World of Mystery
Ruth Cavin, R.I.P.
Ruth Cavin, the legendary crime fiction editor for St. Martin’s Press who was instrumental in the founding of the company’s Minotaur Books imprint, died Sunday at the age of 92. Mike Shatzkin has an …
My Favorite Crime Novels of 2010, and Other Books I Loved
(x-posted from <a href=“http://offonatangent.tumblr.com/" target=”self”>Off on a Tangent, which is my more reliable bloggy home of late.)_
Nobody asked me to contribute a …
Bringing Back The Mysterious Press
As has been widely reported, Otto Penzler and his well-traveled imprint is on the move again, after being domiciled at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the past six years. As of Fall 2011, he’ll …
Dark Passages: Crimes grow in rich Appalachian soil
My newest column for the Los Angeles Times travels through the Appalachian region, looking specifically at recent novels published by Sharyn McCrumb and Vicki Lane. Here’s now the piece opens: …
On Patrick and Angie’s Return to the Crime Fiction World
For many years crime fiction fans have clamored for the return of Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro, Dennis Lehane’s private-eye duo first introduced in 1994’s A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR and …
BCon Past, NoirCon Ahead
I admit I arrived at Bouchercon with a faraway look in my eye. A day late, with family obligations past and nostalgia trips and unexpected meetings with old friends to come, this year’s …
Allons-y, Bouchercon!
This more or less dormant* blog will be even more dormant this week thanks to the chock-full-of-wonder that is Bouchercon. It officially starts on Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Hyatt Regency …
Dark Passages: Pursued by the Past
My newest Dark Passages column for the LAT heaps praise on Tom Franklin’s new novel CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER, which bowled me over in a big, big way, even more so than his previous work, …
The Sudden Loss of David Thompson
I’ve spent the better portion of the afternoon racking my brain trying to remember when I first met David Thompson. And I can’t. Which says less about the state of memory and more about …
Dark Passages: Where American Dreams Go to Die
Over the weekend, my newest Dark Passages column ran online at the LAT, featuring my take on new books by Elizabeth Brundage and Chandra Hoffman. Although the books don’t seem connected, I found …
The Criminalist: The Legacy of Charlie Chan
My newest – and final – column for The Barnes & Noble Review focuses on Yunte Huang’s new book about the famed fictional Chinese detective, one whose influence has ranged wide …
On Martin Cruz Smith and His New Arkady Renko Novel
My review of Martin Cruz Smith’s newest novel featuring his iconic Russian detective, Arkady Renko, appeared in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times (but was only put online this afternoon.) …
New and Forthcoming: FOLLOWING THE DETECTIVES, and A New Short Story
So the busy summer (and year) continues but a couple of new and upcoming publications featuring work of mine that I should draw your attention to. First up is FOLLOWING THE DETECTIVES: REAL LOCATIONS …
On Don Winslow’s Hyper-Charged New Novel SAVAGES
I read many books annually, so that means I don’t reread all that much. But for Don Winslow’s SAVAGES, I couldn’t help but make an exception. The book was, at least for me, the …
Richard Price Can Now Truly Call Himself a Crime Novelist
So Richard Price will be writing a series of detective novels for Henry Holt under a pen name – Jay Morris – starting in fall 2011. It’s the same publisher that John Banville has for …
Dark Passages: Real Estate Noir
My newest column for the Los Angeles Times looks specifically at Justin Peacock’s new novel BLIND MAN’S ALLEY and at the seeming dearth of crime fiction centered around real estate. …
Before Stieg Larsson, There was Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
With the hype and phenomenal success of the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, a lot of news outlets have been asking the natural but obvious question: who’s the next big breakout star? Is he …
The Criminalist: Mysteries for the Teenage Set
At the Barnes & Noble Review, I delve into crime and mystery fiction for young adult readers, discovering that there are some real gems in the mix but even so, there could be so many more. I …
Dark Passages: Writers Lost & Found
My newest column for the Los Angeles Times takes a close look at HAILEY’S WAR by Jodi Compton, her first book in several years. Only a small number of people read her earlier books, but I was …
About Time for Some Sunday Smatterings
Still sporadic, expect to be so for the foreseeable future. But links, they do pile up…
At DailyFinance this weekend, I wrote about Rick Riordan and his extremely successful Percy Jackson …
Meet Mulholland Books, the New Crime Fiction Imprint from Little, Brown
So the crime fiction imprint that Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch first talked about at Bouchercon last fall, and for which he hired John Schoenfelder from Thomas Dunne/SMP to oversee, finally …
Feeling the Awards Fatigue
One of the advantages of being lazy sporadic about blogging these days is that it affords me the longer view on some matters I never would have given all that much thought to before. To wit, My …
David Markson, R.I.P.
One of America’s greatest writers has passed on, and even though I shouldn’t have been surprised – he was 82 years old and not in the greatest of health the last few years – I …
Summer Reading at Salon
The kind folks at Salon.com asked me to contribute a list of crime novels worth spending your time with this summer, and with the usual caveats – not enough room, some great books I’m …
Dark Passages: Michael Koryta Tackles Ghosts New & Old
My newest Dark Passages column for the Los Angeles Times had a small agenda, I must admit. Most reviews and profiles concerning Michael Koryta, who debuted with quite the deserved splash in 2003 with …
The Criminalist: The Age of Salander
Of course I was going to write about Stieg Larsson. I haven’t been able to shut up about the Millenium books since January of 2008, when the UK edition of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO arrived …
Mystery Fiction Favorites on MPR’s Midmorning
Thursday morning from 10 AM to 11 AM Eastern, I’ll be on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning along with Jason Pinter to talk with host Kerri Miller about favorite characters in mystery …
Dark Passages: The Anxious Fiction of Emily St. John Mandel
My newest LA Times column looks at THE SINGER’S GUN, the new novel from Emily St. John Mandel that will very much appeal to crime fiction readers, though it doesn’t quite fit neatly inside …
The Criminalist: Taking Scott Turow’s Deposition
INNOCENT, the long-awaited sequel to Scott Turow’s 1987 novel PRESUMED INNOCENT, won’t actually be in stores until Tuesday, but boy, the media blitz has begun in earnest. There’s the …
Monday Smatterings in Time for Edgar Week
Edgar Week is soon upon us! There’s the Mysterious Bookshop/MWA party on Tuesday, the symposium on Wednesday, EQMM/AHMM’s early Thursday afternoon party and then the Big Show Thursday …
Stuart Neville Wins the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
I wasn’t able to make it to this year’s Festival of Books, which is ongoing throughout the weekend and, if you’re in the area, very well worth your time. But last night the Book …
The Criminalist: Crime Fiction, Framed
My newest column at the Barnes & Noble Review looks at the lineup so far from Vertigo Crime, which kicked off last summer with Ian Rankin’s DARK ENTRIES and Brian Azzarello’s FILTHY …
Dark Passages: Trusting What We Hear – Or Not
My newest column at the Los Angeles Times muses on unreliable narrators – a device I love, but not everyone does – and specifically, those employed in new novels by relative newcomers …
The Sad Spiral of Lisa Reardon
When I read Lisa Reardon’s THE MERCY KILLERS some years ago, I felt like I was in the company of a writer whose work matched my general tastes. The writing was spare yet evocative, the story …
The Sentence-Driven Detective Fiction of Walter Mosley
The work of Walter Mosley, I suspect, inspires some people to revisit tired old genre wars. To my mind such inclinations have less to do with determining what is supposed to be literature and more …
