Joseph Wambaugh, former member of the Los Angeles Police Department turned author, passed away last week of esophageal cancer at the age of 88. Wambaugh joined the LAPD in 1960 and served for 14 years, and his perspective on police work inspired his first novel, The New Centurions, which was published early in 1971 to critical acclaim and popular success. He went on to publish sixteen novels and five nonfiction works, several of which were made into films and television adaptations. He won three Edgar Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and received The Strand Mystery Magazine award for lifetime achievement.
The Audio Publishers Association announced the winners in 28 categories for the 30th annual Audie Awards for audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment, including mysteries and thrillers. The winner of the mystery category was Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera, narrated by Will Damron and January LaVoy (Macmillan Audio), while the thriller winner was Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz, narrated by Scott Brick (Macmillan Audio). You can see all the finalists in those categories here.
NoirCon announced that this year's conference will once again be heading west again from the gritty streets of Philadelphia to the even grittier streets of the California desert. The 9th NoirCon will be held at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, Thurs-Sun, October 23-26, 2025, and feature movie screenings, special guests, informative panels, and unique noir-related events. Organizers will be partnering again with The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs.
Noir at the Bar heads to Roma's in downtown Nacogdoches on Friday, March 7 at 6:30 pm. Authors scheduled to participate currently include Joe R Lansdale, VP Chandler, Jim Nesbitt, Reavis Wortham, Tim Bryant, and James W. King.
There will also be a Noir at the Bar at Elaine's Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 24th at 7 p.m., hosted by Alan Orloff. Other authors scheduled to read from their works include E.A. Aymar, Chris Chambers, Tara Laskowski, Adam Meyer, Tom Milani, K.T. Nguyen, Art Taylor, and Stacy Woodson.
The deadline is fast approaching for applications to Sisters in Crime's Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color. This grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research required for completion of the work. Submissions for the 2025 award are due March 31. For more information, follow this link.
Applications are now open for the Jane Gregory Bursaries which offer three under-represented writers a unique opportunity to attend the Creative Thursday writing day at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2025 in Harrogate, UK. Creative Thursday is an immersive day of workshops and talks led by industry experts and bestselling crime writers including Vaseem Khan, Mick Herron, Will Dean, and Laura Shepherd Robinson, taking place July 17, 2025, the opening day of the Theakston Old Peculier festival. One of the bursaries will also include a Weekend Break Package with accommodation and tickets to all Festival main stage events. Applications from under-represented writers, who may lack opportunities due to disabilities, identity, health or social circumstances, are welcomed via this link. The deadline is Friday, April 18th.
Lee Child’s first autobiographical collection, Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories, will be published by Transworld in September. Sarah Adams, fiction and brand publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Otto Penzler, of New York-based Mysterious Press, in a collection of origin tales for all of Lee Child’s solo-written Reacher novels. Editions will also include an introduction and new Jack Reacher story from Child, along with an afterword by Penzler, exploring the importance of the character and novels within contemporary crime fiction. The stories were originally published by Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop as forewords to 100-copy-run limited editions of the novels, and this is the first time they have been published as a collection for a global audience.
Scandinavian crime fiction is hot these days, and Amandine Enard-Hauger compiled a list of 12 must-read books by Arnaldur Indridason, the master of Icelandic crime fiction. Ever since Jar City (2000), his first international success, Indridason has grown into as a major voice in Scandinavian crime fiction with his minimalist, hard-hitting style that captures the darkness of human souls and the weight of the past, two recurring themes in his work.
A new statue of crime writer Agatha Christie in a south Devon town is due to be unveiled later this year by journalist and BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine. The statue, by local artist Elisabeth Hadley, will be the focal point of Torquay's £4m new harborside plaza. The unveiling will coincide with an Agatha Christie festival, Spring Gathering, in April. The statue of the author, known for her detective novels featuring characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, should have been unveiled last year, but delays to the harborside project meant the event had to be pushed back. The author was born in Torquay in 1890 and kept ties to Devon throughout her life.
In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Clea Simon, author of three nonfiction books and 32 cozy mysteries and suspense novels, most recently the psychological suspense The Butterfly Trap; mystery author Darlene Dziomba chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new cozy release, Assault & Gobblery; and Tessa Wegert, author of the Shana Merchant series, stopped by Author Interviews to discuss her writing and her latest book, The Coldest Case.
