Puzzling Mysteries

 After re-watching Citizen Kane the other evening, I'm more attuned to jigsaw puzzles (if you've seen the movie, you'll know why). The Booklist Blog had a note about a jigsaw puzzle made up of a montage of pulp-era paperback covers, put out by the book publisher Harlequin. The main cover is The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, author and the Hollywood writer/director behind such movies as Pickup on South Street, The Steel Helmet and The Big Red One (the inspiration for Saving Private Ryan). The puzzle comes in 1,000 pieces, which will probably last you through the cold winter months while you're stuck inside.

In looking around for other interesting crime-fictionish jigsaw puzzles, I came across a series of puzzles based on Henry Slesar books. The amazingly prolific Slesar penned 500 short stories, 55 radio plays, six books and wrote for the tv soap opera The Edge of Night and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Unfortunately, you'll have to dig around on sites like eBay for these.

But wait, there's more! Mystery Game Central has several mystery jigsaw puzzles available, Amazon lists a few more and other sites can turn up still others. For lists of more mystery puzzle and game sites, look no further than the Games link over in The List on this blog. We may be having some unseasonably warm weather now, but just wait until the three feet of snow coming in February. You'll thank me then.

Mystery Melange

 

Brian Lindenmuth of Spinetingler Magazine announced that the zine is sponsoring a Best Novella of 2011 Award. The top 10 finalists will be announced on Monday, and a poll open to the public will allow voting until the end of the month.

The latest issue of Crime Factory zine is up, with exclusive content from Tom Piccirilli, Scott Phillips, Johnny Shaw, Daniel B. O'Shea, Ray Banks, Benjamin Whitmer and Paul D. Brazill; fiction from Kenneth Loosli, Chris Benton and Chris Deal; and features from Matthew C. Funk, Peter "Nerd of Noir" Dragovich, Andrew Nette and Noel King.

The January 2012 issue of Suspense is also out with the latest book and movie reviews, as well as new releases from Neal Baer and Jonathan Green, Andrea Cremer, Toni Anderson, Robert Fitzpatrick and Jon Land and some sneak peaks of coming attractions.

Pablo D'Stair has created a crime noir flash fiction challenge (with voting open through the end of the month) and talked to the Booked Podcast about the contest and his thoughts on flash fiction in general.

As the Rap Sheet reported, editor Otto Penzler announced on Facebook that his Mysterious Press imprint with Grove/Atlantic will publish a book called The Return of the Thin Man. The project will include two new novella-length stories featuring Nick and Nora Charles, with notes by Dashiell Hammett scholar Richard Layman and Hammett's granddaughter, Julie Rivett.

Killer Nashville announced its guests of honor for the upcoming 2012 conference August 24-26: Peter Straub and C.J. Box. In addition to some great tracks for authors (e.g., Writing, Getting Published, Forensics), the conference sponsors the Silver Falchion Award for the best book published in the current or previous year by a registered Killer Nashville attendee and the Claymore Award for the best unpublished manuscript not currently under contract (and winners/finalists will be considered for a contract with Five Star).

Bitter Lemon Press launched the internet's first collaborative crime fiction map and are looking for additions for the map. Contact them at map@bitterlemonpress.com or tweet the relevant details by using the hashtag #intcrimeficmap. (Hat tip to Ayo Onatade at Shotsmag.)

Want to know how to buy eBooks from an Indie bookstore? GalleyCat tells you how.

Thinking of becoming a private eye or just want to write about one in your next novel? Here are some iPhone app suggestions for private investigators, courtesy of Guns, Gams and Gumshoes.

The Guardian reviews the latest attempt, by the BBC, to finish Charles Dickens' last novel, the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood, with a little history of previous attempts to take on the task.

Some Grimm Tales

 Last year, I had the opportunity to participate in an online short story contest sponsored by John Kenyon on his blog "Things I'd Rather Be Doing." The theme of the contest was too intriguing to pass up:  update a fairy tale as crime fiction. The contest outgrew its initial beginnings and evolved into a bigger project that recently popped out in its finished, fiendish form, an anthology titled Grimm Tales.

John explained how he got the idea:

This anthology is the result of considerable work by many talented writers who ran with an idea I got while reading to my son. When he grabbed his collection of illustrated (and sweetened) fairy tales for the umpteenth bedtime, I discovered a valuable skill: I could read these tales with one part of my brain and think about something completely different with another. While recounting the exploits of Puss in Boots, I began to wonder about how the story could be recast as crime fiction.

With that idea in mind, I started to dabble with an idea or two, but found I needed motivation to push me through the process. I decided a writing challenge was in order. I put out the call on my blog, Things I’d Rather Be Doing, asking my fellow crime writers to adapt a fairy tale as a crime fiction story. Sixteen fellow writers answered the call, and as I read compelling story after compelling story, I realized that it would be a shame for these stories to languish alone on blogs scattered across the Web. They deserved to be together and to be read.

That’s where the kind folks at Untreed Reads got involved. They agreed that these stories deserved a wider audience and we began to assemble this collection.

Grimm Tales includes an introduction by Ken Bruen and stories by Patricia Abbott, Absolutely*Kate, Jack Bates, Eric Beetner, Nigel Bird, Loren Eaton, Kaye George, Blu Gilliand, Seana Graham, Eirik Gumeny, R.L. Kelstrom, John Kenyon, BV Lawson, Evan Lewis, B. Nagel, Sean Patrick Reardon and Sandra Seamans. The e-book has become one of Untreed Reads' bestsellers, and now through January 15th, it's even 25% off. Not only that, but Untreed is providing a 50% discount on Discount Noir edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle if you buy both at the same time.

And there's nothing grim about that…

Media Murder for Monday

 

MOVIES

Deon Meyer’s novel 13 Hours may be headed to the big screen. The author Tweeted this week that "there is a good chance that Sean Bean will play Benny," the book's worn-out, alcoholic but brilliant detective Benny Griessel. The film could also be part of a trilogy of films based on Meyer's novels.

The longlist of nominees have been announced for the BAFTA Awards (the British version of the Oscars). David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the book by Steig Larsson, received 13 nominations, including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and acting nods for Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on John Le Carré's book, had 16 nominations, including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenply and acting nominations for Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, John Hurt and Kathy Burke. The biopic J. Edgar was also nominated for awards, including Best Original Screenplay.

Those familiar with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's modern updating of the Arthur Conan Doyle classic series may be surprised to hear he's signed on to play a villain in the upcoming Star Trek movie sequel. However, Cumbersnatch has a history of wide-ranging roles from comedy to biopics, starring as physicist Stephen Hawking.

TV

Producer Louise Vesth is adapting for European televions the best-selling crime novels of Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen featuring detective Carl Morck of Copenhagen's Department Q for "cases of special focus."  Nikolaj Arcel, a co-writer of the original Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is scripting the series.

Starting today on Hulu and Hulu Plus, you can stream the award-winning Canadian crime drama Endgame. It centers on a brilliant chess master (played by Shawn Doyle) who becomes a hermit in his luxury Vancouver hotel after the murder of his fiancée, and works as a detective to pay the bills, solving mysteries with the help of a band of hotel employees and chess fanatics.

CW has ordered Cult, a one-hour thriller drama from Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl), about mysterious disappearances linked to a TV series that are investigated by a young female production assistant working on the show and a journalist blogger.

Of several spec scripts passed along to the networks in this new year, Chris Carter (The X-Files) has a female-driven mystery thriller titled Unique, about a woman’s quest to solve her husband's murder that vaults her into a global mythological conspiracy .

Irish actor Kevin Ryan has come onboard BBC TV's upcoming seies Copper, a police drama set in 1860s New York City. Ryan will play Detective Francis Maguire, an Irish-American cop working alongside Tom Weston-Jones (M-15/Spooks).

Musician/actor Harry Connick Jr. has been signed for a multi-episode arc on NBC's Law & Order: SVU, playing Executive Assistant District Attorney David Hadena and a love interest for Mariska Hargitay's Detective Olivia Benson.

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Some Grimm Tales

Last year, I had the opportunity to participate in an online short story contest sponsored by John Kenyon on his blog "Things I'd Rather Be Doing." The theme of the contest was too intriguing to pass up:  update a fairy tale as crime fiction. The contest outgrew its initial beginnings and evolved into a bigger project that recently popped out in its finished, fiendish form, an anthology titled Grimm Tales.

John explained how he got the idea:

This anthology is the result of considerable work by many talented writers who ran with an idea I got while reading to my son. When he grabbed his collection of illustrated (and sweetened) fairy tales for the umpteenth bedtime, I discovered a valuable skill: I could read these tales with one part of my brain and think about something completely different with another. While recounting the exploits of Puss in Boots, I began to wonder about how the story could be recast as crime fiction.

With that idea in mind, I started to dabble with an idea or two, but found I needed motivation to push me through the process. I decided a writing challenge was in order. I put out the call on my blog, Things I’d Rather Be Doing, asking my fellow crime writers to adapt a fairy tale as a crime fiction story. Sixteen fellow writers answered the call, and as I read compelling story after compelling story, I realized that it would be a shame for these stories to languish alone on blogs scattered across the Web. They deserved to be together and to be read.

