Mystery Fanfare

Sherlock Holmes News

2009-12-25T09:53:00.001-08:00

With the release of the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr, my favorite actor, there's been a resurgence of public interest in Sherlock Holmes. This is always good for the mystery community.

TMC (Turner Movie Classics) has a 24 hour Holmes Marathon: Holmes for Christmas starting tonight at 8 p.m. First film in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1939) with Basil Rathebone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. 9:30 "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) also with Bruce and Rathbone. This will be followed by "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) with Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. For more info on the rest of the Sherlock Holmes line-up, go to the NYT or TMC.

Smithsonian Magazine this month has a great article on Sherlock Holmes' London. Read it HERE.

Of course you should read the entire works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle before you see the new movie. I would opt for The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Leslie S. Klinger with an Introduction by John Le Carre.

Loren Singer, R.I.P.

2009-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Loren Singer, author of The Parallax View, died Saturday at the age of 86. Loren Singer, whose 1970 conspiracy thriller, “The Parallax View,” later made into a movie starring Warren Beatty, was one of the first novels to offer a politically paranoid vision of the United States as a country controlled by ruthless technocrats, died on Saturday in Valhalla, N.Y.

Mr. Singer, who picked up a few pointers on covert operations while training with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, seized on the political assassinations of the 1960s as a starting point for “The Parallax View.” The main character, a newspaper reporter played by Mr. Beatty in the film, witnesses a presidential assassination and soon discovers that nearly all other witnesses to the event have been hunted down and killed.

Read the rest of the NY Times Obit HERE.

Hat Tip to Bill Crider

Overdue Book Calendar

2009-12-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy reading Design*Sponge, a daily website dedicated to home and product design. It's run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge features store and product reviews, DIY projects, before & after furniture and home makeovers, home tours, recipes, videos and podcasts, trend forecasting and gift reviews. The site is updated constantly throughout the day (with an average of 6-10 posts a day), and attracts a core group of devoted readers. I'm glad to be one of them.

So today I saw a post that is and fun and useful for mystery readers (or readers of any kind). For those of you who use the library, you've probably found that check-out procedures are much different from when you were a child. At my public library, for example, the librarian no longer stamps my book with the due date. I scan the book, and there's a stamp available for me to use to mark the due date. If you're a frequent visitor to the library, you'll probably have lots of books with different due dates. Lauren Hunt has created a very fun "Overdue Book Calendar." Definitely not a Black Berry reminder, but great for "paper people" who read real books and keep track on real paper. You can pick up Lauren’s design HERE on Etsy, as a re-printable pdf for $4.

Best of 2009: Mystery Lists Part 2

2009-12-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

Of course as soon as I posted the Best Mysteries 2009 Lists yesterday, I realized I forgot some, and I also received another one from the Mystery Bookstore LA. Rather than extend yesterday's post, I decided to do Part II today. So be sure and check out the Best Mysteries 2009 Lists including my own list and the lists from Jon Jordan, Les Holstine, Sarah Weinman and many other mystery reviewers, newspaper reviewers and a few mystery bookstores.

As I mentioned before, these lists are very subjective. Add to that the fact that you can't read every book. I haven't read Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow yet, and it might have made my top for 2009, as it made many other lists. I saved it to read over the holidays.

Best of 2009: Mystery Lists Part 2

The Mystery Bookstore LA

Shadow of Betrayal by Brett Battles
I-5 by Summer Brenner
Tower by Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
The Gates by John Connolly
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield
Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
Hardball by Sara Paretsky

For the complete list of Top 10 of each person at the Mystery bookstore LA, go Here.

Both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal had mysteries within their general fiction lists.

Publishers Weekly's list came out November 4, 2009.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Bryant and May on the Loose by Christopher Fowler
The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
The Silent Hour Michael Koryta
Londongrad Reggie Nadelson
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
The Lord of Death by Eliot Pattison
The Cloud Pavilion by Laura Joh Rowland

Library Journal's list came out on November 19. They divided the lists into Mystery & Thriller

Mystery
The Odds by Kathleen George
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
Server Down: A Mad Dog & Englishman Mystery by J.M. Hayes
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
Desert Lost by Betty Webb

Thriller
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch
The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner
House Secrets by Mike Lawson
The Doomsday Key by James Rollins

Add these to the Best of the Best for 2009. Lots of reading!

The Best of 2009 Mystery Lists

2009-12-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

As 2009 draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the Best Mysteries of 2009. Best lists are subjective, but you will certainly find some good reads in the lists below.

I'll start off with my Best of 2009. I read a lot, but the books are not necessarily new, so my list is limited to the new books I read in 2009, and also limited to my memory of those books.

Janet Rudolph

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill
Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman
The City and The City by China Mielville
Ravens by George Dawes Green
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey
Neccesary as Blood by Deborah Crombie
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan

Sarah Weinman (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind)

Ravens by George Dawes Green
A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell

Oline Codgill. Oline actually has a numbered order of favorites for the year.

1. (tie) The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly.
1. Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
2. A Darker Domain Val McDermid.
3. Life Sentences by Laura Lippman
4. The Last Child by John Hart
5. The Hidden Man by David Ellis
6. Ravens by George Dawes Green
7. The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
8. Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
9. Devil's Garden by Ace Atkins
10. A Duty to the Dead and The Red Door by Charles Todd
11. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
12. The Way Home by George Pelecanos
13. Heaven's Keep by William Kent Krueger
14. The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
15. The Long Fall by Walter Mosley
16. Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott

Lesa Holstine Lesa's Book Critiques
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
Faces of the Gone by Brad Parks
13 1/2 by Nevada Barr
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

Lisa also sent her second tier of mysteries that consists of new discoveries -- authors she just discovered.
Alan Bradley: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Vicki Delany: Winter of Secrets
Linda Castillo: Sworn to Silence
Kathryn Casey: Blood Lines
Sophie Littlefield: A Bad Day for Sorry

Jon Jordan of CrimeSpree Magazine

The Gates by John Connolly
Filthy Rich by Brian Azzarello
Dark Mirror by Barry Maitland
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel
The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry
Skin by Mo Hayder
Trust No One by Gregg Hurwitz
Walking Dead by Greg Rucka

Maureen Corrigan, NPR

G.I. Bones by Martin Limon.
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
Dial H for Hitchcock

Dick Adler: BarnesandNoblereviews.com

Stardust by Joseph Kanon
Breathing Water by Timothy Hallinan
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott

Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times

The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault
Roadside Crosses by Jeffrey Deaver
The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
Arctic Chill by Aranldur Indridason
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
The Long Fall by Walter Mosely
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Melville
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
Box 21 by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom
The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell)

Adam Woog of the Seattle Times

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
Pix by Bill James
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Life Sentences y Laura Lippman
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey
Stone's Fall by Iain Pears
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

Publishers Weekly
Mystery:
Bryant and May on the Loose by Christopher Fowler
The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah
The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta
Londongrad by Reggie Nadelson
The Lord of Death by Eliot Pattison
The Cloud Pavilion by Laura Joh Rowland

Crime/Suspense/Thriller:
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Ravens by George Dawes Green
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
Drood by Dan Simmons

Murder by the Book (Houston) Different people at the store chose a favorite.

