Lawrence Block, born in Buffalo, NY, June 24, 1938
Happy Birthday to a shop Favorite
Cold Case Unit
Full Disclosure
60 Years of Webslinging
60 years ago, Peter Parker swung into our world after being bitten by a radioactive spider.
June 5, 1962, Marvel Comics published the latest creation from the team of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. Should you be in DC (the city, not the other comic outfit), stop by the Library of Congress and you can see the original artwork for his debut. He didn’t rate his own comic yet – that would come not quite a year later, in March 1963, with the first issue of The Amazing Spider-man
From there would come Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben, the obnoxious J. Johah Jameson, Harry and Norman Osborn, and those two women vying for Peter’s attention, Mary Jane and Gwen, Doc Ock, The Green Goblin, the Lizard, the Sandman, the Vulture, Mr. Big, Kraven the Hunter, and many others. Even as a kid, I wondered how these bad guys were able to return to fight so often. Did they escape from jail or were they held only a few issues?? There would be times he’d be up against other superheros. After all, NYC was full of ’em!
When I was collecting with my cousin Jeff, way, way back in the distant past, there was just the one Spider-man comic. Now there are…well, I don’t know how many. I don’t know how many villains he’s battled all told. There was animated series shown very early on Saturday mornings in the 60s that my Dad had orders to get me up to watch. I don’t remember the live-action TV series, and that’s probably good that I missed it. I think the second, 2004, Toby Maguire movie with Doc Ock is the best. I had subscriptions to Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Captain America and a few others but had long stopped collecting by junior high. I have most of the Spider-mans from about #20 to #100, and a handful before #20. The first issue I bought was #55, which came out in 1967. At that time, you could to shops selling old magazines and buy them for peanuts. I can’t believe our parents took us to these grungy “bookshops” that were probably filled with porn, but the boxes of comics were on the floor, under shelves of whatever, and we’d eagerly sit in the dust to find issues we were missing. The irony is that those same shops probably were filled with old pulp magazines – Black Mask, Dime Detective – that’d be worth as much, if not more, that the comics we hunted.
So congratulations to Peter Parker, Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko. Spider-man is a great American creation. I’m sure that in on June 5th, 1962, none of them had any idea what lay ahead. I learned to draw by copying the artwork and kept and treasured them these decades. At some point, probably soon, I should part with them but I’m not quite sure I can do it just yet….
~ JB
June 2022
The deadliest school massacre in US history took place 95 years ago
Odd Stuff
Baroness Mone: first lady of lingerie embroiled in criminal investigation over £200m PPE contract
Russia Pretends It Didn’t Accidentally Show Bonnie and Clyde During Victory Day Parade
Ben Franklin Put an Abortion Recipe in His Math Textbook
Nikola Tesla told him: “Bury your Findings until Humanity is Ready”
Trolling’s Surprising Origins in Fishing
‘Grandfather of Goth’: fans campaign for US stamp honoring Edward Gorey
When Julia Child worked for a spy agency fighting sharks
Bringing order to the chaos of reality… Jarvis Cocker interviews six collectors
‘Lost’ Picasso spotted in Imelda Marcos’s home after son’s election win
Letters from the Loneliest Post Office in the World
Bird-watcher wrongfully accused in Central Park video gets a bird-watching TV show
Utah Hunting Guide Facing Felony for Rigging Don Jr.’s Bear Hunt
A ‘Jaws‘ actor is named police chief in the town where the iconic movie was filmed
Burn-proof edition of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ up for auction
Evil twinks and gay gangsters: why we need to remember history’s horrid homosexuals
For shame: Bram Stoker was a serial defiler of library books.
A 17th-century book about the existence of aliens has been found in England.
Words of the Month
Bug (n): An “insect, beetle,” 1620s (earliest reference is to bedbugs), of unknown origin, probably (but not certainly) from or influenced by Middle English bugge “something frightening, scarecrow” (late 14th C.), a meaning obsolete since the “insect” sense arose except in bugbear (1570s) and bugaboo (q.v.).
Serious Stuff
*In the battle over books, Nashville library’s response? ‘I read banned books’ cards
*Upset by book bans, teen starts forbidden book club in small Pa. town
*How a Debut Graphic Memoir Became the Most Banned Book in the Country
*An Idaho school district has permanently banned 24 books, including The Handmaid’s Tale.
*Courageous Afghan teenagers help start an underground book club in defiance of Taliban
*Miami Herald Editorial Board: Florida’s book rejection frenzy has right-wing kookiness written all over it
By Carl Hiaasen: Want to understand Miami? Read these 10 books, says Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books
*Florida’s shopping for social studies textbooks. No social justice content allowed
*Subscribe to this banned books club—and help provide families with free books!
*Va. Republicans seek to limit sale of 2 books in Barnes & Noble for ‘obscenity’
*Video captures vandal removing $1,000 in LGBTQ books from roadside library
*Belarus has banned the sale of 1984.
*Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ Shows Why Book Bans Are So Futile
A bloodstain expert’s testimony helped put him in prison. But can forensic science be trusted?
>Russian internet users downloading VPNs by the millions in challenge to Putin
>Russian sentenced to life in Ukraine’s 1st war crimes trial
Paraguay drugs prosecutor killed on honeymoon on Colombian beach
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to give books to refugee children
On the Way the Criminal Justice System Fails Our Poor Communities
Startup raises $17 million to develop smart gun
FBI says it foiled Islamic State sympathizer’s plot to kill George W Bush
Local Stuff
New red dress artwork inspired by Sarah de Vries, one of serial killer Pickton’s victims
WA woman, serving 90 years for planting poisoned pills, seeks release from prison
This summer, Blue Kettle Books will drive Seattle’s newest and smallest bookstore to you
Whistler Writers Festival spring series set to inspire and entertain
Joshua Freed, former Bothell mayor and GOP gubernatorial candidate, accused of misleading real estate investors
After 10 years on the run, couple pleads guilty in Federal Way scuba diver’s death
Words of the Month
bug (v.1) “to bulge, protrude,” 1872, originally of eyes, perhaps from a humorous or dialect mispronunciation of bulge (v.). Related: Bugged; bugging. As an adjective, bug-eyed recorded from 1872; so commonly used of space creatures in mid-20th C. science fiction that the initialism (acronym) BEM for bug-eyed monster was current by 1953. (etymonline)
Awards
Patricia Lockwood has won the £20,000 Dylan Thomas Prize
PEN America honors activists, artists and dissidents
Stephen Colbert Presents Peabody Institutional Award to ‘Fresh Air’’s Terry Gross
Here are the finalists for CLMP’s Firecracker Awards (or, a perfect indie reading list).
French author Alice Zeniter has won the eye-popping €100,000 Dublin Literary Award.
Book Stuff
Independent book stores aren’t just points of purchase but points of contact for communities
When You Learn Your Mother Was a Serious Writer Only After She’s Gone
Five Writers Weigh in on the Weird Shame of Publishing a Book
5 Non-Fiction Titles That Are So Vibrant They Read Like Fiction
10 Reasons Why Victorian England Is the Perfect Setting for Murder
John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee Novels, Ranked
Phoebe Atwood Taylor: Prolific Mystery Novelist and Creator of “The Codfish Sherlock”
A Brutal—and True—Piece of Writing Advice from Toni Morrison
Revisiting Gary Indiana’s Bewildering, Haunting True Crime Trilogy
Tracing the Romance Genre’s Radical Roots, from Derided “Sex Novels” to Bridgerton
On My Love of Libraries: Lessons From My Father
Bestselling novelist Don Winslow pivots from writing to politics
John Grisham: ‘Non-lawyers who write legal thrillers often get things so wrong’
How Do You Decolonize the Golden Age Mystery? Read More Historical Fiction!
Get Lit(erary) at Burning Man Publishing’s Launch Party
The Obscure London Library Where Famous Writers Go for Books
In-Person Author Events
June 6: David Duchovny signs The Reservoir, Powell’s, 6pm
June 9: David Duchovny signs The Reservoir, Seattle Town Hall, 7:30pm
June 29: Jess Walter signs The Angel of Rome and Other Stories, FolioSeattle, 6pm
Other Forms of Entertainment
Michael Keaton to direct and star in hitman-with-dementia movie
Two friends facing off resulted in the greatest Columbo episode eve
How ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ Took On Murder and the Mormon ChurchWords of the Month
Black and White and Noir All Over: A Brief History of Vintage Newspaper Crime Comic Strips
What are these serial killer subplots doing in Nora Ephron movies?
The Staircase Uncovers New Questions Within Tired True-Crime Theories
For ‘The Lincoln Lawyer,’ Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Climbs in the Front Seat
Armie Hammer Special Among New True Crime Slate at ID and Discovery+
A New Biography of Michael Cimino Is as Fascinating and Melancholy as the Filmmaker Himself [Don’t forget Thunderbolt and Lightfoot!]
Words of the Month
bug (v.2): “to annoy, irritate,” 1949, perhaps first in swing music slang, probably from bug (n.) and a reference to insect pests. Related: Bugged; bugging. (etymonline)
RIP
May 1: Kathy Boudin, Radical Imprisoned in a Fatal Robbery, Dies at 78
May 5: Alfred Baldwin, chief Watergate eavesdropper and lookout, is dead at 83
May 9: Jack Kehler, Actor in ‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘The Man in the High Castle,’ Dies at 75
May 10: James R. Olson, ‘Andromeda Strain,’ ‘Rachel, Rachel’ Star, Dies at 91
May 12: Randy Weaver, white separatist involved in Ruby Ridge standoff with FBI, dies at 74
May 13: Robert C. McFarlane, Top Reagan Aide in Iran-Contra Affair, Dies at 84
May 13: Fred Ward Dies – ‘The Right Stuff’, ‘Tremors’ & ‘Remo Williams’ Actor Was 79
May 20: John Aylward, prominent Seattle theater, ‘ER’and ‘West Wing’ actor, dies at 75
May 20: Remembering Roger Angell, New Yorker editor and Hall of Fame baseball writer
May 26: Ray Liotta, Actor in ‘GoodFellas,’ Dies at 67
Words of the Month
bug (v.3) “to scram, skedaddle,” 1953, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to bug (v.2), and compare bug off. Bug out (n.) “precipitous retreat” (1951) is from the Korean War. (etymonline)
Links of Interest
April 29: The Prosecutor Who Put John Gotti Away Explains How He Did It
May 1: The Gonzo Brothel Owner Who Stole $550 Million from the US Government
May 2: CIA Spook Who Admitted Raping Unconscious Women Does a U-Turn: I’m Impotent!
May 4: The Long Island Cops Who Schemed To Take Over the District Attorney’s Office
May 3: Drought reveals human remains in barrel at Lake Mead
May 5: AI Identifies 160 Possible ‘Crews’ of Criminal Cops in Chicago
May 7: A Crime Beyond Belief : A Harvard-trained lawyer was convicted of committing bizarre home invasions. Psychosis may have compelled him to do it. But in a case that became a public sensation, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to lose touch with reality.
