B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 6
July 12, 2025
July 11, 2025
Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries
Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930) was born into a prosperous family in West Virginia and practiced criminal and corporate law for several years. However, after the success of his first novel series, he promptly dropped his law career to write full time. He was a prolific writer, penning numerous stories in national magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies Home Journal.
He wrote a couple of series and some standalone novels, but it may have been his twenty-plus stories featuring the mystery-solving and justice dispensing West Virginian backwoodsman, Uncle Abner, which helped make Post popular. Ellery Queen called the stories "an out-of-this-world target for future detective-story writers," and the 1941 review of the mystery genre, Murder for Pleasure, declared that Uncle Abner was, after Edgar Allan Poe's Arsène Dupin, "the greatest American contribution" to the cast of fictional detectives.
Uncle Abner is described as "a big, broad-shouldered, deep-chested Saxon, with all those marked characteristics of a race living out of doors and hardened by wind and sun. His powerful frame carried no ounce of surplus weight. It was the frame of an empire builder on the frontier of the empire. The face reminded one of Cromwell, the craggy features in repose seemed molded over iron but the fine gray eyes had a calm serenity, like remote spaces in the summer sky. The man's clothes were plain and somber. And he gave the impression of things big and vast."
Abner is also a Puritan at heart who always carries a Bible in his pocket and has a knack for finding out the truth. As his nephew, Martin, who frequently narrates the stories, says, "for all his iron ways, Abner was a man who saw justice in its large and human aspect, and he stood for the spirit, above the letter, of the truth." He is a stern authoritarian figure but equally so a kind and compassionate philosopher.
Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries was the first anthology (1918), and contained 18 Uncle Abner stories all told by Martin. The crimes primarily deal with murder or robbery and start after the crime has been committed and the killer thinks he's gotten away with it. "The Doomdorf Mystery," is the first story in the collection and also one of Post's best known. It features more than one possible suspect who all admit to being the killer, as well as a locked-room scenario ("the wall of the house is plumb with the sheer face of the rock. It is a hundred feet to the river ... but that is not all. Look at these window frames; they are cemented into their casement with dust").
The stories are most definitely of their pre-Civil War setting, in that they feature the attitudes toward African-Americans prevalent at the time. (NOTE: this means they have the associated language that today's readers might find offensive.) Some readers may otherwise find these stories have interest for their historical settings, shrewd characterizations, tight plots, and for the dispensing of frontier justice in an era that predated American police forces and procedures.
Related StoriesFriday's "Forgotten" Books - I Start CountingFriday's "Forgotten" Books: The Moving ToyshopFriday's "Forgotten" Books - The Singing Spider
July 10, 2025
Mystery Melange
Bestselling novelist Elly Griffiths will be honored with the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award, in recognition of her remarkable crime fiction writing career and "unwavering commitment to the genre." Griffiths is the author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries; the Brighton Mysteries, the Detective Harbinder Kaur series, and a new series featuring time-travelling detective Ali Dawson. Previous winners of the prestigious award include Sir Ian Rankin, Lynda La Plante, James Patterson, John Grisham, Lee Child, Val McDermid, P.D. James, Michael Connelly, Ann Cleeves, and last year’s recipient, Martina Cole. The award will be presented at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday, July 17th.
The Bouchercon World Mystery convention announced that the 2025 winners of the David Thompson Special Service Award are Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich. Lucinda and Stan have worked tirelessly with Bouchercon conventions since 2007 and are also the driving force behind the mystery conference, Left Coast Crime, which sponsors the Lefty Awards. The David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award is given by the Bouchercon Board to honor the memory and contributions to the crime fiction community of David Thompson, a much beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010. Stan and Lucinda will be presented with their award at the Opening Ceremonies of Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed in New Orleans, September 3-7, 2025. (HT to Shots Magazine blog)
The CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an annual international competition since 2014 for a short story of up to 3,500 words. The goal is to find the best unpublished short mystery that fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great mystery story: "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." The 2025 winner is Helen Gray for "Unsupervised Dead Women." The other finalists include: "The Human Imperative" by Michael Bird; "Best Served Cold" by Ajay Chowdhury; "The Treasure Hunter" by Jane Corry; "Only Forward" by Hayley Dunning; and "A Woman of No Consequence" by Laure Van Rensberg.
