Let’s Not Forget About the Anthonys

Concluding our coverage of this weekend’s “virtual Bouchercon,” we now bring you the winners of the 2020 Anthony Awards. As blogger Les Blatt notes in Classic Mysteries, “The Anthony Awards are named in honor of the late author and mystery critic Anthony Boucher (for whom Bouchercon is named), and they are considered to be among the most prestigious awards for crime-fiction authors.”

Best Novel:
The Murder List, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Also nominated: Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); They All Fall Down, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge); Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman (Morrow); and Miami Midnight, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel:
One Night Gone, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)

Also nominated: The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge (Agora); Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton); Three-Fifths, by John Vercher (Agora); and American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

Best Paperback Original:
The Alchemist’s Illusion, by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)

Also nominated: The Unrepentant, by E.A. Aymar (Down & Out); Murder Knocks Twice, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur); The Pearl Dagger, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington); Scot & Soda, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink); Drowned Under, by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press); and The Naming Game, by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Press)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work:
The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women, by Mo Moulton (Basic)

Also nominated: Hitchcock and the Censors, by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky); The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of the Collins Crime Club, by John Curran (Collins Crime Club); The Trail of Lizzie Borden: A True Story, by Cara Robertson (Simon & Schuster); and The Five: The Untold Stories of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Best Short Story: “The Red Zone,” by Alex Segura (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón; Down & Out)

Also nominated: “Turistas,” by Hector Acosta (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!); “Unforgiven,” by Hilary Davidson (from Murder a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West; Down & Out); “Better Days,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2019); and “Hard Return,” by Art Taylor (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press)

Best Anthology or Collection:
Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press)

Also nominated: The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken (Down & Out); ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out); Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman (Wildside Press); and Murder A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West (Down & Out)

Best Young Adult:
Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry, by Jen Conley (Down & Out)

Also nominated: Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen); Killing November, by Adriana Mather (Knopf Books for Young Readers); Patron Saints of Nothing, by Randy Ribay (Kokila); The Deceivers, by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen); and Wild and Crooked, by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury YA)

A hearty congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

Bestowing the Barrys

Day Two of this year’s virtual Bouchercon brings word of which books and authors have won the 2020 Barry Awards, given out by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel:
The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)

Also nominated: If She Wakes, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown); Metropolis, by Philip Kerr (Putnam); The Border, by Don Winslow (HarperCollins); Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); and Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh (Flatiron)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel:
The Chestnut Man, by Søren Sveistrup (Harper)

Also nominated: The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (Celadon); American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House); Save Me from Dangerous Men, by S.A. Lelchuk (Flatiron); Scrublands, Chris Hammer (Atria); and To the Lions, by Holly Watt (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel:
Missing Daughter, by Rick Mofina (Mira)

Also nominated: The Godmother, by Hannelore Cayre (ECW); Winner Kills All, by R.J. Bailey (Simon & Schuster UK); Killing Quarry, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); Fate, by Ian Hamilton (Spiderline); and No Good Deed, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Thriller:
The Chain, by Adrian McKinty (Mulholland)

Also nominated: Mission Critical, by Mark Greaney (Berkley); Backlash, by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bester); The Burglar, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press); True Believer, by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester); and White Hot Silence, by Henry Porter (Mysterious Press)

Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade:
Suspect, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown); November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow); The Dry, by Jane Harper (Flatiron); The Blackhouse, by Peter May (Quercus); and The Cartel, by Don Winslow (Knopf)

I’m a bit surprised (and disappointed) that May’s The Blackhouse did not come out on the top in that final category, but then there’s no predicting the outcome of a competition such as this one.

Congratulations to all of the 2020 contenders!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

A Matter of Macavitys

As this year’s first “virtual Bouchercon” gets underway today, Mystery Readers International announces the winners of its 2020 Macavity Awards, in five categories.

