OT: Star Trek: The Next Generation on Family Guy

Recently I mentioned that there's an episode of Family Guy which includes the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Well it's now viewable online here.

Hell is a City - DVD

I'm afraid I hadn't heard of this until it got mentioned on a recent edition of Radio 4's The Film Programme. Made in 1960, Hell of a City, was set and filmed in Manchester and stars Stanley Baker as Inspector Harry Martineau. It came out on DVD in 2005.


Synopsis from IMDB: Committed but seen-it-all police inspector Martineau rightly guesses that after a violent jailbreak a local criminal will head home to Manchester to pick up the spoils from his last job. Martineau is soon investigating a murder during a street robbery which seems to lead back to the same villain. Concentrating on the case and using his local contacts to try and track the gang down, he is aware he is not keeping his own personal life together as well as he might.

Publishing Deal - Catherine O'Flynn

I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine O'Flynn's What Was Lost and I'm pleased to see that she's been signed up for two more books and that the first one at least, has a Birmingham connection. From BookBrunch:

Catherine O'Flynn, author of the Costa Award-winning What Was Lost (Tindal Street), is joining Viking in a significant, two-book deal. Kate Barker at Viking won the books ahead of rivals including Tindal Street, the Birmingham-based independent, which, in alliance with a leading publisher, had offered its largest ever bid in an effort to keep the author. "She's a special talent, with a special voice," Alan Mahar of Tindal Street told BookBrunch.

The Viking deal begins with the provisionally titled EVERGREEN (spring 2010), about a Birmingham TV presenter haunted by absences, including those of his predecessor and of the brutalist architecture created by his father.

Read the whole piece at BookBrunch.

Crime on BBC3 & BBC4 this week

Tonight on BBC3 at 7pm, is the frightfully spiffing episode of Doctor Who, The Unicorn and the Wasp, where the Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie.

Also tonight but on BBC4:

8.30pm The Book Quiz with one of the panellists (contestants?) being Mark Billingham author of the DI Tom Thorne series.

10.00pm Spiral. A repeat of the the first two episodes from Season 1 of the classy French crime drama.

The Book Quiz is repeated tomorrow and Thursday. Also on Thursday at 9pm on BBC4 is a repeat of New Town (aka Purves and Pekkala).

Hustle to be filmed in Birmingham

So far I've not watched Hustle but the news reported by Digital Spy that the next series is to be filmed in Birmingham (ie 12 miles up the road) might make me change my mind:

...Robert Vaughn at the Memorabilia convention in Brum, where he spilled the beans on the relocation. "I found out last night that all six shows are going to be done in Birmingham," he told me. "I think this is the first time Birmingham has ever had a top-notch show film here."

He added: "Apart from this convention, one of my other responsibilities coming here is my wife said 'you've got to find out where I'm going to live!' So tonight after the signings I'm going down to the Rotunda in the Bullring, which is apparently the best place for apartment-type living."

New Reviews: Gentle, Hayder, Morris, Rees

Two separate competitions are running in March. The prizes are Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor and The Herring Seller's Apprentice by L C Tyler.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

New Reviews:

Amanda Gillies gives the thumbs up to Mary Gentle's historical-fantasy-adventure 1610: A Sundial In A Grave concluding her review "If you are looking for an absorbing read that will take you away to another place for a good long time, this is definitely the one for you";

Maxine Clarke reviews Skin by Mo Hayder which immediately follows on from Ritual starring Flea Marley and Jack Caffery;

Michelle Peckham is the third reviewer at Euro Crime to enjoy R N Morris's A Vengeful Longing, the second in this series featuring Crime and Punishment's Porfiry Petrovich

and Laura Root reviews the third in Matt Rees's Palestinian series, The Samaritan's Secret.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

More from August Heat

I posted the first page from Camilleri's August Heat (translated by Stephen Sartarelli) the other day. Here are a couple of quotes from later in the book:

[Montalbano] sat outside until eleven o'clock, reading a good detective novel by two Swedish authors who were husband and wife, in which there wasn't a page without a ferocious and justified attack on social democracy and the government. In his mind Montalbano dedicated the book to all those who did not deign to read mystery novels because, in their opinion, they were only entertaining puzzles.

Gaspare Micciche was a fortyish redhead who measured barely four feet eight inches tall. He had extremely long arms and bowed legs. He looked like a monkey. Surely Darwin, if he could have seen him, would have hugged him for joy.

(NB. Typed in from a proof of the US edition and may not represent the final version).

OT: Doctor Who - podcast

The Doctor Who panel at the Celtic Media Festival as described in this BBC article will be broadcast on Radio 7 at midnight Saturday and will then be available as a podcast:

The Story Of Doctor Who
A distinguished panel of television talent, including Executive Producer Julie Gardner and Director Euros Lyn, reveal how the popular sci-fi show is transferred from script to screen.
Saturday at 12 Midnight
Also available as a podcast

Sign up for the podcast, here.

What I'm reading...August Heat

The US edition of Andrea Camilleri's tenth and latest Montalbano novel, August Heat, is now available. The UK edition will follow in June.

