Hat Tip: Kevin Tipple
Sunday, April 30, 2017
The Strand Critics Awards
The Strand Critics Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists. Congratulations to All!
Best Novel
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown and Company)
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
The Trespasser by Tana French (Viking)
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow)
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (Gallery)
Best Debut Novel:
The Widow by Fiona Barton (NAL)
IQ by Joe Ide (Mulholland)
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell (Touchstone)
A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt (Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Homeplace by Kevin Wolf (Minotaur)
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (William Morrow)
Clive Cussler was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party in New York City, hosted by The Strand on July 12, 2017.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Agatha Award Winners: Malice Domestic
Best Contemporary Novel
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Best Historical Novel
The Reek of Red Herrings by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books)
Best First Novel
The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery Press)
Best Nonfiction
Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats by Jane K. Cleland (Writer's Digest Books)
Best Short Story
"Parallel Play" by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning (Wildside Press)
Best Children/Young Adult
The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club by Penny Warner (Darby Creek)
Lifetime Achievement: Charlaine Harris
Poirot Award: Martin Edwards
Happy Independent Bookstore Day!
Today is Independent Bookstore Day! How many bookstores will you visit? What's your favorite Independent Bookstore? Let me know, and you'll be entered to win a mystery! Be sure and leave your email address, so I can contact you.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Deadly Ink David Award Nominees
Deadly Ink mystery conference has announced the slate of nominees for the David Award, presented for the best mystery published in 2016.David Award Nominees
Blonde Ice, by R. G. Belsky (Atria)
Written Off, by E. J. Copperman (Crooked Lane)
Death of a Toy Soldier, by Barbara Early (Crooked Lane)
Seconds to Live, by Melinda Leigh (Montlake Romance)
Yom Killer, by Ilene Schneider (Aakenbaaken & Kent)
Deadly Ink will be held from June 16 to 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rockaway, New Jersey. The Winner will be announced during the June 17 Banquet.
Hat Tip: Les Blatt via The Rap Sheet
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Mystery Writers of America Edgar Winners
BEST NOVEL
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
BEST FACT CRIME
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton - Liveright)
BEST SHORT STORY
"Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)
BEST JUVENILE
OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
"A Blade of Grass" – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"The Truth of the Moment" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)
GRAND MASTER
Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart
RAVEN AWARD
Dru Ann Love
ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Neil Nyren
* * * * * *
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Reed Farrel Coleman to Co-Write Michael Mann's Heat Prequel
Congratulations, Reed!!!From Deadline:
After a long manhunt that involved months of interviews with substantial authors, Michael Mann has found his co-writer for the prequel novel to Mann’s landmark crime film Heat. Writing with Mann will be Reed Farrel Coleman, the four-time Edgar Award-nominated author who is up for the award tonight for his 2016 novel Where It Hurts, part of mystery series that revolves around the retired Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy.
Coleman will collaborate with Mann to tell an origin story involving the characters that populated the Al Pacino-Robert De Niro-led ensemble drama that Mann scripted, directed and produced. The novel will be published next year under the Michael Mann imprint at William Morrow/HarperCollins.
Read More Here.
Palm Springs Noir: Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival
The festival kicks off with a restored print of Hollow Triumph (1948) with special guest, actress-filmmaker Monika Henried, daughter of star Paul Henried. Richard Duryea will also be in attendance for Roy William Neill's Black Angel (1946), which features a rare sympathetic role for his father Dan Duryea. Other guests include Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris, for a screening of the Val Lewton production The Body Snatcher (1945) directed by Robert Wise, and actor Andy Robinson from 1973's Charley Varrick, Don Siegel's classic heist film. As in previous years at the festival, the majority of the films are presented as 35mm prints. Producer and programmer Alan K. Rode and co-presenters Eddie Muller and Foster Hirsch will be introducing the films.
The festival is executive produced by the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
View the entire film and guest schedule, then purchase tickets and passes here!
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
William Hjortsberg: R.I.P.
Read more Here.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Crimefest Awards Shortlist
CRIMEFEST AWARDS SHORTLISTS
Winners will be announced at the CRIMEFEST Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, May 21. Congratulations to all!
AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD
The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2016 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader(s) share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.
Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:
– Rachel Abbott for Kill Me Again, read by Lisa Coleman (Bolinda / Audible)
– Fiona Barton for The Widow, read by Clare Corbett (Bolinda / Audible)
– Clare Mackintosh for I See You, read by Rachel Atkins (Sphere)
– Holly Seddon for Try Not to Breath, read by Jot Davies, Lucy Middleweek & Katy Sobey (Bolinda)
– Ben Aaronovitch for The Hanging Tree, read by Kobna Holdbrook– Smith (Orion Publishing Group)
– Lee Child for Night School, read by Jeff Harding (Transworld Digital)
– Anthony Horowitz for Magpie Murders, read by Allan Corduner & Samantha Bond (Orion Publishing Group)
– Peter May for Coffin Road, read by Peter Forbes (Riverrun)
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.
eDUNNIT AWARD
The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2016.
