And the Winners Are ...

These are the books and short stories that received awards during the 37th Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, in Madison, Wisconsin.

In the individual categories, this year’s winners were:

• The Macavity Awards
The Macavitys are given out by Mystery Readers International. Members of that organization both nominate contenders and choose the winners.

Best Novel: The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

Also nominated: One Shot, by Lee Child (Delacorte Press); The James Deans, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume); Vanish, by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books); Strange Affair, by Peter Robinson (Morrow); The Power of the Dog, by Don Winslow (Knopf); and Solomon vs. Lord, by Paul Levine (Bantam)

Best First Novel: Immoral, by Brian Freeman (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Also nominated: All Shook Up, by Mike Harrison (ECW Press); The Baby Game, by Randall Hicks (Wordslinger Press); and The Firemaker, by Peter May (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Best Non-fiction: Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Woman Who Created Her, by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)

Also nominated: Tracks to Murder, by Jonathan Goodman (Kent State University); Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed, by Stuart M. Kaminsky, photography by Laurie Roberts (Hothouse Press); The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels, edited by Leslie S. Klinger (Norton); and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, by Mary Roach (Norton)

Best Short Story: “There Is No Crime on Easter Island,” by Nancy Pickard (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September-October 2005)

Also nominated: “It Can Happen,” by David Corbett (in San Francisco Noir, edited by Peter Maravelis; Akashic Books); “Everybody’s Girl,” by Robert Barnard (EQMM, May 2005); and “The Big Road,” by Steve Hockensmith (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine [AHMM], May 2005)

Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award: Pardonable Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

Also nominated: In Like Flynn, by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s Minotaur); Spectres in the Smoke, by Tony Broadbent (St. Martin’s Minotaur); The War of the World Murder, by Max Allan Collins (Berkley Prime Crime); and Night’s Child, by Maureen Jennings (McClelland and Stewart)

* * *

• The Shamus Awards
Shamuses are presented by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) and honor excellence among works in the private-eye genre.

Best Hardcover: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

Also nominated: Oblivion, by Peter Abrahams (Morrow); The Forgotten Man, by Robert Crais (Doubleday); In a Teapot, by Terence Faherty (Crum Creek Press); The Man with the Iron-On Badge, by Lee Goldberg (Five Star); and Cinnamon Kiss, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown)

Best Paperback Original: The James Deans, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)

Also nominated: Falling Down, by David Cole (Avon); Deadlocked, by Joel Goldman (Pinnacle); Cordite Wine, by Richard Helms (Back Alley Books); and A Killing Rain, by P.J. Parrish (Pinnacle)

Best First Novel: Forcing Amaryllis, by Louise Ure (Mysterious Press)

Also nominated: Blood Ties, by Lori G. Armstrong (Medallion), Still River, by Harry Hunsicker (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Minotaur); and The Devil’s Right Hand, by J.D. Rhoades (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Lifetime Achievement Award: Max Allan Collins

* * *

• The Barry Awards
The winners in this category are selected by the readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine:

Best Novel: Red Leaves, by Thomas H. Cook (Harcourt)

Also nominated: Bloodlines, by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster); Mercy Falls, by William Kent Krueger (Atria); Sudden Death, by David Rosenfelt (Mysterious); Mr. Lucky, by James Swain (Ballantine); and The Power of the Dog, by Don Winslow (Knopf)

Best First Novel Published in the U.S. in 2005: Cold Granite, by Stuart MacBride (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Also nominated: Die a Little, by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster); Immoral, by Brian Freeman (St. Martin’s Minotaur); The Baby Game, by Randall Hicks (Wordslinger Press); Dark Harbor, by David Hosp (Warner); and The Firemaker, by Peter May (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Best British Novel Published in the U.K. in 2005: The Field of Blood, by Denise Mina (Bantam Press)

Also nominated: The Blood-Dimmed Tide, by Rennie Airth (Macmillan); Lifeless, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown UK); Silence of the Grave, by Arnaldur Indridason (Harvill); A Good Day to Die, by Simon Kernick (Bantam Press); and Lost, by Michael Robotham (Time Warner)

Best Thriller: Company Man, by Joseph Finder (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Also nominated: Consent to Kill, by Vince Flynn (Atria); The Inside Ring, by Michael Lawson (Doubleday); Seven Deadly Wonders, by Matthew Reilly (Simon & Schuster); Map of Bones, by James Rollins (Morrow); and Private Wars, by Greg Rucka (Bantam)

Best Paperback Novel: The James Deans, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)

Also nominated: Six Bad Things, by Charlie Huston (Ballantine); Night’s Child, by Maureen Jennings (McClelland & Stewart); Now You See Me, by Rochelle Krich (Ballantine); The Dead Don’t Get Out Much, by Mary Jane Maffini (Napoleon Publishing); and Inside Out, by John Ramsey Miller (Dell)

Best Short Story: “There is No Crime on Easter Island” by Nancy Pickard (EQMM, September-October 2005)

Also nominated: “The Big Road,” by Steve Hockensmith (AHMM, May 2005); “Needle Match,” by Peter Lovesey (from Murder Is My Racket, edited by Otto Penzler; Mysterious Press); “Love and Death in Africa,” by Joan Richter (EQMM, January 2005); “The Method in Her Madness,” by Tom Savage (AHMM, June 2005)

Don Sandstrom Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery Fandom: Janet A. Rudolph

* * *

Finally, the American Crime Writers League announced that Chicago Tribune critic (and sometime Rap Sheet contributor) Dick Adler is the recipient of this year’s Ellen Nehr Award for mystery reviewing.

(Hat tip to Lesa Holstein.)

Notes from Party Central

Last week, when the organizing committee for mysterdom’s largest annual event put out a call for volunteers, we were a little apprehensive that 2006 Bouchercon in Madison might get off to a shaky start. From all reports, however, our fears were groundless. It sounds like the organizing committee rallied, the mystery community pitched in as required and, midway through the event, reports are flooding in and they’re all good.

The Thrilling Detective’s Kevin Burton Smith brought local color to his blog, along with comments on the convention itself. “I like Madison,” Smith writes in The Thrilling Detective blog. “I took a wander last night, before going to register at Bouchercon, and I was impressed. The downtown core has more of a real city feel than L.A. has--there are people and bars and cafés and restaurants and little bookstores and they’re all jumbled together and says ‘people live here.’ A lot of pedestrians and, befitting a town with so many students, a lot of folks on bikes. It’s all downright civilized.”

On his own blog yesterday, Iden Ford (aka Mr. Maureen Jennings) reported that the “travel and the buzz of a Bouchercon is hard to describe, but it sure feels like a lovefest this year.”

Although Ford wasn’t the only mystery litblogger to report on the lovefest elements from Bouchercon, trust Ed Champion to pipe up with a bit of dissent: “Deeper questions about Bouchercon’s troubling insular nature will have to wait. I’ll just say for now that, more than BEA, APE, WorldCon and nearly every other writers or readers conference I have ever attended, you will be a conversational pariah if you haven’t read the latest sixty hot mystery titles.”

