The Book You Have to Read: “The Other Girl,” by Theodora Keogh

(Editor’s note: This is the 102nd installment of our ongoing Friday blog series highlighting great but forgotten books. Today’s selection has been made by Steven Powell, an editor of the forthcoming Conversations with James Ellroy [a volume of UMISS Press’ Literary Conversations Series], and the 2012 non-fiction release 100 American Crime Writers. He is studying for a Ph.D. on the fiction of James Ellroy at Britain’s University of Liverpool, and blogs about crime fiction in The Venetian Vase.)

Some books defy genre and subgenre labels. Theodora Keogh’s novel about Los Angeles’ 1947 Black Dahlia murder, The Other Girl (1962), is one such work. It could be read as a psychological suspense novel or as lesbian pulp fiction. It has the jet-black philosophy of hard-boiled crime fiction but the elegant prose of a Golden Age detective story. It is impossible to categorize the novel as being definitively of any one of these subgenres, as it would be a reductive to a novel that so seamlessly interweaves many styles, and ultimately leaves the impression that Keogh regarded herself as above crime fiction. It is telling, then, that The Other Girl would be Keogh’s final novel: her work would soon be out of print, and all critical interest would fade.

When news reached the blogosphere of the passing of Theodora Keogh on January 5, 2008, it generated a wave of speculation, debate and a renewed interest in her work as a novelist. Who was this woman? Why are all of her novels out of print? The Daily Telegraph published the only comprehensive obituary of Keogh, and it was through the Telegraph that I, like many crime-fiction readers, first heard her name. Keogh had led a fascinating life, which alone could provide material for a dozen novels. Born in New York in 1919, the granddaughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, Keogh was educated in Manhattan and Munich, worked as a dancer in Canada and South America, and designed costumes for films such as The Pirate (1948) and Daddy Long Legs (1955), amongst many other triumphs and disasters.

By comparison, her literary career, although influential, formed a relatively minor part of her life. Keogh published nine novels between 1950 and 1962. It was her last book, The Other Girl--a fictionalization of the murder of Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia--that took me by surprise. I thought I had read every Dahlia book out there, both fact and fiction. Around the time I heard about Keogh’s novel, I was conducting a series of phone interviews with James Ellroy, author of The Black Dahlia (1987). Had he read The Other Girl? Ellroy informed me that he had neither read nor heard of the book, or of Keogh. Now my curiosity had got me hooked. I purchased a second-hand copy over the Internet and sat down to read the novel. Although I had built up my expectations, I was not disappointed. I read The Other Girl in a single setting, and instantly came to regard it as a classic of the same stature as John Gregory Dunne’s True Confessions (1977) and Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia.

Although in Dunne’s and Ellroy’s novels Elizabeth Short is not so much a character as a ghost, haunting the lives of those trying to solve her brutal murder (in True Confessions, Miss Short was renamed Lois Fazenda, “the Virgin Tramp”), in The Other Girl she is a character, referred to quite simply as Betty. Betty is just one of a cast of oddballs and eccentrics whom Keogh weaves around Los Angeles’ most infamous and gruesome unsolved crime. The novel’s main focus is on Marge Vulawski, the daughter of immigrant workers who has grown up on a farm just outside of L.A. Marge came to the City of Angels with high hopes but has become bitter and cynical, as her practical know-how with farm machinery and her broad build have led her to a unexciting job as a garage mechanic. In the city, Marge befriends Zoe, a woman who calls herself “the Duchess,” and was once, by her own account, a lady of wealth and importance. Now virtually penniless, the Duchess still wears the luxurious clothes of her better days, but the clothes are, in a reference to Dickens’ Miss Haversham, literally rotting on her and symbolize her decline. Through Zoe, Marge meets Betty at a local drugstore. Betty is an aspiring actress who is represented by the sleazy agent Herman Lee: Lee has never had a successful client, but he does not want one, as he preys on their naiveté. Marge is instantly attracted to Betty, but her sexuality is treated with ambiguity and at times appears to be more of a yearning for friendship. Marge’s desire to be around Betty means tagging along with her on a date with two French sailors. In one of the novel’s most powerful (and for the time groundbreaking) scenes, Marge and Betty have their first sexual contact with each other during an orgy with the two men:

But her [Betty’s] breasts themselves were surprisingly small; fresh and round and shiny like a peeled twig with dark, insulting nipples. The fresh, tender lower curves of these breasts entered into Marge’s memory for ever. They merged with childhood dreams, with infancy. They became the salty, threaded stuff of her generation.

Was what followed called an orgy? The French sailors hadn’t treated it as such. To them it appeared natural, neither odd nor perverse.

The Other Girl is unusual amongst crime novels as it does not begin with a crime that kick-starts the plot and motivates the leading character to try and solve the mystery. Nor is there any significant back-story to shed light on where the plot is heading. This novel is not so much a whodunnit as a who-will-do-it. Keogh supplies a detailed character study of a bunch of unusual people and then follows them as their relationship with Betty gradually turns from attraction to bitterness and sexual jealously. Each character is given a motive for murdering Betty, but how will the narrative move toward the act, and who will be responsible? Keogh keeps you guessing right up until the shocking climax.

Despite the initial interest in Keogh following her passing, no serious reappraisal of her literary career followed. This is, perhaps, to be expected as the tone of The Other Girl can be alienating, and the novel is difficult to place within a genre. Keogh’s sketches of people who have lost their soul while looking for a glimmer of success sometimes reads as misanthropic. Her candid description of sexual experimentation is liable to offend many readers, but the ambiguity of Marge’s sexuality has probably also barred the novel from becoming a classic of lesbian pulp fiction alongside the works of Ann Bannon or Valerie Taylor. Perhaps this obscurity was just what Keogh intended.

The Other Girl is a brilliant novel which has lost none of its power to be both haunting and puzzling.