The Criminalist: The Discreet and Dangerous Charms of David Carkeet
My newest column at the Barnes & Noble Review focuses on the novels of David Carkeet, many of which are being reissued over the course of this year by Overlook Press. Out now is his first, …
Dark Passages: Boarding School Gothic
My newest “Dark Passages” column at the Los Angeles Times looks at the first and most recent books by Carol Goodman, which share an upstate NY, secreted girls’ school setting, though …
Amy Bishop and the Intersection of Women, Violence and Art
I have read Sam Tanenhaus’s piece on the Amy Bishop case several times now and still don’t quite know what to make of it. Even though it is clear his frame of reference with regards to …
Memorializing Robert B. Parker
A number of people asked when the memorial service for Robert B. Parker, who died on Martin Luther King day, was held. As it turns out, it was on February 7, and that’s when his son David read …
The 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists
The finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced, and aside from a new graphic novel category and the inaugural Innovator’s Award going to Dave Eggers, there’s a …
The Creative Process of Agatha Christie
My brief treatise on AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SECRET NOTEBOOKS – as self-explanatory a title as you’re going to get – appears this week in the Barnes & Noble Review. The book is …
The Criminalist: Birthing the Crime Lab
My newest column for the Barnes & Noble Review __once more travels the non-fiction route, considering Deborah Blum’s artfully written synthesis of the dawn of the New York City Medical …
Dick Francis Dies at Age 89
Dick Francis, the former champion jockey who found fame and fortune as the author of scores of horse racing novels, died at his Caribbean home in Grand Cayman, according to a statement released by his …
The 2010 Hammett Prize Nominees
From Janet Rudolph comes the nws that the International Association of Crime Writers has just announced its final flight of five for the Hammett Prize, awarded for literary excellence in crime …
Dark Passages: Debuts of the Decade
My newest column at the LA Times looks at a slew of newcomers, including Belinda Bauer, Randy Susan Meyers, Carla Buckley and James Thompson, whose first crime novels come at the dawn of a new decade …
Farewell, Prime Crime
After twenty-four years in business, my hometown mystery bookshop, Prime Crime, is shutting its doors. Its last day of business, according to the store’s website, is March 14. “A sincere …
The Mystic Arts of Embracing All Signs of Bangkok
At the Barnes & Noble Review, I consider John Burdett’s latest Sonchai Jitpleetcheep novel, THE GODFATHER OF KATHMANDU, which is only partially set in Bangkok but still very much in keeping …
Robert B. Parker is Dead (UPDATED)
At the age of 77, “just sitting at his desk” at his home in Cambridge, Mass., according to an email sent out by a representative of his U.K. publisher Quercus, Robert B. Parker is dead. …
The 2010 Edgar Award Nominees
Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 201st anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan
Poe, its Nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, …
The Criminalist: A Precinct of Her Own
I’ve long wanted to write about the work of Dorothy Uhnak, a police officer with the NYPD who wrote procedurals before Joseph Wambaugh put his stamp on cop novels in the early 1970s, but the …
R.I.P Knox Burger
Knox Burger, who died on January 4 at the age of 87, wore a great many career hats throughout his life. as editor of Collier’s, he introduced Kurt Vonnegut to the world. As an editor at Dell and …
Val McDermid Receives 2010 Cartier Diamond Dagger
This year’s recipient of the CWA’s Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, which honors outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing, is Val McDermid. Margaret Murphy, chair of the CWA, …
Soho Press Publisher Laura Hruska Dies
Laura Hruska, co-founder, longtime publisher and editor-in-chief of Soho Press, died on Saturday after a long illness. She was 74 years old. Hruska had been at Soho, which began publishing literary …
Dark Passages: The Lesson of a Master
My newest LA Times column finishes up a two-part look at the state of contemporary fiction by being just about the last person to analyze PD James’ analysis of the genre, TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE …
John Schoenfelder Joins Little, Brown’s New Crime Fiction Imprint
Earlier this fall, Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch announced that the company would start its own imprint devoted to crime and suspense fiction. Back when I reported the news they were still …
A Talk with Sue Grafton
The Los Angeles Times runs my profile with Sue Grafton today, based on a fairly wide-ranging conversation about her writing methods, why she’s never content to rest on her laurels, and why …
The Criminalist: The Golden Years of Detection
At the Barnes & Noble Review, my newest column looks at the wonderfully entertaining Bryant & May novels by Christopher Fowler. The plots harken back to the Golden Age of mystery but are very …
The Best Crime Fiction of the Decade
Pursuing such a subject is utter madness, of course, which is why I decided to crowdsource things last night. And boy, did people deliver! But being an unenlightened despot, I want to list my own …
MWA Announces Grandmaster, Raven, Ellery Queen Award Winners
The Mystery Writers of America won’t give out the Edgar Awards until April 29, but today they announced the 2010 Grandmaster, Raven and Ellery Queen Award recepients. Dorothy Gilman, the author …
The Girl Who Made American Readers Impatient
When THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, the final book in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy, was published in the UK in October, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy almost …
Dark Passages: Dissecting the Detectives, Part I
My newest column for the Los Angeles Times reflects what was some unconscious gravitation on my part towards non-fiction that looks at contemporary detective fiction, and so it’s the first of a …
MWA Removes Harlequin From Its List of Approved Publishers
For those who need a quick recap, Harlequin, the romance publisher who also publishes thriller and commercial fiction writers including Elizabeth Flock, Jason Pinter, Heather Graham, Susan Wiggs, J.T. …
My Own Best of 2009 List in Crime Fiction
I can list caveats until the cows come home about not having enough space to expound on all the very good books I read this year, but in the end, I whittled my “Best of 2009” list to eight …
China Discovers the Mystery Novel
Okay, that’s not at all the most accurate headline, but just as Russia embraced detective fiction as if it was a brand new genre when Boris Akunin’s Erast Fandorin novels started selling …
Al Roker and the Case of the Mystery-Writing Weatherman
The Daily Beast runs my profile of Al Roker, the TODAY Show’s weatherman and feature reporter, on the day that his first mystery novel, THE MORNING SHOW MURDERS, is published. Here’s how …
Breaking the Wall Between Literary and Mystery Fiction
In this week’s Publishers Weekly, Jordan Foster looks at what happens when mystery becomes literary fiction and vice versa – aka, we’ve got another round of the genre wars debate, …
Technology can be an author’s best publicist
Over at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Rege Behe gathered an impressive number of writers like Anne Rice, Gregg Hurwitz, Ayelet Waldman, Alafair Burke and Hallie Ephron to talk about authorial …
UK Crime News: Otto Penzler and Anthony Cheetham, Together Again, and CWA’s Crime Week
A couple of choice items at The Bookseller today. First up, Otto Penzler re-establishes his self-named imprint in the UK, moving from Quercus to Atlantic. The common thread? Anthony Cheetham, who used …
On Giving Up the Fiction Ghost
Declan Burke’s post this morning at Crime Always Pays is a real heartbreaker, and while I hope (as I suspect many do) that he will change his mind, there is a sense of resoluteness about his …
Freshening Up a Detective Series at LAT; Praising TOKYO VICE at the B&N Review
In an act of serendipity, both of my crime fiction columns appeared online on the same day. At the LA Times, my newest “Dark Passages” column looks at how authors try to freshen up a …
Glenn Beck, the New Patron Saint of Thriller Writing?
