Thursday, October 9, 2025

Christopher Deliso: The Lessons of ‘Las Meninas’: Jeff Soloway’s EQMM Art-Heist Mystery and Literary Criticism


Since spring, I’ve been studying many books and magazines, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. I’ve done this partly for future review projects, and partly out of my literary curiosity. Being visually impaired, this reading experience has only been made possible by the mystery magazine’s inclusion in the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, and their distribution through the Perkins Library here in Massachusetts; I thank both institutions firstly for empowering my research.
 
While I’ve encountered many intriguing mystery stories in this way, I discovered a special connection with one in particular: Jeff Soloway’s “The Theft of Las Meninas” (EQMM November/December 2024). A past winner of the MWA’s Robert L. Fish Memorial award, Jeff Soloway also published (under Penguin’s Alibi imprint) the Travel Writer mystery series. It was this common interest in applying facets of the travel-writing experience (something I discussed in terms of the wider mystery genre, in my May blog post for Mystery Fanfare) that attracted my interest. 
 
I listened to the story several times, each time more intrigued; its combination of travel and the philosophical, its smooth pacing, wry humor and well-plotted structure, all made “The Theft of Las Meninas” stand out compared with many genre stories. In short, it told a story, but its larger themes—of value, negotiation, friendship, honor and adventure—were all carefully expressed in a manner that did not overburden the reader. Soloway’s writing was deceptively light, but concealed larger themes that critics could interpret at length, a dimension not always found in commercial genre fiction.
 
This general observation—and another, very specific one—led me to delve into the story. The following three sections—which include quotes from the story, and comments kindly provided by the author himself—I will present what I got right, what I got wrong, and why it matters. (And of course, there will be no spoilers).
 
What I Got Right
 
“The Theft of Las Meninas” is an art-heist caper about the theft of a famous painting, one that has never actually been stolen. Housed in Madrid’s Museo Nacional del Prado, ‘Las Meninas’ (‘The Ladies-in-Waiting,’ 1656) by Diego Velázquez depicts not only the Spanish royal family and its attendants, but also the painter himself, gazing outward at the observer (us) from behind his canvas. This ironic self-inclusion (which writers, of course, have been known to do) added paradox and self-awareness to a complex piece of multiple perspectives, making the baroque work appeal to writers like Borges, according to Robert M. Philmus in DePauw University’s 1974 Science Fiction Studies. (That article discusses the influence of art on H.G. Wells and Borges).
 
Soloway’s tale is narrated by an art professor who moonlights as a sleuth/art appraiser for UNESCO and other international bodies, using his personal capacities and friendship with a certain art thief named Max. My ears pricked up, upon hearing the following description of Max; it seemed that Soloway was basing his character on a real art thief—and one whose remarkable career I had come across, in the research of my own detective novel. Soloway’s narrator states: 
 
“I booked a flight to Paris to visit my friend Max Wolverton, a protagonist and source of several chapters of my best-seller, Beauty among Thieves: Art Heists through the Ages, upon whom I had bestowed the ridiculous pseudonym, ‘The Red Death.’ Max loved it, being blond as a Swede. His customary technique was to visit sleepy, underfunded village museums on weekday mornings, slash canvases from their frames with a modified box cutter he’d dubbed  ‘Taylor’ (a name he had to both spell and explain for me), and smuggle them out under his blazer.”
 
To me, this was uncannily familiar; it reminded me of the real-life French art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser, whose story I had encountered a year or more before in the varied course of my own detective-fiction research. While I never used any element of this legendary figure from European arts heists of the 1990s, I assumed he must be the person on whom the author had based his character. I wrote to inquire. Much to my delight, Jeff Soloway replied that indeed, Stéphane Breitwieser was the basis for Max in “The Theft of Las Meninas.”
 
