Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

The year is nearly a quarter over (where’d the time go?!), so that means it’s time to start thinking about the Independent Literary Awards. For those who may be unfamiliar with what those are:

Independent Literary Awards are given to books that have been recommended and voted on by independent literary bloggers. Nominations are open to independent literary bloggers only, and are then voted upon by a panel of bloggers who are proficient in the genre they represent. Each panel is led by a judge who oversees the integrity of the process.

The awards are given in a number of genres, and I am honored to have been asked to serve as a member of the “Mystery” panel.

Nominations in all genres will be open from September 1st through December 31st, and I encourage my fellow bloggers to participate in that process. If the spirit moves you, also feel free to add an Independent Literary Awards button to your website and help spread the word. There are going to be a lot of great books to consider by the time September rolls around, so start making your list now!

Read more about the Independent Literary Awards.

If you’re a reader and you’re on Twitter, chances are you already know about Friday Reads. But for those who may not haven heard of this great meme, here’s the low down:

Friday Reads is a community of thousands of people who come together each week to share whatever they’re reading. Our goal is simple: to raise reading’s visibility and encourage more people to join in!

Right now, 20% of American adults are functionally illiterate. The situation is not much better in the UK, with 18% of people illiterate. We all want to make the world a better place. Reading is one thing we can all do to achieve that lofty goal. This is why #fridayreads matters: it bands us together in the shared joy of reading and encourages us all to read more. (more…)

Investigation Discovery is launching a new series called James Ellroy’s L.A.: City of Demons, in which author James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential) takes a fresh look at some of Hollywood’s most notorious crimes from the past to the present.

The six-part series showcases Ellroy’s larger-than-life personality, and debuts tomorrow night (Wednesday, January 19th at 10PM ET) with the episode “Dead Women Own Me:”

The series begins with a deeply personal account of the genesis of Ellroy’s fascination with crime: the unsolved murder of his mother in 1958. This harrowing event formed his moral and spiritual attachment to devastated women. “Murdered women own me,” he narrates, and after a long downward spiral with drugs, booze and petty crime, the obsession provided him with the fire and fury to write his unprecedentedly praised crime novels and memoirs. “Dead Women Own Me” also highlights the homicides of a young 16-year-old girl murdered in her own home and a woman kidnapped while using an ATM machine.

Future episodes will cover topics including: the mob and the LAPD; LA’s nightclub scene; 1950’s tabloids; serial killers, such as the “Hillside Stranglers”; and notorious celebrities who ended up”strung out, snuffed out, locked up, and lusted over.”

You can learn more about Investigation Discovery and the James Ellroy’s L.A.: City of Demons series by visiting the Investigation Discovery website. You can also find Investigation Discovery on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Investigation Discovery recently launched a new series called Hardcover Mysteries, in which top fiction crime writers share stories of real-life cases that inspired them to write, or captured their fascination.

The episode debuting tomorrow night (Monday, Nov. 22 at 9PM ET) features New York Times bestselling author and creator of Temperance “Bones” Brennan, Kathy Reichs.

In the episode, Reichs recounts her real-life involvement as a forensic anthropologist in one of the most sensational homicide investigations in Canadian history and how the case inspired elements in her first novel, Dèja Dead.

Discovery Investigation was kind enough to let me pre-screen the episode, and I assure you it’s a gripping case:

Louise Ellis, a 46-year-old journalist from Ottawa, Canada, was on her way to visit friends in the Gatineau Hills, but never arrived. When a friend finds her car parked on a roadside with her belongings inside, authorities begin to suspect foul play. Detectives narrow in on two suspects – her new husband and her ex-boyfriend – but they can’t find Ellis’s body.

Reichs, who was writing her first book at the time she was called in to work on the Louis Ellis case, recounts how she felt a very personal connection with Ellis. They were both writers, strong willed, independent and, at times, argumentative. Reichs also notes that the case contained many of the same elements that make a good fiction thriller: twists and turns, as well as several false leads.

