The 2025 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize shortlist was announced this week. Making the list are Natalie Jayne Clark, The Malt Whisky Murders; David Goodman, A Reluctant Spy (Headline); Foday Mannah, The Search for Othella Savage (Quercus); Richard Strachan, The Unrecovered (Raven/Bloomsbury); and Claire Wilson, Five by Five (Michael Joseph). On the opening day of the festival, Friday, September 12, the shortlisted debut authors will appear on panel interviewed by festival co-founder Alex Gray, followed by the presentation of the prize that afternoon and a procession, led by Ian Rankin, to the first evening event of the festival at The Albert Halls.
Foreword Reviews revealed the winners of the 2024 INDIES Book of the Year Awards, which celebrate the outstanding books published in 2024 by small, independent, and university presses. The Gold winner in the Mystery category was A Cold Cold World by Elena Taylor (Severn House); Silver went to The Last Hanging of Angel Martinez by Kate Niles (University of New Mexico Press); Bronze to Gathering Mist by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane); and Honorable Mention to Death Holds the Key by Alexander Thorpe (Fremantle Press). The Gold winner in Thrillers was The Vixen Amber Halloway by Carol LaHines (Regal House Publishing); the Silver winner was The Death of Clara Willenheim by Charlotte M. Lesemann (The Gothic Literary Society); Bronze went to Releasing the Reins by Catherine Matthews (Pacific Peaks Publishing); and Honorable Mention was Bone Pendant Girls by Terry S. Friedman (CamCat Books).
The Maine Publishers and Writers Alliance announced the winners for the 2025 Maine Literary Awards, including Best Crime Fiction, won by Maureen Milliken for Dying for News. The other finalists include: Paul Doiron, Pitch Dark; Kathryn Lasky, Mortal Radiance; and Thomas Ricks, Everyone Knows But You.
I missed these awards back in March, but at the annual Krimimessen (Crime Fair) in Denmark, four crime honors were revealed, including the Palle Rosenkrantz prize (best foreign crime/thriller novel), won by Christoffer Carlsson for his Levende og døde. Also announced were the Harald Mogensen award (best Danish crime/thriller novel), won by Søren Sveistrup's Tælle til en tælle til to; the Debut Prize, which Mikkel Blaabjerg snagged for Den 6. magt; and the The Lasse Holm diploma (historical crime novel of the year), which went to Pernille Schou for Mord i delegationen.
The Colorado Humanities' 2025 Colorado Book Awards unveiled the finalists in various categories, including Best Mystery and Best Thriller. The shortlisted mystery titles include Death Valley Duel by Scott Graham (Torrey House Press); A Dream in the Dark by Robert Justice (Crooked Lane Books); and Play of Shadows by Barbara Nickless (Thomas & Mercer). The thriller nods include Anyone But Her by Cynthia Swanson (Columbine York); The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson (Sourcebooks); and If You Lie by Caleb Stephens (Thrillserscape Press). All winners will be announced at the Finalists Celebration and Winners Announcement in July 2025.
Frederick Forsyth, called by the New York Times as the "'Master of the Geopolitical Thriller," has died at the age of 86 after a short illness. He wrote best-sellers including The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, and The Odessa File, often using material from his earlier life as a reporter for Reuters and the BBC and as a spy for British intelligence. Six films were adapted from his novels, as well as various television productions. In 2012, the Crime Writers' Association announced that Forsyth had won its Cartier Diamond Dagger award in recognition of his body of work. In November of this year, Penguin Random House will publish a sequel to The Odessa File, called Revenge of Odessa, which Mr. Forsyth wrote with Tony Kent. Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher novels, penned a remembrance of Forsyth for The Guardian.
James Reasoner had some additional sad news on his Rough Edges blog, alerting us to the passing of Wayne Dundee, author of the P.I. Joe Hannibal novels and editor and publisher of the small press magazine, Hardboiled. He was also a Shamus Award finalist for Best First PI Novel in 1989 (and a finalist in other categories five times), as well as being a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony awards. Reasoner also wrote in the horror, fantasy, and erotica genres, and several "house name" books under bylines other than his own. Dundee, who was 78, had suffered from ill health for some time.
Even as fans of the James Bond film franchise impatiently await the next installment, along with the naming of the new titular actor, the literary Bond universe is expanding. MW Craven has just been signed to write a new series of Bond books aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds. The first, James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy, will be published next June. It will feature a retired Bond, his licence to kill revoked, training a new generation of teenage spies. Adult readers are also getting new Bond-adjacent books, with Raymond Benson penning The Hook and the Eye, the first to make Bond’s CIA buddy, Felix Leiter, the hero. The book will be out in October, but the first of ten installments has already been published as an ebook. Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan will also be published in the autumn—the first novel centered on Bond’s gadget-wielding armorer, Major Boothroyd, aka Q.
A tool to identify poisonous books has been developed by the University of St Andrews. Historically, publishers used arsenic mixed with copper to achieve a vivid emerald green color for book covers. While the risk to the public is "low," handling arsenic-containing books regularly can lead to health issues including irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, along with more serious side-effects. The toxic pigment in the book bindings can even flake off, meaning small pieces can easily be inhaled. In recent years, many libraries have prevented access to suspect books as a precaution, as testing has until now been costly and time-consuming.
This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "All the Accused" by Matthew Sorrento.
In the Q&A roundup, Lucas Schaefer, author of the new novel, The Slip, spoke with Crime Reads about Texas, boxing, and how to use crime fiction to explore identity; S.A. Cosby chatted with the New York Times about his latest crime novel, King of Ashes, and the appeal of small-town crime stories; Mark Stevens applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, No Lie Lasts Forever, about a reformed serial killer and the disgraced journalist he coaxes into finding the imposter trading on his name; Crime Fiction Lover chatted with award-winning crime fiction author, Linwood Barclay, about his new horror-thriller, Whistle; and Deborah Kalb spoke with Kendra Elliot, author of the new novel, Her First Mistake, and the Columbia River series.
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