From the Field

• Florida thriller writer Lisa Unger has come up with a way to raise money for Hurricane Irma victims in South Florida, Texas’ Houston area, and the beleaguered island of Puerto Rico. According to the Tampa Bay Times, she has collected “14 new, signed hardcover books by some of the top crime-fiction writers in the world,” and is offering them to readers through a simple drawing. To enter, one must only donate at least $10 to one of three aid organizations she specifies, and then e-mail her your contribution receipt. The books up for grabs in this contest include Ace Atkins’ The Fallen, Lisa Gardner's Right Behind You, Harlan Coben’s Don’t Let Go, Lori Roy’s Let Me Die in His Footsteps, and Michael Connelly's The Late Show. Donations must be made by this coming Monday, October 2. Unger will announce the winner the next day. (Hat tip to Craig Pittman.)

• Sadly, this coming Saturday, September 30, will be the final day of business for Seattle Mystery Bookshop, which has been a prominent feature of downtown Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square district for the last 27 years. There’s more to read about the closure here.

• Also coming to an end this week is the latest annual “Classics in September” series produced by the British blog Crime Fiction Lover. Click here to find all of the posts related to that month-long celebration. Among my favorite entries this year were Marina Sofia’s tribute to novelist Margaret Millar (the wife of Ross Macdonald), a fond recollection of Daniel Woodrell’s Tomato Red (1998), and Purity Brown’s salute to Desmond Bagley’s crime novels (among them, The Golden Keel and Running Blind). Until next year, then …

• From In Reference to Murder:

The Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., … is getting a trove of cool artifacts from the world’s largest private collection of spycraft—more than 5,000 of them, to be specific: everything from a portion of the spy plane flown by pilot Gary Powers that was shot down over Russia, to the axe used to hack exiled Soviet communist Leon Trotsky to death, to a 13-foot-long spy submarine from World War II.

The Smithsonian magazine Web site reports that these numerous artifacts “will go on display when the museum moves to its new, larger location at L’Enfant Plaza in fall 2018.”

• Author-blogger Sandra Seamans brings word that “The 2018 Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Novel Competition is open for submissions. They are seeking traditional mysteries of 65,000 words (minimum). The deadline is January 12, 2018. There is no entry fee. The winner receives a $10,000 advance against royalties. You can find the details here. Scroll the page. I know it says 2017 but the entry form is for the 2018 competition. This only open to authors who have never had a novel published before.”

• The President Is Missing, a June 2018 release co-authored by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and best-seller James Patterson, has already been acquired by Showtime television for adaptation as a series. New York magazine’s Vulture site says, “No writers or producers are attached at this point, let alone a creator/showrunner. Showtime also didn’t say whether the project will be a multi-year series or a one-season limited series à la Twin Peaks: The Return. Not much is known about the plot of the book, with a press release describing the Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Company joint release as a ‘gripping tale of power and betrayal, with a unique perspective on the pressures and stakes faced by a sitting president.’” Stay tuned.

• Congratulations to Ah Sweet Mystery Blog for reaching its second birthday. It’s not easy to start or maintain a vital, interesting crime fiction-oriented blog, and I feel compelled to salute anyone willing to stick with the task for the long-haul.

• And Mystery Fanfare alerts us to two soon-forthcoming California celebrations: Orange County’s Ladies of Intrigue Conference (October 1) and Mystery Week (October 14-20), which has scheduled events at a variety of venues throughout the San Francisco Bay area.