Cartoon of the Day: TBR Pile

 

FATHER'S DAY MYSTERIES. //FATHER'S DAY CRIME FICTION

Father's Day: A day to celebrate Dad. My father was the ultimate reader. His idea of a great vacation was sitting in a chair reading a mystery. It didn't mattered that he was home, the book took him miles away -- and he was comfortable!

Even now after he's been gone these many years, I find myself finishing a mystery and saying to myself, "I have to send this to Dad. He'll love it." It always makes me sad to remember I can't. My father engendered my love of mysteries through his collection of mystery novels and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines. I like to think he's up there somewhere in a comfortable chair surrounded by books, reading a good mystery.

This year I've included True Crime, as well as fiction, on my Father's Day list. I've also included more Short Stories and a Graphic Novel. And, of course, I've updated the list. Let me know if I've missed any titles/authors.

FATHER'S DAY MYSTERIES

Father’s Day by John Calvin Batchelor
Father’s Day by Rudolph Engelman
Father's Day: A Detective Joe Guerry Story by Tippie Rosemarie Fulton
Father’s Day Keith Gilman 
Dear Old Dead by Jane Haddam
The Father’s Day Murder by Lee Harris
Day of Reckoning by Kathy Herman
Dead Water by Victoria Houston
Father’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier
On Father's Day by Megan Norris
Father’s Day by Alan Trustman

Murder for Father, edited by Martin Greenberg (short stories)
"Father's Day" by Patti Abbott --short story at Spinetingler
Collateral Damage: A Do Some Damage Collection  e-book of Father's Day themed short stories.
"Where's Your Daddy?" by Sue Ann Jaffarian

**

And a list of Crime Fiction that focuses on Fathers and Sons and Fathers and Daughters. Have a favorite Father / Son Father/Daughter Mystery? Post below in comments or send me a note.


FATHERS AND SONS and FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS in CRIME FICTION

The Stay at Home Dad series by Jeffrey Allen

Carriage Trade by Stephen Birmingham
His Father's Son by Tony Black
Her Father's Secret by Sara Blaedel
The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

The Controller by Matt Brolly

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage
Secret Father by James Carroll
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

The President's Daughter by Bill Clinton & James Patterson
The Hasidic Rebbe's Son by Joan Lipinsky Cochran

Hot Plastic by Peter Craig
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne 
The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron
Killings by Andre Dubus

The Perfect Father by Charlotte Duckworth

Lars and Little Olduvai by Keith Spencer Felton
The Dead Daughter by Thomas Fincham

Unsub by Meg Gardner   
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig

Gnosis by Rick Hall

Atticus by Ron Hansen

King of Lies by John Hart
Damage by Josephine Hart

The Good Father by Noah Hawley
1922; The Shining by Stephen King

Revival Season by Bharti Kirchner    
Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

A Perfect Spy by John LeCarre 
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Charlie Chan Returns by Dennis Lynds

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Darksight by D.C. Mallery

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Blood Grove by Walter Mosley 
The Son by Jo Nesbo

Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh

Ali Cross: Like Father, Like Son by James Patterson

The President's Daughter by James Patterson & Bill Clinton

Sherlock Holmes Dark Son, Dark Father by John Pirillo

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Roman Hat Mystery; other novels by Ellery Queen (Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay)
My Son, the Murderer by Patrick Quentin

Paperback Original by Will Rhode
The Senior Sleuths: Dead in Bed by Marcia Rosen
Baby's First Felony by John Straley

The Father by Anton Swenson

City on the Edge by David Swinson

To Die in California by Newton Thornburg

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

Father's Day by Simon Van Booy

The Second Son by Jordan Wells

The Ones Who Do by Daniel Woodrell 

True Crime: So very, very dark! Disturbing...but a new category on the list!

Incident at Big Sky by Johnny France and Malcolm Mcconnell

Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss

Murder in Little Egypt by Darcy O'Brien

If I Can't Have Them by Gregg Olsen

The Poison Tree by Alan Prendergast

Above Suspicion; Death Sentence by Joe Sharkey

Fred & Rose by Howard Sounes

Short Stories: 

"Father's Day" by Michael Connelly in Blue Murder

A Holiday Sampler by Christine Collier

Where's Your Daddy? (Holidays from Hell Short Story Series) by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Murder for Father, Edited by Martin Greenberg, stories by Ruth Rendell, Ed Gorman, Max Allan Collins, Bill Crider and more

Graphic Novels:

Father's Day by Mike Richardson, Illustrated by Gabriel Guzman

SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEES 2025: Private Eye Writers of America

