Mystery Melange

The finalists for the 44th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced last week, including those titles in the Mystery/Thriller category: Lou Berney, Dark Ride; S. A. Cosby, All the Sinners Bleed; Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows; Cheryl A. Head, Time’s Undoing; and Ivy Pochoda, Sing Her Down. The awards ceremony will take place April 19 at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on the eve of the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

The 2024 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Longlist was announced, and among the contenders for the £25,000 prize are a few crime fiction titles: Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein, a sweeping mystery story of two families colliding in 1940s Trinidad; My Father’s House (The Rome Escape Line Trilogy Book 1) by Joseph O’Connor, inspired by the extraordinary true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy right under the nose of the Nazis; The Fraud by Zadie Smith, set against an infamous legal trial that divided Victorian England; and Music in the Dark by Sally Magnusson, about a woman traumatized by the Highland Clearances, where a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands were forcibly evicted from 1750 to 1860.

PulpFest 2024, "Spice, Spies, Shaw," is scheduled for August 1-4 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh in Mars, PA. This year's event will include a celebration of Joe Shaw, editor of Black Mask magazine beginning in 1926, who oversaw the focus on the hardboiled style featuring the prose of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Raoul Whitfield, George Harmon Coxe, Roger Torrey, Forrest Rosaire, Paul Cain, Lester Dent, and others. PulpFest will also have a dealers' room featuring pulps, vintage paperbacks and hardcovers, original art, and more, plus an auction on Saturday night featuring more of the same.

Mystery Readers Journal: Murder Takes a Holiday! is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays about mysteries that take place on vacation: Resorts, Family Reunions, Cruises, etc. Author essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "Murder Takes a Holiday" connection. Author Essays: 500-100 words. Treat this as if you're chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe (or on zoom) about your work and the "Vacation" setting in your mysteries. Be sure and cite specific titles, as well as how you use Murder Takes a Holiday in your books. For more information, follow this link.

This year, independent publisher Crippen and Landru celebrates its 30th anniversary. It was founded in 1994 by Douglas Greene, author of the Edgar–nominated biography, John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles, and the editor of several anthologies of short stories. The company specializes in story collections including current authors and "classics" of uncollected stories by great mystery and detective writers of the past. Jeffrey Marks took over as publisher when Greene retired from that role in 2018, although Doug continues as Senior Editor where he works on new Edward Hoch collections and an upcoming Carr collection. (HT to Lesa Holstine and Martin Edwards)

In the Q&A roundup, Steve Weddle, former newspaper editor, cofounder of the crime fiction collective Do Some Damage, and co-creator of the noir magazine Needle, was featured on Writer Interviews discussing The County Line, an Amazon First Reads selection; Criminal Element interviewed Christina Estes about her mystery debut, Off the Air; and Jeffrey Siger applied the Page 69 Test to his latest Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery thriller, At Any Cost.

Author R&R with Gary Stuart

Gary Stuart is a Phoenix lawyer and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he also serves as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Office of the Dean. He is a former member of the Arizona Board of Regents and is a member of the Maricopa Bar Association's Hall of Fame. He has published scores of law review articles, op-ed pieces, essays, magazine articles, short stories, CLE booklets, and eighteen books. He blogs about the ethics of writing at The Ethics of Writing. He's also written westerns and mystery novels, including his latest works, a duology featuring Dr. Lisbeth Socorro: Hide and Be and its immediate sequel My Brother, Myself.

Dr. Lisbeth Socorro is a prison shrink who specializes in twins. She's also an expert consultant for the FBI, who calls her in when there appears to be a serial killer on the loose targeting twins. Twin brothers Arthur and Martin suffered horrible abuse as children, forcing them to survive by seamlessly assuming each other’s identities. Living each other’s lives provides protection from the trauma of their past. But when tragedy strikes, one of the brothers plummets into a dissociative crisis that leads him down a murderous path. As the body count rises, two cases end up in the courtroom, where judges, lawyers, and psychiatrists try to piece together which twin is the suspect and which is the victim. Everyone in the courtroom strives to bring the victims to justice, but how can justice be served when no one is sure who the defendant truly is?

