I wish all LRI readers all the best for the holiday season and thank you for your support (and your e-mails which are always welcome).
Let us end the year on an encouraging note, from the UK:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/thirties-murder-mystery-novel-is-surprise-runaway-christmas-hit-9938088.html
Is Golden Age Detection making a comeback? One swallow doesn’t make a summer (as they say in the UK–“swallow” as in the bird) but maybe people are finally tiring of plot-less drivel and social messaging disguised as detective fiction.
Maybe Michael Dirda’s enthusiastic review of the Derek Smith Omnibus in the Washington Post was a foretaste of things to come:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-derek-smith-omnibus-by-derek-howe-smith/2014/08/27/f31f1ff0-26da-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html?tid=hpModule_5fb4f58a-8a7a-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e
I pledge to do my part:
“In Praise of Honkaku” (by John Pugmire)
There will be a lot of interesting stuff by LRI in 2015. I’ll fill in the details as soon as all the agreements are firmly in place. My goal is at least six top-flight impossible crime novels in 2015.
Happy New Year!
John P.