In Reference to Murder

Mysterious Media

Morning Edition on NPR recently resumed its Crime in the City series in which crime novelists give listeners a tour of the places they and their characters inhabit. The latest installment features mystery writer Julie Smith who sets her stories in New Orleans, which as she says, "is a great place to write mysteries, not because of the city's crime, but because of its secrets."

Variety reported that John Malkovich's Mr. Mudd company has signed a two-year deal with production and financing outfit Mandate Pictures to produce at least one film a year together. The two companies, which first teamed up on Juno, will collaborate on the noir drama Broken City, a story written by playwright Brian Tucker and centering on a cop-turned-P.I. who finds himself "thrust into the seedy backroom politics of a corrupt mayoral election."

The Glenn Beck show on CNN featured an interview this week with Andrew Klavan about his new political thriller, Empire of Lies (published by Otto Penzler/Harcourt). You can find transcripts here.

CNN offered up an article on "Five murders and the movies they inspired," showing that life can indeed be stranger than art and many police officers are most definitely underpaid.

Two "Legal" Birthdays

Thumbster is celebrating a birthday. In July 1858 the English first began using fingerprints in July of 1858, when Sir William Herschel, Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor, India, first used fingerprints on native contracts. On a whim, and with no thought toward personal identification, Herschel had a local businessman, impress his hand print on a contract. Although I've seen the date as both July 17th and July 28, we'll choose the former since we have another important date to celebrate on the 28th.

Also on this date, Erle Stanley Gardner was born in Malden, Massachusetts. He's best-known, of course, for creating quite possibly the world's most famous fictional lawyer, Perry Mason, although he also penned many other crime fiction novels and mysteries, including the dozens of characters he created in a slew of pulp stories. As The Thrilling Detective indicates, "The last year that he wrote exclusively for the pulps, 1932, saw Gardner earning around 20,000 bucks, and that's at a few cents a word! Maybe not a fortune these days, but this was the Depression. To put it in perspective, those are Stephen King-like numbers." At the height of his popularity Gardner was selling an average of 26,000 copies of his novels a day. His other most popular novel series featured protagonist Doug Selby, a newly elected District Attorney in the fictional of Madison City, California; Sheriff Bill Eldon; and the oddball private detective team Cool and Lam.

You Hardly Look a Day Over 200...

On July 16th in 1790, Congress authorized President George Washington to choose a permanent site for the capital city, and an area along the Potomac River was selected, although it wasn't until ten years later that the move from Philadelphia occurred. The census of 1800 showed that the new capital had a grand total population of 14,103.

In honor of DC Day, here are some authors with titles and series set in D.C. Some, like George Pelecanos, were not only born in the District, but live there (well, in a suburb), and write plots set almost exclusively in the city. Of course, if your plot involves the U.S. President, Congress, or the Supreme Court and/or is a spy thriller, chances are pretty good you're going to at least touch upon D.C. at some point.

• Adkins, Jan - Deadline for Final Art
• Adler, Warren -- Fiona Fitzgerald series
• Andrews, Robert -- Frank Kearney & Jose Phelps series
• Bowen, Michael -- Richard Michaelson series
• Brophy, Beth - My Ex-Best Friend
• Clancy, Tom  -- Jack Ryan series
• Cohen, William S. -- Murder in the Senate
• Collins, Max Allan -- Nathan Heller Mysteries
• Elkins, Aaron J. - Chris Norgren Mysteries
• Fleming, Barbara -- Hot Stones, Cold Death
• Fox, Barbara -- Sandy Evans & Joey Jason series
• Massey, Sujata -- Rei Shimura Mysteries
• Mickelbury, Penny -- Carole Ann Gibson series
• Osborne, Denise  -- Feng Shui Mysteries
• Patterson, James -- Alex Cross series
  
• Pelecanos, George -- Various
• Richman, Phyllis  -- Charles Wheatley series
• Roosevelt, Elliot -- Eleanor Roosevelt series
• Russell, Alan - Political Suicide
• Truman, Margaret  -- Capitol Crimes

It's just a partial list -- feel free to add your own entries.

Mystery Melange

In advance of her appearance as keynote speaker for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference July 17-20 in Seattle, Gayle Lynds was interviewed for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In answer to the question "How did you get started writing thrillers," she replied, "The truth is, I entered through the back door. I began as a literary writer of short stories, then wrote male pulp fiction, publishing in both fields. In the process, I found I had a real love of great writing and great adventure. And, of course, that meant thrillers. Some of the finest writing and most interesting story telling today is occurring in our field."

Time Magazine had a recent article on "Dr. Banville and Mr. Black." Writer Lev Grossman points out that, "It's currently chic for fancy novelists to slum it in the lower genres, the way Marie Antoinette used to dress up as a peasant and milk cows," but adds that "Watching [Banville/Black] try to do what a mystery writer does shows you what's so tough about it. Good genre writers know how to express ideas and emotions through events--plot--rather than dialogue or evocative descriptions."

