Imatge de l'autor

William Bayer

Autor/a de The Magician's Tale

33+ obres 1,383 Membres 22 Ressenyes

Sobre l'autor

Crime writer David Hunt is the pen name of William Bayer, a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. Bayer was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency where he created many documentaries, two of which received Cine Golden Eagle awards. His feature film titled mostra'n més Mississippi Summer won Best Feature by a Director at the Chicago International Film Festival. Bayer has written several novels including In Search of a Hero, Switch, Wallflower, Mirror Maze, and Peregrine, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. He has also authored Breaking Through, Selling Out, and the nonfiction work Dropping Dead and Other Notes on Film Making. After Bayer moved to San Francisco, he began writing under David Hunt, his pen name. Among his most recent novels are The Magician's Tale and Trick of Light. (Bowker Author Biography) William Bayer's first novel, "In Search of a Hero" was published in 1962. He has since written two books of non-fiction and thirteen other novels, including the Edgar award-winning "Peregrine", and four subsequent mystery thrillers in which NYPD detective Frank Janek was the main character, among them the New York Times bestseller "Switch", which became the basis of the first of seven TV films in which Richard Crenna played Janek. "Pattern Crimes" was also a New York Times bestseller. Bayer's last two thrillers featured the color-blind photographer Kay Farrow and were written under the pen-name David Hunt: "The Magician's Tale", which was a New York Time Notable Book of the Year and won the Lambda Literacy Award for Best Mystery, and "Trick of Light". Bayer lives in San Francisco. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys
Crèdit de la imatge: www.vjbooks.com

Sèrie

Obres de William Bayer

The Magician's Tale (1997) 361 exemplars
Trick of Light (1998) 144 exemplars
Switch (1984) 116 exemplars
Pattern Crimes (1987) 110 exemplars
The Great Movies (1973) 93 exemplars
Mirror Maze (1994) 92 exemplars
Wallflower (1743) 87 exemplars
Peregrine (1981) 83 exemplars
Blind Side (1989) 69 exemplars
The Dream of the Broken Horses (2002) 57 exemplars
Punish Me with Kisses (1980) 48 exemplars
Trick Shot (1999) 22 exemplars
Tangier (1978) 20 exemplars
A Murder of Mysteries (2014) 9 exemplars
The Murals (2019) 9 exemplars
Tarot (2004) 5 exemplars
City of Knives (2008) 5 exemplars
Trame de sang (2015) 3 exemplars
すげ替えられた首 (1986) 2 exemplars
Tödlicher Tausch Goldmann (1989) 2 exemplars
Stardust (1974) 2 exemplars
Lo scambio 1 exemplars
Pièges de lumière (2003) 1 exemplars
Hodejegeren (1985) 1 exemplars
Peregrin 1 exemplars
En bølge av mord (1989) 1 exemplars
Visions of Isabelle (1976) 1 exemplars
In search of a hero 1 exemplars

Obres associades

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Nom normalitzat
Bayer, William
Altres noms
Hunt, David
Data de naixement
1939-02-20
Gènere
male
Nacionalitat
USA
Lloc de naixement
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Llocs de residència
Sonoma, California, USA
Educació
Harvard College
Professions
writer
Relacions
Wolfert, Paula (wife)

Membres

Ressenyes

I enjoyed it. The characters achormotopsia was only a factor a couple of times, but it was interesting and well plotted
 
Marcat
cspiwak | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Mar 6, 2024 |
Tess Berenson moves into an art deco loft in downtown Oakland, California. Chantel, the women that lived there before left the place in a hurry. Tess is curious to why Chantel left the apartment and she is intrigued by the fact that Chantel worked as a dominatrix. Soon she learns that Chantel's dead body has been found...who killed her and why?

Several years before this is Lou Andreas-Salome approached by a young painter that's stalking her and he gives her a painting he has painted of a famous photograph of her with Friedrich Nietzsche and Paul Rée.


I must confess that I found the story that takes place in the past more interesting than the present story in this book. I was not sure what to think about this book until I realized who the young painter was and I was curious to what kind of impact the painting would have to the story. But, despite starting off interesting did I find the story didn't turn out quite as interesting as I hoped it would. The ending, the resolution of the murder was, to be honest, a bit of a letdown. It felt so simple the reason Chantel was killed and the revealing of the murderer was never really a very big surprise. Also, I had some problem with the first-person narrative, it worked with the past story, but I never really found that it worked that well with Tess.

