B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 28

Mystery Melange

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Book art by Emma Taylor

At the recent Maine Literary Awards presentation, bestselling author Tess Gerritsen (author of the Rizzoli & Isles series) received an award for distinguished achievement for "exceptional and steadfast contributions to the Maine literary arts." Katherine Hall Page also won the Crime Fiction category for her novel, The Body in the Web. The other finalists in that same category included Barbara Burt for Dissonance: A Novel of Music & Murder; and Bryan Wiggins (with Lee Thibodeau) for The Corpse Bloom.

On June 8, both in-person and online, the Friends of the Ferguson Library and the Mystery Writers of America's New York Chapter are sponsoring CrimeCONN, Connecticut's annual mystery writer and mystery fan conference. This year's theme is History, Headlines and Heroes, and Reed Farrel Coleman will start off the proceedings with a writing workshop and also appear later in the day in a conversation with Megan Abbott. In addition to other writing panels, forensic scientist Michelle Clark and Detective Tammy Murray will explain how real-life cold cases are tracked down and solved. Follow this link for more information and registration.

Goldsboro Books is launching a crime-themed subscription service, the Goldsboro Crime Collective, in September. The London-based shop, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, said of its latest subscription box: "Goldsboro Crime Collective introduces an original concept, offering subscribers meticulously curated selections of beautifully designed, signed first-edition crime novels." Priced at £20 a month, members will receive exclusive access to upcoming releases, chapter previews, giveaways, and a discount on crime fiction books at Goldsboro. Each monthly pick, chosen by the store’s team of booksellers, will also be accompanied by exclusive author content.

As posted on CrimeReads, Curtis Evans, who wrote the introduction to S.S. Murder by Q. Patrick (American Mystery Classics), profiled one of the great, underappreciated writers of the Golden Age, "Q. Patrick," who was not just one author, but four. The pen name was launched in 1931 by thirty-year-old Philadelphia pharmaceutical executive Richard “Rickie” Wilson Webb, who also partnered with Hugh Wheeler to write under three pseudonyms, Q. Patrick, Patrick Quentin and Jonathan Stagge, producing "some of mystery fiction’s finest crime novels."

In Sarah Weinman's latest crime fiction column for The New York Times, she made note of two legendary fictional detectives taking their final cases, with Jacqueline Winspear retiring Maisie Dobbs, and Susan Elia MacNeal bidding farewell to Maggie Hope. The Comfort of Ghosts is the 18th outing for Dobbs, the "plucky and resourceful British investigator and psychologist" whom Jacqueline Winspear introduced in 2003, and The Last Hope is the 11th installment for Maggie Hope, once Winston Churchill’s secretary and now "a capable and shrewd spy." Winspear also paid tribute to her literary creation in her newsletter on her website.

In the Q&A roundup, Catriona McPherson, author of the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, and more, applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Deep Beneath Us; Deborah Kalb interviewed author Lori Roy about her new novel, Lake County; Jill Amadio chatted with Michael Finkel, author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa; debut crime fiction author Angela van Breemen spoke with Lisa Haselton about her new paranormal novel, Past Life’s Revenge, the first book in the David Harris and Emma Jackson mystery series; Crime Time interviewed Mark Billingham about leaving Tom Thorne behind – albeit temporarily – and starting a new series; and crime writer Paul Cleave chatted with the New Zealand Herald about taking part in Cunard’s inaugural Literature Festival at Sea voyage.

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Author R&R with John David Bethel

[image error]John David Bethel was a speechwriter to Cabinet Secretaries at the Departments of Commerce and Education during the Bush 41 and 43 administrations. He also served as a press secretary and speechwriter to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Additionally, Bethel worked as a communications strategist for a number of national and international public relations firms, including Burson Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe. Bethel is also an award-winning author whose novels include Evil Town, Hotel Hell, Unheard Of, Holding Back the Dark, and A Washington Trilogy, and he's been published in popular consumer magazines and respected political journals.

[image error]His latest crime novel is Mapping the Night, in which FBI Special Agents Eileen Prado and Ira Fisher are inserted into the investigation of the Upper East Side serial murders at the instigation of forces working within government who want the identity of one of the victims kept quiet. Their partners in the NYPD have their own agenda: they are hiding the true identity of the man known as The Uptown Savage.

John David Bethel stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:

 

My novels are drawn from true crime.

Mapping the Night is introduced with the scene of a boy kneeling beside the body of his mother, trying to revive her by applying a bag of frozen vegetables across her forehead. He explains to the police officers who discover him that this is how “she made me feel better when I was sick.” That haunting scene came straight from a New York City police report of the murder of a single mother. It was the first of many victims of the same killer.

The modus operandi of the perpetrator was consistent – as was his choice of victims. All were single mothers of young boys; all raped and strangled; all the murder scenes were immaculately cleaned beyond what would be necessary to erase evidence.

Having written about serial murderers in other novels, for which I did extensive research, I had a handle on the antagonist in Mapping the Night; however, I had not written about this particular type of offender. There are four types of serial killers: thrill seekers, mission-oriented, visionary killers and power/control seekers. In this novel, the offender is mission-oriented, meaning he justifies his murders as necessary to rid the world of people he considers undesirable. I went to work researching this particular deviant behavior and found that mission-oriented serial killers are organized, stable and clear thinkers. They can hold jobs, sometimes very coveted positions in respected fields, and they plan and commit their crimes quickly and efficiently.

With these details worked out, I needed a protagonist – other than law enforcement – who would enable the reader to identify with a “citizen” central to the action. Someone with a reason to be in the right place at the right time, meaning on the streets of New York in the middle of the night. That became Warren Winston who suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum. Translated it means he is allergic to light.

Winston lives in the dark, only leaving his apartment in the Plaza Residences on the toney side of town in the middle of the night. He wanders the upper East and West sides of the city, as well as Central Park, and knows the history and geography of these neighborhoods intricately – a vehicle to introduce and educate the reader about Uptown New York. It also puts Winston in a position to encounter the Uptown Savage.

After establishing the location for the novel, I also had to do some research on how and who from law enforcement would be handling events. That required understanding how the city is divided into precincts, who directs these precincts, and how the detectives operate within them. Special agents from the FBI would also have a role which meant research was needed to understand their involvement. There is also a political element in Mapping the Night that allowed me to mine my career in politics to add a dash of realism to that aspect of the plot.

I do my research as needed when I am writing. I do not write from an outline nor do I prepare background on the characters until I create them. Many writers work from an intricately prepared outline and prepare elaborate backstories for their characters. This provides a strong foundation that takes them from the first sentence of their novel to the final one knowing where they are going and how they are going to get there. I tried that approach but found it took the fun out of writing for me. I want to be write the way I read; being surprised about what is around the corner; how characters will react to the situations they encounter.

Long story short, I write by the seat of my pants and conduct research when it is needed to inform the plot. In some ways, this is easier and more efficient than information gathering in anticipation of what might be required to write a believable story. Oftentimes, I think writers who deep dive on research feel the need to include every bit of what they find in the novel. That can take the life out of the story. I am a minimalist.

I jump into my writing without a parachute but manage a soft landing.

 

You can learn more about J. David Bethel and his writing on his website and follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Mapping the Night is available for now via Amazon.

          

Killer Thrillers

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The International Thriller Writers unveiled the winners of the 2024 ITW Thriller Awards at this weekend's ThrillerFest XIX, held at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel in New York City. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!



 

Best Hardcover Novel:  S.A. Cosby – All The Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books)

Also nominated:

Robert Dugoni – Her Deadly Game (Thomas & Mercer)
T. Ellison – It's One Of Us (Harlequin – MIRA Books)
Mick Herron – The Secret Hours (Soho Crime)
Joe Ide – Fixit (Mulholland Books)
J. Tudor – The Drift (Ballantine Books)

Best Audiobook :  Gregg Hurwitz – The Last Orphan (Macmillan); Narrated by Scott Brick

Also nominated:

S. Berry – The Peacock And The Sparrow (Atria); Narrated by Pete Simonelli
Freida McFadden – The Housemaid's Secret (Bookouture); Narrated by Lauryn Allman
James Patterson, Mike Lupica – The House Of Wolves (Hachette Audio); Narrated by Ellen Archer
Emma Rosenblum – Bad Summer People (Macmillan); Narrated by January LaVoy

Best First Novel :  I.S. Berry – The Peacock And The Sparrow (Atria)

Also nominated:  