May 7: Fugitive Hitman Dies in Mysterious Canadian Plane Crash
May 7: How 5 Convicted Murderers Banded Together to Get Out of Prison
May 7: Mystery of phone in North Sea could hold key to ‘Wagatha Christie’ case
May 7: Meet the YouTube Scuba Divers Solving Cold Cases – – and Racking Up Views
May 9: MI5 asked police to spy on political activities of children in 1975, inquiry hears
May 10: Guilty! Two-Timing Hubby Is Undone by Murdered Wife’s Fitbit
May 11: Man dies from heart attack after strangling his girlfriend to death and burying her in the backyard
May 12: How ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’ Scammed a Houston Widow Out of $800K
May 12: Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre sued by state of Mississippi
May 12: On the Trail of the Shenandoah Murders at the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases
May 12: Daughter’s Hair May Help Reveal Who Poisoned Her Dad—Twice
May 17: Writing History When the Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction
May 17: When You’re This Hated, Everyone’s a Suspect
May 18: True crime tourism: The good, the bad and the Bundy
May 19: “Criminal profiling has been fooling us all.”
May 20: ‘Casanova Scammer’ Pleads Guilty to Defrauding More Than 30 Women
May 23: The most audacious Confederate spies — and how they got away with it
May 24: Pediatrician Accused of Trying to Whack Ex-Hubby Asked Her Staff for Hitman Contacts
May 25: The Most Famous NFT Artist Got Hacked, Ripping Off His Followers
May 25: See video of jewelry store employees fight off robbers
May 25: On the Radical, Popular Creator of the First Female Superhero
May 26: Former head of Louvre charged in Egyptian artefacts trafficking case
May 30: A Dead Hamster Just Helped a Man Get Off Death Row
Words of the Month
bug (v.4) “equip with a concealed microphone,” 1949, earlier “equip with an alarm system,” 1919, underworld slang, probably a reference to bug (n.1). Bug (n.) “concealed microphone” is from 1946. Related: Bugged; bugging. (etymonline)
What We’ve Been Up To
Amber
Are you looking for a good book? Do you enjoy reading about poison? If you do, I’ve got an entertaining title for you: A Taste For Poison by Neil Bradbury, Ph.D.
The premise of the book is this: “….a chemical is not intrinsically good or bad, it’s just a chemical. What differs is the intent with which the chemical is used: either to preserve life — or to take it.” (pg.7)
Bradbury forwards this Shakespearean inspired theme (from Hamlet‘s line: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”) by detailing the beneficial and lethal qualities of each of the eleven chemicals included in A Taste For Poison. By describing the underlying science of how said chemical kills on a cellular level, he conversely covers the knowledge we’ve reaped from sussing out their methods.
Now, don’t let the science scare you off. Bradbury’s explanations are clear, concise, and easily understood. (Even with fuzzy recollections of high school biology classes.)
Augmenting the science are true crime cases featuring said substances. While a number of the crimes covered are quite famous, due to A Taste For Poison‘s firm focus on the chemical itself, these well canvassed cases find new life (so to speak). Thereby making the book a pleasure to read.
Balancing out this chilling subject matter is Bradbury’s sly sense of humor. Which not only generates wry observations, it keeps the book moving smoothly onward and from sinking into its own morbidness.
Seriously, A Taste For Poison is a fascinating read. One I would recommend to any mystery reader with a curious mind as it celebrates neither crime nor criminal. Rather, it demonstrates how these substances have been misused by a few and have helped the many.
JB
First off, I highly recommend the new Netflix series “The Lincoln Lawyer”. Yes, there was a 2011 Matthew McConaughey movie by that name, but while it is about the same character, this series is a whole, new deal. Mickey Haller is an LA defense attorney who works mostly out of his car (hence his nickname). But this new 10-episode series comes from The Brass Verdict, the second book in the series by Michael Connelly. And, no – Bosch is not in the series due to SPECTRE having those rights. [Come to think of it, is the reason McConaughey does Lincoln car commercials because he was in The Lincoln Lawyer? Just occurred to me…]
Second off (I know that isn’t what you say but why not??”), I highly recommend “The Offer”, a series about the making of The Godfather. Great cast with a story told by mixing in famous lines from the movie, reminiscent of how Shakespeare in Love used motifs from the theatre. The series is on Paramount+.
Third off, if you want to get a true history of what Ukraine has been through in its past, and if you have a strong soul, read Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands. It is NOT an easy read. Be warned that there will be times you have to put it down. It covers the years 1930 – 45 and what happened in the territory that now encompasses Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, and the 14 MILLION humans murdered by Stalin and Hitler. Strong stuff and important stuff to know.
Last off, everyone should read Michael Lewis’s The Premonition. All of his books are gems. I started with Moneyball. The Premonition deals with the disparate people who were pulled together by events to fight pandemics in the US and what happened when The Big One (covid) hit. It’s a fascinating story of smart people trying to do the best thing constantly thwarted by people in power who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, understand. And while I’m at it, I’d recommend his podcast ” Against the Rules”. Like his books, he focuses on the “referees” (ie people with power) in the world who don’t know what they’re doing. A particularly stand-out episode is “The Overconfidence Game”, about idiot men explaining things they don’t understand to women who do. Sad and funny...
One of the shop’s great old (length of time, not chronological age) customers was a Pat, a gentleman collector with a vast, VAST collection of books, mostly paperbacks. He kept track of them all with a notebook that had grid paper marked up to note what he had, what he needed to upgrade in quality, and where the holes in the collection were. Here are some photos he sent me of just four of the groups. If you think you have too many books, rest easy…
Many Thanks to Pat for sharing some views of his impressive collection.
BUY SMALL ~ SUPPORT SMALL
May Day May Day ~ 2022
These green books are poisonous—and one may be on a shelf near you
Words of the Month
astonish (v.): c. 1300, astonien, “to stun, strike senseless,” from Old French estoner “to stun, daze, deafen, astound,” from Vulgar Latin *extonare, from Latin ex “out” (see ex-) + tonare “to thunder” (see thunder (n.)); so, literally “to leave someone thunderstruck.” The modern form (influenced by English verbs in -ish, such as distinguish, diminish) is attested from 1520s. The meaning “amaze, shock with wonder” is from 1610s. (etymonline)
Watch for this new documentary, “Hello, Bookstore”
Want to See the Weirdest of Wikipedia? Look No Further.
Debunking the Mechanical Turk Helped Set Edgar Allan Poe on the Path to Mystery Writing
Scottish university cruelly cancels poor, defenseless, under-read Jane Austen. England panics.
Turns out, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote an episode of Veronica Mars.
One of the greatest legacies left by “The Godfather” was basic instructions on how to make dinner
In California, you can borrow state park passes from your local library
Earliest evidence of Maya calendar found inside Guatemalan pyramid
Scientists find earliest record of aurora in ancient Chinese chronicle
A Mysterious Sarcophagus Discovered Beneath Notre-Dame Will Soon Be Opened
An Inside Look at Judith Jones’ First Notes for Julia Child
Rare proof sheets of first Harry Potter book expected to sell for £20,000
‘We got a kick out of it’: art forgers reveal secrets of paintings that fooled experts
Original Death of Superman Artwork Sells for Over Half a Million at Auction
Man Upset Over ‘Gay’ Superman Accused of Terrorizing ‘Woke’ Companies
‘Captain America Comics’ No. 1 Sells for $3.1M
Words of the Month
confound (v.) c. 1300, “to condemn, curse,” also “to destroy utterly;” from Anglo-French confoundre, Old French confondre (12th C.) “crush, ruin, disgrace, throw into disorder,” from Latin confundere “to confuse, jumble together, bring into disorder,” especially of the mind or senses, “disconcert, perplex,” properly “to pour, mingle, or mix together,” from assimilated form of com “together” (see con-) + fundere “to pour” (from nasalized form of PIE root *gheu- “to pour”).
From mid-14th C. as “to put to shame, disgrace.” The figurative sense of “confuse the mind, perplex” emerged in Latin, passed into French and thence to English by late 14th C. The Latin past participle confusus, meanwhile, became confused (q.v.). The meaning “treat or regard erroneously as identical” is from 1580s.
confounded (adj.) as an intensive execration, “odious, detestable, damned,” 1650s, past-participle adjective from confound in its older sense of “condemn, curse,” which came to be considered “a milder form of imprecation” [OED]. It is perhaps a euphemism for damned. The sense of “put to mental confusion” is recorded from mid-14th C. [etymonline]
Serious Stuff
:A Ukrainian book publisher is collecting donations to get books to refugee kids.
Waterstones launches scheme to raise £1m for Ukraine
:Russian Nobel-winning editor says he was attacked with red paint
:US Government Disrupts Botnet Controlled by Russian Government Hackers
:Tchaikovsky’s house destroyed by Russian army in north-east Ukraine
:Finnish customs seizes millions of dollars’ worth of artwork headed to Russia
:Finland Returns $46 M. In Detained Artwork to Russia, as France Continues To Hold Russian Paintings
:Navalny review – extraordinary documentary about the attempt to kill Putin’s rival
:Why Putin Is Itching to Get His Hands on This Ex-American Banker
>Book Banning Efforts Surged in 2021. These Titles Were the Most Targeted.
>Democrats must hit back hard at GOP book bans. Here’s a start
>More books are banned than ever before, as Congress takes on the issue [oh good, we’re saved...]
>New York Public Library makes banned books available for free
>The Brooklyn Public Library is giving eCards to teens nationwide to challenge book bans
>Banned Books Are About to Be the New Pussy Hats
>‘Out of touch’: children’s authors describe increasing censorship of books on diversity
>Censorship battles’ new frontier: Your public library
>Florida rejects 54 math books, claiming critical race theory appeared in some
>Oklahoma library cancels adult romance book club after board bans sexual content
>Oklahoma public library’s sexual content ban also cuts abuse prevention program and Pride displays
>Llano County faces federal lawsuit over censorship in library system
>California Man Arrested for Alleged Threats to ‘Shoot Up’ Merriam-Webster for Defining ‘Woman’
>GOP Tennessee lawmaker suggests burning inappropriate books
>Florida activist seeks to ban Bible from schools for being too ‘woke’
>Tennessee Republican says he would ‘burn’ books censored by bill
>Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’ was banned — and cost him his federal job
The Female Spies Who Helped Win World War II
Two men arrested after targeting Secret Service agents in influence operation
Canadian government introduces legislation to force online giants to compensate news outlets
What We Get Dangerously Wrong About Psychopaths
A Driver Took Her Final Photo. Now She’s on a Long List of Missing Women.
–Son of acclaimed author Paul Auster dies of overdose while awaiting trial for daughter’s death
Newly formed board to review Civil Rights-era cold cases faces time crunch
Abraham Bolden: Ex-Secret Service agent pardoned by Biden [for a fuller account of Bolden’s case]
He caught the Golden State Killer, but the obsession took a toll [see signings!]