Gary Stuart stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R on researching and writing the books:

 

Let’s say you want to write a novel about a serial killer who murders his victims because they are identical twins who don’t love one another as much as he loved his dead twin brother. Your draft novel-in-progress is a thriller featuring made up characters existing only in your mind, with psychological flaws, trauma, and drama. You might start by understanding how the mirror of fiction works when an author tries to tell a made up story. Especially one that reflects life and the deeper selves that exist in made up characters. You can blend real life problems with deep seated fictional challenges. You might start that first draft by digging into The Emotional Wound Thesaurus—A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.[1]

Then, as you work your way through emotional wounds in singletons, you might dig into twins—monozygotic, mirror twins. They are rare. So is your idea about a book where the protagonist is an identical twin living his dead twin brothers’ life because he thinks he killed his twin. At the planning and plotting stage you might catch up on the basics of identical twins by checking out Science Direct, a highly reliable source for the medical world and the writing world.

Your book must be credible. You’re writing fiction, right? The twins in your book not only look the same, but they also think alike. Is that possible? Psychic twins are a common movie trope, but sometimes there is truth in fantasy. It’s a highly accepted scientific fact that the genes we inherit from our parents influence our psychological features – things like our intelligence and memory ability – and our chances of developing conditions that affect the way we think, such as autism and schizophrenia. Identical twins – who share all the same genes – think more alike than unrelated people or even non-identical twins and other siblings. Check this site out.

In your book, twins are both killer and victim. How could that be? Is there scientific research on crime by twins? Visual differences are often difficult to pinpoint in criminal cases. Identical twins are from the same fertilized egg. They have the same DNA. Many times, one twin will commit a crime and blame it on the other. Twins can commit crimes “because” they are twins. Check this site out to find out why.

Life is painful for some, especially twins who suffered emotional trauma that cannot be dispelled or forgotten. Your book could feature dialogue murmured  in the dark of night and then only to themselves. Your story will develop slowly, as the characters discover trauma they tried unsuccessfully to forget. Characters, like real people, are products of their past. That means you have to tell a back story as you blend in the real story in a way that isn’t real. But your readers don’t know that at first, and are locked into it once they discover what they, at first, think, until you feint, then change direction. That happens as you expand your narrative arc out past suspicion, to bad memory, fear of recurrence, revelation and finally to retribution.

As you draft your emotional trauma novel, you might consider The Psychology Workbook For Writers.[2] It will remind you that writing is a form of psychology because “Writers, the good ones anyway, are keen observers of human nature, and they capture it in their characters and storytelling.  They show the behaviors, the thought processes, and the ways people make meaning out of their experiences and events and turn them into provoking entertainment.[3]

Maybe your book is also about serial murderers. That’s a common crime fiction theme. The federal government defines “serial” murders. Generally , serial murders include one or more offenders, two or more murdered victims, the murders occur in separate events, at different times, and the period between murders separates serial murder from mass murder. There is a lot more to this that you get in media reports. So, check this site out. If the FBI is in your book, this site fits. It’s a way to show, not just tell.

My soon-to-be-released novels, Hide & Be, and My Brother, Myself, are about trauma wounds experienced by identical twin characters. Which twin is a killer? Which a victim? Both? Neither? One of them is charged in court but denies he’s the right twin—the one that committed a crime. The court of profoundly befuddled because there is no convincing evidence of identity. As a famous English barrister once said, “Ye gads, your honor, they have the wrong bloke in the dock.” My characters, traumatically wounded twin brothers suffer deep and relentless trauma following death of one and rejection by the survivor. Through both books, the characters refocus and reinvent their realities. In places, one or the other takes count of life’s worst days. They experience terror and loss no one else could ever understand. Moral codes haunt some characters, while others exhibit sociopathic behaviors that  harm. The pace of the story stokes tension in a way I hope keeps readers hoping for the best while suspecting the worst. What’s gonna happen next is the tension that keeps readers turning pages.

