Mystery Melange

This year's list of finalists for the prestigious International Booker Prize, awarded to a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland, includes Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro. Translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle, Elena Knows centers on a woman in the late stage of Parkinson’s Disease who tries to find the culprit behind her daughter's death. Piñeiro is known for her various crime novels, which are bestsellers in Argentina, Latin America, and around the world, several of which have been adapted for the big screen.

Australian publishing company Allen & Unwin announced the winner of the publisher's inaugural Crime Fiction Prize, which goes to Vikki Petraitis for her novel, The Unbelieved, scheduled to be published in August. Allen & Unwin Publisher, Jane Palfreyman, noted that Petraitis's entry won out of 340 manuscripts for taking "a lifetime of observing police work and true crime ... and the result is this fantastic novel: tightly paced, plausible, a fabulous read and, above all, completely gripping."

As part of the New York Public Library's 2nd World Literature Fest, there will be a virtual panel on April 20th from 3-4 p.m. ET titled "Japanese Crime Fiction: How It Caught The World." The discussion will be led by the English translators of Kaoru Takamura’s Lady Joker, Allison Markin Powell and Marie Iida, as well as editor Juliet Grames from the acclaimed Soho Crime imprint and the literature in translation program. For more information and to register, click on over here.

Bestselling authors John Grisham and Celeste Ng will headline the U.S. Book Show, the trade show of the publishing industry, to be held online May 23-26, 2022. Sponsored and organized by Publishers Weekly, USBS will feature book and author panels, "Editors’ Picks" panels, keynotes, a library track, bookseller panels sponsored by the American Bookseller Association, industry-focused discussions and more. Both Grisham and Ng will speak on May 25, a day devoted to adult fiction, at 11:30 a.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. ET, respectively. Grisham's next book, Sparring Partners, is due out in May 2022.

Scarborough’s annual book Books by the Beach festival returns to the Yorkshire coast June 11-12. The featured authors will include Lisa Jewell, who has sold more than five million copies of her books worldwide including the psychological crime novel, The Family Upstairs; TV personality Charlie Higson, who's written the new thriller Whatever Gets You Through the Night, set on the Mediterranean island of Corfu; and former UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson, whose debut novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill, is a fast-moving thriller based on the Russian mafia.

Anne Hillerman, bestselling author of the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series created by her father, Tony Hillerman, applied the Page 69 Test to The Sacred Bridge, her seventh novel in the series.

Janet Rudolph has a running list of Easter-themed crime fiction and Passover crime fiction over at the Mystery Fanfare blog. Janet also has a separate blog, Dying for Chocolate, and recently posted this recipe for an Easy Chocolate Easter Bunny Cake.

 

Kings River Life Magazine has a few more "food mysteries" for your Easter reading feast, as well as a featured Easter short story from 2021 titled "Twilight Easter Egg Hunt" by Margaret S. Hamilton.

Over at the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog, Cleo Coyle posted a recipe for "Seven Minute Apple Doughnuts" for Passover; and you can check out these "classic" posts from future Easter celebrations, including Perfect Easter Eggs; Lemon Cookies for Easter; and an Easter Recipes Roundup.

Here's an Easter tradition I think we should get behind in the U.S: every Easter, hundreds of thousands of Norwegians indulge in crime fiction, known in Norwegian as påskekrim ("Easter Crime"). Whether on TV, at the cinema or in novel form, crime fiction is consumed in massive numbers throughout the Easter holiday. For literary fans, this means the latest books from literary heavyweights like Jo Nesbø do battle with Easter crime collections of short stories in bookstore displays across the country.

Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda believes we should call April "mystery book month" (since both the Malice Domestic conference and MWA Edgar banquet are in April) and notes two titles he'd recommend, Andre Bjerke’s The Lake of the Dead and Masahiro Imamura’s Death Among the Undead.

After being given access to private tapes of one of Scotland's most notorious murderers talking to a prison psychiatrist for a new documentary on the Crime + Investigation channel, best-selling crime writer Denise Mina believes she has solved a 65 year old mystery surrounding the case.

Agatha Christie’s grandson Mathew revealed the "marvelous gift" his grandmother gave him when he was a youngster, something he didn't appreciate at the time but one that has made him wealthy enough to be able to contribute to many charitable organizations.

Parade Magazine asked 32 bestselling authors to pick the best mysteries and thrillers of all time and the thrillers that inspired them to begin writing in the first place.

The BBC investigated the surprising benefits of "scary play"—murder-inspired board games, card games, interactive books, party games, dramas, and even books.

If you're a fan of historic art fraud or perhaps writing such a series, The Guardian posted an interesting interview with husband-and-wife forgers Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi who sold fake paintings for millions before some inauthentic white paint led to their capture.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Death by Vending Machine" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Ann Cleves opened up with The Daily Mail about her Icelandic Icepick Award for crime fiction, a telescope that her late husband Tim used for bird watching, and other treasured items from her Northumberland retreat; Kellye Garrett chatted with CrimeReads about the craft of writing, routines, and finding the perfect twist; and crime author and Prime Suspect creator, Lynda La Plante, told the Yorkshire Post why there was "no way" she'd retire as she approaches 80.