School librarian Louise Morris won the Daily Mail First Novel Competition in the UK for The Coffin Club, which combines wartime memories, old age, and murder. She will receive a £20,000 advance, a publishing contract, and a literary agent.
The shortlist was announced for the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction. The £50,000 award, one of the UK’s most prestigious for nonfiction, includes several crime-themed books: Casey Cep’s investigation into Harper Lee’s abandoned true-crime book; Hallie Rubenhold’s look at the women murdered by Jack the Ripper; art critic Laura Cumming's memoir about her mother’s childhood kidnapping from a Lincolnshire beach; journalist Azadeh Moaveni collection of accounts from women who joined Islamic State; and historian Julia Lovell's re-evaluation of the political legacy of Mao.
Join the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, for another thrilling night on December 10 of chilling crime fiction read by the organization's talented members at the KGB Bar in NYC. Authors scheduled to appear include Ann Aptaker, Rhonda Barnat, Gary Cahill, Michael Chabler, Russ Colchamiro, and Teel James Glenn.
Submissions are open for the 2020 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, the richest prize for a single short story in the English language, worth £30,000 to the winner. The closing date is 6pm on December 13, 2019. Anyone writing in English from the around the world can submit stories, but the author must have had works published in the UK.
Poisoned Pen Press and Book Riot are giving away books from the British Library Crime Classics series to get a jump on the holiday season. The novels include some of the finest Christmas and wintertime detective stories of the past—blending merry mysteries from much-loved authors with vintage crime vignettes set in winter. For your chance to be one of five winners of sets of British Library Crime Classics, enter by October 27, 2019.
The LA Times profiled Michael Connelly to find out why Los Angeles is the "perpetual dark heart of crime writing." In a companion piece, the Times also posted a list of the "20 Essential LA Noir Crime Books," and Christopher Smith also visited the fifteen most iconic Los Angeles locations of Connelly's Harry Bosch series.
Traveling a lot farther south, CrimeReads' Craig Pittman profiled "The Life and Times of Charles Willeford—Miami's Weird, Wonderful Master of Noir."
And going even father south, the Sydney Morning Herald asked, "Is crime Melbourne's hottest export?" and asked Aussie crime authors Michael Robotham, Jane Harper, Mark Brandi to weigh in on their successes and how the country influences their writing.
Authors Stephen and Tabitha King have famously resided in a Victorian mansion in Bangor, Maine, but that iconic house will soon have a new purpose: as an archive and writers retreat. The Kings intend to turn the home into an archive that will house Stephen King’s writing, with the house next door to be used as a residence for up to five writers at any given time.
Via CBS's 60 Minutes, a real-life mystery: "Who's stealing Christopher Columbus letters from libraries around the world?" Copies of a letter written by Christopher Columbus describing his first impressions of the Americas are so rare and valuable, they're being stolen and replaced with forgeries at some of the world's most prestigious libraries.
Turns out if you don't want to be arrested for robbing banks, maybe you shouldn't write a novel about robbing banks.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Balfour" by Nancy Scott.
In the Q&A roundup, Craig Sisterson interviewed Kiwi crime writer Paul Cleave about his books and "making good people do bad things"; Joyce Carol Oates chatted with CrimeReads' Thomas Pluck about "Crime Fiction, Character, and Cats"; Vulture snagged director Rian Johnson to talk about "rescusitating" the mystery genre on the big screen; and Martina Cole spoke with The UK Express about her success (she's Britain's current bestselling female crime writer) and the literary snobbery she faces.
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