CLUES UNLIMITED
A mystery bookstore
3146 E. Ft. Lowell Rd, Tucson, AZ 85716-5317
(520) 326-8533 (voice)
info@cluesunlimited.com (e-mail)

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Of Special Interest

December 2009/January 2010

Please renew your newsletter subscription for 2010 by sending or bringing in the order form inside the newsletter with your check or credit card number. Yes, another year has passed already!

Great news for Arizona mystery writers! Betty Webb’s Desert Lost (PP, 24.95) and J.M. Hayes’ Server Down (PP, 24.95) were picked for the Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year.

Speaking of best books of the year, I always like to look back on my favorite books of the year that’s gone by, so here’s my list:

Matthew Dicks, Something Missing (RH, 14.95). This story of a man who supports himself by robbing people’s houses of things they don’t even notice are missing is surprisingly heartwarming. The main character is increasingly likable as the novel unfolds and the way he interacts with the people he robs is truly touching.

Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (RH, 23.00). Bradley accomplishes the difficult task of convincingly creating the voice of a precocious eleven-year-old British schoolgirl, obsessed with chemistry, who discovers a dead body in the kitchen garden of their ramshackle country estate and investigates to save her father from being charged with murder. This is wonderful.

Andrew Taylor, Bleeding Heart Square (Hyp, 25.99). This mystery set in the 1930s hearkens back to the nineteenth-century with its creation of a London neighborhood, filled with eccentric characters. The mysterious relationships among the inhabitants and the shadow cast by the dark legend (from the Ingoldsby Legends) of the lady who danced away with the Devil combine with the mysterious disappearance of the landlady of a shabby boardinghouse to create an atmosphere of delicious dread.

Michael Connelly, The Scarecrow (LB, 25.99). When Connelly is good he is great and this story of a burnt-out journalist and a falsely accused man is as much a lament for the passing of the great newspapers as it is a mystery.

Lee Child, Gone Tomorrow (RH, 27.00). This is one of my favorite of the Jack Reacher novels because of the very puzzling plot and the absolutely horrifying look at violence in Afghanistan.

Jack Shannon, Palos Verdes Blue (Pegasus, 25.00)). Shannon’s Jack Liffey series is wonderful for the way the author combines a humane concern for the people of Southern California and his main characters with breath-takingly apocalyptic endings

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Richard Lange, This Wicked World (LB, 24.99). Lange’s debut novel is a beautifully-written mystery with an appealing protagonist and a wonderful sense of the craziness and violence of Southern California. I was particularly struck by the way the author is able to present all of the characters--even really bad guys--in a way that makes them interesting and ultimately sympathetic. Lange is a writer to watch.

Louise Penny, The Brutal Telling (STM, 24.99). Reading Penny’s Three Pines mysteries is like visiting a charming place and meeting up with characters who have become old friends. I love the way the author is able to combine a cozy sensibility with a very real awareness of the evil of which people are capable that gives a depth and richness to the mysteries.

We want to wish you the happiest of holidays and to take the opportunity to thank you for your support of Clues Unlimited.

Chris, Daniel, and Canelo

August/September 2009

If you enjoyed last year’s Book Festival, be aware that the 2010 Festival of Books is in the planning stages. I am the mystery author chairman, so please let me know if there’s anyone you’d like to see come to Tucson.

Here are a couple of recent reads that I must share with you. These are books that make owning a bookstore worth it.

Cozy: Sophie Littlefield’s Bad Day for Sorry (STM, 24.95) is a perfectly-pitched mystery that combines a funny cozy with the serious issue of domestic abuse. I loved every minute of it and the main character Stella Hardesty.

Cozy: Matthew Dicks’ Something Missing (RH, 14.95) is a debut novel about a young man who supports himself through breaking and entering, stealing things that the owners never use and will never miss. It is one of my favorite novels this year for the intriguing plotting and the strangely lovable protagonist.

Police Procedural: G M Maillet’s series featuring Detective St. Just beginning with Death of a Cozy Writer (MidInk, 14.95) is a perfect contemporary example of the cozy village mystery with eccentric characters, clever plotting, and loads of red herrings

Thriller: Richard Lange’s debut novel This Wicked World (GC, 24.99) is a wonderful, funny, noirish adventure set in southern California with an appealing protagonist, a truly creepy villain, lots of action, and a redemptive ending.

Come see us in our new store with new air conditioning!

Chris, Marcelino, Daniel, and Canelo