List o’ links

The results are in, and for the big retailers in London, this past Christmas season, well, sucked bigtime, dubbed “the worst in years.”

The Guardian has way more on yesterday’s big story about Joe Gordon, the Waterstone’s staffer who was fired for making snarky comments about his employer on his blog.

I never got the whole Germaine Greer on Celebrity Big Brother, but just as I was about to get used to it she calmly packs her bags and walks out on the program. What the hell did you expect, Ms. Greer? That it would be all a bed of roses or something? Strange. Oh yeah, and what’s with this photo here?

AP meets up with Stella Rimington, the former chief of MI5 who is now making waves on both sides of the Atlantic with her debut novel, AT RISK.

The Charlotte Observer interviews James Hall, who reveals why summer camps and his wife’s carjacking contributed to the writing of his new standalone, FORESTS OF THE NIGHT.

This new book by Julius Lester intrigues the hell out of me: an anthromorphic version of God dressed up in Hitler costumes? Okaaaayyy….but the Washington Post has several pointed reservations about this novel.

The Arizona Republic profiles the Desert Sleuths, the local chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s PREP–a book I am really looking forward to reading after being blown away by her award-winning story at the Mississippi Review a few years ago–gets the treatment by Daniel Asa Rose at the NY Observer. Very oddly written review, if you ask me….

And finally, meet a very special crime fiction reader. Recognize some of the books on the shelf? And oh yeah, it’s rather NSFW. (Thanks to AK and Grog for the link)