Round Two: Revising My Next Cozy Mystery Series Title

Labor Day marks the end of summer and the start of autumn, although I'm sweating today like it's mid-July. But I have no complaints about the weather. I always feel like I write better fiction when it's summer than during the winter cold blahs.

The kids here started back to school this week, and I pass them grouped on the street corners waiting for their busses during my daily walk. I always enjoyed the beginning of the school year, especially in the lower grades. I had no idea back then I would be writing novels a few decades later. At any rate, it was fun to see old friends and make new ones. Plus, the subjects always interested me with the exception of math which I detested. I still do. Words come easier to me than numbers ever did.

This week I began the second round of revisions to my next cozy mystery series title. I'm calling it SWEET BETSY as the working title that is subject to change at any time. The series protagonists Isabel and Alma Trumbo entertain me with their stories. They're sisters living and sleuthing together in a small town called Quiet Anchorage. It's not found on Google Maps. Right now, it's a little rough going while I'm getting their narrative and plotline straightened out. But once the kinks are worked out, I believe the revising will turn a bit easier and smoother.

I'll be checking in here at my blog more often as the autumn progresses. I've been running my film reviews every Tuesday with the Tuesday's Overlooked Movies gang. It's relaxing to watch a movie than it is to read a book these days while I'm writing my own novels. Thanks for reading my blog postings.

Current Movie Review: Woody Allen's MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

I liked Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and wasn't so crazy about Blue Jasmine. Magic in the Moonlight probably falls somewhere in the middle. The main stars are Emma Stone and Colin Firth, both who try to lift up the so-so script to offer an entertaining performance. Emma is a mystic and clairvoyant in 1928 France, and Colin, a renowned British magician, sets out to expose her as a charlatan. However, when she gives him choice tidbits about his personal life, he begins to believe maybe she is the real deal. A shifty romance springs up between them, although he seems as clueless about love as Doc Martin is on the TV series I enjoy watching. Magic in the Moonlight has a gorgeous setting, lots of spritely jazz tunes from the time period, and the bright parties never seem to stop. Gatsby and Nick would fit right in here. There is a pacing problem as the large patches of dialogue slow down the action. I have to remind myself of the same thing when I'm revising my novels. When I start checking the luminous dial on my wrist watch as I did while I was seeing Magic in the Moonlight, I know things aren't moving along enough to engage my full interest. Still, it was cute and charming. I found myself rooting for the two protagonists, and I laughed out loud a time or two. Fun stuff, Magic in the Moonlight satisfied my Labor Day cinema fix.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: THE CROOKED WEB Starring Frank Lovejoy (1955)

This 1955 film directed by Nathan Juran stars Frank Lovejoy, Richard Denning, and Mari Blanchard. It is an above-average crime movie I watched because I liked Frank Lovejoy featured in Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker and in Bogie's best film in my opinion, In A Lonely Place. This time out, Lovejoy plays an Army sergeant who kills an MP while still in post-World War Two Germany. He gets discharged and returns to California where he opens a fast food joint and hires the effervescent Maria Blanchard to work there as a waitress. Richard Denning, posing as Blanchard's brother, shows up with a get-rich-quick scheme that involves travel back to Germany. Lovejoy knows he's wanted for murder in Germany, but he can't resist making the big score. Plus, the nubile Blanchard is egging him on to take Denning's offer to cut them in on the scheme. Lovejoy, who proves he isn't the brightest bulb on the porch, goes for it, and the real trouble begins when they get to Germany. I won't say anything else about the plot which I found a bit confusing at times. Blanchard, who later died of cancer at age 43, is a delight to watch. Denning, later appearing on Jack Lord's TV crime drama Hawaii Five-0, does a solid job in his role. On the other hand, the laid-back Lovejoy is a bit of a disappointment, or maybe it's just the character's role he plays. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch The Crooked Web, but it's not a terrible movie either. IMDb.com rates it 6.2/10.0 which also shows it is okay but not great.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Violent Saturday Starring Lee Marvin

