Mystery Melange

If you're in the UK on July 17,  pop on over to Heffer’s Cambridge for the "What's Your Poison Summer Crime party." In addition to fifteen crime fiction authors on hand, the public is urged to join in the fun for "Pimms, strawberries and poisonous quizzes."

The latest installment in NPR's summer "Crime in the City" series features crime writer Ann Cleeves, who sets her mysteries in Shetland. For previous broadcasts, check out the NPR website for the series.

The Independent took a look a recent crime fiction debuts, "the best noir newcomers from Mississippi to Scandinavia."

Simon & Schuster and the late author Vince Flynn’s estate have commissioned thriller writer Kyle Mills to complete Flynn’s unfinished novel, The Survivor, and to write two more books in his series featuring terrorist-fighting Mitch Rapp.

If you're a fan of graphic novels, Marvel Comics' Icon imprint is planning a gritty crime fiction limited series titled Men of Wrath. Written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Ron Garney, the tale features an undaunted professional killer.

Internationally bestselling author Val McDermid told The Telegraph she "wouldn't have a career" if she started writing today, because the industry demands instant results and no longer allows for slow-burning careers. Although McDermid has sold 10 million copies and her series about psychological profiler Dr. Tony Hill was turned into the ITV drama Wire In The Blood, she wasn't able to give up her day job for several years after her first novel was published.

The Big Click ezine is publishing its July issue in stages: first up is short fiction by Cameron Pierce ("Drop the World"). The story "How to Know You’re a Killer" by Stephen Graham Jones that will be available a little later this month, as well as more essays and reviews.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Lew Archer Writes a Poem" by Tom Brzezina, and the latest story at Beat to a Pulp is "An Open Door" by Chris F. Holm.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Howard Linskey, taking the "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge by Paul D. Brazill; Scottish author Douglas Lindsay chats with Crime Fiction Lover about his Barney Thomson series and his new standalone mystery, Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!; and Jeff Abbott joins The Mystery People to talk about his the latest book in his Sam Capra series, Inside Man.

Carl Zimmer of the New York Times wrote about new research on the neuroscience of creative writing. The scientists found that a broad network of regions in the brain work together as people create stories, but the inner workings of professionally trained writers have similarities to people skilled at other complex actions, like music or sports.

Finally, a sad farewell to Frank M. Robinson who recently died at the age of 87. He was a mystery and sci-fi author and also a pulp magazine scholar, with such books as Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines.