Gumshoe Carl's Page

Here are my tops for 2007 in no particular order:

The Tin Roof Blowdown—James Lee Burke (Best Novel of the 2007)
Dead Cold or Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (Runner-Up for BN 2007)
The Overlook—Michael Connelly (I miss Michael!!)
Sharp Objects—Gillian Flynn (Most Unique)
Stealing the Dragon—Tim Maleeny (Best First for 2007)
Field of Darkness—Cornelia Read (Can't Wait in 08!!)
To The Power of Three --Laura Lippman (I'm in awe of this Woman!)
Dying Light by Stuart MacBride (Real Deal!!)
The Watchman… Continue

Every time I read a new James Lee Burke novel, I often ask myself if that book will be the pinnacle of his incredible writing career. I can’t ever imagine Mr. Burke getting any better, but then he surprises me with yet another masterpiece of fiction. This is certainly the case for The Tin Roof Blowdown, Mr. Burke’s depiction of Hurricane Katrina and the calamities of the people of The Big Easy and New Iberia Parrish.
It is unfathomable that human beings would commit acts of murder, robbery, and… Continue

It finally happened--my first A+ book of 2007. By some snafu of nature, I was able to get my hands on THE OVERLOOK by Michael Connelly a week early, though I read the entire book in one day. The Overlook will be in stores tomorrow (May 22) and if I were you, I'd be standing at the door of your favorite bookstore when they open the doors so you can be one of the first to purchase this wonderful piece of crime fiction. Some of you may be familiar with parts of The Overlook that were serialized a f… Continue

I’m not sure why I waited so long to read Stuart MacBride’s sophomore outing, Dying Light. Mr. MacBride found instant success with his first crime fiction novel, Cold Granite, which I couldn’t get through because of the subject matter of small children as victims. But on my two unsuccessful attempts to read Cold Granite, even as I laid the book down unfinished, I knew I was in the midst of a wonderfully talented crime fiction author. Dying Light is a wonderful police procedural set in Aberdeen,… Continue

I finallly made the jump to Apple by purchasing a new MacBook. I'm at a point in my life where many doors are closing, like the completion of a PhD, and many new doors are opening, like starting a new job as a college professor. It just seemed like the right time to move to an Apple product. In addition, I'm expecting a light summer, so now was the best time to learn an new operaing system, and so far so good. Except for one thing.

There wasn't anything wrong with my Dell laptop. In fact I had… Continue