Mystery Melange

The fourth Noirwich Crime Writing Festival scheduled for September 14-17 has added Val McDermid, Anthony Horowitz, and Martina Cole to the killer lineup that also includes Mark Billingham, Stuart McBride, and Arne Dahl. In addition to the usual panels and signings, the festival will put on a musical interpretation of Derek Raymond’s novel, I Was Dora Suarez, and offer a special screening of the gothic crime drama Real Gods Require Blood, chosen as Critics Choice at the Cannes Film Festival. Participants can also take the city’s crime and punishment walking tour, stay at Agatha Christie’s favourite hotel, browse one of Margaret Attwood’s favorite bookshops, join the Noirwich pub quiz, or take a trip to the dungeons at the medieval Norwich castle.

Faber & Faber has launched a website dedicated to the "beloved" crime writer and author P D James, on the date of the author's birthday. The new site showcases all of James' books, including the Adam Dalgliesh and Cordelia Gray mysteries, her standalone novels, short stories, and non-fiction. The books are available to buy from the website, which also houses an extensive archive of annotated manuscripts, photographs of the author throughout her life, first editions and rare book covers, audiobook excerpts, interviews and information about television and film adaptations. (HT to the Bookseller)

The Mystery & Detective Fiction Area of the Popular Culture Association have issued a call for proposals for their annual conference. They're seeking proposals for scholarly discussions on all aspects and periods of mystery and detective fiction, including history, criticism, theory, and current trends. The conference will take place March 28-April 1, 2018 in Indianapolis. (HT to Sandra Seamans.)

The Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, is holding another night of chilling crime fiction on August 12 at the KGB Bar. The lineup is TBA but will be hosted by MWA-NY Chapter President Laura K. Curtis, and the event is free and open to the public.

Writers in Ireland and the UK can take advantage of an eight-week course titled "Writing Crime Fiction with Gerard Brennan" to be held in Belfast starting September 28. Brennan earned his PhD in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast and has published award-winning long and short crime fiction, including The Point, which won the 2012 Spinetingler Novella Award.

Scotland's Daily Record wondered about the secret of successful crime writing and invited three internationally bestselling authors, Val McDermid, Lee Child and Dennis Lehane, to give their take on the subject.

Throughout the history of traditional publishing, women have often resorted to using male pen names in order to bypass cultural and professional prejudice to get their books published and read. Now, it seems, the tides have turned; as The Atlantic reported, men have started to adopt female pen names due to the fact that over the last decade, female writers have come to dominate crime fiction, a genre traditionally associated with men.

The Hallmark Channel has jumped onto the self-publishing bandwagon. They're looking for cozy mysteries, romantic suspense, and romance novels of around 70,000 – 85,000 words that celebrate friendship, family, and/or community ties (and have a happy ending). The call for submissions is a bit light on details, however, like royalties, payment, and contracts, so caveat emptor.

When parts of Missouri recently flooded, the Archie Library was left with 4 to 6 inches of standing water throughout the branch, damaging items on the bottom shelves, and ruining the carpet. In addition, computers, computer equipment, and cables were damaged, along with boxes of books meant for children and teens as Summer Reading prizes. They've set up a Go Fund Me page to help, so if you're a fan of libraries, consider making a donation to help out.

It's time once again for the annual Bulwer Lytton Awards for (intentional) bad writing, and there's even a category for detective fiction. Mystery Fanfare has the winning entry and runners-up.

Do you think fictional killers are always male? Emily Temple has a list to show you otherwise.

Writing for Time Magazine, Jeffrey Kluger states that "It Might Be Impossible to Get Away With Crime Some Day," taking a look at the latest in forensic science and what the future holds.

If you're a fan of true crime books, here's a list of fascinating new titles on the subject.

Fun with science: scientists used episodes of Sherlock to study narrative perception in volunteers.

This week, the featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "C.S.I.: My Psyche" by Michael A. Arnzen.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People spoke with Danya Kukafka about her debut novel, Girl In Snow, which she began was an undergrad at NYU and finished at 24; the MP's also chatted with Liv Hadden, whose crime novel, The Adventures of Juice Box and Shame, has the style and propulsion of a single issue comic book.