Crimespree Cinema week in review for April 29th.

Hope everyone's spring is going well. I am in the process of figuring out what unusual plants to landscape with. I have this vision of folks looking at my yard and saying "What the hell is that?"

Gerald So tells us about the third season of NCIS.

New filming is being done for the latest (and likely last) cut of Blade Runner.

Jon is digging Criminal Minds.

Johnny Fever and the gang at WKRP come to DVD.

Zach Braff is not going to be Fletch after all.

Jon thinks you need The Aura.

Mr. Lee reviews what is one of the greatest shows not to make it: Kidnapped. Read the review, then buy the damn thing!

DVD releases for April 24th. This includes Kidnapped. Have you bought it yet??

Forest Whitaker makes The Last King of Scotland something special.

Edgar Winners are in:

And the winners are:

It gives us great pleasure to announce the winners of the 2007 Edgar® Awards (for books, short stories, TV episodes,etc.) published or produced in 2006.

BEST NOVELThe Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson (Random House)
BEST PAPERBACKORIGINAL Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam Dell Publishing -Delta Books)
BEST FACT CRIME Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (HarperCollins - William Morrow)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear by E.J. Wagner (John Wiley & Sons)
BEST SHORT STORY"The Home Front" from Death Do Us Part by Charles Ardai (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
BEST JUVENILE Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
BEST YOUNG ADULTBuried by Robin Merrow MacCready (Penguin YR – Dutton Children's Books)
BEST PLAY Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure by Steven Dietz (Arizona Theatre Company)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY Life on Mars - Episode 1, Teleplay by Matthew Graham (BBC America)
BEST TELEVISION FEATURE/MINI-SERIES TELEPLAY The Wire, Season 4, Teleplays by Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, Eric Overmyer, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon & William F. Zorzi (Home Box Office)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY The Departed, Screenplay by William Monahan (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Edgar Week

It's Tuesday night at Casa Jordan. It's mystery week around the globe. The Edgars are here. As I type this little piece everyone who's anyone is sipping beverages with Bonnie and Joe at Black Orchid. And Thursday the envelopes will be opened. My conduit to events as they're happening will be Sarah Weinman, who will live stream blog from the awards themselves. If you're stuck at home you can still tune in. See Confessions of An Idiosyncratic Mind for a link or use this edgar stream . Me, I expect phone calls from Judy! New Yorkers, be sure to mention this to her, she may forget.

Crimespree comes out with different lists for best than the Edgars. So too, does David Montgomery's Gumshoe Awards. And any number of other fanzines, fansites, local libraries, you get the picture. I mention this not to detract from the Edgars, they are MYSTERY'S award. Our second biggest story this week is of course the end of the Independent Book Review. Will we save it? The list of names on the petition grows hourly. It is the focus of major concern.

The main reason for publications like Crimespree to exist, what in fact makes them viable today, is that readers read. When I first became engrossed in mystery I scoured the NYTBR every weekend. I found writers Bill James, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Loren Estelman, Karen Kijewski, S.J. Rozan, Stuart Kaminsky, and Charlaine Harris to name a few, through Marilyn Stasio's tri-weekly column. I also fervently read Adler's reviews. I may not have always agreed with the assessment made by my first two "go to" sources but I could certainly make out if I would enjoy a book through what they said.

And then came the internet age... look for one name you know and if you work it right you'll find a dozen others to fill your reading time. From the first carnation of AOL's book central and the hard boiled board I found new sources for future reads. God Bless the web sites (BooksnBytes, January), and the message boards (DorothyL., Rara Avis, and when on topic REC.ARTS. Mystey). Thank you for the world of blogging. Sarah, David and all who followed are to be commended.

But when you start the path down mystery fandom your first source is the raw material. The book that makes you go, "I need more like this!" Your second source is the book review in the Sunday paper. Suddenly you find yourself PAYING ATTENTION to that page five info. The NYT's isn't going anywhere. But those other black and white, ink on the fingers and bagel Sunday peruses are swiftly drying up. This is bad, we all need new readers for the books we love to read to continue to be published.

As magnificent as the creme de a creme of the reviewing world are we need to have other sources. Why? Well here's the thing (threw that in for you Jen). If 100 reviewers each get the same eighty books you know they're all going to pay attention to the potential best sellers. You have to. You want the broadest part of your readership to be reached and informed of the books they will buy. So that's 15 accounted for, out of pocket. It's the other 65 that make things interesting. For individuals possess individual taste. Crimespree is going to be all over anything that John Galligan writes, and Dave Montgomery is going to review every decent Thriller published. Ms. Stasio will never miss an Estelman book even if she hears the cry of another. And we'll all review Pelecanos and Rankin and McDermid every time out, because dammit, we want people to read the best of our genre. We want folk who've found Lee Child to remember David Morrell and those who enjoyed Dorothy Cannell to find Sarah Graves.

