Thursday, April 30, 2026

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Longlists


 

Harrogate International Festivals today announced the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty second year. The longlist, voted for by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers, podcasters, and industry representatives, showcases stories that transport readers from gangland Yorkshire to a haunted Dartmoor country house, from wartime Glasgow to a remote Scottish island, and features a host of remarkable sleuths – from the world’s first AI detective, to a time-travelling cold case investigator. Crime fiction fans are now invited to help whittle 18 down to 6 by voting for their favorite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday July 23rd.

The Longlist includes:

  •  What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
  •  The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books, Viper)
  •  The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Penguin Random House, Bantam)
  •  What The Night Brings by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere)
  •  Human Remains by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)
  •  The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press)
  •  The Chemist by A.A. Dhand (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
  •  Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction)
  •  The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books)
  •  The Examiner by Janice Hallett (Profile Books, Viper)
  •  The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (Penguin Random House, Doubleday)
  •  Clown Town by Mick Herron (John Murray Books, Baskerville)
  •  Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier Books, Zaffre)
  •  Paperboy by Callum McSorley (Puskin Press, Vertigo)
  •  The Good Liar by Denise Mina (Penguin Random House, Harvill)
  •  Gunner by Alan Parks (John Murray Books, Baskerville)
  •  We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)
  •  A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press)

Mystery Melange

PEN America is offering the opportunity to be in your next favorite book or show via an auction to win a chance to have your name or a loved one’s name in an upcoming work by one of the participating writers and receive a signed copy. All proceeds from the auction directly support PEN America's new Author Safety Program, a program designed to protect writers facing harassment, threats, and intimidation both online and in person. The participating crime fiction authors include Lee Child, David Baldacci, and Jean Hanff Korelitz. Emmy Award-winning writer and director Scott Frank (Dept Q, Monsieur Spade) will also name a character after you (or someone you love) in his next project if you're the highest bidder. The bidding closes on May 15th.


The Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mystery Bookshop's one-day iScream for Mysteries conference is back this Saturday, May 2, from 11-4. New and returning authors taking part include Laura Bradford, Ellen Crosby, Barbara Early, Robert Swartwood, and more, with panels, author trivia, and book signings. For registration information, follow this link.


The third annual Murder She Wrote Festival returns to Mendocino, California from May 1-3. The event celebrates the TV series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer-turned amateur sleuth, Jessica Fletcher, which ran for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996, and was also continued in movies and tie-in novels written by various authors, including Donald Bain, Jon Land, Terrie Farley Moran, and Barbara Early. The heroine’s fictional hometown of Cabot Cove was actually Mendocino, at least for the show’s exterior scenes, including the Blair House Inn, which represented Jessica Fletcher’s home in Cabot Cove, Maine, where the series was allegedly set.


Three of the UK’s most celebrated crime writers, Clare Mackintosh, Vaseem Khan, and Cally (C.L.) Taylor, have joined forces with UK Finance’s Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign to create a trilogy of original short stories designed to help the public spot scams. Read Between the Lies uses the power of storytelling to bring fraud prevention to life - tapping into the nation’s love of crime fiction to expose how scams really work. Each story is inspired by real fraud tactics and encourages readers to "think like a detective" and apply the same instincts they use in crime books, TV, and podcasts to everyday situations. To find out more about the Take Five to Stop Fraud’s Read Between the Lies campaign and how to protect yourself from fraud, visit this link.


Mystery Writers of American revealed the winners of the Edgar Awards last night, and in honor of that occasion, Molly Odintz of Crime Reads asked nominees to contribute to a roundtable discussion on the state of the crime world today and to weigh in on the pleasures and pitfalls of the writing life. You can read part one of that roundtable here and part two via this link.


The Folio Society is presenting a newly illustrated edition of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to celebrate the novel’s 100th anniversary. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published in June 1926, six months before Agatha Christie famously vanished for eleven days. Proclaimed by the Crime Writers' Association as "the finest example of the genre ever penned," the title is consistently voted among Agatha Christie's best novels.  (HT to Shots Magazine)


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, he welcomed P.M. (Pamela) Raymond to talk about her linked-stories collection, Things Are as They Should Be and Other Words To Die For.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Senseless Acts of a Madman" by G. Emil Reutter.


In the Q&A roundup, author John Cheshire spoke with Crime Fiction Lover about his debut novel, System Lockout, which centers around a ransomware attack on National Health Services across London; Author Interviews spoke with Catherine Mack, the pseudonym for Catherine McKenzie, about This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone, the new novel in her Vacation Mystery Series; and Deborah Kalb chatted with author/screenwriter Gregory Poirier, about his new Max Starkey thriller, A Thousand Cuts, and also with author/attorney Marc S. Perlman about his new espionage thriller, The Riddle of the Trees.

