Mystery Melange

Thanks to Altus Press, three of the most historic pulp fiction magazines of the Twentieth Century are set to return to magazine format. This November, Altus Press will relaunch full-length magazines of Argosy, Black Mask, and Famous Fantastic Mysteries in periodical format, with both classic fiction tales and new stories and articles. Each of these magazines enjoyed decades-long publications by a variety of publishers with several thousand total issues. Now owned by Steeger Properties, LLC, these titles will be published on a regular schedule and in print and e-magazine formats.

Three weeks remain to submit your work for consideration in the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant Program for Unpublished Writers. The grant is designed to foster quality literature in the Malice Domestic tradition and assist the next generation of traditional mystery writers on the road to publication. The grant includes a $2,500 cash award and a comprehensive registration to Malice Domestic 29, including 2 nights' lodging at the convention hotel. For submission information, check out the official website.

Libraries throughout the Aberdeenshire regions of Scotland are participating in a CrimeFest during the month of October. Authors Ann Cleeves and James Oswald offered up talks earlier in the month, but there are still plenty of events to come, including panels on crime writing, forensics, a talk on "Cosy Crime Noir" by journalist and author Sara Sheridan, and more.

Two crime fiction authors are being honored by their respective states: Margaret Maron is being inducted into the North Carolina Writers Hall of Fame, and Tod Goldberg is this year's recipient of the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

The New Yorker had a meaty profile of Scottish crime fiction author Philip Kerr, best known for his Berlin Noir trilogy of novels.

This year's volume of America's Best Mystery Stories has just been released. Edited by Elizabeth George and Otto Penzler, the roster of authors includes Megan Abbott, Steve Almond, Matt Bell, Bruce Robert Coffin, Lydia Fitzpatrick, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Evan Lewis, Robert Lopresti, Dennis McFadden, Michael Noll, Todd Robinson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Georgia Ruth, Jonathan Stone, Susan Thornton, Brian Tobin, and Saral Waldorf.

Novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz has been invited to write a second official James Bond novel by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd after the success of his 2015 bestseller, Trigger Mortis, published by Orion in September last year. As yet untitled, the setting will be "period Bond" and the story will again feature previously unpublished material by Fleming. Horowitz is the fourth author in recent years to be invited by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd to write an official Bond novel, following in the footsteps of William Boyd (2013's Solo), Jeffery Deaver (Carte Blanche in 2011), and Sebastian Faulks (Devil May Care, 2008).

If you can't get enough about Agatha Christie during her 12th anniversary, here are "126 remarkable Agatha Christie facts" (you get a bonus!) compiled by Christie expert John Curran.

Writing for The Guardian, John Mullan takes a look at "How we got to The Girl on the Train" and the rise of the psychological thriller, explaining that the themes of adultery, murder and secret identity in Paula Hawkin's book are rooted in the Victorian era.

In honor of the release the Girl on the Train movie, based on Paula Hawkin's novel, Signature Reads chose the "7 Best Train-set Thrillers."

The Seattle Times printed a report about a puzzling case of an identity thief that was solved, in part, thanks to the work of a forensic genealogist. (HT to Sisters in Crime).

Psychological crime novels are still "a thing," if you go by recent major advances handed out to books vying to the next Gone Girl, ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The October issue of Plots With Guns is out, scaring up new stories from Jeff Kerr, Joe Kraus, Andrew Gibbons, Nick Kolakowski, James Pate, Steven Nester, David Rachels, and Donald McCarthy.

The September/October issue of Suspense Magazine includes interviews with authors Jonas Saul, Blake Crouch, Craig Johnson, Sophie Hannah, Sean McFate, Richard Chizmar, and Linda Castillo, plus Dennis Palumbo asks the question "Is your Psycho Killer...just Psycho?", and a look at the Sisters in Crime publishing summit report on diversity in the mystery community.

Something to pass along to your kids and other young folk: Barnes and Noble compiled a list of "7 Awesome Diverse YA Thrillers."

Think homo sapiens is a dangerous species? A new study found that we don't even crack the top thirty of the most murderous mammals.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Testimony" by Lida Bushloper.

In the Q&A roundup, Omnimystery News welcomed Don Bruns to introduce his New Orleans homicide detective Quentin Archer in Casting Bones and also Leslie Nagel to chat about her latest, The Book Club Murders; Australian Andrew Nette talked up heist novels and his latest, Gunshine State, with the Mystery People; My Central Jersey spoke with Otto Penzler, editor, publisher, bookstore owner, and one of the most influential proponents of crime fiction; and Declan Burke welcomed author Ruth Downie for some grilling.