Give Me The Blue M&Ms and Some Dancing Girls

First of all - huge congratulations to Russel McLean on his Shamus nomination.

How health problems inspired Paul Johnston.

You can now check if you're a beneficiary of Conan Doyle's will.

A few reviews, starting with one of Louise Welsh's play, MEMORY CELLS. Next, Rhapsody in Books reviews Ian Rankin's THE NAMING OF THE DEAD, Permanently Weird on Irvine Welsh's REHEATED CABBAGE, Musings and Wanderings enjoyed Philip Kerr's A GERMAN REQUIEM, Milo's Rambles calls Caro Ramsay's DARK WATER 'astounding' and a double-header of Peter May reviews from Cicero's Children.

More on the Wigtown Book Festival line-up with Ian Rankin and Val McDermid amongst others.

An interesting post in the Huffington Post from Otto Penzler on why PIs can't be noir.

And, finally, are writers the new rock and roll stars? Is Ian Rankin going to throw a TV out of a window? Is Allan Guthrie going to want an Iggy Pop style rider? (I particularly like page 15). And, on the back of his Shamus nomination, is Russel McLean going to go all LL Cool J and demand a bottle of baby oil and 2 dozen thornless roses? So, dear reader, what would your rider be?

Not Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

I have an internet connection problem at home so am unable to post from home, can't get my e-mail and, therefore, cannot get my google alerts, so this is a very truncated teeny tiny postette. And if you've sent me an e-mail, please bear with me - I'm not ignoring you!

A couple of news items only then. Maybe I should write them in bigger text so that it looks meatier than it is...

First of all, a review of the marvellous Year Of Open Doors (short stories but not crime fiction related on the whole) .

Bad news - Edinburgh Festival facing budget cuts. Good news - new publishing, literacy and writers' centre planned for Edinburgh.

the CWA Dagger shortlists appear to have been...errrr...shortened. Congratulations to Karen Campbell for making the itsy bitsy teeny weeny shortlist with the marvellous SHADOWPLAY. And here's more about the nominees. Craig Robertson, unfortunately, didn't make the cut, but he's philosophical.

And, finally, an interesting article in the Guardian on writers as performers.

How Can It Be Sunday Evening Already?

This weekend's cinematic viewing consisted of JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY and WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE - both of which I can heartily recommend.

JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY is a Danish thriller - a sort of film noir version of the romantic comedy WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. At the start of the film we are introduced to the main character in a very SUNSET BOULEVARD way as he lies on the pavement in the rain, his blood mixing with the rainwater. Jonas - a family man with an ordinary, boring life as husband, father and crime-scene photographer is involved in a car crash which puts millionaire's daughter Julia into a coma. Jonas goes to the hospital to visit her and Julia's family assume he is Sebastian - the boyfriend she met in Hanoi (and who - this happens in the first minute so no spoilers here - she may possibly have shot, before fleeing the scene). When Julia wakes up, she's lost her sight and can't remember anything about her trip to the Far East and Jonas allows the deception to continue. Very twisty (very, very twisty, with lots of little tricks and traps), nightmarish and dark.

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is also dark, but it's also very funny. Achingly, bitingly funny. Eleven-year old Dawn Wiener - geeky and with absolutely no fashion sense suffers through Junior High where she is called Wiener Dog and Dogface and where her locker is the only one decorated with insults, amongst rows of pristine lockers. At home, Dawn's nerdy older brother is only interested in getting to a good college, and her perfect little sister spends all her time pirouetting in a tutu. And guess which daughter their mother blatantly obviously prefers. And then, to make matters worse, Dawn gets a crush on a hunky (but terribly thick) High School student, and is sure she has a chance with him. Unsettling, touching and bitterly funny, this is like a darker version of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.

So, with the Sunday film reviews over, back to the book news.

First of all, the lovely Shari Low of the Daily Record reviews new books by Paul Johnston, Lin Anderson and Caro Ramsay.

Talking of Paul Johnston, Martin Edwards has a post on his excellent blog, describing Johnston - quite rightly - as "a writer of genuine quality." I would dearly love to see a new Quintillian Dalrymple book.

A couple of videos from the Edinburgh International Book Festival - first of all Ian Rankin on why he loves the festival, and then an interview with Quintin Jardine.

Will any of the international acclaim, plaudits and finance for a film version of Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe make its way back to Botswana?

A couple more reviews - firstly a couple for M C Beaton as Spinetingler reviews DEATH OF A WITCH, and Diary of an Anxious Reader reviews THERE GOES THE BRIDE. And 100 Degrees at Midnight on Philip Kerr's A QUIET FLAME.

More from Aly Monroe on the real life inspiration for Peter Cotton.

And finally, as I settle down to watch the third and final of the new Sherlock Holmes TV series, here's Steven Moffat on Arthur Conan Doyle's villains. And, apparently, Sherlock Holmes' style is the latest thing amongst fashionistas. So does this mean I should go out and buy a pipe?

Friday Philanderings

A hodge-podge of pre-weekend links today.

First of all, well done to Peter May for winning his second French book award.

