Bullet Points: Seeking Sanity Edition

• Chan authority Lou Armagno notes that this coming Friday, August 15, fans are invited to mark “the 100th anniversary of author Earl Derr Biggers’ literary and film creation, Detective Charlie Chan.” There are two public events scheduled in Biggers’ birthplace of Warren, Ohio, to commemorate the publication of the first Chan novel, The House Without a Key, in 1925. A free panel discussion titled “A Century of Charlie Chan” will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Warren-Trumbull Country Public Library. Then hop over to the historic Robins Theatre to take in a big-screen showing of what Armagno says is “one of the most intriguing of the 40-plus Chan films, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, 1939,” starring Sidney Toler. The Robins’ doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets go for $9.25 apiece.

These events are actually part of a four-day Chan celebration in Warren, August 14-17, organized by followers of Rush Glick’s Web site, The Charlie Chan Family Home. A complete schedule can be found here. If others would like to participate further, Armagno suggests they show up at the library at 2 p.m. on Friday, and let Rush Glick, Dr. Mike Votta, or Barbara McNeal—“the regulars”—know of their interest.

• Following up on a recent post, the Australian Crime Writers Association has now released two new shortlists of contenders for the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards. First, the nominees for Best True Crime:

— They’ll Never Hold Me, by Michael Adams (Affirm Press)
— A Thousand Miles from Care, by Steve Johnson (William Collins)
— The Kingpin and the Crooked Cop, by Neil Mercer (Allen & Unwin)
— Meadow’s Law, by Quentin McDermott (HarperCollins)
— The Lasting Harm, by Lucia Osborne-Crowley (HarperCollins)

Now, the candidates for Best International Crime Fiction:

— Return to Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster UK)
— Leave the Girls Behind, by Jacqueline Bublitz (Allen & Unwin)
— The Waiting, by Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin)
— A Case of Matricide, by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Text)
— Moscow X, by David McCloskey (Swift Press)
— Home Truths, by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

The winners of these commendations, along with that for Best Crime Fiction, will revealed in September.

• I neglected to mention that the latest edition of Frank Gregorsky’s free, PDF-formatted Web quarterly called Detective Drama Gems (dated Spring 2025) is now available. Contents include a thorough analysis of “Deal With the Devil,” the January 11, 1972, installment of The Mod Squad, and looks back at episodes of two Hawaii-based crime dramas: Magnum, P.I., and Hawaiian Eye.

• Also now to be had: the Summer 2025 issue of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. Its cover feature is devoted to Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin series, as well as other novels starring finders of missing persons. In addition, editor George Easter has filled his 80 electronic pages with myriad reviews of new and upcoming crime titles; news of “Mystery” Mike Bursaw’s retirement from selling books at Bouchercon; an interview with Australian author Geoff Parkes (When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole); Mike Ripley’s new “Ripster’s Revivals” column; and much more. Deadly Pleasures is published quarterly, only in an electronic edition, for an annual price of $10. Learn more here.

• This was unexpected. The Associated Press has announced it is discontinuing its weekly reviews of books at the end of August. Anthony McCartney, the AP’s global entertainment and lifestyle editor, explained in a note to the news agency’s regular critics that “This was a difficult decision but one made after a thorough review of AP’s story offerings and what is being most read on our website and mobile apps as well as what customers are using. Unfortunately, the audience for book reviews is relatively low and we can no longer sustain the time it takes to plan, coordinate, write and edit reviews. AP will continue covering books as stories, but at the moment those will handled exclusively by staffers.” I have often referenced AP critiques in The Rap Sheet’s “Revue of Reviewers” posts, and other publications have been in the habit of reprinting those literary assessments whole, giving them greater influence. It’s sad to see them disappearing.

• And on the same day that Saturday Evening Post columnist Bob Sassone advocated for writers to “bring back blogs,” the book-review blog Only Detect suddenly kicked into life once more. Its author, identified only as “Mike,” had seemed to cease his postings in April 2021, when he published this analysis of Isaac Asimov’s 1957 science-fiction whodunit, The Naked Sun. But just last week, he returned with two smart new classic-mystery critiques—of John Dickson Carr’s The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933) and Baynard Kendrick’s Blind Man’s Bluff (1943). Let’s hope this portends more good things to come!