But still, it was mostly good the book. I found, for instance, Lou Andreas-Salome a very interesting characters and her past with Friedrich Nietzsche and Paul Rée and, later on, her study under Freud was interesting to read about and I really want to read a book about Lou Andreas-Salome. Also, despite the first-person narrative was Tess story in the present not that bad. She became a bit obsessed with Chantel and her way of life and, in the end, that helped solve Chantel's murder. So, despite my hope for a more direct link with the past when it came to the murder was it interesting to know at the end where the painting was.

Here is the picture her with Friedrich Nietzsche and Paul Rée.


Thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
… (més)
 
Marcat
MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 |
This 1973 book, from a time when interest in film and film history was at its height after some seven decades of scant interest, has achieved a place of honor, though the author was not one of many notable writers on film (such as Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Peter Cowie) who were at their height at this time. Instead William Bayer was and is known as a writer of mysteries and thrillers, yet his connection to film and film history is rather genetic, him being the son of award winning screen writer and indie icon Eleanor Perry (best known for her work with second husand director Frank Perry on such films as David and Lisa and Diary of a Mad Housewife, none of which get a mention in the text of this book). However, despite its luxurious, high gloss, coffee table look, this is a remarkably intelligent and somewhat prescient book on which films, in the author's opinion, are great and just why they are. It must be stated that this book, written by a more objective outsider to the film world, is blessedly free of jargon and agendas (no auteur theory discussed here, though the author plainly is aware of the works of great film makers).
The book tackles 60 films in 12 categories. Some of the categories are the usual genre fixtures such as westerns, mysteries, musicals, and horror (though his take on that one is very sophisticated and not what is expected). However, he also includes unexpected corners such as "the personal cinema" and "the concerned cinema". There are several of the usual suspects such as...well, Casablanca, M, Singin' in the Rain, Stagecoach and the author's film of all films, Citizen Kane (Orson Welles appears in this book more than anyone else, with three films as director and one additional as actor). However, some of these films, such as From Here to Eternity, Shane, Tom Jones, and Gone With the Wind have not weathered the years so well. Conversely, the author, somewhat understandably, includes flms of a more recent vintage to the time of the book's writing. Remarkably, his batting average on these isn't too bad at all. Easy Rider (a choice he admits having to defend to his publisher) and M*A*S*H (beloved for opening Robert Altman's directorial era but now looking sexist and lopsided in structure and eclipsed by an entity as promiment in its medium as this film ever was in its own) and Blow-Up look a bit odd being in the book today but Cabaret, A Hard Day's Night, and, espeically, The Wild Bunch look right at home (more so than they did at the time). However, where the author really shines (or, maybe, was influential) is in his choosing of films which were either locked away at the time, forgotten by the mainstream, or remmebered in a less than optimal way. The introduction (not written by the author)states that some of the films "are hard to see on a big screen anymore". The jawdropping selections in this category include Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep, Robert Bresson's Au Hazard Balthazar, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers, Welles' Touch of Evil, which the author terms the greatest B movie ever made (all the more remarkable in that he had only the butchered, long circulated version to go by, not the refurbished efforts of later years), John Ford's The Searchers (then rather forgotten), and John Frankenheimer's then dismissed, long unseen The Manchurian Candidate! Now, all of this creates a chicken and egg question: was the author ahead of his time or did he help to create the current reputations for these films? It must be stated, whatever the case, if the films didn't have the basic quality, they wouldn't have taken hold. Sadlly, the author has only written one other book concerning that film world (an accute work on the hard work of getting a film made, respected for being both accurate and so depressing). That he hasn't continued writing about film is the cinematic world's loss.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Woodson.Hughes | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jun 25, 2021 |
One day a week or so ago I was in my favorite bookshop just wandering around and chatting with the owner when I asked what was new.... He said that William Bayer had just dropped into the shop with his wife and they had had a lovely visit. I'd never heard of William Bayer and made the shop owner tell all (nosey??? not me!). He's long been a Bayer fan so I got the full scoop and walked out with Wallflower. It finally surfaced on my 'read me next pile' and ... wow. It's a GREAT story. New York Police Detective Janek is just off his latest case - a landmark one that and resting on vacation when he gets a call that his goddaughter has been killed. And killed in what looks to be the latest in one of the most bizarre string of murders. She was stabbed with an ice pick and, like the other victims, then had her genitals glued shut. Like most other of my favorite mystery books, I do NOT want to see this movie, but the book is great! Now I need to go back and get more Bayers!… (més)
 
Marcat
susandennis | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jun 5, 2020 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
33
També de
1
Membres
1,383
Popularitat
#18,591
Valoració
½ 3.4
Ressenyes
22
ISBN
159
Llengües
7

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