In Reference to Murder

December Book Signing Roundup

It's time for the monthly roundup of author events at mystery bookstores around the U.S. and Canada. Take a break from addressing cards or wrapping presents and check out these opportunities coming up in December to meet a new or favorite mystery author. And don't forget to help out the book industry and buy everyone on your list a book this year!

Note that some authors with books coming out each month aren't signing at independent stores but mostly at Borders or Barnes and Noble; for those tour dates, you can check out sites like booktour.com.

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Book Carnival
Orange, CA

Author: David Morrell
Title:  The Spy Who Came For Christmas
Event: Sunday, December 7 at 11 p.m.  

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Book Passage
Corte Madera, CA

Author: J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Tuesday, December 9 at 12:30 p.m.

Author: Tim Maleeny
Title:  Greasing the Pinata 
Event Time: Thursday, December 11 at 7 p.m.

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Booked for Murder
Madison, WI

Author: Sharon Kaye
Title: Black Market Truth
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 1 p.m. 

Author: Deb Baker
Title: Ding Dong Dead
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 2 p.m.

Author:  Monica Ferris
Title: Thai Die
Event Time: Sunday, December 21 at 3 p.m.

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Jay Bonansinga
Title: Perfect Victim 
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 2 p.m.

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Clayton Books
Clayton, CA

Author:  Alan Jacobson
Title: The 7th Victim
Event Time: Tuesday, December 2 at 7pm

Author:  J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent 
Event Time: Monday, December 8 at 7pm

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M is for Mystery
San Mateo, CA

Author: Tim Maleeny
Title: Greasing the Pinata
Event Time: Wednesday, December 3rd at 7 p.m.

Author: James Church
Title: Launch Party for Bamboo and Blood 
Event Time:  Thursday, December 4th at 7 p.m. 

Author: J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Tuesday, December 9th at 7 p.m.

Author: John Morgan Wilson
Title: Spider Season 
Event Time:  Saturday, December 13th at 2 p.m.

Author: SIC and MWA Annual Holiday Party: Various Authors, TBA
Title: Various
Event Time:  Sunday, December 14th (time TBA)

Author: Perri O'Shaughnessy
Title: Show No Fear
Event Time:  Tuesday, December 16th at 7 p.m.

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Murder by the Book
Portland, OR

Author: J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent 
Event Time: Sunday, December 7 at 5 p.m.

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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL

Author: James Grippando
Title:  Born to Run
Event Time: Monday, December 8 at 7 p.m.

Author: Les Standiford
Title: The Man Who Invented Christmas
Event Time: Friday, December 12 at 7 p.m.

Author: Charles Skoller
Title: Twisted Confessions
Event Time: Friday, December 19 at 7 p.m.

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA

Author:  David Morrell
Title: The Spy Who Came For Christmas
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 1 p.m.

Author: Lee Goldberg / Joanne Fluke & Laura Levine
Title:  Mr. Monk is Miserable / Candy Cane Murder
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 3 p.m.

Author:  J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 3 p.m.

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author: F. Paul Wilson
Title: By the Sword
Event Time: Thursday, December 4 at 1:30 p.m. 

Author: David Morrell
Title: The Spy Who Came For Christmas
Event Time: Friday, December 5 at 7 p.m.

Authors: Robin Burcell / Bob Hamer / Tim Maleeny / Marie Reindorp
Title: Face of a Killer / The Last Undercover / Greasing the Piñata / The Devil's Stone
Event Time:  Saturday, December 13, 2008 5:00 p.m.

Author: J.A. Jance 
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Sunday, December 14 at 2 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA

Author: David Morrell 
Title: The Spy Who Came For Christmas
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 5 p.m.

Author: J. A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time:  Friday, December 12 [time TBA]

Authors:  Sisters in Crime/LA at the Los Angeles Public Library with authors Naomi Hirahara, Harley Jane Kozak, Paul Levine, Patricia Smiley and Paula Woods
Title: Various
Event Time: Monday, December 15 (time TBA) – offsite event

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneapolis, MN

Author: Monica Ferris
Title: Thai Die
Event Time: Thursday, December 4th at 7 p.m.

