In Reference to Murder

Mystery Melange, Thanksgiving Edition

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced the recipients of the 2021 Grand Master Awards, Charlaine Harris and Jeffery Deaver, as well as the 2020 Raven Award recipient, which goes to the Malice Domestic conference. They will receive their awards at the 75th Annual Edgar Awards Ceremony, which will be held April 29, 2021. MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. The Raven Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.

Six crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2020 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. They include: The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl, tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway); Inborn by Thomas Enger, tr. Kari Dickson (Orenda Books; Norway); The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst, tr. Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph; Norway); The Silver Road by Stina Jackson, tr. Susan Beard (Corvus; Sweden); The Absolution by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland); and Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen, tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland).

The finalists for the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards in the Mystery/Thriller category have been chosen, and readers will have a chance to vote for the best books of the year the end of the month. To vote and check out the ten finalists, follow this link.

The latest issue of Mystery Scene Magazine includes Oline Cogdill’s cover profile of James Rollins, the thriller writer behind an impressive list of bestsellers—particularly the Sigma Force novels about gun-toting scientists. John B. Valeri talks to Lisa Jewell about her latest novel, Invisible Girl, which looks at the delicate shifting balances of a couple's relationship over time. Valeri also sits down with Kevin O’Brien to discuss O'Brien's new novel, The Bad Sister, and reaching the author's milestone of 20 books in 23 years. Craig Sisterson has an interesting conversation with Irish novelist Liz Nugent, plus there's a celebration of the 60th anniversary of everyone's favorite deceptively humble lieutenant, Columbo, and much more.

Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog has the annual list of Thanksgiving-themed crime fiction for you to enjoy over the holiday.

Need some more reading over the holidays? The Rap Sheet has been keeping up with the media's "best of 2020" lists so far.

The Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blogger-authors have some helpful recipes for your Thanksgiving feast, including Cranberry Crisp Cake via Peg Cochran; Mini-Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirls by Mary Jane Maffini, and for after the feast, a Leftover Turkey Casserole, via Cleo Coyle.

Something I am incredibly thankful for are public libraries. But I have a feeling I'm not alone in my appreciation for these vital community institutions, as patrons of these "16 Wonderfully Weird Libraries Around The World" can attest.

Speaking of libraries, the New York Public library has a collection of vintage quirky Thanksgiving postcards online.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Easy Mark" by Rena J. Worley.

In the Q&A roundup, Anthony Horowitz joined NPR's Fresh Air to talk about his Alex Rider books and the joys of reading and writing mysteries; Ed Aymar, a columnist, host of the DC Noir at the Bar, and also thriller author, stopped by the Writers Who Kill blog to talk about his Anthony-nominated novel, The Unrepentent, and his latest book, They’re Gone (just launched under the pen name of E.A. Barres); and The Mystery People spoke with Jeff Vorzimmer, editor of The Best of Manhunt and its follow-up anthology of stories from the great crime fiction magazine of the fifties and sixties.

Mystery Melange

For the first time ever, audiences worldwide can watch the An Post Irish Book Awards ceremony as it happens – online via RTÉ Culture, on 25th November at 7:30 pm. RTÉ's Evelyn O'Rourke will announce the winners of each of the 16 categories, including Novel of the Year and Best Crime Fiction of the Year.

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore is sponsoring a live online event featuring James Patterson in conversation with Lee Child on Monday, December 7 at 7 pm EST. They'll be discussing two new Patterson releases: The Last Days of John Lennon, a true crime account of Lennon’s murder, and Deadly Cross, the new Alex Cross novel. Registration is required.

If you missed the recent virtual Bouchercon or Bloody Scotland conferences, video events are still available online. Check out the various panels and Q&As via the Bouchercon YouTube channel; and on Bloody Scotland's YouTube channel, you can catch Michael Connelly in conversation with Ian Rankin.

The call for papers was extended for the upcoming Mean Streets: A Journal of American Crime and Detective Fiction issue devoted to crime literature set in New York outside of New York City. Abstracts of 250 words with a proposed title should be emailed no later than November 30 to the editors: Rebecca Martin (doc.rmartin@gmail.com) and Walter Raubicheck (wraubicheck@pace.edu). Final papers of 7,000-8,000 words will be due by February 15, 2021, with publication anticipated in spring 2021. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which already owns publisher Harper Collins, made a bid for Simon & Schuster, which was put up for sale by CBS Viacom in March. It's unknown at this point how the sale would affect S&S titles going forward (except for the expected staff cuts). S&S has published books by such crime fiction authors as Megan Abbott, James Lee Burke, Mary Higgins Clark, John Connolly, Janet Evanovich, Walter Mosley, and hundreds more.

Following Quentin Tarantino's award-winning film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which followed a fading actor and his stunt double in 1969 Los Angeles as they cross paths with the Manson cult, the filmmaker is writing a novelization of the project. Harper Collins announced a two-book deal for both the novel of Tarantino's 2019 film and a "deep dive" into 1970s cinema.

Glen Erik Hamilton applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, A Dangerous Breed. A native of Seattle, Hamilton was raised aboard a sailboat and grew up around the marinas and commercial docks and islands of the Pacific Northwest. His novels have won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics awards, and been nominated for the Edgar, Barry, and Nero awards. 

The UK's Sherlock Holmes Magazine celebrated part 2 of the 25th anniversary issue, which is jam-packed with Holmesian goodies. Articles include a profile of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock; celebrating the wonder women of Sherlock (Molly, Mary, and Mrs. Hudson, as well as the new Enola Holmes series); a look at the TV series, Remembering Reichenbach; and more.

Matt Barton, curator of the Library of Congress's Recorded Sound Section, discussed author Rex Stout's roles on the radio that are reflected in more than 40 LOC holdings. These include various incarnations of Stout's sleuth Nero Wolfe, Stout's appearances on Information Please, his hosting duties for Speaking of Liberty, and his participation in an episode about the detective story on the NBC program, Conversation with critics Clifton Fadiman and Jacques Barzun. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog)

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Viewers Like You" by Margot Douaihy.

In the Q&A roundup, Twin Cities crime novelist Priscilla Paton talked about inspiration, research, and Scandinavian noir with the Minnesota Daily; and Ruth Ware, author of Woman in Cabin 10, stopped by Shots Magazine to talk about her most recent thriller, One by One.

Mystery Melange

In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm reposting a link to a previous blog post I wrote about Veteran's Day mysteries. Janet Rudolph has more suggestions via her Mystery Fanfare blog.

Vintage will be hosting an interactive locked room mystery tomorrow, November 12, from 2-3:30 EST, with a script written by Ruth Ware during lockdown and featuring Ware and fellow crime writers Steve Cavanagh, Lisa Jewell, Dorothy Koomson, Abir Mukherjee, and Liz Nugent (along with audiobook narrator Imogen Church). The event will focus on six fictional crime writers who are invited to the annual dinner of The Detective Club, an organization comprising the crème de la crème of mystery authors. However, their host is murdered, and audience members must follow the clues to solve the crime. (HT to The Bookseller).

The 2020 Tampa Bay Times Virtual Festival of Reading takes place this weekend, November 12-14, featuring video interviews and panels with more than 40 authors talking about their latest books. Live events will include Q&As with authors James Lee Burke, Colson Whitehead, John Grisham, Laura Lippman, James Swain, Michael Connelly, Lisa Unger, Ace Atkins, Walter Mosley, Brad Meltzer, and Carl Hiaasen. Preregistration is required for all live events, although they are free.

Fans of Michael Connelly (creator of the Bosch procedural series) can catch the author via two other upcoming online events. Bloody Scotland is presenting a global live-streamed conversation with Connelly and fellow author Ian Rankin (of the Inspector Rebus series). This free event is scheduled for November 16th at 7:30 BST. Connelly will also be marking his debut with the Mark Twain House & Museum lecture series on November 17 at 7pm EST as he appears with author and journalist Douglas Preston to discuss Connelly's latest novel in the Lincoln Lawyer series, The Law of Innocence.

QuoScript, a new publishing company initially specializing in YA and crime fiction, has been co-founded by Salt director Linda Bennett. The new firm is billed as an experimental publisher "keen to foster new writing and design talent." The crime fiction will fall under the Poisoned Chalice imprint, launching with Christina James’ new novel, De Vries, a sequel to Sausage Hall (published by Salt). They've also launched a NaNoWriMo Challenge, with one potential winner receiving a publishing contract.

The yearly anthology of All Due Respect is out on bookstands now. The magazine, edited by Chris Rhatigan and David Nemeth, posts one crime fiction short story online each month and then collects all twelve stories into the yearly anthology. Authors this year include Stephen D. Rogers, Tom Leins, Michael Pool, Andrew Davie, Sharon Diane King, Preston Lang, Jay Butkowski, Steven Berry, Craig Francis Coates, Bobby Mathews, Michael Penncavage, and BV Lawson. (Personal note: I'm honored to have my story, "Quaking in My Boots" as the featured December offering coming up soon.)

This is a nice idea which I hope spreads around to other stores: 130 children in need will receive books this year through the Book Angel Project run by independent bookstore Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, New York. Begun in 2002 by Piper Woods, co-owner of Montgomery Row—and Oblong Books’ landlord—the program has provided books to over 1,500 children attending kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Writing for CrimeReads, Halley Sutton makes the case for a "new wave of private eye fiction," with PIs who are more diverse and share community bonds. Although Sutton also notes that the crime fiction world still has a long way to go to get out from the shadow of the loner white knight.

If you have a subscription to The Smithsonian, you might look for an article in the December issue by Jack El-Hai about a White Mountain Apache medicine man, wrongfully convicted of murder, who partnered with mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner to gain his freedom.

British comedy writer John Finnemore has solved Cain’s Jawbone, a murder mystery considered one of the world’s most fiendish literary puzzles, marking only the third time the puzzle has been solved in almost a century. Cain’s Jawbone was dreamed up by the Observer’s first cryptic crossword inventor, Edward Powys Mathers, who was known as Torquemada. First published in 1934, the puzzle invites the reader to reorder the book’s 100 pages – there are more than 32 million possible combinations – and solve the murders within.

