MYSTERY BYTES: Quirky Mystery and Book Related Links

Here are several mystery-related articles I found thought-provoking. Hope you do, too. Be sure to follow the links to read the full stories.

First up is this wild article by Ian Parker about Dan Mallory. A Suspense Novelist's Trail of Deceptions. The New Yorker .
Dan Mallory, who writes under the name A. J. Finn, went to No. 1 with his début thriller, “The Woman in the Window.” His life contains even stranger twists. Definitely weird.

Ever wonder about cleaning up a crime scene? in a book you're working on? or in real life? 13 Secrets of Crime Scene Cleaners. Mental Floss.
It’s a profession that few people realize exists—until tragedy strikes, and suddenly they have to deal with the unimaginable. That’s when they call a select group of iron-stomached, steel-nerved workers known as trauma scene restoration specialists, biohazard remediation technicians, or simply crime scene cleaners.

From Crime Reality to Crime Fiction: The Strange Case of the Anne Perry Film. The Spinoff.
 Anne Perry: Interiors, currently streaming on TVNZ on Demand, looks into the famous New Zealander’s life after moving to Scotland. But how much can we learn when Perry herself seems incapable of true self-reflection?

It's Chinese New Year and Paul French looks at Chinatowns around the world. CrimeReads.
Chinatowns have long been a honeypot for crime writers. Once mysterious and “other,” nowadays Chinatown crime reads are likely to feature voracious developers trying to force out traditional communities, corrupt Chinese Communist officials on the run, or newly arrived gangsters challenging the locals.

Speaking of Chinese New Year. Check out the list of Chinese New Year Crime Fiction here on MysteryFanfare. 
恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Pig.
Chinese New Year starts tomorrow, and I've put together my latest Chinese New Year Mystery List. Included as well as specific Chinese New Year Crime Fiction, I've added some titles (scroll down) that take place in China and Taiwan, not necessarily during the New Year

Patricia Highsmith's Malcontents, Misogynists, and Murderers: From Carol to Tom Ripley. BookMarks.
Patricia Highsmith wore many hats over the course of her life and five decade writing career. In many respects, she was a deeply contradictory figure: a master practitioner of the bleak psychological thriller who also penned the first, and for several years only, major lesbian novel with a happy ending; a self-described liberal and social democrat who seemed to have no qualms about making racist and antisemitic statements; someone who hated being around people, yet enjoyed countless affairs and short-lived romances.

Don Winslow on The Dirty Secret of El Chapo's Downfall. Vanity Fair.
It’s the trial of the century, right? The satisfying third act in the dramatic rise-and-fall story of a celebrated Mob boss who became one of the world’s richest men, a Robin Hood who gave to the poor, a modern-day Houdini who escaped from not one but two maximum-security prisons. And it’s great show business with a full cast of characters: a compelling antihero, high-level drug traffickers who “flipped,” a sexy mistress, a beautiful young wife in the gallery.

The "Pop Culture Rembrandt" of Paperbacks by J. Kingston Pierce. The Rap Sheet.
You may have noticed over the years what a big fan I am of American artist and paperback illustrator Robert McGinnis. In 2014, I not only celebrated his career with a month-long exposition of his book fronts in Killer Covers, but I interviewed Art Scott, his co-author on the exquisite book, The Art of Robert E. McGinnis (Titan), for both The Rap Sheet and Kirkus Reviews. Two years later, I posted an additional, smaller selection of his work in celebration of his 90th birthday.

It's Up to Us: A Roundatble Discussion. Kellye Garrett. Los Angeles Review of Books.
THIS PAST SUMMER, Walter Mosley, Agatha Award–winning writer Gigi Pandian, and I started a group for crime writers of color. Within two months, the group went from the three of us to having over 80 writers — all in various stages of our careers. We cheer the ups, commiserate with the downs, and brainstorm ways to ensure the appallingly low number of mysteries published by writers of color continues to grow.

Tim Dorsey and the Wild Crime Fiction of Florida. CrimeReads.
There’s a special moment towards the start of every new Tim Dorsey novel when you realize who the villain is going to be, and which cause Dorsey’s psychopathic anti-hero, Serge A. Storms, is going to take up this time. It’s fair to say there’s nothing quite like that sensation going in crime fiction today, which maybe explains why Dorsey inspires such fervent admiration and joy in his readers, who have formed a kind of cult following, twenty-two books into the series.

An Archive of 600 Historical Children's Books, All Digitized and Free to Read Online. OpenCulture.
We can learn much about how a historical period viewed the abilities of its children by studying its children's literature. Occupying a space somewhere between the purely didactic and the nonsensical, most children’s books published in the past few hundred years have attempted to find a line between the two poles, seeking a balance between entertainment and instruction. However, that line seems to move closer to one pole or another depending on the prevailing cultural sentiments of the time.

Mystery Bytes: Quirky & Interesting Mystery & Book-related Links on the Internet

Here's my Round-Up of interesting and sometimes quirky mystery-related links on the Internet. Just wanted to share in case you missed these. Click on the link to read the entire story.

A Brief and Incomplete Survey of Edgar Allan Poes in Pop CultureQuoth the Raven, Many, Many Times . . . LitHub.
What’s the first image that pops into your head when you think of Edgar Allan Poe? 

