Mid-June Sunday Smatterings

Alan Furst picks his five favorite spy novels for the WSJ, including an unexpected Eric Ambler and…Nina Berberova?

Also in the WSJ, Jeffrey Trachtenberg briefly interviews James Patterson about the Maximum Ride movie and his awfully prolific output.

Oline Cogdill admires Jamie Freveletti’s adventure-laden debut RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL.

David Montgomery has his say on Lisa Gardner’s new thriller SAY GOODBYE for the Daily Beast.

Adam Woog rounds up crime fiction by Philip Margolin, Sibella Giorello, Mary Daheim, Attica Locke, and Denis Johnson for the Seattle Times.

Paula Woods raves over one of the best crime fiction debuts of the year, BLACK WATER RISING by Attica Locke, in the Los Angeles Times.

The Guardian’s Laura Wilson rounds up crime & thrillers by George Pelecanos, Andrea Maria Schenkel, Mark Mills, and Sergio Bizzio. 

Also in the Guardian, Xan Brooks has a good time reading THE STRAIN and Irvine Welsh likes Liz Jensen’s brand of apocalypse in THE RAPTURE.

Margaret Cannon’s G&M crime column features her take on new crime fiction by Michael Stanley, Eliot Pattison, Robert Wilson, Mary Jane Maffini, Lindsey Davis, John Moss, Andy Bidulka, Ken Bruen, Dean Koontz, Stuart Woods and James Grippando.

The Telegraph’s Jake Kerridge generally approves of Elmore Leonard’s COMFORT TO THE ENEMY, a novella/short story collection which doesn’t seem to be available in the US quite yet.

John Orr at the San Jose Mercury examines recent crime fiction by Gillian Flynn, J.M. Hayes, and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.

At the Denver Post, Tom & Enid Schantz review the latest in mystery by Stefanie Pintoff, G.M. Malliet, and S.J. Bolton.

Janet Evanovich has no plans to stop writing the Stephanie Plum novels, for those who were actually worried.

The New York Times’ Op-Ed section has kicked off a season of Summer Thrillers, starting with Lee Child and Dean Koontz.

The Observer talks with Stuart Neville,

whose mobile phone-penned novel will be published in the UK as THE

TWELVE and in the US this fall as THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (but er, his

agent’s name is Nat Sobel, not Matt. Guess the reporter misheard?)

The Austin-American Statesman profiles two very different crime writers whose setting of Wyoming gives them commonality: CJ Box and Craig Johnson.

The Boston Globe’s Anna Mundow questions Robert Wilson on his final Inspector Falcon novel, THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD.

From a while back, the Economist explains why Matthew Glass’s ULTIMATUM is a must-read political thriller.

David Corbett talks about his fragmented luck with the movies for his novels with the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Allan Guthrie gets grilled about all things Edinburgh and personal by the Scotsman.

Michael Dirda pens a lengthy essay on the life and work of Patricia Highsmith, especially her Ripley novels, for the New York Review of Books.

The Melbourne Age looks at the real-life murder case that inspired Arthur Upfield’s novel SANDS TO THE WINDEE and is now being televised on Australian TV.

Josh Mohr chats with the SF Chronicle about his debut novel SOME THINGS THAT MEANT THE WORLD TO ME.

TIME’s Lev Grossman & Andrea Sachs delve into Amazon, the good, the bad and the e.

And finally, perfect weekend viewing.