He Had to Die: Guest Post by Anna Scotti

Sometimes I truly regret having Federal Marshal Owen James captured, tortured, and killed while in pursuit of a felon. 

Sure, writers are often instructed to "murder our darlings," but Owen was such a darling! He was never the star of my "librarian on the run" series for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, but he was a featured player. Six foot-two or -three, tawny hair, eyes variously described as the color of the sky over Huntington Beach, the color of faded denim, the cerulean blue of new hydrangeas, the - well, you get the idea. He even wore the sleeves of his crisp cotton shirts rolled up to show muscled forearms, and gentlemen, in case you're not aware, that's a look we ladies love. And Owen wasn't just good to look at - he was good inside! He resisted the charms of his WITSEC charge, Lori, for eight years, despite her relentless flirting and sometimes cringe-worthy pleading for a kiss - or more - to take the edge off the loneliness of nights on the run. Owen gave up his beloved job and went rogue in an effort to free Lori from her servitude toward the Feds. He even left her a good hunk of dough in his will - after taking care of his parents, of course. 

But Owen had to die, and I'm the one who killed him. 

Oh, I teased for a bit. Lori first meets Owen - and experiences his kindness and courtesy - in one of the few "librarian" stories not originally published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, "Perfumes of Arabia." He's a nice guy, but Lori - known to us then as "Juliet" - is still smarting from betrayal by her one-time fiancé, cartel boss Mateo Andres. In the next few stories, Owen is mentioned, but only peripherally. Lori - now known as "Cam" - is busy making a fool of herself over the handsome and happily married Detective Antonio Morales in "No Legacy So Rich," and Owen is standing by to pick up the pieces when Lori then falls into the arms of a murdering lawyer in "A Heaven or a Hell." Throughout the series, Lori sometimes references the time Owen saved her by strangling a paid killer with his bare hands. We also know he gave her an expensive folding knife because she hates guns, despite having aced her lessons from Detective Morales. Owen doesn't play a major part in every story, but the bond between the two is growing. In "It's Not Even Past," Lori blows her cover and explodes the tidy life she's constructed for herself. Owen whisks her out of town, but not before Lori puts both her mother and Detective Morales' family in jeopardy, causes her dog to be murdered, and loses everything she has - job, friendships, apartment - once again. Lori really has no one left to lean on but Owen, who will share a beer with her and hint at "maybe someday," but who would never dream of taking advantage of the marshal/witness power differential. 

Lori's next adventures take place in a beach town in South Carolina. Owen is very much a part of "Sonia Sutton's" lonely life, but at the end of "Into the Silent Land," he tells her he is being reassigned, and at the end of "A New Weariness," she learns that he is dead. 

Or is he? 

When I turned the story in to my editor at EQMM, she told me it was the best one yet, and then she exclaimed, "but Owen's not really dead…is he?" 

Hmmm. I gave her a sphinx-like smile and hoped she didn't realize that I didn't actually know, myself. 

Since the reader had not actually seen Owen die, but had only heard about it third-hand, the possibilities were endless. Indeed, in "Not With Hibiscus, but With Blood," Lori, now living as Dana Kane, is surfing a little and drinking a lot on the Hawaiian island of Maui. She comes to believe that Owen is very much alive… 

He's not. He's dead, although it takes some pretty brutal dialogue to convince her.   

I hated to do it, but it was necessary. Owen represented safety and security for Lori; though she's very bright and pretty damned courageous, Owen was always there to bail her out in an emergency. He snatched her out of harm's way more than a few times. But as Lori's character developed and became ever more cynical, streetwise, and resourceful, the safety net represented by Owen began to hold her back. If the reader - and Lori herself - could trust that Owen was always there in the shadows keeping a watchful eye on her, how could she truly evolve into the fully-realized character I'd imagined? I didn't want Lori to end up answering phones at Owen's private detective agency or folding his laundry in the basement of a suburban ranch house. 

