In Reference to Murder

Book Signing Roundup for October

Here's the latest monthly roundup of author book signing events at mystery book stores around the U.S. and Canada (for dates at chain stores and other venues, check out booktour.com and similar sites).

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Aunt Agatha's
Ann Arbor, MI

Author: Elizabeth Sims
Title: Various
Event Time:  Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m

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Book Passage
Corte Madera, CA

Author:  Sara Paretsky
Title: Hardball
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 2009, 4:00 p.m

Author: James Ellroy
Title:  Blood’s A Rover
Event Time:  Saturday, October 17, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author: Joseph Kanon
Title: Stardust  
Event Time:  Monday, October 19, 2009, 7:00 p.m

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Booked for Murder
Madison, WI

Author:  Michael Biehl
Title: Seven Mile Bridge 
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 p.m.

Authors:   Michael Black, Luisa Buehler, David Walker, Jennie Spallone, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Jerol Anderson, Claire Applewhite, Bryan Gruley, John Desjarlais
Title:  Legends of the Fall Mystery Conference 
Event Time:  Saturday, October 10, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Book 'Em
South Pasadena, CA

Authors: Kwei Quartey, Naomi Hirahara and Dianne Emley  
Title: Various
Event Time: Saturday, October 3, 5:00 PM to 9:00 p.m

Author: Michael Connelly  
Title:  Nine Dragons
Event Time:  Sunday, October 18, 4:00 p.m

Author:  Wendy Hornsby 
Title: In the Guise of Mercy
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 27, 7:00 p.m

Author: Libby Hellman / Keith Raffel
Title: Doubleback / Smasher
Event Time:  Friday, October 30, drop-in signing

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Clare O'Donohue
Title: The Lover's Knot and A Drunkard's Path, Someday Quilts Mysteries Series
Event Time:  Thursday, October 1, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Michael A. Black
Title: Hostile Takeovers
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 2009 2:00 p.m.

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Clues Unlimited
Tucson AZ

Author: Alan Jacobson
Title: Crush
Event Time: Monday, October 5th at 5:30 p.m

Author: Marlene Bachmann
Title:  Obedient Until Death
Event Time:  Saturday, October 17th at 2:30 p.m

Author: Libby Fischer Hellman
Title:  Doubleback
Event Time:   Thursday, October 29th at 11:30 a.m.

Author: Steven Havill
Title: Red, Green, or Murder and Race for the Dying 
Event Time: Saturday October 31, 1:30  p.m

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M is for Mystery
San Mateo, CA

Authors:  Timothy Hallinan / Wendy Hornsby
Title: Breathing Water / In the Guise of Mercy
Event Time:  Friday, October 2nd at 7:00 p.m

Author:  Sara Paretsky
Title:  Hardball
Event Time:   Sunday, October 4th, drop-by signing only

Author:  Reed Farrel Coleman
Title:  Tower (written with Ken Bruen)
Event Time:  Thursday, October 8th, at 7:00 p.m

Author:  Deborah Grabien / Danny Carnahan
Title:  While My Guitar Gently Weeps / A Jig Before Dying
Event Time: Sunday, October 11th at 2:00 p.m

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Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Author:  Rhodi Hawk 
Title: A Twisted Ladder 
Event Time: Friday, October 2, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Jan Grape / Jay Brandon / Bill Crider
Title: Various
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Joseph Kanon
Title:   Stardust
Event Time: Tuesday, October 6, 6:30 p.m. 

Author:  Libby Fischer Hellmann
Title: Doubleback
Event Time: Thursday, October 8, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Rachel Brady
Title:  Final Approach
Event Time: Saturday, October 10, 4:30 p.m.

Author:  Deborah Crombie
Title:  Necessary as Blood
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Louise Penny
Title:  The Brutal Telling
Event Time:  Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Clare O'Donohue
Title: The Drunkard's Path
Event Time:  Thursday, October 15, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Sophie Hannah
Title:  The Wrong Mother
Event Time:  Monday, October 19, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Peter Lovesey / James R. Benn / Stuart Neville
Title:  Skeleton Hill  / Evil for Evil / The Ghosts of Belfast
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 20, 6:30 p.m.

