Happy Holidays!
Greetings from Old Friends
Tis the Season for Celebrations
Tis the Season, again
Tis the Season
December 2023
‘AI’ named most notable word of 2023 by Collins dictionary
A Breakthrough Clue May Untangle the Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe
Making your mind up: the best descriptions of indecision in literature
Jimmy Hoffa’s body may have been found by dog called Moxy, cold case investigators claim
These Western Lawmen Worked Both Sides of the Badge
Who was Bass Reeves? The story of a legendary Black federal lawman.
Modern Medicine Traces Its Scientific Roots to the Middle Ages
Before Google, People Asked Public Librarians Their Questions
We’ve Been Looking for Amelia Earhart for 86 Years. A Photo May Have Finally Found Her.
I won the National Spelling Bee. This is what it takes to master spelling.
“Authentic” is Merriam-Webster’s 2023 Word of the Year
Beyond Treasure Island: A Brief Introduction to Pirates in Fiction
Parties Gone Wrong: A Beloved Trope in Crime Fiction
Horror for the Holidays! Or, Scary Novels To Read While Being Nice to Your Family
candle (n.): A “cylindrical body of tallow, wax, etc., formed on a wick and used as a source of artificial light,” Old English candel “lamp, lantern, candle,” an early ecclesiastical borrowing from Latin candela “a light, torch, candle made of tallow or wax,” from candere “to shine” (from PIE root *kand- “to shine”).
The Latin word is also the source of French chandelle, Spanish candela, Irish coinneal, Welsh canwyll, Russian kandilo, Arabic qandil, etc. Candles were unknown in ancient Greece (where oil lamps sufficed), but common from early times among Romans and Etruscans. Candles on birthday cakes seem to have been originally a German custom.
To hold a candle to originally meant “to help in a subordinate capacity,” from the notion of an assistant or apprentice holding a candle for light while the master works (compare Old English taporberend “acolyte”). To burn the candle at both ends “consume or waste prodigiously” is recorded from 1730.
The Sociopaths Among Us—And How to Avoid Them
High-end brothels serviced elected officials, tech and pharma execs, military brass: Feds
Jerzy Kosinski’s Fall From Grace: Investigating a Literary Smear Campaign
A rural post office was told to prioritize Amazon packages. Chaos ensued.
The killings that made mass murder an American obsession
Gaza’s main public library has been destroyed by Israeli bombing.
How American Librarians Helped Defeat the Nazis
Writing ‘Maid’ pulled Stephanie Land out of poverty. She’s fine now, right?
Op-Ed: Don’t give up on Pioneer Square, the heartbeat of Seattle
Inside CooperCon, where D.B. Cooper is a mystery, a passion and a community
Charlie’s Queer Books in Fremont centers LGBTQ+ literature, community
Seattle area booksellers share their holiday book recommendations
One woman died on an Alaska mayor’s property. Then another. No one has ever been charged.
Family Fears Dark Past Came Back to Haunt Missing Washington Couple
Seattle-area Macy’s workers strike for better protection from shoplifting
Island Books on Mercer Island celebrates 50 years
elf (n.): “one of a race of powerful supernatural beings in Germanic folklore,” Old English elf (Mercian, Kentish), ælf (Northumbrian), ylfe (plural, West Saxon) “sprite, fairy, goblin, incubus,” from Proto-Germanic *albiz (source also of Old Saxon alf, Old Norse alfr, German alp “evil spirit, goblin, incubus”), origin unknown; according to Watkins, possibly from PIE *albho– “white.” Used figuratively for “mischievous person” from 1550s.
In addition to elf/ælf (masc.), Old English had parallel form *elfen (fem.), the plural of which was *elfenna, -elfen, from Proto-Germanic *albinjo-. Both words survived into Middle English and were active there, the former as elf (with the vowel of the plural), plural elves, the latter as elven, West Midlands dialect alven (plural elvene).
The Germanic elf originally was dwarfish and malicious (compare elf-lock “knot in hair,” Old English ælfadl “nightmare,” ælfsogoða “hiccup,” thought to be caused by elves); in the Middle Ages they were confused to some degree with faeries; the more noble version begins with Spenser. Nonetheless a popular component in Anglo-Saxon names, many of which survive as modern given names and surnames, such as Ælfræd “Elf-counsel” (Alfred), Ælfwine “Elf-friend” (Alvin), Ælfric “Elf-ruler” (Eldridge), also women’s names such as Ælfflæd “Elf-beauty.” Elf Lock hair tangled, especially by Queen Mab, “which it was not fortunate to disentangle” [according to Robert Nares’ glossary of Shakespeare] is from 1592.
Experience a Slice of Retro Marvel Comics Horror, Before the Brain Gets You!
Frankenstein, My Father, My Brother, and Me
Book Thieves Take the Story and Run with It
4 men charged in theft of satirical golden toilet titled ‘America,’ at Churchill’s birthplace
‘Incredibly overdue’: Minnesota library book returned more than 100 years later
The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World
Oysters and ice-cream: menu for dinner on Titanic sold for £83,000
My Feral Shelf: On Building a Personal Library of Bad Behavior
A Childhood Full of Love and Death: On Growing Up With a Father in Forensics
For fans of Harry Bosch: 15 Fascinating Facts About Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’
Why a single ‘Inverted Jenny’ stamp sold for $2 million at auction
Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by an AI experiment gone wrong
Everybody who was Anybody had Dr. Feelgood and his Speed Shots on Speed Dial
joy (n.): c. 1200, “feeling of pleasure and delight;” c. 1300, “source of pleasure or happiness,” from Old French joie “pleasure, delight, erotic pleasure, bliss, joyfulness” (11th C.), from Latin gaudia “expressions of pleasure; sensual delight,” plural of gaudium “joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight,” from gaudere “rejoice,” from PIE root *gau– “to rejoice” (cognates: Greek gaio “I rejoice,” Middle Irish guaire “noble”).
