Mike Ripley of Shots Magazine reported recently award-winning author Kate Atkinson confirmed she's currently working on her fourth Jackson Brodie crime novel, the follow-up to When Will There Be Good News?, and that she is also planning a fifth crime novel, "an homage to Agatha Christie" with a cast of characters trapped in a country house hotel.
Judith Freeman of the LA Times wrote about a letter she received which led to a friendship with Dorothy Fisher, once Raymond Chandler's secretary, and one of the few people still alive who knew the author personally. She described Chandler as an exceptionally kind and thoughtful man, who, despite accounts of previous affairs with secretaries, treated her with respect, perhaps because she was only 17 when she began working for him.
Speaking of Chandler, the Baltimore Sun's Read Street blog summarized some of the offerings in the recent game "Write Like Raymond Chandler," with commenters providing even more.
Bookgasm and Harper Collins are featuring a contest for an Amazon Kindle 2 and a copy of Andrew Gross's new thriller Don't Look Twice, but hurry -- the deadline is May 1st.
In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal carried an essay by Alexander McCall Smith on the intense personal relationships readers form with characters and how that can complicate the very real lives of authors.
Jill Paton Walsh’s third Lord Peter Wimsey novel, The Attenbury Emeralds is scheduled for publication in Fall 2010. The Dorothy Sayers Estate’s trustees asked Paton Walsh to complete an unfinished Sayers' story, Thrones, Dominations, which was published in 1998 and was successful enough to be followed by a second and now the third installment.
Elizabeth Foxwell reported on her blog the Bunburyist that 007 beat The Saint at auction: the Leslie Charteris books featuring Simon Templar, aka The Saint, went unsold, whereas a few first-edition Ian Fleming titles fared better.
The Tony Hillerman novel contest announced rules for next year's competition, which is awarded to a first mystery novel set in the Southwest. Unfortunately, they are canceling the short story contest they've held for the past several years.
Books Expo America announced the assignments for author signings in both the booth and floor signing areas, with crime fiction notables including Brad Meltzer, JT Ellison, Rick Mofina, MJ Rose, Karin Slaughter, and Lee Child.
Irish eyes are smiling right now, at least among fans of Irish crime fiction. Declan Burke has a note about readings in Belfast with Brian McGilloway and Declan Hughes tomorrow evening and with Gene Kerrigan and Colin Bateman in Dublin on the 24th. Burke also offers his thoughts on the new dedicated award to crime fiction as part of the Irish Book Awards. And the Irish times liked the "dark entertaining" new thriller by Irish author Gene Kerrigan, Dark Times in the City.
Oregon's Friends of Mystery announced the Spotted Owl Award which is given each year to the best mystery books written by authors from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho or the Province of British Columbia. There were 11 finalists this year, due to a tie, with the nod doing to Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin.
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