THE ASSOCIATION BLOG

Review: The Alienist (1994) by Caleb Carr

30/1/2022

Avid Netflix watchers and crime enthusiasts will certainly not have missed out on the highly acclaimed series, The Alienist, released in 2018 and starring prominent actors such as Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning. While many current Netflix crime series fictionalise true crimes, this series is an adaptation of the homonymous book series by the American author and military historian Caleb Carr. In the first book of this mystery series, Carr takes the reader on a journey through the dark underbelly of the vibrant metropolis that is New York. Depicting some of the wickedest minds and evilest acts of humanity, Carr presents his readers with highly eventful murder-hunts and newly probed methods of forensic investigation while also letting them experience emotional ups and downs along with his characters.

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2020 Book Prize Runner Up: Noir in the North: Gender, Politics, and Place

29/11/2021

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The second runner up to be reviewed by Dr. Linda Ledford-Miller is Stacy Gillis and Gunnthórunn Gudmundsdóttir's edited collection, Noir in the North: Gender, Politics, and Place (2020).

Once again, we would like to congratulate all of the authors and editors of these outstanding volumes of crime fiction scholarship.

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2020 Book Prize Runner Up: The Disabled Detective by Susannah B. Mintz

29/11/2021

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As promised at our online event in November, we will be reviewing both of the runners up of the 2020 ICFA Book Prize on our association blog.

First up, Susannah B. Mintz's The Disabled Detective: Sleuthing Disability in Contemporary Crime Fiction (2020) reviewed by Dr. Linda Ledford-Miller.

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Review: Ian Rankin's Knots & Crosses (1987)

2/7/2021

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Avid readers of Ian Rankin are of course very familiar with the hardened Inspector John Rebus who is not averse to relying on brawn over brain. I encountered Rebus for the first time however, in the sixth novel in the series, Mortal Causes (1994). Reading Mortal Causes before Knots & Crosses led me to believe that I knew what to expect from a Rankin novel, but the liberal lacing of Rebus’s vulnerabilities stemming from his career before he started in the police force took me by surprise. Indeed, Knots & Crosses is the first in a long line of Rebus investigations, so backstory is something of a prerequisite for the first novel. But it was quite refreshing to be shown a character who is evidently a successor of the hard-boiled tradition having his vulnerabilities portrayed so openly.

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