In Reference to Murder

New Mystery & Crime Fiction Novels Coming in February

Here's a partial listing, arranged alphabetically by author, which this month includes new titles by V.C. Andrews, Jefferson Bass, Bill Crider, Linda Fairstein, Andrew M. Greeley, Robert B. Parker, T. Jefferson Parker, J.D. Robb, S. J. Rozan, Dana Stabenow, and Jacqueline Winspear, 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.

V. C. Andrews: Delia's Gift (February 3, 2009). When Delia Yebarra's father-in-law blackmails her and a manipulative schemer orchestrates a fatal reunion with Delia's cousin Edward, can Delia recapture the innocence of her roots and make a bright future for her and her newborn son?

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon (February 19, 2009). The latest in the Aunt Dimity mysteries, in which Lori Shepherd races to save her dear village and risks her neck to keep a medieval revelry from ending in tragedy.

Deborah Turrell Atkison: Pleasing the Dead (February 10, 2009). Rich with Hawaiian folklore, Atkinson's fourth mystery to feature attorney Storm Kayama explores the dark side of paradise.

Jefferson Bass: Bones of Betrayal (February 3, 2009). The latest forensic thriller to feature Dr. Bill Brockton finds a frozen corpse found in a lake near the Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear research facility which turns out to be that of one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project. When the source of death, potent radioactive material the old man somehow ingested, poisons the local medical examiner, Brockton's inquiry takes on added urgency.

Meredith Cole: Posed for Murder (February 17, 2009).  As photographer Lydia McKenzie's first one-woman show opens, the police inform her that a friend was murdered. It seems a killer is using Lydia's photos, which re-create actual murders, as he targets her models.  (Note: this was the winner of the St. Martin’s Minotaur/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition.)

Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant: Fed Up (February 3, 2009). Part-time student Chloe Carter is planning her best friend’s wedding, working for her parents—and glued to her chef boyfriend, Josh, as he competes to star in a new TV series. The premise: Josh hijacks unsuspecting grocery shoppers and prepares them gourmet dinners. Everything’s going great—until one shopper drops dead.

Bill Crider: Murder in Four Parts (February 17, 2009). When Sheriff Dan Rhodes is asked to join the Clearview Barbershop Chorus, he suspects that there's an ulterior motive, mainly because he can't sing a note. He's momentarily distracted by a rogue alligator on the loose, but shortly afterward, Lloyd Berry, the director of the chorus, is murdered.

David Dickinson: Death of a Pilgrim (February 1, 2009). 1905. A pilgrim is killed in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, and Lord Francis Powerscourt is summoned to investigate. More deaths plague pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, before Powerscourt solves the murders.

Earl Emerson: Cape Disappointment (February 24, 2009).Seattle private eye Thomas Black returns after more than a decade to the scene of a fatal airplane crash and must put together the shattered fragments of his life. 

Linda Fairstein: Lethal Legacy (February 10, 2009). In the 11th legal thriller to feature ADA Alexandra Cooper of Manhattan's Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit, an investigation leads Alex and her team into the dark depths of the New York Public Library in search of stolen items that certain bibliophiles and antique map enthusiasts would kill for.

Kat Goldring: Murder by Ancient Design (February 1, 2009). After the Puritan ban on Christmas festivities, Restoration London is awash with excess between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night, but the two men found in Westminster Hall had not died from a surfeit of gluttony, but from poison.

Andrew M. Greeley: Irish Tweed (February 17, 2009). The latest tale featuring Nuala Anne McGrail, a fey, Irish-speaking woman blessed with the gift of second sight, and her husband and accomplice, Dermot Michael Coyne.

Peter May: Snakehead (February 10, 2009). Beijing detective Li Yan, now based at the Chinese embassy in Washington, is dispatched to find out how his fellow countrymen suffocated in a sealed refrigeration unit in southern Texas - only to find himself face to face with the woman who walked out of China, and his life, to return to the U.S.