Five Bookshops that Globetrotting Bibliophiles should put on their Bucket List. ABC News (Au)
"When you enter a bookshop you discover a kind of country — a little world — and you can find different aspects of the history of the world, and also of the present time."

10 British Crime Shows You Can Watch on Netflix. Huffington Post.
Crime dramas with a strong mystery at their heart seem perfect for the Netflix business model of getting viewers hooked on stories they can’t stop watching.

Before Lisbeth Salander: The couple that invented Nordic noir with the Martin Beck series. Scroll.in

Bleak landscapes and brooding detectives with personal demons are par for the course in books and TV now because of Swedish writers Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.

Mothers and Daughters and Psychological Thrillers. CrimeReads.

The perilous territory of mother-daughter relationships is often explored in crime fiction, especially in psychological thrillers. This month’s Freefall by Jessica Barry tells the story of mother Maggie Carpenter whose estranged daughter, Ally, is supposedly killed in a private plane crash. As Ally’s body is not found with the plane, Maine-based Maggie sets out for Ally’s home in San Diego to try and reconnect if not with Ally herself than with the new life she has built in California. As in Freefall, in the books below mothers and daughters are trying to reconnect, protect each other, and reckon with their formative bond.

Stuck with Them: An Interview with Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer. LA Review of Books.  
OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE has received recognition as a spoken-word artist and been a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She also sketched the cover art for the Nigerian edition of her debut novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer.

The Best Daphne du Maurier Books. Five Books.
Daphne du Maurier is one of the most overlooked writers of the twentieth century, says Oxford University's Laura Varnam. As Rebecca celebrates its eightieth anniversary and du Maurier enjoys a critical renaissance, Varnam explores five works that best highlight this novelist's sheer range and brilliance—from biography and fiction to history and horror.

Travellers Staying at this Place in Scotland Take Turns Running the Bookshop Downstairs.
BookishBuzz.
At The Open Book, in Wigtown, Scotland, you can fulfill your dream of running a bookstore. The unique Airbnb flat costs just 57 USD a night, but it comes with a stipulation: renters also work at the bookshop on the first floor, doing everything that a regular bookshop owner might do.

Best-selling Author Sherrilyn Kenyon tells fans she suspects her husband poisoned her. Yahoo Entertainment.  
Having written dozens of fantasy novels, best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon knows a thing or two about crafting the twists and turns of a thrilling plot. Unfortunately, it seems that she’s also now versed in what it’s like to be at the center of one. According to a newsletter she sent to fans earlier this week, she was allegedly the victim of someone trying to poison her.

The Hunt for Nazi Loot still sitting on Library Shelves. NYT.
The hunt for the millions of books stolen by the Nazis during World War II has been pursued quietly and diligently for decades, but it has been largely ignored, even as the search for lost art drew headlines. The plundered volumes seldom carried the same glamour as the looted paintings, which were often masterpieces worth millions of dollars.

The Best Agatha Christie Books of All Times. Real Simple.
Throughout her lifetime, Agatha Christie published more than 75 novels and introduced generations of readers to the beloved detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Since, her books have been adapted into movies (including, most recently, Murder on the Orient Express) and TV shows. While it's impossible to pick only 10 best titles out of her large body of work, below is a list of the ten essential novels that every Christie fan or newbie must read. 

Mystery Bytes: Quirky & Interesting Book-Related Links

Here's a Round-Up of interesting and quirky mystery-related links on the Internet. Just wanted to share in case you missed these. Click on the link to read the entire story.

Live in New England? Plan to visit? Here's a great guide to New England's Best Bookstores to Spend the Day. What could be better? New England Travel.

Creating a “best bookstores” list for New England is more challenging than it would be for most places. Our region is blessed with countless wonderful shops, each with its own charm. Some pride themselves on being eclectic, or all-encompassing, or uniquely focused. But for this post, I’m calling out what I consider to be destination bookshops.

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Speaking of Bookstores. Here's a wonderful article on that charming 17th century alley, Cecil Court, that's lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops. It's a great stop when in London. Atlas Obscura.

This dreamy little 17th-century lane is a book lover’s paradise. It’s lined with about 20 secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops, all selling a trove of unique treasures. It’s no wonder the street’s nickname is “Booksellers’ Row.”

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If you're like me, you have books everywhere -- on shelves, on the floor, in piles, in the kitchen, bathroom, linen closet, bedroom, dining room, etc.  Will you ever get to read them all? Well don't fret, here's an article on Why You Should Surround Yourself with More Books Thank You'll Ever Have Time to Read. Fast Company.

Lifelong learning will help you be happier, earn more, and even stay healthier, experts say. Plus, plenty of the smartest names in business, from Bill Gates to Elon Musk, insist that the best way to get smarter is to read. So what do you do? You go out and buy books, lots of them. ut life is busy, and intentions are one thing, actions another. Soon you find your shelves (or e-reader) overflowing with titles you intend to read one day, or books you flipped through once but then abandoned. Is this a disaster for your project to become a smarter, wiser person?

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I used to love Board Games, especially Monopoly and Clue. The original Monopoly board was based on Atlantic City where I spent summers, so it was very special to me. And don't we all just love Clue? Here's a Fun article on Board Games: Miss Flame in the Bedroom with the Shoe: 4 Board Games that Changed with the Culture. Mental Floss.

