Readying Gunther’s Swan Song

When popular British author Philip Kerr died this last March at age 62, after a battle with bladder cancer, it was announced that his UK publisher, Quercus, had possession of the completed first draft of a final novel starring Kerr’s series protagonist, onetime Berlin police detective Bernie Gunther. Now comes word, via The Real Book Spy, of what that novel—a prequel to be titled Metropolis—will offer:

A portrait of Bernie Gunther in his twenties: He’s young, but he’s seen four bloody years of trench warfare. And he’s not stupid. So when he receives a promotion and a ticket out of Vice squad, he knows he’s not really leaving behind the criminal gangs, the perverse sex clubs, and the laundry list of human corruption. It’s 1928 and Berlin is a city on the edge of chaos, where nothing is truly verboten. But soon a new wave of shockingly violent murders sweeps up society’s most vulnerable, prostitutes and wounded ex-soldiers begging on the streets.

As Bernie Gunther sets out to make sense of multiple murders with different MOs in a city that knows no limits, he must face the fact that his own police HQ is not immune. The Nazi party has begun to infiltrate the Alex, Berlin’s central office, just as the shakey Weimar government makes a last, desperate attempt to control a nation edging toward the Third Reich.

It seems like the only escape for most Berliners is the theater and Bernie’s no exception. As he gets deeper into the city’s sordid underground network, he seeks comfort with a make-up artist who is every bit a match for his quick wit and increasingly sardonic view of the world. But even this space can’t remain untouched, not with this pervasive feeling that everything is for sale in Berlin if you’re man enough to kill for it.

Metropolis is set for release in the States on April 9, 2019.

The Man Who Would Be Marlowe

In response to my CrimeReads piece of last Thursday, which looked at how other writers have employed Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe in their fiction since the death of his creator, Raymond Chandler, back in 1959, L.A. author-critic Dick Lochte wrote this comment on the site:

Great overview of the many takes on Marlowe. There are at least two appearances of the old boy in other P.I.s’ books: John Shannon’s The Orange Curtain [2001] has P.I. Jack Liffey meet a cantankerous Marlowe complaining about Chandler’s misrepresentation of him. And Charles Alverson’s Joe Goodey meets Marlowe in his office in an old San Francisco building, in, I think, Goodey's Last Stand [1975], though it could have been book two, Not Sleeping, Just Dead [1977]. In any case, their aged Marlowes seem quite a bit more Chanderlesque than [Lawrence] Osborne’s [in the new Only to Sleep].

I appreciate Lochte’s kind words about my work, and wish I’d had space enough in CrimeReads to examine some of those Marlowe cameos he refers to. As it was, I did the best I could within a reasonable word count, and in the end actually sacrificed mention of a fourth book that featured Marlowe’s creator as a central player: William Denbow’s Chandler (1977), a broadly panned tale that found Chandler protecting Dashiell Hammett from death threats.

I also left out another short story starring Marlowe, this one by Julian Symons, a British mystery writer and renowned chronicler of crime fiction. Titled “About the Birth of Philip Marlowe,” it appears in Symons’ beautifully illustrated 1981 release, Great Detectives: Seven Original Investigations (Abrams). Symons’ intent was to put forth new cases starring some of this genre’s best-known sleuths—Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, Jules Maigret, and of course Marlowe—as well as imagine further complications to those characters’ histories. (The most novel sucy “revelation” might be that Ellery Queen had an intellectually keen younger brother!) In several instances, Symons integrates himself into his narratives, playing the role of persistent interviewer. “About the Birth of Philip Marlowe,” the last offering in these pages, is just such a yarn.

The chapter commences with Symons being led—thanks to some of Chandler’s letters he had acquired from a local bookseller—to the rather shabby downtown L.A. office of a private investigator whose name he never revels. Symons notes that this gumshoe has “a reputation for being honest and highly independent,” and that “he was unmarried, had an office in the right area, was the right age. Everything I found out suggested that he was the original of Marlowe.” Symons goes on to describe his subject further:

Of course he was older than the Marlowe of the books, something between fifty and sixty, but still a handsome man. … When I saw him I understood why Chandler hadn’t been so far off the mark when he said that Cary Grant would have been the right screen Marlowe for looks, because this man had the kind of sophistication and style you associate with Grant. Yet behind that sophistication he was unmistakably tough, and he also looked rather world-weary and cynical. Robert Mitchum? Yes, if you can imagine a cross between Mitchum and Grant, that would be about right. None of the other screen portrayals came anywhere near his physical appearance. Bogart was too small, and the others were just wrong.