Ian Morson: Falconer and the Ritual of Death (February 1, 2009). In this William Falconer Mystery set at Oxford University in 1271,when a body is found when old buildings are pulled down to make way for a new purpose-built college, Regent Master William Falconer is drawn into violent events where the past and the present collide with startling consequence.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Cat Playing Cupid (February 3, 2009). It took Joe Grey's human, Clyde, nearly forever to pop the question to Ryan Flannery, and what more romantic time to tie the knot than on Valentine's Day? But dark secrets from the past, uncovered by Joe and his feline pals, threaten to ruin the happy union.

Tamar Myers: Batter Off Dead (February 3, 2009). During a church breakfast, Minerva J. Jay, known for her prodigious appetite, slumps over after ingesting several stacks of pancakes. Police Chief Chris Ackerman wonders if the serving of the fatal flapjacks is a case of assault and batter.

Nick Oldham: Crunch Time (February 1, 2009). In the latest DCI Henry Christie Mystery, Christie leaps at the chance to go working undercover again, ingratiating himself with one of Londons top criminals, who has relocated to the north of England. But the last thing Henry needs in this dangerous situation is the appearance of a man bearing a fatal grudge that will jeopardize not only himself, but also his family.

Michael Palmer: The Second Opinion (February 17, 2009). In The Second Opinion, Michael Palmer has created a cat-and-mouse game where one woman must confront a conspiracy of doctors to uncover an evil practice that touches every single person who ever has a medical test. 

Robert B. Parker: Night and Day (February 24, 2009). In the 8th Jesse Stone outing, Police Chief Jesse Stone has to deal with a tormented voyeur, dubbed "The Night Hawk," who gets bolder as time goes on, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And according to the notes he’s sending to Jesse, he’s not satisfied to stop there.

T. Jefferson Parker: The Renegades (February 10, 2009). When out one night on a routine complaint, Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood's car is gunned down, and caught in the fire is universally beloved County veteran Terry Laws. Now Hood must investigate the shooting and expose a twisted world of violence.

Cathy Pickens: Can't Never Tell (February 17, 2009). In this installment of the Southern Fried Mysteries featuring Avery Andrews, a Fourth of July carnival fright house isn't impressing Avery's 7-year-old niece Emma, until the leg falls off a mannequin posed with a chainsaw. Then even Emma recognizes the human leg bone protruding from the wizened limb.

J. D. Robb: Promises in Death (February 24, 2009). In the latest futuristic novel set in New York City of 2060, Lieutenant Eve Dallas faces down a cop killer.

David Roberts: No More Dying (February 1, 2009). February, 1939. Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne are invited to Clivenden in Buckinghamshire, renowned as the headquarters for those prepared to go to any lengths to avert war. Murder stalks the formal gardens as private and public passions come to a climax.

S. J. Rozan: The Shanghai Moon (February 3, 2009). S. J. Rozan returns to her award-winning, critically acclaimed, and much-loved characters Lydia Chin and Bill Smith in the first new novel in the series in seven years. Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that crosses continents, cultures, and decades. 

C. J. Sansom: Revelation (February 5, 2009). In the fourth Shardlake mystery, the year is 1543 and King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr. Meanwhile, Matthew Shardlake is working to defend a teenage boy, a religious fanatic who is being held in the infamous Bedlam hospital for the insane.

Dana Stabenow: Whisper to the Blood (February 17, 2009). Between two murders tied to a new gold mine and a series of attacks on snow mobilers up the Kanuyaq River, not to mention the still-open homicide of Park villain Louis Deem last year, part-time P.I. and newly elected chairman of the Niniltna Native Association Kate Shugak has her hands very much full.

Jacqueline Winspear: Among the Mad (February 17, 2009). It’s Christmas Eve 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the prime minister’s office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met—and the writer mentions Maisie by name.

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.

Reviewing the Situation

Here's a Friday roundup of reviews and profiles making the rounds:

The Chronicle Herald provided micro-reviews of books by John Le Carre, John Macken, Linda Barnes, and Linwood Barclay, concluding that "Le Carre, as usual, masterfully dabs strokes of humour, sarcasm and satire in just the right places" and Trial By Blood by Macken is "an exciting novel which has been smartly structured."

The Telegraph looked at new crime novels from Magdalen Nabb and Matti Joensuu. Reviewer Jake Kerridge finds Joensuu's book To Steal Her Love "absolutely haunting," and appreciates Nabb's posthumous novel Vita Nuova as a "classic crime puzzle with touching flashes of insight into human nature."