Nominees for the eDunnit Award:
– Linwood Barclay for The Twenty– Three (Orion Publishing Group)
– Steph Broadribb for Deep Down Dead (Orenda Books)
– Michael Connelly for The Wrong Side of Goodbye (Orion Publishing Group)
– Ragnar Jonasson for Blackout (Orenda Books)
– Laura Lippman for Wilde Lake (Faber & Faber)
– Ian Rankin for Rather Be the Devil (Orion Publishing Group)
– Andrew Taylor for The Ashes of London (HarperFiction)
– L.C. Tyler for Cat Among the Herrings (Allison & Busby)
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.
LAST LAUGH AWARD
The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2016. The winner receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.
Nominees for the Last Laugh Award:
– Ken Bruen & Jason Starr for PIMP (Hardcase Crime)
– John Dufresne for I Don’t Like Where This Is Going (Serpent’s Tail)
– Judith Flanders for A Cast of Vultures (Allison & Busby)
– Mick Herron for Real Tigers (John Murray)
– Carl Hiaasen for Razor Girl (Little, Brown Book Group)
– Vaseem Khan for The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown (Hodder & Stoughton)
– L.C. Tyler for Cat Among the Herrings (Allison & Busby)
– Chris Whitaker for Tall Oaks (Twenty7)
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.
H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles in 2016. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction. The winning author receives a commemorative Bristol Blue Glass award.
Nominees for the H.R.F. Keating Award:
– Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie on Screen (Palgrave Macmillan)
– J.C. Berthnal for Queering Agatha Christie (Palgrave Macmillan)
– Barry Forshaw for Brit Noir (No Exit Press)
– Rachel Franks & Alistair Rolls for Crime Uncovered: Private investigator (Intellect)
– Katharina Hall for Crime Fiction in German: Der Krimi (University of Wales Press)
– Megan Hoffman for Gender and Representation in British ‘Golden Age’ Crime Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)
– Elizabeth Mannion for The Contemporary Irish Detective Novel (Palgrave Macmillan)
BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR CHILDREN (08 – 12)
– Lyn Gardner for Rose Campion and The Stolen Secret (Nosy Crow)
– Fleur Hitchcock for Murder In Midwinter (Nosy Crow)
– Gareth P. Jones for The Thornthwaite Betrayal (Piccadilly Press)
– Tom McLaughlin for The Accidental Secret Agent (Oxford University Press)
– Robin Stevens for Murder Most Unladylike: Jolly Foul Play (Puffin)
– Robin Stevens for Murder Most Unladylike: Mistletoe and Murder (Puffin)
– Harriet Whitehorn for Violet and the Smugglers (Simon & Schuster)
– Katherine Woodfine for The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth (Egmont)
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.
BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (12 – 16)
– Leigh Bardugo for Crooked Kingdom (Hachette Children’s Group)
– Kerry Drewery for Cell 7 (Hot Key Books)
– John Grisham for Theodore Boone: The Scandal (Hodder & Stoughton)
– Erin Lange for Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah (Faber & Faber)
– Patrice Lawrence for Orangeboy (Hachette Children’s Group)
– Simon Mason for Kid Got Shot (David Fickling Books)
– Simon Mayo for Blame (Penguin)
– Eliza Wass for In The Dark, In The Woods (Hachette Children’s Group)
Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.
The Germ: Guest Post by Lisa Unger
Lisa Unger:
The Germ
The idea for a novel or a character can come from anywhere – a conversation, a line of poetry, a news story or even a piece of junk mail. An idea, a spark, maybe. But really it’s more like a germ, something that gets into your system and takes hold, doesn’t go away. It stays, coughs up when you least expect it, onto the page. Sometimes the germ travels through your blood for years until finally the symptoms present themselves.
I caught the germ for THE RED HUNTER more than fifteen years ago. Actually… it’s closer to twenty, though that seems an embarrassingly long time to have an idea, or the shade of an idea. I was in my late twenties, in a dark place, when I discovered the martial arts. I had just come through a brutal break up, my dreams of writing lay fallow. I was disconnected from myself in almost every way. The martial arts changed me, introducing me to a new version of myself, someone stronger than I thought I could ever be. That place and moment in my life was the germ for THE RED HUNTER, and for one if its main characters, Zoey Drake: a victim turned fighter, someone looking for revenge.
Many, many years later, my husband and I gutted and renovated our 1968 home. Let’s be clear: we hired someone to do this work. (We’re not crazy!) But we lived in the house while it was under reconstruction. (Okay, we’re a little crazy.) It was cathartic to watch our home, a place we’d loved for more than a decade, torn down to the studs, and recreated as something new and uniquely ours. But it was also stressful, unpredictable, and incredibly challenging. It was not an experience I planned to write about; rather one I swore I wouldn’t repeat and tried to forget. But then, three years later, as I started on THE RED HUNTER, another major voice in the book, Claudia Bishop, emerges. Guess what? She’s renovating a ramshackle old farm house. And she’s blogging about it, a way of moving forward from the trauma of her past, and recreating her future. Another germ, an intense experience that hung on, maybe waiting until my resistance was low.
