Saturday, November 07, 2026
Revue of Reviewers: 11-7-26
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.
Friday, November 06, 2026
Osman Earns Widespread Gratitude
More than a handful of blog and Facebook posts have been written over the last 24 hours in memory of Chantelle Aimée Osman, the senior editor at Simon & Schuster’s audio-first imprint, Simon Maverick, who has died at age 45. They make clear that she was a valuable influence on many authors and a treasured source of support for friends.
Novelist Kelli Stanley (The Reckoning) calls Osman “an extraordinary person, friend, editor, crime-fiction community leader, and all-around great human being. She lit up every room she was in and the hearts of all who knew her.” Glen Erik Hamilton (Island of Thieves) describes her as “vibrant, magnetic, smart as hell, and a superb conversationalist,” while Janet Rudolph, the editor of Mystery Readers Journal and blogger at Mystery Fanfare, recalls Osman as “a witty, warm, smart, funny, supportive woman. And quite the fashionista!” Tori Eldridge (Hawai’i Rage), with whom Osman worked for years, says, “Chantelle was one of those rare people who changed lives and positively impacted the literary community and everyone within her reach. Her absence leaves a hole that may take all of us to fill.”
For such a young woman, Osman boasted an impressive résumé. Before joining Simon Maverick, she had served as an acquiring editor at Amazon Publishing. Prior to that, she’d helped found Agora Books, an imprint of late, lamented independent press Polis Books, “focusing on crime fiction and horror with unique social and cultural voices—themes which still hold a special place in her heart,” according to a biographical note on her Web site. It adds: “She was named a Publishers Weekly Rising Star honoree in 2020, and was the former editor in chief of RT Book Reviews magazine, and is a (recovering) lawyer, and professor at the LIU Brooklyn Polk School of Communication MFA in Writing and Publishing.” Osman co-wrote graphic novels, penned non-fiction writing guides, “and served as the editor of multiple anthologies, including the acclaimed Jewish Noir, Volume 2 from PM Press.” She even found time to be a creative consultant for a reimagined Dick Tracy comic.
Any of us would be lucky to receive the outpouring of appreciation being given to Osman right now. One of the most poignant remembrances comes from librarian turned reviewer and blogger Lesa Hostine, who explains that Osman became “one of my best friends in Phoenix after my husband died in 2010.” She admits, however, that during that time, “I don’t know that I ever knew her. I never knew her age or what she did since she wasn’t practicing law. She spoke several languages, traveled the world, said she was teaching writing workshops. I said she was a spy. Once, I even met her at a museum wearing a trench coat, a fedora, and sunglasses. Our times together were filled with laughter, conversation, and joy.”
I can’t claim to have known Chantelle Aimée Osman well. My memory is that we met only twice. The first occasion was at the 2011 Bouchercon in St. Louis, when The Rap Sheet and her then-active crime-fiction blog, The Sirens of Suspense, were vying for the Anthony Award for Best Web Site/Blog. (We both lost.) My only other opportunity to spend time with her came during the 2016 Bouchercon in New Orleans, when we suddenly found ourselves in a corner together at some publisher’s elbow-to-elbow cocktail party. She impressed me as kind, thoughtful, and rather quiet, with a quick smile in a beautiful face and an unexpected modesty—somebody I could have enjoyed being around longer. But it was a busy convention, there were so many other people to see, and I never again connected with her. Reading all of today’s tributes to Chantelle, I realize that was my loss.
READ MORE: “To Chantelle,” by Rob Hart.
Novelist Kelli Stanley (The Reckoning) calls Osman “an extraordinary person, friend, editor, crime-fiction community leader, and all-around great human being. She lit up every room she was in and the hearts of all who knew her.” Glen Erik Hamilton (Island of Thieves) describes her as “vibrant, magnetic, smart as hell, and a superb conversationalist,” while Janet Rudolph, the editor of Mystery Readers Journal and blogger at Mystery Fanfare, recalls Osman as “a witty, warm, smart, funny, supportive woman. And quite the fashionista!” Tori Eldridge (Hawai’i Rage), with whom Osman worked for years, says, “Chantelle was one of those rare people who changed lives and positively impacted the literary community and everyone within her reach. Her absence leaves a hole that may take all of us to fill.”
For such a young woman, Osman boasted an impressive résumé. Before joining Simon Maverick, she had served as an acquiring editor at Amazon Publishing. Prior to that, she’d helped found Agora Books, an imprint of late, lamented independent press Polis Books, “focusing on crime fiction and horror with unique social and cultural voices—themes which still hold a special place in her heart,” according to a biographical note on her Web site. It adds: “She was named a Publishers Weekly Rising Star honoree in 2020, and was the former editor in chief of RT Book Reviews magazine, and is a (recovering) lawyer, and professor at the LIU Brooklyn Polk School of Communication MFA in Writing and Publishing.” Osman co-wrote graphic novels, penned non-fiction writing guides, “and served as the editor of multiple anthologies, including the acclaimed Jewish Noir, Volume 2 from PM Press.” She even found time to be a creative consultant for a reimagined Dick Tracy comic.
Any of us would be lucky to receive the outpouring of appreciation being given to Osman right now. One of the most poignant remembrances comes from librarian turned reviewer and blogger Lesa Hostine, who explains that Osman became “one of my best friends in Phoenix after my husband died in 2010.” She admits, however, that during that time, “I don’t know that I ever knew her. I never knew her age or what she did since she wasn’t practicing law. She spoke several languages, traveled the world, said she was teaching writing workshops. I said she was a spy. Once, I even met her at a museum wearing a trench coat, a fedora, and sunglasses. Our times together were filled with laughter, conversation, and joy.”