Lori's next adventures, "Where Speaking Fails" and "Traveller from an Antique Land," take place back in L.A. Speaking is the final story in the collection, and the second that did not first appear in Ellery Queen. Lori is no longer in witness protection but still in hiding from her past. She hits bottom and begins to recover with the help of her friends. No love, no romance…but wait. In the next installment, coming sometime in 2026, Lori discovers that Owen had a younger brother…and he's missing. Stay tuned! 

***

Anna Scotti has recently been a finalist for the Derringer, Thriller, Claymore, and EQ Readers Choice Awards, as well as for the Macavity (for Schrödinger, Cat in 2023). Stories from Scotti's "librarian on the run" series for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine have been recorded for Rabia Chaudry's The Mystery Hour podcast and have been selected for Best Mystery Stories of the Year three times (Mysterious Press 2022, 2024, 2025). In June, Down & Out Books will release all of the "librarian" stories as a collection entitled "It's Not Even Past." 

Scotti also writes young adult fiction, literary fiction, and poetry. Her work can be found in journals ranging from The New Yorker to Lunch Ticket, Nimrod, and Chautauqua. Learn more at annakscotti.com

Memorial Day Mysteries //Memorial Day Crime Fiction

Memorial Day aka Decoration Day is a day of remembrance of those men and women who died protecting us, for those who didn't return home. Many people go to cemeteries and memorials on the last Monday in May, and there's a tradition to fly the flag at half mast. In the U.S. Memorial Day is part of a three day holiday weekend. Many think of this weekend as the beginning of Summer, a time for Barbecues, the Beach, the Cabin, and S'mores. Not planning a get-together? You can celebrate Memorial Day by reading some of these Mysteries set during the Memorial Day Weekend.

In memory of all who served their country, here's an updated list of Mysteries set during Memorial Day Weekend. Let me know if I've forgotten any titles. You may also want to check out my Veterans Day Mystery List.

Memorial Day Mysteries

Death is Like a Box of Chocolates by Kathy Aarons
Last Man Standing by David Baldacci
The Twenty Three by Linwood Barclay
Treble at the Jam Fest by Leslie Budewitz
The Decoration Memorial Day War by David H. Brown
Memorial Day by Sandra Thompson Brown and Duane Brown
Flowers for Bill O'Reilly: Memorial Day by Max Allan Collins

Black Echo by Michael Connelly  

Absolute Certainty by Rose Connors
One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming (not technically Memorial day, but it fits the theme)
Memorial Day by Vince Flynn

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
Memorial Day by Harry Shannon
Beside Still Waters by Debbie Viguie
Who Killed the Neanderthal by Cheryl Zelenka

Children's Mysteries:

Trixie Belden: The Mystery of the Memorial Day Fire by Kahryn Kenny
Sam's Top Secret Journal: Memorial Day by Sean Adelman, Siri Bardarson, Dianna Border & Andrea Hurst

Rosemary is for Remembrance. Check out the recipe for Rosemary Chocolate Chip Cookies on my other blog: DyingforChocolate.com

 

INFORMATION ON THE MACAVITY NOMINATING BALLOT

Just an FYI: 

If you're a member of Mystery Readers International, subscriber to Mystery Readers Journal, or a Friend of Mystery Readers, you should have received a Macavity Nominating ballot. Check your spam filter, or send me a note, if you'd like to nominate. 

The coveted Macavity is awarded in five categories. 

Check out the past winners and nominees.

Thanks to Gabriel Valjan for this great 'reminder' graphic! One more category not lists: Best Non-Fiction/Critical.

And, Best Non-Fiction Critical

Cultivating that Old Sense of Place: Guest Post by Christopher Deliso

When tinged with travel writing and journalism, the mystery genre feels a lot more familiar—I don’t mean cozier—to me. Probably, this is largely because much of my professional writing background has involved these non-fiction fields during the past twenty-five years. And yet, my readings of classic mystery works since 2021 (when I started writing my first mystery novel) also seems to bear out the idea that from its inception with Edgar Allan Poe, and through all its various divergences since, the genre has been marked fundamentally by aspects of travel writing and journalism, directly but often indirectly.
 
