Posts

The Yomiuri Shimbun has good reason to fete mystery novelist Jiro Akagawa – he’s just published his 500th novel:

Mystery novelist Jiro Akagawa has given a whole new meaning to the

word …

Though the story’s headline is far, far funnier:

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Police in
Pennsylvania say they’ve arrested a naked man who ran amok on Friday,
attacking businesses …

There’s two, two LA Times pieces for the price of one. First, my newest Dark Passages column on reinventing the private eye novel (or not…) and a print review of Christopher Rice’s …

A while back Canadian director David Cronenberg inked a book deal with Penguin Canada, and now the Bookseller reports on the UK deal for CONSUMED (with HarperCollins)and some additional information on …

The reaction to Nicholson Baker’s HUMAN SMOKE is nothing short of fascinating and pretty much fits in with my description of it as a “500-odd page Rohrshach test” in the roundtable …

So says the title of my newest piece for the Guardian Books Blog. I’ve wanted to write about Derek Raymond (real name Robin Cook) for ages but the Telegraph’s “50 Crime Writers …

Normally I don’t blog much about politics and current events, but I’m still picking up my jaw from the Spitzer scandal, like just about everybody else. For example, it was topic one among …

As announced today by Mystery Ink:

BEST MYSTERY

James Lee Burke – Tin Roof Blowdown (Simon & Schuster)

John Connolly – The Unquiet (Atria)

Ariana Franklin – Mistress of the …

And first, a reminder: hope you all pushed your clocks an hour forward. Daylight Saving Time comes a month early now…

Also, various awards were given out at Left Coast Crime over the weekend, …

In this week’s issue of Time Out New York I bring up one of the city’s most notorious killers, Albert Fish, whose cannibalistic exploits in the 1920s and 30s added a macabre twist to the …

Forgive the cringe-worthy title, but this story, set off Gabriola Island in British Columbia, is rather indescribable in its potential for mystery:

Should a fourth human foot float ashore here in …

Congrats first to Duane Swierczynski, who revealed the news yesterday that Michelle Monaghan has optioned the rights for THE BLONDE, with Paul Leyden attached to write. It also behooves me to report …

Richard Price Week gets extended some more now that his new novel, LUSH LIFE, hits stores today:

• Michiko loved the book
• So did USA TODAY’s Carol Memmott
• As did Jerome Weeks
• James Mustich …

At the Guardian Books Blog, I reveal a deep dark secret. Though I’m trying to adjust my antenna now.

Janet Reid reveals the story of how she signed up Andrew Grant, Lee Child’s younger …

As most every literary geek I know, I spent a chunk of my morning watching the debut episode of Titlepage.tv, the new Internet video program where Dan Menaker interviews a slew of writers in alleged …

The double Booker Prize winner and multi-genre writer, who wrote many crime novels and thrillers, died last Thursday at the age of 73. Obituaries and tributes come by way of:

• The Guardian’s …

My review of Samantha Hunt’s fantastic and wondrous novel THE INVENTION OF EVERYTHING ELSE ran yesterday in the Philly Inquirer. I am still in awe of this book.

Also, my current Baltimore Sun column looks at new crime novels by Benjamin Black, Charlie Newton, Jacqueline Winspear and C.J. Lyons.

NYTBR: Liesl Schillinger probes the identity politics in Charles …

Last night the LA Times announced its Book Festival Prize finalists and the mystery/thriller category is quite interesting:

Benjamin Black, CHRISTINE FALLS: A NOVEL (Henry Holt)
Ake Edwardson, …

As there are quite a number on the crime fiction front. First, the next book from Blake Crouch:

Blake Crouch’s ABANDON, set in a remote mining town high in the Rockies where two backcountry …

Because this is one of the greatest sentences I have ever read:

Two twin brothers, who are also black gay porn stars, were arrested for

allegedly pulling off a daring three-state crime spree that …

I must admit that when I heard the news today my first thought was to wonder what this means for Sam Tanenhaus’s biography, in the works even before he took the reins as the New York Times Book …

As this is very good news indeed:

Russel McLean’s THE GOOD SON, introducing a troubled Scots PI, who is

dragged into a world of lies, violence, long-held secrets, and murky

criminal …

After reading this now I want to pick Roslyn Targ’s brain for glamorous publishing stories.

Also in publishing, Little, Brown’s Pat Strachan chats about her career with Poets & …

Granted, I’m deluged with work again, but still, this is genius. (via)

The New Yorker writes about Farrar, Straus & Giroux’s impending move to new quarters on 18 West 18th Street:

Joy Isenberg, who has worked at Farrar, Straus & Giroux for

thirty-eight …

Having spent yesterday watching four of the five best picture nominees in one sitting (oddly enough, from least to most favorite) my brain resembles overcooked meat coming off a George Foreman Grill. …

Jaime dishes on Donald Westlake’s greatest masterpiece ever. Or not.

(Also, as a result, this is in my head.)

First up is perhaps my very favorite prize, the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, has announced its shortlist:

I Was Tortured By the Pygmy Love Queen
How to Write a How to Write Book …

Issue #1 of the New Plots With Guns. This news makes me quite happy indeed.

It’s certainly strange enough:

A four-ton iron bridge

on an old rail line between Cheb and Stary Hroznatov in west Bohemia,

has been reported missing, police revealed Tuesday.

Police …

Publishers Marketplace reports that Janet Silver, Houghton Mifflin’s former publisher, will join  Nan A. Talese/Doubleday as editor at large. As per Doubleday Broadway president Steve …

…but this was truly beautiful.

Well, eventually, anyway:

Black is getting blacker.

Researchers in New York

reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that

absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, …

The Sacramento Bee meets James Hall, who tries to shed light on why there are so many crime writers in Florida.

Oline Cogdill tells the story of mystery writer E.L. Merkel and his son Jeff, who …

Which may or may not explain why it’s on the late side…

NYTBR: Luc Sante has his say on Russell Banks’ new novel THE RESERVE; Rachel Donadio investigates the tortured life of H.L. …

On Friday, Publishers Weekly reported that four editors at the now-combined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt had been laid off, a move anticipated for quite some time after Riverdeep, Houghton …

Adam Langer’s new novel ELLINGTON BOULEVARD was a curious read for me because it takes place – literally – in my neighborhood. I explore the strange feelings it evoked in my newest …

A lively discussion is going on at David Montgomery’s blog, provoked in part by his preliminary list of favorite (and not-so-favorite) PI cliches:

• The psycho sidekick who does the dirty work …

Okay, so pretty much everyone knows that Hollywood doesn’t have much of an incentive to be kind to the authors whose work gives them the fuel for their movies, especially lately. But Josh …

The Houston Chronicle’s Sandra Breiting profiled David Thompson over the weekend, getting further scoop on Busted Flush Press.