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Edgar Distinction


 

Mystery Writers of America revealed the winners of 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 were celebrated tonight at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

BEST NOVEL: The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Also nominated:

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: Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)

Also nominated:

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)
Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade (Macmillan Publishers – Celadon Books)
History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated:

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)
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

BEST FACT CRIME: Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

Also nominated:

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)
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: Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

Also nominated:

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)
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: “Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated:

“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 )

BEST JUVENILE: Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

Also nominated:

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)
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)

Also nominated:

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: “Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

Also nominated:

“End of the Line” – Ballard, Written by Michael Alaimo & Kendall Sherwood (Amazon/Fabel)
“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: “How It Happened,” by Billie Kay Fern (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated:

“A Textbook Example,” by Luis Avalos (Sacramento Noir, Akashic Books)
“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: All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Also nominated:

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)
Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)


THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD: Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Also nominated:

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)


THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD:  A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

Also nominated:

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amandah Chapman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
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

Monday, April 27, 2026

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

In a competitive situation, Fifth Season has landed rights to High Rise, the 2025 thriller novel from bestselling Australian author Gabriel Bergmoser. Bergmoser will pen the feature adaptation, and Patrick Hughes is set to direct, in a reunion with Hidden Pictures and Huge Film following their work on the recent Netflix hit War Machine. Billed as "Die Hard meets The Raid," High Rise follows a rogue ex-cop who tracks down his estranged daughter to a grimy high-rise — only to find she doesn’t want to be rescued, least of all by him. Before either can react, the entire city’s criminal underworld descends on the building with a bounty on his head and no concern for her survival. Floor by floor, a broken father and daughter must fight their way through fifteen stories of killers with only each other to rely on.


Two-time Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Bridesmaids) is in talks to star in Turpentine, a new thriller directed by The Penguin and Mare of Easttown's Craig Zobel. Based on a script by Justin Varava that made the 2024 Black List, Turpentine follows a deadbeat son who hires friends to rob his own parents to pay off a bookie, with disastrous results. Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry) is also currently in talks to star in the thriller.


Universal Pictures’s upcoming Miami Vice movie officially has its Tubbs and Crocket as well a new title as Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler are set to star in Miami Vice ’85 with Joseph Kosinski directing. The film will be shot for Imax and is slated for a release date of August 6, 2027. The film explores the glamor and corruption of mid-80’s Miami in an all-new version of Miami Vice, inspired by the pilot episode and first season of the landmark Universal Television series that influenced culture and set the style of everything from fashion to filmmaking.

After working together on The Beekeeper and A Working Man, David Ayer and Jason Statham are reteaming on action-thriller John Doe, with Ayer directing from a script by screenwriter Zak Penn (Ready Player One, The Avengers). Statham is set to play the Man With No Name in the film, which will chart the story “of a man with no memory, no past, and no name — and only one face he can’t forget: Eliza. As fragments of his identity return, he discovers he was trained for a mission still in motion and is being hunted by the very people who sent him. With enemies closing in, John must choose between finishing what he started… or protecting the one thing that makes him feel human: love.” 


James Gray's anticipated next film, the gritty crime thriller Paper Tiger, has joined the Palme d’Or race at the Cannes Film Festival, while Neon has snagged North American rights. Written and directed by Gray, the film stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller and follows two brothers who pursue the American Dream, only to become entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true. As they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian “Mafiya.”


TELEVISION/STREAMING

A24 UK won a bidding war to option rights to Nick Brucker’s upcoming heist novel, White Smoke (set to be published in 2027), with plans to adapt it into a TV series. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in the film, which centers on a group of duplicitous con men and thieves determined to steal the Vatican’s most remarkable treasures during a papal conclave. Nick Brucker is the pseudonym of speculative fiction writer Nicholas Binge, whose latest novel Dissolution was hailed as one of the best books of 2025 by the New York Times and is being adapted at Sony Pictures with Eric Heisserer penning the screenplay.


James Mangold is set to co-write, direct, and executive produce a series adaptation of his 1997 movie, Cop Land, from Paramount Television Studios and Miramax Television. The film starred Sylvester Stallone as the sheriff of a small New Jersey town who comes into conflict with the corrupt New York City police officers who live there. The cast also included Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Noah Emmerich, and Cathy Moriarty.


The Night Agent  has lined up Bosch star Titus Welliver, Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Li Jun Li (Sinners), and Elizabeth Lail (You) as new series regulars opposite star Gabriel Basso in Season 4 of the Netflix action thriller, which is relocating from New York to Los Angeles for its fourth installment. Welliver is said to be playing Duval, a special DOJ prosecutor; Rhodes is believed to be playing Dom, Peter Sutherland’s (Basso) new partner; while Li is thought to be playing Dom’s wife Min. And, in a reveal The Night Agent fans have long been waiting for, Lail will play Peter’s ex-fiancée Zoe. Dedicating himself to his new career as a Night Agent, Peter swore off romantic relationships after his job had put Rose Larkin, his love interest for the first two seasons, in danger. He may now be thrown back into that arena with his ex-fiancée, Zoe, re-entering his life.


