Mystery Melange

 

Elly Griffiths, author behind the Ruth Galloway series, has topped this year's Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists by securing a total three nominations, while crime writers Ruth Ware, Clare Mackintosh, Tony Kent and Teresa Driscoll have two nods apiece. Voted on by the Dead Good crime community, the awards include 24 authors who have been shortlisted across six categories such as detective duos, small town mysteries, and Dead Good's most recommended read. Voting closes Wednesday, July 18, with winners to be announced on July 20 during the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. (HT to The Bookseller)

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is presenting the interactive International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes through September 30th. The exhibition contains original manuscripts, period artifacts, and investigative tools from Arthur Conan Doyle’s era, including the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Doyle’s medical studies with Dr. Joseph Bell. Galleries are organized around a new Holmes mystery, written by award-winning Doyle biographer Daniel Stashower, and each visitor receives a casebook in which they can jot down notes and clues in helping Holmes solve this latest mysterious case.

The latest issue of Pulp Modern is out with new short crime stories by Michael Bracken, Thomas Dade, John Kojak, Doug Lane, Chris McGinley, J.A. Prentice, Stephen D. Rogers, Scotch Rutherford, and Cynthia Ward. Likewise, the latest Flash Bang Mysteries features short stories by John M Floyd, Michael Bracken, Herschel Cozine, Stephen D. Rogers, Erin Lanter, and Tracy Falenwolfe.

Mike Ripley’s newest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots included a sneak peak at Ripley’s interview with MI5’s former director general, Stella Rimington; a look at newly released novels from Ace Atkins, Ann Granger, Caro Ramsay, and Zoë Sharp; a note about newly reissued works in Christopher Bush’s Ludovic Travers crime series; and a short review of Jim Kelly’s The Great Darkness, set during Britain’s World War II blackouts and featuring the authors light-averse detective inspector, Eden Brooke. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

Congrats to crime writer Val McDermid who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bath Spa University. McDermid, who received the honor in recognition of her significant contribution to literature and crime fiction, has also been the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Outstanding Contribution to the genre, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Just like Amazon did recently, The Telegraph has compiled a listing of its favorite crime novels of 2018 (so far), from the latest Bernie Gunther novel to an international bestseller by South Korea's most popular crime writer. (requires subscription)

Bookpage is celebrating is annual Private Eye July with a list of mysteries and thrillers to read in honor of the theme. (A little BSP: I might add that the Scott Drayco series fits in rather nicely, too.)

Although the Fourth of July is technically over, you may still find this, from Crime Reads, of "Revolutionary Crime Ficton: 21 Crime Novels Set During Revolutions and Rebellions" a fun list.

The case last week of a shooter at The Capital Gazette’s newsroom in Annapolis led authorities to use an increasingly effective method to identify the suspect: facial recognition technology. But as the New York Times notes, although the technique is becoming increasingly pervasive in law enforcement and part of the standard law enforcement toolkit, questions about privacy and concerns about potential misuse of facial recognition are also likely to increase.

In honor of the HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects that premieres July 8, PopSugar has eight thrillers to check out that are in the same vein as Flynn's novel.

Think you might enjoy running a bookshop but aren't sure? Here's your answer: A bookstore in the village of Wigtown, Scotland, allows people to run the shop while renting an apartment upstairs.

If you're more in the market for a permanent literary home, the west London house which was once home to Britain’s top crime writer PD James is available for £4.95 million. The acclaimed author wrote 10 of her 22 published books while living in the house, many featuring her iconic policeman-poet Inspector Adam Dalgliesh.

Straight out of the plot of a mystery novel (and in fact, it sort of is), comes a report that three rare books on various historical topics in the University of Southern Denmark's library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Those Loud Neighbors" by Rosanne Limoncelli.

In the Q&A roundup, Ellen Byerrum chatted with The Mysteristas about the latest installment of her Crime of Fashion mysteries, Masque of the Red Dress; and over at the Read and Drink Tea blog, Scottish crime writer Douglas Skelton popped by to chat aobut his Davie McCall series and the Dominic Queste books and more.