Finally, Smatterings

If the tone’s been a little downbeat of late, so be it, but things are starting to turn. Hence, more links:

Dennis Lehane previews THE GIVEN DAY to the Dallas Morning News.

Julie Kramer explains the real-life backstory behind her debut novel STALKING SUSAN to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, proving once again than the strangeness of truth will always trump the strangeness of fiction.

Harrogate begins today, and Metro offers a glimpse of what’s to come with a preview of the “Bloody Women” panel with Chelsea Cain, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Simon Beckett and Stuart MacBride.

Was THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE really a bestseller out of the blue, as the Boston Globe claims? Beats me, but the piece is pretty good.

Alan Cheuse recommends Paul Goldstein’s A PATENT LIE on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Kate Summerscale’s wonderful real-life whodunit THE SUSPICIONS OF DR. WHICHER takes home the Samuel Johnson Prize, leading the Guardian Books blog to ponder true crime’s current place.

The National Post is hosting a weekly diary by John McFetridge.

Scott Sigler’s podcast novel fever hits the UK and specifically, the Independent.

Neal Templin is very, very reluctant to buy books.

And finally, no one would believe this manner of death in a crime novel. Nobody.