Mystery Melange

Ivy Pochoda has won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category for her novel, Sing Her Down. The story takes place in the shadows of L.A.’s homeless camps, run-down motels, and dark alleys, following women who have turned — for various reasons — to a life of crime. As noted in the LA Times, the judges, including Alex Segura, Wanda Morris, and mystery fiction critic Oline Cogdill, wrote, "Pochoda brilliantly explores her characters and this setting, while sifting through myriad literary tropes, including allusions to Macbeth, mythology, even a bit of a Greek chorus." The other finalists in this year's competition in that category included Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland); All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); and Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl A. Head (Dutton).

The Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans announced winners of the annual Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, established in 2012 for women writers to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley (1952-2012), a longtime crime fiction columnist for The New Orleans Times-Picayune. The Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work, which honors an established woman writer who has created a significant body of work in crime fiction, was awarded to Alafair Burke. Margot Douaihy was also honored with the 2023 Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for Scorched Grace, while Sascha Rothchild is the winner of the 2022 Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her first book, Blood Sugar.

I previously noted the longlists that were announced this past weekend for the Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, but the CW also announced the longlist for this year’s Margery Allingham Short Mystery competition. Stories must be under 3,500 words and follow the spirit of Allingham's rule that "The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it."  

Noir at the Bar Edinburgh takes place this evening at the Canon Gait Pub, 232 Canongate,Edinburgh, from 6:30-8:00 pm (2:30-4pm ET). Authors scheduled to read from their works include Doug A Sinclair, Alex Nye, Brian Stewart, Ken Lussey, Michael Mackenzie, Fiona Veitch Smith, Jess Faraday, and Traude Ailinger.

Ashley Audrain and Conor Kerr are among the authors announced for this year's MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival, presented by the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA). The event will take place June 7 to 9, 2024 at Harbourfront Centre and online. Other notable writers in attendance are American Canadian writer Linwood Barclay and Murdoch Mysteries creator Maureen Jennings. Kicking off MOTIVE, there will be a special pre-Festival "in conversation" with best-selling British author Clare Mackintosh on April 29 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.

The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has approved a new novel from thriller writer Gareth Rubin that will focus on Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes's greatest nemesis, endorsing Rubin’s book, Holmes and Moriarty, as a worthy successor. "Gareth has drawn these characters very well, including Colonel Moran, who is key to this story," said Richard Pooley, Conan Doyle’s step-great-grandson. "Moran was once described by Holmes as ‘the second most dangerous man in London’, and he tells half of this new mystery. As Moriarty’s right-hand man, he only crops up in a couple of original Holmes stories, I believe." Pooley suspects that Moran, "a young guy," could now spawn his own series, adding that there is potential too, in the other Doyle character Professor Challenger, as well as in the boxer, Stone.

In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis interviewed James M. Jackson about Hijacked Legacy, his eighth Seamus McCree novel, for the Writers Who Kill blog; novelist Kirsten Weiss chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new metaphysical mystery, Legacy of the Witch; and Publishers Weekly welcomed Stacey Lee, who returns to her historical YA roots with the new murder mystery novel Kill Her Twice, which takes place in 1932 Chinatown Los Angeles.

Comments

[MM Jones]

FYI (from the Pinckley Prize site)

Margaret Douaihy is the winner of the 2023 Pinckley Prize for Debut Fiction for her crime novel Scorched Grace.
Sascha Rothchild was the 2022 winner

[BV Lawson]

Thanks for catching that! I've corrected the error. This is why it pays not to do blog posts late at night.