Saturday, April 30, 2022

Cartoon of the Day: Cats

Happy Caturday!


 

ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE 2021 READERS AWARD WINNERS

Thanks to The Rap Sheet for the info on Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 2021 Readers Award winners. The awards go to works that were published in the magazine the previous year.

First-place went to Karen Harrington for “Boo Radley College Prep,” that appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of EQMM

Here are the other award recipients in order.

2. “Demon in the Depths,” by Bill McCormick (September/October)
3. Tie — “Bad Chemistry,” by John Wimer (July/August)
3. Tie — “Black Swallowtail,” by Hollis Seamon (March/April)
4. Tie — “Kiss of Life,” by Doug Allyn (May/June)
4. Tie — “A Season of Night,” by David Dean (May/June)
4. Tie — “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins,” by Dave Zeltserman (July/August)
5. “No Legacy So Rich,” by Anna Scotti (January/February)
6. Tie — “Leap of Faith,” by Marilyn Todd (May/June)
6. Tie — “The Last Man in Lafarge,” by Joseph Walker (July/August)
7. “The Fraud of Dionysus,” by Smita Harish Jain (July/August)
8. “The Lemonade Stand,” by Scott Loring Sanders (January/February)
9. “Curious Incidents,” by Steve Hockensmith (January/February)
10. “The White Star,” by G.M. Malliet (July/August)


Readers Award (aka Readers Choice Award) winner are chosen by the EQMM readership.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

2022 EDGAR AWARDS: Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America  -- 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

 

April 28, 2022, New York, NY - Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce the Winners for the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021 The Edgar® Awards were presented at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square and livestreamed on YouTube.

 

BEST NOVEL

Five Decembers by James Kestrel (Hard Case Crime)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
 
Deer Season by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
 
Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks (Europa Editions – World Noir)

BEST FACT CRIME


Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York

by Elon Green (Celadon Books)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense 

by Edward White (W.W. Norton & Company)
 

BEST SHORT STORY

“The Road to Hana,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by R.T. Lawton (Dell Magazines)

 

BEST JUVENILE

Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)


BEST YOUNG ADULT
 
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley 

(Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Henry Holt and Company BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Boots on the Ground” – Narcos: Mexico, Written by Iturri Sosa (Netflix)



Cartoon of the Day: The Line-Up


Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Kneed I Suffer or Laugh: Guest Post by Mike Befeler

MIKE BEFELER: Kneed I Suffer or Laugh

By way of background, I had my third surgery on my knee due to an infection. While in the hospital and first week at home, I was depressed about the whole situation since I needed to be on IV antibiotics and use a walker. Then I reread Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. I highly recommend this book. Frankl was in a concentration camp in Europe during WWII. He discovered that although the Nazi’s controlled his existence, when he ate, when he slept, whether he lived or died, the one thing they couldn’t control was his attitude. Even in that horrible situation Frankl learned that he was master of his own attitude.

This helps me to put my situation in perspective, and I realize gratitude for a family assisting me, good medical treatment. I can choose to suffer or laugh about the small absurdities of my life.

Here are some observations:

I drop things, and one night I dreamt that I was playing volleyball and went to hit the ball . . . and actually knocked things off my nightstand.

My memory also drops things from time to time. I was thinking of the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but couldn’t remember the name Joseph. In the middle of the night, I woke up with the name Joseph.

I continue to have my ups and down but have learned to pace myself by doing an activity, then rest, then another activity and another rest.

One thing that improves my attitude is talking to friends on the phone. This gives me an opportunity to think about someone else and experience a few laughs together. I also look forward to a weekly phone call with a good friend who understands human nature and is very wise.

Our six-year-old grandson comes to our house two to three times week after school. His smile and hugs give me joy. After having a snack and doing homework with my wife, my grandson and I play games (he loves Monopoly).

I take naps, some planned and some not. We get the Los Angeles Times as a newspaper, and I enjoy lying in bed and reading it. I did doze off one time half way through the comics.

In spite of all the problems, there are little gifts that appear. Our neighbor is a head nurse for the section of the hospital I was assigned to. I had a single room with a good view and excellent assistance from the nursing staff.

When I bend my knee, it squeaks like a door needing WD40.