Plenty of board games have debuted special editions, integrated electronics (who wants to roll dice anymore?), and upgraded to fancy carved pieces. But here are four classic games that had to change their rules just to stay relevant in the culture around them.

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Do you love audio books? Apple Lets You Download Six Free Audio Books Read by Celebrity Narrators. No mysteries in this FREE group, but definitely worth listening to. OpenCulture.

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Intrigued by Nigeria? Crime Fiction Lover reviews Five Nigerian Noir books. I would add My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.

While the wave of superb Scandinavian novels been the buzz in crime fiction for a good while, and you have new trends like Korean crime novels beginning to bubble to the surface, few have noticed the gritty, blade-on-your-throat crime fiction emerging from Nigeria today, by writers like Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. These novels have that pulse and energy you get from classic noir, but they simultaneously play with genre tropes, subverting them, bending the craft to suit the peculiarities of modern Nigeria...

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And, one more article: Changing the Face of Crime Fiction: Six Writers of Coloron Writing Mysteries, Crime Novels and Thrillers. Writer's Digest.

MYSTERY BYTES: Quirky and Interesting Mystery-Related Links

Here's a Round-Up of interesting and quirky mystery-related links on the Internet. Just wanted to share in case you missed these. Click on the link to read the entire story.

18 of the Best Bookish Movies of 2018. BookRiot.

Last weekend I watched Dumplin‘ with my whole family and then after the kids were in bed my husband and I started watching Killing Eve and basically I will never again have such a great weekend of bookish viewing. Probably. Maybe. Although…2018 was so full of great adaptations (and other bookish movies and TV shows) that lightning could strike twice, or every weekend...

Emma Lathen: A Crime Reader's Guide to the Classics: Rediscovering the Queen (s) of Business Crime by Neil Nyren. CrimeReads.

Between 1961 and 1997, Lathen published 24 mysteries featuring John Putnam Thatcher, senior vice president of the Sloan Guaranty Trust, the “third largest bank in the world,” and the first fictional sleuth to spring from the world of Wall Street. The novels were witty, crisp, insightful, intricately plotted, and highly instructive about the ways of the financial universe and the myriad businesses and industries therein...

John le Carré is set to confront “the division and rage at the heart of our modern world” in a new novel set in London in 2018 that will be published next year. The Guardian.

Agent Running in the Field follows a 26-year-old “solitary” man who, “in a desperate attempt to resist the new political turbulence swirling around him, makes connections that will take him down a very dangerous path”, according to publisher Viking.
The novel, Le Carré’s 25th, will be published in October 2019...

The Crime Fiction of Galway by Paul French. CrimeReads.

Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, is the Republic’s sixth largest city, popular with tourists and backpackers and set to be Europe’s official Capital of Culture for 2020. It’s also emerged as a center of Emerald Noir—Irish crime writing that’s gritty, realistic, and concerned with contemporary Ireland. Of course some great examples of Emerald Noir can be found in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, as well as in Northern Ireland (see Crime and the City Belfast), but Galway’s giving them all a run for their money at the moment...

Mise-en-Scène’ and Fritz Lang: The Invaluable, Short-Lived Magazine’s Article on the Master of Darkness. Cinephilia & Beyond.

In 1979, Case Western Reserve University Film Society started publishing a magazine called Mise-en-Scéne, a 70-plus-page cinephilic treasure chest with a series of high-quality articles on some of the most important filmmakers of all time and their work that had left a deep mark on film both in terms of the industry and the art. The articles were accompanied by wonderful high-definition photographs, and even a quick look at the table of contents shows you what kind of an apprehensive and knowledgeable handbook these issues really were...

Not really mystery-related, but a great book article:
8 Old-Lady Novels That Prove Life Doesn't End at 80 by Heidi Sopinka. Electric Lit.

Meaningful roles dry up in Hollywood for women over 30, but for those over 80 it’s a wasteland. At best there is one of two grandmas: kindly or batshit. The same double-bind could be said for older women in literature, who arguably represent one of the most underwritten aspects of female experience. Even when they do manage to get into a book, they almost exclusively face sexism for being “unlikeable.” ...

Here's an article for all my friends: 
How to Declutter some of the hardest things of All: Books. Realtor.com

When you're trying to declutter your home, there are always some easy wins. Old newspapers and a too-small sweater? Recycle one and donate the other to Goodwill. Done! But a French-language copy of "Madame Bovary" from college, or all those beloved "Nancy Drew" books from childhood? For book lovers, parting with these can be a whole lot harder...

Spain's First Book Town: Urueña. Atlas Obscura.

Urueña, Spain. In 2007, Urueña went one step further to enhance its charm, becoming the first villa del libro (Book Town) in Spain. It’s now home to 12 bookstores—and only about 200 people...

Val McDermid: Finding Inspiration After 32 Novels. Crime Reads via Atlantic Monthly.

Whenever a new book comes out, we writers have to find something to talk about. In interviews, at book signings, at literary festivals, we have to persuade readers that ours is the book they want to take home.
Broken Ground is my thirty-second novel. That’s thirty-two lots of questions and interviews, and thirty-two attempts at finding something fresh to say. Or at least, something I can manage to make sound fresh. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not fishing for pity or even sympathy, just trying to explain why you might have heard some of my anecdotes more than once...

