Mystery Melange

The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the finalists for this year's Derringer Awards for excellence in crime-themed short stories. Winners will be announced on May 1. For all the nominees in the Flash Story, Short Story, Long Story, and Novelette categories, head on over to the official SMFS website.

The shortlist for the International Booker Prize was announced in London today and features a couple of books of interest to crime fiction readers, including Hurricane Season by Mexican author Fernanda Melchor (translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes) about a series of tragedies and violence that follows the discovery of a corpse by a group of children playing near the irrigation canals; and The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder), a haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance.

Goldsboro Books announced the finalists for the Glass Bell Award, given annually to an outstanding work of contemporary fiction, rewarding quality storytelling in any genre. The list of twelve books includes crime titles My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite; The Second Sleep by Robert Harris; The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides; Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson; and Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver

Another Virtual Noir at the Bar is heading to your computer on April 13 straight from Boston area. Hosts Daniel Ford of Writers Bone and Edwin Hill will emcee a night of reading and conversation with Boston-area crime authors including Bruce Robert Coffin, Elisabeth Elo, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Joanna Schaffhausen, Sarah Smith, and Peter Swanson.

The U.K.'s World Book Night celebrations, scheduled for April 23, will go to a digital format due to Covid-19. The Bookseller noted that authors will broadcast excerpts from their books on social media, and there will be a reading hour, inviting the public to recommend or share a book with a friend using the hashtag #ReadingHour. Among the featured books for this year's event are the crime titles A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee; Death in the Dordogne by Martin Walker; Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie; Darkness Rising by A. A. Dhand; The Dead Ex by Jane Corry; and East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman.

Sadly, another major crime fiction conference has made the decision to cancel this year's event. The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which would have celebrated it’s 17th year in 2020 from July 23-26, will not be held this year. The event will launch the HIF Player to allow everyone a virtual festival experience at home. This free, online hub is packed with archive event recordings, digital book clubs, and learning resources and activities for children, and will be regularly updated with new content to keep audiences entertained.

Author James Patterson is spearheading a group that includes actress Reese Witherspoon, Reese’s Book Club, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc), and the American Booksellers Association in an effort to raise millions of dollars to help save independent bookstores from closing permanently due to the pandemic. Money is being collected at the website www.saveindiebookstores.com and the campaign is expected to run at least through April 30, at which point Binc will distribute the total funds raised to eligible independent bookstores.

The Atlantic noted how America’s public libraries have led the ranks of “second responders,” stepping up for their communities in times of natural or manmade disasters, like hurricanes, floods, shootings, fires, and big downturns in individual lives.

Mystery Readers Journal is soliciting essays having to do with Italian mysteries for its next issue. Editor Janet Rudolph is looking for Reviews, Articles, and Author! Author! essays (first person, about yourself, your books, and your unique take on mysteries set in Italy connection). The deadline is April 20.

Kings River Life has some food & drink mysteries for your Easter feast, and Mystery Fanfare also has a list of Passover-themed crime novels.

Elle Marr applied the Page 69 Test to her new thriller novel, The Missing Sister, about a woman whose twin sister has vanished, leaving behind three chilling words: Trust no one.

In honor of April being National Poetry Month (as established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996), the 5-2 Crime Weekly is presenting its annual "Thirty Days of the Five-Two." In addition to the usual Poems of the Week (this week: "I Died a Thousand Times: Death #4" by Richie Narvaez), organizer Gerald So is encouraging readers to link to any Five-Two poems you enjoy on your social media.

In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element's Book Series Binge interviews continued with Julia Spencer-Fleming on the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series; Kelley Armstrong on the Casey Duncan novels; Leonard Goldberg on the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series; and Eve Calder on her Cookie House Mystery series. Criminal Element also chatted with Donna VanLiere, author of The Time of Jacob's Trouble, and Crime Reads snagged Don Winslow to discuss socially-engaged crime fiction, surf stories, breakfast burritos, and returning to life on the coast.