In more "gaming" news, as the weather gets colder in some parts and the Covid-19 lockdowns remain/return, there's more demand for indoor entertainment options than ever before. Some of interest to crime fiction fans include a subscription mystery game; or you might try your hand at one of these "10 Mystery Subscription Boxes and Escape Room Puzzles."

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Trump at the Casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Reposing in State" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Writers Who Kill spoke with Jennifer J. Chow, author of the Winston Wong cozy mysteries (under a pseudonym, "J.J. Chow," and the Sassy Cat mystery series; The Indie Crime Scene chatted with author John Triptych about his new release, The Boy in the Gutter; HB Lyle stopped by Crimetime to discuss The Year of the Gun, the third novel to feature Wiggins, the former leader of the Baker Street Irregulars and a pupil of Sherlock Holmes, now spy for Vernon Kell, head of the Home Department of the newly formed Secret Service; and Author Interviews welcomed D.S. Butler, a research scientist in biochemistry and pathology, about the latest book in her DS Karen Hart Series, House of Lies.

Mystery Melange

The 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced at last weekend's virtual WORD Christchurch Spring Festival in New Zealand, with two debut novels coming up on top. Becky Manawatu won the award for best crime writing for her novel Aue, and R.W.R. McDonald has picked up the award for best new crime writing with his debut novel, The Nancy's. (HT to Shots Magazine)

The Capital Crime Festival announced the Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards for 2020. The winners include Crime Book of the year: Without A Trace by Mari Hannah; Mystery Book of the Year: The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson; Thriller Book of the Year: Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton; E-Book of the Year: Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee; Debut Book of the Year: Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; and Independent Voice Book of the Year: Beast by Matt Wesolowski.

There's a new festival coming to the UK, the very first established crime fiction event in Wales. The Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival will take place from April 30th to May 2nd 2022 in the West Wales coastal resort and university town of Aberystwyth. In 2021, as a warm up to the event, there will also be a free, digital festival, and plans are also underway for the launch of the Crime Cymru First Crime Novel Competition. As part of what is planned as a biennial event, the festival plans to offer aspiring authors a pitch-the-agent session as well as potential workshops on writing thrillers. (HT to Alis Hawkins over at 7 Criminal Minds)
 

Ian Fleming fans, take note: Sotheby’s in London is currently hosting an online sale through November 11 that features “undoubtedly the most significant collection of Fleming ever to appear on the market.” Every Bond book is represented in the 114-lot sale, either in manuscript, proof, or first edition, several containing inscriptions to famous friends (Sir Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Raymond Chandler), plus a few from Fleming’s own legendary library.

Book Riot featured a selection of "8 Mysteries and Thrillers by Black Authors" to add to your to-be-read pile.

Crime writers take note: Spot, the robot dog from Boston Dynamics, is becoming a more common partner with law enforcement. In August 2019, the Massachusetts State Police was the first law enforcement agency to use the robot dog, as a “mobile remote observation device," and just recently, Spot was spotted at an active crime scene in New York City involving a shooting suspect.

From the true crime you-can't-make-this-up department comes this headline from BBC News, "Russian 'Sausage King' killed in sauna with a crossbow."

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Mouthpiece" by Peter M. Gordon.

In the Q&A roundup, Writer's Who Kill's Grace Topping chatted with Alexia Gordon, physician by day and author by night of the Gethsemane Brown mysteries; Author Interviews chatted with Matthew Hart, a veteran writer and journalist who just published his first novel, The Russian Pink; and John Wisniewski interviewed Tom Vater, author of the Detective Maier series set in Southeast Asia, for Punk Noir Magazine.

Mystery Melange - Halloween Edition

Looking for some great mystery reads? Janet Rudolph has a running list of "Halloween Crime Fiction" over at the Mystery Fanfare blog (look for the latest edition soon), and CBC offers up "13 spine-tingling Canadian reads to check out for Halloween."

This year's virtual Bloody Scotland conference is in the record books, but you still have a chance to join in the fun. Most of the panels and interviews, which streamed live from September 18-20, are available on YouTube until October 30.

Publishers Weekly is already out with its "best books of 2020" list, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category. The titles include And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall, Black Sun Rising by Matthew Carr, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart, and ten others. You can check out the full listing here.

The annual Dead Good Books Reader Awards is on hiatus this year, but they asked readers to pick the 100 best crime and thriller books ever. From iconic classic mysteries to contemporary bestsellers, from Golden Age classics to modern detective novels and game-changing psychological thrillers, the list covers the gamut.

Meanwhile, the Goodreads Choice Awards are open for voting. The first round of the 12th annual Awards, which are decided by readers, runs now through November 8. Check out the 15 titles in the Best Mystery/Thriller category here and cast your vote for your favorite.

Suspense Magazine is also soliciting readers' favorite crime fiction books of the year as they begin the process of building the December "Best of" issue. Over the next two weeks, they'll be seeking readers to send a list of favorites for 2020 in various categories including Cozy, Thriller/Suspense, Debut Author, Romantic Suspense, Horror, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Anthology, YA/Teen, and True Crime. Votes should be returned to reviews@suspensemagazine.com by November 15th.

