Podcasts / Shows
We’re late coming to this: TNT Unveils new Podcast Series: Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia. It debuted Feb. 13th.
The “Sherlock Holmes of Wood” and the Lindbergh Kidnapping.
If you enjoy supernatural mysteries/thrillers check out the Netflix original The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Russian Doll & The Umbrella Academy! They are all dark and addictive series that will leave you with more questions than answers & wanting more. I Love Them All!
And this looks promising: “Highwaymen” Trailer: Costner & Harrelson Go After Bonnie & Clyde
Words of the Month
petard (n.): From the 1590s, “small bomb used to blow in doors and breach walls,” from French pétard (late 16th C.), from Middle French péter “break wind,” from Old French pet “a fart,” from Latin peditum, noun use of neuter past participle of pedere “to break wind,” from Proto-Indo-European root *pezd– “to fart” (see feisty). Surviving in phrase hoist with one’s own petard (or some variant) “blown up with one’s own bomb,” which is ultimately from Shakespeare (1605):
For tis the sport to haue the enginer Hoist with his owne petar [“Hamlet” III.iv.207].
thanks to etymonline
Book Events
Phillip Margolin, March 7, 7pm Powell’s, March 12, 7pm Third Place/LFP
Joe R. Lansdale, March 19, 7pm, Powell’s, March 20, 7pm, Third Place/Ravenna
Glen Erik Hamilton, March 27, University Books, 6pm
Links of Interest
January 30: How do you compost a human body – and why would you?
February 1: Fragments of Early Arthurian Legend Found in 16th-Century Book
February 2: Unique ‘dialectogram’ drawings capture a regenerating city
February 3: Thieves stole architectural gems from USC in a heist that remained hidden for years
February 4: Pierce Brosnan on GoldenEye: crazy stunts and thigh-crushings from Xenia Onatopp
February 4: Meet the Journalist Who Interviewed Ted Bundy for Months
February 5: Life-size Star Wars walker saved
February 5: James Brown: Lost in the Woods with James Brown’s Ghost -The Circus Singer and the Godfather of Soul (this is a three-part investigative epic that reads like a multi-episode true crime series, interesting and detailed ~ JB)
February 5: ‘I Am the Night’ Unearths New Details of Hollywood’s Black Dahlia Murder
February 6: How a Book Gets to the Perfect Cover
February 7: George Orwell gets food essay apology
February 7: Here we go again… the painting of the woman who painted the bird has arrived
February 7: Danes find secret beer trove
February 7: Overdue Library Book Returned in Maryland After 73 Years
February 8: IS THAT A HAND? GLITCHES REVEAL GOOGLE BOOKS’ HUMAN SCANNERS
February 8: The British Library’s Dirtiest Books Have Been Digitized
February 9: Emiliano Sala: Who owned the plane the Cardiff player died in?
February 11: Stolen statues of King Billy and Oliver Cromwell found
February 11: Why Reading A Book Can Increase Your Longevity
February 12: “I Knew Right Away It Was My Dad” A conversation with the daughter of the serial killer BTK.
February 12: Confessed serial killer draws portraits of his victims, and the FBI asks for help naming them
February 12: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was a beloved cult hit. Now there’s a movie, out this year.
February 13: Move Over, Lady Psychopaths: The Locked-Room Mystery Is Back
February 14: Burglar hits legendary bookstore, steals rare edition of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
February 14: Why do so many book covers still use the phrase for works of fiction?
February 14: Some people go to Vegas to gamble, others to buy really rare books
February 14: Breaking Bad film release date, trailer, cast, plot, spoilers – everything we know so far about Greenbrier
February 14: Why did Victorian-era gravestones include so many images of clasped hands?
February 15: Vodka firm loses valuable iceberg water in apparent heist
February 15: Does Rembrandt’s Night Watch Reveal A Murder Plot?
February 16: Bond 25 – Daniel Craig’s Final 007 Film Delayed (a bit)
February 16: Tana French: ‘Nobody with imagination should commit a crime. You wouldn’t handle the stress’
February 17: Loose lips sank this plot to assassinate George Washington: new non-fiction book by Brad Meltzer
February 18: Don Winslow Digs Into Modern Drug War With New Novel ‘The Border’
February 19: ‘The Border’ author Don Winslow wants to debate Trump about the wall, and Stephen King wants to pay for it
February 19: The Lab Discovering DNA in Old Books
February 19: McDonald’s hands out free books in New Zealand to encourage children to read more
February 20: Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson Lay Down the Law in ‘The Highwaymen’ Trailer
February 22: In letters, Whitey Bulger fondly recalled old days, Alcatraz
On Plagiarism: These should be Read In Order
Cristiane Serruya is a copyright infringer, a plagiarist, and an idiot.
