Mystery Melange

The winners of the McIlvanney Prize 2022 and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize were announced at the annual conference following a torchlit procession of all the finalists from Stirling Castle to the Albert Halls. The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize was won by Tariq Ashkanani for Welcome to Cooper, and the McIlvanney Prize went to Alan Parks for May God Forgive. Both awards recognize excellence in Scottish crime writing and are judged first by booksellers, bloggers, librarians and festival-goers and then a panel of esteemed judges.

At a special WORD Christchurch ceremony, Jacqueline Bublitz’s first novel, Before You Knew My Name, was revealed as the winner of both the Best First Novel and Best Novel categories of the 2022 Ngaio Marsh Awards, which celebrate excellence by New Zealand crime writers. Ngaio Marsh Awards founder Craig Sisterson noted that while a few excellent debuts have been shortlisted for both categories over the past several years, Before You Knew My Name is the first book to ever win two Ngaio Marsh Awards. Bublitz also joins Christchurch author and international bestseller Paul Cleave, a three-time Best Novel winner, as the only Kiwi storytellers with multiple Ngaios.

Dragon Con, a North American multi-genre convention that takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend, handed out its 2022 Dragon Awards in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, horror novels, movies, television, and games. Crime-related crossovers include a Best Fantasy Novel nod to Book of Night by Holly Black, set in a world where shadows can be altered to increase power and influence, and follows a low-level con artist who it thrown into a maelstrom of secrets and murder from people desperate to control the shadows. Another finalist in that category was Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham, set in the ancient city of Kithamar, in which a petty thief sets out to discover who killed her brother and why.

American Christian Fiction Writers also recently handed out the annual Carol Awards. The winner of the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category was Dark Intercept by Andrews & Wilson, which follows a soon-to-be-retired Navy SEAL who receives a frantic call from his estranged childhood best friend when the man's daughter has been kidnapped off the streets of Nashville in broad daylight. Other finalists include Right Cross by Andrew Huff and Manna Reign by Neena Roth.

Today, September 15, is the anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth (1890), which makes it appropriate that a new anthology of stories featuring Miss Marple was just published by William Morrow. Marking the first time anyone other than Christie has written "official" (as recognized by the Christie estate) Miss Marple stories, Marple includes twelve different contemporary female authors with their own take on the beloved Christie character. Those participating are Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware.

Indiana University Bloomington's Lilly Library is the latest host of the "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects" exhibition (originally hosted by the Grolier Club in New York City earlier this year). The exhibit features memorabilia, manuscripts, books and some first editions, artwork, and other items related to the Great Detective. The exhibition will be on view in its new location until December 16, 2022. (HT to The Bunburyist.)

The Texas Book Festival unveiled the full literary lineup for the 2022 event, its first fully in-person return post-Covid. Taking place November 5-6 in Austin, the 27th annual Texas Book Festival will feature nearly 300 national and Texas authors. The crime/mystery/thriller lineup includes thirty authors this year, including Jeff Abbott, Janet Evanovich, Sandra Brown, Gary Phillips, Nelson DeMille, and more.

Writing for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik profiled Georges Simenon and "The Mysterious Case of Inspector Maigret." He concluded that the Maigret books, seventy-five in all, seem more likely to be remembered than the romans durs, the "hard books" often set outside Paris and meant "as works of more self-conscious art."

Now here's a fun idea: SacRT teamed up with the Sacramento Public Library to launch Sacramento’s first Rolling Library Train, with a brightly decorated train car that promotes riding and reading. When you step onboard, you will feel like you have been transported into a library as the walls and seatbacks resemble books on shelves. Riders can find hidden gems on those bookshelves featuring QR codes to free downloadable materials from the Sacramento Public Library.

Glass Onion, the sequel to 2019's Knives Out, may not be out yet, but on September 9, Netflix released a link to a website where you can play puzzles to unlock clips from Rian Johnson's upcoming whodunnit. Once you go to the website, you're greeted by a wooden box that unfolds to reveal four panels, each containing a separate puzzle. It's the same kind of box that Glass Onion's ensemble cast receives in the first teaser for the film. The next game in the box will unlock on September 24.

An idea for something in a comedic mystery novel, perhaps? An Uber Eats delivery robot recently crashed a crime scene.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Diese Zeit" by Suzanne Ondrus.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the popular Morland Dynasty novels and the contemporary Bill Slider mystery series, applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Secrets of Ashmore Castle.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Annelise Ryan, a pseudonym for the author of the new Monster Hunter Mystery series, with the first installment, A Death in Door County, out this month; Let's Talk Books had a Q&A with Canadian author Judy Penz Sheluk; and Lisa Haselton spoke with mystery author Gillespie Lamb about The Junkyard Dick.