Reviewing the Situation

 

Here's a Friday roundup of reviews and profiles making the rounds:

The Chronicle Herald provided micro-reviews of books by John Le Carre, John Macken, Linda Barnes, and Linwood Barclay, concluding that "Le Carre, as usual, masterfully dabs strokes of humour, sarcasm and satire in just the right places" and Trial By Blood by Macken is "an exciting novel which has been smartly structured."

The Telegraph looked at new crime novels from Magdalen Nabb and Matti Joensuu. Reviewer Jake Kerridge finds Joensuu's book To Steal Her Love "absolutely haunting," and appreciates Nabb's posthumous novel Vita Nuova as a "classic crime puzzle with touching flashes of insight into human nature."

David L. Beck of the St. Petersburg Times wasn't particularly thrilled with Stephen J. Cannell's latest "lightweight" book On the Grind, at the same time Beck revealed a preference for hard-boiled and noir books.

The Boston Globe Online found Jan Brogan's Teaser to be satisfying and fast-paced, enjoying the complex, fully realized character of its protagonist, reporter Hallie Ahern.

Allen Barra was impressed by a new Edgar Allan Poe biography, appropriately titled Poe by Peter Ackroyd, adding "One of the few biographers with equal standing as a critic, Ackroyd is the first writer in decades to bring Poe's life and work into sharp focus and impress urgency on an appreciation of his oeuvre."

The Toronto Star believes there are some things the Brits do very well, revealing how top-notch British crime writers Mark Billingham and Kate Atkinson "demonstrate why their yarns are so consistently entertaining despite certain flaws."

Media Murder

Here's a roundup of crime and mystery-related stories in the world of broadcasting and other interactive genres, including a new spinoff of NCIS and a French noir film festival in Seatlle.

TV

The Chicago Tribune reviews the new season of Damages, adding that few things are more fun than a page-turning mystery novel full of people doing bad things to each other and lying to themselves and everyone else. It's even better if they're rich, "which are the pleasures this show provides."

A&E is combining law enforcement and paranormal investigation in a new unscripted series called Paranormal Cops about a group of Chicago police officers who moonlight as ghost chasers in their spare time.

The Writers Guild of America announced their screenwriting award nominations which include Dexter and The Wire in the television category.

David Suchet says he wants to continue playing Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot until he has filmed the novelist's complete works.

CBS' decision to make its Fall schedule crime-drama heavy seemed to have worked. CBS Entertainment Pres Nina Tassler said she hoped to finally put to rest the conventional wisdom that CBS was crippled by its over-reliance on crime dramas.

Speaking of CBS crime dramas, the network announced it was spinning off its successful NCIS program.

The series based on Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency debuts on HBO in March. Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott stars as series heroine Precious Ramotswe.

It's hard to say whether the late Patrick McGooohan would have watched the remake of The Prisoner. But the new series' stars, Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen, are happy to be a part of the show, which airs on AMC later this year. McKellan said of the original, "I'd seen it and admired it. But this, what we've done, is its own thing."

The new CBS murder mystery set to air this Spring, Harper's island, is going to be interactive, with portions of the show being aired online and on mobile devices. The show debuts April 9, but the interactive mobile part starts earlier, on March 18.

Lee Goldberg takes the DVD industry to task for releasing "dud" TV crime thrillers like My Own Worst Enemy, while neglecting such series as It Takes a Thief, Maverick, Harry O, Police Story, and others.

The new shows on Investigation Discovery include Undercover, which profiles undercover officers who crossed over to the other side and came back, and all-new episodes of 48 Hours.

FILM

Seattle is in the midst of a French Noir Film Festival, tracing the history of French noir from 1937 through 1981.

The Hollywood thrillers keep coming. Push is slated for release on February, featuring psychic espionage and starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning.

The LA Times doesn't think Hollywood did Donald Westlake justice (do they ever do justice to good crime fiction? well, that's for another blog), although they did find that two -- 1967's Point Blank, based on the first novel he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and Westlake's adaptation of Jim Thompson's The Grifters from 1990 -- are clear standouts, both by British directors.

Josh Bazell was a medical intern in his hospital scrubs on the night shift as publishers waged a seven-figure fight for his first novel, a thriller titled Beat the Reaper. Now, New Regency is acquiring screen rights as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Pakistani paper Faris Hussain reviewed the upcoming movie Killshot, scheduled for release this Friday. Based on the thriller by Elmore Leonard, it was originally designed for Robert DeNiro and Quentin Tarantino, but instead wound up with Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the leads. The review ultimately concludes that John Madden’s direction elevates the drama of this piece, but the thriller aspects of this film don’t seem to live up to the strong title.

THEATER

Continuing Obamamania, crime writer and filmmaker Teddy Hayes is creating a new musical, Obama On My Mind, to premiere in London in March. It "takes a humorous look at the weird and wonderful world behind the scenes of a small Obama campaign office and the larger than life characters who make the wheels turn, the cogs whirr and bring in the votes."