As a term of endearment from 1580s. Joy-riding is American English, 1908; joy-ride (n.) is from 1909.
Here’s the winner of the £25,000 British Academy Book Prize
Dagger awards adds categories for ‘cosy crime’ and psychological thrillers
John Vaillant’s “Fire Weather” has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction.
Justin Torres, Author of ‘Blackouts,’ Wins National Book Award for Fiction
1,700 Canadian writers are asking the Giller Prize to drop charges against protestors.
Here are the bookies’ odds for the 2023 Booker Prize.
‘Soul-shattering’ Prophet Song by Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker prize
Katherine Rundell wins Waterstones book of 2023 with ‘immediate classic’
Booker judge admits it’s nearly impossible to read ALL the books.
Confessions of a Serial Anthology Editor
The Ineffable Crimes of Lawrence Osborne
Florida joins conservative states severing ties with national library group
Alabamians react to public library service leaving the American Library Association
This bestselling author’s book was challenged in schools. So, she opened a store for banned books
The Best Locked Room Mystery You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
The 20 Most Influential Mystery Novels of the Last 10 Years
Researcher uncovers a new body of work believed to be by Louisa May Alcott
Northeast Ohioans can hit the books at a growing number of independent new and used bookshops
This school board made news for banning books. Voters flipped it to majority Democrat
Small Business Saturday: Indie bookstore opens during the pandemic, then thrives
The Morgan Library & Museum Celebrates 100 Years of History, Literature and Art
Beth Kephart on the Eternal Hope of Rare Books
Texas board rejects many science textbooks over climate change messaging
My First Thriller: Joseph Finder
John le Carré’s son to write new George Smiley novel
Lee Goldberg on Westerns, Crime Novels, and Writing A Genre Mash-Up
M.C. Benner Dixon on Creating Persuasive Metaphors
Florida’s laws, book bans drove this librarian to quit
Opinion: Eric Adams should cut money from the NYPD and give it to the libraries.
How Max Marshall Wrote a College Fraternity Crime Epic
Censoring Kids’ Worlds: Laurie Hertzel on the Danger of Banning Books for Children
There’s Nothing Better Than A Good Bad Guy
An Argument for the Unintentional Villain
Budget Cuts Force NYC Libraries to Stop Sunday Service
Is This the Most Bananas Book-Ban Proposal Yet?
Mick Herron’s Surprise Career as a Blockbuster Spy Novelist
Janet Evanovich Can Laugh at Her Own Mistakes
On Instagram and TikTok, annotating books is an art
From Local, to Global, to Gone: On the Rise and Fall of Borders Books
celebrate (v.): mid-15th C., “to perform publicly with appropriate rites,” originally of the Mass, from Latin celebratus “much-frequented; kept solemn; famous,” past participle of celebrare “assemble to honor,” also “to publish; sing praises of; practice often,” originally “to frequent in great numbers,” from celeber “frequented, populous, crowded;” with transferred senses of “well-attended; famous; often-repeated.” Its etymology is unknown.
General sense of “commemorate or honor with demonstrations of joy” is from 1550s; formerly it also could be with demonstrations of sorrow or regret. Meaning “make widely known, praise, glorify” is from 1610s.
Dec. 8: Jeffery Deaver signs The Watchmaker’s Hand, his new Lincoln Rhyme, Powell’s 7pm
A Cultural History of the Erotic Thriller
Hell Yeah I’m Excited for ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case
Casting Blofeld For Bond 26: 10 Actors Who Would Be Perfect
1987: The Thrilling-est Year in Hollywood History
6 Podcasts About Mysterious Disappearances
Kenneth Branagh and De-Poiroting Hercule Poirot
Gary Oldman: cinema’s master of disguise returns as Slow Horses’ seedy spook
The big idea: should we abolish literary genres?
Gen Z-ers and Millennials React to ‘L.A. Law’
Noir Film: Evolution Of A Timeless Genre
cheer (n.): c. 1200, “the face, countenance,” especially as expressing emotion, from Anglo-French chere “the face,” Old French chiere “face, countenance, look, expression,” from Late Latin cara “face” (source also of Spanish cara), possibly from Greek kara “head” (from PIE root *ker- (1) “horn; head”). From mid-13th C. as “frame of mind, state of feeling, spirit; mood, humor.”
By late 14thC. the meaning had extended metaphorically to “state or temper of mind as indicated by expression.” This could be in a good or bad sense (“The feend … beguiled her with treacherye, and brought her into a dreerye cheere,” “Merline,” c. 1500), but a positive sense, “state of gladness or joy” (probably short for good cheer), has predominated since c. 1400.
The meaning “that which makes cheerful or promotes good spirits” is from late 14th C. The meaning “shout of encouragement” is recorded by 1720, perhaps nautical slang (compare the earlier verbal sense “encourage by words or deeds,” early 15th C.). The antique English greeting what cheer? (mid-15th C.) was picked up by Algonquian Indians of southern New England from the Puritans and spread in Native American languages as far as Canada.
