Cartoon of the Day: The Stacks

From Rhymes with Orange

 

2026 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Writers of Color Award: Jackie Yap

Sisters in Crime, an inclusive international community for all who write and love crime fiction, announced the winner of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color, which is bestowed by the organization annually.

 

The winner of the 2026 Award is Jackie Yap, a self-described “neurodivergent Australian-born, Malaysian-Chinese-Filipina emerging writer on 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.

 

Established in 2014, The Eleanor Taylor Bland Award is strongly aligned with SinC's mission to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of current and prospective members and intends to support a recipient at the beginning of their crime writing career. The grantee may choose to apply the grant toward workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities to assist in completion of their work. 

 

The award is named after beloved crime writer Eleanor Taylor Bland, who was a trailblazer in the genre - giving voice to complex and diverse characters in her many acclaimed novels and works. 

 

“This grant is a game-changer,” Yap said. “It allows me to invest deeply in my craft and development through SinC, with its world-class workshops and amazing community, and to more deeply engage with Australian and international crime and mystery organisations.”

 

Yap described her story as a “ love letter to diaspora kids everywhere—to those who live in the liminal space between worlds, still discovering who they are, where they fit, and what 'home' truly means. I hope for Izzy Gomez to become a fresh, modern-day Filipina-Aussie Nancy Drew for readers everywhere, offering a protagonist who reflects their experiences against the backdrop of a (cozy) YA murder mystery.”

 

In addition to Yap's achievement, Sisters in Crime also named five runners-up. The recipients were 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.

Cartoon of the Day: Happiness

 

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 2026

Crime Writers of Canada announced the winners of the 2026 Awards of Excellence

The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel (With a $1000 prize)

Louise Penny, The Black Wolf, Minotaur Books

Best Crime First Novel (Sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize)

Ray Critch, The Beltane Massacre, Breakwater Books

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada  (Sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize)

C.S. Porter, Salt on Her Tongue, Vagrant Press

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery (Sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize)

Iona Whishaw, The Cost of a Hostage, TouchWood Editions

Best Crime Short Story (Sponsored by Crime Writers of Canada with a $200 prize)

Sylvia Maultash Warsh, “Polly Wants a Freaking Cracker”, Malice Domestic: Murder Most Humorous, Wildside Press

Best French Language Crime Book (Sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $500 prize)

Maureen Martineau, Une nuit d’été à Littlebrook, Héliotrope

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book (Sponsored by Superior Shores Press with a $250 prize)

Charis Cotter, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, Tundra Books

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book  (Sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton) with a $300 prize)

Julian Sher & Lisa Fitterman, Hitman: The Untold Story of Canada’s Deadliest Assassin, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author  (Sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize)

Anne Burlakoff, Val's Story

CWA Dagger Shortlists

2026 Dagger Shortlists: British Crime Writers' Association. Congratulations to All.

KAA Gold Dagger:

• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph)
• The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder Fiction)
• The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster UK)
• A Sting in Her Tale, by Mark Ezra (No Exit Press)
• Such Quiet Girls, by Noelle Ihli (Pan)
• The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
• We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland, by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus Crime)
• The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB, by Gordon Corera (William Collins)
• The Murder Game, by John Curran (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
• Murderland, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet)
• That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)
• The Illegals, by Shaun Walker (Profile)

Historical Dagger:
• A Granite Silence, by Nina Allan (Riverrun)
• Barvick Falls, by Rob McInroy (Tippermuir)
• The Devil’s Draper, by Donna Moor (Fly on the Wall Press)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse,
translated by Florian Duijsens (Faber & Faber)
• The Lake, by Jørn Lier Horst,
translated by Anne Bruce (Penguin Random House)
• Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić,
translated by Matt Robinson (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Big Bad Wool, by Leonie Swann,
translated by Amy Bojang (Allison & Busby)
• The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu,
translated by Jim Rion (Pushkin Press)

Whodunnit Dagger (for “cosy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime” stories):
• The Christmas Cracker Killer, by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Little Secrets, by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns Publishing UK)
• Etiquette for Lovers and Killers, by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Fleet)
• A Queer Case, by Robert Holtom (Titan)
• A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (Baskerville)
• Bad Influence, by C.J. Wray (Orion)

Twisted Dagger (for “psychological and suspense thrillers”):
• What Happens in the Dark, by Kia Abdullah (HQ Fiction)
• Her Many Faces, by Nicci Cloke (Harvill Secker)
• Some of Us Are Liars, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)
• Scenes from a Tragedy, by Carole Hailey (Corvus)
• The Bodies, by Sam Lloyd (Bantam)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger:
• The Peak, by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins)
• The Lost Detective, by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine)
• The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey (Hemlock Press)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Coram House, by Bailey Seybolt (Raven)
• Holy City, by Henry Wise (No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger:
• “Split Your Silver Tongue,” by S.A. Cosby (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos: New Stories Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; No Exit Press)
• “The Karpman Drama Triangle,” by Denise Mina (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
• “Full Circle,” by Abir Mukherjee (from Playing Dead: Short Stories in Honour of Simon Brett by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards; Severn House)
• “The Apple Falls Not Far,” by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)
• “Strangers on a School Bus,” by Peter Swanson (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
• “Waiting,” by Michael Wood (from Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me, edited by Samantha Lee Howe; Telos)

Emerging Author (for unpublished novels):
• Ill Met by Murder, by Rod Cookson
• The Man Who Fit the Case, by Sophia Georghiou
• Just a Simple Wedding, by Kate Koester
• The Fixer, by Lorna Mathew
• The Madam of Morningside, by Rebecca McFarland
• Blind Side of the Sun, by Michael Nikitin
• The Pattern of Absence, by Melisssa Tonkin

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”):
• Paula Hawkins
• J.D. Kirk
• Clare Mackintosh
• Freida McFadden
• Abir Mukherjee
• Tim Sullivan

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
• Bitter Lemon Press
• Faber & Faber
• No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
• Pan Macmillan
• Simon & Schuster
• Viper (Profile)

Winners will be announced at the CWA gala in July.

HT: The Rap Sheet

Cartoon of the Day: Behind my Garden Gate

This comic from Rhymes with Orange definitely reflects my garden and my photography. I post a 'flower model'  (especially the roses) every day on Facebook with the caption: Behind my Garden Gate.