WEBCASTS

Media Bistro offers up an exclusive video interview with Edgar-award winning novelist Thomas Perry.

GAMES

Gamers, rejoice. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for NintendoDS was just released, described as a "simple yet addictive observation game"

Reader-in-Chief

As Barack Obama takes his oath today as the 44th President of the United States, the burden of all the monumental expectations placed squarely on his shoulders will be heavy indeed. But he has already started a small change, and hopefully a lasting one, by virtue of his well-publicized love of books and the resulting interest it's generated in some titles already. Although he isn't the first President to have an effect on reading and book sales, the New York Times was impressed enough to ask if Obama was the new Oprah, a sentiment shared by NPR, which called him a "new force in publishing."

The Rap Sheet also took up the discussion, pointing out that some presidents have done more to promote reading than others, although Obama might want to consider grabbing a crime novel for "some lighter relief" after all the heavy reading he's been doing. The Hawaiian Eye blog offered up a few suggestions, titles like Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos and Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. And if the new President wants to sit down with mysteries featuring U.S. Presidents or presidential candidates, he can always check out this list offered up by Janet Reid at Mystery Fanfare.

It appears that President Obama has taken to heart the words of Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry, that "Reading builds the educated and informed electorate so vital to our democracy." Otherwise, we may wind up as Ray Bradbury foresaw, that "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."

Gearing Up for Poe

The official 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe isn't until Monday (January 19th). In my family we always seem to end up celebrating birthday week, so I thought Poe deserves the same treatment. There will no doubt be countless tributes and articles all over the blogosphere on the actual date, but here are some links and events to get you started on the countdown...

For background material, the Poe Society in Baltimore has lots of articles and  chronologies, and the Biography Channel has a 5-part documentary available for viewing free online.

BBC 3 Radio has four audio essays available for a limited time on their web site, so you'd better hurry if you're going to catch them. They include Andrew Taylor (who just won the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger) investigating Poe's childhood in England and the inspiration behind his own bestselling novel The American Boy.

The Christian Science Monitor featured an article on the mystery surrounding Poe's death in Baltimore, quoting Laura Lippman who favors the prevailing theory: that on election day, Oct. 3, 1849, or on the day before, Poe was seized by political thugs, drugged, sated with whiskey, confined – probably in a dank basement – then dragged out and forced to vote at numerous polling places. His captors then dumped him in the gutter, and he never recovered from the resulting illness.

At least four U.S. cities (Boston, Richmond, Philadelphia, and Baltimore) lay claim to Poe, but Richmond may have one of the strongest, as not only did Poe spend one-third of his life there, but the city's Edgar Allan Poe Museum alleges to have the world's finest collection of Poe manuscripts, letters, first editions and personal belongings. In addition to exhibits, readings and other performances (Garrison Keillor on the birthday eve), there will be candlelight and segway tours and a 24-hour birthday bash at the museum. Here's another cheerleading article for Richmond-as-Poe-central.

Poe was born in Boston, so not to be outdone, Boston College had a series of lectures in honor of the date. One of the speakers was Brent Fidler, co-director, screenwriter and star of the indie film The Last Days of the Raven which you can catch in the worldwide Internet premiere on January 19th linked here.

Another of the contenders, Baltimore, houses The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, and the museum, along and the city of Baltimore has two weekends of celebrations planned, this weekend and next. Events include a tribute by actor John Astin.

Philadelphia also played a part in the Poe legacy, and the Free Library recently hosted representatives of the Boston, Baltimore, and Philly in "The Great Poe Debate" to coincide with the library's exhibition of Poe artifacts, "Quoth the Raven: A 200-Year Remembrance of the Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe," on view through Feb. 13. The Washington Post also had an article about the Philly-Poe connection.

The York Daily Record has a nice roundup of many of the above events and more in the relevant cities.

 In honor of the bicentennial, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, using a Poe painting by award-winning artist Michael J. Deas, who published The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe, a comprehensive collection of images featuring authentic likenesses. 

The Mystery Writers of America gave their 2009 Raven Award (wonder where they got the name?) to the Edgar Allan Poe Society and The Poe House in Baltimore. As current MWA President Harlan Coben indicated, the dual choice of the Poe Society and the Edgar Allan Poe House is doubly appropriate: "Not only does 2009 mark the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday, but Mystery Writers of America has long considered Poe a patron saint. In fact, the Raven Award, itself, is named after Poe's famous poem, and our Edgar® Awards -- or 'Edgars,' as they're more popularly known -- are awarded annually to authors of distinguished work." MWA also released two new anthologies in honor of Poe, which you can read about here.

The Westport Public Library has a detailed article on the Poe Bicentennial, with the first part here, with the second part, located here, taking a look at how Poe has inspired other writers and novels such as Michael Connelly’s The Poet.

Listmania

The lists of "Best Of" crime fiction novels (and fiction in general) have been trickling in over the past few weeks, and instead of noting each and every one, I decided to wait, compile a summary of sorts, and calculate which titles were included most often. The winning vote-getters are listed at the bottom (no peeking). So here goes:

Amazon liked Tana French's novel The Likeness enough to give it the #6 spot on its listing of Top 100 Books which includes all fiction and nonfiction for 2008.