Registration is now open for NoirCon 2025: Novel Journeys, with four days celebrating film noir, neo-noir, and hardboiled writing at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, from October 23-26. All-Access Passes are available at a 25% discount with early bird pricing, which ends on September 2. This year's highlights include Keynote speaker Kristen Lopez, author of But Have You Read the Book: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films; panels such as "A Lively Discussion of Colorful Characters in Current Crime Fiction" and "A Hardboiled Brunch of Writers"; a tribute to the late David Lynch; and a Noir at the Bar. Special guests include Megan Abbott, Duane Swierczynski, Marco Carocari, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, and Gary Phillips. William Horberg will also be honored with the David L. Goodis Award in recognition for contributions to Noir Literature in the spirit and tradition of Philadelphia’s native son, David Loeb Goodis, and Adrian Wootton will receive The Jay and Deen Kogan Award for work reflecting the preservation of literary excellence and achievement.
The new exhibit "John le Carré: Tradecraft" will open at the Weston library, Bodleian libraries, on October 1, running until April 6, 2026, with artifacts that showcase the extent of John le Carré’s meticulous research and attention to detail. Exhibits seen for the first time will include his copious notes on his characters, as well as sketches in which, like a film director, he visualized those individuals in the margins of his manuscripts. The author's classic cold war-era espionage novels, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and inspired acclaimed films and television adaptations.
This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Freddie's Dead" by Pamela Ebel.
In the Q&A roundup, Writers Who Kill interviewed Barb Goffman about the new short story anthology she edited, Crime Travel, as well as her own short crime fiction; and Suspense Magazine chatted with debut author Travis Kennedy about The Whyte Python World Tour, a "hilarious, high-stakes ride through ’80s glam metal and Cold War chaos."
Related StoriesMystery Melange
July 7, 2025
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
Charlotte Kirk (Duchess) and Jesse Kove (Cobra Kai) are set to star in the thriller, Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow, based on the novel by A.L. Jackson, with filming set to begin in New Mexico in August. Kirk will play Dakota Cooper, a single mother trying to rebuild her life in a small town when a mysterious figure from her past returns forcing her to confront old secrets, rekindled love, and new danger. Kove plays Ryder Nash, an enigmatic ex-con whose return threatens to unravel and ultimately redefine Dakota’s carefully rebuilt life. Actor Darren Weiss (Tin Soldier) plays Cody, Dakota’s loyal but conflicted brother, and Alessandra Williams (Mile 22) will portray Paisley, Dakota’s confidante, with Lina Maya (Fight Or Flight) rounding out the cast as antagonist Pearl, one of the posse opposing Ryder Nash.
Sunrise Films has picked up the Irish crime-thriller, Amongst The Wolves, for U.S. distribution, with plans to release the film in a handful of U.S. theaters and on digital platforms beginning July 11. The project, from filmmaker Mark O’Connor, is set against the backdrop of Dublin’s underworld and follows Danny (Luke McQuillan), a homeless ex-soldier battling PTSD, whose chance encounter with a runaway teen, Will (Daniel Fee), sparks an unlikely alliance. As they’re hunted by a ruthless drug gang led by the menacing Power (Aidan Gillen), their fight for survival becomes a journey of redemption.
Neon will be releasing filmmaker Chloe Domont's latest thriller, A Place in Hell, from MRC and Rian Johnson's (Knives Out) T-Street Productions in U.S. markets. The thriller follows two women at a high-profile criminal law firm and stars five-time Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams, along with Daisy Edgar Jones and Andrew Scott.
Film Noir Foundation president and founder, Eddie Muller, returns to Portland's Hollywood Theatre July 11-13 for NOIR CITY: Portland, a 3-day festival of both classic and obscure noir films from the 1940s and 1950s. This year's films star the six actresses profiled in Muller's Dark City Dames, including Jane Greer, Marie Windsor, Audrey Totter, Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage, who display their brilliance in, respectively, Out of the Past (1947); The Narrow Margin (1952); Alias Nick Beal (1949); 99 River Street (1951); The Killing (1956); and Detour (1945).
