B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 24

Mystery Melange

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Book art by Thomas Wightman

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.

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Marsh Magic

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This year’s finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced in the categories of Best First Novel, Best Novel, and Best Kids/YA. Now in their 15th season, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing from New Zealand storytellers.

Awards founder Craig Sisterson noted: "While crime and thriller fiction is often talked about in terms of its page-turning plotlines, or puzzling twists and surprising reveals, nowadays it’s also a fantastic vehicle for exploring character and society...our 2024 Ngaios finalists beautifully showcase that, with a kaleidoscopic range of tales full of engaging and memorable characters, exploring a wide variety of social issues in many different places."

Winners will be revealed at a special event held at the WORD Christchurch Festival on Wednesday, August 28. Congrats to all!

Best Novel:



Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

The Caretaker, by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

Ritual of Fire, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)

Pet, by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)

Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)

Expectant. by Vanda Symon (Orenda)



Best First Novel:



Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

El Flamingo, by Nick Davies (YBK)

Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)

A Better Class of Criminal. by Cristian Kelly (Cristian Kelly)

Mama Suzuki: Private Eye, by Simon Rowe (Penguin)



Best Kids/YA:



Caged, by Susan Brocker (Scholastic)

Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair, by Brian Falkner (Scholastic)

Miracle, by Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)

Nikolai’s Quest, by Diane Robinson (Rose & Fern)

Nor’east Swell, by Aaron Topp (One Tree House)

 

         Related StoriesThe Kiss of Death's DelightsTheakston's Peculier DelightsKiki Crime Commendations 

Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Josh Duhamel (Shotgun Wedding) and Lukas Gage (Road House) have signed on to star in Full Throttle Mindset, a darkly comedic crime thriller from director Patrick Brice (Creep) and XYZ Films. Based on an article in the St. Louis Riverfront Times by journalist Doyle Murphy, the film tells the wild true story of young burnout, Blake Laubinger (Gage), who’s taken under the wing of a Midwestern tanning salon mogul named Todd Beckman (Duhamel). He soon learns his new mentor’s businesses are a front for a drug empire — one he’s now expected to partake in. Written by Jake Disch, whose scripts The Adults in the Room and Gunfight made the Black List, the film is billed as "a gonzo cautionary tale about deluded American dreams and dark mentors."

Tracy Letts and Moses Ingram have joined the ensemble cast of Kathryn Bigelow's untitled thriller at Netflix, joining the already cast Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, and Gabriel Basso. The film’s title and plot remain under wraps, although Deadline reported that it will be set at the White House as a national crisis unfolds. The project marks Bigelow’s first feature since the 2017 thriller, Detroit, an awards contender produced and distributed by Annapurna Pictures.

Netflix has released the first trailer for Rebel Ridge, the upcoming action movie about a resourceful hero who will do everything in his power to eliminate corruption from his town. Aaron Pierre stars as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who is trying to lead a quiet life until his cousin is imprisoned. Richmond attempts to post bail, but the corrupt local chief of police (Don Johnson) wrongfully seizes Richmond's savings. The former soldier soon uncovers a conspiracy and wages a one-man war on injustice. The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb, playing a court clerk who will quickly become Terry's ally during his quest to get to the truth.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Lionsgate is expanding its John Wick universe with John Wick: Under The High Table, an action series executive produced by the billion-dollar film franchise’s star, Keanu Reeves, and director, Chad Stahelski. Written by The Old Man co-creator Robert Levine, the story picks up directly after the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. John Wick has left the world of the High Table in a tenuous position, and a collection of new characters will look to make a name for themselves while some of the franchise stalwart characters remain committed to the old-world order.

NBC and Universal TV are developing Keats (working title), a new crime drama series from Bassett Vance Productions, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance‘s production banner. Keats follows Alex Keats, a fourth-generation police officer who walked away from the badge and her family, and returns to Philadelphia to bury her mother, a decorated officer who supposedly died by suicide. The closer Alex gets to discovering the truth about her mother’s death, the closer she gets to joining her family back on the force … where she belongs.

CBS ordered another pilot targeting the 2025-26 broadcast season, picking up the drama Einstein (working title), from the Monk team of Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk. The drama follows a brilliant but directionless young man, the great-grandson of Albert Einstein, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases.

