Mystery Melange

 

After I began to notice hordes of people talking on social media about deciding to cancel their registrations to the upcoming Bouchercon conference in New Orleans later this month - due to the skyrocketing number of COVID cases there - I figured the handwriting was on the wall. The Bouchercon organizing committee (chaired by Mike Bursaw, Connie Perry, and Heather Graham) made it official yesterday by announcing they were making the difficult decision to cancel the entire event when a virtual Bouchercon at this late date was deemed untenable. This is truly heartbreaking for all those involved since it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to put one of these events together. The silver lining is that Bouchercon will be held in New Orleans in 2025, and this year's Guests of Honor will remain the same, including Michael Connelly, Steph Cha, Craig Johnson, Charles and Caroline Todd, Alafair Burke, Ali Karim, and Jonathan Maberry. The Anthony Awards ceremony will also now take place at a future date.

The Killer Nashville Conference announced the longlists for its Silver Falchion Awards in twelve different categories. For all the various lists and honorees, click on over to this link.

The Killer Nashville conference also announced the longlist for its Claymore Award, designed to assist new and rebranding English-language fiction authors to get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. Any manuscripts considered of exceptional merit above the Top 20 will also be forwarded to agents and/or editors. The Top 3 Killer Nashville Claymore Award Winners will be announced at the annual Killer Nashville Awards Dinner during the Killer Nashville Conference being held this year in person from August 19-22.

The eight-day Agatha Christie Festival is being held in person from September 11 to 18 at venues all over Torbay in the UK (barring any COVID related changes). Events include a performance of The Stranger at the Palace Theatre in Paignton on September 17. The play, a psychological drama rather than a crime story, is based on an Agatha Christie short story and has never been performed before.

Looking ahead to conferences of the farther future, Left Coast Crime, to be held in Tucscon in March of 2023, has announced its lineup of special guests. They include a Lifetime Achievement Award to J.A. Jance; Guest of Honor Glen Erik Hamilton and Sujata Massey; Fan Guest of Honor, Dru Ann Love; and Toastmaster Ellen Byron.

Goldsboro Books's Glass Bell shortlist was announced after whittling the list down from the 12 finalists. Now in its fifth year, the award recognizes the best storytelling across contemporary fiction, regardless of genre, featuring a prize of £2,000 and a handmade, engraved glass bell. Among this year's shortlist honorees are the crime fiction titles Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield; and The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton.

At 2 pm ET today, Houston's Murder by the Book will feature Mark Billingham in a virtual conversation with Laura Lippman as they discuss Billingham's latest crime title, Rabbit Hole and Lippman's new thriller, Dream Girl.

Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore is sponsoring a virtual conversation with thriller author, Sandra Brown, today at 5 pm MT (7 ET). Brown is the author of seventy-one New York Times bestsellers and will be discussing her latest, Blind Tiger. Brown will also be in conversation with fellow bestselling thriller author, Kate White, on Tuesday, August 10 at 7:00 P.M. PT via Book Carnival. For more information and to register, follow this link.

The Poisoned Pen bookstore also has some virtual events coming up this weekend. On Saturday, August 7, there'll be a Kensington Coffee and Cozies panel with Vicki Delany, Daryl Wood Gerber, Emmeline Duncan, and Karen Rose Smith in conversation with John Charles; and also a Historicon Group Event with Dianne Freeman, Clara McKenna, and Stephanie Graves, hosted by Barbara Peters.

Recently, we heard the sad news that bestselling crime fiction author, Mo Hayder (the pen name of Clare Dunkel), had died from motor neurone disease. Her husband, Bob Randall, has announced that the funeral will take place on August 12 and be streamed live and made available for 28 days after the funeral. He asked that no flowers be sent but anyone wishing to give a donation can contribute to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Kensington Publishing is launching Kensington Cozies, an imprint dedicated to the cozy mystery genre, which usually have "little-to-no violence, profanity, or sex; likeable amateur sleuths; tight-knit communities; and series arcs that allow the protagonists to grow in their professions and relationships." The first titles go on sale December 28. Over time, backlist titles that fit the cozy criteria will be folded into the imprint. Historical mysteries will remain under the Kensington Books imprint. All Kensington editors will acquire for the imprint, which includes hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market max releases from established authors like Joanne Fluke, Carlene O'Connor, Ellery Adams, Leslie Meier, and Lee Hollis, as well as new voices such as Emmeline Duncan, Frank Anthony Polito, Gabby Allan and Christin Brecher. Digital first cozies will remain in Kensington's e-original imprint, Lyrical Underground. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

The latest issue of The Strand Magazine features a lost work by Raymond Chandler and fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, John Floyd, and Thomas Burns. There's also an exclusive interview with Michael Koryta, plus all the latest book reviews.

Suspense Magazine's Summer 2021 issue is out, featuring interviews with authors James Patterson, Meg Tilly, Riley Sager, Lisa Regan, and a special panel of writing pros: Christine Feehan, Sheila English and C.L Wilson. There's also an exclusive short story written by Kris Polaha, where he brings to life his character Orson Holt. Ken Brosky is back with his latest Rules of Fiction: "We people love celebrity crime." Plus, Joseph Badal talks to Robert Dugoni, in an "inspired by actual events article."

Malice Domestic is looking for a few people to join the Board for the next three-year term which would end on June 30, 2024. As a general rule, they are seeking individuals who are local to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area who are available to attend live or Zoom meetings at least once a month, usually on a Sunday afternoon. They haven't yet put together a live meeting schedule due to the COVID upsurge and the Delta variant. They're seeking a secretary, hotel liaison, dealer liaison, programming chair, and publications/ads chair.

NPR's Science Friday program had a fascinating look at "How Edgar Allan Poe Exposed Scientific Hoaxes—And Perpetrated Them."

This is more of a Media Murder for Monday item, but I'd missed it earlier: Turner Classic Movies is having a "murder" night tonight with four Miss Marple movies from the 1960s featuring Margaret Rutherford - from 8 pm ET into the wee hours of Friday morning. The four include "Murder She Said," "Murder at the Gallop," "Murder Most Foul," and "Murder Ahoy."

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

In the Q&A roundup, Sherry Harris chatted with E.B. Davis over at Writers Who Kill about A Time to Swill, the second book in the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mystery series; Lisa Haselton spoke with Elizabeth Price about her new paranormal mystery, Haunted Ends 3 – Disco Inferno; Jenny Milchman spoke with CrimeReads about first thriller and the "world's longest book tour"; The Real Book Spy blog snagged Landon Beach for "Five Questions" about his latest thriller, The Hike; and Author Interviews welcomed Richard Lange, whose novel, Angel Baby, won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers.