Mystery Melange

 

Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog featured its annual (and growing) list of Christmas-themed crime fiction, a list that's so large it's now split into several parts. You can check the list of novels and Christmas-themed short stories and novellas here.

Writing for The Guardian, Peter Swanson compiled a list of "Top 10 Christmas crime stories," from Dashiell Hammett to Agatha Christie and PD James, when the festive season has inspired some of fiction’s finest criminal minds.

What's it like to have to write Christmas books, including Christmas-themed mysteries year 'round? Just how do you get in the spirit outside December, even when writing during heatwaves? By drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey, and more.

The authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen have quite a few holiday recipe suggestions for you, including Apple Blueberry Holiday Scones from Daryl Wood Gerber; Chocolate Pecan Turtle Bars from Leslie Budewitz; Maw Maw’s Fudge (with Candy Cane Sprinkles) by Amy Pershing; Crinkled Chocolate Espresso Cookies with a Kick via Mary Jane Maffini and much more.

Writing for the Murder is Everywhere blog, Zoe Sharp discussed a celebration in Iceland that I've mentioned before, and one that I think we should start celebrating everywhere, namely, the Christmas book flood (Icelandic: Jólabókaflóðið). But all is not sugar and spice in that country ...check out this "Wicked Feline Murder Floof, a Yule Cat Story."

Was one of the best-loved and most iconic Christmas writings actually plagiarized? Over on the Sleuthsayers blog, Joseph D'Agnese notes that Clement Moore quite possibly did indeed steal the famous poem, "The Night Before Christmas" from a man named Henry Livingston Jr.

The Kings River Life MysteryRats Maze podcast had a couple of Christmas stories up, including the first chapter of the mystery novel, A Merry Christmas Anniversary Mystery, by Anna Celeste Burke as read by Julia Reimer and the story, "Dog’s Only Son" by Neil Plakcy, read by actor Thomas Nance. Also, KRL also had an online print story, "Lady Barbara’s Christmas Miracle: A Christmas Mystery Short Story" by Connie Berry.

Writers Who Kill also featured the story, "A Christmas Near Miss: Santa-Fairy and the Tooth Claus" by Tammy Euliano.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast featured Fei Wu's clever Christmas tale, "Beijingle All the Way," from the January/February 2020 issue, read by the translator of the story—and longtime contributor to EQMM—Josh Pachter.

If you'd like a little homicide with your holiday, Volume 2, issue 2 of Down & Out magazine has been released. Editor Rick Ollerman state that "We are fortunate to feature some of the correspondence between two legends of crime fiction, Walter Satterthwait and Bill Crider, both of whom recently passed away. For those who knew Walter and Bill, or were just fans of their work, there is a touch of their personalities that comes through in these exchanges and, at least for a moment, gives us an opportunity to experience their unique voices just a little bit, just one more time." There are also new original stories by James O. Born, Michael Cahlin, John M. Floyd, Arthur Klepchukov & Kyle Stout, Ken Luer, Stephen Marlowe, Steven Nester, Rick Ollerman, Josh Pachter, Walter Satterthwait, John Shepphird, Don Stoll, and Jeff Vorzimmer.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is as close as Arthur Conan Doyle ever came to a Sherlock Holmes Christmas special, and Book Riot has a list of some of the most successful screen adaptations through the years.

From the real-life mystery department, The Guardian took a deep dive into the "tome raiders": an audacious book heist at Feltham in 2017 in which around 240 books and manuscripts were taken, including works by Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci and the 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco de Goya. The total value was estimated at more than £2.5m. According to Ellis, book theft has undergone an evolution over the past 10 to 15 years. "Prior to that, the theft of manuscripts and rare books was unusual, and quite often committed by people who had access." But it was only a matter of time before organized criminals spotted an opportunity.

From the real-life mystery department, part two, comes the question: Why are scammers conning famous (and even indie) authors into sending them unpublished manuscripts?

Unfortunately, there will be many sad news items this holiday season, including deaths from Covid-19. One such recent loss in the mystery community was mystery author Parnell Hall. Hall was the creator of a series with ambulance-chasing New York City private investigator Stanley Hastings and the "Puzzle Lady" Cora Felton series, as well as the screeenwriter for the 1984 cult classic, C.H.U.D. (HT to Mystery Fanfare) ZDF Enterprises bought the rights to the Puzzle Lady series in September for development as a TV series, with VP Robert Franke adding, "Parnell Hall has created, in The Puzzle Lady, a delightful character that has been described as 'Miss Marple on steroids.'"

Ever wonder what patrons are searching for in library catalogs? Proquest investigated and compiled a list of the top 2020 book searches, aggregated from all the public libraries that use Syndetics Unbound in the U.S. UK, Australia, and Canada.

Looking for some last-minute stocking stuffers? These phone cases for book lovers might fill the bill.