Nov. 2: Peter S. Fischer, ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Co-Creator and ‘Columbo’ Writer, Dies at 88
Nov. 3: Jane Garrett, Book Editor With a Prizewinning Touch, Dies at 88
Nov. 4: Ken Mattingly, astronaut who helped Apollo 13 crew return safely home, dies at age 87
Nov. 10: David Ferry, revered poet and translator of Latin classics, dies at 99
Nov. 11: Robert Butler, Director on Pilots for ‘Batman,’ ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Hill Street Blues,’ Dies at 95
Nov. 13: Stephen Kandel, Writer on ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Batman,’ ‘Mannix’ and ‘MacGyver,’ Dies at 96
Nov. 15: Peter Tarnoff, U.S. envoy who helped craft ‘Argo’ escape in Iran, dies at 86
Nov. 17: Author A.S. Byatt, who wrote best-seller ‘Possession’ and had a beetle named after her, dies at 87
Nov. 19: Suzanne Shepherd, ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Goodfellas’ Mother, Dies at 89
Nov. 20: Belal Jadallah, the “godfather of Palestinian journalism,” has been killed in Gaza
Nov. 22: Jerry Doolittle, who wrote White House jokes and murder mysteries, dies at 90
Nov. 23: regular customer Katherine Olson dies on Oct. 29th at 81
Nov. 28: Florida author Tim Dorsey dies at 62
angel (n.): “one of a class of spiritual beings, attendants and messengers of God,” a c. 1300 fusion of Old English engel (with hard -g-) and Old French angele. Both are from Late Latin angelus, from Greek angelos, literally “messenger, envoy, one that announces,” in the New Testament “divine messenger,” which is possibly related to angaros “mounted courier,” both from an unknown Oriental word (Watkins compares Sanskrit ajira– “swift;” Klein suggests Semitic sources).
The Greek word was used in Scriptural translations for Hebrew mal’akh (yehowah) “messenger (of Jehovah),” from base l-‘-k “to send.” An Old English word for it was aerendgast, literally “errand-spirit.”
Of persons, “one who is loving, gracious, or lovely,” by 1590s. The medieval English gold coin (a new issue of the noble, first struck 1465 by Edward VI) was so called for the image of archangel Michael slaying the dragon, which was stamped on it. It was the coin given to patients who had been “touched” for the King’s Evil. Angel food cake is from 1881; angel dust “phencyclidine” is from 1968.
Nov. 2: Great Victorian Con-Man: The Tichborne Claimant
Nov. 7: The Lindbergh Baby Mystery Has Lasted 91 Years. Tantalizing Evidence May Solve It
Nov. 7: Inside the Frat-Boy Crime Ring That Swept the South
Nov. 8: L.A. County coroner investigator charged with thefts of necklace and rare coins from bodies
Nov. 11: International mafia bust shows US-Italy crime links still strong
Nov. 11: New DNA Testing in JonBenét Ramsey Case Finally Complete
Nov. 12: French police thwart €600000 champagne heist
Nov. 13: In some Latin American Cartels, Women are the Violent New Overlords
Nov. 17: Thieves With Hammer Stole $100,000 Chagall Print From Manhattan Gallery
Nov. 18: How Interpol traced the identity of ‘the woman with the flower tattoo’
Nov. 23: Indonesia’s anticorruption chief Firli Bahri faces extortion charges
Nov. 29: Teen found dead 49 years ago in O.C. identified as alleged victim of ‘Scorecard Killer’
Nov. 30: The Grieving Mother Who Became An Angel of Vengeance
Words of the Month
star (n.): “celestial body appearing as a luminous point,” Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra “star,” from Proto-Germanic *sternan– (source also of Old Saxon sterro, Old Frisian stera, Dutch ster, Old High German sterro, German Stern, Old Norse stjarna, Swedish stjerna, Danish stierne, Gothic stairno). This is from PIE root *ster– (2) “star.”
Used originally of the apparently fixed celestial bodies, which is the restricted modern sense. But it also was used of planets and comets, as preserved in falling star (late 15th C.) “meteor;” morning star “Venus at dawn” (Old English), etc.
The astrological sense of “influence of planets and zodiac on human affairs” is recorded from mid-13th C., hence “person’s fate as figured in the stars” (c. 1600; star-crossed “ill-fated,” literally “born under a malignant star,” here meaning “planet,” is from “Romeo and Juliet,” 1592; star-struck is by 1787). The astrological sense also is in expressions such as My stars!, thank (one’s) stars, both 1590s.
The meaning “leading performer” is from 1824, originally of actors and singers; the sense of “outstanding performer in a sport” is by 1916; star turn “principal act or song in a show” is by 1898.
Stars as a ranking of quality for hotels, restaurants, etc. are attested by 1886, originally in Baedecker guides. Sticker stars as rewards for good students are recorded by 1977. A brass star as a police badge is recorded from 1859 (New York City).
The astronomical star-cluster is from 1870. Star-shower “meteor shower” is by 1818. To see stars when one is hit hard on the head is from 1839.
What We’ve Been Up To
I’ve been writing about some vintage True Crime on My 52 Weeks With Christie blog. Here’s my first entry about a poison pen writer in France.
Chapter 1: The Moving Finger & A Real Life Poison Pen Case
Recently I found myself stuck in a mental fog bank with an overwhelming urge to read something more involved than the instructions on a jug of laundry detergent. So I turned to my bookshelves for help. Knowing from past experiences that new stories are a no-go, I ran my finger along the spines until my eyes and index digit landed on The Moving Finger. At which point my brain sat up and bellowed YAHTZEE! Not a new read, but one I hadn’t cracked the covers of since 2014.
Stoked, I sat down and devoured it whole.
Discovering, much to my surprise, my perspective on this classic mystery shifted since I’d last read it nine years ago. (Amusingly, I’d also forgotten the malefactor’s identity and was fooled all over again by the Grand Dame of Misdirection.) Rather than impatiently waiting for Miss Marple’s entrance from stage left or touching the cherished memory of howling with laughter at Victor Borge’s bit on inflationary language with my grandfather in the basement of his house one summer afternoon — my mind caught on the McGuffin of The Moving Finger: the poison pen letters.
Since the villain in The Moving Finger used these letters to mask his true intent, which didn’t seem to fit with what I knew of the phenomenon, it made me wonder what actually drives a true poison pen writer to pick up their quill, so to speak.* Moreover, I wondered why the police and residents of Lymstock so readily accepted the idea that Mrs. Mona Symmington committed suicide over a single letter. So, on a day when the mental fog receded to the outer banks of my brain, I began looking for answers….and fell down a veritable rabbit hole.
Turns out I should’ve had more faith in one of my all-time favorite authoresses.
An view of Tulle from back in the day!
Twenty years prior to the publication of The Moving Finger, a small city in France found itself a hotbed of this postal based crime. From 1917 to 1922, over one-hundred-and-ten poison pen letters were opened in the small provincial town of Tulle. (Where the epitomes fabric of the same name was originally invented and manufactured.) And by the time authorities finally stemmed the flow of these malicious missives — three people were dead, two were remanded to lunatic asylums, and at least one recipient suffered a nervous breakdown. Not to mention the countless broken marriages, shattered friendships, and ruined careers these slanderous communiques also caused.
And it all started over a boy.
Thanks to the overwhelming number of men called up to fight in WWI and her brother’s professional influence, Angele Laval secured a job within Tulle’s prefecture (police department) as a typist under the supervision of Jean-Baptise Mouray.
Jean-Baptise Mouray
Now it’s unclear how long the two worked together before Mouray became the object of Angele’s obsessive affections and due to conflicting contemporary newspaper reports it’s also unclear if: A) Angele loved Mouray from afar. B) Mouray rebuffed Angele’s romantic overtures due to lack of attraction on his part. C) Mouray and Angele dated for a period before he threw her over. However, we do know by 1917, Angele had hatched a plan to draw Mouray into her web.
By sending him an anonymous note abusing her own character.
Troubled by the unsigned slander aimed at his subordinate, Mouray stewed over the ill-natured intelligence for three days before bringing it to Angele. Who, upon laying eyes on the missive, produced one of her own. Only her’s was “left” on her desk at the prefecture and cast aspersions on Mouray’s character instead (calling him a seducer and such). Fearful the crude letters could harm her reputation and his career they decided to keep the contents a secret and consigned them to crackling flames found within a stove in the prefecture’s accounting office.
Unfortunately, this shared secret did not spark the love affair Angele presumably hoped the notes would ignite. Even worse? In 1918 Mouray hired a new typist for their department, Marie-Antoinette Fioux, whom Mouray soon developed an interested and in 1919 began dating.
Rather than giving up on her dream of romance or in a fit of “If he won’t love me, he can’t love anyone else” or both — Angele Laval turned to her inkwell once again. Churning out several crude letters to Mouray’s sister, denouncing Marie-Antoinette’s character. When that failed to produce the desired result, Angele directed another anonymous note to Mouray — this time taunting him with the knowledge of a child he’d fathered with his mistress.
This did the trick.
Apparently, at some point along the way Marie-Antoinette inadvertently witnesses Mouray leaving his mistress’s home. As he’d taken great care to conceal both said mistress and his illegitimate child from everyone in the prefecture and (more importantly) his mother — Mouray concluded Marie-Antoinette must be the author of these scurrilous notes and broke thing off.
This breakup slowed, but didn’t stop, the flow of the poison pen letters being posted. Cunningly, whilst trying to drive a wedge between her rival and her love, Angele camouflaged the true object of her obsession by mailing malicious missives to a number of people within or closely connected to the prefecture of Tulle (including its head) over the course 1918 & 1919. Not to say these catty pieces of correspondence were harmless, far from it, but they’d remained focused on the prefecture itself. Until 1920, after convincing her beloved of her innocence, Mouray married Marie-Antoinette — and — invited Angele to his wedding reception.
Prompting Angele to well and truly lose her nut.
*(BTW: Using a smokescreen of like crimes to hide a black hat’s true target is a well established mystery trope. One Christie used with great effect seven years prior in The A.B.C. Murders. But I digress.)
My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2023
Year End
It seems only fitting to round out the year with the most recent Louise Penny book, A World of Curiosities, for any number of reasons. All her books are amazing, of course, but this one ties up so many backstories that it could be the last one in the series, and you’d walk away feeling like it’s complete.
Mind you, I sincerely hope she’s going to continue! I’m not ready for this journey to be over, but if it is, this is a good stopping place.
In A World of Curiosities, we go all the way back to the first case that Inspector Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir investigate together. We know Armand snags Jean-Guy from the evidence locker in a provincial town and that begins their long and complicated relationship, but we see the encounter in complete detail.
It’s astonishing that Gamache took the brash and outspoken young man on. I wanted to thump him myself.
But then Louise Penny goes on to incorporate a devastating actual mass shooting in Canada, AND she ties it into a famous work of art. And it works. Holy cats, does it work.
I’m not going to give you a quote from the novel itself, but I want to focus on something Ms. Penny said in the Acknowledgments.
“For A World of Curiosities, I could not tell you exactly where the idea began. Where the major theme of “forgiveness” emerged. I have the feeling that it wasn’t really until near the end when I realized how often, unconsciously, the characters struggled with it.
“How often I’ve struggled with the need to forgive. To let go.“
This is the season for charity and delight and magic. And forgiveness. Louise Penny goes on to say, “I honestly don’t feel I can take full credit for the books. There is, finally, an element of magic, of inspiration that seems to come out of nowhere. I have my own theories about where it comes from. I wanted, at the end of this, the eighteenth novel, to make it clear that in writing the Gamache books there is more than meets the eye. And always has been.”
Happy, Merry, Jolly Wishes to you and yours, not just this holiday season but throughout 2024.
Thanks to Amber’s generous help, I’m starting the third version of my pulp blog. The first was through tumblr and they got very weird about “adult” images. While my stuff was not porn and was all from previously public sources (magazines, books, or movies), I guess it was all too lurid for their purposes. That version was started in 2013 as a way to bring more eyes to the shop’s work, and ceased in 2018 when they began reviewing and rejected some posts.
In 2019, refuges from tumblr started newtumbl. I started over with them, continuing to add the same sort of posts while updating previously posted images from tumblr. That lasted until June of 2023 when the folks running it vanished without warning, allowing no one to save, download, export their works. Thousands of posts lost. Should the chance arise, I will import all of that work to this new home.
laissez le bon temps rouler!
