Mystery Melange

Mystery Fanfare posted a notice about the passing of Sally Fellows, who died this week. Sally was a long-time supporter of the mystery and crime fiction community as a reader, reviewer, frequent conference attendee and panel moderator (as well as helping to organize the Mayhem in the Midlands conference), and a big supporter of authors. Diane Plumley also has a nice remembrance on her blog today, as does Laura Lippman.

The annual Davitt Awards for excellent in Australian crime fiction were handed out by Sisters in
Crime Australia.  Winners included A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill for best adult novel and Beyond Fear by Jayne Ford for best debut.

Wellington-based novelist and screenwriter Neil Cross has won New Zealand's 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for his book Luther: The Calling, which will be released in the U.S. this week. The novel is based on the popular BBC-TV series Luther, which debuted back in 2010 starring Idris Elba as DCI John Luther. (Hat tip to Craig Sisterson.)

From a Malice Domestic press release: The William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program is announcing the 2012 call for submissions from Unpublished Writers. Submissions will be accepted between September 15th through November 15th, 2012 only. The William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program for Unpublished Writers is designed to foster quality Malice Domestic literature and to help the next generation of Malice Domestic authors get their first works published. For submission guidelines as well as a complete list of previous grant winners, visit the website.

Short story writer and blogger extraorindary Patti Abbott has issued a new flash-fiction challenge to "Write a story of 1,000 words or less entitled 'Frank, Jr.'" The deadline for submissions is September 24. Post your story on your own blog and send Patti a link or if you don't have a blog, Patti will post your story on hers. As Patti explains, there are "No winners or losers. Just good fun. Any genre, any style."

The new anthology Protectors was just released to benefit the children's charities PROTECT and the National Association to Protect Children. The anthology includes a foreword by rock critic Dave Marsh, and short fiction by over 40 authors, from Patti Abbott to George Pelecanos to Chet Williamson.

The unofficial (a/k/a "back to school") end of summer may be upon us, but that doesn't mean it's the end of crime fiction events. Coming up September 9-16, the Agatha Christie Festival lands once again in Torquay in UK featuring tours, talks, theater, tea, and even an Agatha Christie Sea Swim to benefit the Devon Air Ambulance. Bloody Scotland comes in the middle of the month, September 14-16, in which Scotland's first crime fiction festival will feature Guest of Honor Ian Rankin. Then, at the end of the month, the Writers Police Academy with special guest Lee Child returns to Jamestown, NC, September 21-23. It's not too late to register for these conferences.

The Q&A roundup this week features Julia Spencer-Fleming chatting with Hank Phillippi Ryan about Ryan's upcoming book, The Other Woman.