My Blog

Murder One Murdered

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Bookseller reports the very sad news that owner/author Maxim Jakubowski's legendary Murder One bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London is closing down, a victim of plunging sales.

"Over the last few years our sales have deterioriated," he said. "I was planning to retire this year, but this is earlier than expected. For the benefit of staff, publishers and suppliers, I would rather close the shop now and go out voluntarily with my head held high and no debts."

It was a great store with a knowledgeable, mystery-loving staff. I visited the store whenever I happened to be in London, which was every two or three years (though I managed to stop in three or four times in 2006-2007). I always left with an armful of books. I discovered a lot of great authors there over the years…and not just U.K. folks like Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, and Derek Raymond. My introduction to U.S. author Daniel Woodrell's work was a UK edition of THE ONES YOU DO that Maxim recommended to me. London isn't going to be the same for me without Murder One.

You can find lots of tributes to the store at Sarah Weinman's site.

Click on TV History

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There's a nice piece in the Los Angeles Times today on the Archive of American Television. They even mention my interview with Dick Van Dyke:

Fans of classic TV likely will find much of interest in the full interviews, which somehow seem to reveal more than the usual celebrity Q&A, possibly because the informal video format allows more of a celebrity's personality to shine through. Van Dyke, for instance, is charmingly Rob Petrie-esque in his 2005 interview, whereas Dick Clark, interviewed years before his debilitating 2004 stroke, reveals his driven, media-entrepreneur side. […]Fred Silverman's lengthy interview provides a rare glimpse of the mind-set of a top network programmer.

Mr. Monk and the Next Title

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Anybody have some good ideas for the title of a MONK book that hasn't already been used already for an episode? 

The next two book titles are MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP and MR. MONK IN TROUBLE. But I have no idea what the title of the one after that will be…
I'm open to suggestions!

UPDATE 1-11-2009: I've received dozens and dozens of titles both here and on my Facebook Monk page. Out of all those titles, I've chosen:

MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT

for the tenth book. I've already come up with a plot (which Monk creator/showrunner Andy Breckman has approved) and will submit it to my editor tomorrow.

I don't want to give away too much…so I'll just say that Mr. Monk goes broke and that his whole life is up-ended as a result.

So Dave, whoever you are, please let me know your last name so I can credit you in the book for coming up with the title.

I want to thank everyone for contributing so many terrific titles…two or three of which I still might use for future books (like MR. MONK GETS EVEN, MR. MONK IN THE RYE, MR. MONK GOES TO WASHINGTON, etc.)


Cleaned out  UPDATE 4/29/2010: MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT will be published in July.

Lee

Some Things Never Change

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From the Wall Street Journal:

Dark days are upon the book industry. Last month alone, Random House announced a massive restructuring; Simon & Schuster laid off 35 staffers; the adult division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt stopped acquiring manuscripts for the rest of the year; and HarperCollins sent comedian Sarah Silverman a contract worth $2.5 million to write her first book.

(Thanks to Bill Crider for the link)

Light in his Gumshoes

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TV Writer/Producer Kay Reindl has an amusing and informative post on the state of the TV biz going into 2009 and her hopes about what will change. One of her observations is that even though procedurals and detective show are doing well, the networks don't want to hear pitches for lighter detective fare…

Talk to almost any TeeVee writer about what show they wish they could sell and they'd invariably say a light detective show. Remington Steele, Magnum PI, Hart To Hart, Simon & Simon, hell, even Riptide. We all want to do this show! But it's virtually impossible to sell. And believe me, we've all f–king tried. But executives turn a deaf ear to these pitches. They do NOT want to hear the word "detective."

She also says that pitches about thieves aren't selling (art thieves in particular), but that's to be expected after the monumental failure of so many thieving shows (remember SMITH, THIEF, and THE KILL POINT anyone?)  She also makes many other sharp observations…as usual.

Donald Westlake

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01westlake_650
Donald Westlake not only wrote great books that entertained millions of people, he wrote books that inspired people to become authors. All you have to do is look at all the heart-felt tributes from authors in the aftermath of Westlake's death yesterday to discover that. 

My brother Tod and I met Westlake a few years ago at the after-party for the Los Angeles Times Book Awards. We gathered up our courage and nervously approached him. We only meant to say hello, to tell him how much we loved his work, and then hurry along so as not to take up his time. But he engaged us in a conversation about writing, publishing and the movie business that lasted well over an hour (at one point, author Denise Hamilton joined us, too). He regaled us with funny, shocking, and revealing anecdotes from his long career in publishing and film. It was amazing. Many times during the conversation I met Tod's eye and I knew we were sharing the same thought:  I can't believe we are having this conversation with Donald Westlake!  (I found out later that Denise was thinking the same thing). Now it's impossible for us to attend the Los Angeles Times Book Festival without remembering that wonderful night…and that great writer, who also happened to be a hell of a nice guy. 

I am going to miss him.

UPDATE: My brother Tod shares his memories of an excellent panel he moderated with Westlake (I'd forgotten about that) and our conversation with him at the party…though he seems to think the chat we had lasted for three hours. The truth is, it doesn't matter how long the conversation was…because for Tod and I, it won't end, the memory and its influence will stay with us for years. And that's how I will measure it.

[…]the really cool thing was that it wasn't just that
Westlake was pontificating, he was asking us stuff, too, we were
actually talking to Donald Westlake and he seemed perfectly
content, never mind that Lee and I were very nearly slobbering fools in
his presence. He was sweet, effusive and told us great stories for an
entire evening and then Lee and I sat in the car on the way home and
repeated all of the stories back to each other, as if we hadn't both
experienced them together.

A Gunsmoke Treasure Trove

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Gunsmoke 4
I stumbled on this fantastic link today — it will lead you to all 480  GUNSMOKE radio shows in absolutely pristine listening condition (as well as the two pilots). Not only that, but there's also tons of fantastic extra material…like PDFs of all the early GUNSMOKE books, dozens of GUNSMOKE articles & interviews, complete rehearsals of GUNSMOKE episodes, the first TV episode, and a five-hour radio documentary on the making of GUNSMOKE featuring interviews with all the key writers, producers, composers and actors…and much much more. This is a treasure trove of stuff for GUNSMOKE fans…and best of all, it's free!