Petrona Award for Translated Scandinavian Crime Fiction

The Shortlist for the 2018 Petrona Award for Translated Scandinavian Crime Fiction.

The winning title will be announced at CrimeFest in Bristol. The winning author and the translator of the winning titles will both receive a cash prize and the winning author will receive a full pass and guaranteed panel at CrimeFest 2019.

• What My Body Remembers, by Agnete Friis,
translated by Lindy Falk van Rooyen (Soho Press; Denmark)
• Quicksand, by Malin Persson Giolito,
translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Simon & Schuster; Sweden)
• After the Fire, by Henning Mankell,
translated by Marlaine Delargy (Vintage/Harvill Secker; Sweden)
• The Darkest Day, by Håkan Nesser,
translated by Sarah Death (Pan Macmillan/Mantle; Sweden)
• The White City, by Karolina Ramqvist,
translated by Saskia Vogel (Atlantic Books/Grove Press; Sweden)
• The Man Who Died, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland)

HT: J. Kingston Pierce, TheRapSheet

When Worlds Collide: Jonathan Stride, Meet Cab Bolton: Guest Post by Brian Freeman

BRIAN FREEMAN:
When Worlds Collide: Jonathan Stride, Meet Cab Bolton

Fans of my Florida detective Cab Bolton have been asking for some time when they would meet Cab again in one of my books. So when I wrote those words in my new thriller ALTER EGO – “Jonathan Stride, meet Cab Bolton” – I got a shiver of excitement down my back. Yes, ALTER EGO is not only the tenth novel to feature Duluth police lieutenant Jonathan Stride, it’s also the third novel to feature Cab Bolton.

Readers love the idea of fictional characters crossing over from one world into another. Agatha Christie reported that readers were always urging her to write a book where Hercule Poirot met Jane Marple. I noticed that as soon as Cab made his first appearance, readers at library events and book clubs began asking if Cab and Stride would ever come together.

But writers don’t necessarily share the enthusiasm that readers have for crossovers. (Christie said Poirot and Marple would have hated each other if they’d met.) Before starting ALTER EGO, I thought long and hard about the creative challenges of two of my series detectives meeting in one book.

The Series That Almost Wasn’t 

From 2005 to 2010, I wrote five novels featuring Jonathan Stride, starting with my Macavity-winning debut novel IMMORAL and continuing to THE BURYING PLACE, which was a finalist for Best Hardcover Novel in the ITW Thriller Awards. I felt like I’d put Stride through such hell over the course of five books that he needed a vacation.

So I wrote what I intended to be a stand-alone – one of my most popular books, a novel called THE BONE HOUSE. It was set both in Florida and in the remote Wisconsin region known as Door County. The heroes of the book were a married couple named Mark and Hillary Bradley, but the novel also introduced a supporting character – a quirky Florida detective named Cab Bolton. Cab was six-foot-six, with spiky blond hair and a wealthy Hollywood pedigree thanks to his actress mother. His ironic sense of humor made him a lot of fun to write.

I never intended this book to launch a Cab Bolton series, but I began getting notes from readers almost immediately after THE BONE HOUSE to ask when I’d be doing another Cab novel. And I admit, I liked the idea of writing another story featuring this distinctive hero. It took me a few years, but eventually, I released SEASON OF FEAR, set entirely in Florida, with Cab as the star.

Now I had two series, with Jonathan Stride and Cab Bolton.

The Pros and Cons of Crossovers

For writers, the advantage of multiple series is that it gives us the opportunity to go in new creative directions. Stride and Cab are so different as heroes that I can tell stories with one that I could never tell with the other. Cab is a more glamorous figure than Stride, and he travels in wealthier circles. His emotional baggage is very different. And he has a much more casual outlook on life than the intense, determined Lieutenant Stride.

Cab also gives me the opportunity to explore new settings. Most of my books have been set in the bitter winters of the Midwest, but Cab took me to the heat and storms of central Florida. And giving readers a “you are there” feel in my settings is a vital part of my thrillers.

