Five Finds

• The book review magazine Foreword has publicized its lists of finalists for the 2024 Indies Book of the Year prizes. Those include a dozen Mystery and Thriller/Suspense titles, among them Mark Coggins’ Geisha Confidential, Corey Lynn Fayman’s The Esmeralda Goodbye, Elena Taylor’s A Cold Cold World, and Sam Wiebe’s Ocean Drive. The winners in these and many other genres, plus the mag’s Editor’s Choice Prize winners and an Indie Publisher of the Year pick, are to be announced sometime this coming June.

• Do you remember the short-lived 1971 NBC-TV series The D.A., which starred Robert Conrad as Paul Ryan, a “a tough-minded, hard-hitting prosecutor in Los Angeles County”? Then you might be interested to know that Confessions of the D.A. Man, a 90-minute film combining three installments of that half-hour, Jack Webb-produced crime drama, as well as a crossover episode of Adam-12 featuring Ryan, has all of a sudden popped up on YouTube. As always with YouTube offerings, I caution that this one may not be available forever, so it’s best to watch it sooner than later. More about The D.A. is here.

• CrimeReads writer Olivia Rutigliano revisits a “legendary,” crime-related Far Side cartoon from way back in 1993.

• Congratulations to Craig Johnson! From In Reference to Murder:

Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of the “Longmire” series, is the 2025 winner of the Owen Wister Award, the highest honor given by Western Writers of America in recognition of lifetime contributions to the genre. Originally given for “best book of the year,” it was expanded in 1967 to include anyone advancing Western literature. Previous winners include Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, and Loren D. Estleman.

• And you still have a chance to enter this year’s contest for the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, “an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color.” The submissions process won’t close until March 31.