“So,” she finally said. “On the Albert Lee case, who was the factor?”
“It was a doctor,” Bosch said. “A dentist, actually. His name was John William James. His offices were down in the Marina and I guess he made so much money capping teeth that he started factoring.”
“You said ‘was.’ His name ‘was’ John William James.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a problem with your case. John William James is dead. A couple years after Albert Lee got murdered, James got himself whacked as well. He was sitting in his Mercedes in the parking lot outside his office when somebody put a twenty-two in his head too.”
I’ve seen this on various blogs, but can’t seem to find the creator, so I can’t credit them. I’d like to if anyone knows who did it. I saw this first at Read to Ramble, put it on my “do this tag list,” and promptly forgot about it. Then I was reminded of it on Witty and Sarcastic Book Blog—and it took me over a year to get around to it. I liked the category she added so I used it, and seconds before hitting “Publish” decided to add one of my own.
Also, just for fun, I added the music videos. Might as well sample a bit of the tunes we’re talking about, right?
What’s My Age Again – Blink 182
At what age did you discover your love of reading?
I’ve talked here before about the family vacation where I was such a pain in the keister that my parents had to stop and find a place to get me a couple of books so I’d be tolerable to be in the car with (Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective and Sugar Creek Gang: Screams in the Night—unleashing my Mystery/Detective obsession), which is when I was 7. But I’d been reading like crazy before then, I just didn’t think about it as a thing.
All Star – Smash Mouth
What is your favorite genre?
Is anyone expecting me to say anything but Mystery/Detective/Crime? It’s no contest, really, as it’s never less than a third of what I read in any given month.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something
What’s your go-to reading snack/drink?
I don’t think I typically snack while reading—probably occasionally, but not enough to have a go-to snack (if this were a TV Tag, on the other hand…). A go-to drink? Probably water, I guess, really just whatever is witin reach. Coffee, hot tea, even a beer or a single-malt.
I don’t know that there’s one book that I’d always recommend—not in a “one book to rule them all” sense, anyway. It varies based on who I’m talking to, their interests, and the genre we’re talking about.
But…I guess Jane Eyre, The Golden Spiders, Early Autumn, The Name of the Wind*, Ender’s Game, Red Rising, Dead Beat, The Rook, Dawn Patrol, Kings of the Wyld would likely top the list of fiction. On the non-fiction front, it’d likely be How the Irish Saved Civilization, Christianity & Liberalism, The Bruised Reed, How to Think, or The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction.
* Unless I think they’re going to be someone who whines about book 3.
I’ve never understood the appeal of RHCP—so I used “Bedrock Anthem” instead.
…Baby One More Time – Britney Spears
A book or series you have read more than once?
If I actually responded to this prompt, it’d turn this tag into the longest post I’ve ever done. Every title I listed after the last prompt would work here.
Tearin’ Up My Heart – N’Sync:
A book that broke your heart to finish?
Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan. Nothing else needs to be said.
Crush – Jennifer Paige
Who was your first bookish crush?
I don’t know, really. This is a topic I always stumble on in these tags. Maybe Sally Kimball? Turtle Wexler or Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad (and so on) would be likely candidates, too. Yeah…Eilonwy is probably it.
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
A book that you read as a teen that you still love today?
Well, there are just so many. I’m not sure if that says that my tastes are adolescent. It just might. Jane Eyre again, the Gideon Oliver series, The Oathbound Wizard, Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold!, I think I was a teen when I read the bulk of the Fletch and Flynn novels. I’m sure I could go on, but who’s paying attention at this point?
Hurt – Nine Inch Nails
What book do you love that deals with heavier subjects?
This is another question that could end up with too many answers. I’m going to limit it to Dennis Lehane’s Gone, Baby, Gone. This was my introduction to Lehane and the series and it hit me like a ton of bricks—I distinctly remember a couple of years after it was released my wife and I renting the audiobook for a road trip from a truck stop (a practice I’d all but forgotten about until I started this sentence), and both of us were on the verge of tears and laughing at each other for being self-conscious about it. There’s child abandonment, addiction, child abduction, police corruption, and while dealing with those topics (and others) honestly—it’s exciting, gripping, and frequently fun.
Superman’s Song – Crash Test Dummies
What’s your favorite superhero book?
It’s Superman! by Tom De Haven. This version of Superman’s origins, set in the 1930s, felt like the perfect modern take on the classic version of the hero. It felt 100% Golden Age Superman and completely fresh at the same time.
As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.
She shook her head. “You’d think after the first time I got shot at, or my hotel got shelled, or I saw the aftermath of a drone attack or market bombing, I’d never sign up again. When actually, that’s the reason I kept going back.”
Peter knew exactly what she meant.
The sun never shone so brightly as when somebody was trying to kill you.
After a moment, I heard footsteps, and the door was snatched open by the same skinny guy I’d seen enter. He no longer wore the jacket with his name on it, but I took a leap of faith. “Jimmy Lane?”
He stared at me, and I had time to study the face on his oversize head, acne scarred with a withered Fu Manchu and limp dark hair that slithered over his shoulders. Oddly, his body parts were all oversize—not only his head but also his hands and feet—almost as if he’d been assembled from parts that didn’t quite match. He had the look of somebody who had taken a lot of questionable chances in life and had paid for every single one of them in spades.
I hadn’t thought it was a particularly difficult question but asked again, this time mixing it up in an attempt to jog something loose. “Lane, Jimmy Lane?”
We share a long hug, and I apologize for being so moody lately.
“You’re a teenager. I’d have you committed if you weren’t.” She pecks me on the forehead and all is well in our house again. “I was thinking, you start school and your new job on Tuesday, so what would you say about getting a hotel and spending the weekend in New York City?”
“Are you serious?”
She frowns. “No, I enjoy getting your hopes up and crushing them. Of course I’m serious.”
Since he could barely afford water now, much less weed, Kenny hadn’t spoken with Terry in two years. He parked on West State Street in front of a few houses that almost looked habitable. He walked through the park toward the statue of John Roebling, where they’d agreed to meet.
Terry strolled toward him. He walked with a limp now and had gained at least fifty pounds. The gold front teeth were also new and they kicked up a spark of sun. “The famous Kenneth Lee, in the hood,” he said with a smile. They shook hands. “How’s your brother?”
“Married with a kid. Selling life insurance. We don’t talk much. How the hell have you stayed out of jail?” Kenny asked.
“Always run faster, man.”
“With the limp?”
“Ah, got shot in the ankle,” said Terry. “Never fixed up right. Still run faster than any piece of bacon in this slaughterhouse.”
Kenny wasn’t sure if it was the greatest use of slang he’d ever heard or the worst.
“…for all these reasons, singles are ten times as hard to find as LPs. And when the record is rare to start with, as in the case of Valerian…”
“It’s almost impossible to find.”
“Yes.” Nevada rolled over, leaning on her elbow and looking at me. “And yet,” she said. “And yet I don’t sense any hopelessness in your voice.”
“Don’t you?”
“Not even any fashionable cynicism.”
“Oh dear.”
“In fact what I sense, when you expound at such great length on just how fucking impossible it is to find this record of Valerian’s, is quiet confidence.”
I smiled in the darkness. She could see right through me. “That’s because | think I know someone who’s got a copy,” I said.
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