Henning Mankell, Phillip Kerr, Carol Marsh – News Roundup

It has been a busy day for crime fiction bloggers with the dramatic news that Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell was on one of the Gaza-bound aid boats stormed by Israeli forces yesterday. He was not hurt apparently, but he may be in custody.

A slightly more lighthearted story was reported in The Daily Telegraph — crime writer Philip Kerr is an internet troll! Apparently Kerr was so aggrieved by two scathing reviews that historian Allan Massie wrote of Kerr’s last two novels that Kerr got his revenge by slamming Massie’s latest book on its Amazon page. The offensive review must have been taken down as it does not seem to be there any more. A literary feud or an internet imposter?

Also at the Telegraph is the obituary of the actress Carol Marsh. The late Miss Marsh played Rose, the naive young wife of the vicious hood Pinkie Brown, in the film version of Brighton Rock (1947).