Criminal Splattering's

Norwegian crime fiction authors Gunnar Staalesen (The Writing on the Wall) and Thomas Enger (Burned) are due to attend CrimeFest this year.  However, if you can’t wait until then they will be appearing at a Nordic Noir book club event on 23 May where they will be talking about and exploring the history of and recent trends in Norwegian crime fiction.  More information can be found on the Nordic Noir book club website.

The Agatha Awards were given out at Malice Domestic on Saturday 28 April 2012.  The winners are as follows –

Best Novel: 
Three Day Town by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)

Best First Novel: 
Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (Crown)

Best Non-fiction: 
Books, Crooks And Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure by Leslie Budewitz (Linden)

Best Short Story: 
Disarming by Dana Cameron, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine – June 2011

Best Children’s/Young Adult: 
The Black Heart Crypt by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)

Best Historical Novel: 
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)

Congratulations to all the winners.  A full list of all the nominees can be found here.

With The Killing and Borgen winning such a wide fan base, there are a number of articles floating around cyber space about the phenomenon. The BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby visited the sets of both productions to try to unearth the secrets to their success.  Read her report here.  From the Independent.

Very funny and silly but well worth the read.  Forbes have posted their annual 15 fictional millionaires.  Their list of the fiction’s richest.  On the list is C Montgomery Burns the most hated man in Springfield.  Forbes managed to snag an interview with him.  Also on the list are Lisbeth Salander, Tony Stark and Wayne Bruce amongst others.

According to the Guardian and The Hollywood Reporter the estate of cult science-fiction writer Philip K Dick is to revive a legal battle for profits from the futuristic Matt Damon thriller The Adjustment Bureau.  The representatives first filed a lawsuit against director George Nolfi and production company Media Rights Capital in October 2011, claiming its targets refused to pay millions of dollars in royalties.  It was thrown out two months ago.  The Adjustment Bureau is loosely based on Dick's 1953 short story Adjustment Team, in which everyday existence is revealed to be a product of mysterious unseen manipulators.  The full complaint can be read here.

Shotsblog has blogged about the forthcoming prequel to The Godfather, The Family Corleone and the law suits that have surrounded it on more than one occasion.  They can be read here and here.  Now according to Entertainment Weekly now a trailer for the forthcoming book can be seen below.

The Book Bond have previewed a number of the vintage classic James Bond book covers that are due to be published in September 2012.  Personally I am in two minds about them.  Some of them are okay but hmm, I think they could have been better.

The BAFTA 2012 Television Award nominees have been announced.  The full list can be found here.  Once again Benedict Cumberbatch has been nominated for Best Actor in his role as Sherlock.  His co-star and last year’s BAFTA award winner for Best Supporting Actor Martin Freeman has once again been nominated, but this year he will be up against his Sherlock co-star Andrew Scott who plays Moriarty.  The Drama Series category sees previous winners Misfits and Spooks up against each other, alongside ITV1’s Scott and Bailey.  Borgen and The Killing II are up against each other for the International Award.  The award ceremony will take place on 27 May 2012.

Gary Phillips has always been one of my favourite crime writers from the first time I picked-up Violent Springs and read his first published novel featuring PI Ivan Monk to our subsequent and very infrequent meetings.  The last time we met was at St Louis in 2011.  He remains and has always been one of the nicest people to talk to.  I found it most interesting to read his blog post on the MysteriousPress.com blog about what led him to write Violent Springs.  It was also pleasing to note that the Ivan Monk series can now be read as e-books.  If you have not read them yet then please do.  His ability to weave into his stories the social dynamics of everyday life and situations is one of the best things about the series.  I for one would love him to write another Ivan Monk book.

The long list for the Desmond Elliott Prize for new writers has been announced and the full list can be found here.  Congratulations go to all the nominees but specifically to SJ Watson who has made the long list with his novel Before I Go to Sleep.  Not only that but Before I go to Sleep has also been voted TV Book Club viewers best read of the series.  Elizabeth Haynes's Into the Darkest Corner took second place.

CrimeFest is less than a month away and the Shots gang will be there in full force as usual.  As in previous years see here, here and here for some insights to my previous attendance at CrimeFest. I shall once again be blogging and hopefully this year tweeting as well using the hastag #CrimeFest2012.

According to The Bookseller Hodder and Stoughton have acquired the Roman Britain debut novel The Lion and The Lamb, by Durham academic Dr John Henry Clay.  Set in Britain in AD 366, depicts the struggles of a young soldier with a mysterious past, drawn into a conspiracy that threatens all he holds dear as the enemies of Rome rebel during the Great Barbarian Conspiracy.