Links play catch-up

And to lead off, good lord, will Margaret Atwood’s remote book tour device ever leave the news? Maybe, but the Globe and Mail’s Rebecca Caldwell adds yet another wrinkle as she reports that Abebooks is none too pleased about this potential development. According to a poll they just conducted, 90% of respondents believe a remote-signed book would have less value than one actually signed in person. Take that, Peggy!

Who will win Iowa Idol, I mean, emerge from the shortlist to be director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop? The list is pretty spiffy with names like Richard Bausch, Ben Marcus, Jim Shepard and Lan Samantha Chang. (link from CAAF, Girl Detective.)

Another day, another profile of Whitbread Rookie of the Year Susan Fletcher, this time by the Guardian. And I know it’s not cricket to make note of people’s appearances but damn, I am so jealous of her hair…

There’s more on Michael Cox, the man who benefited from what is believed to be the UK’s largest advance, over at BBC News. He confirms what may be many a writer’s worst fear: that if you don’t know anyone, it’s bloody hard to break into publishing.

Jane Jakeman looks at two Turkish-based mysteries for the Independent, and likes Barbara Nadel’s contemporary DEADLY WEB far more than Boris Akunin’s TURKISH GAMBIT.

The Telegraph’s Jessica Mann pretty much explains why I loved Stella Duffy’s new book, PARALLEL LIES, so much — it’s smart, it’s bloody well-written, and nasty as all hell. Would that a US publisher could pick it up, but it might be too hot to touch right now…

Uh oh — Jessica Adams, chicklit writer and astrologer, wrote a story about murder, and someone picked up that it might have just a bit of a passing resemblance to an Agatha Christie story. Plagiarism? You make the call… (link from Mobylives)

Another day, another silly link related to Harry Potter. This time, J.K. Rowling’s cousin prepares to take a lie detector test about….ah, why do I even bother. It’s really just bizarre.

Kathleen Gregory Klein, who’s written four academic books and a couple of mystery novels, is interviewed by the Hampton Roads Daily Press.

USA Today meets Sheila Moses, whose sighting of a courthouse plaque spurred her to write a fictional memoir of Dred Scott (a man who fought for slavery in the 1840s) for children.

Bill Eidson, whose new series featuring ex-DEA Jack Merchant and Sarah Ballard has garnered some nice notices, will be featured on tonight’s Wellesley (MA) Spotlight at 7:30 PM.

And finally, I always did love a good blind item.