SUMMER CAMP MYSTERIES

I was not a big summer camp fan. I hated bugs and outdoorsy stuff -- the woods, the camp fire, the ghost stories, the mean girls. 

When I was young, my Dad would spend his 'summer vacation' as a camp doctor, thus affording my sister and me the 'pleasure' of 2-4 weeks at overnight summer camp. My sister loved it; I hated it. But when I was 13, I went to the best summer camp ever (my father was not camp doctor): The New Hope Academy of the Performing Arts at Ramblerny. Oh my. Great fun with like minds and talented peers. This was not a common overnight camp at the time. Ramblerny was an Arts Camp, a summer camp for the performing arts -- no counselors, little or no supervision, no sports, no bells, or taps. Rather, there were drama workshops, music classes, dance practices, play-writing. Case in Point: The large cracked swimming pool later became an amphitheater!  To be fair, there was archery and swimming and other sports available, but nothing you 'had' to do. 

Ramblerny summer camp was a world to itself, as, most summer camps seem to be, but this one opened a new world for me. I cherished the amount of freedom, but I also learned a lot about various arts: Drama: I will never forget the well-known actors who came down from NYC to teach and encourage us 'misfits' ("Breathe through your diaphragm"), Art: famous artists who worked with us on various projects such as set design, as if we were peers; world famous playwrights who critiqued our work (gently). Wowza. And to date myself, this was a very long time ago, and way before the hippie era.

As I was writing this memory, I thought I should do some fact checking. Memory, as we all know, can be faulty. Thanks, Internet, for copies of the Ramblerny brochure. I wasn't too wrong..I didn't, though, remember ANY sports element. (I did find a further mention that teens could choose their own sports, if they wanted, at any time, with equipment found around the property! Yes! Be sure and check out the Policy statement re: rules. And, who knew that so much later in my life, after a multitude of careers and years of academic study, I would come full circle and establish a theatre company and write and produce plays? Back to my roots, as a 13 year old girl at Ramblerny!

But back to crime fiction. Since I had had a taste of the traditional summer camp, the kind that most of my friends attended for the entire summer (usually for 2 months!!!), I understand why summer camp would be the perfect place to set a mystery. I do realize I missed out on life-long friends who built memories as they reunited every summer. Traditional summer camp had its merits, but not for me at that time. Remember, there were no computer camps (there were no computers!), no French camps (that I knew of), no Writing camps, no CSI or Science Summer Camps. 

So in regards to mystery fiction, there are so many ways to commit crimes at summer camp, and some to those crimes never got reported and festered for years leading way to the unsolved crimes later in life. Summer camp was clearly not all S'mores and the Lake. I've separated out the YA and children's crime fiction from the adult summer camp mysteries on my Summer Camp List, but there really is a cross-over between YA and adult. I didn't include a bunch of horror summer camp mysteries. Sorry..just not my thing. And, FYA, there are a lot of them. No surprise there!

So while you're packing the kids up for camp, throw a few of these books into their trunk! They'll thank you for it. Or better still, ask them to write a mystery about their camp experience for you in their spare camp time!

As always, send me any missing titles/authors. Thanks!

Summer Camp Mysteries: Updated List

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kaylynn Bayron

If You Tell a Lie by Lucinda Berry

The Camp by Nancy Bush

A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas DiDomizio

Summer Camp Culprit by C.K. Fyfe

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman
You Will Pay by Lisa Jackson

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
Fatal Glitch: Camp Zero by Erin Estrada Kelly

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

Camp So-and-So by Mary McCoy

The Wild One by Colleen McKeegan
I'll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The Lake by Natasha Preston

The Girl in the Mist by A.J. Rivers

Don't Lie to Me by Willow Rose

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Summer Camp for Slasher Victims by Steve Simms

YA & Children's Books:

The Summer Camp Mysteries (Cam Jansen Mysteries) by David A. Adler

The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas by Janet Aldridge

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

The Summer Camp Science Mysteries by Lynda Beauregard, Der-shing Helmer

Camp Murder Face by Josh Berk & Saundra Mitchell

Code Name Cassandra by Jenny Carroll (Meg Cabot)

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

Mystery at Camp Windingo by Lisa Eisenberg

The High School Boys in Summer Camp by H. Irving Hancock

The Girls from Hush Cabin by Marie Hoy-Kenny

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Dig Two Graves by Gretchen McNeil

Detective Camp by Ron Roy (Scholastic)

Primal Animals by Julia Lynn Rubin

Lights Out; The Horror at Camp Jellyjam by R.L. Stine

The Summer Camp Mystery (The Boxcar Children) by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Scatter: Her Summer at Girls Camp by Leslie Warren

Camp Creepy by Kiersten White

Short Stories:

"Evil Little Girl" by Barb Goffman in Don't Get Mad, Get Even 

2026 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Writers of Color Award: Jackie Yap

Sisters in Crime, an inclusive international community for all who write and love crime fiction, announced the winner of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color, which is bestowed by the organization annually.

