Quote of the Week

 

Audio Accolades

The Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists for the annual Audie Awards for audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment, including mysteries and thrillers. You can check out all of the shortlisted titles here, which have some crime-related titles sprinkled throughout the various categories, including King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby, narrated by Adam Lazarre-White, a finalist for Best Audiobook of the Year. Winners will be revealed at the 2026 Audies Gala to be held at Pier 60 in New York City on Monday, March 2, 2026. 

Mystery Finalists

• Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben, narrated by Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Kiff VandenHeuvel, Suehyla El-Attar Young, Peter Ganim, Saskia Maarleveld, and James Fouhey (Hachette Audio)
• Gray Dawn by Walter Mosley, narrated by Michael Boatman and Walter Mosley (Hachette Audio)
• The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict, narrated by Bessie Carter (Macmillan Audio)
• Secret Sister by Sarah A. Denzil, narrated by Jessica Gunning, Sacha Dhawan, Joanne Froggatt, Nathaniel Curtis, and Hopi Grace (Audible Originals)
• Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto, narrated by Eunice Wong (Penguin Ranndom House Audio)

Thriller Finalists

• Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney, narrated by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton (Macmillan Audio)
• Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell, narrated by Richard Armitage, Joanne Froggatt, Tamaryn Payne, Gemma Whelan, Louise Brealey, and Patience Tomlinson (Simon & Schuster Audio)
• Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza, narrated by Rachel F. Hirsch, Sarah Reny, Vas Eli and Saskia Maarleveld (Penguin Random House Audio)
• Havoc by Christopher Bollen, narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed (HarperAudio)
• To Die For by David Baldacci, narrated by Zach Villa, Mela Lee, Cassandra Morris, Rena Marie Villano, Christine Lakin, Will Collyer, Kiff Vandenheuvel, and Erin Bennett (Hachette Audio)

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Hand in the Glove

Viewed from a contemporary perspective, it's hard to recall a time when there weren't female detectives the likes of V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Millhone, Tess Monaghan and Sharon McCone, but back in the 1930s they were almost nonexistent. As a child, I went through my fair share of Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout, among the many books read under the covers with a flashlight to circumvent the parental "go to bed" commandment. But at the time I never read or even knew of Stout's female detective, Theodolinda "Dol" Bonner, who came to being in the standalone novel The Hand in the Glove in 1937, one of the very first female private eyes.

Although Stout only gave Bonner one solo outing, she also guest-starred in some of the Nero Wolfe stories, one of the few women Wolfe tolerated perhaps because she herself claimed to have been "inoculated against" men, even her suitor, the newspaperman Len Chisholm. Although The Hand in the Glove is a contemporary of the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin titles, it was written in the third person narrative, not Archie's sarcastic first-person. Even so, it still has some of the hallmark wit that graces the Wolfe/Goodwin novels. In the book, a religious charlatan has charmed the wife of wealthy industrialist, P.L. Storrs, who decides he needs a private investigator to look into the man and hires Bonner, even though he doesn't approve of female detectives. But when she arrives at Storrs' country estate, she instead finds the body of her client and a garden party filled with a bouquet of suspects.

Bonner isn't quite the fully realized, tough-as-nails P.I. of the 21st century, sending out mixed messages about her ability to do the job as a woman, perhaps mirroring the changing-but-still-traditional views of women in Stout's day. Bonner begins the novel as part of a two-woman firm, Bonner and Raffray, although the Raffray half soon dissolves, Bonner being disgusted about Raffray's submissiveness to her fiancée. Yet, Bonner concedes she herself decided to be a detective on flimsy grounds, adding, "I made a long list of all the activities I might undertake on my own. They all seemed monotonous or distasteful except two or three, and I flipped a coin to decide between detective and landscape design." Although she's a smart cookie and solves the crimes where the male detectives in the case don't, she's also squeamish about seeing corpses and faints after she shoots a criminal.

After Dol first appeared, Stout's New York editor wrote to her London counterpart, "The Hand in the Glove is doing almost as well as Nero, but whether or not there will be another Dol Bonner mystery we can't be sure." Turns out, it was twenty years later that she reappeared, as Wolfe's operative in the 1956 Too Many Detectives. Anthony Boucher noted of these later appearances, that while Bonner was Archie's age, it was Wolfe who made "sheep's eyes" at her, inviting her to breakfast and dinner and seating her at his right. The confused Archie, taken by Bonner's pretty assistant Sally Colt, wonders if "there might be some flaw in my attitude toward female dicks," and concludes, "If she hooks him and Sally hooks me, we can can all solve cases together and dominate the field."

The Thrilling Detective site points out that In 1992, NBC dusted off the rights to The Hand In The Glove and made a TV movie (under the title Lady Against the Odds) as a vehicle for actress Crystal Bernard (of the sitcom Wings), moving the setting up a few years to World War II. According to People Magazine, it was an "uninvolving and ludicrously unconvincing...turkey."  Still, it did win an Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special for cinematographer Bradford May. So at least it looked marvelous.

Mystery Melange

Mark Billingham is the 2026 recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin. The award recognizes authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre. Billingham worked as an actor and stand-up comedian before becoming a full-time author, and is best known for his crime fiction series with Detective Inspector Tom Thorne. His novels In the Dark and Time of Death were also adapted for the the BBC in 2017. In 2022, Billingham won the CWA’s Dagger in the Library, voted by librarians, for his body of work, and he’s also been awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice (Lazybones, 2005 and Death Message, 2009).

