October, 2001
Of Things that Go Bump in the Night.
This being the month of goblins and ghosties Miss Pym thinks she’ll bring you a special gift—a witch. This witch comes in a unique package; she emanates like ectoplasm from the printers of a small press. We are seeing more and more books coming from small presses, and self-published books, which most serendipitously expands a dwindling marketplace. Given that the large publishers are handing over millions of dollars to the Bill Clintons, the Hilary Clintons and the Jack Welchs of the world (who he? you might well ask) there isn’t all that much money around to support new writers, or even midlist writers.
The Witch and the Borscht Pearl by Angela Zeman, then, is the first in a series featuring Mrs. Risk, who resides in a sleepy town on Long Island’s North Shore called Wyndham, which sounds suspiciously like Sag Harbor, a picturesque village on the shores of Long Island Sound. We first see Mrs. Risk, tall, lean, with long wild hair, in her draperies of layers of black gauze with Jezebel her cat, through the eyes of Rachel, a young wife married to the owner of the local fish market. Rachel isn’t too happy; she is tired, her husband the fishmonger, uses her as a drudge. Nevertheless Mrs. Risk takes note of Rachel’s garden; filled with pretty items such as henbane, hellebore, Monkshood and Christmas Rose. All of which are poisonous, which Rachel doesn’t realize. And before you can say Presto Change-o Mrs. Risk has confiscated the lunches Ike makes for Rachel, and cleverly turns them into the means of dispatching Ike to fate he had in mind for his wife.
Rachel joins forces with Mrs. Risk in their first adventure—The Witch and the Borscht Pearl. The Borscht Pearl is not only a famous necklace but Pearl Schrafft, a Catskills Comic who is trying to break through again after two horrendous years—her husband’s death and her own heart attack. Pearl and her friends are gathering together at a “Welcome Back, Pearl” party when her necklace disappears and murder soon comes to Wyndham-by-the-Sea.
You’ll enjoy Mrs. Risk and Rachel and their friends, available as an eBook download ($5,95) or a Trade Paperback (Pendulum Press, 240 pages, $16.95) Both available at www.pendulumpress.com
Screenscam by Michael Bowen takes you behind the scenes with a lawyer who has the client from hell. Rep Pennyworth represents Charlotte Buchanan, an author of no particular merit, who claims her novel was the basis for a 1999 film from blockbuster director Aaron Eastman. Pennyworth assumes that this case will accumulate a few billable hours before he drafts a ‘no basis for claim’ letter. Wrong! Turns out the client is the daughter of his firm’s largest client and therefore her claim is of utmost importance for the firm.
So we have Pennyworth going off with Eastman on a whirlwind location searching junket. Which includes soaring off into the sky in an antique warplane, and shooting through the streets in a souped-up Porsche.
Bowen mixes exploration, tension and comedy into a delightful brew. Any author who hopes to peddle his work to Hollywood should take notes.
Bowen’s legal background creates the foundation for credible characters, unsettling situations and laugh-out-loud humor. Screenscam is published by the Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95 ,200 pages.
Otto Penzler, who some years ago founded Mysterious Press, which he then sold, now has a small imprint under the Carroll&Graf banner, publishing a book a month. One interesting book written by a well-known mystery writer using the name ‘David Cray’ is Bad Lawyer; (Carroll&Graf/Otto Penzler; $24.00.) Sid Kaplan once had it all. A dynamic career in criminal law, a run of well-publicized successes and lots of money. With it all came enough arrogance to tick off all of his friends and most of his enemies, so no one wept when booze and cocaine plummeted Sid Kaplan to hell. Now, though a big case has come Sid’s way.
Thelma Barrow, a
Queens housewife has sought out Sid to defend her daughter, Priscilla,
who stands accused in a hot murder case. For Sid the media attention more
than compensates for the fees Thelma can’t afford to pay. White woman
kills her black husband after suffering violence and abuse at her husband’s
hands. Then the drug dealers show up. They contend that Priscilla is holding
out on them to the tune of $450,000. Matters grow more perilous when two
of Sid’s friends are killed in an ugly attempt to make Sid cough up the
money. It gets even more complex than that. Penzler still has his ear
for a good, true thriller voice.
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