Bullet Points: Rice, Ice, and Entice Edition

• Pulp Serenade blogger Cullen Gallagher recounts the story of Time magazine’s first cover feature about a crime novelist, back in 1946. No, he writes, it “wasn’t Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, James Cain, or any of the ‘big’ names one typically associates with the genre. The honor goes to Craig Rice ...” (To read about Rice’s best-remembered novel, Home Sweet Homicide, click here.)

• Laura Benedict, the author of Isabella Moon (2007) and Calling Mr. Lonelyhearts (2008), talks with novelist Raymond Benson--the fourth person to have taken on the composition of new James Bond novels--about how music complements his writing, his work on computer games, and his latest crime novel, Dark Side of the Morgue. You can read all of their exchange here.

• The second season of Murdoch Mysteries, the well-received Canadian historical series based on Maureen Jennings’ Detective William Murdoch books, debuts tonight on Citytv. More information can be found here, with a preview here.

• David Foster, the brains behind the spy-film-oriented blog Permission to Kill, has just launched a companion site, Classic Caper Films, that he describes as “a collection of caper and crime reviews I have done over the years.”

• Never let it be said that James Patterson doesn’t know how to make a buck. With Scandinavian crime fiction all the rage these days, Sarah Weinman reports that Patterson is teaming up with Scandinavian crime writer Liza Marklund, author of the Annika Bengtzon series, to write a new thriller set primarily in Stockholm, Sweden. I wonder how much of the work Patterson will actually do, versus Marklund’s contribution ...

• Tony Curtis makes TV Squad’s rundown of “13 big-name movie stars who couldn’t cut it on television.” Remember Curtis from The Persuaders! (with Roger Moore) and the even shorter-lived NBC Mystery Movie segment McCoy? Yeah, neither do most other people.

• R.I.P., Jumptheshark.com.

• For Shots, contributor Nick Quantrill engages in a conversation with British wordsmith Graham Hurley about his newest Detective Inspector Joe Faraday novel (No Lovelier Death), his hometown of Portsmouth, and how his agent got him started on the business of crime-fiction-writing. The full piece is available here.

• Another fine bookstore bites the dust: Stacey’s in San Francisco. UPDATE: More about the Stacey’s closing can be found here.

• “The Mystery League books were a short-lived series in the early 1930s: lurid thrillers created to be sold through cigar shops rather than bookshops,” recalls the Caustic Cover Critic blog. “Probably the only one of their writers still remembered today is Edgar Wallace, and even he is barely read these days. It’s safe to say that literary merit was not the Mystery League’s prime concern.” What the series did produce was a string of fabulous Art Deco-style covers, one of which--from 1932’s The Ebony Bed Murder, by Rufus Gillmore--is shown on the left. The rest are waiting to be studied right here.

• In an essay for the housing advocacy Web site FourStory.org, Gary Phillips celebrates Los Angeles’ role in modern detective fiction.

• Barry Forshaw investigates the enduring renown of Agatha Christie. The Independent’s Web site hosts his full essay.

• In preparation for a paper he’s to deliver on “gentleman burglars” at a conference this month, George Simmers, author of the blog Great War Fiction, decided to look back at the careers of French gentleman-cambrioleur Arsene Lupin and A.J. Raffles, a “low scoundrel” created by E.W. Hornung, the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. Simmers’ findings can be found under those latter two links. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

• When asked by blogger-novelist Declan Burke which fictional character she would most like to have been, author Megan Abbott (Bury Me Deep) answers: “That’s an interesting question because most of my favourite characters are pretty doomed, so I can’t say I’d like to take their place. I’m going with Ned Beaumont, from The Glass Key. Smart, wily, loyal and a survivor. I’d feel okay in his shoes. Except for that touch of tuberculosis. Second choice: Sammy Glick.” Read more here.

• I love author Greg Rucka’s recollection of his first meeting Kate Beckinsale, the captivating English actress who stars in the forthcoming (in September) film adaptation of his graphic novel, Whiteout. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment ...,” he tells critic-blogger Clayton Moore. “I had walked into a dark soundstage. The red lights went off and she came off the set wearing the cold weather gear and the army hat. She had these bits of ice and snow on her and she was just so pretty she made your chest hurt.” I completely understand Rucka’s reaction.

• Suddenly, David Peace is everywhere.

• The editors of Plots with Guns are looking for a slightly different brand of “transgressive/noir” story for their May 2009 issue. “Imagine you’re a crime writer living in the year 2509,” they explain on their submissions page. “What sort of stories will pulp & noir slingers be pumping out by then? What will crime look like? What new bad things will we have found to do to each other? And what will the guns look like? (And if you say ‘There won’t be any,’ well, you’re a sadly deluded optimist, aren’t you?).” I look forward to reading what contributors come up with from those guidelines.

• And finally, a damn good reason to visit the tiny southern Maine town of Vassalboro. (More here.)