Mystery Melange

William Kent Krueger was honored with the Founder’s Award at this past weekend's Tucson Festival of Books. The award is given in recognition of an author’s “literary achievements that have captivated our imagination and bodies of work that serve as inspiration to readers, writers and book lovers everywhere.” Previous recipients have included Elmore Leonard, Larry McMurtry, Richard Russo, Billy Collins, and Craig Johnson.


The Lambda Literary Organization announced the finalists for the 38th Lambda Literary Awards, or "Lammys," which celebrate outstanding LGBTQ+ voices in literature. The shortlist for Best LGBTQ+ Mystery include:  A Queer Case by Robert Holtom (Titan Books); Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter by Samantha Crewson (Crooked Lane Books); Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron Books); Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur Books); and The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler (Kensington Publishing Corporation).


Speaking of Willaim Kent Krueger, he and three other authors are in the running for the Minnesota Book Awards, Genre Fiction this year. The finalists include:  Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster); Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon (Soho Press/Penguin Random House); The Codebreaker's Daughter by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group); and The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group). The four authors will take part in a "Meet the Author" panel on March 21 at 2pm at the George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul. Winners in all categories will be revealed on May 6 at the Annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony.


Len Deighton, the British author whose subversive spy novels helped redefine the genre in the 1960s, has died at the age of 97. Best known for his debut, The Ipcress File, Deighton went on to write more than 30 books over a career spanning four decades, and was often compared to John le Carré. Published in 1962, The Ipcress File was an immediate success, selling millions of copies worldwide. It introduced readers to an unnamed sardonic, working-class intelligence officer who stood in stark contrast to the glamorous archetype embodied by Ian Fleming’s James Bond (Dr No, the first in the Bond film series, was released in the same year). The novel’s success led to a film adaptation in 1965, starring Michael Caine, and decades later, the story was revisited in a 2022 television adaptation starring Peaky Blinders’s Joe Cole.


Author Lauren Milne Henderson also passed away this week, at the age of 59. Also known by her pen name Rebecca Chance, she was an English freelance journalist and novelist, whose books ran the gamut from thrillers and mysteries, to romance and young adult. In the crime fiction realm, she was best knowm for the seven novels in her Sam Jones mystery series and the Scarlett Wakefield Young Adult mystery series, under the Henderson name, while under the Chance name, she published several thrillers and "bonkbusters." Tributes were posted online via Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine, Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare, and from Greg Herren.


Storm Publishing is launching Notorious Press, a true crime imprint to be led by Claire Bord, Deputy Managing Director at Storm Publishing, who previously published Gregg Olsen’s bestselling Detective Megan Carpenter series and acclaimed titles American Mother and Starvation Heights at Bookouture. Olsen, a two-time Edgar Award-nominated author widely recognized as a defining voice in true crime, will spearhead the list. Notorious Press will launch in October 2026 with Ordinary Wife, which tells the chilling story of American serial killer Lyda Trueblood. The book is co-authored by Gregg Olsen and his daughter, Morgan Olsen, marking the first collaboration between the father-daughter duo.


IDW Publishing has announced it will launch a new imprint for crime genre comics in May. IDW Crime will kick off with three new series, beginning in May with Seven Wives #1, created by Zoe Tunnell and artists V Gagnon and Tesslyn Bergin. Eisner Award–nominated writer Joey Esposito and artist Valeria Burzo’s Killer Influences #1, about a murderer who partners with an aspiring true crime influencer, will follow in July. Another new series of the serial-killer variety will arrive in September, with Amy Chase and artist Savanna Mayer’s Fixation #1, which "blends true crime tension and thrills with razor-sharp commentary on fandom and toxic addictions."


The folks over at Writers Who Kill contributed their "Favorite Crime or Writing Reference Book(s)."


In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover interviewed Alex Gerlis, author of espionage novels set during World War II, including his latest, The Second Traitor. Crime Fiction Lover also chatted with Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, an ecologist-turned-author, who brings her experience to bear in her latest novel, The Pledge, featuring her ecologist protagonist, Dr. Nell Ward.