Prize Pulp, Fur Sure

Not until September will paperback purveyor Hard Case Crime bring out the first of its second-generation hard-boiled novels with business partner Titan Publishing. But already editor Charles Ardai wants readers frothing over the April 2012 release of Blood on the Mink, by Robert Silverberg, an author better known for his science fiction than his criminal imaginings. As Ardai explained in an e-mail message this morning,

Five-time winner of the Nebula Award, five-time winner of the Hugo Award, author of acclaimed, mind-bending fantasy novels that have won praise from people like Jonathan Lethem and Michael Chabon, [Silverberg] began his career writing under fake names for the last surviving pulp magazines. For the very last issue ever of Trapped Detective Story Magazine, the editor asked if he could supply a complete novel, and Bob did, an action-packed suspense thriller about a government agent going undercover in the Philadelphia Mob to root out a master currency forger from within. The issue of Trapped appeared on newsstands in 1962--and after it went off sale a few weeks later, this work by Silverberg vanished. It never appeared under the author’s real name, never appeared in book form--never appeared in any form for the past half-century.

And it's a great read.

So ... in April 2012, Hard Case Crime will be giving Blood on the Mink its first-ever proper publication, including a new afterword by Silverberg discussing the novel’s genesis and his work for the pulps, as well as two short stories he wrote for the pulps that have a connection to the novel, and that also haven’t seen the light of day for more than 50 years.

That sounds like tremendous fun. And Blood on the Mink will follow five other of Hard Case Crime’s forthcoming titles: Getting Off, by Lawrence Block; The Consummata, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; Choke Hold, by Christa Faust; Quarry’s Ex, by Max Allan Collins; and The Comedy Is Finished, by Donald E. Westlake.

Welcome back to the publishing scene, Mr. Ardai.

Right from the Start

In my column this week for the Kirkus Reviews Web site, I look way back to my beginnings as a crime-fiction reader, and the woman who introduced me to this genre: my high school’s well-read assistant librarian, Rosemary Lacey (shown in the ancient yearbook photo at right). As I explain:

She was then in her mid-40s, a short but spirited woman with an ill-behaved head of gray hair, oversized glasses and a bright smile she shared with everyone who entered her domain. Although my responsibilities were limited, I found myself spending a great deal of free time working in the back office of that library and chatting with the warm-hearted and delightful Mrs. Lacey. She was as enthusiastic a reader as one could hope to find, with an omnivorous taste in fiction. It was she who introduced me to horror writers Tom Tryon (The Other, Night Magic) and Stephen King, as well as historical novelist Taylor Caldwell (Captains and the Kings), Peter Benchley (Jaws) and many others.

Most importantly, though, Mrs. Lacey passed along a cheap Bantam paperback copy of The Moving Target, by Ross Macdonald.

You’ll find my full column here.

After reading that piece, I hope you will add a comment on the Kirkus page recalling your own start as a crime, mystery, and thriller fan. When did you first discover these books? Who initiated you into the genre? And how did your encounter with crime fiction impact your life? I’m sure I won’t be the only person interested in reading your recollections.

Southern Discomfort

Another TV series that’s overdue for a DVD release: the To Kill a Mockingbird-ish I’ll Fly Away (1991-1993). It starred Sam Waterston as a Southern small-town district attorney who, thanks largely to his African-American housekeeper (played by Regina Taylor), is drawn into America’s civil-rights movement. I remember it fondly.

Bullet Points: Pre-Fourth of July Edition

• Columbo star Peter Falk, who died on June 23 at age 83, will be honored during the 2012 International Mystery Writers’ Festival, which is to be held next year in Owensboro, Kentucky, from June 11 through June 17. Omnimystery News reports that

William Link, co-creator of Columbo, the television series that starred Falk, last year published a book of short stories featuring the character, titled The Columbo Collection; four of these stories will be selected and presented as Live Broadcast Theatre productions, presented in the style of old-fashioned radio shows.

The character was featured at the inaugural mystery festival in 2007 in Link's play “Columbo Takes the Rap,” about a rapper who is murdered. Norm Boucher, who played the character then, will reprise his role in the new productions.

• Meanwhile, The HMSS Weblog recalls a couple of Columbo episodes in which Falk’s famous police protagonist encounters spies.