And a review of a biography of Edward Gorey! 
Posthumous: the Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Dery. Review by Jennifer Szalai. NYT. 

Writers are supposed to have a hard time killing their darlings, but there are a few who apparently thrill to the task. In “Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey,” the cultural critic Mark Dery explains how Gorey was always looking to pare things down. Right up until his death from a heart attack in 2000, at 75, he was relentlessly productive — staging plays, producing puppet shows, illustrating books and publishing a hundred or so little volumes of drawings paired with arch, taciturn texts — while taking care to keep it all “very brief,” as Gorey put it, in pursuit of what Dery calls “an almost haiku-like narrative compression.” 

Take A Virtual Murder Tour of Medieval London by Matthew Taub. Atlas Obscura. 

In late October 1323, on the eve of the feast of Saints Simon and Jude and in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a heist went awry. According to the coroner’s report, a Frenchman known as John de Chartres had just supped with his accomplices, William of Woodford and his wife Johanna, at their Milk Street residence. They crept over to Bread Street and broke into the home they had targeted, and systematically looted it as planned. But then William noticed that “John was then filled with remorse.” Unable to risk a rat, William politely asked John to light a fire in the kitchen. As John knelt over the flames William hit him with an ax, and then attempted to burn the evidence—namely, John. 
 

MYSTERY BYTES: Interesting and Quirky Mystery-Related Links

Here's my weekly Round-Up of interesting and quirky mystery-related articles and postings on the Internet. Just wanted to share in case you missed these. Click on the link to read the entire story.

Ms Fisher MODern set to Swing onto TV screens. Screen Australia.

The Seven Network, Screen Australia and Every Cloud Productions today announced that Ms Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries, a glamorous new television series set in swinging 60’s Melbourne, will go into production in October. Ms Fisher’s MODern Murder Mysteries is the spin-off from one of Australia’s most loved and successful television series, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

Set in 1964, audiences will meet the gorgeously reckless Peregrine Fisher who inherits a windfall when the famous aunt she never knew goes missing over the highlands of New Guinea. Peregrine must prove herself brilliant enough to become a world class private detective in her own right. Read more HERE.

Stephen  King's Joyland being adapted for TV. Deadline
Stephen King’s Joyland is in the works for the small screen. Freeform has put into development Joyland, a series based on the King novel, from writers Chris Peña (Jane the Virgin) and Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M.) and Bill Haber’s Ostar Productions (Valor). Read more HERE.

9 Great Medical Thrillers Chosen by a Physician. CrimeReads. 
Pandemics, Epidemics, Viruses and Medical Mysteries.   Read More Here.

The Capture: Holliday Grainger to lead new BBC crime Drama. Cultbox. 
The BBC have announced a new crime drama, The Capture, which is set to star Holliday Grainger and Fantastic Beasts‘ Callum Turner.
Grainger, known for her role on Strike, will play Rachel Carey, a detective inspector sent in to investigate the case of ex-British soldier, Shaun Emery (played by Turner) recently accused of murder in Afghanistan. After the initial investigation is abandoned due to flawed evidence, CCTV footage regarding an incident with Emery in London causes the case to be reopened. Read more Here.

Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming Talk Thrillers. CrimeReads
The world of mysteries and thrillers has produced some memorable friendship but perhaps none quite so distinguished as the one struck up later in life between between Raymond Chandler, the laureate of American hardboiled fiction, and Ian Fleming, the legendary English author of the James Bond novels. The relationship began when Fleming wrote to Chandler asking for an endorsement that would be used to help market the Bond novels in America. Chandler ultimately reviewed two books from the 007 series—Diamonds Are Forever and Dr. No—for The Sunday Times, and the two authors, both on their way to legendary status, struck up a warm personal relationship. In 1958, celebrating Chandler’s 70th birthday, the BBC asked Fleming to “interview” his eminent friend. The result was a rollicking, far-ranging conversation in which the authors discussed the state of the thriller, heroes and villains, the struggle for literary credibility, and how a murder is planned and executed. Read more HERE. 

THE BEST PLACES TO FIND INDIE Mysteries. BookRiot.
There is no mistaking the popularity of mystery novels. But scan the New York Times bestseller list and you will find little diversity. However, if instead of looking at bestsellers, we explore one of the awards focused on mystery books, we find a very different picture. Take the Anthony Awards. Examining the fiction winners, we find two women of color, three other women, and an anthology filled with diverse writers. And in the list of nominees, indie presses outnumber the “Big Five” publishers fourteen to eleven. Read more Here.

THE DIAGRAM PRIZE 2018 SHORTLIST: THE ODDEST BOOK TITLE OF THE YEAR. TheBookSeller.
An academic treatise on dung, a how-to guide of acupuncture for horses and the first-ever German language entry are among the six books in the running for the 40th edition of The Bookseller's Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. 
The prize, founded by Trevor Bounford and the late Bruce Robinson of publishing solutions firm the Diagram Group, is the annual celebration of the book world's strangest and most perplexing titles. The Bookseller and its legendary diarist Horace Bent have been custodians of the prize since 1982. Read more Here.