Peter Sarsgaard says that he won’t be returning as high-strung prosecutor Tommy Molto for the second season of Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+. Sarsgaard’s much-maligned Molto went after Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabich in David E. Kelley’s adaptation of the Scott Turow novel. Earlier this month, Apple announced it has ordered a second season of the legal thriller, with Kelley, J.J. Abrams, and Gyllenhaal returning as executive producers and Turow as co-executive producer. There are no details about Season 2 beyond the fact that it "will unfold around a suspenseful, brand new case." Gyllenhaal’s Rusty is not a recurring character in Turow’s books, so it is unclear whether the Road House star would return as an actor.

Apple TV+ released a trailer for its upcoming seven-part psychological thriller, Disclaimer, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Cate Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a famed documentary journalist who discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that reveals a secret she has tried to keep hidden. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Kevin Kline also stars as Stephen Brigstocke, a retired professor who harbors a grudge against Catherine.

PODCASTS/RADIO

On Crime Time FM, authors Marnie Riches (The Silent Dead) and Chris Carter (The Death Watcher) joined host Victoria Selman to discuss criminal/forensic psychology, criminologists, killer profiles, and reasons to kill (or none).

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Vannessa Cronin, a senior editor at Amazon Books, to uncover the intricate process behind curating their top picks. Vannessa, with her extensive background in the book industry and a lifelong passion for literature, shared insights about her journey and the exciting trends shaping the mystery and thriller genres today.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed crime books for Women in Translation Month.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up featuring the first chapter of Murderous Means by Lida Sideris, read by actor Casey Ballard.

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Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Man Who Didn't Fly

[image error]Scottish author Margot Bennett was born in 1912 and worked first first as a copywriter in the UK and Australia and then as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War before turning to writing. Her output in crime fiction was relatively small, yet successful: The Man Who Didn't Fly was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and was runner-up to Charlotte Armstrong's A Dram of Poison for Best Novel at the Edgars in 1956, and she won the Gold Dagger two years later in 1958 with Someone from the Past. She was also chosen to contribute a short story to the second CWA anthology, Choice Of Weapons, edited by Michael Gilbert.

But thereafter, a bit of mystery regarding Bennett herself began. She essentially stopped writing crime fiction, something discussed by Martin Edwards both and in the foreword he wrote for the Black Dagger Crime Series edition of The Man Who Didn't Fly. Bennett only wrote for television for awhile—including the early 60s UK adaptation of the Maigret novels by Simenon—with the exception of two non-mystery books (one of which had the intriguing title The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation), before abandoning writing altogether in 1966. She died in 1980 at the age of 68.

[image error]In The Man Who Didn't Fly, four men are scheduled to take an ill-fated chartered flight to Dublin that crashes into the Irish Channel. Although the bodies can't be recovered, it becomes evident that only three men were on board the plane, yet all four are reported as missing. Inspector Lewis and Sergeant Young have their work count out for them trying to coax clues out of unreliable witnesses including the Wade family, Charles and his daughters Hester and Prudence.

The lives of the Wades intersected with all four of the missing men: Harry Walters, a desperate poet, who was in love with Hester Wade; Joseph Ferguson, a businessman who wife was more interested in Harry; Morgan Price, a nervous guest of the Wades; and Maurice Reid, something of a family friend. Slowly but surely, Lewis and Young piece together the details of the days leading up to the flight, finally uncovering the name of the missing man. But that just sets up a new problem: what happened to him and why?

Bennett's artful plotting was enough to capture the attention of the producers of NBC's Kraft Television Theater who created an episode in 1958 based on The Man Who Didn't Fly starring then 27-year-old William Shatner, Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith of Lost in Space) and Walter Brooke (guest star in just about all TV series in the 60s, 70s, and 80s). The book was also chosen by Julian Symons as part of his 1958 "100 Best Crime Stories" for the London Sunday Times.

          

Mystery Melange

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Book art by Emma Taylor

Last week, the Australian Crime Writers Association announced the shortlist for the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards Best Debut Crime Fiction, and this week they continue the slow roll-out of award news with a revealing of the contenders for Best True Crime and Best International Crime Fiction. The True Crime finalists include: Crossing the Line: The explosive inside story behind the Ben Roberts-Smith headlines by Nick McKenzie; Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr; The Murder Squad: How Australia's toughest cops hunted the monsters of the Great Depression by Michael Adams; Reckless by Marele Day; and The Teacher’s Pet by Hedley Thomas. The Best International Crime Fiction finalists are Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton; Dice by Claire Baylis; Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly; The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish; The Search Party by Hannah Richell; and Zero Days by Ruth Ware.

I somehow missed this one, but the Glass Key award, given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries, named its 2024 winner back in June. Christoffer Carlsson won for his novel, Levende og døde (Living and Dead), which was also named Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year in 2023.

