International Virtual Birthday Cake.

Today's birthdays cross a few oceans:

Baroness and Inspector Wexford creator Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) was born today in 1930; her latest work is The Water's Lovely (2007);

A salute to our Australian friends, with the 144th birthday of Boer War correspondent and WWI major Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, best known as the lyricist for "Waltzing Matilda" and writer of "The Man from Snowy River";

American novelist and Book of the Month Club selection judge Dorothy Canfield Fisher, born today in Kansas in 1879; her books include Understood Betsy (1917) and The Deepening Stream (1930).

Uncovering Ypres.

British and Belgian archaeologists are excavating the "Vampire Dugout" in Belgium, a major World War I battle planning site, which proves to be in remarkable condition and also holds—gulp—live shells. Go here for the BBC video.

Shades of the ongoing cleanup in Washington, DC, at a World War I site that researched chemical weapons...

Hat tip to the Great War fiction blog.

About the photo: Irish World War I recruiting poster, ca. 1915. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, reproduction no. LC-USZC4-10976.

Thou Art the Man.

The horror of that murder haunts me—a young woman, young and beautiful, full of the pride of life, caught like a hunted fawn in a wood, caught and slaughtered by a raging maniac...
— Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Thou Art the Man (1894)

Kansas City's Valancourt Books has recently reissued the Queen of Sensation's Thou Art the Man—a tale of murder and madness in which an heiress pursues the answers to an unsolved case that may implicate her cousin as the culprit. It has been out of print since 1894.

Although Wilkie Collins is often credited with the first full-length mystery novel (The Woman in White, 1860), Braddon's work is contemporaneous with his (e.g., Trail of the Serpent, 1860; Lady Audley's Secret, 1862).

Bon anniversaire, Georges Simenon.

Author Georges Simenon, the creator of Inspector Maigret, was born today in Belgium in 1903. He became a journalist at age 15, and his early writing was rejected by Colette (the then-editor of Le Matin). His eventual output was approximately 80 pages per day, and he produced some 200 books before his death in 1989.

Maigret debuted in 1929, in The Strange Case of Peter the Lett, followed by appearances in some 75 novels and 28 stories.

For information on the Maigret series broadcast on the MhZ networks, go here. For details on other screen Maigrets, including Michael Gambon, go here. The New York Review of Books Classics has recently reissued some of Simenon's non-Maigret works.

Phyllis A. Whitney, 1903-2008.

It is sad to learn that bestselling novelist, MWA Grand Master, and Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement recipient Phyllis A. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8 at the age of 104.

A two-time Edgar winner and author of some 75 books, Phyllis was a lady in every sense of the word and was known for her kindness and graciousness, especially to new writers. In conveying a sense of place in her work, few were her equal. I had the privilege of working with her, as she introduced Malice Domestic 5, and received lovely, handwritten notes from her that thanked me for making her "feel a part of things." One colleague told me that she had been an indifferent reader until she opened one of Phyllis's novels. After that, she became a voracious reader—a fine testament to Phyllis's skill as a storyteller.

In my books I've dealt not only with everyday human problems. I've written about racial prejudice. I've given young people a picture of Hiroshima as it is today. I've written about apartheid in South Africa. Not to bog down the story, remember, never to preach. But to give substance and meaning and value, so that the book can't be dismissed as "just another mystery." And, of course, to satisfy my own need to write about precepts I believe in.

—Phyllis A. Whitney, "Writing the Juvenile Mystery." Writing Detective and Mystery Fiction. Ed. A. S. Burack. Boston: The Writer, 1967. 265.

About the photo: Elizabeth Peters (left), Anne Perry (center), and Phyllis A. Whitney at Malice Domestic V in 1993. Photo by Laura Hyzy.

Happy birthday, Anthony Hope.

Lawyer and Parliamentary candidate Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope and the author of The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), was born today in 1863. Praised by Arthur Quiller-Couch (aka Q) for his "singular and agreeable talents," Hope, after producing his most famous work about political intrigue in the fictional kingdom of Ruritania, wrote the sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898), which followed the further adventures of the villain of Zenda, and other romantic tales. Hope Hawkins died in 1933.

