In Reference to Murder

June Book Signing Roundup

It's time for the latest monthly roundup of author events at mystery bookstores around the U.S. and Canada. If you live near one of the stores, be sure and catch these opportunities during June to meet a new or favorite mystery author and buy a book to be signed. Check the web site links for all the book and event details, noting that schedules are subject to change.

Some of the "big" names with books coming out this month, such as Janet Evanovich, 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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Aunt Agatha's
Ann Arbor, MI

Author: Thomas H. Cook
Title: Master of the Delta
Event Time: Monday, June 16 at 7 p.m.

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Book Carnival
Orange, CA

Author: Steve Martini
Title: Shadow Of Power
Event Time: Sunday, June 8, at 1 p.m.   

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Tuesday, June 10, at 1 p.m.

Author: Jon Land
Title: The Seven Sins
Event Time: Sunday, June 15, at 1 p.m.

Author: David Rosenfelt
Title: Don't Tell A Soul
Event Time: Tuesday, June 24, at 6 p.m.


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Book 'Em
South Pasadena, CA

Author: Don Winslow
Title: The Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, at 2 p.m.

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Booked for Murder
Madison, WI

Author: Barbara Fister
Title: In the Wind
Event Time: June 1, at 2 p.m.

Author: Jess Lourey
Title: August Moon
Event Time: June 8, at 2 p.m.

Author: NM Kelby
Title: Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar and Grill
Event Time: June 22, at 2 p.m.

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The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza
Albany, NY

Author: Julia Spencer Fleming
Title: I Shall Not Want
Event Time: Saturday, June 21, at 11 a.m.

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Jennifer Faus
Title: Before Sunday: The Life Stories of the Bloody Sunday Victims
Event Time: Sunday, June 1, at 2 p.m.

Author: Jonathan Santlofer
Title: Anatomy of Fear
Event Time: Thursday, June 5 at 7 p.m.

Author: John Drummond
Title: It Ain't Pretty, But It's Real
Event Time: June 8, at 2 p.m.
 
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Cheesecake and Crime
Henderson, NV

Author: Sharan Newman
Title: The Shanghai Tunnel
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, at 4 p.m.

Author: Morgan St. James
Title: A Corpse in the Soup
Event Time: Saturday, June 14 at 2 p.m.

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Dead Write Books
Vancouver

Author: Stephen Miller
Title: Field of Mars and The Last Train to Kazan
Event Time:  Thursday June 19th, at 7 pm

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M is for Mystery
San Mateo, CA

Author: Alan Furst
Title: The Spies Of Warsaw
Event Time: Wednesday, June 4th  (drop-by signing only)

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time:Saturday, June 7th at 2 p.m.
 
Author: Robert Crais
Title: Chasing Darkness
Event Time:  Tuesday, June 10th or Wednesday June 11th  (drop-by signing only)

Author: Meg Gardiner
Title: The Dirty Secrets Club
Event Time: Thursday, June 12th  at 7 p.m.

Author: Christopher Reich
Title: Rules of Deception
Event Time:  Tuesday, June 17th  (drop-by signing only)

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Wednesday, June 18th at 7 p.m.

Author: Paul Goldstein
Title: A Patent Lie
Event Time:  Friday, June 20th at 7 p.m.

Author: Elizabeth Zelvin
Title: Death Will Get You Sober
Event Time:  Sunday, June 22nd at 2 p.m.

Author: Zoe Ferraris
Title:  Finding Nouf
Event Time: Tuesday, June 24th at 7 p.m.

Author: Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasins
Event Time: Wednesday, June 25th at 7 p.m.

Author: Don Winslow
Title:  Dawn Patrol
Event Time:  Friday, June 27th at 12 noon

Author: Deborah Crombie
Title: Where Memories Lie
Event Time: Saturday, June 28th at 12 noon

Author: Maggie Barbieri
Title: Extracurricular Activities
Event Time: Sunday, June 29th AT 2 p.m.
  
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Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Author: Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasin's
Event Time: Tuesday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m.

Author: Robert B.Parker
Title: Appaloosa
Event Time: Friday, June 6, 6:00 p.m.

Author: Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Sunday, June 8, 2:00 p.m.

