CyberGumshoe's Mumbling in March/April 2011
Tom Franklin Wins LATimes Book Prize
The Los Angeles Times announced on April 29 that Tom Franklin won the 2011 LA Times Book Prize for CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER (Morrow, 2010) in the mystery/thriller category. (April 30, 2011)
Ace Atkins To Continue Spenser Series
The Robert B. Parker estate and his publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons have agreed that Ace Atkins will continue the Spenser series and that Michael Brandman do the Jesse Stone series. Brandman's first Stone novel, KILLING THE BLUES, will be out from Putnam this September. Brandman produced and co-wrote a series of TV movies based on the Jesse Stone novels written by Parker (1932-2010), and produced the three Spenser TV movies. Atkins, a long-time Parker fan, has written the Quinn Colson series and authored several historical crime novels including DEVIL'S GARDEN (Putnam, 2009). Parker's nickname was "Ace" and his publisher was the same as Atkins's. Atkins's first Spenser novel will be out in the Spring of 2012. (April 29, 2011)
Arthur Ellis Award Nominees Announced
The Crime Writers of Canana announced the nominees for the 2011 Arthur Ellis Awards. The nominees in the best crime novel category are as follows:
SLOW RECOIL, by C. B. Forrest (RendezVous Crime)
IN PLAIN SIGHT, by Mike Knowles (ECW Press)
THE EXTINCTION CLUB, by Jeffrey Moore (Penguin Group)
BURY YOUR DEAD, by Louise Penny (Little, Brown UK)
A CRIMINAL TO REMEMBER, by Michael Van Rooy (Turnstone Press)
To see the nominees in the other categories, click here. The winners will be announced on June 2 in Victoria, British Columbia. (April 29, 2011)
Hamilton Wins Edgar
The Mystery Writers of America announced the winners for the 2011 Edgaw Awards on April 28 in New York City as follows:
Best Novel: THE LOCK ARTIST, by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur)
Best First Novel: ROGUE ISLAND, by Bruce DeSilva (Forge)
Best Paperback Original: LONG TIME COMING, by Robert Goddard (Bantam)
Best Fact Crime: SCOREBOARD, BABY, by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska Press)
Best Critical/Biographical: CHARLIE CHAN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE HONORABLE DETECTIVE AND HIS RENDEZVOUS WITH AMERICAN HISTORY, by Yunte Huang (Norton)
Best Short Story: "The Scent of Lilacs," by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2010)
Best Juvenile: THE BUDDY FILES: THE CASE OF THE LOST BOY, by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman)
Best Young Adult: INTERROGATION OF GABRIEL JAMES, by Charlie Price (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
Best Play: "The Psychic," by Sam Bobrick (Falcon Theatre - Burbank, California)
Best Television Episode Teleplay: "Episode 1" - Luter, teleplay by Neil Cross (BBC America)
Robert L. Fish Memorial Award: "Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man," by Evan Lewis (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, February 2010)
Grand Master: Sara Paretsky
Raven Awards: Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, Illinois
and Once Upon A Crime Bookstor, Minneaplis, Minnesota
Mary Higgins Clark Award: THE CROSSING PLACES, by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
(April 29, 2011)
Bill Blackbeard Dies
It has been reported that Bill Blackbeard died on March 10 at Country Villa Watsonville East Nursing Center in Watsonville, California. The founder of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art (SFACA) was called "The Man Who Saved Comics," as he had stored most of Ameican comic strips in his garage and basement in San Francisco. He stored not only comic strips and comic books but also graphic novels, penny dreadfuls, dime novels and pulp magazines (including Black Mask, Spicy Adventure, Crime Busters). He contributed "Preface" for SECRET AGENT X-9 by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond (Nostalgia Press, 1976). Many pulp scholars and anthologists have owed him a lot. I once visited his storage basement in San Francisco in the mid-80s to have some issues of Black Mask photocopied. He was 84. (April 26, 2011)
Beverly Barton Dies