The Lonely Books Club

We end the month of July with a plentiful batch of “forgotten books” posts. In addition to Steven Powell’s write-up on this page about The Other Girl, by Theodora Keogh, postings around the Web today take in the following crime-related works: Even the Wicked, by Richard Marsten; Riotous Assembly, by Tom Sharpe; The Man Whose Dreams Came True, by Julian Symons; The Spoilt Kill, by Mary Kelly; Nightmare Alley, by William Lindsay Graham; It Couldn’t Matter Less, by Peter Cheyney; the T.D. Stash crime adventure series, by W.R. Philbrick; The Fifth Key, by George Harmon Coxe; Satan Is a Woman, by Gil Brewer; The Catskill Eagle, by Robert B. Parker; Pedigree, by Georges Simenon; and The Director, by John Gardner.

For a full listing of the unjustly overlooked works being touted, click over to series organizer Patti Abbott’s personal blog. There you’ll also find three more reading suggestions, including Ed Gorman’s endorsement of Someone Is Bleeding, by Richard Matheson.

Keep Cool, Kookie

Incredible and unlikely as this may seem, Edd Byrnes, who played restaurant valet parker and aspiring private eye Gerald Lloyd “Kookie” Kookson III on the classic ABC-TV series 77 Sunset Strip, celebrates--appropriately--his 77th birthday today.

After completing his time on that 1958-1964 Roy Huggins-created detective drama, Byrnes went on to guest star in scores of other small-screen series, including Honey West, Mannix, Adam-12, Faraday and Company, Quincy, M.E., Simon & Simon, Crazy Like a Fox, and Murder, She Wrote. He also played a Dick Clark-like dance-show host in the 1978 film Grease. Yet audiences still seem to think of him first and foremost as the slick young hipster at Dino’s Restaurant, a fact he exploited well with the title of his 1998 autobiography, Kookie No More.

You can find more information, plus a whole lot of fan memorabilia all ready for purchasing, at Byrnes’ official Web site. And below, I’ve embedded a clip from 77 Sunset Strip featuring the slang-slinging Kookie and gumshoe Stuart Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.).

Still Waiting for Your Picks

Just a reminder that this coming Sunday, August 1, will mark the end of Crimespree Magazine’s nominating period for the 2010 Crimespree Awards. You are invited to choose as many as five mystery/crime novels in each of three categories:

• Favorite Book of the Year
• Favorite First Book of the Year
• Best Book in an Ongoing Series

All novels must have been published in 2009.

So don’t wait. Send your nominations to jon@crimespreemag.com. Winners will be announced during opening night ceremonies at Bouchercon in San Francisco (October 14-17).

And the World Was Never the Same

Is it my imagination, or are the myriad paperback books on my shelves looking just a wee bit prouder this week?

As The Baltimore Sun’s Read Street blog observes, it was 75 years ago this week that Penguin Books “brought out the first modern paperback. The idea came from British publishing exec Allen Lane, who was seeking a respite from a Depression-era revenue slump. The cheap, convenient, color-coded format caught on with readers and within months Penguin books were selling in the millions. Today, half of the books bought each year are softcover, the [U.S.] Census Bureau says.”

READ MORE: “Paperback Birthday Update,” by Bill Crider (Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine); “Happy Birthday, Penguin,” by Sheila Connolly
(Poe’s Deadly Daughters).

Words to the Wise

I don’t remember who turned me on to the Web site Wordle, but for somebody as interested as I am in graphic design, it’s a great deal of fun. As the site explains:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

This morning I applied the Wordle technology to The Rap Sheet’s front page, with the following result:

(Click on this or any other images here for an enlargement.)

Then I decided to use this same software on some other crime-fiction Web sites I frequent. First up was Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine:

(By the way, today marks not only Crider’s own birthday, but the eighth birthday of his ever-delightful blog. Send him some love here.)

Next I fed in the URL for Steve Lewis’ Mystery*File Blog:

From there, it was on to British author Martin’s Edwards’ ‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’:

Once I was on a roll, I had to find out what would come from Irish novelist Declan Burke’s Crime Always Pays:

I was interested to see that when I plugged in the URL for our sister site, January Magazine, there were fewer enlarged words shown, suggesting less concentrated coverage of a few subjects:

Finally, because Bouchercon 2010 begins in San Francisco in less than three months, I applied the Wordle software to Rae Helmsworth’s Bouchercon blog. It’s no surprise to see which word dominates:

If you’d like to sample your own blog in this way, just go to Wordle and click on the “Create” tab at the top of the page.

R.I.P., Jon Cleary

The Gumshoe Site brings the sad news that Australian Jon Cleary, the author of The Sundowners (1951) as well as a long-running series starring Scobie Malone, a detective with the New South Wales police force, died on July 19 at age 92. The cause of death has been described as “a heart-related illness.” In 1996, Cleary was given the Ned Kelly Award for Lifelong Contribution to the Crime, Mystery and Detective Genres. His last published novel was Four-Cornered Circle (1998).

A tribute Web site “for family and friends to gather, share their memories, and celebrate the life of our beloved friend Jon Cleary” has been made available here.

More Chances to Get Stoned

Actor Tom Selleck has given an interview to TV Squad, in which he talks about his latest Jesse Stone teleflick, No Remorse (which was just released in DVD format), but also about his forthcoming CBS-TV series, Blue Bloods. I think the most interesting elements of that interview, though, are these two questions and answers:

Now that you’re doing the series Blue Bloods for CBS, will you be doing more Jesse Stone movies?
es, and it’s important to tell people that, because the one thing I said to CBS was, “I’m not going to do this series at the expense of Jesse Stone.” So there’s more Jesses to come. In fact, we’ve already shot the next one. It’s called Innocents Lost, and it’s another original story [not based on a Parker novel]. So that’s Jesse Stone number seven, and it’s about a little girl. That’s where the title comes from. And that one is in the can, ready to air, and we’re writing number eight, which we don’t have a title for yet. So yes, there’s going to be more Jesse Stones. ...

