Jack Clark
Createspace, 217 p.
Trade paper $13.95, Kindle 4.99
Of the major awards for genre fiction, at least among the ones I pay attention to, the Shamus Awards (given by the Private Eye Writers of America) are pretty close to the top of the list. So if a book's cover says that the author is a Shamus Award Finalist, I pay attention. And when a Shamus Award Finalist emails me to ask if I he can send me a couple of his books to review, do you think I'm going to be open to that idea? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear...never mind.
Now I realize that the focus of this blog is primarily heroic fantasy and historical adventure and the focus of my other blog, Futures Past and Present, is science fiction in all its forms. Granted there's been little historical fiction in recent months, and I don't update the science fiction blog very often. That's because this one keeps me busy enough. So busy that I find I have very little time left for the other two closely related genres that I really love, noir and private investigator fiction. There are times when this drives me nuts because that's what I'm in the mood for. I've decided to occasionally include some noir or PI novels in my reviews, just to preserve my own sanity. Not a lot of them, but every once in a while, maybe once very four to six weeks. I know some of the people who read these posts on a regular basis are also noir/PI fans, so I don't think I'm completely deserting my audience by this move.
Jack Clark's Nobody's Angel was one of the first books I reviewed here, before I really hit my stride. It was top notch. Dancing on Graves is, too, and it's the first of two books Mr. Clark kindly sent me that I'll be reviewing, and for which I would like to thank him.
There was a question on someone's blog the other day, I think James Reasoner's but I'm too lazy to look it up, asking how many ongoing PI series were left. Other than Loren D. Estleman's Amos Walker and Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective, there weren't too many names suggested. A few others, but not many. The Nick Acropolis series by Jack Clark can be added to that list.
