Mystery Melange

This weekend, from September 4-6, St. Hilda's Mystery & Crime Conference returns to Oxford, England. The 33rd Crime Fiction Weekend explores "Bad Apples," the dark core of these characters, and discusses why we love them – or love to hate them – so much. The Guest of Honor is Andrew Taylor, winner of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger (for lifelong excellence in the genre), whose works include The American Boy, the Roth Trilogy (filmed for TV as Fallen Angel), and the Lydmouth detective series set in the 1950s. Other speakers scheduled to appear include Jo Callaghan, Ajay Chowdhury, Abigail Dean, Vaseem Khan, Remi Kone, Simon Mason, Ayo Onatade, Hallie Rubenhold, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Sarah Vaughan, and Martyn Waites. The full program is available via this link.


On Thursday, September 10, the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco, California, is hosting a panel of historical fiction mystery authors featuring Cara Black (the Aimée Leduc series), Rob Osler (Harriet Morrow series), and Naomi Hiraha (Mas Arai mystery series), moderated by Gigi Pandian (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries). The event kicks off with a murder mystery themed cocktail hour at 5:30, followed by the panel at 6:30 pm. For registration, follow this link.


Murder & Mayhem is sponsoring a giveaway where three lucky winners will receive a set of all nine of Mick Herron’s novels in his Slough House Series, which inspired the Apple TV series Slow Horses. Enter with email address by September 7, 2026, at 11:59:59 pm ET. (The Sweepstakes is open to all legal residents of the 50 United States and Washington, DC, who are 18 years of age or older.)


When Dolly Parton passed away last week, her family asked for donations to Parton's Imagination Library rather than flowers in her memory. Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 to encourage a love for reading and learning among the children of Sevier County, Tennessee, where she was raised. But between its founding and her death, it grew into something much bigger, giving away over 330 million books through five different countries. The Dollywood Foundation said in a statement that her legacy will continue "when a child opens a book addressed especially to them; when a parent and child read a favorite story together; and when a young person begins to imagine a future bigger than the circumstances into which they were born." For more information and to donate, you can visit the official website.


Bookshop.org has officially surpassed $50 million in donations to independent bookstores. The site was founded in January 2020 with the goal of bolstering independent bookselling as many stores struggled to stay afloat, and when the pandemic hit two months later it became a lifeline, with 80 percent of its profit margin going to independent bookstores. “We’re so excited to announce that we’ve officially raised $50 million for independent bookstores, supporting their ability to thrive, grow, and keep their doors open for the communities that love them,” the site said in a statement. “We know that bookstores don’t just sell books: They take care of their neighbors, provide a safe space for anyone who needs it, and cultivate a sense of curiosity and a love of reading within their doors. We can’t thank you all enough for supporting bookstores over billionaires.”


This coming Monday is Labor Day in the U.S., and Janet Rudolph has a list of mysteries set on or around that holiday, as well as some crime fiction with a labor union theme.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured Pat Remick with an essay on her story, "Screaming Jenny," from the new anthology, Hooked on Urban Legends—And Murder!, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats blog has news of new short crime fiction via The Yard, Pistol Jim Press, the anthology, Mystery, Crime and Spring Break, and much more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "The People - The Unnamed Ex-Con" by J.H. Johns.


In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews welcomed Kate Westbury to talk about her new novel, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies; James R. Benn. author of the Billy Boyle World War II spy novels, applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Ninth Circle, the twenty-first installment of the Boyle series; ALLi's Howard Lovy spoke with David Barbur, a former law enforcement officer who now writes wilderness mysteries inspired by his interests in hiking, tracking, survival skills, and the natural world; and Deborah Kalb chatted with Hank Phillippi Ryan about her new psychological thriller, Mother Daughter Sister Stranger.

Mystery Melange

The winner and runner-up were announced for this year’s Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition, held in partnership with the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. Kathy Schilbach – also writing under the name Kate Finnemore – has been named the overall winner for her dark and disturbing story, "Making Friends." Ross Alexander was selected as runner-up for his compelling story, "Life Wasted." Kathy receives the £1,000 first prize and a guest appearance at the Bloody Scotland Festival in September. Ross receives £500, and both winning stories will be published on the Bloody Scotland and Glencairn Glass (whiskyglass.com) websites.


Art Taylor will lead Kaye George, John Betancourt, Leslie Budewitz, and Richie Narvaez in a short story panel, "Why Short Stories?" What is it about reading and writing short stories that appeals to mystery lovers? What makes a good short story? What are the key differences in structuring a short story and a novel? The panel will discuss these and other questions, offering advice for others who would like to try their hand at short story writing. The event s sponsored by the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. For more information and to register, follow this link.


On Wednesday, September 16th at 5:30 p.m., the Literary Guild of Orange County will present a Fall Literary Salon featuring Naomi Hirahara, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Mary St John Putnum at the Mission Viejo Country Club in Mission Viejo, CA. For registration and ticketing information, follow this link.


The organizers of the Malice Domestic conference, held annually in Bethesda, Maryland, announced a new virtual event, Malice with Friends, a unique virtual crime fiction experience. Four different online sessions will take place from September through February, with various levels of registration options, including "pay what you can." The schedule kicks off Sept. 20 at 3 p.m. ET with  Mindy Quigley in conversation with Kathleen Marple Kalb. Other authors taking part include Kelly Oliver, Alan Gordon/Allison Montclair, Adrian Andover, Catriona McPherson, Deborah Crombie, and Connie Berry.


Elzbieta Foeller-Pituch (Northwestern University) will be teaching the Newberry Library online course "The Golden Age of Mystery Fiction: Soft-Boiled and Hard-Boiled," which will run from Oct 14–Nov 11, 2026 and will "explore the role of popular culture in both exposing and containing societal anxieties and aspirations." Books expected to be covered are Vera Caspary's Laura; Agatha Christie's The Labors of Hercules and The 13 Problems; Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Boscombe Valley Mystery, "The Red Headed League," and "Silver Blaze"; and Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon. (HT to The Bunburyist)


The New York Times profiled the research of novelist Michael Connelly (of the Harry Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer series) into the Black Dahlia case and how he has come to believe the co-called Zodiac Killer was behind the infamous crime. Connelly knows he is putting his reputation on the line with his theories, as laid out in the podcast Killer in the Code, but despite some skepticism, he finds the evidence "completely convincing."


Editor George Easter announced that Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine will now be freely available without a subscription and that he'll be adding free copies of back issues shortly. Approximate dates of the publication are February 10, May 10, August 10, and November 10.  Deadly Pleasures also hands out the annual Barry Awards for the best crime fiction titles of the previous year, and this year's winners will be announced at the Opening Ceremonies of Bouchercon (Calgary, Canada) on October 22, 2026. 


Short crime fiction sometimes gets short shrift, so it's nice to see it getting some love thanks to Crime Reads, where Olivia Rutigliano compiled a list of "The Best Crimey Short Story Collections in Recent Years," and Gigi Pandian and Tom Mead wrote about "Murder in Miniature: The Very Best Short Mystery Fiction."


The New York Times penned an essay about Iceland, a Nordic nation with very few homicides, yet where crime fiction is its favorite literary genre. That means writers such as Ragnar Jónasson and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir face a challenge: making murder feel believable in the safest country in the world.


Here's a fun trend in South Korea that I'd be glad to see spread far and wide: book lovers recently flocked to buy cover art, collectibles, and even literary buns as part of  part of “Beyond the Sentence,” a temporary pop-up store by Minumsa, one of Korea’s best-known publishers,


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats blog has news of some of the latest short crime fiction publications include Literary Garage, WayWords, Legends: Monsters that Go Bump in the Night, Black Cat Weekly, Midnight Mousers: 12 Original Cat Tales, two new Canadian anthologies, and more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "A Matter of Privilege" by F.I. Goldhaber.