Amy Chua – The Golden Gate (Minotaur)
Margot Douaihy – Scorched Grace (Zando)
Kerryn Mayne – Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder (Bantam Books
Steve Urszenyi – Perfect Shot: A Thriller (Minotaur)

 

Best Paperback Original Novel:  Luke Dumas – The Paleontologist (Atria)

Also nominated:

Tracy Clark – Hide (Thomas & Mercer)
Tess Gerritsen – The Spy Coast (Thomas & Mercer)
Lisa Gray – To Die For (Thomas & Mercer)
Jonathan Maberry – Cave 13: A Joe Ledger And Rogue Team Novel (St. Martin's Griffin
J. Todd Scott – Call The Dark (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Short Story :  Lisa Unger – Unknown Caller (Amazon Original Stories)

Also nominated:

Chris Bohjalian – Slot Machine Fever Dreams (Amazon Original Stories)
T. Ellison – These Cold Strangers (Amazon Original Stories)
Smita Harish Jain – An Honorable Choice (Wildside Press)
Richard Santos – Rush Hour (Akashic Books)
Stacy Woodson – One Night In 1965 (Down & Out Books)

Best Young Adult Novel:  Elizabeth Wein – Stateless (Little, Brown & Co.)

Also nominated:

Sorboni Banerjee, Dominique Richardson – Red As Blood (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
Darcy Coates – Where He Can't Find You (Sourcebooks Fire)
Courtney Gould – Where Echoes Die (Wednesday Books
Andrea Hannah – Where Darkness Blooms (Wednesday Books)

Best E-Book Original Novel:  Robert Swartwood – The Killing Room (Blackstone Publishing)

Also nominated:

Jeff Buick – The Vulture Fund (Self-published)
Rona Halsall – The Bigamist (Bookouture)
Matt Phillips – A Good Rush Of Blood (RunAmok Books)
Lisa Regan – Close Her Eyes (Bookouture
Laura Wolfe – The In-Laws (Bookouture)

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Capital Crime's Fingerprint Awards

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The London-based crime fiction convention, Capital Crime, revealed the winners of this year’s Fingerprint Awards. Mystery fans were invited to vote for their favorites after the shortlists were announced in April, with the top vote-getters celebrated at this past weekend's conference. The event's organizers also handed out the Thalia Procter Lifetime Achievement Award to Lynda La Plante. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

Overall Best Crime Book of the Year :  None of This Is True, by Lisa Jewell (Century)

Also nominated:

The Murder Game, by Tom Hindle (Century)

The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)

In the Blink of an Eye, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)

Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)



Thriller Book of the Year: The Only Suspect, by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster UK)

Also nominated:

Fearless, by M.W. Craven (Constable)

The Silent Man, by David Fennell (Zaffre)

The Rule of Three, by Sam Ripley (Simon & Schuster UK)

The House Hunt, by C.M. Ewan (Macmillan)



Historical Crime Book of the Year:  The House of Whispers, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)

Also nominated:

Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

The Murder Wheel, by Tom Mead (Head of Zeus/Aries)

The Good Liars, by Anita Frank (HQ)



Genre-Busting Book of the Year:  Killing Jericho, by William Hussey (Zaffre)

Also nominated:

Ink Blood Sister Scribe, by Emma Törzs (Century)

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, by Janice Hallett (Viper)

Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter (HarperFiction)

The Looking Glass Sound, by Catriona Ward (Viper)



Debut Crime Book of the Year:  Death of a Bookseller, by Alice Slater (Hodder & Stoughton)

Also nominated:

The List, by Yomi Adegoke (Fourth Estate)

Geneva, by Richard Armitage (Faber and Faber)

The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff (Allen & Unwin)

Thirty Days of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen (Orenda)



True Crime Book of the Year:  No Ordinary Day: Espionage, Betrayal, Terrorism and Corruption—the Truth Behind the Murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, by Matt Johnson (Ad Lib)

Also nominated:

My Girl: The Babes in the Woods Murders. A Mother’s Fight for Justice, by Michelle Hadaway (Penguin)

Vital Organs: A History of the World’s Most Famous Body Parts, by Suzie Edge (Wildfire)

Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey, by Her Honour Wendy Joseph QC (Doubleday)

Order Out of Chaos: A Kidnap Negotiator’s Guide to Influence and Persuasion, by Scott Walker (Piatkus)



