It might be the post-vacation blues or just the natural personal reaction to the unending news cycle but at the moment it all seems terrible. How could it not?

I’m trying to pull myself out of it by reminding myself that it only appears that way because we are all right in the middle of it. We are face-to-face with it. It might be a struggle but if we can force some perspective on the situation we will be reminded that this too shall pass.

I’ll admit it’s not much comfort to know this, but it is some. The beat goes on. We will get through this, as we have always gotten through difficult times. Maybe with a good book. There will always be books and stories to help.

 

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

 

3 LINKS

• Good or bad, this is bound to be interesting. I still tend to like Affleck behind the camera and the backstory and personalities in getting CHINATOWN madeis almost as good as the film itself.

• The Telegraph has an interesting story on the mostly overlooked (in the US) Japanese genre of honkaku (locked room) mysteries where ingenuity is valued above all else.
  

• Hard to believe it’s been three decades since The Neon Rain debuted. Crime Reads looks at the changes and the constants in the 30 year evolution of Burke’s Robicheaux series.
  

 

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from James Lee Burke this week:

• “Age is a clever thief. It takes a little from you each day, so you’re not aware of your loss until it’d irreversible.”
  

• “I believe the causes that create them [serial killers] are theological in nature, rather than societal. I believe they make a conscious choice to erase God’s thumbprint from their souls.”

 

1 QUESTION

• What is your favorite James Lee Burke book? Personally, I’d go with IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD, almost on title alone.
  

 

Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series