Authors: Michael Connelly / Reed Farrel Coleman
Title:  9 Dragons / Tower  
Event Time: Wednesday, October 21, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Dee Wilbur
Title:  Justice Perverted  
Event Time:  Thursday, October 22, 6:30 p.m.

Author: John Connolly
Title: The Gates 
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 27, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Andie Ryan
Title: Shakedown   
Event Time: Wednesday, October 28, 6:30 p.m. 

Author: Dan Chaon
Title: Await Your Reply   
Event Time:  Thursday, October 29, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Wendy Hornsby
Title: In the Guise of Mercy  
Event Time: Saturday, October 31, 4:30 p.m. 

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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL

Author: James Swain
Title:  The Night Monster 
Event Time:  Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 7:00 p.m

Author:  Jonathon King
Title:   Styx
Event Time: Friday, October 9, 2009 at 7:00 p.m

Author:  Norb Vonnegut 
Title: Top Producer  
Event Time: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 7:30 p.m

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Mysteries and More
Nashville, TN

Author:  E. Michael Terrell
Title: Racing the Devil
Event Time:  Saturday, October 24, 2009

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA

Author: Wendy Hornsby
Title:  In the Guise of Mercy
Event Time:  Thursday, October 1, 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Stephen Jay Schwartz
Title:   Boulevard
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Jeri Westerson
Title:  The Serpent in the Thorns
Event Time:  Saturday, October 8, 1:00 p.m. 

Author:  Clare O'Donohue
Title: A Drunkard's Path
Event Time:  Friday, October 9, 1:00 p.m.

Author: Reed Farrel Coleman
Title:  Tower
Event Time:  Saturday, October 10, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Michael Connelly
Title:  Nine Dragons
Event Time:  Sunday, October 18, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Joseph Kanon
Title:  Stardust
Event Time:  Friday, October 23, 12:00 p.m.

Author: Sue Ann Jaffarian
Title:  Ghost a la Mode
Event Time:  Saturday, October 24, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Libby Fischer Hellman / Keith Raffel
Title:  Doubleback / Smasher
Event Time:  Saturday, October 31, 11:00 a.m

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author: Joanne Fluke 
Title: Plum Pudding Murder
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Jeri Westerson 
Title: Serpent in the Thorns
Event Time: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Alexandra Sokoloff 
Title:  The Unseen
Event Time: Saturday, October 10, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Barbara Hamilton 
Title: The Ninth Daughter
Event Time:  Sunday, October 11, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Skoot Larson 
Title: The Dig You Later, Alligator Blues
Event Time:  Monday, October 19, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Stephen Jay Schwartz 
Title: Boulevard
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 20, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Michael Connelly 
Title: Nine Dragons
Event Time: Saturday, October 24, 2009 12:00 p.m.

Author:  Carola Dunn 
Title:  Sheer Folly
Event Time: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author:  John Connolly
Title: The Gates
Event Time:  Thursday, October 29, 2009 7:00 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA

Author:  Clare O'Donohue 
Title:  A Drunkard's Path
Event Time:  Saturday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Reed Farrrel Coleman 
Title:  Tower
Event Time:  Saturday, October 10 at 5:00 p.m.

Author:  Sue Ann Jaffarian
Title: Various
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 20 at 6:30 p.m. (off-site)

Author: Susan Kandel, Charlie Huston, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly
Title:  Various
Event Time:  Saturday, October 24, noon to 7pm

Author: Libby Fischer Hellman and Keith Raffel
Title: Doubleback / Smasher
Event Time:  Friday, October 30 at 5:00 p.m. (off-site)

Author: Libby Fischer Hellman / Keith Raffel
Title: Doubleback / Smasher
Event Time:   Saturday, October 31 at 1:30 p.m.

Author: John Connolly 
Title: The Gates
Event Time:  Saturday, October 31 at 3:00 p.m.

