Wednesday, 25 January 2012

dragontattoo_graphicnovel

Since this is the Year of the Dragon, it seems the right time to launch the graphic novel of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (Okay, so that is a stretch!)


The graphic version of Steig Larsson's mega seller is set the hit the shelves during November, barely making it for the Year of the Dragon!

Crime author Denise Mina will write the book, with the cover image created by Lee Bermejo and art from Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti. In a press release, DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint stated that it is working closely with the estate of Stieg Larsson and Hedlund Literary Agency to adapt the book.

I think Scottish writer Denise Mina will bring a new sensibility and insight to the character of Lisbeth Salander.

Her novels, which include The End of the Wasp Season, Deception and Field of Blood, have a dark approach that have made her an international best seller. Mina is no stranger to graphic novels. Mina has also written for Vertigo’s Hellblazer series. Her latest graphic novel is A Sickness in the Family, also for Vertigo.

Bermejo's latest work is the graphic novel Batman: A Novel, a New York Times best-seller and follow-up to the 2008 hit Joker. Argentinean artist Manco has worked extensively on Vertigo’s Hellblazer series.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a Graphic Novel
the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-a-graphic-novel

dragontattoo_graphicnovel

Since this is the Year of the Dragon, it seems the right time to launch the graphic novel of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (Okay, so that is a stretch!)


The graphic version of Steig Larsson's mega seller is set the hit the shelves during November, barely making it for the Year of the Dragon!

Crime author Denise Mina will write the book, with the cover image created by Lee Bermejo and art from Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti. In a press release, DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint stated that it is working closely with the estate of Stieg Larsson and Hedlund Literary Agency to adapt the book.

I think Scottish writer Denise Mina will bring a new sensibility and insight to the character of Lisbeth Salander.

Her novels, which include The End of the Wasp Season, Deception and Field of Blood, have a dark approach that have made her an international best seller. Mina is no stranger to graphic novels. Mina has also written for Vertigo’s Hellblazer series. Her latest graphic novel is A Sickness in the Family, also for Vertigo.

Bermejo's latest work is the graphic novel Batman: A Novel, a New York Times best-seller and follow-up to the 2008 hit Joker. Argentinean artist Manco has worked extensively on Vertigo’s Hellblazer series.

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Downton Abbey, the highly rated and addictive British melodrama on PBS, also is having an impact on readers – or at least publishers and booksellers are hoping it will.

toddcharles_alonelydeathViewers’ fascination with Downton Abbey’s aristocratic family and its servants set against the backdrop of World War I has encouraged publishers to bring out books and novels set during the Edwardian and WWI eras that capture life on British estates, from the high society families to the toils of the maids and other servants.

According to a story in the New York Times, publishers are jumping on this bandwagon as fast as they can.

I am not surprised that those who watch Downton Abbey also would want to read about the era. After all, PBS viewers are highly educated and literate. (Downton Abbey airs Sundays at 9 pm on PBS and continues through Feb.19; check your local listings.)

But publishers—and viewers—are slow to understand just how interesting the pre- and post WWI era was in England.

Mystery writers have long been mining this era for fascinating novels.

World War I, or the Great War as it was often called, began on July 28, 1914, and lasted until Nov. 11, 1918, and involved all the world's great powers. It was the first war in which technology entered into the fighting and old-fashioned military tactics no longer worked. It was the first war to use telephones, wireless communications, armored cars, tanks, and aircraft.

World War I also had an immense impact on culture, especially in Britain. It was the beginning of the end of the class system; women had more rights and freedom thanks to the telephone and automobiles. And more women had to support themselves and their families because of the huge loss of young men during the war.

Publishers don’t have to turn to new authors for readers to learn about the war’s devastation and social upheaval. Instead, here are a few authors who have excellent new novels and backlists:

CHARLES TODD:

The mother and son writing team have two series that explore WWI.

todd_impartialwitnessThe longest running is about Ian Rutledge, a Scotland Yard detective still fighting the effects of being shell shocked. Ian can barely function but forces himself to do his job and fight for justice. He is still haunted by the battles and what he had to during the heat of war so his job is a way of returning to humanity and his atonement for his sins.

Ian also represents the shift in the classes from the male point of view. He comes from a different background than most of the policemen of his day. Ian was from a middle class family – his father was a solicitor (lawyer to us Americans), his mother an accomplished pianist and Ian was university educated. The reader can feel Ian’s pain—the war left him a shell of a man, lonely, almost incapable of having a relationship with a woman or forming friendships with men.


Todd’s 13th novel in this series A Lonely Death came out this month.