Author: Meg Gardiner
Title: The Dirty Secrets Club
Event Time: Wednesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Maggie Sefton
Title: Dyer Consequences
Event Time: Thursday, June 12, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Alan Furst
Title: The Spies of Warsaw
Event Time: Monday, June 16, afternoon Stock signing only!

Author: Elaine Viets
Title: Clubbed to Death
Event Time: Tuesday, June 17, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Thomas H. Cook
Title: Master of the Delta
Event Time: Friday, June 20, 6:00 p.m.

Author: Don Winslow
Title: Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Monday, June 23, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Deanna Raybourn
Title: Silent in the Grav
Event Time: Wednesday, June 25, 4:30 p.m.

Author: Deborah Crombie
Title: Where Memories Lie
Event Time: Wednesday, June 25, 6:30 p.m.

Author: James Rollins
Title: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Skull and The Last Oracle
Event Time: Thursday, June 26, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Friday, June 27, 6:00 p.m.

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Murder by the Book
Portland, OR

Author: Philip Margolin
Title: Executive Privilege
Event Time: Friday, June 6, at 6:30 pm

Author: Sheldon Siegel
Title: Judgment Day
Event Time:  Sunday, June 15, at 5 pm

Author: Mark Schorr
Title: Fixation
Event Time: Sunday, June 22, at 5 pm
 
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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL
 
Author: Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasins
Event Time: Saturday, June 7 at 6 p.m.

Author: Elaine Viets
Title: Clubbed to Death
Event Time: Wednesday, June 11 at 7 p.m.

Author: Barbara Parker
Title: The Dark of Day
Event Time: Friday, June 27, at 7 p.m.

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA
 
Author: Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Wednesday, June 4, 1:00 p.m.

Author: Patricia Smiley
Title: Cool Cache
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, 1:00 p.m.

Author: Don Winslow
Title: Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, 11:30 a.m.

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Wednesday, June 11, 1:00 p.m.

Author: Jon Land
Title: The Seven Sins
Event Time: Saturday, June 14, 12:00 p.m.

Author: Laura Levine
Title: Killing Bridezilla
Event Time: Saturday, June 14, 2:00 p.m.

Author: Meg Gardiner
Title: The Dirty Secrets Club
Event Time: Monday, June 16, 12:30 p.m.
 
Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Thursday, June 19, 1:00 p.m.

Author: Janet Evanovich
Title: Fearless Fourteen
Event Time: Sunday, June 22, 10:00 a.m.

Author: Elizabeth Zelvin   
Title: Death Will Get You Sober
Event Time: Friday, June 27, 1:00 p.m.

Author: David Rosenfelt
Title: Don't Tell a Soul
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, 12:00 p.m.

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Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY

 Author: Hakan Nesser
Title: Mind's Eye
Event Time: Tuesday, June 10th, 6:30-8

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Wednesday, June 11th, 6:30-8

Author: Jonathan Santlofer
Title: The Murder Notebook
Event Time: Thursday, June 12th, 7-8:30

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time:  Tuesday, June 17th, 6:30-8

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author: Thomas Perry
Title: Fidelity
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Author: Sheldon Siegel
Title: Judgment Day
Event Time: Monday, June 9, 2008 7:00 p.m.

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 7:00 p.m.

Author: Steve Martini
Title: Shadow of Power
Event Time: Friday, June 13, 2008 7:00 p.m.

Author: Don Winslow
Title: Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Saturday, June 14, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Friday, June 20, 2008 7:00 p.m.

Author: David Rosenfelt
Title: Don't Tell a Soul
Event Time: Friday, June 27, 2008 7:00 p.m.

Author: Brett Battles
Title: The Deceived
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, 2008 12:30 p.m.

Author: Lynn Flewelling
Title: Shadows Return
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Author: Elizabeth Zelvin
Title: Death Will Get You Sober
Event Time: Sunday, June 29, 2008 2:00 p.m.

Author: James Rollins
Title: The Last Oracle
Event Time: Sunday, June 29, 2008 4:00 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA
 
Author: Alan Furst
Title: The Spies of Warsaw
Event Time: Tuesday, June 3, time not specified

Author: Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Tuesday, June 3 at 12:00 noon

Author: Patricia Smiley
Title: Cool Cache
Event Time: Saturday, June 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Author: Don Winslow
Title: Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Saturday, June 7 at 5:00 p.m.