I can’t claim to have known Chantelle Aimée Osman well. My memory is that we met only twice. The first occasion was at the 2011 Bouchercon in St. Louis, when The Rap Sheet and her then-active crime-fiction blog, The Sirens of Suspense, were vying for the Anthony Award for Best Web Site/Blog. (We both lost.) My only other opportunity to spend time with her came during the 2016 Bouchercon in New Orleans, when we suddenly found ourselves in a corner together at some publisher’s elbow-to-elbow cocktail party. She impressed me as kind, thoughtful, and rather quiet, with a quick smile in a beautiful face and an unexpected modesty—somebody I could have enjoyed being around longer. But it was a busy convention, there were so many other people to see, and I never again connected with her. Reading all of today’s tributes to Chantelle, I realize that was my loss.
READ MORE: “To Chantelle,” by Rob Hart.
Tuesday, November 03, 2026
The Book You Have to Read:
“Undertow,” by Desmond Cory
(Editor’s note: This is the 191st installment in The Rap Sheet’s continuing series about great but forgotten books.)
By Steven Nester
Johnny Fedora sounds like a guy Mickey Spillane might’ve punched to life on his manual Underwood using both fists, rather than a suave Brit employed by Her Majesty’s Secret Service. As we join him in Desmond Cory’s Undertow (1962), it’s the 1950s and Fedora’s sunny holiday in Spain’s beautiful Costa del Sol region is rudely interrupted by international intrigue. Although World War II and the earlier Spanish Civil War have both been over for years, the passions and machinations%201968%20-%20cover%20art%20by%20Portada%20Noiquet.jpg)
they released continue to simmer beneath the surface of Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Spain. In the inviting waters of the western Mediterranean, there are still many mysteries to solve and scores to settle.
(Right) Undertow, New English Library edition, 1968; cover art by Portada Noiquet.
Moreno is a notorious KGB assassin who has just escaped from one of Franco’s prisons, after being locked up years ago for “knowing too much.” It’s obvious the flight of this well-documented psychopath was enabled by the authorities, who want to know what that “too much” is and where it might be found. Moreno’s love of killing (“he must discipline himself, ration out the deaths, for that was the only way to keep it pleasurable”) resembles that of Donovan “Red” Grant, an executioner with the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH, who was James Bond’s sociopathic adversary in From Russia with Love. Readers who pay attention will see a single striking similarity between Undertow and the Bond franchise that contains too much detail to be happenstance, but more on that later.
As readers follow Moreno’s trail of corpses to the Costa del Sol, so too do Acuna and Valera, operatives highly placed in the Spanish security apparatus. It’s obvious those two hardened survivors of war were involved in Moreno’s breakout, and that they are aware of Johnny Fedora being likewise in the vicinity. For our benefit, they also act as a Greek chorus of sorts throughout this tale, connecting the dots of Moreno’s getaway and discussing how his personality differs from that of Sean “Johnny” O’Neill Fedora, a half-Irish, half-Spanish patriot who kills because it’s just a job. Yet they remain silent on where Moreno is leading them and what he’s leading them to.
That the fleeing Moreno doesn’t go to ground but is instead picked up by a yacht cruising the Straits of Gibraltar gets readers a little closer to the mystery of what he knows and who else might be involved. Once aboard, the purpose for Moreno’s release and the identities of those who possessed the power to engineer it begin to emerge.
The yacht, we learn, is home base to a putative biological research expedition led by the elderly Professor Heinemann, a man too busy investigating the mysterious lives of jellyfish to catch on to his shipmates’ clandestine recovery operation. Interest of a less scientific nature is provided by Elsa, the professor’s comely but damaged German assistant. She also happens to be the underling of a ruthless Soviet spymaster named Feramontov, who’s running the covert operation (and will go on in this series’ next four installments to establish himself in the role of Fedora’s chief nemesis). As Feramontov’s people are all well-equipped with scuba gear, it’s clear that whatever the Communist spook hopes to find is underwater.
Meanwhile, Fedora is bored. Practically retired by this point in his career, he’s itching for action. Lounging around on the Spanish coastline just doesn’t suit his temperament—and his longtime espionage associate, Sebastian Trout, with whom he is traveling, knows it. When they get word that Moreno is on the loose nearby, Fedora’s mood changes. He becomes temperamental and testy. He complains that he’s gone soft. Fedora is ready to take up a fresh challenge. Trout, who’s equal parts commentator, conscience, and critic for Fedora, sees clearly what is happening. “It’s this chap Moreno,” he remarks to his old friend. “As soon as a fellow in your own line of business hops out of jail and opens up shop with two or three juicy knifings, damned if you don’t start absolutely champing at the bit.”
To add yet more engagement to these circumstances, Feramontov is well aware that Fedora is in residence nearby. He withholds the information from Moreno, however, out of concern that the hired killer’s desire to eliminate a rival would only distract him from the mission on which he’s being sent. With no hard intel pointing to
Fedora’s presence on the Andalusian coast as anything beyond coincidental, Feramontov sees no option other than to proceed with his nefarious plans.
(Left) Undertow, Frederick Muller hardcover edition, UK 1962.
