In Reference to Murder

February Book Signing Roundup

Time flies when you're having fun (or getting older -- I forget which). A month has already passed in 2008 and so it's time for the latest monthly roundup of author events at mystery book stores around the U.S. and Canada (you even get an extra day this Leap February). If you live near one of the stores, be sure and catch these opportunities during the month to meet a new or favorite mystery author and buy a book to be signed.

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Book Carnival
Orange, CA

Author: Robert Ferrigno
Title: SINS OF THE ASSASSIN
Event Time: Sunday, February 10 at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Tom Epperson
Title:  THE KIND ONE
Event Time:  Sunday, February 17 at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  T. Jefferson Parker
Title: L.A. Outlaws
Event Time:  Saturday, February 23 at 3:00 p.m.

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Book 'Em
South Pasadena, CA

Author:  Betty Webb
Title: DESERT CUT
Event Time:  Friday, Feb. 22 at 5:00 p.m.

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Nancy Atherton
Title:  AUNT DIMINITY: VAMPIRE HUNTER (14th Lori Shepherd Ghostly Mystery)
Event Time: Monday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m.

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Crime pays
Greenwich Village, NY

Author: Rosemary Harris
Title: Launch and Signing Party for PUSHING UP DAISIES
Event Time:  Tuesday February 5 at 7:00 pm

Author:  Jonathan Javitt
Title:  CAPITOL REFLECTIONS (A Thriller)
Event Time:  Wednesday February 6 at 7:00 pm

Author:  Matt Beynon Rees
Title: A GRAVE IN GAZA
Event Time: Tuesday February 12 at 7:00 pm   

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High Crimes
Boulder, CO

Author: Sandi Ault
Title:  WILE INFERNO
Event Time: Tuesday, February 26th at 7:00 p.m.

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Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Author: Thomas McHenry
Title:  ALONG THE RAILS: A JUROR'S JOURNEY
Event Time:  Thursday, February 7 at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Kathryn Miller Haines
Titles:   THE WAR AGAINST MISS WINTER
Event Time:  Saturday, February 9 at 4:30 p.m.

Author: Lauren Willig
Title:  THE SEDUCTION OF THE CRIMSON ROSE
Event Time:   Tuesday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Chris Grabenstein
Title: HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Event Time:   Wednesday, February 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  T. Jefferson Parker
Title:  L. A. OUTLAWS
Event Time:  Saturday, February 16 at 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Jacqueline Winspear
Title:  AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE   
Event Time:  Monday, February 18 at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  G.M. Ford
Title: NAMELESS NIGHT
Event Time:  Tuesday, February 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Megann Abbott / Christa Faust
Title:  THE SONG IS YOU /  MONEY SHOT    
Event Time:  Saturday, February 23 at 4:30 p.m.

Author:  Nancy Atherton
Title:  AUNT DIMITY: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Event Time: Monday, February 25 at 6:30

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Murder by the Book
Portland, OR

Author:  Gary McKinney
Title:  SLIPKNOT
Event Time: Sunday, February 3 at 4:30 p.m.

Author:  G.M. Ford
Title:  NAMELESS NIGHT
Event Time: Tuesday, Feb 5, 6:30 at p.m.

Author: Sharan Newman
Title: SHANGHAI TUNNEL
Event Time:  Sunday, February 24 at 5:00 p.m.

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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL

Author: J. A. Jance
Title:  HAND OF EVIL
Event Time:  Monday, February 4 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Tim Dorsey
Title:  ATOMIC LOBSTER
Event Time: Tuesday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: Elizabeth Becka
Title:  UNKNOWN MEANS
Event Time: Thursday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m.

Author: James Hall
Title:  HELL'S BAY
Event Time: Friday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  James Born
Title:   BURN ZONE
Event Time:  Friday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Anna Flowers
Title:  WANTON WOMAN
Event Time: Sunday, February 17 at 4:00 p.m.

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA

Author:   Leighton Gage
Title:   BLOOD OF THE WICKED
Event Time:  Saturday, February 2 at 12:00 p.m.

Author: Louise Ure
Title:  THE FAULT TREE
Event Time: Saturday, February 9 at 11: 00 a.m.

Author:  T. Jefferson Parker
Title: L.A. OUTLAWS
Event Time: Saturday, February 9 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Peter May
Title: THE CRITIC
Event Time: Saturday, February 16 at 11:00 a.m.

