PaperBack: “Journey Into Terror”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Journey Into Terror, by Peter Rabe (Gold Medal, 1957).
Cover illustration by Mitchell Hooks.

READ MORE: “A Too Brief Conversation with Peter Rabe,” by George Tuttle (Mystery*File).

From the TV Front

• Deadline reports that “The BBC and BritBox International have landed on Endless Night as their latest Agatha Christie adaptation from Sarah Phelps. Set in 1967, the book is neither a Poirot [n]or a Marple but follows man-of-many-trades Michael Rogers, who finds himself working as chauffeur for the enigmatic designer du jour Rudolf Santonix. Transfixed by Santonix’s latest project, a beautiful house in the English countryside, Mike dreams of meeting the love of his life and taking up residence. But unbeknownst to Mike, the house that he has set his heart on has a dark past that goes back for centuries.” There’s no casting news yet, but filming is expected to begin later this year.

• With the debut of Netflix’s Department Q expected on May 29, a trailer for that crime drama—based on Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen’s police procedural series (The Keeper of Lost Causes, etc.)—was released earlier in the week. This British adaptation, set in Edinburgh, Scotland, follows a previous series of Danish films adapted from Adler-Olsen’s novels about a once-respected homicide cop, Carl Mørck, demoted to cold-case investigations. Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, Ordeal by Innocence) stars in the new program as detective Morck (now without the “ø”). The International Movie Database (IMDb) says nine episodes will comprise Department Q’s opening season.

• We learned last fall that Scottish actress Phyllis Logan (another Downton Abbey regular) will play Cora Felton, the author of a syndicated puzzle column, in The Puzzle Lady from UK broadcaster Channel 5. As The Killing Times says, this six-episode mystery—derived from the late Parnell Hall’s eight Puzzle Lady books—“begins when a strange murder takes place in the sleepy market town of Bakerbury. The local police are baffled by a crossword puzzle left on the body. With their case going nowhere, they turn reluctantly to Cora Felton, a recent arrival in Bakerbury; whose fame as the eponymous Puzzle Lady suggests she can help DCI Hooper [to be played by Adam Best] and the Bakerbury police solve its first murder case. But the eccentric Cora isn’t who she claims to be, and as she throws herself into a murder case that has the town’s residents baffled, she starts to gather allies and enemies in equal measure.” No premiere date has been announced, but it’s expected to be sometime in 2025.

• And though this has sod all to do with crime fiction … Did you know that a third and last Downton Abbey theatrical release is coming in September of this year? I first heard about it while looking for information about Logan and The Puzzle Lady. With the exception of Maggie Smith, who died in late 2024, the majority of Downton cast members are to return in the coming movie, appropriately titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. While I was slightly disappointed in the second picture (2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era), you can bet that as a longtime fan of the original 2010-2015 TV program, I shall be buying tickets as soon as possible to see this third sequel.

It’s “Game” Time

I mentioned recently that the film and TV Web site Modcinema is now offering a DVD version of 1966’s Fame Is the Name of the Game, the 95-minute NBC-TV movie that gave birth to the “wheel series” The Name of the Game. Shortly after posting said news, I remembered that I had in my computer files this TV Guide “Close Up” preview of Fame, which was broadcast for the first time on November 26, 1966.



One day I hope all 76 episodes of The Name of the Game will become available for viewing once more, either in DVD format or via a streaming TV service. I have had a chance over the decades to see most of them (with those starring Gene Barry and Tony Franciosa being my favorites), but their print quality has been ... well, uneven. I would be happy to binge-watch that landmark drama sometime!

Thursday Trifles

• The 100th anniversary of Elmore Leonard’s birth will be October 11 of this year. Despite the fact that the author died in 2013 at age 87, this coming centenary provides an ideal excuse to reissue some of his best-remembered works. As Barry Forshaw notes in Crime Time, publisher Penguin will bring out new editions of Swag, The Switch, and Rum Punch in June, with more works to follow in its Penguin Modern Classics Crime series. (Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)

• Dashiell Hammett’s time spent as a soldier in Alaska is not a subject with which most readers are familiar. Which is undoubtedly why historian David Reamer looked into that story for the latest entry in his weekly series for the Anchorage Daily News.

• In CrimeReads, author Danielle Teller (Forged) makes the case that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby was a con artist. “He seeks cheat codes for acquiring wealth,” she explains, “and takes on a false persona at a young age ..., and he displays many of the narcissistic and psychopathic features associated with con artists, including glib charm, grandiosity, need for admiration, impulsivity, egotism, manipulation, and of course, a willingness to lie.”

• Fictionist and genre historian Martin Edwards has published what he says is his “first ever obituary written for a national newspaper”: a choice remembrance of Peter Lovesey for The Guardian.

• In a new pair of posts, Paul Vidich (The Poet’s Game) first celebrates the career of now 95-year-old spy novelist Len Deighton, and then selects “six novels to highlight Deighton’s considerable talent.”

• Another Miami Vice movie? I hope this one, to be directed by Joseph Kosinski (Spiderhead, F1), will be better than Michael Mann’s underdeveloped 2006 filmed based on his 1980s TV series Miami Vice.

• Reporter and animal rights activist Cleveland Amory spent 13 years (1963-1976) as a television critic for TV Guide magazine. I remember reading and often enjoying his columns (which I have occasionally drawn quotes from for The Rap Sheet). But Amory, himself, did not always enjoy the subjects of said critiques. A case in point: his “scorchingly bad [1965] review of the cult-classic television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” which Ben Bolden posted recently in his blog.