As I have become more mobile, my wife and I have been going to the food store. Since I’m more interested in food now, this is an enjoyable experience as I pick out things to eat that I have been craving.

New forms of entertainment: I spend some time trying to find things. One recent example: I couldn’t find the eye drop bottle I keep on my nightstand. I figured I had knocked it off when waving my arm. I looked all around the nightstand, in the drawers, under the bed. Nope, it had vanished. A little later, I had a thought. I have a beach bag on the side of my walker to keep stuff in. I looked in the outer pocket. Nothing. Then I looked into the main part of the bag, and, lo and behold, there was the little bugger. Apparently, I did knock it off the nightstand and somehow it hit the small opening in the bag. My own March madness. I’ve seen my attitude shift when I forget something or drop something. I used to get mad because it took extra effort to correct. Now, I’m more accepting of these incidents. After one recent event, I chuckled and said to myself, “Here I go again.”

After returning home from the hospital, I would wake up and think, “Oh groan. Another day to deal with my stupid knee.” Lately, I’ve awakened and considered what I would be doing during the day and what I have to look forward to.

Rather than complaining about my limitations as I did earlier, I am more often now recognizing my limitations and accepting them.

Small Victories: I finally am able to go to sleep without taking my pain medication. I also have developed routines that keep me off my feet as much as possible so I don’t overdo. I now have more energy to do things such as fix dinner, which takes stress off my wife who suffers from arthritis. Given that my left knee is the bad one, I can now drive again.

The Bottom Line: I will have to go through a fourth surgery in July. Although this thought depresses me, I’m thankful that I’ve been able to control my attitude in a more positive way. I have a daily schedule that includes the early activity of breakfast, cleaning up, doing my physical therapy stretches, brushing my teeth, shaving, taking my IV medication and checking email. Then I rest and read. In the middle of the day, I eat lunch, clean up and take the IV medication. Then I rest, read and nap. At the end of the day, I fix and eat dinner, clean up and take my IV medication. Then I relax, sometimes watching TV before retiring for an early bedtime. My attitude is shifting from “oh, no, not another day with this stupid knee” to “what am I going to learn and achieve today?” I’ve always been an active person, but now realize I don’t have to be busy every moment. Now I’m more mellow, balancing the activity with rest. Finally, what has also helped me is writing about my situation, I keep a notebook with me and jot down observations during the day and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night.


 ***

Mike Befeler is author of 16 novels, a biography of a WWII veteran, and a novella about a young boy's life transforming experience at the beginning of the pandemic. Most of his novels feature older characters and are affectionately referred to as "Geezer-lit mysteries."
 www.mikebefeler.com

Monday, April 25, 2022

GARDENING MYSTERIES: Mystery Readers Journal

I spent the weekend going to two Garden Tours and working in my own garden planning new beds in a garden extension. It was a beautiful Spring weekend, so it was perfect. Both garden tours were inspiring. So many mysteries are set in gardens, particularly because there are so many ways to do one in what with poisonous plants, garden tools, easy burial plots and so much more!

If you're like-minded, not in the killing, but the reading of garden mysteries, I thought I'd remind you of  Mystery Readers Journal: Gardening Mysteries which is still available. Check out the Table of Contents and links below. Great articles and reviews by and about your favorite authors.

MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL: 
Gardening Mysteries (Volume 34:1)

