Notes About An Author ~ Louise Penny

As frequent readers of this blog know, I’ve been reading a number of mysteries by Louise Penny. Her work features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the homicide department of the Sûreté du Québec. The novels are set in the province of Quebec. Still, they feature many hallmarks of the British whodunit genre, including murders by unconventional means, bucolic villages, large casts of suspects, red herrings, and a dramatic disclosure of the murderer in the last few pages of the book.

Louise Penny’s first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). After she turned to writing, she won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year five times, including four consecutive years (2007–2010), and the Anthony Award for best novel of the year five times, including four consecutive years (2010–2013). Her novels have been published in 23 languages.

In 1996, Penny left the CBC to take up writing, she started a historical novel but had difficulty finishing it, and eventually, she switched to mystery writing.  She entered her first novel, Still Life, in the “Debut Dagger” competition in the United Kingdom, placing second out of 800 entries.  The book won other awards, including the “New Blood” Dagger award in the United Kingdom, the Arthur Ellis Award in Canada for best first crime novel, the Dilys Award, the Anthony Award, and the Barry Award for Best First Novel in the United States.

There are currently 18 books in this series and the author, Louise Penny adds more to this mystery genre than just an intriguing mystery to solve.  She adds depth and empathy to her main character, Armand Gamache, as he represents goodness.  In most fiction, evil has all the fun while good gets tagged as boring, however, Inspector Gamache as conceived by the author represents the embodiment of decency.

As I wrote in my book review of Louise Penny’s Still Life, she not only writes a good mystery story but writes with a descriptive quality that every writer longs to obtain.  An example of her descriptive writing is seen when Gamache examines a dead woman’s body:

” His deep brown eyes lingered on her liver-spotted brown hands.  Rough, tanned hands that had known seasons in a garden.  No rings on her fingers or sign there had ever been.  He always felt a pang when looking at hands of the newly dead, imagining all the objects and people those hands had held.  The food, the faces, the doorknobs.  All the gestures they’d make, to signal delight or sorrow.  And the final gesture, surely, to ward off the blow that would kill.  The most poignant were the hands of young people who would never absently brush a lock of gray hair from their own eyes.”

Her books are great mysteries and delightful to read, I highly recommend Lousie Penny’s writing.

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♦ Portions of this post were excerpted from Wikipedia, Lousie Penny website, and google graphics.

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Notes on an Author ~ Vince Flynn

Vince Flynn is another favorite author of mine. Unfortunately, prostate cancer took his life at the early age of 47. He was an American author of political thriller novels surrounding the story of the fictional assassin Mitch Rapp.  He was also a story consultant for the fifth season of the television series 24.

The Mitch Rapp Series

Mitch Rapp is a fictional undercover CIA counterterrorism agent. Rapp’s primary focus is to thwart terrorist attacks on the U.S. Flynn presents Rapp as an aggressive operative willing to take more extreme measures that might be considered acceptable. In all the novels, Mitch Rapp is constantly frustrated with procedures and red tape in the CIA and the U.S. government.

Starting in 2015 with The Survivor, the Mitch Rapp series has been continued by author, Kyle Mills.

Publication year	Storyline order	Title	ISBN	Author
1999	3	Transfer of Power	0-671-02319-5	Vince Flynn
2000	4	The Third Option	0-671-04731-0
2001	5	Separation of Power	0-671-04733-7
2003	6	Executive Power	0-7434-5395-6
2004	7	Memorial Day	0-7434-5397-2
2005	8	Consent to Kill	0-7432-7036-3
2006	9	Act of Treason	0-7432-7037-1
2007	10	Protect and Defend	978-0-7432-7041-0
2008	11	Extreme Measures	0-7432-7042-8
2009	12	Pursuit of Honor	978-1-4165-9516-8
2010	1	American Assassin	978-1-4165-9518-2
2012	2	Kill Shot	978-1-4165-9520-5
2012	13	The Last Man	978-1-4165-9521-2
2015	14	The Survivor	978-1-4767-8345-1	Kyle Mills
2016	15	Order to Kill	978-1-4767-8348-2
2017	16	Enemy of the State	978-1-4767-8351-2
2018	17	Red War	978-1-5011-9059-9
2019	18	Lethal Agent	978-1-5011-9062-9
2020	19	Total Power	978-1-5011-9065-0
2021	20	Enemy at the Gates	978-1-982164-88-1
2022	21	Oath of Loyalty	978-1-982164-91-1

The Vince Flynn novels are great political thriller novels and continue to be exciting reads as the Mitch Rapp series continues through the writing of Kyle Mills.  I have read all the books in the series and highly recommend these action thrillers.

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♦ Portions of this post were excerpted from Wikipedia, Vince Flynn’s website, and google graphics.

