Mystery Melange

If you'll be in New York City on January 13th from 6 to 8 p.m., stop by the Partners & Crime Bookshop at 44 Greenwich Avenue for the annual party sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America National Board of Directors. Over two dozen authors will be on hand for meet and greets. You can check out the list of attendees on the MWA site.

The beginning of each month, and especially the first month of a new year, brings a clean slate of new book releases awaiting your reading pleasure. Omnimystery News has its "Firsts on the First," with new series characters who will make their mysterious American debut in print during January. You can also check out all the new hardcover and paperback titles coming in January.

The Rap Sheet is holding its annual book cover award. Check out the nominees and vote for your favorites, but hurry–voting closes midnight on Friday, January 6.

Spinetingler Magazine has also begun the nomination process for its annual crime fiction book and story awards and are seeking your ideas for the best of 2011.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away With Murder" column for Shots E-Zine has the usual collection of interesting news and insights, ranging from Scandinavia to North Carolina.

It's always a pleasure to find a new kid on the blog, and one of the newest is MysteryPeople, a blog from the Austin, Texas mystery bookstore of the same name. Crime Fiction Coordinator Scott Montgomery promises book reviews, author Q&A's, news about events, and "notices of great books and authors (both past and present) that you’ve come to expect from MysteryPeople."

Meanwhile, congrats to Kerrie Smith and her Mysteries in Paradise blog, celebrating its fourth blogoversary. Kerrie would like to hear your top 10 crime fiction reads for 2011 and urges you to sign up for the 2012 Global Reading Challenge.

The Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers organization is forming a chapter in Tucson, Arizona for mystery fans and authors. SinC was founded in 1986 by Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap to promote books by women (especially reviews), although the organization also includes men

If you have a little extra Christmas cash burning a hole in your pocket, maybe you should consider bidding on a Thompson Sub-machine gun and a twelve gauge Winchester shotgun dating back to 1897, which are up for auction on January 21st. Why, you ask?  They belonged to Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.