Audiobook of the Year:  Over My Dead Body, by Maz Evans, narrated by Maz Evans (Headline)

Also nominated:

The Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith, narrated by Robert Glenister (Oakhill)

The Blackbird, by Tim Weaver, narrated by Joe Coen, Brendan McDonald, and Anjili Mohindra (Penguin Audio)

The Bedroom Window, by K.L. Slater, narrated by Clare Corbett (Audible)

Conviction, by Jack Jordan, narrated by Sophie Roberts (Audible)

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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

Barry Keoghan is in negotiations to join the Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella, Crime 101. He will co-star with Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth, who also is in talks to produce alongside his producing partner Ben Grayson. The original story by Winslow follows high-level jewel thefts that are taking place all along the Pacific Coast, which police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.

Director Rian Johnson announced just last week that Knives Out 3, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, was in the works, and the project is already adding star power. In addition to Daniel Craig, who returns as detective Benoit Blanc, the sequel will boast the likes of Glenn Close and Sherlock's Andrew Scott, as well as Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, and the most recent addition, Jeremy Renner. Production kicks off this month, with the film to launch sometime in 2025.

The NOIR CITY: Boston celebration returns to its home at The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 14-16. This year's lineup pairs English-speaking noirs with films from other countries similarly themed. Film Noir Foundation board member and Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties author, Foster Hirsch, will introduce the five double features at this year's festival. There will also be a non-hosted bonus screening of the 1958 French film, Elevator to the Gallows on Monday, June 17. The full schedule and program notes are available here.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Prime Video has handed a series order to Young Sherlock, inspired by Andy Lane’s critically acclaimed Young Sherlock Holmes book series, with Hero Fiennes Tiffin set to star in the title role and Guy Ritchie to direct. Young Sherlock is touted as an irreverent, action-packed origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character. At age 19, Sherlock Holmes is disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed, when he finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University which threatens his freedom. Diving into his first-ever case with a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock manages to unravel a globe-trotting conspiracy that will change his life forever.

Netflix has launched development on They’ll Never Catch Us, a series adaptation of the bestselling thriller novel by Jessica Goodman. Published by Razorbill in July 2021, the book revolves around a small town high school women’s cross-country team and the secrets unleashed when its star runner is murdered. A New York Times bestselling author, Goodman’s debut novel, They Wish They Were Us, is currently being adapted by Sydney Sweeney’s production company, Fifty-Fifty Films.

ITV News anchor Tom Bradby is working with the UK commercial broadcaster to adapt his book, Secret Service. The 2019 spy thriller follows Kate Henderson, head of the Russia desk for British intelligence service MI6, who gathers evidence that a UK politician is possibly a Kremlin asset. When a young woman is brutally murdered with an election looming, Kate races against time to discover the identity of the asset. Her reputation and family are on the line as the clock is ticking.

Andrew Koji (Warrior) has been tapped for a major recurring role in Haven, Prime Video's heist thriller series starring Sophie Turner, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and Archie Madekwe, with crime novelist S.A. Nikias penning the script in his series writing debut. Haven is a contemporary, high-octane thriller about the heist of the century and the ordinary office worker, Zara (Turner), who finds herself at the heart of it.

Charlie Hunnam will star in the new Prime Video series, Criminal, which is based on the acclaimed graphic novel series by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. The Sons of Anarchy actor will lead the drama series as Leo, who is described as "a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles, and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence." Hunnam joins Criminal, which is structured as an interlocking universe of crime stories, alongside previously announced cast members Richard Jenkins, Adria Arjona, and Kadeem Hardison.

Diego Calva (Narcos: Mexico) has been cast as a lead in the BBC and Prime Video series, The Night Manager for Season 2. He joins previously announced stars Tom Hiddleston and Camila Morrone. Inspired by the characters in John le Carré’s best-selling novel, the upcoming second season of The Night Manager will once again be written by show creator David Farr and helmed by BAFTA-winning director Georgi Banks-Davies. Details regarding whom Calva will portray and the season’s plot are under wraps.

AMC Networks’ streamer Acorn TV and Germany’s ZDF have ordered a third season of the mystery drama series, The Chelsea Detective, with Adrian Scarborough (Killing Eve) and Vanessa Emme (Dublin Murders) reprising their roles as Detective Inspector Max Arnold and Detective Sergeant Layla Walsh, respectively. Filming has begun in and around London on four feature-length episodes in which the duo explore murky crimes such as "the tragic death of a 2000s poster, the impenetrable world of the U.S. Embassy, the splendor of Kew Gardens, a classic music academy, and a climate scientist found dead in a supercar."

