Smatterings

The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has announced its shortlist.

Johan Theorin is this year’s winner of the Glass Key Award.

George Pelecanos talks with Jeff Trachtenberg of the WSJ about his new novel, THE WAY HOME, and his work on the upcoming HBO drama TREME.

Also in the WSJ: Tom Nolan has a rare interview with Maj Sjowall, the surviving spouse of Sjowall/Wahloo fame, and Trachtenberg looks at Knopf’s plans to market Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE.

MP Michael Gove discourses on the Penguin Modern Classics reissue of various Eric Ambler novels for the TLS.

Martina Cole sits down with Carole Cadwalladr for a wide-ranging interview about her bestselling novels, the upcoming TV adaptation of THE TAKE, and why the Booker Prize “wouldn’t keep her in cigarettes.”

David Liss, the newest addition to Contemporary Nomad, wonders about the current state of book promotion and the de-emphasis of author tours. 

The Chicago Sun-Times offers a plethora of summer reading suggestions, including several on the crime fiction side. 

Laura Miller recommends a handful of blockbuster summer thrillers for Salon.

Michael Harris is underwhelmed by Tom Rob Smith’s THE SECRET SPEECH, sequel to the excellent CHILD 44. I thought better of it, but wondered what would have happened had the book come out a year later.

Hallie Ephron has her say on crime fiction by Alan Bradley, Kenneth Cameron and Laurie King in the Boston Globe. 

Stuart Neville reviews James Ellroy’s upcoming novel BLOOD’S A ROVER at length, and pinpoints a lot of the interesting ways in which Ellroy has adapted and changed his writing style over the last decade or so.

Ray Banks on DRAG ME TO HELL: “One of the best horror films I’ve seen in the last 10 years.” Word.