TELEVISION/STREAMING
ITV is turning to the serial killer genre with The Dark, an adaptation of GR Halliday’s novel, From the Shadows. The story follows Scottish detective Monica Kennedy who finds the body of a young man and fears this is just the beginning of a terrifying campaign that will strike at the heart of a rural community. As paranoia rises, suspicions and secrets are forced into the light, and the locals start to realize there is a serial killer hidden amongst them.
Emmy winner Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos; White Lotus) is set to star opposite Patrick Dempsey in Memory of a Killer, the new straight-to-series thriller drama via Warner Bros Television and Fox Entertainment. Memory of a Killer, from writers Ed Whitmore and Tracey Malone, is inspired by the award-winning 2003 Belgian thriller, De Zaak Alzheimer (La Memoire Du Tueur), and follows Angelo Ledda (Dempsey), a hitman who is leading a dangerous double life while hiding an even deadlier personal secret: He has developed early-onset Alzheimer’s. Imperioli will star as Dutch, an accomplished Italian chef who owns a restaurant in the Bronx, a stalwart establishment that is also a front for Dutch’s less sociable activities, such as running a criminal enterprise. As ruthless and mercurial as he is affable, Dutch is Angelo’s oldest friend, as well as his employer — he gives Angelo the targets for his hits.
Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) has signed on to co-star in Channel 4's thriller drama, Maya, with Ramsey playing the teenage daughter of Anna (Daisy Haggard). The pair leave their lives in London and are forced into a witness protection program with new identities in a small rural Scottish town. The trauma of their past continues to haunt them as they attempt to settle into a new life, with two hitmen intent on tracking them down.
The CW has set Wednesday, September 24 for the Season 1 premiere of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. The network in May announced a two-season order for the drama series based on the classic format from Dick Wolf and developed by Rene Balcer for Universal Television. (Season 2 is slated to air in 2026.) The spin-off stars Aden Young (Rectify) and Kathleen Munroe (City on Fire), and follows the Specialized Criminal Investigations Unit’s detective duo, Detective Sergeants Henry Graff (Young) and Frankie Bateman (Munroe), as they investigate high-profile homicides in Canada’s largest metropolis. Their unique investigative skills are showcased through psychological tactics, with a heavy focus on the motives and actions of the criminals.
Netflix axed the Shondaland murder mystery, The Residence, which premiered in late March. The White House murder mystery stars Uzo Aduba and is based on Kate Andersen Brower’s book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House. Aduba plays Cordelia Cupp, the "greatest detective in the world," and if the series had gone forward, the plan was for it to become an anthology with Cupp taking on a new case each season.
PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO
Crime Time FM's series on Cozy Crime featured a chat with Rev. Richard Coles, TE "Tim" Kinsey, and Marnie Riches, as well as a new Desert Island Books installment.
Murder Junction spoke with broadcaster and crime writer, Steph McGovern, about her debut thriller, Deadline, her engineering chops, and her passion for Irish dancing.
Meet the Thriller Author interviewed Alex R. Johnson, an award-winning writer and filmmaker, about his debut novel, Brooklyn Motto.
Write Place, Wrong Crime welcomed Scott McCrea to talk about his adventure novels, thrillers, and westerns, and a little Star Trek, too.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for MondayAuthor R&R wth Wendy Gee
July 5, 2025
Delectable Daggers
The UK's Crime Writers’ Association unveiled the winners for the 2025 Dagger Awards, in a ceremony held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The 2025 awards include two new categories: The Twisted Dagger, which celebrates "psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail"; and The Whodunnit Dagger, for books that "focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, including cozy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries." Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series, was previously announced as this year’s recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!