• This coming Sunday, May 11, Americans will be celebrating Mother’s Day. Time again for Janet Rudolph to update her list of crime and mystery novels linked to that annual holiday. Kathi Daley’s The Mother's Day Mishap, Jane Haddam’s Murder Superior, and Selma Eichler’s Murder Can Upset Your Mother are among the many titles (novels and short-story collections) mentioned. More here.

• Finally, here are two interviews worth your attention: Sarah Weinman talks with Kate Summerscale, author of the new-in-the-States true-crime history The Peepshow, which revisits the bizarre case of London serial killer Reg Christie; and Jeri Westerson chats up audiobook narrator Noah James Butler, whom she calls the “Man of a Thousand Voices.”

Facing Off for the Anthonys

Bouchercon organizers today announced the finalists for their 2025 Anthony Awards, in 10 categories. Winners will be announced during a special event at the convention, which is scheduled to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from September 3 to 7.

Best Hardcover Novel:
• Missing White Woman, by Kellye Garrett (Mulholland)
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• The Grey Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Alter Ego, by Alex Segura (Flatiron)
• California Bear, by Duane Swiercynski (Mulholland)

Best First Novel:
• The Mechanics of Memory, by Audrey Lee (CamCat)
• Ghosts of Waikiki, by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)
• You Know What You Did, by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)
• Good-Looking Ugly, by Rob D. Smith (Shotgun Honey)
• Holy City, by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Paperback/E-book/Audiobook:
• The Last Few Miles of Road, by Eric Beetner (Level Best)
• Echo, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• Served Cold, by James L’Etoile (Level Best)
• Late Checkout, by Alan Orloff (Level Best)
• The Big Lie, by Gabriel Valjan (Level Best/Historia)

Best Historical:
• The Lantern’s Dance, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• The Witching Hour, by Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
• The Bootlegger’s Daughter, by Nadine Nettmann (Lake Union)
• The Murder of Mr. Ma, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
(Soho Crime)
• The Courtesan’s Pirate, by Nina Wachsman (Level Best/Historia)

Best Paranormal:
• A New Lease on Death, by Olivia Blacke (Minotaur)
• Five Furry Familiars, by Lynn Cahoon (Kensington Cozies)
• Exposure, by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
• Lights, Cameras, Bones, by Carolyn Haines (Minotaur)
• Death in Ghostly Hue, by Susan Van Kirk (Level Best)

Best Cozy/Humorous:
• A Cup of Flour, a Pinch of Death, by Valerie Burns (Kensington Cozies)
• A Very Woodsy Murder, by Ellen Byron (Kensington Cozies)
• Ill-Fated Fortune, by Jennifer J. Chow (Minotaur)
• Scotzilla, by Catriona McPherson (Severn House)
• Cirque du Slay, by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane)
• Dominoes, Danzón, and Death, by Raquel V. Reyes (Crooked Lane)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel:
• The Big Grey Men of Ben MacDhui, by K.B. Jackson (Reycraft)
• The Sasquatch of Harriman Lake, by K.B. Jackson (Reycraft)
• First Week Free at the Roomy Toilet, by Josh Proctor (Level Elevate)
• The Sherlock Society, by James Ponti (Aladdin Paperbacks)
• When Mimi Went Missing, by Suja Sukumar (Soho Teen)

Best Critical/Non-fiction:
• Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft, edited by Phyllis M. Betz (McFarland)
• Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers, by Chris Chan (Level Best)
• On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett, by Ashley Lawson (Ohio State
University Press)
• Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder, by Greg Lilly (History Press)
• The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, by Katherine Ramsland and Tracy Ullman (Crime Ink)

Best Anthology/Collection:
• Murder, Neat: A Sleuthslayer’s Anthology, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman (Level Short)
• Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson
(Down & Out)
• Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, edited by Tod Goldberg (Soho Crime)
• Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem: Bouchercon Anthology 2024, edited by Heather Graham (Down & Out)
• Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead, edited by Josh Pachter (Down & Out)

Best Short Story:
• “A Matter of Trust,” by Barb Goffman (from Three Strikes—You’re Dead, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley (Wildside Press)
• “Twenty Centuries,” by James D.F. Hannah (from Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, edited by Tod Goldberg;
Soho Crime)
• “Something to Hold Onto,” by Curtis Ippolito (from Dark Yonder, Issue 6, edited by Katy Munger and Eryk Pruitt; Thalia Press)
• “Satan’s Spit,” by Gabriel Valjan (from Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem: Bouchercon Anthology 2024, edited by Heather Graham; Down & Out)
• “Reynisfjara,” by Kristopher Zgorski (from Mystery Most International, edited by Rita Owen, Verena Rose, and Shawn Reilly Simmons; Level Short)

Congratulations to all of this year’s contenders!

AND THERE’S MORE: I neglected to mention that Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of the popular Walt Longmire mystery series, will be this year’s Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Revue of Reviewers: 5-6-25

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

Bernie Gunther, TV Detective?

I’ve been a shameless devotee of Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther private-eye series ever since 1989, when I picked up a hardcover copy of March Violets, the first of those 14 novels. Much later, I was privileged to interview him for both The Rap Sheet and Kirkus Reviews, and I finally met and spoke with him briefly in 2016 during a book signing in Seattle. When Kerr passed away in 2018, aged 62, I wrote that, although the author himself was “gone from the community of crime-fiction writers, … I still have his books. For that, I’ll be forever grateful.”

So you can imagine how chuffed I was to read this in Deadline:

Apple TV+ has greenlit a long-gestating TV adaptation of the late Philip Kerr’s popular Berlin Noir books from Oscar-winning Conclave writer Peter Straughan, Doctor Who producer Bad Wolf, and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone.

The untitled drama is based on Kerr’s final book Metropolis, which told the iconic detective’s origin story. Set in 1928, Metropolis follows newly promoted police officer Gunther in the intimidating elite Berlin Murder Squad, investigating what seems to be a serial killer targeting victims on the fringes of society. Gunther’s Berlin is described as a “city of unprecedented freedom and dizzying turbulence, the Nazis a distant nightmare waiting in the wings.”