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (McKenna)
Shatter by Michael Robotham (David)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (Brenda)
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Anne)
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan (Dean)
The Gates by John Connolly (Kinley)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Michelle)

Bill at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell
The Cleaner by Brett Battles
The Calling by Inger Wolfe
G. I. Bones by Martin Limon
Get Real by Donald E. Westlake
The Black Ice Score by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark
New Tricks by David Rosenfelt
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Boca Nights by Steven M. Forman
Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan

What great lists. There are several books I haven't read yet, and I'll add them to my TBR pile which is really about 10 piles at this point, and constantly growing.

If you're a reviewer, critic or mystery bookstore and you have a Best of 2009 Mysteries List and would like to add to this summary, post a comment or email me.

For more Best of Mysteries 2009 lists, go here.

Partners in Crime: Charlotte Elkins

2009-12-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

Partners in Crime is a regular guest blogging feature on Mystery Fanfare. Be sure to scroll back or check the heading Partners in Crime for other authors who have contributed.

Today's Guest Blogger is Charlotte Elkins who writes the Lee Ofsted mystery series with her husband Edgar award winner Aaron Elkins. Read more about Lee Ofsted here.

Ever since Aaron finished his first book, FELLOWSHIP OF FEAR, in 1981, I wanted to write a mystery, too. I had a wonderful job at the time, working as the American Art Librarian in the old MH de Young Museum in San Francisco. I decided that it would make a great setting for a mystery, so I started THE GREY LIMNER. I’d finished about three chapters when we both attended the Cabrillo Suspense Writers’ Conference in Aptos, CA. Aaron was looking for advice on how to submit his manuscript, and I didn’t quite know what I was looking for, because my three chapters were a big disappointment to me. I remember standing on the porch of one of the cottages talking to Colin Wilcox, an established San Francisco mystery writer, lamenting that my natural style was Harlequinesque. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Colin said, “that’s great. Do you know how much money they make?”

To make a long story short, I proceeded to write five sweet romances for Mills & Boon/Harlequin under the name of Emily Spenser. They weren’t entirely my work. I was great at plotting, developing characters, and telling a story, but my style left a lot to be desired. Aaron didn’t mind helping me by rewriting them, in the slightest, especially because we’d quit our jobs, moved north, and were writing full time. Emily Spenser was helping support us, while he was getting his Gideon Oliver mystery series established.

When Aaron won the Edgar Award for Best Novel with OLD BONES, I felt free to drop romance writing and try a mystery again. To my chagrin, my writing style hadn’t improved much, but it finally occurred to me that that part of writing fiction was a talent, an art, not a skill to be learned. (Otherwise all of those PhD English professors, who’d kill to write a publishable novel, would be whipping them out every year.) Clearly, I was always going to need a co-author. However, I was bringing something important to the table, as well—a very fertile imagination. Aaron, as he freely admits, is lucky to get one good idea a year, while my mind overflows with them.

The biggest difficulty I had, was creating a character we would both find engaging, because Aaron was going to have to do more than just rewrite my material. The inspiration for a character came by chance. The year before, Aaron had returned to teach another year in the University of Maryland’s overseas program for the American military, and we’d lived near an American Air Force base in Germany where we had an opportunity to take golfing lessons on the base. I'd always loved the golf-themed stories of P.G. Wodehouse, and once I started playing, I suddenly realized a novice pro golfer would make an interesting protagonist in an amateur detective novel. Aaron agreed and Lee Ofsted was born. A WICKED SLICE was published in 1989. Publishers Weekly thrilled me by calling it an "engagingly humorous thriller." Over the years we wrote four more Lee Ofsteds: ROTTEN LIES, NASTY BREAKS, WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDIES GONE? and ON THE FRINGE. In between, we wrote short stories, one of which, "Nice Gorilla," won the Agatha Award for the best short story of the year in 1992.

So how have we continued to write novels and still stay married? Easy. We’ve developed a simple system for co-writing and have refined it over the years. I first do most of the early imaginative work—picking settings, thinking up characters, and coming up with the bare bones of a plot idea—and then I start by writing the first scene. Aaron takes my material and rewrites it, adding depth to the scene, especially with descriptions. He gives it back to me and I make changes and suggestions. If we have a disagreement, he wins if it’s anything to do with style, and I (usually) win if it has anything to do with pacing, plot, and female character dialogue. Then I write the next scene and so on. It works well with few arguments, because we truly bring different talents to the process.

I also bring one more very essential personally trait to the process—one that anyone looking for a co-author would be wise to try and find. I’m not ego-involved with words. If he doesn’t like it? If he wants to re-write it again? If he wants to do some more work on it? I’m absolutely thrilled. It gives me time to go off to hiking, or geocaching, or playing golf or basically goofing off. As far as I’m concerned there’s only room for one workaholic in a co-authoring relationship. And that’s not going to be me!

Cartoon of the Day

2009-12-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

Around the World in Mysteries: Winter Bookgroup 2010

2009-12-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

Our mystery book group meets every Tuesday. We read a series of 10 books each session. In the past we've done themes such as Art Mysteries, Academic Mysteries, Award Winners, and Just Good Books. Last winter we read a series of books with the title: Around the World with Janet and Friends. This winter we're going Around the World again, touching on some countries we missed last year. Different places, different writers, different times. I think you'll find there will be a lot of discussion and, hopefully, an introduction to a few new authors.

The Group is very well read, and after 35 years of meeting every Tuesday, you can imagine that we may have read way more than the titles here. This cumulative knowledge is brought into each session. Besides discussing books, our book group has been responsible for putting on several mystery conventions including Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon. Some of the members include people known in the mystery community such as Bill & Toby Gottfried, Vallery Feldman, Noemi Levine and Sue Trowbridge, and there are even more.

We meet every Tuesday night at my home in Berkeley, CA, and we welcome new members. Email me if you'd like to join us. If you can't join us physically, how about sending a weekly review of each book to share.

Around the World with Janet and Friends II: Winter 2010

January 5 A Beautiful Place to Die by By Malla Nunn (South Africa)

January 12 A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Botswana)

January 19 The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers (The Congo)

January 26 The Man of My Life by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (Spain)

February 2 The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer (Turkey)

February 9 Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Selcuk Altun (Turkey)

February 16 The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva (Israel/Italy)

February 23 The Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees (Israel)

March 2 The Menorah Men by Lionel Davidson (Israel)

March 9 No session (??Left Coast Crime??)