I suspect reading Motoko Rich’s story on “the Glenn Beck effect” on thriller writers might have caused a trace of discomfort among many writers and publishing industry types. …
The State of the Crime Novel ca. 2009
Jason Pinter, as part of his new gig as a columnist for the Huffington Post’s recently launched books section, gathered together an excellent group of crime fiction critics, observers and …
Lionel Davidson Dies at Age 87
Lionel Davidson, a notable British writer of thrillers who was a three-time Gold Dagger winner – not to mention the 2001 recepient of the CWA’s Diamond Dagger – died on October 21 at …
Don Winslow Picks up Trevanian’s Mantle – And Gains Two New Publishers in the Process
I first heard about this piece of news a little while ago but yesterday, the news was more or less official: Don Winslow has been tapped to write SATORI, a prequel to Trevanian’s excellent 1979 …
Getting Re-Sensitized to Violence
In the September issue of Standpoint Magazine, Jessica Mann – a regular reviewer for the Literary Review and a writer of crime fiction for over 35 years – expressed her disgust over how a …
The Specsaver ITV3 Crime & Thriller Award Winners
As presented tonight at a gala event at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, which will be televised on October 27th:
Gold Dagger: A WHISPERED NAME, William Brodrick (Little, Brown)
Steel Dagger: …
Patricia Cornwell Files Lawsuit, Seeks $40 Million in Lost Earnings
This is the last thing any author should have to deal with a new book coming out, as Patricia Cornwell is now doing while getting ready for today’s publication of THE SCARPETTA FACTOR, her …
Where Norwegian Crime Fiction and Reality Collide at Scandinavia House
Tonight at 7 PM, Scandinavia House hosts Norwegian crime novelists Kjell Ola Dahl (THE FOURTH MAN, THE MAN IN THE WINDOW, THE LAST FIX) and Anne Holt (WHAT IS MINE, WHAT NEVER HAPPENS) as well as …
Little, Brown to Launch New Crime Fiction Imprint
At a panel on publishing held this morning at Bouchercon, Little, Brown president Michael Pietsch announced that the company would be launching a crime fiction imprint in the near future. The details …
Awards of all Stripes at Bouchercon (UPDATED)
Thursday night in Indianapolis, a slew of awards were handed out during the Opening Ceremonies.
THE BARRY AWARD
Best Novel: DRAINING LAKE by Arnaldur Indridason
Best First Novel: CHILD 44 by Tom …
The Absent Girl’s Guide to Bouchercon 2009
I’m not going to Bouchercon this year. “It’s the economy, stupid” is a flippant way to express my reasons but it’s the truth, more or less – not to mention ironic …
Stuart Kaminsky, R.I.P.
Stuart Kaminsky, a former Grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America and author of dozens of critically acclaimed and well-regarded detective novels, passed away earlier today in St. Louis. He was …
Enter “The Criminalist”
My first column for the Barnes & Noble Review under the banner of “The Criminalist” – which allows me to indulge in some fantasy that the pesky forensic science master’s …
Jess Walter, Smashing Categories One Book At A Time
Trouble usually comes with the newest iteration of the “literary vs. genre” discussion, but two recent posts at Murderati have come at this solutionless quandary with more thought and …
Dark Passages: Seeking Peace for Victims, Self
I admit, self-promotion here has been kind of rampant, but such is the convergence of several pieces written at different times appearing almost simultaneously! To wit, my newest Dark Passages column, …
Kibbitzing THE LOST SYMBOL at the Vulture Reading Room
The fine folks at New York Magazine invited me on board for the newest edition of the Vulture Reading Room, their occasional online book club. And just when you thought THE LOST SYMBOL had reached its …
On Sara Paretsky’s New V.I. Warshawski Novel
My review of HARDBALL, the 13th installment of the V.I. Warshawski series by Sara Paretsky, appears at the Barnes & Noble Review today. Here’s how it opens:
To understand the current …
BORED TO DEATH: Jonathan Ames as Literary Dick
Several years ago, one of my favorite blogs was “The Literary Dick”, run by Michael Wood but hosted by Jonathan Ames, and every few days there’d be some new and strange literary …
Maxim Jakubowski’s New Crime Venture
The Bookseller reports today on what Maxim Jakubowski, who shut down London mystery bookshop Murder One at the beginning of this year, is up to: spearheading a new crime imprint, maXcrime, for John …
Celebrating Agatha Christie Week
We’re in the middle of a weeklong commemoration of Agatha Christie, and it’s worth highlighting some of the more notable celebrants. John Curran, who sifted through Christie’s …
Brownian Motion Can’t Be Stopped, At Least For Now
Can you stop a speeding juggernaut? When it comes to THE LOST SYMBOL, I’m sure many would like to try, but I’m not one of them, as my review of the book in the Barnes & Noble Review …
Lynn Hamilton, R.I.P.
A Closer Look at James Patterson’s 17-Book Deal
When a writer signs a deal to publish more than, say, four books, it usually gets some attention in the press. But James Patterson’s new deal, which keeps him with longtime publisher Little, …
The 2009 Specsaver Crime Thriller Award Nominations
Or, you know, the “Daggers”:
ITV3 BESTSELLER DAGGER
Harlan Coben
Martina Cole
Dick Francis
Nicci French
Alexander McCall Smith
CWA GOLD DAGGER 2009, SPONSORED BY BOOKSDIRECT – for …
Glitz & Glamour for the CWA Daggers
On October 21, the Crime Writers Assocation will be under a whole different spotlight, thanks to their previously announced association with Cactus TV (aka Amanda Ross’s production company, …
Edgar Award Winning Crime Writer Celia Fremlin Dies
Evidently Celia Fremlin, whose 1958 novel THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN won the Edgar Award for Best Novel and who wrote more than 20 works of fiction and non-fiction, died on June 16 in a nursing home in …
Dark Passages: Many Adventures with Gabriel Hunt
At the LA Times, my newest Dark Passages column focuses on the first two installments of the adventures of modern-day globetrotter Gabriel Hunt, the brainchild of Charles Ardai (who wrote book #2) but …
Agatha Christie’s “New” and Unpublished Hercule Poirot Story
“The Capture of Cerebrus” was the title of a short story Agatha Christie published in 1947. But as it turns out, that story cannibalized the title from a completely different story, one …
2009 Shamus Award Nominations
The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) is proud to announce the
nominees for the 28th annual Shamus Awards, given annually to recognize
outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. The 2009 …
Mystery News to Cease Publication with October/November 2009 Issue
The subject header says it all, but here is the letter that Chris Aldrich just sent out tonight:
The Long, Strange, Mysterious Trip that is Thomas Pynchon’s INHERENT VICE
A Thomas Pynchon novel’s not supposed to be read in a single sitting. And yet, with one large interruption to attend a tribute for Donald Westlake at Mysterious Bookshop Tuesday night, …
Radio Ga-Ga for Mystery
It’s kind of ridiculous how much mystery-related content there’s been on the radio of late, including:
- Lee Child, Reggie Nadelson and George Dawes Green talk about NYC-set crime fiction …
Hard Case Crime’s December Surprise Revealed!
