In Reference to Murder

Mystery Melange

Walter Mosley has been named winner of the 2020 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. He becomes the first Black man to win the foundation’s $10,000 lifetime achievement honor, which was first awarded in 1988. The author of more than 60 books, Mosley is best known for his mysteries featuring detective Easy Rawlins.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is mobilizing to help bookstore owners and staff affected by the wildfires in the western U.S. The foundation may be able to help owners or employees with personal household expenses related to the wildfires, assist with expenses directly related to the store in certain cases, and provide some expenses to help the store reopen more quickly after the threat passes. More information is available on Binc's assistance page.

Kings River Life profiled the Crime Writers of Color, a new organization of authors who support each other’s works and efforts. Author Elizabeth Wilkerson noted, "We’re a lively group with wide-ranging backgrounds and opinions, yet we share a passion: creating worlds that reflect our experiences and vision as observed through our own lens. I invite you to check out these upcoming books by CWOC authors. Ranging from cozy to cyber-thriller, the stories present a diverse and colorful universe."

Update on Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore in Minneapolis, which burned to the ground after the protests this summer following the murder of George Floyd by city police: Owner Don Blyly reported that after weeks of delays involving inexplicable water bills that had to be paid before a demolition permit for the site could be issued, a contractor will begin removing debris within a few days. Blyly has hired an architect and general contractor as well, and while he is still planning to rebuild in the same location, he has looked at a few other commercial properties for sale in Minneapolis and surrounding locations. Meanwhile, the store's GoFundMe campaign remains open, and Blyly adds that he's "eager to once again be a resource for new science fiction and fantasy titles as well as used science fiction, fantasy and mystery books." (HT to Shelf Awareness)

British crime author Ann Cleeves is financing the work of two bibliotherapists in northeast England who will connect people with books to help them with their mental health or chronic pain. The therapy service will be set up in five townships, including her own Northumberland, through the U.K.'s National Healthcare Service and the country's social prescribing system, which connects people to alternative treatment programs. General practitioners, nurses and other primary care professionals will be able to refer people to bibliotherapy if they are struggling with chronic pain, anxiety, stress, depression or loneliness

Publishers and authors are having to get a bit creative in the time of cholera the pandemic since book tours, signings, and in-person conferences are out. For instance, Pan Macmillan held a one-off virtual festival celebrating the publication of his Ken Follett's new Kingsbridge novel, The Evening and the Morning, for fans, bookshops and libraries around the world. The Kingsbridge Festival had Q&As, quizzes, partnerships with the Reading Museum and a virtual peek inside the Jorvik Viking Centre to immerse fans in the history of the book—including a virtual tour of the Bayeux Tapestry and a demonstration on Viking Weaponry. There were even downloadable “celebrate from home” packs.

Janet Rudolph, editor of Mystery Readers Journal, has put out a call for "Mysteries set in Ireland." She's looking for reviews (50-250 words); articles (250-1,000 words); and Author! Author! essays (500-1,000 words). Author essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and your unique take on "Ireland' in your work. For more information, head on over to Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog.

The winners of the annual Bulwer Lytton contest, (where www means "wretched writers welcome"), were announced, including the Crime & Detective winner submitted by Yale Abrams: "When she walked into my office on that bleak December day, she was like a breath of fresh air in a coal mine; she made my canary sing." For all the other yowlers, including another private eye bit that won the Grand Panjandrum's Special Award, check out this link.

Jenny Milchman, the Mary Higgins Clark award winning author of five psychological thrillers, applied the Page 69 Test to her novel, The Second Mother.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Enter the Dove" by Matthias Regan.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People spoke with Joe R. Lansdale about his latest novel, More Better Deals, which takes a few cues from one of his influences—James M. Cain; and Writer Interviews chatted with Ellen Byron, author of Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery, about coming up with titles for books and more.

Mystery Melange

The Strand Magazine announced the winners of the 2020 Strand Critics Awards via an online Zoom event, with Andrew Guilli and Hank Phillipi taking on hosting duties. The annual awards recognize excellence in the field of mystery fiction and publishing. The winners are listed below, and you can check out all the finalists via this link:

• Life Time Achievement Awards: Tess Gerritsen and Walter Mosley
• Best Murder Novel: The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
• Best Debut Novel: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
• Publisher of the Year: Bronwen Hruska of Soho Press
  
  

The deadline to submit to the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers is November 1st at 11:59 p.m. EST. Founded in 1993, the grant program is designed to foster quality Malice Domestic literature and to assist mystery authors on the road to publication. Writers must not have published a book, short story, or dramatic work in the mystery field, either in print, electronic, or audio form. The grant includes a $2,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the upcoming convention and two nights’ lodging at the convention hotel. For more information, check out this link.

The International Thriller Writers and the Bouchercon crime festival have responded and regrouped following recent controversies surrounding racism and sexual harassment. In response to what many authors felt was an inadequate response to the issues on the part of the ITW, all but two members resigned from ITW's board in June. Some of the changes since then began when ITW members voted on a slate of 11 mystery and thriller authors who will join its board beginning in mid-October (half male, half female); a new diversity and outreach committee was created, headed by incoming board member Alexia Gordon; and a security and safety committee is drafting a comprehensive process for dealing with violations of its code of conduct policies. Because the sexual assault event occurred at the 2019 Bouchercon, that organization has also recently revised its Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy to make it more comprehensive and easier for victims to come forward.