Congratulations to Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this Saturday. The store noted that "This year has been trying for everyone, including retailers. When we temporarily closed our doors in March we did not know what would happen. However, with you all by our side, we have been able to reopen. We plan to be here another 30 years and continue to be a destination for book lovers." As part of the celebration, the store is hosting a Zoom event tonight at 7:30 with Richard Goldman, who founded the store with his late wife, Mary Alice Gorman. (Tara Goldberg-DeLeo and Kristy Bodnar bought the store in 2018). Register for the free event here. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

NPR's Scott Simon spoke with historian Elizabeth Bradley about the 200th anniversary of the publication of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," featuring Washington Irving's iconic headless horseman and Ichabod Crane.

Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast from King's River Life Magazine has a bonus episode up just for Halloween. The mystery short story with a supernatural twist, titled "The Takeover," is written by Kaye George and read by actor Ariel Linn.

Kings River Life Magazine also has some free seasonal stories for you, including "The Caldera: A Halloween Ghost Story," by Margaret Mendel and "Liver Man: A Halloween Mystery Short Story" by Ang Pompano, as well as reviews of a few other mystery titles.

Tales from a Moonlit Path's Halloween issue also has some spooky stories to keep you up at night.

The Mystery Lovers Kitchen authors are back with some Halloween suggestions, including Cleo Coyle's Virgin Candy Appletini; Krista Davis's "Spooky Fun with Fruit"; Maddie Day's "Soul Cakes"; Mary Jane Maffini's Homemade Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits; Daryl Wood Gerber's Halloween Ghost Cupcakes; Leslie Budewitz's Puff Pastry Rattlers; and Leslie Karst's Sauteed Pumpkin with Garlic and Mint.
 

The Rap Sheet blog has a listing of many of the crime fiction books being released from publishers this fall through December, in both the U.S. and the UK., which means (as editor Jeff Pierce notes in his apt headline) that if you're "Trapped Inside with Books? No Problem!"

Have you somehow never read any Agatha Christie novels or just don't know where to start? The New York Times has an overview with a promise that "whether you want to be scared, shocked or stumped, we will help you pick your poison."

Radio Dramas were king of the airwaves prior to the advent of television and CrimeReads offers up some good suggestions for the Halloween season that you find through streaming apps or on YouTube.

Inspired by The Great British Baking Show, Book Riot's Annika Barranti Klein noted that horror baking books are actually a thing, and she rounded up eighteen horror-themed baking books just in time for Halloween.

Just because the coronavirus pandemic is keeping you home this year doesn't mean you can't have a little Halloween spirit with some "Bookish Halloween Shirts."

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "What Do You Know About Love?" by Stephen J. Golds.

In the Q&A roundup, Jeffery Deaver spoke with The Guardian about the influence of Ian Fleming, learning from Saul Bellow, and crying over Annie Proulx; the Los Angeles Times interviewed Rachel Howzell Hall and Attica Locke about how crime writers of color reconcile their fictional good cops with reality (subscription required); and Deborah Kahl chatted with Nicci French (the pen name for the wife-and-husband writing team of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) about their new novel, House of Correction.

Mystery Melange

The finalists for the An Post Irish Book Awards were announced this week. Readers and fans will be able to vote online for their favorites through November 16, with the category winners to be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on November 25th. Those vying for Best Crime Fiction include The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard; The Cutting Place by Jane Casey; Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent; After the Silence by Louise O'Neill; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; and Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh.

Crime fiction authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Karen Dionne are hosting a project called The Back Room, a series of online events that start with a short introduction to a panel of 4 authors. The audience is then divided into 4 breakout rooms where they remain for the rest of the program while the authors visit each room in turn. Everyone’s video is turned on and their mics are unmuted, allowing for informal, face-to-face discussion. The next event is October 29, 7 PM ET, with guest authors Brian Andrews, William Kent Krueger, Paula Munier, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Penguin Random House has announced its new partnership with PEN America, Out Of Print, and When We All Vote for a collaborative effort called Book the Vote, a joint effort to "help you feel empowered, get active, and make your voice heard." The site includes videos, featured topical books, and merchandise, with a portion of sales donated to PEN America and their Free Speech 2020 campaign.

The NYT featured an article on how indie bookstores are faring during the pandemic, and it isn't all that great. According to the American Booksellers Association, more than one independent bookstore has closed each week since the pandemic began. Many of those still standing are staring down the crucial holiday season and seeing a toxic mix of higher expenses, lower sales and enormous uncertainty. This is why it's important to remember to shop your local indie stores, many of which have online sales, curbside pickup, and even delivery in some areas. Or you can shop via BookShop for ebooks and prints and Libro.Fm for audiobooks, both of which share profits with local bookstores.

Sad news this week: Jill Paton Walsh passed away at the age of 83. Jill was an accomplished author in several fields, including her short series of novels set in Cambridge and featuring Imogen Quy. She also was tasked with completing the unfinished Dorothy L. Sayers novel, Thrones, Dominations, and went on to publish three more books featuring Sayers's iconic Lord Peter Wimsey. (HT to Martin Edwards)

Little, Brown has made changes to its Jimmy Patterson Books imprint, the children’s publishing unit created by the company and mega-selling author James Patterson five years ago. Under the reorganization, the imprint will focus almost exclusively on publishing Patterson’s children’s books as well as looking for collaborations and partnerships. No new outside authors will be acquired for the imprint.

