The Man in the Blizzard

June 23, 2008
At the start of this offbeat crime thriller from Schneider (Secret Love
), concert violinist Elizabeth Odegard hires eccentric Twin Cities PI Augie Boyer, who enjoys poetry and smoking pot, to investigate her husband, Perry, a dealer in rare musical instruments. Elizabeth has become suspicious of Perry's unusual business practices, especially after discovering a gun inside a violin case. When Boyer visits the Odegards' apartment, he finds a cache of German Lugers and a slim book cataloguing valuable violins seized by the Nazis. The trail leads Boyer to a possible link with a major antiabortion rally at the 2008 Republican National Convention, where a fictional Minnesota governor is angling to become John McCain's running mate. While some readers will enjoy the name-dropping (from Garrison Keillor and Al Franken to Geraldo and Anderson Cooper), others may feel the predictable story line undercuts the suspense.

July 15, 2008
Just in time for the Republican National Convention this September, Twin Cities literary fixture Schneider (formerly editor of the "Hungry Mind Review") has concocted a comic detective novel that seems specially designed to annoy political conservatives. Augie Boyer is a middle-aged, pot-smoking, downwardly mobile private eye in Minneapolis who memorizes poetry in order to relax. Not Milton or Keats, mind you, but recent American poetry by the likes of John Ashbery and Thomas McGrath. Boyer's latest case involves a cache of priceless violins looted by the Germans in World War II. The main suspects are antiabortion activists who have come to Minnesota for the Republican presidential convention with the goal of murdering abortion doctors. But first they plan on killing Boyer's daughter, radical rock singer Minnesota Rose. The plot is contrived and the suspense is minimal, but Schneider's highly unusual blend of noir parody, violin lore, and contemporary verse makes this a good choice for summer reading lists, especially in an election year.Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2008
Schneider, author of three superb literary novels set in early-1960s San Francisco, changes horses here with a private-eye tale set in the Twin Cities during the 2008 Republican Convention. Naturally, politics is on the agendathe main plot involves a neo-Nazi plan to disrupt an anti-abortion rally scheduled to coincide with the conventionbut Schneider plays it as much for laughs as he does for an opportunity to drive home his liberal point of view. His hero, Augie Boyer, a sad-sack PI, moons over his divorce, smokes too much weed, and indulges a powerful hunger for fried food. He also has a narrative voice unlike few inthe genre: What chance does an unarmed, pothead, existentialist detective have against the genuine existentialists running around with guns in North Minneapolis? Yes, theres a perfectly decent mystery plot in here somewhere, but the real fun of the novel is watching Schneider find ways to work his favorite subjects into the action. Why not have Augies best friend be a cop who likes to memorize poems and convinces his cohorts to do the same? Great fun for fans of . . . what? Maybe The Big Lebowski? Augie abides.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)