Champion’s ongoing and on-the-spot reportage from Bouchercon has been great, but it sounds as though he might be sitting on some things that will cause at least some in the mystery community to start throwing rocks in the near future. We’ll wait and see. Meanwhile, the cow photo that illustrates this piece was taken by Champion in Madison. It’s used here entirely without permission. (Though I’ll pull it if he gripes.)

Friday, on his Secret Dead Blog, Duane Swierczynski (The Wheelman) commented that “The thing about Bouchercon is that it’s very hard to go anywhere. Take five steps and you’re bound to run into someone you know, have traded e-mails with, or read their blog. And if two people stand still long enough in a public place, then they’ll naturally attract more people who will start talking. It’s kind of like watching mold grow at hyperspeed.”

Mark Coggins (Candy From Strangers) posted great photos from the Bleak House Books/Crimespree Magazine party. I didn’t like those photos. The party looked like so much fun, they made me especially sad not to be there.

It sounds like James R. Winter (Northcoast Exile) had fun at the same party. He didn’t comment in-depth on his blog, but what he did say was telling. “15 minutes after Jen Jordan dubbed me ‘The Human PA,’ my voice was reduced to a faint croak.” Winter promises to illustrate that event--and others--with photos on his blog in the very near future.

Some of the wisest comments I’ve read out of Bouchercon 2006 thus far came from Killer Year co-founder Sandra Ruttan, who included a list of things she’s learned at Bouchercon. Too many to repeat them all in this space, but here’s a smattering: “Al ‘wise ass’ Guthrie has the best T-shirt. ... Duane Swierczynski says if the ending of a book sucks it can blow future sales. He says he’s not holding his breath for a sequel to the Bible. ... Eating haggis is an extreme sport. ... Jan Burke has a ‘dear God don’t let me die in this jurisdiction’ list. ... [And] you do not want to give John Connolly an opportunity to talk about shrinkage on a panel. It just isn’t a good idea.”

The fun continues until Sunday.

British Invasion

And while we’re thinking of Bouchercon (we were, weren’t we?), Bloody Brits Press is due to launch there this weekend. Even without the launch, this is an imprint that seems destined to make inroads fast. According to The Guardian:

It's time for the bloody Brits to invade America. So says crime novelist Val McDermid, who has teamed up with U.S. publisher Kelly Smith to bring UK crime and thriller writers to the vast American market.

The idea is that American readers starved for hard-to-find UK mysteries will flock to bookstores for the latest releases of books by authors that might not otherwise be available to them.

While American readers won’t find the concept difficult to understand, readers in the UK might think the idea a bit confounding. The Guardian remarks that it’s “a refreshing leap of faith at a time when the UK book trade is obsessed with the next offerings from Thomas Harris, Kathy Reichs, John Grisham, and James Patterson.”

The grass is always greener on the other side of the pond.

Over the next few months, Bloody Brits Press will introduce works by Chaz Brenchley, Sarah Diamond, Joyce Holms, Bill Kirton, John Malcolm, Danuta Rhea, Chris Simms, and McDermid herself.

Still Time for Quill Vote

You still have a few hours left before voting ends for the second annual Quill Awards, a “consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy.” But you have to hurry: voting closes September 30.

As Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce told us back in August, nominees have been selected by U.S. booksellers and librarians in 19 different categories, from Debut Author and Illustrated Children’s Book to Graphic Novel and Biography/Memoir. In the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category, there are five contenders:

• The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels, by Arthur Conan Doyle, edited by Leslie S. Klinger (Norton)
• Promise Me, by Harlan Coben (Dutton)
• Tomb of the Golden Bird, by Elizabeth Peters (Morrow)
• Twelve Sharp, by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s Press)

Readers are invited to vote online for their favorite among these five books, as well as their choices in any other Quill category. Winners will be announced on October 10. The awards ceremony will be televised by NBC on October 28.

Setterfield’s Success No Big Mystery

When Yorkshire author Diane Setterfield’s debut mystery was published in the United Kingdom, the media mostly ignored the book. Book buyers were equally unenthusiastic. However, when The Thirteenth Tale crossed the Atlantic earlier this month, things were quite different. The book has topped lists and broken records just about every place it’s shown up in North America.

Richard Brooks, art and culture editor with Britain’s Sunday Times, posited a theory--or perhaps regurgitated a press release--that didn’t hold much water. Brooks said Setterfield’s book had “taken off because bloggers recommended it.” Later in the same piece, Brooks remarked that the “development of Setterfield’s fan base on the Internet is similar to that which gave a kick-start to musicians such as the Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, and Sandi Thom.”

Except that, on examination, that doesn’t appear to have been the case at all. The fact that The Thirteenth Tale managed to debut in the number-one spot on The New York Times bestseller list and at number five on USA Today’s list seems to have had as much to do with--as Richard Lea at Culture Vulture phrases it--the sort of all-out blitz that secures “the kind of media coverage that only money can buy.” Says Lea:

It seems that Atria’s parent company, Simon & Schuster, sent out a bunch of emails to bloggers thanking them for the “great job” they’ve done “reviewing and promoting Simon & Schuster and Atria’s books in the past”. They then went on to offer them the chance of winning a “$100 American Express Gift Check” and a bunch of Atria books, “simply” by promoting this competition on their blogs.

While some bloggers bit, it seems just as likely that the big push came from other sources: a tour that includes all key North American cities, for instance. And a Web site that would turn J.K. Rowling green (and that looks as though Harry Potter might live there). As Sarah Weinman remarked on GalleyCat, “how about the fact that Barnes & Noble made [The Thirteenth Tale] their first overall recommendation, leading to massive amounts of paid co-op in every branch?”

Conventional media outside of the UK have been slow to respond, but early reviews don’t meet the hype. “Instant classic? Not this time,” says the Los Angeles Times.

And The Washington Post wasn’t drooling, either. “Setterfield’s erudite novel amounts to a sort of brainteaser, a literary riddle to occupy the mind rather than a new vision to inform it.”

The Sydney Morning Herald didn’t bother mincing words: “This book flounders because the relationship it is built around, between a biographer and her subject, is so contrived.”

For all the hype, The Thirteenth Tale sounds promising. As boiled down by The Times, the book “tells the story of a novelist who employs a biographer to write her life story, resulting in the unearthing of family secrets.”

We’ll reserve judgment, though this will be a tough book to open without opinion. The Thirteenth Tale certainly has a lot to live up to.

Starr’s New Ballgame

In January Magazine today, David Thayer reviews Jason Starr’s new noir crime thriller.

In Lights Out, the return of a star baseball player to his Brooklyn neighborhood provides the set-up for a story about love, jealousy, arrogance, and faithlessness. Lights Out, remarks Thayer, “is the kind of cautionary tale young people should read before they set off in quest of fame and fortune.”

The review is here.

