Mystery Melange

 

The shortlist for the second annual Staunch Book Prize was announced recently. The list includes Only To Sleep (in the Philip Marlowe series) by Lawrence Osborne; the 15th-century literary mystery, The Western Wind, by Samantha Harvey; Liar's Candle by August Thomas; Honey by Brenda Brooks; and The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre.The £1,000 award was set up in 2018 by author Bridget Lawless for the best thrillers in which no woman gets beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped, or murdered. The inaugural prize attracted criticism from authors such as Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah, while CrimeFest organizers withdrew an offer of a complimentary pass and panel appearance for the winning writer. BBC News gathered some authors together to share their thoughts on the controversy.

Goodreads announced the finalists for its annual Readers Choice Awards, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category. Goodreads members will be able to vote for their favorites for a week, with the semifinalists announced on November 12 and finalists on November 19th. This year, readers also have the opportunity for a write-in vote if their favorite didn't make the initial list of 15 books. But you'd better hurry: write-ins are only accepted through November 10th. Goodreads adds that any book published between November 16, 2019 and November 15, 2019 is eligible to be a write-in title.

The 50th Bouchercon World Mystery Conference was held this past weekend in Dallas (see the award winners here), and CrimeReads assembled a round table discussion of "The state of the crime novel," with Anthony Award nominees taking a look at where crime fiction is now and where it's heading.

Although I already noted most of the awards handed out at Bouchercon, I neglected to mention the Bill Crider award. Named in honor of the popular late author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mysteries, the award offered a first-place reward of $1,000 to stories "relating to Texas ... with an element of mystery or crime." First Place went to Joseph S. Walker, for "The Last Man in Lafarge"; Second Place: Jaap Boekestein, "Long Overdue"; Third Place: Douglas Dorow, "Trust Me"; and Fourth Place: Dixon Hill, "Mi Corazón, Sin Cartero, Sin Timbre de la Puerta" ("My Heart, Sans Postman, Sans Doorbell"). (HT to the Rap Sheet)

The Tampa Bay Times is presenting a Festival of Reading this weekend. One of the featured events is "Bourbon & Books" with Michael Koryta, Lori Roy, and Lisa Unger on November 9 in the Student Center Ballroom at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. Their panel discussion will include their writing, latest books, and more.

The latest issue of Mystery Readers Journal is out in PDF and hardcopy, featuring a theme of "Private Eyes." This is the first installment of this theme, with "Private Eyes II" due out Winter 2019-2020. Editor Janet Rudolph is still looking for articles and author essays for the next issue. (Full disclosure: I have an Author! Author! essay in the first issue.)

Akashic Books is known for its lineup of noir-related individual book titles, anthologies, poetry, and more. They also sponsor a weekly "Mondays are Murder," featuring a different short story each week. I'm honored this week to be included in that august company with a story titled "Moby Mick." All stories are archived online for your reading pleasure and include offerings from Patti Abbott, Karen Heuler, Tom Gartner, Lynne Bronstein, and many more.

The Burns Library at Boston College, the depository of author Rex Stout's papers, has opened the exhibition, "Golden Spiders and Black Orchids: A 'Satisfactory' Look into the Life and Mysteries of Rex Stout." The exhibition features Stout’s fiction (mostly notably, the Nero Wolfe series) and its adaptations, his activism, his pastimes, and his fandom, and has items such as a Nero Wolfe comic strip and Nero Wolfe postage stamps from San Marino and Nicaragua. The exhibition will be on view until January 2020. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist)

A group of U.S. libraries plans to boycott Macmillan over its controversial new e-book lending policy, suspending purchases of digital copies from the publisher. As of November 1st, the publisher is limiting library purchases to only one copy of each new e-book title for the first eight weeks after its release. This week, Macmillan CEO John Sargent defended the policy in a letter to librarians, insisting: "We believe the very rapid increase in the reading of borrowed e-books decreases the perceived economic value of a book." However, Alan Inouye, the ALA’s senior director of public policy and government relations, hit back, saying: "Macmillan remains the sole Big 5 publisher that perceives a business need to limit libraries’ ability to purchase and lend e-books. ALA has frequently requested but never received data or analysis that demonstrates that library lending undermines book sales. It is simply false to state otherwise."

To win a chance for a $50 gift card to your favorite independent bookstore, you can sign up for Book Riot's new "Read This Book" upcoming newsletter that will give you one book recommendation per week. The sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico and all other U.S. territories), and entries will be accepted through November 30.

Did you know that Room 411 at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul is where Agatha Christie is alleged to have written Murder on the Orient Express? It's also the location of a real-life mystery: in 1979, a medium claimed the author's ghost told her a key was hidden in the room, and one was later found under the floorboards. However, the medium also said the key would open a hidden box containing a secret notebook, but 40 years later, the box still hasn't been found.

Another reason to read more books: "Readers Are More Satisfied With Their Lives Than Nonreaders," a new study suggests.

I've said it before, and I'll keep shouting it from the rooftops, but librarians matter.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Safe in the Sunshine" by Peri Dwyer Worrell.

In the Q&A roundup, Mystery Person Scott Montgomery chatted with Jake Hinson, author of Dry Country, about the violent domino effect of a preacher dealing with a blackmail predicament over Easter weekend; at Writers Who Kill, E. B. Davis interviewed Jennifer David Hesse about her Wiccan Wheel Mystery series; and on Tor.com, Nicholas Meyer spoke with Ryan Britt about Sherlock Holmes tackling real-life hoaxes in Meyer's The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols.