The 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards winners were announced this past weekend following a special presentation in Christ Church, New Zealand, which included a pub quiz hosted by Kiwi crime author, Vanda Symon. This year's winners are Best Novel: Remember Me by Charity Norman; Best Non-Fiction: Missing Persons by Steve Braunias; and Best First Novel: Better the Blood by Michael Bennett. For all the finalists, check out this link.
In an unprecedented and unanimous decision, Nicole Prewitt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has won the 2023 Sisters in Crime-sponsored PRIDE Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers. Prewitt’s win duplicated her win of the SinC-sponsored Eleanor Taylor Bland Award celebrating emerging writers of color earlier in 2023. Prewitt’s winning submission, Harts Divided, follows Neema Hart, a black, bisexual thief-turned-P.I., who owns a detective agency and therapy office with her estranged wife, Genie Hart. Prewitt will receive a $2,000 grant intended for a beginning crime writer to support activities related to career development, including workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of their work. Five runners-up were also chosen: Chloë Belle, Chicago, Illinois; Melissa Berry, Canton, Ohio; Kim Hunt, Wellington, New Zealand; Linda Krug, Duluth, Minnesota; and Emmy McCarthy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Publishers Weekly released the finalists for its 2023 Booklife Prize for fiction in various categories. In the Mystery/Thriller, the finalists were Deep Fake Double Down by Debbie Burke; Death in the City of Bridges: A Miles Jordan Mystery Thriller by J.C. Ceron; Funeral Daze by Dorian Box; A Measure of Rhyme by Lloyd Jeffries; and The One by Audrey J. Cole. Burke was the top vote-getter in the category and will be pitted against finalists from the other categories for a chance to be named overall winner on December 11, 2023.
Washington, D.C.'s next Noir at the Bar is going virtual and will take place on Sunday, December 10, at 7 pm ET. The lineup of writers includes Amina Akhtar (author of #Fashionvictim and the upcoming Almost Surely Dead); Sara Divello (author of The Broadway Butterfly); Tara Laskowski (author of One Night Gone and The Mother Next Door); James Grady (author of Six Days of the Condor); Jennifer Anne Gordon (multiple award-winning author and co-host of the popular podcast, Vox Vomitus); and Sandra SG Wong (Anthony award-finalist of In the Dark We Forget, and former national president of Sisters in Crime). The event will also feature a custom cocktail demonstration from mixologist Chantal Tseng.
The British Crime Writing Archives are held at Gladstone's Library, in Hawarden, North Wales, a collection that includes the archives of both the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club. As honorary archivist Martin Edwards notes, new loan agreements will help ensure the library can continue on sound footing for years to come. Recent donations include works from the family of E.R. Punshon (a former Secretary of the Detection Club), Peter Lovesey, the estates of Robert and Louise Barnard, and Edwards himself. Tickets are set to go on sale shortly for the annual Alibis in the Archive to be held (both virtually and in person) at the library on June 9, 2024. Although the lineup has yet to be announced, Edwards hinted that "some wonderful speakers lined up for Alibis, including an international bestseller and the creator of a very famous TV crime series." Proceeds from ticket sales will help support the library and the archives project.
It’s well known that Quentin Tarantino has been heavily influenced by other acclaimed filmmakers when it comes to his creative vision. But in a feature with The Telegraph, the director highlighted his passion for the writer Elmore Leonard. The iconic crime novelist was known for such novels and short stories as those featuring Raylan Givens, which were adapted as the Justified TV series, and Get Shorty, adapted for both film and the small screen. "He was probably the biggest influence on my life: I have been reading Leonard since I was 14 and got caught stealing his novel The Switch from K-Mart." Tarantino said. Tarantino would later make the film Jackie Brown, based on Leonard's Rum Punch.
A bit of sad news this week: Florida author Tim Dorsey has died at 62. Dorsey was author of twenty-six satirical crime capers about a unique Florida Man and serial killer named Serge Storms and his heavily self-medicated sidekick, Coleman. The most recent title, The Maltese Iguana, was published in February. Fellow Florida author Carl Hiaasen, said that "Tim wrote about Florida as if it was a rollicking, free-range paradise for lunatics, which of course it is. The unforgettable characters he created fit in perfectly. He rose to the challenge of satirizing a place where true life is routinely weirder than fiction."
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed thriller author JP McLean about her new supernatural thriller, Scorch Mark, Dark Dreams Novel #3; bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell chatted with The Telegraph about how to avoid being a crime victim, adding that she can point out "things that can kill you everywhere" and she always has her radar going; and Nita Prose spoke with the American Booksellers Association about The Mystery Guest, chosen as the top pick for the ABA's December Indie Next List, which has Molly the maid returning to solve another mysterious death in the Regency Grand Hotel.
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