New CD: Ace in the Hole, The Desperate Hrs; Double Indemnity; Union Station.

New from La-Land Records: A CD featuring the music from 1951's Ace in the Hole (dir: Billy Wilder; star: Kirk Douglas; composer: Hugo Friedhofer), the 1955 convict drama The Desperate Hours (dir: William Wyler; star: Humphrey Bogart; composer: Gail Kubik), 1944's Double Indemnity (dir: Billy Wilder; stars: Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck; composer: Miklós Rósza), and the 1950 film noir Union Station (dir: Rudolph Maté; star: William Holden; composer: Heinz Roemheld).

Still from Union Station (1950, Nancy Olson at left)

The case of Alger Hiss.

Alger Hiss, ca. 1945. 
National Archives

As the Law & Humanities blog notes, podcaster John W. Berresford has taken a deep dive into the long and winding road of the Alger Hiss espionage case, from its inception in the late 1940s to appeals in the 1980s and the role of the odd figure of Whittaker Chambers.

"Into the Fog: Sherlock Holmes' London."

New from Herb Lester Associates is "Into the Fog: Sherlock Holmes' London," a guide to the real and fictional places in the tales of the Great Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle. The author is Ron Tiner (Investigating Sherlock Holmes), and the artist is Steve Shanabruch.

Agatha Christie, photographer.

Agatha Christie's archaeological memoir, 
Come, Tell Me How You Live

The Financial Times' Lucy Davies discusses Agatha Christie's devotion to photography, which will be a part of the British Library's exhibition "Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery" (scheduled to open on October 30). The Financial Times article features a number of images from Christie's travels in Egypt (her second husband, Max Mallowan, was an archaeologist).