Caught in the Web

• The fourth installment of Crime Scene’s exceptional series about international mystery and crime fiction, this newest one focusing on works from Italy, has finally been published. Click here to see all of the installments so far, or go directly to the Italy edition. Bob Cornwell, who manages this series, tells me that information for the Italy edition “has been compiled by Gian Franco Orsi, an ex-director at Mondadori, respected anthologist, and a regular on the jury for the major Italian award for crime fiction, the Scerbanenco Prize.”

• Today marks the last chance for members of Mystery Readers International to nominate their favorite crime novels of 2009 for one of the annual Macavity Awards. Recommendations should be made in the following categories: Best Mystery Novel, Best Mystery First Novel, Best Mystery Biographical/Critical, Best Mystery Short Story, and Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery. Send your choices to Rudolph via e-mail. Winners will be announced in October during Bouchercon.

• Following up again on yesterday’s story about Henning Mankell being captured by Israeli armed forces during a raid on a flotilla of Turkish ships bound for Gaza with relief supplies, Canada’s National Post reports that the 62-year-old Swedish crime novelist “has been released by Israeli authorities after being detained.” Good news.

• Book covers that really should exist.

• It’s June 1, and that means it’s time for young men’s fancies to turn to ... bikinis! Specifically, swimwear of the “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” variety.

• Forget about a Veronica Mars film. It’s dead.

• I haven’t yet listened to this myself, but on Sunday Evan Lewis posted a four-part 1950 radio dramatization of Raymond Chandler’s 1939 short story, “Pearls Are a Nuisance,” starring Ray Milland. Click here to listen.

• Irish novelist Declan Burke reviews the forthcoming film, The Killer Inside Me. He has more on Killer author Jim Thompson here.

• Just how far out of the mainstream are the right-wing Tea Partiers? Now they want to take away your right to elect U.S. senators!

• I have to admit, over the years I have become less and less interested in what shows the American television networks intend to debut in the fall. But there might be a few watchable programs among this year’s flood of series hungering our attention. I’ve already mentioned the rebooted Hawaii Five-O as a decent bet. And I’m willing to at least try J.J. Abrams’ Undercovers, even though it seems to borrow heavily from the 2005 theatrical release Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Meanwhile, TV Squad suggests a few other, non-crime shows that might not suck from the get-go. Good to know we have possibilities ...

• In case you missed this news before, Janet Rudolph lists the winners of the 2010 Lambda Literary Awards for lesbian and gay mysteries.

• This week’s short-story offering in Beat to a Pulp is called “Miles to Go.” It comes from Maine writer Edward A. Grainger.

• Get ready for a teenage Sherlock Holmes.

• A new edition of ThugLit has just been posted.

• The second series of Gary Phillips’ mystery Web comic, Bicycle Cop Dave, is set to begin tomorrow at the FourStory Web site. For those folks who aren’t familiar with this series, Phillips reminds us that it is “set in a downtown Los Angeles where gentrification displaces the working poor, where loft dwellers walk their little dogs past dark alleyways from which the sickly sweet smell of something else wafts, [and where] police officer David Richter patrols this mixed area on his trusty bike.” Responsible for the illustrations and lettering is Manoel Magalhães. If you would like to catch up by reading the first series of Bicycle Cop Dave, click here.

• Stefanie Pintoff submits her new historical novel, A Curtain Falls, to Marshal Zeringue’s infamous Page 69 Test. The results are here.

• U.S. Representative Mark Kirk, who was hoping to win President Obama’s old Senate seat from Illinois in November, seems to be having some trouble telling the truth.

• Wow! Last week marked 40 years since the release of Cotton Comes to Harlem, the film based on Chester Himes’ 1965 novel.

• Simon Wood talks with Paul D. Brazill about his dog, his aspirations to be a spy, and his brand-new novel of workplace rage, Terminated.

• And if you’ve never had a chance to explore New Zealand crime fiction, take note that Crime Watch’s Craig Sisterson is giving away a brand-new copy of Cut & Run, a well-reviewed debut thriller by Kiwi writer Alix Bosco. Sisterson says it’s “available to anyone around the world, no matter where you live (I will ship the prize internationally).”