The ensuing game of cat and mouse (and murder, of course) brings the fight straight to Fedora’s vacation villa, and later to Feramontov’s yacht—culminating in an underwater death match worthy of Ian Fleming’s Thunderball. This connection to the 007 franchise is a tenuous one, but it plants a seed of suspicion in the reader’s mind that something intentional is going on beneath the covers of Undertow—and they might be correct.
Those familiar with the Bond franchise won’t fail to notice a still more prominent commonality between Undertow and From Russia with Love. On page one of Fleming’s 1957 Bond thriller (his fifth entry in that series), SMERSH assassin Donovan Grant lounges by the ocean, his personal possessions close at hand. Those include “the typical membership badges of the rich man’s club—a money clip, made of a Mexican fifty-dollar piece and holding a substantial wad of banknotes, a well-used gold Dunhill lighter, an oval gold cigarette case with the wavy ridges and discreet turquoise button that means Faberge, and the sort of novella a rich man pulls out of the bookcase to take into the garden—The Little Nugget—an old P.G. Wodehouse.” This could just as easily have been a pocket-dump by the upper-class James Bond following a brilliant night’s tour through Monaco’s casinos. It’s the sort of ostentatious inventory that would have caught Desmond Cory’s notice ... and perhaps contributed to the alleged feud between him and his fellow spy-fictionist.
The cause of said feud may strike some as surprising.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy was quoted in Life magazine as saying From Russia with Love was one of his 10 favorite novels. That provided a much-needed kick-start to what had been the moribund sales of Fleming’s Bond novels in the United States. Suddenly, “shaken, not stirred” was on the tongues of wannabe debonair males everywhere; the Walther PPK became the handgun of Bondian “license to kill” chic; and 007 became immortal (with Sean Connery eventually being typecast in the part). Not unexpectedly, these developments came to the attention of Cory, who’d been writing his Fedora series since 1951 when Secret Ministry saw print—two years before the publication of Bond’s debut, in Casino Royale. It’s said Cory bristled at all the applause 007 and his creator were receiving.
Perhaps by way of response, in Undertow Cory serves up a counterpoint to Donovan’s “glittering pile.” Itemizing the contents of Sebastian Trout’s own pockets, he lists “his Ronson, his tooled leather cigarette case, his pigskin wallet and his copy of Guilty Detective Stories.” These humbler effects seem more fitting for the doorman at James Bond’s club than those of an international spy’s right-hand-man, which leaves readers to make a simple deduction: there’s no way the contrast between Trout’s belongings and Grant’s can be seen as anything but Desmond Cory mocking the pretensions of the Bond franchise. No pistols at dawn here, just a sly tweaking of Fleming’s nose.
And he doesn’t stop there. The 1965 Signet/New American Library softcover edition of Undertow that I read features, atop its cover, an encomium to Cory’s protagonist from distinguished New York Times critic Anthony Boucher: “Johnny Fedora, professional killer for British Intelligence, more than deserves to take over James Bond’s avid audience.” In addition, Cory leaves the cool-as-a-cucumber Trout to take another swipe at Agent 007 (and well-bred fictional spies, in general) when, in response to Fedora’s complaints about his luxurious coastal surroundings, he admonishes, “Oh, don’t be a creep. It’s the proper thing. I mean you don’t get to be any old secret agent these days, you got to have social cachet.”
And thanks to wealthy Fleming’s wartime intelligence cred, Bond had plenty of that.
(Right) Author Desmond Cory.
The same could not be said for Shaun Lloyd McCarthy (1928-2001), the real storyteller behind the Cory pseudonym. Born in Lansing, West Sussex, he served a stint as a commando during World War II, then relocated to Spain, where he made a career as a teacher, translator, and prolific author, writing articles, screenplays, and more than 45 novels, several of which were adapted for films or television. Undertow was the 12th of Cory/McCarthy’s 16 Johnny Fedora novels, and the first in his Feramontov Quintet, a sub-series that concluded with Sunburst (1971), the final Fedora outing.
It isn’t uncommon to find the Fedora yarns cited as a possible inspiration for Fleming’s subsequent Bond series, with one critic describing Cory’s man as “a much more violent, sexy, and lucky agent than James Bond.” At the least, Cory provided a link between the urbane, gentleman spy and what has come to be known as “Brit grit,” stories featuring a rougher class of operatives. a bit thuggish and coarse, such as Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer thrillers (The IPCRESS File, etc.). The espionage-fiction Web site Spybrary ranks Desmond Cory 79th in a rundown of “The 125 Best Spy Writers of All Time.”
As for documenting the purported competition between Cory and Fleming, well, that’s not so easy. No evidence can be found in any of the four most popular biographies of James Bond’s creator or the scant accounting that exists of Cory’s life. In fact, for an author who seems so deserving of props, Cory receives no mention at all in the Fleming bios; not even in their bibliographies. Bruce Merry’s Anatomy of the Spy Thriller (1977), an otherwise fairly astute guide to the genre, offers Cory the same fate of anonymity. Readers wishing to learn more about the British author and his long-running undercover agent can always turn to this competent Web site. But reading Cory’s slim, compelling thrillers remains the best way to investigate this master of the genre, through his own words and imagination.