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke talked to Simon Toyne and Jane Casey about the 5th Slaughterfest in London on June 11, 2024, curated by internationally bestselling author, Karin Slaughter.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Susan Elia MacNeal, author of the bestselling Maggie Hope mystery series.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze podcast is up featuring an excerpt from Take The Honey and Run by Jennie Marts, read by actor Ariel Linn.

The latest Pick Your Poison podcast investigated the common way people are exposed to the chemical causing lung damage in microwave popcorn workers; what vitamin might be toxic for your lungs; and how you can inhale heavy metals without welding.

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Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Suddenly at His Residence

Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in 1907 in Malaya, spending her early years in India. When at age 17 she learned her father had lost all his money, she took on a series of jobs including governess, nightclub hostess, ballroom dancer, dress shop model, and secretary. She didn't turn her hand to fiction until 1939, with her first novel making it to print after being rejected by fifteen publishers. Death in High Heels was the title of that book, and in an apocryphal story, she got the idea while working as a salesgirl fantasizing about killing a co-worker.



She went on to write several crime fiction novels and short stories, but achieved her peak with the series featuring Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police who was modeled on her father-in-law, William Lewis, a doctor. One Cockrill novel, Green for Danger, was hailed by H.R.F. Keating as "the last golden crown of the Golden Age detective story" and made into a movie in 1946 starring Alastair Sim. Unfortunately for crime fiction fans, she mostly dropped the genre, at least in novel form, in the 1950s and concentrated on children's books, most notably Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted in 2005 for as the film Nanny McPhee.

Brand was nominated three times for Edgar Awards, twice for short stories, and once for a nonfiction work about a true-crime Scottish murder case. She also served as Chair of the Crime Writers Association in 1972-73. She penned essays including some of the best accounts available form the early days of London's Detection Club including remembrances of members Dorothy L. Sayers and Anthony Berkely.

[image error]Brand has been called the "female John Dickson Carr" for her locked-room style mysteries, one of which was Suddenly at His Residence (a/k/a The Crooked Wreath, in the U.S.), from the Inspector Cockrill series. Cockrill is another in the long line of eccentric detectives, insightful yet shabby, often called "sparrow-like," or, as he was introduced in his first novel (Heads You Lose):

"He was a little brown man who seemed much older than he actually was, with deep-set eyes beneath a fine broad brow, an aquiline nose and a mop of fluffy white hair fringing a magnificent head. He wore his soft felt hat set sideways, as though he would at any moment break out into an amateur rendering of ‘Napoleon’s Farewell to his Troops’; and he was known to Torrington and in all its surrounding villages as Cockie. He was widely advertised as having a heart of gold beneath his irascible exterior; but there were those who said bitterly that the heart was so infinitesimal and you had to dig so deep down to get to it, that it was hardly worth the trouble. The fingers of his right hand were so stained with nicotine as to appear to be tipped with wood."

In Suddenly at His Residence, the plot starts off in a fairly traditional way, where patriarch Sir Richard March is found dead in a Grecian lodge on his estate and suspicion falls on the family members gathered who he was getting ready to disinherit. After Cockrill begins to investigate, another body turns up, and the Inspector will also learn just how far World War II can reach from the battlefield into the countryside. He's also faced with a double "impossible crime" scenario: no footprints or marks at one crime scene involving sand and in another involving dust. Brand's writing is wry and engaging, with plenty of twists and the traditional British Golden Age red herrings, and in fact, her intricate plotting is generally considered the greatest strength of her novels.

          

Mystery Melange

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The Crime Writers of Canada announced their annual awards for excellence in crime writing yesterday, which is the start of a criminally good Canadian season. Coming up June 7–9 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre is the MOTIVE crime fiction convention, with special guests to include Katrín Júlíusdóttir, Yun Ko-eun, Laurah Norton, Sarah Weinman, Maureen Jennings, Arwen Humphreys, Kelley Armstrong, Drew Hayden Taylor, Walter Mosley, Abir Mukherjee, Linwood Barclay, Kellye Garrett, and more. A week afterward in Toronto, the Bony Blithe Mini-Con will be held on Saturday, June 15, with panels and other programming along with opportunities to schmooze with friends and authors, new and old. As a special treat, there will also be a display of Susan Daly’s mystery-themed miniatures.

