B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 31
April 26, 2024
Criminally Good Canadians
Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the shortlists for 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. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024. Congrats to all the honorees!
2024 Grand MasterAward: Maureen Jennings
The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel
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
Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary, Montlake
Best Crime First Novel
Jann Arden, The Bittlemores, Random House Canada
Lisa Brideau, Adrift, Sourcebooks
Charlotte Morganti, The End Game, Halfdan Press
Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers, Harper Perennial
Steve Urszenyi, Perfect Shot, Minotaur
The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada
Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Almost Widow, Harper Avenue/HarperCollins
Renee Lehnen, Elmington, Storeyline Press
Cyndi MacMillan, Cruel Light, Crooked Lane
Joan Thomas, Wild Hope, Harper Perennial/HarperCollins
Melissa Yi, Shapes of Wrath, Windtree Press
The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery
Gail Bowen, The Legacy, ECW Press
Vicki Delany, Steeped in Malice, Kensington Books
Vicki Delany, The Game is a Footnote, Crooked Lane Books
Nita Prose, The Mystery Guest, Viking
Iona Whishaw, To Track a Traitor, TouchWood Editions
Best Crime Short Story
M.H. Callway, "Wisteria Cottage," Wildside Press (for Malice Domestic)
Marcelle Dubé, "Reversion," Mystery Magazine
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)
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
André Marois, La sainte paix, Héliotrope
Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Rien, Alire
Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book
Kelley Armstrong, Someone is Always Watching, Tundra Books
Cherie Dimaline, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, 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
Josef Lewkowicz and Michael Calvin, The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Michael Lista, The Human Scale, Véhicule Press
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
Tom Blackwell, The Patient
Craig H. Bowlsby, Requiem for a Lotus
Sheilla Jones and James Burns, Murder on Richmond Road: An Enquiry Bureau Mystery
Nora Sellers, The Forest Beyond
William Wodhams, Thirty Feet Under
Friday's Forgotten Books: The Spoilt Kill
Mary Theresa Coolican Kelly (1927-2017) was born in London but ended up a Scotland gal. She received an M.A. degree from University of Edinburgh in 1951, married Dennis Charles Kelly in 1950, and became a teacher. Her first mystery series featured Inspector Brett Nightingale of Scotland, starting with A Cold Coming in 1956. But after only three entries in that series, she switched to a series with freelance detective, Hedley Nicholson, as protagonist, with the first installment, The Spoilt Kill, earning the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers Association in 1961. She was also a member of the Detection Club and served as secretary..
Apparently, starting on a new literary track worked well for her, because after only two books in the Hedley Nicholson series, she switched to standalone novels, the first three (beginning with March to the Gallows) all nominated for the Gold Dagger in 1964, 1966 and 1969. She also tried her hand at a short story in 1971, "Judgment," chosen for inclusion in 1984's anthology The Best Crime Stories published by Hamlyn, putting in her the same company as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Unfortunately, in 1974 she stopped writing for good.
[image error]In The Spoilt Kill, P.I. Nicholson is hired to discover who is copying new pottery designs from the Shentall Pottery Company of Stoke-on-Trent and selling them to foreign competitors. It seems fairly straightforward until a body is found in a closed "kill" (local dialect for "kiln") filled with liquid clay. Nicholson soon finds himself falling for the chief suspect in both crimes, talented designer Corina Wakefield, the only employee not native to the area—who also has a drinking problem and a failed marriage that turns out to be relevant to the case..
Kelly structures the plot to start off with the discovery of the body in the first section ("What Happened"), just one chapter, in essence a prologue, then doubles back to a prequel of events ("What Happened Before") in the middle section, before returning to the denouement in part three's "What Happened After." The author does a nice job of immersing the reader into the atmospheric setting of the industrial area in the Midlands and of the pottery world, with passages such as the following:
"...A row of bottle kilns blocking the gap between blackened brick buildings, and beyond them a factory chimney and the peak of a slag heap, wraiths even in the middle distance. There was no far distance, only a grey blankness of cleaned smoke mixed with the drizzle that seeped from low-lying clouds."
Kelly had a foot in the very end of the Golden Age of detective fiction, and was a somewhat rare example of a female British writer penning a professional male private eye at the time. As such, Spoilt Kill has the feel of a hybrid cozy/traditional mystery blended with the P.I. form. Some may quibble that Kelly doesn't quite nail the male first-person POV all the time, and the ending a tad telescoped, but the characters are well drawn and engaging, and the true mystery Kelly portrays is the psychological puzzle underlying human relationships.
