Of Boosts and Blunders

• The very prolific Robert J. Randisi—founder of the Private Eye Writers of America, co-founder of Mystery Scene magazine, and author of the Rat Pack Mystery series (When Somebody Kills You), among so many other books—has been announced as the recipient of this year’s John Seigenthaler Legends Award. That prize is given out by organizers of Tennessee’s annual Killer Nashville convention. A press release applauds Randisi for having “demonstrated the legitimacy of crime writers by showing that they were not sensationalists, but real writers addressing real problems.” Congratulations, Bob!

• As she has done for previous conferences, delightful “medieval noir” author Jeri Westerson (The Silence of Stones), is covering this week’s Left Coast Crime gathering in Phoenix, Arizona. You will find her first, picture-packed post here.

• Martin Edwards brings the unwelcome news that his fellow British crime novelist, Stuart Pawson, has passed away. Born in 1940, and a former mining electrical engineer, Pawson composed 13 books (including A Very Private Murder) starring Charlie Priest, “an art school graduate turned police detective in Yorkshire, England.” Edwards remembers him as “one of life’s nice guys, a quiet, kind man who also happened to be a terrific writer.” Pawson was diagnosed several years ago with Parkinson’s disease.

• As MovieFone puts it, the Fox-TV police procedural Bones—starring Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, and based on Kathy Reichs’ series of novels featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan—“was just renewed and canceled at the same time, with Fox announcing one last season, with a shortened run of 12 episodes.”

• Finally, my UK friends would probably call this a major cock-up. Time magazine recently listed English journalist-novelist Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), noted author of Brideshead Revisited (1945), as the “97th most read female author in college classes.” The problem is, of course, that Waugh was a man. Made aware of its incredible literary ignorance (please excuse that editorializing), Time subsequently substituted French writer Marguerite Duras in the 97th spot.