GOLD DAGGER : Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion)
Other Finalists:
A Divine Fury by D V Bishop (Macmillan)
The Bell Tower by R J Ellory (Orion)
The Hunter by Tana French (Penguin Books Ltd)
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke (Profile Books Ltd)
Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers)
IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER : Dark Ride by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)
Other Finalists:
Nobody's Hero by M W Craven (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)
Sanctuary by Garry Disher (Viper/Profile Books)
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)
Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster)
City in Ruins by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)
JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER: All Us Sinners by Katy Massey (Little, Brown /Sphere)
Other Finalists:
Miss Austen Investigates by Jessica Bull (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)
Knife River by Justine Champine (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)
Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton)
A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder by Gay Marris (Bedford Square Publishers)
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)
HISTORICAL DAGGER: The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West (Orenda Books)
Other Finalists:
A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield (Aries / Head of Zeus)
CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER: The Night of Baby Yaga by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett
Other Finalists:
Dogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis
Going to the Dogs by Pierre Lemaitre (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne
The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö (Zaffre) tr. Kristian London
Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton
Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes
GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION: The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Circus)
Other Finalists:
Unmasking Lucy Let by Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz (Seven Dials)
The Lady in the Lake by Jeremy Craddock (Mirror Books)
Framed by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Criminal Mind by Duncan Harding (PRH/Michael Joseph)
Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming (Quercus)
SHORT STORY DAGGER: "A Date on Yarmouth Pier" by J.C Bernthal in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
Other Finalists:
"The Glorious Twelfth" by S.J Bennett in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
Why Harrogate?" by Janice Hallett in Murder in Harrogate, edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)
"City Without Shadows" by William Burton McCormick in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
"A Ruby Sun" by Meeti Shroff-Shah in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
"Murder at the Turkish Baths" by Ruth Ware in Murder in Harrogate, edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)
WHODUNNIT DAGGER: The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl by Lisa Hall, (Hera Hera)
Other Finalists:
A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett, (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
Murder at the Christmas Emporium by Andreina Cordani,(Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
Good Place to Hide a Body by Laura Marshall, (Hodder & Stoughton )
A Matrimonial Murder by Meeti Shroff-Shah, (Joffe Books)
Murder at the Matinee, by Jamie West, (Brabinger Publishing)
TWISTED DAGGER: Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra: (PRH/ Viking)
Other Finalists:
Emma, Disappeared by Andrew Hughes (Hachette Books Ireland)
Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)
The Stranger In Her House by John Marrs (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)
The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson (Hodder & Stoughton)
Look In The Mirror by Catherine Steadman (Quercus)
DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY: Richard Osman
Other Finalists:
Kate Atkinson
Robert Galbraith
Janice Hallett
Lisa Jewell
Edward Marston
PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER: Orenda Books
Other Finalists:
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGER: Ashland by Joe Eurell
Other Finalists:
Bahadur Is My Name by Loftus Brown,
Funeral Games by Shannon Chamberlain
Soho Love, Soho Blood by Hywel Davies
he Fifth by Shannon Falkson,
Murder Under Wraps by Catherine Lovering
July 4, 2025
Friday's "Forgotten" Books - I Start Counting
British writer Audrey Erskine Lindop (1920–1986) joined a repertory company after leaving school, and by the age of 18 was a film scriptwriter. She went on to pen several additional movie scripts and married the British playwright Dudley Leslie. Lindop wrote the first of her eight suspense novels in 1953, with three of them later made into movies, including I Start Counting (featuring a teenage Jenny Agutter in her first big-screen starring role). The novel itself went on to win the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière - International Category in 1967.
I Start Counting centers on 14-year-old orphan Wynne Kinch, growing up in during the prosperous but tumultous 1960s Britain. Her working-class family—which includes her aunt by marriage who she calls Mum, her granddad, and her cousin—had been evicted from their Collins Wood home to make for a new development. But even after moving to a brand-spanking new high-rise council flat, Wynne sneaks back to the old beloved homestead, and it is there that a mystery begins to unfold.
Wynne has an intense crush on her 32-year-old stepbrother, George, and finds he's been in the old Collins Wood place recently and had lied about what he was doing. When she further spies on him, she sees scratches on his back and finds a bloody sweater he threw in the trash, making her suspect George is the serial strangler of several local teenage girls. Her loyalty to him and her attempts to protect him eventually draw the attention of the police, throw the members of her blended family into turmoil, and ultimately lead to tragedy.