This P.I. is reluctant to confirm that he was Chandler’s model for Marlowe, and he refuses to allow Symons to tape-record their conversation. But after some haggling over what the author will pay for his biographical information, the P.I. finally opens up some about his childhood in Santa Rose, California, north of San Francisco; his parents (a father who was a traveling salesman, a mother who was a drunk and died in a sanatorium); the couple of years he spent studying at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon; a succession of jobs (freight clerk, insurance claims investigator, etc.) that led to his working with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office (a job from which he was eventually dismissed for insubordination); and his leap into the lonely life of a shamus. When Symons asks whether the story about him marrying newspaper heiress Linda Loring was true, the P.I. “threw back his head and laughed.” “I was never so lucky,” he explains. “Linda was real enough, although of course that wasn’t her name and I’m not giving you any real names. We made some bedsprings creak, and if I’d played my cards right there could have been orange blossom and confetti, but I never had played my cards right when money was around, and I guess now I never will.”


(Above) Rhode Island-born artist Tom Adams was responsible for this image of the P.I. featured in “About the Birth of Philip Marlowe.” He also created the other illustrations in Symons’ book. Adams had previously painted the covers for Ballantine’s 1971 paperback line of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe novels.

As their conversation continues, the P.I. remarks on Chandler’s tendency to embellish the facts of criminal cases in his fiction and to give his protagonist literary airs. (“You got to understand Ray was a romantic. Some of the stuff he wrote about me was true, some he put frills on, some he just made up.”) And he finally recalls his initial involvement with Chandler:

The year would have been ’36, or maybe ’37, a few years after he’d been sacked from the South Basin Oil Company [formerly the Dabney Oil Syndicate] for being on the sauce too often. I guess he was beginning to get known as a writer—you’d know all that literary stuff better than me—but the thing was he didn’t know much, relied on books. Till he met me I doubt if he’d ever been face to face with a private detective.

The P.I. says that Chandler (a gent he describes as “smart, nervy, a bit of a scholar”) approached him for assistance with a young “dame” named Louellen Singer. It seems the writer—married but known to have been unfaithful to his wife in the past—had escorted Louellen to a gambling club called Jody’s, only to have her suddenly mouth off to the joint’s owner, Johnny Lacosta, and get them both thrown out on their ears. Chandler hoped the P.I. could smooth things over between Louellen and Lacosta, and thereby protect her from anything approaching retribution. The lovely blond Louellen, though, didn’t want the P.I.’s help—even though he quickly realizes she needed it: Lacosta had evidently been paying for her “snazzy apartment,” while she’d been betraying him with a handsome gangster-type named Lefty Hansen, “so-called because his left was his gun hand.”

I won’t spoil the maybe-Marlowe’s memories by revealing their conclusion, but this violent episode does sound like something that might have spilled forth from Chandler’s typewriter. Surprisingly, even after 37 years, it’s not difficult to find a copy of Symons’ Great Detectives (either through Amazon or AbeBooks) and read “About the Birth of Philip Marlowe” for yourself.

Can’t This Spy Get Some Birthday Cake?

I was late in becoming a fan of the American TV spy “dramedy” Chuck—very late, in fact: only within the last few months have I started watching that 2007-2012 NBC series, and I’m currently about halfway through Season 4. I don’t really remember why I eschewed the show during its network run. It probably had something to do with its being broadcast on Mondays at 8 p.m.—not a time I think of as offering tremendous entertainment opportunities. (Chuck’s competition in 2007, for instance, included The Big Bang Theory and Dancing with the Stars.) Regardless, I originally missed seeing what has now become one of my favorite evening diversions.

The show is quirky and over-the-top at times. But it offers a wonderful cast of performers, among them Zachary Levi as the eponymous accidental spy Chuck Bartowski, Adam Baldwin as brusque career soldier/NSA agent John Casey, Joshua Gomez as surprisingly endearing computer nerd Morgan Grimes (Chuck’s best friend since childhood) … and of course, Yvonne Strahovski as canny, tough, resourceful, and—sorry, I’m a male—downright stunning blond CIA agent Sarah Walker. (If you don’t trust my judgment on that last count, check out this compilation video of Walker’s appearances throughout the series.) During the program’s early years, Chuck bounced around between a few girlfriends (one of them played by Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk), disappointed that Walker was his CIA “handler,” but nothing more. However, he kept coming back to Sarah, who—he learns much later—had fallen in love with him almost from their first meeting, though she was afraid to admit that. (It seems spies have to be independent, never enjoying free time enough for lasting relationships.)

I bring all of this up, because today—in addition to being National Paperback Day (you already knew that, right?)—is the 36th anniversary of Yvonne Strahovski’s birth. The Australian actress of Polish descent has gone on since Chuck to co-star in Dexter and the limited series 24: Live Another Day, and she can now been seen in The Handmaid’s Tale. In that Hulu dystopian drama she plays Serena Joy Waterford, a character described by Wikipedia as “a former conservative cultural activist”—“poised and deeply religious, but capable of great cruelty … She is desperate to become a mother.” (In real life, Strahovski is expecting her first child in September of this year.)

Happy birthday, Sarah … I mean Yvonne!

PaperBack: “The Case of the Sun Bather’s Diary”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



The Case of the Sun Bather’s Diary, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Pocket, 1962). This is the 47th book in Gardner’s best-selling series starring Los Angeles defense attorney Perry Mason. Cover illustration by Robert McGinnis.

