Criminal splatterings

Congratulations go to Stephen King who was awarded the mystery/thriller award on Friday 20 April 2012 by Gar Anthony Haywood at the 32^nd Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for his novel 11/22/1963 (Scribner)

The Crime Writers of Canada have announced the 2012 shortlist for the Arthur Ellis Award.  Winners will be announced on May 31, 2012, at the Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet.  This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Crime Writers of Canada.

Best Crime Novel

A Trick of the Light (St. Martin’s Press) by Louise Penny

Before the Poison (McClelland and Stewart) by Peter Robinson

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Doubleday Canada) by Alan Bradley

I'll See you in My Dreams (McClelland and Stewart) by William Deverell

The Guilty Plea (Simon & Schuster) by Robert Rotenberg

 

Best First Novel

The Man Who Killed (Douglas & McIntrye) by Fraser Nixon

The Survivor (Simon & Schuster) by Sean Slater

The Water Rat of Wanchai (Anansi) by Ian Hamilton

Tight Corner (BPS Books) by Roger White

Watching Jeopardy (XLibris) by Norm Foster

Best Crime Book in French

La chorale du diable (Les Editions Guélette) by Martin Michaud

Pwazon (Editors Triptyque) by Diane Vincent

Pour Ne Pas Mourir ce soir (Lévesque Éditeur) by Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers

Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book

Blink & Caution (Candlewick Press) by Tim Wynne-Jones

Charlie's Key (Orca Book Publishers) by Rob Mills

Empire of Ruins (HarperCollins) by Arthur Slade

Held (Annick) by Edeet Ravel

Missing (Orca Book Publishers) by Becky Citra

Best Crime Nonfiction

A Season in Hell (Harper Collins) by Robert Fowler

Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art (Douglas & McIntyre) by Joshua Knelman

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Pottersfield) by Steven Laffoley

The Pirates of Somalia (Harper Collins) by Jay Bahader

The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob (Wiley) by Adrian Humphreys

Best Crime Short Story

A New Pair of Pants (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine) by Jas. R. Petrin

Beer Money (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine) by Shane Nelson

The Girl with the Golden Hair (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine) by Scott Mackay

The Perfect Mark (Flash Fiction Magazine) by Melodie Campbell

What Kelly Did (North Word Magazine) by Catherine Astolfo

Best Unpublished First Novel - “Unhanged Arthur”

 Gunning for Bear by Madeleine Harris-Callway

Last of the Independents by Sam Wiebe

Snake in the Snow by William Bonnell

The Rhymester by Valerie A. Drego

Too Far to Fall by Shane Sawyer

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Laura Wilson in the Guardian reviews crime fiction novels from CWA Gold Dagger winner William Broderick, debut author Mari Hannah, Julia Crouch’s follow up novel Every Vow You Break from her follow-up well received debut novel Cuckoo and a classic vintage reissue.

Want to know who is Mark Billingham’s favourite author or what fictional character he resembles the most?  If so and you want to find the answer to those burning questions and more then have a read of One minute with Mark Billingham in the Independent to find out

Interesting and brilliant review of Håkan Nesser’s latest book Hour of the Wolf by Barry Forshaw in the Independent.

Books to look forward to from John Murray

So 2010 has come and gone and there are loads of good books to look forward to in 2011 firstly from John Murray –

Louis Bayard who’s novel The Pale Blue Eye was short listed for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award returns in March with The School of Night. Henry Cavendish is offered a handsome sum to track down a valuable letter from Sir Walter Ralegh. Four centuries earlier in Elizabethan England Thomas Harriot has shut himself off from the world, devoting himself secretly to his experiments. As both searches deepen, the men realise that are forces at work against them and that they will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Aly Monroe whose first novel in the Peter Cotton series The Maze of Cadiz received a lot of good reviews and whose second book Washington Shadow was also short listed for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award returns with the third book in the series Blacklight. Cotton finds himself investigating the death of Harold Watkins a homosexual and expert in plutonium enrichment. Watkins had been arrested and charged with gross indecency two weeks earlier. Cotton finds himself amidst political hostilities and dark secrets. Blacklight is due out in April 2011.

PI Felix Strange returns in The Children’s Crusade the last book in the trilogy by Elliott Hall. It sees Strange trying to find Iris (the woman that he loves) who has been abducted by Fisher Partners America’s –self-appointed police. Strange has decided that if he can’t find her then he will kill all those that are involved in her disappearance, but that is until he receives an interesting offer. The Children’s Crusade is due out in April 2011.

The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg is due to be published in June 2011. Millionaire Quentin Wyler is found dead the morning his divorce trial was due to start. His wife is arrested and charged with his murder two days later and immediately after his funeral. But what should have been a straightforward murder case turns into something else at the trial.

Edgar® Award winning author and winner of the 2009 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award John Hart’s new novel The Iron Horse is due to be published in May 2011. Two brothers on different sides of the fence find themselves dealing with their past.

Prince is the third book in the John Shakespeare series by Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award winning author Rory Clements. Set once again in Elizabethan England John Shakespeare finds himself at the sharp end as he investigates the wave of bomb attacks that have taken place. Prince is due to be published in April 2011.