Mystery Melange

Book sculpture by Georgia Russell

The Left Coast Crime Award nominations, or "Lefties," were announced this week. They include the nominees for Best humorous mystery novel:  Donna Andrews, The Hen of the Baskervilles (Minotaur Books); Timothy Hallinan, The Fame Thief (Soho Crime); Lisa Lutz, The Last Word (Simon & Schuster); Brad Parks, The Good Cop (Minotaur Books); and Cindy Sample, Dying for a Daiquiri (Cindy Sample Books). For all the other fun categories, check out Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog.

Also to be handed out at the Left Coast Crime conference are the Dilys Wynn Awards from the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association, for mystery titles booksellers most enjoyed selling. This year's list includes Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye; The Black Country by Alex Grecian; Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman; Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger; Pagan Spring by G.M. Malliet; and The Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstol.

Submissions are being accepted for the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America Scholarship for Mystery Writing, which seeks to nurture talent in mystery writing—in fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, and screenwriting. The scholarship ($500) shall be used to offset tuition and fees for writing workshops, writing seminars, or university/college-level writing programs in the U.S. For how to submit an application before the February 28 deadline, check out the MWA website.

Author/blogger Bill Crider profiled the new anthology Iron Head and Other Stories, the first in a series of charity anthologies from the Fight Card authors cooperative, a group of some of today's finest short fiction writers. Compiled by Paul Bishop and Jeremy L. C. Jones, all of the proceeds from these anthologies will go directly to an author-in-need (in this case, revered western writer Jory Sherman) or to a literacy charity.

Jon Stock wrote recently for The Telegraph on what he terms is the latest book craze, "Chick Noir" (by both male and female authors) including works by SJ Watson, Gillian Flynn, Natalie Young, Lucie Whitehouse and more.

Novelist Ann Cleeves listed her picks for the "top 10 crime novels in translation," that reaches far beyond Scandinavia.

Speaking of international crime, the formation of the brand-new Crime Writers' Association of South Asia was announced at the recent Zee Jaipur Literary Festival in India. The organization plans to host special events like a possible crime fiction conference in Delhi, as well as champion the efforts and careers of authors.

This week's crime poem over at the 5-2 is "Literati" by H.B. Ussach.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Terry Shames, who joins the Mystery People to chat about her latest Samuel Craddock mystery, The Last Death Of Jack Harbin; and Catherine Dilts stopped by Mysteries and My Musings to discuss the first novel in her Rock Shop series.