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French Quarter, New Orleans. Photos by Peter Rozovsky
for Detectives Beyond Borders. |
I rarely find time to read at Bouchercon because I'm too busy doing other things, and that was about five times truer for New Orleans than it was for the previous eight cities where I'd attended the annual world mystery and crime fiction convention.
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Photo not by
Peter Rozovsky |
The first acquisition that I've dipped into is
Harold Q. Masur's novel
Bury Me Deep, published in 1947 (despite Google's assertion that it first appeared in 1924). I bought this one on the advice of
J. Kingston Pierce, part of a coterie of wise men who know a lot more about vintage paperbacks than I do and who were frequently hovering around the old paperbacks at
Mystery Mike's table in the Bouchercon book room. (The other members of the triumvirate were
Bill Crider and
Rick Ollerman. Only the best can tell me how to spend my money.)
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| A baby alligator and its admirers in the bayou country. |
Masur builds his story to a tight, efficient climax in the early chapters, something like how David Swinson does in his fine novel
The Second Girl. Done well, that sort of thing knocks me off-balance in the best possible way and leaves me eager to find out what happens next--not that the stories degenerate into a string of cliffhangers, either. I think of it as a narrative ap
éritif that whets the appetite for the story to come. Or maybe it's more like an operatic overture, offering clues to the themes that will follow. Whatever your preferred metaphor, Masur pulls it off.
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Nanci Kalanta, known on
Facebook as Mountain Jane
Laurel. I'm a gentleman, and
when a lady says, "Do me in
black and white," I smile
and oblige. |
The pre-, post-, and para-Bouchercon activities were the most unusual and entertaining I'd enjoyed, and for whatever reason, it seemed that a larger group of folks from various circles of my friends and acquaintances than ever before mingled and intersected in a giant Venn diagram of gin, powdered sugar, and po'boys. What a city!
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| Garden District, New Orleans. |
© Peter Rozovsky 2016
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| Mike Stotter, Sara Paretsky, Ali Karim. |
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| In the bayou country. |
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| Terrence McCauley |
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| Alison Gaylin, Ali Karim |
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| Jay Stringer, Eric Beetner |
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| Christa Faust |
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| Suzanne Solomon |
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| Joe Lansdale |
Labels: bayou country, Bill Crider, Bouchercon 2016, David Swinson, Harold Q. Masur, New Orleans, Rick Ollerman
4 Comments:
I'm eager to hear your comments on all the good old stuff you picked up at Mystery Mike's table.
I posted a picture on Facebook of the first four of my purchases. Of the rest, the one that might interest you most is a nice copy of Big City Girl. I've read 12 of Charles Williams' novels but, oddly enough, none of the "Girl" titles.
Feel like we barely saw one another in New Orleans, Peter--really just that one time in passing when I was en route to deliver the Derringers. Regret we didn't make plans to get together, but have enjoyed your posts both before and after--great photos here! (...as always.)
Incentive to sign up for next year. I did so last spring.
These things happen. It's hard to book a table for 1,900 for dinner. And thanks for the kind words. New Orleans had to have been my favorite Bouchercon of the nine I've attended.
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