In Reference to Murder

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - May You Die in Ireland

Author Michael Kenyon (1935-2005) was born in Yorkshire, England, educated at Quaker's Schools and served his National Service with the Royal Air Force. He spent time as a student and professor at schools in both the U.K. and the U.S., eventually becoming an American citizen in 1997 and teaching in the English Department of Southampton College in New York.

Kenyon was a regular contributor to publications like Gourmet Magazine, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, but he was best known for his series of three novels featuring Superintendent O'Malley and the series of eight books with Inspector Henry Peckover, known as "The Bard Of The Yard." His very first published novel, however, was 1965's May You Die in Ireland, establishing the author as one of the first in the crime fiction subgenre of the humorous spy parody.

May You Die in Ireland centers on William Foley, an easy-going math professor at a Midwestern university who finds himself off to Ireland, thanks to a castle bequeathed to him in a Will. It all seems so straightforward, until Foley becomes the unwitting courier of microfilm for a scientific scheme, with a dose of espionage perpetrated by secret agents—or are they double agents? After he crosses paths with spies, thugs and a bonny Irish lass named Mary, Foley enlists the help of his best friend Oscar Hensen, a former solder-turned chemistry professor.

The endearing Foley, an overweight, nearsighted couch potato with asthma, manages to get beaten up, turn the tables on a young punk and learns he has a knack for thinking on the fly, which includes lying through his teeth and even stealing a bike when he needs to. 

May You Die in Ireland was apparently an immediate success, filled with what was to become Kenyon's standard blend of action, wit and the absurd, including comedic chase scenes. It's a quick, entertaining read featuring a thoroughly unheroic hero and filled with charm and humor.

Time's Up!

Or almost up. The fourth annual Watery Grave Invitational Short Story Contest is seeking submissions. You must have a crime fiction story of no more than 3,000 words already published (in any format) between April 16, 2011 and April 15, 2012. Selected authors will have their names dropped into a hat and ten names drawn at random. The drawees will then compete in the contest to write a new original story. And there are prizes! E-mail your story link by 9 p.m. TONIGHT to be entered via the website above.

Time's also running out to submit your novella of 15,000 to 20,000 words in length for the sixth annual Black Orchid Novella Award. The sponsors are seeking original works of fiction in the tradition of the Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, which (1) emphasize the deductive skills of the sleuth; (2) contain no overt sex or violence; (3) don't include characters from the original series. First prize: $1,000 plus publication in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. But hurry: entries must be postmarked by May 31, 2012.

The Pulp Ink is Barely Dry

David Cranmer created the online zine Beat to a Pulp to fill a void of hardboiled fiction when other e-zines were folding. He and editor Scott D. Parker feature one pulp/hardboiled/noir story each week on the website, and the endeavor proved so popular the duo put together an anthology of stories from the website in October 2010 titled Beat to a Pulp: Round One. Now comes the good news that Beat to a Pulp: Round Two has just been released, and Cranmer promises you'll find "aliens, gangsters, drifters, mountain men, private dicks, gun molls, loners, misfits, drunks, thugs, booze-hounds, and more."

Stories include a Hemingway pastiche by mystery author Bill Pronzini (best known for his Nameless Detective series), a Raymond Chandler homage by Hard Case Crime publisher Charles Ardai, a post-war tale with a twist from James Reasoner, a zombie-horror nightmare by Bill Crider, and pulpy goodness from Glenn Gray, Patricia Abbott, Chris F. Holm, Vicki Hendricks, Sean Chercover, Vin Packer and more. You can buy a print copy through Createspace and soon, Amazon (both print and digital).

Here's something else to look forward to: Pulp Ink 2 from Snubnose Press. The first installment, Pulp Ink, was edited by Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan and featured 24 stories following on the tradition of the Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction by the likes of Reed Farrel Coleman, Hilary Davidson, Paul D. Brazill, Sandra Seamans, Patti Abbott, David Cranmer, Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan.