Above: Theatrical poster of Rupert of Henzau, by Anthony Hope, ca. 1898. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, reproduction no. LC-USZ62-28563

Happy birthday, Sinclair Lewis.

Born today in Minnesota in 1885 was Sinclair Lewis, the first American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (he declined the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith [1925]; go here to learn why). Notable works include Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Elmer Gantry (1927), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935). Once married to journalist Dorothy Thompson, he died in 1951.

Audie Mystery Finalists.

The Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists for the Audies, which honor audiobooks. The finalists in the mystery category are:

A Fatal Grace, by Louise Penny, narrated by Ralph Cosham, Blackstone Audio

Hollywood Station, by Joseph Wambaugh, narrated by Adam Grupper, Hachette

Thunder Bay, by William Kent Krueger, narrated by Buck Schirmer, Brilliance Audio

The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke, narrated by Will Patton, S&S Audio

Up in Honey's Room, by Elmore Leonard, narrated by Arliss Howard, HarperAudio

And in thriller/suspense:

• Daddy's Girl, by Lisa Scottoline, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat, HarperAudio
• Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, narrated by Stephen Lang, HarperAudio
• The Judas Strain, by James Rollins, narrated by Peter Jay Fernandez, HarperAudio
• No Time for Goodbye, by Linwood Barclay, narrated by Christopher Lane, Brilliance Audio
• The Secret Servant, by Daniel Silva, narrated by Phil Gigante, Brilliance Audio
• What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman, narrated by Linda Emond, HarperAudio

Go here for the full press release. The awards will be presented on May 30 in Los Angeles.

Happy birthday, Father Andrew M. Greeley and Margaret Millar.

Father Andrew M. Greeley, creator of clerical sleuth Blackie Ryan as well as the author of nonfiction and science fiction books, turns 80 today. His latest featuring Ryan is The Bishop at the Lake.

And author Margaret Millar, the wife of Lew Archer creator Ross Macdonald, was born today in 1915. She died in 1994. Millar won an Edgar for Beast in View in 1956; other notable works include How Like an Angel and Beyond This Point Are Monsters.

Happy birthday, Paul Benjamin.

Paul Benjamin, author of the PI novel Squeeze Play (1982), was born today in Newark, New Jersey, in 1947.

Of course, these days, he's better known by his real name: Paul Auster.

Historians Ask for Release of Rosenberg Records.

This week, the American Historical Association, GWU's National Security Archive, the American Society for Legal History, and the Society of American Archivists sought the release of grand jury records from the 1951 indictment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Convicted of espionage, the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953. For further details, go here. For a NOVA interview with Michael and Robert Meeropol, sons of the Rosenbergs, go here.

Happy birthday, Muriel Spark.

A nod to the Scots among us, with today's birthday of Muriel Spark—born today in Edinburgh in 1918, author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), and the dissertation topic of Ian Rankin.

At left: artwork from the New Vic Theatre production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Happy birthday, Zane Grey.

Legendary Western novelist Zane Grey, best known for Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), was born today in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1872. Before his death in 1939, he had produced nearly 90 books, many of them adapted for film (such as The Last Trail with Tom Mix, 1927). During an eight-year period (1917 to 1924), a Grey book appeared on the bestseller list every year.

Check out the West Society's "Why You Should Read Zane Grey."

Crime Fiction Down Under.

The Australian crime fiction blog has listed favorite Australian mysteries of 2007, including the intriguing El Dorado by Dorothy Porter, "crime fiction in verse."

A Talent to Amuse.

In conjunction with its revival of Present Laughter, Britain's National Theatre honors writer, director, actor, playwright, and composer Noel Coward with an exhibition, "Star Quality," through March. For further information, go here. For BBC interview clips with Coward, go here. For his inimitable performance of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," go here.

