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| Barbara and her Man [on] Friday |
Jeff--Saturday
I have an announcement to make. It’s approaching Barbara’s and my
six-month anniversary, but that’s not the announcement. Lesa Holstine—book reviewer, librarian, and great
person extraordinaire--asked that I write a blogpost for Scottsdale, Arizona’s Poisoned
Pen Bookstore, a place we mystery authors all know well. The premise was to
write about “Distractions.” What books
kept us distracted during these pandemic times.
Lesa wanted two or three examples from me. But I had another idea.
First of all, how was I going to decide among the many first-rate new
releases from my Murder is Everywhere blogmates? Secondly, in many cases I’d have to lie about
reading them, as I’d found my distraction in immersing myself in my own writing.
So, I hit upon this idea: have Barbara—who’s been reading voraciously--take the
heat and make the choices. Not to be
outfoxed by moi, she agreed to recommend two, but only if I did the same.
Arrgh. Foiled again, I accepted.
That left me to decide among my blogmates. How to do that? I took the easiest way out and did it
alphabetically. I went with those with a
last name starting with “S,” but not living at the moment in a country that
started with the first letter of my first name.
That seemed a fair way to do things. And
despite recent anonymous pound and rand deposits to my bank account, that’s my
story and I’m sticking to it.
Anyway, below is the post and here is how it looks on line...with an introduction courtesy of Lesa [feel
free to skip over the part about me].
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| Lesa Holstine |
Jeffrey Siger’s photo
is at the top of his piece [Nope, I replaced it with a far more lovely one], and we’ll talk about his Chief Inspector Andreas
Kaldis pieces, but it’s a treat to have him joined by his wife, Barbara. I’ve
known Jeff for a number of years, and it’s so nice to have them share writing
duties here.
Jeffrey Siger was born
and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, practiced law at a major Wall Street
law firm, and later established his own New York City law firm where he
continued as one of its name partners until giving it all up to write full-time
among the people, life, and politics of his beloved Mykonos. The Mykonos Mob is
the tenth novel in his internationally best-selling and award nominated Chief
Inspector Andreas Kaldis series, following up on An Aegean April, Santorini
Caesars, Devil in Delphi, Sons of Sparta, Mykonos After Midnight, Target:
Tinos, Prey on Patmos, Assassins of Athens, and Murder in Mykonos.
The New York Times
described Jeffrey Siger’s novels as “thoughtful police procedurals set in
picturesque but not untroubled Greek locales,” and named him as Greece’s
thriller writer of record. The Greek Press called his work “prophetic,”
Eurocrime described him as a “very gifted American author…on a par with other
American authors such as Joseph Wambaugh or Ed McBain,” and the City of San
Francisco awarded him its Certificate of Honor citing that his “acclaimed books
have not only explored modern Greek society and its ancient roots but have
inspired political change in Greece.” He now lives in Greece and the U.S. You
can find Siger’s books in the Web Store, http://bit.ly/2jC3gpp
You can also find the
books that both Barbara and Jeffrey suggest as “Distractions”. Check in the Web
Store for those as well. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
*****
Ahh, distractions. How
I love them. Truth be told, prior to Barbara and I squirreling ourselves
away on our farm on the edge of the pandemic’s worldwide epicenter, I was
reading at the pace of one or two new mystery/thrillers a week. But then came
the plague, and I fell into a very different, but comfortable routine.
I’ve been banging away
on the keyboard every day, immersed in a standalone I’d been meaning to write
for a half-dozen years, chasing new characters in whatever directions they
decided to go. In other words, I’ve been living in a different world, returning
to this one only long enough to repair a leaky roof, remove the occasional
unwelcome snake from the front porch, or perform otherwise necessary farm
chores—like eating and sleeping.
Yes, I know reading
provides the same form of escape for many—thank God—but this time writing did
the job for me. I’m happy to say I just finished the first draft of my
standalone obsession and look forward to returning to my normal reading
routine. In a moment, I’ll tell you the books at the very top of my TBR list.