Best Mystery Novel:
The Chain, by Adrian McKinty (Mulholland)

Also nominated: Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger (Atria); Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman (Morrow); The Murder List, by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge); and Sarah Jane, by James Sallis (Soho Crime)

Best First Mystery:
One Night Gone, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)

Also nominated: The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge (Agora); My Lovely Wife, by Samantha Downing (Penguin); Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton); Call Me Evie, by J.P. Pomare (Putnam); and American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

Best Mystery Short Story:
“Better Days,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
[EQMM], May/June 2019)

Also nominated: “West Texas Barbecue,” by Michael Chandos (from The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out Books); “Alex’s Choice,” by Barb Goffman (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press); “The Cardboard Box,” by Terence Faherty (EQMM, January/February 2019); “Whiteout,” by G.M. Malliet (EQMM, January/February 2019); and “Brother’s Keeper,” by Dave Zeltserman (EQMM, May/June 2019)

Best Mystery Non-fiction/Critical: Hitchcock and the Censors, by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky)

Also nominated: Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story, by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland); Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan, by Ursula Buchan (Bloomsbury); Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History, by Peter Houlahan (Counterpoint); The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women, by Mo Moulton (Basic Books); and Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall, by James Polchin (Counterpoint Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:
The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott (Vintage)

Also nominated: Murder Knocks Twice, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur); The Pearl Dagger, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington); A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); The Satapur Moonstone, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime); and Charity’s Burden, by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)

To find a schedule of Bouchercon events taking place today and Saturday, click here. Those events are available only to people who registered for the convention. You can also follow the proceedings—sort of—via Bouchercon 2020’s Facebook page.

Keeping Abreast of the Anthonys

Unfortunately, I was absent from my office yesterday when the lists of nominees for the 2020 Anthony Awards were announced. So only this morning am I catching up with that news.

Best Novel:
• Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco)
• They All Fall Down, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge)
• Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• The Murder List, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)
• Miami Midnight, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel:
• The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge (Agora)
• Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton)
• One Night Gone, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)
• Three-Fifths, by John Vercher (Agora)
• American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

Best Paperback Original:
• The Unrepentant, by E.A. Aymar (Down & Out)
• Murder Knocks Twice, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur)
• The Pearl Dagger, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington)
• Scot & Soda, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink)
• The Alchemist’s Illusion, by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)
• Drowned Under, by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Naming Game, by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Press)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work:
• Hitchcock and the Censors, by John Billheimer (University
Press of Kentucky)
• The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of the Collins Crime Club, by John Curran (Collins Crime Club)
• The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women, by Mo Moulton (Basic)
• The Trail of Lizzie Borden: A True Story, by Cara Robertson
(Simon & Schuster)
• The Five: The Untold Stories of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Best Short Story:
• “Turistas,” by Hector Acosta (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón;
Down & Out)
• “Unforgiven,” by Hilary Davidson (from Murder a-Go-Gos: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by
Holly West; Down & Out)
• “The Red Zone,” by Alex Segura (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!)
• “Better Days,” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2019)
• “Hard Return,” by Art Taylor (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press)

Best Anthology or Collection:
• The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken (Down & Out)
• ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out)
• Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman (Wildside Press)
• Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press)
• Murder A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go's, edited by Holly West (Down & Out)

Best Young Adult:
• Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry, by Jen Conley (Down & Out)
• Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
• Killing November, by Adriana Mather (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
• Patron Saints of Nothing, by Randy Ribay (Kokila)
• The Deceivers, by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen)
• Wild and Crooked, by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury YA)

(The news release about these awards notes: “This year, there are two categories with more than five nominees. This is the result of a tie for fifth place. When this occurs, according to Bouchercon standing rules, all of the authors who have tied become nominees.”)

Due to the pandemic-caused cancellation of this year’s Bouchercon—during which the Anthony Awards would normally have been presented—the winners of these prizes will be declared online on October 17 as part of a Virtual Bouchercon.

Congratulations to all of the 2020 contenders!

