Looks like your TBR (to be read) pile just got a bit bigger. Amazon released its list of "Best Books of the Year So Far," with a few crime titles making the Top 20: Why We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker; The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris; and The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth; plus there are twenty picks in the Best Mysteries and Thrillers list. Meanwhile, over at the Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce compiled a preliminary list of more than 360 crime, mystery, and thriller works, all scheduled for release between now and September 1 on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean that are worth investigating. They run the gamut from hard-boiled detective novels to traditional mysteries and crime-related non-fiction titles.
Virtual Noir at the Bar Los Angeles returns on June 25 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET with host, Eric Beetner. Authors scheduled to read from their works include Tracy Clark, Andrew Graff, Kris Calvin, Cate Holahan, Stephen Mack Jones, and Tori Eldridge. Register for free via this link.
Harrogate International Festivals revealed the Special Guest line-up for the world’s largest crime writing event. The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival will actually be the UK's first major literary event to take place in person following the removal of government-mandated lockdowns due to the pandemic (although there is some concern those lockdown lifts may be delayed). Festival Programming Chair (and Inspector Rebus author), Ian Rankin, has lined up Richard Osman, Mick Herron, Elly Griffiths, Ann Cleeves, Mark Billingham, Clare Mackintosh, CL Taylor, Val McDermid, and many more for four days of talks and panels at Harrogate’s Old Swan Hotel July 22 – 25.
The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has appointed author Elly Griffiths to the role of booksellers champion, as National Crime Reading Month begins across the UK. Griffiths, pen-name of author Domenica de Rosa, will be tasked with building better connections between crime authors and bookshops. She will be supported in the new role by fellow crime authors Vaseem Khan and William Shaw.
Most people (myself included) probably weren't aware that Edgar Allan Poe’s bestselling book during his lifetime wasn't a suspense, thriller, horror or crime work - it was a guide to seashells. Speaking of Poe, the Washington Post's Michael Dirda calls him "our nation’s most influential writer."
Well, this is a certainly a sad turn of events.
The featured story this week at Pulp Modern Flash is "The Heaviness of Time" by Nils Gilbertson.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "I Have to Warn You" by Tad Tuleja.
In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element's John Valeri interviewed Lisa Unger, whose latest project, House of Crows is a four-part serial from Amazon Original Stories; over at the Writers Who Kill blog, E.B. Davis interviewed Connie Berry about the latest book in her series featuring American antique dealer Kate Hamilton; and Criminal Element spoke with New York Times bestselling author, Alex Michaelides, about his new novel, The Maidens, a tale of psychological suspense that weaves together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession.
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