Report: Hackers Have Been Sexually Extorting Kids With Data Stolen From Tech Giants
Local Stuff
First missing, murdered indigenous alert system created in U.S.
Oregon Bandits on the Run With $1 Million in Stolen Fake Cash
Iowa survivalist who faked death to avoid trial arrested in Washington state
The Oregonian: ‘Threat Dictionary’ showcases power of words and how they’re used to spread, combat fear
Local author’s ‘Skid Road’ is a look at Seattle’s homeless past
Beachcomber stumbles across body partially buried in the sand near Lincoln City
Vancouver’s Black Dog Video closing for good
Melvin ‘Pete’ Mark’s heralded collection, featured at Oregon Historical Society, goes to auction
Lateness, Cursing, a Broken Sink: Starbucks Keeps Firing Pro-Union Employees
Very Oregonized Crimes ~An atlas of Oregon crime fiction.
My First Thriller: Robert Dugoni
The Oregon literary community is pissed off about poet Carl Adamshick’s $10,000 fellowship.
Words of the Month
confusion (n.) c. 1300, confusioun, “overthrow, ruin,” from Old French confusion “disorder, confusion, shame” (11th C.) and directly from Latin confusionem (nominative confusio) “a mingling, mixing, blending; confusion, disorder,” noun of action from past-participle stem of confundere “to pour together,” also “to confuse” (see confound).
Meaning “act of mingling together two or more things or notions properly separate” is from mid-14th C. Sense of “a putting to shame, perturbation of the mind” (a sort of mental “overthrow”) is from c. 1400 in English, while that of “mental perplexity, state of having indistinct ideas” is from 1590s. Meaning “state of being mixed together,” literally or figuratively, “a disorderly mingling” is from late 14th C.
confuse (v.) From the 1550s in a literal sense “mix or mingle things or ideas so as to render the elements indistinguishable;” from mid-18th C. in the active, figurative sense of “perplex the mind or ideas of, discomfit in mind or feeling,” but not in general use until after c. 1800. From 1862 as “erroneously regard as identical.” It took over these senses from its older doublet, confound (q.v.).
The past participle confused (q.v.) is attested much earlier, in Middle English (serving as an alternative past tense to confound), evidently an adaptation of Old French confus or Latin confusus, “with the native ppl. ending -ED and the present stem a much later inference from it” [OED]. (etymonline)
Odd Stuff
QAnon Surfer Who Killed His Kids Was Radicalized by Lizard People Conspiracies
In Minnie Mouse’s Dress, Right Wingers See a Penis — and a LGBTQ Conspiracy
David Mamet Comes Out as Right-Wing Culture Warrior, Claims Teachers Are Inclined to Pedophilia
Man Inspired by QAnon and Hopped Up on Caffeine Purposefully Derailed Train
Gender-Neutral Words Like ‘People’ and ‘Person’ Are Perceived as Male, Study Suggests
Shelf-promotion: the art of furnishing rooms with books you haven’t read
Goldfinger Onesie, anyone? Yours for only $545! Not the one from the movie…
Sinaloa Cartel Suspect Arrested in Colombia Thanks to His Date’s Facebook Pics
Twice Accused of Murder, This Writer Later Foresaw the Sinking of the Titanic
He Created the First Known Movie. Then He Vanished.
D.C. police arrest seven people found with dog taken in armed robbery
The Business of Fake Martian Dirt Is Blasting Off
A New Electronic Nose May Help Sniff Out Counterfeit Whiskey
The CIA’s ‘Torture Queen’ Is Now a Life Coach Hawking Beauty Products
Two Charged After Pet Duck Helps Solve Murder Mystery
The One American Serial Killer Whose Star Won’t Stop Rising
Words of the Month
puzzle (v.) 1590s, pusle “bewilder, confound, perplex with difficult problems or questions,” possibly frequentative of pose (v.) in obsolete sense of “perplex” (compare nuzzle from nose). To puzzle (something) out “resolve or discover by long cogitation or careful investigation” is by 1781. Puzzling (adj.) “bewildering, perplexing,” is from the 1660s. Bepuzzle (v.), to “perplex,” from the 1590s, from be- + puzzle. (etymonline)
SPECTRE
Amazon plans to block words including “union,” “ethics,” and “restroom” from its employee chat app
Amazon Discussed Banning the Words “Fairness” and “Pay Raise”
>A Cinderella Story: How Staten Island Amazon Workers Won Against the Multi-Billion-Dollar Company
>He was fired by Amazon 2 years ago. Now he’s the force behind the company’s 1st union
>Amazon seeks to undo Staten Island union victory
Delivery company files class action on behalf of 2,500 Amazon-branded partners
Working at an Amazon Warehouse Got Even More Dangerous in 2021
Amazon CEO Blames New Workers for the Company’s High Injury Rate
How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero
What You Don’t Know About Amazon
From Amazon to Apple, tech giants turn to old-school union-busting
9 Ways to Imagine Jeff Bezos’ Wealth (a visual presentation, best viewed seated)
Words of the Month
boggle (v.): 1590s, “to start with fright (as a startled horse does), shy, take alarm,” from Middle English bugge “specter” (among other things, supposed to scare horses at night); see bug (n.); also compare bogey (n.1), boggart. The meaning ” hesitate, stop as if afraid to proceed in fear of unforeseen difficulties” is from 1630s; that of “confound, cause to hesitate” is from 1640s. As a noun from 1650s. Related: Boggled; boggling; boggler (from c. 1600 as “one who hesitates”). [etymonline]
Awards
Rabih Alameddine takes home the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
Announcing the winners of the 2022 Whiting Awards.
This year’s International Booker Prize shortlist is led by women
38th annual B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes shortlist announced
Vancouver poet makes short list for top Griffin poetry prize
The winner of this year’s Story Prize is Brandon Taylor’s Filthy Animals
The National Book Foundation has announced this year’s 5 Under 35
Here’s the very first Chowdhury Prize in Literature winner.
Lauren Groff has won the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.
Interview: Evelyn Araluen wins $60,000 Stella prize: ‘I was one paycheck away from complete poverty’
Women’s Prize for Literature Shortlist showcases global talent
Here are the winners of the 2022-2023 Rome Prize in literature.
Here are the winners of this year’s LA Times Book Prizes.
Book Stuff
Remembrance of Bookstores Past
‘Stolen’ Charles Darwin notebooks left on library floor in pink gift bag
The Library Ends Late Fees, and the Treasures Roll In
What Kind of Bookstore Browser Are You? We booksellers have seen it all.
Why a Bookstore’s Most Quiet Moments Are (Sometimes) Its Most Important
Tokyo’s Manuscript Writing Cafe won’t let you leave until you finish your novel
Why the Color Red Carries so Much Weight in Film and Literature
Gillian Flynn’s Anti-Heroines And The Dark Side of Feminism
Brandon Sanderson’s Record-Breaking Kickstarter Is the Exception, Not the Rule
Ebook Services Are Bringing Unhinged Conspiracy Books into Public Libraries
The book that sank on the Titanic and burned in the Blitz
Interview: Don Winslow ~ ‘I’m a cupcake. I certainly couldn’t be a leg-breaker’
Dope: On George Cain, New York City, and Blueschild Baby
A Treasured Mumbai Bookstore’s Colorful Makeover, and Other News
On the (Secret) Crime Novels of E.L. Doctorow
Lost Charlotte Brontë Manuscript Sells for $1.25 Million
Holocaust Survivors Ask Israel Museum to Return One-of-a-Kind Haggadah
The Charming Mid-Century Murder Mysteries and Rich Interior Life of Edith Howie
UK publishers take £6.7bn in sales as TikTok crazes fuel purchases
Waterstones launches scheme to raise £1m for Ukraine
‘I can’t leave all 10,000 to my son’: the bookshop selling one man’s lifetime collection
Interview: Stella Rimington: ‘I fell into intelligence by chance’
Library of Congress Acquires Neil Simon’s Papers and Manuscripts
Four times more male characters in literature than female, research suggests
Why is the second hand book business booming?
Dispatches from this year’s New York International Antiquarian Book Fair
Why the Mystery Novel Is a Perfect Literary Form
Don Winslow on New England Roots, Greek Poetry, and Clams in Broth
Lost and Found: Rediscovering E.C.R. Lorac’s Two-Way Murder
6 Thrillers That Will Fool the Most Seasoned Readers
The State of the Crime Novel: A Roundtable With The Edgar Nominees Edgar Awards Nominees Reflect On How The Pandemic Has Changed Their Writing Lives
The State of the Crime Novel in 2022, Part 2: Genre, Publishing, and What to Read Next
Famous first lines, rewritten with a thesaurus.
Find books set in your hometown with this neat tool
Industry trend? Jon McGregor just did his book tour by bicycle.
In-Person Author Events
May 3: Seanan McGuire, University Bookstore, 6pm
May 4: : Paul Holes, Powell’s, 7pm
May 17: Christopher Moore, Powell’s, 7pm
May 18: Christopher Moore, Third Place Books/LFP, 7pm
May 23: Adrian McKinty, Third Place Books/LFP, 7pm
Other Forms of Entertainment
Sherlock Holmes May Be Coming to Streaming Thanks to Robert Downey Jr.
Mugshots of the Real Peaky Blinders
Bruce Willis’s Minimalist Star Power
15 years ago, Tarantino released his worst movie — with the most incredible stunts
Jason Isaacs: ‘Daniel Craig is more comfortable naked than with clothes on’
A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes audiobook review – vintage crooks and conmen (read by Samuel L. Jackson)
My streaming gem: why you should watch Scarlet Street
“Operation Mincemeat”: the startling story of deception that fooled Hitler and helped win the war
‘Operation Mincemeat’: The Welsh drifter who helped end WW2
Serial-Killer Clown John Wayne Gacy Speaks in New Docuseries
~Peter Berg on Being Linda Fiorentino’s Sex Toy
~Kathleen Turner Made the Modern Femme Fatale
‘Killing Eve’ EP Sally Woodward Gentle on How Going With Her Gut Shaped Four Seasons and a Finale
Podcast: Run, Bambi, Run Profiles Playboy Bunny Turned Milwaukee Police Officer Turned Killer
Looking back on one of the scariest serial-killer films ever made, 10 Rillington Place
– Hugh Laurie brings Agatha Christie murder-mystery to TV [his favourite, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?]
– On the Genuine Delights of Hugh Laurie’s Murder Mystery Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
The Hound of the Baskervilles review – tongue-in-cheek sleuthing
=‘We Own This City’ Brings George Pelecanos Back to Baltimore
Sam Peckinpah’s ‘The Osterman Weekend’ Finally Comes Home
‘Villanelle will be back!’ Killing Eve’s author speaks out over the catastrophic TV finale
‘Shining Girls’: Elisabeth Moss Tracks a Time-Traveling Serial Killer
‘The Offer’ review – the making of The Godfather makes for hit-and-miss TV
Thomas Perry’s The Old Man comes to TV staring Jeff Bridges on June 16
The True Story Behind ‘The Untouchables’
Insiders Call B.S. on ‘Tokyo Vice’ Backstory
James Patterson: “The Hollywood adaptations of my books suck”
Words of the Month
amaze (v.)”overwhelm or confound with sudden surprise or wonder,” 1580s, back-formation from Middle English amased “stunned, dazed, bewildered,” (late 14th C.), earlier “stupefied, irrational, foolish” (c. 1200), from Old English amasod, from a- (1), probably used here as an intensive prefix, + *mæs (see maze). Related: Amazed; amazing. (etymonline)
RIP
A farewell to long-time customer John Cunningham who died March 2, 2022
Mar. 30: Paul Herman Dies: ‘The Sopranos’, ‘Goodfellas’ Actor Was 76
April 2: Thomas F. Staley, Dogged Pursuer of Literary Archives, Dies at 86
April 5: Alan J. Hruska, a Founder of Soho Press, Dies at 88
April 6: Nehemiah Persoff Dies: Prolific Actor Of ‘Yentl’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Gunsmoke’ & Many More Was 102 (he was in EVERY crime show in the 60s, probably more than once!)
April 10: Bestselling author Jack Higgins dead at 92
April 9: Mimi Reinhard, secretary who typed ‘Schindler’s List,’ dies at 107
April 14: Letizia Battaglia, pioneer photographer who defied the Mafia, dead at 87
April 1`5: Christopher Coover, Auction Expert in the Printed Word, Dies at 72
April 30: Neal Adams death: Batman comic artist dies, aged 80
Links of Interest
Mar. 31: This Father-Son Team Helps People Brute-Force Their Lost Bitcoin Wallet Passwords
Mar. 31: St. Louis’ Murder Total Has Fallen, but Some Killings Went Uncounted
Mar. 31: More Than a Dozen Antiquities Linked to Disgraced Dealer Seized from Yale’s Art Gallery
April 2: Man Sentenced to 650 Years in Prison in Brutal 1980s Sex Crimes
April 2: Did Body Found on Somerton Beach Belong to Cold War Spy?
April 5: Mob Hit Man Who Escaped as Sentence Neared Its End Is Recaptured
April 5: Hackers Hijacked Crypto Wallets With Stolen MailChimp Data
April 5: The novelist who wrote “How to Murder Your Husband” is now on trial for murdering her husband.
April 6: Investigating the Cold Case That Inspired ‘Twin Peaks‘
April 7: Yakuza Boss Bagged at Steakhouse in Rockets-for-Heroin Plot
April 8: Alex Jones Accused of ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Scheme to Hide Money From Sandy Hook Families
April 8: Former Goldman Sachs banker found guilty in 1MDB scheme
April 8: D.C. Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Steal More than $31 Million in COVID-19 Funds
April 8: Cops Nab Five Alleged Ringleaders of Scam-Filled Assassin Marketplace on Dark Web
April 9: Florida Man Stole Almost $600K in Crypto While Setting Up Security System: Cops
April 10: Man Finds “Priceless” Napoleon Memorabilia Stolen in Museum Heist — on eBay
April 11: Police Discover More Than 1,000 Stuffed Wild Animals in Giant Taxidermy Bust
April 12: Aides to Texas County Judge Indicted in $11M Vaccine Contract Scandal
April 12: Law Enforcement Seizes RaidForums, One of the Most Important Hacking Sites
April 13: Gangs are following and robbing LA’s wealthiest, LAPD says
April 13: US federal alert warns of the discovery of malicious cyber tools
April 14: Coca-Cola Enterprises boss admits taking £1.5m in bribes
April 14: Meet the Blockchain Detectives Who Track Crypto’s Hackers and Scammers
April 15: QAnon Leaders Push Followers Into Multi-Level Marketing
April 15: How Cryptocurrency Gave Birth to the Ransomware Epidemic
April 15: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Is Changing His Tune on Crypto
April 20: Cops Arrest COVID-19 Vaccine Scammer With ‘Top Secret’ Clearance Hookup
April 20: He Was a Penniless Donor to the Far Right. He Was Also a Russian Spy.
April 21: Shiba Inu Memecoin Launches Metaverse, Someone Creates Swastika Immediately
April 21: Supreme Court ruling aids family seeking return of painting confiscated by Nazis
April 21: After Pardon for Bannon, 2 Admit Bilking Donors to Border Wall
April 22: EXCLUSIVE – Washington man arrested for impersonating agent left trail of defaults and debt
April 22: Jeffrey Epstein, a Rare Cello and an Enduring Mystery
April 23: U.S. hasn’t stopped N. Korean gang from laundering its crypto haul
April 28: Ten men from same family arrested in Amsterdam for money laundering
April 28: Meta Found Snooping on Student Aid Applicants
April 29: Val Broeksmit, Deutsche Bank, and the Birth of a New Conspiracy Theory
April 29: Cops Kill Man Over Stolen Pokemon Cards in Target Parking Lot
Words of the Month
bamboozle (v.) “to cheat, trick, swindle,” 1703, originally a slang or cant word, of unknown origin. Perhaps Scottish from bombaze, bumbaze “confound, perplex,” or related to bombast, or related to French embabouiner “to make a fool (literally ‘baboon’) of.” Wedgwood suggests Italian bambolo, bamboccio, bambocciolo “a young babe,” extended by metonymy to mean “an old dotard or babish gull.” Related: Bamboozled; bamboozler; bamboozling. As a noun from 1703. (etymonline)
What We’ve Been Up To
Amber
Murder Maps: Crime Scenes Revisited 1811 – 1911 — Dr. Drew Gray
There are many reasons why Murder Maps makes an excellent read. One of which is the selection of crimes featured in the book. Namely, most cases highlight a new forensic technique, first conviction using said technique, and/or new methodology police use to catch the perpetrator. We take techniques like fingerprinting, crime scene photography, and criminal profiling for granted – however, they aren’t nearly as old as one might think!
The second reason why I loved reading this book was the crimes Dr. Grey decided to detail. Of course, the covered period 1811 – 1911 includes the notorious crimes of H.H. Holmes, Crippen, and Jack the Ripper. However, rather than sticking to the stock descriptions of these heinous crimes, Dr. Grey includes often overlooked details. Including the five other possible victims of Jack the Ripper, the pioneering techniques the police used during the Ripper’s spree, and their failures.
Besides coving the most notorious crimes and culprits, Murder Maps also includes all kinds of other murders, including examples I’ve read repeatedly in fiction but never imagined having a real-life counterpart! Such as this old trope: an innocent actor unwittingly wields a real weapon instead of a prop and kills a fellow actor while on stage during a performance….
Speaking of the crimes detailed in Murder Maps, it reminds me of one of my favorite podcasts, The True Crime Files. The book gives you just enough details of the crime: who the victims were, where it took place, if/how it was solved, and how the judicial system dealt with the perpetrators (if they were, in fact, guilty). So if, for one reason or another, one of the crimes sparks your interest, you’ve enough information at your disposal to look it up for yourself.
Then there are the maps.
Each entry in Murder Maps, no matter how big or small, contains at least one illustration (usually from one newspaper or another) or photo (mug shots and/or crime scene photos), a brief description, and a map. Now, I must admit (for me), the maps containing only a single point (where the crime occurred) were only somewhat helpful. However, the maps where Dr. Grey put multiple features of interest, such as where the killers lived, worked, or were born in relation to where the victims were worked, attacked, or found – provide a wealth of information.
I can honestly say it’s been a very long time since I’ve enjoyed a piece of true-crime writing as much as I’ve enjoyed Murder Maps.
I would highly recommend Murder Maps to anyone who would like to dip their toes into the genera or to an aficionado looking for a new case to obsess over, new details/perspective on an old fave, and/or appreciates a well-laid-out book.
Seriously, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Fran
A Touch of Home
Since we moved back to New Mexico, I’ve been drawn to re-reading some of the authors that made New Mexico home. I know, you’re thinking about Tony Hillerman, and you should since he was fantastic, and I hope you’ve followed his daughter, Anne’s career.
But looking at these mountains out my front door has led me down more non-traditional paths.
So I decided to read some Walter Satterthwait. Granted, his Joshua Croft books are set in Santa Fe, which this absolutely is not, and there’s a definite rivalry between northern and southern New Mexico, but for a good, solid story, Walter Satterthwait is spot on.
“But outside town, the countryside is still spare and uncluttered, the sunlight still reels down from a clear blue silky sky, the mountains and the buttes still soar wild and reckless from a landscape so nonchalant about its lean rugged beauty, so indifferent to the passage of time, and the passage of man, that it takes the breath away. Driving through this country can be, should be, an exercise in humility; and that may be one of the very best exercises possible.“
One of the things that I like about Joshua Croft is that his cynicism extends to himself. He questions everything, including his own impressions of people and events, and that is brilliantly showcased in The Hanged Man, where Croft is asked to investigate the murder of a man who just paid an undisclosed but enormous amount for a single Tarot card.
The cast of characters and suspects is just as colorful as any Tarot deck, and the delight of Satterthwait’s writing is that the people come close to being cartoonish, almost caricatures, and then he brings them back down to earth in some commonplace way that resonates.
The Hanged Man was written in 1993, and the delight of it is that, while much of New Mexico has urbanized and changed, the bones are still the same. I know these dusty roads, and back ways, and the way that people here can seem more open when they’re really quite secretive.
Maybe it’s the sun, maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the fact that you can trust a rattlesnake to be more honest than a human being half the time, but whatever it is about living in New Mexico, and about looking into the shadows, Walter Satterthwait is well worth your time.
JB
National Portrait Gallery exhibition looks at Watergate 50 years later
BUY SMALL ~ SUPPORT SMALL
An Alpine Obituary, sadly
Mary Daheim died on March 31st, 2022. She was 84.
From her publisher’s bio: “Mary Richardson Daheim started spinning stories before she could spell. Daheim has been a journalist, an editor, a public relations consultant, and a freelance writer, but fiction was always her medium of choice. In 1982, she launched a career that is now distinguished by more than sixty novels. In 2000, she won the Literary Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In October 2008, she was inducted into the University of Washington’s Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. Daheim lives in her hometown of Seattle and is a direct descendant of former residents of the real Alpine, which existed as a logging town from 1910 to 1929, when it was abandoned after the mill was closed. The Alpine/Emma Lord series has created interest in the site, which was named a Washington State ghost town in July 2011. An organization called the Alpine Advocates has been formed to preserve what remains of the town as a historic site.”
Mary published 28 Emma Lord books, the last, Bitter Alpine, in 2020. Her 32nd Bed & Breakfast, Lady MacDeath, is to be published posthumously in June 2023. In addition to all of those, there were 7 romance novels, the first of which was published in 1983.
From the site Seattle Wrote, here are her thoughts on writing. Her line about where her ideas come from is pure Daheim: “My husband once suggested that I answer this by saying I get them out of the garage where we keep the rest of the junk. That’s flippant, but the garage as a metaphor for storing ideas is apt. Life is the source of ideas. So much of what I base my books on is drawn from actual events, many of which have happened to me. Sometimes I feel as if I’m not writing fiction, but autobiography.”
