Scholar Leslie S. Klinger has filed a civil suit in federal court against the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, hoping to prove that “Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson are no longer protected by federal copyright laws.”

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Along with Laurie R. King, Klinger edited A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. He was working on a new collection called In the Company of Sherlock Holmes with stories by Sara Paretsky, Michael Connelly, Lev Grossman and more. He made his case, in the release:

The Conan Doyle Estate contacted our publisher … and implied that if the Estate wasn’t paid a license fee, they’d convince the major distributors not to sell the book. Our publisher was, understandably, concerned, and told us that the book couldn’t come out unless this was resolved … It is true that some of Conan Doyle’s stories about Holmes are still protected by the U.S. copyright laws. However, the vast majority of the stories that Conan Doyle wrote are not. The characters of Holmes, Watson, and others are fully established in those fifty ‘public-domain’ stories. Under U.S. law, this should mean that anyone is free to create new stories about Holmes and Watson.

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What kind of music do your characters listen to? Novelist Michael Connelly has created a dark and inspiring soundtrack over the course of his career.

At a Sony Readers Book Club event in Los Angeles, Connelly explained that he was inspired by musicians “who had a difficult time making music.” As an example, he mentioned how his long-time character Harry Bosch listened to Art Pepper, a great jazz saxophonist who struggled with drug addiction and a troubled family history.

If you want to sample his writing music playlist, we’ve included a free Spotify playlist below of Connelly’s literary soundtrack. Connelly concluded: “Music is one of the things that helps me. If there is music playing in my book, that music was playing when I wrote it.”

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Mary Alice Gorman and Richard Gorman, the current owners of the Mystery Lovers Bookshop, hope to sell the Oakmont, Pennsylvania store after 21 years.

Interested parties should visit this webpage about the store and the potential sale. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the shop has hosted events headlined by bestselling mystery authors including Jo Nesbo, Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane.

Here’s more from the Gormans’ email announcement: “There are wonderful opportunities for our store that include eBooks, revitalizing the cafe business, expansion of genres, consideration of new sidelines and dozens of others. However, taking advantage of these opportunities requires a new set of younger eyes, hands and backs.”

GalleyCat readers come in all shapes, sizes and species. Reader Martha Otis shared a picture of her literary pet with a simple caption: “Teddy is reading The Drop by Michael Connelly.”

GalleyCat readers around the globe have joined our annual Pet Parade, sending photos of their literary pets.

More photos follow below–we will collect all the entries at this link.

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George R.R. Martin has sold one million Kindle books. He joins the growing “Kindle Million Club” list with Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Suzanne Collins, Michael Connelly, John Locke, Janet Evanovich and Kathryn Stockett.

Kindle Content VP Russ Grandinetti pointed to the author’s most appealing eBook feature: “Martin’s series is simply epic … And an elaborate series like this is great on Kindle because you can turn the last page of book three at 10:30 at night, then buy book four and be on its first page at 10:31.”

Is selling a million Kindle books still a dramatic feat? On Twitter, journalist Sarah Weinman wondered: “at some point it will no longer be news that an author has made it to the Kindle Million Club. That time might even be now.”

Authors Janet Evanovich and Kathryn Stockett have each sold more than a million Kindle books, joining what Amazon has termed the “Kindle Million Club.”

The authors join the likes of Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Suzanne Collins, Michael Connelly and John Locke, who have also passed the million mark in sales of their eBooks in the Kindle Store. According to the release, Stockett is the first debut novelist to reach this milestone.

Evanovich’s latest novel Smokin’ Seventeen has spent more than 100 days on the Kindle Best Seller list. Stockett’s novel, The Help, has been No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and was just adapted into a film.

John Locke has become the first self-published author to join the Kindle Million Club–the eighth author to sell one million eBooks through Amazon. Follow this link to read free samples of his novels.

Locke has sold 1,010,370 Kindle books using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The club also counts Suzanne Collins, Michael Connelly, and James Patterson as members.

Locke had this statement in the release: “Kindle Direct Publishing has provided an opportunity for independent authors to compete on a level playing field with the giants of the book selling industry. Not only did KDP give me a chance, they helped at every turn. Quite simply, KDP is the greatest friend an author can have.”

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Amazon made the announcement that mystery writer Michael Connelly has sold more than one million Kindle eBooks. This makes him the seventh writer to be inducted into the “Kindle Million Club.”

Connelly (pictured, via) recently published the twenty third book in the Mickey Haller series, The Fifth Witness. He had this statement in the press release: “As a storyteller it brings me particular fulfillment to know so many readers are receiving my work through the Kindle. Added to that, my name is now on a list of an amazing group of writers. I am very proud of this moment.”

Last week, Hunger Games novelist Suzanne Collins became the first children’s author and the sixth member of the “Kindle Million Club.” The first inductee was Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson followed by James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, and Lee Child.

Do blurbs matter when you buy a book?

Over at The Awl, six authors shared vastly different opinions about blurbs. They also offered some practical advice about getting blurbs for your own work–add your thoughts and advice in the comments.

Mystery novelist Stefanie Pintoff (pictured, via) defended blurbs: “I believe they can be very helpful to debut novels, for which of course there are no reviews in place. The best blurbs come from an author writing within the same genre, since they will take advantage of a shared audience. For example, for a thriller debut, a blurb from Michael Connelly or Lee Child is an instant attention-getter and lends an air of credibility to the book. Authors can be very busy, so connections matter (sharing an agent or editor for example).”

Novelist Kate Christensen shared her blurb memories: “Two close friends blurbed my first novel. I am forever in their debt, and I found the whole process a bit humiliating. No strangers were willing to blurb me on the strength of the book itself, and my editor asked many people, far and wide … My later books were beautifully blurbed by a several generous fellow writers I barely knew—people I now adore and feel indebted to, although I still barely know them.”

Enhanced eBooks have been the talk of the town this week–from SXSW to bestselling novelists. Over at Daily Finance, Hachette revealed a few new projects to create digital books with fancy new features, including a “NASCAR-oriented app” and “a synchronized text/audio edition” of Echo Park by Michael Connelly.

Even better, they plan to offer “standalone app” version of David Foster Wallace‘s sprawling novel, Infinite Jest. Out of all the writers slated for an enhanced edition, Wallace’s work could be perfect–with plenty of footnotes, inter-textual references, and endless cultural allusions.

What would you like to see in this app? Here’s more from Maja Thomas, senior VP of Hachette digital–quoted in the article: “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if, when a footnote appears, there’s a symbol in the e-version of the text, and if you tap on it, you can go right to the footnote, and then tap back into the text at any time.”