Home from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean

The Vinyl Cafe is a Canadian radio show that I've compared to "A Prairie Home Companion" when talking about this collection of stories. The stories are funny, sometimes obvious in the foreshadowing of humorous elements, like Dave mixing up the eggnog bowls at a Christmas party so that the kids get loaded and the adults stay unexpectedly sober. The humor ranges from such slapstick to low-key wistfulness. The book was a gift; I never would have chosen it myself, but it was easy to read and I'm glad I did. I'm not sure I'm a fit enough judge of "its type" to say ****, but I'm tempted to. Certainly anyone who has listened to the show and liked the stories as told on air would enjoy this book.

Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon

Los Alamos is a murder mystery set at the title location during the run up to the Trinity test. The cover blurbs make it sound better than I found it, but it was still very readable. I'm trying to recall the title of another WWII detective story I read recently; I think it was The Deadly Embrace. That book was set in London during the blitz, and featured a female protagonist. I remember it as more engrossing than this book, but maybe that's taste.
There's an element of James M. Cain to the obsessive love story that's woven in. The history is, as far as I can tell, meticulously researched (and I read a nonfiction about Los Alamos only about 18 months ago). Apparently Kanon's next book, The Prodigal Spy, is set in the McCarthy era and the 60's. I liked this one well enough to look for that one and hope it is just a little better. ***

Let Me Finish by Roger Angell

Angell reminisces about his life, his parents, his step-father E.B. White, The New Yorker, writing, editing, family, friends, and memory itself. He is a smooth writer with a lifetime of material to draw on. ****

The Brothers Bulger by Howie Carr

Meg listens to Howie most every afternoon, bought this book for her parents, borrowed it back, then I let the book languish on my "to be read pile," first before starting it, then for another couple of months after I got half done. That doesn't sound like much of a recommendation, does it? But the book was decent. There's probably some tipping point of knowing stuff about Boston at which the book would become too much of a rehash, but it must be pretty high. I got into recognizing names and places and events that I'd only vaguely noticed back in the 80's and 90's. The insight into Massachusetts's institutional corruption is amazing. I'll call it *** because the prose is pedestrian, and you'd have to care about that history and corruption to want to read it.

The Hunted by Elmore Leonard

Obviously this isn't the cover of the book, but isn't it a cool picture?
I guess after not finishing a book in the entire month of March, probably a first in my reading life, I'm revisiting some old reliables (each of which I started reading at some point last month -- I have a couple others in the works, too). I think I picked this Elmore Leonard up at a library sale a year ago, but someone in my family probably actually gave/loaned it to me.
I think it is better than the Amazon reviews the title links to give it credit for: how much complexity can you expect in what's basically a blown-up short-story? That's all any paperback original like this really was back in the late 70's when he wrote it. Leonard may have been ham-handed with the Rosen character, but I think he was trying for more than what these guys are crediting him for.
Oh, I'm all adrift here, and not saying anything about the story. Rosen is in Israel, hidden from some hoods he testified against. They find out where he is the same time that his corporate lawyer arrives because his company partners are squeezing him out of his business. So there's murder attempts and $200,000 in play, and a Marine about to muster out gets into the mix. Action and suspense. If you like Leonard it's a couple easy hours so I have to say *** and I don't mind doing it.

The Way Some People Die by Ross MacDonald

MacDonald first published this one in 1951, I probably first read it around 1973.
Archer sets out on a "prodigal daughter" job, reminiscent of Hammett's "wandering daughter" job in "Fly Paper," but in the end it's more like The Maltese Falcon. MacDonald hasn't fully hit his stride yet, but this is solid hard-boiled fare, and still better than most. It whetted my appetite to redevour the rest of his work. ****
"If Dashiell Hammett can be said to have injected the hard-boiled detective novel with its primitive force, and Raymond Chandler gave shape to its prevailing tone, it was Ken Millar, writing as Ross Macdonald, who gave the genre its current respectability, generating a worldwide readership that has paved the way for those of us following in his footsteps."

-- Sue Grafton, from her introduction to Ross Macdonald: A Biography
I respectfully differ with Grafton: If Hammett blazed a hard-boiled trail through a literary wilderness, Chandler roared down it in a powerful pre-war sedan, and MacDonald paved it into a superhighway. Everyone since then has done little more than ride a bicycle around on it.
Check out this tribute page from January magazine.

Mistress of the Art of Death

First of all, click on the title above, if only to view the intro, which gives you a sense of the book in a really cool way. I loved this book! Last night I was tearing up and chuckling out loud at the same time, multiple times while reading the last seventy pages.
Like CSI or Patricia Cornwell? You'll like this book. Like historical fiction? You'll like this book. It's set in the years immediately after Pillars of the Earth, so if you enjoyed that you'll like this one. Like a mystery with some romance? You'll like this book. This book is strong in all the areas that people who read for fun enjoy. *****
I wasn't going to say anymore -- like I said, click on the link -- but one of the things that's great about this book is the rounded reality of the female protagonist in a story that still manages to appeal to my (childish?) masculine taste for action. OK. Enough.