Mystery Melange

More book awards this week: The 2015 Thriller Awards were handed out at the annual ThrillerFest in New York City. Megan Abbott won Best Novel for The Fever; Vincent Zandri won in the Best Paperback Original category for Moonlight Weeps; Best First Novel went to Laura McHugh for The Weight of Blood; Best Short Story was “The Last Wrestling Bear in West Kentucky” by Tim L. Williams (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine); the Best Young Adult Novel was Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano; and Best E-Book Original Novel was won by C.J. Lyons for Hard Fall. (Hat tip to Shots eZine.)

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers Awards announced the winners of the Ninth Annual Scribe Award Winners, including Best Original Novel to Homeland: Saul’s Game by Andrew Kaplan; Best Original Speculative Novel (tie) to Pathfinder: The Redemption Engine by James Sutter and Fringe: Sins of the Father by Christa Faust; and Best Short Story, "Mike Hammer: It's in the Book" by Max Collins and Mickey Spillane. For the complete list of winners and nominees, check out the IAMTW website.

This year's T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award finalists from the Southern California Independent Booksellers are Marry, Kiss, Kill by Anne Flett-Giordano; The Replacements by David Putnam; and The Cartel by Don Winslow.

Oregon-based author Roger Hobbs has won the 2015 Maltese Falcon Award for his debut novel, Ghost Man (originally published in English in 2013). The Maltese Falcon prize is presented by Japan’s crime fiction-oriented Maltese Falcon Society to “the best hard-boiled/private eye novel published in Japan in the previous year.” Hobbs will receive a wood-carved Falcon statuette. (Hat tip to The Gumshoe website.)

Noir at the Bar arrives in Durham, North Carolina, on August 13, with Eric Beetner, Steve Weddle, David Terrenoire, Eryk Pruitt, S A Crosby, Greg Barth, and Geraud Staton on hand for readings and signings.

On a sad note, last week we lost author Tom Piccirilli who passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. He wrote in several genres, and his crime fiction was honored by the International Thriller Writers and the Edgar Awards. The Rap Sheet has links to a couple of interviews with Piccirilli, who has left a couple dozen novels and many dozens of novellas, short stories, and collections as a legacy.

Another month, another mystery bookshop for sale. This time, it's the Once Upon a Crime store in Minneapolis, which has hosted many a bestselling author for talks and signings. The store was voted Favorite Mystery Bookstore in the Country by Crimespree magazine and in 2011 owners Pat Frovarp and Gary Shulze received the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Raven Award. The owners are forced to seek a buyer because "We're not getting any younger," and Shulze is undergoing cancer treatments.

Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell for noting that The NSA has declassified 7,000 records of William F. Friedman (1891–1969), a U.S. cryptology pioneer inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, and his wife Elizebeth (1892–1980), also a noted codebreaker. The move dovetails with exhibitions on the Friedmans by the Marshall Foundation and the National Cryptological Museum.

Slate profiled Mildred "Millie" Wirt Benson (1905-2002), the first author ever to write under the name "Carolyn Keene," the name affixed to the Nancy Drew books. In addition to being a court reporter, journalist, and private pilot, she was also an adventurer, who made many trips to Central America.

Nick Jones, posting at his Existential Ennui blog, investigated the origins of Patricia Highsmith's iconic Talented Mr. Ripley, with both fictional and real-life inspirations.

Who would you pick as your favorite British crime fiction villain, Hannibal Lecter or Tom Ripley? Britain's top crime writers weighed in with their choices for top Big Bad, as well as their favorite crime committed in a book, favorite crime authors, and more.

Writer Warren Ellis and illustrator Jason Masters are working on a new James Bond comic book series, twenty years after the last such effort by Topps Comics, which published a short-lived adaptation of the GoldenEye film. The story arc will revolves around a Helsinki "vengeance mission," with 007 pursuing an evil force in the city.

The crime poem at the 5-2 this week is "My Summer Vacation" by Vera Salter.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Brian Panowich chatting with the Mystery People about his debut novel Bull Mountain, which centers on two brothers on the opposite sides of the law; Barbara Venkataraman stopped by Ominimystery News to discuss her mysteries featuring attorney Jamie Quinn; and Tripwire Magazine grilled Lawrence Block to find out what makes him tick.