Let the Suicides Assemble...

Not at a table down at Maury's but a fine pizza place called Dino's in Burbank, where on Tues., Dec. 1st, the Suicide Club (from a Robert Louis Stevenson story), a group of crime writers who used to meet at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles, will gather together for some holiday cheer.

Robert S. Levinson (left) is hosting the affair at his son's restaurant. His latest book, which I've already mentioned, is the excellent standalone, The Traitor in Us All.

Among the others in attendance will be Dick Lochte, (left)

author of such classics as Sleeping Dog and the just-published The Morning Show Murders, which he wrote with some NBC weather guy.

The normally elusive Tom Nolan (left) has also agreed to attend. He reviews mysteries for the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and other journals. Nolan also wrote my favorite biography of recent years, Ross MacDonald.

What can I say about Gary Phillips that hasn't been said before -- mostly by him? Creator of the fine Ivan Monk series about a black detective who also runs a donut shop and which reminds me of the best of
Chester Himes, Gary is the most versatile a writer I know -- everything from comic books to political thrillers. His latest titles include Freedom's Flight and The Jook.

John Shannon is the heart and soul of the Suicide Club, a writer who fights the changing book market and comes out swinging. His work includes The Cracked Earth and his latest, Palos Verdes Blue.

Last but certainly not least is Kevin Burton Smith, editor of the fine online journal Thrilling Detective and one of the few writers and critics whose knowledge of the genre occasionally equals even mine. He's a Canadian, which probably explains his fascination with American crime.

And we'll be saving a chair for the much-missed Bruce Cook. Here's what January Magazine wrote when he died in 2003:

Bruce Cook, better known to fans of historical mysteries as "Bruce Alexander," author of the Sir John Fielding series, died in Los Angeles on November 9, 2003, after suffering a stroke. He was 71 years old. A former journalist and editor, Cook published his first genuine crime novel in 1988. However, it was his subsequent series about Fielding, the real-life 18th-century magistrate who created London's original police force, the Bow Street Runners, that brought him the greatest acclaim. "[T]he series," opines Mike Ashley in The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction, "is a strong evocation of this important period when not just the police force came into existence but new laws ushered in the dawn of criminal justice." The Price of Murder, Cook/Alexander's 10th adventure for Fielding and his young protégé, Jeremy Proctor, was published only months before the author's passing.