Birthday for a Grifter

Jim Thompson, just about the hardest-boiled of them all, was born today back in 1906. Thompson’s books were filled with drifters and grifters, some of them shrewd and sharp, others considerably less so. It is believed that many of his characters had autobiographical components, and Thompson’s life was at times as bleak as many of his creations. He suffered a nervous breakdown at age 19, after already cultivating a life of smoking and drinking. While working as a bellboy at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, he made the majority of his money acting as a heroin and marijuana courier for the hotel’s guests.

In a career that spanned more than 30 years, Thompson published a string of novels that have come to epitomize both pulp fiction and the allure of noir. He is best known for The Killer Inside Me, The Grifters, and After Dark, My Sweet.

Like many other writers of his generation, Thompson tried his luck in Hollywood. A number of his books were adapted for film, and he also wrote screenplays for motion pictures and scripts for television. He is believed to have written most of the script for Stanley Kubrick’s classic Paths of Glory, but Kubrick’s ego prevented Thompson from receiving the solo writing credit. Toward the end of his life, Thompson was hired to adapt his novel The Getaway, but was dismissed by the film’s star, Steve McQueen, who found Thompson’s treatment too dark. It makes one wonder who McQueen thought he was hiring. Thompson can be seen making a cameo appearance in Farewell, My Lovely, playing Judge Baxter Wilson Grayle.

Thompson died in 1971, having suffered several strokes, aggravated by alcoholism and self-starvation. He was at the time largely forgotten, but since his death, his star has risen. The Grifters was made into a successful film, featuring a script by Donald Westlake and a star turn by a young Annette Bening as the dangerous seductress Myra Langtry. Black Lizard returned many of his novels to print. Thompson was also the subject of a serious biography, Savage Art, by Robert Polito.

Bouchercon

Airports across the country will be full of mystery writers and fans on Wednesday as they wing their way to Madison, Wisconsin, for this year’s Bouchercon, the granddaddy of all mystery cons.

We’ll be watching for blog posts from Bouchercon, but you might want to bookmark this site for possible photo uploads.

With any luck, my friends at Mystery News will also be putting some photos up in due course.

(Hat tip to Sarah Weinman.)

75 Years of Dick Tracy

When mystery fans start talking about the ancestry of the modern detective in fiction, you hear a lot about Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, but even though he was born in the same era, you seldom hear a whisper about Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy. That’s a shame. Gould’s contribution to the oeuvre is very real, even if it’s sometimes also kinda weird.

Honored or not, we don’t forget Dick Tracy, though it is a surprise to realize that the cartoon shamus, his beloved Tess Trueheart, the singing Mumbles, and sun-damaged Pruneface all turn 75 during the first week of October.

Cartoonist Gould, who died in 1985, was one of those “overnight successes” you hear about most frequently. He submitted ideas to the Chicago Tribune for a decade before Dick Tracy was picked up in 1931; the first strip finally ran early in October of that year. Gould’s characters proved popular, and other newspapers picked the cartoon up quickly. The rest, as they say, is history.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary, The Dick Tracy Show: The Complete Animated Crime Series arrives in stores today. This is the first time that entire series has been offered on DVD. The series originally aired on television from 1961 to 1964, with local personalities introducing the cartoons. Character actor Everett Sloan voiced Dick Tracy, while Paul Frees (Boris Badanov of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons) and Bugs Bunny’s Mel Blanc offered their vocal talents to other characters.

Nancy’s Fall from Grace

It seems a touch ironic that a book called Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System should be discovered to contain “huge verbatim passages” hijacked from a column in The New York Times.

According to the New York Daily News:

[Author Nancy] Grace notes in the book's bibliography that she drew on an Aug. 5, 2002, “Patents” column by Sabra Chartrand about a device that allows parents to track their children. But it was only after the book was out in hardcover that she acknowledged how much of pages 204 and 205 came from the article--359 words, to be exact.

The Daily News also reported that Grace’s lawyer, her publisher, her collaborator, and even Grace herself hadn’t returned calls on the matter by deadline. It’s possible, though, that Grace and her team had other matters on their minds. Let’s face it: it’s been a bad month for the ex-prosecutor-turned-media-maven, who has been accused--loudly, widely, and from entirely unofficial sources--of browbeating the mother of a kidnap victim so harshly, the young woman killed herself just before the taped interview was due to air.

From an Associated Press item that ran in the Detroit Free Press:

Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with TV’s famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace. Before it was over, Grace was pounding her desk and loudly demanding to know: “Where were you? Why aren’t you telling us where you were that day?”

A day after the taping, Duckett, 21, shot herself to death, deepening the mystery of what happened to the boy.

Clearly, no one will ever know for sure what happened, either to the child or, in the end, to his mother. However, the noise out of the blogosphere was almost instantaneous, with many calling for Grace’s dismissal, including one piece that ran under Anna Johns’ byline on the TV Squad blog. The headline wasn’t shy: “Take Nancy Grace Off the Air!” The story itself was no gentler:

CNN's Nancy Grace, the most heinous woman on television, needs to be unplugged. She is a contemptible being who gets her kicks off of lashing out at people and flat-out accusing them of crimes that are still being investigated.

(And any time someone starts volleying with “heinous,” you just know they aren’t dicking around.)

Nancy Grace may be a bully. And, if the Daily News is to be believed, she may well be a plagiarist, as well. You can bet, though, that one thing she won’t be is out of a job. TV bosses know that, even if you tune in to watch someone because you can’t stand them, at least you’re still watching.

“Desperate Hours” Author Passes

Joseph Hayes, who wrote The Desperate Hours, a novel later adapted for the stage and--twice--for film, died on September 11. He was 88.

Bill Crider covers the sad event very well on his Pop Culture Magazine blog, so we’ll send you over there.

The Killer Collective

Crime-fiction fans who’ve been off-planet for the last few months and haven’t heard a peep about the Killer Year might be forgiven for thinking there’s something in the water. There’d have to be, right? What else would account for this groundswell of interest in a bunch of writers that no one has ever heard about? The answer, really, is in initiative and cooperation.

“Fiction is a crowded market,” says J.T. Ellison, one of the founding members of Killer Year. “By working together, we hope to reach a larger audience than we could alone.”

It’s working. Though it started simply enough this past May, with four fledgling authors--Brett Battles, Ellison, Jason Pinter, and Sandra Ruttan--the Killer Year collective has grown in both size and sophistication.

There are now 14 Killer Year authors and the collective has evolved to include a mentoring program that is fostered under the sheltering arm of the International Thriller Writers, itself a young organization that has quickly grown to wield a great deal of influence.

In a well-considered posting today on her blog, M.J. Rose, ITW’s marketing chair, says that, from first blush, she identified strongly with the Killer Year concept. “Once upon a time--be it 25 years ago or last year--each and every one of ITW’s more than 400 members was [a] debut novelist.”

