A Sleepy-Headed Weekend Update

NYTBR: In what seems to be less space, Marilyn Stasio crams in reviews of new crime novels by Louis Bayard, Debra Ginsberg, Marcus Sakey, Bill Loehfelm and Michael Harvey; Paul Berman on Norman Mailer at the 1968 conventions; and Matt Weiland has a mixed take on Sarah Lyall's THE ANGLO FILES.

WaPo Book World: Jonathan Yardley re-examines Leopold and Loeb; Ron Charles likes the satirical edge in Roland Merullo's novel of elections; and Peter Pringle wishes a tale of a lost spy was more out in the open.

LA Times: Tod Goldberg investigates the lure of the tie-in novel; Del Howison is entertained by Joe Lansdale's new thriller LEATHER MAIDEN; and Sonja Bolle chats with the newest Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

G&M: No dice. It's "on vacation" for a second straight week.

Guardian Review: Ian Kershaw on the tumultuous year that was 1938; Pankaj Mishra looks at the fate of dissident writers; and Matthew Lewin reviews new thrillers by Peter Grimsdale, George Pelecanos, Tony Pollard and Christopher Brookmyre.

Observer: Robert McCrum on Mary Beard's journey through Pompeii; Tim Adams on the chaotic life and death of Darby Crash; and Rachel Cooke enjoys a new work on the Leviathan.

The Times: Barry Forshaw looks at the stunning success of the late Stieg Larsson; Lionel Shriver is decidedly anti-holiday; Penny Perrick calls the new Barbara Vine "fearful and satisfying"; and Stephen Amidon talks to Paul Auster about his already-talked about new novel MAN IN THE DARK.

The Scotsman: Catherine Deveney sits down to talk to the controversial Sion Jenkins; Chitra Ramaswamy does the same with Philippa Gregory; Fordyce Maxwell is enthralled with Val McDermid's new standalone; and Sebastian Shakespeare looks at the connection between running and writing.

The Rest:

Oline Cogdill has great things to say about George Pelecanos's new one.

The Telegraph's Susanna Yager enjoys recent outings by Theresa Schwegel and Katherine Howell, while Toby Clements reviews new thrillers by Alan Furst, Jesse Kellerman, Tony Pollard and Stephen L. Carter. 

Barry Forshaw is also in the Independent raving about George Pelecanos's THE TURNAROUND.And in the same paper, Ruth Rendell talks up parliamentary sex scandals as her newest Barbara Vine novel is reviewed.

Mark Billingham talks to the Australian about his great new standalone IN THE DARK.

At the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael A. Black talks about being a cop, writing crime fiction and working with Richard Belzer.

Les Roberts rounds up crime fiction by George Pelecanos, Michael Harvey and Marcus Sakey for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

Alafair Burke, on video, at the Wall Street Journal.

From last week: Marcus Sakey and Sean Chercover in the Chicago Tribune.

USA Today's Bob Minzesheimer meets Courtney Humphries to talk about all things relating to pigeons.

TIME discovers six-word memoirs and other examples of "mini-lit".

And finally, getting busy at the Olympics. (via)

Comments

[David J. Montgomery]

I wonder if Stasio's column was edited down or whether she's just doing her usual non-critique critique. (I'm guessing the latter.) In the two paragraphs she devotes to new novels from Michael Harvey and Marcus Sakey, she includes exactly two pieces of analysis: she calls Harvey's book "nifty" and she says the characters in Sakey's book are "tenderly drawn." That's it. Is this a review or an announcement?

[Michael]

Ah, the Weekend Update returns and life is back to normal. It's really a shame that the NYT can't come up with a better mystery critic than Stasio. In many cases we'd be better off if she'd just give the author, title, and a letter grade. And things don't improve in the daily Times when Janet Maslin takes over. She gets as much space to review one book as Stasio gets to review 4-5, but she's inattentive and sloppy. (See, for instance, her recent review of Tana French's "The Likeness".) Of the Times' genre critics only Terrence Rafferty on Horror seems to exert any real effort or display any expertise, and his column only appears a few times a year.

[Dave White]

Can we go three posts in a row where a controversy breaks out in Sarah's comments section? I'll start: Someone somewhere who has written a (insert: review, novel, short story, essay, or poem) is (insert: stupid, stuck up, blind, or from Luxembourg).

Let the controversy begin.

[Kerrie Smith]

Thanks for the link to the Mark Billingham interview. I'm hoping to catch up with him in Melbourne next weekend - well, go to his session at Melbourne Writers' Festival

[Rebecca]

Take that back about Luxembourg! I will defend the Benelux countries honor with...well, not my life, but at the very least a few free hours on the web! Ok, I've done my bit for the controversy.