A compendium of recently published mystery news articles. This update includes news items from early September 2008.
• The Telegraph sat down with David Suchet who has so brilliantly played Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot so for many years. Suchet first appeared in a Christie adaption as, not Poirot, but Inspector Japp in the 1985 film Thirteen at Dinner with Peter Ustinov as the Belgian private detective. With Suchet recently completing four more episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot and agreeing to four more, he's closing in on his dream of making a television version of every Poirot story Christie ever wrote.
• In other Christie news, The International Herald Tribune is reporting that for the first time in history, abridged versions of Agatha Christie's novels are being published. Christie's whodunits, which have sold two billion copies, have been adapted into films, television series, plays and even computer games, but her estate has always viewed with suspicion any attempt to shorten her books. Mathew Prichard, Christie's grandson, said that after years of rejecting requests from Pearson, the publisher based in London that owns Penguin, he and other representatives of her estate relented because they saw the potential to develop a following for Christie's works in new markets, like China and India, where English is their second language.
• Otto Penzler's column on NYSun.com is titled Mysterious Miscellany and indeed it is. He writes about the latest Sherlock Holmes film in which Robert Downey Jr. stars as the consulting detective, the fact that Nora Roberts sells a book every 8 seconds, and an update on Robert B. Parker's Hollywood efforts.
• Want to become a crime writer? Listen to Patrick Lennon's top tips on the BBC website. Lennon also appeared at the Reading Festival of Crime Writing that occurred from September 12-14, 2008 which included top mystery author talks, panel discussions, writing workshops and activities. Lennon is the author of two mysteries, Corn Dolls (2007) and Steel Witches (2008), both of which feature detective Tom Fletcher.
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer talked with Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan mysteries which have served as the inspiration for the television series Bones. When asked why she thinks forensics is so popular with the public she replied, "We're baffled. My colleagues and I worked in our labs forever, with no attention whatsoever. Now we're hot. I think it really started with the O.J. trial, with all that talk of blood spatters, stab wounds and DNA. Quincy came before that on television, but it wasn't the phenomenon we see now."
• The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that production is moving forward on Persons Unknown, a mystery television series developed by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie who penned The Usual Suspects. (The movie also won an Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.) Persons Unknown is a mystery drama about seven strangers who wake up in a deserted town with no recollection of how they got there, only to realize that they are watched by omnipresent security cameras and that there is no escape. To survive, they must come together to solve the puzzle of their lives. The series is produced by Fox TV Studios, though no air date has been set.
• In an article in the Sunday Herald, author P. D. James hinted that her latest novel, The Private Patient, may be Commander Adam Dalgliesh's last case. But will it be hers too? Detective fiction, she says, is a "reassuring" form of popular literature, and can be a reassuring form to write. "In other words, I've chosen the form that suits me best. And I think that I've achieved probably as much as I am personally capable of achieving with it."
• Here's an interesting news item from Undercover.au.com: New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben and Australian singer/songwriter Missy Higgins are getting together in New York for a first time special appearance. Missy will perform while Harlan reads from his new book at Borders Books in New York on September 30. Harlan said he was inspired by Missy's music, and referred to it in his last book Hold Tight: "She sits in the dark and listens and cries. Music does that to her. I didn't get it. Like last month, I heard this song from Missy Higgins. Do you know her?"
• Ohio.com is reporting that Rob Levandoski who wrote under the pen name of C. R. Corwin has died. He was just 59. Corwin was the author of the Morgue Mama mysteries, three novels that followed the adventures of newspaper librarian Maddy Sprowls. [MBN note: We recently reviewed Corwin's last book, The Unraveling of Violeta Bell, calling it "witty, clever, humorous, and genuinely entertaining".]
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