According to Rose, ITW has essentially adopted the Killer Year authors and 14 ITW members--Allison Brennan, Ken Bruen, Lee Child, Douglas Clegg, Jeff Deaver, Anne Frasier, Tess Gerritsen, Harley Jane Kozak, Joe R. Lansdale, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, Cornelia Read, Jim Rollins, and Duane Swierczynski--have each committed to mentoring one of the fledglings. Other ITW initiatives will follow, including a Killer Year breakfast at the ThrillerFest 2007 in New York City.

The current Killer Year 14 are:

Brett Battles (The Cleaner), Robert Gregory Browne (Kiss Her Good-Bye), Bill Cameron (Lost Dog), Toni McGee Causey (Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day), Sean Chercover (Big City, Bad Blood), J.T. Ellison (All the Pretty Girls), Patry Francis (The Liar’s Diary), Marc Lecard (Vinnie’s Head), Derek Nikitas (Pyres), Gregg Olsen (A Wicked Snow), Jason Pinter (The Mark), Sandra Ruttan, (Suspicious Circumstances), Marcus Sakey (The Blade Itself), and Dave White (When One Man Dies).

It will be interesting to watch the development of this collective over the coming years. In the meantime, a newly polished Killer Year Web site launches today.

Hey, F. Scott!

The mystery connection is tenuous--granted. But can we really let this pass without comment? I think not.

Jazz Age writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby) was born on this day in 1896. He died of a heart attack when he was way too young, on December 21, 1940. Who knows what he could’ve produced, had he lived past age 44?

Bubble, Bubble, M.J. Rose Is NOT in Trouble

Over at Murderati this weekend, M.J. Rose (The Venus Fix) gets examined on Elaine Flinn’s “Bubble.” And since it’s this combination--the fun of Flinn and the elegant raunch of Rose--this particular bubble interview is as spicy as a bubble interview can be.

Rose spills on her obsession with nuns, what she’d do as Anastasia, and the online class she’s going to set up for people wanting to know how to start a sex therapy center like her fictional Butterfield Institute.

The interview is located here.

What Does Bubba Say?

The translation of book to film can be a painful one for an author. It’s understandable. Watching the story that grew in their minds and hearts brought to life by a business notorious for its heartlessness can be disappointing, just for starters.

So it’s fun to hear that Steve Brewer is enjoying the process of watching Lonely Street, the first of his Bubba Mabry mysteries, come to life.

Brewer reports that he spent a couple of days last week on the set of Lonely Street. “I’m a big movie fan, so it was a blast to watch a crew in action. Everyone was really nice to me, the gawking visitor.”

The film version of Lonely Street is being directed by Peter Ettinger (The Phoenix) and stars Jay Mohr as Bubba, Robert Patrick as Mr. Aaron, Lindsay Price as Felicia, and Joe Mantegna as Jerry Finkelman.

Brewer isn’t surprised that “the script differs from the book in some ways, but I think I’ll be pleased with the final product.” Filming is nearly completed, but Brewer thinks that with at least a few months of post-production work and the magic of talks of distribution deals, we might be well into 2007 before the movie is ready for screening.

Lonely Street was first published in 1994. With the seventh Bubba Mabry book, Monkey Man, being published this October, Ettinger and company will have a lot to draw from if their film is a hit.

“All in all, a terrific experience, so far,” says Brewer, “having my book made into a film. I recommend it.”

Bubba sez, “Hey.”

Ellis Peters Shortlist Announced

The British Crime Writers’ Association has announced its shortlist for the 2006 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award. According to the CWA, “This year’s shortlist contains a wide range of excellent novels, with settings ranging from ancient Egypt to Hollywood during the McCarthy witch hunts. Last year’s winner, C.J. Sansom, is also on the shortlist once more.”

The shortlist, in alphabetical order by author, is as follows:

• The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard (John Murray)
The judges comment: “A subtle examination of loyalties, love and duty set in West Point Cadet School in the 1830s with a retired New York policeman brought in to investigate a death that looks like suicide, except that the corpse later has his heart removed. Cadet Edgar Allan Poe is enlisted as an inside aide and brings his own ebullience to the task. Superb characterization, attractive writing and period atmosphere give the book a special appeal.”

• Nefertiti & the Book of the Dead, by Nick Drake (Bantam)
The judges comment: “A tightly plotted and narrated ancient Egyptian investigation of Nefertiti’s mysterious disappearance as her husband, Akhenaten, prepares to welcome the world to his brand new city. There are distinct echoes of Raymond Chandler in the investigator’s search for the missing monarch with political chicanery, aristocratic jealousy and corrupt bureaucracy blocking his every effort. The book combines excellent period detail with a pacy approach more usually found in contemporary crime novels.”

• The Janissary Tree, by Jason Goodwin (Faber & Faber)
The judges comment: “A tale of the early 19th century Ottoman empire, with two deaths threatening the delicate balance of power in the Sultan’s court. Attractively told with the unusual choice of a eunuch as an innately charming and perceptive investigator, The Janissary Tree combines a lightly employed but deeply informed grasp of the period with an exciting plot in which the personal is entwined with the political through a cast of memorable characters.”

• Sovereign, by C.J. Sansom (Macmillan)
The judges comment: “Another spellbinding story from the winner of the 2005 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger. An intricate and beautifully worked-out plot involves Sansom’s hunchback lawyer, much against his will, in Henry VIII’s grand progress to York to quell revolutionary rumblings. Murder, political intrigue, and characters realized with an almost Dickensian relish, combine to produce a dangerous drama that twists and turns as it is played out against a marvelously realized period background.”

• The Sultan’s Seal, by Jenny White (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
The judges comment: “A layered novel with a delightful mastery of atmosphere set in late 19th century Istanbul as the power of the once great Ottoman empire wanes. The investigation into the death of an English governess contrasts the formality and social constraints that surround the Sultan’s court and the empire bureaucrats with the more liberal attitudes of the English and highlights the fascination of Eastern mysteries for Western society. Personal relationships are entwined with political issues and the complexities of the plot mean twists are revealed right up until the end of this compelling book.”

• Red Sky Lament, by Edward Wright (Orion)
The judges comment: “A deceptively straightforward, classically structured crime novel set in a Hollywood where liberals are reeling under the impact of the investigations of the McCarthy Committee into un-American Activity. The indictment of a leading left-wing screen writer prompts an investigation into who pointed the finger, which deepens into tragedy as murder follows. Political or personal? The story, with its first-class characterization and background detail, illuminates the web of betrayal, distrust and fear that leaves no one untouched, no matter how remote they think they are from communism, and provides a compelling insight into the politics of the post-Second World War film world.”

The winner will be announced on October 9 by Sir Bernard Ingham at a champagne reception to be held at the Courthouse Hotel Kempinski in London. The winning author will receive £3,000, sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers, the Headline Book Publishing Group and the Little, Brown Book Group.