That’s where the kind folks at Untreed Reads got involved. They agreed that these stories deserved a wider audience and we began to assemble this collection.

Grimm Tales includes an introduction by Ken Bruen and stories by Patricia Abbott, Absolutely*Kate, Jack Bates, Eric Beetner, Nigel Bird, Loren Eaton, Kaye George, Blu Gilliand, Seana Graham, Eirik Gumeny, R.L. Kelstrom, John Kenyon, BV Lawson, Evan Lewis, B. Nagel, Sean Patrick Reardon and Sandra Seamans. The e-book has become one of Untreed Reads' bestsellers, and now through January 15th, it's even 25% off. Not only that, but Untreed is providing a 50% discount on Discount Noir edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle if you buy both at the same time.

And there's nothing grim about that...

Mystery Melange

If you'll be in New York City on January 13th from 6 to 8 p.m., stop by the Partners & Crime Bookshop at 44 Greenwich Avenue for the annual party sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America National Board of Directors. Over two dozen authors will be on hand for meet and greets. You can check out the list of attendees on the MWA site.

The beginning of each month, and especially the first month of a new year, brings a clean slate of new book releases awaiting your reading pleasure. Omnimystery News has its "Firsts on the First," with new series characters who will make their mysterious American debut in print during January. You can also check out all the new hardcover and paperback titles coming in January.

The Rap Sheet is holding its annual book cover award. Check out the nominees and vote for your favorites, but hurry–voting closes midnight on Friday, January 6.

Spinetingler Magazine has also begun the nomination process for its annual crime fiction book and story awards and are seeking your ideas for the best of 2011.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away With Murder" column for Shots E-Zine has the usual collection of interesting news and insights, ranging from Scandinavia to North Carolina.

It's always a pleasure to find a new kid on the blog, and one of the newest is MysteryPeople, a blog from the Austin, Texas mystery bookstore of the same name. Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery promises book reviews, author Q&A's, news about events, and "notices of great books and authors (both past and present) that you’ve come to expect from MysteryPeople."

Meanwhile, congrats to Kerrie Smith and her Mysteries in Paradise blog, celebrating its fourth blogoversary. Kerrie would like to hear your top 10 crime fiction reads for 2011 and urges you to sign up for the 2012 Global Reading Challenge.

The Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers organization is forming a chapter in Tucson, Arizona for mystery fans and authors. SinC was founded in 1986 by Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap to promote books by women (especially reviews), although the organization also includes men

If you have a little extra Christmas cash burning a hole in your pocket, maybe you should consider bidding on a Thompson Sub-machine gun and a twelve gauge Winchester shotgun dating back to 1897, which are up for auction on January 21st. Why, you ask?  They belonged to Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Although as Cinema Blend notes, it's not a done deal, Denzel Washington is in talks to star in a film adaptation of the TV series The Equalizer. The show aired in the 1980s and starred British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former secret agent who tries to atone for past sins by offering his services as a troubleshooter, bodyguard and investigator.

Writer/director Sacha Gervasi is adapting the film projected Headhunters, an English language adaptation of Jo Nesbo's novel, about a corporate headhunter who steals artwork from the homes of his applicants and gets caught up in murder.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara and director David Fincher haven't yet signed on for the second two films in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, but the projects appear to be moving forward, with Fincher indicating they would likely be shot back to back.

Warner Bros. has acquired the true-story screenplay, The Devil in the White City, about a mass murderer who killed scores of mostly young women during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Graham Moore to write the adapted screenplay, and Leonardo DiCaprio is on board to star as serial killer Henry H. Holmes, described as a "19th century Hannibal Lecter." (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

TV

The film adaptation of Josh Bazell's debut novel Beat the Reaper seems to be on hold, but now it appears that Leonardo DiCaprio will executive produce an HBO series based on the novel. The book centers on Peter Brown, a young ER doctor with a problem–a patient who recognizes him from his days working for a notorious crime family.

Law & Order: SVU's Chris Meloni will guest start in True Blood as part of the HBO vampire drama's fifth season, playing “an ancient powerful vampire who holds the fate of Bill and Eric in his hands.”

FX has ordered The Americans, a drama about two KGB spies posing as Americans living in the suburbs in the early 1980s. The pilot is executive produced by Graham Yost (Justified).

PODCASTS/RADIO

NPR's Morning Edition spoke with Michael Sims, editor of In The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories. The book examines the development of crime writing in the late 19th century, including icons such as Sherlock Holmes and Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin, as well as lesser-known writers, many of them women.