All That and the Kitchen Sink, Too

Since I’m still locked in mortal battle with my first cold of the season (and does anybody know where I left my latest box of Kleenex?), I shall confine myself today to a wrap-up column. The Rap Sheet should resume its normal overachieving pace as this week rolls forward.

• The Carnival of the Criminal Minds baton falls this week to that Irish maestro of mischief, Declan Burke, who’s filled his blog, Crime Always Pays, with myriad references to crime-fiction sites worth investigating. Glenn Harper’s International Noir Fiction, Nathan Cain’s Independent Crime, and the German blog International Crime all receive the official Burke “big up.” Also interesting is the background Burke supplies concerning his much-talked-about second novel, The Big O. It seems he split the costs of publishing with Hag’s Head Press--“a 50-50 costs and profits deal.” A significant gamble, if you ask me. So it is good to hear that not only has his novel been shortlisted for one of the inaugural Spinetingler Awards, but U.S. publisher Harcourt has bought The Big O and its sequel for the American market. The Big O should appear in the States next fall. But you can read his crime carnival entry right here, right now.

• Blogger CrimeFicReader continues to collect holiday present recommendations from UK and Irish authors (an idea that’s so good, I wish I’d thought of it first). Her latest suggestions come from Andrew Taylor, John Lawton, and David Isaak.

• After a few weeks when few new entries appeared, S.J. Rozan’s Six-Word Stories competition looks to have been reinvigorated. My favorite recent contestants:

“Damn! I missed. Oh good, ricochet.” -- Stephen Buehler

“Nurse: ‘Husband’s allergies?’ Cheating wife: ‘None.’” -- Elizabeth Quinn

“Babydoll nightie. Ivory-handled derringer. All packed.” -- Lynn Kubota

Check out all the submissions here.

• The holiday issue of ThugLit is packing a Santa’s bag full of good stuff. Among its contributors are Scott Wolven (“New About Yourself”), Sean Doolittle (“The Grift of the Magi”), and Ellen Neuborne (“Blackballed”). You’ll find the full contents here.

• Australian novelist P.D. Martin (Body Count) is the latest “Fresh Blood” interviewee in Crime Squad.

• Anthony Rainone reminds us that only a week remains in the voting period for Court TV’s “Next Great Crime Writer” contest. There are dozens of first chapters from prospective novels up for consideration. Vote for your favorite. The deadline is a week from today, December 9. The 15 chapters that receive the most “10” votes will move on to Round Two, and the grand prize winner gets a $5,000 prize and a publishing contract.

• Harold Schechter’s The Devil’s Gentleman is on my Christmas present wish list this year (hint, hint), so I was intrigued to discover that he’d submitted that new book to Marshal Zeringe’s Page 99 Test. Unfortunately, Schechter doesn’t think that his page 99 is more or less representative than any other of his subject matter: an 1890s poisoning case in New York City reportedly perpetrated by “a handsome, athletic society scamp, Roland Molineux.” Furthermore, he scoffs at the whole notion of judging a book on the basis of one page. I’m guessing that Zeringue won’t invite him to participate in his Page 69 Test.

• The subhead on the story sums it all up: “In her first British interview since ‘marrying’ her female partner, Patricia Cornwell explains why she kept quiet about her sexuality for years--and how her new life is transforming her forensically gory novels.” Read more in The Telegraph.

• And the “best books of 2007” columns continue to proliferate. The Globe and Mail’s crime critic, Margaret Cannon, is up this weekend with her 10 picks (which include Martin Cruz Smith’s Stalin’s Ghost, Peter Temple’s The Broken Shore, and John MacLachlan Gray’s Not Quite Dead. Meanwhile, the London Times’ Marcel Berlins offers up his eight faves (among them Gilbert Adair’s A Mysterious Affair of Style and Ian Rankin’s Exit Music). And Tom and Enid Schantz, proprietors of The Rue Morgue bookstore in Boulder, Colorado, supply readers of The Denver Post with a trio of appropriate gifts for the crime-fiction fans on their Christmas lists.