Throughout both books, my readers will wonder about what motivates different characters to do unspeakable things in ways they deny and exist in places they never visited. Some of my characters live a lie. Others deny it. Two dig deeply into the lie, but miss the truth the lie hides. And still others sense the lie and eventually uncover it only to find psychological wounds that cannot be treated, especially not in courtrooms. I spent an earlier lifetime in courtrooms. I write crime fiction because I like making things up and explaining the law enforcement and judicial entanglements that grip an unexplainable world. My books find purchase in a world only the law could invent.

[1] Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, The Emotional Wound Theasus, Writers Helping Writers (2017).

[2] Darian Smith, The Psychology Workbook For Writers—Tools For Creating Realistic Characters and Conflict In Fiction. (2015). 

[3] Ibid at page 1.

 

You can learn more about Gary Stuart and his writing via his website and also follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Hide and Be and My Brother, Myself are now available via all major booksellers.

Mystery Melange

Organizers of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival have announced the Special Guests for the 2024 event. Curated by bestselling crime writer and 2024 Festival Programming Chair Ruth Ware, the headliners for this year’s program include Chris Carter, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Dorothy Koomson, Shari Lapena, Abir Mukherjee, Liz Nugent, and Richard Osman. Returning to Harrogate for its 21st year, July 18–21, the festival offers fans from around the world an opportunity to hear from the biggest stars of the genre, discover exciting new talent, and enjoy a lineup of panels, talks, and inspiring creative workshops. Tickets for the Classic Weekend Break Packages, Author Dinners, and Creative Thursday are on sale now.

CrimeFest, the UK’s biggest crime fiction convention, has announced a headline 2024 event with Murdle author, G.T. Karber. The Arkansas author has staged more than thirty immersive whodunits in the LA area as the General Secretary of the Hollywood Mystery Society, and will host a special Murdle event on CrimeFest’s opening night. Karber joins featured guests for 2024’s CrimeFest, authors Laura Lippman, Denise Mina, Lynda Plante, and James Lee Burke. Karber will also take part in a panel on Columbo, alongside fellow aficionados of the iconic TV show, including Lippman and Vaseem Khan, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). CrimeFest, sponsored by Specsavers, will take place May 9-12 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, with 150 authors appearing in over fifty panels. (HT to Crimespree)

Sisters in Crime is accepting applications for its 11th annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, a $2,000 grant given to an emerging writer of color. Candidates must apply by March 31, with the winner announced later this spring. Named for the late, pioneering African American crime fiction author, Eleanor Taylor Bland, the award is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The winner may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of their work. Past winners include Nicole Prewitt, Shizuka Otake, D. Ann Williams, Yasmin Angoe, Jessica Martinez, Mia P. Manansala, Jessica Ellis Laine, Stephane Dunn, Vera H-C Chan, and Maria Kelson. There is no fee to enter and submissions are open to any crime writer of color who has not published more than ten short works or two novels.

The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction 2024 is also now open for entries. The Lindisfarne Prize recognizes outstanding writing in the genre of crime or thriller fiction and is sponsored by author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing. The Prize is open to all writers resident in the UK whose work celebrates the North East of England, and who have not previously had their submission published in any form (though they might have had other stories published before). The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2,500 to support the completion of their work and funding towards a year’s membership of both the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). The submission window will close on June 30th, with the winner being announced in September.

Writers Police Academy's Killer Con, a Homicide and Crime Scene Investigator Training Academy for Writers, will be held June 6-9, 2024, in Green Bay, WI. Now in its 15th year, the event includes four days of hands-on homicide and crime scene investigator instruction at a renowned law enforcement training academy. This year's event will focus on the crime of murder and will guide writers through the various stages of investigations to experience what it’s like to step into a crime scene as an investigator. In addition to the Special Guest of Honor, Charlaine Harris, several top-tier law enforcement instructors and forensics experts will be on hand as presenters. Organizer Lee Lofland has more about this year's highlights via a two-part link on his blog, here and here.

The crime fiction conference season is beginning to crank up again, but so, too, are smaller events such as Ireland's Ennis Book Club Festival on March 11, where Denise Mina, Andrea Mara and Doug Johnstone will discuss crime fiction with Andrea Carter. Sisters in Crime will present "Top Five Tips for Writing Mysteries," an online workshop on February 24, led by author Andrea J. Johnson, biologist Libby Hubscher, emergency physician and toxicologist Jen Prosser, ER doctor Melissa Yi, and SinC Executive Director, Julie Hennrikus. On March 21, Mystery Writers of America, New York, are presenting "Criminal Tendencies: What Makes a 'Good' Villain" at the Harlem Public Library, led by moderator Elizabeth Mannion and panelists Catherine Maiorisi, Charles Salzberg, and Cathi Stoler.

From March 23 through August 24, 2024, UK's Cambridge University Library will feature the exhibit, "Murder by the Book: A Celebration of 20th Century British Crime Fiction." Bringing together literature, culture and heritage, the exhibit, curated by award-winning crime novelist, Nicola Upson, challenges traditional distinctions between literary fiction and genre fiction and showcases rare books and audio-visual recordings looking at the genre from its origins in the works of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens to contemporary best-sellers Val McDermid and Ian Rankin. With first editions of The Moonstone and Bleak House, as well as Sherlock Holmes' debut appearance, the exhibition also looks at the Library’s remarkable collections and stylish dust jackets that represent more than a century of British book design.

Here's a couple of fun calls for papers for upcoming conferences: PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) is holding a virtual symposium May 2-3, 2024, on the topic of "Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture," with chosen presenters given the opportunity to submit their presentations as articles to the inaugural edition of the International Journal of Popular Culture. And Bowling Green State University looks ahead to the fortieth anniversary of The Living Daylights in 2027 with a call for proposals for an edited collection of essays on any aspect of Timothy Dalton’s tenure as James Bond.

Although I'm not sure the networks are listening, it appears there is growing support on social media for a revival of the TV series based on Craig Johnson's Longmire novels. The original Longmire series starred Robert Taylor as the beloved Sheriff of Absoroka County and aired on A&E from 2012-2014 before moving to Netflix, where is was canceled after season six in 2017.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Time interviewed Gregg Hurwitz, bestselling author of the Evan Smoak thrillers, about the latest installment, Lone Wolf, where the former government assassin is pitted against a cabal of dangerous billionaires and a female foe leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake; and Jahmal Mayfield spoke with The Venetian Vase about his novel, Smoke Kings, which features Nate Evers, a black political activist who is sent down a path of retribution after his cousin his murdered, putting him in the crosshairs of white supremacists and a corrupt cop.

Mystery Melange

Organizers of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival have announced the Special Guests for the 2024 event. Curated by bestselling crime writer and 2024 Festival Programming Chair Ruth Ware, the headliners for this year’s program include Chris Carter, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Dorothy Koomson, Shari Lapena, Abir Mukherjee, Liz Nugent, and Richard Osman. Returning to Harrogate for its 21st year, July 18–21, the festival offers fans from around the world an opportunity to hear from the biggest stars of the genre, discover exciting new talent, and enjoy a lineup of panels, talks, and inspiring creative workshops. Tickets for the Classic Weekend Break Packages, Author Dinners, and Creative Thursday are on sale now.

CrimeFest, the UK’s biggest crime fiction convention, has announced a headline 2024 event with Murdle author, G.T. Karber. The Arkansas author has staged more than thirty immersive whodunits in the LA area as the General Secretary of the Hollywood Mystery Society, and will host a special Murdle event on CrimeFest’s opening night. Karber joins featured guests for 2024’s CrimeFest, authors Laura Lippman, Denise Mina, Lynda Plante, and James Lee Burke. Karber will also take part in a panel on Columbo, alongside fellow aficionados of the iconic TV show, including Lippman and Vaseem Khan, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). CrimeFest, sponsored by Specsavers, will take place May 9-12 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, with 150 authors appearing in over fifty panels. (HT to Crimespree)

Sisters in Crime is accepting applications for its 11th annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, a $2,000 grant given to an emerging writer of color. Candidates must apply by March 31, with the winner announced later this spring. Named for the late, pioneering African American crime fiction author, Eleanor Taylor Bland, the award is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The winner may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of their work. Past winners include Nicole Prewitt, Shizuka Otake, D. Ann Williams, Yasmin Angoe, Jessica Martinez, Mia P. Manansala, Jessica Ellis Laine, Stephane Dunn, Vera H-C Chan, and Maria Kelson. There is no fee to enter and submissions are open to any crime writer of color who has not published more than ten short works or two novels.

