The Strand Magazine released its lineup of nominees for the 2015 Strand Magazine Critics Awards:
Best Novel
- Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith
- A Banquet of Consequences, by Elizabeth George
- The Lady from Zagreb, by Phillip Kerr
- Forty Thieves, by Thomas Perry
- The Whites, by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt
- The Cartel, by Don Winslow
Best First Novel
- The Truth and Other Lies, by Sascha Arango
- Normal, by Graeme Cameron
- The Marauders, by Tom Cooper
- Past Crimes, by Glen Erik Hamilton
- The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
- Disclaimer, by Renée Knight
Strand managing editor Andrew F. Gulli also announced via The Guardian that Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Endeavour Morse, and Jeffery Deaver, the inventor of New York City forensic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme, have been chosen to receive this year’s Strand Critics lifetime achievement awards.
At this past weekend's Crime Fest in the UK, the winners for the Audible Sounds of Crime Award (for best unabridged crime audiobook) was announced as The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, read by Clare Corbett, India Fisher, and Louise Brealey. Other awards handed out included the Kobo eDunnit Award (for the best crime fiction e-book), won by The Crossing, by Michael Connelly; The Last Laugh Award (for the best humorous crime novel) to Bryant & May and the Burning Man, by Christopher Fowler; The H.R.F. Keating Award (for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction) to The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards; and the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year went to The Caveman, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce
The CWA (Crime Writers Association) 2016 Dagger Award longlists were announced at Crimefest last weekend, with the finalists for the Goldsboro Dagger for Best Novel including Dodgers by Bill Beverly; Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre; After You Die by Eve Dolan; Real Tigers by Mick Herron; Finders Keepers by Stephen King; Dead Pretty by David Mark; Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina; and She Died Young by Elizabeth Wilson. As the term "longlists" would suggest, the roll call in the various categories takes up a lot of real estate, which Mystery Fanfare has thoughtfully provided via this link.
Crimefest also announced the winner of this year's Margery Allingham short story contest, "The Box-Shaped Mystery" by Peter Guttridge. And just in time, too.
A Noir at the Bar across the Pond is coming up soon on Wednesday, June 1st at the Town Wall pub (Pink Lane, Newcastle), the first such event in the north east of England. Authors slated to appear and read from their works so far include Tess Makovesky, Graham Smith, and Jacky Collins, with more added soon.
London's first-ever female-led crime festival will launch this autumn, with the arrival of the Killer Women conference, set for Saturday, October 15. Killer Women is made up of 18 female, London-based crime novelists, including Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, Jane Casey, and Tammy Cohen. The program will feature a variety of readings and debates ranging from Victorian Crime to modern forensic psychology to How To Solve A Murder with real-life detectives, and there will also be master classes with some of your favorite Killer Women authors, as well as an exclusive Murder Mystery, Killer Women cocktails, and more.
The Economist penned a fond farewell to the Kenneth Brannagh-starring Wallender series and the series' author, the late Henning Mankell.
Judy Blume offered up an essay for The Guardian on why US indie booksellers are thriving and why - at age 78 - the multimillion-selling author has begun a new career, opening her own bookshop.
Did you know the CIA has an art gallery? CIA museum director Toni Hiley spoke with NPR about the latest painting, the 21st in the collection, and why the CIA has an art gallery at all.
For fans of the recently-canceled TV series Castle, you can take some comfort in the knowledge that the book series spawned from the series, the Nicky Heat books "written" by Richard Castle will continue with the eighth and ninth books and even beyond. The real name of the author of the Castle/Nikki Heat books has long been a mystery, but the Castle producers and series publisher Hyperion will only admit "that the real author has appeared on an episode of Castle." Authors who have appeared on the show include James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane (and the late Stephen J. Cannell), although it's hard to imagine any of those folks signing on for ghostwriting. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Bored with your usual reading chair? Try one of these "10 Gorgeous Outdoor Reading Nooks."
In the Q&A roundup, Omnimystery News welcomed BJ Bourg, who discussed his Magnolia Parish mysteries and more; multiple award-winning author Steve Hamilton chatted with the Huffington Post about his new series featuring Nick Mason, an ex-con trying to break away from his criminal past; Criminal Element held a Q&A with Marla Cooper, Author of Terror in Taffeta; Crime Watch snagged a 9mm interview with Fever City author, Tim Baker; the Tampa Bay Examiner chatted with Louise Penny about her latest novel, A Great Reckoning, number twelve in her Inspector Gamache series; Laura Lippman chatted with Alex Segura over at Do Some Damage about her new novel, Wilde Lake; and the Mystery People snagged Larry D. Sweazy to discuss his new book, See Also, Deception, his second book to feature indexer Marjorie Trumaine.
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