Cartoon of the Day: Vacation Books

 

Peter Lovesey Insider Writing Secrets: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

While writing the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists: Insider Secrets from Top Writers (Simon & Schuster), I had the honor of corresponding with some of the best mystery writers in the business – Diamond Dagger winner and Grand Master Peter Lovesey among them. 

Lovesey’s inimitable characters include Sergeant Cribb and Detective Peter Diamond. He is regarded as the, “[M]odern master of the historical mystery story.” (Encyclopedia Mysteriosa). I sweated out my oversees request to Lovesey asking for even a couple of writing tips or habits he might offer to emerging authors. I couldn’t have asked for a more thoughtful reply. Rather than supplying a couple of writing tips, Lovesey generously contributed tips for nine chapters. 

Below are a handful of his superb tips – all certain to inspire your next great mystery story. 

 

* * *

1. Being Creative and Original
 
PETER LOVESEY - Beware of the cliché. By this I mean not only the cliché phrase (“It’s an old trick, major, but it just might work.”), but the cliché plot (the murderer turns out to be the narrator) and the cliché style. Don’t try to be the second Raymond Chandler or J.K. Rowling. By all means learn from successful writers, but be yourself, and say it freshly.
 
2. Having Precise Goals, Not Just Wishes
 
PETER LOVESEY - Make your writing a regular duty. Remember that one page a day—say 300 words—each day for a year gives you a 109,500-word novel.
 
3. Being Open to Experiences 
 
PETER LOVESEY - Give your writing an authentic feel by using your own experience. Of course you don’t have to commit a murder to write about one, but you can give it a strong sense of place by choosing a setting you know. Dorothy L. Sayers worked in advertising and wrote Murder Must Advertise. Agatha Christie trained as a pharmacist and used her knowledge of poison in her books. P.D. James worked in the police department at the Home Office. Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Morse, is a champion crossword solver and a lover of real ale and Wagner. 
 
4. Getting the Basics Down
 
PETER LOVESEY - Don’t be afraid of breaking the rules of English you learned at school. Perfectly correct English can be a bore. So put the occasional sentence without a verb. Don’t worry if the sentence ends with a preposition. And start some sentences with And.
 
5. Plotting
 
PETER LOVESEY - This is a personal tip and may be controversial, but it saves me time and rewriting. Plot before you write. Make sure you have a satisfying story in outline form before you start chapter one. Using this method, I don’t put the book through a series of drafts. Each day’s output will appear on the printed page. I know plenty of writers who like the challenge of not knowing where they are heading, but this way works for me. 
 

* * *

Peter Lovesey passed away on April 10, 2025; he was 88. As Diamond Dagger winner Martin Edwards noted, “Lovesey…was often described as ‘prolific’. Although this was true, in his case the term never became a euphemism for ‘formulaic’ or ‘predictable.’ Lovesey possessed the gift of entertaining readers while setting a diverse range of stories at different times in the past as well as in the present.” (The Guardian)
            Or, as Peter Lovesey might have said, “I avoid the cliché.” 

***

Andrew McAleer is the author of the best-selling detective Henry von Stray classic British mystery series. The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime: Thrilling Adventures of Suspense from the Golden Age of Mystery 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      
             

McIlvanney Prize Scottish Crime Novel of the Year Longlist

2025 McIlvanney Prize Scottish Crime Novel of the Year Longlist

• Whispers of the Dead, by Lin Anderson (Macmillan)
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• The Dying Light, by Daniel Aubrey (HarperNorth)
• Carnival of Lies, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• Unsound, by Heather Critchlow (Canelo)
• The Moon’s More Feeble Fire, by Allan Gaw (Polygon)
• The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Bonnier)
• Paperboy, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Press)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Vintage)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (John Murray)
• Death of Shame, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
• Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• A Thief’s Blood, by Douglas Skelton (Canelo)

The McIlvanney Prize, named in honor of author William McIlvanney, will be presented on Friday, September 12, during Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. 

HT: The Rap Sheet

THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME AWARDS 2025

2025 AWARD WINNERS:

• WINNER of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025: Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker)
• WINNER of the McDermid Debut Award: A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)
• Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award: Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

 ***

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee is the winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, presented by Harrogate International Festivals at a special ceremony on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

Abir Mukerjee receives a £3,000 prize, as well as an engraved beer cask handcrafted by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakston’s Brewery.

The McDermid Debut Award, named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, was won by David Goodman for A Reluctant Spy, it was also announced.

David Goodman receives a £500 cash prize. The award was presented by Chair of Judges, Val McDermid, and Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston.

Bestselling novelist Elly Griffiths received the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of her remarkable crime fiction writing career and “unwavering commitment to the genre.”

