The Australian Crime Writers Association revealed the final shortlist of contenders for Australia’s distinguished Ned Kelly Awards, with winners from all categories to be unveiled in September. After announcing the contenders for Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction, it's finally time for Best Crime Fiction:
- Killer Traitor Spy, by Tim Ayliffe (Simon & Schuster Australia)
- Dark Corners, by Megan Goldin (Canelo)
- Dark Mode, by Ashley Kalagian Blunt (Ultimo Press)
- Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth (Pan Australia)
- The Seven, by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)
- Ripper, by Shelley Burr (Hachette Australia)
- The Tea Ladies, by Amanda Hampson (Penguin)
- Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, by Benjamin Stevenson (Michael Joseph)
The winner of this year's Österreichischer Krimipreis, or Austrian Crime Fiction Prize, was revealed as attorney, journalist, and author, Eva Rossmann. Crime fiction specialists – booksellers, bloggers, journalists, readers – were called upon to name three authors who write in German whose crime novels are particularly convincing in terms of content and literature and underline the cultural and social relevance of the genre as well as initiate trend-setting new developments within the genre. This is the seventh iteration of the Prize, which comes by way of the Carinthia Crime Festival. The award ceremony will take place on October 13, where Rossman will receive a prize of 4,000 euros.
Contenders for the 2024 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year are shaping up, with Karen Meet noting on her Euro Crime blog that 31 of the 32 titles that were eligible have been entered by the publishers. The winner will be announced online later this year. The Petrona Award honors books in translation that are published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year by authors/books who born/set in Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The winner of the 2023 Award was Femicide by Pascal Engman, translated from the Swedish by Michael Gallagher and published by Legend Press.
Authors and fans of private eye fiction take note: A panel co-sponsored by Private Eye Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America/SoCal will feature three working Private Investigators discussing what they do and how writers can get it "write." The panel of Joe Koenig, Sheila Wysocki and John A. Hoda, will be moderated by Gay Toltl Kinman, President of the Private Eye Writers of America. Register now for this event on Sunday, September 15, 1-2:30 PST.
Open Road Integrated Media (ORIM) has created the Free Voices initiative, a new marketing service to fight book bans and enable challenged works to be discovered and purchased by readers everywhere. David Steinberger, CEO of Open Road, added, "With Free Voices, we are going to fight book bans with the same proven ORIM marketing technology that already drives discovery and sales increases for more than 40,000 titles from over 100 publishers." A portion of all proceeds from Free Voices will be donated to The Freedom to Read Foundation, a non-profit organization which protects and defends the First Amendment to the Constitution and supports the right of libraries to collect—and individuals to access—information. Free Voices is open to all publishers with books targeted by banning efforts at schools, libraries or bookstores.
From June 25-27 in 2025, Monash University in Melbourne will host the hybrid (online and in-person) conference, Crime Fiction and the Global Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Organizers are seeking papers to be presented at the event that will examine the global socio-political engagement of crime fiction from a broad range of perspectives, drawing on examples from across the world. Interested participants should submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute presentation and proposal for panels and a short bio-note (about 100 words) via this form. Submissions are due by December 15, 2024. (HT to Shots Magazine)
In the Q&A roundup, Kate Atkinson spoke with The Guardian about her latest Jackson Brodie thriller, cozy crime, sniffy critics, and how she investigated her own family’s secrets; and Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author Michael Ross about his new romantic thriller, Quiet the Waves.