A lot’s been happening, and is about to happen, for the friends of M.A.C.

First, thanks for all the great e-mails I’ve been receiving of late about THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER. This Berkely Prime Crime paperback is out right now (riding the Spielberg movie‘s coattails) and features Shadow creator Walter Gibson as the amateur detective with Orson Welles as his co-detective…and chief suspect. Of course, it’s mostly about the famous hoax Martian invasion….

The current CSI novel, BINDING TIES, made the USA Today list for several weeks and seems to be a real favorite with the fans. The next one, KILLING GAME, was originally announced as IMPERFECT CRIMES (a title I prefer, actually), and is out in November. And Matt Clemens and I just delivered BOOT HILL, the last CSI on our current contract, though we hope for another round of ’em.

ROAD TO PARADISE will be out just after Thanksgiving, in hardcover; and a beautiful paperback edition of ROAD TO PURGATORY will be pubbed simultaneously.

THE PINK PANTHER, my movie tie-in of the Steve Martin film, has been postponed till January. I think Clouseau fans will really like my novel, which is the first time I’ve been turned loose to write a straight-out comedy.

Barb and I were in London for a week…returning right before the bombings…for a great event, Crime Scene, put on by the BFI at the National Film Theatre. My friends Adrian Wootten and Maxium Jakubowski put this fabulous festival on, a rare combo of film and literature. On the first night, for example, author Donald E. Westlake and driector John Boorman presented POINT BLANK on the big screen — they’d never met before, and their Q and A afterward was wonderful. Fans of my Nolan books know what a huge impact Westlake’s Richard Stark “Parker” novels were.

At the London event, I was on stage with Carol Mendelsohn (CSI showrunner) and Danny Cannon (terrific director/writer on the show) for an incredible CSI presentation…incredible in part because the writer of the novels, comics and video games was considered by the fest to be on the same level as Carol and Danny! We did a Q and A, with clips from my video games shown next to clips from the show…that would NOT happen in the USA. Carol and Danny were great, and highly complimentary about the novels. Quentin Tarantino’s episode was shown (however, the director cancelled at the last minute).

Also, ROAD TO PERDTION was screened and I did a Q and A afterward with Maxim (the two Maxes), and the short version of SHADES OF NOIR (sans the Spillane documentary, which had already been screened at the NFT in 2001) was screened after a good panel I did with some of the top young crime writers in England.

On the heels of London, Barb and Nate and I went to San Diego Comic Con, which was (as usual) heaven and hell — 100,000 fans, about a third in costume and about a fifth on their cell phones — packed the mile-long convention hall. I did a CSI book signing at the Pocket Books booth, finally meeting my top editors, and did a number of other signings, well-attended, plus an interesting “state of noir” panel, where Gary Phillips stole the show by arriving for only the last five minutes. I shook hands with both Ray Harryhausen and Bruce Campbell, though I seemed to have been the only one impressed….

Also, we had a screening of CAVEMAN: V.T. HAMLIN & ALLEY OOP. No news on distribution yet; right now we’re concentrating on film festivals — we were accepted into the Hardacre festival in nearby Tipton, Iowa, so people in eastern Iowa can check out www.Hardacrefilmfestival.com for info — we’re screened on Saturday, August 6. There’s a possibility the University of Iowa may do a very small signed limited edition DVD, so stay tuned.

Watch for the CSI: NY comic book mini-series BLOODY MURDER from IDW — possibly my final CSI graphic novel. The art is great, and it’s a strong story (Matt helped as usual). First issue is out in August, I believe.

Currently I am finishing up ANTIQUES ROADKILL, the first “Trash ‘n’ Treasure” mystery by “Barbara Allan” (Mrs. and Mrs. Collins) for Kensington. After that, for HardCase Crime: THE LAST QUARRY.

Also, I’ve sold a brand-new series (to take the place of the disaster series, which had run its course) at Berkley Prime Crime; subject matter is the history of comics, but that’s all I’ll say for now.

And really exciting news: Morrow has signed me to do two more historical crime novels. For now, neither Heller nor the PERDITION world are part of the mix. Heller is not dead, he is just resting (watch for a new Heller short story in an Otto Penzler “racing” antho, soon).

Lots of film and TV stuff in the works, bigtime, smalltime and in between. Hint: MS. TREE fans may soon be very, very happy…or not.

But check out the news release on ELIOT NESS: AN UNTOUCHABLE LIFE for the latest on that project. We’d love to have you attend the live performances and perhaps be a part of my next indie movie.

And it looks like the Troma boxed set that will include both MOMMYs in special anniversary editions as well as REAL TIME and SHADES OF NOIR will be called THE BLACK BOX…early next year!

Thanks for your support, interest and enthusiasm — keep reading, watching and (most of all) buying….

M.A.C.