Eaten Alive

Headline of the Day

'Terror-pisser' killed neighbour's garden with night-time golden showers - The Local: "A couple in Hamburg have finally got to the bottom of why the plants in their front garden keep turning brown and dying – their neighbour has been urinating on them at night."

Pennsylvania Leads the Way

Pennsylvania Couple Charged After Stealing ATM Card From Dead Friend - cbs3.com: "A northeastern Pennsylvania couple is charged with stealing a bank card from a friend who died on their couch and running up more than $1,000 in charges."

Archaeology Update

Experts may have found bones of English princess: "More than 1,000 years after she was carted off to Germany to marry an ambitious Saxon duke, experts believe they have identified the body of Princess Eadgyth.
[. . . .]
Eadgyth was born at the dawn of the 10th century, when England was still divided into a patchwork of Anglo-Saxon and Viking fiefdoms. Her brother King Athelstan kicked the Vikings out of York and routed the Scots and Irish in a massive battle around 937."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Man Posed as Female Model to Lure Wealthy Men: "A conman posed as a gorgeous female model on the internet to trick male admirers into sending him gifts and money, police in Texas said Tuesday.

Justin Brown, 24, masqueraded as Californian Guess Jeans and Maxim swimwear model Bree Condon, 23, for two years."

Archaeology Update

Please don't mention this to my cats. They have enough self-esteem already.

BBC News - Temple to cat god found in Egypt: "Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 2,000-year-old temple in Alexandria dedicated to a cat goddess.

The temple is the first trace of the royal quarters of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be revealed in Alexandria.

The find confirms the Greek dynasty of Egyptians continued the worship of ancient animal deities."

If Only This Were True of My Brain

Monkey Brain 'Hardwired' for Simple Math - Yahoo! News: "Monkey see, monkey do simple math?

A German team of neurobiologists has found that rhesus macaques can engage in abstract mathematical reasoning using specific brain cells dedicated to the comprehension of math rules and relationships."

Hat tip to Seepy Benton.

The 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy Novels of All Time

In Which We Count Down The 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy Novels of All�Time - Home - This Recording

Kingdom of the Spiders

Erich Segal, R. I. P.

Erich Segal - Telegraph: "Erich Segal, who died on January 17 aged 72, was an esteemed Classics professor who produced the critically-panned but popularly-adored novel Love Story, which was turned into a film starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal; he also wrote the screenplay for the Beatles’ animated feature Yellow Submarine."

Hat tip to Scott Cupp.

The Traitor in Us All -- Robert S. Levinson

If you've read Bob Levinson's short stories in EQMM or AHMM, or if you've read his earlier novels, you know that he writes in a lot of subgenres. The Traitor in Us All is a straight-ahead thriller that begins with a high-voltage action scene and then zips along at top speed.

Emil Grass, a stone cold killer, murders a young woman in a pizza parlor and abducts her friend, Tracy Collins. Or is it really an abduction. Jack Sothern, a reporter, thinks there's more to it, and of course he's right. The McGuffin here is the diary of a former head of East Germany's State Security back in the Cold War days. The diary would be worth Big Bucks to certain parties, and Sothern believes that Tracy's mother either has seen the diary or knows where it is. The mother hates Sothern, whom she holds responsible (because of an article he wrote) for the death of her husband, an actor who defected to the USSR.

It's a lot more complicated than that, and there are so many twists and turns that I couldn't begin to enumerate them. It's all way over the top, but I didn't mind at all. It's easy to overlook implausible things when you're reading as fast as you can to see what happens next. Check it out.

Robert B. Parker

Trying to gather my thoughts. Still a bit boggled by the news of Parker's passing. As I mentioned earlier, I've been a big fan since the publication of The Godwulf Manuscript. The president of the college where I was teaching called me to his office and handed me a copy of the book. "This is the kind of thing you might like," he said, and he was absolutely right. Too bad it was a book club edition, or I'd have a real treasure (yes, I still have it; what did you expect?). Since that time, I don't think I've missed a single book, and that includes the YA novels.

Lots of people quit reading Parker years ago, for one reason or another. Not me. I stuck with him, and I've enjoyed every book of his that I've read. Some more than others, but I've never been less than satisfied. What did Parker have that made him one of my favorites? I've written about this before, but it's one of my favorite quotations, and so I'll repeat it. When asked why people were so devoted to his books, Parker said, "I think they like the sound of the words on the page." I can't speak for anyone else, but that's what draws me back, time after time: the sound of the words on the page.