Sometimes ideas are like food poisoning, coming on strong and undeniably. The germ for BEAUTIFUL LIES came from a piece of junk mail, and I was writing that story within hours. But more often ideas lay dormant, waiting for their rightful place in my fictional world. I was speaking on stage with some other authors, and I was describing the inspiration for a character named Emily in HEARTBROKEN. I was pregnant and had an encounter with a troubled woman in a grocery store, which almost led to a car accident. “But your daughter is five,” one of the authors, a friend of mine, said. It took me by surprise; it was true. It took nearly six years for Emily to find her way onto the page. The idea for HEARTBROKEN came from a family trip to an island that same year, but the germ for Emily took hold long before.
The desire to write is a congenital condition (for more on this read: http://lisaunger.com/2008/03/disease/), and I mean this in the best possible way. Writers are born, not made. Likewise, ideas, if they find the right conditions, can take hold and move through your blood. Maybe they present themselves quickly, maybe they linger waiting for their opportunity to flourish. I’m not looking for a cure.
Monday, April 24, 2017
The Culinary Joys of Burgundy in Winter: Guest Post by Susan Shea
Susan Shea:
The Culinary Joys of Burgundy in Winter
So many authors write well about France and the French – Cara Black, Martin Walker, Fred Vargas - well, she’s French, so she should - and more. But no one else that I know of is writing about the pastoral areas of Burgundy where wheat and rapeseed are as common as wine grapes (thanks, I have been told, to a nasty epidemic of phylloxera some time ago) and where white cattle decorate green fields and red poppies dot the sides of the road in season.
Burgundy has long, cold winters and I have a hunch that’s when some of the region’s signature dishes were developed. After all, if it’s just above freezing, rainy, and the clouds are too low to see the ramparts of the nearest chateau over the soft, rolling hills, what else is there to do but bake gougeres, set a pot of wine-enriched boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin to simmer on the back burner, and roll out a crust and slice apples for a tarte tat in?
I spent eight wet days in a small town in Burgundy last December, researching seasonal foods and activities for the second in my French village mysteries. I know you roll your eyes and say, “Poor you, eight days in France,” but I was cold all the time and the constant rain didn’t support sightseeing. I learned so much that was useful, however: The people in small towns do nothing like our gaudy Christmas decorations and retail promotions. Chocolate and marzipan are the celebratory holiday treats. The churches are dark and silent, their ancient stone walls radiating cold. A few red-cheeked farmers maintain outdoor stalls with cabbages, celery root, potatoes, and fat, white carrots. The biggest market display I saw included imported oranges (Morocco), kiwi (Spain, my notes say), and lettuce that came, perhaps, from hothouses.
As always, cheeses are king. A vendor I remember from summer visits greeted me like a as he raised the side panel of his truck to display what must have been 100 varieties of cow, goat, and sheep cheese, from pretty to downright dangerous looking.
Near the square in Avallon where he’s parked this morning is a small store that advertises “only local cheese” and there I discover a new one to me: little gray mold cheeses in the shapes of pyramids from Vezelay – delicious if you like your cheese with lots of flavor.
Desserts everywhere in France are the most beautiful, the most tempting, the most elegantly conceived treats, but you knew that. I can close my eyes and point and I know I’ll love whatever it turns out to be.
In the spirit of Janet’s chocolate worship, I am enclosing a recipe for a bittersweet chocolate tart that I got from the web site of a chef in Burgundy. Funny thing: He’s an American!
Bon appetit, mes amis!
***
Recipe from burgundytoday.com, and the American, French-trained chef Bob Chambers
BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE TART
Makes a 23 cm (9 inch) tart
FOR THE PASTRY SHELL
• 1 plump vanilla bean
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 60 gm ( 1/2 cup) icing sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp whole blanched almonds
• 100 gm (3/4 cup) plain flour, sifted
• Pinch of salt
• 70 gm (5 Tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
FOR THE FILLING
• 3/4 cup double cream
• a third of a cup of milk
• 200 gm (7oz.) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 50 gm (5 Tbsp) chopped orange peel, optional
• 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder for sifting
TO MAKE THE PASTRY SHELL
Flatten the vanilla bean and cut it in half lengthwise. With a small spoon, scrape the seeds into a small bowl. Add the egg yolks and stir to blend. In a food processor, combine the sugar and almonds and process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the flour and salt and process to blend. Add the butter and process just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolks and pulse until the dough just about begins to hold together; do not over process – the dough should not form a ball. Gently pat the dough into a disc, handling it as little as possible. Wrap dough in wax paper and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 hr or overnight.
Butter the bottom and side of a 23 cm (9in) fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 28 cm (11in) round. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and gently press the dough against the side, allowing about 1 cm (½ in) to hang over the rim. Prick the bottom of the dough all over with a fork. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 hr.
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Set the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for about 5 mins, just until the pastry begins to firm up. Remove from the oven and, with a sharp knife, carefully cut off and discard the overhanging pastry to make a smooth, even rim. Return the shell to the oven and bake for about 15- 20 mins longer until the pastry is well browned all over.
Transfer to a rack and let cool completely before filling. Leave the oven on.
TO MAKE THE FILLING
In a medium saucepan, bring the cream and milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted. Let cool to lukewarm, then whisk in the egg until thoroughly blended. Stir in the candid orange peel.
Pour the custard into the pastry shell and bake in the middle of the oven for 12 to 15 mins, or until the filling is almost set but still trembling in the center. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Sift the cocoa powder over the tart and serve warm or at room temperature. It is also delicious served chilled.