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Notes About a Poet & His Poem

Edgar Albert Guest (August 20, 1881 – August 5, 1959) was a British-born American poet who became known as the People’s Poet.  He became a naturalized citizen in 1902   He began his career at the Detroit Free Press as a copyboy and then as a reporter.  His first poem appeared on December 11, 1898.  For 40 years, Guest was widely read throughout North America. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life.  Featured below is his poem, titled Good Books, one of my favorite poems about reading and books:

Good Books

Good books are friendly things to own.
If you are busy they will wait.
They will not call you on the phone
Or wake you if the hour is late.
They stand together row by row,
Upon the low shelf or the high.
But if you’re lonesome this you know:
You have a friend or two nearby.

The fellowship of books is real.
They’re never noisy when you’re still.
They won’t disturb you at your meal.
They’ll comfort you when you are ill.
The lonesome hours they’ll always share.
When slighted they will not complain.
And though for them you’ve ceased to care
Your constant friends they’ll still remain.

Good books your faults will never see
Or tell about them round the town.
If you would have their company
You merely have to take them down.
They’ll help you pass the time away,
They’ll counsel give if that you need.
He has true friends for night and day
Who has a few good books to read.

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♦ Portions of this post were excerpted from Wikipedia, poemhunter.com, and google graphics.

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Notes on an Author & Thoughtful Quote

The author, Thomas Moore, was born on October 8, 1940, in Detroit, Michigan.  He is a psychotherapist, former monk, and writer of popular spiritual books, including the bestseller Care of the Soul, Guide to cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life. He writes and lectures in the fields of archetypal psychology, mythology, and imagination. His work is influenced by the writings of Carl Jung and James Hillman.

One of his most profound remarks is from his book Care of the Soul:

“As the poets and painters of centuries have tried to tell us, art is not about the expression of talent or the making of pretty things. It is about the preservation and containment of soul. It is about arresting life and making it available for contemplation. Art captures the eternal in the everyday, and it is the eternal that feeds soul—the whole world in a grain of sand.”

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♦ Portions of this post were excerpted from the book Care of the Soul and google graphics.

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Notes About Author ~ Jon Meacham

Yesterday, I posted a review of historian Jon Meacham’s most recent presidential biography of Abraham Lincoln, And There Was Light.  I thought in today’s post I would share some insights about the author, Jon Meacham.

Notes about Jon Meacham:

Jon Meacham is an American writer, reviewer, historian, and presidential biographer.   He has been the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021.  He is the former executive editor and executive vice president at Random House.   Meacham is also a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review; a contributing editor to Time magazine, and a former editor-in-chief of Newsweek. He has authored dozens of books and won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University.

Jon Meacham’s Books Include:

◊ Voices in Our Blood: America’s Best on the Civil Rights Movement (editor)
◊ Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
◊ American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
◊ American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
◊ American Homer: Reflections on Shelby Foote and His Classic The Civil War: A Narrative (editor)
◊ Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
◊ Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
◊ The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
◊ Impeachment: An American History. (With Timothy Naftali, Peter Baker, and Jeffrey A. Engel)
◊ Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation (With Tim McGraw)
◊ The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross
◊ His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope
◊ And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

Although I have not read all of Meacham’s books, I have read more than half of his works.  His works are well-researched, and scholarly in nature, however, they are easy to read for the non-scholar.  I highly recommend his works to gain great insights into American history and to learn about the people who fought and worked to preserve this great American experiment we call — democracy.

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♦ Portions of this post were adapted from Wikipedia, amazon graphics, and publisher notes.

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Notes About An Author

Horation Alger Jr.

Horatio Alger Jr., (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through good works. His writings were characterized by the “rags-to-riches” narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States during the Gilded Age.

All of Alger’s juvenile novels share essentially the same theme: a teenage boy improves his circumstances through virtuous behavior. There is a “Horatio Alger myth” that the boy becomes wealthy through hard work, but this is inaccurate. In the actual stories, invariably the cause of success is an accident that works to the boy’s advantage after he conducts himself according to traditional virtues such as honesty, charity, and altruism. The boy might return a large sum of lost money or rescue someone from an overturned carriage. This brings the boy—and his plight—to the attention of a wealthy individual. In one story, for example, a young boy is almost run over by a streetcar and a homeless orphan youth snatches him out of the way to safety. The young boy’s father turns out to be wealthy and adopts the orphan rescuer.

Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack’s rise to middle-class respectability. This novel was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured stock characters: the valiant, hard-working, honest youth; the noble mysterious stranger; the snobbish youth; and the evil, greedy squire.

