The First Sunday Smatterings of 2010

I’m not sure if the lateness of this post and the lack of posts between this and last week’s roundup is indicative of how 2010 will go, but expect posting to be – more or less – back to normal come Monday or Tuesday. To wit:

Oline Cogdill has her say about Tami Hoag’s DEEPER THAN THE DEAD, which is less a serial killer tale and more a creepy, Dreiser-echoing saga of 1980s suburbia at its worst.

Marcel Berlins reviews new crime fiction releases by Cathi Unsworth, Peter Temple and Frank Tallis for the Times of London.

Megan Abbott talks with Robert Crais about his new Joe Pike novel, THE FIRST RULE, in the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

BBC Radio 4 looks at the intersection between crime fiction and reality, as discussed by practitioners and crime writers alike.

That segment was part of PD James’ guest-editing stint for the radio station, in which she now famously skewered Beeb director general Mark Thompson and showed why, at age 89, she kicks serious ass.

Joseph Peterson chats with the Chicago Sun-Times about his debut noir novel BEAUTIFUL PIECE, an idiosyncratic and off-kilter tale that does wonders with the power of repetition.

Katharine Weber is interviewed in the Hartford Courant about her delightful, rambunctious new novel TRUE CONFECTIONS. (See also The Bat Segundo Show, complete with wild and crazy intro.)

Jonathan Galassi, publisher of FSG, thinks he’s talking about e-books in this op-ed but reallyl he appears to be railing against anyone who dares to reissue out of print books, reprint plates from one English-language edition for another, and the likes of Modern Library, NYRB Classics and the Library of America. Which is to say, WTF?

Katie Roiphe delivers the State of the Union essay for the NYTBR. And yes, you can interpret that to mean anything you like.

The Guardian Review celebrates the lives and works of authors who died over the past decade.

The Babysitters Club is being rebooted! My nine-year-old self is absurdly excited about this.