Recommended reading - City Primeval & Fire in the Hole, by Elmore Leonard:

City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit
Fire in the Hole: and Other Stories

Both books filmed as the TV series Justified: City Primeval (2023).

City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit

By Elmore Leonard.

Published by Mariner Books.

First published 1980

ISBN-10: 0062191357

ISBN-13: 978-0062191359

Description:

“As gritty and hard-driving a thriller as you’ll find…. The action never stops, the language sings and stings.”

– Washington Post.

Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The cool killer is already back on the Detroit scene – thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his lawyer – and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked judge on a whim. Lieutenant Raymond Cruz thinks the “Oklahoma Wildman” crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho meets an end he deserves, with a gun pointed at him. But that means a good cop, having to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules . . . in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he can't walk away from.

Fire in the Hole: and Other Stories

By Elmore Leonard.

Published by Mariner Books.

Published 2012.

ISBN-10: 0062120344

ISBN-13: 9780062120342

Description:

“[Leonard’s] most satisfying book since Out of Sight…. Top-notch work from one of our most gifted and consistently entertaining writers.” – New York Times Book Review.

“Vintage Leonard…. Nine stories with booze and shotguns and lowlifes…and lots of scenes that ought to be in movies.”

– Detroit Free Press.

“If Leonard were a new kid instead of a past master, this fiction collection would make his name.” – People.

“Rummaging through Leonard’s attic via these nine stories revives some fond memories and turns up a couple of forgotten treasures.” – Kirkus Reviews.

“Elmore Leonard’s 39th book ...finds one of America’s most accomplished novelists presenting his most accomplished female characters in years.” – USA Today.

In this superb short fiction collection, Elmore Leonard, “the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever” (New York Times Book Review), once again illustrates how the line between the law and the lawbreakers is not as firm as we might think. In the title story, the basis for the hit FX series Justified, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens meets up with an old friend, but they’re now on different sides of the law. Federal marshal Karen Sisco, from Out of Sight, returns in “Karen Makes Out,” once again inadvertently mixing pleasure with business. In “When the Women Come Out to Dance,” Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage. These nine stories are the great Elmore Leonard at his vivid, hilarious, and unfailingly human best.

Recommended reading – Beeswax Alchemy (2015):

Beeswax Alchemy

How to Make Your Own Soap, Candles, Balms, Creams, and Salves from the Hive

By Petra Ahnert.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1592539793

ISBN-13: 978-1592539796

Published 2015.

Description:

“This is the book I’ve been waiting thirty years for. Excellent instructions. Bountiful information. Beautifully done.”

– Kim Flottum, beekeeper; author of The Backyard Beekeeper, Better Beekeeping, and The Backyard Beekeeper’s Honey Handbook; and editor of Bee Culture magazine.

Create natural beeswax products for health and home.

Beeswax is truly the miracle of the beehive. Although honeybees use it to build their hives and protect their young, you can use it to make everything from candles to lip balm to decorative fabric.

Regardless of whether you are a veteran beekeeper or someone who just likes the way beeswax looks and smells, you’ll learn from apiarist and entrepreneur Petra Ahnert, who will teach you how to transform this miraculous material into the beautiful, useful, and unexpected.

Inside you’ll find:

An introduction to beeswax’s form and functions.

Tips and techniques for transforming beeswax into useful products for home and health.

Detailed recipes to get you started crafting your own soaps, balms, salves, and more.

Recommended reading – The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (2007):

The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps

The Best crime stories from the pulps during their golden age - the '20s, '30s, & '40s.

Edited by Otto Penzler.

Publisher: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard.

Published 2007.

ISBN-10: 0307280489

ISBN-13: 978-0307280480

Paperback.

Unabridged.

Anthology of short stories.

Back cover description:

The biggest, the boldest, the most comprehensive collection of Pulp writing ever assembled.