David L. Beck of the St. Petersburg Times wasn't particularly thrilled with Stephen J. Cannell's latest "lightweight" book On the Grind, at the same time Beck revealed a preference for hard-boiled and noir books.

The Boston Globe Online found Jan Brogan's Teaser to be satisfying and fast-paced, enjoying the complex, fully realized character of its protagonist, reporter Hallie Ahern.

Allen Barra was impressed by a new Edgar Allan Poe biography, appropriately titled Poe by Peter Ackroyd, adding "One of the few biographers with equal standing as a critic, Ackroyd is the first writer in decades to bring Poe's life and work into sharp focus and impress urgency on an appreciation of his oeuvre."

The Toronto Star believes there are some things the Brits do very well, revealing how top-notch British crime writers Mark Billingham and Kate Atkinson "demonstrate why their yarns are so consistently entertaining despite certain flaws."

Whither the Book?

It's become about as difficult to keep up with the varying opinions on the future of the book as it is the dizzying array of technological gadgets and apps announced daily at pace resembling something like Lucy and Ethel in the famous candy assembly line scene from the old I Love Lucy show.

Here are a few of the latest articles and essays:

On self-pubbing: the NY Times wrote up a piece on the state of the self-pub industry and pointed out that books tailored to such narrow audiences may fare better than titles from traditional publishers that depend on a more general appeal. Otherwise, most such books are lucky to sell 150 copies. "For every thousand titles that get self-published, maybe there’s two that should have been published," said Cathy Langer, lead buyer for the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, inundated by requests from self-published authors to sell their books. "People think that just because they’ve written something, there’s a market for it. It’s not true."

Still, there are the VERY occasional success stories that are enough to give some folks hope. Authonomy, a site created by HarperCollins, had the first three unpublished e-books uploaded to the site picked up for regular publication. Of course, there are thousands of books on Authonomy, and even then you "win" your chance at publication by become a stellar social networker commenting on other people's books. This type of publisher experiment has happened before, with mixed, and mostly limited, success, as this Writer Beware Blog posting attests. Smashwords is another type of animal, designed for e-books, and there's the infamous iUniverse which on its own has more than 20,000 mystery novels that have been self-published, none of which has made it to the bestseller lists.

On the digital revolution: Lev Grossman in Time Magazine believes vanity publishing has become almost respectable. He also says that although traditional publishing will survive, below that there will be "a vast continuum of other options: quickie print-on-demand editions and electronic editions for digital devices, with a corresponding hierarchy of professional and amateur editorial selectiveness (unpaid amateur editors have already hit the world of fan fiction, where they're called beta readers)," and that novels will be longer and updatable, like software. Lee Goldberg thinks a lot of Grossman's comparisons are pure hooey, adding that Grossman may be the only person Goldberg has heard voice that opinion about self-publishing (outside of "vanity press hucksters") and, regarding some of the fanfiction references, that Grossman is "looking at publishing from within the insular world of science fiction and fantasy fandom, which bears little resemblance to reality."

Meanwhile, Christine Rosen at the New Atlantis argues that if enthusiasm for the new digital literacy runs high, it also runs to feverish extremes, with digital literacy's boosters not unlike the people swept up in the multiculturalism fad of the 1980s, and she mourns that "the paper book, the tool that built modernity, is to be phased out in favor of fractured, unfixed information. All in the name of progress." A commentary in the Texas Pages Blog by Michael Merschel sounded a thoughtful note about the print/digital divide, that the argument needs to move beyond mere digital-reading-is-good /digital-reading-is-bad and "become a discussion on how to make use of that technology in a way that preserves the best of the old ways. Because it is here and, until the power goes out, it will be sticking around."

Mystery Cubed

On April 16th, Chicago mystery writers Sara Paretsky, Sean Chercover and Julie Hyzy will appear at the Chicago Lifeline Theatre's 26th Anniversary Benefit, called "Mystery3" (or "Mystery Cubed"), to sign copies of their books and meet with fans during a special VIP champagne reception. Also part of the entertainment will be a live performance of a Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey short story featuring three new endings  penned by Paretsky, Chercover and Hyzy, each in their own signature styles. The evening will also feature a "very mysterious" silent auction and the champagne reception, although tickets are limited for that, so you should reserve tickets soon.