We are told Apple is kicking off with Gunther’s origin story but there is scope to adapt more Berlin Noir books via the studio’s option. Gunther was made famous by Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy comprising March Violets, The Pale Criminal and A German Requiem, all of which were published around the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Kerr penned a further 11 Gunther books, which sold in droves worldwide, finishing with Metropolis before he died in 2018. Metropolis was published posthumously a year later.

Bernie Gunther is a captivating character, pessimistic, persistent, and crafty, with what Kerr’s Web site accurately describes as “a rough sense of humor and a rougher sense of right and wrong.” I have long thought that he’d make a splendid TV protagonist, but remain skeptical that the complicated, sometimes incongruous aspects of his personality could be satisfyingly portrayed on the screen. It may help that Kerr’s widow, the novelist Jane Thynne, owns the copyright in the Gunther novels, and might have some say in their TV adaptations.

Bullet Points: Tariffs-Free Edition

• Who should be the next cinematic Bond? With Daniel Craig having departed the role of James Bond following 2021’s No Time to Die, speculation on which actor might next play Ian Fleming’s famous British superspy has revolved at various times around Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Jack Lowden, and even 21-year-old Louis Partridge. CrimeReads’ Olivia Rutigliano has her own suggestion: “Joshua Bowman, the charming English actor who played Krasko on Doctor Who, and Daniel Grayson on ABC’s Revenge.” While I’m not yet on board with Bowman as Agent 007, I heartily endorse her idea that the next movie should be set in the 1950s, pre-Sean Connery. Remember that the ending of No Time to Die makes it pretty ridiculous to resurrect that protagonist for further feats in the 2020s. So why not return Bond to his roots, at the height of the Cold War? “It could be an origination story of the character,” writes Rutigliano, “rather like how Craig’s era rebooted the franchise with Casino Royale and used the Vesper Lynd love story as a consistent anchor for Bond’s choices, across multiple films. This could do something like that, with a nostalgic temporal re-contextualization that could stand out in a franchise that has historically insisted on contemporaneity.” Hey, everyone over at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Amazon (which now owns the intellectual property rights to Bond), are you listening?

• Meanwhile, The Spy Command’s Bill Koenig notes that “This year marks the 60th anniversary of Thunderball, the fourth Bond film and the apex of the 1960s spy craze.” He also alerts us to a Bond fan event, Gatherall at Goldeneye, set to take place in Jamaica this coming fall, and mentions that a new, expanded edition of Joseph Darlington’s 2013 book, Being James Bond: Volume One, is coming in August—though there’s not yet an Amazon “pre-order” link to share.

• Do you know the retro film and TV Web site Modcinema? I’ve ordered low-cost, made-on-demand DVD copies of forgotten small-screen features from that enterprise before, but its latest newsletter alerts me to a wealth of new offerings. Among them: the 1972 teleflick Assignment: Munich, which spawned Robert Conrad’s short-lived show Assignment: Vienna; a three-disc set containing all five episodes of the 1978 series Richie Brockelman, Private Eye starring Dennis Dugan; three episodes (including the pilot) of Cool Million, the James Farentino series that was one spoke of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie “wheel series” (two additional eps can be found in this set); and Fame Is the Name of the Game, the 1966 made-for-television picture starring Tony Franciosa, which “served as the pilot episode of the subsequent series The Name of the Game.”

• As a longtime follower of Peter Falk’s NBC Mystery Movie series, I’m surprised this February release didn’t hit my radar before now: Columbo Explains the Seventies: A TV Cop’s Pop Culture Journey, by Glenn Stewart (Bonaventure Press). UPDATE: Stewart tells The Columbophile about what inspired him to write this book.

• My suspicion is there aren’t many people around these days boasting solid memories of the 1980 ABC-TV action series B.A.D. Cats. As Wikipedia recalls, that Douglas S. Cramer/Aaron Spelling production starred Asher Brauner and Steve Hanks as “two former race car drivers who joined the Los Angeles Police Department as part of the ‘B.A.D. C.A.T.’ Squad (a double acronym for ‘Burglary Auto Detail–Commercial Auto Theft’).” Then 21-year-old Michelle Pfeiffer appeared on the program too, playing Officer Samantha “Sunshine” Jensen, who “would occasionally lend a hand when a more feminine approach was called for.” B.A.D. Cats didn’t last long; it was cancelled in February 1980 after a pilot (which you can view here) and five other episodes had been broadcast. But as Vintage Everyday observes, the show was an important stepping stone on Pfeiffer’s path to Hollywood renown. A few days ago, that blog posted almost four dozen promotional photos of her from B.A.D. Cats, which it says demonstrated “Pfeiffer’s youthful charm and emerging star quality.” The actress would go on to play a different breed of bad cat in Batman Returns (1992).

• While I greatly enjoyed Netflix’s first two Enola Holmes movies (in 2020 and 2022), based on the middle-reader mysteries by Nancy Springer, I forgot there was to be another. Variety brings the news that its production is already well underway. “The third instalment,” that publication explains, “sees adventure chase Enola Holmes to Malta, where, according to the description, ‘personal and professional dreams collide on a case more tangled and treacherous than any she has faced before.’” As in the previous pictures, Millie Bobby Brown will play Sherlock Holmes’ teenage sister. There’s no release date yet.