I was sorry to learn of the deaths recently of two mystery authors. Gary Alexander passed away at the age of 79 after a short battle with cancer. Gary wrote 24 novels and some 200 short stories, including his most recent novel, Harry Saves the World Again. We also lost Dorothy Simpson at the age of 87. Dorothy's first book was the suspense novel, Harbingers of Fear, which was published in 1977, followed by installments in the Inspector Thanet series. (HT to Martin Edwards and Janet Rudolph)

Writing for CrimeReads, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation and author of the thriller, Winter Counts, discussed "Why Indigenous Crime Fiction Matters."

Attention, crime writers: there was some interesting forensic science news last week. Search teams looking for human remains are often slowed by on-foot pursuits or aerial searches that are obscured by forest cover. But researchers could use tree cover in body recovery missions to their advantage by detecting changes in the plant's chemistry as signals of nearby human remains.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Crow" by Tad Tuleja.

In the Q&A roundup, the Sunday Post sat down with Andrew James Greig, one of the newest authors in Scotland’s Tartan Noir crime fiction scene; Writers Who Kill's E. B. Davis chatted with author Ellen Byron about her Cajun Country mysteries; Vanessa Lillie stopped by Deborah Kalb's blog to discuss her new thriller, For the Best; this week's guest on Author Interviews was Gerald Elias, chatting about his new thriller, The Beethoven Sequence; and Lisa Haselton interviewed thriller author Virginia Crow about her new novel, Baptism of Fire.

Mystery Melange

The 2020 McIlvanney Prize shortlist for Scottish Crime Book of the Year was announced yesterday, with the winner to be announced in a virtual event on Friday, September 18th. This year's finalist titles include Whirligig by Andrew James Greig; Pine by Francine Toon; A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone; and The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry, the pen name of husband and wife team, Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. You can read more about the books and the judges' comments via the Bloody Scotland Conference website.

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the opening of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing, formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards. This will also be the first year for a new category: The Howard Engel Award, for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada, sponsored by the Engel Family with a $500 prize. The late Howard Engel was one of the founders of Crime Writers of Canada, a prolific author, former CBC producer, and the inaugural recipient of the CWC Grand Master Award. Other award categories and prizes include: $1000 for Best Crime Novel, sponsored by Rakuten Kobo; $500 for The Angela Harrison Memorial Award for Best Crime First Novel, sponsored by CWC member and author Maureen Jennings (Murdoch Mysteries); $200 for Best Crime Novella and $300 for Best Crime Short Story, both sponsored by Mystery Weekly; $500 for Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book sponsored by Shaftesbury Films; $500 for the Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author sponsored by ECW Press; and Best French Crime Book and Best Nonfiction Crime Book. Winners will be announced at a gala to be held in Toronto in May of 2021. Full details about the competition can be found on the Crime Writers of Canada website.

This 2020 BAD Sydney Crime Festival is going online and splitting into two parts. The International Festival will take place September 10-13 and feature such authors as Ann Cleeves, Don Winslow, Karin Slaughter, Jo Nesbø, Kathy Reichs, Camilla Läckberg, and Nicci French. The second part will be the Face to Face Festival from November 5-8 when the Danger Prize will be awarded for the best book, TV Series, podcast, or film about Sydney crime released in the previous year. (HT to Shots Magazine)

New York Times bestselling author and thriller writer Ruth Ware will be talking about her latest book, One By One, at the National Writers Series in an online live event to be held at 2 p.m. ET on September 13. The NWS is suggesting a donation for events this fall, to help them overcome the loss of ticket revenue from in-person events at the City Opera House. Money collected will be used for their Raising Writers programs, including Front Street Writers, poetry workshops, writing workshops, and Battle of the Books.

In keeping with many events this year, the International Agatha Christie Festival is going online. The free 2020 virtual festival will be live on the festival's new YouTube channel on September 15. To make sure you don’t miss out, you can subscribe now by visiting this link. Sophie Hannah, Laura Thompson, and Mathew Prichard are among the special guests with topics to include Christie’s Childhood; her home, Greenway; Hercule Poirot; and Christie’s plays, Witness for the Prosecution and The Mousetrap, among other subjects.

If you are a poet, short story writer, or novelist who lives in the United States and have not yet been published by a major publisher, the Key West Literary Seminar and Workshop has an Emerging Writers Award to which nominations may be sent until September 15. Here’s the link for all the information you need: full guidelines and a link to the application here. (HT to the Rap Sheet)

Investigation Discovery and James Patterson have partnered once again for a new series of books written by Patterson and inspired by the network’s library of true crime programming. The first of the three books, Murder Thy Neighbor, is set to be published on Tuesday, Sept. 15. According to ID, the book "profiles two twisted tales inspired by true-crime horrors: the first following a neighbors’ quarrel that turns violent and the second, cyber-bullying that explodes in a double murder." That will be followed by Murder of Innocence on November 17, 2020, and Till Murder Do Us Part on January 19, 2021.