Author: Laura Childs
Title: Eggs In Purgatory
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 12 noon

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author: David Morrell 
Title: The Spy Who Came for Christmas
Event Time: Wednesday, December 3, at 7 p.m.

Author: F. Paul Wilson 
Title:  By the Sword
Event Time: Wednesday, December 3, at 7 p.m.

Author: Michael Buckley
Title:  Once Upon a Crime and The Sisters Grimm
Event Time: Thursday, December 4, at 7 p.m.

Author: Robin Burcell 
Title: Face of a Killer
Event Time: Saturday, December 6, at 6 p.m.

Author: Tim Maleeny
Title:  Greasing the Piñata
Event Time: Saturday, December 6 at 6 p.m.  

Author: Marcia Talley  
Title: Dead Man Dancing 
Event Time: Tuesday, December 9, at 7 p.m. 

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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA

Author: J.A. Jance  
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Tuesday, December 2, at noon

Author:  Wendy Roberts
Title: Devil May Ride 
Event Time: Saturday, December 6, noon  

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Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN

Author: Rob Hahn
Title: The Funeral Home Murders
Event Time:  Saturday, December 6, at 1 p.m.

Author: Monica Ferris 
Title:  Thai Die
Event Time: Sunday, December 7, at 1 p.m.

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Vrooman's
Pasadena, CA

Author: J.A. Jance
Title: Cruel Intent
Event Time: Thursday, December 11, 2008 7:00 p.m. 

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END

New Mystery & Crime Fiction Novels Coming in December

Here's a partial listing of new releases, arranged alphabetically by author, which this month includes new titles by Patricia Cornwell, Lee Goldberg, J.A. Jance, W. E. B. Griffin, Elizabeth Peters, and Robert Randisi, among many other wonderful and deserving offerings. You can also check out the links at the bottom for more, as they're far too numerous to list here.

