One of the most satisfying success stories of recent years is that of Ian Rankin, the outstanding author of police novels about John Rebus, Scotland’s toughest detective.

Struggling to survive as a young, freshly married man, Mr. Rankin earned a living by working in a chicken factory, as a swineherd, grape picker, and tax collector, among other jobs not of his choosing. He had been writing for more than a decade before he achieved financial success.

From that hand-to-mouth beginning, he is today one of the world’s most successful authors, with more than 17,000,000 copies of his books sold. As is not uncommon these days, there are those who want to share in the rewards without having done the work. He has, therefore, taken the unusual step of trade marking his character’s name — common for characters in children’s books but seldom applied to adult fiction.This prevents the unauthorized use of the Rebus name or image on scores of items specifically identified on the trademark application.

Serious money can be involved. In 2004, for instance, Winnie the Pooh and friends generated income of $5.6 billion. Yes, billion. John Rebus, whose mission is to protect the good people of Edinburgh, is now protected, too.

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And speaking of golly, teenagers (and maybe their folks, too) will be happy to learn that there will be a new Nancy Drew movie released next year. It’s hard to imagine, but the last movies about the girl sleuth were produced in the late 1930s. Bonita Granville played the perky and intrepid crime fighter four times, but the new young star in the title role should shine just as brightly.

Nancy will be played by the 15-year-old Emma Roberts and, while you may not know who she is, you’ll recognize the wide smile sure to light up the screen. It must be in the genes she shares with her aunt Julia. Yes, that Pretty Woman. Emma has described Nancy Drew as “the Barbie of her time,” presumably meaning that she was a role model for young girls. Now someone needs to tell Emma that Nancy’s time is still here, as the books have never gone out of print since “Secret of the Old Clock” was published in 1930.

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David Morrell, the author of numerous crime and action thrillers, most famously “First Blood,” which introduced Rambo, has added a new prize to his trophy case. His best-selling chiller “Creepers” won the Bram Stoker Award — named for the author of “Dracula.”

Authors are generally pleased to win awards and don’t worry much about what it looks like. Beautiful or prosaic, cheap or elegant, it’s the honor that matters. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with making the prize really cool, and the Horror Writers’ Association has definitely done that. The award is an eight-inch replica of a haunted house, complete with gargoyles. The door opens, revealing a brass plaque engraved with the author’s name and title of the book. I want one!

Previous winners of the award include Stephen King, Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates, and Thomas Harris. “Creepers” will be out in paperback next month (CDS Books, 384 pages, $7.99).

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As horrifying as “Creepers” may be, that’s nothing compared to the recently published “The Uncomfortable Dead” (Akashic, 268 pages, $15.95).This pitiful excuse for a novel is really little more than a position paper of Marxist ideology, laying the planks of the platform of the Zapatistas, a Mexican revolutionary group. It is co-authored by the wearying communist sympathizing mystery writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and the primary spokesman for the Zapatistas, Subcomandante Marcos, the nom de guerre of a man believed to be college professor in southern Mexico.

Marcos travels on a black motorbike as a tribute to Che Guevara while making such pronouncements as “the Zapatista movement is more ideas than bullets,” adding “the only way to get their (the Mexican government’s) attention is to kill or be killed.” (Presumably without bullets.)

Various advance reviews have described this tale of a governmentbacked murderer as metafiction, subversive, and postmodern, with characters operating from beyond the grave, a porn actor who looks like Osama bin Laden, the possible murder of a ghost, and Barney the dinosaur.

Golly, I can’t wait for the next collaboration of these two 5-watt bulbs.

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You may remember Michael Baigent, a man who wanted to take a bite out of Dan Brown’s apple by suing him for some of his millions. His position was that his nonfiction book, “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” written with Richard Leigh, was plagiarized by Mr. Brown, a claim quickly rejected by the British court.

When Mr. Baigent published his next work,”The Jesus Factor,” he maintained that the crucifixion of Jesus was faked. How does he know this? He examined some papers, he said. What papers? He won’t say. We have to take his word for it.

Okay, that’s good enough for me.

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One of the best career moves Robert Ludlum ever made was dying. Although this creative and charming man died more than five years ago (March 12, 2001), he has had several best sellers since then. Early in his career, he produced one novel a year; later, he slowed down to one every other year.

After his death, his output joined his fingernails and hair as they all continued to grow. “The Cassandra Compact” (with Philip Shelby), was published two months after his death. Later in the same year, “The Sigma Protocol” came out. In 2002, there was “The Paris Option” (with Gayle Lynds) and “The Janson Directive”; in 2003, “The Altman Code” and “The Tristan Betrayal”; in 2004, “The Bourne Legacy” (with Eric Van Lustbader) and “The Lazarus Vendetta” (with Patrick Larkin); in 2005, “The Moscow Vector (with Patrick Larkin) and “The Ambler Warning.”

Next month, the indefatigable thriller writer will probably hit the bestseller list again with “The Bancroft Strategy.”

What? Only one book this year? Maybe he’s finally slowing down.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.