Pardon the slide into politics, but… British man found guilty of trying to steal Magna Carta. Guess he needed the Senate behind him…
And photos of a library to make you drool: Inside the ‘Vibrant Intellectual Ecosystem’ of Larry McMurtry’s Home Library:
See our old stomping grounds in a photo from 1880 – Cherry Street in the snow
Serious Stuff
Nambi Narayanan: The fake spy scandal that blew up a rocket scientist’s career
The art heists that shook the world – in pictures
CIA and German intelligence controlled global encryption company for decades, says report
Corruption, Inc.: Andrea Bernstein on the Trumps, the Kushners, and the Age of the Oligarchs
Authors Guild releases grim 50-page report on “The Profession of the Author in the 21st Century”
Opening a Pandora’s box of truths about rape kits
Two teens held on manslaughter charges in deadly California library fire
Did Medgar Evers’ Killer Go Free Because of Jury Tampering?
Piled Bodies, Overflowing Morgues: Inside America’s Autopsy Crisis
Words of the Month
ekphrastic: of poetry, words to describe a work of art. (thanks to Says You!, show 2101)
Awards
John Le Carre’s acceptance speech upon receiving the Olaf Palme (take the time to read this, it is worth it!)
Nominees for the 2020 Barry Awards have been announced. You can find them here. We don’t recall if they’ve done this before but, at the bottom, are the nominees for Best of the Decade.
Here’s the longlist for the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
Announcing the finalists for the $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize.
The L.A. Times announces its 2019 Book Prize finalists and a new award for science fiction.
Words of the Month
griffonage: illegible handwriting (thanks to Says You!, show 2101)
Author Events
March 4: John Straley, Third Place/LFP, 7pm
March 6, John Straley, Powell’s, 7pm
March 6: J.P. Gritton, Third Place/Ravenna, 7pm
March 7: Phillip Margolin, Third Place/Ravenna, 6pm
March 8: Michael Christie, Powell’s, 7:30pm
March 12: Anne Bishop, Powell’s, 7pm
March 13: Emily Beyda, Powell’s, 7:30
March 14: Phillip Margolin, Everett Public Library, 2pm
March 16: Anne Bishop & Patricia Briggs, UBooks, 6:30pm
March 17: Matt Ruff, Elliott Bay, 7pm
March 17: Phillip Margolin, Powell’s, 7pm
March 19: Matt Ruff, Powell’s, 7:30pm
March 23: Jason Pintor, Third Place/Ravenna, 7pm
March 24: Matt Ruff, Third Place/LFP, 7pm
Book Stuff
New Nancy Drew comic celebrates beloved sleuth’s 90th birthday by killing her
Carl Hiaasen: A Crime Reader’s Guide to the Classics
Review: Sam Wasson takes a deep dive into Chinatown
And a sample from the book: How Raymond Chandler and the Tate-LaBianca Murders Inspired the Making of Chinatown
See JB’s section for his review of the book
Taking Maigret’s first case in for questioning
‘No Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition or Mumbo Jumbo’: Dorothy L Sayers and the Detection Club
Patti Smith pitches in to help burgled Oregon bookshop
Everyone Can Be a Book Reviewer. Should They Be?
New women’s fiction prize to address ‘gender imbalance’ in North America
How not to separate your church from your state: Tennessee seeks to make Bible “state book.”
NYC Books Through Bars explains how you can support prison books projects—or start your own
Georges Simenon’s remarkable novel manages to make its loathsome protagonist compelling company
Sophie Hannah on the recipe for a perfect crime novel – books podcast
Heroic Librarians: Unexpected Roles and Amazing Feats of Librarianship
The Great Los Angeles Crime Novel—And the Women Who Are Revitalizing It
The strange quest to crack the Voynich code
Not a Cult, a new bookstore in Los Angeles, puts authors of color at the forefront.
The Books Briefing: A Study in Sleuthing
Spanish-language newsstand, a 1940s Boyle Heights gem, braces for the end
Who Should Decide What Books Are Allowed In Prison?
Jane Goodall’s next book, ‘The Book of Hope,’ to be released in fall 2021
The Life and Work of C.W. Grafton: Crime Novelist, Lawyer, and Father to a Mystery Icon
The Cozy Mysteries of the Pacific Northwest
Take a walking tour of Seattle’s liveliest literary neighborhood: Pike Place Market
Other Forms of Fun
Jodie Foster Set To Direct Drama On 1911 Theft Of Mona Lisa; Los Angeles Media Fund-Backed Film
“Back To The Future” is being rebooted – on stage, not on screen
‘Friends’ to reunite for one-off special
The artistic wizard who brought Oz to life
Tom and Jerry: 80 years of cat v mouse
Doc Savage: Man of Bronze – Classic Pulp Hero Headed to Television
These Famous Noirs and Mysteries Were Inspired by Real-Life Crimes
Juries and Judgement in Hollywood Cinema
Perry Mason returns to TV later this year
Counting Down the Greatest Crime Films of All-Time
Mystery power house Otto Penzler gives his list of the 106 best crime films. You may have quibbles of his rankings as we did (The Fugitive is #54 yet Bullitt is #98?!?) but it’s a fun and informative list. Click on each title to get the skinny!