The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction 2024 is also now open for entries. The Lindisfarne Prize recognizes outstanding writing in the genre of crime or thriller fiction and is sponsored by author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing. The Prize is open to all writers resident in the UK whose work celebrates the North East of England, and who have not previously had their submission published in any form (though they might have had other stories published before). The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2,500 to support the completion of their work and funding towards a year’s membership of both the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). The submission window will close on June 30th, with the winner being announced in September.

Writers Police Academy's Killer Con, a Homicide and Crime Scene Investigator Training Academy for Writers, will be held June 6-9, 2024, in Green Bay, WI. Now in its 15th year, the event includes four days of hands-on homicide and crime scene investigator instruction at a renowned law enforcement training academy. This year's event will focus on the crime of murder and will guide writers through the various stages of investigations to experience what it’s like to step into a crime scene as an investigator. In addition to the Special Guest of Honor, Charlaine Harris, several top-tier law enforcement instructors and forensics experts will be on hand as presenters. Organizer Lee Lofland has more about this year's highlights via a two-part link on his blog, here and here.

The crime fiction conference season is beginning to crank up again, but so, too, are smaller events such as Ireland's Ennis Book Club Festival on March 11, where Denise Mina, Andrea Mara and Doug Johnstone will discuss crime fiction with Andrea Carter. Sisters in Crime will present "Top Five Tips for Writing Mysteries," an online workshop on February 24, led by author Andrea J. Johnson, biologist Libby Hubscher, emergency physician and toxicologist Jen Prosser, ER doctor Melissa Yi, and SinC Executive Director, Julie Hennrikus. On March 21, Mystery Writers of America, New York, are presenting "Criminal Tendencies: What Makes a 'Good' Villain" at the Harlem Public Library, led by moderator Elizabeth Mannion and panelists Catherine Maiorisi, Charles Salzberg, and Cathi Stoler.

From March 23 through August 24, 2024, UK's Cambridge University Library will feature the exhibit, "Murder by the Book: A Celebration of 20th Century British Crime Fiction." Bringing together literature, culture and heritage, the exhibit, curated by award-winning crime novelist, Nicola Upson, challenges traditional distinctions between literary fiction and genre fiction and showcases rare books and audio-visual recordings looking at the genre from its origins in the works of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens to contemporary best-sellers Val McDermid and Ian Rankin. With first editions of The Moonstone and Bleak House, as well as Sherlock Holmes' debut appearance, the exhibition also looks at the Library’s remarkable collections and stylish dust jackets that represent more than a century of British book design.

Here's a couple of fun calls for papers for upcoming conferences: PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) is holding a virtual symposium May 2-3, 2024, on the topic of "Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture," with chosen presenters given the opportunity to submit their presentations as articles to the inaugural edition of the International Journal of Popular Culture. And Bowling Green State University looks ahead to the fortieth anniversary of The Living Daylights in 2027 with a call for proposals for an edited collection of essays on any aspect of Timothy Dalton’s tenure as James Bond.

Although I'm not sure the networks are listening, it appears there is growing support on social media for a revival of the TV series based on Craig Johnson's Longmire novels. The original Longmire series starred Robert Taylor as the beloved Sheriff of Absoroka County and aired on A&E from 2012-2014 before moving to Netflix, where is was canceled after season six in 2017.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Time interviewed Gregg Hurwitz, bestselling author of the Evan Smoak thrillers, about the latest installment, Lone Wolf, where the former government assassin is pitted against a cabal of dangerous billionaires and a female foe leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake; and Jahmal Mayfield spoke with The Venetian Vase about his novel, Smoke Kings, which features Nate Evers, a black political activist who is sent down a path of retribution after his cousin his murdered, putting him in the crosshairs of white supremacists and a corrupt cop.