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the nominees for the coveted Shamus Awards. Winners will be announced at the 2025 Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies, Thursday, September 4 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

• Kingpin by Mike Lawson 

• The Hollow Tree by Phillip Miller

• Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley

• Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts 

• Death and Glory by Will Thomas 

BEST ORGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL

• Geisha Confidential by Mark Coggins 

• Quarry’s Return by Max Allan Collins 

• Not Born of Woman by Teel James Glenn

• Bless Our Sleep by Neil S. Plakcy 

• Call of the Void by J.T. Siemens 

• The Big Lie by Gabriel Valjan 

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL

• Twice the Trouble by Ash Clifton 

• The Devil’s Daughter by Gordon Greisman 

• Fog City by Claire M. Johnson

• The Road to Heaven by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson

• Holy City by Henry Wise 

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY

• “Deadhead” by Tom Andes (Fall 2024, Cowboy Jamboree Magazine)

• “Alibi in Ice” by Libby Cudmore (July/August 2024, AHMM)

• “Drop Dead Gorgeous” by M.E. Proctor (Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith)

• “Under Hard Rock” by Ed Teja (October 2024, Black Cat Weekly #164)

• “The Five Cent Detective” by S.B. Watson (November 2024, Crimeucopia)

HT: Kevin Burton Smith, Thrilling Detective 

GRANTCHESTER, Season 10: MASTERPIECE Mystery!

Grantchester returns to MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS with Season 10 this Sunday, June 15 at 9/8c. 

Secrets are exposed and relationships are tested in what the Grantchester cast calls the “best season yet.” All of your favorite characters return in Season 10

In the new episodes, Alphy (Rishi Nair) has really found a home in Grantchester. In Geordie (Robson Green), he’s found a best friend and his intellectual equal. Love proves more elusive, until a case throws him in the path of a romance. But before he can let anyone else in, he must confront truths about himself. Geordie, meanwhile, wrestles with his expectations for his own son and Cathy takes steps to better her career with the help of Mrs. Chapman.

 

Season 10 of Grantchester premieres  Sunday, June 15 at 9/8c. The eight-episode season will also be available to stream on the PBS app, PBS.org, and with PBS MASTERPIECE on Prime Video.

FREDERICK FORSYTH: R.I.P.

Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and The Dogs of War, died Monday, at the age of 86. Forsyth was the master of the geopolitical thriller populated with spies, mercenaries, and political extremists. He wrote 24 books, including 14 novels, and sold more than 75 million copies. He will be missed, but remembered.

NYT obituary

The Guardian obituary

The Washington Post

Crime Writers' Association interview with Frederick Forsyth

Art Detectives: New Series on AcornTV

I love a good art mystery, and I'm looking forward to Art Detectives that starts today on AcornTV. Two episodes are now available, with future episode streaming one a week.

In the Metropolitan Police's smallest department, the Heritage Crime Unit, an art-loving detective tackles cases connected to the world of art, antiques, collectibles and cultural heritage. Stephen Moyer remains best known in America for his vampire Bill Compton in True Blood. Moyer returns today, June 9, with AcornTV’s murder mysteries series Art Detectives as art-loving Detective Inspector Mick Palmer, partnered with Detective Constable Shazia Malik (Nina Singh). They’re the Heritage Crime Unit, solving murders linked to art and antiques – everything from forged paintings to Viking gold. 

“I loved the idea of it,” the British born Moyer, 55, began in a Zoom interview with the Boston Herald. “There is a real Heritage Crime Unit – I think it’s called the Art Fraud Department. It’s the smallest department in the whole Metropolitan Police. Just three people. Alongside straight-talking DC Shazia Malik, played by Nina Singh, the pair solve murders connected to the world of art and antiques, from Old Master paintings, to Banksy street art, medieval manuscripts and collectible vinyl. in the series, the artfully astute detectives encounter a fake Vermeer, Viking gold, a rare Chinese vase and items rescued from the Titanic. 

Palmer navigates these cases while managing a budding romance with museum curator Rosa, played by Sarah Alexander and the sudden reappearance of his charismatic father, Ron, (Larry Lamb), who just happens to be one of Britain’s most notorious forgers. 

Art Detectives' first two episodes stream today on Acorn TV. 

