Mystery Melange

The International Thrill Writers announced the finalists for the 2015 Thriller Awards in various categories. Check out the nominated authors and categories on the official ITW site, and congratulations to them all!

The Strand Magazine Critics Awards announced Otto Penzler will receive The Strand’s Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to the crime genre. The publication also listed the nominated books for this year's Strand Book Awards (hat tip to Mystery Fanfare:

Best Novel:

• The Fever, by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)
• Jack of Spies, by David Downing (Soho Crime)
• The Secret Place, by Tana French (Viking)
• Fear Nothing, by Lisa Gardner (Dutton)
• Die Again, by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine)
• After I’m Gone, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

Best First Novel Nominees:

• Dry Bones in the Valley, by Tom Bouman (Norton)
• Dear Daughter, by Elizabeth Little (Viking)
• The Home Place, by Carrie La Seur (Morrow)
• Ice Shear, by M.P. Cooley (Morrow)
• Confessions, by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder (Mulholland)
• The Good Girl, by Mary Kubica (Mira)

Congratulations also to the Derringer Short Story Award winners from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. Joseph D'Agnese won for Best Flash Story; Cathi Stoler won for Best Short Story; Hilary Davidson won for Best Long Story; and Doug Allyn won for Best Novelette. James Powell was also named the winner of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for lifetime achievement.

The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is sponsoring the 2015 Maine Crime Wave on Saturday, April 11, at the Glickman Library at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. The day-long conference will include panel discussions, theme-specific workshops, editor and agent critiques, and book-signings. For more information visit the MWPA website.

The New York Women's Bar Association Foundation is sponsoring "An Evening of Women Crime/Mystery Writers" on Tuesday, April 21. Those scheduled to take part include Linda Fairstein (moderator) and panelists Alafair Burke, Allison Leotta, and Sarah Weinman. For ticket information, check out the reservation site.

In you're in New York City on May 1, you can catch Otto Penzler in conversation with James Ellroy at 92nd Street Y.

Although the U.S. World Book Night organization folded last year (the U.K. events are still going strong), BookRiot has decided to continue in the spirit of the event, which was created to promote literacy. They're arranging several Book Meet-ups in East Coast cities on April 23, but you can also send books to Operation Breakthrough or even your own local literacy organizations.

William Morrow is set to publish Charlie Martz and Other Stories this June, a collection of 15 short stories by the late Elmore Leonard, 11 of which have never been published before.

Altus Press has announced the premiere of its new line of books, The Argosy Library series. The imprint will include popular pulp authors such as Lester Dent, Otis Adelbert Kline, W.C. Tuttle, and George F. Worts, writing in the genres of adventure, mystery, western, science fiction, fantasy, and crime stories.

The New Yorker profiled mystery author Josephine Tey's book The Daughter of Time and its influence in "convincing a generation" that Richard III wasn't as evil as portrayed in the history books. Meanwhile, the former king's recently-discovered remains, which had been found under a modern-day parking lot, were re-interred next to the altar of Leicester’s Anglican cathedral.

Lawrence Block, a legendary author figure in his own right, wrote an essay on why we keep going back to certain books and why books like Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon never go out of print.

ABC News reviewed the new Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, looking at the food pairings to Gone Girl, True Blood, and more.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "A Contemplation on Killing" by Ron Hayes, and a new story titled "Last Exit" by Chris Leek is up at Beat to a Pulp.

The Q&A roundup includes Megan Abbott, who took part in PEN America's weekly interview series; Duane Swierczynski got interrogated by The Mystery People; The Guardian hosted a webchat with Val McDermid; crime novelist Robert Glinski stopped by Omnimystery News about his debut novel, The Friendship of Criminals; and Graham Smith took Paul D. Brazill's Short, Sharp Interview challenge to talk about a new novel and short story collection.