Books

This detachment was absolutely vital... He called it touching the ice. Several years ago, sitting in Hanrahan's gin mill on Forty-eighth Street ... a huge Negro pushed through the door, making the daily delivery of ice. Most icemen use tongs and carried the blocks on their back. But this guy carried it in his hands. No gloves even. Paul watched him walk behind the bar and set the block in the trough. ... "Let me ask," Paul said. "How come you can carry that ice? Doesn't it hurt?" "Oh, look here." He held up his large hands. The palms were scar tissue, as smooth and pale as the parchment paper that Paul's father had used when printing fancy invitations. The Negro explained, "Ice can burn you too, juss like fire. Like leavin' a scar. I been touchin' ice fo' so long I ain't got no feelin' left." Touching the ice... That phrase stuck with Paul. It was, he realized, exactly what happened when he was on the job. There's ice within all of us, he believed. We can choose to grip it or not.

As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway

It is said that Anna (Anastasia) Cayne was born in a thunderstorm. A slightly spooky and complicated high school girl with a penchant for riddles, shortwave radios, Houdini tricks, and ghost stories, Anna spends much of her time writing obituaries for every living person in town. She is unlike anyone the narrator has ever been with, and they make an unlikely, though happy, pair.

A week before Valentine's Day, Anna disappears, leaving behind only a dress placed neatly near a hole in the frozen river, and a string of unanswered questions.

Desperate to find her, or at least to comprehend what happened and why, the narrator begins to reconstruct the past five months. And soon the fragments of curious events, intimate conversations, suspicious secrets, and peculiar letters (and the anonymous messages that continue to arrive) coalesce into haunting and surprising revelations that may implicate friends, relatives -- or even Anna herself.

A mesmerizing labyrinth of art, magic, and cryptic codes that sparks the imagination and teases the intellect, As Simple As Snow is a mind-bending mystery, as well as poignant and wise look at young love, loss, and family.

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I do not read much non-fiction, but I enjoy the work of two non-fiction writers. Neither has written many books, but the few they have written are worth reading. The first is Jon Krakauer. The second is Sebastian Junger. Over the years, Junger has given us The Perfect Storm and Fire. His latest book, out now, is called A Death In Belmont.

In 1963, with the city of Boston already terrified by a series of savage crimes known as the Boston Stranglings, a murder occurred in the quiet suburb of Belmont, just a few blocks from the house of Sebastian Junger's family -- a murder that seemed to fit exactly the pattern of the Strangler. Roy Smith, a black man who had cleaned the victim's house that day, was arrested, tried, and convicted, but the terror of the Strangler continued.

Two years later, Albert DeSalvo, a handy-man who had been working at the Jungers' home on the day of the Belmont murder, and who had often spent time there alone with Sebastian and his mother, confessed in lurid detail to being the Boston Strangler.

This is the point of entry into Junger's first book-length project since The Perfect Storm: a narrowly averted tragedy for Junger's family opens out into an electrifying exploration of race and justice in America. By turns exciting and subtle, the narrative chronicles three lives that collide -- and are ultimately destroyed -- in the vortex of one of the first and most controversial serial murder cases in America. The power of the story and the brilliance of Junger's reporting place this book on the short shelf of classics beside In Cold Blood.

Amazon.com is offering a 4-for-3 Promotional Sale for Mystery books. The selection is HUGE, but don't be overwhelmed, you can search for the books you want or browse through the selection. Click here to be taken to the sale. The sale appears to apply to most, if not all, mystery books listed under $10 (which means paperback books).

Add four books to your shopping cart and at checkout you will see a discount that equals the item with the lowest price in the purchase.

The sale is also for Romance and Kids books, which includes many classic favorites and the paperback Harry Potter books.

All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to the fingerprints.

Jeffery Deaver writes the Lincoln Rhyme series, whose most popular title is The Bone Collector. The seventh installment in the series, The Cold Moon, will be in stores on May 30, 2006. The tour begins in New York City.

Appearance of note:
June 29, 2006 – Birmingham, Michigan
Baldwin Public Library
6:00 pm – Reception, 7:00pm – Presentation
300 W. Merrill St., 248.554.4654

Click here for a complete tour schedule.