Unlike the villains in her novels however, which she prefers to keep in the “deep background” until unveiled, the villain in the Ellis case ended up being right under the investigators’ noses from the very beginning. To find out who it was, and hear Reichs talk about how the case “stayed with her,” tune in to Hardcover Mysteries on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 9PM.

Investigation Discovery has generously provided an autographed copy of Kathy Reichs’ new Temperance Brennan novel, Spider Bones, for one of my readers. To be entered for a chance to win, just leave a comment below. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you’re the lucky winner! Contest open to U.S. addresses only, and runs through midnight on November 27, 2010.

You can learn more about Investigation Discovery and the Hardcover Mysteries series by visiting the Investigation Discovery website. You can also find Investigation Discovery on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

A few weeks ago I was flattered to be contacted by Cathy from Kittling: Books asking if I wanted to participate in her Scene of the Blog feature. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Scene of the Blog goes behind the scenes with book bloggers and shows what their work spaces look like. It’s a feature I’ve always enjoyed, but never thought I’d be asked to be a part of.

So if you’re interested to see what kind of environment an All Purpose Monkey thrives in, pop over to Kittling: Books… and be sure to take a look around and say “Hi!” to Cathy while you’re there.

Investigation Discovery is launching a new series tonight (Monday, October 11th at 9pm) called Hardcover Mysteries:

Hardcover Mysteries travels inside the minds of America’s most popular novelists to explore the crossover from fact to fiction. How much of today’s great mystery writing springs from the imagination… and how much of it is ripped from the headlines?

In this new series, top fiction crime writers share stories of real-life cases that inspired them to write, or captured their fascination.

Authors being featured: David Baldacci, Sandra Brown, Sara Paretsky, Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, Harlan Coben, Kathy Reichs, and Joseph Wambaugh.

For more information, visit the Investigation Discovery: Hardcover Mysteries website.

As a lifelong reader, and fan of crime fiction in particular, I’m always on the lookout for new avenues to help feed my obsession. Imagine my joy when publisher Little, Brown and Company announced recently that they were going to give me not just a new avenue but an entire drive.

Mulholland Books, named after the infamous Mulholland Drive, has a very simple goal: “to publish books you can’t stop reading. Whatever their form – crime novels, thrillers, police procedurals, spy stories, even supernatural suspense – the promise of a Mulholland Book is that you’ll read it leaning forward, hungry for the next word.”

They’re not playing around, folks. The list of talent already signed include heavy hitters such as Mark Billingham, Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Charlie Huston, Michael Robotham, Duane Swierczynski, and Daniel Woodrell among others. And they’re not waiting for the first round of books to be published before delivering the goods!

Mulholland Books has been presenting some of the best guest blogs I’ve read in quite some time, all written by authors who more than know their way around suspense fiction: “Sex and Violence, Please” by Max Allan Collins, “Guns to Shape the Future” by Charlie Huston, “Thank You for Smoking” by Mark Billingham, “See You in the Darkness” by Megan Abbott, “From Suspense to Dread” by Paul Hoffman, “The Dark Heart of Noir” by Charles Ardai… are you kidding me? This is damn good stuff!

I have seen the future of suspense fiction; its name is Mulholland Books. Do yourself a favor and go for a drive.

Le0pard13 at Lazy Thoughts From A Boomer posted a fun meme today called “Films I Can Happily Watch Over and Over Again.” The purpose of the meme, as you would expect from the title, is to make a list of films that you will watch over and over again and still never get tired of them.

The rules for this meme are as follows:

1. Provide a non-exhaustive list of films you’ll happily watch again and again.
2. There is no rule 2.
3. Reprint the rules.
4. Tag three others and ask them to do the same.

Ask me to do this again tomorrow and you may get a list that looks fairly different, but for today at least these are the ones that immediately popped to mind as being ones I’ll pull off the DVD shelf over and over or will stop to watch whenever I’m flipping channels and they’re on.

As for tagging, I’d love to hear what @PopCultureNerd and @Fyrebear from Twitter have to say, and I’m gonna tag a couple of people via Facebook as well who will hopefully share their lists here. Please feel free to share yours as well… or comment on my list.