• This item comes from In Reference to Murder:

Wallander, the globally acclaimed Swedish detective drama, is getting “a modernized and reimagined reboot” with Gustaf Skarsgård (Oppenheimer, Vikings) playing the iconic role. The first season of the new Swedish-language adaptation will comprise three 90-minute films and will see Kurt Wallander, now 42, recently separated, after two decades of marriage, and estranged from his daughter. On the edge as his life seemingly unravels, Wallander drinks too much, sleeps too little, and carries the weight of every unsolved case.

Penned by bestselling author Henning Mankell, the Wallander novels have sold over 40 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. The original Swedish series and film adaptations, which aired between 1994 and 2013, garnered wide international success and were followed by a British mini-series adaptation starring Kenneth Branagh that earned him a BAFTA for his portrayal of the detective.

• Sunday, June 15, will bring the return of Grantchester to PBS-TV’s Masterpiece Mystery! timeslot. Mystery Fanfare has the trailer for Season 10 of that historical whodunit.

• As Saturday Evening Post columnist Bob Sassone writes, “Dragnet’s Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) was known for the food he ate, which often confused and worried his partner Joe Friday (Jack Webb). Barry Enderwick of the terrific Sandwiches of History decided to try it, at the suggestion of many of his fans.” Watch the video here.

• The small-screen period crime drama Peaky Blinders is coming back! So are the rebooted Bergerac and the Death in Paradise spin-off Return to Paradise (even though I haven’t seen either of their opening seasons yet). And Acorn TV has scheduled the two-episode premiere, on Monday, June 9, of Art Detectives, which “revolves around the Heritage Crime Unit, a [UK] police department hired to solve murders connected to the world of art and antiques.”

• I was a huge fan of Leverage, the 2008-2012 TNT-TV crime caper series starring Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane, and Beth Riesgraf. I must have watched every episode four times or more! Yet when that show was revived in 2021 as Leverage: Redemption, with Noah Wyle replacing Hutton, I hesitated tuning in, partly because I wasn’t sure I could believe the “gang” being a decade older and still as active. I think I’ve seen only two episodes of Redemption, and I completely missed the news that it had been renewed for a third season. The first three of 10 new installments aired on April 17, with more to come every Thursday through June 5. I guess it’s time I started catching up! See the trailer below.



• The Web site Geek Girl Authority (yeah, I’d never heard of it until today either) features a review of Leverage: Redemption, Season 3, plus this tribute to my favorite Leverage team member, Riesgraf’s prodigiously eccentric Parker, “truly the world’s greatest thief.”

• Speaking of TV trailers, CrimeReads has posted one for Season 2 of Poker Face, the crime comedy-drama starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, “a casino worker on the run who entangles herself into several mysterious deaths of strangers along the way.” That show will return to the streaming service Peacock on Thursday, May 8, with 12 new episodes (two more than were broadcast in 2023).

• And while you are at CrimeReads, enjoy these three other posts that went up there recently: Patrick Sauer’s salute to Tony Rome, the South Florida gumshoe introduced in 1960’s Miami Mayhem by Marvin H. Albert, and a character Frank Sinatra played in a couple of “groovy” films; Christopher Chambers’ case for reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (which celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this month) as noir; and Scott Montgomery’s look back at the first quarter-century of Stark House Press’ efforts to return to print many hard-boiled authors and novels from the 1950s and ’60s.

• Thomas Pynchon has a new private-eye novel coming in October!

• National Public Radio weekend host Scott Simon interviews film historian Jason Bailey about his brand-new biography, Gandolfini: Jim, Tony and the Life of a Legend (Abrams Press). That book is being promoted as “a detailed and nuanced appraisal of an enduring artist,” Jim Gandolfini, who was apparently quite different from the New Jersey Mafia boss he played on HBO’s The Sopranos.

• Why can’t the United States have nice things like this? The British Writers’ Association and the Reading Agency, a UK charity, have jointly organized National Crime Reading Month (NCRM) in June. “This year,” says a press release, “it opens with an exclusive online panel, The Lives of Crime, featuring bestselling crime authors. On 4 June at 6 p.m., the CWA chair and bestselling author, Vaseem Khan, will host authors Fiona Cummins, Adele Parks, and Penny Batchelor in the free online panel event.” They’ll be talking about “the genre’s universal appeal—from psychological thrillers to cozy mysteries—and how it creates accessible pathways to reading for audiences who might otherwise never discover the joy of books.” (Click here to register.) Beyond that presentation, NCRM will offer “over a hundred local author events and talks that run throughout June across the UK and Ireland, which take place in libraries, theatres, bookshops and online.” A page devoted to keeping track of NCRM events is available at this link.

• I am way behind in reading Paperback Warrior’s occasional “primers” on vintage crime novelists and pulp-fiction characters. The latest entry in that series recalls Kendell Foster Crossen (1910-1981), who “wrote crime-fiction novels under the name of M.E. Chaber, a pseudonym he used to construct the wildly successful Milo March series from the mid-1950s through the 1970s.” Fun stuff! UPDATE: Another such primer has just “gone live,” this one relating the background of Charles Williams, who “authored 22 books and was one of the best-selling writers in the Fawcett Gold Medal stable.”

• Historical mystery novelist Jeri Westerson used to produce a blog called Getting Medieval, offering interviews and articles—only to suddenly delete that journal from the Web, leaving links at other sites broken. She says now that “it was too much work and social media was rising.” Recently, though, Westerson decided to return to blogging. She has subsequently posted several author exchanges of interest. Gary Phillips, James R. Benn, and Rebecca Cantrell have all fielded questions from her. I hesitate slightly to link to these conversations, leery of their also disappearing someday, but transience is unfortunately a Web foible.

• Is this creative or creepy? From The Hollywood Reporter:

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of British broadcaster BBC, and the Agatha Christie estate have teamed up to launch a writing course on education-focused streaming service BBC Maestro taught by Christie herself. Well, to be precise, it is taught by the queen of crime, brought to life by actress Vivien Keene and AI, using the author’s own words.