March 16 Beekeeper by J. Robert Janes (France)

March 23 Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo (France)

March 30 or April 6 A Cara Black -- Everyone will read a mystery set in a different Arrondisement in Paris

Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota

2009-12-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone searching for clues about the enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes need not look only to his headquarters on London's Baker Street. Deep in an underground cavern at the University of Minnesota lies the world's largest collection of Holmes memorabilia. To many, it's a mystery how this trove of tens of thousands of books, toys, games, posters and recordings - from copies of the Holmes stories owned by the last empress of Russia to an original manuscript page of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" - ended up at a Midwestern university, half a world away from the foggy London streets of Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The answer is elementary, according to Tim Johnson, curator of special collections and rare books at the University of Minnesota Libraries: A "happy series of accidents" involving a retired university librarian, a Nobel Prize laureate and a Holmes fan who took a "vacuum cleaner" approach to collecting.

"People think the Holmes collection ought to be in London. So it's 'why Minnesota?' And it's really just this series of happy events that occurred over time," Johnson said.

The Holmes collection in Minnesota has between 15,000 and 16,000 volumes, and other pieces bring the archive to 60,000 or more, Johnson said. They are kept in a cavern, fitted out for storage, about 85 feet below ground at the Elmer L. Andersen Library, where temperatures and humidity are controlled.

On metal shelves sit memorabilia including magnifying glasses, an ice cream carton with a cartoon cow wearing Holmes' iconic deerstalker cap and a pillow with an image of Sherlock Hemlock, a Muppet character from "Sesame Street."

Los Angeles attorney Les Klinger, who wrote The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (3 volumes) has donated his papers to the university's collection. Other major Holmes or Doyle archives are at Harvard University, the Toronto Public Library and Portsmouth, England.

But Klinger calls Minnesota's collection the "first stop for anybody doing research, because if you're looking for something, it's probably in the collection."

Read the entire story HERE.

Hat Tip: Jeff Meyerson

Cartoon of the Day

2009-12-16T04:57:00.000-08:00

L.A. Gang Tours

2009-12-15T02:18:00.000-08:00

Read the Mission Statement on these tours, but still... pretty strange, huh?

The Ultimate Urban Experience! BE THE FIRST IN THE HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES TO EXPERIENCE AREAS THAT WERE FORBIDDEN
...UNTIL NOW!

LA GANG TOURS scheduled stops include:

Vintage Christmas Ads for the Mystery Reader

2009-12-14T14:05:00.001-08:00

Vintage Christmas Ads. Do you remember these? To see more, go HERE.

Hat Tip to Bill Crider.

Cartoon of the Day

2009-12-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Mysteries: S-Z

2009-12-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

The end of the list and none too soon. Only 13 days 'til Christmas. Here are the final authors who set their mysteries during Christmas. S-Z.

Here are the links that will complete this list:
Christmas Authors A-D, Authors E-H, Authors I-N, Authors O-R.
As always, let me know if I've forgotten an author and title.

Sanders, Lawrence. The Fourth Deadly Sin
Saums, Mary. When the Last Magnolia Weeps
Sawyer, Corinne Holt. Ho Ho Homicide
Scherf, Margaret. The Gun in Daniel Webster’s Bust
Schumacher, Aileen. Framework for Death
Schweizer, Mark. The Alto Wore Tweeds
Sedaris, David. Holidays on Ice
Sefton, Maggie. Fleece Navidad
Sellars, M.R. Perfect Trust
Serafin, David. Christmas Rising
Shannon, Dell. No Holiday For Crime
Sibley, Celestine. Spider in the Sink
Simenon, Georges. Maigret's Christmas
Slater, Susan [et al] Crooks, Crimes and Christmas
Smith, Barbara Burnett. Mistletoe From Purple Sage, 'Tis the Season for Murder (with Fred Hunter)
Smith, Frank. Fatal Flaw
Smith, George Harmon. The Christmas Angel
Smith, Joan. Don't Leave Me This Way
Smith, Terrence. The Devil and Webster Daniels
Smoak, Amanda. Generals' Row
Sprinkle, Patricia H. A Mystery Bred in Buckhead
Strohmeyer, Sarah. Bubbles All the Way
Symons, Julian. The Detling Secret
Talley, Marcia. Occasion of Revenge
Taylor, Elizabeth Atwood. The Cable Car Murder
Taylor, Sarah Stewart. O' Artful Death
Temple, Lou Jane. Death is Semisweet
Thompson, Carlene. The Way You Look Tonight
Tooke, John. On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
Tourney, Leonard D. Knaves Templar
Tremayne, Peter. The Haunted Abbot
Trocheck, Kathy. A Midnight Clear
Underwood, Michael. A Party to Murder
Unsworth, Barry. Morality Play
VanLeeuwen, Jean. The Great Christmas Kidnaping Caper
Victor, Cynthia. What Matters Most
Viets, Elaine. Murder With All the Trimmings
Wainwright, John. The Life and Times of Christmas Calvert...Assassin
Walker, Persia. Darkness and the Devil behind Me
Walsh, Thomas. The Resurrection Man
Ward, Donald. Our Little Secret
Washburn Livia. The Christmas Cookie Killer
Weir, Charlene. A Cold Christmas
Welk, Mary. Deadly Little Christmas, A Merry Little Murder
Wildwind, Sharon. First Murder in Advent
Williams, David. Murder in Advent
Windsor, Patricia. The Christmas Killer
Wingfield, R.D. Frost at Christmas
Wolzien, Valerie. Deck the Halls With Murder
Wright, Eric. The Man Who Changed His Name

Chanukah (Hanukkah) Mysteries

2009-12-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned last year when I did my Chanukah round-up, there aren't a lot of Chanukah mysteries, probably because it's really a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar. However I have a short list with a few more books than last year.

Holiday Grind by Cleo Coyle (mostly about Christmas but Hanukah is mentioned)
Festival of Deaths by Jane Haddam
Chanukah Guilt by Ilene Schneider

Children's Hanukah Mysteries:
Rabbi Rocketpower and the Mystery of the Missing Menorahs - A
Hanukkah Humdinger! by Rabbi Susan Abramson and Aaron Dvorkin and Ariel DiOrio

Mystery Short Stories:
"Mom Lights a Candle" by James Yaffe, appeared in Mystery: The Best of 2002, ed. by Jon L. Breen.
For more info on Jewish short story mysteries, check out Steven Steinbock who blogs on Criminal Brief, the Mystery Short Story Web Log Project.

