Criminal goings on...

The cinemas are full of turkeys yet that brilliant novel you read three years ago has never been made into a film. Danuta Kean in The Independent descends into development hell and finds out why so many authors get trapped there.

I’ve previously blogged on graphic novels and their influence on film makers. Frank Miller’s influence seems to be overwhelming the genre at the moment. There's a neat article by Patrick Oliver which expands on this.

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again', the opening of Rebecca, is Daphne du Maurier's most quoted line, writes Kate Kellaway. And from 10 May, the centenary of her birth, we should all be prepared to revisit Manderley repeatedly, as in a recurring dream. For du Maurier is about to be comprehensively celebrated.
The BBC plans a double helping: a new drama, Daphne, by Amy Jenkins and a documentary by Rick Stein, The Road to Manderley. In Fowey, Cornwall, where she spent most of her writing life, there will be a Daphne du Maurier festival between 10 and 19 May that will include talks, concerts and guided walks. There will also be a literary conference in which her son, Kits Browning, will take part. Justine Picardie has chosen this moment to reconstitute du Maurier in fiction, as a detective in her thriller Daphne, and Virago is about to publish The Daphne du Maurier Companion.

“Death was an occupational hazard for every hooker who worked Dallas's depressed south side. That's why police weren't surprised to find the body of prostitute Mary Lou Pratt shot to death in December of 1990...until the discovery that sickened even the seasoned coroner: the young woman's eyes had been cut out.” I was intrigued enough to read more, are you?

In the UK, former Harper editor Trevor Dolby will establish and run his own imprint at Random House UK, reporting to managing director Richard Cable. The new line will aim to publish about 15 titles a year, covering Dolby's range of interests--including popular culture and popular science, biography, lifestyle, travel, reference and gift books, but also fiction. Launching in spring 2008, Dolby will hire a fiction publisher and a few others to work alongside him.

Heading in a different direction, Orion editor-in-chief Jane Wood will join Quercus in the summer as publisher. She will be working on general fiction and women’s fiction. Bets are on for the first "big" Orion author to jump ship to Quercus.