For months, Hard Case Crime publisher Charles Ardai has been hinting at a “surprise” book to be published in December, and even when news broke that the paperback line would be bringing …
Review: CHILD’S PLAY by Carmen Posadas
At the Barnes & Noble Review, I look at the newest novel by Spanish crime writer Carmen Posadas, an odd yet often enjoyable brew of mystery and post-modernism. Here’s how it opens:
Newsweek’s True Crime Week
Newsweek has a smorgasbord of stuff related to real-life crime, starting with Walter Mosley’s essay on why America has a long-running obsession with all things illegal, criminal and murderous: …
James Church on Euna Lee & Laura Ling’s Pardon
The news of Current TV journalists Euna Lee & Laura Ling’s pardon after former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il provokes an incredible …
Dark Passages: Where Few Men Dare to Tread
My newest column for the LA Times looks at recent crime fiction involving, shall we say, damaged women who are still strong enough to overcome their pasts and take some control of their future. …
Wiliam G. Tapply, RIP
William G. Tapply, the author of over two dozen mystery novels (including the long-running Brady Coyne series) and 40 books overall, died last night in Hancock, NH after a two-year battle with …
Hey Kids, Let’s Transcend Some Genre
I think the Guardian’s Stuart Evers is making mountains out of molehills, but it does sound like John Banville rubbed some folks the wrong way at Harrogate last weekend:
About mid-way through …
Adventures in Book Marketing with Simon Kernick’s DEADLINE
Right now is not the time for authors to settle for traditional ways of book promotion, i.e. hoping and praying that their newest book on offer will be noticed and magically sell copies. Publishers …
Much Ado About Donald Westlake, Including a Newly Discovered Novel (UPDATED)
I’m not quite ready to dub this the Week of Westlake, but the plethora of news and reviews of late certainly makes the aphorism a good one. First up is Robert Crais’s consideration of GET …
Goodbye, Kate’s Mystery Books
While I can’t say I am surprised, the news that Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge will be closing its doors next month still saddens me greatly. Owner Kate Mattes explained her reasoning …
The CWA Dagger Award Winners – And The Future
Last night the Crime Writers’ Association announced the winners of several of its annual Dagger Awards:
International Dagger: Fred Vargas, THE CHALK CIRCLE MAN (Harvill Secker)
The Dagger in …
Mysterious Top Tens
Jeffery Deaver picks his top ten novels featuring computers of all kinds for the Guardian, which is why his last choice is my favorite:
Imagine this: A …
Reconsidering Travis McGee
Somehow, I have gone through my crime fiction reading career without really reading a John D. MacDonald novel. I know I picked up one of the Travis McGee books a million years ago but – for …
New Review: George Dawes Green’s RAVENS
In today’s Los Angeles Times, I review George Dawes Green’s new novel RAVENS, a book I and many others have been waiting for a very long time. It’s very much worth the wait, and be …
Strand Magazine to Serialize Early, Unpublished Graham Greene Novel
At Jacket Copy, LA Times deputy books editor Nick Owchar breaks the news reports that a long-lost, unfinished novel Graham Greene wrote when he was 22 will be serialized in five parts by the Strand …
Smatterings
With travel behind me and ThrillerFest getting under way, somehow the Sunday link roundup got lost in the shuffle, but here’s a mid-week replacement:
Bleak House Publishers Leave to Launch New Venture
Benjamin Leroy and Alison Janssen have announced their departure from
crime and literary fiction publisher Bleak House Books in Madison, WI
to launch their own venture, Tyrus Books. Leroy founded …
Dark Passages: The French Detection
My newest LA Times column looks at the Inspector Adamsberg novels by Fred Vargas, one of the best series of detective novels being published right now. They are delightfully odd books, but …
Don’t Expect a Fourth Book from Stieg Larsson
Publishers Lunch today reported on the ongoing dispute between Stieg Larsson’s heirs – father Erland, and brother Joakim – and Larsson’s longtime partner Eva Gabriellson, who …
Summer Reading on MPR’s “Midmorning”
Yesterday on Minnesota’s Public Radio, Both Ron Charles and I appeared to talk about summer reads of all stripes – though I concentrated heavily on mysteries and thrillers. It was a hell …
Intuition vs. Deliberation, as Seen Through Janet Evanovich
With FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN now in stores, Janet Evanovich is on quite the media blitz of late. She spoke with the Globe & Mail’s Sarah Hampson while in Toronto to promote the book and …
The Violent and Work-Filled World of Parker
Late last week I went on a binge-read of the first six Parker novels by Richard Stark, reissued over the last few months by the University of Chicago Press. I’d read THE HUNTER before, as well …
2009 Barry Award Nominees
And the nominees for the joint awards presented by Deadly Pleasures and Mystery News are:
…
Connelly and Evanovich in Online Conversation
Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog put Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich together for a two-day Q&A, with Connelly answering on day one and Evanovich responding on day two. And talk about two …
Katy Munger’s Pseudonymous, Paranormal Return to Crime Fiction
Katy Munger’s name doesn’t get mentioned here nearly often enough, even though I have spent quite a lot of time over the last few years wondering when she would publish another book. When …
James Ellroy and Colin Harrison at Book Expo America
After receiving a number of requests to make the video of my interview with James Ellroy and Colin Harrison at Book Expo America readily available to the public, the kind folks at …
Summer Thrillers for the National Post
As part of its summer reading issue, the National Post asked me to contribute my picks for worthwhile mysteries and thrillers to take with on vacation, at the beach, and the like. Some I’ve …
Alan Furst: Still Gun-Shy About His Early Work
Over at The Stranger, books editor Paul Constant – whose dispatch from BEA was entertainingly cranky and epic – met up with Alan Furst to talk about his historical espionage fiction, why …
What Elmore Leonard Tells Us About Character Ownership
This week at the Barnes & Noble Review, editor-in-chief James Mustich has a lengthy and illuminating conversation with Elmore Leonard to coincide, more or less, with the publication of …
Readings of Note
This week I’ll be taking part in two different events. Tomorrow night at XR Bar (128 Sullivan Street near Houston) from 8 PM onwards is the launch party for SEX, THUGS & ROCK ‘N ROLL, …
Dark Passages: A Talk with Lawrence Block
For my newest LA Times column, I wanted to try something a little different. So instead of reviewing Lawrence Block’s new memoir STEP BY STEP, I met up with him early in May for a profile piece …
Chuck Hogan on Co-Writing THE STRAIN with “Some Other Guy”
THE STRAIN, a collaborative reworking of the vampire mythos for today’s times by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, might be the purest example of entertainment for entertainment’s sake …
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.
THE AX, Politicized For Today’s Times
As part of the Nation’s spring books issue, Charles Taylor takes another look at one of Donald Westlake’s best novels, THE AX. It was originally published in 1997 but, as I indicated in my …
China Mieville and the Conundrum of Crime Fiction
Over at John Scalzi’s site, China Mieville contributes a guest essay on crime fiction, a genre he’s tried out – very successfully, I might add, as did Denise Hamilton at the LA Times …
In Praise of Eric Ambler
Late last year, when I came across the news that Eric Ambler’s centenary was coming up in 2009, I realized how little of the man’s work I’d actually read. And so in short order I …
James Church on North Korean Politics, Past and Present
Peter Hayes, director of think tank the Nautilus Institute, wrote in the group’s newsletter in 2007 that James Church’s A CORPSE IN THE KORYO, the first of his Inspector O novels, is
the …
Your Anthony Award Nominees, With Added Commentary
Step out for a few hours and you end up missing out on some very welcome news, as the 2009 Anthony Award nominations were announced earlier today by the Indianapolis Bouchercon Awards Committee: …
The Woman Who Inherits Nothing
Finally, after much coverage of the story all around the world, the plight of Eva Gabrielsson, the longtime partner of bestselling Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson, gets some extended play in the …
The Brothers Grant
Janet Maslin has been raving about Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels for years, so it’s not that surprising to me she’s switched from an outright review of GONE TOMORROW to a hybrid …
More on Anthony Zuiker’s ‘Digi-Novel’
When I wrote about CSI creator Anthony Zuiker’s just-signed book deal for a slew of thrillers that combined the written word and digital clips, something of a spirited debate broke out in the …
Reviewing THE WAY HOME by George Pelecanos
In the Los Angeles Times, I use George Pelecanos’s new novel as a means of writing a mini-essay about how his concerns and writing style has changed over time. Here’s how it opens: …
Dark Passages: Sleuths in Their Youth
Denis Johnson’s NOBODY MOVE in the Washington Post
My review of the National Book Award winner’s foray into crime fiction – now in novel form after first appearing within the pages of Playboy four issues in a row – runs today in the …
Whither Wexford?
