B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 209
August 16, 2014
August 15, 2014
FFB: A Gentleman Called
This is a reposting from 2013 in memory of Dorothy Salisbury Davis, who died last week at the age of 98.
Dorothy Salisbury Davis is considered as one of the Grand Dames of crime fiction, but she didn't start out as a writer, working first in advertising and as a librarian. She published her first novel in 1949, The Judas Cat, and since authored 20 novels and received seven Edgar Award nominations. She's been a big influence on the crime fiction community, serving as Myster Writers of America...
August 13, 2014
Mystery Melange
Book sculpture by the Unicorn Diaries
The shortlist for the Ned Kelly Awards for excellence in Australia crime fiction was announced last week. The nominees include Beams Falling by P.M. Newton; Bitter Wash Road by Garry Disher; Fatal Impact by Kathryn Fox; In The Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty; and One Boy Missing by Stephen Orr.
Over in that same part of the world, Iceland���s Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Scottish New Zealander Liam McIlvanney will talk about their books and their ot...
August 12, 2014
Mysterious Amusements
It's summertime, a season synomyous with theme parks of all shapes and sizes. Theme park and Hollywood tie-ins are certainly nothing new. First there was Disneyland (then Disney World), followed by Universal studios. But the movie connection is being taken up a notch with some new additions: Avatar-land under construction at Disney World; an Ice Age park in Kuala Lumpur; and DreamWorks Animation is working on an entertainment center in Shanghai and launching indoor theme parks in Moscow, St....
August 11, 2014
Media Murder for Monday
MOVIES
Fifty Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan has been cast as the lead in The Siege Of Jadotville, playing Irish Commandant Pat Quinlan in the geo-political thriller.
Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) will join Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman in the thriller Criminal, about a dead CIA operative's memories are implanted into a dangerous convict in hopes that he will stop a diabolical plot.
Dakota Fanning is joining Ewan McGregor and Jennifer Connelly in Ame...
August 9, 2014
August 8, 2014
FFB: The Cape Cod Mystery
At this time of year, my thoughts turn to summer vacations that bubble up from my memories of bygone days. My family always managed to travel somewhere, like the year we made it up to Cape Cod and rented a beach-side cabin. So naturally, a book I came across in the library titled The Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor ended up in my book bag.
Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) was born in Boston, the child of Cape Cod natives who were also descendents of Mayflower Pilgraims. After Taylo...
August 6, 2014
Mystery Melange
Book sculpture by Long-Bin-Chen
The recent Deadly Ink conference announced the winner of this year's David Award for crime fiction: Dark Music by E. F. Watkins. The other finalists included Lethal Treasure by Jane Cleland; There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron; Condemned to Repeat by Janice MacDonald; and The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan. (With thanks to the Rap Sheet.)
The longlist for this year's Ngaio Marsh Award was whittled down to four finalists: Joe Victim by Paul Cleave; Fre...
August 5, 2014
Arresting Anthologies
Summer is often a lull time for story anthologies, but there are three recent releases that feature original crime fiction shorts:
Jochem Vandersteen edited the first Shamus Sampler and has followed it up with Shamus Samper II sequel. As the title would suggest, the book includes 13 international tales of private investigators, pulp fiction and hardboiled detectives. As Tim Hallinan writes in his Foreword, "The private eye, it would appear, is infinitely variable. He/she/it will apparently be...
August 4, 2014
Media Murder for Monday
MOVIES
Fifty Shades of Gray star Dakota Johnson is joining Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton in A Bigger Splash, based on the 1969 French crime drama La Piscine about an uneasy and tragic love triangle between a young woman and an older couple during their vacation.
Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) has joined the cast of Denis Villeneuve���s Sicario, which also stars Benecio Del Toro and Emily Blunt. Donovan will play a no-nonsense DEA Agent who engages in an all-out firefight at the Juarez bor...
