Mystery Melange

The latest Literary Salon sponsored by Janet Rudolph and Mystery Readers International welcomes author Elizabeth George (Detective Inspector Lynley novels) this Friday at 2 p.m. in Berkeley. Space is limited, and an RSVP is required.

The new issue of Back Alley Webzine was just published, with stories by Stephen D. Rogers, Angela Zeman, Nikki Dolson, Thomas Larsen, Richard Helms and the continuing serialization of Frank Norris's "classic naturalistic proto-noir novel, McTeague." Back Alley became the first all-electronic mystery zine to make the Mystery Writers of American approved periodicals list.

In other crime zine news, Tony Burton announced that he's taken back the Crime and Suspense magazine site which Fred Snyder had hoped to revamp with a new issue available in fall 2009. Unfortunately, that effort seems to have fallen through, and Burton is once again offering
the site for sale.

The Tony Hillerman Writers Conference has been restructured and is moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico on November 12-13. This year's event includes sessions on developing characters and creating dialog, with Margaret Coel; a look at the business of writing with Bill O'Hanlon; and an evening with author (and former CIA agent) Valerie Plame Wilson. There will also be a manuscript critique opportunity and the annual contest for an unpublished novel.

The Love is Murder Conference is sponsoring a short story contest for any UNpublished author to  have their fiction appear in CrimeSpree magazine. Submissions must be no more than 5,000 words and postmarked no later than July 16, 2010. 

Meanwhile, the Deadly Ink Conference just announced the David award nominees for best mystery novel published during the prior year. The short list includes  Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child; Dying for Mercy by Mary Jane Clark; Long Lost by Harlan Coben; Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron; Dead Man's Puzzle by Parnell Hall; and Killer Cuts by Elaine Viets.  

Also, I want to add my congratulations to those of others to Stuart Neville, whose novel The Ghost of Belfast won the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the mystery/thriller
category. In addition, Rafael Yglesias, author of a couple of crime novels, won the general fiction category for A Happy Marriage.