McIntyre’s Books announced the biennial return of the CrimeScene Mystery Bookfest on Friday & Saturday, February 6 & 7 in Pittsboro, North Carolina. McIntyre’s Mystery Guru Pete Mock is the emcee and creator of the weekend, as well as being the sole judge and juror of the annual Beltie Mystery Prize, his annual round-up of the best murder mysteries. First held in early 2020, the inaugural CrimeScene Bookfest was a weekend filled with some favorite mystery authors doing readings and holding panel discussions. This year's guest of honor this year is Craig Johnson of the Sheriff Longmire series, who will be in discussion with Anne Hillerman. Other authors scheduled to participate include Michael Bennett, Cara Black, Juliet Grames, Naomi Hirahara, Sara E. Johnson, Malcolm Kempt, Megan Miranda, Brian Panwich, Eryk Pruitt, Brendan Slocumb, and Martin Walker


Concurrent with the upcoming Left Coast Convention in San Francisco, February 25 through March 1, there will be a Noir at the Bar at the Book Passage bookstore on February 26th to celebrate The Savage Waves of Spring, the fourth and final installment in Kelp Journal's bestselling and award-winning beach noir series. Contributing authors scheduled to appear include Gary Phillips, Nik Xandir Wolf, Joe Clifford, C.W. Blackwell, and Curtis Ippolito. Following the presentation, there will be a signing line or a meet-and-greet. The event is free and open to the public.


Vintage Books in Vancouver, Washington, its holding its second annual Mystery Fest on February 21, featuring seven mystery authors in a panel discussion and readings from the authors' latest works. The roster of authors scheduled to attend include Christy J. Kendall, Emmeline Duncan, Mary Keliikoa, Angela M. Sanders, Gary Corbin, Cindy Goyette, and Paula Charles.


Although not specifically crime fiction-related, Publishing for Minnesota, a group of industry insiders, is organizing a two-day online auction on January 29–30 to raise funds for Minnesotans and immigrants elsewhere. Over 550 products and services for the auction, from authors, editors, agents, and illustrators, have been donated, with proceeds supporting organizations providing legal aid, emergency assistance, food, and community resources to Minnesotans in urgent need due to ICE’s activities. Though most of the auction items come from the kidlit community, there are items of interest for adults, such as a novel critique by Christa Desir, editorial director of Sourcebooks’ romance imprints; a 45-minute Zoom session with Amanda Uhle, memoirist and publisher of McSweeney’s; and 30-minute consults with Anna Montague, a nonfiction editor at Dey Street Books, and literary agent Michael Taeckens of Massie McQuilkin, among others. (HT to Publishers Weekly)


Crime fiction has spread around the world, enough so that it's difficult to keep track of it all. But it's fun to delve into writing from the various countries and cultures, and anthologies are a great entrance ramp to do so. A case in point is the new Hachette Book of Indian Crime Fiction, edited by edited by Tarun K Saint. The stories include RV Raman’s "King Phisher," about a scam artist who understands the game he’s playing; to “Society Murder” by Madhulika Liddle, as an elderly recluse is found dead in his apartment, all hands (and fingers) point toward the Muslim house help; to “The Baraat” by Meeti Shroff-Shah, where the groom is shot during a wedding but no one seems to have noticed. As Saint states in the introduction, “as a dark lens into the murky side of our present moment, Indian crime fiction offers the possibility of critique and the inference of more hopeful ways of being.”


Likewise, horror (film, television, books, short stories) is having something of a global renaissance these days, as well as other forms of speculative fiction (romantasy being another popular genre). Writing for CrimeReads, Molly Odintz listed ten new and upcoming speculative mysteries and thrillers to read, in which crime elements feature prominently.


Are you already tired of January? Instead of fretting about bad weather or resolutions already broken, we should all be like author Val McDermid, who starts new novels in January.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Standard Police Procedure" by G. Emil Reutter.


In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Kelli Stanley, author of an award-winning historical noir series featuring private investigator Miranda Corbie, about her newest novel, The Reckoning, a first-in-series mystery-thriller set in Northern California's "Emerald Triangle" in 1985; and Writers Who Kill's Grace Topping interviewed author Tammy Barker about her debut novel, Call In For Murder, featuring radio host Ashley Compton, who gets tangled up in a mystery when a frequent caller to the station is murdered; Dean Koontz spoke with Shots Magazine about his latest novel, Friend of the Family; S.J. Rozan took the Page 69 Test to First Do No Harm, the new installment in her Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mystery series; and Max Allan Collins was interviewed by Jeff Pierce for The Rap Sheet blog about Return of the Maltese Falcon, the author's new continuation novel of the Sam Spade series created by Dashiell Hammett.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:


THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Pitch Perfect director, Jason Moore, is set to helm a feature adaptation of the classic TV series Murder, She Wrote, starring the Oscar-winning Jamie Lee Curtis in the role made famous by Angela Lansbury. Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo wrote the screenplay based on the CBS series created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and William Link. Lansbury starred from 1984-96 in what became one of the most successful and longest-running shows in TV history. Her Jessica Fletcher was a retired schoolteacher-turned-successful mystery writer who proves to have an uncanny knack for solving real-life murders. The show was set primarily in the seaside town of Cabot Cove, Maine, though Jessica often traveled to other locales as cases unfolded.


