Mystery Melange

British author Jeffrey Archer has passed away at the age of 86. His thrillers and sagas of the rich and powerful sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide, while his life was often as suspenseful as his books, including serving as a conservative member of Parliament and serving jail term for perjury and perverting the course of justice. As the New York Times obituary noted, "In a life of achievement and disgrace, ambition, self-promotion, misbehavior and scandal were themes that he knew intimately and that propelled his best-selling novels."


As part of the Kildare Readers Festival in Newbridge, Ireland, there will be a panel on "The Perfect Crime" this Saturday, October 10th. Fiona Sherlock will moderate the discussion featuring John Banville, creator of the bestselling Quirke novels; Patricia Gibney, author of the Detective Lottie Parker series; and Edel Coffey, author of psychological thrillers (Breaking Point; In Glass Houses), who come together for a lively discussion on murder, mystery, and the art of suspense. To register, follow this link.


Across the Pond on October 11th, the Orange County Public Library Foundation will host an afternoon of mystery, authors, great food, and community at The Plot Thickens: Mystery Author Panel & Luncheon in Orange, California. authors Amy Meyerson, Kaira Rouda, and Duane Swierczynski will spill the secrets behind their craft, their inspirations, and how they keep readers guessing until the last page. Moderated by acclaimed author Kemper Donovan. For more information and to purchase tickets, follow this link (proceeds help support the Orange Public Library and literacy programs in the community).


On October 15th Noir At The Bar Seattle returns at a new venue, Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub in Pike Place. Hosted by Scotti Andrews and sponsored by the Northwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, the event will feature authors KB Anderson, Gerald Elias, Bethany Maines, Randy Moon, Roz Ray, Russ Thayer, and Will Viharo.


On October 17, the Mystery Writers of America New York chapter will host a panel at the Parkway Central Library in Philadelphia, PA. The panelists include Ann Aptaker (Cantor Gold series); Mark McNease (Devil’s Wood); Rich Zahradnik (The Bone Records), with Moderator James McCrone (Bastard Verdict). The theme is "A ticking clock: how do mystery writers keep the pace moving to raise the stakes of the story and create suspense?" This event is free and open to the public.


Dawn Barclay recently won the 2026 Lowell Thomas Gold Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation for her guidebook, Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States (Level Best Books). This is Barclay's second win following her 2023 nod for Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible and the Neurodiverse (Rowman & Littlefield).


Mystery Readers Journal has a call for Author! Author! essays (500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the theme connection), as well as articles and reviews of mysteries set in India. The deadline for submissions is November 5, 2026.


The College English Association welcomes proposals for presentations on "Mystery, Suspense, and True Crime" for their 57th annual conference, to be held in St. Louis from April 1-3, 2027. In keeping with CEA 2027’s theme of “Gateways,” this special topics area welcomes papers examining mystery, suspense, and true crime across literature, film, television, podcasts, digital media, and the classroom. Topics might include detection and investigation; genre and adaptation; evidence and interpretation; ethics and representation; victim, perpetrator, investigator, and audience perspectives; forgotten or recovered cases and voices; and the changing boundaries between fact and narrative.


Dean Street Press will be releasing a brand-new batch of reissues on December 1, marking the third wave of their project to bring Sara Woods' (1916-1985) legendary legal thrillers back into print. The prolific Anglo-Canadian crime writer produced this specific quintet of mystery tales during the last three years of the decade of the 1960s. These five novels have been out of print for nearly forty years, and the returning titles include The Case Is Altered (1967), And Shame the Devil (1967), Knives Have Edges (1968), Past Praying For (1968), and Tarry and Be Hanged (1969). Her novels featured canny barrister Antony Maitland, a character inspired by her beloved older brother, Antony Woods Hutton, who was a promising young solicitor tragically killed in 1941 during WWII at the age of 33 when his plane was shot down.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" featured Scott Adlerberg with an essay on his story "The Case of the Singular Hands" from The Speculative Detective Agency anthology, edited by Matthew David Goodwin and Richie Narvaez.

Short Mystery Fiction Society president Joseph S. Walker posted the latest monthly update of short crime fiction news around and about, including  the release of The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2026; the publication of Crime Before Our Time: Crime Fiction and Mystery Inspired by History, edited by Peter W. J. Hayes and Deborah Well (Level Best Books); and more tidbits.


Kevin Tipple's weekly Thursday Treats column has news of Black Cat Weekly #266; the latest issue of Dark Yonder, a new anthology from Sisters in Crime Colorado Chapter, Colorado Mystery Merge: Crime Fiction Collection 2; and much more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Procrastination" by Craig Kirchner.


In the Q&A roundup, Humphrey Hawksley applied the Page 69 Test to his new Rake Ozenna thriller, Operation Icebreaker; John B. Valeri interviewed Hank Phillippi Ryan for CrimeReads about her new thriller, Mother Daughter Sister Stranger, as well as endings, generational scars, and secrets in mysteries; Deborah Kalb spoke with Jacqueline Corcoran aka Jacque Rosman about her Academic Mom Mysteries and also interviewed Katherine Reay about new novel cozy spy novel, The Undercover Bookshop; Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Bernadette Bernson about her new novel, The Whitby Protocol, featuring DC Martha Rowe; and the Maine Crime Writers welcomed Paul Doiron, author of the Mike Bowditch series, to discuss his writing and latest book, Storm Tide.