 

The winner of the 2026 Award is Jackie Yap, a self-described “neurodivergent Australian-born, Malaysian-Chinese-Filipina emerging writer on Gadigal Country (Sydney), Australia.” Her winning submission, “Isabelle Gomez is Innocent, She Swears!,”  is a YA cozy murder mystery set in Manila. The story is part-murder mystery, part-fish-out-of-water, part coming-of-age—with universal themes of humor, heart, and belonging.

 

Established in 2014, The Eleanor Taylor Bland Award is strongly aligned with SinC's mission to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of current and prospective members and intends to support a recipient at the beginning of their crime writing career. The grantee may choose to apply the grant toward workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities to assist in completion of their work. 

 

The award is named after beloved crime writer Eleanor Taylor Bland, who was a trailblazer in the genre - giving voice to complex and diverse characters in her many acclaimed novels and works. 

 

“This grant is a game-changer,” Yap said. “It allows me to invest deeply in my craft and development through SinC, with its world-class workshops and amazing community, and to more deeply engage with Australian and international crime and mystery organisations.”

 

Yap described her story as a “ love letter to diaspora kids everywhere—to those who live in the liminal space between worlds, still discovering who they are, where they fit, and what 'home' truly means. I hope for Izzy Gomez to become a fresh, modern-day Filipina-Aussie Nancy Drew for readers everywhere, offering a protagonist who reflects their experiences against the backdrop of a (cozy) YA murder mystery.”

 

In addition to Yap's achievement, Sisters in Crime also named five runners-up. The recipients were Uju Asika of London, United Kingdom; Billie Hanson-Dupree of Oakland, CA; Nina Michiko Tam of Houston, Texas; D. S. Mori of Orange County, California; and DeAnna Yvette of Chicago, IL.

WHAT'S IN A NAME: Guest Post by Ashley Elston

Naming things is hard, y’all. When I first started writing, I borrowed names from family members. My family is rather large so there were lots of great names to choose from; a few of my main characters were named after cousins: Pippa, Sophie, Anna, Ethan. I made sure the characters were as different as possible in physical description and personality to the real-life person they were named for, to make sure my relatives understood just because it was their name, it did not mean that character was based on them. Family dinners can get really awkward when you name a character after one of your uncles and then make that character unlikable. But on the flip side, there could be the sweet revenge of immortalizing someone as the bad guy... like maybe a teacher that you felt was unjustly harsh. Hypothetically speaking, of course.   

Now, I look outside of my family tree and go straight to baby name websites. Those searches are usually successful but always come with the downside of targeted ads for diapers and formula that never seem to end. Sometimes I know I want a name to start with a certain letter so I Google things like: cool name for a girl that starts with R. I’ll scroll through Facebook and Twitter on the lookout for names that stand out, especially if the profile picture somehow matches the mental image I have for that character.

I spend days and days trying to find the absolute right name for a character before I write the first word about them, because a character’s name is one of the most important things about them. For me, it’s the first building block in deciding who they are and what kind of trouble they are going to find themselves in. It's easy to overthink it, though, because while a name may sound great to you, it may have the opposite effect on someone else. For some readers, it can be a turnoff if a character’s name reminds you of someone you don’t particularly care for. Like, if there was a boy in third grade who was not very nice to you and you still remember it years and years later, there’s a chance those feelings about him will unjustly bleed over to the character. And yeah, Danny, I’m talking about you. 

It's not just characters that are hard to name. My first two YA books were set in the very real town of Natchitoches, Louisiana. Partly because it’s a really cute small town (if you’ve seen Steel Magnolias, you’re agreeing with me) and partly because I knew it was one of those names where the pronunciation would stump readers from outside of Louisiana. But when I was writing my third YA thriller, THIS IS OUR STORY, I was hesitant to set it somewhere real. That book is set in another small town in Louisiana and it deals with the potential corruption in the local District Attorney’s office after a boy is found dead. I wasn’t as comfortable setting it in a real place since I make the town look bad so I decided to create a fictional town instead. But then I found out naming a town is harder than naming a character! Do I just make up a name out of thin air? Do I name it after a person who was historically relevant? Should I reference a lake or a mountain or some other physical feature of the area? I looked up the most common US town name once and found out it is Washington, after the first president, with Madison and Franklin not far behind. Not surprising a lot of towns are named after the Founding Fathers because naming a town is hard!

You would think after six books I would have learned my lesson and given myself less to name, but apparently not! My adult thriller debut, FIRST LIE WINS, features a con artist and there are flashbacks to some of her previous jobs so not only did I have to name her once, I had to come up with half a dozen aliases for her. There’s also another fictional town, a handful of fake businesses and even a mediocre rock band that had to be called something. But it’s worth all the trouble to get it right. I hope you get a chance to pick up one of my books and forgive me if one of the names I chose reminds you of your childhood nemesis. 