Author:  Tom Epperson
Title: THE KIND ONE
Event Time:Saturday, February 16 at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  April Smith
Title: JUDAS HORSE
Event Time: Saturday, February 16 at 3:00 p.m.

Author:  Diane Wei Liang
Title: THE EYE OF JADE
Event Time: Saturday, February 23 at 12:00 p.m.

Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Title:AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE
Event Time: Saturday, February 23, 4:00 p.m.

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author:  T. Jefferson Parker
Title: L.A. OUTLAWS
Event Time: Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: R.T. Jordan
Title:  FINAL CURTAIN
Event Time: Saturday, February 9 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Michele Scott
Title:  TACKED TO DEATH
Event Time: Saturday, February 9 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Matthew Pallamary
Title: SPIRIT MATTERS
Event Time: Thursday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Chris Marie Green
Title:  MIDNIGHT REIGN
Event Time: Friday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Peter May
Title:  THE CRITIC
Event Time: Monday, February 18 at 3:30 p.m.

Author:  Alexandra Sokoloff
Title: THE PRICE
Event Time: Tuesday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Melinda Wells
Title:  KILLER MOUSSE
Event Time: Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Cornelia Read
Title: THE CRAZY SCHOOL
Event Time: Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Ken Kuhlken
Title:  THE VAGABOND VIRGINS
Event Time: Sunday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Kim Harrison
Title: THE OUTLAW DEMON WAILS
Event Time:  Friday, February 29 at 7:00 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA

Author: Christa Faust
Title: MONEY SHOT
Event Time: Saturday, February 2 at 5:00 p.m.

Author:  Marcus Sakey
Title:  AT THE CITY'S EDGE
Event Time:  Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  T. Jefferson Parker 
Title:  L.A. OUTLAWS
Event Time:  Friday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Louise Ure
Title: THE FAULT TREE
Event Time:  Saturday, February 9 at 4:00 p.m.

Author:  April Smith
Title:  JUDAS HORSE
Event Time:  Saturday, February 16 at 1:00 p.m.

Author: Betty Webb
Title: DESERT CUT
Event Time: Friday, February 22 at 12:00 noon

Author: G.M. Ford
Title: NAMELESS NIGHT
Event Time: Saturday, February 23 at 4:00 p.m.

Author: Diane Wei Liang
Title:EYE OF JADE
Event Time: Saturday, February 23 at 6:00 p.m.

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Mystery Company
Carmel, IN

Author:  Leighton Gage
Title: BLOOD OF THE WICKED
Event Time:  Friday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Brian Freeman
Title: STALKED
Event Time:  Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Tim Dorsey   
Title: ATOMIC LOBSTER
Event Time:  Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m.

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Oakmond, PA

Author:  Rita Mae Brown
Title:  THE PURRFECT MURDER
Event Time:  Tuesday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m. (Oakwood Library)

Author: Jenny White
Title:  Dinner, Talk and Signing of THE ABYSSINIAN PROOF: A Kamil Pasha Novel
Event Time:  Monday, February 11 at 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Eliot Pattison 
Title:  Dinner, Talk and Signing of BONE RATTLER
Event Time:  Tuesday, February 12 at 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Leighton Gage
Title: BLOOD OF THE WICKET
Event Time:  Saturday, February 16 at 10:00 a.m.

Author:  Rosemary Harris
Title: Coffee & Crime breakfast and signing of PUSHING UP DAISIES
Event Time:  Saturday, February 23 at 10:00 a.m.

Author:  Lisa Scottoline
Title:  Lady Killer
Event Time:  Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. (Oakmond Library)

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneappolis, MN

Authors: Camille Hyytinen and Carl Brookin
Title:  THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT
Event Time: Saturday, February 16 at Noon 

Author: Brian Freeman
Title:  STALKED
Event Time:  Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: Nancy Atherton
Title:  AUNT DIMINITY, VAMPIRE HUNTER
Event Time: Wednesday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. 

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author: JA JANCE
Title: HAND OF EVIL
Event Time: Wednesday, February 6, at 7:00 p.m.      

Author:  Rosemary Harris
Title:  PUSHING UP DAISIES
Event Time: Thursday, February 7, at 7:00 p.m.      

