Mystery Melange

 

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is this weekend and will include five different crime fiction panels, starting with the two on Saturday: "Crime Fiction: Right Place, Wrong Time," featuring Steph Cha, Naomi Hirahara, Attica Locke, Daniel Pyne, and moderator Paula L. Woods; and another on "Crime Fiction: Haunted by the Past," featuring Tom Bouman, Peter Heller, Peter Swanson with moderator Tom Nolan. Sunday will see panels that include authors Gar Anthony Haywood, Eric Jerome Dickey, Hallie Ephron, Kimberly McCreight, Naomi Hirahara, T. Jefferson Parker, Ivy Pochoda, Joseph Kanon, Thomas Perry, Lisa Scottoline, and Stuart Woods. Dennis Lehane will also be interviewed by Tod Goldberg in a special Sunday session.

The International Thriller Writers announced the finalists for the 2015 Thriller Awards. In the running for Best Hardcover Novel are Megan Abbott for The Fever; Lauren Beukes for Broken Monsters; Joseph Finder for Suspicion; Greg Iles for Natchez Burning; and Chevy Stevens for That Night. Check out all of the categories nominees on the awards website.

Crimefest announced its longlist for their 2015 awards (and it's definitely a long list - too long to reprint here). Check out the Crimefest website for all the nominees for Audible Sounds of Crime Award for best crime audiobook; Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel; eDunnit award for best electronic crime novel, and the H.R.F. Keating Award for best non-fiction book related to crime fiction. The finalists will be annnounced soon, with the winners handed out at the Crimefest Gala Awards Dinner on May 17.

There's an new crime fiction website debuting this month. The Life Sentence bills itself as "the destination sophisticated crime fiction/noir fans go to for reviews and stimulating criticism. Our content engages, excites, and inspires people to share and to participate. We cover crime, mysteries, and noir in all genres, including true crime, thrillers, novels, nonfiction, movies, and television." Future content will  include coverage of comics (and actual comics), slideshows, contests, giveaways, a podcast, conversations, recipes, and more. The Editorial Board reads like a "who's who" of heavyweights in crime fiction today.

Author Jeanne Matthews takes note of a mystery author who may soon receive canonization by The Catholic Church. The process is underway of deciding whether to bestow sainthood on G.K. Chesterton, who, among other ecclesiastical works, created the Father Brown mystery series. It doesn't hurt that Pope Francis is apparently a long-time fan of the author's novels.

Penguin Random is introducing free eBook excerpts from select titles for Amtrak riders on the Acela Express. Train riders between Boston and Washington, D.C. will have access to more than twenty free excerpts from a variety of books across all Penguin Random House’s adult imprints.

A handwritten notebook by Alan Turing, the British mathematician credited with breaking German codes during World War II (played by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game), sold for more than $1 million at auction Monday in New York. It's the first time a manuscript by Turing has come to public market.

In honor of National Library Week in the U.S., check out the new book from Alex Johnson titled Improbable Libraries. The book takes a look at unusual libraries around the globe "from library boats for Laotian children on the river to a Mobile Art Library which drives around Mexico City and a Mongolian Children’s Mobile Library that brings books to nomadic herding communities via camel."

Is there anything Legos can't do? Police in Scotland are using the popular toy to help stop crime. It's all part of Operation RAC, an ongoing campaign to reduce the number of house break-ins in Edinburgh using Lego scenes that focus on simple ways people can help prevent a break-in.

In the Q&A roundup, The Mystery People snagged Ryan Gattis to talk about his novel All Involved, based on rioting in L.A. after the exoneration of the policemen who beat Rodney King; debut mystery author Suzanne Spiegoski stopped by Omnimystery News; and James O. Born chatted with the Miami Herald about his new novel that focuses on deputy Tim Hallett and his K-9 unit.