Filmmaker Michael Diliberti is set to direct Miami PI, a project he wrote for Endurance Media. The film is billed as a comedy following a wayward private investigator and a volatile ex-model who are pulled into a murder investigation during the chaos of Miami Swim Week. As they descend into a sun-drenched world of excess, deception, and danger, the unlikely duo must navigate criminal conspiracies — and an unexpected romantic connection — that threatens to derail them both.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Ella Stiller (HBO’s The Comeback) has landed a series regular role opposite Mike Colter in Cupertino, CBS's new legal drama from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King. She’ll play Christy, a young assistant at the new start-up law firm in Cupertino, California, that’s at the heart of the story. Cupertino is a David vs. Goliath legal drama set in the heart of Silicon Valley that follows a lawyer (Colter) who is being cheated out of his stock-options by his former employer, a tech start-up. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite, and help them fight back in a high-stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. The series is set to premiere during the 2026-27 season,


Both Paramount and Netflix are vying for ownership of Warner Brothers-Discovery, which makes this particular deal a bit surprising, but the two companies have agreed on a content licensing partnership that will bring roughly 20 Paramount TV shows to the streamer. Among those are crime dramas Mayor of Kingstown and Watson in the U.S. and international territories, and Matlock in international markets.


A trailer was released for Season 3 of The Night Agent. Night Agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) is called in to track down a young Treasury Agent, Jay Batra (Suraj Sharma), who fled to Istanbul with sensitive government intel after killing his boss. This kicks off a sequence of events where Peter investigates a dark money network while avoiding its paid assassins, putting him on a collision course with a relentless journalist, Isabel (Genesis Rodriguez). Working together, they uncover buried secrets and old grudges that threaten to bring the government to its knees — and get them both killed in the process.


CBS has handed out ten renewals across its drama and comedy slate for the 2026-27 TV season. Among the crime dramas given new season orders are Tracker, Matlock, Elsbeth, and all NCIS series — flagship NCIS, prequel series NCIS: Origins, and spinoff series NCIS: Sydney. The news leaves the fate of Watson and Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, as well as series that have not yet premiered (Yellowstone spinoff Marshals, and FBI spinoff CIA, among them) in the air. Decisions for those series will come at a later date.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Get to Know podcast hosts DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim were in conversation with bestselling author Allison Brennan about her latest thriller, Make It Out Alive.


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was crime writer and publisher of The Real Book Spy on Substack, Ryan Steck.


On this latest Spybrary podcast, British political journalist Tim Shipman was in conversation with David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst turned novelist, discussing his fourth and most ambitious book yet, The Persian.


On Crime Time FM, Malcolm Kempt chatted with Paul Burke about A Gift Before Dying; the Arctic and Inuit culture; reading outside your genre; and handing out guns to prisoners.


Pick Your Poison host Dr. Jen Prosser investigated a toxin that affects humans, but not bees, as well as a contaminated substance so valuable, people risk their lives to collect it, and a popular natural substance used in biological warfare in wars between Russia and Ukraine in the past.


THEATRE

The upcoming Broadway adaptation of Sidney Lumet’s gritty classic film, Dog Day Afternoon, has added three to its cast, including John Ortiz (American Gangster), three-time Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Breaking Bad), and Spencer Garrett (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Ortiz will play Detective Ferrara, Hecht will play Colleen, and Garrett will play FBI Agent Sheldon. As previously announced, Jon Bernthal will play Sonny Amato (portrayed in the film by Al Pacino) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play Sal DeSilva (John Cazale in the movie). Lumet’s 1975 film and this Broadway adaptation are based on a real Brooklyn bank robbery and hostage incident from 1972 that ignited the city as they followed the actions of a man on the edge. Directed by Olivier Award nominee Rupert Goold (Ink) and written by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy), Dog Day Afternoon will begin Broadway previews Tuesday, March 10, and officially open Monday, March 30, at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City.

Agatha Award Finalists

 

The annual Agatha Awards celebrate the traditional mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as "hard-boiled." ​Everyone who is registered for the Malice Domestic conference or becomes a Friend of Malice of any given year will receive a nomination ballot in early January, with finalists voted on during the convention. Winners are announced at the Agatha Awards Banquet on Saturday night during Malice, which this year will be held from April 24-26, 2026 at the North Marriott Hotel & Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Congrats to all!

Best Contemporary Novel

A Grave Eeception, Connie Berry, Cooked Lane
At Death's Dough, Mindy Quigley, Minotaur
Murder in Fifth Position, Lori Robins, Level Best Books
The Devil Comes Calling, Annette Dashofy, One More Chapter
Waters of Destruction, Leslie Karst, Severn House

Best Historical Novel

Bye Bye Blackbird, Elizabeth Crowens, Level Best
The Girl in the Green Dress, Mariah Fredericks, Minotaur
Murder at the Moulin Rouge, Carol Pouliot, Level Best
The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, Kelly Oliver, Boldwood Books
The Hindenburg Spy, I.A. Chandlar, Oliver Heber Publishers

Best First Novel

Murder in the Crazy Mountains, K.L. Borges, Epicenter Press/Camel Press Imprint
Player Elimination, Shelly Jones, Tule Press
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Minotaur
Voices of the Elysian Fields, Michael Rigg, Leveltru
Whiskey Business, Adrian Andover, Chestnut Avenue Press

Best Short Story

“Baby Love,” Barb Goffman, Double Crossing Van Dine Anthology, Crippen and Landru
“Boss Cat Fules,” Nikki Knight, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Humorous
“Lola's Last Dance,” Kerry Hammond, Celluloid Crimes, Level Best
“Six-armed Robbery,” Ashley-Ruth Bernier, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Humorous
“When the Iron is Hot,” Maddie Day, EQMM Mar/Apr 2025

Best Non-fiction

Bone Valley, Gilbert King, Flat Iron Books
Story of a Murder: the Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, Hallie Rubenhold, Dutton
The Dinners all bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne, Kate Winkler Dawson, G. P. Putnam
Vacations Can Be Murder: a True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England, Dawn M. Barclay, Level Best

Best Children’s/YA Mystery

Death in the Cards, Mia P. Manansala, Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Missing Mom, Lynn Slaughter, Fire and ice YA
Risky Pursuit, Nancy G. West, Fire and Ice YA
Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic, Marilyn Levinson, Level Best
Hurricane Heist, James Ponti, Aladin Books

Sunday Music Treat

Saturday (January 31) will mark the anniversary of the birth of Franz Schubert, who lived far too short a life, dying at the age of 31 in 1828. Still, Schubert was remarkably prolific in his short career, writing over 1,500 works, including nine symphonies and various chamber works. The majority of his output is scored for voice and piano accompaniment, but he also left behind a large body of music for solo piano, including this Impromptu No 4 in A-flat major, D 899 performed here by Arthur Rubenstein (which is a little harder for Scott Drayco to play these days after his injury, although he will say it's worth the pain).

