Just a Corpse at Twilight

When I decided to write my first mystery novel, which I wanted to set in Maine, I asked the manager of Murder Ink, a mystery bookstore on Second Avenue in Manhattan (now closed) to give me a list of all mystery series set in the Pine Tree State, so I could get a feel for what was already in the marketplace. (I didn't want to repeat something that had been done before.) God bless him, he insisted that I read JUST A CORPSE AT TWILIGHT. Reading it was both a blessing and a curse. I knew that there was no way I could make better use of Maine as a backdrop to my novel than van de Wetering had for his. I also knew that it didn't matter. This novel is a one-of-a-kind wonder. I could only hope in some small way to create characters and situations both as realistic and as absurd as he had. I hope to hell I haven't unconsciously copied anything he's done, but I couldn't blame myself too much if I had. Some writers - Hammett, Twain, Salinger, Kerouac, and Faulkner - are so good that it's hard not to emulate them. Van de Wetering is on that list. WARNING: Read this novel only if you like Zen detectives from Amsterdam who get drunk under the stars, fall in love with Polynesian beauties working at coffee shops along the Maine coast, or feel that the mysteries inherent to forensic and legalistic puzzles don't matter half as much as existential ones.

I love this series. Oddly, this was the first book that I read. It's not often that you have a fallible, real person as a detective. This intense story is both funny and thought provoking. The atmosphere provoked in this Maine setting is the best I've ever read, and in the back of my mind I picture the place as if it really existed. I theorize that all books are about escapism, and this detective team has a member who is all about escaping and finding the REAL meaning behind things. Quite a good read. In all, I would say that this is my favorite detective series because I don't feel as if I've eaten potato chips (metaphorically) after I've read it, but that I've furthered my mind along.