Cartoon of the Day: Voles

Cartoon of the Day: Cats

Happy Caturday!

STAUNCH BOOK PRIZE SHORTLIST

From The Bookseller

Here's a controversial crime fiction award. What do you think? Feel free to make comments below.

The £2,000 Staunch Book Prize was launched by screenwriter Bridget Lawless in January to find the best thriller in which no woman gets beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.

At launch, the prize attracted some criticism from authors such as Sophie Hannah and Val McDermid with accusations of censorship and “missing the point”. Organizers of CrimeFest in Bristol subsequently withdrew its offer of a offered a complimentary pass and panel appearance for the winning writer.

However nine months on, a six-strong international shortlist has been revealed, featuring titles from Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and a number of indies from across the globe as well as one unpublished manuscript. Read more here.


Staunch Book Prize Shortlist

The Appraisal by Anna Porter (ECW press)
East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman (HQ),
If I Die Tonight by A L Gaylin (PRH)
On the Java Ridge by Jock Serong( Text Publishing).
The Kennedy Moment by Peter Adamson (Myriad Editions)
Cops and Queens by Joyce Thompson (seeking publisher)

Irish Book Awards Crime Fiction Book of the Year Shortlist

Finalists have been selected in 16 categories for the 2018 An Post Irish Book Awards. Here are the nominees in the Crime Fiction Category.

Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year Shortlist 

A House of Ghosts, by W.C. Ryan (Zaffre)
One Click, by Andrea Mara (Poolbeg Press)
Skin Deep, by Liz Nugent (Penguin)
The Confession, by Jo Spain (Quercus)
The Ruin, by Dervla McTiernan (Sphere)
Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)

HT: The Rap Sheet

Cartoon of the Day: Author Reading

And Then There Were Six: Guest Post by Miranda James

Miranda James:
And Then There Were Six 

One cat in the house can be handful enough, but what about … six? That’s the case in the latest “Cat in the Stacks” mystery, when Charlie finds a box with five kittens on his doorstep one December morning.

In this case, the title of the book came to me before the storyline. I knew the book would be set at Christmastime, and the title Six Cats A Slayin’ popped right into my head. Once I had that title, I had to come up with a way for six cats to enter into the story.

Hence the box of kittens on the doorstep. Charlie, softie that he is, wouldn’t just take the kittens to the shelter, especially after the mysterious person who left them included a note begging for his help.

Then there’s Diesel. How would Diesel react to five frisky kittens in his domain? He’s used to putting up with Stewart Delacorte’s little poodle, Dante, but kittens? Well, turns out Diesel doesn’t seem to mind them at all.

Besides the mystery of who left the kittens on the doorstep, there is also the mystery of the new neighbor across the street. Geraldine Albritton claims to have grown up in Athena, Mississippi, but Charlie’s friend Melba Gilley has never heard of her. So who is Geraldine Albritton? And what could possibly go wrong at her open house/holiday party when all the neighbors are invited?

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Miranda James is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries, including Claws for Concern, Twelve Angry Librarians, and No Cats Allowed as well as the Southern Ladies Mysteries, including Fixing to Die, Digging Up the Dirt, and Dead with the Wind. James lives in Mississippi.