Woohooo! Rizzoli and Isles to be on TNT

I have to say - I am a fan of the Tess Gerritson series that features Detective Rizzoli and Medical Examiner Maura Isles.  Indeed I just finished reading The Mephisto Club which I found a lot of fun.

So I was thrilled when I learned that TNT is well into producing a TV series featuring the characters. I can only hope that it doesn't take too much away from the books!



When The Mystery Book Club read one of the Rizzoli and Isles books a few years ago, it created a bit of strong dissension during discussion. Some absolutely did not like what they described as graphic gore. I guess I'm immune? I don't know, but I have enjoyed the series and especially the characters that Gerritson created.

I am usually not a fan of screen adaptations, but I will be interested to see how it goes. Premiers on TNT on July 12, 10 pm EDT.

Crimebake 2009: Awesome Again!

Just returned from Crimebake, the New England mystery conference for writers and readers. Wow! What fun.

It's hard to pass on a chance to brag, so here it is. I submitted a Flash Fiction piece to the conference contest and was one of three winners! You can read my winning entry and more about the contest here.

Too many thoughts to give a coherent "report" but here are random experiences mixed with a few of the many factoids I picked up:

• An authors' panel called "T is for Traditional" was asked to share the name of the author that they most admired. Interestingly, two authors (Mark Arsenault and Cynthia Riggs) named Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark) - the author that our Book Club is currently reading. See a subsequent comment to me from Cynthia Riggs.
  
• Criminalists (in the past) did not have the ability to make absolute ID's from hair analysis. All they could do was narrow it down. Now, DNA analysis from a hair root can be, potentially, absolute. And also - DNA from fingerprints can sometimes be more significant than the fingerprint left behind! Great presentation from Mary Kate McGilvray, former acting director of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab.
  
• Speaking of stuff related to CSI - in real life, what is portrayed by a single crime scene technician is frequently the work of many, many specialists.
• Want to be a writer? Can you put up with 50 "rejections" before getting an acceptance - or maybe never getting an acceptance for a book. Chocolate brownies was mentioned a few times! (I can relate!) Several panels addressed this but none more bluntly than "P is for Persistance." Several spoke of turning to different projects: short stories, other novels, true crime, or just personal activities as distractions. Keeping stories in "inventory" was mentioned; often, a request for a particular type of book/story could come up several years later.
• What creates tension or fear in a book? One panel of authors totally agrees that it is not violence or blood. Among other things it is pacing. One insight - humor accentuates tension; tension accentuates humor. I have to agree with comments of one of my favorite authors (and favorite persons), Michael Palmer - it is understanding the emotion of fear, in other words, successfully conveying the experience of the character, from being in the character's shoes. A helpless character contributes to that, and no one is more helpless than a hospital patient. Dr. Palmer has a lot of insight into that and brings it out well in his medical thrillers. That's Michael Palmer on the right (with me) - below.
  

• Sue Grafton gives credit to her attendance at a Jack Canfield workshop for helping her to get onto the Best Seller list. (Just a tiny nugget from an extensive list of tidbits from her interesting luncheon speech.)
  
• Highly published short story author Stephen Rogers has managed to get 13 stories published by Women's Day. That magazine pays well at about $500 per story. On the other hand, he has had some 200 other stories published many of which pay poorly. It's too bad - short stories is a great art form in itself. I had a very enjoyable time chatting with Stephen on Friday evening as well as receiving some helpful tips on a short story manuscript.
• The best way to remove the serial number from a handgun is to use a power drill and take out the metallic ridges. Of course that wouldn't work if the imprint is inside the gun barrel. That from a ballistics expert.
• Solving a mystery-game-crime with clues scattered on 30 tables and 250+ participants must be "impossible" given that none of us solved the crime exactly! LOL - maybe it was the script?
  