Helena Bonham Carter is departing the latest installment of the HBO drama series, The White Lotus, just over a week after filming began in France. An HBO spokesperson said that, "With filming just underway on season four of ‘The White Lotus,’ it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set. The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks." Carter was among the first cast members announced for Season 4 of the Mike White-created murder mystery, following weeks of speculation about her casting. Details on her character remain under wraps, though it was reported to be a central role in Season 4’s plot. The recasting won’t impact production timing, with schedules shifting to focus on the rest of the cast’s stories while recasting takes place.


MASTERPIECE PBS has announced that Marble Hall Murders, the final Susan Ryeland mystery adaptation from best-selling author Anthony Horowitz, will premiere on Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 9/8c. Joining the previously confirmed leads of Lesley Manville (The Crown) as Susan Ryeland and Tim McMullan (The Crown) as Atticus Pünd, are Jamie Blackley (The Last Kingdom), Mark Bonnar (Dept. Q), Daniel Cerqueira (A Gentleman in Moscow), Patricia Hodge (A Very English Scandal), Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones), Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks), Anneika Rose (Line of Duty), Danny Sapani (Killing Eve), and Zubin Varla (Andor). In Marble Hall Murders Editor Susan Ryeland is hired to work on a continuation novel of the Atticus Pünd series, written by a troubled young author (Blackley). When the job leads Susan into another murder case, she unexpectedly finds herself a suspect. PBS MASTERPIECE also announced the premiere date for The Marlow Murder Club Season 3 (starring Samantha Bond) as being Sunday, September 6th.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon spoke with Anthony Horowitz about his new book, A Deadly Episode.


Paul Burke interviewed Matthew Carr on Crime Time FM about his latest historical crime thriller, The Emperor of Seville; Bernardo de Mendoza; sixteenth-century Spain; terrorism; financial thrillers; and white ruff crime.


On Murder Junction, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with undercover policeman-turned-crime writer Neil Lancaster about his latest Max Craigie novel and the mysterious Scottish grave that led to the series. They also chatted about Neil's previous life guarding nuclear reactors - in the company of dogs.


On Criminal Mischief, DP Lyle spoke with retired detective and story consultant Adam Richardson, who spent seventeen of his twenty-eight years in law enforcement as a detective in California, including assignments to state and federal task forces. He has been helping screenwriters, fiction authors, TV shows, and film productions with the cop stuff in their stories since 2015.


Spencer Quinn discussed his latest novel, Cat on a Hot Tin Woof, with  Barbara Peters for the Poisoned Pen podcast.

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Agatha Ascendant

 


Winners were announced last night at the Agatha Awards Banquet during Malice Domestic, which this year was held from April 24-26 at the North Marriott Hotel & Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland. 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. Congrats to the winners and finalists!

Best Contemporary NovelAt Death's Dough, Mindy Quigley, Minotaur

Other finalists: 

A Grave Eeception, Connie Berry, Cooked Lane
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 NovelThe Case of the Christie Conspiracy, Kelly Oliver, Boldwood Books

Other finalists: 

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 Hindenburg Spy, I.A. Chandlar, Oliver Heber Publishers

Best First NovelWhiskey Business, Adrian Andover, Chestnut Avenue Press

Other finalists:

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

Best Short Story“Six-armed Robbery,” Ashley-Ruth Bernier, Malice Domestic Mystery Most Humorous

Other finalists:

“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
“When the Iron is Hot,” Maddie Day, EQMM Mar/Apr 2025

Best Non-fictionVacations Can Be Murder: a True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England, Dawn M. Barclay, Level Best

Other finalists:

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

Best Children’s/YA MysteryDeath in the Cards, Mia P. Manansala, Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Other finalists:

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

Can you really play Chopin's "Minute Waltz" in a minute? Not that I've ever seen, although Ignaz Friedman tried his very best in this recording from 1923, which clocks in at the fastest time I've found thus far, 1:21 (although Scott Drayco in his prime might have been able to pull it off).

 



Friday, April 24, 2026

The Illustrious Indies


 

This Saturday, April 25, will mark the thirteenth annual Independent Bookstore Day (or Indie Bookstore Day), a celebration of independent bookstores, booksellers, and their communities that was launched in 2013 as California Bookstore Day by writer and editor Samantha Schoech, and went national in 2014. This year's event marks the largest celebration yet, spanning independent bookstores in every US state and territory in 2,000+ locations. Participating stores will mark the occasion with exclusive merchandise, special programming, and one-of-a-kind in-store experiences that highlight what makes indie bookstores essential to their communities.

