Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Jim Fusilli wins the Gumshoe!



Jim Fusilli--mystery writer, rock critic, a new ARLA client--has won the 4th Annual Gumshoe Awards for Best Mystery. The awards are given by Mystery Ink to recognize the best achievements in crime fiction. Jim won for his latest HARD, HARD CITY. Congratulations, Jim!

Friday, March 04, 2005

Dennis Lehane hits a triple!

"Until Gwen," Dennis Lehane's masterful story that was published in The Atlantic Monthly last year, has been selected for both THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2005 and THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2005. Before this year, no one had been selected for both collections at the same time. Adding to the fun, the story was just optioned by screenwriter Josh Olson. Congratulations, Dennis!

GOD WANTS YOU TO read this book

Entertainment Weekly raves about GOD WANTS YOU TO ROLL!
This swiftly paced book follows two young scam artists who finagled money up front for cars that never materialized. In 1997 in a church in L.A.'s Compton area, Robert Gomez, 22, climbed into the pulpit and told congregants that his (mythical) late father intended "that items from his estate go to Christian men and women who need help in their lives . . . who want some sort of miracle to demonstrate that God is watching." Those items--extremely low-priced automobiles--became known to the faithful as Miracle Cars. Soon, Gomez and his partner, James Nichols, had unwitting pastors spread the word for them in a con that continued for five years, spanned the U.S., and brought in some $21 million. Phillips's suspenseful story delivers what his antiheroes
could not: a terrific ride. A-
--Kostyd Kennedy

Quelle Surprise! More praise for THE BOOK OF KEHLS

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune joins the chorus of praise for Christine O'Hagan's THE BOOK OF KEHLS. Colleen Kruse writes,
It's a daring story to tell. Not only does O'Hagan admit to all of the messy, imperfect love that lives in a mother's elastic heart, she admits to totally falling apart in the days after her son's illness is diagnosed. As a good girl from working-class Irish stock, she knows that it is "no small thing to come home to a hot meal." And yet, when her husband, every bit as distressed as she is, comes home from a hard day's work to find moldy laundry and the house in disarray, there is no glossing over the argument. O'Hagan's mother, no doubt remembering her own episodes of minor hysteria as the young mother of a son with DMD, cuts through her daughter's fog of despair and exhaustion. "Get up out of that ... bed! Enough is enough. ... You're falling down on the job." The kids needed a mother, Patrick needed a wife and she didn't raise a quitter. Realizing that her mother was right, O'Hagan returned to her daily battles with a tougher hide.
Read the whole review here.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Adam Fawer talks about his book


One of ARLA's favorite websites is texts and pretexts, and not just because they did a a great interview with Adam Fawer last week. Read the Q&A with Adam here, and buy his book here.

Let Avis Berman teach you something about art


ARLA's resident art historian, Avis Berman, will lecture on "Edward Hopper's New York" on April 13 at the New York Studio School. Her essay on the same topic is scheduled to run in "City" section of the New York Times on Sunday, March 27 . So, read the article and come to the lecture to ask her questions! In case you were wondering, yes, this is all in concert with the publishing of her new book, EDWARD HOPPER'S NEW YORK, seen above.