Gold medallion recipients of the 2023 Will Rogers Medallion Awards (WRMA) were announced during the organization’s annual awards banquet in Fort Worth’s fabled Stockyard District this past weekend. Among the highest honors was the Golden Lariat, awarded to Craig Johnson for outstanding service and dedication to the art of storytelling about the American West through his Walt Longmire mystery novels. Also, in the Western Mystery category, the Gold Winner was The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker (Sourcebooks); the Silver went to Funeral Train by Laurie Loewenstein (Akashic Books); and the Bronze was awarded to Hardly Any Shooting Stars Left by B.K. Froman (Iron Stream Media).
The shortlists have been announced for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards. There are half a dozen candidates for the 2023 Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year, including the finalists The Lock-Up, by John Banville; The Close, by Jane Casey; Kill for Me, Kill for You, by Steve Cavanagh; No One Saw a Thing, by Andrea Mara; Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent; and The Trap, by Catherine Ryan Howard. The books now go to a public vote, with winners announced at The Convention Centre Dublin on November 22.
The Midwest Mystery Conference is back for a one-day, in-person event on November 11, from 9-5 at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. With a single track of panels, keynote conversations, plus opening remarks from conference organizers Dana Kaye, Lori Rader-Day, and Tracy Clark, the Midwest Mystery Conference is a great opportunity to connect with your favorite authors, and meet a few new ones. The venue is fully accessible and registration includes a tote bag full of books and goodies.
HarperFiction publisher Julia Wisdom is to lead a new imprint, Hemlock Press, to "intrigue the mind and thrill the senses," featuring A J Finn and Abigail Dean alongside new voices in mystery fiction. Hemlock will showcase espionage fiction, literary crime thrillers and historical suspense, with the logo being unveiled at the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair this week. Launching in spring 2024, the list will be headed by Wisdom with a newly promoted commissioning team including senior commissioning editor Kathryn Cheshire and assistant editor Lizz Burrell. HarperFiction said: "Hemlock Press is a curated list for those seeking literary quality alongside intriguing plots, vividly realized worlds and characters that live with you long after the final page."
El Pais profiled the new book, El monstruo y el asesino en serie. De Frankenstein a Hannibal Lecter, by co-authors Vicente Garrido (a criminology professor) and Virgilio Latorre, (a criminal lawyer), which explores how 19th century Gothic literature helped scientists identify the characteristics of a serial killer.
Is Taylor Swift a secret spy novelist? Her fans are convinced she's the mysterious author who wrote the book Argylle (attributed to "Elly Conway"), which is perplexing the literary world and being made into a film by Matthew Vaughan.
Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog brings word of "Edgar Allan Poe: The Exhibit," an art exhibition inspired by the author's stories, quotes, and passages from his many literary works, which opens on November 16 at Orlando's City Arts venue and runs through December 17. Poe’s exploration of all aspects of the human psyche has appealed to modern artists through the present day, including those associated with the Symbolist movement, German Expressionism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. In that vein, the exhibit features art works created for the event with prizes handed out to four winning artists.
Foxwell is an editor for McFarlane books and also noted a sale on horror books via the publisher's website using coupon code HALLOWEEN2023 through October 31.
Janet Rudolph has expanded her Mystery Fanfare blog's Halloween-themed crime fiction list, which you can check out here. She'll have a separate Day of the Dead list, and while you're waiting, you can check out the titles from last year.
The authors at Mystery Lover's Kitchen are offering up some mysteriously good Halloween recipes, including Leslie Karst's Pumpkin Soup with Brown Butter and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds; Two-Ingredient Chocolate Fudge Halloween Cookies from author Cleo Coyle; Vampire Cake, courtesy of Peg Cochran, and more.
In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis over at Writers Who Kill interviewed Heather Weidner about her cozy mystery, Christmas Lights and Cat Fights; Martin Patience spoke with Crime Time about his latest novel, The Darker the Night, a dark political thriller set during a referendum on Scottish independence; and Russell Wate, author of the DCI McFarlane Crime Series, chatted with Indie Crime Scene about the third and latest installment in that series, Death at Chateau Peveril.
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