Back in the Saddle Again

First off, I’d like to thank the great James Ellroy for pitch-hitting at The Rap Sheet yesterday, while I was away on other business. His publicist notes that this was “definitely his first experience with blogging,” but I hope it will not be his last. This medium is a splendid one for allowing all voices to be heard. I’m glad that we could provide Mr. Ellroy with an electronic forum, if only for one day. And I hope he will consider coming back here at some time in the future.

Second, I want to point out that the British Webzine Shots has just posted an abundance of fresh material. Included are interviews with authors John Connolly (The Book of Lost Things and the forthcoming The Unquiet), Natasha Cooper (Gagged & Bound), Ann Cleaves (who won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award for Raven Black), and Jeffery Deaver (The Cold Moon); features about Anne Frasier, Anne Perry and Christopher Brookmyre; and finally an updated column by New York correspondent Dirk Robertson, who comments on the Tribeca Film Festival, Manhattan’s mystery bookshops, and more.

And last but not least, novelist Roberta Isleib (Final Fore) alerts us to a project celebrating the 20th anniversary of the New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime. It’s a 2007 calendar featuring “Roger Leo’s photographs of over sixty New England authors and SinC members, including Janet Evanovich on an excavator with biker chicks, an ‘autopsy’ performed by author Tess Gerritsen on author Jeremiah Healy,” and shots of Linda Barnes, Hallie Ephron, William Tapply, and others. (You can see all the photographs here.) Calendars go for $12 each. For ordering information, click here.