The title I Start Counting refers to Wynne's philosophy of counting to "drown out the thought that was scaring you," yet the novel itself isn't a dark thriller, but rather a coming-of-age tale with warmth, humor, and an entertaining cast of characters that incluces Wynne's boy-crazy pal Corinne, Wynne's doom-laden sister Aunt Rene Tyndall, George's high-strung half-brother Len, Wynne's cousin Helene, and her north-country "Mum." But the story would fall apart if it weren't grounded in the POV of the intelligent, funny, passionate Wynne, who Lindop has painted with a wholly sympathetic brush.
Related StoriesFriday's "Forgotten" Books: The Moving ToyshopFriday's "Forgotten" Books - The Singing SpiderFriday's "Forgotten: Books - The Midnight Plumber
July 3, 2025
Mystery Melange
Author Ace Atkins will receive the 2026 Harper Lee Award, organizers of the Monroeville Literary Festival have announced. The elite club of previous winners includes E.O. Wilson, Winston Groom, Rick Bragg, and Fannie Flagg. According to festival organizers, the award "recognizes the lifetime achievement of a writer either born in Alabama or strongly connected to the state." A former Auburn Tiger and sports and crime reporter, Atkins published his first crime novel, Crossroad Blues, in 1998. He's since published several novels in the Nick Travers and Sheriff Quinn Colson series, as well as standalone titles and a series of "Spenser" novels, continuing the franchise launched by the late Robert B. Parker. The festival and award presentation will take place Feb. 26-28, 2026.
A group of more than 70 authors including Dennis Lehane, Paul Tremblay, Chuck Wendig, and Gregory Maguire released an open letter on Friday about the use of AI, asking publishing houses to promise "they will never release books that were created by machines." The letter contains a list of direct requests to publishers concerning a wide array of ways in which AI may already — or could soon be — used in publishing. It asks them to refrain from publishing books written using AI tools built on copyrighted content without authors' consent or compensation, to refrain from replacing publishing house employees wholly or partially with AI tools, and to only hire human audiobook narrators — among other requests. Meanwhile, some of the many intellectual property lawsuits against unlawful AI use are still wending their way through the courts.
Some sad news this week: The Washington Post reported that Jane Stanton Hitchcock has died at the age of 78 after losing her struggle with pancreatic cancer. Hitchcock was a socialite, playwright, poker aficionado, and author of crime novels such as Trick of the Eye (1992), which was turned into a made-for-TV film starring Ellen Burstyn and Meg Tilly, and Bluff (2019), which was awarded the Hammett Prize by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch. FYI, the Q&A with the author on this blog, which was referenced in the Washington Post article, can be found via this link.
Janet Rudolph posted her updated list of Fourth of July Crime Fiction on her Mystery Fanfare blog.
This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry is "D for Dallas" by Roger Netzer.
In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb chatted with Gloria Chao, author of the new novel, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club, and also spoke with Julia Seales, author of the new novel, A Terribly Nasty Business, the sequel to her novel, A Most Agreeable Murder; and Camilla Trinchieri (aka Camilla Crespi), applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Murder in Pitigliano, the fifth title in her Tuscan mystery series.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
July 1, 2025
Author R&R with Baron Birtcher
[image error]Baron Birtcher spent a number of years as a professional musician, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He founded an independent record label, and spent 18 years in the commercial real estate business in California. He later turned his hand to writing crime fiction, and his first two hardboiled mystery novels, Roadhouse Blues and Ruby Tuesday were Los Angeles Times and Independent Mystery Booksellers Association bestsellers. He’s also the winner of the Silver Falchion Award (Hard Latitudes); Winner of Killer Nashville Readers Choice Award (South California Purples); and Best Book of the Year Award for Fistful Of Rain. He has also been nominated for the Nero Award, the Lefty, the Foreword Indie, the Claymore, and the Pacific Northwest's Spotted Owl Awards. His new novel, Knife River, is now available from Open Road.