Weighing in at over a thousand pages, containing over forty-seven stories and two novels, this book is big baby, bigger and more powerful than a freight train—a bullet couldn’t pass through it. Here are the best stories and every major writer who ever appeared in celebrated Pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and more. These are the classic tales that created the genre and gave birth to hard-hitting detectives who smoke criminals like packs of cigarettes; sultry dames whose looks are as lethal as a dagger to the chest; and gin-soaked hideouts where conversations are just preludes to murder. This is crime fiction at its gritty best.

Including:

Three stories by Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Dashiell Hammett.

Complete novels from Carroll John Daly, the man who invented the hard-boiled detective, and Fredrick Nebel, one of the masters of the form.

A never before published Dashiell Hammett story.

Every other major pulp writer of the time, including Paul Cain, Steve Fisher, James M. Cain, Horace McCoy, and many, many more of whom you’ve probably never heard.

Three deadly sections–The Crimefighters, The Villains, and Dames–with three unstoppable introductions by Harlan Coben, Harlan Ellison, and Laura Lippman.

Featuring:

Plenty of reasons for murder, all of them good.

A kid so smart–he’ll die of it.

A soft-hearted loan shark’s legman learning–the hard way–never to buy a strange blonde a hamburger.

The uncanny “Moon Man” and his mad-money victims.

Contents:

Otto Penzler: Foreword. Part One: The Crimefighers. Harlan Coben: Introduction. Paul Cain: One, Two, Three. Dashiell Hammett: The Creeping Siamese. Erle Stanley Gardner: Honest Money. Horace McCoy: Frost Rides Alone. Thomas Walsh: Double Check. Charles G. Booth: Stag Party. Leslie T. White: The City of Hell! Raymond Chandler: Red Wind. Fredrick Nebel: Wise Guy. George Harmon Coxe: Murder Picture. Norbert Davis: The Price of a Dime. William Rollins, Jr.: Chicago Confetti. Cornell Woolrich: Two Murders, One Crime. Carroll John Daly: The Third Murderer. Part Two: The Villains. Harlan Ellison: Introduction. Erle Stanley Gardner: The Cat Woman. Cornell Woolrich: The Dilemma of the Dead Lady. Richard B. Sale: The House of Kaa. Leslie Charteris: The Invisible Millionaire. Steve Fisher: You’ll Always Remember Me. James M. Cain: Pastorale. Frank Gruber: The Sad Serbian. Dashiell Hammett: Faith. Raymond Chandler: Finger Man. Erle Stanley Gardner: The Monkey Murder. Raoul Whitfield: About Kid Deth. Frederick C. Davis: The Sinister Sphere. Paul Cain: Pigeon Blood. C. S. Montanye: The Perfect Crime. Norbert Davis: You’ll Die Laughing. Frederick Nebel: The Crimes of Richmond City: i) Raw Law. ii) Dog Eat Dog. iii) The Law Laughs Last. iv) Law Without Law. v) Graft. Part Three: The Dames. Laura Lippman: Introduction. Cornell Woolrich: Angel Face. Leslie T. White: Chosen to Die. Eric Taylor: A Pinch of Snuff. Raymond Chandler: Killer in the Rain. Adolphe Barreaux: Sally the Sleuth. C. S. Montanye: A Shock for the Countess. C. B. Yorke: Snowbound. Randolph Barr: The Girl Who Knew Too Much. D. B. McCandless: The Corpse in the Crystal. D. B. McCandless: He Got What He Asked For. P. T. Luman: Gangster’s Brand. Robert Reeves: Dance Macabre. Dashiell Hammett: The Girl with the Silver Eyes. Perry Paul: The Jane from Hell’s Kitchen. Whitman Chambers: The Duchess Pulls a Fast One. Roger Torrey: Mansion of Death. Roger Torrey: Concealed Weapon. Carlos Martinez: The Devil’s Bookkeeper. Lars Anderson: Black Legion. Richard Sale: Three Wise Men of Babylon. Eugene Thomas: The Adventure of the Voodoo Moon. T. T. Flynn: Brother Murder. Stewart Sterling: Kindly Omit Flowers.

