Cartoon of the Day: Hoarding

MOTHER'S DAY MYSTERIES // MOTHER'S DAY CRIME FICTION

Mother's Day: So many Mothers in Mysteries, but the following is a sampling with emphasis on the Mother's Day Holiday. If I listed all the mysteries and crime fiction with famous and infamous mothers, the list would be way too long. This is an updated list, so let me know if I've missed any titles. Be sure and scroll down to view the Psycho Trailer with one of the most famous (infamous) 'mystery' mothers!

MOTHER'S DAY MYSTERIES

Death by Windmill by Jennifer S. Alderson
Angel at Troublesome Creek by Mignon F. Ballard
The Mother's Day by Peter Bartram
Mother's Day by Frankie Bow
How to Murder Your Mother-in-Law, Mum's the Word by Dorothy Cannell
Mother's Day Mayhem by Lynn Cahoon
Mother's Day Murder by Wensley Clarkson
A Holiday Sampler by Christine E. Collier
A Catered Mother's Day by Isis Crawford 
A Darkly Hidden Truth by Donna Fletcher Crow
Motherhood is Murder (Short Stories) by Mary Daheim, Carolyn Hart, Shirley Rousseau Murphy and Jane Isenberg
The Mother's Day Mishap by Kathi Daley
Murder Can Upset Your Mother by Selma Eichler
A Mother's Day Murder by Dee Ernst
Bon Bon Voyage by Nancy Fairbanks
Botched Butterscotch by Amanda Flower
Murder for Mother: Short Story collection, edited by Martin S. Greenberg
Murder Superior by Jane Haddam
A Gift for Mother's Day by K.C. Hardy
The Mother’s Day Murder by Lee Harris
"Pull my Paw"(short story) by Sue Ann Jaffarian
Mother's Day: A Short Story by Renée Knight  (short story)
Every Day is Mother's Day by Hilary Mantel (not exactly a mystery, but a good read)
Mother’s Day by Patricia MacDonald
Mother's Day Out by Karen MacInerney
Mother's Day by Dennis McDougal
Mother’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier
Mom, Apple Pie & Murder: A collection of New Mysteries for Mother’s Day, edited by Nancy Pickard
Mother's Day, Muffins, and Murder by Sara Rosett
Mother’s Day by Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla
A Mother's Day Murder by Genevieve Scholl
Comfort Me by Debbie Viguie
Mother's Day by Ron Vincent

True Crime: 
The Mother's Day Murder by Wensley Clarkson

Check out Carissa Chesanek's article 8 of the Most Terrifying Mothers in Crime Fiction on CrimeReads.

Who's your favorite Mother in Crime Fiction?

THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR LONGLIST

Crime Novel Of The Year longlist 

My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre
Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver
Cruel Acts by Jane Casey
Blue Moon by Lee Child
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
Red Snow by Will Dean
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty
Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Joe Country by Mick Herron
How The Dead Speak by Val McDermid
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Conviction by Denise Mina
Smoke And Ashes by Abir Mukherjee
The Whisper Man by Alex North
 Blood And Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

2020 marks the 16th year of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. The prize was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2019 to 30 April 2020. The award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Mail on Sunday. The longlist of 18 titles were selected by an Academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee.

The shortlist of six titles will be announced later this month.

CHARACTERS AND THEIR OBJECTS: Guest Post by Neil Plakcy

NEIL PLAKCY:
Characters and their Objects 

In a recent interview with New York Times, best-selling author Gail Carriger said that because of her background in archaeology, she sees objects “as very representative of culture and personality. So a lot of my characters have a signature gadget that represents them.”

It’s an intriguing bit of shorthand, isn’t it? Carriger, author of The Parasol Protectorate, says, “My [heroine carries] a Swiss Army kind of battle-parasol with all these secret devices in it.”

When I think of Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire, I immediately see him in a cowboy hat. That object connects him to law enforcement, to the Old West and the New West as well.

When I envision Aimee Leduc in Cara Black’s series, she’s on her moped, which gives her the freedom to explore every arrondisement in Paris.

That made me wonder if my characters have an object that represents each one of them.

The first book I published was Mahu, about a Honolulu homicide detective who gets forced out of the closet while investigating a dangerous case. It’s easy for me to associate him with an object—it’s his surfboard.

Very early in the book, he goes surfing and I make explicit the connection between him and surfing, and how it connects to him as a police detective as well.

“I am renewed, reborn and revitalized every time I step into the salty water. With my board under me, balanced on a wave, surrounded by sea spray and blue skies, I am finally complete. It’s a moment of rare transcendence for me, a chance to rise up out of the scum and bitterness and shame I find on the streets. It’s the only way I can keep being a cop.”

Steve Levitan, the protagonist of my golden retriever mysteries, has an important object in his life as well—the hidden laptop he keeps his hacking software on. It’s secreted away in the attic of his townhouse, so that he has to be very intentional about using it. It represents his downfall—he spent a year as a guest of the California penal system for hacking. But it’s also a tool that he uses to find clues, solve cases and bring justice.

For Liam McCullough, one of the two co-protagonists of my Have Body, Will Guard series, it’s not an object so much as a habit. When he was a U.S. Navy SEAL, he learned to swim with the combat stroke, “a mix of sidestroke, freestyle and breaststroke. The Combat Sidestroke allows the swimmer to swim more efficiently and reduces the body's profile in the water in order to be less visible during combat operations when surface swimming is required.”

This habit characterizes his need to remain a warrior, to protect those around him. And he’s a bit vain about his well-muscled body, so this exercise helps him stay in shape as well. What other characters have an object that defines them? Mary Poppins and her umbrella, Sherlock Holmes and his deerstalker cap, Miss Marple and her knitting needles?

And how about you writers out there? Do the characters you write about have one, and what purpose does it serve?

***

Neil Plakcy’s newest release in the Golden Retriever Mystery series is A Litter of Goldens, a collection of short mystery stories in which Steve and Rochester dig up clues and drag criminals to justice. The tenth full-length novel in the series, Dog’s Green Earth, recently debuted in audiobook format. Neil’s website is www.mahubooks.com.

Cartoon of the Day: Specialist Delivery Services Available from Local Bookshops

From the amazing Tom Gauld:

CINCO DE MAYO CRIME FICTION: Mexican Mysteries & 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 and on the Mexican-American border. 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)
Cinco de Mayhem by Ann Myers 
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 on 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
Yuri Herrera

Hardboiled Fiction on the Mexican-US Border: 
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
Sam Hawken: The Dead Women of Juarez; Tequila Sunset
Rolando Hinojosa: Partners in Crime, Ask a Policeman
Elmer Mendoza: Silver Bullets
Don Winslow: The Cartel; The Power of the Dog; The Border

Other Crime Fiction set in Mexico
Rafael Bernal: The Mongolian Conspiracy
Lili Wright: Dancing with the Tiger

Want to find out more?

Read G.J. Demko's Landscapes of Crime: Mysteries in Mexico
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 scent!