Mystery Games:
Here's a children's software mystery game: Who Stole Hanukkah? offered in five languages: English, Hebrew, Russian, French and Spanish
Other Games for Children: The Case of the Stolen Menorah: An Enlightening Hanukkah Mystery

So not a lot in the Chanukah Mystery category, but if you like chocolate, check out my blog DyingforChocolate on Chocolate + Chanukah: From Gelt to Recipes. Have a great holiday.

Christmas Mysteries: O-R

2009-12-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here's the list of Christmas Mysteries Authors O-R. Thomas Nolan had a wonderful article in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled The Holidays are Part of the Puzzle in which he reviews several Christmas mysteries, as well as some great mystery site specific books such as Brunetti's Venice: Walks with the city's Best-Loved Detective. They're not Holiday specific, but you'll want to add them to your Christmas wish-list.

Christmas Mysteries Authors A-D; Authors E-H; Authors I-N.

O'Connell, Carol. Judas Child
O'Marie, Sr. Carol Anne. Advent of Dying, Murder in Ordinary Time, A Novena for Murder
Stewart O’Nan. Last Night at the Lobster
Page, Katherine Hall. The Body in the Big Apple, The Body in the Bouillon, The Body in the Sleigh
Palmer, William. The Dons and Mr. Dickens
Papazoglou, Orania. Rich, Radiant Slaughter, Charisma
Parker, Gary E. Death Stalks a Holiday
Parker, Robert. The Widening Gyre
Paul, Barbara. A Chorus of Detectives
Pearson, Carol Lynn. A Stranger For Christmas
Pence, Joanne. Two Cooks A-Killing
Penny, Louise. A Fatal Grace
Perry, Anne. A Christmas Beginning, A Christmas Grace, A Christmas Guest, A Christmas Journey, A Christmas Secret, A Christmas Visitor, Silence in Hanover Close, A Christmas Promise
Peters, Elizabeth. He Shall Thunder in the Sky, Trojan Gold
Peters, Ellis. A Rare Benedictine, The Raven in the Foregate
Philips, Scott. The Ice Harvest
Plunkett, Susan. Silent Night [anthology]
Pomidor, Bill. Mind Over Murder
Pronzini, Bill. Snowbound
Pryce, Malcolm. Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth
Pulver, Monica. Original Sin
Purser, Ann. Murder on Monday
Queen, Ellery. The Finishing Stroke, Cat of Many Tails, Calamity Town, The Egyptian Cat Mystery, Murder at Christmas
Quentin, Patrick. Follower
Raphael, Lev. Burning Down the House
Rawls, Randy. Jingle’s Christmas
Ray, Robert J. Merry Christmas Murdock
Reinsmith Richard. Body for Christmas
Richards, Emilie. Let There be Suspects
Rickman, Phil. Midwinter of the Spirit
Riggs, John R. Haunt of the Nightingale
Ripley, Ann. The Christmas Garden Affair
Rizzolo, S.K. The Rose in the Wheel
Robb, J.D. Holiday in Death
Roberts, Gillian. The Mummer’s Curse, Philly Stakes
Roberts, Sheila. On Strike for Christmas
Robinson, Peter. Past Reason Hated, The Price of Love and Other Stories (anthology)
Roosevelt, Eliot. The White House Pantry Murder
Rowe, Jennifer. Death in Store, Love Lies Bleeding
Rubino, Jane. Fruit Cake
Ruell, Patrick. Red Christmas
Ryan, Jenna. Mistletoe and Murder

2010 Grand Master, Raven & Ellery Queen Awards

2009-12-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

Mystery Writers of America announced the 2010 Grand Master, Raven & Ellery Queen Recipients yesterday.

Dorothy Gilman, author of the Mrs. Pollifax series of spy novels, has been chosen as this year’s Grand Master. MWA's Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as significant output of consistently high-quality material. Gilman has written and contributed to over 30 books that feature uncommon and unique characters. Her writing has continually kept readers coming back for 60 years.

Two extraordinary members of the mystery community with a collective respect for the genre will also be honored by MWA with the Raven Award at this year's Edgar Banquet. Zev Buffman, distinguished Broadway Producer, and the Mystery Lovers Bookshop, one of the largest specialty mystery bookstores in the U.S., will each be presented with Raven Awards. Established in 1953, the award is bestowed by MWA's Board of Directors for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.

Mr. Buffman's experiences incorporate a vast variety of entertainment ranging from Hollywood acting experiences, to producing more than 40 Broadway shows and 100 National Tours. He has served as President and CEO for many "first class" performing arts centers, including the Jackie Gleason Center in Miami Beach, the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, and the historic Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.

Mystery Lovers Bookshop (MLB) of Oakmont, PA, is receiving the Raven Award in recognition of the constant support and dedication they have shown to the mystery community. MLB in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, opened its doors on Halloween 1990. In the 19 years following it has grown to be one of the largest and most recognized mystery bookstores in the country. The store was founded by Mary Alice Gorman, formerly director of a victim services agency, and her husband Richard Goldman, a former software executive.

Mystery Lovers Bookshop is perhaps best known for its annual Festival of Mystery, an event held each spring which regularly attracts over 400 mystery readers to a one-evening extravaganza involving fifty or more authors. Monday, May 3, 2010 will be the date for the fifteenth Festival.

The 2010 Ellery Queen award is being awarded to Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald of Poisoned Pen Press (PPP). The Ellery Queen award is given to editors or publishers who have distinguished themselves by their generous and wide-ranging support of the genre. Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald founded Poisoned Pen Press in 1996. Its original mission was to publish reference and out of print books but it quickly shifted gears to original work and today averages 36 new novels a year with a backlist fully in print. The press' authors have earned numerous award nominations and wins and a basket of starred reviews.

For more information on Mystery Writers of America, go here.

Christmas Mysteries: Authors I-N

2009-12-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the Third installment of Christmas Mysteries, Authors I-N. What a long list. Makes for more reading which is always fine with me! Happy Holiday Reading. Be sure and go back on Mystery Fanfare for Holiday Authors A-D and Authors E-H. Let me know if I've forgotten any.