The recently announced 2024 longlist for the Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single work of fiction, contains two crime-related titles: Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses, which has been described as a "deftly told caper" by The Guardian, and Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake, which "fuses a spy thriller with philosophical meditation" according to The Bookseller. They join other crime-themed books and authors from previous years such as Snap by Belinda Bauer, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, and and His Bloody Project by Graeme MaCrae Burnet, among others.

International Thriller Writers announced the 2025 honorees for ThrillerFest XX. The Thriller Masters are Janet Evanovich and John Grisham; the 2025 Silver Bullet Award honoree is James Patterson; the Spotlight Guests are Oyinkan Braithwaite and Jennifer Hillier; the 2025 Thriller Legend is Neil Nyren; and McKenna Jordan is the 2025 Thriller Fan. Registration is also now open for the event, which will take place June 17-21, 2025 at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City.

Flatiron Books will launch a new imprint, Pine & Cedar Books, in summer 2025. Flatiron executive editor Christine Kopprasch has been named VP and publisher of the imprint, which will publish "compulsively readable, story-driven novels." Pine & Cedar’s inaugural list includes King of Ashes, the next novel from bestselling author S.A. Cosby, which Pine & Cedar bills as "a Black, Southern, Godfather-inspired crime epic," and is the first in a three-book deal. Also forthcoming from the imprint are We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough, marking the author's return to Flatiron, which published her 2017 bestseller Behind Her Eyes, and This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum, billed as "the rare novel that successfully combines a gripping, pace-driven thriller with the soul of an epic love story." The publisher said there is no set number of titles that it plans to publish annually.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with novelist Manda Scott about her new mytho-political thriller, Any Human Power; Reed Farrel Coleman, whose new Nick Ryan novel is Blind to Midnight, stopped by Writers Read to talk about what he's currently reading; and Liz Alterman applied the Page 69 Test to her new domestic thriller, The House on Cold Creek Lane.

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The Kiss of Death's Delights

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The Kiss of Death Chapter of Romantic Writers of America announced the winners of the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. The award is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for published and unpublished authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots. Congrats to all!

 

Published Division Finalists

Overall Winner – Now and Always — CJ Burright

Cozy Mystery Suspense

1st – Murder Among The Roses — Liz Fielding
2nd – Murder in Fourth Position  — Lori Robbins
3rd – The Portraits of Pemberley — Elizabeth Gilliland

Historical Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Conflagration! — donalee Moulton
2nd – Confessions to a Stranger — Danielle Grandinetti
3rd – Glory and the Master of Shadows — Grace Callaway

Long Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Above ‘N’ Beyond —Tee O’Fallon
2nd – Cliffhaven — A. M. Grimm
3rd – Dead Keen (Things Unseen, Book 2) — Anise Eden

Mainstream Mystery Suspense

1st – Against All Enemies — Vannetta Chapman
2nd – The Buried Hours  — Rachel Grant/R. S. Grant
3rd – These Still Black Waters —Christina McDonald

 Short Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Don’t Close Your Eyes — Mary Alford
2nd – Killer Christmas Evidence — Sami A. Abrams
3rd – Eliminating the Witness — Jordyn Redwood

Romantic Suspense Category

1st – Now and Always — CJ Burright
2nd – Healing Kiss — Amanda Uhl
3rd – The Offer — DL Wood

 

Unpublished Division Finalists

Overall Winner – Monkshood — Lorna Peplow

Long Romantic Mystery Suspense

1st – Golden Bluff Ghost Town — Breana Johnson
2nd – The Night Hunter  — Mari Clark
3rd – What Remains Behind  — Rodney Walther

Mainstream Mystery Suspense

1st – Monkshood — Lorna Peplow
2nd – Gray Matter — Brandon Reed Sherman
3rd – About the Dress — Judy Hock

Romantic Suspense Category

1st – Death in Miniature — Pamela Ruth Meyer
2nd – Courtship of Lies — LaVerne St. George
3rd – Fate is a Cursed Word  — Anne Belen

 

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Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Lío Mehiel, Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye, and Burgess Byrd have joined previously announced cast members Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny in Amazon MGM Studios’s upcoming feature, After the Hunt. Luca Guadagnino is directing the film from a script penned by Nora Garrett. The film follows a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

DeskPop Entertainment has acquired the thriller, Murder Motel, starring Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Alexandra Grey, Jeremy Luke, James Russo, Noel Gugliemi, Nicholas Turturro, Glenn Plummer, Naomi Grossman, Jaime Zevallos, Alexander James Rodriguez, and Leila Almas Rose. The film, which is written and directed by Paul Tully, follows ruthless drug dealers, Mickey, a Neo-Nazi meth dealer, and Tonya, a beautiful trans woman, who find themselves falling in love while seeking redemption in a 72-hour race against the clock. The film is scheduled for an August 6th release via DeskPop on DVD and VOD.

