Mystery Melange

 

The Historical Writers' Association has announced the winners of this year's HWA Crown Awards, "celebrating the best historical writing of the year, fiction and non-fiction." This year's winner was The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd, the first in a new crime fiction series featuring Paris police detective, Eddie Giral, set in WWII during the German occupation.

As part of the Barnes and Noble Midday Mystery Virtual Event Series, author Patricia Cornwell will be in conversation with Jamie Lee Curtis to celebrate the publication of Cornwell's latest thriller, Autopsy. The book marks the 25th installment in Cornwell's series featuring chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. For ticket information about the event, which will air as a Zoom Webinar tomorrow, Thursday, December 2, at 3 PM ET, follow this link.

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore will offer a free online event on December 9th featuring the authors from the Jungle Red Writers blog. This Special Holiday Cheer Celebration will include Rhys Bowen, Lucy Burdette, Deborah Crombie, Hallie Ephron, Jenn McKinlay, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

The deadline is fast approaching for submissions to the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest Competition, sponsored by St. Martin’s Press. This is for a debut novel of unpublished crime fiction, and all entrants must be at least 18 years of age and a legal resident of one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or Canada (excluding Quebec). To be considered for the 2021 competition, all manuscripts must be received by 11:59 pm on January 1, 2022. The Grand Prize consists of an offer to have the winner’s manuscript published with an advance against future royalties in the amount of $10,000.

The Washington Post's Maureen Corrigan and Richard Lipez compiled their list of the "Best thriller and mystery books of 2021."

The anthology, Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression, edited by S. A. Cosby for Rock and a Hard Place, is now available for Kindle at Amazon. Rock and a Hard Place Press is a lit-noir publisher, focused on stories of struggle, tales of the powerless and marginalized, characters on the fringes of society … and what they do next. Proceeds from this latest collection go to the New Jersey branch of Black Lives Matter.

The late B.K. Stevens hosted "The First Two Pages" on her blog, with craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to Art Taylor's website, and among the latest offerings is the first essay in a series from contributors to the new holiday anthology, Festive Mayhem 2, edited by Marla Bradeen. This week's feature comes via "Last Bite," written by Rhoda Berlin—a family therapist as well as a crime writer—that offers all levels of perspective on the story and the holiday and families in general.

Janet Rudolph compiled a list of Chanukah (a/k/a Hanukah, Hanukkah) themed crime fiction titles for adults and children, both novels and short stories (and a few games).

Janet Rudolph is also the editor of Mystery Readers Journal and announced that the first issue of the 2022 will focus on New England Mysteries. They're looking for reviews (50-250 words), articles (250-1000 words), and Author! Author! essays (500-1500 words). Author essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "New England" connection. The deadline is January 15, 2022. For more information, check out the guidelines here.

Cain’s Jawbone continues to fascinate readers even after 87 years. Only four readers have solved the fiendish murder mystery, devised by former Observer crossword setter, Edward Powys Mathers, and now thanks to a series of TikTok postings by a young documentary assistant in San Francisco, the book has sold out in bookshops around the world.

The Cross Examining Crime blog made a clever online classic crime version of the National Book Token Hidden Book Game. The illustrated village is reminiscent of Midsomer and contains 36 clues, each for a classic crime title, (many of which feature a village in them).

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Neal's Torment: The Villanelle of the Pontiac" by Cynthia Steele.

Comments

[Marla Bradeen]

Thank you so much for the Festive Mayhem 2 mention and First Two Pages blog link, Kevin!

[BV Lawson]

It was a fun blog post, and the book looks like a great read, too!

[Marla Bradeen]

I know I'm biased, but I think it's a great read! (And apologies for not thanking you originally, BV. I thought this was Kevin's blog since he posted the notice in the SMFS group, but perhaps he was just sharing out of courtesy, in which case I owe you both a thank-you!)

[BV Lawson]

I can't wait to read it, myself, Marla! And I knew what you meant by the "Kevin" reference - Kevin Tipple is a tireless advocate for short crime fiction, and he deserves a lot of praise for thtat. :-)