Mystery Melange

 

The Australian Crime Writers Association announced finalists for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction Award: Down the Rabbit Hole by Shaeden Berry; A Town Called Treachery by Mitch Jennings; The Chilling by Riley James; All You Took From Me by Lisa Kenway; Everywhere We Look by Martine Kropkowski; and Those Opulent Days by Jacquie Pham. The shortlists were also released for Best True Crime and Best International Crime Fiction. Winners in all categories (Best True Crime, Best Debut, Best International, and Best Crime Fiction), will be announced in September.

The longlist for the 2025 Petrona Awards was released, honoring Scandinavian crime fiction in translation. 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 winner of the 2024 Award was Dead Men Dancing by Jógvan Isaksen translated from Faroese by Marita Thomsen and published by Norvik Press.

Australia's Bad Sydney Crime Writers Festival announced the 2025 Danger Awards Shortlist in the categories of Crime Fiction, Debut Crime Fiction and Crime Non-Fiction, for books honoring featuring Australia as a setting for stories about crime and justice. Plus, the People's Choice Award is back, with all titles across the three categories eligible. Fans can vote for their favorite before the poll closes on Monday, September 1. All the winners will be revealed at the conference on September 13th.

The shortlists were also announced for Australia's 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the richest literary prize in that country. Two crime authors made the lists: in the Fiction category, Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (Fiona was also shortlisted for Sisters in Crime's Davitt Awards); and in the Young Adult category, My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery.

Registration are now open for ShortCon 2026, the premiere conference for writers of short crime fiction. Hosted by Michael Bracken, ShortCon 2026 will held at Elaine's Literary Salon in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 6, 2026 and feature: Gary Phillips leading “Blueprinting Criminal Behavior,” a three-hour writing workshop; Michele Slung presenting “Every Moment is a Story,” a behind-the-scenes look at putting together annual best-of collections; Art Taylor presenting “Linked, Intertwined, or Seamless: The Curious Case of the Novel in Stories”; and Stacy Woodson leading “Everything You Forgot to Ask,” an end-of-day panel featuring all the day’s presenters. This one-day conference includes two full meals (breakfast and dinner), a full day of presentations, the opportunity to interact with other short-story writers, and a Noir at the Bar Friday. Registration is limited to 50, and ShortCon 2025 was a sellout, so interested participants are encouraged to snag a spot early.

Lou Armagno tells us that members of The Charlie Chan Family Home head to Warren, Ohio to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Author Earl Derr Biggers’ literary and film creation, Detective Charlie Chan. Two public events are scheduled for Friday, August 15th: a three-person panel discussion on “A Century of Charlie Chan,” followed by a Q&A at the Warren-Trumbull Country Public Library; and the historic Robins Theatre will be the venue for one of the most intriguing of the 40-plus Chan films, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, starring Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, Pauline Moore, and Victor Sen Yung.

Noir at The Bar – A Night of Crime Fiction heads to the National Centre for the Written Word, a the Market Place South Shields, United Kingdom on September 19th. Authors scheduled to read from their works include Matt Wesolowski, Iain Rowen, Eileen Wharton, Alys Cummings, FE Birch, Pam Plumb, Alan Parkinson, Sarah Wray, and Neil Broadfoot.

That same night on the other side of The Pond in Columbia, Maryland, there will be a Noir at the Bar at the Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity conference, with participating authors to include Chris Chambers, Rob Creekmore, Ef Deal, Carol Gyzander, Alice Loweecey, Debbie Mack, Jeff Markowitz, Tom Milani, Roberta Rogow, and Ann Stolinsky.

Clues: A Journal of Detection, edited by Elizabeth Foxwell, has put out a call for articles for a themed issue on "Transportation and Mobility in Crime Fiction." Contributions should explore how crime narratives—from classic detective stories to contemporary thrillers, from global noir to genre-bending narratives—engage with both literal and metaphorical forms of movement, consider transportation as a backdrop, a plot device, and/or as a lens through which to examine broader cultural, social, and psychological dynamics. Submissions, which should include an abstract of 250–300 words and a brief bio are due March 1, 2026. Full manuscripts of 5-6,000 words based on the accepted proposal will be due September 1. 2026.

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Breaking News" by Peter Gregg Slater.

In the Q&A roundup, Shots Magazine chatted with Quentin Bates, a prolific author, translator, publisher (he recently founded a publishing company called Corylus Books) and even a fisherman; and Deborah Kalb spoke with Walter B. Levis, a former New York City crime reporter and author of the new novel, The Meaning of the Murder.