Spade & Archer - Joe Gores - August 14
1921: Sam Spade sets up his own agency in San Francisco and clients quickly start coming through the door. The next seven years will see him dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, stowaways, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, bumbling cops, and the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat-sen; with murder, other men’s mistresses, and long-missing money. He’ll bring in Miles Archer as a partner, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. He’ll tangle with a villain who never loses his desire to make Spade pay big for ruining what should’ve been the perfect crime. And he’ll fall in love—though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames . . .
Joe Gores received permission from Dashiell Hammett's family to write a prequell to tne The Maltese Falcon and it's done in the same style. It's very entertaining without being as bloody and sexy as today's fiction.
Silence - Thomas Perry - August 10
A woman is savagely beaten with a bat but before the death blow is delivered the attack is interrupted and the attacker flees. The woman believes she will eventually be killed so hires PI Jack Till to help her disappear. Six years later the killer is after her again and Jack must find her first. The novel, not Perry's best, consists mostly of the tandem efforts to locate the woman. Good enough to finish.
Hope To Die - Lawrence Block - August 7
When Byrne and Susan Hollander are killed in a brutal home invasion, the whole city catches its collective breath. A few days later the killers turn up dead behind a locked door in Brooklyn. One has killed his partner, then himself. The city sighs with relief. The cops close the case. Everybody loses interest except PI Matt Scudder and the Hollanders' daughter. A little far-fetched but interesting.
The Pied Piper - Ridley Pearson - August 3
Another one of his "can't-put-down" crime novels. In Seattle, they're calling him The Pied Piper - someone who comes in the night and takes children away. To newly promoted police lieutenant Lou Boldt and police psychologist Daphne Matthews, it's clear this isn't about a single lunatic or random kidnappings: these crimes are well orchestrated, well executed, and, most chilling of all, occurring in cities across the country.
Boone's Lick - Larry McMurtry - July30
Boone's Lick abounds with the incidents, the excitements, and the dangers of life on the plains. Its huge cast of characters includes such historical figures as Wild Bill Hickok and the unfortunate Colonel Fetterman (whose arrogance and ineptitude led to one of the U.S. Army's worst and bloodiest defeats at the hands of the Cheyenne and Sioux) as well as the Cecil family (itself based on a real family of nineteenth-century traders and haulers).Fifteen-year-old Shay narrates, describing the journey that begins when his Ma, Mary Margaret, decides to hunt down her elusive husband, Dick, to tell him she's leaving him. Without knowing precisely where he is, they set out across the plains in search of him, encountering grizzly bears, stormy weather, and hostile Indians as they go. With them are Shay's siblings, G.T., Neva, and baby Marcy; Shay's uncle, Seth; his Granpa Crackenthorpe; and Mary Margaret's beautiful half-sister, Rose. During their journey they pick up a barefooted priest named Father Villy, and a Snake Indian named Charlie Seven Days, and persuade them to join in their travels.
The story of the Cecil family's trek in pursuit of Dick, and the discovery of his second and third (Indian) families, is told with brilliance, humor, and overwhelming joie de vivre in a novel that is at once high adventure, a perfect western tale, and a moving love story — it is, in short, vintage McMurtry, combining his brilliant character portraits, his unerring sense of the west, and his unrivaled eye for the telling detail.
The Reavers - George MacDonald Fraser - July 25
The plot involves the lovely Lady Godiva Dacre; a pair of dashing suitors, Archie Noble (think Steve McQueen) and Gilderoy (think Johnny Depp in a cloak); other colorful characters with names like Trouserless Will and La Infamosa; and a plot to kidnap King James VI of Scotland and replace him with an impostor. But the story hardly matters here; the point is the way it is told, with an outlandish mix of exaggeration, direct address, historical fact, historical impossibilities, irrelevant asides and thick accents (these are hilarious and the most fun in the book). For son David's comments see WOODGE.COM/BOOKS/BOOKNOTES and page down about four books (as of July 30).
The Dumbest Generation - Mike Bauerlein -
July 20
This shocking, surprisingly entertaining romp into the intellectual nether regions of today's underthirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a society of know-nothings.
Bauerlein makes the broad generalization that the under thirty generation is "drowning in their own ignorance and aliteracy," by spending all their leisure time (non-school and non-work) in front of a PC screen or messaging on their cellphone. The other half of his screed is that a large portion of academia don't see the problem or don't agree that it is a problem. It's an easy and enjoyable read and should be considered by any parent of a teenager.
