Fran Lebowitz loves David Carkeet (and so do we!)

Over on The Rumpus, an Overlook favorite, Kevin Nolan looks back at writer Fran Lebowitz's 1997 appearance on Charlie Rose. It's a "year in books" episode, and Nolan found Lebowitz's mention of Overlook author David Carkeet particularly interesting.

Lebowitz also mentions a writer I would not have known in 1997 and was still unaware of until recently: mystery writer David Carkeet. He’s very funny, said Lebowitz, and she highly recommended Carkeet’s debut comic novel Double Negative. It was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1980, and it is being kept in print today, appropriately perhaps, by Overlook Press. (Carkeet’s newest novel, From Away, was published last year, also by Overlook.) Double Negative is the first of three books featuring the character Jeremy Cook, who, like Carkeet, is a linguist.

We have David Carkeet's backlist available in paperback--check it out! And go here to see some of the fantastic reviews From Away received. The holidays are over--if 2011 is the year you resolve to find a new author, this might be a perfect book for you.

Meet David Carkeet and Laura Joh Rowland at BookHampton's Mystery Mayhem May 15-16

Our friends at BookHampton out on Long Island are hosting a Mystery Mayhem Festival this weekend featuring top mystery writers participating in readings and talks.

Laura Joh Rowland, author of Bedlam: The Further Adventures of Charlotte Bronte, will appear at three events: May 15, 1pm, at the East Hampton store, and May 16, 1pm in Sag Harbor, and 3pm at the Southampton store. David Carkeet, author of From Away and Double Negative, will also be in East Hampton on May 15 at 1pm and May 16, 11am. Don't miss this great weekend of mystery and mayhem in the Hamptons!

Meet Novelist David Carkeet, Author of FROM AWAY, at Upcoming Events

David Carkeet, author of From Away, will appear at these upcoming events:

April 7 (Wednesday), New England Independent Booksellers Association meeting, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine

April 8 (Thursday), 7:00 p.m., Phoenix Books, Essex Shoppes and Cinema, 21 Essex Way, Essex, Vermont

April 17 (Saturday), 11:00 a.m., Kingdom Books, 283 East Village Road, Waterford, Vermont

April 24 (Saturday), Tables of Content (authors' dinner), Rutland Free Library, Rutland, Vermont; information at http://www.rutlandfree.org/.

April 26 (Monday), 7:00 p.m., discussion of Double Negative with Bear Pond Books Mystery Book Group, 77 Main St., Montpelier, Vermont

DOUBLE NEGATIVE and FROM AWAY: The Discreet and Dangerous Charms of David Carkeet

Crime fiction columnist, blogger, critic and journalist extraordinaire Sarah Weinman looks at two novels by David Carkeet: Double Negative and his new novel From Away: " One thing should be clear from the outset: David Carkeet is not a crime novelist, not in the way we think of the term now. He doesn't set out with a sense of righteous fury to chronicle society's ills, nor does he wish to document murder in all of its transfixing brutality. Instead his touch is lighter, more whimsical, featuring protagonists who, instead of being tortured, are mildly affronted at best. When they find themselves in the crosshairs of the law, they don't mount an outraged crusade, but conduct a parallel investigation of the real culprit of murder that carries a veneer of the absurd, as if they know how ridiculous it is to play amateur sleuth. And while a crime novel's devil should always be in the details, Carkeet's characters are more often bedevilled by linguistic anomalies, the taste of homemade pie, and the baffling habits of the women they want to woo. Put another way, crime fiction protagonists find murder, while murder finds Carkeet's reluctant sleuths. They aren't looking for trouble, or at least not according to their own occasionally convoluted logic. They want to be liked, but sometimes have a hard time expressing that to others, who misconstrue their habitual complaining as a manifestation of darker emotions. The net result for readers is a sense of being swayed off the expected narrative course into more intriguing, messier byways of human behavior, whose larger mysteries will always dwarf that of who killed whom." Read the full review here.

David Carkeet's FROM AWAY Featured in Vermont's Seven Days

Margot Harrison of Seven Days reviews David Carkeet's From Away in the current issue: " From Away is one of those books you’ll like a lot or not at all by the time you’ve finished the first paragraph. If you like it, as I did, Middlesex author David Carkeet's novel will make you laugh. Repeatedly. Not for nothing does it come with an approving blurb from quirky-mystery king Carl Hiaasen, or another — from Publishers Weekly — that likens it to the Coen brothers’ movie Fargo. It’s a good comparison, because From Away is a lumpy but well-spiced gumbo of local color, serious drama and silliness. Like the Coen brothers, Carkeet is less interested in plots than in people and the stupid things they do: His protagonist deserves to stand beside the Dude in The Big Lebowski as a fellow with a knack for changing the tone of every situation he lands in. While From Away isn’t flawless, it’s an original, unlike anything else in its genre."

Overlook Preview: FROM AWAY by David Carkeet

Coming in March is a new novel - and the Overlook debut -from acclaimed novelist David Carkeet. From Away is a splendidly entertaining comic novel that is also a finely wrought mystery. Here's a sampling of the early praise:

"Anyone who doesn't laugh out loud at David Carkeet's writing needs to have their pulse checked. He's a very clever fellow, and this is a deftly funny book."--Carl Hiaasen

“If Alfred Hitchcock could remake Fargo, it might feel something like David Carkeet's comic-absurd latest.” – Publishers Weekly

“What a unique and engaging voice has David Carkeet. From Away is humanely funny, mysterious, and most unpredictable. It’s filled with unexpected delights, most of which come courtesy of his wise-cracking, edge-seeking protagonist Denny Braintree. I’m not sure how Carkeet does it, but I’m glad he does. Fresh and unafraid. Enjoyment guaranteed.” -T. Jefferson Parker

“Imagine Preston Sturges and Ruth Rendell collaborating and you’ve got From Away. Beautifully plotted, emotional resonant and, most of all, hilarious.” - Jonathan Kellerman

David Carkeet is the author of six novels, including Double Negative, The Full Catastrophe, and The Error of Our Ways. His memoir, Campus Sexpot, won the Creative Nonfiction Award given by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Among his honors are an Edgar nomination, a James D. Phelan Award from the San Francisco Foundation, an O. Henry Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His short stories and essays have appeared in American Literature, Carolina Quarterly, Kansas Quarterly, The North American Review, The Oxford American, River Styx, The San Francisco Review of Books, New York Stories, The New York Times Magazine, Poets & Writers, and The Village Voice. For many years, David Carkeet taught linguistics and writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He also directed the MFA program there and edited its literary journal, Natural Bridge. He now lives in Vermont with his wife and two children.