Recalling Green and Gryce

As far as I can tell, the results of Meldrum’s research have not yet been published in book form. But I look forward to reading her biography whenever it debuts. From In Reference to Murder:

The Vermont Historical Society will present Claire Meldrum with the Weston A. Cate Fellowship award for her research project Anna Katharine Green: A Biography. Meldrum’s book is a biography about nineteenth century American detective fiction author Anna Katharine Green, a seminal figure in American crime fiction, whose books helped give shape to the genre during its formative decades.

Drawing on her research, Meldrum already published an article titled “Dressing Up: Social Climbing, Criminality and Fashion in Anna Katharine Green’s Behind Closed Doors” in the Spring 2018 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection. Behind Closed Doors (1888) was one of a dozen novels Green wrote about detective Ebenezer Gryce, introduced in her best-remembered book, The Leavenworth Case (1878).

Well Worth Remembering

This has already been a big week for the birthdays of crime-fiction authors: Raymond Chandler’s was on Monday, John D. MacDonald’s was on Tuesday. And now let us celebrate what would have been Bill Crider’s 77th birthday. As blogger George Kelley reminds us, Crider took his first breaths on July 28, 1941, in the little town of Mexia, Texas. Sadly, Crider—best known for penning a series about Sheriff Dan Rhodes—passed away in February of this year from prostate cancer.

Many Rap Sheet readers knew Crider well. He was pretty universally thought of within the community of crime fictionists as a funny, generous, honest, and warm-hearted guy. It’s always distressing to see somebody of that caliber disappear from the world, but especially so at a time when avarice, hate, and mendacity seem in the ascendancy. I’m not religious, but if Bill’s spirit is indeed still around someplace, I hope he’s continuing to spread good will liberally.

And I look forward to the publication, next February, of the 26th and last Rhodes novel, That Old Scoundrel Death (Minotaur).

Revue of Reviewers, 7-26-18

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

The Improbable Afterlife of Philip Marlowe

In connection with both the release last week of The Annotated Big Sleep (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) and this week’s debut of Lawrence Osborne’s Philip Marlowe novel, Only to Sleep (Hogarth), the Web site CrimeReads has been making the most of Raymond Chandler and his famous fictional private eye. All of the pieces are worth checking out if, like me, you’re a Chandler fan.

“The World of Raymond Chandler and The Big Sleep” is an adaptation of the introduction to The Annotated Big Sleep, by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Dean Rizzuto. In “How to Write Like Chandler Without Becoming a Cliché,” Hill offers some “tips for aspiring crime writers enthralled by the [crime-fiction] classics.” And if you’re curious to see how The Big Sleep has been artistically presented by publishers around the world since its initial appearance in 1939, take a scroll through this gallery of 25 mostly paperback book covers.

Since this week brought the 130th anniversary of Chandler’s birth (he took his first breaths in Chicago on July 23, 1888), CrimeReads continues it celebration with a piece I contributed, titled “The Many Faces of Philip Marlowe.” It’s an examination of eight books, all published since Chandler’s demise back in 1959, that feature Marlowe or the author himself, but—like Osborne’s Only to Sleep—were penned by wordsmiths other than Chandler. It was great fun visiting or revisiting those works in order to write about them.

READ MORE: “The Big Seep,” by Megan Abbott (Slate); “Marlowe Never Sleeps,” by Clay and Susan Griffith (Tor.com); “Sleep Covers Worth Waking Up For,” by J. Kingston Pierce (Killer Covers); “The Man Who Would Be Marlowe,” by J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet).

Dagger Rivals Make the Cut

Laura Lippman, Joseph Finder, Gin Phillips, and Arnaldur Indridason are among the losers in today’s announcement, by the British Crime Writers’ Association, of shortlisted titles for the 2018 Dagger Awards. All of those prominent writers had works longlisted for these prizes (see here), but—surprisingly—not one of them appears among the finalists. These books and writers remain in the running:

CWA Gold Dagger:
• The Liar, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• London Rules, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• Since We Fell, by Dennis Lehane (Little, Brown)
• Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke (Serpent’s Tail)
• A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Pushkin Vertigo)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• London Rules, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• If I Die Before I Wake, by Emily Koch (Harvill Secker)
• Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke (Serpent’s Tail)
• An Act of Silence, by Colette McBeth (Wildfire)
• The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor (Michael Joseph)
• The Force, by Don Winslow (HarperFiction)

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• Gravesend, by William Boyle (No Exit Press)
• IQ, by Joe Ide (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Girl in Snow, by Danya Kukafka (Picador)
• Lola, by Melissa Scrivner Love (Point Blank)
• East of Hounslow, by Khurrum Rahman (HQ)
• Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Pushkin Vertigo)