However, the differences between the two series also argue against bringing the two characters together. If they are such different men, living in different worlds, you run the risk of having a crossover feel artificial. So when readers asked me about Stride meeting Cab, I usually responded – probably not. But I also knew that if there was one character who might somehow bring the two series together, it was Stride’s partner, my sexy, snarky Chinese detective, Maggie Bei. Maggie, I said, would get along just fine with Cab.

And that’s exactly what happened.

ALTER EGO 

The plot for ALTER EGO actually started in my mind as a novel for Cab. It features a Hollywood actor with a dark side, and given Cab’s Hollywood connections, it seemed like a natural book for him.

But as I thought about the next steps for Stride, I realized that I could do a lot with the idea of a Hollywood actor playing Stride in the movies (ahem, film agents). I turned this actor into Stride’s “alter ego,” and that’s how the dark plotline began to take shape.

However, Cab still lingered in my mind. If there were one book where the two heroes might meet, this was it. And I thought about Maggie acting as a creative bridge to bring Cab into Stride’s world.

So when a murder investigation takes Maggie to Florida, she finds herself talking to the detective who handled a case with ties to the crime in Duluth – in this case, a tall, glamorous man named Cab Bolton. Soon enough, Maggie and Cab are romantically involved – and they’re heading back to Minnesota for a rendezvous with Stride.

Never Say Never 

Stride and Cab have met now, and the dynamics of ALTER EGO advance the characters in both series in profound ways. After saying for years that I thought Stride and Cab would never get together, I’m glad they did. Their differences as men are actually what make ALTER EGO work.

Of course, now I have a third series for readers, too: my San Francisco-based series featuring Homicide Inspector Frost Easton that includes THE NIGHT BIRD and THE VOICE INSIDE (with the third book, THE CROOKED STREET, arriving next January). I know the questions I’m going to get.

Will Frost ever meet Stride?

Will Cab ever meet Frost?

Or will the three of them ever find themselves together in one book?

My first thought is to say – probably not. Then again, I’ve said that before, and look what happened in ALTER EGO. So I’ve learned to never say never.

Brian Freeman released two new thrillers in 2018, THE VOICE INSIDE (featuring Frost Easton) and ALTER EGO (featuring both Jonathan Stride and Cab Bolton). His stand-alone novel SPILLED BLOOD won the award for Best Hardcover Novel in the ITW Thriller Awards. Find out more about him and his books at bfreemanbooks.com. 

AGATHA AWARD WINNERS: Malice Domestic

MALICE DOMESTIC announced the AGATHA AWARD WINNERS tonight in Bethesda, MD. Congratulations to all! For all the nominees, go here.

Best Contemporary Novel
Glass Houses: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

Best Historical Novel 
In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union Publishing)

Best First Novel
Hollywood Homicide: A Detective by Day Mystery by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)

Best Nonfiction 
From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström (Mysterious Press)

Best Short Story
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian (Henery Press)

Best Children’s/Young Adult
Sydney Mackenzie Knocks 'Em Dead by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

Lifetime Achievement: Nancy Pickard

Amelia Award: David Suchet

Poirot Award: Brenda Blethyn, who stars as DCI Vera Stanhope in the Vera series (based on the books by Ann Cleeves)

Special Amelia Award: Joan Hess

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES: Independent Bookstore Day

For Independent Bookstore Day, I put together a list of Bookstore Mysteries. This list is no where near complete, and I invite you to comment below with missing titles. Mystery Readers Journal has had several issues dedicated to Bibliomysteries that have included Bookstore Mysteries. Don't forget to buy a book (or two or ten) at your local independent bookstore today!

