Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense Blog

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 18:59

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA

Written by Oline Cogdill
On May 30, the Crime Writers of Canada will award its 2013 Arthur Ellis Awards for excellence in Canadian crime writing.

This year marks the 29th anniversary of the prestigious awards, named after the nom de travail of Canada's official hangman, at left.

The awards are presented for seven crime-writing categories: novel, first novel, nonfiction/true crime, juvenile, short story, and book in the French language. For the first time since 2000, there is a new published-book category: the novella.

In addition, the CWC has an award for yet-to-be-published crime writers – the Unhanged Arthur for the best unpublished first crime novel.

Crime Writers of Canada was established as a professional organization in June 1982 by Derrick Murdoch, the Globe and Mail’s crime fiction reviewer, and other writers interested in the quality of Canadian mystery and crime writing. The Arthur Ellis Awards were launched the next year.

The Crime Writers of Canada has two goals: author promotion and professional development, which they do through discussions, workshops and other events.

For more information on the Crime Writers of Canada and the Arthur Ellis Awards, which will be awarded at the Arts & Letters Club in downtown Toronto, visit the website.

Meanwhile, here are the nominees for the awards.

American audiences will recognize many names, especially Linwood Barclay, Sean Chercover, Carsten Stroud, and Giles Blunt.

2013 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlists (with authors’ hometowns)

Best First Novel
Peggy Blair, The Beggar’s Opera (Penguin Canada) – Ottawa, ON

Deryn Collier, Confined Space (Simon & Schuster) – Vancouver, BC

Peter Kirby, The Dead of Winter (Linda Leith Publishing) – Montreal, QC

Chris Laing, A Private Man (Seraphim) – Hamilton, ON

Simone St. James, The Haunting of Maddy Clare (NAL) – Toronto, ON

Best Novel
Linwood Barclay, Trust Your Eyes (Doubleday Canada) – Oakville, ON

Giles Blunt, Until the Night (Random House Canada) – Toronto, ON

Sean Chercover, The Trinity Game (Thomas & Mercer) – Toronto, ON

Stephen Miller, The Messenger (Delacorte Press) – Vancouver, BC

Carsten Stroud, Niceville (Knopf) – west coast US

Best Novella
Lou Allin, Contingency Plan (Orca) – Sooke, BC

Vicki Delany, A Winter Kill (Orca) – Picton, ON

Barbara Fradkin, Evil behind that Door (Orca) – Ottawa, ON

Christopher Moore, “Reunion” in Phnom Penh Noir (Heaven Lake Press) – Bangkok, Thailand

Best Short Story
Melodie Campbell, “Life without George” in Over My Dead Body Mystery Magazine (August 2012) – Oakville, ON

Sandy Conrad, “Sins of the Fathers” in Daughters and Other Strangers (The Brucedale Press) – Paisley, ON

Scott MacKay, “Cruel Coast” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (July 2012) – Toronto, ON

Jas R. Petrin, “Mad Dog” in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (October 2012) – United States

Yasuko Thanh, “Spring-blade Knife” in Floating Like the Dead (McClelland & Stewart) – Victoria, BC

Best Nonfiction
Anita Arvast, Bloody Justice: The Truth behind the Bandidos Massacre at Shedden (John Wiley & Sons) – Toronto, ON

Guy Lawson, Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street’s Wildest Con (Crown Books/Random House) – upstate NY

Steve Lillebuen, The Devil’s Cinema: The Untold Story behind Mark Twitchell’s Kill Room (McClelland & Stewart) – Edmonton, AB

Bruce Livesey, Thieves of Bay Street: How Banks, Brokerages and the Wealthy Steal Billions from Canadians (Random House Canada) – Toronto, ON

Best Juvenile/YA
Lisa Harrington, Live to Tell (Cormorant Books) – Halifax, NS

Y.S. Lee, The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel (Candlewick Press) – Kingston, ON

Sylvia McNicoll, Crush Candy Corpse (James Lorimer & Company) – Burlington, ON

Shane Peacock, Becoming Holmes (Tundra Books) – Cobourg, ON

Elizabeth Stewart, The Lynching of Louie Sam (Annick Press) – Vancouver, BC

Best Crime Writing in French
Mario Bolduc, La Nuit des albinos: Sur les traces de Max O’Brien (Libre Expression) – Montreal, QC

André Jacques, De pierres et de sang (Druide) – Sherbrooke, QC

Jean Lemieux, L’homme du jeudi (La courte échelle) – Iles de la Madeleine, QC

Martin Michaud, Je me souviens (Goélette) – Quebec, QC

Richard Ste Marie, L’inaveu (Alire) – Montreal, QC

Best Unpublished First Crime Novel: the Unhanged Arthur
William Hall, Cold Black Tide – Toronto, ON

Ilonka Halsband, The Raffle Baby – Moosejaw, SK

Coleen Steele, Sins Revisited – Bowmanville, ON

Sunday, 19 May 2013 04:29

OWEN LAUKKANEN’S LATEST ENTERPRISE

Written by Oline Cogdill
Owen Laukkanen’s debut, The Professionals, was my favorite of 2012. This tale of four newly graduated college friends who turn to kidnapping because they can’t find jobs was a vivid illustration of contemporary economics while exploring how a sense of entitlement and selfishness can shade people’s logic.

Laukkanen’s second novel, Criminal Enterprise, again taps into the economic downturn as a wealthy accountant turns to robbing banks when he is laid off. He finds that bank robbing brings him more job satisfaction than his regular job ever did.

Here’s my review that ran in the Sun Sentinel.