In the following brief summary, I will provide three examples from well-known works where the travel or journalistic aspect can be discerned. In the bigger picture, this cross-pollination of approaches is practically useful to authors today, I believe, specifically for the strengthening of the literary character of a mystery story—in terms of both characters and settings, and the spirit that permeates the tale.
 
That is: the singularity of any given story should have just as much to do with its setting and its people as it does with its ciphers, locked-room ingenuity, or other devices of the genre that could be plotted anywhere. The best mystery (and other) stories are memorable to a large extent because authors succeed in convincing readers that the story happens, of necessity, to the characters involves, and in the places and times in which they are set. The informed articulation of a specific topos and a convincing historicity (even if the story is not ‘historical,’ in the broadest sense) create additional nuance and depth to a mystery story, elevating the most memorable beyond what might otherwise be simply a generic puzzle absent of topical and character necessity.

 
Note: for the reader’s enjoyment, and to better demonstrate the stories discussed here, I will include a special shout-out, in the form of relevant links to recitations by British voice actor Tony Walker of the Classic Detective Stories channel on YouTube.
 
I tested my observation in yet another listening of the genre’s honorary original, and still one of the most remarkable literary detective stories, Poe’s ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue.’ For both his great puzzle-solver, the Frenchman Dupin, and his native city of 1840s Paris, are so deftly described in passing, in a thousand accidental (yet essential) details that the magic of the piece comes to life. For the eventual explanation of an escaped orangutan with a razor blade to be at all believable, the author must conjure sufficient images of a city in which both the architecture and personalities make it possible. In order for Poe’s city to be fit for the genius of Dupin the occasional detective, it must also be habitable for that hapless Maltese sailor with his strange pet.
 
Further, and most extraordinary, is how Poe manages to encapsulate both the mood of the characters and their location while foreshadowing and mimicking the very concept of the locked-room mystery that he is about to detail, in the early descriptive scene, in which Poe’s narrator first discusses life in Paris with Dupin:
 

“Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen — although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors whomsoever. Indeed the locality of our retirement had been carefully kept a secret from my own former associates; and it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We existed within ourselves alone. 

It was a freak of fancy in my friend (for what else shall I call it?) to be enamored of the Night for her own sake; and into this bizarrerie, as into all his others, I quietly fell; giving myself up to his wild whims with a perfect abandon. The sable divinity would not herself dwell with us always; but we could counterfeit her presence. At the first dawn of the morning we closed all the massy shutters of our old building; lighting a couple of tapers which, strongly perfumed, threw out only the ghastliest and feeblest of rays. By the aid of these we then busied our souls in dreams — reading, writing, or conversing, until warned by the clock of the advent of the true Darkness. Then we sallied forth into the streets, arm in arm, continuing the topics of the day, or roaming far and wide until a late hour, seeking, amid the wild lights and shadows of the populous city, that infinity of mental excitement which quiet observation can afford.” 
 
A second story in which sense of place and character struck me, for a different reason, was Dorothy L. Sayers’ ‘Murder at Pentecost.’ This story of mad professors and a murder at an apocryphal Oxonian college not  only reminded me of Oxford (and perhaps, how much has remained the same there over time). Yet it also really emphasized the value that a good narrator can bring in terms of reinforcing character identities through proper reading of dialogue. In the story, Tony Walker does an excellent job of narrating the subtle tonal differences between the aaimless upper-class English undergraduate, the (perhaps) mad professor, and the working-class English policeman on the case. This comprehension of character dialogue through regional accents adds great depth and richness, bringing us closer to Sayers’ original intent and making the story more singular in its new reading.
 
