Mystery Melange

 

This past weekend, the Edgar Awards were announced at the Edgar Week festivities in New York City. The annual awards, handed out by the Mystery Writers of America, honor the previous year's best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television. The Best Novel winner was Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird; Best Debut Novel went to She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper; Best Paper Original was The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola; and Best Short Story was "Spring Break" from New Haven Noir edited by John Crowley. For all the winners and finalists in the other various and extensive categories, head on over to the MWA official Edgar site.

Also during this past very busy weekend, the Malice Domestic Conference announced the winners of the annual Agatha Awards, which honor the traditional mystery genre. The Best Contemporary Novel winner was Glass Houses: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny; Best Historical Novel went to In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen; Best First Novel was won by Kellye Garrett's Hollywood Homicide: A Detective by Day Mystery; the Best Nonfiction winner was From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström; Best Short Story was "The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn" by Gigi Pandian; and Best Children’s/Young Adult was Sydney Mackenzie Knocks 'Em Dead by Cindy Callaghan. For all the other finalists in those categories, head on over to the Malice site.

Six crime novels from Denmark, Finland and Sweden have made the shortlist for the 2018 Petrona Award for the Best Translated Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, including: What My Body Remembers by Agnete Friis, tr. Lindy Falk van Rooyen; Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito, tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles; After the Fire by Henning Mankell, tr. Marlaine Delargy; The Darkest Day by Håkan Nesser, tr. Sarah Death; The White City by Karolina Ramqvist, tr. Saskia Vogel; and The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen, tr. David Hackston. The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 19 May during the annual international crime fiction convention CrimeFest, held in Bristol on 17-20 May 2018.

Five different cities will participate in the second Noir at the Bar Crawl this weekend, kicking off tomorrow in Durham, North Carolina, and then moving onward to Richmond, Virginia, on May 4, Washington, DC, on May 5, Baltimore, Maryland, on May 6, and ending up in Wilmington, Delaware on May 7. Over forty authors will share their work via readings and signings, and there might be a drink or two thrown in for good measure.

Bookriot and Novel Suspects are sponsoring a stack of books by Megan Abbott to give away. Novel Suspects is a new community space from Hachette focused on mystery and thriller titles "and readers who love to share our favorite books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts," with a newsletter and new website launching soon.

As the Malice Conference season winds down (see above), Crime Reads brought together nominees for the Agatha Award to answer a few questions about the traditional ("cozy") genre, their influences, and the mystery community, as well as the state of the cozy mystery.

Korea has been in the news a lot lately, and Paul French compiled an overview of Korean crime fiction on either side of the DMZ, in Seoul and in Pyongyang.

The UK's Crimefest is celebrating its 10th anniversary by teaming up with publishers to give away 4,000 crime novels for free all over the country. The giveaway, which includes donations from almost a dozen different publishers, will take place on May 5, two weeks before the Bristol-based crime festival which runs from May 17-20. Headliners for the conference this year include such luminaries as Martina Cole, Lee Child, and Peter James.

Book Riot's article "Dames are the New Dicks" has an overview of recent takes from authors and journalists on the evolution of strong women characters in crime fiction, as well as the rise of female crime fiction authors writing in the genre.

What hasn't changed much, apparently, is that works by women aren't as valued as books by male authors, according to a new study which found books by women are priced 45% lower.

This year's official Independent Bookstore Day has come and gone (although every day should be indie bookstore day!), but Atlas Obscura compiled this list of 62 of the "World’s Best Independent Bookstores" as recommended by Atlas Obscura readers. Did yours make the list?

The Guardian tasked several British crime authors to choose their "perfect" crime fiction read.

Forty years after the Golden State Killer left a trail of bodies and fear in his wake, there's finally been an arrest, and it turns out to be one of law enforcement's own. The case was recently solved after the late true-crime writer Michelle McNamara shined a spotlight on the case with an article in Los Angeles Magazine. Time magazine listed three podcasts that delve deeper into the infamous case.

Although theft isn't nearly as serious a crime as murder, many museums may feel like murdering someone after a French museum recently discovered half of its collection are fakes ... and experts fear that other public galleries may also be stuffed with forgeries.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Body Language" by Susan Barry Schulz, and the latest flash piece at Beat to a Pulp is "Clean" by Zakariah Johnson.

In the Q&A roundup, Entertainment Weekly spoke with Alex Segura about Blackout, the author's fourth mystery novel featuring protagonist Pete Fernandez, and how he balances his crime fiction writing with his day job as co-president of Archie Comics; and the Globe and Mail published a piece by former Canadian Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, on "How I became a thriller writer."