MYSTERY HISTORY - HEAT RELEASED 30 YEARS AGO TODAY

 On December 15, 1995, HEAT debuted in movie theaters. Starring Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, the film covers the lives of a professional thief named Neil McCauley (played by DeNiro) and Vincent Hanna, the detective hunting him (Pacino). The film was a box office success, and soon became a cult classic for its accurate descriptions of police tactics and crime planning, especially in the area of bank robberies. The climactic bank robbery shootout scene was so well planned that the U.S. Army has shown it to new recruits as an example of best practices for falling back in a battle when faced with overwhelming forces.

Besides featuring Pacino and DeNiro, the film is packed with well known stars. Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Jon Voigt, and Tom Sizemore all portrayed important characters and gave outstanding performances. 

The film was unusual in several respects. At 171 minutes, nearly three hours long, it broke one of the cardinal rules of successful filmmaking...keep it under two hours. Despite this, not a minute is wasted.

Every scene contributes to the viewers understanding and enjoyment. The film also used live gunfire for the audio. Shot on location in Los Angeles, the industrial landscape of many scenes lent a gritty authentic feel to the film. But perhaps the most important broken rule is the portrayal of the villain as a complex character with intelligence, emotional maturity, and a dedication to professionalism in his work. Neil McCauley isn't a hood or a thug. He's a professional thief, and he takes his work seriously. These are qualities he shares with the protagonist, Vincent Hanna.

 One of the best scenes in the movie features a meeting with these two pros, when Hanna pulls over McCauley, not to arrest him, but to invite him for a cup of coffee. Seated across from each other in a restaurant, Hanna uses this as an excuse to quiz McCauley, hoping to learn about his futures plans, and perhaps convince McCauley to abandon his chosen profession. McCauley's frank answers earns him some respect, and both men reveal more about themselves than they may have intended. 

HEAT is ranked as one of the top crime films of the 1990s and has influenced numerous works in film and in the written word. A prequel/sequel novel, HEAT 2 was published in 2022 as a joint effort written by the director of the original movie, Michael Mann, and best selling crime writer Meg Gardiner.

A sequel film is in the planning stages, with production to start in 2026. Leonardo DiCaprio is being considered for one of the roles, as is Christian Bale.

WRITERS BORN TODAY - W. R. BURNETT

It's the birthday of W. R. Burnett, born on this day in 1899. His crime novels set the standard for noir fiction and film in the 1930s and 40s. High Sierra, Little Caesar, and The Asphalt Jungle defined crime in Hollywood film and on the written page.

As a young man, Burnett got his start in politics, working on political campaigns for the Governor of Ohio. He soon discovered that the line between crime and public service was a thin one. "I knew from my earliest memory of how politics and crime were interwoven.", he said. He read everything he could get his hands on, good or bad. The novels he thought most important as a writer included Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara. Not bad for someone typecast as a crime writer.

With Burnett, plot played second fiddle to his character's fate. “I don’t have any plot in my books. Just life. And the relationship of characters and what happens to them”. In the end, most of his characters succumb to their own flaws.

Perhaps no work expressed this philosophy more than the novel The Asphalt Jungle. Made into a classic film, it portrays the heist of a jewelry store by a group of skilled professionals. Despite their initial success, the robbers are picked off one by one through a combination of their weakness, greed, and plain bad luck.

In 1980, he was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America, their highest honor.

You'll Have A Great Day With Eight Very Bad Nights!

 

The holidays are approaching, and if you have the urge to sneak away from the family festivities and curl up with a good book, I have a suggestion…Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir.

This collection of short stories centered around Hanukkah provides great entertainment and will appeal to everyone, regardless of your religion. After all, you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate a painful holiday spent with your boorish uncle or snoopy sister, wondering to yourself, "Aren't you dead yet?". There's something refreshing in seeing someone you despise get their just desserts (after a lavish dinner, of course). And after reading these stories, those homicidal urges should be satiated.

If they aren't, please resist the urge to use this collection as a HOW-TO guide to homicide (not that it doesn't contain a few good tips). Otherwise, you'll be spending the rest of your life in a prison cell, with plenty of time on your hands. Come to think of it, that's a lot of reading time, isn't it? But I digress.

Several great crime writers contributed to this collection edited by best-selling writer Tod Goldberg, many of whom I recognized, and a few who were new to me. You'll enjoy them all. There's even a story by Tod's brother, Lee Goldberg, a best-selling writer himself. Imagine having to edit your own brother's story submission...I wonder how that went over at the holiday dinner?

I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE TO INSPECTOR SAMUEL TAY. NEITHER SHOULD YOU.

 Jake Needham's latest novel, Goodbye, Mr. Boogie, continues the saga of protagonist Samuel Tay, recently retired from the Singapore homicide squad.  This series won the Barry Award for "Who The Hell Is Harry Black?" (recognition that was long overdue in my humble opinion).

In this latest installment, Samuel Tay is enjoying retirement, but still in demand for his expertise in criminal investigations. So it's no surprise when a friend from the Thailand Police sends an emissary to ask for help. It seems an international assassin is targeting a Global Summit in Bangkok, where several world leaders are meeting. There's just one problem. No one knows who this assassin is targeting, or if he really exists. And Tay's presence may just be a convenient way to use him as a scapegoat if things go sour.

Inspector Tay has a challenge on his hands. Only his loyalty to a friend convinces him to stay on the case. But with nothing to go on, not even a name, the challenge seems insurmountable. With help from a young female police officer, Tay begins to make progress when a suspect appears. He also discovers that his partner may be a romantic interest, and for a long time bachelor, this complicates his task.