While Max works alone in that story, his real-life model was aided by a girlfriend who kept lookout duty when they would visit small, provincial museums in Switzerland and France. Breitwieser was adept at quickly cutting out the paintings—including invaluable Dutch Old Masters—from their frames with his knife, rolling them up, and concealing them under his coat before making a leisurely getaway. They did this scores of times, accumulating a large collection of works which the thief (as at least with one of Max’s stolen works depicted in the story) would keep at home for his own personal enjoyment. When finally the police caught on, the thief and his parents destroyed the stolen works by fire and water—a colossal loss for the art-loving public.
 
In my June email, I asked the author whether Stéphane Breitwieser had been the inspiration for Max, and if so, how Soloway had come across his story. My hunch about the first was correct. Soloway added in his reply:
 
"I read a profile of him in the New Yorker magazine, probably related to a book someone was writing about him,” Soloway replied. “I found his story both fascinating and hilarious. I love the idea that all you really need to pull off a major art theft is common sense, boldness, and a pocket-knife."
 
What I Got Wrong
 
While I was happy to hear that my guess had been correct, there were other analytical guesses that I’d made that turned out to be wrong. And this, I would argue, is why it is so important for writers, researchers and the general literary public to interview authors while they are still alive. In my experience of writing about the works of deceased authors, it becomes exponentially more difficult to correctly assess authorial intention, preferences or influences precisely. We are left with so many tantalizing questions about great works of literature that can unfortunately never be answered.
 
There are two specific examples of what I got wrong in my reading of “The Theft of Las Meninas,” and in both cases the replies I received from the author definitively clarified the issues. As noted, I took a very close read to the story, and this included scrutiny of the all-important opening line. In this case, it is:
 
“You may remember when the finest painting in the world was stolen.”
 
Aside from its introduction of memory and distancing (the whole story does a marvelous job of making time not seem to pass, or be ponderous), the tone of this sentence struck me as something from the Golden Age of detective fiction. And sure enough, after a little searching, I found some similar examples in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. For example, "The Musgrave Ritual" is a frame story narrated in parts by Watson and Holmes. The example is one self-referential statement directly linking a past experience and his vocation: “You may remember how the affair of the Gloria Scott, and my conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first turned my attention in the direction of the profession which has become my life’s work.”
 
Although “The Theft of Las Meninas” is not structurally a frame story, I imagined that the author might possibly be giving a nod here to Holmes because of both the general theme of paintings and frames and vocations in the ‘Las Meninas’, and because of specific early sentences in that story, after the narrator has been called in to the Prado to inspect the scene of the crime, where the painting has been neatly cut from its frame. Soloway writes:
 
“After examining the frame, I too could identify the thief, but not thhe reason.”
 
This line (and the entire story) is narrated by the academic/detective, Professor Laurence Morrow. Laurence has code-named his underworld friend Max as ‘the Red Death,’ in both his own book and when discussing the thief with another character, Coronado Mengual of INTERPOL’s Cultural Defense Department. From this code-name, and a later description of a sojourn of Max and Laurence in La Paz, I detected direct and indirect nods to Edgar Allen Poe.
 
After investigating the opening line and concept of frame stories in a self-referential story about a self-referential painting, I really started kicking the tires on it for anything else. At last, I thought I had found something intriguing, as at a crucial point of the mystery’s resolution, the extraction of paint chips becomes important. Given the Poe reference, I imagined, could it be possible that Soloway had made a hidden allusion to a rare word from “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”?
 
The word ‘stereotomy’ derives originally from an Ancient Greek geometrical concept of three-dimensional objects. In Poe’s tale ‘stereotomy’ appears in a dialogic section between detective C. Auguste Dupin and his visiting narrator, as a detail in his explanation of his deductive method.
 
I was curious about whether any of these literary influences might have been considered by the author, as it would certainly impact future analysis of it. Soloway answered the mystery for me succinctly in a follow-up email:
 
“First, I confess that, though I love the Dupin stories, and of course I thought of them as I was considering setting a mystery in Paris, I had completely forgotten about the concept of stereotomy. Second, and similarly, I wasn't really thinking of any Sherlock Holmes story when I chose to begin with the phrase ‘You may remember.’ It just seemed to fit the intellectually presumptuous narrator.”
 