April 25, 2024
Mystery Melange
Ivy Pochoda has won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category for her novel, Sing Her Down. The story takes place in the shadows of L.A.’s homeless camps, run-down motels, and dark alleys, following women who have turned — for various reasons — to a life of crime. As noted in the LA Times, the judges, including Alex Segura, Wanda Morris, and mystery fiction critic Oline Cogdill, wrote, "Pochoda brilliantly explores her characters and this setting, while sifting through myriad literary tropes, including allusions to Macbeth, mythology, even a bit of a Greek chorus." The other finalists in this year's competition in that category included Dark Ride, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland); All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); and Time’s Undoing, by Cheryl A. Head (Dutton).
The Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans announced winners of the annual Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, established in 2012 for women writers to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley (1952-2012), a longtime crime fiction columnist for The New Orleans Times-Picayune. The Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work, which honors an established woman writer who has created a significant body of work in crime fiction, had dual winners this year, Alafair Burke and Margot Douaihy. The organization also awards the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel, which went to Sascha Rothchild for Blood Sugar.
I previously noted the longlists that were announced this past weekend for the Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, but the CW also announced the longlist for this year’s Margery Allingham Short Mystery competition. Stories must be under 3,500 words and follow the spirit of Allingham's rule that "The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it."
Noir at the Bar Edinburgh takes place this evening at the Canon Gait Pub, 232 Canongate,Edinburgh, from 6:30-8:00 pm (2:30-4pm ET). Authors scheduled to read from their works include Doug A Sinclair, Alex Nye, Brian Stewart, Ken Lussey, Michael Mackenzie, Fiona Veitch Smith, Jess Faraday, and Traude Ailinger.
Ashley Audrain and Conor Kerr are among the authors announced for this year's MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival, presented by the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA). The event will take place June 7 to 9, 2024 at Harbourfront Centre and online. Other notable writers in attendance are American Canadian writer Linwood Barclay and Murdoch Mysteries creator Maureen Jennings. Kicking off MOTIVE, there will be a special pre-Festival "in conversation" with best-selling British author Clare Mackintosh on April 29 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has approved a new novel from thriller writer Gareth Rubin that will focus on Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes's greatest nemesis, endorsing Rubin’s book, Holmes and Moriarty, as a worthy successor. "Gareth has drawn these characters very well, including Colonel Moran, who is key to this story," said Richard Pooley, Conan Doyle’s step-great-grandson. "Moran was once described by Holmes as ‘the second most dangerous man in London’, and he tells half of this new mystery. As Moriarty’s right-hand man, he only crops up in a couple of original Holmes stories, I believe." Pooley suspects that Moran, "a young guy," could now spawn his own series, adding that there is potential too, in the other Doyle character Professor Challenger, as well as in the boxer, Stone.
In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis interviewed James M. Jackson about Hijacked Legacy, his eighth Seamus McCree novel, for the Writers Who Kill blog; novelist Kirsten Weiss chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new metaphysical mystery, Legacy of the Witch; and Publishers Weekly welcomed Stacey Lee, who returns to her historical YA roots with the new murder mystery novel Kill Her Twice, which takes place in 1932 Chinatown Los Angeles.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
Theakston Delights
The longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 was announced today. Readers are now invited to vote for their favorite novels to reach the shortlist, to be announced on June 13, with the winner revealed on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, July 18. The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between May 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024.
The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is:
The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus; Little, Brown Book Group)
In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Close by Jane Casey (Harper Fiction; Harper Collins)
The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)
Fearless by M W Craven (Constable; Little, Brown Book Group)
The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Baskerville; John Murray Press)
Killing Jericho by William Hussey (Zaffre, Bonnier)
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (Century; Cornerstone)
Conviction by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster)
A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason (riverrun; Quercus)
Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (Sandycove; Penguin Ireland)
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan)
The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph; Penguin Random House)
You Can Run by Trevor Wood (Quercus)
April 22, 2024
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
Sony’s 3000 Pictures has set Justin Kuritzkes to adapt City on Fire, the first of a bestselling novel trilogy by Don Winslow that is being developed as a star vehicle for Austin Butler. Winslow’s swan song trilogy – the final installment City in Ruins is just landing on the bestseller lists after being published by William Morrow – is a modern retelling of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid and Greek tragic dramas set in the world of contemporary crime. Kuritzkes will start at the beginning, a struggle between two criminal empires — one Irish, the other Italian — that control all of New England, until a modern-day Helen of Troy tears them apart and starts a brutal war. Butler will play the main character, Danny Ryan, who is forced to grow from a street soldier into a ruthlessly efficient leader to protect his friends, his family and the home he loves.