The novel by Agatha Christie known to most people by the title And Then There Were None actually started out with a different title taken from a minstrel song. That original title is now considered offensive, which is why it has been changed everywhere—except in France. However, it was just announced that the book will finally be retitled there, in a decision made by Christie's great-grandson James Prichard, who heads the company that owns the literary and media rights to Christie’s works.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "English Teacher, or an Institutional Nightmare," by Emory D. Jones.

In the Q&A roundup, Emma Cline stopped by The Guardian to discuss Harvey Weinstein, weathering a plagiarism allegation, and her new collection of suspense short stories, Daddy; Dwyer Murphy of CrimeReads chatted with Carl Hiaasen about "Palm Beach, Slithery Characters, and Florida Crime Fiction"; Brad Parks spoke with Deborah Kalb about quantum physics and his latest thriller, Interference; Cuban author Uva de Aragón opened up about her fun, independent, and food-loving female sleuth, María Duquesne; and Denise Mina talked about the fact she couldn't read until she was nine, her current writing projects, and her writing influences.

Mystery Melange

The Killer Nashville conference announced its annual Silver Falchion awards in a virtual ceremony this past weekend, including Book of the Year winner, Queen's Gambit by Bradley Harper; Best Mystery: Lovely Digits by Jeanine Englert; Best Procedural or PI: Paid in Spades by Richard Helms; Best Thriller: Hyperion's Fracture by Thomas Kelso; Best Action or Adventure: The Best Lousy Choice by Jim Nesbitt; Best Cozy: A Sip Before Dying by Gemma Halliday; and Best Suspense: Queen's Gambit by Bradley Harper. For all the awards in the various categories, follow this link to the official conference website.

The McKnight Foundation announced the selection of Marcie Rendon for its 2020 Distinguished Artist Award—a $50,000 award created to honor a Minnesota artist who has made significant contributions to the state’s cultural life. Rendon, an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, is a writer whose poems, plays, children’s books, and novels explore the resilience and brilliance of Native peoples. Rendon is the author of the award-winning Cash Blackbear mystery series, set in Minnesota’s Red River Valley. The first novel in the series, Murder on the Red River, earned the 2018 Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel, and the second, Girl Gone Missing, was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America–G. P. Putnam’s Son’s Sue Grafton Memorial Award.

The 2020 BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival is all set to go ahead virtually from September 10-13 in what organizers are describing as a 4-day virtual crime "extravaganza." This year, eight prominent international authors will headline morning and evening events, including Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, UK star Ann Cleeves, US author Don Winslow and more. Ticket prices are $10 or you can purchase a festival pass for $50 via the conference website.

Every year, Phoenix’s Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter brings together a sensational line-up of bestselling authors, experienced editors, and qualified agents for a one-day festival filled with presentations, panel discussions, and workshops. This year, the WriteNow! 2020 Conference is going virtual on September 11-12, 2020, with free registration for all. Special guest authors are set to include Michael Connelly, Matt Coyle, and Naomi Hirahara; plus top-tier developmental editor Jessica Page Morrell and Literary Agent Kirby Kim (Janklow & Nesbit Associates). To continue supporting authors and local booksellers, organizers are asking that all attendees buy books from our conference bookstore, The Poisoned Pen, which ships across the country.

Also coming to the Interwebs near you is the virtual Bloody Scotland writing festival on September 18, available with free registration. Features include a panel on Pitching Your Story; Jeffery Deaver - My Life in Crime; The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers - Behind the Scenes; and The McIlvanney Prize and Debut Prize announcement. Organizers also recently announced that the entire Bloody Scotland crime fest (running September 17-30) will be available for free online, including events with special guests Lee Child and Ian Rankin.

 

The pandemic has certainly taken its toll on the various crime fiction conferences around the world this year, but apparently, that trend is heading into next year, as well. The Left Coast Crime Conference, originally scheduled for April 7-12, 2021 in Albuquerque, NM, announced it would bypass next year and reschedule for 2022 – same place, same week in April, just a year later. Special Guests were to include Mick Herron, Catriona McPherson, Kristopher Zgorski, and Kellye Garrett, all of whom will apparently be back for the 2022 event. Registration is official open via the following link.

Writers who can boil down a mystery into a half-dozen words are encouraged to enter the fourth annual Six-Word Mystery Contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA). The contest opens September 15, 2020 with instructions to be posted at www.rmmwa.org, with an entry deadline of midnight, Oct. 31, 2020. Six-word "whodunits" can be entered in one or all five of the following categories: Hard Boiled or Noir; Cozy Mystery; Thriller Mystery; Police Procedural Mystery; and/or a mystery with Romance or Lust. Last year’s winning entry by Jeffrey Lockwood was "36D, 44 magnum, 20 to life." This year’s esteemed judges include Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Editor Linda Landrigan; New York Times best-selling author Anne Hillerman; award-winning author, lawyer and activist Manuel Ramos; BookBar Denver store owner Nicole Sullivan; and literary agent Terrie Wolf, owner of AKA Literary Management.

