[One late-breaking addendum to the following news item: The MWA Board has decided to rescind the award to Linda Fairstein. "MWA cannot move forward with an award that lacks the support of such a large percentage of our members," the group said in a statement that also pledged to re-evaluate its process for selecting honorees.]
Mystery Writers of America has chosen its annual Grand Master, Raven, and Ellery Queen awards. Linda Fairstein and Martin Cruz Smith will be the 2019 Grand Masters, an award that acknowledges important contributions to this genre and a body of work. The Raven Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement outside the realm of creative writing, goes to Marilyn Stasio, the mystery critic for the New York Times Book Review (and other magazines). The Ellery Queen Award, honoring people in the mystery-publishing industry, goes to Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. There is one bit of controvery this year, however; Edgar Award winner Attica Locke has taken exception (as Danny Gardner explains) to the selection of Linda Fairstein as Grand Master due to her involvement with the notorious Central Park Five case. In reply, the Mystery Writers of America Board of Directors posted on Facebook that "We are taking seriously the issues raised by Attica Locke. Our Board is going to discuss these concerns as soon as possible and make a further statement soon."
The winners of the annual Irish Book Awards were announced, including Crime Fiction Book of the Year which was won by Skin Deep from author Liz Nugent.
The inaugural Staunch Prize for crime fiction works that don't feature violence against women has been won by Australian author Jock Serong for his novel On the Java Ridge, in which a group of surfers tries to rescue a refugee boat from a storm.
The Sisters in Crime Chesapeake Chapter is holding its annual Mystery Author Extravaganza in Virginia on December 1. Some 27 chapter authors will be on hand to talk about their new mystery/crime books and short stories published this year. Participating authors include William Ade, Donna Andrews, E.A. Aymar, Karen Cantwell, Maya Corrigan, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Libby Klein, Maureen Klovers, Tara Laskowski, Eileen McIntire, Adam Meyer, Melinda Mullett, Alan Orloff, Josh Pachter, Shari Randall, Susan Reiss, Verena Rose, Harriette Sackler, Colleen Shogan, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Lane Stone, Art Taylor, Robin Templeton, Cathy Wiley, and Stacy Woodson. Booksellers from Mystery Loves Company will be there to sell these authors’ works, and the authors will be happy to sign them.
Noir at the Bar returns to the Shade Bar in New York City on December 2. Authors scheduled to be on hand for readings and signings include Kellye Garrett, Kelby Losack, Albert Tucher, Michael J. Seidlinger, Jason Starr, Casey Barrett, and hosts Scott Adlerberg and Jen Conley.
London’s new crime and thriller festival, Capital Crime, is launching a new year-round digital crime and thriller festival, Capital Crime Digital. The online festival will feature interviews, profiles and discussions with authors and other crime and thriller creatives, with a planned launch in September 2019, to coincide with Capital Crime, which takes place in London September 26th to 28th. (HT to Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine)
The Financial Times added its contribution to the end-of-the-year lists with its choice of "The Year's Best Crime Fiction." You have to be a subscriber to read the article, but Crimetime UK has a recap.
The LA Review of Books featured a roundtable discussion with crime writers of color hosted by Gar Anthony Haywood. The participants, including Walter Mosley, Kellye Garrett, Barbara Neely, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Kyra Davis joined in an enlightening and inside look at what it’s like to be a black mystery writer today.
The latest issue of Noir City, published by the Film Noir Foundation, focuses on international noir, including the long history of Mexican noir, the crime dramas of Japan’s Yoshitarô Nomura, Iranian genre films, the Canadian noir The Silent Partner, and much more.
Buzzfeed contributor Kristen Evans took at look at novels that prove women make fascinating fictional killers, too.
The third issue of Mystery Readers Journal: Mystery in Asia (Volume 34: 3) is available now as a PDF and will be shortly available in hardcopy. Online articles also include "Digging into the Thai Underbelly" by Colin Cotterill and "Darkness in the Land of Smiles" by Timothy Hallinan.
Another mystery bookstore may be in jeopardy of closing. Once Upon a Time, an independent mystery bookstore in Minneapolis for 31 years, has launched a Go Fund Me page after suffering financial difficulties. For more details and to make a contribution, head on over to this link.
Criminal Element posted a holiday sweepstakes for mass market copies of each of Sue Grafton's "alphabet mystery series" books (U.S. only). The deadline for entries is December 8th.
Over at the Passing Tramp blog, Curtis Evans profiled the unexpected convergence of violent criminal Whitey Bulger and cozy author Charlotte Macleod.
Writing for The Guardian, Sarah Crompton explored why a new generation is falling for Agatha Christie.
For all you authors, a New York Times article profiled the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBN) and how its database of more than three million detailed images of spent shell casings from firearms, which have unique sets of scratches, grooves and dents, to help solve crimes.
The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Induration" by Sanjeev Sethi.
In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element chatted with Ben Aaronovitch, author of Lies Sleeping; and Brooke Hunter interviewed Australian Emily Webb, a journalist and author specializing in true crime, about her collection of shocking cases each of which has occurred in suburban Australia, titled Suburban Nightmare.
Fairstein is out.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/11/29/mystery-writers-rescind-honor-linda-fairstein-prosecutor-central-park-five/2156900002/
Posted by: Kaye George | November 30, 2018 at 12:34 PM
Yes, I saw that, Kaye, thanks. I was going to add it in next week's Mystery Melange as an addendum, but I think I may add it to this blog as a late edit, instead. This was a very unusual and difficult situation for everyone, and I do hope the MWA Board will make changes to their procedures in the future.
Posted by: BV Lawson | November 30, 2018 at 05:41 PM