LA TIMES BOOK PRIZES: Finalists -- Mystery/Thriller and more!

 

The finalists for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes in several categories have been announced. Prizes will be awarded on Friday, April 17, 2026.

All books are of interest, of course, but for this blog, here are the finalists in the Mystery/Thriller category. Congratulations to all. 

Also of interest is the Fiction category:

The Professor and the Prisoner: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

In the 1960s, Edgar winner John McAleer didn’t spend his days in a maximum-security prison brooding. Instead, he masterminded a brilliant escape plan using nothing more than a set of typewriter keys.
As McAleer recounted in the Epilogue of his novel Unit Pride, one September morning in 1965, he entered his Boston College office to find on his desk a single letter addressed to him in a boyish scrawl. “Across the first page, in letters red and bold as a cutlass wound, was stamped the single word—CENSERED.” 

The letter writer, William “Billy” Dickson, was serving time in Cedar Junction “Walpole” State Penitentiary—then Massachusetts’s maximum-security prison. How he got there his letter didn’t say.
Billy wrote McAleer with questions about a review McAleer had written for the Boston Globe regarding Theodore Dreiser.  A review, Billy felt the need to add, that he’d “retrieved from a wastebasket.”

McAleer thought Billy’s questions were worthy of response, so, slipping on his professor’s cap, McAleer answered them in detail. The professor’s response would ignite a 1,200-letter correspondence between professor and prisoner. 

“I had no idea,” McAleer wrote, “what its implications would be for Billy. Into the dark well that he inhabited someone had lowered a rope’s end. He grabbed hold of it and held on as though his life depended on it, as, in fact, it probably did.”

Edgar winner & Boston College Professor John McAleer with Korean War combat veteran William “Billy” Dickson. McAleer & Dickson wrote UNIT PRIDE while Dickson was serving a 30-year bid for bank robbery.

McAleer never asked Billy why he was doing time. Instead, he sent Billy lists of books he should read—Crime and Punishment, Moll Flanders, Pepy’s Diary. “Billy,” McAleer noted, “took in information like a sea sponge takes in moisture.”

At the end of three months Billy came clean about his incarceration. He was convicted of bank robbery, took a hostage, and was now doing a 30-year bid. As it turned out, the bank teller he held up was McAleer’s sister-in-law and this writer’s aunt, Alice. In any event, if Billy thought bank robbery was his calling, he couldn’t have been more mistaken.  

In 2007, at age 91, Alice still recalled the botched hold-up in vivid detail. “I remember he [Billy] slid me a note,” she said, “and I slid it back to him because I thought it was a slip to open a new account and I didn’t handle that. Then he slid it back to me and I thought he was being fresh, so I slid it back to him again.  He was a lousy bank robber.”

Despite the “Alice” connection, McAleer continued the correspondence and began visiting Billy in prison. Upon learning that Billy, at age 17, served front-line duty in Korea, McAleer—a WWII-veteran—encouraged Billy to write about his wartime experiences. Having seen so many lives torn and shattered in WWII, McAleer saw Billy as a troubled veteran, who, like so many others, found it difficult to adjust.
McAleer critiqued his new student’s initial writing attempt.

“Billy’s first ‘chapter’ reached me a week later…. It was ungrammatical, wooden abrupt…. Yet the picture was not altogether bleak. His dialogue…was honest in its thrust. His pace was brisk. His capacity for serving up incidents both unusual and exciting showed promise…  Most striking of all was the evidence that Billy had total recall.”

McAleer outside his Carney Hall-Boston College office circa 1980s.

The co-writers met regularly at Walpole Prison. In a fifteen-month period from March 1966 and June 1967, they had produced a 1000-page manuscript they could call a novel. The accomplishment came with a price, however; “prison life” changed McAleer.

 “Unwittingly, I came to share some of [Billy’s] attitudes, finding myself, for example, as mistrustful of the screws (the guards) at the prison as he was. I suspect they knew it, too. Because they always frisked me thoroughly when I came to call. They never found any contraband on me, however, because the only thing I was smuggling was ideas.”

The freshly typed manuscript titled, The Platoon, became the tool McAleer used to loosen the parole board’s grip. Impressed with Billy’s rehabilitation, parole released him in time to stand in as this writer’s godfather in August 1967.

