Mystery Melange

This year's Bouchercon, "Murder Under the Oaks," announced the full schedule for the upcoming conference, which runs October 8-11 in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the complete listing and the authors and panels, hop on over to the official website.

The Library of Congress also announced its annual Bookfest lineup this year, which includes several bestselling mystery authors, including David Ignatius, Jane Lindskold, Walter Mosley, Marlon James, Laura Lippman, David Weber, Jeffery Deaver, Dan Wells, and David Baldacci. You can check out all the various featured authors and schedule via this Bookfest page.

Sisters in Crime Australia announced the winners of its 2015 Davitt Awards given for the best crime fiction by Australian women writers: Best Adult Novel went to Sulari Gentill, A Murder Unmentioned; Best Debut Book - Candice Fox, Hades; Best Young Adult Novel - Pamela Rushby, The Ratcatcher’s Daughter; Best Children’s Novel - Lollie Barr, The Adventures of Stunt Boy and His Amazing Wonder Dog Blindfold; Best Non Fiction Book - Julie Szego, The Tainted Trial of Farah Jama.

The new issue of Thuglit has eight new gritty crime stories available for the Kindle. You'll find new fiction from Don LaPlant, Eryk Pruitt, J. David Jaggers, Mike Miner, Thomas Pluck, Nikki Dolson, Brandon Patterson, and Adam Howe.

There are two new mystery magazines worth keeping your eye on:  the first was profiled on the Sleuth Sayers blog, where Publisher Diane Walton and Editor Constantine Kaoukakis talked about their new venture, Sleuth Magazine; and Kevin Tipple made note of word he'd received about the publication Mystery Weekly Magazine. In both cases, the publications plan on featuring new original crime stories via ebook or online digital avenues, at least initially. Although Sleuth's survival depends upon the success of its first issue, Mystery Weekly is currently accepting submissions for upcoming issues.

Former head of MI5 turned author Stella Rimington told the Edinburgh international book festival that after retiring from her job, she set herself a new mission – to “rescue spy stories from the blokes.”

The Guardian posted some of the photos from the new Agatha Christie exhibition that show the queen of crime as roller-skater and surfer. The previously-unseen Christie photographs are going on display as part of an exhibition marking the 125th anniversary of her birth at Bankside Gallery, London from August 26 - September 6 and at Torre Abbey in Torquay from September - October 18 as part of the International Agatha Christie festival.

Working on your current mystery novel and struggling with getting facts about weapons right? Benjamin Sobieck has a few tips for authors from his book, The Writer’s Guide to Weapons: A Practical Reference for Using Firearms and Knives in Fiction.

Writing for Mystery Scene Magazine, Gary Lovisi profiled the Dell Map Backs of the 1940s and 1950s, which showcased illustrations by fine artists such as Gerald Gregg, Bill George, Robert Stanley, with interior extras such as the inclusion of a "Cast of Characters," and the beautifully rendered scene-of-the-crime representations on the back of the books. As he noted in the article, "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore."

The annual Writers Police Academy just wrapped up, which also included the announcement of this year's winner of the Golden Donut Award handed out to the best micro-fiction story. Conference organizer Lee Lofland has the winner and runners-up on his blog.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy Book Riot's Literary Tourism report featuring some of the more notable of the 200 Sherlock sites in London and other cities in Europe.

In the Q&A roundup this week, Sue Grafton chatted with the Huffington Post about the latest installment in her Kinsey Milhone series, X; Omnimystery News welcomed Patricia Skalka to discuss her series featuring Door County sheriff Dave Cubiak and also Clea Simon to talk about her series with Harvard graduate student Dulcie Schwartz; Scottish crime writer Craig Robertson was the latest 9mm interview at Kiwi Crime (Craig Sistererson's blog); and Michael Koryta spoke with the Crime Fiction Lover blog about his new novel, Last Words.