Harvesting the Sunday Smatterings

Marilyn Stasio reviews recent crime fiction by Nancy Mauro, Robert Parker, Dick & Felix Francis and Sophie Hannah (for those who wonder, THE WRONG MOTHER was published in 2007 in the UK as THE POINT OF RESCUE.)

Oline Cogdill evaluates James Swain’s newest Florida-set thriller NIGHT MONSTER.

The Globe & Mail’s Margaret Cannon rounds up new crime fiction by Joseph Kanon, Johan Theorin, Howard Shrier, Laura Wilson, Charles Todd, Terry Goodkind and Karen Maitland.

Kate Mosse explains why Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy – concluding with THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST – has reached such a wide and growing audience around the world, while the Observer’s Nick Cohen sees past the flaws to extol Larsson’s narrative gifts. 

The Independent also has two excellent Larsson-related pieces, one by the BBC’s Nick Fraser on how to see Swedish society through the author’s eyes, and the other a talk with Larsson’s partner, Eva Gabrielsson, on the so-called secret of success.

The Irish Times conducts a lengthy interview with John Connolly about his Charlie Parker series, the trappings of fame, and his new novel, THE GATES, which is quite good – full of science, wonder and evil lurking beyond normal dimensions – but which I worry is going to get completely lost in the American marketplace because the whole “it’s for kids and adults” vibe is fine, but to my mind that’s better handled from a publisher that actually knows what to do with YA. (Case in point: Suzanne Collins. THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE seem to sell more copies with each passing week, and they aren’t all to teenage girls, that’s for sure. But Scholastic knows exactly what it’s doing and exactly whom to reach, and word of mouth takes care of the rest. #2 can happen for THE GATES, but only if #1 is already in place…)

Ian Rankin’s graphic novel DARK ENTRIES gets the Independent thinking about other writers who have crossed over into that particular form of storytelling.

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Sara Paretsky’s HARDBALL is reviewed, as is Chelsea Cain’s EVIL AT HEART, while Tasha Alexander talks about her new historical thriller TEARS OF PEARL.

Charles Ardai tells the Greensboro News & Record about curating (and writing one of the) Gabriel Hunt novels.

Otto Penzler talks with Flavorwire about his newest (and mammoth) anthology, THE VAMPIRE ARCHIVES.

Edwin Frank, editor of NYRB Classics, chats with the Washington City Paper about why the imprint has brought back Don Carpenter’s debut novel HARD RAIN FALLING into print.

Meg Cabot writes of her love of the Besty-Tacy novels, many of which have been recently reissued, for the WSJ.

I wouldn’t have thought to match up Jay McInerney with Richard Powers, but he did like GENEROSITY, and owns up to certain preconceived notions. 

Powers talks more about his new novel with the WSJ’s Alexandra Alter.

Sally Cooper looks at the peculiar relationship between women and homicide – especially novels that deal with murder in some fashion or another (even though, curiously, there aren’t any out-and-out crime novels cited in the piece. Go figure.)

Investor’s Business Daily looks at how the estate of Louis L’Amour has kept the author’s work alive and in print more than 20 years after his death.

There’s lots going on in Baltimore to commemorate the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death (not to mention furthering celebrations of the bicentennial of his birth.)

Finally, while I don’t really expect a lot from Stephen Harper, this was certainly unexpected.