[image error]Knife River is the fourth installment in a series with Sheriff Ty Dawson, a rancher, lawman, military veteran, husband, and father in 1970s Oregon. There are rules in the West no matter what era you were born in, and it’s up to lawman Ty Dawson to make sure they’re followed in the valley he calls home. The people living on this unforgiving land keep to themselves and are wary of the modern world’s encroachment into their quiet lives.
So it’s not without some suspicion that Dawson confronts a newcomer to the region: a record producer who has built a music studio in an isolated compound. His latest project is a collaboration with a famous young rock star named Ian Swann, recording and filming his sessions for a movie. An amphitheater for a live show is being built on the land, giving Dawson flashbacks to the violent Altamont concert. Not on his watch.
But even beefed up security can’t stop a disaster that’s been over a decade in the making. All it takes is one horrific case bleeding its way into the present to prove that the good ol’ days spawned a brand of evil no one wants to revisit...
Birtcher stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing the Ty Dawson series
COWBOYS, WRITERS & MUSICIANS and THE ORIGINS OF KNIFE RIVER AND THE TY DAWSON SERIES
By Baron Birtcher
I have long held the belief that you can tell a lot about a cowboy by the way he treats his hat; the way he wears it, and the way he treats it when he takes it off his head. The same can be said about a musician and his instrument, the songwriter and his guitar. We reveal ourselves by the way we treat our favorite objects, and even more so the way we treat our animals, or speak about others in their absence, and the way we treat both friends and strangers in their presence.
I also believe it is the writer’s responsibility to reveal these things—in sum and substance, it is the very core of what we do. If we fail to reach for revelation, for insight, unique perspectives and observations, we are selling ourselves short, and likewise our readers.
In my life, I have had the great joy to participate in all of these pursuits—horseman, musician, and writer—and for me, there is a distinct confluence, a synergy among them that has taught me a great deal about nature, people, and the world.
In recent weeks, I have been doing a number of talks and signings in support of the release of the newest installment of the Sheriff Ty Dawson crime thriller series, Knife River. As has always been the case, my favorite part of those events is the audience Q&A, where readers get to delve deeper into the backstory, the characters, the musical references, and details about the writing process. But the question I encounter most frequently regards the origins of Ty Dawson, and the fictional locale Meriwether County, in which Dawson plies his trade as both a rancher and a sheriff.
In fact, I often characterize the series as Longmire meets Yellowstone in the 1970s.
Frankly, I love that these books are so evocative for many of us, and the fact that they take place during the 1970s conjures such a vast mélange of memories, images and feelings. I had hoped the series would be an immersive reading experience as I was writing it, and I have been rewarded by kind comments from readers to that exact effect, which truly warms my heart.
So, I thought it might be interesting to share with you a slightly more detailed version of the response I offer when asked about the origins of Sheriff Ty Dawson, and I hope it adds dimension and depth to the stories for you, and enriches the experience—as is my intention.
I like to say that I was born in South California (a term that is infrequently—if ever—used by anyone other than me, but I’ve always liked the look of those words on the page), birthed at the crossroads of the Eisenhower and Kennedy eras, reared in the shadow of Aquarius, and graduated from high school in the ballroom of the Hotel California.
I celebrated my 40th birthday while living in Kona, Hawaii, and after fifteen years in that island paradise, moved to the Willamette Valley, Oregon, where my wife and I reside today. But South California has remained as much a part of me as I of her, and not only because I still have family living there.
I was raised on a small ranch in San Juan Capistrano, a tiny (at the time) agricultural hamlet on the southern California coast, in many ways very much like the fictional town of Meridian, the epicenter of the Ty Dawson series, which began with the award-winning South California Purples. And, like my central character Ty Dawson, I grew up surrounded by horses, cattle, and untolled acres of farmland (orange groves, strawberries, avocados and cattle in my case), learning to saddle and handle a horse (a pony, at first) by the time I had reached my fourth birthday.