The Bess Crawford series gives Todd an opportunity to show England in the midst of the war. Bess is from an upper middle class family but she grew up in India where her officer father was stationed. At the outbreak of the war, she follows his footsteps and volunteers for the nursing corps where she serves on the battlefields of France.

Todd shows in great detail the war in this series. In the first novel, A Duty to the Dead, Bess escapes from the doomed hospital ship Britannic as it is sinking.

An Impartial Witness is the third Bess Crawford novel.

JACQUELINE WINSPEAR:

winspearjac_elegyforeddiexHer Maisie Dobbs novels show the challenges and opportunities that women struggled with in post- World War I. Maisie is a psychologist and investigator who began working at the age of 13 as a servant. Her employer supported her education, which was cut short when WWI broke out. At age 18, Maisie enlisted for nursing service overseas and was sent to France where she served close to the front lines.

Maisie represents the blurring of the class lines – the daughter of a servant who would have become a servant herself if her education had not been encouraged—and the merging independence of women.


Like the other authors in this blog, Winspear features details of the day to make her elegantly written novels realistic. For example, as WWI continued, the ink used to write letters became fainter because people were forced to water down the ink to make to go further.

Winspear’s next Maisie Dobbs novel Elegy for Eddie comes out in March.

ANNE PERRY:
perry_weshallnotsleepBritish author Perry is best known for her many novels set during the 1800s. The William Monk novels are set in the early Victorian era (1850s-1860s) and the Thomas Pitt take place during the 1880s-1890s.

But from 2003 to 2007, Perry wrote fivc novels set during WWI about the Reavley family—Joseph, an army chaplain; his brother, Matthew, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service; and their sister, Judith, an ambulance driver.

The last novel in this series We Shall Not Sleep came out in 2007.

This is just a small sampling. Do you have a favorite mystery writer who sets her or his novels with WWI as the background?

Downton Abbey Brings Readers
Oline Cogdill
downtown-abby-brings-readers

Downton Abbey, the highly rated and addictive British melodrama on PBS, also is having an impact on readers – or at least publishers and booksellers are hoping it will.

toddcharles_alonelydeathViewers’ fascination with Downton Abbey’s aristocratic family and its servants set against the backdrop of World War I has encouraged publishers to bring out books and novels set during the Edwardian and WWI eras that capture life on British estates, from the high society families to the toils of the maids and other servants.

According to a story in the New York Times, publishers are jumping on this bandwagon as fast as they can.

I am not surprised that those who watch Downton Abbey also would want to read about the era. After all, PBS viewers are highly educated and literate. (Downton Abbey airs Sundays at 9 pm on PBS and continues through Feb.19; check your local listings.)

But publishers—and viewers—are slow to understand just how interesting the pre- and post WWI era was in England.

Mystery writers have long been mining this era for fascinating novels.

World War I, or the Great War as it was often called, began on July 28, 1914, and lasted until Nov. 11, 1918, and involved all the world's great powers. It was the first war in which technology entered into the fighting and old-fashioned military tactics no longer worked. It was the first war to use telephones, wireless communications, armored cars, tanks, and aircraft.

World War I also had an immense impact on culture, especially in Britain. It was the beginning of the end of the class system; women had more rights and freedom thanks to the telephone and automobiles. And more women had to support themselves and their families because of the huge loss of young men during the war.

Publishers don’t have to turn to new authors for readers to learn about the war’s devastation and social upheaval. Instead, here are a few authors who have excellent new novels and backlists:

CHARLES TODD:

The mother and son writing team have two series that explore WWI.

todd_impartialwitnessThe longest running is about Ian Rutledge, a Scotland Yard detective still fighting the effects of being shell shocked. Ian can barely function but forces himself to do his job and fight for justice. He is still haunted by the battles and what he had to during the heat of war so his job is a way of returning to humanity and his atonement for his sins.

Ian also represents the shift in the classes from the male point of view. He comes from a different background than most of the policemen of his day. Ian was from a middle class family – his father was a solicitor (lawyer to us Americans), his mother an accomplished pianist and Ian was university educated. The reader can feel Ian’s pain—the war left him a shell of a man, lonely, almost incapable of having a relationship with a woman or forming friendships with men.


Todd’s 13th novel in this series A Lonely Death came out this month.

The Bess Crawford series gives Todd an opportunity to show England in the midst of the war. Bess is from an upper middle class family but she grew up in India where her officer father was stationed. At the outbreak of the war, she follows his footsteps and volunteers for the nursing corps where she serves on the battlefields of France.

Todd shows in great detail the war in this series. In the first novel, A Duty to the Dead, Bess escapes from the doomed hospital ship Britannic as it is sinking.