We were great fans of her, and her books. We would see her twice a year, at least – once for a signing for a new Alpine book, and once for a new Bed & Breakfast book.
She’d make a point of coming down a little before noon so she could slip across the street and get a turkey/cranberry sandwich at Bakeman’s. Then, with her gravelly voice and huge smile, she’d sign books and entertain us with stories of her family, especially of Cousin Judith, of visiting the real Apline, WA, when her grandparents lived there, and with whatever else was bopping around her mind.
Only Bill or Mary would’ve been able to say how she connected with the shop. In an old shop 1992 calendar, it’s noted that she was in to sign on Thurs, April 23rd, noon. She was back in to sign on Sat, Dec. 5th. By that year, she’d published three Bed & Breakfast comedies. Was she in to sign the first two? Can’t say. In 1992, she released her first Alpine mystery, so the December event was the premiere signing for it.
Between then and the close of the shop in 2017, she was in for every book. Here she is in 2008 signing the Alpine Traitor and chatting with Tammy:
She was always cheerful and kind. At times, she’d welcome JB into her home to sign this or that special request. Her big old house on the northeast side of Queen Anne overlooked Fremont. He knew to prepare to stay awhile, to discuss the bookshop, publishing, some crazy family event, or any number of topics. She gave us author copies – books given to an author by the publisher – to clear space in her basement and help us when times were tough. She was a gem of the highest sparkle!
In a later, 1991, guest book, the ones we had all visiting authors sign, she wrote this:
We’re so glad she felt at home with us. Now she’s with Dave and, no doubt, having cocktails with Bill and B Jo, telling stories and laughing.
APRIL 2022
~For the record, we miss doing our annual April Fool’s message ~
Words for the Month
pseudepigrapha (n.) “books or writings of false authorship,” 1620s (implied in pseudepigraphical), especially of spurious writing professing to be Biblical in character and inspired in authorship, from Modern Latin use of Greek neuter plural of pseudepigraphos “with false title,” from pseudos “a lie” (see pseudo-) + epigraphē “a writing” (see epigraph).
Interesting Stuff:
How Defamatory Is “Goblin Mode” to Real Goblins?
She found lost love letters in her attic. Then the hunt began for their owner.
Did you know Bram Stoker wrote Walt Whitman a very intense, 2,000-word fan letter?
The More Personal the Joke, the Bigger the Laugh (and More Lessons from a Career in Cartoons)
Sex Traps Might Finally Help Us Eradicate Murder Hornets [this is why the world of espionage calls them Honey Traps]
Super-valued: Special copy of Marvel Comics #1 fetches $2.4M
Anais Nin’s Los Angeles Hideaway in photos
The 12 Most Unforgettable Descriptions of Food in Literature
Looking Back on 50 Years of Making Beautiful Books
Seven Colorful Cover Themes from Crime Fiction’s Past
These unread books have a long shelf life — as décor
A Rare ‘Star Wars’ Poster Is Being Auctioned Off to Benefit Ukraine
This is why Bill Farley named it the Seattle Mystery Bookshop: Why Good Bookstores Might Not Actually Be “Stores”
Words for the Month
fable (n.) c. 1300, “falsehood, fictitious narrative; a lie, pretense,” from Old French fable “story, fable, tale; drama, play, fiction; lie, falsehood” (12th C.), from Latin fabula “story, story with a lesson, tale, narrative, account; the common talk, news,” literally “that which is told,” from fari “speak, tell,” from PIE root *bha- (2) “to speak, tell, say.”
Restricted sense of “animal story” (early 14th C.) comes from the popularity of Aesop’s tales. In modern folklore terms, defined as “a short, comic tale making a moral point about human nature, usually through animal characters behaving in human ways” [“Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore”]. (etymonline)
Serious Stuff
*Conti Ransomware Gang Sees Thousands of Internal Chats Leaked After Posting Pro-Russia Message
*A ransomware gang’s internal drama leaked after it backed Russia
*Russia Looks at Legalizing Software Piracy to Offset Sanctions
*Ukrainian libraries, serving as bomb shelters, continue to prove that libraries are our best hope.
*Inside the ‘Bookkeeper Army’ Secretly Working to Track Down Vladimir Putin’s Hidden Money
*Ukraine intelligence publishes names of 620 alleged Russian agents
>Zoë Kravitz wanted to audition for a 2012 Batman film. She was told she was too ‘urban,’ she says.
>Her Comics were Everything Jim Crow America Never Wanted Black Women to Be
>Biden signs into law first anti-lynching bill in U.S. history
>Emmett Till’s relatives push for renewed probe into 1955 lynching
>A Century later, The Death of an Indiana Man is Ruled a Lynching Instead of a Suicide
The Canadian Spy Novelist Ordered To Reveal His Sources
Secret Service Says More Needs to Be Done to Stop ‘Incel’ Attacks
Gretchen Whitmer: FBI agent ‘bomb-maker’ in kidnap plot
Mexico armed forces knew fate of 43 disappeared students from day one
Sandy Hook Families Reject ‘Desperate’ Settlement Offer from Alex Jones
After Kansas City sues, ATF issues notice revoking gun manufacturer’s license
Hackers pretending to be cops tricked Apple and Meta into handing over user data
The Censorship Battle
Brad Meltzer on how a community fought a school book ban in Pennsylvania and won.
The smallest library in Maine is stocking its shelves with banned books.
An educator was fired for reading I Need A New Butt! aloud. Now PEN America’s involved.
Schools nationwide are quietly removing books from their libraries
Progressives are resisting rightwing book banning campaigns – and are winning
Artist Shubigi Rao’s Pulp III Explores the Book as a Vehicle for Resistance and Redemption
An Oklahoma lawmaker just compared librarians to cockroaches. It’s as bad as it sounds.
Ted Cruz’s ‘Antiracist Baby’ Smear Campaign Backfires and Boosts Sales
Tyrants and Propaganda, Or The Totalitarian Need for Total Information Control
Words of the Month
pseudo-: Often before vowels pseud-, word-forming element meaning “false; feigned; erroneous; in appearance only; resembling,” from Greek pseudo-, combining form of pseudēs “false, lying; falsely; deceived,” or pseudos “falsehood, untruth, a lie,” both from pseudein “to tell a lie; be wrong, break (an oath),” also, in Attic, “to deceive, cheat, be false,” but often regardless of intention, a word of uncertain origin. Words in Slavic and Armenian have been compared; by some scholars the Greek word is connected with *psu- “wind” (= “nonsense, idle talk”); Beekes suggests Pre-Greek origin.
Productive in compound formation in ancient Greek (such as pseudodidaskalos “false teacher,” pseudokyon “a sham cynic,” pseudologia “a false speech,” pseudoparthenos “pretended virgin”), it began to be used with native words in later Middle English with a sense of “false, hypocritical” (pseudoclerk “deceitful clerk;” pseudocrist “false apostle;” pseudoprest “heretical priest;” pseudoprophete; pseudofrere) and has been productive since then; the list of words in it in the OED print edition runs to 13 pages. In science, indicating something deceptive in appearance or function. (etymonline)
Local Stuff
Amazon Closes a Seattle Office Over Deadly Shooting Surge
Feds pursue dozens of suspected Oregon fraud cases tied to pandemic business aid
Odd Stuff
Jailbird Harvey Weinstein Caught Red-Handed With Illegal Milk Duds
James Bond Gets His Grossest Gadget Ever in Mark Millar’s 007 Pastiche
Exploring the Enduring Mystery of Crete’s Phaistos Disc
‘The Batman’ Star Paul Dano Says Saran Wrap Doesn’t Want to Be Associated With Riddler’s Costume
Georgia Man Gets 3 Years Prison for Using COVID Funds to Buy a Pokémon Card
Scotland Apologizes for History of Witchcraft Persecution
The Unique Pleasures of a Mystery Novel with a High Death Count
For the Love of Murderous Women
This artist creates sculptures of mundane objects using the pages of vintage books.
$1.7M in NFTs Stolen From Crypto VC by Hackers
At 73, He Adds New Jersey Hit Man to His Criminal Résumé
How Does Language During Sex Translate Across Cultures?
New Orleans rescinds little-known century-old ban on jazz in schools
A pickleball player, 71, drew marks on a public court. He faces a felony.
Buddhist Monks Keep Getting Arrested for Corruption, Murder and Drug Trafficking
Hackers Who Stole $50 Million in Crypto Say They Will Refund Some Victims
American released after being held in Russia for similarity to James Bond
Words of the Month
fib (n.) “a lie,” especially a little one, “a white lie,” 1610s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from fibble-fable “nonsense” (1580s), a reduplication of fable (n.).
fib (v.) “tell trifling lies,” 1680s, from fib (n.). Seldom, if ever, transitive. Related: Fibbed; fibbing; fibbery. (etymonline)
SPECTRE
Amazon closing its bookstores, 4-Star shops
Red Rocks Abandons Amazon Palm-Scanning Tech After Artist-Led Protest
Seattle Pride cuts Amazon as a sponsor
Mandatory meetings reveal Amazon’s approach to resisting unions
Awards
Here are the finalists for this year’s $50,000 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.
Lambda Literary Award Finalists
2022 National Book Critics Award winners
Meet the six designers shortlisted (including the winner) for the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize
A winner of this year’s Windham-Campbell Prizes dropped out of the literary scene for 40 years.
Words of the Month
warlock (n.) Old English wærloga “traitor, liar, enemy, devil,” from wær “faith, fidelity; a compact, agreement, covenant,” from Proto-Germanic *wera- (source also of Old High German wara “truth,” Old Norse varar “solemn promise, vow”), from PIE root *were-o- “true, trustworthy.” Second element is an agent noun related to leogan “to lie” (see lie (v.1); and compare Old English wordloga “deceiver, liar”).
Original primary sense seems to have been “oath-breaker;” given special application to the devil (c. 1000), but also used of giants and cannibals. Meaning “one in league with the devil” is recorded from c. 1300. Ending in -ck (1680s) and meaning “male equivalent of a witch” (1560s) are from Scottish. (etymonline)
Book Stuff
Philip K Dick: the writer who witnessed the future
Waterstones acquires Blackwell’s, the UK’s biggest independent bookseller
Houston Museum to Restore Rare Hebrew Prayer Book
Fantasy Author Raises $15.4 Million in 24 Hours to Self-Publish (Brandon Sanderson)
The Books Will Keep You Warm: A celebration of small-town libraries and retro mysteries
The Unique Power of Nuanced Spy Novels
* The Secret Life of Beatrix Potter
The Many Faces of Parker, Donald E. Westlake’s Most Enduring, Confounding Creation
My First Thriller: David Corbett
What’s the Greatest Newspaper Crime Movie Ever Made?
