The nominees for the Barry Awards were announced yesterday. Handed out annually by Deadly Pleasures Magazine, this year's Best Novel shortlist includes C. J. Box, Badlands; John Connolly, A Song Of Shadows; Owen Laukkanen, The Stolen Ones; Michael Robotham, Life Or Death; Jeff Siger, Devil Of Delphi; and Don Winslow, The Cartel. For all the categories, follow this link.
Finalists for the 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards were also announced this past week, celebrating the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year, including Best Gay Mystery and Best Lesbian mystery novel.
Many of us just recently got wind of the news that Dilys Wynn died on February 5 of this year. Wynn contributed so much to the crime fiction community, opening Murder Ink, America’s first bookstore devoted entirely to mysteries, publishing two Murder Ink collections of essays and opinions about mystery fiction, and so much more. Wynn was honored with a Special Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1978. (Hat tip to Janet Rudolph.)
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, and Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog has some St. Patty's Day-themed crime fiction suggestions for you. And you can enjoy reading those books while eating Saint Patrick's Day Pork Chops, via The Mystery Lovers Kitchen.
Join Atlanta-based crime fiction authors Ed Brock, James Tuck and Peter Farris, along with visiting authors Eryk Pruitt, Alec Cizak, Grant Jerkins and Ashley Erwin for a night of deadly good story telling in the inaugural "Noir at the Bar Atlanta" reading at McCray's Tavern on the Square in Lawrenceville. Admission is free for the event on April 3, which starts at 7 p.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently opened the new exhibit "Crime Stories: Photography and Foul Play." Doug Eklund, curator in the museum’s department of photography, noted that the intent "was to tell the story of the camera’s role in crime and punishment, and also of how these kinds of pictures influenced artists in their own work." The exhibition explores the multifaceted intersections between photography and crime, from 19th-century “rogues’ galleries” to work by contemporary artists inspired by criminal transgression. The installation will feature some 70 works, drawn entirely from the Met collection, ranging from the 1850s to the present, and runs through July 31.
The USC Libraries has also gotten into the same spirit, opening the spring exhibition True Crime, documenting the history of detectives and the art of crime solving. The libraries created a mixed-reality game as part of the exhibition’s programming. Students and guests are invited to begin with a short film, pick up a logbook at the exhibition in Doheny Library, and try their hand at solving the mystery before the trail of clues goes cold. The exhibit closes on May 31.
This week, Harper Lee's estate announced it would no longer make To Kill a Mockingbird available as a mass market paperback. Although there is some controversy regarding the late author's Will and executor situation, the fact remains that the mass market paperback format has been on the decline for a while, thanks in part to ebooks.
The Mystery Writers Key West Fest has announced a call for entries for this year’s Mystery Writers Whodunit Writing Competition. The winner will claim a book-publishing contract with Absolutely Amazing eBooks, free Mystery Writers Key West Fest 2016 registration, airfare, hotel accommodations for two nights, and a Whodunit Award trophy to be presented at the 3rd Annual Mystery Writers Key West Fest, set for June 10-12 in Key West, Florida.
Quercus is launching a new fiction and non-fiction imprint called riverrun set to launch on May 2nd. The imprint will showcase Quercus’ "high quality literary fiction, upmarket crime and top class, serious non-fiction." riverrun's first title will be Six Four by Japanese author Hideo Yokoyama, with other existing Quercus authors joining the list to include bestselling crime author Peter May.
What is the world's "most literate" nation? Probably not the country you may think. (Hint: The United States is #7.)
Writing for The Guardian, MG Leonard picked the very nastiest of fictional women villains in children's books, from Cruella de Vil and Bellatrix Lestrange to the White Witch and Mrs. Coulter.
The new crime poem over at the 5-2 Weekly is "Define Pi" by Michael A. Arnzen.
In the Q&A roundup, Barry Lancet stopped by Criminal Element to discuss his latest Jim Brodie thriller Pacific Burn (plus, there's a sweepstakes involved); French crime writer Bernard Minier chatted with the Financial Times about his writing and his new book, A Song for Drowned Souls; Joe R. Lansdale was interviewed by The Quietus about his Hap and Leonard novel series and its recent screen adaptation; the Mystery People welcomed British-Israeli writer Lavie Tidhar to discuss his genre-bending literary new novel, A Man Lies Dreaming; and Omnimystery snagged Joe Cosentino for a Q&A about his new book, Porcelain Doll, the second in his Jana Lane series.
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