Crime fiction news!

The British Library is to publish what is said to be the first ever detective novel after it being out of print for 150 years. The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix dates back to 1862.  Alison’s Flood article in the Guardian discusses in a bit more detail.

The Godfather films are of course considered to be classics and at least one of them will always find its way on to a top 50 list at least.  With The Family Corleone (a prequel) due out in July, it seems that Paramount Studios who own the copyright are not happy about it and have taken the Puzo Estate to court in an attempt to have it stopped.  The official complaint can be read here.  The Family Corleone is due to be published by Random House in the summer.  Paramount Studios claim that they bought the copyright in The Godfather in 1969.  The article in the Guardian can be found here. There is also a comment about it in the Telegraph as well.

Interesting review of Lloyd Shepherd’s debut novel The English Monster by Judith Flanders in the Guardian. Lloyd Shepherd has used the Ratcliffe Highway murders as the background to his novel.

 
Whilst not strictly crime fiction related, Shortlist have listed the 50 coolest TV programmes. The list can be found here. Pleased to see some of my favourites (including some of them from my childhood) in the list including, Joe 90, Dragnet, The Prisoner, The Singing Detective, The Simpsons, The Wire and Deadwood to name a few.
 
With it being Oscar night tonight (26 February) and the fact that rather sadly the brilliant Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy has been so overlooked.  Reading Anthony Lane’s excellent essay in the New Yorker might make up for it!

According to Book2Book Serpent’s Tail are to publish Attica Locke’s new novel The Cutting Season in September 2012.  Attica Locke burst onto the horizon in November 2009 with her debut novel Black Water Rising which was nominated and shortlisted for a number of awards including an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.  It was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize. The Cutting Season is set in Belle Vie, a plantation house used as a museum and party venue; where black actors play slaves and modern tourists see a glossy interpretation of the past. Until a dead body appears...

 
Wow! A treasure-trove of comics bought by an American enthusiast when he was a boy has fetched $3.5m (£2.2m) at auction in New York.  According to the Independent the collection of 345 comics were not only in mint condition but were bought by Billy Wright who first started collecting them as a boy.  The owner died in 1994. The collection included a pristine copy of Detective Comics No 27, in which Batman made his debut and Action Comics No 1 from 1938, the first comic to feature Superman.
 
According to Deadline.com, The Killing Joel Kinnaman has been offered the lead role in the reboot of Robocop. The role was originally played by Peter Weller in the 1987 Paul Verhoeven version of the film.

As reported earlier by Shotsblog in January, there is to be a remake of Sherlock in the US entitled Elementary. According to the BBC the former Trainspotting star Jonny Lee Miller has been cast as Sherlock.