The Telegraph’s gossip columnist Mandrake (aka Tim Walker) caught up with Ruth Rendell at a book party and reported the following, in relation to her upcoming Inspector Wexford novel MONSTER IN …
Macavity Award Nominees
Mystery Readers International awards the Macavity for works published in 2008. The
awards will be presented in October at Bouchercon in Indianapolis. And the nominees are:
Best Mystery Novel
Trigger …
PW Tackles ‘New Traditionalism’ in Mystery
Edgars Recapped
Last night’s Edgar Awards were a very good time all round. A little longer than in previous years, but chalk that up more to having two Grandmasters, both of whom gave very eloquent speeches, …
…And Edgar Week Begins!
Barely 18 hours after returning home from Los Angeles, it’s time to get into the thick of things for Edgar Week. As usual, there’s lots going on, starting tonight at 6 PM with the Mystery …
The 2009 Arthur Ellis Award Nominees
As announced today by the Crime Writers of Canada:
Nominees in the best novel category are:
- Linwood Barclay, Too Close to Home (Bantam)
- Maureen Jennings, The K Handshape (Dundurn)
- James W. Nichol, …
The Alternate Reality of Sebastian Fitzek’s THERAPY
A few weeks ago I received an unusual package in the mail: a small dictaphone containing a cassette tape of a conversation purporting to be between a young woman and her therapist. It was part of a …
Who Knew the British Thriller was in Jeopardy?
So I am trying very, very hard to damp down my worst impulses upon reading this Guardian article about a trio of British thriller writers dubbing themselves The Curzon Group – Martin Baker, Alan …
New Review: Walter Mosley’s THE LONG FALL
At the Barnes & Noble Review, I have my say on the first Leonid McGill mystery. Here’s how it opens:
Murder 203 in Connecticut
This weekend I’ll be up in Connecticut along with a plethora of excellent crime writers, including Guest of Honor Linda Fairstein, for the inaugural Murder 203 festival, held at the Easton and …
LJ’s Mystery Spring Preview
Happy Birthday, CrimeSpree Magazine!
In honor of the publication’s five-year anniversary, founders Jon and Ruth Jordan interview each other about the birth of the magazine, highlights and what’s gotten easier as time went …
Robert Terrall, R.I.P.
Are Agatha Christie’s Novels a Way of Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease?
It sounds outlandish, but two researchers from the University of Toronto beg to differ, as Maclean’s Anne Kingston reported this week:
The sleuth-work in this case was revealed last month at …
Remembrance of Crooked Deeds Past
To mark the publication of the newest anthology edited by Michael Sims, The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime: Con Artists, Burglars, Rogues, and Scoundrels From the Time of Sherlock Holmes, Art Taylor …
Thriller Award Nominees
The 2009 Thriller Award nominees from the International Thriller Writers are:
BEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver
The Broken Window by …
Ten Things to Read on the 50th Anniversary of Raymond Chandler’s Death
- “Marlowe Goes to the Movies” at The Rap Sheet
- Carolyn Kellogg’s account of a Chandler panel featuring Denise Hamilton, Judith Freeman, Leo Braudy, and Kenneth Turan
- Freeman pays …
Crime Fiction at the LA Times Festival of Books
The full slate of programming at next month’s LA Times Festival of Books is pretty rockin’, but let’s focus in on the crime fiction panels, of which there are a number of excellent …
The Strand Critics Award Nominees
The Strand Magazine announces its 2009 slate of nominees for Best Novel and Best First Novel:
Best Novel:
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown and Company)
Master of the …
It’s CURTAIN for Poirot on TV
Few would argue that David Suchet makes an exemplary Hercule Poirot, the role he’s played on television for the last two decades. But as the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the end is in sight …
Dark Passages: The Holocaust-Era Gumshoe
My newest Dark Passages column at the LA Times looks at the Bernie Gunther novels by Philip Kerr (most recently A QUIET FLAME, which is published next week here though it’s been out in the UK …
Awards Given Out at Left Coast Crime
Kate Stine at Mystery Scene has the full scoop on the awards given out at the banquet hall this morning at Left Coast Crime, but the winners are:
**THE BRUCE ALEXANDER MEMORIAL HISTORICAL MYSTERY
** …
Solving the Mystery of Spencer Quinn’s True Identity
Spencer Quinn and his novel DOG ON IT have been a hot topic of mine of late. But when this article in the Cape Cod Times ran last week and revealed he was a pseudonym, I put on my sleuthing hat and …
Barbara Parker, R.I.P.
Barbara Parker, the New York Times bestselling author of a dozen thrillers – most notably the Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana series – died early Saturday morning at the Hospice By The Sea in …
Saying Goodbye to Stacey’s Bookstore
Cara Black has always read from one of her Aimee Leduc novels at Stacey’s Bookstore in downtown San Francisco. But yesterday’s lunchtime reading from MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER not only …
The 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominations
The full list of the 2008 LA Times Book Prize nominations is available here, but for our purposes, let’s focus on the Mystery/Thriller category, which was judged by Dick Adler, Oline Cogdill and …
James Patterson Jumps on Nordic Noir Bandwagon
Can we just call James Patterson the most successful book packager working in publishing right now? (Yes, I would argue his sales trump those of Alloy Entertainment, not to mention his brand is more …
Barbara Franchi, RIP
And What’s More, Baby, He Can Cook
There are many fine reasons to read SHOTS Magazine’s appreciation of Len Deighton on his 80th birthday, but the very fact that Charles Cumming wrote a long essay about the merits of the …
Ruth Rendell As a Case Study in Anachronism
At the Guardian Books Blog, Imogen Russell Williams lodges her beef with the recent work of Ruth Rendell, namely that it’s past its sell-by date and a strange amalgamation of tacked-on modernity …
Your 2008 Agatha Award Nominees
Best Novel
• Six Geese A-Slaying, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur Books)
• A Royal Pain, by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
• The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
• …
Another Round of the Posterity Game
Robert B. Parker is 76 years old, the same age that John Updike was when he died earlier this year. So it’s hard not to think of his potential legacy – not to mention just how many more …
Jon & Ruth Jordan Connect the Mystery World All Over
How cool was it to see Saturday’s edition of the Chicago Tribune and find a whole article devoted to Crimespree Magazine founders, Bouchercon 2008 and 2011 co-organizers, and all around awesome …
Happy 80th Birthday, Len Deighton
And in honor of the occasion, as well as HarperCollins UK’s plans to reissue several books starting this summer, the “famously publicity-shy” spy novelist sat down with the …
Crime Writer Trying to Solve Real-Life Murder
Pauline Rowson has been a crime writer for a number of years, but it’s only fairly recently that she’s begun to look at the real-life crime that may well have been the impetus for her …
On Matters of Me
If Confessions is quiet of late, you’re not hallucinating – it’s because I’m otherwise engaged. But if you’re around Greenwich Village tomorrow night at 6:30, come to the …
Dark Passages: The Crime Solving Menagerie
For my newest “Dark Passages” column, I wanted to try something different: was there a way to write about the proliferation of crime fiction featuring animals with some degree of gravitas? …
Before There Was a Falcon
This weekend it’s all about SPADE AND ARCHER, Joe Gores’ prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s classic crime novel THE MALTESE FALCON. My review runs in the Los Angeles Times on Monday …
All Good Things Must End Sometime
As it turns out, January’s crime fiction column for the Baltimore Sun was my last. After four and a half years, my column will no longer continue in the paper because of budget cuts – …
Authentic Fiction and Fake Reality
Narrative Magazine normally has more of a literary bent, but in their February issue they give it up to thriller writers as part of their “Four Great Novelists” feature. The aforementioned …
Andrea Camilleri’s Last Leap
In the Los Angeles Times, Sebastian Rotella travels to Sicily to interview the island’s reigning king of crime fiction, Andrea Camilleri, best known for his Inspector Salvo Montalbano novels …
The World Discovers Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Thanks to Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH PLAYING WITH FIRE reaching #1 on the UK hardback lists and the Kenneth Branagh-starring adaptation of the Inspector Wallander novels by Henning Mankell, …
The Dilys Award Nominees
Every year since 1993 the International Mystery Booksellers Association has given out an award – named for the founder and first proprietor of the late, lamented Murder Ink bookstore – …
The 2009 Edgar Award Nominees
Congratulations to all the nominees!
