Saturday, March 16, 2013

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Amazon.com: The Texas Capitol Murders eBook: Bill Crider: Kindle Store: The classic novel of Texas politics and murder, available for the first time in more than 20 years! 


It's the end of the '80s. The Texas capitol building is being remodeled, and there's a body dumped in the trash. There's a witness who needs to be eliminated, and there's a slightly strange governor who wants the Texas Rangers called in. Political intrigue, murder, romance, and humor with a Texas twang.

50 Years. Good Grief.

Yahoo! News: The family of writer Ken Kesey is reviving plans to restore his original psychedelic bus in time for the 50th anniversary of its passengers' LSD-laced trip across America. 

Stephanie Kesey said Friday she has created a foundation to raise money for the restoration as a tribute to her late father-in-law.

Classic!

Nicolas Cage Before He Was Nicolas Cage

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Quick Hands: Wayne D. Dundee: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Survival was tough in the mining camps of the Colorado Rockies in the late 1800s. On the lonely, rugged trails that ran between camps, it sometimes got even tougher. As a take-on-all-comers boxing champ who headlined a traveling medicine show, McMahon knew all about surviving in the ring. He could always count on his training and physical skills—foremost being the amazing quickness in his hands—to gain him a victory. But out on the trail, where there were no rules and conflict wasn't neatly contained inside a boxing ring, McMahon suddenly discovered it was going to take more than his pugilistic skills and lightning fists to save him and his companions from going down for a fatal ten-count.

Sounds Perfectly Believable

Tulsa woman says she accidentally pushed husband out of 17th-floor window, blames thin glass

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Kiss - Rock and Roll all Night (with Lyrics) - YouTube:

Jack Greene, R. I. P.

Country singer Jack Greene dies in Nashville - CBS News: Jack Greene, a longtime Grand Ole Opry star whose song "There Goes My Everything" won single of the year from the Country Music Association in 1967, has died. He was 83. The song showed off his deep voice, made him a star and earned him the CMA's male vocalist of the year award in 1967. Greene performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry beginning that year.

One Writer's Story

My Amazon bestseller made me nothing: My novel shot to the top of the site's bestseller list last summer. You won't believe how little I got paid

Does This Mean that Seepy Benton Can't Wear His When He Teaches?

Japan: Politician Banned for Wearing Wrestling Mask to Council Meetings

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Carnaby Street girls

Spur Awards

Spur Awards  Western Writers of America

Alvin Azaleas



Some of the azaleas in my neighborhood in Alvin bloomed early this year, starting near the beginning of February.  Some of them did wait until the traditional time, however.

The 50 Most Perfectly Timed Photos Ever

The 50 Most Perfectly Timed Photos Ever

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

PaperBack



Stewart Sterling, Dead of Night, Dell, 1950


Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Serial Burglar Thriller

Police: Serial burglar targeted the wealthy in Houston, North Texas

Ranking Cinema’s Spring Breaks From Worst to Best

Ranking Cinema’s Spring Breaks From Worst to Best 

I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: Frank Zappa appears on "The Steve Allen Show," using bicycles as musical instruments.

Cannibals of the Old West

Cannibals of the Old West 

Indy Leads the Way

Indianapolis International Airport named best airport in North America

New Issue of Plots with Guns

Check it out here: PWG

Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.

Fascinating Map Of Where Meth Lab Accidents Happen In The U.S

Fascinating Map Of Where Meth Lab Accidents Happen In The U.S

Cattle Queen of Montana

CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1954) trailer - YouTube:

Friday, March 15, 2013

Except It Wasn't a Heist

Man steals $33 million from Australian casino in 'Ocean's Eleven'-esque heist

Titanic Update

abc7chicago.com: The violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank has been unearthed, a British auction house said Friday. 

Survivors of the Titanic have said they remember the band, led by Wallace Hartley, playing on deck even as passengers boarded lifeboats after the ship hit an iceberg. 