February 22: PLAGIARISM, THEN AND NOW
February 23: NOT A RANT, BUT A PROMISE
February 25: Secondhand books: the murky world of literary plagiarism
February 25: Never forget David Bowie masterminded ‘the biggest art hoax in history’
February 25: This bookseller gives kids books in exchange for empty cans and bottles
February 25: How To Cultivate A Reading Habit
February 26: ‘We donte want to hurt anney one’: Bonnie and Clyde’s poetry revealed
February 26: ‘Bond 25’ Official Title Revealed, Plus Everything We Know About The Next 007 Movie
February 27: ‘Bond 25’ Exclusive: Rami Malek in Final Negotiations to Play Villain
February 27: Making a Murderer’s Steven Avery granted right to appeal after new evidence
Words of the Month
tenebrous (adj.) “full of darkness,” late 15th C., from Old French tenebros “dark, gloomy” (11c., Modern French ténébreux), from Latin tenebrosus “dark,” from tenebrae “darkness” (see temerity). Related: Tenebrosity. (thanks to etymonline)
R.I.P.
February 4: Julie Adams: Creature from the Black Lagoon star dies
February 8: Albert Finney dies at aged 82
February 22: W.E.B. Griffin, 89, Dies; a Best-Selling Novelist Dozens of Times
February 23: Stanley Donen, 94, director of ‘Charade’ and ‘Singing in the Rain’
Words of the Month
Necropolis – especially : a large elaborate cemetery of an ancient city; Cemetery – 1st known use was in 1819
With its —polis ending, meaning “city”, a necropolis is a “city of the dead”. Most of the famous necropolises of Egypt line the Nile River across from their cities. In ancient Greece and Rome, a necropolis would often line the road leading out of a city; in the 1940s a great Roman necropolis was discovered under the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Some more recent cemeteries especially deserve the name necropolis because they resemble cities of aboveground tombs, a necessity in low-lying areas such as New Orleans where a high water table prevents underground burial.
Entomology/History – Borrowed from Late Latin, “cemetery,” & from Greek Nekrópolis, literally, “city of the dead,” name of a large cemetery in a suburb of ancient Alexandria, from nekro – NECRO- + -polis -POLIS
Anagram – prosocline – meaning slanting forward
(Thanks Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
What We’ve Been Doing
Amber
Don’t forget! Check out my mystery blog! This last week we’ve discovered who our Pink Lady is and almost met the Librarian Extraordinaire Mrs. Schmit! Tomorrow Beatrice & Wood help Phoebe move the rest of her stuff into the shed in penance for their friendly early morning torture…
J.D. Robb – Connections In Death
The newest Eve Dallas mystery, Connections In Death, came out on February fifth! What wasn’t so great was the fact I’d started a completely different book prior to its release. Then attempted to continue reading it while my favorite guilty pleasure sat on top of my to-be-read pile…
Needless to say, I caved.
It was snowy! I needed something fun to read while watching the drifts pile up…That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
In any case, this installment of the In Death series was everything you’ve come to expect from Eve and her team, starting with a murder dressed up to look like an overdose which connected back to Crack and his new lady whom Eve met just the night before…
Now I must place a slight caution – not on the writing or storylines (all of which were great) – but you need to have read the last couple of books in the series to fully appreciate every event Eve finds herself attending. As there are subplots in this book which link back to previous cases and if you’re not up on them – you’ll miss some of the significance of the action unfolding in the pages of this book. You won’t get lost mind you – but Robb doesn’t use any of her usual boilerplate catch-ups in this book (thank goodness for us long-time readers), she ‘s assuming you’ve read and remembered her previous books.
I would recommend this book to any of the Eve fans out there! This book went flat out from the first page and didn’t stop until its last. Even if you missed the previous book or two, you wouldn’t be lost, but you’ll want to go back and read them – because Nadine won a huge award which makes Eve both happy (for her friend) and irritated (as a cop) at the same time!
Fran
Alrighty then, I’m about to ask you to follow another link for a moment, but first I gotta tell you that the second book in the Maureen Johnson “Truly Devious” trilogy is out – The Vanishing Stair (Kensington) – and ohmygoodness you have to read it, but you absolutely have to have read Truly Devious first.