Crimes: They Are A-Changin’

By Anthony Rainone
I noticed this a bit late, but Marilyn Stasio wrote an outstanding essay in the Sunday New York Times about the transformation and malleability of detective crime fiction. She remarks that the detective novel is expanding beyond the confines of its neighborhood, or region, to embrace concepts that have broad, international implications. Stasio writes: “Their amateur sleuths and local police officers, charged with keeping the peace at home, are compelled to process even the gravest of national events through the prism of that hometown perspective.” In short, it’s apparent that detective crime fiction is grabbing hold of the terrain normally covered in thrillers, for example, without necessarily moving its protagonists to other parts of the world. It’s an insightful and thought-provoking piece.

Stasio makes mention of numerous examples, including Chris Grabenstein’s Tilt-A-Whirl (2005) and his follow-up novel, Mad House (2006); Reggie Nadelson’s Disturbed Earth (2005) and her follow up book, Red Hook (2006); Jess Walter’s The Zero (2006); Tony Hillerman’s The Sinister Pig (2003); as well as Steve Hamilton’s fine new novel, A Stolen Season (2006)--all as examples of stories in which small-town cops and P.I.s deal with “substantive” national issues in their backyards. She also remarks that New York authors seem hesitant to enter this new direction in crime fiction, though she mentions S.J. Rozan’s 2004 novel, Absent Friends, as an example of one New Yorker who has tackled broader concepts.

What’s fascinating is Stasio’s observation that the mystery genre has a “highly flexible form” capable of tackling this new foray into non-regional issues. Clearly, crime fiction is a dynamic literature. This is not to say that it is the only means to address contemporary issues, but crime fiction possesses a built-in adaptability to reshape itself. And it should, too, since the way local law enforcement operates today, and the types of situations its people are asked to respond to, are changing. The NYPD has a Joint Terrorism Task Force, for example--a relatively new creation to deal with a new reality: terrorists bent on attacking the city. Its intelligence division monitors the world from a single facility, and NYPD detetectives are placed in the police departments of foreign countries. Fiction doesn’t necessarily have to reflect the new reality, but often times it must.

Stasio concludes by wondering if detective fiction will ever possess the means to not bring closure to these new plot dynamics. She found the traditional form soothing in its bringing about closure, and while contemporary crime novelists seem to be striving to do the same thing, it’s getting harder. Readers might have to either be satisfied with small victories (stopping one terrorist cell at a time, for example), or wait for larger historical shifts. Hey--the Nazis were finally defeated, and we can hope the same for terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda.

Paradise Without Breasts?

If J. Kingston Pierce were in his usual spot at the helm of The Rap Sheet, I just know he’d share this item with you. It ran Wednesday on CNN.com under the title of “Bust and boom: TV tale of breasts, drugs a hit.” Here’s some stuff from early in the piece:

Airing nightly in prime time, “Sin Tetas no hay Paraiso”--“Without (Breasts) There's No Paradise”--revolves around a 17-year-old call girl who agonizes that her flat chest is a barrier to deliverance from poverty and a life of ease as a drug trafficker's pampered plaything.

The show, based on a best-selling, true-to-life novel by the same name, is presented as a faithful--albeit tragic--reflection of a Colombian culture rotted to the core by criminality.

There’s more--lots more--here.

News from Charm City

Laura Lippman reported today on her Memory Project site that Baltimore Noir won the local City Paper Readers’ Poll for Best Local Book of the year (if there’s a link to the poll, I was unable to find it). Lippman edited the anthology, which included contributions from Jack Bludis, Sarah Weinman, Sujata Massey, and Marcia Talley.

A nice affirmation not only for Lippman, but for the evolving series from the folks at Akashic Books. Well done!

UPDATE: The link can be found here.

Europe: No Longer Crime Free?

European crime fan Uriah Robinson recently started a blog called Crime Scraps, created to be “a personal blog discussing crime books in Europe, and by that I mean continental Europe not Britain and Ireland.”

Robinson explains that his blog’s name--Crime Scraps--has personal meaning, but it’s to be a mystery, at least for now. “The name Crime Scraps has some relevance to a criminal connection in my past, but you will have to wait until I post that story.”

The blog has only been up since the 12th of this month, but it’s a promising beginning. Thus far, reviews of Tonino Benacquista’s Holy Smoke, some thoughts on the south London Richardson gang of the 1960s as well as the bizarre Natascha Kampusch kidnapping case in Austria, and a review of The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri are all available.

Monday’s posting was one of my favorites: just a succinct note about Robinson’s next read. “I am about to start Blood from a Stone [by Donna Leon], and anticipating reading a Brunetti book is like waiting for the antipasto in an Italian restaurant.”

If Robinson can keep up the pace, Crime Scraps will make its mark, even if part of the blog’s mission statement seems--to this reporter, at any rate--to miss the mark. “We hear constantly about crime in the USA,” writes Robinson, “that many people imagine Europe is a crime free zone.”

The fact is, the demand for European crime fiction--written by Europeans in Europe--has never been higher in North America than it is today. Crime Scraps looks like it may well become a bright new window through which to view that world.

(Hat tip to Euro Crime.)

Speaking of European Mysteries ...

Today in January Magazine, contributing editor Ali Karim looks at the novel Voices, by Arnaldur Indridason.

The third English-translated work from this award-winning Icelander finds his dour series sleuth, Erlendur, holed up in a large, classy Reykjavík hotel at Christmastime, ducking his daughter’s attentions while he tries to figure out who stabbed a Santa-dressed doorman.

“Icelander Arnaldur Indridason is, in my opinion, one of the modern masters of the police procedural,” says Karim.

The full review can be found here.

A Novel of “Exquisite Taste”

Seven years was a long time to wait, but Thomas Harris’ fans can finally look forward to a new installment in the saga of the sometimes controversial Hannibal Lecter. Though maybe in this case it’s more accurate to say they can look forward to looking back.

According to the BBC, Hannibal Rising--originally scheduled for publication last year--will deal with Lecter’s early years:

Covering the flesh-eating killer's life from ages 6 to 20, Hannibal Rising will shed light on his parents' deaths and his memories of younger sister Mischa.

The BookStandard adds that “Harris also wrote the screenplay for the movie version, which will star Gaspard Ulliel (A Very Long Engagement) as a young Dr. Lecter, who was famously portrayed in previous films by Anthony Hopkins.”

Hannibal Rising is the first Thomas Harris novel since Hannibal, published in 1999. The new book will be available December 5. The film will follow in February of next year.

Anthony Wants You

With Bouchercon a little more than a week away, and people packing their bags while licking their lips in anticipation of fun and cheese, Sarah Weinman reports that the sold-out conference, to be help this year in Madison, Wisconsin, has put out a call for all hands on deck. (Sorry: but it is still Talk Like a Pirate day, after all.)

Weinman includes a portion of a message from Bouchercon organizers:

Now is the time for all good volunteers to come to the aid of the Bouchercon.

Yes, we know it’s very late. There’s nothing we can do about that now. Jodi Dabson Bollendorf and Kate Buker have stepped in at this late to try to match people with the jobs they’d like to do. We need volunteers for the registration desk, the signing room, and in panel rooms.