SHORTLISTS: Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year & McDermid Debut Award

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Shortlist

The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre (Sphere)
The Mercy Chair, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
The Last Word, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
Hunted, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
All the Colours of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker (Orion)

McDermid Debut Award (named for crime writer Val McDcDermid)

Sick to Death, by Chris Bridges (Avon) 

I Died at Fallow Hall, by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square) 

Her Two Lives, by Nilesha Chauvet (Faber & Faber) 

A Reluctant Spy, by David Goodman (Headline)

Isolation Island, by Louise Minchin (Headline) 

Black Water Rising, by Sean Watkin (Canelo)

Winners will be announced  July 17 at the opening night of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. Congratulations to all!

Cartoon of the Day: Collector

Happy Caturday!

Murder in Wartime: D-Day

For D-Day, I thought I'd post a link to Mystery Readers Journal: Murder in Wartime. Check out the Table of Contents and links below. Great articles and reviews by and about your favorite authors. 110 pages! Buy this back issue as a downloadable PDF.

MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL: Murder in Wartime (Volume 33:2)

Available a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• World War II and the Golden Age Tradition by Kate Jackson

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• The Making of Heroes by Suzanne M. Arruda
• It Never Happened by Mary Adler
• On Edge by Albert Ashforth
• Between Lost and Dead by Rona Bell
• A Half Century Later, Vietnam Is Still a Mystery by R.G. Belsky
• Harry Lime Was Wrong by James Benn
• My Wartime Connection by Cara Black
• The Secrets of Bletchley Park by Rhys Bowen
• Passing On the Memory of Wars I Never Knew by William Broderick
• Don’t Mention the War by Frances Brody
• Why Care About a Murder in Wartime? by Rebecca Cantrell
• The Green Corn Rebellion by Donis Casey
• War Is Hell… but Hell Makes Good Mysteries by John A. Connell
• Murder and Ancient War by Gary Corby
• The Real and Recent Wars Behind My Fiction by Diana Deverell
• Spoils of War by David Edgerley Gates
• You Say Conflict, I Say War by Chris Goff
• Mystery in The First World War by Dolores Gordon-Smith
• Civil War Crime by Paul E. Hardisty
• War Stories by Libby Hellmann
• Body of Evidence by Graham Ison
• Wartime in England by Maureen Jennings
• The Mysteries of War by Kay Kendall
• From Bomb Shelters to a B&B by Kate Kingsbury
• Bombs and Short Legs by Joan Lock
• Rough Cider in the Making by Peter Lovesey
• If It’s War, It Can’t Be Murder? by Michael Niemann
• Echoes of Vietnam by Neil Plakcy
• When the Investigator Wears Boots by Ben Pastor
• His Debts Were Settled At Last by Mary Reed
• Murder in Wartime by Gavin Scott
• The Time Traveler As Writer by Sarah R. Shaber
• A Coin for the Hangman: The Home Front and the Returning Soldier by Ralph Spurrier
• The Solitary Soldier by Kelli Stanley
• Wartime in New York by Triss Stein
• Writing About War by Charles Todd
• It’s Not Our War: Writing a WWI-Era Mystery Series Set in New York by Radha Vatsal
• Fading Away by Sharon Wildwind
• Bloodshed Behind the Lines by Sally Wright
• Fate, Facts, and War Stories by Ursula Wong

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews by Kristopher Zgorski, Craig Sisterson, L.J. Roberts, Sandie Herron, Kate Jackson, Kate Derie
• Khaki Cops by Jim Doherty
• True Crime in Wartime by Cathy Pickens
• The Children’s Hour: War Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Just the Facts: The Military Mutilator by Jim Doherty
• Crime Scene: Murder in a Time of War by Kate Derie
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet Rudolph

---

Cartoon of the Day: D-Day

 

PATIENCE: PBS series premieres June 15

If you're a fan of the French TV series Astrid et Raphaelle, as I am, you might want to check out the British/Belgian version entitled Patience which is based on the French series. It will premier in the U.S. on Sunday, June 15 at 8 pm ET on PBS, with streaming available on pbs.org and the PBS app. New episodes will be released weekly on Sundays through July 20th. The series is also available on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel (requires a separate subscription). 

Patience has already been renewed for a season two. The first series saw Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis), who’s autistic, establish herself as an invaluable member of the City of York Police. Jo McGrath, Chief Creative Officer at Eagle Eye Drama has promised that series 2 will be "more action packed, culminating with a nail-biting hostage storyline and a shocking family revelation for Patience." Patience stars Laura Fraseras Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf, and Ella Maisy Purvis as autistic police archivist Patience Evans (Purvis is herself autistic). The series is set in Yorkshire.

Cartoon of the Day: The Story Coaster

From Grant Snider:

 

Authors & their Cats: Lilian Jackson Braun

Happy Caturday! What better author to highlight today on my Writers & their Cats series than Lilian Jackson Braun, author of the Cat Who series. 

Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Winners

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Winners of the 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. 

THE 2025 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS

The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel
Sponsored by the Boreal Benefactor with a $1000 prize

Conor Kerr, Prairie Edge Strange Light, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada

Best Crime First Novel
Sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize

Ashley Tate, Twenty-Seven Minutes, Doubleday Canada

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada
Sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

Shane Peacock, As We Forgive Others, Cormorant Books

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery
Sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize

Thomas King, Black Ice, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Crime Novella
Sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $200 prize

Pamela Jones, The Windmill Mystery, Austin Macauley Publishers

Best Crime Short Story

Therese Greenwood, “Hatcheck Bingo”, from The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem,
Carrick Publishing

Best French Language Crime Book

Guillaume Morrissette, Une mémoire de lion, Saint-Jean

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book
Sponsored by Superior Shores Press with a $250 prize

Sigmund Brouwer, Shock Wave, Orca Book Publishers

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book
Sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton) with a $300 prize

It’s a tie!

Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse 

and 

Tanya Talaga, The Knowing.

Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse,
Random House Canada

Tanya Talaga, The Knowing, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author
Sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize

Luke Devlin, Govern Yourself Accordingly

***

About Crime Writers of Canada
Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the
profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers,
librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the
Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen,
Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We
thank our sponsors and volunteers, and the many participating publishers, authors and judges for their
continued support.

What’s Bred in the Bone: Guest Post by Michael Robotham

When people ask me why I write crime, I tell them that it’s in my blood.

Five generation ago, my forefather George Robotham, was transported from England to Tasmania for stealing a watch. He married a fellow convict, an Irishwoman, who had stolen a shawl – a harsh punishment for trying to stay warm.

My mother was horrified by these criminal links and refused to let anyone research our family tree in case her shame became public, but I was never worried about being a bad seed. Instead, have always leaned into it.

At eighteen, I became a cadet reporter on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney, a tabloid red-top that sold at every bus stop and train station to commuters on their way home from work. Sensation and titillation was the bread and butter of The Sydney Sun. There were page-three girls, newspaper bingo, horse racing guides, sport analysis and a daily diet of crime stories and celebrity gossip.
           

My very first front page read: CARAVAN KISS - BRIDE MURDER CHARGE and reported that a husband had punched his new bride of three weeks after seeing her kiss another man in a caravan. Forty-six years on and little has changed when it comes to men killing their partners. 

As a cadet reporter I had to work in the radio room, monitoring the police, fire and ambulance radios. I learned the call-signs and codes. I knew which police division operated in which areas, and when an officer was in trouble, or a prisoner had escaped, or a child was missing, or a suspect was being chased. 
I spent more than a year working the graveyard shift for The Sun. The Red-Light district became my regular haunt because it was the only place to get a coffee or something to eat at three in the morning. I befriended pimps, prostitutes, dealers, junkies, coppers, strippers, transvestites, tramps, and ‘colourful local identities’ – a euphemism for gangsters and nightclub owners.

Working in police rounds, my job was to report on crime. This meant befriending detectives, pathologists and paramedics, anyone who could tip me off about some new development in an ongoing investigation. I drank in the same pubs as the police. I bought them drinks. I attended barbecues. I was invited to weddings and attended christenings. 

Sometimes, I ‘looked the other way’ when I saw evidence of police corruption because I didn’t want to burn a long-time contact who would later give me a more important story. It was a case weighing up the public good, letting a small fish escape the net, in the hope of catching a bigger one.

Ultimately, I became an investigative journalist working for ten years in London for a national newspaper. This brought me in contact with criminals both big and small. I tracked down rogue solicitors, paedophile judges, and East End gangsters who had fled to the Costa del Sol in Spain, (otherwise known as the Costa del Crime).

Sometimes it was dangerous. I once investigated an Irish gambler in Dublin who was notorious private. Local racing journalists had told me to drop the story but I carried on for one more day, knocking on doors and asking questions. That night in Dublin, I was visited by three men wearing balaclavas who bounced me around my hotel room and drove me to airport.

I phoned my editor from the departure lounge and said, ‘This gambler launders money for the IRA.’
‘Give it twenty minutes and go back,’ he said. ‘They’ll have gone by then.’

I got on the flight. I might have been Australian and therefore ‘expendable’ but I wasn’t stupid.

On another investigation, I helped expose the UK’s booming telephone sex-line industry, where customers paid up to US$5 a minute to ‘talk dirty’ with no limits on age, time or the content discussed. Many of the sex-line operators had links with organised crime and the porn industry in Britain and abroad.

Our newspaper exposes so much pressure on the Government to regulate the industry, that the operators organised a crisis meeting at a hotel in Manchester. We gate-crashed the event, bursting through the doors, taking photographs and asking questions. The operators covered their faces and yelled threats and chased us out of the hotel. The revolving front door of that hotel is spinning today because I hit it with such speed.

The following day, we handed UK police photographic evidence that linked known crime figures to the sex-line services. Within weeks the laws had changed.

My latest novel, The White Crow, draws on experiences like this. It features a young, ambitious police officer, Philomena McCarthy, who has defied the odds to follow her dream, because she comes from a notorious family of East End gangsters.

It is a novel that has taken me back to my roots – to those days as a reporter and investigative journalist, when I befriended prostitutes, pimps, paramedics, police, and the colourful milieu of characters who inhabited the night. 

These were my people and I’m still telling their stories.

***

The White Crow by Michael Robotham will be published by Scribner on July 1, 2025. It's available for pre-order.

Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; Lying Beside You; Storm Child; and The White Crow. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT COAST CRIME 2026: San Francisco Schemin'

Can't wait for Left Coast Crime 2026: San Francisco Schemin'. Be sure and sign up and reserve your room at the hotel. This is going to be an epic convention.  Convention rate includes convention with panels and special events, banquet, two full breakfasts, and opening reception--but so much more. It's all about friends and writers. And, San Francisco--everybody's favorite city!

 

A Low-Commitment Pet for a Low-Commitment Owner: Guest Post by Tom Spencer

When I came to start writing my current project, a second novel starring cantankerous archivist Agatha Dorn as my detective, I decided she should get a cat. Agatha starts the novel living in a strange new town; she has no friends (because she’s a huge pain in the neck); she’s lonely. She needs a cat! Everyone needs a cat! The only problem was, I had already established in the first book that Agatha hates cats. Or rather, as something of a control freak, she hates the chaos a cat would bring into her life. She is especially grossed out by the notion of hairballs, of which she has heard. 

Now, there are cats who do not produce hairballs – my own cat, Coconut, for instance, has never vomited up anything of the kind. But Coconut still creates all kinds of chaos in my house. She baits the dog into attacking her then swipes at the dog’s face with her claws. She runs out of the front door if it’s left open even a crack. She walks on the chopping board right as I am preparing dinner, tracking lord-knows-what across my food preparation surfaces. She flagrantly steals pieces of chicken, ham, bread, whatever I’m making, right in front of my eyes! The only deterrent she respects is the water spray bottle, and that only for a couple of seconds, before she’s right back to thieving the chicken again. No, Agatha would never be able to stand having a cat in her flat. 

But still, I thought, Agatha should have a cat. And besides, in Blake Snyder’s famous phrase, main characters ought to “save the cat” somewhere near the beginning of the narrative – especially unsympathetic main characters like mine, whom readers might not be disposed to like much. How better to “save the cat” than by having Agatha look after a literal cat? And also, cats are awesome! They flow down the stairs like water. They come and drape their tails against your face even when they are positive that they do not want to be petted. A cat would be just the thing to get Agatha out of the doldrums in which she finds herself at the start of the novel. 

My solution was to get Agatha a feral cat – a cat who stays outside, on her balcony, dividing his time between Agatha and who knows how many other owners. A feral cat whom Agatha can feed expensive cat milk that is gentle on feline digestive systems, but who basically ignores Agatha. This seemed like the perfect solution – a low-commitment pet for a low-commitment owner. This, incidentally, was also the solution we adopted with our own children when they were toddlers, before we got Coconut – we left food out for a black cat who would come into our backyard, eat the food, and leave. But our eldest son was convinced that we “had” a cat – he told all his teachers at preschool that we had a cat named Elsa (he was very into Frozen at the time, and who better to name a completely black cat after than an ice princess?). So for a few years, we escaped having feline chaos invading our own house. When it comes to my novel, though, the only question now is what to do with Agatha’s cat now she’s got him? Maybe I should pull a Rita Mae Brown and have the cat solve the mystery? 

***

Tom Spencer is an expat Londoner currently living and working in Montgomery, Alabama. He is the author of the mystery novel The Mystery of the Crooked Man (Pushkin), recently longlisted for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger. He has published creative work in various journals, including a story nominated for a Pushcart Prize and another shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Prize. Under his real name, Tom Perrin, he has published an academic book on twentieth-century fiction, as well as having written for the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere.

Cartoon of the Day: Memorial Day

Cartoon of the Day: Collector

 

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

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, 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.