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.