Indie Bookstore Day includes multi-stop bookstore crawls to lively street fairs, each reflecting the distinct personality of the bookstores behind them. Over 40 bookstore crawls are being hosted in more than half the states, many extending beyond a single day and rewarding readers the more bookstores they visit. The Indie Bookstore Day map serves as the ultimate guide to it all, spotlighting hundreds of events and experiences happening in communities nationwide on April 25. Whether readers are on the hunt for exclusive finds or planning a full day (or weekend) of bookstore hopping, the map is the go-to resource for making the most of Independent Bookstore Day.

American Booksellers Association partner, Libro.fm, is offering special promotions throughout the week including a new member offer, a week-long audiobook sale, and the Golden Ticket in-store giveaway for 12 audiobooks. Bookshop.org, where every purchase on the site financially supports independent bookstores, will celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with free standard shipping on all orders on April 25 and 26.

Last year Indie Bookstore Day brought something unexpected—a clash with Amazon, which held a last-minute major book sale that “unintentionally overlapped” with the annual event on the last Saturday of April (Amazon’s inaugural book sale in 2024 was held in May). Outrage from independent booksellers and their advocates about the overlapping events led to consumer backlash and the best sales day in history for many of the more than sixteen hundred stores that participated in the event. As a result, many shoppers who hadn’t planned to visit a bookstore said they came out specifically to support their local bookshop and protest what they saw as Amazon’s stepping on the indies. 

On a personal note (and for full disclosure), the first novel in my Scott Drayco mystery series, Played to Death, was chosen for inclusion in the Bookshop.org Indie Author Bookstore Day Adult Fiction free promotion.

Choice Canadian Crime



Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Shortlists for the 2026 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. The CWC also revealed that the winner of the 2026 Grand Master Award, for a writer with a substantial body of work who has garnered significant national and international acclaim while demonstrating a steadfast commitment to the crime-writing community, is Rick Mofina. Since 1984, Crime Writers of Canada has recognized the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors, including citizens abroad and new residents. Winners will be announced on Friday, May 29, 2026. 

The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel

With a $1000 prize

  • Sue Hincenbergs, The Retirement Plan, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
  • Jen Sookfong Lee, The Hunger We Pass Down, McClelland & Stewart
  • Tamara L. Miller, Into the Fall, Thomas and Mercer
  • Louise Penny, The Black Wolf, Minotaur Books
  • Eddy Boudel Tan, The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, Viking Canada

Best Crime First Novel 

Sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize

  • Ray Critch, The Beltane Massacre, Breakwater Books
  • Jan Field, Yesterday’s Lies, La Cloche Publishing
  • Joel Nedecky, The Broken Detective, Run Amok Crime
  • David L. Tucker, A Painting to Die For, Otter & Osprey Press
  • A.L. Wahdel, Too Dark For the Light, Butterfly 80 Publishing

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada

Sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

  • Lis Angus, That Other Family, Next Chapter
  • Angela Douglas, Every Fall, Rising Action Publishing Co.
  • Uzma Jalaluddin, Detective Aunty, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
  • C.S. Porter, Salt on Her Tongue, Vagrant Press
  • Chevy Stevens, The Hitchhikers, St. Martin’s Press

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery

Sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize

  • Shelley Adina, The Engineer’s Nemesis, Moonshell Books
  • Mel Anastasiou, Stella Ryman and the Search for Thelma Hu, Pulp Literature Press
  • Alice Fitzpatrick, A Dark Death, Stonehouse Publishing
  • Laury Silvers, Some Justice: A Ghazi Ammar Medieval Mystery, Independently Published
  • Iona Whishaw, The Cost of a Hostage, TouchWood Editions

Best Crime Short Story

Sponsored by Crime Writers of Canada with a $200 prize

  • Lis Angus, "Under the Circumstances," A Capital Mystery Anthology, Ottawa Press and Publishing
  • Madeleine Harris Callway, "The Lost Diner," Pulp Literature Press (story on p.115)
  • Barbara Fradkin, "Cold Shock," A Capital Mystery Anthology, Ottawa Press and Publishing
  • Billie Livingstone, "The Headache," Dark Yonder (story on p.31)
  • Sylvia Maultash Warsh, "Polly Wants a Freakin’ Cracker," Malice Domestic: Murder Most Humorous, Wildside Press

Best French Language Crime Book

Sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $500 prize

  • Chrystine Brouillet, Le regard des autres, Druide
  • André Jacques, Jeux d’ombres, Druide
  • Steve Laflamme, La mémoire du labyrinthe, Libre Expression
  • Maureen Martineau, Une nuit d’été à Littlebrook, Héliotrope
  • Martin Michaud, Delta Zéro, Libre Expression

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book

Sponsored by Superior Shores Press with a $250 prize

  • Charis Cotter The Mystery of the Haunted Dancehall, Tundra Books
  • Vicki Grant, Death by Whoopee Cushion, Tundra Books
  • Claire Hatcher-Smith, The Mizzy Mysteries: A Skeleton in the Closet, Tundra Books
  • Tanya Lloyd Kyi, The City of Lost Cats, Tundra Books
  • John Lekich, Bark Twice for Murder, Orca Book Publishers

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

Sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton) with a $300 prize

  • Robert Cree with Therese Greenwood, The Many Names of Robert Cree: How a First Nations Chief, Brought Ancient Wisdom to Big Business and Prosperity to His People, ECW Press
  • John L. Hill, Acts of Darkness: Notorious Criminals, Their Defenders, Prosecutors, and Jailers, Durvile & UpRoute
  • Kathleen Lippa, Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North, Dundurn Press
  • Lorna Poplak, On the Lam: Great (and Not So Great) Escapes from Prison, Dundurn Press
  • Julian Sher & Lisa Fitterman, Hitman: The Untold Story of Canada’s Deadliest Assassin, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author

Sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize

  • Anne Burlakoff, Val's Story
  • William Hall, The Less You Know
  • Francis K. Lalumière, Lens Flare
  • Barbara Stokes, Death Scent
  • Isabelle Zimmermann, Blistered 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Voice Out of Darkness

Ursula Reilly Curtiss (1923-1984) came into the world with fairly impressive crime-fiction genes. Her mother, Helen Reilly, her sister, Mary McMullen, and her brother, James Kieran, all wrote mysteries. Curtis didn't start out that way, working first as a columnist for the Fairfield, Connecticut News in 1942, at age 19, followed by a stint as a fashion copy writer. She began writing mystery/suspense novels, full-time at that, when she married John Curtiss in 1947 (the marriage no doubt helping her financial circumstances enough to give her that opportunity). Her first book, Voice Out of Darkness, won the Red Badge Award for the best new mystery of 1948.

Rather than penning police procedurals like her mother, Curtiss focused on the type of story where an innocent bystander gets pulled reluctantly into becoming an amateur sleuth — against a backdrop of seeming domestic calm, with layers of evil hiding behind family secrets and familiar faces. Her protagonists were usually female, except for works like 1951's The Noonday Devil where the main character is a man who learns his brother's death as a Japanese POW was carefully planned by a fellow prisoner.

Voice Out of Darkness falls into the female-protagonist camp, where we find that thirteen years prior to the events of the book, Katy Meredith lost her foster-sister, Monica, in a skating accident. Although Katy tried to save Monica, Monica's last words were "Katy pushed me." Katy thought she'd escaped both her home town and the horrors of Monica's death by moving to New York, until she starts receiving threatening notes in the mail. At first she wonders if someone else near the ice that day overheard Monica's words and is trying to blackmail her, but when Katy returns to her childhood home, she finds evidence of a calculating killer whose sights are now set on her.

Curtiss has moments of crisp observations in her writing, such as the following character study:

She was disconcerted, in the midst of her apologies for lateness, by Lieutenant Hooper's mild and wren-like appearance; he looked, she thought, like a portrait of a suburban traveller. Rubbers. Plaid woollen muffler, an air of having been assembled, eyed critically, and finally dismissed on the 8:32 by a bustling, dutiful wife. Except for his eyes: shrewd, steady, impartial as jewellers' scales.

or this excerpt about Fenwick, Connecticut, Katy's home town:

[It] had its replicas all over the New England coast. It lay sheltered in a tumble of windy hills, its architecture a blend of pure old Colonial and the raw new bones of housing developments. Its chief prosperity came from the summer visitors who came to splash and play in its wide blue crescent of Sound and laugh delightedly at its ancient moviehouse. Its chief crop was gossip, sown and grown with zest...

Curtiss' strengths are in her characterizations, setting and pacing, the novel being a quick read, which helps make the slight thinness and predictability of the plot (at least by 21st-century eyes looking backward), not much of a distraction. Curtiss later had two of her books, made into movies, I Saw What You Did from 1965, based on Curtiss' novel Out of the Dark, starring Joan Crawford, and 1969's What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, based on the author's novel The Forbidden Garden, featuring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. Curtiss also wrote the screenplays for a couple of television episodes of Detective and Climax Mystery Theater.

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Mystery Melange

The Los Angeles Times announced the winners of the 46th annual Book Prizes in a ceremony at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The Times’ Book Prizes recognize outstanding literary achievements and celebrate the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers. Winners were announced in 13 categories for works published last year including in the Mystery/Thriller category, which went to Megan Abbott for El Dorado Drive (G.P. Putnam’s Sons). The other finalists include The Proving Ground: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company); Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Ace Atkins (William Morrow); King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar); and Crooks by Lou Berney (William Morrow).  