Buy this back issue! Available in hardcopy or as a downloadable PDF.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Where the Wild Things Are by Meredith Phillips
  • Weeds in the Borders by Carol Harper
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
  • Painting the Garden by Kerry J. Charles
  • Gardening and Writing: A Natural Enterprise by Susan Wittig Albert
  • Fourth-Generation Gardener by Amanda Flower
  • Mischief and Mayhem in the Garden by Rosemary Harris
  • I Wouldn’t Leave My Little Wooden Hut by Ann Granger
  • Crisis and Opportunity by Julie Wray Herman
  • Words of Green Wisdom from Mas Arai by Naomi Hirahara
  • Signs of Spring by Hart Johnson
  • Collecting the Seeds of Stories by Gin Jones
  • Mysteries Inspired by Dirty Hands by Meera Lester
  • Two-Faced Plants: Gardening, Poisons & Medicines by Linda Lovely
  • It’s Not Always Sunny in Philadelphia… by Donna Huston Murray
  • The Exploding Compost Heap by Cynthia Riggs
  • Gardening and Me by Joyce Olcese
  • A Rose Is a Rose — Unless It’s a Poison Apple by Susan C. Shea
  • How Does Your Mystery Garden Grow? by Teresa Trent
  • The Wrong Thumbs (But At Least They Can Google) by Art Taylor
  • Ode to Her Garden by Wendy Tyson
  • Volunteers of America by Nathan Walpow
  • Trees, Flowers — Murder! by Marty Wingate
COLUMNS
  • Murder in Retrospect: Reviews by L. J. Roberts and Dru Ann Love
  • The Children’s Hour: Garden Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
  • In Short: Does Your Garden Grow Mysteries? by Marvin Lachman
  • Crime Seen: In the Garden Plot by Kate Derie
  • Real Gardening Crimes by Cathy Pickens
  • From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Cartoon of the Day: Dogs

REIGN!!!

 

Agatha Awards: Malice Domestic 2022

Agatha Awards: Malice Domestic 2022
Congratulations to all!

Best Contemporary Novel

Cajun Kiss of Death by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)

Best Historical Novel
Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins)

Best First Novel
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)

Best Short Story
"Bay of Reckoning" by Shawn Reilly Simmons in Murder on the Beach (Destination Murders)

Best Non-Fiction
How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America by MWA with editors Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster)

 

Best Children's/YA Mystery
I Play One on TV by Alan Orloff (Down & Out Books)



 

Saturday, April 23, 2022

CWA DAGGERS LONGLISTS 2022

Crime Writer's Association (UK) announced the  Longlists for the 2022 Daggers!

 

The Dagger in the Library

Ben Aaronovitch

Lin Anderson

Mark Billingham

Susan Hill

Edward Marston

Kate Rhodes

Cath Staincliffe

Rebecca Tope

Sara Sheridan

 
The Dagger for the Best Crime & Mystery Publisher 

Faber & Faber 

Harper Fiction 

Mantle 

Michael Joseph 

Point Blank 

Pushkin Vertigo 

Quercus 

Raven Books 

Thomas & Mercer 

Titan Books 

Viper

The CWA Short Story Dagger

The Clifton Vampire by T E Kinsey

With the Others by T M Logan 

When I Grow Up by Robert Scragg

New Tricks by Matt Wesolowski

All from ‘Afraid of the Shadows’ 

London by Jo Nesbø 

From ‘The Jealousy Man and Other Stories

The Way Of All Flesh by Raven Dane

Blindsided by Caroline England

The Victim by Awais Khan 

Flesh of a Fancy Woman by Paul Magrs 

Changeling by Bryony Pearce

All from ‘Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time

 

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (trans Victoria Cribb)

Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz (trans Rachel Ward) 

Riccardino by Andrea Camilleri, (trans Stephen Sartarelli) 

Seat 7a by Sebastian Fitzek (trans Steve Anderson)

Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka (trans Sam Malissa): 

Heatwave by Victor Jestin (trans Sam Taylor) 

Oxygen by Sacha Naspini (trans Clarissa Botsford)

People Like Them by Samira Sedira (trans Lara Vergnaud) 

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen, (trans David Hackston) 

The Scorpion's Head by Hilde Vandermeeren (trans Laura Watkinson)

 

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

The Devil You Know by Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne:

The Jigsaw Murders by Jeremy Craddock

What Lies Buried by Kerry Daynes

The Good Girls by Sonia Faleiro

We Are Bellingcat by Eliot Higgins

The Irish Assassins by Julie Kavanagh

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey by Julia Laite

The Unusual Suspect by Ben Machell

The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris

The Seven Ages of Death by Richard Shepherd

 

The CWA Historical Dagger

April in Spain by John Banville

City of Vengeance by DV Bishop

Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin

Crow Court by Andy Charman

Not One Of Us by Alis Hawkins

The Drowned City by KJ Maitland

Where God Does Not Walk by Luke McCallin

Edge of the Grave by Robbie Morrison

A Corruption of Blood by Ambrose Parry

Blackout by Simon Scarrow

The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor

The Cannonball Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

Welcome to Cooper by Tariq Ashkanani

Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan

Repentance by Eloísa Díaz

Hunted by Antony Dunford

The Mash House by Alan Gillespie

Raft of Stars by Andrew J Graff

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

Falling by TJ Newman

Where Ravens Roost by Karin Nordin

The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou

How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina

The Death of Kirti Kadakia by Meeti Shroff-Shah

The Source by Sarah Sultoon

Waking the Tiger by Mark Wightman

 