Laukkanen recently stopped at Murder on the Beach in Delray Beach, Florida, and here’s some bits and pieces from his appearance.

Like many authors, Laukkanen starts with the ever provocative “what if” to build his plots. For The Professionals, it was what if a gang of professional kidnappers were working in America, how would they pull it off?

For Criminal Enterprise, it was simply what if your next-door neighbor was a bank robber? What if a doctor lives in that house and a lawyer is in the one next to it and next to it is a guy who robs banks and goes off to work every day just like everyone else on the block.


Laukkanen prefers to devise villains who are not driven by malevolence or greed but by desperation and need. His villains are people readers can relate to, a kind of everyman. He finds the criminals who are most appealing are those who turn to crime by increments. Jaywalking today, stealing candy tomorrow, next week kidnapping.

In Criminal Enterprise, accountant Carter Tomlin thinks “he holds himself to a high-water mark. He rationalizes his actions and the danger it brings.”

For The Professionals, the kidnappers had to be nomadic so he just set them in Chicago because it is right in the middle of the country and it was a good starting point for the gang. “It was a blessing because I went there several times, got involved in a writers’ group and also rode along with a cop,” he said.

But Laukkanen doesn’t make his criminals the heroes of his novels. His series’ real heroes are FBI agent Carla Windermere and Minnesota state cop Kirk Stevens.

Although his novels are set in America and he writes evocatively about the U.S., Laukkanen is from Canada. He grew up in Windsor, Ontario, which is near Detroit. Why he writes about the U.S. instead of Canada is a question that comes up at nearly every book signing—“usually from the Canadians in the audience,” he said.


Being so close to Detroit, Laukkanen grew up with Detroit culture and the culture of America. “Windsor is as close to the U.S. as possible,” he added.

Also, setting a kidnapping gang in the U.S. made more sense because there are more major cities on this side of the border. His criminals could move from city to city without anyone knowing and could more easily pull off their heists. “Canadian cities are more in a straight line. The cops would be waiting in the next town for them to show up. We don’t have the large number of big cities as in the U.S.,” added Laukkanen who lives in Vancouver. “I’d love to write about Canada but I also like writing about America.”

Laukkanen spent three years reporting on professional poker players and wrote a thriller about the poker industry, which he says draws “the most intelligent and degenerate people. It’s a rich world.” But that novel is on hold as Laukkanen continues to work on his series.

Meanwhile, he has finished up his third novel, which is about a contract killer.

While Laukkanen frequently travels the United States for his settings, he has an inside track when it comes to forensics—his mother who is a former forensics pathologist. “Any time I have a question, I can just call up Mom,” he said. “She’s my best source for research.”

 

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 05:19

WITNESS THIS FROM HARPERCOLLINS

Written by Oline Cogdill
About two years ago, the Avon Books imprint, which is part of HarperCollins, launched its digital romance imprint called Impulse.

Now HarperCollins/William Morrow is launching Witness, which is being called its “digital-original” mystery, suspense and thriller line.

Witness will feature new titles, international bestsellers not previously available in the U.S. and newly digitized backlist classics, according to press releases.

According to the publisher, 100 titles already have been selected for Witness with the first 10 titles to be released in October.

In addition to new titles, Witness will include digital versions of Agatha Christie’s short stories. All the Hercule Poirot short stories will be released as digital singles, and then together in a single omnibus edition.

The books will not automatically move into print but it seems likely that some will, especially given Impulse’s track record. More than 60 percent of Impulse titles also are available in print.

The price of Witness titles will range from 99 cents to $2.99. And, while I have no idea how any of this works, apparently author royalties will be the same as the publisher’s other digital-first imprints.

More details of Witness are here.

Anything that brings more authors to the publishing table is a good thing for all of us.

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 10:09

2013 ANTHONY NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Written by Oline Cogdill

The season of awards continues.

The Anthony Award nominees for 2013 have just been announced. The Anthony Awards are given during Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention.

The winners will be chosen by the full-time members of the 44th Bouchercon September 19-22, in Albany, New York.

This is a terrific list. Congratulations to all the nominees.

BEST NOVEL
Dare Me by Megan Abbott (Reagan Arthur)
The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover (Thomas & Mercer)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman (Thomas Dunne)
The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen (Putnam)
The Expats by Chris Pavone (Crown)
The 500 by Matthew Quirk (Reagan Arthur)
Black Fridays by Michael Sears (Putnam)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Whiplash River by Lou Berney (William Morrow)
Murder for Choir by Joelle Charbonneau (Berkley Prime Crime)
And She Was by Alison Gaylin (Harper)
Blessed are the Dead by Malla Nunn (Emily Bestler)
Big Maria by Johnny Shaw (Thomas & Mercer)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Mischief in Mesopotamia" by Dana Cameron, EQMM, Nov 2012
"Kept in the Dark" by Shelia Connolly, Best New England Crime Stories: Blood Moon (Level Best)
"The Lord is My Shamus" by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder, p.97 (Wildside)
"Peaches" by Todd Robinson, Grift, Spring 2012, p.80
"The Unremarkable Heart" by Karin Slaughter, Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeance, p.177 (Mulholland)

BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION WORK
Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels by John Connolly and Declan Burke, eds. (Hodder & Stoughton/Emily Bestler)
Blood Relations: The Selected Letters of Ellery Queen, 1947-1950 - Joseph Goodrich, ed. (Perfect Crime)
More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered by D.P. Lyle, M.D. (Medallion)
The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie by Mathew Prichard, ed. (Harper)
In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero by Otto Penzler, ed. (Smart Pop)