This 1955 film noir was a pleasure to watch for several reasons. First, Lee Marvin is always good as he is in his minor role here as a sadistic bank robber. Second, the movie was shot in color, and the Arizona small town setting is picturesque. Third, Ernest Borgnine plays a stolid Amish farmer with convincing success. Fourth, Victor Mature gives us another one his laid-back but sure-footed performances as the good guy. The premise is pretty basic. Three professional thieves show up, case the town bank, and execute their plan to rob it. The extra treat is we get to see the lives of the different townspeople from the "peeping tom" bank manager to the dishonest librarian who steals a purse. Of course, since this is noir, the robbery doesn't come off quite as it was planned. Comparisons have been rightfully drawn between Violent Saturday and Harrison Ford's The Witness with the Amish farming family angle. The plot builds to a rousing climax appropriate for this type of film. Good stuff.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Farewell, My Lovely Starring Robert Mitchum

This 1975 private eye film stars the incomparable Robert Mitchum as Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's famous PI. It also features Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Jack O'Halloran (as Moose Malloy), Sylvia Miles and Harry Dean Stanton, with a young Sylvester Stallone appearing as a punk gangster. Sly went on to bigger things with his Rocky Balboa franchise. The legendary noir writer Jim Thompson in a cameo as Judge Baxter Wilson Grayle is pretty cool to see. I liked that the movie is a period piece set in Marlowe's L.A. The night photography with the neon is moody and spot on. The jazzy soundtrack sounds like something you'd hear playing in one of the smoky jazz clubs Marlowe visits while he's working the case. I haven't read the Chandler novel of the same name in several years, but the movie plot appears to follow the novel's storyline. I've read a few online reviews observing how Robert Mitchum was too long in the tooth to be playing Phillip Marlowe. That doesn't bother me. In fact, I found it more appealing and realistic. I don't remember what Mitchum thought of the movie from reading his biography Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care" by Lee Server. I don't think Mitchum was all that crazy about his co-star Charlotte Rampling who'd just made The Night Porter. So, all in all, I go a big thumbs up on this classic Robert Mitchum flick.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Jigsaw (1949)

This 1949 crime drama isn't one of the better ones I've seen, unfortunately. Franchot Tone plays an ambitious Assistant D.A. tracking down a white supremacist group calling itself The Crusaders operating where I took to be New York City. Jean Wallace (married to Tone) plays a night club singer who has some of the answers he's looking for until she decides to leave town suddenly. Tone does a decent acting job. It is just the story moves so slowly even for a short movie. The cameo appearances of John Garfield, Henry Fonda, Burgess Meredith, and other well-known Hollywood faces seem more of a gimmick than they add much entertainment value to the film. Perhaps they are the pieces of the "jigsaw." Marc Lawrence plays a pretty good oily thug ironically called Angel. I guess I was expecting more, and the movie just didn't deliver the goods. I'd only grade Jigsaw with a C+.

Current Movie Review: A Most Wanted Man Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman

This British spy-thriller film based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré is very entertaining if just for watching the great talent Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final leading role before his tragic death in February 2014. Since we're talking about le Carré, espionage is the main ticket. In post-9/11 Hamburg where the infamous Mohammed Atta and his terrorists planned their attack, the authorities are hyper-vigilant about nipping any further conspiracies in the bud. Hoffman leads a shadowy German police unit responsible for tracking down and intercepting any new terrorists that hit town. Issa Karpov, a half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant, shows up, and Hoffman is on his tail to figure out what bad stuff Karpov has in mind. The intricate plot is filled with crosses and double-crosses, much like a Cold War spy drama would unfold. At times, I thought I was seeing a Cold War picture except everybody was using cell phones. Hoffman smokes a cigarette or has a drink in every scene like in an old forties film noir. Rachel McAdams plays a starry-eyed lawyer, and Robin Wright is a wary CIA agent. The favorable reviews are spot-on if you enjoy viewing intelligent spy flicks without a lot of violence.

Humor: My Summer 2014 Gardening Just Went Bust

When I was growing up in the rural part of Northern Virginia (not so rural these days, I'm afraid), my family raised a vegetable garden. Our garden was a prodigious one with a wide variety of produce grown in it. Flash forward years later to this summer, and I ended up with a few tomato plants to set out. Figuring I'd resurrect the green thumb of my youth, I planted the tomato plants in our side yard where they'd get just enough morning sunlight, and I had easy access to watering them from the spigot.