Author:  Robert Ferrigno
Title:  SINS OF THE ASSASSIN
Event Time:  Tuesday, February 12 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: James Grippando
Title:  LAST CALL, a new Jack Swyteck legal thriller
Event Time: Friday, February 15 at 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Dana Stabenow, hosted by Diana Gabaldon
Title: PREPARED FOR RAGE
Event Time:  Friday, February 15 at 7:00 pm   

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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA

Authors:  Louise Ure / Cornelia Read
Title:  THE FAULT TREE / THE CRAZY SCHOOL
Event Time: Saturday, February 2 at noon

Author: Robert Ferrigno
Title: SINS OF THE ASSASIN   
Event Time: Tuesday, February 5 at noon

Author:  Earl Emerson
Title:  PRIMAL THREAT
Event Time:  Wednesday, February 6 at noon   

Author:  G.M. Ford
Title:  NAMESLESS NIGHT 
Event Time: Thursday, February 7 at noon,

Authors: Sue Ann Jaffarian / Christa Faust / Marcus Sakey
Title: THUGS AND KISSES  / MONEY SHOT / AT THE CITY'S EDGE
Event Time: Saturday, February 9 at noon

Author: Candace Robb
Title:  A VIGIL OF SPIES
Event Time: Thursday, February 14 at noon

Authors: Gregg Olsen and Bill Cameron
Title:  KILLER YEAR: A CRIMINAL ANTHOLOGY
Event Time:  Saturday, February 16 at noon

Author:  Dana Stabenow
Title: PREPARED FOR RAGE
Event Time: Thursday, February 21 at 10 am

Author: April Smith
Title:  JUDAS HORSE
Event Time:  Thursday, February 21 at 12 noon

Author: R.T. Jordan
Title: FINAL CURTAIN
Event Time:  Saturday, February 23 at noon

Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Title:  AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE
Event Time:  Tuesday, February 26 at noon

What's New, Pussycat?

Nope, no new cat mysteries this month (since the new Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown mystery technically debuted last month), but you will find a nice cross-section of mystery and crime fiction releases coming in February to a store near you, from From J.D. Robb to Jefferson Bass:

DEATH OF A GENTLE LADY by M. C. Beaton (Hardcover - Feb 11, 2008). This is #14 in the Hamish Macbeth mysteries set in Scotland wherein Macbeth has to solve the murder of an eldery woman.

L.A. OUTLAWS by T. Jefferson Parker (Hardcover - Feb 5, 2008). Parker's latest  features Rookie Deputy Charlie Hood.

THE AUTOMATIC DETECTIVE, by A. Lee Martinez (Paperback - Feb 5, 2008). This novel features an unusual protagonist in the form of a robot named Mack Megaton.

THE PRICE by Alexandra Sokoloff (Hardcover - Feb 19, 2008) A psychological suspense novel in a hospital setting.

THE BLACK DOVE (Holmes on the Range Mysteries) by Steve Hockensmith (Hardcover - Feb 19, 2008). Set in 1893 San Francisco and featuring brothers Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer, devotees of the late, great Sherlock Holmes and his trademark methods.

HUSH MY MOUTH (Hardcover - Feb 19, 2008). In this latest in Cathy Pickens’s Southern Fried Mystery series, attorney Avery Andrews explores the nature of family, the ones we’re born into and the ones we find, and learns about the haunting power of the past in the process.

VAMPIRE, INTERRUPTED (Argeneau Vampires, Book 9) by Lynsay Sands (Mass Market Paperback - Feb 26, 2008). After seven hundred years of life, Marguerite Argeneau finally has a career. Well, the start of one, anyway--she's training to be a private investigator.

AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE (Maisie Dobbs Novels) by Jacqueline Winspear (Hardcover - Feb 19, 2008). In her fifth outing, psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community.

CARROT CAKE MURDER (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) by Joanne Fluke (Hardcover - Feb 26, 2008). The latest installment of this cozy series set in Lake Eden, Minnesota.

DARK HORSE (Five Star Mystery Series) by Mike Langan (Hardcover - Feb 20, 2008). A legal thriller by first-timer author Langan. 

JUDAS HORSE by April Smith (Hardcover - Feb 12, 2008). Maverick FBI Agent Ana Grey is back in a suspense-charged new novel, going undercover into the volatile core of a terrorist cell.