Vertical has acquired North American rights to Bad Genius, an English-language remake of the Thai thriller of the same-name, from Picturestart, Picture Perfect Federation, and Little Ray Media. Marking the directorial debut of J.C. Lee, a veteran producer whose credits include How to Get Away with Murder, the film is slated to hit select theaters in the U.S and Canada on October 11. Bad Genius is a high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of students who team up to fight a system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them. Lee scripted the remake with Julius Onah, with whom he previously collaborated on the Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee, Luce.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

The MHz Choice streamer has picked up Miss Merkel, which reimagines former German chancellor Angela Merkel moving to a small town with her husband and her pug, Helmut, as she discovers a new calling as an amateur detective. Starring veteran German actress Katharina Thalbach (The Tin Drum), the series is based on the books by writer, humorist, and actor David Safier (Berlin, Berlin). The deal includes two 90-minute tongue-in-cheek mysteries, with a third planned.

John Carroll Lynch has been cast as a series regular opposite Maggie Q in Prime Video's Untitled Renée Ballard Series, a Bosch spinoff. The new series follows Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q), who is tasked with running the LAPD’s new cold case division — a poorly funded, all-volunteer unit with the largest case load in the city. When Ballard uncovers a larger conspiracy during her investigations, she’ll lean on the assistance of her retired ally, Harry Bosch, to navigate the dangers that threaten both her unit and her life. Lynch will play Thomas Laffont, a retired former police partner who comes back to help Ballard run the department.

John Magaro (The Bride) has joined the cast of the espionage political thriller, The Agency, for Paramount+ with Showtime as a series regular. Currently in production in London, The Agency is based on the hit French drama series, Le Bureau des Légendes. The show follows Martian, played by Michael Fassbender, a covert CIA agent ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart; hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage. Magaro will play Owen, an Operations Officer and agent handler. He joins previously announced series regulars Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston, and Richard Gere.

A first look was revealed for the Sky/Starz series, Sweetpea, starring Fallout’s Ella Purnell. Based on the cult novel by C.J. Skuse and adapted by Kirstie Swain, Sweetpea follows seemingly ordinary Rhiannon Lewis. Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies while secretly making a list. A kill list.

PODCASTS/RADIO

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with crime fiction newcomer Ram Murali about his debut, Death in the Air, and discussed this year's Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

The Pick Your Poison podcast investigated how your organs can turn green, the controversial start to forensic toxicology evidence, and more.

          

2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color

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Sisters in Crime announced that P.M. Raymond is the winner of the 2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color.

Raymond's winning submission, "A Nasty Business," is set on a Louisiana farm where a family tradition forces the heirs to compete in a series of grueling tasks. Pops, the patriarch, oversees the competition between his sons, Galen and Jeff, as they vie for control of the estate, and discover the farm's dark history — and the heavy burden of their inheritance.

As a New Orleans native, mystical undertones are, says Raymond, the "roux in her crime noir and horror writing." She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror and is a 2024 Finalist in the Killer Shorts Screenplay Competition. Her work has appeared in publications such as Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine and The Furious Gazelle and Dark Yonder. 

Raymond's story was selected by the 2024 judges of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award, Alex Segura, Carolyn Wilkins and Nicole Prewitt

Runners up include:

Aftermath by Carleasa A. Coates of Catlett, Virginia
And Then It Clicked by Renee P. Stone of Las Vegas, Nevada
The Code by Grace Wynter of Decatur, Georgia
Gifted Grifter by Fritz Mason of Columbia, South Carolina
Man Eater by Elena Scialtiel of Gibraltar

 

Established in 2014, the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color. It is aligned with Sisters in Crime’s mission to promote diversity in crime fiction. The grantee may use the $2,000 award to attend workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities that help them complete their work.

