The Coolness of Absolute Zero Cool; Book Collector's Magazine

 Congratulations to Declan Burke for winning the Last Laugh Award with his novel, Absolute Zero Cool, which I reviewed back in September (at this link).  The award was presented at the Crimefest Convention in Bristol, England (thanks to the Rap Sheet).

Not the first nor the last honor for Mr. Burke, who is now at the fore of the growing Irish Noir movement along with Adrian McKinty, John Connolly, Colin Bateman, and several other good ones.
________

The June issue of Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine features the novels of Michael Connelly.

 The last thing I read by Connelly was his brief but excellent preface to the Declan Burke-edited book of critical Irish noir, Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century.

I used to read Connelly's books as they came out.  I enjoyed the first ones, but he lost me somewhere back in the 1990s when I began to consider him too politically correct and prone to stereotypes unawares--in spite of himself.  After reading the article in Firsts, I've now determined to give his novels another try.

This issue also has an interesting feature on crime novelists Gar Anthony Haywood and Gary Phillips, neither of whom have I yet read, and there is a book-to-film feature on Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye.  Excellent stuff.


Which reminded me of Richard Layman's article on The Maltese Falcon appearing in January Magazine.  You can read it at this link.

You can't read everything, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp.  It is a blessing to look on my shelves and see so many fine books I've yet to enjoy.