Of course, when the first yellow bloom appeared, I was so proud of my accomplishment that I shared the good news with my Facebook and twitter friends. I got back a surprising response from the like-minded gardening folks who cheered me on. Imagine then my sheer delight when the first marble-sized green tomato appeared on my plants. I was ecstatic over it.

So, I just blithely went on watering and watching over my tomato plants. They were growing almost as fast as kudzu. I was reliving my youth, although admittedly on a much smaller scale. Jack in the Beanstalk, eat your heart out. By now, the garden-savvy readers know where this story is headed--downhill fast!

One morning I stepped out the door and saw where a thief (i.e., varmint) had taken a big chomp out of my almost ripened red tomato. Well, I saw a little red myself. My Facebook friends were sympathetic to my plight. I devised a clever plan where I'd pick the next tomato just before it turned ripe and beat the varmint. My plan didn't work. This time, the varmint ate my tomatoes while they were still GREEN!

I'm not certain how the varmints caught wind of my clever plan unless somebody leaked it to them. My neighbor pal down the street informs me it is our burgeoning deer population who are the guilty culprits. He also sure does like venison, as do I, especially now. At any rate, I've run up the white flag on my gardening efforts. Maybe by next spring, I'll give it another go. We'll have to wait and see what happens then.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Cotton Comes to Harlem

Harlem detectives, Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and "Coffin" Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) in this film are adapted from the novel and main characters of the same names created by crime author Chester Himes. I have read and liked Digger and Ed's short stories, but it's been a good while. So, I wanted to check out this 1970 movie for some time, and it's a lot of fun and full of action. Ossie Davis co-wrote and directed the film. Basically, the Harlem detectives go after the $87,000 a flashy preacher named Reverend Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) swindles out of his followers. The night club comedian Redd Foxx made his movie debut as did several other actors. Foxx plays a sly junk man which paved the way for his star role in the TV sitcom Sanford and Son which I have to rank as one of my all-time favorite TV sitcoms. Of course while on TV, he had to keep his act a lot cleaner. The film was shot on location in Harlem with landmarks such as the Apollo Theater where the climax occurs. Wikipedia indicates the film did well at the box office. The future action-packed black films would include Shaft (seen) and Super Fly (have not seen). Cotton Comes to Harlem was an enjoyable change of pace from my steady diet of film noir titles.

Current Movie Review: BOYHOOD

This 2014 family drama film from Richard Linklater left me with mixed feelings. Foremost, I thought it ran a little bit long (166 minutes). It stars Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater and Ethan Hawke. Linklater filmed it over 12 years as the two kids (brother and sister) grew up which I found interesting. Since we are exposed to the passing years, there's really no central plot, another quibble I had. But given the movie's premise, that's not surprising. At any rate, I liked the Ethan Hawke character (he plays the two kids's father) as well as Patricia Arquette (playing the mother). The different problems facing the two kids as they are growing up feel very familiar to me since we've all been there. The soundtrack is good with songs by Coldplay and Wilco. I'd probably like this movie a lot more if I re-watched it.

My Summer Fiction Projects Are Shaping Up Fine

I hope your summer is going well. Now that July is almost in the bag, I decided to break up my weekly blog posts reviewing the different film noir titles I enjoy watching. My latest books newsletter has been sent out, so I'm now looking toward the second half of 2014. I've been developing a second cozy mystery series idea for some time, and I'm happy with the debut title I wrote in May and June. The Piper and Bill Robins series is different than my Isabel and Alma Trumbo series. For starters, Piper and Bill live in the suburbs while Isabel and Alma are small town folks. Retirees Piper and Bill are a married couple while the seniors Isabel and Alma are sisters. The characters in both series have a crafty knack for solving murders but as amateur sleuths. I keep it clean, and the humor used is gentle and good-natured. There are multiple suspects included, and I try to stay true to the fair play rule. The series are what I like to think of as "traditional mysteries." I have enjoyed writing both series and hope my mystery readers will take to Piper and Bill as they have to Isabel and Alma. Stay tuned for further details!