Inspector Tay isn't above liberating some potential evidence without the benefit of a warrant. But when you're battling an international assassin, the rules can be flexible. Is that a good word to use when you're breaking the law? I like it. Let's use it...flexible. His quick hands turn out to be useful. But as the case races to it's conclusion, Tay begins to suspect that the obvious solution may not be the right one. Is Tay on the verge of cracking the case? Or is he being setup?

Readers say that books can transport us to another world. That's true. Whenever I finish an Inspector Tay novel, I lean back and close my eyes. In a few moments I am walking down the street where Samuel Tay lives. I ring the bell, and am invited in, offering a bottle of Irish whiskey. Tay produces the ice and the glasses. We retire to his back yard, surrounded by bamboo. We watch the birds, and enjoy the silence. No one speaks. There is no need for conversation. Tay smokes a cigarette. I don't mind. A former smoker understands. And that is all I need.

Join me. You won't regret it.

A NIGHT AT THE SHORE IS THE NIGHTMARE YOU WON'T STOP READING

 I was almost done with this book before it occurred to me that I didn't know the narrator's name. Not his real name anyway. He uses fake names throughout the novel to protect himself. After all, he's a thief...and a good one. He pays for scores. Never carries a gun. And he always cases the job before he goes in.

Except for this one time. Welcome to your nightmare. The sun has gone down, and it's going to be a long night.

We're on the Jersey Shore. The target is a high stakes gambler with 10,000 dollars in the house. Getting in is easy. But in a few minutes, the police have arrived.

 Silent alarm? Not likely. A double cross? Far more likely.

The rest of the novel is a series of narrow escapes and a desperate attempt to get off an island whose only exit is guarded by a police roadblock.

Along the way, your hair will stand up on end with every creak of a door and every step around a dark corner. When the tension builds, the only sound will be your heatbeat filling your ears. But you'll also pick up a few tips about breaking and entering. 

Did I just say that out loud? Never mind.

A Night At The Shore is a great introduction to a great series. Hop Aboard. After all, what else did you have planned for tonight?

Get Off! (Your Butt and Buy This Book)

 Angel Dare's latest appearance in The Get Off starts with a bang (literally) and doesn't let up for 256 pages. Get ready for a wild ride. Christa Faust has quite a story here. My fingers were scorched just flipping the pages. Or is that just the scorching summer heat here in Missouri?

Our tale begins with Angel seeking revenge on a gangster who harmed her. She stalks him for weeks, and as she's about to deliver the Coup de grâce with a fatal injection, something terrible happens. Another gangster kills her gangster. And this is just the beginning of a terrible day.

In the ensuing battle, several people get shot, including a police officer, and suddenly every law enforcement officer in the country is looking for Angel...and not as a witness. Oh, and in her attempt to seek medical assistance for wounds received in the battle, Angel gets a surprise. She's pregnant!

This girl can't catch a freakin' break to save her life. But she'd better catch one soon, or she'll be dead.
She makes her way to the home of an old friend who arranges passage for her to a remote area of the Great Northwest, sort of a modern version of the Underground Railroad. Along the way she encounters various rural rednecks who turn out to be complex, fully developed characters, with the same hopes, dreams, and flaws as the people she left behind in L.A.

Who'd have thunk?

In many respects, they're better than Angel, and many of them (but not all) really seem to care about her. It helps that Angel has given them the impression that she's a blameless victim of domestic abuse (which is a bunch of hogwash). But hey, a few white lies never hurt anyone, right?

Doing double duty as the protagonist and the villain, Angel can be hard to like. But she's so brutally honest about her own flaws, that the reader can't help but admire her. And I do. Also, I wanted to find out what happens! That kept me reading, and it will keep you turning the pages as well. Have fun!

Find out more about Christa HERE. And enjoy this interview she did with The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.

Max's Story Is Our Story. Max's War, Our Victory

Most World War Two fiction centers around the great struggles on the battlefield. Libby Fischer Hellmann has given us a fresh look at the conflict through her novel, Max's War. In it, we see the birth of fascism in Germany  through the eyes of Max Steiner, a German Jew. All the familiar historical events are covered...the rise of Hitler, the purges of the Universities, Kristallnacht. We also see the back story, the secret war waged against the Nazis with the help of Europe's refugees. The writing is so fresh, so straight forward, you'd think Libby was writing about current events. And in a disturbing sense, she is.

Seen at such a personal level, it's easy for the reader to believe Max's suffering is happening to your next door neighbor. Fear and fury at the injustice will strike you like a punch in the mouth that you never saw coming. Libby's writing pulls you into the story and at times will shake your faith in humanity. Every small victory for Max will make you smile and turn the page with fresh hope.

By the time Max and his parents decide to leave Germany, their exit strategy has narrowed. Max's father, a prosperous businessman calls in every favor he can to help Max escape Europe. But some doors are closed in his face. Others open to betrayal.

Once safe, Max seeks justice (or is it revenge?) through the only avenue open to him. He joins the U.S. Army, and discovers his language skills and knowledge of Germany are invaluable to his new homeland. By the time Max returns to the fight in an American uniform, we're eager to follow his exploits and cheer him on.

Most readers may never know the extent to which escaped refugees like Max helped America win the war.  German and Italian scientists helped build the first atomic bomb. Some, like Max, gathered intelligence and infiltrated enemy lines, saving countless lives along the way.

In a broader sense, this is story of every refugee who has fled to America for the past 400 years. Fleeing persecution for a better life is an old story in this country, and it continues to this day.  Who will write the next great refugee novel of the migrants from South America and Mexico? Who will tell their story, their suffering and their success?

The answer may come sooner than you think. Libby Fischer Hellmann is still writing.