9/26/1990 Do cops rock?

September 26, 1990.  On this day one of television's weirdest experiments began. Steven Bochco, creator of Hill Street Blues, convinced ABC to air a grim, gritty urban police show in which characters inexplicably burst into song several times each episode.  I remember wondering "What were they smoking when they dreamed this up?"  It lasted eleven weeks.  TV Guide ranked it as the 8th worst TV series of all time. 

9/22/1990 Caudwell catches Anthony

September 22, 1990.  Bouchercon was held in London this year and the Anthony Award for Best Mystery Novel went, appropriately enough, to an Englishwoman.  The Sirens Sang of Murder was Sarah Caudwell's third novel about Hilary Tamar, a professor of medieval law and unknown gender.

9/21/1993 NYPD Blue comes in, swearing

September 21, 1993.  One of TV's best cop shows, and ABC's longest running drama, premiered on this night.  NYPD Blue courted controversy at the start with nudity and bad language.  Once they got everyone's attention they settled down to some excellent character-driven drama.

One of the oddities of the show was that it was intended as a star vehicle for David Caruso, but he left at the start of the second season.  While he was replaced by Jimmy Smits and a trail of other good-looking leading men, it became clear that the soul of the show was Andy Sipowicz, the bigoted, alcoholic older detective played by Dennis Franz.  Andy survived the loss of three partners, a son,  and a wife and somehow turned into a decent person along the way.

The show had behind the scene problems.  Caruso was allegedly very hard to work with.  And in a later season a producer was supposedly writing dialog while the actors stood on the set waiting for it.  But the show was a heck of a ride.

9/8/1999 American Beauty blooms

September 8, 1999.  This date saw the premiere of American Beauty,  a stunning movie about a suburban dad who becomes obsessed with a friend of his daughter. It won five Oscars, including the second for Kevin Spacey.  One of the most amazing things is that it begins by telling you the main character is murdered, and still manages a surprise ending.

9/6/199? The strip tease begins

September 6, 199?.  This day saw the beginning of the action in Carl Hiassen's fifth comic crime novel, Strip Tease.  The plot involves a congressman who defends a stripper in a nude bar by clobbering a groper with a champagne bottle.  After that, and the murder that follows, things get messy.  As usual, one of Haissen's targets is the madness and corruption of Florida's politics.

The book was generally praised; the movie version (Striptease, with Demi Moore), not so much.

8/23/1991 Sleep of the Unjust

August 23, 1991.  This day saw the publication of E.X. Ferrars' Sleep of the Unjust.  Felix and Virginia Freers are invited to the wedding of the niece of their friends, but the unexpected arrival of a former love of the bride results in a mysterious death -- accompanied by several contradictory suicide notes.  Hmm...

8/12/1992 Payday for sin

August 12, 1992.  On this date Andrew Greeley's novel Wages of Sin was published.  Greeley was the author of dozens of nonfiction books as well as many bestselling novels (for a while he was putting out two a year).  He was supposedly the bestselling priest in history, and made a lot of money, much of which he donated to the Catholic Church.

Wages of Sin features a commodities broker trying to solve murders that happened many years before.  Referring to the priest's controversial inclusion of sexual material Kirkus Reviews called the book "Safe sex for senior citizens."

8/10/1992 Jimmy Buffett, meet Joe Merchant

August 10, 1992.  On this date Jimmy Buffett's first novel was published.  Where is Joe Merchant? is about a rock star, missing and possibly dead in the Caribbean, and the seaplane-flying Vietnam vet who goes looking for him.  Buffett is, of course, a pop star in his own right, and the king of Carib tourist music.  Kirkus Reviews called it "a relaxed and rambling novel... The unitiiated may be baffled; his fans will be enchanted."

8/1/1991 The Song Dog arrives

August 1, 1991. This date saw the publication of The Song Dog, both the first and last novel in James McClure's series about South African cops Trompie Kramer and Mickey Zondi. These books are set in the era of apartheid and the white and black cops have to play at being hostile when they are actually best friends.

"First and last" suggests a pretty short series but that's not it.  The Song Dog is a prequel to the series, showing us the first time the heroes met and worked together.  And at the end there is a grim prediction of how their story will end.

7/22/1993 The Software Bomb goes off

July 22, 1993.  Today saw the publication of The Software Bomb.  It was Steve Womack's third and last novel about New Orleans PR consultant Jack Lynch. Yes, it's about malware and ransomware, back when computers were bigger, slower, and more expensive.

Publishers Weekly said that Womack "once again delivers an effective work, never too complex and not quite overburdened with woes for the ever-resilient Lynch."

