THEAKSTON'S OLD PECULIER CRIME LONGLIST

The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Longlist was announced. This award is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback over the previous 12 months. The shortlist of six finalists will be announced on July 1. Readers will vote from the shortlist. Votes can be cast online here.

Online votes will be counted alongside votes of the expert judging panel, the members of which include Val McDermid, David Swillman, the fiction head of co-sponsor WHSmith, and Simon Theakston, executive director of title sponsor T&R Theakston. The winner will receive a cash prize of £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

The 2013 longlist:

The Guilty One, by Lisa Ballantyne (Piatkus)

Finders Keepers, by Belinda Bauer (Transworld)

Rush of Blood, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)

Dead Scared, by S.J. Bolton (Corgi)

The Affair, by Lee Child (Transworld)

A Foreign Country, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

Safe House, by Chris Ewan (Faber and Faber)

Not Dead Yet, by Peter James (Macmillan)

Siege, by Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)

Prague Fatale, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)

The Rage, by Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)

Birthdays for the Dead, by Stuart MacBride (Harper)

The Dark Winter, by David Mark (Quercus)

The Lewis Man, by Peter May (Quercus)

Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina (Orion)

Stolen Souls, by Stuart Neville (Vintage)

Sacrilege, by S.J. Parris (Harper)

A Dark Redemption, by Stav Sherez (Faber and Faber)

Hat Tip: The Rap Sheet

IFLA (LIBRARY) MARKETING AWARDS

This is really great! What is your library doing?

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) 11th Annual International Marketing Awards:

First place:

University of Tartu Library, represented by Olga Einasto who represented the project “Talking Textbooks” (Rääkivad Õpikud), which focused on meeting the needs of students who are blind or visually impaired and have difficulty studying and preparing for exams. The library employed student volunteers to read books and save them in audio files, digitize learning material and lecture notes to be used with special software to transform text into speech and read exam questions out loud during exam sessions. The library also provided a new at home library service. Library users, for whom visiting the library is difficult due to their physical or sensory disabilities, can borrow and return books with the aid of voluntary helpers. The library marketed the new services directly to potential users by partnering with the university’s Office for Academic Affairs and engaged in public seminars to obtain feedback and assessment. The first-place winner receives airfare, lodging, and registration for the2013 IFLA General Conference and Assembly to be held this year in Singapore, and a cash award of $1,000 (US) to further the marketing efforts of the library.

Second place:

Saskatoon Public Library, Saskatoon, Canada, represented by Kathryn Thompson The library launched a six-month re-branding campaign, “Collections-Connections” and solicited broad input from existing and potential library patrons as well as potential donors and library stakeholders. The tag line of the new logo – Collections. Connections. – reflects the foundation of the library (its collection) and portrays the connections the library strives to make with the community.

Third place:

Khakas Republican Children's Library, Russia for the project “Reading is a useful habit”, represented by Olga V. Lomova. The project engaged student reporters, who prepared videos announcing the library news. The project aimed at positioning the children's library as a cultural-leisure object, which develops useful habit — reading passion for the children and teenagers from the age of 7 to the age of 15.

One More Vintage Bookmobile Photo

Agatha Award Winners 2013

Agatha Award Winners were announced at Malice Domestic tonight. Congratulations to all.

Best Novel:
The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

Best First Novel:
Lowcountry Boil by Susan M. Boyer

Best Non-fiction:
Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels by John Connolly/Declan Burke

Best Short Story:
"Mischief in Mesopotamia" by Dana Cameron (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Best Children's/Young Adult Novel:
The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse by Penny Warner

Best Historical Novel:
Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder by Catriona McPherson

Cinco de Mayo & Mexican Crime Fiction

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Read a mystery!

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It's primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some recognition in other parts of the Mexico, and also in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It's not, as many people believe, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16.

I've blogged about Cinco de Mayo Mysteries before, but I think it's good to run this post again-- with a few additions for those who missed it...or won't take the extra step to click. :-)

This list is supplemented with Mexican mystery writers and books set in Mexico. Let me know any titles or authors you think should be included.

Add to your Cinco de Mayo reading pleasure with a Mexican Chocolate Celebration. Check out my other Blog, Dying for Chocolate, for recipes and suggestions of great Chocolate for Cinco de Mayo. Entrees, drinks and desserts and more desserts.  I've also posted several recipes for different versions of Mole Poblano and Mexican Chocolate Truffles (including Tequila Truffles).

Cinco de Mayo Mysteries:
The Cinco de Mayo Murder by Lee Harris
A Corpse for Cuamantla by Harol Marshall
Cinco de Mayo by Michael Martineck (science fiction/but cross-over)  
The Bane of Cinco de Mayo by Nathan S. Mitchell
The Cinco de Mayo Reckoning by Terry Money

And a few Mexican crime writers who set their mysteries in Mexico but not Cinco de Mayo. They have not all been translated into English.

Mexican Crime Writers:
Paco Ignacio Taibo II The Uncomfortable Dead (and numerous other novels)
Eduardo Monteverde
Juan Hernandez Luna
Martin Solares
Elmer Mendoza
Rolo Diez
Juan Hernandez Luna

Hardboiled fiction on the Mexican-American frontier: 
Gabriel Trujillo Munoz-known for his science fiction and literary criticism, also writes detective fiction: Mesquite Road, Tijuana City Blues
Carlos Fuentes: Cabeza de la Hidra (The Hydra Head)
Joaquin Guerrero-Casaola: The Law of the Garrotte
Rolando Hinojosa: Partners in Crime, Ask a Policeman

Want to find out more?

Read G.J. Demko's Landscapes of Crime.
Read Lucha Corpi's: La Bloga on Chicana Crime Fiction: Where to?
Read an essay by Jennifer Insley "Border criminals, border crime: hard-boiled fiction on the American Frontier in Confluencia: Revista Hispanica de Cultura y Literatura

YA Literature? You Don't Have a Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens, edited by Sarah Cortez (Arte Publico Press)

Interested in Crime for the Holidays? Check out Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 25:1.

And a fun fact: Five most popular Tequilas in the U.S.
1. Jose Cuervo
2. Patron
3. Sauza
4. Herradura
5. Cabo Wabo

Cartoon of the Day: Family of Writers

From The Paris Review:

Hat Tip: Carol Fairweather