Ron Tierney's latest Deets Shanahan mystery sees the Indianapolis-based detective "investigating the disappearance of a pregnant, unmarried drug company employee," according to this report in the Indianapolis Star (second item). The Star notes that Tierney's book has already received "a warm write-up in Booklist magazine."

North Dakota's Cass County will not have to reimburse John Strand's legal bills, reports In-Forum. Strand, publisher of High Plains Reader, sued the county in February 2003 over the planned destruction of an old jail. The county then filed a countersuit, claiming damages caused by the demolition's delay. In June 2005, a jury declared that neither Strand nor the county should collect damages. Following the jury's decision, the judge in the case ruled that the county's demolition of the old jail was legal. Last week, the same judge denied Strand's request to compel the county pay his court costs. In-Forum says the ruling "end(s) the legal wrangling" in the case.

Sager, writer-at-large for Esquire and author of "Scary Monsters and Super Freaks," offered writing tips to attendees of the recent AAN/Medill Writers Workshop. A list of his tips are now available to download.

Two slideshows from the San Diego convention are now available to download: one from Dave Thomas' presentation about videogame writing and the other from Fran Zankowski's seminar about putting together alt-weekly employee handbooks.