Mystery Melange

Very sad news this week, via the Connacht Tribune in Galway, noting the passing of Irish crime writer Ken Bruen, who has died at the age of 74. Bruen wrote some 50 books in total including the Jack Taylor crime series, was a past winner of the Shamus Award for best crime novel of the year, and also won the Macavity Award, the Barry Award, and the Edgar Award. His 2001 novel, London Boulevard, became a 2010 film starring Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell, and nine of Bruen's other novels were adapted into a long-running TV series in 2010, starring Iain Glen and Killian Scott.

Marion Brunet has won the 2025 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), a prestigious honor bestowed by the Swedish government and named after Astrid Lindgren, who passed away in 2002, to increase interest in children's and young adult literature worldwide. Brunet has previously won the crime fiction prize Grand prix de littérature policière (2018), and her novel, Summer of Reckoning, translated by Katherine Gregor and published by Bitter Lemon Press, was shortlisted for the 2020 CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger. Ironically, the French author's books have been translated into English, Spanish, Catalan, and Russian, but not Swedish.

Spring brings the cherry blossoms to the D.C. area, but it also marks the flowering of the crime fiction conference season. Coming up this weekend is Southern Fried Con in Eatonton GA (presented in partnership with the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and the Georgia Writers Museum), with Keynote Speaker, Wanda Morris. On the other side of the Atlantic, the 21st Quais du Polar returns to Lyon, France, with panels and talks by 100+ international authors, including Linwood Barclay, James Ellroy, Lisa Gardner, Paula Hawkins, Arnaldur Indriðason, Attica Locke, Deon Meyer, Bernard Minier, Douglas Preston, and more.

The London crime fiction conference, Capital Crime, has announced the full program for 2025, returning to the Leonardo Royal Hotel, on June 13th and 14th June, with the Fingerprint Awards revealed on the 12th. Authors scheduled to attend include Michael Connelly, Adele Parks, Vaseem Khan, Andrew Child, Steph McGovern, Louise Minchin, AA Dhand, Linwood Barclay, Karin Slaughter, Richard Armitage, Dorothy Koomson, Ruth Ware, Chris Chibnall, Lisa Jewell and Nick Harkaway.

Noir at the Bar returns to Yonder: Southern Cocktails and Fine Wine, located at 114 W King Street in the heart of historic Hillsborough, near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on April 10th. Hosted by Tracey Reynolds, the event will feature eight celebrated crime authors reading short excerpts from their work: Eryk Pruitt, Robert Gipe, Wes Browne, Morgan Sullivan, Sarah Smith, Meagan Lucas, Russell Johnson, and Chris Holaday. Noir at the Bar events are free to attend and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to arrive early for optimal seating, as these events typically draw a standing-room-only crowd.

Crime fiction fans in India had a reason to celebrate recently with the debut Kolkata Crime Writers’ Festival, an event that flew under my radar until now. The idea of the festival was conceived by Storyteller Bookstore owner Mayura Misra and author Amrita Mukherjee, when they realized there isn’t anything happening in the city specifically dedicated to this genre. Leading up to the festival, they also organized an online short story competition in the crime-thriller genre for young authors. Here's hoping the event returns again next year.

Mystery Readers Journal received so many articles and reviews for its London-themed submission call, they had to divide the material into two issues. The second of those editions, London Mysteries II is now available as a PDF and hardcopy. There also two contributions you can read online, including an article by Aubrey Nye Hamilton, "The Lost Rivers of London," and the Author Author essay, "Why I Write About London" by Rhys Bowen.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Bryan Gruley, the Edgar-nominated author of six novels, who is also a journalist, sharing in The Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks; and mystery author Lee Upton chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new novel, Wrongful, about a famous novelist goes missing at the festival devoted to celebrating her work.