Bullet Points: From Here to Maternity

• Rap Sheet blogger Megan Abbott is the latest guest on the CrimeWAV podcast. She reads her short story “Cheer,” which originally appeared in the Crime/Noir Issue of Storyglossia. Meanwhile, I neglected to mention that Reed Farrel Coleman was last week’s CrimeWAV reader, presenting his story “Killing O’Malley.”

• Larry Beinhart, whose new sixth novel, Salvation Boulevard, is described by January Magazine as “stunning,” answers a scattering of questions for that mag about his favorite city, his sources of inspiration, and what he hopes to achieve with his latest book. Writes editor Linda L. Richards: “The mystery in Salvation Boulevard, Beinhart reports, ‘is God. Belief, religion, tithing and all the trappings.’ The authors says that his goal for the book was a lofty one. He wanted to ‘unravel those mysteries. That may have been pretentious of me. But I found it a whole lot more interesting than another serial killer or the super CSI-ers that don’t exist in real life.’” Beinhart may be best know for having penned the 1993 novel American Hero, which Hollywood turned into the satirical conspiracy film Wag the Dog (1997).

• Kevin Burton Smith has a few things to say about GOP veep candidate Sarah Palin’s ... well, tawdry home life, the families of modern gumshoes, and private eye Tess Monaghan’s pregnancy in Laura Lippman’s evolving, 15-part New York Times serial novel, The Girl in the Green Raincoat. Read more here.

• The new issue of Blazing! Adventures Magazine has been posted.

• Rafe McGregor has the early word on guests and competitions being lined up for next year’s CrimeFest in Bristol, England. If you’d like to revisit this year’s CrimeFest, simply click here.

• Ann Cleaves submits her latest novel, White Nights, to Marshal Zeringue’s Page 99 Test. The results are here.

• In Reference to Murder’s B.V. Lawson presents a list of special events being planned at Baltimore libraries and elsewhere in the city during next month’s Bouchercon. Read more here.

• The Mysterious Matters blog addresses the matter of horror fiction/mystery crossovers.

• Staff writer Scott Timberg offers up a fine tribute in the Los Angeles Times to the late Michael Dibdin. You will find that here.

• Good job! Denver has chosen Dashiell Hammett’s 1933 novel, The Thin Man, as its latest “One Book, One Denver” community read. Cynthia Nye of Boulder’s High Crimes Mystery Bookshop remarks in The Denver Post that “Mysteries offer a concrete resolution and justice, which can be very comforting when we’re living in a world where too many people get away with too many things.” The full story is here.

• Harlan Coben will bring back his series protagonist, sports agent Myron Bolitar, in his next novel, Long Lost.

• Clayton Matthews--there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.

• And I didn’t realize that Maj Sjöwall, of the famous Scandinavian crime-writing couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, was still alive, much less attending book festivals. Thanks to Petrona’s Maxine Clarke for letting me know.