Mystery Melange

The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers announced the nominees for the annual Hammett prize, awarded to a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a US or Canadian author. This year's list includes Wayfaring Stranger: A Novel, by James Lee Burke; Smoke River, by Krista Foss; Gangsterland: A Novel, by Tod Goldberg; Mr. Mercedes: A Novel, by Stephen King; and Goodhouse: A Novel, by Peyton Marshall.

Congratulations also go to this year's finalists for the Agatha Awards, handed out each year at the Malice Domestic Conference in Maryland. For all the deserving nominees in the various categories, check out the Malice website.

In more awards news, the Love is Murder XVI  Mystery Writers & Readers Conference (to be held in Chicago, February 6-8), announced the Lovey Award nominations. Hat tip to Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine for posting the complete list.

On Monday, April 27th, Mystery Writers of America will launch the MWA Cookbook, edited by Kate White. The launch party will be held at The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren Street, New York, NY, with many of the contributors are scheduled to appear. In addition, some of the 2015 Edgar® Award nominees will also be at the bookstore for the event. Visit the Mysterious Bookshop website for more information.

MWA also announced its Edgar Symposium will be returning this year, to be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.  All the details will be forthcoming soon, but both of this year's Grand Masters - Lois Duncan and James Ellroy - will be interviewed.

Edgar-winning author Helen Eustis (1916–2015) died last week at the age of 98. She was the last living member of the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone list of essential mysteries, and known for such titles as The Horizontal Man and The Fool Killer, which was adapted into a movie in 1965 starring Anthony Perkins. Her son has a remembrance on his blog. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell via Sarah Weinman.)

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, is launching a writer-in-residence program with the inaugural author-resident Charles Finch, author of the Charles Lenox mystery novels set in Victorian England. As part of the week-long residency in late February, Finch will host three author events: with Laurie R. King for Dreaming Spies, Priscilla Royal for Satan’s Lullaby, and Tessa Arlen for Death of a Dishonorable Gentlemen. He'll also conduct a workshop and a masterclass.

The latest issue of All Due Respect is out, with an excerpt from author and Needle editor Steve Weddle's upcoming novel Broken Prayer and a Q&A. Plus, you'll find more "mean, gritty crime fiction" from Keith Rawson, Paul D. Brazill, Angel Luis Colón, Garnett Elliott, Gabino Iglesias, and J.J. Sinisi.

Leyla Yvonne Ergil surveyed the world of crime fiction set in Turkey, a country that's long been a destination of intrigue and inspiration for writers of all stripes, including Graham Greene and Agatha Christie.

Mike Ripley's latest Getting Away with Murder column has "The Ripster" hobnobbing with crime fiction elite on the other side of the Pond, including authors from publishers Hodder and Penguin; he also took at look at Kyril (Charles Emmanuel George) Bonfiglioli, author of the Mortdecai books on which the Johnny Depp film is based, and the French cop drama Engrenages (Spiral); and he looks ahead to the second Chianti Crime Festival in Italy in the first week in May, where he will be "officiating."

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "Ramsey" by Mike Wilson.

And did you know author Mary Roberts Rinehart was also a poet? Before she wrote her first mystery novel, The Circular Staircase, she wrote the poem, "The Detective Story," which appeared in the May 1904 Munsey's Magazine. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

The Q&A roundup includes Richard Godwin taking Paul D. Brazill's Short, Sharp Interview challenge; Alyssa Maxwell joined Writers Who Kill to talk about her historical series set in Rhode Island; former Swedish footballer (soccer star) turned crime fiction author Arild Stavrum took part in a "9mm interview" with Craig Sisterson at Crime Watch; Gary Garth McCann stopped by Omnimystery News to give backstory on his new crime novel The Man Who Asked To Be Killed; and Lynn Chandler Willis, who won the PWA First Private Eye Novel Award, joined Writers Who Kill.