CrimeCon, the convention dedicated to all things "true crime," which takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, from May 31 to June 2, has struck a deal with SiriusXM to air a raft of its sessions on SiriusXM’s Triumph channel on June 8 and 9. Speakers at the event include CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, America’s Most Wanted’s John Walsh, Chris Hansen, Nancy Grace, Mark Geragos, Ben Crump, Sean “Sticks” Larkin, Paul Holes, John Douglas and Ann Burgess, who is the subject of Hulu docuseries Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer.

It's a tough game out there in the publishing world, and thus it's not too surprising when indie publishing companies go under. The latest is Polis Books, founded in 2013 by Jason Pinter (an editor, agent, and author himself, including the Henry Parker thriller series), which announced it was closing its doors. Polis started out with a strong focus on crime fiction and has published works by Patricia Abbott, Rob Hart, Steph Post, J.D. Rhoades, Alex Segura, Clea Simon, Lily Wang, and others. As Pinter noted on social media, the company was able to find new homes for a fairly large portion of its list, with several publishers expressing interest, "and we were able to re-home a number of great books."

NI Crime Writers are teaming up with Libraries NI and local bookstores to celebrate National Crime Reading Month with a host of events across Northern Ireland during June. National Crime Reading Month is an annual initiative spearheaded and developed by the Crime Writers’ Association and promotes crime reading across the genre through bookshops, libraries, and venues such as museums and theatres, as well as online. National Crime Reading Month aims to bring new books to existing readers and new readers to the world’s most popular and best-selling genre. With its close links to the small screen, gaming, theatre and film, there’s something for everyone. 

The Library of America has posted Dashiell Hammett's "Suggestions to Detective Story Writers," which were part of his Crime Wave columns in 1930 in the New York Evening Post. A former Pinkerton Agency detective, Hammett often despaired of the unrealistic scenes and inexpert characters that populated the genre and was Irritated by mystery writers' mistakes that he'd seen in their works, so he offered corrections for these, including advice such as "When you are knocked unconscious you do not feel the blow that does it" and "'Youse' is the plural of 'you.'" (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at The Bunburyist blog)

In the Q&A roundup, EB Davis interviewed Marilyn Levinson about her new mystery, Come Home To Death, for the Writers Who Kill blog; M.R. Mackenzie spoke with Crime Time about The Reckoning, the fifth book in the Anna Scavolini series; and SPR chatted with Anthony Lee, who has a background in clinical medicine and health technology assessment, about his novel, Doctor Lucifer, a medical thriller about healthcare and cybersecurity.

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Celebrating Canadian Crime

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Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the winners of the 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Since 1984, Crime Writers of Canada has recognized the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors, including citizens abroad and new residents. Congrats to all the honorees!

2024 Grand MasterAward:  Maureen Jennings

The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel :  Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary , Montlake

Also nominated:

Robyn Harding, The Drowning Woman, Grand Central Publishing
Shari Lapena, Everyone Here is Lying, Doubleday Canada
Scott Thornley, Middlemen, House of Anansi Press
Sam Wiebe, Sunset and Jericho, Harbour Publishing

 

Best Crime First Novel :  Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers , Harper Perennial

Also nominated:

Jann Arden, The Bittlemores, Random House Canada
Lisa Brideau, Adrift, Sourcebooks
Charlotte Morganti, The End Game, Halfdan Press
Steve Urszenyi, Perfect Shot, Minotaur

 

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:  Joan Thomas, Wild Hope, Harper Perennial/HarperCollins

Also nominated:

Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Almost Widow, Harper Avenue/HarperCollins
Renee Lehnen, Elmington, Storeyline Press
Cyndi MacMillan, Cruel Light, Crooked Lane
Melissa Yi, Shapes of Wrath, Windtree Press

 

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery :  Nita Prose, The Mystery Guest , Viking

Also nominated:

Gail Bowen, The Legacy, ECW Press
Vicki Delany, Steeped in Malice, Kensington Books
Vicki Delany, The Game is a Footnote, Crooked Lane Books
Iona Whishaw, To Track a Traitor, TouchWood Editions