SUPPORT SMALL LOCAL BUSINESSES WITH YOUR HOLIDAY DOLLARS
BEST OF THE SEASON FROM US TO YOU!
UNTIL NEXT YEAR – – – – – –
Dealey Plaza 60 & Years On
60 years ago today, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas. To mark the date, there has been an eruption in stories – some print, some video – about his murder. Some have benefited from time, as some people who witnessed part of the drama have decided to speak out finally, and some have benefited from declassified material. Some just recycle past material and add little, if anything, to the story. In no particular order:
A New JFK Assassination Revelation Could Upend the Long-Held “Lone Gunman” Theory
Echo From the Past May Corroborate New JFK Bullet Claim
On the Bizarre Relationship Between Lee Harvey Oswald and his Mother
Who killed JFK? Latest discoveries and conspiracies explained
Dallas lives with JFK legacy – but hate that spawned assassination simmers
‘He’s been hit!’ Reporters who covered JFK assassination vividly remember, 60 years later
Who Killed JFK? Alec Baldwin and Rob Reiner Have Been Asking That Question for Decades
True in theory: 60 years later, JFK’s death still fuels a culture of doubt
JFK’s Parkland Doctors Come Forward: Oswald Didn’t Act Alone
Who Really Killed JFK? After 60 Years and New Clues, the Truth Looks Different
Location of second JFK assassination footage remains a mystery
Audio/Video
Eyewitnesses Bring New Perspective To Tragedy In ‘JFK: One Day In America’
A New VR Documentary Wants to Transport You Back to Dealey Plaza’s Fateful Day
Filmmaker examines the roots of mistrust of government with ‘Inside the Warren Commission’
November 2023
Send your favorite Florida resident a banned book—for free.
Scrolls That Survived Vesuvius Divulge Their First Word
The Worst First Lines in Literature: The Lyttle Lytton Contest
Following Agatha Christie’s Footsteps in Torquay
Do you suffer from bibliomania? John W. Doull does — and his Dartmouth bookstore proves it
What Not To Say to Public Librarians
Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale for first time
How America’s First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon
John Steinbeck Letters, Journals, and Manuscripts to Be Auctioned
6 of the Most Radical Librarians in History
For $150,000, You Could Own a Former Carnegie Library (But It Needs Work!)
How storytellers (and their biases) crafted our history
A $7.5-million find: Overlooked Getty estate sale map turns out to be 14th century treasure
Archaeologists Found the Lost ‘Book of the Dead’ Buried in an Egyptian Cemetery
lie (v.1): “speak falsely, tell an untruth for the purpose of misleading,” Middle English lien, 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.
CIA admits 1953 Iranian coup it backed was undemocratic
How the U.S. Issued its First Ever Order to Assassinate a Foreign Leader
The Political Assassination That Transformed Africa, the UN, and the CIA
Inside the FBI’s surge to solve violent crime on tribal lands
Revealed: Amazon linked to trafficking of workers in Saudi Arabia
McDonald’s and Chuck E Cheese tied to alleged foreign worker exploitation
Amazon Alexa Devices Wrongly Told Users the 2020 Election Was “Stolen“
Ohio Might Finally Make It Illegal to Rape Your Spouse
How Killers of the Flower Moon Got Swept Up in the Culture Wars
Oklahoma Teachers Don’t Know If It’s Legal to Teach “Killers of the Flower Moon”
The moral mystery of serial killers with no evident mental illness or trauma
liar (n.): “one who knowingly utters falsehoods,” early 13th C., from Old English leogere “liar, false witness, hypocrite,” agent noun from Anglian legan, West Saxon leogan “be untruthful, lie”. “The form in -ar is probably in imitation of the refashioned forms such as scholar for scoler and pillar for piler” [Barnhart]. A different formation yielded Dutch leugenaar, Old High German luginari, German Lügner, Danish lögner.
Amanda Knox to face new trial after Italian slander conviction thrown out
Madrona’s Paper Portal Used Books offers big literary conversations
Nicola Griffith on Writing Immersive Historical Fiction
Man arrested over alleged mass shooting plot at Oregon climbing event
A Dazzling Piece of Evidence May Finally End the Mystery of D.B. Cooper’s Identity
Patrick Stewart would like to play Philip Marlowe
In the Beginning Were the Word Nerds
The Nation’s Obsession With True Crime Meets a Mother’s Grief
Spy chiefs put height limit on new James Bonds as they seek smaller officers
How John le Carré’s serial adultery shaped his spy novels
Chasing Jack the Ripper Through the Streets of Modern London
Bad grammar causes actual physical distress in others, study reveals
The Family Recipes That Live On in Cemeteries
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.
LeVar Burton to replace Drew Barrymore as host of National Book Awards
Meet the 13 Writers on the 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize Longlist
She Didn’t Even Have an Agent. Her Debut Is a National Book Award Finalist.
How a tiny Bay Area publisher helped make Nobel laureate Jon Fosse a U.S. sensation
Newly minted Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse on the best writing advice he’s ever received.
This couple just published a Nobel winner from their living room
Here are the shortlists for the 2023 National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose.
Here are the winners of the 2023 Kirkus Prize.
Here’s the winner of the £25,000 British Academy Book Prize.
Here are the winners of the 2023 Hugo Awards.
What Are Thriller Authors Truly Afraid Of?
Spenser at 50: The Evolution of Robert B. Parker’s Iconic Character
Donna Leon dislikes violent books. She takes a different tack in her own.
