Mystery

A "perfect fit" is how John Cross, co-owner of Foul Play Mystery Bookshop in Westerville, Ohio, described the store's sponsorship of Mystery! on WOSU, the local PBS station. "People have always come in looking for the books on Mystery!" he explained.

On Thursday, February 6, NBC News' Today Show announced that the eighth selection of its monthly "Today Book Club" is The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor). The title was an Autumn 2002 Top Ten Book Sense Mystery 76 pick.

Dear Booksellers, As always, thank you for all the great recommendations. A few very deserving mysteries you e-mailed me about are due in March, so we may have enough for another mystery 76 top ten. And look for more category 76s soon; go to http://www.bookweb.org/read/2330 for a schedule and nomination deadlines. Thanks again! Carl carl@booksense.com

The pad is on press now and will be in the October white box mailing. You can also click here for the list in PDF format. Thanks! Carl carl@booksense.com

The USA Today book club has chosen Walter Mosley’s Bad Boy Brawly Brown as its latest selection. The newspaper announced its third choice -- and the first cloth title -- in its July 2 edition.

By Carl Lennertz Whodunit? You did. Thank you for the great recommendations you’ve been sending in and I’ve been tallying. A neat Top Ten, yes? The pad of 100 fliers goes to press momentarily, headed for the June white box mailing to you.

Make no mistake, notwithstanding its witty title, A Child’s Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper (Scribner) is definitely not a tale for little ones. This Book Sense 76 March/April selection is a story that mingles animal characters from children’s books with true crime elements -- a gruesome murder, an unexplained disappearance -- and perpetual human dramas -- the search for truth and the loss of innocence.

George P. Pelecanos, the crime-fiction author whose Hell to Pay (Little, Brown) is a Book Sense 76 pick for March/April, started laying the groundwork for a writing career when he was still a youngster -- although he didn't know it then.

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2002 Edgar Awards, the top awards for mystery authors. The Edgars will be presented at an awards ceremony at New York City's Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 2. Among those nominated are: Best Novel

Quick, now: Who was the biggest-selling crime-fiction writer in the United Kingdom in 2001, according to official industry figures? P.D. James? Ruth Rendell? Patricia Cornwell? John Grisham?