In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Jessica Housand about her debut novel, the "narco thriller," Blood Gilt;  CFL also chatted with James B Petrie, a licensed PI in Cary, North Carolina, who published his debut novel, Dig Deeper, featuring Joe MacGregor mystery, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer turned private eye; Writers Who Kill welcomed James M. Jackson to talk about his latest political thriller, Niki Unbound; the Maine Crime Writers spoke with Bruce Robert Coffin about his his latest book, Dark Harbor, featuring Detective Brock Justice and his rookie partner Detective Chloe Wright; Deborah Kalb interviewed Tess Gerritsen, author of the new novel The Shadow Friends, the third in her Martini Club series; and Debbie Burke spoke with Rick Bleiweiss about his upcoming novel, The Cupid Killer and Other Murderers, part of the Pignon Scorbion historical mystery series and the first novel published under Blackstone’s new imprint, WhoopInk, led by Whoopi Goldberg.

Mystery Melange

On September 12, Writers Online, Writing Magazine, and Alex Davis Events are teaming up for Make Crime Pay, a lively online (via Google Meet) one-day writing workshop for crime and thriller fiction. Panels and workshops will be led by Jane Bettany, Paul Finch, Louise Jensen, and there also be an interview with author Sarah Pinborough. For registration information, follow this link.


The Richmond Walking & Book Festival taking place in the UK on Friday, September 25 will include a Peter Robinson Memorial event at Richmond Town Hall in North Yorkshire. Crime writers Robert Rutherford, a founding member of the Northern Crime Syndicate Crime Writers group, Chris Speck, and Ben Kennedy will participate in a panel discussion beginning at 7:30. Peter Robinson (1950-2022), was a British-born Canadian crime writer who was best known for his crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Inspector Alan Banks, and was honored with the Grand Master Award from Crime Writers of Canada. (HT to Shotsmag Confidential.)


Westminster, Colorado will be the site for a two‑night celebration of mystery writing, featuring an Authors Panel on September 25, discussing emerging trends in contemporary mystery, from new subgenres to emerging female protagonists. Then on September 26h, there will be an after‑hours Whodunit Evening with author meet-and-greets, mysterious activities, themed prizes, and refreshments. To register, follow this link for the panel and this link for the Whodunnit Evening.


Noir at the Bar heads to the South Tyneside Libraries in the UK as part of the the Write Festival (at The Word) on Friday, September 25 from 6pm. The event, organized by Vic Watson-Logan, is free and open to the public. The slate of authors scheduled to appear will be announced later this month.


The Whitby Lit Fest unveiled its program with over 50 author events scheduled across four days from November 19–22. Crime fiction authors scheduled to take part include former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin (Isolation Island, Last Breath), Ann Cleeves (the Vera and Shetlands series), Diamond Dagger winner Mark Billingham, Elly Griffiths (The Case of the Christmas Card), and Jo Murray, Martin Edwards, and Sarah Hilary.


HarperCollins Publishers UK's One More Chapter has launched a new crime and thriller imprint, Cliffhanger, with Jennie Rothwell and Katie Sadler leading the imprint. The list will include existing OMC authors, including Michael Wood, Fiona Leitch, Jackie Kabler, and DB Stephens, plus new acquisitions. Rothwell said, “I could not be more excited to build a list that will keep readers up past their bedtimes and have them reaching for the next book before they have even finished the last.”


Following on the heels of the NYT list of "Best Thriller Books of the 21st Century," (chosen by 291 crime novelists, editors, booksellers, librarians and other book lovers) the editors also had readers pick their "100 Best Thrillers of the Century." The core of the list included nine novels by Tana French, and five novels each from John le Carré, Kate Atkinson, and Mick Herron.


Mystery Readers Journal editor Janet Rudolph has extended the deadline to August 30 for essay and article submissions for the upcoming themed issue on "cross-genre mysteries." Cross-genre mysteries retain a central investigation or puzzle at its heart, but layers in other distinct genre such as science fiction, fantasy, true crime, and Westerns. For more information follow this link.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" featured Josh Pachter discussing how he co-wrote a short story with William Bankier...twelve years after Bankler passed away.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats blog has news of short crime fiction in Yellow Mama, Black Cat Weekly, the upcoming Capital Crime Writers Presents: A Capital Mystery, and also new releases from James L'Etoile, D. V. Berkom, and Colin Conway.
 

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Murder One" by David Bond.


In the Q&A roundup, author and screenwriter Gloria Chao applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, The Mortal Enemy Murder Club; Jasper Fforde spoke with Publishers Weekly about his mind-bending Thursday Next series and Dark Reading Matter, the series’ eighth and final installment, which will be published in October; Carolyn Haines stopped by Kevin's Corner to discuss her novel, Joy to the Bones, and why she decided to stop writing this very successful thirty-odd book series; and Crime Fiction Lover interviewed debut author Neville Blackwood about Covert, a novel based on his experience of working as an undercover cop in 1990s London.

Mystery Melange

The National Bouchercon Board has selected author and Sisters in Crime Executive Director Julie Hennrikus as recipient of the 2026 David Thompson Special Service Award. Named after David Thompson, a beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010, the Special Service Award recognizes people and organizations who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field. In addition to being SinC Executive Director, Julie has several mysteries published under the names Julie Hennrikus, Julia Henry, and Julianne Holmes. The David Thompson Award will be presented at the Bouchercon opening ceremonies in Calgary on October 22.


The Bloody Scotland festival returns to Stirling in six weeks, from September 18-20, but if you can't make it to this year's event in person, the conference is making available a digital-only series. Highlights include Festival Chair Denise Mina in conversation with Lee Child about his career and bestselling Jack Reacher series; Mina will also be chatting with multiple-award-winning author SA Cosby (Razorblade Tears; Blacktop Wasteland); plus, Dept Q showrunner Scott Frank and stars Matthew Goode (DCI Carl Morck), Kate Dickie (Chief Superintendent Moira Jacobson), Alexej Manvelov (Akram Salim) and Leah Byrne (DC Rose Dickson) will discuss how the TV series has achieved cult status and reveal behind-the-scenes secrets; and much more. Tickets are available as one-price-gets-all or you can purchase individual event tickets. To view all of the digital events, visit the official website and search for the term "online" in the search box.


On September 5, Sisters in Crime South Australia will present "Authors of True Crime and Crime Fiction," a panel discussion on writing and self-publishing in the crime genre, in the town of Charles Sturt at the Ngutungka West Lakes Library. Authors taking part are Samantha Battams, Diane Hester, H R Kemp and Dorothy Shorne. This event is free to attend, but registration is required.


On September 12, the Halifax Public Libraries are presenting Crime Will Tell, a free celebration of crime writing of all kinds, from cozy mysteries, to true crime, to thrillers. Author Tom Ryan (The Treasure Hunters Club) will host a panel of crime-writers, including Jane Doucet (Blood Typed), Vicki Grant (Death by Whoopie Cushion), Malcolm Kempt (A Gift Before Dying), and Marci Lin Melvin (Wednesday Night Whites). The authors will discuss their work, their craft, and what makes crime so compelling for readers and writers alike. This event will also launch the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia’s crime fiction anthology, The Blue Lobster Detective Agency.


On October 3, the Chorleywood Library in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire in the UK will be the site for the first Global Noir crime writing festival in partnership with the Chorleywood Bookshop, and in support of the Wycombe Homeless Connection charity. The event will include a series of panels featuring Nordic Noir, whodunnits, psychological crime, cozy crime, and thrillers. Authors scheduled to take part include Vaseem Khan, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Tim Sullivan, Jón Atli Jónasson, Felix Francis, AA Chaudhuri, Erlender Arason, Paul Waters, and Quentin Bates. Plus, you can also book a one-to-one session with celebrated literary agent Nicky Lovick of WGM Atlantic and pitch your own book or idea. For ticket information, follow this link.


On October 10, Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, will present the panel, "From the Classics to the Contemporary: How Does Crime Fiction of the Past Influence the Present?"  at Avon Free Public Library, in Avon, CT. The panel will feature authors Chris Knopf and Steve Liskow with moderator Erica Obey.