Qiu Xiaolong and the Return of the Venerable Judge Dee
How It Felt to Have My Novel Stolen
John Dickson Carr: The Master of the Locked Room-Mystery
Vintage goes full bleed for its new literary heroines series
The Pleasures That Lurk in the Back of the Book
Viking will publish a book of John le Carré’s letters in November.
Gagosian Opens Its First London Boutique In The Burlington Arcade
Terese Marie Mailhot on What Book Royalties Can’t Buy
The Dutch publisher of a controversial new book on Anne Frank is dropping it.
Arrest finally made in 29-year-old Bay Area cold case involving murder of San Carlos store owner
Condé Nast workers form a companywide union.
A Bookstore Revival Channels Nostalgia for Big Box Chains [???]
April 30, 2022 – INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY
Author Events [In Person]
April 6, 7pm: Phillip Margolin signs The Darkest Place, Powell’s/Cedar Hills
April 16, 2-4pm: Mike Lawson signs his new stand-alone thrill, Magnolia Books
April 27, 7pm: Nicola Griffith signs her sequel to Hild, Seattle Central Library
Bellingham’s Village Books is holding their annual Dirty Dan Murder Mystery Weekend, April 23 and 24
OK – we have to note two things about author our author events listing:
1 – it’s been so long since we last listed any that we don’t remember our format!
2 – it’s been so long since the shop closed that we might be missing some authors because we don’t recognize their names. we urge you to do your own searching to catch what we miss!
Words of the Month
latebrous (adj.) “full of hiding places,” 1650s, from Latin latebrosus, from latebra “a hiding place,” from latere “to lie hidden” (see latent). Hence latebricole “living or lurking in holes” (of spiders, etc.), from Latin latebricola “one who dwells in lurking places.” (etymonline)
Other Forms of Entertainment
*This thing of ours: why does The Godfather still ring true 50 years on?
*Al Pacino on ‘The Godfather’: ‘It’s Taken Me a Lifetime to Accept It and Move On’
*50 years ago ‘Godfather’ sold out a Kansas City theater. So why was it totally empty?
*John Cazale Was the Broken Heart of The Godfather
*It’s time to imagine The Godfather with Ernest Borgnine as Vito Corleone [it sounds odd but maybe it would have worked?]
*How Paramount Home Video gave The Godfather a restoration fans shouldn’t refuse
*Paramount Plus releases first teaser for The Offer, its series about the making of The Godfather
*For 50 Years ‘The Godfather’ Has Sold Us a Beautiful Lie
*A Guide to ‘The Godfather’ Filming Locations in New York City
‘The Batman’ Star Jeffrey Wright on Gordon Influences and His Farewell to Bond
14 Book-to-Movie Adaptations We Can’t Wait to See in 2022
The Most Anticipated Movies Based on True Stories of 2022
Overlooked No More: Barbara Shermund, Flapper-Era Cartoonist
The Story Behind a New Book Pushing the Conversation About The Wire Into New Territory
Samuel L. Jackson and Walter Mosley Team Up for a Sci-Fi Fable
14 ‘Bond Girls’ Who Overshadowed 007
Network Got It Right: The Legacy of a Scorching Satire
HBO reportedly developing fourth season of ‘True Detective’ dubbed ‘Night Country’
*In “The Staircase”, Colin Firth and Toni Collette Find Life in Death
*The Real Story Behind ‘The Staircase’
Anatomy of a Shootout: ‘Heat’ vs. ‘The Matrix’
This Month in True-Crime Podcasts: Drug Kingpins, Amityville, and a Return to the Green River Killer
Chris Pine on How Directorial Debut ‘Poolman’ Came Together
Bruce Willis “Stepping Away” From Acting Career After Aphasia Diagnosis
Words of the Month
lie (v.1) “speak falsely, tell an untruth for the purpose of misleading,” late 12th C., from Old English legan, ligan, earlier leogan “deceive, belie, betray” (class II strong verb; past tense leag, past participle logen), from Proto-Germanic *leuganan (source also of Old Norse ljuga, Danish lyve, Old Frisian liaga, Old Saxon and Old High German liogan, German lügen, Gothic liugan), a word of uncertain etymology, with possible cognates in Old Church Slavonic lugati, Russian luigatĭ; not found in Latin, Greek, or Sanskrit. Emphatic lie through (one’s) teeth is from 1940s.
lie (n.1) “an untruth; conscious and intentional falsehood, false statement made with intent to deceive,” Old English lyge, lige “lie, falsehood,” from Proto-Germanic *lugiz (source also of Old Norse lygi, Danish løgn, Old Frisian leyne (fem.), Dutch leugen (fem.), Old High German lugi, German Lüge, Gothic liugn “a lie”), from the root of lie (v.1). To give the lie to “accuse directly of lying” is attested from 1590s. Lie-detector is recorded by 1909. ‘In mod. use, the word is normally a violent expression of moral reprobation, which in polite conversation tends to be avoided, the synonyms falsehood and untruth being often substituted as relatively euphemistic.‘ [OED] (etyomonline)
RIP
Mar. 2: Alan Ladd Jr., ‘Star Wars’ Savior and Oscar Winner for ‘Braveheart,’ Dies at 84
Mar. 4: Mitchell Ryan, Actor in ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank,’ Dies at 88
Mar. 13: William Hurt obituary – Body Heat, Gorky Park actor was 71
Links of Interest
Mar. 1: Trumpy Impresario Who Boasted of His Self-Made Success Is Indicted for Crypto Scam
Mar. 4: Mom Who Vanished for Weeks in 2016 Made Up Entire Kidnapping Story, Says Prosecutor
Mar. 7: This Serial-Killing Family Terrorized the American Frontier [Scott Phillips wrote a book about this in 2004 – Cottonwood]
Mar. 7: Pro-Trump PAC Exec Rants About Hillary After Feds Charge Him for Ponzi Scheme
Mar. 9: The ‘timber detectives’ on the front lines of illegal wood trade
Mar. 10: Timbuktu manuscripts: Mali’s ancient documents captured online
Mar. 10: Sex and the City: The Spectacular Love Life of Mafia Boss Sonny Franzese
Mar. 11: Edgar Allan Poe Museum marks 100 years celebrating master of the macabre
Mar. 14: Two convicted in first murder plot case involving EncroChat messaging system
Mar. 14: Woman banned from Bay Area steakhouse after stealing $4,000 Cognac bottle
Mar. 15: A Brief History of Fugitives In America
March 15: How Sleuths Blew the Lid on Accused Purple Heart Fraudster
March 16: ‘Little Miss Nobody’ Identified as 1960 Kidnap Victim
Mar. 16: Honey Traps, Child Porn and Violence: Feds Bust Chinese Plot to Destroy NY Candidate
Mar. 17: Can “Witching” Find Bodies? Police Training Alarms Experts.
Mar. 18: ‘Lupin’ Robbers Charged With Pulling Off Elaborate Heist of Show About Elaborate Heist Puller
Mar. 19: Ex-Apple Employee Robbed Company of $10M in Kickbacks: Feds
Mar. 21: Private investigator says drug kingpin targeted David Ortiz
Mar. 23: Disgraced Billionaire Michael Steinhardt Has Surrendered 39 Stolen Artifacts To Israel
Mar. 23: Marilyn Monroe’s Final Hours: Nuke Fears, Mob Spies, and a Secret Kennedy Visitor
Mar. 23: How Nellie Jackson went from sex worker to madam to highly connected civil rights advocate.
Mar. 24: Strangulation Victim Found in Georgia in 1988 Now Has a Name
Mar. 24: “I’ll Let the Chips Fall Where They May”: The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio
Mar. 25: Billy the Kid’s Fictional Afterlife: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
Mar. 25: Families want ‘Monster of Florence’ serial killer case reopened
Mar. 26: Monuments Men Group Bets on Playing Cards to Find Lost Art
Mar. 27: The Ghost Story Murder That Inspired ‘Twin Peaks’
Mar. 27: The True Crime-Obsessed Philanthropists Paying to Catch Killers
Mar. 28: The Vietnamese Secret Agent Who Spied for Three Different Countries
Mar. 28: The Supreme Court to Hear Lawsuit over Whether Warhol Committed Copyright Infringement
Mar. 29: Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapper Recommended for Parole by Panel
Mar. 29: Second Biggest Crypto Hack Ever: $600 Million In Ether Stolen From NFT Gaming Blockchain
Mar. 30: Teacher Stabbed to Death in Blasphemy Witch Hunt Started by a Child’s Dream
Mar. 30: How ‘The Russians’ Took Hold of Ireland’s Heroin Trade
Words of the Month
false (adj.): Late Old English, “intentionally untrue, lying,” of religion, “not of the true faith, not in accord with Christian doctrines,” from Old French fals, faus “false, fake; incorrect, mistaken; treacherous, deceitful” (12th C., Modern French faux), from Latin falsus “deceptive, feigned, deceitful, pretend,” also “deceived, erroneous, mistaken,” past participle of fallere “deceive, disappoint,” which is of uncertain origin (see fail (v.)).
Adopted into other Germanic languages (cognates: German falsch, Dutch valsch, Old Frisian falsk, Danish falsk), though English is the only one in which the active sense of “deceitful” (a secondary sense in Latin) has predominated. From c. 1200 as “deceitful, disloyal, treacherous; not genuine;” from early 14th C. as “contrary to fact or reason, erroneous, wrong.” False alarm recorded from 1570s. False step (1700) translates French faux pas. To bear false witness is attested from mid-13th C. False prophet “one who prophecies without divine commission or by evil spirits,” is attested from late 13th C. (etymonline)
What We’ve Been Up To
Amber
Mia P. Manansala – Arsenic and Adobo
By good fortune, I found a new Culinary Mystery series at my local bookstore – A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery.
Our heroine, Lila Macapagal, has moved back to her hometown of Shady Palms, Illinois, to lick her wounds after catching her fiance in bed with a couple of her neighbors. So instead of pursuing her dream of opening her own cafe in Chicago, she’s working on saving her Tita’s (Auntie’s) restaurant….an endeavor which becomes even more challenging when a notoriously finicky food critic and Lila’s ex-high school sweetheart drops dead face first in a bowl of ginataang bilo-bilo. Even worse? Someone poisoned the dead man’s food! And Lila’s No. 1 on the detective’s suspect list!
There are several reasons I love this book. Chief amongst them is the hook of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen series – the food. Now, I’m not very knowledgeable about Filipino cuisine. So reading a mystery, where it’s front and center, helps me learn something about it from Mia’s descriptions. Plus, the well-written recipes in the back of the book helped me cook some of the dishes myself. (Even more exciting, Lila’s a baker, and there’s an ube crinkle cookie recipe I’m dying to make!)
Another aspect of this book I enjoyed was Lila herself. She’s a complicated woman trying her best to balance her familial obligations with her own dreams and totally understands the chances of making her family happy while following said dreams are slim. Yet, this knowledge doesn’t make her bitter or the book dour – it adds layers.