Recommended reading - Silent Mystery and Detective Movies: A Comprehensive Filmography (2009):

Silent Mystery and Detective Movies:
A Comprehensive Filmography

By Ken Wlaschin.

ISBN-10: 0786443502

ISBN-13: 978-0786443505

Published 2009.

Description:

The silent film era was known in part for its cliffhanger serials and air of suspense that kept audiences returning to theaters week after week. Icons such as Douglas Fairbanks, Laurel and Hardy, Lon Chaney and Harry Houdini were among those who graced the dark and shadowy screen. This reference guide to silent films with mystery and detective content lists more than 1,500 titles in one of entertainment’s most popular and enduring genres. While most of the films examined are from North America, mystery films from around the world are included.

The late Ken Wlaschin was former director of creative affairs at the American Film Institute, headed the Institute’s National Film Theater and founded its Los Angeles film festival. He previously directed the British Film Institute’s National Film Theater and London film festival for 14 years. Wlaschin, the author of three other McFarland books, lived in Palm Springs, California.

Recommended reading - The So Blue Marble, by Dorothy B. Hughes (1940):

The So Blue Marble

By Dorothy B. Hughes.

Introduction by Otto Penzler.

Published by American Mystery Classics.

First published 1940.

ISBN-10: 1613161050

ISBN-13: 9781613161050

Description:

The debut by one of the great American suspense writers will suck you in even as it makes you keep asking, "Did I just read that?" – Kirkus.

Nonstop action, with menace and daring exploits bursting through the smooth veneer of upper-class life.. Readers new to this forgotten classic are in for a treat. – Publishers Weekly.

You will have to read [The So Blue Marble] for yourself, and if you wake up in the night screaming with terror, don’t say we didn’t warn you. – The New York Times Book Review.

Extraordinary . . . [Hughes’s] brilliant descriptive powers make and unmake reality. – The New Yorker.

The society pages announce it before she even arrives: Griselda Satterlee, daughter of the princess of Rome, has left her career as an actress behind and is traveling to Manhattan to reinvent herself as a fashion designer. They also announce the return of the dashing Montefierrow twins to New York after a twelve-year sojourn in Europe. But there is more to this story than what’s reported, which becomes clear when the three meet one evening during a walk, and their polite conversation quickly takes a menacing turn. The twins are seeking a rare and powerful gem and they believe it’s stashed in the unused apartment where Griselda is staying. Baffled by the request, she pushes them away, but they won’t take no for an answer. When they return, accompanied by Griselda’s long-estranged younger sister, the murders begin...

Drenched in the glamour and luxury of the New York elite, The So Blue Marble is a perfectly Art Deco suspense novel in which nothing is quite as it seems. While different in style from her later books, Dorothy B. Hughes’s debut highlights her greatest strengths as an author, rendered with both the poetic language and the psychology of fear for which she is known today.

Recommended reading - The Backyard Beekeeper (2024):

The Backyard Beekeeper

An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

By Kim Flottum.

Revised and Updated.

Published 2024.
5th Edition.

ISBN-10: 0760385823
ISBN-13: 978-0760385821

Description:

Enjoy the time-honored tradition of beekeeping in your own backyard or urban rooftop with this accessible resource for beekeepers of all skill levels, now in its 5th edition.

More than a guide to beekeeping, The Backyard Beekeeper features expert advice for:

Setting up and caring for your own colonies

Selecting the best location to place your new bee colonies for their safety and yours

The most practical and nontoxic ways to care for your bees

Swarm control

Using top bar hives

Harvesting the products of a beehive and collecting and using honey

Bee problems and treatments

New in this edition:

Natural beekeeping techniques like insulating hives for the winter to mimic the advantages of bee homes in the wild

Important new treatments for and updated info on the battle with Varroa mites

How to deal with the new antibiotic recommendations for American foulbrood

Introduction to new recordkeeping technology to consider

In addition to content updates to reflect the most recent research and technology in beekeeping, the book features a new design with larger, easier-to-read text, many new photos, and a more easily navigable structure.