On October 17, the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, will also present the free event,  "A ticking clock: how do mystery writers keep the pace moving to raise the stakes of the story and create suspense?" The panel by local mystery authors Ann Aptaker, James McCrone, Mark McNease, and Rich Zahradnik will reveal techniques for moving the story forward and keeping the tension high.  


The Mystery & Detective Fiction Area of the Popular Culture Association invites proposals for the annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts, March 24-27, 2027, to be held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. The deadline for submission is October 31, 2026. This year’s PCA conference theme is “Revolutions & Revisions in Popular Culture.” Presenters in Mystery & Detective Fiction are invited to consider how their work might engage with questions of transformation, reinterpretation, innovation, resistance, adaptation, or cultural change. You'll need to join the PCA in order to participate, but you can find more information about that via this link.


The Traveling Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy is currently on tour in the U.S. The 90-minute themed immersive pop-up experience allows guests to step into an intimate gothic setting where live performers bring four of Edgar Allan Poe’s works to life through dramatic storytelling, theatrical performances, and carefully timed cocktail pairings. It is scheduled for a limited number of performances in each venue before disappearing once again, capturing the fleeting "catch it while you can" speakeasy vibe. Guests are treated to four themed drinks throughout the evening, each crafted to complement a different tale and accompanied by its own dramatic introduction.


Writing for Forbes, David Lagercrantz compiled a "Scandi Noir Syllabus" starter list for readers to investigate Scandinavian crime fiction.


The Mercury News reported on "Crime writers’ new conundrum: How to get away with murder when cameras are everywhere," noting how cellphone data, license plate readers, and other digital trails are forcing authors to create smarter villains and faster-moving plots (or as many do, simply set their books in historical pre-tech eras).

Writing for Ellery Queen Mystery Magaznie's blog, Something is Gong to Happen, Josh Pachter explained how he happened to co-write a brand new short story in the magazine with William Bankier—who passed away in 2014.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats blog post has news of new short crime fiction in The Yard: Crime Blog; Starlight Pulp Review; Black Cat Weekly; AHMM; EQMM;, the new anthologies, Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Material World and Capital Crime Writers Presents: A Capital Mystery, and more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Cutting Room Floor" by Chad Parenteau.


In the Q&A roundup, E.J. Copperman (the nom de plume for Jeff Cohen, writer of humorous murder mysteries) applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Where There’s Smoke, the second in his Haunted Paint Store Mystery series; Deborah Kalb chatted with Jennifer Ashley, the author of the new novel, Murder in Blackfriars, the ninth in her Below Stairs mystery series; Garry Disher, "Australia’s King of Crime," spoke with Crime Fiction Lover about his latest Hirsh novel, Mischance Creek, and his first ever crime standalone, Under the Cold Bright Lights, featuring retired cop turned cold case detective Alan Auhl; and Deborah Kalb welcomed Judy Foreman to talk about her new novel, The Scallop Plot.

Mystery Melange

This Saturday, August 8, award-winning short crime fiction writers Barb Goffman, Josh Pachter, and Michael Bracken will lead the free online panel, “The Keys to Writing and Editing Outstanding Short Stories,” a discussion hosted as part of the Grand Canyon Writers Sisters in Crime chapter's monthly meeting. You can learn more and register via this link. Michael Bracken will also be teaching a class on how to write gripping short stories for publication via a zoom talk, "Writing for Anthologies: How to Slip Between the Covers," .August 18 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET. For more information that program and to register, follow this link.


Bantam Books has acquired two new thrillers by author Lee Child featuring Frances Neagley, the iconic former U.S. Army Master Sergeant, from the bestselling Jack Reacher novels. The first novel, Zero Margin, will be co-written with Yasmin Angoe and be published in March 2027. Yasmin Angoe is the author of the critically acclaimed international espionage thriller, Her Name Is Knight, the domestic psychological suspense novels, Not What She Seems and Behind These Four Walls, and the young adult fantasy horror novel, She Drinks the Light. The news follows on the heels of the new Neagley Amazon Prime Video television series, starring Maria Sten, which debuts in September on Amazon Prime.


News of a less-successful book deal broke this past week, in which a high-profile publishing deal (with substantial Hollywood interest) for a debut crime novel, Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body by Nigerian author Jerry Falade, was withdrawn from sale by its agent. This, despite reportedly receiving an offer for more than $2m from Minotaur as part of a 14-way auction, with a plan to publish it in 2028. The reason? The publishers could not 100% verify the work didn't use AI in its creation. Allegedly, halfway through the submissions process, an editor raised concerns that the book had signs of potential AI use, and after “aspects of [Falade’s] story changed.” the agency decided to cut ties, citing the “need to have total faith." Falade, who is Black, rejected claims he had used AI and said the response reflected racial bias in publishing. The agent and editor, however, are standing firmly behind their decision.


There is a new call for papers for a Clues: A Journal of Detection themed issue on the work of mid–twentieth-century American female crime writers. The guest editors are Erin A. Smith (University of Texas at Dallas) and Clare Rolens (Palomar College).  Proposals are due January 15, 2027, with full essays of 5,000 to 6,000 words due 1 August 2027. (HT to The Bunburyist)


Congrats to the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blog, which was named one of the Best Culinary Blogs to follow by the blog aggregator, FeedSpot. Blogs are curated and ranked "based on multiple factors, including content relevancy, subject expertise, posting frequency, and freshness of content."


Kevin Tipple's  Thursday Treats has news of the latest short crime fiction from Guilty Crime Story Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, a reissue of Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Material World, the upcoming SMFS Mystery Magazine (which I have referenced here before) and much more.


Speaking of short crime fiction, Joseph S. Walker, the current president of the Short Fiction Mystery Society, has posted all the latest news from various corners of the mystery story realm, as well as a couple of essays on related topics.


Some sad news this week:  author Sunny Frazier passed away following persistent health issues after a bout with Covid. Frazier trained as a journalist and wrote for a city newspaper, military, and law enforcement publications, and worked for 17 years with the Fresno Sheriff’s Department on an undercover narcotics team. After turning her hand to writing mysteries, she penned novels featuring Christy Bristol, astrologer and clerk in the San Joaquin Valley, California, Sheriff's Department, as well as various mystery short stories and also served as acquisitions editor for Oak Tree Press.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured an essay by Daniel Bartlett, discussing his short story, “A Complicated History,” first published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and later selected for one of EQMM‘s anthologies, Twisted Voices.


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


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with J.T. Ellison about her new thriller, You Know Why, a suspenseful domestic thriller about identity, revenge, and the dangerous secrets kept hidden from the ones we love most; Rachel Peterson applied the Page 69 Test to Killing Sadie, new new young adult thriller that unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep; Katie Tallo applied the Page 69 Test to Where Her Secrets Lie, moody thriller about a reclusive grandmother forced to confront her darkest fears to protect her family from a ruthless foe; and Hungarian author Daniel Laz chatted with Crime Fiction Lover about his latest mystery, VOSS: Scene Documentation: Saint Petersburg, and how he approaches things slightly differently in his series asking not "who did it?" but "what does the evidence actually tell us?" as his protagonist Frankie Voss, a forensic consult, determines whether events are supported by the evidence.

Mystery Melange

Japanese author Keigo Higashino, a prolific writer best known for his numerous hit mystery novels and lauded for his intricate plotting and creativity, has died at the age of 68 after a bout with cancer. Higashino penned 106 books in his lifetime and is best known in the English-speaking world for his novel, The Devotion of Suspect X, which follows a brilliant high school mathematics teacher who architects what he believes to be a perfect crime, only to be challenged by his equally brilliant physicist friend. He was awarded the prestigious Naoki Prize in 2006 for the title, along with the Honkaku Mystery Awards, among the large number of awards he received or was nominated for during his lifetime.