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

Find You First by Linwood Barclay 

Exit by Belinda Bauer

The Pact by Sharon Bolton

The Devil’s Advocate by Steve Cavanagh 

Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin

Razorblade Tears by S A Cosby

Dead Ground by M W Craven

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

Rizzio by Denise Mina 

The Lonely Ones by Håkan Nesser


The CWA Gold Dagger

Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham: 

City of Vengeance by DV Bishop: 

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz

Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin: Sunset Swing 

Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean 

The House Uptown by Melissa Ginsburg

The Unwilling by John Hart

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmood:

The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee

The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt 

The Stoning by Peter Papathanasiou: 

The Trawlerman by William Shaw

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson: 

A Beginner's Guide to Murder by Rosalind Stopps

Brazilian Psycho by Joe Thomas 

HT: Shots: Crime & Thriller Ezine



LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE MYSTERY/THRILLER CATEGORY

The winner of the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced last night at the kick-off to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

The winner in the Mystery/Thriller Category

Megan Abbott: The Turnout

Nominees:

The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

The Collective, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)

Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)

Cartoon of the Day: When Cats Graduate


Friday, April 22, 2022

EARTH DAY: Environmental/Ecological Mysteries 2022

Earth Day: Environmental/Ecological Mysteries & Reservoir Noir

Earth Day: Climate change, environmental issues, and how we can save our planet. A few years ago I started posting a list of environmental/ecological mysteries. The list has grown. Crime fiction is an excellent way to make readers aware of issues.

Mystery Readers Journal (Volume 36:1) focuses on Environmental Mysteries. This issue is available as a PDF download and hardcopy. Take a look at the Table of Contents and order here. 

For Earth Day 2022, I updated my Earth Day/Environmental Mysteries list. There are many more authors, and certainly more books by many of the authors on the list. As always, I welcome additions of your favorites. I took a few liberties on the list, too, but I think they all fall under the umbrella of environmental mysteries. Scroll down for a second list that deals exclusively with Drowned Towns aka Reservoir Noir.

Be kind to the Earth. It's the only one we have!

ENVIRONMENTAL/ECOLOGICAL MYSTERIES

Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang' Hayduke Lives!
P.D. Abbey's H2Glo
Liz Adair's Snakewater Affair
Glyyn Marsh Alam's Cold Water Corpse; Bilge Water Bones
Grace Alexander's Hegemon 
Lou Allin's Northern Winters Are Murder; Blackflies Are Murder: Memories Are Murder

Christine Andreae's A Small Target
Suzanne Arruda's Stalking Ivory
Sarah Andrews' Em Hansen Mystery series
Lindsay Arthur's The Litigators
Anna Ashwood-Collins' Deadly Resolution; Red Roses for a Dead Trucker
Sandi Ault's Wild Inferno; Wild Indigo; Wild Penance; Wild Sorrow
Shannon Baker's Tainted Mountain; Broken Trust; Tattered Legacy; Skies of Fire
J. G. Ballard's Rushing to Paradise
Michael Barbour's The Kenai Catastrophe; Blue Water, Blue Island
Nevada Barr's Track of the Cat; Ill Wind; Borderline; and others
Lee Barwood's A Dream of Drowned Hollow?
Pamela Beason's Sam Westin wildlife biologist series
Robert P. Bennett's Blind Traveler's Blues