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Los Angeles Times Book Prize: Best Mystery/Thriller
Bill Beverly won for Dodgers (Crown) in the Best MysteryThriller category.
Also nominated in the Best Mystery/Thriller category:
His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Skyhorse)
The Girls by Emma Cline (Random House)
The North Water by Ian McGuire (Henry Holt
Darktown by Thomas Mullen (37 Ink/Atria Books).
Hat Tip: TheRapSheet
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Friday, April 21, 2017
Environmental Mysteries: Earth Day 2017
This is an updated Earth Day/Environmental Mysteries list that is by no means complete. There are many more authors, and certainly more books by many of the authors on the list. As always, I welcome additions. 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.
Mystery Readers Journal had an issue on Environmental Mysteries. It's available as both a PDF and hardcopy. This is a great source for more titles.
Be kind to the Earth. It's the only one we have.
ENVIRONMENTAL/ECOLOGICAL MYSTERIES
Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang' Hayduke Lives!
Liz Adair's Snakewater Affair
Glyyn Marsh Alam's Cold Water Corpse; Bilge Water Bones
Grace Alexander's Hegemon
Suzanne Arruda's Stalking Ivory
Sarah Andrews' Em Hansen Mystery series
Lindsay Arthur's The Litigators
Anna Ashwood-Collins' Deadly Resolution
Sandi Ault's Wild Inferno, Wild Indigo, Wild Penance, Wild Sorrow
Shannon Baker's Tainted Mountain, Broken Trust, Tattered Legacy
J. G. Ballard's Rushing to Paradise
Michael Barbour's The Kenai Catastrophe and 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
Donald J Bingle's GreensWord
Michael Black's A Killing Frost
Jennifer Blake's Shameless
C J Box's Winterkill, Open Season, Below Zero, Savage Run, Out of Range, Trophy Hunt, Free Fire, In Plain Sight
Alex Brett's Dead Water Creek
Rex Burns' Endangered Species
Robin Cook's Fever
Donna Cousins' Landscape
Ann Cleeves' Another Man's Poison
Eileen Charbonneau Waltzing in Ragtime
Michael Crichton's State of Fear
James Crumley's Dancing Bear
Janet Dawson's Don't Turn Your Back on the Ocean
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
Paul Doiron's The Poacher's Son, Trespasser, Bad Little Falls, The Bone Orchard and others
David Michael Donovan's Evil Down in the Alley
Rubin Douglas' The Wise Pelican: From the Cradle to the Grave
Jack Du Brul's Vulcan's Forge, River of Ruin, and others
Kerstin Ekman's Blackwater
Aaron J Elkins' The Dark Place, Unnatural Selection
Howard Engle's Dead and Buried
Eric Evans' Endangered
Nancy Fairbanks's Acid Bath, Hunting Game and others
G M Ford's Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?
Clare Francis's The Killing Winds (Requiem)
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' Ultimatum
Kenneth Goddard's Double Blind, Prey, Wildfire
Steven Gould and Laura J. Mixon's Greenwar
Robert O. Greer's The Devil's Hatband
John Grisham's The Pelican Brief, The Appeal
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
Matt Hammond's Milkshake
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
Carl Hiaasen's Skinny Dip, Stormy Weather, Sick Puppy, Strip Tease, Scat
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
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
Janice Law's Infected be the Air
Stephen Legault's The Darkening Archipelago
Donna Leon's Death in a Strange Country, About Face
David Liss' The Ethical Assassin
Sam Llewellyn's Deadeye
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' Once a Perfect Place
Elizabeth Manz's Wasted Space
Margaret Maron's High Country Fall, Shooting at Loons, Up Jumps the Devil, Hard Row
John Martel's Partners
Steve Martini's Critical Mass
John McGoran's Drift, Deadout, Dust Up
Karin McQuillan's Deadly Safari, Cheetah Chase, Elephant's Graveyard
Anne Metikosh's Undercurrent
Deon Meyer's Blood Safari, Thirteen Hours
Kirk Mitchell's High Desert Malice, Deep Valley Malice
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
Dan O'Brien's Brendan Prairie
Michael Palmer's Fatal
Sara Paretsky's Blood Shot
T. Jefferson's Parker's Pacific Beat
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
Bob Reiss's Purgatory Road
Ruth Rendell's Road Rage
Geoffrey Robert's The Alo Release
Rebecca Rothenberg's The Shy Tulip Murders
Patricia Rushford's Red Sky in the Mourning
Alan Russell's The Forest Prime Evil
Kirk Russell's Shell Games
Frank Schätzing's The Swarm
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: The Eco-Thriller
Mark Stevens' Buried by the Roan
David Sundstrand's Shadow of the Raven
William Tapply's Cutter's Run
Peter Temple's The Broken Shore
Craig Thomas's A Wild Justice
Judith Van Gleson's "Neil Hamel" series
David Rains Wallace's The Turquoise Dragon
Lee Wallingford's Clear-Cut Murder
Joseph Wambaugh's Finnegan's Week
Sterling Watson's Deadly Sweet
Betty Webb's Desert Wind
Randy Wayne White's White Captiva
Robert Wilson's Blood is Dirt
K.J.A. Wishnia's The Glass Factory
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.
