Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Hard Case on Fresh Air

Charles Ardai was on NPR's Fresh Air yesterday to chat with Terry Gross about Hard Case Crime, pulp fiction old and new and his own pseudonymous work as Richard Aleas. (hat tip)

Tuesday's Child

My review of Tom Rob Smith's debut novel CHILD 44 runs today on the Barnes & Noble Review. And in a bid for transparency, I turned the piece in almost two months ago and long before the brick and mortar store designated the thriller as its latest store-wide recommendation, though still a few months after discussing the pre-publication hype.

Another big fan of the book is Vulture co-editor Dan Kois, who not only hyped it up at the end of last year but reviewed it for the News & Observer and conducted a Q&A with Smith for the print edition of New York. And Clayton Moore spills some ink about the book in his latest Mystery Strumpet column for Bookslut, while other raves come in via Newsweek, Otto Penzler, Barry Forshaw, and David Montgomery. I guess this means a contrarian take will show up soon enough, but what does it say that I still think about the book six months after my first read?

Those Rules Were Made for Breakin'

Eighty years ago, S.S. Van Dine - a pseudonym for Willard Huntingon Wright and the author, most notably, of the Philo Vance detective novels - came up with a list of twenty rules for how detective fiction should and should not be written. I'd invoked these rules at one of my panels at the LA Times Festival of Books and figured it would be fun to revisit them. Obviously, all of them have been broken in the 80 years since - sometimes well, often not so well - but #15, I think, still matters the most:

The truth of the problem must at all times be apparent — provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this I mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation  for the crime, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face-that all the clues really pointed to the culprit — and that, if he had been as clever as the detective, he could have solved the mystery himself without going on to the final chapter.  That the clever reader does often thus solve the problem goes without saying.

Of course, that's if your primary motive is to keep the reader on his or her toes. Van Dine thought of detective fiction as an intellectual game; what's transpired in the eight decades since is how said novels have become more about the emotional and the visceral. Or to spell it out more clearly, empathy in classical detective fiction was an afterthought; now it's a crucial component. I think that's rather a good thing.

Too Many Crime & Thriller Awards? Think Again

And this new one has some degree of muscle, what with it being the ITV3 Crime & Thriller Awards and the brainchild of Cactus TV's Amanda "Richard & Judy" Ross. More from the Bookseller:

ITV3 has teamed up with Cactus TV to launch a six-week Crime Thriller Season this autumn, culminating in televised ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards to celebrate crime fiction in film, TV and books.

Cactus has support from major publishers and retailers to promote the season, with posters and stickered books to be placed in shops and supermarkets.

Launching with an event at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival (17th–20th July), the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards will focus on the best of British and international crime novels, with around 15 categories in books, film and TV. The winners will be voted for by a panel of publishing industry figures, with an ITV3 viewers’ choice award for the top crime author.

If this has a Richard & Judy-esque effect on sales of crime fiction in the UK, that'll work pretty well...

If you're looking for the MWA Liveblog...

...it's right here, and will be updated as much as I can from 7:30 PM onwards.

UPDATE: And that's a wrap! The final list of winners is now up and I suspect the celebrating will go on late into the night. Of all the reactions I've seen, Danny Wagner of the Hungry Detective makes an interesting point:

At this point in the life of the internet and the invaluable tool it has become for all things Crime Fiction, I am incredulous that that the MWA can't post video highlights of the Award Ceremony. I don't need the whole show (although I'd be cool with that too), just the winner and the little speech they may provide would be wonderful content for the MWA website. I'll take the less cynical route and write that this probably has been discussed and shot down to due certain rights and author release issues.

I'd love to see it too, or even some roving reporter-style videoblogging - maybe next year? - but any and all baby steps when it comes to technology is good in my book.

Reading Is His Business

For the first time ever, Booklist is running original fiction in its pages. Keir Graff, the trade magazine's chief mystery reviewer, explains the story behind "Reading Is My Business," a hard-boiled tale about a missing mystery novel whose fate can only be uncovered by... book reviewing detective Keir Graff.

Deals and Awards

On the awards front, St. Martin's Press and the Mystery Writers of America announce the inaugural winner of their First Crime Novel Competition: Stefanie Pintoff, a Westchester-based attorney.  According to the press release, Pintoff's novel, tentatively titled IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM, is set in turn-of-the-century New York City and will be published in 2009. The novel tells the story of a detective who teams up with one of the criminal profiler[s] of the time; it makes full use of Pintoff’s knowledge of theories of crime over one hundred years ago."