“In a world first, Agatha Christie—best-selling novelist of all time—will be offering aspiring writers an unparalleled opportunity to learn the secrets behind her writing, in her own words,’ the partners said. ‘Using meticulously restored archival interviews, private letters and writings researched by a team of Christie experts, this pioneering course reconstructs Christie’s own voice and insights, guiding you through the art of suspense, plot twists and unforgettable characters.”

James Prichard, Christie’s great-grandson and the CEO of Agatha Christie Limited, is quoted in The Guardian as saying that the educators and researchers behind this subscription-based video series “extracted from a number of her writings an extraordinary array of her views and opinions on how to write. Through this course, you truly will receive a lesson in crafting a masterful mystery, in Agatha’s very own words.” OK, maybe it’s creative, after all.

• I have given precisely zero thought to what might be the “best crime novels of 2025 … so far.” However, both The Times of London and The Week have already shared their favorites.

• Over at my Killer Covers blog, I’ve written a great deal about the American artist Robert McGinnis this year, both prior to his demise in March (at age 99!), and after. But author Max Allan Collins had his own memories to share, in this post that talks about how he scored an unusual number of McGinnis’ paintings for use on his novels about the hired killer known only as Quarry.

• Can we ever get enough of Belgian author Georges Simenon’s Jules Maigret mysteries? Penguin Books has been publishing paperback versions of them over the last decade, and has brand-new editions set to become available beginning in July. And now the U.S. imprint Picador is joining in the game, launching its own Maigret lineup this month. Over the next three years, Picador says, it too will reissue all 75 Maigrets, plus “thirty of his darker standalone ‘romans durs’ beginning March 2026.” Pietr the Latvian will reach stores on May 6, together with The Late Monsieur Gallet and The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien, all of which originally saw print back in 1931. It may be time to clear some space on your bookshelves!

• This is a terrible loss—at least from my perspective. The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which celebrated appallingly bad initial sentences to (fortunately) never-to-be-completed books, is no more. Scott Rice, who, as an English professor at California’s San Jose State University, founded the competition in 1982, says he finds it “becoming increasingly burdensome and [I] would like to put myself out to pasture while I still have some vim and vigor!” The Rap Sheet has posted many of the winners over time, and we’re sorry not to be able to keep up that tradition for decades more to come.

• California author J. Sydney Jones produced half a dozen books in his Viennese Mysteries series, beginning with The Empty Mirror (2008) and ending—it was presumed—with The Third Place (2015). They were complicated and propulsive stories of crime in the Austrian capital that took place during the very early 20th century, had as their leads lawyer Karl Werthen and real-life criminologist Doktor Hanns Gross, and seemed to fare well in the marketplace. However, Jones writes in his blog, “The original series stopped after book six. I had originally planned it for another three to four installments. But other projects came up, other publishers.” The author nonetheless returned to that series during the COVID-19 pandemic, penning a “capstone” titled Lilacs of the Dead Land, which he published in February of this year—a novel that somehow managed to avoid my radar. He calls it “a stirring historical thriller set in Austria shortly after the German annexation, or Anschluss, of March 1938.” As one who very much appreciated his Viennese Mysteries, I’ll want to find a copy soon.

• It should be mentioned that one of those “other projects” Jones embarked upon was a new crime series, set on California’s central coast during World War II and adopting as its protagonist a wounded former New York City police detective, Max Byrns. The second Byrns book, Play It in Between (Werthen Press), debuted in April.

• April 17 brought the presentation, at New York City’s New School, of the 37th annual Publishing Triangle Awards celebrating “LGBTQ+ literary excellence.” During that event, Massachusetts author and creative writing professor Margot Douaihy was given the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ+ Crime Writing for her second Sister Holiday novel, 2024’s Blessed Water (Zando/Gillian Flynn Books). Hansen, you will remember, penned a dozen novels in the late 20th century starring gay death claims investigator Dave Brandstetter.

• Just as “authors hitting the best seller list are approaching gender equality for the first time,” a new independent press in Great Britain proposes to center its business on male writers. Reporting on this development, Lit Hub’s James Folta acknowledges that “female authorship is on the rise, especially recently,” but he adds, “to conclude that men therefore need an urgent champion seems naïve and near-sighted. To look at this trend or, perhaps more accurately, to feel the vibes and conclude that male authors are in danger is pushing it. Male authors going from 80% to 50% of the market is far from a crisis in need of another intervening corrective.”

• And here’s one more instance of a blog rising from the dead. The Stiletto Gumshoe debuted back in November 2018, focusing on crime and mystery fiction and the artwork associated with same. But it went dormant just two years later, with its author, C.J. Thomas, apologizing that “some troubling ‘real-life’ issues need to be wrestled with right now, so there’ll be a break from blogging here for a while. Hope to be back soon …” Soon was not soon at all. When The Stiletto Gumshoe finally disappeared altogether from the Internet (forcing me to substitute links to its posts from The Wayback Machine), I struck it from this page’s lengthy blogroll, too. Then, just as abruptly as it was gone, Thomas’ creation returned! This last April 23, Thomas put up a tribute to Sergeant DeeDee McCall, the role Stepfanie Kramer played in the 1980s TV crime drama Hunter. He has followed that with posts about the 1950 film noir Where Danger Lives, J. Robert Lennon’s new Buzz Kill, French 1980s print ads from DIM Paris, and much more. Welcome back, C.J., I hope you can stick around this time.

Spring Yarns Are Still Rolling Out

There’s only a month more to go now before I’m supposed to post another seasonal round-up of forthcoming crime, mystery, and thriller books, this one focused on summer releases.