An Impartial Witness is the third Bess Crawford novel.

JACQUELINE WINSPEAR:

winspearjac_elegyforeddiexHer Maisie Dobbs novels show the challenges and opportunities that women struggled with in post- World War I. Maisie is a psychologist and investigator who began working at the age of 13 as a servant. Her employer supported her education, which was cut short when WWI broke out. At age 18, Maisie enlisted for nursing service overseas and was sent to France where she served close to the front lines.

Maisie represents the blurring of the class lines – the daughter of a servant who would have become a servant herself if her education had not been encouraged—and the merging independence of women.


Like the other authors in this blog, Winspear features details of the day to make her elegantly written novels realistic. For example, as WWI continued, the ink used to write letters became fainter because people were forced to water down the ink to make to go further.

Winspear’s next Maisie Dobbs novel Elegy for Eddie comes out in March.

ANNE PERRY:
perry_weshallnotsleepBritish author Perry is best known for her many novels set during the 1800s. The William Monk novels are set in the early Victorian era (1850s-1860s) and the Thomas Pitt take place during the 1880s-1890s.

But from 2003 to 2007, Perry wrote fivc novels set during WWI about the Reavley family—Joseph, an army chaplain; his brother, Matthew, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service; and their sister, Judith, an ambulance driver.

The last novel in this series We Shall Not Sleep came out in 2007.

This is just a small sampling. Do you have a favorite mystery writer who sets her or his novels with WWI as the background?

Thursday, 19 January 2012

mwa_logoIt's official—the awards season for mystery fiction has officially begun with this morning's announcement by the Mystery Writers of America of the nominees for the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2011.

This year's Edgar Awards were announced on the 203rd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe.

That's a lot of years that mystery fiction has been savored by generations of readers.

The Edgar Awards will be presented during the 66th Gala Banquet, April 26, 2012, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Martha Grimes, below, author of the Richard Jury novels has been named the Grand Master.

Mystery Scene offers its congratulations to all the nominees.

2011 was a terrific year for mystery fiction and we are sure the judges had a difficult time narrowing down the lists to these nominees.

BEST NOVEL
The Ranger by Ace Atkins (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Gone by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (Minotaur Books)
1222 by Anne Holt (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Field Gray by Philip Kerr (Penguin Group USA - G.P. Putnam’s Sons – Marion Wood Books)

grimesmartha_author

Martha Grimes, 2012 Grand Master

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Red on Red by Edward Conlon (Random House Publishing Group – Spiegel & Grau)
Last to Fold by David Duffy (Thomas Dunne Books)
All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen (The Permanent Press)
Bent Road by Lori Roy (Penguin Group USA - Dutton)
Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ulfelder (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)


BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Hachette Book Group – Orbit Books)
The Faces of Angels by Lucretia Grindle (Felony & Mayhem Press)
The Dog Sox by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Mystery Books)
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper Paperbacks)
Vienna Twilight by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)


BEST FACT CRIME
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins (Crown Publishing)
The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (Random House - Doubleday)
Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender by Steve Miller (Penguin Group USA - Berkley)
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal (Penguin Group USA - Viking)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of our Time by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer & John-Henri Holmberg (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling by Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film by Philippa Gates (SUNY Press)
Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds and Marnie by Walter Raubicheck and Walter Srebnick (University of Illinois Press)


BEST SHORT STORY
"Marley’s Revolution" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by John C. Boland (Dell Magazines)
"Tomorrow’s Dead" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by David Dean (Dell Magazines)
"The Adakian Eagle" – Down These Strange Streets by Bradley Denton (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
"Lord John and the Plague of Zombies" – Down These Strange Streets by Diana Gabaldon (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
"The Case of Death and Honey" – A Study in Sherlock by Neil Gaiman (Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Books)
"The Man Who Took His Hat Off to the Driver of the Train" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Peter Turnbull (Dell Magazines)


BEST JUVENILE
Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)
It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Vanished by Sheela Chari (Disney Book Group – Disney Hyperion)
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (Egmont USA)


BEST YOUNG ADULT
Shelter by Harlan Coben (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall (Random House Children’s Books – Knopf BFYR)
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Roaring Creek Press)
Kill You Last by Todd Strasser (Egmont USA)


BEST PLAY
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club by Jeffrey Hatcher (Arizona Theatre Company, Phoenix, AZ)
The Game’s Afoot by Ken Ludwig (Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland, OH)


BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
"Innocence" – Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS Productions)
"The Life Inside" – Justified, Teleplay by Benjamin Cavell (FX Productions and Sony Pictures Television)
"Part 1" – Whitechapel, Teleplay by Ben Court & Caroline Ip (BBC America)
"Pilot" – Homeland, Teleplay by Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff (Showtime)
"Mask" – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Speed Weed (Wolf Films/Universal Media Studios)


ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"A Good Man of Business" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by David Ingram (Dell Magazines)


GRAND MASTER
Martha Grimes, above


RAVEN AWARDS
M is for Mystery Bookstore, San Mateo, CA
Molly Weston, Meritorious Mysteries


ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Joe Meyers of the Connecticut Post/Hearst Media News Group


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 25, 2012)
Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Death on Tour by Janice Hamrick (Minotaur Books)
Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (Crown Publishing Group)
Murder Most Persuasive by Tracy Kiely (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)

2012 Edgar Nominations Announced
Oline Cogdill
2012-edgar-nominations-announced

mwa_logoIt's official—the awards season for mystery fiction has officially begun with this morning's announcement by the Mystery Writers of America of the nominees for the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2011.

This year's Edgar Awards were announced on the 203rd anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe.

That's a lot of years that mystery fiction has been savored by generations of readers.

The Edgar Awards will be presented during the 66th Gala Banquet, April 26, 2012, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

Martha Grimes, below, author of the Richard Jury novels has been named the Grand Master.

Mystery Scene offers its congratulations to all the nominees.

2011 was a terrific year for mystery fiction and we are sure the judges had a difficult time narrowing down the lists to these nominees.

BEST NOVEL
The Ranger by Ace Atkins (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Gone by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (Minotaur Books)
1222 by Anne Holt (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Field Gray by Philip Kerr (Penguin Group USA - G.P. Putnam’s Sons – Marion Wood Books)

grimesmartha_author

Martha Grimes, 2012 Grand Master

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Red on Red by Edward Conlon (Random House Publishing Group – Spiegel & Grau)
Last to Fold by David Duffy (Thomas Dunne Books)
All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen (The Permanent Press)
Bent Road by Lori Roy (Penguin Group USA - Dutton)
Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ulfelder (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)


BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Hachette Book Group – Orbit Books)
The Faces of Angels by Lucretia Grindle (Felony & Mayhem Press)
The Dog Sox by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Mystery Books)
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper Paperbacks)
Vienna Twilight by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)


BEST FACT CRIME
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins (Crown Publishing)
The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (Random House - Doubleday)
Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender by Steve Miller (Penguin Group USA - Berkley)
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal (Penguin Group USA - Viking)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of our Time by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer & John-Henri Holmberg (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling by Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film by Philippa Gates (SUNY Press)
Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds and Marnie by Walter Raubicheck and Walter Srebnick (University of Illinois Press)


BEST SHORT STORY
"Marley’s Revolution" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by John C. Boland (Dell Magazines)
"Tomorrow’s Dead" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by David Dean (Dell Magazines)
"The Adakian Eagle" – Down These Strange Streets by Bradley Denton (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
"Lord John and the Plague of Zombies" – Down These Strange Streets by Diana Gabaldon (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
"The Case of Death and Honey" – A Study in Sherlock by Neil Gaiman (Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Books)
"The Man Who Took His Hat Off to the Driver of the Train" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Peter Turnbull (Dell Magazines)


BEST JUVENILE
Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)
It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Vanished by Sheela Chari (Disney Book Group – Disney Hyperion)
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (Egmont USA)


BEST YOUNG ADULT
Shelter by Harlan Coben (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall (Random House Children’s Books – Knopf BFYR)
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Roaring Creek Press)
Kill You Last by Todd Strasser (Egmont USA)


BEST PLAY
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club by Jeffrey Hatcher (Arizona Theatre Company, Phoenix, AZ)
The Game’s Afoot by Ken Ludwig (Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland, OH)


BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
"Innocence" – Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS Productions)
"The Life Inside" – Justified, Teleplay by Benjamin Cavell (FX Productions and Sony Pictures Television)
"Part 1" – Whitechapel, Teleplay by Ben Court & Caroline Ip (BBC America)
"Pilot" – Homeland, Teleplay by Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff (Showtime)
"Mask" – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Speed Weed (Wolf Films/Universal Media Studios)


ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"A Good Man of Business" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by David Ingram (Dell Magazines)


GRAND MASTER
Martha Grimes, above


RAVEN AWARDS
M is for Mystery Bookstore, San Mateo, CA
Molly Weston, Meritorious Mysteries


ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Joe Meyers of the Connecticut Post/Hearst Media News Group


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 25, 2012)
Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Death on Tour by Janice Hamrick (Minotaur Books)
Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (Crown Publishing Group)
Murder Most Persuasive by Tracy Kiely (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)