Welcome to Litsy!

Hi. Welcome to a new edition of “be glad your mom volunteers in a used bookstore.” I haven‘t read this series by her.

(2007) Cass Neary is a photographer, or once was. She documented and participated in the excesses of the punk movement. Now she's washed up, strung out, and scraping by, when her agent calls and asks her to interview a reclusive artist on an island off the coast of Maine. Cass takes the job and steps into a mess of scandal, resentment, and rivalry. It's a noirish crime thriller with a dislikeable, barely functional hero. I enjoyed it much.

Now that is how you write a compelling, sympathetic character who is messed up and self-destructive. I loved the gorgeous, effective writing, the subtle creeping up on you mystery, and Hand's evocative images and setting (the coast of Maine). I also loved how this book is deeply uninterested in respectability politics for queer characters. I will definitely be continuing with this series! #QueerBooks #BisexualBooks #LGBTQBooks #LGBTQ #Mystery

"I looked like what your mother dreams about in the middle of the night when you don't come home."
#QueerBooks #BisexualBooks #Mystery

Reading this #whodunitbymail book while its raining outside!! Perfect day #currentread

I did not like Cass at all till the end! I kept having to remind myself she wasn‘t an 18 yr old kid but a grown woman in her 40s! I give it 3🌟

@Karen i will have the books out to you by the end of the week or Monday at the latest. The flu put me in a little reading slump 😔 #whodunitbymail

Utterly engrossed by this novel, despite its overwhelming bleakness. #elizabethhand #generationloss #booksandcoffee #coffeeandbooks #currentlyreading. #americanfiction #contemporaryfiction #noir #verocaffe #coffeecompass #caffeineaddict #fridayreads

The first in the Cass Neary books. This one really got me hooked. I love when books tell you a story and teach you something. This book taught me about the early punk movement in New York, photography and there was a mystery to follow along on as well.

This is a dark and gritty book with a little mystery thrown in. The main character is self destructive and spends her life wasted, so it was hard to care about her. The wild and desolate atmosphere of Maine in the winter, made a great backdrop for this suspenseful, scary story. #whodunitbymail

Lazy Sunday porch reading with my buddy Layla = a great day! #whodunitbymail

So excited to come home from vacation and find my #whodunitbymail package from @ReadingEnvy ! Love the extra goodies. 😊I'm a huge tea drinker!👍🏼I'm excited to get started on my books.

Heading out to the post office to mail the first #whodunitbymail round to @Mdargusch - I don't have the spines showing because I put an extra book in there. @Tiffy_Reads

so dark and grim and GOOD. queer middle aged punk aesthetic appreciated.

Grim, gritty but very compelling crime - reminded me of Broken Monsters. A wildly unlikable but still sympathetic protagonist in washed-up NYC punk photographer Cass Neary plus an atmospheric Maine setting equalled a must-finish for me (plus the writing is great).

This book is the first in a series recently mentioned glowingly by Jeff VanderMeer. It's grittier than I was expecting but I think that's because I had the wrong Elizabeth in mind. And gritty is not a bad thing.

Holy shit, this one came outta nowhere for me. So excited to discover a new crime author! Elizabeth Hand is a fucking artist and technician.

Loved it! I've already started reading the second in the series.