Good grief! It seems as if I just published The Rap Sheet’s spring books recommendations … but in fact that was back in March. Since that time, I’ve added a number of titles to the list—due out on both sides of the Atlantic—bringing its total count to well upwards of 380. If you get the chance, you might want to take a glance back at the spring catalogue, to ensure you’ve not missed anything of value.

The Edgars Take Centerstage

During a special ceremony held last evening at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square, the Mystery Writers of America organization presented its 79th annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards to what it says were the best crime- and mystery-related works of fiction, non-fiction, and television produced in 2024.

Best Novel:
The In Crowd, by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)

Also nominated: The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey); Rough Trade, by Katrina Carrasco (MCD); Things Don’t Break on Their Own, by Sarah Easter Collins (Crown); My Favorite Scar, by Nicolás Ferraro (Soho Crime); The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Riverhead); and Listen for the Lie, by Amy Tintera (Celadon)

Best First Novel by an American Author:
Holy City, by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Also nominated: Twice the Trouble, by Ash Clifton (Crooked Lane); Cold to the Touch, by Kerri Hakoda (Crooked Lane); The Mechanics of Memory, by Audrey Lee (CamCat); A Jewel in the Crown, by David Lewis (John Scognamiglio); and The President’s Lawyer, by Lawrence Robbins (Atria)

Best Paperback Original:
The Paris Widow, by Kimberly Belle (Park Row)

Also nominated: The Vacancy in Room 10, by Seraphina Nova Glass (Graydon House); Shell Games, by Bonnie Kistler (Harper Paperbacks); A Forgotten Kill, by Isabella Maldonado (Thomas & Mercer); and The Road to Heaven, by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson (Dundurn Press)

Best Fact Crime:
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective, by Steven Johnson (Crown)

Also nominated: Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers, by Frank Figliuzzi (Mariner); A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton, by Deb Miller Landau (Pegasus Crime); The Amish Wife: Unraveling the Lies, Secrets, and Conspiracy that Let a Killer Go Free, by Gregg Olsen (Thomas & Mercer); Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America's Second Slavery, by Earl Swift (Mariner); and The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age, by Michael Wolraich (Union Square)

Best Critical/Biographical:
James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction, by Nathan
Ashman (McFarland)

Also nominated: American Noir Film: From The Maltese Falcon to Gone Girl, by M. Keith Booker (Rowman & Littlefield); Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows, by David Geherin (McFarland); On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett, by Ashley Lawson (Ohio State University Press); and Ian Fleming; The Complete Man, by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harper)

Best Short Story:
“Eat My Moose,” by Erika Krouse (from Conjunctions, Spring 2024 “Works and Days” issue; Bard College)

Also nominated: “Cut and Thirst,” by Margaret Atwood (Amazon Original Stories); “Everywhere You Look,” by Liv Constantine (Amazon Original Stories); “Barriers to Entry,” by Ariel Lawhon (Amazon Original Stories); and “The Art of Cruel Embroidery,” by Steven Sheil (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July-August 2024)

Best Juvenile: Mysteries of Trash and Treasure: The Stolen Key, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Quill Tree)

Also nominated: The Beanstalk Murder, by P.G. Bell (Feiwel & Friends); Mystery of Mystic Mountain, by Janet Fox (BFYR); The Spindle of Fate, by Aimee Lim (Feiwel & Friends); and Find Her, by Ginger Reno (Holiday House)

Best Young Adult:
49 Miles Alone, by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks Fire)

Also nominated: Looking for Smoke, by K.A. Cobell (Heartdrum); The Bitter End, by Alexa Donne (Random House Books for Young Readers); A Crane Among Wolves, by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends); and Death at Morning House, by Maureen Johnson (Harper Teen)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:
“Episode One,” Monsieur Spade, written by Tom Fontana and
Scott Frank (AMC)

Also nominated: “Episode Five,” Rebus, written by Gregory Burke (Viaplay); “Episode One,” Moonflower Murders, written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece PBS); “Mirror,” Murderesses, written by Wiktor Piatkowski, Joanna Kozłowska, and Katarzyna Kaczmarek (Viaplay); and “Episode Two,” The Marlow Murder Club, written by Robert Thorogood (Masterpiece PBS)

* * *

The MWA also gives out several additional yearly prizes, with the winners of those being announced last evening, as well.

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:
“The Jews on Elm Street,” by Anna Stolley Persky (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September-October 2024)

Also nominated: “The Legend of Penny and the Luck of the Draw Casino,” by Pat Gaudet (EQMM, May-June 2024); “Head Start,” by Kai Lovelace (EQMM, September-October 2024); “Murder Under Sedation,” by Lawrence Ong (EQMM, March-April 2024); and “Sparrow Maker,” by Jake Stein (EQMM, November-December 2024)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award:
The Mystery Writer, by Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated: The Rose Arbor, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union); The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, by Michelle Chouinard (Minotaur); Return to Wyldcliffe Heights, by Carol Goodman (Morrow Paperbacks); and Death in the Details, by Katie Tietjen (Crooked Lane)

The G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:
The Comfort of Ghosts, by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Crime)

Also nominated: Disturbing the Dead, by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur); A Game of Lies, by Clare Mackintosh (Sourcebooks Landmark); Proof, by Beverly McLachlin (Simon & Schuster Canada); A World of Hurt, by Mindy Mejia (Atlantic Monthly Press); and All the Way Gone, by Joanna Schaffhausen (Minotaur)

The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award:
The Murders in Great Diddling, by Katarina Bivald (Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated: Death and Fromage, by Ian Moore (Poisoned Pen Press); Booked for Murder, by P.J. Nelson (Minotaur); Murder on Devil’s Pond, by Ayla Rose (Crooked Lane); and The Treasure Hunters Club, by Tom Ryan (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Laura Lippman and John Sandford (aka John Roswell Camp) were previously named as this year’s MWA Grand Masters, while the 2025 Raven Award will go to Face in a Book Bookstore & Gifts, in El Dorado Hills, California. Peter Wolverton, executive editor and vice president of St. Martin’s Press, has picked up the 2025 Ellery Award.