Billy (whose marriage survived his incarceration) would go on to have another son and attend his daughter’s wedding in 1973. McAleer recalled the occasion, “Billy grabbed my arm as we sat there talking in the waning hours of the reception. ‘You’re my best friend,’ he said, ‘I want you to know that.’ I knew also that it meant a hell of a lot for him to say that…. Seven months later Billy was dead—stabbed to death by a disgruntled employee of his cleaning business. Only one newspaper took notice—fives lines under the caption ‘Ex-Con Slain.’ Seven years of going straight didn’t matter.”

McAleer went on about his fellow veteran, “At the cemetery an American flag draped Billy’s coffin and they played taps over his grave. It never sounded lonelier. His country at least remembered him as a man who got blown up, machine-gunned, and bayoneted…and not a one-shot bank robber who spent eleven years in prison paying for his mistake.”  

So tragic was Billy’s death that it wasn’t until 1978 that McAleer could pick up the manuscript again and only did so at the behest of Billy’s widow.

McAleer reflected, “Although Billy wasn’t there to hold me in check or spur me on, in effect I made no move without consulting him. Would Billy like this? Would he have my ass for that?”  
After a 450-page trim and title change, Unit Pride was released in 1981 (Doubleday & Bantam). The Ontario Globe credited it as the definitive novel of the Korean War and Best Sellers as one of the most harrowing depictions of the horrors of war ever written. 

Mission completed, McAleer looked back on that September morning in 1965, when he first learned of a man named Billy Dickson.

“At last I rested from labors begun fifteen years earlier when a man in prison pulled me out of a wastebasket, like a rabbit out of a hat. Would I have written that review had I known all that would have become of it? I like to think so. It’s weird, I admit, but I like saying yes to life. It’s more interesting that way.” 

***

 
Andrew McAleer is the best-selling author of the Detective Henry von Stray classic British crime series created by Edgar winner John McAleer. Von Stray’s adventures appear in A Casebook of Crime Volume One. A second von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime Volume Two, is scheduled for release in March 2026 (Level Best Books). Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. Visit the Henry von Stray Museum of Criminal Artifacts at:  www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com
 
  

CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES: Year of the Horse

恭賀發財

Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Horse.

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, I've updated my list of mysteries that take place during Lunar New Year Celebrations. As always, I welcome any additions. I'd like to include other Asian New Year Crime Fiction, so please send author/titles.

CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES

The Corpses Hanging Over Paris by Cathy Ace

The Chinese Parrot by Earl Derr Biggers
Between a Wok and a Hard Place by Leslie Budewitz

Year of the Dog by Henry Chang 
Peking Duck and Cover by Vivien Chien

Year of the Dragon by Robert Daley 
Serpent's Doom by Connie di Marco

Neon Dragon by John Dobbyn
Dim Sum Dead by Jerrilyn Farmer 
The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen
Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara

Chop Suey by Ty Hutchison 
The Skull Cage Key by Michael Marriott
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
The Chinese Chop by Juanita Sheridan

City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley

Breezy Friends and Bodies: A Raina Sun Mystery by Anne R. Tan
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik (7th Century China) "New Year's Eve in Lan-Fang"

 Children and Young Adult:

The Nancy Drew Notebooks: The Chinese New Year Mystery by Carolyn Keene
The New Year Dragon Dilemma by Ron Roy 
Red Envelope Mystery: The Secret of the Chinese New Year. 

Short stories:

 "The Lady Fish Mystery" by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, EQMM, September/October 1996.
"Murder Keeps No Calendar" by Cathy Ace.
 

PRESIDENTIAL MYSTERIES: Presidents Day

I usually post a Presidential Mysteries list for Presidents Day, and I have to say once again I thought about not posting this year, but there have been a lot of good presidents, and there certainly are a lot of wonderful presidential mysteries. 

When I was growing up, we celebrated Lincoln's Birthday, and we also celebrated Washington's Birthday. They were two distinct holidays (and two days off from school!). Contrary to popular belief, there actually is no Federal holiday called "Presidents Day." The holiday on the 3rd Monday of February is officially designated as "Washington's Birthday" in Section 6103(a) of Title 5 of the United States Code. This is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Unofficially, though, we all call it Presidents Day, and it celebrates all the Presidents. I have to say I don't mind celebrating the panoply of presidents, but given what's happening in our country today, I cannot celebrate or honor the present president. 

That being said, I would like to share my list that features the U.S. President in mysteries, thrillers, and crime fiction. I've divided the list into categories, but added more at the end under 'other' and a separate list of Abraham Lincoln Mysteries. Of course, there are many overlaps, so scroll through them all. This is not a definitive list, and I welcome any additions. Post your favorites in the comments section or send me a note.
 
Books by Presidents 

The President is Missing and The President's Daughter by former President Bill Clinton with James Patterson. 

The Presidents Mystery Story (propounded to be by Franklin D. Roosevelt) 1935. 

The President's Mystery Plot by Franklin Delano Roosevelt - and others (Short Stories)-although he didn't write any.

Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery and Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer is great fun!

Political Election and Thrillers

Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander
Saving Faith by David Baldacci
Political Suicide and Touched by the Dead by Robert Barnard
Capitol Conspiracy by William Bernhardt
Collateral Damage by Michael Bowen
Three Shirt Deal by Stephen J. Cannell
Executive Orders by Tom Clancy
Impaired Judgement by David Compton
Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
Term Limits; Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn
The Scandal Plan by Bill Folman
The Power Broker by Stephen W. Frey
Spook Country by William Gibson
Fast Track, Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman
The Fourth Perimeter by Tim Green
The People's Choice by Jeff Greenfield
Hazardous Duty by W.E.B. Griffin
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
The Second Revolution by Gary Hansen
The President's Daughter and The White House Connection by Jack Higgins
The Enemy Within  by Noel Hynd
First Daughter by Eric Lustbader
Drone Threat by Mike Maden
Executive Privilege by Philip Margolin
Presidents' Day by Seth Margolis
The Race, Protect and Defend, Balance of Power by Richard North Patterson
Politics Noir: Gary Phillips, Editor
Missing Member by Jo-Ann Power
Dark Horse by Ralph Reed
Dead Heat, The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg
Dead Watch by John Sandford
State of the Union by Brad Thor
Capital Crimes by Stuart Woods

Assassination Attempts

American Quartet by Warren Adler
Shall We Tell the President? by Jeffrey Archer
Sherlock Holmes in Dallas by Edmund Aubrey
The 14th Colony by Steve Berry
All American Girl by Meg Cabot (YA)
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton/James Patterson
Primary Target by Max Allan Collins
Campaign Train (Murder Rides the Campaign Train) by The Gordons
Glass Tiger by Joe Gores
The President's Assassin by Brian Haig
Potus by Greg Holden
Marine One by James W. Huston
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Murder at Monticello by Jane Langton
The Surrogate Assassin by Christopher Leppek
Gideon's March by J.J. Marric
December 1941 by William Martin

The Kidnapping of the President by Charles Templeton
Pursuit by James Stewart Thayer
Primary Target by Marilyn Wallace
Watchdogs by John Weisman

Kidnappings

We are Holding the President Hostage by Warren Adler
The Camel Club, First Family by David Baldacci
Line of Succession by Brian Garfield
Madam President by Anne Holt
Oath of Office by Steven J. Kirsch
Presidential Deal by Les Standiford
The Kidnapping of the President by Charles Templeton
The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor

Presidential Disappearances

The President Vanishes by Anonymous (1934)
Missing! by Michael Avallone
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal
The President's Plan is Missing by Robert J. Serling
The President Vanishes by Rex Stout

Fixing the Election

The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
The 13th Directorate by Barry Chubin
Atropos by William DeAndrea
The Red President by Martin Gross
The Ceiling of Hell by Warren Murphy
The Trojan Hearse by Richard S. Prather
 President Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
The Big Fix by Roger L. Simon

Presidential Crisis

Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II
Vanished; Night of Camp David by Fletcher Knebel
A Fine and Dangerous Season by Keith Raffel

The President as Detective

Speak Softly by Lawrence Alexander
Lincoln for the Defense by Warren Bull
Mr President, Private Eye, edited by Martin Greenberg & Francis M. Nevins
Bully by Mark Schorr
Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery; Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer

The JFK Plot

Too many to list, but...
Mongoose, RIP by William F. Buckley
Executive Action by Mark Lane, Donald Freed and Stephen Jaffe
The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry

Presidential Families

Exclusive by Sandra Brown
The President's Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
Deadly Aims by Ron L. Gerard
The First Lady by E.J. Gorman
First Daughter series by Susan Ford & Laura Hayden
The President's Daughter by Jack Higgins
Alice and the Assassin; The Body in the Ballroom by R.J. Koreto
The Devil's Bed by William Kent Krueger
Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante by Susan Elia MacNeal
The First Lady Murders, edited by Nancy Pickard
Murder and the First Lady; Murder at the President's Door (and other novels) By Elliot Roosevelt
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld 
The Murder of Willie Lincoln by Brad Solomon
Murder in the White House (and other novels) by Margaret Truman
They've Shot the President's Daughter by Edward Stewart