 

 

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's Forgotten Books: The Best American Mystery Stories, 1997, ed. Robert B. Parker

The history of the "best of" American mystery short story anthology probably dates back to 1931 and The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year, edited by Carolyn Wells, up through David C. Cooke's Best Detective Stories of the Year published from 1947 to 1959. More modern incarnations have been The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, from the editors of Mystery Scene Magazine, an annual publication since 1992; The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories edited by Ed Gorman, annual since 2000; and Otto Penzler's The Best American Mystery Stories series.

The first Penzler anthology was in 1997 when Houghton Mifflin wanted a mystery version of its already-established Best American Short Stories. They contacted Penzler, who said in the Foreword that "it was his responsibility to identify and read all the mystery stories published in the calendar year," a number which totaled 500 from mystery specialty magazines, small literary journals, popular consumer publications, and anthologies.

There has been remarkable growth in the volume of published mystery short stories in the past 15 years or so. When I did a quick calculation of the 2008 stories published in some 20 mystery anthologies, EQMM, AHMM, and online 'zines like Mysterical-E, Thrilling Detective, and Crimespree, I came up a total of double Penzler's 1997 number, around 1,000 stories -- and that number doesn't include all of the anthologies, or the small lit journals or popular consumer publications.

The editor for the freshman effort in the Penzler series, Robert B. Parker, first reflects on the Hammett-Chandler origins of the American crime story. Then he introduces the collection with the words "As you will see in this collection, the stories remain the story of the hero's adventure in search of a hidden truth.' They are stories about a hero 'fit for adventure' in a time when stories of far bluer blood are still stuck in their bleak corner of the wasteland where Spade took Hammett. This is no small thing." The 20 stories included cover a wide range of thematic material in a variety of authorial styles: from the high society setting of Elizabeth George to the psychological suspense-with-a-twist by Jeffery Deaver, and from Melodye Johnson Howe's Hollywood banality to the humor-noir of Elmore Leonard.

The collection starts off nicely with "Blind Lemon" by Doug Allyn, draped against a backdrop of the blues and music of real-life musician Blind Lemon Jefferson, in which private eye R.B. "Ax" Axton painfully relives a fateful day a decade earlier  when he and a female singer inadvertently caused the murder of a mutual friend. Other standouts include "A Death on the Ho Chi Minh Trail," by David K. Harford', where an M.P. tries to solve the puzzle of why an American soldier supposedly killed in a firefight with the Viet Cong didn't have bullet holes in his shirt, and "When You're Hungry" by George Pelecanos, a tale of double-crossing and betrayal in the steamy and lawless streets of Brazil.

Ask any author and most will tell you short stories can be harder to write than novels, but when you come across little gems like these, you almost wish the authors would drop the novels and dedicate themselves to the shorter form. The reader benefits, too, from such an anthology, being able to experience one actualized world after another  -- the literary equivalent of visiting an amusement park, finding some rides more to your liking than others, but having all of them leave you just a little bit breathless.

Mystery Melange

The Westport Library in Westport, CT, is presenting a crime writing panel discussion about weaving real life crime into storytelling. Scheduled to participate at the event, which takes place January 25, are author and publicist Deborah Levison; Wendy Whitman, with a background as a producer covering almost every major high-profile murder case in America; and author and editor Patricia (a.k.a. T. M.) Dunn. Tickets are available for a nominal fee.


A crime fiction panel heads to the Highlands Ranch Library in Littleton, Colorado, on January 25. Titled "On Fire and Under Water," the panel features a discussion from authors associated with the eponymous publication, On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito. Authors scheduled to take part include Puja Guha, Raymond J. Brash, and C.E. McKenna. (Other contributing authors are C.W. Blackwell, Mary Thorson, Zakariah Johnson, Colin Brightwell, Priscilla Paton, Christian Emecheta, Edward Barnfield, Kendall Brunson, Michael Downing, Jim Ruland, Richie Narvaez, and Meagan Lucas.) Books will be sold at the event.


There will be a Noir at the Bar in Glascow, Scotland on February 4, featuring chilling tales from some of Scotland's finest crime writers at Charlies' Loft in Milngavie. Authors currently schedule to read from their work include Lin Anderson, Marion Todd, Alex Gray, Daniel Sellers, Allan Gaw, Daniel Aubrey, Gordon J Brown/Morgan Cry, Alison Aitchison, and Lesley McDowell. There is a fee for this particular event. For more information, check out this registration link.


