April 2002
Didn't take our mystery writers long to figure out what readers would want to read in the wake of the disaster of 9/11. Espionage; terrorism and perhaps a dollop of a caper here and there.
Walter Wager whose books have been known to blow up a tunnel now and then (in Tunnel) and whose 58 Minutes was the basis for "Die Hard II" now gives us Kelly's People. (Forge Press/ $24.95; 349 pages)
The five intelligence agents gathered at the St. John's Institute are all officially dead. Unofficially, each has been given a life-saving transplant, enhanced each day by a mysterious elixir. Charlotte Willson oversees the transplant project. And agent Denny Monroe figures that if they are already dead they are expendable and he's going to do what's necessary to protect himself and his four colleagues.
Meanwhile, half a world away in Russia, an impoverished general, foundering in the country's economy, sells five small atom bombs (suitcase nukes) to an international terrorist….
Another writer, Gayle Lynds, writes such accurate books on terrorism she was once asked to prove she was a woman writer since no woman previously had nailed the subject so well. She has two books appearing right now. The first is Mesmerized (Pocket Books); the second, with Robert Ludlum, is The Paris Option from St. Martin's Press. This inspired pairing (Ludlum and Lynds) now comes to a close with The Paris Option since Ludlum died earlier in the year. Lynds will be moderating and participating in a panel on May 1 for the MWA Symposium at the Grand Hyatt in New York City about Espionage and terrorism, along with the aforementioned Walter Wager and ex-CIA specialist, Francine Matthews, who wrote last year's The Cutout for information on how you can attend the Symposium, check the MWA website on the internet or phone212-888-8171, MWA New York headquarters.
Another top espionage novel first published in London is Alan Furst's Kingdom of Shadow is now available here (Random House;$24.95;239 pages). It is Paris, 1938. Nicholas Morath, handsome, who had spent his World War I years in the Hungarian cavalry, arrives in Paris at the request of his uncle, Count Janos Polanyi, who is alarmed at Hungary's drift toward Nazi Germany. Morath becomes Polanyi's clandestine man, moving effortlessly-more or less-among the beaches of Juan les Pins and the forests of Ruthenia, from Czech fortresses in the Sudetenland to the gardens of déclassé royalty in Budapest, in an extreme tightly-written novel.
Change of pace from thrillers is The Reporter, a new mystery that introduces TV reporter Maxi Poole. Written by Los Angeles Anchorperson Kelly Lange, published by Mysterious Press ($24.95/309 pages) this is a wild ride from television newsroom through beaches of Malibu and the mansions of Beverly Hills as Maxi tries to find the murderer of her ex-husband actor Jack Nathanson after Wife Number One is arrested for the crime. Not convinced that this first wife did it, Maxi turns up a town full of people eager to see Nathanson become The Late.
For the caper I promised you earlier: Donald E. Westlake, of Antrim, New York, whose first adventure with the hapless John Dortmunder won him an Edgar, now introduces us to Francis Xavier Meehan (Meehan to his friends; "Halt!" to the cops.) Meehan has been taken from the Manhattan correctional Center and given an offer he can't refuse. Somewhere out there is an October Surprise that may dethrone the sitting president of the United States, now running for reelection. Meehan must steal this incriminating evidence. What Meehan gets out of this deal is his freedom and maybe a little something on the side. What the president gets out of it is another term in the White House instead of one in jail. What we get is the deadly dialog and the great entertainment of Westlake. Hail to the Thief! Put A Lid On It, Mysterious Press, $23.95, 247pp)
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