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Mystery Company
Carmel, IN 

Author:  Larry D. Sweazy
Title: The Rattlesnake Season
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 pm

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Oakmond, PA

Author: Charles J. LeBeau
Title:  Collision of Evil
Event Time:  Saturday, October 10, Coffee & Crime breakfast, starting at 10:00 a.m. 

Author: Charles & Caroline Todd, Robin Hathaway and Elaine Santangelo 
Title: Various
Event Time:  Monday October 12, Dinner, Talk and Signing, starting at 6:00 p.m

Author:  Elizabeth Zelvin
Title:  Death Will Help You Leave Him
Event Time:  Saturday, October 24, Coffee & Crime breakfast, starting at 10:00 a.m.

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Mystery on Main Street
Brattleboro, VT

Author:  Don Bredes
Title: The Errand Boy 
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3rd, 12:15 p.m.

Author: Peter Abrahams
Title: Dog On It
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 5:45-6:45 p.m.

Author: Joseph A. Citro and Stephen R. Bissette
Title: The Vermont Monster Guide
Event Time: Sunday, October 4, 1:00 p.m. 

Author: Archer Mayor 
Title:  The Price of Malice
Event Time: Friday, October 9, 7:00 p.m.

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneapolis, MN

Author: Reed Farrel Coleman 
Title: Tower
Event Time: Tuesday October 6 - 7:00 p.m

Author:  Laura Childs
Title:  Tragic Magic
Event Time: Saturday, October 10 - 12:00-2:00  p.m

Author:  Vince Flynn
Title: Pursuit of Honor
Event Time:  Thursday, October 15 - 7:00 p.m

Author: Monica Ferris
Title:  Blackwork
Event Time:  Wednesday, October 21 - 7:00 p.m

Author:  Michael Connelly
Title:  Nine Dragons
Event Time:  Sunday, October 25 - 2:00  p.m

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Partners & Crime
Greenwich, NY

Author:  Sharon Potts
Title:  In Their Blood
Event Time:  Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m

Author: Charles Todd
Title: A Duty to the Dead
Event Time: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 7:00 p.m

Author: Stuart Neville
Title:  The Ghosts of Belfast
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author: Diana Gabaldon, James Sallis, Jon Talton, Stella Pope-Duarte & others
Title: Phoenix Noir Book Launch
Event Time: Saturday, October 3, 2009, 6:00 p.m

Author:  Alan Jacobson
Title: Crush 
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  F. Paul Wilson / Stephen Jay Schwartz
Title:  Ground Zero / Boulevard
Event Time:  Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author: Deborah Crombie / Stephanie Barron
Title:  Necessary as Blood / The White Garden
Event Time:  Thursday, October 8, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  Sarah Langan, Alex Sokoloff, Sarah Pinborough, & Rhodi Hawk
Title:  Various 
Event Time:  Friday, October 9, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  Joanne Fluke
Title:  Plum Pudding Murder
Event Time: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 2:00 p.m

Author:  Michael Connelly / Reed Farrel Coleman
Title:  9 Dragons / The Tower
Event Time: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 12:00 p.m

Author: Joseph Kanon
Title: Stardust
Event Time: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author: Brent Ghelfi
Title: The Venona Cable
Event Time:  Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2:00 p.m

Author: James Allis
Title: Various
Event Time: Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2:00 p.m

Author: James R. Benn / Stuart Neville / Peter Lovesey
Title:  Evil for Evil / Ghosts of Belfast / Skeleton Hill
Event Time:  Monday, October 19, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  Hannah Sophie
Title:  Little Face, Hurting Distance and The Point of Rescue
Event Time: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  Kris Neri
Title: High Crimes on the Magical Plane
Event Time:  Friday, October 23, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  Libby Fischer Hellman
Title: Doubleback
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author:  John Connolly
Title: The Gates
Event Time: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7:00 p.m

Author: Rachel Brady
Title: Final Approach
Event Time:  Friday, October 30, 2009, 7:00 p.m

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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA

Author:  Sara Paretsky
Title: Hardball
Event Time:   Friday, October 2, noon

Author: James Ellroy  
Title: Blood's a Rover
Event Time:  Friday, October 9, noon

Author: Alan Jacobson 
Title: Crush
Event Time: Saturday, October 10, noon

Author:  T.A. Perry
Title:  Trilogy in Blue: From the Ashes
Event Time:   Saturday, October 17, noon

Author: Jess Walter
Title: The Financial Lives of the Poets
Event Time:   Thursday, October, 29, noon

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Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN

Author:  Monica Ferris
Title: Blackwork 
Event Time:  Saturday, October 31, 1-2:00 p.m

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Vrooman's
Pasadena, CA

Author: Jeri Westerson
Title: Serpent in the Thorns
Event Time:  Saturday, October 3, 2009 - 5:00 p.m

Author: Steve Hodel & Ralph Pezzullo 
Title: Most Evil
Event Time:  Friday, October 09, 2009 - 7:00 p.m

Author:  Michael Connelly
Title: Nine Dragons
Event Time:  Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - 7:00 p.m

Author: James Ellroy
Title:  Blood's a Rover
Event Time: Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 7:00 p.m 

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END

New Crime Fiction Releases in October 2009

The list of new crime fiction releases this month is so overwhelming, it's really too large a task to cover in detail in one blog posting, but I thought I'd post a few summarized highlights. For fans of series, there's certainly plenty to cheer about, including reader favorites Mark Billingham: Death Message (Tom Thorne in the series); Michael Connelly: Nine Dragons (Harry Bosch, 14th); Patricia Cornwell: The Scarpetta Factor (Kay Scarpetta, 17th); Joanne Fluke: Plum Pudding Murder (Hannah Swense, 13th); Charlaine Harris: Grave Secret (Harper Connelly 4th); Reginald Hill: Midnight Fugue (Dalziel and Pascoe 24th); Alex Kava: Black Friday (Maggie O'Dell 7th); Jonathan Kellerman: Evidence (Alex Delaware 24th); Ralph McInerny: Stained Glass(Father Dowling 29th); Marcia Muller: Locked In (Sharon McCone 26th); Robert B. Parker: The Professional (Spenser 38th), Ruth Rendell: The and Monster in the Box (Inspector Wexford 22nd).

Several non-series novels also coming to a bookstore near your include David Baldacci's True Blue, Barbara Taylor Bradford's Breaking the Rules, John Connolly's The Gates, Allan Folsom's The Hadrian Memorandum, and Stuart Neville's The Ghosts of Belfast.

If you're looking for some debut novels, look no further than The Lazarus Covenant by John Fenzel, a senior Army Special Forces officer, and Final Approach by Rachel Brady featuring a skydiving protagonist.

There are even some short-story anthologies: A Rumpole Christmas: Stories by the late John Mortimer, a collection of five holiday stories-never before published in book form; The Price of Love and Other Stories by Peter Robinson, author of the Detective Inspector Alan Banks series; and A Touch of Dead: The Complete Stories, a collection of Sookie Stackhouse stories by Charlaine Harris.

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, the Bloodstained Bookshelf, and Fantastic Fiction.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

• Actor Michael Caine wants to revive one of his most famous characters, secret agent Harry Palmer, whom he portrayed in The Ipcress File, Funeral In Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain during the 60's. All three films were produced by James Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman.

• Despite the fact that the first installment of Guy Ritchie's new Sherlock Holmes movie isn't being released until Christmas, word comes that a sequel is already in the works.

• Denmark's choice to be considered for best foreign film in the Oscar race is the dark thriller Terribly Happy, about a Copenhagen cop transferred to a rural town, where he discovers that things aren't as quiet as they seem.The film already won the Grand Prix Crystal Globe at this years Karlovy Vary Festival.

TV

• On November 1 and 8 at 9pm,the PBS Masterpiece Contemporary series will feature a dramatization of Val McDermid's A Place of Execution in which a 13-year-old girl vanishes from an English village, and the mystery deepens 40 years later when a journalist arrives to make a film about it. Juliet Stevenson and Greg Wise co-star.

• It appears there is a possible major shakeup underway for Law and Order: Criminal Intent on USA Network. Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe and Eric Bogosian are apparently leaving the cast, along with the recently-departed Julianne Nicholson.

