Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize-

Winning Author, Dies At Age 89

Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Road and No Country for Old Men, passed away last week at the age of 89. As noted by USA Today, “McCarthy was both revered and criticized for his brutally violent, morally ambiguous, and often bleak novels, and his books pitted men against primal forces, and read like a sock to the jaw numbed by a slug of whiskey.” Born July 20, 1933, in Providence, RI, he is noted for a sparse writing style that employs deceivingly simple, declarative sentences; sparse punctuation; and dialogue free of quotation marks and often missing attribution. As author James Lee Burke wrote upon hearing of McCarthy’s death, “There was no one better. His prose wasn’t simply prose; it was a form of unseen magic running out of his hand into the paper. There was an aura around every sentence, and inside the aura was a whisper that contained something you can’t see but you feel. Mr. McCarthy was an artist…he had the lyricism and the storm-like scenic vision of William Faulkner without being like William Faulkner. [He was] one for the ages...and most of all, he was a purist and made no concessions. His art was a chalice, the kind that shines for eternity. I dearly wish I had met him.” As do I.

UPDATE

Nathan Carman, Accused Of Killing

His Mother, Found Dead In Jail Cell

Readers of BunzelGram may remember a story from last summer about a man named Nathan Carman, who stood accused of killing his mother at sea in 2016 in an attempt to claim part of the family fortune, and insurance money [issue 99, August 8, 2022]. In a surprising twist in the already sordid tale, Carman died last week while in federal custody and awaiting his upcoming trial. He was the sole occupant of a cell in the county jail in Keene, NH when guards found him dead early on the morning of June 15. [The US Marshals Service, which handles federal defendants who are detained before trial, partners with state and local governments to house defendants because it doesn't operate its own detention facilities.] Carmen was found adrift in a life raft in 2016, a week after the two of them began a fishing trip off the coast of New England; her body was never recovered. Carman also was suspected in the death of his grandfather, John Chakalos, who had been fatally shot in his home just three years earlier. He was arrested in May 2022, and a trial was scheduled to begin this coming October. His attorneys met with him via Zoom call just hours prior to his death last week, and he also apparently left them a note, the contents of which have yet to be revealed.

FBI Director Comey Brings Real-Life

Experience To Central Park West

Earlier this month at ThrillerFest I had the pleasure of speaking with former FBI Director James Comey after attending a standing-room-only session. While plenty of people still blacklist him for possibly affecting the result of the 2016 election, I approached him about several technical questions I had regarding my current work in progress. I then went directly to the pop-up bookstore and purchased his new (and first) crime novel, titled Central Park West. Since I’m currently judging a well-known writing competition, I’m way behind on my personal reading, but it’s on the top of by to-be-read pile and I can’t wait to tear into it. That’s why a review I found in Air Mail over the weekend, written by Lisa Henricksson, caught my attention. “Comey’s knowledge of the friction between state and federal agencies, which don’t always play nicely together, provides grist for the story of the collision of two made-in-tabloid-heaven cases,” she writes. “[It follows] the trial of Kyra Burke, accused of murdering her husband, the disgraced former governor of New York (any resemblance to Andrew Cuomo is surely coincidental), and the federal prosecution of Dominic D’Amico, head of the city’s biggest crime family (any resemblance to the Gambino family, which Comey prosecuted in 2002, is probably intentional). The justice gods who preside over the proceedings drop the ball a bit when it comes to identifying the guilty, [and] there's a twisty dénouement that’s preceded by plotting that’s tight and inventive throughout.” It should prove to be a good read...and yes, the man really is 6'8".

Four Queens Of Crime Who Shaped

Golden Age Of British Crime Fiction

The Golden Age of British Detective Fiction was—like the country that spawned it—a monarchy. It was ruled not by a king, but by four Queens of Crime—Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. As Harry Pearson recently wrote for Murder-Mayhem, “The Four Queens of Crime were enthroned during the inter-war years. They helped define the mystery genre, drew up the blue-print of plot twists and red herrings, and created the archetypal detectives from bon viveur aristocrats to silver-haired spinsters. If Edgar Allen Poe invented detective fiction, [they] refined it, packaged it, and sold it to a mass worldwide audience. They are to crime writing what The Beatles are to pop music—mystery fiction’s Fab Four.” Even in an assembly of monarchs, Pearson says, there is one who stands above the others, and she undoubtedly is Agatha Christie. “Her novels have sold more copies, been translated into more languages, and spawned more TV shows and films than her three fellow rulers put together,” he writes. Also on the list: Dorothy L Sayers, creator of the intelligent but foppish Lord Peter Wimsey, witty author Harriet Vane, and traveling salesman turned sleuth Montague Egg; Margery Allingham, who published her debut novel—an occult story about smugglers—when she was nineteen; and New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh, a late developer who published her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, in 1934 when she was 40.

Why Are Small Towns And Villages

Favorite Settings For Crime Stories?

If mystery novels, BritBox and A&E detective dramas, and true-crime podcasts have taught us one thing, it is this: Idyllic English villages inhabited by mild-mannered (but sharp-eyed) little old ladies are likely to see a disproportionate number of murders. The same applies for picturesque American small towns that are home to a thriving independent bookstore, a much-loved library, a respected bakery, or local diner. As Novel Suspects’ Erin Roll recently wrote, “Small towns and villages have been a favorite setting for murder mysteries for many years, from the earliest days of the genre, through the Golden Age of Detection with its classic novels, up to today’s cozy mysteries and chilling thrillers. Why is this? [They] present themselves as being a place of safety, of comfort, of innocence, far away from the ‘dangers’ of the city. This perception makes a dramatic foil to the darkest aspects of the human heart, and when a murder does happen in this seemingly safe place, it is particularly jarring and frightening. It is also a sobering reminder that no place is guaranteed to be absolutely free from crime and violence. Indeed, in a small town where everyone knows everyone’s business—whether they like it or not—the darker sides of humanity may be magnified.

Coming September 12:

INDIGO ROAD

“Indigo Road is a beautifully wrought, hard-biting story with elements of classic noir presented through a prism of modern sensibilities. A fantastic read.” –S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Razorblade Tears 

While still slinging drinks fulltime at The Sandbar in Folly Beach, Jack Connor works a side gig as a licensed bounty hunter. One afternoon, as he's transporting his latest bail skip named Willis Ronson back to jail, his SUV is ambushed by a team of gunmen, killing Ronson instantly and seriously injuring his court-appointed attorney, Alisha Dupree. Connor can’t help but poke around the edges of the deadly incident and quickly learns that Ronson was a man of many secrets, including a mysterious woman from his past who has caused him to be sucked into a domestic terrorist fringe group.