Now I won’t say this is a flawless first book. However, it’s a very good one and well worth the reading time. If you need a further endorsement, directly after finishing the last page of Arsenic and Adobo, I not only ordered Mia’s second book (Homicide and Halo-Halo) – I pre-ordered her third (Blackmail and Bibingka)!
But seriously, if you enjoy culinary mysteries and want to read one set in a small family-owned restaurant filled with delectable scents and colorful characters, this is the series for you!
Fran
The Real Deal
Okay, I was absent last month, but in my defense, I was moving. Again.
“But Fran,” I hear your frowned concern as you ask, “didn’t you just move? From Washington to New Mexico? Like eighteen months ago?”
Yes, yes, I did. And now we’ve moved again. If I never see another moving box, it’ll be too soon. And I’ll go into detail with pictures later on. Right now I’m hiding from moving by talking books with you.
Specifically one book. It’s no secret I’m a fan of Glen Erik Hamilton. His debut, Past Crimes, swept award nominations and justifiably. If you ever want to get a solid feel for Seattle, Glen captures it there, and is protagonist, Van Shaw, is simply fabulous, flawed and funny and filled with resolve. I love him.
In Mercy River, Van leaves Seattle for a small town in Oregon where his buddy, Leo Pak, is arrested for murder. Van ends up in the small town of Mercy River just as a three-day event celebrating Army Rangers is beginning. With his background, Van fits in just fine, but because he’s there on Leo’s behalf, he rubs townfolk the wrong way right off the bat.
Of course Van doesn’t care. Why would he? But he is curious as to why Leo’s been accused, and something is decidedly off. With his typical resourcefulness and attention to detail, Van discovers there’s more going on than anyone really suspects.
As always, it’s the people who get to me. I fell for Van from the beginning, and wondered how he was going to change and grow as the series progressed. Let me tell you, Glen Erik Hamilton is stellar. Things in Van’s life change, and that affects him. The guy we met coming in on the bus at the beginning of Past Crimes is still the guy pulling into Mercy River, but now you can see the scars, and I don’t mean the ones on his face.
I also love the dynamics. Van’s relationship with Leo, with the General, with the townspeople, with Luce (remember her? She’s back), all change and grow. Not everything works out happily, because of course it doesn’t, and that’s as it should be.
If you haven’t read Past Crimes, you can pick up Mercy River and be just fine. But you won’t want to. Glen Erik Hamilton is a crazy good writer, and you’ll want to spend quality time in the world he’s created for Van. Trust me
JB
“An irony of Watergate is that the once secret plot to subvert American democracy now stands as one of the most documented and covered stories in American history; anyone seeking to understand the story of Richard Nixon’s secrecy and subterfuge drowns in information.” So why need another one? Because new stuff is always coming out.
Garrett M. Graff’s Watergate: A New History was full of facts and figures – the facts often interesting and funny, some bizarre, and figures who almost never come off looking good.
~ The Watergate complex was built by an Italian outfit to be DC’s answer to NYC’s Lincoln Center; culturally active and a swanky place for the swells to live. Things didn’t work and the furnishings were, well – “Martha Mitchell lamented how ‘this place was built like low-income housing'”. It was supposed to be very safe with state-of-the-art security systems. Yet in 1969, while overseas with the presidential party, Rose Mary Woods “returned to find her condo burglarized and a suitcase of jewelry stolen.”
~ Tony Ulasewicz, the private eye tasked with making calls and delivering payoffs to the Watergate burglars, carried so much change for the pay phones that his pants’ pockets wore out. He got the kind of change maker that bus drivers used to use.
~ “Nixon spent nearly 200 days in San Clemente during his first term, another 150 in Key Biscayne – a full year away from the confines and structures of the White House.”
~ An early investigation of the various crimes was by the House Banking committee headed by Wright Patman. “Patman had come into Congress six months before the Crash of 1929: by the time the Watergate investigation rolled around, the seventy-nine-year-old has served in the US House of Representatives for a fifth of the entire history of his country.”
~ Unlike how it has normally been portrayed, Deep Throat’s true identity was accurately guessed early on, both in the press and in the Oval Office.
~ The Special Prosecutor’s office had so much paper in so many file cabinets that the flooring had to be re-enforced from the floor below.
~ Even Sam Ervin, who I had always revered from his helming of the Senate Watergate Committee, is noted for being a contradictory Dixi-crat: “A self-proclaimed ‘country lawyer,’ he held an intense interest in constitutional rights and civil liberties, as well as possessing a sharp legal intellect that he’d regularly deployed in the fifties and sixties to protect Jim Crow laws and segregation.”
It can be safely stated that few of the huge number of figures involved in the Watergate quagmire had anything good to say about one another. Case in point, J. Fred Buzhardt, brought in to be the White House legal counsel on Watergate issues. One former colleague remarked that “He’s the kind of guy who could steal your underwear without ever disturbing your pants.” Another claimed “If you need a job done with no traces< Fred Buzhardt is your man. He can bury a body six feet under without turning a shovelful of dirt.”
It is a fascinating story that Graff tells well. He’s a smooth writer and the story unfolds like the slow-motion catastrophe that we know it will become. It was not only a third-rate burglary, it was also a clown-car of crimes, often capturing the clowns without them being aware of what they were doing – and most were lawyers!
“As time would make clear, the actions around the Watergate scandal were certainly criminal, and there was without a doubt a conspiracy, but labeling it a ‘criminal conspiracy’ implies a level of forethought, planning, a precise execution that isn’t actually evident at any stage of the debacle. Instead, the key players slipped, fumbled, and stumbled their was from the White House to prison, often without ever seeming to make a conscious decision to join the cover-up.”
One odd thing about the book is Graff’s omission of the “Cuban Dossier”, the reported object of the Plumbers. The dossier detailed the CIA/Mob attempts to assassinate Castro, as well as other covert CIA activities in the Americas. Bear in mind that the burglaries were in 1972 and the world would not learn of the Agency’s “family jewels” for another three years with the revelations of the Church Committee. So Nixon, who was up to his jowls in the Cuban schemes and ties to the Mafia, desperately wanted any copies of the dossier found and destroyed and he believed the DNC’s office at the Watergate had one. Bear in mind that most of the burglars and those running the operation were CIA.
Still and all, I cruised through Graff’s book, shaking my head through most of it, laughing out loud at parts. It’s an important piece of American history and well worth your time.
Should you want to read more about Watergate, I highly recommend Lamar Waldron’s Watergate: The Hidden History. He exhaustively details Nixon’s mob ties, his involvement in the CIA/Mob schemes against Cuba, and how many figures from those plans were then involved in Watergate. It’s masterful.
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MARCH 15, 1972
THE GODFATHER PREMIERED IN NYC
The Godfather
Mixed media with collage on board
28-1/2 x 24 inches (72.4 x 61.0 cm)
Signed lower center
MARCH 2022
TAULT, an agency for Ukrainian writing, is calling on translators to help them.
Ukrainian Film Academy Calls for Boycott of Russian Cinema After Invasion
Anonymous: the hacker collective that has declared cyberwar on Russia
Pat Robertson Insists Putin ‘Compelled by God’ to Invade Ukraine and Kick Off ‘End Times’ [no – that’s not an early April Fool…]
Words of the Month
curse (n.) Late Old English curs “a prayer that evil or harm befall one; consignment of a person to an evil fate,” of uncertain origin. No similar word exists in Germanic, Romance, or Celtic. Middle English Compendium says probably from Latin cursus “course” (see course (n.)) in the Christian sense “set of daily liturgical prayers” extended to “set of imprecations” as in the sentence of the great curse, “the formula read in churches four times a year, setting forth the various offenses which entailed automatic excommunication of the offender; also, the excommunication so imposed.” Connection with cross is unlikely. Another suggested source is Old French curuz “anger.”
Meaning “the evil which has been invoked upon one, that which causes severe trouble” is from early 14th C. Curses as a histrionic exclamation (“curses upon him/her/it”) is by 1680s. The curse in 19th C. was the sentence imposed upon Adam and Eve in Genesis iii.16-19. The slang sense “menstruation” is from 1930. Curse of Scotland, the 9 of diamonds in cards, is attested from 1791, but the signification is obscure.
curse (v.) Middle English cursen, from Old English cursian, “to wish evil to; to excommunicate,” from the source of curse (n.). Intransitive meaning “swear profanely, use blasphemous or profane language” is from early 13th C. (compare swear (v.)). The sense of “blight with malignant evils” is from 1590s. Related: Cursed; cursing. (etymonline)
Mystery artist’s sculptures from classic Scottish books raise £50,000
Books overboard! Supply chain headaches leave publishing all at sea
Serious Stuff
CEO of Penguin Random House donates $500,000 to fight book bans
I’m offended my book isn’t considered offensive enough to be banned too
Comic book store owner to ship ‘Maus’ free to anyone who asks in Tenn. district where it’s banned
A professor has offered to teach Maus to all students affected by its ban.
Book Bans Are Targeting the History of Oppression
QAnon Pastor Holds Book Burning at His Church
Neo-Nazis just marched on a community library in Providence.
This great wave of American book-banning is not slowing down
Most Americans don’t agree with book bans.
Wentzville School Board reverses its decision on banned book
Cancel culture is real but it’s not the ‘woke mob’ you should worry about
ACLU sues Missouri School District for Permanent Removal of Eight Books
Erik Prince Helped Raise Money for Conservative Spy Venture – New details reveal the ambitions of an operation intended to infiltrate opponents of Donald Trump, including moderate Republicans as well as progressives and Democrats.
The Crypto Backlash Is Booming
DOJ arrests couple in connection with $4.5 billion cryptocurrency hack
They Were Convicted of Scamming $18 Million in Covid Relief Loans. Now, the FBI Can’t Find Them
A Hacker Group Has Been Framing People for Crimes They Didn’t Commit
Gaslight: How a harrowing Ingrid Bergman film inspired the psychology buzzword
The Fascinating—and Harrowing—Tale of the First Japanese American to Publish a Book of Fiction
Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians
Mellon Foundation Awards $1.5M Grant to Document Indigenous Enslavement
Three men plead guilty to planning U.S. power grid attack, driven by white supremacy
Thieves in the Night: A Vast Burglary Ring From Chile Has Been Targeting Wealthy U.S. Households
Local Stuff
Seattle Woman’s Worry over Mom’s Missing Wordle Update Leads to Police Finding Her Held Hostage
FBI ups reward to $20000 in 2002 Washington state killing
Seattle’s newest bookstore is the culmination of a mother’s dream and daughter’s passion
Odd Stuff
Decoding Dickens’s Secret Notes to Himself, One Symbol at a Time
On the 1863 novel that predicted the Internet, cars, skyscrapers, and electronic dance music.