Bouchercon Bites the Dust, Too

Given all of the uncertainly surrounding the world’s novel coronavirus pandemic, and how long our current social-distancing practices might have to last, it comes as no surprise to hear that this year’s Bouchercon—which had been scheduled to take place in Sacramento, California, from October 15-18—has been cancelled. The news came in a note posted on the convention’s Web site by co-chairs Rae James and Michele Drier. It reads, in part:

We’re terribly sad to tell you this, but out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and safety of our community, we are canceling Bouchercon 2020.

We have no way of knowing what the balance of this year holds for groups of people gathering, nor can we tell what the state of travel will be.

While we are canceling the actual Bouchercon convention, we are working to develop a different format for some of the Bouchercon events and activities such as the Anthony Awards, the short story anthology and the General Membership meeting. Nominations will continue to be open until June 5 for the Anthony Awards.

For those of you who had registered or provided sponsorships, we will be issuing full refunds. …

Although the members of the Local Organizing Committee who have worked on this for the last five years are saddened, we know this is the right step to take to keep all safe. And we know that there will be future Bouchercons where we can gather again to celebrate the world of mystery.

Bouchercon 2021 will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August of next year. (Really, August? Bring your lightest attire, ’cause the weather will likely be scorching.)

POSTSCRIPT: For the record, the planned lineup of special guests for Bouchercon 2020 can be found here.

Jockeying for the Barrys

Which book and author should receive the 2020 Barry Award for Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade? That’s one of the knotty questions facing the readers of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine, who will be asked later this year to determine the victors in that prize category and five others. Below is the full roster of 2020 nominees.

Best Mystery/Crime Novel:
• The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
• If She Wakes, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• Metropolis, by Philip Kerr (Putnam)
• The Border, by Don Winslow (HarperCollins)
• Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco)
• Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh (Flatiron)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel:
• The Chestnut Man, by Søren Sveistrup (Harper)
• The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (Celadon)
• American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)
• Save Me from Dangerous Men, by S.A. Lelchuk (Flatiron)
• Scrublands, Chris Hammer (Atria)
• To the Lions, Holly Watt (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel:
• The Godmother, by Hannelore Cayre (ECW)
• Winner Kills All, by R.J. Bailey (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Killing Quarry, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)
• Fate, by Ian Hamilton (Spiderline)
• Missing Daughter, by Rick Mofina (Mira)
• No Good Deed, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Thriller:
• Mission Critical, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
• Backlash, by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bester)
• The Chain, by Adrian McKinty (Mulholland)
• The Burglar, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
• True Believer, by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester)
• White Hot Silence, by Henry Porter (Mysterious Press)

Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade:
• Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Suspect, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
• The Dry, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)
• The Blackhouse, by Peter May (Quercus)
• The Cartel, by Don Winslow (Knopf)

Although “best of the decade” honors are sure to be hotly contested (as was the case back in 2010, when Deadly Pleasures mounted a similar effort), all of this year’s prize rivals are expected to have their ardent supporters. The winners will be announced on Thursday, October 15, during festive opening-night ceremonies at the Bouchercon convention in Sacramento, California.

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)

Bullet Points: Impeachment Edition

• With the end of 2019 now two weeks away, “best books of the year” selections are rolling out onto the Web in increasing number. CrimeReads offers several different themes. It’s “10 Best Crime Novels of 2019” listicle includes Lisa Lutz’s The Swallows, Don Winslow’s The Border, Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay, and Alan Bradley’s The Golden Tresses of the Dead. Also offered are choices for best international crime fiction, best psychological thrillers of 2019, best debut works, the year’s finest espionage fiction, best true-crime books, best traditional mysteries, and the foremost noir fiction of the last 12 months.

• Meanwhile, the British site Crime Time is up with its own “books of the year” choices. As is true also of CrimeReads’ lists, there are few unexpected picks among Crime Time’s top 10. But if you read down a bit further, into the preferences of individual contributors, there are some more interesting suggestions, among them Andrew Williams’ Witchfinder, Robert Jeffrey’s Man at the Window, Ray Celestin’s The Mobster’s Lament, and Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Blood & Sugar (which I highlighted in my own top-five rundown).

