Sun-Drenched Smatterings

Though I have spent less than 24 hours in the Sunshine State (which I last visited at the age of five) I think I am beginning to understand why there seem to be more crime writers per capita here than anywhere else. It should not be 80+ degrees in February. My East Coast blood is flummoxed even as it is secretly thrilled by the prospect of endless sunshine, nearby beaches and mango-bearing trees. This dichotomy cries out for embedded darkness and twisted doings, which is why I’m glad Murder on the Beach exists to stock books that chronicle such things.

Here’s what I should have posted yesterday:

Ali Karim begins a four-part look at horror meister Robert McCammon at the Rap Sheet.

TIME’s Tim Kindseth looks at Asa Nomani and the cream of Japanese crime writing’s current crop.

NRO’s John J. Miller talks to Robert Ferrigno about SINS OF THE ASSASSIN.

Variety looks at the debt owed by the Best Adapted Screenplay nominees to the respective books.

The Pontefract & Castleford Express has a short profile of lawyer-turned-crime writer Helen Black. 

Oh goody, Marisha Pessl 2.0.

ICM London head Kate Jones died way too young at the age of 46 and she’s remembered well by Andrew Franklin and Robert McCrum.

JUNO as a videogame? WTF?

Repeat the same refrain for Peanuts sudoku.