1

He was sleeping so soundly that not even cannon-fire could have woken him. Well, maybe not cannon-fire, but the ring of the telephone, yes.

Nowadays, if a man living in a civilized country (ha!) hears cannon-blasts in his sleep, he will, of course, mistake them for thunderclaps, gun salutes on the feast day of the local saint, or furniture being moved by the upstairs neighbours, and go on sleeping soundly. But the ring of the telephone, the triumphal march of the mobile, or the doorbell, no: those are sounds of summons to which the civilized man (ha-ha!) has no choice but to surface from the depths of slumber and answer.

So, Montalbano got out of bed, glanced at the clock, then at the window, from which he gathered that it was going to be a very hot day, and went into the dining room where the telephone was ringing wildly.

‘Salvo! Where were you? I’ve been trying to get hold of your for half an hour!’

‘I’m sorry, Livia. I was in the shower so I couldn’t hear the phone.’

First lie of the day.

Read more of the extract from the UK edition at the PanMacmillan site. Interestingly my American proof copy not only has "cell" for "mobile", which is to be expected, but also "slime-buckets living upstairs" for "upstairs neighbours". I wonder if the final US version has the slime-buckets comment?

Lynda La Plante's The Red Dahlia to be filmed

From the Stage:

ITV has commissioned a sequel to Lynda La Plante’s Above Suspicion, which will once again star Kelly Reilly and Ciaran Hinds.

Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia will be a three-part drama based on La Plante’s novel of the same name, which focuses on detective Anna Travis.

It will be produced by La Plante Productions, with filming starting later this year.

Reilly will once again take on the role of Travis, with Hinds playing her boss, Detective Chief Inspector Langton.

Read the whole article, here.

Read the euro crime review of The Red Dahlia.

Publishing Deals - Casey & Cardetti

A couple of recent publishing deals as reported by BookBrunch:

Gillian Green of Ebury has pre-empted UK/Commonwealth rights (with Europe exclusive) in PAST GRIEF (2010) and a second crime novel by debut author and Macmillan editor Jane Casey from agent Simon Trewin at United Agents, for an undisclosed sum. Past Grief tells the story of a young schoolteacher, Sarah Finch, who discovers the body of one of her young pupils lying in the woods. The shock and trauma of this event force her to confront feelings she has tried to suppress for many years about the disappearance of her own brother, Charlie, when she was only seven. Read more about it here.

Rowan Cope of Abacus has bought UK/Commonwealth rights in DEATH IN THE LATIN QUARTER by Raphaël Cardetti from Univers Poch, which published the novel in France last month. Cardetti is 35 and lives in Paris, where he is a professor of Italian Studies, specialising in the Renaissance.

Set in contemporary Paris, Cardetti's story about the pursuit of a rare medieval manuscript is "a literary adventure through the shadowy courtyards of the Sorbonne and the narrow streets and gloomily palatial mansions of the Latin Quarter. With a cast of engaging characters, including Valentine Savi, a spirited young restorer, and Elias Stern, an enigmatic art dealer and bibliophile, and several mysterious murders, Death in the Latin Quarter is a page-turning read," says Cope.

Sonia Soto, who has translated Arturo Perez-Reverte and Guillermo Martínez, has been commissioned to undertake the translation, and the novel will be published as an Abacus trade paperback original in May 2010.

Crime Fiction in recent podcasts

In the last Clauda Winkleman's Arts Show podcast there was a 5 - 10 minute interview with Alexander McCall Smith to coincide with the release of the newest in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built. The podcast link is here though it seems the episode can only be obtained via iTunes or equivalent.

And, on last week's Book Reviews with Simon Mayo, one of the titles covered was Daniel Depp's Losers Town. The episode can be downloaded from here. Losers Town was described as a gumshoe mystery, the reviews were fairly positive though the book was thought to be not particularly original.

Quantum of Solace on DVD

Quantum of Solace, James Bond's 22nd film adventure is now out on DVD. Amazon currently have it for £6.98, Tesco (bricks and mortar) for £7 for 3 days only.Details of the extras and a video can be found on the Play.com site. The official Bond website is here.

Scandinavian Crime Fiction survey - help needed

I've recently received an email asking for crime fiction fans' help:

I've been reading crime fiction for many years, and have carried this interest with me to my MA in Creative Writing, which I'm doing at the moment. Luckily, (as part of my course) I now have the opportunity to carry out some research into the publishing phenomenon of my choice, and I have opted to look at Scandinavian crime fiction.

.... I'm looking for readers to complete a shortish online questionnaire on their experiences of this sub-genre.

If you feel like contributing, and I'm sure she'd appreciate it, the survey is here. (You can do the survey anonymously if you wish and it is quite short!)

New Reviews: Alvtegen, Hollington, McMenamin, Waites

Two competitions are running in March. The prizes are Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor and The Herring Seller's Apprentice by L C Tyler.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

New Reviews:

Maxine Clarke praises Shadow by Karin Alvtegen concluding with "I urge you to read it as soon as you can";

Amanda Brown makes one of Euro Crime's rare sorties into true-crime with Kris Hollington's How to Kill;

Paul Blackburn takes a look at The Same Cloth by Geraldine McMenamin

and Michelle Peckham reviews the fourth in Martyn Waites's Joe Donovan series: Speak No Evil

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

Forthcoming titles from Bitter Lemon Press

Here are a couple of titles recently added to the Bitter Lemon website:

THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS • Claudia Piñeiro
Three bodies lie at the bottom of a swimming pool in a gated country estate in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It’s a Thursday night at the magnificent Scaglia house.
A post 9/11 novel about financial and moral decay. ‘An agile novel and a ruthless dissection of a fast decaying society.’ José Saramago
UK July 09 / US January 10
£7.99 • $14.95 • PB • 978-1904738-411

THE LIE • Petra Hammesfahr
Nadia and Susanne are doppelgangers: one is filthy rich and the other dirt poor. When Susanne is asked to spend the weekend with Nadia’s estranged husband how can she refuse the outrageous fee on offer? ‘Hammesfahr is gripping, full of psychological insight, and one of Germany’s most successful writers.’ Literary Review
UK October 09 / US March 10
£7.99 • $14.95 • PB • 978-1904738-428

Donna Leon - new books

Coinciding with the publication on 2 April of the latest in Donna Leon's Brunetti series, About Face, is a companion guide: Brunetti's Venice: Walks through Venice with the city's best-loved detective by Toni Sepeda.

From the publisher's page:

Visitors to Venice might hope to find a Venetian friend who will guide them through the narrow streets, explaining a bit of history here, a story from his youth there, perhaps grumbling about the tourists, occasionally stopping for a glass of prosecco or to gossip with friends…

Brunetti’s Venice does all these things as it moves through the famous city with Commissario Guido Brunetti, the much loved Venetian detective of Donna Leon’s bestselling novels. Presented as a series of walks through Venice and featuring atmospheric extracts from relevant parts of the novels, it is woven together by a commentary that links Brunetti’s emotional and visual responses to places he has known all his life with the inquisitiveness of the visitor.

The first walk starts at La Fenice Opera house – where the very first Brunetti novel began – and ends at the iconic Rialto Bridge. Each consequent route weaves interlinking paths through Venice and catches the secrets, sounds, sights and smells of Venice past and present. Along the way we visit Brunetti’s favourite eateries around the Rialto bridge, walk with him from his home in San Polo to the Questura in Castello where he works, cut through Piazza San Marco and accompany him on the vaporetti out to more remote parts of Venice. There are reflections on the art and architecture of Venice, as well as the impressions of writers from Shakespeare and Goethe to Thomas Mann and Jan Morris.

Enchanting and practically useful, Brunetti’s Venice is both a walking guide and an evocative narrative of the life of this most magical city for any Brunetti fan.

Harper's Island on BBC3 this year

The BBC have announced that Harper's Island, described as Scream meets Agatha Christie will be shown on BBC3 later this year:

A group of family and friends travel to a secluded island off the coast of Seattle to attend a week-long wedding celebration. As the festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed, as a murderer claims victims one by one, transforming the week into a terrifying struggle for survival.

Over 13 episodes, Harper's Island will unravel a twisted tale of murder and revenge as these wedding guests – each with their own motives, fears and desires – must find the killer (or killers) before they strike again.

By the end of the 13 episodes all questions will be answered, the killer will be revealed and there will be few survivors.

The cast includes Harry Hamlin (LA Law) and Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty). The US premiere date is 9th April.

The Young Sherlock Holmes - Andrew Lane

From BookBrunch:

To Rebecca McNally at Macmillan Children's Books, three authorised adventures by Andrew Lane about the young Sherlock Holmes. Book one, THE COLOSSAL SCHEMES OF BARON MAUPERTIUS, is set in the 1860s, when the 14-year-old Sherlock is sent to spend the summer with eccentric relatives as his soldier father heads for India; the boy genius "is drawn into a sinister international plot with a brilliantly imagined villain at its heart". Lane, a lifelong Holmes fan, has written tie-ins to Torchwood and Doctor Who, as well as ghostwritten books. McNally says: "Andy's written a completely gripping thriller which takes the world's most famous detective and turns him into an utterly convincing, psychologically complex, flawed, clever 14-year-old boy."

Read more about the plot(s) in The Guardian.

Last year Hodder Children's Books published Tim Pigot-Smith's The Dragon Tattoo, the first of the Baker Street Mysteries in which Holmes has disappeared. The follow-up, The Shape of Evil, is due out in October.

There is also a children's series by Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin about Sherlock Holmes & the Baker Street Irregulars which currently has 3 titles (US publisher, but available here through amazon.co.uk etc).

What I'm reading...

I've just started the latest Hamish Macbeth mystery by M C Beaton, Death of a Witch which came out last month in both the UK and US. (The US cover is on the left, UK on the right). So far so usual, incomer moves to the sea-loch-side Highland village of Lochdubh and within 30 pages dies!

You can read the first few pages via Open Book.