Mystery Melange

 

As Bloody Scotland continues to celebrate its 10th Anniversary year, the judges revealed the finalists for The McIlvanney Prize 2022: Liam McIlvanney's The Heretic; Alan Parks's May God Forgive; Ambrose Parry's A Corruption of Blood; and Louise Welsh's The Second Cut. The McIlvanney Prize recognizes excellence in Scottish crime writing and includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The winner will be revealed in Stirling on Thursday, September 15.

The 2022 Hugo Awards were handed out this past weekend. The awards, first presented in 1953 and presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award and are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention. There are always some crossover titles of interest to crime fiction fans that are among the finalists, including this year's A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, nominated for Best Novel, in which Agent Fatma investigates the murder of a member of a secret brotherhood.

Jacqueline Auld won the £2,500 Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, which "celebrates the outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, north-east England," for her story "The Children of Gaia." In addition to cash, the prize is designed to support the completion of her work, and funding towards a year's membership of the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors. Now in its fourth year, the prize was founded by author L.J. Ross and is sponsored by her publishing imprint Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries.

HarperCollins Australia has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Banjo Prize for an unpublished work of commercial fiction. The shortlisted manuscripts include a couple of crime fiction titles, namely Pine River Falls, an "atmospheric, twisty crime novel" by Christine Gregory; Next of Kin by Inessa Jackson, a thriller about a young doctor trying to prove her brother innocent of murder; and Ocean Drive by Mitch Jennings, a mystery with an unlikely partnership and a "wonderfully original voice." Last year’s winner was Veronica Lando for her mystery, The Whispering, published in July 2022.

There's still time to register for the online WriteNOW! conference, to be held September 16 and 17th. Every year, Desert Sleuths, the Phoenix chapter of Sisters in Crime, hosts a fun line-up of bestselling authors, experienced editors, qualified agents, and publishing experts. Some highlights include the PitchNOW! sessions, where authors can pitch their completed manuscript to a literary agent or professional editor; EditNOW! to get a critique of your work in progress; and MarketNOW! for assistance analyzing your online presence from a marketing and publicity expert.

Over at The Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce reported on the news that Angry Robot is launching Datura Books, a new crime fiction imprint, noting that this is the publisher's second attempt in the genre after its Exhibit A line folded. It is said to be "a new crime fiction imprint focused on titles with a strong sense of voice and place that push the boundaries of the genre while still playing with readers' favorite tropes." Bryon Quertermous, who had worked previously with Exhibit A, will join the brand-new Datura team with a "new approach that is smaller and more focused on voice, while also gaining a larger reach with the [distribution] support of Penguin Random House." Half a dozen new titles are already expected from Datura over the next year.

Uncle Hugo's has reopened in Minneapolis, Minnesota after it burned down following the unrest after the murder of George Floyd. Store owner, Don Blyly, almost decided to quit the business altogether, but the fans of the bookstore encouraged him to rebuild. The new location is across the street from Minneapolis indie Moon Palace Books and roughly two miles from the building that burned in May 2020. Blyly lost 200,000 books in the fire and has slowly worked to restock half that amount. Uncle Hugo's opened as a science fiction bookstore in 1974, and then in 1980 started a "store within a store," Uncle Edgar's, which focuses on mystery books. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

Author Nora Roberts, a/k/a J.D. Robb (pen name for the In Death crime series), donated $50,000 to the Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan, which has been at risk of shutting down after residents defunded it over librarians’ refusal to remove LGBTQ books.

Psychology Today wrote about the role of Forensic Psychology in crime fiction, noting that despite the many things psychologists can do, they mostly wind up as profilers.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Unpunished" by Roberta Gibson. Editor Gerald So also posted a poll for readers to help him pick poems for Best of the Net 2023 consideration.

In the Q&A roundup, Indie Crime Scene interviewed Jon Armour, whose debut novel, Branded, was published on August 15; Crime Fiction Lover spoke with novelist David E. Feldman about his mystery series featuring private investigator Dora Ellison; and Writer Who Kill's E.B. Davis chatted with Allison Brook about the sixth installment of her Agatha Award nominee Haunted Library mysteries.