Seeing as I work at a library, I often come across authors I've never read before or maybe even never heard of before. The latter's not all that surprising since, as much as I love to read, I'm not very daring; I kinda stick to what I know and like.
Obvs, I like mysteries and, once I exhaust one writer's oeuvre, I need to find another series. So now I'm reading Ed McBain, perhaps best known for his 87th precinct crime fiction series, although I'm reading his Matthew Hope series. I like to read series in order which is a big commitment for the 87th precinct series since he started writing them in 1956 and there's a ton of them. There's only about a dozen Matthew Hope books. For some reason, he ended the series in 1998. Seems he kept writing the 87th precinct until his death in 2005.
Anyway, Matthew Hope is a FL attorney who begins his amateur detecting hobby when he takes on his first murder case (with help, for a time, from an experienced murder defense attorney). Hope has this one scruple where he only defends people he thinks are innocent (at least wrt murder; I don't know if that applies to all charges). The Hope books aren't as gritty as I understand the 87th precinct books to be. The Hope books have a balance of nasty murders and an only slightly jaded main character. There's a lot of back and forth in Hope's mind about a lot of things: the current murder case; his lovers; his daughter; his ex-wife and their failed marriage; life in general; scruples, morals and ethics; etc. There are also some classic fictional detective descriptions, some of which are accurate and effective, yet surprising in a who-woulda-thunk-to-compare-those-things kind of way.
I'm almost done with the Hope series; just a few to go. The next one to read is There Was A Little Girl. Oh! I forgot to mention that all his titles are from fairy tales/children's stories/Aretha Franklin songs, e.g., Cinderella, Puss in Boots, The House That Jack Built, etc.
BTW, Ed McBain is also Evan Hunter who is also Richard Marsten as well as D.A. Addams and Ted Taine plus Curt Cannon and Hunt Collins and sometimes even Ezra Hannon and John Abbott, all of whom started life as Salvatore Albert Lombino. Seems he tried out a few pen names before legally changing his name to Evan Hunter, writing under that name while also writing under Ed McBain.
I've occasionally thought what name I might take if I were to change my name legally, but I can't say I feel a real need to change my name. 'Anne' is a fairly plain name; the only challenge is whether or not there's an 'e' on the end of it. I do appreciate when people ask bc I do feel half-dressed without the 'e'. My last name is only 6 letters and you wouldn't think it would be difficult to manage, but people do seem to mangle it rather impressively. Now, as for a pen name, that's an entirely different matter. I lean toward Isabel Humphreys or some variation thereof, e.g., Isabelle or Humphries. I dunno, maybe Isabel Humphries? No, I think I like the ways the 'y' looks and it would probably make a better autograph.
I'm also starting my way through Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford series. More on that another time; I have to get out of here.
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