Meanwhile, Publishers Marketplace reports that Craig McDonald - nominated for an Edgar for his debut novel HEAD GAMES - will switch publishers for his next two books. Agent Svetlana Pirinko secured North American rights for PRINT THE LEGEND and GNASHVILLE MON AMOUR from John Schoenfelder at Thomas Dunne/SMP.

We've Got Ourselves Another Edgar Week

And that means another Girl's Guide, though belated since the fun has already begun...

Today kicks off the MWA's annual symposium, now expanded to two days and dubbed "Crime Fiction University." Lee Child, S.J. Rozan, Harlan Coben and Nelson DeMille are among those tapped to teach on topics ranging from "credible characters in credible worlds" to breaking into screenwriting to the meat of writing thrillers. Then from 6 PM on, the Mysterious Bookshop hosts the launch party for the MWA's newest anthology THE BLUE RELIGION, edited by past president Michael Connelly. It's also the first year there won't be a party at the late, lamented Black Orchid bookshop, but I suspect any bittersweet feelings will be superceded by the wine and cheese at Otto's place.

Tomorrow the Symposium continues, starting with the First Novel nominee panel hosted by Executive VP Harry Hunsicker and also featuring Doug Lyle, Katherine Ramsland and Cyril Wecht talking forensic science and later, a slew of literary agents advising would-be writers on what to do (and what not to do) when submitting manuscripts or chatting with them at the Agents & Editors party later on that day. As usual, no crashing - attendance will be strictly monitored and enforced.

Thursday is the big night, with cocktails at 6 and Al Roker hosting - so maybe the record-breaking quickness of last year's ceremony will be superceded this time around! Whatever happens, from who wins to who is dressed the best, I'll be blogging it live on the MWA's website. I'll be sitting up front tapping away on the gargantuan laptop that is my lifeline.

Friday means that Edgar Week is done, but PEN World Voices is still on - so crime aficionados should be sure to check out S.J. Rozan's "Mean Streets" panel at 5 PM featuring Christian Jungersen, Jo Nesbo, Roberto Saviano and Juan Gabriel Vasquez.

Happy Edgars, everybody!

Greetings from the UCLA Lawn

Day One of the LA Times Festival of Books is wrapping up. The sun is bright and the temperature is high, leaving this LA neophyte in a state of sweat-soaked overload. So of course I can't wait for tomorrow and for future LATFOBs. The big reason? I cannot get over how much of a cross section this festival is not of literary types, not of middle class values of a certain stripe, but of everyone, every race, color, creed, age, all coming out to celebrate books and to take part. I wish this could be replicated elsewhere, but it could only happen in LA. But when I come back, I'm renting a car - even if trying to snare a cab after the Book Prizes led me into something of an interesting adventure (UCLA security = awesome guys.)

The action, at least for me, centers around the Mystery Bookstore, from last night's packed party where pretty much every West Coast-based crime writer (plus a few midwest and east coasters) showed up to sign books and drink booze, to the booth near the food court where James Ellroy is about to get a line snaking halfway down the block, capping off a day of nonstop signings and incredible hard work from Bobby, Linda, Clair, Ingrid and the rest of the store's fine folks. They rock. Most in the mystery world already know this, but it bears repeating.

This morning's panel went well, thank goodness - my nerves kicked in this morning in the green room and only dissipated when the audience laughed at one of Peter Robinson's remarks early on. April Smith and Les Klinger, too, gamely weathered my off-kilter questions to talk about experimentation, character, the merits and cons of being prolific, and the genre in context.

And right as I type this, an older gentleman holds a sign saying "9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB" while another gentleman, passionately anti-Bush and pro-Obama, commends him for keeping up the good work. Sitting in the shade gives you the chance to see the damndest things....

More tomorrow.

Crais Switches Publishers Once More

For those keeping score, Crais's last three books - which include July's CHASING DARKNESS - were published by Simon & Schuster. Before that, LA REQUIEM through THE FORGOTTEN MAN were published by Doubleday, and the early Elvis Cole novels were released by Bantam first and then Hyperion. Now Crais has changed houses again and landed somewhere brand new, as per PW and Publishers Marketplace:

Robert Crais's three new suspense novels, the first book, a sequel to last year's The Watchman, will be published in 2009, to Neil Nyren at Putnam, by Aaron Priest at Aaron Priest Agency.

On first blush it strikes me as a good move, though I now wonder which bestselling thriller writer will take that open spot at S&S, if that hole hasn't already been filled..