The Madness of Mary Lincoln.

As a BookTV junkie, I watched a program on Jason Emerson's new book The Madness of Mary Lincoln, which deals with the often misunderstood mental illness of the wife of the 16th president. Her son, Robert Todd Lincoln, tends to be demonized for institutionalizing her; Emerson explains in an even-handed fashion the difficult situation in which Robert found himself, Mary's severe trauma via the violent death of her husband and the deaths of most of her children, her medical treatment, and her attitude toward her confinement as evidenced in her letters.

To watch the video from the program, go here. (And for Bill Crider and other Texans, this tribute to the late Molly Ivins may be of interest).

Somerset and All the Maughams.

Somerset Maugham was born today in Paris in 1874 and died in 1965. Although Maugham is known for works such as Cakes and Ale, Of Human Bondage, and The Painted Veil, those that resonate in mystery annals are Ashenden, featuring the spy inspired by Maugham's World War I experiences and later played by John Gielgud (in Hitchcock's Secret Agent) and Alex Jennings (in Ashenden), and The Letter, where Bette Davis so memorably blew away her lover in the opening scene.

The Letter was revived at London's Wyndhams Theatre in 2007 and starred Jenny Seagrove in the Davis role and Anthony Andrews in the Herbert Marshall part. A Lux Radio Theater version with Davis and Marshall can be heard here.

Happy birthday, Edith Wharton.

Edith Wharton—author of Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth, and The Age of Innocence; friend of Henry James; and a relative of mystery author Frances Newbold Noyes Hart—was born today in 1862. She died in 1937.

She received the Cross of the Legion of Honor from the French government for her considerable relief work during World War I and the Pulitzer Prize for The Age of Innocence in 1921. Among her many works are a number of ghost stories such as "The Fullness of Life," "The Moving Finger," "Mr. Jones," "The Triumph of Night," and "Pomegranate Seed." New York Review of Books Classics has recently issued The New York Stories of Edith Wharton.

100 Books Every Child Should Read.

The Telegraph's list of 100 Books Every Child Should Read includes Roald Dahl (5 entries), Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek, H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, and Charles Portis's True Grit.

What—no Freddy the Detective?

Happy birthday, Richard Le Gallienne.

Writer-poet Richard Le Gallienne was born today in Liverpool in 1866 and died in 1947. The father of legendary actress Eva Le Gallienne, he had a substantial literary career starting in the Mauve Decade and eventually produced some 40 volumes of poetry, nonfiction works, and novels. A reader for the Bodley Head and a good friend of mystery author Grant Allen, he also was a critic, writing for newspapers such as the London Star, the New York Sun, and the New York Times. According to Richard Whittington-Egan in the August 2003 Contemporary Review, Le Gallienne, living in France in considerable difficulty during World War II, was offered various incentives to broadcast for the Germans but he rejected their overtures.

"...to the writer life seems still more real, and how much finer, as he lives it—in the starlight of words."—Richard Le Gallienne, Attitudes and Avowals (1910) 164

Triple-whammy birthday.

Today's three birthdays reflect the immense diversity in and richness of the mystery field.

Tormented genius Edgar Allan Poe was born today in Boston in 1809.

Strangers on a Train author Patricia Highsmith (and the creator of the creepy Mr. Ripley) was born today in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1921.

Patricia Moyes, the creator of sleuths Henry and Emmy Tibbett, was born today in 1923 in Ireland and died in 2000. A one-time assistant to Peter Ustinov and a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II, she published 19 mysteries with the Tibbetts, including Johnny Under Ground (1965), in which a corpse discovered at an abandoned World War II airfield has implications for both past and present. She received an Edgar for Many Deadly Returns (1970).

WPA Posters.

The Library of Congress has posted online highlights from its Works Progress Administration collection of posters. It spans the years 1936 to 1943.

Pat Paulsen for President.

