Review: Crimini edited by Giancarlo De Cataldo

Today in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor M. Wayne Cunningham reviews Crimini edited by Giancarlo De Cataldo. Says Cunningham:

On their Web site, the folks at London-based Bitter Lemon Press boast: “Our books are entertaining and gripping crime fiction that exposes the dark side of foreign places. They explore what lies beneath the surface of the bustling life of cities such as Paris, Havana, Munich and Mexico City.” And now with the publication of the nine exciting stories in editor Giancarlo De Cataldo’s anthology, Crimini, you can add Bologna, Milan, Rome and Palermo as settings for noir tales that can bring a smile to the lips, a tear to the eye or a jolt to the imagination.

The full review is here.

Review: Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina

Today in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, M. Wayne Cunningham reviews Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina. Says Cunningham:

Denise Mina, the Glasgow-based author of Slip of the Knife (or The Last Breath, as it was published last year in the UK), has seen herself at times as “a bit of a cheeky cow.” Her Glaswegian and Tartan Noir colleagues, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, have stated their views of her too. Rankin once described Mina as “one of the most exciting writers to have emerged in Britain for years,” and McDermid has referred to her as Scotland’s “Crown Princess of Crime.” Heady accolades, indeed, from two of Scotland’s crime-writing best, but well substantiated from a reading of this third volume in Mina’s planned five-book series about Patricia “Paddy” Meehan, her Glaswegian Irish-Catholic journalist turned sleuth.

The full review is here.

Review: Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman

Today in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, M. Wayne Cunningham reviews Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman. Says Cunningham:

Like the nine previous novels in her private eye Tess Monaghan series, Laura Lippman’s newest installment, Another Thing to Fall, is set in her hometown of Baltimore. And like the others, it’s a sure-fire read for its plot, characterization, dialogue and authentic Charm City settings. But this time we find Baltimore, “in its full autumnal glory,” as the focal point for feature films, past and present.

In fact, hardly a page of this novel goes by without some mention of a movie title or actor, or at least a cluster of movie set jargon. Characters chat about The Diner, Tin Men, The Wire and ... And Justice for All. They refer to Henry Fonda, Sergio Leone, Francis Ford Coppola and Baltimorean John Waters. They spout off about call sheets, honey wagons, bangers, eps and sides. And in between the cinema-related stuff there are reminders of this Maryland city’s former glory…

The full review is here.

Review: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, M. Wayne Cunningham reviews De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage. Says Cunningham:

Set mostly in the Beirut of civil war Lebanon in the 1980s, the dark, fast paced story involves two long-time youthful friends, Bassam and George, the latter assuming the persona of the Russian roulette playing Robert De Niro of The Deer Hunter. With time on their hands, mayhem on their minds, a motorcycle for transport and a willingness to kill, they roar around the ravaged city, “aimless, beggars and thieves, horny Arabs with curly hair and open shirts and Marlboro packs rolled in our sleeves, dropouts, ruthless nihilists with guns, bad breath and long American jeans.”

Read the full review here.