Mystery Melange

Alex Kava recently signed a new two-book deal with Sphere. It was editorial director Nikola Scott's first deal since joining the publisher.

Trinity College Dublin is currently hosting an exhibition titled "The Body in the Library – the great detectives 1841 to 1941," with a focus on the first golden age of crime writing in the 1920s and 1930s. (Hat tip to Declan Burke.)

Tom Nolan of the Wall Street Journal noted that Hammett's The Thin Man turns 75 this month and argued that it should be taken seriously, "a comedy with fangs."

Bookseller's look at global bestsellers included Stieg Larsson, John Grisham, Henning Mankell, David Baldacci, Elizabeth George, Michael Connelly, and Patricia D. Cornwell among the Top 20.

Crime Beat South Africa asked the question why are some of the most gruesome crime thrillers written by women and read by women?

The Big Read program continues in Boise with its selection of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and events scheduled through March.

Fortunately, PD James is not a dimwit--despite an old and untrue rumor that Donald Westlake once called her just that.

The Poe Bicentennial will continue throughout the year, and Baltimore Sun's Read Street has more. Also, UT-Austin will have an Edgar Allan Poe exhibit this fall/winter entitled "From Out That Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe," drawing upon the extensive holdings of the Harry Ransom Center at the unversity and the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, with additional materials from the Free Library of Philadelphia and other museums.

The Strand awarded a lifetime achievement award to John Mortimer who lived long enough to be told of the award. Unfortunately, he died a day later.

The national Sisters in Crime organization is holding a pre-Bouchercon writing workshop with Donald Maass, Hallie Ephron, Chris Roerden, and dinner keynote speaker Nancy Pickard.

Shelf Awareness has an extensive profile of HarperStudio and its valiant efforts to help reform the publishing industry.

A couple of tour notes: Esotouric offers views of the seamy side of LA, and James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia) has been known to lead the occasional busload on "a grizzly trail of sepulchral sites."  And for a little more pocket change, you can join the British & Crime Writers summer program to London and Oxford, August 10-24. Authors in the London part of the program are Robert Barnard, Kate Charles, Ann Cleeves, Natasha Cooper, Judith Cutler, Lindsey Davis, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Keith Miles/Edward Marston, Danuta Reah,  Michelle Spring, Andrew Taylor, and Laura Wilson.

The Murder Business

THIS BOOK BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Patricia Cornwell indulged in a little product placement in her latest novel. She plugged a book by Philipp Meyer which hadn't even been published yet, but turns out she and Meyer share the same agent. DailyLit, the book-serialization website with 150,000 subscribers, has brought ads to books, including a jewelry and greeting cards. As BookNet Canada points out, ads in books aren't new--they were used on paperbacks during World War II. As publishers of all stripes struggle in this economy (the Boston Globe and other newspapers are even printing ads on their front pages), this may be the wave of the future. Up next--Harry Bosch hawking Smith & Wesson? Ads for hand sanitizers in Monk books? Oh, the possibilites.

MARKETING

The New York Times had an article on author web sites and book trailers, mentioning Brad Meltzer as an example, although as Sarah Weinman said of the overall piece, it's "positively 2005."

Giveaways galore! In the previously-mentioned Times articles, Brad Meltzer said, "Today, you can’t be a successful writer without having a little Barnum in your bones." Well, toward that end, Stephen J. Cannell has a giveway for a Garmin, a Sony Reader, and an iPod Nano as part of his latest book release; Harlan Coben is celebrating the release of Hold Tight in the Uk with a contest to win an iPhone; and Ann Cleves, in a more humanitarian gesture, is auctioning a book character (another recent trend) to raise money for charity.

The Guardian came out with its listing of 1000 books to read before you die, including a list of crime fiction, but Petrona concludes that basically it's just a "a hodge-podge of mini-adverts."

More marketing ploys--book trailers. Do they work? Several industry figures give their take. And Morgan Mandel also reported on a Random House gimmick, handing out Novel Sampler DVDs along with movie tickets at a theater, featuring excerpts from five teen novels, some with video trailers, one with a podcast.

