Book Groups

In August, the Just Desserts group will be reading and discussing a 2023 mystery from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. Crook Manifesto is actually the second book in Whitehead’s Ray Carney series, following Harlem Shuffle (2021).

Here’s the plot description of Crook Manifesto from the jacket blurb:

It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated and deadly.

1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney’s endearingly violent partner in crime. It’s getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook to their regret.

1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. (“Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!”), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney s tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.

Crook Manifesto is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege, but also a sneakily searching portrait of the meaning of family.

Colson Whitehead online: Website | FantasticFiction

In September, the Just Desserts group will finally be reading and discussing a title from a very popular author that we, somehow, haven’t used for group discussion before — Karin Slaughter. Her 11th entry in the Will Trent series (which has been adapted to a popular TV series on ABC) was After That Night.

Here’s the plot description of After That Night. from the jacket blurb:

After that night, nothing was ever the same again…

Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton’s life changed forever when a celebratory night out ended in a violent attack that tore her world apart. Since then, Sara has remade her life. A successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves, she has finally managed to leave the past behind her.

Until one evening, on call in the ER, everything changes. Sara battles to save a broken young woman who’s been brutally attacked. But as the investigation progresses, led by GBI Special Agent Will Trent, it becomes clear that Dani Cooper’s assault is uncannily linked to Sara’s.

And it seems the past isn’t going to stay buried forever…

Karin Slaughter online: Website | Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram | FantasticFiction

As we have traditionally done, for several years, our October meeting will be our once-a-year opportunity to look back at a classic mystery/suspense/thriller writer or series. In October 2024, the Just Desserts group will read and discuss Donald Westlake’s series of novels featuring the one-name character Parker, which were written under Westlake’s pseudonym of Richard Stark. Westlake wrote dozens of novels, under his own name and multiple pseudonyms, both stand-alone and series-based, from the mid-1950s until his death in 2008. In most literary circles, Westlake is perhaps best known and celebrated for his 14 books in the humorous Dortmunder series (and, in fact, the Just Desserts group used one of the Dortmunder novels for a group discussion previously). However, as Richard Stark, his 24 volumes featuring Parker easily exceed the shorter-lived Dortmunder series. In fact, the novels written as by Richard Stark, were actually more successful than those written under his own name or any of his many other pseudonyms.

Parker is a professional robber, specializing in large-scale, high-profit targets. As Wikipedia describes the series: “A ruthless career criminal, Parker has almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is callous, meticulous, and perfectly willing to commit murder. He does, however, live by one ethical principle: he will not double-cross another professional criminal with whom he is working, unless they try to double-cross him. Should that happen, Parker will unhesitatingly undertake to exact a thorough and brutal revenge.” The Parker character has been adapted to the big screen eight times, though only one time when his actual name was used: Anna Karina as Paula Nelson in Made in U.S.A., partly based on The Jugger (1966 in France but not released in the U.S. until 2009); Lee Marvin as Walker in Point Blank, based on The Hunter (1967); Michel Constantin as Georges in Pillaged, based on The Score (French-language film in 1967); Jim Brown as McClain in The Split (1968); Robert Duvall as Earl Macklin in The Outfit (1973); Peter Coyote as Stone in Slayground (1983), Mel Gibson as Porter in Payback, also based on The Hunter (1999); and most recently Jason Statham as Parker in Parker (2013).

The 24 Parker novels by Richard Stark are:

• The Hunter (Pocket Books, 1962; re-released in 1999 under the title Payback as a movie tie-in by Grand Central Publishing)
• The Man with the Getaway Face (Pocket Books, 1963) also published as The Steel Hit
• The Outfit (Pocket Books, 1963)
• The Mourner (Pocket Books, 1963)
• The Score (Pocket Books, 1964) also published as Killtown
• The Jugger (Pocket Books, 1965)
• The Seventh (Pocket Books, 1966) also published as The Split
• The Handle (Pocket Books, 1966) also published as Run Lethal
• The Rare Coin Score (Gold Medal, 1967)
• The Green Eagle Score (Gold Medal, 1967)
• The Black Ice Score (Gold Medal, 1968)
• The Sour Lemon Score (Gold Medal, 1969)
• Deadly Edge (Random House, 1971)
• Slayground (Random House, 1971 — first chapter shared with The Blackbird, a novel in Westlake’s Alan Grofield series)
• Plunder Squad (Random House, 1972)
• Butcher’s Moon (Random House, 1974)
• Comeback (Mysterious Press, 1997)
• Backflash (Mysterious Press, 1998)
• Flashfire (Mysterious Press, 2000)
• Firebreak (Mysterious Press, 2001)
• Breakout (Mysterious Press, 2002)
• Nobody Runs Forever (Mysterious Press, 2004)
• Ask the Parrot (Mysterious Press, 2006)
• Dirty Money (Grand Central, 2008)

Anyone wishing to participate in our October 2024 Just Desserts discussion should read ANY one or more of the 24 Parker novels listed above. The libraries have all 24 titles, but have limited numbers of copies of each Parker book, and some only in eBook format. They are also commonly available in digital formats and in the new and used book market. Each participant will be given a chance, “round robin”-style, to talk about whichever title(s) they selected and read. After this first “Round Robin” about the Parker novels, we’ll hold our traditional monthly “Round Robin”, in which everyone can describe whatever else they’ve been reading lately.

For plot descriptions of each of his books or collections, visit the Richard Stark page on FantasticFiction.com. More information is available on the detailed Wikipedia page for the Parker series.