Elizabeth Foxwell, Managing editor of Clues: A Journal of Detection, the oldest US scholarly journal on mystery/detective/crime fiction, noted that the latest volume, guest edited by Maurizio Ascari (University of Bologna), has been published on the theme "Genre B(l)ending: Crime's Hybrid Forms." The issue includes essays on G. K. Chesterton, John Dickson Carr, Craig Johnson, James Church, Janet Evanovich, Juliet Blackwell, Minette Walters, Gillian Flynn, Mark Haddon, and Ben H. Winters, as well as reviews of new nonfiction books related to crime fiction.

Sydney, Australia, writer Daniel Hatadi founded Crimespace back in 2007 as a social media gathering place for writers and fans of crime fiction. He sent out a note last week that due to fee increases by the hosting company, Ning.com, and the appearance of other social-media groups that have lured participants away, he's shutting down the service. He added, "Thanks to everyone who has donated along the way, it’s much appreciated."

Although voting has ended, Art Taylor offered up links to all the Mystery Readers International Macavity Award-nominated short stories for your reading pleasure. The winning story will be announced at Virtual Bouchercon in October.

The Washington Post reported that people who want to support their local bookstores might be hurting them instead. Although indie stores are doing their best to accommodate well-wishing customers, new stresses of both high demand and inventory slips have led to often-disgruntled patrons. (Note to bookstore customers: don't be that guy.)

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "The Fruit Cellar" by Lindsey Grant.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with Lisa Black, bestselling author of suspense novels including her latest, Every Kind of Wicked; and Red Carpet Crash spoke with Brad Parks, the only author to have won the Shamus, Nero and Lefty Awards, about his new thriller, Interference, that blends quantum physics, espionage, and crime.

Mystery Melange

The Noirwich Crime Writing Festival announced that Anita Terpstra and Paddy Richardson will be its Unesco City of Literature virtual writers in residence for 2020. Terpstra, who is from Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, will join Richardson, from Dunedin, New Zealand, to create new work and "foster connections" between Norwich and their home cities. This year's festival will take place as an online event from September 10-13 and include a program of live Q&As, creative writing workshops and discussion panels. Authors such as Attica Locke, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Olivier Norek, Sophie Hannah, and Jill Dawson will be feature in discussions that will be free to view.

The Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival is hosting an interview with Lee Child ahead of the publication of his biography, The Reacher Guy: The Authorised Biography of Lee Child, by Dr. Heather Martin. Titled "Reacher, Prospero and Me," the interview will include Child describing the influence Shakespeare has had on his work, and "revelations about a life-changing trip to Stratford." He will also talk about the creation of his main protagonist, Jack Reacher, via the broadcast on Eventbrite's digital platform, September 28. 

The new issue of Mystery Scene Magazine is out, with a cover profile of Camilla Läckberg by Oline H. Cogdill; an article on "Raymond Chandler and the Brasher Doubloon" by Lawrence Block; a look at "Love on the Run: Criminal Couples" by Pat H. Broeske, and much more.

There is a call for submissions for "The Crossroads of Crime Writing: Historical, Sociological, and Cultural Contexts/Intersections/Perspectives." The editors are seeking essays that "provide new insights into the works of significant authors, series or sub-genres of crime literature that we once thought we knew and/or examine the intersections of the real and fictional within the broader genre of Crime Writing in meaningful ways. Contributors are encouraged to dissect the historical, cultural, and/ or sociological significance of crime fiction, as well as examine how such works influence true crime writing or vice versa." You can find some sample essay topics on the Law Lit blog announcement. Interested authors should send 500-word abstracts along with a 200-word biographical statement to Meghan Nolan (mnolan2@sunyrockland.edu) and Rebecca Martin (doc.rmartin@gmail.com) by November 1st, 2020. The deadline for selected essays of 5000-7000 words is April 2021.

Kings River Life had a profile of the new owners of Mysterious Galaxy, an independent bookstore specializing in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, young adult, romance, and horror. Founded in 1992, the store has been an integral part of San Diego’s literary scene for readers ever since. After nearly 30 years in business, the original owners decided it was time to sell, which is where Matthew Berger and Jenni Marchisotto came in. A young couple who had lived down the street from the store, they had called it "their happy place," and along with Matthew being a fan of fantasy and sci-fi, it all converged to make Mysterious Galaxy a perfect fit.

Frustrated at not being able to travel or take that vacation this summer? CrimeReads recently featured some trips to crime fiction regions that might help tide you over, including a review of the new Akashic Books anthology, Tampa Bay Noir; a look at Lawrence Osborne's "Uncanny Bangkok"; a profile of the crime fiction of New Zealand; a list of "10 California Crime Novels That Aren't Set in Los Angeles or San Francisco"; and a roundtable discussion titled "The Women of Canadian Crime Fiction."

You may think of Ray Bradbury as a master of science fiction, but as the Bookgasm blog notes, a new anthology from Hard Case Crime titled Killer, Come Back to Me includes 20 stories that demonstrate the imagination and creativity Bradbury brought to crime fiction.

Did you know there are subscription coffee services? One in particular, My Coffee and Book Club, allows you to choose from your favorite literary genre including mysteries and thrillers and send along a book and java every month.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Dexterity" by Clark Zlotchew.

