New Leaf Nominations for March 2019 • Murder, They Wrote: Deadly Pursuits

Originally Posted by issybird

Given that it's unlikely to have much traction under the circumstances, would you like to withdraw the nomination?

No. It's not going to win, but I don't have any others I feel like nominating, and it may catch someone's eye enough to prompt a paper purchase, so if it not in breach of the rules, I'm happy for it to stay visible here.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

No. It's not going to win, but I don't have any others I feel like nominating, and it may catch someone's eye enough to prompt a paper purchase, so if it not in breach of the rules, I'm happy for it to stay visible here.

Good enough! (I wouldn't have deleted it, anyway, but I agree with you; a large part of the process is suggesting books that might catch someone's eye. Winning is a long shot, but discovery has good odds.)

[CRussel]

Yes, discovery is the important part. And stuartjmz's book sounds interesting. And while not available in North America, I have no difficulty buying from Amazon UK.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I will second Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s been on my TBR for ages.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

How do you all find the prices for different sites? Do you login via proxy?

In my case, yes, I do have a proxy service. It pretty much stopped working for Amazon for a while (became so slow as to be useless), but seems to be okay again now.

But I have the proxy service for other reasons, if you don't have one then I think Bookpossum's advice/example is appropriate:

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

[...]So I just use Kobo as an indicator, and leave it to the locals to check their own Amazon site if that's their preference. [...]

After all, for all that I grabbed prices in four locale's, I still missed yours!

Originally Posted by gmw

After all, for all that I grabbed prices in four locale's, I still missed yours!

The omission led to my uncovering more evidence of rampant Trans-Tasman price-gouging - the book is roughly ten whole Australian cents dearer on this side of the ditch!

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

This confused me at first when I switched to Kobo from Kindle. The price difference seemed HUGE, then I realised that Amazon was showing me books available to NZ but listed in $US, while Kobo was showing me $NZ prices. 75-80% of the books are within $1US of each other, it turns out. But availability is a different kettle of fish, as issy's comment reminded me. It's disappointing because when logged into "amazon.com", as opposed to say "amazon.com.au", I would have expected to see US availability.

Yes, I was caught by exactly the same thing - it appears to be a $US price, but isn't what people in the US see. Very strange.

As for the price differences: it's very hard to understand how they can be that way, but I suppose it's the agreements the various publishers have in each country.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by gmw

After all, for all that I grabbed prices in four locale's, I still missed yours!

I just realised that I missed putting in the NZ price for my nomination too, so I have now included that. Sorry, stuartjmz!

[Catlady]

I nominate The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich. Woolrich was one of the all-time great writers of crime and suspense fiction; many of his stories were adapted for TV and film, including most notably Rear Window, (based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder"). The Bride Wore Black (1940)was the first of his so-called Black series--they all have the word black in the title but are otherwise unconnected.

“Along with Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich practically invented the genre of noir.”
—Newsday

"Woolrich can distill more terror, more excitement, more downright nail-biting suspense out of even the most commonplace happenings than nearly all his competitors." - Ellery Queen

"An opus out of the ordinary, highly emotional and suspenseful, with a surprise finish that turns somersaults." - The Saturday Review of Literature on The Bride Wore Black.

This novel is not to be missed by crime fiction, suspense thriller and Woolrich fans. It was the first suspense novel that Woolrich wrote following his career as a pulp fiction author. Upon publication, the Kansas City Star said it was "a delicacy for epicures" while the Hartford Courant stated it was "the most exciting experience in crime fiction this reviewer has had in some considerable time." Cleveland's Plain Dealer called it "fresh and tremendously effective." The Baltimore Sun was even more effusive with "If it doesn't freeze your blood, then you are immune to literary chills."

The story is about a woman who is obsessed with a deadly personal mission. She selects her victims with care. She dispatches them with cunningness and then she vanishes as quickly as she surfaces - out of nowhere. No one knows her identity or why she appears to undertake such ghastly deeds. We only know she has terrifying beauty and each time she appears a man dies horribly!

The book is available both individually and in an omnibus--The Black Series Vol. 1--in all revelant countries.

Amazon US, $4.99, omnibus, $9.99

Kobo US, $4.99, omnibus, $9.99

Alas, no audiobook and no Overdrive, Hoopla, or Freading. You're going to have to buy it.

[Catlady]

My second nomination is Deep Water (1957) by Patricia Highsmith.

In Deep Water, set in the quiet, small town of Little Wesley, Patricia Highsmith has created a vicious and suspenseful tale of love gone sour.

Vic and Melinda Van Allen's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic can no longer suppress his jealousy and tries to win back his wife by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder—one that soon comes true. In this complex portrayal of a dangerous psychosis emerging in the most unlikely of places, Highsmith examines the chilling reality behind the idyllic facade of American suburban life.

Amazon US, $9.99

Kobo US, $12.79

Available as an audiobook. It's in Overdrive and Scribd (audiobook only) as well.

[bfisher]

I third Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

[Bookpossum]

I third Wiseguy.

I didn't see the film, so would come to it without someone else's interpretation of it. And one of my libraries has it, which isn't the case with a couple of the other nominations.

[gmw]

I second No Rest for the Dead edited by Andrew Gulli. I'm curious to see what it's like.

[gmw]

I second The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich. I haven't read any of his and I'd like to, and this seems a good place to start.

Another nod for No Rest for the Dead here, it sounds like an interesting spin on the "assemble the suspects" trope