Mystery Melange

The fourth and final issue of the first Femme Noir graphic novel miniseries, The Dark City Diaries, was released right before Christmas.

If you're in Tucson, Arizona, on January 10th, J.A. Jance will be appearing as part of the Oro Valley Public Library's 2009 Book Festival.

Canadian mystery writer Maureen Jennings, who nearly drowned last year on a Florida beach, paid tribute to two Americans who were awarded a Carnegie Hero Medal for their life-saving efforts, including Fred Hunt, a 51-year-old businessman from Maine who died during the rescue and was honoured posthumously.

The South Africa Mail and Guardian Online continues its discussion on the move afoot locally to hustle crime fiction into the thriller category, since "crime is too stark a reminder of contemporary South Africa realities."

The city of Albuquerque will rename a library in honor of late mystery author Tony Hillerman.

The Mystery Writers International Festival, which had been cancelled for 2009, may be back on again. The heart of the issue, like everything else these days, is funding, but nonetheless, Owensboro city officials are pushing for the festival to return this year.

Sue Grafton was included in a Forbes article on people who "got thrown out of their jobs, learned from the experience and rose to success and celebrity."

The Chatham Courier had a "local boy who's made good makes good again" story, profiling filmmaker Dennis Gelbaum, who recently published a thriller, Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

Author Link's interview column featured C.J. Box talking about "hot-button issues," his writing life, the game warden Joe Pickett series, and his latest stand-alone novel.

Alexander McCall Smith is going to launch his latest novel in Australia in February, saying that "I don't know why but my books click with Aussies. I also get a lot of mail from Americans but they seem to click with Australians and Swedes the most."

Ian Rankin has launched a campaign calling on writers, publishers and booksellers to make more books available to the visually impaired, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Braille's inventor, Louis Braille.

And for Halloween this year, make your plans now to take part in the Smithsonian's Mystery Lover's England and Scotland tour, October 23-31. For only $6,200 you can meet crime writers Ann Cleeves and Ian Rankin, among others, and visit famous crime fiction settings.