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November 10, 2008
Farewell to New Haven?
Last month, on the Amtrak ride back from the Bouchercon mystery writer’s gathering in Baltimore, I found myself in a car filled with crime writers and I had a chance to catch up with the wonderful New Haven mystery writer Karen E. Olson.
For the past several years, Karen has been writing novels about a New Haven journalist named Annie Seymour in a series that began with “Sacred Cows” and went on to include “Secondhand Smoke” and “Dead of the Day.”
The writer told me that she has moved on to a new mystery series — set to begin next year — about a Las Vegas tattoo artist.
So, the just-published “Shot Girl” (Obsidian) could be the last Annie novel for a while. I am very happy to report that Olson is going out on a high — the book features the same clever plotting, great local color and terrific personal touches that have been a hallmark of the series since it began.
Olson will be talking about the novel tonight at 7 p.m. at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison.
The stakes are higher than ever for Annie in “Shot Girl.” Her job future is, of course, as uncertain as ever due to the precarious nature of the newspaper business. One of the strongest aspects of the Annie books is the way that they have charted the changes in media over the last several years — Olson is a 20-year veteran of the business and she knows what she is writing about. There is a slightly melancholy air to the newspaper scenes in the four books because everyone working for Olson’s fictional New Haven Herald wonders if the next decade will mean the end of their profession.
“Shot Girl” tightens the screws on Annie in her always turbulent personal life, by opening with the death of her ex-husband Ralph in front of a New Haven nightclub.
Ralph was a mistake of Annie’s youth — a fellow journ student and aspiring news star who got lost along the way by fudging his reporting and falling into various addictions. Annie has found a new love in the last few novels but she is still haunted by her early and short-lived passion for Ralph.
Making matters worse is her own possible involvement in the death and the fact that it is tied into all sorts of other New Haven area corruption.
“Shot Girl” takes Annie into the nightworld of male strippers who work bachelorette parties and the “shot girls” of the title — gorgeous young women who make deals with bar owners to become a form of sexy entertainment by moving around the clubs selling marked-up liquor to bedazzled young men.
There is added fun for local readers in the way that “Shot Girl” mixes real places like Louis Lunch and the Anchor Bar with Olson’s fictional nightspots. The city of New Haven has become a major character in the Annie Seymour novels and Olson knows the place inside out.
The new Las Vegas series sounds very promising, but I hope that someday Olson is able to return to Annie — she will be missed.
Posted by Joe on November 10, 2008 12:19 PM