Sweden’s ‘queen of Noir’ Camilla Läckberg accused of using a ghostwriter
When Contemporary Fiction Ages Into the Historical
Women take the helm of Bond, Marlowe and other beloved series for the first time
LeVar Burton Wants You to Read Banned Books
Get on the bus: banned books tour hits the road, from New York to Texas
The US library system, once the best in the world, faces death by a thousand cuts
The Backlist: Revisiting Steven Hamilton’s ‘The Lock Artist’ with Elle Cosimano
Book Bans in Texas Spread as New State Law Takes Effect
Suspect Arrested in Connection to Several Illinois Library Bomb Threats
The People Behind BookmarkED Are Behind Book Bans in Texas–One Is a School Administrator
How a Dallas Designer and Arts Patron Created Boston’s Most Viral Bookshop
J.M. Redmann on A Lifetime of Crafting Queer Crime Fiction
Scholastic Offers Option to Exclude Diverse Books from Book Fairs
Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024
WATCH: Ursula K. Le Guin on Her Writing Process
My First Thriller: Jeffery Deaver
What Would an Author-Centered Publishing Company Look Like?
Are Co-Op Bookstores the Future of Bookselling?
Fourth Avenue bookshop Antigone Books turned 50 this fall
Library Flags Children’s Book Because Author’s Last Name is Gay
Meet the 3rd bestselling poet in world history
A Murder of Poets: Or, the Inescapable Connections Between Crime Fiction and Poetry
Barnes & Noble starts a new chapter in store design
Lee Child leaves Jack Reacher in his brother’s hands
From NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”: James Patterson talks writing stories and fighting Norman Mailer
Penguin Random House launches high schoolers’ award to combat book bans
Most banned books in US prisons include Amy Schumer and Art of War
A bookshop is opening in Johnson County. It was started by this high school freshman
Dorothy L. Sayers and the Enduring Legacy of a Marriage of True Minds
Huntington Beach votes to limit kids’ book access
Book Tour: At home with Stephen King – Fear not, the king of chills serves as a friendly guide to his personal library [it’s incredible!]
‘You Can’t Hide It’: Georgette Heyer and the Perils of Posthumous Revision
Publishing associations urge UK government to protect copyrighted works from AI
mendacity (n.): “tendency or disposition to lie, habitual lying,” also “a falsehood, a lie,” 1640s, from French mendacité and directly from Late Latin mendacitas “falsehood, mendacity,” from Latin mendax “lying; a liar”
Nov. 8: Phillip Margolin signs Betrayal, Powell’s, 7pm
Nov. 13: Phillip Margolin signs Betrayal, Third Place/LFP, 7pm
Nov. 27: Lee Goldberg with Robert Dugoni, Third Place/LFP, 7pm
Errol Morris Did Not Like This Q&A About His le Carré Film
‘The Singing Detective’: the British masterpiece that changed TV forever
John Wick director has ideas for five more movies
50 Best Erotic Thrillers of All Time
The 10 Best Bounty Hunter Movies
Noir City DC Film Festival Revives Anti-Hero Protagonists
BookRiot Podcast: The Making of the Modern Publishing Industry
Music publishers sue Amazon-backed AI company over song lyrics
90s Horror-Thrillers Created a New Generation of Would-Be Detectives
Every Picture Tells a Story: Cinema Speculation, The Getaway and Me
5 Films About Existential Assassins
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.).
Oct. 10: Hughes Van Ellis, Tulsa Race Massacre survivor, dies at 102
Oct. 12: Phyllis Coates, the First Lois Lane on Television, Dies at 96
Oct. 13: Louise Glück, Nobel prize-winning poet, dies at 80
Oct. 14: Piper Laurie, Actress in ‘The Hustler,’ ‘Carrie’ and ‘Twin Peaks,’ Dies at 91
Oct. 14: Stephen Rubin, book publisher for John Grisham and Dan Brown, dead at 81
Oct. 14: Louise Meriwether, novelist who conjured 1930s Harlem, dies at 100
Oct. 15: Suzanne Summers, once murdered in a Dirty Harry movie, dead at 76
Oct. 18: Burt Young, Chinatown, Rocky, The Killer Elite actor, dies at 83
Oct. 19: Vincent Patrick, Chronicler of Hustlers and Mobsters, Dies at 88
Oct. 24: Richard Roundtree, Suave Star of ‘Shaft,’ Dies at 81
Oct. 27: Richard Moll, Bull the Bailiff on ‘Night Court,’ Dies at 80
Oct. 28: Matthew Perry, The Whole Nine Yards, “The West Wing” and “Friends” actor, dead at 54
Oct. 2: When a Dispute Over the Pronunciation of ‘Newfoundland’ Turned Deadly
Oct. 2: The Con, the Con Artist, and Me
Oct. 9: These Two Highwaymen Battled for the Title of World’s Best Stagecoach Robber
Oct. 9: Home Depot Tracked a Crime Ring and Found An Unusual Suspect
Oct. 10: “A Matter of Opinion”: Three Crimes and the Myths Surrounding Them
Oct. 11: A Murder Mystery in the Sunshine State
Oct. 18: British Museum thefts were ‘inside job’, says George Osborne
Oct. 19: Dutch ‘Indiana Jones of art world’ recovers a further six stolen paintings
Oct. 19: The Botched Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer
Oct. 20: U.S. charges poaching ring allegedly involved in massive Utah dinosaur bone heist
truth (n.): Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) “faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant,” from Germanic abstract noun *treuwitho, from Proto-Germanic treuwaz “having or characterized by good faith,” from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru– “be firm, solid, steadfast.” With Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)).
Sense of “something that is true” is first recorded mid-14th C. Meaning “accuracy, correctness” is from 1560s. English and most other IE languages do not have a primary verb for “speak the truth,” as a contrast to lie (v.). Truth squad in U.S. political sense first attested in the 1952 U.S. presidential election campaign: “At midweek the Republican campaign was bolstered by an innovation—the “truth squad” …, a team of senators who trailed whistle-stopping Harry Truman to field what they denounced as his wild pitches.” [Life magazine, Oct. 13, 1952]
Mia P. Manansala – Murder and Mamon
“Everybody likes a bit of gossip to some point, as long as it’s gossip with some point to it….” This quote by Gore Vidal suits Lilia Macapagal’s godmothers (The Calander Crew, aka April, Mae & June) to a ‘T’. They gather scandals, scuttlebutt, and stories from around the community — then distribute what they learn to the appropriate parties.
