A Farewell (?) to Ripley

Mike Ripley's new - and, he says, final - "Getting Away with Murder" column has now been published in Shots Ezine. As usual, it contains a wide-ranging ramble through the current mystery scene, particularly as it appears in the U. K. Among the topics this month:

• Another new Albert Campion book, Mr. Campion's Fox, which Ripley has written with the blessing of the Allingham Society;
• A reflection on an anonymous literary agent's bad choice;
• The seemingly endless parade of  nominees for mystery awards;
• A recommendation for a new mystery that counts SIX different narrators;
• Announcements about several other newly-published-in-the-UK books;
• Books he's reading for the Chianti Crime Festival in Siena, Italy, later this Spring;
• Reviving some old TV serials;
• Lots more book reviews;

And a possible farewell of sorts. This is column #100 for "Getting Away with Murder." Ripley, who has insisted that column #100 would be his last, runs down a list of people who, he says, are some of the candidates to replace him - well, that's what he says, though the biographies are, er, highly dubious at best.  I hope it's somebody with Ripley's quirky sense of humor, very much on display again here, which has made his columns required reading for me. It occurs to me, however, the next column being dated April 1, and therefore quite possibly an appropriate time to introduce any of these candidates, that it would be wise to withhold lavish displays of grief. At least for now...

Comments

[Joan Kyler]

I really hope Mike isn't retiring. I enjoy his entertaining and informative column and always look forward to it. Love his goofy sense of humor!

[Les Blatt]

Yes, Joan, I'm waiting to see how this plays out on April 1...