With this complete reference and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor emeritus Kim Flottum, your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.

Recommended reading - Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze (2000):

Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze

by Thomas Allen Nelson.

New and Expanded Edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0253213908

ISBN-13: 978-0253213907

Published 2000.

Description:

Stanley Kubrick ranks among the most important American film makers of his generation, but his work is often misunderstood because it is widely diverse in subject matter and seems to lack thematic and tonal consistency. Thomas Nelson’s perceptive and comprehensive study of Kubrick rescues him from the hostility of auteurist critics and discovers the roots of a Kubrickian aesthetic, which Nelson defines as the “aesthetics of contingency.” After analyzing how this aesthetic develops and manifests itself in the early works, Nelson devotes individual chapters to Lolita, Dr. Stangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and The Shining. For this expanded edition, Nelson has added chapters on Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut, and, in the wake of the director’s death, reconsidered his body of work as a whole. By placing Kubrick in a historical and theoretical context, this study is a reliable guide into – and out of – Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic maze.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Pulp Action (2001):

The Mammoth Book of Pulp Action

Edited by Maxim Jakubowski.

Mammoth Books.

ISBN-10: 0786709200

ISBN-13: 978-0786709205

Published 2001.

Contents:

Kid clips a coupon, by Erle Stanley Gardner; Goodbye Hannah, by Steve Fisher; Sinners' paradise, by Raoul Whitfield; Motel, by Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain; Smile, corpse, smile!, by Bruno Fischer; Pulp connection, by Bill Pronzini; Brush Babe's poison pallet, by Bruce Cassiday; Gangsta wore red, by Michael Guinzburg; Caravan to Tarim, by David Goodis; Lady who left her coffin, by Hugh B. Cave; Death at the main, by Frank Gruber; Red goose, by Norbert Davis; First five in line, by Charles Willeford; Where there's a will, there's a slay, by Frederick C. Davis; Ride a white horse, by Lawrence Block; Best man, by Thomas Walsh; Dog life, by Mark Timlin; Don't look behind you, by Fredric Brown; College-cut kill, by John D. MacDonald; Lost coast, by Marcia Muller; Pit, by Joe R. Lansdale; Clean sweep, by Roger Torrey; Eye of the beholder, Ed Gorman.

Description:

Furious action, unbridled passion, seedy lowlife and beautiful women …

Crooked cops and ruthless bigshots, breathless chases, cheating molls and gun-toting villains – they’re all here in this great new volume of pulp fiction stories, featuring classic noir and hard-boiled crime authors from eight decades of crime writing.

In these enlightened times we know that, far from being a lower form of literature, pulp fiction is the term for what the best storytelling provides – hugely enjoyable pyrotechnic thrills and shocks galore.

This great new collection from popular literature’s best pulp writers includes such talents as: Charles Willeford, Ed Mcbain, Bill Pronzini, Ed Gorman, Lawrence Block, John D. MacDonald, Bruno Fischer, Mark Timlin, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Guinzburg, Erle Stanley Gardner, Frederic Brown and many more.

Recommended reading - Backyard Homesteading: A Back-to-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency (2011):

Backyard Homesteading: A Back-to-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency

by David Toht.

Grow and preserve your own vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries, keep chickens, goats, and bees.
Make Beer, Wine, and Cider.

Published 2011.

ISBN-10: 1580115217
ISBN-13: 978-1580115216
Creative Homeowner

Back cover description:

BACKYARD HOMESTEADING

GETTING STARTED

Benefits of pure food
Family recreation
Local regulations
Potential yields and savings

RAISING VEGETABLES AND HERBS

Garden planning/layout
Structures/irrigation
Vegetable profiles
Planting techniques
Composting/healthy soil
Seasonal gardening

GROWING FRUITS, BERRIES, AND NUTS

Planting fruit trees and bushes
Fruit profiles
Organic pest control
Grafting and pruning
Harvesting methods

RAISING CHICKENS

The joy of chickens
Collecting eggs
Care and feeding tips
Other small animals

RAISING GOATS

Benefits of goat milk
Structures/fencing
Care and feeding tips
Other large animals

BEEKEEPING

Benefits of beekeeping
Care and harvesting
Building hives
Collecting honey

HARVEST HOME

Canning/drying/freezing
Making beer, wine, cider
Making jerky, sausage
Making jams, jellies
Pickling/salting/smoking
Building root cellars

Recommended reading - The Third Figure, by Collin Wilcox (1968):

The Third Figure

By Collin Wilcox.

