Mystery Melange

This is a virus-induced (RSV?) somewhat truncated "Melange" today. More next week!

The Los Angeles Times announced the finalists for this year's Book Prize, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category: Christopher Bollen, Havoc; Michael Connelly, The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel; Attica Locke, Guide Me Home: A Highway 59 Novel; Liz Moore, The God of the Woods; and Danielle Trussoni, The Puzzle Box. (Here's a version without the paywall) Winners will be revealed during a ceremony on April 25, at the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium as part of the 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

As part of the Left Coast Crime in Denver, Colorado, Crooked Lane authors will be featured in a Noir at the Bar/Bookstore on Friday, March 14 at 6PM at Tattered Cover for live readings and giveaways. Authors taking part include Wes Browne, Mindy Carlson, Maria Kelson, Alex Kenna, Jennifer K. Morita, Cayce Osborne, and D.M. Rowell, moderated by David Heska Wanbli Weiden.

The Five-Two's original twelve-year run ended because submissions dried up, but editor Gerald So announced he may start up the online crime poetry publication again. He's seeking "honest, powerful reactions to what you see as crime, couched in poetic technique and figurative language" (to avoid receiving a content warning or being taken down by Google). If he accepts enough poems, The Five-Two will relaunch Monday, April 7, 2025 as part of National Poetry Month. The submission deadline is Monday, March 24, 2025, and you can read the full guidelines here.

In the Q&A roundup, D.W. Layton chatted with Lisa Haselton about his new political thriller, Otello’s Oil — A Saga of Blood & Oil; Sherry Rankin, whose novel, Strange Fire, won the 2017 CWA Debut Dagger Award, applied the Page 69 Test to her thriller, The Killing Plains; and Crime Fiction Lover interviewed British Irish author Kerry J. Donovan about his fugitive hero Ryan Kaine thriller series and more.