Current Movie Review: LIFE ITSELF (the Roger Ebert Story)

This very fine 2014 documentary film is about the passionate, articulate, and always courageous Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. We learn about his boyhood in a blue-collar family (his father was an electrician) and early interest with the written word. We also hear of his radiation treatments as a kid to cure an ear malady that later was thought to have caused his fatal thyroid cancer. I was pleasantly surprised by his droll and dry sense of humor. Of course, he co-hosted an internationally popular movie review TV show with his rival Gene Siskel at the higher-brow Chicago Tribune. I remember watching it a few times, but I got my movie reviews from other sources like the Washington Post, my hometown newspaper. But I always liked his down-to-earth manner. Siskel and Ebert are shown to be in friendly competition with each other but also realizing their best success was when they combined their talents on TV. Siskel's widow says she believes they loved each other like brothers. The sad part of the movie is Ebert's death last year. Even so, I found LIFE ITSELF fun to watch, and I went away with a greater appreciation of Roger Ebert's talents and spirit.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: 87th Precinct TV Series

This is the pilot episode of the 87th Precinct TV series that ran from 1961-1962 based on the Evan Hunter crime fiction series. The TV show starred  Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, and Norman Fell. It got axed from the stiff competition of The Andy Griffith Show on a different channel in the same time slot. Rowlands does a good job of playing Detective Steve Carella's (Robert Lansing) deaf-mute wife Teddy. Robert Culp stars as the creepy serial killer who has a kinky thing for tattoos and pretty ladies, including Teddy. Norman Fell went on to play Mr. Roper on the popular sitcom Three's Company. This cop show had a good, professional cast, and I might watch some more episodes later since I'm a fan of the series Hunter (Ed McBain) wrote.

#SampleSunday: AFTER THE BIG NOISE by Ed Lynskey

After the Big Noise is my newest title in my P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series which began my book writing career. Here are the opening paragraphs from Chapter 1 in my blog post for today.

CHAPTER ONE

“Get a load of this, Frank.” Gerald Peyton’s pause set off his pronouncement. “She is expecting to get a wedding ring.”

“That’s understandable,” I said, unsure how he could afford a ring on what our firm cleared. Diamond rings—more sold in December than in any other month of the year—went for a cool grand per karat. Weeks ago, I’d priced them—again—for my domestic situation. “What seems to be the problem?”

“That’s a big leap for me to make.”

“I expect you’ll make it with room to spare.”

He narrowed his jasper eyes at me, wondering if I was razzing him, and I was. “The next time I’m near a pawn shop, I’ll pop in and snap up a lady’s ring,” he said.

“Fair warning. Sharona will stalk out the front door and never look back if you give her a hand-me-down ring.”

A petite, fiery young lady, she was Gerald’s significant other. His enormous physique, in sharp contrast, took after one of the earthmovers his kid brother Chet operated on his jobsites.

“Say what?” asked Gerald.

Seated behind one of the two desks, I glanced at my cell phone in front of me. It never rang when I welcomed the intrusion. We’d cut the cord on the office landline phone to save money which always seemed in short supply. I had no choice but to lay it out for him.

“She is after a commitment spelled with a capital C.”

Hands shoved into his pockets, Gerald paced the office floor as I’d last seen done inside the Sumatran tiger enclosure at the National Zoo. He went from the snake and aloe houseplants (impossible to kill, according to Dreema) kept on the sunny office windowsill to the door and back again.

“Why can’t Sharona leave well enough alone?” he asked, stopping before me.

My shoulders hunched up, and I gave him the don’t-ask-me act.

“Damn it, Frank. You’re the ace private eye who reads people all the time. Finish giving me your take on this.”

“You hooked up—when was it?—back in the middle of ’03. Now finds us at the tail end of ’05, and I get the impression she’s of the mind after that long it’s time to take your relationship to the next level.” I paused to add my emphasis. “Or else.”

A recent nervous tic, Gerald ran his fingernails over his shaved MJ coif. “‘Or else,’ you say. Those words sound ominous.” Gerald let out a rumbling sigh. “Damn it, life was a lot simpler for us in Pelham.”

“Dream on, homeboy. That’s just the small town nostalgia in you talking. We kissed that scene goodbye forever.”

“I know, I know.”

“Look, you’ve still got a little time until Christmas Day. Why don’t you give it a little more time to get acclimated to her way of thinking?”

“That’s it.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ll get acclimated to it first. Then I’ll go shop for a wedding ring, say, in a couple of days. Or maybe next week is better, depending on how busy we get.”