There's a branch new crime fictiion conference in London, titled Bloody Barnes. It will feature an array of bestselling authors including Mark Billingham, Sophie Hannah, and Vaseem Khan. The event will also include the announcement of the inaugural Cob and Pen Award for the crime book of the year. The shortlisted titles include: The Masked Band by Bernard O'Keeffe; Victim by Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst; Blood Caste by Shylashmi Sankar; Dogsitter Detective Plays Dead by Antony Johnson; Death in the Aviary by Victoria Dowd; Death of an Officer by Mark Ellis; Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards; and Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz.  (HT to Shots Magazine)


The Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America is presenting an online Mid-Winter Mini-Con on February 7th via Zoom. Presentations include "Forensic Science – Assisting Law Enforcement with Locating Clandestine Graves" by G. Clark Davenport, a geophysicist and co-founder of NecroSearch International Inc; "Books to Film and TV – What Every Author Wants to Know" by Maggie Marr, author and literary agent; "Book Marketing – Creating an Author Success Map" by Books Forward Vice-President Ellen Whitfield; and bestselling crime fiction author J.A. Jance in conversation with Margaret Mizushima. Registration is free.


The authors at the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog shared remembrances of one of their members, Maya Corrigan, who passed away recently. Maya was the author of the Five-Ingredient Mysteries as well as several short stories, written as either Maya or Mary Ann Corrigan. She was a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and served as president of the Sisters in Crime Chesapeake Chapter.


Glencairn Glass, and sponsor of the McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime writing awards, is seeking unpublished crime short stories or no more than 2,000 words in collaboration with Bloody Scotland. This year’s theme is that the story’s protagonist must be from Scotland. Stories must be submitted by March 31st via the online form, which you can find via this link.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Trump's Proclamation" by Robert Cooperman.


In the Q&A roundup, Michael Koryta and Malcolm Kempt discussed Gothic Fiction and the Arctic, plus the ins and outs of truly atmospheric and transportive fiction, for Crimereads; and Nina McConigley took the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, How to Commit Postcolonial Murder.

MWA Edgar Award Finalists Revealed

 

 

Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television published or produced in 2025. The 80th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated, with winners revealed, on April 29, 2026, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Congrats to all the finalists!

BEST NOVEL

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Penguin Random House – Pantheon Books)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Macmillan Publishers – Flatiron Books)
Hard Town by Adam Plantinga (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (Penguin Random House – Pamela Dorman Books)
Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)
Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade (Macmillan Publishers – Celadon Books)
History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Listen by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)
Broke Road by Matthew Spencer (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

BEST FACT CRIME

They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake (Penguin Random House – Crown)
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation by Michael Cannell (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home by Gregg Olsen (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold (Penguin Random House – Dutton)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury – Sigma)
The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness by Andrew Klavan (HarperCollins Christian Publishing – Zondervan)
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)
Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins (HarperCollins Publishers – Mariner Books)
Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train by Stephen Rebello (Hachette Book Group – Running Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Reading at Night,” by Graham Greene (The Strand Magazine)
“The One That Got Away,” by Charlaine Harris (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile,” by Gregg Hurwitz (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)
“Lucky Heart,” by Tim Maleeny (Blood on the Bayou – Case Closed, Down & Out Books)
“The Kill Clause,” by Lisa Unger (Amazon Original Stories )
“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

BEST JUVENILE

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King (Candlewick Press)
What Happened Then by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press)
A Study in Secrets by Debbi Michiko Florence (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)
The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell (Penguin Young Readers – Dial)
Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave by Ally Russell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)
Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)
This is Where We Die by Cindy R.X. He (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)
The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson (HarperCollins Children’s Books – Quill Tree Books)
Codebreaker by Jay Martel (St. Martin’s Publishing Group – Wednesday Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“End of the Line” – Ballard, Written by Michael Alaimo & Kendall Sherwood (Amazon/Fabel)
“Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)
“Episode 101” – The Lowdown, Written by Sterlin Harjo (FX on Hulu)
“These Girls” – Long Bright River, Written by Nikki Toscano & Liz Moore (Peacock)
“Ye’iitsoh (Big Monster)” – Dark Winds, Written by John Wirth & Steven Paul Judd (AMC)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD 

“A Textbook Example,” by Luis Avalos (Sacramento Noir, Akashic Books)
“How It Happened,” by Billie Kay Fern (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Baggage,” by Rick Marcou (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Bloodsurf,” by Tiffany D. Plunkett (Hollywood Kills, Level Best Books – Level Short)
“Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland,” by Robert Rotstein (Hollywood Kills, Level Best Books – Level Short)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD 

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
No Comfort for the Dead by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane Books)
All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
The Red Letter by Daniel G. Miller (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amandah Chapman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)
The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Murder Two Doors Down by Chuck Storla (Crooked Lane Books)
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

SPECIAL AWARDS  (previously announced)

Grand Master

• Donna Andrews
  
• Lee Child
  

Raven Award

• Book Passage, Corte Madera CA

Ellery Queen Award

• John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books
  

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:


THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Oscar winner Nicolas Cage (Longlegs) is starring with Justin Long (Barbarian) and Shelley Hennig (Unfriended) in the action-thriller, Best Pancakes In The County, currently filming in Arkansas. Written and directed by Ken Sanzel (Kill Chain), the film is set over the course of one night at a small-town diner that becomes the center of a deadly standoff involving rogue federal agents, a fast-talking con man with a dangerous past (Cage), and a waitress (Hennig) harboring secrets of her own. As loyalties blur and tensions erupt, survival depends on who can outhink – and outgun – everyone else.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Amazon MGM Studios is developing Alex Delaware, a TV adaptation of the long-running psychological crime book series by Jonathan Kellerman. The studio has secured the rights to all novels in the series, with the project likely starting off by adapting the first book, 1985’s When the Bough Breaks. The novels focus on brilliant but reluctant L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware, who teams with hard-nosed LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to unravel complex, often disturbing murders by reading the minds, motives, and hidden histories behind the evidence.