The whole posting is here.

Books for (and By) Kiwis

New Zealand’s first-ever Book Month began yesterday with festivals and events planned throughout the country.

Although I scanned the lists of events and participating authors, crime fiction seems shockingly underrepresented in kiwi country; however, I’d be delighted if readers from that part of the world--and other places--would correct me if I’m wrong. Where is the New Zealand mystery faction hanging out these days? (And I don’t doubt that there is one.)

Meanwhile, New Zealand Book Month is trying to raise awareness for literacy issues across that island nation. The program is twofold: on the one hand, a celebration of reading in New Zealand with special emphasis on kiwi authors; on the other, people are being asked to bring their favorite book by a New Zealand author. There will be three huge bookcases at each venue and, after the events, the volumes will be given to Books in Homes, an organization that provides books to needy children “in celebration of the life-transforming powers that great books have.”

Project director Phil Twyford says that activities are planned for virtually every town and city in the country.

“Globules of Liquid Lava”

With book awards season coming quickly to its clamorous conclusion, we’ve been spending a lot of time thinking here about whose novels are the best. When we do that, though, we forget about the whole other end of the scale. After all, without a worst novel, how can you even have a best one?

We wouldn’t want to begin to think about who might have written the worst mystery ever but, when it comes to mainstream fiction, the conclusion has already been reached. According to The Telegraph, there’s one author who wins that distinction easily:

The heaving bosoms, trembling lips, quivering voices and clammy hands that inhabit the world created by Amanda McKittrick Ros won her many admirers among the literary elite.

Her novels provided the entertainment at gatherings of the Inklings, a group of Oxford dons including [C.S.] Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien who met from the 1930s to 1950s. They competed to see who could read her work aloud for longest before starting to laugh.

The laughter will pick up again at a “Ros reading challenge” to be held during the Celebrate Literary Belfast festival at the John Hewitt pub in Belfast, Ireland, on September 26.

You can read the Telegraph piece here.

Party with Your Peg Leg

Forgive me. This has nothing to do with mystery. But it should be mentioned--it must be mentioned, in fact--that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. How do I know? Bill Crider says so.

’Nuff said.

Dahlia Droops After Opening Weekend

Josh Hartnett and Hilary Swank in The Black Dahlia.

We’ve been anticipating the opening of The Black Dahlia, the Brian De Palma film based on the 1987 James Ellroy novel of the same title. While we waited, we gave the whole thing some thought, including articles by J. Kingston Pierce, here and here, and also here.

Well, the first reviews are in now and--overall--they’re not good. In fact, some of them are more violent than the R-rated film itself.

Here, for example, from IF Magazine: “The Black Dahlia is one of the most convoluted, cobbled-up, wastes of film that has been released in recent months.”

(Yes, but do you think they had an opinion?)

The Washington Post could have spared itself the review; the paper said it all in its headline, “Black Dahlia Withers Fast,” though the review’s final line summarizes the film brutally: “Here's the lowdown, the q.t., the true gen: The Black Dahlia is a big nowhere.”

The Times of London’s headline was so nifty, one couldn’t help but wonder if it had been pondered well before the viewing of this film. How much more succinct could it get than “L.A. Inconsequential,” a title that not only lets us know exactly what the reviewer thought of the movie, but also references another Ellroy novel that made a much smoother transition to the silver screen.

Mike Straka from Fox News said: “Are you having trouble sleeping at night? Do you toss and turn, count sheep and nothing helps you put your tired eyes and body to rest? Well, fear not. Coming to a theater near you is The Black Dahlia ...”

There are more, but I’ll stop. You get the general idea: I don’t know yet if viewers have been enjoying the movie, but reviewers sure haven’t so far.

* * *

The Los Angeles Times reports that the film took in $10.4 million at the box-office during its opening weekend, coming in second place behind Gridiron Gang’s $15 million.

Analysts said the second-place showing was a disappointment for Universal Studios, which had pushed the film with a marketing blitz that included reprints of Los Angeles Times articles about the original case and a virtual tour of “Black Dahlia” sites on America Online.

In fairness, the article also mentions that box office totals were down 11.8 percent from the same period last year. Even so, it can’t have been fun for De Palma to get trashed by a movie starring The Rock.

The Houston Chronicle’s Louis B. Parks looks at The Black Dahlia from a different place. He saves his bullets for another day and instead compares De Palma’s flick to Hollywoodland, another recently released period piece that fictionalizes a different real Hollywood death--in this case, that of early Superman star, George Reeves, surprisingly well played here by Ben Affleck. Then Parks looks at how and where both movies fit into the film noir oeuvre. The piece is a must-read for those who enjoy noir and would like a better understanding of it.

The reviewers mostly agree: Ellroy’s novel is classic, untouchable. De Palma’s film, however, is beautiful but incomprehensible. Yet, despite the serious trash talking, I can hardly wait to see it for myself. I’ve got a hunch that other fans of crime fiction will agree.

READ MORE: “Brian DePalma’s The Black Dahlia,” by Larry Harnisch (The Daily Mirror).

Sweaters, Cider, and Books

Here in Ohio, it’s the beginning of autumn, though you wouldn’t know it yet from the temperatures. Nearly every other sign is here, though. School buses punctuate the drive to work, high school football games can be heard on Friday evenings (if the wind is right, I can hear the percussion section of the local high school band from our backyard deck), and thoughts turn to the fall book releases, and the stories that will occupy me through the cool nights and into the winter.

Here are the books that I’m most looking forward to between now and the end of the year:

• Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime, by Robert J. Randisi. The first of a new series featuring the Rat Pack of the 1960s. Someone is sending threatening mail to Dean Martin, throwing the filming of Ocean’s 11 into turmoil. In the course of the investigation, bodies begin to pile up. Normally, I view fiction involving actual historical figures with a jaundiced eye, but I really like the concept, and Randisi is one of the most dependable writers working today.

• Kate Atkinson’s One Good Turn. Atkinson’s previous novel, Case Histories, was one of the most widely praised works of 2004 (which I also need to read). In this latest book, Atkinson brings back P.I. Jackson Brodie. Brodie witnesses a case of violent road rage in Edinburgh, bringing him out a lucrative though aimless retirement.

• Jason Starr and Maggie Estep edit a new horse-racing anthology, Blood Lines, newly released and now available. Among the contributors in their stable are Ken Bruen, Scott Phillips (who is overdue for a new novel, in my humble opinion), Wallace Stroby, and Daniel Woodrell.

• Lastly, I’m very excited about Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness, which will also be the subject of a series on PBS. The thesis is right up my alley: our happiness is profoundly affected by the quality of our environment--walls, chairs, buildings, and streets. Perfect reading as the leaves change and the air turns brisk on the deck, with the fading high-school band in the background.

I’ll be pulling the sweaters out of the guest room closet, pouring some hot cider, and enjoying these books, and certainly a few others.

Anthony and Linda …?