Published by Dodd, Mead.

First published 1968.

ASIN: B0006BUJVS

Description:

A mob boss is dead, and his widow wants Drake to help him rest in peace. Dominic Vennezio is found on the floor of his beachside love nest, murdered on a Sunday night. It looks like an ordinary mob hit, part of a routine power struggle with the East Coast Outfit, but Vennezio's widow has other suspicions. Her marriage to the kingpin had been strained ever since he began taking his secretary for weekends at the beach house, but even now, she feels a devotion to him. She wants justice for her husband – not just legal, but cosmic – and for cosmic justice, San Francisco can offer no better sleuth than Stephen Drake. A crime reporter with a clairvoyant streak, Drake's apprehensions about working for the mob are overcome by his sympathy for the noble widow. He starts his investigation in Los Angeles, talking to Vennezio's replacement, and sees immediately that it doesn't take a psychic to figure out that this job could be deadly.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Great Detective Stories (2001):

The Mammoth Book of Great Detective Stories

Published 2001.
Edited by Herbert Van Thal.
Mammoth Books.

ISBN-10: 0786708867
ISBN-13: 978-0786708864

Anthology of short stories.

Description:

Murder, suspense, mystery – the biggest and best collection ever.

This huge and unique volume contains four anthologies by Herbert Van Thai featuring 35 of the best detective stories ever told. The stories range and style and setting from the mean streets of Raymond Chandler's New York to the classic English whodunnit by Agatha Christie and offer an unmissable treat for detective fans.

Recommended reading - Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s (1997):

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s

Published by Library of America.

Published 1997.

ISBN-10: 1883011493

ISBN-13: 9781883011499

Description:

Contents: The Killer Inside Me, by Jim Thompson; The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith; Pick-up, by Charless Willeford; Down There, by David Goodis; The Real Cool Killers, by Chester Himes.

This adventurous volume, with its companion devoted to the 1930s and 40s, presents a rich vein of modern American writing. Evolving out of the terse and violent style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied, innovative, and profoundly influential body of work. The five novels presented here are authentic underground classics: Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, with its psychotic narrator, a murderous West Texas Sheriff; Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, an astonishing study of the seductiveness of evil and the vagaries of personal identity; Pick-Up, Charles Willeford’s nihilistic love story of two lost souls adrift in San Francisco’s lower depths; David Doodis’ haunted, lyrical Down There (the inspiration for Truffaut’s classic film Shoot the Piano Player); and Chester Himes’ The Real Cool Killers, an explosive and sometimes wildly comic novel featuring Harlem detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. With this Library of America publication, these works are at last being recognized for their powerful literary qualities and their unique, sometimes subversive role in shaping modern American language and culture.

The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to preserving America’s best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritive texts.

Recommended reading - A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953), by Raymond Borde & Etienne Chaumeton (2002):

A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953)

By Raymond Borde & Etienne Chaumeton.

Translated from French by Paul Hammond.

Published by City Lights Publishers.

Published 2002.

ISBN-10: 087286412X

ISBN-13: 9780872864122

Description:

"...the book notes the influence of criminal psychology on film noir and how German Expressionism inspired directors..." – San Francisco Chronicle Book Review.

When it appeared in France in 1955, A Panorama of American Film Noir was the first book ever on the genre: this clairvoyant study of Hollywood film noir is at last available in English translation.