A separate mention of another Classic Detective Stories recitation comes from a book I very much hope to cover in more detail for the Mystery Readers Journal next year. That is the classic 1939 thriller by Eric Ambler, The Mask of Dimitrios (published in the US as A Coffin for Dimitrios). The excerpt is called Belgrade 1926

https://christopherdeliso.substack.com/about

, and recounts a fictional espionage trap set in that city in that year. Ambler’s opening contextualization of the contemporaneous geopolitical situation of that era in Europe makes his scenario more believable: that is, how and why ah international mster-spy would attempt to trick a Yugoslav civil servant into selling him, by hook or by crook, a top-secret map of planned mine fields in the Adriatic meant to deter the threat from fascist Italy. The further discussion of the Greek international agent Dimitrios (based on the real-life arms dealer, Basil Zaharoff, and how he attempts to interfere with the map business is recounted in gripping prose, in one of the first realist espionage thrillers.
 
Since 2021, I’ve brought on board the lessons of stories like these into the writing and editing of my own Detective Grigoris novel, which is set in Southeast Europe at the turn of the 21^st century. I’ve applied my own diverse writing and research experience to the novel. At the same time, I’ve observed from the classics of the genre that ‘fleshing out’ a mystery with ekphrasis and richly-local characters are things of long-standing.
 
Such an observation gives me hope not only that my work will be published, but that my approach confirms and complements a pre-existing (if under-discussed) dimension of what makes the mystery genre so interesting for diverse groups of readers.

***

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). 

Subscribe to Christopher Deliso’s Substack for occasional articles on literature, history, travel and reviews.

THE BETTER SISTER: Coming to Prime Video

The Prime Video limited series The Better Sister premieres May 29, but you might want to read the book before you watch! The TV series is an adaptation of Alafair Burke's 2019 thriller The Better Sister. 

The TV series is directed by Craig Gillespie starring Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks.

Here's the Trailer.  

THE SPOTTED OWL AWARD: Friends of Mystery

The Friends of Mystery 2025 Spotted Owl Award: 

Bad River by Marc Cameron

The Spotted Owl Award prize is bestowed by Friends of Mystery (Portland, OR) to celebrate crime fiction produced by authors living in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, British Columbia, Canada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington).

Runners-up:

2. Baron Birtcher for Knife River
3 (tie). Rene Denfeld for Sleeping Giants and Warren Easley for Deadly Redemption
4. J.A. Jance for Den of Iniquity
5. Phillip Margolin for An Insignificant Case
6. Katrina Carrasco for Rough Trade
7. Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway for The Silence of the Dead
8. Kerri Hakado for Cold to the Touch
9. Eric Redman for Death in Hilo

Congratulations to All!

CRIMEFEST AWARD WINNERS 2025

Crimefest announced their Award Winners tonight at CrimeFest in Bristol, U.K.  Congratulations to All! 

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

Akira Otani (and translator Sam Bett) for The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber & Faber)

eDUNNIT AWARD 

Jean Hanff Korelitz for The Sequel (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert in Wickedness (HarperCollins)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Christmas (Severn House)

Best Crime Fiction Novel For Children

Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury Education)

Best Crime Fiction Novel For Young Adults

Kayvion Lewis for Heist Royale (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD for BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

 Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)

2025 British Book Awards: The Nibbies

The 2025 British Book Awards, the Nibbies, were given out Monday night in London. The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by The Bookseller.  There are 15 categories, but I'm listing the category of most interest to crime fiction fans. 

Crime and Thriller Book of the Year: 

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee

Nominees: 

All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker 

Guilt by Definition by Susie Dent 

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte? by Nicci French

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Viking).

HT: TheRapSheet

AUTHORS & THEIR CATS: Chester Himes

Happy Caturday! 

Authors & their Cats: Chester Himes

The following is from a book called Writers and Their Cats, a book about writers and their cats by Alison Nastasi.  