Iams, Jack. Do Not Murder Before Christmas
Indridason, Arnaldur. Voices
Innes, Michael. A Comedy of Terrors, Christmas at Candleshoe
Irving, Karen. Jupiter’s Daughter
Jaffe. Jody. Chestnut Mare, Beware
Jahn, Michael. Murder on Fifth Avenue
Jeffers, H. Paul. Murder on Mike
John, Cathie. Add One Dead Critic
Jordan, Cathleen. A Carol in the Dark
Jordan, Jennifer. Murder Under the Mistletoe.
Kane, Henry. A Corpse for Christmas (Homicide at Yuletide)
Kaplan, Arthur. A Killing for Charity
Kaye, M. M. Death in the Andamans
Kellerman, Faye. Sacred and Profane
Kelley, Lee Charles. 'Twas the Bite Before Christmas
Kelly, Mary. The Christmas Egg
Kelner, Toni L.P. Mad as the Dickens
Kendrick, Stephen. Night Watch: A Long-Lost Adventure in Which Sherlock Holmes Meets Father Brown
King, Laurie R. A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Kingsbury, Kate. No Clue at the Inn, Ringing in Murder, Shrouds of Holly, Slay Bells
Kisor, Henry. Season’s Revenge
Kitchen, C.H.B. Crime at Christmas
Kleinholz, Lisa. Exiles on Main Street
Knight, Alanna. The Dagger in the Crown
Knight, Stephen. Corpse at the Opera House, Murder at Home, More Crimes for a Summer Christmas
Koch, Edward I. Murder on 34th Street
Koontz, Dean R. Mister Murder, Santa’s Twin, Robot Santa
Lake, M.D. A Gift for Murder, Grave Choices
Landreth, Marsha. The Holiday Murders
Lane, Vicki. In a Dark Season
Langley, Bob. Death Stalk
Langton, Jane. The Shortest Day: Murder at the Revels, The Memorial Hall Murder
Lathen, Emma. Banking on Death
Lawrence, David. Cold Kill
Lawrence, Hilda. Blood Upon the Snow
Leach, Christopher. A Killing Frost
Levine, Joan. The Santa Claus Mystery
Levine, Laura. Candy Cane Murders (with Joanne Fluke & Leslie Meier)
Lewin, Michael Z. The Enemies Within
Little, Constance. The Black-Headed Pins
Livingston, Nancy. Quiet Murder
Locke, William J. A Christmas Mystery
Lockridge, Richard. Dead Run
London, Cait. (and others) Sugarplums and Scandal
Luber, Philip. Deadly Convictions
MacLeod, Charlotte. Rest You Merry; ed.Christmas Stalkings: Tales of Yuletide Murder, The Convivial Codfish; Mistletoe Mysteries (ed)
MacDonald, John D. Pale Gray for Guilt
MacLeod, Charlotte. The Convivial Codfish, Murder Goes Mumming, Rest You Merry
MacPherson, Rett. A Comedy of Heirs, The Blood Ballad
MacPherson, Suzanne (and others) Sugarplums and Scandal
Malliet, G. M. Death of a Cozy Writer
Malmont, Valerie. Death, Snow, and Mistletoe
Marantz, Bill. Christmas Eve Can Kill You
Markowitz, Jeff. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
Marks, Jeffrey. Canine Christmas
Maron, Margaret. Corpus Christmas
Marsh, Ngaio. Tied Up in Tinsel
Matesky, Amanda. Murder is a Girl’s Best Friend
McBain, Ed. And All Through the House, Downtown, Ghosts, Sadie When She Died
McCloy, Helen. Mr. Splitfoot
McClure, James. The Gooseberry Fool
McGinley, Patrick. Goosefoot
McGown, Jill. Murder at the Old Vicarage
McKevett, G.A. Cooked Goose, Poisoned Tarts
McLintick, Malcolm. Death of an Old Flame
McMullen, Mary. Death by Bequest
Meier, Leslie. The Christmas Cookie Murder, Mistletoe Murder, Mail Order Murder, Candy Cane Murders (w/Joanne Fluke & Laura Levine)
Meredith, David W. The Christmas Card Murders
Meredith, D. R. Murder by Sacrilege
Michaels, Kasey. High Heels and Holidays, Bowled Over
Miles, Terry. Dog Gone Christmas
Milne, A.A. A Table Near the Band, Christmas Party
Miner, Valerie. Murder in the English Department
Minichino, Camile. The Helium Murder, The Oxygen Murder
Moore, Christopher. The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
Morrell, David. The Spy Who Came for Christmas
Mortimer, John. A Rumpole Christmas
Moyes, Patricia. Season of Snows and Sins
Muller, Marcia. There's Nothing to be Afraid Of
Murphy, Shirley Rousseau. Cat Deck the Halls
Nabb, Magdalen. Death of an Englishman
Nash, Anne. Said with Flowers
Neel, Janet. Death's Bright Angel
Nelson, Hugh. The Season for Murder
Nordan, Robert. Death Beneath the Christmas Tree

Holiday Authors A-D and Holiday Authors E-H. If I forgot you on any of these lists, let me know.

Jacques Chessex: R.I.P.

2009-12-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Swiss writer Jacques Chessex, 75, died October 9 from an apparent heart attack. He was the first non-French citizen to win France's most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. The precise, sometimes austere beauty of his prose often contrasted with the way he used it to delve into stories of hidden cruelty, crime or passion.

While he was respected within Switzerland as a poet, painter and essayist, as well as a novelist, his penchant for revealing the darkly uncomfortable truths beneath the pristine surface of Swiss society found him more than once at odds with the communities in which he lived. His neighbours in the Swiss village of Ropraz were offended by his 2007 novel Le Vampire de Ropraz, published in Britain as The Vampire of Ropraz by Bitter Lemon Press in 2008 (US April 2009), which examined a 1903 miscarriage of justice when a local stable boy caught violating animals was convicted of a series of brutal murders. Chessex wove elements of genre fiction into his portrayal of a backward and repressed society trying to cope with modern criminal horror. But he made the crimes themselves seem an almost inevitable outgrowth of Swiss rural isolation, Calvinist repression, and intense social jealousy.

His most recent novel, Un Juif Pour L'Exemple, investigated the 1942 killing of a Jewish cattle trader by Swiss Nazis in Chessex's home town of Payerne, and became a national cause celebre in a country still uncomfortable with the true character of its neutrality during the second world war. Bitter Lemon plan to publish it, entitled A Jew Must Die, in February next year (US May 2010).

Chessex won the Goncourt in 1973 for his novel L'Ogre, published in English translation as A Father's Love in 1975. Detailing a brutal father-son relationship, it drew heavily on his own experience. Chessex was born in Payerne, where his father was a secondary school principal and strict disciplinarian. He was also an etymologist, from which may have sprung Chessex's love of precision in his poetry and prose. Chessex attended elementary school with the son of the Nazi at the centre of Un Juif pour L'Exemple, then studied at the Jesuit College St Michel in Fribourg, where, aged 17, he founded a poetry magazine, Pays du Lac (Lake Country). His first book of poetry, Le Jour Proche (The Next Day), was published in Geneva in 1954. At Lausanne University he wrote his dissertation on Francis Ponge, the poet and essayist.

