Friday, July 22, 2005

I'm sitting here watching an 8" lizard crawling up and down one of the porch posts. I sure hope he is eating ants and mosquitoes. I look like I have measles with all the mosquito bites on me, even on my face. Having the bedroom windows open with the shredded screens was not worth the little breeze we got the night the power was out. Steve came home from work last night and went mosquito hunting with his tennis racket type zapper. It will take us days to clear them out of here. Oh well, it could have been much worse and we have lots more storms to come before hurricane season is over. Was worried about friends who live near South Padre in Texas but they did fine - didn't even lose power.

Watched Killing Mr. Griffin last night while Steve was mosquito hunting. I had wanted to see it because of the dispute over the screenplay and Lois Duncan not having been given credit for the story line. It is basically her book of the same title, with a few of the twists left out about David and his involvement by taking Mr. Griffin's ring. I did see a short glimpse of the Hyperion logo at the end of the movie, but I was told there is a clip of Lois Duncan's books at the end of the DVD version. If this movie, or the other one, I Know What You Did Last Summer, much more loosely based on a Duncan book of the same title, introduces teens to this classic YA mystery writer I am delighted. One of her more recent ones, Gallows Hill, is one of my favorites. The whole idea of a girl having lived during the Salem Witchcraft Trials and bringing it to life again in her small town is wonderfully creepy. One of my favorites to booktalk years ago was Twisted Window about a girl who helps a boy kidnap a little girl for all the right reasons, but they are all lies and he shows up with a gun. There are at least 10 of Duncan's suspense/mystery novels available in paperback and they should be in YA collections. Wish I had time to re-read them all. And her biographical Who Killed My Daughter. Duncan's daughter was shot to death in 1989 and her killer was never apprehended. The FBI was of little help and Duncan turned to psychics who gave her basic leads and he discovered her daughter's boyfriend was involved with drugs and other shady dealings. Fascinating book. More about Lois Duncan's life can be found at http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/lois_duncan.htm, a fascinating interview with Duncan. Even with an episode of Unsolved Mysteries Kait's murder has not been solved.

All for now. That darn movie got me interested in Lois Duncan again. I did quite a bit of research on her back in the early 90s and haven't done much since.