I made a great new mystery writer discovery last week, tearing through the first two books from Steve Hamilton. I came across Hamilton's name while reading Craig McDonald's book Art in the Blood, in which he interviews 20 mystery and crime authors. I picked it up to read about favorites like Ken Bruen, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos and Ian Rankin, but decided to read the entire thing to see what I might be missing.

I came away with a list of new (to me) authors to check out, and started with Hamilton. I'm surprised I had never picked up on him, as his debut novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, seemed to win every major mystery award upon its release in 1997. No matter, I dove in and was hooked on the story of former cop Alex McNight. While there are shades of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux or, perhaps more pointedly, James Sallis' new protagonist Turner, Hamilton's setting in the Upper Peninsula gives the books a decidedly chilly twist. I'll be working to catch up with the series over the coming months.

That alone would be enough to recommend McDonald's book, but it's a solid collection not to be missed by mystery fans. As Bruen says in the introduction, "The dream interviewer. Sharp, learned, darkly humorous, emphatic, probing but not intrusive... tricky balance. And hey, guess what...? Nothing about Craig in the interview." Even better, however, is the fact that McDonald is clearly intimately familiar with the authors' work. He cites character and plot details that reveal close reading, and it propels these interviews into interesting territory.

It stands in sharp contrast with another recent mystery author interview collection, Behind the Mysteries by mystery author Stuart Kaminsky. I've never read Kaminsky's work, and his effort here makes it unlikely I will. The questions make Larry King seem incisive and deep, and the slipshod attention to detail was startling.

Labels: crime fiction