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
Donald Westlake's Drowned Hopes
John Morgan Wilson's Rhapsody in Blood
Stuart Woods's Under the Lake
Let me know any other titles you think should be included.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlist
Best Novel
Kelley Armstrong, City of the Lost, Penguin Random House of Canada
Michael Helm, After James, McClelland & Stewart
Maureen Jennings, Dead Ground in Between, McClelland & Stewart
Janet Kellough, Wishful Seeing, Dundurn Press
Donna Morrissey, The Fortunate Brother, Viking Canada
Best First Novel sponsored by Kobo
Ryan Aldred, Rum Luck, Five Star Publishing
R.M.Greenaway, Cold Girl, Dundurn Press
Mark Lisac, Where the Bodies Lie, NeWest Press
Amy Stuart, Still Mine, Simon & Schuster Canada
Elle Wild, Strange Things Done, Dundurn Press
Best Novella: The Lou Allin Memorial Award
Rick Blechta, Rundown, Orca Book Publishers
Brenda Chapman, No Trace, Grass Roots Press
Jas. R. Petrin, The Devil You Know, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing
Linda L. Richards, When Blood Lies, Orca Book Publishers
Peter Robinson, The Village That Lost Its Head, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing
Best Short Story
Cathy Ace, Steve’s Story, The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime
Susan Daly, A Death at the Parsonage, The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime
Elizabeth Hosang, Where There’s a Will, The Whole She-Bang 3, Toronto Sisters in Crime
Scott Mackay, The Ascent, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing
David Morrell, The Granite Kitchen, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Dell Publishing
Best Book in French
Marie-Eve Bourassa, Red Light: Adieu, Mignonne, Groupe Ville-Marie Littérature, vlb éditions
Chrystine Brouillet, Vrai ou faux, Éditions Druide
Guillaume Morrissette, Terreur domestique, Guy Saint-Jean Éditeur
Johanne Seymour, Rinzen et l’homme perdu, Libre Expression
Richard Ste-Marie, Le Blues des sacrifiés, Éditions Alire
Best Juvenile/YA Book
Gordon Korman, Masterminds: Criminal Destiny, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.
Nora McClintock, Trial by Fire, Orca Book Publishers
John Moss, The Girl in a Coma, The Poisoned Pencil-Poisoned Pen Press
Caroline Pignat, Shooter, Tundra Books
Eva Wiseman, Another Me, Tundra Books
Best Nonfiction Book
Christie Blatchford, Life Sentence: Stories from Four Decades of Court Reporting — or, How I Fell Out of Love with the Canadian Justice System, Doubleday Canada
Joe Friesen, The Ballad of Danny Wolfe: Life of a Modern Outlaw, Signal McClelland & Stewart
Jeremy Grimaldi, A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story, Dundurn Press
Debra Komar, Black River Road: An Unthinkable Crime, an Unlikely Suspect, and the Question of Character, Goose Lane
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon, Shadow of Doubt: The Trial of Dennis Oland, Goose Lane
Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel sponsored by Dundurn Press
Mary Fernando, An Absence of Empathy
S.J. Jennings, The Golkonda Project
Charlotte Morganti, Concrete Becomes Her
Ann Shortell, Celtic Knot
Mark Thomas, The Last Dragon
CWC announces the 2017 Derrick Murdoch Award recipient Christina Jennings. The Derrick Murdoch Award is a special achievement award for contributions to the crime genre. This year's recipient is Christina Jennings, founder, Chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury Films. She has won a number of awards, including Genies, Geminis and Canadian Screen Awards, among several other nominations and accolades throughout her career.
Christina founded Shaftesbury Films in 1987 as a feature film company. She has produced movies and television series based upon the work of several Arthur Ellis Award-winning Canadian crime writers including the late novelist and playwright Timothy Findlay (External Affairs), novelists Gail Bowen (the Joanna Kilbourn TV movies) and Maureen Jennings (Murdoch Mysteries), as well as historian Marjorie Freeman Campbell (Torso).
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 from coast to coast. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors.
For more info about the Arthur Ellis Awards and the shortlists, or for contact information about the finalists, contact Arthur Ellis Awards Administrator Alison Bruce, at arthur_ellis@crimewriterscanada.com.
Chautauqua Prize 2017 Finalists
The General vs. The President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War, by H.W. Brands (Doubleday)
The Fortunes, by Peter Ho Davies (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Blood River Rising: The Thompson-Crimson Feud of the 1920s, by Victoria Pope Hubbell (Iris Press)
Underground Airlines, by Ben H. Winters (Mulholland Books)
American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good, by Colin Woodard (Viking)
The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, by Kao Kalia Yang (Metropolitan Books)
The winning book will be selected from this shortlist and announced in mid-May.
Awarded annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize draws upon Chautauqua Institution’s considerable literary legacy to celebrate a book that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and to honor the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. The author of the winning book will receive $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua. For more information, visit ciweb.org/prize.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
And Now For Something Completely Different: Guest Post by Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He's received or been shortlisted for many major awards around the world. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University. I love that Jeff decided to write "Something Completely Different for this post, and I can't wait to make his Mushroom Asparagus Risotto. Thanks, Jeff!
