Category Archives: list

The Getaway Car, by Donald Westlake

Posted on September 22, 2018 by pete

This post is not a review in the traditional sense, because I typically don’t like to write opinion articles about nonfiction books. Given that the Gaping Blackbird has been increasingly distracted by All Things Westlake, and that I’ve been poking … Continue reading →

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October reads – a list

Posted on October 31, 2017 by pete

I stocked up on some quick-to-read crime fiction this month, with plenty of Hard Case Crime volumes and a couple books out of the Parker series. It seems I stumbled across some below-average examples of both: Westlake definitely created a … Continue reading →

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Two unpleasant titles from Hard Case Crime

Posted on October 27, 2017 by pete

No sooner do I praise Hard Case Crime for being having consistently entertaining titles in their back-catalog than I come across a pair of books overstuffed with gratuitous violence. I understand that the genre has its lurid side – steeped … Continue reading →

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Three Donald Westlake titles from Hard Case Crime

Posted on October 6, 2017 by pete

The prodigious crime fiction writer Donald Westlake (1933-2008) has been a featured author of the Hard Case Crime imprint, with eight published titles to date. The Hard Case Crime brand has so far been an indicator of entertaining books, and … Continue reading →

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September reads – a list

Posted on October 2, 2017 by pete

This is a list of the month’s reading experiences, with a sentence or two about each.

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Five More Books from Hard Case Crime

Posted on September 26, 2017 by pete

Continuing the tour into the Hard Case Crime catalogue, we have five more crime novels, including two from Lawrence Block that almost bookend his entire career:

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Five Books from Hard Case Crime

Posted on September 15, 2017 by pete

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been dipping into the genre of crime fiction – the blanket term I’ll use to cover noir, mystery, and police procedural stories. I started with a few Jim Thompson paperbacks and the two fantastic … Continue reading →

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August reads – a list

Posted on August 31, 2017 by pete

This just a thought or two about each of the books I managed to finish this month. I certainly loaded up on the quick reads to close out the summer.

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an incomplete Brian Aldiss tribute list

Posted on August 21, 2017 by pete

Legendary British author Brain Aldiss (1925-2017) died last weekend, after an extremely long and productive writing career. Best known for his science fiction novels, he also published many short stories, criticism, essay collections and literary fiction. Having read many of … Continue reading →

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a William Sleator primer

Posted on July 18, 2017 by pete

This post is a partial “primer” of the works of William Sleator (1945-2011) wherein I provide at least a sentence or two about every title of his that I’ve been able to find and read. Continue reading →

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