• Maggie Barbieri: Quick Study (December 9, 2008). In Barbieri's third cozy to feature English professor Alison Bergeron, Alison befriends Hernan Escalante from Ecuador at the NY soup kitchen where she's doing community service. When the beaten body of Jose Tomasso, one of Hernan's relatives and an illegal immigrant, surfaces in the Hudson near a luxury condo development where Jose was a construction worker, Alison offers to help Hernan find out what happened.
• Steve Berry: The Charlemagne Pursuit (December 2, 2008). Ex–Justice Department agent Cotton Malone embarks on a search for answers about his father after learning that instead of dying in 1971 in a nuclear sub accident in the North Atlantic, his father actually died while on a secret submarine mission to the Antarctic.
• Jan Brogan: Teaser (December 9, 2008). Troubles abound for Hallie Ahern in Brogan's third mystery starring the intrepid Rhode Island reporter. The death of one of her contacts transforms Ahern's quest from news story to crusade, setting her on a course that could cost her job and her life.
• Patricia Cornwell: Scarpetta (December 2, 2008). Leaving behind her forensic pathology practice in Charleston, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD asks her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. Along with her forensic psychologist husband and her niece, who has recently formed her own forensic computer investigation firm, Scarpetta will undertake a harrowing chase through cyberspace and the all-too-real streets of the city.
• Monica Ferris: Thai Die (December 2, 2008) Thai silk to die for plunges Betsy Devonshire, the proprietor of Crewel World in Excelsior, Minnesota, into danger in Ferris's 12th needlecraft mystery.
• Lee Goldberg: Mr. Monk is Miserable (December 2, 2008). Monk already ruined a trip to Germany for his longsuffering assistant Natalie. The least he can do is accompany her on a detour to France and try not to ruin that too. The only problem is Monk’s sharp eye catches sight of one skull in the catacombs beneath Paris that’s not so old and shows evidence of murder, pulling them into a case more twisted than the catacombs themselves.
• J. G. Goodhind: Walking with Ghosts (December 1, 2008). When hotel owner and police liaison officer Honey Driver accompanies a friend on a ghost walk, the ghosts fail to appear but one of the walkers is later found hanged. The supernatural has nothing to do with the murder, but it is connected to the past: the sinking of the Titanic and the international demand for old artefacts.
• Sarah Graves: A Face at the Window (December 30, 2008). Ozzie Campbell disappears just before he's about to go on trial for murdering Jacobia Jake Tiptree's mother in front of the then three-year-old Jake in Graves's 12th mystery to feature the handywoman and former Manhattan financial manager who's resettled in Eastport, Maine.
• Kerry Greenwood: Death by Water (December 1, 2008). The nice men at P&O are worried. A succession of jewelry thefts from the first-class passengers is hardly the best advertisement for their cruises. Especially when it is likely that a passenger is the thief. Phryne Fisher is just the person to mingle seamlessly with the upper classes and take on a case of theft on the high sea.
• H. Terrell Griffin: Blood Island (December 2008). Set in Longboat Key, Fla., Griffin's third mystery to feature semiretired lawyer Matt Royal proves bad things can happen in beautiful places. Matt, who's traded suits for shorts, now does mostly pro bono investigative work. When his ex-wife, Laura, shows up, needing help in locating her stepdaughter who went missing in Sarasota while on spring break, Matt dives into a puzzle with a quickly rising body count.
• W. E. B. Griffin: Black Ops (December 30, 2008). Delta Force Lieutenant Colonel Charley Castillo receives word in the form of backchannel messages concerning covert U.S. intelligence assets working for a variety of agencies who are found dying or dead, one in Budapest, one in Kiev, and one in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, near the Iran border. And then one turns up in Virginia, practically in the shadow of CIA headquarters.
• Julie Hyzy: Hail to the Chef (December 2, 2008). White House executive chef Ollie Paras has to put her own interests on the back burner when a kindly electrician is electrocuted to death, and the First Lady’s nephew dies in an apparent suicide less than 24 hours after cleaning shrimp with Ollie. 
• Graham Ison: Jack in the Box (December 1, 2008). DCI Harry Brock is called to a murder scene, but it is far from being an ordinary sort of murder. The victim has been stabbed to death, locked in a wooden box and set alight. Brock and his assistant, DS Dave Poole, believe that there might be a connection to a gang, which leads them on a journey through London's underworld.
• J. A. Jance: Cruel Intent (December 2, 2008). As if remodeling an old mansion near picturesque Sedona, Arizona, isn't stress enough for Ali Reynolds, the plucky former TV newscaster must also deal with cybernetic lonely hearts, frustrated lust, and murder.
• Jayne Ann Krentz: Running Hot (December 30, 2008). Ex-cop Luther Malone, lifelong member of the secretive paranormal organization known as the Arcane Society, is waiting to meet Grace Renquist. Hired as an aura-reading consultant in the quest for a murder suspect, Grace has zero field experience. She’s from tiny Eclipse Bay, Oregon--and a librarian.
• Tim Maleeny: Greasing the Piñata (December 1, 2008). When Jim Dobbins, a recently retired California state senator, and his drug-addict son, Danny, disappear in Mexico, Dobbins's estranged daughter hires San Francisco reporter-turned-PI Cape Weathers to find them. Weathers journeys south of the border only to learn that the mutilated bodies of father and son have surfaced in a Puerto Vallarte golf course's alligator-infested pond. Aided by his Triad-trained associate, Sally Mei, Weathers pursues a case that reaches from a Mexican drug cartel to the San Francisco mob as well as the city's boardrooms.