For those suffering from primary fatigue, have a look back at perpetual candidate for president Pat Paulsen. Go here for video and audio clips as well as texts of Paulsen's editorials from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

"And, all the fuss about that Senator who rented a yacht at government expense and threw a series of wild orgies...Picky...picky...picky..." –Pat Paulsen (1968)

"Improving" Dame Agatha?

Gilbert Magazine, a publication of the American Chesterton Society, has posted an "Open Letter to the Agatha Christie Estate" by Chris Chan that criticizes the latest Miss Marple adaptations now airing on PBS. Says Chan, "When productions imply that Christie adaptations are only watchable if sex and violence is added, the battle for respectability is already lost." Similar howls of outrage were heard on DorothyL after Tuppence Beresford--hardly a mess as an accomplished spy and former World War I nurse--was portrayed as a lush by Greta Scacchi in the new adaptation of By the Pricking of My Thumbs. The discussion on the Mystery! board is equally negative, not least for the fact that many of the plots bear no resemblance to the original texts (such as the adaptation of Nemesis).

Insulting is the mind-set that older works must be "updated" because today's audiences will be unable to grasp their references. The popularity of Jane Austen adaptations demonstrates that audiences can understand and appreciate works written in another era (Miss Austen's unerring eye for universal characters undoubtedly is key as well). One blogger stated that as the Joan Hickson Marples and David Suchet Poirots were definitive, remakes serve no purpose and asks, "Why have we never seen Parker Pyne on our screens, for example?" It's a good question. Private investigator Pyne, teamed with Dame Agatha's alter ego Ariadne Oliver as he was in "The Case of the Discontented Soldier," would make for an entertaining series.

Haycraft-Queen: Update.

Since I last posted on the out-of-print Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone titles (those mysteries deemed essential by scholar Howard Haycraft and author Ellery Queen), there have been some welcome developments:

Rue Morgue Press announced reprints of HQ listers Manning Coles (aka Cyril Henry Coles and Adelaide Frances Oke Manning) and John Dickson Carr (aka Carter Dickson; pictured at left). The Coles title is Pray Silence (1940), featuring spy Tommy Hambledon; the Carr titles are The Judas Window and The Crooked Hinge (both 1938). Pray Silence is slated for February; the Carr titles slated for March.

The literary executor for H. F. Heard announced a reprint of HQ lister A Taste for Honey (1941). Blue Dolphin Publishing's edition is slated for March, followed eventually by the other Mr. Mycroft mysteries (Reply Paid; Murder by Reflection).

Haycraft-Queen Out-of-Print Titles in the United States
(Compiled and revised by Elizabeth Foxwell)