Other

The Big Stick by Lawrence Alexander
The President's Mind, The 20th Day of January by Ted Allbeury
Absolute Power by David Baldacci
Father's Day by John Calvin Batchelor
The Turncoat's Widow by Mally Becker
Warriors by Ted Bell
The Kennedy Connection by Dick Belsky
Enslaved by Ron Burns
The Plan by Stephen J. Cannell
Killing Time by Caleb Carr
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter
First Strike by Ben Coes
Ex Officio by Timothy Culver (Donald Westlake)
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
The Whole Truth by John Ehrlichman
The President's Vampire, Blood Bath by Christopher Farnsworth
FDR's Treasure, Lincoln's Hand by Joel Fox
The President's Henchman, The Next President by Joseph Flynn
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
By Order of the President by W.E.B. Griffin
White House Chef series by Julie Hyzy
The Last President by Michael Kurland
Spin Doctor by M.C. Lewis
Die Like a Hero by Clyde Linsley
Jack 1939 by Francine Matthews
The Better Angels by Charles McCarry
The Inner Circle; The President's Shadow by Brad Meltzer
The First Patient by Michael Palmer
Treason at Hanford by Scott Parker
Blow Back by James Patterson & Brendan Dubois
No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson
Keeping House by Tucker and Richard Phillips
The Only Thing to Fear by David Poyer
The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk
Acts of Mercy by Bill Pronzini and Barry Malzberg
Love, Lust, and Loyalty by Greg Sandora
White House Gardener series by Dorothy St. James
The President's Daughter by Mariah Stewart
Ghosts of War by Brad Taylor
Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
Put a Lid on It by Donald Westlake
President Lincoln's Spy by Steven Wilson

An Anthology

Mr President, Private Eye, edited by Martin H. Greenberg. Different historical presidents in the role of sleuth

Abraham Lincoln Mysteries

Abraham Lincoln: Detective by Allen Appel
A Night of Horrors: A Historical Thriller about the 24 Hours of Lincoln's Assassination by John C. Berry
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter
Lincoln's Hand by Joel Fox
The Lincoln Letter by Gretchen Elassani and Phillip Grizzell
Lincoln's Diary by DL Fowler
Murder in the Lincoln White House; Murder in the Oval Library, Murder at the Capitol by C.M. Gleason
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
The Assassin's Accomplice by Kate Clifford Larson
The Lincoln Letter by William Martin
The Lincoln Secret by John A. McKinsey
The First Assassin by John J. Miller
The Lincoln Conspiracy by Timothy L. O'Brien
The Cosgrove Report by G.J.A. O'Toole
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Murder of Willie Lincoln by Brad Solomon
Margaret Truman's Murder on the Metro by Margaret Truman: Jon Land. John Land continues the series.
President Lincoln's Secret, President Lincoln's Spy by Steven Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt.. The President's Mystery Plot (short stories-it was his idea, although he didn't pen any of the stories)

And not about (it's about the Secretary of State) or by a President: 
State of Terror by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny 

Recent Unclassified President-related Mysteries 

The Devil's Hand by Jack Carr

The First Gentleman by James Patterson & Bill Clinton

Want to know what the Presidents read? Read Camille LeBlanc's areticle: American Presidents Can't Stop Reading Thrillers, Just Like Us: A Century of Crime Fiction Readers in the White House that appeared on CrimeReads a few years ago. 

Another great article on Presidents and Crime fiction is "The Mystery Buffs in the White House" by Craig Fehrman. 

Be sure and check out BV Lawson's article FFB: The President's Mystery Plot on her blog In Reference to Murder. 

 Children's Mysteries

Who Cloned the President by Ron Roy

Loving Eleanor by Susan Wittig Albert

Roosevelt's Beast by Louis Bayard

Deep State by Chris Hauty

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiassen

The Cosgrove Report: Being the Private Inquiry of a Pinkerton Detective into the Death of President Lincoln by G.J.A. O'Toole

Mary America, First Girl President of the United States by Carole Marsh

MARDI GRAS MYSTERIES

Mardi Gras aka Carnivale. Whatever you call it, it's a great setting for Murder! Busy streets, crowds, costumes, drinking ..  mix it all together, and you have the perfect recipe for a crime novel.

