The shortlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has been announced after being pared down from the longlist of 18 titles. The prize celebrates excellence in UK crime fiction with the winner to be announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on July 18. Here are your finalists:
- Snap by Belinda Bauer
- Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
- London Rules by Mick Herron
- Broken Ground by Val McDermid
- The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney
- East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman
Finalists for the annual Maine Literary Awards were also announced, including those in the Crime Fiction category:
- Beyond the Truth by Bruce Coffin
- Stowed Away by Barbara Ross
- Death and a Pot of Chowder by Lea Wait (writing as Cornelia Kidd)
The 2019 Iceland Noir Award for translated crime fiction released a shortlist this past weekend, including the following:
- James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (translated by Þórdís Bachmann)
- Keigo Higashino: The Devotion of Suspect X (translated by Ásta S. Guðbjartsdóttir)
- Shari Lapena: A Stranger in the House (translated by Ingunn Snædal)
- Pierre Lemaitre: Three Days and a Life (translated by Friðrik Rafnsson)
- Henning Mankell: After the Fire (translated by Hilmar Hilmarsson)
Ian Rankin and Ann Cleeves will headline this summer's Bute Noir crime writing festival. Authors Mark Billingham, Denise Mina, Stuart MacBride, Chris Brookmyre, Ruth Ware and Mick Herron will also join the line-up for the festival in Rothesay, which takes place from Friday August 2 to Sunday August 4. They join the previously announced list of international authors including Mexico's Oscar de Muriel, Iceland's Lilja Sigurdardottir, Norway's Thomas Enger, the USA's Alexandra Sokoloff, Ireland's Liz Nugent, and Scottish talent including Alex Gray, Lin Anderson and Craig Robertson. Events will be held at Rothesay Library, Bute Museum, Print Point bookshop, and the Discovery Cinema with a crime writers' putting competition on Rothesay’s putting greens for "The Brookmyre Cup." (HT to The Bookseller)
The Sisters in Crime Chessie Chapter and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Mystery Writers of America are co-hosting a workshop to help authors make the choices involved in reinvention: another traditional publisher, going indie, or both? What pitfalls should you watch out for? How do you protect your legal rights? What about changing genres? Bestselling authors and industry experts discuss what’s worked for them in a day-long program. Speakers include John Betancourt, Ken Budd, Tara Laskowski, Sujata Massey, Julie Moffett, Alan Orloff, Joanna Campbell Slan, Daniel Steven, and Marcia Talley. The event is Sunday, June 2nd, and registration is open to the public.
The Sunday Times Top 100 Crime List has come under fire after women made up just a third of the authors of the listed novels. Authors including Marian Keyes criticized the list, saying "Seeing the chronic conscious and unconscious bias against work by women is enraging." In defense of the list, Sunday Times literary editor Andrew Holgate said that it was mostly compiled by female journalists. Even so, earlier this year, a research project found that new books by men were found to receive 12% more broadsheet review coverage than those of their female counterparts. In response to the controversy over the Sunday Times list, The Guardian tapped Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Dreda Say Mitchell and other leading writers to nominate some alternatives for a roster of "50 great thrillers by women."
Writing for CrimeReads, Kellye Garrett penned a profile of Barbara Neely, the activist-turned-crime writer who inspired a generation and bucked the traditions associated with female writers of color.
The LA Review of Books profiled another crime fiction pioneer, Joseph Hansen, who forced publishers to take risks to bring Hansen's brand of gay noir to the literary world.
Author and literacy advocate James Patterson is funding "Buy A Book, Give A Book" to encourage reading in children and families from disadvantaged backgrounds through an initiative between Penguin, Asda and the National Literary Trust (NLT). The partnership is dedicated to inspiring lifelong reading and will help the nationwide charity provide access to books to children, young people and families in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.
Writing for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's blog, Something is Going to Happen, Chad Baker penned an essay "On Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt and the Nature of Truth in Detective Fiction."
An essay by Mel McGrath in the National Post wondered "Is reading crime fiction written by women a feminist act?"
Janet Rudolph has a list of Memorial Day-themed crime fiction up at Mystery Fanfare.
The recently re-opened (in a new location) International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., is bigger than ever before. But in addition to the crowd-pleasing Bond gadgets and interactive exhibits, the museum isn't afraid to tackle controversial subjects like torture. Both NPR and the Washington Post had profiles.
Canada's first "body farm" (for research into how human bodies decompose, crucial info for death investigations) is opening its doors, and people are already lining up to be the first donors.
A pocket watch owned by mystery writer Edgar Allen Poe is heading for auction at Christie’s next month. The 18k gold engraved pocket watch will be offered in New York on June 12, with an estimated price of $80,000 – $120,000. Personal items owned by the writer himself rarely appear on the market, and those that do can command big prices. In 2012, a collection of artifacts including a lock of Poe’s hair, his late wife’s engagement ring, photographic portraits and a silver spoon sold at Profiles in History for $96,000, almost doubling their top estimate.
An elementary school in West Valley City, Utah, has become only the fourth school in the U.S. to instill an unusual kind of vending machine—a book vending machine, which can hold 300 to 400 books. School staff believe the novelty of the machine will help instill a love of reading in students, who can earn gold tokens and apply them toward different titles.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Ballad of a Tabby Man" by Howard Ho.
In the Q&A roundup, Jeffery Deaver offered up his secrets of writing a bestseller for the Cambridge Independent; Lee Child spoke with iNews UK about his Jack Reacher thrillers and being a populist writer; James Ellroy spoke with The Guardian on his love of everything big, why he doesn’t rate Raymond Chandler, and reading all 55 of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels; Denise Mina explained to The National how love of podcasts shaped her new novel, Conviction; and the LA Review of Books spoke with Cara Black, author of a series with Parisian private detective, Aimée Leduc, about "the darker side of the City of Light."
Testing.
Posted by: Todd Mason | May 24, 2019 at 04:56 PM
Hey, Todd! Looks fine. And thanks for collecting the Friday's "Forgotten" Books links today:
http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2019/05/fridays-forgotten-books-and-more-links_24.html
Posted by: BV Lawson | May 24, 2019 at 10:18 PM