Mystery Melange

The Noir at the Bar series (begun in 2008 by crime fiction critic and blogger Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders) is going strong with new events popping up around the U.S. and the world. One of the latest events will take place May 2 at the Town Wall pub on Pink Lane in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northeast England. Organized by Vic Watson, the line-up includes Neil Broadfoot, Mik Brown, Nick Parker, Ashley Erwin, Derek Farrell, Jónína Leósdóttir, Gytha Lodge, Judith O’Reilly, Zoë Sharp, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, plus a wildcard chosen on the night.

An upcoming auction is offering the chance become a character in a Peter James novel. Famous for the Brighton-based Roy Grace series, the bestselling author will name a character after the top bidder at a one-off auction at Bellmans Auctioneers in Wisborough Green on Thursday May 9. The auction is raising money for the charity Care for Veterans which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. One of the other fun auction items includes "A Reception at the Crime Scene of the Largest Burglary in English Legal History," the underground Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company. Also, For James Bond fans, you can sail on board the Fairey Huntsman vessel featured in the iconic James Bond boat chase in From Russia with Love. 

The annual Daily Mail's first novel competition is open for entries with a deadline of June 14. Submissions can be a contemporary story about families or relationships or a thriller or an historical adventure, as long as it hasn't been previously published in any form. Entrants are required to submit just the first 3,000 words plus a 600-word synopsis of the complete work: beginning, middle and end. The winner will receive £20,000 advance fee, the services of top literary agent Luigi Bonomi and guaranteed publication by Penguin Random House UK. Several of the runners-up have also been offered publishing deals in previous competitions.

The 6th Annual Conference of the International Crime Fiction Association will present "Captivating Criminality 6: Metamorphoses of Crime: Facts and Fictions, from June 12-15 at d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy. The themed presentations will examine the ways in which Crime Fiction as a genre incorporates elements of real-life cases and, in turn, influences society by conveying thought-provoking ideas of deviance, criminal activity, investigation, and punishment.

As part of the Edgar Awards celebration season, Crimereads offered up a two-part roundtable discussion on "The State of the Mystery," featuring the 2019 Edgar Award Nominees addressing the genre's most pressing questions. Part One can be found via this link and Part Two by following this link.

A few other noteworthy Crimereads features recently included a "Beginner's Guide to Locked Room Mysteries" by Gigi Pandian; a look at T.S. Eliot as a crime fiction critic, by Curtis Evans; and Adi Tantimedh's list of "10 Crime Novels that Strike a Balance Between Humor and Noir."

Elizabeth Foxwell noted that a lawsuit regarding the sale of Elmore Leonard's papers to the University of South Carolina had been settled. Christine Leonard, Leonard's ex-wife, had sued alleging that Leonard's company, trust, and son had sold the archive in secret (stating that a stipulation in the divorce decree entitled her to a share of the proceeds). Tom McNally, dean of libraries at the University of South Carolina, said Leonard had visited the school and was impressed with collections of Ernest Hemingway and George V. Higgins, two of Leonard’s favorite writers. He added, "The collection is important because it will lead to the writing of books and articles about Elmore Leonard and his contributions to writing. And it will be here forever."

The CIA finally launched its Instagram, and its first post is an "eye spy" game.

Embattled UK Prime Minister Teresa May took time out from political woes to launch a book booth (the UK's version of a Little Free Library). Her choice of book to add to the library was Dissolution, a historical mystery novel by bestselling Scottish author CJ Sansom.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Lil' Redd" by Kenneth Pobo.

In the Q&A roundup, Denise Mina (whose latest book, Conviction, was just released) was interviewed by The Guardian and explained why she doesn't think "there’s any such thing as an apolitical writer"; the Irish Times chatted with Jane Casey about her Detective Maeve Kerrigan series and how she straddles the divide between Ireland and Britain, just like her creator; and the blog of the International Crime Fiction Research Group spoke with Ellen Dunne, an Austrian writer who currently lives in Dublin, about her Patsy Logan protagonist, as well as European crime fiction in general.