So in honor of Mardi Gras, here's my updated list of Mardi Gras Mysteries, mostly set in New Orleans, but skip to the bottom for other countries and cities (Carnival - Carnevale). As always, I welcome additional titles. 

MARDI GRAS CRIME FICTION

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Jessica Arden
The Mardi Gras Mystery by Henry Bedford-Jones
Death Visits Mardi Gras by J.J. Boortz

Cake on a Hot Tin Roof, A Sheetcake Named Desire by Jacklyn Brady
The Mardi Gras Muders: A Golden Age Mystery by Gwen Bristow

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Fat Tuesday; Sunny Chandler's Return by Sandra Brown
Thrill Kill by Don Bruns
Purple Cane Road, Dixie City Jam, The Tin Roof Blowdown, Creole Belle by James Lee Burke
Mardi Gras 1975 by Frank W. Butterfield

Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron
Krewe of Souls by Elaine Calloway
Gumbo Justice, Jambalaya Justice by Holli Castillo 
The Secret of the Other Mother by Laura Cayouette
Murder Comes to Mardi Gras, Death Swatch, Keepsake Crimes, Death by Design; Glitter Bomb by Laura Childs
Fat Tuesday Fricassee by J.J. Cook 
Izzy Rio's Wild and Pretty by Stacey L. Cooley

Randolph Solves the Mardi Gras Mystery by Pat Hornsby Crochet (Children's)
Havana Storm by Clive Cussler
Mardi Gras Murders by Nicole Daines and Robert Daines
Bullets and Beads; Sinister by Jana Deleon 
Ms America and the Naughtiness in New Orleans by Diana Dempsey 

The Mardi Gras Murders by Ricardo S. Dubois
No Mardi Gras for the Dead by D.J. Donaldson
Shelter from the Storm; Crooked Man by Tony Dunbar
Fat Tuesday by Earl Emerson
The Big Uneasy-Terror Strikes Mardi Gras by Murray C. Fincher
The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan

Carnaval Capers by Jody Ford
Carnival by Charlotte Foryan
Venetian Mask by Mickey Friedman
Mardi Gras and Mayhem by Jann Franklin
Jass, Rampart Street by David Fulmer

Dead Velvet Cheesecake by A. Gardner
Mardi Gras Murder, edited by Sarah E. Glenn
Mardi Gras Madness by Alison Golden with Honey Broussard
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran

The Mardi Gras Murder by Jackie Griffey
A Free Man of Color, Fever Season, Sold Down the River by Barbara Hambly
The Exorcist by Lily Harper Hart
The Wrong Side of Revelry by Jeffry A. Head

Nightmare Before Mardis Gras: 14 Days of Madness, Mayhem, and Murder by Robert Sterling Hecker

Mardi Gras Mambo; The Orion Mask by Greg Herren
A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag
Murder at the Mardi Gras by V. Hurst
The Assassin's Gift by Ian C.P. Irvine
Mind Games by Polly Iyer

Burgundy Doubloons by TJ Spencer Jacques
The Mardi Gras Mystery by H. Bedford Jones

Storm Damage by Ed Kovacs
Murder at the Mardi Gras by Linda P. Kozar
Murder at Mardi Gras by Doug Lamplugh
Mardi Gras Murder by Leslie Langtry
Krewe by Jayson Livingston
The Devil's Muse by Bill Loehfelm
A Masquerade of Saints by Nicole Loughan
Voodoo Dreams by Alana Lorens 

Chaos by Judith Lucci
The Mardi Gras Murders by Gwen Bristow & Bruce Manning
Mardi Gras Madness by Ken Mask
Mardi Gras Gris Gris by A.C. Mason
The Gay Mardi Gras Murders by Sylvia Massara 

Rescued by a Kiss by Colleen Mooney
Mardi Gras Eyes by Phyllis Morris
The Chef by James Patterson with Max DiLallo
Krewe by Seth Pevey
Masques by Bill Pronzini
Up Jumped the Devil by Martha Reed

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts
The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis
Mardi Gras Murders by Phillip Scott
Now Let's Talk of Graves by Sarah Shankman
Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabet M. Stone
A Hall of Mirrors by Robert Stone
The Mardi Gras Murders by Brian W. Smith