CWA International Dagger:
• Zen and the Art of Murder, by Oliver Bottini,
translated by Jamie Bulloch (MacLehose Press)
• Three Days and a Life, by Pierre Lemaitre,
translated by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press)
• After the Fire, by Henning Mankell,
translated by Marlaine Delargy (Harvill Secker)
• The Frozen Woman, by Jon Michelet,
translated by Don Bartlett (No Exit Press)
• Offering to the Storm, by Dolores Redondo,
translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garzía (HarperCollins)
• The Accordionist, by Fred Vargas,
translated by Sian Reynolds (Harvill Secker)

CWA Historical Dagger:
• A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• Fire, by L.C. Tyler (Constable)
• Lightning Men, by Thomas Mullen (Little, Brown)
• Money in the Morgue, by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy (HarperCollins)
• Nine Lessons, by Nicola Upson (Faber and Faber)
• Nucleus, by Rory Clements (Zaffre)

CWA Short Story Dagger:
• “The Last Siege of Bothwell Castle,” by Chris Brookmyre (from Bloody Scotland; Historic Environment Scotland)
• “Second Son,” by Lee Child (from No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Stories, by Lee Child; Bantam Press)
• “Smoking Kills,” by Erin Kelly (from Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #2: The Body, edited by Susan Opie; Killer Women)
• “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit,” by Denise Mina (from Bloody Scotland)
• “Accounting for Murder,” by Christine Poulson (from Mystery Tour: CWA Anthology of Short Stories, edited by Martin Edwards; Orenda)

CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction:
• Black Dahlia, Red Rose, by Piu Eatwell (Coronet)
• Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann (Simon & Schuster)
• Blood on the Page, by Thomas Harding (Heinemann)
• The Fact of a Body, by Alexandria Mariano-Lesnevich (Macmillan)
• A False Report, by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong (Hutchinson)
• Rex v. Edith Thompson, by Laura Thompson (Head of Zeus)

CWA Dagger in the Library:
(Selected by nominations from libraries)
• Martin Edwards
• Nicci French
• Simon Kernick
• Edward Marston
• Peter May
• Rebecca Tope

CWA Debut Dagger (for unpublished writers):
• The Eternal Life of Ezra Ben Simeon, by Bill Crotty
• The Last Googling of Beth Bailly, by Luke Melia
• Riverine Blood, by Joseph James
• Original Sins, by Linda McLaughlin
• Trust Me, I’m Dead, by Sherryl Clark

Winners are to be announced during the CWA Dagger Awards dinner in London on Thursday, October 25.

(Hat tip to Ali Karim and Mystery Fanfare.)

High Times in Harrogate

(Left to right) Stav Sherez, the winner of the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award for his book The Intrusions, teams with Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim to welcome conventioneers to the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate.

Anybody who subscribes to Ali Karim’s Facebook page knows that, when he’s attending a crime-fiction festival—either in the States or Great Britain—he’s a fiend for photography. I’ve rarely seen anyone but a professional shooter take so many pictures during an event, with so many of them being a bit off kilter. (There must be some stylistic intent there, I just haven’t figured it out. Or maybe the slanted view results from Ali packing along too much medicinal gin.)

Naturally, The Rap Sheet’s chief UK correspondent was on hand for the recent Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, held from July 19 to 22 in Harrogate, England. The photos he snapped there include candids of authors and agents, along with shots of awards events, publisher parties, trivia quiz competitions, books he collected during the convention, and of course, photos of him clowning it up with his usual companions, Shots editor Mike Stotter and American copy editor/blogger Peter Rozovsky.

I won’t attempt to compile here all of the images Ali posted on Facebook: I don’t think I can write that many captions! But below, you will find more than a dozen that suggest the diversity and delights enjoyed by participants at this year’s Harrogate festival.


American authors Laura Lippman and Gregg Hurwitz.

Good and appropriate advice from a lineup of Harrogate International Festivals team members, including—just to the right of the “A”—chief executive Sharon Canavar.

Daily Mirror books critic Deirdre O'Brien takes a moment with one of the authors on her radar, Steve Mosby (You Can Run).

Even a bit of rain couldn’t spoil the high spirits of this event.

When the lurid meets the literary: Ali Karim with South African-born British poet and literary agent Isobel Dixon.

Now here’s an intimidating bunch: authors Martyn Waites, Steve Cavanaugh, Luca Veste, and Stuart Neville.

Jon Coates, deputy news editor of the Sunday Express, chats with thriller writer Simon Kernick (The Hanged Man).

A little beer, a little camaraderie—what’s not to like? Will Dean (Dark Pines), Ruth Ware (The Death of Mrs. Westaway), and Abir Mukherjee (A Necessary Evil, Smoke and Ashes).

Wherever wordsmiths gathered, Ali’s camera was soon to follow. Here we see novelists Lloyd Otis (Dead Lands), Linwood Barclay (A Noise Downstairs), and Alafair Burke (The Wife), together with bloggers Craig Sisterson (Crime Watch) and Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders).