I've joked before, and so have many others, about all the white space in Parker's novels, but when it comes to telling a fast-moving story with mostly dialog, and not much of it, Parker has few peers. His stories have a bit of depth to them, too, an emotional heft some people overlook.

I met Parker a couple of times, the first being in San Francisco in 1982 at a Bouchercon in the Jack Tarr hotel, or whatever it was called in those days. Right across the street from Tommy's Joynt, a spot Parker mentioned in one of his books published not too long after that Bouchercon. Parker was the Guest of Honor that year. I met him in the lobby, where he was waiting around for his room, which for some reason wasn't ready. He wore a red windbreaker with Ace (his nickname) embroidered on it. We talked for a while about this and that, probably our dissertations, which we'd written at about the same time about the same three authors.

It's hard to believe, but in those days at Bouchercon, a writer like Parker spoke in a small room with only 30-40 people in the audience, maybe fewer than that. He told a great story about giving up teaching for full-time writing. He said that he taught fewer and fewer classes and was finally teaching only one class a week. When he told his wife that he was going to stop teaching altogether, she said, "But it's only once a week." He answered, "Yes, but it's every week." Maybe you had to be there.

I don't have much else to say except, "Robert B. Parker, ave atque vale."

When Will the Lawsuit be Filed?

Man died after watching Avatar - doctor | News.com.au: "A 42-year-old Taiwanese man with a history of high blood pressure has died of a stroke likely triggered by over-excitement from watching the blockbuster Avatar in 3D, a doctor says."

Hat tip to David Cranmer.

Edgar Nominations

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 201st anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2009. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House - Ballantine Books)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books)
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)
The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press)
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books)
Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
"Strike Three" – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
"Look What He Dug Up This Time" – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
"Grilled" – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
"Living the Dream" – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)


GRAND MASTER

Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS

Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books)
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books)
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins)

Robert B. Parker, R. I. P.

Robert B. Parker is Dead - Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: "At the age of 77, 'just sitting at his desk' at his home in the Boston area, according to his U.K. publisher Quercus, Robert B. Parker is dead."

I'm sure there'll be much more to come on this. Right now, I'm overwhelmed. A writer I've followed faithfully since the appearance of his very first book, never missing a one. I can't believe he's really gone.

Gator Update

Police find alligator during drug bust - Timmins Daily Press - Ontario, CA: "Officers with the TPS drug enforcement section, along with officers from the organized crime enforcement bureau of the Ontario Provincial Police, executed a search warrant at a residence on Frederick House Lake Dr. in Connaught.

Police seized 430 pot plants in various stages of growth, 60 jars of psilocybin — commonly known as magic mushrooms — also in the growing phase, 1,900 grams f marijuana and 198 grams of psilocybin.

Police also discovered a six-foot long alligator in the home."

I've lost count of the number of stories like this that I've blogged. What is it about drug dealers and gators?

Edgar Allan Poe Update

Nevermore? Mystery Visitor Misses Poe's Birthday - NYTimes.com: "Is this tradition ''nevermore?''

A mysterious visitor who for decades has left roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe has failed to show up for the anniversary of the writer's birthday.

The curator of the Poe House and Museum in Baltimore says the graveyard tradition dates back to at least 1949 and has never been interrupted before."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Carl Smith, R. I. P.

Carl Smith, Dapper Country Music Singer, Is Dead at 82 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Carl Smith, the dapper singer who ranked among the most popular country hitmakers of the 1950s, died on Saturday at his home in Franklin, Tenn., just outside Nashville. He was 82.

He had recently suffered a stroke and had been in failing health, according to Keith Bilbrey, a close friend and former announcer on the Grand Ole Opry.

Mr. Smith’s music combined crooning vocals and upbeat arrangements, updating the gutbucket honky-tonk of his predecessors Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb with elements of rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Some Good News from Afghanistan

Rare bird's breeding ground found in Afghanistan: "The first known breeding area of one of the world's rarest birds has been found in the remote and rugged Pamir Mountains in war-torn Afghanistan, a New York-based conservation group said Monday.

A researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the small, olive-brown large-billed reed warbler in 2008 and taped its distinctive song—a recording experts now say is probably the first ever. He and colleagues later caught and released 20 of the birds, the largest number ever recorded, the group says."

Sands of Iwo Jima