Marilyn Stasio has her say on the latest in crime by Ariana …

I am starting to come to the conclusion that Patricia Cornwell is the Upton Sinclair of the criminal justice system. Because whatever the opinion is on her current books, there’s no question …

About a year and a half or so ago I put forward the idea that crime fiction, as it is being published today, ought to be thought of in the same manner as romance novels – namely, that there are …

Still down south so no Weekend Update. And as my review of John Burnham Schwartz’s THE COMMONER runs in today’s Philly Inquirer, now-former Books editor Frank Wilson explains why he …

Though I have spent less than 24 hours in the Sunshine State (which I last visited at the age of five) I think I am beginning to understand why there seem to be more crime writers per capita here than …

The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul Hyman tracks down James Patterson and finds out why he’s about to collaborate with Jane Jensen (of GABRIEL KNIGHT fame) on a video game version of the …

Last week I wrote about how crime novelist Inger Wolfe’s pseudonym bore an uncanny resemblance to Danish crime writer Inger Wolf’s real name. The pseudonymous author, who has altered this …

The other big news in Philly media is that Duane Swierczynski is leaving the City Paper to write full-time. The right call, the right time, but again, a loss.

NPR has a long feature on Twelve, …

And it is sad, sad news for the book world, as M.A. Orthofer explains:

No one has done as much to bridge any divides between newspaper and

online literary coverage, through his own weblog, his …

But then, I much preferred Rodgers with him than with Hammerstein:

Gary Marmorstein’s LORENZ HART: AN AMERICAN LIFE, a biography of the

tortured, brilliant lyricist (called “the Poet …

At the Guardian Books Blog, I discuss my all-time favorite author, L.M. Montgomery, and the 100th anniversary of her first (and most iconic) novel, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.

NYTBR: Liesl Schillinger really digs Charles Bock’s debut novel BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, a verdict I’m not at all surprised by because she also took to Marisha Pessl in a previous NYTBR cover …

The North American Branch of the

International Association of Crime Writers is pleased to announce

nominees for their annual HAMMETT PRIZE for a work of literary

excellence in the field of crime …

About a month after a three-part series on DNA and Ethics, NPR now goes back to the forensic science well. This time they focus on the FBI’s crime-solving efforts, beginning with DNA, moving to …

Overlook’s done a pretty good job at getting formerly neglected espionage novelists Robert Littell and Charles McCarry back on the radar. Now it looks like that ethos will apply once more:

Jim …

[Wall

Street Journal Europe chats with Olen Steinhauer]1 about espionage, the fall

of communism and his upcoming novel. /o:p

[The

Toledo Blade has a profile of Marcus Sakey]2, whose new crime …

At the Washington Post, Bethanne Patrick is chilled by John Grisham’s THE APPEAL and Patrick Anderson finds Douglas Preston’s new thriller BLASPHEMY to be “entirely readable.” …

Today, over 300 writers, editors and bloggers are joining forces to support Patry Francis in her battle against cancer and spread the word about the just-released paperback edition of her debut novel …

The piece I wrote may have come and gone, but the speculation on Inger Wolfe’s identity continues. At one point, Michael Redhill’s Wikipedia page seemed to “out” him (though it …

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio reviews new crime novels by Cornelia Read, Minette Walters, Loren Estleman and Christopher G. Moore; Terrence Raffefty does the same with recent horror offerings by Joe Hill, …

Whitbread award winning author Joan Brady has won her long-running battle against a shoe manufacturing company on the grounds that toxic fumes affected her ability to work, and while I think …

You decide:

Criminal gangs are using dwarves in a ruse to steal

from the luggage holds of long-distance coaches, by hiding them inside

suitcases, according to police.

The bizarre

crime is on the …

Or, Jeff Pierce’s Rap Sheet headline on this story is pretty much dead-on.

Besides, want to know how celebrities become crime novelists? They hire ghostwriters.

The Sydney Morning Herald profiles award-winning crime writer Garry Disher.

Sara Paretsky reveals the connection between V.I. Warshawski and Isaac Bashevis Singer to Nextbook’s Sara Ivry. …

That’s the title of Terry Teachout’s most recent Sightings column in the WSJ, and in light of the recent deaths of Ed Hoch and Benjamin Schutz – not to mention earlier ones of Mickey …

As in, pretty much only crime fiction in this update.

Both my columns ran at the same time this weekend, so check the LA Times for my thoughts on historical thrillers with a forensic aspect, and the …

It figures that the MWA would announce the nominees for the Edgar awards as I was on a bus out of town, where internet is sporadic and nature is in rather close proximity. So look for the nominee list …

What can you say? One of the greatest mystery legends, a man who had a story in every issue of Ellery Queen for almost thirty-five years, is gone. Edward D. Hoch was 77. Jiro Kimura pays tribute, as …

For some reason I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time watching YouTube clips of 1980s and 90s-era figure skaters. I’m no longer the rabid fan of the sport as I once was but once …

Motoko Rich profiles John Burnham Schwartz, whose new novel THE COMMONER is a fascinating look behind the curtain of Japanese monarchy.

Dennis Moore at USA TODAY likes the filmic aspects of Jo …

Century, one of the major imprints of Random House UK, has inked a nine-month sponsorship deal with the FX channel to advertise select crime fiction authors on crime shows. The Bookseller has the …

So I wrote this speculative piece for Maclean’s* and it ruffled enough feathers that a retraction will be printed in the January 17 issue. Of course, the “all publicity is good …

The award for the mystery independent booksellers most enjoyed selling has announced its nominees:

• Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• The Spellman …

At the Barnes & Noble Review, I discuss the current revival of espionage fiction. Also, the home page layout amuses me because my piece runs right underneath a picture of Malcolm MacDowell from O …

Danuta Kean talks with Martyn Waites in the Independent on Sunday and the conversation quickly turns to the question of violence in crime fiction, and why Waites blanches against its gratuitous use: …

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio reviews the latest crime offerings from Sara Paretsky, Frank Tallis, James Sallis and Andrew Martin; Not that I needed another reason to read DARKMANS (someday, at least) but …

For that seems to work for Jamie Freveletti, whom I think I met briefly at ThrillerFest and is a member of the Chicago Contingent:

Jamie Freveletti’s RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL, introducing an …

Finally, the Guardian runs an obituary of the late Icelandic translator Bernard Scudder. (Thanks, BC)

Both Publishers Weekly and AP’s Hillel Italie pick up on the Cassie Edwards plagiarism …

Courtesy the Rap Sheet comes the first spate of mystery genre awards, to be handed out at Left Coast Crime next month in Denver (the Dilys is on its way too, but later):

The Lefty (for the most …

At the Guardian Books Blog, I discuss last month’s WSJ article on Tom Rob Smith’s already-hyped debut thriller CHILD 44 and why it’s important to put the buzz (and his million dollar …

There are nights when everything clicks together perfectly at choir practice. The sopranos aren’t shrieking, the altos eschew hooting for a more melodious tone, the basses aren’t going …

Michiko generally likes THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE, the charity anthology edited by Zadie Smith.

Patrick Anderson takes a mixed view of Joseph Weisberg’s AN ORDINARY SPY.

Roger Pulvers dissects …

Though the news broke in a soft way when the Spring/Summer 2008 catalog went out to booksellers and reviewers, Soho made it official last week: they have scooped up a number of books published in the …

NYTBR: The Islam Issue. Oh boy. Does that mean we get the Zoroastrian Issue later this year? Or perhaps the Scientologist issue? Because I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to include, my default …

The creator of Flashman as we know him best – because, of course, Flashman first appeared as the school bully in TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS, though articulated in great detail in …

The answer to the whereabouts of arguably America’s most notorious female serial killer is quite simple: she’s either buried in LaPorte, Indiana, the victim of a house fire on April 28, …

Happy New Year, everybody. If the first day was anything to judge by, things are off to a pretty good start for me (granted, the mimosas helped, but so did the long walk and the utterly adorable …

I realized a couple of days ago that I couldn’t remember the last time I took a blog hiatus longer than a day or two. A telling sign that it’s time for a virtual vacation. So I’m …

Gothamist points to the story of a bank robber so compulsive he robbed the same banks over and over again:

A man held up two banks on a street near his

home four times in the last week, including …

On the list front, we have January Magazine’s best crime fiction of 2007, and Oline Cogdill’s 20 mystery picks.

Cogdill is also blogging this week about notable crime novels she …

I have my issues with Portfolio, Conde Nast’s business mag, for all the usual reasons, mostly wondering if it will actually survive beyond a year. But then it publishes pieces like Lloyd …

The National Post caught up with Sleuth of Baker Street co-owner J.D. Singh to talk about the bookstore and the 25th anniversary of its current ownership.

Margaret Cannon reviews new crime novels …

Till tomorrow, or never, but in the meantime, a big thank-you to Paul Goat Allen for his lovely comments on A HELL OF A WOMAN and EXPLETIVE DELETED in his newest Chicago Tribune column.

The Brattleboro Reformer profiles Mystery on Main Street, a new independent mystery bookshop that opened in the city just over a month ago after the owner, David Lampe-Wilson, moved to town: …

NPR’s Ari Shapiro continues his weeklong series on DNA, its forensic applications and ethical concerns. Check out:

• Legal limits on discarded DNA
• Using DNA to track suspects through family
• The …

One of my favorite crime writers, Jenny Siler, is going in a different direction for her newest project:

Myles J. Connor, Jr., and novelist Jenny Siler’s HONOR AMONG THIEVES,

pitched as a …

Oline Cogdill picks her top mysteries of 2007, with Laura Lippman’s WHAT THE DEAD KNOW heading up the list.

Lippman also cracks the Baltimore City Paper’s top 10 of 2007.

AMNewYork on …

Awful, awful news care of the Guardian:

In recent years the comic novelist Chrissie Glazebrook, who has died

aged 62, lived in a flat in a terraced street in Forest Hall, a mixed

suburb on the …

Lizzie Skurnick has been blogging about YA novels at Jezebel. The most recent entry is one of my all-time favorite books, THE GROUNDING OF GROUP SIX. Now if only she’d tackle some SWEET DREAMS …

At the Guardian Books Blog, Icelandic translator Bernard Scudder’s recent death – about which there still aren’t that many details – allows me to riff some of the problems of …

Now this is interesting news:

Two books in NYT bestselling author Walter Mosley’s new mystery series

featuring Leonid McGill, an African-American private investigator in

New York (introduced …

Janet Maslin has found another female crime writer to praise in Theresa Schwegel.

Patrick Anderson generally likes Jo Nesbo’s THE REDBREAST, except for naming issues.

Clea Simon makes the case …

This month’s Baltimore Sun column is a bit different in that I took a more gift-centric approach. So if you have gifts to give to people fitting in certain categories, try these books out. …

From James Fallows’ blog at the Atlantic:

I say that “genre” fiction, like spy and crime novels, ascends into the

“real” fiction category when the world it presents …

If you’re in the city or don’t already have plans tonight, join editrix Megan Abbott, publisher David Thompson and many writers – including Sandra Scoppettone, Rebecca Pawel, S.J. …

A million years ago I thought about and sent around some half-hearted pitches on Bob Barnett, literary lawyer to pretty much everyone who’s anyone. So I’m glad Leon Neyfakh thought of the …

When the news breaks that Duane Swierczynski will be penning Marvel Comics’ relaunch of Cable, X-MEN’s mutant anti-hero, beginning in March, it doesn’t happen quietly. Rather, …

Because, it’s priceless:

ROME (AP) — Your honor, I thought I saw a pussycat! Tweety may

finally air his signature complaint in front of a judge, after an

Italian court ordered the …

Else how to explain this Phoenix-like tale?

For more than five years he had been missing, presumed dead, after last

being seen paddling his red kayak out into the North Sea in front of

the home he …

The Rap Sheet reports that Julia Spencer-Fleming took home the Nero Award last Saturday night for her most recent novel ALL MORTAL FLESH. The announcement was made during the 30th annual Black Orchid …

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every crime fiction reviewer must pen an essay about murders taking place in exotic climes. Here’s my take for the Barnes & Noble Review.

