Edgar Week & Malice Domestic

Dear Friends,

Having just returned from the above two events, I am in a state of collapse and ask for a one day reprieve before sending my next blog.

Thanks!

Robin Hathaway

Going to Malice

I'm off to Malice Domestic this morning. If I figure out how to co-ordinate my various technological devices sometime over the weekend I'll let you know how it's going. Otherwise I'll put up some pictures next Friday and let you know how it went. Many lovely people will be there. Maybe I'll get to say hello to them and even take their pictures.

Sunday morning I'm on a panel, something about the writers sharing their secrets, wherein we have all promised to spill our guts. We'll see how that goes. Stay tuned.

Kate Gallison

WAR! Why?

Between 1864 and 1870, Paraguay fought the most devastating war any country has ever suffered.  Estimates of the number of dead differ widely, but it seems safe to say that 60% of the country’s total population was lost—proportionally the most destructive war of the last millennium.  In the end, some say 90% of the male population of Paraguay was killed.  The most meticulous study concludes that of the 150-160,000 Paraguayans left in 1870, only 28,000 were males: a ratio of 4 females to 1 male.  But in the worst-devastated areas, the ratio was more like 20 to 1.  Why would that tiny land-locked country pit itself against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay and then fight nearly to annihilation?  The answer you get depends on who you ask.

Francia

Carlos Antonio Lopez

Most historians agree that the politics of the La Plata region were a mess at the time.  After achieving independence from Spain, Paraguay enclosed itself in a shell and lived to serve and enrich its dictators—first José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia and then Carlos Antonio López.  Argentina was mired in a persistent identity crisis, unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to grow up to be a republic or a unified country ruled from the large, liberal city on its coast.  The Argentinos fought one another brutally every once in a while but never managed to settle the question.  Brazil’s rivalry with Argentina caused it to rise up from time to time, flex its muscles, and try to prove it was the biggest kid on the block.  Poor little Uruguay, stuck between the two coastal would-be super powers, found itself a frequent battleground in proxy conflicts between the pro-Brazilian and pro-Argentine factions in its midst. 

Enter Francisco Solano López.  When he ascended to the “throne” of Paraguay on the death of his father, he immediately began to militarize.  He brought in 200 foreign technicians to build a railroad, a telegraph system, warships and weapons.  In 1850, the Ybycuí foundry began to turn out cannons, artillery, and bullets, using every bit of metal it could lay its hands on, including the bells in the church towers.  With all that political tumult and materiel at hand, there was bound to be a war.

The precipitating factors could have been any of several.  Many texts posit that Solano López coveted a port on the Atlantic and set out to conquer a swath of Brazil so he could have one.  The evidence in support of this is heavy: Lopez started it all by declaring war on Brazil on December 13, 1864.  Three months later, because Argentina refused to let him march his army through its territory to get to the battlegrounds, he declared war on Argentina.  Uruguay later joined in making it a Triple Alliance against Paraguay but it never had the resources to matter much in the fighting.

López’s apologists claim that he was not after territory but rather was defending the rights of the two small countries not to be meddled with by the two local heavy weights.  There is some supporting argument in favor of this, too.   Brazil had done some major mucking around in Uruguay for the previous fifteen years.  In October of 1864, it found a pretext to invade its little neighbor.  The Colorado faction in Uruguay appealed to Solano López for help.  One could make a case that López’s real motivation in starting the war was to show big-guy Brazil that the smaller countries would not stand for such a thing.  We must note, however, that López did not go in to fight with the Uruguayans.  Instead, he attacked the Mato Grosso province of Brazil, which would be his desired corridor to the sea.  Was he trying to kill two birds with one stone?  If so, he wound up killing his countrymen instead.

In the 1960’s and 70’s, revisionist historians floated a new theory, saying that real culprit was Great Britain, variously motivated by its need for a source of cotton (having lost its supply from the American South because of our Civil War) and better yet because it stood to make enormous amounts of money supplying armaments and engineers and importantly by lending the warring powers bags of cash at favorable—to Britain—interest rates.  Since Britain actually was the only entity to come out ahead in the awful struggle, you might want to believe it entrapped the warring parties to participate.   Profiting heavily from such a horror show does seem a nasty way for any country to make itself rich, but it is hard to imagine that Britain could have gotten the war started if the other participants had not been looking for a fight, as well as cruising for a bruising.

The least likely reason for this war,  actually stated as truth in books that call themselves nonfiction, is that the real culprit was—Can you believe it?—Eliza Lynch.

Yes, her, the Irish courtesan.

As has been mankind’s wont from the story of Adam and Eve onward, some men (and I am being gender-specific here) say it is evil woman who goads otherwise peaceful and honorable man into sin.  These are the types who say Lynch pushed Solano López into the war because she wanted to be an Empress like her friend Eugenie.  Her goal was that her lover would eventually conquer all of South America, which they would rule together.  The proponents of this theory either ignore or never noticed that Solano López opened an armaments factory four years before he ever met the lady.

This is not to say that La Lynch did not participate once the conflict was underway.  But that’s a story for another day.  Come back and read it next week.

Annamaria Alfieri   

A Perfect Day!

Last Friday I had what I consider a perfect day. In order to pull this off, you have to have balmy weather and a good friend who shares your love of books. Then you’re all set.

We started off at eleven a.m. after a leisurely breakfast over which we discussed the books we’d read since we’d last seen each other. As usual, our tastes agreed. We both love mysteries, from cozies to noir, as well as a vast variety of fiction and non-fiction – especially prime sources such as letters and diaries of our favorite authors. Some books we touched on were: The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, Lives of the Novelists, by John Sutherland, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis.

Next, we headed out to Bookhaven, on Fairmount Ave., my idea of the perfect bookstore. When you open the door you’re assailed by the delicious scent of old books, a gray, striped cat is curled up on the counter, and the bookseller really knows her stock, from beginning to end. I asked for The Orations of Cicero, (for my husband), which she instantly produced, with the remark, “His letters are much livelier.” My friend and I moved on to the shelves that interested us. I came away with Short Stories by Wilkie Collins, Wartime Writings by Saint-Exupery, a Lescroart, The Second Chair, (and, of course, the Cicero).

For some reason, book browsing stimulates the appetite, so we found our way to a restaurant with outdoor tables. It was about 70 degrees with a light breeze. There, we had soup, salads, and a glass of white wine that we consumed amid more talk about books. From there we returned home to freshen up for the evening event – a celebration of David Goodis, local noir author extraordinaire. The program was held at the Free Library of Philadelphia. It began with a showing of “The Burglar,” starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield. This 1950 film was made from a Goodis novel by the same name. After the film, an editor from Library of America spoke about Goodis and read some passages from his novels. Lou Boxer, a director of Philadelphia’s NoirCon, did a power point presentation on Goodis’s life in Philadelphia and his career.

As we emerged from the Library to look for a cab, we realized that finding one at that hour and location was about as likely as a snow storm in July. As we prepared to spend the night curled up on the Library steps, we spied two friends — Deen Kogan and Greg Gillespie. Seeing our plight, they saved the day (rather — the night) by offering us a ride.

At home again, we broke out a chilled bottle of Chardonnay and — you guessed it — talked about books.

Don’t you agree this was a perfect day?

Robin Hathaway

Professional Redemption

I've been rooting for Tiger Woods to make a Wow-Them comeback.

No, I didn't approve of his womanizing game or the agony he caused his family... but after reading about his father's ways and the pressure he put on that little boy who was so gifted, I've hoped-hoped-hoped he'd rise back to the top.

So when I read of his "professional redemption" at the Arnold Palmer Invitational I beamed as big as if he was my kid!

I loved the words of the NYT writer Karen Crouse... "Woods kept his body language inscrutable."
That's a great phrase for us crime writers to use!!! Gets your little grey cells clicking for sure...

And Crouse's words – "the greens were as hard as week-old bagels." Can't you just sink your teeth into that and break a crown!

Crouse is a writer worth watching. She knows a thing or three about language:

"His aura of invincibility suffered a total eclipse."

"Poised to avenge the loss."

"The pin placements made putting diabolically difficult."

"He was not going to lie down and be the red carpet for Woods' latest coronation."

"Woods stood a few feet away, looking as cool as the shade."

Now if this writer would change her pen from golf to murder – I see an Edgar in her future!

Green jacket, Tiger. You're back!

T.J. Straw

P.S. Well, now, folks, my guy didn't make it. I'm sorry.

But, as a famous gal said once, tomorrow's another day.

Good luck, Tiger, the trail ahead winds long and you may get that green jacket yet!