Beverly Barton died suddenly of heart failure on April 21 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She wrote a number of romantic suspense novels starting YANKEE LOVER (Harlequin Silhouette, 1990). She wrote The Protectors series for Harlequin Silhouette and The Powel Agency series for Zebra as well as many stand-alones. Her most recent novel, DEAD BY MORNING (Zebra, April 2011), is the second in her "Dead By" triology, to be followed by DEAD BY NIGHTFALL in December 2011. She was 64. (April 23, 2011)
Arthur Marx Dies
Arthur Marx died of natural causes on April 14 at his home in Los Angeles. He was more than the only son of Groucho Marx. He was a top-ranked junior tennis player in the 1930s, a television writer ("Petticoat Junction," "Dennis the Menace," "My Three Sons"), playwright ("Minnie's Boys"), celebrity biographer (on his father Groucho, Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney among others), memoirist. He also wrote several novels including three mystery novels: SET TO KILL (Barricade, 1993); TULIP (PublishAmerica, 2004); and LUST FOR DEATH (PublishAmerica, 2008). He was 89. (April 18, 2011)
Thriller Award Nominees Announced
The International Thriller Writers (ITW) has announced the nominees for the 2011 Thriller Awards. The nominees in the best hardcover novel category are as follows:
THE REVERSAL, by Michael Connelly (Little Brown)
EDGE, by Jeffery Deaver (Simon & Schuster)
THE BURYING PLACE, by Brian Freeman (Minotaur)
SKIN, by Mo Hayder (Grove)
BAD BLOOD, by John Sanford (Putnam)
To see the nominees in all the categories, click here. The winners will be announced on July 9 at Hotel Grand Hyatt in New York City. (April 14, 2011)
CWA Dagger in the Library Longlist Announced
The Crime Writers' Association of Britain(CWA) has announced the longlist for its 2011 Dagger in the Libray as follows:
SJ Bolton (Bantam Press, Transworld)
William Brodrick (Little, Brown)
RJ Ellory (Orion)
Jason Goodwin (Faber & Faber)
Elly Griffths (Quercus)
Sophie Hanna (Hodder & Stoughton)
John Harvey (William Heinemann)
Mo Hayder (Bantam Press, Transworld)
Susan Hill (Vintage)
Graham Hurley (Orion)
Peter James (Macmillan)
Philip Kerr (Quercus)
Phil Rickman (Quercus)
CJ Sansom (Macmillan)
Andrew Taylor (Penguin)
LC Tyler (Macmillan)
The Dagger in the Libray is awarded to an author for a body of work, rather than a single title, and longlisted authors are nominated by UK libraries and Reader' Groups and judged by a panel of librarians. The shortlist will be announced at Crimefest on May 20, and the winner will be announced during the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, on July 22 in Harrogate. (April 13, 2011)
Strand Critics Award Nominees Announced
The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2010 Strand Magazine Critics Awards as follows:
Best Novel:
THE REVERSAL, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
FAITHFUL PLACE, by Tana French (Viking)
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
MOONLIGHT MILE, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)
I'D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
Best First Novel:
BLACKLANDS, by Belinda Bauer (Simon & Schuster)
ROCK PAPER TIGER, by Lisa Brackmann (Soho Press)
THE POACHER'S SON, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)
THE SHERLOCKIAN, by Graham Moore (Twelve)
SNOW ANGELS, by James Thompson (Putnam)
The winners will be announced on July 6 in New York City. (April 10, 2011)
Craig Thomas Dies
Craig Thomas, known as the inventor of the techono-thriller genre, died on April 4 from pneumonia following a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He started writing in his spare time while teaching English in grammar schools, his first novel was RAT TRAP (Joseph, 1976). His second novel, FIREFOX (Joseph, 1977), featured Mitchell Gant, and became the 1982 movie starring Clint Eastwood. He also wrote two novels under the David Grant pseudonym: MOSCOW 5000 (1979) and EMERALD DECISION (1980, both from Joseph). His last novel was SLIPPING INTO THE SHADOW (Little Brown UK, 1998) featuring Patrick Hyde. He was 68. (April 09, 2011)
HRF Keating Dies