The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announced the winners for the 2026 Scribe Awards, which acknowledge and promote those working in this often overlooked and underrepresented area of publishing and the entertainment industry. In the Best Original Novel – General Fiction category, the top nod went to Ian Fleming’s Felix Leiter: The Hook and the Eye by Raymond Benson. Other crime fiction-related titles in that category included Return of the Maltese Falcon by Max Allan Collins and Murder, She Wrote: The Body in the Trees by Terrie Farley Moran. Barbara Early was also a finalist with Murder, She Wrote: Snowy With a Chance of Murder in the Best Graphic Novel category. The winners were unveiled at this month's San Diego ComicCon.


This Saturday, August 1, at 2pm CDT, Eleanor Taylor Bland (1944-2010) will be inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at the Woodson Regional Library. Bland was known for her sixteen police procedural novels featuring suburban detective Marti MacAlistor. The series began with 1992’s Dead Time and concluded with 2005’s A Dark and Deadly Deception. She also wrote short stories and edited Shades of Black, an anthology of crime and mystery stories written by Black authors, and served as president of Sisters in Crime. SinC has named its annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color in her honor.


The inaugural Annapolis Noir at the Bar heads to Forward Brewing, 418 Fourth Street, in Annapolis, Maryland, on August 5, starting at 7 pm. Forward will make drinks and snacks available for purchase, each author will do a short reading, and the Salty Girls Books mobile truck will be on head for book sales. Authors scheduled to participate include Jennifer van der Kleut, Lacey N. Dunham, Kathleen Barber, Minday Carlson, Nik Korpon, Vera Kurian, and E.A. Aymar.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats blog column (here and here) recently featured a look at new crime short stories including some via Black Cat Weekly and the new anthologies, What the World Needs Now: Mystery Stories Inspired by the Music of Burt Bacharach (Level Best), and Crime in the World: Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Puzzles (Crippen and Landru).


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured an essay by Victor De Anda, discussing his short story, “Bad Man Down,” which originally appeared at the blog The Yard in October 2024 and was included in The Best American Mystery & Suspense 2025.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Jack, the Hack Carjacker."


In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Nicole Lundrigan about her new psychological thriller, The Case Study; Deborah Kalb chatted with Mindy Carlson about her new mystery, Her Dying Day, inspired by the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie; Jon St. Denis (pseudonym for J. Sydney Jones) applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Killer Art, about a pair of newbie academics who find themselves reluctant sleuths and even more reluctant targets when a fellow professor turns up dead; and George Pelecanos was interviewed by Crime Fiction Lover about returning to his series with private eye Derek Strange after fourteen years away, in the new novel, The Blue Flame.

Mystery Melange

The winners of the Shirley Jackson Awards for outstanding literary achievement in psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic were announced last week. The top nod in the Best Novel category was Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng: A Horror Mystery of a Chinese American Crime Scene Cleaner, Serial Killers and Hungry Ghosts by Kylie Lee Baker. The supernatural crime novel was also listed as one of the New York Times' "100 Notable Books for 2025."


The deadline of July 31 is fast approaching to apply for the $2,000 Sisters in Crime Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers. Interested authors do not need to be a SinC member to apply, but applicants must not have published more than ten short pieces of fiction or two novels. Authors should submit a cover letter, biographical statement, and a short story of first chapter(s) of a manuscript-in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words and must not have not used generative AI to write, research, or brainstorm the work. For more information, follow this link.


July 31st is also the deadline to submit a short story for publication consideration in the latest anthology from the Malice Domestic conference. Stories should be in the traditional mystery vein, be no more than 5,000 words, and fit the theme of "Murder Most Musical." No generative AI should be used in the creation of the work. For more information, check out the official website.


One hundred years after the death of author Israel Zangwill (1864–1926), the Victorian Jewish Writers Project will be hosting an online symposium examining Zangwill’s writing, public career, and legacy on August 4th at noon (ET). Among Zangwill's works is the locked-room novel The Big Bow Mystery (1891), which served as the basis for three Hollywood film versions, and the short stories "Cheating the Gallows" (1893) and "The Memory Clearing House" (1892). He was sometimes called "the Dickens of the ghetto" for his stories of life in London's immigrant Jewish community. (HT to The Bunburyist)


Mystery Writers of America's SoCal chapter (in partnership with SoCal Sisters in Crime), is sponsoring a panel on Wednesday, September 9, at 7pm at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California. Titled "Inventing the Page," the event will feature Meg Gardiner (the Evan Delaney novels), Jordan Harper (TV screenwriter and author of She Rides Shotgun), and Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli & Isles) talking about their writing and how inspire newer authors with their insights. Follow this link for registration information.


Joseph S. Walker, President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, announced in the organization's newsgroup that Murderous Ink Press and editor John Connor will soon be launching SMFS Mystery Magazine. Current plans call for three issues a year, offering fiction, essays, interviews, and reviews highlighting the work of the organization's writers. The release of the first issue is scheduled for October, in time for the Calgary Bouchercon, and will include fiction from Ginny Swart, Eve Fisher, S. B. Watson, Vinnie Hansen, Jim Guigli, Kevin R. Tipple, Ed Teja, and Nikki Knight; interviews from Kevin Tipple and M. E. Proctor; an essay by N. M. Cedeno; and reviews by June Lorraine Roberts and Mat Coward.


Editor Janet Rudolph is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays for the next issue of Mystery Readers Journal. The theme is "cross-genre fiction," which blends the themes, tropes, and conventions of two or more distinct literary genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and Westerns that retain a central investigation or puzzle at its heart. However, she's not looking for historical mysteries, as there have been five historical mystery issues of the journal on that theme. The deadline for submissions is August 20, 2026. For more information, click on over here.


The editors of CrimeReads selected their list of fourteen of the best classic crime fiction reissues this summer. They range from Yukito Ayatsuji's The Clock House Murders, translated by Ho-Ling Wong (Pushkin Vertigo) to Georges Simenon's The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, translated by Siân Reynolds (Picador) to Three Crime Novels: Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, and The Bobby Gold Stories by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury).


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Forever Chemicals" by JK Miller.


In the Q&A roundup, Jackie McMahon applied the Page 69 Test to her novel, The Cloak and Dagger Club, the first in a new historical mystery series; ahead of his appearance at the upcoming St Hilda's conference, author Ajay Chowdhury (of the Detective Kamil Rahman series) spoke with Shotsmag Confidential about his writing and latest standalone thriller, Eden Falls; Allison Montclair, author of the Sparks and Bainbridge mysteries, also applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, Fire Must Burn; and Shotsmag Confidential chatted with Martin Edwards, former Chair of the Crime Writers Association and current President of the Detection Club as well as a bestselling author and editor, about editing Guilty Secrets, the latest Crime Writers Association anthology.

Mystery Melange

Noir at the Bar, the long-running live literary event that combines crime fiction, cocktails, and live performance, returns to the Yonder Bar in downtown Hillsborough, North Carolina, tonight, July 16 at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by longtime emcee Tracey Reynolds, the evening will feature live readings from an all-star lineup of acclaimed authors including Eryk Pruitt, S.A. Cosby, Linda Sands, Jen Conley, Russell Johnson, Morgan Sullivan, Nathan Kotecki, and Isaac Hughes Green. Part literary reading, part variety show, and part community gathering, Noir at the Bar gives each author eight minutes to entertain the audience with original fiction, stories, and excerpts. “This is our seventh year in business and Noir at the Bar is what makes it all worth it to me,” said Eryk Pruitt, co-owner of Yonder and author of five crime novels. “I’ve dedicated nearly my whole life to introducing readers and writers to each other and there is no greater privilege than to do it here.” Click here for more information.


The Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference returns to Corte Madera, CA, this weekend. Writers will host panels with tips on classes on setting, dialogue, and character development, while editors, agents, and publishers tell participants what they need to know to get published. Other panels feature detectives, forensic experts, prosecutors, defense lawyers and crime-fighting professionals sharing their expertise and helping writers bring realism to their work. Authors taking part include co-chairs Cara Black and Tim Maleeny, as well as Matt Coyle, Samantha Downing, Hallie Ephron, George Fong, Elizabeth George, Rachel Howzell Hall, Laurie R. King, James L'Etoile, Audrey Lee, Ritu Mukerji, Bill Petrocelli, Lisa Scottoline, Luisa Smith, and Kelli Stanley.


The Talking Volumes series, sponsored by the Minnesota Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio, announced their fall lineup which will take place at the new home of the O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University. Participants will include British mystery novelist Lucy Foley, who will talk about Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, in which she brings back Agatha Christie’s elderly sleuth Miss Marple (Foley was selected by Christie’s estate to create new books). Foley will be at the O’Shaughnessy at 7 p.m. Sept. 25. Emily St. John Mandel will appear on November 4th to talk about her near-future psychological thriller, Exit Party. And on November 11, Colson Whitehead will be the featured speaker, discussing Cool Machine, which concludes his “Harlem Trilogy” about the adventures of a conman who is trying to go straight.


Registration is now open for ShortCon 2027, which will return to Elaine's in Alexandria, Virginia, on Saturday, June 5, 2027. Presenters include Reed Farrel Coleman, Linda Landrigan, Libby Cudmore, and Tom Milani. Registration includes a day filled with useful information specifically for writers of short crime fiction as well as a full breakfast and lunch. Learn more and register via this link.

 
Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured an essay by Jessica Slee about her story, ”Woodpeckers,” from Shotgun Honey Presents: Thicker Than Water , edited by Ron Earl Phillips.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "A Man Dredged a River" by Kate Ladew.


In the Q&A roundup, Iceland-based author Erlendur Arason spoke with Crime Fiction Lover about his new thriller, Hotel Manager’s Guide to Murder; and Ryan Pote chatted with Deborah Kalb about his new thriller, The Ghost City, a sequel to his novel, Blood and Treasure, featuring professional treasure hunter and adventurer Ethan Cain.

Mystery Melange

I missed this bit of news earlier, but the shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize was announced. This year's finalists include: Frances Crawford, A Bad, Bad Place (Transworld); Linda Duncan McLaughlin, Original Sins (Into Books); Kirsty Lockwood, We Know What You Did (Orion); Zoë Rankin, The Vanishing Place (Viper); and May Rinaldi, Liar Thief (Black Spring).


The winner of the 2026 The Louie Award for fast fiction crime writing is Richard Morton for his story, "Low Tide." The Louie Award complements the Australian Crime Writers Association’s long standing and internationally recognized Ned Kelly Awards, Australia’s premier awards for crime writing and is sponsored by Dr. Antonio Di Dio in celebration of his late father Luigi. Submissions are limited to 500 words and must be centered around the theme of the year, which in 2026 was "bubble."


There will be a Noir at the Bar at the Kensington Club on Adams Avenue in San Diego, California, on July 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Mystery and thriller authors currently scheduled to read from their works include Marc Carlos, Jonathan Maberry, David Putnam, Caitlin Rother, Terry Shames, Michael A Stetz, and Jaime Parker Stickle.


There will also be a Noir at the Bar in association with the upcoming Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, UK, on Thursday, July 23, starting at 4pm. Authors taking part include D.V. Bishop, Elle Blair, Heather Fitt, Helen Jones, Theresa Loughrey, Shane McGinley, Cationa McPherson, T.H. Murdock, Nell Pattison, Kay Wilson, and Cat Yaffe.

A new interactive exhibit, Sherlock Holmes: The Exhibition, is currently on view in Prague at the Bílá Labuť Gallery in Florenc. Visitors can explore original manuscripts, historical documents and numerous exhibits, as well as try a range of interactive stations. Instead of a traditional exhibition guide, they receive a notebook full of clues and become investigators themselves. Among the highlights is a recreation of the legendary apartment of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson at 221B Baker Street in London. Other sections of the exhibition focus on the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the development of forensic science, and the historical background that inspired the author to create his world-famous stories. A dedicated area also explores Sherlock Holmes' influence on popular culture, with historic games, comics, magazines, radio scripts, and original film props and costumes from productions by Warner Bros. and the successful television series Sherlock (BBC) and Elementary (CBS). The exhibition continues until January 10, 2027


Level Best Books announced the formation of Level Best Books UK, a wholly owned subsidiary based in London to be led by Shawn Reilly Simmons, Publisher and CEO of Level Best Books, and internationally acclaimed mystery author Martin Edwards, who will serve together as Co-Directors. Edwards is author of twenty-five novels and numerous works of nonfiction and has received many of the mystery world's highest honors, including the Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association, as well as serving as President of the legendary Detection Club. As Co-Director, Edwards will help strengthen relationships with British authors, booksellers, reviewers, literary organizations, festivals, and readers while assisting in identifying opportunities to expand Level Best's presence throughout the UK mystery market.


The Maine Crime Writers blog celebrated a milestone this past week. Fifteen years ago, in July, 2011, a group crime fiction authors based in Maine banded together to talk about all things mystery. In commemoration of the anniversary, they posted a conversation held back in the beginning about crime writers and research with contributing authors that include: Kate Flora, Sarah Graves, Gerry Boyle, James Hayman , Barbara Ross, Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson, Vicki Doudera, and Paul Doiron.


Registration is open for the International Thriller Writers (ITW) 3th Annual Online Thriller School, September-October. The program includes sixteen sessions spread over eight weeks taught by bestselling authors and industry professionals who will give insights into setting, suspense, structure, editing, characters, point of view, voice, promo and publicity, and more. Participating authors include Oyinkan Braithwaite, Eli Cranor, Benjamin Dreyer, Robert Dugoni, Rob Hart, Gregg Hurwitz, Steven James, Donald Maass, John Marrs, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Orna Ross, John Russell, and Stacey Willingham.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Tax Exempt" by David Anson Lee.


In the Q&A roundup, author and journalist, Bryan Gruley, Edgar-nominated author of seven novels and one award-winning work of nonfiction, applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, River Deep, featuring Bitterfrost Detective Garth Klimmek; Gregg Hurwitz stopped by NPR to discuss his new thriller, The Delivery, about a family who gains a humanoid personal assistant who knows too much and not enough; James Ellroy chatted with The Radio Times about his latest novel, Red Sheet, somewhat tongue-in-cheek referring to himself as the "King of American crime fiction and the greatest American crime writer ever"; and Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus series) spoke with The Irish Examiner about aging, West Cork, Rory Gallagher, and his favorite books of all time.

Mystery Melange

I missed this bit of award news back in March, but at the annual Krimimessen (Crime Fair) in Denmark, four crime honors were revealed, including the Palle Rosenkrantz prize (best foreign crime/thriller novel), won by Carl-Johan Vallgren for Din tid kommer. Also announced were the Harald Mogensen award (best Danish crime/thriller novel), won by Dennis Nørmark for Harare; the Debut Prize, Kim Hundevadt for Porcus; the The Lasse Holm diploma (historical crime novel of the year), which went to Jacob Jonia for Troldmanden; and the Tage la Cour Diploma (best non-fiction book) was given to Ulrik Skotte for Paraplymordet. Hopefully, we'll see all of these works in English (and other) translations soon.


The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announced the finalists for the 2026 Scribe Awards, which acknowledge and promote those working in this often overlooked and underrepresented area of publishing and the entertainment industry. The crime fiction nominees in the Original Novel – General category include Murder, She Wrote: Snowy With a Chance of Murder by Barbara Early; Return of the Maltese Falcon by Max Allan Collins; The Hook and the Eye by Raymond Benson; and Murder, She Wrote: The Body in the Trees by Terrie Farley Moran. IAMTW President Jonathan Maberry will announce the winners at this month's San Diego ComicCon.