By Steven Nester
Johnny Fedora sounds like a guy Mickey Spillane might’ve punched to life on his manual Underwood using both fists, rather than a suave Brit employed by Her Majesty’s Secret Service. As we join him in Desmond Cory’s Undertow (1962), it’s the 1950s and Fedora’s sunny holiday in Spain’s beautiful Costa del Sol region is rudely interrupted by international intrigue. Although World War II and the earlier Spanish Civil War have both been over for years, the passions and machinations
%201968%20-%20cover%20art%20by%20Portada%20Noiquet.jpg)
they released continue to simmer beneath the surface of Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Spain. In the inviting waters of the western Mediterranean, there are still many mysteries to solve and scores to settle.(Right) Undertow, New English Library edition, 1968; cover art by Portada Noiquet.
Moreno is a notorious KGB assassin who has just escaped from one of Franco’s prisons, after being locked up years ago for “knowing too much.” It’s obvious the flight of this well-documented psychopath was enabled by the authorities, who want to know what that “too much” is and where it might be found. Moreno’s love of killing (“he must discipline himself, ration out the deaths, for that was the only way to keep it pleasurable”) resembles that of Donovan “Red” Grant, an executioner with the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH, who was James Bond’s sociopathic adversary in From Russia with Love. Readers who pay attention will see a single striking similarity between Undertow and the Bond franchise that contains too much detail to be happenstance, but more on that later.
As readers follow Moreno’s trail of corpses to the Costa del Sol, so too do Acuna and Valera, operatives highly placed in the Spanish security apparatus. It’s obvious those two hardened survivors of war were involved in Moreno’s breakout, and that they are aware of Johnny Fedora being likewise in the vicinity. For our benefit, they also act as a Greek chorus of sorts throughout this tale, connecting the dots of Moreno’s getaway and discussing how his personality differs from that of Sean “Johnny” O’Neill Fedora, a half-Irish, half-Spanish patriot who kills because it’s just a job. Yet they remain silent on where Moreno is leading them and what he’s leading them to.
That the fleeing Moreno doesn’t go to ground but is instead picked up by a yacht cruising the Straits of Gibraltar gets readers a little closer to the mystery of what he knows and who else might be involved. Once aboard, the purpose for Moreno’s release and the identities of those who possessed the power to engineer it begin to emerge.
The yacht, we learn, is home base to a putative biological research expedition led by the elderly Professor Heinemann, a man too busy investigating the mysterious lives of jellyfish to catch on to his shipmates’ clandestine recovery operation. Interest of a less scientific nature is provided by Elsa, the professor’s comely but damaged German assistant. She also happens to be the underling of a ruthless Soviet spymaster named Feramontov, who’s running the covert operation (and will go on in this series’ next four installments to establish himself in the role of Fedora’s chief nemesis). As Feramontov’s people are all well-equipped with scuba gear, it’s clear that whatever the Communist spook hopes to find is underwater.
Meanwhile, Fedora is bored. Practically retired by this point in his career, he’s itching for action. Lounging around on the Spanish coastline just doesn’t suit his temperament—and his longtime espionage associate, Sebastian Trout, with whom he is traveling, knows it. When they get word that Moreno is on the loose nearby, Fedora’s mood changes. He becomes temperamental and testy. He complains that he’s gone soft. Fedora is ready to take up a fresh challenge. Trout, who’s equal parts commentator, conscience, and critic for Fedora, sees clearly what is happening. “It’s this chap Moreno,” he remarks to his old friend. “As soon as a fellow in your own line of business hops out of jail and opens up shop with two or three juicy knifings, damned if you don’t start absolutely champing at the bit.”
To add yet more engagement to these circumstances, Feramontov is well aware that Fedora is in residence nearby. He withholds the information from Moreno, however, out of concern that the hired killer’s desire to eliminate a rival would only distract him from the mission on which he’s being sent. With no hard intel pointing to
Fedora’s presence on the Andalusian coast as anything beyond coincidental, Feramontov sees no option other than to proceed with his nefarious plans.(Left) Undertow, Frederick Muller hardcover edition, UK 1962.
The ensuing game of cat and mouse (and murder, of course) brings the fight straight to Fedora’s vacation villa, and later to Feramontov’s yacht—culminating in an underwater death match worthy of Ian Fleming’s Thunderball. This connection to the 007 franchise is a tenuous one, but it plants a seed of suspicion in the reader’s mind that something intentional is going on beneath the covers of Undertow—and they might be correct.
Those familiar with the Bond franchise won’t fail to notice a still more prominent commonality between Undertow and From Russia with Love. On page one of Fleming’s 1957 Bond thriller (his fifth entry in that series), SMERSH assassin Donovan Grant lounges by the ocean, his personal possessions close at hand. Those include “the typical membership badges of the rich man’s club—a money clip, made of a Mexican fifty-dollar piece and holding a substantial wad of banknotes, a well-used gold Dunhill lighter, an oval gold cigarette case with the wavy ridges and discreet turquoise button that means Faberge, and the sort of novella a rich man pulls out of the bookcase to take into the garden—The Little Nugget—an old P.G. Wodehouse.” This could just as easily have been a pocket-dump by the upper-class James Bond following a brilliant night’s tour through Monaco’s casinos. It’s the sort of ostentatious inventory that would have caught Desmond Cory’s notice ... and perhaps contributed to the alleged feud between him and his fellow spy-fictionist.
The cause of said feud may strike some as surprising.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy was quoted in Life magazine as saying From Russia with Love was one of his 10 favorite novels. That provided a much-needed kick-start to what had been the moribund sales of Fleming’s Bond novels in the United States. Suddenly, “shaken, not stirred” was on the tongues of wannabe debonair males everywhere; the Walther PPK became the handgun of Bondian “license to kill” chic; and 007 became immortal (with Sean Connery eventually being typecast in the part). Not unexpectedly, these developments came to the attention of Cory, who’d been writing his Fedora series since 1951 when Secret Ministry saw print—two years before the publication of Bond’s debut, in Casino Royale. It’s said Cory bristled at all the applause 007 and his creator were receiving.