Park Chan-wook is developing his acclaimed film Oldboy for the first time as an English-language series in partnership with Lionsgate Television. Park, who directed and co-wrote the original film, is set to produce the series alongside producing partner Syd Lim. The 2003 feature was an adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name written by Garon Tsuchiya and follows Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a man taken off the streets and imprisoned in a cell that resembles a hotel room for fifteen years, without knowing the identity of his captor or his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae-su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and violence as he seeks revenge against his enigmatic captor.
TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN
Noah Jupe, who is starring opposite Michael Douglas in the Apple TV+ Benjamin Franklin biopic, is leading a TV drama adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s cult classic, Engleby. Jupe will play the titular character, an enigmatic outsider who graduates from 1970s campus life to 1980s Fleet Street and beyond – haunted all the while by an unsolved mystery involving a friend and fellow student from his university days. The six-part drama is described as a "quintessential British murder mystery meets acute psychological character study, with a healthy dose of dark wit." Michael Keillor, who is helming the upcoming BBC/Netflix drama on the Lockerbie disaster, is directing, and Channel 4-backed production outfit Freedom Scripted is producing, although no network is attached as of yet.
Miss Scarlet wasn’t left alone for long, after Stuart Martin, who played William "The Duke" Wellington in the previous four seasons of the historical crime series, Miss Scarlet and The Duke, opted not to return for season five. Tom Durant Pritchard (The Crown) has joined the cast of the MASTERPIECE drama, playing Alexander Blake, a handsome former soldier and respected detective inspector who joins the force at Scotland Yard after Wellington's departure. He’s not particularly shocked by a woman working as a private eye, so Eliza takes this to mean she’ll be given more cases. But their relationship gets off to a rocky start since Blake has decided not to allow private detectives to aid in his investigations. As Blake and Miss Scarlet cross paths at various crime scenes across London, they can’t help but develop mutual respect for one another, and perhaps even an attraction.
ABC has renewed the Nathan Fillion drama, The Rookie, for a seventh season. Nathan Fillion stars as John Nolan, a man in his forties, who becomes the oldest rookie at the Los Angeles Police Department. Other cast members include Mekia Cox as Nyla Harper, Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez, Richard T. Jones as Sergeant Wade Grey, Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen, Eric Winter as Tim Bradford, Jenna Dewan as Bailey Nune, Shawn Ashmore as Wesley Evers, Tru Valentino as Aaron Thorsen, and Lisseth Chavez as Celina Juarez. The Rookie airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC, and streams next day on Hulu.
CBS has renewed the freshman series Elsbeth for the 2024-2025 season. The series follows the titular Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), who first appeared in The Good Wife and later in The Good Fight spinoff, an "astute but unconventional attorney who utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner brilliant criminals alongside the NYPD following her successful career in Chicago." Wendell Pierce and Carra Patterson round out the series' regular cast as Captain Wagner and Kaya Blanke, respectively.
One show that won't be returning is CSI: Vegas, with the network giving the drama the axe after three seasons. A follow-up to the 2000 CSI series, CSI: Vegas launched with original cast members William Petersen and Jorja Fox reprising their CSI roles in Season 1. The sequel’s current cast includes fellow original star Marg Helgenberger, who joined in Season 2, Paula Newsome, Mandeep Dhillon, Matt Lauria, Ariana Guerra, Jay Lee, and Lex Medlin.
MASTERPIECE Mystery! released its first trailer for the ninth season of Grantchester, which premieres Sunday, June 16 at 9/8c ET. The new season is set in 1961 and sees the poignant departure of Rev. Will Davenport (Tom Brittany) and the arrival of Rev. Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair).
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
On Crime Time FM, Juiie Anderson chatted with Paul Burke about her latest thriller, The MIdnight Man, the first book in a new historical crime series; Whitehall machinations; the birth of the NHS; the Clapham Literary Festival; The South London Women & Children's Hospital; the locked room mystery; and old British movies.
This week's episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Len Joy to discuss his novel, Dry Heat, and other writings.
Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Brian J. Morra, who spent his career in intelligence and national security, about his series, "The Able Archers," including the latest installment, The Righteous Arrows.
The Cops and Writers podcast traveled to San Francisco and the home of Fisherman’s Wharf, The Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and of course, Alcatraz, to chat with the City of San Francisco Police Sergeant and bestselling author, Adam Plantinga.
TG Wolff and Jack Wolff, the hosts of Mysteries To Die For Podcast, stormed the Wrong Place Write Crime studios and took over for an episode. Check out their interview with a mystery guest you may know.
On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed mysteries and thrillers nominated for the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
The Pick Your Poison podcast took a look at the animal called the most venomous in the world, discussed if pee is an effective antidote, and how pantyhose makes swimming safer.
April 21, 2024
CWA Dagger Awards Longlists Announced
The 2024 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honor the very best in the crime-writing genre, were announced last night at the CWA annual conference in Brighton in the UK. The shortlists will be revealed on May 10 at Crimefest, with winners announced on July 4 at the Daggers Dinner. (HT to Ayo Onatade via Shots Magazine). Congratulations to all!
Gold Dagger
Over My Dead Body, by Maz Evans (Headline)
Dead Man’s Creek, by Chris Hammer (Wildfire)
A Bitter Remedy, by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)
Night Will Find You, by Julia Haeberlin (Michael Joseph)
The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
The White Lie, by J.G. Kelly (Hodder & Stoughton)
Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus)
Tell Me What I Am, by Una Mannion (Faber and Faber)
Homecoming, by Kate Morton (Mantle)
Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo)
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto (HQ)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Simply Lies, by David Baldacci (Macmillan)
The Lie Maker, by Linwood Barclay (HQ)
All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
The House Hunt, by C.M. Ewan (Macmillan)
Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber and Faber)
The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka (Harvill Secker)
Gaslight, by Femi Kayode (Raven)
77 North, by D.L. Marshall (Canelo)
Drowning, by T.J. Newman (Simon & Schuster)
After That Night, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)
The Man in the Corduroy Suit, by James Wolff (Bitter Lemon Press)
ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
A Most Unusual Demise, by Kathryn Black (Bloodhound)
In the Blink of an Eye, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Golden Gate, by Amy Chua (Corvus)
Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Pushkin Vertigo)
Murder by Natural Causes, by Helen Erichsen (Muswell Press)
The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell (Penguin)
West Heart Kill, by Dann McDorman (Raven)
Obsessed, by Liza North (Constable)
Go Seek, by Michelle Teahan (Headline)
The Other Half, by Charlotte Vassell (Faber and Faber)
The Tumbling Girl, by Bridget Walsh (Gallic)
Historical Dagger
Clara & Olivia, by Lucy Ashe (Magpie)
The Lock-Up, by John Banville (Faber and Faber)
Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke (Orion)
Murder in the Bookshop, by Anita Davison (Boldwood)
After Midnight, by Louise Hare Harlem (HQ)
A Bitter Remedy, by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)
Viper's Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
The Winter List, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
The Murder Wheel, by Tom Mead (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Scarlet Town, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
Voices of the Dead, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
Lady MacBethad, by Isabelle Schuler (Raven)
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
The Snow Girl, by Javier Castillo, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler (Penguin)
Red Queen, by Juan Gómez-Jurado, translated by Nick Caistor (Macmillan)
The Girl by the Bridge, by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated by Philip Roughton (Vintage)
The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Malissa (Vintage)
The Sins of Our Fathers, by Åsa Larsson, translated by Frank Perry (Maclehose Press)
Thirty Days of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan E.Turney (Orenda)
Nothing Is Lost, by Cloé Mehdi, translated by Howard Curtis (Europa Editions UK)
The Murder of Anton Livius, by Hansjörg Schneider, translated by Astrid Freuler (Bitter Lemon Press)
The Consultant, by Im Seong-sun, translated by An Seong Jae (Raven)
Not Russian, by Mikhail Shevelev, translated by Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner (Europa Editions UK)
The Prey, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton)
My Husband, by Maud Ventura, translated by Emma Ramadan (Hutchinson Heinemann)
ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction
The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel (Simon & Schuster)
G-Man J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage (Simon & Schuster)
The Many Lives of Mama Love A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing and Healing, by Lara Love Hardin (Endeavour)
No Ordinary Day Espionage, Betrayal, Terrorism and Corruption—The Truth Behind the Murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, by Matt Johnson with John Murray (Ad Lib)
Chasing Shadows A True Story of the Mafia, Drugs and Terrorism, by Miles Johnson (Bridge Street Press)
