Mystery Writers of America has established a new scholarship program in honor of the late Barbara Neely, a trailblazing Black crime novelist who was named a Grand Master by MWA in late 2019. A novelist, short story writer, and activist, Ms. Neely was best known for creating the distinctive amateur sleuth Blanche White. Ms. Neely was to be publicly honored by her colleagues and presented with the Grand Master award at the 2020 Edgar Awards banquet, but sadly, Ms. Neely passed away in March 2020 before she could be feted and honored as she deserved. After her unfortunate passing, the organization’s board of directors received permission from Ms. Neely’s family to establish an annual scholarship in her memory for a Black crime writer. After some discussion, the MWA Board of Directors decided to give out two scholarships of $2000 each per year: one for an aspiring Black writer who has yet to publish in the crime or mystery field, and another for Black authors who have already published in crime or mystery.
Bastille Day was yesterday, but you can still celebrate with this list from Mystery Fanfare of crime fiction books set in France.
Ahead of this month's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, the Daily Express gathered some of the world's leading thriller writers to reveal the inspirations behind their much-loved sleuths, from Vera to Inspector Rebus and more.
In a sign that things are returning to normal, the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, hosted its first live author event since March 2020, a publication day party for T.J. Newman and her debut thriller, Falling. Owner Barbara Peters said, "We were touched and thrilled to welcome a limited number of readers into the store for our conversation which can be viewed on our FB video page."
Summer travel conjures up dreams of global vacations (at least before the pandemic). To help ease your wanderlust, Book Trib profiled "8 Historical Thrillers From Around the World."
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "A Daughter Remembers Her Father" by Charles Rammelkamp.
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with Monique Gliozzi about her new thriller, Facets of the Past; over at the Shots Magazine blog, John Parker spoke with John Connolly about his latest adventure featuring his troubled detective, Charlie Parker; speaking with The Guardian, Christopher Fowler explained why it was hard to let go of his detective duo of Arthur Bryant and John May who have solved their last case after twenty outings; and thriller author Karin Slaughter spoke with The Orange County Register about her new book, False Witness, and cooking with Coca-Cola.
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