Chester Himes, considered the father of the black American crime novel, wrote stories that mirrored the real-life violence and racism happening in the world around him. “American violence is public life, it’s a public way of life, it became a form, a detective story form,” he once said. “So I would think that any number of black writers should go into the detective story form.”

One reprieve from the chaos of everyday life was Himes’s cats, particularly his blue-point Siamese called Griot (1st and Third photos above). “Griot is named after the magicians in the courts of West African kings,” Himes said in a 1972 interview. Griot was Himes’s constant travel companion. When the If He Hollers Let Him Go author didn’t bring Griot along during his adventures, Himes paid the price. In a 1971 interview Himes gave while in Stuttgart, Germany, he claimed he couldn’t stay away from home too long since Griot would “certainly destroy [his] studio back home and chew up all [his] books.” 

After Griot passed away, Himes kept a kitty named Deros, who the writer loved for her sweet personality.

BARBECUE MYSTERIES // BARBECUE CRIME FICTION: National Barbecue Day!

Today is National Barbecue Day, so to celebrate here's my Barbecue Mysteries list. So many ways to murder someone at a barbecue, from the sauce to the skewers to the grill, not to mention the tiny wires on the barbecue brush (true crime!). This is an updated list of Barbecue Crime Fiction. Let me know if I've forgotten any authors/titles!

Barbecue Mysteries

Delicious and Suspicious; Hickory Smoked Homicide; Finger Lickin' Dead; Rubbed Out by Riley Adams  (Elizabeth Craig Spann) - The Memphis BBQ Mystery Series

The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Omnibus 4 (books 19-22): Road Trip: BBQ and a Brawl, BBQ Delivered with Attitude, BBQ With a Side of No Apologies, BBQ and STFU by Michael Anderle

Bad Move by Linwood Barclay
Honey BBQ Murder by Patti Benning 

Murder Well-Done by Claudia Bishop
Nice Day for a Murder by C.A. Broadribb

Crime Rib by Leslie Budewitz

Topped Chef by Lucy Burdette

Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron
Low and Slow: Sweet and Savory Murder at the BBQ Cookoff by Randy Cade 
A Bullet at the BBQ by SL Calder 

Several Dan Rhodes books by Bill Crider
Murder at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival by Gene Davis
The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson
Grilled for Murder by Maddie Day

Memphis Ribs by Gerald Duff

Grilled 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

Murder Can Singe Your Old Flame by Selma Eichler
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Barbecues & Brooms by Bella Falls

The Politics of Barbecue by Blake Fontenay
Grilling the Subject by Daryl Wood Gerber
Barbecue, Bourbon and Bullets by M.E. Harmon
A Trunk, a Canoe, and all the Barbecue by A. W. Hartoin

Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes
The Big Barbecue by Dorothy B. Hughes
Barbeque Bedlam by Lizzie Josephson 

Close to Home by Cara Hunter

Blossoms, Barbeque, & Blackmail by Tonya Kappes
Bonfires, Barbeques and Bodies by Susan Keene 
Spare Ribs and Cold Cuts by Kamaryn Kelsey 
Barbecue Blues: A Professor Doug Wilson Mystery (Professor Doug Wilson Mysteries Book 3) by Duke Kuehn

Murder in Mesquite Springs by Glenda Stewart Langley

Hot in December by Joe R. Lansdale

Bad News Barbecues: by Maisy Marple 

Bullets & Barbecue by Mary Maxwell

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Thou Shalt Not Grill by Tamar Myers 

Barbecue and Bad News by Nancy Naigle

Hush My Mouth by Cathy Pickens
The BBQ Burger Murder by Rosie A. Point

Hawg Heaven Cozy Mysteries; Killer Barbecue by Summer Prescott 

Barbecue Can Be Deadly by Ryan Rivers 

Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

The Sheriff and..  (series) by D. R. Meredith

The King is Dead by Sarah Shankman

Stiffs and Swine by J.B. Stanley
Barbecue and Murder by Kathleen Suzette

Revenge of the Barbecue Queens by Lou Jane Temple
Murder at the Barbecue by Liz Turner

