The longlist was released for the annual Theakston Old Peculier Novel of the Year. This year’s longlist transports readers around the world from California to Sweden and Calcutta to a remote Irish island and explores every subgenre from Scandi noir to murderous families. There are several familiar faces on the list, as well as some fresh blood. Run by Harrogate International Festivals, the shortlist will be announced in June and the winner on July 22 at the opening evening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, with the public able to vote for the winner on harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com.
The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the winners of this year's Derringer Awards. There was a tie for Best Flash Story, "Memories of Fire," by C.W. Blackwell (Pulp Modern Flash) and "War Words" by Travis Richardson (Punk Noir Magazine). There was also a tie for Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words), "The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom," by Eleanor Cawood Jones (Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder) and "River" by Stacy Woodson (The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell). Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words) went to Sarah M. Chen's "Hotelin'" (Shotgun Honey), and Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words) to Art Taylor for "The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine). This year's recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement, annually awarded to an outstanding living writer of short mysteries and selected by a five-member panel, is Brendan DuBois. The full list of finalists can be found here.
Capital Crime announced the Amazon Publishing New Voices Award, a competition including a potential Thomas & Mercer publishing deal. Writers of unpublished mystery, thriller, and crime fiction manuscripts in English from around the world are eligible to compete for a cash prize and the potential publishing contract. Additionally, ten finalists will be considered for a potential offer of Thomas & Mercer publication, while also receiving day passes to the next Capital Crime Festival. The closing date for entries will be 3rd August 2021. (HT to Shots Magazine)
Maxim Jakubowski has been appointed the new chair of the UK's Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). He will succeed outgoing chair Linda Stratmann, after she served the maximum two-year term in the role at the organization, which aims to support and promote the literary genre and its authors. He was voted in unanimously at the CWA’s annual general meeting. Jakubowski has worked as an editor (compiling more than 120 anthologies), translator, publisher, author, and critic. Following an editorial career in both France and the UK, during which time he launched several crime imprints, including Black Box Thrillers and Blue Murder, he opened the Murder One bookstore in London.
A passing of note to report via the New York Times: Jason Matthews, who became a best-selling author of three spy thrillers after 33 years as a C.I.A. officer in Istanbul, Athens, Belgrade, Rome, Budapest and Hong Kong, died last week at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 69. His wife, Suzanne Matthews, who was also a C.I.A. officer, said the cause was corticobasal degeneration, a rare degenerative disease. In his choice of a second career, Mr. Matthews followed other intelligence officers, like John le Carré, Ian Fleming, and Charles McCarry, "who became novelists — and who brought to their writing a knowledge of recruiting and handling foreign agents, of dead drops, brush passes, honey traps, debriefings, surveillance and countersurveillance."
There is a call for submissions for the third issue of Mean Streets: A Journal of American Crime and Detective Fiction on the topic of "American Golden Age Mystery and Detective Fiction (1920-1945)." Proposals are due by July 15 with final essays due December 1. The Shots Magazine blog has more details for interested authors, including suggested topics.
Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away With Murder" column is out, although he notes that it's "not in its usual place. This is due to the main website having been hi-jacked by interweb pirates (probably Russian) and sailed into the Bermuda Triangle, or whatever it is happens in these cases. As you may have gathered, I am no expert when it comes to modern technology, but those who claim to be assure me that normal service will soon be resumed." The latest editions features feautures and reviews of oldies but goodies by William Le Quex, Michael Hamilton, Len Deighton, and more, as well as some new blood.
The Guardian profiled successful art theft detective, Christopher Marinello, who has spent three decades finding missing masterpieces, recovering half a billion dollars’ worth of art. He talked about threats from mobsters, tricky negotiations – and bungling thieves.
As the Rap Sheet blog noted, Kevin Burton Smith's iconic The Thrilling Detective website has moved to a new server. Although this means some of the links around the Web may no longer be operable, all the content will be available again soon. Meanwhile, Smith has also instituted a new Dick of the Day feature, where he highlights a different private eye each day on Twitter and Facebook.
McLean & Eakin Booksellers commissioned June Apothecary to make a fragrance for the store and "Pages" is the result. "We think it speaks to the feeling you have when you put your nose between the pages of a book," the bookshop posted on Facebook. The description of the scent read, "Crisp juniper fir mixes with luscious fig and bright lemon to create this truly unique and refreshing scent. Perfect to burn all year when you are missing your favorite book store up north!"
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Last Windmill" by Pamela Ebel.
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author, R.G. Belsky, about his latest mystery, Beyond the Headlines; Mark Billingham, author of a series featuring the country-music-loving detective, Tom Thorne, chatted about his background as a stand-up comic, scriptwriter, and rock musician; Author Interviews spoke with Anne Hillerman, who continues the Navajo detective stories featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee that her father Tony Hillerman made popular, including the latest, Stargazer; and Robert Dugoni was interviewed by Publishers Weekly about book eight of the Tracy Crosswhite series, in which the eponymous detective is reassigned to the Seattle police department’s cold case unit.
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