In Reference to Murder

Puzzling Mysteries

After re-watching Citizen Kane the other evening, I'm more attuned to jigsaw puzzles (if you've seen the movie, you'll know why). The Booklist Blog had a note about a jigsaw puzzle made up of a montage of pulp-era paperback covers, put out by the book publisher Harlequin. The main cover is The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, author and the Hollywood writer/director behind such movies as Pickup on South Street, The Steel Helmet and The Big Red One (the inspiration for Saving Private Ryan). The puzzle comes in 1,000 pieces, which will probably last you through the cold winter months while you're stuck inside.

In looking around for other interesting crime-fictionish jigsaw puzzles, I came across a series of puzzles based on Henry Slesar books. The amazingly prolific Slesar penned 500 short stories, 55 radio plays, six books and wrote for the tv soap opera The Edge of Night and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Unfortunately, you'll have to dig around on sites like eBay for these.

But wait, there's more! Mystery Game Central has several mystery jigsaw puzzles available, Amazon lists a few more and other sites can turn up still others. For lists of more mystery puzzle and game sites, look no further than the Games link over in The List on this blog. We may be having some unseasonably warm weather now, but just wait until the three feet of snow coming in February. You'll thank me then.

Spies and P.I.s

When the International Spy Museum opened in Washington, D.C. in 2002, it became the largest museum of its kind, with many objects on public display for the first time. It remains the only public museum in the U.S. dedicated solely to espionage. But there are other smaller, quirky museums that profile the spy and private eye trades that don't get as much attention.


The Spy And Private-Eye Museum in Austin, Texas, is the personal collection of Ralph Thomas, who logged thousands of hours as a P.I. while amassing various paraphernalia related to the trade. The exhibits include everything from rare documents from Pinkerton Detective Agency case files dating back to 1877, to 1930s polygraph equipment, to a CIA covert gun built into a tire gauge.


The P.I. Museum in San Diego contains historic treasures and artifacts gathered by Private Investigator Ben Harroll for over 30 years. Harroll's collection includes both the real and the fictional, including a letter penned in 1852 by Eugene Francois Vidocq, spy cameras and tracking devices and Dick Tracy and Magnum P.I. collectibles.


The Spy Exchange and Security Center in Austin, Texas, is one of the largest showrooms for private eye gear, books and manuals in the U.S. (which is pretty neat on its own), but it also has two rooms set aside for a collection of historic paraphernalia. While you're there, pick up a smiley-face spy camera. The kids will never know.

 

Lots of Library Love

Today marks the beginning of National Library Week in the U.S., a time to reflect on and celebrate the importance of libraries in local communities. The ALA is sponsoring some fun contests to mark the event, including a twaiku competition via Twitter. Twaiku use the same basic structure of three lines with 5-7-5 syllables, but within the Twitter-limited 140 characters (or 130 with the #nlwtwaiku hashtag). Teens ages 13-18 can also enter the Why I Need My Library video contest for a chance to win $3,000 for their library.

Check out John Grisham's homage to libraries and then head on out to your nearest branch and check out a book or two.

An Imagination Library

Growing up in East Tennessee, I knew of Dolly Parton as a home-grown icon to many folks in those parts. Yes, she's famous for her acting, singing, song-writing (over 5,000 songs!), an amusement park and even a line of wigs (as well as certain, um...anatomical features). But there's something else the residents in her native Sevierville appreciate her for, something that has spread to other states.

in 1996, she founded a literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which mailed one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they entered kindergarten. Although it began in Sevier County, it's now in 566 counties across 36 U.S. states, and in Canada and the UK, including most recently, Scotland. Under the Scottish Book Trust, 3,341 Scottish children will have a free book every month.

I always did like Dolly, who is apparently as genuine and down-to-earth in person as she appears in public, but in a time when the Charlie Sheens get all the attention, it's good to note there are celebrities who actually care about making a difference.

And now for what got her started...her songs and singing. Her low-key bittersweet interpretation of her own song "I Will Always Love You," beats any others, in my opinion (including the famous movie version by Whitney Houston).

 

A Few Words from the Library World

The residents of Los Angeles passed Measure L yesterday, an initiative to increase dedicated spending for the Los Angeles Public Library system by $50 million over the next few years without raising taxes. LA had been the only major city in the U.S. other than Detroit to eliminate two days of library service, but now will be able to return to six or seven days for its branches. Lucy McCoy, chairwoman of Yes on Measure L, said: "Tonight was a vote for keeping our kids safe after school, for helping job seekers get back to work, for seniors looking for a warm place to read and for all the Library goers young and old.  Angelenos have sent a clear message that our libraries are a critical part of the fabric of our community."

Speaking of saving the libraries, author Karin Slaughter (Broken) has organized a Save the Libraries event, serving as Honorary Chair, along with fellow authors Mary Kay Andrews (Hissy Fit) and Kathryn Stockett (The Help). They're teaming up with businesses and donors to offer items to auction off (signed books, artwork, a meeting with authors) with all proceeds benefiting the DeKalb County Public Library Foundation in Georgia. The event is coming up this Saturday, March 12th.

