Criminal Splatterings

Interesting to see in the Guardian this weekend a list of books for summer reading.  Brilliant to see Sophie Hannah’s The Carrier, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Denise Mina’s Gods and Beasts and Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls on the list with the sole male Carl Hiaasen’s Bad Monkey.  What is annoying is that they only bothered to list 5 crime novels but managed to list thirty books considered to be ‘fiction’.  Also for some reason they have listed John le Carré’s A Delicate Truth under fiction.  Why did they not include an equal amount of genre fiction?

Gillian Flynn has announced her 5 favourite thrillers on Oprah’s Book Club for their summer 2013 reading list and it is good to see The Shining Girls by Lauren Buekes, If You Were Here by Alafair Burke and Brilliance by Marcus Sakey.  Also, The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan and Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda.

According to Icelandic Review Online, on Thursday 24 June Reykjavik City Library announced The Blóðdropinn (Blood Drop) Award honouring the best crime novel of the year: Húsið (The House) by Stefán Máni.  The winner will represent Iceland in the Glass Key competition for the best Nordic crime novel; Stefán Máni was awarded the Blóðdropinn in 2007 for his thriller Skipið (The Ship).

According to the blog Action Suspense the 65^th Annual Grand Prix de Littérature policière finalists have been announced.

Les Romans Francais (French Novels): 

Rainbow Warriors by Ayerdhal - Au Diable Vauvert

La Fille du Hahn Hoa by Thomas Bronnec - Rivages/Noir

Ne Lâche Pas Ma Main by Michel Bussi - Presses de la Cité,

L’assassin à la Pomme Verte by Christophe Carlier- Serge Safran

Un Long Moment De Silence by Paul Colize - Manufacture de livres

Des Nœuds D’acier by Sandrine Collette - Denoël (Sueurs froides),

Le Dernier Des Treize by Mercedes Deambrosis - Ed. La Branche

I Cursini by Alix Deniger -  Gallimard (Série noire)

L’expatriée by Elsa Marpeau - Gallimard (Série noire)

Les Nuits de Patience by Tobie Nathan - Rivages (Rivages/Thriller)

Un Homme Efface by Alexandre Postel - Gallimard (La Blanche)

J’ai Fait Comme Elle a Dit by Pascal Thiriet - Jigal (Polar)

Le Dernier Lapon by Olivier Truc - Métailié (Métailié noir)

Les Romans Étrangers (Foreign Novels):

Boulevard by Bill Guttentag - Gallimard (Série noire)

Les Mères, Le Cherche by Samantha Hayes - Midi (Thriller)

Lettres de Carthage by Bill James - Rivages (Rivages/Thriller),

Dark Horse by Craig Johnson - Gallmeister (Noire)

22/11/63 by Stephen King - Albin Michel (Romans étrangers),

Le Royaume Des Perches by Martti Linna - Gaïa (Polar)

Une Belle Saloperie by Robert Littell - Baker Street

Il Faut Tuer Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay - Liana Levi (Policier)

Traversée Vent Debout, by Jim Nisbet - Rivages (Rivages/Thriller)

Le Tueur Se Meurt by James Sallis - Rivages (Rivages/Thriller),

Dernière Nuit à Montréal by Emily St John Mandel - Rivages/Thriller,

Cuba Libre by Nick Stone - Gallimard (Série noire)

Impurs by David Vann - Gallmeister (Nature writing)

Lumière Dans une Maison Obscure by Jan Costin Wagner - Ed.J.Chambon

Pike by Benjamin Whitmer - Gallmeister (Noire)

Congratulations to all the nominees.  The winners will be announced on 17 September 2013.

According to On the Red Carpet.Com Rhys Ifans has been cast at Sherlock Holmes older brother Mycroft in Elementary.  He will make his debut in the second series.

According to the BBC the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and London will be the subject of a new exhibition to open in 2014.The Museum of London's exhibition will look at the interplay between Holmes and the city, a source of fascination for the fictional detective.

Val McDermid is due to be heard on Desert Island Discs.  The episode is going to be broadcast on Sunday 14 July at 11:15am on BBC Radio 4 with it being repeated again on Friday 19 July at 9:00am.  Looking forward to hearing what music she chose and also her luxury good!

According to the Huffington Post, Writer Michael Baigent, who gained attention for launching a lawsuit contending that "The Da Vinci Code" stole ideas from his own book, has died of a brain hemorrhage at age 65.

According to The Bookseller, William Heinemann has signed a final book featuring Charlie Resnick from crime writer John Harvey.  Darkness, Darkness will be published in hardback in May 2014.

Random House Children’s Publisher have according to The Bookseller signed a deal for three books about a children's detective agency from debut author Robin Stevens, who works for Orion Children's Books.  Murder Most Unladylike, which is the first book, will be set in 1934. 

The trailer for The Counselor the thriller based on Cormac McCarthy’s debut screenplay and featuring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem can be seen below.

Intelligence historian Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones picks the fiction that best reveals the secrets of espionage in the Guardian.  Brilliant to see Thirty-Nine Steps and Ashenden on the list along with Red Harvest and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.