Murder, Basted and Barbecued by Constance Turner
Barbecue by A. E.H. Veenman

Death on a Platter by Elaine Viets

Teaberry Blues, Brew & BBQ by R. A. Wallace

Burnt Ends by Laura Wetsel

A Bad Day for Barbecue by Jonathan Woods
Books, Barbecue, and Murder by Lori Woods  

Short Stories: 

"Gored" by Bill Crider
"A Bad Day for Barbecue" by Jonathan Woods

Young Readers:  

The Barbecue Thief by Starike

Want a little chocolate on the barbie today? 
Check out recipes on my other blog: DyingforChocolate.com

S'mores on the Grill  
Savory Chocolate Barbecue Sauces
Chocolate Ancho Chile Rub
Cocoa Spiced Salmon Rub 
Scharffen Berger Cacao Nib Rub for Tri Tip
SaveSaveSaveSave

Cartoon of the Day: The England Trip

 

UNFORGOTTEN: Season 6 News!

Unforgotten, Season 6

Unforgotten returns to PBS Masterpiece Mystery! on August 24, 10/9c. There will be 6 episodes. DCI Jess James, DI Sunny Khan, and their team examine the lives of a disparate group of people linked to a cold case.They uncover the truth behind a dismembered body found in Whitney Marsh.

Sinéad Keenan and Sanjeev Bhaskar reprise their roles as DCI Jess James and DI Sunil 'Sunny'

Khan partnership returns.

Commented Sinéad Keenan: “I am absolutely delighted to be stepping into the world of

Unforgotten once more. To be involved with the incredible team at Mainstreet on yet another

set of stellar scripts from Chris Lang, with the brilliant Andy Wilson at the helm is a real treat.

And to get to work again with Sanjeev, Carolina, Jordan, Pippa, and Georgia is an absolute joy.

To call it *work* is a total misnomer. I can’t wait to get started!”

Commented Sanjeev Bhaskar: “I’m humbled and excited to be back as Sunny Khan, bearing

the backpack for series 6 of Unforgotten. Chris’s scripts, as ever, are intriguing, detailed and

empathetic. Andy’s direction and the skill of Sinéad and the cast make this a warm and

creative experience that so much more than a job. Once again I feel lucky to be a part of it.”

Looking forward to this! 

And good news: Season 7 has been given the green light.

Here's the Trailer for Season 6.

 

Cartoon of the Day: TBR Pile

Department Q: New Series on Netflix

The new "Department Q" series, starring Matthew Goode, will be available exclusively on Netflix and will premiere on May 29, 2025. The series is based on the books of the same name by Jussi Adler-Olsen. It is comprised of three separate thrillers based on the books: The Keeper of Lost Causes, The Absent One, and A Conspiracy of Faith. All nine episodes will be released on the same day, making it bingeable. Yay! 

FYI: There was another production of Department Q that came out in 2016.  It is available to rent or purchase on AppleTV and other streaming services. It was previously on PrimeVideo.

Matthew Goode stars in this new Netflix crime thriller series Department Q, based on the book series of the same name by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.The series follows Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck, a brilliant but troubled detective who is put in charge of a special police department focused on cold cases.   

Department Q was filmed on location in Edinburgh. 

The trailer for Department Q

2025 Derringer Awards: Short Mystery Fiction Society Awards

The 2025 Derringer Awards: Short Mystery Fiction Society

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words): “Kargin the Necromancer,” by Mike McHone (Mystery Tribune, December 15, 2024)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words): “The Wind Phone,” by Josh Pachter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words): “Heart of Darkness,” by Tammy Euliano (from Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson; Down & Out)

Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words): “The Cadillac Job,” by Stacy Woodson (Chop Shop, Episode 1, edited by Michael Bracken; 
Down & Out)

Best Anthology: Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman (Level Short)

The Silver Derringer for Editorial Excellence goes to Janet Hutchings, former Editor in chief of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. 

The Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement goes to short-story writer and English professor Art Taylor. 

The 2025 Hall of Fame recipient is O. Henry.

***

HT: The Rap Sheet & Kevin Tipple

MOTHER'S DAY CRIME FICTION // MOTHER'S DAY MYSTERIES

Mother's Day: So many Mothers in Mysteries. The following is a sampling with emphasis on the Mother's Day Holiday. If I listed all the mysteries and crime fiction with famous and infamous mothers, the list would be way too long. This is an updated list, so let me know if I've missed any titles or authors.

MOTHER'S DAY MYSTERIES

Death by Windmill by Jennifer S. Alderson
Angel at Troublesome Creek by Mignon F. Ballard

The Mother's Day Mystery by Peter Bartram
Mother's Day by Frankie Bow 
Mother's Day Mayhem by Lynn Cahoon 
How to Murder Your Mother-in-Law, Mum's the Word by Dorothy Cannell

Mother's Day Murder by Wensley Clarkson
A Holiday Sampler by Christine E. Collier
A Catered Mother's Day by Isis Crawford 
A Darkly Hidden Truth by Donna Fletcher Crow
Motherhood is Murder (Short Stories) by Mary Daheim, Carolyn Hart, Shirley Rousseau Murphy and Jane Isenberg
The Mother's Day Mishap by Kathi Daley
Murder Can Upset Your Mother by Selma Eichler
A Mother's Day Murder by Dee Ernst
Bon Bon Voyage by Nancy Fairbanks
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Botched Butterscotch by Amanda Flower
Murder for Mother: Short Story collection, edited by Martin S. Greenberg
Murder Superior by Jane Haddam
A Gift for Mother's Day by K.C. Hardy
The Mother’s Day Murder by Lee Harris
"Pull my Paw"(short story) by Sue Ann Jaffarian
Mother's Day Murder by Tonya Kappes

Mother's Day: A Short Story by Renée Knight  (short story)
Every Day is Mother's Day by Hilary Mantel (not exactly a mystery, but a good read)
Mother’s Day by Patricia MacDonald
Mother's Day Out by Karen MacInerney
Mother's Day by Dennis McDougal
Mother’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier
Mother's Day by Joshua Quittner & Michelle Siatalla

Mom, Apple Pie & Murder: A collection of New Mysteries for Mother’s Day, edited by Nancy Pickard
Mother's Day, Muffins, and Murder by Sara Rosett

A Mother's Day Murder by Genevieve Scholl
The London Monster by D. Scott

Mother’s Day by Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla
Comfort Me by Debbie Viguie
Mother's Day by Ron Vincent

True Crime: 

The Mother's Day Murder by Wensley Clarkson

Any titles/authors missing?

Bouchercon 2025: Anthony Nominees

Bouchercon 2025 just announced the Anthony Nominees. Winners will be announced at Bouchercon in New Orleans in September. Congratulations to all!

The Top Five Classic Noir Novels Ever Written: Guest Post by Art Bell

I turned to classic noir novels in high school after finishing all the Sherlock Holmes stories (annotated, no less). I thought I would never love any mysteries or thrillers more than I loved Holmes, but I was so taken with noir that I read some of the classics several times. Many novels written today are counted as noir, so the genre survives. But, I wondered, what makes “noir” noirish?

Recently, as I was reading a noir novel written in the 1950s by an author unknown to me, I spent time thinking about classic noir novels and how their writing established the genre’s conventions. Below are my top five classic noir novels and how they defined noir.

            

The Maltese Falcon—Written by Dashiell Hammett; 1941 film directed by John Huston.