Ali was more than moderately enthusiastic about meeting American Joseph Kanon (Defectors) at this year’s festival. As he wrote on Facebook, “Joe Kanon is a helluva bloke, apart from being an extraordinary writer—truly liberal and currently horrified and embarrassed by the Trump regime. [We spent] a memorable afternoon with his anecdotes—just wonderful.” The photo shows (left to right) Jon Coates, Ali, Mike Stotter, and Kanon himself.

Ali’s caption for this shot: “Lee Child [center] discusses the exit strategy with his security team of Mike Stotter and Ali Karim.”

Vengeance in Mind author Daphne Wright (aka N.J. Cooper) with Nigerian writer Leye Adenle (When Trouble Sleeps).

Stotter catches up with Mick Herron, the winner of CrimeFest’s 2018 Last Laugh Award for Spook Street.

Shari Lapena, a former lawyer and English teacher, introduces Ali to her brand-new thriller, An Unwanted Guest.

Smile pretty for the camera, folks! Mark Billingham (The Killing Habit) with Kimberley “K.J.” Howe (Skyjack).

(All photos in this post copyright © Ali Karim 2018.)

READ MORE: “Harrogate 2018—a Little Bit Different,” by Catherine Turnbull (Crime Fiction Lover).

Learning from Travis McGee’s “Father”

This week initially brought us, on Monday, the 130th anniversary of Raymond Chandler’s birth. Now, today, the CrimeReads Web site is celebrating what would have been John D. MacDonald’s 102nd birthday with a collection of the author’s memorable quotes about life, the arts of writing and storytelling, maturity, and a great deal more. Here, for instance, is what the author said he’d like as his epitaph:

“He hung around quite a while, entertained the folk, and was stopped quick and clean when the right time came.”

Sadly, that’s not what it actually says on MacDonald’s gravestone. Scroll down to the bottom of the linked page to see for yourself.

READ MORE: “MacDonald’s Century,” by J. Kingston Pierce
(Killer Covers).

Tobisman Labors in Lee’s Shadow

We’ve received news today that California appellate attorney C.E. Tobisman has won the 2018 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction with her novel Proof (Thomas & Mercer). That commendation is sponsored by the University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA Journal.

Also nominated for this honor were Exposed, by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s Press), and Testimony, by Scott Turow (Grand Central).

According to a press release, “Tobisman is the eighth winner of the prize, and will be honored with a signed special edition of To Kill a Mockingbird at the 2018 prize ceremony at the Library of Congress, in conjunction with the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.,” on Saturday, September 1.

* * *

Meanwhile, British author Belinda Bauer’s latest crime novel, Snap (Atlantic Monthly Press), has made it onto the longlist of contenders for this year’s Man Booker Prize. Her dozen rivals for a place on the coming shortlist (to be announced on September 20) include Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje, The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner, and The Overstory, by Richard Powers.

PaperBack: “Hot Winds of Summer”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Hot Winds of Summer, by John H. Secondari (Popular Giant,
1957). This novel by an American author and TV producer was originally published in 1955 as Spinner of the Dream. Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

“Are You Mr. Marlowe, the Detective?”

Continuing our Raymond Chandler birthday theme, I’ve embedded below what is described as a clip from the pilot for Philip Marlowe, a 1959-1960 ABC-TV series about which I have written before. According to Mystery*File, this pilot—with Philip Carey in the title role—was completed in February 1958, though the series didn’t debut until the fall of ’59. What’s more, it’s not clear whether this pilot was ever broadcast; the first known, half-hour episode of Philip Marlowe, “The Ugly Duckling,” is completely different, and can be watched here.



READ MORE: “The Reading Life: Happy Birthday to Me—and Raymond Chandler,” by Carolyn Kellogg (Los Angeles Times); “In Honor of Raymond Chandler’s Birthday: Chandler-Inspired Recipes,” by Colleen Collins (The Zen Man).

“A Grisly Skill”

To help celebrate today’s 130th anniversary of Raymond Chandler’s birth in Chicago, the Literary Hub-associated site Book Marks has posted what it says are the initial reviews of Chandler’s seven novels starring Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. Here, for instance, is a critique of Farewell, My Lovely, penned for The New York Times by Isaac Anderson, and published on November 17, 1940:

This is a tough one: superlatively tough, alcoholic, and, for all its wisecracks, ugly rather than humorous. Like many ‘swift-moving’ tales, it is sometimes confusing in its rapid succession of incidents which may or may not have an integral connection with the plot. And the actual mystery is not important. It isn’t so difficult to guess what had become of the beautiful cabaret singer Velma. The identity of the unpleasing Lindsay Marriott’s slayer has no pressing interest. The murder casually committed by that elemental giant Moose Malloy is only an episode to start the story going. No, the appeal of Farewell, My Lovely is in its toughness, which is extremely well done.

