Mystery Writers Extraordinaire

Well, I've always been a voracious reader. Early memories of this personality trait: being taken to the Pan American Library by Daddy, sometimes several times a month.

The PanAm, as we called it, was a small (one might say "wee") building filled with the usual library accoutrements, nothing amazing by most people's standards, but to me it was Heaven or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

What I remember most about the Pan Am was the section where all the folk tales, fables, and myths were stacked. I remember picking up volumes of Norse myths, Greek myths, world fables, etc., and taking them home to peruse. By the time I was eleven or so, I'd read most of the books in that section of the library. Ask me what I remember, and I shall have to admit that I remember precious little, although the mention of a character or two from a particular myth is enough to get my mind going and pulling some of the long-filed-away info out of my poor, challenged brain.

I read so much then, and I read about as much now. Back then, I'd check out the maximum number of books allowed each time I visited the library, and I'd likely be done way before their due dates. If Daddy wanted to punish me with anything, taking away library priveleges was the best way.

Now, if we're talking about an average week, I read 2-3 books, more if I'm really into something and refuse to give in to sleep or hunger or whatever.

I've been really blissed out this year because most of my fave authors released something new in the past 6 months or so. Robert Crais released a new book in the Elvis Cole series, and if you've never read any books in this series, you need to do it now. Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore, or open up Amazon and get the first book. I dare you to read just one. John Connolly released one in the Charlie Parker series, and this book alone made all the year's reading worthwhile because reading it led me to re-read the first five books in the series, and a better series, you're not likely to find anywhere. Absolutely superb.

One of the reasons I really like Mr. Connolly's writing is that his main character, the aforementioned Charlie Parker, is so troubled and yet so funny. Make no mistake--this guy's got too much going on in his cabeza; it's not clear at all whether he's fully sane. At the series' start, he's "lost" his wife and child to a brutal murder. I do mean brutal here, folks. Their skin is flayed from their bodies, and the murder scene is one of the most horrific you're ever likely to read. He's lost them to this murder, one that is clearly not his fault, but he was off drinking when it happened, drinking after a row with his wife or maybe just a moment of clear distance between them, and he's haunted by the guilt of that and also by the certainty that he might have made a difference had he been there. Clearly, though, he'd have been just one more victim to slice up and position in some horribly psychotic fashion.

He's haunted by this, by their deaths and his "part" in them, and he's barely upright, sanity-wise. It's as if what happened has finally broken him in ways that nothing that came before could have, and that's kind of surprising, since what's come before was no easy shakes either.

Throughout the first book, he seems perilously close to completely losing it. Now, you'd think that such a man would not find humor in ANYthing. No, he'd be a ball of ugliness, all hate and guilt and shame and regret. But he finds humor in a lot. It's part of who he is, that humor, and it's telling that he can't shake it even when he's at his lowest points.

It helps that he has two "partners" in his attempts to resolve the mystery of his wife and child's deaths. Louis and Angel, the first gay sidekicks I can remember ever reading about, are bad guys. That much is clear. Both of them have violent pasts, although Angel was mostly a thief. Louis was a contract killer. They tease (well, Angel teases; Louis doesn't seem much into teasing anyone) Parker; they watch his back as much as they can; they care about him in ways that the series develops out and explains.

I love those two characters and part of my joy in reading this series comes from their interactions with Parker's character.

Throughout the six novels in this series, Mr. Connolly has developed Parker with consistent attention to detail and to continuity. But with each book, Parker becomes a far, far different man from the one we see in the first novel (Every Dead Thing).

I recently re-read the first five novels, and found myself totally blown away by how fine they were, how well-written.

Good series, I think, give us characters who become part of our memories, of our rich internal, creative lives. Parker is that, certainly, as are a few other protagonists (Elvis Cole, Patrick Kenzie, Burke, Robicheaux, Tess Monaghan). But with Parker, I find I have a real soft spot. I'm really plotzing to see him change even more, to see all the twists and turns of his life and his psyche, to see what happens between him and the people he loves and who love him.

Parker's family, and I hope he brings Angel and Louis to the next barbecue.