Anthony Neil Smith called it "a slice of the good stuff from those surviving the brutal sandbox of modern crime fiction and emerging, scraped and bruised, to turn around and spit in its eye," and Chuck Wendig added, "Tongue-piercings. Foot-fetishists. Murderous cinephiles. This gritty, grimy, giddy collection is as pulpy as they come, transcending the Tarantino reference material and stepping into its own." Pulp Ink 2 will take a little different turn and feature stories of crime and horror. I'm quite honored to be included in the company of 18 other terrific writers, the list of which you can find here. Look for Pulp Ink 2 later this summer.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Sean Bean has signed on to play the lead in the adaptation of Devil's Peak, the first book in a trilogy by author Deon Meyer. Bean will star as Detective Benny Griessel, a recovering alcoholic who is trying to win back the trust of his family as well as solve the case of a vigilante killer.

United Talent Agency has signed Elmore Leonard, the first time in the author's 60-year career that he has teamed up with a major Hollywood agency. It's not the first time Leonard's work has been adapted, of course; there have already been 20 films made from his over 40 novels and numerous short stories.

Speaking of Elmore Leonard, Jennifer Aniston and Dennis Quaid are set to star in a film adaptation of the authors's novel The Switch, about criminals who kidnap Aniston's character and hold her for ransom only to discover that her husband doesn't want her back.

Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byun-Hun Lee (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) have joined the cast of RED 2, the sequel to the hit action comedy about a group of retired contract killers drawn back into action. Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker, actors who appeared in the first film, will all be back.

Jefferey Archer's spy thriller novel A Matter Of Honor is headed for the big screen.

Here's your first trailer for The Gangster Squad, starring Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin in the true story of mob boss Mickey Cohen and the cops who tried to take him down.

TV

It's fall TV upfront time again. First, the cancellations: Fox gave the axe to J.J. Abrams' Alcatraz and also the Bones spin-off, The Finder. ABC gave the boot to The River and Missing. NBC canceled the unusual (and therefore "risky") police drama, Awake and the legal drama, Harry's Law. The wait is over for nervous CSI fans, too: both CSI: Miami and CSI: New York were on the bubble, but it's ultimately the Miami version starring David Caruso that's been given the boot. Also gone are freshmen dramas NYC 22 and Unforgettable.

Now for the "new" renewals (many others had already been announced): Body of Proof, starring Dana Delany as a medical examiner, will get a third season on ABC; NBC renewed the long-running police procedural Law & Order: SVU for a 14th season. 

Finally, the additions: CBS has full series orders for seven shows, including the contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock and Watson, and the 1960s drama Vegas, starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis in the true story of Ralph Lamb, a cowboy turned sheriff in Las Vegas. NBC has given full-season orders to Dick Wolf's new drama Chicago Fire (an "action-driven drama exploring the complex and heroic men and women of the Chicago Fire Department"), and also the Jekyll-and-Hyde thriller Do No Harm, as well as the "soap opera detective story" Infamous.

But wait, there's more: TNT is adding a "docu-drama" (a/k/a unscripted reality show) to its lineup titled Boston Blue. The project is from executive producer Donnie Wahlberg (Blue Bloods, Boomtown) and follows the Boston Police Department's exclusive and highly decorated Gang Unit. The CW has added the new series Cult to its lineup. The drama revolves around a young production assistant (Jessica Lucas) on a popular television series and a journalist blogger (Matt Davis) investigating whether fans of the show are re-creating its crime scenes in real life.

For a complete scorecard of renewals, cancellations and new series, check this scorescard.

American Beauty director Sam Mendes has bought the rights to author Alan Bradley's bestselling Flavia de Luce mysteries. (Thanks to Janet Rudolph, at Mystery Fanfare.) The stories are set in a post-WWII rural English village and follow the adventures of a precocious 11-year-old sleuth named Flavia.

FX has picked up TV rights to the trio of best-selling thriller novels written by Chelsea Cain featuring her female serial killer Gretchen Lowell.

ABC Family is developing a teen-oriented mystery series titled The Keys, set at an exclusive, mysterious island resort where a young woman investigates the secrets of the place. Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical), a producer on the project, is the likely star. (Hat tip to Ominimystery News.)

BBC Scotland and ITV will adapt the Shetland Islands quartet by Ann Cleeves (the first novel, Raven Black, won a Dagger award for crime fiction), which features Detective Jimmy Perez, a native Shetlander who has returned home. Scottish actor Douglas Henshall has signed to play the lead. Cleeves already has had one series produced by ITV, Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.

