Robert B. Parker

One could argue that best-selling mystery novelist Robert B. Parker has exquisite timing. Just as another season is getting underway, he's bringing out another in his popular series featuring former baseball prodigy and current small-town police chief Jesse Stone.

Growing up, I loved baseball as much as reading. As it worked out, I was a better reader than hitter. But, I still follow the game, and readers of this blog can expect occasional baseball-related posts. Right now, I have a request in for a copy of Odd Man Out, a new memoir of one young pitcher's short minor-league career (recently excerpted in Sports Illustrated.) Stay tuned for a future review.

But for today, here's my review of Parker's latest mystery:

NIGHT AND DAY, by Robert B. Parker. Putnam's, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-15541-3

This is the eighth Jesse Stone novel—and more than half-a-hundred overall—for the prolific Robert B. Parker.

Stone, a former minor league baseball prospect and Los Angeles Robbery Homicide detective, is police chief of a 12-man department in small-town Paradise, Mass. Chief Stone's personal life is a mess: he drinks too much; talks to a poster of baseball great Ozzie Smith; and sees a shrink about his obsession with his ex-wife, a television personality whose "M.O. is to sleep with men who can advance her career."

Things are getting a little bizarre at work too. First, Betsy Ingersoll, the principal of the local junior high, creates a firestorm of protest when she conducts "the great thong search" before a school dance. The parents are outraged and demand action. It doesn't help Jesse's investigation that the principal's husband is a prominent Boston attorney.

Meanwhile, a Peeping Tom who calls himself the "Night Hawk" is at large in usually-bucolic Paradise. Soon enough—and against the odds—the incidents escalate from peeping to home invasion. At gunpoint, the voyeur forces women to undress and takes nude pictures of them.

If that's not enough, Jesse discovers the existence of a local swingers club that might be linked to the crimes. All in a day's work for our laconic hero who races to uncover the perpetrator before someone gets hurt.

After a long career, Parker remains a dependable author. NIGHT AND DAY is just the latest in a long line of first-rate mysteries.

QUOTABLE

"Baseball was the most important thing that didn't matter that he'd ever known."

"God is undoubtedly an ironist."

"Lots of women like to be looked at. If they'd just admit it."

"Police work is boring to describe."

"You sure you don't want another one of these doughnuts? It's cop food. You're a cop."

Graham Greene Lite

Graham Greene Lite

The late British writer Graham Greene is a personal favorite. In fact, his The Quiet American, set in the final days of the French war in Vietnam—also the early days of U.S. involvement—is the only novel that I've read more than twice. (The only book that I've read more often is William Strunk and E.B. White's The Elements of Style. I alone am responsible for the continuing deficiencies in my writing style.)

So, when a publisher touts a novel as reminiscent of Greene, I usually take a look. I'm usually disappointed, of course.

That's what led me to read The Secret Keeper, a new novel by Paul Harris, the U.S. correspondent for Britain's Observer newspaper. And, there are similarities to Greene's work: a remote, dangerous setting; morally ambiguous characters; questions of right and wrong.

But, alas, author Paul Harris is not Graham Greene. That doesn't mean that his novel isn't worthwhile though.

The Secret Keeper, by Paul Harris. Dutton, $25.95 (321p) ISBN 978-0-525-95094-3

Foreign correspondent Harris draws on his four years in Africa for this uneven debut novel set in Sierra Leone, the site of a destructive decade-long civil war in the 1990s.

Harris' hero, British journalist Danny Kellerman, cut his teeth covering the fighting in Sierra Leone. Back in London four years later, Kellerman receives a cryptic letter from former lover Maria Tirado, an American aid worker who stayed behind after the killing stopped. Tirado, who works for an agency that rehabilitates child soldiers, writes that "I'm in trouble," and appeals to Kellerman, "I need you."

Kellerman soon learns that Tirado is already dead: killed in an apparent kidnapping attempt. Suspecting that there's more to the story, he heads to Freetown to uncover the truth.

Two parallel stories unfold here: the first set in the closing year of the war reveals Kellerman and Tirado's brief but intense affair and the second follows Kellerman's desperate—and increasingly dangerous—search for the truth behind Tirado's death.

Tirado was exotic, beautiful, and enigmatic. Even Kellerman didn't suspect the true nature of her secrets.

Harris' descriptions of Sierra Leone and the casual brutality that marked the war there are vivid and powerful. His characters, with one important exception, are sharply-drawn and credible, and he moves the action along briskly. The book's weak link is the author's hero—and apparent alter ego. Kellerman, naïve, weak, and self-centered, makes for a decidedly unsympathetic character. It's hard to believe that he would have lasted long in a place like Sierra Leone.

That's the key. Even Greene's protagonists weren't always sympathetic. But, they were always credible.