New York’s first snowfall has come and gone, but the nasty cold lodged in my head remains. So it’s nothing but more links today unless I get some bizarre burst of energy later this …

While not every Sunday book review publication has a holiday theme, a great many of them do to the point of near-endless repetition. But who can blame them when readers want recommendations of what to …

I mark my upcoming birthday with a post at the Guardian Books Blog on why I’m somewhat dissatisfied with heroines in novels who happen to be age 29. There are a number of them in crime novels, …

Where else do you find a reggae-flavored cover version of the Italian version of the MORK AND MINDY theme song? (thanks, Jaime!)

The saga of PFD has rightfully dominated UK publishing trade press, what with a new managing director, a failed buyout, mass agent exodus lamely disguised as firings, and a new agency, United Agents, …

Also, I’m on deadline (what else is new?) and I got pretty much nuthin’ until tomorrow…

Back in 2006, Mystery Writers of America added an extra codicil for potential Edgar Award submissions. In order to be considered, “all works submitted for consideration must meet the …

It’s Denise Hamilton’s turn to critique John Leake’s ENTERING HADES and she likes the book a great deal.

John Updike on dinosaurs for the National Geographic? Of course it’s a …

It’s just a one-line deal memo and yet it has the weight of a million paragraphs:

“Film director David Cronenberg’s first novel, to Nicole Winstanley at

Penguin Canada, in a …

The full news release is available here, but Anthony Rainone has the general highlights:

_“Mystery Writers of America to Honor Kate’s Mystery Books & the

Library of Congress, Center …

New York Magazine presents a handy guide to international sleuths ranging from the Gaza Strip to Tokyo to South Africa to St. Petersburg and back again. I love how male-centric the list is, but then, …

Reading Janet Maslin’s book reviews bears some resemblance to dead horse-beating, mostly because the horse being flogged is wondering why she can’t go back to reviewing movies, her real …

Thanksgiving is but a faded memory, the gluttony may persist until the end of the year, but the Weekend Update remains the same. Or something like that.

Lots to BSP about this weekend. Aside from the …

Mickey Spillane, Evan Hunter, Robert B. Parker and Dick Cavett. Does it get any better than this? Well, it would be nice to have the whole thing, but still. (via)

A short piece on all the notable American writers who have died in the last 12 months with some thoughts as to whose work will endure the longest is available at the Guardian Book Blog.

From a crime …

From me and the folks at WKRP in Cincinnati:

Don’t you have better things to do? I don’t find it hilarious like David Montgomery does, just perplexing.

The Costa Awards have announced their shortlists. Faves Rupert Thomson and Nikita Lalwani made it to the best novel and first novel lists, respectively, but the story is the dominance of female …

The deal writeup for a big trilogy sale is plenty interesting:

Stieg Larsson’s THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY, with THE GIRL IN THE DRAGON

TATTOO to be the first published from the trilogy, to Sonny …

With regards to Newsweek’s cover story on Amazon Kindle, I’m with Michael Cader: “Amazon wanted a reporter who would write a long gooey piece about how

the Kindle will transform the …

Actually, the goodbyes to this forensic technique began in 2005, when the FBI announced that, after extensive study and consideration, it would no longer conduct the examination of bullet lead, but a …

NYTBR: Jabari Asim assesses the final (?) Easy Rawlins novel; Sarah Towers wishes Emily Listfield could have engaged more with the autobiographical material in her novel WAITING TO SURFACE; and …

Pronzini, the author of the Nameless Detective series and numerous other novels, will be awarded the Grandmaster designation at next year’s Edgars, to be held on May 1 at the Grand Hyatt. …

Though Marie La Ganga’s piece for the LA Times confirms that an aging audience likes to read about protagonists who remind them of themselves, it’s interesting to consider the article from …

Since one-line Twitter entries can’t possibly cover the gamut of what happened last night (and, after sleeping on it, seem more snark-laden than intended at the time) these folks offered more …

My Baltimore Sun column ran last weekend but is only now available online. In it I review new releases by Robert Harris, James Church, Ruth Weissberger and Mickey Spillane.

Tonight, along with a …

November 7: HarperCollins reports on a “lousy quarter”, as last year’s sales fell 6% and earnings dropped 21% in the first quarter, and in the

period ended September 30 this year …

The author of A KISS BEFORE DYING, ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL and several other bestselling novels is dead at the age of 78, according to his agent Phyllis Westberg. The cause of …

The news that New York Is Book Country is returning after a three year hiatus should make me happy, with all the fond memories I have of attending several fairs. But instead, I feel the exact opposite …

The Washington Post’s Linton Weeks talks with M. Sindy Felin, who is up for the National Book Award in the Young People’s category.

Also in the Post, Patrick Anderson quite likes Richard …

Since I’ve been hearing that several noteworthy books have not been submitted to the respective Edgar committees, let this post be a reminder – the deadline is November 30.

The Times’ Bruce Dessau lifts the veil to reveal the ghosts behind those high-profile celebrity autobiographies, and while it doesn’t reveal a lot that’s new, it’s good to have …

With so many tributes and voices of dissent about Norman Mailer, it makes me wonder the following: could it be that Mailer’s appeal is limited to his generation and the next (aka the Boomers) …

Having spent the weekend at the wonderful New England Crime Bake (and thanks to Hallie, Roberta, Lynne, the Paulas, Jeff and all the other organizers for their hard work and for inviting me down to …

Library Journal devotes its most recent issue to mystery fiction, with reviews of upcoming titles, short story collections and a Q&A with Cara Black.

As for the comment about my story in …

The New Statesman’s Tabish Khair explains why Peter Hoeg’s THE QUIET GIRL (which I’m reading right now) provoked some degree of discussion when it was published in Denmark last year. …

Mike Ripley called her as the favorite and the betting proved correct, as Ariana Franklin won the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award for MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH, her wonderful first entry in a …

As this is quite good news indeed:

A N Smith’s YELLOW MEDICINE, in which a corrupt sheriff’s deputy

confronts Malaysian terrorists in rural Minnesota, and HOGDOGGIN’, to

Benjamin …

After reading this, is it terribly perverse of me to hope that Otto Penzler could have his say about the other National Book Award nominees?