Jeanne Florian may know something or nothing about Velma, but Philip Marlowe’s questioning of that gin-soaked old woman makes as sordid a bet as you’re likely to be looking for. Beautiful Mrs. Grayle has a real place in the story, but it’s the sense of evil all about her that gives you goose-flesh. And Amthor the ‘psychic consultant’ and Sonderberg the ‘dope doctor’ are lesser figures in a novel in which no detail is left undescribed.

But the story’s ever-present theme is police corruption, seen in a murky variety. And several kinds of dreadfulness are handled with a grisly skill.

You can read all seven of the reviews here.

Falling for Philip

I’ve watched the 1946 Humphrey Bogart film version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep on more than a few occasions. But until recently, I’d only ever seen the 1978 remake starring Robert Mitchum one time, shortly after its U.S. big-screen debut. I had enjoyed Mitchum’s appearance as private eye Philip Marlowe in 1975’s Farewell, My Lovely, but my memory of his work in The Big Sleep—with the story’s location moved, for some godforsaken reason, to Britain—was considerably less rosy. A second watching failed to improve my opinion of the flick much, though I think Mitchum did an OK job, and Candy Clark’s portrayal of nymphomaniac daughter Carmen Sternwood (unnecessarily renamed Camilla in the ’78 version), was positively disturbing—which was of course exactly her intent.

With tomorrow bringing what would have been author Chandler’s 130th birthday, I decided one small way to honor his memory and to acknowledge my long-overdue second viewing of Mitchum’s The Big Sleep was to compare here one of my favorite scenes from both flicks. Notice in the first, Bogart clip that Chandler’s line about Marlowe being tall had to be modified to fit Bogie’s 5-foot-8 stature. Mitchum’s 6-foot-1 height better matched the original description.





WATCH MORE: “Marlowe Goes to the Movies,” by J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet).

Dead Goods Aplenty

From what I can tell by keeping track of various Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival—being held this weekend in Harrogate, England—is providing ample delights for its lucky participants. The event has also brought an announcement of which books and authors have won the 2018 Dead Good Reader Awards in half a dozen distinctive categories.

The Holmes and Watson Award for Best Detective Duo:
Ruth Galloway and Harry Nelson, created by Elly Griffiths

Also nominated: Arthur Bryant and John May, created by
Christopher Fowler; Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, created by Tess Gerritsen; Ruth Galloway and Harry Nelson, created by Elly Griffiths; Marnie Rome and Noah Jake, created by Sarah Hilary; Rosie Strange and Sam Stone, created by Syd Moore; and Gino Rolseth and Leo Magozzi, created by P.J. Tracy

The Whodunnit Award for the Book That Keeps You Guessing:
Let Me Lie, by Clare Mackintosh

Also nominated: I Am Watching You, by Teresa Driscoll; The Lucky Ones, by Mark Edwards; Skin Deep, by Liz Nugent; The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton; and The Lying Game,
by Ruth Ware

The Cabot Cove Award for Best Small-Town Mystery:
The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor

Also nominated: A Murder to Die For, by Stevyn Colgan; Dark Pines, by Will Dean; The Devil’s Claw, by Lara Dearman; Hell in a Handbasket, by Denise Grover Swank; and The Dry, by Jane Harper

The Wringer Award for the Character Who’s Been Put Through It All: Jack Reacher, created by Lee Child

Also nominated: Frieda Klein, created by Nicci French; Lottie Parker, created by Patricia Gibney; Ruth Galloway, created by Elly Griffiths; Michael Devlin, created by Tony Kent; and David Raker, created by
Tim Weaver

The House of Horrors Award for Most Dysfunctional Family:
Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell

Also nominated: Little Sister, by Isabel Ashdown; Blood Sisters, by Jane Corry; Good Me, Bad Me, by Ali Land; Let Me Lie, by Clare Mackintosh; and The Good Samaritan, by John Marrs

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book:
The Dark Angel, by Elly Griffiths

Also nominated: I Am Watching You, by Teresa Driscoll; Killer Intent, by Tony Kent; Anything You Do Say, by Gillian McAllister; The Fear, by C.L. Taylor; and The Lying Game, by Ruth Ware

These commendations are sponsored annually by the British crime-fiction books site Dead Good.

Sherez Win Makes for a “Happy Day”

From the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which opened earlier today in Harrogate, England, comes the news that Stav Sherez has won the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award for his book The Intrusions (Faber and Faber).

The Guardian explains that The Intrusions, Sherez’s third installment in a series featuring detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller, “begins when a young woman arrives at their west London police station, saying that her friend has been abducted from the seedy Bayswater hostel where they both live. Soon the investigators discover that someone has been using remote-access technology to gain control both of the women’s laptops and their lives.”

The newspaper goes on to say that judging chair Lee Child calls Sherez’s 2017 novel a “brilliant and organic blend of ancient terror and suspense, with modern issues as its core.” He remarks further: “Sherez is well known for the sheer quality of his prose, and outdid himself here. … He has moved the genre forward with this one—a happy day for crime fiction.”