• Abby Endler, author of the blog Crime by the Book, provides Criminal Element with a catalogue of 12 titles—one chosen from every month of 2019—that she believes deserve particular applause. Winning her approval are Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient, Alice Feeney’s I Know Who You Are, Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door, Sara Shepard’s Reputation, and eight others.

• MysteryPeople, the crime-fiction department of Austin’s famously large and commercially independent BookPeople store, is up with its “five favorite Texas crime novels of 2019.”

• The various contributors to Crime Fiction Lover are still in the process of announcing their “top five books of 2019.”

• And in its concluding episode of 2019, the Paperback Warrior podcast “revisit[s] the greatest books we read this year.” Keep in mind that the Paperback Warrior blog’s focus is on older works (predominately crime and thriller fiction), so don’t expect any overlap between its “greatest books” and those mentioned above.

• Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph reports that “with just days to go before it would have to close its doors forever, San Diego’s science fiction, fantasy, young adult, mystery, and horror bookstore Mysterious Galaxy has found a new location and new owners: Jenni Marchisotto and Matthew Berger have bought the store and will run it at its new home, 3555 Rosecrans St., Suite #107, San Diego, CA 92110. Everyone’s keeping their jobs, too. It’s a Christmas miracle.”

• Speaking of Mystery Fanfare, Rudolph has updated her extensive catalogue of Christmas-related crime fiction. There are three parts, divided according to author last names: A-E, F-L, and M-Z. She’s also added titles to her set of Hanukkah/Chanukkah mysteries, and to her inventory of Christmas short stories, novellas, and anthologies.

• Back in August, we alerted you to the start of the third annual Six-Word Mystery Contest, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. It offered prizes to writers who could condense a crime story into just half a dozen words. The victors in five categories have now been announced, but the overall winner is Jeffrey Lockwood, an author and professor of natural sciences and humanities at the University of Wyoming. His punchy submission:

36D, 44 magnum, 20 to life

A press release says that “forty writers from 10 states and Australia submitted 211 six-word mysteries to this year’s competition.”

• Actor Danny Aiello may be remembered best for his roles in movies such as Moonstruck (1987) and Do the Right Thing (1989), but when I heard that he died last week at age 86, my thoughts jumped immediately to his 1997-1998 CBS-TV crime drama, Dellaventura. Yes, that 13-episode series—in which he played Anthony Dellaventura, a former New York City police detective turned private eye, who “rounds up a bunch of crackerjack crime-fighters to right wrongs that are beyond the reach of the criminal justice system”—was derided variously as a knock-off of either The Equalizer or Telly Savalas’ Kojak. However, the Daily News’ Denis Hamil argued in 1997 that the Dellaventura role was “a perfect fit” for Aiello. And as you can see in this episode of the program, “Above Reproach” (the only one I could find on YouTube, with a guest appearance by Tony Franciosa), it boasted an engaging dark air leavened by moments of humor. Aiello seemed fully comfortable leading a cast that also included his son Ricky and Anne Ramsey from Mad About You. And the opening title sequence—featuring a version of Dion DiMucci’s classic “I Was Born to Cry,” and embedded below—set the show’s tone splendidly.



• While searching around for Dellaventura installments, I stumbled across this video collection of memorable clips from the 1984-1987 CBS series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, in which star Stacy Keach catches too-brief looks (in multiple episodes) at an alluring young brunette—referred to simply as “The Face”—“who popped into frame and just as quickly popped out again, much to the chagrin of Mike Hammer, who was dying to meet her.” As the blog TV Character Nicknames reminds us, “The general public was also kept in the dark as to her identity until her credit line appeared on an episode of ABC’s Perfect Strangers. It revealed that ‘The Face’ was model-actress Donna Denton. Finally, after three years of just glimpses, Mike Hammer got to meet the mysterious woman in the spring 1987 episode entitled ‘A Face in the Dark.’” (Actually, the title was “A Face in the Night,” and it was broadcast originally on May 13, 1987). Of all the women Keach’s Hammer knew—or, in this instance, didn’t know—Denton’s persistently elusive lovely remains my favorite.