The Snakehead An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream, by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador)
Devil’s Coin My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen, by Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson (Ad Lib)
No Comment What I Wish I’d Known About Becoming a Detective, by Jess McDonald (Raven)
Seventy Times Seven A True Story of Murder and Mercy, by Alex Mar (Bedford Square)
How Many More Women? The Silencing of Women by the Law and How to Stop It, by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida (Endeavour)
Ian Fleming The Complete Man, by Nicholas Shakespeare (Vintage)
Murder at Home How Our Safest Space Is Where We’re Most in Danger, by David Wilson (Sphere)
Short Story Dagger
“Three Ways to Die,” by Rachel Amphlett (from Thrill Ride No W.W.M., edited by M. L. “Matt” Buchman (Buchman Bookworks)
“Safe Enough,” by Lee Child (from An Unnecessary Assassin, edited by Lorraine Stevens; Rivertree)
“The Last Best Thing,” by Mia Dalia (from Bang! An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction, edited by Andrew Hook; Head Shot Press)
“Slap Happy,” by Andrew Humphrey (from Bang! An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction)
“The Also-Rans,” by Benedict J. Jones (from Bang! An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction)
“The Divide,” by Sanjida Kay (from The Book of Bristol, edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks; Comma Press)
The Spendthrift and the Swallow, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
“Drive By,” by D.G. Penny Drive (from An Unnecessary Assassin)
“Best Served Cold,” by F.D. Quinn (from An Unnecessary Assassin)
“Revenge Is Best Served Hot,” by Robert Scragg (from An Unnecessary Assassin)
Dagger in the Library
Louise Candlish
M.W. Craven
Lucy Foley
Cara Hunter
Anthony Horowitz
Vaseem Khan
Angela Marsons
Kate Rhodes
L.J. Ross
Diane Saxon
Publishers’ Dagger
Bitter Lemon Press
Canelo
Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)
Harvill Secker (Penguin Random House)
Headline (Hachette)
Joffe Books
Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)
Pushkin Press
Raven (Bloomsbury)
Simon & Schuster
Debut Dagger
Burnt Ranch, by Katherine Ahlert
Unnatural Predators, by Caroline Arnoul
Vilomah, by Matt Coot
Good Criminals, by Judy Hock
Vigilante Love Song, by J.R. Holland
Bluebirds, by Alan Jackson
Makoto Murders, by Richard Jerram
Long Way Home, by Lynn McCall
Not a Good Mother, by Karabi Mitra
The Last Days of Forever, by Jeremy Tinker
A Politician’s Guide to Murder, by James Tobin
The Blond, by Megan Toogood
April 19, 2024
Friday's Forgotten Books - The Saint in Europe
[image error]Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin (1907-1993), better known as Leslie Charteris, was born in Singapore and half-Chinese, half-English, which would later come to haunt him when he was excluded from permanent residency in the U.S. due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law prohibiting immigration for anyone with "50 percent or greater" Oriental blood. Eventually, after his success in literature and in Hollywood, an act of Congress personally granted him and his daughter the right of permanent residence in the United States.
It's probably safe to say that Charteris is one of the more colorful crime fiction authors in the genre. Before his literary success, he worked variously on a freighter, as a bartender, prospecting for gold, fishing for pearls, working in a tin mine and on a rubber plantation, touring England with a carnival, and driving a bus. He also rode on the Hindenburg on its successful maiden voyage.
His success lies almost entirely upon his famous literary creation, Simon Templar, known as "The Saint," featured in over 50 novels, novellas and short-story collections, as well as several TV and movie incarnations, and a long-running comic strip.
As to the genesis for the character, Charteris once said,
"Who knows where an idea comes from? The Saint was just originally a character who came to life in my head not so long after I started writing, but he was not the first character I thought of. He was, as a matter of fact, the fifth...I looked back over the characters I had created so far and picked the Saint, liked him the best, and decided to go on with him."
The books and stories never disclose Simon Templar's origins, other than the the possibility he started his career as a criminal. He was suave, mysterious, a daredevil, a gentleman thief or, as often called, a "modern day Robin Hood." In the earlier novels he was more violent than in later outings, such as the various short stories.
[image error]The Saint in Europe collection was first published in 1953, the 29th book to feature the character, and it marked not only a resumption of the book series after a five-year hiatus, but the 25th anniversary of the the Templar series. All seven stories in the collection were used as plots for episodes of the 1962-69 TV series, The Saint, starring Roger Moore (later James Bond).
The theme that ties all these stories together, if you can call it that, is the Saint traveling to different parts of Europe where he has runs into trouble of one kind or another. Or as Templar says, he "seldom went anywhere with the intention of getting into trouble. But trouble had that disastrous propensity for getting into him."
