Smatterings, the Long-Lasting Edition

Posting will be on the very, very light side this week, mostly because I’m putting together Publishers Lunch (regular and deluxe versions) while Michael Cader is on vacation. But there will be links today and a radio appearance tomorrow on WILL Radio’s Focus 580 with host David Inge, talking about crime & mystery fiction during the second hour of the broadcast (starting at 12:06 EDT/11:06 Central Time.)

In the meantime:

Dennis Lehane’s page-turning historical epic THE GIVEN DAY (about which more eventually, but suffice to say, I am still thinking about it) has attracted the film rights attention of Sam Raimi.

The first installment of Denis Johnson’s noir serial in Playboy is on newsstands, and Jacket Copy is all over it with early reviews from David Ulin, Richard Rayner and Carolyn Kellogg.

Laura Lippman confesses her addiction to collecting folk art to the Wall Street Journal.

Janet Evanovich chats with The Day about writing humor, her admiration for Robert B. Parker and the future of reading.

The ins and outs of celebrity ghostwriting.

Janet Maslin is an Inspector Wexford fan.

Patrick Anderson enjoys Paul Goldstein’s new legal thriller, albeit with reservations.

Michael Dirda wants to be like James Bond. (via)

Ed Champion on Sarah Hall for the B&N Review.

Weird Al Yankovic, Greatest Living American Patriot?

Another severed foot washes ashore in British Columbia. That makes five. That means something criminal is going on, at least to me.

And finally, a child’s first cavity. Not the one you’re thinking.