Film music by Dmitri Tompkin.

As Scott Bettencourt notes in Film Score Friday, Intrada has issued From New York to Hollywood: Music for Albertina Rausch and Classic Films, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and featuring works by composer Dmitri Tompkin for movies such as Lost Horizon and It's a Wonderful Life. Also included is "Fisherman's Jive" from the film noir D.O.A. (1949).

Edmond O'Brien in D.O.A. (1949)

New mystery audiobooks from Librivox.

John Dickson Carr's It Walks by Night

New free audio mystery releases from Librivox.

• It Walks by Night. John Dickson Carr's debut novel. Wrote the 22 Aug 1930 [Christchurch, NZ] Star, "Mr. Carr carries us along breathlessly .... this original crime story is well constructed, eminently readable, and calculated to give satisfaction to those fond of a thrill"). 
  
  
• The Continental Op, The Maltese Falcon, and Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. The 25 Feb. 1950 Lewiston [ME] Evening Journal mentioned that the Continental Op was based on a Pinkerton detective who worked with Hammett.
  
  
• The Law of the Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. Wrote the 3 Apr. 1926 Otago [NZ] Daily Times, "It is an illustration of Mr. Wallace's skill that he is able to cast over the story that air of verisimilitude which carries the reader along on a wave of excitement."

James Sallis, 1944–2026.

Nathan Ashman's James Sallis:
A Companion to the Mystery Fiction

Author James Sallis died on Jan 27 at age 81. Although he might be best known for Drive (adapted as a film with Ryan Gosling and Carrie Mulligan), he had a long and distinguished career, not only in mystery fiction but also in science fiction and as a critic. There are many admirers of his Lew Griffin series (e.g., The Long Legged Fly), and he wrote a well-respected biography of Chester Himes. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, the Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing, and the Grand Prix de Littérature policière.  

He wrote to me after James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Nathan Ashman had won the Edgar Award for best biographical/critical work (I edited the book), expressing his appreciation for Nathan's hard work and mentioning that his email box had been filling up with congratulations after the Edgar win (It was the first Edgar win for a book in the series, although the Ian Rankin companion and the James Ellroy companion had been Edgar nominees). He also related a funny story: when he was reading the companion, he discovered to his horror that he had forgotten about three short stories discussed by Nathan, and he was in the midst of compiling a collection of his "complete" short stories. He sent an SOS to his editor, rooted around in his files, found the stories, and managed to include them in the volume. Said he, "So Nathan, and you, have to take the blame for those three."

James Sallis' biography of Chester Himes, 
called "smart, conscientious, often stylish" 
by Robert Polito in NYT

 

Poisons in Golden Age mysteries.

Over on the Science Museum Group blog, Chloë Abley discusses poisons in Golden Age mysteries, including their use in works by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Maps in mystery fiction.

As The Map Room blog points out, an article by Axel Bax et al. (Cornell University) in Computational Humanities Research 2025 that takes a deep dive into the presence of maps in fiction indicates—probably to no surprise of mystery fans—that "small-scale maps often were in the detective/mystery genre." 

Map from Anna Katharine Green's Lost Man's Lane (1899)

Film Music Friday: Jerry Goldsmith.

A recent episode of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday featured the TV work of Jerry Goldsmith who moved from clerk-typist to composer. Selections include his work for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Twilight Zone, and more. 

A release of music from The Man from 
U.N.C.L.E. that includes Jerry Goldsmith's work

New edition of The Maltese Falcon.

Blackstone Publishing has issued a new illustrated edition of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (originally published in 1930).