And here's a quirky, but possibly understandable, news item! 

Antarctic scientist 'stabs colleague who kept telling him endings of books he was reading.' Mirror.
A scientist plunged a kitchen knife into his colleague as he was fed up with the man telling him the endings of books, say investigators. Sergey Savitsky, 55, and Oleg Beloguzov, 52, would pass the lonely hours during four harsh years together in a remote outpost in Antarctica by reading. However Savitsky became angry after Beloguzov kept telling him the endings, it has been claimed. READ MORE HERE.


GOODREADS BEST MYSTERY & THRILLER NOMINEES. GoodReads

MYSTERY BYTES: Interesting & Quirky News and Mystery Related Postings

Here's my weekly Round-Up of interesting and quirky mystery-related articles and postings on the Internet. Just wanted to share in case you missed these. Click on the link to read the entire story.

TSUNDOKO: The Practice of Buying More Books Than You Can Read. This is a real word with a history. Are you guilty? I know I am. Read more at Treehugger

TANA FRENCH on How to Write a Red Herring.  Vulture
Tana French is an author of murder mysteries who is less concerned with whodunit than with the inner lives of her detectives. In her first book, In the Woods, which came out in 2007, she let what actually happened to a pair of vanished children remain a mystery because she didn’t think her detective was equipped to face the truth.

BOOKSELLING is the most over-romanticized job in the World by Sian Cain.  The Guardian.
Readers around the world cooed last month when a Welsh bookseller announced he was giving away his shop to a regular customer. It was a lovely story, but as an ex-bookseller of five years, I could only dwell on the harsh realities this unsuspecting man would inherit: slow days, stocktaking and, unavoidably, a few regular oddballs.

MARY SHELLEY'S OBSESSION WITH THE CEMETERY by Bess Lovejoy. JStorDaily

The author of Frankenstein always saw love and death as connected. She visited the cemetery to commune with her dead mother. And with her lover.

5 HAUNTING MYSTERIES SET IN THE FAR NORTH by Susanne Jannson.  CrimeReads
There’s a certain kind of thriller, or detective story, or other kind of mystery, that doesn’t focus on violence or the Whodunnit?—aspect. At times, there isn’t even a clear “it.” Instead, the story draws the reader in by creating a haunting atmosphere. Often it seems this is done through usage of the suggestive qualities of things like memory, identity, or nature—or perhaps rather the boundlessness between a human being and her surroundings—as well as a more obvious spiritual presence.

TV Writers Who Started Out as Novelists. Includes video clip of Megan Abbot. Vanity Fair
At Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, the scribes described the writers’ room learning curve: “invisible rules,” advocating for “female characters,” and endless licorice.

I'm a big fan of The Rap Sheet. One of my favorite themes is Revue of Reviewers. 
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Read more HERE.

8 ESSENTIAL SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY CROSSOVER THRILLERS by Claire O'Dell. CrimeReads 

HOW 11 WRITERS ORGANIZE THEIR LIBRARIES by Emily Temple. LitHub.
There’s a secret war raging on the internet. The stakes are high. The warriors are fierce. The battleground is your bookshelf. Do you alphabetize? Do you color-code? Do you have no system at all? You’ll have to pick a side.

And a 'hypothetical' solution to a disappearance. HOW JAMAL KHASHOGGI'S APPLE WATCH COULD SOLVE HIS DISAPPEARANCE Wired.

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And, of course, be sure and scroll back to read other mystery items posted recently on Mystery Fanfare.

MYSTERY BYTES: Interesting & Quirky News,Interviews, and More Mystery Related Postings

Here's a Round-Up of some interesting and quirky mystery-related articles, interviews, and postings on the Internet recently. Just wanted to share in case you missed them.

Val McDermid on how Josephine Tey opened up the possibility of unconventional secrets. CrimeReads.

Ian Rankin interview: The return of Rebus and examining murder in Sheffield - "It's still the most shocking crime imaginable." The Star.

Lamenting the Growing Length of Books. The Guardian.

Rachel Gould on The Hoax Art Movement That Fooled the Art World Establishment. Artsy Magazine.

Laurie Lowenstein writes about Mom & Pop Jails in America and the strange intimacies these setups created. CrimeReads.

Ever wanted to live in a Library? The 'secret' apartments in New York's early library buildings i 6sq.com

Sean Carswell on How the West Virginia mine wars inspired James M. Cain to become a crime Writer. The Los Angeles Review of Books

I'm a huge fan of Ravens, so I was definitely interested in this article on the pet ravens of Charles Dickens (and other writers). LitHub

Conserve the Sound is an online museum for preserving vanishing and endangered sounds such as typewriters, rotary phones, and more. Listen to them here.

Fancy a trip to the British countryside? Let these 14 mysteries be your guide. Charles Todd on 14 mystery series that serve as tour guides to the British countryside. CrimeReads

I loved Kate Atkinson's Transcriptions. Kate Atkinson talks with Daneet Steffens about her new spy novel and why she loves a good secret. CrimeReads. 

25 Writers on Writer's Block. LitHub

Looking for the best mystery sites? J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet lists his updated personal choices of mystery-related sites that deserve recognition. The list now runs to 95 sites. Something for everyone. TheRapSheet
 

MYSTERY BYTES: News and Views around the Internet

I often post individual news items when I see them, but thought I might do a round-up every now and again. Here are several news items and articles that peeked my fancy.

