The Killer Nashville conference handed out its annual awards this past weekend. The Silver Falchion Award for Best Book of 2021 was a tie between Girl Missing by Kate Gable and The Reunion by Kiersten Modglin. The Claymore Award for best unpublished novel went to Shaking by Jeffrey James Higgins. For all the runners-up plus the winners in dozens of individual categories such as Best Mystery and Best Thriller, follow this link.
The National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, returns to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, September. Events of interest to crime novel fiction fans include the in-person panels, "Memories, Maladies, Mysteries and Murders" with Rob Hart and Victor Manibo; "Truer Than True Crime: Novels About Swindlers and Murderers" with Kirstin Chen, Katie Gutierrez and Amanda Eyre Ward. Katie Gutierrez will also present an online talk via PBS Books on August 30th. Plus, the The Library of Congress Crime Classics Series will present a performance from The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher, a groundbreaking American mystery, the first ever to feature a Black detective and all Black characters.
ITW's 9th Annual Online Thriller School begins September 13, 2022. The ten-week program covers various aspects of the craft of thriller writing during a live Zoom session, with written materials for further reading along with study suggestions, and an entire week of online Q&A with the registered students. Classes will be held every Tuesday at 2:00pm Eastern. The talented instructors will delve into the following topics: Red Herrings, Reversals, and Twists; Creating Compelling Characters; Setting: How to Create Your Story World; FBI Myths and Misconceptions; The Thriller Writer’s Toolbox; All About Dialogue; How to Nail Structure; Fundamentals of the Action Scene; First Pages: How to Hook Your Reader, and Pacing: How to Keep the Pages Turning! There's also a bonus panel: "Ask Me Anything" with Meg Gardiner, C.J. Box, Alex Segura, and Panel Master, Samuel Octavius. 2022 Instructors include Jeffery Deaver, Alex Finlay, Steven James, Mary Kubica, Tosca Lee, Clare Mackintosh, Isabella Maldonado, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Wendy Walker, and Jerri Williams.
The Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime is holding its WriteNow! conference September 16-17. The event is staying virtual this year, after two Covid-related years of an online conference, with one exception, the Networking Social in Tempe, Arizona. In addition to the Keynote Speech by Sandra S.G. Wong, "Tropes Versus the Writer: How to Make Tropes Work for You," there will be craft panels such as "Writing Regional Voices and Settings" with Donis Casey, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and Betty Webb, and "Creating Compelling Protagonists" by Hallie Ephron. You can register for the event, which is open to the public, via this link.
In celebration of their 100th anniversary, Good Housekeeping is sponsoring a talk with crime authors Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, and Anthony Horowitz in partnership with Dyson, a two-day event at Carlton House Terrace, London, on Friday October 14 and Saturday October 15. Hawkins is best known as the author of million-copy hit The Girl On The Train, Mackintosh is the author of five bestselling thrillers, including her latest, The Last Party, and Horowitz has created many much-loved TV series such as Midsomer Murders and is the author of six murder mysteries.
Issue #173 of Mystery Scene Magazine marks a milestone for publisher-owners Kate Stine (who is also editor-in-chief) and Brian Skupin. The 2002 Fall Issue was their first and two decades later, they're still bringing readers the latest news and notes from the world of crime, mystery, and suspense. This issue also celebrates the 100th birthday of the hardboiled private eye with gumshoe expert Kevin Burton Smith offering a feature on this iconic figure. Oline Cogdill also has a profile of author Linda Castillo, whose series with police chief Kate Burkholder is set in the Ohio Amish community; Yasmin Angoe talks about winning the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award from Sisters in Crime; Craig Sisterson catches up with Emma Viskic, an Australian musician-turned-novelist who created a sleuth who can’t hear the music she so loves; and another milestone is noted as the publication bids a fond farewell to Jon L. Breen, their nonfiction review columnist, who is retiring after 20 years at Mystery Scene.
Mystery Readers Journal is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays about legal mysteries. Reviews are between 50 and 250 words; author essays, which are first person accounts about yourself, your books, and the "Legal Mystery" connection are 500-1000 words. The deadline is October 1, 2022: Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor.
Michael Malone, the novelist, TV writer and Edgar and Emmy winner, died on Friday, August 19, of pancreatic cancer. He was 79 or 80 (his date of birth was unclear). Many of his novels and short stories were set in South, particularly in North Carolina, where he was born and grew up, and his "Red Clay" won the 1997 Edgar for best short story. Malone was working on the fourth book in his Justin & Cuddy series when he died. (HT to Shelf Awareness.)
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Women, Girls, and Spinsters" by Stephen D. Rogers.
In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Faye Kellerman about her new novel, The Hunt, the latest in the series featuring her characters Rina Lazarus and Peter Decker; Kalb also chatted with Nadine Matheson, a criminal defense attorney and author of the new novel, The Binding Room, a sequel to her novel, The Jigsaw Man, which also featured her character Detective Anjelica Henley; Lit Reactor interviewed crime fiction author Paul J. Garth about his noir debut novella, The Low White Plain, and editing at Shotgun Honey and Rock and A Hard Place magazines; and Anthony Horowitz spoke with The Independent about cancel culture and the fear of offending.
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