Last week, I mentioned the auction of some of Otto Penzler's collection of rare crime fiction titles, and apparently it was a successful venture. Sales of those books helped push Heritage Auctions’ event past $2.2 million. A couple of the standouts included an inscribed first edition of Earl Derr Biggers' 1925 The House Without a Key – the very first entry in the Charlie Chan mystery series – which brought in $50,000, more than 12 times its pre-auction estimate; and signed first editions of Ellery Queen and Rex Stout mysteries that also brought in multiple times their original estimates. If you missed your chance, even more books from Penzler’s shelves will be made available during three online sessions to be held Dec. 5-7, including many titles seldom seen at auction.

In 1847, a financially struggling Edgar Allan Poe wrote a letter to former Philadelphia mayor, dramatist, magazine editor, and lawyer Robert Taylor Conrad asking for $40. The missive, noted as one of the highest quality Poe letters to-date, recently sold at an online auction for more than $125,000.

An arrest has been made in the stabbing death ten years ago of bookseller Sherry Black, owner of B&W Billiards & Books in South Salt Lake City, Utah. Deseret News reported that Adam Antonio Spencer Durborow was arrested Saturday for investigation of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary, but local police "have released few other details about what led them to Durborow or how they were able to crack the high-profile, decade-old cold case." That being said, in 2017, on the seventh anniversary of Black’s death, police announced they had put the DNA through a phenotyping process. Phenotyping predicts a person’s physical appearance and ancestry using genetic codes.

In another real-life mystery that is over a century old, seventy-two human bones uncovered in 2016 in an Ohio home have now been identified as belonging to Hallie Armstrong, an 18-year-old schoolteacher who died in 1881. Although the local police ruled out homicide, another mystery lingers: who really was Hallie Armstrong and how did her remains end up in a barn in New London, a hundred years after her death?

A new set of assessment tools shows promise in capturing how the COVID-19 pandemic affects patterns of criminal activity. Previous research has demonstrated how crime patterns can be affected by regular seasonal factors, such as holidays and hours of darkness. However, few studies have investigated how crime within a community responds to exceptional events that can significantly disrupt everyday life, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, the Olympics, or the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary evidence has linked the pandemic to increased rates of domestic violence and steep declines in other forms of crime.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Policing" by Linda Lerner.

In the Q&A roundup, the creators of the Unlikeable Female Characters Podcast, Wendy Heard and Layne Fargo, discussed the tricky business of fictional murder; Mark Pryor chatted with The Mystery People about the latest Hugo Marston novel, The French Widow; Lisa Haselton spoke with thriller author, John Casey, about his psychological spy thriller trilogy, Devolution, Evolution, and Revelation; Cathi Unsworth stopped by the CrimeTime blog to talk about the re-release of Bad Penny Blues, a fictionalized investigation into the Jack the Stripper murders (1960s London’s biggest unsolved case); and Author Interviews welcomed Antony Johnston, award-winning graphic novelist, author, and games writer, whose graphic spy thriller, The Coldest City, was made into the multi-million-dollar blockbuster, Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron, and James McAvoy.

Mystery Melange

The Australian Crime Writers Association have announced the winners of this year's Ned Kelly Awards virtually via social media. The winner for Best Crime Fiction went to Christian White for his novel, The Wife and the Widow; Adrian McKinty became a three-time winner of the Best International Crime Fiction Award, this year for his novel, The Chain; Natalie Conyer won Best Debut Crime Fiction for her novel, Present Tense; and Dan Box won Best True Crime for Bowraville. For all the shortlisted titles as well as previous award winners, follow this link.
 

The Capital Crime conference announced the winners of the 2020 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards as voted on by the public. Crime Book of the Year goes to Without a Trace by Mari Hannah; Mystery Book of the Year, The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson; Thriller Book of the Year, Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton; Debut Book of the Year, Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; Ebook of the Year, Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee; and Independent Voice Book of the Year, Beast by Matt Wesolowski. The award for Best Crime Movie was won by Knives Out, and Crime TV Show, The Liar.

The shortlist was announced for Canada’s Scotiabank Giller Prize, established in 1994 to honor a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection. This year, it includes a couple of titles of interest to crime fiction fans, including Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson, which is part literary Western and part historical mystery, and The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, a psychological mystery inspired by Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of the Book will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with several online events spread out over four weeks starting Sunday. Coming up on Friday, October 23, from 6:00pm - 7:00pm, there will be a panel moderated by James Queally on "Crime Fiction: The Dark Side," featuring authors Attica Locke, Ivy Pochoda, and Rachel Howzell Hall.

Next weekend, it's the Toronto International Festival of Authors' turn, with several events online from October 22-November 1. Q&As of interest to crime fiction fans will include Scott Turow on October 24; Val McDermid on October 25; Harlan Coben in conversation with Linwood Barclay on October 29; Carl Hiaasen on October 30; and Ann Cleves and Ian Rankin on November 1.

