Jesse Winchester was an American – Canadian singer-songwriter. He left the US to avoid the Vietnam War draft and lived in Canada until he was later granted amnesty, then moved back to the southern US in 2002. While in Canada he wrote and recorded his first album, which was produced by Robbie Robertson (of The Band).
He recorded a number of memorable songs and in 2007 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. He died in 2014. His songs still live on in our playlists. A number of his songs are in mine. Shared here is one of them:
All the Sinners Bleed is a crime-thriller novel that uses a police procedural point of view. The setting is in small rural town in the Southern states. The protagonist (Titus Crown) is a black sheriff in a community where the divide between whites and blacks has a long, troubled history. The strongest part of the book is the depiction of the cross-culture integration of working people, right-wing religious followers, the antebellum white class, racist extremists, equality advocates, and average citizens terrorized by a psycho-killer. Bad things happen in Charon (as the name might suggest) and it is up to the police to stop a series of killings. Crown has an FBI background so he doggedly follows sparse clues, but the killer is elusive. As a character, the killer is unknown and formidable, leaving few clues, except for religious extremist messages and threats. This is the weakest part of the story – a faceless killer that is hard to understand and we are left to decide if he is a believable character or not. There is an action-packed climax and most of our questions are answered. The epilogue seems fitting.
Titus Crown is a strong character, but the supporting characters are less well-developed and some seem stereotypical. The story is full of gruesome killings and dark elements that seem a bit arbitrary. A master mystery writer develops all the key characters and provides insights into motivations, opportunities, and means, but there is little of those writing crime story fundamentals in this book.
It can be read as a crime thriller with an interesting setting, but it can only be recommended with reservations. [rating 4/5 stars]
The first songs I heard from Van Morrison were from the album Moondance in 1970. From that album were a number of memorable songs like And it Stoned Me, Caravan, Into the Mystic, and others. I bought the vinyl album and played it many times, then bought more of his albums, probably 15 in all, and I have continued to listen to him even 50+ years later. He has had many accolades over the years and there are many other fans.
He has many memorable songs, any of which could be chosen, but one from Moondance is shared here:
Walt Longmire is one of the best characters in crime fiction. Craig Johnson has published 21 Longmire books, all set in Wyoming.
Land of Wolves follows a murder and a wolf sighting nearby. Walt ventures out into sheep herding country to investigate the crime, delving into the victim’s life, past history, and the people who knew him. The landscape plays an important part of all of the books. The rugged and wild country of Wyoming has rugged and tough people, many unwilling to cooperate or talk about their lives.
The author uses dialogue sparingly, but very effectively to portray the characters’ inner lives. In all of the books, the recurring characters like Vic, Henry Standing Bear, Lucian, Cady, Ruby, Santiago, and even Dog seem to grow and become people we enjoy revisiting.
The wolf that Walt encounters is an older male alone on a hunt through the hills. It is just a wildlife encounter for him, but there is a whole cultural fear of wolves that grips Absoroka County. In the Longmire books, themes of ancient lore are woven into the story. Henry Standing Bear tells Walt:
“In my culture, animals are celebrated as beautiful, mysterious, powerful, dangerous, and benevolent. There was a period, before we lost the ability to listen, when the animals took pity on us, protected and taught us to the point where they became human in times of need.”
Each book entertains with tight plots and action, but they also provide historical, cultural, and psychological elements. I have read all of the books except for the most recent, but I am committed to reading all of the Longmire stories published and yet-to-be-written.
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands was written by Bob Dylan and included on his album Blonde on Blonde in 1966. It was a song about his wife Sara Lowndes whom he remarried in 1965. It is an 11 minute song, a poetic tribute, full of personal, symbolic, and unknown references. The song has great emotional depth and strong lyrics. He has never performed it live.
Shared here is a cover by Joan Baez, a contemporary colleague, in a fine performance from her album Any Day Now. This has been a favorite for 50 years.
The Return of the Dancing Master is a Swedish-noir novel by Henning Mankell, published in the year 2000. It has been translated from Swedish into English in 2003. Mankell is best know for his Kurt Wallender stories, a detective series with lots of followers, both in book form and on television. This is also a police-procedural story, following a new protagonist, Stephan Lindemann. He is facing a cancer diagnosis and takes some time off. He hears about a former policeman he worked with who has been murdered in the north. Instead of going to a beach in Europe, he travels to the small town and pokes around, uninvited by the local police. He becomes caught up in the investigation and eventually assists in following up on faint leads.
There are many secrets to uncover and some of them go back to World War II. the retired colleague turns out to be a former Nazi soldier who has committed war crimes. The killing is revenge-motivated, but there is another murder, and a series of crimes to cover up a conspiracy of a modern Nazi movement in Sweden and across many countries. The plot was interesting, but perhaps a little overdone, and the ending of the book was done in a thriller style (but less believable). Overall, the characters were interesting and it was hard to guess where the story would go.
A solid read, but its hard to beat the Kurt Wallender books. Recommended – 4.1/5 stars.
Townes van Zandt was one of our great singer-songwriter-storytellers. In Tecumseh Valley, he writes with plain language telling the story of a girl who faces life’s challenges, has lost her way, and then dies. Even though this is a fictional character, the tale is told with empathy and is quite moving to many listeners. Although Townes wrote and recorded the song, it is best sung by Nancy Griffith, one of the best singer of folk songs, and who has sadly now passed away.
...But the times were hard, Lord, and the jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around and a job she found
Tending bar for Gypsy Sally
She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied, her pa had died
The word come down from Spencer...
Resurrection Walk is a crime novel which combines two characters – Micky Haller from the Lincoln Lawyer series (7 books) and Bosch from the Harry Bosch series (25 books). The main story is a legal procedural story where Mickey Haller pursues a case of a woman imprisoned for killing her husband, a policeman. Mickey has been open to habeas corpus work if he thinks the person has been wrongfully found guilty. Harry reviews the case and finds a number of problems and they investigate both the criminal and legal processes. Much of the novel is an engaging courtroom drama with two sparring parties in the courtroom. There are many ups and downs, and part of the story documents their reviews of modern forensic methods and then bringing forward new forensic information. The author is strong on explaining the technology and weaving it into the narrative. The book has a sustained level of suspense and well-developed characters.
I have read all of Michael Connelly’s books and this latest crime novel is one of his best. It is an engaging read and well worth my time. I look forward to more books by the author.
Bruce Cockburn is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist who has been providing us with great music for over 50 years. He has written and performed over 350 songs and has 34 albums. Some of his activist songs are well-known like Stolen Land, If I Had a Rocket Launcher, If a Tree Falls, and others on topics of human rights and environmentalism. He has won many awards over the last decades and continues to write and perform, but the weight of expectations can be a trap, one of one’s own making as noted in the song “Pacing the Cage.”
Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you've lived too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage
We have seen Bruce Cockburn perform live twice. He maintains an intimate relationship with his audience while performing in a very professional manner. Like all of us, he is aging and performing less, but we hope to see him one more time.
Network Effect is the sixth book in the acclaimed Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells and I have read four of them now. All of the books are creative works, full of strong characters, humor, action, and plot twists. In this novel, Murderbot (a self-aware cyborg security bot) is joined by a sentient artificial intelligence, ART, now called Perihelion by its crew members, another Sec Unit, Three, helped by Murderbot to remove its governor module and become free, and a clone of Murderbot, all linked through a network as they battle attacks, kidnapping, and threats from an isolated colony infected with alien artifacts. The whole story feels a bit unique with all of the lead roles played by non-humans.
Another excellent story by the author and recommended to sci readers and others. 4.5 stars/5.