***

Ashley Elston worked for many years as a wedding photographer before turning her hand to writing. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and three sons. Elston has written six young adult novels; First Lie Wins is her adult debut. First Lie Wins is the January Reese's Book Club pick. (Congrats-Ashley!)
 

CrimeFest 2023 Award Nominees: Updated List

CrimeFest announced its 2023 Awards nominees. The 2023 CrimeFest Awards will be presented at the CrimeFest Awards Dinner on May 13. This is an updated list that includes the Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama. Congratulations to all!

 Specsavers Crime Fiction Debut Award nominees:

– Amen Alonge for A Good Day to Die (Quercus)
– Graham Bartlett for Bad for Good (Allison & Busby)
– Nita Prose for The Maid (HarperCollins)
– Oriana Rammuno (translator: Katherine Gregor) for Ashes in the Snow (HarperCollins)
– Joachim B. Schmidt (translator: Jamie Lee Searle) for Kalmann (Bitter Lemon)
– Hayley Scrivenor for Dirt Town (Macmillan)
– John Sutherland for The Siege (Orion Fiction)
– Stacy Willingham for A Flicker in the Dark (HarperCollins)

eDunnit Award nominees:
– Chris Brookmyre for The Cliff House (Abacus)
– Michael Connelly for Desert Star (Orion Fiction)
– M.W. Craven for The Botanist (Constable)
– Sara Gran for The Book of the Most Precious Substance (Faber & Faber)
– Ian Rankin for A Heart Full of Headstones (Orion Fiction)
– Peter Swanson for Nine Lives (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. Keating Award nominees:
– J.C. Bernthal & Mary Anna Evans for The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Academic)
– John le Carré (edited by Tim Cornwell) for A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré 1945-2020 (Viking)
– Martin Edwards for The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators (Collins Crime Club)
– Barry Forshaw for Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films (Oldcastle Books)
– Sian MacArthur for Gender Roles and Political Contexts in Cold War Spy Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)
– Lucy Worsley for Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman (Hodder & Stoughton)

Last Laugh Award nominees:
– Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May’s Peculiar London (Doubleday)
– Elly Griffiths for The Locked Room (Quercus)
– Mick Herron for Bad Actors (Baskerville)
– Cara Hunter for Hope to Die (Viking)
– Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Mosaic (Severn House)
– Antti Tuomainen for The Moose Paradox (Orenda Books)

Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama

– Babylon Berlin (series 4), based on the books by Volker Kutscher. Produced by X-Filme Creative Pool, ARD Degeto Film, Beta Film, Sky Deutschland, Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Shown on Sky Atlantic.
– Grace (series 2), based on the books by Peter James. Produced by ITV Studios. Shown on ITV.
– Karin Pirie, based on the books by Val McDermid. Produced by ITV Studios. Shown on ITV.
– Magpie Murders, based on the books by Anthony Horowitz. Produced by Britbox and Eleventh Hour Films. Shown on BritBox.
– Reacher, based on the books by Lee Child. Produced by Amazon Studios, Blackjack Films, Paramount Television, and Skydance Television. Shown on Amazon Prime.
– Shetland (season 7), based on the books by Ann Cleeves. Produced by Silverprint Pictures. Shown on BBC.
– Slow Horses (seasons 1 & 2), based on the books by Mick Herron. Produced by See-Saw. Shown on Apple TV+.
– Vienna Blood (season 3), based on the books by Frank Tallis. Produced by Endor Productions, Seven.One Studios. Shown on BBC.

Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12) nominees:
– Elly Griffiths for A Girl Called Justice: The Spy at the Window (Quercus Children’s Books)
– Anthony Horowitz for Where Seagulls Dare: A Diamond Brothers Case (Walker Books)
– Sharna Jackson for The Good Turn (Puffin)
– M.G. Leonard for Spark (Walker Books)
– Robin Stevens for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (Puffin)
– Sarah Todd Taylor for Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire! A Recipe for Trouble (Nosy Crow)

Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (ages 12-16) nominees:
– Holly Jackson for Five Survive (Electric Monkey)
– Patrice Lawrence for Needle (Barrington Stoke)
– Finn Longman for The Butterfly Assassin (Simon & Schuster Children’s)
– Sophie McKenzie for Truth or Dare (Simon & Schuster Children’s)
– Ruta Sepetys for I Must Betray You (Hodder Children’s Books)
– Jonathan Stroud for The Notorious Scarlett and Browne (Walker Books)

Eoin Colfer awarded Laureate na nÓg

From Writing.ie

Eoin Colfer became the third Laureate na nÓg, Ireland’s laureate for children’s literature. He was awarded his Laureate’s ‘medal’ by Minister Fergus O’Dowd who said Eoin was a ‘magical’ writer who would open up the minds of young people over all the world in his new role. 

Read More HERE

Eoin Colfer will be YA Guest of Honor at Bouchercon 2014.