Anderson Frederick Irving - The Book of Murder - 1930
Armstrong Charlotte - The Unsuspected - 1946
Bailey H. C. - The Red Castle - 1932
Benson G. R. - Tracks in the Snow - 1906
Charteris Leslie [Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin] - Meet the Tiger - 1928
Coates Robert M. - Wisteria Cottage - 1948
Cole G. D. H. [G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole] - The Brooklyn Murders - 1923
Crispin Edmund [Robert Bruce Montgomery] - The Moving Toyshop - 1946
Dane Clemence [Winifred Ashton] and Helen Simpson - Re-enter Sir John - 1932
Davis Dorothy Salisbury - A Gentle Murderer - 1951
De la Torre Lillian [Lillian McCue] - Dr. Sam Johnson, Detector - 1946
Dickson Carter [John Dickson Carr] - Lord of the Sorcerers - 1946
Dunsany Lord - The Little Tales of Smethers - 1952
Eberhart Mignon G. - The Patient in Room 18 - 1929
Ellin Stanley - Dreadful Summit - 1948
Eustis Helen - The Horizontal Man - 1946
Frome David - The Hammersmith Murders - 1930
Gardner Erle Stanley - The Case of the Sulky Girl - 1933
Halsey Harlan Page - Old Sleuth, the Detective - 1872
Hammett Dashiell - The Adventures of Sam Spade - 1944
Hart Frances Noyes - The Bellamy Trial - 1927
Hughes Dorothy B. - The So Blue Marble - 1940
Iles Francis [Anthony Berkeley Cox] - Before the Fact - 1932
King Rufus - Murder by the Clock - 1929
Lawrence Hilda - Blood Upon the Snow - 1944
Lipsky Eleazar - The People Against O’Hara - 1950
Lockridge Frances and Richard Lockridge - The Norths Meet Murder - 1940
Lustgarten Edgar - A Case to Answer - 1947
MacDonald Philip - The Rasp - 1924
MacDonald Philip - The Nursemaid Who Disappeared [aka Warrant for X] - 1938
MacHarg William and Edwin Balmer - The Achievements of Luther Trant - 1910
Marquand John P. - No Hero - 1935
McCloy Helen - Through a Glass, Darkly - 1950
O’Higgins Harvey J. - Detective Duff Unravels It - 1929
Paul Elliot - The Mysterious Mickey Finn - 1939
Piper Evelyn - The Motive - 1950
Rawson Clayton - Death from a Top Hat - 1938
Rhode John - The Murders in Praed Street - 1928
Rhode John - The Paddington Mystery - 1925
Rice Craig - Trial by Fury - 1941
Rohmer Sax [Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward] - The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu - 1908
Ross Barnaby [Ellery Queen] - The Tragedy of Y - 1932
Seeley Mabel - The Listening House - 1938
Stribling T. S. - Clues of the Caribbees - 1929
Trevor Glen [James Hilton] - Murder at School [aka Was It Murder?] - 1931
Van Dine S. S. [Willard Huntington Wright] - The Benson Murder Case - 1926
Vickers Roy - The Department of Dead Ends - 1946
Walling R. A. J. - The Fatal Five Minutes - 1932
Walsh Thomas - Nightmare in Manhattan - 1950
Waters [William Russell] - Recollections of a Detective Police Officer - 1856
Wells Carolyn - The Clue - 1909

Happy birthday, Storm Jameson.

British novelist Margaret Storm Jameson was born today in Whitby in 1891. Before her death in 1986, she had produced more than 40 novels and a two-volume autobiography, Journey from the North (1969-70). Cambridge Scholars Publishing has recently issued a collection of critical essays on her work, Margaret Storm Jameson: Writing in Dialogue (2007).

The First Police Procedurals.

Michael over at 2blowhards recently stated,
". . . it was the crime novelist Ed McBain who kicked off the 'police procedural' genre. . . ."

Not precisely. Although Lawrence Treat denied it, he is frequently credited as the "father" of the police procedural, and Lancashire-born Maurice Procter also made important contributions, such as Hell Is a City (1954). In addition, according to Dean James, although McBain (aka Evan Hunter) certainly popularized and gave distinction to the police procedural, recognition should be given to American author Hillary Waugh (for Last Seen Wearing, 1952) and ever-energetic British writer John Creasey (under the J. J. Marric pseudonym, for Gideon's Day, 1955; filmed by John Ford as Gideon's Day, aka Gideon of Scotland Yard, 1958). Waugh's and Creasey's works appeared before McBain's Cop Hater (1956).

Richard Hannay returns.

The 39 Steps, a stage production of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film (which loosely adapted John Buchan's famous 1915 thriller), is now playing at the American Airlines Theater via the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. It runs through March 23rd.

In it, South African Richard Hannay is embroiled in espionage and murder and dodges various nefarious spies and the police in his efforts to uncover the truth.

Horrid Murder!

Harvard Law Library has a new digital collection, Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders, of more than 500 broadsides that were sold to witnesses of public executions in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. These include an 1808 account of mutiny, the execution of Fenians for killing a police officer in 1867, and the confession of Constance Kent for murdering her half-brother in 1860 (the case is the basis for Such Bitter Business by Elbur Ford, aka Victoria Holt).

(Hat tip to PhiloBiblos).

About the image: Rendering of 1890 murder victim Hiram Sawtell. Courtesy of Special Collections Department, Harvard Law School Library.

Paddington: Illegal alien?

Author Michael Bond plans to mark Paddington Bear's 50th anniversary with a new book, Paddington Here and Now, scheduled to be published in June. In it, the marmalade-loving bear faces arrest by police, who have questions about his immigration status (you may recall that Paddington originally hails from Peru, where his Aunt Lucy lives in a Home for Retired Bears). For further details, go here.

Happy birthday, Isaac Asimov.

Science fiction legend Isaac Asimov was born today in Russia in 1920. He died in 1992.

One does not need to look far for evidence of Asimov's work, which numbers approximately 500 books; Will Smith recently appeared in a film version of Asimov's I, Robot. But Asimov also has made some notable contributions to the mystery field. I am a particular fan of his entertaining Black Widowers tales, in which a perplexing mystery is solved after dinner not by any of the distinguished guests present but by the unassuming waiter Henry. Not long ago, Carroll & Graf published the collection The Return of the Black Widowers (introd. Harlan Ellison), and mystery fans often recall with affection Asimov's Murder at the ABA (not the American Bar Association, but the American Booksellers Association).

. . .in the 21st century, if we survive, we can imagine that our technological society will advance even further. There will be even more computerization and automation. The dull work of the world will be done by machines. Men and women themselves will be able to do the kind of work they want to do. Undoubtedly, some of them will want to be research scientists, or symphony conductors, or they will want to be great artists, or writers. . . . There will be enough people who will want to be that, and there will be people who will want to learn how to bowl perfectly, or how to collect leaves, or how to build battleships out of toothpicks. What's the difference? Whatever it is you do that makes you happy, and adds to the joyousness of the world, is justified.—Isaac Asimov, 1974.

Happy birthday, Jane Langton.

Jane Langton, creator of sleuth Homer Kelly, turns 85 today. Langton, who published her first Kelly mystery in 1964 and is a two-time Edgar nominee, has two upcoming novels: The Dragon Tree (for children) and the illustrated The Thurber Murder (for adults), the latter "a comic novel in the style of James Thurber."

Alice, Where Art Thou?

As I've published two short stories with Alice Roosevelt Longworth as detective, I looked forward to reading Alice: From White House Princess to Washington Power Broker by Stacy A. Cordery, the first biography of Theodore Roosevelt's eldest daughter that draws from Alice's embargoed diary and other personal papers. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I learned little that was new, plus the writing style is somewhat clunky and displays errors (despite the genealogical chart in the book, the author refers to journalist Joseph Alsop as Alice's nephew, whereas he was her cousin as the grandson of Alice's aunt Corinne Roosevelt Robinson). Other readers may be interested in the details about Alice's troubled marriage to philandering Ohio Congressman and Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth and her affair with Idaho Senator William Borah that produced a child, Paulina.

A media sensation when she was First Daughter (partly due to the fact that her stepmother shunned publicity), Alice is frequently typecast as purveyor of the bon mot, social gadfly, and persecutor of her cousins Eleanor and Franklin. What is often missed is her staggering intellect (her light reading was Greek philosophy) and her fierce family loyalty (although she imitated Eleanor's high voice, she also talked about Eleanor's beauty as a young woman and popularity with her relatives, disputing her cousin's portrayal of herself as an ugly duckling). Also, Eleanor and Franklin publicly opposed the candidacy of Alice's half-brother Ted for New York governor, which took Alice a long time to forgive.

A better alternative may be Mrs. L by Michael Teague, which is the result of interviews with Alice prior to her death. It's all in her own distinctive voice and lavishly illustrated.

"My specialty is detached malevolence."--Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Edward Hopper.

Recently I visited the Edward Hopper exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington (which goes on to the Art Institute of Chicago in February). Hopper's most well-known work is probably Nighthawks (1942), but some of his works have a certain noir feeling, as can be seen in Night Shadows (1921), which appears on the cover at left.

More on the exhibition, including images and video clips, can be seen here.

