OPINION:
This Holiday season, one might want to buy the crime aficionado on your shopping list one or more of this year’s fine true crime or crime fiction books.
Here’s a roundup of some of the best crime books:
Independence Square
I’ve been reading Martin Cruz Smith’s crime novels about his Russian investigator Arkady Renko since his first, 1981’s “Gorky Park.”
Son of a Soviet general, Renko is stubborn, insubordinate and anti-authoritarian, and he bucks Vladimir Putin’s regime just as he did the Soviet regime. He is also a superb investigator.
In his latest novel, “Independence Square,” Mr. Smith covers the days before Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Renko discovers he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease (which the author also suffers from), when he is asked to find a friend’s daughter, an anti-Putin activist. Becoming romantically involved with the girl’s roommate, a Ukrainian Tatar, they search for the girl in Russia and Ukraine and encounter Russian agents and Russian mafia goons.
Martin Cruz Smith
“Independence Square”
Simon and Schuster, 272 pages, $26.99
‘Moscow X’
“Moscow X” also takes the reader to Russia. Moscow X is a CIA unit run by an aggressive and bold female chief who wants to cause mayhem in Mr. Putin’s inner circle. She sends in two operatives to take advantage of a power struggle between two of Mr. Putin’s millionaire underlings. One of the operatives is a female CIA officer and the other is a Mexican man, a CIA asset, who runs a horse ranch in Mexico.
The two operatives initiate contact with one of the feuding millionaire Russians through horse selling with the millionaire’s thoroughbred horse farm in Russia, in which Mr. Putin is a partner. From horses to gold bars, the novel covers intrigue in the worlds of high finance, spies and family ties.
David McCloskey, a former CIA officer, offers one of the best spy thrillers I’ve read this year.
David McCloskey
“Moscow X”
Norton, 464 pages, $29.99
‘Son of the Old West’
Nathan Ward offers the incredible true story of Charlie Siringo, a cowboy, detective and writer. From cattle drives to catching rustlers, to meeting Billy the Kid and other famous historical characters from the Wild West, Siringo led a fascinating life.
Siringo became a Pinkerton detective and was sent to Western boomtowns and out on the lawless Plains in pursuit of criminals. He often went undercover and joined outlaw gangs in order to learn information about the crooks he was chasing.
Siringo also wrote a bestselling autobiography, “A Texas Cowboy,” in 1881. The book influenced future authors, and Siringo later advised actor William S. Hart and other Hollywood filmmakers in the 1920s.
Nathan Ward
“Son of the Old West”
Grove Atlantic, 368 pages, $28
‘Queen of Cuba’
Former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Montes was recently released from prison after serving a long term for spying for Cuba.
At the agency, Ms. Montes was the go-to expert on Cuba, and her colleagues called her the “queen of Cuba,” but they were unaware that she was also spying for the communist nation.
Retired FBI Special Agent Peter J. Lapp recounts his part in uncovering Ms. Montes’ espionage. Ms. Montes is the daughter of a former U.S. Army colonel, sister of an FBI translator, sister of an FBI agent, and briefly the girlfriend of a defense analyst for the Southern Command. But she led a double life, working as an analyst for the DIA and as a spy for Cuban intelligence. Mr. Lapp and his co-author, Kelly Kennedy, not only describe the counterintelligence investigation that brought Ms. Montes down but also delve into her lonely and troubled life.
Peter J. Lapp and Kelly Kennedy
“Queen of Cuba”
Post Hill, 272 pages, $28.99
‘Bartleby and Me’
Gay Talese, one of the founders of New Journalism, looks back on some of his celebrated work.
Now 91, he writes that he was inspired by Herman Melville’s great short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” so he calls his book “Bartleby and Me.”
Mr. Talese wrote a fine true crime book about organized crime called “Honor Thy Father,” and I would have liked to read more about his time with the Bonanno crime family, but the story is mentioned only briefly.
His 1966 Esquire magazine piece “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” is a classic profile, and he writes more about Sinatra and his entourage. He also writes a fascinating piece called “Dr. Bartha’s Brownstone,” about a physician who in 2006 blew up himself and his New York City brownstone rather than give in to his ex-wife.
Gay Talese
“Bartleby and Me”
Mariner Books, 320 pages, $28.99
• Paul Davis’ On Crime column covers true crime, crime fiction and thrillers.
