The Audio Publishers Association announced the 2023 winners of the annual Audie Awards for excellent in audiobooks. The Mystery category winner was The Heron by Don Winslow, narrated by Ed Harris, and the finalists include: The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra, narrated by Soneela Nankani; The Maid by Nita Prose narrated by Lauren Ambrose; The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray, narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown, and Suspect by Scott Turow narrated by Helen Laser. The Thriller/Suspense category winner was Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulknerm narrated by Laura Kirman. The finalists were The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham, narrated by Michael Beck; The Island by Adrian McKintyn Narrated by Mela Lee; The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, narrated by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, and Charlie Anson; Snowstorm in August by Marshall Karp, narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla and Michael Manuel; and Where Secrets Live by S. C. Richards narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya.
Jeff Pierce over at The Rap Sheet blog reported the sad news of the passing of two mystery authors, Carl Constantine Kosak, better known to readers by his pseudonym, K.C. Constantine (the Mario Balzic series), and Rita Lakin, writer for several popular TV series and also author of mystery novels starring Gladdy Gold, a septuagenarian private eye in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
You can add Agatha Christie's works to the growing list of "udpated" literary properties that are being edited and re-released to remove insensitive language commonly used during their day. First it was Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, rewritten to remove language deemed offensive by the publisher Puffin, and then the James Bond novels, with the Ian Fleming Estate deleting racist tropes. This weekend, The Guardian noted that Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries (written between 1920 and 1976) have passages edited by sensitivity readers for the latest HarperCollins editions. Most of these instances were related to offensive language, including insults and references to ethnicity. Although this is the first time the content of Christie’s novels has been changed, her 1939 novel, And Then There Were None, was previously published under a different title that included a racist term, which was last used in 1977.
In honor of her birthday (Happy Birthday!), Janet Rudolph posted a list of birthday-themed crime fiction on her Mystery Fanfare blog.
A rare copy of 1655 edition of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello, shows a cast list that includes one actor who was involved in real-life murder drama - slain in an eerie echo of the play.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Vanquished" by Rena J. Worley.
In the Q&A roundup, The Hard Word interviewed Craig McDonald, author of the series with Hector Lassiter, a crime novelist who gets involved with major historical events, often with his friend Ernest Hemingway; Crime Reads spoke with Rhys Bowen, author of the long-running Molly Murphy series, set in turn-of-the-century New York City, about historical fiction and memorable heroines; and Writers Who Kill chatted with Ellen Byron (writing as Maria DiRico) about Four Parties and a Funeral, the fourth book in the Catering Hall mystery series.
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