The first story is set in Paris and titled "The Covetous Headsman," in which the body of a young, honest, hardworking Parisian shipping clerk is found murdered and decapitated. Templar steps in to help when a web of money and betrayal dating back to the resistance during WWII threatens to make the naive sister of the victim the murderer's next target.
"The Rhine Maiden" is probably the best of the lot, hearkening back to the Templar of the earlier novels, where he was "judge and executioner." Templar gets drawn into the plight of a pitiable man and his daughter traveling with him on a train who have been swindled by the man's boss, also a passenger on the same train. The man, his daughter, and the boss remind Templar that
"the Saint has been something of a crook sometimes, even if that didn't hurt anybody but specimens like you. And since I reformed I've become rather sophisticated. Maybe it's a pity. Once loses sight of some simple elementary things that were very good."
The stories have some of the same flair as in the novels, with Templar's wit and imperturbability shining through. They're a good introduction to the character and Charteris style, and a pleasant enough way to while away an hour or so (it's a fairly short book). Meanwhile, fans of The Saint depictions on the small screen can rejoice with the news announced late last year that Paramount has plans to reboot the series with Rege-Jean Page starring in the title role.
April 18, 2024
Mystery Melange
International Thriller Writers (ITW) are presenting Jeffery Deaver in conversation with Isabella Maldonado to discuss "Secrets of Suspense." This online Zoom event takes place today at 2pm. It's free, and you don't have to be an ITW member, but interested participants need to register via this link.
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine announced that the 2023 EQMM Readers Award winner is David Dean, for "Mrs. Hyde" (March/April 2023). In second place was Richard Helms with "Spear Carriers" (Nov/ Dec 2023), and Paul O’Connor. took third place with "Teddy’s Favorite Thing" (Sept/Oct 2023), the first published fiction by the author. For the rest of the finalists in the top ten, check out this link.
The Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime is sponsoring "An Afternoon of Thrills & Suspense" at the Braden River Library from 2-5:00 on Saturday, April 27th. The event will feature a panel discussion on thriller, suspense, and crime writing moderated by Gwen Mayo, author and publisher at Mystery and Horror, LLC. The panelists include Lisa Malice, Gayle Brown, Tanya Goodwin, and Sheila McNaughton. The event, which is free and open to the public, will include book sales, and drawings for prizes, including copies of the chapter’s anthology, Murder in Paradise.
After a year's hiatus, Noir at the Bar Toronto returns April 25 from 7-9pm at the Duke of Kent pub. The event is hosted by Rob Brunet and Madeleine Harris-Callway and will feature readings and book signings from Ryan Aldred, Andrea Brellick, Peter Pontsa, Jeffrey Pound, Eric Shynal, and Sylvia Warsh.
The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with Auckland Libraries, is sponsoring "Blood by the Beach" at the Takapuna Library on Wednesday, April 29. Authors scheduled to participate include debut author and former Auckland detective Cristian Kelly, joining 2023 Ngaio finalists Fiona Sussman (also a past Ngaio winner) and Simon Lendrum, and past Ngaio Best Kids/YA finalist Eileen Merriman. Moderated by author Kirsten McKenzie, the panel will discuss crafting compelling storylines and memorable characters, and the impact of place and real-life themes.
Joffe Books will celebrate its tenth anniversary on May 23 with a "fabulous garden party at the Royal Over-Seas League in London for authors, agents and all those who have contributed to our incredible journey over the past decade." Joffe Books was founded in 2014, when Jasper Joffe agreed to publish his mother’s much-rejected romance novel and turned it into a bestseller. But the roster has primarily focused on crime fiction, with award-winning authors and New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestsellers including Simon Brett, Faith Martin, Joy Ellis, Robert Goddard, Stella Cameron, and Helen Forrester. Joffe Books won Trade Publisher of the Year at the Independent Publishing Awards in 2023, was shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards for the last five years. The company also founded the Joffe Books Prize, the largest prize in the UK for crime fiction by under-represented authors.
In the Q&A roundup, Anthony Horowitz spoke with Crime Reads about giving himself a new role in his latest mystery; Kara Thomas joined Deborah Kalb to discuss her new suspense novel, Lost to Dune Road, inspired by the Gilgo Beach murders on Long Island; and Author Interviews chatted with Karen E. Olson, a Shamus Award finalist and author of the Annie Seymour mysteries, the Tattoo Shop mysteries, and the Black Hat thrillers.