Mystery Melange - Valentine's Day Edition

Janet Rudolph has compiled a listing of Valentine's Day crime fiction, or those titles that take place on or around Valentine's Day, as well as an updated list of Sweetheart Sleuths. And if you're a chocoholic, check out her Dying for Chocolate blog for Valentine's Day chocolate reviews, recipes, and vintage chocolate ads.

As Janet notes in the above link, it's also International Book Giving Day, an annual event conceived by Amy Broadmoore, founder of Delightful Children’s Books and The Curious Kid’s Librarian in 2012. International Book Giving Day is all about getting new, used, and borrowed books into the hands of as many children as possible. Volunteers are encouraged to organize their own events or simply contribute however they can by giving at least one book to a child in need. International Book Giving Day is celebrated in over 44 countries, including France, Ukraine, South Africa, Japan, Nigeria, the U.S., UK, and Malaysia, among others. If you'd like to participate and want to include some mystery books for kids, here are some links from Book Riot, Imagination Soup, and Scholastic.

The authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen have some recipes and reads for the holiday, including Leslie Karst's Seared Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy; also Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, courtesy of Maddie Day; and Flourless Chocolate Whisky Cake from Molly MacRae.

For more than four decades, the people of Portland, Maine, have awakened on Valentine’s Day to find large and small red hearts adorning storefronts, statues, parking garages and some of the city’s biggest landmarks. But that tradition was imperiled by the death of the so-called Valentine’s Day Bandit last spring. But all was not lost when this year fans of the bandit plastered hundreds of the small paper decorations everywhere, including mailboxes and even trash bins, and hanging larger banners on a floating restaurant, construction scaffolding and the library.

If you're a Valentine's Scrooge, then you might prefer to check out this list of ten crime films where love doesn't conquer all.

The iconic 130-Year-Old Pasadena, California bookstore Vroman's is up for sale. Over the years, the bookstore has hosted bestselling authors including Naomi Hirahara and Walter Mosley, who put his handprints into fresh concrete in a Walk of Fame ceremony during the store's 125th anniversary celebrationn. The store was founded in 1894 by Adam Clark Vroman, who loved books and giving back to his community. He helped to rescue some of the old Franciscan missions from decay, and during World War II, Vroman's Bookstore donated and delivered books to Japanese Americans interned at nearby camps, such as the Manzanar camp in Owens Valley. When Mr. Vroman died in 1916, he left the bookstore to long-time employees, one of whom was the great grandfather of the current owner. In 2008, Vroman's was named Bookseller of the Year by Publishers Weekly.

In happier bookstore news, French President Macron now says that booksellers can stay put during the upcoming Olympic Games. The booksellers in question have operated near the Seine for centuries and become a fixture in the heart of Paris. So when the city’s police, citing security concerns, ordered them closed during this summer’s Olympic Games, an uproar ensued leading Macron to step in, deeming the booksellers "a living heritage of the capital."

U.S. publisher Soho Press is introducing a new horror-fiction imprint called Hell’s Hundred, named after the once bleak, now chic New York City neighborhood of SoHo. Publishers Weekly noted that the first two books from Hell’s Hundred will debut this summer, including youthjuice, by former beauty editor E.K. Sathue (aka Erin Mayer), which Soho associate editor Taz Urnov bills as "a horror satire about the beauty industry that really puts the gore in gorgeous," and Blood Like Mine from Stuart Neville, whose noir mysteries often incorporate supernatural elements and regularly border on horror. (HT to The Rap Sheet blog)

Writing for Public Domain Review, Daisy Sainsbury investigated the legend of Eugène-François Vidocq (1775–1857), the head of the Sûreté whose tumultuous life included a criminal past and work in law enforcement, forensics, private investigation, and prison reform. He also achieved literary fame as the author of wildly popular memoirs. According to those memoirs, Vidocq escaped from more than twenty prisons (sometimes dressed as a nun), and then, working on the other side of the law, apprehended some 4000 criminals with a team of plainclothes agents. He founded the first criminal investigation bureau — staffed mainly with convicts — and, when he was later fired, the first private detective agency. (HT to The Bunburyist)

In the Q&A roundup, New Zealand writer Tom Baragwanath spoke with Crime Time about his new novel, Paper Cage; and Swedish author Johan Theorin chatted with Options The Edge on his crime quartet set in the island of Öland, and how writing crime fiction is his way of dealing with the darker side of things that happen in his homeland.