7/19/1993 Morons and Madmen arrive

July 19, 1993.  This date saw the publication of Morons and Madmen, Earl Emerson's third novel about small town police chief Mac Fontana.  He is asked to investigate a deadly fire in Seattle.  A female firefighter is being blamed for the death of her co-workers.  There is sexism, racism, and affirmative action involved.  And, of course, someone tries to kill Mac.

One of the highlights of Fontana books are the chapter titles.  For example, from this one
* Where you wake up in a puddle of cold sweat and your heart is pumping like a nuclear reactor with broken spokes.
* Survivors will be prosecuted
* Firefighters hiding in closets
* What to do when your head is screwed on backwards

  

6/18/1992 Bodies of Evidence

June 18, 1992.  It's hard to imagine George Clooney playing second fiddle in a TV show, much less being in a non-hit.  But the fact is that he ranked below Lee Horsley in Bodies of Evidence, which premiered on this date on CBS.  It ran for eight episodes that summer and another eight in the following spring.  Horsley and Clooney played homicide cops in an unnamed city.  Then Clooney went off to deal with  live bodies in the ER.

6/12/1990 Stardust arrives

June 12, 1990.  This date saw the publication of Stardust, the seventeenth novel in Robert B. Parker's series about Boston private eye Spenser.  A TV star is being stalked and the Man With No First Name is called  to California to investigate.

5/30/1992 Bloody Ten

May 30, 1992.  This was the publication date for Bloody Ten, William Love's third mystery starring  Francis X. Regan, a wheelchair-using bishop, and his assistant Davey Goldman.  In this case an acquaintance of Davey is blamed for the murder of his newly-discovered half-brother. 

If a detective who can't leave the house with a narrating assistant sounds familiar, Kirkus Reviews agreed with you.  They said: "Though they still haven't escaped Nero Wolfe's portly shadow, Love's homages have now gotten to be quite a treat in their own right."

There are several editions of Bloody Ten but I chose this cover to shame the publisher for the obvious typo.  Tsk and Tsk.

5/26/1995 Wanda Fuca is identified

May 26, 1995.  This date saw the publication of Who the Hell is Wanda Fuca?  It is G.M. Ford's first novel about Seattle private eye Leo Waterman.  The unique feature of the series is that Leo has found the perfect operatives, folks who can spy on anyone anywhere without being noticed: homeless people.

Oh, and for those who don't live in the Pacific Northwest:the  Strait of Juan de Fuca is a body of water between Washington state and British Columbia.

5/22/1991 The Cruellest Month arrives

May 22, 1991.  The Cruellest Month was published on this date.  (Shouldn't it have been in April?  T.S. Elliott said that April... oh, never mind.)  It was the second book in Hazel Holt's series about Mrs. Malory.  Mrs. M is doing research at Oxford and a librarian is killed.  Boo!

Publishers Weekly called it "a civilized and tantalizing mystery"

5/19/1992 The Woman Who Married A Bear

May 19, 1992.  The title gets your attention, doesn't it?  The Woman Who Married A Bear was John Straley's first novel about Cecil Younger, a private eye in Sitka, Alaska.  The title refers to a Tlingit myth, which is told to Cecil by an elderly native AMierican who hires Tlingit to investigate the murder of her son.

Publishers Weekly  said it was "a book whose unique, fully fleshed-out characters readers will be eager to see again."

5/17/1991 Invitation to a Yellow Dog Party

May 17, 1991.  Earl Emerson had two careers for many years.  He said that one reason he became a fireman was he knew that, while waiting for a call, he would have time to work on novels. 

One of his series was about Seattle private eye Thomas Black.  In Yellow Dog Party, published on this date, Black gets what seems like an easy job.  Four middle-aged men want him to trace down the women of their dreams.  Sounds like fun, right?  But that's before the murder, and the three thugs in Miss Piggy masks who try to hang our hero...

5/14/1993 Robert Randisi takes a Hard Look

May 14, 1993.  This date saw the publication of Robert Randisi's novel Hard Look. It was his fifth novel about ex-boxer Miles Jacoby, now a private eye.  a missing wife case takes Jacoby from New York down to Florida, where, surprise, surprise, trouble awaits...

5/8/1995 Let Me Call You Sweetheart

May 8, 1995.  This date saw the publication of Let Me Call You Sweetheart, by Mary Higgins Clark.  A female prosecutor risks her chances for a judgeship by investigating a ten-year old murder conviction.  Publisher's Weekly said the plot was "convoluted, full of red herrings and finally wrapped up with a villain out of left field."  But it was a bestseller.