Joseph RG Demarco, a retired librarian, prolific novel and short story author, and editor or co-editor of Mysterical-E and two Sisters in Crime NY anthologies passed away recently at the age of 88. He was best known for his Marco Fontana, and Doyle and Kord detective mystery series, the Vampire Inquisitor books, and many stories, articles, essays, and columns about LGBTQ+ life in Philadelphia,


In more sad news, as reported by Mystery Fanfare, Gail Bowen, a Canadian crime writer, passed away this week at age 83 after a brief bout with cancer. Bowen, whose Joanne Kilbourn mystery series garnished multiple awards, also gave back to the literary communities, serving as writer-in-residence at the Toronto Reference Library, Calgary’s Memorial Park Library, and the Regina Public Library, and was a member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Apocalypse Now" by Jennifer Lagier.


In the Q&A roundup, former investigative reporter Caitlin Rother chatted with Deborah Kalb about her new novel, Staged, featuring Katrina Chopin and Ken Goode; Canadian Eva Gates, also known as Vicki Delany who writes four cozy mystery series, applied the Page 69 Test to Whose Body in the Library, the latest in her Lighthouse Library mystery series; Peter Colt, author of the Detective Tommy Kelly series and the Andy Roark Mysteries, also applied the Page 69 Test to his latest Kelly novel, novel, The Driftwood Bones; and Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman spoke with Deborah Kalb about their new novel The Kings of Vegas, where a prodigal daughter of a Las Vegas casino empire returns to take over her family business, only to discover she’s up against the Mob, the Feds, and her own brothers.

Mystery Melange

At the recent Literacy Partners Evening of Readings and Gala Dinner, crime fiction author Patricia Cornwell received the Lifetime Achievement Award "for her extraordinary career as an award-winning author most famous for her forensic thrillers." To date, over 120 million copies of her books have been sold in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries.


There will be a Noir at the Bar at the Kensington Club on Adams Avenue in San Diego on July 11, with seven featured authors reading from their latest books. Authors scheduled to appear include Marc Carlos, Jonathan Maberry, David Putnam, Caitlin Rother, Terry Shames, Michael Stetz, and Jamie Parker Stickle. The event is scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.


The new bookstore, Once Upon a Crime (not to be confused with the Minnesota store of the same name), opens June 27th in downtown Smithfield, North Carolina. The independent bookstore will specialize in thriller, suspense, mystery, and crime fiction while also offering titles across a variety of genres. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 25, ahead of the grand opening.


Residents of the UK can register to win £200 worth of crime books, choosing from bestselling authors including Lisa Jewell, Richard Osman, Lee Child, Claire Douglas, Tim Weaver, Shari Lapena, and many more. To enter, fill out the form on the following link by midnight Sunday, 19 July 2026.


Ian Rankin (of the Inspector Rebus novels) will be the featured guest at the Malta Book Festival from November 4-8, 2026. Attendance to the Festival and to all of its events is free of charge. Now in its 47th edition, last year's event drew 40,000 visitors to its workshops, author talks, family activities, and more.


An episode of the podcast Another Shirt Ruined (focusing on Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody Emerson series) featured Ava Dickerson, an archivist at IU Bloomington's Lilly Library, who catalogued the papers of Peters (aka Barbara Michaels and Barbara Mertz). She discussed aspects of the collection, some fans who wrote to Peters, challenges in cataloguing, and more. (HT to The Bunburyist)


Now that it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, apparently readers in Australia and New Zealand, readers are curling up with crime fiction, with Kobo reporting thriller reading surging nearly 1,500%. Psychological thrillers led the way, followed closely by mystery novels, police procedurals, and suspense novels.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured Debra H. Goldstein discussing her story “Musicians of Bremen" from the new anthology, Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson,


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Lunch" by F.I. Goldhaber.


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Stig Abell, author of the new novel, A Twist in the River, the latest in his Jake Jackson mystery series; Kalb also chatted with Lee Huber about her new novel, A Bitter Cut, the latest in her Lady Darby Mystery series; British crime author Saima Mir stopped by Crime Fiction Lover to discuss her trilogy featuring Jia Khan, an antihero noir with a Muslim woman leading a crime syndicate; and John Connolly was interviewed by The Gloss about his family and writing career.

Mystery Melange

Best-selling author Peter James has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in His Majesty The King’s 2026 Birthday Honours List, in recognition of his services to literature and to charity. Best known for his DSI Roy Grace series, now a hit ITV drama, Peter James is the author of over 40 novels, which have been translated into 38 languages. He is also a supporter of many of charities including the Sussex Police Charitable Trust, the RSPCA, the Samaritans, and as an ambassador for The Reading Agency and National Year of Reading 2026.


Lambda Literary revealed the winners of the 38th Annual Lambda "Lammy" Awards for excellence in LGBTQ+ books. The winner of the Best LGBTQ+ Mystery was A Queer Case by Robert Holtom (Titan Books). The other finalists include: 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).


The One More Page bookstore in Arlington, Virginia, is hosting a panel on "Queer Characters in Crime Fiction" on Thursday, July 9th at 7pm. Authors scheduled to take part include Aggie Blum Thompson (The Neighbors are Watching), John Copenhaver (Hall of Mirrors, Crime Ink), Diana DiGangi (Last Chance Chicago), and Stephen Spotswood (Dead in the Frame).


The Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) named Rosalie Spielman as the 2026 Writer of the Year. The award recognizes Rosalie's "outstanding body of work and her remarkable contributions to the military writing community through her acclaimed series of cozy murder mysteries, each of which has earned MWSA recognition." The Writer of the Year award is MWSA's highest honor, presented annually to an author whose work the organization says exemplifies the values of excellence, integrity, and service that define the military writing community. Rosalie writes the Hometown Mysteries series starring a US Army veteran who returns to her Idaho hometown. The award will be presented during MWSA's annual awards banquet in October.


The Agatha Christie estate publishing house, Agatha Christie Limited, has released a new Ultimate Mystery Edition of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. With the final solution sealed in an envelope at the back of the book, this edition of Agatha Christie's much-loved mystery arrives just in time for the 100 year anniversary of its publication. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was Agatha Christie’s first book to be published by William Collins in the spring of 1926. William Collins became part of HarperCollins and are still Christie’s publishers today. The story formed the basis of the earliest adaptation of Christie’s work Alibi (adapted by Michael Morton), which opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London in 1928 and successfully ran for 250 performances.


In February of 2027, Hard Case Crime and Titan Book will be re-releasing Cop Out, a novel by Ellery Queen (the pseudonym for Brooklyn cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B Lee). Originally published in 1969, the book hasn’t appeared in print in nearly 50 years. Cop Out is an anomaly in the Ellery Queen bibliography, being one of only two novels by Ellery Queen that don’t feature a detective named Ellery Queen. Included in this 272-page binding will be two bonus stories: "Child Missing!" and "The Case Against Carroll."


Writing for CrimeReads, Scott Adlerberg reconsidered Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance fifty years later (although it's more like 42, since the book was published in 1984). At the time, Mailer’s attempt at a hardboiled-style murder mystery elicited mixed reactions.


I missed this bit of news back in February, but it appears one literary mystery has been solved. Matthew Vaughn’s latest cinematic offering, Argylle, had obscured the source novel’s author, spending weeks teasing the real identity behind the pseudonym of "Elly Conway." Although many people speculated the real author was among the likes of Taylor Swift or J.K. Rowling, the co-authors have been revealed as Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Rudy Giuliani Mutters During His Last Rites" by Chad Parenteau.


In the Q&A roundup, author Hilary Davidson (author of the Lily Moore series and Shadows of New York series) applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Every Lie I Told; and Deborah Kalb spoke with Claudia Gray, author of the new novel, The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield, the latest in her Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney mystery series based on Jane Austen's classic novels.