BOOKSTORE MYSTERIES

Kathy Aarons: Death is Like a Box of Chocolates
Ellery Adams: The Secret, Book & Scone Society
Laura Alden: Murder at the PTA; Plotting at the PTA, Foul Play at the PTA, Curse of the PTA, Poison at the PTA
Garrison Allen: Desert Cat, Roayl Cat, Stable Cat, Baseball Cat, Dinosaur Cat
Esmahan Aykol: Hotel Bosphorus, Baksheesh, Divorce Turkish Style
Lorna Barrett: Murder on the Half Shelf, Murder is Binding, Bookmarked for Death, Bookplate Special, Chapter and Hearse, Sentenced to Death, Not the Killing Type, Book Clubbed, A Fatal Chapter, Title Wave, A Just Cause
Lawrence Block: Burglars Can't be Choosers, The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He was Bogart, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar in the Rye, The Burglar on the Prowl, The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
Michael Bowen: Washington Deceased, Faithfully Executed, Corruptly Procured, Worst Case Scenario, Collateral Damage
Ali Brandon: Double Booked for Death, A Novel Way to Die, Words with Fiends, Literally Murder, Plot Boiler, Twice Told Tail
Jon Breen: The Gathering Place, Touch of the Past
V. M. Burns: The Plot is Murder; Read Herring Hunt, The Novel Art of Murder; Wed, Read and Dead (May 2019)
Lynn Cahoon: Guidebook to Murder
Cindy Daniel: Death Warmed Over...Coming Soon, A Family Affair
Vicki Delany: Body on Baker Street; Elementary, She Reads,  The Cat of the Baskervilles
John Dunning: Booked to Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise, The Sign of the Book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling
Alex Erickson: Death by Coffee; Death by Tea, Death by Pumpkin Spice, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Eggnog, Death by Espresso
Amanda Flowers:  Crime and Poetry; Prose and Cons
Bruce Graeme: Seven Clues in Search of a Crime, House with Crooked Walls, A Case for Solomon, Work for the Hangman, Ten Trails to Tyburn, And a Bottle of Rum, Dead Pigs at Hungry Farm
Carolyn Hart: Death on Demand, Design for Murder, Something Wicked, Honeymoon with Murder, A Little Class on Murder, Deadly Valentine, The Christie Caper,  Southern Ghost, The Mint Julep Murder, Yankee Doodle Dead, White Elephant Dead, Sugar Plum Dead, April Fool Dead  Engaged To Die, Murder Walks the Plank, Death of the Party, Dead Days of Summer, Death Walked In, Dare To Die, Laughed ’Til He Died, Dead by Midnight, Death Comes Silently; Dead, White, and Blue; Death at the Door, Don’t Go Home, Walking on My Grave, Death on Demand
Joan Hess: Strangled Prose, The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn, Dear Miss Demeanor,  A Really Cute Corpse, A Diet to Die For, Roll Over and Play Dead,  Death by the Light of the Moon, Poisoned Pins, Pickled to Death, Busy Bodies, Closely Akin to Murder;  A Holly, Jolly Murder ; A Conventional Corpse, Out on a Limb, The Goodbye Body, Damsels in Distress, Mummy Dearest, Deader Homes and Gardens, Murder as a Second Language, Pride v. Prejudice
Alice Kimberly (Cleo Coyle): The Ghost of Mrs McClure; The Ghost and the Dead Deb, The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library; The Ghost and the Femme Fatale, The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion; The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller,
Allison Kingsley: Mind Over Murder, A Sinister Sense, Trouble Vision, Extra Sensory Deception
Josh Lanyon: Fatal Shadows, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Death of a Pirate King, The Dark Tide
Marianne MacDonald: Death's Autograph,  Ghost Walk, Smoke Screen, Road Kill, Blood Lies; Die Once, Three Monkeys, Faking It
T. J. MacGregor: The Hanged Man,  Black Water, Total Silence, Category Five, Cold as Death
Russell D. McLean: Ed's Dead
Molly MacRae: Plaid and Plagiarism, Scones and Scoundrels
Elizabeth C. Main: Murder of the Month, No Rest for the Wicked
Christine Matthews (w/Robert Randisi); Murder is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, Same Time, Same Murder
Terrie Farley Moran: Well Read, Then Dead; Caught Read-Handed, Read to Death
Walter Mosley: Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, Fear of the Dark
Bill Petrocelli: Through the Bookstore Window
Kym Roberts: Fatal Fiction
Paige Shelton: The Cracked Spine; Lost Books and Old Bones; A Christmas Tartan
Sheila Simonson: Larkspur, Skylark, Mudlark, Meadowlark, Malarkey
Carolyn Wells: Murder in the Bookshop
Gayle Wigglesworth: Tea is for Terror, Washington Weirdos, Intrigue in Italics, Cruisin' for a Brusin', Malice in Mexico
M.K. Wren: Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Cat; A Multitude of Sins, Oh Bury Me Not, Nothing's Certain by Death, Seasons of Death, Wake Up, Darlin’ Corey, Dead Matter,  King of the Mountain

