Mystery Melange

Crime Writers of Canada announced the shortlist for the annual Arthur Ellis Awards, celebrating the best in Canadian crime writing. The nominees for Best Novel include Linwood Barclay, Trust Your Eyes; Giles Blunt, Until the Night; Sean Chercover, The Trinity Game; Stephen Miller, The Messenger; and Carsten Stroud, Niceville. Other categories include Best First Novel, Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Nonfiction, Best Juvenile/YA, Best Crime Book in French and Best Unpublished First Crime Novel: the Unhanged Arthur.

Congratulations go to Tana French, this year's winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category, for her book Broken Harbor.

Portland, Oregon's Murder by the Book store announced in January it would be forced to go out of business if they couldn't find a buyer by April. Although there was some interest, unfortunately no deal was reached. Co-owner Barbara Tom shared added on the store's Facebook page: "Although we'll just be disembodied virtual voices now instead of real people you can chat with at the store, we re-pledge our allegiance to the wonderful world of mystery books and its community."

In the Q&A Roundup this week, Sophie Hannah talks about World Book Night 2013 and her novel Little Face, one of the few crime fiction works chosen for the 20 recommended titles in the UK and Ireland; NPR interviewed D.A Mishani, an Israeli literature scholar who specializes in the history of detective fiction, about his own debut detective novel; Author and ThugLit editor ("Bid Daddy Thug"), Todd Robinson stopped by Black Gate to discuss his debut novel, The Hard Bounce.

Looking for some of the best of the new crime fiction reads? Check out these titles recommended by by Marilyn Stasio of The New York Times; these from Roberta Alexander for the San Jose Mercury News; Margaret Cannon's choices for The Globe & Mail; and some of the latest historical novels, via Jake Kerridge at The Telegraph. Publishers Weekly also compiled a listing of the summer mystery/thriller books they're looking forward to reading.

A church in Boston is putting a rare copy of the Bay Psalm Book up for auction. The book is the first title printed in America, in 1640, and is thought to be one of only 11 surviving copies. It can be yours for only $30 million dollars, the price the book is expected to fetch when it goes under the gavel in November.

Banned Books Week doesn't begin until September 22, but the American Library Association just released its annual list of the most frequently challenged library books of the year.