Over my time in fandom folk like Lehane, Crais, Lippman, Harris and Connelly have become "hit the list" writers. They've been allowed this profession because a group of people who like to write reviews all found them and said, "Hey, I'm going to talk about this person". Their readers then read these folk. Reviewers filters' are distinct. Individual. When a hundred people who reach an audience rave about an author for four consecutive books, the name rumbles throughout our little world, the marketing departments answer the cry. The readers start reading the books and amazing things are allowed to happen. For as different and individual as reviewers are, they are first and foremost sincere. They will sell no book before its time.

If that voice stops, what happens next? I don't want to think about it. Our other sources are wondrous but for the newly converted it is the smell of ink that first fills their need. So to all of you in New York this week: Enjoy, embrace the M.W.A.'s annual awards, and remember to talk about the trend of the disappearing individual reviewer. We can fix this together.

Ruth

Recommended this week:
Declan Hughe's Color Of Blood

Ian Rankin's Naming of the Dead

Reed Farrel Coleman's Soul Patch

Helene Tursten's The Glass Devil

Online Petition to save Atlanta Journal Constitution book reviews

You might want to take a look at this and sign the petition of protest below. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has axed the position of book editor and will largely rely on wire services for their book reviews. This seems like a first stage step toward the disappearance of a voice for books in this very important region and newspaper. If you got this then I know you are somehow connected to the book business and possibly travel through Atlanta on book tours. You could be adversely effected by dwindling book reviews and coverage at the paper. And if this stands it could happen at other papers as well. Read on and sign on if you feel it is right.

Sign Petition Here

Agatha Nominees interviewed

Tales of the Teapot:
Conversations with the 2007 Agatha Best Mystery Nominees.
2007 Agatha Nominee Julia Spencer-Fleming (ALL MORTAL FLESH) interviews fellow nominees Earlene Fowler, Jacqueline Winspear, Nancy Pickard and L.C. Hayden, discussing their lives, books and craft in a delightful series of interviews.
Traditional?
Cozy?
You make the call.

http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/

tax time special

If you subscribe or renew during the month of April we will give you an extra copy,

7 Crimesprees instead of 6 for the same low price.

Just add a notation that you want 7 for 6 and you'll get an extra issue.

April shouldn't be all showers and taxes!

Killer Year Class of 2008

Killer Year Class of
2008

The Killer Year group started out as a way for some new authors to
band together, get a little extra attention because of it, and also to
share experiences with each other.

Well, as the class of 2007 hits their stride with the books on the
shelves and tours under way they are also preparing to pass the torch
to the class of 2008.

If you are a to be published for the first time in 2008 you may want to
think about joining.
A list of publishers is on the site. These are recognized publishers, self
publisher authors are not eligible. This is becoming a trend among
conventions and other groups, it's not elitism, it's just that with so many
people short cutting the process, there are more and more people
claiming to be published authors. This list is publishers who pay
royalties, edit and distribute the books. (if you pay them, you are self
published)

Recognized
Publishers

Crimespree Cinema week in review for April 2nd.

Hope nobody was too seriously fooled on April 1st. I am lucky enough to avoid it as most know I am a firm believer in extreme escalation.
Let us take a look at what happened at Crimespree Cinema this last week:

My thoughts on Blood Diamond (two-disc special edition).

Jon expresses his man-love for Miami Vice seasons three and four.

Shock of shocks: Rocky Balboa (AKA Rocky VI) does not suck!

Cast your vote to save Veronica Mars!

Forest Whitaker...make that OSCAR-WINNNG Forest Whitaker to join Reeves in Ellroy's The Night Watchman.

Cagney & Lacey season one back on for May 8th.

Marky Wahlberg talks about "creative" clashes with Scorsese on set of The Departed.

A very badass version of Sherlock Holmes may be coming to a theater near you.

Hawaii Five-O First Season DVD Review

Hawaii Five-O
Paramount/CBS DVD

Hawaii Five-O is quite possibly the longest running cop show on TV, it was on for twelve seasons running from 1968 to 1980. One of the reasons for the success was Jack Lord. Lord had a commanding presence on the screen, enough that they replaced him as Felix in the Bond movies for fear of over shadowing their star. He’s a no nonsense cop who is un corruptible and always gets the job done. Hell, I'll admit it, I still want to be Jack Lord! The supporting cast was also strong with James MacArthur as Danny Williams and a host of local actors making up the 50 team.

I put in the first season a little nervously, I have very fond memories of the show and I was hoping I would see the show I remembered, not a dated over done tv show. I was wrong to be worried. While naturally a bit dated, it is almost 40 years old, the police work holds up, the acting is still strong, and its jus beautiful to watch. I did recognize a few actors and actresses including Sally Kellerman. It doesn't really take much to get past the clothes and the portrayel of hippies with their cool talk daddio.And I actually appreciate a plot that revolves around slipping an old man acid.

Special features are slim, but there is a very nice show taped for Hawaii Television doing a look back at the show with interviews and great stories. The shows were all remastered as well and came through very sharp and with great sound quality. That sound quality really came through when the theme song kicked in, I had it up really loud!
This is a great addition to any collection of crime or mystery related DVD.

Jon
Buy Hawaii Five-O the first Season Here