Mystery Melange

Book sculpture by the Unicorn Diaries

The shortlist for the Ned Kelly Awards for excellence in Australia crime fiction was announced last week. The nominees include Beams Falling by P.M. Newton; Bitter Wash Road by Garry Disher; Fatal Impact by Kathryn Fox; In The Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty; and One Boy Missing by Stephen Orr.

Over in that same part of the world, Iceland’s Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Scottish New Zealander Liam McIlvanney will talk about their books and their other lives (she's a civil engineer, he's an academic who lectures on Tartan Noir) with crime fiction blogger Craig Sisterson on August 31 as part of the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival.

The recent PulpFest 2014 honored J. Randolph Cox, former editor-publisher of Dime Novel Round-Up and author of the bibliography Man of Magic & Mystery: A Guide to the Work of Walter B. Gibson, with the Munsey Award, “presented annually to a person who has worked for the betterment of the pulp community.” J. Barry Traylor was also presented with the Rusty Award, “designed to recognize those individuals who have worked long and hard for the pulp community with little thought for individual recognition.” (Hat tip to the Rap Sheet.)

Writing for Newsweek, Christopher Sylvester penned an essay on European crime fiction in "The Second Coming of 'Euro Noir' Drama."  

A new tour in Savannah, Georgia, called the Dark Crimes of Savannah aims to shed "some light into the murky darkness of the city’s gruesome and ghastly true crime history." The tour is from Savannah Cultural Heritage Tours and Events, the same groupe behind Savannah Ghost Walks, but the new tour has stops taken straight from newspaper headlines and police reports, ranging from 1735 to 2006.

For you fans of history and historical mysteries, Elizabeth Foxwell notes that the summer 2014 issue of Chemical Heritage Magazine has an article by Lee Sullivan Berry about "Forensic Chemistry in Golden-Age Detective Fiction: Dorothy L. Sayers and the CSI Effect."

Criminal Element has a giveaway titled the "Histories and Mysteries Sweepstakes," featuring seven books with the perfect mix of history and mystery.

As part of the latest salvo in the bookseller wars, Google and Barnes & Noble have begun same-day delivery in areas around three B&N stores in New York City, West Los Angeles and San Jose, California, in a bid to compete with Amazon's expanded same-day service.

As the New York Times reported, Scottish crime fiction author Val McDermid signed a deal to advertise on the jerseys of her favorite club, the Raith Rovers with the second division of the Scottish Professional Football League.

An Agatha Christie fan who bought a trunk during a clearance sale at the author's home for £100 found a strongbox full of the crime author's jewels valued at £10,000. The jewels will be sold at Bonhams auction house in Knightsbridge, central London, on October 8.

More sad news to report:  Author Jim Thompson, who was only 49, died unexpectedly last week. Thompson was author of the Inspector Vaara novels, including Snow Angels, named one of Booklist’s Best Crime Novel Debuts of the Year and nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Critics awards. American by birth, Thompson had lived in Finland for fifteen years with his Finnish wife and two children.  (Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

We also lost Dorothy Salisbury Davis on August 3rd, at the age of 98. Davis was nominated for an Edgar Award eight times, served as President of the Mystery Writers of America in 1956 and was declared a Grand Master by MWA in 1985. Davis was known for her psychological suspense tales, including two separate series, several standalone novels and many short stories.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Somewhere in Florida" by Austin Alexis, and the featured story over at Beat to a Pulp is "The Long Drop" by Jake Hinkson.

The Q&A roundup includes Rebecka Vigus chatting with Omnimystery News; and mystery author J.A. Jance talked about her new book, Remains of Innocence, with MLive Media.