His entry begins:I’m currently reading a private-eye novel called Epitaph for a Loser by James T. Doyle. It was published by Walker Books in the late 1980s, and as far as I know it was Doyle’s second and last private-eye book. Why am I reading it? That’s a good question. Every Friday, a good many bloggers review a “forgotten” crime novel. I picked this one up in a thrift shop not long ago and read the first couple of paragraphs. It looked interesting, so I bought it specifically to read for one of my Friday reviews. I’m glad I did, because it turns out that it’s a very good novel in the hardboiled...[read on]Bill Crider is the winner of the Anthony Award and has been nominated for both the Shamus and Edgar Awards.
Among the early praise for Mississippi Vivian:
Author Interviews: Bill Crider."Crider, an award-winning master of the small-town whodunit, is at the top of his game here, with the low-key Stephens and the acerbic Vivian providing some classic repartee. Quite enjoyable with a puzzler of a plot and satisfying conclusion."
--Booklist
"Anthony-winner Crider's laconic down-home humor suffuses his colorful second collaboration with celebrated Texas PI Clyde Wilson, who died in 2008 (after 2007's Houston Homicide). In the summer of 1970, a possible insurance scam takes Houston PI Ted Stephens to Losgrove, Miss., where he meets Mississippi Vivian, a waitress at the Magnolia Café, the town's nerve center.... The authors get the Southern atmosphere and period details right in this funny, country-fried mystery.
--Publishers Weekly
Visit Bill Crider's website and blog, and read his My Book, The Movie entry for the Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels.
My Book, The Movie: Mississippi Vivian.
Writers Read: Bill Crider.
--Marshal Zeringue
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