What's in a name? Do killer book titles matter?

Thanks to my fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham Beattie of the always-informative Beattie's Book Blog, yesterday I came across an interesting blog post (from Katie Ganshert - an aspiring author from the US Midwest) about the importance of finding a great, not just good, title for your novel. In her blog post, Gansher talks about her struggle to find a great title for her first novel, and how all the options she considered had to be measured against three key criteria:

• It has to represent the story: "I want a title that is unique and meaningful to not just a line in the book, but to the entire story," says Ganshert, who is looking for a title "chock-full of meaning".


• It has to be intriguing: "I don't want it to sound like a million other titles already published on Amazon. I look for something different. Original. Not cliche. Something that elicits a sense of intrigue," says Ganshert, who used an example of  SUMMER SNOW (juxtaposition of snow in summer catches attention).


• It has to sound good: "Titles shouldn't make tongues twist or noses wrinkle. They should be pleasing to read and say," says Ganshert, who is a fan of alliterative titles.

The blog post, from an author who isn't a crime writer, got me wondering about the importance of a good title for crime and thriller novels. It also got me reflecting on the titles of the most recent books I've read. In all honesty, I don't think I picked any of them from the shelf because of their title, but rather because of their author, or a recommendation, etc. But can titles be important? Like book covers can be important?

Here are some of the most recent books I've read:

• SIX SECONDS by Rick Mofina (currently reading) - a geopolitical thriller. Clearly, six seconds refers to a race-against-the-clock aspect of the novel, although I haven't yet discovered if there is any secondary or layered meaning to the title also.


• THE AFFAIR by Lee Child - a prequel to the Jack Reacher series, where Reacher is still an Army MP, involved in a murder case outside an army base in America's rural South. The title is simple, not that unique, but can denote a couple of different things about the book.


• THE ACCIDENT by Linwood Barclay - another terrific 'suburban suspense' novel, that is kickstarted by, you guessed it, an accident (a DUI traffic accident) - but is it an accident?


• RETRIBUTION by Val McDermid - the latest Tony Hill and Carol Jordan book, which sees the return of serial killer Jacko Vance who escapes from prison, and is after, that's right, retribution.


• THE RIDGE by Michael Koryta - a supernatural thriller with plenty of interesting characters and mysterious happenings, all tied to a mountain ridge.


• THE COLOR OF LAW by Mark Gimenez - a modern-day ode to To Kill a Mockingbird, where a high-flying wheeler-dealer Texas corporate lawyer is forced to defend a black hooker who's accused of killing an important senator's son. While issues of racism arise, as becomes clear through Gimenez's interesting legal thriller, in modern times, it's the colour of money, even more so than skin, that really segregates people now.

So it seems that most of the crime fiction titles aren't too poetic or multi-layered - they are quite direct and on point, having meaning to the story without necessarily being that unique or memorable. Does this matter? I'm not sure. I must say, I am a fan of some of James Lee Burke's novel titles - PURPLE CANE ROAD, INTO THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD, CIMARRON ROSE, CADILLAC JUKEBOX, etc - I really do love the poetry and 'sound' of those titles, which always end up having some meaning tied into the story, although not always what you expect. But I don't think it necessarily harms most other crime fiction titles from not having that same level of uniqueness or poetic 'sound'. What do you think?

I did have a period of reading last year where it seemed almost every book I read had 'Blood' somewhere in the title - but I guess with crime fiction certain words, or images, will of course crop up again and again.

Then of course there are some authors who have themed titles throughout a series - for example, James Patterson's earlier Alex Cross novels all had the nursery rhyme/children's poem or song element - ROSES ARE RED, KISS THE GIRLS, ALONG CAME A SPIDER, POP GOES THE WEASEL etc. And sopme of Val McDermid's novels have titles taken in part from poems by TS Eliot - WIRE IN THE BLOOD, THE MERMAID'S SINGING, etc.

Does a good title matter? Or only if you are a lesser-known author? As a reader, are you drawn to a title, like you might be to a cover (meaning you might pick a book up, or investigate it more online, potentially giving the author more chance to convince you to buy it)? Does it matter more for some types of novels than others? What are your favourite crime titles? I'd love to get your opinions and examples on this matter.

