Fictional Hemingway

I came across Michael Atkinson’s Hemingway novels on the new books shelf and they have been a treat. (Got that Blizz?) “Hemingway Deadlights” and “Hemingway Cutthroat” are mystery novels with Ernest Hemingway as protagonist. Atkinson nails him. From the Spanish Civil War to his Gulf Stream hangouts, Hem makes his gin-soaked way, the celebrity author, meddling reporter, impossible husband, bumbling after his megillahs through cantinas and copshops; brawling, soused, and often in over his head. His escapades also gave new light to his nickname ‘Papa.’

I can’t say how these would read for the uninitiated, but for the Hemingway buff, they go like rum and cocoanut water on a tropical afternoon, potent, nourishing, and gone before you know it. They bring to mind Stuart Kaminski’s Toby Peters novels, more humorous than hard-boiled, with a familiar voice to engage you. Good stuff.