The CBC announced its fall 2012 lineup, which includes the series Murdoch Mysteries, recently dropped by Citytv. The detective series was set in 19th-century Toronto and starred Yannick Bisson as detective William Murdoch and Hélène Joy as pathologist Julia Ogden, but the reboot will see the characters move into the 20th century. The CBC is also including its first original police procedural, Cracked, (from the writer of Flashpoint and The Bridge), starring David Sutcliffe as a Toronto police officer suffering from PTSD assigned to the psych unit. 

PODCASTS/WEBCASTS

Yesterday on 60 Minutes, Henry A. Crumpton discussed his experiences that led to the book The Art of  Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service.

The guests on this week's Suspense Radio were authors Steve Berry, Nick Santora and Paul Kemprecos.

Crime fiction author Peter James picked his top 5 London crime spots for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Find the Innocent

English mystery writer William Edward Vickers (1889-1965) was best known under his pen name Roy Vickers, although he also wrote under the names David Durham, Sefton Kyle, and John Spencer. Biographical details are a bit sketchy, but Vickers worked as a salesman, court reporter and magazine editor in addition to penning nonfiction articles. He also found some success as a ghostwriter and as a crime reporter for a newspaper.

He found his literary stride when he published his short story, "The Rubber Trumpet," the first of over three dozen stories originally published in Pearson's Magazine and featuring the fictitious Department of Dead Ends division of Scotland Yard (a precursor to TV's Cold Case, if you will). Many of these are inverted mysteries, with the crime and perpetrators being known and the crime solved as much by luck and perseverance than brilliant detection. He also edited several anthologies for the Crime Writers' Association.

The central sleuth in Vickers' Department of Dead Ends stories started as being Superintendent Tarrant and in the later stories switched to Inspector Rason. However, Vickers also wrote eight novels in a more traditional procedural style featuring Detective-Inspector Peter Curwen. Find the Innocent was the final Curwen installment, published in 1959. He's described by one character as being "large, rotund and homely, looking like a successful local auctioneer who contemplates retirement."

Three scientists, Eddis, Stranack and Canvey, are all suspects in the murder of their employer, Mr. "WillyBee" Brengast, who had refused to grant them royalties on their inventions. The trio work and live together at WillyBee Products Ltd., yet they detest one another. Each man gives the same story to the police—each claims the same alibi, that he was the one to stay behind alone with the victim while the other two men went into town together. It's obvious to Inspector Curwen that one man must be guilty and the other two abetting, but which is which? Complicating matters are the victim's beautiful young widow whose one-night stand with one of the scientists plays a key role, and the victim's brainy niece who "helps" Inspector Curwen while falling for another of the suspects.

I've not read much of Vickers' output, but I came across one criticism that his novels paled in comparison to his stories, and I think I can understand why that might be the case. The premise of Find the Innocent is promising—three suspects who give the same story with little or no evidence to prove or disprove which one is guilty—but I think the novel (novella, actually, as it's on the short side) would have worked even better as a shorter story. 

Vickers ultimately wrote close to 70 novels under his various pseudonyms, as well as the dozens of stories published in Pearson's and in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He was inducted in Britain's famed The Detection Club in 1955. Unfortunately very few of his works are in print today. The Black Dagger Crime Series reprinted Find the Innocent in 2001, but it's hard to find a copy of the 1959 original, unless you're willing to fork over $275 or more for a first edition online.

Mystery Melange

Bestselling author Lawrence Block is offering select items for sale on eBay, including stories, the copyedited manuscript of A Drop of the Hard Stuff, complete with corrections ("and my occasionally vehement responses thereto"), the revised draft of a script for a TV movie, for which Block adapted an Edgar-winning Matthew Scudder story, and more. The auctions close May 13. 

Noir At The Bar returns to the Mandrake Bar in Culver City, California on May 20, with author Lisa Brackmann (Rock, Paper, Tiger), Eric Stone (Shanghaied), Brett Battles (No Return), Fingers Murphy (The Flaming Motel) and Mystery Dawg, the editor of Powder Burn Flash. Mysterious Galaxy will also be on hand to sell books.

It's Macavity Award nomination time again for members of Mystery Readers International, in the categories of best novel, first novel, bio/critical, short story, and the Sue Feder Memorial historical mystery. All works must have been published in 2011, and the deadline for nominations is June 1st. For more info, contact Janet Rudolph.