The Vinyl Villain with an excellent review of Karen Campbell's SHADOWPLAY - a review with which I heartily concur. And Stars/Crickets with a review of Louise Welsh's THE BULLET TRICK.

Jake Kerridge of theTelegraph spoke to several writers at Harrogate about being a crime writer.

The lovely Maxine over at Petrona is rounding up all her reviews by country. And she's reached Scotland.

See Val McDermid along with Sophie Hannah in Manchester on Friday 22nd October.

Lovereading on Kate Atkinson's STARTED EARLY TOOK MY DOG, and on Alexander McCall Smith's involvement in Scotland's Engage For Education events.

The Scotsman muses about authors called Black.

He's not Scottish, and I have really no excuse for putting this link here except that he's one of my favourite writers (and if you haven't read his books you really should), but this guest blog post by Steve Mosby over at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey is just brilliant.

And finally, if you want to buy a flat that Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus once visited, then it's yours for £360,000. And very nice it is too, but...£360,000????

What I Read in July

SHADOWPLAY - Karen Campbell
Published: 2010
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Setting: Glasgow
Protagonist: Chief Inspector Anna Campbell
Series?: 3rd
First Line: 'On a hill swept by oak, a single soft glow shines from a darker bulk.'
Anna Cameron has been promoted to Chief Inspector and moved to a new Division. A fresh start and a clean sheet should be just the ticket. Unfortunately, Anna discovers that she now has the worst boss in the world. On top of that her Mum - who she doesn't have a great relationship with - is seriously ill. Anna has plenty of work to keep her busy - the racially motivated attack of a young man, the disappearance of an elderly lady from a nursing home, added to the fact that someone is threatening one of her officers. Underlying everything in this book is the theme of motherhood. This is one of the best books I've read this year. The first two in the series were excellent but this is something else - gorgeous and atmospheric writing, a wonderful sense of place with a mix of darkness and humour that is the very heart and soul of Glasgow, an authentic depiction of police work that makes you wonder why anyone wants to join up, characters that you really get to know and an absorbing plot. Gritty, witty, and pretty bloody amazing. I was totally captivated from start to finish.

LONG TIME DEAD - Tony Black
Published: 2010
Publisher: Preface Publishing
Setting: Edinburgh
Protagonist: Gus Dury
Series?: 4th
First Line: 'The doctor was a no-nonsense west-coaster, type that called a spade a shovel and if you didn't like it would add, You got a problem with that?'
Gus Dury is back on the bevvy - and no bloody wonder after what happened in book 3. Not only is he back on the drink but he's in hospital and in a bad way after being run down by an old lady on a mobility scooter. When his best friend Hod visits and asks him to help him investigate the death of a student - son of a high-profile actress, Gus is reluctant - let's face it, his career as a PI hasn't turned out very well for him so far, has it? However, since he feels partly responsible for the cash-strapped state in which Hod currently finds himself, he agrees. One more bad decision in a whole string of bad decisions. Sometimes it feels as though nothing Gus does is ever going to be right. For me he's a thoroughly noir protagonist. He's constantly trying to dig himself out of a hole that's too big for him to scrabble out of. What's more, fate is standing giggling at the top, shovelling in more earth on top of him. And, when someone does finally throw down a shovel, it hits Gus on the head. This is a very dark book, but relieved by Gus' cynical, self-deprecating humour. After this entry in the series, I want a little gladness for Gus. Wonderful stuff.

FEVER OF THE BONE - Val McDermid
Published: 2009
Publisher: Sphere
Setting: Bradfield and Worcester
Protagonist: DCI Jordn and Dr Tony Hill
Series?: 6th
First Line: '"It all comes down to blood in the end. Some wrongs you can get past. File under lessons learned, dangers to avoid in the future. But certain kinds of betrayal need to be answered. And sometimes only blood will do."
Carol Jordan is under pressure - her new boss is threatening to break up her team, and has also insisted that she can no longer use Tony as profiler any more. So her team needs to bring in results. As well as a nasty little cold case involving a mother and child who disappeared over ten years ago, they're also faced with a serial killer targeting teenagers who use a social networking site. Tony, on the other hand, has been seconded to another division, and is coming to terms with the inheritance left to him by the father he never knew. And the inheritance is not just financial. Val McDermid does a brilliant job of bringing every single character to life - from the members of her team down to the most minor of bit parts. She shows us the lives of the teenagers, the suffering of the grieving parents, even the shock of the unfortunate people who find the bodies, and makes us care about the characters. She also shows us how the horrific cases affect the team, giving the reader a real insight into how the work takes its toll on every one of them. At times it made me feel very sad. It's a thrilling, chilling, thoroughly gripping read - a story about families, relationships, legacies and the impact of the past on the present. Great stuff.