Weekend Adviser

Forget the groundhog and other faux harbingers of Spring. I now have incontrovertible proof of its long-delayed and much-anticipated arrival here in Hog Heaven: a truck load of mulch piled high in the driveway. Its (the season and the mulch) presence means that my wife has BIG plans for me this weekend. Plans that don't include reading the latest thriller or watching basketball. At least not while the sun shines.

But, the sun can't shine all the time. That leaves at least some hours when I won't be blowing leaves out of the flower beds and spreading a fresh layer of mulch.

Even so, I likely won't be catching any of this weekend's movie premieres. (DVDs mean never having to say you're sorry.) That includes "Adventureland," another coming-of-age piece. This one is set at an amusement park (surprise!) and costars the delectable Kristin Stewart. The word is that her elegant neck is safe. For now anyway. For those who can't get enough testosterone, there's the latest in the "Fast & Furious" franchise. This one brings back the original stars: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Paul Walker. I also won't be seeing "Sugar," a baseball drama that was partially filmed just down the road in Davenport, Iowa. The movie follows the hopeful odyssey of Latino baseball players from impoverished homeland to the American minor leagues and has won kudos from audiences at film festivals. It's on my must-see-soon list.

I also probably won't watch as March (April?) Madness reaches a climax with the Final Four on Saturday and the Championship on Monday. Why? No underdog. Except for the fans of the four remaining teams, who really cares if North Carolina, Michigan State, Villanova, or Connecticut win another NCAA title? Since I'm only mildly interested in college basketball anyway, it takes a cinderella to keep me watching.

If you're staying in on Saturday night--like moi--and eschewing televised roundball, there are a couple of new DVD releases that might appeal to you. The first is the acclaimed--Academy Award for Best Picture--Bollywood drama "Slumdog Millionaire." Directed by Danny Boyle, it's the life-affirming story of an orphaned Mumbai street kid's unlikely success on an Indian "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

The other, for those interested in a TV series marathon, is the first season of the USA Network hit "In Plain Sight." The series stars Mary McCormack as U.S. Marshall Mary Shannon who works for the Federal Witness Protection Program. Besides the assorted criminals she works with, there's an eccentric cast of characters in her personal life. It makes for a funny and suspenseful hour. For much more on the series, including info on the Season Two premiere coming up on April 19, see here: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/inplainsight/

Some of you will undoubtedly be watching vampire romance "Twilight" which has sold 5.2 million copies since the DVD was released, making it the year's top-selling release. There's no recession for vampires.

There's one thing for sure: I've reserved an hour on Sunday evening for the second installment of HBO's delightful adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana dramedy, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." For more on last Sunday's pilot, see here: http://flyover-culture.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-1-ladies-detective-agency.html

Long Lost

Long Lost, by Harlan Coben. Dutton, $27.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-525-95105-6

Prolific best-seller Coben returns with his ninth Myron Bolitar thriller (after 2006's Promise Me). This time out the former basketball star and current entertainment agent is caught in a fiendish terrorist plot that has him piling up the frequent-flier miles.

It all starts out innocently enough. The forty-something Bolitar, who's involved in a relationship with a "Nine/Eleven widow," gets a call from old flame Terese Collins. The two once shared a passionate three weeks in the Caribbean, but Terese, a former CNN anchor, disappeared shortly thereafter and hadn't been seen in eight years.

"Come to Paris," she asks. Bolitar is reluctant, but his best friend and business partner Win Lockwood, reminds him of Terese's "world-class derriere" and before long our hero is headed for Paris.

As it turns out, Terese has more than sex on her mind although there's that too. It seems that her ex-husband, investigative journalist Rick Collins, has disappeared and she wants Bolitar's help in finding him.

Things get complicated thereafter. Collins turns up dead. DNA tests of the blood at the scene show that Collins' daughter also was present. The only problem—and it's a big one—is that Collins doesn't have a daughter. He and Terese had a daughter once—seven-year-old Miriam—but she died in a tragic traffic accident. That's why Terese disappeared. To darkest Africa, it turns out.

Then, things get really complicated. It further turns out that Collins—and now Terese and Bolitar—have stumbled onto an international terrorist plot of diabolical proportions. Before it's over—and is it ever over?—Bolitar will encounter all manner of challenges: Mossad, anti-abortion activists, CIA black sites, Interpol, rendition, waterboarding, stem cell researchers, and enough facile jokes to embarrass a lesser man.

Bolitar's best buddy, the forty-something Win, has a twenty-something Oriental girlfriend. Her name is Mee, pronounced "me." Win, it seems, loves Mee jokes. Maybe he knows that they're lame, but he can't help himself. Here's an example: "Win slapped my back. 'Feel good about yourself, Myron. After all, I feel good about Mee.'" It gets tiresome. To his credit, Coben doesn't resort to the ultimate Mee joke: "The devil make Mee do it."