PREPARED FOR RAGE by Dana Stabenow (Hardcover - Feb 5, 2008). Following A DEEPER SLEEP, her most successful Kate Shugak novel to date, the Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling thriller writer Stabenow delivers a nail-biting, novel of international suspense.

STRANGERS IN DEATH by J.D. Robb (Hardcover - Feb 19, 2008). The latest Lieutenant Eve Dallas story set in 2060 New York.

THE DEVIL's BONES by Jefferson Bass (Hardcover - Feb 5, 2008). From the writing team of world-renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson.

WHAT NEVER HAPPENS by Anne Holt (Hardcover - Feb 13, 2008) All over Oslo, celebrities are turning up dead in the most macabre of situations.

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 and Books N Bytes.

A Christie Two-Fer

Dame Agatha would probably never have imagined the day when her novels would find their way onto a gaming console where the users jump, move around, and interact with the action on the screen. But, that's what you get with the new release coming out on February 25 of "And Then There Were None" for the Wii. You can check out the trailer for the release here.

The legendary mystery novelist did live long enough (d.1976) to see television, but not the multitude of TV shows and movies based on her books that have been created in the past 32 years, as this listing from IMDB attests. One of the most recent was a twelve-episode series based on the Miss Marple character for ITV. Unfortunately, the Times Online is reporting that the 75-year-old actress Geraldine McEwan has recently announced her retirement in that role. 

Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson and chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd., said that "Geraldine has been a wonderful Miss Marple, the sixth actress to play her on screen in my lifetime. I think she brought a humanity and playfulness to the role that worked beautifully. We will miss her but are looking forward to seeing what new aspects of Jane Marple’s character our new Miss Marple might be able to explore." An ITV spokesman was quoted as saying, "We will search far and wide for a new Marple."  Candidates for the role include Victoria Wood, who won the Best Actress Bafta last year for her role in the ITV1 drama Housewife, with Julie Walters and Geraldine James also being considered. Stay tuned...

Fools Multiply Folly

In the news the other day, British writer Joan Brady said that "Fumes Made Her Go Lowbrow" (to quote the headline of the Times Online). She sued for damages from a shoe factory near her home, saying the fumes were so bad she was unable to concentrate on writing her highbrow novel and instead wrote a brutal crime story, Bleedout, which she found "easier." That thriller, by the way, sold 10,000 copies, a number many first-time crime writers would be thrilled to have under their belt. So, what is she telling the 10,000 folks who bought her book -- that they're a bunch of brainless morons?

On the heels of that fun tidbit comes another news story out of the UK in The Bookseller about a new Apprentice-style TV reality series titled "Murder Most Famous."  Six celebrities (a dancer, two actresses, a tabloid editor, a TV presenter, and a gardener) will be pitted against each other to write a crime novel. The winner will have their effort published (after editing by Pan Macmillan publishing director Maria Rejt). The one good thing to come from this is that proceeds will go towards the charity organization, BBC Children in Need.

But what does each of these stories say about crime fiction and mystery authors? You have to be sick or temporarily brain dead to write one? Or that all you need is to take someone off the street who's never written such a novel before and they can crank one out in five daily 45-minute episodes?

I agree with Sarah Weinman on her blog that I'm not really sure how to feel about this, especially when poor sickie Brady is working on a sequel to her thriller.

So, I'll just end with one brief happier news item. The Book Standard reported that according to a global survey from Nielsen Online, books were the most popular item purchased online over the past three months, topping out at 40%. Surprisingly (at least to me), the top online book-buyers were from South Korea, followed closely by readers in developing countries like China, Brazil, Vietnam and Egypt.  Nielsen Online's Jonathan Carson was quoted as saying this would indicates "Massive growth potential for online retailers that can specifically target these fast-growing markets." 

Don't Let Maass Grow Under Your Feet

For authors looking for agents, it's often a long, tedious process, filled with plenty of angst and luck (both good and bad). What are agents and editors looking for these days? What are the trends? Those questions are nearly impossible to answer, because in the time it takes to get a book to market, often 2-3 years, trends can quickly change. Still, it's nice to have agents spell out what they're looking for, such as the successful Donald Maass Literary Agency, which helpfully includes their "wish lists" on the agency site.

Maass himself starts it off with his stated desire for "A thriller in which the unlikely doom scenario is made utterly believable with 300 pages of careful, point-by-point elimination of all the reasons why it wouldn’t happen…PLUS, featuring a protagonist of unshakeable principles whom we cheer for from their first moment on the page."