MWA NorCal Mystery Week is going all-virtual this year with free online events for writers and readers. The seven-day event from October 24-30 will include various panels on topics like "Crime Through Time: Writing the Historical Mystery"; "A Highly Suitable Job for a Woman: The Female Sleuth in Mystery Fiction:; and "A Bit of This, a Lot of That: Mixing Up Genre." The 40+ authors participating include Cara Black, Rhys Bowen, Laurie King, Jacqueline Winspear, and more. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The full program for the 2020 Bad Sydney Crime Writers Festival, which will run in-person on 7–8 November at the State Library of NSW, has been announced. Festival guests appearing in front of a live audience include journalists Jess Hill, Gary Jubelin, Kate McClymont and Mark Morri; novelists Tom Keneally, Garry Disher, Caroline Overington and Chris Hammer; and Jana Wendt in conversation with former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas. Other sessions include "The Crime of Modern Slavery" with Justine Nolan, Martijn Boersma and Jennifer Burn, and "Auschwitz in Fiction after 75 Years" with Alan Gold, Suzanne Leal, Diane Armstrong and Michaela Kalowski. New trends in crime writing will also be examined by Benjamin Stevenson, Greg Woodland and Petronella McGovern in Fresh Blood, New Writing."

Novelist James Ellroy’s handwritten manuscript of his 1992 book, White Jazz, is heading to auction for the first time. The fourth and final installment in the so-called L.A. Quartet is being sold off from the collection of Otto Penzler, along with over two dozen more of Penzler's rare books, via Heritage Auctions October 15-16. Among the crime fiction items are a signed presentation copy of PD James' Cover Her Face and first editions of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books, Fer-De-Lance and The Red Box.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir has revealed that she is planning on branching out into the world of fiction writing. In an interview with RÚV last week, Katrín and best selling author Ragnar Jónsson talked about their planned collaboration on an upcoming crime novel.

While we're on the topic of politicians as authors, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, will release a thriller novel about the Supreme Court next year. The book, While Justice Sleeps, is set for release May 25, and follows a clerk for a Supreme Court justice who uncovers evidence of a possible conspiracy involving Washington, D.C.’s "highest power corridors."

The latest issue of Switchblade is out, with new short fiction from Robert Ragan, David Harry Moss, Gene Breaznell, Serena Jayne, Brian Beatty, Elliot F. Sweeney, Stanton McCafferey, Danny Sophabmisay, Andrew Bourelle, George Garnet, David Rachels, Elliot F. Sweeney, and Alec Cizak.

This week's new crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Unanswered Asked Question" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with Avery Bishop, the pseudonym for a USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen novels, about Bishop's new thriller, Girl Gone Mad; Elizabeth White spoke with Libby Fischer Hellman about her latest, A Bend in the River, which follows the saga of two Vietnamese sisters as they struggle to cope with the Vietnam War and its aftermath; and mystery author Margi Preus discussed her new middle grade novel, The Silver Box, part of the Enchantment Lake mystery series, with Lisa Haselton.

Mystery Melange

The Capital Crime conference announced the shortlists for the 2020 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards. The awards are a celebration of the crime and thriller genre and recognize excellence in film and television as well as books. The shortlists were decided by Capital Crime’s advisory board of authors, industry leaders and reviewers, but it's readers who will have the final say on who wins in each category. This is the second year for the awards, with authors Ian Rankin, Oyinkan Braithewaite, and C L Taylor among the 2019 winners. Shots Magazine has a list of all the finalists in the various categories.

The Crime Writers Association (CWA) Debut Dagger Writing Competition 2021 has opened for entries. Created in 1955, the Daggers are the oldest and among the most regarded awards in the genre, and for over two decades the CWA has been encouraging new writing with its Debut Dagger competition for unpublished writers. Submissions are judged by a panel of top crime editors and agents, and all shortlisted entries then sent to UK agents and publishers of crime fiction. Anyone is eligible who hasn't had a full-length novel published by a traditional publisher and who, at the time of the competition closing, doesn't have a contract with a publisher or literary agent. (HT again to Shots Magazine)

Although the traditional week of in-person gatherings will not take place this year, the Kentucky Book Festival will carry on the celebration of reading, writing and all things bookish in the Bluegrass State with a virtual lineup of author discussions. Events of note to crime fiction fans include special guest John Grisham discussing his latest book, A Time for Mercy with best-selling author Kim Edwards, and a panel with mystery/thriller authors David Bell, Rea Frey, Dana Ridenour, and Andrew Welsh-Huggins talking about what it takes to write the perfect crime.

Obscure works by Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie were published this week, but it might not be what you think. Both involve humor, as with Chandler's rarely seen "Advice to an Employer, a list of suggestions for how you can ruin the day for those stuck on your payroll," and an amusing Hercule Poirot Christmas story from Christie. Both pieces appeared in the new issue of Strand Magazine, and managing editor Andrew Gulli explained, "We decided early on that we needed to publish an issue that will provide something light-hearted for our readers."

Mike Ripley's latest Getting Away with Murder newsletter is out with a report that William Hjortsberg, the New York City-born Montana novelist who died in 2017, has a brand-new book—Angel’s Inferno—due out in Britain at the end of this month. The novel, which is a sequel to the author's Edgar-nominated Falling Angel (the basis for the classic cult film Angel Heart), is being published posthumously by No Exit Press using the author's edits and notes he was working on up until his death. (HT to The Rap Sheet.)


