Cartoon of the Day: Cat Book Club

 

Sisters in Crime Winner of the 2022 Pride Award

Sisters in Crime announced the winner of their 2022 Pride Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers is Sarah St. Asaph (she/hers) of London, England. Her winning novel-in-progress is a contemporary medical-legal crime mystery where a young lawyer is given the chance to re-examine the evidence against a former hospital doctor that has been convicted as Britain’s worst ever female serial killer. The novel explores how women are treated within the criminal justice system and plays with the prejudices and preconceptions they face as perpetrators of crimes.

 

Selected from 58 entries by judges (and SinC members) Dean James, Brenda Buchanan and Leslie Karst, Asaph will receive a $2,000 grant intended for a beginning crime writer to support activities related to career development, including workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of their work. Asaph has also been awarded a manuscript critique from Crooked Lane Books editor Terri Bischoff and a membership to Sisters in Crime and its online chapter for beginning writers. The Pride Award is a legacy project of Sisters in Crime past president Sherry Harris. 

 

“I’m a huge admirer of the ethos of Sisters in Crime,” said Asaph. “As a lifelong lover of crime and mystery literature, I believe anything that encourages diversity of voices in our genre is something to be celebrated. Our genre is not just thrilling to read, but the perfect vehicle to explore the most fascinating questions about human nature and contemporary society. What happens when we are pushed to our limits? How does justice interweave with everyday morality? For me, these questions are particularly pertinent for women and members of the queer community, and I aim to explore these within my work.”

 

Five runners-up will also be paired with an established Sisters in Crime member author to receive a manuscript critique. They are: C. Jean Downer of White Rock, British Columbia (paired with Cheryl Head), Diane Carmony of La Quinta, CA (Jeffrey Marks), Roy Udeh-Ubaka of Gainesville, FL (Anne Laughlin), Marle Redfern of New England (John Copenhaver) and Elaine Westnott-O’Brien of Tramore, Co. Waterford, Ireland (Catherine Maiorisi).

***

Sisters in Crime (SinC) was founded in 1986 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition, and professional development of women crime writers. Today, the organization boasts 4,500 members and more than 60 chapters worldwide and its initiatives also include the annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award and other scholarships; grants for academic research into the roles of women and underserved voices in crime fiction; cash awards to libraries and bookstores; and surveys and monitoring projects which determine visibility and representation of women and diverse voices in the genre and across the marketplace. For more information on its programs and author members, visit the organization’s website at www.sistersincrime.org.

 

Cartoon of the Day: Smart Aleck TV

Guy Fawkes Night Mysteries // Guy Fawkes Night Crime Fiction

Remember, remember! 
The fifth of November 

Another holiday, another list! We may not celebrate Guy Fawkes Night here in the U.S., but this popular U.K. holiday is celebrated in several countries around the world and appears in many crime fiction novels.

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is an annual celebration, primarily in Great Britain, traditionally and usually held on the evening of November 5.  Festivities are centered on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.

Historically, the celebrations mark the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605. Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and replace him with a Catholic head of state. The survival of the king was first celebrated on 5 November 1605, after Guy Fawkes, left in charge of the gunpowder placed underneath the House of Lords, was discovered and arrested.

Traditionally, an effigy (or "guy") representing Fawkes is ritually burnt on the bonfire. In the weeks before bonfire night, children traditionally displayed the "guy" and requested a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks. This practice has diminished greatly, perhaps because it has been seen as begging, and also because children are not allowed to buy fireworks. In addition there are concerns that children might misuse the money. And another reason might be that Halloween is becoming more popular and replacing Guy Fawkes Night in many British communities.

FYI:
In Britain, there are several foods that are traditionally consumed on Bonfire Night:
Bangers and mash
Black treacle goods such as bonfire toffee
Toffee apples
Baked potatoes which are wrapped in aluminium foil and cooked in the bonfire or its embers
Black peas with vinegar
Potato pie with pickled red cabbage

Check out DyingforChocolate.com for an easy recipe for Guy Fawkes Night Chocolate Sparklers

Guy Fawkes Crime Fiction

The Wrong Boy by Cathy Ace
Murder on  Bonfire Night by Margaret Addison
Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
The Powder Treason by Michael Dax
Gunpowder Plot by Carola Dunn

Plain Murder by C.S. Forester
Bryant & May and the Burning Man by Christopher Fowler
V is for Vendetta by Alan Moore
A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell
Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses by David Stafford

The Desperate Remedy: Henry Gresham and the Gunpowder Plot by Martin Stephen
The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons
A Fearsome Doubt by Charles Todd 
The Mystery of Mr. Mock (aka The Corpse with the Floating Foot) by R.A. J Walling

Any titles missing? Let me know, so I can add to the list.

Cartoon of the Day: Cats

 Happy Caturday! 

Foodie Fridays: Cooking to Kill!

Foodie Fridays: Cooking to Kill! 

For today's Foodie Friday I'm posing aboutt one of my favorite books in my Killer Cookbooks: Mystery-related cookbooks. Published in 1951, Cooking to Kill! The Poison Cook-book has Recipes by Ebenezer Murgatroyd with Comic Drawings by Herb Roth (Peter Pauper Press, 1951). Cooking to Kill! has been called "not only a cook-book to end all cook-books, but also a cook-book to end all cooks." 

Since I also blog at DyingforChocolate.com, here's a "Chocolate Recipe" from Cooking to Kill! This recipe is for Chocolate Noose -- not Chocolate Mousse !!!