The last year has brought a tragic event of historical proportions but it bothers me when people start to claim it wasn’t fair or caused irreparable damage. It’s not fair or unfair. It’s life. And much of humanity’s wisdom and resilience is rooted in these types of transformative experiences.

Yes, much of it may have been preventable. Yes, it was certainly hard. But we’ve learned things, too. We are still standing. That says something.

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

3 LINKS

• The NYT’s By the Book feature checks in with William Kent Krueger on crosswords before bed, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, his favorite Faulkner, and the greatness of James Lee Burke.
  
  
• NPR looks at Lippman’s DREAM GIRL and the recent (sort of curious) surge in thriller plots revolving around stolen manuscripts.
  
  
• The Guardian’s thriller roundup looks at McDermid’s 1979, the UK pub of Abbott’s THE TURNOUT and the English language translation of OF FANGS AND TALONS, plus more.

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Louise Penny’s work this week:

• “The dead are never far from us. They’re in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one final puff of air.” ― Ordinary Grace
  
  
• “I used to ask for an easy life, now I ask to be strong.” ― Iron Lake

1 QUESTION

• What is your favorite William Kent Krueger book? I’m partial to COPPER RIVER.

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Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series