The unlikely saga of online writer Robert Burton Robinson continues. Two years ago, he set out to write a free serial story online; with no experience and no plot, he began writing three chapters per week, never dreaming the story would lead to a four book series of mystery novels.

The Chicago Trib wrote about criminal defense attorney and part-time mystery writer Bruce Steinberg and how his legal experience fuels his legal thrillers (the latest is River Ghosts, written under the name B.R. Robb). After becoming an assistant Kane County public defender, Steinberg, who is Jewish, has represented clients from sex offenders to murderers and was twice assigned to represent neo-Nazis.

Thriller writer Phillip Margolin (who, like Steinberg, is a practicing attorney), just released his 13th novel, Executive Privilege, in which the U.S. president becomes a murder suspect. He was interviewed for Reuters, and says "The ending is the most important part of a novel. It is what the reader takes away with him and I hate reading books that are great but have a lousy ending. Until I have a good ending I won't even start writing it."

The Globe and Mail reviewed the Bravo documentary about pioneering Canadian crime fiction author Howard Engel who created the "first great Canadian detective" Benny Cooperman, starting with the 1979 novel The Suicide Murders.

In that same article, you can read about a new re-make of the classic TV mystery/spy series The Prisoner. The six-part drama is a co-production between AMC and U.K. broadcasters ITV Productions and Granada International. The remake will star Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) in the pivotal role of Number Six, a retired secret agent being held captive in a quaint village by the sea. (In the first version, Number Six was played by Patrick McGoohan, who also created, wrote and produced the series.) Film veteran Ian McKellen will assume the role of Number Two, the ominous chairperson who runs the village. Shooting begins in August with the miniseries slated to make its debut in 2009.

Book South Africa's Crime Beat talks about "a general lightening of mood in South African literature, nowhere more evident than in the crime fiction genre."

Australia's The Age notes that "Once frowned upon, crime writing has become a respected genre, and sales are booming."

Vive le mystère français

In honor of Bastille Day, a little reminder that France has had its own important contributions to crime fiction. One of the earliest and certainly most colorful figures was Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1857) who started out as a thief and police informer and eventually became the first head of the Sûreté (the French police Force). He also had a rather gigantic ego, as evidenced by his autobiograpy which was titled Vidocq; Personal Memoirs of the First Great Detective.

In reality the first French fictional investigator is probably Monsieur Lecoq who made his first appearance in the book The Widow Lerouge (1864) by Emile Gaboriau, who also wrote several mysteries using Lecoq or another protagonist (Pére Tabaret, formerly a pawnbroker's clerk) who was an amateur detective. Although inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Gaboriau's lasting influence may have been the fact he in turn inspired Arthur Conan Doyle in creating Sherlock Holmes.

Probably the first French-speaking novelist to portray a cop who is fairly ordinary was Georges Simenon (1903-1989) who is not French by birth, but Belgian, although his famous fictional Inspector Maigret worked the streets of Paris. Possibly the most prolific mystery writer of all time (although that may be a topic for another blog), Simenon published 200 novels, 150 novellas, autobiographical works, articles, and numerous pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. A total of 75 novels and 28 short stories featured Maigret.

The 20th century had other French writers in the mystery and crime fiction genres, especially after the suspense novel began to grow in France around the middle part of the century. Authors like Boileau-Narcejac (the pen name of 2 co-writers, actually) had several novels turned into very famous films, such as Vertigo by Hitchcock or Les Diaboliques by Clouzot.

Sébastien Japrisot (1931-2003) was an author, screenwriter and film director, whose crime fiction works include Trap for Cinderella, The Sleeping-Car Murders, One Deadly Summer, and A Very Long Engagement, several of which have been translated into English, in case your French isn't particularly proficient (and, with apologies to my high school French teacher, that would include me).

Jean-Christophe Grangé is even more contemeporary and has a huge following in France, with at least two of his novels available in English: The Flight of the Storks (2001) and The Crimson Rivers (2001).

As with any topic or subgenre in crime fiction, the list of mysteries and crime fiction titled either written by French authors or set in France is fairly extensive, so if you'd like to settle down with a good glass of chablis and some Brie, check out the resource lists on the Tulsa Library List, WhereDunnit and Reader's Advice web sites of books that are mostly set in France (such as Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series). For a brief historical overview of French authors, G.J. Demko's Landscapes of Crime may be helpful, or a book like Detective Fiction by Charles J. Rzepka.

FYI, the term "roman noir" originates in the use of black book covers used early for published mysteries in France, but as Demko points out, the title fits French literary tastes well in that the French are attracted to issues about the dark side of society in their fiction.

Media Murder

Three media items related to mystery authors and crime fiction to note:

CBC Radio One has a new mystery radio drama series titled "World of Mystery."  It airs twice a week and includes “International radio drama at its most mysterious. We share mysteries from the BBC World Service, Radio New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and the U.S.”

The Seattle Times reviewed the new cinema thriller Tell No One, which is based on a novel by Harlan Coben. French actor Guillaume Canet adapted and directed the movie which has an all-French cast (with English subtitles).