Hartley's violin was believed lost in the 1912 disaster, but auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say an instrument unearthed in 2006 and has undergone rigorous testing and proven to be Hartley's.

Looking for Some Help

Michael Bracken is looking for information about crime writer Dan A. Sproul.  If you happen to know any members of his family, Michael could use your help.  Click the link below for the whole story.

CrimeFictionWriter: Dan A. Sproul unpublished short story

Peter Meyerson, R. I. P.

The Hollywood Reporter: Peter Meyerson, who co-wrote the first episode of the wacky NBC series The Monkees and then developed for television the ABC comedy Welcome Back, Kotter, died March 11 of natural causes at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 82.

A Book for Fans of Cursive Writing

‘The Missing Ink,’ by Philip Hensher - NYTimes.com

I Miss the Old Days

New Coke

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Amazon.com: Blade of the Tiger (A Joe Hannibal Mystery) eBook: Wayne D. Dundee: Kindle Store: This is a story about a knife. Not just any knife—Jim Bowie's knife. 

The Bowie knife is probably the most famous, most copied and duplicated weapon of all time. But the knife Connie had wasn't a copy or duplicate. It was one of Bowie's personal knives—the one he died fighting with at the Alamo. 

Jim Bowie was a fighting man, in the truest sense. Specifically, he was a knife fighter—certainly the greatest of his era, maybe of all time. His fighting style was so balls-out aggressive and ruthless that many took to calling him Bowie the Tiger. Hence, his knife became the Blade of the Tiger ... or El Hoja del Tigre, in Spanish. 

I didn't know Connie before she showed up in No Name Bay. And I didn't know anything about this knife before Connie was killed for it. So you might say this is none of my business. 

Or you might say I take it kinda personal when some sonofabitch murders somebody right in my back yard.

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Snatching Thriller

Penis Snatching on the Rise -- Africa’s Genital-Stealing Crime Wave Hits the Countryside 

Life in America: 1983 vs. Today

Life in America: 1983 vs. Today: Life in America: 1983 vs. Today

"Black Death" Update

Rail dig may have found London's lost "Black Death" graves

Today's Vintage Ad


Sixguns & Sorcery: The Weird Western

Sixguns & Sorcery: The Weird Western

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's the: Spring Break Shootout: Woman mad at boyfriend fired 18 shots in hotel room, cops say 

You Mean It Wasn't Forrest Gump?

Who Really Invented the Smiley Face?

What Is the Ides of March?

What Is the Ides of March?

PaperBack



Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Man in Lower 10, Dell, 1950



I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: March 1963: Kodak Instamatic cameras

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Discover the 10 Least Hipster Cities in the Country

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Naked pictures get Houston Police Department sergeant demoted

Awesome Map Showing Where All Your Favorite TV Shows Take Place

Awesome Map Showing Where All Your Favorite TV Shows Take Place

Malachi Throne, R. I. P.

TV VET MALACHI THRONE DEAD: Batman’s FALSEFACE, It Takes a Thief’s NOAH BAIN – the man of a thousand and one faces -- movie/TV vet MALACHI THRONE dead at age 84.  

The sad news was announced on Facebook by “Justified” and "Supernatural” star Jim Beaver who wrote, “My good friend Malachi Throne died last night. One of the finest actors and finest people I've been fortunate enough to know.”

Will the Persecution Never End?

Hey, At Least Paris Hilton And Nick Carter Aren't Dating Anymore

E Nesbit: Queen of Children's Literature

The Railway ChildrenE Nesbit: Queen of Children's Literature on AbeBooks: It is interesting to conjecture whether we would still remember E. Nesbit today if she had not penned The Railway Children. Undoubtedly her greatest success, it is the one book that everybody has heard of, even those with little more than a passing interest in her life and works. This is in no small part due to the successful 1970 film adaptation starring Jenny Agutter, Dinah Sheridan and Bernard Cribbins. 

But take away The Railway Children, and there is still a remarkably rich legacy, which includes 10 novels and 11 short story collections for adults, 29 volumes of poetry and nearly 40 books for children.