At a book party last night, I was talking to an agent about this very subject and she brought up an interesting point: that unlike literary agencies, who at least generate considerable revenue stream …

After the past week, which included:

• A family reunion
• Eating enough kosher chinese food to remind myself why I don’t like to eat chinese food of any sort
• Attending a birthday party in the form …

I still have to read this:

Amy Belasen and Jacob Osborn’s JENNY GREEN’S KILLER JUNIOR YEAR, a

satire in which a 16-year-old daddy’s girl from Long Island becomes an

unlikely …

Wordharvest Writers Workshops and Thomas Dunne Books
announced today that Christine Barber’s novel THE REPLACEMENT CHILD has
won the first Tony Hillerman Prize, awarded annually to the best …

Travel day today, so the Update may be somewhat truncated.

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio reviews the newest crime novels by Jason Goodwin, Miyuki Miyabe, Robert B. Parker, Archer Mayor and I.J. Parker; it …

John Rickards on why the Genre Has No Clothes. I’d quote from it but then this post would go on for ages so really, read the whole thing and then come back and hash it out in the backblog here. …

Yesterday Joel Rose reported on Baltimore and Philadelphia’s Poe Wars for All Things Considered. The story will not be going away anytime soon….

Pauline O’Connor highlights LA’s literary scene after-hours.

The List takes a look at the new Ian Rankin exhibition in Edinburgh and asks the author to concoct a list of his very own. …

The Southern Illinoisan profiles Laura Benedict, debut author of ISABELLA MOON.

Patrick Anderson is very impressed with Caro Ramsay’s debut crime thriller ABSOLUTION.

Janet Maslin, however, …

…form the basis of my debut in Maclean’s, Canada’s national weekly news magazine. To say it is a thrill to be included in one of my home country’s media staples is rather the …

First, go here. Watch both parts (or go here for the whole thing in one clip.)

Then come back and amuse me by answering, or at least attempting to answer, the following questions:

• Richard Price, …

First up is my newest LA Times column, pretty much devoted to all things Jo Walton. Her work is classified as SF (being published by Tor and all) but mystery readers would do well to pick up FARTHING …

Long a fan of Laura James’ true crime blog CLEWS, I’ve been waiting for this news for a while. Now, here it is:

Attorney, true crime historian, and founder of CLEWS: The True Crime

Blog …

But not without cost, as the Orlando Sentinel’s Laurin Sellers reports:

COCOA BEACH – Maureen Jennings believed there would be a happy ending.

Even as she and her two would-be rescuers …

For years, Russia claimed Andrei Chikatilo as its most prolific serial killer. That “honor” has now been superceded, at least unofficially:

MOSCOW, Oct. 24 — A former supermarket worker, …

Well perhaps not, but this is still pretty damn funny. (via)

The International Herald Tribune’s culture pages are primarily devoted to crime fiction today. First there’s John Burdett talking up his Sonchai Jitpleetcheep novels and how they fit into …

To New York Magazine’s Geoffrey Gray’s credit, he never out and out says that Kenneth Christiansen, who died of cancer in 1994, was the notorious hijacker immortalized in many a song and …

As per Variety, Martin Scorsese will direct and Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s SHUTTER ISLAND. I do like what Vulture has to say about this: “It is now …

Patrick Anderson juxtaposes the supposed end of Easy Rawlins with the end of Nathan Zuckerman, which is a pretty neat trick.

More from the Quills, which had its awards show near Lincoln Center last …

To commemorate the birth date of famed Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo, one man came up with an unusual idea, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun:

Faithful reproductions of popular detective story …

Not long after the Mysterious Bookshop relocated from its longtime midtown location to TriBeCa, Otto Penzler came up with a very cool idea to generate income for the store and interest for his …

Brief BSP to start, as my review of Joe Hill’s wonderful short story collection 20th CENTURY GHOSTS appears in this week’s Time Out New York.

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio makes some interesting …

For ninety-seven years, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen has been known as one of England’s notorious murders. Even as recently as this year, the Crippen case took center stage in Erik Larson’s …

After Anne Enright won the Booker Prize, chair Howard Davies went on the offensive against “cheering” book reviews. Times literary editor Erica Wagner responds.

Speaking of Enright, …

Courtesy Jaime:

and this one found all by my lonesome:

As Baltimore and Philly duke it out for dibs on Edgar Allan Poe, Matthew Pearl – whose last novel, THE POE SHADOW, speculated on the circumstances of Poe’s mysterious death at the age of …

Dennis Lehane with fiancee Dr. Angela Bernardo at Monday’s premiere for GONE BABY GONE. But what’s more interesting is this snippet from the same Boston Herald article I snatched the …

As per the Local, Sweden’s English-language web newspaper:

Swedish crime fiction writer Henning Mankell has donated 15 million

kronor ($2.3 million) for the construction of homes for orphaned …

Duane Swierczynski has a great recap of recent developments and reactions in the wake of Ed Pettit’s City Paper cover story earlier this month. My favorite of the bunch? Hands down, Philly …

Motoko Rich followed Tom Perrotta along to Wayne, NJ to attend an abstinence rally – something that Perrotta writes about in his new novel THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER but never got to experience …

Last week, while I wasn’t paying attention, Michael Devlin plead guilty to a slew of charges against him in the aftermath of the kidnappings of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The plea was a few …

Now that the Frankfurt Book Fair has shut up shop until next year, the coverage is that much more widespread. The NYT’s Motoko Rich uses the Stein siblings – editor Lorin and scout Anna …

Sometimes an enforced hiatus from the Internet is a good thing, so the full-on Weekend Update will return next week at the usual time and usual place.

In the meantime, check out my review of Nikita …

And as always, no preamble required:

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — An aspiring horror novelist was

arrested after police discovered his girlfriend’s torso in his closet,

a leg in the …

Olen Steinhauer shares a little bit of news. More here and here.

Consider the people involved in this film deal:

Film rights to Marcus Sakey’s debut crime thriller THE BLADE ITSELF,

about a young man who realizes his new life hinges on a terrible choice …

Your Nobel Prize winner for literature is…Doris Lessing. Which is a totally cool, very unexpected pick.