However, unlike Oscar Wilde, who penned — “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Not everyone within Shady Palms appreciates being the butt of a whisper campaign, nor The Calander Crew’s brand of honesty.
So when someone starts spray painting “Mind Your Business” all over April, Mae & June’s new storefront (a laundromat) and sending them anonymous letters to the same effect…Well, some people within their sphere of influence relish the trio’s comeuppance. What’s worse, when April’s niece is found murdered in their laundromat not long after the vandalism begins, sympathy sadly runs short…Unless you’re part of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen crew! Despite her family and boyfriend’s requests to sit this mystery out, Lila set out to find justice for her godmother’s niece.
What I enjoy about Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries is the portrayal of family and with family comes food (especially when said family owns a diner, coffee shop, brewery, and winery between them). In this series, the food is woven flawlessly into the narrative, so it adds to rather than detracts from the mystery at hand.
And the mysteries Lila inevitably finds herself investigating make sense, as do her investigation methods. So I am never thrown from the narrative by what I read on the page…There’s a reason why Mia P. Manasala won an Agatha Award!
Murder and Mamon is a great book I enjoyed reading from beginning to end. Whilst at the cozy end of the mystery spectrum, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light, warm, funny, and engaging mystery to combat the stress of upcoming holiday events and/or the loss of sunlight during autumn days!
BTW: This is not the first book in the series. However, if you know this going in, starting with this book isn’t a problem, as Manasala doesn’t ruin the endings of her other books in this one!
A trip to the past
Last month, I went to my 49th high school reunion. It was a multi-class reunion, which is why it didn’t hit the 50th, but it was huge fun. I reconnected with people in person whom I’d already reconnected with on Facebook, and ran into some people I’d honestly forgotten about until they were hugging me.
It really was a trip down memory lane, especially when my hotel room had these accommodations.
Not the clock, of course, but couldn’t you imagine Marlowe getting a call on that phone?
It was summer, so I didn’t need to figure out the radiator, but between that and the phone, the mood was set.
Add to that a small, packed, books on their sides bookshop run by a British man named Michael. I suppose I should say “called Michael” to be authentic. And just across the street was a pub. It was a little slice of heaven, honestly.
So while I was visiting with Michael, I spotted a book that fit perfectly into the whole scheme of things, and I bought it and started reading it at the pub over my grilled cheese sandwich (three cheeses, bacon, and green chile, and I can’t believe I ate the whole thing, but there ya go), and I was set for a weekend of reminiscing.
It was this edition, the $0.35 Dell, that I picked up. How could I resist?
Carolyn Hart, in one of her Death on Demand series – which you absolutely must read, if you haven’t – described Mary Roberts Rinehart as the “had I but known” Golden Age author, and she nailed it. The whole book is strewn with Ominous Portents.
“For a good many months, however, I could not think about the Mitchell case, or the Mitchell house, or old Miss Juliet Mitchell lying there in her bed.”
Miss Adams is a nurse, and is called late one night by the police, Inspector Patton to be precise, to the bedside of Miss Juliet Mitchell, and octogenarian who has understandably collapsed upon finding her nephew, shot and dead in his room upstairs. Miss Juliet has a heart condition and will need monitoring, so Miss Adams is called in.
However, Inspector Patton has an ulterior motive. You see, Miss Adams, to whom he jokingly refers to as “Miss Pinkerton” has amazing observational skills and a quick mind. This is not the first time the Inspector has called upon Miss Adams to suss out what’s going on while tending to a patient. In this case, it’s a question of murder or suicide.
Then it gets complicated.
“When I saw him again it was too late. The second tragedy had happened.”
Miss Pinkerton is an excellent example of Golden Age writing, and is an exquisite snapshot of the attitudes and morals of the time. It’s also an excellent mystery, and as Miss Adams digs into the complex relationships of the people both inside and outside the house, she herself is in more danger than she knows.
“It may sound funny now to say that when the Inspector came up I was packing my bag to go, and that I had put on my hat, although I still wore a uniform. It was not funny then. That impulse to get out was nothing but a premonition; I know that now.”
That hotel room was the perfect place to dive into Miss Pinkerton’s mystery, and Mary Roberts Rinehart was a great companion.
A book I got when it came out in hardcover has been waiting to be read. It’s now out in trade paper. T.J. English‘s Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld. It’s hits two of my favorite things – crime and jazz. I knew nearly all he had to say about Kansas City but there were still new facets to the entire, lurid story. His original viewpoint is how the progression of jazz from it’s New Orleans roots to the clubs of NYC follows the growth of Organized Crime as it spreads from the Black Hand to the heartless Syndicate of Lansky and Luciano. He covers New Orleans and KC, but also Chicago, Detroit, NYC and Vegas. Armstrong, Hines, Cole, Basie, Ellington, Parker – all the greats populate the clubs. I knew quite a lot about that, too, but had never matched those two, American institutions. Ken Burns has done a series on jazz. About time he did one on La Cosa Nostra. That’d be a fascinating series. I’m not sure who wrote this line in a review but it’s perfect: “…deeply fascinating slice of American history in all its sordid glory.”
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I’ve enjoyed Stephen Hunter’s books since Evan Maxwell recommended the first Bob Lee Swagger novel, Point of Impact, in the very early 1990s. [It was filmed as Sniper, in a so-so adaptation.] A famed Marine sniper, Swagger becomes involved in all sorts of intrigue as the series unfolds. They’re full of the minutiae of weaponry, info I skip by so it doesn’t slow down the read. And they are great fun. If you like the logic and nothing-can-stop-him sense of Jack Reacher, try Swagger.
