Mystery Melange

RT Book Reviews announced the winners of the 2015 Reviewers Choice Awards and Career Achievement Awards. The latter category included Rhys Bowen for Historical Mysteries, Janet Evanovich for Mainstream Mysteries, and Carla Neggers for Romantic Suspense. You can check out the website listing for all the finalists in the various Mystery/Suspense/Thriller categories, as well as Romantic Suspense.

The Independent Book Publishers Association also announced this year's winners of the Benjamin Franklin Awards in the Mystery & Suspense category, including The Fame Equation: A Cat Enright Equestrian Mystery by Lisa Wysocky; The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario, and Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk.

This year’s Whistler Writers Festival (October 13–16) will include the presentation of the inaugural Independent Book Awards. The Whistler Independent Book Awards will be open to Canadian authors or permanent residents who have independently published a book or books in the last five years with winners in four categories: fiction, non-fiction, crime fiction and poetry. The shortlist will be selected by the Canadian Authors Association.

Fans of crime fiction in the UK can take note of the new and upcoming Noir at the Bar NE, which will have its inaugural outing on Wednesday, 1st June. Participating authors currently scheduled to appear include Graham Smith, Tess Makovesky, Janet O’Kane, Bea Davenport, Sheila Quigley, Eileen Wharton, Patrich Welsh, Martyn Taylor, Danielle Ramsay and more.

Writer-director Michael Mann has made a deal to launch Michael Mann Books. The imprint will generate a series of novels with a stable of writers, with the properties to simultaneously be developed for film and television. Mann will look through his own long list of credits for ideas, placing high priority on a prequel novel dealing with the principal characters of Heat, Mann’s seminal crime thriller. The prequel novel will cover the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), Chris Shihirles (Val Kilmer), McCauley’s accomplice Nate (Jon Voight), and other characters from the 1995 film.

If you're looking for some fantastic crime fiction by women authors, Lisa Lutz (author of the bestselling author of the “Spellman Files” series) suggests "10 Fantastic Crime Novels Written By Women."

Speaking of women mystery authors, Japanese mystery writer Shizuko Natsuki died at the age of 77 on March 19. She who won the Mystery Writers of Japan award for her 1973 work, Johatsu (Disappearance).

Stephen Pike, hotel manager extraordinaire and the prototype for Le Carré’s lead character in The Night Manager, spoke with The Guardian about his part in sparking the story behind the 1993 novel, which has become a successful BBC television drama.

Deutsche Welle posted some "Travel tips for mystery buffs," international settings that serve as the central location for many of today's crime fiction bestsellers.

ITV in the United Kingdom is broadcasting an adaptation of the Inspector Maigret series by French crime author Georges Simenon. To celebrate, France Today published an essay on how to follow in the steps of the fictional Maigret in the City of Light.

Pulp Modern Issue #10 is now available in paperback format at Amazon, filled "with dangerous women and reckless men and bad craziness all around."

The new crime poem at the 5-2 this is week is "Fair Housing" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Omnimystery News welcomed mystery authors Ginny Fite and Sibella Giorello; MysteryPeople contributor Scott Butki interviewed Drew Chapman about his new thriller, The King of Fear; Brian Freeman spoke with The Huffington Post about Goodbye to the Dead, the 7th novel in the Jonathan Stride series; and Sara Paretsky sat down with Prose 'n' Cons for a Q&A about her writing and the state of publishing.