B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 234

An Overview or Two (or Three)

Last week, I noted some recent and upcoming nonfiction books about niche subjects in crime fiction. This week, I thought I'd point out some new crime fiction overviews that look interesting for both casual readers and those of you who are more into the academic side of things. 

Crime Fiction From Poe to the Present: A Historical and Critical Introduction to Crime Fiction from Edgar Allan Poe's First Detective Story to the Present Day by Martin Priestman, Professor of English at Roehampton University London. This book gives a historical and critical introduction to the genre of
crime fiction, from Edgar Allan Poe's first detective story The Murders
in the Rue Morgue in 1841 to the present day. It concentrates chiefly on
three branches of crime fiction: the classic detective whodunit, the
thriller in which the protagonist is opposed either to a powerful
conspiracy or to society at large, and the hardboiled private-eye story,
or detective thriller, which mixes aspects of the other two.

The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction, edited by Catherine Ross Nickerson. From the execution sermons of the Colonial era to television programs
like The Wire and The Sopranos, crime writing has played an important
role in American culture. Its ability to register fear, desire and
anxiety has made it a popular genre with a wide audience. These new
essays, written for students as well as readers of crime fiction,
demonstrate the very best in contemporary scholarship and challenge
long-established notions of the development of the detective novel. 

The Crime Fiction Handbook (Blackwell Literature Handbooks) by Peter Messent, Emeritus Professor of Modern American Literature at the University of Nottingham. The Crime Fiction Handbook presents a comprehensive
introduction to the origins, development, and cultural significance of
the crime fiction genre, focusing mainly on its American, British, and
Scandinavian forms. The book’s first main section presents an overview
of the subject, addressing the politics of crime fiction and exploring
some of its main variants  – classical and hard-boiled detective
fiction, the private eye and the police novel, fictions of
transgression.  

In Reference to Crime Fiction

I came across some interesting recent and upcoming nonfiction books, a mix of niche reference to specific cultures and subgenres that look intriguing. Many are priced high enough that it's obvious they're destined to be library and textbook denizens (note the professor/authors and university presses) as opposed to off-the-shelf books, but if you're a fan of these particular subjects or need insights into Italian or Russian mysteries, you can seek these out.


 
Pimping Fictions by Justin D. Gifford, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno. "Lush sex and stark violence colored Black and served up raw by a great Negro writer," promised the cover of Run Man Run, Chester Himes' pioneering novel in the black crime fiction tradition. In Pimping Fictions,
Justin Gifford provides a hard-boiled investigation of hundreds of
pulpy paperbacks written by Himes, Donald Goines, and Iceberg Slim (aka
Robert Beck), among many others. Gifford draws from an impressive
array of archival materials to provide a first-of-its-kind literary and
cultural history of this distinctive genre.

Russian Pulp:  The Detektiv and the Russian Way of Crime by Anthony Olcott, Associate Professor of Russian at Colgate University and author of the
Edgar-nominated Murder at the Red October. Using the detektiv and its counterpart—the many mysteries and
thrillers set in Russia but written by Westerners—as evidence, Russian
Pulp demonstrates that Russians and Westerners view the basic issues of
crime, guilt, justice, law, and redemption in such fundamentally
different ways as to make each people incomprehensible to the other.

 

The Importance of Place in Contemporary Italian Crime Fiction: A Bloody Journey by Barbara Pezzotti, who teaches Italian language and culture in New Zealand. By taking as its point of departure the privileged
relationship between the crime novel and its setting, this book is the
most wide-ranging examination of the way in which Italian detective
fiction in the last 20 years has become a means to articulate the
changes in the social landscape of the country.

Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961 by Curtis Evans, an independent scholar and book dealer. In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel,"
influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden
Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums,"
condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and
explorations of character, setting and theme. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers,
this book shows that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery
genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of
detective fiction and its aftermath.

 

 

 

Mystery Melange

 

Artist : Andre Martins de Barros


Lesa Holstine is holding a Christmas giveaway on her blog, with a chance to win two Christmas mysteries relating to food. Just drop her an e-mail to enter - but hurry, because tomorrow (November 15) is the deadline.

Crimespree is also sponsoring a giveaway of copies of Jamie Freveletti’s Dead Asleep and The Janus Reprisal. Just drop them an e-mail before November 16th.

Fan of cozy mysterys? Jenn's Bookshelves will be featuring her favorite cozy mystery series each day from December 1 - 8.

The spy museum in Washington, D.C., has just opened an exhibit titled
"Exquisitely Evil: 50 Yeras of Bond Villains." The Museum has partnered
with the Bond film producers to showcase over 100 artifacts from the
films, from airships and underground lairs to nuclear weapons and hungry
sharks. The exhibit also includes short videos and interactive
stations.