William Bernhardt's Silent Justice
David Riley Bertsch's Death Canyon
Donald J Bingle's GreensWord
Michael Black's A Killing Frost 
Jennifer Blake's Shameless
Claire Booth's Another Man's Ground
C J Box's Winterkill; Open Season; Below Zero; Savage Run; Out of Range; Trophy Hunt; Free Fire; In Plain Sight; Dark Sky
Lisa Brackmann's Hour of the Rat
Alex Brett's Dead Water Creek
Tobias S. Buckell's Artic Rising
Joe Burcat's Drink to Every Beast
James Lee Burke's Creole Belle
Rex Burns' Endangered Species
Burrows, Steve's A Siege of Bitterns
David Butler Full Curl; No Place for Wolverines; In Rhino We Trust
Chester Campbell's The Surest Poison
Christine Carbo The Wild Inside, Mortal Fall, The Weight of Night, A Sharp Solitude
Ann Cleeves' Another Man's Poison; Wild Fire; Blue Lightning; The Crow Trap
Eileen Charbonneau's Waltzing in Ragtime

Rajat Chaudhuri: The Butterfly Effect
Margaret Coel's The Dream Stalker
Anna Ashwood Collins's Metamorphis for Murder; Deadly Resolutions
Kathleen Concannon's A Deadly Bluff
Robin Cook's Fever
Dawn Corrigan's Mitigating Circumstances
Peter Corris's Deep Water
Donna Cousin's Landscape
Michael Crichton's State of Fear
James Crumley's Dancing Bear
Rich Curtin's Final Arrangements; Deadly Games
Christine D'Avanzo Cold Blood, Hot Sea; Devil Sea; Secrets Haunt the Lobsters' Sea; Glass Eels, Shattered Sea
Cecil Dawkins' Rare Earth
Janet Dawson's Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean

Mark de Castrique's Fatal Scores
Barbara Delinsky's Looking for Peyton Place
Lionel Derrick's Death Ray Terror
William Deverell's April Fool
Karen Dionne's Boiling Point; Freezing Point; The Marsh King's Daughter, The Wicked Sister
Paul Doiron's The Poacher's Son; Trespasser; Bad Little Falls; The Bone Orchard; One Last Lie, Almost Midnight, Dead by Dawn, and others
David Michael Donovan's Evil Down in the Alley
Mark Douglas-Home's The Sea Detective
Rubin Douglas' The Wise Pelican: From the Cradle to the Grave
Jack Du Brul's Vulcan's Forge; River of Ruin; and others
Robert Dugoni & Joseph Hilldorfer's Cyanide Canary
Toni Dwiggins' Badwater; Quicksilver
Kerstin Ekman's Blackwater
Aaron J Elkins' The Dark Place; Unnatural Selection
Howard Engel's Dead and Buried
Kathleen Ernst's High Stakes in a Great Lake
Eric C. Evans' Endangered

Nicholas Evans' The Divide
Nancy Fairbanks's Acid Bath; Hunting Game; and others
Kate Fellowes' Thunder in the Night
Cher Fischer's Falling into Green
Bill Fitzhugh's Pest Control; The Exterminators

Michael J. Fitzgerald's The Fracking War
Mary Flodin's The Death of the Gecko
G M Ford's Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?
Clare Francis's The Killing Winds (Requiem)
Jamie Freveletti's Dead Asleep 
Sara Hoskinson Frommer's Death Climbs a Tree

Abby Geni's The Lightkeepers
Jean Craighead George's The Missing 'Gator of Gumbo Limbo; Who Really Killed Cock Robin?; The Case of the Missing Cutthroats (young readers)
Matthew Glass's Ultimatum
Kenneth Goddard's Double Blind; Prey; Wildfire
Chris Goff's A Rant of Ravens; Death of a Songbird; A Nest in the Ashes
Jean Craighead George's The Case of the Missing Cutthroats

Steven Gould and Laura J. Mixon's Greenwar
Alexander M. Grace's Hegemon
Scott Graham's Mountain Rampage, Yellowstone Standoff; Mesa Verde Victim
Robert O. Greer's The Devil's Hatband
John Grisham's The Pelican Brief; The Appeal; The Litigators; Gray Mountain
Beth Groundwater's Deadly Currents; Wicked Eddies
Elizabeth Gunn's Eleven Little Piggies
Jean Hager's Ravenmocker
William Hagard's The Vendettists
James W. Hall's Bones of Coral
Patricia Hall's The Poison Pool
Joseph Hall's Nightwork
Karen Hall's Unreasonable Risk, Through Dark Spaces

A.M. Halvorssen's The Dirty Network
Matt Hammond's Milkshake
Vinnie Hansen's Fruit of the Devil 
Jane Harper's The Dry; The Lost Man
Alice Henderson's A Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears, and more.