11 MYSTERY NOVELS THAT DON'T START WITH A DEAD GIRL by Charlotte Ahlin in Bustle. 
Readers love dead girls. I mean you, specifically, dear reader, may have no particular preference about the gender or age of any said human remains. But when it comes to murder mysteries and heroic motivations, people love a good dead girl.

CAMPUS NOVELS AND SCHOOL MYSTERIES by Lisa Levy on CrimeReads:
10 Campus Crime Novels, Mysteries, and Thrillers

AGATHA CHRISTIE SHAPED HOW THE WORLD SEES BRITAIN by Chritine Ro in BBC Culture.
The mystery writer is the world’s best-selling novelist and most translated author – so what are non-Brits learning about English people and culture through her stories?

REVENGE NOVELS: BEST READ COLD by Jo Jakeman on CrimeReads
10 Crime Novels Featuring Satisfying Comeuppance, Bloody Vengeance, and Ice-Cold Revenge

DASHIELL HAMMETT'S STRANGE CAREER by Anne Diebel in The Paris Review.
In a 1929 interview with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dashiell Hammett described his first attempts at “breadwinning.”

WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER RECCOMENDS 10 COMPELLING MYSTERY SERIES on Off the Shelf. 
Whenever I recommend a favorite mystery series to another reader, I always advise starting at the beginning. While all good authors improve over time, that initial offering can be so pivotal to a full understanding and appreciation of the development of character and sense of place in later works.

THE NIGHT GERTRUDE STINE MET DASHIELL HAMMETT by Nathan Ward on CrimeReads
Gertrude Stein's Unlikely Obsession with Detective Fiction

6 CRIMINALLY UNDER-APPRECIATED CRIME COMEDIES by Howard Michael Gould on CrimeReads.
A Hollywood Insider Rounds up 6 Films Ready for a Re-Watch

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And, in case you missed this news item:

Novelist who wrote about ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ charged with murdering her husband.

Nancy Crampton Brophy seemed to have a knack for writing about the murder of spouses. The Portland, Ore.-based romance novelist wrote books about relationships that were “wrong” but “never felt so right,” often featuring bare-chested men on the cover. In “The Wrong Cop,” she wrote about a woman who “spent every day of her marriage fantasizing about killing” her husband.

Mystery Bytes: Mystery News

TV News:

Lifetime Television is developing a series around FBI profiler Clarice Starling, introduced in Thomas Harris's second Hannibal Lecter thriller, the 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs. Tentative name for the Lifetime series is Clarice, and it would follow the character soon after she graduates from the FBI academy.

Movie News:

The Independent reports that crime novelist James Salis has  a film adaptation in the works for his new novel Driven. Drive was a 2011 Hollywood film with Ryan Gosling.

David Fincher has option Jason Starr's 2009 thriller Panic Attack.

Producer Chris Columbus has acquired the rights to Michael Koryta's The Cypress House.

HT: Omnimystery News

Awards:

Stalker Award Nominees 2012

Pop Culture Nerd announced the line up of nominees for this year's "Stalker Awards, given to crime novels and authors reader are obsessed about."

Categories include Novel You Shoved Most Often in People's Faces, Lead Character You most Want as Your Friend, Most Scene-Stealing Supporting Character and more... Don't miss out. 
Go here for the nominations and cast your vote. Voting ends June 5.

In case you missed these:  

Arthur Ellis Awards (Crime Writers of Canada)

CrimeFest Awards

CWA Dagger Shortlist

Mystery Bytes: Mystery Film & TV News

TV & Movie News

AYELET WALDMAN Applebaum pilot
TV: CBS greenlighted a pilot episode of Applebaum, based on Ayelet Waldman's Mommy-Track Mysteries series. Deadline.com reported that Christopher Columbus will direct a script by Waldman, Jennifer Levin and Sherri Cooper.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Banned in India
Indian censors have banned David Fincher's movie adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The film was scheduled for a February 10 release, but the country's Central Board of Film Certification insisted that several scenes be cut and the director refused.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the "scenes in question include two lovemaking scenes between the film's principal female lead Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) and Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig); a lesbian scene featuring Lisbeth and a woman she meets at a bar; a scene where Lisbeth is raped and tortured. In a follow-up scene, she tortures her tormentor as a video of her being assaulted plays in the background."

Sony Pictures India said the "Censor Board has adjudged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form and, while we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the Board."

(above info from ShelfAwareness.com)

Shirley MacLaine to play Lady Grantham's Mother in Series 3 of Downton Abbey.
Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine is joining the cast of Downton Abbey as the mother of Elizabeth McGovern’s American-born Lady Grantham. According to The Daily Beast, MacLaine will appear during the international phenom’s third season, which begins production next month (just as Season 2 winds down on PBS.)

Read more, HERE.

Mystery Bytes: Mystery TV News

Mystery TV News:

Tonight (11/29) TNT's Mystery Movie Night  begins with the film adaptation of Scott Turow's Innocent. Tomorrow (11/30), TNT will air  Sandra Brown's Ricochet. Other movies in the series: Hornet's Nest, adapted from Patricia Cornwell's novel (no date yet); Hide by Lisa Gardner (12/6); Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson (12/7); Good Morning, Killer by April Smith (12/13); and Deck the Halls by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark (12/20). Three other movies will be produced in 2012.