In the Q&A roundup, Denise Mina chatted with Shots Magazine's Ayo Onatade about her recent books Conviction and The Last Drop and how they're different from her other books; Aretha Phiri interviewed Rhodes University professor, Sam Naidu, about his essay focusing on African crime and detective fiction as a complex and disruptive variety of classic crime; and Julie Mulhern was featured at the Writers Who Kill blog talking about Killer Queen, the eleventh book in her humorous Country Club Murder mystery series, which is set in the 1970s.

Mystery Melange

The finalists for the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced this week. The awards, which are named after the famed Kiwi crime author, celebrate the year's best in crime fiction from New Zealand writers. Awards founder Craig Sisterson noted, "Ten years after we launched the Ngaio Marsh Awards to help celebrate excellence in local crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing it’s heartening to see so many new voices infusing and stretching our #yeahnoir community."

This year's finalists include:

BEST NOVEL

Whatever it Takes by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press)
Girl from the Tree House by Gudrun Frerichs
Aue by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press)
The Nancys by RWR McDonald (Allen & Unwin)
In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette NZ)
The Wild Card by Renée (The Cuba Press)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Tugga’s Mob by Stephen Johnson (Clan Destine Press)
Aue by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press)
The Nancys by RWR McDonald (Allen & Unwin)
Into the Void by Christina O’Reilly

 

The Killer Nashville conference announced the longlist for its annual Claymore Award for unpublished manuscripts. The award was established to "assist new and rebranding English-language fiction authors to get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales." A jury of publishing and writing professionals within each genre chooses the Top 20 Finalists through a blind judging process, and you can see their efforts via this link for all the nominated titles. The announcement of the winners for the Claymore and also the Silver Falchion Awards (for published works) will continue as planned, just not in person due to the conference's cancellation, at a later date TBA. Voting is also currently underway online for the Killer Nashville Readers' Choice Award (full disclaimer: I have a book, The Suicide Sonata, listed there).

The finalists for the 2020 Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards in the genre category include Proof: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry Sweazy. Judges include former winners, writers, educators, scholars, local bookstore owners and librarians, with winners to receive a $5,000 prize.

Another Noir at the Bar is coming up this Saturday via CrowdCast. Award-winning contributors to the anthology of short stories and essays, Writers Crushing Covid-19, will be on hand for selected readings from their works. Those currently scheduled to participate include Diane Kelly, Micki Bare, J.L. Delozier, Vince Zandri, E.A. Aymar, and Lawrence Kelter.

Organizers of the International Noireland Crime Fiction Festival in Belfast had postponed the event back in March, moving it to October this year in the hope that life would be back to normal by then. But as Festival Director, Angela McMahon, noted, "Sadly, it seems we were a little optimistic! The risk to public health from Covid-19 is still significant and unlikely to change for some time. As the wellbeing of our audiences, our authors and our many wonderful volunteers is paramount, we have concluded that in the circumstances we cannot go ahead with NOIRELAND this year." She went on to add that the hope is to present another great program of events in 2021.

We marked another passage in the crime fiction community, with the death at age 96 of Betty Rowlands, dubbed the "queen of cosy crime" by publisher Bookouture. The author, who wrote 25 books including the Melissa Craig and the Sukey Reynolds series, passed away peacefully of natural causes at a residential home on July 29th.

The summer issue of Suspense Magazine is out, featuring interviews with D.B. Corey, Jasper Bark, Riley Sager, Andrew Mayne, Joel C. Rosenberg, Harlan Coben, Kay Hooper, and Iris Johansen; an article on "how to write a murderer" by Ronald S. Barak; how to make your fictional serial killer, scarier, according to R. G. Belsky; plus new short stories, tons of new book reviews and more.

If you're a fan of short fiction, the Black Cat Mystery & Science Fiction Ebook Club from Wildside Press offers a book-of-the-month club, except for weekly and with electronic short stories and some novellas. Every week, paid club members get an email telling them about the seven-plus stories, a mix of crime/mystery and science fiction, that they can download that week in mobi or epub versions. Unpaid club members get the same weekly email giving them access to one free story, a specific one each week. All of the ebook club stories are available for two weeks only, giving members an incentive to check in each week to download the new offerings. (HT to Barb Goffman at the Sleuthsayers blog)

Bookriot compiled a list of six murder mysteries involving classical music, a subject near and dear to my heart since I'm a lifelong fan (and my own Scott Drayco series also features a former classical musician).
 

Do authors' "invisible" words reveal the blueprint for storytelling? Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Lancaster University think that they do.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Call Me Morbid, But ..." by Stephen J. Golds.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with entertainment lawyer/producer/writer, Nina Sadowsky, about her novels, including her latest, the psychological thriller, Convince Me; the same blog also recently spoke with Heather Vogel Frederick, the award-winning author of the young-adult Pumpkin Falls Mystery series, and Julie McElwain, author of Shadows in Time, which continues the journey of time-traveler FBI Agent Kendra Donovan as she solves murders in Regency England; the Venetian Vase blog welcomed Leah Konen to discuss her debut psychological thriller, One White Lie; and Laura Lippman sat down with CrimeReads to open up about "parenting, aging, choosing happiness, and exploring her dark, twisted imagination."