I encountered Horatio Alger’s books when I was about fifteen-years old, when a friend purchased an old hardcover copy of a book titled, The Story Boy at a thrift store.  The premise of the story is that sixteen-year-old Ben Barclay is anxious to help his widowed mother meet the greedy landlord’s demand for the full mortgage payment.  He finds employment as a secretary to a real estate agent in 1870’s New York City, and through honesty, good character, and friendship saves the family home and finds answers to a long-ago mystery.  I enjoyed the book and was able to check out a few other Alger adventures from our local library.  After reading three of the books, I realized that, although exciting they were very formulaic.

Many of Horatio Alger’s works are available today in paperback and as ebooks. I would suggest that it might be interesting to try one; the books are quick to read, fun, and somewhat refreshing in today’s world.

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♦ Portions of this post were adapted from Wikipedia and Wikipedia graphics.

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Notes About An Author

Faye Kellerman, One of My Favorite Authors

Faye Kellerman is an American writer of mystery novels, specifically, the “Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus”  series, as well as three nonseries books, The Quality of Mercy, Moon Music, and Straight into Darkness.

Kellerman is a practicing Orthodox Jew, as are her husband and son, novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman, respectively. Her writing frequently deals with Jewish themes and characters, incorporating them into the framework of her traditional mysteries. The Peter Decker books, for example, center on a police detective raised as a Southern Baptist, who returns to his Jewish roots after falling in love with Rina Lazarus, an Orthodox Jew, while investigating a rape that took place near a yeshiva.

Faye and Jonathan Kellerman are the only married couple ever to appear on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously (for two different books). They have four children; a son, Jesse, and three daughters, Rachel, Ilana, and Aliza. Their oldest child, Jesse, is a bestselling novelist and award-winning playwright. Their youngest, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism (2009), a young adult novel, with her mother.

Listed below, in chronological order, are the 27 books in the Peter Decker / Rita Lazarus series

The Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series

The Ritual Bath (1986) (Winner of the 1987 Macavity award for Best First Novel, nominated for the 1987 Anthony Award in the same category)
Sacred and Profane (1987)
Milk and Honey (1990)
Day of Atonement (1991)
False Prophet (1992)
Grievous Sin (1993)
Sanctuary (1994)
Justice (1995)
Prayers for the Dead (1996)
Serpent’s Tooth (1997)
Jupiter’s Bones (1999)
Stalker (2000)
The Forgotten (2001)
Stone Kiss (2002)
Street Dreams (2003)
The Burnt House (2007)
The Mercedes Coffin aka Cold Case (2008)
Blindman’s Bluff (2009)
Hangman (2010)
Gun Games (2011) aka Blood Games (2012)
The Beast aka Predator (2013)
Murder 101 (2014)
The Theory of Death (2015)
Bone Box (2017)
Walking Shadows (2018)
The Lost Boys (2021)
The Hunt (2022)

I have read several of the Faye Kellerman books in the Decker/ Lazarus series and found her mysteries interesting, and entertaining.  Her ability to weave information concerning Orthodox Judaism into her plot lines provides readers an unusual twist to traditional mysteries.  I highly recommend trying one of her books in her series.

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♦ Portions of this post were adapted from Wikipedia, Kellerman web page, and google graphics.

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Notes About An Author

Alexander McCall Smith ~

In yesterday’s post, I provided some brief information about one of my favorite crime fiction authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  In today’s post, I want to share some information about one of my favorite general fiction authors, Alexander McCall Smith.

He is a Zimbabwean-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees concerned with these issues.  He has since become internationally known as a writer of fiction. He is most widely known as the creator of, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. He has additionally authored seven series, a selection of short stories, a number of children’s books, and several young adult series, as well as numerous academic books.

One of the characteristics I enjoy about Alexander McCall Smith’s writing is his ability to always find a way to insert numerous meaningful philosophical thoughts about life throughout his stories.

In his book, The Peppermint Tea Chronicles, in the 44 Scotland Street series, one of the philosophical thoughts he presents appears early in the story. One of the main characters in the story, Matthew Ducan, a father of triplets, reflects on the love of his children:

“Now he saw the boys wave, their faces full of excitement and smiles.  To be welcomed back by dogs and children, thought Matthew — what a privilege that was; and suddenly, unexpectedly, he felt a cold hand of dread about his heart.  These things, this love and warmth, were so vulnerable, given to us on the most temporary of terms.  And yet we took them for granted, against all the evidence of every actuary there ever was; we assumed that they would last forever. “

As a parent of three children and a grandparent of seven, I can certainly relate to this quote by Matthew.  We have all said something similar — where did the time go, it went by so quickly — I don’t remember growing older, when did they?

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♦ Portions of this post were adapted from the book, The Peppermint Tea Chronicles and amazon graphics.

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Notes About An Author

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ~

One of my favorite crime fiction authors is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a British writer, and medical doctor. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in crime fiction.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a prolific writer.  His works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

One of my favorite quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is featured below:

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♦ Portions of this post were adapted from the website of the remarkable books.

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