The annual Arthur Ellis Awards by Crime Writers of Canada recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. Winners were announced this past weekend at the Arthur Ellis Awards Gala in Toronto:
- Best Crime Novel: Anne Emery, Though the Heavens Fall
- Best First Crime Novel: A.J. Devlin, Cobra Clutch
- Best Crime Novella: John Lawrence Reynolds, Murder Among the Pines
- Best Crime Short Story: Linda L. Richards, "Terminal City," Vancouver Noir
- Best Crime Book in French: Hervé Gagnon, Adolphus - Une enquête de Joseph Laflamme
- Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book: Linwood Barclay, Escape
- Best Nonfiction Crime Book: Sarah Weinman, The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World
- Best Unpublished Manuscript: Liv McFarlane, The Scarlet Cross
For all the finalists in the various categories, head on over to the CWC's website.
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the longlists for the 2019 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. A total of 127 titles were longlisted, including 73 adult novels, 17 young adult novels, 15 children’s novels and 22 nonfiction books.
Ian Rankin has donated his literary archive, including correspondence with authors like J K Rowling, Iain Banks and Ruth Rendell, to the National Library of Scotland. Rankin's collection comprises 50 boxes of documents, including the original manuscript for his first Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses. It also contains long-forgotten scripts for a sitcom and a crime drama series that neither the author nor his wife had any recollection of, as they were among projects he attempted to pursue before his Inspector Rebus books took off.
Libraries and librarians matter, as the state of Michigan has recently noted. Following a 2018 report from the Michigan Department of Education showing the majority of third and fourth graders cannot read at grade level, some legislators have declared a literary crisis and are working to make immediate change by hiring more school librarians. And, as an article in The Atlantic added, libraries are also becoming second responders, i.e. places of refuge for personal, community, and environmental emergencies.
As part of Thomas Harris's new book launch for his first novel in 13 years (and only his second non-Hannibal Lecter novel), publisher Penguin Random House sponsored a social media treasure hunt in the UK. Gavin Dimmock, the winner, will receive a gold bullion edition of Cari Mora after solving clues on the PRH website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook which lead to the location of the prize.
Some thriller love: Literary Hub reprinted an Ian Fleming essay from 1963 in which he explains how to write a thriller, and Crime Reads's J.S. Monroe offered up seven literary thrillers to keep you reading all through the night.
Hard-boiled detective fiction is known for its hard-drinking sleuths, and Mystery Fanfare jiggered up a menu of some libations from famous literary private eyes.
Here's some happy bookstore news: The American Booksellers Association again gained membership, rising from 1,835 individual companies (all but a handful independently owned stores) a year ago to 1,887, and marked an increase of more than 20 percent in the last ten years. The number of store locations is now 2,524, compared to 2,470 in 2018, as independent sellers such as Shakespeare & Co. in New York continue to expand.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Strangle Hold" by Rena J. Worley.
In the Q&A roundup, Crimereads chatted with Scott Montgomery, Crime Fiction Coordinator of BookPeople's mystery bookstore-within-a-bookstore; the Mysteristas spoke with Bess Carnan, winner of the Malice Domestic conference's William F. Deeck Grant for Unpublished Writers; and James Ellroy sat down for an interview with Men's Journal about his new novel, as well as World War II and "Why Trump Lacks 'the Charm of a True World-Class Dictator.'"
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