Pagan Babies - Elmore Leonard - July 18
Father Terry Dunn thought he'd seen everything on the mean streets of Detroit, but that was before he went on a little retreat to Rwanda to evade a tax-fraud indictment. Now the whiskey-drinking, Nine Inch Nails T-shirt-wearing padre is back trying to hustle up a score to help the little orphans of Rwanda. But the fund-raising gets complicated when a former tattletale cohort pops up on Terry's tail. And then there's the lovely Debbie Dewey. A freshly sprung ex-con turned stand-up comic, Debbie needs some fast cash, too, to settle an old score. Now they're in together for a bigger payoff than either could finagle alone. After all, it makes sense . . . unless Father Terry is working a con of his own.
Free Fire - T.J. Box - July 11
Taking advantage of a legal loophole, a lawyer kills four people in Yellowstone National Park and walks away a free man. As the public outcry intensifies, the governor hires former game warden Joe Pickett to conduct a private investigation. There's lots of bad guys in this to keep Joe Pickett busy. This continues to be an excellent series.
The Hard Way - Lee Child - July 9
This is the eleventh "Jack Reacher" novels by Lee Child (with more to come). Reacher is a superhero, big, strong, handsome and he can shoot a hole in a dime at 1,000 yards.
But once you get beyong that the story is really good. The publisher put on the jacket,"Jack Reacher was alone, the way he liked it, soaking up the hot, electric New York City night, watching a man cross the street to a parked Mercedes and drive it away. The car contained one million dollars in ransom money. And Edward Lane, the man who paid it, will pay even more to get his family back. Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any amount of money and any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And then he'll turn Jack Reacher loose with a vengeance - because Reacher is the best man hunter in the world." This was only the beginning.
Talk Talk - T.C. Boyle - July 6
T.C. Boyle writes the closest thing to a thriller he has ever written, a tightly scripted page turner about the trials of Dana Halter, a thirty-three-year-old deaf woman whose identity has been stolen. Featuring a woman in the lead role (a Boyle first), Talk Talk is both a suspenseful chase across America and a moving story about language, love, and identity from one of America's most versatile and entertaining novelists. I wasn't sure I was going to finish this one because I don't usually find "everything going bad" to be entertaining. But I like his books and thankfully continued. The story's twists and turns became very entertaining.
Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connelly - July 2
Mickey Haller, criminal defense lawyer, has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.<
Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense pro who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, to defend the clients at the bottom of the legal food chain. It's no wonder that he is despised by cops, prosecutors, and even some of his own clients. Michael Connelly like Ridley Pearson does not let his writing style get in the way of the reader. I Literally didn't put this one down.
You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled -
Parnell Hall - July 1
When Benny Southstreet, a small-time hustler with a big-time gift for constructing crosswords, accuses Cora of stealing one of his creations, it’s clearly a case of mistaken identity…until Cora’s own attorney files a plagiarism suit against her. To add to the enigma, when Benny is found dead, the police charge Cora with his murder! One of a series of humorous mysteries with a crossword puzzle theme. The problem is that they are more silly than humorous and not very mysterious.
The Right Attitude to Rain - Alexander McCall Smith - June 26
The delightful new installment in the bestselling adventures of Isabel Dalhousie and her no-nonsense housekeeper, Grace.
When friends from Dallas arrive in Edinburgh and introduce Isabel to Tom Bruce – a bigwig at home in Texas – several confounding situations unfurl at once. Tom’s young fiancée’s roving eye leads Isabel to believe that money may be the root of her love for Tom. But what, Isabel wonders, is the root of the interest Tom begins to show for Isabel herself? And she can’t forget about her niece, Cat, who’s busy falling for a man whom Isabel suspects of being an incorrigible mama’s boy. Of course Grace and Isabel’s friend Jamie counsel Isabel to stay out of all of it, but there are irresistible philosophical issues at stake – when to tell the truth and when to keep one’s mouth shut, to be precise – and philosophical issues are meat and drink to Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. In any case, she’s certain of the ethical basis for a little sleuthing now and again – especially when the problems involve matters of the heart. Another piece of reading "candy" from the author who never disappoints.
The Man of My Dreams - Curtis Sittenfeld - June 22
Hannah Gavener is fourteen in the summer of 1991. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah’s own life, her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And somewhere in between these two extremes–just maybe–lie the answers to love’s most bewildering questions. But over the next decade and a half, as she moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, Hannah finds that the questions become more rather than less complicated: At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who’s not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a guy who might not love you back, are you being plucky–or just pathetic? Close to chick-lit but not bad.