A Panorama of American Film Noir addresses the essential amorality of its subject from a decidedly Surrealist angle, focusing on noir's dreamlike, unwonted, erotic, ambivalent and cruel atmosphere, and setting it in the social context of mid-century America.

Beginning with the first film noir, The Maltese Falcon, and continuing through the post war "glory days," which included such films as Gilda, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and The Lady from Shanghai, Borde and Chaumeton examine the dark sides of American society, film and literature that made film noir possible, even necessary.

A Panorama of American Film Noir includes a film noir chronology, a voluminous filmography, a comprehensive index and a selection of black-and-white production stills.

"Incredibly, this is the first English translation of the very influential 1955 French book that initially identified, described and assessed the Hollywood movies that we now term film noir . . . a seminal work of cinema description and analysis and therefore an essential purchase for most libraries." – From the Starred Review in Library Journal.

Raymond Borde (1920 - 2004), founder of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, wrote extensively on film history; among his short films is a study of the artist Pierre Molinier.

Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Dépêche until his death.

Recommended reading - The Black Door, by Collin Wilcox (1967):

The Black Door

By Collin Wilcox.

ASIN: B0006BQEGW

Published by Dodd, Mead.

First published 1967.

ASIN: B0006BQEGW

Description:

A crime reporter with ESP tackles a double homicide. In a San Francisco apartment building, a young woman is found strangled beside a piano player with a broken neck. He's a nobody – a dreamer with little talent and no future – but she is Roberta Grinnel, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the Bay Area. Stephen Drake, crime reporter for the "Sentinel," feels nothing when he looks at their corpses, and this is a troubling fact. For Drake is a psychic, and when his sixth sense fails him, that means more trouble ahead. As Drake tries to come to grips with his cosmic gift, the mystery of the heiress and the piano player becomes the hottest story in town. To keep his gig at the paper, Drake will call on every source he has – on this plane and the astral one – but knowing danger's lurking doesn't guarantee he can stay out of its way.

Recommended reading - The Best American Mystery Stories 2001 (2001):

The Best American Mystery Stories 2001

The Best American Series.

Edited by Lawrence Block and Otto Penzler.

Published 2001.

ISBN-10: 0618124918

ISBN-13: 978-0618124916

Contents:

Foreword; Introduction by Lawrence Block; Things that make your heart beat faster, by Jennifer Anderson; Lobster night, by Russell Banks; Prison food, by Michael Downs; In the zone, by Leslie Edgerton; Paperhanger, by William Gay; Book of Kells, by Jeremiah Healy; Erie’s last day, by Steve Hockensmith; Under suspicion, by Clark Howard; Her Hollywood, by Michael Hyde; Family, by Dan Leone; Blood sport, by Thomas Lynch; Carnie, by David Means; Tides, by Kent Nelson; Girl with the blackened eye, by Joyce Carol Oates; Easy street, by T. Jefferson Parker; Big bite, by Bill Pronzini; Missing in action, by Peter Robinson; Face-lift, by Roxana Robinson; Big ranch, by John Salter; Push comes to shove, by Nathan Walpow.

Description:

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected – and most popular – of its kind.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2001 will thrill fans of all reached of the genre. The legendary mystery writer Lawrence Block offer chilling tales from best-selling writers as well as talented up-and-comers. Ranging from traditional detective cases to psychological studies to atmospheric scene-setters, these stories illustrate the variety and scope of styles, plots, and characters Block admires. With Block as guest editor and a stellar roster of suspense veterans and rising stars, the 2001 edition will delight mystery afficionados and all lovers of great fiction.

Recommended reading - Mastering Black & White Photography, by John Walmsley (2016):

Mastering Black & White Photography

By John Walmsley.

Published by Ammonite Press.

Published 2016.

ISBN-10: 1781450870

ISBN-13: 9781781450871

Description:

Mastering Black & White Photography is the definitive work on how to shoot black & white images on today's sophisticated digital SLR and compact digital cameras and smart phones.

Jargon-busting text, illustrated with the author's own stunning images, explains the theory behind digital photography, along with a guide to the equipment and software needed to take outstanding images. The book explains the basics of exposure and good composition, file types, manipulating captured images using popular software, and applying special effects (such as split toning, simulating film grain, lith prints and using cyanotypes). A printing chapter discusses outputting and displaying images.

Recommended reading - The Ferguson Affair, by Ross Macdonald (1960):

The Ferguson Affair

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1960.

ISBN-10:030774079X

ISBN-13: 9780307740793

Description:

It was a long way from the million-dollar Foothill Club to Pelly Street, where grudges were settled in blood and Spanish and a stolen diamond ring landed a girl in jail.  Defense lawyer Bill Gunnarson was making the trip – fast.  He already knew a kidnapping at the club was tied to the girl's hot rock, and he suspected that a missing Hollywood starlet was the key to a busy crime ring.  But while Gunnarson made his way through a storm of deception, money, drugs, and passions, he couldn't guess how some big shots and small-timers would all end up with murder in common...

Recommended reading - No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality (2020):

No Time Like the Future:
An Optimist Considers Mortality

By Michael J. Fox.

Published by Flatiron Books.

Published 2020.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1250265630

ISBN-13: 978-1250265630

Description:

The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future; as Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties; as Mike Flaherty in Spin City; and through numerous other movie roles and guest appearances on shows such as The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Diagnosed at age 29, Michael is equally engaged in Parkinson’s advocacy work, raising global awareness of the disease and helping find a cure through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the world’s leading non-profit funder of PD science. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. His new memoir reassesses this outlook, as events in the past decade presented additional challenges.

In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, aging, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox’s trademark sense of humor, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses.

Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson’s disease he’s had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and “get out of the lemonade business altogether.”

Does he make it all of the way back? Read the book.

Recommended reading - In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper (2016):

In Sunlight or In Shadow:
Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper

Edited by Lawrence Block.

Published 2016.

ISBN: 9781681772455

Description:

A truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block – a newly commissioned anthology of seventeen superbly crafted stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper.

"Edward Hopper is surely the greatest American narrative painter. His work bears special resonance for writers and readers, and yet his paintings never tell a story so much as they invite viewers to find for themselves the untold stories within."

So says Lawrence Block, who has invited seventeen outstanding writers to join him in an unprecedented anthology of brand-new stories: In Sunlight or In Shadow. The results are remarkable and range across all genres, wedding literary excellence to storytelling savvy.

Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Craig Ferguson, Nicholas Christopher, Jill D. Block, Joe R. Lansdale, Justin Scott, Kris Nelscott, Warren Moore, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and Lawrence Block himself. Even Gail Levin, Hopper’s biographer and compiler of his catalogue raisonée, appears with her own first work of fiction, providing a true account of art theft on a grand scale and told in the voice of the country preacher who perpetrated the crime.

In a beautifully produced anthology as befits such a collection of acclaimed authors, each story is illustrated with a quality full-color reproduction of the painting that inspired it.

Recommended reading - Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics (2020):

Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics

By Michael Rabiger & Mick Hurbis-Cherrier.

Published by Routledge.

Published 2020.

Sixth edition.

ISBN-10: 0815394314

ISBN-13: 9780815394310

Description:

Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics is a comprehensive exploration into the art and craft of directing for film and television. It’s filled with practical advice, essential technical information, and inspiring case studies for every stage of production. This book covers the methods, technologies, thought processes, and judgments that a director must use throughout the fascinating process of making a film, and concentrates on developing the human aspects of cinema to connect with audiences.

The fully revised and updated 6th edition features new sections on using improvisation, the development of characters for long form television series, visual design, the role of the digital imaging technician, film promotion and distribution, alongside expanded information on contemporary color grading tools, stylistic approaches and genre, workflows, blocking scenes for the camera and more. The book emphasizes independent and short form cinema which allows cutting-edge creativity and professionalism on shoestring budgets. Recognizing that you learn best by doing, it includes dozens of practical hands-on projects and activities to help you master technical and conceptual skills.