Of Awards, Delays, and Birthdays

• Child 44, the entrancing Stalin-era debut thriller by Tom Rob Smith, has been longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Crime novels aren’t commonly nominated for this coveted literary award, so the young Smith must be astonished to find himself in the company of fellow contenders Salman Rushdie, Joseph O’Neill, Michelle de Kretser, and others. More on these nominations here.

• So sorry to hear about the death of Donald James (aka Donald James Wheal). In addition to writing for a variety of British TV series (The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk [Deceased], The Persuaders!, Mission: Impossible, UFO), James penned thrillers, including a trilogy (beginning with 1996’s Monstrum) set in near-future Russia and featuring Inspector Constantin Vadim. He was 76 years old. An intriguing note in The Guardian’s obituary of Donald James Wheal: “A crucial influence was his boisterous maternal grandmother, who told many a Dickensian tale to Wheal and his younger brother Keith; she claimed to have encountered Jack the Ripper when a barmaid in the East End, seeing him off with a menacing wave of her hatpin.” (Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)

• It seems a choice has finally been made as to who will perform the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. It seems that this 22nd feature in the franchise will include the first duet performance, by the lovely Alicia Keys and Jack White of the rock band The White Stripes.

• Whiteout, the film adaptation of Greg Rucka’s 1998 comic-book series about a murder mystery in Antarctica, formerly set to reach theaters this fall, has now been rescheduled for the spring of next year. The movie stars Kate Beckinsale.

• Another beloved old TV series that can only be ruined by trying to remake it for modern audiences: The Streets of San Francisco. (Hat tip to Bish’s Beat.)

• Novelist and Rap Sheet contributor Mark Coggins points me to a terrific Web site that, according to its creator, William Ahearn, offers a “look at all the Philip Marlowe books that became films and also a comparison of how Marlowe changes from book to book.” The site is called Who Cares Who Killed the Chauffer? Check it out when you have some time.

• A new blog worth following: Permission to Kill, which its writer--the semi-pseudonymous “David”--says “brings you the best spy films from around the globe.”

• And let me send my slightly belated “happy birthday” wishes out to novelist Bill Crider, who not only celebrated his own birth on Monday, but also the sixth birthday of his blog, Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine. Having put in only two years on The Rap Sheet so far, I can well imagine the level of commitment necessary to continue an enterprise like this for three times as long. Whew!