of boundary with Turing because she moves from “like human” to as human” to sentient. Turing’s data profile was loaded with all sorts of mystery books so of course she begins to think like a detective and becomes an AI sleuth.

We never get to meet Zack, whose murder is the series first crime. Donna Andrews, the author of the Turing AI series, gives Turing a couple of fellow employees of Zack’s, that she uses like gofers, but as they pick up on Turing’s sentience become her friends and sleuth side kicks. Maude and Tim develop into an executive and a private detective under Turing’s tutelage and become her prime interface with the human world. Turing also has relationships with other AI’s that appear to be a little less sentient than Turing, but clever enough to frustrate humans when necessary to bring the story along.

Andrews does some clever things with Turing to enable her to interact with the world outside of her computer hard drive residence and eventually finds a way to port Turing to other processors. Actually I found much of the technology to be more creative than some of the story lines. Donna Andrews has brought Turing to life in three novels: “You’ve Got Murder”, “Click Here For Murder”, and “Access Denied”. Turing meets my criteria for quirky, and Donna Andrews makes her fun to meet. However, I haven’t been tempted to try her other series that seems to be “bird oriented”.

I Love A Mystery on Squidoo

2006-05-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Do you Squidoo? I've created a Mystery Book related lens over at Squidoo.com. Checkout Squidoo, and my lens too at I Love A Mystery on Squidoo

Audio books, sometimes the voice makes a difference

2006-04-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Does an audio rendition of a book enhance the experience or does it get in the way? I listen to audio books when I'm driving alone, which gives me half a dozen hours a week of listening pleasure. Today's selection might be OTR (old time radio shows) or a mystery book. My experience is that the reader’s effect ranges from selling the book to killing the book. I just closed an audio book half way into the first CD because of the reader’s voice and phrasing. I heard the words but I wasn’t getting the story! While the premise of the book (Creepers by David Morrell) interested me enough to pick up the audio at the library, I’m not encouraged to try the book.

Davina Porter, who reads the Hamish MacBeth series written by M.C. Beaton, has had the opposite effect. These books fall into the cozy classification, which is not my first choice in story type. The first book I heard from Porter hooked me on the series. Her accent and phrasing help me feel the Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh and it’s residents. She paints a great picture of Hamish, the lazy constable who , like a dog with a bone, won’t let go when he feels a wrong has been done. I just tried, for the second time to get into a printed Hamish book, and failed for the second time. Might well be my short attention span but for me Beaton’s book work better in audio than in print.

Nick Landrum gives voice to Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter books (two so far). Dexter is a sociopathic, serial killer sleuth. Pretty improbable premise, but Landrum’s rendition of Dexter is perfect! Dexter’s view of society and his place in it is so unique, almost a spoof of society and its members. The story is written first person, so we see the world through Dexter’s eyes and mind. This is a little like wearing the wrong glasses; you can see things, but everything is a little warped. Landrum makes you really want to know what Dex is going to say and do next. I’m sure I would enjoy reading Lindsay’s books, but Landrum’s presentation makes me desire more Dexter.

Have you heard any audio renditions of books that seem to take the author’s words to new levels?
quirky detective

Dexter Morgan, the sociopath, serial killing nice guy.

2006-04-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Dexter may be one of the quirkiest. He works for the police (blood spatter analyst). He considers himself to be non-human, essentially some form of android. Think of Star Trek’s Spock with a sense of irony and humor. He mimics normal behavior to get along. He acts out what he feels are normal responses and emotions. He has a compulsion to kill, which he has directed (with the guidance of his foster father) towards those that he feel deserve to die. He detects, but his end goal is dissection. Sound dreadful?

He's actually can be quite charming. In the hands of Jeff Lindsay, Dexter makes the abnormal seem, well sometimes a little poetic and very often very funny. Be warned, this character and series are not for everyone. Having said that, you may also find Dexter to be dear Dexter. Lindsay doesn't stop at one quirky character, but fills out with a cast of characters who all know something is wrong with Dex, but can’t quite figure out what it is. Two books in the series so far: start with Darkly Dreaming Dexter and continue with Dearly Devoted Dexter.

If you enjoy audio books, checkout Nick Landrum’s presentation of Dexter. Spot on, as they say in the UK.

Blanche White, the maid who figures things out

2006-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

I picked up my first Blanche White book because of the title, “Blanche On The Lam”. What caught my eye was her name, the same as my mothers. That little hook brought me into Blanches world; the world of an independent black woman who happens to be a maid. Barbara Neely in four books moves Blanche from the South to the North, from job to job, accumulating a family along the way. In every book there is trouble and often threats to Blanche and her two children. She handles these threats, solves crimes, keeps her dignity and gives insight into her world. This book makes my quirky list for it’s unusual protagonist and Neely’s ability to let me see a life much different from my own. I’m pretty sure my mother would have liked Blanche as well. Checkout the four Blanche titles at the Blanche White website

Has a family connection ever drawn you towards a book?

Scott Moody, the schizophrenic cab driving detective.

2006-04-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

Author Steve Oliver took his experience as a mental patient and as a cab driver and invested them into his character, Scott Moody. Riding with Moody in his cab is quite an experience as he takes you into his delusional thinking and his equally bizarre life. He has a wife and daughter that he loves but can’t be with. He has a bare existence life that keeps him driving to earn money and chase his demons – real and imagined. Author Oliver is brave enough to share his psychotic experience and gives us a rare glimpse into the kind of shattered thought process a mentally ill person might have to deal with, while trying to cope with "normal" people who seem to think a little more linearly. Scott Moody is featured in three books: Moody Gets The Blues, Moody Forever, and Moody In Winter. Check him out at Steve Oliver's website

Who makes your quirky detective list?