Writing this on a chilly, bright Sunday morning which finds me starting to feel a tiny bit Christmassy. The presents are wrapped (bar one which I’ll get to later) and all the food is bought. Whatever you’re doing for the festive season, I hope you and yours have a wonderful and peaceful time. I will probably be doing reading sprints on the afternoon of Boxing Day (26th Dec) if you’d like to join me.
My cold impacted my reading a bit this week, with only 2 short books completed. The fact that I’m also reading two mammoths (‘The Thorn Birds’ and Patricia Highsmith’s Diaries) probably didn’t help – check back next week if you’re interested in reading my thoughts on those.
Yesterday, my daughter and I watched the 80’s BBC drama ‘Threads’. I’d long been aware of it and its reputation, but wasn’t prepared for just how effective it was. It describes, in an interesting mix of drama and documentary, the impact of a nuclear war, focussing on one British city. If it was a book, I’d definitely talk about it on the channel.
Cheerio!
Books I’ve Read This Week
Gravedigger by Joseph Hansen
‘Gravedigger’ is a solid PI novel from the 80s with the twist that the detective is openly (and happily) gay. It’s the 6th book in the Dave Brandstetter series (there are 12 in total, the first published in 1970, the last in 1991) and I suspect when they first came out that twist was a much bigger deal than it is today. Despite that advances we’ve made since then, it’s still refreshing to see a LGBTQIA+ lead character in a crime novel whose sexuality is almost incidental to the rest of the book.
The mystery itself is engaging and entertaining, with Dave investigating an insurance claim from a father who believes his daughter was murdered by a cult leader. It has a great early 80s California vibe, just the right number of twists and turns, and comes in at a perfect mystery novel length of just under 200 pages.
The Trees Grew Because I Bled There by Eric LaRocca
This collection of eight short stories from Eric LaRocca perfectly captures the weird vibe that makes their work so compelling. It’s hard to say exactly what it is about LaRocca’s work that keeps drawing me back to it, maybe it’s the singleminded vision it possesses. There is something about all the stories here, and everything else by them I’ve read, that feels unlike anything else out there. A weirdness, a darkness, an unsettling insight into the human psyche.
I think my favourite story was the most conventional one, ‘You’re Not Supposed To Be Here’ which has a pulpy crime feel to it, alongside LaRocca’s trademark darkness. There’s also a great introduction from Chuck Wendig.
CriminOlly 
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