PaperBack: “Second-Hand Nude”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



Second-Hand Nude, by Bruno Fischer (Gold Medal, 1959). This is one of the more salaciously-titled works from reporter-turned-novelist Fischer, who may be best-remembered for his series about New York City private eye Ben Helm. Cover illustration by Ted CoConis.

Derringer Designations

A mere 30 days after publicizing its lists of finalists for the 2025 Derringer Awards, America’s Short Mystery Fiction Society brings us the winners of that competition, in five divisions.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words): “Kargin the Necromancer,” by Mike McHone (Mystery Tribune, December 15, 2024)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words): “The Wind Phone,” by Josh Pachter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words): “Heart of Darkness,” by Tammy Euliano (from Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson; Down & Out)

Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words): “The Cadillac Job,” by Stacy Woodson (Chop Shop, Episode 1, edited by Michael Bracken;
Down & Out)

Best Anthology: Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman (Level Short)

On top of all these, the SMFS will present its Silver Derringer for Editorial Excellence to Janet Hutchings, who recently left as the editor in chief of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Its Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement is going to short-story writer and English professor Art Taylor. And the society’s 2025 Hall of Fame designee is O. Henry (aka William Sydney Porter).

One Last Bristol Batch of Prizes

In advance of the 16th and final CrimeFest kicking off on May 15 in Bristol, England, organizers of that four-day event have released the shortlists of contenders for seven annual awards. Winners are to be announced during a celebratory dinner on Saturday, May 17.

Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award:
• Paper Cage, by Tom Baragwanath (Baskerville)
• Love Letters to a Serial Killer, by Tasha Coryell (Orion Fiction)
• The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller
(Pan Macmillan)
• The Night of Baba Yaga, by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber)
• Nightwatching, by Tracy Sierra (Viking)
• Five by Five, by Claire Wilson (Michael Joseph)

eDunnit Award (for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format):
• Hemlock Bay, by Martin Edwards (Head of Zeus)
• The Lantern’s Dance, by Laurie R. King (Allison & Busby)
• The Sequel, by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Faber & Faber)
• What A Way to Go, by Bella Mackie (Borough Press)
• The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Borough Press)
• A Talent for Murder, by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber)

H.R.F. Keating Award (for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction):
• Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, by Mark
Aldridge (HarperCollins)
• Allusion in Detective Fiction, by Jem Bloomfield (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Female Detectives in Early Crime Fiction, 1841-1920, by Ashley Bowden (Fabula Mysterium Press)
• Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction, by Dan Coxon and Richard V. Hirst (Dead Ink)
• The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective, by Sara Lodge (Yale University Press)
• Getting Away With Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen, by Lynda La Plante (Zaffre)

Last Laugh Award (for the best humorous crime novel):
• The Case of the Secretive Secretary, by Cathy Ace (Four Tails)
• The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin, by D.G. Coutinho
(Harvill Secker)
• What A Way to Go, by Bella Mackie (Borough Press)
• Knife Skills for Beginners, by Orlando Murrin (Transworld)
• Mr. Campion’s Christmas, by Mike Ripley (Severn House)
• The Burning Stones, by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda)

Best Crime Fiction Award for Children (aged 8-12):
• Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker, by Sufiya Ahmed
(Bloomsbury Education)
• The Secret of Golden Island, by Natasha Farrant (Faber & Faber)
• Mysteries at Sea: The Hollywood Kidnap Case, by A.M.
Howell (Usborne)
• The Twitchers: Feather, by M.G. Leonard (Walker)
• The Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues, by Beth Lincoln (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
• The Floating Witch Mystery, by Nicki Thornton (Faber & Faber)

Best Crime Fiction Award for Young Adults (aged 12-16):
• A Cruel Twist of Fate, by H.F. Askwith (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
• It All Started With a Lie, by Denise Brown (Hashtag Press)
• Lie or Die, by A.J. Clack (Firefly Press)
• All the Hidden Monsters, by Amie Jordan (Chicken House)
• Heist Royale, by Kayvion Lewis (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
• Such Charming Liars, by Karen M. McManus (Penguin Random
House Children’s UK)

Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama:
• Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen (Apple TV+)
• Dalgliesh (series 3), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books by P.D. James (Channel 5)
• Lady in the Lake, based on the book by Laura Lippman (Apple TV+)
• Moonflower Murders, based on the book by Anthony Horowitz (BBC)
• Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)
• The Turkish Detective, based on the Inspector Ikmen books by Barbara Nadel (BBC)

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

Nods from the North

Crime Writers of Canada has released its shortlists of nominees for the 2025 CWA Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel:
• Wild Houses, by Colin Barrett (McClelland & Stewart)
• The Specimen, by Jaima Fixsen (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Prairie Edge, by Conor Kerr
(Strange Light)
• Mr. Good-Evening, by John MacLachlan Gray (Douglas & McIntyre)
• The Grey Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best Crime First Novel:
• The Burden of Truth, by Suzan Denoncourt (Suzan Denoncourt)
• The Roaring Game Murders, by Peter Holloway (Bonspiel)
• Altered Boy, by Jim McDonald (Amalit)
• We Were the Bullfighters, by Marianne K. Miller (Dundurn Press)
• Twenty-Seven Minutes, by Ashley Tate (Doubleday Canada)