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: Jon Land
Title: The Seven Sins
Event Time: Thursday, June 12 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: Duane Swierczynski
Title: Severance Package
Event Time: Saturday, June 14 at 12:00 noon

Author: Meg Gardiner
Title: The Dirty Secrets Club
Event Time: Monday, June 16 at 7:00 p.m.

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Thursday, June 19

Author: Brett Battles
Title: The Deceived
Event Time: Saturday, June 21 at 5:00 p.m. (Launch Party)

Author: Robert Fate, Naomi Hirahara, and Eric Stone
Title: various
Event Time: Monday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m. (offsite event)

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Mystery Company
Carmel, IN

Author: Diana Catt, S.M. Harding and D.B. Reddick
Title: Medium of Murder (anthology)
Event Time: Sunday, June 1, 2 pm

Author: Elizabeth Zelvin
Title: Death Will Get You Sober
Event Time: Wednesday, June 4, 7 pm

Author: Libby Fischer Hellmann / Michael Dymmoch
Title: Easy Innocence / M.I.A.
Event Time: Saturday, June 14, 2 pm

Author: Ben Small
Title: Alibi on Ice and The Olive Horseshoe
Event Time: Sunday, June 15, 2 pm

Author: Wes D. Gehring
Title: The Charlie Chaplin Murder Mystery
Event Time: Saturday, June 21, 2 pm

Author: Don Bruns
Title: St. Barts Breakdown
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, 2 pm

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Oakmond, PA
 
Author: Jonathan Santlofer
Title: The Murder Notebook
Event Time: Monday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m.

Author: Hakan Nesser
Title: Mind's Eye
Event Time:  Saturday, June 21, at 10 a.m.

Author: Kathryn Miller Haines
Title: The Winter of Her Discontent
Event Time:  Friday, June 27, at 7 p.m.

Author: Meg Gardiner
Title: The Dirty Secrets Club
Event Time  Saturday, June 28, at 10 a.m.

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Mystery One
Miwaukee, WI

Author: Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasins
Event Time:  Friday, June 6th at 7 p.m.

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Tuesday, June 24th at 5 p.m.

Author: John Connolly / Nathan Singer
Title: The Reapers / In the Light of You
Event Time: Tuesday, June 24th, at 7 p.m. (offsite)

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Northshire Bookstore
Manchester, VT

Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Title: I Shall Not Want
Event Time:  Sunday, June 22 at 4 pm

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneappolis, MN

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time:  Wednesday, June 4, at 7 p.m.

Author: Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasins
Event Time: Thursday, June 5, at 7 p.m.

Author: Julie Hyzy / Craig Black
Title: State of the Onion / Random Victim
Event Time:  Saturday, June 21, at 12 noon

Author: Jess Lourey
Title: August Moon
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, at 12 noon

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author:  Craig Johnson
Title: Another Man's Moccasins
Event Time: Monday, June 2, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Andrew Gross / Jonathan Santlofer
Title:  Dark Tide / The Murder Notebook
Event Time: Tuesday, June 3, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Laurell K Hamilton
Title: Blood Noir
Event Time: Thursday, June 5, at 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Steve Martini
Title: Shadow of Power
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, at 2 p.m.

Author:  Loren D. Estleman
Title: Frames
Event Time: Monday, June 9, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Bill Pronzini /  Marcia Muller
Title: Fever / The Ever-Running Man
Event Time:  Wednesday, June 11, at 7 p.m.

Author:  John Connolly
Title: The Reaper
Event Time: Thursday, June 12, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Maggie Sefton
Title: Dyer Consequences
Event Time: Friday, June 13, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Douglas Preston
Title: The Monster of Florence
Event Time: Saturday, June 14, at 6 p.m.

Author:  Don Winslow
Title: Dawn Patrol
Event Time: Monday, June 16, at 7 p.m.

Author:  James Rollins
Title: Last Oracle
Event Time: Tuesday, June 24, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Wednesday, June 25, at 7 p.m.

Author:  Deborah Crombie
Title: Where Memories Lie
Event Time: Monday, June 30, at 7 p.m.
 
