CrimeFest Awards

CrimeFest Awards just in!

Best Abridged Crime Audiobook: 
Lee Child / The Affair read by Kerry Shale [Random House Audiobooks]

Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:
S. J. Watson / Before I Go To Sleep read by Susannah Harker [Random House Audio with AudioGO]

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel:
Declan Burke / Absolute Zero Cool [Liberties Press]

The eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format
Denise Mina / The End of the Wasp Season [Orion]

Congratulations to all!

CWA Dagger Shortlist

The CWA Dagger Shortlists were announced at CrimeFest in Bristol on May 25. Winners will be announced July 5.

CWA International Dagger:
• The Potter’s Field, by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Mantle)
• I Will Have Vengeance, by Maurizio de Giovanni, translated by Anne Milano Appel (Hersilia Press)
• Until Thy Wrath Be Past, by Åsa Larsson, translated by Laurie Thompson (Quercus/MacLehose)
• Trackers, by Deon Meyer, translated by T.K.L Seegers (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Phantom, by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker)
• The Dark Valley, by Valerio Varesi, translated by Joseph Farrell (Quercus/MacLehose)

CWA Non-fiction Dagger:
• To Live Outside the Law, by Leaf Fielding (Serpent’s Tail)
• Dark Market, by Misha Glenny (Vintage)
• Hood Rat, by Gavin Knight (Pan Macmillan)
• The Negotiator, by Ben Lopez (Little, Brown)
• Witness, by David Smith with Carol Ann Lee (Mainstream)
• The Eleventh Day, by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (Transworld/Doubleday)

CWA Short Story Dagger:
• “The Golden Hour,” by Bernie Crossthwaite (from Guilty Consciences, edited by Martin Edwards; Severn House
• “Hixton,” by William Kent Krueger (from Crimes by Moonlight, edited by Charlaine Harris; Gollancz)
• “The Message,” by Margaret Murphy (from Murder Squad: Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories, edited by Martin Edwards; The Mystery Press)
• “He Did Not Always See Her,” by Claire Seeber (from Guilty Consciences)
• “A Long Time Dead,” by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (from The Best American Mystery Stories 2011, edited by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler; Corvus)
• “Laptop,” by Cath Staincliffe (from Murder Squad: Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories)

CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger:
• The Crown, by Nancy Bilyeau (Orion)
• I Will Have Vengeance, by Maurizio de Giovanni (Hersilia Press)
• Bitter Water, by Gordon Ferris (Corvus)
• Prague Fatale, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
• Icelight, by Aly Monroe (John Murray)
• Sacrilege, by S.J. Parris (HarperCollins)
• A Willing Victim, by Laura Wilson (Quercus)

CWA Dagger in the Library:
• Belinda Bauer
• S.J. Bolton
• Susan Hill
• Peter May
• Steve Mosby
• Imogen Robertson

CWA Debut Dagger:
• Death by Glasgow, by Jon Breakfield
• Easy to Die, by Sean Carpenter
• The Watchers, by Karen Catalona
• One Man Army, by Bram E. Gieben
• Beached, by Sandy Gingras
• Trick, by Sean Hancock
• Broken-Winged Bird, by Renata Hill
• Death Knell, by Rob Lowe
• Chasing Shadows, by Lesley McLaren
• The Wrong Domino, by Simon Miller
• Message from Panama, by Britt Vasarhelyi
• Port of Spain, by Elizabeth Wells

Golden Gate Bridge: Vertigo

Happy Birthday, Golden Gate Bridge! 75 years young!
Here's a clip of the Golden Gate Bridge rescue from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.

Shrouded in Mysteries: The Golden Gate Bridge

Guest blogger Randal S. Brandt is a librarian at The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, and the creator of two critically-acclaimed websites: Golden Gate Mysteries, an annotated bibliography of crime fiction set in the San Francisco Bay Area, and A David Dodge Companion, chronicling the life and works of mystery/thriller writer David Dodge (1910-1974).

RANDAL S. BRANDT:

In honor the 75th anniversary of the official opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley is pleased to present “Shrouded in Mysteries,” a guided tour of the bridge as depicted on the covers of mystery, detective, and crime novels.

Within just a few short years of its opening to traffic on May 28, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge began appearing on the covers of San Francisco mysteries. The earliest known depiction of the bridge on a mystery novel occurred in 1940, on the cover of John Mersereau’s Murder Loves Company. Since then, the span has been featured on dozens of books. With its grace and beauty, and as the Bay Area’s iconic landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge immediately connects the reader to the setting of the story. The bridge is also symbolic danger and death, two elements inherent in crime fiction. Just as the physical bridge is often shrouded in fog, the image of the bridge is now shrouded with the stories told in these fictional mysteries.

Enjoy the tour: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/shrouded-in-mysteries

Following are a few covers.. Be sure and go through the entire tour on the site above.. fabulous covers.

 

Be sure and check out more covers (and books) HERE.

Killer Heels

Pretty much any of these shoes would have a place in my closet. Sadly, because of the height of them, not the design, I probably won't be able to wear them.

The pair above were worn by Madonna in 2009.  They were part of the Lagerfeld Chanel 2009 resort collection. Needless to say Madonna was criticized for wearing them.

And in case, you need a pair in silver. Also part of the Lagerfeld resort collection 2009.

And a few more Gun Shoes:

And every woman needs a good pair of boots!

Medieval Help Desk

Thanks to Christine McCann for a link to this Medieval Help Desk video:

The Big Sleep Trailer 1944

1944 trailer for The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
You'll love the opener 'in the library."

Hat Tip: @FilmNoirLives

Book Club Doormat

Thanks to Judy Bobalik for a link to this must-have doormat!

Go here to order.

Barbecue Mysteries

Memorial Day Weekend is coming up, and I'll be posting a Memorial Day Crime Fiction list. In the meantime, I thought I'd update my Barbecue Mysteries list. Let me know any titles I've missed, and I'll add them.

So many ways one can murder someone at a barbecue, from the sauce to the skewers to the grill. Here's a short list of Barbecue Mysteries. Let me know if I've forgotten any!

Barbecue Mysteries

Delicious and Suspicious, Hickory Smoked Homicide, Finger Lickin' Dead by Riley Adams  (The Barbeque Mysteries)
Several of the recent Dan Rhodes books by Bill Crider
Murder at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival by Gene Davis
Finger Lickin' Fifteens by Janet Evanovich
The Big Barbecue by Dorothy B. Hughes
The King is Dead by Sarah Shankman
Stiffs and Swine by J.B. Stanley
Revenge of the Barbecue Queens by Lou Jane Temple
Barbecue by A. E.H. Veenman

Short Stories: "Gored" by Bill Crider in Murder Most Delicious
Young Readers: The Barbecue Thief by Starike

Want a little chocolate on the barbie this weekend? 
Check out recipes on my other blog: DyingforChocolate.com
S'mores on the Grill  
Banana Boats
Chocolate Barbecue Sauce
Spicy Chocolate Rub
Cocoa Spiced Salmon Rub 
Scharffen Berger Caco Nib Rub for Trip Tip