The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell The Inside Story of Their Great Detectives, Otto Penzler, editor, Little Brown Publishers, 2009, 406 p., $25.95.
Smoothly written and edited, The Lineup is converstation between authors and readers. These first person essays cover topics such as 'how I discovered my inner detective,' 'how I became a fiction writer' and 'who is this detective anyway.'
For CWL, Michael Connelly and Robert Crais are two authors whose stories were very familiar.
The Lineup may not have your favorite dtective/author. For CWL Matt Scudder/Lawrence Block, Nathan Heller/Max Allan Collins and Bernie Gunther/Philip Kerr were missing. But having authors describe their work generated interest in two detectives that I had not yet read. Now CWL has two new authors novels, Ian Rankin and John Connolly, to enjoy.
You might find your favorite detective fiction author confessing in The Lineup. Others you have heard of and might be curious about their creations. The Lineup covers these detectives by their authors. Aspiring fiction writers are well served by this collection of authors relating the inside dope on their creations.
Detective/Author
Jack Taylor/Ken Brown
Jack Reacher/Lee Child
Harry Bosch/Michael Connelly
Charlie Parker/John Connolly
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike/Robert Crais
Lincoln Rhyme/Jeffrey Deaver
Inspector Morse/Colin Dexter
Charlie Resnick/John Harvey
Bob Lee Swagger/Stephen Hunter
Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus/Faye Kellerman
Alex Delaware/Jonathan Kellerman
Dismas Hardy/John Lescroart
Tess Monaghan/Laura Lippman
Rambo/David Morrell
Mallory/Carol O'Connell
Spenser/Robert B. Parker
Lou Boldt/Ridley Pearson
Charlotte and Thomas Pitt/Anne Perry
Aloysius X. L. Pendergast/Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
John Rebus/Ian Rankin
Precious Ramotswe/Alexander McCall Smith
