Recent Purchases

Awww righty......

Four recent purchases have come across the desk of The Hungry Detective. My secretary has been delinquent in getting these into my hands so that I, as Publisher and Editor of The Hungry Detective, could pass this information along to my more rabid readers.

From MysteryOne came Steve Hockensmith's second On the Wrong Track, and Adrian McKinty's fourth and third in the Forsythe trilogy, The Bloomsday Dead.

Both these books made my most anticipated for 2007 list. Both were mortal locks for purchase, it was just a matter of time. I have droned on about McKinty, but again let me state that he is the best new crime author out there. Hockensmith's first Holmes on the Range was a pleasure to read, and I am sucker for Holmes related writing. This second should be just as fun.

B&N supplied one overstock of note and one used book. Barry Eisler's Killing Rain was the over stock and Charles Benoit's Relative Danger was the used book. Great to have both, especially the Benoit as the Madison B'con had the book going $40.

Now with nearly all of the books on my Most Anticipated of 2007 nearly out, save for the Jennings(May 1), the Grabenstein (May28th), and the Robotham (May3 UK, July 10 US) I should consider looking at highlights for Summer of '07. I'll run this up the flag pole over at the Editorial desk and see what I can do.

Licking Wounds..... a Post Edgar Report

Well...... I didn't even come close.

I felt pretty good picking Nancy Pickard's The Virgin of Small Plains. Mainly because she is an established author with a number of good books behind her. It felt like it was her time. Who knows maybe she did too.

I take little consolation in the fact that Jason Goodwin appeared to be nobody's pick..... even Mr. Goodwin or at least his editor didn't think he had a chance.... because she told him not to show up!

The Winners.
Report 1 From Confessions.
Report 2 from Dave White.

Happy... somewhat... surprise is the win for Life On Mars in the TV category. Second... and final series has already transmitted in the UK. USA air date?

Next year I will definitely make a concerted effort to read more of the nominees so I can be not so embarrassingly ill informed.

Apologies from the Editor and Publisher of The Hungry Detective.

Edgar Awards Tonight

Tonight the Mystery Writers of America put on their big awards banquet, the Edgar Awards. Yesterday was a one day symposium with the highlight being Stephen King's talk.

The Edgars are Grand Dame awards for Crime Fiction. I have never attended an awards ceremony..... my lack of black tie couture would likely bar me from the proceedings... and the fact that I am not a published mystery writer would take care of the rest.

One of the great things about this community is that the fan based organizations pick up the slack for readers and fans who would like to mingle among the writers of this wonderous genre. B'Con, Left Coast Crime, Sluethfest, Magna Cum Murder, Malice Domestic, etc.

Anyway, you should acquaint yourself with the nominees.

Best Novel

I have read 2/3 rds of only one of the nominees. I should be able to finish up The Pale Blue Eye this week. I also own The Dead Hour by Denise Mina. Hard to handicap a race when you have not read any of the nominees. However, I am not going to let that stop me. I like Denise for this, but I think Nancy Pickard's The Virgin of Small Plains is going to take it.


Best First Novel

I have read Holmes on the Range.... and I also own Cornelia Read's A Field of Darkness. Again difficult to handicap. King of Lies by John Hart feels like a winner. Why? Don't ask impertinent questions.




Paperback Original

I have read none of the nominated so now this is officially the worst Edgar predictor preview ever. Just looking at the cover art... always the best predictor by the way... I have to go with Paul Levine's The Deep Blue Alibi.

There are are more awards, but rather than turn this post into a complete farce, I will again encourage you to check the list of nominees. There are awards for TV and Film, as well as category each for Young Adult and Juvenile fiction.

I wish of the nominees the best of luck, and all of the winners a hardy congratulations. Good luck tonight and have a great time!

Friends who stab me in the back..... and then win books!

So my 'good' (as good is in quote marks I am being facetious) friend Jared Case recently won a contest to name Marcus Sakey's new book. Be sure to read the comment section for all the suggested titles.

But I'll ruin the suspense on Jared's winner. Burn Notice. Sniff. Not bad...... if you like 'good' titles.
Do you know how I found out there was a contest? Yeah, that's right the Douche Bag (that's for you Abbey) told me about the contest AFTER he won. MOTHER!

Now I am not saying I could have won the contest. But what I am saying is that I could have kept Jared from winning.

Anyway, congratulations backstabber, I hope the UK edition of the very good The Blade Itself keeps your cold heart warm!

Dennis Lehane Filmmaker?

Several years ago Dennis Lehane was at MysteryOne signing.... I believe.... Darkness Take My Hand.... maybe Sacred. At some point Dennis mentioned that he was going to be making a movie.

Title? Neighborhood. or Neighborhoods.

I was a film student at the time so my interest was piqued beyond my mystery novel fetish.

Flash forward to the following year.

New year, new book. Sacred.... I think.... or was it Gone Baby Gone.

Dennis is back and signing. I have screwed up enough courage to hang out for awhile and actually talk to Dennis. So I ask him about the movie.

Dennis mentions he made the film. They are going the film festival route.... and....

I never hear about the film again....officially anyway.

I remember reading a bit of rumor/gossip/whispers on the wind that the film was actually bought by Harvey Scissorhands at Miramax. Many a legend exists about the Miramax vault during the Weinstein Days.

Back in the day, Harvey bought a ton of movies with all that Disney money. Now some of those movies he bought because he thought they would win him Oscars. He bought some because he thought they would make buckets of money. Unfortunately some of those movies he bought tested poorly in preview screenings and disappeared into deep dank Miramax vaults.

Is Neighborhood(s) one of those films. Is Neighborhood(s) even the title of this movie?

Curious and Curiouser.

Back.... in the mystery reading saddle again.

Well.....

I have been back since Saturday. Man it has taken me forever to get myself rearranged. Couldn't really sleep the first two nights..... I thought I was going insane. I am not exactly sure when I turned into a candy-ass. Possibly the third quarter of 2000.

I am going to starting posting semi-regular this weekend...... I should be all the way back by then.

One thing of note, I was B&N last night. All of their new overstocks were slashed with a black marker over the UPC code. DAMN!

Reading? The Pale Blue Eye.

Pune, India - Noon

I am in India. It is hot..... but I finally understand the dry heat concept. Long story short... I am not sweating as much as I thought I would.

The time difference is 9:30 hours ahead. I have no idea why there is this 30 minute difference.... by the way that is a 10 and half hour time difference for my parents and sister who live in Wisconsin.

Words can not describe what it is like..... well at least not in the context of this blog.

Love to those who love me.