Georges Simenon. Coming up for release in September from Herb Lester Associates is Maigret's Paris, a map of locations from the Chief Inspector Maigret oeuvre of Georges Simenon.  Other maps of potential interest:  • The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles • Agatha Christie's England • John le Carré's London • The World of Patricia Highsmith ..read more

LibriVox has released a new free audiobook of Dell Shannon's Edgar-nominated Case Pending (1960), the first in her Lt. Mendoza series. Shannon was one pseudonym of Elizabeth Linington (1921–88), who was an early female writer of police procedurals; her other pseudonyms included Anne Blaisdell and Lesley Egan. Anthony Boucher wrote in the 24 Jan 1960 New York Times that in Case Pending, "Miss Shannon tells of murder gone mad in the near-slums of Los Angeles, deftly (if almost over-precisely) tying a number of other plots in with her murders" (BR43 ..read more

"Top o' the world": James Cagney in White Heat (1949) The latest episodes of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday feature music from chase films (e.g., The Bourne Identity, The Fugitive, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, White Heat) and that by famed composer Jerry Goldsmith (e.g., Chinatown ..read more

Anna Katharine Green. NYPL. The Friends of the Rohlfs' House (affiliated with the 501-c-3 Allentown Association) is working to acquire the Buffalo, NY, Craftsman home of pioneering mystery author Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) and her husband, famed furniture designer Charles Rohlfs (1853–1936), and turn it into a house museum. The group has been purchasing pieces that were originally in the house. This post about the group's latest acquisition (a rocking chair) lists contact details for contributions. Charles Rohlfs ..read more

Catching up on Film Music Friday episodes from Kansas Public Radio, there's an episode on composer Bernard Herrmann, including excerpts from his scores for Psycho and North by Northwest. Fan of the theremin? There's an episode on it, including an excerpt from Spellbound. Prof. Leon Theremin with his eponymous device, 1928. NYPL ..read more

Following the release of Albert Glasser's score to Ed McBain's Cop Hater are Glasser's scores for the films Please Murder Me (with Raymond Burr and Angela Lansbury, 1956) and Treasure of Monte Cristo (with Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, and Steve Brodie, 1949). Also of interest: Glasser's score for The Big Caper (with Rory Calhoun and James Gregory, 1957)   ..read more

The History of Literature podcast sits down with Ursula Buchan to discuss the multifaceted life and work of her grandfather, John Buchan (The Thirty-Nine Steps, etc ..read more

Just out from Dover Publications: books 4 and 5 in the Hardy Boys series—The Missing Chums (orig publ 1928; Frank and Joe pursue  robbers and kidnappers) and Hunting for Hidden Gold (orig publ. 1928; Frank and Joe go in aid of their injured father and locate an abandoned mine). They join The Tower Treasure (book 1, 1927), The House on the Cliff (book 2, 1927), and The Secret of the Old Mill (book 3, 1927). Canadian journalist Leslie McFarlane wrote these books as well as a memoir, Ghost of the Hardy Boys ..read more

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, Kronos Records has scheduled for release in July the soundtrack to Cop Hater (1958), the film based on the first 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain (1956) featuring Robert Loggia, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and Vincent Gardenia. The composer is Albert Glasser. Order the CD or listen to a few samples here ..read more

My latest column, The Jury Box, appears in the July/Aug 2024 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. In it, I review recent classic reprints and short story collections that offer elements atypical in mystery fiction (like the unreliable narrator). Authors covered are Joan Cockin (aka Edith Joan Burbidge Macintosh), Sebastian Farr (aka Eric Walter Blom), Lorenz Heller, Edward D. Hoch, R. M. Laurenson, Helen Nielsen, Isabel Ostrander, and Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements ..read more