Elly Griffiths is the author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries; the Brighton Mysteries, the Detective Harbinder Kaur series and an exhilarating new series featuring time-travelling detective Ali Dawson. 

NGAIO MARSH AWARD BEST NOVEL LONGLIST

2025 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel Longlist: New Zealand

The longlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel 

· RETURN TO BLOOD by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

· THE HITCHHIKER by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

· A DIVINE FURY by DV Bishop (Macmillan)

· LEAVE THE GIRLS BEHIND by Jacqueline Bublitz (Allen & Unwin)

· WOMAN, MISSING by Sherryl Clark (HQ Fiction)

· HELL’S BELLS by Jill Johnson (Black & White)

· THE MIRES by Tina Makereti (Ultimo Press)

· A FLY UNDER THE RADAR by William McCartney

· HOME TRUTHS by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

· 17 YEARS LATER by JP Pomare (Hachette)

· OKIWI BROWN by Cristina Sanders (The Cuba Press)

· A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND by Tina Shaw (Text Publishing)

· THE CALL by Gavin Strawhan (Allen & Unwin)

· PREY by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

· THE BOOKSHOP DETECTIVES: DEAD GIRL GONE by Gareth & Louise Ward (Penguin)

The finalists for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction will be announced in mid-August, with the finalists celebrated and the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Award winners announced as part of a special event in conjunction with WORD Christchurch and the Court Theatre on Thursday, 25 September.

For more information this year’s Best Novel longlist, or the Ngaio Marsh Awards in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com 

Agents of Change:The Women Who Transformed the CIA: Video of the Commonwealth Discussion

Agents of Change:The Women Who Transformed the CIA: Video of the Discussion is now available. Scroll down to watch.

Scroll down to watch the video of last week's discussion with Christina Hillsberg and Terry Shames at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. 

Christina Hillsberg is the author of Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA. 

Hillsberg is a former intelligence operative who has written a narrative exploration of the agency’s history, told through exclusive interviews with current and former female CIA officers, many of whom have never spoken publicly until now. The book fills a necessary gap in the agency’s history and takes a critical view of the agency’s indisputable record of suppressing the women who would become its most valued trailblazers—and its most vocal troublemakers. These were women who sacrificed their personal lives, risked their safety, defied expectations, and boldly navigated the male-dominated spy organization, routinely passed over for promotions, recruiting assets, and managing clandestine operations. 

Terry Shames, who worked at the CIA, is the award winning mystery writer of the Samuel Craddock mysteries. Terry provided additional energy and knowledge of both the CIA and writing. Her latest series features FBI dive instructor Jessie Madison. 

 

Cartoon of the Day: Showdown

 

RETAIL MURDER: Mystery Readers Journal (41:2): Summer 2025

Retail Murders is a versatile theme, as you’ll see by the variety of articles, reviews, and author essays in this issue. Retail Murders includes mysteries that feature coffee shops, bookstores, garden shops, and many other kinds of stores. We also have articles that focus on contractors, consultants, and others who sell their services. It seems likea lot of small business owners and customers are amateur sleuths. Enjoy! 

Upcoming themes. Plans for the remainder of this year include Northern California Mysteries and Cross-Genre Mysteries. We're still looking for articles, reviews, and author essays. If you'd like to contribute to either of these issues, send a note to: janet @ mysteryreaders . org

Mystery Readers Journal: Retail Murder: Volume 41, No. 2, Summer 2025

Buy this back issue! Available in hardcopy or as a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• Apprehending the Snatchers and Sneak-Thieves by Ashley Bowden
• Retail Means Shoplifting by Rona Bell
• Death in Department Stores by Aubrey Nye Hamilton

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• My Dead-End Retail Jobs by Elaine Viets
• Murder with Flowers by Rebecca Tope
• How Working Retail Enriched My Writing Life by Terri Thayer
• Experience as Inspiration by Karen Rose Smith
• Retail as a Character: How “The Treasure Chest” Shapes My Mystery Series by Joanna Campbell Slan
• My Contractor/Consultant Character by Dale T. Phillips
• Man’s Best Friend by Paul R. Paradise
• Hidden Rooms and Secret Passageways: Selling a Sense of Childhood Wonder by Gigi Pandian
• How a Real-Life Retail Shop Turned My Books with a Fictional Retail Shop into Best Sellers by J. Michael Orenduff
• Welcome to Suite and Savory—Can We Help You? by Donalee Moulton
• Von Stray and Mrs. Omloop’s Orderly Shop by Andrew McAleer
• Peter Fallon Sells History by William Martin
• The Shopping Center Cats by Sharon Marchisello
• A Shell of a Lot of Fun by Molly MacRae
• My Mysterious Connection to Retail by T. C. LoTempio
• Working Retail Can Be Murder by Dorothy Howell
• How a Camera Shop Led to Deadly Negatives by Russell Hill
• Learning the Spa Business with Aroma Wellness Mysteries by Daryl Wood Gerber
• Behind the Vintage Candy Series by Kaye George
• Small-Town Crime: Writing from Real Life by Trish Esden
• Finding Comfort in Bookstores and Cafés by Alex Erickson
• “Two-Eleven Just Prior” by Jim Doherty
• Serving Up the Urban Cozy by Cleo Coyle
• Come for the Mystery, Stay for the Shopping by Michael Cooper
• Flowers and Murder? by Kate Collins
• Donut Shop Drudgery by Nancy Coco
• Death of a Salesman by Lynn Cahoon
• Welcome to Deputy Donut by Ginger Bolton
• Taking a Bite Out of Crime—One Sale at a Time by Leslie Budewitz
• Murder, Mocha, and the Penny University by Ellis Blackwood
• A Cozy Shop in Omnipodge by Mike Befeler
• Selling in a Mystery by Anne Louise Bannon
• Shop Till You Drop … Dead by Tessa Aura

