Internet Radio Show "Mystery Matters"

Looking at mystery writer Maggie Bishop's website [see below], I checked her webpage of personal appearances and saw it included an interview on May 15th. More specifically, it says: Radio interview by Fran Stewart on Mystery Matters internet radio.

Mystery Matters?

Well, checking Fran Stewart's webpage I found a link to "Mystery Matters: Where Murder is an Open Book." It is an hour-long, weekly radio show hosted by the award-winning mystery writer Stewart with interviews and discussions about all types of mysteries. (Stewart writes the "Biscuit McKee" mystery series--a librarian and amateur sleuth in Georgia--with the newest title Indigo as an Iris. The webpage includes a search show option which would lead me to the "Maggie Bishop interview" I mentioned earlier.

This radio show airs on Fridays at 10 a.m. EST on the VoiceAmerica, talk radio network. And as one who listens to talk radio on the internet anyway (along with other programming), I'm glad to catch on this show which is PC keystrokes away.

Traveling through the Appalachians--

With the vacation season rapidly coming into full tilt, stories with a sense of community and adventure are appreciated and writer Maggie Bishop manages that with her North Carolina mountains stories. Her newest book was released last year and I found on my library's new fiction shelf weeks ago--Perfect for Framing.

Bishop's author website (which includes this photo) says: In Perfect for Framing, the second in the Appalachian Adventures Mystery series, CSI wannabe, Jemma Chase, has carpentry skills that lead to fire, a peeping Tom, truck trouble and a body. Jemma knows it wasn't an accident but tangles with Detective Tucker about the meaning of clues. The first book was Murder at Blue Falls: the Horse Found the Body and published in 2006.

In fact, during a recent trip to Asheville I remember browsing through mysteries at a bookshop and thinking that a local writer should have a book there...

All the same, I'm glad to discover Ms. Bishop's now and I look forward to listening to her as this month's participant on Mystery Matters.

From a(nother) Desk Calendar

A co-worker passed on a entry from her calendar months ago and I've held on it, guessing it might be useful at some point. Her calendar, the Book Lover's Calendar for 2009 has daily picks for recommended books and/or authors.

The date I have is for January 27th for two titles by Ian Sansom. In a nice synopsis from Booklist, it reads: British author Ian Sansom (The Impartial Recorder) gives us a hilarious mystery series set in north Ireland and starring Israel Armstrong, a bumbling, lovable vegetarian nebbish of a librarian who takes a mobile library.

Hence, the "mobile mystery series" is born with the first two titles The Case of the Missing Books and Mr. Dixon Disappears mentioned on the calendar entry. (Here's a pix of the first book,) My library has those titles and a third, newer one, The Book Stops Here from last year. It is also a book, I've noticed on our library's "new fiction" display downstairs. All book titles are paperbacks.

The Pix of the Week (from my desk calendar)...

For several years, I've purchased a weekly engagement calendar to prop up on my desk at work to keep up with events and to use for note taking during an occasional meeting. Typically, it would some sort of art, I love Claude Monet's work. This year, though, I purchased Jill Krementz's The Writer's Desk 2009 Calendar--it has great black and white photographs of famous authors--and this week I have photo and quote from writer Elemore Leonard. Here's a photo from the author's website.

And if I remember correctly, I did mention to my library's mystery book club that during a 2005 Time magazine interview, Leonard was described as being "the greatest living writer of crime fiction" by the New York Times. The calendar features Leonard quoting: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

A "Mystery 101" Column for All

I peeked through the newest Booklist magazine--an American Librarian Association publication--and found an enjoyable column about mystery books for the librarian and general reader alike. Joyce Saricks, adjunct faculty member of Dominican University and writer, dubs her newest column a sort of "Mystery 101 for readers."

Saricks is author of Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library and nicely nails down the popularity and wide appeal of mysteries here. This is a well-constructed, quick read for those whom may even read crime fiction all the time.