Sunday, August 31, 2025

Down the Stretch We Come

Some housekeeping up top. I return to CrimeReads with a feature story reviewing the directorial career of beloved actor Danny DeVito. The survey was prompted by the arrival in theaters of The Roses, an adaptation of the Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses which DeVito made into a memorable black comedy in 1989. The main takeaway: watch Death to Smoochy (2002).


Next, a recap of the middle third of the year at my newsletter Cocktails and Crime:

Trying to regain my fiction writing mojo by serving as an Edgars judge and reading a trio of novels that spawned some classic movie thrillers

Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), part one: documentaries on food, drink, and film

SIFF, part two: vintage 3D noir and crime films

I run a 5K, see some big-screen Kurosawa, and report on recent reading

Class as treated in a pair of current crime novels, and French mushroom noir

A pair of baseball books

The Facebook memoir Careless People prompts a social media report card

I make my documentary debut, and see even more big-screen Kurosawa


A quartet of new crime movies

Background on my DeVito article for CrimeReads