How did you first get involved with the Parker books? Were you a fan as a reader?
I was a fan of Robert [B.] Parker’s. And I almost did--in the ’80s, I was offered one of Robert Parker’s books as a feature film, called Early Autumn, [based on] one of the Spenser novels. And basically, it was written by an Academy Award-nominated writer, Jay Presson Allen, and I was committed to it, but like so many things, I was shooting Magnum, P.I. and only had three months off, and we couldn’t schedule a director and get the movie done in that time, and I missed the opportunity. And my friend, the late Bob Urich, used to kid me a lot about that, because of course he ended up doing the series of Spenser, Spenser: For Hire.

I, for one, didn’t know--or don’t remember--that Selleck was ever approached to star as Boston private eye Spenser.

To read the complete interview, click here.

* * *

By the way, while we’re talking about Parker and his man Spenser, blogger-editor Gerald So notes that “the Robert B. Parker fansite Bullets & Beer had gone offline. It’s been two years since proprietor Bob Ames announced his shift had changed at work and he’d lost interest in the research needed to maintain the site. Founded in the mid-1990s by Mike Loux, who moved on to other projects himself, for many years Bullets & Beer was the single best Robert B. Parker resource on the Web.”

We’re very sorry to see Ames’ Web site disappear.

The Big Man Is Gone

Those of us who enjoyed the rather eccentric but thoroughly memorable performances in A&E-TV’s too-short-lived A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001-2002) are breathing heavy, melancholic sighs today at this news:

Actor Maury Chaykin died Tuesday, his 61st birthday, in Toronto. The veteran character, who had dual citizenship in Canada and the U.S., appeared in “Dances with Wolves,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Blindness,” “A Life Less Ordinary” and many other films.

He also played detective Nero Wolfe in the A&E Television series “A Nero Wolfe Mystery,” produced, directed and co-starring Timothy Hutton. The series was based on the detective novels by Rex Stout.

The full piece in the Los Angeles Times, which includes a video clip of Chaykin playing Wolfe, can be found here.

READ MORE: “Remembering Maury Chaykin,” by Christopher Garcia (Examiner.com); “Maury Chaykin: The Guardian Obituary,” by Michael Carlson (Irresistible Targets).

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

In January Magazine this morning, critic Brendan M. Leonard calls Savages, Don Winslow’s new novel about drug dealing and kidnapping, “the book of my generation.” He adds:

Savages is nothing short of revolutionary, a flash grenade into the ineffectual heart of Generation Y. A message for the kids who grew up in unparalleled economic prosperity with overeducated parents. The kids, to steal a line from another of Winslow's novels, who have a problem with impulse control. The kids who hit the brick wall of the Great Recession and wound up asking, “What do we do now?”

You can find Leonard’s full review here.

A Little Bit of Everything

• In case you’ve forgotten--though how could you?--PulpFest 2010 will kick off this coming Friday, July 30, in Columbus, Ohio, and continue through Sunday. Look here for details. The winner of this year’s Munsey Award (presented annually to “a deserving person who has given of himself or herself for the betterment of the pulp community, be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy”) will be announced during a special presentation on Saturday night.

• Nero Wolfe’s brownstone found in New York City!

• This just seems wrong to me.

• To lift your spirits at the beginning of yet another work week: one of the classic scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; the deceptively entertaining trailer for the horrendous 1998 film remake of that famous TV series, The Avengers; and the hum-able theme from the Richard Boone series Have Gun--Will Travel.

• The blog I Have Grave News likes BBC-TV’s new Sherlock.

• National Public Radio offers an exceptional package of reports on the life and journalistic contributions of newsman Daniel Schorr, who succumbed last Friday at age 93.

• This last weekend brought an announcement of this year’s Scribe Award winners, prizes given to movie and television tie-in works.

• Some good news from Comic Con: English actress Indira Varma, who did such a fine turn as beautiful wife Niobe on HBO-TV’s Rome, is set to join the cast of ABC-TV’s Human Target, appearing ex-assassin Christopher Chance’s new boss. “She plays a woman who’s married to a ‘Paul Allen’ type, who dies under mysterious circumstances,” executive producer Matthew Miller told reporters. “She decides that the team has some value and she takes it over. She becomes a female Charlie [Townsend], giving the guys access to a billionaire’s toys--her jets, cars. It’ll give the show an international feel.”

• A preview of Dexter’s fifth TV season. The Miami-set HBO series is set to begin airing again on September 26.

• As CBS-TV readies its reboot version of the classic series Hawaii Five-O for a debut in mid-September, word comes from The HMSS Weblog that “the original 1969 Hawaii Five-O soundtrack album will be re-released digitally and on CD.”

• Shameful and insulting.

• The newest short story in Beat to a Pulp, a rather unusual one called “The Little Boy Inside,” was written by New York physician Glenn Gray.

• Sadly, Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective (featured in the new novel Betrayers) doesn’t appear on The Guardian’s list of “ten of the best nameless protagonists in literature.”

Recapturing CrimeFest

Laura Wilson watches fellow author Rennie Airth sign a copy of his first novel at this year’s convention in Bristol.

(Author’s note: I confess to being a bit behind in posting. Actually, more than a bit. For instance, it was only as I packed to attend this last weekend’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England, that I finally found some free time in which to look back on my experiences during Britain’s other big crime-fiction convention, CrimeFest, which took place in mid-May. Sorry for the tardy reporting, but it couldn’t be helped.)

Bristol-based CrimeFest, organized by Adrian Muller and Myles Allfrey, is now in its fourth year--if you count 2006’s Left Coast Crime as that event’s premiere. It has always been based at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel in College Green, which I find an excellent venue, with a gym, pool, sauna, and steam room that are ideal places for Shots editor Mike Stotter and I to chill out, and also sweat out our overindulgences. Crucially, the hotel’s bar remains open into the late hours, and offers a terrace for those of us who have found it hard to quit our tobacco addictions.

It’s great to come out to Southwest England each year, meet up with friends and colleagues, and relax in a comfortable and familiar environment--while also celebrating and learning more about the crime and thriller fiction genre. With the economy in mind, I must add that CrimeFest is a rather exceptional value for the money; as well as the traditional goodie bag, it offers many giveaways during panel discussions, and the raffles are tremendous fun. This year there were some interesting off-site events, as well, such as a screening at the Arnolfini Contemporary Arts Center of director Mike Hodges’ 1971 film, Get Carter. With all the woes now facing the publishing industry, it’s heartening to see events such as CrimeFest draw substantial attendance. The efforts of Muller, Alfrey, and company need to be supported.

Day One, May 20: I arrived in Bristol on Thursday to meet my Shots compatriots Mike Stotter and woman of mystery Ayo Onatade. After registering at the hotel, we headed off for a quick gin-and-tonic and a snoop around the panel discussions. It must have been the heady fragrance of gin that attracted Detectives Beyond Borders blogger Peter Rozovosky, with whom I always enjoying spending time. This was his second visit to Bristol, and again he came armed with his Netbook, so he could blog all weekend.

I was surprised to see how many other people were on hand for the convention this early. As a man of liberal sensitivities and outlook, I enjoyed the social commentary panel “Punishment Fits the Crime,” which featured former Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) chair Lesley Horton, Adrian Magson, Clare Seeber, and Edward Marston, and was moderated by author Steve Mosby. That group made what could have been a very dry hour into a lively debate. Afterward, I spent plenty of time and money milling around the book room, as I’m one of those people who lives by the adage “you can never have enough books.” I think it was a wonderful idea to place the book room opposite the signing rooms, and right between the two main panel venues. I heard someone mutter that bookseller Blackwells sold many more books this year than in 2009, which I saw as an encouraging development.

Thursday evening’s highlight, of course, was the CrimeFest Pub Quiz, which was adroitly managed by writer-critic Peter Guttridge. I teamed up with Crème de la Crime publisher Lynne Patrick and her charming husband. The spirit of competition was at fever pitch, though--seriously--the CrimeFest quiz is a great “ice-breaker” for attendees, and thanks to Guttridge, it was an educational experience to boot. As predicted, the winners for the second year in a row was the über team of Martin Edwards, Ann Cleeves, Maxine Clarke of Petrona, Karen Meek of Euro Crime, Cath Staincliffe, and Rik and Carol Shepard. And the prize? Books, naturally--as if these people really need to brush up on their reading! Then it was back to the bar. When my head start spinning, I elected to make it an early night, though my sleep was somewhat scuppered by Stotter’s persistent snoring in the adjacent bed, and his tendency to sing Mary Poppins tunes in his sleep--behavior I’d encountered previously at ThrillerFest 2007.

Day Two, May 21: This day’s panels were run on two tracks. That split the audience into two streams, but because there were lots of people around, there were plenty of bums on seats. I began the day by listening to a discussion titled “Down in the Sewer: Violence, Language & Sex” featuring Ruth Dudley Edwards, M.R. Hall, Bill James, Caro Ramsay, and moderator Janet Laurence. The thing about CrimeFest panels is that they tend to be light-hearted, even when they are probing a very serious subject. A case in point was my next panel, “Grimly Fiendish: Whatever That Means!” with speakers Chris Ewan, Helen Fitzgerald, Steve Mosby, Zoë Sharp, and Donna Moore, who also served as the moderator. I often discover new writers through these panel talks, as I did last year when I first heard Chris Ewan. This year I took a chance and picked up Helen Fitzgerald’s work after listening to her on the panel.

After a liquid lunch it was all go, with events headlined by the mandatory Stieg Larsson panel. I hope you all remember that it was The Rap Sheet that predicted, way back in December 2007, that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would become a global sensation--even before the novel was first released in the UK. CrimeFest’s Larsson panel discussion was wonderfully funny, moderated by critic Marcel Berlins, with Maxim Jakubowski stepping in for Italian novelist Giorgio Faletti (who had been taken ill) and joined by Ann Cleeves, who’s championed translated crime fiction for many years. The only non-Brit member of this panel was Icelander Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, who told us that she was a little embarrassed that a novel she wrote several years ago, Ashes to Dust, was being published in English in 2010, without so much as a mention of that erupting Icelandic volcano that’s caused such havoc for European airline passengers. No Stieg Larsson panel would be complete without some insights from his biographer, Barry Forshaw, who kept CrimeFest-goers enthralled with his take on the Larsson legend. I especially enjoyed Berlins’ contributions, though. He told us about his recent meeting in Stockholm with Swedish wordsmith Henning Mankell, who apparently prefers the BBC/Kenneth Branagh version of the TV series Wallander (made from Mankell’s books) to Krister Henriksson’s interpretation from Yellow Bird Productions. I must say that my opinion, and that of many of my colleagues, is precisely the opposite. Branagh’s performances have been way over the top, and I’m surprised that a third series of his Wallander has been ordered. With all the angst his protagonist shows, it’s a wonder he hasn’t “topped himself” by now.

There was no rest for conference attendees, as The Telegraph’s Jake Kerridge was on hand to interview historical writers Rennie Airth (River of Darkness) and Laura Wilson (Stratton’s War) on stage. Being an enthusiastic follower of both those authors, Kerridge’s exchange was a tremendous treat.

Afterward I headed over to listen The Curzon Group panel. This assembly comprised an eclectic bunch of British thriller writers--Richard Jay Parker, Leigh Russell, the pseudonymous journalist and conspiracy theory magnet Tom Cain, and former ghostwriter Matt Lynn--who intend to “reclaim” the reigns of the thriller from American authors. Moderated by Zoë Sharp, this discussion was less controversial that I had expected, since Curzon members have (wisely) dropped much of their initial jingoism in favor of concentrating on the craft of writing and promoting thriller fiction.