Moo - Jane Smiley - June 19
Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, lies Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the art and science of agriculture. Here, among an atmosphere rife with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship, Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost's right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Nonahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named earl Butz. In this wonderfully written and masterfully plotted novel, Jane Smiley offers us a wickedly funny comedy that is also a darkly poignant slice of life. I saw this book displayed in the library stacks and decided to add it to my selection. I wasn't disappointed.
Wish You Well - David Baldacci - June 15
Precocious twelve-year-old Louisa Mae Cardinal lives in the hectic New York City of 1940 with her family. Then tragedy strikes–and Lou and her younger brother, Oz, must go with their invalid mother to live on their great-grandmother’s farm in the Virginia mountains. Suddenly Lou finds herself coming of age in a new landscape, making her first true friend, and experiencing adventures tragic, comic, and audacious. But the forces of greed and justice are about to clash over her new home…and as their struggle is played out in a crowded Virginia courtroom, it will determine the future of two children, an entire town, and the mountains they love. Whether it's a charming story as this or a nail-biting crime novel Baldacci always delivers.
Killer View - Ridley Pearson - June 12
When a skier goes missing from a Sun Valley mountaintop, Sheriff Walt Fleming's crack search and rescue team becomes a target. Waist-deep in snow and neck-deep in lies, Walt suspects that people of great wealth and power—including a former state senator—want to keep him where he started: out in the cold. Pearson has become one of my favorite authors because he writes the way one reads, meaning his writing style never intrudes on the story. Very difficult to put down.
The Power Makers - Maury Klein - June 10
Klein recreates the discoveries, the triumphs and frequent failures, and the unceasing battles in the marketplace, particularly patent protection (even then the lawyers made all the money). The Power Makers is the story of inspired invention, dogged persistence, and business rivalry at its most naked and cutthroat—a tale of America in its earliest discovery stages. Alas it was much too detailed and labored to hold my attention for more than a few days, even with much scanning.
Fleeced - Dick Morris and Eileen McGann - June
Prior to the 2008 election here are the facts: The United States has released 425 terrorists from Guantánamo, at least 50 of whom have returned to the battlefield to fight our troops.Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say they're fiscally responsible. But each has called for $1 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years--and dressed them up as tax cuts!
Mainstream Media has been given marching orders from the Society of Professional Journalists: never refer to "Islamic terrorists" or "Muslim terrorists." And they are obeying! Whenever our brave agents disrupt a terror plot, The media dismisses the culprits as a gang of idiots—lulling us into a false sense of security.
If the liberals win the 2008 election, they will cripple talk radio--forcing stations to give equal time to left-wing programs, and insisting that liberals play a key role in station management.
Up to a quarter of all state pension funds in the United States are invested in companies that are helping Iran, Syria, North Korea, or the Sudan--for a total of nearly $200 billion.
The Do-Nothing Congress is still doing nothing--and the worst offenders are the presidential candidates Clinton, Obama, and McCain, who never show up for their day jobs as senators . . . except to pick up their $165,000 paycheck!
Is it any wonder that Americans feel fleeced at every turn? I didn't read much 'cause it's a right-wing rant.
The Last Dickens - Matthew Pearl - June 1
Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await Dickens’s unfinished novel–The Mystery of Edwin Drood. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer. This a little different mystery than the usual, also more slow-moving. However, it was good enough to finish.Rough Weather - Robert B. Parker - May 26
Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected —and she needs Spenser's help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego. The reason? To attend her daughter's wedding as a sort of stand-in husband and protector. Spenser consents, but only after it is established that his beloved Susan Silverman will also be in attendance.It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. But when Spenser's old nemesis Rugar—the Gray Man—arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. Uh oh.
