Mystery Melange

After a hiatus in 2025, the Crime Fiction Lover blog is once again sponsoring the Crime Fiction Lover Awards, its fifth installment celebrating the best in crime fiction from the previous year. The awards are nominated and judged readers, starting this week and running through November 4th across six categories. After November 4th, the shortlists will be posted online and readers will be able to vote for the top title in each category.


Ahead of the upcoming Bouchercon Conference in Calgary, there will be a Noir at the Bar at the Civic Tavern on October 22 beginning at 6:30pm. The event is hosted by Niall Howell and Randy Schroeder and features readings from Antholy Bidulka, Cobra Collins, Kris Demeanor, S.M. Freedman, Erin McDougall, Joel Nececky, J.T. Siemens, and Sam Wiebe.


On Saturday, October 24, Mystery Writers of America NorCal Chapter will host a Mystery Month Author Panel moderated by Scotty Cornfield in Santa Cruz, California, at the Capitola Branch of the Santa Cruz Public Library. The panelists include Cara Black (Aimée Leduc series); Michelle Chouinard (The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco series and the Detective Jo Fournier thriller series); Heather Haven (Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries); Kate Hopkins Joyce (Gibson Girl series); and Robin Somers (Wild Horses Mystery series).


The next MWA-U session from Mystery Writers of America is coming up Wednesday, October 28, 2026. This free online event is titled "Effective Social Media for Authors" and features publicist Magen Mintchev leading practical discussion about creating an effective social media presence without allowing it to consume your writing time. For more information and to register, follow this link.


Some sad news to relay: Mark Pryor passed away suddenly at the age of 59 this past week. Mark was born in England but later moved to the U.S. where he earned a law degree and served in the Travis County District Attorney's Office in Texas. He penned nine books in the Hugo Marston series and three in the Inspector Henri Lefort series. In his obituary, his family is asking in lieu of flowers that fans patronize their local bookstores.

 

We also lost author Kay Hooper, recently passed away at the age of 68. Her first book, entitled The Lady Thief, was published in 1981 and she went on to publish over seventy books. She made the New York Times Best Sellers List in 2000 with her book Stealing Shadows and was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Original P.I. Paperback for House of Cards, part of The Bishop Series, in 1992.


I'm not quite ready for the "Best Of 2026" lists just yet, but like it or not, they're already trickling in, beginning with Barnes and Noble's picks for "The Best Mystery & Thriller Books of 2026." You can check out the 32 books on their list here.


After the independent crime and noir press Down & Out Books shut down last year, it was announced that former Down & Out author Joe Ricker had acquired the press from Eric Campbell and would serve as its publisher. The publisher just announced their first releases, beginning with Manhattan Tension by Les Roberts, due out November 3, 2026. Other returning authors with scheduled releases are Chris Orlet with Sun Gone Down and Brandon Daily with Crop Burn Stories. The press has also added two new voices to its list: Mark Thomas with World in Fluxe and Scott Kauffman with Death Row Absolution. Dana King recently interviewed Ricker his plans for the 'zine.


Herb Lester Associates has released a new map-book guide, this one titled "Into the Fog: Sherlock Holmes' London." The fold-out guide, written by Ron Tiner (author of Investigating Sherlock Holmes) and illustrated by Steve Shanabruch, traces over forty real and fictional London of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, including where things actually were, what Doyle invented, and what you can still find today. As the publisher adds, "From Baker Street to Brixton, Pall Mall to Paddington: villains' lairs, scenes of crime, grand hotels, Turkish baths, demolished concert halls and the opium dens of the Thames waterfront...each entry places a story in its setting, exploring both the history and the imagination behind it." (HT to The Bunburyist)


Writing for Aspects of Crime, Roger Morris opined on "What Will the Crime Thriller Hero Look Like in Five Years’ Time?" He concludes that the genre’s future will be shaped by AI, declining trust in institutions, and a new crop of morally ambiguous, diverse and increasingly female protagonists who challenge conventional notions of justice and heroism.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats column has news of a new in-print edition of Prohibition Peepers: Private Eyes During the Noble Experiment; new issues of Yellow Mama, EQMM and AHMM; a new anthology from the Sisters in Crime Colorado Chapter, and much more.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" column featured an essay by by Lina Chern about her story “Our Own World” in the new anthology, Daydream Believer: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of The Monkees, edited by Lawrence Allan and Michelle Kubitz.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Some Easy Misdemeanor Ideas for the Criminally Challenged" by Tonia Kalouria.


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Tara Goedjen about her new gothic-tinged thriller, Please Enjoy Your Stay, in which a woman must confront her past at a glamorous European castle where she follows a trail of toxic family secrets and deadly lies; and J S Savage took the "Five Books interview" over at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel about his historical mystery series featuring Inspector Graves and another with amateur sleuth Penny Haylestone.