Having read The Maltese Falcon twice as a teenager and seen the movie countless times over the years, The Maltese Falcon defined noir for me for several reasons, including the dark urban setting and the tough-guy detective (Sam Spade, played by Humphrey Bogart in the film). And I loved the downbeat ending: Spade, investigating his partner’s murder, learns that the murderer is the woman he’s fallen in love with. Despite her begging him not to turn her in, Spade tells her, “You’re taking the fall,” and the cops handcuff her. It doesn’t get more downbeat or noirish than that!

 

When I think of The Maltese Falcon, a big part of what I found so enjoyable was the snappy dialog. One of Spade’s most memorable lines (for me, anyway) comes in a conversation with a punk kid played by Elisha Cooke, Jr., who is sent to corral Spade for a meeting with his gangster boss. When Spade laughs at his imperious tone, the kid says, “Keep on riding me and they’ll be picking iron out of your liver.”  Spade responds, “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.” I’ve remembered the line ever since I first heard it. The way the characters speak to each other, even in the most stressful situations, is a big part of what makes noir fun for me. Hammet was a master of this tough guy repartee, and John Huston, who wrote the screenplay, was clever enough to lift much of the dialog directly from the book. 

 

Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.

Both of these classic novels have a story kicked into motion by a beautiful, beguiling woman seducing the average guy narrator into helping her murder her husband. The insurance money is part of the motivation. But it’s the narrator’s smoldering desire for the wife that ensnares him and causes him to do her bidding, even when it involves murder. In both books, things end badly for these poor guys. Having been taken for a ride and duped, they suffer the ultimate punishment. One is left awaiting execution (The Postman Always Rings Twice) while the other is killed by his co-conspirator seductress—a literal femme fatale (Double Indemnity).

 

The Big Sleep—Written by Raymond Chandler; 1946 film directed by Howard Hawks.

Does writing a thriller require tying up all the loose ends? Doesn’t the reader deserve that? Maybe not! I couldn’t help thinking of Raymond Chandler’s classic, The Big Sleep, in which the chauffeur is murdered, but by whom? Chandler fails to reveal the identity of the killer. It didn’t diminish the novel in my mind, but it was confounding for director Howard Hawks. During the filming in Hollywood, an exasperated Hawks called Chandler from the movie set and asked him who killed the chauffeur. Chandler responded, “I have no idea.” 

Often, the plots in noir are complex or filled with shady characters who play only a minor role. Sometimes, as in the case of The Big Sleep, even the killer’s identity is left hanging. Given all the complications, twists, and turns in many classic noir novels, as well as in modern mysteries and thrillers, sometimes things aren’t neatly tied up at the end. And according to the great noir novelist Raymond Chandler, that’s okay.

 

The Moon in the Gutter by David Goodis.

A couple of years ago, I happened to read Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s. I had never read David Goodis before, nor had I even heard his name, but the novels were beautifully written and great examples of noir storytelling and characters. One novel, The Moon in the Gutter, stood out for me. It’s the story of William Kerrigan, a dockworker in Philadelphia whose sister supposedly committed suicide in a dark alley. He suspects she was murdered and is obsessed with finding her killer. A high-society woman who enjoys photographing handsome dockworkers is drawn to Kerrigan, and they begin a love affair. It turns out she may know something about the death of Kerrigan’s sister. 

 

The Moon in the Gutter is a wonderful novel full of colorful characters, and after reading it, I had a revelation: So many noir stories are, at their heart, love stories. Sometimes, the romance between the main characters is doomed by circumstance, as it was by the clash of high and low Philadelphia society in The Moon in the Gutter. Sometimes, it’s a victim of deception, double-dealing, or murder. Sometimes, it’s a love triangle, as is the case in The Moon in the Gutter. Often, in keeping with the downbeat nature of noir, the hero chooses to give up the woman he truly desires in favor of someone less problematic. After all, a romance with a femme fatale doesn’t seem to be a great foundation for a sustainable marriage. Whatever the reason, the love story in noir thrillers is often as important as the crime.

 

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Art Bell's first novel, What She’s Hiding—A Thriller, is now available wherever books are sold.