The even more massive than usual Weekend Update

Good god, did every major paper decide to devote their energies to crime fiction this week? It sure seems that way–not that you’ll get any complaints from me. All your favorite links and tidbits can be found after the jump.

Marilyn Stasio is back after a longer-than-usual hiatus (normally it’s every other week, but there was a two-week break this time around) and is quite enamored with Jacqueline Winspear’s sophomore effort BIRDS OF A FEATHER. Stasio also garnishes praise on a number of first novels by Jack Kerley, Will Thomas, and David Lawrence. It’s almost like she’s contracted the perky gene, these reviews are so positive. Well hey, it is summer…

Otherwise in the PoR, John Banville dissects Ulysses just in time for Bloomsday, David Gates praises a new biography of bluesmeister Howlin’ Wolf, and Christopher Caldwell is pleased with Joy Goodwin’s THE SECOND MARK, which goes into scrupulous detail about the 2002 Olympic pairs skating scandal. I’m glad to see the review, but…the book’s been out since mid-April. Sam, what took you so long to assign a review?

Next up is Book World, where fiction gets the spotlight, and then some. Charles McCarry’s first spy novel in a decade is finally in bookstores, and Charles Trueheart is most impressed with the end result. Jonathan Yardley looks at Arturo Perez-Reverte’s THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH and comes away in a good mood, too. Lev Raphael is a crime writer, but the novel he reviews, Colin McAdam’s SOME GREAT THING, most definitely is not–rather, it’s a portrait of my hometown city as it once was (but not exactly as it is now, for better or for worse.) It’s interesting to note the last name of McAdam’s protagonist–McGunity–is the very one of Ontario’s current and much-reviled premier, who hails from a prominent political Ottawa family. Oh, convergence. It’s so lovely…

The Globe and Mail is overstuffed with goodies this week: the obligatory Ulysses mention, the two Davids, and even Margaret Cannon’s column is overflowing with books. Let’s see if I can do this quickly: raves for Robert B. Parker’s DOUBLE PLAY, Christopher Fowler, Donna Leon, Jon Evans’ DARK PLACES (which I loved), John Sandford, Simon Brett, Linwood Barclay, Lee Child, Steve Hamilton, and Edna Buchanan. Holy crap that’s a lot of people. And Boris Akunin’s LEVIATHAN is showered with praise by the head honcho critic Martin Levin for good measure.

At the Guardian Review, M John Harrison is rather befuddled by Booker prize nominee Robert Edric’s second foray into crime fiction, SIREN SONG, and everybody’s favorite porngrapher, er, erotic writer gets rather cranky this week. Thumbs up go to Adrian McKinty (although Jakubowski makes the common mistake about calling DEAD I WELL MAY BE a debut novel) and Horace Silver, but he’s less impressed with THE NARROWS and Michael Marshall’s THE LONELY DEAD. Of course, one has to take the Murder One proprietor’s reviews with a great many grains of salt, something which shall be explained in a future blog post…

At the sister paper, Mark Mills’ debut literary thriller, AMAGANSETT, gets fairly rigorous treatment by Brian Oliver. It’s another American-set novel by a Brit who doesn’t have a US deal in place, like Roger Jon Ellory, Meg Gardiner and Kerry Jamieson. What gives? (ed. Ron points out in the comments section that Mills’ novel DOES have a US publisher, Putnam, and the release date is scheduled for July 22. But the same applies for the other novelists mentioned.) Otherwise, Lynne Truss talks to Robert McCrum about the personal tragedies that led to the astoundingly successful EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES, and a new biography of Marilyn Monroe–even if we may not necessarily need one–is deemed to be the most comprehensive one yet. (And where, you ask, is the link to McCrum’s column? Another post, my friends, and coming soon…)

Otherwise, the Review features positive mentions of Kevin Bazzana’s biography of Glenn Gould and THE BUGATTI QUEEN, a look at the love affair that may have been Beethoven’s undoing, and Edna O’Brien’s Joyceian reflections upon the man’s centenary.

And in other news:

Whoo-ee, does Toronto Star crime columnist Jack Batten rip into Robert B. Parker’s DOUBLE PLAY for not doing its homework and research on the “real” Jackie Robinson. Most damning, Batten criticizes Parker for changing Robinson’s speech patterns: “Rather than talking like himself, he sounds like Spenser’s hip black sidekick, Hawk.” Ouch. Of course, I’m still waiting for someone to twig to the fact that without Montreal, Robinson would never have broken any ground in the majors….

It seems like such a long time ago when Donna Leon’s books were so long out of print that customers clamored for, beg or stole the UK editions. Metaphorically, of course. But now that she has a US deal, her books are increasingly available, and newspapers like Newsday want to interview her and stuff.

Susan Hill has written a great many novels, but only now is she turning her focus to crime fiction. She explains to the Scotsman why she made the switch and what her “trio of novels” will have in store for her fans.

More reasons to be jealous of authors, part umpteen: Carol Higgins Clark’s spiffy new digs on East 72nd Street. Nice….

Alice Randall is an acclaimed, highly controversial writer…and country music songwriter? Find out all sorts of little-known facts in this lengthy profile by the Boston Globe.

David Sedaris claims he “hasn’t a clue” why he’s so damn popular to the point where he sells out Carnegie Hall. I shall refrain from making an all-too-easy rejoinder.

The shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award in Australia is wonderfully impressive: Shirley Hazzard, Peter Carey, J.M. Coetzee, Elliot Perlman, Peter Goldsworthy, and Annamarie Jagose.

It’s official–the Edinburgh Fringe Festival will extend itself to books, and the newly christened festival will run from 19-22 August. Among the highlights: a male romance novelist (nom de plume: Jessica Stirling) will reveal the secrets to writing successfully in a mostly female-only genre.

Faber has decided that its next Big Book will be The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and Publishing News has the scoop on the UK publisher’s plans to make it so. That will likely make some folks very happy indeed…

The National Post focuses its attention on the most timely element of David Liss’s historical mystery A SPECTACLE OF CORRUPTION: the vote buying! Some things truly never change….

So why do so many folks adore the Harry Potter books? Peter Craven at The Age asks some 12 year old girls and gets some interesting answers, then comes up with a few of his own. I’ll boil it down to one word: storytelling.

And finally, it’s not unusual for an author to end up with stock of his or her book just as it’s going out of print. It’s quite another to buy back in-print stock, sell it at various festivals, and make a good mint as a result.