Jeffery Deaver:
And Now for Something Completely Different
Okay, yes, I write sick and twisted thrillers. But let’s go to an even scarier side. Let’s talk food.
My latest book from Grand Central Publishing is The Burial Hour, the thirteenth in the Lincoln Rhyme series (which began with The Bone Collector). While most of my novels don’t involve much discussion of food (who has time to eat when you’re chasing psychotic killers and terrorists?), The Burial Hour does. Why? Because it’s set in Italy.
Say no more.
There are several scenes in which food figures prominently in the story. Amelia Sachs and a young Italian policeman make some vital discoveries after lunching in the countryside near Naples. Important clues related to North African food are discovered near a refugee camp. And a tense negotiation ends with a farm-to-table meal, accompanied, as it must be, by a fine Campanian wine (molto forte, or, as Lincoln Rhyme would say with approval: “Damn strong!).
It was a hard job to research these--and other--dishes that I describe in the book but somebody had to do it. And I feel I acquitted myself admirably (and will soon start making daily trips to the health club to eliminate the evidence of my efforts).
So, what’s the scary part?
I thought I might share with you an Italian recipe of my own creation.
Jeffery Deaver’s Mushroom Asparagus Risotto
Serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a main course.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped.
1 pound green asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces (discard the bottom 1 ½ inches from each stalk).
4 Portobello mushroom caps, cut in half, then into thin slices.
2 cups arborio rice.
3/4 cup dry white wine.
6 cups chicken stock.
6 tablespoons butter.
Olive oil for sautéing.
Pinch of nutmeg.
Salt and pepper.
Directions:
1. Heat the chicken stock in pan to simmer, then reduce heat.
2. In a large skillet, sauté the asparagus in olive oil quickly--one minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add more oil and sauté the onion and mushroom caps until soft.
4. Leaving the onions and mushroom caps in the skillet, add the rice and stir for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the wine and stir constantly until most of the liquid evaporates.
6. Add the chicken stock one cup at a time, stirring constantly, until it is incorporated into the rice. This will take about 20-30 minutes.
7. When the mixture is uniform and creamy, stir in the asparagus, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook for two minutes.
8. Off the heat. Stir in the butter and let stand for five minutes before serving.
9. Garnish with parsley (Italian, of course).
I like to pair this with a Veneto chardonnay or a gruner veltliner, from Austria.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Library Poster of the Day
Interesting Library Poster from the Leeds Library in the UK. What do you think? Certainly got my attention.
Back in the High Life Again: Guest post by Robert Greer
ROBERT GREER:
BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE AGAIN
For four decades and counting, I have had a day job that can be pretty all consuming. Unlike Alan Alda, in his current TV Doctors of America public service promo for healthcare, for over forty years I have had the privilege of playing doctor for real. To make matters worse, or better, depending on how you look at it, I’ve played that role in an academic medical setting.
So, when my day job publisher, Cambridge University Press, suggested that it was time for me to rewrite one of my pathology textbooks, and made me a kind of Marlon Brando, Godfather “academic medicine” offer I couldn’t refuse, what could I possibly do? Their offer wasn’t an artistically incentivized one, the kind that might come with my night job, and it certainly wasn’t greatly monetarily incentivized (you don’t get paid much for writing medical textbooks). The offer was instead bolstered by the old academic saw, “publish or perish.” However, after 159 scientific publications and three medical textbooks, I am at the stage in my medical career where that old saw doesn’t mean very much. So I initially shrugged their offer off. However, some of the faculty members in my department, immensely talented individuals and also valued prior contributors to the textbook, are not at the same point in their careers. So with that in mind, you might say the game was afoot.
Now, three and a half years, 2,000 manuscript pages and 1,500 illustrations later, as Steve Winwood so aptly put it in his 1986 hit song, “I’m Back in The High Life Again.” Back to novel writing and that night job I so much enjoy and terribly missed. Back to penning the exploits of bail bondsman and bounty hunter, CJ Floyd.
Here’s a little secret that I’ll reveal to you. Well, perhaps it’s not really that much of a secret since I’ve shared it with others. During my three and a half year hiatus from mystery novel writing, I cheated on Cambridge University Press; but only just a little bit. Nine months before my pathology textbook was due to the publisher, I won’t tell you the textbook title, (Google it, if you like), I’d had enough molecular biology, cancer therapeutics, diagnostic paradigm imperatives, disease causation postulates, and rivers of medical jargon coursing through my veins, that I had to find either that rabbit hole Alice climbed into for relief, or drift off into writing Never-Never-Land. So I pulled CJ Floyd off the shelf, dusted off a cadre of his Denver sidekicks, killed off someone, and sent CJ and friends chasing off after the bad guys in my new mystery novel, CHUGWATER BLUES.
In CHUGWATER BLUES, CJ’s partner in his bail bonding business, Desert Storm veteran and former Marine Corp intelligence operative, Flora Jean Benson, is devastated by the recent death of the love of her life, one time Marine Corp General, Alden Grace. Down in the dumps, Flora Jean takes a leave of absence at a remote Wyoming ranch. However, the clandestine world that she and Alden were once a part of catches up to her. Slower than he once was and a bit worse for wear, CJ rushes to help Flora Jean out, drawing himself and his street-smart buddies into a conspiracy that stretches from wind-blown Wyoming to the war torn Middle East.
