Michael Connolly Echo Park

I think in the latest flyer from QPB one of their staff wrote that Michael Connolly's books were ones you'd read on the subway proudly, as if to tell people they should also read him. I say the same: his weak efforts are better than some pretty good writers' best books. Harry Bosch is one of the great characters of modern detective fiction. Start with Angels Flight or Trunk Music if you haven't read him at all; you'll get to this one soon enough. ****

Hunter's Moon

Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford novels are worthy heirs to the Travis McGee books, but at number fourteen and adding fast they've "jumped the shark." The soap-opera elements are getting hard to keep track of, and the characters and situations grow more and more outrageous. After a couple of late night false starts, once I got going on this one it kept me hooked. Ford is working with a cancer-ridden ex-President of the US (see what I mean about outrageous?) to kill a man they both want vengeance against. If you like the Doc Ford books, or if you like your mystery/suspense on the hardboiled side of the formula, you'll like this one. ***+

Age of Bronze: Sacrifice

Sacrifice is the second in a projected seven-volume retelling of the Trojan War in graphic novel AKA comic book format. Shanower is telling the full story, integrating myth and literature from throughout the classical ages. As one very familiar with the Illiad and Odyssey, but little familiar with later sources (for example, I gave the Aeniad a half-hearted skim for a college course 25 years ago), I'm getting a lot of blanks filled in by reading it. I give it **** and consider its genre to be both graphic novels and mythological material; as either it is terrific.

Booze, Broads, & Bullets: Frank Miller's Sin City

Several of the shortest Sin City pieces I've read, some no more than 2 - 3 pages. I can't get the chronology or characters straight in these books. The style of the art doesn't aid clarity either. I think I really need to watch the movie. Still I give this collection ***