Bullet Points: Chocolate Rabbits Edition

• Guidelines have now been posted for authors wishing to enter their work in this year’s contest for the Tony Hillerman Prize. The deadline for manuscripts is July 1. This competition, which is co-sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and WordHarvest, is open to any unpublished first mystery novels set in the American Southwest. It’s of course named in honor of Tony Hillerman, creator of the Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn mysteries, who died in October of last year at age 83. As prize organizers explain, “The contest published its first winner, The Replacement Child, by New Mexico author Christine Barber, in 2008. The 2009 winner, The Ragged End of Nowhere, by Roy Chaney of Kansas City, will be released in the fall of 2009.” For additional information, click here.

• Megan Abbott, a Rap Sheet contributor and author of the forthcoming novel Bury Me Deep, lends her significant talents to the Web site Noir of the Week, reviewing the 1952 Barbara Stanwyck/Paul Douglas flick, Clash by Night.

• Law & Order: Criminal Intent returns to the USA Network beginning on Sunday, April 19, with the talented Jeff Goldblum (Raines) joining the alternating cast. And the second season of Mary McCormack’s In Plain Sight will debut on the same night. Don’t bother trying to call me that evening. I’ll be busy.

• Beat to a Pulp’s latest short-story offering is “Maker’s and Coke,” by Jake Hinkson.

• Somebody’s been messing with the U.S. covers of Roger “R.N.” Morris’ 2008 historical mystery, A Vengeful Longing.

• My, Dashiell Hammett sure could pound the keys.

• There definitely seems to be a “running men” motif developing on the jackets of today’s thrillers. We already commented on it here, but now Euro Crime’s Karen Meek offers some additional examples. Can’t designers be a little more original?

• Several interviews of note: Jen Lorain of the blog Jen’s Book Thoughts talks with Rosemary Harris, whose new novel is The Big Dirt Nap (and who I had the pleasure of sitting next to during a dinner party at Bouchercon in October). Tony Black interviews Scottish author Russel B. McLean (The Good Son) for Shots. And Martin Edwards takes to cyberspace in order to ask John Baker a thing or two about his latest novel, Winged with Death. The two parts of their exchange can be found here and here.

• I had my say a couple of years back on the wonders of the 1972-1973 American television season--the season that first made me sit up and take notice of TV crime dramas. Now, Brent McKee, who writes a terrific blog called I Am a Child of Television, revisits that year’s boob-tube debuts. “I don’t wish to suggest that any given year was ‘TV’s Golden Year,’” he writes, “but I would suggest that if someone were to come up with a list of ‘Greatest Seasons,’ 1972-73 would be very near the top. Even some of the failures were in their own way brilliant. With the possible exception of NBC, 1972 was a hell of a good year for just about everyone, in particular the viewers.” Enjoy all of McKee’s essay here. And if you haven’t been keeping track of his looks back at past TV Guide’s “Fall Preview” issues, you can catch up here.

• Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write as “Nicci French,” have given their Web site a welcome brush-up.

• Dutch author Jochem van der Steen, the creator of Los Angeles security specialist Noah Milano and the author of the blog Sons of Spade, talks about his new short-story collection, Tough as Leather, in Pulp Pusher.

• Louise Ure submits her new book, Liars Anonymous, to Marshal Zeringue’s sometimes revealing Page 69 Test. The results are here.

• Finally, 007 fans take note: A new James Bond Museum has thrown open its doors in the town of Keswick, in northern England. “The Bond Museum,” explains a press release, “is the brainchild of Peter Nelson who has been collecting James Bond items for 20 years and now has the biggest private collection in the world. The museum will feature several Aston Martin and Lotus cars used in the Bond films alongside many other vehicles including the actual Russian T55 main battle tank used in the film GoldenEye, as well as boats, planes and even a Bell Jetranger helicopter.” You’ll find more information here, and an interview with museum founder Nelson here.