BEST NOVEL
Missing by Karin Alvtegen (Felony & Mayhem Press)
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno (Simon & …
John Mortimer Dies
The former barrister, satirist and creator of the much-loved RUMPOLE novels has died at the age of 85. Tony Lacey, Sir John’s publisher at Penguin, told the Times of London that he died at 6.30 …
Dark Passages: Who Owns Edgar Allan Poe?
Sometimes you have to go with the obvious, and since Tuesday is the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth and the Edgar Award nominations are slated for announcement later this morning, …
David Ellis’s New High Profile Day Job
The mystery and thriller world knows David Ellis for writing five novels, including the Edgar-winning LINE OF VISION, the retrograde narrative IN THE COMPANY OF LIARS and EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. …
Andrew Taylor Wins 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger
New Genre Imprint at Atlantic UK
As Quercus, the most recent UK publisher to get in on the ground with genre fiction, faces cutbacks and shortfalls, their former editorial director moves to Atlantic Books to start up a brand-new …
Historical Mysteries: Between the Wars
The fourth and final part of my ongoing series on historical mysteries at the Barnes & Noble Review (Go here for parts One, Two, and Three) runs this week, zeroing in on recent and upcoming novels …
Faster Than the Speed of Night
So word of my freakish reading ability got around and Carolyn Kellogg, Jacket Copy’s ace lead blogger, engaged me in a Q&A about the nuts and bolts of it:
Jacket Copy: So how do you do …
Goodbye, Murder One
The Bookseller reports even more sad news. Murder One, the independent mystery bookstore that has occupied several locations along Charing Cross Road for the last two decades, will shut its doors at …
Karen Spengler Loses Her Battle with Cancer
Karen Spengler, proprietor of the independent bookstore I Love a Mystery in Mission, Kansas, died at her home in Kansas City on January 1 after a long battle with cancer. She was 56. Spengler was …
Donald Westlake, R.I.P.
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Donald E. Westlake, the incomparable writer of a great many fine crime novels – including the Dortmunder series under his own name and the Parker novels as Richard Stark – is dead. He …
Happy New Year!
Hope your 2009 has gotten off to a great start. I certainly feel ready to get back to things (especially after 2008’s last inauspicious moment) and get the year off on the right footing.
The …
Speak, Institutional Memory
Hillary Waugh died earlier this month and I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never heard of him. That’s entirely my fault, but considering he wrote LAST SEEN WEARING (1952), which is …
Weekend Smatterings, with Different Skin
With the new year approaching I felt like going with a different color scheme for Confessions, so voila. And so full Weekend Updates will not resume until ‘09, but content yourself with this …
New Dark Passages Column: Exploring Asian Crime Fiction
My newest LA Times column travels back in time to the 1920s, when Earl Derr Biggers started writing a sextet of novels starring Hawaii-based Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan. Then it jumps …
Can You Identify this Mysterious Writer?
Over the weekend the Times of London engaged in something of a parlor game, printing an excerpt by an “undisputed great of British literature” without revealing who that great is. Editor …
Patricia Cornwell Profile in the LA Times
The Calendar section of the LA Times runs my piece on the bestselling thriller writer, which is as much about the runup to her new novel SCARPETTA as it is a wonkish look at her contributions to …
Favorite Books at the LA Times
This weekend the Los Angeles Times runs its annual Favorite Books issue with the following categories represented:
Fifty-To-One and Back Again
Over at his blog, Art & Literature, Art Taylor talks with Charles Ardai about his new and charmingly clever novel FIFTY-TO-ONE, the first under his real name and #50 published by Hard Case Crime. …
Grafton, Burke named MWA Grand Masters
For the first time since 1978, Mystery Writers of America will have two Grand Masters for 2009: James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton. From the release that went out today:
George Chesbro, R.I.P.
George Chesbro, the author of the “Mongo the Magnificent” series of detective novels (as well as many other works of crime fiction) died yesterday after a short illness. He was 68. His …
Laura Caldwell Victim of Chicago Mugging
Jesus, this is horrible:
Life was imitating art when crime novelist Laura Caldwell lay face
down on a Lincoln Park street holding pieces of her shattered teeth in
her bloody palm.
Her upcoming …
The Making of a Posthumous Best-Seller
At NPR, Martha Woodroof reports on how the global success of Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO translated very well in the United States:
Knopf Editor-in-Chief Sonny Mehta, who …
2009 Raven Awards; Edgar Awards Submission Deadline
First up, The Gumshoe Site reports that the Mystery Writers of America chose The Edgar Allan Poe Society and The Poe House
in Baltimore, Maryland, as the 2009 recipients of the Raven Award for …
Roy Chaney Wins the 2nd Annual Tony Hillerman Prize
McDermid Moves to Little Brown UK
As reported this morning over at BookBrunch:
Val McDermid has left HarperCollins after 17 years and gone to David
Shelley at Sphere/Little, Brown. The two-book deal, for an undisclosed
sum, ends …
Dennis Lehane’s Next Book Is…
….well, I’ll just quote Ruth Jordan, who buried the lead in her report on Murder and Mayhem in Muskego over the weekend:
And at the end of the day, in a fabulous interview by Michael …
R.I.P., Michael Crichton
The bestsellling author is dead at the age of 66 following a long and private battle with cancer. Wow.
UPDATE: Obits from HarperCollins Canada, Wired News, Phoenix New Times, AP, NYT, National Post, …
A Two-Fer at the B&N Review
The Barnes & Noble Review runs a long and a short piece of mine this week. The long piece is a review of Louis Bayard’s historical thriller THE BLACK TOWER:
Writers of historical fiction …
The Guy Who Is Loren Estleman
The cover story of this week’s Metro Times features Loren Estleman, billed as “MIchigan’s Other Crime Writer”:
On a drive through Indiana two years ago, Michigan-based author …
Elaine Flinn, R.I.P.