Henry Reymond Fitzwater Keating (called Harry by his friends) died on March 27. The ex-journalist was most famous as the creator of Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay (Mumbai) Police. After writing five standalone crime novels, first of which was DEATH AND THE VISITING FIREMEN (Gollancz, 1959), he introduced Inspector Ghote in THE PERFECT MURDER (Collins, 1964), which won the CWA Gold Dagger. His second Gold Dagger winning novel was THE MURDER OF THE MAHARAJAH (Collins, 1980), a standalone. He received the CWA Diamond Dagger Award in 1996. He also wrote seven Harriet Martens (British female detective) novels, starting with THE HARD DETECTIVE (Macmillan, 2000) and three Harriet Unwin novels (including THE GOVERNESS [Weidenfeld, 1984], as by Evelyn Hervey), and novelized MURDER BY DEATH (Warner, 1976; as by Henry Keating). He was crime fiction critic for The London Times (1967-1983), and president of The Detection Club (1985-2000). He authored several reference books, such as WRITING MYSTERY FICTION (A. and C. Black, 1986) and CRIME AND MYSTERY: THE 100 BEST BOOKS (Xanadu, 1987). His last novel was A SMALL CASE FOR INSPECTOR GHOTE? (Allison & Busby, 2009). He was 84. (March 29, 2011)
Addendum -- He died of heart failure in London. (March 31, 2011)
Louise Penny Wins Dilys
The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association has announced that BURY YOUR DEAD, by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books) is the winner of the 2011 Dilys Award for for the book its members have most enjoyed selling in the previous year. (March 27, 2011)
J. Michael Orenduff Wins Lefty
Left Coast Crime 2011 has announced the winners for the 2011 LCC Awards as follows:
Lefty Award (best humorous mystery novel):
THE POT THIEF WHO STURDIED EINSTEIN, by J. Michael Orenduff (Oak Tree Press)
Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award (best historical mystery novel, covering events before 1950):
THE MAPPING OF LOVE AND DEATH, by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins)
Hellerman Sky Award (mystery that best captures the landscape of the Southwest):
THE SPIDER'S WEB, by Margaret Coel (Berkley)
Watson Award (mystery novel with best sidekick):
JUNKYARD DOGS, by Craig Johnson (Viking)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Cruz Smith
(March 27, 2011)
Dana Haynes Wins Spotted Owl
Friends of Mystery, Oregon-based mystery fan organization, has announced that CRASHERS by Dana Haynes (Minotaur Books) is the winner of the 2011 Spotted Owl Award as the best mystery written by a Northwest writer. (March 17, 2011)
Lou Cameron Is Alive!
The Rap Sheet's J. Kingston Pierce notified me that Lou Cameron is alive. Therefore, my obituary of Lou Cameron has been deleted. I am terribly sorry about this misinformation. (March 09,2011)
EQMM Readers Award Recipients Announced
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine announced 2010 EQMM Readers Award in its May 2011 issue as follows:
First Place: "Archie's Been Framed," by Dave Zeltserman (September/October 2010)
Second Place: "The Scent of Lilacs," by Doug Allyn (September/October 2010)
Third Place: "Days of Rage," by Doug Allyn (March/April, 2010)
The recipients are voted by the EQMM readership.
Steve Steinbock will become EQMM's new book reviewer starting with the June 2011 issue, succeeding to Jon L. Breen. The other predecessors include Allen J. Hubin, John Dickson Carr, Anthony Boucher and Howard Haycraft. Good luck, Stevo. (March 06, 2011)
Edward Wellen Dies
Edward Wellen died very peacefully on January 15 of congestive heart failure at his apartment in New Rochelle, New York. He contributed a great many short stories for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and original anthologies in mystery and science fiction fields, but he wrote only two novels: HIJACK (Beagle, 1971) and AN HOUR TO KILL (St. Martin's, 1993). PERPS (Five Star, 2001) is his only collection of short stories. He was 91. (March 02, 2011)
Barbara Whitehead Dies
Martin Edwards's blog reported that Barbara Whitehead died on January 19 of Alzheimer's disease in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK. The former chairperson of The York Family History Society started writing historical romances such as THE CARETAKER WIFE (Heinmann, 1977) and RAMILLIES (Methuen, 1983 as by Rosa Hill), and switched to "York Cycle of Mysteries" featuring York Police Chief Inspector Robert Southwell with PLAYING GOD (Quartet Crime, 1988). The final and eighth novel in the York Cycle series was DOLLS DON'T CHOOSE (Constable, 1998). She also wrote CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER "DEAREST NELL" (Smith Settle, 1993), a biography. She was 80. (March 01, 2011)
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