Then, with no time for a drink in between, I hied quickly over to see the CWA present this year’s initial lists of Dagger Award nominees. It was good thinking to use CrimeFest, and later the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, as platforms for announcing the Dagger shortlists and winners, bringing a maximum of international attention to both.

CrimeFest continued on Friday evening with a presentation at the Arnolfini Contemporary Arts Center by director Mike Hodges and another screening of Get Carter. Due to Giorgio Faletti’s illness, however, the Constable and Goldsboro book launch was cancelled, which only meant more trade for the bar--and in the case of Stotter and me, some strong coffee and an aspirin requirement for the morning.

Author Colin Dexter (seated on the right) backed up by CrimeFest organizers Adrian Muller and Myles Allfrey.

Day Three, May 22: Rather than continuing with the two-panel track on Saturday, the CrimeFest gang arranged for a solo panel track (to maximize attendance), but concurrently offered 20-minute “In the Spotlight” interviews with many of the authors on hand. I have to state that, for my money, that day’s Gyles Brandreth interrogation by Peter Guttridge was the red-letter occasion. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much at Brandreth’s worldview, as he was kept on his “roll” but Gutteridge’s probing. A wonderfully cheerful man, Brandreth ought to be brought in as a replacement for the downbeat BBC economics team; his witty reflections on the state of the world’s economy and his self-deprecating manner simply made listeners feel better about their lot. Other Saturday highlights: Tonino Benacquista being interviewed by Ann Cleeves; Inspector Morse creator Colin Dexter submitting to questions from Maxim Jakubowski; and the “Last Laugh” panel, moderated by Donna Moore. I managed to nip in and out of several of the 20-minute “In the Spotlight” talks, the most memorable being Chris Carter’s serial-killer talk, which probably wasn’t for anyone with a weak stomach.

Thoroughly exhausted after such a packed and stimulating day, I was pleased to get a few drinks in, courtesy of Maxim Jakubowski and John Blake Publishing at the launch of their brand-new Max Crime imprint. This proved to be a terrific event, prefect for lining one’s stomach with wine in advance of CrimeFest’s Gala Dinner.

That meal was exceptional, with food provided by the Bristol Marriott and Brandeth serving as the evening’s master of ceremonies. In a rather surreal twist, I was seated next to Saul Reichlin, who has narrated the unabridged audio versions of Stieg Larsson novels. Unfortunately, Reichlin had to leave the Gala Dinner early in order to catching a train back to London, so it wasn’t until later that he learned he had won the Sounds of Crime Award for best unabridged audiobook, while his colleague Martin Wenner took home the commendation for best abridged audio, both for their work on Larsson audiobooks.

Following the repast, everyone decamped once more to the bar and celebrated this genre we all find so delightful. I finally set off for bed after the smoking balcony closed, with Stotter retiring much, much later.

Day Four, May 23: I was up far too early in order to attend Anne Zouroudi’s panel with Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Michael Ridpath, Peter Guttridge, and Joan Brady. This was advertised--not incorrectly--as an amusing look at profanity, sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. Then it was on to Martin Edwards’ panel about “forgotten authors,” which brought together Suzette Hill, Caro Ramsey, the two men who, under the pseudonym Michael Stanley, write Africa-based mysteries, and the mother and son behind the byline Charles Todd. This panel provided a real international flavor, and lots of welcome memories, recalling the work of such late wordsmiths as Alistair MacLean and Desmond Bagley.

Contenders in the Criminal Mastermind Competition, left to right: Peter Guttridge, Ali Karim, Martin Edwards, and Cara Black.

Heading back to my hotel room, I roused Mike Stotter with some strong coffee, then sped back downstairs to participate in the second annual CrimeFest Criminal Mastermind Competition. The question master was Maxim Jakubowski, and the four people charged with answering his queries on their selected topics were last year’s winner, Martin Edwards (who this time chose as his subject the novels of Julian Symons), Peter Guttridge (who pronounced himself an expert on the films of Jean-Pierre Melville), Cara Black (who chose French crime novels as her specialty), and yours truly (who went for the novels and films of Thomas Harris). Straightway, it was clear that Black had selected the toughest of the topics, despite her having penned the wonderful Aimée Léduc mystery novels, set in France. Once again, the winner of this knowledge contest was Martin Edwards, while Guttridge and I came in second, and Cara Black received a huge round of applause for merely surviving the truly obscure questions about French crime fiction delivered to her by the inscrutable Jakubowski, who is an authority on Italian and French works.

There was a final session that afternoon about the art of the translator, but I decided to ignore it in favor of joining Guttridge and Jakubowski in the bar. Stotter, now definitely on the mend after his late night of imbibing, finally joined us. It is always sad to leave CrimeFest, after spending such good times with people who share your passion for mystery and thriller fiction. So after finishing my drink, I took a few minutes to thank organizers Allfrey and Muller for their extraordinary efforts in making CrimeFest 2010 such a worthwhile event.

I urge you all to attend next year’s convention in Bristol, because where else can you spend time talking about books and writing without feeling “odd” in these days when illiteracy seems to be spreading as fast as Chlamydia? The reason I enjoy attending crime, mystery, and thriller conferences is that they so often lead to long-term friendships, many of which I recall through photographs. When the world around me looks so cold and gray, the smiling faces in my collection always lifts my spirits.

(Editors note: An edited version of this report, with photographs, is set to appear as a supplement to July’s CWA Red Herrings Magazine.)

All Things John D.

Compared with this week’s British book awards excitement, today is a rather lethargic news day. But at least I made two favorable
discoveries on the Web.

The first is a post in Leif Peng’s fine blog, Today’s Inspiration. It features some wonderful illustrations created by 20th-century American artist Thornton Utz for magazine stories written by the great John D. MacDonald. You’ll find that post here.