Criminal Brief posts the news that Elaine Flinn passed away last Saturday from pneumonia, complications relating to a long battle with cancer. I,too, had heard at Bouchercon that Elaine was diagnosed …
Tony Hillerman Dies at 83
Tony Hillerman, the award-winning author of many works of fiction and non-fiction – primarily the Leaphorn/Chee novels – passed away yesterday. He was 83, and the cause of death was …
Dark Passages: Early American Detective Fiction
My newest Dark Passages column at the Los Angeles Times turns the clock back all the way to 1865, when John Babbington Williams’ LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NEW YORK DETECTIVE” was …
The Bouchercon Rogues Gallery Returns!
Crime Fiction’s Secret Sentimental History
When I first heard that Leonard Cassuto, a professor of English Literature at Fordham (and not Hofstra, as it reads in the piece) was writing a book about the links between hardboiled fiction and …
…One Last Bouchercon Dispatch
Jennifer Jordan took this picture of me and my two Anthony Award nominations after the awards brunch was over on Sunday afternoon, making this one of the many, many ways in which I cannot possibly …
Bouchercon 2010 Info
Rae Helmsworth, who is chairing the 2010 Bouchercon in San Francisco, passes along word of the confirmed Guests of Honor:
Toastmaster: Eddie Muller
International Guest of Honor: Denise …
Bouchercon in Bullet Point Links
- The first of my Bouchercon dispatches is up at Jacket Copy, even if my med-addled status made me mix up my comic book characters on t-shirts.
- PW’s Jordan Foster has a quick overview …
Back from Bouchercon
I have no voice and I have a pretty good suspicion whatever is ailing me must be cured with some variant of penicillin, but suffice to say that this year’s Bouchercon is going to be talked about …
Greetings from Baltimore
I arrived early so I could prepare for this – but once the fast is done on Thursday night, then my Bouchercon begins.
Already there’s plenty of pre-game to go around the blogosphere, and …
Panel Discussion on THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Since Ali Karim was kind enough to trumpet this event over at the Rap Sheet, I ought to make it as official as a blog notification can be. On Tuesday, October 14 at 6:30 PM over at Scandinavia House, …
ITV3 Crime & Thriller Award Winners
Though the news was allegedly embargoed until tonight, The Bookseller has announced the winners of these brand-new awards, given out last Friday at a star–studded gala ceremony:
The literary …
Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Shortlist
The Crime Writers’ Association has announced the shortlist for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger:
Ariana Franklin, The Death Maze, Bantam Press
Philip Kerr, A Quiet Flame, Quercus
Andrew …
Dark Passages: Same Game, Different Rules
My newest Dark Passages column at the Los Angeles Times compares and contrasts Katherine Neville’s international bestseller THE EIGHT with its sequel THE FIRE, two decades in the making and due …
Finally, Del Toro Vampire Thrillers Announced
Tami Hoag Leaves Bantam for Dutton
Publishers Weekly reported this afternoon that NYT bestseller Tami Hoag, who has been publishing her work with Bantam since she was writing romance novels for their defunct Loveswept line, is …
The Given Genre
My review of Dennis Lehane’s THE GIVEN DAY runs in the Los Angeles Times today. I’ll get to that in a bit, but it seems fitting that it runs just as that old literary/genre saw gets …
James Crumley, R.I.P.
James Crumley, one of the most influential crime writers upon the current generation of working writers, has died at the age of 68. The Missoulian has more:
Missoula author James Crumley, 68, died …
Koryta Moves to Little, Brown
Just this afternoon I was thinking that there hadn’t been a sit up/take notice kind of book deal, one that might have some relevance to the crime fiction world, in a long time. So of course this …
Tapes of Agatha Christie Unearthed
As both the Telegraph and the New York Times report, a trove of recordings featuring Agatha Christie has been unearthed – recordings no one knew existed before:
Her grandson Mathew Prichard …
Gregory Mcdonald, R.I.P.
Gregory Mcdonald, best known as the author of the FLETCH novels, died on September 7 in Giles County, TN. He was 71. Edward Champion confirmed the news tonight with the Giles County Ambulance Service. …
Gas-Light Mysteries at the B&N Review
My occasional series on historical mysteries continues at the Barnes & Noble Review, with part III concentrating on the Victorian era:
While every historical era has its unique appeal as a …
…And Speaking of Holt…
They’ve just lost another author:
New York Times
bestselling author Jacqueline Winspear’s seventh and eighth books in
her series featuring psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs, …
Dark Passages: Meta-Murderers
My newest “Dark Passages” column at the Los Angeles Times is now up, mixing together reviews of Andrew Pyper’s THE KILLING CIRCLE and Guillermo Martinez’s THE BOOK OF MURDER in …
Anthony Zuiker’s Suspense Thriller 2.0
I am going to say from the outset that I want lots of comments on this post, because I think it will be warranted. And also because I am not quite sure what I think about it. But to sum up, CSI …
Here are your 2008 Bouchercon Panels
They are now posted at the Charmed to Death panel blog, broken down by date:
My own panel is bright and early on Saturday morning, talking about the business of …
R.I.P., Murdaland
Damn, what a shame. The Rap Sheet has the news from editor Michael Langnas on why the magazine is shutting down after just two published issues:
We tried very hard in 2008 to keep Murdaland going
as …
From Murder Ink: Hardboiled vs. Cozy, with Stage Directions
When MURDER INK was published, Marilyn Stasio was about a decade away from taking over as the New York Times Book Review’s mystery critic, and was still working at Cue Magazine as its theater …
Help out Jim Huang and the Mystery Company
As Mystery Scene puts it, Jim Huang is having a very bad business day: “The power’s out in our building,” Huang writes in a note posted on the magazine’s blog. “It looks like …
Ghost of Mystery Books Past
One of the reasons for my somewhat pre-emptive post earlier in the week was my lack of trust in the postal system here. But lo, it has come through, and a rather good-conditioned copy of MURDER INK: …
Pelecanos, Site-Specific
At the Washington City Paper, Mark Athitakis comes to terms with Pelecanos’s way with DC details in a most unusual manner – crafting a glossary of sorts:
The stuff that George Pelecanos …
The 2008 Shamus Award Nominees
The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) is proud to announce [the nominees for the 27th
annual Shamus Awards]1, given annually to recognize outstanding
achievement in private eye fiction. The 2008 …
New Dark Passages Column: on ‘Blanc Fiction’
At the LA Times, I use my unabashed love for Iain Sansom’s Mobile Library novels (THE CASE OF THE MISSING BOOKS is genius and the new one, THE BOOK STOPS HERE, is just as good) as a means of …
Bouchercon Bid Bulletin
If you’re registered for Bouchercon 2008 (or are about to be) this post is important and should be disseminated to as many people as possible. There are many reasons, from when to expect to hear …
Raymond Chandler at 120
In honor of Raymond Chandler’s 120th birthday yesterday, Carolyn Kellogg at Jacket Copy asked a slew of folks, including Tod Goldberg, the Mystery Bookstore’s Bobby McCue, Denise Hamilton …
Around the World in 80 Sleuths
Smatterings, the Sweltering Edition
The Washington Post has a great piece on George Pelecanos, and while it doesn’t reveal a lot that’s new, it does illustrate a divide between where Pelecanos wants to go and what his …
Harrogate Roundup
- A slew of podcasts from the Festival by the Yorkshire Post, one …
Review of Denise Hamilton’s THE LAST EMBRACE
Crime in the City, 2008 Edition
NPR’s Morning Edition revives its “Crime in the City” series for the summer, having spent all week with:
Another Janet Maslin Head-Scratcher
In reading her review today of Tana French’s THE LIKENESS, it’s pretty clear to me Ms. Maslin expected one thing and when she got another, it confused her. But that still doesn’t …
More ThrillerFest Post-Game Reactions
- PW’s Jordan Foster has the scoop on ITW’s waiving of fees for active members
- The Globe & Mail’s Simon Houpt offers general comments on the weekend
- Pictures and more from …
Sunday Smatterings
Despite only attending ThrillerFest for one day, the recovery period is taking as long as it would for full conference attendance. Go figure. Here’s who won the Thrillers, and what others had to …
Your 2008 CWA Dagger Winners
Announced earlier today at an awards dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Park Lane:
The Duncan Lawrie Dagger: Frances Fyfield, BLOOD FROM A STONE
The International Duncan Lawrie Dagger: Dominique …
A So-Called State of the Mystery Nation
David Montgomery takes stock of the first half of 2008 in mystery, and finds it somewhat wanting:
It seems like a so-so year thus far. I’ve read some good books, but
nothing that’s …
Lippman, Sakey Win Strand Critics Awards
Last night at a cocktail party held at the Midtown Executive Club, the 1st annual Strand Critics Awards (made out of unique, imported handblown glass) were given to Laura Lippman and Marcus Sakey for …
Welcome Oline Cogdill to Full-Time Freelancing
With the Tribune instituting a bloodbath of layoffs across their newspapers, one of my first thoughts was to wonder what that would mean for Oline Cogdill, the Sun-Sentinel’s mystery columnist, …
Janwillem van de Wetering, RIP
Though so far there’s nary a peep in the English-speaking world, the Literary Saloon gleans from Dutch reports that Janwillem van de Wetering, one of Holland’s greatest crime writers and …
New Baltimore Sun column and other notices
The Baltimore Sun ran my newest crime fiction column yesterday, featuring new releases by Stephen L. Carter, Tana French, Nigel McCrery, Kathryn Casey and Michael Genelin.
