DP54Cover - Deadly Pleasures

24
Deadly Pleasures
LETTERS
LETTERS
Marv Lachman, Santa Fe, New Mexico
There was much to disagree with in the Daily
Telegraph’s “50 Great Crime Writers You Should Read
Before You Die.” Certainly, the omission of Michael
Connelly is inexplicable, as is not including Ellery Queen.
Also missing are Cornell Woolrich, Edward D. Hoch,
Anthony Berkeley, R. Austin Freeman, Freeman Wills
Crofts, Margaret Millar, and, as Mike Ripley pointed out,
Ross Macdonald, Rex Stout, and John D. MacDonald.
Being addicted to making lists, I found that I agreed with
the choices of 30 of the 50 as being worth reading before
death or other permanent disability. There were 8 whom
I had never read. Finally, I disagreed with the choice of 12,
namely: Ellroy, van der Wetering, Fyfield, Mankell,
Highsmith, Burke, Thompson, Mosley, Mina, McIlvanney,
Higgins, and Pelecanos.
I was glad to see Mike Ripley praise the reprinting
of Reginald Hill’s THERE ARE NO GHOSTS IN THE
SOVIET UNION, as I recall it being an excellent volume.
Especially noteworthy was the Dalziel-Pascoe short story
“Auteur Theory.”
Jeff Meyerson, Brooklyn, New York
George, as per your request in the latest DP,
here are some authors I would include on my top 50 list
who were left off the Telegraph’s list: Michael Connelly,
Bill Pronzini, Marcia Muller, Ross Thomas, John D.
MacDonald, Peter Robinson, Ken Bruen, Thomas H.
Cook, Lee Child, James Sallis
If I had to remove 10 to make room they would
be: James Grady, John Lawton (don’t know him, sorry),
Benjamin Black (too new, as a crime writer), Dan Kavanagh
(though I like his books), Stieg Larsson (only 3 books, with
only one published in English), Colin Bateman, Friedrich
Durrenmatt, Kyril Bonfiglioli, William McIlvanney, Denise
Mina
[Editor’s Note: the problem that I have with any
list like this: the top 50 Crime Writers, is that there are
more than 50 great crime writers, so one will always be
leaving very deserving writers off such a list. And there
will always be included on such a list a few quirky
favorites of the person or people who compile the list
– much to the dismay of knowledgeable readers.]
Gayle Lynds, Santa Barbara, California
I just wanted to congratulate you, and thank you,
for the wonderful roundup of female thriller authors.
Some of them I’d not heard of and will now definitely check
out. I particularly liked the piece because it didn’t pander,
wasn’t PC, and was your usual straight-ahead this-is-whatwe-think
approach.
I’m truly astounded at how long it’s taken women
to enter the field. It was one hell of a struggle for me, but
I always figured it was because I was first, and that it was
during the doldrums of the 1990s. But it seems to me that
women are still having a rough time – otherwise there
would’ve been more for you to list. My take about thriller
readers is that most don’t care whether a man, woman, or
monkey wrote the book. They have one simple (well, not so
simple to write) demand – a rousing good tale, and that
includes fine characterization, a certain thoughtfulness of
theme and content, and, of course, terrific action. I love
thriller readers! And I wanted to thank you, too, for your
kind mentions of me. I appreciate it.
Mike Galbraith, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Was pleased to grab DP53 out of the mailbox
yesterday and spend some time with it. It’s another good
issue. I was glad to see Zoé Sharp on the cover; I met her
last September at Jim Huang’s The Mystery Company in
Carmel, Ind., where she gave a fine talk, and I later read
and liked a good deal FIRST SHOT. I’ll have to spend
more time with the issue in the coming days.
But I didn’t want to wait any longer to tell you that
I’m surprised that Larry Gandle gave David Corbett’s
BLOOD OF PARADISE an “F” in his Edgar roundup.
I’ve read Larry’s DP reviews for some time, and I generally
agree with him. In fact, I’ll go along with most of his ratings
of the other books in this issue that I’ve also read. But, I can’t
agree with the slam he puts on the Corbett book (which he
failed to finish reading). Certainly, this is a complex,
challenging novel that deeply delves into El Salvador’s
politics, living conditions, violence, government, economics,
corruption and relations with the United States (the
human relationships Corbett presents are also complex).
And, I suspect, many readers won’t like the conclusions that
Corbett reaches. But, this is a serious, ambitious, wellwritten
book that rises above genre and has earned praise
from many other reviewers, including Patrick Anderson,
and writers (Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, John Connolly
and Dan Fesperman). I only haul in those folks for defense
of “what the hell does Galbreath know.” By the way,
Corbett’s DONE FOR A DIME is also a superb book (I’ve
yet to read his THE DEVIL’S REDHEAD).
Corbett and BLOOD OF PARADISE deserve
better from DP. And I think your readers deserve better,
too. Many will disregard BLOOD OF PARADISE because
of the review. And that would be a shame because
the book, easily the most ambitious of the five Edgar BPO
nominees, deserves a wide readership.
Larry Gandle replies: “Mike, I fully understand
how you feel about my review of David Corbett’s book. I can
only call it as I see it. Obviously, others disagree with me in
that it was nominated for an Edgar. I know full well I miss
the mark completely at times according to a lot of readers.
However, I can only review books based on my own
reaction. Remember, reviews are fully subjective and can