Publishers Weekly has named its list of Best Mystery/Thriller books of 2012. They include:

 

Exit Plan by Larry Bond
Creole Belle by James Lee Burke
Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain
Black Box by Michael Connelly
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Dead Anyway by Chris Knopf
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
Phantom by Jo Nesbo
Mandarin Gate by Eliot Pattison
Agent 6 by Tom Robb Smith

Amazon also released its list of the top books of 2012, including the Top 10 in the Mystery/Thriller genre:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwen
Live by Night by Dennie Lehane
May We Be Forgiven by E.M. Homes
Defending Jacob by William Landay
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura
Phantom by Jo Nesbø
Creole Belle by James Lee Burke
Broken Harbor by Tana French

Thanksgiving is Murder

Back in 2007, I compiled a brief annotated listing of Thanksgiving-themed mysteries. Janet Rudolph also updates her detailed turkey-day bibliography on her Mystery Fanfare blog every year. Grab a book while you're waiting for The Big Gorgefest Meal or while you're recovering from food coma. Best of all, reading has zero calories. In fact, the average 160-pound person burns 77 calories per hour while reading.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Warner Bros acquired screen rights to The Son, the latest thriller by bestselling Norwegian novelist Jo Nesbo, after a multi-studio auction. The novel, which won't be published until 2014, focuses on a young man in prison for crimes he didn't commit who escapes to avenge the killing of his father, an alleged corupt cop who turns out to be innocent. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Mario Bello (The Touch) has joined the cast of the kidnapping thriller Prisoners, playing the wife of Hugh Jackman's character in the film. Prisoners follows a small town carpenter who tries to find his kidnapped daughter when the police can't. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the antagonistic detective assigned to the case.

Michel Roskam in talks to replace Limitless director Neil Burger on Animal Rescue, a Boston-set crime drama written based on one of Dennis Lehane's short stories. The plot hinges on a bartender who rescues a discarded puppy from a garbage can, only to become the target of the dog's mentally unstable former owner, while simultaneously getting caught in a criminal conspiracy in a mob-controlled bar.

Barry Forshaw, author of Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction and The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, has written what he hopes is a comprehensive survey of British Crime Film: Subverting the Social Order.

Fox Searchlight released an international trailer for the new film Hitchcock, based on Stephen Rebello’s book Alfred Hitchcock And The Making of Psycho. The picture opened LA’s recent AFI Festival.

TV

It appears that the rumored deal between Netflix and AMC to resurrect The Killing for a third season is close to becoming a reality. AMC cancelled the the mystery drama a few months ago, but the producers have been working behind the scenes to find a new home for the series.

NBC gave a full-season pickup to NBC’s freshman series Chicago Fire. The firefighter drama stars Taylor Kinney, Jesse Spencer, Eamonn Walker, Monica Raymund, Charlie Barnett and David Eigenberg.

TNT has cast Eion Bailey (ER, Once Upon a Time) as the male lead opposite Mira Sorvino in the drama pilot Trooper.

C. Thomas Howell, who plays abrasive cop Bill "Dewey" Dudek, is being promoted to regular status in TNT's police drama Southland. 

NBC released a promo for its upcoming murder mystery drama Deception. The show stars Meagan Good as Detective Joanna Locasto who returns home for the funeral of  friend and begins to uncover dark secrets and clues about why her friend's life was in danger. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

FX has unveiled a first look at its upcoming spy drama The Americans, which stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as two '80s-era KGB spies living undercover as a married American couple in Washington, D.C.

The FX parent company Fox also released a video trailer, this one for The Following, which stars Kevin Bacon as an ex-FBI agent recruited to recapture an escaped serial killer played by James Purefoy.

PODCASTS/VIDEOS

Author John Connolly, one of the editors of the new anthology Books to Die For, spoke with WCSH-TV about why the mystery novel enjoys such an enduring appeal and which books are the must-reads of the genre.

Tasha Alexander and Kim Harrison were the featured guest authors on the most recent Suspense Radio Online podcast.

THEATER

The Minnesota Opera has commissioned an opera from Pulitzer-winning composer Kevin Puts based on Richard Condon's 1959 Cold War thriller, The Manchurian Candidate. One of two film adaptations starred Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury in the tale of the son from a prominent US political family who's brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin.

Veterans and Wounded Warriors

Today is Veteran's Day, and the traditional parades and ceremonies are a great way to celebrate the veterans of our armed forces. However, many veterans who have returned from tours of duty are still suffering from physical and psychological wounds that can take a lot of time and money to treat. The Wounded Warrior Project takes as part of its mission:

To raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members.
To help injured service members aid and assist each other.
To provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.


The physical support is important, but as a recent New York Times article pointed out, the emotional and psychological support is every bit as crucial, since for every soldier killed in war this year, about 25 veterans now take their own lives.

The organization not only provides a support system and helps provide for physical needs, it also helps veterans with job training and in securing jobs. You can help by giving financial donations, by participating in one of their 8K runs throughout the country, by shopping with affiliate companies or by downloading grocery coupons from their website that you can use at any store. There should also be an insert in your local newspaper today or tomorrow with more coupons. Buying these participating products will then help raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

For more information about the program and how to help, check out their website, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

This charity meets all of the qualifications for the Wise Giving Alliance Seal from the Better Business Bureau.

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - The House at Balnesmoor

Scottish writer Hugh C(rauford) Rae was born in 1935 and brought up in Glasgow, where he spent fourteen years working in a bookshop before turning to writing books rather than selling them. Between 1965 and 1992, he published over seventy novels in various genres under several pseudonyms, including Robert Crawford, James Albany, R B Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar), and Jessica Stirling (with Margaret M. Coghlan). He also served as past president of the Scottish Association of Writers.

