Mystery Melange

 

Yesterday brought the announcement of the 2021 Macavity Awards, which are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Best Novel went to Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby; Best First Novel: Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden; Best Critical/Biographical: H R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime by Sheila Mitchell; Best Short Story: "Elysian Fields" by Gabriel Valjan (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; and the Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery: Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin.

Also this week in a virtual ceremony on Facebook, the Australian Crime Writers' Association announced the winners of the 2021 Ned Kelly Awards. They include: Best Debut Crime Fiction - The Second Son by Loraine Peck; Best True Crime - Stalking Claremont by Bret Christian; Best International Crime Fiction - We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker; and Best Crime Fiction - Consolation by Garry Disher.

Author Martin Walker, whose novels feature police chief Bruno Courrèges and are set in the Perigord region of France, has been named this year's winner of the Prix Charbonnier, awarded by the Federation of Alliances Françaises in the USA to those making a special contribution to French culture. He follows in the footsteps of Leonard Slatkin, Francois Truffaut, Pierre Cardin, Julia Child, Andre Cointreau, and many more.

D. Ann Williams has won the 2021 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, sponsored by Sisters in Crime. Williams's novel in progress, titled Murder at the Freeman Hotel, is set in 1920s California and features Minnie Freeman, a woman on a mission to move to a new city, open a hotel, and stay independently wealthy. Her plan is hindered by the dead body found at the bottom of the new automatic elevator shaft and a sigil linking it to other deaths. SinC also announced the honorable mention winners: Hiawatha Bray, Lily Meade, Robin Page, Catherine Tucker, and Zoe B. Wallbrook.

Unpublished crime writers in Wales have a little over a week left to enter the Crime Cymru First Novel Prize sponsored by the Crime Cymru crime writing collective. Send along the first 5,000 words of your crime novel plus a one-page synopsis by September 3. The two winners (one each of an English-language manuscript and another in Welsh) will receive a four-night stay in Nant and a writing retreat generously donated by Lit Wales, as well as a year's mentoring from a Crime Cymru member.

Writers who can boil down a mystery into a half-dozen words are encouraged to enter the fifth annual Six-Word Mystery Contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA). The contest opens September 1, 2021, and entries must be received by midnight, Oct. 8, 2021, MST. Six-word "whodunits" can be entered in one or all five of the following categories: Hard Boiled or Noir; Cozy Mystery; Thriller Mystery; Police Procedural Mystery; and/or a mystery with Romance or Lust. The Six-Word Mystery Contest is open to all adults 18 and over, with no residency requirements.

Registration is open for ITW's 8th annual Online Thriller School. Ten weeks of intensive craft lessons will begin on September 14, with a bonus "Ask Me Anything" panel. Authors scheduled to instruct include Liv Constantine, Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Gardner, Alexia Gordon, Adam Hamdy, Cate Holahan, Anthony Horowitz, Steven James, Tosca Lee, Jaime Levine, David Morrell, Samuel Octavius, Alex Segura, and Jerri Williams. Topics include Pacing; World Building; Building Suspense; Villains – Beyond the Cardboard Cutout; How to Edit Like a Pro; Creating Depth of Character; The G-Woman: An Insider’s Look at the FBI; How to Write a Killer Twist; Creating Realistic Dialogue; and Developing and Honing Your Voice.

Many people have the mistaken notion that forensic science provides an iron-clad form of evidence for criminal convictions. However, as recent cases such as the Washington, DC Crime Lab show, it's definitely not without its pitfalls. Then, there's the controversy surrounding ScatterShot, an AI-based tech that is problematic at best and has already landed a man in jail for nearly a year despite scant evidence. As artificial intelligence slowly creeps into every aspect of culture, it's good to be reminded that it's often as fallible as its creators.

For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time?

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "My Eyes Are Blue, His Are Brown, But They're The Same" by Terry Dawley.

In the Q&A roundup, William Kent Krueger spoke with the New York Times about his love of stories, handed out some great book recommendations, and described his writing process (subscription required); and Megan Abbott was interviewed by Lithub's Maris Review podcast to discuss her new novel, The Turnout, and the dark underworld of ballet.