Forgotten Books: Me, Hood -- Mickey Spillane

I'm not sure what the story is on this book.  The edition pictured here contains two novellas about a hood called Ryan or Irish.  The front cover says "First Time Published in the U. S.!  The back cover says "two pulse-racers never before published in the U.S."  The two novellas were, however, published in Cavalier magazine years before the book came out, at least according to this website, which also gives three items as the contents of the book.  Though the photo is of the book I have, mine has only two novellas, one of of which is different from the one mentioned on the website.  Google Books has excerpts from that edition, and obviously it's not the book I have.  What does all this mean?  I have no idea.  Maybe Max Allan Collins does.

Oh, one other thing.  My copyright page says the book is "published by arrangement with E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc."  As far as I can discover, there was no Dutton edition of the book.


The two novellas in my book are "Me, Hood" and "Return of the Hood."  The first one has Ryan pressed into service by the cops and the feds, and the MacGuffin is, well, nobody's sure.  Ryan's job is to find it.  Lots of others are looking, and a deadly Mafia assassin is on the job.  If you don't guess who the assassin is, you've never read anything else by Spillane.

"Return of the Hood" has a different MacGuffin, a bit of microfilm stuck in a capsule.  The capsule is passed to Ryan by a spy, a woman who's about to be shot because, well, he looks like the kind of guy who can protect it.  Ryan promptly loses it.  He follows quite a bloody trail to get it back.  In the process he's [SPOILER ALERT] totally helpless twice and gets rescued each time by the same woman.

I got a kick out of both stories, though there are some offhand remarks in both novellas that are so politically incorrect that I doubt they'd be published today.  And I think everyone can agree that the back-cover blurb is one of the all-time greats:  "Me, Hood!  You, Corpse!"  Classic.  

Affair In Trinidad

"Affair In Trinidad" trailer (1952) - YouTube:

Thursday, March 14, 2013

I Miss the Old Days

"How To Talk On The Telephone"

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: THE SHADOWS OF DEATH (Killer Kindle) eBook: NIGEL BIRD: Kindle Store: THE SHADOWS OF DEATH is the latest collection from the prize-winning author Nigel Bird (SMOKE; IN LOCO PARENTIS; DIRTY OLD TOWN AND OTHER STORIES). 

His brilliantly observed slices of life allow us to visit places we may not normally choose to enter and to walk a few miles in the shoes of others. From the opening story here, set in the concentration camps of Poland in World War 2, through to the finale (the curious tale of a fortune-telling machine) you'll be compelled and maybe more than a little disturbed by what you've found.

Free Today for Kindle

The Big Goodbye (Soldier Mysteries): Michael Lister: Amazon.com: Books: Someone is following Lauren Lewis. 


She ducks into the office of PI, Jimmy “Soldier” Riley, not to hire him, but to find out if he’s the one following her. Back when they were lovers he told her if he ever decided to, she’d never know he was there. 

It’s1940’s Panama City, Florida. The world is at war, and the growing panhandle paradise is doing its part. Tyndall Field is training pilots. Wainwright Shipyard is building battleships. The Naval Section Base is protecting vessels in the Gulf. The Dixie Sherman Hotel is hosting celebrities such as Clark Gable. Harry Lewis, a wealthy banker, is running for mayor, unaware his wife is running for her life. 

With a secret to hide and a husband running for mayor in a city exploding and expanding like no other time in history, Lauren doesn’t want trouble, but she’s about to get a double-barrel full of it. Only one man can help her, and though it might destroy him, he doesn’t mind. Better to die than be the walking wounded. 

The story of a guy, a girl, and a gun, The Big Goodbye is Florida Noir at its finest.

Comic Strip of the Day

link

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

You Know, It Just Sends the Wrong Message When You Tase the Statue of Liberty 

Link via Boing Boing.

If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere

CBS New York: The elevator at Woodside Station in Queens was only in operation 58 percent of the time. 