I didn’t tip him off that Sharona had better be the one to select her ring. However, it was the thought that counted. She could always return it for something more appealing. And expensive.

“Beautiful,” I said. “Go see a reputable jeweler and not a fly-by-night pawnshop. Used or stolen goods are a turn off. She’ll yearn to slip the spanky new diamond wedding ring on her finger and flash it around to impress her friends and family.”

“A diamond wedding ring, you say?”

I studied his face. Was he putting me on? He looked earnest. “As any guy would expect, a diamond is what she’s after,” I said. “Did you hold out hope you’d get by for anything less?”

“The God’s honest truth is I haven’t thought that far ahead.” He canted his bristly eyebrows. “You’re making plenty of sense though.”

End of #SampleSunday, opening paragraphs to After the Big Noise, a P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series title.

Early Reviews For THE LADYBUG SONG Are Now In...

Earlier this summer, I brought out the latest title, THE LADYBUG SONG, in my Isabel & Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series. Two 5-star reviews from readers (both are "verified purchases") have been posted on Amazon, and I excerpted them below.


"I hope Ed Lynskey continues this series with a fourth book, as a Trumbo sisters cozy is a wonderful break from the hardcore mysteries I usually read. The Trumbo series of books are the perfect cozies."


"I totally enjoyed this story and find it to be the best yet of the Trumbo Sisters series. The childhood of Alma & Isabel is explored giving the characters more depth. A true cozy and highly recommended to all true cozy lovers."


I have enjoyed writing the series. The two quirky sister characters and small town setting are pretty established. I have a fourth book completed and a fifth one is well underway. The books are perfect for summertime writing.


Read and enjoy, please. Thanks!

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Dillinger (1945)

I used to watch the popular TV sitcom Seinfeld, and one episode I remember liking was when Elaine's father came to town. He was a gruff, big man, a war veteran, who didn't like Jerry or George. Years later, I saw Lawrence Tierney had played the part. I've seen other Mr. Tierney noir films and have enjoyed them, so I decided to check out his star turn delivered in Dillinger, his first major motion picture. Dillinger from a Poverty Row studio even got an Academy Award nod (Philip Yordan for Writing Original Screenplay), so it earned some street cred. The run time is 70 minutes, and I was treated to a rousing account of Dillinger. The facts of his biography are very loosely interpreted, but this is entertainment, not a documentary. The square-jawed Tierney does a good job as the ruthless, often murderous Dillinger. The great character actor Elisha Cook, Jr. plays one of his eccentric henchman. Footage for one of the bank robberies was taken from a Fritz Lang film, but I didn't care. I just liked seeing a gritty crime drama and that's what Dillinger is. IMDb.com gives it a 6.7 rating, but that's too low for me. I'd go a solid 7.0.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: "Are There Any More Out There Like You?" (Kraft Suspense Theater, 1963)

Since the July Fourth holiday weekend is coming this week, I decided to run my blog post a little early. After watching a lot movies of late, I've grown to enjoy the work of the exceptional character actors. Dan Duryea and Elisha Cook, Jr., are but two (though I'm sure they were lead actors on occasion, such as Duryea was in The Burglar). I've always been a fan of Robert Ryan's work and try to catch whatever he starred in. This 1963 episode of Kraft Suspense Theater is such a production. I don't have a memory of Kraft Suspense Theater when it ran, but it looks like it was a winner. Anyway, four half-drunk college kids take off from a motel on a rainy Christmas Eve night and hit a pedestrian who dies. Of course, the cops want to charge the driver of the car, but the kids decide to claim their collective amnesia prevents them from remembering who was behind the wheel. One of the college kids is Ryan's spoiled rich daughter played by Katharine Ross who has a beautiful smirk. She would go on to bigger and better things. Ryan makes the 45-minute drama work as he plays the affluent and conflicted father. Things get more complicated when the seedy motel proprietor claims he saw and knows who was driving the car and wants to bribe Ryan. Ryan always makes for a convincing tortured soul without being melodramatic about it. This is an enjoyable show for other fans of the actor.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: The Petrified Forest Starring Humphrey Bogart