You can find out what happens to CJ, Flora Jean, and friends in CHUGWATER BLUES, hopefully by year’s end. That’s unless, of course, you’d rather read PEDIATRIC HEAD AND NECK PATHOLOGY. Darn, I didn’t intend to mention that name. Guess it was just a day job slip-up, which I can assure you my friends, is in no way malpractice.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Meg Gardiner's UNSUB to be CBS TV series
CBS Television Studios has pre-emptively bought the rights to Edgar-winning author Meg Gardiner’s forthcoming novel UNSUB, ahead of an auction, to adapt for television. The novel, the first in a series, will be published June 27 by Dutton/Penguin Random House. It will be developed as a TV series by Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman, who’ll be executive producers through their studio-based Timberman-Beverly Productions banner, along with The Story Factory’s Shane Salerno. The author, who has spent years researching celebrated unsub cases, will also serve as a producer.
The thriller follows a female detective on the trail of an infamous serial killer – inspired by the still-unsolved Zodiac case – when he breaks his silence and begins killing again. The detective, who grew up watching her father destroy himself and his family chasing the killer, now finds herself facing the same monster. Her work brings her to the attention of the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, where she goes to work hunting other UNSUBs (UNknown SUBjects, a term used for suspects in a criminal investigation) while being tormented by the killer her father never caught.
Passport to Murder Anthology!
Passport to Murder will be published on October 12, 2017. The anthology will be available for pre-order in the summer of 2017. Details will be posted on Twitter and Facebook and the Bouchercon website with details as they become available.
· Beckstrom, Eric
· Bracken, Michael
· Buck, Craig Faustus
· Calder, Susan
· Davidson, Hilary
· Dymmoch, Michael
· Floyd, John
· Grabenstein, Chris
· Hannan-Mandel, Marie
· Hutchings, Janet
· Kay, Marilyn
· Kopil, Su
· Mallow, Tanis
· Masterson, LD
· McCracken, Rosemary
· Phillips, Gary
· Pullen, Karen
· Rockwood, KM
· Sanders, Scott Loring
· Simmons, Shawn Reilly
· Stickney, John
· Weisfeld, Victoria
· Bracken, Michael
· Buck, Craig Faustus
· Calder, Susan
· Davidson, Hilary
· Dymmoch, Michael
· Floyd, John
· Grabenstein, Chris
· Hannan-Mandel, Marie
· Hutchings, Janet
· Kay, Marilyn
· Kopil, Su
· Mallow, Tanis
· Masterson, LD
· McCracken, Rosemary
· Phillips, Gary
· Pullen, Karen
· Rockwood, KM
· Sanders, Scott Loring
· Simmons, Shawn Reilly
· Stickney, John
· Weisfeld, Victoria
Not registered for Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention? It's not too late. Register Here.
Death and Taxes: Tax Day Mysteries
Perhaps the most well known Tax Day Mystery is David Dodge's Death and Taxes--an oldie but goodie (1941). It's been reissued. Read Librarian and Editor Randal Brandt's posts on David Dodge HERE and HERE.
San Francisco tax accountant James “Whit” Whitney is summoned home from a vacation in Santa Cruz to help his partner, George MacLeod, recover a hefty tax refund for a beautiful blonde client named Marian Wolff. When he returns to his office, Whit finds MacLeod dead in the firm’s vault, “with a small hole in the bridge of his nose.” In order to complete the tax return and uncover the murderer, Whit becomes a reluctant detective and nearly gets himself killed in the process. To prevent Whit’s murder, if possible, the SFPD assigns him a bodyguard named Swede Larson. Whit and Swede tangle with ex-bootleggers and Telegraph Hill gangsters in their efforts to unravel the mystery, which climaxes with a shootout in the Mission District and a dramatic car chase across the Bay Bridge. Along the way, Whit resists the advances of Marian Wolff and begins a romance with Kitty MacLeod, George’s widow.
Before becoming a novelist, David Dodge worked as a Certified Public Accountant. No wonder his first fictional hero was also a tax man. A notable aspect of the Whitney novels is the volume of information about taxes and finances that Dodge effortlessly weaves into his plots. To read more about David Dodge, go HERE.
Sue Dunlap's 7th Jill Smith mystery is also entitled Death and Taxes.
Until someone put a poisoned needle in his bicycle seat, Phil Drem was the meanest, most nit-picking IRS agent in Berkeley, California.
But when Detective Jill Smith began searching Berkeley's backwaters for the tax man's killer, she found a different picture of Drem: a caring Drem, whose once-beautiful wife was "allergic to the world" and whose friends and enemies, old hippies and would-be entrepreneurs, enjoyed a ghoulish pastime called The Death Game. Did the Death Game KO Drem? Was someone's schedule a motive for murder? And what about a CPA who drove a red Lotus ruthlessly and guaranteed his clients they'd never be audited?
Only one thing is for sure, —somewhere in Berkeley's backwaters, a killer is still on the loose. And for a detective who loves her city, doubts her lover, and has a knack for solving the toughest of crimes, finding the truth is about as inevitable as...Death And Taxes.