PUBLISHING COMPANIES

It's the rage for publishing companies to have blogs, such as this one for St. Martin Minotaur and its lineup of crime fiction, but others have recently joined the bandwagon, including Bantam's Blood on the Page featuring crime fiction and suspense authors at Bantam, with Sean Dolittle leading off.

Effective February 2, Ingram Publisher Services will distribute Poisoned Pen Press, founded in 1996 by Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen bookstore, her husband, Mark Rosenwald, and their daughter. The press has close to 550 mystery titles, both originals and reprints.

BOOKSTORES

U.S. Bookstores won a victory when the Supreme Court recently decided not to review a lower court ruling that struck down the Child Online Protection Act, fought by Powell's Books and others. Media coalition ABFEE's president Chris Finan said, "The death of COPA means that Americans will continue to enjoy unfettered access to the Internet." The law would have prohibited the display of material "harmful to minors," a broad umbrella that could have included jacket art, book excerpts, and even book titles in online stores. A Different Light Bookstore, tailored for gays and lesbians, expressed the concern that all of its Web content might be considered harmful to minors in some areas.

In reaction to Barack Obama's call for a national day of service, the BookMark store in Atlantic Beach, Florida, teamed up with the Harbour Book Club to hold a book drive. An estimated 2,000 books were brought in, all of which are being donated to Gateway Community Services in Jacksonville to help establish a library.

In an essay mourning the closing of two bookstore in Maine, Steve Fischer, executive director for the New England Independent Booksellers Association, was quoted as saying that some 10 percent of association bookstores have closed in the last year.

Weekend Web Wonder

In keeping with the "reference" focus of this blog, I'm going to profile a web site on weekends that will be hopefully be of interest to writers and even readers of crime fiction. Being a fan of PI novels, I have to point out the web site and associated blog for PI Magazine (owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team of PIs). Both sites have a wealth of resources on how to become a PI and private eye licensing laws.

They also have free articles, news headlines, additional resource links, and even an "Ask the PI section." You can also find hundreds of books, manuals, reports, DVD's, and CD's on topics from Accident Reconstruction to Workplace Investigations.  And for loads of geeky fun, check out their associated PI Gear Store where they have investigative "toys" like the Button & Screw Color Camera Set, Bionic Ear with Booster Kit, and a Handheld Portable Voice Changer. If you read PI novels or are writing one, this is a good tool for additional information. If you subscribe to the print magazine, you'll also get many more articles and tips of the trade that aren't available on the web site.

It's always fun to offer up some good news, especially in an era when every time you check the latest headlines, you almost feel like you're reading a noir novel (economy! war! nukes! Britney!).

Tomorrow, January 24, Books & Crannies in Middlesburg, Virginia, is hosting "Mystery Lovers Saturday" in what they hope will become an annual event. Partnering with other businesses throughout Loudon county, the daylong affair will begin with a meet-and-greet and panel discussions at the store, followed by a moveable feast-style luncheon inspired by the ones at regional trade shows (consumers select one of five restaurants at which they'd like to dine, and the participating authors will rotate among the venues).  The authors will then sign their books at various stores throughout the town, followed by a farewell reception back at the store. Special guests include authors Donna Andrews, Ellen Crosby, G.M. Malliet, Andy Straka, Ellen Byerrum, Con Lehane, Jan Heuharth, and Daniel Stashower. Andrews and Malliet were just nominated for Left Coast Crime awards.

If you can stick around through the weekend, the Arlington County Central Library is sponsoring An Evening with George Pelecanos on Monday the 26th from 7-9 p.m. He'll be discussing his latest work, The Turnaround, as well as writing for the critically hailed HBO series The Wire.

Up and Coming

Out with the old and in with the new, in more ways than one. The "Best Of" lists are now passe and it's time for lists of what's coming down the pike in the next few months. The Sydney Morning Herald provided a couple of crime fiction titles downunder to look forward to, including Deep Water by Peter Corris and Truth, Peter Temple's prequel to his award-winning The Broken Shore. Declan Burke over at The Irish Independent started salivating over the bumper crop of crime novels by Irish writers due this year, such as the latest offerings from John Connolly, Declan Hughes and Tana French, among many others. Bookseller's February Indie Next included a couple of mystery/crime fiction titles, Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn and A Rule Against Murder: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny. And the Seattle Times rounded up its own new titles to watch for, with Hallie Ephron's Never Tell a Lie, John Bazell's Beat the Reaper, Linda L. Richards' Death Was in the Picture, and Caravaggio's Angel by Ruth Brandon.