This 1936 film starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart was based on a play in which Bogart starred. Bogart's portrayal of the gangster Duke Mantee, who was based on John Dillinger, is fun to watch and, for me, the high point of the movie. It is shot like a play with most of the action taking place inside the roadside diner in northern Arizona near the "petrified forest." Bette Davis does all right as the diner owner's starry-eyed daughter who falls in love with Leslie Howard, a vagabond who drops by for a meal. The dialogue is interesting, especially between Bogart and Howard. This movie was Bogart's breakout role which is the main reason I've always wanted to see The Petrified Forest. We can be very glad Howard insisted that Bogart got the role. IMDb.com gives it 7.7/10.0, and I'd agree with that score.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Beat the Devil Starring Humphrey Bogart

This 1953 film is an entertaining hodge-podge starring Bogie with Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Jennifer Jones, and Gina Lollobrigida. John Huston directed and wrote the script with some help from Truman Capote. For the most part, I enjoyed watching Beat the Devil. Bogie delivers some snarky and hardboiled lines of dialogue. Everything is played with tongue-in-cheek, so I suppose it's a parody of a sort. The plot is pretty loose, and everybody seemed to be having a good time making the film. Bogie made it through his Santana Productions. I read where he didn't particularly like it, probably because he lost money on the venture. Maybe that's why it is in the public domain now. Peter Lorre as Julius O'Hara, one of the four crooks Bogie is in league with, is funny. IMDb.com rates Best the Devil as 6.6. I don't think I'd watch Beat the Devil again, but it was fun to see Bogie in another movie, and his fans shouldn't be disappointed.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: The Face Behind the Mask (Recommended)

Every once in a blue moon, I happen across a forgotten gem of a film noir. It happens so rarely that it is all the sweeter when it does occur. Such is the case with The Face Behind the Mask which I'd never heard of until I watched it. I'll give it to you straight: it's easily the best film noir I've watched so far this year. Maybe it even falls in the Top Twenty of All Time, if I had to compile such a ranking.

In a rare film noir (or at least in the ones that I've ever viewed), Peter Lorre plays the lead. The plot is straightforward enough. Janos Szaby (Peter Lorre) arrives in New York City as an eager, optimistic Hungarian immigrant with watchmaking skills. His face is then disfigured in a hotel fire, and he turns bitter.

Lorre does an amazing job of changing his character's profile. He turns ruthless and takes to a life of crime, robbing banks and making jewelry heists. He pays a plastic surgeon to create him a strange rubber mask to hide his burn-scarred face. Lorre must have had a good make-up man because he looks odd wearing his mask.

Later, he bumps into Helen Williams (Evelyn Keyes) who is a blind bead-stringer. Since she can't see his face, they fall in love. Happy once again, Janos decides to quit his old gang, but they have other ideas despite his plans to marry Helen. I immensely enjoyed watching the versatile and talented Lorre until the film's memorable ending that is a slice of pure noir. I wish Lorre made other first-rate movies like The Face Behind the Mask. But then my watching this one wouldn't have been as nearly as much fun. My only regret is I can't see it for the first time again. Recommended.

My New Isabel and Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery THE LADYBUG SONG Is Out

Back in the years before the economy tanked, I used to write and sell my stories to the Dorchester Media ladies confessional magazines (TRUE STORY). About the same time, I wrote a cozy mystery series featuring a pair of senior sleuth sisters, Isabel and Alma Trumbo. The first title [book:Quiet Anchorage|10530870] (2011) sold well enough for me to write and publish a second title, [book:The Cashmere Shroud|18101016] (2013). Now THE LADYBUG SONG is out as a Kindle release. I've enjoyed spending time with Isabel and Alma who are based, in part, on my two grand aunts who are no longer with us. I don't know if either of them was an amateur sleuth, but Isabel had a subscription to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. She passed on her old copies  to me for my reading enjoyment. I can remember my reading EQMM during my summer vacations from school. The added bonus for me is the small town setting of Quiet Anchorage, Virginia, where the Trumbo sisters live and sleuth. Please consider adding THE LADYBUG SONG to your summer reading list.

