Ed Gorman's Blog, page 255

Block; Monk; Zeltserman; Piccirilli

I've just finished reading the spectacular new issue of Mystery Scene. Of particular note is Lawrence Block's new column which he devotes to his memories of the people and places of his literary past. He writes here of the late short story genius Stanley Ellin. A fascinating portrait of Ellin's working methods. Larry is the last of the giants (we lost Don Westlake and Evan Hunter all too soon) and his Proustian take on the decades of his career will be the first thing I read when MS arrives.

-...

The 25th Hour; Don Congdon

I saw Spike Lee's 25th Hour the day it opened. I was was jazzed for it because I'd read the novel in galley and thought it was brilliant. The novelist David Benioff also wrote the screenplay. I left the theater thinking this had to be one of the finest films I'd ever seen. Then I started reading the reviews. Most of the major ones trashed it. I couldn't believe it. Like Vince Keenan and many others I kept pushing the movie over the years. Slowly I saw appreciations starting to appear on the ...

Forgotten Books: The Evil Days by Bruno Fischer

Bruno Fischer had one of those careers you can't have any more. There's no market for any of it. He started out as editor and writer for a Socialist newspaper, shifted to terror pulps when the newspaper started failing, became a successful and respected hardcover mystery novelist in the Forties and early Fifties, and finally turned to Gold Medal originals when the pb boom began. His GMs sold in the millions. His House of Flesh is for me in the top ten of all GMs.

Then for reasons only God and ...

The new Mystery Scene!

At the Scene, November 2009 Solving the mystery of what to read next!
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Holiday delivery! Mystery Scene #112
on its way to a mailbox near you
Sara Paretsky, Larry Block, Peter Lovesey, MS Gift Guide


Hello everyone,

The holiday season is just getting started, and it's the perfect time of the year to ponder peace... and justice. MS contributing editor Cher...

Rita and Bob; Mensa List

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Yes that IS Bob Levinson, highly-regarded novelist and former major music biz publicist. If Bob made a list of all the famous people he's met and known over the years you'd need two big packs of paper to run it off. Seriously.

--------------------Thanks to John Helfers and Marty Greenberg for sending me this Mensa List



This is the Washington Post's annual Mensa Invitational, which once
again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one le...

Lionel White's The Money Trap-Glen Ford & Rita Hayworth

Another prize in this issue of Noir City Sentinel is Vince Keenan's piece on the films that Glen Ford and Rita Hayworth made together. Vince is particularly eloquent on the subject of The Money Trap based on (for me) Lionel White's finest novel of the same name. Don Westlake always acknowledged his debt to White. But he wasn't just talking about the caper novels that helped establish Parker. Get a copy of the novel and you'll find it reads very much like early Westlake hardboiled. As Vince no...

King Creole as Noir; Radney Foster, Tim McGraw

I've been pushing Noir City Sentinel (just log on to Film Noir Foundation and contribute to the cause and it'll be yours). There are so many fantastic articles I can't cover them all but Vince Keenan mentioned editor Dan Malcolm's piece as a special one. And it is. Malcolm takes a wise sometimes amused look at Elvis movies and then makes the case for "King Creole" being a noir. He makes his case very well.

"The sizzling jazz-blues-rock soundtrack is practically extrane-
ous to the pulpy procee...

Nelli McKay

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Nellie McKay:

Wikipedia:

"Her music has showcased different genres, from jazz to rap and disco to funk. Her eclectic style and sharp lyrics distinguish her as an original voice. Her songs sometimes have a political tinge; she is a vocal feminist, and wrote a satirical song relating to feminist issues called "Mother of Pearl". McKay also "is a proud member of PETA" (album notes), wrote a song ("Columbia Is Bleeding") dealing with the issue of Columbia University's cruelty to animals, and ("John ...

Mr. Blandings; Connie Marshall

I've never understood why most serious film critics think that Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is lesser Cary Grant-Myrna Loy-Melvin Douglas. For those few of you who've never seen it, the story is about and ad man and his family who who build a new house in the country. Many many many things go wrong. Of course. My favorite scene is when Loy tells the builder what colors she wants in each room. She goes into great and foolish detail. "Yellow but not yellow yellow; butter yellow; perhap...

Craig Rice; Astaire-Rogers; Ugly covers

Carol and my daughter-in-law Mitsue are in Japan for ten days meeting up with our oldest granddaughter Shannon who is studying there. Since Mitsue grew up in Tokyo she's able to show Carol places ordinary tourists might not see.

I'm home alone but with so much work to do I don't mind. For Thanksgiving dinner I had three eggs, soy bacon, a large helping of spinach and a diet Pepsi. Gobble gobble.

Late this afternoon I quit working and watched, thanks to my buddy James Reasoner, Home Sweet Homi...