In the latest book, Targeted, Swagger is the focus of a Congressional hearing in order to score points on the dangers of guns and militarized police. As readers, we’re sure Swagger has put no one in danger, other than his ultimate target, but the elected officials accuse him of recklessly. using unregulated ammunition – which he did – in order to make larger points. But then the entire circus is crashed (literally) by a bus full of escaping Chechen criminals and everything goes off track. You can go into it knowing, of course, that Swagger will help save the day and change minds.
While there has always been a light veneer of conservatism to the books, Hunter now comes out with a full-throated condemnation of the Left and the media. It was certainly unnecessary to make his points about the hypocrisy of elected officials of one party and reporters. Anyone paying attention to DC these days knows neither party enjoys a glowing halo of rectitude. The story was dragged down by it, and felt as if the story was a platform for his political and social views instead of just being a crackerjack Swagger story with a little commentary laced through. Which was too bad.
I think it was 1998, when he was in town to sign Time to Hunt. I was included by our sales rep for a dinner with Hunter. He explained how he had an idea for a book that would take the Swagger line back to the Revolutionary War. There was a historic British office who was known for his upgrades to that era’s musketry, and Hunter was going to turn this figure into a Swagger. It was an ingenious idea but nothing of it came – until Targeted. He figured out how to do it and it’s nifty.
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If, like me, you were a fan of the Netflix series “Mindhunter” and would like to see it have at least a third season, here’s an on-line petition to push for one. David Fincher was the producer. He says there will be no more. But maybe the petition will encourage him, or someone else, to get on it!
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I have to admit that I stopped reading GM Ford when we began publishing with Thomas and Mercer – it’s an Amazon imprint. But I ran across a used copy of Threshold, released in 2015, and snagged it. No money to enrich SPECTRE, but no money to Jerry’s estate either. It’s an interesting mix of an albino woman who has this strange ability to bring people out of comas, her work getting women (and their children, in this case) away from abusive men, the corrupt politician they’re fleeing, and a detective back on active duty after his life collapsed. Sounds complicated, yes, but Jerry deftly weaves it all together with memorable characters and life-like situations that are constantly surprising. Obviously, the major publishers he’d been with were idiotic to let him go! There are four Leo Waterman novels written after this stand-alone. I’ll have to haunt used bookshops to find those.
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Some Spookiness ~~~
The Twisty Tale of the BBC Show Supposedly So Terrifying That It Was Destroyed
Halloween at 45: How Horror’s Scariest Franchise Makes Sense of the Senseless
The 10 Best Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations to Stream
100 years of Supernatural Searching
Rocky Horror Has Surprising Roots in Victorian Seances
Why Halloween’s ‘Poison Candy’ Myth Endures
Podcast: The Stanley Hotel: We explore the hotel that some paranormal investigators call the most active haunted location in the world.
Spooky Season: The ghost of Old Faithful Inn
Each Country’s Version of The Boogeyman, Mapped
The baffling and terrifying mystery of the Bell Witch
16 eerie ghost towns in America you can actually visit
9 Spooky Towns in the USA That Belong on Your Bucket List
We Found the 35 Absolute Spookiest Ghost Tours in the U.S. (16 and 21 are Seattle!)
At a Haunted Grocery Store, Trying to Explain the Unexplained Has Consequences
Dark House Fans Share the Most Chilling Ghost Stories We’ve Ever Heard
Dorothea Lasky on the Power of Horror
The 11 Most Terrifying Spooky Stories From America’s National Parks (#9 is on the Olympic Peninsula)
Devil in the detail
Anything going by the name of Johnson’s abyssal seadevil is unlikely to score highly on the cute-and-cuddly scale. Though, to be fair, this one looks as terrified as it does terrifying. Equipped with needle-sharp teeth, a bioluminescent lure between its eyes and a stomach that can expand to accommodate prey much larger than itself, it is the quintessential deep-sea anglerfish. We can safely say that this one’s female, because the tiny males lack a lure and don’t feed as adults. They are little more than mobile bags of sperm whose only mission in life is to find a female in the dark.
Continuing with Louise
Perspective is so important, isn’t it? Looking at things in a different way, seeing events – and people – in a different light can really stimulate your imagination. Not always for the better, but it does make you view situations in a new way, and while it may be disconcerting, it’s helpful.
Not all people fit into stereotypic categories, and in Louise Penny’s A Great Reckoning, Cadet Amelia Choquet is the obvious example, but if you look closer, there are so many challenges to our perspectives that in many ways, A Great Reckoning is a truly disconcerting book.
I love it, of course.
Gamache is reinstated, but has taken on the role of headmaster for the Sûreté du Québec Academy, because he’s sure there’s something there that’s infecting the entire Sûreté. Attacking the problem at the root is key, but again, perception is vital, and Gamache has to learn to see things in a different light.
“Exactly. Maps gave them control over their surroundings, for the first time ever. It showed how to get from one place to another. It sounds simple now, but thousands of years ago it would have been an incredible feat of imagination and imagery. All maps are drawn as though looking down. From a bird’s point of view. From their god’s point of view. Imagine being the first person to think of that. To be able to wrap their minds around a perspective they’d never seen. And then draw it. Incredible. And think of the advantage.“
The idea of seeing something through someone else’s eyes, through the eyes of someone or something never before conceived, is woven through A Great Reckoning, at times so skillfully that you won’t even notice it.
And because perspective and a military academy are tied so closely together, there’s no wonder that the film that leaps immediately to mind is Taps.
Young minds can be more rigid than older ones despite what society thinks, and learning to see not only our peers but those who are mentors as merely human is a feat many never achieve. It’s something that runs through both stories, and is worth bearing in mind.
Seattle Mystery Bookshop 