Variety Pack

• Another fine tribute to the late Robert B. Parker, this one from Quebec mystery and crime fiction critic Jim Napier.

• Crime Squad’s latest “author of the month” is Ann Cleeves, whose new book--the fourth installment in her Shetland Quartet--is Blue Lightning. Naturally, the subject comes up of whether she’s going to miss series protagonist Jimmy Perez. Cleeves says: “I’m sad to have completed the quartet, but I haven’t finished with Shetland. I’ve left the possibility of a return, though the central characters might be rather different. There’ll be a gap--I’m concentrating on the Vera Stanhope books for a while because ITV has filmed one of the novels--but I certainly intend to go north again.”

• J.D. Salinger gets a posthumous facelift.

• At the end of every year, it seems, when “best books” lists appear--and no less often when other accountings are made of the top books in most any category--complaints arise over women authors being less recognized for their accomplishments than their male counterparts. The problem, writes Claire Messud (The Emperor’s Children) in Guernica, is that “Our cultural prejudices are so deeply engrained that we aren’t even aware of them: arguably, it’s not that we think men are better, it’s that we don’t think of women at all.” Read her full essay here.

• Republicans are delusional on the subject of President Obama.

• John McFetridge (Let It Ride) says that the Canadian TV cop drama he’s been working on, The Bridge, will debut with a two-hour episode this coming Friday, March 5. Watch the trailer here.

• And Issue #2 of Ligature Marks has now been posted. It includes new fiction by Brian Haycock and Daniel W. Davis, and an interview with author Joe R. Lansdale.