Cameron McClure wants "A historical mystery or thriller that in addition to mystery plot, gives us a new or controversial look at a well known historical figure.  For example, a mystery set on and around the new high-rises of New York that shows us a more generous side of Robert Moses than we see in THE POWER BROKER," or "A mystery or thriller with a bike messenger as the main character or villain, like Tami Hoag's KILL THE MESSENGER, or maybe a bike mechanic main character, or some other character who makes their living with bicycles."

Stephen Barbara would like to see "A genre-bending novel for the adult suspense market, one that functions like Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men – overturning clichés of the genre, challenging ideas we hold dear, and creating suspense not through the unknown but through the sheer audacity of the villain."

There you have it. A tiny sampling of what tickles the fancies of some agents in the publishing biz. Maybe you won't have to finish 9 novels, receiving almost 500 rejections, and penning over a million words in the process before selling your first book, as did JA Konrath, author of the Jack Daniels mystery series. So, keep writing, keep reaching, and keep sending out those manuscripts...

P.S.

In talking about the TV Tidbits yesterday, I failed to include another change in network-land, namely that Discovery's Times Channel became Investigation Discovery this week, complete with the new web site, focusing on "fact-based programming." The lineup includes "Dateline on ID" (premiering Wednesday, January 30 at 10 p.m.), which is hosted by NBC anchor Lester Holt with "Dateline NBC" stories exclusively for ID’s audience; "Fugitive Strike Force," (Tuesdays at 10 PM starting January 29), "a fast-action program documenting three levels of fugitive-hunting units in Nevada including the U.S. Marshals, the Las Vegas SWAT and regional bounty hunters"; and "Life of Crime" (which "puts us in the minds of the actual detectives and forensic experts as they solve true crime mystery").

Marilyn Stasio's latest crime fiction reviews will appear in the January 27th edition of The New York Times, but you can find them online today.  She takes a look at Loren D. Estleman’s GAS CITY, Minette Walters's THE CHAMELEON’S SHADOW, Cornelia Read’s THE CRAZY SCHOOL (which continues the adventures of Madeline Dare in Read's second outing with that character), and Christopher G. Moore’s THE RISK OF INFIDELITY INDEX.

TV Treats (Minus the Plastic Wrap)

...We now interrupt this blog for the following rant. The photo of the TV depicted to the left was found in a database with one of the cue words being "antique." I have one of these I got in 1985 that *still* works amazingly well, and since when did 27 years become the definition of "antique"?  OK, end rant...

As you might guess, today's news tidbits involve mysteries on television. Folks in Canada can see a debut program tonight on Citytv, the Victorian-era Canadian series "Murdoch Mysteries." It's based on Toronto author Maureen Jennings's mystery novels and the three "Murdoch Mysteries" TV movies and is set in 1895 Toronto, giving a fascinating glimpse into the way crimes were solved at the time. The producers are calling it "'CSI' meets Sherlock Holmes."  If you live in the UK, it's been picked up by UKTV to begin airing Feb. 19.

Also from the UK comes the announcement by Borders that it will launch an online Book TV Channel at www.borders.co.uk (the URL link to go live later), featuring interviews with bestselling authors, book news and the rather unusual option of offering readers the chance to upload videos of themselves reviewing books (Jessica Simpson reviewing "The Long Goodbye," anyone?).

And in case you missed it, Court TV changed its name to Tru-TV in December. One of the series on the network is "Murder by the Book," in which thirteen masters of the American crime novel, including authors Sandra Brown, Harlan Coben, Elizabeth George and Lisa Scottoline "present true crimes that have inspired them to write, or simply shocked them to their core."  This week it's Jonathan Kellerman and up next, Lee Child.

All that and a bag of chips (and dip, and popcorn, possibly some Virgil's Root Beer)... 

Good News and Sad News

The Western Writers of America announced yesterday they are giving Tony Hillerman their Owen Wister Award for lifetime contribution to Western literature.  President Cotton Smith said "Tony Hillerman is truly a national treasure, bringing all of us wonderful stories of the modern West while giving us memorable glimpses of the distinctive ways of the Navajo Nation."

Hillerman's novels are set in the Four Corners area of New Mexico and Arizona with Navajo tribal police Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee as protagonists. Leaphorn was introduced in Hillerman's first novel, The Blessing Way, in 1970 and his second book in the series, Dance Hall of othe Dead, was awarded the 1974 Edgar Award for Best Novel.  He's since written 18 Leaphorn/Chee novels, the latest being Shape Shifter in 2006.

Now for the sad news, another milestone of passing. Australia's ABC News issued a press release mourning the death of investigative reporter Sandra Harvey who died of cancer at the age of 49.  Harvey was a senior investigative reporter who worked as a producer and researcher on the show "Four Corners" and authored or co-authored five books about crime and criminal investigation. She was awarded the Australian Crime Writers Association's Ned Kelly Award last year for her body of work.

Upon reading in a recent Murder by the Book newsletter that Dr. Dean James (By a Woman's Hand; Killer Books) will teach "Murder, American Style" ( an overview of American crime & mystery fiction, from Poe to the present) at Rice University's School of Continuing Studies, I wondered:  Just how many courses exist on the subject of mystery and crime fiction?

Upon doing a little bit of research, my initial feeling is "not many." You can find bazillions of classes on "literary" fiction (as a writer in both worlds, I prefer "non genre"), but very few colleges seem to offer coursework in mystery novels. I'm not sure I have the time or space here to get into a deep discussion about academic biases against genre writing, but the dearth of such classes seems to speak for itself.

Still, I did find the following link on the Crime Culture site which has a limited listing of crime-related fiction courses at colleges and universities in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada, subdivided in the categories of General Introductions,  Classic Detective Fiction, Victorian Crime Fiction, American Crime Fiction, and Film Noir/Literary Noir.  The course descriptions and bibliographies included are a fun read in and of themselves.

I found a few more course offerings not listed above, namely classes at UC-Berkeley, Nazareth College, Salem State College, Lasell College, and Centre College. There are no doubt others, although they probably don't advertise it, burying the info unceremoniously in the catalog.

If you've got the time and can find a course near you, give it a try. More demand can only mean more offerings in the future, and it might just be fun, to boot.   

Noir Ascendant

When the 2008 Edgar Awards were announced, Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen said, "As you can see in the Edgars list, some of the best work now is in noir. For many years wisdom had it that the French kept noir alive, but right now, it's not just well but flourishing."

To help get you in the noir spirit, there are several Film Noir Festivals coming up. For some reason, the first of the year seems to be a peak time for these--due to the starker landscapes winter brings, perhaps?

Unfortunately, one is already underway, but it runs through February, so you still have some time to catch showings. It's the Rochester, New York, Film Noir Festival, titled "What Exactly is Film Noir?"  You can find a calendar and ticket information here and here. Coming up is "Nightmare Alley," with two Fritz Lang films, "The Big Heat" and "Human Desire" close behind.

Certainly one of the largest noir films festivals is the annual Noir City event, now in its 6th year, held in San Francisco's Castro Theatre with over 11,000 people in attendance last year. It starts off this Friday, January 25th, with a tribute to actress  Joan Leslie in two films, "Repeat Performance" and "The Hard Way" and ends on February 3rd with two Richard Widmark films, "Roadhouse" and "Night in the City." But there's also lots of other murder and mayhem in-between.

The Belcourt Theater is hosting The Nashville Noir Film Festival February 1st - March 4th with such classics as Humphrey Bogart's turn on Philip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" and more recent takes like "Blow Out," Brian de Palma's thriller starring John Travolta from 1981.

The University of Houston-Downtown's Department of English is hosting "Noir Nation: A Film Series" January 24 - April 17, Thursday evenings (except March 6 & 20), at 7 p.m. Although there isn't a web site for the series, it's free and open to the public, and located at the University of Houston / Downtown, 1 Main Street, Academic Building, Room A.436 (Metro stop: UH Downtown Station). A sampling of their offerings includes:

Jan. 24 -- The Maltese Falcon
Jan. 31 -- Double Indemnity
Feb. 7 -- The Big Sleep
Feb. 14 -- Gilda
Feb. 21 -- Out of the Past

And just to show that not *all* noir film festivals are early in the year, you can start marking your calendar now for the Seattle Art Museum's annual film noir series which The Los Angeles Times called "the granddaddy of the world’s film noir festivals." Tickets usually go on sale in September; you can keep an eye on the museum's web site for details.