Why It Matters
 
First: I do not regret having guessed wrongly about a couple of literary points; I am just happy that in researching them, I was introduced to new stories, new concepts, and new ideas. Perhaps, someday, I will even find some of these details of use in my own writing. That has always been the way it seems to go.
 
Second: I believe that the short story, and especially short genre tales like the mystery story, remain less appreciated than novels and as such, are less often reviewed. Yet anyone who has ever taken the time and effort to craft such a story knows very well how difficult it is to express a compelling and engaging story (and, one that hasn’t already been written) not to mention, in a relatively few words. This is the first lesson I draw from my present experience in reviewing Jeff Soloway’s fine story—that is, that short-story reviews are eminently worthwhile, and researching them should be encouraged and practiced.
 
The second lesson, and one which is applicable to research on literary works of any length, is the great advantage the researcher gains in interviewing authors while they are still alive to answer for themselves about questions of intention and influence. If nothing else, today’s article has explained definitively with the author’s own input his decisions and influences (or not), and this might be of use to future generations of researchers. Simply put, there is so much common benefit to the literary community, to fellow writers, readers and researchers, in contributing to a more comprehensive record of the literature being created in our time, its influences, innovations and expectations.
 
Author Bio
Christopher Deliso is an American author, former long-term contributor to The Economist Intelligence Unit, IHS Jane’s, and co-author of over twenty Lonely Planet travel guides for five Southeast European countries. He has been widely published in major global media, and his first Detective Grigoris story, "The Mystery of the Scavenging Crabs," was published in January 2025 in the Crimeucopia anthology, Hey! Don’t Read That, Read This! (Murderous Ink Press, UK). His intelligence-noir story, “The Mexico Job,” was published by King’s River Life in May 2025.
Subscribe to Christopher Deliso’s Substack for occasional articles on literature, history, travel and reviews.

 

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

MACAVITY AWARD WINNERS 2025



The Macavity Award Winners 2025
(for works published in 2024)

The Macavity Award is named after Macavity: The Mystery Cat, in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats! Scroll down to read the poem. 

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRICongratulations to all!

Want to be a member/subscriber, go here. Mystery Readers Journal themes for 2025: London Mysteries II; Retail Murder; Northern California Mysteries 1; Northern California Mysteries 2. MRJ is available in print copy (mailed) and PDF download. 

Macavity Award Winners 2025
For works published in 2024

Best Mystery Novel 

California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)


Best First Mystery

Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)



Best Mystery Short Story


“Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)


Best Historical Mystery

Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)



Best Nonfiction/Critical


Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)


***

Macavity: The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—
Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it’s useless to investigate—Macavity’s not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away.
You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!



Monday, October 6, 2025

Call for Articles: Northern California Mysteries--Part II (41:4)


Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries, Part 2! (41:4); Winter 2025

We had so many articles, reviews and Author Essays for our Northern California issue, that we decided to have two issues. If you missed the deadline for NorCal Mysteries, you now have time to contribute. 

FYI: NorCal Mysteries, Part I, will be out by the end of the month. 

Deadline: November 1. 

Authors: If you have a mystery that is set in Northern California, please consider writing an Author! Author! essay: 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the NorCal connection. 

We’re also looking for reviews and articles

Send submissions to janet @ mysteryreaders.org 

Deadline: November 1, 2025. 

Author Essays: First person, about yourself, your books, and the "NorCal" connection. 500-1000 words. Treat this as if you're chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe (or on zoom) about your work and the "Northern California" setting in your mysteries. Be sure and cite specific titles, as well as how you use Northern California in your books. Add title and 2-3 sentence bio. 

Reviews: 50-250 words. 

Articles: 500-1000 words. 

Deadline: November 1, 2025  

Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. janet @ mysteryreaders . org  

Please let me know if you're planning to send an article, review, or author essay--or if you have any questions! 


