Mystery Melange

Several crime authors are offering fans the chance to feature in their next book in a campaign to raise money for the UK children's cancer charity CLIC Sargeant. Winners will see participating authors such as Elly Griffiths, Emma Donoghue, Paula Hawkins, and Simon Kernick create a character in the authors' next book named after them. The online bidding opens on February 25.

Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, will headline this year’s Crime Story festival in Northumbria. The day-long festival provides access to experts from the fields of forensics, criminology, pathology and law, who reveal and interrogate the facts behind crime fiction, which this year  means they will pick apart a fictional crime written by Hawkins. The event takes place in Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday June 11, with the full program to be announced and tickets released on March 10.

Philadelphia's Society Hill Playhouse is closing down after 56 years, which means that NoirCon will have to find a new home. But NoirCon's board invites everyone to pay their respects, share your favorite memories, and listen to an extraordinary lineup of writers read from their work at Noir at the Bar: the Final Curtain on March 19. Authors on hand will include Scott Adlerberg, Jen Conley, Dana King, Jon McGoran, Richie Narvaez, Ed Pettit, Wallace Stroby, David Swinson, Erik Arneson, T. Fox Dunham, William Lashner, Adrian McKinty, Rick Ollerman, Joe Samuel Starnes, Duane Swierczynski, and Dennis Tafoya.

NoirCon is also sponsoring the Ninth Annual Retreat to Goodisville/Carpool to Hell in Philly, in celebration of the 99th anniversary of the birth of prolific noir fiction author David Goodis (1917-1967). The car tour (BYOC - bring your own car) will include stops at various points that were important to the author's life and work, ending up at Julie’s Corner Bar for food, birthday cake "and a peek at what may have been the true inspiration for Harriet’s Hut in Down There."

As part of Sarasota County Libraries “One Book One Community” 2016 celebration of the 100th anniversary of John D. MacDonald’s birth, Florida author Tim Dorsey recently received the John D. MacDonald Award for Excellence in Florida Fiction. The award seeks to raise the profile of Florida fiction, especially in the mystery/crime/detective genre, and Dorsey is the seventh winner, joining such authors as Elmore Leonard and Stuart Kaminsky.

Southern Louisiana’s Iberia Parish, home to James Lee Burke’s fictional Depty Dave Robicheaux, is preparing to host its first official Dave Robicheaux’s Hometown Literary Festival, from April 8-10. Festival organizers promise storytelling, workshops, theatrical vignettes, music, local cuisine, bourré lessons and tournament, Dave Robicheaux tours and a 5K run.

Manslaughter Review, an online literary journal "featuring stories of blood and mayhem," just published is first free issue, with thirteen new crime fiction stories from Rusty Barnes, Sheldon Lee Compton, Jen Conley, Les Edgerton, and more.

When Dr. Nadine Akkerman of Leiden University conducted research for an upcoming monograph on female spies in the 17th century, she found at least 60 such instances and that these early Mata Hari precursors utilized an ingenious arsenal of tools, such as eggs and artichokes, to smuggle secrets.

Editor Eric Sandberg is looking for contributors for Sleuths, Private Eyes, and Policemen: An International Compendium of the 100 Greatest Literary Detectives, a new reference work under contract with Rowman & Littlefield for publication in late 2017. Each entry should be approximately 1000 words in length and contain 1) an initial ‘characteristic’ quotation, 2) an essay summarizing the distinctive features of the investigator, outlining major features of their fictional careers, and making the case for their ‘greatness’ based on factors such as literary-historical importance, uniqueness, literary quality, and cultural resonance, and 3) a bibliography of key works in which the investigator appears. If you're interested, submit your ideas by March 15 for consideration. (Hat tip to Ayo Onatade at Shots.)

Likewise, organizers of The Ageless Agatha Christie: Adaptations and Afterlives, A One-Day Conference at the University of Exeter, to be held on Monday June 20, are seeking scholarly paper submissions. The event has booked Sophie Hannah, author of Hercule Poirot mysteries, as one of the keynote speakers, but if you have a 20-minute paper along the lines of " Agatha Christie in the context of adaptations and afterlives," send along an abstract for consideration to be included in the program. (Hat tip again to Ayo Onatade via Shots Magazine.)

Agatha Christie will also star in a biographical graphic novel entitled Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie. The project is a collaboration of writers Anne Martinetti and Guillaume Lebeau, with Alexandre Franc creating the illustrations, which has a publication date set for May 10.

If you're a fan of the TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and you happen to find yourself in Australia this year, you can take advantage of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Tour on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The tour begins with an afternoon tea, followed by a walking tour discovering some of the series’ production sites within Melbourne’s CBD and many of the "Marvellous Melbourne buildings of the 1920s" (when the book and series were set). It concludes with a specially created Phryne Fisher cocktail at Melbourne's famous Gin Palace.

Need some new books to add to your To Be Read pile? Check out some of the latest crime titles via reviews from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Chicago Tribune, and the Seattle Times.

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is  "Jacqueline Explains Her Assault on Her Boyfriend to the Police," by Chuck Von Nordheim.

In the Q&A roundup, Eliot Pattison stopped by Omnimystery News to discuss the fourt
h mystery in his series set in the years before the Revolutionary War; sports columnist, screenwriter, and crime fiction writer John Schulian joined the Mystery People to talk about his debut noir novel, A Better Goodbye; Caroline Todd, who is one-half of the mother and son writing team Charles Todd, discussed their latest book, No Shred of Evidence; Crime by the Book welcomed Denmark's "Queen of Crime," Sara Blaedel, to discuss Nordic Noir; and musician and author Jesse Sublett talked with the Mystery People about his latest book, 1960s Austin Gangsters: Organized Crime That Rocked the Capitol.