Book Review: "The Blue Flame" by George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos is one of my favorite crime writers of all time. He’s definitely an author that should be so much more of a household name because his books are really excellent. I was so excited that he had a new book come out and that it featured a familiar character, PI Derek Strange.

“Everything that used to be complicated and laborious was easy now. But an investigator still needed to know how to talk to people and do the job.”

Derek Strange is still working as a private investigator, still operating out of his office in Washington, DC. And he’s still as dogged as ever when trying to figure out a case. When he’s approached by a drug lawyer, asking him to help clear his client of a murder charge, Derek is ready to search for answers.

What Derek discovers is a series of crimes affecting young men who grew up together, playing football in high school. But now one is dead, one is accused of his murder, and the younger sister of another is the link between the two. He figures out what happened and tells the police, although he keeps some of the details to himself.

Shortly thereafter, another murder occurs, and Derek feels a responsibility to clear it up. Of course, the police have warned him about interfering, and he finds himself treading in some dangerous neighborhoods, but it’s all in a day’s work.

I love the amazing details Pelecanos brings to his books, both in setting and habits of his characters. This is a crime novel but it’s also about greed, family, protecting your own, and second chances. I hope we’ll see Derek back again—I’ve missed him!

Book Review: "Behind Every Good Man" by Sara Goodman Confino

Three years ago, I read Sara Goodman Confino’s first book, For the Love of Friends. I immediately fell for her ability to tell a story with immense humor and heart. Now, having just read her fourth book, which publishes 8/6, I can honestly say that she’s one of my favorite writers.

It’s 1962, and Beverly is the perfect wife, taking care of the house and her two young children, while making life easier for her husband, Larry. She even makes cookies for Larry’s office once a week. And when she drops by with the cookies on a different day than usual, she finds Larry, umm, entangled with his secretary.

Men have needs, you know. That’s Larry’s excuse (and he blames Beverly), but he figures she’ll forgive him and move on. Nope. She throws him out of the house and decides to get even. Since Larry is the campaign manager for one of Maryland’s senators, she decides to work for Michael Landau, the earnest young candidate running against the incumbent. Of course, Michael’s campaign manager doesn’t like that she’s after his job…

Larry tries to intimidate Beverly into letting him move back home, but she knows what his obligations are to her and the kids. And despite the friction between her and the campaign manager, she does help transform Michael into more than a long-shot candidate, encouraging him to reach out to female and Black voters at a time when both were taken for granted.

Beverly wants Michael to win, but her interest in him is more than political, and the feeling is mutual. Despite their mutual attraction they do all they can to focus on the campaign, not each other.

The characters in this book are flawed, funny, and fantastic. I devoured this book, and thank Sara for the gifted copy. (She signed the book and apologized to me for making the character named Larry a bad guy.)

If you’ve never read her books, you should!

Book Review: "Bi-Partisan" by Dallas Smith

This was all kinds of sweet and romantic! It’s also the start of a new series called District Love, and I’m always excited when books take place here in Washington, DC.

Jamie is a first-term congressman from North Carolina. He really feels like he’s making a difference, even though he hates the constant pressure to go after supporters so he can raise money for re-election. He’s not even assured a second term, with his district being redrawn.

Lately, Jamie has been coming to the realization that he is bisexual, even though he’s never been with a guy. But with an election on the horizon—and the possibility his opponent might be ultra-conservative, it’s probably not a good time to come out. However, he agrees to go to a trendy queer bar with his friends.

Adrian is a handsome veterinarian and cat dad. His social anxiety keeps him from dating, and makes crowds a bit challenging, but he’s not above going out dancing with friends. And when his eyes meet Jamie’s across the crowded bar, the two of them are quickly drawn to each other, to the delight of their friends, all of whom think both men could use some romance.

Of course, a photo of Jamie and Adrian leaving the bar is quickly leaked online. Rather than turn this into a crisis, they agree to pretend they’re in a relationship, so that no one thinks Jamie’s sleeping around. We romance readers know what happens with fake dating, but would a real relationship with a politician be the right prescription for Adrian, who’d rather spend time alone or with animals?

Thanks so much to Pride Book Tours for a copy of the book and for inviting me on the tour. I loved the combination of emotions, humor, and a dash of steam in this book, and really appreciated the discussions about social anxiety and chronic illness, which doesn’t usually happen in a rom-com. I’m all in for the next book!!

Book Review: "Owning Up" by George Pelecanos

Ever since I read one of his first books in the early 1990s, George Pelecanos has been one of my absolute favorite crime writers. Although he has done well as a writer and executive producer of shows like The Wire, Treme, and The Deuce, he really should be more of a household name for his books.

He hasn’t published a book since 2018, so I was really excited to find his latest book during a bookstore visit this weekend. Even if this is more fiction with a dash of crime, it is so good to read his work again.

Owning Up is a collection of four novellas, each of which follows its main characters for a number of decades. In “The Amusement Machine,” two former inmates meet in a completely different environment since they’ve turned their lives around, at least until one finds money more tempting than freedom. In “The No-Knock,” a crime writer’s life is turned upside down when federal agents ransack his house, looking for evidence that his eldest son committed a crime.