My second discovery was made through Peng’s site, too. It seems that ever since November of last year, Tennessee writer Steve Scott has been working on a blog called The Trap of Solid Gold (named after a 1960 short story), “celebrating the works of John D. MacDonald.” Some of you may already be acquainted with Scott’s posting efforts. I was not, but will be following them from here on out.

Top of the Heap

I received the news yesterday that an organization called AwardingTheWeb, in concert with Online Ph.D. Programs, has named The Rap Sheet as one of this year’s Top 45 Mystery Book Blogs. The full list of winners--which includes many of the sites featured in our own blogroll (plus several that seem to have slipped under our radar until now)--can be found and critiqued here.

As AwardingTheWeb explains,

This award highlights the very best blogs about mystery books on the Internet as selected by our judges, and is designed to thank the authors for their contribution toward the World Wide Web we all use and enjoy.

Awards candidates are selected using two methods:
-- Audience nominations
-- Our team of research associates scouring the Web

After a list of candidates is compiled they are each scored by our panel of 5 judges. Each judge rates each blog across 20 different attributes providing it with a ‘subjective’ score. These ratings are combined into an aggregate, and the aggregates of the 5 judges are averaged to give the blog its final rating.

The ratings are then compared, and awards are given out to blogs in the 99% percentile (meaning the top 1% of blogs receive awards).

We certainly appreciate the recognition.

Daggers, Daggers Everywhere

Thanks to our man on the scene, Ali Karim, we now have the winners of five of the 2010 Dagger Awards, announced today during the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.

CWA International Dagger Award: The Darkest Room, by Johan
Theorin (Doubleday)

Also nominated: Badfellas, by Tonino Benacquista (Bitter Lemon); August Heat, by Andrea Camilleri (Picador); Hypothermia, by Arnaldur Indridason (Harvill Secker); The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson (Quercus/MacLehose Press); and Thirteen Hours, by Deon Meyer (Hodder & Stoughton)

CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction: Aftermath: The Omagh Bombing and the Families’ Pursuit of Justice, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Harvill Secker). Special commendation: The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston, with Mario Spezi (Virgin/Random House).

Also nominated: Major Farran’s Hat, by David Cesarani (Heinemann); Killing Time, by David R. Dow (Heinemann); Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster); and Defending the Guilty, by Alex McBride (Penguin/Viking)

CWA Short Story Dagger: “Can You Help Me Out There,” by Robert Ferrigno (from Thriller 2, edited by Clive Cussler; Mira). Special commendation: “The Weapon,” by Jeffery Deaver (from Thriller 2).

Also nominated: “A Calculated Risk,” by Sean Chercover (from Thriller 2); “Boldt’s Broken Angel,” by Ridley Pearson (from Thriller 2); “Like a Virgin,” by Peter Robinson (from The Price of Love; Hodder & Stoughton); “Killing Time,” by Jon Land (from Thriller 2); and “Protecting the Innocent,” by Simon Wood (from Thriller 2)

CWA Dagger in the Library (“awarded to an author for a body of work, not one single title”): Ariana Franklin (Random House). Special commendation: Simon Beckett (Bantam).

Also nominated: R.J. Ellory (Orion); Mo Hayder (Bantam); Denise Mina (Transworld); and Chris Simms (Orion)

CWA Debut Dagger (“a new-writing competition open to anyone writing in the English language who has not yet had a novel published commercially”): A Place of Dying, by Patrick Eden (UK). Special commendation: Case No. 1, by Sandra Graham (Australia).

Also nominated: All the Precious Things, by Jan Napiorkowski (UK); A Murder in Mumbles, by Rick DeMille (USA); Chinese Whispers, by Alan Carter (Australia); In the Lion’s Throat, by Bob Marriott (New Zealand); Legacy, by Rebecca Brodie (UK); Lockdown, by Danielle Ramsay (UK); Pretty Preeti, by Stephanie Light (India); Safe Harbour, by Rosemary McCracken (Canada); The Beggar’s Opera, by Peggy Blair (Canada); The Chameleon Factor, by Kathleen Stewart (Australia)

It was also announced today that Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, and Tess Gerritsen will be on hand as special guests at the 2011 Harrogate festival.

READ MORE: “Harrogate,” by Martin Edwards (‘Do You Write Under
Your Own Name?’).

Party of Five

This seems to be a big list-making week here at The Rap Sheet. On Wednesday I posted a rundown of my favorite books from the first half of 2010. Today I take up a more daunting task: choosing five works that represent what I think is best about crime fiction.

Spinetingler Magazine’s Brian Lindenmuth originally posed this challenge, according to Jen Forbus. But others have taken it up since, including Forbus herself, who’s been collecting such lists of five books in her Jen’s Book Thoughts blog. Some of the suggestions made so far have been excellent, including James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Rex Stout’s The Doorbell Rang, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s Roseanna, and Robert Crais’ L.A. Requiem. I shall resist repeating any of those selections, though, if only to broaden the scope of discussion. The more ideas shared here the better.

Obviously, each person’s picks will depend on his or her depth of reading in the genre. It will also hinge on one’s taste in storytelling styles and preferences of setting or time period. In my own case, I lean toward private-eye tales and classic works.

