Cartoon of the Day: Book

Fire Escape Shelves

Saw this on FAB today, but they were out of stock. So, I looked elsewhere and found it at various places on the web including Amazon, but cheaper at UncommonGoods. It's actually illegal to put anything out on fire escapes in NYC. These shelves are more for plants or paperbacks, but very clever!

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Longlist

Now in its tenth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014. The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.

Rubbernecker, Belinda Bauer, Transworld Publishers
The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes, HarperCollins
The Dying Hours, Mark Billingham, Little, Brown Book Group
 Like This, For Ever, Sharon Bolton, Transworld Publishers
A Wanted Man Lee Child, Transworld Publishers
The Honey Guide, Richard Crompton, Orion
The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald, Faber & Faber Dying Fall, Elly Griffiths, Quercus
Until You're Mine, Samantha Hayes, Random House
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, Malcolm Mackay, Pan Macmillan
The Chessmen, Peter May, Quercus
I Hear The Sirens In The Street, Adrian McKinty, Profile Books
The Red Road, Denise Mina, Orion
Ratlines, Stuart Neville, Vintage, Random House
Standing in Another Man's Grave, Ian Rankin, Orion
Children of the Revolution, Peter Robinson, Hodder & Stoughton
Eleven Days, Stav Sherez, Faber & Faber
Weirdo Cathi Unsworth, Profile Books

The longlist will be cut to a shortlist of six titles to be announced on June 30. The overall winner will be decided by a panel of Judges which this year comprises of Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd. and title sponsor Simon Theakston, Festival Chair Steve Mosby, Radio Times’ Alison Graham, and Head of Fiction at WHSmith, Dave Swillman, as well as members of the public. The public vote opens on July 3 and closes July 15 at www.theakstons.co.uk

HT: Karen Meek, EuroCrime

Cinco de Mayo Mysteries, Mexican Crime Fiction & More!

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 always 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

And, here's one of my favorite roses: Cinco de Mayo! a repeat bloomer with a unique shape, color and perfume!

Agatha Award Winners

The Agatha Award Winners --  Malice Domestic, May 3, 2014. 

Best First Novel

Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz (Berkley Prime Crime)

Best Historical Novel 

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd (William Morrow)

Best Contemporary Novel

The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)

Best Nonfiction

The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur Books)

Best Short Story

"The Care and Feeding of House Plants" by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Best Children's/YA Nominations

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Books)

KENTUCKY DERBY CRIME FICTION & MORE!

The 140th Kentucky Derby takes place today, and in anticipation I've dusted off last year's list of Kentucky Derby mysteries and added more titles and a few more categories. Read horse-racing mysteries to set the mood and enjoy the day or watch the movie The Kentucky Derby (1922). It's full of grit and crime. Have a piece of Derby Pie (recipes on DyingforChocolate.com), filled with chocolate, bourbon and pecans--or have some Kentucky Derby Truffles. Planning on attending the Kentucky Derby this year? Don't forget your hat: "Crowning Glory: The art of Kentucky Derby Hats"

Kentucky Derby Mysteries
Triple Crown by Jon Breen 
Triple Cross by Kit Ehrman
Intercept by Mary Jane Forbes
Silent Partner by Karen Jones
Snip by Doc Macomber
Murder at the Kentucky Derby by Charles Parmer
Dark Horse by Bill Shoemaker (Triple Crown)
The Accurst Tower by John Winslow

Kentucky Derby Short Stories
"The Gift" by Dick Francis is set at the Kentucky Derby. It is in the collection Field of Thirteen. "The Gift" first appeared as "A Day of Wine and Roses" in Sports Illustrated, 1973.
Derby Rotten Scoundrels: A Silver Dagger Anthology, edited by Jeffrey Marks
Low Down and Derby, a collection of fast paced mystery stories set around the Kentucky Derby, by fifteen authors from the Ohio River Valley Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Murder at the Races, a collection of Short Stories including "A Derby Horse", edited by Peter Haining.

Children's Mysteries
The Mystery at the Kentucky Derby by Carole Marsh

Non-Fiction
Great Horse Racing Mysteries: Tales from the Track by John McEvoy
Dancer's Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby (and 5 other non-fiction books about Thoroughbread racing and equine law) by Milton Toby

And there once was a thorough-bred named Mystery Novel. He did not win the Kentucky Derby.

Movies
The Kentucky Derby (1922)

Authors who Write Horse Mysteries 
(not necesssarily about the Kentucky Derby)
Gabriella Herkert, Sasscer Hill, Jody Jaffe, Bruce Alexander, Fern Michaels, Carolyn Banks, Michelle Scott, Laura Crum, Mary Monica Pulver, Rita Mae Brown, Janet Dawson, Maggie Estep, Dick Francis, John Francome, Alyson Hagy, Michael Kilian, Peter Klein, Lynda La Plante, John McEvoy, Jassy Mackenzie, Bill Shoemaker, Laura Young, Lyndon Stacey, JD Carpenter

OTHER HORSE MYSTERIES!
Murder at the Racetrack, edited by Otto Penzler