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The fact that it was released simultaneously in hardcover and paperback may work against that, though.
Nights & Weekend dot com by Kristin Dreyer Kramer
Here's a radio interview with Michael Connelly about the book at the National Review.
The Blue Religion by Michael Connelly
Cops figure prominently in each of the 19 stories Michael Connelly has selected for this collection. Instead of focusing at length on the professional aspects of police life, though, many of these tales examine the psyches of the men and women who wear the badge. As Connelly explains in his introduction: "While this tome and its individual stories will fall under the classification of police procedural, they are anything but explorations of procedure. They are explorations of life. They are explorations of character."
Alafair Burke's "Winning," for example, considers the ways in which a sexual assault affects a young female deputy's marriage. Violence and cruelty also surface in T. Jefferson Parker's particularly memorable "Skinhead Central," which chronicles a retired cop's efforts to lead a young thug away from his unhealthy home life. As terse as Hemingway, Parker packs his narrative with details that are at once concrete and suggestive. Consider this description of the story's troubled protagonist: "Big kid, nineteen, tattoos all over his arms and calves, red hair buzzed short, and eyes the color of old ice." In Peter Robinson's "The Price of Love," in contrast, the author dramatizes a young boy's initiation into the world of law enforcement, while Connelly's "Father's Day" focuses on the sad death of a severely handicapped little boy.
Though action and investigation play a fairly small role in these stories, their emotional content is rich and rewarding. Many of these pieces, that is, rise to the level of literature. And for this reason, The Blue Religion is one of the most interesting and satisfying anthologies to appear this year.
- Stephen B. Armstrong
Fans of The Wire have to read this. Here are 19 great short stories by some of U.S. mystery writing's best, including a marvellous bit from T. Jefferson Parker - crime in a retirement home - and a short adventure by Connelly's Harry Bosch.
It's rare to find a collection that doesn't have at least one clunker in it, and since all the stories are about cops, this book could have gotten a bit sticky or sentimental. But there's 's none of that in this book. This is great storytelling at its peak.
By OLINE COGDILL | Mystery Fiction columnist
June 24, 2008
With authors such as Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, Alafair Burke, John Harvey, James O. Born, Paula Woods, Leslie Glass, Laurie King, the late Edward Hoch, Peter Robinson, Laurie R. King, and more, it's pretty easy to guess that quality tales fill the short story collection The Blue Religion.
Each of the 19 stories is about cops or criminals with locales as far-flung as Los Angeles, Idaho, England, Florida, St. Louis and the post-Civil War West. As Connelly says in his introduction, these are stories "that explore the burden of the badge."
Anyone who reads printed books and listens to books on tapes knows that each is a different experience. Quality stories can be enhanced on tape by the correct reader; even poor stories can get a boost by a professional reader. Scott Brick, Christian Rummel and Jim Dale, to name a few, could make the telephone book sound exciting.
But in the audio version of The Blue Religion, the stories are strong enough to overcome the wrong reader.
Recently reviewed mystery audiobooks Veteran reader Alan Sklar is too muted and lethargic for these exciting stories. Connelly's perceptive Father's Day and T. Jefferson Parker's Skinhead Central would have benefited by another reader.
But Karen White sets just the right tone in Laurie B. King's The Fool, as does Persia Walker in Such a Lucky, Pretty Girl and Greg Rucka in Contact and Cover. Likewise, John Lee finds all the nuances in Peter Robinson's The Price of Love.
Each of these stories is a winner and is best served by reading the book. As an audio, The Blue Religion just doesn't have the correct reader.