Australia's Monash University is holding a "Body in the Library" exhibition of mystery history, through June 8. Highlights include covers of lurid works by Sax Rohmer, Detection Club projects, detective magazines, the Dick Donovan series that was a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes, and the many Australian and New Zealand crime fiction authors and books. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

Crimeculture is sponsoring a no-fee Sherlock Holmes Flash Fiction contest. Entrants have to write a 400-word story featuring Holmes in another time and place or in a different genre.  The deadline is June 15, and top ten winners will be published on the Crimeculture website.  (With thanks to Sandra Seamans.)

The latest Suspense Magazine has interviews with Nick Santora, M. William Phelps, Eric Jerome Dickey, and many more. You'll also find reviews of and news about e-books from LJ Sellers, Scott Nicholson and Vincent Zandri.


Congrats to the winners of the "Flashbang" fiction test sponsored by the 2012 Crimefest in the UK. The winners, who were tasked with writing a crime story in 150 words or less, were chosen by author Zoë Sharp.

Mystery Writers of America have added Denver to the list of upcoming MWA University writer workshops. The focus of these events is on the craft of writing, with college-level courses taught by published writers and experienced teachers. Waukesha, Wisconsin, is the next stop on June 16th, followed by Denver on August 11th. For more information, check out the MWA University info page.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Dublin author Ava McCarthy signed a deal with Hollywood production company Polaris Pictures to adapt her debut novel The Insider for film. The book centers on a female former computer hacker named Harry Martinez, who has shifted careers to become a private eye.

Ex-James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has joined Owen Wilson to star in John Erick Dowdle's political/spy thriller The Coup. The story follows an American family who moves to Southeast Asia and gets mixed up in a violent coup where merciless rebels are attacking the city. Brosnan will play a mysterious government operative.

Oscar-nominated actor John Hawkes has signed to star in the indie thriller Too Late, about the tangled relationship between a troubled private investigator (Hawkes) and the missing woman he's hired to find. Hawkes has also joined the cast of Switch, a prequel to Jackie Brown, based on the Elmore Leonard novel.

Producer David Barron (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) optioned film rights to UK author Howard Linskey's crime novel The Damage, set in Newcastle's gangland.

Author Walter Mosley is teaming up with producer Diane Houslin to form a production company called B.O.B. Filmhouse that will help adapt Mosey's novels for the big and small screens. The company is already working on projects including The Long Fall, based on Mosley's Leonid McGill novels (for HBO). It also has plans to create a feature film based on Mosley's psychological thriller Man in My Basement.

TV

"Ducky" fans can relax. Actor David McCallum signed a two-year deal to continue in the popular CBS series NCIS.

TNT has given a fifth season order to Southland, its Los Angeles-based crime drama. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

AMC has given the greenlight to two new scripted drama pilots, including Low Winter Sun, based on a British miniseries to be adapted for the U.S. by Chris Mundy (Criminal Minds). The show is "a contemporary story of murder, deception, revenge and corruption that starts with the murder of a cop by a fellow Detroit detective." The other project is an untitled legal thriller about on a District Attorney who uncovers new evidence prompting the reopening of a sensational murder case.

NBC may premiere its fall season in August, including shows like the supernatural police procedural Grimm, to take advantage of the Olympics ratings and ad boost.

Stockholm production group NICE Drama has snatched up rights to a trio of novels by young crime writer Kristina Ohlsson, planning on a six-episode TV series and three 90-minute films. Ohlsson was a counterterrorism officer with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe before turning to writing.

Canada's ION Television network announced that the upcoming fifth season of the police drama Flashpoint will be its last. Executives added, "While the series is still at its creative apex, we've decided to end the series on a high note, and give those fans the satisfaction of a fitting series conclusion in our 75th episode."

William Shatner will star in the Season 3 premiere of the ABC drama Rookie Blue, playing a drunk driver.

THEATER

This year's Tony Award nominees include Bonnie & Clyde: the Musical (with music by frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Don Black), for best original score and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Laura Osnes).

Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film Rebecca starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier (and based on Daphne Du Maurier's famous mystery thriller) is being turned into a Broadway musical this fall. Karen Mason, Howard McGillin and James Barbour have been cast in lead roles, with Tony Award-winning Michael Blakemore in charge of staging and Francesca Zambello as director.

Playwright Simon Stephens spoke with the London Evening Standard about his new play Three Kingdoms being staged at the Lyric Hammersmith May 3-19. The play follows an investigation by two British police officers into the European sex trade after the discovery of an Estonian prostitute's severed head in the Thames at Chiswick.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - A Moment on the Edge

Author Elizabeth George, best known for her Inspector Lynley mysteries, selected 26 crime stories by women authors for the anthology A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women (2002). In her introduction, George analyzes how and why people have been fascinated with crime stories since ancient times and takes to task those critics of the genre who believe crime writing is a lesser form of literary endeavor. The stories George chose certainly make a strong argument for their inclusion in any anthology of quality short fiction, whether it's crime-themed or not.

The anthology arranges the stories chronologically, starting with the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell from 1917. From there, the timeline progresses to stories by Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, and then "New Golden Age" authors including Sara Paretsky and Marcia Muller. There are also selctions by writers considered to lie outside the genre: Shirley jackson, Nadine Gordiner, Antonia Fraser and Joyce Carol Oates. Each selection is prefaced with a description by George that includes a brief bio of the author and a tidbit or two about the story, as with "The Man Who Knew How" by Sayers, which was adapted for radio starring Charles Laughton and Hans Conreid.

All the subgenres in crime fiction are well-represented, from the supernatural in "Death of a Snowbird" by J. A. Jance, where the spirit of a dead Native American girl appears in a retired couple's RV as they spend the winter in Arizona (1994); psychological suspense in "Afraid All the Time" by Nancy Pickard, following a woman who moves to the plains and descends into into a nightmare (1989); a police procedural featuring Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Allyn in "I Can Find My Way Out" (1946); a "whydunnit" from Margery Allingham in "Money to Burn" (1957); the noirish "New Moon and Rattlesnakes" by Wendy Hornsby (1994); and even a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson pastiche by Gillian Linscott ("A Scandal in Winter," from 1996).

George's intention was to have the stories illustrate how crime fiction, particularly that written by women about women, has changed in the last hundred years. This is likely one reason she bookends her choices with two tales about the death of abusive husbands, written 80 years apart (the authors' lives span 100 years, but not necessarily the stories). As Elizabeth Geroge notes in her intro:  "All of these authors share in common a desire to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The edge equates to the crime committeed. How the characters deal with the edge is the story."

Mystery Melange

The latest issue of CrimeFactory is out with an Abbott Family two-fer: Megan Abbott interviews Andrew Nette, and Patti Abbott contributes a new short story. Other features include an essay by Josh Stallings, Spi-Fi smut uncovered by James Hopwood, plus many more interviews and fiction.

The crime fiction awards keep pouring in: the Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America in various categories; and Spinetingler Magazine announced its 2012 honors, including Best New Voice, Donald Ray Pollock for his novel The Devil All the Time; Best Rising Star Anthony Neil Smith (All the Young Warriors); and Best Legend, Lawrence Block (A Drop of the Hard Stuff).

One of the latest installments in the Akashic Books "city noir" series is Long Island Noir, edited by Kaylie Jones and featuring stories by Reed Farrel Coleman, Sarah Weinman and over a dozen other authors. Criminal Element is offering a sweepstakes you can enter to win a free copy of the anthology.

It's the start of a new month, and that means Omnimystery News is once again providing a list of "Firsts on the First," new series characters being introduced in novels published during May.

Statuesque Success

The Detroit News reports on a campaign to create a statue in Detroit of RoboCop, the iconic character from the 1987 film starring Peter Weller as a half-man, half-robot officer. A Tweet in February 2011 sent to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing spawned an online fundraising campaign that raised $50,000 in six days. Now, a year later, Hollywood statue designer Fred Barton's life-sized RoboCop model is being scanned at a Canadian studio so it can be cast in bronze and delivered to its new home.

I wonder what other fictional book/movie/TV characters we can lobby for life-sized statues? Any favorites you'd like to see cast in bronze or stone for posterity? I guess here in D.C., it would have to be a statue of Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCIS (played by Mark Harmon). Who would people choose for your area?