People are dying right and left, and these two middle-age professionals manage to keep up the frat boy humor throughout. It does have a way of diminishing the suspense.

Nevertheless, Coben knows how to keep the action moving along briskly and the reader turning the pages. The plot twists like a mountain road but Coben ties everything together in a tense climax. It's not Robert B. Parker. It's not even Randy Wayne White. But, Coben's fans likely will be happy to see Bolitar back again.

Embattled & Embedded

Tomorrow, the Naval Institute Press will publish former Marine officer Wesley Gray's account of his seven months advising the Iraqi Army. Since General Petraeus' strategy for success in Iraq and Afghanistan includes building up capable indigenous security forces, Gray's reflections on his own experiences in that regard are worth a careful reading. I believe that the author is too cynical about Iraqi culture and too pessimistic about Iraq's future prospects, but who knows? The future is a moving target.

Embedded: A Marine Corps Adviser Inside the Iraqi Army, by Wesley Gray. Naval Institute Press, $28.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59114-340-6

Former Marine officer and Iraqi War veteran Gray saw a lot during his seven months as an adviser to the Iraqi Army. What he didn't see was the future. Nobody can, of course. But, that doesn't stop him from venturing into the void.

In mid-2006, Gray was assigned to a MiTT (Military Transition Team) team embedded within a battalion of the Iraqi Army in Al Anbar Province in western Iraq. Their mission was "to train, support, and advise the IA [Iraqi Army]." That turned out to be a frustrating challenge.

Despite pre-deployment training for their mission in Hawaii and in-country training in Iraq, Gray and his teammates were overwhelmed by what they found awaiting them. "[Nothing] can prepare anybody," he writes, "for the levels of ineptitude, laziness, and lack of motivation rampant in the Iraqi army."

What follows is a litany of complaints: Iraqi officers use their soldiers as servants; the logistics system is "inept and corrupt'; Iraqis "are glorified beggars" and employ "selective hearing"; there are "few true Iraqi patriots"; torture is "part of Iraq"; and laziness is endemic and epidemic. To his credit, Gray offers ample testimony to support his charges. And, he tries to put his conclusions in context: Laziness, he concludes, is "a survival mechanism" in a hostile environment.

As the only member of the MiTT team who spoke Arabic, Gray spent many hours socializing with the Iraqis. He seems to have been tolerated if not liked, and the troops gave him an affectionate nickname: "Jamal."

The Iraqis loved to talk about sex, but the author found them sexually illiterate. One reason was that they got much of their information from internet pornography. How was it, they asked Gray, that American men were so well endowed and could perform so long? When Gray tried to explain that porn actors tended to be above average in size and that the movies were edited to prolong the action, his audience was not convinced.

By the end of his tour, a disillusioned Gray had come to believe that the U.S. is "wasting time and resources in Iraq," and that a civil war is inevitable once the Americans depart. He concludes that the Iraqis "probably never will be successful."

Events might yet prove Gray right. But, for the moment, a stable and prosperous Iraq remains a viable possibility. The recent successful provincial elections and continued security gains are steps in the right direction.

There appears to be a consensus among the military and political leadership that success in Iraq and Afghanistan depends upon building up competent security forces (police and military) in those nations. The MiTT teams are on the front lines of that effort.

Despite his pessimism, Gray's unvarnished memoir is a revealing look at the enormous challenges facing MiTT teams in this Long War. Read as a cautionary tale, it's a valuable contribution to our ongoing assessment of the way forward in Iraq.

With luck, a critical mass of Iraqis will surprise the author and embrace the future. Maybe, after all, Iraqi culture is less deterministic and Iraqi society less static than Gray assumes.

QUOTABLE

"'The only time a woman is allowed on top in Iraq is in the bedroom.'"

"Those who succeed in Iraq learn to deal with Iraqi culture; those who fail in Iraq try to change Iraqi culture."

"[S]ix sleeping bags were filled with Iraqis, dreaming about pork chops and unveiled women."

"In their [Iraqis] mind, lazy people are wise people."

"Relying on Iraqis for anything besides a cup of chai (tea) with heavy sugar was rarely solid advice."

"Sure, they [Iraqis] were selfish, lying, untrustworthy, backstabbing, begging bastards for the most part, but they were my friends."

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Ten years ago, Alexander McCall Smith, an African-born, Scottish academic published a
modest little mystery set in Botswana. The result has been anything but modest.

The book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, follows the exploits of Mma Precious Ramotswe, the first and only female detective in the southern African nation of Botswana. Mma Ramotswe, with no background in detection but armed with common sense, uncommon intuition, and keen powers of observation, sets out to help others and her beloved country.