 

Best Crime Short Story :  Marcelle Dubé, "Reversion," Mystery Magazine

Also nominated:

M.H. Callway, "Wisteria Cottage," Wildside Press (for Malice Domestic)
Mary Keenan "The Canadians," Killin' Time in San Diego, Down & Out Books
Donalee Moulton, "Troubled Water," Black Cat Weekly, Wildside Press
Zandra Renwick, "American Night," Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

 

The Best French Language Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) : André Marois, La sainte paix, Héliotrope

Also nominated:

Jean-Philippe Bernié, La punition, Glénat Québec
Chrystine Brouillet, Le mois des morts, Éditions Druide
Catherine Lafrance, Le dernier souffle est le plus lourd, Éditions Druide
Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Rien, Alire

 

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book :  Cherie Dimaline, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Tundra Books

Also nominated:

Kelley Armstrong, Someone is Always Watching, Tundra Books
Rachelle Delaney, The Big Sting, Tundra Books
Clara Kumagai, Catfish Rolling, Penguin Teen Canada
Kevin Sands, Champions of the Fox, Puffin Canada

 

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime :  Michael Lista, The Human Scale, Véhicule Press

Also nominated:

Josef Lewkowicz and Michael Calvin, The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
David Rabinovitch, Jukebox Empire, Rowman & Littlefield
Bill Waiser and Jennie Hansen, Cheated, ECW Press
Carolyn Whitzman, Clara at the Door with a Revolver, UBC Press, On Point Press

 

Best Unpublished Crime Novel :  Craig H. Bowlsby, Requiem for a Lotus

Also nominated:

Tom Blackwell, The Patient
Sheilla Jones and James Burns, Murder on Richmond Road: An Enquiry Bureau Mystery
Nora Sellers, The Forest Beyond
William Wodhams, Thirty Feet Under

         Related StoriesAnthony Award AccoladesHammett's Literary HeirsDerringer Delights 

Macavity Magic

The annual Macavity Awards are nominated by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Editor Janet Rudolph today announced this year’s finalists in five categories, including Best Mystery; Best First Mystery; Best Mystery Short Story; Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery; and Best Mystery-related Nonfiction/Critical. The winners will be revealed at the Bouchercon Mystery Conference in Nashville, to be held August 28 to September 1. Congrats to all!

Best Mystery

Dark Ride by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
Hide by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (Hogarth)
Murder Book by Thomas Perry (Mysterious)
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Penguin Random House - Doubleday) 

Best First Mystery

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Atria)
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Macmillan Publishing - Minotaur)
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy (Zando/Gillian Flynn Books)
Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (Simon & Schuster) 
Dutch Threat by Josh Pachter (Genius Book Publishing) 
Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon (William Morrow)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Real Courage” by Barb Goffman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine #14, Oct. 2023)
“Green and California Bound” by Curtis Ippolito (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023)
“Ticket to Ride” by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, (Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, ed. Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books)
“Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand” by Lisa Scottoline (Amazon Original Stories) 
“One Night in 1965” by Stacy Woodson (More Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, ed. Michael Bracken, Down & Out Books)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery

Time's Undoing by Cheryl Head (Dutton)
Evergreen by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster-Atria Books) 
Our Lying Kin by Claudia Hagadus Long (Kasva Press)
The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead Books)

Best Mystery-related Nonfiction/Critical 

Finders: Justice, Faith, and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction by Anjili Babbar (Syracuse University Press)
Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor (Mysterious Press/Penzler Publishers) 
A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak (St. Martin’s Press) 
Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux (Crown Currency) 
Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, by Robert Morgan (LSU Press)

          

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

Director Rian Johnson shared the news on social media that the "Knives Out" universe is expanding yet again with a third movie titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Johnson also shared a teaser for the upcoming movie in which Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc says, "In the beginning, the knives came out. Then behold, the glass was shattered. But my most dangerous case yet is about to be revealed."

Mark Ruffalo is in talks to star in Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella, Crime 101. He will co-star with Chris Hemsworth, who is also in talks to star and produce alongside producing partner Ben Grayson. While plot details are being kept under wraps, the original short story by Winslow follows high-level jewel thefts that are taking place up and down the Pacific Coast, which police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one suspect, a thief looking for a final score. The film is set to be released in theaters next year.