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews, by Lucinda Surber and Lesa Holstine
• Children’s Hour: Retail Sales Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Crime Seen: The Retail Murder Hallmark by Kate Derie
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

***

Subscribe now in order to be sure to receive all 4 issues for 2025: Themes: London II; Retail Sales; Northern California; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 

If you're a PDF subscriber, you should have received download instructions. Print copy subscription copies should be received this week. International subscribers will receive their issues within two weeks. 

PDF Contributor PDF copies will go out in the next few days. 

Contributors: Thanks so much for your great articles, essays, and reviews!

Bastille Day: Mysteries set in France: Mystery Readers Journal 28:1

Celebrate Bastille Day with a copy of  Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries Set in France (Volume 28:1 -- Spring 2012)! Buy this BACK issue! Available as a downloadable PDF. 

MYSTERIES SET IN FRANCE: MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• A Brief Panorama of Early French Crime Fiction by Jean-Marc Lofficier
• Sex and the Country: Some Thoughts on Pierre Magnan by Peter Rozovsky
• An Interview with Sîan Reynolds by Peter Rozovsky
• My Affair With the Birthplace of Crime Fiction by Bernadette Bean
• Tale of Two Dominiques by Cary Watson
• The Father of the Detective Story: Emile Gaboriau by Nina Cooper

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• Passion, Bloodshed, Desire, and Death by Susanne Alleyn
• How I Got Into My Life of Crime French Style by Cara Black
• Honest! I Was in Paris Working Very Hard! by Rick Blechta
• Having a Nice Time? by Rhys Bowen
• Inspector Aliette Nouvelle by John Brooke
• The French Adventure of a Full-time Lawyer and Part-time Fool by Alan Gordon
• Escape From Paris by Carolyn Hart
• Maggie MacGowen Goes to France by Wendy Hornsby
• France on Berlin Time by J. Robert Janes
• Experiencing Provence by M.L. Longworth
• Writing a French Police Series by Adrian Magson
• France, the Write Country by Peter May
• Travel + Fiction: You Want to Go There by Lise McClendon
• Hemingway's Paris Remains 'A Moveable Feast' by Craig McDonald
• Inspired by the "Where" by Tom Mitcheltree
• It's All About Me? by Sharan Newman
• Drinking Tea From a Bowl: Getting France Right by D-L Nelson
• Mysteries Set in France: Vive la Différence! by Katherine Hall Page
• Provence—To Die For by Renée Paley-Bain
• Mick Jagger, Kirs Royales, and Paris by P.J. Parrish
• Paris Shadows by M.J. Rose
• Diplomatic Mystery by William S. Shepard
• Alpine Beach: My French Connection by Susan Steggall
• She Lost Her Head in La Belle France by Nancy Means Wright

COLUMNS

• Crossword: The French Connection by Verna Suit
• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Lesa Holstine, L.J. Roberts, Alana White, Marlyn Beebe
• Children's Hour: Where's Madeleine? by Gay Toltl Kinman
• In Short: Glimpses of France by Marvin Lachman
• The Art of French Crime by Cathy Pickens
• Crime Seen: Le Crime Vu by Kate Derie
• Mysteries Set in France by British Authors by Philip Scowcroft
• From the Editor's Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

Cartoon of the Day: Books

 

MARTIN CRUZ SMITH: R.I.P.

Sad news. Award winning mystery author Martin Cruz Smith passed away yesterday. I was privileged to meet him on several occasions. He was an amazing storyteller. He will be missed. Sympathy to his family, friends, and readers at this sad time.

Martin Cruz Smith was known for his wonderful  crime fiction, particularly his Arkady Renko series. He won the Hammett Prize from IACW twice, the Gold Dagger Award from CWA, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Left Coast Crime, and the Grand Master Award from MWA. His works explore themes of political intrigue and social issues within the context of Russia and other international settings.

