The late Lawrence Sanders wrote 38 novels that sold 58 million copies. He began late in life, The Anderson Tapes being published when he was 50. It was adapted for the screen (1971) and starred Sean Connery and a great supporting cast. It was a little too goofy for my taste. Sanders died at 78, so he was quite prolific, banging out more than one book per year in a 28 year span. He received an Edgar for Best First Novel. He is probably most famous for his deadly sin series, of which there are four. The first was adapted to the screen and starred Frank Sinatra as the detective (1980). I've never seen it. I just finished the first of another Sanders series, McNally’s Secret, which is set among the rich in Palm Beach, Florida. It is very entertaining, its 340 pages reading more like 250. The prose, dialogue and wit are first rate, and the plot is involving and grounded. Nothing unrealistic occurs, and I did not finger the culprit. The protagonist, a randy bachelor approaching 40, does discreet inquiries for the law firm of his father, a British emigrant. Given that and the frequent literary and cultural references, and the dazzling vocabulary, I was surprised to find out that Sanders was a Brooklyn boy, not a Euro transplant or from somewhere like Boston‘s Beacon Hill. He is as convincing as the character of the father, whose own father was a vaudevillian, not an aristocrat. I was unfamiliar with many of the references, but it did not diminish my enjoyment. I’d never encountered words such as “Fantods” (the willies) or “Megrims” (headaches). Sanders, a graduate of Wabash College, obviously took the pursuit of knowledge very seriously. I frequently chuckled aloud as I was reading. In a neat twist on the old apple/tree proverb, he used: “The turd never falls far from the bird.” On a scale of five, I rate McNally’s Secret three-and-three-quarters. It is superior to all the mysteries I've sampled except Tammi Hoag's A Thin Dark Line.
I hardly did any business at all today, but I had some fun. Hans, aka Mr. Su Do Ku, author of a book on the subject, has been visiting the floating book shop for years. He asked: Can you spell arrogant in five letters? Being fellow right-wingers, I knew exactly where he was going. "O-B-A-M-A." We laughed aloud. Marty also stopped by. Poor guy is going through nicotine withdrawal. I'd guess he's about 70. He'd been smoking a long time. He believes the flood waters of Sandy created mold in the lobby of his building. His chest feels heavy whenever he inhales. Ol' Smokey is still rolling his own. He paused to chat three times today. Once is usually more than enough. He was torqued off because a black woman told him not to cough as he passed her on the street. I know exactly how she felt. Since he looks homeless, a cough like that triggers thoughts of TB. He let the pejoratives fly and it was useless to tell him to calm down.
My thanks to the lovely young Asian woman who purchased the Ray Coniff CD, the last that remained of Marie's most recent donation of more than 50; and to Dave & Kim, who donated six paperback best sellers, all but one thrillers.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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