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:
• Fatal Harvest, by Brenda Chapman (Ivy Bay Press)
• The War Machine, by Barry W. Levy (Double Dagger)
• As We Forgive Others, by Shane Peacock (Cormorant)
• Who by Fire, by Greg Rhyno (Cormorant)
• The Call, by Kerry Wilkinson (Bookouture)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery:
• The Corpse with the Pearly Smile, by Cathy Ace (Four Tails)
• The Dead Shall Inherit, by Raye Anderson (Signature Editions)
• A Meditation on Murder, by Susan Juby (HarperCollins)
• Black Ice, by Thomas King (HarperCollins)
• Concert Hall Killer, by Jonathan Whitelaw (HarperNorth)

Best Crime Novella:
• “Chuck Berry Is Missing,” by Marcelle Dubé (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)
• “Mrs. Claus and the Candy Corn Caper,” by Liz Ireland (Kensington)
• “The Windmill Mystery,” by Pamela Jones (Austin Macauley)
• “A Rock,” by A.J. McCarthy
(Black Rose Writing)
• “Aim,” by Twist Phelan (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2024)

Best Crime Short Story:
• “Farmer Knudson,” by Catherine Astolfo (from Auntie Beers: A Book of Connected Short Stories, by Catherine Astolfo; Carrick)
• “Hatcheck Bingo,” by Therese Greenwood (from The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem; Carrick)
• “Houdini Act,” by Billie Livingston (Saturday Evening Post,
July 26, 2024)
• “The Electrician,” Linda Sanche (from Crime Wave3: Dangerous Games; Canada West)
• “The Longest Night of the Year,” Melissa Yi (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November/December 2024)

Best French Language Crime Book:
• La femme papillon, by J.L. Blanchard (Fides)
• Le crime du garçon exquis, by R. Lavallée (Fides)
• L’Affaire des montants, by Jean Lemieux (Québec Amérique)
• Une mémoire de lion, by Guillaume Morrissette (Saint-Jean)
• Fracture, by Johanne Seymour (Libre Expression)

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book:
• Shock Wave, by Sigmund Brouwer (Orca)
• The Time Keeper, by Meagan Mahoney (DCB Young Readers)
• Snowed, by Twist Phelan (Bronzeville)
• The Dark Won’t Wait, by David A. Poulsen (Red Deer Press)
• The Red Rock Killer, by Melissa Yi (Windtree Press)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book:
• Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey Through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse, by Denise Chong (Random House Canada)
• Atrocity on the Atlantic: Attack on a Hospital Ship During the Great War, by Nate Hendley (Dundurn Press)
• The Rest of the [True Crime] Story, by John L. Hill (AOS)
• A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue, by Dean Jobb (HarperCollins)
• The Knowing, by Tanya Talaga (HarperCollins)

Best Unpublished Crime Novel (manuscript written by an unpublished author):
• The Man in the Black Hat, by Robert Bowerman
• Govern Yourself Accordingly, by Luke Devlin
• Dark Waters, by Delee Fromm
• A Trail’s Tears, by Lorrie Potvin
• Predators in the Shadows, by William Watt

Winners will be announced on Friday, May 30.

In addition, Canadian novelist, activist, and criminal lawyer William H. Deverell has been selected to receive the 2025 Derrick Murdoch Award, honoring “individuals who have made significant contributions to developing crime writing in Canada.”

Bring on the Agatha Bouquets

The organizers of Maryland’s annual Malice Domestic Conference this weekend announced the winners of their annual Agatha Awards, celebrating traditional mysteries (of the Agatha Christie variety). There were six categories of recipients.

Best Contemporary Novel:
A Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian

Also nominated: A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry; A Very Woodsy Murder, by Ellen Byron; Fondue or Die, by Korina Moss; and The Dark Wives, by Ann Cleeves

Best Historical Novel:
To Slip the Bonds of Earth, by Amanda Flower

Also nominated: Hall of Mirrors, by John Copenhaver; The Last Hope, by Susan Elia MacNeal; The Paris Mistress, by Mally Becker; and The Wharton Plot, by Mariah Fredericks

Best First Novel:
You Know What You Did, by K.T. Nguyen

Also nominated: A Deadly Endeavor, by Jenny Adams; Ghosts of Waikīkī, by Jennifer K. Morita; Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, by Elizabeth Crowens; and Threads of Deception, by Elle Jauffret

Best Short Story:
“The Postman Always Flirts Twice,” by Barb Goffman (from Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy, edited by Gay Toltl Kinman and Andrew McAleer)

Also nominated: “Reynisfjara,” by Kristopher Zgorski (from Mystery Most International, edited by Rita Owen, Verena Rose, and Shawn Reilly Simmons); “Satan’s Spit,” by Gabriel Valjan (from Tales of Music, Murder and Mayhem: Bouchercon 2024, edited by Heather Graham); “Sins of the Father,” by Kerry Hammond (from Mystery Most International); and “A Matter of Trust,” by Barb Goffman (from Three Strikes—You’re Dead, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley)

Best Non-fiction: Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft, edited by Phyllis M. Betz

Also nominated: Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder, by Greg Lilly; Agatha Christie, Marple: Expert on Wickedness, by Mark Aldridge; Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers, by Chris Chan; and The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, by Evan Friss

Best Children’s/YA Mystery:
Sasquatch of Harriman Lake, by K.B. Jackson

Also nominated: First Week Free at the Roomy Toilet, by Josh Pachter; Sid Johnson and the Well-Intended Conspiracy, by Frances Schoonmaker; The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui, by K.B. Jackson; and The Sherlock Society, by James Ponti

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

(Note: It is my preference to include the names of publishers when listing books that are in contention for prizes. But the Malice Domestic folks failed to provide that information, and there are simply too many titles here for me to look up each one in a timely fashion.)