Checking Out The Book's Dedication Is Interesting

In my early novels like The Dirt-Brown Derby and The Blue Cheer, I was more aware of my dedication page than I have been in my last few novels. Probably it was because writing the novels was a new and different experience to me. I've dedicated every one of my 13 published books to my lovely wife Heather. The exception is my first Isabel and Alma Trumbo cozy mystery Quiet Anchorage that I dedicated to my mother. For one thing, she's the closest generation now to the real-life Isabel and Alma (long since deceased) who I based my two snoop sister characters upon.

Book dedications are fun if not sometimes cryptic and mysterious. The generally conceded Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby, bears the touching dedication, "To Zelda Once Again." F. Scott Fitzgerald names his wife Zelda. Moving on to the crime fiction genre, the one I mostly write in, let's consider Dashiell Hammett's dedication in The Maltese Falcon, "To Jose." It's the nickname by he which he called his wife Josephine Dolan Hammett. By the time his classic novel got published, the Hammetts had separated.

James Crumley in his masterful hardboiled detective novel, The Last Good Kiss, wrote, "To Dick Hugo, grand old detective of the heart." Crumley titled his book after his friend Richard Hugo's poem "Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg." The pertinent lines are:

             You might come here Sunday on a whim.
             Say your life broke down. The last good kiss
             you had was years ago.

That dedication makes for a nice association. I have no idea if Crumley asked Hugo if it was okay, but I can't imagine any poet not wanting his lines immoratalized in a great novel. I sure wouldn't. So, the next time you read a good book, be sure to check out the dedication made in the front. Maybe do a little Google snooping. Knowing who the author thought enough of to dedicate his or her book to in some small way enhances your appreciation of the book.