Crime Writers of Canada announced the Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing, including Best Novel to Donna Morrissey for The Fortunate Brother and Best First Novel to Elle Wild for Strange Things Done. You can check out all the winners and finalists via the CWC's official website.
The winner of the Bloody Words Light Mystery Award is Elizabeth J. Duncan for Murder on the Hour. The annual Canadian award is handed out to a "mystery book that makes us smile." (HT to Mystery Fanfare)
The longlists for Australia Sisters in Crime’s 17th Davitt Awards were announced, with a record 99 books in contention for adult, young adult, children's and nonfiction titles. A short list will be announced in mid to late July, with the winners presented at a gala dinner in Melbourne in late summer.
Mystery Readers NorCal is hosting an International Historical Mystery Literary Salon with Annamaria Alfieri and Michael Cooper in Berkeley, California, on May 31. Mystery Fanfare has more information and reservation details.
Noir at the Bar travels to Edinburgh on May 31, with authors schedule to appear and read from their works including Vic Watson, May Rinaldi, C J Huntley, Sarah Sheridan, Neil Broadfoot, Ian Skewis, Doug Johnstone, Jake Steele, Mac Logan, Lucy Cameron, Claire McCleary, and Aly Monroe.
London's Heffers Bookshop and British Library Publications are sponsoring a discussion on June 6 of Lois Austen-Leigh’s The Incredible Crime. This crime novel was written by a great, great niece of Jane Austen – supposedly on the very desk used by her illustrious ancestor – and was shrouded in mystery after it fell out of print. Now the British Library is re-issuing the book as part of the library’s Crime Classics series. (HT to Shots Magazine)
One day later on June 7, Goldsboro Books in London will be the site of a discussion titled "Agatha Christie’s Far-Reaching Influence." The panel will feature Sophie Hannah, author of the first new Hercule Poirot mysteries since Agatha Christie’s death; Ragnar Jónasson, bestselling author of the Snowblind crime series who has translated 14 of Agatha Christie’s titles into Icelandic; John Curran, Edgar-nominated author of Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks (2009) which won the 2011 Agatha, Anthony and Macavity Awards and his Agatha Christie’s Murder in the Making (2011) was also nominated for all four awards; and Agatha Christie’s own great-grandson, James Prichard.
On June 8, the St. Louis, Missouri central library is hosting its annual Suspense Night, which brings together popular mystery writers from across the country for an evening of readings and a panel discussion on the craft of suspense writing. Featured authors this year include Reed Farrel Coleman, Blake Crouch, Hilary Davidson, and Peter Baluner.
The inaugural CrimeCom is headed to Indianpolis June 9-11. The various demonstrations, meet and greet sessions, and panels will feature such themes as the FBI Diving Team, blood spatter and crime scene reconstructions, and search and rescue dogs. Organizers describe it as "a true crime theme park for adults, minus the rides."
On July 19, thriller writers Karin Slaughter and Lee Child will discuss their work in a panel hosted by bestselling author and journalist SJ Parris. The event is sponsored by the Sunday Times as an exclusive feature for members of The Times and The Sunday Times. For more information, follow this link.
Noireland is a new international crime fiction festival "with a distinctly Irish accent" in Belfast that will take place at the Europa Hotel from October 27 to 29 of this year. Details are a bit sketchy but organizers promise more info to come. (HT to Crime Fiction Ireland.)
Profile Books is set to publish nine rediscovered short stories by Ruth Rendell that will be released as A Spot of Bother: New Tales of Murder and Mayhem this October. It is the first time the stories have been collected together under Rendell’s name, with seven out of the nine never before published in book form.
Writing for Radio Times, author Andrew Wilson makes the case for why Agatha Christie was cruel, not cozy - and how the beloved crime fiction writer was appalled by fluffy TV adaptations of her books.
If you're a fan of true crime and looking for good books to read in the genre, this list isn't a bad starting point. Or, if serial killer tales are more your "taste," (please, no fava bean or chianti jokes), this list of 100 books is a good overview on the topic.
If you're a bookstore fan (and if you aren't, you should be!), you might want to add these "12 bookstores every reader should visit in their lifetime" to your bucket list.
As if you didn't already know, literacy matters. And reading is healthy, too.
A castle in Virginia that Mary Roberts Rinehart once visited and inspired her to write the mystery novel The Circular Staircase in 1908, can be yours for $2,199,000.
John Farrow, the pen name of Trevor Ferguson, who writes crime novels featuring Émile Cinq-Mars, applied the Page 69 Test to Perish the Day, the newest novel in the Émile Cinq-Mars series.
This is a timely list of "10 Great Books of Washington Intrigue."
Is Robocop one step closer to reality?
This week, the featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Godwin" by Angel Zapata.
In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People were busy interview bees this week, chatting with Scottish author Denise Mina who often uses true crime and scandal as a basis for her stories; the MPs also welcomed Ace Atkins to discuss his latest book featuring Robert B Parker’s Spenser, Little White Lies; and Mystery People's Director of Suspense Molly Odintz spoke with Lori Rader-Day about her new crime novel, The Day I Died.
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