If you’ve forgotten about it, see if this jogs your memory: Click here
You have to scroll down, but you’ll recognize it by the cut-and-pasted threatening note. Of course, re-reading the whole newzine is perfectly okay, but remember to come back here.
Okay. So here we are, back at Ellingham. Sort of. See, Stevie’s parents have pulled her out because of that horrible mess at the end of the last book, and the only way she can get back is to make a deal with the devil. At what point do your wants overcome your morals? It’s a tough question at any age, and Stevie is seriously torn.
Again, we jump between the two time periods, 1930 and now, and again both are riveting. We learn about the story behind that chilling note. If you thought it had a Dorothy Parker flavor, you’re right and it was intentional. The imagery is deliberate and perfect, but then it would be since Maureen Johnson is a brilliant writer, and she picked the highly talented Sarah Weinman’s brains and gaspingly deep knowledge of that time period. I must admit I squeed a bit when I discovered they consulted for this book. If you haven’t read any of Sarah’s writing, you’ve been remiss. Fix that, but after you’ve read The Vanishing Stair.
Make no mistake, though. The 21st century has much to offer in Johnson’s capable hands. And she ties the two eras together perfectly.
“Detection has many methods, many pathways, narrow and subtle. Fingerprints. The lost piece of thread. The dog barking in the night.
“But there is also Google.”
So yes, once again I am stalking you across the shop floor, eyes gleaming madly, shoving this book in your hand and insisting you read it. I’m pushy like that, but I have my reasons, and once you’re immersed in this strange academic world, you’ll understand why.
And, on a personal note to Maureen, congratulations on your marriage to Oscar! And deepest condolences on the loss of your beloved rescue dog, Zelda. You embrace both joy and tragedy so profoundly, and I am in awe.
I blame one of our customers, Helen T., for this one. Yes, Helen, it’s all your fault, and I’m not sure if I’m deeply grateful or want to rough you up. In the nicest possible way, of course. I mean, there I was, reading the first in one of her series, and Lillian walked past, stopped, stared for a moment, then asked, “Are you reading a bodice ripper?”
Yes. Yes, I am.
And I’m loving them.
Which ones, you ask? And you’re giving me that side eye, aren’t you? Tough.
Helen told us how much she loved Christine Feehan’s books. I figured I needed some mind candy, so why not? I’ll tell you why not. They’re bloody addicting. Seriously, I reached the end of a series and thought, “Wait, no more Feehan in the house? That’s not acceptable!” I’ve really got it bad.
It’s her characters, because you know I’m all about the characters. There’s a mystery in all of them, but the damsels do a lot of the rescuing, which I like. Granted, all the men are broodingly handsome and the women are gaspingly beautiful, and there’s lots of steamy stuff (which I skip, ‘cause I always do in every book, including JD Robbs. Just not my thing but I imagine these are well done. Dunno. Don’t care), but the subjects Feehan tackles are often timely and bitterly dark, which I love. There’s lots of violence and death, and our heroes often are the recipients. So far, every one of our protagonists is damaged in some way, and frequently it’s the ladies to the rescue. And not just with “steamy” solutions. Asses are frequently kicked.
Christine Feehan has seven series, and I’ve read two all the way through. Learn from my mistakes – you want to read the “Drake Sisters” series first, and in order, then go to the “Sea Haven” series. After that, you can go to the “Torpedo Ink” series. They all tie together. The “Shadow” series stands on its own.
It was in the “GhostWalker” series (15 books so far) that I came to truly admire Feehan’s talent. One of the books had a couple I didn’t much care for. They just didn’t click for me. But I devoured the book anyway, because I still cared what happened to them. And I’m realistic enough to know that she writes for her, not me, and others are going to adore this book and dislike others. Doesn’t matter. I haven’t tackled the “Leopard” series (only 11), much less the “Dark Series” which is her largest – so far there are 33 there, but I’m kinda vampired out for the moment. But at least I have plenty to keep me occupied! Christine Feehan is really, really good at writing paranormal romance, and I’m grateful.
I think. *studies bookshelves looking for more space*
JB
While walking my dog Parker one recent, snowy afternoon, I glanced across a street to see a duplex, both having the same street number but were differentiated by a letter after the numbers. Got him thinking – – who lived at 221A Baker Street????
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