Book Description:
Phyllis Garner refuses to believe her best friend Ladybug Miles’ death is an accidental drowning in the local Coronet River. Phyllis thinks it was murder and asks her friends Isabel and Alma Trumbo to do their talented snooping in small town Quiet Anchorage to root out the truth of what happened and bring the guilty killer to justice. Isabel and Alma call on their own assistants, including twentysomething Sammi Jo and The Three Musketeers (Ossie, Blue, and Willie) to help with the investigation. For the dog lovers, Isabel and Alma’s pooch Petey Samson plays an instrumental role in solving the murder mystery. This third title in the popular Isabel and Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series delivers the usual quaint small town setting, gentle humor, and good-hearted but dogged amateur lady sleuths.

Click here to go to Kindle page for The Ladybug Song. 

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: "The Dead Duck Caper" (Sam Spade Radio Show)

I listened to an old radio show, "THE ADVENTURES OF SAM SPADE, DETECTIVE," starring Howard Duff pictured here. This episode, "The Dead Duck Caper," originally ran on CBS (Wildroot Cream Oil was the sponsor) on February 2, 1947. This version was from a vinyl record made by the Armed Forces Radio Services which includes the scratchy background. The baritone Duff sounds like a real-life Spade. The bad guy had a quacky voice like a duck's. I had a little trouble following the plotline perhaps because the recording was so bad. The snappy dialogue and corny narrative were funny. I guess it was closer to being a radio comedy than suspenseful adventure. I recently read a bio. of Hammett, and he wrote a lot of radio scripts, but I don't know if he wrote this particular episode or not. If I run across any other recorded episodes, I might give them a listen like while I am working out.

Current Movie Review: Million Dollar Arm (from Disney)

I don't know when I last watched a Disney movie at the cinema, but I did see Million Dollar Arm with good results. Sports agent J.B. Bernstein plucks a pair of Indian pitching prospects, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, from a reality show competition held in India. Of course, cricket is the most popular sport in India, but J.B. sees a gold mine if he can tap into the billion (that's spelled with a b) people (i.e., customers) living there to start loving baseball by following the careers of his two prize Indian prospects. The only trouble is playing cricket doesn't translate well to playing baseball. J.B. has all sorts of problems when he gets back to the States. Million Dollar Arm is an entertaining, pleasant underdog sports movie that reminded me a little of Jerry Maguire. Alan Arkin, always fun to watch, plays a sports scout. The romance between J.B. and his tenant Brenda, a medical doctor, is a nice subplot. Since this is a Disney picture, there's little or no swearing, violence, sex, etc. I'm a baseball fan, so I was hooked right from the start. You might also find Million Dollar Arm a fun movie to go see.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: The Great Flamarion Starring Dan Duryea

This offbeat but very entertaining 1945 film noir stars the Austrian actor and silent film director Erich von Stroheim as The Great Flamarion. Stroheim later appeared in a memorable role in the classic film Sunset Boulevard (nominated for Academy Award). Here he is cast as a marksman with a set of fancy pistols in a popular vaudeville act. The married couple Mary Beth Hughes and Dan Duryea also appear in the act where Duryea's main stunt is to avoid getting shot while he's dancing in front of the mirrors. It's all a matter of timing, but Duryea is also a lush, so his timing is sometimes a bit off. Hughes is a fabulous femme fatale who colludes with Flamarion to pull off Duryea's "accidental death" during a show. The reliable Anthony Mann directed this movie. Hughes reminds me of Jane Greer and even resembles her a little. I just saw Hughes in The Lady Confesses, and this is a better film. IMDb.com gives The Great Flamarion a 6.7 rating which sounds about right to me.

Current Film Review: Ida

I wanted to see Million Dollar Arm, but it was cancelled. So, I decided to watch the 2013 Polish drama film Ida directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. The English subtitles are easy to read, so that wasn't any big deal. IMDb.com rates Ida a very good 7.6, so that was good enough recommendation for me. I left the theater glad I went ahead and saw it. The movie setting is the dead of winter in 1962 (though I wonder if the late 1950s is more accurate). The title character IDA is a novice nun a week from taking her vows when the Mother Superior first sends her to see her Aunt Wanda. The horrific family secrets are exposed, and Ida gets a real world education, perhaps more than the Mother Superior had in mind. The film moves along at a deliberate pace, and the dialogue is pretty spare. I grew to like Ida, and I wanted her to get through her travails okay. Ida is a bit different, and a nice change of pace for me. You might like it, too.