Fatherhood Is Rare Trait for Fictional Detectives

With Father's Day ahead, I began to think about fatherhood in mystery fiction. It's easy to find murderous or dysfunctional fathers and stepfathers, but what about crime-solving protagonist dads? Alas, research showed that most well-known male sleuths are either eccentric singles a la Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot; hardboiled loners like Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer; or cerebral commitment-phobes like British inspectors Adam Dalgliesh and Endeavor Morse. Although even the most obsessive detective heroes may indulge in humanizing romance, fatherhood's responsibilities seem to be a plot distraction that authors prefer to avoid! But there are a few famous detectives whose fatherly roles play a part in their character arcs. In the police procedural space, there's Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. Bosch's parentless childhood and difficulties in forming relationships inform and give weight to his edgy yet emotional bond with daughter Maddie, who initially lives with Bosch's ex-wife but takes a more important role in later books when she comes to live with him in Los Angeles and starts to emulate her father's police career. In the thriller genre, Tom Clancy's Dr. Jack Ryan—PhD., former Marine, CIA operative extraordinaire and heroic two-term President—also finds time to raise four children, including Jack Ryan Jr., who follows in his father's footsteps and enters the "Ryanverse" book series as an analyst for "the Campus," an off-the-books intelligence agency, where he is a great ally of Ryan Sr., of course. For those who long for a British gentleman as pater familias, there is Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, who starts out single in the series debut A Man Lay Dead but marries in later novels and fathers a son Ricky, who plays major roles as a child in Spinsters in Jeopardy and as a young man in Last Ditch.  For dark-humor American fare, check out Slim and Anci, the father-daughter duo in Jason Miller's Little Egypt series set in southern Illinois coal country. Self-styled "redneck detective" and single-father Slim is teamed with his brilliant young daughter Anci, starting with Down Don't Bother Me about a mine owner who pays Slim to unravel the mystery of a dead reporter and missing photographer (sans police and press), and Red Dog, in which Slim tracks a missing pitbull only to find a dognapper with his head blown off. And if you want fatherly care without the blood ties, there is always Father Brown, the insightful Roman Catholic priest and amateur sleuth of 53 short stories by G.K. Chesterton (and a TV series).

2019 Thrillers With a Timely Political Edge

As I follow the news, I sometimes feel that I am entangled in a series of political thriller plots, but ones less satisfying than fiction. In a novel, I can get to a cathartic climax in days; reality is frustratingly slow moving and full of loose ends and conflicting plot lines. So I started looking at this year's crop of political thrillers to satisfy my thirst for truth, justice, and a satisfying finale—novels in line with classics like The Manchurian Candidate, Day of the Jackal or The Hunt for Red October. I'll note five well-reviewed 2019 releases, starting with Daughter of War by Brad Taylor, a former Special Forces officer and a New York Times bestselling author. This entry in Taylor's Pike Logan series has the hero hot on the trail of a North Korean trying to sell sensitive U.S. intelligence to the Syrian regime when he stumbles on plots and counter-plots by both the Syrians and North Koreans to create mass mayhem using a lethal substance called Red Mercury. What about those pesky Russians? Matthew Quirk's The Night Agent answers with an idealistic young FBI agent who sets out to find and stop a Russian mole, only to realize that anyone in the White House may be the traitor! Of course, writers need to include China among their nemeses.  In Killer Thriller by Lee Goldberg, protagonist Ian Ludlow, an action novel author, is in Hong Kong to research his wildest story yet—a deadly global conspiracy by Chinese intelligence to topple the United States—only to find that his horrifying scenario is actually in the works and the Chinese believe he’s a super-spy. Trapped in his own thriller, Ian must dodge assassins as he races to prevent disaster. If you harbor dark suspicions of the President, Out of the Dark will be your cup of tea; it's the latest entry in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series featuring Evan Smoak, trained from age 12 as a deadly assassin by the Orphan Program, an off-the-books, deniable-assets operation that he has fled. Evan realizes the government is now killing all the remaining Orphans and their trainers, so he decides to strike back by taking on the program founder, the U.S. President! But the President is not only surrounded by traditional security, he is guarded by Orphan A, the first Orphan Program recruit, setting up a deadly battle for the fate of the country. Finally, for some feminine spycraft, try The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone. In Paris, American expat Kate Moore, head of a clandestine cadre of operatives behind her homemaker cover, is confronted by a massive terrorist attack only to find that it is not what it seems and that it involves her own family. For more choices, see Amazon's best-seller list at https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Political-Thrillers-Suspense/zgbs/digital-text/6190490011