There's always a frisson of anticipation in the publishing world (and among readers) this time of year, as the new BIG books roll out. Enough of those articles touting the beach reads of summer, now the heavyweights are about to arrive. And this fall's offerings are especially tempting -- I can't wait to dig into new work from some of my favorite writers in all genres. The fiction list is truly impressive -- Kate Christensen, Ann Patchett, Ann Packer, Alice Sebold, Richard Russo, David Leavitt, Tom Perrotta, Haven Kimmel, Ha Jin, Frank McCourt, a new Isabel Dalhousie mystery from Alexander McCall Smith, and a new Easy Rawlins mystery from Walter Mosley.
On a sadder note, we've had the last mystery from Magdalen Nabb, who passed away earlier this week. Nabb was part of an impressive group of women mystery writers whom I discovered (and raced through) during the 1980's -- including fellow Brits Liza Cody, Sarah Caudwell, Dorothy Dunnett, and Americans Amanda Cross, Linda Dunlap, and Julie Smith. Like Columbia English professor Carolyn Heilbrun (who wrote under the pseudonym Amanda Cross), Nabb's mysteries focused less on violent crime and more on characters and their relationships. Her mysteries were set in Florence and featured a male detective, Marshal Guarnaccia. The stories unfold at a leisurely pace, especially compared to someone like Patricia Cornwell whose stories are gripping and fast-paced. But Nabb writes elegantly, like her predecessors Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and it was always nice to enter the world of the carbinieri and Italy. She'll be missed by readers of literate mysteries. Her obituary can be found in the NY Times and the London papers. I favor the London papers -- those Brits really know how to deliver an obit with style.
On a sadder note, we've had the last mystery from Magdalen Nabb, who passed away earlier this week. Nabb was part of an impressive group of women mystery writers whom I discovered (and raced through) during the 1980's -- including fellow Brits Liza Cody, Sarah Caudwell, Dorothy Dunnett, and Americans Amanda Cross, Linda Dunlap, and Julie Smith. Like Columbia English professor Carolyn Heilbrun (who wrote under the pseudonym Amanda Cross), Nabb's mysteries focused less on violent crime and more on characters and their relationships. Her mysteries were set in Florence and featured a male detective, Marshal Guarnaccia. The stories unfold at a leisurely pace, especially compared to someone like Patricia Cornwell whose stories are gripping and fast-paced. But Nabb writes elegantly, like her predecessors Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and it was always nice to enter the world of the carbinieri and Italy. She'll be missed by readers of literate mysteries. Her obituary can be found in the NY Times and the London papers. I favor the London papers -- those Brits really know how to deliver an obit with style.
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