Mystery Melange

The winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Awards were announced this past weekend at the LA Festival of Books. The top nod in the Mystery/Thriller category went to Bill Beverly for his novel Dodgers. The other finalists included Graeme Macrae Burnet, His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae; Emma Cline, The Girls; Ian McGuire, The North Water; and Thomas Mullen, Darktown.

In the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Michelle Cox’s A Girl Like You  won the Gold Medal in the Mystery/Cozy/Noir category, with the Silver going to Delivering the Truth, by Edith Maxwell, and the Bronze to Catriona McPherson’s Quiet Neighbors.

The Crimefest Awards shortlists were announced ahead of the Crimefest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, May 21 in the categories of he Audible Sounds of Crime Award for the best unabridged crime audiobook (first published in the UK); the eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook first published in both hard copy and in electronic format; the Last Laugh Award for the best humorous crime novel; the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction; and the Best Novels for Children and YA. (Hat to Spinetingler Magazine)

The finalists for the Arthur Ellis Awards, which honor the best in Canadian crime writing, were announced last Friday. In the category of Best Novel, the nominees are Kelley Armstrong for City of the Lost; Michael Helm for After James; Maureen Jennings for Dead Ground in Between; Janet Kellough for Wishful Seeing; and Donna Morrissey for The Fortunate Brother. For all the finalists, head on over to the Crime Writers of Canada website.

May 19-21, a Noir at the Bar Crawl will spread out across three cities, Washington, DC, Richmond, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. Thirty authors will be taking part, with E.A. Aymar serving as host. Aymar wrote more about the whole Noir at the Bar experience for Lithub, and if you aren't already acquainted with these events, check out a history here.

Goodreads is presenting Mystery Week on their website, May 1 to 7, shining the spotlight on page-turning mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. Anthony Horowitz, Charlaine Harris, Dennis Lehane, and many others will be recommending books and sharing original content to kick off the week, but many other mystery authors (including myself) will also be participating.  Look for the hashtag #MysteryWeek across various social media.

Booklist is sponsoring a Mystery Month during May, which will include a small press lineup and a feature called "The Clues to My Crime," where authors explain the influences behind their latest works. Jane Harper will shed some light on the writing of her bestselling book The Dry, and A. J. Hartley, Leah Carroll, David Swinson, Rob Hart, Jay Hosking, Nancy Werlin, Kristen Lepionka, Bill Loehfelm, and other authors will offer up their take on their process.

Sandra Ruttan and Jack Getze, editors of Spinetingler magazine, have been maintaining an online 'zine for some time featuring news and short fiction, even while many other publications have fallen by the wayside. Recently, Sandra announced that Spinetingler will have its first print issue in years this fall and is actively scheduling author interviews, selling limited ad space and pulling things together. Although they've already lined up several stories (including one by yours truly), they are still seeking a few additional pieces. But you'd better hurry if you're interested; they expect slots to fill up soon. You can read all the submission details here.

At the recent LA Festival of Books, author Michael Connelly explained why he's allowing Harry Bosch to age in his novels, adding,"I didn't freeze Harry in time, because it's better storytelling not to. As long as he can keep his health and his knees are good, he can close cases."

Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 by Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap. The organization was established to promote equality for women in crime fiction (particularly with reviews and awards), but has since branched out to include men and other educational and outreach programs. This past week, it expanded even further with the official founding of the New Orleans chapter of Sisters in Crime, who will also present the Third Annual Mystery Writers Conference in cooperation with the East Bank Regional Library.

This week, the 5-2 continues its "30 Days of the Five-Two" poetry blog tour with  "Her Beheading" by Anne Graue and "Paradise" by Emilie Buchwald.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People welcomed Megan Miranda, best-selling author of All The Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger; Esquire spoke with Sophie Hannah about the challenges of writing the continuation Hercule Poirot novels originally created by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie; Sara Paretsky stopped by the Huffington Post to talk about her latest V.I Warshawski novel, Fallout; mystery writer Lynne Raimondo (the "Dante" series) chatted with the Chicago Tribune about her novels and writing routine; Criminal Element hosted Carolyn Haines (Sticks and Bones); and Lori Rayder-Day explained to the Wicked Cozy Authors why she's chosen to be a standalone writer.