Links of your morning

Ah, the holidays. For some, a time of giving, frantically shopping for presents, and spending time with loved ones, For others, it’s a struggle not to overeat, overimbibe and overembarass oneselves at holiday parties. For both the world as a whole and the ‘sphere in general, it’s a time of slowdown, where posting habits grow infrequent and more relaxed. I expect that will happen here as well, though I promise a few goodies sprinkled in here and there. Including, of course, choice links like these:

What on earth possessed the NYT daily to assign Michael Crichton’s new book to Michiko to review? Didn’t they realize she’d loathe it? Or was that the point all along?

Richard Marinick continues his publicity blitz by speaking about his debut novel BOYOS to NPR’s Scott Simon.

Once upon a time, Patrick Anderson read a Dean Koontz novel about killer dogs and decided never to read the author again. Then he changed his mind and found he really enjoyed LIFE EXPECTANCY.

The Denver Post was on a regional mystery kick over the weekend, looking at new books by Dana Stabenow and Kirk Mitchell.

The Glasgow Herald’s Rosemary Goring picks her most notable books of this past year, giving a nod to the folks at Bitter Lemon Press, a new UK imprint devoted to crime novels in translation.

Rebecca Caldwell chats with the guys behind Daughters of Freya, an email mystery novel that’s sent out to a growing number of subscribers.

Who killed Holmes expert Richard Lancelyn Green? From the looks of things, it seems he did the deed himself–but dressed it up as a murder to get more attention…

The Guardian talks to Sean Connery on what is proving to be the most difficult task of his life–writing his memoirs.