But first, I think it
may be of more interest to you to hear a few insights from my wife on the books
she’s been reading over these past months while I’ve been goofing off at the
keyboard. So, here they are, in her words:
Friends and family
have told me that reading during the Covid crisis has become too difficult for
them. They simply cannot stay focused. But I’m reading the same as
always. Perhaps it’s my choice of books, for I’ve been happily accompanying
strong female characters through the slower-paced, elegant, and structured
settings of Jane Austen novels. I love their modern, often humorous take on
human nature, filled with subtle jabs at the pretensions of the wealthy, and
silly small-minded behaviors of family members and so-called friends, all still
so very relevant today. My return-to-Austen-novels-binge began with her
unfinished, eleven-chapter Sanditon, and has taken me (thus far)
back through Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield
Park, and Persuasion.
Coincidentally, just
before the crisis, I’d binged on Charles Todd’s Bess Crawford series (starting
with #1, A Duty to the Dead), featuring a devoted, tireless nurse
struggling through the illnesses and death of World War I and the 1918
influenza pandemic. These days I often think about Bess, and how her human
instincts, pathos, and heroism are reflected in today’s hero nurses.
What attracts me to
Austen’s and Charles Todd’s work is that each is written from the perspective
of sharp, intelligent, strong-minded women; women who could be my friends.
Thanks, Barbara. Now
on to my picks of two works I cannot wait to read. I’m sure my choices
won’t surprise you, as they’re the newest releases of great authors.
We all know and love
Zoë Sharp for her iconic Charlie Fox series, but I cannot wait to read her just
released Bones in the River. It’s the second gripping police
procedural in her CSI Grace McColl and Detective Nick Weston thriller series
based in England’s Cumbria Lakes region. “Dark, shocking, and exciting, but
imbued with intuitive empathy and dry wit throughout” is how one reader
described it.
The novel opens with
the death of a local child, and though an accident, the killer makes a panicked
decision to hide the evidence. The child’s body is found as a small Lakes town
is in the midst of hosting its Appleby Horse Fair, a traditional event drawing
the largest gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in Europe. The discovery
quickly turns longstanding prejudices and distrust of Roma into
accusations and much more. As one relentless dramatic discovery after another
unfolds, Sharp draws us into better understanding what drives the Gypsy stigma,
through her vivid characters, engrossing and balanced exploration of complex
family issues, and gifted prose.
What more could one
ask for in seeking distraction?
For fans of Michael
Stanley’s award-winning Detective Kubu series, a treat is in store for us with
their latest book, Facets of Death. Actually, it could be labeled
first in the series, because it’s the prequel to all that we’ve come to love
about these Botswana-based novels featuring David Bengu, whose girth has him
nicknamed Kubu (Setswana for “hippopotamus”). It’s the story of how Kubu
applied his keen mind and famous persistence (along with his namesake’s gift
for masking one of the deadliest creatures in Africa behind a docile
appearance) to overcome the jealousies of his colleagues when he entered the
Botswana CID straight from university as a detective, skipping the usual beat
cop phase.
When the richest
diamond mine in the world is robbed of 100,000 carats in a deadly hijacking,
police suspect an inside job, but have no evidence of who it might be. After
the robbers are killed execution-style and the diamonds are still missing, suspicion
switches to a witch doctor and his son, and the case lands in Kubu’s prodigious
lap for him to show the skill and integrity needed to catch those
responsible—or find his career at an end. I’m pretty sure I know how this
will end for Kubu, but the great thing about reading Michael Stanley novels is
how much you learn about Africa and so many other things along the way…and the
masterful story telling that takes you there.
Well, that’s all for
now folks. Here’s wishing for you all to stay safe—and happily
distracted.
*****
Jeffrey Siger’s most recent book in the Chief Inspector Andreas
Kaldis series is Island of Secrets, previously published
as The Mykonos Mob.
--Jeff [and Barbara]
