Bullet Points: I’m Down with a Cold Edition

• As both B.V. Lawson of In Reference to Murder and Sarah Weinman point out, it’s not too late for people to register for attendance at a pair of smaller crime-fiction conventions happening this weekend: Murder 203 in Easton, Connecticut, and the Writers Police Academy, taking place in Hamilton, Ohio, as part of part of the annual Mad Anthony Writers Conference.

• The latest edition of Clues: A Journal of Detection focuses on “girl sleuths,” among them the indomitable Nancy Drew and Veronica Mars. It’s the first issue of this semiannual magazine with a brand-new, larger format. You’ll find the list of contents here. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

• John Kenyon of Things I’d Rather Be Doing talks with Charles Ardai, publisher of the Hard Case Crime paperbacks, about his novel Fifty-to-One, the use of Ardai’s real name rather than a pseudonym on that book, the death of Donald E. Westlake, and the introduction of Hard Case’s new line of Gabriel Hunt adventure novels. You’ll find their full exchange here.

• I just keep adding to my list of authors whose work I’ve never read. Add two more names now: Bernard Buley and Hal Pink. The fact that both posts cited here come from Bear Alley makes me want to keep closer tabs on that blog. (Hat tip to Mystery*File.)

• Confession time: When I came across news that Maxine Cooper Gomberg had died, I asked myself, Who? It turns out that she played detective Mike Hammer’s secretary, Velda, in the 1955 noir classic, Kiss Me Deadly, made from Mickey Spillane’s 1952 novel of the same name. She also appeared in Perry Mason, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Maverick, Dragnet, and ... well, the list goes on and on.

• Here’s a movie I haven’t seen in a VERY long while.

• Rafe McGregor, the British author of The Architect of Murder, supplies the latest podcast short story at CrimeWAV.com. It’s called “Blue Mail,” and is described by the author as “Nasty. Brutish. Short. A noir mystery introducing an ex-cop named Farrow ...”

• The rights to the literary estates of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Georges Simenon are apparently changing hands.

• In her cover story for the latest edition of Library Journal, contributor Wilda Williams says the coming things are historical crime novels and espionage stories.

• “Bookbitch” Stacy Alesi has snagged a couple of big-name authors as guest bloggers: Jane K. Cleland and Laurie R. King.

• Wow! The novella gets a lot of respect--finally--from Bookslut contributor John Madera, who asked a whole bunch of authors, critics, and bloggers to list their 10 favorite abbreviated works of fiction. If all you’re looking for a crime and mystery novellas, here is Clayton Moore’s submission.

• January Magazine’s new “Author Snapshot” takes stock of Gordon Aalborg, author of the new Tasmanian thriller” (is there really such a subgenre?), Dining with Devils.

• Is Greece the new crime-fiction setting of choice?

• Three interviews of note: David Fuller (Sweetsmoke) in Lesa’s Book Critiques, Matt Beynon Rees (The Samaritan’s Secret) in Crime Always Pays, and Chris Knopf (Hard Stop) in Canada’s National Post.

• Michael Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio (aka “Michael Gregorio”) submit their new historical mystery, A Visible Darkness, to Marshal Zeringue’s Page 69 Test. The results can be found here.

• Double O Section offers interesting news: “Even though there’s no new James Bond novel scheduled this year from Charlie Higson (and even though the future of his Young Bond series is totally unknown at this point), there will be a Young Bond companion book this fall, called Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier.” More information on that release can be found here.

• And this may be the most inspirational thing since Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States.