BADFELLAS - Tonino Benacquista (translated by Emily Read)
Published: 2010
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Setting: South of France
Protagonist: The Blake family
Series?: Standalone
First Line: 'They took possession of the house in the middle of the night.'
None of the Blake family are particularly happy to be moving to a quiet town in Normandy. However, as they're really the Manzoni family from New Jerse,y and are in the Witness Protection Programme after Fred ratted out of his former Mafia colleagues, the family don't really have a great deal of choice. So they settle into small town life...somewhat. Fred decides he's going to be a writer, his wife Maggie assuages her guilt by doing charity work and watching the neighbours (with the help of the FBI men who have moved in nearby to protect them and to make sure they don't do anything stupid), and children Warren and Belle do what they need to do to get by at school. And each of them does their thing more or less on their own. They could not be described as a cohesive family unit. Much more cohesive is the Family (best said with cotton wool balls in the cheeks) who are trying to track them down. This would make a great film - there are some scenes that made me grin from ear to ear and the whole book is a pacy black comedy. For me, however, the characters were just too lightly drawn. They held my interest but I didn't really care about them one way or the other.

HELLO KITTY MUST DIE - Angela S Choi
Published: 2010
Publisher: Tyrus Books
Setting: California
Protagonist: Fiona Yu
Series?: Standalone
First Line: 'It all started with my missing hymen.'
Fiona Yu is a successful attorney in her late 20s, commanding a nice office and a big salary. However, she's also a virgin who lives at home with her traditional (oh so traditional) parents. Her Dad is constantly trying to fix her up with a nice boy and reminding her to wear lipstick. Fiona has had to pretend to be something she isn't for most of her life. So now she's decided to rebel against everything her family and their culture stands for. However, the only thing she seems to have control over is her hymen. So her rebellion takes the form of using a dildo (sorry Dad) to break her own hymen - that will get that pesky 'family honour' she's been hauling around off her shoulders. However, when she discovers that she never actually had a hymen in the first place, she seeks medical assistance to get it reconstructed so that she can have the pleasure of breaking it. Enter gynaecologist and old schoolfriend Sean, who Fiona last saw just before he was taken off to a juvenile detention centre for setting a classmate's hair on fire. Fiona and Sean renew their friendship and have a few nights out. Strangely, all their nights out are followed by the discovery of a body the next day (not the same body each time, I hasten to add). Black comedy at its strangest - humourous and enjoyable if you can suspend your disbelief right from the start. I didn't like either of the main characters though and would have been quite happy if Sean had sprayed himself and Fiona with hairspray and lit a match. Enjoyable enough but ultimately unsatisfying.

What's That Dangling From Your Window?

Alexander McCall Smith will be appearing at the Toledo Library on 21st October, Val McDermid will be at the Chiswick Book Festival from September 17th to 19th, and a nice line-up at Stirling's Off The Page Book Festival from September 11th-18th with Denise Mina, Iain Banks, Christopher Brookmyre and Louise Welsh. And the Three Lochs Book and Arts Festival - featuring Allan Guthrie, Stuart MacBride and Alexander McCall Smith - has a blog.

Manic Pop Thrills reviews Doug Johnstone's TOMBSTONING, which reminds me I need to get my grubby hands on a copy, Mockingbird loves Philip Kerr's THE ONE FROM THE OTHER, and The List is sort of unsure about Lin Anderson's THE REBORN, pronouncing it chilling and absorbing, but heavy on the info dump.

Aly Monroe with another instalment about the real life inspiration for Peter Cotton. I love her blog, it's always thoughtful and interesting.

And talking of excellent blogs, Karen at Eurocrime has a picture of the actor who is going to be playing Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie.

Ian Rankin talks to broadcaster Philip King at the Galway Arts Festival.

Here's an interesting interview with William Meikle, who I have just added to the blogroll.

And, finally, some people will steal anything. Note to the Lothian and Borders Constabulary - my spare bedroom does not contain two naked bronze men. No, Mr Polisman, I live in Glasgow, not Edinburgh. Here we don't bother with that artistic nonsense, we just dangle sex toys out of our windows.

No Sex Please, We're Donna's Mum

Crimefactory has an excerpt of Allan Guthrie's forthcoming BLOOD WILL OUT. I'm sorry, but with a cliffhanger like that, forthcoming just isn't good enough - you can't leave me like that, Al. But if you just can't get enough Allan Guthrie (and we hear that complaint so often here in Badsville) you can now download his novella BYE BYE BABY.

A couple of round-ups of Harrogate- first of all, Keith Walters' excellent long and comprehensive summary, secondly, Dagger nominee Craig Robertson's look at the event from the author's perspective.

A review of two Nicola Upson books featuring crime writer Josephine Tey as detective, a reviewlet of Ian Rankin's THE COMPLAINTS, China Rhyming enjoys Lin Anderson's DARK FLIGHT , and a reviewlet in the Telegraph of Irvine Welsh's REHEATED CABBAGE. (I love the bit about Jah Wobble just above it).

Catch Val McDermid at the Independent Woodstock Literary Festival on September 17th. And you can hear Louise Welsh talking about 18th century Scottish adventurer and diplomat George Bogle on Radio 3.

More about the TV version of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie.

Jon Meacham of Newsweek stands up for genre fiction with a great article and a spirited defence. Nice one Jon.

And finally - no sex please, we're British. My mum will be relieved that she can, at last, pick up a book without all that nonsense in it.