The shortlist for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been announced. The award celebrates works of historical fiction set more than 60 years ago that were published during the last calendar year. The 2026 finalists include Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Benbecula, fresh off its announcement as a longlisted title for the Crime Writers Association's Historical Dagger award.


The longlist for the 2026 Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition was recently revealed. Every year since 2014, the Crime Writers Association and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international competition for a short story of up to 3,500 words that fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great mystery story. The shortlist will be chosen from the 12 longlisted titles and announced later in the spring, with the winner honored May 30 at the NCRM launch at Criminally Good Books in York.


Mystery Writers of America (MWA) New York will present a panel on"Creating Unforgettable Characters" at the Tredyffrin Library in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on May 18 at 5pm. Moderated by Michael Bradley, the panel includes authors John Dobbyn (the Knight/Devlin legal thrillers), James McCrone (the thriller trilogy Faithless Elector, Dark Network and Emergency Power), and Jane Kelly (the Meg Daniels Mysteries).


In honor of National Library Week, Janet Rudolph compiled a listing of Library/Librarian Mysteries series.


Christina Hardyment of the UK newspaper, The Times, traveled from Dartmoor to the Highlands to find the landscapes loved by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, PD James, and more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Falling From the Sky" by Susan L. Pollet.


In the Q&A roundup, John B. Valeri interviewed Jane Harper about Australian crime fiction, settings, and crafting slow-burn suspense; Crime Fiction Lover chatted with Clifford Beal, who has written in various genres, about his first crime novel, Little Sins; and Ali Karin spoke with Michael Ridpath on The Rap Sheet blog about his latest historical thriller, Operation Berlin.



Monday, April 20, 2026

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

Bradley Cooper is set to write, direct, produce, and star in the Ocean’s 11 prequel also starring Margot Robbie. The film is currently set to release on June 25, 2027. Cooper and Robbie will play the parents of Danny Ocean (portrayed in the Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s trilogy by George Clooney). The movie follows a heist at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, before Danny Ocean ever set foot in Vegas, where two masterminds—his parents—taught him everything he knows, as they pull off an epic heist.


Matt Smith (Doctor Who, House Of The Dragon) and Imogen Poots (Chronology Of Water) are attached to star in the mystery-thriller, The Salamander Lives Twice. According to the synopsis, Smith will play a debonair stranger "who washes ashore on a remote island wearing a Rolex and holding a briefcase he can’t open, with no memory of who he is or why he is there. Taken in by the sole inhabitants – Iris, a glamorous wine-soaked matriarch, her erudite daughter Goggy (Poots), and Baby, their giant naked butler – he is drawn into their bizarre and decaying world. But this is no accident. And what begins as sanctuary turns into something far stranger, far darker – a world of pent-up revenge, sinister family betrayal and shocking violence."


Academy Award nominee Demi Moore has joined the cast of Tyrant, the culinary thriller from writer-director David Weil at Amazon MGM Studios. Moore is the latest addition to the ensemble led by Charlize Theron (Monster, Bombshell) and Julia Garner (Ozark). Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Tyrant is said to be a high-stakes thriller set within New York City’s elite fine-dining scene. Weil wrote the screenplay, which is based on a story by Weil and Cody Behan.


Two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (The Serpent Queen) is set to headline the rescue thriller, Love And War, directed by Lisa Mulcahy (Lies We Tell), and written by Lisa Mulcahy and Elisabeth Gooch, Inspired by a true story, the film is about a mother forced to enter war-torn Syria to recover her young daughter after the child is taken across borders by her estranged husband. 


TELEVISION/STREAMING


Harlan Coben’s Final Twist has been renewed by CBS for a second season and will air as part of the network’s Fall 2026-27 schedule. The true-crime docuseries returns with new one-hour episodes following Coben as he guides audiences through gripping tales of murder to meticulously reveal hidden truths, deceptions, and lies. 


NBC‘s Law & Order: SVU, the venerable crime drama starring Mariska Hargitay, and the longest-running primetime drama on broadcast TV, will be back next fall for its 28th season. Although NBC had already announced the series’ pickup for the 2025-26 season, SVU had in reality received a two-season renewal, but the second year hadn't been made public. Michele Fazekas, who joined last season as SVU's first female showrunner, is expected to continue in the role. Defying gravity — and age — Law & Order: SVU is having its best season on Peacock and is NBC’s #1 drama among adults 18-49 in multi-platform viewing.


Meanwhile, Law & Order: Organized Crime, starring Christopher Meloni, won’t be returning for a sixth season on Peacock or NBC. Organized Crime follows Law & Order: SVU's Elliot Stabler (Meloni) in his return to the NYPD to work on the Organized Crime Task Force. With the Organized Crime cancellation, the only Law & Order spinoff that remains is the Law & Order: SVU renewal.
 