Connelly Hits the Funny Pages

It seems like we’ve been waiting for Michael Connelly’s The Overlook for a long time. (The Rap Sheet first reported on it back in June.)

But the wait is finally over. This original, 16-part novella was commissioned by The New York Times Magazine as part of the Times’ “Sunday Serial,” the lead item in the magazine’s “Funny Pages” section.

According to a press release sent out by The Times:

“The Funny Pages” includes “The Strip,” exclusive full-color weekly strips featuring stars of the graphic novel; a new comic by Seth, whose credits include the ongoing series, “Palooka-Ville,” makes it debut. The non-fiction humor column, “True-Life Tales,” also continues.

Originally scheduled to begin running in August, we’re glad we don’t have any longer to wait. Though how will we be able to cool our jets for 15 weeks to get to the end of this latest Harry Bosch tale?

Part one of The Overlook will appear in the print edition of Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, but is available online now.

The End of Rebus

For those who have been following Scottish author Ian Rankin’s career, it might be surprising to realize that 2007 will mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of Knots and Crosses, Rankin’s first novel featuring Inspector John Rebus. However, once you realize that he’s been writing Rebus novels since 1987, maybe it’s not such a shock that Rankin is contemplating the end of his well-loved hero.

The Guardian Unlimited reports that Rankin “told an audience of his readers at the Guardian Book Club that the next Rebus novel he writes (the 17th) will be the last.”

There were some expressions of regret. Readers clearly regard Rankin's detective, who is an “anarchist at heart”, with considerable affection. Not least because, as one reader said, he had grown older alongside them.

The Guardian piece--which, through the wonders of modern technology, datelines tomorrow--collects the thoughts of Guardian Book Club readers, layers in comments from the author and is a must-read for Rankin’s many fans.
The Guardian piece can be found here.

Birthday for a Queen

Queen of Crime Agatha Christie sure gets a lot of ink. Last week it was an auction of her belongings where values far exceeded auctioneer’s expectations. The week before that was Agatha Christie Week, according to the Dame Agatha-devoted blog helmed by January Magazine contributing editor David Abrams. This week--today in fact--marks what would have been the 126th birthday of the creator of what are--arguably--some of mystery fiction’s best-loved and best known characters.

According to Christie’s official Web site, Agatha Christie was born Agatha Miller in Torquay, England, on September 15, 1890. She got the last name--Christie--when she married her husband, Archibald Christie, in 1914. The couple’s daughter, Rosalind, was born in 1919 and they divorced in 1928.

By that time, Christie had already gained a reputation as a writer. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920 and included that nutty but now internationally beloved Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Christie would go on to include Poirot in 54 short stories and 33 novels.

In 1930, Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan. She accompanied Mallowan on many of his digs and was undoubtedly creatively influenced by the relationship and her time spent in the Middle East. This is best seen in the novels Murder in Mesopotamia, from 1936, and Death on the Nile, from 1937.

Christie was given England’s highest honor in 1971 when she was awarded to the Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire and created as Dame Agatha. She continued to write prolifically until the time of her death in 1976. Her last novel, Sleeping Murder, was published the year she died and featured her other much beloved recurring sleuth, Miss Jane Marple.

In a recent article on the Christie auction, Daily News & Analysis said:

Agatha Christie’s books have sold more than one billion copies in the English language and another billion in more than 45 foreign languages. It is claimed only the Bible and Shakespeare outsell her.

Dame Agatha died peacefully at home on January 12, 1976.

Serial Sam Gets the Call

On his blog Thursday, Rap Sheet and January Magazine contributor Anthony Rainone tells readers about an article in New York Magazine that looks at Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz’s conversion to Christianity.

“Facing the daily punishment for the terrible murders he committed,” Rainone writes, “he turned to Christianity for solace. In the process, he attracted the attention of many Christian groups and individuals, who are making Berkowitz into a cause celebre for their religious beliefs.”

Gosh, they can have him.

Rainone’s done a super job of collecting all the links relevant to this story, so we’ll point you right there.

My Spiny Sense in Tingling

The new issue of Spinetingler magazine is now online. Editor Sandra Ruttan reports 19 new stories, 23 reviews, and interviews with Simon Kernick, Reggie Nadelson, Peter Robinson, and Lynne Patrick, founder of boutique publisher Créme de la Crime. A special bonus feature: find our what Barry Eisler and J.A. Konrath really did at ThrillerFest last summer.

You can download the issue here.

Or read it online here.

Remembering My Mystery Friend

Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the death of one of my best friends. His name was Jeff, and he died September 15, 2005, after his pancreatic cancer, which had been in remission for nearly a year, came roaring back.

Jeff was an odd but utterly charming collection of contradictions. He was devoutly Catholic, but could fire off a string of obscenities that would make a longshoreman stand up and applaud. He was often rumpled, on the verge of being unkempt. He loved college football and Shakespeare (he often modified a line or two from The Merchant of Venice, saying that, “Miller speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in Columbus”).

He thought my girlfriend was terrific and told me in no uncertain terms that I should marry her. He was right, and I did.

I have thought about Jeff a lot in the last year. He missed out on my wedding, and he would have been the life of the party. Leslie and I took part of our honeymoon in San Francisco, where he lived and practiced law for 20 years, and we spent our last night in the city eating at one of his favorite restaurants. And I’ve had my own issues with cancer in the last year, and I’ve often thought about his grace under pressure. I’m not sure I could replicate it.

Jeff was also a world-class fan of crime fiction.

Jeff was into Elmore Leonard before Leonard was cool. He could remember intricate plot points in Donald Westlake’s Dortmunder books. One year, he gave me Hush Money, by Robert B. Parker, for Christmas. Inside the book he inscribed “Don’t ever change. Keep buying my books. Bob Parker. PS: Susan sends her love and has a girl she’d like you to meet.” Obviously, this was before Leslie and I got together.

Jeff’s favorite writer was Warren Murphy, and his favorite series character was P.I. Devlin “Trace” Tracy. The irreverent wit and preposterous set pieces of the Trace novels appealed to Jeff’s sense of the absurd (not to mention Trace’s girlfriend Chico, an Italian-Jewish blackjack dealer and part-time hooker). Trace’s frequent client is a stuffy insurance executive named Walter Marks, who Trace calls “Groucho.” Since I work for an insurance company, this meant I had to be called “Groucho” as well. I remember how thrilled he was when I gave him a copy of the Private Eye Writers of America anthology Mystery Street, in which Murphy had written a new short story featuring Trace. Whenever I would return from Bouchercon, he would ask me if I saw Murphy (or Trace and Chico) hanging around the bar.

Jeff could never quite understand how I, a reasonably cheerful guy who usually sees the glass as half full, could “read all that noir shit.” It was a running joke for several years, ending with the last book I bought for him, San Francisco Noir.

Had Jeff been around this year, I would have sent him my copy of The Big Boom after reviewing it for January Magazine. He would have loved it, since it took place in the North Beach section of the city he loved. But, he would have bitched about the noir tone afterward.

