Nate and Abby will be married next Sunday, and we will have pictures here to prove it next week. (That’s Nate Collins, not Nate Heller.) We are as excited as you might imagine, and thrilled that our son has a such a wonderful young woman to share his life with.

Our good friend (and that great writer) Ed Gorman is battling cancer and will be on his way to Mayo soon. This is not a new fight, and Ed has beaten the beast back into the cave many times before. We trust he will do so again. If you’re a fan of Ed’s, you might drop him a note at edgorman99@aol.com.

I want to thank friends and family who came out to the Rusty Nail in Davenport last Saturday in support of Crusin’. We had a nice crowd at an odd time (5:30 – 8:30 on a Saturday) and have been asked back. Thanks, Matt, Pam, Ed, Steph, Phil, Shelly and assorted family of theirs as well as band family members. Hard to believe it’s been close to a year since Chuck Bunn passed. Brian Van Winkle, guitarist Jim’s brother, is doing a great job as our “new” bass player – he has a sunny attitude and really has music in his heart and soul.

As Nate noted here a few days ago, TRUE CRIME was the Kindle Deal of the Day not long ago, and the book climbed high on the Amazon bestseller charts – got to #1 on Mystery and was in the top #100 of all e-books. It’s still hanging on with strong sales, which is always the result of a Kindle Deal of the Day sale. For some reason, Amazon is not offering TRUE DETECTIVE on Kindle right now, and I’m trying to find out why.

Another movie note: don’t miss PREMIUM RUSH, which I would have skipped having seen the trailer (a movie about a bike messenger?). But like HIT AND RUN, it’s a throwback to a ‘70s movie where there is clever writing and dialogue, sharp characters well-portrayed by a fine cast, and heart-stopping action, little if any of it faked. We only went because of a couple of decent reviews we spotted, and I’d be pleased if this mention sent a few more people into a theater where a film is playing that isn’t just two hours of theme-park explosions.

TARGET LANCER continues to get nice advance notices.

And here’s a short but sweet ROAD TO PERDITION (graphic novel) review.

Finally, Mickey and I are in great company in this review of posthumous works by late mystery masters (the other two are Hammett and Cain – if Chandler were here, it would be my top four writers). The guy is a little glib – he thinks I’m taking top marquee slot (which admittedly the cover design frustratingly seems to do, in effort to make the Spillane byline larger) and ignores that the title page and everywhere gives it rightfully to Mickey.

M.A.C.