Mystery Lovers Delight

[+ Lucky]

Not only did I discover last year a new author of brilliantly-written mystery novels, I didn't have to wait for his next book to appear. As a matter of fact, he has a whole roster of titles already available. So lately I have been indulging in his tales of murderers and the people who pursue them.

 

The author is R. J. Ellory, who I mentioned in my top list of books for 2009 for A Quiet Belief in Angels, his most beautifully written work. This fact explains why this is also to date his only U.S. published novel. A later novel, The Anniversary Man, will be published here in June.

 

But, thanks to Amazon and its links to used booksellers everywhere, I have already read The Anniversary Man, a tale of a copycat murderer.

 

I have also read City of Lies, about New York gangsters, and just finished his latest, A Simple Act of Violence, which I think is his most rewarding one yet, a book about a serial killer and deep implications that the government itself is protecting the guy.

 

The only one I didn't like so much is Candlemoth, his very first novel about a man on death row. There his beautiful talent for descriptiveness was in its infancy, and his words sometimes stumbled to describe. By the time of A Quiet Belief in Angels, he could strings descriptions with the best of them, even with some poetic beauty surrounding them. All the while talking about murders.

Ellory is British, which is quite surprising now that I have read his novels, since he has every detail down pat, all the local nuances, yet all of the stories take place in the United States. There is not a hint of British in his writings.

 

Each story is richly detailed with all of the twists and turns you would expect in a good mystery, and I rank Ellory with the best of them, Dennis Lehane, and James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, Ian Rankin, and surely better than Michael Connelly.

 

If you have read this far, then take a look at the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Roger-Jon-Ellory/e/B002NSBG8M/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

 

It will tell you the titles and the dates of the books, and clicking on them will give you summaries and reviews by other Ellory-mad readers. Ordering could not be easier. I pick new or almost new books from the Amazon Marketplace, and they come from London in short order, at prices lower than you would pay new here. Including shipping. Such a deal.

 

Now, if you read an Ellory book after reading my post, please let me know what you think. I still have 2 of his books left to read: Ghostheart and A Quiet Vendetta, so we can read them together.

[Guest greatness]

I'm in

 

I will get one start reading next month. I have two books I want to finish before I pick up another one. Your introduction makes my heart pound.