Mystery Melange

The CWA Dagger shortlists were announced today. The winners of the annual awards, which honor the very best in the crime writing genre, will be announced at an awards ceremony on October 22. (HT to Shots Magazine)

GOLD DAGGER

• What You Pay For by Claire Askew (Hodder & Stoughton)
• November Road by Lou Berney(Harper Fiction)
• Forced Confessions by John Fairfax (Little, Brown)
• Joe Country by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (Sphere)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

• November Road by Lou Berney (Harper Fiction)
• This is Gomorrah by Tom Chatfield (Hodder & Stoughton)
• One Way Out by AA Dhand (Bantam Press)
• Between Two Evils by Eva Dolan (Raven Books)
• Cold Storage by David Koepp(HQ)
• The Whisper Man by Alex North:(Michael Joseph)

JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

• Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (Faber & Faber)
• My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (Michael Joseph)
• Little White Lies by Philippa East (HQ)
• The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley (Trapeze)
• The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood(Quercus Fiction)

SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER

• In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins (The Dome Press)
• Metropolis by Philip Kerr(Quercus Fiction)
• The Bear Pit by SG MacLean (Quercus Fiction)
• Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• The Anarchists’ Club by Alex Reeve (Raven Books)
• The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

• Summer of Reckoning by Marion Brunet, translated by Katherine Gregor (Bitter Lemon Press)
• The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre, translated by Stephanie Smee (Old Street Publishing)
• Like Flies from Afar by K Ferrari, translated by Adrian Nathan West (Canongate Books)
• November by Jorge Galán, translated by Jason Wilson (Constable)
• The Fragility of Bodies by Sergio Olguín, translated by Miranda France (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda Books)

SHORT STORY DAGGER

• "The Bully" by Jeffery Deaver in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
• "The New Lad" by Paul Finch in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
• "The Washing" by Christopher Fowler in Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)
• "#Me Too" by Lauren Henderson in Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)
• "The Recipe" by Louise Jensen in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
• "Easily Made" by Syd Moore in 12 Strange Days of Christmas (Point Blank Press)

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

• Furious Hours by Casey Cep (William Heinemann)
• Corrupt Bodies by Peter Everett (Icon Books)
• Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod by Caroline Goode (Oneworld Publications)
• The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury by Sean O’Connor (Simon & Schuster)
• The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking by Adam Sisman (Profile Books)
• The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

• Christopher Brookmyre
• Jane Casey
• Alex Gray
• Quintin Jardine

DEBUT DAGGER

• The Spae-Wife by Anna Caig
• Whipstick by Leanne Fry
• Pesticide by Kim Hays
• Emergency Drill by Nicholas Morrish
• Revolution Never Lies by Josephine Moulds
• Bitter Lake by Michael Munro

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

• Bitter Lemon Press
• Harvill Secker
• Head of Zeus
• HQ
• Michael Joseph
• Orenda
• Raven Books
• Severn House

Sisters in Crime (SinC) announced that the 2020 winner of the annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award is Yasmin McClinton of Columbia, SC. The winning novel-in-progress was selected by judges Rachel Howzell-Hall, Alex Segura and the 2019 winner, Jessica Martinez. The award, which honors the memory of pioneering African-American crime fiction author Eleanor Taylor Bland with a $2,000 grant to an emerging writer of color, was created in 2014 to support SinC’s vision to serve as the voice for excellence and diversity in crime writing. Past recipients include Maria Kelson (2014), Vera H-C Chan (2015), Stephane Dunn (2016), Jessica Ellis Laine (2017), Mia P. Manansala (2018) and Jessica Martinez (2019).

The Hugo Awards for excellence in science fiction announced the winners in the various categories. Many of these often have a crime component, such as the winner of the Best Novel this year, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, which follows Ambassador Mahit Dzmare who arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has been murdered.

After the cancellation of all the Edinburgh International Book Festival due to the coronavirus pandemic, the book festival has moved entirely online, hosting 140 book readings and, for the first time, online book signings. It has arranged signings with 22 authors based in the UK, where fans who buy the first 50 of their books will be given access to short, private signing sessions lasting about a minute, with the possibility of recording the moment. The authors involved include the crime novelists Ian Rankin and Val McDermid.

Independent publisher Canelo is launching a new crime fiction imprint, Canelo Crime, and has promoted Louise Cullen as publishing director to oversee the list. The imprint will launch with a selection of eight titles, including novels by Rachel Lynch and Nick Louth, due for release on September 24.  Cullen is now actively seeking new novels with "bestseller potential" for inclusion in the imprint in 2021 and beyond, with a target of 15–18 new releases next year.

Jane Friedman took a look at the state of the book publishing industry in the midst of the pandemic and found that book publishing is positioned to grow in terms of unit sales when compared to 2019, and in fact, 2020 may prove to be one of the strongest sales years in recent memory - at least in terms of total sales. The numbers for brick-and-mortar stores aren't as bright.

The August issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine is out with the cover feature, "Lucid'' by Bill Kelly, a femme fatale tale dealing with mystery, memory and murder, and original custom cover art By Robin Grenville-Evans. There are also story contributions from Michael Mallory, Josh Pachter, Rachel Amphlett, Leone Ciporin, Michael Bracken, David Bart, and Gerard J Waggett.

Publishers Weekly asked seven mystery writers to discuss the debt they owe to the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie.

