Mystery Melange

The choice for this year's Nobel Prize for Literature took a lot of people by surprise. Patrick Modiano is not well known outside his native France, but has written in multiple genres including children's books, movie screenplays, semi- autobiographical novels inspired by the German occupation of France during World War II, and even one highly recommended mystery novel Missing Person (published in French as Rue des Boutiques Obscures), about a detective who has lost his memory.

The Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, are co-sponsoring CrimeCONN – Connecticut mystery authors featured along with panel discussions, forensic experts, police experts and more, in Westport, CT on October 25.  (Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

Crime authors Kathy Reichs, Lisa Jackson, and Craig Johnson will appear at the Metro Detroit Book & Author Luncheon on October 20 at the Burton Manor Banquet and Conference Center.

The latest issue of Mystery Scene Magazine features a profile of Louise Penny and her beloved series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache; a chat with Phoebe Atwood Taylor about her Yankee sleuth Asey Mayo; a look at House of Cards, which Jake Hinkson says is "approaching the status of art"; notes about the publication of a highly anticipated biography about noir icon David Goodis; Ed Gorman's interview with Mary Daheim, chatting about the writing life and her new Bed-and-Breakfast mystery; and reviews of mystery writers’ autobiographies and Ed Gorman’s own distinguished Sam McCain series.

The New York Times profiled a new book by historian Michael A. Ross, The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law and Justice in the Reconstruction Era. The case featured the first black detective in the United States to take part in a case that received national attention.

Writing about violence against children is often a controversial and difficult topic in crime fiction, and The Telegraph posted two different sides to the issue from bestselling authors Ruth Rendell and Val McDermid.

A new exhibit opened at the Museum of London, "Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived And Will Never Die," the first major show dedicated to the great detective since a Holmes display graced the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Publishers Weekly's Lucy Worsley compiled a list of her picks for the "10 Best Detectives in Books."

The Atlantic had an article (titled "Not Your Mother's Library") on public libraries, their present and future, focusing on how Columbus, Ohio, is building community spaces for the 21st century.

Heads up, Beantown fans: the Sundance Channel compiled a list of "Top Ten Boston Crime Thrillers."

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Questioning" by F.J. Bergmann, while the weekly pulp story at Beat to a Pulp is "Mexican Stand-off Plus One" by Marie S. Crosswell.

The Q&A roundup includes Felix Francis, son of the late bestselling mystery author Dick Francis, talking with Huffington Post about his transition from physics to fiction in assisting with, then co-authoring his father's books; thriller author Greg Barron chats with Good Reading Magazine; Hank Phillippi Ryan talks to Writers Who Kill about her latest novel, Truth Be Told; and Adrian Churchward stopped by Omnimystery News to talk about his Puppet Meisters trilogy, dealing with state abuse of power.