Available for preorder: Dorothy L. Sayers companion.

The next volume in the McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction series that I edit is now available for preorder. Dorothy L. Sayers: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Eric Sandberg (no. 11 in the series) looks at the life and work of the creator of sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg.

The series has garnered Edgar nominations (Ellroy companion, Rankin companion), an Agatha nomination (Paretsky companion), and a Macavity Award (Paretsky companion).

Leslie Charteris in California.

The Desert Sun newspaper looks at the role of Palm Springs in the life and work of Saint creator Leslie Charteris, including the difficulties he experienced because of the Chinese Exclusion Act (Charteris had Chinese and British heritage).

Sherlock Holmes and the Supreme Court.

In a new paper, Ross E. Davies (George Mason University School of Law) looks at connections between Sherlock Holmes and Supreme Court justices such as Louis Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and Charles Evans Hughes. (thanks to the Law & Humanities Blog)

Top, left to right: Louis Brandeis, ca. 1915-21; Charles Evans Hughes, n.d. Bottom: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., ca. 1932-33. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

The return of Batya Gur.

In the Tel Aviv Review of Books, Liam Hoare discusses the reissue of the mysteries of Batya Gur (1947–2005) and assesses her place in Israeli literature.

The French Embassy's film noir series.

Out of the Past (1947).

Until July 5, the French Embassy in New York is hosting the series "Out of the Dark: The Mystery of Film Noir" for both in-person and virtual viewing. The films include Rififi (1955), Daybreak (1939), Out of the Past (1947), Nightfall (1956), Two Men in Manhattan (1959), Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Pepe le Moko (1937), Diabolique (1955), Breathless (1959), and Tirez sur le pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player, 1960).