Summer Reading (mysteries / noir)

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Tom Williams has written an engrossing biography: A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler (Chicago Review Press). In Chandler’s hands, hard-boiled crime fiction became art and this book paints a vivid portrait of the author’s life.

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Two Dashiell Hammett collections provide a sumptuous fix for fans of Sam Spade’s creator. Lost Stories (Vince Emery Productions) features 21 rare tales restored to their original texts, replacing heavily cut versions. Complete with 46 photos & illustrations, plus an introduction by the late-great Joe Gores.

The Hunter and Other Stories by Dashiell Hammett
Includes the full-length “On the Make” which was the basis for the rarely screened Mr. Dynamite (1935), plus other screen treatments. Twenty-one stories in all, making this an ideal book for spring break.

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Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova (Penguin Books) “Holmes was a detective second to none, it is true. But his insights into the human mind rival his greatest feats of criminal justice. What Sherlock Holmes offers isn’t just a way of solving crime. It is an entire way of thinking, a mindset that can be applied to countless enterprises far removed from the foggy streets of the London underworld. It is an approach born out of the scientific method that transcends science and crime both and can serve as a model for thinking, a way of being, even, just as powerful in our time as it was in Conan Doyle’s.” Fascinating, clever and original. Mastermind is so much fun you won’t even feel your brain being sharpened.

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