May Mysteries: A List of Mysteries Set in May

"What potent blood hath modest May."- Ralph W. Emerson

I used to love May Day and the Maypole and Morris Dancing and all the other pagan rituals we practiced at school. The end of the month brought daisy chain making. Very idyllic time, May, but it can also be quite murderous, as the following books prove.

Five Days in May by Christopher Hartpence
30 Days in May by Wayne Hancock
The May Day Murders by Scott Wittenburg
A Hot Day in May by Julian Jay Savarin
May Day in Magadan by Anthony Olcott
May Day by Jess Lourey
China Bayles' Book of Days by Susan Wittig Albert * -not a mystery, but a book I enjoy, written by a mystery writer.

For over 30 years at dawn on May Day, Berkeley Morris Dancing takes place at Inspiration Point in Tilden Park. Dawn is 5:20, so get there earlier. Here's a link to other May Day Morris dancing in and around the Bay. Can't make it? Read my favorite Morris Dancer Mysteries: Death of a Fool by Ngaio Marsh

Glass Key 2009 Nominees

This seems to be Awards week. I'm eagerly awaiting the news of the Edgar winners (tonight), but in the meantime, I thought I'd post the nominees for the Glass Key 2009 that will be handed over to the winner at Nordic House in Reykjavik. The Glass Key has been awarded by the SKS/CWS since 1992.

The Glass-key ceremony will be part of the international conference The Nordic Crime Wave which will be integrated into the double AGMs of AIEP and SKS.

Candidates:
Denmark: The Danish crime academy awarded the Harald Morgensen Award for best Danish Crime/Suspense novel to Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis for Drengen i kufferten (The Boy in the Suitcase)
Finland: The Finnish Whodunnit Society, nominated Marko Kilpi for Jäätyneitä ruusuja, (Frozen Roses)
Iceland: The Icelandic Crime Syndicate presents Arnaldur Indridason for Haroskafi (Hypothermia). (this would be Arnaldur's Third Glass Key if he wins)*
Norway: This year's winner of Riverton-klubbens (The Riverton Club's) prize (Den Gyldne Revolver) is Vidar Sundstol for Drommenes Land (Land of Dreams)
Sweden: Svenska Deckarakademin (Swedish Crime Novel Academy) nominated Johan Theorin's Nattfak (Night Blizzard)

To read more about the nominees, plots and authors, go to SKS

Janet LaPierre/Nadia Gordon May 6

Join Mystery Readers International NorCal East Bay chapter for an At Home, an intimate afternoon event with Janet LaPierre and Nadia Gordon, in Berkeley, CA, Wednesday, May 6, 2:30. RSVP. for directions.

Janet LaPierre, author of the Port Silva mysteries, has a new stand-alone, Run a Crooked Mile (Perseverance Press). The new mystery set in the inland mountainous area of Trinity County and the real town of Weaverville, CA, has a strong amateur sleuth and a host of fully drawn characters including Tank, a yellow lab. The mystery is fast-paced with lots of plot twists. LaPierre is the author Family Business, Death Duties, Keepers, Baby Mine, Old Enemies, The Cruel Mother and Children's Games,Grandmother's House, and Unquiet Grave, as well as short stories. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

Nadia Gordon is the author of the Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley mystery series, including Sharpshooter, Death by the Glass, Murder Alfresco, and, new this month, Lethal Vintage, all published by Chronicle Books. Gordon's culinary mystery novels have been called "jolly, high-calorie pleasure" by the Chicago Tribune, "highly enjoyable" by the Washington Post, and "rapturous" by the Los Angeles Times. Writing under her real name, Julianne Balmain, she is the author of numerous books on sex, travel, and generally having a good time, including the Kama Sutra Deck: 50 Ways to Love Your Lover. Her web TV telenovela, Acts of Love & Sex, can be seen at Acts.tv. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir's Iceland-My Soul to Take

I've always been interested in Iceland having landed there on one of those cheap flights to Europe decades ago. We had a problem with the plane (Iceland was a touchdown point -my final destination was Italy), and I got to spend several hours and do a very tiny bit of touring. It wasn't enough. What a stark but beautiful landscape.

Later I read the gripping thrillers of award winning author Arnaldur Indridason. His terse writing and ingenious plotting has made him one of my favorites. I was lucky to have Arnaldur on my Around the World panel at Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, this past year, and it was wonderful to see his personal humor during the panel. Inspector Erlendur, himself, is quite brooding.

I've also read Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir's novels. My Soul to Take is the latest in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series. This time Thora takes on a hotelier on the West Coast of Iceland as a client. Yrsa Sigurdardottir really conveys her country and its unique culture and stark landscape in her books. I haven't read this latest in the series, but I'm moving it to the top of my TBR.

I was so glad to get an email today from HarperCollins with a link to a terrific video in which Yrsa tours her native Iceland and introduces My Soul to Take. The scenery is breathtaking. Yrsa should market this to the Icelandic tourist bureau.

Yrsa wrote an article entitled " A Depressing Lack of Crime" for the Scandinavian issue of Mystery Readers Journal in 2007. The article isn't available on the web, but the issue is. If you're interested in Scandinavia, you'll want to get a copy. No pressure. The motto of Mystery Readers Journal is "enriching the lives of mystery readers."

Royal Woody Typewriter

O.K. this is for serious sentimental noir writers. Oxymoron? The Book Oven blog today features The Royal Woody. Isn't this beautiful? Don't you want one? I do.

The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1904 by E.B Hess in Hartford, CT. The company is now owned by Olivetti, but it still markets Royal, Adler-Royal and Olivetti machines, as well as things like PDAs. Weird. Website.

The Virtual Typewriter Museum writes that being a dominant brand in the early 20th century, "The Royal is not the most exciting machine in the world. But it wasn't intended to be exciting or revolutionary. The Royal was intended to be a sturdy work horse." My mother still had her Royal typewriter, and I used it when I was growing up. Yes, Virginia, there was a machine before computers that writers actually typed manuscripts on. Mistakes took longer to correct.

Anyway, my mother's typewriter was not a Royal Woody. The Royal Woody was circa 1932. Isn't it stunning?

Top 10 Irish Mysteries

Brian McGilloway chose his top 10 modern Irish crime novels for the Guardian last week. I meant to post it when I saw it, but I was reminded of this list again when perusing Detectives Without Borders, one of my favorite blogs.

Brian McGilloway is the author of the Inspector Devlin series. His first novel, Borderlands, was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger. It was followed by Gallows Lane and Bleed a River Deep. Brian had an article in the Irish issue of Mystery Readers Journal entitled "Patrolling the Border."

Here are the top 10, but be sure to go to the original site for insights and more.
1. The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes
2. The Guards by Ken Bruen
3. Mystery Man by Bateman
4. Darkhouse by Alex Barclay
5. The Midnight Choir by Gene Kerrigan
6. The Big O by Declan Burke
7. Dad I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty
8. Undertow by Arlene Hunt
9. The Anglo-Irish Murders by Ruth Dudley Edwards
10. In the Woods by Tana French

Glad to see there are a few I haven't read on the list. Always like to 'improve' my TBR.

Mystery Readers Journal had a great issue on Irish Mysteries last year. Here's a link to the table of contents. Many Author! Author! essays by your favorite Irish writers. Not all articles are online, but the issue is still available.