Themes in 2025: London Mysteries 2; Retail Mysteries; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 


Southern California: Mystery Readers Journal
Senior Sleuths: Mystery Readers Journal
Irish Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal
Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

And so many more... We are now in our 41st year. 4 themed issues a year! 
Have a look at our index of fabulous issues with articles, reviews, and essays from your favorite authors and reviewers. 
***

Love Mysteries? Love San Francisco? Left Coast Crime will be held in "Everybody's Favorite City" February 26-March 1, 2026.   Register Now! 




Saturday, October 4, 2025

MAIGRET ON PBS MASTERPIECE starts October 5


MAIGRET STARTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 on Masterpiece Mystery! Scroll to watch the trailer, and scroll down for a short history of Maigret on TV and film.

***

Writer Patrick Harbinson  has taken the Georges Simenon detective stories and updated them into a contemporary show starring Benjamin Wainwright as the detective Jules Maigret. The Maigret novels are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes and this is the first modern-day adaptation for the screen.

Maigret inhabits a vividly realized Paris that takes us from the glitzy upper-class world of luxury hotels and mansions to local bourgeois bistros and bars and the underground haunts of the professionally criminal. “To understand and not to judge”: Maigret strives above all to unravel  motivations. He is good at this not because he is a genius, or has special methods, but because he listens – he doesn’t solve crimes so much as he solves people. 

Patrick Harbinson's adaptation reframes Maigret as an unconventional young detective with something to prove, a rising star in the Police Judiciare, relentless in his investigations, with an uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants. 

You still have time to read a few Simeon Maigret mysteries before the premiere. They are short and easy to read. And, there are 75 novels and 28 short stories, so lots to read.

FYI: There have been over 35 actors that have played Maigret. French film adaptations began in 1932, but Jean Gabin was the first 'well-known' French actor playing the role in 1958, 59, and 63. French actors Jean Richard and Bruno Cremer followed with Jean Richard appearing in 90 episodes.

On British TV, Rupert Davies starred in the role in the 1960s (more than 50 episodes). In the early 1990s, Michael Gambon solved 12 crimes. I loved this series, and I thought Gambon was the perfect Maigret. But, the first actor in the Uk to play Maigret was Charles Laughton in the 1949 film The Man on the Eiffel Tower. I think the most recent Maigret series on TV starred Rowan Atkins in 2016 and 2017. Several of these series are streaming. 

Here's the trailer for the new series on Masterpiece

Friday, October 3, 2025

How The French Connection Became…The French Connection: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

Years ago while having lunch with Robin Moore, Edgar Award finalist and author of the New York Times number 1 best seller, The French Connection (1969), I mentioned how the book’s “foreign” title has been immortalized as part of the American lexicon. After all, among other entities, there was a “Fence” Connection, French Connection Boutique, and even a French Connection cocktail (Equal parts cognac and amaretto over ice). A shrewd businessman, Robin put his popular international platform to work with books like, The Washington ConnectionMoscow Connection, and Terminal Connection


Robin told me “The French Connection” title almost didn’t make it to the presses. At the time, circa late 1960s, he had contracted with publishers Little, Brown to write three books. While writing Connection he referred to the work-in-progress as “Dope One” (“Dope Two” would go on to become The Fifth Estate). He turned the “Dope One” manuscript into his publisher as The Patsy Fuca Case intending it only as a working title. 


For months Robin tried unsuccessfully to come up with a proper title, yet couldn’t. Then, at the eleventh-hour, while having a drink at the Copley Plaza in Boston with his research assistant, they discussed how “Dope Two” had to have a French connection to “Dope One.” Suddenly, months of wracking his brain for a title came to a crashing halt. Robin rushed over to Little, Brown’s Boston office and asked his editor to nix the The Patsy Fuca Case title in favor of The French Connection.


His editor said it was too late for a title change; they had already started printing Fuca dust jackets. Robin begged to no avail before agreeing to take a lower royalty. Money talks. Little, Brown finally agreed to the change and that’s how The Patsy Fuca Case became The French Connection. The paperback sold a million copies and, after the movie came out (winning five Academy Awards including Best Actor for Gene Hackman), it sold another two million. The book remains in print. 