Sue Henry's Termination Dust
Robert Herring's McCampbell's War
Joseph Heywood's Blue Wolf in Green Fire, Ice Hunter, Chasing a Blond Moon; Buckular Dystrophy; Bad Optics
Carl Hiaasen's Skinny Dip; Stormy Weather; Sick Puppy; Strip Tease; Scat; Star Island

Anne Hillerman's Song of the Lion
Tony Hillerman's The Blessing Way
Tami Hoag's Lucky's Lady
John Hockenberry's A River out of Eden
Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow
John Holt's Hunted
Dave Hugelschaffer's Day into Night, One Careless Moment
Judy Hughes' The Snowmobile Kidnapping
Mary Ellen Hughes' A Taste of Death
Dana Andrew Jennings' Lonesome Standard Time
Craig Johnson's Hell is Empty; Dry Bones
Sylvia Kelso's The Solitaire Ghost; The Time Seam
Emily Kimelman's Unleashed
M.T. Kingsley's With Malicious Intent

Henry Kisor's Hang Fire
Linda Kistler's Cause for Concern
Lisa Kleinholz's Dancing with Mr. D. 
Bill Knox's The Scavengers, Devilweed, and others in the Webb Carrick series
Dean Koontz's Icebound
William Kent Krueger's "Cork O'Connor" series, including Manitou Canyon, Sulfur Springs
Janice Law's Infected Be the Air

P.J. Lazos' Oil and Water
Leena Lehtolainen's Fatat Headwind
Stephen Legault's The Cardinal Divide, The Glacier Gallows, The Vanishing Track, The Darkening Archipelago
Donna Leon's Death in a Strange Country; About Face; Earthly Remains; Acqua Alta
David Liss' The Ethical Assassin
Sam Llewellyn's Deadeye
Charles & Lidia LoPinto's Countdown in Alaska; Nukes
Robert Lopresti's Greenfellas
Jim Lynch's The Highest Tide
John D MacDonald's Barrier Island (and other titles)
Ross Macdonald's Sleeping Beauty
Jassy Mackenzie's The Fallen
Larry Maness' A Once a Perfect Place
Elizabeth Manz's Wasted Space
John Marsden's A Killing Frost
Margaret Maron's High Country Fall, Shooting at Loons, Up Jumps the Devil, Hard Row
John Martel's Partners
Steve Martini's Critical Mass

Jean Matthews' Bet Your Bones
Keith McCafferty's The Royal Wulff Murders, Dead Man's Fance; A Death in Eden; The Bangtail Ghost; Buffalo Jump Blues
M.J. McGrath's The Boy in the Snow
John McGoran's Drift, Deadout, Dust Up
Karin McQuillan's Deadly Safari, Cheetah Chase, Elephant's Graveyard
Mindy Meija's Leave No Trace
Anne Metikosh's Undercurrent 
Deon Meyer's Blood Safari, Thirteen Hours; Fever
Shannon Michaud's Still Water
Penny Mickelbury's What Could Be More Than Dead? 
Susan Cummins Miller's Chasm
Kirk Mitchell's High Desert Malice, Deep Valley Malice
Laura J. Mixon & Steven Gould's Greenwar

Margaret Mizushima's Killing Trail; Stalking Ground
Skye Kathleen Moody's Blue Poppy, and other Venus Diamond mysteries
C. George Muller's Echoes in the Blue
Marcia Muller's Cape Perdido
Judith Newton's Oink
Michael Norman's Skeleton Picnic; On Deadly Ground
Dan O'Brien's Brendan Prairie
Michael Palmer's Fatal
Sara Paretsky's Blood Shot
Brad Parks' The Player
T. Jefferson's Parker's Pacific Beat

Ridley Pearson's Killer View
Louise Penny's A Better Man

Cathy Pickens' Southern Fried
Carl Posey's Bushmaster Fall
David Poyer's As the Wolf Loves Winter, Winter in the Heart
Katherine Prairie's Thirst
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Reliquary
Kwei Quartey's Murder at Cape Three Points; Gold of our Fathers
Peter Ralph's Dirty Fracking Business