Vintage Vinyl LP of ‘Girl From Ipanema’ Leads Police to a ‘Most Wanted’ Fugitive
Various People Are Fighting Over John McAfee’s Body, Which Is Stuck in a Spanish Morgue
How G. Gordon Liddy Bungled Watergate With an Office-Supply Request
An Amelia Earhart Mystery Solved (Not That Mystery)
Detecting Jane: A Possible Cause of Jane Austen’s Early Death
Stormy Daniels Sues Ex-Literary Agent Over Money Avenatti Stole
Love note to Jacobite rebel embroidered in human hair to go on show
Record Store Day is harming, not helping, independent music shops like mine
Man Finds 170 Bottles of Luxury Japanese Whiskey Stolen, Replaced With Fizzy Water
Scientists reveal how Venus fly trap plants snap shut
How a Few Salty Brits Pioneered the Art of the Weaponized Index
Morbid coin-operated mortuary automaton circa 1900
Nonsense, Puns, and Dirty Limericks: A Serious Look at Poetic Wordplay
“Dental Plumper” Jaw Prosthetic Worn by Marlon Brando in ‘The Godfather’ (1972)
Words of the Month
jynx (n.)”wryneck,” 1640s, from Modern Latin jynx (plural jynges), from Latin iynx (see jinx – see below!). As “a charm or spell,” 1690s. (etymonline)
SPECTRE
Jeff Bezos’ superyacht will see historic bridge dismantled
Thousands of Dutch vow to pelt Jeff Bezos’ superyacht with rotten eggs
After backlash, Jeff Bezos suggests naming library auditorium for Toni Morrison
U.S. Lawmakers Question Amazon Over Sale of Chemical Compound Used in Suicide
Black Lives Matter Kicked Off Amazon Charity Platform
New Amazon headquarters sparks feud among Indigenous South Africans
Words of the Month
jinx (n.) From 1911, American English, originally baseball slang; perhaps ultimately from jyng “a charm, a spell” (17th C.), originally “wryneck” (also jynx), a bird used in witchcraft and divination, from Latin iynx “wryneck,” from Greek iynx. Jynx was used in English as “a charm or spell” from 1690s.
“Most mysterious of all is the psychics of baseball is the “jinx”, that peculiar “hoodoo” which affects, at times, a man, at other times a whole team. Let a man begin to think that there is a “jinx” about and he is done for the time being.” Technical World Magazine, 1911
The verb is 1912 in American English, from the noun. Related: Jinxed; jinxing. (etymonline)
Awards
MWA Confers First Neely Grants
Long Island University Announces 73rd Annual George Polk Awards In Journalism
Bard Graduate Center Welcomes Submissions for Horowitz Book Prize
WORLD BOOK DAY ~ MARCH 3, 2022
Book Stuff
Major collection of James Joyce documents and books donated to university
You Can Now Explore Marcel Duchamp’s Personal Papers Online
Rediscovering a Lost Dystopia and Its Prescient Author
Some Fundamental Principles for Writing Great Sex
‘A certain pleasant darkness’: what makes a good fictional sex scene?
In ‘Anonymous Sex,’ No Strings — and No Bylines
What Pornographic Literature Shows Us About Human Nature
Sara Gran Considers The Art of Suspense
How much lost medieval literature is there? A wildlife-tracking method may have the answer.
Louise Welsh: ‘It was like driving with the lights off’
Time To Curl Up with a “Quozy” – A Queer Cozy Mystery
Leonard Cohen’s Unpublished Fiction Will Be Collected in New Book ‘A Ballet of Lepers’
American Literature is a History of the Nation’s Libraries
The Bleak, Propulsive Noir of Simenon’s Romans Durs
How a Book is Made ~ Ink, Paper, and a 200,00-Pound Printer
David Lagercrantz on His New International Thriller Inspired by Sherlock Holmes
Lisa Gardner, the Thriller Writer Who Loves Historical Romance
Why Berlin Is the Mecca of Espionage Fiction: A Conversation with Joseph Kanon and Paul Vidich
‘A symbol of new beginning’: Mosul’s university library reopens
Other Forms of Entertainment
Your literary guide to the 2022 Oscar nominations.
With ‘Death on the Nile,’ Kenneth Branagh humanizes Hercule Poirot
On the Coen Brothers’ Bitter, Brokenhearted Noir, Miller’s Crossing
Trevanian: An Appreciation for the Godfather of the Mountain Thriller
How did Mission: Impossible 7 become one of the most expensive films ever?
B-More or B-Less: Meditations on The Wire and Baltimore
The Ordinary, the Sublime, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Outfit review – Mark Rylance’s mob tailor makes the cut
Can The Thin Man Serve as a Gateway to Cozy Mysteries?
The Real Story Behind David Fincher’s ‘Zodiac’
The Irresistible Rebellious Irreverence at the Heart of Noir
Hey, Kenneth Branagh, Leave Miss Marple Alone!
The Ipcress File: The rebel spy who is the anti-James Bond
The lit mag of the moment, founded by two women in their 20s, isn’t afraid to say what’s on its mind
Nothing Can Stay Hidden Forever: The True Crime Legacy of Lost Highway
‘The Crown’’s jewels stolen in Yorkshire raid on TV show’s vehicles
Steven Spielberg Developing Film Based on Steve McQueen’s Frank Bullitt (HUH?!?!?)
Is Adaptation a Feminine Act? On the Women Writers Who Worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents
March 15th is the 50th Anniversary of The Godfather’s premiere
Francis Ford Coppola’s Favorite Godfather Scene Is One You Can’t Refuse
Restoring ‘The Godfather’ to Its Original (Still Dark) Glory
Museum Shows
Three mystery exhibitions, Toronto Public Library
“Cowboys, Detectives, and Daredevils” pulp exhibition in New Britain, CT
Words of the Month
hex (v.) From 1830, American English, from Pennsylvania German hexe “to practice witchcraft,” from German hexen “to hex,” related to Hexe “witch,” from Middle High German hecse, hexse, from Old High German hagazussa (see hag). Noun meaning “magic spell” is first recorded 1909; earlier it meant “a witch” (1856). Compare Middle English hexte “the devil” (mid-13th C.), perhaps originally “sorcerer,” probably from Old English haehtis. (etymonline)
RIP
Feb. 4: Jason Epstein, Editor and Publishing Innovator, Is Dead at 93
Feb. 4: Judd Bernard, Producer on the Neo-Noir Classic ‘Point Blank,’ Dies at 94
Feb. 13: Ivan Reitman, ‘Animal House’ Producer and ‘Ghostbusters’ Director, Dies at 75
Feb. 15: Peter Earnest, CIA veteran who helped launch International Spy Museum, dies at 88
Feb. 16: P.J. O’Rourke, satirist and conservative commentator, dies at 74
Feb. 24: Sally Kellerman, Hot Lips Houlihan in ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 84
Feb. 28: David Boggs, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, Dies at 71
Links of Interest
Feb. 1: Scam the bereaved, defraud the dead: the shocking crimes of America’s greatest psychic conman
Feb. 1: Hanslope Park: The True Home of Britain’s Spy Gadgets
Feb. 2: Australian Grave Robbers are Stealing Human Remains
Feb. 4: Scandal on a Wealthy Island: A Priest, a Murder and a Mystery
Feb. 5: ‘Darkness Enveloped My Soul’: The Final Confessions of the Torso Killer
Feb. 8: Kurt Schwitters’ unknown portrait sitter identified as wartime German spy
Feb. 10: Man Says QAnon Told Him His Wife Was a CIA Sex Trafficker. He Killed Her.
Feb. 13: Mexican Cartel ‘Cannibal Schools’ Force Recruits to Eat Human Flesh
Feb 13: A ‘Sopranos’ Expert Analyzes Chevy’s Meadow and AJ Super Bowl Commercial
Feb. 14: Inside a Massive Human Smuggling Ring Led by US Marines
Feb. 15: Hollywood actor who bilked investors in $650 million scheme gets 20 years in prison
Feb. 16: Florida Woman Accused of Using $15K of Pandemic Loan to Hire Hitman
Feb. 16: Florida Police Distributed a Link to Pay Traffic Fines That Was Actually a Link to a MAGA Store
Feb 19: Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints
Feb. 20: Convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff’s sister, husband found dead
Feb. 20: Hacker Uses Phishing Attack to Steal $1.7 Million in NFTs From OpenSea Users
Feb. 21: ‘Frasier’-Inspired Killer Covered up Milkshake Murder of Her Rich Boyfriend with Fake Suicide
Feb. 22: Getting By in Prison With Nothing But Books
Feb. 25: Cops Crack a 40-Year-Old Murder—but Who Killed the Killer?
Feb. 27: Wine crime is soaring but a new generation of tech savvy detectives is on the case
Feb. 27: How Criminal Profiling Foiled a Serial-Killing Boy Scout
Feb. 28: Edgar Allan Poe’s pocket watch among donations to museum
Feb. 28: Unsolved Murder Could Shed New Light on Gardner Museum Art Heist
Feb. 28: A ticket stub from Jackie Robinson’s majors debut sells for a record-breaking $480K
Words of the Month
whammy (n.) Often double whammy, “hex, evil eye,” 1932, of unknown origin, popularized 1941 in Al Capp’s comic strip “Li’l Abner,” where it was the specialty of Evil-Eye Fleegle. (etymonline)
What We’ve Been Up To
Amber
Vivien Chien – Hot And Sour Suspects
In this installment of A Noodle Shop Mystery finds Lana Lee trying speed dating….to bring new customers to her family’s noodle house. It also brings in a familiar face Rina Su, a fellow Asia Village shop owner. Sick of being single, Rina attends and finds a match. But of course, when potential love is involved – drama soon follows – and before the next day dawns, Rina’s date is discovered dead, and she’s the prime suspect!
Lana, not one to watch her friend twist, immediately leaps into action….the only thing is Rina makes it perfectly clear she doesn’t want Lana’s help. Undeterred, Lana presses on, and the only problem is – every piece of evidence she finds makes Rina look guiltier.
Again I need to reiterate how much I enjoy this series!
One of the things I love reading the most is how Lana navigates the relationships in her life. Her aplomb when dealing with the people around her is amazing, and while Lana doesn’t always get it right, she tries, and with the crazy cast around her – that’s all you can ask for!
Another feature of this series I think Chien cleverly uses is the Ho-Lee Noodle House. The family-owned restaurant Lana manages is a wonderful backdrop for this series. I will also reiterate that Chien does a great job of keeping Noodle House a device that keeps the story moving without completely taking over. So while this book does have a food theme, it doesn’t feel like it as Chien does a beautiful job making sure the mystery and characters shine first and foremost.
In any case, if you like lighter mysteries, I highly recommend the Noodle Shop Mysteries. And while you could start with Hot And Sour Suspects – I highly suggest you start with the first in the series Death By Dumpling so that you can get a better handle on the relationships at play in this series.
JB
See my review of the BRILLIANT new thriller from Mike Lawson
Watergate’s Central Mystery: Why Did Nixon’s Team Order the Break-In in the First Place? [I’m reading this book now and it is fabulous. If Putin would stop taking the world to hell, I’d get more of it read…]
BUY SMALL ~ SUPPORT SMALL
Seattle Mystery Bookshop 