Perhaps by way of response, in Undertow Cory serves up a counterpoint to Donovan’s “glittering pile.” Itemizing the contents of Sebastian Trout’s own pockets, he lists “his Ronson, his tooled leather cigarette case, his pigskin wallet and his copy of Guilty Detective Stories.” These humbler effects seem more fitting for the doorman at James Bond’s club than those of an international spy’s right-hand-man, which leaves readers to make a simple deduction: there’s no way the contrast between Trout’s belongings and Grant’s can be seen as anything but Desmond Cory mocking the pretensions of the Bond franchise. No pistols at dawn here, just a sly tweaking of Fleming’s nose.
And he doesn’t stop there. The 1965 Signet/New American Library softcover edition of Undertow that I read features, atop its cover, an encomium to Cory’s protagonist from distinguished New York Times critic Anthony Boucher: “Johnny Fedora, professional killer for British Intelligence, more than deserves to take over James Bond’s avid audience.” In addition, Cory leaves the cool-as-a-cucumber Trout to take another swipe at Agent 007 (and well-bred fictional spies, in general) when, in response to Fedora’s complaints about his luxurious coastal surroundings, he admonishes, “Oh, don’t be a creep. It’s the proper thing. I mean you don’t get to be any old secret agent these days, you got to have social cachet.”
And thanks to wealthy Fleming’s wartime intelligence cred, Bond had plenty of that.(Right) Author Desmond Cory.
The same could not be said for Shaun Lloyd McCarthy (1928-2001), the real storyteller behind the Cory pseudonym. Born in Lansing, West Sussex, he served a stint as a commando during World War II, then relocated to Spain, where he made a career as a teacher, translator, and prolific author, writing articles, screenplays, and more than 45 novels, several of which were adapted for films or television. Undertow was the 12th of Cory/McCarthy’s 16 Johnny Fedora novels, and the first in his Feramontov Quintet, a sub-series that concluded with Sunburst (1971), the final Fedora outing.
It isn’t uncommon to find the Fedora yarns cited as a possible inspiration for Fleming’s subsequent Bond series, with one critic describing Cory’s man as “a much more violent, sexy, and lucky agent than James Bond.” At the least, Cory provided a link between the urbane, gentleman spy and what has come to be known as “Brit grit,” stories featuring a rougher class of operatives. a bit thuggish and coarse, such as Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer thrillers (The IPCRESS File, etc.). The espionage-fiction Web site Spybrary ranks Desmond Cory 79th in a rundown of “The 125 Best Spy Writers of All Time.”
As for documenting the purported competition between Cory and Fleming, well, that’s not so easy. No evidence can be found in any of the four most popular biographies of James Bond’s creator or the scant accounting that exists of Cory’s life. In fact, for an author who seems so deserving of props, Cory receives no mention at all in the Fleming bios; not even in their bibliographies. Bruce Merry’s Anatomy of the Spy Thriller (1977), an otherwise fairly astute guide to the genre, offers Cory the same fate of anonymity. Readers wishing to learn more about the British author and his long-running undercover agent can always turn to this competent Web site. But reading Cory’s slim, compelling thrillers remains the best way to investigate this master of the genre, through his own words and imagination.
Friday, October 30, 2026
“I Was Just Enthusiastic. They Should Have Had a Thing Like ‘Most Enthusiastic Actress,’ and I Would Have Won That Thing Every Year”
Although there will certainly be many readers of this blog who knew Susan Saint James best for her co-starring role (with Jane Curtin) in the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie, my memories of the California-born actress—who died from pancreatic cancer earlier this week at age 80—center primarily on two older crime dramas: The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and McMillan & Wife (1971-1976).
Entertainment Tonight aired the video remembrance embedded above, which recaps Saint James’ performance career, her volunteer work with Special Olympics, and her tragic loss of a son.
READ MORE: “But Really, Sally McMillan Is Ageless” and “Long Overdue,” by J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet).
Thursday, October 29, 2026
A Canadian Slant on Things
We previously drew notice to Barnes & Noble’s choices of “the best mystery and thriller books” of 2026, so let us now highlight that same category of picks from Canadian retail chain Indigo Books & Music. There are 10 English-language titles on its list (some of which are really more “horror” than “mystery”), plus an equal number of works in French (half of those also being available also in English).