The book was an instant hit with reviewers and readers. Publishers' Weekly called it "a little gem of a book"; the Wall Street Journal judged it a "literary treat"; the L.A. Times settled for "smart and sassy"; and the N.Y. Times dubbed Mma Ramotswe "the Miss Marple of Botswana." Before long, the book was delighting readers everywhere and climbing the best-seller lists.

Smith, a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, followed that first title with nine more in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series including the most recent, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (2009).

The prolific Smith is the author of two additional mystery series—the Sunday Philosophy Club and 44 Scotland Street—as well as academic texts and children's books.

Last night, HBO, in partnership with the BBC, brought the endearing series to the little screen with a two-hour pilot episode that's sure to please both fans of the books and those who are new to Mma Ramotswe and her friends. Written by Richard Curtis and the late Anthony Minghella and directed by Minghella, it's a consistently faithful adaptation of Smith's wryly humorous series. If the six follow-on episodes—written by Nicholas Wright and Robert Jones and directed by Charles Sturridge and Tim Fywell—sustain the initial momentum, HBO should have a hit on its hands.

The production, shot entirely on location in Botswana, looks great, and the actors are uniformly solid. American singer/actress Jill Scott plays the detective heroine with just the right balance of charm and good-natured determination. Anika Nonie Rose is spot-on as Mma Ramotswe's prim and proper secretary, as is Lucian Msamati as Mr. JLB Matekone, the proprietor of Speedy Motors.

Media outlets have been consistent in their praise of the pilot. USA Today calls it "perfect." That's a bit extreme, of course, but the nation's daily is not a stranger to hyperbole. See their review here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2009-03-26-ladies-detective-agency_N.htm?csp=23&RM_Exclude=aol

The more-circumspect Detroit News pronounces it "a winner." See here: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090328/OPINION03/903280314/HBO+s++Ladies+Detective+Agency++a+winner

The New York Daily News says it's "full of charm" here: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/03/28/2009-03-28_the_no_1_ladies_detective_agency_stories.html

For much more on the series including an interview with Alexander McCall Smith, check out the official site: http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/

Weekend Adviser

March is going out like a lion—entertainment wise.

March Madness continues to build with the Elite 8 round this weekend. After Sunday, only four teams will remain standing. Ironically—for an event advertised as March Madness—the semifinals and championship game will be played in April. That seems to be the rule in sports anymore: seasons expand until they're out-of-season. Hockey in June. Baseball in November. Football in February. Who knew?

With fewer hours of basketball action this weekend and baseball's return still a week away, there's more time for other things this weekend. If you missed last Saturday's release of the "Twilight" DVD and you dig teenage vampires, maybe now's the time to check it out. On the other hand, if you're from Mars, there's the latest in the James Bond franchise, "Quantum of Solace," newly-released on DVD. It's the second—following "Casino Royale"—to star Daniel Craig as the iconic spy in the early stages of his career as a double-O and continues to take the franchise in a darker, and more realistic, direction.

For those with lots of time on their hands and few responsibilities, CBS has just released the eighth season of its hit series J.A.G. J.A.G., of course, is the Judge Advocate General branch and is the military's legal eagles. Each of the three services has its J.A.G. branch, but these are Navy lawyers. The lawyers include Navy Cmdr. Harm Rabb (David James Elliot), a former fighter pilot turned lawyer, and Marine Lt. Col. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie (Catherine Bell). (The Marine Corps, of course, is not a separate branch of the military but part of the Navy.) The eighth season (2002-2003) features cases involving murder, treason, and terrorism. If you've got eighteen spare hours this weekend, maybe there's a J.A.G. marathon in your future.

I've already set aside a couple hours Sunday evening for the premiere of HBO's newest series: "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." Based on a delightful set of mysteries by British writer Alexander McCall Smith—nine so far including the latest, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built—the series follows the exploits of Botswana's very first (and only) female private detective, Mma Ramotswe (played here by American singer/actress Jill Scott). Mma is an unconventional detective, relying on observation and intuition to solve cases instead of cynical bravado. Mma is assisted by her prim secretary Mma Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose) and encouraged by her friend (later husband) Mr. Matekone (Lucian Msamati), the owner of Speedy Motors. With unique (and lovable) characters, eccentric mysteries, and an exotic setting, I suspect this will be must-see TV. For more, see here: http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/ And, I'll have more on the HBO series and the books next week.

There's not much of note opening on the Big Screen this weekend. Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon lends her voice to the animated sci-fi flick "Monsters vs. Aliens," and there are two derivative thrillers: "The Haunting in Connecticut" and "12 Rounds." In "Monsters vs. Aliens," Witherspoon channels "Die Hard" hero John McClane in her role as a monster who battles aliens to save the planet. Take the kids. You might enjoy it too. I'd check the reviews before forking over eight bucks (or more) to see either of the thrillers.