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.