Cartoon of the Day: Useful Phrases for the Murder Mystery Writer Abroad

JANE STANTON HITCHCOCK: R.I.P.

 

Sad news. Jane Stanton Hitchcock: R.I.P. I really liked her mysteries. So clever. 

Jane Stanton Hitchcock, "a daughter of privilege who skewered the foibles of her tribe in a series of addictive crime novels, and who then uncovered a real-life crime when her mother was swindled by her accountant, died on June 23 at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 78."

From the NYT: 

“Murder concentrates the mind,” she told The New York Times in 2002.

Her first novel, “Trick of the Eye” (1992), involved a trompe l’oeil artist named Faith Crowell and the unsolved murder of a long-dead Long Island debutante. Bruce Allen, assessing the novel in The New York Times Book Review, said that Ms. Hitchcock “knows how to write crackling dialogue that expresses character while steadily, stealthily advancing the plot.”

“Even if you guess the ending,” he wrote, “you will enjoy Faith Crowell’s compulsive fascination with ‘the fashion of making things appear to be what they are not.’”

In an interview, Jonathan Burnham, Ms. Hitchcock’s longtime book editor, said: “Nobody of her background wrote about their world the way she did — that New York high society world that has virtually disappeared. She managed to send it up in elegant satire. It slipped down very easily.”

Read the Obit here. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/books/jane-stanton-hitchcock-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1

From IACW North America:

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Jane Stanton Hitchcock, multiple Hammett nominee. Her novel Trick of the Eye was one of the 1992 finalists for the Hammett award along with Donald Westlake, Walter Mosley, Alice Hoffman, and Daniel Woodrell.

In 2019, however, she won the award outright for her novel Bluff, which drew on her personal expertise as a professional level poker player. Humorous crime novels are quite rare and even rarer are those that hold up years later. Seek out a copy of Bluff if you have not read it and read it again to learn something about writing.Her entertaining satire of the upper classes drew on her personal knowledge as the adoptive daughter of a major tycoon and a popular actress. Jane herself was a delightful person, witty, intelligent, and, of course, sophisticated.

Linda Fairstein who informed us of Jane’s passing, mentioned “Jane, who was one of my best friends for 40 years, was immensely proud of the honor of being awarded the Hammett.” Her obituary in the New York Times even mentioned her pride in this achievement. She gave the impression to me that she didn’t quite understand just how talented she was."

GRANTCHESTER NEWS

MASTERPIECE on PBS has announced that Season 11 of Grantchester will be the series' final season. 

In the forthcoming season, Robson Green returns as Geordie Keating with Rishi Nair as Alphy Kottaram, Al Weaver as Leonard Finch, Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. C, Kacey Ainsworth as Cathy Keating, Oliver Dimsdale as Daniel Marlowe, Nick Brimble as Jack Chapman, Bradley Hall as DC Larry Peters and Melissa Johns as Miss Scott. 
  
Daisy Coulam, writer, series creator and executive producer, said: “At its heart, Grantchester is a show about the power of friendship and love. We’ve been so lucky over the last 11 series to experience that on and off screen. For over a decade now - cast and crew have met each Summer to film. And it’s been an absolute joy. Thank you to James Runcie for entrusting us with his characters. Thank you to the lovely people of real Grantchester. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of the show in any way - big or small. I’ll miss you terribly.” 

The series first premiered in 2015 on MASTERPIECE Mystery! Seasons 1-4 of Grantchester featured James Norton (Happy Valley) as vicar Sidney Chambers. Tom Brittney (Greyhound) joined as the village’s new vicar, Will Davenport, in Season 4 and stayed on through Season 9. Rishi Nair came to Grantchester in Season 9 as the latest crime-solving vicar, Alphy Kottaram, and will close out the series. 

Susanne Simpson, MASTERPIECE Head of Scripted Content and Executive Producer, added: “Grantchester has been one of the rare series that has a certain magic to everything about it. The show has found its way into the hearts of countless MASTERPIECE viewers with its warmth, humor, and sense of community. It has been a joy to work with the brilliant team – producers, writer, cast and crew – behind Grantchester and I cannot thank them enough for their talent and dedication. We are so proud to have been a part of this extraordinary partnership for so long.” MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by GBH Boston.

Season 10 of Grantchester is currently airing on MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS and is available to stream via the PBS app, PBS.org and PBS MASTERPIECE on Prime Video.  

2025 David Thompson Special Service Award Recipients: Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich

Bouchercon Announced the 2025 David Thompson Special Service Award Recipients. Perfect! Congratulations, Lucinda and Stan. Well deserved!!!

Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery writers and fans conference, announced that Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich are the 2025 recipients of the David Thompson Memorial Special ServiceAward for their extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.

“We’re insanely thrilled to receive the David Thompson Award and humbled to join the starry ranks of past honorees!” Stan and Lucinda reacted when notified of the award.

Mystery/crime fiction enthusiasts, Lucinda and Stan have been key leaders in the landscape for more than twenty years. Their first mystery convention was Bouchercon 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska and they have since served in a variety of Bouchercon volunteer positions. Stan joined the Bouchercon national board serving as Treasurer and Rules Committee Chair. Later Stan and Lucinda were Chairs of the volunteer subcommittee for two Bouchercon conventions, and Anthony Awards Chairs in Long Beach in 2014 and in Dallas in 2019.

Lucinda and Stan are also the driving force behind the mystery conference, Left Coast Crime. Stan, a retired lawyer, is President of the Left Coast Crime Conference. Lucinda, a former educator, is the organization’s Secretary. They’ve been managing the Lefty Awards since 2011. 

“Stan and Lucinda exemplify the dedication and expertise of those in a special category: key volunteers,” says Cheryl Head, Bouchercon Board Chair. “We couldn’t be successful without them.”

The David Thompson Award will be presented to Stan and Lucinda at the Opening Ceremonies of Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed in New Orleans, September 3-7, 2025. 

Ballard: New streaming series based on Michael Connelly's novels

Ballard, starring Maggie Q in the title role, will debut on Prime Video,Wednesday, July 9, 2025. There will be10 episodes. This is the latest chapter in the universe of Bosch: Legacy, which aired its third and final season earlier this spring. Renée Ballard, a homicide detective who appeared in the Bosch: Legacy series finale, investigates cold cases in the Los Angeles Police Department with the help of Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver).  

This new cop show is definitely for fans of the Michael Connelly novels novels. Based on the six books in the Ballard series, which began with the 2017 novel The Late Show, the new Prime Video show will follow Renée Ballard as she attempts to solve several cold cases in Los Angeles. 

I really like the Ballard books, as well as Bosch and other shows, so I'm pretty sure I'll like Ballard, the TV streaming series. 

"Ballard continues to bring Michael Connelly's bestselling novels to life, following Detective Renée Ballard (Q) as she leads the LAPD's new and underfunded cold case division, tackling the city’s most challenging long-forgotten crimes with empathy and relentless determination. As she peels back layers of crimes spanning decades, including a serial killer's string of murders and a murdered John Doe, she soon uncovers a dangerous conspiracy within the LAPD. With the help of her volunteer team and retired detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), Detective Ballard navigates personal trauma, professional challenges, and life-threatening dangers to expose the truth." 

Can't wait! Let me know what you think!!

 

HARPER LEE AWARD: ACE ATKINS

Ace Atkins will receive the 2026 Harper Lee Award during the Monroeville Literary Festival in February. The Harper Lee Award is one of the highest literary honors in the state of Alabama and is named for Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”  

The Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer is awarded each year at the Monroeville Literary Festival, a project of the Monroe County Museum in Monroeville. The annual award recognizes the lifetime achievement of a writer who was born in Alabama or whose literary career developed in the state. The recipient is chosen by a committee selected by the Festival leadership. 

Atkins is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels and numerous short stories. A former college football player at Auburn and newspaper reporter, he’s a recent recipient of the Richard Wright Award for excellence in Southern Literature and a member of the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife Angela and two children in Oxford, Mississippi. 

“I'm beyond honored and thrilled to be receiving this award. Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird have always represented ordinary Southerners standing up and doing the right thing to fight for social justice,” Atkins said “From my books Wicked City, inspired by the true tale of Phenix City, Ala.; to my stories about Quinn Colson and fictional Tibbehah County, Mississippi; these are ideas and themes I always wanted to embrace in my work.” 

Atkins was a featured writer at the festival in 2008 and 2010. “Returning to Monroeville is a special time for me,” he added. “Visiting the courthouse and museum is a potent reminder of how important novels can be, and the obligations we Southerners have to make our voices heard against injustice.”