An August Turnout

Is it just my imagination, or is Mike Ripley’s new “Getting Away with Murder” column for Shots longer than usual? It certainly packs a groaning tableful of tidings and witticisms, including: word of a new, “unofficial and unauthorized guide” to the 1960s British TV series The Avengers; praise for Maurizio De Giovanni’s Commissario Ricciardi mysteries; fond mention of the late Ariana Franklin’s final and forthcoming novel, Winter Siege; a look at UK publisher Hutchinson’s revamped “bull” logo; and a vintage photo of Ian Dickerson, “all-round expert on ‘The Saint’ and editor of the latest reissues of the whole Saintly canon … in very distinguished company.”