The pivotal moment of Chessex's life was the trauma he felt after his father killed himself in 1956. After three more collections of poetry, his first novel, La Tête Ouverte (The Open Head, 1962) won the Schiller prize; the recognition helped him co-found the literary magazine Ecriture in 1964. Still, he followed in his father's footsteps, and taught French literature at Lausanne's Gymnasium. A

After the success of L'Ogre, which opens with the death of its protagonist, a teacher's father, he settled in Ropraz, and produced more than 80 books, including 31 novels or other fictions, 28 volumes of poetry, including Les Aveugles du Seul Regard, which won the Prix Mallarmé in 1994, and a number of children's books, one of which, Marie et le Chat Sauvage, was published in English as Mary and the Wild Cat in 1980. In his 60s he began painting, receiving a number of major exhibitions in Switzerland. He occupied a central position within the French-speaking Swiss cultural world, active as a critic and essayist, and was awarded the Prix Jean Giorno for his life's work in 2007.

Chessex collapsed during a lecture at the Municipal Library in Yverdon les Bains, discussing a play adapted from his 1967 novel La Confession du Pasteur Burg (The Confession of Pastor Burg), an intense work dealing with the conflict between desire and repressive institutions and laws. He had just been asked to comment on the arrest of the film director Roman Polanski.

Married three times, he is survived by his companion Sandrine Fontaine, and two sons, François and Jean. A new novel, Le Dernier Crâne De M De Sade (The Last Skull of M De Sade), is due to be published early next year.

Jacques Chessex, writer, born 21 March 1934; died 9 October 2009

From the Guardian via Bitter Lemon Press.

Nero Wolfe Award 2009

2009-12-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

2009 AWARD ANNOUNCEMENTS: NERO AWARD & BLACK ORCHID NOVELLA AWARD

The Nero Award is presented each year to an author for the best American Mystery written in the tradition of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories. It is presented at the Black Orchid Banquet, traditionally held on the first Saturday in December in New York City.

This year, the winner is Joseph Teller for The Tenth Case (Mira Books, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises). The award was presented by Jane K. Cleland, chair of the Wolfe Pack's literary awards. Teller's third Jaywalker book, Depraved Indifference, is now available.

The Black Orchid Novella Award is presented jointly by The Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine to celebrate the Novella format popularized by Rex Stout. This year's winner is Steve Liskow for "The Strangle Hold".

The Wolfe Pack, founded in 1977, is a forum to discuss, explore, and enjoy the 72 Nero Wolfe books and novellas written by Rex Stout. The organization promotes fellowship and extends friendship to those who enjoy these great literary works of mystery through a series of events, book discussions, and a journal devoted to the study of the genius detective, Nero Wolfe, and his intrepid assistant, Archie Goodwin. The organization has over 400 members worldwide.

Christmas Mysteries: E-H

2009-12-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm continuing the Christmas Mystery list. It's amazing how many mysteries are set during the holidays, but I guess given it's such a stressful time, I shouldn't be all that surprised.

Today authors E-H. Be sure and check the previous Christmas list A-D. I've updated it. Please let me know if I've forgotten an author and/or book.

Eberhart, Mignon G. Postmark Murder
Eddenden, A. E. A Good Year for Murder
Egan, Lesley. Crime for Christmas
Eickhoff, Randy Lee. Then Came Christmas
Erskine, Margaret. A Graveyard Plot
Estleman, Loren D. The Glass Highway
Evanovich, Janet. Visions of Sugar Plums
Fairstein, Linda A. The Deadhouse , The Crime and the Crystal, A Small World of Murder
Fennelly, Tony. Home Dead for Christmas.
Ferrars, E.X. Smoke Without Fire, The Small World of Murder, The Crime and the Crystal
Ferris, Monica. Crewel Yule
Fluke, Joanne. Candy Cane Murders, Sugar Cookie Murder, Plum Pudding Murder
Flynn, Brian. The Murders near Mapleton
Ford, Leslie. The Simple Way of Poison
Fowler, Earlene. The Saddlemaker’s Wife
Fraser, Anthea. The Nine Bright Shiners
Frazer, Margaret. The Servant's Tale, The Widow's Tale
Freydont, Shelley. A Merry Little Murder
Frommer, Sara Hoskinson. Witness in Bishop Hill
Gano, John. Inspector Proby's Christmas
Garner, James Finn. Politically Correct Holiday Stories: For an Enlightened Yuletide Season
Garnet, A. H. The Santa Claus Killer
George, Anne. Murder on a Bad Hair Day
Giroux, E. X. Death for a Dietician
Godfrey, Thomas (ed) Murder for Christmas: 26 Tales of Seasonal Malice
Goodman, Jonathan. Murder on the Aisle
Gordon, Alan. Thirteen Night, The Moneylender of Toulouse
Gorman, Ed. Murder on the Aisle
Gouze, Roger. A Quiet Game of Bambu
Grace, Margaret. Mayhem in Miniature
Grafton, Sue. “E” is for Evidence
Graham, Heather. The Last Noel
Granger, Ann. A Season for Murder
Grabenstein, Chris. Hell for the Holidays
Graves, Sarah. Wreck the Halls
Greeley, Andrew. The Bishop and the Three Kings, The Man with a Load of Mischief, The Old Fox Deceiv'd, Star Bright!
Green, Christine. Deadly Partners
Greenberg, Martin H. (ed) Cat Crimes for the Holidays, Holmes for the Holidays, Santa Clues, More Holmes for the Holidays. Twelve Crimes of Christmas.
Grimes, Martha. Jerusalem Inn, Old Fox Deceived
Guest, Judith. Killing Time in St. Cloud
Gunning, Sally. Ice Water
Haddam, Jane. Not a Creature Was Stirring, A Stillness in Bethlehem
Hager, Jean. The Last Noel
Haines, Carolyn. Buried Bones
Hall, Parnell. A Puzzle in a Pear Tree
Hall, Robert Lee. Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Christmas Murder
Hardwick, Richard. The Season to be Deadly
Hare, Cyril. An English Murder
Harper, Karen. The Queene’s Christmas
Harris, Charlaine. Shakespeare’s Christmas & (Ed) Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
Harris, Lee. The Christmas Night Murder
Harrison, Janis. Murder Sets Seed
Hart, Carolyn G. Sugarplum Dead & Merry, Merry Ghost
Hart, Ellen. Vital Lies, Murder in the Air.
Harvey, John. Cold Light
Harvey, Roy. Seascape with Dead Figures.
Heald, Tim. (ed) A Classic Christmas Crime
Heath, Sandra. Mistletoe Mischief
Hemlin, Tim. A Catered Christmas
Hess, Joan. A Holly, Jolly Murder, O Little Town of Maggody
Heyer, Georgette. Envious Casca
Hiassen, Carl. Tourist Season
Hill, Reginald. Death's Jest Book
Hilton, John Buxton. Death in Midwinter
Hinkemeyer, Michael. A Time to Reap
Hodgkin, Marion Rous. Dead Indeed
Holland, Isabelle. A Fatal Advent
Holmes, Dee. Silent Night [anthology]
Howie, Edith. Murder for Christmas
Howlett, John. The Christmas Spy
Hughes, Mary Ellen. Wreath of Deception
Hunter, Alan. Landed Gently
Hunter, Ellen Elizabeth. Murder on the Candlelight Tour, Christmas Wedding.
Hunter, Evan. Come Winter
Hunter, Fred. Ransom for a Holiday, 'Tis the Season for Murder

Coming soon: the rest of the alphabet :-) For A-D, go HERE.