With all of that said, here are my five choices:

• The Maltese Falcon (1930), by Dashiell Hammett
• The Chill (1964), by Ross Macdonald
• The Eighth Circle (1958), by Stanley Ellin
• Berlin Noir, by Philip Kerr
• Waxwork (1978), by Peter Lovesey

Yes, I realize that I’m cheating a wee bit by picking Berlin Noir, which is an omnibus of British author Philip Kerr’s first three Bernie Gunther crime novels--March Violets (1989), The Pale Criminal (1990), and A German Requiem (1991). But as an omnibus it does qualify as a single book, so I declare my choice legal. The others clearly demonstrate my preference for private-eye novels over other subgenres. If I were to extend my list beyond the almost ridiculous limit of five titles, though, it would also incorporate books that have nothing to do with P.I.s, works such as Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, James McClure’s The Sunday Hangman, Peter Robinson’s In a Dry Season, and John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Other books I might have chosen: Robert B. Parker’s Looking for Rachel Wallace, Anne Perry’s Face of a Stranger, Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, Kris Nelscott’s A Dangerous Road, Jonathan Valin’s The Lime Pit, Max Allan Collins’ Flying Blind, John Harvey’s Lonely Hearts, Sara Paretsky’s Killing Orders, Chester Himes’ Cotton Comes to Harlem, and of course Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Stop me now, before my alternative choices get out of hand!

But what about your opinions, dear readers? What five novels--new or old--do you think represent the best of crime fiction? Leave your suggestions in the Comments section below.

READ MORE: “My Five,” by Jen Forbus (Jen’s Book Thoughts).

Second Readings

The Rap Sheet isn’t contributing to today’s mix of “forgotten books” posts, but the series goes on nonetheless with the help of other bloggers.

Among this week’s crime-fiction picks are: The Long Saturday Night, by Charles Williams; Money to Burn, by Ricardo Piglia; Seven Slayers, by Paul Cain; The Habit of Fear, by Dorothy Salisbury Davis; The Hoods, by Harry Grey; Malay Woman, by A.S. Fleischman; The Small Hours of the Morning, by Margaret Yorke; The Greatest Crime, by Sloan Wilson; Plunder Squad, by Richard Stark; Mongoose, R.I.P., by William F. Buckley; Iron Lake, by William Kent Krueger; The Song Dog, by James McClure; Capture the Saint, by Burl Barer; Valediction, by Robert B. Parker; and Case for Three Detectives, by Leo Bruce. In addition, author Christopher Fowler--of Peculiar Crimes mysteries fame--has contributed a post to January Magazine about lost (and found) author Maryann Forrest.

Patti Abbott has a full list of today’s series participants in her own blog.

And Still More Daggers

There is still more news coming out of this week’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England: “three key book shortlists” for the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards--“celebrating the very best of British and international crime thriller fiction in the UK and beyond”--were announced today. These awards represent a partnership between the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), Specsavers, Cactus TV, and ITV3.

CWA Gold Dagger 2010:
• Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Corgi)
• Blood Harvest, by S.J. Bolton (Bantam Press)
• Conman, by Richard Asplin (No Exit Press)
• Rain Gods, by James Lee Burke (Orion)
• Shadowplay, by Karen Campbell (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge,
by Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury)
• Still Midnight, by Denise Mina (Orion)
• The Way Home, by George Pelecanos (Orion)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2010 (sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.):
• 61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
• A Loyal Spy, by Simon Conway (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Gone, by Mo Hayder (Bantam Press)
• Slow Horses, by Mick Herron (Robinson)
• The Dying Light, by Henry Porter (Orion)
• Innocent, by Scott Turow (Macmillan)
• The Gentlemen’s Hour, by Don Winslow (Heinemann)

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2010:
• Acts of Violence, by Ryan David Jahn (Pan)
• Cut Short, by Leigh Russell (No Exit Press)
• Martyr, by Rory Clements (John Murray)
• Random, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
• Stop Me, by Richard Jay Parker (Allison & Busby)
• Rupture, by Simon Lelic (Picador)
• The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Mantle)
• The Pull of the Moon, by Diane Janes (Robinson)

The finalists in each category will be announced on Monday, August 9. Announcements of the winners will be made during a special event at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday, October 8. The presentation ceremony will be televised on ITV3 the following week.

Another Gift for the “Girl”?

The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival kicked off today in Harrogate, England, and will continue through Sunday. But what most crime-fiction enthusiasts who aren’t attending that annual literary shindig will be hoping to hear is the announcement on Friday night of who’s won the 2010 Dagger Awards, given out by the British Crime Writers’ Association. (Review the lists of nominees here and here.)

Speculation about who is favored in all five award categories has run pretty heavy over the last couple of weeks, especially as regards the 2010 International Dagger. Karen Meek polled readers of her Euro Crime blog on which novel and author they believe will score this particular award (which honors “crime, thriller, suspense or spy fiction novels which have been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication”), and the clear winner was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the concluding volume in Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium Trilogy.” Second place honors went to Icelandic wordsmith Arnaldur Indridason’s Hypthermia, which is already available in the UK but not due out in the States until September.

All the results of Meek’s polling can be found here. We’ll let you know tomorrow night whether the Dagger judges are in agreement.

“Violence” Brings Victory

British thriller writer R.J. “Roger” Ellory has won the 2010 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for his book A Simple Act of Violence, beating a field of seven other distinguished authors.

As a press release explains, “The Birmingham-born author was presented the prize by broadcaster and regular festival-goer Mark Lawson at the opening night party (Thursday 22nd July) of the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate [England]. He receives a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.”

Simon Theakston, the executive director of T&R Theakston, said: “The standard of the shortlist was particularly high this year and our decision was a tough one. However, R.J. Ellory’s A Simple Act of Violence is a most impressive, fascinating, and surprising book and a worthy winner of this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. A fast-paced thriller, each page seems to bring about a new twist and take you deeper into a world that could only have come from a true master of crime fiction.”

The shortlist of nominees for this commendation can be found here. The original longlist of 20 competitors is posted here.

During the same ceremony, Reginald Hill (The Woodcutter) was given the inaugural Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award.

READ MORE: “R.J. Ellory Wins Crime Novel of the Year Award,” by Alison Flood (The Guardian); “Harrogate,” by Dan Waddell (Murder Is Everywhere).