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April 16, 2024
Crème de la CrimeFest
CrimeFest, the crime writing convention in Bristol, UK, has announced the 2024 shortlists for the annual awards honoring the best crime books released in the UK in the last year. Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and also the winning titles, which will be presented at the convention Gala Awards Dinner on May 11, 2024.
Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award
Stig Abell for Death Under a Little Sky (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)
Jo Callaghan for In The Blink Of An Eye (Simon & Schuster)
Megan Davis for The Messenger (Zaffre)
Jenny Lund Madsen for Thirty Days of Darkness; translated by Megan Turney (Orenda Books)
Natalie Marlow for Needless Alley (Baskerville)
Alice Slater for Death of a Bookseller (Hodder & Stoughton)
Edunnit Award (Ebooks)
Rachel Abbott for Don’t Look Away (Wildfire)
Jane Casey for The Close (HarperCollins)
Martin Edwards for Sepulchre Street (Head of Zeus)
Christina Koning for Murder at Bletchley Park (Allison & Busby)
Laura Lippman for Prom Mom (Faber & Faber)
Craig Russell for The Devil’s Playground (Constable)
Last Laugh Award (Humorous Crime Novels)
Mark Billingham for The Last Dance (Sphere)
Elly Griffiths for The Great Deceiver (Quercus)
Mick Herron for The Secret Hours (Baskerville)
Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Memory (Severn House)
Jesse Sutanto for Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (HQ)
Antti Tuomianen for The Beaver Theory (Orenda Books)
H.R.F. Keating Award (Biographical/Critical)
M, J, F & A Dall’Asta, Migozzi, Pagello & Pepper for Contemporary European Crime Fiction: Representing History and Politics (Palgrave)
Lisa Hopkins for Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction (Palgrave)
Kate Jackson for How To Survive a Classic Crime Novel (British Library Publishing)
Steven Powell for Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy (Bloomsbury Academic)
Nicholas Shakespeare for Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (Harvill Secker)
Adam Sisman for The Secret Life of John Le Carré (Profile Books)
Thalia Proctor Memorial Award For Best Adapted TV Crime Drama
Dalgliesh (series 2), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books by P.D. James (Channel 5)
Reacher (series 2), based on the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child (Amazon Prime)
Shetland (series 8), based on the Shetland books by Ann Cleeves (BBC)
Slow Horses (series 3), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple)
The Serial Killer’s Wife, based on the Serial Killer books by Alice Hunter (Paramount+)
Vera (series 12), based on the Vera Stanhope books by Ann Cleeves (ITV)
Best Crime Novel For Children
A.M. Howell for Mysteries At Sea: Peril On The Atlantic (Usborne Publishing)
Lis Jardine for The Detention Detectives (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
Beth Lincoln for The Swifts (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
Marcus Rashford (with Alex Falase-Koya) for The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Robin Stevens for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
J.T. Williams for The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison, illustrated by Simone Douglas (Farshore)
Best Crime Novel For Young Adults
Jennifer Lynn for Barnes The Brothers Hawthorne (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
Nick Brooks for Promise Boys (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Ravena Guron for This Book Kills (Usborne Publishing)
Ravena Guron for Catch Your Death (Usborne Publishing)
Karen M. McManus for One of Us is Back (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
Elizabeth Wein for Stateless (Bloomsbury YA)
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April 15, 2024
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
Oscar-nominated Colin Farrell is set to star in Netflix's The Ballad of a Small Player, with Edward Berger directing. Rowan Joffe will adapt the script that is based on the 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne. The story follows a corrupt English lawyer and high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Sony’s 3000 Pictures has preemptively acquired film rights to the Clare Leslie Hall (aka Clare Empson) romantic suspense novel, Broken Country, set to be published March, 2025. Broken Country follows a married woman whose first love unexpectedly comes crashing back into her life and changes everything in an instant. His presence unravels her world as she weighs all that could have been, against the life she has made for herself since. Passion proves dangerous, ultimately leading to a murder and unearthing a web of secrets that she always intended to leave buried in the past.
Artists Equity is set to adapt Kiss of the Spider Woman, based on the 1993 Broadway musical, which in turn was inspired by Manuel Puig’s landmark 1976 novel. Diego Luna and Tonatiuh will star in the adaptation as Valentin Arregui and Luis Molina, respectively, joining Jennifer Lopez, who was previously announced in the titular role. The musical is set in an Argentinian prison in 1981, against the backdrop of what is historically referred to as the Guerra Sucia ("Dirty War") waged by the military dictatorship. Molina is a department store window dresser serving an eight-year sentence after being entrapped by police for allegedly corrupting a minor. To escape the horrors of imprisonment, he imagines a movie starring classic silver screen diva Ingrid Luna (Lopez) as both fashion editor Aurora and the Spider Woman, who kills her prey with a kiss. Molina’s life is upended when forced to share a cell with Marxist revolutionary Valentin, with whom an unlikely bond is formed.
TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN
Sherlock star Mark Gatiss is writing and will star in the British TV drama, Bookish, a six-part series about a bookshop owner who helps police solve crimes. Set in post-war London in 1946, the series will follow Gabriel Book (Gatiss), an "erudite and unconventional" sleuth who cracks mysterious cases from his antiquated bookshop, using the thousands of books that line his shelves to provide him with the knowledge that he needs. Around him are a gathering of "loveable, damaged misfits who he informally protects, cajoles and mentors." Starring alongside Gatiss is Polly Walker (Bridgerton), who plays Book’s colorful wife Trottie. She is charismatic and adventurous, owns a wallpaper shop next door and loves Book deeply but not physically, as they share a "lavender marriage," which helps conceal Book’s sexual orientation at a time when it was illegal to be gay.
The BBC and new co-production partner Amazon have given an order for two additional seasons of the John le Carré adaptation, The Night Manager, with Tom Hiddleston returning to lead, Hugh Laurie coming back as executive producer, and a new director in Georgi Banks-Davies. The Night Manager Season 2 will begin filming later this year and will pick up with Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine eight years after the explosive finale of Season 1, going beyond the original book, which was written by the celebrated British writer in 1993. Additional plot details are being kept under wraps and there is not yet confirmation as to whether Hugh Laurie’s Richard Roper, who was last seen in the back of a paddy wagon driven by arms buyers who were not pleased with him, will return to star.
Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), AnnaSophia Robb (The Act), and Ben Rappaport (For the People) are set as leads in Grosse Pointe Garden Society. The NBC drama pilot follows four members of a suburban garden club — three of them played by Fumero, Robb, and Rappaport — all from different walks of life, who get caught up in murder and mischief as they struggle to make their conventional lives bloom. Fumero plays Birdie, a successful author whose memoir is a bestseller. Robb plays Alice, a high school English teacher whose best dreams are crashing down on her, while Rappaport plays Brett, who put his own dreams of starting a car restoration business on hold so his wife (now ex-wife) could finish law school.
After bringing back CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with CSI: Vegas, CBS is looking to revive another Jerry Bruckheimer Television-produced crime procedural from the 2000s. According to Deadline, the network is in negotiations with Warner Bros. TV for a reboot of Cold Case, which aired on CBS for seven seasons from 2003-2010. Set fifteen years after the original series’ final episode, the untitled Cold Case reboot would follow a new team of tenacious detectives who investigate cold cases across the Southwest, which would be a new location as the original Cold Case was set in Philadelphia. The original series follows Detective Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris), a homicide detective with the Philadelphia Police Department specializing in cold cases, who was partnered for the majority of the show’s run with Detective Scotty Valens (Danny Pino).
CBS renewed Dick Wolf’s trio of FBI dramas, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International, which follows the announcement by NBC that it's renewing Wolf’s other trio of "Chicago" shows. CBS is also renewing NCIS, a top 20 series for 18 of its 20 full seasons and the No. 1 drama for the last five consecutive seasons.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
The podcast Science Vs tackled "Science Vs Murder in the Ivory Tower." It’s 1849, and a gruesome murder has just happened at Harvard. As body parts turn up, the science of the day is put to the ultimate test to find out who committed this brutal killing. Professor Paul Collins tells us how this morbid mystery unfolds.
Spybrary was joined by Jonna Mendez, a former CIA operative with an enthralling tale of espionage, covert operations, and the very human aspect of intelligence work.
The latest Mystery Rat's Maze podcast featured the mystery short story, "Squashed to Death" by Charlotte Morganti, as read by actor Donna Beavers. This story was first published in Seeds, the Texas Gardeners newsletter.
The Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with historical and thriller writer Erin Young, discussing her gold kitchen, banned trousers, and Christianity's oldest religious book to ever go on sale, the Crosby-Schøyen Codex.
On Crime Time FM, Stig Abell chatted with Paul Burke about his new crime novel, Death in a Lonely Place; rural idyll as vest of Vipers; writing a series; love of genre fiction and how crime fiction is a tonic for the soul.
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