That is because it has been urinated on so much, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have said urine has actually rusted the floor and gotten into some of inner workings of the lift, causing problems.

Song of the Day

The Platters - Down The River Of Golden Dreams (1960) - YouTube:

Dyno-mite!

Sony and Scott Rudin Developing Feature Film Adaptation of GOOD TIMES | Collider: Good Times is headed to the big screen. Sony Pictures and producer Scott Rudin (The Social Network, No Country for Old Men) are developing a feature film adaptation of the popular 1970s CBS sitcom Good Times, and Deadline reports that Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph) has been tapped to pen the script.

Today's Vintage Ad


5 Knife-Equipped Handguns

5 Knife-Equipped Handguns: Pistols with a point

A Photo That Defines A Generation

A Photo That Defines A Generation

Feeling Safer Now?

NYPOST.com: A Greek national was able to slip a stun gun past inept TSA agents at Kennedy Airport yesterday after using it in the alleged rape and assault of his ex-girlfriend in Queens, authorities said.

PaperBack



William O'Farrell, Causeway to the Past, Dell, 1951

I Miss the Old Days

"How to use a dial telephone"

8 Beautiful Bookstores in Residential Spaces

8 Beautiful Bookstores in Residential Spaces

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

HPD: Argument over pants prompts shooting

Giganta!

Giganta! 

The link goes to a few 1974 ads for Giganta.  The photo is one I took yesterday of the Alvin Giganta, still lookin' good.

Betty Hutton Sings "Murder, He Says"

11 Terms from a Knock-Your-Socks-Off 1943 Song about Slang

You can’t get this book from Amazon

You can’t get this book from Amazon: One of the ways in which bookshops can fight back against online retailers is to give the customer something more than just the book itself

Clive Burr, R. I. P.

Soundcheck Blog: Orange County Register: Original Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, who anchored the British band's seminal first three albums, died in his sleep Tuesday night after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 56. 

Burr joined the future giants of metal in December 1979, jumping ship from his previous group, Samson, at the suggestion of Dennis Stratton, a guitarist whose time with Maiden would end within a year. But Burr stayed on until 1982, powering the band from its raw self-titled 1980 debut and its equally lean-and-mean follow-up, 1981's Killers, on through the trendsetting breakthrough The Number of the Beast.

The Saturday Books

The Saturday Books: Each edition of The Saturday Book provides a wonderful glimpse into the culture that shaped a nation with contributions from some very talented individuals. Readers were treated to short stories, poetry and art from the likes of Evelyn Waugh, P.G. Wodehouse, Graham Greene, Siegfried Sassoon, John Masefield, Cecil Beaton, Edward Ardizzone and Robert Gibbings. The books were designed for casual reading and contained both serious and frivolous content with real English flare.

Angel Face

ANGEL FACE 1952 TRAILER NOIR JEAN SIMMONS - YouTube:

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Charlaine Harris talks Sookie Stackhouse in 'Dead After After'

Charlaine Harris talks Sookie Stackhouse in 'Dead After After'

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

The Boat House: Stephen Gallagher: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: A dark love story, and a disturbing tale of a divided soul. In the days leading to the fall of the Soviet empire, a young woman with a deadly secret slips unnoticed into the West. And when Alina Petrovna first appears in Three Oaks Bay it's clear that her frail, luminous beauty is likely to cause some ripples in the surface calm of the peaceful resort town. 

For Pete McCarthy, the boatyard worker who gives her shelter, she's an enigma. A complex, well-meaning young woman with a difficult past. Someone whose mystery deepens as the season gets under way, and the deaths by drowning begin...

Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 Longlist

Mystery Fanfare: Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 Longlist

Song of the Day

In the Navy - YouTube:

The 11 Greatest Computer Supervillains in Film

The 11 Greatest Computer Supervillains in Film

Perfectly Understandable

Tortilla-eating man too busy to investigate shooting

Today's Vintage Ad


The Birth of Frosted Flakes

The Birth of Frosted Flakes

Or Maybe You Did

20 Things You Didn't Know About “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

"George Bush" Not Included

Blue Ivy: Here Are the Names That Get You Into Yale—Or Keep You Out

PaperBack



Hugh Lawrence Nelson, Dead Giveaway, Dell, 1951

I Don't Care

chicagotribune.com: Twinkies return expected by summer, new Hostess owner says

11 Writers Who Really Loved Cats

11 Writers Who Really Loved Cats

11 Characters Played by Different Actors

11 Characters Played by Different Actors 

Women Writers of Noir and Crime Fiction

Women Writers of Noir and Crime Fiction 

Link via SF Signal.

Peter Banks, R. I. P.

Peter Banks Dead: Original Guitarist From Yes Dies At Age 65: Peter Banks, the original guitarist for the British band Yes, died on March 7 at the age of 65, reports USA Today. 

A post on his official website stated that Banks died from heart failure and was found in his London home after he didn't show up to a recording session.

The 12 Finest Trees In Texas

The 12 Finest Trees In Texas: A Photo Tour Of The State's Pretty, Historic, Beloved Live Oaks & More

One Was a Plot Element on Copper

10 Lesser-Known Events of the US Civil War

Richard III Update

York church leader abused in Richard III burial row: The head of historic British church York Minster has contacted police after receiving hate mail, intensifying the row over where the recently-discovered remains of King Richard III should be buried.

April in Paris

April in Paris - Trailer - YouTube:

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Go for It

Download 14 Great Sci-Fi Stories by Philip K. Dick as Free Audio Books and Free eBooks

Mr. Teeth Update

No charges in death of Castro Valley pot-guarding caiman, Mr. Teeth 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

The Last Round of Archie Mannis (Fight Card): Jack Tunney, Joseph Grant, Paul Bishop, Mel Odom: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Chicago 1925 

Amidst the violent, bloody boulevards of gangland Chicago, Archie Mannis uses his fists to rise from the shadows of St. Vincent's Asylum For Boys. Forging a reputation from his earliest amateur bouts, Archie’s fists carry him through the Great Depression and into the heat of The War In The Pacific. Back home, his fistic skills put him once again on a championship road. But there are dangers lurking – the sweet taste of morphine, crooked fight promoters, and a bitter enemy whose hatred has festered since their hardscrabble childhood. 

As Archie Mannis faces his last round, legendary boxers, famous writers, Hollywood celebrities, and notorious mobsters are all part of the mix – waiting to see if Archie will still be standing in the ring when the final bell clangs ... 

Written in the style of the great fight biographies found in the sports pulps of the ‘40s and ‘50s, The Last Round of Archie Mannis will have you cheering from ringside ...

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

School textbook: Hippies were rude, didn’t bathe, worshipped Satan

Song of the Day

Bob Seger - Main Street - YouTube:

10 Lost Cities, Mythical Civilisations of the Ancient World

10 Lost Cities, Mythical Civilisations of the Ancient World 

Link via mental_floss.

Today's Vintage Ad


Top 10 Bizarre Frogs

Top 10 Bizarre Frogs 

Writers at Their Typewriters

Writers at Their Typewriters

Yes, it's an annoying slideshow.

Well, Duh.

Welcome to Texas: Trucks Top the List of Stolen Vehicles in the Lone Star State

PaperBack

 
Max Murray, The Queen and the Corpse, Dell, 1951

Top 10 Classic Film Noir Cliches that aren’t Cliches

Top 10 Classic Film Noir Cliches that aren’t Cliches

Link via SF Signal.

E.E. Cummings Recites ‘Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town,’ 1953 | Open Culture

E.E. Cummings Recites ‘Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town,’ 1953

Link via mental_floss.

Texas Doesn't Lead the Way

Los Angeles Ranks No. 1 in Flossing; Results released in DenTek's "Look Who's Flossing" Survey

A 'Sweet Valley High' Ghostwriter On Living A Double Life

A 'Sweet Valley High' Ghostwriter On Living A Double Life

Well, It Won't Be Cutthroat Island, but Then What Is?

