Mystery Melange

Sisters in Crime has announced the shortlists for the 2017 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. The shortlisted works for Best Adult Novel include Dead in the Water by Tania Chandler; Ghost Girls by Cath Ferla; The Dry by Jane Harper; Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta; and Goodwood by Holly Throsby. For all the category shortlists, including young adult novel, children’s novel, nonfiction, and debut, follow this link to the SinC Australia website.

The winner of the Richard and Judy search for a bestseller open genre competition for first-time unpublished writers is Caz Frear's thriller Sweet Little Lies. Frear will receive representation from literary agency Furniss Lawton, a publishing contract with Bonnier Zaffre, and prime real estate in WH Smith bookstores in the UK.

UK writers, take note: you are being offered a chance to have your psychological thriller published as an ebook and win £5,000. The winner of the competition, sponsored by Quercus (publisher of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Psychologies magazine, will receive a publishing contract from Quercus with representation by the agency, David Higham Associates. More information here.

The Boyle Arts Festival in Ireland is sponsoring a Crimewriters Panel on July 22 made up of Declan Burke, whose most recent book was The Lost and the Blind; Louise Phillips, author of four bestselling psychological crime thrillers, each shortlisted for Best Irish Crime Novel of the Year; Arlene Hunt, creator of John and Sarah of QuicK Investigations; and Andrea Carter, who writes a series of crime novels set in Inishowen.

The UK's Crimefest has come and gone, but Ali Karim has a detailed recap on The Rap Sheet for those of us who couldn't be there in person.

The Washington Post profiled small presses that can help you think big about summer reading. Among the featured publishers were Haffner Press, known for its pulp fiction including the crime fiction of Fredric Brown and the occult detective stories of Manly Wade Wellman. Also showcased was Poisoned Pen Press specializing in older mysteries such as the American editions of the addictive British Library Crime Classics.

Now that Hillary Clinton has a little more free time on her hands, turns out she's been reading a lot of mystery novels.

The New York Times had some praise for psychological thriller author Daphne du Maurier.

As good as fingerprint technology is for catching bad guys in reality and in crime fiction and dramas, until now it hasn't been able to tell forensic experts important chemical information about that fingerprint, such as DNA or whether the person had recently come into contact with explosives. New technology developed by researchers can identify compounds (even the extremely delicate DNA molecule) at the scene of a crime.

Even an elderly grandmother's obituary can be a mystery.

This week, the featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "LeBron Airs" by Tonia Kalouria.

In the Q&A roundup, Barry Lancet spoke with the Toyko Weekender about his most recent topical thriller, The Spy Across the Table, with a plot set in North Korea and a character who is a high-level Chinese spy; D.J. Williams had "Five Questions" for his fellow thriller author, the New York Times Best-selling Gregg Hurwitz; the Crimewatch "9mm Interview Challenge" series continued with debut crime writer Kristen Lepionka, discussing her book, The Last Place You Look; Criminal Element snagged Claire Booth, author of Another Man’s Ground; and Paul D. Brazill spoke with Dana King about living and writing in Poland, working with an indie publisher, and his latest crime fiction; and Crime Fiction Lover snagged Tess Gerritsen for a chat about the latest in her Rizzoli and Isles series.