Some sad news from the crime fiction magazine world, as BJ Bourg announced the end of Flash Bang Mysteries, with the Fall/October 2020 the last issue. BJ worked in law enforcement for over 25 years before turning his hand to writing crime stories and had previously edited the 'zines Mouth Full of Bullets and BJ Bourg's Mystery Mag. Flash Bang Mysteries was co-edited with BJ's son, Brandon Bourg, since its inception in October 2015. I had the pleasure of working with BJ on stories for both Mouth Full of Bullets and Flash Bang Mysteries, and here's hoping he'll be back with new periodical projects in the future.

Apparently, although most of the Sherlock Holmes canon is now in the public domain, you can still be sued if you write Holmes smiling. The Holmes Estate has sued the author of the Enola Holmes books (as well as publisher Penguin Random House) and the new Netflix movie based on the book series, claiming the brilliant detective didn’t exhibit his friendlier side until Conan Doyle published his final 10 stories, which are still under copyright. This would basically mean that the Conan Doyle Estate still owns Sherlock Holmes’s "warmth and emotion." Penguin Random House and series author Nancy Springer are fighting back, and they may have a case:  Springer’s first Enola Holmes novel was published in 2006 to critical acclaim (including an Edgar Award in 2007), nearly fifteen years before this suit was filed. Others have noted that the timing of the lawsuit is also suspect since the final Sherlock Holmes story authored by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published in 1927, meaning that in two years time – 2022 – none of his works or characters will be subject to copyright laws.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "A Love Story" by Tom Barlow.

In the Q&A roundup, Benjamin Black, a/k/a John Banville, chatted with the New York Times about why he chose the Black pseudonym for his crime novels, and why he's decided to keep writing those novels but under his Banville name; Indie Crime Scene interviewed E.A Aymar, author of They're Gone (written under his pseudonym E.A. Barres); Writers Who Kill spoke with M. E. Browning, a retired police captain and author of Shadow Ridge, the first book in the new Jo Wyatt mystery series; and Author Interviews snagged Robert Dugoni, author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, about his writing process and influences.

Mystery Melange

The winners of the 2020 Davitt Awards, organized annually by Sisters in Crime Australia, were announced this past weekend. The awards, meant to "provide some much-needed—and overdue—recognition for Australian women crime writers," included several categories including Best Adult Crime Novel: The Trespassers, by Meg Mundell; Best Young Adult Crime Novel: Four Dead Queens, by Astrid Scholte; Best Children’s Crime Novel: The Girl in the Mirror, by Jenny Blackford; Best Non-fiction Crime Book: Banking Bad: Whistleblowers. Corporate Cover-ups. One Journalist’s Fight for the Truth, by Adele Ferguson; Best Debut Crime Book: Eight Lives, by Susan Hurley; and the Readers' Choice Award (tie), Emma Viskic for Darkness for Light and Dervla McTiernan for The Scholar. You can check out both the longlisted titles and shorts here.

CrimeCon is partnering with Bonnier Books UK to launch its first true crime weekend in London next summer, featuring Lynda La Plante, Christopher Berry-Dee, Wensley Clarkson and Carl Chinn. The event, also partnered with true crime TV channel Crime + Investigation, will run from June 12th to 13th. London's CrimeCon will see criminologists, pathologists, leading law enforcement representatives, documentary makers, investigative journalists and crime podcasters creating over 50 hours of content through live shows, panels, and immersive experiences.

Join four veteran mystery writers as they discuss their new works and all that goes into writing a mystery series in the "Stone Cold Mystery Writers Panel." Archer Mayor (the Joe Gunther series), Paula Munier (the Mercy Carr series), Sarah Stewart Taylor (the Sweeney St. George mystery series), and ​Julia Spencer-Fleming (the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series) will be online in the virtual panel on Oct 7 at 7pm, Eastern Time.

The winners of the annual Writers Police Academy Golden Donut Awards were recently announced. The rules were simple—write a story about a provided photograph using exactly 200 words including the title, with the image being the main subject of the story. You can check out the first through tenth place winners here, as judged Linda Landrigan, editor-in-chief of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

CrimeReads took note of "Ten Golden Age Detective Novelists Who Deserve to Be Better Known," as the unsung maestros of British mystery fiction, and also profiled "Ten American Masterpieces That Are Actually Crime Fiction."

CrimeReads also tackled the topic of the sexist books in contemporary crime fiction, putting together a panel for the first of a two-part discussion featuring Robyn Harding (The Swap), Alex Segura (Pete Fernandez series), P.J. Vernon (When You Find Me), Kelly J. Ford (Cottonmouths), Layne Fargo (Temper), and Laura Lippman (Sunburn).

Marketplace studied the Agatha Christie effect, pointing out that a century after her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, appeared in print, the Agatha Christie industry is still going strong, earning $33 million in royalties in the latest year it reported.

Robert Dugoni, author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series as well as the Charles Jenkins espionage series and the David Sloane legal thriller series, applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Last Agent.