So many blogs have gone the way of the dinosaur over the past several years, and last week brought the end to two more: the Cozy Chicks blog announced it was ceasing operations as a blog after thirteen years. The authors (Lorraine Bartlett/Lorna Barrett, Duffy Brown, Mary Kennedy, Maggie Sefton, and Karen Rose Smith) will continue to post in a Facebook group; likewise, the Killer Characters blog also announced it was also ceasing operations after ten years. Their final post was an unpublished draft from colleague, Sheila Connolly, who passed away in April.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Kneecaps Or Us" by David S. Pointer.

In the Q&A roundup, Marshal Zeringue, of Writer Interviews, chatted with Adele Parks, author of the psychological thriller, Lies, Lies, Lies; Mystery Playground spoke with Paul D. Marks about his new crime novel, The Blues Don't Care; and Indie Crime Scene interviewed Phillip Jordan, whose first novel, Code of Silence, has its debut this autumn.

Mystery Melange

The Library of Congress Festival of the Book won't be held in person this year, but the online version will connect with audiences across the country for an interactive celebration of "American Ingenuity" for the festival’s 20th year, featuring new books by more than 120 of the nation’s most-renowned writers, poets and artists. The Fiction "stage" will include Colson Whitehead, Ishmael Beah, Sandra Cisneros, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Kate DiCamillo, John Grisham, Marlon James, James McBride, Mazaa Mengiste, Ann Patchett, Salman Rushdie, Emily St. John Mandel, Amy Tan, Téa Obreht, and Jeff VanderMeer. The Genre "stage" will feature Walter Mosley, Tomi Adeyemi, Leigh Bardugo, N.K. Jemisin, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Mary Robinette Kowal.

The Capital Crime festival is launching a monthly subscription service, to begin on September 1. Each month, subscribers will receive carefully curated books from the crime and thriller genre; access to exclusive online author interviews with the opportunity to submit your questions in advance; a back catalog of festival content and interviews; and also be among the first to hear about the latest news and competitions in the crime and thriller community.

Crime and Detective Stories (CADS), is an in-print magazine with an emphasis on "classic" crime that's published on an irregular basis about every five months. Articles in the latest issue include a look at the nonfiction work of H.R.F. Keating and the "Life and Work of Anthony Boucher." The publication considers itself on the "old-fashioned" side and doesn't have a website. But if you're interested in copies, you can contact editor/publisher, Geoff Bradley, at geoffcads@aol.com.

Berry Content Corporation, created by Mysti Berry in 2017 in order to create charity anthologies of short crime fiction to raise money for good causes, has released the anthology, Low Down Dirty Vote: Volume II, available in ebook and trade paperback formats. The book was created in the wake of BCC’s first release Lowdown Dirty Vote in 2018, which raised $5,000 for the ACLU. Volume II will again contribute 100% of its proceeds, this time to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Authors who contributed stories to the second anthology include Faye Snowden, Stephen Buehler, Sarah M. Chen, Bev Vincent, Gary Phillips, Travis Richardson, Tim O’Mara, and S.B. White. Bestselling literary author and lawyer Scott Turow provided the Foreword.

Writing for Criminal Element, Susanna Calkins wrote about the story of Chicago’s first policewoman, exemplifying how women, especially women of color, can be easily written out of history.

The New York Times compiled "The Essential Tana French" guide, if you want to brush up before her new novel arrives this fall.

The NYT also featured a "A Guide to Nordic Noir," for cold reads on hot summer days.

Think you're good at solving puzzles? In the middle of CIA headquarters sits a sculpture containing a secret code that has stumped top cryptologists for decades.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Heat" by Ankit Anand.

In the Q&A roundup, Cynthia Kuhn was interviewed by E. B. Davis for the Writers Who Kill blog, talking about The Study of Secrets, the fifth book in Kuhn's Lila Maclean Academic mystery series; Indie Crime Scene welcomed Phillip Jordan, whose first novel, Code of Silence, will debut this fall; and Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Australian screenwriter/author Gabriel Bergmoser about his first adult crime fiction title, The Hunted, a tense and bloody pursuit through wasteland in a place that could easily be called The Middle of Nowhere, Australia.

Mystery Melange

Shortlists have been released for the 2020 Davitt Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime to recognize the best crime books by Australian women. The winners in the six categories of adult novel, YA novel, children's novel, nonfiction book, debut, and Readers' Choice awards will be announced at a September awards ceremony live on Zoom. Check out the complete Davitt Award shortlists here.

Also from downunder comes the longlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for excellence in New Zealand crime fiction:

• Shadow of Doubt (S L Beaumont, Paperback Writers)
• Trust Me, I’m Dead (Sherryl Clark, Oldcastle Books)
• Whatever it Takes (Paul Cleave, Upstart Press)
• One Single Thing (Tina Clough, Lightpool Publishing)
• Girl from the Tree House (Gudrun Frerichs, self-published)
• Auē (Becky Manawatu, Makaro Press)
• The Nancys (R W R McDonald, A&U)
• Hide (S J Morgan, MidnightSun)
• The Great Divide (L J M Owen, Echo)
• In the Clearing (J P Pomare, Hachette)
• The Wild Card (Renée, Cuba Press)
• A Madness of Sunshine (Nalini Singh, Berkley)

Acknowledging excellence in the field of tie-in writing, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers also announced the winners of the 2020 Scribe Awards. Among special interest to the crime fiction community is the award for Best Original General Novel, which was given to The Bitterest Pill by Reed Farrel Coleman. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The virtual Harrogate Festival, "HIF Weekender" will be available for free this weekend. Events will include interviews with Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham; a panel celebrating debut authors; the live-streaming of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year Award, and much more.