Irene Sege’s review of the new Spenser has me wondering about review-proof authors …

And they are most interesting indeed:

Fiction
Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Joshua Ferris, Then We …

On the one hand, Archer Mayor is the beneficiary of good news. His 18th Joe Gunther novel, CHAT, will be the last one published by Grand Central Publishing, but St. Martin’s Press has picked up …

Jessica Stockton Bagnulo has been running a series of interviews of Brooklyn literary notables and even though I don’t live there, I get the “faux Brooklynite” badge and answer …

And if you subscribe to Publishers Lunch you’ll have seen most of them last night, but in any case, the biggest one of the week is this:

San Francisco MD Josh Bazell’s debut novel BEAT …

I mean, really. I liked Facebook when it was a way to find out what the people I went to elementary and high school with were up to. I liked Facebook when it was fun, albeit in a ridiculous manner, to …

In this week’s Philadelphia City Paper, Edward Pettit makes a stirring argument that Edgar Allan Poe really belongs to Philadelphia – not Baltimore. Why? The bulk of his work was written …

First we have, shall we say, a rather unusual premise:

Pseudonymous Swedish author Tim Davys’ first novel AMBERVILLE, both a

plot-twisting noir and a meditation on good and evil, featuring a …

I woke up and realized this is Confessions’ 4th birthday, which is fairly ancient in blog years, is it not? So perhaps “appropriately” it seems a good idea to link to the current …

Though of course, that’s not how Holt is pitching this new series:

[

Paul Tremblay]1‘s debut mystery and start of a new series, THE LITTLE

SLEEP, pitched as The Big Sleep meets …

Kacey Kowars interviews me for the second time. Funny how every time I talk to him corresponds to a major change in my professional life.

The Anchorage Daily News had a nice roundup of goings-on at …

Whenever a review of mine is published somewhere, especially a review that has the space to be properly expansive, a spasm of fear almost always shows up alongside said publication. Why? Call it the …

More on the convention, including other award wins, in a separate post, but first up is my newest “Dark Passages” column, which takes the idea of the serial killer as a folk hero and does …

Weekend Update will be up later this afternoon, but first a quick look at more awards given out during Bouchercon.

First, the Shamus Awards:

BEST NOVEL: Ken Bruen, The Dramatist (St. Martin’s …

Courtesy Mystery Readers Journal, who awarded them last night:

Best Novel: THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS, Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)

Best First Novel: MR. CLARINET, Nick Stone (Penguin/Michael Joseph) …

Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures are pleased to announce the winners of the 2007 Barry Awards. The Barry Awards are named for of one of the most ardent and beloved ambassadors of mystery fiction, …

And for Kate White, it means a new publisher, new character and new scope:

NYT bestselling author and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Kate

White’s three new thrillers the first a stand-alone …

Early Alaska Bouchercon dispatches from:

• Jeri Westerson
• Steven Torres
• Rhys Bowen
• Laurie King
• Anna C
• Associated Press
• Daniel Hale (password protected)

More to come as the conference progresses.

First, we all *thought* editors would stop buying DA VINCI CODE knockoffs but as the Bookseller informs us, that’s not so:

Transworld is taking a fresh stab at the Da Vinci Code market with a …

I won’t be at Bouchercon this year, though it would have been lovely to see Alaska in the fall. So for those who have already landed or are about to board flights – have a great time. More …

Some writers get splashy book tours and accommodations at five-star hotels around the country. Still others conduct massive online marketing campaigns with every variety of Facebook, MySpace and blog …

First up is the one, the only Laura Lippman:

So, of all the strange e-mails I’ve ever gotten — I guess I should say, of

all the e-mails I’ve ever received from strangers — …

The Apple has welcomed me back on this lovely sunny day. So it’s fitting that while I was away, Time Out New York ran my darkly overtoned piece on Stewart and Cyril Marcus, identical twin …

Having spent the past week in Canada, I’m all the more aware of how the Canadian dollar has strengthened to the point where it’s now just about on par with the American dollar – but …

NYTBR: David Margolick finds Jeffrey Toobin’s examination of the nine who comprise America’s Supreme Court to be a much-needed tome; Liesl Schillinger (who is waaaaaaaaaay better looking …

Will be up at midnight tonight. However, my streak of really good Yom Kippur reading continues as I devoured (yes, verb is intentional) Mark Billingham’s DEATH MESSAGE in a couple of gulps. And …

Too early to tell based off of a deal alone, but still:

Rights to NYT bestselling author Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan series,

to Emmy winner David Pritchard and Michael Pavone at MovieBooks, …

First, a most unusual mystery series to Penguin:

Mehmet Murat Somer’s THE KISS MURDER and THE PROPHET MURDERS, the first

in a mystery series set in Istanbul starring a transvestite nightclub …

I’ve linked to this before, but Levi Asher’s ongoing online symposium about book pricing practices as it pertains to literary fiction is a must-read. My thoughts, along with those from Tao …

Last Sunday, the Denver Post’s Robin Vidimos looked at the time-honored practice of blurbs – and found that they have surprising effectiveness:

Cathy Langer, lead buyer for the …

In good, though not all that surprising news:

Author of Dead Connection, Alafair Burke’s LAST CALL, continuing with Detective Ellie Hatcher, pitting her against a serial killer targeting the …

Boarding a flight later today so links are all I’m good for:

More on the NYT bestseller revamp from Crain’s.

Linda Fairstein, who gave the book a generous blurb, talks with forensic …

For such a major change to the way paperback bestsellers are computed by the New York Times, the chatter’s been fairly quiet thus far. I first heard about it when I read Ed Gorman’s blog …

Probably because it’s so evocative:

Christina Harlin’s MY BOSS IS A SERIAL KILLER, about a Kansas City

legal secretary who uncovers a series of murders, to Deborah Werksman

at …

via

Rosh Hashanah has ended, and I survived the onslaught of food (excellent) synagogue (running into people you’d never expect) social interaction (by and large good) and self-reflection (mixed.) …

…goodbyes are hard.

But still, it’s time. Just as it’s time to continue the mad rush in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. Which means something akin to radio silence for the rest of …

More information about the audiobook thriller conceived by ITW and produced by Audible courtesy USA Today’s David Lieberman:

NEW YORK  — It’s hard to beat thriller writer Jeffrey …

Jaime looks at how the “illustrious” team of Miller/Boyett (and sometimes Milkis) would retool shows so much that the theme songs had to be changed.