Thanks to StopYou'reKillingMe for many of these titles.

Edgar Award Winners 2018

Mystery Writers of America announced the winners for the 2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2017.
 
BEST NOVEL

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (Hachette Book Group - Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)
 
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper (HarperCollins – Ecco)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
 
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)

BEST FACT CRIME

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
 
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Chester B. Himes: A Biography by Lawrence P. Jackson (W.W. Norton & Company)
 
BEST SHORT STORY

“Spring Break” – New Haven Noir by John Crowley (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

Vanished! By James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster – Atheneum Books for Young

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Somebody to Love” – Fargo, Teleplay by Noah Hawley (FX Networks/MGM)
 
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"The Queen of Secrets" - New Haven Noir by Lisa D. Gray (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTER

Jane Langton
William Link
Peter Lovesey
 
RAVEN AWARD

Kristopher Zgorski, BOLO Books
The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence Kansas
 
ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
 
Robert Pépin
 
* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins – William Morrow Paperbacks)

 

How to Survive a Trip to the Wilderness (With or Without a Madman): Guest Post by Jenny Milchman

JENNY MILCHMAN:
How to Survive a Trip to the Wilderness (With or Without a Madman) 

If you plan on taking a camping trip this summer, it’s unlikely that it will get as hairy as the one the couple in my new novel, Wicked River, sets out on. Natalie and Doug have to face, in no particular order (except that this actually follows the plot of the book)—

• Getting lost
• Dehydration
• Starvation (or at least real bad hunger)
• Injuries suffered after trying to accomplish near impossible physical feats
• An encounter with a survivalist madman

In addition to offering stunning beauty, peace, quiet, and nature, the wilderness can be a scary place. It’s the setting for a lot of great fiction; Heart of Darkness and Deliverance were just two of the works that influenced me.

Although it took only a few months to pen my feverish first draft, Wicked River was actually a story over two decades in the making.

It began when my husband and I set off on our own backcountry honeymoon in the Adirondacks, only to emerge after one day instead of the intended three weeks.

The reason we had to leave early is less important than the question that kept nagging at me as my new marriage was built, welded, and soldered.

What if we hadn’t turned back when we did?

Something draws us—human us, personkind—to the wilderness. “I went to the woods to live deliberately,” wrote Thoreau. It’s the perfect set of circumstances in which to celebrate and cultivate a new marriage—an event that deserves thought, reflection, and consideration if ever there was one.

But there’s a darker level to this as well, and it’s one that may especially resonate with mystery readers. The wilderness, whether we are newly married or not, impresses upon us the essential isolation of the human condition. Nature is bigger than any of us, and in many ways we are at its mercy. The civilized lives we have concocted conceal this fact. Our air is conditioned, made temperate. Food exists in a sealed contraption that preserves it; clean water runs from a spout. Closets offer an array of clothes that provide, depending on what we wish, warmth from the wind or protection from the searing sun. In our daily lives, we can nearly forget that we have the same base needs as any winter-skinny deer.

Nature whittles away at us, if it so chooses, until not even a close companion can reach us anymore. Even marriage, an institution that belies our central state of solitude much as the refrigerator masquerades the perishability of our food, can shrivel in the face of the worst that nature doles out.

That is what Natalie and Doug, the couple in Wicked River, discover. It’s the realization that my husband and I managed to escape by leaving early, but which haunts me to this day.