Robin told me he sometimes wondered whether the movie’s director, legendary Hollywood director William Friedkin, would have even heard of the book if it hit the shelves as The Patsy Fuca Case. Same book. Same meticulous research. Same brilliant prose. Same cool story about the world’s biggest narcotics bust, but not the same title hook. As a result, The French Connection, nearly 60 years after its release, holds its own as one of the most highly regarded true-crime books of all time.

* * *

Mystery Readers Journal fans are probably curious to solve the case of the third book Robin was contracted to write for Little, Brown. An eclectic scholar, Robin wrote the authorized and definitive biography of world famous composer Arthur Fiedler, titled, Fiedler: The Colorful Mr. Pops the Man and His Music. It was no French Connection, but don’t let Fielder’s composer title fool you – Mr. Pops really knew how to live it up and Robin knew how to write it down.


***   
Andrew McAleer is the author of the Henry von Stray classic British mystery series. The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime was released in March 2025 (Level Best Books). Introduction by Edgar winner Art Tayor. Volume Two of A Casebook of Crime is scheduled for release in March 2026. Introduction by Derringer winner Stacy Woodson. Visit Henry & Andy at: www.HenryvonStraymysteries.com     

Thursday, October 2, 2025

KAREN PIRIE, Season 2 News!

Karen Pirie, Season 2 will be released in the U.S. on BritBox Thursday, October 2. I really enjoyed the first season, and I'm looking forward to this next installment. Episodes will be released weekly. Sadly there are only 3 episodes. Finale will air on October 16. Lauren Lyle plays Karen Pirie.

After being promoted to Scotland's Historic Cases Unit, DS Karen Pirie reopens the cold case of a murdered barmaid; her investigation unearths flaws in the original 1984 inquiry. From the award-winning producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, Karen Pirie follows young, newly promoted DS Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) as she reopens this cold case. Based on the novel by best-selling author Val McDermid. 

Don't have BritBox? Read Val McDermid's Karen Pirie crime novels! The latest is Silent Bones.


 

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Full Circle to Sherlock: Guest Post by James Benn


James Benn: Full Circle to Sherlock 

 
Well, almost, but I’ll get to that.

Sherlock Holmes was my gateway to crime fiction. I started reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s work in high school and moved on to Dorothy L Sayers in college. Before I knew it, I was reading Dick Francis and Tony Hillerman. But it was Holmes who brought me to the dance.
                  
In 2002, while working on the manuscript of my first novel in the Billy Boyle WWII mystery series (Billy Boyle), my wife and I went on a research trip to London to take in World War Two sites. Walking to Regents Park, the map took us down Baker Street.
                  
That Baker Street.
                  
We stopped in front of the Sherlock Holmes Museum and gazed at the plaque above the door . . . 

221b Baker Street
Sherlock Holmes
Consulting Detective
1889 – 1904
 
 . . . but didn’t go in. Visiting a museum with fictional recreations of fictional characters was off-putting. It was enough to stand on the street and see the world created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as I’d imagined it for so many years. I was so awestruck that, when I returned home, I made sure Billy took the same route along Baker Street.
 
I shifted over towards Harding to get a good look out his window.  There it was, a sign above a door that said 221b Baker Street.  My mouth hung open.  I looked around at the everyday street and the white-painted buildings, looking clean in the morning rain. Where was the fog, the streetlights, the gray atmosphere? The horses pulling carriages, bringing troubled clients to Watson and Holmes? I had to admit I had been impressed with Big Ben and all, but for a kid who had devoured the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this was really something. I was on Baker Street, driving by the rooms of Holmes and Watson!  I sort of wished it was all in black and white and gray, like in the movies.
                  
It was a thrill to see those lines in print. But except for the occasional reference to Holmes and his deductive techniques, I never came up with a way to draw Sherlock Holmes into the series.
                  
Until the twentieth book, A Bitter Wind.
                  
Researching this novel, I learned about the critical role radio interception played in intelligence in World War II. Interception of enemy radio traffic involved specialized units, like the British Y Service. They listened for and recorded enemy transmissions, including Morse code and voice communications. They also used electronic equipment to disrupt communications with much more sophisticated hardware than I’d realized. 
                  
But it wasn’t only the technical work and advanced electronics that caught my eye.
                  
It was the human element. 
                  
The British brilliantly used German Jewish refugees, with their native language skills, to “spoof” German ground-to-air instructions and vector German night fighters away from the Allied heavy bombers flying into the Third Reich. Most were very young during the war, having made it out with their parents as children in the 1930s.
 
Female radio interceptors worked on the ground, as part of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), mimicking German female air controllers. They would issue orders to pilots, telling them to return to base or go off on a false heading. Sometimes, arguments would erupt as the real German controllers tried to convince their pilots about the ersatz voices in their communications. Once, a Luftwaffe pilot grew so frustrated with the competing demands that the two women simply burst out laughing at his response. 
                  
But it wasn’t fun and games, especially not for the men who were sent to do their job in the air. The male interceptors added to bomber crews came to be called Jonahs. Aboard ships, a person whose presence is believed to endanger the vessel is called a Jonah. On British bombers, this extra crewman broadcast phony orders and conducted electronic jamming from the aircraft. Since radio silence is maintained over enemy territory, these planes announced their presence with blasts of electronic signals. By protecting the squadron of bombers they were flying with, their individual plane became a target.
                  
Since these men attracted fire and were German born as well as Jewish, they were often treated as unwelcome outsiders. Jonahs.
                  
This was paydirt. A volatile situation, highly complex, but also reduced to basic human emotions. I had what I wanted for plot development and continued with my research. 
                  
I found a website which detailed the experiences of some of the German Jewish refugees. One woman mentioned the commanding officer of her WAAF unit, Squadron Officer Conan Doyle.
                  
What?
                 
 Jean Conan Doyle, to be precise. Daughter of Sir Arthur, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in 1938. When war came, she served in intelligence and soon commanded a detachment of WAAFs working in radio interception. Top secret stuff.
                  
Jean Conan Doyle stayed in the military after the war, eventually rising to air commandant, the highest rank in the renamed Women’s Royal Air Force, serving until she retired in 1966.
                  
Now I had more than I dreamed of. In the twentieth novel in the series, A Bitter Wind, Billy gets to work with Jean Conan Doyle on a case requiring her intelligence skills and deductions. Although when they first meet, Squadron Officer Doyle demonstrates to Billy that she is not interested in questions about her father.
 
       “Conan Doyle?” I asked. “Any relation to . . . ?”
       “Sir Arthur was my father, Captain Boyle,” she said, her voice flat and her eyes fixed on the papers in front of her. She gave off an air of weariness at explaining her connection and accepting the usual praise with sufficient enthusiasm. Finally, she folded the papers, tucked them away, and looked me straight in the eye. “So, it seems we are bound by our more famous relatives, are we not?” 
       “Sir Arthur was my father, Captain Boyle,” she said, her voice flat and her eyes fixed on the papers in front of her. She gave off an air of weariness at explaining her connection and accepting the usual praise with sufficient enthusiasm. Finally, she folded the papers, tucked them away, and looked me straight in the eye. “So, it seems we are bound by our more famous relatives, are we not?” 
       “We are,” I said. “I’ll try not to pepper you with questions about Sherlock Holmes. But I am a great fan of your father’s work.”
       “And I will refrain from asking you about your uncle,” she said. “I happen to be a great fan of General Eisenhower, but I will not presume upon our working relationship for gossip and personal tidbits, however interesting.”
                  
