Weekend Reading - Mass Market edition

The holidays mean traveling, which means airplane reading. No one likes to carry a huge hardcover on a plane, so mass market paperbacks are the perfect travel companion. Here are a few of my favorites:

Just out in paperback is Steven M. Forman's BOCA KNIGHTS. The first in a series, this debut novel features Eddie Perlmutter, a Jewish detective in Boston whose arthritic knees can't take the New England cold anymore. He retires down to Boca Raton, looking forward to a life of golf and sunbathing, but even paradise is not without its crime. It's a hilarious, fun read that, after dealing with security and airport hassles, is guaranteed to put the smile back on your face.

Another recent paperback release is THE DARKNESS by Jason Pinter. Selected for Indie's Next List, the fifth installment of the Henry Parker series opens with young man found murdered, his bones crushed nearly to dust before his body had been dumped in New York's East River. The suspenseful follow up to THE FURY will keep you hooked from take off to landing.

For another nail-biter, pick up Rebecca Drake's THE DEAD PLACE. This psychological thriller chronicles a serial killer who preys on college students in a small university town. As I said in my review of her first novel, DON'T BE AFRAID, don't let the soccer mom exterior fool you, Drake's writing is dark, twisted, and never lets up.

If you prefer pulp fiction for your holiday travels, pick up any of the mass markets published by Hard Case Crime. A few recent releases include THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES, QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE, and THE VALLEY OF FEAR.

Weekend Reading - Hard Case Crime

It looks like it's going to be a busy weekend, so I need some good, quick reads to squeeze in between happenings. Hard Case Crime is perfect. They publish pulp novels, some new some old, but all of them are gritty crime fiction you can stick in your back pocket. Here are the ones I'm picking up this weekend:

HOUSE DICK by E. Howard Hunt. Hunt used to be a spy in the CIA and was the inspiration for the Ethan Hunt character played by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. He writes this detective novel with insider knowledge of what goes on in Washington DC.

PASSPORT TO PERIL by Robert B. Parker. This is a cold war novel originally published in 1951 by "the Original" Robert B. Parker. No, it's not the same Parker who penned the Spenser series; this Parker is a little known pulp novelist who spent three years crossing borders without a passport and evading arrest by the Gestapo. He's another author who has the background to give this fictional story authority.

CASINO MOON by Peter Blauner. This too is a reprint, but it's a reprint of a novel which was published only 15 years ago. It's also twice as long as the typical Hard Case Crime novel. But the premise is intriguing: son of an Atlantic City Monster tries to escape the life of crime by creating a comeback for a washed-up boxer (and of course sleeping with the round card girl).

More books can be found on the Hard Case Crime website. I'm also a fan of THE CUTIE, KILLING CASTRO, and MONEY SHOT.