News, Etc.

Man seated

(Photo thanks to Mindy Ewing)

Hear yours truly read his Alfred Hitchcock's Magazine short story, The Explosives Expert, at http://ahmm.podomatic.com/entry/2011-12-22T08_30_44-08_00

My short story Tough has been optioned for film.

Check out new collection of short stories, Shadows Everywhere, at www.macabreink.com/cpmain/category/authors/john-lutz/

SERIAL made Strand Magazine's Twelve Best Books of the Year list. Very gratifying.

Bouchercon was great, thanks to Kensington, Open Road, the Jordans, and all who were involved in organizing.

The new thriller, SERIAL, is selling well. Was #6 on St. Louis Independent bookstores list.

The Fred Carver P.I. series, set in Florida, has been reissued in ebook format by Open Road Media.
www.openroadmedia.com

And the Nudger P.I. series, which ran concurrently with Carver only set in St. Louis, is now available in ebook or print from Speaking Volumes.
www.speakingvolumes.us/indexflsh.asp

A new edition of Fear the Night, a stand-alone that I think is one of the best of the NYC thrillers, has been repblished, and at a bargain price.

A reissue of the thriller SINGLE WHITE FEMALE will be published September 1, 2011.

I've written an introduction for the previously published Stanly Ellin short story THE DAY OF THE BULLET, to be published when the story appears in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Ellin, in most everyone's opinion, was one of the great short story writers of the last century. Read BULLET and you'll see why. But don't stop there. Every Ellin story is a flawless gem. (If you like BULLET try THE MOMENT OF DECISION.)

Spent time in New York, learned that some of the Quinn novels were to be published in England and Indonesia. More pins on the map. Saw plays including Driving Miss Daisy. If you find yourself near Broadway, NYC, see that one if you can, and then see Brief Encouner. Both superb. And definitely see Catch me if You Can, if you can.

The thriller MISTER X got a starred prepublication review in Publishers Weekly.

MISTER X is in the stores and in digital and audio format. Read it if you dare.

Here's the link for a neat little video made by Open Road Integrated Media, released to coincide with publication of the above mentioned
MISTER X www.openroadmedia.com

Also check out the cool site at www.kensingtonbooks.com.

Some of the Frank Quinn novels will be published in China, beginning in 2012. You go, Chinese economy!

Check out Stages, in St. Louis, for some of the best live theater west of Broadway, NYC.

NEW AND UPCOMING WORK:

FEAR THE NIGHT, the above-mentioned new edition is now available.

Look for the reissue of SWF, in September, 2011.

The short story MOM'S KITCHEN will be published in Murder Here, Murder There in 2011.

The short story EYE OF THE STORM, written in collabortion with Lise Baker, is in the ITW anthology First Thrills, edited by Lee Child.

The short story RECREATIONAL VEHICLE is now out in the new anthology Sex, Lies, and Private Eyes. A Nudger-Carver story.

A previously published short story, THE WEAPON, was produced for French television.

Another story, MITT'S MURDER, appears in the anthology At the Scene of the Crime.

Also, the short story COFFEE AND CONVERSATION appears in the anthology Murder Past, Murder Present.

The previously published short story THE FINAL REEL was produced for French televsion.

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MOVIES THAT CAME AND WENT, BUT IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO RENT:

THE ARTIST
See why silent films were so appealing. From satire to sadness to greatness.

THE SKIN I LIVE IN.
Pedro Almodovar, perhaps the most daring and innovative film maker around, scores high again. Strange, spellbinding, and tightly plotted. Did I mention strange?

POINT BLANK
This one has nothing to do with the old Lee Marvin movie of the same title. This is a French thriller that will have you holding your breath as you watch it. Bring a respirator.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
If you're into the Lost Generation and Paris in the twenties (when it's raining), you'll lose yourself in this movie.

THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR
Jeff Bridges gives us a fascinating look into the mind of a children's lit. writer.

DE-LOVELY
A sometimes overlooked great movie about one of America's great composers. Pulls no punches. Gets in a few accurate kicks.

DERAILED
A nifty little thriller. You think you have it figured out and then you don't and then you think you have it figured out and then...

THE BREAK
A taut and moody thriller that moves from Ireland to New York City. Well worth the trip.

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Leisurely, surprising, and brilliant.

EYE OF THE NEEDLE
Still a terrific suspense movie. Worth watching even if you saw it first time around. Donald Sutherland is great in this, and particularly menacing.MONSIEUR HIRE
One of the best movies ever about murder and obsessive love. Beautifully filmed, scored, acted, plotted. It will surprise you time after time as it weaves its spell. Six out of five stars.