Skin Deep by Gary Braver is Annoying

In Skin Deep we are thrown immediately into the investigation of a killing that is made to look a bit like a suicide - "autoerotica gone bad." Lieutenant Detective Steve Markarian, in charge of the investigation, counters the assessment of his partner Sargent Neill French by pointing out the clues that make clear that it is a homicide. This is just the beginning of differences of opinion that lead to friction between the two investigators throughout the book. It isn't long before it's clear that a serial killer is at work and the present case is only the most recent of a many. In each, the victim has a similar appearance and the method used to kill the victims is the same. But the investigators struggle to find the link that will break the case.

Complicating the case is the fact that both Markarian and French knew the victim, although both in different circumstances. In reality, shouldn't they both have been removed from the case? Yes, but both choose not to do so and do not report this to their superior officer. Further complicating the case: Markarian, a heavy drinker and long time user of the medication Ativan, had suffered a blackout during the time of the victim's death. Circumstantial evidence that he uncovers makes him think he is in fact the murderer. Yet he hopes fervently that it's not true and keeps investigating without a word to anyone.

I really loved Braver's Flashback, so I was truly looking forward to this story. But while the book was well written, and contained excellent pacing, I felt it was just plain annoying. To explain why I felt this way, I will have to continue with the assumption that you have read the book.



------WARNING------
PLOT GIVE AWAY!!
===================



It was annoying because the author deliberately sets about to mislead the reader as to the killer's identity. Hey! I know, that's what mystery authors are supposed to do. Well, there are ways that make sense and there are ways the are... well, annoying and... unfair.

You have to keep in mind that the hype about the book rather sets the stage:

• The title is Skin Deep.
• Picture on the cover: a scalpel (or something like that) preparing to cut skin.
• Testimonial on book #1: "An outstanding medical thriller..."
• Testimonial on book #2: "medical terror...that will make you question your own reflection in the mirror"
• Testimonial on book #3: "Put off that tummy tuck until you read Gary Braver's new chiller Skin Deep. ...the latest from this medical mystery master..."

See what I mean? Now if you read Braver's other books, you have already encountered wacko scientists and members of the medical community that want to make you smarter and others that want to keep you young forever, or at least stop senility. So, when I picked up this book, I already knew it would revolve around plastic surgery, and most likely, but not necessarily, a doctor, a plastic surgeon, would be at the root of the thriller.

Side Note: The other Braver books, where there was murder, it was pragmatic - in the name of research, or ooops! sorry, didn't know that would happen. There was a bit of a message, something to think about in terms of the science. On the other hand, this book is a straight serial killer book. There was a message intended, but it is weakly delivered.

OK, so I am already expecting there will be an evil plastic surgeon, which does in fact take place, although this is not confirmed until chapter 76 (out of 96). Now there are only a handful of characters that get much attention as suspects. But the author goes out of his way to make us think the suspect is in fact Lt Markarian. This is done by a series of chapters that flashback to the life of a boy who lives in a very dysfunctional home. The boy is sexually seduced by the step-mother, ignored by the father who is often away from home travelling for his job, and the victim of his mothers neurotic narcissistic behaviors. All the while, there are clues and situations that are deliberately meant to show us that the adult Markmarian and the unknown male child in the flashbacks are one and the same.

The idea that Markarian's wife was seriously considering plastic surgery arises in chapter 4 and then 8; he and she first meet the plastic surgeon in chapter 15. But the first of the series of flashbacks happen prior to even hearing about the surgeon, in chapter 5. The common bond between the Markarian and the unknown abused boy is headaches. Each time a flashback chapter arises, it immediate follows a chapter where the focus is on Markarian. The tie between the two is strengthened when the author causes Markarian to have a running dialog with himself, almost making it appeare as though Markarian is mentally disturbed.

Nevertheless, the whole time I am saying - What is all this about?... I know that the bad guy is going to be this doctor that is slowly becoming important to the story as Markarian's wife schedules plastic surgery with him.

I guess what I am saying is that as red herrings go, this was just to convoluted. Confusing me? Yes. Putting me off the track about the real threat in the book? Not at all.

No, there was none of the subtlety that made Flashback, and to a slightly lesser degree the other Braver medical thrillers, such great stories. Gary, even though I was annoyed, I'm still a fan.