Family history, as well as the history of some major acts of violence and disaster in Washington DC, are at the core of “Knickerbocker,” when a woman leading her grandmother through reminiscences brings her into a whole different world. And in the title novella, a young Greek man comes of age during two hostage crises in Washington, and he learns a valuable lesson from a coworker.

While I missed the whipsmart intensity of Pelecanos' crime novels, these novellas reminded me how well he creates characters that reside somewhere in the grey space between good and bad. There are familiar themes in this book, of family and heritage, over the struggle to do the right thing, and issues of racism and racial inequity. I’ve always loved the research he does for his books, and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve been here long enough to remember many of the places he writes about!!

Book Review: "After Perfect" by Maan Gabriel

This is the heartfelt story of a woman trying to find her way after her marriage ends.

Be the perfect wife. That’s what Gabby was taught to do by her traditional Filipino mother. And that’s what she’s done—put aside her dreams and supported her husband, Simon, whom she dated in high school. But after being married for 16 years, Simon tells Gabby he wants a divorce.

Gabby falls apart. Life with Simon is what she knows. But with the support of her best friend, she decides to go back to school to study creative writing. And it’s not long before she finds herself drawn to Colt, the bestselling author who teaches one of her classes. He, too, becomes an advocate for Gabby to pursue her dreams and independence.

As Gabby builds her new life, including getting a job, the attraction between her and Colt grows deeper. Yet as he opens up to her, Gabby sees that he’s perhaps as vulnerable, if not more so, than her. Can a fresh start be found with someone who may be too damaged to love and be loved?

This was an emotional book and Gabby is definitely someone to root for. I loved the NYC and DC area settings. (The book actually even mentioned a few places not far from my house.) The one challenge that I had is one of my least favorite tropes—miscommunication. I know it creates more drama, but I want to shake characters and say, “Just talk to one another!”

Book Review: "The Hopefuls" by Jennifer Close

The Washington, DC area gets a bit of a bad rap. Sure, there are people who work within presidential administrations and on Capitol Hill that are a little status-obsessed, and really only want to deal with those who have similar jobs. (I've attended more than a few parties in my years down here in which people literally disengaged when they found out I worked in the association management field rather than in politics.)

But this area is unique in many ways—random encounters with political figures still leave me a little starstruck nearly 29(!) years after I arrived, and you can't beat the magic of an inauguration, especially when it's a candidate you supported. (Getting stuck behind a motorcade when you're in a hurry immediately gets old, however.)

When Wisconsin native Beth Kelly uproots her cosmopolitan New York City life to move with her husband Matt down to Washington, DC, where he had accepted a job with President Obama's Presidential Inauguration Committee, she's a bit shell-shocked. It's hard to believe that the Nation's Capital can feel like such a small town (unlike the anonymity you can escape into in NYC), the pace is really slow, and all anyone talks about is politics. And themselves. And what they do working in politics. And others who work in politics.

With no real career prospects and no friends to speak of, it's a fairly lonely existence for Beth. And the other downside to living in Washington is their close proximity to Matt's family, ruled by a mother who thinks Matt can do no wrong, and who treats all of her daughters-in-law as if they are outsiders no matter how long they've been married to her sons. Beth tries to get acclimated to the city and her new life, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Salvation comes when Matt meets Jimmy Dillon, a charismatic White House staffer, and Beth becomes very close with Jimmy's wife, Ashleigh, a Texas girl who is utterly unlike Beth in every way. The two couples become very close, and when Beth gets a job on a DC-social scene website, things seem to be looking up. But as Jimmy's career seems to be rising, Matt's seems to be stalling, and his jealousy of the opportunities Jimmy is getting—opportunities that Matt believes he is more deserving of—it threatens to drive a wedge into their friendships as well as Matt and Beth's marriage.

I found The Hopefuls to be a really enjoyable and fun read. Jennifer Close really hits all of the right notes about the culture and interpersonal dynamics in Washington, and what it's like for an outsider looking in. Even things that may seem outlandish to those unfamiliar with the city had me nodding and even laughing out loud a time or two. (I can actually recall having a conversation with friends about how many of the Safeway grocery stores in DC have nicknames—the Social Safeway, the Soviet Safeway, etc.—so it was funny seeing that in the book.)

Close is a very engaging writer with a keen ear for dialogue. I enjoyed the characters although I found Beth to be a little too passive throughout nearly the entire book, and I kept wanting her to get angry or make a scene. I also thought that perhaps Close drew out Beth's unhappiness with the area a little longer than necessary, but it didn't really interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

If you've never lived in the DC area, you may be amazed or skeptical of the culture that Close describes in the book. It's pretty dead-on, though, but you don't have to know anything about this city to enjoy The Hopefuls. It's fun (and funny), enjoyable, and well-written. It feels like a great summer book.

NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Company provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!