Soon Billy and Conan Doyle are working together as they search for a killer who threatens the entire secret operation. Billy is thrilled to work with a partner one degree of separation from the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
                  
So was I. The game was afoot.
***
                 
James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle, was selected as a Top Five Book of the Year by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee, A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, The Rest Is Silence was a Barry Award nominee, and The Devouring was a Macavity Award nominee. Benn, a former librarian, lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with his wife, Deborah Mandel.


2024 DASHIELL HAMMETT AWARD: IACW, North America Branch


The 2024 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing presented by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch. Congratulations to All!

Liz Moore for The God of the Woods (Riverhead Books)

Nominees: 

Broiler, Eli Cranor (Soho) 
Rough Trade, Katrina Carrasco (MacMillan) 
Crooked, Dietrich Kalteis (ECW Press) 
The Long-Shot Trial, William Deverell (ECW Press)

Cartoon of the Day: Pumpkin Spice

Happy Pumpkin Spice Day!


Monday, September 29, 2025

The Marlow Murder Club, Season 3 News!


Well, this is great news. I really enjoyed the first two seasons of The Marlow Murder Club, and now Masterpiece Mystery! on PBS shared the news that The Marlow Murder Club will return for Season 3! Sarah Alexander, Peter Davison, and many more will be joining the cast for Season 3! The Marlow Murder Club, Season 3, will air in 2026

Can't wait! 


Friday, September 26, 2025

2025 NGAIO MARSH AWARD WINNERS



2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards Winners
The winners of the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced in three categories: Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction. 
The Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing by New Zealand authors
The winners were announced as part of a special event in conjunction with WORD Christchurch and the Court Theatre on Thursday, 25 September. Congratulations to all. 
Thanks, Craig Sisterson, for all you do for New Zealand crime writers, as well as  the entire mystery community. 

BEST NOVEL

  • Return To Blood by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

  • The Defiance Of Frances Dickinson by Wendy Parkins (Affirm Press)

BEST NONFICTION

  • The Crewe Murders by Kirsty Johnstone & James Hollings (Massey Uni Press)

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

ANN GRANGER: R.I.P.

Sad News. British mystery writer Ann Granger, author of the Campbell and Carter Mysteries, Alan Markby series, Fran Varady series, and Mitchell and Markby Series, as well as other crime novels and short stories, died at the age of 86. My sympathy goest out to her family, friends, and readers.

Books by Ann Granger.

From The Bookseller:

Her first crime novel Say it With Poison published in 1991. 

Granger was born in Portsmouth and studied modern languages at the University of London before working for the Foreign Office and receiving postings to British embassies as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. She settled in Oxfordshire with her family and started writing romance under a pseudonym in the 1970s, before moving into crime novels in the 1990s. 

Her series include the Mitchell and Markby series, the Fran Varady mysteries, and the Victorian crime series featuring Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ben Ross and his wife Lizzie. Headline said it has sold more than one million copies of Granger’s novels and her work has been published in 10 languages, including German. She achieved more than 30 top five appearances on the German bestseller lists. 

Her editor at Headline, Clare Foss, said: "It was an absolute joy and a privilege to publish Ann’snovels. She was inspirational, wise and incredibly witty and we will all cherish our memories of her. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time." 

Her agent, Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedmann, said: "It has been a great joy to work with our beloved Ann Granger over my 30 years at Blake Friedmann, an honour to continue Carole Blake’s work, and a pleasure shared with all my colleagues and the Headline team. We loved Ann for her wit and warmth and wisdom, her kindness and curiosity, all those sterling characteristics woven through her brilliant writing too. She was one of a kind and she leaves a great gap in our lives. One consolation is that we can still share her books with readers, but I will miss our conversations more than I can say."

Slow Horses, Season 5

Slow Horses, based on Mick Herron's Slough House series, Season 5, is now available on Apple TV+. What a great show! This amazing spy drama follows a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents--and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman)--as they navigate the espionage works smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.The show is filled with humor, as well as gore. It's topnotch!

If you're new to the series, you'll want to start with Season 1. And be sure to read Mick Herron's Slough House Thrillers. They're great. He is such a terrific writer. 

Watch the trailer!