The grim budget news coming out of the UK includes the very real possibility that over 400 libraries could be closed due to government budget cuts, according to the Guardian. Charging into that void may be Library Systems & Services, a Maryland-based firm that owns 13 public libraries in the US. LSSI hopes to take over and manage 15 per cent of Britain's public libraries within the next five years. The plan is to turn them into "multifunctional spaces" with murder mystery nights, poetry evenings, open-mic sessions and coffee bars. That is, if LSSI can avoid lawsuits such as those filed against them in California.

And, if you haven't heard, Harper Collins is setting limits (to 26) on how many times its eBooks can be checked out from public library eReader devices. As you can imagine, libaries are not thrilled with the idea. Dan Misener of CBC News explains it all and adds, "it seems this is just another example of an old, scarcity-based business model butting heads with a new digital model. It's a story that's playing out across the digital media landscape and has repercussions far beyond libraries. For me, the danger with the HarperCollins decision has to do with the precedent it sets and the slippery slope it might send us down."

E-Readerpalooza

As Patti Abbott mused on her blog, eBooks have been getting a lot of "e"xposure lately. As if the dizzying array of millions of stories, anthologies and books wasn't enough to set your head spinning, you also have to worry about which eReader to choose or the best place to find your eBooks. So, for those thinking about taking the plunge (and to help authors, too), I thought I'd take an informal survey to see what you think about eBooks, and—if you're already on board—your preferred source.

First, much ado about ebooks?

Now, to get to the source (check all that apply):

Oh, the Books You Can Book

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as "Dr. Seuss," was born on March 2nd in 1904 and published over 40 children's books that have been published in at least 20 languages and sold over 500 million copies worldwide. Some of his lesser-known, but equally remarkable accomplishments include his work during World War II in an animation department of the U.S Army, where he wrote the film Design for Death that ended up winning the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1947.

But Dr. Seuss' legacy has also long been associated with literacy, which is why the National Education Association holds its annual Read Across America initiative on this date. In schools throughout the U.S. today (and even around the world), reading will be a special focus. In hundreds of towns teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents and grandparents will read aloud to students. Readers have been logging in to the NEA's site to make pledges, with California leading the charge with the most reading pledges in the U.S. with 386 submissions. Pledges have also come in from readers in Brazil, Finland, Gabon, Germany, Israel and Turkmenistan, among others.

Tomorrow, the book/literacy focus shifts even more globally for World Book Day, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, marked in over 100 countries world-wide. It's particularly popular in the UK, which this year is celebrating with a World Book Night where one million books will be given away. There's also a star-studded launch event in Trafalgar Square the night before.

It's not too late to participate in any of these events and help spread some book love and literacy in your little corner of the world. But don't just make it one day a year; volunteer in a literacy organization in your town, buy books for all the kids on your gift list and support your local libraries.

International Literacy Day

In 1965, UNESCO established September 8th as an annual International Literacy Day event. The Dag Hammarskjöld Library of the UN takes a positive view that it's a day to celebrate the fact there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. UNESCO reminds us, however, that one in five adults is still not literate, with about two-thirds of them women and 67.4 million children out of school.

How can you help? January Magazine points out a few ways as does HuffPo, the Global Development Research Center (GDRC) and the Hammarskjöld Library link above. Why is literacy important? It's not just so authors can make a living selling books, although that's one of many side benefits. As UNESCO points out

"Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy.

Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. There are good reasons why literacy is at the core of Education for All (EFA).

A good quality basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning; literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development."

Two Wins for Literacy

If you're a published author, the upcoming Malice Domestic has a publicity opportunity that also helps raise money for a good cause.  Every year the mystery conference has both live and silent auctions of author goodies with proceeds benefiting literacy programs at the John L. Gildner Regional Facility for Children and Adolescents in Rockville, Maryland. If interested, you can donate books, the opportunity to name a character in a book, a critique of a few chapters of an aspiring author's manuscript, themed baskets, or whatever else strikes your fancy. For more information, contact Auction@malicedomestic.org before March 15th. All items have to be shipped no later than April 10th.

The second annual "Scare The Dickens Out of Us" ghost story contest offers $1,000.00 first place, $500.00 second place and $250.00 third place prize money this year for a new, original ghost story (any genre) up to 5,000 words. The contest raises funds for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas (the oldest library in Texas). For details and rules, check out this site. You've still got some time, though:  entries will be accepted July 1 to October 1. There's also a Junior "Scare the Dickens Out of Us" contest for kids aged 12 to 18 with a $250.00 first prize and a $5.00 entry fee.

The Brain Game

I came across an interesting article in Psychology Today published recently. Titled "The Genius of Detective Fiction,"  author Christopher Badcock makes the case that there's "no doubt that detective fiction—both in its vast quantity and intrinsic quality—is the distinctive literary genre of modern, industrial societies." He also looks at the almost Asperger-like personality of Sherlock Holmes (photographic memory, concentration, few social skills) as an example of mechanistic cognition, whereas Miss Marple's intuition and use of people skills is a form of mentalistic thinking. Badcock argues it's the way detective fiction combines extremes of the two types of mental processes that makes it so popular and helps create "insights of fictional genius." One bit of trivia from the article:  Sigmund Freud was an avid reader of thrillers.