Words of the Month
foe (n): Old English gefea, gefa “foe, enemy, adversary in a blood feud” (the prefix denotes “mutuality”), from adjective fah “at feud, hostile,” also “guilty, criminal,” from Proto-Germanic *faihaz (source also of Old High German fehan “to hate,” Gothic faih “deception”), perhaps from the same Proto-Indo-European source that yielded Sanskrit pisunah “malicious,” picacah “demon;” Lithuanian piktas “wicked, angry,” peikti “to blame.” Weaker sense of “adversary” is first recorded c. 1600. (etymonline.com)
Links of Interest
January 30: Agatha Christie’s Greatest Mystery Was Left Unsolved
January 31: New Clue May Be the Key to Cracking CIA Sculpture’s Final Puzzling Passage
February 3: Amazon knows more than just what books I’ve read and when – it knows which parts of them I liked the most
February 4: Never Do That to a Book ~ Sure, you love books. But is it courtly love or carnal love?
February 7: Why Avocados Attract Interest Of Mexican Drug Cartels
February 9: Identification 95 Years After Ship’s Disappearance Puts Mystery To Rest
February 10: Whitechapel mural will celebrate the lives of Jack the Ripper’s victims
February 10: Stolen Art, Nazis, and the Eternal Search for Justice
February 11: How the Earliest Crime Scene Investigators Identified Murder Victims
February 12: ‘Trust your dog’: extraordinary pets help solve crimes by finding bodies
February 13: Objects Made by Prisoners in the United States
February 13: Rebels of Black History: The Life and Legend of Madam Stephanie St. Clair
February 14: Bookshop burglary foiled after prosecco distracts raiders
February 14: The Legend of a Cave and the Traces of the Underground Railroad in Ohio
February 14: How a Trashed Italian Manuscript Got Sewn Into a Sweet Silk Purse
February 14: The Lancashire hideaway of an Italian mafia boss
February 14: In 1933, two rebellious women bought a home in Virginia’s woods. Then the CIA moved in.
February 17: Facial Recognition Technology Is the New Rogues’ Gallery
February 18: The Best James Bond Themes that Never Made it to the Screen
February 18: PenguinRandomHouse Makes Progress in Green Initiatives
February 18: Neanderthal ‘skeleton’ is first found in a decade
February 19: Compassion fatigue is taking its toll on librarians.
February 19: Date night couple foil attempted armed robbery
February 19: The NYT Spelling Bee Gives Me L-I-F-E by Laura Lippman
February 20: How a stolen safe changed a burglar’s life
February 21: Romulus mystery: Experts divided on ‘tomb of Rome’s founding father’
February 21: Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson once beat a murder charge by translating some Latin.
February 23: Brockport book shop makes plea to customers and community
February 24: People v. Gillette: How an Obscure Execution in the Finger Lakes Inspired Generations of Storytellers
February 25: France rock riddle contest gives meaning to mysterious inscription
February 26: The Best Gifts for Writers, According to Writers (From John Waters to Jeremy O. Harris)
February 27: Don’t Pick Your Nose, 15th-Century Manners Book Warns
R.I.P.
Kirk Douglas died at the age of 103 on February 5th. There will have been a yuge number of articles about him, his life, career, and personality. They’ll have written about Sparticus and on and on. We’d like to narrow our view to one timeless, classic performance – badman Whit in Jacques Tourneur’s 1947 film noir masterpiece Out of the Past. Along with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, the triangle at heart of this clash of love and power is the epitome of noir. If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor and see it. ~ JB
February 8: Robert Conrad died at 84. We remember him for his 1959 TV show “Hawaiian Eye” and, with “West, James West”, bringing James Bond to “The Wild, Wild West” in 1965. Great theme song, great opening credits, great train full of gadgets.
February 13: Charles ‘Chuckie’ O’Brien, who called himself Jimmy Hoffa’s ‘foster son,’ dies at 86
February 18: True Grit author Charles Portis dies aged 86
February 19: The Computer Scientist Responsible for Cut, Copy, and Paste, Has Passed Away
February 20: Frank Anderson, former CIA spymaster in the Middle East, dies at 77
February 23: Walter Satterthwait, dead at 73
February 24: Katherine Johnson: Nasa mathematician dies at 101
February 26: Creator of New York City subway map Michael Hertz dies
February 26: Clive Cussler: Dirk Pitt novels author dies aged 88
Words of the Month
fustigate (v.)”to cudgel, to beat,” 1650s, back-formation from Fustication (1560s) or from Latin fusticatus, past participle of fusticare “to cudgel” (to death), from fustis “cudgel, club, staff, stick of wood,” of unknown origin. De Vaan writes that “The most obvious connection would be with Latin -futare” “to beat,” but there are evolutionary difficulties.