• A new crime drama is coming to the BBC. Hugo Blick will write and direct The Shadow Line. As a BBC rep explained, "The narrative takes place partly in the world of the police, who are investigating a murder. There is a parallel story … in the criminal world."

• CBS has given script orders to two projects: the first is an untitled crime drama from Peter Tolan (Rescue Me) about a quirky college professor who solves crimes, to be produced by Tolan and Michael Wimer. The second is The Rememberer, from writer/executive producer Ed Redlich (Without a Trace), about a female NYPD cop who has the secret ability to recall everything she experiences.  

• ABC has given a pilot order for a "high-concept" police procedural, Hopscotch, from writer/executive producer Chris Levinson (Law & Order), executive producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. The series apparently tells the stories of homicide investigations over several nonconsecutive days, with each act of an episode chronicling a different day.

• The Canadian mystery series Murdoch is going to film episodes in the U.K. British actors including former Holby City and Spooks actress Lisa Faulkner will join the cast.

• Central Crime Zone has an interview with Richard Castle, the fictional character from the ABC crime drama Castle played by Nathan Fillion, who "wrote" a novel released this summer.

WEB/RADIO

• James Ellroy has been all over the news lately with the release of his latest novel, the final title in his "Underworld USA" Trilogy. In an interview with NPR, Ellroy says he's writing for God, and for "people who are thrilled by history and all its shifting momentousness."   

• If you're on Facebook, Lee Goldberg (author of the Monk book series) is having a "Live Author Chat/Interactive Webcast" on Facebook Sunday, October 4 at 6:00pm.

• This week on BBC Radio 7: David Warner reads Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers; Cordelia Gray investigates in P. D. James's The Skull Beneath the Skin; and Andy Dalziel thinks a suicide was murder in Reginald Hill's Bones and Silence. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

Noir at the Bar

The latest Noir at the Bar event, sponsored by Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders, is coming up Wednesday evening with guest Dennis Tafoya, author of Dope Thief. Booklist wrote of Tafoya's debut novel, “The plotting is solid, and the action has a hard, violent edge that recalls Richard Price,” while Publishers Weekly called him a "writer to watch." Join Tafoya and screenwriter Pete Dexter who will be reading from his own new novel Spooner, at Philadelphia's Pen and Pencil Club, beginning at 6 p.m.

Ban Ignorance, Not Books

It's time once again for Banned Books Week, starting tomorrow, September 26, through October 3. The annual event began in 1982 after a surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries, with more than a thousand books involved since then. The primary complaints are usually from religious groups, but many campaigns stem from perceived negative portrayals of one group of people or other, i.e., racial, gender, religious or political.

When I hear about banned books, I'm always reminded of a quotation attributed to Stephen Hopkins, delegate from Rhode Island to the Continental Congress that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and whether it's fact or apocryphal, it still makes a lot of sense, "I've never seen, heard nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn't be talked about." 

Of course, the ultimate cautionary tale about banning books is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (both the novel and film based on it), where critical thought through reading is outlawed, and books aren't just banned, they're burned. Far-fetched, you say? As recently as July of this year, books in Wisconsin got folks so riled up, several library board members lost their jobs, one man said the city's library director should be tarred and feathered, and yes, there was a call for book burning. And that's just in the "Land of the Free" and Bill of Rights. It gets worse if you go outside these borders to other parts of the world. As Galley Cat pointed out recently, book banning is every American's problem. If you don't think it could happen near you, check out the map which lists the various book challenges.

There is a list of some events on the Banned Book Week web site link above you can check out. The easiest way for you to help is to visit one of these or your local library or bookstore. Or you can try one of the other "Things You Can Do" listed on the site.

A Conference Cornucopia

It's nice to see that the coming of Fall doesn't mean the end of book festivals. There are several in the mid-Atlantic this weekend where you can see some of your favorite authors, notably:

The Library of Congress' annual National Book Festival on the Mall takes place Saturday from 10 to 5. Crime fiction authors in attendance include David Baldacci, Lee Child, Mary Jane Clark, Margaret Coel, Michael Connelly, Craig Johnson, Walter Mosley, James Patterson, George Pelecanos, S.J. Rozan, Lisa Scottoline and Daniel Silva. The Washington Post has a schedule linked here.

The Baltimore Book Festival starts today and continues through Tuesday. Tomorrow you can hear Laura Lippman, although she'll be discussing a slightly different subject for her, "Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading." Donna Andrews is also on hand for a panel on "Fabulous Females of Fiction."

Fall for the Book at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia is also underway, with guests to include Louis Bayard, Meredith Cole, James Ellroy, Susan Froetschel, Matthew Pearl, Michael Sims, and Daniel Stashower. Bayard, Pearl, and Stashower are teaming up for a celebratory panel in honor of Poe's 200th birthday.

Crime Fiction on Twitter

Jen Forbus started compiling a listing of crime fiction resources (authors, agents, blogs, reviewers, bookstores, magazines, etc.) on Twitter, which you can find via this link. The list is growing and includes a wide selection of authors in various sub-genres, as well as other fun resources you can follow. More were added in the comments section of that posting, and more folks are signing on to Twitter each day, so I've included a few more below. If you have updates, you can post them here and/or on Jen's blog:

Agents
@Janet_Reid
@RachelleGardner

Authors
@carablack 
@david_hewson
@DocNoir
@faustfatale
@janicebashman
@JasonStarrBook
@JeffCohenwriter
@jeremyduns
@JoeMoore_writer
@keithr34
@lynnemurray
@michaelrobotham
@sarahdunant
@SuzanneArruda
@swierczy
@talexander
@VictorGischler
@victoriastrauss

Bloggers (and more)
@crimeficreader
@crimewriters
@thebookslut

Libraries
@LibraryJournal

Magazines & Publishing
@GalleyCat
@JanuaryMagazine
@shotsmagman

Reviewers
@BookBitch
@BSCreview
@josephinedamian
@LJBookReview
@Maxine_Clarke
@roncharles
@smiksa

A Preview of Boston Noir

The latest in the Akashic Books "city noir" series is due to be released November 1st (which will be here before you know it). This time it's Boston's turn, in a series of stories edited by Dorchester native Dennis Lehane. Publishers Weekly caught up with Lehane to ask him now he avoided "genre cliches" in this anthology. In a response to a question about Lehane's assertion that noir is a working-class tragedy, Lehane replied

"Noir is a tragedy about people who are squeezed by circumstance. I'm not a big believer in genre labels, but I do believe there's a clear delineation between noir and crime fiction or mystery. For this anthology, I wanted authors who are writing noir who don't think it's about a fedora or some ham-fisted tough guy. Those are just the trappings."

A Publishers Weekly review of the book noted that "In the best of the 11 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series, characters, plot and setting feed off each other like flames and an arsonist's accelerant," including Lehane's own "Animal Rescue," about a killing resulting from a lost and contested pit bull, John Dufresne's "The Cross-Eyed Bear," and Don Lee's "The Oriental Hair Poets." Other contributors include Stewart O'Nan, Patricia Powell, Lynne Heitman, Russ Aborn, Itabari Njeri, Jim Fusilli, Brendan DuBois, and Dana Cameron.

The book launch is scheduled at the tail end of the Boston Book Festival, at 6pm on October 24th at the Boston Public Library (apparently there will be a prize for the best femme fatale and hard-boiled private eye costume, so keep that in mind). Akashic Books is offering a signed, limited hardcover edition of the anthology to the first 100 purchasers.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

• Ken Bruen and Reed Coleman's book Tower may be making its way to the cinema, as the film rights were sold to producers Brad Weston, Gil Adler and Shane McCarthy. (Hat tip to Crimespree Cinema.)