Would our bond have grown stronger if we’d faced a truly dire situation instead of the hoards of cannibalistic black flies that basically annoyed us out of the woods? Or might we not have lasted; could one of us—or both—have simply perished, unable to do what needed to be done to survive?

Natalie and Doug don’t just survive—they triumph in the woods. As for me, I can only hope that my husband and I would’ve met such challenges then, and would meet them today if necessary. That the cosseted, refrigerated, heated and cooled lives we’ve gotten to live are something to be grateful for, but not all that has allowed us to last.

It’s an uncomfortable question.

And not one, thankfully, most of us will ever have to answer.

In case you go on a camping trip, here are a few tips to keep you from that wicked river:

• Do bring a backup water purification solution, and a backup for the backup—even if you have to leave something less crucial behind to make weight.
• Don’t expect to go from sitting at a desk to walking ten miles. Condition in advance and take time to build up your strength and skills.
• Do feel free to travel at a reasonable pace, even if you’re with companions who move faster. Everybody hikes their own trail and paddles their own river.
• Don’t recriminate in the event of a mishap. Come up with a workaround and enact it.
• Do lay out a plan for your whole trip, and at the same time, do be flexible with the plan as needed.
• Don’t forget to listen to the silence, to look up at the stars. They’ll make up for a whole lot of blisters.

And remember to bring a good book.

Jenny Milchman is the author of the Mary Higgins Clark award-winning Cover of Snow, plus two other acclaimed novels set in the same fictional Adirondack town. Jenny sits on the board of directors of International Thriller Writers and is a member of the Sisters in Crime speakers bureau. Her fourth novel, Wicked River, is a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book and a spring 2018 release.

Cartoon of the Day: Books

A World of Spies: Guest post by Clare O'Donohue

Clare O'Donohue:
The Amateur Spy Novel

I’m a spy, working for the CIA. Have been for years. At least that’s the joke in my family. Because my work as a documentary producer requires a lot of travel, some of it internationally, I’m often leaving home for days or weeks at a time. It’s months before the shows I work on appear on TV and, apparently, I forget to tell family and friends when to watch for them. So, some of my loved ones have taken to openly questioning whether I’m hiding something – like, secretly working for some spy organization as an undercover operative. And though it’s a joke, oddly enough it was almost true.

When I was in college I majored in International Studies, a politics degree that focused on world relations. Aside from studying economics, world history, and religion, I took several classes on Intelligence aka spy stuff. I loved the classes and for a nanosecond I considered filling out the 80-page application to join the CIA.

A man from CIA spoke to my class one day on what to expect if we applied (hint: if you want to work in covert operations, don’t tell your interviewer you want to work in covert operations because that will disqualify you). I listened carefully, fantasizing about the romance involved in James Bond -esque adventures. And when he was done, I took the application and left the lecture wondering if I could work as a spy. Maybe not out in the field, Carrie Mathison style, but as a handler back in DC. I walked across the quad thinking about what that life would look like, and it sounded cool - tough and important.

But then I wondered what it would feel like to hide so much of myself from people I loved. Not just what I did at work, but where I worked, what I knew about the world. I wondered what it would feel like to be facing that kind of stress every day, with danger and bad guys a constant companion. By the time I reached my apartment, I knew being a super-spy wasn’t for me.

Instead I went to work as a journalist and then a television producer.

I suppose it was the road not taken that attracted me to the idea of writing about a pair of accidental spies – a husband and wife team of college professors – caught between an offshoot of Interpol and an international crime ring.

The wife, Dr. Hollis Larson, is an International Studies professor (see Mom, I’m using my college degree!) and the husband, Dr. Finn Larson, teaches World Literature but also has a PhD in Art History. They’re both smart – the sort of people used to researching their way through a problem – thrown into a world where the danger isn’t theoretical.

When I originally began thinking about the series, I knew I wanted each book to be set in a different country, with my characters having to use their knowledge to help them navigate foreign climes and improvising when it fell short. But I planned on them being tourists stumbling across bodies the way I’d written my other mysteries. It was when I changed tactics and had them working as temporary operatives on what was supposed to be a simple mission, that the intrigue became apparent. As Hollis and Finn are drawn into secretive organizations where the line between good guys and bad can seem awfully thin, it made both their reasons for world travel and the threats they faced seem more real, and much more exciting to write (and hopefully to read).

As I wrote, I felt like I was back in the quad at my university, quietly contemplating work as a spy and a life filled with sinister characters and terrifying possibilities. But instead of tossing my CIA application, but this time I said yes.

***

Clare O’Donohue always knew she wanted to be a writer. She wrote her first mystery mini-novel (60 pages) at the age of 15 and in college, worked as a newspaper reporter and writing teacher before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her first job in television, HGTV’s Simply Quilts. Since then, Clare has worked on shows for The History Channel, truTV, Food Network, A&E, Discovery, TLC and others. Her work has taken her all over the United States and abroad where she’s met a diverse spectrum of people from CEOs to prison inmates, Malaysian orphans to famous athletes. Clare published her first novel, The Lovers Knot, in 2008. It opened a world to other authors, readers, bloggers and more.  Beyond the Pale: A World of Spies Mystery comes out May 8 from Midnight Ink.

Cartoon of the Day: Writing

Seem familiar?

HT: Paul D. Marks

Cartoon of the Day: Grammar

Stephen King Film Festival

Year-long Stephen King Film Festival features Films and Symposia

Fans of Stephen King’s writing now have an opportunity to immerse themselves in his literature, studying the iconic author and the movies sparked by his books. The Stephen King Film Festival takes place in Mansfield, Ohio -- the very location where one of his most famous movies based on his work was filmed. One of the most haunted and recognizable places in all of Ohio, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield gained much of its notoriety not for its own historic past, but its role in the Stephen King novella that produced “The Shawshank Redemption.” Twenty-four years after the release of the No. 1 movie of all time (according to IMDB), King fans now can celebrate his work in Mansfield June through December, 2018.

The Festival includes screenings of some of the most renowned movies based on King’s novels and novellas at Mansfield’s historic Renaissance Theater. Each screening begins at 7 p.m. and will be preceded at 6:30 p.m. by a talk led by a noted authority on Stephen King’s writings and their impact on literature and society. After each discussion and film screening, attendees are invited to head to nearby Phoenix Brewing Company for craft beer tastings, movie trivia, and further discussion of film and literary works. The brewery offers Redemption IPA, among others.

Speakers for the evenings, held monthly with the exception of September, include professors, pop-culture experts and literary authorities specializing in King’s work, including:

• June 21: Stand by Me, Carl Sederholm, PhD, professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Comparative Arts and Letters, Brigham Young University; Dr. Sederholm has written several articles and scholarly studies of King’s work
• July 19: CUJO, Phil Simpson, PhD, President-Elect of the Popular Culture Association & American Culture Association, Dr. Simpson has written two books; one onStephen King's work and another tracking serial killers through contemporary American film and fiction
• August 16: IT, Mary Findley, PhD, a Professor of English at Vermont Technical College, Dr. Findley’s expertise includes how horror is manifested in popular culture, having written extensively about Stephen King's work in Contemporary Literary Criticism and other scholarly journals
• October 18: Carrie, Michael Perry, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Rockford University, Dr. Perry authored “King Me: Inviting New Perceptions” and “Purposes of the Popular and Horrific into the College Classroom.” He also co-edited “Stephen King's Modern Macabre: Essays on the Later Works.”
• November 15: The Mist, Patrick McAleer, Professor of English, Inver Hills Community College, McAleer authored “Inside the Dark Tower Series” and “The Writing Family of Stephen King”; co-authored “Stephen King's Contemporary Classics: Reflections on the Modern Master of Horror” and co-edited “Stephen King's Modern Macabre: Essays” on the Later Works.”
• December 13: The Shining, Dr. Anthony Magistrale, Professor of English at the University of Vermont, Dr. Magistrale served as a research assistant to Stephen King and has authored dozens of academic books, articles and treatises on King’s work and the Gothic genre  

Mansfield and Richland County, Ohio offers unusual travel adventures and experiences, such as spending the night in a haunted former state prison where Hollywood blockbuster movies are shot, world-class motorsports, skiing, hiking, biking, golf, and loads of other outdoor adventures attract families and visitors of all ages. Complete visitor information and free visitor guides are available at DestinationMansfield.com.