The timeline of the Ty Dawson series is set in the mid-1970s, although I chose that period for reasons most people may not be aware. I am the youngest of three children, with a brother and sister who are six- and four- years my senior, respectively. As the youngest among us, I had the distinct advantage of observing the experiences, glories and errors experienced by my siblings, and did my level best to steer clear of the growing list of things they did that drew the ire of my parents.
In 1973, the year in which the first of the Ty Dawson mysteries takes place, I was twelve years old. The very serious conversations that were taking place around our dinner table that year revolved around my brother having attained the age of registration for the military draft—the war in Vietnam continuing to rage unabated—augmented by stern warnings to my high-school-aged sister to avoid the manifold dangers of hallucinogenic drugs and, of course, boys. I listened with rapt interest and no small amount of trepidation, my pre-teen mind not always comprehending the complexities of the subject matter, nor the reasons my parents appeared so enormously apprehensive about the chaotic state of our world at that time, and the escalating social turmoil in our country. In retrospect, I suppose I believed that watching body-counts being tallied like box scores on the nightly network news was the norm.
Jump-cut to the year 2020, the year my family learned my father’s health had deteriorated both suddenly and considerably, and he had been given only a short time to live. Thankfully, my tribe had always been a close one, so we rallied around him in his final months, spending time together reminiscing and listening to his recollections of life growing up in Orange County, California. It was only then that I realized the breadth of all I hadn’t understood as a young boy listening in at that dinner table back in the tumultuous 1970s, more fully appreciating the concerns and fears that my parents had faced in raising teenagers amidst the Age of Aquarius, at the confluence of free-love, war and protest, and the social and political fallout that was to follow.
I began to see my father through a different lens, and as I did, Ty Dawson came fully to life in my imagination during those precious weeks. In 1973, he was a 40-year-old man who had seen battle in the Korean War; a man who had been raised with a set of expectations fostered by the Eisenhower era, staking a claim on an American Dream that was changing drastically and rapidly, right before his eyes. A man who witnessed his children coming to terms with wildly different challenges than he’d had to cope with in his youth. And as I sifted and explored the mindset from which Ty Dawson arose—myself having become a parent (and grandparent) now—Ty grew into a fully-fledged, three-dimensional character for me, as did Ty’s wife and daughter, and the friends and neighbors that have come to populate Dawson’s hometown, fictional Meriwether County. As a result, every moment I spend with Sheriff Ty Dawson as I write this series, I can hear the voice of my late father, who thankfully lived long enough to see the publication of South Calfornia Purples, and the dedication page in that volume which bears his name.
I spent those intervening years first as a working musician, record producer, and as an artist manager—advising, listening, traveling, laughing, negotiating and sometimes arguing with some of the most fascinating people in the world; my exposure to the music of my youth informing every mile and every moment. Perhaps one of my most cherished chapters from that period came from my association with legendary music- and film-producer, James William Guercio, founder of the famed Caribou Ranch Studios. Situated in the rural front range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Caribou Ranch became the iconic recording resort home-away-from-home for artists as varied as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Chicago and John Lennon (among dozens of others). This association formed the backbone of a fictionalized narrative thread in Knife River, which to say much more about would spoil the fun…
My parents departed southern California for the Napa Valley almost 35 years ago now, though my two siblings remain, these days surrounded by the houses and highways that have replaced the vast acreage of orange trees, the golden blooms of wild mustard weed, and the lowing of cattle in the folds inside the foothills of my youth. But as many of us would likely agree, the place that dwells inside the root system of one’s childhood never departs—the landscape might look different, replaced or revised from that which resides inside our memories, but the heart still skips a beat when first returning ‘home’ after an absence.
You can learn more about Baron Birtcher by following him on Facebook and Instagram. Knife River is now available via all major booksellers.
Related StoriesAuthor R&R with N.L. HolmesAuthor R&R with Mike CobbAuthor R&R with Jeremy D. Baker
June 30, 2025
Killer Nashville Finalists Revealed
The 2025 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists were announced, honoring books published in 2024. The winners in each category and the top 3 winners overall will be announced at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 23, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. Congratulations to all!