• In a similar deal, Swedish production house Yellow Bird secured movie adaptation rights to six novels featuring the criminal reporter Annika Bengtzon penned by best-selling author Liza Marklund. Yellow Bird producer Jenny Gilbertsson said "The opportunity to adapt Liza Marklund's books is a dream come true for us. Annika Bengtzon is such a fantastically composed main character -- both endearing and unnerving in her dedication to her work. We're delighted that we now have the opportunity recreate these great stories to their full potential on the big screen." Yellow Bird is the same outfit hoping to bring a version of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy to the big screen, as well as a series of 13 new Swedish movies about Henning Mankell's criminal inspector Wallander.

TV

• The Archive of American Television now has an online collection of interviews from television stars and creative talent, EmmyTVLegends.org. Approximately 600 interviews have been taped for more than a decade by volunteers, including scholars and industry members, although currently there are only about a third of those posted at the site that launched this week. In the Cop/Detective/Mystery Series category, you can watch recollections by cast and crew from Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, In the Heat of the Night, The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, T.J. Hooker and The Untouchables.

• Fans of Numb3rs' Peter MacNicol may wonder why he's not as present in the upcoming season. Apparently, budget cuts forced producers to trim his episode order.

• Penn and Teller are going to star in a new hourlong mystery series, as--themselves. For the purposes of the plot, they'll be Las Vegas entertainers moonlighting (daylighting?) as detectives by day. Leonard Dick (House, the Menatlist) is writing the project. No word yet on whether Teller will get to speak.

• The New Yorker reviewed HBO's new private eye dramedy Bored to Death, written by Jonathan Ames and starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson.

• Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) will star in a Lifetime movie about con artist Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller, the high society scammer who ran the longest con in FBI history. The head writer is Edithe Swensen and the director, Mikael Salomon.

• The Alma Awards for veteran Latino actors were handed out recently. One recipient was Miguel Sandoval (Medium) who recalled his first interview with a Hollywood casting director in 1982. "He told me that my career would be restricted to two roles: gardeners and gangbangers. After talking to me awhile, he said I just might have a chance as a 'crossover.' I didn't even know what 'crossover' meant. I came from a theater background where I could play anybody. I once portrayed Erich von Stroheim on stage.

• ABC-TV in Australia is offering a new game show titled Sleuth 101. Host Cal Wilson will be joined by a special guest detective (a well-known comedian, so you know this isn't exactly a deadly-serious venture) who has to solve a murder in front of a live studio audience, with no script--just witness statements, footage flashback and forensic evidence.  

• The veteran stuntman Ronald Ross has died. Ross worked on 150 movies and TV shows such as The FBI, Rat Patrol, The Rockford Files and Quincy.

WEB/RADIO

• The NetDrag crime fiction podcast has a new home. The latest offering is from Jeffrey Cohen, author of the humorous mysteries As Dog is My Witness, A Farewell to Legs, and It Happened One Knife.

• The Library of Congress podcasts being uploaded in advance of the annual Festival of the Book include some recent entries, Michael Connelly and Walter Mosley (hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell).

• The Minneapolis Star-Tribune videotaped James Ellroy at home, reading from his latest book, Bloods a Rover.

The Agatha Christie Week Wrap

Today marks the last day of Agatha Christie Week, and in case you missed some of the festivities, there's still a little time left to celebrate:

The official Agatha Christie web site has information and links about the activities that have been taking place in the UK.

The Guardian newspaper online offered up several Christie bonbons during the week, including an essay by Val McDermid about how she and Christie have parallels in their writing, the Guardian's pick of the Top 10 Agatha Christie stories, a quiz, and (if you live in the UK), a contest to win a Christie-style desk chair and a set of several Christie novels.

Kerrie Smith's Mysteries in Paradise blog sponsored an Agatha Christie week blog tour or carnival, as they are sometimes known, with several other bloggers signing on to post their own commemorations.

If you hurry (and live in the U.S.), you have until midnight tonight to obtain a free download of The Case of the Missing Will, by Agatha Christie, read by David Suchet, from AudioFile Magazine. The magazine's website also has conversations available with "the voices of Agatha Christie," narrators Hugh Fraser (Captain Hastings on the BBC television series Agatha Christie’s Poirot) and Rosalind Ayres, who narrated and directed several audio books of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories.