Mystery Melange

 

A M Heath literary agency, the Orion Publishing Group and Crime Monthly have teamed up to launch Criminal Lines 2023, a new £3,500 crime writing prize open to unagented debut (i.e. no traditionally published crime novel) authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland who are 18 and over. From psychological thrillers, to cozy crime, to serial killer thrillers, entrants are invited to submit the opening 5,000 words of a novel with "criminal intent" plus a synopsis of no more than 1,000 words. Entries close on December 7, 2023. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges including A M Heath agents Euan Thorneycroft and Oli Munson, Crime Monthly assistant editor Lisa Howells, Orion Fiction editors Leodora Darlington and Sam Eades, and authors Vaseem Khan and Mari Hannah. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Five writers have been shortlisted for the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, currently in its fifth year after being established by LJ Ross, writer of the North East-based DCI Ryan series. The prize aims to celebrate outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, the North East of England. This year's finalists include Robert Meddes, Those Men, Those Faces; Sarah Jeffery, The Perfect Alibi; Alan Sendall, Double Infidelity; Karys Frank, Stone Cold Truth; and Sarah Williams, Vacancy for Murder. The winner will be announced on September 6 and will receive a cash prize to support the completion of their work, alongside funding for membership of the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI).

Twelve crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have made the longlist for the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The longlist contains a mix of new and established authors including previous Petrona Award winner, Gunnar Staalesen. The shortlist will be announced on September 7, 2023. The Petrona Award was established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries. The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

Antony Johnston’s cozy crime murder mystery, The Dog Sitter Detective, has won the Barker Book Award for fiction. Antony’s previous work includes the film Atomic Blonde and the Brigitte Sharp spy thrillers, which are being developed for TV. The Dog Sitter Detective is the first in a series of mysteries starring semi-retired actress Guinevere "Gwinny" Tuffel and a varied cast of dogs, with a different breed planned to feature in each book. Now in their second year, the Barker Book Awards are billed as "The bark of excellence for dogs in literature." This year’s head judge is the actor and animal advocate Peter Egan, famous for his roles in Downton Abbey and Ever Decreasing Circles. The fiction award includes prize money of £2,000 and encompasses all genres, not only crime.

HitchCon '23 is an international Alfred Hitchcock conference to be held October 7-8, both online and in person at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY. The organizers are planning a weekend of all-new insights from leading Hitchcock experts "that will change the way you look at film and provide inspiration to improve your own creative skills." There will be talks and panels, Q&A sessions, breakout groups, social events and networking both in person and online, and film screenings including an 80th anniversary screening of Shadow of a Doubt. Special guests include authors William Rothman, Murray Pomerance, Thomas Leitch, Richard Allen, and Paula Marantz Cohen. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The inaugural Chiltern Kills festival heads to Gerrards Cross in the UK on Saturday, October 7, featuring 70 of the industry’s best crime fiction authors delivering 20 panels and talks. Special guests include Frederick Forsyth, Ruth Ware, Mark Billingham, and Sarah Pinborough, who will be joined by celebrity names from TV moderating panels, as well as real-life professionals from the world of law and order, and many more. Visitors to the festival can also enjoy a specially written play written by and starring the authors themselves; karaoke led by writer Mark Edwards; one-to-one interviews; signed books; a one-off festival short story anthology; a beer tent; and a huge array of food and drink stalls. All ticket sales in aid of Centrepoint, a youth homeless charity.

An imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide, Hyperion Avenue, is debuting new fiction under Marvel Crime. The new endeavor will feature three original novels by bestselling authors S.A. Cosby, Lisa Jewell, and Alex Segura. The stories will be gritty crime novels geared towards adults and will use familiar Marvel characters. The first, due out in 2024, will be written by Jewell and is inspired by Jessica Jones. Cosby’s Luke Cage book and Segura’s Daredevil will both be released out in 2025. Sven Larsen, Vice President of licensed publishing at Marvel, said, "We are always looking for new ways to tell stories about Marvel’s beloved superheroes, and working with Hyperion Avenue on the Marvel Crime novels will showcase these characters in an exciting new light. We know that lifelong Marvel fans and crime fiction enthusiasts alike will enjoy this inventive new series."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "L.A. Nocturne" by Libby Cudmore.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Rhys Bowen, author of the the Molly Murphy historical mystery series, about her new historical novel, The Paris Assignment; and Lisa Haselton welcomed Thriller Award-nominated author Allen Wyler to chat about his new medical thriller, Dead End Deal.