Mystery Melange

 

St. Edmund Hall’s Centre for the Creative Brain will present an evening of mystery and crime tonight, March 11th, exploring what drives people to commit crime, the makeup of a criminal mind, and why we are so fascinated by it. This free online event will feature G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the acclaimed St Just mysteries, the Max Tudor mysteries, and the novel, Weycombe; and Dr. Julia Shaw, a psychological scientist and science communicator whose work focuses on criminal psychology and areas of memory.

The Romantic Novelists' Association handed out their annual Romantic Novel Awards, including the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award (for the best romantic novel with thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense elements), which was won by Louise Douglas for The House by the Sea. The other finalists in that category include The Forgotten Sister by Nicola Cornick; Death Comes to Cornwall by Kate Johnson; The Twins by Jane Lark; and Escape to the Little Chateau by Marie Laval.

On her Mystery Fanfare blog, Janet Rudolph reported on the passing of mystery author Judith Van Gieson. She wrote the Neil Hamel series and the Claire Reynier series, as well as a stand-alone novel, children's books, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. She was awarded the Literary Spirit of Magnifico Award and the Zia Award for Best Fiction Work by a female writer from New Mexico. She was also shortlisted for the Shamus Award.

Mystery Scene Magazine released its first issue of the year, which includes Art Taylor reading all the Edgar short story winners from the founding of Mystery Writers of America to the present; interviews with authors J.T. Ellison, Charles Finch, and Edwin Hill; a look at composer Miklós Rózsa’s work, the maestro behind a slew of noir film scores; contributors' "Faves Raves of 2020"; Jon L. Breen's survey of current legal thrillers in "Disorder in the Court," and much more.

The latest issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine is also out, with new short fiction by Chris Preston, Jeff Soloway, Brandon Barrows, Jack Clark, Roger Johns, Mark Thielman, and Jeffrey A. Lockood. [Disclaimer: there's also a story in this edition by yours truly, BV Lawson.]

The bestselling British author Ken Follett is donating the proceeds from his book about the Notre-Dame fire to help restore a cathedral in Brittany. Follet is giving €148,000 ($176,000) towards a multimillion euro project to save Saint-Samson de Dol-de-Bretagne cathedral.

Alex Michaelides’ novel, The Silent Patient, has reached 50 foreign sales for publication and translation rights in other countries, described as "a record-breaker" for a thriller debut.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots Magazine has tidbits and reviews from new releases by Russ Thomas, Chris Brookmyre, Mick Herron, Kevin Sullivan, Alan Parks, Robert Goddard, Michael Ridpath, Alex Finlay, Peter Swanson, Paul Vidich, Marcello Fois, and Alan Judd. Ripley also shares a remembrance of the late Margaret Maron.

Crime author, Peter James, is auctioning off the custom-made desk he's used for nearly seventeen years to write his Detective Roy Grace novels. James said he first got the desk in about 2003, and said it even contained secret compartments to protect his research and work.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "And Her Eyes Made Love to Him" by Catfish McDaris.

In the Q&A roundup, Donna Leon stopped by CrimeReads for a look back on thirty years of writing her Inspector Guido Brunetti novel series; Sarah Pearse, author of the debut novel, The Sanatorium, was interviewed for the Shots Magazine blog by Ayo Onatade; and Harlan Coben was featured in conversation with the New York Times about publishing his 33rd novel, deals with Netflix, Amazon and Apple, and writing in Ubers, at Stop & Shop and just about anywhere else he can.