• Michael McGarrity: Dead or Alive (December 26, 2008). Living in London while his wife serves as a military attaché at the American Embassy, recently retired Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney gets an early morning phone call that changes everything and sends him hurrying home to his New Mexico ranch. Riley Burke, his partner in a horsetraining enterprise, has been mowed down on Kerney’s doorstep by an escaped prisoner cutting a murderous swath through New Mexico. As the killings mount, Kerney teams up with his half-Apache son, Lieutenant Clayton Istee, to hunt for a psychotic murderer with a growing appetite for blood.
• G.A. McKevett: A Body To Die For (December 30, 2008). Soon after plus-sized PI Savannah Reid helps San Carmelita, California Det. Sgt. Dirk Coulter nab a peeping Tom at Clarissa's House of Pain and Gain, obnoxious diet guru Clarissa Jardin reports her womanizing, gambling husband, Bill, missing. When Bill turns up as a frozen corpse with a bullet in his skull, Bill's mother hires Savannah to prove Clarissa killed her son or hired someone to do it.
• Laurie Moore: Jury Rigged (December 10, 2008). Fort Worth cop turned lawyer Cézanne Martin wakes up one night to find a gun in her face, held by Darlene Driskoll, a soon-to-be-convicted crazed murderess and prison escapee. After luding Driskoll in the course of a harrowing car ride, Cézanne seeks help from the FWPD's star detective, Wolfgang Slash Vaughn. And that's just the beginning of her troubles.
• Christopher Nicole: Angel Rising (December 1, 2008). In the sequel to Angel of Doom, the Third Reich has collapsed and MI6 are retiring beautiful but deadly Anna Fehrbach, aka the Countess von Widerstand. But Anna is still wanted by the Russians for an attempt on the life of Stalin, and when they trace her to her Scottish refuge where shes under the care of her MI6 handler and lover Clive Bartley, Anna escapes the only way she knows how: she shoots her way out.
• Perri O'Shaughnessy: Show No Fear (December 16, 2008). Set in 1990, O'Shaughnessy's 12th legal thriller to feature crusading lawyer Nina Reilly (after Case of Lies) takes a look at Nina's early career.
• Michael Pearce: A Dead Man in Barcelona (December 1, 2008). Pearce's fifth pre-WWI historical to feature Sandor Seymour of Special Branch  takes the Scotland Yard detective to Barcelona, Spain, to crack a two-year-old cold case, the death in a Spanish prison of an English businessman.
• Elizabeth Peters: Lion in the Valley (December 9, 2008). The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody and her family. A brazen kidnapping attempt, a gruesome murder, and an expedition subsequently cursed by misfortune and death all serve to alert Amelia to the likely presence of her arch nemesis, the "Master Criminal." But it is far more than ill-gotten riches that motivate the man known as Sethos. The evil genius has a score to settle with the meddling lady archaeologist who has sworn to deliver him to justice ... and he's got her dead-on in his sights.
• Robert J. Randisi: Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand) (December 9, 2008). It's 1961 and Las Vegas is still the place to be. Eddie Gianelli, pit boss at the Sands Casino, now considers the Rat Pack his friends. And this time, his friend Frank Sinatra wants him to help Sammy. Someone has an embarrassing photo of Sammy and wants $25 grand for it. All Eddie has to do is make the pay-off and collect the photo. Easy, right? But at the rendezvous, in place of a blackmailer, Eddie finds a dead body greeting him instead. Could the presence of the Secret Service mean that JFK is somehow involved?
• John Maddox Roberts: SPQR XII: Oracle of the Dead (December 9, 2008). Decius Caecilius Metellus, this year's magistrate for cases involving foreigners, is living the good life in southern Italy, happy to be away from Rome. He thinks he is merely visiting one of the local sights when he takes a party to visit the Oracle of the Dead but quickly learns that there is a bitter rivalry between the priests of Apollo and those of Hecate, who guard the oracle. When the priests of Apollo are all killed, the countryside looks to explode in violence with Decius caught squarely in the middle.
• Sally Spencer: Fatal Quest (December 1, 2008). DS Charlie Woodend has a murder to solve. Trouble is, nobody seems to want him to solve it--not Eddie, a Liverpudlian thug sent to threaten him; not DCI Bentley; not Deputy Commissioner Naylor, whose word is law in Scotland Yard; not even the dead girl's mother herself. But Woodend cares. He will find the murderer, even if that means putting his career and perhaps even his own life on the line.
• Peter Turnbull: Turning Point (December 1, 2008). Hennessey and Yellich are investigating two parallel murders committed twenty or so years apart. First, Ebenezer Moulton goes from his fathers funeral straight to the police to confess he witnessed his late father committing a murder. But things are not as straightforward as they seem, and the trail leads to the murder of a man in his twenties whose father is not exactly a pillar of the community.
• Andrew Vachss: Another Life (December 30, 2008). When a sniper shoots Burke's father, the Prof, the Prof's uneasy relationship with the law means that his life-threatening wounds can't be treated at a hospital. While his father's fate remains uncertain, a shadowy figure connected with U.S. intelligence draws Burke, an ex-con turned avenging angel for hire, into a kidnapping case.
• John Morgan Wilson: Spider Season (December 9, 2008). Benjamin Justice was once one of the most prominent and respected journalists until it was discovered he'd invented the sources for his Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles, and he lost everything--job, reputation, friends. Now, many years later, Justice has finally published a memoir revealing the truth behind the events, But his memoir brings out more than the truth - it brings out long-forgotten, long hidden ghosts from his past, and Justice finds himself, and everyone/everything he holds dear under attack.
• Sally Wright: Code of Silence (December 1, 2008). A female linguist at a high-security US decoding and decrypting facility is murdered while trying to relay vital information. Ten years later, Ben Reese is asked for his assistance in tracking a murderer guilty of breaching U.S. security. Ben's efforts to find the killer are difficult but he knows it is essential once he learns of the Venona Code, a Soviet code partially decrypted by the U.S. and Britain.