The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Shot Three Times" by Terry Dawley.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Unger stopped by the Just Katherine blog to discuss her latest psychological thriller, Confessions on the 7:45; Crime Fiction Lover chatted with Seraphina Nova Glass about her debut crime novel, Someone's Listening; Indie Crime Scene featured an interview with Daniella Bernett, author of Old Sins Never Die; and Ruth Ware sat down with CrimeReads to discuss locked room mysteries, ski chalets, and the evolution of voyeurism.

Mystery Melange

During the online Bloody Scotland festival this past weekend, the winners of the 2020 Bloody Scotland prizes were announced in a virtual ceremony. They included the Debut Prize, won by Deborah Masson for her novel, Hold Your Tongue, while Francine Toon's novel, Pine, won the McIlvanney Prize for the best Scottish Crime book of the year. You can check out all of the shortlisted finalists for both prizes via this link.

HarperCollins Australia has named Dinuka McKenzie the winner of the 2020 Banjo Prize for her "gripping, pacy police procedural," Flood Debris. HarperCollins launched The Banjo Prize in 2018 in a quest to find Australia’s next great storyteller, offering the chance to win a publishing contract with HarperCollins with an advance of $15,000.

The Glass Key award is handed out annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries. The award, named after the novel The Glass Key by American crime writer Dashiell Hammett, is a real glass key given every year by the members of the Crime Writers of Scandinavia to a crime novel written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Swedish author. This year's winner is Swedish writer Camilla Grebe for Skuggjägaren (The Shadow Hunter). This was Grebe’s second Glass Key win following her triumph with the psychological thriller, Diary of My Disappearance. The only two other authors to win the price twice are Stieg Larsson and Arnaldur Indriðason. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

The Library of Congress National Book Festival is going online this year for three days starting Friday, September 27th. You can sign up for free registration to watch the livestreams with Colson Whitehead and John Grisham on Saturday and Walter Mosley and David Ignatius on Sunday, and there are many other authors in various genres joining in, as well.

Banned Books Week, the annual event celebrating the freedom to read, will be held September 27 to October 3 with the theme "Censorship Is a Dead End." The American Libraries Association has created a list of 40 virtual program ideas for Banned Books Week, including story time or Q&A with a banned author, a partnership with a local LGBTQIA+ group to address why LGBTQIA+ stories are overwhelmingly censored, an online bingo based on banned book titles, and a partnership with an organization that centers on Black voices to discuss racism. The ALA's program ideas in part reflect titles on its most challenged books of 2019 where eight of the 10 titles were challenged or banned because of LGBTQIA+ content. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

The in-person Writers' Police Academy conference has offered hands-on training to authors for over ten years, but due to popular demand and the success of the Virtual MurderCon event in August, organizers have put together a new lineup of online courses that everyone can attend. The Writers’ Police Academy Online will officially open its virtual doors on October 24, 2020 with the first daylong seminar called "Mystery and Murder: Transforming Reality into Fantastic Fiction." This first session will be live and interactive, meaning that instructors will deliver their presentations and respond to questions in real time. The all-new website is currently under construction and registration will soon be available soon.

International Thriller Writers is presenting a Virtual Winter Thrills event from January 11 to March 18, 2021. The online, ongoing conference will offer chances to participate in the Master Class, Practice PitchFest, and the brand new Thriller MBA course segments. The classes will be taught by ITW bestselling authors, agents, editors, and marketing professionals, including a critique of your query letter. Check out the lineup and register via the following link.

The Killer Nashville conference is now taking submissions for the 2021 Claymore Award for unpublished manuscripts. Created in 2009, the Killer Nashville Claymore Award assists new and rebranding English-language fiction authors to get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. Submissions for Killer Nashville's Silver Falchion Awards in various categories for published books opens September 25.

In light of Netflix’s new Sherlock-flanked detective adventure, Enola Holmes, escape room crew Escape Hunt UK has put together a fun little game that takes you across Victorian London on a hunt for the titular heroine, which you can play entirely within your own home. The free game, which somewhat takes cues from the film's narrative, comes in the form of a downloadable PDF, which includes a map, a copy of The London Gazette, and a series of clues and activities to solve on an answer sheet to find Enola somewhere in 1884 London.

The Folio Society is set to publish the first-ever illustrated edition of Mario Puzo’s genre-defining gangster novel, The Godfather, a brilliant and brutal story of Mafia feuds in post-war New York. This new title is lavishly illustrated with atmospheric artwork by Robert Carter and has an introduction by Jonathan Freedland.

Just in case you didn't think books were valuable comes this news item:  Stolen books worth £2.5m found under floor of Romanian house. About 200 "irreplaceable" books, including first editions of Galileo and Isaac Newton, were taken by thieves in January 2017 who cut holes in the roof of a warehouse in Feltham then abseiled in, dodging sensors. The men were identified as being part of a Romanian organized crime gang.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Bird Heart Racing" by Amy Holman.

In the Q&A roundup, Lynda La Plante chatted with The Telegraph about nudity, blindness, being barred from the set of her TV show after falling out with the show’s producers, and bringing up a teenager in La Plante's seventies; the Sunday Post spoke with Lee Child prior to his appearance on the last day of the Bloody Scotland crime-writing festival; and Hank Phillippi Ryan was interviewed by Rick Brown of Yard Light Media about her latest novel, First to Lie.