A continued search revealed another title: A Little Rebellion: April 15 Surprise by Rodney Sexton published by Writers Club Press (2000) an iUniverse book. Not having read it, I thought I'd post the Editorial Review:
After a client’s suicide and an unprecedented IRS attack on his tax practice, Certified Public Accountant Karl Mendel plans what he hopes will be the final solution to an income tax system out of control.
Assisted by close friends and professional associates, Mendel uses a personal tragedy and his belief in American freedom to fuel his war on what he refers to as the American KGB. With flying skills honed as a Marine pilot in the Vietnam War Mendel takes to the air in his planned assault on the U.S. income tax system. Help from Beatrice Gimble, a former IRS programmer and current CPA partner of his best friend, Terry Garcia, leads Karl inside the main computer facility run by the IRS. Unaware that he is being watched by powers beyond the IRS, his “forced” dealings with a Russian “mole” leads Karl and his partners into dangers they had not considered and threatens the woman he loves more than life itself.
About the Author: Rod Sexton is a practicing Certified Public Accountant living near Houston, Texas with his wife. While in Vietnam, Sexton was attached to the First Marine Air Wing. After active duty, he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Taxation degrees. A Little Rebellion is his first work of fiction.
Sure sounds like this fits the bill! Anyone read it? Any comments?
And then there's the cozy tax series that includes Death, Taxes, and a Chocolate Cannoli by Diane Kelly. This mystery fits with both this blog and my DyingforChocolate.com blog. Diane Kelly's series --Death, Taxes, and ... --are about IRS special Agent Tara Holloway. Can't get more tax-related than that..at least in the U.S. There are 13 books to keep you reading.
A further search for other mysteries uncovered a few other titles maybe a bit further afield but with an accounting theme, so in honor of Tax Day, I thought I'd post a few Accounting-Accountant crime fiction titles.
ACCOUNTING FOR MURDER: A List
Paul Anthony: Old Accountants Never Die
Paul Bennett: Due Diligence, Collateral Damage, False Profits, The Money Race
Ann Bridge: The Numbered Account
David Dodge: In addition to Death and Taxes, he wrote three more novels about San Francisco tax accountant James "Whit" Whitney: Shear the Black Sheep, Bullets for the Bridegroom and It Ain't Hay.
Marjorie Eccles: Account Rendered and other Stories
Gail Farrelly: Beaned in Boston
Dick Francis: Risk
Kate Gallison: Unbalanced Accounts
John Grisham: Skipping Christmas
Ian Hamilton: The Water Rat of Wanchai
Carolyn Hart: A Settling of Accounts
James Montgomery Jackson: Bad Policy
Marshall Jevons: Murder at the Margin, The Fatal Equilibrium, A Deadly Indifference
Emma Lathen: Accounting for Murder
Linda Lovely: Final Accounting
Sharon Potts: In Their Blood
Peter Robinson: Final Account
Karen Hanson Stuyck: Held Accountable
William C. Whitbeck: To Account for Murder
M.K. Wren: Nothing's Certain but Death
Short Story: "The Ides of Mike Magoon" in Ellery Queen's The Calendar of Crime (written when tax day was March 15, not April 15)
Anyone have a favorite mystery with a Tax Day theme? Any titles I've missed?
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Crime Novel of the Year: Longlist (Theakston's Peculier Crime Festival)
Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Festival (Harrogate) Novel of the Year Longlist:
Hat Tip: Erin Mitchell
And, if you'd prefer a list to bookcovers:
• Die of Shame, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)
• Night School, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
• Lie With Me, by Sabine Durrant (Mulholland)
• Tastes Like Fear, by Sarah Hilary (Headline)
• The Darkest Secret, by Alex Marwood (Sphere)
• Out of Bounds, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
• Even Dogs in the Wild, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• Birdwatcher, by William Shaw (Riverrun)
• The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware (Harvill Secker)
• Black Widow, by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
• After You Die, by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)
• Real Tigers, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Coffin Road, by Peter May (Riverrun)
• Those We Left Behind, by Stuart Neville (Harvill Secker)
• Murderabilia, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
• Missing, Presumed, by Susie Steiner (Borough Press)
• Stasi Wolf, by David Young (Zaffre)
A shortlist will be announced on May 20. The winner will be announced on July 20 at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.
Hat Tip: Erin Mitchell
And, if you'd prefer a list to bookcovers:
• Die of Shame, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)
• Night School, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
• Lie With Me, by Sabine Durrant (Mulholland)
• Tastes Like Fear, by Sarah Hilary (Headline)
• The Darkest Secret, by Alex Marwood (Sphere)
• Out of Bounds, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
• Even Dogs in the Wild, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• Birdwatcher, by William Shaw (Riverrun)
• The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware (Harvill Secker)
• Black Widow, by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
• After You Die, by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)
• Real Tigers, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Coffin Road, by Peter May (Riverrun)
• Those We Left Behind, by Stuart Neville (Harvill Secker)
• Murderabilia, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
• Missing, Presumed, by Susie Steiner (Borough Press)
• Stasi Wolf, by David Young (Zaffre)
A shortlist will be announced on May 20. The winner will be announced on July 20 at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.
