The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2018 Thriller Awards this past weekend during the annual ThrillerFest in New York City. Best Hardcover Novel went to Final Girls, by Riley Sager; Best First Novel: The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe; Best Paperback Original Novel: Grievance, by Christine Bell; Best Short Story: “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017); Best Young Adult Novel: The Rains, by Gregg Hurwitz; Best E-Book Original Novel: Second Chance, by Sean Black. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)
The International Association of Crime Writers announced the winner of this year's Hammett Prize for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing, as reflected in a book published in the English language in the US and/or Canada. August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones, edged out the other finalists which included The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne, The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines, and Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis.
Strand Magazine announced the winners of its annual awards for the best in the previous year's crime fiction. Best Novel went to Wonder Valley, by Ivy Pochoda; Best First Novel, The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal; Lifetime Achievement Awards: Jonathan Gash (aka John Grant), British creator of the antiques-focused Lovejoy mysteries, and J.A. Jance, best known for her J.P. Beaumont series and her Joanna Brady series; and Publisher of the Year Award goes to Tom Doherty of Tor/Forge books. (HT to the Rap Sheet)
Ellen Hart and Marcie Rendon are the recipients of the 2018 Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, named to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley. Hart won the Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work for her thirty-two novels in two series, one featuring Jane Lawless, a lesbian restaurateur and her best friend, Cordelia Thorne, the other being the Sophie Greenway series. Marcie Rendon, a member of the White Earth Nation, and a playwright, poet, and freelance writer, won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her book Murder on the Red River.
Via Martin Edwards comes the sad news of the death of Jessica Mann, the distinguished crime writer, broadcaster and reviewer. She penned a series featuring archaeologist Tamara Hoyland among several other novels as well as nonfiction such as Deadlier than the Male, an excellent study of female crime writing. She also served on committees for the Crime Writers Association and the Detection Club.
Here's something to put on your bucket list, especially if you find yourself in Europe his summer: high atop the Austrian Alps sits the new James Bond Museum, 007 Elements, an immersive installation celebrating Bond's cinematic outings past and present. The museum neighbors the glacial ice Q restaurant featured in "Spectre" - both buildings are on Gaislachkogl mountain in Sölden. The museum, which opened July 12, can be reached via the Gaislachkoglbahn cable car.
Stephen Knight, the author of Australian Crime Fiction: A 200-Year History, took a look at the history of Aussie crime writing for The Conversation magazine, from brilliant exotics to the richness of the tradition as a whole.
Ahead of ThrillerFest in New York City, CrimeReads assembled a panel of authors for a roundtable conversation on the state of the thriller. Joining in the discussion were Don Chaon, Layton Green, Jeff Gunhus, K.J. Howe, Gregg Hurwitz, Alan McDermott, Caroline Mitchell, Gin Phillips, Lori Rader-Day, Riley Sager, Rysa Walker, and Diana Rodriguez Wallach, all of whom were nominated in various categories for this year's Thriller Awards.
The latest issue of the Film Noir Foundation’s magazine includes a no-holds-barred conversation between FNF master of ceremonies Eddie Muller and novelist James Ellroy that took place after the FNF handed out its second Modern Master Award to Ellroy (the first last year was director Stephen Frears). Ray Banks also has an essay on Britain’s first neo-noir Nowhere to Go (starring Maggie Smith); Eddie Muller talks about the silent Japanese proto-noir Policeman (1933); Sara Smith has an appraisal of forgotten Swedish master Hasse Ekman; and much more. (HT to Vince Keenan)
Here's a fun fact for fans of both books and the films upon which they're based: movies based on books take 44% more at the box office in the UK and 53% more worldwide than original screenplays, according to research from the Publishers Association.
Be careful what you take to the Antiques Roadshow: on a recent installment of the popular program (the UK version), Jude Hooke showed the resident specialist a printed score of the "Enigma Variations" with annotations and pasted-in corrected passages of music in Elgar’s own hand. Imagine the surprise of the Elgar Foundation: that very score had gone missing in 1994 – at which time, it turns out, Ms. Hooke’s late husband was an attorney at the same firm as the Foundation’s former vice-chairman.
The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Tiger Watching at Yorkshire Animal Park" by Alyson Faye.
In the Q&A roundup author Ruth Ware (The Woman in Cabin 10) stopped by the Keep It Kassual blog; Tonya Kappes (a/k/a Maymee Bell) was a guest at Lesa's Book Critiques to talk about the first book in her new Campers & Criminals mystery series, Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries; Writers Who Kill snagged V.M. Burns to discuss her book The Plot is Murder, nominated for a Best Debut Novel in the Malice Domestic Awards; the Mystery People sat down with Megan Abbott to talk about falling in love with your mysteries; the MPs also chatted with Ace Atkins, whose novel The Sinners continues his southern crime fiction series with Afghan war vet and Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson.
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