My review of POSTCARD KILLERS on Reviewing the Evidence

One of the great things about writing reviews for a range of newspapers, magazines, and websites in New Zealand, Australia and further abroad, is that I get the opportunity to write reviews of different lengths for different publications - and also the chance to share my views on various crime and thriller titles with different audiences. It gives me more avenues to try to cover as many of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) crime and thriller novels I'm sent to review, as possible. It's also nice to be able to write slightly longer reviews now and then.

As I said last October, I have started occasionally contributing to Reviewing the Evidence, a website set up by Barbara Franchi in 2001 to help fill the growing void of mystery review websites. It now boasts thousands of reviews of mysteries and thrillers of all categories, and has more than 30 reviewers from the US, the UK, and Australia.

The site is edited by Sharon Wheeler, a UK-based journalist, and by writer and translator Yvonne Klein. I am their first NZ-based reviewer, and I will be looking to contribute semi-regular reviews to their site. Each fortnight or so they publish about 15-20 reviews, and their most recent 'release' included my review of James Patterson and Liza Marklund's recently-released POSTCARD KILLERS.

In POSTCARD KILLERS, touted as "the scariest vacation thriller ever," NYPD cop Jacob Kanon has been chasing a pair of vicious killers across the capitals and holiday hotspots of Europe. Killers who kick-started their murderous spree by butchering his beloved daughter and her fiancé in Rome. Before each murder, a postcard is sent to a local newspaper, but the police remain largely clueless as the murderers run free. When Stockholm-based crime reporter Dessie Larsson receives the latest note, she and Kanon eventually team up to try to stop the killers once and for all.

You can read my review here.

Reading it over now (I submitted it a couple of weeks ago), I may have come across as 'piling on' a little bit, not that I now disagree with anything I've said. I read almost all of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels when I was at high school and Uni (and enjoyed many of them), and have continued to read some of his books now and then, even as he's co-opted various co-authors in recent years. I also think James Patterson has done a lot of great things for literacy, and promoting reading (particularly kids reading). I'd probably give POSTCARD KILLERS a 2-star rating out of 5, where perhaps some people might read my review as more '1 star' in nature at times...

What do you think of my review? Was a bit too harsh on Patterson's latest? Do the things that bothered me about the book (thin characters, cliche and contrivance, etc) really matter when you're reading crime novels? Have you read POSTCARD KILLERS? What do you think?

UK #1 bestseller Peter James in New Zealand this month!

When it rains, it pours, as they say. There are now six major international crime and thriller writers heading to New Zealand shores in the next few weeks - along with Simon Kernick and Michael Robotham, who will be appearing at The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival, 2010 Theakstons award winner RJ Ellory and 2010 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger recipient Val McDermid are also touring in August and September, and now news is filtering through that another two big-name bestsellers from overseas will be here in August as well.

Peter James, the award-winning author of the Roy Grace series - the latest of which, DEAD LIKE YOU jumped straight to #1 on the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its first week of publication earlier this year - will be in New Zealand on 30 and 31 August. Event details have not yet been confirmed, but I understand James will be appearing at a public event in Takapuna (Auckland's North Shore) on the evening of Tuesday 31 August. I will bring you more details as soon as they come to hand.

In an interesting aside, when DEAD LIKE YOU shot straight to the top of the UK charts, it was reportedly the first time in several years that that master of mystery writing marketing, James Patterson, was prevented from going straight to #1 with his latest book.

In DEAD LIKE YOU, the sixth in the award-winning Detective Superintendant Roy Grace series set in James's hometown of Brighton, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room at the Metropole Hotel after a New Years' Eve ball. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims’ shoes are taken by the offender . . .

Roy Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed ‘Shoe Man’ and was believed to have raped five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

When more women are assaulted, Grace becomes increasingly certain that they are dealing with the same man. And that by delving back into the past - a time in which we see Grace and his missing wife Sandy still apparently happy together - he may find the key to unlocking the current mystery. Soon Grace and his team will find themselves in a desperate race against the clock to identify and save the life of the new sixth victim . .

Are you a Peter James fan? Will you be keen to see him in New Zealand? Have you read any of his Roy Grace books, or his earlier spy thrillers and paranormal work (that saw him called the 'British Stephen King' at one point)? Thoughts and comments welcome.