          

Mystery Melange

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Sadly, we lost two mystery authors this past week, Denise "Deni" Dietz (1942-July 30, 2024), editor and author of the Diet Club Mystery Series, and Ken Kuhlken (August 4, 1945 - July 29, 2024), creator of the Hickey Family Mystery series. Deni's son posted on Facebook, "She was a fantastic singer, a skilled artist, and a published author who always followed her dreams and made them a reality. She had a strong commitment to social justice and would never think twice about helping others." Ken's daughter noted on FB that "Many years ago my dad randomly exclaimed that he wanted his tombstone to read only… Ken Kuhlken - A funny guy."

Joe Lansdale received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 3rd Annual Texas Author Con, an honor that will be named after him. Lansdale writes in a variety of genres, including Westerns, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. He received the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2001 for The Bottoms, and has also garnered the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, and eleven Bram Stoker Awards.

Goldsboro Books announced the six finalists for the Glass Bell Award 2024. Three of the six titles fall within the crime, mystery, and thriller genre, including Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove); The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Mantle); and The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster). Now in its seventh year, the award celebrates the very best in contemporary fiction, rewarding quality storytelling in any genre. The winner, who will be revealed on Thursday, September 26, at Goldsboro’s 25th birthday party, receives £2,000 and a handmade, engraved blue glass bell.

The Australian Crime Writers Association announced the shortlist for 2024 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction by Australian authors, including Four Dogs Missing by Rhys Gard; Gus and the Missing Boy by Troy Hunter; Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell; Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point by Matt Francis; The Fall Between by Darcy Tindale; The Beacon by P.A. Thomas; and Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl by Fiona Britton. Shortlists for the other award categories are coming soon, with winners to be revealed in September.

The Independent Publisher Book Awards, or IPPYs, announced winners in various categories, although those with interest to crime fiction fans are Best Mystery: The Shimmer on the Water by Marina McCarron; and Best Suspense/Thriller: The Stone Secret by Amanda McKinney. For all the finalists and winners, follow this link.

The next virtual mystery panel from The Back Room is set for August 4. Titled "Amazing Storytellers," featured authors will include Linda Hurtado Bond (All the Broken Girls), Elly Griffiths (Dr. Ruth Galloway series), Shari Lapena (Everyone Here Is Lying), and Catherine Steadman (Look in the Mirror). The Back Room is hosted by Karen Dionne and Hank Phillippi Ryan, operates via Zoom, and remains the only online event that allows authors and readers to chat face-to-face. For more information and to register, follow this link.

There are some great crime fiction themed conferences coming up during early August, and it's not too late to register. Pulpfest hits Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today and runs through the 4th. The event celebrates the glory days of pulp magazines, fiction periodicals named after the cheap pulp paper on which they were printed that flourished from the late 19th century to the mid-20th. From August 2-4, Rothesay, UK, will host the Bute Noir Crime Festival, with special guests Ian Rankin, Craig Sisterson, Lin Anderson, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, and more. And on August 3rd, the one-day Murder As You Like It festival in Mechanicsburg, PA, will host authors Kate Belli, Bruce Robert Coffin, Ellen Crosby, Stephen G. Eoannaou, John Gilstrap, William Livesey, Bruce M. Mowday, Joy Ann Ribar, Douglas Stuart, Joyce Tremel, Christine Trent, and Lyndee Walker with panels and book signings.

The Friends of the Rohlfs' House is working to acquire the Buffalo, NY, Craftsman home of pioneering mystery author Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935) and her husband, famed furniture designer Charles Rohlfs (1853–1936), and turn it into a house museum. The group has been purchasing pieces that were originally in the house and is pursuing contributions to help the cause. Green, who was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America, distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories and is often called "The Mother of American Detective Fiction." (HT to The Bunburyist)

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Time spoke with Roger Corke about his debut crime novel, Deadly Protocol, a medical conspiracy thriller; and E. B. Davis chatted with Ellen Byron over at Writers Who Kill about A Very Woodsy Murder, the first book in the Golden Motel mystery series.

          

Author R&R with Lorie Lewis Ham

[image error]Lorie Lewis Ham lives in Reedley, California and has been writing ever since she was a child. Her first song and poem were published when she was 13, and she has gone on to publish many articles, short stories, and poems throughout the years, as well as write for a local newspaper, and publish 7 mystery novels. For the past 14 years, Lorie has been the editor-in-chief and publisher of Kings River Life Magazine, and she produces Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, where you can hear an excerpt of her book One of Us, the first in a new series called The Tower District Mysteries. Book 2, One of You, was released in June of 2024.

[image error]About One of You:  With her life on the California Coast behind her, Roxi Carlucci is beginning to feel at home in the Tower District—the cultural oasis of Fresno, CA—where she now lives with her cousin-private eye Stephen Carlucci, her pet rat Merlin, a Pit Bull named Watson, and a black cat named Dan. She has a new entertainment podcast, works as a part-time P.I., and is helping local bookstore owner Clark Halliwell put on the first-ever Tower Halloween Mysteryfest. The brutal summer heat is gone and has been replaced by the dense tule fog—perfect for Halloween! She just wishes everyone would stop calling her the "Jessica Fletcher" of the Tower District simply because she found a dead body when she first arrived. But when one of the Mysteryfest authors is found dead, she fears she jinxed herself. The Carlucci’s are hired to find the killer before they strike again. Will Mysteryfest turn into a murder fest? How is the local gossip website back, and what does it know about the death of Roxi’s parents?

Lorie stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about her books:

 

"Writing and Research Through the Years: What Changed/What Stayed the Same"

With the release of my new book, One of You, this past June, I have now published seven mystery novels. The first five were published in the early 2000s, and the latest two were published in 2021 and now 2024. As I look back at the process of both writing and promoting those books, it is amazing to me how much has changed, but also what hasn’t changed.

My first book, Murder in Four-Part Harmony, was also the first book I ever completed. It took me a LONG time (ten years at least) to finish as I was learning as I went along. I was also reading every book on mystery writing I could get my hands on and religiously reading Lawrence Block’s column in Writer’s Digest. In my first books, I wrote what I knew—I was a gospel singer at the time so my sleuth was also one. It was a world I knew well—the good and the bad. Each of the next several books took one or two years to write.

Back then, promotion was a lot different. ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) were only in paperback. Then they had to be sent off via snail mail. While author websites were becoming important, there wasn’t much else as far as online promotion back then. You set up book events at bookstores and libraries and did everything in real life.

The next book I wrote, One of Us, which was the first book in my new Tower District Mystery series, took me roughly ten years to write. It was also the shortest book I’ve ever written at around 63,000 words. This time it was normal life that slowed the process, and figuring out what the new series would be. I was busy with my online magazine Kings River Life, which took up most of my writing time.

When that book finally came out in 2021, it was a whole new world as far as promotion and events go. With both that book and the new one, most of my promotion has been online and I have only sent out one print ARC, all the rest were eBook ARCs through the Bookfunnel website. While I am actually having a few local in person events this time for my new book, the majority of my promotion with both of these books is online.

Thankfully, One of You, only took me three years to write and publish instead of ten. Before edits, it was also the longest book I had ever written at 99.000 words. The edited product though is closer to the length of those first books I wrote, 83,000 words. But honestly, I was shocked at how long it was to begin with—none of my other books even started out that long! One of You was very much the product of two NaNoWriMos (National Novel Writing Month) and Sisters in Crime Write-Ins in between, so perhaps that had something to do with its original length—word count is of high priority at NaNoWriMo! Keep in mind I am also a pantser (I just sit down and write the first draft—no outline), something else that hasn’t changed since my first book.

The research I do for my books has changed in some ways, and not in others. Both times I wrote what I knew up to a point. My new series is set in the Tower District (the arts and entertainment district of Fresno, CA), an area I know well. My main character is a podcaster, and so am I. It involves community theatre and animal rescue—both things I have been involved with. The two series are connected by a certain family—the Carluccis—who appear in both. They in turn come from a Mafia family. My early research on the Mafia was largely done by reading a lots of books and newspaper articles. Now my research is mostly done on the internet, except for making trips to the Tower District to check on certain details like street names and to absorb the feel of the place.

However, the main research I do for the mystery parts of the stories has stayed mostly the same. Early on, I believe through Sisters in Crime, I became acquainted with the wonderful D.P. Lyle who helps me with medical and coroner details for the body. He still is a resource to this day, as are the wonderful books he has written along those lines. The local police detective I interviewed for those investigation details with that very first book, Steve Wright, is still my main resource in that area as well. He has gone from police detective, all the way up to police chief, and now retired, during that time. I couldn’t do this without them.

One last thing that has stayed the same all the way through my mystery author journey is Sisters in Crime. They are not only a great resource for all things mystery publishing and writing, but they have been very supportive all along my journey. Without my then local chapter in Fresno, I never would have written my first book series because it was someone there who suggested the idea of writing a series featuring a gospel singing amateur sleuth-it had never crossed my mind.

 

You can learn more about Lorie and her writing on her website mysteryrat.com and find her on Facebook, BookBub, Goodreads, and Instagram @krlmagazine & @lorielewishamauthor. One of You is now available via all major online booksellers.