Mystery Melange

 

Washington, D.C. will host a Noir at the Bar event at The Wonderland Ballroom, October 7 from 7-8:30, featuring the noirish stylings of Austin S. Camacho, Nik Korpon, Tara Laskowski, Josh Pachter, Thomas Pluck, Eryk Pruitt, Laura Ellen Scott, Amber Sparks, and Art Taylor and hosted by "the dashingly handsome E.A. Aymar."

While you're marking your calendar, jot down January 18 at The Islington in London for Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, Live: Murdering Songs For Fun. The band of best-sellers (Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Luca Veste, Doug Johnstone and Stuart Neville) will be happily murdering much-loved tunes by The Clash, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams, Bruce Springsteen, preceded by a live recording of the podcast Two Crime Writers And A Microphone, presented by Luca Veste and Steve Cavanagh.

Nathan Ward’s The Lost Detective, excerpted for The Stacks, takes a look at the story behind Dashiell Hammett's evolution from Pinkerton agent to Spanish-flu-stricken Army vet to groundbreaking noir writer.

Trying to solve a real-life tragic mystery: a former FBI investigator hopes the decades-old mystery of who tipped off the Nazis about Anne Frank and seven other Jews hiding behind a movable bookcase in Amsterdam can be solved with the help of a new mind — an artificial one.

To celebrate the launch of the Mystery Writers of American's new e-book program of classic MWA anthologies beginning with A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, the MWA is offering up a free short story from MWA president and the anthology's editor, Jeffery Deaver. Click here for a free download of Deaver’s "Ninety-Eight Point Six" available until the end of October.

In memory of the the 168th anniversary of author Edgar Allan Poe's death, Criminal Element has a poll for fans to vote for their favorite Poe short story.

As the daughter of a retired librarian, this is one list I truly appreciate: mystery writers, past and present, who also happen to be librarians.

Are you a true Hercule Poirot fan? This quiz promises to separate the experts from the wannabes.

True Agatha Christie fans of all stripes should put these "7 places every Agatha Christie fan should visit" on their bucket list.

Meet the poetry detective: a man on a mission to root out plagiarism in poetry.

Speaking of poetry, this week's (unplagiarized!) crime poem at the 5-2 is "To Be a Woman in American Society" by Josephine Napiore, and the latest story at Beat to a Pulp is "Home Is" by Jerry Bloomfield.

Just in time for the month of Halloween, Out of the Gutter's Flash Fiction Offensive Gutteral Screams! returns with two stories per week on Mondays and Thursdays (and an extra story on Halloween) featuring slashers, ghosts, monsters, ghouls, and goblins. Paul D. Brazill kicks if off with his Halloween story, "Carcass."

In the Q&A roundup, Tom Pitts took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge about his new novel American Static, and Dietrich Kalteis did the same for his new novel Zero Avenue, set in Vancouver’s early punk scene; the Mystery People chatted with Leah Carroll about her true crime memoir Down City, the story of her mother’s murder, her father’s early death, and her own difficult childhood; and author Mark S. Bacon stopped by Omnimystery News to discuss the second mystery in his "Nostalgia City" series, Desert Kill Switch.