Partners in Crime: Bill Crider

2009-12-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

I asked Bill Crider to be my Guest Blogger today on Mystery Fanfare's Partner in Crime series: Writers who write with a partner (s).

Bill Crider is a real writer's writer. He writes several mystery series including the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Carl Burn series and the Sally Good series. He also writes the Truman Smith P.I. series. In addition he writes non-series mysteries, Westerns and children's books. I know a forgot a few others, but you can read more about the books and about Bill Crider here. You should also read his books! Bill is also a big mystery fan and has contributed to mystery fandom in many ways.

Writing with a Partner by Bill Crider

If I hadn’t had a writing partner, I’d never have published a novel.

That might sound strange, coming from someone who’s now published well over fifty books under various names, but it’s true. In a way, I owe my whole career to a man named Jack Davis.

When I was living in Brownwood, Texas, I was in a small writing group. One of the members was Gwen Davis, who was working on a romance novel. Her husband was Jack. He drove her to the meetings and stuck around to listen to the rest of us talk and read what we’d written. I was writing sensitive poetry at the time, but I was reading a lot of crime fiction, and so was Jack. After a while he decided that he and I should write a Nick Carter novel.

Jack was the manager of the local branch of a national moving company, and he said that the guys who worked for him read a lot of the Nick Carter novels. He’d picked up a few that they’d left lying around his office. “It’s like James Bond for truck drivers,” he told me. This was in 1978 or 1979. I’d been reading the novels off and on since 1965. I knew what he meant, but I wasn’t so sure we could write one of the books.

Jack was sure. He sent off for the writing guidelines, and when he got them, he made a deal with me. He’d plot the book and rough out the chapters. I’d do the actual writing and the final draft. If the book sold, we’d split the money 50-50. I didn’t have anything to lose but time, so I told him it was a deal.

We eventually did three chapters and an outline. Jack would give me his pages scrawled on yellow paper from a legal pad, and I’d translate them into what I hoped was readable prose on an old Underwood manual typewriter. Then my wife, Judy, retyped everything on an IBM electric.

Jack and I never had any discussions, much less any arguments or disagreements. Neither of us knew enough about what we were doing for that. We were entirely clueless. So clueless, in fact, that Jack believed we’d get a call from the publisher within weeks of our sending off our chapters.

It didn’t happen. Jack couldn’t believe it, and you won’t believe what he did next, either. He called the publisher to find out why. That’s right. I told you we didn’t know what we were doing.

What Jack found out was that the editor we’d sent the manuscript to had left and gone to work for another house. You really won’t believe what Jack did then. He tracked the guy down and called him. Here’s what the guy told him: “Your chapters aren’t bad, but the new editor already has some writers she knows and trusts. You and your writing partner are just two guys from Brownwood, Texas, wherever that is. Nobody ever heard of you. You can write three chapters, but nobody knows if you can write a whole book or if it would be any good if you did. Go ahead and finish the book and send it in. That’s your best chance.”

So we finished the book. Jack gave me the chapters, ranging from one to five handwritten pages. I fleshed them out and turned them into what I thought was classic literature on a par with Hemingway. Judy retyped them. After a long time, we had something resembling a book. We sent it to New York. They bought it. Believe me, nobody was more surprised than I was.

The book was published in January 1981. Jack and I planned to make a long career of being Nick Carter, and now that we were famous, we figured we could sell on sample chapters and an outline. We quickly did chapters for two more books and sent them in. The editor loved them and said we were going to be part of the Nick Carter stable. Within weeks, she was gone. The new editor wasn’t impressed at all and said he wouldn’t be needing us. We were crushed, and that was the end of our collaboration.

A few years later I went out on my own and published my first solo novel. I’ve done a lot of collaborating since, both officially and unofficially, but that first experience was the best. Jack Davis for persuaded me it could be done, came up with the idea, and persisted in the face of what seemed like failure. Thanks to him I’ve had a fairly long and interesting career in the writing game.

Christmas Mysteries: A-D

2009-12-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

There are so many mystery novels set during the Christmas Holidays that I decided to divide my list alphabetically and post on different days. As always I welcome any titles I've forgotten, and I'll update immediately. This list contains more titles than last year.

So today, I'm listing A-D. Enjoy!