Of course, guess what is stuck in my …

With a BBC documentary on Columbo slated to air today, Mark Billingham tells The Rap Sheet why he’s so keen on the rumpled detective.

Congrats to Laura Lippman on her Quill award win in the …

Now that EXIT MUSIC is in stores in the UK, the media over there is all Rebus, all the time (the Rap Sheet has a good roundup of links to look at.) The latest piece is from the Telegraph and written …

The world of books may have lost one of its young adult greats in Madeleine L’Engle last week, but Phyllis Whitney, author of many novels for teenage girls as well as scores of romantic suspense …

And before getting started, I’ll point to my review of David Peace’s TOKYO YEAR ZERO in the LA Times. Normally I don’t get too hyped up about reviews I’ve written but this book …

The newest issue of The Quarterly Conversation is now up, and there are loads of goodies to check out from a host of good people including Scott Esposito, Garth Hallberg, Anne Fernald, Callie Miller, …

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I’ve changed the look of Confessions after something like 2 years with the old design template. For some reason the blogroll links are running off to the …

So remember the case of the Polish author who’d been arrested for murder based on the book he’d written? Now he’s been convicted of the crime:

Truth, it seems, really is stranger …

The news is a long time coming but PW’s Judith Rosen has more details:

Sixty-one-year-old Kate Mattes, the Kate behind Kate’s Mystery

Books, is preparing for retirement by selling her …

I’ve been wanting to read David Lozell Martin’s THE AMERICAN KING for a while, but Patrick Anderson just about convinces me I must.

A double dose of Michiko and amazingly, both are raves …

Or the story, for that matter:

WAUKESHA, Wisconsin (AP) — It was embarrassing enough that

Mark Stahnke woke up in a neighbor’s yard without his pants. Then he

remembered they contained …

NYTBR: Jim Lewis considers Denis Johnson’s new novel TREE OF SMOKE; Kathryn Harrison has a reluctant take on Chelsea Cain’s much-hyped thriller HEARTSICK; Liesl Schillinger is disappointed …

Since it’s the Labor Day Weekend and all. So for now, it’s BSP time: my latest LA Times column deals with the topic of Tabloid Noir, while in Time Out New York Joshua Furst talks about his …

(Katherine Howell’s debut novel, FRANTIC, was published in Australia earlier this year. I read it at the beginning of the summer and was taken with the way she alternated female protagonists, …

Though he is an infrequent blogger, when Jim Huang speaks, one should listen. His latest essay is too long to excerpt and besides, you should really read the whole thing.

Jon Evans ponders the future of reading for the Walrus, and puts his money where his mouth is (so to speak) by making one of his novels, an urban fantasy novel starring New York’s finest …

The usual deadline drill and sundry. Though if there are any NY-based blog readers fluent in Japanese, please get in touch off-blog.

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio doesn’t have nearly enough space to do Michael Dibdin justice, but she tries her best – and also reviews new offerings from Barbara Cleverly, Fred Vargas and Michael …

The small front is my review of Nicholas Griffin’s DIZZY CITY which runs in this week’s edition of Time Out New York.

The September/October issue of Poets & Writers is hot off the …

I take some exception to the BBC’s headline (what, crime fiction is supposed to die? WTF?) but BBC News Magazine’s Megan Lane has a decent piece on new crime fiction trends, including the …

If you haven’t had a chance to check out NPR’s miniseries focusing on crime novelists and their cities of choice, you can tune in to segments on Donna Leon’s Venice, John …

It took a while to become available online but Scott Timberg’s lengthy LA Times piece on Ross Macdonald – and Vintage’s plans to make the entire series available in print by early …

One of my favorite books of 2006 was Howard Engel’s THE MEMORY BOOK, and as CanWest’s Jamie Portman discovers, the author of the Benny Cooperman novels has turned to the memoir to talk …

To wit:

LANSING — A state forensics scientist who said she tested her husband’s

underwear for DNA to determine if he was cheating on her has been fired.

Ann Chamberlain of Okemos testified in a …

The sudden news via Booktrade.info:

William Heinemann and Diogenes Verlag AG report that Magdalen Nabb

sadly died suddenly at the weekend. Her funeral was held on Monday in

Florence.

Magdalen …

Call it a case of literary ping-pong, but if Stephen Miller was inspired by me to write about Dilys Winn’s groundbreaking mystery reference book MURDER INK, then I have to tip my metaphorical …

Now that the story has been picked up by almost everybody it proved a bit more difficult to find the source, but here it is:

The sighting, by the wife of Ian Rankin, creator of Detective Inspector …

By that of course I mean the stifling heat of August, though this weekend proved to be rather lovely. In matters BSP, my review of Charlotte Mendelson’s WHEN WE WERE BAD runs in today’s …

Ah, what a fantastic bittersweet party it was last night at the Black Orchid bookshop, made more so when the bristol board was passed around for people to sign. While a select few authors like Bob …

It is stretching things a great deal to view tonight’s Anniversary Party in bar mitzvah-like terms. But if the Jewish rite is about moving into adulthood – or new territory – then …

First, huge thank-yous to Messrs. Koryta and Hayes for classing up the joint the last two days. Especially with pictures! I think it’s time to add some more splashy graphics to Confessions. And …

As a new forensic thriller writer, I don’t have much in the way of great writing advice to give – I’m still trying to hoover up all that I can find. But I can take up Michael …

One of the things I’m often asked is “Just how realistic is CSI?” My standard reply is that CSI is excellent forensic science fiction – it captures the spirit of the work very well, …

We’re still recovering from the drive down. Cricket spent the morning mixing Bloody Mary’s and I spent it swimming; there’s no pool scooping thing here (we figure it’s a rich …

Reading over my last post, I realize how snotty my comment about “outgrowing cozies” must have come across. Not that I’m not snotty, but I expressed myself poorly there: it’s …

We’re in Palm Beach at the moment, where Cricket’s dad has a fantastic house – a sprawling white pile with handsome grounds that sweep down to the water, a view consisting exclusively of …

I figured that, since you don’t know me from Adam, I should say something about me.