I miss my friend. We could have talked about lots of good books this year, like we did so many years.

And don’t worry, Jeff. My eyes are still on the lookout for Warren Murphy.

The Odds Were Wrong

The Daily Mail Reports that the bookies predicting the Man Booker shortlist were wrong. In fact, the bookies’ favorite, David Mitchell, has been left off this year’s list altogether.

Instead, the six authors vying for the £50,000 prize are Kiran Desai, Kate Grenville, M.J. Hyland, Hisham Matar, Edward St. Aubyn, and Sarah Waters.

You can read the whole story here.

The Odds of Winning

The Hollywood Reporter brings news of a literary prize that’s bound to get hopefuls lining up. The Sobol Award will offer $100,000 for the best unreleased, agentless novel. The only requirements are that the book be unpublished and the author unrepresented. Oh, and you need to send $85 along with your application.

But not everything is sunshine with the Sobol. The (ahem) always shy and retiring Miss Snark reported on the award on her blog back in July. “This is a crock of shit,” sniped Snark, referring to the entry fee.

According to The Reporter:

The award was created by Sobol Literary Enterprises, a for-profit venture started by technology entrepreneur Gur Shomron, as “a venue to discover talented, unknown fiction writers and help them get the recognition they deserve. ... For many talented writers, finding a publisher is more difficult than writing their novel,” Shomron said Wednesday in a statement. He added that “not a single writer will face silent rejection,” receiving two or more evaluations from a panel of editors, librarians and others in the book community.

The Hollywood Reporter’s item is here.

Meanwhile, in the world of super-legitimate book awards, William Hill--the people that will give you odds on just about anything--have announced their take on the anticipated Man Booker shortlist. BookTrade.info reports that “William Hill make The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell the 5/1 joint favourites to win the Prize.”

You can see the balance of Hill’s odds here.

Rumors of His Demise ...

It’s great to see the original thrilling detective, Kevin Burton Smith, back in the saddle at The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Smith has had the site on hiatus for the last few months, partly because, as he remarks today in his blog, the site is “one big boulder to be pushing uphill all the time.” He’s being witty (he’s quite often witty), but the reality is, with this project, Smith has created the most significant repository for detective fiction of a ... er ... thrilling nature.

As Smith remarks in his longstanding introduction to the site:

What is a private eye? I'll be rounding up a few attempts at a definition later, but simply put, I'm talking private eyes here. Think gumshoe, shamus, peeper, private dick. He doesn't necessarily have to be licensed, he may consider himself a "salvage consultant" and a "guy that helps people out", he may be a bounty hunter or a troubleshooter or a freelance reporter, but he's generally a freelancer, a loner, an outsider, with an essence of toughness that has more to do with character than how many sailors he can toss out of a bar. And it goes without saying (or it should) that he might very well be a she.

If that’s the sort of fiction that spins your wheels, The Thrilling Detective Web Site should be an important surfing stop.

Despite the hiatus, the new issue is a corker. There’s new short fiction from Kim Harrington, Daniel Hatadi, Russel McLean, D.H. Reddall, and Sarah Weinman (“It’s an intriguing mix of virgins and those who’ve been around the block a few times,” the editor remarks); an excerpt from Brett Martin’s A Dum-Dum for the President; and more than 300 new or updated files “just to show there’s more to my life than painkillers and The Rockford Files.”

The Thrilling Detective Web Site can be found here.

It’s Hard Out There

In Gammy L. Singer’s second entertaining “Landlord’s Tale” mystery, Down and Dirty, entrepreneurish ex-con Amos Brown tries to prove that a friend is innocent of murdering a scoundrelish pimp, while he also deals with the political fallout from the death of a powerful drug lord.

In her well-considered review that appears today on January Magazine, contributing editor Cindy Chow tells us why it’s hard out there for a landlord and why, beyond that, there’s a lot in Down and Dirty to like:

While the plot of Down and Dirty moves along quite swiftly, the characters, distinctive to their setting, are the ones who command this yarn and make it so memorable.

The review is here.

Operations. Relations. Complications.

I’m not exactly sure why medical show and nighttime soap Grey’s Anatomy should be so popular with crime-fiction fans, but--even though it’s no House--it is popular with the mystery set. Everyone keeps talking about it, despite the fact that the show’s official plot line sounds drier than hospital commissary toast:

A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.

The show’s tagline brings it a bit closer:

Operations. Relations. Complications.

Now we’re getting someplace.

According to the International Movie Database, it took some thinking before the final title stuck. The fairly unimaginative working titles for this series included Complications, Procedure, Surgeons and Under the Knife. A rose by another other name? Sure. But would it have smelled as sweet?

Season three of Grey’s Anatomy premieres September 21 on ABC. If that’s too far away, season two is available on DVD as of yesterday. The DVD package includes all 27 episodes of season two on six discs, plus lots of fun extras including commentary by director Jeff Melman and writer Krista Vernoff, four extended episodes, deleted scenes, an exclusive set tour, and “Creating ‘Pink Mist’: Anatomy of a Special Effect.”

For Gibson, Crime Did Pay

It isn’t only The Shadow who knows about this one: Today marks what would have been the 109th birthday of Walter Gibson, the mondo-prolific Germantown, Pennsylvania-born author responsible for writing (under the pen name “Maxwell Grant”) somewhere in the vicinity of 300 Shadow books, published during the 1930s and ’40s. A magician and friend of Harry Houdini, Gibson also penned more than 100 books over his lifetime about legerdermain, games, and physical phenomena, plus thousands of early syndicated newspaper pieces having to do with puzzles and brain teasers.

It was in 1931 that he switched from syndicated writing to concocting mystery stories, being hired by publishers Street & Smith to compose yarns featuring The Shadow, a “noirish antihero” born on the radio (though not originally portrayed by deep-voiced actor/director Orson Welles; it wasn’t until 1937 that Welles began to make The Shadow, aka Lamont Cranston, the compelling radio presence many older folks still remember today). By the late 1940s, though, Gibson was moving more and more into novel writing. In 1946, he saw a pair of mysteries published under his own name, A Blond for Murder and Looks That Kill. As well, he started ghost-writing works for other people, such as “mentalist” Joseph Dunninger (possibly, the inspiration for the Shadow character). On top of the books he turned out as Gibson and Grant, he also churned forth works under noms de plume such as Ishi Black, Felix Fairfax, Maborushi Kineji, Gautier LeBrun, Rufus Perry, and P.L. Raymond.

Gibson died in December 1985, at age 88. However, he’s been “resurrected” twice in fiction over the last year, first as the protagonist in Max Allan Collins’ novel The War of the Worlds Murder, and more recently as the co-star (along with another real-life pulp master, Lester Dent, of Doc Savage fame) in Paul Malmont’s debut novel, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.

BUT THERE’S MORE: To download and listen to some of the old Shadow radio shows, click here. If you’d like to listen to a brief interview with Gibson, taped in 1977, click here.