Abbot, Anthony. About the Murder on a Startled Lady, About the Murder of Geraldine Foster
Abresch, Peter. The Faltese Malcom
Adamson, Lydia. A Cat in the Manger, A Cat in the Wings, A Cat on Jingle Bell Rock, A Cat Under the Mistletoe
Albert, Susan Wittig. Mistletoe Man, Rueful Death
Allen, Michael. Spence and the Holiday Murders
Andrews, Donna. Six Geese A-Slaying
Ash, Maureen. Murder for Christ’s Mass
Appignanesi, Agatha.The Dead of Winter
Arsenault, Emily. The Broken Teaglass
Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity's Christmas
Arts, David Jay. Quiet Desperation
Ash, Maureen. Murder for Christ's Mass
Asimov, Isaac (ed) Twelve Crimes of Christmas
Atkins, Ace. Leavin' Trunk Blues
Aubert, Rosemary. The Feast of Stephen
Avocato, Lori. (ed) Sugarplums and Scandal
Babson, Marian. Twelve Deaths of Christmas
Bain, Donald. A Little Yuletide Murder (Murder She wrote/Jessica Fleming)
Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Wandering Eye
Battison, Brian. The Christmas Bow Murder
Baldacci, David. The Christmas Train
Ballard, Mignon F. Deadly Promise, Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed
Barnard, Robert. Death in a Cold Climate, The Habit of Widowhood
Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Wandering Eye
Battison, Brian. The Christmas Bow Murder
Beaton, M.C. Death of A Snob, A Highland Christmas, Kissing Christmas Goodbye, Death of a Prankster
Beaumont, Cyril. The Mysterious Toyshop
Beechy, Alan. Murdering Ministers
Benison, C.C. Death at Sandringham House
Benrey Ron & Janet. Season of Glory
Berenson, Laurien. Jingle Bell Bark
Bernhardt, William. The Midnight Before Christmas
Berry, Linda. (ed) The Last Noel
Bishop, Claudia. A Carol for a Corpse
Black, Gavin. Dragon for Christmas
Black, Sarah & Joshn Lanton. I’ll be Dead for Christmas
Blackstock, Charity. Foggy, Foggy Dew
Blake, Nicholas. The Corpse in the Snowman, The Smiler With the Knife, Thou Shell of Death
Blanc, Nero. A Crossworder's Delight, A Crossworder's Gift, A Crossworder's Holiday, Wrapped Up in Crosswords
Borthwick, J. S. Dude on Arrival, The Student Body
Boucher, Anthony. The Night Before Christmas
Boylan, Eleanor. Pushing Murder
Boyle, Thomas. Post-Mortem Effects
Bramble, Forbes. Dead of Winter
Braun, Lilian Jackson. The Cat Who Turned On and Off
Brett, Simon. The Christmas Crimes at Puzzle Manor
Brewer, Steve (and others) The Last Noel
Brightwell, Emily. Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of St. Stephen, Mrs. Jeffries & the Yuletide Weddings
Brockman, Suzanne. All Through the Night.
Brown, Carter. A Corpse for Christmas
Brown, Frederic. Murder Can be Fun
Brown, Rita Mae. Rest in Pieces, Santa Clawed
Browning, Abigail (ed) Murder Most Merry
Bruce, Leo. Such is Death
Buchanan, Edna. The Ice Maiden
Burke, James. A Present for Santa
Burley, W. J. Death in Willow Pattern, Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin
Byerrun, Ellen. Grave Apparel
Caine, Leslie. Holly and Homicide
Cairns, Alison. New Year Resolution
Cameron, Dana (and others) Sugarplums and Scandal
Carl, Joanna. The Chocolate Bear Burglary, The Chocolate Snowman Murders
Carter, John Franklin. The Corpse on the White House Lawn
Carter, Nick. The Christmas Kill
Caunitz, William J. Exceptional Clearance
Challinor, C. S. Christmas is Murder
Chaput, W. J. The Man on the Train
Chastain, Thomas. 911
Chaze, Elliott. Goodbye Goliath
Chesbro, George C. Second Horseman Out of Eden
Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (Also published as Murder for Christmas and Holiday for Murder)
Christmas, Joyce. Dying Well
Churchill, Jill. Farewell to Yarns, The Merchant of Menace, From Here to Paternity
Clark, Carol Higgins. Iced
Clark, Mary Higgins. All Though the Night, Silent Night, Deck the Halls. With Carol Higgins Clark, He Sees You when Your Sleeping With Carol Higgins Clark, The Christmas Thief. With Carol Higgins Clark, Santa Cruise. With Carol Higgins Clark.
Dashing through the snow. With Carol Higgins Clark.
Coggin, Joan. Who Killed the Curate?
Cohen, Charles. Silver Linings
Collier, Christine. Christmas at Cliffhanger Inn, A Holiday Sampler
Collings, Rex. Clerical Crimes for Christmas
Collins, Max Allen. Blue Christmas and Other Holiday Homicides, No Cure for Death
Colt, Jennifer. The Con Artist of Catalina Island
Conant, Susan. Gone to the Dogs
Constantine, K.C. Upon Some Midnights Clear
Cousins, Caroline. Fiddle Dee Death
Cornish, Constance. Dead of Winter
Cornwell, Patricia. Scarpetta’s Winter Table
Coyle, Cleo. Holiday Grind
Coward, Mat (and others) The Last Noel
Craig, Alisa. Murder Goes Mumming
Constantine, K.C. Upon Some Midnights Clear
Craft, Michael. Body Language
Craig, Philip R. A Deadly Vineyard Holiday: A Martha’s Vineyard Mystery
Crane, Hamilton. Starring Miss Seeton
Crawford, Isis. A Catered Christmas
Crombie, Deborah. Water Like a Stone
Cross, Amanda. No Word from Winifred.
Daheim, Mary. The Alpine Christmas, Nutty as a Fruitcake
D'Amato, Barbara. Hard Christmas
Dams, Jeanne M. The Body in the Transept, Indigo Christmas, Winter of Discontent
Dane, Joel. The Christmas Tree Murders
Davidson, Diane Mott. Sweet Revenge
Davis, Frederick. Drag the Dark
Davis, Krista. The Diva Runs Out of Thyme
Davis, Mildred B. Tell Them What's Her Name Called, Three Minutes to Midnight
Dawson, Janet. Nobody's Child
DeAndrea, William L. Killed on the Ice
Deeb, Mary Jane. Christmas Mystery in Provence
Delany, Vicki. Winter of Secrets
Dentinger, Jane. The Queen is Dead
Dexter, Colin. The Secret of Annexe 3
Dickson, Carter. The White Priority Murders
Dobson, Joanne. Quieter Than Sleep
Donnelly, Deborah. Died to Match, May the Best Man Die
Douglas, Carole Nelson. Cat in a Golden Garland
Douglas, Charlotte. Holidays are Murder
Downing, Todd. The Last Trumpet
Drummond, John Keith. 'Tis the Season to be Dying
Douglas, Carole Nelson. Cat in a Golden Garland: A Midnight Louie Mystery
Duffy, James. The Christmas Gang
Dunbard, Sophie. Shiveree
Dunn, Carola. Mistletoe and Murder, Death at Wentwater Court
Dunnett, Keitlyn. A Wee Christmas Homicide

Smallest Library in the U.K.

2009-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

I once had a Red Telephone Box like the one pictured here. It was on the second floor landing of my Victorian in Berkeley. Not 'of the Victorian style' certainly, but I thought it was great. Even though I had bookshelves everywhere in that house, I used the phone booth for a phone! What a thought. Yes, Virginia, we actually had wired phones in those days. I loved my telephone box, but it and I went our separate ways. Had I but known.. or had I but thought... I would have lined it with bookshelves. You can never have enough.

So found this story particularly relevant. The Westbury Book Exchange, came into being in the U.K. It is a decommissioned BT phone kiosk in The Square in the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip, now a free book service. One brings pre-read books, leaves them on the shelves, and takes any other book(s) that appeals. Service is free and the kiosk is open 168 hours a week.

How cool is that!

Hat tip to Noemi Levine.

Edgar Allan Poe

2009-11-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

If you're as big a fan of Poe as I am, you've been following the many celebrations in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond and elsewhere over the past year, the bicentennial of his birth. For those who weren't able to attend any of the celebrations or panels or talks, check out today's article in the about New York TimesEdgar Allan Poe, the celebrations and the Poe Museum and much more. Go Here.

Poe: Man, Myth, or Monster” is on view through Saturday
at the Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond; (804) 692-3500. The Poe Museum is at 1914-16 East Main Street, Richmond; poemuseum.org.