Mystery Melange

 

Forensic anthropologist and thriller writer Kathy Reichs was named an honorary member of the Order of Canada, in recognition of her academic work and her 19 novels featuring anthropologist/sleuth Temperance Brennan. Reichs, an American citizen, lives in Montreal and in North Carolina.

The New Edinburgh University Press issued a call for papers for the first issue of their brand-new journal, Crime Fiction Studies. The editors are seeking abstract submissions of 400 words (with finished articles of 7,500 words) that provide thought-provoking, innovative answers to the question "why crime fiction today?" The deadline is July 1. (HT to Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine)

Another call for papers was issued by the Solent University, Southampton UK conference on Agatha Christie, to be held September 5-6, 2019. The conference will investigate the significance of the Queen of Crime and her writings within academia and popular culture and further extend Christie Studies as an academic discipline, across and beyond the humanities. Organizers are inviting 300-word proposals for 20 minute papers, as well as creative presentations and panel proposals. The deadline is March 31. (HT also to Shots)

The latest issue of Flash Bang Mysteries is out, which you can read online via this link. Edited by B.J. Bourg, the January edition features new flash crime stories from Jacqueline Seewald, Barb Goffman, R. T. Lawton, Patricia Dusenbury, and yours truly.

J. Kingston Pierce shared his appreciation for Dell's Murder Ink and Scene of the Crime line of paperbacks that made mysteries into jigsaw puzzles. (An editorial note: I took this same inspiration for my Elegy in Scarlet book cover.)

If you're a book cover geek, check out Paul D. Marks' posting on the 7 Criminal Minds blog. Wondering if you *can* judge a book by its cover, he compared different covers of classic crime fiction titles from the 20th century.

Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction: The New Yorker's Jake Halpern profiled the French burglar who pulled off one of the greatest art heists of all time. Skilled climber and thief Vjeran Tomic, whom the French press have dubbed "Spider-Man," has described robbery as "an act of imagination," spurred on by Tomic's aesthetic desire.

Art Taylor made the case for reading books that "make you uncomfortable."

The power of the bestselling author in action: When the largest daily newspaper in Maine decided it was going to stop publishing regional book reviews, it caused an uproar among local writers — including Stephen King, who complained about the move on Twitter. The newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, promptly responded with a challenge: If Mr. King could get his followers to buy 100 digital subscriptions, it would bring back the local reviews.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Wie Viel ist Genug?" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Publishers Weekly spoke with Niklas Natt Och Dag about his debut, The Wolf and the Watchman, which centers on a hideous murder in 1793 Stockholm; The Killing creator Soren Sveistrup chatted with iNews about his first novel,The Chestnut Man, and the enduring success of Scandi Noir; Vera writer Ann Cleeves opened up to Chronicle Live about bringing her hit novel series to life on TV.