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.