New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
New Orleans Noir, edited by Julie Smith
The Mardi Gras Murders by Jemma Stark

Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabet M. Stone
The Mysterious Masks of Mardi Gras by Connie Trapp
Mardi Gras Marathon Murders by Diane L. Twilley
Mardi Gras Two-Step by Barry M. Vass
Mardi Gras Ghost by Erin Wade
A Mardi Gras Murder by Vesper Wilde

A Diamond Before You Die by Chris Wiltz

Children's Literature: 

The Mardi Gras Mystery; The Mardi Gras Masquerade by Carolyn Keene

Short Stories: 

Mardi Gras Murder, edited by Sarah E. Glenn
Mardi Grad Madness: Stories of Murder and Mayhem in New Orleans, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg

Goffman, Barb:  "Man to Man" in The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell.

Carnivale in Brazil:

The Lost Manuscript: Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts by Rubem Fonseca

Carnevale in Venice:

Carnival for the Dead by David Hewson
Venice Noir, edited by Maxim Jakubowski
The Venetian Masquerade by Philip Gwynne Jones
The Mascherari by Laura Rahme
Venice Black by Gregory C. Randall
Scerzo by Jim Williams

To celebrate Fat Tuesday, you might want to have some Chocolate Chip Pancakes or Chocolate  Pecan Pie or Chocolate "Cupped" Cakes with Coffee & Chicory or Chocolate Beignets or Chocolate Filled King Cake! If you're celebrating Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, or along the Gulf Coast, have a Moon Pie. Read more here. They're a favorite 'throw' in Mobile. I've also posted other Mardi Gras recipes on DyingforChocolate.com

SWEETHEART SLEUTHS

Here's my updated Short List of Sweetheart Sleuths for Valentine's Day! I'm sure I'm missing a few couples. Make a comment with author and sweetheart sleuths, and I'll add to the list. In the meantime, here's some more great reading for Valentine's Day!

Missed my list of mysteries that take place during Valentine's Day? Here's the link. 

SWEETHEART SLEUTHS 

Ace, Cathy: Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson
Alexander, Tasha: Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves
Allen, Conrad: Genevieve Masefield and George Dillman Porter

Allingham, Margery: Albert Campion and Amanda Fitton
Andrews, Donna: Meg Langslow and Michael Waterson
Armstrong, Kelley: Casey Duncan and Eric Dalton

Arnold, Margot: Tobias Glendower and Penelope Spring

Bell, Albert: Michael Harrington and Corie Foster; Pliny and Aurora

Berry, Connie: Kate Hamilton and DI Tom Mallory
Billheimer, John: Owen Allison and ex-wife Judith
Black, Lisa: Maggie Gardiner and Jack Renner

Borthwick, J. S.: Sarah Dean and Alex McKenzie
Bowen, Michael: Rep and Melissa Pennyworth
Bowen, Rhys: Molly Murphy and Daniel Sullivan; Lady Georgie and Darcy O'Mara
Burke, Jan: Irene Kelly and Frank Harriman
Carlson, P. M.: Maggie and Nick Ryan
Carner, John: John Fowler and Jessica Hammerstein
Casey, Donis: Alafair and Shaw Tucker
Chappell, Helen: Holly and Sam Westcott
Elaine Raco Chase: Roman Cantrell & Nikki Holden
Charles, Kate: Lucy Kingsley and David Middleton-Brown
Christie, Agatha: Tommy and Tuppence Beresford
Clark, Carol Higgins: Regan and Jack Reilly
Cleeland, Annie: Chief Inspector Michael Sinclair/Lord Acton and Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle
Cockey, Tim: Hitchcock Sewell and ex-wife Julia Finney
Craig, Alisa Dittany Henbit and Osbert Monk, Madoc and Jane Rhys
Crane, Frances: Pat and Jean Abbot
Crombie, Deborah: Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James
Curzon, Claire: Mike Yeadings and Rosemary Zyczynski
Cussler, Clive: Sam and Remi Fargo
Davis, Krista: Sophie Winston, domestic diva, and Detective Wolf

Dodge, David: Whit and Kitty Whitney

Edwards, Martin: Daniel Kind & DCI Hannah Scarlett

Evanovich, Janet: Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli—or Ranger—or Diesel—or not
Finch, Charles: Charles Lennox and Lady Jane Grey
George, Elizabeth: Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers

Glatzer, Hal: Herman Korn and Teddie Sanderson
Gordon, Alan: Jester Feste and wife Viola, late of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
Greenwood, Kerry: Corinna Chapman and Daniel Cohen
Granger, Ann: Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell
Haddam, Jane: Gregor Demarkian and Bennis Hannaford (this one’s a stretch)
Ham, Lorie: Alexandra Waters and Stephen Carlucci
Hammett, Dashiell: Nick and Nora Charles
Handler, David: Mitch Berger and state policewoman Desiree Mitry
Harrington, Jonathan: C. J. and Bridge

Harris: C.S.: Sebastian St. Cyr and Hero (Jarvis) St. Cyr

Hart, Carolyn: Max and Annie Darling
Hays, Kim: Giuliana Linder and Renzo Donatelli
Haywood, Gar: Joe and Dottie Loudermilk 

Kay, Arlene: Eja Kane and Deming Swann
Iakovou, Takis: and Judy Nick and Julia Lambro

Jameson, Emma: Lord & Lady Hetheridge
Jarvis, Nancy Lynn: Regan McHenry and Tom Kiley
Kellerman, Faye: Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus
Kelly, Susan B.: Alison Hope and Nick Trevelyan
Kelner, Toni L. P.: Laurie Ann and Richard Fleming
Kenney, Susan: Roz Howard and Alan Stewart
Kincheloe, Jennifer: Police Matron Anna Blanc and Detective Joe Singer
King, Laurie R.: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
Levinson, R. S.: Neil Gulliver and Stevie Marriner
Lindquist, N. J.: Paul Manziuk and Jacqueline Ryan
Liskow, Steve: "Woody" Guthrie & Megan Traine; Zach Barnes & Beth Shepard
Lockridge, Frances and Richard: Pam and Jerry North
Lupoff, Richard: Hobart Lindsay and Marvia Plum
MacLeod, Charlotte: Max and Sarah Kelling Bittersohn, Peter and Helen Shandy
McBride, Susan: Maggie Ryan and John Phillips
McCafferty, Barbara Taylor & Herald, Beverly: Bert & Nan Tatum
McDermid, Val: Tony Hill and Carol Jordan
McGown, Jill: Chief Inspector Danny Lloyd and Inspector Judy Hill
Maron, Margaret: Deborah Knott and Dwight Bryant
Marsh, Ngaio: Roderick Alleyn and Agatha Troy
Matthews, Alex: Cassidy McCabe, Zack
Maxwell, A. & E.: Fiora and Fiddler
Moyes, Patricia: Emmie and Henry Tibbetts
Munier, Paula: Mercy Carre and Troy Warner

Newman, Sharan: Catherine Levendeur and husband Edgar
Paige, Robin: Charles and Kate Sheridan
Palmer, Stuart: Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Piper
Parker, Robert: Spencer and Susan
Pears, Iain: Flavia Di Stefano and Jonathan Argyle
Perry, Anne: Thomas and Charlotte Pitt
Peters, Elizabeth: Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson; Ramses and Nefret;Vicky Bliss and John Smith
Pickard, Nancy: Jenny Cain and Geoffrey Bushfield
Pomidor, Bill: Drs. Calista and Plato Marley

Rafael, Lev: Nick and Stefan
Raybourn,  Deanna: Nicholas Brisbane and Lady Julia Grey; Veronica Speedwell and Stoker
Robb, J.D.: Eve Dallas and Roark
Roos, Kelley: Jeff and Haila Troy
Rozan, S. J.: Bill Smith and Lydia Chin
Rubino, Jane: Cat Austen and Victor Cardenas
Sale, Medora: John Sanders and Harriet Jeffries
Saulnier, Beth: Alex Bernier and Brian Cody
Sayers, Dorothy L.: Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane
Schumacher, Aileen: Tory Peters and David Alvarez
Simas, Ann: Chloe Faust and Marsh Fielding

Smith, Charles Merrill: Reverend Con Randollph and Samantha Stack
Spencer-Fleming, Julia: Claire Ferguson and Russ Van Alstyne
Stabenow, Dana: Kate Shugak and Jim Chopin

Sten, Viveca: Thomas Andreasson and Nora Linde
Thompson, Victoria: Sarah Brandt and Detective Frank Molloy
Whitney, Polly: Ike and Abby
Wilhelm, Kate: Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl
Wright, L. R.: Karl Alberg, RCMP, and Cassandra Mitchell