After all, the Swedish movies based on these novels have set a high standard already. I can't imagine any actress bringing as much depth and nuance to the role of goth, girl hacker Lisbeth Salander as Noomi Rapace. This Swedish actress is just one reason why the movies based on Larsson's novels have been so good. The third Swedish movie, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, is set to be released in December 2010. The other reason is Michael Nyqvist, above left, as journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Nyqvist has brought a thoughtful approach to this role.
That would be British actor Daniel Craig. Yep, the newest James Bond. 007. License to thrill. I think I could live with Daniel Craig, left, in this role. Actually, I can live with Daniel Craig in just about any role.
While Daniel Craig will no doubt do just fine in the remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I don't have as high hopes for the actresses who are being considered: Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska, Emily Browning, Sara Snook, Rooney Mara and Sophie Lowe. Fine actress, but no Noomi Rapace.
Wedding bells rang last month for mystery author Elaine Viets.
Instead, Viets presided over the wedding of Lia Hutton and Carl Nigro on June 19.
And yes, it’s legal because Viets is a minister in the Universal Life Church.
And it’s all in the name of connecting with your readers.
The Washington, D.C. couple won Elaine Viets’ “Happily Ever After” contest, designed to celebrate the wedding of Helen Hawthorne and Phil, the two lead characters in her Dead-End Job mysteries. Helen and Phil marry in her ninth Dead-End Job mystery, Half-Price Homicide.
The bride, Lia Nigro, said the ceremony “has lots of personal meaning.” Lia wore her mother’s wedding dress and her grandmother’s wedding ring. Friends made their couple’s tiered wedding cake and provided the music.
More than 30 family members and friends attended the garden ceremony.
Would Viets get into the marrying business again?
“Absolutely. Carl and Lia are such a smart, sweet couple. I have great hopes for their future,” she said. “Not sure what I'll come up with next -- but I hope it will be as much fun as this.
As for being a minister in the Universal Life Church, that also was for her career. Viets was ordained by the Universal Life Church in 1976 as part of her writing research when she was a newspaper columnist in St. Louis.
The audience was fairly mixed with men and woman, of all ages; fans who had come to hear Crais talk about Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and his latest novel, The First Rule.
But during the question and answer session, a man in his mid-thirties made a comment that almost got him thrown out of the bookstore.
“I didn’t expect to see all these old people here,” said the man who was clearly a fan. “I thought it would be more people my age and more guys. I always thought you wrote young.”
Crais does write young. And Elvis and Joe do appeal to a young audience. They also appeal to a middle-aged audience, retirees and, well, just about anyone who can read.
I bring up this age issue because it is a factor in the cover profile of Michael Koryta in the latest Mystery Scene, No. 115. Kevin Burton Smith captures Koryta so well.
Yeah, he’s a whiz kid, all right.
But more importantly, he is an excellent writer. And the only reason his age should made a difference or even be a factor is it means that readers will have more years of enjoyment from his novels.
We’ve already had a good taste of Koryta’s talent. His stand-alone novel Envy the Night won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. (Full disclosure, I was one of the judges that year.)
One of the constants about crime fiction is that age, sex, race, sexual orientation and locale matter little to readers.
What crime fiction readers care about – and all they should care about – is if the story grabs them, if the characters are believable, the action realistic or, if it’s not realistic, at least makes them want to go along for the ride.
Mystery readers are sophisticated and are willing to follow an author just about anywhere if the story is worth it.
Sure, Koryta is young.
But he isn’t the only author to start early and continue to write intriguing crime fiction.
Greg Rucka was 27 when Finder was published. Dennis Lehane was 29 when A Drink Before the War came out. Tom Rob Smith was 29 when Child 44 was published.
Michael Connelly was 35 when Black Echo hit the stores, the same age as Dashiell Hammett when Red Harvest was published.
And Lawrence Block was just 23 when his first novel was published; by the time his first Matthew Scudder novel, The Sins of the Fathers, came in 1976, Block was 38 years old.
Good storytelling is ageless.
