The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Midsomer Murders Television Series… John Nettles Passes the Baton to Neil Dudgeon…

The recent comments on my Midsomer Murders entry (from 2008) made me want to go seek out the information about Inspector Tom Barnaby leaving the county of Midsomer. Yikes! I’ve been able to get used to the different sergeants who work for Tom, but Tom is leaving?!? (And taking Joyce and Cully with him?!?)

Midsomer Murders is (of course) still playing in Great Britain, and, unfortunately we have to make due with being a little behind on the goings-on in Midsomer… a definite case of better late than never! But here’s the scoop:

Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) will be visited by his cousin John Barnaby during the first episode in England’s season 13. Actually, this has probably already happened…

The good news is that John Barnaby will be played by Neil Dudgeon. For those of you who remember the Mrs. Bradley Mysteries (with Diana Rigg), you will no doubt remember George Moody, Mrs. Bradley’s chauffeur (or was he more?!?) Yep, that was Neil Dudgeon. (I loved that series, and I loved the chemistry between Rigg and Dudgeon.)

End of Season 12 (2009-2010):

Small Mercies
The Creeper
The Great and the Good

Season 13 (2010-2011):

The Sword of Guillaume (Tom’s cousin John Barnaby is introduced.)
The Made-to-Measure Murders
Blood on the Saddle
The Silent Land
Master Class
The Noble Art
Not in My Back Yard
Fit for Murder    (Tom Barnaby leaves.)

Season 14 (2011-2012):

Death in the Slow Lane (John Barnaby arrives.)
Dark Secrets
Echoes of the Dead
The Oblong Murders
The Sleeper under the Hill
The Stag

I have enumerated the seasons with the numbers from England. It sure would be a whole lot easier if Amazon would use the same numbers for their seasons as they do across the pond, wouldn’t it?

Feels Like Summer…

Our daughter came home for a week before heading out to Washington, DC for her summer internship. She will be living in the same housing place as she did during her last summer’s internship. I have come to terms with her living so far away, although I wish she were closer. Between Cambridge for the school term and DC for the summers >>> I guess I should resign myself to the fact that she is now an east-coast adult.

My husband and I planned to visit her during her internship, as we did last summer, but the three of us have decided that since she won’t be there as long as she was last summer, we will probably wait until the fall and visit her in Massachusetts instead. I have to admit that visiting her in DC last summer sure calmed the “mother in me.” Seeing all the police officers patrolling the area set my mind at ease. It seemed like there were police officers on every corner – not at all like what it was like when we lived the area – way back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Whenever my husband and I are away, our son takes on the responsibility of taking care of Sprite. And, at 16 1/2 years old, she is one finicky puppy. She has definite likes and dislikes, and she lets you know about them! I am almost embarrassed at what Sprite now has us doing just to get her to take her pills each morning and night.

Anyway, it’s not officially summer yet (June 21), but we’ve already had our yearly summer visit from our daughter. It does seem those visits are getting shorter and shorter…

 

Maria Bello in USA Prime Suspect…

It’s official! NBC is trying to get its failing ratings up, and will be adding several new shows to their fall line-up. One of these shows is an American version of Prime Suspect. Jane will be played by Maria Bello:

“Other notable new programs include “Prime Suspect,” an adaptation of the celebrated British series that starred Helen Mirren as a tough police detective, with Maria Bello taking on the role;”

(The above quote is from an article in MarketWatch.)

So there you have it. Let’s all hope that Bello can make Jane a messed-up, hard-as-nails person, who the audience actually roots for.

PS>>> Also on the NBC fall line-up is a Steven Spielberg show starring Anjelica Huston. Love her!!! When my children were a whole lot younger, The Witches (Roald Dahl) was a movie we watched over and over… And, of course, who can forget Lonesome Dove, The Addams Family, Prizzi’s Honor, … the Anjelica Huston hits just keep going and going, and going some more!

Is a Rose Still a Rose? Pseudonyms by Mystery Authors…

Getting back to the pseudonym question that I have been pondering for a while…

For some reason, this story has stayed with me – hidden in the deep recesses of my memory – as one of my “tid-bit interesting” stories relating to famous authors.

Stephen King was an English teacher before his books “took off.” Actually he worked many jobs, one of which was janitor at a school. Given his enormous writing talent, it was only a matter of time (and perseverance!) before his books became best sellers.

Once King’s books hit the best seller lists, he conducted an experiment. In the 1980s, he published several novels under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman.” He denied all rumors that Bachman’s writings were his. There was a phony author picture, and a phony author’s biography attached to the books. His Bachman books’ dedications were to Bachman’s significant loved ones, including Bachman’s loving wife. King deliberately distanced himself from the Bachman pseudonym. Apparently, King wanted to see if his “Stephen King” notoriety affected his book sales.

While Stephen King’s novels were all hitting the best sellers’ lists, his Richard Bachman novels did modestly well. One of his Richard Bachman novels sold 28,000 copies. When it was finally discovered that the Richard Bachman novels were actually Stephen King’s, that particular novel increased its sales by 10%! Stephen King had made an important discovery.

Name Brand, Name Recognition, Name Loyalty, Name Demand… call it what you will… There’s apparently a lot to be said about name recognition.

Pseudonyms may be nice, but it’s up to the loyal fans to track you down!

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