Also nominated for this year’s Old Peculier honor were the novels Spook Street, by Mick Herron (John Murray); The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker); A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker); Persons Unknown, by Susie Steiner (The Borough Press); and Insidious Intent, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown).

During the same event at which Sherez received his prizes—£3,000 in cash, along with a handmade, engraved oak beer cask—American author John Grisham was declared this year’s winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction award. Previous recipients of that same commendation include Lee Child, Val McDermid, Sara Paretsky, and P.D. James.

Tracking Down Manhunt

In its day (1953-1967), Manhunt magazine was highly regarded by the crime-fiction community, and drew contributions from most of its era’s best-remembered authors. My guess, though, is that Rap Sheet readers have probably never had the chance to page through even one of the 114 issues released. So I was pleased today to find, in the Pulp Covers blog, the front of the January 1953 premiere edition of Manhunt, along with information about how to download the entire, 150-page magazine. That issue features the opening installment of a Mickey Spillane serial, along with other yarns by Kenneth Millar (aka Ross Macdonald), Frank Kane, Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain), Richard S. Prather, and William irish (aka Cornell Woolrich).

In order to open the file (which is apparently condensed in CDisplay Archived Comic Book format), I had to download onto my computer something called a CBR Reader, described as “a free comic book format reader program.” It took only a few seconds, and left me ready to check out all of Manhunt, Issue #1. Great fun!

Next in Line for the “Neddies”?

I discovered this news overnight, but didn’t have time to post it then. And this morning, I’m in rather a rush to complete an assignment, so do not have the time necessary to look up all of the publishers responsible for the books listed (as I would normally do).

Anyway, here are the longlists of contenders for the 2018 Ned Kelly Awards, sponsored by the Australian Crime Writers Association. Winners will be announced during a special ceremony held during the Melbourne Writers Festival, August 24-September 2.

Best Crime:
• Marlborough Man, by Alan Carter
• Under the Cold Bright Lights, by Garry Disher
• Redemption Point, by Candice Fox
• The Lone Child, by Anna George
• Crossing the Lines, by Sulari Gentill
• Class Act, by Ged Gillmore
• Pachyderm, by Hugh McGinlay
• Big Red Rock, by David Owen
• The Secrets She Keeps, by Michael Robotham
• The Student, by Iain Ryan
• Clear to the Horizon, by Dave Warner

Best First Crime:
• The Dark Lake, by Sarah Bailey
• Wimmera, by Mark Brandi
• The Girl in Kellers Way, by Megan Goldin
• All Our Secrets, by Jennifer Lane
• The Echo of Others, by S.D. Rowell
• See What I Have Done, by Sarah Schmidt
• She Be Damned, by M.J. Tija

Best True Crime:
• The Contractor, by Mark Abernethy
• Unmaking a Murder: The Mysterious Death of Anna Jane Cheney, by Graham Archer
• The Suitcase Baby, by Tanya Bretherton
• Whitely on Trial, by Gabriella Coslovich
• Last King of the Cross, by John Ibrahim
• The Last Escape, by John Killick
• The Fatalist, by Campbell McConachie
• Once a Copper: The Life and Times of Brian “The Skull” Murphy,
by Vikki Petraitis

As interesting as these lists are, it’s surprising to see which books were submitted for consideration, but didn’t make the cut.

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Hollywood’s Adaptations Keep Coming

Since I very much enjoyed Andy Weir’s 2017 science fiction/crime fiction crossover, Artemis, I was interested to see this news item from the blog In Reference to Murder:

Geneva Robertson-Dworet is set to adapt Artemis, ...
the novel by The Martian author Andy Weir that Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct. Artemis is described as an adrenaline-charged crime caper that features smart, detailed world-building based on real science. It centers on Jasmine Bashara, aka Jazz, a twenty-something living in a small town named Artemis—and it’s the first and only city on the moon. Her budding career as a smuggler isn’t exactly setting her up as a kingpin, so when the chance at a life-changing score drops in her lap, she finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.

Another Hollywood tidbit from the same source:

Rosario Dawson is set as the lead of USA Network’s crime drama pilot Briarpatch, from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. Written by Andy Greenwald and based on the Ross Thomas novel, Briarpatch centers on Allegra “Pick” Dill (Dawson), a tenacious and highly-skilled investigator working in Washington, D.C., for a young, ambitious Senator. When her ten-years-younger sister, a homicide detective, is killed by a car bomb, Allegra returns to her corrupt Texas hometown. What begins as a search for the murderer becomes a fraught and dangerous excavation of the past Allegra has long sought to bury.

You’ll find more movie and television news here.

PaperBack: “Death in the Wind”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Death in the Wind, by Edwin Lanham (Permabooks, 1957). Originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post in 1955. Cover illustration by James Meese.

