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A review by rosseroo
The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives by Otto Penzler
3.0
This isn't the kind of book that usually grabs my attention, but it did win a big award last year and it does have a few authors in it I like, so I figured it was worth dipping into. It appears to have had its genesis in a series of essays put out by the Mysterious Bookstore, all of which have been collected into this volume. In skimming the table of contents, I immediately took issue with the book's subtitle of "The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives." First of all, the "World" isn't represented beyond the US and UK. Secondly, using the word "Greatest" is always ill-advised for anthologies like this, since invariably people will argue with that designation (for example, there's no Elmore Leonard here). Third, the phrase "Crime Writers" is invoked when a good number of the authors included are best described as "Thriller Writers" and along those lines, many of the characters discussed are not really "Detectives", they're more heroes or protagonists. So, there's plenty to quibble with in terms of how the book is presented.
However, once you're past that, the individual essays are generally pretty decent. Some are very straightforward, some are arranged as Q&As, at least one is written as a faux newspaper article, and some are more like drifting meditations. I read the ones by Ken Bruen (haven't liked his fractured prose in the past, didn't really like it here), Michael Connelly, Colin Dexter (kind of a fussy piece that strays way off target into TV adaptation), John Harvey (very interesting explanation of why his books were set in Nottingham), Laura Lippman (again being a little too cute for my taste), Robert Parker (a dashed off scene of fiction), and Ian Rankin (a nice overview of his early career). My two favorite pieces were probably David Morrell talking about his misunderstood character Rambo (not exactly the first character you expect to find in a book about "Greatest Detectives"), and Alexander McCall Smith's loving ode to the Africa that inspired Previous Ramotswe.
Probably worth dipping into if you're a fan of some of the writers, but otherwise of limited interest.
However, once you're past that, the individual essays are generally pretty decent. Some are very straightforward, some are arranged as Q&As, at least one is written as a faux newspaper article, and some are more like drifting meditations. I read the ones by Ken Bruen (haven't liked his fractured prose in the past, didn't really like it here), Michael Connelly, Colin Dexter (kind of a fussy piece that strays way off target into TV adaptation), John Harvey (very interesting explanation of why his books were set in Nottingham), Laura Lippman (again being a little too cute for my taste), Robert Parker (a dashed off scene of fiction), and Ian Rankin (a nice overview of his early career). My two favorite pieces were probably David Morrell talking about his misunderstood character Rambo (not exactly the first character you expect to find in a book about "Greatest Detectives"), and Alexander McCall Smith's loving ode to the Africa that inspired Previous Ramotswe.
Probably worth dipping into if you're a fan of some of the writers, but otherwise of limited interest.