Blood & Whiskey #40
Birthday, new years, hiatus + bye-for-now mish-mash edition...
Hey friends and readers,
I tried ten times to get this one out the door, but… the election, holidays, New Years, whatever. Now I’m sending this on my birthday. One of those landmark b-days — ends with a 0 and starts a new decade (shut up, doesn’t matter which decade…) Feels like a good time to put Blood & Whiskey on ice to tackle some urgent writing projects. Not forever, but this’ll be my last newsletter for a bit.
I’m grateful to you generous paid subscribers. Your support helped keep this newsletter supplied with books and bottles. I loved taking your money, but I’ve turned off all subscription payments for the foreseeable future.
Before I sign off, here’s a mish-mash of bookish and whiskey-ish things…
To be honest, I’d tapered off the whiskey over the past year. (And apparently my lack of intake contributed to the nation’s bourbon glut.) But I did dust off my bourbon bona fides to write the foreword for this pretty book, Whiskey Stories (coming in March), by Richard Thomas, editor of The Whiskey Reviewer.
Next, not that anyone needs yet another Best of ‘24 book list. But if you do, here are links to: Obama, CrimeReads, New York Times (and best crime or thriller), Wall Street Journal (and best mysteries), People, Washington Post’s thrillers, Time, Bookshop, Amazon, and the New Yorker. The NY-er has “Essential Reads” at the top, but it’s worth scrolling down to the extended “Also Recommended” list. Although best-of lists had once been my job (Amazon), I don’t do that here at Blood & Whiskey. But as I head out the rear exit, I will share a couple last lists:
3 to start 2025, 2 that pissed me off, and 1 that got away.
My 2025 reading started with the latest from William Boyle, Saint of the Narrows Street (coming in Feb), about an Italian-American family and neighborhood in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Boyle is a smart, gritty, funny writer, and this is his best yet. Features a cast of characters whose names alone are worth the cover price: Double Stevie, Religious Pete, Widow Marie, Jane the Stain, Fab and Chooch. Starting in 1986, the story follows Risa Franzone and her sister and son across the decades after a cast iron frying pan ends her abusive husband’s life. It’s dark and violent and kinda sad, but moving and beautiful. Also: Spirit Crossing, the latest in William Kent Krueger’s excellent series featuring ex-sheriff Cork O’Connor, set in Northern Minnesota. A dead body found in a blueberry patch launches the story of pipeline protests, tribal politics, family secrets and the dark beauty and lurking spirits of the north country. Not pictured but excellent and hilarious: Richard Osman’s latest, We Solve Murders. Devoured it.
For some reason, around election time, I ended up reading two back-to-back books (Jason Rekulak’s The Last One at the Wedding and Teddy Wayne’s The Winner) featuring annoying male protagonists, middle class strivers who brush up against life-altering wealth. Weak and weaselly in different ways, both men too easily sacrifice their moral standards at the altar of rich assholes with waterfront mansions who get more in life than they deserve. (Both reminded me of the Riley Sager I read last year.) Good writers; smackable characters.
I’m currently reading Alafair Burke’s new one, The Note. (So far so great. And I’m reading it on a fun new mini Kindle-like book gadget called a Palma 2. #booknerd) One that got away from me last year but made many best-of lists was Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, which I’m now listening to on Spotify.
If interested, some faves from 2024: James, Percival Everett; Lost Man's Lane, Scott Carson; The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley; Horse, Willy Vlautin; The Hunter, Tana French; Chahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford; Like Mother, Like Daughter, Kimberly McCreight; and Where You End, Abbott Kahler.
Also after the election, my wife and I canceled our NYT subscription (first time in decades, though we’re back on board now) and dove into escapist TV. Faves included “Slow Horses” (best season yet); “The Perfect Couple”; “The Diplomat”; “The Agency” (based on the epic French series, “The Bureau”); “Say Nothing” (based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s excellent book); and “Interior Chinatown.” And now we’re bingeing “For All Mankind,” full of fun flashbacks to the characters and the world of my first book (which turned 20 last year).
Cocktail of the Month
I recently came across another cocktails & crime newsletter by another Seattle writer (Vince Keenan — if you need a replacement while I’m on hiatus). He’s also written about legendary Seattle bartender Murray Stenson, who died in 2023. I wrote about Murray in late 2023, and it seems fitting for my last newsletter (for a while) to share with you Murray’s best-known creation…
The Last Word
3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
Mix in shaker with ice; strain into coupe or martini glass; garnish with cherry (or not).
(*You can replace the gin and lime with rye and lemon to make The Final Ward)
(for more B&W cocktails visit: Potions)
Podcast of the Month
In my previous newsletter I mentioned a 3-part series I wrote for American History Tellers about the Titanic. Next is a 3-parter on the Wright Brothers, out now (to be followed by Jimmy Carter and a 1925 dogsled rescue adventure story):
And if you wanna hear all 20+ hours of episodes I’ve written for this show:
Finally, I’m skiing tomorrow, then headed to Austria next week for a first-ever European ski trip (birthday gift from wifey). In the spirit of the pow, the gnar, the shred, here’s a profile I wrote years ago of icon Warren Miller (click the pic).
And here’s an interview I did with Warren at Benaroya Hall (2012):
Thanks for reading (and drinking) along with me these past few years. I’ve enjoyed sharing my book recs, reviews, author interviews, cocktails and playlists. I remain grateful for your support and hope to be back in your inboxes again someday. Till then…
cheers,
-Neal
Find me @ Instagram; sometimes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads
And it's a battered old suitcase
To a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey…
-Tom Waits, “Tom Traubert’s Blues”
Take care and looking forward to your return!
Happy Birthday Neal!! You make bourbon/whiskey taste so good!!