Mystery Melange

Book sculpture by Johwey Redington

The Crime Writers of Canada handed out their annual Arthur Ellis Awards for the best in Canadian crime fiction. The award for Best Novel went to Giles Blunt for Until the Night, while the Best Debut Novel was handed out to Simone St. James for The Haunting of Maddy Clare. For the full list of winners, check out the CWC website.

The Mystery Writers of America is sponsoring an upcoming MWA University in Seattle on Saturday, August 11. The one-day workshop features a day of classes taught by experts who discuss their strategies for all facets of writing and publishing, including: "After the Idea" led by Jess Lourey; "Dramatic Structure & Plot,"  led by Kat Richardson; "Setting & Description," with Reed Farrel Coleman; "Character," with Brian Thornton: "Writing as Re-Writing," taught by Daniel J. Hale; and "The Writing Life," with Hank Phillippi Ryan.

There's a new crime fiction festival coming to Adelaide, Australia, called The Body in the Garden, to be held October 25 to 27. The event will feature a line-up of 22+ writers from Australia and overseas, including Swedish crime writer Hakan Nesser, UK author Anne Cleeves, and Australians Gabrielle Lord, Paul Bangay, Fabian Capomollo and Mat Pember. This is unusual in that it's a free festival and will be held (as the name suggests) at the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

This week's story at Beat to a Pulp is "The Cinderella Myth" from Sandra Seamans, who also operates the very useful and informative My Little Corner blog, with resources and information about markets for short crime fiction.

This month's issue of Suspense magazine includes interviews with Chevy Stevens, Jeffrey Archer, Alafair Burke, Hank Steinberg, Dean James and debut author John Mulhall. Plus, Anthony J. Franze continues his Rules of Fiction with bestselling author Michael Connelly and Lisa Gardner continues her series from the writers toolbox, helping all writers master their craft.

This week's Q&A roundup includes former news cameraman Jon Steele, whose noir fantasy Angelus trilogy tells the story of a high-end call girl and a British tough guy who find themselves in a war between angels and demons; Andy Rivers is the lastest "Short Sharp Interivew" with Paul D. Brazill; and Joanna Campbell Slan joined Omnimystery News to talk about her mystery series featuring literary character Jane Eyre.

Comments

[sandra seamans]

Thanks for the double mention, BV!