Mystery Melange

With Simon & Schuster turning 100 years old this year, the company has planned a slate of activities and celebrations to mark the anniversary and unveiled the Simon & Schuster 100, a collection of 100 titles chosen to "represent the breadth and depth of the company's publishing program, across genres, imprints, and borders." I didn't see a lot of crime fiction titles in that list, although Mary HIggins Clark's Where are The Children made the cut. On April 8, S&S is hosting a celebration event called Author! Author! at the Town Hall auditorium in New York City where thirty-plus S&S authors will take part, including crime fiction authors William Kent Krueger, Jack Carr, Laura Dave, Brad Thor, and Ruth Ware. S&S will donate 20% of its net proceeds from ticket sales to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. The festivities will continue throughout the year, with more special events and content to be announced.

Mystery Fest 2024 will be held this year on February 24th at the University of Portsmouth's Eldon Building in Portsmouth, UK, from 10am-5pm. Guest of Honor is Simon Brett, who has published over a hundred books, including the Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering, Blotto & Twinks, and Decluttering series. In 2014 he was presented with the Crime Writers’ Association’s highest award, the Diamond Dagger, and in 2016 he was made an O.B.E. "for services to literature." Another highlight will be expert witness Paul Smith and his team from the University of Portsmouth talking about the work of CSI. (HT to Promoting Crime)

The deadline is approaching to submit applications for the International Thriller Writers Scholarships. This year, the ITW is awarding two separate scholarships for ThrillerFest: the Fresh Perspectives Scholarship for any underrepresented author, published or unpublished, and the Undiscovered New Voices Scholarship for any unpublished author who is writing a mystery/thriller novel (80-100k words). Each scholarship recipient will receive a cash stipend and a free pass to attend ThrillerFest XIX, which takes place May 28–June 1, 2024 in New York City. Interested applicants have until February 23 to submit a form. For more information, head on over to this link.

Chapter proposals are invited for an edited collection exploring and evaluating the representation and navigation of war in writing set in, looking back to, and negotiating the parameters of the Golden Age of detective fiction. The group behind the project first co-edited the collection Agatha Christie Goes to War (Routledge 2019). The book will be edited by Dr. J.C. Bernthal (Visiting Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Suffolk) and Dr. Rebecca Mills (Senior Lecturer in Communication and English, Bournemouth University). Proposals are due March 31st, 2024. (HT to Shots Magazine blog)

In an excerpt on the New York Times from his upcoming book, The Essential Harlem Detectives, author S.A. Cosby offered up an appreciation of Chester Himes, "The Crime Novelist Who Was Also a Great American Novelist," with Cosby arguing he was on par with Ellison, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald. Himes was best known for his series with police detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson but also inspired countless writers and was a touchstone for Black writers specifically. As Cosby added, "His ferocious tenacity in the face of racism and prejudice laid the foundation for the path many of us have walked in the years since he published his first novel."

Editor Elizabeth Foxwell noted the release from McFarland and Co. of James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, the latest volume in the McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction series. Sallis—who might be best known for Drive (adapted into the film with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan) and his series with PI Lew Griffin—has an intriguing, cross-genre career that encompasses poetry, mystery, and sci-fi, as well as a highly regarded book on author Chester Himes and long experience as a critic. He's even appeared in a film with fellow mystery author Lawrence Block.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Time chatted with top Scottish author Louise Welsh about To the Dogs, her new standalone crime thriller; Crime Time also spoke with RL Graham about the new historical crime novel, Death on the Lusitania and with Jessica Bull about her debut novel, Miss Austen Investigates; and Writers Who Kill's EB White interviewed Heather Weidner about Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir, the second book in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe mystery series.

