Cartoon of the Day: Village Murder Mysteries

From Tom Gauld:

HT: John Simpson

Peter Temple: R.I.P.

Sad News. Peter Temple, award-winning Australian Crime Writer has died of cancer at the age of 71.

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Peter Temple was also the first Australian writer to win the British Crime Writers’ association major award, the Gold Dagger, which he did for The Broken Shore in 2007. It was Truth, the follow-up to that novel, that won the Miles Franklin in 2010. He won five Ned Kelly awards, the local crime-writing prizes, beginning in 1997 for his first book, Bad Debts.

Temple was perhaps best-known for his Jack Irish novels, which featured his Fitzroy-based solicitor-cum-fixer hero. The Jack Irish books – there were four – had a magnificent stable of recurring characters many of whom drank in a fictional pub, The Prince of Prussia. In total he wrote nine novels.

The Irish books were adapted for television with Guy Pearce as the eponymous lead.

At one festival appearance Temple was asked whether anything was taboo in crime writing. He said it was fine to boil a baby and eat it with truffles, but the real taboo was harming the family pet. He adored dogs and in The Broken Shore gave significant supporting roles to his protagonist Joe Cashin’s black poodles, Temple’s own breed of choice.

Read more here.

Kate Wilhelm: R.I.P.

I just learned that Kate Wilhelm passed away on March 8. Kate Wilhelm was what I consider a Renaissance writer. She wrote award winning science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, magical realism, and mystery. She wrote stand-alones and series, poetry and non-fiction, short stories, and edited many collections. She was extremely prolific, and she was extremely good.

Kate Wilhelm wrote 14 novels in the Barbara Holloway legal mystery series and six novels in the Constance Leidl and Charlie Meiklejohn p.i./psychologist series, as well as several Collections, Short Stories in EQMM, and standalone mystery/suspense novels. Her works have been adapted for television and movies in the United States, England, and Germany. Wilhelm’s novels and stories have been translated to more than a dozen languages. She has contributed to Quark, Orbit, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Locus, Amazing Stories, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Fantastic, Omni, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Redbook, and Cosmopolitan.

Kate Wilhelm won three Nebulas, two Hugos, and two Locus awards, and was an inductee to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

Cartoon of the Day: Benefits of Books

2017 North American Hammett Prize Nominees

The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers announced  the nominees for their annual HAMMETT PRIZE for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a US or Canadian author.

The nominees are as follows: 

The Marsh King’s Daughter: A Novel, by Karen Dionne (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Tragedy of Brady Sims: A Novel, by Ernest J. Gaines (Vintage)
August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones (Soho Crime)
Two Days Gone: A Novel, by Randall Silvis (Sourcebooks Landmark)

The organization will name the HAMMETT PRIZE winner, during the NoirCon conference in Philadelphia, November 1-4. The winner will receive a bronze trophy, designed by sculptor Peter Boiger.

Lambda Mystery Award Nominees

Lambda Literary, the nation’s oldest and largest literary arts organization advancing LGBTQ literature, announced the finalists of the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards – or the “Lammys,” as they are affectionately known.

The finalists were chosen from nearly 1,000 submissions and over 300 publishers. Submissions came from major mainstream publishers and from independent presses, from both long-established and new LGBTQ publishers, as well as from emerging publish-on-demand technologies. Visionary and Trustee Award honorees, the master of ceremonies, and celebrity presenters will be announced in April. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on Monday, June 4th in New York City.


“Celebrating our 30th year of Lambda Literary Award finalists is to recognize that this organization has been at the center of contemporary queer literature for decades,” said Lambda Literary Executive Director Tony Valenzuela. “This year is no different with another stellar list of authors demonstrating through their work that LGBTQ books tell richly textured stories about who we are in all our incredible diversity.”

Below are the nominees in Lesbian and Gay Mystery. Congratulations to All!

To Read All the Nominees, go Here.

Lesbian Mystery

• A Quiet Death, Cari Hunter, Bold Strokes Books
• Fever in the Dark, Ellen Hart, Minotaur
• The Girl on the Edge of Summer, M. Redmann, Bold Strokes Books
• Huntress, E. Radley, Heartsome Publishing
• The Last First Time, Andrea Bramhall, Ylva Publishing
• Murder Under the Fig Tree: A Palestine Mystery, Kate Jessica Raphael, She Writes Press
• Odd Numbers, Anne Holt, Scribner
• Repercussions, Jessica L. Webb, Bold Strokes Books

Gay Mystery

• Boystown 10: Gifts Given, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
• Long Shadows, Kate Sherwood, Riptide Publishing
• Love is Heartless, Kim Fielding, Dreamspinner Press
• The Mystery of the Curiosities, C. S. Poe, DSP Publications
• Night Drop, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
• Ring of Silence, Mark Zubro, MLR Press
• Street People, Michael Nava, Korima Press
• Tramps and Thieves, Rhys Ford, Dreamspinner Press