Mystery Melange

 

Twenty-eight writers have made the Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists, following a record number of nominations. The awards, a mainstay of the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival, are now in their fifth year with six new categories including best amateur detective, best revenge thriller, and most recommended read. After being voted on by the community of crime fans in the UK, the winners will be announced on Friday July 19 at the Harrogate festival. Here's the link for readers to vote for their favorite shortlisted authors and books.

St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend announced a special prize to be awarded at the event, which takes place August 16-18. For the past few years the PD James dinner at the Crime Fiction Weekend has featured a specially written after-dinner play, challenging guests to figure out "whodunnit." This year the amateur sleuth to crack the mystery crafted by author Natasha Cooper (a Crime Weekend’s Emeritus Fellow) will win a subscription to Blackwell’s Crime Fiction Gift Club.

The Center for Fiction in New York City has a couple of crime fiction events coming up in July as part of the "Crime Fiction Masters" series. On July 10, authors Alison Gaylin and Alifair Burke will explore the themes of misunderstood women and dark family secrets, and on July 12, Harlan Coben and John Sandford will talk about the inspiration for their most recent books, their writing process, and answer audience questions.

In honor of June being LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, History took a look back at the 1940s, '50s and '60s when police arrested LGBTQ people based on an informal "three-article" rule.

Writing for the Washington Post, crime author Laura Lippman addressed the topic of white authors writing black characters.

The PBA Galleries is auctioning off a roster of "Fine Literature with Mystery & Detective Fiction" today, in 519 lots. One of the pricier items is a first edition, signed, of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, estimated at $3,000–5,000. Some of the crime fiction titles up for bidding include three wrapper-bound first editions of Raymond Chandler mysteries; a first edition of Ian Fleming's James Bond novel, Dr. No; a first edition of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock; several works by the "laureate of American lowlife," Charles Bukowski, and much more.

Publishers Weekly profiled Minotaur Books, the mystery imprint of St. Martin's Press that is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Summer means travel, and travel for many means beach reads and those beaches are often in Florida. Writing for Bookriot, Matt Coleman is touring the country by way of its best crime fiction, beginning with the Sunshine State.

Rapid DNA machines roughly the size of an office printer have helped solve rape cases in Kentucky, identified California wildfire victims, and verified family connections of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Now a state board in Texas has asked a growing government provider of the DNA equipment used in those high-profile projects to halt work amid concerns of potentially jeopardized criminal cases.

Fans of David Baldacci's thrillers, take note: you can enter for your chance to win the complete "Memory Man" series signed by Baldacci. The promotion ends July 7th.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "First Degree Murder" by Roseanne Fahey.

In the Q&A roundup, Writer's Digest interviewed Karin Slaughter, who talked about what led to her Save the Libraries nonprofit, social media for authors, and what the future holds for her beloved characters; The National Writers Series, a year-round book festival in Traverse City, welcomed authors Steve Hamilton, Bryan Gruley and Daniel H. Pink to the City Opera House stage, and the three participated in a Q&A online; Sisters in Crime Australia chatted with Joanne Baker about her latest book, The Slipping Place, a murder mystery about mystery.