And Brightcove TV has a new interview with mystery writer Peter Lovesey who talks about his latest book The Headhunters.

Time Out

Since I've been on the road this week, I'm a little behind in catching up with, well, everything, so for today, I'm posting a couple of Blog Lite smirks:

Robert Crais' new novel, Chasing Darkness, is NOT about homicidal bears, despite a full-page New York Times ad promising a "grizzly" murder. His Simon & Schuster rep says, "We meant grisly.''

And the Guardian had a Q&A with British novelist Jonathan Coe, asking "Is there a secret to writing?" to which Coe replied, "Yes."  (Maybe Douglas Adams said it best in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys...")

Murder Watch

Robert Downey Junior is the latest to don the deerstalker hat. It was announced recently that he's been cast to play Sherlock Holmes in an upcoming drama from Warner Brothers. Sacha Baron Cohen (of Borat fame) and Will Ferrell are also scheduled to film a Sherlock Holmes movie, which will presumably be a comedy. As TV Guide asks, "Which version would you rather see? (Think: A pipe-smoking Borat vs. Iron Man in a cloak.)"

Not too long ago, I pointed out that Discovery Communications had launched a new network called Investigation Discovery, with a lineup of Hollywood crimes, murder, & forensic investigations. If you need another time waster, you should also check out two of their online games,  Trace Evidence (part logic puzzle, played level by level, and part forensic murder mystery with multiple suspects, twists and turns) and On the Run.

But there are a couple of other crime and mystery-related networks that you might not be aware of, Chiller TV and the Sleuth Network. Chiller TV broadcasts programs in the suspense/thriller/horror vein, golden olides like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, and Kolchak the Night Stalker, as well as a few new series.

Sleuth TV was launched in 2006 and includes such crime TV classics as Miami Vice, Simon and Simon, Homicide: Life on the Street, Magnum PI, New York Undercover, and Profiler.

So there you are—between these three networks and the crime drama shows on the more established networks like the various CSI and Law & Order series, and you can practically watch mysteries and thrillers 24/7. When I find the name of a good rehab agency for TV addicts, I'll pass that along, too.

Top Mystery Titles in June

The IMBA (Independent Mystery Booksellers Association) released their bestselling titles during June from member bookstores:

Hardcovers

1. Nothing to Lose by Lee Child (Bantam)
2. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's)
3. The Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver (S&S)
4. I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin's)
5. The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow (Knopf)
5. Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie (Morrow)
7. Careless in Red by Elizabeth George (Harper)
8. The Dirty Secrets Club by Meg Gardiner (Dutton)
8. Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)
10. The Reapers by John Connolly (Atria)

Trade Paperbacks

1. In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin)
2. Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (St. Martin's)
3. She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames (Rue Morgue)
4. Winter of Her Discontent by Kathryn Miller Haines (Harper)
5. War Against Miss Winters by Kathryn Miller Haines (Harper)
6. The Foreigner by Francie Lin (Picador)
6. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (Flying Dolphin Press)
8. Raven Black by Anne Cleeves (St. Martin's)
9. New England White by Stephen L. Carter (Vintage)
10. Ghost Walk by Rebecca Stott (Spiegel & Grau)

Mass Market Paperbacks

1. Index to Murder by Jo Dereske (Avon)
2. The Unkindest Cut by Honor Hartman (Signet)
3. China Lake by Meg Gardiner (Obsidian)
4. The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (Pocket)
5. A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton (Berkley)
6. High Marks for Murder by Rebecca Kent (Berkley)
6. Murder Is Binding by Lorna Barrett (Berkley)
8. Still Life by Louise Penny (St. Martin's)
9. Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)
10. Only the Cat Knows by Marion Babson (St. Martin's)

Copyrights and A Note About Maghound

A couple of legal items of note that might be of interest to writers:

• After months of testing, the US Copyright Office will finally allow the submission of copyright registrations electronically. Allegedly, it will save ten dollars off the normal filing fee ($35 instead of $45), faster processing time, credit card payments, and online status tracking. Certain works (mostly unpublished and electronic-only pieces) can even be uploaded directly to the Copyright Office; everything else still requires a mailed hardcopy for deposit in the Library of Congress, but the application form and payment can be completed online.
• Ars Technica had a recent article on how the campus copyright battle is moving from audio files to textbooks, something that could have potential ramifications for legal protections of all downloadable books.

And for everyone, especially avid magazine readers, comes the news that Time, Inc.'s Maghound.com should be ready to launch in September after years of development and testing. President Dave Ventresca told a conference that 280 magazines have signed on to participate (they hope to have up to 800 or more eventually) and customers will get "mix-and-match 'subscriptions' where they pay one monthly fee and have the ability to switch titles at any time." Pricing will run from $3.95 a month for 3 magazines up to $1 per title for 8 magazines or more. No word yet on whether the eventual lineup will include the likes of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, as well as other crime fiction-themed publications.