Get Your Thrill On

Last evening, during a ceremony at ThrillerFest in New York City, the winners of the 2018 Thriller Awards were announced, as follows:

Best Hardcover Novel:
Final Girls, by Riley Sager (Dutton)

Also nominated: Ill Will, by Dan Chaon (Ballantine); The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Little, Brown); The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris (St. Martin’s Press); and Fierce Kingdom, by Gin Phillips (Viking)

Best First Novel: The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe (Quercus)

Also nominated: Deep Down Dead, by Steph Broadribb (Orenda); Ragdoll, by Daniel Cole (Ecco); The Red Line, by Walt Gragg (Berkley); and The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)

Best Paperback Original Novel: Grievance, by Christine Bell
(Lake Union)

Also nominated: Stillhouse Lake, by Rachel Caine (Thomas & Mercer); The Resurrector, by Layton Green (Layton Green); Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly, by Adrian Mckinty (Seventh Street); and The Day I Died, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Best Short Story: “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)

Also nominated: “Too Much Time,” by Lee Child (from No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories; Delacorte); “What Could Possibly Go Boing?” by Mat Coward (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2017); “The Kill Switch,” by Willy Vlautin (from The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads, edited by Patrick Millikin; Hachette); and “Test Drive,” by Ben H. Winters (from The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads)

Best Young Adult Novel:
The Rains, by Gregg Hurwitz (Tor Teen)

Also nominated: The Boy She Left Behind, by Gregg Olsen (Polis); To Catch a Killer, by Sheryl Scarborough (Tor Teen); The Delphi Effect, by Rysa Walker (Skyscape); and Proof of Lies, by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Entangled)

Best E-Book Original Novel:
Second Chance, by Sean Black (Sean Black)

Also nominated: Resurrection America, by Jeff Gunhus (Seven Guns Press); Trojan, by Alan McDermott (Thomas & Mercer); Witness, by Caroline Mitchell (Thomas & Mercer); and A Fragile Thing, by Kevin Wignall (Thomas & Mercer)

Silver Bullet Award for Service: James Rollins

Thriller Master Award: George R.R. Martin

Congratulations to the victors and other nominees alike!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Another Course of Morse

Tomorrow night, Sunday, will bring the fourth episode of Endeavour, Season 5, to PBS-TV’s Masterpiece series. But if you’re in the mood for a fresh Inspector Morse investigation right now, note that Chris Sullivan has posted “In the Shadows,” a full new, 90-minute BBC Radio 4 episode starring Morse and his colleague, Sergeant Robbie Lewis, in his blog, Morse, Lewis and Endeavour.

Of this audio drama, Sullivan writes:

Terrible things happen even in beautiful places and among highly educated people. Morse, Lewis and [Superintendent Jim] Strange are back on their criminally fertile Oxford patch—dealing with a mysterious pair of Oxford students who appear to be fish out of water, a Don found dead in the river, and an attractive philosopher who pleads with Morse to drop his investigation to save her career.

It’s still the early 1990s when computers, mobiles, digital media, and sophisticated forensic techniques are not yet in use. Morse’s detection methods rely on instinct, acutely honed observational skills, and dogged gumshoe perseverance. Colin Dexter’s Oxford detectives feature in a story devised by former Morse TV writer Alma Cullen, adapted by Richard Stoneman.

Click here to listen to the whole program.

The Big Easy Falls Hard for Minnesotans

Minnesota author Ellen Hart has won the 2018 Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work. Hart is the author of the Jane Lawless (A Whisper of Bones) and Sophie Greenway (No Reservations Required) mystery series. As explained in a news release from the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans, Louisiana (WNBA-NO), which established the Pinckley Prize in 2012:

Hart’s novels deal with LGBT issues and have received six prestigious Lambda Literary Awards. In 2017, she was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, its highest honor; she is the first LGBT writer to achieve this recognition. Hart lives in Eden Prairie, Minn.

The judges praised Hart’s persistence over a long and distinguished publishing career, her generosity to other writers, and her success in creating believable and lovable characters.

Meanwhile, another Gopher State resident, Marcie Rendon, will receive the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her book Murder on the Red River (Cinco Puntos Press). “An enrolled member of the White Earth Nation,” explains the Pinckley Prize Web site, “Rendon is a playwright, poet, and freelance writer. She has published four non-fiction children’s books … Rendon is a community arts activist who supports other native artists/writers/creators in pursuing their art. The judges, facing a formidable field of entries this year, were impressed with Rendon’s sense of place and her creation of an unforgettable character who forges her own way in a challenging world.”

These two commendations will be presented on Saturday, October 6, during a ceremony at the George and Joyce Wein New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Center in New Orleans. Both winners will receive “a $2,500 cash award, as well as a beautiful paper rosette fashioned from the pages of their books, created by New Orleans artist Yuka Petz.”

The Pinckley Prize is named in honor of Diana Pinckley (1952-2012), a founding member of the WNBA-NO and a longtime director of University Relations at Tulane University.

Past winners of these prizes are listed here.

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Revue of Reviewers, 7-13-18

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.