EW.com: NBC has lured John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons) for the period pirate drama Crossbones, a series in the works for next season. Malkovich will play Edward Teach, a.k.a Blackbeard, who “ruled over the pirates, thieves and ne’er-do-wells on the Bahamian island of New Providence in the early 1700s.”

Obituary of the Day

Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Homes: Harry Stamps

Hat tip to Deb.

Kentucky Included

Top Ten Spooky Places of the Wild West

Overlooked Movies: Walt Disney's Robin Hood

Okay, I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that I talked about this movie last week. But that was Disney's other Robin Hood movie. This one's the animated version, and it's truly overlooked because, like the other one, people don't seem to get as big a kick out of it was I do.  Maybe it's just because I like Robin Hood movies, but I thoroughly enjoy this one.

Allan-a-Dale is back, voiced by Roger Miller, because when you think of strolling British minstrels, Roger Miller is the first name that comes to mind.  Some of the other casting might make you scratch your head, too, but they're all great.  Trust me.  Peter Ustinov is Prince John, Terry-Thomas is Sir Hiss (a character that really cracks me up), Phil Harris is Little John, Andy Devine as Friar Tuck,  and Pat Buttram is the Sheriff of Nottingham.  That's what we Texans call a Duke's mixture.  It works a lot better than you might think.  I'm not very familiar with Brian Bedford, but he's an excellent Robin Hood.

All the usual Robin Hood tropes are here: the archery contest, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, Prince John taxing the peasants, Friar Tuck in prison, and so on.  And this time it's a musical.  I love the songs, and some years ago Jayme Lynn Blaschke gave me the soundtrack CD.  I think I'll play it right now.

Maybe I'm the only one who likes this movie, but that's okay.  I'm the only one who likes a lot of 'em.  You could give it a try, though, and see what you think.

Disney's Robin Hood

Walt Disney Films - Robin Hood (1973) - YouTube:

Monday, March 11, 2013

Martha Wells Talks about a Couple of Galveston Restaurants

Eating Authors: Martha Wells

Floridians Prepare to Welcome Their New Buzzing Overlords

Mosquitoes the size of a quarter may plague Florida

Justice Machine Update From Mark Ellis

Rough Edges: Justice Machine Update From Mark Ellis

For Me It's the Aggravation. For Others It's the Money.

SleepBetter Lost-Hour Economic Index: On March 10, the United States and a number of other nations will move their clocks forward one hour, as Daylight Saving Time begins. The spring time change can lead to (at minimum) fatigue and sluggishness due to losing an hour of sleep. But, how much money does it cost us? SleepBetter.org investigated, and created the Lost-Hour Economic Index.

Monstrous Vintage Covers of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’

Monstrous Vintage Covers of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’

Song of the Day

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band ~♥~ Rock and Roll Never Forgets - YouTube:

Mr. Monk Gets Even -- Lee Goldberg

I've really enjoyed reading the books Lee Goldberg has written about Mr. Monk, the obsessive compulsive detective, and I've mentioned a lot of them on this blog.  Knowing that this was the last one he'd be writing, I've held off reading it for a while because I hated to see him end his run.  I know the series will be continued by another writer, and the books will probably be fine, but they just won't be the same.  Goldberg managed to do a great job of giving the books clever mysteries and good characters, but he did something even more difficult.  He gave them humor and heart.  Not only that, but he took the characters beyond the television series and gave them lives of their own.  They changed and developed over the course of the series in ways that were believable and intriguing.

In Mr. Monk Gets Even, Natalie Teeger, Monk's erstwhile assistant is working as a cop in New Jersey, busting detergent thieves, while her daughter, Julie, has taken her place at Monk's side in San Francisco.  Monk is, as usual, involved in murder cases, with one of them involving a serial killer.  Meanwhile, his old nemesis, Dale the Whale, manages to get out of prison for surgery and then escapes, even though escape should have been impossible.  Adding to Monk's troubles is the fact that for the first time, he appears to have identified the wrong killer.

A further complication is that Ambrose, Monk's brother, is getting married, and of course that will be a big change for both Monk and Ambrose, who don't like change, and a lot of others.  Comedies are supposed to end with a wedding, and that's what happens here.  It's a fine conclusion to Goldberg's work with Monk and his friends and family.  The title of the book, given Monk's proclivities and given the way that the story concludes, is perfect.

I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of books that mingle first- and third-person narration.  Goldberg does it so skilfully here that I have no complaints.  I've never seen it done better.  Heck, I've never seen it done as well.  Congratulations to Goldberg on leaving the game as a big winner.

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD NOMINEES

Mystery Fanfare: LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD NOMINEES

Short, Sharp Interview: Les Edgerton

Short, Sharp Interview: Les Edgerton

Top 10 Most Expensive Car Crashes

Top 10 Most Expensive Car Crashes

Today's Vintage Ad


Top 10 Scientific Explanations To Ancient Famous Mysteries

Top 10 Scientific Explanations To Ancient Famous Mysteries

PaperBack



Rosamond Marshall, Celeste . . . the Gold Coast Virgin, Dell, 1950

Nic Cage Is Hated? Not by this Blog!

10 Underrated Actors Who Don't Deserve The Hate 

I Report, You Decide

The 40 Worst No. 1 Singles Of All Time

The Handwritten Ultimatum Jack Kerouac Sent Publisher Of On The Road

Here's The Handwritten Ultimatum Jack Kerouac Sent Publisher Of On The Road

There Is, of Course, One in Alvin, Texas

Where To Find Every Baseball Statue In America

Here's a photo of the one in Alvin.

It's About Time

5 Amazing Advances That Are About to Make Hard Work Obsolete

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 : Crime Poetry Weekly: Steve Hood

90 Years of History: the Covers of TIME Magazine

90 Years of History: the Covers of TIME Magazine - Video

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Homeless Houston Veteran Cited for Dumpster Diving in Search for Food

The Atomic City

The Atomic City - Trailer - YouTube:

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Better Get Started

SXSW 2013: Marvel #1 | News | Marvel.com: In an unprecedented new reader initiative, Marvel Comics unleashes Marvel #1, an offering of over 700 first issues from the length and breadth of the company’s history at no charge. This special promotion begins Sunday March 10 and runs until 11PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 12 as free downloads via the Marvel Comics app and Marvel Comics Digital Comics Shop.

Arizona Leads the Way

Arizona alligator learns to swim with new prosthetic tail

Comic Strip of the Day

Link.

As If We Didn't Know

Daylight-saving linked to wacky behavior

Hat tip to Art Scott.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Ex-boyfriend accuses tennis star Capriati of punching, stalking him: A report from that southeastern Florida community's Police Department said the ex-boyfriend claimed Capriati "started screaming" at him before punching him "with a closed fist four times in the chest."

Song of the Day

Emmylou Harris - Softly and Tenderly - with Linda Ronstadt - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


No Comment Department

NYPOST.com: Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep fliers safe

The Ultimate Regional Vocabulary Throwdown

The Ultimate Regional Vocabulary Throwdown

PaperBack



Robinson MacLean, The Baited Blonde, Dell, 1951


Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, 1960

Edward Gorey illustrates H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, 1960

What Is Wizard of Oz Really About: 7 Theories

What Is Wizard of Oz Really About: 7 Theories 

Rare Footage of Famous Authors

Rare Footage of Famous Authors

Why Don't You Hear Someone's Accent in a Song?

Why Don't You Hear Someone's Accent in a Song?

Arizona Leads the Way

Arizona Knows What's Up Because It Doesn't Do Daylight Savings Time

As If We Didn't Know

Daylight saving time — still mostly a scam

Because You're Mine

Because You're Mine (Original Theatrical Trailer) - YouTube: