Bullet Points: Finally, It’s Getting Sunny Again in Seattle Edition

• As The Gumshoe Site reports, The Edgar Allan Poe Society and The Poe House in Baltimore, Maryland, have been selected to receive the Mystery Writers of America’s 2009 Raven Award for “outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.” That commendation will be presented during the annual Edgar Awards banquet in New York City on April 30, 2009.

• I know I’m late to the party with this one, but there might still be readers out there who haven’t heard the news: Author Dennis Lehane, who has been properly applauded of late for his historical thriller, The Given Day, has apparently decided to return to his series characters, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, in his next novel.

• The NBC-TV series Life, which has definitely become one of my few favorite shows on the tube these days, has been given a full-season order. That means more of Detective Charlie Crews’ Zen-like philosophizing, and more exploration of the beautiful Dani Reese’s personal and familial background. Hot diggity!

• ThugLit is out with its latest edition, this one featuring bare-knuckled tales from the likes of Derek Nikitas (“Razor”), Sophie Littlefield (“Don’t Mess with Paige”), and Christopher Bundy (“Big in Japan”). The full contents are available here.

• Nathan Cain, author of the blog Independent Crime, reads his short story “Amphetamine Logic” for the podcast site CrimeWAV. You can listen to the whole thing here.

• Peter Ricci has more than a few good words to say about “ Raymond Chandler’s chokehold on crime fiction.”

• Geoff Eighinger, the brains behind the crime-fiction book review blog Eastern Standard Crime, has announced the planned debut of a new online short-story venue, Crooked. The first edition is due out January 1. More information available here.

• And Pulpetti’s Juri Nummelin has a preview of Hard Case Crime’s 50th paperback release, the appropriately titled Fifty-to-One, by publisher-author Charles Ardai.