Cartoon of the Day: Earth Day Happy Hour

Cartoon of the Day: Earth Day

Los Angeles Times Book Prize: Mystery/Thriller

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners were announced last night at the LA Times Festival of Books. Winner and nominees in Mystery/Thriller category below.  For the complete list of winners in All Categories, go Here.  .

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Joyce Carol Oates, A Book of American Martyrs (Ecco)

Other nominees:
Michael Connelly, The Late Show (Little, Brown)

Paul LaFarge, The Night Ocean (Penguin Press)

Attica Locke, Bluebird, Bluebird (Mulholland)

Ivy Pochoda, Wonder Valley (Ecco)

HT: J. Kingston Pierce, The Rap Sheet

Cartoon of the Day: James Joyce Visits His Publisher

From Tom Gauld. Hat Tip: Ali Karim

Caturday: Peter Lorre & Vincent Price with Black Cats

Happy Caturday! Love this photo of Peter Lorre & Vincent Price with Black Cats!

EARTH DAY CRIME FICTION: Environmental Mysteries

Earth Day 2018

Earth Day! Today the world considers climate change, environmental issues, and how we can save our planet. At least I hope we do. Living in Berkeley, this is a daily concern, and it should be with everyone everywhere. A few years ago I started posting a list of environmental/ecological mysteries. The list has grown. Crime fiction is an excellent way to make readers aware of issues. Done well, of course. So for Earth Day 2018, I have an updated Earth Day/Environmental Mysteries list.  The list is most likely incomplete. 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!
P.D. Abbey's H2Glo
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; Red Roses for a Dead Trucker
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; 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
Tobias S. Buckell's Artic Rising
James Lee Burke's Creole Belle
Rex Burns' Endangered Species
Robin Cook's Fever
Donna Cousins' Landscape
Ann Cleeves' Another Man's Poison
Eileen Charbonneau Waltzing in Ragtime
Anna Ashwood Collins's Metamorphis for Murder; Deadly Resolutions
Peter Corris's Deep Water
Donna Cousin's Landscape
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
Mark Douglas-Home's The Sea Detective
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 Engel's Dead and Buried
Eric C. Evans' Endangered
Nancy Fairbanks's Acid Bath; Hunting Game; and others 
Cher Fischer's Falling into Green
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's Ultimatum
Kenneth Goddard's Double Blind; Prey; Wildfire
Steven Gould and Laura J. Mixon's Greenwar
Alexander M. Grace's Hegemon
Robert O. Greer's The Devil's Hatband
John Grisham's The Pelican Brief; The Appeal; The Litigators
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; Star Island
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
M.T. Kingsley's With Malicious Intent
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
L & C Lopinto's Countdown in Alaska; Nukes
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
John Marsden's A Killing Frost
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
Shanon Michaud's Still Water
Kirk Mitchell's High Desert Malice, Deep Valley Malice
Laura J. Mixon & Steven Gould's Greenwar
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
Brad Parks' The Player
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
Brenda Seabrook's The Dragon That Slurped the Green Slime Swamp (Children's)
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
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
Antti Tuomainen's The Healer
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
John Yunker's The Tourist Trail

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
Robert Wilson's Blood is Dirt
Stuart Woods's Under the Lake

Let me know any other titles you think should be included.

CrimeFest Shortlists Announced

And the award shortlists keep coming!

CrimeFest co-director Adrian Muller said: “CrimeFest announces the shortlist for the tenth CrimeFest Awards. Over the past decade the awards have highlighted breakthrough debut novelists as well as a number of established crime fiction authors delving into children’s fiction and nonfiction. We are also pleased to continue showcasing audiobooks which have undergone a meteoric rise since we began presenting our awards. We are all extremely proud and excited to present the 10th annual CrimeFest awards, and find out who wins on 19th May.”

The 10th anniversary of CrimeFest this year will host crime fiction royalty Martina Cole, Lee Child and Peter James as some of the top names set to speak at this year’s convention. Close to 500 attendees, including more than 150 authors, agents, publishers and crime fans from across the globe, will descend on the city for a jam-packed four days of over 60 speaking events and panel discussions.

CRIMEFEST AWARD SHORTLISTS

Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:
Fiona Barton, The Child (Audible Studios), read by Clare Corbett, Adjoa Andoh, Finty Williams, Fenella Woolgar & Steven Pacey
Lee Child, The Midnight Lane (Transworld), read by Jeff Harding
J.P. Delaney, The Girl Before, (Quercus), read by Emilia Fox, Finty Williams & Lise Aagaard Knudsen
Sarah A. Denzil, Silent Child (Audible Studios), read by Joanne Froggatt
Alice Feeney, Something I Lie (HQ – Harper Collins), read by Stephanie Racine
Michelle Frances, The Girlfriend (Pan Macmillan Audio), read by Antonia Beamish
Anthony Horowitz, The Word is Murder (Penguin Random House Audio), read by Rory Kinnear
David Lagercrantz, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (Quercus), read by Sail Reichlin

eDUNNIT AWARD
Chris Brookmyre, Want You Gone (Little, Brown Book Group)
Ken Bruen, The Ghost of Galway (Head of Zeus)
Michael Connelly, The Late Show (Orion)
Joe Ide, IQ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Dennis Lehane, Since We Fell (Little, Brown Book Group)
Steve Mosby, You Can Run (Orion)
Gunnar Staalesen, Wolves in the Dark (Orenda Books)
Sarah Stovell, Exquisite (Orenda Books)

LAST LAUGH AWARD
Simon Brett, Blotto, Twinks and the Stars of the Silver Screen (Little, Brown Book Group)
Christopher Fowler, Bryant & May - Wild Chamber (Doubleday)
Mick Herron, Spook Street (John Murray)
Vaseem Khan, The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star (Mullholland Books)
Khurrum Rahman, East of Hounslow (HQ – HarperCollns)
C.J. Skuse, Sweetpea (HQ – HarperCollins)
Antti Tuomainen, The Man Who Died (Orenda Books)
L.C. Tyler, Herring in the Smoke (Allison & Busby Ltd)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
Martin Edwards, The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (British Library)
Barry Forshaw, America Noir (No Exit Press)
Sam Naidu, Sherlock Holmes in Context (Palgrave Macmillan)
Benjamin Poore, Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage (Palgrave Macmillan)
Mike Ripley, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (HarperCollins)
Christopher Sandford, The Man Who Would Be Sherlock (The History Press)
Michael Sims, Arthur & Sherlock (Bloomsbury)
Nick Triplow, Getting Carter (No Exit Press)

BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR CHILDREN (08 – 12)
Linwood Barclay, Chase (Orion Children's Books)
Kieran Crowley, The Misfits Club (Macmillan Children's Books)
Helena Duggan, A Place Called Perfect (Usborne Publishing)
Santa & Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Royal Rabbits of London: Escape from the Tower (Simon & Schuster)
Dermot O'Leary, Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape (Hodder Children's Books)
Alex T. Smith, Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure (Hodder Children's Books)
Harriet Whitehorn, Violet and the Mummy Mystery (Simon & Schuster)
 
BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (12 – 16)
Cat Clarke, Girlhood (Quercus Children's Books)
Zana Fraillon, The Ones That Disappeared (Orion Children's Books)
Will Hill, After the Fire (Usborne Publishing)
Patrice Lawrence, Indigo Donut (Hodder Children's Books)
E. Lockhart, Genuine Fraud (Hot Key Books)
Sophie McKenzie, SweetFreak (Simon & Schuster)
Teri Terry, Dark Matter: Contagion (Orchard Books)
Teresa Toten, Beware That Girl (Hot Key Books)