Mystery Melange

Foreword Reviews announced the winners of its INDIES Book of the Year Awards, celebrating outstanding books published in 2025 by small, independent, and university presses, including mysteries and thrillers. The Gold Medal Winner in the Adult Mystery category was A Murder in Zion by Nicole Maggi (Oceanview Publishing). The other finalists include: Silver Medal to Garbage Town by Ravi Gupta (Greenleaf Book Group Press); Bronze Medal to Killer Tracks by Mary Keliikoa (Level Best Books); and Honorable Mention to Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane). The Gold Medal Winner in the Adult Thriller category was The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne (Creature Publishing); Silver Medal to The Art of Greed by Hans Peter Brunner (Greenleaf Book Group Press); Bronze to Novel Threat by Traci Hunter Abramson (Shadow Mountain Publishing); and Honorable Mention to The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor (Severn House).


Submissions for the 2026 PRIDE Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers are open from June 1 to July 31. Any crime writer can submit their work as long as you have not published more than ten short pieces of fiction OR two novels and you do not use generative AI to write, research, or brainstorm the work. Submissions should include an unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers from children’s chapter books through adults, which may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words. For more information, follow this link.


On their YouTube channel, Crime Fiction Lover recommended 10 cozy mystery series to read for people who love The Thursday Murder Club, and now they're offering a chance to win the first book from each of these series. The entry form is located here. You’ll need to subscribe to their weekly newsletter and answer a cryptic clue question. You can enter until midnight BST on June 30, 2026, with the drawing taking place on July 1.  


If you'll be in the area of Chapel Hill, North Carolina on July 10th, mark your calendar for Hillsborough, North Carolina’s Noir at the Bar, hosted by Tracey Reynolds. Yonder Bar will be the setting for raffles, drinks, and short readings from Eryk Pruitt and more.


Moonstone Press has reissued the books of UK author Dorothy Bowers, once donned the "Queen of the Detective Novel," who published five acclaimed novels before her untimely death from tuberculosis aged 46 in 1948. A Moonstone spokesperson said: “Despite being the only author inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1948, and seen by many contemporary critics as the logical successor to Dorothy L Sayers, Dorothy Bowers’ early death resulted in her books becoming out of print for decades. We are delighted to reissue them.” Writing in The Independent in its Forgotten Authors series, modern critic Christopher Fowler described her as "one of the most skillful wielders of the red herring."


Houstonia Magazine profiled the Houston, Texas independent bookstore, Murder by the Book, which has hosted some of the biggest names in crime fiction for more than forty years. Current owner McKenna Jordan says she never planned to buy a bookstore, but “Both my parents were Houston police officers, so crime was kind of all around” and reading was big in her family. Jordan purchased the store in 2009 and in the 17 years since, she and her team have weathered hurricanes, a pandemic, the rise and fall (and rise) of big-box bookstores like Barnes & Noble, the e-reader craze, and Amazon.


Speaking of "weathering," it's heartening to see the people of Ukraine rallying to go about their normal lives as best they can under the constant threat of air raids and bombs. As The Guardian reported, this includes Kyiv's recent literary festival. Visitors flocked to the Kyiv Book Arsenal, and "dressed in their considerable best, they clutched their bags of books bought directly from publishers’ stalls and stopped to hug their friends." Patrons were encouraged to donate books to soldiers, where a donation box had offerings including Ukrainian translations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, plus a volume by the contemporary poet Halyna Kruk and a recent work about life on the frontline, Please Don’t Be Afraid, by Pavlo “Pashtet” Belyanskiy.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured Tom Milani discussing “The Briar Patch,” from the new anthology Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Ice Solves the Line Delay Dilemma at Major Airports" by Robert Cooperman.


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb interviewed Danielle Postel-Vinay (who has written previous books under the name Danielle Trussoni, including The Puzzle Box) about her new novel Murder Most Delicious; Howard Lovy spoke with Michael Maloof about turning his global adventure and tech experience Into award-winning thrillers, including the  Kate Preacher series; Deborah Kalb chatted with Kate Khavari, author of the new novel A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery, the latest in her Saffron Everleigh mystery series; Writers Who Kill talked to  M. A. (Mary) Monnin, author of the Traveler Mystery series, with books set in Greece, Italy, Bermuda, and soon, Egypt; and Crime Fiction Lover interviewed Robbie Munroe about his series of legal thrillers featuring retired Scottish criminal defense lawyer, William McIntyre.

Mystery Melange

The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance announced the winners of the annual Maine Literary Awards last week. The 2026 top spot in the Crime Fiction category went to Sara Sligar for Vantage Point. The other finalists included Claire Ackroyd for Body in the Blueberry Barrens; Robert T. Kelley for Raven; and Kathryn Lasky for A Slant of Light.

Sisters in Crime announced that the winner of the 2026 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Writer of Color Award is Jackie Yap, from Gadigal Country (Sydney), Australia. Her winning submission, Isabelle Gomez is Innocent, She Swears!,  is a YA cozy murder mystery set in Manila. The story is part-murder mystery, part-fish-out-of-water, part coming-of-age—with universal themes of humor, heart, and belonging. The judges--Delia C. Pitts, Victor Manibo, and last year's ETB winner Tina Ehsanipour--said that their "panel reviewed an abundance of compelling crime fiction from emerging writers of diverse backgrounds, and Ms. Yap's novel excerpt is an excellent representation of the caliber of this year's entries. With a distinctly refreshing voice, Isabelle Gomez is Innocent, She Swears! stood out for its humor, heart, and assured writing. It also introduced us to characters and locales not often seen in crime writing, which made us even more excited for the future of this novel and of our field as a whole." Five runners-up were also chosen: Uju Asika of London, United Kingdom; Billie Hanson-Dupree of Oakland, CA; Nina Michiko Tam of Houston, Texas; D. S. Mori of Orange County, California; and DeAnna Yvette of Chicago, IL.


Speaking of Sisters in Crime, if you or a writing friend has been thinking about joining, now is a good time since membership dues for the rest of 2026 have been discounted 50% to $30. Membership grants you access to webinars and other online events including member online write-ins and discounts for crime fiction magazines and resources. Sisters in Crime emerged in the mid-1980s, with its primary goals to establish camaraderie and support and address imbalances in reviews while getting the organization going. From the beginning, membership was not restricted to published writers and has included unpublished authors as well as readers, librarians, booksellers, and women in publishing, who have all taken an active role in building the organization through the years. For more information about membership, follow this link.


There are a couple of great conferences coming up this week, including the MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival at Victoria University in the University of Toronto. The three-day event, from June 5-7, will feature more than 55 events, author talks, and immersive workshops. Special guests include Shari Lapena, Olivier Norek, Nicholas Shakespeare, and Clare Mackintosh. One-day and three-day passes are still available for the event. For more information, follow this link. Also this weekend, ShortCon is taking place in Alexandria, Virginia on Saturday. ShortCon is a one-day conference emphasizing crime fiction short stories—how to write them, how to get them published, and how to sustain a long-term career as a short-story writer.Although this event is currently sold out, you can add your name to the wait list or make plans to attend next year's conference.


Noir at the Bar: Dead of Summer heads to Glasgow, Scotland at Daydreams Bookshop in Milngavie on 10 June, hosted by authors Daniel Sellers and Emma Christie. There will be live readings, a Q&A and a book signing, with participating authors including Louise Welsh, Denise Mina, DV Bishop, RD McLean, Heather Critchlow, Douglas Skelton, Caro Ramsay, Andrew Raymond, and Eva Macrae/Lynne McEwan. For ticket information, follow this link.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured Andrew Welsh-Huggins to talk about his story, “Jack and the Beanstalk,” included in the the anthology Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson and published by Level Best Books.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Carny" by Peter M. Gordon.