• Hide and Seek, by Søren Sveistrup (HarperCollins)
• The Children, by Melissa Albert (HarperCollins)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins)
• Japanese Gothic, by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square Press)
• The Witch, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• This Story Might Save Your Life, by Tiffany Crum (Flatiron)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer
(Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer
Hillier (Minotaur)
• Not a Word, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)
• Ne jamais trembler (Never Flinch), by Stephen King (Albin Michel Littérature)
• L’escalier dans les bois (The Staircase in the Woods), by Chuck Wendig (Sonatine)
• Près de moi pour toujours (Gone Before Goodbye), by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon (Belfond)
• La Route du diable, by Franck Thilliez (Fleuve Editions)
• Les Ravisseuses, by Charles Dionne (Le Quartanier)
• Une unique lueur, by Fred Vargas (Flammarion Québec)
• Chère Debbie (Dear Debbie), by Freida McFadden (City Éditions)
• Les derniers mandarins (The Last Mandarin), by Louise Penny and Mellisa Fung (Flammarion Québec)
• Touche pas à mon cadavre, by André Marois (Éditions Héliotrope)
• De bon droit, by Chrystine Brouillet (Éditions Druide)
• Hide and Seek, by Søren Sveistrup (HarperCollins)
• The Children, by Melissa Albert (HarperCollins)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins)
• Japanese Gothic, by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square Press)
• The Witch, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• This Story Might Save Your Life, by Tiffany Crum (Flatiron)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)• The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer
(Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer
Hillier (Minotaur)
• Not a Word, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)
• Ne jamais trembler (Never Flinch), by Stephen King (Albin Michel Littérature)
• L’escalier dans les bois (The Staircase in the Woods), by Chuck Wendig (Sonatine)
• Près de moi pour toujours (Gone Before Goodbye), by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon (Belfond)
• La Route du diable, by Franck Thilliez (Fleuve Editions)
• Les Ravisseuses, by Charles Dionne (Le Quartanier)
• Une unique lueur, by Fred Vargas (Flammarion Québec)
• Chère Debbie (Dear Debbie), by Freida McFadden (City Éditions)
• Les derniers mandarins (The Last Mandarin), by Louise Penny and Mellisa Fung (Flammarion Québec)
• Touche pas à mon cadavre, by André Marois (Éditions Héliotrope)
• De bon droit, by Chrystine Brouillet (Éditions Druide)
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
PW’s Premier Picks
Publishers Weekly now weighs in with its own dozen nominations for the best mystery and thriller novels of 2026:
• The Amateur, by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)
• Backwater, by James Sallis (Soho Crime)
• Die Famous, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• The Fervent Whites, by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (One World)
• Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane)
• Furious Violet, by Sarai Walker (Harper)
• The Midnight Taxi, by Yosha Gunasekera (Berkley)
• My Name Was Gerry Sass, by Tiffany Hanssen (Atlantic Crime)
• Paper Cut, by Rachel Taff (Morrow)
• A Past Without Pictures, by Jonathan Ames (Mysterious Press)
• A Violent Masterpiece, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• The Window Man, by Christopher Goffard (Crooked Lane)
These are interesting selections, though they barely overlap with the works appearing among my preliminary choices of this year’s “bests.” I won’t be surprised to see Backwater (Sallis’ final novel?), A Past Without Pictures, and A Violent Masterpiece featured on more lists of this kind over the next few weeks.
• The Amateur, by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)
• Backwater, by James Sallis (Soho Crime)
• Die Famous, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• The Fervent Whites, by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (One World)
• Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane)
• Furious Violet, by Sarai Walker (Harper)
• The Midnight Taxi, by Yosha Gunasekera (Berkley)
• My Name Was Gerry Sass, by Tiffany Hanssen (Atlantic Crime)
• Paper Cut, by Rachel Taff (Morrow)
• A Past Without Pictures, by Jonathan Ames (Mysterious Press)
• A Violent Masterpiece, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• The Window Man, by Christopher Goffard (Crooked Lane)
These are interesting selections, though they barely overlap with the works appearing among my preliminary choices of this year’s “bests.” I won’t be surprised to see Backwater (Sallis’ final novel?), A Past Without Pictures, and A Violent Masterpiece featured on more lists of this kind over the next few weeks.
Sunday, October 25, 2026
The Anthonys Are Out
Six out of the seven Anthony Awards presented last evening at Bouchercon 2026 in Calgary, Alberta, went to women authors, including Louise Penny, Laurie L. Dove, and Mia P. Manansala. The lone male winner was Curtis Ippolito, who edited this year’s prize for Best Anthology/Collection. Below is the full roster of recipients.
Best Hardcover Novel:
The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Also nominated: All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Death of an Ex, by Delia Pitts (Minotaur); and King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Pine and Cedar)
Best First Novel:
Mask of the Deer Woman, by Laurie L. Dove (Berkley)
Also nominated: History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime); Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria); The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (Morrow); Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best); and Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)
Best Paperback Original/E-Book/Audiobook Original Novel:
Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); River of Lies, by James L'Etoile (Oceanview); This Violent Heart, by Heather Levy (Montlake); and Tricks of Fortune, by Lina Chern (Bantam)
Best Short Story:
“AITA for Using My Husband’s Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson,” by Mindy Carlson (from Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means? edited by Jeff Circle; Kindle/Audible)
Also nominated: “Brotherly Love,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter; Level Short); “Finding Jimmy Baldwin,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater); “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic); “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press); and “The Skies Are Red,” by Richie Narvaez (from On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito; Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel:
Death in the Cards, by Mia P. Manansala (Delacorte Press)
Also nominated: Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Risky Pursuit, by Nancy G. West, (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books); The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree); and Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History, by Chris Chan (Level Best)
Best Critical or Non-fiction Work:
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay, Level Tru)
Also nominated: Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilbert King (Flatiron); L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood, by Anne Soon Choi (Third State); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press); and The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, by Pagan Kennedy (Vintage)
Best Anthology or Collection:
On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Also nominated: Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed: Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Don Bruns (Down & Out); Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater); Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Short); and Whatever Kills the Pain, by C.W. Blackwell (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Congratulations to all of the 2026 Anthony Award nominees!
