The Independent Book Publishers Association officially announced finalists for the Benjamin Franklin Awards program, recognizing excellence and innovation in independent publishing. The nods in the Mystery/Suspense category include An Accidental Corpse by Helen A. Harrison; Black Hearts White Minds: A Carl Gordon Legal Thriller by Mitch Margo; Burning Ridge: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima, and Welcome to Sugarville: A Novel in Stories by J.J. Haas.
Bestselling author James Patterson is working with the Booksellers Association to create an award to celebrate young booksellers new to the book selling field in the UK and Ireland that are 25 or younger and have been selling books for at least 12 months. This isn’t the only time Patterson has given love to bookstores, previously donating over $1.5m to bookshops in the US, UK, and Ireland.
Registration is now open for the ITW's Sixth Annual Online Thriller School. The seven-week program, which begins March 25, focuses on the craft of thriller writing via a Facebook Live video, written materials that include further reading and study suggestions, and an entire week of on-line Q&A. This year's faculty include Steve Berry, Grant Blackwood, F. Paul Wilson, Hank Phillippi Ryan, David Corbett, Gayle Lynds, James Scott Bell and Kathleen Antrim.
Sisters in Crime have opened the submission period for the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color. An unpublished writer is preferred, although publication of one work of short fiction, an academic work, or up to two self-published or traditionally published books will not disqualify an applicant. For more information, check out the official SinC website.
Eighty years after the publication of Raymond Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep, the Saturday Evening Post profiled the iconic author's “two-fisted legacy” that combined his colorful life and English education to elevate the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.
Speaking of Chandler, at the recent literary auction which included books from Otto Penzler, a first edition of The Big Sleep, signed by the author on the front free endpaper, doubled its pre-auction estimate when it brought $57,500. Among the other prizes to be had were a rare first edition in the original first printing dust jacket of Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest that netted $75,000. The rare copy is in such exceptional condition that Penzler himself called it “the world’s best copy.”
The theories as to the real identity of Jack the Ripper are far more numerous than the serial killer's number of victims. Various experts have linked Queen Victoria's grandson, American quack-doctor Francis Tumblety, radical religious poet Francis Thompson, and many more. Now, evidence from a blood-covered shawl found at one of the murder scenes that's believed to contain DNA from both butchered victim Catherine Eddowes and the world's most infamous serial killer, may solve the mystery once and for all.
In a somewhat unrelated but relevant essay, Smithsonian magazine looked into “The Myth of Fingerprints” and the perils of relying on that forensic tool as well as its more recent counterpart, DNA evidence.
Thriller author Karen Ellis (a pseudonym of author Katia Lief) applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Last Night.
There are subscription services for just about everything these days - clothing, razors, food, music, books, you name it. Now, an endeavor called Hunt A Killer lets you play armchair detective without having to leave your home. Each month, subscribers receive a box ("episodes") that includes items related to the story and the mystery you're trying to solve. Each storyline lasts six episodes with each episode building on the one before leading up to an exciting season finale. It's an alternative to shy folks who might be too leery of the "escape room" experiences popping up around the world. Plus, for every episode of Hunt A Killer delivered, portions of the proceeds fund the cold case efforts at Cold Case Foundation.
If you're a fan of the game Clue and not shy, you might be interested in an event coming to Pittsburgh this summer. Based on a concept that started in the UK, CluedUpp is a game as billed as a “giant, outdoor version of the board game Clue.” It requires a team of two to six people to play detectives and a smartphone with the CluedUpp app. Participants are asked to come up with a “fantastically clever team name” and encouraged to dress in 1920s-inspired clothing. Organizers expect more than 100 teams to take part.
Via BookRiot, this little time-wasting quiz: “Which Kickass Literary Investigator Are You?”
The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is “Search the Hollow” by Benjamin Welton.
In the Q&A roundup, Gregg Hurwitz spoke with the Daily Mail about his meticulous research and the rules of creating a bestseller; Crime by the Book welcomed Emily Carpenter to talk about her addictive new suspense novel, Until the Day I Die; Kittling: Books asked Wendall Thomas for a Scene of the Crime interview about her Cyd Redondo mysteries, her favorite recurring character in crime fiction, and more; and Harlan Coben chatted with Ali Karim for Shots Magazine about his latest thriller, Run Away.
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