Author Terrie Farley Moran, who penned the "Read 'Em and Eat" mystery series solo and co-authored the Scrapbooking Mystery Series with Laura Childs, announced on Facebook that she has been handed the baton by Jon Land to take over the Murder She Wrote tie-in novels. Land's latest book with Jessica Fletcher will be released in November and Moran's first book will be on shelves next spring.

The summer issue of Mystery Scene Magazine is out, with articles and interviews about Ivy Pochoda, Lawrence Block, Val McDermid, Small Town Detectives, Grand Dame Guignol, and much more.

Need some more reading to add to your TBR pile? Poisoned Pen press is giving away a bundle of books to help entertain you during Covid-19 quarantines.

Although this isn't technically related to crime fiction, I found this bit of news kind of fun. Due to the social distancing requirements of Covid-19, drive-in movies are popular once again, and some comedians and art galleries have even been experimenting with "drive in" events of one kind or another. The Appledore book festival in the UK this September is planning on its own drive-in event, where audience members will need to submit questions in advance, and flash their car lights to alert writers to their presence.


The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Quiet" by Mehnaz Sahibzada.

In the Q&A roundup, The Guardian interviewed Jasper Fforde, author of inventive and idiosyncratic books like The Eyre Affair and his recent The Constant Rabbit, about everything from rabbits to racism to writing fiction in order "to slightly improve a flawed world"; Writers Who Kill had an interview with Agatha winning author, Leslie Budewitz, about The Solace of Bay Leaves, the fifth book in her Spice Shop Mystery series; and Criminal Element welcomed John Glatt, author of The Perfect Father.

Mystery Melange

The International Thriller Writers announced this year's winners of the ITW Thriller Awards (and check out all the finalists here):

Best Hardcover Novel: Adrian Mckinty, The Chain
Best First Novel: Angie Kim, Miracle Creek
Best Paperback Original Novel: Dervla Mctiernan, The Scholar
Best Short Story: Tara Laskowski, “The Long-Term Tenant” (EQMM)
Best E-Book Original Novel: Kerry Wilkinson, Close To You
Best Young Adult Novel: Tom Ryan, Keep This To Yourself
ThrillerMaster Lifetime Achievement Award recipient: Diana Gabaldon
2020 Silver Bullet Award recipient: Michael Connelly
2020 Thriller Legend Award recipient: Writers House (a literary agency)

Mystery in the Midlands, a mid-summer conference sponsored by the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeastern Region of Mystery Writers of America, is going online and offering free registration. The date is Saturday, July 25, 2020, 10:00 am - 2:30 pm ET, with scheduled events to include a half-day workshop moderated by Dana Kaye. The special guests will be Charlaine Harris; John Floyd; Tara Laskowski; Art Taylor; Alexia Gordon; Toni L.P. Kelner; and Gigi Pandian. Charlaine Harris, Dana Cameron, and Jeffery Deaver will also participate in a panel on turning novels into screenplays.

Also going virtual is the 2020 Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading, scheduled for Nov. 12-14. Special guests will include James Lee Burke, talking about A Private Cathedral, his 40th book and his 23rd about Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux; Michael Connelly, author of the 22 Harry Bosch books, about his upcoming book, The Law of Innocence, the sixth in his series about “Lincoln Lawyer” Mickey Haller; Laura Lippman, author of the bestselling Tess Monaghan mystery series and other novels, including Sunburn and Lady in the Lake; and Colson Whitehead, who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Nickel Boys, his compelling novel inspired by the story of the Florida School for Boys.

AL DÍA News profiled Maria Elvira Bermudez, the "Mexican Agatha Christie." A pioneer of the crime novel and a lawyer by profession, Bermúdez invented the first woman detective of Latin American noir. The mystery genre offered her a tool to express her political ideals including the struggle for women's rights, especially the right to vote.

It appears that a lot of folks are increasing their reading during coronavirus quarantines. As Publishers Weekly reported, in what is perhaps the biggest surprise in publishing since the Covid-19 pandemic began roiling the U.S. economy, unit sales of print books in the first half of 2020 were up 2.8% over the same period in 2019 (at outlets the report to NPD BookScan). As you might expect, children's book and educational materials led the way, but the adult fiction category also had a 2.9% increase in the first six months of 2020.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Firebug" by Rusty Barnes.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb interviewed Kevin Myers, a comedian, journalist, and speechwriter, who just published the thriller novel, Hidden Falls; Quentin Bates stopped by the Mrs. Peabody Investigates blog to chat about his latest novel, Cold Malice, featuring Icelandic police officer Gunnhildur ‘Gunna’ Gísladóttir; CrimeReads chatted with Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith on the ups and downs of collaborative writing and the years-long quest to create a thriller; CR also welcomed Steve Berry to talk about his Cotton Malone series and his slow ride to bestseller status.