Dark Passages: Serial Thrills
Up a bit early because of the holiday weekend is my newest Dark Passages column, which has a bit of a serial theme going on:
The serial novel conjures up images of a bygone century, of a time when …
Just Call Him Professor Child
At least on a temporary basis, as Lee Child has been awarded a visiting professorship from his alma mater, the University of Sheffield. From today’s press release:
“I took up the …
Macavity Award Nominees
As presented by the Mystery Readers Journal. The winners, too, will be announced at Bouchercon:
Best Mystery Novel:
- Reed Farrel Coleman: Soul Patch (Bleak House)
- John Connolly: The …
Jerry Rodriguez, RIP
Jerry Rodriguez, whose crime novels THE DEVIL’S MAMBO and REVENGE TANGO were published by Kensington Books, lost his battle with cancer on Sunday. He was 46. The New York Daily News has the …
Dark Age Detection
The Retirement of Carolyn Marino
In this week’s Publishers Weekly, James Grippando pays tribute to his longtime editor at HarperCollins:
“I’ve been orphaned,” I said to myself as I hung up the
telephone. I had …
Dennis Richard Murphy Passes Away
I’m going to crib from Jiro Kimura first:
Dennis Richard Murphy died of lung cancer on June 15 in Toronto,
Canada. He was a Canadian documentary filmmaker for Discovery, History
Television, …
The State of Ernest Hemingway’s House
Last December, Irish noir thriller writer Adrian McKinty went to Cuba and visited Ernest Hemingway’s house. The experience, as he wrote about in the Times earlier this week, was rather strange: …
Denis Johnson, Crime Writer?
His work is dark, obviously, but straight up noir didn’t seem to be part of his fictional arsenal – until now, as per the NYT:
Beginning with its July issue, which arrives at newsstands …
Word for Word with Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi
One of the more unusual ways to self-promote
I had bookmarked this and forgot until Euro Crime reminded me, but thriller writer Peter James has come up with, well, what the subject header says:
A police force has taken delivery of a new patrol …
The “Hamster Wheel” of Writing a Book A Year
The Boston Globe’s David Mehegan highlights one of genre fiction’s truisms, and perhaps one of its key problems: the expectation that writers must deliver a book a year: …
Mystery Cornucopia
It figures that there are all these great links accumulating post-Weekend Update. So let’s start this still-sweltering Monday morning with some choice crime fiction-related fare.
First, ah, you …
New Dark Passages Column; Bryant Park Event Announcement
My newest “Dark Passages” column at the LA Times shifts away from crime fiction into crime non-fiction:
WHEN I WORKED at one of Manhattan’s independent mystery book shops a
few …
The Arthur Ellis Awards
Crime Fiction Goes Latin American
The New York Daily News talks with several writers of a Latin American bent, including Jerry Rodriguez, Michele Martinez and Steven Torres, about a recent influx of Latin American crime fiction:
For …
The CWA Dagger Shortlists
The Duncan Lawrie Dagger was announced in advance, but now all the other Dagger shortlists have come in:
THE DUNCAN LAWRIE INTERNATIONAL DAGGER
Andrea Camilleri, THE PATIENCE OF THE SPIDER (Picador) …
The Anthony Award Nominations
Are available right here. And I have to say, by and large I’m pretty damn pleased with the lists.
It’s also cool of course, to be nominated – twice. For Special Services, I am so …
The Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award Nominations
Though the official announcement of all the Dagger Awards won’t be made until Tuesday June 3, the Times has an exclusive preview of the world’s richest crime fiction prize as given by …
The 2008 Barry Award Nominations
Deadly Pleasures announces the nominees for the 2008 Barry Awards:
BEST NOVEL (Published in the U.S. in 2007)
SOUL PATCH, Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)
THE UNQUIET, …
Devil May Care Mania
Lawrence Block, Speed Racer
Tucked in the middle of this week’s Artvoice interview with Lawrence Block, which focuses primarily on his screenplay for the Wong-Kar Wai movie MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, his Buffalo background, and …
Carlotto Goes Historical
One of my favorite noir fiction writers, Massimo Carlotto, moves back a few hundred years for his new novel CRISTIANI DI ALLAH. Amara Lakhous at Reset DOC interviewed Carlotto (the whole thing was …
The Book You Have to Read: James Preston Girard’s THE LATE MAN
When Patti Abbott asked me to contribute to her fine project, which rotates around various blogs every Friday, several books came to mind. But in the end, after I’d settled on the one I wanted …
Bringing Back Benny’s Backlist
Canada’s crown jewel in PI fiction is Benny Cooperman, the amiable Toronto investigator created by Howard Engel. But both author and protagonist alike have been through some major changes as a …
Turkish Crime
At the Guardian, Chris Wiegand talks with two crime novelists mining very different mean streets in Istanbul: Barbara Nadel and Mehmet Muran Somer:
Crime fiction aficionados know Istanbul as the …
Hard Case on Fresh Air
Tuesday’s Child
My review of Tom Rob Smith’s debut novel CHILD 44 runs today on the Barnes & Noble Review. And in a bid for transparency, I turned the piece in almost two months ago and long before the …
Those Rules Were Made for Breakin’
Eighty years ago, S.S. Van Dine – a pseudonym for Willard Huntingon Wright and the author, most notably, of the Philo Vance detective novels – came up with a list of twenty rules for how …
Too Many Crime & Thriller Awards? Think Again
And this new one has some degree of muscle, what with it being the ITV3 Crime & Thriller Awards and the brainchild of Cactus TV’s Amanda “Richard & Judy” Ross. More from the …
If you’re looking for the MWA Liveblog…
…it’s right here, and will be updated as much as I can from 7:30 PM onwards.
UPDATE: And that’s a wrap! The final list of winners is now up and I suspect the celebrating will go on …