Today, David Carlson is my guest blogger and author. He’s the author of three mysteries featuring
Christopher Worthy, a Detroit police detective, and Father Nicholas Fortis, a Greek Orthodox monk. I reviewed his second book in the series, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, in September 2017, http://bit.ly/2PQIPjh.
Now, as to David Carlson’s guest post. A couple weeks ago, twelve authors wrote about the libraries they love for an article in The New York Times, https://nyti.ms/2QPSC9b. Carlson wrote a piece for us about libraries. Thank you, David.
it was Voltaire who wrote that entering a library always humbled him. Since I was a boy, entering a library has
given me a different feeling—excitement.
Perhaps if I’d thought more about it, I would have felt intimidated by
all the knowledge stored on the shelves.
But as a boy, I felt a sense of adventure whenever I visited our town’s
Carnegie library. It didn’t matter to me
if the adventure was fictional or factual in the books I read.
grade school, I remember being particularly attracted to a series of
biographies for young readers. The
covers were all a light orange, and the illustrations were all black silhouettes. I think I read the entire series, but whether
that is true or not, the most important lesson I learned from the series is
that a person will likely have to struggle to attain a meaningful life, but
such a life is the only one worth pursuing.
That was true whether I was reading a biography of Galileo, Lincoln, Madame
Curie, or Helen Keller.
middle school and high school, I dove into historical fiction. Two books that I remember fondly are Thomas
B. Costain’s The Silver Chalice and
Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte
Cristo. The first is set in the first
century of the Christian era, the second in early 19th century
France. Both books were thick and
weighty, but that didn’t bother me. When
I opened those pages, I was transported from my northern Illinois hometown,
where life seemed so predictable, to the Roman Empire or a dungeon on a Mediterranean
island. Now that was exciting.
youth, the economic realities of my family meant that traveling overseas wasn’t
a possibility. But that little tan
library card in my wallet made it possible for me, using my imagination, to travel
all over the world and jump back and forth in time. Later, in my adult life, when travel became a
possibility, I had no difficulty deciding where I wanted to visit. I traveled to see some of the places I’d read
about, and when I did, I felt that I wasn’t seeing those places for the first
time but rather revisiting them.
look in my wallet, I know that I can get by without much that I store
there. Money and credit cards are
important, but I have lived happily with little money and without a credit
card. But my library card? No, I can’t live happily without that. I feel a chill when I think how under
different circumstances I might have grown up unable to read or far from a
library. That would have been a life
with little wonder and adventure, a life confined to just the present moment in
which I was living.
with books and libraries led me to become a writer. Given that books were a kind of passport
inviting me to travel and encounter new people and cultures from far and near,
I began to wonder if I might be able to offer that same experience for others. When I started to write, I was surprised that
I wasn’t intimidated by the prospect.
The blank page didn’t frighten me or frustrate me; instead, I remembered
that every book I’d ever read began with a blank page.
first attempts at writing worth much?
No, but I felt a thrill just to be trying. And the more I wrote, the more words and
phrases seemed to magically come to mind.
What was the source of that magic?
I’m sure it was all the books I’d read from kindergarten onward. It was like every word I’d ever read had been
deposited in some language bank account, and when I began writing my own books,
I could withdraw from that account.
my proudest moments as a writer came in 2011, when Peace Be with You: Monastic Wisdom for a Terror-Filled World (Thomas
Nelson) was selected by Library Journal as
one of the Best Books of 2011 in the category of Spiritual Living. Nothing pleased me more than knowing that,
because of this endorsement, my first book would be in libraries across the
country.
non-fiction, I feel I am giving back to libraries a small portion of what they
have given me over a lifetime.
*****
Thank you, David. And, that series of children’s biographies. I read them, too. Yes, The Childhood of Famous Americans series was orange with black silhouettes in the public library I used as well. Wonderful books, weren’t they?
*****
is Let These Bones Live Again. Here’s the description of
that
book, as it appears in the Web Store for Poisoned Pen Bookstore.
Christopher Worthy, always dreamt of living in Venice. Now, as a college
student, she’s landed a dream internship with the Venice police. She assumes
she will be investigating minor crimes perpetrated on gullible American and
English tourists. On the first day of her internship, however, Allyson is
assigned to assist with a more bizarre case–the apparent suicides of two
wealthy Americans in the city. Linking the two persons are their similar cancer
diagnoses and strange incisions on their bodies.
The family of the second victim, a Detroit
automaker, doubt the suicide verdict and hire Christopher Worthy to look into
the death. Allyson’s relationship with her father is tenuous, and she resents
his intrusion into her dream summer.
After speaking at a conference in Rome, Father
Nicholas Fortis is asked by the Vatican to look into the recent theft of
relics, bones of saints, from Venetian churches. Father Fortis is happy to
offer whatever advice he can to the case Christopher and Allyson Worthy are
working on, even as the two Worthys are happy to advise Father Fortis on the
stolen relics case.
An unexpected breakthrough reveals a dark
undercurrent in the city of canals that changes approaches to both cases. As
clues fall into place, Allyson is unexpectedly put in danger as she unknowingly
agrees to rendezvous with the killer.
Book 3 in the Christopher Worthy/Father Fortis
Mystery Series.
Those biographies 😊We loved them.
When I was a kid, our library started allowing us to take out a few books for the summer in June, so we didn't have to worry about returning them, which was good for those of us who went to summer camp (or otherwise went away). (You couldn't take new books.) I always looked for fat books to take, and my most successful and favorite choice was one that David mentioned above, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.
You're right, Anonymous. Did love those biographies.
Oh, I like that idea, Jeff. When we went on vacations, my parents allowed us 15 books each, so my sister and I took books that the other person would like, too. But, nothing as fat as The Count of Monte Cristo.
I loved this, Lesa and am glad you featured David and his books. Yes, I'm another that loved those biographies and I remember the orange covers. Bet a lot of us read those books when we were kids.
I'm interested in David's series as well. Will take a look for it – where? Well, first at my library – ha!
I have downloaded a sample of David Carlson's first book of this series.
Like Kay, checking my library also.
Lesa, thank you for this interesting article today
Those biographies were wonderful! They just don't have anything similar today, as far as I can tell. I hope you find his books in the library, Kay.
You're welcome, Charlotte. Good luck in finding his books in your system. Hugs! Talk tomorrow!
Lesa, the library didn't work in my favor. Hugs
Well, darn, Charlotte. I'm sorry.