Martin Cruz Smith was best known for his novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, whom he introduced in Gorky Park (1981). Renko has since appeared in ten other novels. Gorky Park debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list on April 26, 1981 and occupied the top spot for a week.Polar Star also claimed the No. 1 spot for two weeks on August 6, 1989, and held the No. 2 spot for over two months.

For a list of his works, go to Stop, You're Killing Me! 

Hotel Ukraine, the 11th Arkady Renko Novel, debuted this week. 

From NYT, July 2: 

Sarah Weinman:

"The great Moscow detective Arkady Renko, first introduced in Smith’s 1981 classic “Gorky Park,” bids readers adieu in HOTEL UKRAINE (Simon & Schuster, 276 pp. $27.99). As Smith writes movingly in the acknowledgments, Parkinson’s disease, which he has had for decades and which Arkady also grapples with, “takes no prisoners, and now I have finished my last book. There is only one Arkady, and I will miss him.”

So will we. But “Hotel Ukraine,” set in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is a fitting send-off."

Cartoon of the Day: Best Books for Summer

 From Tom Gauld:

The Marlow Murder Club News: PBS Masterpiece

Good News. Season 2 of The Marlow Murder Club premieres on Masterpiece PBS on Sunday, August 24 at 9/8c with writer, creator and Executive Producer Robert Thorogood joining forces with Lucia Haynes (Annika, Vera) and Julia Gilbert (Ridley, Midsomer Murders) for six all-new episodes. 

While life in the idyllic town of Marlow has just about returned to normal after a chain of murders rattled the tightly knit community, it’s not long before retired archaeologist Judith Potts, dog-walker Suzie Harris, and Vicar’s wife Becks Starling are called back into action to solve a series of new crimes that befall the local residents. From a seemingly impossible murder inside the locked study of a sweeping mansion to the mysterious case of a man with no connection to the town murdered in the middle of a sleepy cul-de-sac, and an unexpectedly brutal accident at the prestigious Marlow sailing club that quickly reveals itself to be something more sinister, there’s no rest for our sleuthing trio. Navigating the delicate balance of Marlow society—from local aristocracy to the workers at the local boatyard, the pubs and cafes of the high street to a newly established archaeological dig—Judith, Becks, and Suzie dig into all corners of Marlow life as they assist DCI Tanika Malik in her official investigations. 

Cartoon of the Day: Useful Phrases for the Murder Mystery Writer Abroad

JANE STANTON HITCHCOCK: R.I.P.

 

Sad news. Jane Stanton Hitchcock: R.I.P. I really liked her mysteries. So clever. 

Jane Stanton Hitchcock, "a daughter of privilege who skewered the foibles of her tribe in a series of addictive crime novels, and who then uncovered a real-life crime when her mother was swindled by her accountant, died on June 23 at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 78."

From the NYT: 

“Murder concentrates the mind,” she told The New York Times in 2002.

Her first novel, “Trick of the Eye” (1992), involved a trompe l’oeil artist named Faith Crowell and the unsolved murder of a long-dead Long Island debutante. Bruce Allen, assessing the novel in The New York Times Book Review, said that Ms. Hitchcock “knows how to write crackling dialogue that expresses character while steadily, stealthily advancing the plot.”

“Even if you guess the ending,” he wrote, “you will enjoy Faith Crowell’s compulsive fascination with ‘the fashion of making things appear to be what they are not.’”

In an interview, Jonathan Burnham, Ms. Hitchcock’s longtime book editor, said: “Nobody of her background wrote about their world the way she did — that New York high society world that has virtually disappeared. She managed to send it up in elegant satire. It slipped down very easily.”

Read the Obit here. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/books/jane-stanton-hitchcock-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1

From IACW North America:

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Jane Stanton Hitchcock, multiple Hammett nominee. Her novel Trick of the Eye was one of the 1992 finalists for the Hammett award along with Donald Westlake, Walter Mosley, Alice Hoffman, and Daniel Woodrell.

In 2019, however, she won the award outright for her novel Bluff, which drew on her personal expertise as a professional level poker player. Humorous crime novels are quite rare and even rarer are those that hold up years later. Seek out a copy of Bluff if you have not read it and read it again to learn something about writing.Her entertaining satire of the upper classes drew on her personal knowledge as the adoptive daughter of a major tycoon and a popular actress. Jane herself was a delightful person, witty, intelligent, and, of course, sophisticated.

Linda Fairstein who informed us of Jane’s passing, mentioned “Jane, who was one of my best friends for 40 years, was immensely proud of the honor of being awarded the Hammett.” Her obituary in the New York Times even mentioned her pride in this achievement. She gave the impression to me that she didn’t quite understand just how talented she was."