The House at Balnesmoor, a/k/a A Few Small Bones, dates from 1968 and is one of Rae's earliest efforts. It follows Norman Lang, who makes a gruesome discovery near his idyllic country retreat in Glasgow's countryside, the bodies of two schoolgirls buried among the heather. The chapters alterenate between Chief Superintendent McCaig and Inspector Ryan and their investigation and the lives of the cast of suspects, including the reclusive Lang; his wife, who is prone to nervous fits; the real estate agent Galbraith, an aging libidinous bachelor; and Lang's neighbors, the Johnstones, both involved in separate adulterous affairs. As the investigation deepens, it casts a long shadow over Lang and his reputation and threatens to push his tormented  wife to the brink of madness. But McCaig begins to worry that a fatal fusion of youthful passion and neurosis gone murderously awry may lead the killer to strike again.

Rae once said in an interview that he hoped he was "crafty enough not to bury the story in an excess of detail but to lure the reader into the experience of another time, another place through the interaction of the characters." He also noted that he returned again and again to Scottish backgrounds and themes, with a particular interest in the shifting phases in his home country over the past two centuries and the hardships suffered by its people, urban and rural. It's been pointed out that Rae was one of the earliest in the "tartan noir" line of Scottish authors whose descendants include Ian Rankin and Denise Mina.

Rae went on to write only one additional book in the McCaig/Ryan series, The Shooting Gallery (1972), which was a finalist for the 1973 Edgar Award for Best Mystery. Rae eventually turned to "lightweight guns'n'gals thrillers" under the Crawford and Albany names and historical romance novels under the Stirling pseudonym because they were more lucrative. He also dabbled in radio plays and television, and two of his novels were adapted for TV in the 80s and 90s.

Ebooks for "Movember"

A few years ago, a small group of folks in Australia created what they called "Movember" (November + moustache). During November each year, men register with the charity and pledge to grow moustaches to raise vital awareness and funds for prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. It has since become a global event, and in 2011, over 854,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world raised $126.3 million for the program. This is a topic that is near and dear to me personally, as someone who has a close relative battling stage 4 prostate cancer.

Editor-in-Chief Jay A. Hartman of the digital publisher Untreed Reads (disclaimer: I have two stories published by them), is participating this year, both facially and financially. In addition to growing his own example of fine moustachery, for every donation you make through the Untreed Reads Movember portal, he will provide you with a coupon good for an ebook of your choice from the UR catalog. Be sure to send an email to charity@untreedreads.com and let them know when you donated so they can hook you up with your free ebook. There is more info about that on the Untred Reads website. The Movember site also has information on prostate and testicular cancer, including stats, symptoms, tests, treatment and more.

Mystery Melange

Book art by Mike Stilkey

The latest issue of the recently-risen-from-the-dead Thuglit is out, with short fiction by Nik Korpon, Jen Conley, Mike MacLean, Marc E. Fitch, Katherine Tomlinson, Justin Porter, Patrick J. Lambe and Buster Willoughby; plus, there's Part II of Thuglit's exclusive first look at the upcoming novel by Todd Robinson from Tyrus Books.

Patti Abbott's story "Waiting for Her Chance" is the latest offering from the ezine Shotgun Honey.

Peter Rozovsky over at Detectives Beyond Borders has a preview of NoirCon 2012, which starts tomorrow in Philadelphia and runs through Sunday. This year's event has an amazing lineup including Guests of Honor Lawrence Block and Otto Penzler, Master of Ceremonies Charles Benoit, and Keynote Speaker Robert Olen Butler, among others.

Mike Ripley's latest entertaining "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots Ezine includes reviews of Ruth Dudley Edwards' new book Killing The Emperors; a look at the spy thrillers of Len Deighton, Dan Fesperman, Eric Ambler and John Bingham; the new thriller from Simon Tolkien (the the grandson of  J.R.R. Tolkien); and much more.

Omnimystery News has its monthly "Firsts on the First" writeup about new series characters who will make their mysterious American debut in print during November.

If you are a member of Goodreads, there's still time for you to vote (through the 10th) in the first round of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller of 2012.

Janet Rudoloph has issued a call for articles about Florida Mysteries, i.e., those set in the Sunshine State, for the next issue of the Mystery Readers Journal (Volume 28: 4). She's looking for reviews and Author! Author! essays of 500-1500 words, first person, "upclose and personal about yourself, your mysteries, and the Florida connection." The deadline for submissions is December 1.

There's a new crime fiction conference in town; well, at least in Baltimore. Creature, Crimes and Creativity ("C3") is scheduled for September 13, 14 and 15 and will welcome authors Jeffery Deaver and Christopher Golden as keynote speakers. The conference is also sponsoring a short-story contest for attendees, with winners to be published in an anthology.

Also, congratulations to Calgary author Will Ferguson who won the $50,000 Giller Award, Canada's most prestigious literary award for English fiction, for his mystery novel 419.

Don't Forget