Ben Rehder's Bum Steer; Holy Moly; Hog Heaven; Fat Crazy, and more
Bob Reiss's Purgatory Road
Ruth Rendell's Road Rage 
Geoffrey Robert's The Alo Release
Carolyn Rose's An Uncertain Refuge
Leonard Rosen's The Tenth Witness
Rebecca Rothenberg's The Shy Tulip Murders; The Bulrush Murder
Patricia Rushford's Red Sky in the Mourning
Alan Russell's The Forest Prime Evil 
Kirk Russell's Shell Games
Nick Russell's Big Lake Blizzard

Louis Sachar's Fuzzy Mud
Brenda Seabrook's The Dragon That Slurped the Green Slime Swamp (Children's)
Frank Schätzing's The Swarm
L.J. Seller's Crimes of Memory

Paige Shelton's Cold Wind
Patricia Skalka's Death Stalks Door County

Barry Siegel's Actual Innocence
Sheila Simonson's An Old Chaos 
Jessica Speart's Bird Brained, Blue Twilight, Gator Aide, Tortoise Soup
Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day for Murder, A Deeper Sleep, A Fine and Bitter Snow, Midnight Come Again, A Taint in the Blood, and many others
John Stanley's The Woman Who Married a Bear, The Curious Eat Themselves, 
Neal Stephenson's Zodiac
Mark Stevens' Buried by the Roan; Antler Dust; Lake of Fire 
David Sundstrand's Shadow of the Raven
William Tapply's Cutter's Run
Peter Temple's The Broken Shore

Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Petals of Blood
Craig Thomas's A Wild Justice
Antti Tuomainen's The Healer
Judith Van Gleson's "Neil Hamel" series, including The Wolf Path & Parrot Blues
David Rains Wallace's The Turquoise Dragon
Lee Wallingford's Clear-Cut Murder; Cold Tracks
Joseph Wambaugh's Finnegan's Week
Sterling Watson's Deadly Sweet
Betty Webb's Desert Wind; The Anteater of Death 
Randy Wayne White's White Captiva
Robert Wilson's Blood is Dirt
K.J.A. Wishnia's The Glass Factory; 23 Shades of Black; Red House Soft Money
John Yunker's The Tourist Trail; Where Oceans Hide Their Dead
Greg Zeigler's Rare as Earth; Some Say Fire; The Straw That Broke

Reservoir Noir

Crime Fiction that deals with intentional flooding of towns and villages because of building dams and reservoirs for water supply, irrigation, power and other reasons--a sad addition to the environmental crime fiction list.


Scott Carson's The Chill
Alan Dipper's Drowning Day
Eileen Dunlop's Valley of the Deer (YA)

Lee Harris's Christening Day Murder
Reginald Hill's On Beulah Height
Donald James' Walking the Shadows
James D. Landis' The Talking (Artist of the Beautiful)
Jane Langton's Emily Dickenson is Dead

Julia Wallis Martin's A Likeness in Stone
Sharyn McCrumb's Zombies of the Gene Pool
Michael Miano's The Dead of Summer
Ron Rash's One Foot in Eden
Rick Riordan's The Devil Went Down to Austin
Peter Robinson's In a Dry Season
Lisa See's Dragon Bones
Paul Somers' Broken Jigsaw
Julia Spencer-Fleming's Out of the Deep I Cry
John Milliken Thompson's The Reservoir Reservoir 13
Donald Westlake's Drowned Hopes
John Morgan Wilson's Rhapsody in Blood
Robert Wilson's Blood is Dirt
Stuart Woods's Under the Lake

Let me know any other titles that should be included. Make a comment below.


Thursday, April 21, 2022

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA 2022 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE SHORTLISTS

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Shortlists for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Started in 1984, the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, then known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.

Winners will be announced Thursday 26 May 2022.

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, 
with a $1000 prize

Linwood Barclay, Find You First, William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 
Daniel Kalla, Lost Immunity, Simon & Schuster 
Dietrich Kalteis, Under the Outlaw Moon, ECW Press 
Shari Lapena, Not a Happy Family, Doubleday Canada 
Roz Nay, The Hunted, Simon & Schuster

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize

Ashley Audrain, The Push, Viking Canada 
Fiona King Foster, The Captive, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 
Byron TD Smith, Windfall: A Henry Lysyk Mystery, Shima Kun Press 
Katherine Walker, All Is Well, Thistledown Press 
David Whitton, Seven Down, Rare Machines an imprint of Dundurn Press

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery 
sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize

Candas Jane Dorsey, What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?, ECW Press 
Alice Bienia, Three Dog Knight, Cairn Press 
Jackie Elliott, Hell's Half Acre, Joffe Books 
Catherine Macdonald, So Many Windings, At Bay Press 
Vicki Delany, Murder in a Teacup, Kensington Publishing Corp

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada 
sponsored by The Engel Family, with a $500 prize

C. S. Porter, Beneath Her Skin, Vagrant Press / Nimbus Publishing Inc. 
Cathy Ace, Corpse with an Iron Will, Four Tails Publishing Inc. 
Alice Walsh, Death on Darby’s Island, Vagrant Press / Nimbus Publishing Inc. 
Sam Wiebe, Hell and Gone, Harbour Publishing Co. Inc. 
Kevin Major, Three for Trinity, Breakwater Books

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $200 prize

Marcelle Dubé, Identity Withheld, Falcon Ridge Publishing 
Brenda Gayle, Murder in Abstract (A Charly Hall Mystery, book 6), Bowstring Books 
Wayne Ng, Letters From Johnny, Guernica Editions 
Elvie Simons, Not So Fast, Dr. Quick, Dell Magazines

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Magazine, 
with a $300 prize

Pam Barnsley, What can You Do?, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 
Hilary Davidson, Weed Man, Dell Magazines 
Elizabeth Elwood, Number 10 Marlborough Place, Dell Magazines 
Charlotte Morganti, All My Darlings, Die Laughing: An Anthology of Humorous Mysteries 
Melissa Yi, Dead Man's Hand, Dell Magazines

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Roxanne Bouchard, Le murmure des hakapiks, Libre Expression 
Marc-André Chabot, Dis-moi qui doit vivre… Libre Expression 
Guillaume Morrissette, Conduite dangereuse, Saint-Jean 
Patrick Senécal, Flots, Editions Alire 
Richard Ste-Marie, Stigmates, Editions Alire

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) 
sponsored by Shaftesbury, with a $500 prize

Karen Bass, Blood Donor, Orca Book Publishers 
Rachelle Delaney, Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster, Puffin Canada 
Cherie Dimaline, Hunting By Stars, Penguin Teen 
Kevin Sands, The Traitor's Blade, Aladdin (Simon & Schuster) 
Jordyn Taylor, Don't Breathe a Word, HarperTeen (HarperCollins Publishers)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book 
sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Sarah Berman, Don't Call it a Cult, Viking Canada 
Aaron Chapman, Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City's West End, Arsenal Pulp Press 
Catherine Fogarty, Murder on the Inside: The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary, Biblioasis 
Nate Hendley, The Beatle Bandit, Dundurn Press 
Lorna Poplak, The Don: The Story of Toronto's Infamous Jail, Dundurn Press

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript 
sponsored by ECW Press, with a $500 prize

Delee Fromm, The Strength to Rise 
Pam Isfeld, Captives 
Renee Lehnen, Elmington 
Katie Mac, Ken's Corner 
Mark Thomas, Part Time Crazy

CWC announces the 2022 Grand Master Award recipient Louise Penny.

Louise Penny’s debut novel, Still Life, not only won CWC Award for Best First Novel but also the New Blood Dagger, Anthony and Barry awards. Since then, Louise Penny has penned over sixteen Inspector Gamache novels, won many more awards, become an International Bestseller and Canadian icon. Inspector Gamache is being adapted for television by Left Bank Productions with Alfred Molina playing the beloved detective. Her most recent book, State of Terror, was written with 2016 U.S. Presential candidate Hilary Clinton, a literary coup and another bestseller.

About Crime Writers of Canada

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We would like to thank ECW Press, Rakuten Kobo, Mystery Magazine, Shaftesbury, Simpson and Wellenreiter LLP (Hamilton), Writers First, Jane Doe and the Howard Engel family for their sponsorship, and the many participating publishers for their continued support. 
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