Mystery Melange

Congratulations go to the winners of this year's Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, announced this past week. The CWA Gold Dagger went to The Dry, by Jane Harper; CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger went to Spook Street, by Mick Herron; CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger - Tall Oaks, by Chris Whitaker; CWA Non-fiction Dagger - Close But No Cigar: A True Story of Prison Life in Castro’s Cuba by Stephen Purvis; CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger - A Rising Man, by Abir Muckerjee; CWA International Dagger - The Dying Detective, by Leif G.W. Persson. translated by Neil Smith; CWA Short Story Dagger - “The Trials of Margaret,” by L.C. Tyler (from Motives for Murder, edited by Martin Edwards; and CWA Debut Dagger (for unpublished writers) - Strange Fire, by Sherry Larkin. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

The winners of the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards were also handed out over the weekend. Presented annually in New Zealand to recognize excellence in crime fiction, mystery, and thriller writing, this year's top honors went to The Last Time We Spoke by Fiona Sussman for Best Crime Novel (the first time that honor has gone to a female author); Dead Lemons by Finn Bell for Best First Novel; and In Dark Places by Michael Bennett for Best Non Fiction.

The latest novel by former journalist Michel Moatti, Do not be afraid, was awarded the 2017 Prix du Polar for the best French-language novel at the 22nd Polar Cognac Festival which celebrates the police genre in all its forms of expression; the prize for best international novel went to An ideal culprit, by Irish author Steve Cavanagh; and Phobie by Sarah Cohen-Scali was awarded Best Children's Novel.

New York Times best-selling author SJ Rozan will join with 10 other award-winning mystery authors this Saturday afternoon, November 4, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Solley Theater, Arts Council of Princeton for “Mysterious Affair in Princeton,” a conversation with fans on how the perfect who-dunnit is created. The event is hosted by Princeton’s Cloak & Dagger Mystery Bookshop, along with the local chapters of Mystery Writers of America-NY and Sisters in Crime-Central Jersey.

On November 30, the Center for Fiction in New York City is bringing their Crime Fiction students center-stage as they read from the stories and novels they've worked on this spring and fall in the Crime Fiction Academy Slam. Workshop leader Alison Gaylin will host the event which includes readings, drinks, and a reception with the authors.

Details are being released for the bi-annual Noircon, which will return to Philadelphia in November 1-4 2018, and since registration is limited, you should snag your ticket sooner rather than later. Next year's event will once again celebrate every facet of the Noir genre, from literature to poetry to film to art to theater and bring together writers, artists, critics, and friends for panels, parties and open discussions. The conference begins with an opening night Noir at the Bar party at the Hotel Brotherhood, with other highlights of the program to include the awards presentation to conference honorees at the Friday night dinner where Walter Mosley will receive The David L. Goodis Award; Max Rudin (publisher,The Library of America) the Jay & Deen Kogan Award for Excellence; and Dana Polan (author & professor) the Anne Friedberg Award for Contributions to Noir and its Preservation. The International Association of Crime Writers N/A will also award the annual Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary excellence for works published in 2017 at the Saturday luncheon.The Keynote Speaker is Geoffrey O'Brien (author, editor-in-chief- Library of America) and the Master Of Ceremonies is author and musician Charles Benoit.

Although it seems a tad early for the "best of" lists for 2017, both Publishers Weekly and The Strand Magazine have shared their lists of the best mysteries and thrillers of 2017.

In celebration of the upcoming release of the new Murder on the Orient Express movie based on one of Agatha Christie’s most popular works, Parade has partnered with HarperCollins to give away a collection of all 66 classic Christie detective novels to one devoted fan. Hop on over to this website for your chance to win.

Fresh on the heels of a campaign by several thriller authors to raise money for hurricane relief after devastating storms in Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean, a Go Fund Me page was set up by a group of authors (and Mystery Fest Key West) to raise money for Key West, which took a beating from Hurricane Irma. Check out the event here.

One sad bit of news to relay this week: Donald Bain, the pseudonymous author of the “Murder, She Wrote” novels, and Margaret Truman’s “Capital Crimes” mysteries, died on Saturday in White Plains. He was 82.

A big Happy Anniversary to the Double O blog for celebrating 11 years. The blog's mission is to promote "news and reviews of all things espionage–-movies, books, comics, TV shows, DVDs, and everything else," and proprietor Matthew Bradford has a done a fine job for a decade plus. Here's to 11 more!

Justice Scotland is exploring law and the arts in its beyond law series this year, kicking off with a look at the challenges of incorporating criminal law into dramatic writing through the theme of crime in fiction. The panel will consist of author Val McDermid; actress Frances Barber (Caroline Warwick QC in Silk); world class forensic scientist Sue Black; and noted advocate and Queen's Counsel, Donald Findlay QC.

Writing for Salon, Noah Charney profiled the "wild, made-for-TV story of criminology’s first secret agent," Eugene Francois Vidocq, which Charney also notes is "an HBO or Netflix series waiting to happen." Although Vidocq had his own checkered past, he is considered by some historians to be the father of modern criminology and has inspired many writers since, including Balzac, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, and more.

The Marshall Project is presenting We Are Witnesses, a new collection of short videos that offers a look at the human cost of the U.S. prison system - there are now 2.2 million people in American jails and prisons; one in a hundred and fifteen adults is confined behind bars, and our inmate population is four times larger than it was in 1980. Taken together, the 19 videos in the project present a rare 360-degree portrait of the state of crime and punishment in the United States through the eyes of those who have had firsthand experience with the criminal justice system, including police officers, a prison guard, judges, parents of a murder victim, and ex-prisoners.

A recent auction lot in Dallas had a connection to the iconic true crime mystery of Lizzie Border and her infamous New England axe murder trial: a legal document by Lizzie as she was awaiting trial, granting temporary power of attorney to her sister and signed by both Lizzie and Andrew Jennings, the family lawyer who led the team that got her off the charge.

A hat tip to Mystery Fanfare for another interesting auction of note: the Royal Manual typewrite that Mickey Spillane used to write some of his works will be part of a lot headed for bidding on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 in New York, NY. It's condition is described as "signs of rust and some dust soiling, a few typing keys stick a bit" but "otherwise, in very good and working condition."

The Future of Forensics may include a DNA-generated composite sketch. The FBI’S Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is one of the largest DNA databases on earth with more than 15 million DNA profiles stored in the system, but even this tool has limitations when it comes to solving crimes. CODIS works welll when the suspect is a convicted felon, but it isn’t much help when identifying first-time offenders, innocent victims, or anyone without a DNA profile stored in CODIS. That could with new software that would use a deeper analysis of DNA collected from a crime scene, providing information not currently contained within CODIS such as eye and hair color.

For a fun Day of the Dead/post-Halloween treat, check out the "Spookiest Ghost Stores from All Fifty States." (HT to Bill Crider)

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Sunday Evening at Home" by Roger Netzer, and the latest story at Beat to a Pulp is "Nothing to Push Against" by Richard Prosch.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Chris Brookmyre, who has won both the William McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Fiction and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for his book Black Widow; Criminal Element chatted with Kate White, author of Even If It Kills Her, as well as Tom Straw, author of Buzz Killer, and Linwood Barclay, author of Parting Shot; Craig Sisterson's latest "9mm Interview" featured Gordon Ell, author of various wildlife photography books who released his first murder mystery, The Ice Shroud, last year; David Lagercrantz, writer of the continuation novels in Steig Larsson's Millennium Series, sat down with the Telegraph of India; and the Belfast Telegraph spoke with Claire McGowan about becoming a thriller writer and her early addiction to books and libraries.