Supreme Courtship - Christopher Buckley - May 25
President of the United States Donald Vanderdamp is having a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird, the president chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate won't have the guts to reject her -- Judge Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation's most popular reality show, Courtroom Six. Buckley's views of politics are hilarious and too true.Extreme Measures - Vince Flynn - May 151
Vince Flynn's thrillers, featuring counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his protégé, Mike Nash are a fast and fun read. Rapp and Nash may have met their match in this latest counter-terrorism caper. The CIA has detected and intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third is feared to be on the loose. Led by a dangerous mastermind obsessed with becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, this determined and terrifying group is about to descend on America.The Final Detail - Harlan Coben - May 11
Coben is fun to read but he left a few things out of the beginning which may have explained some of the behavior.Chance - Robert B. Parker - May 7
Another typical entertaining Spenser novel.Dead Aim - Thomas Perry - May 4
Not Perry's usual good works, can't recommend it.Fidelity - Thomas Perry - April 22
Another good Perry crime novel in which a widow and the assassin who killed her husband must determine where their true loyalties lie.Night and Day - Robert B. Parker - April 18
Synopsis from publisher: Police chief Jesse Stone has received his share of unusual calls, but none can top the one from the local junior high school. When reports of lewd conduct by the school’s principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the station, Jesse is faced with a particularly delicate situation. Jesse, of course, would like nothing more than to see the prim, peculiar Ingersoll punished. But Betsy Ingersoll is married to the managing partner of the biggest law firm in the state, and Jay Ingersoll wants the matter buried. And he is used to getting what he wants.At the same time, the women of Paradise are being threatened by a tormented voyeur, dubbed “The Night Hawk,” who’s been scouring suburban neighborhoods as evening falls. Initially he’s content to simply peer through windows, but as pressure builds, he becomes more reckless, entering homes, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And according to the notes he’s sending, he’s not satisfied to stop there. It’s up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it’s too late.
Jesse Stone is another of Parker's lead characters (eight books so far).
Boomsday - Christopher Buckley - April 16
BOOMSDAY'S heroine is Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger who incites massive political turmoil when, outraged over mounting Social Security debt, she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of her outraged peers ("Generation Whatever") and an ambitious Senator seeking to gain the youth vote in his presidential campaign.With the help of Washington's greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (they call it "Transitioning") all the way to the White House, over the forceful objections of the Religious Right and, of course, Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement resor
The Lemur - Benjamin Black - April 13
From the Publisher: When John Glass’s billionaire father-in-law hires him to write his biography, he feels he can’t refuse. Then his research assistant on the book discovers some very sensitive information about John’s in-laws, and is murdered before he can tell anyone what he knows. John is on his own to find out the young man’s secret, before the murderer finds him.Devil May Care - Sebastian Faulkes - April 8
Ian Fleming started this James Bond novel but died before completing it. At the Fleming estates invitation, Sebastian Faulkes complets it in Fleming's somewhat outdated style. I thought the following Faulkes quote was pretty good."In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch, and the snorkeling." —Sebastian Faulks
Double Deuce - Robert B. Parker - April 5
Hawk wants Spenser to wage war on a street gang. Susan wants Spenser to move in with her. Either way, Spenser's out of his element. So why not risk both?The Full Burn - Kevin Conley - March 30
Jerry Broz likes to read non-fiction and he's provided me with some of the best. As with the others this is very entertaing and at the same time very informative. It reads like a novel.In The Full Burn, journalist Kevin Conley takes readers inside one of the most fascinating and dangerous jobs in the world. With bravura storytelling and full access to many of the legends of the field (including Uma Thurman’s double for Kill Bill and the genius behind the Jason Bourne movies, among many others), Conley gives a passenger’s-seat view of the stuntman’s life: the history, the culture, and the tricks of the trade, showing how—and why—stuntmen do what they do.
The Good Guy - Dean Koontz - March 18
Timothy Carrier is an ordinary guy. He enjoys a beer after work at his friend’s tavern, the eccentric customers and amusing conversations. But tonight is no ordinary night. The jittery man sitting beside him has mistaken Tim for someone else—and passes him an envelope stuffed with cash and the photo of a pretty woman. “Ten thousand now. You get the rest when she’s gone.” What would you do particularly when the next guy in the bar is the real hit man?Private Patient - P.D. James - March 12
Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating. Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.The Firery Cross - Diana Gabaldon - March 10
March 10 was when I stopped reading this overly long continuation of the Outlander series. It starts at a wedding and it took 250 pages before they said, "I do." Wih some serious scanning I reached about 850 pages (of the total of over 1400) and nothing much happened. I decided to give it a rest.The Buffalo Commons - Richard Wheeler - February 24
The High Plains of eastern Montana are the setting for this riveting contemporary novel about good people warring over their ideals. The battle is between those who hope to restore the vast Western prairie lands to their former grandeur, where buffalo and wolves roam freely, and the ranchers who have sunk roots in the soil and wrested a living from it.Encore Provence - Peter Mayle - February 14
In Encore Provence, Mayle gives us a glimpse into the secrets of the truffle trade, a parfumerie lesson on the delicacies of scent, an exploration of the genetic effects of 2,000 years of foie gras, and a small-town murder mystery that reads like the best fiction.Transfer of Power - Vince Flynn - February 11
The stately calm of the White House is shattered in a hail of gunfire. A massacre leaves dozens of innocent bystanders murdered. Hostages are taken. Terrorists have descended on the Executive Mansion. The president is evacuated to a bunker. CIA counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp scrambles to save lives.Just One Look - Harlan Coben - February 7
Photographs are a way of putting memories on paper and, like memories, they can be precious -- or dangerous. For housewife Grace Lawson, the ordinary act of picking up a pack of family photos sets an extraordinary sequence of events in motion, and the danger builds momentum with every turn of the page. Among prints of a happy family vacation is one photo that doesn't belong -- a picture taken 20 years ago of a group of strangers, including someone who looks remarkably like Grace's husband as a young man. Before Grace can get her husband to explain, he disappears. This is another author recommended by my brother and, like Thomas Perry (his first recommendation), it scores a bullseye.Ragtime in Simla - Barbara Cleverly - January 30
World War I hero and Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands is traveling to Simla, summer capital of the British Raj, when he is thrust abruptly—and bloodily—into his second case of serial murder: His traveling companion, a Russian opera singer, is shot dead at his side in the Governor of Bengal's touring car at a crossroads known as Devil's Elbow. Easy reading, not bad.Nightlife - Thomas Perry - January 26
Perry's new thriller takes us on a dangerous cat and mouse game that pits two women against each other: one a beautful, highly manipulative serial killer, the other the detective who is determined to stop her. As usual, very entertaining.No Graves As Yey - Anne Perry - January 23
When peace-loving professor and chaplain Joseph Reavley and his intelligence officer brother, Matthew, investigate the sudden deaths of their parents, they discover that their father had been in possession of a document implicating the highest echelons of British society in a terrible act of treason. Obviously, with the country on the brink of war, this document threatens the security of Europe. Good story.The Killing Room - Peter May - January 16
Peter May’s thrilling new China novel brings together Beijing detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell for the third time. When the mutilated and dismembered bodies of eighteen women are discovered in a mass grave in Shanghai, Li is sent to establish if the corpses are related to an unsolved murder in Beijing, and he finds the most horrifying catalog of killings ever uncovered in the Middle Kingdom.
The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday - Alexander McCall Smith - January 12
In this new installment in the adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, Isabel is asked to help a doctor who has been disgraced by allegations of scientific fraud concerning a newly marketed drug. Smith writes mysteries that are relaxed and easy to read. His sense of humour makes for an enjoyable read.
Melancholy Baby - Robert B. Parker - January 9
When Sunny Randall helps a young woman locate her birth parents, she uncovers the dark truth about her own past. The title refers to two characters: Boston college student Sarah Markham, convinced that her parents adopted her, and Boston PI Sunny Randall, hired by Sarah to certify her parentage. Sarah is melancholy because her parents refuse to take a DNA test to settle the issue and seem furtive; Sunny, because her ex-husband, Richie, has just remarried. It's good but I likke Spenser's wisecracks better.
The Last Kashmiri Rose - Barbara Cleverly - January 8
Conjuring up the last golden days of the Raj and the turbulent early ones of Indian rule, this suspenseful and atmospheric first novel—the winner of the Crime Writer Association’s Debut Dagger competition—draws the governor of Bengal, local police authorities, and visiting Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands into an increasingly baffling and bizarre case of serial murder.
Death Benefits - Thomas Perry - January 5
When gruff and intimidating security consultant Max Stillman appears without warning in the San Francisco office of McClaren Life and Casualty and begins asking questions and scrutinizing files, the employees can't help wondering just which of them he's been hired to investigate. Thomas Perry writes a fast-moving and intriguing story in which all characters are developed.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson - January 1
Stieg Larsson's first murder mystery has been a smash hit throughout Europe since its 2005 publication in the author's native Sweden, and has now become a bestseller in the U.S. as well. But the bitter twist in Larsson's success story is that he didn't live to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo published: he died of a heart attack just after he delivered the manuscripts for this book and the two that follow.It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.
It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This is the best book I've read in some time, I couldn't put it down.