My name is Jonathan Hayes, I’m English, I live in New York City, where I work as a senior medical …

Thanks for putting up with me throughout the day, and thanks to Sarah for giving me the chance. I enjoyed it, particularly the exchange of noir quotes. And, since it has been a day for quotes, …

I thought I should take advantage of this chance to promote two writing programs that have helped me immensely. The first is a week-long conference in Florida, Writers in Paradise, that was founded by …

With a noir quote and apologies for being a bit late. Excuses, excuses. It’s almost like he’s busy writing a book or something.

Don’t know if it qualifies but the director’s …

On Sunday, Tiger Woods won his 13th Major, putting him just five back of the all-time record. Now, what does this have to do with writing? To you, maybe nothing at all. To me, though, there is …

One of the most common questions any writer is asked is: what led you to this particular genre. For me, the answer begins with black-and-white movies and actors like Bogart, Mitchum, Lancaster, etc. …

Another week in August, and two new guest bloggers taking over. With a brief interruption to add the obligatory BSP link to my review of Mercedes Lambert’s GHOSTTOWN in tomorrow’s LA …

i mean, what can you say to this?

ROCHELLE, Ga. — A woman was arrested after she

called local police to help “get her money back” after she was unhappy

with the crack cocaine she …

Clive Thompson explains why New Yorkers live longer and might be healthier than the rest of the country.

Sons of Spade finds out what Les Roberts is up to.

Memo to Patrick Anderson: that …

The new Baltimore Sun column features reviews of new titles by Richard Montanari, Michael Marshall, Fred Vargas and Judy Clemens.

NYTBR: Oh man, is there much fodder for bewilderment and snark this …

First, a hearty thank-you to Nick and Charles for their thoughtful guest-blogs. Now it’s my turn for more scattershot links:

John Gardner, thriller writer and the second author to write James …

The Times’ Roger Boyes reports on what looks to be Poland’s “trial of the century” and I have to say, this is mighty weird:

An author leafing through a newspaper comes across …

Every Easter-time, between 1978-84, my mother and I used to go to Haiti for a month. My mother is Haitian and I was partly brought up there, having been taken to the country from England when I was a …

Every year at about this time I start to feel vaguely wistful for the months that have just gone by.  I go back and listen to the best songs of the summer again (Rehab, Beautiful Girls, and Hey …

This week’s guest bloggers occupy vastly different places on the crime fiction spectrum. Tomorrow we’ll meet Charles Finch, a young American author clearly comfortable with the Victorian …

The LA Times’ Scott Timberg has an in-depth piece about the life and career of Douglas Anne Munson, who wrote mystery novels as Mercedes Lambert. Though Munson died in 2003, her final …

Though I thought my LA Times column made my feelings about Warren Ellis’s CROOKED LITTLE VEIN clear, David Montgomery wondered what I thought, adding:

I found it modestly entertaining, but I …

Obligatory BSP: the newest “Dark Passages” column at the LA Times has a decidedly comics-centric feel, with a twist: instead of crime writers crossing over into comic book territory, I …

Hello!  Robyn Young signing in from Brighton, England…  Oh God.  Already I sound like I’m eighty-nine and have just discovered the telephone.

Blog virgin I’m afraid. …

Starting tomorrow, a slew of guest bloggers will take the reins here in sequence, although my presence won’t completely go away – there are Weekend Updates to collate, news to comment on …

Courtesy the Rara-Avis mailing list, a TIME Magazine piece on the state of mystery fiction from 1978:

They are the insomniac’s solace, the commuter’s opiate, everymitty’s

escape …

First, holy freaking crap. Second, for those in the mystery world living in the Minneapolis area, if you want to check in, please do in the comments. Thoughts and prayers go to the entire city …

The Rap Sheet gets word from Mike Ripley that Rodney Wingfield, author of the Inspector Frost novels, has died at the age of 79 after a long battle with cancer. According to Ripley, “Shortly …

If you write crime fiction, want to write crime fiction or have ever entertained even the briefest notion of writing crime fiction, then you must see this interview (followed by parts two, three, four …

Talk about cultural convergence.

Oh goody, someone went to Harrogate and came back with a hatchet job. Now, there’s no reason not to be critical of crime fiction and point out its flaws, but you think Paul Vallely could have …

Along with Jerome Weeks’ essay on Gail Pool’s new book that I linked to yesterday, the Boston Globe ran a piece by Sven Birkerts

on the beyond-exhausted print vs. blog debate. There are …

The Kansas City Star ran a thoughtful piece on Karen Spengler, the 55-year-old proprietor of I Love a Mystery in Mission, Kansas. Diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in 1996, she was given about …

Ah, New York in August, or almost. When air conditioners, even at triple overtime, never quite accomplish what they need to in cooling down those too poor to escape to outer island or generally cooler …

The Anthony Award nominations have been announced:

BEST NOVEL

ALL MORTAL FLESH, Julia Spencer-Fleming, St. Martins
THE DEAD HOUR, Denise Mina, Little Brown
KIDNAPPED, Jan Burke, Simon & …

Ali Karim’s in the process of rounding up his ThrillerFest experience in a major way. Read parts I and II, with III to come tomorrow.

Speaking of the installment plan, read Duane …

Sun-Sentinel mystery reviewer (and one of my favorite people) Oline Cogdill is now blogging at the newspaper’s website, along with book editor Chauncey Mabe. An instant must-read.

A staple of my childhood, a light of my life…is now gone.

Goodbye, Weekly World News. You will be missed very much.

My review of Ruth Rendell’s THE WATER’S LOVELY ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday. And after this, I think I shall stop reading her work because I’ll just end up saying the …

Is it coincidence that I spend a weekend away just as Harry Potter-mania is unleashed upon the world? Actually, it is, and that’s why the Weekend Update will be delayed (or skipped altogether, …

If only I could have been at Harrogate to celebrate this in person, but instead a virtual shout-out will have to suffice. So congratulations, Mr. Guthrie, on taking home the Theakstons Old Peculier …

I wish I could say I’m surprised at the news, but I’m not. Still, only months after the shuttering of Murder Ink, the news that Black Orchid will close its E. 81st Street shop in September …

First, I got wind of this deal on Backspace and had a feeling I knew who the editor would be:

Bram Stoker Award-winner Jonathan Maberry’s PATIENT ZERO, in which a

Baltimore police detective …