NBC has been on a roll lately, announcing several pilots. Among them are Puzzled, from former Charmed showrunner Joey Falco, and What the Dead Know, from Dick Wolf‘s Wolf Entertainment and writer Beth Rinehart (FBI: Most Wanted). Both projects are crime/cop procedurals based on books, Danielle Trussoni’s novel The Puzzle Master and former New York City medical examiner Barbara Butcher’s memoir What the Dead Know, respectively. In Puzzled, after barely escaping a tragic fire, once-promising college athlete Mike Brink is transformed by a traumatic brain injury that gives him the unique ability to see the world in an unexpected way and helps him solve crimes with local police. What the Dead Know centers on death investigator Ava Ledger who is really good with dead bodies--it’s the living that give her trouble. The series follows Ava as she teams with the NYPD to solve their toughest cases.


NBC also handed a drama pilot order to The Rockford Files, a reboot of the classic Stephen J. Cannell series starring James Garner that ran on NBC from 1974-80. The project comes from writer Mike Daniels (The Village), producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly (Elementary), and Universal Television. Written by Daniels, The Rockford Files is a contemporary update on the classic series of the same name. Newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to his life as a private investigator using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.


In more NBC news, the network greenlit the drama Protection, from Quantico creator Josh Safran, with Jenna Bush Hager and Universal Television. In Protection, written by Safran, when a U.S. Marshal falls in the line of duty, a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy as a family of law enforcement agents becomes the target of a mysterious assassin. Bridging personal differences and crossing professional boundaries, the Thornhill family must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice … even if it means betraying their sworn code.


Sky gave the go-ahead to the long-gestating Girl with the Dragon Tattoo TV series from Behind Her Eyes duo Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna and The Crown producer Left Bank. The big-budget adaptation comes fifteen years after the movie starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, which, as with the new TV show, came from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Three movies were made from the Stieg Larsson trilogy, finishing in 2018, and a Swedish version was also made with Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace. Casting has not yet been set for the TV version, which is described as a “bold and contemporary reimagining” adaptation. Larsson's story follows lead Mikael Blomkvist’s investigation to find out what happened to a girl from a wealthy family who had disappeared forty years earlier, and recruits the help of Lisbeth Salander.


Apple TV has given a series order to a thriller starring and executive produced by Dakota Fanning (All Her Fault). The untitled project has Fanning starring as an undercover Treasury agent in a multi-billion-dollar international conglomerate. With the company's world-changing political and criminal tentacles, the agent becomes conflicted between her mission and a belief that her principal target, the heir apparent to all that corrupt power, is at his core a good man and worthy of her love.


NBC also gave a green light to an untitled one-hour drama from The Brave creator Dean Georgaris, longtime Davis Entertainment President John Fox, and Universal Television. Written by Georgaris and Fox, the untitled series is inspired by the work of expert profiler and author Dr. Ann Burgess, subject of the 2024 Hulu docuseries, Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. Her work also served as inspiration for David Fincher’s Netflix series, Mindhunter. In the NBC drama, Professor Georgia Ryan is a trailblazing psychologist who challenges the field of criminology by shifting the investigative focus to the victim rather than just the perpetrator, in order to uncover the crucial clues that more traditional methods leave behind. Alongside her team, this pioneering expert consults with the FBI to solve the most baffling and elusive cases.


A trailer dropped for the fourth season of The Lincoln Lawyer, which premieres Thursday, Feb. 5. The new season sees Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and his team working tirelessly to prove his innocence in the murder of a former client.


Turner Classic Movies is having a "murder" day on Thursday, January 22, from 6am to 8pm ET. It starts off with The Penguin Pool Murder from 1932, the first film appearance of the character of Hildegarde Withers, the schoolteacher and sleuth based on the character from the 1931 novel of the same name by Stuart Palmer. Four more Withers movies follow on the schedule, followed by four Miss Marple movies starring Margaret Rutherford as Agatha Christie's senior sleuth, beginning with Murder She Said from 1961.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

NPR's Fresh Air interviewed Liz Moore, author of God of the Woods and Long Bright River, who described the rare "flow state" of writing, adding that writing is mostly labor, but "2% of the time, usually at the very beginning of a book and the very end of a book, it feels like flying."


Author S.J. Rozan spoke with Club Calvi on CBS News about her new Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery novel, First Do No Harm.


On the Poisoned Pen podcast, Barbara Peters interviewed Douglas Preston, the author of The Monster of Florence.


What if someone else could use your identity as a spy? In the latest episode of Spybrary, guest host Bryan Boling sat down with author David Goodman to talk about his debut novel, A Reluctant Spy.


On Crime Time FM, Brian Price chatted with Paul Burke about Fatal Shot; Mel Cotton; chemistry, biology, and the science of crime; Terry Pratchett; and common science mistakes by crime writers.


The latest episode of Murder Junction featured bestselling author Laura Dave about her new thriller, The First Time I Saw Him, and how she was cut out of a TV show based on her books.


On Wrong Place, Write Crime, host Frank Zafiro spoke with Thomas McKinnon about his debut thriller, In Spite of Thunder.


Want to know what toxin affects humans, but not bees? What contaminated substance is so valuable, people risk their lives to collect it? What popular natural substance was used in biological warfare in wars between Russia and Ukraine in the past? Dr. Jen Prosser investigates on the latest Pick Your Poison podcast.

 
THEATRE

Two-time Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (The Brutalist, The Pianist) will make his Broadway debut this March in Olivier Award nominee Lindsey Ferrentino’s play, The Fear of 13. Based on David Sington’s documentary about a falsely accused death row inmate, The Fear of 13 will be directed by David Cromer (The Band’s Visit, Bug) and also star Tessa Thompson (Hedda, Netflix’s His & Hers) in her Broadway debut. The 16-week limited engagement begins previews on Thursday, March 19, at the James Earl Jones Theatre with an opening night set for Wednesday, April 15. The production will partner with the Innocence Project, the organization founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld that uses DNA and other scientific advancements to uncover wrongful convictions.

Sunday Music Treat

January is the birth month of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). His early piano works were heavily influenced by Chopin, whereas his later output took a turn toward the abstract and atonal, influenced by his interest in mysticism.

Part of that "mystical" philosophy was an obsession with what was possibly a faux-synesthesia in music, not necessarily like the real synesthesia (the chromesthesia form) of the protagonist in my Scott Drayco series, but more of a conceptual idea of keys and the circle of fifths assigned to various colors (and possibly based on Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks). However, there is some debate on the issue of whether or not Scriabin was a true synesthete.

At any rate, here's a performance of Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12 by Vladimir Horowitz:

 

 

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Cry the Beloved Country

 NPR once had a program segment on "books that helped us grow up." While the ones mentioned reflect some of the more YA-themed titles my generation read, my librarian mother brought home a much wider variety of books for me which I voraciously devoured, sometimes staying up most of the night to finish whatever volume I was reading.

One of those books was probably a little unusual to give to a 12-year-old, namely Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. For a child living in a rural part of the country which was 99.99% whitebread without even so much as an ethnic restaurant around for 20 miles, such a book was a revelation. Apartheid? Didn't know it existed prior, let alone how to pronounce it. However, it wasn't only the racial themes which made such an impression, it was how well Paton portrayed the classism and elitism of South Africa after the end of British imperialism, and how human compassion can triumph even in the face of the often hopelessness of existence.

Cry the Beloved Country is a multi-faced book, but at the heart of it is the unraveling of the traditional customs of a society set against the background of two grieving fathers: a Zulu pastor, whose son has been arrested for murder and faces execution, and the white father of the victim, who begins to realize the role South African whites often play in such crimes. Paton crafted a literary sermon of sorts against the practices that would turn into apartheid in South Africa in a prescient way, since the novel was published in 1948 and apartheid became law later that very same year. The title of the book is taken from the following passage uttered by the omniscient narrator:

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."

Alan Paton wrote the novel while he was principal at the Diepkloof Reformatory for delinquent African boys. One interesting note is the process surrounding the book's creation, quite different from today as seen by the author's description of the events leading up to publication:

"The book was begun in Trondheim and finished in San Francisco [on Christmas Eve]. It was written in Norway, Sweden, England and the United States....I had less than a week to spend in New York before sailing to South Africa. I air-mailed the manuscript on a Tuesday, but owing to snowstorms no planes flew. The package went by train, broke open and had to be rewrapped, and finally reached an intermediate Post Office on the Sunday, three days before I was due in New York. My friends traced this package to this intermediate Post Office, and had the office opened and the package delivered, by what means I do not know. In the meantime they had friends standing by to do the typing, and they worked night and day, with the result that the first seventeen chapters arrived at the house of Scribner's on Wednesday, a few minutes before myself...."

Two movies have been based on the book, a film version in 1951 with Canada Lee, Charles Carson, and Sidney Poitier, and another in 1995 with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. Neither version did particularly well at the box office, but the book itself sold over 15 million copies worldwide before Paton's death in 1995, and was critically well-received except in  South Africa—where it was banned as propaganda.

Mystery Melange

On Sunday, January 25, the Westport, Connecticut, Library will host a Crime Writing Panel Discussion, "Ripped from the Headlines: Weaving Real-Life Crime into Storytelling." Authors Deborah Levison, T.M. Dunn, and Wendy Whitman, members of the Connecticut chapter of Sisters in Crime, will explore how true events — from serial killers to domestic violence — shape both fiction and nonfiction. For registration info, check on over here.


Stockport Noir is back for its second year, taking place on Saturday, January 31, at UK's Stockport Guildhall. Some twenty authors are scheduled to attend, including Elly Griffiths, Vaseem Khan, Sarah Pinborough, Ruth Ware, and more. There will be panel discussions, book signings, and an onsite bookshop.


Noir at the Bar moves to Orange County at Knoll's in Laguna Niguel, California, on February 22. Authors scheduled to appear and read from their works include Eric Beetner, Jonathan Brown, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Curtis Ippolito, Nancy Klann, Caitlain Rother, with M.C. Marrie Stone. Plus the blues groups Three Blind Mice will be on hand following.


Editor Janet Rudolph announced a call for contributions for Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries Set at Faires, Fetes, and Festivals. As the title suggests, the focus is on crime fiction set at faires, fetes, and festivals, and she's seeking first-person Author! Author! essays of 500–1500 words, reviews of 50-250 words, and articles of 500-1000 words. The deadline is February 15, 2026.


There are also some other new-ish calls for papers on various crime fiction themes. The Young Scholars Literary Symposium's next conference is themed around "Mysteries and Mayhem." Why do we continue to crave mystery stories? What do we expect from the detectives and heroes who reveal the truth in these stories? Papers and creative projects should explore these and related questions (remote presentations are encouraged). Abstracts of 150-200 words are due January 22, 2026. On the other side of the Atlantic, the University of Bucharest English Department is holding their 27th annual international conference on June 5-6 on the theme, "Representations of Crime in Literature and the Arts." Abstracts of up to 200 words are due February 15, 2026.


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, Avram Lavinsky talked about making his Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine debut with “The Bank Heist Before Armageddon.”


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Knock Knock (After Hal Sirowitz)" by Richie Narvaez.


In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Bruce Robert Coffin, former detective sergeant turned author about his new novel, Bitter Fall, the second in his series featuring Detective Brock Justice; Lisa Hasleton chatted with thriller author Yoav Blum about his new technothriller, The Unswitchable, and she also spoke with historical mystery author R.J. Koreto about her latest release, Winter’s Season; Kelli Stanley, author of the award-winning Miranda Corbie historical noir series, applied the Page 69 Test to her newest novel, The Reckoning, the first in a new series set in Northern California's "Emerald Triangle" in 1985; and Writers Who Kill's E. B. Davis interviewed Heather Weidner about the second book in the Pearly Girls mystery series, Murder Plays Second Fiddle.

Author Q&A with Orion Gregory

Greg Milano, who also writes under the pen name of Orion Gregory, is an award-winning writer in the newspaper and advertising industries and a nationally published magazine contributor. He is a graduate of Wright State University, where he played tennis and obtained a degree in Communication Arts. He recently retired from his role as a sales representative, allowing him to spend his time coaching tennis, cheering on the Cleveland Browns, and writing mystery novels. 

His first book, Faults, was the debut in a series featuring Sydney Livingstone, a former professional tennis player who has joined the Walsh County Police Department. In the sequel, Serves You Right, the rookie detective thought she was trading fame for peace and a quiet life in Walsh County, Ohio, freshly engaged to her charming fiancé Enzo. But that dream is shattered with a faceless vigilante known only as The Enforcer emerges from the shadows of the dark web, declaring war on criminals—and the justice system that failed them. With chilling precision, this self-proclaimed executioner begins picking off targets across the region, leaving behind a digital trail of manifestos and blood. And Sydney is suddenly in the crosshairs—not just of a killer, but of a truth far more dangerous. 

Orion Gregory stopped by In Reference to Murder to answer a few questions about the book and series:

What was it like to read this thriller/mystery through the eyes of Detective Sydney Livingstone?

All of us has been the newcomer to a business or social setting at some time in our lives. We all understand how it feels difficult initially to fit in. Sydney was a competent and confident tennis player in her previous occupation, but the police academy brought a level of uncertainty. I could feel the stress she experienced as a first-year cop, especially when dealing with hardened detectives in a male-dominated occupation. But I think Sydney’s refusal to give up when facing seemingly insurmountable odds resonates with me. If I could have one trait of hers, that would be it.

Your protagonist, Sydney Livingstone is a former professional tennis player. I understand you are both a tennis coach and a tennis instructor. Do you see any similarities in writing crime mysteries and coaching a sport like tennis?

People who have played tennis competitively will understand what I’m about to say. Every match, whether it be a tournament or just for practice, carries a level of mystery within it. Will you win or lose today? Are you going to play to your potential or will you let your mind sabotage your game? Are you going to solve the mystery of your opponent’s game and use that knowledge to win, or is their ability too much to overcome? As a coach, I have to sometimes develop the lineup that will give our team its best chance to win. But sometimes, my strategies backfire. The adrenaline during play and the uncertainty about winning or losing certainly reminds me of the challenges associated with writing a mystery thriller.

Which one of the main characters shared the same values as Syd and why? Which ones had the least in common with her? Why?

I think most of the characters in the novel, without giving away the outcome, ostensibly had values similar to Syd. Montenegro and Griffith became her close friends, and she also got along well with Lasek and Pratt until she had to be punished for making a few mistakes. She and Montenegro’s wife Stacey also seemed to share a close connection, despite not knowing each other very well. As for having the least in common, I would say Mitsoff and Fosterno, although at times, they showed signs of becoming better people. Penny Cefalo and Syd had different personalities but both shared a similar type of confidence and enthusiasm, especially when life attempted to hold them down. Rex Cutter, on the other hand, was nothing at all like Syd.

Syd and Enzo attempt to manage their volatile personal relationship while also maintaining a degree of excellence in their current jobs. How difficult is it to focus on your job when your personal life is experiencing turmoil? What are some strategies you use for keeping work and private life separate?

I’m probably not the greatest person to answer this question because I’ve always had difficulty keeping them separate. I have a deep respect for anyone who can compartmentalize their problems while working, and waiting for later to deal with them. I think that part of the answer is to realize that worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but you end up in the same place. But as a worst-case-scenario type of person, I empathize with anyone who’s experiencing home-life stress while in the workplace.

The book discusses several criminals who slipped through the crack of our imperfect justice system. How do you feel about real life vigilantes who take the law into their own hands?

To be honest, I strongly dislike when people decide to be the judge, jury, and executioner all on their own. The shooting of the insurance executive in New York comes to mind when I say this. While taking things into our own hands is something all of us fantasize about, I believe the laws of our country need to be respected, regardless of our individual feelings. Justice in my mind may not be justice in your mind, and vice-versa.

Rural Walsh County has made some strides in the way it treats minorities and women. How did you feel about where they stand on those issues now? What do you think the future holds?

I’d like to think Walsh County is evolving and beginning to smell the coffee. The good-ol-boy network seems to be dying, albeit probably not fast enough. I think there is hope for Walsh County, especially with detectives like Syd coming into the mix.

Which person do you think readers suspected throughout the book? Why so?

That’s a tough question because there were so many viable suspects. I was careful not to reveal the sex of the killer(s) because that information would limit the playing field. I think Lasek and Pratt had to be strongly considered, as did Griffith, both Stuart and Stacey Montenegro, Tom Mitsoff, Rex Cutter, and Penny Cefalo. Andrea Pierce also had the opportunity.

You can learn more about Orion Gregory via his website and follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Serves You Right is now available via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.