Labor Day Mysteries: Labor Unions

There aren't a lot of mysteries set during the Labor Day Holiday: Lee Harris' Labor Day Murder and Sharyn McCrumb's Highland Laddie Gone. There's also the short story "Labor Day" by R.T. Lawton in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

I posted a list of Crime Fiction involving Labor Unions last year, and I'm adding to it this year. Hat Tip to Murder, Mystery & Mayhem for putting together the original list of Labor Day Mysteries involving unions, tradesman and works.

LABOR UNION MYSTERIES

For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (Garment Workers)
White Hot by Sandra Brown (Labor Dispute)
Big Boned by Meg Cabot (Graduate Student Union)
Airframe by Michael Crichton (Union Trouble)
Cactus Blood by Lucha Corpi (Farm Workers' Union)
The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (Union Group called the Scowrers)
Third Strike by Philip Craig and William Tapply (Steamship Authority Strike)
October Heat by Gordon DeMarco (1934 San Francisco General Strike-Longshoremen)
Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (The Scowrers)
The Bramble Bush (aka Worse than Murder) by David Duncan (San Francisco General Strike)
American Tabloid by James Ellroy (Teamsters)
LA Quartet by James Ellroy (Movie Unions)
A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett (Coal Mines)
Dead Reckoning by Patricia Hall (Union Strike)
The Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (IWW organizer & Strike Breaking)
A More Perfect Union by J.A. Jance (Iron Workers' Union)
As Dead As it Gets by Cady Kalian (Creative Artists' Union) 
Death at the Old Hotel by Con Lehane (Hotel Workers' Union)
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (Police Union)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Labor Union)
Deadly Dues by Lulu Malone (Actors' Union)
Stiff by Shane Maloney (Meat Packing)
Lorraine Connection by Dominique Manotti  (Union rep in Cathode-ray Tube industry)
Conferences are Murder by Val McDermid (Journalists' Union)
Death at Pullman by Frances McNamara (American Railway Union)
The Viewless Winds by Murray Morgan (Murder of a Labor Leader's wife)
A Red Death by Walter Mosley (Aircraft Manufacturer and Labor Union organizer)
A Bitter Feast by S. J. Rozan (Restaurant Workers' Union)
Some Cuts Never Heal by Timothy Sheard (Shop Steward)
Absolute Rage by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Coal Miners' Union)
The Porkchoppers by Ross Thomas (Politics & Unions)
Killy by Donald Westlake (Manufacturing Union)

Have a great Labor Day Holiday!

2012 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference

November 8–10. 2012: Hotel Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM. 2012 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference. Established to honor mystery author Tony Hillerman, the conference keeps Hillerman's legacy alive with workshops on the art and craft of writing and welcomes writers of all genres and abilities.

Among its faculty:
Johnny Boggs, recipient of multiple awards most recently two 2012 Spur Awards from Western Writers of America for his fiction.
David Morrell, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.
James McGrath Morris, recipient of two New Mexico Book Awards and the Eagleton-Waters Book Award for his biographies.
Michael Orenduff, winner of Left Coast Crime's Lefty Award for best humorous mystery.
Tom Chavez, recipient of the Distinguished History Award Medal from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Excellence in the Humanities Award.
Andrew Hunt, winner of the 2011 Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery novel.
Jo-Ann Mapson, recipient of the American Library Association's 2011 RUSA Award for women's fiction.

Registration information and complete schedule: www.wordharvest.com.

Conference includes all-day workshop for authors on pacing their work with plenty of opportunity for writing and discussion, a day on the craft of writing and a day on the business of writing with faculty members such as editor Peter Joseph of St. Martin's Press in New York. A morning-long session for writers on publishing their own e-books with Bill O'Hanlon, a look at the process of bring a book to the screen with director/producer Chris Eyre, and an opportunity for a "flash" critique from a literary agent and Rambo creator and thriller writer David Morrell are other conference highlight. Chris Eyre, the award-winning, nationally recognized film and television director and producer who has been called the preeminent Native American filmmaker of his time. Authors Richard Peck, Steve Brewer and Judi Hendrix will share their expertise about writing and answer questions from the audience.

The Tony Hillerman Writer's conference began in 2004. Hillerman offered ideas and encouragement to Schaumberg and co-founder Anne Hillerman until his death in 2008. After a year's hiatus, the conference resumed in 2010. In selecting faculty, the conference focuses on highlighting the wealth of literary talent in New Mexico.

 "The small size of the conference enables students to interact informally with each other and our faculty," Anne Hillerman said. "We have students from all over the country who join us each year. We began the conference to honor my Dad and it has blossomed into a way to support New Mexico authors and encourage good writing."

           For further details, visit http://www.wordharvest.com/registration.php

2012 Ned Kelly Award Winners

Crime Writers' Association of Australia announced the winners of the Ned Kelly Awards:

Best Novel: Pig Boy by J.C. Burke (Random House)

Best First Novel: The Cartographer by Peter Twohig (HarperCollins)

Best True Crime: Sins of the Father by Eamonn Duff (Allen & Unwin)

S.D. Harvey Short Story Award: “Summer of the 17th Poll,”
by A.J. Clifford

Lifetime Achievement: Gabrielle Lord

Hat Tip: Omnimystery News

Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award: 7 Dae

Books Live Reports that Crime writer Deon Meyer won this year’s Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award for his latest thriller, 7 Dae (7 Days).  7 Dae will be published in English as 7 Days later this year. I'm reading it now, and it's fabulous!

The Booksellers’ Choice Award and a check for 20,000 RSA was presented to Deon Meyer at a gala celebration which was part of the Publishers and Booksellers Associations of South Africa’s Annual Conference. 

This award has run for twelve years. Each year booksellers are asked to choose the books they have most enjoyed reading, promoting and selling, from these submissions. The Booksellers’ Choice Award is chosen and presented by the South African book trade in recognition of outstanding contribution to the industry. The award is only open to South African authors who are published in South Africa and celebrates the excellence and high standard of South African writing.

Hat Tip: BV Lawson

FALL MYSTERY GROUP READING LIST

The Mystery Readers NorCal Book Group has been meeting every Tuesday night, September-June, for over 30 years. Thought I'd post the books for this Fall. We meet in Berkeley (CA) on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. Feel free to read along and make comments. We have one book group member joining us on a regular basis via Skype!

FALL MYSTERY BOOKLIST

Most of the books this session came out in 2011 in the U.S.

September 11: Jacqueline Winspear’s A Lesson in Secrets

September 18  Camilla Lackberg's The Ice Princess

No Meeting September 25 or October 2 

October 9:   Emily Arsenault’s In Search of the Rose Notes

October 16: Lawrence Block A Drop of the Hard Stuff 

October 23: George Pelecanos’ The Cut

October 30: Val McDermid’s Trick of the Dark 

 November 6: Harry Dolan’s Bad Things Happen

November 13: Possible: Mo Hayder’s Gone or Reginald Hill’s The Spy’s Wife 

November 20: Steven Wetta’s If Jack’s in Love 

November 27: Philip Kerr’s Field of Gray

READ Scrabble Tile Pillows

These Scrabble Tile Pillows may not add up to a lot of points, but they add up in my 'book'... Love them.

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