Now, if we could all read the way Sarah Weinman does, finding time for all these title would be a piece of cake. So, in a desperate attempt to read at least twice as many books as last year, I just borrowed the hubster's book on speed reading. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Media Murder

Here's a roundup of crime and mystery-related stories in the world of broadcasting and other interactive genres, including a new spinoff of NCIS and a French noir film festival in Seatlle.

TV

The Chicago Tribune reviews the new season of Damages, adding that few things are more fun than a page-turning mystery novel full of people doing bad things to each other and lying to themselves and everyone else. It's even better if they're rich, "which are the pleasures this show provides."

A&E is combining law enforcement and paranormal investigation in a new unscripted series called Paranormal Cops about a group of Chicago police officers who moonlight as ghost chasers in their spare time.

The Writers Guild of America announced their screenwriting award nominations which include Dexter and The Wire in the television category.

David Suchet says he wants to continue playing Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot until he has filmed the novelist's complete works.

CBS' decision to make its Fall schedule crime-drama heavy seemed to have worked. CBS Entertainment Pres Nina Tassler said she hoped to finally put to rest the conventional wisdom that CBS was crippled by its over-reliance on crime dramas.

Speaking of CBS crime dramas, the network announced it was spinning off its successful NCIS program.

The series based on Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency debuts on HBO in March. Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott stars as series heroine Precious Ramotswe.

It's hard to say whether the late Patrick McGooohan would have watched the remake of The Prisoner. But the new series' stars, Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen, are happy to be a part of the show, which airs on AMC later this year. McKellan said of the original, "I'd seen it and admired it. But this, what we've done, is its own thing."

The new CBS murder mystery set to air this Spring, Harper's island, is going to be interactive, with portions of the show being aired online and on mobile devices. The show debuts April 9, but the interactive mobile part starts earlier, on March 18.

Lee Goldberg takes the DVD industry to task for releasing "dud" TV crime thrillers like My Own Worst Enemy, while neglecting such series as It Takes a Thief, Maverick, Harry O, Police Story, and others.

The new shows on Investigation Discovery include Undercover, which profiles undercover officers who crossed over to the other side and came back, and all-new episodes of 48 Hours.

FILM

Seattle is in the midst of a French Noir Film Festival, tracing the history of French noir from 1937 through 1981.

The Hollywood thrillers keep coming. Push is slated for release on February, featuring psychic espionage and starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning.

The LA Times doesn't think Hollywood did Donald Westlake justice (do they ever do justice to good crime fiction? well, that's for another blog), although they did find that two -- 1967's Point Blank, based on the first novel he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and Westlake's adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Grifters from 1990 -- are clear standouts, both by British directors.

Josh Bazell was a medical intern in his hospital scrubs on the night shift as publishers waged a seven-figure fight for his first novel, a thriller titled Beat the Reaper. Now, New Regency is acquiring screen rights as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Pakistani paper Faris Hussain reviewed the upcoming movie Killshot, scheduled for release this Friday. Based on the thriller by Elmore Leonard, it was originally designed for Robert DeNiro and Quentin Tarantino, but instead wound up with Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the leads. The review ultimately concludes that John Madden’s direction elevates the drama of this piece, but the thriller aspects of this film don’t seem to live up to the strong title.

THEATER

Continuing Obamamania, crime writer and filmmaker Teddy Hayes is creating a new musical, Obama On My Mind, to premiere in London in March. It "takes a humorous look at the weird and wonderful world behind the scenes of a small Obama campaign office and the larger than life characters who make the wheels turn, the cogs whirr and bring in the votes."

WEBCASTS

Media Bistro offers up an exclusive video interview with Edgar-award winning novelist Thomas Perry.

GAMES

Gamers, rejoice. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for NintendoDS was just released, described as a "simple yet addictive observation game"