• The July 2011 edition of Mike Ripley’s “Getting Away with Murder” column in Shots includes notes on the 25th anniversary of Britain’s Headline Publishing Group, the launch of an “ambitious” new series by Nicci French, the 40th anniversary of the release of Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal, and thrillers referencing the 1934 shooting, in Marseilles, of King Alexander of Yugoslavia (“the first political assassination to be filmed by the news-reels, or so I’m told”). You’ll find Ripley’s latest column here.

• Final arrangements are being made for PulpFest 2011, which is scheduled to take place from Friday, July 29, to Sunday, July 31, in Columbus, Ohio. You’ll find all necessary registration and program details, as well as information about this year’s Munsey Award nominees, at the PulpFest Web site (click here).

• A programming note from author Eric Beetner:

The inaugural gathering of Noir at the Bar, L.A. edition, hits town on Sunday, July 17th with our special guest Duane Swierczynski. We’ll be mingling and knocking them back at Mandrake bar at 2692 S. La Cienega Blvd in Culver City. Also featuring readings by Josh Stallings (Beautiful, Naked & Dead, Out There Bad), Holly O’Neill West (Diary of Bedlam), Stephen Blackmoore (City of the Lost), and Eric Beetner (One Too Many Blows to the Head, Borrowed Trouble). It’s free and open to anyone, writers or not. The response has already been overwhelming. Special thanks to the Noir at the Bar crew from St. Louis for help and encouragement in getting the L.A. boys going.

For more information about this event, check with the Noir at the Bar: L.A. Edition Facebook page.

• A new Webzine worth watching: White Cat Publications.

• The Rap Sheet wasn’t able to participate in this last Friday’s blog coverage of “forgotten books,” but there were plenty of fine works mentioned, including these crime novels: Lullaby Town, by Robert Crais; Hunt the Killer, by Day Keene; Murder in Mesopotamia, by Agatha Christie; Poison in the Parish, by Millward Kennedy; The Adventure of the Ecotoplasmic Man, by Daniel Stashower; Last Respects, by Catherine Aird; and The Conch Shell Murder, by Dorothy Francis. Also recommended were the short-story collections The Sorceress of the Strand, by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace, and Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection, edited by Michael Cox. Series organizer Patti Abbott offers a full list of last week’s participating bloggers here.

• Summer reading suggestions from Megan Abbott and Joseph Finder.

• At least a couple of crime writers will be celebrating their birthdays later this week: Martin Edwards on Thursday, July 7; and Christopher G. Moore on Friday, July 8.

• Republicans seem to firmly reject Reagan’s legacy.

• And anyone who’s read Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely knows about rumrunner Tony Cornero’s luxury casinos of the 1930s and ’40s, the ones that used to be anchored off the coasts of Santa Monica and San Pedro, three miles out in international waters, where he thought them safe from interfering government authorities. Now the Los Angeles Times’ Jacket Copy blog alerts us to the existence of book about that “fascinating chapter” in America’s criminal history, Noir Afloat: Tony Cornero and the Notorious Gambling Ships of Southern California, by Ernest Marquez (Angel City Press). (Hat tip to Mark Coggins.)

Fireworks and Felonies

This Monday, July 4, will bring Independence Day celebrations across the United States. In preparation, Mystery Readers Journal editor Janet Rudolph has posted a list of mysteries associated with the holiday. Look over those choices here.

A Very Peculier Practice

The shortlist of nominees for the 2011 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was announced yesterday. It pits one debut novelist (William Ryan) against several old hands, all of them male, except for Lancashire-born S.J. Bolton. As the news release passing along these names explained, the Old Peculier Award, “now in its seventh year,” was “created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between 1st January 2010 and 31st May 2011.”

Without further ado, here are the six finalists:

• From the Dead, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)
• Blood Harvest, by S. J. Bolton (Bantam Press)
• 61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
• Dark Blood, by Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)
• The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Mantle)
• The Anatomy of Ghosts, by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)

That news release goes on to tell that “The winner of the prize will be announced by radio broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson on the opening night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Thursday 21st July. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

“On the same night, a special presentation will be made to the winner of the second Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, which this year is presented to P.D. James.”

The longlist of 18 contenders for the 2011 award was publicized in mid-May, and can be found here. Last year’s winner was R.J. Ellory (A Simple Act of Violence).