Bring on the Half-time Show

2010 has been a pretty good year so far for crime fiction. We’ve seen the launching, for instance, of Needle: A Magazine of Noir, an ambitious print magazine for short, suspenseful stories (spearheaded by Steve Weddle) that rolled out with its first issue this last spring, and has a second edition due to appear soon. The onetime Australian print mag Crime Factory has been reborn as Crimefactory, a Web-based PDF-format publication filled with short tales, features, and reviews having to do with crime/mystery fiction and the people who bring it to us. Several new blogs have contributed to the reading public’s focus on this genre, among them New Zealander Craig Sisterson’s Crime Watch, author J. Sydney Jones’ Scene of the Crime, and Nicolas Pillai’s Squeezegut Alley. In March, once issue-based Spinetingler Magazine was re-launched in a continuous publication format.

And of course there have also been some excellent new crime, mystery, and thriller novels released over the last six and a half months.

When it comes to choosing “best books,” I generally prefer end-of-the-year appraisals. However, after seeing Maxine Clarke of Petrona and Kerrie Smith of Mysteries in Paradise both reveal the five to 10 crime novels--new and old--that they enjoyed reading during the first half of 2010, I was provoked to do an assessment of my own experiences. What follows, then, are the 10 crime novels (all currently available) that I most relished reading over the last six months:

• The Big Bang, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
• The Case of the Fiery Fingers (1951), by Erle Stanley Gardner
• City of Dragons, by Kelli Stanley
• The Convertible Hearse (1957), by William Campbell Gault
• The Detective Branch, by Andrew Pepper
• Gone ’til November, by Wallace Stroby
• Infamous, by Ace Atkins
• The Information Officer, by Mark Mills
• Peeler, by Kevin McCarthy
• A Razor Wrapped in Silk, by R.N. Morris

This list deliberately leaves out several books I have enjoyed, but that aren’t yet available to the general reading public; I’ll save those for later mention. And keep in mind: Just because I am enthusiastic about a novel at this point in the year doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed a place on my “best books of 2010” roster in December. I still have stacks of books I am hoping to get through by Thanksgiving Day.

Besides crime and mystery fiction, I have also had the pleasure of reading a variety of non-fiction books since January 1. This roster of favorites I’ll keep at six titles only:

• Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edward P. Kohn
• Mark Twain: Man in White--The Grand Adventure of His Final Years,
by Michael Shelden
• Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910, by Jeffrey H. Jackson
• The Promise: President Obama, Year One, by Jonathan Alter
• Scoundrels in Law: The Trials of Howe & Hummel, Lawyers to the Gangsters, Cops, Starlets, and Rakes Who Made the Gilded Age,
by Cait Murphy
• Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World’s Fair on the Brink of War, by James Mauro

So what do the rest of you think? If you’re willing to share with other Rap Sheet readers your own five to 10 favorite reads from the first half of 2010, please do so in the Comments section of this post.

We can all benefit from your recommendations.

Covering All the Bases

• Take note, all you Rex Stout fans who are planning to attending this year’s Bouchercon in San Francisco: The Wolfe Pack has scheduled its second annual Rex Stout Dinner at that city’s historic Payne Mansion (1409 Sutter Street) on the evening of Friday, October 15, beginning at 7 p.m. The meal will include a keynote speech by novelist Gayle Lynds titled “Nero Wolfe, the Spy.” Click here for registration details.

• As we’ve mentioned before on this page (see here, here, here, and here), the 1897 redbrick home Sir Arthur Conan Doyle built for himself in the Surrey village of Hindhead--the same residence, known as Undershaw, where he wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles and other works--has been endangered for most of this decade. Now, reports The Venetian Vase, Conan Doyle historian John Gibson “is appealing to [Britain’s] High Court to overturn planning permission to divide it up.” That blog features an interesting video tour of the estate as well as a link to the Save Undershaw campaign Web site.

• Meanwhile, Sherlock, the BBC/PBS-TV rebooting of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes legend, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman, is scheduled to begin a three-episode run in Britain this coming Sunday. The blog Squeezegut Alley offers a video preview of the series, plus an interview with its stars. As TV Squad notes, Sherlock “is expected to air later in the U.S. as part of the PBS Masterpiece series, though the U.S. premiere date has yet to be announced.” There’s still more on this show here and here.

• I must add this movie to my Netflix list.

• R.I.P., James Gannon. The American character actor, who I remember best for his role as Don Johnson’s sometimes eccentric father in the 1996-2001 TV crime drama Nash Bridges, passed away this last weekend at age 70. Read more here and here.

• I forgot to mention this before, but Kiwi books blogger Craig Sisterson is currently involved in “establishing both a New Zealand Crime and Thriller Writing Association, and the [country’s] inaugural crime-fiction award.” As he notes, “Down this way we have a Romance Writers Association and a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Association who each do great things to support local writers in their ‘genres,’ and give awards, as well as general/literary fiction-focused awards--but there is something of a gaping hole when it comes to celebrating those who write crime and thriller novels.” More here.

• Even as positive changes are made in the way the U.S. government conducts business, there have also been some ugly developments that make me worry about the nation’s future.

• The covers of these books alone might get me to buy them.

• Author and former director-general of Britain’s MI5, Stella Rimington, has listed her six favorite secret-agent novels in The Week. (Hat tip to Campaign for the American Reader.)

• John Kenyon of Things I’d Rather Be Doing talks with Max Allan Collins about his posthumous publication of Mickey Spillane novels, his forthcoming Quarry novel, and his interest in writing short fiction.

• Inspector Morse will make his stage debut next month.

• The critically acclaimed Glenn Close TV series Damages is finally abandoning the FX-TV network for a coming two-year run on DirectTV.

• The Library of Congress and others are working on plans to save the best of today’s digital media works for posterity. It’s about time.

• Philo Grubb? At least Bookgasm’s Doug Bentin remembers the otherwise long-forgotten “correspondence-school detective.”

• And let me send out belated happy birthday wishes to the fetching Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) on the occasion of her turning 30 years old. Ah, what it would be like to be 30 again ...