Best Hardcover Novel:
The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Also nominated: All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Death of an Ex, by Delia Pitts (Minotaur); and King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Pine and Cedar)
Best First Novel:
Mask of the Deer Woman, by Laurie L. Dove (Berkley)
Also nominated: History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime); Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria); The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (Morrow); Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best); and Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)
Best Paperback Original/E-Book/Audiobook Original Novel:
Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); River of Lies, by James L'Etoile (Oceanview); This Violent Heart, by Heather Levy (Montlake); and Tricks of Fortune, by Lina Chern (Bantam)
Best Short Story:
“AITA for Using My Husband’s Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson,” by Mindy Carlson (from Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means? edited by Jeff Circle; Kindle/Audible)
Also nominated: “Brotherly Love,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter; Level Short); “Finding Jimmy Baldwin,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater); “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic); “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press); and “The Skies Are Red,” by Richie Narvaez (from On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito; Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel:
Death in the Cards, by Mia P. Manansala (Delacorte Press)
Also nominated: Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Risky Pursuit, by Nancy G. West, (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books); The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree); and Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History, by Chris Chan (Level Best)
Best Critical or Non-fiction Work:
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay, Level Tru)
Also nominated: Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilbert King (Flatiron); L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood, by Anne Soon Choi (Third State); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press); and The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, by Pagan Kennedy (Vintage)
Best Anthology or Collection:
On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Also nominated: Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed: Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Don Bruns (Down & Out); Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater); Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Short); and Whatever Kills the Pain, by C.W. Blackwell (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
Congratulations to all of the 2026 Anthony Award nominees!
Friday, October 23, 2026
Bouchercon Bounty
During last night’s opening ceremonies at Bouchercon 2026 in Calgary, Alberta, Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine revealed the winners of its latest Barry Awards for excellence in mystery and thriller fiction.
Best Mystery: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
Also nominated: The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Scribner); and Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Grand Central)
Best First Mystery: The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)
Also nominated: Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria); All the Other Mothers Hate Me,
by Sarah Harman (Putnam); Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam); Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Atlantic Monthly); and Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
Best Paperback Original Mystery: The Dentist, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); Splintered Justice, by Kim Hays (Seventh Street); Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow); If Two Are Dead, by Rick Mofina (Mira); and Wolf Six, by Alex Shaw (Boldwood)
Best Thriller: Midnight Black, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
Also nominated: Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria); The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper); Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime); Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur); and The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
The Barry Awards, established in 1997, are named in honor of Barry Gardner, a longtime DP “fan reviewer.”
Best P.I. Hardcover: The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
Also nominated: Photograph, by Brian Freeman (Blackstone); Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown); Gray Dawn, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown); and Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur)
Best First P.I. Novel: Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski (Datura)
Also nominated: Chase Harlem, by Elise Burke Brown (Rising Action); Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, by Josh Mendoza (Inkshares); and The Witch’s Orchard, by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur)
Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel: Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
Also nominated: The Hook and the Eye, by Raymond Benson (Ian Fleming); Sunday or the Highway, by Cindy Fazzi (Thomas & Mercer); City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best); and Catch Me on a Blue Day, by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey)
Best P.I. Short Story: “The Roosevelt Affair,” by Adam Meyer (from Crimeucopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency; Murderous Ink Press)
Also nominated: “The One Cry,” by F.H. Batacan (from Accidents Happen, by F.H. Batacan; Soho Crime); “Dr. Bones,” by Libby Cudmore (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May/June); “Hours on the Phone,” by Gregory Fallis (EQMM, July/August); and “The Shadows,” by Charles John Harper (EQMM, May/June)
(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)
• The Truth About Ruby Cooper, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
• Everything She Didn’t Say, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• One of Us Is Guilty, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
• Such a Nice Girl, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• In Glass Houses, by Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Keeper, by Tana French (Viking)
• Never to Be Found, by Jo Spain (Zaffre)
• If These Walls Could Talk, by Michelle McDonagh (Hachette
Books Ireland)
All of the 2026 Irish Book Award recipients are to be declared during a ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday, December 1.
(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)
Best Mystery: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
Also nominated: The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Scribner); and Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Grand Central)
Best First Mystery: The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)
Also nominated: Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria); All the Other Mothers Hate Me,
by Sarah Harman (Putnam); Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam); Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Atlantic Monthly); and Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)Best Paperback Original Mystery: The Dentist, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); Splintered Justice, by Kim Hays (Seventh Street); Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow); If Two Are Dead, by Rick Mofina (Mira); and Wolf Six, by Alex Shaw (Boldwood)
Best Thriller: Midnight Black, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
Also nominated: Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria); The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper); Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime); Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur); and The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
The Barry Awards, established in 1997, are named in honor of Barry Gardner, a longtime DP “fan reviewer.”