Best Action Adventure
Jericho Burning by T.G. Brown
The General’s Gold by Bruce Robert Coffin
Desperate Measures by Ley Esses
Where Love Means Nothing by Howard Gimple
The North Line by Matt Riordan
Best Comedy (includes comedic P.I. and crime caper)
The Princess Shoppe by Kerry Blaisdell
Swiped by L.M. Chilton
Get Gribnitz by Howard Gimple
Model Ghost by TK Sheffield
Sorry, Knot Sorry by Lois Winston
Best Cozy
Beeswax Bewitchment by S.E. Babin
Elizabeth Sails by Kristin Owens
Study Guide For Murder by Lori Robbins
Framed For Murder by Marla White
Wheeling And Dealing by Becki Willis
Best Historical
Empowered By The Dream: A Journey Of Resilience by Gladys A. Barrio
The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker
A Killing On The Hill by Robert Dugoni
Find Your Way To My Grave by Chris Keefer
What Once Was Promised by Louis Trubiano
Best Investigator (includes procedural, serious P.I., detective, and noir)
The Things That Cannot Be Forgotten by Peter W.J. Hayes
Last Dog Out by Candace Irving
Black & White by Justin M. Kiska
Tiger Claw by Michael Allan Mallory
Murder Outside The Box by Saralyn Richard
Best Juvenile / Y.A.
Beyond The Cemetery Gate: The Secret Keeper’s Daughter by Valerie Biel
Dead Girl by Kerrie Faye
Stealing Time by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs
Snowed by Twist Phelan
Star Brother by Maxine Rose Schur
Best Literary
She Ruined Our Lives by Chris Chan
An American Tragedy by Dan Flanigan
Best Mainstream / Commercial
Those That Did Not Die by Penny Fletcher
On The Mad River by Lucrecia Guerrero
People Will Talk by Kieran Scott
Between Lies And Revenge by Hannah Sharpe
Blindspot by Maggie Smith
Best Mystery
Drop Dead Sisters by Amelia Diane Coombs
Obey All Laws by Cindy Goyette
At First I Was Afraid by Marty Ludlum
A World Of Hurt by Mindy Mejia
Scorched: Burn Me Once… by Cam Torrens
Best Nonfiction
There Is No Ethan by Anna Akbari
Lovers In Auschwitz: A True Story by Keren Blankfeld
Ask Not: The Kennedys And The Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan
Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman And The Woman Who Inspired Him by Chris Enss
Seeds Of Leadership by Wilson Lukang
Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Ocean’s Godori by Elaine Cho
The Canopy Keepers by Veronica G. Henry
Master Version 1.1 by Antanas Marcelionis
House Of Fire & Magic by Sherrilyn McQueen
The Building That Wasn’t by Abigail Miles
Best Short Story Collection / Anthology
Never Tell Collection by Kjersti Egerdahl
Day by Patrick Kitson
Deeds Of Darkness by William Burton McCormick
6-Lane Highway by Sean Mitchell
Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories Of Mystery & Suspense by Judy Penz Sheluk
Best Southern Gothic
Pocket Full Of Teeth by Lisa Kastner
Kentucky Blood (Book I Of The Kentucky Blood Series) by Ashley Thomas Sheikh
Best Supernatural
Not Born Of Woman by Teel Glenn
A Place For Good And Evil by Stacey Horan
City Of Innocent Monsters by Stacey Horan
Dervla Alarms The Nanas by DR Ransdell
Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan
Best Suspense
A Friend In The Dark by Samantha M. Bailey
If You Tell A Lie by Lucinda Berry
The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Lost To Dune Road by Kara Thomas
The Last Party by AR Torre
Best Thriller
Rich Justice by Robert Bailey
The Dredge by Brendan Flaherty
The Mechanics Of Memory by Audrey Lee
A Forgotten Kill by Isabella Maldonado
The Ascent by Adam Plantinga
Best Western
Knife River by Baron Birtcher
Sarita by Natalie Musgrave Dossett
The Broken Blood by Dwight Holing
Related StoriesA Thrill a MinuteMacavity MagicThe Shamus Salutes
