What's New, Pussycat?: February 2024

What’s New, Pussycat? February 2025   Since we—my lovely family and I—moved from Salt Lake City to Southern Vermont a few years ago the number of used books that follow me home has slackened somewhat; which isn’t saying I’ve become chaste with my book acquisitions but rather small-town Vermont has fewer books sitting around waiting for me than the city had. One of my favorite places for used books is the Rutland City Free Library’s Friends of the Library book sale held on the second Friday and Saturday of each month. The stock turns over nicely—there is always something new in the rotation—and in the more than two years I’ve been going, I have never been turned out empty handed. And I’ve found more than a few treasures. February’s sale was held this past weekend, the 14th and 15th, and (of course) I attended both days because that’s how I roll. My take was five books; well, four books and a box filled with four small paperbacks with each featuring a short story by a Swedish crime writer: Håkan Nesser, Arne Dahl, Karin Tidbeck, and Henning Mankell. I’ll be sure to let you know how I like these shorts since I’m planning to read at least one of them after I finish the novel I’m reading now. But until then, I thought it would be fun to share my latest house-cluttering treasures….
THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ, by Carson McCullers (© 1951). The edition I picked up is from Mariner Books, 2005. This collection of seven stories fits one of my reading goals for the year: read more literature! I haven’t read McCullers since my misspent college days and I’m excited to dip my toes into her writing again. The stories included are: The Ballad of the Sad Café, Wunderkind, The Jockey, Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland, The Sojourner, A Domestic Dilemma, and A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud.
BLACK WATER, by Joyce Carol Oates (© 1992). This copy appears to be a first edition, published by Dutton, but the title page / copyright page has been torn out and—good thing I’m a reader rather than a collector—the dust jacket has been clipped. In Black Water, Oates tells a fictional story about Ted Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne, and the Chappaquiddick Island incident. The names have been changed from real-life to the fictional one, and the tale is told from the perspective of Kopechne, called Kelly Kelleher here. If it is like everything I’ve read from Oates, it is going to be dazzling. I’ll keep you posted since this is already near the top of my reading list.
HUNTING GAME, by Helene Tursten (© 2014). This is the 2019 edition from Soho Crime, translated from the Swedish by Paul Norlen. I’ve read only short stories by Helene Tursten—her shorts featuring the lovable elderly serial killer, Maud, are to die for—and I’m hoping this first mystery in the Detective Inspector Embla Nyström series is just as good. I’ll let you know what I think when I get to it.
THE LOST, by Jeffrey B. Burton (© 2022). This first edition was published by the mystery line, Minotaur Books, and is the third entry in the Mace Reid series. I’ve never read Burton, but this book has three things going for it: 1) it is set in Chicago; 2) it features a cadaver dog named Vira; and 3) I struggle passing up a book from Minotaur. And yeah, there is home invasion, kidnapping, and a billionaire involved.
SWEDISH CRIME: SHORT STORIES, by Håkan Nesser, Arne Dahl, Karin Tidbeck, and Henning Mankell (2019). This snappy little boxed set was produced by Novellix, which according to the copyright page is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Each story is published in its own paperback (4-1/8” x 5-3/4”) and translated into English. I don’t have much experience reading so-called Nordic Noir, but I’m hoping these tales provide a thrill. I’m also wondering if the same person donated this to the library as Tursten’s Hunting Game.   The stories are: How I Spend My Days and Nights, by Håkan Nesser, Migraine, by Arne Dahl, Anywhere Out of the World, by Karin Tidbeck, and The Man on the Beach, by Henning Mankell.