Waves of Crime News
The popular mystery writer Margaret Truman died on January 29 at the age of 83. She was also famous for being the daughter of President Harry S. Truman, a radio and television personality, singer, and author of nine non-mystery titles, including several best-selling biographies of her father and her mother.
As an avid reader of mystery fiction, she approached her agent with an idea for "Murder at the White House," the first of what came to be known as her "Capital Crime Series," all of which are set in and around Washington, mostly in prominent buildings: "Murder at the Smithsonian," "Murder at the Kennedy Center," and "Murder at the Pentagon."
Ms. Truman's son, Clifton Truman Daniel, wrote in his 1995 memoir that she "seems to have a strong opinion, often bad, of almost everyone in Washington. That's why she writes these murder mysteries: so she can kill them all off, one at a time."
An immediate success (her first mystery was a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club), the series sold well throughout its long run of 23 titles, despite varying levels of quality (perhaps attributable to the skills of various ghostwriters).
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Of the literally hundreds of novels written about Sherlock Holmes by authors not named Arthur Conan Doyle, it would not be overly controversial to state that the best was "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" by Rick Boyer, published in 1976. The author went on to win an Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the best novel of 1983 with "Billingsgate Shoal," beating out three Grand Masters: Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block, and Donald E. Westlake.
"The Giant Rat of Sumatra" has just been reprinted in one of the handsomest mystery titles of recent years, rather grandly titled "The Quintessential Sherlock Holmes" (Alexander Books, 496 pages, $75). Four other pastiches by Mr. Boyer, all novella-length, fill out the volume, which is leather bound, illustrated, and slipcased.
Getting the correct tone of the original Holmes stories is difficult. Being a member of the Baker Street Irregulars (with the investiture "The King of Bohemia"), I have had more opportunity and motivation than most readers to sample the myriad attempts to emulate Doyle's style, and no one has succeeded more admirably than Mr. Boyer, whose credo for this collection is clearly stated on the slipcase.
The stories are "a serious attempt to continue the Sherlockian saga as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have written it were he alive today. It is not an attempt, comical or otherwise, to show that Sherlock Holmes was what he wasn't, or wasn't what he was."Apart from the fact that this was written in the past tense, when it is well-established that Holmes still lives, it was a worthwhile goal, wonderfully achieved. "The Quintessential Sherlock Holmes" is not available in most bookstores, so must be ordered directly from the publisher at 65 Macedonia Road, Alexander, N.C., 28701 or www.sherlockholmeslives.com.
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England's Royal Mail paid tribute last month to the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth by issuing a series of James Bond stamps.
Six different stamps were produced in extra-long format so that four dust jackets and paperback covers could be illustrated per stamp. First-class postage stamps feature "Casino Royale" and "Dr. No," while 54p stamps highlight "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever"; "For Your Eyes Only" and "From Russia, with Love" are on the 78p stamps. For collectors, first day covers signed by Dame Judi Dench (who played M in later films), Richard Kiel ("Jaws"), Sir Roger Moore (who was "Bond, James Bond" more than once), and several "Bond Girls" were also issued and are available at philately stores and www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps.
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Joyce Carol Oates, at a recent American Writers Project presentation, said that most of her fiction deals with crime and murder, which readers of this column have known for years, but which seemed to come as major news to most of the academics present. And now she has broken new ground yet again.
Already perhaps the most justly honored author in the world, she is the first to receive two nominations in the same year from the prestigious National Book Critics Circle. Her suspense thriller, "The Gravedigger's Daughter," was nominated in the fiction category and "The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates" for autobiography.
Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop and the series editor of the annual "Best American Mystery Stories." He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.