Mystery Melange

On Thursday, March 7, from 2-3 pm, the New York Public Library will host a Historical Mystery panel in honor of Women's History Month, hosted by the NY Sisters in Crime and featuring authors Mally Becker, LA Chandlar, Mariah Fredericks, and Nina Wachsman. This is a free virtual event, and you can register following this link.

Tickets are also available for another library event across The Pond, the ninth annual Bodies From The Library conference at the British Library, taking place on 1 June 2024. The Conference celebrates the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and will be of interest to fans of Agatha Christie and her contemporaries–Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, the Detection Club–and also to those wanting to discover forgotten authors from the period. Highlights include Simon and Lucy Brett discussing Lord Peter Wimsey, Martin Edwards and Christine Poulson discussing "John Bude and the British Library Crime Classics," and more. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Michael Mann has set his second novel collaboration with Edgar-winning author Meg Gardiner. After starting out with Heat 2, a novel that topped the bestseller charts and spawned a movie that Mann is writing to direct at Warner Bros, Mann and Gardiner have set up a new original novel that explores an intense global manhunt launched by a renegade federal agent and a stateless operator on a global vendetta. The book is intended to serve as the first in a series.

Sisters in Crime Australia’s 24th Davitt Awards have opened nominations for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women from 2023. The competition is open to books by all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia (self-published books are eligible) with a deadline for submissions of Friday, March 1st. A longlist will be announced in mid-June and a shortlist in late July, with the six winners presented at a gala dinner in Melbourne on August 31. Categories include Best Adult Novel; Best Young Adult Novel; Best Children’s Novel; Best Non-fiction Book; Best Debut Book (any category); and Readers’ Choice (as voted the 600+ members of Sisters in Crime Australia).

The Mysterious Bookshop's American Mystery Classics series has early access to their reprint of Helen Reilly's McKee of Centre Street, one of the first police procedurals written by a woman. Published in 1934, the book begins with a murder at a refined New York speakeasy, then closely follows the investigation as it's carried out by the police detectives on the case. A pioneer in what has now become commonplace among mystery writers, Reilly extensively researched her subject and even spent time shadowing cops to lend authenticity and realism to her work. As Mysterious Press' Charles Perry adds, "A stand-out early entry in her long-running Inspector McKee series, the book is a vivid look not only at police work of the 1930s, with all its then-high tech gadgetry and cutting edge forensics, but also at New York City in the first half of the previous century." Though not officially in stores until early next month, the book is available now from The Mysterious Bookshop.

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Jake Kerridge investigated why crime fiction is obsessed with suburbia, from Big Little Lies to The Couple Next Door. As Kerridge notes, "readers seem to be able to identify with a suburban thriller whatever country it is set in. Cities may have their distinctive flavours, but the suburban tang of quiet desperation seems to smell much the same the world over."

Controversy has always dogged the literary field, and crime fiction is no exception. In one cautionary tale for authors, J.D. Barker was slammed for encouraging BookTok creators to promote his thriller novel by sharing racy videos and using "only the book to cover up your naughty bits." He's since been dropped by his agent and publicity firm. Meanwhile, controversial author AJ Finn is set to release his second novel after the 2018 bestseller, Woman at the Window. The five-year delay may have something to do with a scathing New Yorker article that exposed Finn for his years of deceit, from "borrowing" story ideas to lying about having brain cancer, relatives dying, and his education and work background.

In the Q&A roundup, author Shawn Wilson chatted with Book Trib about her debut thriller, Relentless, featuring Detective Brian "Brick" Kavanagh; journalist Charlotte Langley talked to Crime Time about her new novel, The Blame, in which Detective Erin Crane and her partner Tom Radley are investigating the murder of a 16-year-old girl and World Literature Today featured a conversation with Iceland’s prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and author Ragnar Jónasson about their co-authored novel, Reykjavík: A Crime Story.