Lionsgate announced the release dates of three upcoming thrillers: the Dave Bautista action picture, The Killer’s Game, on September 13; the Mel Gibson-directed movie Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg, for October 18; and the Gerard Butler-starring sequel, Den of Thieves: Pantera, will hit cinemas on January 10, 2025. The Killer’s Game, based on the book by Jay R. Bonansinga and adapted by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, follows a top hitman, Joe Flood (Bautista) who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and opts to take a hit out on himself until the hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend (Sofia Boutella). Flight Risk follows a pilot (Wahlberg) who is transporting an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) accompanying a fugitive (Topher Grace) to trial, but as they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested when not everyone on board is who they seem. Den of Thieves: Pantera sees Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. return in the sequel to 2018’s action-heist hit Den of Thieves, with Big Nick (Butler) back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie (Jackson), who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Netflix and Working Title have found their Harry Hole: German-Norwegian actor Tobias Santelmann (The Last Kingdom) will play the lead in the Jo Nesbø adaptation, which will be officially titled Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole. Santelmann is joined by Joel Kinnaman (The Suicide Squad) playing Tom Waaler, and Pia Tjelta (Made in Oslo) as Rakel Fauke. Created by the much-loved Scandinavian crime fiction author, Nesbø’s Harry Hole is a whodunnit serial killer mystery led by the famed anti-hero. Underneath the surface, it is a nuanced character drama about two police officers – and supposed colleagues – operating on opposite sides of the law. Throughout the first season, Harry (Santelmann) goes head-to-head with his longtime adversary and corrupt detective Waaler (Kinnaman).

Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, MGM+'s upcoming original mystery thriller series, created and executive produced by author Anthony Horowitz (Magpie Murders), has set its full ensemble cast. In addition to previously announced Eric McCormack, the ensemble cast includes David Ajala (Star Trek: Discovery) as Zack; Lydia Wilson (The Swarm) as Sonja; Peter Gadiot (Yellowjackets) as Carlos; Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) as Lisa; Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Tourist) as Travis; Adam Long (Happy Valley) as Dan, and Jan Le (The Capture) as Amy. Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue revolves around a plane carrying a small group of passengers, crew and pilot, that crashes in the Mexican jungle. All the bodies are recovered and placed in a morgue, but it turns out that only one of them died in the crash. The other passengers were murdered afterwards, each one in a unique way. But by whom? And why?

Dove Cameron (Schmigadoon!) and Avan Jogia (Orphan Black: Echoes) have been set to star in Obsession, a thriller series produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Atomic Monster. Written and executive produced by Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher, the show is based on Catherine Ryan Howard’s 2021 international bestseller, 56 Days. The story follows Oliver (Jogia) and Ciara (Cameron), who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard. 56 days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body — brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a crime story and an erotic, psychological thriller.

Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale), and Shea Whigham (Joker) have been tapped as series regulars on Netflix's new drama series, Death by Lightning, joining previously cast Matthew Macfadyen, Michael Shannon, Betty Gilpin, and Nick Offerman. Created, written and executive produced by Mike Makowsky based on the book, Destiny Of The Republic by Candice Millard, Death by Lightning tells the stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield (Shannon), reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau (Macfadyen) — the man who would come to kill him.

The CW Network made it official: Walker was canceled after 4 seasons. The series, which was a reimagining of the popular CBS drama, Walker, Texas Ranger, centers on Cordell Walker (Jared Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. Walker’s next original episode airs May 22, with the season — and series — finale on June 26.

MASTERPIECE Mystery! announced that The Marlow Murder Club, adapted by author Robert Thorogood from his best-selling novels, premieres on PBS Sunday, October 27th at 9/8c and released a new trailer. Along with the airdate, PBS also announced that the cast and crew are already in production on Season 2.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On the Spybrary Spy Podcast, Gordon Henderson MP shared more about his spy thriller, Steven Statton – A Very Working Class Spy.

The Red Hot Chili Writers had a special edition dedicated to the British Book Awards 2024, talking with shortlisted authors Claire Douglas and David McCloskey and discussing their thrillers, the CIA, and boy band haircuts.

On Crime Time FM, guest presenter Scott Blackburn chatted with Henry Wise about his debut novel, Holly City; MFA programs; writing-working-family; and beginning with a million words.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday