THE SPOTTED OWL AWARD: Friends of Mystery

The Friends of Mystery 2025 Spotted Owl Award: 

Bad River by Marc Cameron

The Spotted Owl Award prize is bestowed by Friends of Mystery (Portland, OR) to celebrate crime fiction produced by authors living in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, British Columbia, Canada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington).

Runners-up:

2. Baron Birtcher for Knife River
3 (tie). Rene Denfeld for Sleeping Giants and Warren Easley for Deadly Redemption
4. J.A. Jance for Den of Iniquity
5. Phillip Margolin for An Insignificant Case
6. Katrina Carrasco for Rough Trade
7. Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway for The Silence of the Dead
8. Kerri Hakado for Cold to the Touch
9. Eric Redman for Death in Hilo

Congratulations to All!

CRIMEFEST AWARD WINNERS 2025

Crimefest announced their Award Winners tonight at CrimeFest in Bristol, U.K.  Congratulations to All! 

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

Akira Otani (and translator Sam Bett) for The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber & Faber)

eDUNNIT AWARD 

Jean Hanff Korelitz for The Sequel (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert in Wickedness (HarperCollins)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Christmas (Severn House)

Best Crime Fiction Novel For Children

Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury Education)

Best Crime Fiction Novel For Young Adults

Kayvion Lewis for Heist Royale (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD for BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

 Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)

2025 British Book Awards: The Nibbies

The 2025 British Book Awards, the Nibbies, were given out Monday night in London. The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by The Bookseller.  There are 15 categories, but I'm listing the category of most interest to crime fiction fans. 

Crime and Thriller Book of the Year: 

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee

Nominees: 

All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker 

Guilt by Definition by Suzy Dent 

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte? by Nicci French

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Viking).

HT: TheRapSheet

AUTHORS & THEIR CATS: Chester Himes

Happy Caturday! 

Authors & their Cats: Chester Himes

The following is from a book called Writers and Their Cats, a book about writers and their cats by Alison Nastasi.  

Chester Himes, considered the father of the black American crime novel, wrote stories that mirrored the real-life violence and racism happening in the world around him. “American violence is public life, it’s a public way of life, it became a form, a detective story form,” he once said. “So I would think that any number of black writers should go into the detective story form.”

One reprieve from the chaos of everyday life was Himes’s cats, particularly his blue-point Siamese called Griot (1st and Third photos above). “Griot is named after the magicians in the courts of West African kings,” Himes said in a 1972 interview. Griot was Himes’s constant travel companion. When the If He Hollers Let Him Go author didn’t bring Griot along during his adventures, Himes paid the price. In a 1971 interview Himes gave while in Stuttgart, Germany, he claimed he couldn’t stay away from home too long since Griot would “certainly destroy [his] studio back home and chew up all [his] books.” 

After Griot passed away, Himes kept a kitty named Deros, who the writer loved for her sweet personality.

BARBECUE MYSTERIES // BARBECUE CRIME FICTION: National Barbecue Day!

Today is National Barbecue Day, so to celebrate here's my Barbecue Mysteries list. So many ways to murder someone at a barbecue, from the sauce to the skewers to the grill, not to mention the tiny wires on the barbecue brush (true crime!). This is an updated list of Barbecue Crime Fiction. Let me know if I've forgotten any authors/titles!

Barbecue Mysteries

Delicious and Suspicious; Hickory Smoked Homicide; Finger Lickin' Dead; Rubbed Out by Riley Adams  (Elizabeth Craig Spann) - The Memphis BBQ Mystery Series

The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Omnibus 4 (books 19-22): Road Trip: BBQ and a Brawl, BBQ Delivered with Attitude, BBQ With a Side of No Apologies, BBQ and STFU by Michael Anderle

Bad Move by Linwood Barclay
Honey BBQ Murder by Patti Benning 

Murder Well-Done by Claudia Bishop
Nice Day for a Murder by C.A. Broadribb

Crime Rib by Leslie Budewitz

Topped Chef by Lucy Burdette

Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron
Low and Slow: Sweet and Savory Murder at the BBQ Cookoff by Randy Cade 
A Bullet at the BBQ by SL Calder 

Several Dan Rhodes books by Bill Crider
Murder at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival by Gene Davis
The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson
Grilled for Murder by Maddie Day

Memphis Ribs by Gerald Duff

Grilled 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

Murder Can Singe Your Old Flame by Selma Eichler
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Barbecues & Brooms by Bella Falls

The Politics of Barbecue by Blake Fontenay
Grilling the Subject by Daryl Wood Gerber
Barbecue, Bourbon and Bullets by M.E. Harmon
A Trunk, a Canoe, and all the Barbecue by A. W. Hartoin

Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes
The Big Barbecue by Dorothy B. Hughes
Barbeque Bedlam by Lizzie Josephson 

Close to Home by Cara Hunter

Blossoms, Barbeque, & Blackmail by Tonya Kappes
Bonfires, Barbeques and Bodies by Susan Keene 
Spare Ribs and Cold Cuts by Kamaryn Kelsey 
Barbecue Blues: A Professor Doug Wilson Mystery (Professor Doug Wilson Mysteries Book 3) by Duke Kuehn

Murder in Mesquite Springs by Glenda Stewart Langley

Hot in December by Joe R. Lansdale

Bad News Barbecues: by Maisy Marple 

Bullets & Barbecue by Mary Maxwell

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Thou Shalt Not Grill by Tamar Myers 

Barbecue and Bad News by Nancy Naigle

Hush My Mouth by Cathy Pickens
The BBQ Burger Murder by Rosie A. Point

Hawg Heaven Cozy Mysteries; Killer Barbecue by Summer Prescott 

Barbecue Can Be Deadly by Ryan Rivers 

Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

The Sheriff and..  (series) by D. R. Meredith

The King is Dead by Sarah Shankman

Stiffs and Swine by J.B. Stanley
Barbecue and Murder by Kathleen Suzette

Revenge of the Barbecue Queens by Lou Jane Temple
Murder at the Barbecue by Liz Turner

Murder, Basted and Barbecued by Constance Turner
Barbecue by A. E.H. Veenman

Death on a Platter by Elaine Viets

Teaberry Blues, Brew & BBQ by R. A. Wallace

Burnt Ends by Laura Wetsel

A Bad Day for Barbecue by Jonathan Woods
Books, Barbecue, and Murder by Lori Woods  

Short Stories: 

"Gored" by Bill Crider
"A Bad Day for Barbecue" by Jonathan Woods

Young Readers:  

The Barbecue Thief by Starike

Want a little chocolate on the barbie today? 
Check out recipes on my other blog: DyingforChocolate.com

S'mores on the Grill  
Savory Chocolate Barbecue Sauces
Chocolate Ancho Chile Rub
Cocoa Spiced Salmon Rub 
Scharffen Berger Cacao Nib Rub for Tri Tip
SaveSaveSaveSave

Cartoon of the Day: The England Trip