Happy birthday, Rod Serling.

My personal writing hero, Rod Serling, was born on Christmas Day in 1924 in Syracuse, New York. Creator of The Twilight Zone and winner of six Emmys, he was the gifted screenwriter on Patterns, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Seven Days in May, and Planet of the Apes. He died during a coronary bypass operation in 1975.

Stephen King, sadly, is dismissive of The Twilight Zone in Danse Macabre, but I admire TZ's tight structure (I think the half-hour programs are better than the one-hour ones), writing (in addition to Serling, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Charles Beaumont, Earl Hamner), acting, and twist endings. Here's how one teacher uses TZ in his classes. Serling had a distinguished teaching career at Ithaca College in New York, which honors him with a biennial conference. The Rod Serling Foundation is lobbying to put Serling on a U.S. postage stamp.

Be prepared to seek out the middle ground ... that wondrous and very difficult-to-find Valhalla where man can look to both sides and see the errant truths that exist on both sides. If you must swing left or you must swing right—respect the other side. Honor the motives that come from the other side. Argue, debate, rebut—but don't close those wondrous minds of yours to opposition.
—Rod Serling, Binghamton HS Commencement speech, 1968

Veni, vidi...

The Warrior Librarian has translated various helpful phrases into Latin, such as "Re vera, cara mea, mea nil refert" (Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn) and "Stultus est licut stultus facit" (Stupid is as stupid does).

And for the Latin speaker on your holiday list: Winnie the Pooh is now available in Latin (Winnie Ille Pu).

Happy birthday, Rebecca West.

Writer and journalist Rebecca West, aka Cecily Fairfield, was born today in Ireland in 1892. Some of her major works include the World War I novel The Return of the Soldier (1918), the Yugoslavian history Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), the examination of World War II traitors The Meaning of Treason (1949), and the novel The Fountain Overflows (1956). She had one son, Anthony West, by H. G. Wells. She died in 1983.

Time magazine praised her "incandescence of mind" in 1947. For more on West, see Janet Montefiore's Men and Women Writers of the Thirties: The Dangerous Flood of History, which also includes W. H. Auden, Montefiore's father-in-law Claud Cockburn, Storm Jameson, George Orwell, and Jean Rhys. I am mentioned in an endnote for providing materials relating to the one-time friendship between Jameson and Vera Brittain (Brittain introduced West to her future husband, Henry Maxwell Andrews. Andrews was a school friend of George Catlin, Brittain's husband).

Kansas City's Literary Parking Garage.

ALA blogger Keir Graff doesn't care for it, but I think the parking garage at the Kansas City Public Library is pretty nifty.

Behind the Templars.

A recent batch of holiday mail included a note from a friend: talented author and medieval historian Sharan Newman, whose latest book (from Berkley) is The Real History Behind the Templars. Sharan, who published the earlier The Real History Behind The DaVinci Code, was nominated for an Agatha for her first mystery novel, Death Comes as Epiphany, which features legendary lovers Heloise and Abelard.

Dean James visits; happy birthday, Marian Babson.

There has been a small hiatus in the blog as a friend was visiting: coauthor (The Robert B. Parker Companion with me), bookseller, professor, librarian, and award-winning writer Dean James. Starting in February, Dean will be teaching a course at Rice University on the American mystery; go here for further details.

American-born but resident in Britain, author Marian Babson turns 78 today. She has published more than 40 mysteries; her latest book is Only the Cat Knows.

About the photo: Author Dean James discovers his British namesake.
Photo: Elizabeth Foxwell.

Happy birthday, Marc Connelly.

Playwright Marc Connelly, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, was born today in Pennsylvania in 1890. His life in the theater began with a collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Dulcy (1921), which was a hit for Lynn Fontanne. He continued his collaboration with Kaufman with To the Ladies! (1922), a hit for Helen Hayes; Merton of the Movies (1922); and Beggar on Horseback (1924). He won the Pulitzer Prize for The Green Pastures (1930), which portrayed God as a black man, and the O Henry Award for his Collier's short story "Coroner's Inquest" (1930; rpt. in To the Queen's Taste, 1946, and Ellery Queen's Mini-mysteries, 1969). He died in 1980.

Helene Hanff discusses meeting Connelly in The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, as he was a fan of her earlier book, 84, Charing Cross Road.

Happy birthday, Rumer Godden and Philip R. Craig.

British author Rumer Godden, perhaps best known for the disturbing Black Narcissus that was made into the 1947 Powell and Pressburger film starring Deborah Kerr, marks her centenary today. She died in 1998.

And Philip R. Craig, who created former cop and fishing aficionado J. W. Jackson, was born today in Santa Monica, California, in 1933. Craig died in May of this year. Third Strike, his last novel with William G. Tapply that pairs Jackson with Tapply's lawyer Brady Coyne, has just been published.

More on American Bestsellers.

The University of Virginia has an interesting online exhibit on bestsellers, "Rave Reviews: Bestselling Fiction in America." Authors and works featured include Mickey Spillane's I the Jury, Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber (dubbed "Trollop with a Wallop" by Bennett Cerf), Frank Yerby's The Foxes of Harrow, Frederick Forsyth's The Odessa File, and nineteenth-century author E.D.E.N. Southworth (fictionalized in Joanne Dobson's The Northbury Papers).

Twentieth-century American bestsellers.

I stumbled on a fascinating online resource stemming from a 2006 class taught by John Unsworth, now vice provost at Brandeis University. It's a database of twentieth-century U.S. bestsellers, organized by author, with entries by students from Brandeis, the Catholic University of America, University of Illinois, and University of Virginia. The entries include physical descriptions of the particular work, publication history, analysis of sales (if information is available), and quotes from reviews. The mystery-related works range from S. S. Van Dine's The Bishop Murder Case (1929), Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938), and Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain (1969) to Agatha Christie's Sleeping Murder (1976), Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October (1984), and Mary Higgins Clark's Loves Music, Loves to Dance (1991).

It's interesting to look at the posted bestsellers list by decade (from Publishers Weekly and Bowker's Annual) for a peek into their eras: The two Theodore Roosevelt books in 1920 after his 1919 death; the over-the-top The Sheik by Edith M. Hull (1919; US publication 1921. "'Oh you brute! You brute!' she wailed, until his kisses silenced her"); the reappearing names of Winston Churchill, A. J. Cronin, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Rafael Sabatini, and others over several years.

The entries, it must be noted, vary in writing quality, and not all bestsellers are covered. However, as it can be difficult to find accurate information on such works, this resource is very helpful.

Happy birthday, Joseph Conrad and Mark Salzman.

Secret Agent and Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad was born today in the Ukraine (then part of Poland) in 1857. He died in 1924.

And Iron & Silk author Mark Salzman turns 48 today. Don't miss his hilarious memoir Lost in Place, in which he talks about running around in a Kung Fu wig and pyjamas as an aspiring martial arts master in suburban Connecticut. A more sober and equally fine contribution is True Notebooks, in which he discusses teaching writing to prisoners.

Happy birthday, Rex Stout.

Rex Todhunter Stout, creator of orchid-loving sleuth Nero Wolfe, was born today in Indiana in 1886. His many works range from the anonymous The President Vanishes (1934) to the final Wolfe novel A Family Affair (1975) and the address "Watson Was a Woman." His colorful life included a stint as a yeoman aboard Theodore Roosevelt's yacht Mayflower, where he won more money playing whist than his Navy salary, and chair of the War Writers Board during World War II. Fer-de-Lance, the first Wolfe novel, appeared in 1934, followed by more than 70 books or stories. Named a Grand Master in 1959, he died in 1975.

Wolfe has appeared in several radio series (including one where Sidney Greenstreet played Wolfe), two films, and two television productions (1981 and 2000-02). Two of Stout's early pulp works have recently been reissued.