* * *
Those same ceremonies brought news of which works have won the 2026 Shamus Awards, presented by the Private Eye Writers of America.Best P.I. Hardcover: The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
Also nominated: Photograph, by Brian Freeman (Blackstone); Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown); Gray Dawn, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown); and Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur)
Best First P.I. Novel: Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski (Datura)
Also nominated: Chase Harlem, by Elise Burke Brown (Rising Action); Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, by Josh Mendoza (Inkshares); and The Witch’s Orchard, by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur)Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel: Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
Also nominated: The Hook and the Eye, by Raymond Benson (Ian Fleming); Sunday or the Highway, by Cindy Fazzi (Thomas & Mercer); City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best); and Catch Me on a Blue Day, by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey)
Best P.I. Short Story: “The Roosevelt Affair,” by Adam Meyer (from Crimeucopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency; Murderous Ink Press)
Also nominated: “The One Cry,” by F.H. Batacan (from Accidents Happen, by F.H. Batacan; Soho Crime); “Dr. Bones,” by Libby Cudmore (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May/June); “Hours on the Phone,” by Gregory Fallis (EQMM, July/August); and “The Shadows,” by Charles John Harper (EQMM, May/June)
(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)
* * *
Meanwhile, the shortlists have been announced for this year’s Irish Book Awards. There are 19 categories of contenders, but below are the novels vying to be named as Crime Fiction Book of the Year.• The Truth About Ruby Cooper, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
• Everything She Didn’t Say, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• One of Us Is Guilty, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
• Such a Nice Girl, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• In Glass Houses, by Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Keeper, by Tana French (Viking)
• Never to Be Found, by Jo Spain (Zaffre)
• If These Walls Could Talk, by Michelle McDonagh (Hachette
Books Ireland)
All of the 2026 Irish Book Award recipients are to be declared during a ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday, December 1.
(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Arctic Stunner Earns the Petrona
Norwegian author Ørjan Karlsson’s Into Thin Air (Orenda) has won the 2026 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.
“Ørjan Karlsson puts a spotlight on the stunning beauty of the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Arctic Circle while discovering devastating secrets hidden beneath the calm surface,” reads the judges’ statement released alongside this news. “With empathy and deep understanding he introduces a fascinating investigative duo dealing with personal challenges, and explores relationships within the tight-knit community. Told from several perspectives, Into Thin Air has a contemporary feel and nuanced narration. This taut and tense thriller has a strong sense of location and utterly engaging characters, with nature as one of them. Perfect pacing and atmospheric storytelling add to the compelling story, which moves seamlessly between recent European political history and dramatic local events from the past, all of them having impact on everyone in the area.”
Both Karlsson and his translator, Ian Giles, will receive trophies.
In addition, today’s award announcement says judges “highly commend” another shortlisted nominee for this prize, Broken, “the dark and compulsive police procedural by Jón Atli Jónasson, which is translated by Quentin Bates and published by Corylus Books.”
Five other novels were also in contention for this year’s Petrona: One True Word, by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson, translated by Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland); Murder Tide, by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland); The Writing in the Water, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, translated by Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden); The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö, translated by Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland); and The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda, Finland).
The Petrona Award memorializes Maxine Clarke, the British editor, crime-fiction blogger, and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction” who passed away in December 2012 (Petrona was the name of her long-running blog). Previous recipients include Satu Rämö’s The Clues in the Fjord (2025), Jógvan Isaksen’s Dead Men Dancing (2024), Pascal Engman’s Femicide (2023), and Maria Adolfsson’s Fatal Isles (2022), and Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear (2021).
“Ørjan Karlsson puts a spotlight on the stunning beauty of the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Arctic Circle while discovering devastating secrets hidden beneath the calm surface,” reads the judges’ statement released alongside this news. “With empathy and deep understanding he introduces a fascinating investigative duo dealing with personal challenges, and explores relationships within the tight-knit community. Told from several perspectives, Into Thin Air has a contemporary feel and nuanced narration. This taut and tense thriller has a strong sense of location and utterly engaging characters, with nature as one of them. Perfect pacing and atmospheric storytelling add to the compelling story, which moves seamlessly between recent European political history and dramatic local events from the past, all of them having impact on everyone in the area.”
Both Karlsson and his translator, Ian Giles, will receive trophies.
In addition, today’s award announcement says judges “highly commend” another shortlisted nominee for this prize, Broken, “the dark and compulsive police procedural by Jón Atli Jónasson, which is translated by Quentin Bates and published by Corylus Books.”
Five other novels were also in contention for this year’s Petrona: One True Word, by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson, translated by Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland); Murder Tide, by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland); The Writing in the Water, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, translated by Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden); The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö, translated by Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland); and The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda, Finland).
The Petrona Award memorializes Maxine Clarke, the British editor, crime-fiction blogger, and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction” who passed away in December 2012 (Petrona was the name of her long-running blog). Previous recipients include Satu Rämö’s The Clues in the Fjord (2025), Jógvan Isaksen’s Dead Men Dancing (2024), Pascal Engman’s Femicide (2023), and Maria Adolfsson’s Fatal Isles (2022), and Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear (2021).
Tribute Plans for Peter May
The late author Peter May’s wife, Janice Hally, has announced on Facebook a series of events designed to honor her husband, who died on September 25 at age 74. She writes:
At 2pm on 27th October, the day of our 36th wedding anniversary, his ashes will be interred in the cemetery at Bétaille [in southwestern France].I’m very sorry I cannot attend the Bétaille memorial. But know that my best wishes are with Janice and all of those who come to celebrate Peter May this once final time.
Family and friends are welcome.
At 3pm, we will gather in the village hall at Bétaille, where family, friends and neighbours can come together to remember him.
There will be an exhibition celebrating his life and works, a book of condolences, and two of his closest colleagues will speak of him and propose a toast to him in French and English.
In the days that follow, the exhibition will transfer to Bétaille library, where members of the public can visit it.
In January 2027, when Peter’s new book, The Island of the Dead, comes out in the UK, Peter’s publisher, Riverrun, are planning to organise events in London, Glasgow and Stornoway.
These will provide an opportunity for friends, family and readers in the UK to get together to celebrate his life and works.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Revue of Reviewers: 10-17-26
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.
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