Crime Writer Marcus Sakey previews his new series, Hidden City, which debuts on the Travel Channel December 6. 

CrimeFest will launch the novelization of the Danish crime drama Forbrydelsen, The Killing, in the UK, adapted in the US as The Killing, too. David Hewson, who has written the novelization will appear at CrimeFest, along with members of the cast and crew.

Millenium, the 6-part Swedish TV adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander thrillers, won an International Emmy Award for Best  TV Movie/Mini-series.

Watch a parody of The Killing, the Lisbeth Salander series, Wallander & Midsomer Murders, go HERE.

"Inside the NSA" National Geographic TV in January. Rare peek inside this ultra secret agency.

BBC's Sherlock won't be seen on American TV (PBS: Masterpiece Mystery!) until May 6. Here's the Trailer



Hat Tips: The Rap Sheet, In Reference to Murder, 
 Ominimystery News Variety, Deadline

Mystery Bytes: Crime Fiction News

Every once in awhile I have a few items that I collect in one post. I twitter about this news when it happens, but not everyone is on Twitter. If you are, follow me @JanetRudolph, and you'll have crime fiction news as it happens. Some great sites for mystery news round-ups: The Rap Sheet, Omnimysterynews, Shotsmag Confidential. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments following this post.

1. Pan Macmillan announced that David Hewson, author of the Nic Costa mysteries, will be novelizing the Danish crime series The Killing. David Hewson told Shotsmag Confidential: David Hewson says:

“It’s a great honour to be asked to turn the best crime series on TV – and the fascinating character of Sarah Lund – into books, alongside my own novels set in Italy. The richness, innovation and complexity of THE KILLING have captured the imaginations of TV viewers around the world. I’m flattered to know that it’s going to be my task to bring this acclaimed classic series to the printed page. Rome and Copenhagen are very different places, but both wonderful stages for compelling crime fiction. I can’t wait to start work with my first trip to Denmark in a few weeks.”

2. Vince Flynn's American Assassin to made ito CBS Film: Hollywood Reporter notes that Edward Zwick willdirect CBS Films’ adaptation of American Assassin. Zwick is teaming up with Marshall Herskovitz to write the screenplay, which is based on Vince Flynn’s No. 1 NY Times best-selling novel about CIA agent Mitch Rapp’s adventures working for the nation’s most elite covert operations program. Read more Here.

3. Don't miss Roberta Alexander's Article at The Rap Sheet on "Celebrity Mysteries".. Authors who employ real (dead) people as detectives.

4. Forbes' Avril David listed the 10 Most Powerful Women Authors. Among them was mystery author Mary Higgins Clark.

   "The women selected for this list are powerful because of their ability to influence us through their words and ideas. "Collectively, these women hold readers captivated with stories of fantastical worlds, suspense and drama, insights into the complexities of minority experiences and cultures, and fresh takes on societal issues and expectations…not to mention, book sales of up to 800M copies sold and a wealth of prestigious awards and recognition including Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes."

Mary Higgins Clark
Sales:100 million books sold
Clout: Each of her 42 books has been a best-seller

Her debut novel, Where Are The Children, is in its 75th printing; suffice to say that Mary Higgins Clark’s suspense novels continue to keep readers on the edge of their seats across the globe.

Read the Entire List Here

Mystery Bytes: News

According to Inside TV, Robert Wagner will be playing the voice of Charlie  in an ABC production of Charlie's Angels. He will be replacing the late John Forsythe. When asked if he'll continue to use a speakerphone to communicate with the angels, he said, "I would imagine it will probably be quite different because the technology is quite different. I would imagine it would be on cell phones wherever these gals are." Though Wagner hasn't seen any scripts yet, he adds, "I could be tweeting them, I could be doing a lot of things with them, you know."

Hallie Ephron's Never Tell a Lie has been made into a Lifetime TV Movie as And Baby Will Fall that will air on 1/23 at 8 EST. Her new suspense novel, Come and Find Me, will be out on March 11 from William Morrow.

According to Andrew F. Gulli, Managing Editor of The Strand Magazine, an unpublished Dashiell Hammett story will appear in Strand Magazine. "So I Shot Him," a 19-page crime thriller written by Hammett will appear in the winter/spring issue of Strand Magazine. Gulli found the undated story, and 14 others by Hammett while looking through archives at the University of Texas in Austin. The Strand, a quarterly based in Birmingham, Mich., has recently published little known works by Graham Greene, Mark Twain and Agatha Christie.

For those of you in the Twitterverse, BV Lawson has put together an extensive list of Mystery Authors and related Mystery Folks on Twitter.  Go HERE.

January Magazine says that talks are under way over a TV detective series set in Bath during Jane Austen's time. 8 one hour episodes have been written and will be filmed next year in Bath. The Regency Detective has been created by Bath-based scriptwriters David Lassman and Terence James and is billed as showing the darker side of the period. It will be set in the period between 1800 and 1805 when Austen lived in the city, and the writer may make a cameo appearance in an episode. It will be directed by Giles Foster, whose previous credits includes Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, the award-winning Hotel Du Lac and Four Seasons. The series revolves around ex-Bow Street Runner Jack Swann, who moves from London to Bath and each week confronts the city’s villains. Read more HERE.

Doug Levin explores the relationship between Academics and Hardboiled Detective Fiction with Megan Abbott, Ken Wishnia and Bill Crider. Great article on the Mulholland Book Blog.

By now, you've probably heard the sad news that the Mystery Bookstore Los Angeles will close at the end of the month. The Rap Sheet has put together a list of several tributes to the store. “The Mystery Bookstore Will Close,” by Carolyn Kellogg (Los Angeles Times); “The Mystery Bookstore to Close,” by Wendy Werris (Publishers Weekly); “Losing a Legend,” by Eric Beetner; “Some Mystery Bookstore Memories,” by Lee Goldberg (A Writer’s Life); “Somebody Kick the Fat Lady Back in Her Dressing Room,” by Stephen Blackmoore (L.A. Noir); “Grim-Lit Serial Killer Strikes Again in Westwood!” by Denise Hamilton (L.A. Observed).

Mystery Bytes: Mystery news, reviews, links: May 14

Mystery Bytes: Catching up on Mystery News

Saturday, May 15: Bay Area Women of Mystery at the Oakland  (CA) Main Library. Seven mystery writers will be discussing their craft at the Oakland Public Library, 125 - 14th St, Oakland, 2-4. Free.  Rhys Bowen, Diana Chambers, Lucha Corpi, Susan Dunlap, Priscilla Royal, Susan Sherrell and Kelli Stanley. For more information, go HERE.

I Still Wake Up Dreaming: Noir Film Festival runs May 14 through May 27. Roxie Theater, 3117 - 16th St, San Francisco. www.roxie.com  Saturday, May 15: "99 River Street" "Shield for Murder." Festival consists of mainly new and new looking 35 mm prints. Read Mick LaSalle's article HERE.

The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival  is now in full swing, but you still have time to catch a few films. Camelot Theatre, Palm Springs May 13 through 16. Great films and great guests make this a don't-miss event. Guests this year include actors Ernest Borgnine, June Lockhart, Ann Robinson and Tommy Cook. Julie Garfield, daughter of the late great John Garfield, will also be on hand to speak at the screening of her father's last film, John Berry's He Ran All the Way (1951).

Rockford Files Now Dead at NBC.  The classic PI series, which only a month ago appeared as a sure thing this pilot season with  House creator David Shore as writer and Steve Carell as producer, has been canceled. First signs of trouble came in the casting stage when it took a long time to cast the lead played by James Garner on the original series. Feedback from the audition of Dermot Mulroney, who has strong improv background, was great, and the pilot, which co-starred Alan Tudyk and Beau Bridges, went underway with Michael Watkins at the helm. Nevertheless, it's out for now.

Librarians take note: Rolling Stone Keith Richards wanted to become a Librarian? O.K. he took a road less traveled by. He's actually an avid bookworm and takes great pride in developing libraries inside his homes in Sussex and Connecticut. Read the article from the Mail, HERE.

The Plot Thickens As the Drinks Clink. Although this article doesn't deal with Mystery films, it would be a heck of a great dissertation thesis! Just planting the seed. Read the NYT article on Pairing a DVD and a Drink. Here.


Where do you put your gun when you go for a run? Thunderwear has the answer.

Mystery Bytes: News, reviews, and info for the Mystery Community

Mystery Bytes: An occasional round-up of News, Reviews and Info for the Mystery Community

Ever think about checking out your books from the local shanty on the frozen ice? Library Journal reports that there is a branch known as the Library Shanty on a frozen lake near Minneapolis. It was put up last weekend as part of the Art Shanty Project, an annual community of temporary shelters put up be artists for four winter weekends on Medicine Lake. The one-room Library Shanty, called the Medicine Lake Branch, is the brainchild of artist Lauren Herzak-Bauman and was brought to fruition by a team. The collection of books, cataloged via LibraryThing, can be checked out for use in the shanty itself or taken out if the patron is from another shanty. There are 300 books in the library and people keep bringing more. The library is open every weekend for 4 weekends. Read More HERE.

Too cold or too singular an activity? Publishers Weekly reported that The Bookworm in Omaha, NE, is hosting a fundraiser for Haiti relief that, hopefully, will also bring over-30-year-old bookloving singles together. A portion of the $10 entrance fee at The Bookworm’s “Speed Dating by the Book” will be donated to The Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund.

Participants are asked to bring their favorite book with them to “start the conversation going” during four-minute segments between pairs, before the men line up on one side, women on the other, for the question-and-answer part of the evening. The moderator will ask each participant such questions as “What is the favorite book your mother read to you?” or “What was your favorite read in high school?” Read the rest of the article HERE.

Joan Smith on The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell in the Times Online. Read the Review HERE.

The Daily News reported that Katherine Heigl will play Stephanie Plum in One for the Money. Read the article HERE. What do you think?
Ever want to go inside the home of James Patterson? Probably not, but if you did, James Patterson's Beach Home is Up for Sale for $14.9 million. He calls it his "little cottage." For more on this or to make a bid read more. HERE.