For more of the new hardcover, trade paperback, and paperback releases (as well as reissues), check out the following sites from The Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, Books N Bytes, San Diego's Mystery Books, Powells Books and the Bloodstained Bookshelf.

And a Turkey For All

In honor of the holiday, I thought I'd feature an encore presentation of last year's Mysteries of Thanksgiving blog posting, especially since I'll be in a food coma most of the day.

Don't forget what Mark Twain said, "Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them, the rest of us could not succeed."

And watch out for exploding turkeys.

Putting the Reference Back in Murder

In keeping with the spirit of "In REFERENCE to Murder," every now and then I like to pull a few sites from The List on which to throw the spotlight, in this case some of the newer sites I've run across.

In case you hadn't heard, The Bloodstained Bookshelf folded after many years of loyal service of providing lists of upcoming crime fiction releases organized by month. But fortunately, all is not lost. Ashley McConnell took over bibliographic duties and has moved the list to the Mystery Bookshelf.

Google has added a vast searchable database from photos printed in Life Magazine. Both Duane Swierczynski and  Rex Parker have already picked out a couple of gems, Dashiell Hammett smoking in Hollywood, circa 1937 and Mickey Spillane proudly posing with paperback versions of his books.

Grammarphobia throws several of those grammatical Commandments from elementary school English classes out the window and helps reassure today's modern writer that "to boldly go" isn't going to bring the wrath of Khan, er God, down upon you anymore.

The FBI also does its best to help writers "keep it real."  They have a site with information on how you can contact the FBI if you have a question about

• Guidance on content regarding FBI investigations, procedures, structure, and history;
• Information on costumes, props, scenery, and weapons;
• Fact checks;
• Liaison and coordination with local FBI field offices;
• Coordination of location shots; and
• Access to FBI facilities for filming scenes, interviews, or b-roll footage

The FBI also has many online resources about procedures, including this one on serial murder.

Crimes Are Us

From the true crime department, come some recent interesting stories of note:

The New York Times reported on how internet attacks are becoming more potent. They singled out distributed denial of service (D.D.O.S) attacks, routinely used during political and military conflicts such as in Estonia in 2007 during a political fight with Russia, and in the Georgian-Russian war last summer. Such attacks are also being used in blackmail schemes and political conflicts, as well as for general malicious mischief.

DNA is now being used to assist in solving property crimes. Once reserved mostly for violent cases such as rape and murder, genetic testing is now much cheaper and faster than when the technology was new. The evidence can include almost any biological material left at a crime scene: saliva taken from food, skin cells from the steering wheel of a stolen car, drops of blood from a thief who got cut on a window pane.

The Washington Post profiled David R. Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner, whose lab is one of the busiest in the country with more than 4,000 autopsies conducted annually. Fowler said he is amused at the public perception fueled by the 6 o'clock news. "They always say,'The body has been sent to the medical examiner to determine the exact cause of death.'"  Some cases are obvious -- gunshot and stab wounds, for example -- but more often pathologists must call on their experience and their 13 years of medical training, consult with police and peers, and then make what is essentially a judgment call. And they must do so with the expectation that they'll have to defend it in court.

This year, the Supreme Court will tackle a DNA issue involving a convict seeking new tests he thinks could exonerate him, in a case pitting the administration of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin against a Republican-appointed judge. Some in law enforcement fear that federal courts could be flooded with lawsuits if the Supreme Court upheld April's appeals court ruling in the convict's case. "A blanket right to post-conviction DNA testing would be a dangerous prospect," said Chris Asplen, former director of the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence and a former prosecutor. He said any Supreme Court ruling should be limited and "highly qualified." 

A Global Feast

It's good to see crime fiction alive and well and thriving in different parts of the world. I don't know about you, but sometimes I crave some good Thai, Indian, or Mexican cuisine, and so it goes with books.

Mike Nicol takes a look at what’s happening in the genre in Africa, even referring to a conference in Germany earlier this year titled Beyond Murder by Magic: Investigating African Crime Fiction. As Nichol points out, Africa’s got a thriving crime fiction genre but "you’re more likely to bump into African crime writers in Europe than you are anywhere south of the Limpopo."

Not to be outdone, Argentina has noir writers Guillermo Martínez and Pablo De Santis.  Martinez is is the author of eight novels including the international best seller Crímenes imperceptibles (The Oxford Murders), made into a movie by Spanish director Alex de la Iglesi aand starring Elijah Wood. De Santis jsut had his English-language debut with the whodunit The Paris Enigma, awarded last year’s first Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América.

Much has been made about Icelandic crime fiction recently, with good reason. Since 1997 over 70 crime novels have been published by Icelandic authors (relative to population, that’s the equivalent of 15,000 crime novels being published every year in the UK. Why the goldrush? As Iceland Review says, "As paranoia and xenophobia are on the up, fear’s selling like never before and the Icelandic reading public’s appetite for murder and mayhem has never been keener. With a slew of new home-grown crime novels coming out every year, this trend looks like more than a passing fad. The Icelandic thriller is here to stay!"

Mahmud Rahman wrote recently about pulp fiction in Bangladesh. One fascinating note to those of who've become accustomed to a more disinterested reading populace in the U.S., Rahman talks about people eager to get into the 2007 book fair and waiting in lines sometimes stretching for half a mile. Major newspapers carry weekly literary pages with original writing and essays. The papers and magazines also publish thick holiday specials carrying fiction, memoir, and poetry that sell out within days of their publication. Ah, if only...

Omnivoracious applauded Akashic Books and its noir anthology series with three "exotic noir" books to date:  Trinidad Noir edited by Lisa Allen-Agostini & Jeanne Mason, Paris Noir edited by Aurelien Masson, and Istanbul Noir edited by Mustafa Ziyalan & Amy Spangler.

Bon appétit!

Mystery in Review

The Irish Independent took a look at how crime novels reveal truths about our dark age through the works Empire of Lies by Andrew Klavan, Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein, Bait by Nick Brownlee, and The Darker Side by Cody McFadyen, positing that "Arguably the most seductive, and perhaps even compelling, aspect of contemporary crime fiction is its relevance. As with the best journalism, the best crime writing speaks to us of where we are now and how we are coping with the indignities that assault our notions of civilisation."

The Chicago Tribune featured some "One-minute reviews" of Toros and Torsos by Craig McDonald, Immunity by Lori Andrews, 14 by J.T. Ellison, and The Max by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr.

Ed Gorman recently singled out the incredibly prolific author James Reasoner. Although mostly known for his westerns, he's just finished book number 225. Gorman called his recent noir novel Dust Devils as ranking among the best crime novels of the past few years.

The Sacramento Bee interviewed Ann Littlewood, whose debut novel Night Kill, a murder mystery set at a zoo, was recently released. As a former zookeeper herself, when she was asked how she felt about the anti-zoo campaigns, she replied, "Well, zoos keep getting better and the wild keeps getting more dangerous. It's one of our better tools to educate people, and it's a way to preserve a gene pool."

Oline Cogdill reviewed Mo Hayder's "chillingly brilliant" Ritual.

The Tampa Tribune said of True Crime: An American Anthology, edited by Harold Schechter, that this "collection of ghastly American crimes from Puritan times down to our own day is evidence of the gruesome possibilities that truth can get up to when it comes to one human being dispatching another - or, usually, many others."

MWA 2009 Grand Master Award

The Mystery Writers of America organization has named James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton as the 2009 Grand Masters, in honor of the Bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth next year. It marks the first time since 1978 that MWA has presented dual Grand Masters. The awards will be presented at the 63rd Annual Edgar Awards banquet on April 30, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Media Murder

It was announced that next summer will be the final season for TV's Monk series starring three-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub. USA Network VP Jeff Wachtell said, "By many measures, Monk is the most successful series in the history of basic cable...Our fans have been extremely dedicated, and Season 8 should prove to be a very satisfying reward."

The first of the three Wallander films, Sidetracked, will premiere on the November 30th at 9pm on BBC One. And by the way, if you happen to find yourself in Ystad, Sweden, you can take the "In the foodsteps of Wallender" tour.

The controversial Imus in the Morning program took on a more peaceable topic interviewing Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, authors of the recently-released Dashing Through the Snow.

The Killer Inside Me (a remake of the 1976 movie) is preparing to start filming in January. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, it's based on the best-selling 1950s book by Jim Thompson, a master of the noir/thriller genre, who wrote in the same vein as James M. Cain and Elmore Leonard about the seedier side of L.A.

The Digital Spy is reporting that the BBC commissioned four new George Gently dramas to air next year. The series is based on Alan Hunter's series featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Gently book (Martin Shaw) and his partner John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), solving crimes in 1960s Northumberland.

The Gawker investigated the "return of the mystery" to Hollywood with projects like Dexter, True Blood, and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes film by Guy Ritchie.

NPR's Maureen Corrigan chose her Top Five Crime And Mystery Novels Of 2008.

The National Post took a look at TV's Without a Trace and recent episode featuring a 16-year-old female reader of noir books, as part of a discussion on how pulp fiction hacks invented noir and changed popular culture.

Mystery Melange

Author Ann Perry is the University of Central Arkansas's current Artist in Residence. "She was chosen because she is an extremely popular (and prolific) mystery writer and because we haven't had many writers who focus on that particular genre of writing," said Dr. Margaret Morgan, faculty sponsor for the residency.

The Fort Myers News Press praises former News Press journalist Deborah Sharp's debut novel Mama Does Time as a cross between the TV shows Petticoat Junction and My Name Is Earl.

For Irish Independent reviewer Anne Marie Scanlon, Christmas came early with Val McDermid's latest book, A Darker Domain. Scanlon was pleased, as always, that McDermid's "Celtic gallows humour is never far from the surface."

In an interview with Brad Meltzer about his latest novel Book of Lies (which blends the story of Cain and Abel and the murder of the father of Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman), Meltzer noted, "Not to mix biblical characters and comic book characters, but these are the great stories of our time and they persist for a reason," he said. "It’s not because they’re interesting or we like men in capes or brothers who kill each other; it’s because these stories say something about us."

Dick Holland wrote a lengthy memorial tribute to James Crumley, who he called the last good detective writer. Holland notes that "there was a tremendous outpouring of affection in Missoula [Montana] upon Crumley’s death, which had been long foretold after years of heavy drinking and hard living. The town’s many writers remembered his loyalty and friendship and his surprisingly gentle nature. Crumley’s favorite Missoula bar set aside his favorite seat as a sort of shrine."

The New York Times profiled mystery author Jane Cleland at home in her art deco Manhattan apartment with her musician husband Joe Stanko. Stanko describes his art as an ability "to play one note right and then move on to the next one." Ms. Cleland takes a similar approach to whodunits. "Every 90 pages has to have a surprise," she said.