Mystery Melange

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA), one of the world’s leading awards dedicated to Arabic literature and culture, organized by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center (part of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism) has revealed the winners of its 17th edition in six award categories. This year the prize in the Young Author category, traditionally dominated by academic works, has been awarded to a fiction writer, Algerian author Said Khatibi for Nehayat Al Sahra’a (The End of the Desert), published by Hachette Antoine / Nofal in 2022, a work of crime fiction depicting the lasting effects of the Algerian war on future generations.

Noir At The Bar comes to Berkeley this Saturday, May 6 at 5:30 pm, with back-to-back readings from Rina Ayuyang, Margot Douaihy, Mary Robinette Kowal, T. Jefferson Parker, Kwei Quartey, and Marcie R. Rerrdon, emceed by Randal Brandt. This is part of the Bay Book Fest, which will also include a panel with those same authors on May 7th titled "Mysteries and Thrillers: Dangerous Destinations," to be held at The Berkeley Residence Inn, Ballroom 1, at 3:30pm.

Some of BC’s best Mystery & Crime writers read from their work at an upcoming Noir at the Bar May 19th in Victoria, Canada in the Argyle Attic above Smith’s Pub. To be hosted by Magnus Skallagrimsson, the event starts at 7:30, and there will be a bookseller on site for purchase of books.

The UK Crime Book Club will present their first live, in-person event at The Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds on the 3rd of June 2023. The day of author talks and panels and book signings will be topped off with Ben Bruce’s popular Pub Quiz. Authors scheduled to participate include Elly Griffiths, William Shaw, Lesley Thomson, Rob Parker, Jonathan Whitelaw, Chris McDonald, Sean Coleman, and more.

CrimeReads hosted nominees for this year's Edgar Awards to weigh in on the state of the genre prior to the mystery community’s most prestigious award ceremony. Thirty-eight authors including Martin Edwards, Max Allan Collins, Nita Prose, Danya Kukafka, and more contributed answers to the discussion on topics such as genre, purpose, community, and the growing problem of book bans. You can read part one here and part two here.

In a case of life imitates art, one crime fiction author is in legal hot water thanks to the release of the Paradise Papers.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Hate Crime" by Jennifer Lagier.

In the Q&A roundup, ALLi's Inspirational Author Interviews welcomed Alfred O'Neill, an author who took a rather unconventional childhood filled with contradictions and turned them into self-published thrillers. Alfred's father was a low-level mobster who nevertheless sent him to Quaker schools where they emphasized morality and love, and Alfred delves into these dual ideas in his "Love and Murder" series of books. Deborah Kalb chatted with David Unger, a psychologist who has taught at the California School of Professional Psychology and at Antioch University in Los Angeles, and is the author of the new mystery novel, A Lesson in Woo-Woo and Murder, the latest in his "A Lesson In" series.