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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA
 
Author: Phillip Margolin
Title: Executive Privilege
Event Time:  Wednesday, June 4, noon

Author: Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Friday, June 6, noon

Author: Mike Lawson   
Title: House Rules
Event Time: Saturday, June 7, noon

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Monday, June 9, noon

Author: Elizabeth Zelvin
Title: Death Will Get You Sober
Event Time:  Saturday, June 14, noon

Author: Sheldon Siegel
Title: Judgment Day
Event Time:  Monday, June 16, noon,

Author: Jeffery Deaver
Title: The Broken Window
Event Time: Tuesday, June 17, noon

Author: Elizabeth Simms
Title: The Actress
Event Time: Saturday, June 21, noon,

Author: Timothy Hallinan
Title: The Fourth Watcher
Event Time: Thursday, June 26, noon

Author: Barbara Pope
Title: Cezanne's Quarry
Event Time:  Friday, June 27, noon

Author: James Rollins
Title: The Last Oracle
Event Time: Saturday, June 28, noon

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Sleuth of Baker Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Authors:  Louise Penny, Quintin Jardine, Ann Granger, Phyllis Smallman, David Gibbins, John
Brady, James Nichol, Michael Rose, and others yet to be named.
Title: various
Event Time: Sunday, June 15, at 5:30 p.m.

Author:  Lee Child
Title: Nothing to Lose
Event Time: Sunday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m.

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Reapers
Event Time: Wednesday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m.

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Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN

Author: David Housewright
Title: Madman on a Drum
Event Time: June 7, at 12 noon

New Mystery & Crime Fiction Novels Coming In June

No doubt publishers try to release as many titles and possible bestsellers as they can for the month of June to take advantage of summer leisure and travel time. This probably explains why there's such a large number of well-known and award-winning authors with new books coming out this month including Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Philip R. Craig, Jeffery Deaver, Janet Evanovich, Sally Spencer, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Victoria Thompson, among MANY, MANY others.

Here's a partial representative listing, arranged alphabetically by author (and check out the links at the bottom for more, as the new books are too numerous to list here):

• Catherine Aird -- Losing Ground (June 24, 2008).  This is the 21st of the Inspector Sloan and Calleshire County police procedurals, set around the dramatic theft of an 18th Century painting.
• Lawrence Block -- Hit and Run  (June 24, 2008)  Number 4 in the series featuring hitman and stamp collector Keller who's framed for the murder of the charismatic governor of Ohio.
• Lee Child -- Nothing to Lose (June 3, 2008). Jack Reacher's 12th outing, this time set in the Colorado towns of Hope and Despair and a mysterious industrial site.
• Natasha Cooper -- A Poisoned Mind (June 24, 2008). The 9th installment in the legal thriller series featuring QC Trish Maguire who takes on industrial corruption and sabotage.
• Catherine Coulter -- TailSpin (June 24, 2008). The 12th FBI suspense from Coulter featuring married FBI Special Agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock who take on the case of a psychiatrist to the rich and powerful who may be the target for assassination.
• Philip R. Craig -- Vineyard Chill (June 3, 2008). The 19th installment in the series with J. W. Jackson set in Martha's Vineyard in which Jackson finds two friends in trouble and his own family receiving threats.
• Deborah Crombie -- Where Memories Lie  (June 24, 2008) This is the 12th novel with Detective Inspector Gemma James and her partner, Duncan Kincaid, who help Gemma's neighbor, a refugee from Nazi Germany whose husband's alleged suicide may have been murder.
• Jeffery Deaver -- The Broken Window (June 2008). The 8th novel with Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs who jump into action after estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges.
• Janet Evanovich -- Fearless Fourteen (June 17, 2008). Number 16 in the Stephanie Plum series finds Stephanie involved in a bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster.
• Carolyn Haines -- Wishbones (June 24, 2008) In this eight of the Southern Belle Mysteries, Southern gal Sarah Booth Delaney packs up her hound dog and her P.I. business and sets off for Hollywood to take a shot at stardom.
• Linda O. Johnston -- Double Dog Dare  (June 3, 2008) The sixth in the Kendra Ballantyne and Pet-Sitter Mysteries in which Kendra’s boyfriend, Jeff, is missing, his car submerged in a canal.
• Magdalen Nabb -- Vita Nuova (June 1, 2008). Number 14 in the Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia series set in Florence, Italy who looks into the puzzling murder of a quiet single mother studying for a doctorate in chemistry.
• Ruth Rendell -- Not in the Flesh (June 10, 2008). This is the 22nd Chief Inspector Wexford outing, in which a truffle-hunting dog turns up a body instead.
• Kate Sedley -- The Green Man (June 19, 2008). The 17th Roger the Chapman mystery set in 1482 when an English army invades Scotland in order to put King James the Thirds renegade younger brother on the Scottish throne.
• Maggie Sefton -- Dyer Consequences (June 3, 2008) This is the 5th Knitting Mystery featuring Kelly Flynn in which her local yarn shop is trashed and a woman found dead in the basement.
• Sheldon Siegel -- Judgment Day (June 24, 2008). The sixth in the series with San Francisco law team and ex-husband-and-wife Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez, who are called in at the last minute to try to stop the execution of an innocent man.
• Sally Spencer -- A Dying Fall (June 2008). The 19th DCI Charlie Woodend mystery in which a charred body is discovered in an abandoned cotton mill.
• Julia Spencer-Fleming -- I Shall Not Want (June 2008). This the 6th Claire Ferguson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery with a suspected serial killer of migrant workers Claire's been working with possibly loose in the town of Millers Kill.
• Victoria Thompson -- Murder on Bank Street (June 3, 2008). The 10th in the Gaslight series with midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy who try to solve the murder of a local doctor.

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, and San Diego's Mystery Books.

Waking the Thriller

Barbara Machlin, creator of the crime series Waking the Dead (seen on Britain's ITV as well as BBC America) and the standalone crime drama Kiss of Death, is taking on a three-part thriller as her next project. The plot revolves around three sisters and is described as a “relationship thriller," with each of the one-hour episodes focusing on a different sister, allowing the story to be told from their perspective. Machlin said “Each time you learn something you had not known before and there is a big shock surprise at the end. I do take the audience back and forward in time, but each episode leads to a great big event which I revisit with each sister.” She added, “I am enjoying the way I am using my crime structure within the family structure and seeing what it gives me.” No word yet on casting.

Riddle Me This

What's the longest-running quiz show on TV? Go on—take a guess. No, it's not "Wheel of Fortune" or "Jeopardy." Give up? It's a program that's been running annually since 1961, begun at WRC in Washington, DC. Titled "IT'S ACADEMIC," the show was created by Sophie Altman who continued to produce the show until just three weeks ago, when she was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her illness and died May 24th at the age of 97.

Every year, 81 Washington area secondary schools (public, parochial, private, suburban, and inner-city) participate on the TV academic bowl competition, with schools rooting for their teams complete with banners, bands, cheerleaders (Sandra Bullock rooted for her team), and fans sporting school colors. Contestants have gone on to become famous in their respective fields, from New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton (who was an alternate—hmmm, that sounds familiar), to George Stephanopolus to Bruce Cohen (producer of American Beauty and Big Fish) to astronaut Timothy Creamer.

Also appearing:  Laura Lippman (captain of the Wilde Lake High School team) and Michael Chabon.

It's nice to hear there's at least one venue for academics in a world where high school sports get most of the attention. The Washington Post had a nice remembrance about Altman and the program, including this quotation from a Bethesda high school teacher, "Many of our past team members have come back to tell me that their participation in 'It's Academic' fundamentally changed their lives -- the stories range from poor students who became scholars, doctors and lawyers to (dozens of) students who had a hard time finding a fit socially until they found a home on the It's Ac team."

At its peak, the show was licensed to television stations in 24 cities and is still on the air in Washington, Baltimore, Charlottesville, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Phoenix, San Diego and Buffalo. Altman even instituted a series of "It's Academic" programs in federal and state prisons. If there is an afterlife, she's probably there right now, putting together an empyreal competition. Wouldn't it be fun to see a Golden Age gals crime fiction team (say Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingha) vs. a Golden Age guys team (maybe John Dickson Carr, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Rex Stout)?

Another Remembrance

On this date, May 27th, in 1894, Dashiell Hammett, creator of Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles, was born just up the road from here in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Since yesterday's posting was about Memorial Day and veterans who were also crime fiction authors, it's appropriate to mention that Hammett enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I and served in the Motor Ambulance Corps. Even though he contracted tuberculosis during the War and was considered disabled thereafter, he pulled strings so he could enlist in World War Two, where he spent most of his time as an Army Sergeant in the Aleutian Islands, editing an Army newspaper (and promptly retiring from the war with emphysema). Due to his years of service, upon his death in 1961, he was buried in Arlington Cemetery, Plot: Section 12, Lot 508, Grid Y/Z-23.

Requiescat in pace

Last Veteran's Day, I posted some comments on mystery and crime fiction authors and protagonists who were military veterans. So in commemoration of Memorial Day today, I thought I'd post a list of crime fiction authors who served in the military but who have passed on since Memorial Day 2007. With one exception, these are all World War II vets, which isn't surprising considering their age range. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of 1,800 veterans die each day, and 10 percent of them are buried in the country's 125 national cemeteries. An estimated 686,000 veterans died in 2007.

So in today's blog we celebrate the lives and service of these men who were willing to give their lives to the cause of democracy and who also gave us memorable contributions to the world of crime fiction:

Andrew Britton is the youngest of the list. He served as a combat engineer in the U.S. Army for three years, during which time he was assigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas. In the summer of 2001, he received orders for Korea, where he served with the 2ID, the famed 2nd Infantry Division. He was honorably discharged as a specialist in 2002. He died at the age of 27 on March 18, 2008, from a congenital heart condition. Despite his youth, he wrote three highly-regarded Ryan Kealey counterterrorist operative novels, The American, The Assassin, and The Invisible.

Arthur C. Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 1941-1946. He was mostly known as a writer of science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey), but he also wrote some sci-fi/mystery short stories, such as "Crime on Mars" (published in the July 1960 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine) and several others. He died at the age of 90 on March 19, 2008. 

Clive Exton spent two years in the British Army, stationed in Germany. He was known for his TV scripts for the Agatha Christie Poirot series (1989-2001) starring David Suchet, and episodes of Rosemary & Thyme, the British series starrting  Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris as gardening detectives Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme (2003-2006). He also dramatized Wolf to the Slaughter (based on Ruth Rendell's 1967 novel) in 1987 starring George Baker as Inspector Wexford.  He died at the age of 77 on August 16, 2007.

John Gardner volunteered for service in the Royal Marines during World War II. He also was a former priest and journalist who penned the first Boysie Oakes novel, The Liquidator (1964), as a parody of the spy novels popular in the 60's. He also wrote regular spy novels with protagonists Derek Torry and Herbie Kruger. He's probably best-known as the author of the renewed James Bond novels, the first of which was Licence Renewed in 1981. Most recently he had began a series featuring Suzie Mountford, a 1930's police detective, and the fifth in that series, No Human Enemy, will be published posthumously August 5, 2008. Gardner died at the age of 80 on August 3, 2007.

Oakley Maxwell Hall served in the Marines during World War II. He used the pseudonym Jason Manor to write several mysteries, including Too Dead to Run and The Read Jaguar featuring California private eye Steve Summers. He also authored Murder City, A Game for Eagles, and the Ambrose Bierce series. He dead at the age of 87 on May 12, 2008.

Joe L. Hensley served in the United States Navy during World War II a Pharmacist's Mate in the Navy Hospital Corp. He had a multi-faced career as a journalist, legislator, attorney, and judge, beforing publishing his first book THE COLOR OF HATE in 1960. He also wrote short stories published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine among others. He was probably best-known in crime fiction for the Donald Robak series, featuring a crusading defense attorney based on himself, including Deliver Us to Evil in 1971. His last novel, Snowbird's Walk, a standalone, was released posthumously by St. Martin's in 2008. He died at the age of 81 on August 27, 2007.

James Leasor was a British author who served in Burma with the Lincolnshire Regiment during World War II and became a correspondent for the Forces newspaper after being wounded in action. He wrote in many disciplines, including thrillers, historical novels, and non-fiction title. His crime fiction work included the Dr. Jason Love thrillers, the first of which was Passport to Oblivion in 1964 and a serie with the unnamed owner of Aristo Autos, which began in 1969 with They Don't Make Them Like That Any More. Under the pseydonym of Andrew MacAllan, he also wrote several standalone thrillers. He died at the age of 87 on September 10, 2007.

Robin Moore served in World War II as a nose gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps, flying combat missions in the European Theater. For his outstanding service, he was awarded the Air Medal. He was most famous for his half fiction/half nonfiction work The Green Berets and the non-fiction book The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy. He died at the age of 82 on February 21, 2008.

If you know of other names to add to this listing, please do.

Noir at the Bar

Since yesterday's posting was about "Surf Noir," I thought it would be a good time to post a notice about an event taking place a week from today in Philadephia. Peter Rozovsky and the Detectives Beyond Borders blog will present a crime-fiction reading (with music to follow) featuring Duane Swierczynski, the author of Severance Package, The Blonde, The Wheelman, Secret Dead Men, Murder at Wayne Manor: An Interactive Batman Mystery and more. The fun kicks off Sunday, June 1, at 6pm at The Tritone, 1508 South Street (215-545-0475).

Surf Noir

 The Wall Street Journal printed an interview yesterday with Don Winslow, crime novelist and former private investigator, about his new book, a "surf noir" tale titled The Dawn Patrol, set in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego. Winslow has had previous successes with his book The Death and Life of Bobby Z, made into a movie featuring Laurence Fishburne, and The Winter of Frankie Machine, optioned by Robert DeNiro. Two secrets of his creative process include getting started at 5:30 in the morning, writing until 10 then hiking six or seven miles before going back to work, and writing two books at a time since "when one horse gets winded, you jump on the other."

In answer to the question "Why is crime fiction such a popular category?", he replied "I think it's a power thing. Criminals in fiction do things that most people would never dream about really doing. Why is The Godfather saga so fascinating? We all have fantasies of living in a make-it-thus world. Somebody comes in with a problem and you solve it by saying 'make it thus.' And the henchmen go out and do it.In a complicated society we get tired of restraints. Criminals cut through. Also, the crime story has a lot of inherent drama, a hyped sense of reality. We're all curious about the underworld. In these books you find a structure, created by a crime, and then you get a solution, which is unlike most of life. It's satisfying."

Booklist's Top Audio

Earlier this month, Booklist posted their Top 10 Crime Fiction Audiobooks for the past year, featuring picks where, "bodies litter the landscape, from Russia to Mississippi, while murder most foul encompass drownings, shootings, bludgeonings, and other methods." (Annotations by Karen Harris)

• The Appeal. By John Grisham. Read by Michael Beck. 2008. 12.5hr.  Beck’s precise, youthful voice, with a hint of a southern accent, keeps the focus on judicial process run amok in Grisham’s complex legal thriller set in Mississippi.
• Dark of the Moon. By John Sandford. Read by Eric Conger. 2007. 10.5hr. In a clipped, just-the-facts-ma’am baritone, Conger portrays ex-cop Virgil Flowers, who is trying to solve three seemingly unrelated murders.
• Hide.By Lisa Gardner. Read by Maggie-Meg Reed. 2007. 11.5hr.  Reed delineates a variety of memorable characters in Gardner’s tension-filled mystery about the discovery of six mummified bodies in Boston.
• The Tin Roof Blowdown. By James Lee Burke. Read by Will Patton. 2007. 13hr.  Patton is as adept at portraying the dregs of the criminal world as he is at delivering Burke’s vivid descriptions of post-Katrina devastation in New Orleans.
• Trouble. By Jesse Kellerman. Read by Scott Brick. 2007. 13hr.  Brick’s resonant tones reflect building tension in this psychological thriller about a young med student who aids a woman being assaulted near Times Square
• Up in Honey's Room. By Elmore Leonard. Read by Arliss Howard. 2007. 7.5hr.  Free-spirited Honey Diehl, the ex-wife of a witless Nazi, is attracted to U.S. Marshall Carl Webster. Howard’s flawless characterizations and mastery of multiple accents stand out in his superb reading of Leonard’s clever tale.
• Volk's Game.  By Brent Ghelfi. Read by Stephen Hoye. 2007. 10.5hr. The theft of a da Vinci masterpiece leads to mayhem in this tense thriller, effectively read by Hoyne, whose voice suggests the characters’ intentions.
• The Watchman. By Robert Crais. Read by James Daniels. 2007. 9hr.  Los Angeles private eye Joe Pike is hired to protect a wealthy and petulant young woman. Daniels’ sharp, clear reading brings energy to this exciting thriller.
• The Water's Lovely. By Ruth Rendell. Read by Rosalyn Landor. 2007. 11hr.  This psychological mystery begins with the suspicious bathtub drowning of a cruel, abusive stepfather. Landor’s cool, detached, precise British delivery underscores the tension and sense of dread infusing the characters.
• The Yiddish Policemen's Union. By Michael Chabon. Read by Peter Riegert. 2007. 13.5hr. Meyer Landsman, a police detective in the Jewish community of Sitka, Alaska, searches for the killer of a heroin addict. Riegert’s Yiddish accent is pitch-perfect as he reads the stunning metaphors that characterize this distinctive mystery.

To Sir, With Love

On May 22, 1859, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and 28 years later, Doyle brought forth Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet. So much has been written about Doyle and Holmes, I'm not sure there's anything I could add to shed new light on either subject, so I thought I'd compile a list of fun facts and tributes.

IT'S ELEMENTARY

There have been been numerous biographies and other reference books about Doyle and Holmes through the years, but here are some of the best and most recent:

• Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley (Malice and Edgar winner, 2008)
  
• The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Andrew Lycett 
• Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle by Daniel Stashower 
• The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by John Dickson Carr 

THE FACULTY OF DEDUCTION IS CERTAINLY CONTAGIOUS

There are also hundreds, if not thousands, of web sites that focus on, or prominently feature Doyle and/or Holmes, but the following have official, helpful, and just plain fun info:

• The Official Site of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate
• The Chronicles of Sir Athur Conan Doyle Holmes Links
• The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Society
• The Sherlock Holmes Society
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Online Exhibition

WE MUST LOOK FOR CONSISTENCY

If you check sites like the Internet Movie Database, you'll immediately notice the large number of portrayals on stage and screen (both large and small). Although my personal favorite will probably forever remain Jeremy Brett for the BBC, here are notables:

• John Barrymore played the role in a 1922 movie entitled Sherlock Holmes.
• Orson Welles played Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of one of William Gillette's plays, broadcast in September of 1938 as part of the "Mercury Theater on the Air" series on CBS Radio.
• Basil Rathbone's career as Holmes began with The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, released in 1939, followed by a series of 12 films produced by Universal from 1942 to 1946.
• John Gielgud played Holmes for BBC radio in the 1950s, with Ralph Richardson as Watson. Gielgud's brother, Val Gielgud, appeared in one of the episodes as Mycroft Holmes. Also appearing was Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty in The Adventure of the Final Problem.
• From 1984 to 1994, Granada TV produced The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett as Holmes and David Burke and subsequently Edward Hardwicke as Watson.  All but 19 of the Conan Doyle stories were filmed before the premature death of Jeremy Brett from a heart attack in 1995.
• The android Commander Data (Brent Spiner) from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) portrayed Sherlock Holmes in two episodes of the series, in plots featuring the holodeck.

I HAVE NO TIME FOR TRIFLES

• Doyle's first published story appeared in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal before he was 20.
• Conan Doyle was friends for a time with the American magician Harry Houdini, before a falling out over the subject of spiritualism (Doyle was a believer, Houdini was not).
  
• Doyle's first job in the field of medicine was as a ship's doctor on a voyage to West Africa.
• The first known film featuring Holmes is Sherlock Holmes Baffled, a one-reel film running less than a minute, made by the American Edison company in 1900.
• The famous deerstalker cap of Holmes was not ascribed to him by Doyle, but by the illustrator of the stories, Sidney Paget.
• Holmes' best friend and biographer is Dr. Watson. Watson has a bullet wound that was first described as being in the shoulder, but in another story the wound had moved to the leg.
• There were 17 steps up to Sherlock Holmes's second-floor apartment.
• Check out the Games and Puzzles here and here and here

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE FIRST-HAND EVIDENCE (Stories for online reading)

• Mystery Net has full-text versions of all 24 of the original Sherlock Holmes Adventures for download
• Thinks.com has "Scandal in Bohemia" on their site
• Project Gutenberg also has stories for download