Mystery Melange

 

It's never enjoyable to start off a new year with sad news, but readers should delight in the many books of author MC Beaton (Marion Gibbons) even as they mourn her passing on December 30th at the age of 83. Beaton penned the popular Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series, both of which have been adapted for TV. Her publisher Little, Brown noted that "Success came to her later in life but she made up for lost time - since 2011 she had been the most borrowed UK adult author in British libraries and her M C Beaton titles have sold in excess of 21 million copies worldwide."

Crime novelist Richard Price is set to receive the Writer Guild of Americ East's Ian McLellan Hunter Award. The author of nine novels, Price also wrote the original screenplay for Al Pacino’s 1989 New York City-noir film Sea of Love; 1993’s crime-comedy Mad Dog and Glory; 1994’s Kiss of Death; and 1995’s Clockers, which he adapted from his novel, with co-writer/director Spike Lee. The award is named after longtime WGA East member Ian McLellan Hunter, who fronted for Dalton Trumbo during the Hollywood Blacklist before he was blacklisted himself.

The Famous Author Lecture Series at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers will feature Alex Segura on Monday, January 13, with a lecture and lunch followed by a writing workshop titled "The Elements of the Private Eye." Segura is the author of the Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery novel series, which has been nominated for an Anthony Award, and also co-writes the Letal Lit podcast.

The Killer Women Festival for Crime Writing & Drama, which takes place in London on March 15, will offer exclusive early bird day tickets on sale as of January 1. Early bird tickets are available only to Killer Women Club members, but anyone can join the club for free. Special guests will include Ann Cleeves, Sarah Hilary, Erin Kelly, and many more authors, along with experts from various law enforcement disciplines.

There are certainly plenty of others things to look forward to in 2020, including the extensive list of upcoming new book releases, which the Shots Magazine blog has been covering over the past few weeks, organized by publisher.

Linda Landrigan, editor-in-chief of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, will serve as judge for the 2020 Golden Donut 200-Word Short Story Contest, part of the annual Writers Police Academy. Conference director Lee Lofland encourages all writers and even nonwriters to "sharpen your pencils, warm up the erasers, and be ready to trim your twisted tales into a mere 200 words." And he means exactly 200 words, including the title. For more information, head on over to the official WPA page for general information to get you started since the submission open period doesn't start until February.

True crime afficionados will want to take note of mystery novelist Denise Mina hosting a series on BBC Radio 3 focusing on famous legal cases in Scottish history. The latest episode is on Madeleine Smith, accused of poisoning a former suitor and placed on trial in 1857. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell via the Bunburyist blog)

And in a life-imitates-art-imitates life kind of thing, one Dutch police department has created its own true-crime podcast to solve a 1991 murder case.

Book Riot's ongoing United States of a Mystery headed to the southern coast for "Essential Louisiana Crime Fiction."

Archaeologists recently unearthed the remains of a 4,000-year-old "Book of Two Ways" — a guide to the Egyptian underworld, and the earliest copy of the first illustrated book.

Speaking of things "old," caveat emptor on eBay, as this article attests regarding a bogus sale for a "rare" Sherlock Holmes coin. However, 2019 did indeed see the Royal Mint printing a real Sherlock Holmes 50p coin timed to coincide with the 160th anniversary of Arthur Conan Doyle's birth and designed by textual artist and designer Stephen Raw, a longtime fan of the fictional detective.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Alembic" by Bruce Robinson.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People welcomed Matt Coyle to discuss Lost Tomorrows, the latest novel to feature Coyle’s haunted San Diego private detective, Rick Cahill; Cleo Coyle, the husband-and-wife writing team of Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini, were interviewed for Forbes about writing their bestselling Coffeehouse Mystery Series together; and the Washington Times chatted with Craig Johnson, author of the Sheriff Walt Longmire series (adapted as a TV series first on A&E then Netflix).