• A very sad change for Seattle: First and Pike News—formerly Read All About It—a newsstand landmark in the city’s historic Pike Place Market, is slated to close on December 31 after four decades in business. Back in the days when I covered the media business for Seattle Weekly, this corner shop was one of my most regular stops, a place where I could pick up not only U.S. magazines and newspapers, but also foreign publications. Want to learn more about that enterprise? Read all about it here and here.

• In Reference to Murder brings this film news:

Universal Pictures is developing Tapping the Source, based on the “surfer noir” novel by Kem Nunn. The story follows a man who heads to Huntington Beach [California] to look for his missing sister and for the three men who may have murdered her⁠—a search that takes him on a journey through a twisted world of crazed Vietnam vets, sadistic surfers, drug dealers, and mysterious seducers.

You can check out Rap Sheet contributor Steven Nester’s review of Nunn’s 1984 first novel by clicking here.

• A note in Elizabeth Foxwell’s The Bunburyist leads us to a post on the British Film Institute’s Web site in which freelance writer Pamela Hutchinson selects “10 great whodunnit mysteries,” suspect-packed pictures “in which the audience plays sleuth.”

• The site Best Thrillers has named what it contends are “The 21 Best Legal Thrillers of the 21st Century,” including Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer, Marcia Clark’s Blood Defense, Max Allan Collins’ Supreme Justice, and Lisa Cottoline’s Corrupted.

• If you’re planning to attend next year’s Bouchercon in Sacramento, California (October 15 to 18), consider registering by December 31. Until then, the cost is $200; on January 1, it will climb to $225.

• This item comes from The Killing Times:

Acclaimed screenwriter and Endeavour creator, Russell Lewis, has adapted two of international bestseller Peter James’ award-winning novels for ITV from the Roy Grace series, starring John Simm in the lead role of the tenacious detective.

Entitled Grace, the two feature-length screenplays will narrate the first two stories in the series, Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, which introduced Brighton based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, a hard-working police officer who has given his life to the job.,

• For Criminal Element, Andrew Nette, co-editor of the new book Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counter Culture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980, highlights “six pulp, crime, and popular fiction writers from the counterculture era who may have slipped your radar, but are ripe for rediscovery.” And yes, “Mike Barry” (aka science-fiction author Barry Malzberg) ranks among them.

• Lastly, yesterday added a sad but necessary event to America’s timeline: the impeachment of Donald John Trump. Sad, because the office of the U.S. president is traditionally due respect, but Trump’s corrupt and unconstitutional efforts to pressure a foreign country (Ukraine) to interfere in the 2020 presidential campaign for his personal gain, and then his going to extraordinary lengths to cover up that perfidy, brings shame upon the office. Necessary, because as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-New York) put it, “We cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the president threatens the very integrity of that election. He has shown us he will continue to put his selfish interests above the good of the country. We must act without delay.” I didn’t vote for Republican Trump in 2016, and I never shall; I don’t believe he’s fit, either emotionally or intellectually, to fill the position he holds. What I have learned about him over the last few years—that he’s a bigot, a misogynist, a narcissist, and a serial sex abuser; that he cheats on his wives and demands loyalty from others, but will turn on anyone when the going gets tough; that he’s a braggart and a bully, a whiner and a con man; that he’s petty and paranoia, driven by grievance and a sucker for conspiracy theories; that he’s a habitual liar—none of those characteristics commends him as a leader or a role model, or even as a man. Trump’s mendacity is particularly pernicious. It drew special attention earlier this week, when The Washington Post counted the lies he’s told over the last three years, and came up with 7,688. One of those became Politifact’s 2019 Lie of the Year: his assertion that the still-anonymous whistle-blower who first drew public attention to Trump’s Ukraine scandal was “almost completely wrong.” A more honorable, more thoughtful, and more experienced president would not be due such condemnations.