Mystery Melange

Book sculpture by Nino Orlandi

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the finalists for its 2014 Shamus Awards. Winners will be named during a banquet at Bouchercon in Long Beach, California, on November 14. The nominees for Best Hardcover P.I. Novel include Little Elvises, by Timothy Hallinan; The Mojito Coast, by Richard Helms; W Is for Wasted, by Sue Grafton; The Good Cop, by Brad Parks; and Nemesis, by Bill Pronzini. For ticket information about attending the banquet, contact PWA founder Robert Randisi at [email protected]. (Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

The next Mystery Writers of America University full-day writing seminar is heading to Atlanta on October 18. Workshops and leaders include After the Idea – Jess Louery; Dramatic Structure & Plot – Laura DiSilverio; Setting & Description – Richie Narvaez; Character – Carolyn Haines; Writing as Re-Writing – Hallie Ephron; and The Writing Life – Hank Phillippi Ryan. To register, go to the MWA University website.

It's never too early to start booking your crime fiction conferences for 2015. One of the latest to announce its schedule is Deadly Ink is Parsippany, New Jersey, to be held August 7-9. Renée Paley-Bain is the Guest of Honor, Donna Andrews is Toastmaster, and Les Blatt is the Fan Guest of Honor, with more authors scheduled to appear for talks and signings.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away With Murder" column is up over at Shots Ezine. He takes a look at the new, with October releases from Martina Cole and C.J. Sansom, as well as the old, with a look back at the CWA short story anthology Some Like It Dead from 1960. He also profiles some other "shorts," including Last Writes by Catherine Aird, and the upcoming A Twist of the Knife by Peter James.

Writing for The Telegraph, Siân Ranscombe tagged six domestic chillers for fans of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.

Author and former law officer Lee Lofland continues the alphabetical list of terms on his blog in the Crime Writers Dictionary, with "ice" to "justifiable homicide."

Over at the Crime Fiction Lover blog, MarinaSofia has an indepth look at "Josephine Tey as author and protagonist." There's a lot more to this Golden Age author than just The Daughter of Time.

The weekly featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Another Shooting" by John David Muth, and this week's pulp story at Beat to a Pulp is "Them and Us" by Glen Gray.

The Q&A roundup this week includes J.A. Jance chatting with Craig Sisterson at the Kiwi Crime Watch Blog; Garry Disher, author of over 50 crime fiction books, also joined Sisterson to talk about his writing; Chris Leek is Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" guest this week; and two of most recent "In Conversation" features at Omnimystery News included authors R.M. Cartmel and Steve P. Vincent.