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG
Sure, this French mystery itself sometimes seems so long. It takes its time introducing and exploring an intriguing predicament, meandering from plot turn to plot turn like a befuddled and curious gendarme. But it's well worth your time to see the marvelously talented Kriston Scott Thomas raise her craft to the level of an art, with never a false moment.

BURN AFTER READING
What happens when everyone's stars are unfavorably aligned? Fickle fate meets human foible meets bureaucratic implacability meets the Coen brothers. When you're not smiling while watching this film, you'll be laughing, from beginning to end. The Coen brothers have everything perfectly aligned in this movie, including its talented stars. Nobody underdoes it better.

GRAND TORINO. Eastwood's thoughtful, high quality cross between DIRTY HARRY and ALL IN THE FAMILY really does deserve more attention than it got.

VICKY, CRISTINA, BARCELONA
Two young American women are up to mischeif in Spain with a trendy painter. His explosive wife complicates things. People talk like Woody Allen, mostly about relationships. Lots of conversation, sex, wine, surreal painting, off-camera narration, on-camera screaming, deep contemplation, and relationships. You'll like this one a lot if you're a Woody Allen fan, and like it at least a little even if you aren't. Good stuff.

ROMAN DE GARE
A dandy French movie about an escaped serial killer, a researching novelist, peasant life, nouveau riche life, wrong vehicular turns, and wrong romantic turns. LIke many good French movies, it keeps taking you where you don't expect to go, but always someplace interesting. Well worth seeing.

THE LOOKOUT
A former high school hockey star has an auto accident that leaves him mentally impaired and in no condition to get mixed up with bank robbers. But he does. Terrific in a small way, and probably the most original movie of 2007.

LUST, CAUTION
Politics, love, murder, intrigue, betrayal, sex among people who've obviously read the Kama Sutra. A finely tuned work of art, beautifully filmed and directed, with pitch perfect performances. Probably the best movie of 2007.

SPIDER
I have a theory that any movie or novel with the word spider in the title won't find much of an audience. How about a movie with that title precisely, directed by David Cronenberg, staring Ralph Fiennes, Gabriel Byrne, and Miranda Richardson? How about if it's a minor masterpiece? Such a movie came and went, way too fast. I'm afraid not nearly enough people saw it or were even made aware of it. Maybe because of its grim subject matter. Okay, it will cheer you down. But then, so will HAMLET.

MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY
Okay, you want to cheer up? Watch the first fifteen minutes of this one. The rest of the film is also good, but the first fifteen or twenty minutes after the credits are great. Gotta watch closely, though.

RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
This is an mesmerizing Civil War movie starring Toby McGuire and the singer/actress Jewel. Adapted from a fine novel by Dan Woodrell. Grit, violence, and insight along the Kansas Missouri border. See this and you won't understand why it wasn't number one in the box office war.

WINTER'S BONE
This gem is also an adaptation of a Dan Woodrell novel. Maybe everything Dan Woodrell ever wrote should be adapted for film. In this one, hard, hard times aren't enough to overwhelm an even harder young Missouri woman. What she needs, she reaches back and finds. The girl's got grit. If you haven't seen this film, do yourself a favor and find it, see it. Grim but great.

Not a movie, but something worth watching (or worth watching again) is the Upstairs, Downstairs British TV series that was popular in the seventies. Hugely entertaining and a great representation of the British Empire's class system during its heyday and eventual dissolution in its journey toward the light.

Which leads me to recommend the brilliant movie Remains of the Day. We can only hope that somewhere along the line the butler in Remains met Hudson the butler in Upstairs, Downstairs.

FAREWELL, an excellent espionage film. Relive the Cold War, with Fred Ward's eerily on target portrayal of Ronald Reagan. Secret papers, miniature cameras, intricate exchanges, people following people following people. This is a spy film you can wallow in.

PHOTOS...

Panel at B'con 42

Panel at B'con 42 in St. Louis; Janet Rudolph (mod);Reed Farrel Coleman; Allison Gaylin; Sohpie Littlefield;
John Lutz; Jason Pinter.

John and Jason Pinter on panel

John and Jason Pinter on B'con 42 panel.

John signing books

John signing books at B'con 42

Katherine Neville, Doug Allyn & John Lutz at 2011 Edgar Awards

Man and woman standing

John with Eleanor Sullivan at Big Read.

John with his ace editor Michaela

Hamilton

Left Bank Books at Big Read

With author Claire Applewhite at Big Read.

Two men at sales table

With Jeremy Meyer at Books A Million

John Lutz receiving an honorary degree

John with his wife Barbara, after he received an honorary Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, thus establishing his bona fides as an absent-minded professor. It’s okay now to lose the car.

John Lutz captivating an audience

John captivating B&N audience. Some were so mesmerized that after the presentation they had to be prodded out of their advanced states of concentration.