Mystery Melange

Elizabeth Foxwell pointed out in her wonderfully educational and electic blog, The Bunburyist, that New York's Museum of the American Gangster is scheduled to open March 7. And, after you've soaked up your fill of gangster lore, why not take Amtrak down to D.C. to check out the Museum of Crime and Punishment and Spy Museum to make it a crime-filled three-fer.

David Thompson announced that Busted Flush Press will be printing more stories by David Handler and A. E. Maxwell in 2011. As Thompson says in his blog, "Reprinting Handler's and Maxwell's mysteries are two of the main reasons I created Busted Flush Press, and I'm just sorry it's taken me this long to get back to 'em."

Stephen D. Rogers (he of the prolific gifts, with over 500 published short stories to his credit, consarn him!) is helping publicize the release of his story anthology Shot to Death with a 30-day blog tour. For dates and stops, check out his web site.

Here's a follow up note to an item I mentioned on this week's "Media Murder" posting about Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor TV pilot, The Guards, being in post production.  Magma Productions have a new website for the Jack Taylor Film series, where they'll be posting more information, clips, trailers and more.

David Fulmer is the author of several novels which have been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Falcon Awards and Barry Awards, in addition to winning a Shamus nod in 2002. When he was recently dropped by his publisher, he took matters into his own hands and created his own publishing company, Five Stones Press. He also teaches writing workshops, and having penned six historical novels of his own, has an upcoming program this Saturday about writing in that genre. Note, if you've already signed up, the location has been changed to the Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia.

Sandra Seamans reported (via Cormac Brown) about a new quarterly e-zine, Dark Valentine Magazine, which is seeking dark fiction of 500 to 5000 words. They also have a section called Through a Lens Darkly for writers to write a story of up to 1000 words based on a posted picture.

Thank heavens most criminals just aren't that bright. From news of the weird (and true!), come stories fit for a humorous mystery novel, perhaps:  police catch a man snorting drugs on their squad car; a man shoots up a hotel room and puts a clock in the microwave; and pot smugglers were caught in scuba gear in a sewer.