DOWN & OUT BOOKS: Farewell

 This is very sad news, indeed. 

MACAVITY AWARD WINNERS 2025

The Macavity Award Winners 2025
(for works published in 2024)

The Macavity Award is named after Macavity: The Mystery Cat, in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats! Scroll down to read the poem. 

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Congratulations to all!

Want to be a member/subscriber, go here. Mystery Readers Journal themes for 2025: London Mysteries II; Retail Murder; Northern California Mysteries 1; Northern California Mysteries 2. MRJ is available in print copy (mailed) and PDF download. 

Macavity Award Winners 2025

For works published in 2024

Best Mystery Novel 

California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

Best First Mystery

Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)

Best Historical Mystery

Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)

Best Nonfiction/Critical

Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

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Macavity: The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity’s not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—
Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it’s useless to investigate—Macavity’s not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away.
You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

Call for Articles: Northern California Mysteries--Part II (41:4)

Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries, Part 2! (41:4); Winter 2025

We had so many articles, reviews and Author Essays for our Northern California issue, that we decided to have two issues. If you missed the deadline for NorCal Mysteries, you now have time to contribute. 

FYI: NorCal Mysteries, Part I, will be out by the end of the month. 

Deadline: November 1. 

Authors: If you have a mystery that is set in Northern California, please consider writing an Author! Author! essay: 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the NorCal connection. 

We’re also looking for reviews and articles. 

Send submissions to janet @ mysteryreaders.org 

Deadline: November 1, 2025. 

Author Essays: First person, about yourself, your books, and the "NorCal" connection. 500-1000 words. Treat this as if you're chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe (or on zoom) about your work and the "Northern California" setting in your mysteries. Be sure and cite specific titles, as well as how you use Northern California in your books. Add title and 2-3 sentence bio. 

Reviews: 50-250 words. 

Articles: 500-1000 words. 

Deadline: November 1, 2025  

Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. janet @ mysteryreaders . org  

Please let me know if you're planning to send an article, review, or author essay--or if you have any questions! 

Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal. 

Themes in 2025: London Mysteries 2; Retail Mysteries; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 

Back issues available as PDF download 

Southern California: Mystery Readers Journal

Senior Sleuths: Mystery Readers Journal

Irish Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

And so many more... We are now in our 41st year. 4 themed issues a year! 

Have a look at our index of fabulous issues with articles, reviews, and essays from your favorite authors and reviewers. 

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Love Mysteries? Love San Francisco? Left Coast Crime will be held in "Everybody's Favorite City" February 26-March 1, 2026.   Register Now! 

MAIGRET ON PBS MASTERPIECE starts October 5

MAIGRET STARTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 on Masterpiece Mystery! Scroll to watch the trailer, and scroll down for a short history of Maigret on TV and film.

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Writer Patrick Harbinson  has taken the Georges Simenon detective stories and updated them into a contemporary show starring Benjamin Wainwright as the detective Jules Maigret. The Maigret novels are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes and this is the first modern-day adaptation for the screen.

Maigret inhabits a vividly realized Paris that takes us from the glitzy upper-class world of luxury hotels and mansions to local bourgeois bistros and bars and the underground haunts of the professionally criminal. “To understand and not to judge”: Maigret strives above all to unravel  motivations. He is good at this not because he is a genius, or has special methods, but because he listens – he doesn’t solve crimes so much as he solves people. 

Patrick Harbinson's adaptation reframes Maigret as an unconventional young detective with something to prove, a rising star in the Police Judiciare, relentless in his investigations, with an uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants. 

You still have time to read a few Simeon Maigret mysteries before the premiere. They are short and easy to read. And, there are 75 novels and 28 short stories, so lots to read.

FYI: There have been over 35 actors that have played Maigret. French film adaptations began in 1932, but Jean Gabin was the first 'well-known' French actor playing the role in 1958, 59, and 63. French actors Jean Richard and Bruno Cremer followed with Jean Richard appearing in 90 episodes.

On British TV, Rupert Davies starred in the role in the 1960s (more than 50 episodes). In the early 1990s, Michael Gambon solved 12 crimes. I loved this series, and I thought Gambon was the perfect Maigret. But, the first actor in the Uk to play Maigret was Charles Laughton in the 1949 film The Man on the Eiffel Tower. I think the most recent Maigret series on TV starred Rowan Atkins in 2016 and 2017. Several of these series are streaming. 

Here's the trailer for the new series on Masterpiece. 

How The French Connection Became…The French Connection: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

Years ago while having lunch with Robin Moore, Edgar Award finalist and author of the New York Times number 1 best seller, The French Connection (1969), I mentioned how the book’s “foreign” title has been immortalized as part of the American lexicon. After all, among other entities, there was a “Fence” Connection, French Connection Boutique, and even a French Connection cocktail (Equal parts cognac and amaretto over ice). A shrewd businessman, Robin put his popular international platform to work with books like, The Washington Connection, Moscow Connection, and Terminal Connection. 

Robin told me “The French Connection” title almost didn’t make it to the presses. At the time, circa late 1960s, he had contracted with publishers Little, Brown to write three books. While writing Connection he referred to the work-in-progress as “Dope One” (“Dope Two” would go on to become The Fifth Estate). He turned the “Dope One” manuscript into his publisher as The Patsy Fuca Case intending it only as a working title. 

For months Robin tried unsuccessfully to come up with a proper title, yet couldn’t. Then, at the eleventh-hour, while having a drink at the Copley Plaza in Boston with his research assistant, they discussed how “Dope Two” had to have a French connection to “Dope One.” Suddenly, months of wracking his brain for a title came to a crashing halt. Robin rushed over to Little, Brown’s Boston office and asked his editor to nix the The Patsy Fuca Case title in favor of The French Connection.

His editor said it was too late for a title change; they had already started printing Fuca dust jackets. Robin begged to no avail before agreeing to take a lower royalty. Money talks. Little, Brown finally agreed to the change and that’s how The Patsy Fuca Case became The French Connection. The paperback sold a million copies and, after the movie came out (winning five Academy Awards including Best Actor for Gene Hackman), it sold another two million. The book remains in print. 

Robin told me he sometimes wondered whether the movie’s director, legendary Hollywood director William Friedkin, would have even heard of the book if it hit the shelves as The Patsy Fuca Case. Same book. Same meticulous research. Same brilliant prose. Same cool story about the world’s biggest narcotics bust, but not the same title hook. As a result, The French Connection, nearly 60 years after its release, holds its own as one of the most highly regarded true-crime books of all time.

* * *

Mystery Readers Journal fans are probably curious to solve the case of the third book Robin was contracted to write for Little, Brown. An eclectic scholar, Robin wrote the authorized and definitive biography of world famous composer Arthur Fiedler, titled, Fiedler: The Colorful Mr. Pops the Man and His Music. It was no French Connection, but don’t let Fielder’s composer title fool you – Mr. Pops really knew how to live it up and Robin knew how to write it down.

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Andrew McAleer is the author of the Henry von Stray classic British mystery series. The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime was released in March 2025 (Level Best Books). Introduction by Edgar winner Art Tayor. Volume Two of A Casebook of Crime is scheduled for release in March 2026. Introduction by Derringer winner Stacy Woodson. Visit Henry & Andy at: www.HenryvonStraymysteries.com     

KAREN PIRIE, Season 2 News!

Karen Pirie, Season 2 will be released in the U.S. on BritBox Thursday, October 2. I really enjoyed the first season, and I'm looking forward to this next installment. Episodes will be released weekly. Sadly there are only 3 episodes. Finale will air on October 16. Lauren Lyle plays Karen Pirie.

After being promoted to Scotland's Historic Cases Unit, DS Karen Pirie reopens the cold case of a murdered barmaid; her investigation unearths flaws in the original 1984 inquiry. From the award-winning producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, Karen Pirie follows young, newly promoted DS Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) as she reopens this cold case. Based on the novel by best-selling author Val McDermid. 

Don't have BritBox? Read Val McDermid's Karen Pirie crime novels! The latest is Silent Bones.