What We’ve Been Up To
Amber
Finder of Lost Things
I’m working furiously and I’m nearly finished writing Season Two of Finder of Lost Things! Then comes editing and photography so I’m hoping it will be out in the next month or two! I’ll keep you guys posted.
Golden In Death – J.D. Robb
I’m not going to go into a synopsis of the mystery as this is quite literally the fiftieth installment in the ‘In Death’ series.
Suffice to say there’s a murder in New York and Eve’s on the case.
Despite hitting this landmark installment number, don’t look for this book to get mired in nostalgia for Eve and her crew. Golden In Death is a very mystery-centric story uncluttered by unnecessary parties, conflicts, and dramas (aside from the whole murder thing). All of our favorites Mavis, Leonardo, Trina, and Nadine (and her new rocker boyfriend), Peabody’s family – are all included – but in a nebulous and natural fashion. Giving us just a glimpse of what they’re up too, without losing the momentum of the case at hand.
Even better? The standard boilerplate descriptions of Eve and Roake have been rejiggered and reworked, so they feel fresher to the well-indoctrinated eyes of Eve Dallas fans!
I really enjoyed this book. The mystery is one that I found interesting and relevant to this milestone installment. (Which, truth be told, is the real reason why I didn’t write a synopsis – as I did not want to spoil a single twist in this book!) I thoroughly enjoyed reading each page and stayed up well past my bedtime in order to finish it – as once again – I couldn’t help myself.
BTW – if you haven’t started this series yet, because you’re intimidated by the sheer length and breadth of it, never fear. You can start with this book and be just fine. Though if you want to avoid spoilers and giveaways, I’d suggest going back, after finishing Golden In Death and start with Naked In Death. I know there’s a lot of books in between these two – but having read them all already – you have at least two hours* of fun ahead of you!
(*Which is only a rough estimate as I’ve no clue how long it would take to read this series – and I love you guys – but I’m not going to time myself to find out!)
Fran
And the mystery is solved! Do you know who did it?
We first met Stevie Bell in Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious, where we learned about the famous Ellingham Academy – what would you be accepted for? – and the troubles that happened there back in the 30’s. Stevie’s determined to solve the mystery of whatever happened to young Alice Ellingham, but trouble besets her in her current life.
In The Vanishing Stair, things get even more complicated. Stevie’s not even supposed to come back to Ellingham, but fate conspires in her favor. Still, now she has more mysteries to unravel.
Finally, in The Hand on the Wall, Stevie figures things out. But what’s the price? And does she really see a moose?
In this trilogy, Maureen Johnson has created a fabulous homage to the Golden Age mystery writers, especially Agatha Christie, but she’s put a decidedly modern twist on it, and it works perfectly. And of course the Dorothy Parker style poem adds flair! But it takes a special talent to combine the subtle clues and genteelly labyrinthine story with modern day complexities, and there’s no one quite like Maureen Johnson, who takes on this challenge and not only makes it work, but keeps it riveting and thought-provoking.
These are considered young-adult novels, but trust me, you don’t need to be a tween to enjoy this trilogy, and I promise you that you will!
JB
My love of Chandler, my adoration of Chinatown, 
and my interest in history and true crime smash together in San Wasson’s The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood
The basics of the book are the story of the movie – the initial conception, the years of work to get it in filmable shape, filming, and its reception. But the book is jammed with so much more.
The story told contains the sense of LA at the time, the impact of the Manson murders on LA and Hollywood, where the various participants came from, and how they came together to make this remarkable movie. It then tells the story of the movie making and how each participant moved on from there. And, really, how this was the height of a creative period in Hollywood that was supplanted by the era of the blockbuster and the takeover of the studios by money people interested more in return than film making, than in “art”.
Overall, this is a melancholy book, itself a story that ends badly, like all noir must. There are Robert Towne’s battles to get the thing written and then seeing it overtaken by Polanski. There are Polanski’s experience of horrors – the loss of his mother in Auschwitz and the murder of his wife. There are Robert Evans’ battles with those above him who wanted something different, something better, out of the movies he was producing. There was Nicholson who was dealing with personal nightmares throughout the period and whose dream of a fabled trilogy of Gittes films never came to pass.
But it is a story of lightning in a bottle. That all of these figures came together at this time and managed to create this singular movie is a demonstration of the odds against such a thing happening at all.
Wasson’s book is well crafted and informative, and never fails to surprise and never fails to show the entire period with all of its faults, ugliness, astonishments, and creativity. And, like all true noir, no one leaves the story unmarred. In the end, we are all left with a stunning work of art, a movie that shows what can emerge out of human minds, out of human suffering.
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?”