Barnes and Noble broke down their listing into categories, including two crime fiction titles in the Best Fiction Debut listing and one in Historicals. They also featured a Best Stories on the Edge section chock full of thrillers and topped by A Most Wanted Man by John le Carré.

Booklist gave The Ancient Rain by Domenic Stansberry the top nod in its Ten Best list, but also offered Best New Installment in Long-Running Series Awards (with The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter on top), and Best Crime Novel Debut Awards with Calumet City by Charlie Newton coming out the winner. You can also check out their Top Crime Fiction Audiobooks listing here.

The Christian Science Monitor's listing is for fiction in general, but they do see their way clear to include five crime fiction titles by Atkinson, Bayard, LeCarre, Lehane, and Rankin. 

Stephen King compiled a best list for Entertainment Weekly and included When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson, Heartsick and Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Oline Cogdill picked 16 books for her crime fiction bests the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, as well as four standout debuts.

January Magazine's listing was so big, they had to split it into two parts, here and here, although in actuality it was more due to the fact that the list included detailed some nice reviews and summaries instead of just the usual bullet points. The only puzzle is why such a vaunted list of 40 authors only includes two women...

The Kansas City Star's best of crime fiction list includes ten works, in alphabetical order, starting with Saturday’s Child, by Ray Banks.

The Library Journal has a primary listing covering all categories and includes Dennis Lehand and Stieg Larsson. Their genre-specific list roams outside the box and includes a few titles not found elsewhere, such as Assassins at Ospreys by R.T. Raichev.

Sarah Weinman roamed even farther outside the box, including two "standout novels don't even qualify as crime fiction exactly, although each revolves around the ramifications of criminal acts."

NPR was succinct. Five Best. Read 'em here.

Writing for the New York Times, Marilyn Stasio was thrilled to see that thrillers about frothing-at-the-mouth serial killers appear to be in decline.

Publishers Weekly had a general fiction list which included three crime fiction novels and a separate listing for mysteries.

Salon's book awards were slim, but they did manage to give nods to novels by Tana French, Susan Choi, and Rivka Galchen.

The San Fran Chronicle chose 50 fiction and poetry books but only found two crime fiction novels they liked, apparently.

The list of best mysteries compiled by Seattle Times columnist Adam Woog includes bests and runners-up, with a few titles not found on other lists.

UK's Sunday Times had a refreshing European viewpoint, including the "Scandinavian discovery of the year," Matti Joensuu's To Steal her Love.

The crime fiction standouts for USA Book News had separate lists for Mystery/Suspense and Thriller/Adventure, with Blood Harvest by Brant Randall winning the top award in the former category and Stealing Trinity by Ward Larsen wining the latter.

The Village Voice had an eclectic list of anything-goes (Creepy Earth Mothers! Portuguese drag queens!) but included Exit Music by Ian Rankin and Lush Life by Richard Price.

The Washington Post weighed in with its Baker's Dozen list of 13 top mysteries and thrillers, a nice listing (politically correct, perhaps?) of male/female,  domestic/international, traditional/thriller novels.

The novels listed as "best" most frequently held few surprises. In order:

1. Stieg Larsson – The girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2. Kate Atkinson – When Will There Be good News 
3. Tana French – The Likeness 
4. John le Carre – A Most Wanted Man 
4. Michael Connelly – The Brass Verdict 
4. Tom Rob Smith – Child 44 
5. Chelsea Cain  - Sweetheart 
5. Dennis Lehane – The Given Day 
5. Ian Rankin – Exit Music 
6. Thomas H. Cook – Master of the Delta 
6. John Harvey – Cold in Hand 
6. Donna Leon – The Girl of His Dreams 
6. Richard Price - Lush Life 
6. Don Winslow – Dawn Patrol 

Other titles receiving more than one mention were:

• Sandi Ault – Wild Inferno 
• Louis Bayard – The Black Tower 
• Lawrence Block – Hit and Run 
• James Lee Burke – Swan Peak 
• Lee Child – Nothing to Lose 
• Harlan Coben – Hold Tight 
• Robert Ferrigno – Sins of the Assassin 
• Alan Furst – The Spies of Warsaw 
• John Grisham – The Appeal
• P.D. James – The Private Patient 
• T. Jefferson Parker – LA Outlaws 
• George Pelecanos – The Turnaround 
• James Sallis – Salt River 
• Alexander McCall Smith – The Miracle at Speedy Motors 
• Inger Ash Wolfe – The Calling 
• Dave Zeltserman – Small Crimes

(And in case you missed it, the Crime Fiction Dossier blog also asked various authors and critics to list their favorite reads from the past year. Lots of fun reading.)

There you have it! Quite a bit of good fodder on the above lists with a total of 152 different books represented. As Publishers Weekly noted, "Regardless of your thinking on these current times, they are certainly anything but boring, and we feel the same about the books published this year."