In the Q&A roundup, Lizzie Sirett interviewed Hannah Dennison, author of the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries and the Vicky Hill Mysteries; and Deborah Kalb spoke with Lee Goldberg about his new novel Murder by Design, and also with Christine Carbo, author of the lacier Mystery Series, about her new thriller, The Confession Artist.                                           

Mystery Melange

The typewriter of celebrated murder mystery author Dame Agatha Christie will be featured in a new exhibition celebrating her life later this year at the British Library. Marking 50 years since her death, "Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery," will showcase personal items, many of which have never been publicly displayed. The exhibition aims to explore how the author’s life, travels, and interests inspired her work and the creation of iconic characters, including detective Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In addition to the typewriter, exhibits will include personal and professional correspondence with other writers, family photographs, and original notebooks and scripts for her novels. The London exhibition opens on October 30 and will run until June 20 next year.


The National Crime Reading Month annual campaign, taking place each June in the UK, will launch on May 30 at Criminally Good Books, an independent crime-only bookshop in York. Sponsored by the Crime Writers' Association, the event will include a Noir at the Bar and the announcement of the Margery Allingham Winner. There will also be a free virtual launch on June 7, with the theme of "Reading and Writing Crime in Difficult Times." Scottish thriller author, Emma Christie, will lead a conversation with fellow leading crime authors Victoria Dowd, Penny Batchelor, Heather Critchlow, and top forensic scientist Professor Jim Fraser about why people love to read crime in a dangerous world. You can learn more and check out all the other various events throughout the month via the official link.


CrimeReads profiled Elaine’s Restaurant and Literary Salon in Alexandria, Virginia, owned by Jeffrey James Higgins and his wife, Cynthia Higgins. The venue hosts book launches, author events, and signings, and conducts author interviews before a live audience for a future podcast. Several crime fiction authors have been hosted there, including Mark Greaney, Hank Philippi Ryan, John Gilstrap, S. A. Cosby, Tom Straw, and I.S. Berry. The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Mystery Writers of America has held numerous events at Elaine’s including an F. Scott Fitzgerald festival in 2025 on the 100th anniversary on the publication of The Great Gatsby. Coming up on June 5 there will be a Noir at the Bar the night before ShortCon. Authors scheduled to participate include Art Taylor, Chris Dreith, Debra H. Goldstein, Jeffrey James Higgins, Avram Lavinsky,  Liza Parfomak, Gary Phillips, Ed Ridgley, Brayden Whisler.



The 2026 Maine Crime Wave will happen on Saturday, May 30 at Mechanics’ Hall in Portland, and on Friday night beforehand, there will be a Noir at the Bar hosted by Matt Cost and Jule Selbo. The criminally phenomenal line up of writers will include Tess Gerritsen, Allison Keeton, Travis Kennedy, Robert Kelley, Joanna Schaffhausen, James Ziskin, Zakariah Johnson, Gabriela Stiteler, Mo Drammeh, and Rebecca Turkewitz.


Newcastle Noir International Crime Writing Festival, one of the North East UK’s longest-running crime fiction events, announced a "time out" for 2026, with a return planned for May 2027. Festival organizers noted this pause will "allow time to develop a renewed future vision, while maintaining the continued appeal of the festival." Established in 2014 by academic and crime fiction aficionado Dr Jacky Collins (aka Dr. Noir), Newcastle Noir has brought together writers, readers, publishers and volunteers for a vibrant program celebrating all things crime fiction. Authors who had agreed to appear at the 2026 event will be given first refusal for 2027.


Good Housekeeping magazine listed twenty-one cozy crime novels, or "heirs to Agatha Christie," a round-up of the best comforting mystery novels to read right now.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured Susan Alice Bickford discussing another of her stories from The Saturday Evening Post, entitled "Trust."


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Donald Trumpsky" by Charles Rammelkamp.


In the Q&A roundup, CrimeReads spoke with Howard A. Rodman about his historical adventure-thriller,  The Great Eastern, which pits Melville’s Captain Ahab and Verne’s Captain pitted together on a collision course across the Atlantic; Author Interviews chatted with K.M. Colley about hew debut mystery novel, The Roaring Ridleys, set in Jazz Age New York where a shocking murder shatters the privileged life of the city’s most elite family; Scottish crime fiction author Andrew Raymond spoke with Crime Fiction Lover about his new novel, The Long Isle; John Connolly was interviewed by John Parker for Shots Magazine about his writing and his latest novel, A River Red With Blood; Deborah Kalb spoke with Paul A. Barra, author of the new novel Quo Vadis, Deputy?; John Katzenbachm, reporter and author of such novels as the Edgar Award-nominated In the Heat of the Summer, adapted for the screen as The Mean Season, applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Architect; and E. B. Davis interviewed Krista Davis for Writers Who Kill, to talk about her Domestic Diva mystery series.

Mystery Melange

I'm a bit behind in noting this, but the finalists were announced for the Maine Book Award for Crime Fiction, including Claire Ackroyd, Body in the Blueberry Barrens; Robert T. Kelley, Raven; Kathryn Lasky, A Slant of Light; and Sara Sligar, Vantage Point. The winners will be revealed at the Maine Literary Awards in Gardiner or online on May 28.


The winners of the Minnesota Book Awards were also revealed, with The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens (Mulholland Books) winning in the Genre Fiction category. The other finalists included Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster); Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon (Soho Press/Penguin Random House); and The Codebreaker's Daughter by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group).

International Thriller Writers announced a new honor, the Trailblazer Award, given to members who, through extraordinary achievement, have changed the marketplace for writers. The inaugural winners include authors Andrea Bartz (We Were Never Here), Charles Graeber (The Good Nurse), and Kirk Wallace Johnson (The Feather Thief), "who took time, energy, and focus from their own creative work in order to represent every writer navigating this moment in their landmark lawsuit Bartz v. Anthropic."


The drop in reading skills of middle-schoolers is becoming an increasing concern, and author James Patterson has committed $10 million to create the Patterson Institute of Early Adolescent Literacy at Vanderbilt University. The institute, which will focus on improving literacy for students in grades four to eight, will fund academic research, provide tutoring to students, and offer professional development for teachers. Patterson previously funded an early childhood reading program at the University of Florida and wants wants to focus on letting children read more books that they like. “The objective is to get them reading and give them books to turn them on” to reading, he said.


There will be a Noir at the Bar on May 28 at Kells in Pike Place, Seattle, Washington, with Scott Andrews hosting. Authors schedule to appear and read from their work include G.G. Silverman, Jeff Ayers, Michael Fowles, Alice K. Boatwright, Robert J. Binney, J.L. Brown, and K.B. Jackson.


Another Noir at the Bar will be a pre-festival highlight before the upcoming Maine Crime Wave conference in Portland on Friday, May 29th. Hosted by Matt Cost and Jule Selbo, the night will feature a criminally phenomenal line up of writers including Tess Gerritsen, Allison Keeton, Travis Kennedy, Robert Kelley, Joanna Schaffhausen, James Ziskin, Zakariah Johnson, Gabriela Stiteler, Mo Drammeh, and Rebecca Turkewitz.


Mystery writers will take the stage at the Literary Branch panel on May 31 in the Ojai Art Center Gallery in Ojai, California, exploring the many forms of mystery and thriller fiction—from cozy to forensic to legal suspense. Featured speakers include Patricia Fry, author of the Klepto Cat and Calico Cat series; Sheila Lowe, whose real-world expertise informs her Claudia Rose mysteries; Judith Ayn, known for her legal action series; and Fiona Manning, creator of the Eleni Nina Santor series featuring a Greek-American U.S. Marshal. The panel will be followed by a reception and book signing.


Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph, has issued a final call for the upcoming issue themed around "Mysteries set in France." If you have a mystery that fits this theme, you can contribute an Author! Author! essay of 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the theme connection. The publication is also seeking reviews and articles. The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2026


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog featured DK Snyder to discuss "Home," her first story to appear in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Hegseth" by Tony Dawson.


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Kim Sherwood, author of the new novel, Hurricane Room, the third in her Double O trilogy, based on Ian Fleming's iconic James Bond character; and Author Interviews chatted with Carmela Dutra, a Bay Area–based author, about the second book in her Food Truck Mystery Series, Hot Wings and Homicide.