ABC has renewed its hit police drama, Will Trent, for a fifth season. Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling book series, Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was abandoned at birth. He endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system, alongside his on-and-off again love interest, Angie (Erika Christensen). Now, Will uses his unique point of view in the pursuit of justice and has the highest clearance rate in the GBI. In addition to Rodríguez and Christensen, the series stars Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood, Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner, and Kevin Daniels as Detective Franklin Wilks.


CBS has a new NCIS spinoff series coming this fall. NCIS: New York will welcome back LL Cool J as NCIS Agent Sam Hanna (formerly starring in NCIS: Los Angeles), as he returns to his hometown of New York City to their field office, partnering with a roguish agent (Scott Caan) and helping lead a new team as they are tasked with high-stakes missions to defend one of the most vital cities and ports in the world. The series will air on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., in between the flagship series NCIS and NCIS: Origins. NCIS: Sydney will join the lineup in midseason, replacing NCIS: Origins


Matt LeBlanc is set to lead the cast of the new crime drama, Flint, in development at CBS. The drama follows a burnt-out LAPD officer who, on the verge of retirement, is blindsided when the city extends his service by five years. Determined to get fired, he breaks rules and disobeys orders, which to his dismay, ends up making him a better cop.


Veteran ABC cop drama, The Rookie, which has emerged as a surprise hit with the under 18 crowd, thanks in major part to the show’s viral popularity on TikTok, has been renewed for a ninth season. The show follows John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), a man in his 40s, who becomes the oldest rookie at the Los Angeles Police Department, and is based on real-life LAPD officer William Norcross, who moved to Los Angeles in 2015 and joined the department in his mid-40s. In addition to Fillion, Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter, The Rookie‘s main cast includes Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Mekia Cox, Shawn Ashmore, Jenna Dewan, Lisseth Chavez, and Deric Augustine.  


Star Trek veteran Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) is leading an Irish TV series about a hard-nosed New York cop in Ireland, from Blue Lights producer Two Cities Television. Mulgrew, who is also known for playing Red in Orange is the New Black, is starring opposite Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation; Gangs of London) in The Yank. The series is set on the west coast of Ireland and sees seasoned NYPD detective Nora Savage take a career break following a traumatic event and moving to her family home. Expecting a change of pace, Nora is unexpectedly pulled into a murder investigation involving a female climate activist. As the investigation builds to a tense and savage climax, it pushes Nora and the squad into a thrilling hunt for the killer. John Connors (The Gentlemen, Irish Blood), India Mullen (Normal People, Under Salt Marsh), Cillian O’Sullivan (Daredevil: Born Again, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) and Jack Rowan (A Town Called Malice, Wreck) star alongside Mulgrew and Meaney.


NBC will air the pilot of the Peacock drama series M.I.A. for a special telecast on Thursday, May 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, a cross-promotion that follows the series’ binge drop on Peacock a week earlier on May 7.  The drama hails from Ozark co-creator Bill Dubuque and stars Shannon Gisela as Etta Tiger Jonze. Restless in the Florida Keys, Etta dreams of a life in Miami’s glittering, sub-tropical kingdom. When her family’s drug-running business shatters in tragedy, however, Etta embarks on a dangerous journey through Miami’s neon-lit underbelly that will define who she is and what she’s ultimately capable of. The cast also includes Cary Elwes, Danay Garcia, Brittany Adebumola, Dylan Jackson, Alberto Guerra, Maurice Compte, Gerardo Celasco, and Marta Milans.


CBS announced its fall season, which includes four returning franchise blocks: FBI on Mondays, NCIS on Tuesdays, Fire Country on Fridays, and a Robert & Michelle King pair on Thursdays. Matlock and NCIS: Origins are being held for midseason. Tracker, in its third year, and freshman Marshals, which alternate as No.1 most watched series each week, are staying put on Sunday behind 60 Minutes. The new crime dramas next season include NCIS: New York, Cupertino, and Einstein.


MASTERPIECE PBS and Playground have renewed Maigret, the contemporary adaptation of Georges Simenon’s beloved novels about the French detective, for a second season. Benjamin Wainwright (Belgravia: The Next Chapter; Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim) reprises the titular role, and Stefanie Martini (The Gold, Last Kingdom) returns as Madame Louise Maigret. Kerrie Hayes (Blue Jean, Criminal Record), Shaniqua Okwok (The Flatshare, It’s a Sin) and Reda Elazouar (The Family Plan 2, Sex Education) are also back as “Les Maigrets,” Maigret’s loyal team of detectives. Other returning cast include Nathalie Armin (Showtrial, After the Flood) as Prosecutor Mathilde Kernavel; James Northcote (The Last Kingdom, The Imitation Game) as Joseph Moers; and Rob Kazinsky (Star Trek: Section 31 and Pacific Rim) as Inspector Justin Cavre. This season sees dramatic changes in La Brigade Criminelle, with the introduction of Maigret's boss and mentor, Director of Police Xavier Guichard, played by Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries). Guichard has become suspicious of Maigret's growing fame and decides to "take him down a peg."


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Dan Bronson joined Write Place, Wrong Crime host Frank Zafiro to talk about his Jack Shannon series, including the new release, Shout at the Devil, and also shared some great Hollywood stories.


Spybrary host Shane Whaley was joined by Ayo Onatade, a crime fiction critic, commentator, blogger, and moderator, who has also served as judge and chair for some of the genre's most significant prizes, including the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, the Crime Wrtiers Association's award for best spy fiction. Ayo reveals her top five best spy novels, making a passionate case for each one — and her picks may surprise you.


House of Mystery Radio had interviews recently with three crime fiction authors: Faye Snowden, discussing her Southern gothic tale, Killing Breath, featuring homicide detective Raven Burns; A.L. Jensen, talking about Midsummer, Marriage, and Murder, featuring interior designer turned amateur sleuth Minna Halonen; and Erik D'Souza chatting about Death on the Rocks, a Suzanne Rickson mystery starring the senior sleuth.


On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke looked at new releases on the screen and fiction for April, 2026.

 
On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed some of the books nominated for the Edgar Awards.


Dr. Jen Prosser investigated a substance that causes "fire eaters' lung," what disease you can get from sitting in a hot tub, and how you can be poisoned by stealing gasoline, on the latest Pick Your Poison podcast.

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Sunday Music Treat

Franz List as you wish you could hear his music played . . . by Bugs Bunny (and a friend). Enjoy!

 


 

Friday, April 17, 2026

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Miss Pink at the Edge of the World

Gwen Moffat, born in Brighton, Sussex in 1924 (and who turned 99 this month!), became the first professional female mountain guide in the UK. Her travels in the field provided settings for her crime novels set in the Alps, the Rockies and deserts of the U.S., and the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides. She has thrown that same pioneering gusto into her research in the past, working cattle on a Montana ranch for her novel Grizzly Trail or living in a house in the Mojave Desert for Last Chance Country.

In addition to her thirty-five novels, travel books and her autobiography, Space Below My Feet, Moffat has written short stories, such as the Holmes pastiche "The Adventure in Border County: Holmes and Watson visit Cumberland at Xmas." She's also been a broadcaster and written article for newspapers on mountain climbing, travel and camping, as well as crime fiction reviews for Shots Magazine.

Moffat's first-hand experiences with mountain climbing are at put to obvious use in her novel Miss Pink at the Edge of the World. On a Scottish stack (i.e., a column of rock isolated from a shore by the action of waves) called the Old Man of Scamadale, two climbers die rather mysteriously. One of them, Trevor Stark, is a famous and much-hated TV celebrity who was scouting the area for a program, complete with boats and helicopters, against the wishes of the local laird (landowner) who avoided publicity and wanted to keep tourists away. The local police believe the deaths were accidents until the laird and his fellow climbers convince the police the two men were murdered—and promptly become the prime suspects since they alone had the expertise to pull off the crime.

Moffat got the idea for the plot from a conversation she overheard at Kyleakin Inn on Skye, overlooking Loch Alsh, where someone exclaimed, "The Killers is in!", showing a sharp grasp of ideas and their possibilities which the author also embued in her primary protagonist, Miss Melinda Pink. Miss Pink is politically incorrect, but at the same time feels herself drawn into cases of injustice and abuse, from trafficking in endangered species, to incest, to IRA terrorists. She's a middle-aged writer-magistrate-sleuth, a woman of  "imposing presence" who also possesses keen skills of observation and perceptions of human nature and life:

As she undressed she reflected that cannabis had similar effects to alcohol:  it was an intoxicant which prompted its dependents to unburden themselves. She wondered if the girl would regret her loquacity in the morning, but then there would be another cigarette to dull uneasy memories...She didn't think that it was a curious coincidence to find tragedy in a remote Highland inn; she was the kind of person people needed to talk to, and she knew only too well that horror was not a matter of place but of people.

Moffat is at her best with her descriptions of the solitary and atmospheric landscapes, as in this scene:

Westwards, she saw the bay that was called Calava demarcated by splendid headlands jutting into the pale and shining sea. The northern point was several hundred feet high, that to the south was dwarfed by another behind it which matched the neighbor across the bay. She stared in an enchantment that had nothing to do with climbing; she could admire a cliff for its lines unassociated with the quality of the rock. There were skerries and rocky islands, and in that brilliant but silent world the seascape had an air of unreality. It was like the coastline of Valhalla.

The author currently lives in the Lake District of the UK and doesn't write much these days. Her most recent novel was Gone Feral in 2007, although many others are out of print, including Miss Pink at the Edge of the World, last reprinted by the Black Dagger series in 1975.