Mystery Melange

Submissions to the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction are now open to all writers who are from (or whose work celebrates) the North East of England. The award is sponsored by the author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries. To be considered, entrants must submit an unpublished short story of no more than ten thousand words or the first two chapters and a synopsis of their work in progress. The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2500 to support the completion of their work. The deadline for submissions is June 30. (HT to Shots Magazine)

As part of the upcoming Granite Noir conference, you can catch the online panel, Brilliant Women, on February 25, moderated by Jenny Brown. Three brilliant authors share the stage to talk about their books, how they found their place in crime fiction, and their influence in leading the way for women’s voices. Featured authors include Ann Cleeves, author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels including popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez from TV’s Vera and Shetland series; and Lin Anderson and Alex Gray, best known for the Rhona MacLeod forensic scientist and Detective William Lorimer series respectively, and for co-founding the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival.

On April 27, Barnet Libraries in the UK will present an online evening with Scandinavian authors Anne Mette Hancock (Denmark), Lina Bengtsdotter (Sweden), and Silje Ulstein (Norway) in conversation with Alex Minnis from Nordic Watchlist, a website that supports and showcases Nordic entertainment and culture. Following the discussion, there will be the opportunity for a Q&A session.

Mystery Writers of America announced that the 2022 Edgar Awards Banquet will be held in person on Thursday, April 28, at the New York Marriott Marquis. In compliance with local guidelines, MWA is requiring that all Edgar Awards banquet attendees be fully vaccinated. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with the main reception/dinner/program. For a list of all of this year's nominees in the various categories, follow this link.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, this year's Suffolk Mystery Festival has been changed to an all-virtual format on Saturday, March 5, 2022. There will also be pre-recorded interviews available for viewing during the festival. The event will showcase 40+ best-selling mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, paranormal, historical, romance, and women's fiction authors. Registration for this free event is now open. You can check out the full schedule via this link.

The UK's CrimeFest 2022 announced the lineup for this year's event to be held in person May 12-15 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, after a two-year hiatus from Covid. Up to 150 authors will be participating in panels on topics ranging from division in society today to historical crime, and locked room mysteries to police procedurals. Headliner guests include Ann Cleeves, Andrew Child, Martin Edwards, and Robert Goddard, with this year’s Ghost of Honour commemorating Dick Francis.

First Monday is a crime fiction evening held on the first Monday of each month in Central London in association with MA Creative Writing at City, University of London. The next event will be held on March 7 and will feature a panel including authors Janice Hallett, Catherine Ryan Howard, Robert Gold, and Stuart Neville, with Joy Kluver moderating. You can catch an archive of the previous month's panels on the First Monday Facebook page.

The DePaul Pop Culture Conference is an annual fan/academic event at DePaul University, with thoughtful discussions from fans, scholars, and media makers from around the world on the year's particular pop culture theme. The 2022 conference, which will be held May 7, is focused on Sherlock Holmes. In addition to talks from icons such as screenwriters Brannon Braga and Cheryl Cain, as well as authors, journalists, and academics, the Distinguished Contributions Award will be presented to Arwel Wyn Jones, Production designer on Sherlock, Doctor Who, and many other series. Event organizers are also soliciting ideas for papers on the Sherlock Holmes theme.

The Anaheim Public Library Foundation celebrates its 25th year with Sinister Shenanigans, a panel on April 24th of three best-selling authors, Paige Shelton, Mike Befeler, Wendall Thomas, and moderator Matt Coyle. The event is a fundraiser for the library with a silent auction, raffles, and more.

Phyllis M. Betz, editor of Reading the Cozy Mystery: Critical Essays on an Underappreciated Subgenre, is seeking short essays that discuss an author's approach to their work for a companion anthology. The tentative title is Writing the Cozy: Cozy Authors on their Craft, organized into major sections that focus on key aspects of the cozy such as setting, characters, racism, and more.

You can check out the free ongoing online exhibition "Books, Bohemians and Baker Street: A Study in Sherlock in Special Collections" at University of Delaware Library. The collection features items in the library collections related to the Arthur Conan Doyle story, "A Scandal in Bohemia," some unusual items pertaining to Sherlock Holmes (such as Julian Symons's speculation, "Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule...?"), and letters from Conan Doyle. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)

Crimetime Online sat down with Jade Chandler, publishing director of the new crime imprint from John Murray Press titled Baskerville. Chandler, who has previously served in a similar capacity at Sphere and Harville Secker publishers, talked about the new imprint's philosophy and some of the upcoming titles in the pipeline.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Quicksand" by Browning Mank.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton spoke with author Robin Jeffrey about her new sci-fi mystery novel, exe: A Cadence Turing Mystery; Indie Crime Scene interviewed Simon Marlowe, author of The Dead Hand of Dominique; and Author Interviews chatted with Bonnie Kistler, a former Philadelphia attorney and the author of House on Fire and The Cage.